May 4, 2014

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 9th so would like to hear from her after that.  Jackie let him know that she will be on vacation from April 9th through the 21st 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 13th, but she didn’t receive the proposal from them until January 10th which didn’t give them enough time to review it, so the meeting was postponed until January 21st.  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 29th, 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 11th 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)

     

Board Meeting October 17, 2013


Gardiner Sanitary District
Board of Directors Meeting
October 17, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Dennis Conger, present were Board Members  Marc Fullhart, Catherine Kent, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Jonathon Wright, Steve Lindsley, Mack Holman, and Esther Siderman.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Marc 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,  Marc made a motion and Charlotte seconded to accept the report and pay the bills, motion passed by unanimous voice vote. 
         
      Old Business:

      Marc and Charlotte have not had an opportunity to meet yet to review the district’s ordinances, but they have a copy of the Winchester Bay Sanitary District ordinances to use as a basis for analyzing whether there need to be any changes made to the GSD ordinances.

       Ray made a suggestion that at least one of the district’s board members should consider going to the SDAO meeting being held in Seaside this year to get any updates and/or changes that have been implemented since the last time any of them have been.  There is a lot of information to be had at these meetings that is useful to small districts.

        Ray has not heard anything new from American Bridge regarding the easement question, but we did receive a letter in the mail today from Dick Nored with a copy of an easement that did not have any signatures, but Dick was sure that there was a signed copy somewhere.  He suggested checking with one of the attorney’s that were originally involved with the formation and description process.

         Ray also announced that the valve project has been put on hold for the moment because of the incident with the line under the river.  There were pump malfunctions noted on 9/25 and 9/26, then there was a large discrepancy between flows recorded at the Bolin Island pump station and the meter at the Reedsport treatment plant on 9/27 which prompted Ray to assume that there was a break in the line, at which point he diverted the sewage flows from the force main to the emergency bypass line to reduce any further leakage.  It is estimated that there was a leak of approximately 39,635 gallons of wastewater.  It was not possible to repair the line immediately because of inclement weather conditions, but repairs were completed on 10/5.
                 
               
      New Business:

                  Ray notified the board that there is a problem with the generator that he has not been able to figure out yet, but it needs some kind of repair and will keep working on figuring out what it needs.

          Ray also asked the board to consider an increase in his monthly base contract amount by 100.00 to $1260.00 per month as his one year contract is due to end on November 15th.  Marc made a motion to give Ray an additional 100.00 per month, Catherine seconded and the motion was passed by unanimous voice vote.

         Charlotte reported that we were accepted for the grant for new heaters and she just needed to return the signed agreement and we should be receiving the money.

          Dennis made reference to the town hall meeting that was held on October 9th at which the overwhelming majority of audience members present appeared to be behind the option of staying with the Reedsport wastewater treatment rather than building the IP wastewater treatment plant, but suggested that the board still needed to pursue a definitive decision on the interpretation of the contract wording with Reedsport regardless of which way they ended up going.  He observed that during the second plant expansion that Reedsport implemented, the city interpreted the contract that had been in place since the first plant expansion, differently than they had originally at the time of the first expansion.  He asked Jonathon Wright if he had any input on the issue and Jonathon stated that Reedsport would still like to pursue mediation rather than arbitration to resolve the question in order to maintain an open dialogue.  Dennis responded that Gardiner had tried to meet with Reedsport to discuss the issue earlier this year and were not given an opportunity to do so, then also reminded Jonathon of the letter that Reedsport had sent to Gardiner dated 9/16/13 requesting a response by 9/21/13 that was postmarked 9/23/13 as evidence of the kind of communication that has been a hindrance to resolving any issues between the two entities.  Jonathon apologized for this instance, stating that he had used the physical address of the district, taken from the district’s website, rather than the P.O.Box and when the letter was returned, had resent it to the P.O. Box.   Jonathon offered to set up a meeting between the district, the Reedsport mayor and 2 city council members to discuss the contract.  Dennis said that that would be agreeable and that he would send a written acknowledgement to the city accepting that offer.  When asked whether the City of Reedsport would be willing to take over Gardiner Sanitary District if the decision is made to stay with the Reedsport treatment option, Jonathon said that he could not specify what the city would be able to do.

                                  
       Safety Meeting: 

          Ray is still in the process of updating the procedures for the Lockout/Tagout Program. 

       
                    Meeting went into executive session pursuant to ORS.192.660(1)(f) to discuss consultation with counsel concerning contract negotiations, then meeting returned from executive session   
    


     Marc made a motion to adjourn, Catherine seconded and the meeting was adjourned.
             
Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)