Board Meeting May 17, 2014

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

May 17, 2014

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Catherine Kent, Dennis Conger, Marc Fullhart and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Matt Waddlington, Mack Holman, and Suzanna Noordhoff.

     Matt Waddlington made the final presentation on the rate study that his firm has conducted:  He summarized the prior presentations by explaining the purpose of the rate study is to find an equitable process for deciding how much each rate payer should pay individually.  As explained before, there are expenses that must be paid for the operation of the sewer system, some of those costs are fixed and some are variable, but can be estimated based on historical expenditures.  The total of all expense determines how much revenue must be collected to cover them.  The study that they have finished presents the following:

Capital Costs Due to the City of Reedsport:

          $12 million 20-year DEQ loan/GSD’s share@6.45% = 54020.52

          $1.2 million 20-year IFA loan/GSD’s share@6.45% =   3870.00

                             Total annual obligation                                57890.52

Operation and Maintenance Costs Due to City of Reedsport:

          2013 total of $313,987.49/GSD’s share@10.41%      = 32686.10

Administration Fee Due to City of Reedsport:

          5% of Capital plus O&M Costs(2013=90,576.62)      =  4528.83

GSD’s $215,000 5-year DEQ loan annual obligation           = 49198.00

GSD’s Operation and Maintenance Costs                                 = 80550.00

                               Total Annual Obligations                          224,853.45

Total Property Tax Revenues @ 1.4191%                            = 35,600.00

                    Balance to be collected by user fees:                189,253.45

Based on the numbers of water hookups in Gardiner Sanitary District the values that the rate study determined for the 3 different assessment options that were evaluated were:

          Option 1: Flat Rate for All = $141.63

          Option 2: Per Gallon Usage would be the most variable and would have to be adjusted regularly to make sure enough revenue was generated

          Option 3: Hybrid Method using a Base Rate plus Rate for usage over 1000 gallons;  the first 1000 gal @ 60.00, each subsequent 1000 gallons of usage @ 20.00.  The average resident uses 4600 gallons per month, so their bill would be 140.00.  Low users would be at 60.00 and high users would be at 1180.00.

Civil West recommends using Option 3 with a 3% increase per year to keep up with inflation.               

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Catherine motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote. 

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Catherine made a motion and Dennis seconded to accept the report and pay the bills.

         

      Old Business:

      Jackie and Charlotte met with Reedsport on April 8 and came to a tentative agreement regarding the contract for services and on April 9 they sent the contract to the district’s attorney for review.  When Jackie returned from vacation on April 23 the contract had still not been signed, but they had just found out that the IFA had established a deadline of April 25 for the contract approval in order for the grant process to proceed. After several phone calls to the attorney and Jonathon, the contract was presented to the Reedsport board members at a special meeting held on April 24 where they accepted it.  Jackie picked up the contract on 4/25, signed it and faxed it off to the IFA in order to meet their deadline.  Jackie asked for an oral vote by the board to officially ratify the contract and each board member voted “yes”.

      Jackie also presented the revised MAO that had been rewritten per her request based on the new timeline for the replacement of the line under the Umpqua River, all board members voted unanimously to approve the revised MAO.

       Ray reported that copies of the updated easement have been presented to American Bridge and we are now just awaiting their signatures.

               

      New Business:

      Civil West presented the board with an Engineering Task Order outlining the project to replace the forcemain under the Umpqua River with work to start in June 2014 and be completed by June 2015 at an estimated engineering cost of $98,761.00.  Marc made a motion to sign the Task Order, Catherine seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.  Jackie signed the order and Matt took the signed copy to send off to the IFA and give the go ahead for the work to begin.

      Ray reported that everything seems to be working properly at this time, but would like to purchase a chemical pump as Reedsport has requested that we reduce the hydrogen sulfite in the wastewater by adding chlorine to it before it gets to the treatment plant.  Dennis made a motion and Charlotte seconded to allow Ray to find a chemical pump, motion passed by unanimous voice vote.  Ray also requested a new squirrel cage fan for the dry pit for ventilation, the other one broke.  Catherine made a motion, Dennis seconded and motion to find a new fan passed by unanimous voice vote.

      

      Jackie asked if anyone would like to voice their opinion on which rate structure option would work best for the district.  After some input and discussion, the general consensus seemed to be that Opion 3-the hybrid method would be the most equitable.  Jackie asked for a motion, Catherine made a motion to use the Hybrid Method for establishing billing rates, Dennis seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.   

      Safety Report: 

          Nothing new to report.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         Ms. Noordhoff made a request to have her physical address added to her statement, Jackie asked Mary if that was possible, she replied that she would have to look into it, she did not think it was an option with the setup that exists.  Jackie asked her to do a little research and see what she could come up with.

      Jackie suggested that they should consider setting up on-line banking access in order to transfer money between accounts and view current activity and give access to Mary as well as the signers.  Charlotte made a motion to setup online access to view activity and make transfers between accounts only, with access being granted to Mary, Jackie and Charlotte, Marc seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

      Charlotte would like to see the floor in the meeting room cleaned and possibly get help from the Fire Dept to do so.  She said she would discuss it with them and look into who could possibly do the work and bring it up at the next meeting.           

Marc made a motion to adjourn, Charlotte seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Notice of Budget Hearing 2014-2015 Fiscal Year

A public meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on June 19, 2014 at 5:30 pm at the Gardiner FireHall, Gardiner, Oregon. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014 as approved by the Gardiner Sanitary District Budget Committee.  A summary of the budget is presented below. A copy of the budget may be inspected or obtained at the District office in the Gardiner FireHall, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. or online at gardinersanitarydistrict.blogspot.com. This budget is for an annual budget period.  This budget was prepared on a basis of accounting that is  the same as the preceding year.	NOTICE OF BUDGET HEARING
Contact: Mary Chambers		Telephone: 541-271-3515	Email: district@gardinersanitary.com
FINANCIAL SUMMARY - RESOURCES
TOTAL OF ALL FUNDS		Actual Amount	Adopted Budget	Approved Budget
		2012-2013	This Year 2013-2014	Next Year 2014-2015
Beginning Fund Balance/Net Working Capital		311,616	325,399	233,744
Fees, Licenses, Permits, Fines, Assessments & Other Service Charges		107,013	116,556	128,199
Federal, State and all Other Grants, Gifts, Allocations and Donations				500,000
Interfund Transfers / Internal Service Reimbursements			2	2
All Other Resources Except Current Year Property Taxes		3,439	3,015	2,800
Current Year Property Taxes Estimated to be Received		55,967	55,103	35,800
Total Resources		478,035	500,075	900,545
FINANCIAL SUMMARY - REQUIREMENTS BY OBJECT CLASSIFICATION
Personnel Services		42,913	50,000	43,000
Materials and Services		130,796	189,825	64,583
Capital Outlay		9,098	146,609	641,544
Debt Service			30,000	35,826
Interfund Transfers			2	2
Contingencies			83,639	115,590
Unappropriated Ending Balance and Reserved for Future Expenditure		295,228
Total Requirements		478,035	500,075	900,545
FINANCIAL SUMMARY - REQUIREMENTS AND FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES (FTE) BY ORGANIZATIONAL UNIT OR PROGRAM *
Name of Organizational Unit or Program
FTE for that unit or program
Not Allocated to Organizational Unit or Program		478,035	500,075	900,545
FTE		0.75	0.75	0.75
Total Requirements		478,035	500,075	900,545
Total FTE		0.75	0.75	0.75
STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN ACTIVITIES and SOURCES OF FINANCING *
The District will receive a $500,000 IFA Grant to complete repair/replacement of the forcemain crossing the Umpqua River.
PROPERTY TAX LEVIES
		Rate or Amount Imposed	Rate or Amount Imposed	Rate or Amount Approved
		2012-2013	This Year 2013-2014	Next Year 2014-2015
Permanent Rate Levy      (rate limit  1.4191 per $1,000)		1.4191	1.4191	1.4191
Local Option Levy		1.0	1.0
Levy For General Obligation Bonds
STATEMENT OF INDEBTEDNESS
LONG TERM DEBT	Estimated Debt Outstanding		Estimated Debt Authorized, But
	on July 1.		Not Incurred on July 1
General Obligation Bonds
Other Bonds
Other Borrowings	$215,000
Total	$215,000
150-504-073-2 (Rev. 02-14)

Board Meeting April 17, 2014

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

April 17, 2014

     Meeting called to order by Dennis Conger, present were Board Members  Catherine Kent, Marc Fullhart and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Garrett Pallo, Bev Doane, Mary Paula, and Delice Ciechanowski       .

     Garrett Pallo made a presentation on the rate study that his firm is conducting:  He explained that the purpose of the rate study is to find an equitable process for deciding how much each rate payer should pay individually.  Since sewage is not metered as it leaves a residence, there is no definitive way to measure each residences output so there needs to be an alternative way to determine rates.  Historically, the district has used the EDU (equivalent dwelling unit) method which worked in the past but has become less equitable for some individuals.  His firm acquired water usage information for Jan-Mar from the City of Reedsport’s records to get a base measurement to begin their study.  That time period is typically a low usage time frame for lawn watering, car washing and other seasonal water usage, so is a better indicator of water that is actually entering the sewage system.  They found that the average EDU usage was 4400gal of water per month, and with a total usage of 415,500 gallons/month, that computes to 95 EDU’s for the district.  There are 3 main options for deciding billing rates: 

1-a flat rate for each water user

2-a per gallon rate

3-a hybrid method using a base rate plus per gallon rate       

Most districts use the hybrid method but a rate study will examine each opton to give the governing body the most information in order to make the best decision for their particular district.  A flat rate would be the most predictable and the per gallon rate the least.  There will be another meeting to give district patrons another opportunity to learn more about the options and then a third meeting to summarize and hopefully have specific figures to talk about.  The meetings will be on May 1 and May 15^th.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Catherine motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.  A question was raised regarding why the minutes aren’t read aloud at each meeting and the answer was that typically there is not enough time to do that and the minutes are available to the public upon their request.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Catherine made a motion and Marc seconded to accept the report and pay the bills.

         

      Old Business:

      Dennis reported that they have been conversing with the mayor and the City Council about the contract with Reedsport and are very close to signing with just a few issues they are still negotiating about.   

       Dennis also reported that the DEQ has sent a repayment schedule for the existing loan to be paid back over the next 5 years at 1% interest, but they are currently examining the possibility of refinancing it to 10 years instead.

        Regarding the American Bridge easement that the district has been trying to get, the survey that AB requested was completed by Hofstadt          er, Inc in which they found an error on the 2009 survey that was done by Stuntzner Engineering.  Stuntzner has corrected their error and is sending new maps and descriptions to us and to Hofstadter.  Once they review the revisions we will be able to have an agreement signed and filed with the county.

                         

               

      New Business:

          Ray reported that the new flow meter is working properly and he has installed the final valve that was needed, making pump repair work much easier and cheaper.

         The first Budget Committee Meeting is set for May 15 at 5:30pm.

      Safety Report: 

          An OSHA hazard assessment will be done on May 30 in which they look for any possible hazards and make recommendations based on their findings.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         N/A

         Meeting was called into executive session under ORS.192.660(2)(h) to discuss legal correspondence.

         Meeting returned from executive session and Marc made a motion to sign the IFA intergovernmental agreement, Catherine seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

       

Marc made a motion to adjourn, Charlotte seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Notice of Budget Committee Meeting

NOTICE OF BUDGET COMMITTEE MEETING A public meeting of the Budget Committee of the Gardiner Sanitary District,  Douglas County, State of Oregon, to discuss the budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015, will be held at the Gardiner Fire Hall 208 Marsh Street, Gardiner, OR 97441.      The meeting will take place on May 15, 2014  at 5:30 □ am x pm The purpose of the meeting is to receive the budget message and to receive comment from the public on the budget. This is a public meeting where deliberation of the Budget Committee will take place.  Any person may appear at the meeting and discuss the proposed programs with the Budget Committee. A copy of the budget document may be inspected or obtained on or after May 16, 2014 at the district office at the Gardiner Fire Hall, between the hours of 8:00 x am □ pm   and 10:00 x am □ pm This notice is also posted at http://gardinersanitarydistrict.blogspot.com. 150-504-073-1  (Rev 12/12)

Board Meeting March 20, 2014

         

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

March 20, 2014

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Dennis Conger, Catherine Kent, Marc Fullhart and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Mike & Kathy Quartararo, Dick Nored, Jonathon Wright, Mary Paula, Mack Holman and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Charlotte motioned to accept the minutes, Catherine seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Dennis  made a motion and Catherine seconded to accept the report and pay the bills with the exception of the City of Reedsport bill, which Jackie will let me know whether to pay it or not after the meeting with Reedsport on Monday,  motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

         

      Old Business:

      Jackie reported that they met with Reedsport last Wednesday and progress was made on the negotiations, they will meet again next Monday to discuss 3 financial questions and correspondence from the attorney.   

       Jackie also reported that she had received a new MAO from the DEQ, but John Gasik called and let her know that he will be on vacation until April 9^th so would like to hear from her after that.  Jackie let him know that she will be on vacation from April 9^th through the 21^st so she would let him know as soon as she is available to discuss it.  She has already heard from the district’s engineer and he is pleased with the revised MAO.

        Garrett Pallo is putting together a scope of work for the under-river line replacement project so the project is still moving forward as quickly as possible.

        Charlotte reported that after the last storm, it was discovered that the office computer was not working so a repairman was called and apparently a fuse had blown which caused the problems.  In the process of getting the computer back up and running, he found that there was no current antivirus program so he updated that.  Also, Microsoft has announced that they will no longer be supporting Windows XP so it is time to either upgrade or get a new computer. 

                 

               

      New Business:

          Ray reported that the line repair was completed on 3/15 by Orca Divers.  While the line was down, Ray installed the flow meter sensor, but when it was hooked up the error code was still flashing as it had before the new install. Ray took the transmitter apart and cleaned it and it started working properly.  He has the last valve installation planned for tomorrow.  American Bridge wants another survey done to confirm the original survey before they will grant the easement, so Ray asked the board if they would authorize that.  Marc made a motion to have Ray tell American Bridge to go ahead with the survey that they want done, not to exceed the $550.00 quote that was given, Dennis seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

          Jackie reported that the district received a letter from the DEQ regarding the loan repayment schedule, which she reviewed with Garret Pallo and he had a few suggestions for her to approach the DEQ with.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         N/A

Suggestions for agenda items for next meeting:

         Reedsport Contract Update

         Update on MAO from DEQ 

         Update from Civil West on the Rate Study

         American Bridge     

         Meeting was called into executive session under ORS.192.660(2)(h) to discuss legal correspondence.

         Meeting returned from executive session and Marc made a motion to adjourn, Charlotte seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Board Meeting February 20, 2014

         

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

February 20, 2014

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Dennis Conger, Catherine Kent, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Mike & Kathy Quartararo, and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Dennis motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Dennis  made a motion and Charlotte seconded to accept the report and pay the bills, motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

         

      Old Business:

      Jackie reported that she received the latest Reedsport contract draft the day before she left for vacation so she didn’t have much time to review it but she let Becky Bryant know that they may need to have an interim contract to satisfy the funding agencies since it may take a little longer to come to an agreement with Reedsport for a longer term contract.  Jonathon Wright didn’t seem very interested in signing an interim contract.   

       There has been no update on an MAO from the DEQ as of today.

        The $500,000.00 grant application has been received and is ready to be signed.  Dennis made a motion, and Cathy seconded it, to give Jackie the authority to sign the $500,000.00 IFA grant contract, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.  Jackie signed the contract and directed Mary to get it in the mail tomorrow.

        Jackie called Ray, he apologized for not being present at the meeting, and reported that he got 2 valves installed and still has one more to go on Bolin Island.  He sent a report to the DEQ on 2/9/14 regarding the break in the line under the river.  The flow sensor tube is going to be shipped on 2/21 and he plans to have it installed by the end of the month, as soon as the flows recede. The system has been on the bypass line since 2/9 but they can’t get the line fixed until the flow drops to about 70,0000 to 80,000 gallons and the river level drops.  He got the generator at Bolin Island repaired and it ran by itself yesterday with no issues. 

                 

               

      New Business:

          There is no new business to report other than what Ray already reported regarding the break under the river.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         Jackie reported that there was a meeting between IP and the City of Reedsport at which IP suggested that they would like the city to process the effluent from their landfill that is still open rather than using the outfall pipe.

Suggestions for agenda items for next meeting:

         Reedsport Contract Update

         Update on MAO from DEQ 

         Update on the line repair project

         American Bridge     

         Meeting was called into executive session under ORS.192.660(2)(h) to discuss legal correspondence.

         Meeting returned from executive session and Charlotte made a motion to adjourn, Dennis seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Board Meeting January 16, 2014

         

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

January 16, 2014

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Dennis Conger and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Mike & Kathy Quartararo, Dick Nored, Mack Holman and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Dennis motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Dennis  made a motion and Charlotte seconded to accept the report and pay the bills, motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

         

      New Business:

      Jackie announced that she was starting the meeting with new business instead of old because Ray had to leave early.  Ray reported that the valve replacement for the firehall pump station has been completed.  While changing the valves at the Bolin Island pump station, a flange broke and while he was able to plug that line, it is a temporary fix and he will have to restart the process of replacing those valves and permanently fix that break.  The week before that, a pump burned up because it got a rock stuck in it.  During this period, the flow meter was ruined because the sump pump in the vault where the pump and flow meter are housed quit working and the vault filled with ground water.  The flow meter is not repairable and it will cost $3600.00 to replace the flow meter sensor tube.  Dennis made a motion to have Ray obtain a replacement flow meter sensor tube for no more than $3800.00, Charlotte seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

       Ray also advocated for Steven Bell to be given a raise as he has been a steady and reliable employee, the board agreed to discuss it.

         Jackie reported that she had received a call from the engineer that they were sending an application that needed to be signed by 12/31/13 for the financing of the $500,000.00 project plan for the replacement of the line under the river.  Per the engineer, this step is required prior to the replacement of the pump stations.  Because of the timing, she signed and returned the application as soon as she received it.

                 

               

      Old Business:

                    Jacki reported that there was supposed to be a meeting between the district and Reedsport officials to continue the contract negotiations on January 13^th, but she didn’t receive the proposal from them until January 10^th which didn’t give them enough time to review it, so the meeting was postponed until January 21^st.  Also, she has had no update on the DEQ MAO.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         Jackie read a letter that was submitted to the board from Mike Quartararo requesting that the board limit public input at the meetings to residents of the sanitary district.

         Jackie also read a letter from I.P. terminating the agreement that they had with the district regarding ownership of the company’s property in light of the recent decision to abandon the option to develop said property into a wastewater treatment facility.

         Mack announced that he was considering moving forward with a possible recall for the sanitary district board members.  Dick Nored responded that he strongly advised against doing that at this time.

Meeting was called into executive session under ORS.192.660(2)(i) to discuss performance evaluation of employees.

Meeting returned from executive session and Charlotte made a motion to increase Steve Bell’s hourly rate form $10.00 to $11.50;  Dennis seconded the motion and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

Suggestions for agenda items for next meeting:

         Reedsport Contract Update

         Update from Civil West on funding application

         Update on MAO from DEQ 

         Update on the valve replacement project

         American Bridge     

                

                    

     Charlotte made a motion to adjourn, Dennis seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Board Meeting December 19, 2013

         

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

December 19, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Dennis Conger, Catherine Kent, Marc Fullhart, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Catherine motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Dennis  made a motion and Catherine seconded to accept the report and pay the bills, motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

         

      Old Business:

      Jackie reported that the district is still under negotiations with Reedsport and they have another meeting scheduled for January 13, 2014 to continue discussions.  If needed, they will have an interim agreement by the end of the year, but that doesn’t seem to be required at this point.  She has had no new information regarding the MAO from the DEQ and no update on the funding application other than that Garrett is working closely with Becky Bryant and they are still on track for getting it done.

       Ray got a call from Matt Wadlington of Civil West requesting a listing of any work that he is aware of that needs to be done that could be covered by the grant money if there is any extra available.

      Safety Meeting:

         Ray has submitted responses to OSHA’s questions on the procedures manual and is awaiting any further input.

                 

               

      New Business:

                    Ray reported that he has installed new batteries in the chatterboxes in case of a power loss.  Also, the valve replacement project is pretty in depth work but he is going to try to replace all 4 valves at the firehall tomorrow night as he has tried to anticipate any problems that might come up when he gets into it and is fairly confident that he has everything in place to get it done in one night.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         Nothing.

Meeting was called into executive session under ORS.192.660(2)(h) to discuss legal counsel concerning possible pending litigation.

Meeting returned from executive session.

Suggestions for agenda items for next meeting:

         Reedsport Contract Update

         Update from Civil West on funding application

         Update on MAO from DEQ 

         Update on the valve replacement project

         Wage evaluation for Steve     

                

                    

     Catherine made a motion to adjourn, Marc seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

              

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

    

Board Meeting November 21, 2013

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

November 21, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Dennis Conger, Catherine Kent, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Garrett Pallo, Keith Andersen, Becky Bryant, Keith Tymchuk, Jonathon Wright, Steve Lindsley, Mike Quartararo, Kathy Quartararo, Ean Wright, Dick Nored, Mack Holman, and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Dennis motioned to accept the minutes, Charlotte seconded, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read,  Charlotte  made a motion and Catherine seconded to accept the report and pay the bills, motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 

         

      New Business:

      Ray reported that the generator has been repaired and refueled, but still needs to have the timer replaced and he is waiting for an estimate on how much that will be.

       Ray also had Ticor Title do a search for the easement on Bolin Island, which they did at no cost to the district and which found no recorded easement on the property.

        Ray then explained the problems he is running into on the valve replacement project.  He has not had any luck finding a 9 ½” valve which is what is on one of the lines, and is afraid that there is no such option available any longer.  He has found the 10” valves at $579.00 each, of which he would need a total of seven to replace all of the existing valves, so he is negotiating to try to get a discount.  Garrett volunteered that he may have some options available that Ray has not considered. Ray said he would get together with him to discuss those after the meeting.

         Ray also reported that the phone/fax machines are still not working as was previously thought, so he is sure now that the district needs a new machine; one that will handle both activities and will record messages since the office is not manned for any extended length of time.  The fire chief has been looking for a machine but has been unsuccessful so far, they are also in need of it, so should be willing to help with the cost.  Catherine said she would shop on-line and see if she could find something that would work for both departments.

      Safety Meeting:

         Ray is still working on the Procedures manual for OSHA, and has no other safety issues to report.

                 

               

      New Business:

                  Jacki introduced Becky Bryant of the Economic Development Department, Garrett Pallo, engineer from Civil West, and Keith Andersen of the DEQ and asked Garrett to give the presentation that he had prepared.  Garrett gave a brief narrative of what the district has been facing for the last few months:  the district is under increasing pressure to take action due to the spills in the river and because of many circumstances, the only option available to them at this time is to repair the line under the Umpqua River and maintain the association with the City of Reedsport wastewater treatment facility.  He also stated that over the last few months it became increasingly clear that the district patrons are unhappy with the existing rate structure and he recommends conducting a rate study so that all customers will be fairly billed based on usage not on a flat rate as has been used up until this time.  He says that there are a couple of agencies available to do a rate study at no cost to the district. 

          Garrett also reported that he has been communicating with Becky Bryant for the last couple of weeks and the IFA is putting together a funding package that will cover 100% of the cost of rebuilding the system going south, which is almost unheard of, but time is of the essence as the district would have to make an application by December 31, 2013 in order to take advantage of this opportunity.  There are a few stipulations that would have to be met, such as the county and the City of Reedsport would both have to be on board with the project, and there would need to be at least a tentative contract in place with the city in order for the package to be approved.  Garrett would recommend accepting this funding package.

          Jackie reiterated that the DEQ has placed additional pressure on the district to go south and if we are to take advantage of this unique opportunity we must act quickly, she asked Becky if she had anything further to add and/or if any of the board members had any questions for Becky.  No additional comments were made and Jackie asked for a motion.  Dennis made a motion to direct Civil West to assist Becky in completing the applications for the CDBG wastewater grant program, Catherine seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

          Jackie then stated that as a result of the meeting held on September 29^th, the DEQ had proposed a 7 page MAO, but, she asked, in light of this turn of events, would the DEQ be willing to review the  proposed MAO and it’s timelines to accommodate these new developments?  And also, to discuss the options on the current debt to the DEQ?  Mr. Andersen responded that the DEQ would absolutely be willing to adjust the proposed MAO based on the new circumstances.  He said he would be happy to set up a meeting to discuss the MAO and the existing loan.  He has already looked into the possibility of loan forgiveness, due to the change in circumstances since the loan was initiated, and that didn’t seem to be legally possible, but he would be willing to see if there were any other options available.

Old Business:

         Jackie reported that she, Charlotte, Keith, Jonathon and some Reedsport city council members had met to negotiate the contract, and had had a thorough discussion of  many different options and had set a second meeting for December 11^th to continue the discussions.  Garrett asked Keith if Reedsport thinks that the deadlines for this new proposal would be doable, and Keith answered “absolutely”. 

         Jackie also met with the district’s attorney and they are still looking for clarification on the contract language.

Items Not On The Agenda/Open to the Public:

         Mike Q. asked the DEQ if they are willing to indemnify the district for any future environmental lawsuits based on the line under the river, and Keith Andersen responded that they would not.  The concept of a sewer line running under a river is not new, and is in place in numerous coastal communities and is an accepted occurrence.  Garrett reiterated that it is done all of the time without problems. 

         Esther asked if the city of Reedsport would be taking over the billings for the district under this new scenario, and Jackie answered that that is one of the options that they are discussing as part of the contract negotiations.

         Bev Doane asked if there was any relief available for the flat rate she is being charged for apartment units that are vacant and Jackie answered that under the current rate plan, there was no option but she and Garrett reminded her that that was why the new rate study was going to be done and when that was finished, they would be charged on usage rather than a flat rate, so her rates would adjust when units were vacant.

         Mike asked the board if they could be able to give an update at the next meeting on the holes that have been found in the Reedsport bookkeeping.  Dennis answered that they would be concentrating on getting a new contract hammered out over the next few weeks, and getting the funding application process completed so their attention would be elsewhere.

Suggestions for agenda items for next meeting:

         Reedsport Meeting Update

         Update from Civil West on funding application

         Update on MAO from DEQ       

                

                    

     Charlotte made a motion to adjourn, Catherine seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

             

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)