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2000-08-28 JPWB Minutes MINUTES JOINT WATER BOARD REGULAR MEETING of AUGUST 28, 2000 7:00 PM Albertville City Hall 7 00 PM Call to Order by ChaIr Olson Present Olson, Kessler, Irvme, Gundersen Absent Zunmerman, Duerr MOTION BY GUNDERSEN, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO ADOPT THE AGENDA AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY MOTION BY KESSLER, SECONDED BY IRVINE TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 22ND SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSL Y MOTION BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO APPROVE THE JULY 24TH REGULAR MEETING MINUTES MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSL Y MOTION BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY GUNDERSEN TO APPROVE THE CONSENT AGENDA AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY Mr Steve McDonald, the Board's AudItor, was present to summanze the 1999 audIt and reVIew WIth the Board After mtroducmg hunself, Mr McDonald summanzed the management letter portIon of the audIt Three Items were noted that needed to be pomted out The first was segregatIOn of dutIes, whIch appears each year on the audIt, due to the small staff SIze He noted that thIs IS an unaVOIdable Issue m any small murucIpalIty or entIty The next Item noted was a certIficatIon that had not been receIved from PMA FmancIal, the Board's new mvestment representatIve ThIs had been addressed dunng the audIt and completed at that tIme The last Item addressed was the PIggmg project that the Board contracted WIth Infratech for earlIer m the year Mr McDonald stated that the project fell under the definItIon of "repaIr and mamtenance of real property", and although there are no other compames that proVIde thIs servIce, the Board should have advertIsed for bIds Mr McDonald then revIewed the fmancIalletter portIon of the audIt He noted that the numbers show a decrease m revenue, the changes m the structure of the Board and the Operatmg Agreement WIth the member CItIes dId support the reasons for the SIgnIficant change m revenues He also noted that there was a SIgnIficant decrease m expenses WIth the changes He noted the cash balances on page 3 that pnmanly COnsISt of unspent bond proceeds Also noted was $550,000 m bond payments that were to occur m 2000 Mr McDonald also noted that there should be documentatIon proVIded to the Board for the connectIon fees and revenues that the CIty of AlbertVIlle IS collectmg on behalf of the 10mt Water Board and forwardmg to the Board There should be some form ofan audItable report provIded to the Board In summary, Mr McDonald saId that the audIt went well once the accountmg program had been cleaned up and reconstructed after the tranSItion and that he was aware that the new software was bemg rmplemented that would also Improve the abIhty to pull out Information MOTION WAS MADE BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO APPROVE THE 1999 AUDIT AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY Duerr and Zrmmerman 10 at 7 07PM Next the Board reVISIted those EDA ObjectIOn heanngs that had been contmued The contmuatIOn of the GARY AND GAIL WELLS ObjectIOn heanng was announced by ChaIr OLSON The WELLS were not present, and Browmng stated that she had spoken to them and they had stated they dIdn't feel they needed to be at the meetmg MOTION BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO AFFIRM THE CHARGES AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY The contmuatIOn of the HAUS ObjectIOn hearmg was then announced by ChaIr OLSON Ms Darlene Haus was present to dISCUSS the charges proposed for her property She stated that she had receIved the mformatIon proVIded by Browrung that she had requested She then stated she had spoken With FranCIS Beaudry, her msurance agent, to see If she was mdeed gettmg a reductIOn 10 msurance rates for havmg water avaIlabIhty She stated that he SaId she was not, due to It bemg a farm pohcy She reIterated that she stIll would hke to have the avaIlabIhty charges credIted agamst the proposed charges She also asked that the Board follow-up on the msurance / ISO ratmg affect The Board consensus was that It was not matenal to theIr decIsIOn-makmg The Board's attorney, George Hoff, also had stated 10 his opIruon letter, that there was no connection of aVaIlabIhty charges paId over the years to this charge, and pomted out that the contract SIgned by the Haus's dId SpeCIfy that they agreed to feed and charges as estabhshed by the Board, of whIch the A vaIlabIhty Charges were one of them that had been estabhshed when developmg the pohcIes for the EDA lme EIleen Haus was also present and asked If the Board could conSIder stoppmg any mcreases m the aVaIlabIhty charges OLSON referred the question to the attorney for a reply by the next agenda Ms Haus also requested a hst of the 15 remaIrung EDA lme customers paymg avaIlabIhty charges Browmng stated that she could pnnt out a report from the office There was some further dIScussIon regardmg avaIlabIhty charges and what they are mtended to be used for Darlene requested a copy of the Board's attorney's opIruon letter, however Charr Olson dIrected the attorney to send a separate letter to Ms Haus, as the correspondence that the Board has IS attorney / chent pnvIleged MOTION WAS MADE BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY GUNDERSEN TO DENY HAUS CREDIT FOR THE AVAILABILITY CHARGES AGAINS THE PROPOSED EDA TRUNK CHARGE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY MOTION WAS MADE BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO AFFIRM THE ADJUSTED FRONT FOOTAGE CHARGE AS PRESENTED (BASED ON THE COURTHOUSE DOCUMENTS PRESENTED WITH LEGAL DESCRIPTION) MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY The contmuatIon of the EULL objectIon heanng was then announced by ChaIr OLSON Mr Roland Eull was not present Browmng stated that she had spoken WIth lum by phone and that he stated he dId not feel he needed to be at the meetmg MOTION WAS MADE BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY GUNDERSEN TO AFFIRM THE CHARGES AS PRESENTED AT 330 FEET OF FRONTAGE MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSL Y The contmuatIOn of the KOLSTAD ObjectIon heanng was then announced by ChaIr OLSON Mr Kolstad was not present Brownmg stated that she had spoken WIth Mr Kolstad earlIer m the day and had answered all of Ius questIons regardmg the process He was satIsfied and stated that he dId not feel he needed to attend the meetmg MOTION WAS MADE BY ZIMMERMAN, SECONDED BY DUERR TO AFFIRM THE CHARGES AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY The Haller famIly objectIon hearmg was not able to be contmued at tins meetmg due to schedulmg COnflIcts and the Board's engmeer, ChrIs Catlm, had been havmg dIfficultIes m bemg able to reach Mr Haller to dISCUSS the property dImensIOns The Board consensus was that It could be contmued at the September 25th regular meetmg Irvme requested that stafflook at the Eull's Concrete EDA charges and affirm that they are documented and correct Browmng stated that she would be pullmg together a couple of more propertIes that had lIkely been mIssed due to change m ownershIp through the process She would put the InformatIon together and the Board may have to go through the whole process on a couple of them Under New Busmess, the Board receIved a letter from USFIlter requestmg to negotIate a renewal contract, as the current contract runs through the end of the year Board members present stated that they were happy WIth USFIlter's semce Gundersen asked about the contract term Brownmg stated that US FIlter IS gettmg away from a termmatIon clause m theIr newer contracts, and they are now usmg a 60,90, or 120 day termmatIon "for convemence" clause, smce clIents are usually not wantmg to termInate for cause anyway MOTION BY KESSLER, SECONDED BY IRVINE TO APPROVE ENTERING INTO NEGOTIATIONS OF A RENEWAL CONTRACT DOCUMENT MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY Under Engmeenng, Coos Cathn dIscussed the treatment plant project and stated that It was on schedule He then dIscussed the need to get Well #5 constructed as soon as possIble In hght of the htgh water demands tills summer, It IS an urgent need Catlm had met wIth Brownmg at the current water tower sIte and proposed that the Board have the SIte cleared and a test hole dnlled Thts SIte was slated for a future well, but because of the delays With the School DIStnCt (they don't want to dnll a well dunng the school year) he felt that thts SIte could be dnlled first Coos stated the most cost-effectIve way to have the work done would be to have Moorhead do the work as a change order, amountmg to approxImately $15,000 In the meanttme we would work to update the rate study and evaluate how the addIttonal well would be patd for and how It would affect the current bondholders Gundersen stated that he felt that the Board should be pushmg harder to get the Tower bUIlt and that It was a htgher pnonty for an adequate water supply A MOTION WAS MADE BY IRVINE, SECONDED BY KESSLER TO APPROVE THE SITE CLEARING AND TEST HOLE BY THE NEXT MEETING MOTION CARRIED WITH 5 A YES AND GUNDERSEN VOTING NA YE The Board consensus was that no addIttonal work on Well #5 should be done, however, untIl the process for fundmg could be determmed The Board dIrected staff to consult With the fmancIal consultants regardmg thts project and evaluate the best way to proceed, as any further projects Coos then dIscussed the treatment plant and stated that start-up is stIll planned for November There was then some dIScussIon regardmg brown water complamts, parttcularly m AlbertvIlle Olson and Gundersen stated that they have had many calls m AlbertvIlle Browrnng proVIded some background on what causes the brown water and that essenttally we have no control over the water dIstnbutlOn system m AlbertvIlle She stated, however, that they would contmue to work With Albertvtlle CIty staff and the operators m trymg to solve the problems She also stated that they Will make every effort to not "pass the buck" when receIvmg calls from AlbertvIlle reSIdents Browrnng stated that she thought that whoever receIves a call should SImply respond to the customer and wnte down the mformatIon to pass on to the person that would handle the SolutIon Thts has been a problem for both the Jomt Water Board Office and AlbertvIlle office Browrnng stated that she wasn't clear on how much she should be advIsmg AlbertvIlle staff on how to run theIr dIstnbutlOn system, as she dId not want them to feel hke she was tellmg them what to do Olson stated that he would urge theIr staff to call If they have any questIOns or would hke some mput There was then some dIScussIon regardmg a meter replacement program Browrnng stated that she and Sabnna had met With the respecttve CIty staffs to dISCUSS admmIstrattve Issues With bIllmg, bookkeepmg, operatIons and general functtonmg of the water and sewer departments across the board Present at that meetmg were Kelly Brownmg, Sabnna Ryan, Bob Derus, Sue Vergm, Lmda Lame, and Wayne Kessler It was the consensus of all present at theIr staff meetmg that a five year plan was realIstic m that the revenue end of fundmg a replacement program could be handled m that amount of time The Water Board then dIscussed the Issues The consensus was that It was needed, and asked that Brownmg bnng back some examples of other CIties' programs and cost savmgs realIzed, m addItion to a wntten polIcy outlIrung the proposed program MOTION WAS MADE BY KESSLER, SECONDED BY DUERR TO PAY THE CLAIMS AS PRESENTED MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY MOTION WAS MADE BY ZIMMERMAN, SECONDED BY DUERR TO ADJOURN THE MEETING AT 9 00 PM MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY , , j) / / /, rex! I - "-'!.r'l/ t - .--/ ~ '-, / , I J...---'\. -I' f Secretary /