Prepared by Todd Danielson
February 24, 2012

Avon Lake Municipal Utilities (ALMU) was established to provide a service to the citizens of Avon Lake—fresh, healthful drinking water to a resident’s service connection and wastewater collection and treatment to protect public health and the environment. We are a branch of City government and are a monopoly. That does not mean we do not care what our customers think about our service. Conversely, we care greatly.

Recently, ALMU hired Business Research Services (BRS), a local market research company, to conduct telephone interviews of a random sampling of 800 of our customers to receive their feedback on the quality of service ALMU provides, what else ALMU could do for them, and what their opinions were on a few initiatives ALMU was considering. Their feedback helps us determine how to provide the most appropriate level of service and we greatly appreciate their candid feedback and time. These customers represent approximately 10% of our service population within the City limits and yield a 3% margin of error for the study results.

So what did our customers tell us?

1. ALMU receives high rankings for Quality of Water and Customer Service

Ninety percent (90%) of our customers felt that the quality of water ALMU provides is “Good” or “Excellent” on a five point scale of “Poor”, “Fair”, “Average”, “Good”, or “Excellent”. On the same scale, 92% of those having an opinion ranked our Customer Service as “Good” or “Excellent” and 94% of those having an opinion ranked our Billing Services as “Good” or “Excellent”. Even better, 95% of those having an opinion on Service Personnel ranked them as “Good” or “Excellent”.

ALMU strives to provide high quality service to our customers. We appreciate you recognizing that we are doing so and will continue to put our best foot forward.

2. ALMU receives good rankings for Communications

Seventy-nine percent (79%) of our customers rated our communications efforts as “Good” or “Excellent”. Eleven percent (11%) was not sure about our communications efforts and just over 2% rated our communications as “Fair” or “Poor”. To us that shows we need to provide communications through multiple channels so that our customers not only have an opinion about our communications but also that it is a good opinion.

During the last year, ALMU has started providing a bi-monthly piece in The Press, frequent blogs on Avon Lake Patch, and posting on Facebook and Twitter. Between these and local media outlets’ news coverage ALMU was referenced more than 100 times in 2011.

3. Additional services or improvements

Overwhelmingly, 88% of our customers did not request ALMU provide any additional services or improvements. The one request that received a percentage above the margin of error was a request for ALMU to stop basements from flooding (4%).

ALMU is making significant progress toward preventing basement flooding. Through our Foundation Drain Sump Disconnection Program, our customers are helping to prevent at least 100,000 gallons of water from entering the sanitary sewer during a 2” rain event. In December, the ALMU Board approved funds to continue the program to potentially prevent an additional 300,000 gallons of water from entering the sanitary sewer during a 2” rain event. In 2012, ALMU will be working with the City to pass an ordinance to further prevent stormwater and groundwater from entering the sanitary sewer. Also, we installed four flow relief structures in February that will divert water in severely surcharged sanitary sewers to Lake Erie, rather than backing into basements. These diversions structures are only temporary and will help prevent basement backups while ALMU, the City, and customers work together to prevent basement flooding.

4. Upcoming projects

ALMU is the steward of our customers’ money. You elect our Board to serve as your proxy in determining how your money should be spent. During the interview, our customers were asked which procedures they would prefer ALMU employ on future projects, even it is cost a little more. A vast majority (79%) wants ALMU to purchase local materials and supplies for jobs, 65% wants ALMU to implement better wastewater treatment methods for the environment, and 60% wants ALMU to use energy efficient equipment. We will keep this in mind as we prepare new projects.

Overall, this survey was very helpful for ALMU to determine how to most appropriately serve our customers. We thank those that provided their input to the research company and we pledge to you that we will always strive to meet your needs. If you have any questions or comments, do not hesitate to call us at 440-933-6226 or email us at contact@avonlakewater.org. Our goal: healthy customers, healthy environment through sustainable water management.

(Left to Right) Freshmen Quinn Graehling and Nikolas Theofylaktos test their spaghetti bridge while engineers Joe Reitz and Jack Gaydar look on.

By Mark Christ February 24, 2012

Fifty-four students enrolled in Avon Lake High School’s Industrial Arts & Education Curriculum were challenged to see who could build the best “Spaghetti Bridges.” The contest was sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers to celebrate National Engineers Week.

Students had three days to plan, build, and test their bridges. To win, each crew had to build a bridge that would support the most weight, while adhering to building codes. Materials were thin spaghetti for bridge structures and Elmer’s School Glue for spot welding the strands together, All bridges had to be 3” tall, cover a span of 12”, and not weigh more than 150g. At test time, the crew added weights to the bridge. The bridge had to hold each weight for 5 seconds for the trial to count. The best bridge weight to weight supported won the prize for each trial.

Senior Michael Foley won 1st period competition. Mike plans to pursue a career in Aerospace Engineering at Rice University this fall.

Weighing in and winning were seniors Michael Foley, Cole VanMeter and Julia Vasu; juniors Alexander Davis and Maggie Kundtz; sophomores Stonewal Votruba and Tim Schleicher; and freshmen Alex Thieken, Ethan Bueck and Dylan Jensen. Winners received Camp Chairs and T-Shirts, compliments of “Al the Alligator.”

Judges were City Engineering Manager Joe Reitz, Avon Lake Municipal Utilities Engineering Services Manager Jack Gaydar, and Avon Lake High School Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock.

Seventy-one freshmen through senior year students are enrolled in the industrial arts and engineering curriculum which offers classes in Pre-Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing Technology, and (CAD) Engineering Drawing, Consumer Automotive, Electricity, Machine Woods, and Home Maintenance.

Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock calculates that about twenty of his students are planning to pursue careers in either computer, mechanical, biomedical, architectural aerospace, and combat engineering.

Senior Cole VanMeter and freshman Dylan Jensen won 3rd period competition. Cole is planning to enter the armed forces upon graduation.	Sophomores Tim Schleicher and Stonewall Votruba won the 4th period competition.
Freshmen Ethan Bueck and Alex Thieken won 2nd period competition.	Senior Julia Vasu won the 5th period competition. Julia plans to pursue a career in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Dayton University this fall.
Juniors Maggie Kundtz and Alexander Davis won the 6th period competition. Maggie plans to pursue an army career in combat engineering and Alex a career in engineering at LCCC upon graduation.	Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock earned bragging rights by testing his spaghetti bridge to the limit.

LORCO Dedicates Sanitary Sewer Project
They said it couldn’t be done!

By Mark Christ
January 28, 2012

At the early LORCO (Lorain County Rural Wastewater District) meetings in 1997, the residents told the newly formed Board that it would never complete the project. “That challenge really encouraged us to overcome all the obstacles that confronted us,” recalled LORCO President Jim McConnell.

The project, which had been scheduled for completion in November 2010, had been delayed by public meetings and unsuccessful lawsuits (two with Elyria and one with Eaton Township), easement and OEPA wetland issues, negotiations with contractors, who had not fulfilled their obligations, and record rainfalls that slowed down construction and restoration efforts.

Past Executive Director Fred Alspach and the board members, past and present. persevered, and on January 28th, 2012, they dedicated the Lorain County Rural Wastewater District’s Phase I Project, at the East Carlisle Building, Carlisle Township. The project includes approximately 37 miles of sanitary collection sewers and 13 pump stations in sections of Eaton and Carlisle Townships, and the 13 miles of sanitary sewer force main and auxiliary pumping stations that convey the wastewater to Avon Lake’s Water Pollution Control Center for treatment.

President McConnell said, “The board’s vision would not have become a reality, without the expertise of a number of key individuals.” Among them were Avon Lake Municipal Utilities Special Projects Advisor John Kniepper, who served as their “mentor on all matters relating to sanitary sewers.” Kniepper and the Avon Lake Board of Municipal Utilities worked closely with Bob Smallwood of GRW Engineering and the LORCO Board, to create a blueprint and obtain the financing that would make Phase I a reality.

He also thanked Tim Mahoney, General Manager of RLCWA (Rural Lorain County Water Authority) and Marcus Bryant, General Manager of LMRE (Lorain Medina Rural Electric), for helping LORCO Executive Director Rob Berner and ALMU Administrative Assistant Becky Haines to develop a successful business model for the rural utility. Haines reported that 600 homes have been connected to date. Berner estimated the total number of homes to be served at about 1,000.

McConnell cited four principals that he believes make rural utilities like LORCO successful: It’s a non-profit entity (no hidden costs); charges its customers by the tap instead of frontage; provides townships and villages with a plan for determining the best use of the land for agricultural, residential, and commercial development; and it protects the environment.

The project, which is being financed by a 30-year low interest loan from the OWDA (Ohio Water Development Authority) and $5 million in ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds, cost $27.7 million. The OWDA loan also allows property owners more flexible terms for financing their sewer tap and user fees.

Over 200 construction jobs were created by the project, and the residents of Eaton and Carlisle Townships now have a centralized sanitary sewer system that will meet all OEPA safe wastewater requirements, and will encourage economic growth in rural Lorain County. Words: 482 (Caption) A moment of triumph for Past Executive Director, Fred Alspach, President Jim McConnell, and Special Projects Advisor John Kniepper at the dedication of Lorain County Rural Wastewater District’s Phase I Project.