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GENERAL MANAGER'S UPDATE #46

August 18th, 2012

VRUC GENERAL MANAGER’S UPDATE:

The following is the response from a VRUC Board Member when questioned about the construction going on at the VRUC office: “The VRUC office building and shop is getting too crowded with file cabinets and spare parts for water and sewer systems.  So it was decided to close the gap between the garage and the office with a simple enclosure on a slab foundation.  The field crew office and the parts storage and repair shop will be moved into the expansion area.  A shower will be installed so the crew can clean up after working in open sewage and manholes. The VRUC Board wanted to keep contamination away from the office staff and customers that come to the office to pay their bills.  This will also reduce contamination of the field crew’s vehicles since they will no longer have to drive home to shower and change cloths.  It will also protect their families that have to ride in their vehicles.  The file cabinets will be moved into the existing conference room and the existing shop will be converted into a conference/meeting room.  The VRUC requested three bids from contractors and accepted the lowest bid.”  Plans are to complete this project in 2013.

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So far this year we have had two water main breaks caused by the excessive heat and drought.  The first break drained the water tank to a low level, and VRUC put a water boil advisory into effect until the tank could refill.  The local radio station was immediately notified and aired the advisory.  It was also aired on Channel 19 News.  The information was posted on our website and our Facebook page.  We also notified the POA and they sent a message out via their list serve.  But, while informing the POA of the message that needed to sent, a portion of that message was not received.  Therefore the entire message did not go out.  That is one of the drawbacks when sending a message via a third person.  No way was this the fault of the POA.  The POA and the VRUC did all that could be done, the list serve notification system was an extra step that just did not work to perfection this time.  VRUC has tried, unsuccessfully, for years to collect email address and establish a notification system such as the POA has.  If you would like to receive first hand warnings, advice and/or information please give your email address to VRUC instead of the depending on the POA.  Whenever there is a water/sewer line break, either with or without a boil advisory, I want my people out in the field working on solving the problem as fast as possible.  I’m sure the vast majority would agree that going door to door or calling each household to notify of an advisory would be entirely too cost prohibitive.  Although we went above and beyond what is required when notifying our customers, there were those who were unaware of the advisory.  Having said that, we are looking into different methods of emergency notification systems.  What we have found so far with these systems is only land lines will be automatically included.  This means the customer would be responsible for entering the cell phone number where they want the notification to be sent.  We will be researching this more closely in the near future and any information gathered will gladly be passed along to the customers.

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All phases of the sewer line replacement is in process now.  Even the restoration, and trimming the road cuts and preparing for blacktop have begun.  Blacktopping may be under way now, or possibly within the next 30 days, (weather permitting).  The dry summer has allowed us to stay on schedule as far as replacing the sewer pipe, but rain is needed in order for the disturbed dirt to settle and proper restoration to be completed.  This sewer program is a major undertaking for VRUC.  It cannot be completed with some minor inconveniences to our customer.  But all in all, the benefit of a new sewer system by far out weights the short time inconveniences experienced by all.  Again, I want to thank those who are understanding and appreciate the work being done.   

 

Thank You

Floyd Ogden

VRUC General Manager