Utility Commission - Minutes - 10/14/2025

WATERFORD UTILITY COMMISSION 
 
 
 
 
 
 
DATE:  
 
October 14, 2025 
 
PLACE:  
 
1000 Hartford Turnpike  
 
PRESIDING: 
 
Chairman Ken Kirkman 
 
MEMBERS PRESENT: 
Jerry Porter, Tom Dembek, and Ray Valentini 
 
ABSENT MEMBERS: 
Rylan Boyle 
 
ALSO PRESENT:  
J. Robert Tuneski, Board of Finance Liaison  
 
 
 
Attorney Nicholas Kepple, Town Counsel 
 
Staff:  Jill Stevens, Director of Utilities  
 
           Shawn Matthews, Assistant Director of Utilities 
 
           Amy Windle, Office Coordinator/Recording Secretary 
 
Chairman Kirkman called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm 
 
CITIZEN SESSION-             
None 
 
SECRETARY’S REPORT 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Valentini to approve the Minutes of September 9, 2025, Mr. 
Dembek seconded. 
 
VOTE 
 
 The motion passed unanimously. 
 
  BILLING ADJUSTMENTS 
The Commission reviewed the September adjustments. The adjustment report will be kept in 
the office for review.  
 
 
EXPENDITURES 
 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Dembek to approve the September 2025 bill list, Mr. Valentini 
seconded. 
 
VOTE 
 
The motion passed unanimously. 
OLD BUSINESS 
• 
Financial Report 
The financials for August were reviewed.  
 

Waterford Utility Commission 
October 14, 2025 
2 | P a g e  
 
• 
Collection’s Report 
The report was reviewed.  Attorney Kepple reported that all was going well.  He talked 
about the new CT Statue regarding foreclosures. 
 
 
• 
Director’s Report 
Ms. Stevens reviewed her report that provides updated information on all Utility 
Commission Capital and Operational projects currently funded. A copy of the Director’s 
Report will be attached to the minutes when posted. 
 
Mr. Matthews reviewed the Asset Management report. 
 
• 
Calendar Year 2026 Meeting Schedule 
Ms. Stevens proposed that the Commission meet on the fourth Tuesday of the month so 
financials would only be one month behind and not two.  A draft of the new meeting 
schedule was presented with a change to January due to Ms. Stevens being away for a 
conference on the fourth Tuesday. 
 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Valentini to accept the new Utility Commission meeting 
schedule as amended for 2026, Mr. Dembek seconded. 
 
VOTE 
The motion passed unanimously. 
 
NEW BUSINESS 
 
• 
Cross Country Sewer Easement Access Contract 1-Phase 1 Bid Evaluation of Bids 
Mr. Barry A. Parfitt from Wright-Pierce was at the meeting to go over the bids that were 
received for the Cross Country Sewer Easement project.  Mr. Parfitt and Ms. Stevens 
recommended Advance Resources LLC after an evaluation was done on the two lowest 
bidders. 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Valentini to recommend Advanced Resources LLC be 
awarded the contract in the amount of $155,450.00, seconded by Mr. 
Dembek. 
 
VOTE 
 
The motion passed unanimously. 
 
 
 
WATER  
City of New London/Veolia Report. 
The Commission reviewed the report.   
 
 
 

Waterford Utility Commission 
October 14, 2025 
3 | P a g e  
 
Water Agreement Working Group Update 
Bids for Engineering Services to Identify the Capital requirements of the renewal of the Interlocal Water 
Agreement Update are due on Thursday, October 16th.  Ms. Stevens will circulate the bids to the 
members to review before the next meeting on October 28th. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE 
• 
Rate Study Proposals 
Ms. Stevens went over the two proposals received from Tighe & Bond and Raftelis for a 
rate study to be done on wastewater rates.  She explained each proposal and the pro 
and cons.  Ms. Stevens thought that both proposals were good but preferred Raftelis.   
She explained her reasons why. 
 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Porter to approve and accept the proposal by Raftelis for 
$24,500 for the rate study to be completed, seconded by Mr. Dembek. 
 
 
PLANS REVIEW –  
No plans 
 
PERSONNEL 
Sewer Tech I position is filled and waiting on a start date. 
  
OTHER 
Ms. Stevens reported on the Harvest Festival and the materials used to help raise community awareness 
of the importance of water and wastewater infrastructure.  There were some educational games and a 
coloring contest.  Ms. Stevens asked the Commissioners to judge the coloring pictures to award prizes. 
 
ADJOURNMENT 
With no further business before the Commission, the meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m. 
 
 
 
MOTION 
Made by Mr. Dembek to adjourn, Mr. Porter seconded. 
 
 
 
VOTE 
 
The motion passed unanimously. 
 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
 
Amy Windle 
Recording Secretary 

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Waterford Utility Commission 
Director’s Report 
October 14, 2025 
             This report summarizes the Commission’s ongoing projects and operational activities as of 10/9/25 
Current Capital and Capital Non-Recurring Funded Projects 
1. Inflow and Infiltration Mitigation and Control 
FY 19 Capital Non-Recurring Expenditure Fund L.I. #20531-57685  
 
Original Appropriation: $388,303.00       Available Balance: $235,865.56 
This is an ongoing project to identify sources of Inflow and Infiltration within the Richards Grove Sewer 
Basin.  
Current Project Status: Richards Grove SSES – an updated memo was submitted including additional 
CCTV footage review (2025 CCTV video) and further analysis with the recent flow metering data and 
water usage data and was included in your packets at the August meeting. 
Waterford crew continues to install manhole dishes within the wastewater basin as time permits, flow 
monitoring will be conducted again after all manhole dishes have been installed to determine if surface 
runoff is the majority source of the inflow. 
Project Background: The Richards Grove Road Wastewater Basin Inflow & Infiltration (I&I) evaluation 
being conducted by Wright-Pierce Engineers for the amount of $27,500.00. This project consists of 
conducting I&I evaluations and a Sewer System Evaluation Study (SSES). This drainage area has been 
identified as one of the larger contributors of I&I to our Collection System. This area possesses 
approximately 5 miles of 8-inch diameter gravity sewer piping and serves primarily residential users. The 
current flows received and conveyed by the Richards Grove Pump Station are greater than the capacity of 
the pump station, triggering the potential need for a capacity upgrade if the I&I sources cannot be 
identified and mitigated. The I&I mitigation and control program is an ongoing project. Our staff routinely 
conducts pipeline and manhole assessments with the use of our CCTV and Jet Rodding apparatus. 
Deficiencies are located, graded and catalogued based upon severity. Corrective repairs are typically 
conducted during springtime utilizing robotic trenchless technology. 
 
2. Old Norwich Road Wastewater Pump Station Rehabilitation 
There are two CNR designations totaling $1,299,369 in L.I. # 20531-57816.   
Available CNR Balance: $35,595.91 (including encumbrances) 
In addition, available ARPA funds have been increased to $1,341,316 per finance as of June 4, 2025. 
Original ARPA funds available were in the amount of $1,020,041. 

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Current Project Status: The station is currently on by-pass and construction continues. A change order for 
$19,277.45 was processed to replace the transformer vault per Eversource’s requirements, there are two 
allowances in the awarded bid for Utilities and unforeseen site conditions that total $15,000 which will be 
used to cover most of this change order.  
Project Background: This project entails an upgrades needed to replace aging equipment at the Old 
Norwich Road pump station. The upgrades include the replacement of the three sewage pumps and 
associated piping and valves and the installation of a new bypass pumping connection.  Comprehensive 
upgrades will also be performed for the electrical systems including replacement of conduit and wiring 
and the electrical distribution and pump control systems.  The ventilation system will also be 
replaced.  Painting and minor architectural improvements will be performed to replace the exterior 
doors, louvers, trim and roof.  Competitive bid results for this project were received on August 10, 2023. 
The lowest bid received was from Holzner Construction in the amount of $2,113,850.00 The Notice to 
Proceed for Holzner was executed on January 16, 2024. A Contract Administration proposal from Wright- 
Pierce was executed 1/19/2024 in the amount of $55,800.00 an anticipated completion date was 
expected about November 2025, however the contractor has provided an updated final completion date 
of 2/11/2026. 
3. Control Panel Retrofit 
FY22 Capital Improvement Fund L.I. # 33122-55894 
Original Appropriation: $30,000.00       Available Balance: $0 – line closed 
Current Project Status: No change on this project in the last 30 days, this project will resume when we 
move into the build phase on the SCADA project.  
Project Background: This project entails replacing the existing pump control panels, which are obsolete 
and unsupported with current control technology. This work will ensue upon completion of upgrades 
currently being conducted at 10 of the lift stations, which are identified within this report and are being 
funded with ARPA funds. 
 
4. Gorman-Rupp Pump Station Controls 
This is an ARPA allocation project in the amount of $163,750.00. L.I. # 23531-55013 
Current Project Status: No change on this project in the last 30 days due to staffing shortages.  
Project History: To date Shore Road, Dock Road, Richards Grove Road, Old Barry Road, Quaker Hill 
Center, Oil Mill, Oswegatchie Rd and Niantic River Road stations are complete. Ridgewood Ave station, is 
the last station for this project and is nearly complete, all that remains is some work on the dry side in the 
station, this work will resume now that the safety consultant has completed his evaluations and 
additional gear has been procured.  
Project Background: Utility Commission staff is performing the installation of equipment, conduits and 
wiring. A scope of services change order was executed that directs the contractor to supply 18 cellular 
amplifiers and associated equipment in lieu of providing broadband to 5 stations. Utility Commission staff 
will be installing the amplifiers during the process of the controls upgrades. This project is ongoing. 
 
5. Pump Station Exterior Improvements 
FY22&23 Capital Improvement Fund L.I. # 33123-55895 
Original Appropriations: $ 100,000.00 (50K ea. L.I.)      Available Balance: $16,719.48 
Current Project Status: The crew continues regular exterior maintenance work at all the stations 
including landscape upkeep. We have identified four stations that need new roofs, and have taken 
precedence over a new driveway at Cross Road. Due to staffing shortages this project has been delayed 
until next year. 
Project History: To date under these two L.I.#s, roof replacements have occurred at Shore Road, Dock 
Road, Bolles Ct, Waterford Village, Sea Side, Niantic River Rd, Mago Pt and Evergreen Ave stations. The 

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exterior siding was replaced at the Waterford Village and Bolles Ct stations. Siding repairs were 
conducted at Stoney Brook Station. A new asphalt driveway was installed at the East Neck pump station.  
 
 
6. Contract #1 Sewer Easement Access Project 
Capital Improvement Fund L.I. # 33123-55019 & FY26 CNR L.I. # 20531-57894  
Original Appropriation: $250,000.00  
Available Balance $142,000.00 
Additional Designation: FY26 CNR $200,000  
Current Project Status: Bids were opened on September 19, a total of 4 bids were received. Wright 
Pierce completed their bid evaluation and have provided their recommendation to the Commission. 
Additionally, this project was included in the First Selectman’s FY26 CIP plan; our requests to have the 
additional funds appropriated were approved at the September 9th Board of Selectmen meeting, 
September 10th Board of Finance meeting, and October 6th RTM meeting, funds will be available on 
October 21st. 
Project Background: Contract #1 was the Town's very first sewer construction project, which began in 
1970. This project entailed the installation of approximately 13,000 linier feet of sewer main.  A Special 
Appropriation in the amount of $250,000 for engineering services was appropriated for the Contract #1 
Sewer Main Access project in 2023. Survey work to identify the Contract #1 easement area, manholes, 
intersecting property lines, and other utilities within the easement area commenced in October of 2023 
and was completed in the spring of 2024. The final design package (drawings and specifications) to be 
used for contractor bid solicitation and construction for Phase One of the restoration project was 
approved by the Utility Commission at the November 2024 meeting. Phase one encompasses the 
southern section of the interceptor beginning at the intersection of Great Neck Road and Rope Ferry 
Road to the end of the interceptor at Evergreen Avenue Pump Station. Phase two which encompasses 
the northern section of the interceptor from Boston Post Road to Great Neck Road requires the 
acquisition of additional easements to gain access to the interceptor during restoration and for the Utility 
Commission staff in the future. Splitting the project into two Phases allows restoration work to begin 
while easements are procured, so that once Phase one is complete easements will be in place and Phase 
two can begin shortly thereafter. 
 
7. Plastic Water Service Line Replacement Program 
CNR Appropriation L.I. # 20531-57881       
Original Appropriations: $550,000.00+$181,300.00 = $731,300.00  
Additional Designations: $200,000 total in FY24 & FY25 ($100K in each year), $500,000 in FY26 GFB 
Available Balance: $84,988.24 
Current Project Status: A request to appropriate the $200,000 currently designated for this project in 
both FY24 and FY25’s CIP plans as well as a request to appropriate the $500,000 identified in the First 
Selectman’s plan to utilize the General Fund Balance in support of DPW’s FY26 paving plan to enable the 
Utility Commission to stay one full year ahead of DPW was approved at the September 9th Board of 
Selectmen meeting, September 10th Board of Finance meeting, and October 6th RTM meeting, funds will 
be available on October 21st 
In FY26 the DPW’s updated paving plan has identified several roads scheduled to be repaved, within 
these roads lie approximately 376 water services, of those approximately 165 may need to be replaced, 
as the material type is unconfirmed. The WUC maintenance crew completed material type identification 
on DPW’s FY26 paving program roads in District 3. Three additional roads have been added to the FY25 
paving program one plastic service was identified on North Phillips Road, New London / Veolia Water 
agreed to replace this line for us using our agreed upon reactive replacement rate. We are moving to the 
roads impacted by Eversource in Quaker Hill next to determine material types and plan for replacements, 
as we continue our goal to remain one full year ahead of DPW’s paving program.  

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Project Background: There are approximately 7900 water services in Town, many of which are plastic and 
have exceeded their useful life resulting in unaccounted for water loss and degradation to the Town 
roads. The goal of this program is to replace the aging plastic water services with copper line prior to 
DPW paving the roads. Since the start of this cooperative project with DPW 806 water service lines have 
been investigated, of those 229 water service lines were found to be plastic and replaced totaling 5,218 
linear feet. Service line replacement costs are on average $4100 each depending upon the service line 
length and location, typically we are finding about 30 percent of the unconfirmed service material types 
are plastic and require replacement. 
8. Wiemes & Marilyn Road Ejector Pump Replacement 
CNR Appropriation L.I. # 20531-57890  
  
Original Appropriation: $19,800.00 
Available Balance: $0 – line closed 
Current Project Status: This project is completed. Wright Piece submitted their final memos for 
Waterford review and comment; copies of the memos were included in your August packets. 
Project Background: Wiemes Ct and Marilyn Rd pump stations were designed in 1981. These stations are 
known as Pneumatic Ejectors. The station itself is a steel cylinder 9' in diameter buried about 18 feet 
below ground and accessed via a manway. The station houses the pots, compressors and control panel. 
The stations have exceeded their design life and do not operate efficiently. An engineering study was 
warranted to fully evaluate the stations structural integrity and plan for the station's replacement. In 
addition, considerations for permanent stand by power were be evaluated, as portable generators have 
to be mobilized in the event of need. Wright-Pierce provided a fee proposal for $19,800 to complete the 
needed engineering study, a formalized task order was been requested and executed earlier this year. 
 
9. Bartlett Corners Booster Station Decommissioning 
CNR Designation L.I. #20531-57896 
Original Designation: $166,950 
Current Project Status: This project was included in the First Selectman’s FY26 CIP plan; our request to 
have the designated funds appropriated was approved at the September 9th Board of Selectmen meeting, 
September 10th Board of Finance meeting, and October 6th RTM meeting, funds will be available on 
October 21st. 
Project Background: In 2006, the Town constructed water system improvements that enhanced water 
pressures and fire flows to the Quaker Hill area of Waterford. Included in this project were a new 2500 
gpm capacity water booster pumping station near the intersection of Old Colchester and Old Norwich 
Roads, and a 1.5 million gallon pre-cast, pre-stressed concrete water storage tank constructed on Rogers 
Hill. From 1977 up to 2006, the Bartlett Corners Hydro-pneumatic Station served a small high service area 
on a hill in the northeast corner of Waterford consisting of approximately 20 residential customers on 
Lathrop Road, Lower Bartlett Road, Upper Bartlett Road, Pepperidge Road and South Bartlett Road.  Once 
the new Quaker Hill water system improvements were activated in 2006, the Bartlett Corners Station was 
inactivated however not fully decommissioned. In 2009 a decommissioning report was prepared which 
identified costs of $105,000 to properly decommission the station. This project has been identified within 
previous CIPs. Utilizing the Engineering News Record’s Construction Costs Index inflation factor of 1.59 
from 11/2009 to 11/2024, the current decommissioning costs estimate is $166,950.  
10. Water Tank Asset Management Program 
CNR Designation L.I. # 20531-57895 
Original Designation: $46,222 
Current Project Status: This project was included in the First Selectman’s FY26 CIP plan; our request to 
have the designated funds appropriated was approved at the September 9th Board of Selectmen meeting, 
September 10th Board of Finance meeting, and October 6th RTM meeting, funds will be available on 
October 21st. 

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Project Background: The Town of Waterford owns three water storage tanks, the 750,000 gallon Fargo 
Tank, the 300,000 gallon Vauxhall tank and the 1.25 Million gallon Rogers Hill tank. In 2024 the Fargo 
Road Tank refurbishment project was completed; prior to this renovation, the Fargo Road water tank had 
its original coat of paint, which had far exceeded its useful life expectancy by approximately 10 years. This 
work was necessary to preserve the Town’s significant investment in its infrastructure and to extend the 
life of its asset. A Water Tank Management Program for these valuable assets would preserve the 
significant investment the Town has made in water storage tanks by guaranteeing routine inspections 
and maintenance of the water storage tanks does not fall behind, thus improving the reliability of the 
system. A sustainable water tank management solution also makes budgeting easier as initial repair costs 
can be spread out over a few years if necessary and all future interior and exterior renovation costs are 
included. Our intent is to initiate a funding schedule that would enroll the three water storage tanks in a 
Tank Asset Management program progressively, beginning with Fargo Road in FY26, this tank will not 
require any Upfront Renovation costs to enroll in the program, only annual Maintenance plan costs.  
Sewer Development & Maintenance Fund Projects 
11. SCADA System Upgrade Design/Build 
L.I. # 24431-57766  
Approved Task Order: $147,600.00 + $19,200 change order in March: $166,800 
Current Project Status:  
As of 10/1/2025 
• 
Completion of electrical design (60%++) with QA review. 
• 
Issue of electrical design 
• 
INST tech memo and Visio diagram due 2-3 weeks. 
Our electrical contractor reviewed the required changes needed to move the SCADA system to the data 
closet in the main building, a proposal totaling $12,977 was received on 10/6/2025. There is a three week 
lead time on procurement of the panel. 
Project Background: The current SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) system has 
experienced multiple failures over the past several months, which has necessitated calling in the entire 
crew to canvas the pumps stations on at least one occasion while the system was brought back online; 
additionally two different software programs used to operate the system are no longer supported and 
the hardware has exceeded its useful life. The Commission has entered into a design-build contract with 
Wright Pierce, our on-call engineering firm, to replace the failing system. The new system platform will be 
Ignition, a software system found and piloted by one of our current Maintenance Operators and 
presented to the Commission over the past few years. Additionally the communication between stations 
to the maintenance shop/Municipal Complex will be accomplished over a closed zero-tunnel cellular 
network with radio redundancy. The Commission approved the proposal from Wright-Pierce for this 
project in August of 2024, the cellular network work is outside of this proposal and is being handled by 
Utility Commission staff. An amendment was discussed at the December meeting with a representative 
from Wright-Pierce and involved avoiding duplicative efforts in terms of IT infrastructure/resources that 
the Town could provide the Commission, including options for fiber connectivity, data storage, and 
virtualized hosts. A final amendment to the scope of the project was received on March 26, 2025 after 
much discussion, an addition to the scope was made to host a documentation management portal for 
ease of management for all Utility Commission documentation moving forward. The total cost for the 
change of scope is an additional $19,200 to their original approved task order and a timeline extension of 
6-8 weeks as a result of the agreed upon scope changes. The changes to the scope will net long term 
savings to the Commission over the life of the SCADA system due to the elimination of the $2,000 
monthly cost for a separate fiber internet connection which over an anticipated 7 year life of the system 
equates to a cost savings of over $150,000 in internet connection fees alone, amongst other reoccurring 
costs for data storage and back up. 

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12. Water and Wastewater Standards and Specifications Update 
L.I. # 24431-52121 
Approved Task Order: $36,800.00 
Current Project Status: No updates on this project at this time. Waterford sent the draft standards and 
specs to New London for their initial comments on May 13, 2025. Due to staffing shortages and some 
reorganization in New London this cooperative project is on hold. 
Project Background: The current Water and Wastewater Standard and Specifications the Utility 
Commission uses are significantly outdated and require updating. This project is being cost-shared with 
the City of New London.  
Utility Commission Operational Projects 
• 
All wastewater collection system components and equipment are operational with the exception of the 
following components: 
• 
Harvey Ave Update:  pump repair is complete delivery will be coordinated with retrieval of pump one 
at Evergreen. 
• 
Evergreen Pump One: The pump is making a ticking noise and is still has a percentage of the warranty 
left, WUC staff removed the suction elbow and verified that there were no foreign objects lodged in 
the pump. The pump will be pulled when the Harvey Ave pump is delivered so it can be inspected 
and repaired if needed. 
• 
Oil Mill Generator: The station is operational with a rental standby generator in place, the signed 
contract was sent to our Cummins rep on August 13th to initiate the replacement of the generator. 
Lead time is 20-25 weeks, no new updates at this time as we continue to wait for delivery. 
• 
Asset Management update: Assistant Director to provide an update. 
• 
Municipal Waterworks Meetings: a meeting is scheduled for October 16th 
 
Respectfully Submitted, 
Jill N. Stevens 
Director of Utilities