Treasurers Report 1/23/2015

Transcription

1 Fort Smith Water and Sewer Board Board Meeting Minutes: January 23rd, 2015 Fort Smith Well House Meeting Room The monthly meeting of the Fort Smith Water and Sewer Board was opened by Steve Saville at 2:01 PM on January 23, Roll call of Board Members Present: George Rowton, Steve Saville, Roy Bellew, and Bruce Earwood, Non Board members Present: Sandy Kust, Dennis Fischer, Alan Brester and Ray Zelka Approval of the December meeting Minutes Motion: Made by Bruce Earwood and 2 nd by Roy Bellew to accept minutes as presented, motion carried unanimously. Treasurers Report 1/23/2015 Account Balances Bond Repayment Reserve Account $ 9, Short Lived Asset Replacement Account $ 82, Special Assessment Bond Repayment Account $ 2, Operation and Maintenance Account $157, First Interstate Bank General Account $251, Ck# Payee or Payer Purpose Income Bighorn County User Fees $ 1, Special Assessment $ 16, $ 17, User fees 3 rd quarter billing $ 14, User fees 4 th quarter billing $ 17, Tri County Lease $ 1, Total revenue-dec & Jan $ 50, Expenses Expenses DBT Big Horn County Electric Utilities Nemont Telephone R&D Builders, LLC Sewer line repair 2-3block Energy Laboratories Bacti Sample C.C. Insulation & Urethane, Inc. Water tank insulation 1, Grainger Propane torch, cones, barricade tape Drain cleaning cable, spiral saw cutter (FS3) 1805 Hawkins Test strips, chlorine 1, Northwest Pipe Fittings, Inc. Bushings, saddle, valve, couplings, pipe Larry Pinnow Reimbursement for MTDEQ School fee Payroll Liabilities

2 EFT US Treasury Federal, SS, Med 1, EFT MT Department of Revenue MT Department of Revenue-state EFT MT Unemployment Insurance Unemployment Insurance Bond Repayment EFT USDA RD Semi-Annual bond repayment 23, Employee Payroll 1808 George Rowton Board Stipend Steve Saville Board Stipend Bruce Earwood Board Stipend Sandy Kust Secretary Larry Pinnow Operator Ray Zelka System Testing and Monitoring Total expenses $33, Motion by George Rowton and seconded by Bruce Earwood to pay the bills, motion carried unanimously. The auditors, Anderson Zurmuehlen suggested the board set up a separate bank account for the use of the debit cards which are held by Larry Pinnow and Sandy Kust and also to establish a maximum limit in this account. Funds would be moved from the regular checking account and into this account. Motion made by George Rowton and second by Roy Bellew to set up a petty cash account of $3,000. Motion carried unanimously. RATES: Roy Bellew wanted to be noted that he protested the rates staying the same as the current rate is not fair to the low water users as they are paying the highest cost for water & sewer and also that the current rate of $4.09 does not pay for all of the operating costs. Roy also stated the businesses are using 21% of water and only paying for 12% of the cost and these percentages also pertain to the big water users. Roy estimated it is costing the low usage water customers approximately $25.00/1,000; average usage water customers approximately $10- $15/1,000; and high usage water customers approximately $6.00/1,000. Discussion also took place as to why a customer whom waters their lawn has to pay for a sewer usage on this water when the majority of the water is going on the lawn and not down the sewer. Roy explained that there are really 4 different classes of users/customers in the district and will continue to work on putting different scenarios together and bring graphs with different senerios and present them to the board for review. PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST-20 WORKING DAYS no public records requests. W34 HYDRANTS: Bruce moved the District to proceed with funding a meeting with the Districts attorney, Moulton Bellingham, regarding available options regarding the W-34 hydrants. Dennis Fischer stated the District has spent $1,000 s to the District s attorney to review all objections and studies, as well information from MTDEQ and Great West Engineering and it has gone nowhere. Bruce asked Dennis if attorney received all the information and Dennis stated yes. Roy asked what kind of advice did the lawyer give and Dennis stated that the system is safe. Dennis also reviewed the statement from Tom Livers at the Environmental Council in which he states that not all of the UPC is adopted by MTDEQ.

3 Roy Bellew seconded the motion. Discussion took place as to whether or not the system, in which residents are paying a 40 year loan, is safe as the W-34 hydrants are registered as an agricultural hydrant used for agricultural use. The board is divided as to whether or not the public water system is compliant and why it was not built to code. Roy stated that the District owes the residents of this district a potable water system and the W-34 hydrant does not meet UPC code or MTDEQ code and this district cannot have cross connections in the system. Motion tabled due to 2 yes votes and 2 no votes. Bruce and Roy voted yes, George and Steve Saville voted no. Motion tabled. George suggested that the District contact the attorney to get an estimated cost to have them review the concerns with the W34 hydrants. Alan Brester discussed his concerns on how the water drained back into the hydrant after filling his pool and leaving the hose in it. Alan stated he was concerned that his water could have been contaminated and put chlorine into his line to ensure the safety of his water. George suggested that the board make it a requirement to install backflow prevention devices. Steve Saville recommended to have Larry check on the vacuum breakers to be installed on the W34 hydrants, Larry will get cost estimate and quantity needed. WORKMAN S COMPREHENSIVE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Have the safety policy completed, working on the return to work policy. SEWER LAGOON Reviewed Request for Proposals (RFP) with board before putting the ad in the newspaper. The proposals will be due on March 12, The board will decide at the next meeting as to whom will conduct the ranking of proposals. The district will apply for planning grants in the spring of 2015 which would be used to hire an engineer. Construction grants would be applied for in spring of Since a prior Wastewater Preliminary Engineering Report (PER) was conducted it may not be as costly to hire an engineer for an amendment to this PER. Sandy will visit with the funding agencies to see if an amendment could be submitted or if a new PER needs to be conducted. It was also stated that the board does not have a surplus fund to pay for the engineer nor do they have engineering fees in the budget, therefore the board is required to have bond council and USDA RD review the budget before taking the funds from the operation and maintenance account. OPERATORS REPORT December & January Water Testing- December Bacti sample testing completed and negative, January Bacti sample taken in and negative. Larry has a bunch of samples to take in July.

4 Larry received a bid from Canyon electric regarding putting in a Variable Speed Drive (VSD) to run the circulation pumps as it would save on the electric bill. Total cost is $2, and quote is good for 30 days. The VSD will run pump speed proportional to water temperature, substantially lowering power cost. Bid includes labor, materials, equipment and supervision. Roy made a motion to table this purchase until the next meeting, Steve Saville 2 nd the motion, motion carried unanimously. Ray is now getting a steady chlorine residual reading on FS3; however, Larry will put a different test site on FS3 once the street thaws. - STORAGE TANK INSULATION PROJECT- completed -OLD WELL HOUSE RENOVATION- Motion made by Steve Saville to postpone the renovation, George Rowton seconded. Motion carried unanimously. BOARD MEMBERS/EMPLOYEES OF THE DISTRICT Board members discussed how to compensate a board member working as an employee of the district. The District can extend workman compensation to a board member who is also working for the district either as an employee or as a volunteer. MCA references to the board members and the maximum stipend one can receive which is a maximum of $ Discussion took place as to whether or not a board member who is also an employee would be considered getting more than the maximum stipend allowed if also getting paid separately as an employee. MCA states that at the first meeting or as soon thereafter as practicable, appoint by a majority vote a general manager and a secretary. MCA also states that a director may not be the general manager or the secretary. It does not state that a director cannot be an operator. The board did not come to a decision as to whether or not a board member will get paid doing operation and maintenance and suggested that the State of MT Labor Attorney to see if a board member can also be an employee of the district. NEXT MEETING DATE The next Board meeting will be February 2pm. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Alan Brester addressed the board that he still was not paid for work performed for the district. The board stated he had to have proof for insurance and workmans compensation or workmans compensation exemption. Larry and George stated he did do the work for the District. Sandy gave Mr. Brester the address for the district should he want to the invoice to get paid. New Business: None Motion made by Steve Saville and seconded by Roy Bellew to adjourn the meeting, motion carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 4:36pm.

5 Attested by: Secretary/Auditor