Board Meeting Minutes – May 27, 2021

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD May 27, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Linda Fountain, Don Wicks, Lisa Dutz, Tom Gunn, David McAdams,

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno, Ken Aberle, Megan Corvus, Amber Morgan

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

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

Secretary’s Report – The minutes of the April 2021 meetings were presented in writing.

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

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.

Motion to approve subject to making a journal entry to correct PGE claim reimbursement posting by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Reports – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.

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

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

Rossman PRV & Valves: Near the Rossman Tank we have a PRV and 2 valves all next to each other and at the base of a tree. The PRV and Valves are all buried with no vault so they are inaccessible for any needed maintenance. With all those connections so close to the tank, an accidental breakage while trying to dig would not be good. Decided to hire a vac truck to safely clean the area out so we can see all lines. Once exposed we evaluated and were able to remove some jumper piping that was no longer in use or needed and place a proper vault around the valves and PRV’s so they are now accessible for maintenance and repairs.

Hartley Leak: Repaired leak on our side of a service connection on Hartley Road.

Albertson Road Leak: Meter leaking on our side, due to being very close to the road and right on a sharp corner, flaggers were hired to protect the crew during repair.

Springhill Leak: Repaired Leak on our side of service line on Springhill.

Shop Ceiling Completion: Rented a lift and completed repair of falling insulation and finished off the ceiling area on the office side of the shop area.

Grounds Maintenance: Continuing summer grounds maintenance around all reservoirs, pump stations and the shop area.

Old Business

  1. Customer water usage limits – Discussion on increasing rates for over usage. Review the rate study and bring information back to the board. Discussion on adding verbiage to both the new certificate application and approval letters that reinstates our certificates are for residential use only at a maximum usage of 15K gallons per month. Look into our legal options regarding revoking certificates for violation of usage policy.

New Business

  1. Leak Credit

Motion to approve giving the Operations Manager the authority to approve up to $250 in leak credits without board approval by Don Wicks. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted and Passed

  1. New Service Request

Motion to approve by Don Wicks. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted and Passed

  1. Mainline re-alignment in rock quarry – Received information from legal, board reviewing and discussing options via email.
  1. Hardship connection

Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Lisa Dutz. Voted and Passed

  1. New Accountant – Discussed information gathered in regards to possibly changing accountants and the compilation, review, and audit process. No need to change accountants but all agreed we need to have a full audit done at least every 5 years. Get quote from Jones and Roth for a full audit so we can budget for it in 2022 or 2023.
  1. City of Hillsboro SDC Price Change – Increase of $183 starting 8/1/2021.

Motion to approve passing the increase on to new certificate applicants by Dave McAdams. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted and Passed

Other Business

Discussion on a new service tap where customer is requesting a 1” tap over our standard of ¾”. Agreed we do not want to tap outside our standard.

Motion to adjorn by Don Wicks. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:33pm