After taking a tour of the sewer facility on May 2, the Board of Sewer Commissioners held its first formal meeting last Thursday as the authority over the plans, policies and rates of the town sewer department.

In its first order of business, the board established its officers. Marilyn Jordan was made chairman, while Jim Giberti and Donna Bronk were named vice chairmen. Susan Sweeney was made the clerk.

The board met with Water Pollution Control Facility Director Guy Campinha for more than an hour to discuss the day-to-day and long-term operations of the sewer department.

Campinha said that currently the department is working on eliminating odors from one of the front basins at the sewer facility on Tony's Lane.

He said because of the harsh winter, 500,000 gallons of raw sewage turned anaerobic when the basin froze over in the winter. Because the liquid in the basin became toxic, it was unable to be brought into the plant. Campinha said the department has been taking steps to alleviate the problem and hopes to have the odor issue solved by the end of this week.

“We need to create odors to get rid of odors,” he said of the process.

The board also discussed setting a target date of the 2017 fiscal year (which begins July 1, 2016) for the setting of new sewer rates.

Currently, Wareham sewer users pay a flat annual $596 per EDU (equivalent dwelling units). A single-family home is charged one EDU, while a two-unit duplex is generally charged two EDUs. Businesses are similarly scheduled. For example, restaurants are charged one EDU per 12 seats; gas stations are charged one EDU per service island.

The Commissioners have adopted a draft policy that proposes a blended system that bills all users a flat rate and then a usage based fee on top of the flat rate. The dollar amounts of those rates have yet to be determined.