Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District
Meeting of Board of Trustees
Minutes of November 20, 2023
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 P.M. by Gordon Maybury, Secretary: In attendance: Ivo Ballentine, Vice-chair; Brian Goldstein, Executive Director; Jackie Bryson, MSD Representative; Joe Martin, Previous Executive Director, Larry Hopkins, Trustee Elect. Sarah Gassaway, Chair was not in attendance do to a personal matter.
Approval of the Agenda
Agenda approved by consensus.
Approval of Minutes
Motion by Trustee Ballentine to approve October 2023 minutes Maybury seconded, motion carried unanimously.
MSD Report
Ms. Bryson reported: MSD projects were reported. Only one involves Woodfin Water is the Olivette Project. The cost of 8 inch Ductile Iron pipe is now $400 per foot installed. Mrs. Bryson recommended a tour in the spring.
Public Comment
No Public Comment
District Reports
Financial reports discussed. Budget to Actual is running on target. Requests are still coming in for single family homes, not multi-home development. Still encouraging customers to sign up for Auto Payments. Non pay disconnects higher than previous month due to it being the larger of the two billing cycles. Due to the current drought conditions, we are using more Asheville Water to help maintain a higher level in the reservoir. The reservoir is down by 7 feet. We are not in an emergency, or mandatory conservation drought situation as of yet. We have instituted a voluntary conservation until we reach a more optimum level at the reservoir. Director Goldstein stated that he was resigning as of December 8th. He mentioned that speculation by the incoming Mayor of Woodfin and communicated to various people at the town that the reason for leaving was that as a Jewish person I did not feel safe given the current situation in the Middle East. Director Goldstein stated how that was not the case and was quite angry and disgusted that was what was been said. Larry Hopkins stated that there was no political involvement with the Board election.
Director’s Report
1.
Hired a new Distribution Technician to fill one of two vacancies.
2.
Service truck at the Treatment Plant is in need of repair and possible replacement in the near future.
3.
Billing USIC for a bad locate of our line that resulted in another utility hitting our line causing a break that resulted in an outage.
4.
Ordered the items needed for the pilot AMR Drive By System from Miller Supply. Once supplies arrive we will schedule training for both the front office and field crew.
5.
The reservoir is down seven feet. We issued a voluntary conservation notice for customers. We are utilizing more Asheville water to prevent needing to declare a mandatory conservation notice at this time. We will continue to monitor it daily.
6.
I submitted my resignation to the Board on November 8th. My last day will be Friday December 8th.
Old Business
No Old Business
New Business
The Board reappointed Jackie Bryson as the Districts representative to MSD for another 3-year term. Board voted unanimously to approve.
The Board approved Dr. Joe Martin to assume the duties of Executive Director at his previous contract amount on a month-to-month basis. Board voted unanimously to approve.
The New Director search was discussed. Specifically, the salary rate. The District will need to raise the starting salary of the Director to attract qualified candidates. Director Goldstein also mentioned salaries across the board for staff should be raised for retention.
Call of Board Members
Trustee Maybury wanted to thank Ivo Ballentine, and Sarah Gassaway for their service to the District.
New Board members will be sworn in at the next Board meeting on December 11th.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 1:52PM.