5.5. ERMUSR 12-09-2003 Elk River
Municipal Utilities
322 King Avenue phone: 763.441.2020
Elk River,MN 55330 Fax:763.4418099
December 1, 2003
To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission
John Dietz
Jerry Takle
James Tralle
From: Bryan Adams
Subject: Water Issues
Elk River Municipal Utilities has been awarded the 2002 Water Fluoridation Quality Award
by the Minnesota Department of Health for maintaining optional water fluoridation. Attached
is the Minnesota Department of Health cover letter and award certificate. Dave Berg, and the
employees of the Water Department, continue to do a good job in their water treatment
efforts. It is interesting to note that tooth decay is actually rising, due to the increased
consumption of bottled water which contains no fluoride.
The last couple of commission meetings, staff has briefly mentioned the Water Department
going to an on-call status. The attached outline titled "Water On-Call Issues" was discussed
with the five affected water department employees and the details have been worked out to
everyone's satisfaction. The cost of going to on-call status is approximately $22,000
annually. There remains one fairness issue that needs to be addressed—that being,
compensation for the Water Superintendent. Previously Dave Berg, Water Superintendent,
has handled after hour calls with no additional compensation because he was an exempt
employee. It is desirable to have five people on call, so the employee is on call only one week
per month. With that criteria, the Water Superintendent would remain in the on-call rotation
until we grow to the point where we have five employees on call. Because we are paying the
employees to be on-call, should we also pay the supervisor as well when he is on call? On-
call pay is eight hour pay at time and a half per week of on-call. If a holiday falls within the
on-call week, compensation will be two hours at double time per holiday. When an employee
is called out, they are paid two hours minimum at appropriate overtime pay. I would
recommend the supervisor be paid the on-call provision but not the call-out provision. The
difficulty will be to do it without jeopardizing his exempt employee status and not setting
other precedence's.
M I N N E S O T A
MDH
DEPARTMENT or HEALTH
Protecting maintaining and improving the health of all Minnesotans
November, 2003
CONGRATULATIONS!
Your Minnesota community has maintained optimal water fluoridation for all twelve months of
2002 as identified in the Water Fluoridation Reporting System of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.
Minnesota was the first state to legislate municipal fluoridation (regardless of community
population size) in 1967 and continues to be proud of our wide spread acceptance of this
equitable, safe, inexpensive and effective public health method to prevent tooth decay.
Currently, more than 3,900,000 Minnesotans are privileged to be drinking fluoridated water in
large part because of dedicated community leaders and the conscientious and diligent work of
their community water operators.
The success of water fluoridation has benefited all children as well as adults and seniors. Thank
you for your part in providing this wonderful public health measure to your Minnesota neighbors
and friends.
Sincerely,
•
Dianne M. and/enrich
Commissioner
P.O. Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
,.eneral Information: (651) 215-5800 • TDD/TTY: (651) 215-8980 • Minnesota Relay Service. (800) 627-3529 • www.health.statc.ntaus
For directions to any oldie MDH locations,call (651) 215-5800 •An equal opportunity employer
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH &HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service
'''
Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention(CDC)
Division of Oral Health
4770 Buford Hwy, F-10
Chamblee,GA 30341
July 3, 2003
RE: 2002 Water Fluoridation Quality Award
Fluoridation of community drinking water is a major factor responsible for the decline in dental
caries (tooth decay) during the second half of the 20th century. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) recognizes community water fluoridation as one of ten great public health
achievements of the 20th century. Beginning with Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1945, community
water fluoridation has expanded to over 6,400 water systems adjusting their fluoride
concentration. In the United States, over 162 million people now have access to fluoridated
drinking water.
The safety and effectiveness of fluoridation depends upon how consistently the water treatment
operator maintains the optimal fluoride concentration. To assist state and tribal fluoridation
managers with monitoring the quality of water fluoridation, CDC designed an Internet-based
database called the Water Fluoridation Reporting System (WFRS), which allows managers to
enter monthly quality data for all fluoridated water systems under their jurisdiction.
Based upon data entered into WFRS, your water system is recognized for providing optimally
fluoridated drinking water for all 12 months of 2002. Congratulations! Your dedicated efforts
have resulted in improved oral health for your family, neighbors, and community.
Please accept the enclosed certificate as a token of appreciation for providing optimally
fluoridated drinking water in 2002, and we hope to see you repeat this achievement for 2003!
Sincerely yours,
David M. Apanian, P.E.
National Fluoridation Engineer
Division of Oral Health
National Center for Chronic Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion
•
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Elk River Municipal Utilities
Water On - Call Issues
1 a How to Pay — Same as lineman
b What about supervisor on call
2 a Communication Water cell phone on call — Same as Electric
b Modify on call sheet to GRE
3 a Schedule &When to start
b Scott, Ric, Dick, Dave
c Steve -- When will he be ready
d Flexability&trade off for on call personnal
4 a Vehicle &Equipment
b What truck Scott's- Ric's?
c What equipment
d Water Policy
e Expectations
f Size of in house Water Valves
5 a Training
b System Operation and Configeration
c Update staff as system changes —System map with pins
Clip Board at each well with settings?
Water On Call