MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD August 26, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Linda Fountain, Don Wicks, David McAdams, Amber Morgan, Megan Corvus, Tom Gunn

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno, Lisa Dutz, Ken Aberle

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:04pm by Don Wicks, Chair/President

Secretary’s Report – The minutes of the July 2021 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Reports – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

Withycombe Pump Station – One Pump is leaking at seals and one needs bearings replaced. We have scheduled repairs to be done by HPS.

LaSalle Pump Station – Check valve needs replaced – HPS managed to get it working for now but is scheduling replacement.

Cox Reservoir – transducer was having electrical issues which caused tank level to not transmit which in turn caused the whole ladder on Albertson to Rossman to go into alarm. Fix required an employee to be on site late into the evening to manually pump water up the Albertson side to get each tank to a level that would get customers through the night and early morning hours until we could get it fixed in the morning.

Dixon Mill Leak – on Wednesday (8/11) morning people woke up to no water on Dixon Mill. Mason walked the line and finally found the leak on the cross county line from LaSalle over to Dixon Mill. This line is in a hard to reach area surrounded by trees. We hired Stratus Corporation to assist and they could not get big equipment in there and the large amount of water caused a swampy situation which was causing the smaller equipment to get stuck. Due to the hard location and having to source the correct parts, water was not able to be restored until Thursday (8/12) in the late afternoon hours. Two customers at the top of Dixon Mill had only a trickle of water until Friday morning (8/13) due to the fact their properties require a pump to get enough pressure to service them and the pump was not working properly and HPS could not provide us service until Friday morning as they are short staffed as well.

Line Locate – Our 6” mainline that crosses the field off Laurelwood and Nelson Drive had to be verified as a house was being built very near where the maps said it is. When witching we were picking up way too many options and since we do not have tracer wire on most lines, we had to be certain where that line is located, so we hired Stratus to use their vac truck to get visual on that line to make sure our locates were accurate.

Flett Leak – 6” AC mainline on Flett Road cracked. Hired Stratus and flaggers to assist with the job. Customers were only out of water a short period and we were able to call customers affected prior to shut off.

Old Business

1.) 1” tap request – reviewed information

2.) Customer water usage limits and rate information – bring back next month for voting.

3.) Mainline Re-alignment in Rock Quarry – Demand letter reviewed.
Motion to Approve and send after typo on page 2 is corrected by Dave McAdams. Seconded By Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

4.) Service Line – abandon and move – Customers lawyer and our lawyer in communication.

New Business

1.) Leak Credits
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed.

Other Business

1.) Discussed current employee shortage and steps being taken to fill the openings. Offer has been made to a potential Field Manager.

Motion to adjourn by Don Wicks. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed.
Meeting Adjourned at 6:34pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD July 21, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Linda Fountain, Don Wicks, Lisa Dutz, David McAdams, Ken Aberle, Megan Corvus

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno, Tom Gunn, Amber Morgan

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: Terry Walters

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:12pm by Ken Aberle, Vice President

Secretary’s Report – The minutes of the June 2021 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Dave McAdams. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Lisa Dutz. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Reports – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Lisa Dutz. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

Leaking PRV – PRV on Laurelwood road was leaking and was repaired.

Laurelwood Leak – leak found on SW Laurelwood road and repaired.

Poppy & LaSalle Pump Houses – The Poppy and LaSalle pump houses are not communicating. Mason and I have been manually turning pumps on in the mornings and shutting off at night to keep poppy tanks full but not overflowing. We have been troubleshooting for the past week. Will continue to work with Brightside Electrical, Jerry, and Zipley until we can figure it out.
Verbal update at meeting. It was the phone line and it has been fixed.

Old Business

1.) 1” tap request – pending motion to approve Option “C” proposal after reaching agreements regarding easements, meter disconnection and relocation costs and fire protection understanding.

2.) Customer water usage limits and rate information – bring back next month for voting.

3.) Mainline Re-alignment in Rock Quarry – Have lawyer prepare demand letter

4.) Jones & Roth Audit – Budget for Audit in 2022

5.) Cancellation of Certificate – Have letter re-worked by lawyer.

6.) Service Line – abandon and move – Motion to send letter

Motion to approve by Don Wicks. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

New Business

1.) New Service Requests – Re-evaluate one request and bring back to next meeting.
Motion to approve one of the 2 requests submitted by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Don Wicks. Voted & Passed.

Motion to adjourn by Don Wicks. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed.
Meeting Adjourned at 7:53pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD June 24, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Linda Fountain, Don Wicks, Lisa Dutz, Tom Gunn, David McAdams, Ken Aberle, Megan Corvus, Amber Morgan

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: Terry Walters

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:05pm by Ken Aberle, Vice President

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

Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.

Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Tom Gunn. 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:

With only one water tech currently on staff, we are not tackling any projects. Daily rounds are done, as well as locates, service calls and meter reading.

Ground maintenance around reservoirs, pump stations and office area are being done. We are also focusing on equipment maintenance, pump house cleaning, as well as organizing and cleaning the shop area inside and out.

Old Business

1. Customer water usage limits – Re-work proposal with new criteria and bring back to next meeting.

2. Mainline Re-alignment in Rock Quarry – Waiting on Response from Quarry

3. Jones & Roth Audit – Will have info for July Meeting

New Business

1. Member to discuss 1” tap – Member to submit information to Board for review.
2. Chlorine Shortage – notice on website – Latest update from City of Hillsboro, crisis adverted for the next few months.
3. CCR Report being distributed to customer with billing statements
4. Water Service Request – highlighted info added – wording change requested.

Other Business

Revoke Customer Certificate – Moved, the L.A. Water Cooperative (the “Coop”) Water Use Certificate No. 0679 (the “Certificate”) currently on the books of the Coop as being owned by Barney G. Ward and Theo W. Ward (the “Wards”) providing Coop water service to real property described as Washington County, Oregon Tax Lot  2S 3W 4C 1800 and having a street address of13770 SW Parmele Road, Gaston, Oregon 97119 (the “Property”) shall be cancelled, membership of the Wards in the Coop shall be terminated and any water service to the Property  shall be discontinued effective November 1, 2021, without further notice or action of the Coop or its Board of Directors, if the full amount owed to the Coop by the Wards with respect to the Certificate (such amount being currently approximately $8,457.35)  is not paid in full to the Coop before November 1, 2021.   Further, the Operations Manager shall instruct the attorney at law for the Coop to provide appropriate written notice of this action to the Wards as promptly as practicable, and in any event on or before August 1, 2021.    Such cancellation of Certificate, termination of membership in the Coop and discontinuance of water service shall not relieve the Wards from their personal obligation to pay any amount they owe to the Coop.

Above Motion by Dave McAdams and seconded by Don Wicks. Voted & Passed

Motion to adjorn by Don Wicks. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted & Passed.

Meeting Adjourned at 7:22pm

Executive Session

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

2. New Service Request

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

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

4. Hardship connection

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

5. 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.

6. 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

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD April 22, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Linda Fountain, Amber Morgan, Ken Aberle, Tom Gunn, David McAdams, Megan Corvus

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno, Don Wicks, Lisa Dutz

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:01pm by Ken Aberle, Vice President

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

Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.

Discussion on additional reports to be added for next meeting. Also, for journal entry to be completed on the Gaston Bridge project once we have final bill from Washington County.

Motion to approve Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

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

Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

New Service Taps: Installed new service connection on Springhill, this tap required boring under Springhill Road. Also, tapped a new service on Bald Peak. Both Inactive Certificates being made active.

Laurelwood Leak: The area has several water lines and valves, as well as power lines and fiber, all intersecting and crossing each other. Hired a vac truck to pot-hole to help pinpoint the lines in the area to prevent damage when digging. A service tap on our side was leaking and the 2 service lines tapped there were crossing each other and the main line in odd ways. Abandoned the old leaking lines and re-tapped 2 new lines to clean up the tangle of pipes and stop leak. Due to location of pipe in customers yard, landscape repair was required.

Parmele Leak: Repaired main line break. Road Repair required.

Gaston Road Leak: Repaired main line break on a section of the line that was not affected by the bridge project, but due to the project, the leak was discovered.

Phillips Road Leak: Leak on mainline where 2 taps for an inlet and outlet for an underground tank were tapped into the line. The tank, if it is even there, is not in use so that section of line was replaced and taps to possible tank disconnected and left abandoned. Landscape repair required.

Phillips Road: When the crew was working the Phillips road leak, it was discovered that an old leak that was repaired a few years ago by a previous employee further up the road had not been properly finished. While they had the equipment on Phillips, they filled the old hole and did proper landscape repairs.

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 need maintenance. With all those connections and so close to the tank, an accidental breakage while trying to dig would cause problems. Decided to hire a vac truck to safely clean the area out so we can see all lines. Once exposed we will evaluate extent of work to be done.

Landscape Maintenance & Ice Storm Clean-up: With nicer weather, the landscape maintenance at all the reservoirs, pump stations and shop areas has also been consuming a larger chunk of the crews’ time. We also had downed branches and debris around some reservoirs from the ice storm which they have been cleaning up.

Old Business

1. 1998 Utility Trailer was sold for $1200.

New Business

1. Customer Water Usage Limits – Discussion on customer going over usage limits. More data requested by board.

Other Business

Motion to adjorn by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Dave McAdams. Voted & Passed.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:53pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD March 25, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Linda Fountain, Amber Morgan, Ken Aberle, Lisa Dutz, Tom Gunn, David McAdams, Megan Corvus

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:05pm by Don Wicks, Chairman

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

Motion to approve by Ken Aberle. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.

Motion to approve 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 Ken Aberle. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

New Service Taps: Installed a new service connection on Melott and moved a service connection on Springhill.

Laurelwood/Parmele Leak: Repaired a leak near meters and valves on Laurelwood but did not seem to solve the problem. The area has several water lines and valves, as well as power lines and fiber, all intersecting and crossing each other. Currently working on a quote to have the area pot-hole vacuumed to help pinpoint the lines in the area to prevent damage when digging.

Roe Barn: Re-installed Pump Bypass.

Jordan Vault Drainage: Installed drainage line on Jordan Altitude Valves Vault to prevent water build-up inside the vault.

Flagger Training: Had a flagging class at the office to update certifications and certify employees that did not have flagger certification. Three employees now hold flagger certification.

Parking and Entrance Area to Shop/Office: Obtained free fill dirt from Yamhill County to fill and level parking lot/work areas around the shop and office. Spread gravel and extended parking for equipment, employees and customers.

Old Business

1. Employee Tuition Reimbursement Policy – two separate documents presented. Tuition

Reimbursement Policy and Training and Development Policy.

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

New Business

1. Leak Credits

Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted and Passed

2. Bald Peak Tank Pump Station Capital Improvement Project – job requires tree and stump removal around the reservoir. Due to budgeting, recommended we work on trees and ground prep in this year’s budget and look at budgeting remainder of the project in 2022. Motion to approve tree removal by Ken Aberle. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted and Passed

3. Voting Results & Board Position Elections – Don Wicks and Lisa Dutz re-elected. Megan Corvus elected for 3 year position. David McAdams elected for 1 year position.

President & Chair – Don Wicks

Motion to approve by Ken Aberle. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Vice President – Ken Aberle

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

Secretary – Linda Fountain

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

Treasurer – Amber Morgan

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

Other Business

1. Check signers – Asked for volunteers to be added as a check signer to replace departing board members Mike Steffl and Mark Franzen. Laurie to contact bank to have them removed and Ken Aberle has volunteered to be added as a signer, leaving 3 signers: Linda Fountain, Tom Gunn and Ken Aberle.

Motion to adjorn by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:31pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD February 25, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Linda Fountain, Mike Steffl, Amber Morgan, Ken Aberle, Lisa Dutz, Tom Gunn

Board Members Absent: Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

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 Jan. 2021 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Ken Aberle. Seconded by Mike Steffl. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Reports – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

Gaston Bridge Project:
Final connection of our lines are complete and our portion of the job will be complete as soon the brackets holding the pipe on the bridge are replaced. Kyle and Denny were not satisfied with the way the pipe was attached to the bridge and contractor agreed. Denny, the Contractor, and Washington County met with the bracket manufacturer and a new design was agreed to and the brackets are being made and will be replaced by contactor when replacement brackets are received.

Gibson & Lambert Pump Houses:
Brightside has completed all repairs to the blown drives from last power outage and has the isolation transformer installed. Claims have been submitted to PGE for all work involved and is being reviewed and processed.

Altitude Valves & PRV’s:
CG Systems spent the day with Kyle and repaired both altitude valves at Jordan as well as reviewed proper maintenance. The altitude valve box did not have a daylight drain and would occasionally fill with rain or ground water, increasing corrosion. Kyle and Mason will be trenching a drain line so water will no longer accumulate in the box. They also rebuilt a Cla-Valve PRV and it was in bad shape, so Kyle learned how to replace most all the interior parts and what parts we need to keep on hand besides the basic rebuild kit.

Snow and Ice Storm:
Electricity was out for 3 days to all pump houses on Albertson and Bald Peak. All customers being fed off Cook, Muddy Gulch, Gammon, Roe Barn, Astleford, Rossman and Bald Peak were reliant on water in the tanks. Due to a large portion of those customers not having power, water usage was low and we managed to survive. When power was restored we were at critical level on most tanks.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Employee Tuition Reimbursement Policy – Changes requested.

NEW BUSINESS

1. New Service Request
Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted and Passed

2. Bald Peak Tank Pump Station Capital Improvement Project
discussed the possibility of doing this job this year. Directed to gather info and quotes and bring back to the board.

3. Annual Meeting
Discussed options for meeting with Covid restrictions.
Motion to cancel meeting due to Covid restrictions by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted and Passed

OTHER BUSINESS

1. Leak Credit: Customer letter to Board regarding a leak credit.
Motion to deny based on the fact that the leak did not fall within the leak credit guidelines by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted and Passed.

Motion to Adjourn by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Mike Steffl. Voted and Passed
Meeting Adjourned at 7:09pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD January 28, 2021 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Linda Fountain, Mike Steffl, Amber Morgan, Ken Aberle, Lisa Dutz

Board Members Absent: Tom Gunn, Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

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 Dec. 2020 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Linda Fountain. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Report – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed
Motion to offer a homeowner the option to return his certificate to the coop in exchange for his balance due by Ken Aberle. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

Gaston Bridge Project: Running behind schedule, new finish date is now Feb. 24th. Much of our line work was completed within the last week. During installation of the new line, an unmarked line was hit which caused water loss to several customer for several hours while it was repaired. The line was not our maps. All meters that needed swapped to the new line were connected and temp is being removed. The final connection that completes our loop system has to wait for water to recede. As long as we do not have any major issues arise, it should not affect anything.

Gibson Pump House: PGE had another power surge with blew the drives at both Gibson and Lambert. Brightside has been helping get this repaired and the isolation transformer up and running to protect our equipment at Gibson. We did get a trouble ticket from PGE on the last incident which will allow us to claim for all the damage and replacement of equipment.

Hartley Road Leak: A leak was reported on Hartley on a Saturday. Mason found the leak and was able to cover and secure the site to prevent any overspray into the road. Since our equipment was out of service (illegal to drive) and only one customer was out of water (a customer that has been told numerous times she needs a booster pump and if she had one would not have been out of water) we chose to wait until Monday to hire Schmidt Excavating to come out and help Mason fix the leak. This allowed me time on Sunday to notify the 90 customers that would be out of water while the leak was fixed.

New Meter Installed & Hydrant Removed: An inactive certificate on Bald Peak was made active and a new meter was installed by the crew. At the same time the hydrant that was next to the new meter connection was removed as it was one that was slated to come out.

Weather Related Power Outage: The rainstorm and flooding caused area wide power outages. Fortunately, PGE was able to restore power before any tanks reached critical level and no customers lost water.

Vehicle Issues: We had vehicle weight issues. We have corrected all license plate issues and hauling capacity issues. A new trailer was purchased for hauling the excavator as our other trailer was insufficient. We should be able to sell the older trailer for close to what we paid for it. We have also applied for and were issued a USDOT #, which we found out we are required to possess.

New Business

1. Leak Credits
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

2. Cla-Val Altitude Valves and PRV’s – The Altitude Valves at Jordan Reservoir need re-built. One valve has been out-of-service for some time and the other is now leaking and in need of repair. Our PRV’s have also been neglected. They should be serviced and interior parts replaced every 5 to years to maintain their lifespan. We received a quote to have both Altitude Valves repaired and for the tech to also replace the insides on our oldest PRV and show Kyle how to do it, so he can do the rest of the PRV’s that need serviced. Total cost is $9,310.00.

3. Commercial Use Certificates – Customer requesting up to 45K per month usage for agriculture. – request customer to submit for additional certificates and present at next meeting with full review by Water Tech.

4. New Line Request – A resident on SW Sandstrom has inquired about connecting into L.A. Water. Our mainline from Hillsboro runs past their road. He understands the residents would need to pay for any improvement to our system to connect them. A quick question to Denny (our engineer) to find out if we can even connect to that line, was yes but they would need to install a pump house and reservoir with the line. Do we want to allow this? – decision made to look at options.

Other Business

Trailer Surplus – Currently own 3 trailers which is more than we need, permission given to sell the oldest trailer.

Tuition Reimbursement – Bring a contractual agreement for review to next meeting addressing the reimbursement of tuition for employees if classes they are taking are job related and benefit the Coop.
Motion to Adjourn by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted and Passed
Meeting Adjourned at 7:07pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD December 17, 2020 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Linda Fountain, Mike Steffl, Amber Morgan, Tom Gunn

Board Members Absent: Lisa Dutz, Ken Aberle, Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:10pm by Don Wicks, Chairman

Secretary’s Report – The minutes of the Nov. 2020 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report – Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Reports – Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Tom Gunn. Voted & Passed

Field Report – Report presented in writing is below:

• Hydrants: Removed 2 of the inadequate hydrants.
• Gaston Bridge Project: Running behind schedule, new finish date is now January 15th. Over the next few weeks is when most of the water line work will be done.
• Gibson Pump House: Pad installed for Isolation Transformer which will be arriving any day. Brightside Electrical will be connecting transformer and then installing new drive.
• Muddy Gulch: Has been in constant alarm for the past year and not addressed as it was not affecting water supply. Previous operation manager had just disconnected the alarm light to prevent call outs. Kyle and Jerry have been working on figuring out the problem. Kyle downloaded the program and Jerry cannot see an issue. Ordered a new computer interface that will record everything in real time which should allow them to see what is triggering the problem alarm. We have these already in a few pump-houses, but not at Muddy Gulch.
• Bridgefarmer Pump House: Olsen Tank and Bridgefarmer pump house were not communicating correct levels. We had to manually turn pumps on and off for a few days while troubleshooting and even though we replaced the transducer recently that sends the tank level signals between the tank and pump house, it apparently got too cold and malfunctioned. We had a spare transducer in stock and it fixed the problem. The crew is now re-checking that all transducers are properly insulated on all tanks.
• Winter Projects: When weather is bad the crew will be completing the office side of the shop area. Ceiling insulation was not covered with plywood and is falling. They will be replacing all damaged insulation and finishing off interior roof and walls with plywood. They will also be cleaning and reorganizing the upstairs storage area.

NEW BUSINESS

• Leak Credits – Submitted in writing
  Motion to approve by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed
• Gaston Line Disconnection and Blow-off Installation – discussed if the previous desire to disconnect from Gaston is still an option as we need to add a blow off on that line for the completion of the Gaston Bridge Project. With the change in staff at L A Water and Gaston, contact the new water operator at Gaston and assess whether we can improve the working relationship between Gaston and LA Water, before deciding to disconnect.
• 2021 Budget – presented a recommended 2021 Budget for board review.
  Motion to adjust Gaston Bridge line item and approve by Tom Gunn.
  Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed.

Other Business

• Water System Survey Report came back from the October Inspection. Only deficiency was state filing of the CCR’s for 2018 and 2019. Operations Manager confirmed 2019 was filed, but was submitted late and will check on status of 2018 and correct issue.
• Discussion on Annual Meeting and how to handle due to Covid. Looking at options. Also discussed ways to lower mailing and packet production costs.
• Customer had questions on swapping a certificate from one lot to another, reviewed policy.

Motion to Adjourn by Tom Gunn. Seconded by Mike Steffl. Voted and Passed
Meeting Adjourned at 6:51pm

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING OF L.A. WATER COOPERATIVE HELD November 19, 2020 VIA ZOOM ONLINE.

Board Members Present: Don Wicks, Linda Fountain, Ken Aberle, Lisa Dutz, Mike Steffl, Amber Morgan

Board Members Absent: Tom Gunn, Malcolm Moreno

Staff Present: Laurie Lago

Members Present: None

This meeting of the LA Water Cooperative was called to order at 6:29pm by Don Wicks, Chairman

Secretary’s Report: The minutes of the Sept. and Oct. 2020 meetings were presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed

Treasurer’s Report: Presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

Operation Manager’s Report: Business, Field, and Water Loss Reports presented in writing.
Motion to approve by Amber Morgan. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed

Field Report: Report presented in writing is below:

Leaks Repaired: Hartley Road, Flett Rd, Hardebeck Rd, Gibson Field, and Gibson Road.

Gaston Bridge Project: Leak on water line that only services one property. That section was scheduled to be discontinued and re-connected to the newly installed line at a completely different location at the end of the project. Property owner agreed to be without water at that warehouse location so line could be discontinued during project. Provided on-site coverage at bridge over a two-day period while large support columns were being driven into the ground which was a high risk to our lines due to the vibrations. Went well with no problems.

Power Washed Reservoirs: Power washed both reservoirs at Rossman.

OHA Water Survey: Re-scheduled to Oct 22nd by Inspector due to a conflict. The crew spent several days performing maintenance and internal inspections on reservoirs, pump stations and grounds in preparation for the inspection. Went well and are awaiting results.

Gibson Pump House: Drive continues to burn up, working with Brightside, Jerry Nethkin and PGE to determine cause. Per Jerry’s recommendation, we have ordered and will be installing a transformer which should solve any future problems.

Astleford Pump House: One pump was damaged during power outage. Not repairable and had to be replaced. Kyle and Mason installed and re-plumbed.

Pitt Road Leak: Leak concerns from puddling water, guys dug where they through the leak was and could not locate a leak. Hired Dan’s leak detection and no leak found. Will continue to monitor.

Moreno/Poppy Drive Leak: Main line break found late on Sunday afternoon on 11/15. Prepped area, but not safe to work on in the dark. Had to shut down line overnight and started repair on Monday morning. Called the customers affected and gave them time to collect water before shut-off. Large tree roots had wrapped the line is several areas and the line had to be re-routed around the roots. Current homeowner had not planted the trees, but is going to have the remaining large trees removed to prevent future issues.

Old Business

1. Oregon Health Authority Water System Survey: Inspection done on 10/22, seemed to go well, have not received the final inspection report.

2. Update on electrical connections at pump house for generator: Cost prohibitive, more economical to rent as needed.

New Business

1. Leak Credits: Submitted in writing
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted & Passed

2. New Certificate Request: Gibson Rd.
Motion to approve by Linda Fountain. Seconded by Amber Morgan. Voted & Passed

3. New Certificate Forms: no change to any wording on the certificates. Instead of ordering preprinted certificates, we will be printing them ourselves as needed.

4. 2021 Budget: presented a recommended 2021 Budget for board review. Board to email questions and responses. Scheduled to vote to approve at the December meeting.

Motion to Adjourn by Mike Steffl. Seconded by Ken Aberle. Voted and Passed

Meeting Adjourned at 7:13pm

Executive Session Held