November 13, 2019 Minutes

November 13, 2019 Minutes

Meeting Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Jim Haney.

  • Present: Jim Haney, Mike DeWald, Parke Smith, Bob Marcuccilli, Greg Mitchell, Frank Kurth, Sue Ann Mitchell
  • Absent:

Report of Meeting Notice

The meeting date and time were posted and advertised as required.

Approval of Previous Minutes

Bob Marcuccilli presented the October 16, 2019 regular meeting minutes and made a motion to approve. The motion was seconded by Mike DeWald, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

5 Yeas 0 Nays 2 Abstain

Treasurers Report and Other Financial Matters:

Mike DeWald presented financial reports and statements from Steve Carter and provided commentary. Mike reported:

  • Billing costs are still up, as we are still getting bills from JPR – mostly resulting from residential billing changes.
  • Nothing else unusual to report from the statements, although we do have an increase in cash.
  • Jim Haney made a motion to approve the Unaudited Schedule of Cash Receipts and Disbursements, the Monthly Analysis of Funds and Balances, and the Monthly Analysis of Cash Investment Accounts. The motion was seconded by Bob Marcuccilli, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

Mike DeWald presented the Cash and Fund Balance Matrix, the Management Cash Budget, and the Monthly Claim Approval Form.

  • Mike provided some comments on the Management cash budget:
    • Line 1: Unmetered receipts continues to run substantially ahead of budget and should continue.
    • Lines 2 and 5, Penalties: These items are unbudgeted. He is awaiting further information from Astbury to reclassify a portion of this month’s collections as penalties.
    • Lines 7 and 13: Equipment sales and cost. These variances should persist through the end of the year and mostly offset each other.
    • Lines 9 and 11: Supplies and maintenance. Mike expects this favorable variance to continue to increase through the year. It will change at some point in the future.
    • Line 12 Plant Operations: Some chemical costs are included with this line.
    • Line 18 Audit Fees: Our estimate was higher than actual.
    • Line 15: Legal fees are returning to an expected level.
    • Line 27 Insurance: We paid the liability insurance for the next 12 months this month.
  • Mike DeWald made a motion to approve the Monthly Claim Approval Form and the list of bills paid after 10/14/19 in the amount of $43,700.36. The motion was seconded by Parke Smith, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

Customer Refunds

Astbury surfaced an issue that 41 former customers (36 under JPR’s billing and 5 under Astbury’s billing) have a credit balance.

  • Jim Haney made a motion to seek board approval to provide customer refunds in the amount of $1,910.90 to the effected former customers. The motion was seconded by Mike DeWald, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

It was also noted that there are 28 former customers who failed to pay what was owed for a total of $3,623.35. Andy Boxberger informed the board that the only legal recourse would be to initiate small claims, but that the expense of doing so may outweigh the return. Astbury has put new processes in place that should reduce the number of such occurrences. As a follow-up, Astbury will send out form letter notifications and then defer to the board for next steps.

Engineering Update- DLZ

Bill Boyle was in attendance, representing DLZ. Bill Reported:

  • Item #1 – Standards, Forms and Procedure Update (Property with House Tear Downs & Vacating Infrastructure)
    • Bill reported that a draft narrative with exhibits is complete and should be actionable by the December meeting.
  • Item #2 – Tank Blower and Sound Investigation
    • As a follow-up to the September report, Bill again conducted sound testing on November 13 using equipment that could register decibel readings to determine if the lack of foliage on trees had an effect on the sound production from the plant. Several tests were recorded with blowers on and off.
      • At the plant entrance
        • Blower on – 68
        • Blower off – 66
      • At the residence of the complainants
        • Blower on – 65
        • Blower off – 65
      • Five feet south of the plant
        • Blower on – 91
        • Blower off – 70
      • In the plant conference room
        • Empty – 47
        • With main door open – 47
    • Bill noted that there was no significant change from the September readings.
    • The LRSD Board decided to provide notification to the complainants that the district has conducted two sound investigations and determined that the sound produced by plant equipment is negligible and does not warrant remediation at this time.
  • Item #3 – Engineering Services Agreement
    • Jim Haney noted that. In 2019, the district has exceeded the $10,000 ceiling on the service agreement (currently at $10,727.50).
    • Jim Haney made a motion to adjust the 2019 amount to a new ceiling not to exceed $15,000. The motion was seconded by Mike DeWald, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

Astbury Monthly Report

Matt Rippey was present and provided the updates from Astbury. Matt reported:

  • On October 29th the lift station controller was replaced at lift station 1. The existing Endress and Hauser FMU90 ultra sonic controller had been having problems with erratic level reading. Originally it was thought that the problem was caused by the ultra-sonic level sensor which was replaced in September. When the new level sensor did not correct the issue, a new controller was ordered. The new controller is now in operation and the erratic level readings are no longer an issue. The controller that was replaced will be sent into Endress and Hauser to be refurbished so that it can be used as a spare.
  • After 2 cold weather streaks, 6 grinder control panels were found to have water damage. Those have been sent back to Crane under warranty. The water is coming in through the light gasket on Type II grinders. It was discussed that one precaution that the district could take would be to direct Astbury to put a bead of silicone around all Type II grinder lights. Astbury will contact Crane to see if there would be any effect on the warranty if the action was taken. If not, the board would request that information be provided in writing.

Property Owner Connection Status

Greg Gear reported:

  • There are currently 12 properties that are not connected. Of the remaining properties, 1 is requesting a rate reduction, 1 is in property transaction, and 2 are pending in tax sales.

Updates to LRSD Website

Greg Mitchell reported:

  • The general build-out is complete.
  • The next committee meeting will be to review final content and mapping needs and provide the committee with a beta site to review.
  • Next steps: Once the committee makes the final review of the beta site, the entire board will be given access for final approval.

2020 Meeting Schedule

After discussion, Jim Haney presented a proposed schedule of regular monthly board meetings for 2020.

  • Jim Haney made a motion to approve that the 2020 meeting schedule will be the third Wednesday of each month. The motion was seconded by Bob Marcuccilli, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

Guidelines for Updating Rate Study

The LRSD Board has determined that a new rate study would be conducted after 2 full years of operations and has begun the process of getting feedback from rate consultants.

  • Jim Haney presented a draft report with several different potential long-range scenarios. Some of the variables that will be under review will be the updated EDU count, current loan rates, and a more informed cost projection.
  • There is no decision to be made at this time, but board members now have information for a meaningful discussion in the December meeting.

Other Items

There were two carry-over items from the previous month.

  • KKP Living Trust
    • It was previously suggested that the property buyers pay down all outstanding fees and penalties, with the exception of failure to connect penalties.
    • There are some discrepancies in the amount paid by the property buyers and the amount owed, so this issue was tabled until those discrepancies can be resolved.
  • Towne Property
    • This property was sold at a Commissioner Sale.
    • The county provided a letter to the new buyer that payment of $7,371.17 would be needed to issue the deed, not including the last lien of $2,137.07 from October of 2019. Included in that amount is $4,445 of failure to connect penalties. Based on the spirit of a recently passed resolution, the board may waive (reimburse) $4,445, provided that the property was either connected to the system or had received an approved rate reduction within 90 days of receiving the deed.
    • In order to redeem the property, the new buyer would need to pay $9,503.24. Once the property is deeded to the new buyer, and the new owner needs to either connect to the system or be granted a rate reduction (within 90 days), which would make $4,445 eligible for waiving or refunding.
    • After further discussion about when liens were filed and what debts the county forgave or not, it was determined that more information was needed before the potential buyer had an accurate payment amount. Sue Ann Mitchell volunteered to investigate through the court records.
  • Jim Haney announced that Greg Mitchell has submitted his resignation from the board, effective December 1, 2019. Jim thanked Greg for his outstanding service over the years and other board members also thanked Greg and wished him well.

Public Q & A

  • None

Adjournment

Motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:26 PM was made by Mike DeWald, seconded by Bob Marcuccilli, and on call of roll was carried by the vote:

7 Yeas 0 Nays 0 Abstain

Parke Smith, Secretary