Board Meeting March 21, 2013

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

March 21, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Mike Quartararo, Dixie Hash, Marc Fullhart, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers and Ray Davenport.

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

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read, Dixie motioned to accept the report and pay the bills, seconded by Mike, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

    

      Old Business:

         Dixie reported that there was another meeting with Vera and Jonathon regarding the maintenance contract and they still were unable to show us how they have credited us as directed in the 2009 settlement agreement.

                 

          Dixie also reported on the meeting between the county, IP and the district represented by herself and Nate McClintock.  Tom Matten, the county environmental expert, was also present.  Susan Morgan was not interested in listening to anything that promoted the district’s progress toward the IP site project, and in fact, approached Norb Wondra at the end of the meeting to let him know that the county is interested in buying the IP property.

           Ray reported that a new manager is in place at American Bridge, Scott Ellis, and he has attempted to contact him regarding the easement issue but has not heard back from him yet.

           Dixie asked Mary to approach the district’s auditor about possibly helping write a measure for a new local option tax to be put on the November ballot with an increase in the rate requested.

         

      New Business: 

           Ray reported on the work that has been done so far on the cleaning of the pipe;  he found two valves that have been stuck partially closed and he was able to get them fully open.  He doesn’t think that this is the whole problem, but is at least part of it.  He would like to do a good draw down test this weekend, now that the pipe is fully opened, and compare the “gallons per minute” to the flow meter readings to further diagnose the cause of the flow discrepancies.  Everyone is completely in favor of this and since Ray has not used up the budget that was authorized for this project, he was given the go-ahead with no further motions.

                             

       Safety Meeting: 

          Ray reported that the OSHA consultation took place Friday the 15^th at 1 pm and the OSHA representative brought new regulation paperwork.  Ray needs to re-write our lock-out/tag-out and confined space entry procedures to meet new regulations.

         

      Items not on the Agenda, Open to the Public:  

          The board decided that the budget committee should meet at 5:30 on April 18, 2013, immediately before the regular board meeting for April.

Suggestions for Next Meeting:

-       Part time supervisor’s report

-       Update on the contract with City of Reedsport

-       Next year’s budget

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

             

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

     

Board Meeting February 21, 2013

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

February 21, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Mike Quartararo, Dixie Hash, and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, Mack Holman and Esther.

     Written copies of the previous minutes were passed out and read, Dixie requested the wording changed on what we were waiting on from Becky Bryant and then motioned to accept the minutes as amended, seconded by Mike, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

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

    

      Old Business:

         Jackie reported that we are still in negotiations with the City of Reedsport for the maintenance contract and will be meeting with Vera and Jonathon again on March 1^st.

                 

          Dixie announced that she no longer has time to review the Winchester Bay ordinances that she and Charlotte were going to look over for possible application to our district, Mike said that he would consider taking over for her but was not sure if he has time right now either.  It was decided to put that on hold for now.

          Dixie reported that the county attorney will be meeting with Norb Wondra and our attorney to discuss the ownership transfer of IP’s wastewater facility.

          Dixie also reported that she has been looking into alternative funding options for the facility, such as the DEQ , since the Rural Development loan through the county seems to be dead in the water.

         

      New Business: 

           Ray reported that the meters have been recalibrated and there is still a huge difference in flow readings, so he did a draw down test to measure pump volume and now speculates that there may be a large amount of grit and sediment in the pipe causing increased velocity, therefore scewing the flow readings.  He would like to try cleaning the pipe and would like a budget to get started.

          Mike made a motion to authorize Ray to use up to $3000.00 to get started on cleaning out the pipe, Dixie seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

          Ray reported that though he thought that the meeting went well with Mr. Sambrano of American Bridge, he still hasn’t heard anything back from him.

                   

       Safety Meeting: 

          Ray reported that there are no safety issues that he is aware of and is still waiting to have the OSHA consultation scheduled.

         

      Items not on the Agenda, Open to the Public:  

          Mack questioned how much the monthly rate was going to be going up, he was confused as to whether it would be $75.00 or $55.00.  Jackie and Dixie tried to clear up the confusion and explained that the EDU rate was going up to $75.00 per month but that would only mean an out of pocket monthly rate of $55.00 per month, the difference being made up from the property tax assessment.

Suggestions for Next Meeting:

-       Update on the meeting with the County

-       Tax rate on the ballot for May

-       Update on the contract with City of Reedsport

-       Nest year’s budget committee

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

             

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)

     

Notice of Budge 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, 2013 to June 30, 2014, will be held at the Gardiner Fire Hall 208 Marsh Street, Gardiner, OR.  The meeting will take place on April 18, 2013 at 5:30 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 on or after April 15, 2013 at the district office at the Gardiner Fire Hall, between the hours of 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM. 

Board Meeting January 17, 2013

Gardiner Sanitary District

Board of Directors Meeting

January 17, 2013

     Meeting called to order by Jackie Degman, present were Board Members  Mike Quartararo, Dixie Hash and Charlotte Hinshaw.  Also present were Mary Chambers, Ray Davenport, and Dennis Conger.

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

     Written copies of the financial report were passed out and read, Dixie motioned to accept the report and pay the bills, seconded by Mike, motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

    

      Old Business:

         Dennis was contacted by Jonathon Wright to request a continuance to this week to respond to the information that the district had presented to him regarding adjustments to the contract with the City of Reedsport. Dennis agreed, but let him know that we would expect a response by the end of January at the latest, he has not heard back from him as of the meeting time.

                 

          Jackie asked for a motion to accept Ordinance #03-2012 establishing a new EDU rate of $75.00 per month, which would reflect in the monthly customer billings as an increase of $10.00 (from $45.00/month to $55.00/month).  Dixie made a motion to adopt Ordinance #03-2012, Mike seconded and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

          Charlotte reported that the grant request for new heaters for the firehall was not sent in on the correct date so we will not be receiving any grant monies this fiscal year.  The board thanked Charlotte for all of her work on trying to get the grant money and requested that she try again this coming summer when new grant money would be available.

          Dixie has still not heard back from Becky Bryant regarding the progress of the MAP report; she sent information to the IFA and hasn’t heard anything back from them either.

          Mike asked if we had received any input from district patrons that were identified as having potential plumbing issues during the smoke testing and Ray reported that all of the property owners that had been sent letters regarding leaks that needed to be repaired had either finished or were in the process of working to repair the problems.  Some additional patrons were since identified as having a potential problem and he is in the process of preparing letters to them.

      New Business: 

           Ray reported that the Reedsport-side meter is still recording 32% higher flow readings than the Bolin Island meter.  He suggested having the Bolin Island meter calibrated and the Reedsport meter investigated at the same time to save both Gardiner and Reedsport travel expense for the repair man.  He also asked the board to allow him to start repairing the leaks and breaks that he has found in numerous areas within the districts boundaries a little at a time.  The systems’ age is going to start causing more and more problems for the district and it’s patrons and if we start working on the maintenance that has been deferred for so long, hopefully we can avert any major repairs down the road.

          Dixie asked Ray to instruct Steve on how to investigate the past two years’ flow meter readings so that they can find out if there is a specific time when the huge differences between the two meters began.  Ray agreed to get Steve started on that project.

          Ray reported that he contacted Mr. Sambrano at American Bridge and felt that they had a productive discussion regarding the easement problem that we’ve been trying to get resolved with them and came away from the meeting hopeful that some progress may be made in the near future.

          Mike made a motion to have Ray implement the plan he has laid out for the board regarding the following 4 suggestions: 1)have a technician calibrate the Bolin Island meter, 2)call on Reedsport to jet rod/clean the GSD sewer mains from manhole C-2 to C-5 to remove heavy amounts of grit in order to be televised properly, 3)order 6 additional manhole inflow dishes, 4)purchase grout to complete repair of previously plugged pipe at IP property,  Dixie seconded the motion and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.

          Charlotte and Dixie have not had an opportunity to properly review the Winchester Bay ordinances that Ray brought for their analysis, so they will try to get to that soon.

         

       Safety Meeting: 

          Ray reported that there are no safety issues that he is aware of and is still waiting to have the OSHA consultation scheduled.

         

      Items not on the Agenda, Open to the Public:  

          The Douglas County Clerk’s office sent a letter listing the board positions that would be up for re-election this May that needs to be reviewed for any inaccuracies and sent back with a signature.  Jackie reviewed, updated and signed the letter and instructed Mary to send it back by the January 25^th due date.

Suggestions for Next Meeting:

-       New Resolutions proposed by Ray

-       Tax rate on the ballot for May

-       Update on the contract with City of Reedsport

-       Possibility of need for supplemental budget

          Meeting went into executive session pursuant to ORS.192.660(2)(h) to discuss consultation with counsel concerning contract negotiations and special district dissolution procedures.  

         Meeting came out of executive session and Mike made a motion to adjourn, Charlotte seconded and the meeting was adjourned.

             

Submitted by Mary Chambers (Office Manager)