Minutes of the Timbers Water & Sanitation District Board Meeting April 10, 2017

by | May 12, 2017 | Board Meetings, Minutes | 0 comments

Members Present:      The following Directors were present and acting:

  • Ron Krall, President
  • Gary Osteen, Vice President
  • Brock Knez (absent)
  • Ash Lesniak
  • Dusty Atkinson (absent)

Assistant District Manager:

  • Kasey O’Halloran

District Manager:

  • Jodi Lightfoot (absent)

Guest:

  • Mary Andre, CDC Engineering
  • Melinda Sherman, Sharp, Steinke, Sherman & Engle

 

Call to Order:                 The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of Timbers Water & Sanitation District was called to order by President Ron Krall on April 10, 2017 at 5:38 pm, noting a quorum was present.

 

Minutes:                            The Board reviewed the regular meeting minutes of the March, 2017 meeting. Upon motion duly made by Ash, seconded by Gary and unanimously, it was

RESOLVED to approve the meeting minutes.

 

Financials:                       The March 2017 financial statements were reviewed.  Upon motion duly made by Ash, seconded by Gary and unanimously, it was

RESOLVED to approve the financials.

 

Invoices:                           Invoices for March 2017 were reviewed.  Upon motion duly made by Ron, seconded by Gary and unanimously, it was

RESOLVED to approve payment of the open invoices.

 

Transfer of funds from TWSD to TWSWA Enterprise:

Upon motion duly made by Ash, seconded by Gary, it was unanimously approved to transfer $5,000 to the Enterprise fund.

 

Old Business:                 Topics tabled until May meeting – Resolution and gift honoring Ellen, CDC’s contract for the Sanitation System and acquisition of property for the Sanitation System.          

 

 

Wastewater Treatment Plant:

  • Design & Engineering Grant – Ron and Gary signed the final Grant paperwork and Melinda will send out on Tuesday, April 11th. This will allow for the Grant to be closed by April 13th.
  • Report from Mary at CDC – Mary believes that the Board should contest the PEL limits placed on the permit Timbers was given. She spoke with a regulations expert, Pat Nelson (CH2MHill), who stated that there are a number of arguments that can be used to contest the PELs. All of these options will be included in CH2MHill s report. The sentiment of the Board was to pursue appeal of the PELs, pending review of the entire CH2MHill report in May.
  • Discharge Permit Modification – John Fitzgerald will be submitting the Discharge Monitoring reports.
  • Mechanisms of Paying for Indebtedness for WWTF:
    • Issue: Advice of counsel is that all members of the District must be taxed equally for repayment of bonded indebtedness, even if members don’t receive the service the indebtedness funds. The Board had assumed that Timbers Preserves members would not be taxed for the sanitation system indebtedness.
    • Options:
      • The District taxes all the property, including the Preserves, for the indebtedness. All the property is taxed at the same mill levy.
      • The District taxes all the property, including the Preserves, for the indebtedness. All the property is taxed at the same mill levy. Each year the District repays Preserve members for the taxes they paid. The District would assess non-Preserve members a fee sufficient to repay the Preserves. Preliminary calculations indicate that to repay the Preserves for its portion of debt payments, non-Preserve members would have to be assessed ~$400-450 annually (total approximate $100,000). This repayment would have to be approved annually, and there could be no guarantee to Preserve homeowners that repayment would occur every year.
      • Create a Wastewater Enterprise. The Enterprise would receive loans and grants for the sanitation system reconstruction, and would pay for these in fees, not property tax. Timbers Preserve would not participate in the Enterprise.
      • It is the opinion of counsel that the 2014 ballot measure allows the District to issue a Revenue Bond and repay the indebtedness through fees. The District, therefore, could assess sufficient fees on users of the sanitation service to repay the indebtedness. It is estimated that the maximum annual fee would be approximately $1500-$2500 depending on the term, rate and total indebtedness.
      • Timbers Preserve is removed from the district and enters into a service agreement for water with the District.
      • The District is divided into two Districts, one for water, one for Sanitation.
    • Melinda is going to research the options. In addition to the above options, she will see to what extent it is possible to base fees on characteristics that are surrogates of sanitation use , for example, square footage or number of toilets and sinks. (ACTION)
    • USDA Funding Options – USDA will not use the Timbers income survey; they will use the census median household income, which grants the District a 2.75% interest rate. David Carter said that the USDA can put together a pretty attractive funding package (grant vs. loan).

Water Tank Project:

Jodi was out sick so the Board will get an update at next month’s meeting.

 

Zirkel Wireless enclosure:

Ron has asked that this topic be tabled until the next meeting. Ash offered to send Ron the information he gathered on contracts while working with Zirkel as a homeowner. Research should be done to find out whether Zirkel has or needs a permit for their enclosure, how many residents of Timbers are served by this antenna, and do a market study to see what the appropriate amount of the lease should be. Kasey will email the lease to Melinda (ACTION).

 

Woolverton past due fees:

Melinda researched what had been done with Woolverton in the past. She had originally written a letter to Woolverton’s attorney. She has since called this attorney but was advised that she will need to work directly with Mike Woolverton going forward. The Board asked Melinda to write a letter to Mike asking for 20% of the amount due by April 30 and get a release signed by Mike. (ACTION)

 

New Business                Gary Osteen was temporarily appointed the Assistant Secretary of the Timbers Board of Directors. The motion was made by Ron and seconded by Ash and unanimously approved.  This was done so that Gary would be able to sign the Grant paperwork.

 

With business concluded and upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously approved, it was

RESOLVED to adjourn the regular meeting the Timbers Water & Sanitation District Board of Directors at 6:59 pm, this 10th day of April 2017.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Kasey O’Halloran

Assistant District Manager

Timbers Water and Sanitation District