January 12, 2012

Pat McIntyre called the meeting to order at 4:00pm.

Board members present were Pat McIntyre, Mel Earls, Jaimee McCoy and Marjorie Gartenberg. Ed Tremper was not present.

Employees present were Lynne Arndell, Joe Seng, Jim Woodward and Teri Hurt.

Members of the audience: Kirk Howell of Nichols Consulting Engineers (NCE), Mary Santomauro, Rebekah May and Joshua May.

Pat led the pledge of allegiance.

#1. Public Participation – There was none.

#2. Election of Officers – Pat asked Lynne if she knew why Ed Tremper was not in attendance? Lynne said she had not heard from him but could go telephone him and see if he was on his way. Pat asked Lynne to go phone Ed. Lynne was able to get a hold of Ed, he would be right down. This item was skipped and will be returned to after Ed’s arrival.

#3. Approval of Agenda – Mel made a motion to approve the Agenda. Marjorie seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.

#4. Approve Block Items – Mel made a motion to approve the Block Items. Jaimee seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.

#5. Discussion and Decision on Request by Rebekah May for Credit for Water usage in July and August of 2010 – Rebekah May was in attendance and explained to the Board that she would like a refund on two bills she had in July and August of 2010, where she was charged for usage over the base rate of 25,000 gallons and does not believe she actually used the extra water. Pat asked why she waited to bring this to the attention of the Board almost a year and a half after the fact? Rebekah stated that when it originally happened she was told by staff at the GID that there was nothing they could do about it so she waited another summer to go by to show her normal usage. She told the Board that in April or May of 2011 that Joe had discovered a problem at her meter box, which the GID repaired and then credited her account for the higher usage. She suspects the high usage 9 months previously was related to the problem Joe fixed in May 2011. The Mays have spoken with their neighbors and all of them agree that readings are inconsistent and that none of them have ever seen a GID employee actually reading meters. Mr. May stated that before he realized he was not allowed to get in our meter box he had previously been in the box and noted that it was full of leaves and debris and he believes that meters are not read. Joe explained that the Mays have a touch read meter and it is not necessary to open the meter box to read them. A wand is touched to a mechanism on top of the lid which electronically reads the meter. Lynne explained that Meters are read on the first working day of every month and takes exception to the accusation that we are not reading the meters. Rebekah stated that she had spoken with 4 of her neighbors and all believe that the meters are incorrect and water usage is inconsistent. Teri told the Board that none of Mrs. May’s neighbors have complained. Pat said we could not comment on the May’s neighbors as none of them were here with a complaint. Pat said he could not do anything on something that was almost two years old. Rebekah said “can’t or won’t?” She stated the time frame should not matter. Large inconsistency cannot be misconstrued as her waiting too long. She finds it hard to believe it was their watering patterns and believes the meters are incorrect. Marjorie believes the two months the Mays are requesting credit for were very warm and asked if someone could look into the Temperatures as that might explain higher usage. Pat suggested the Mays get their neighbors to also come in and get printouts of their usage within the next week so we can investigate further then, we can put this on the February agenda for further discussion. The Mays agreed to come back in February. Mrs. May asked if the GID was a privately owned company? Lynne explained that we are our own Entity. We are a political subdivision of the State of Nevada. Our Board is elected by registered voters residing within our District’s boundaries. We do receive Consolidated Tax which is collected by Lyon County, other than that we are a self sustaining entity. The Mays also commented on retired employee Marlon Cook’s usage of the GID shop to restore a Jeep, while the GID backhoe remained outside in the weather. Also, they believe the grounds around the GID Office building are not kept up very well and at one point had asked if they could trade services of pulling weeds, grounds upkeep etc. in exchange for paying their water bill. They were told that wasn’t an option. Lynne said Joe or Jim do maintain the grounds when there is time. When our big project was going on it did get a little unruly but since the end of the project a lot has been done. Pat told the audience that our Board is a well maintained Board. We were the first Entity to have a Wellhead Protection Program. We are proactive in regards to Arsenic and Nitrate maximum contaminant levels and we are very diligent in solving problems ASAP. Pat returned the Mays neighbors (The Schillings) usage printout to Rebekah May and asked her to come back next month. No action was taken on this item. It will be continued at the February regular Board Meeting.

Ed Tremper arrived at the Meeting at 4:15pm so we will now return to Item #2

#2. Election of Officers – Mel made a motion to leave the Board as it is. Patrick McIntyre as Chairman, Mel Earls as Secretary, Ed Tremper as Treasurer and Jaimee McCoy and Marjorie Gartenberg will remain Members at Large. Jaimee seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.

#6. Approve Bid Package for NDOT Work as Prepared by Jack Norberg – Kirk Howell of NCE presented the Board with the US Highway 50 Waterline Project Bid Package and Plans (See Attachment A). The Probable Cost Estimate is $30,600.00 which includes 60 LF 8” PVC Pipe and 8” Gate Valve Assembly. Flush Valve Assembly, 2 Fire Hydrant Assembly, Relocate Combination Air Valve Assembly and Soil Stabilization (Hydromulch). Nichols Consulting Engineers has a few contractors they can recommend and will distribute Plans and Bid documents electronically beginning on January 13. They suggest a bid date of January 27 be set. The Board agreed. Marjorie made a motion to hold a Special Meeting on January 31, 2012 at 4:00pm to award the bid for this Project. Jaimee seconded. None opposed. Motion passed. Jaimee made a motion to approve the Bid Package for NDOT work as prepared by Jack Norberg. Ed seconded. Motion passed. Pat signed the Plan Sheet for approval of Plan Set

#7. Acknowledgement of Teri Hurt’s and Joe Seng’s Reviews – Lynne gave Teri and Joe’s reviews to the Board for their Approval. Ed asked if these reviews included a merit increase? Lynne said no, these were just reviews as required by our personnel policy. Ed made a motion to approve the Reviews. Jaimee seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.

#8. Manager and Supervisor’s Reports and Recommendations to the Board –

Lynne-

Just a reminder that Financial Disclosure Statements must be filed by January 15, 2012 and must be done electronically. So far everyone but Pat has complied.
The Nevada Rural Water Conference is coming up in March. Need to get registrations in if anyone is interested in going. Marjorie will be attending all 3 days. Jaimee will get back to Lynne.

Joe -

We ordered a Conversion Kit for the Central Well. It has been installed and everything looks good.
The week before Christmas Joe received a Hatch Alarm call from our Telemetry on one of the two tanks above Cheyenne Trail. When he got there, there were 3 young men (14, 15 and 16 years old) on top of the tank and attempting to open the hatch. Joe was able to detain them until the Sheriff could arrive. The Sheriff cited all three boys for Trespassing and the matter has been turned over to the Juvenile Court. We are not sure what the outcome will be. The boys had dug under our locked fence, crawled onto our locked water tank and attempted to tamper with our system. We take this very seriously and will see this through to the full extent of the law. We have alarms in place at all of our locations and Signs stating that it is a Federal Offense to tamper with our facilities.

#9. Pay Bills Over $5,000.00 as Manager is Authorized to Pay All Others Without Approval – There were none.

#10. Director’s Reports and/or Suggestions –

Jaimee – suggests we put something in place in regards to setting a time limit for dispute of bills. Lynne said that could be agendized for a future meeting.

Pat – a. There will be a NDOT meeting on the USA Parkway project on January 17^th from 3:30pm to 6:30pm at the Silver Springs Senior Center. Pat will be attending and will be at the GID office at 3:00pm if anyone would like to attend and ride with him.

b. We have a copy of Silver Springs Mutual Water Co. proposed water rates (see Attachment B). Pat has figured their cost of providing 25,000 gallons and it will be higher than the GID is currently charging, with substantial increases over the next 6 years. He would like everyone to take a look at it.

#11. Public Participation – There was none.

#12. Adjournment – Mel made a motion to adjourn. Jaimee seconded. None opposed. Motion passed.

Meeting was adjourned at 5:18pm.

Minutes documented by Teri A. Hurt _________________________________

(Attachments are with original minutes located at the GID Office. Copies of minutes and attachments are available upon request at a cost of .25 cents/page.)

A tape recording of this meeting is on file at the GID Office.

Respectfully Submitted,

_______________________________

Mel Earls, Secretary