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Minutes of 1/9/24 Sewer Commission meeting– via Zoom (Video Conference) 
Attendees: Chair- John Reynolds, Vice-Chair- Brett Ramsden, Clerk- Mike Nault, Members: Dave MacDonald and 
Mike Mackin, DPW Director- Bill Bernard, Business Manager-Paula Bertram, Minutes Clerk- Jane Ranley 
Guests:  Kevin Olson & Matt Corbin (Wright Pierce), Robert Lilley (CTE) 
John opened the meeting at 6:04pm. and did a roll call of attendees. The Commission began the meeting by saying 
the Pledge of Allegiance. 
PUBLIC COMMENT- Dave thanked all for the birthday wishes and hoped all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New 
Year. He added in regard to the recent storms, he was very, very impressed with Bill and his DPW staff. It was an 
outstanding job, despite not having all the equipment he needed.  
ANNOUNCEMENTS - none 
APPOINTMENTS – Kevin Olson & Matthew Corbin-Wright Pierce – Potential Rerouting of Wastewater from 
Fitchburg to Leominster Discussion- Matt stated about 12 years ago, the Sewer Commission asked Wright Pierce 
to look at moving the flow on certain streets from Fitchburg to Leominster, due to increasing rates from Fitchburg. 
Recently, the Commission asked Wright Pierce to again look at updated costs in two areas. The first area is Zone 10 
of the CWMP, which is east of the split of Chase & 2A, at the gas station. Originally, the flow was to be split between 
Fitchburg and Leominster, but 2016, it was determined it made sense to just send it all to Leominster. The other area 
was Zone 4, which is Electric Ave and north of Mass Ave which includes White St. (beyond Walmart complex), 
Eastern and Upland Streets. Recently there was a poll for extending sewer to those streets but it failed the 2/3 
majority vote. They looked at whether they could redirect the flow going to Fitchburg, down Rt. 13 towards Whalom to 
Leominster. Matt said it could be done but it would involve redoing pump stations at Electric and Twin City.  They 
estimated the 20 year savings of redirecting the flow would be $2 Million vs the construction cost of $6 Million, so 
they do not think it would be cost effective. Kevin said he is curious about how things are going with renegotiating the 
IMA with Leominster.  John stated that was a good overview and did not think it would have been cost effective even 
3 years ago. Dave asked if there would be any cost savings if they just do a portion of the upgrading. Matt replied 
they did not look at that but they would need to see if Twin City and Electric Ave stations could take additional flow 
with existing or slightly upgraded pumps vs new pump stations. He noted the pumps were generally in good shape a 
few years ago but they may be close to their lifetime.  Dave noted Fitchburg will be increasing rates for the next 5 
years and Paula confirmed they will increase 7% each year. Dave added that a resident asked about adding sewer to 
the West St. and Woodruff properties. John noted there is sewer on West St. from Leominster Rd to Sunny Hill. Matt 
said they did not escalate the Fitchburg costs over the 20 years or figure in the 7% increase for the next 5 years. 
Kevin added they can make that adjustment and asked what Leominster’s plan would be for the next 20 years--is it 
possible that Fitchburg and Leominster increase similarly over the next 20 years?  Matt noted that Fitchburg is under 
a consent decree and they still have many phases of sewer separation to go, along with treatment plant upgrades. 
Kevin added they have been working with Leominster and they just wrapped up phase 3 of their treatment plant 
upgrade. Fitchburg still has some sizeable upgrades to do also. John asked Matt and Kevin to look at the additional 
7% per year. Dave asked Matt if they could turn some of the waste to Leominster without a main trunk line, by 
gravity. Matt said he would look at that and there may be some redirecting of force mains for Electric and Twin City. 
Dave said he would like to see the breakeven point. Paula stated there will be a substantial increase initially -more 
than 10% to start. She added that they need to look at any Capital projects that Fitchburg and Leominster will be 
doing, because Lunenburg will need to share in that cost.  Paula said they will know more information in a month or 2 
and the Commission agreed to hold off looking at the numbers until they meet with Leominster. Kevin said they are 
happy to look at the new draft when the Commission wants.  
CURRENT BUSINESS -  
Minutes of 12/12/23- 
Motion: Mike M.                                                                                                                                 Second: Mike N. 
To approve the minutes of 12/12/23.   
Roll Call Vote: Mike N.-aye, Dave-aye, Brett-aye, Mike M.-aye, and John-aye. 
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Request for Extension – 1 Main St. – John noted this has to do with the grease trap at Bad Larry’s and the landlord 
is asking for an extension to 1/29. Paula reported he hired a plumber and they cameraed the lines. A plumbing 
engineer is in the process of evaluating the grease trap. Bill and Paula agreed to granting the extension. 
Motion: Dave M.                                                                                                                                  Second: Mike M.  
To accept the proposal and extend the landlord for Bad Larry’s to 1/29. 
Roll Call Vote: Mike N.-aye, Dave-aye, Mike M.-aye, Brett-aye, and John-aye. 
 
Business Manager Report –-Billing/Software Issues—Paula reported the billing/software issues still continue and 
Munis has several problems. Many of the bill prints were incorrect – the previous balance, interest and payments are 
off on those bills. Also the applied credits did not work correctly. She worked with Peggy Wintle today and they were 
able to make adjustments, mainly with irrigation credits. This fixed the existing accounts but if she were to run the 
bills now, they would still be wrong.  Development is working on a fix and she is due to send bills on 2/1. They cannot 
currently run demands, which development is also working on. This is a loss of revenue because late bills have a $10 
fee added. There are currently 238 bills still outstanding, which is $2,300 they are losing. Munis is working on it and a 
due date for the fix. Another issue is with interest calculating incorrectly on some bills. Paula contacted Tom Alanzo 
as an IT person and he met with John, Paula, and Dave. Tom, Heather, Dan, Paula and Casey from Suzor IT met 
remotely with members of Munis to discuss the issues. Tom requested Munis put together a spreadsheet with the 
issues, who is assigned to them and dates to be fixed, asking for updates daily. They have been getting the updates 
but no fixes. Paula stated she has spent more than 400 hours on this problem. They found out they should be logging 
daily into Tyler support for fixes and patches, which also did not work, but have since been fixed. She has also joined 
some forums for Tyler Technologies and she was astounded by the number of issues they have. Paula noted the 
new Fitchburg bill was wrong so they are also having problems. Dave asked when the problem started and Paula 
replied she reported it on 11/6. Dave said he is upset that Paula had to spend 400 hours of their time trying to fix this. 
He is glad that Heather and Tom have gotten involved. Paula will need to print 1,000 dummy bills to see if they are 
correct, before she does the bill run in February. Dave pointed out the software printed the wrong mailing address on 
the bills, which caused more problems. The Commissioners agreed they are upset that it is still not fixed and a bill 
should be sent to Heather for reimbursement.  
Update on System Maintenance & Upgrades – CTE – Robert Lilley – John introduced Robert, who started at CTE 
in September and noted he is doing a great job. Robert stated he is a wastewater operator, has had some past 
experience with this collection system and he has a good idea about the upcoming issues.  Since December, he 
reported there have quite a few pump clogs at a variety of stations. Leominster Rd. has had multiple clogging on 1 
pump and smaller submersible grinder pumps getting bound up and clogged. They need pump outs of the wet wells 
at 6 stations. The Dana St. dialer is not holding a charge and needs to be replaced. They have been cleaning out the 
clogged pumps and everything has been functional. They are waiting for new Control Panels for West St. and Francis 
St.  John asked if there is a lot of debris at the bottom of the wet wells, such as flushable wipes that are not flushable 
and Robert replied yes, along with nylon or elastic.  The stations due for pump outs are Dana, Mass 1, Leominster, 
Meadowwoods, West and Francis. Paula finally got a quote from Hall pump for $7,500 plus disposal for all but 
Meadowwoods. Robert said they could pump it down to its lowest level and then skim the grease off. Paula said she 
has not received a quote from Clean Basins. Robert noted Meadowwoods and Mass 2 have the biggest problem with 
grease– usually due to disposals. Paula stated they had a clog cleared at Mass 2, which is the first one from the 
center. John asked if they should discuss adding a grease interceptor at Meadowwoods. Robert said possibly but the 
station had not been pumped in over a year and a half. John noted Robert replaced a solenoid on 12/22 and asked if 
they need to reorder a spare.  Robert replied they have a complete spare kit but will get some more spares. Mike N. 
asked when they recommend pumping the well and Robert replied annually but it is based on visual. Paula noted 
they haven’t been doing that. Brett asked if he saw buildup of grease at Mass 1. Robert replied not a lot but Dana 
shows the most grease, which has to do with the restaurants.   
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Capital Planning – Paula reported they have spent $52,559 on Capital this year and they budgeted $95,408. She 
noted that Wade (general manager at CTE) sent over a list of things to look at and Paula asked Robert what the top 
priorities are. Robert replied the pumps and motors at the 3 largest stations should be replaced over the next 6 years, 
with Mass 1 being the priority this year. Other priorities would be the hatch cover for the wet well at Electric Ave. and 
the dialer at Dana St. Paula added the wet well cleaning is #1 priority. She noted that they have not been putting 
money into Capital and she wants to bring the stations up to where they need to be.  In FY25, they are looking at 
replacing generators and Robert agreed Electric Ave. and Twin City would be priorities. He suggested looking in the 
storage shed to see what pumps are there and noted a few are interchangeable. Robert said they are using the 
Maintenance Plan as a guideline. Dave suggested getting generators from the same vendor and Robert noted the 
ones at Francis and Mass 3 are Cats.  Paula stated that Robert has been doing a lot of extra things at the stations 
and she appreciates all his work. The Commissioners discussed doing visits to the stations on 1/12. Paula noted that 
in the past years they have not spent more than $25K on Capital and they will spend the $95K budgeted for FY24. 
However looking forward through FY32, she is looking at spending up to $120K per year on Capital Expenditures. 
They need to look at a rate increase based on increases from Fitchburg and Leominster but need to also factor in 
upgrades as well. Dave pointed out they funded the Maintenance program with $100K per year but it was not all 
spent. Paula said she is working through the budget, looking at all the accounts and fund transfers which have not 
been tapped into. They need to look at what is in those accounts and put it towards upgrades at the stations. Any 
money not spent went into retained earnings. Paula and Bill have been discussing what needs to be done at the 
pump stations, including groundskeeping and wet well cleaning annually.  
Leominster Intermunicipal Agreement Negotiations- Paula stated what the major changes are to the IMA and 
pointed out that the changes are in Sections 9 & 10, with no big changes to the rest. Dave said he wished they could 
break up the fee increases over 2 or 3 years.  Paula noted they are asking Leominster for 100 hours of maintenance 
services each fiscal year, free of charge, with 30 day advanced notice. The services would include inspection 
technologies, cameraing, and jetting of lines.  Also, in the event of an emergency, they would want Leominster to 
assist with personnel and equipment. They have added an indemnification clause for holding Leominster harmless 
when they assist. John asked if they discussed the changes to Sections 9 & 10 in the previous meeting with 
Leominster and Paula replied no. Dave’s thought was if Lunenburg is going to be charged a rate similar to 
Leominster residents, then services should be provided too or give us a reduced rate. Paula noted the IMA will go to 
Counsel when they are finished with negotiations.  John asked to make a correction to Section 18-1 (connection 
charge), where they redlined a factor of 70% and Paula will correct that.  
Motion: Mike M.                                                                                                                                Second: Brett R. 
That the Commission authorize the Negotiating Committee to go to the next step with the town of Leominster 
and the IMA. 
Discussion: Paula suggested in the discussions with Leominster they make sure there are no looming large Capital 
projects coming forward in the next 10 years. If there are, that will change their approach to the budget.  
Roll Call Vote: Mike N.-aye, Brett-aye, Dave-aye, Mike M.-aye, and John-aye. 
 
Sewer Business Manager Job Description- Paula said Bill talked to Julie and she said the Personnel Committee 
will be reviewing the revised job description at the 1/17 meeting. Paula hoped they will vote on it also.  Some 
Commissioners will attend and Paula will post the agenda.  
 
PUBLIC COMMENT – Dave urged people in the Water District to attend the Water District meeting on 1/10 to vote 
on articles. Paula asked to start working on the budget at the first February meeting.  Paula and Bill will go through 
the numbers prior to the meeting.    
 
UPCOMING SCHEDULED SEWER COMMISSION ACTIVITIES: 
January 30, 2024 @ 6pm – Regular Meeting, Remote Participation  
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February 13, 2024 @ 6pm – Regular Meeting, Remote Participation 
February 27, 2024 @ 6pm - Regular Meeting, Remote Participation 
March 12, 2024 @ 6pm - Regular Meeting, Remote Participation 
 
 
Motion:  Mike M.                                                                                                                                 Second: Brett R. 
To adjourn at 7:35pm                    Roll Call Vote: Mike N.-aye, Dave-aye, Mike M.-aye, Brett-aye, and John-aye. 
 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Jane L. Ranley 
Minutes Clerk