Members Present: The following Directors were present and acting:
- Ron Krall, President
- Gary Osteen, Vice President
- Brock Knez
- Ash Lesniak (absent)
- 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
- Gary Theander, local resident
- Kile Snyder, CH2MHill
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 January 22, 2018 at 5:50 pm, noting a quorum was present.
Minutes: The Board reviewed the regular meeting minutes of the December 2017 meeting and special January 3, 2018 meeting. Upon motion duly made by Ron and seconded by Brock and unanimously, it was
RESOLVED to approve the meeting minutes.
Financials: The December 2017 financial statements were reviewed. With such a large negative balance at the end of 2017 , Kasey is to check in to see if it will be necessary to report this to the state. (Action) Upon motion duly made by Brock and seconded by Ron and unanimously, it was
RESOLVED to approve the financials.
Invoices: Invoices for December 2017 were reviewed. Ron has requested that before the invoices are paid for engineering, Jodi review and approve. Upon motion duly made by Ron and seconded by Brock and unanimously, it was
RESOLVED to approve payment of the open invoices.
Transfer of funds from TWSD to TWSWA Enterprise:
Approved $5,000 transfer.
Old Business: Action items from December meeting: Ron will send a letter at the request of Greg Winkler to CDPHE requesting a speedy resolution to the PEL approval. Mary suggested it be addressed to Michelle Delaria, Permit Unit manager. The DOLA grant hearings are in mid-March and Greg indicated that it is imperative that CDPHE confirm the PEL limit and chiller decision so that at the grant hearings our application will have more definition. Ron stated that he will draft a letter, with the help of Mary and then he will circulate it to the Board. Ron will also send a thank you to Greg Winkler for his guidance and support at our December meeting. Greg asked for revisions (reformatting the numbers on the budget page and some clarity on the chiller and PEL limits) on the Grant and while CDC wanted to submit them back to Greg, Jodi has asked that they wait until property acquisition numbers are final. Mary suggests that they go ahead and submit them back to Greg just to keep it all processing. He will need these revisions before a day in February (Mary to confirm) to make the March hearing deadline. Ron will review the revisions and have the Board approve them within the week. (ACTION)
Sanitation System Project Update – CDC and CH2MHill had a 90% design meeting today. At that meeting they decided to add staging area and potential use of the access road for emergency fire access if necessary. The corner near the pond can be used as additional employee parking. The electrical service will be a single phase service. If in the future the chiller is required, there will be a need to bring in the three phase service from across the street. This will be a new service with a new meter. If a chiller would be required, an additional building will be required too. CDC is hoping CDPHE will drop that requirement. The generator is sized for the demand, capable to handle stage one and stage two equipment. John Fitzgerald is concerned about the generator and wondering what the cost would be to have an additional generator added. Mary stated it would be very costly so the best option would be to assure the generator is prepared for all conditions. If a three phase generator is installed at the Water Treatment Plant, it could be shared with the Wastewater Treatment Plant if needed. CDC has decided that they will come up with a plan, that in the event a power outage occurs, what John is to do. A rental generator could be an option to help if needed. Board and guests stated that as long as the generator is well maintained it should be fine. John was also hopeful for any guidance on making maintenance items easier. He made a suggestion of putting a building over top the influent manhole. CDC believes it is all coming together nicely. Mary also reviewed a sheet on the lower site for the reclamation of that site. The demolition plan is to remove and bury foundations and eventually return the land to its original grade. The ponds will need to be dredged and CDPHE will review the plans of reclamation. Kile feels that the project is right on schedule and track.
The next submittal is due on February 15th and the next Board meeting is on February 12th so if there are any last minute details needed from the Board, CDC can bring them to the meeting. In the meantime, Mary will ask Jodi and Ron any questions that will remain.
Property Acquisition – Location and extent submittal needs to get to Routt County immediately. This will get the Board the signature they need from Routt County Planning and the final design will then be considered complete. Also, the Division of Land for Public Purposes needs to be completed. Melinda believes that it will be faster to transfer the parcels as easements and later on, complete the purchase. Melinda suggests a temporary easement to be replaced with a contract in fee. There would be a contract stating that the District will do the Division of Land for Public Purposes and declaration of amendment so that the easement can be replaced with a purchase. If the Association won’t sign off on the easement, the District will do a friendly condemnation. However, Ron does not believe that the votes will be difficult to secure. The timing for getting the Timbers Preserve HOA votes may be difficult. If it is a friendly condemnation, the county would not have to be involved. Mary proposes that Melinda secures the letters of intent with Krall and Galvin before February 15th. Also, Greg let Mary know that if land was not still pending, Timbers application would receive more points at the Grant Hearing in March. Randi Hufford-Johnson believes that the land should be completed and finalized so that they can approve the plans and specs. Randi states that if the deeds are secured by mid-April, the Board can go forward on the SRF loan application. Mary is very concerned that the land has yet to be secured which will hold up many of the things needed to move forward.
To help Melinda move forward, the Chair of the meeting suggested that the Board entertain a motion that the contingency of the Krall property be removed from the contract requirements. Gary made the motion to remove the contingency on the Krall property stating that funding must be received and Brock seconded it. After discussion on expense, the motion passed. Mary is to create a list for the Board of what needs to get completed and the timing on it all. (ACTION)
Funding – Mary has asked who should lead on the SRF application. Ron asked CDC to lead and get any details or questions to Ron and Kasey to help complete. Mary’s next question is how much energy CDC should put in to getting USDA funding with all the looming political and governmental issues. Ron asked what capacity CDC has to complete the USDA application and Mary believes they can get started on it but would give final design and SRF priority. There is the potential to get all the funding needed through SRF but would have to have the District members vote on raising the debt limit. This must be done through a resolution on the Ballot. Ron requested that a resolution be drafted for signature at the February 12th meeting. Ron mentioned that the SRF Loan application and USDA loan application would require the same information so they shouldn’t require much extra work to get both applications prepared. Mary will research further with the USDA contact to see what the application process will be. (ACTION)
To get the ballot issue in this year’s election, a resolution must be signed at the February 12th meeting and the posting in the paper will happen that following Sunday. Ron asked that a resolution be drafted stating the desire for an increase in the Timbers Water and Sanitation debt to reach $3.5 million. Kasey and Melinda will work together on this. (ACTION)
New Business: District Manager Position – Jodi has expressed her need to leave her District Manager position. Ron and Jodi discussed having John Fitzgerald handle the onsite Operations and Kasey take over the administrative side of the District Management position. Ron will review a task list that was previously created. He will present his findings to the Board in February and a final decision on how to handle the position will be decided then.
Fire Hydrant Project – Kasey updated the Board on the current status of the Small Communities Grant. The Fire Hydrant project must be completed by July 2018. There is $20439 in grant money remaining. The previous bid was for $44680. Mary suggested using the T&M allowance for the repair of the Lomas fire hydrant. If Native will honor this bid, the cost of engineering bid could be eliminated. Mary believes it is possible to bid this project and get the repairs completed by July but the Board has not allocated the money this year. Kasey will work with Native to see if they will honor the old bid on the project or if they prefer to work on different terms. The topic will be further discussed on February 12th with more information. The Lomas fire hydrant has not been designed yet but would be one of the most important hydrants to maintain within the District. Mary also suggested it would be possible to remove hydrant #11 as it is no longer useful and replace hydrant #16 with a smaller model. These would help eliminate some costs.
Election Resolutions and Nomination Forms – A resolution came before the board declaring Kasey O’Halloran the Designated Election Official. Ron moved to sign the Resolution and Brock seconded it. Dusty would like to continue on in his role and Gary Theander and Jodi Lightfoot are very interested in being on the Board. Kasey will share a nomination form with Jodi and Dusty. (Action)
File Backup Program – Kasey proposed the Board invest in an online, cloud backup for the ten plus years of files Timbers has stored on Kasey’s computer. They approved Kasey to buy CrashPlan Pro at $120 a year.
With business concluded and upon motion duly and unanimously approved, it was
RESOLVED to adjourn the regular meeting the Timbers Water & Sanitation District Board of Directors at 7:58 pm, this 22nd day of January 2018.
Respectfully submitted,
Kasey O’Halloran
Assistant District Manager
Timbers Water and Sanitation District