MINUTES
OF MEETING
NORTH
SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
The
regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs Improvement
District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum were:
Salvatore J. Mendolia President
Steve Mendelson Secretary
Also present were:
John Petty Manager
Dennis Lyles Attorney
Jane Early Engineer
Brenda Schurz
Representative of TOUSA Homes
FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS Roll Call
Mr.
Mendolia called the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND
ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval
of the Minutes of the January 11, 2007 Meeting
Mr.
Petty stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the
There
not being any,
On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Mendelson with all
in favor the minutes of the
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Permit for
Ms.
Early stated this is one of our standard surface water management permits. We already issued a permit for the majority
of
Mr.
Mendolia asked are there any problems with funding?
Ms.
Early responded no.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all
in favor the permit for the Village Green Development in
FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Change Orders
A. Change
Order No. 3 & Final with Triple R. Paving for Heron Bay North Two
Drainageways for a Net Increase of $355,459.65
Ms.
Early stated on the last page of the change order is the split with WCI paying
$249,612.05 and NSID paying $105,847.60 for the lake excavation in Heron Bay
North Plat 2.
Mr.
Petty stated I provided a monthly bond report to the Board.
Ms.
Early stated the overage comes out of the
Mr.
Mendelson stated this is a done deal.
Mr.
Petty stated correct. According to page
two, as of February, we have $1,000,000 remaining. We have enough money to cover this work
without going into a deficit. Correct?
Ms.
Early responded yes.
Mr.
Petty stated we are within the engineer’s estimates.
Mr.
Mendelson asked are we in the black?
Mr.
Petty responded yes. We do not have
anything to bring to your attention, with this change order.
Mr.
Mendolia asked what are we paying $687,376 for?
Ms.
Early responded this was the original split of what the District pays out of
the bond issue for digging the lakes and removing unsuitable material. We also have the installation of some
interconnect pipes.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all
in favor Change Order No. 3 & final with Triple R. Paving for the Heron Bay
North Two Drainageways for a net increase of $355,459.65 was approved.
B. Change
Order No. 3 & Final with Weekly Asphalt Paving, Inc. for Holmberg Road
Overlay and Bike Lane, University Drive and Trails End Final Lift and
Modifications for a Net Increase of $107,288.50
Ms.
Early stated this is the WCI project to put the final lift of asphalt on
Mr.
Mendelson asked is this where the paver problem came from?
Ms.
Early responded yes. It was a WCI cost.
Mr.
Petty asked which bond are the funds coming out of?
Ms.
Early responded Parkland Golf and Country Club (Area A) and supplement three.
Mr.
Petty stated we have an overage. For the
past six to nine months, all of our contractors have been coming in high for
asphalt. We have the funds available to
pay but we are $200,000 over our estimate.
This change order puts us further over.
You are starting to see the tabulation and the impact of what you have
been hearing for the last nine months, which is contract costs are increasing,
particularly for asphalt. We are hoping
the prices will decrease since construction has slowed but we have not seen this
happen.
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all
in favor Change Order No. 3 & final with Weekly Asphalt Paving, Inc. for
C. Change
Order No. 10 & Final with Florida Sewer and Water, Inc. for Heron Bay North
Plat 1, Phase 1, Access Roadway Plan and Lift Station TPC #9 (Cypress Point)
for a Net Decrease of $511,988.95
Ms.
Early stated this project is for Cypress Point, Phase 1, which is located north
of
On MOTION by Mr. Mendelson seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all
in favor Change Order No. 10 & final with Florida Sewer and Water, Inc. for
the Heron Bay North Plat 1, Phase 1, access roadway plan and Lift Station TPC
#9 (Cypress Point) for a net decrease of $511,988.95 was approved.
FIFTH
ORDER OF BUSINESS Consideration
of Work Authorization No. 172 for SFWMD Permit Modification – BMP Requirements
Mr. Petty stated staff requests this Work Authorization be
tabled. This is the item we spoke to the
Board about several meetings ago where we are starting to get a PR campaign
from SFWMD based on the
Ms.
Early stated Mr. McKune and I met with SFWMD yesterday and they gave us a
deadline of March 4th to make a permit submittal for a
modification. If you want us to proceed,
it involves a great deal of work to get the permit modification submitted. They want a $7,500 permit fee.
Mr.
Petty stated I do not know what to tell you.
I cannot recommend this work authorization to the Board without seeing
it.
Ms.
Early stated there was a letter from SFWMD about being in compliance and having
90 days to submit the permit.
Mr.
Petty stated this issue is similar to what we brought to the Board’s attention
in the past. We have not had a chance to
discuss the details of the meeting you had the other day. I understand they have a timely response
issue and I wish to comply with due diligence.
I do not want the Board to be pushed to take action on an agreement they
have not had a chance to review.
Ms.
Early stated I will do whatever you wish.
I am concerned about what will happen if we do not submit something to
SFWMD.
Mr.
McKune asked can a permit submittal be made without all the backup
documentation and indicate to them the documentation will be submitted under
separate cover? I have done this before
for other permits. This allows them to
say we met a deadline but does not commit the District to a course of action.
Ms.
Early responded we can call and ask. My
understanding is they want this submittal stating the items we are working
towards to increase our water quality.
Mr.
Petty stated let’s do it. We have been
asked by SFWMD to respond within 90 days.
However, since we have not discussed any policy or program, my request
for the Board to wait until the next meeting still stands. We should never respond to any government
agency without determining the District’s position. It will be difficult for us to protect the
District without going through the material.
I suggest we contact SFWMD and request an extension and work with them
to the best of our ability.
Mr.
Mendolia asked do you think they will give us an extension?
Mr.
Petty responded I think due diligence requires us to ask for an extension and
not approve the work authorization at this time.
Mr.
Lyles stated it is wise to be cautious and not file something without
sufficient information. I am hearing
about this for the first time and concerned about the possibility of missing a
deadline. I wonder if there is some middle
ground such as authorization for the Board to grant the submittal pending staff
review and approval. If staff cannot
make a determination by the deadline, you can ask for an extension. Ms. Early deals with this agency on a regular
basis and is concerned about the deadline.
I am trying to find a way to get the most flexibility.
Ms.
Early stated I can request an extension.
Mr.
Lyles asked what happens if we do nothing today but authorize the extension and
you call tomorrow and they say “no”? We will
need to call a special meeting and I do not know if we want to.
Mr.
Mendolia asked can we wait until the next meeting?
Mr.
Lyles responded yes, since we meet early in the month. The extension will give us a couple of extra weeks.
Mr.
Petty stated this issue came up routinely as part of our existing permit k. If we did not know by now what was going on,
then it was our fault. This is something
they brought up where we must respond within 90 days or submit reasons
why. This means they are open to
discussing the issues. As a government
agency, you need to be given the opportunity for due diligence. How do you protect the interest of the
residents, by being rushed to fill out a form?
Ms.
Early responded the reason they want us to submit this modification is because
of Pump Station No. 1 pumping into the C-11 Canal. They are concerned once the water level
reaches a certain elevation our pumps will pump the water into the
Mr.
Petty stated the other canals are full.
The
Mr.
Mendolia stated the next meeting is at the beginning of next month, which is
not far away. Maybe we can stretch it
out.
Mr.
Lyles stated if the Board wants to authorize an extension, let’s go forward on this
basis. We can always call a special
meeting at the end of the month.
Mr.
Mendolia stated this is what we should do.
Mr.
Petty stated I think this serves our purpose.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Staff reports
A. Manager’s
Report
i. Short Term Financing
Mr. Petty stated the District is currently building some
tennis courts and re-piping Pump Station No. 1.
Not only is the piping facing towards the
Mr.
Mendolia asked do they put swivels on them?
Mr.
Petty responded they put pipes on the manifolds so the valves direct the
water. For these projects, we may not
have enough money in our renewal and replacement account and are looking at
some short-term financing. Ms. Larned
has been working diligently with willful lenders who do short-term
financing. However, we did not receive the
material in a timely enough fashion to include in your agenda package and will
provide it to you in the next couple of weeks.
This will be a commitment letter from those agencies. It will be a short-term note; $5 million or
less for less than five years but will not be bank qualified because we are
issuing bonds. The interest rate will be
5.5%. We have plenty of revenue coming
in but may not have enough in one year to pay for these projects.
It
is time to look at not only the final phase of our water and sewer plant but
rebuilding some of the original plant, which is now 20 years old. This is as complicated as it gets with the
best management practices issue as SFWMD will say this is what caused the
trouble. They are now saying the
Biscayne Aquifer gets its water from underneath the
ii. Capital Improvement Program
Mr. Petty stated at this time, we will present what staff
has been working on with our Capital Improvement Coordinator and what the
vision is. It is our intention at the
next meeting to have our Engineer, CH2M-Hill provide a work authorization to
start a capital improvement program, if this vision is something the Board can
buy into.
The objections are:
1.
Each item filling a 10 to 20
year window
2.
Meeting future regulations
3.
Capability of adaptation
4.
Reliability
The capital improvement program is
broken out into separate items:
1.
Water Supply Well
2.
Nano Filtration Plant to control
contaminants – (Comparable to lime softening)
3.
Reclaimed Water
4.
High Service Pumps
5.
Liquid Chlorine Conversion from
Gaseous Chlorine
6.
Miscellaneous – Immediate renewal
& replacement, including maintenance facilities for field staff.
Mr. Petty stated the NSID plant is well built with solid
concrete support structures. We are
looking at the next 10 to 20 years and what is going to be required. SFWMD is trying to push us to use a less
quality water aquifer. The Biscayne
water is hard and all we are trying to do is to soften it. There are a large number of unregulated
contaminants we must have our water analyzed for. We may not be required to remove them now but
each year we receive at least two more contaminants. The lime softening treatment process
addresses softening; not the removal of certain contaminants. The question is whether to change processes
now because we are built out. Since we
cannot tell for certain what the future will bring, the system should be
adaptable to change from time to time.
The
capital improvement program envisions more water supply wells. A Nano Filtration Plant is a membrane plant removing
contaminants based on its molecular weight and the amount of pressure
applied. It is recommended nano
filtration be considered since it can control contaminants lime softening
cannot. These membranes sit inside a
metal building and are compact. The cost
is comparable to lime softening. Lime
softening used to be inexpensive but over the years, these membrane processes
have become more competitive. It is time
for us to look at nano filtration, particularly with SFWMD pushing us towards a
poorer quality aquifer like Fordan and its brackish water. You have to operate a membrane plant at much
higher levels than a Nano Filtration Plant.
It will be a reverse osmosis plant, which is the next level in
membranes. The costs for operating will
skyrocket with the high energy costs but we think this addresses the best use
of our water supply and gives us the most options.
We
know they are going to push for the reclaimed water system in our Consumptive
Use Permit. We are a large user with
We
plan to get more pumps as we have more residents and pump more water. This was already planned. We currently use gaseous chlorine. The new regulations say with chlorine gas you
need to have a scrubber so in case it leaks, the scrubber can pull out the
chlorine before it escapes. This is a
huge cost. The more obvious answer is to
go with liquid chlorine. Whereas, if you
have a liquid leak, all you kill is the grass.
You just have to put higher volumes of it into your water but it is the
same amount of chlorine. We have done
this for CSID and it worked out well.
For operator safety, it is a big benefit. The costs for immediate renewal and
replacement will go into the miscellaneous category.
Mr. Petty stated these prices are high
conservative estimates as Mr. McKune did not want to come in under value. He wanted to make sure we value his ability
to get the engineer’s estimates below budget.
At this time I will defer to Mr. McKune on the water supply in the
Biscayne Aquifer.
Mr. McKune stated SFWMD is currently
pursuing their “Everglades Forever” restoration program, which they have been
spending billions of dollars on. Now
they want to spend more of your dollars to clean up the local area. We currently get our water from 120’ deep
wells, which is good water. SFWMD put
out their most recent update of the lower east coast water supply plant telling
every utility in the county what they are going to do. They are telling NSID to pull water from the Florida
Aquifer, which is 1,700’ down and salty.
When you are done treating it, you have to build an injection well,
similar to the one for the wastewater to inject the brine waste from the RO Plant
back underground. This is an expensive
well to build and operate.
Mr. Petty was discussing the Nano Filtration
Plant. The membrane used to treat the
water are stainless steel cylinders, which we put a fine mesh filter inside of
and increase the pressure. As the water flows
through, it is treated. This process is fairly
reliable. Operators love it once they
learn how to operate it. It is also
adaptable. If the water quality
standards change in the future, all we have to do is open up the end of the
cylinder and replace the membrane.
Reclaimed water is the treated wastewater we use to
irrigate the grass. Twenty years ago, a
client on the east coast used reclaimed water to irrigate the front yards of
their subdivision but they did not notify the residents who allowed their kids
to play in the water. It did not bother the
residents until they were finally told it was reclaimed water. It is fairly innocuous and can be readily
used on golf courses. This will allow
some negotiations with SFWMD but they are telling us we must take 1 million
gallons of water from the lower aquifer because they do not have enough of the
good water we are now taking. If we can
put some reclaimed water into NSID and replenish the aquifer with a gallon of
reclaimed water, they may give us a gallon more of what we are using today. One of the selling points is on the west
boundary of the District we have a dike.
Beyond the dike is the
Mr. Petty stated you can see it from
the Sawgrass Expressway.
Mr. McKune stated SFWMD is concerned
when we pump our wells; we lower the ground water table, which is going to
cause underflow under the dike to the
Mr. Petty stated your sister
district, CSID, has the same incentive to implement this program. They have a Consumptive Use Permit and are
going to be pushed for effluent reuse.
They built this into their capital program. However, they do not have a customer to use
the effluent/reclaimed water. If CSID
has a use for it, they will have the first shot at it.
Mr. McKune stated in regards to the
high service pump, we need to put more water out at acceptable pressures in the
District. Therefore, we need two more
pumps at the water plant and two pumps at the north end pumping station. This will improve the service throughout the
entire District.
Mr. Mendolia asked is this in the
plan?
Mr. McKune responded yes. This is one of those short-term projects.
Mr. Mendelson stated whatever we
decide on has to be cost prohibitive. We
do not want to keep shelling out money.
Mr. McKune stated it is
intricate. One of the constraints we
currently have is the site of the water plant is fairly small. Parking is hard to find because of the
equipment, buildings and lime disposable pods.
It is a mess in the summertime with lime all over the place.
Mr. Mendolia asked can we fix it?
Mr. McKune responded we can fix it
by going to a membrane plant and filling in the ponds. The plant is compact and will give you room
to put additional facilities on the plant site.
Mr. Petty stated it is a by-product
of our current treatment process. When
you go to a membrane process, there is a by-product called the “reject screen”,
which is the concentrate. In this
particular scenario, we will pull out the fully dissolved solids from the
Biscayne water in a condensed stream.
This condensed stream is considered to be eminent to the Biscayne
Aquifer because it has more material. Our
process will put the reject screen in with our irrigation water where it is
perfectly acceptable. Irrigation water
will dilute it so it is a meaningless increase in calcium or any other
mineral. We do not have to treat it as a
waste steam discharging down a deep well or put into special buckets. We can use it for irrigation.
Mr. McKune stated the liquid
chlorine is a less hazardous way of doing the required chlorination or
disinfecting of the water. We put it in
fairly large size Polyethylene tanks and meter it out.
Mr. Mendelson stated in order to
work with those tanks; you have to wear safety suits because it can be
hazardous.
Mr. Petty stated it is the same 10%
chlorine solution used in pools. We do
not have any trouble other than having exposed metal nearby. The operators do not have to wear special
equipment. If there is a small spill,
you hose it down.
Continuing through the water plant,
we show the field workers working on different projects with Mr. McKune. The field workers maintain all the water
meters, water distribution systems, fire hydrants, booster stations, chlorine
booster facilities and line breaks. We
have a mechanics area but it has to stay open to get equipment in for
repair.
Mr. Mendolia asked do we have room
for expansion?
Mr. Petty responded if we get rid of
the lime ponds, we have plenty of room.
The lime ponds take up a quarter of the site.
Mr. Mendolia asked is it possible to
have a second level?
Mr. McKune responded at the south
end of the plant, there is a berm, which can be removed and a 6’ fence can be
installed. This area will be perfect for
storage.
Mr. Petty stated keep in mind this
berm separates us from the residents.
Mr. Mendolia stated you will have a
fight with those residents.
Mr. McKune stated we went to every
resident living around the plant and had them sign off on removal of the berm
and installation of a fence. The city
signed off on it.
Mr. Mendolia stated I am shocked.
Mr. Petty stated we are looking at a
10 to 20 year window in our capital improvement program, not just in the
short-term. We are keeping an eye on
future regulations with SFWMD’s pressure to do things now as we are getting a
great deal of pressure to make some changes.
The cost for making these changes is huge. What we consider to be the most economical
way to address this issue is still costly.
Mr. Mendelson stated it is costly
now. Can you imagine what the cost will
be in another 10 years? If changes have
to be made and we have the ability to do it, we should start making those changes
now.
Mr. Petty stated the membrane
process is more adaptable than any other process. Of course, we look to the engineers to
validate this. We have good operators in
NSID, better than CSID. They are
conscientious and have done some innovative things. You want the process to be reliable so they
can make the best use of it. We are
looking at a cost between $40 to $42 million.
Mr. Mendolia asked on the high side?
Mr. Petty responded this is one of
the reasons why we hired Mr. McKune as your Capital Improvement
Coordinator. He will make sure when you
are spending this amount of money, it is the most efficient use of your
funds. Occasionally a large corporate
engineering firm can take an item off of the shelf and say, “Here is what we
are doing today”. It works and the
engineering is impeccable. Having the
local talent Mr. McKune represents knowing what is in the ground and being on
your payroll helps us. It certainly
cannot hurt us. We want to have a home
team member when we are spending $40 million.
In the budget the Board approved
last summer, we talked about keeping our documents in a database so they are
retrievable from the internet. The
system is now up and running. This will
be a four district databases, which the core districts will participate
in. It is like Google® but
with all of your documents. We included
all the minutes, resolutions and agreements in the database. It will also include all correspondence
written by me and any previous manager.
We will even have the NSID logo.
In this way, if we are gone tomorrow, the next team can find their way
around. We have the hardware, which is
the computer. The database is currently being
loaded and has been tested on the intranet, meaning it is internal to this
building. Anyone on their computer can
access the database.
Mr. Mendelson asked can you do a
search?
Mr. Petty responded yes, by word or
phrase.
Mr. Mendolia asked is the system
secure?
Mr. Petty responded yes. The benefit is it is a standalone
system. You do not touch or remove a
document from the database. You can only
make a copy. This means no one can
damage the database from the outside or internally. It is a secure system. The backup is the same backup we have for our
utility billing onsite and our mainframe.
We have a terabyte server because the blueprints will take up a great
deal of space.
Next I will discuss the bonds. The first one is for the Parkland Golf and
Country Club. We already spoke about the
deficit we have on the roadways. This is
due to our increasing construction costs.
We have $2 million remaining to spend on the amount NSID anticipated to
spend. We have enough money left for
lakes and culverts but not the roads. The
percentages shown for NSID include interest income while the funds are in the
bank. The last item is the NSID share
and WCI share. Lakes, culverts and
roadways are shared by both but a portion is to be contributed by the developer
to make the development feasible. The
2006 A and B bonds are for the Heron Bay North assessment area. Under this bond issue are the lakes and
culverts, roadways, landscape buffers and sidewalks.
I spoke to Ms. Early about this
issue. She likes to put our money first
and foremost into lakes and culverts, secondarily into roadways and any
remaining funds into the landscape buffers and sidewalks. We put in “x” number of dollars and WCI puts
in “x” number of facilities and we are supposed to have a viable product at the
end. In the graph for the percentage
share, NSID was responsible for more than half of the cost and WCI is expected
to contribute less than half.
For Parkland Golf and Country Club
assessment areas A1 and B1, we have landscape, sidewalks and lights. In this case, NSID was supposed to contribute
all the funds, with WCI only expected to contribute $2 million worth out of a
$22 million issue. Not only are we
watching our construction projects, but we are also watching those contributed
facilities WCI is responsible for turning over to the District. The last set of bonds are the water
management refunding bonds A and B, which NSID is solely responsible for with
no WCI share. We thank Ms. Early and
District staff for assisting us in putting this document together. This is something we will provide monthly in
order to track all our bonds.
With the document management system,
we are finding the amount of documents and data we have on-site is
intimidating. We have a fairly large
bond program out there where we are acquiring assets at a fast past. We have past capital programs where we built
water and sewer facilities. Our asset
management program has been overly burdened by all this work. We are working to address this and have
programs designed in-house but we cannot do it with existing staff. Therefore, I am asking for authorization to
hire two additional employees to work on fixed assets, contract administration
and accounting. We have the funds
available. The fixed assets relate to
what Ms. Early and Ms. Susan Walker have been during the year. Ms. Walker will be in charge of this on our
end working with Ms. Early. We want to
track all the water and sewer lines acquired and all the easements and rights-of-way
along with it; as well as the lakes, culverts, landscaping and lighting. Everything should be in a complete
package.
In regards to the database, we are
looking for something graphic where you can click on an area showing the water
and sewer lines and when they were constructed.
What precipitated this was an event occurring at CSID where a woman fell
in a meter box at the mall and they could not find the instrument giving them
the right to have a meter there or an agreement saying they can put it on
private lines or where it was their responsibility to maintain it. This was before Mr. Lyles came on board. I have been working with Mr. Lyles to come up
with a solution and this is what we came up with. We need to track our assets and have the data
available. I have the funds available
for the two employees.
Mr. Mendolia asked how many people
have we hired in the last year?
Mr. Petty responded only one person
was hired at CSID. This was an accounts
payable person to help our singular accountant, Ms. Walker. Ms. Walker has always had someone helping her
in the past but it did not work out. We
tried to offer people from Severn Trent Services but they need to be District
employees as these districts are unique.
It seems to work better when they are District employees. Severn Trent Services is not interested in
expanding its contract but we are asking you to look at hiring additional
personnel to fill this role. Part of
this is due to GASB-34, which is a new accounting regulation enforcing an
already existing rule stating a government must count their fixed assets. It has always been difficult for these
districts to do so. When you grow as
fast and as large as NSID has grown in the last four to five years, it gets
tough. Staff is doing a good job keeping
track of our assets but we need to clear up quite a bit of growth, which
accumulated over the past years. These
employees are subject to budget reviews each year. As we go through the budget process, you can
evaluate this again.
Mr. Mendolia asked will they be in a
permanent or temporary status?
Mr. Petty responded we think the
work is going to be for a long enough time to not be temporary work but you
never can tell. There is enough work for
these two people to be utilized.
Mr. Mendolia asked can you hire
internally?
Mr. Petty responded we looked at the
same thing; however the administration being handled by CSID is fairly
thin. You have one HR person and one
utility billing, IT and customer service person rolled into one person. The person who handles this position is Mr.
Dan Daly and Mr. Jan Zilmer is the HR person.
Severn Trent Services is supposed to provide backup but it is more of a
redundancy in case something happens to Ms. Walker and we can pay the bills in
a reasonable amount of time. We did a
special audit through CSID on this position in the last year and their
recommendation was we had too much reliance on this one person. The diligence Ms. Walker is able to apply to
each of these matters is fairly short.
She only has 15 minutes and then has to move on. We were trying to get Ms. Walker promoted to
a position where she could work with Ms. Early directly on the fixed assets for
the current bond issues, which is probably the easiest and best ones to start
with and then move backwards to try to get all the documents together and put
them in a database so we can find out what is going on with a certain amount of
confidence.
The last five years are probably
going to be the easiest other than the contributed portion. This is why we have it on our schedule. The contributed portion by WCI is going to be
more difficult. The roads go through us
but we do not own them. We turn them
over to
Mr. Mendolia stated I think we need
to do something.
Mr. Petty stated I do not need a
motion. I only need consensus from the
Board.
The
record will reflect there was consensus from the Board for Mr. Petty to hire
two District employees to provide fixed asset, contract administration and
accounting services.
Mr. Petty stated as you know, there has been construction on
the Sawgrass Expressway to widen the road and install noise barrier walls. One worker installing a fiber optic cable
next to the road hit one of our pipes. Some
time ago they came to us for a permit, which Ms. Early reviewed where they
agreed to fix anything broken by them.
We were checking for something else at one of their walls where we had
six 72” lines. We wondered how they
missed our lines and sent in a diver to check all of the pipes in all three
Districts. They hit pipes in every
district.
Mr.
Mendolia stated they did not care.
Mr.
Petty stated when they installed the pilings; they evidently sized them to fit
in between the pipes. Now we have a wall
over our pipes, which is something we will have to work around.
Mr.
Mendolia asked do we have any legal problems?
Mr.
Petty responded we are in good shape.
Ms. Early has been dealing with the contractor and they made the
repairs. There is only cleaning out the
pipes left.
Ms.
Early stated I am going to get an update on when the cleaning is going to be scheduled.
Mr.
Petty stated we will send in our divers after the pipes are cleaned.
Mr.
Mendolia stated someone should warn other towns.
Ms.
Early stated the sub-contractor for the fiber optics said he was never given
all the information but we had sheets of tabulations showing where our pipes were
located. Apparently this sub-contractor
never received this information and trenched through everything. From where he stopped, we gave him
information to continue on.
Mr.
Mendolia stated when we build a house; we call all the utilities and get maps
showing where the lines are. Someone
should have done this.
iii. Rate Sufficiency Study
Mr. Petty stated this is for an in-house analysis we are
going to be doing regarding whether your rates are sufficient to give you what
you intended to get before. We did this
for CSID who has not adjusted their rates in 15 years. We are going to look at your rates on the
monthly water and sewer bills along with connection fees to see whether we are
getting what we are supposed to fund what we are supposed to. It has been five years since there has been
an adjustment in connection fees and eight or nine years for the user
rates. We think this study is
overdue. Staff will be working on this study
and will provide to you at the next meeting.
Since we are looking at a capital improvement program, this is the time
to start evaluating your rates. If we
are sufficient, we recommend doing a rate study for the capital improvement
program. If we are deficient, we may
recommend you doing one sooner.
Mr.
Mendolia stated in
Ms.
Early asked who is?
Mr.
Mendolia responded there are big machines.
Ms.
Early asked north of the pump station?
Mr.
Mendolia responded yes.
Ms.
Early stated WCI is doing the earthwork for a new mitigation area.
B. Attorney’s
Report
Mr. Lyles stated today I received an information package
from the attorneys representing Royal Utility, across from
Mr.
Mendolia stated if the annexation goes through, those residents are going to
need water service.
Mr.
Petty stated the property is outside of the current District boundaries. The City of
Mr.
Mendelson stated the District can make money out of this.
Mr.
Lyles stated the more consumers you spread your costs over; the better it is
for all your existing consumers. It
could be an expensive proposition to serve this new area and if it is, the
residents will have to pay their fair share.
Sixteen residents should not have to pay a premium to bring new residents
into the District. It is not supposed to
work this way. However, we received a
serious proposition and I wanted the Board to know it had been received and
turned over to Mr. Petty for his review and recommendation.
Our Special Act is proceeding along the timeline it is supposed to. We are being asked some follow-up questions by one member of the Legislative Delegation who had trouble with this and asked negative questions. She did not like the idea of us by-passing the petition, referendum and special election process to make the Board elected at a General Election. She thought this process was in the original act and this was taking