Call to Order: 10:03 am
Welcome: Darton, President
Present/Quorum (yes): Darton, Paul, Todd, Clint, Morris, Gini, Sam, Dave (Manager). Guests: Bruce and Penny, April Wilkinson, Marilyn and Richard Foulkes
Consent Items
Approved? – Contents and order of this Agenda: Approved
Approved? – Minutes of February meeting: Approved.
Information Items
Guest Speakers comments (if any): None
Board Member : None
President’s Report (Darton):
- Count down to Annual Board meeting. Darton is updating agenda and will get any statements to Dave by April 4. These will be posted to the DWA website once they have been mailed out to members with their bills.
- The rate committee and the CIP committee met during the month. Updated budget and CIP map will be discussed in the committee updates below.
Manager/Operator Report (Dave):
- Late fee rate was discussed in depth. Dave proposes a larger fee to induce late payers to get caught up. It was decided that our policy will change to a flat $3.50 fee per month for up to 3 months and beyond that the late fee will be charged as 2.5% per month on unpaid bill. Darton put forth the motion for this to be changed in the DWA Policies. This was seconded by Gini. All members approved this motion. Dave will include this change in our next water bill and also put this information on the website. He will reach out by phone to those members currently in arrears. The rate change will commence July1, 2022 to allow those in arrears time to get their payments in order.
- Dave and Paul met with Ben Dahle regarding the Small Water District Plan to make changes. The issue of hydraulic modeling was brought up by Ben. Had this been done before? Dave will look into this in our records, with Gray and Osborne and DOH. Hydraulic modeling has to do with looping which shows how water lines are connected continuously. Important in fire flow and water quality. During this discussion Darton brought up the CIP map to show locations of concern. Some of these will not be addressed as a budget item for several years due to budgetary constraints and access issues.
- Ben Dahle will make adjustments to the SWDP and send us the update to review. If the DWA board approves of his changes, the document will be sent to DOH. After it is submitted we will always be able to return to it over time with improvement and changes. It is a living document that allows for adjustments.
Committee Reports:
Finance Committee (Todd):
- Please refer to the Financial Summary for February 2022 available on the website. The usage billing was high for some reason and needs to be examined. The budget is being fine tuned with Dave and will be sent out sometime in April for board review before we vote on its approval at the April board meeting.
- Rate review committee met and has decided we are running a very tight budget which does not have fat to spare for any budgetary increases. The committee decided this is a permanent increase in our cost structure and not a temporary situation and therefore it must be addressed. It was decided the best approach would be to add 1/2 penny increase per cubic foot of water usage to our rate.
- If we evaluate our rate structure, capital improvement plan, and annual budget as well as demonstrate community outreach, DOH should be happy. It shows we are working to improve conservation of our water resource. Although DW its not short on water now, DOH wants to see a system in place that conserves.
Water Production Committee (Paul):
- Nothing new to discuss.
CIP and Planning Committee
- Darton said met with Ben Dahle and Dave as discussed. Working on 2022/2023 budget. CIP costs this year will be about $40K (Water tank conversion, demo old wellhouse at 268th, work on DWA building).
- CIP plans for 2023/24 and beyond will exceed our budget but we plan to apply for grants and loans as needed.
Old Business / Carryover Items
- Richard asked if anything had been sent to Todd Larsen regarding his easement request. Paul said no formal letter was sent or needed. It was noted in the last board minutes that the majority of the community who sent in responses to our mailing were not interested in moving forward with Todd’s proposal.
New Business / Discussion Items
- Sam updated us on the outreach committee meeting. From community input it seems people just want a basic idea of what we do as a board. The board brainstormed and it was decided that perhaps an info board at the DWA building, maybe by where the historical board is, might be a good way to provide the public with information about DW and who we serve and what we do. We have some good historical info at the DWA building that might be able to be included. We will perhaps include a tour of the property for any attendees at this years Annual meeting if it happens in person.
Other Business
- Nothing
What did we decide?
- Darton moved to make changes to the late fee rate. Motion is approved.
- Darton updating Annual meeting agenda and statements and will send to Dave by April 4.
- Dave to look into whether hydraulic modeling has been done in the past.
- Dave to include rate change info in next bill and enter it on the website. He will also contact members in arrears notifying them of this change.
- Dave/Todd to look into usage billing and why it is so high.
- Sam will continue having the outreach committee meet.