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BUCKS COUNTY CONSORTIUM

Thursday, May 4, 2006

Meeting Minutes

A meeting of the Bucks County Consortium was held at Warminster Township on May 4, 2006. The following individuals were present:

Steven Baloh, Wyn Associates
Chuck Barrett, Commerce Bank
Vivian Bell, Warrington Township
Carol Bigham, New Britain Township
Eileen Bradley, Wrightstown Township
Dave Connell, CKS Engineers
John Cornelius, New Britain Township
Jim Coyne, Lower Makefield Township
Joe Czajkowski, Upper Makefield Township
Dave Drye, Chalfont Borough
Michelle Fountan, CKS Engineers
Wayne Fultz, New Britain Township
Ginnie Gehring, Warminster Township
Deb Gentile, Penndel Borough
Tim Hagey, Warminster Municipal Authority
Katrina Harding, Warwick Township
Tom Harwood, Newtown Township
Mark Hintenlang, New Britain Borough
Ben Jones, Bucks County Sewer & Water Authority
Daniel P. Olpere, Perkasie Borough
Richard Sabol, Upper Southampton Township
Brian Shapiro, West Rockhill Township
Dale Smith, Premier Bank
Judi Smith, Warminster Township
Mike Sodano, Penndel Borough
Mary R. Stover, Pennoni Associates
Robin Trymbiski, New Britain Borough
Jeff Vey, Milford Township
G. Washington, Pennoni Associates
Gail Weniger, Warwick Township

Preliminary Remarks

Gail Weniger called the meeting to order, announced the morning's agenda, and thanked Warminster Township for sponsoring the May meeting of the Bucks County Consortium.

Approval of Minutes

John Cornelius made a motion, seconded by Joe Czajkowski, to approve the Minutes of April 6, 2006. Motion carried.

Treasurer’s Report

Vivian Bell presented the Treasurer’s Report for April. A motion was made by Eileen Bradley, and seconded by John Cornelius, to approve the Treasurer’s Report for April. Motion carried.

Presentation: “NPDES II MS4 Requirements & Reporting”

Michelle Fountan, a Senior Project Manager for CKS Engineers, presented. Ms. Fountain has experience as a consultant to a number of municipalities, municipal authorities and development companies in Pennsylvania. As a Senior Project Engineer she is responsible for municipal subdivision reviews, land development submissions, and the administration of construction escrow accounts. In addition, Ms. Fountain has assisted in the writing of Township Code revisions and applications for funding municipal projects. She has completed design plans and contract documents for capital improvement projects, including stormwater management, sanitary sewer extension projects, and Township road programs. She also completed numerous Sewage Facilities (Act 537) Plans, Chapter 94 reports for PADEP, and Inflow & Infiltration studies. She is very familiar with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and County Conservation District requirements.

The topic of “NPDES II MS4 Requirements & Reporting” is important to Bucks County Consortium members because they must “develop, implement, and enforce a stormwater management program designed to reduce the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent possible”. Ms. Fountan stated that stormwater management programs must include six minimum control measures: public education and outreach, public participation and involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site stormwater runoff control, post construction stormwater management, and pollution prevention. She discussed and outlined each of these six items in further detail:

#1 Public Education and Outreach

  • Educate the key audiences on the connection between their actions, stormwater runoff, and water quality
  • Key audiences: homeowners, business owners, and developers
  • Complete a worksheet
  • Review newsletters and newspaper articles
  • Provide a link to the PADEP website

#2 Public Participation and Involvement

  • Provide opportunities for citizens to participate in program development and implementation
  • Complete a worksheet
  • Discuss stormwater program at a public meeting

#3 Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination

  • Develop and implement a plan to detect and eliminate illicit discharges to the storm sewer system: enact an ordinance, develop a map of outfalls and receiving streams, and conduct field inspections

#4 Construction Site Stormwater Runoff Control

  • Develop, implement and enforce an erosion and sediment control program for construction activities that disturb less than one acre

#5 Post Construction Stormwater Management

  • Develop, implement and enforce a program to address discharges of post construction stormwater runoff

#6 Pollution Prevention/Housekeeping

  • Develop and implement a program with the goal of preventing or reducing pollutant runoff from municipal operations

Stormwater discharges into the municipal separate storm sewer system must be composed entirely of stormwater except: discharges from firefighting ctivities, potable water sources including de-chlorinated waterline and fire hydrant flushings, irrigation drainage, routine external building wash-down (which does not use detergents or other compounds), air conditioning condensate, water from individual residential car washing, springs, water from crawl space pumps, uncontaminated water from foundation or from footing drains, flows from riparian habitats and wetlands, lawn watering, pavement wash-waters where spills or leaks of toxic or hazardous materials have not occurred and where detergents are not used, de-chlorinated swimming pool discharges, and uncontaminated groundwater.

The presentation concluded with an identification of several websites (the PADEP, EPA, and Bucks County Conservation District) followed by a question and answer period dealing with such NPDES subjects as stream permitting, illicit discharge documentation, the violation process, swimming pool discharges, etc.

New & Old Business

John Cornelius reported on an ICMA performance measurement workshop. He asked the membership about its level of performance measurement interest, and suggested that a proposal be introduced at a future meeting for its further study. Members discussed the correlations of performance measurement on budgets, and population. It also discussed how data derived from performance measurement could be interpreted and applied.

At the April meeting a motion was made and seconded to approve the membership of Penndel Borough and the Upper Southampton Township Sewer and Water Authority. Motion carried. However, since two-thirds of the Consortium membership was not available Richard Sabol contacted other members to get the necessary two-thirds vote. It should be noted that additional votes, exceeding the 2/3 requirement were subsequently received.

Adjourn

Dave Drye made a motion, seconded by Dan Olpere, to adjourn the meeting at approximately 10:30AM. Motion carried.

Respectfully Submitted,

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