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FACTS
ABOUT STAGECOACH GENERAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT An ordinance passed May 10, 1984 by the
Lyon County commissioners creating the General Improvement District to provide
water service to the customers of bankrupt Stagecoach Utilities. The Improvement District took over
operation of the water system February 7, 1985 with the first order of business
billing the customers for January 1985’s water use, the meters having been read
by the Public Service Commission which was in charge of the utility in the interim. The General Improvement District was
given a total of $280,000.00 in grant money to upgrade the system. With that money, four wells were upgraded,
two storage tanks were built, some old lines were replaced, two booster pumps
were installed, and a telemetry system was installed. At the time the General Improvement
District began operation, there were 198 customers and there was a building
moratorium due to the lack of storage and the inability of the system to pump
water to people living at the higher elevations in Unit III. After the initial improvements were
completed, the moratorium was lifted at 12:01 A.M. on January 10, 1986. In 1986 the District received
$32,500.00 in community Development Block Grant money and matched with
$15,000.00 of its own to install the minimum necessary fire hydrants. With the installation of the fire hydrants,
the fire zone changed for the area thus reducing the insurance premiums for
residents. In September of 1987 the District had
to pay the Bankruptcy Court $74,808.00.
This was for the judgment handed down by District Court for $51,000.00
that they felt Stagecoach Utilities was worth when condemned plus interest at
12% per year. In connection with this
judgment, the District had to pay $2,580.50 for Stagecoach Utilities’
attorney’s fees and $5,000.00 to hire an appraiser to go to court for the
District. The District had to borrow
$35,000.00 to be able to pay the Bankruptcy Court and did so from the Interim
Finance Committee of the State of Nevada.
This loan was for a three-year period and was interest free. In January 1991 the negotiations began
to drill a new central well to provide more water to the rapidly growing
community. The cost of this well was
$130,429.00 plus $6,400.00 in engineering fees. The District had $80,000.00 to spend on the well so it borrowed an
additional $50,000.00. That loan was
paid in full in June of 1996. In July of 1991, the District received
permission from Water Resources to expand the service area to provide water to people
living outside the original district boundaries. One of the reasons for doing this was to cut down on the number
of private wells being drilled thereby lessening the chance for contamination
to the ground water. Beginning in January 1993, the District
started an application to the Division of Water Planning for a grant in the
amount of $660,000.00 to upgrade the system to meet SDWA standards. This upgrade included looping all dead-end
lines in the system and replacing old lines. At the same time, it started
negotiations with FmHa for a combination grant/loan not to exceed $893,900.00
to build another storage tank, run a separate transmission line from the
Central Well to the storage tank and install the balance of the necessary fire
hydrants within the district. In order to get the money from the
Division of Water Planning and FmHa, it was necessary for the District to
increase the water rates from $25.00 for 25,000 gallons to $32.50 for 22,000. All of the requested funds were
approved. Phase I of the system upgrade was
completed in April 1995, which consisted of looping dead-end lines and
installing some fire hydrants. The
construction cost of Phase I was $233,940.00. Phase II, which consisted of
installation of the main transmission line, building a 290,000 gallon storage
tank and installing the balance of the hydrants was completed in October 1995
at a cost of $436,725.00. Engineering fees for the two phases and
work on additional construction totaled $219,358.08 as of June 30, 1996. Since $649,277.00 was left of the grant
and loan money the SGID decided to acquire another large production well and
upgrade the booster pumps thus creating Phase III. In February 1996 the upgrade to the
booster pumps was completed at a cost of $59,439.00. After lengthy planning and negotiations
a new well was acquired on Boyer Lane, plans drawn for the transmission line
from that well and construction began in April of 1997. With the acquisition of the new well
the District added a new 50 lot subdivision to its service area and with the
installation of the transmission line from Boyer Lane north to Iroquois Trail
and then east to Raindance added one other four lot subdivision besides opening
up the potential for all of the growth along Iroquois Trail. Once Phase III was completed there was
money left in the USDA (formerly FmHa) grant to build our own office. From the time that Water Resources gave
permission for the District to expand its service area without additional water
rights 13 lots have been included in the boundaries without water rights and an
additional 28 have been developed after dedicating water rights to the
District. There have also been water
rights dedicated to the District for an additional 200 lots, but no development
has been done on them. These lots do
not include any of the new ones that will be added after the well and
transmission line are complete. In 1996 the District had 360 customers,
which is a growth rate of 45% since 1985. Over the past eleven years 22 people have
served on the Board as VOLUNTEERS.
These 22 people have contributed 1500 hours of their time to the
District. However, beginning in
September 1996 the Board started getting compensation of $50.00 per meeting. The County Commissioners passed a resolution
in February 1997 to allow the Improvement District to broaden its scope to
include wastewater. Phase III was completed in October 1997
for a total cost of $402,618.28. With
$121,992.45 left from the grant funds plans were started for a new office
building. In May of 1998 the District again
expanded its service area to include all of Stagecoach basin from 10-mile hill
on the west to Stagecoach Hill on the east, and from the Storey County line on
the north to the Carson River south.
This was done to preclude any other water utilities from coming into the
area and also to gain some control of the type of developments allowed in the
area. The office building was completed in
November of 1998 for a total cost of $150,639.66. The District had to use $28,647.21 from the sinking fund to
complete the office project, and no shop was built due to lack of funds. After two years of lengthy discussions
and meetings with the County Commissioners the SGID acquired the Churchill
Ranchos Water Company from John DeCarlo.
Mr. DeCarlo did not want to run a water system and it was necessary for
the Commissioners to pass an ordinance including the Churchill Ranchos in the
boundaries of the Stagecoach General Improvement District. This ordinance was passed October 14,
1998. And the SGID took over the system
in November. Rates were set for the
Ranchos’ customers at $45.00 for 35,000 gallons and $1.50 per thousand over the
base. This rate was determined so that
the SGID could pay for the three quarters of samples that will be required
after Mary Cioffi of the Churchill Ranchos Water Company tests for the 1st
quarter round. It is anticipated that after June of
2000, the rates will be the same as set for the original SGID customers. With the acquisition of the Churchill
Ranchos the total number of customers rose to 405 for December 1999. The rates were raised to $35.00 for
25,000 gallons and $1.50 per thousand over the base for the customers of Routes
1-5 effective with the water bills for January 2000’s usage and the advalorem
tax was eliminated beginning in July 2000.
To replace the tax a Service Availability Fee (SAF) of $8.50 a month was
established. This SAF will be billed by
the Treasurer’s office on every property owner’s tax bill beginning in July
2000. It was felt that the SAF was more
equitable than a tax based on assessed value.
The SGID purchased a back-hoe in
December 1999 which will reduce expenses related to new installations and
repairs to the system and will make it possible for the District to possibly
extend some water lines thereby reducing the costs to potential new customers. In February 2000 a commercial meter was
installed to serve 5 homes on a 6-acre parcel on Sioux Lane. As of March 2000, 19 lots have been
included in the boundaries without water rights and an additional 38 have been
developed after dedicating water rights to the District. In December 2000 a developer extended
the water line from the corner of Cimarron and Sioux down to and part way down
Cochise Trail. The SGID hired a
contractor to run the line from that point to a point on Cheyenne Trail thus
looping the lines. Plans were also under way to build a
shop after acquiring a short-term loan. The first six months of 2001 brought
numerous changes to the District. A new
service vehicle was purchased to replace the old #89 which finally quit
running. Three of the District’s smaller wells
and one private well that was given to the District in lieu of a hook-up fee
were abandoned with grant money from NDEP.
Wells 2, 3, and 4 had high nitrate levels and it was determined that the
sampling costs and electrical costs were too high for the small volumes of
water the wells produced. The shop was built with “Storage Fund”
money since getting a loan required too much red tape with the Department of
Taxation. The shop was completed in
June. The pump, motor and starter quit
working in the Central Well so all of those parts were replaced. In June of 2001 the number of customers
in the District was 436. The Churchill
Ranchos grew the most with an increase of 8 from the same time the previous
year. June of 2002 found the District with
455 customers with a total of 62 in the Churchill Ranchos. We finally looped our lines at
Cheyenne, Cochise and Sioux to install a pressure- reducing valve, which made
service available to 14 more potential customers. We also installed electrical equipment necessary for generator
compatibility at all of our well sites and booster station. The cost of these projects was approximately
$100,000.00. We were able to do all
these projects without raising rates.
Thanks to a grant from NDEP Wellhead Protection, we will soon have
larger signs at both ends of the valley reminding people of our Program. Also with grant money from NDEP, we
purchased antenna balls, magnets and coolies to remind people of the Wellhead
Protection Plan. 2002 will be an interesting election
year with 3 positions on the Board up for election and 4 people having filed to
run. The election was interesting, as predicted. People not living within the District
boundaries were allowed to vote for the District Board members. The SGID complained to the Clerk/Treasurer,
but nothing came of it. Lori Cline, Mel
Earls and Patrick McIntyre were elected.
Donald Schalla was unable to retain his seat on the Board. Lori and Patrick won the four-year
terms. With grant money from NDEP we placed
large signs at both ends of the valley for our Wellhead Protection area and
also constructed buildings over the well sites in the Churchill Ranchos. We received a grant from AB198 in the
amount of $43,123.60 for the wiring of the Central Well to run a generator and
for a generator. The generator was
purchased for a cost of $61,844.00. Our
Well #4 site was sold and that money was used for the difference. For the past two years the GID has been
involved in a pilot test with Narasimhan Consulting Services (NCS) to determine
the effectiveness of POE and POU arsenic removal units. To this date testing is on going. Results so far show that the POU under the
sink units are removing all of the arsenic.
These units would have to be approved by the Nevada State Health
Department before they could be used on a permanent basis. Another grant from NDEP was applied for
in the amount of $22,368.00. That grant
will be used for Minerals Exploration & Environmental Geochemistry (MEG) to
conduct a study of arsenic in sagebrush for possible new well sitings in the
area around the Churchill Ranchos. The
cost of that study is $19,988.00. The balance
of the grant will be used to purchase and mail educational materials to
customers and residents of the valley. Curiosity over arsenic and nitrate
levels throughout the entire valley prompted us to offer private well owners a
chance to have their wells tested for those two items with the GID splitting
the cost for the samples. Twenty-seven
wells were tested. The results were
disappointing as no pattern was determined for higher or lower levels of those
components. Six touch-read meters are being
purchased each month to replace the old manual-read meters in the system. New chlorinators were purchased and a
building was built over the chlorinator at the Churchill Downs well and a
second isolation valve was installed at the intersection of Sioux and Cimarron. The Board and members of the community
worked long and hard drafting a Wellhead Protection Ordinance to require
developers/owner-builders to install denitrification septic systems on newly
constructed properties. This Ordinance
would also apply to existing systems that fail. As of June 2003 the Ordinance had not been finalized, but should
be adopted sometime after the beginning of the new fiscal year. Working with Marci Cary of Sierra GIS
& Cartography through Nevada Rural Water, the GID now has all of the
distribution information on ArcView GIS. As of June 2003, the District had 479
customers up from 455 the year before.
Churchill Ranchos gained three customers and the Churchill Downs (which
is finally starting to grow) now has 13 customers up 8 from the previous
period. From June of 2003 to June 30, 2004 the
District had 504 total customers.
Churchill Ranchos grew from 63 to 65 and the Churchill Downs from 16 to
20. The Attorney General’s Office issued an
opinion that the Wellhead Protection Ordinance could not be written, so the
District requested the County Commissioners to allow the expansion of duties of
the District to include wastewater which could include the requirement of
denitrification septic systems. As of
June 30, that is still a work in progress. A 163-lot subdivision (High Plains
Estates) is being built off of Boyer Lane across from the Churchill Downs. The first phase consisting of 40 homes is
already sold and the water lines installed as of July 2004. With bad luck in hiring and keeping
utility workers this past spring and finally having two people interested in a
career with the District, the Board voted at the July meeting to hire an
additional utility worker. The arsenic study with NCS was
completed and shows that POUs do, indeed, remove the arsenic from drinking
water. Now we have to see if the State
of Nevada Bureau of Health Protection Services will approve them as
alternatives to building arsenic removal plants. The final report from MEG has not been
received, but initial reports indicate that there is indeed a correlation
between arsenic in sagebrush and arsenic in the water. We did not receive a grant from NDEP for
this fiscal year, so no work will be done to further the study at this time. Being informed that arsenic levels are
lower the deeper the well, the Board voted to have the pump in the Central Well
lowered from 315 feet to 483 feet at a cost of $9,992.00. Arsenic samples are being taken on a continuing
basis to see if the levels remain low. Receptacles to wire the generator into
all the well sites and the booster station were purchased and installed at a
cost of $5,975.00. The District asked for CDBG funding in
the amount of$88,000 to do a preliminary wastewater feasibility study and was
awarded CDBG funding in the amount of $48,000.00. Our engineering firm, MACTEC, was contracted to do the
study. The initial study shows that the
first phase of the wastewater treatment facility will cost $24,257,615.00. The District did not qualify for more CDBG
funding, so no further work will be done on the feasibility study for now. Jack Norberg left MACTEC to work for
Nichols’ Consulting, and the Board voted to follow Jack. Lori Cline passed away so Judith Dillon
was appointed to finish her term.
Charles and Mel filed for re-election to their positions. Ray chose not to run again. Donald Schalla also filed. With the death of Lori, four positions were
open and since only three filed, there will be no election. They are automatically elected. Charles and Donald will have four-year terms
and Mel a two-year term. Lori’s
position will have to be re-appointed in January. In FY 05/06, February, the GID sold 340
“Privilege to Connect” permits for a total of $4,328,200.00. We reserved $2,000,000.00 in a Long-term CD
for depreciation and put $1,300,000.00 in a Short-term CD for our AB198 match
money. The balance was put in
restricted funds, which will be used for future capital improvements and the
purchase of capital assets. Rates increased $5.00 in February of
2006 raising the base rate of the water bill to $45.00. The GID is currently out of EPA
compliance in the Churchill Ranchos subdivision. The Ranchos has Arsenic levels of 22 – 28 ppm and the EPA
standard is 10ppm. In answer to this
Arsenic problem, the GID applied for an AB198 Grant, this would cover an
intertie project, which would consolidate the Ranchos with the original
Stagecoach service area, whose wells only have Arsenic levels of 6-7ppm, a new
Storage Tank and drilling and equipping a new well in an area believed to have
water with lower Arsenic content. We
will know if we get the grant in August 2006. Funds were used in 05/06 to purchase a
Backhoe, a new computer for the Office and a Security system for the Office and
Shop. The Parking lot at the office was
paved and work continued on the telemetry.
New billing software (Mosaics) was purchased and has shown to be
extremely efficient. $4,800.00 was spent
on repairs at the Churchill Downs Well. In February 2007 base rates were increased
by $1.50. Making the new base rate for
residential service $46.50. In FY 06/07, August, the GID’s request
for an AB198 grant was approved, without the drilling and equipping of the
well, which the Board for Financing water projects did not feel was necessary
at this time. The project will begin in
June of 2007 with projected completion by Thanksgiving. A & K Earthmovers won the bid for the
job. Funds are still restricted for
depreciation and AB198 match money in long-term and short-term CD’s. For the first time in GID history, 2
“brand new” trucks were purchased.
Security fencing was put up at the Office/Shop and the Churchill Ranchos
tank site. New fire-hydrant meters were
purchased along with new Chlorinator pumps.
A backhoe cab enclosure was bought and, at long last, the telemetry
installation was completed. Once again, beginning in January of
2008 the rates increased, this time by $1.00 to $47.50. The number of customers of the District has
remained steady. Unfortunately no new customers
have been added to the base due to the housing market and the rise in fuel
costs. Our 500,000-gallon tank and inter-tie
project was completed and the Churchill Ranchos is now receiving water from the
District wells on the north side of highway 50. The cost of that project was $2,408,185.33 with $1,644,796.29
being paid by the AB198 Grant. New telemetry was installed at the new
booster pump stations and the new tank along with upgrades to the existing
telemetry system so that most all of the operations can be done by computer
along with monitoring for well depths, pumping and power monitoring. The road to the Churchill Ranchos tank
was graded and based making access to the tank much easier than before. Gates were installed at the base of that
road and also part way up the 500,000-gallon tank road for security
measures. A records retention building was
constructed to house all the files that the District must keep in climate
controlled fire safe conditions. The
cost of that building was $66,826.00 including the fire suppression equipment
and alarm. The District did not drill a pilot well
this fiscal year to find a water source with less Arsenic. That project is budgeted for fiscal year
2008/2009, as is installation of radio-read meters with the initial equipment
being donated by Western Nevada Supply.
Also in the budget for FY 08/09 is a golf cart for meter reading to cut
down on fuel costs along with cleaning of the inside of the Churchill Ranchos
tank and locating equipment for the valves installed within the District. Credit cards are now being accepted;
and hopefully, beginning in the new fiscal year payments will be accepted by
accessing our web site. Four board positions are up for
election and 6 people have filed for those positions. With that election, the national elections and the downturn in
the economy this fiscal year is promising to be a challenging one for the
SGID. In fiscal year 2008/2009 the District made several upgrades to the system including a retro-fit of the booster station on Cheyenne Trail for a total cost of $30,181.09 and telemetry $13,417.10. Western Nevada Supply donated the radio read unit and
software to the District, which would have cost $20,000.00. We bought billing software to access the
unit at a cost of $750.00. In
conjunction with that we purchased $19,050.00 worth of radio read meters and
appurtenances. Advanced Diving Services inspected and vacuumed the
Churchill Ranchos tank to remove the built-up sand at a cost of $1,766.94 and
the Churchill Downs well had to be repaired for $11,702.00. We bought a valve locator for $5,026.26 so it will be
easier for Marlon and Joe to find the isolation valves in the streets when they
need to be shut down for them to do repairs to the system. In the past, it was like looking for a
needle in a haystack trying to find them. We tore down and re-built the well house for the Central
Well since it was 20 years old and looked every year of it. And of course all our customers know about
the golf cart that we purchased to cut down on the cost of fuel and wear and
tear on our trucks during meter reading. The pilot well project is under way, but moving slowly due
to permitting requirements of BLM and NDOT.
We have picked a site near Iron Mountain Subdivision to drill the pilot
well and are looking forward to good test results. If the quality and quantity are good we will drill a new
production well there. We want to have
a well in the west end of the valley since our other two wells are located more
in the center of the District Service Area. Our rates could have increased by $2.75 based on the COLA
for Social Security; but due to the poor economic climate, the Board voted to
only increase the rates by $0.50 with the understanding that depending on the
District’s financial status another increase might be necessary. We lost 20 customers over this past year, due mostly to the
economy resulting in lost revenue of at least $11,520.00 assuming those
customers would have only paid the base rate and not gone over on their water
bills which would have resulted in an even greater loss. The board elections ended with one new board member and all
the incumbents retaining their positions.
The new member was elected due to the fact that Charles Lawson was
term-limited and could not run again.
For a list of our Board members, see our “Board History”. Fiscal year 2009/2010 will prove to be extremely
challenging with the economy still on the down turn. The only projects we have planned are the drilling of the new
production well and completing purchase and installation of touch read
meters. We are hoping that we won’t
have to raise the rates much again in the coming year but only time will tell. In January 2010 the Board voted to increase the rates by
$2.00 to $50.00 for 25,000 gallons and $3.00 per 1,000 over 25,000 even though
Social Security recipients did not receive a raise. The rate increase was based on the S.S. raise from the prior year
of which the District only used $0.50. Customers are still moving out; however, some are starting
to move in, so the customer base is remaining equal for now. We still have not drilled a production well due to the fact
that we cannot find a low arsenic site.
We did drill a pilot hole near the top of 10-mile hill. The water quality was excellent;
unfortunately there was not enough water for a big well. So, we are still working on that project. Touch read meters are an on-going project. This year we have added a new project, which
is to replace the undersized lines and valves in Units I and III. We have applied for a grant from the Army
Corps. Of Engineers and if we receive those funds we will also replace the
undersized lines in the other units. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the economy to
improve for everyone and hope the coming year brings good things. 2011 brought some changes to the District. We did not get the grant from the Army Corps. Of Engineers
to do the water line and valve replacement project, but the Board voted to
proceed using money the District had on hand.
(See description at the end of this section.) Marlon Cook decided it was time to retire. He is leaving the last day of July. Anticipating his retirement we advertised
for a Utility Worker to replace Joe who will be promoted to Marlon’s
position. We had close to 200
applicants for the position and after much deliberation hired James
Woodward. Jim has been here since
March. He was quickly initiated in the
workings of a water utility being involved from the beginning in the big
project. No other big projects are scheduled for the remainder of
the year due to the cost of the valve and line replacement, but there will be
some minor changes to things in the system. Our big Water Main and
Valve Replacement Project is completed. During this project we installed
11,963 feet of 6-inch water line and 30 6-inch gate valves. One 8-inch and 18 6-inch gate valves were
removed. Eight single meter pits, 5
single meter pits with pressure regulators and 23 double meter pits were
installed. Fifty-nine 1-inch water
service connections were done along with 4 air valve assemblies, 5 flush valve
assemblies and 5 fire hydrant assemblies. 3,759 square feet of
asphalt concrete pavement patch was done, as was106, 000 square feet of double
chip seal. The project took 87 days
and cost $644,682.90, which was $14,529.10 under the original bid. Lyon County contributed $39,207.84 toward
the paving costs. There were three boil
water notices issued, thankfully all sample results came back absent proving
that none of the system was compromised, and many days of shut-offs during the
installation. The purpose of this
project was two-fold: to prevent future line breaks causing unscheduled repairs
and to install more isolation valves for times when water needs to be shut off
to various parts of the system. We would like to thank
all of our customers, whose lives were disrupted by this project, for their
patience and understanding. We wish Marlon the best of luck in his retirement and hope
he catches all the fish he could ever want! We are still hoping for a speedy recovery to the economy,
but the outlook is bleak. |
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