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)
