The Grosse Hill Township Public Services Commission confirmed an emergency purchase of an influent flow meter for the townshipwastewater treatment plant at its meeting, citing compliance needs tied to the plantAdministrative Consent Order and recent meter and pump failures.

The purchase was authorized under the townshipemergency-purchase policy and will be handled as a change order to work under the contractor Sorensen Gross, staff said. The commission voted by voice to confirm the action.

Why it matters: State regulator EGLE requires the plant to have reliable flow data for sampling and chlorine dosing, and the township must demonstrate the new final clarifier meets design performance as part of the ACO. Without an operating influent meter, staff said, the plant cannot complete performance certification or provide consistently accurate compliance data.

Ryan, wastewater treatment plant manager, told the commission the planthad been operating without a functioning inline mag influent meter for about a year. "We had a mag meter on our influent, and it went bad about a year ago," he said, and staff installed a clamp-on Doppler meter that later became unusable after downstream piping and concrete lining were changed as part of the ACO work.

Derek, township manager, said the influent meter replacement was originally part of the large ACO contract but had been removed and is now being restored to the ACO scope because it is essential for compliance testing and clarifier certification. "We can't do that PCP without having [the influent meter] in operation," he said.

Staff and contractors described two related problems at the plant:

- Meter failures: The influent mag meter shorted out and the temporary Doppler meter stopped working after piping changes; the effluent flow meter also shorted because of water damage and will require a more complex replacement process and a Part 41 permit. Replacing the effluent meter requires confined-space work and, possibly, bypass pumping, staff said.

- Clarifier and pump issues: The new final clarifier cannot be used at full capacity because secondary sludge pumps are not reliably priming. Ryan and Derek said the pumps were supplied and installed with a vertical orientation that has produced recurring priming losses. The contractor recommended and is scheduled to install an automatic pre-watering/priming device that will prefill pump casings before the pumps start; staff said that work is due this week and that the contractor is performing corrections at its own cost.

The commission also heard that the township has involved legal counsel to press the contractor to correct pump-priming and installation defects; Derek said the township has asked the contractor to either fix the equipment or remove and replace it if corrective work fails.

In related operational challenges, Ryan reported a two-week power-quality study is underway after rooftop HVAC equipment and a variable-frequency drive were damaged by voltage events. UIS SCADA logged nearly 100 voltage ''events'' in the first 24 hours of monitoring, and staff said they will present the study to DTE for follow-up; Ryan said the plant has experienced VFD failures and other faults that staff suspect are caused by outside voltage fluctuations.

What the commission decided: The commission formally confirmed the emergency purchase of the influent flow meter and asked staff to proceed with ordering and scheduling the installation. Commissioners asked staff to return with timelines and cost details for the effluent meter replacement and for the pump-priming fix.

Next steps: Staff will order the influent mag meter and report installation timing to the commission. The effluent meter replacement will require separate permitting (Part 41) and a separate procurement timeline; Veolia, the plant operator, and C. Raines (the project engineer) will continue coordinating responses to EGLE as the township completes remaining ACO obligations. EGLE's formal response to the township's remedial plan was pending at the meeting.

Discussion versus decision: The record separates discussion (technical options, causes of failures, contractor responsibility) from formal action (commission confirmation of the emergency purchase); commissioners and staff repeatedly emphasized that some corrective work remains in process and that additional procurement and permitting will follow.