Board Meeting Minutes – February 27, 2020

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD FEBRUARY 27, 2020 AT THE GASTON FIRE HALL.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Ken Aberle, Linda Fountain, Amber Morgan, Mark Franzen, Thomas Gunn, Michael Steffl

Board Members Absent: Lisa Dutz, Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Kris Conway, Laurie Lago

Members Present: Lester & Julia Hannah, Jim Hinze, Jonathon Douglas

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:03pm by Don Wicks, Chairman

Secretary’s Report – The minutes of the January 2020 meeting was presented in writing.

Motion to approve by Mark Franzen. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – January reports presented.

Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Business Manager’s Report – Report presented in writing.

Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operations Manager’s Report – The field manager’s report was presented by Kris Conway.

  • Emergency Repair Callout – Dixon Mill Rd, leak on customer side

  • Hydrant removals – 7 hydrants were removed this month – During removal of the hydrant at the intersection of Bald Peak and Laurelwood there was an undocumented line with meter taps off the hydrant line that was hit during removal. This caused water outage for a few hours while we repaired the line.

  • Sampling conclusion with county – will still do extra testing through March, then we can go back to normal sampling schedule. Requested that some retraining is done with staff to ensure sampling is being done correctly.

  • Gaston Bridge Project – Washington County has completed 90% of the planning process for the bridge project which includes LA Waters’ design standards in regard to a new water line.

  • Clamped joint on Quail Run – Leak detection found joint leak on Quail Run which was repaired. Did not fix the water loss problem entirely.

  • Installed In-line valve on Quail Run Dr. – This was done to isolate a section of line which seems to have multiple leaks, which it did verify that the water loss is coming from that stretch of line. Currently pricing out if the best option is to continue to pay for leak detection and repairs leaks one by one, or just replace that full section of line.

  • Hydrant training for team – North Plains Public Works invited the crew to attend Fire Hydrant training with their staff. They spent an afternoon learning about the inner workings of fire hydrants and proper maintenance.

  • Water tap Mellott – Installed meter for new residence on Mellott.

Motion to approve by Mark Franzen. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Old Business

  1. OAWU rate study – Rate analysis from Tim Tice received and reviewed.

  1. Jet Pay – customers are starting to us, working well.

  1. Bill Pay vs Checks – Business Manager researched and bill pay can be done, but recommended with such a small office staff it would not be recommended for security purposes.

New Business

  1. New Certificate Requests – 3 certificate requests presented. One certificate approved with the condition they install a cistern to cover storage shortage on Jordan Resevour that they would be drawing from, as Jordan is over capacity. Other 2 certificates approved. One member spoke regarding certificates and wanted to know why we were not approving past capacity. A discussion was had regarding our state requirements and the process used to determine whether a tank has capacity or not.

Motion to approve one certificate with conditions and 2 certificates as normal by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan Voted & Passed

  1. Astleford Easement & Fire Hydrant Letter – Send to legal for advice.

Motion to send to legal by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Mike Steffl.

Voted & Passed

  1. Caselle Software – Business Manager researched and while the program is a very good accounting and billing software, it is very expensive and at this time would not be a good use of our money with as many other infrastructure needs pending.

Motion to Adjourn by Mark Franzen. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted and Passed

Meeting Adjourned at 7:47pm

Executive Session Held