July 10, 2006
The regular monthly meeting of the Board of Water Commissioners of
Columbus, Georgia was held at the office of the Columbus Water Works on Monday,
July 10, 2006, at 1:30 p.m., the following Commissioners being present:
Harry Vernon, Treasurer
James Yancey
Phillip Thayer
Mayor Robert Poydasheff
Absent: Kathelen Amos, Chairperson
Due to the absence of Chairperson Amos, Treasurer Vernon was Acting
Chairperson.
Acting Chairperson, Harry Vernon, on behalf of the Board of Water
Commissioners, presented an inscribed plaque as a token of appreciation to
former Board Treasurer, Leon Siegel. Mr. Siegel was recognized for his
dedication and service to the Board and the Columbus Water Works. Mr. Siegel
served on the Water Board from 1999 to 2005.
Receipt of the Minutes of the May 8, 2006, meeting was acknowledged by
the Board and approved as written.
Management recognized Richard L. Greene 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. Greene has served 42 years with the
Water Works. The following Resolution was presented as follows:
A Resolution
Whereas, Richard L. Greene has been an employee of the Columbus Board
of Water Commissioners since April, 1964, is retiring; and
Whereas, Richard L. Greene has served in the capacity of Team Captain
II in the System Services Department with the Columbus Water Works; and,
Whereas, Richard L. Greene has performed in an outstanding and
productive manner throughout his forty-two 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 Richard L. Greene 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 July, 2006, and that the Secretary of
this Board be directed to furnish copies of this resolution to the said Richard
L. Greene 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, DIRECTOR,
DIVISION
OF OPERATIONS AND TECHNICAL SERVICES
After presenting the resolution to Richard Greene, the Board
congratulated him on his many years of service with the Water Works. Motion
was made and seconded to adopt the above resolution. Motion carried.
Management presented the reports from the Division of Operations and
Technical Services, Division of Engineering and Division of Strategic and
Master Plan Implementation. Following each presentation, the Board
acknowledged the Division Reports for the month of May and June.
Management advised the Board that in May the Water Works? staff met
with one of the leading consultants in the water and wastewater business in
strategic planning to review our process and to give us their opinion on how
well they think we are doing in implementing our Strategic plan and to assist
the Strategy Teams. They were very complementary of the Team?s efforts and
thought the Teams were making a lot of progress. After the review, several
recommendations were made to make the process even better for the Strategy
Teams.
Management informed the Board of the progress that the Strategy Teams
are making in implementing the 151 tactics/action items. The Strategy Teams
have 90% of their tactics underway and 53% are complete.
Jim Patterson informed the Board that he had the opportunity to attend
the first Annual Mega City Water Forum which was initiated by the Georgia Water
Resources Institute (GWRI). The GWRI mission is to help improve water
resources management in Georgia. The GWRI invited representatives from an
international global basis to meet in Atlanta and share ideas on better ways to
manage our water resources. The representatives that Mr. Patterson worked
with were from Jordan and Israel.
Management advised the Board that the Water Works is initiating a new
program called ?Water Is Life? which has been spearheaded by the Water
Environment Federation. The intent of this program is to inform the public
especially the decision makers of the need to maintain the water and wastewater
infrastructure across the nation. This will be a three year program.
Next, Vic Burchfield, Team Leader for Strategy Team Three, informed the
Board that their Team had three goals:
Leverage Information Technology
Goal #1: Deliver IT capabilities efficiently and effectively (2
Objectives)
Goal #2: Minimize IT costs while meeting business requirements
(2 Objectives)
Goal#3: Support users and maintain secure and reliable technology
to realize benefits (3 Objectives)
Strategy Team Three also has 18 Tactics (Action Plans) of which 39%
complete, 28% fully underway and 33% partly underway. He advised that their
Team has 14 Measures that are being tracked. The Team Leader gave a brief
overview of the Objectives, Tactics and Measurers for the Board. A copy of
the report is on file. The Board acknowledged the report.
The Financial Report for the months of May and June including Ft.
Benning, along with the Meter Reading, Employee and Customer Services? Reports,
were presented to the Board. Following discussion, motion was made and
seconded to accept the reports. Motion carried.
Management gave a report to the Board regarding the Water Working Group
that was created by Mayor Bob Poydasheff and Mayor Shirley Franklin of
Atlanta. This group composed a draft of a Memorandum of Understanding. This
document could serve as a basis for continued and future cooperation between
all parties that have interest in the Chattahoochee River water usage. A copy
of this Memorandum of Understanding is on file.
President Turner updated the Board on the lawsuit between Alabama and
the Corps of Engineers which would have allowed Atlanta to take additional
water from Lake Lanier. President Turner advised that a judge in the U.S.
District Court of North Alabama set up a mediation process between the Corps of
Engineers and the three states which is scheduled to end in August.
Next, President Turner informed the Board that in early March the Corps
released additional water flow in order to protect the habitat of the Gulf
Sturgeon which comes up the Apalachicola River to spawn. The release of
additional flow from the Chattahoochee-Flint River System to maintain a certain
water level below the Jim Woodruff Dam was so large that it began to lower Lake
Lanier, West Point and Walter F. George. These lakes are still down from
their normal spring and early summer water levels.
The Fish and Wildlife Service issued a report that stated in order to protect
the habitat they needed to make these releases so the court took this action in
response to their fellow federal agency. Now the issue is whether or not this
release of water flow will continue every year. President Turner stated the
releases are high and range from 20,000 ? 30,000 cubic feet per second and our
river only produces 5,000 ? 6,000 cubic feet per second during this time of
year.
President Turner advised the Board that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
propose to designate critical habitat for endangered species. The following
resolution was furnished to the Board for approval.
A Resolution
WHEREAS, the Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
proposing in the June 6, 2006 Federal Register to designate eleven (11) areas
as critical habitat for seven mussels listed as endangered and threatened, and
WHEREAS, the proposed rule designates 1,158 miles of river and stream channels
in Georgia, Florida and Alabama as critical habitat, and
WHEREAS, the designation of the critical habitats has the potential to trigger
specific flow regimes, and
WHEREAS, modifications to flow regimes in the ACF may have significantly
adverse impacts on the basin and its reservoirs, and
WHEREAS, recent flow changes in the ACF imposed by the Corps of Engineers at
the request of U.S. Fish and Wildlife to protect Gulf Sturgeon habitat has
severely reduced storage available to address predicted drought conditions, and
WHEREAS, the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners is dependent on the
Chattahoochee River for water supply for Muscogee, Harris and Talbot Counties
and Ft. Benning, Georgia and for assimilation of wastewater, and
WHEREAS, the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners is greatly concerned that
insufficient understanding of associated impacts stemming from actions
undertaken to address mussels and other designated species may result in
devastating consequences for the ACF Basin and its reservoirs, and
WHEREAS, the ACF Basin and is a tremendously complex ecosystem requiring a
comprehensive planning process particularly when significant flow changes may
be anticipated, and
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners
hereby registers strong objection to any designation process which is not
conductly openly, fully and which comprehensively addresses all potential
impacts, both intended and unintended.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners requests that
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service meet all of requirements for analysis of
consequences and impacts under the Endangered and Threatened Species Act, NEPA,
Executive Order 12866, Executive Order 12630, Executive Order 13211, the
Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness
Act and all other appropriate and applicable rules, acts and laws.
So resolved this 10th day of July, 2006, by the Columbus, Georgia Board of
Water Commissioners.
_________________________________
Chairperson
_________________________________
Treasurer
_________________________________
Member
_________________________________
Member
_________________________________
Member
______________________________
Attest
Following discussion, motion was made and seconded to adopt the above
resolution. Motion carried.
President Turner informed the Board that the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers gave notice in the Federal Register of June 16th on intent to prepare
a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The draft EIS addresses the
proposed implementation of the interim water storage contracts at Lake Lanier,
as contained in a settlement agreement between the Southeastern Federal Power
Customers, Inc. and the Corps of Engineers. The following resolution was
presented to the Board authorizing President Turner to be active and engage in
all issues which would address any potential operational changes in downstream
reservoirs.
A Resolution
WHEREAS, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave notice in the Federal
Register of June 16, 2006 of intent to prepare a draft Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS), as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA),
and
WHEREAS, the draft EIS will address the proposed implementation of the
interim water storage contracts at Lake Lanier, as contained in a settlement
agreement between the Southeastern Federal Power Customers, Inc. (SeFPC) v.
Secretary of the Army, et al. lawsuit, and
WHEREAS, the draft EIS will address not only any operational changes at
Lanier but also the potential for operational changes in downstream reservoirs,
and
WHEREAS, it is critical that the Columbus Board of Water Commissioners
to be active and engaged in all issues which may impact on the Chattahoochee
River, and
WHEREAS, it is imperative that Columbus Water Works have the ability to
react quickly and decisively to developments during the EIS preparation,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Columbus Board of Water
Commissioners hereby designates and empowers the President of Columbus Water
Works to act on behalf of the Board, engage in all activities going forward and
preserve the rights of the Board in this matter.
So resolved this 10th day of July, 2006.
________________________________
Chair
________________________________
Treasurer
________________________________
Member
________________________________
Member
________________________________
Member
_____________________________
Attest
Following discussion, motion was made and seconded to adopt the above
resolution. Motion carried.
President Turner gave a brief update to the Board on the Georgia
Statewide Water Plan. Following discussion the Board acknowledged his report.
In its final order of business, President Turner provided copies of
letters thanking members of the staff for their participation and services
provided from various organizations. The Board acknowledged Management?s
report.
There being no further business the meeting adjourned.
________________________________________
Emory E. Blount, Secretary
Attachments
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