Columbus, Georgia

DECEMBER 5, 2003







The rescheduled monthly meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners of

Columbus Georgia was held at the office of the Columbus Water Works on Friday,

December 5, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., the following Commissioners being present:

Kathelen Spencer, Chairperson

Leon Siegel, Treasurer

James Yancey

Harry Vernon



Absent: Mayor Robert Poydasheff





Management recognized Mr. Morris Murphy an employee of the Columbus

Water Works. He was asked to attend the meeting so that the Board could

recognize him upon his retirement. Mr. Murphy has served 15 years with the

Water Works. The following resolution was presented as follows:

A Resolution



Whereas, Herman M. Murphy has been an employee of the Columbus Board of

Water Commissioners since July, 1988, is retiring; and,



Whereas, Herman M. Murphy has served in the capacity of Maintenance

Technician II in the Managed Maintenance Department with the Columbus Water

Works; and,



Whereas, Herman M. Murphy as performed in an outstanding and productive

manner throughout his fifteen years of service;









Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved that the Board of Water Commissioners of

the City of Columbus, Georgia, on behalf of all the people of the City, hereby

publicly expresses appreciation and heartfelt thanks to Herman M. Murphy for

his diligent and faithful service on behalf of the Columbus Water Works; and,



Be It Further Resolved that this resolution be spread upon the official

minutes of this Board this tenth day of November 2003, and that the Secretary

of this Board be directed to furnish copies of this resolution to the said

Herman M. Murphy and to the Clerk of Council of Columbus, Georgia.



_________________________________ _________________________________

PRESIDENT, COLUMBUS WATER WORKS CHAIR, BOARD OF WATER

COMMISSIONERS



___________________________________________ _

____________________________________________

SECRETARY, BOARD OF WATER COMMISSIONERS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS

DIVISION





Following the reading and presentation of the above resolution to Mr.

Murphy, motion was made and seconded to adopt the resolution. Motion carried.

Next, Management recognized Ronnie Ledford, Mechanical Maintenance

Supervisor, for receiving the Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association

?Golden Wrench Award?. The Golden Wrench Award recognizes a member of the

Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association who has exemplified the

qualities of the top mechanic in Georgia.

Also, Management advised the Board that Tobe Solomon, System Services

Coordinator was inducted into the Georgia Water and Pollution Control

Association and the Georgia Chapter of the Water Environment Federation ?Golden

Manhole Society?. This award recognizes individuals who have made a

significant contribution to the art and science of collection system operations

through the operation, maintenance, design, construction, management, planning,

education, training and certification of collection systems. Tobe Solomon was

unable to attend the Board meeting due to illness.





Receipt of the Minutes of the November 10, 2003, meeting was

acknowledged by the Board and approved as written.

Management presented the reports from the Division of Operations,

Division of Engineering and Division of Environmental Information Services.

Following each presentation, the Board acknowledged the Division Reports for

the month of November.

The Financial Report for the month of November, along with the Meter

Reading, Employee and Customer Services? Reports, were presented to the

Board. Also, Secretary Blount informed the Board that the Post Office was in

the process of upgrading their equipment that reads the bar codes on our

mailings which amounts to 60,000 plus a month. Secretary Blount explained

that our bar coding is no longer acceptable, therefore if the new requirements

of the post office are not met we could loose the .10 cent per letter discount

on mailing, which would be a significant amount. He stated that the situation

has been investigated and believes we can keep the increased expenses down by

spending approximately $10,000 to upgrade our equipment. Following

discussion, motion was made and seconded to accept the reports. Motion

carried.

President Turner advised the Board that David Anderson, GIS Specialist,

wrote an article on how our water system has aged over time from 1917 to

2003. The article describes how we go about figuring the age of the lines,

what type of lines and how that information is being stored in the GIS

System.

Last on the agenda, President Turner revisited his presentation on the

Water and Sewer Rate Study, as presented to the Board at its November 10, 2003

Board meeting. A copy of the presentation is on file. In addition,

President Turner furnished the Board with a copy of the Minutes of the Public

Hearing held at Columbus Council on November 18, 2003. Immediately following

President Turner?s presentation, Mr. Burt Coker and Ms. Nadine were present at

the meeting and were given the opportunity to express their feelings on the

proposed water and sewer rate increase. The following is a list of their

comments President Turner addressed.

1. Why wasn?t the public given a two-week notice in regards to the

Board meeting date being changed?



President Turner spoke with the Water Works? attorney, Jim Humes, and according

to the Sunshine law only a 48-hour notice is required to change a meeting date,

which was provided to the newspaper.



2. Why does the Water Works read meters one month and estimate them the

next month?



President Turner explained that the meters are read every two months and are

not estimated, but you get the same bill twice. Then the bill is split in half

and a bill is sent out for half one month and the other half the next month.



3. The Water Works should not provide any service to other counties

such as Talbot County, Harris County and Ft. Benning for free that way our

rates would not have to go up.



President Turner advised that there has never been any money spent by Columbus

to serve any of these other cities. Every penny that was paid to implement

the system in Phenix City was paid by Phenix City, which was about $5.2

million. Harris County paid to have the water line extended from where it

ended on our side of the system up to their county line. Also, the Water

Works got an extremely good financial plan by extending the water line out

Macon Road to the Talbot County line. The Water Works doesn?t have any cost

inside Talbot County. Each of these systems pay 1.6 times what the citizens

of Columbus pay for water.



4. What does the Water Works do with the money they get from the

Atlanta fines?



The Columbus Water Works does not receive any money from Atlanta. It all goes

into the Department of Natural Resources? general fund. However, the Water

Works did get a grant back a number of years ago which was used to put an

activated carbon system on our water plant so that if there were any problems

with the river such as taste and odor problems they could be treated. This

system has been used a number of times to provide better treatment for the

river.





5. What is the single most reason why the Water Works needs a rate

increase?



Regulations that must be met. The biggest project we have is to address our

biosolids, which are the solids that are taken out when we treat the

wastewater. You may recall about three years ago the Water Works tried to buy

some land in Stewart County to apply solids on and the people did not approve.

We are now trying to find a better solution to that problem. We are trying to

implement a project that improves the quality of the solids that we have to

apply on farmland so that it will be acceptable to farmers to put on their

farms, if the Water Works can do that then we will have a way of disposing of

that material that will be safe and something that the community can use in the

future. There is not any land left in Muscogee County in the way of farmland

to apply this on so this is the biggest single project, which is $12 million.

Over the 10-year period the Water Works has about 50 projects of which most of

them are sewer rehab projects. Three years ago the state of Georgia?s

Department of Natural Resources passed a new rule that said no sewer line can

overflow and if you have a sewer line that overflows at anytime that gets into

a flowing stream you will be fined and puts your system in a bad position and

if it keeps happening the fines keep going up. We have about 15 sewer lines

over the 10-year period the biggest one being the one that runs up Bull Creek

that serves the industrial property that the City now has to try and develop

and get more jobs for our community. There are about 15-20 sewer line

projects, new regulations on drinking water, and new requirements for security.



After recognizing Mr. Coker and Ms. Nadine and addressing their

questions, the Board and Management thanked them for coming and for

understanding the reasons behind the water and sewer rate increase.

In closing, President Turner recommended the following Resolution be adopted.



A Resolution



WHEREAS, a thorough study and evaluation was made of the water and

sewer system facilities in 2001-02 resulting in the adoption by the Board of a

five and ten year Capital Improvement Plan in July 2002, and



WHEREAS, in 2001-02, with the assistance of a consultant, Raftelis

Financial, Inc., a comprehensive financial assessment of the Columbus Water

Works was performed which led the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners by

Resolution dated November 11, 2002 to adopt a five year water and sewer rate

plan, and



WHEREAS, the Board did direct, as part of that process, that an annual

review of Columbus Water Works? financial condition be conducted and any

necessary adjustment to the proposed rates be identified, and



WHEREAS, at its regularly scheduled meeting on November 10, 2003 the

Board did receive the Columbus Water Works annual Financial Audit performed by

Fountain, Arrington, Bass, Mercer and Lee and examine said financial review

performed by Raftelis Financial and directed the staff and financial consultant

to conduct a public hearing at City Council on November 18, 2003, and



WHEREAS, the Board has reviewed Columbus Water Works? Annual Audit, the

FY 2004 Rate Update Report and a record of the aforementioned public hearing;



NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the recommendations contained in the

financial review entitled FY 2004 RATE UPDATE dated November 10, 2003 be hereby

adopted and become effective for all water use initially included in bills

rendered on or after January 2, 2004, and



BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners

will continue the practice of making an annual review of the planned rate

program and make any necessary adjustment.



SO RESOLVED THIS 5TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2003.



_________________________________

Chair

_________________________________

Treasurer

_________________________________

Member

_________________________________

Member

_________________________________

Member

ATTEST:

______________________________

Secretary





After discussion, motion was made and seconded adopting the above

Resolution. Motion carried.

By adopting the above Resolution, the following rates for water, sewer

and CSO charges become effective as stated above.



WATER RATES WASTEWATER RATES



Monthly Meter Charge Monthly Service Charge

Plus Water Volume Charge Plus Wastewater Volume Charge





Monthly Meter Charge Monthly Service Charge $1.80

(Based on Meter Size) (per account)



?? . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . $2.87

5/8?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$2.87 Wastewater Volume Charge

1? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.41 (per CCF)

1 ?? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$3.96 1 CCF-15 CCF . . . . . . . . . .

. $1.89

2? . . . . . . . . . . ?. . .. . . $5.45 Over 15 CCF . . . . . . . . . . .

. . $1.50

3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$16.47

4? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20.55

6? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $30.07

8? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $40.95 Combined Sewer Overflow Charge

(CSO)

10? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $49.11 (per account)



Water Volume Charge 0 CCF-4 CCF . . . . . . . . . . . . $0.00

(per CCF) 5 CCF-15 CCF . . . . . . . . . . . $2.15

16 CCF-204 CCF. . . . . . . . . .$4.31

0 CCF-See Meter Size 205 CCF-1004 CCF. . . . . . . 43.10

1 CCF-15 CCF . . . . . . . $1.05 Over 1004 CCF . . . . . . . . .$123.13

Over 15 CCF. . . . . . . . . $ .96





There being no further business, the meeting adjourned.











_____________________________________

Emory E. Blount, Secretary