The Board of Directors of the Snake River Water District (SRWD), Summit County, Colorado, met at the district offices at 0050 Oro Grande Road and via online Zoom conference on May 14, 2023, for their regular quarterly meeting. The meeting was called to order by Scott Price at 4:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL
The following members of the Board of Directors were present at the meeting, constituting a quorum: William Bergman - President; Bill Bowerman - Vice President; Randy May - Treasurer; Steve Bushkuhl – Assistant Secretary; and Scott Thisted – Assistant Secretary. Also present: Steve Martin – Volunteer for Board Appointment; Scott Price – District Administrator; Ron Mentch – Superintendent of Operations; Dan Teodoru – Legal Counsel for the District; Donna Svenson – Financial Manager; Alec Bry – Lead Engineer, Laura Puca – Auditor.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mr. Price reviewed the information in the packet regarding the February Board minutes and the three Transaction Detail Reports. He asked if anyone had questions or comments regarding the minutes or reports, and none were expressed.
Director Bushkuhl made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda. Vice-President Bowerman seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
ACCEPTANCE OF THE 2023 AUDIT
Mr. Price introduced Ms. Puca and asked her to review the audit with the Board. Ms. Puca stated that the audit went well, and her company was issuing a clean, unmodified opinion. Another new accounting standard was implemented related to IT recognizing the prepaid expenses for AclaraOne implementation costs. The auditors added a footnote regarding the bond issuance. The 2024 audit will address the bond accounting, and it is a standard practice in governmental entities. She stated that Mr. Price was instructed to purchase and study “The Blue Book” of GAAFR governmental accounting, auditing, and financial reporting. Mr. Price displayed the book for the Board and stated that he would be consulting the information for guidance to post the bond data correctly to the QuickBooks system. Ms. Puca informed the Board that they need to budget for bond payments in 2025. She asked if the Board had any questions about the audit as presented. None were expressed. Several directors thanked Ms. Puca for her work.
Mr. Bowerman made a motion to accept the 2023 audit. Mr. Thisted seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
UPDATED 2023 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AFTER AUDIT
Mr. Price explained that the Board format of financial statements had been updated with the final audit data, and the finalized 2023 Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement were included in the packet for review. He asked if anyone had any questions or comments. None were expressed. Mr. Teodoru stated that no vote for acceptance was necessary because the audit had already been approved.
APPOINT STEVE MARTIN TO THE BOARD
Mr. Price reviewed the history of Mr. Martin volunteering to serve on the Board and his attendance at previous meetings. A brief discussion ensued of Mr. Martin’s willingness to study the Master Plan, and everyone was eager to have him on the Board. Mr. Teodoru stated that it would be appropriate to make a nomination to fill a vacant seat.
Mr. Bushkuhl nominated Mr. Martin. Mr. Bergman also nominated Mr. Martin. Then Mr. Martin accepted the nomination. Mr. Teodoru stated that a vote should be straight up or down on the nomination. All Board members voted in favor of appointing Steve Martin to the Board. Mr. Bergman welcomed Mr. Martin.
CAPITAL PROJECTS UPDATE
Mr. May directed the Board’s attention to his update in the packet and stated nothing has recently changed. He asked if anyone had questions about the projects. Mr. Bergman asked about the proposal for the Loveland Pass Village project. Mr. May described the detailed RFP and response process, which included material quantities. The proposal is listed as a guaranteed maximum price based on the materials and quantities provided in the RFP.
Stan Miller company has the agreement from Mr. Teodoru for the project. There was a discussion about Mr. Bergman being out of town for several weeks, and Mr. Teodoru said that we can have other Board members sign the agreement. Mr. May stated that the project won’t start digging until late July or early August. Mr. May stated that Mr. Price will be helping with communication to the community, and Stan Miller’s employees will also be directly communicating to the customers about outages. Mr. Bowerman stated that the LPV customers do not have an HOA.
Mr. May stated that the Town of Keystone, Lindsay Hirsch, has been informed. The County is still expected to be involved in permitting, but the Town and County are still negotiating agreements to allow the County to manage planning and permitting.
The Base 2 Water Plant improvements to replace chlorine gas tanks and make soda ash handling safer. The plans are being finalized and defining the equipment needed. The building will not be expanded, but remodeling will facilitate the changes. Alternatives have been evaluated to improve safety, expand storage, replace the compressed tanks, and increase efficiency. Mr. Bry and Mr. Mentch discussed the cost of maintaining the existing system.
Regarding the new Base 2 Storage Tank project, Mr. May stated that the detailed fieldwork is being conducted as the USFS requested. The hope is to get the road roughed-in this summer. The tank site needs to be assessed in order to facilitate the tank design. With the design produced this winter, construction of the tank can begin in the summer of 2025. There was a discussion regarding the budget and expected expenses in 2024, and the conclusion was that the budget was adequate.
ADMINISTRATOR’S DISCUSSION ITEMS
Mr. Price referred the Board to the report in the packet. He demonstrated the new website to the Board. He focused on the news and press release postings for the community. These will be used to provide updates on the PFAS project and events such as Board meeting notifications.
He stated that the new metering system has not been successfully implemented yet. There are ongoing network connectivity issues that are being addressed by Omni Computing and Aclara. The billing system is working correctly, and the staff is pleased with the functionality. The April billing cycle was successful.
The new online customer portal has been set up. Credit card transactions by customers have been successful. The current ACH process using Alpine Bank has not changed, and many customers prefer to keep their payments through ACH.
Mr. Price provided an update on the PFAS detection project. He asked the directors to review the summary from AE2S in the packet, including testing results for each well.
He stated that there had been some emails and phone calls with Mayor Riley about lack of understanding in the community about PFAS. Mr. Price emphasized that there is no immediate health risk, and he quoted from the EPA and CDPHE how no one should stop drinking tap water. Mr. Riley pointed out that communications to HOA groups (billing entities) may not be passed along to the condo owners. To overcome that limitation that is outside of the District’s control, Mr. Price will continue to post PFAS updates on the website. Mr. Riley stated that the Town will use their communication channels to refer constituents to the SRWD website. The SRWD staff will also promote the dissemination of PFAS information through property management companies and homeowner associations.
Mr. Price stated that the District has been awarded a state grant to help pay for a feasibility study to evaluate treatment options. The purpose of the study is to evaluate options for PFAS treatment. The proposal for the study is still being negotiated with AE2S, and the scope is not finalized. Mr. Bry provided a summary of the testing results from samples taken from the eight wells in the District. This summary precipitated a discussion among the directors about the testing. Mr. Mentch answered questions about the location of wells and which ones had the highest PFAS detection levels. He added information regarding other testing results of various wells such as iron and manganese content.
Mr. Price directed the Board’s attention to the water rights legal report in the packet. He summarized the current activities and status of the District’s lawsuit against the State and Division Engineers. There are essentially no contested facts in the case, but both sides believe the facts support their view of the accounting for water rights
benefits of the Historic User Pool in Green Mountain Reservoir. It appears that both sides are filing for summary judgment. The process of discovery is underway, and hundreds of documents are being requested and delivered for the attorneys to review. There is an intent to take depositions of key staff such as Tom Oberheide and Mr. Price within the next month or so. The attorneys are confident that the case will be resolved in favor of the District.
Mr. Price led a brief discussion on the process of annual renewals for Water Works West and Quality Water Management. Mr. Teodoru provided some history with previous Administrators and some context of previous relationships. He stated that he recommended that the Board consider a longer term such as three to five years. The District had used three year renewals in the past. He pointed out that there are many positives occurring in the District, and he has no concerns about signing a longer term agreement. Mr. Bergman concurred with the longer term extension. Mr. Martin asked Mr. Mentch his thoughts about the term for WWW. Mr. Mentch stated that he would be supportive of a three year renewal term. Mr. Bushkuhl provided his opinion that these two key business relationships should be on a longer term basis because if they went away for any reason, it would “leave a very large hole” in SRWD. Mr. Price stated that he is planning to work until age 70, about 10 more years, and that makes him think about staffing. So, he is thinking about succession planning. He has engaged younger employees to cross train, write standard operating procedures, and plan to take over the company to allow him to retire. Mr. Bergman asked Mr. Teodoru to draft the agreement changes needed to facilitate what would be mutually beneficial for the District and the companies as strategic partners.
SUPERINTENDENT’S DISCUSSION ITEMS, WATER PRODUCTION AND UNACCOUNTED WATER
Mr. Mentch reviewed his memo to the Board in the packet. He explained that the unaccounted for water level is higher than expected. They are seeing daily demand numbers that are much higher when water is being pumped as opposed to relying on the storage tanks. The outside leak detection was recently running their analysis in the District. Their investigation has not identified any significant leaks. He pledged that his team would get to the bottom of the root cause. He asked if the Board had any questions regarding his data in the packet. A discussion ensued about leaks that occur between the water main and the curb stop. Ways to address such a leak by the District were considered. Mr. Bergman asked Mr. Teodoru to discuss how other districts handle situations of leaks upstream of the curb stops. Mr. Teodoru stated that most districts define the water main to the curb stop as ownership by the district, and the curb stop to the house is the responsibility of the homeowner. However, the SRWD rules define the customer’s responsibility begins at the water main. The discussion ensued about the costs to make repairs between the main and curb stop. The Board asked Mr. Teodoru to write a policy that would define the District’s intention to make such a leak repair up to the curb stop. Mr. Mentch thanked the Board for considering his suggestions.
REVIEW AND ACCEPTANCE OF FIRST QUARTER FINANCIALS
Mr. Price reviewed the January through March P&L and March 31st Balance Sheet. He explained items of interest that are highlighted in his memo in the packet. He provided a description of the loan payoff process that will occur with the bond proceeds on June 14th. He reviewed the ColoTrust interest income earned on the
Operations account. He described the additional new account at ColoTrust for the bond proceeds that will only be used for capital projects. He provided an overview of the four accounts at BOK that were used for the receipt of the bond proceeds which were then split into other accounts for cost of issuance, the loan payoff escrow, and future bondholder semi-annual payments. BOK is the Paying Agent and will coordinate with Mr. Price for the movement of all funds. After the loan payoff, any remaining funds will be consolidated into the ColoTrust Bond Proceeds account. There will be a September interest only payment to the bondholders of $580,073. That amount must be paid from the Operations account.
Mr. Thisted asked if the Board wanted to consider forms of investment other than ColoTrust. Mr. May explained that previous investments in a ladder of CDs did not produce a better return than ColoTrust. Mr. Thisted suggested that the Board consider taking a portion of the Operations balance to invest in longer term vehicles that may lock in higher rates when the interest rates decline based on expectations of the Federal Reserve. Mr. Price and Mr. May welcomed Mr. Thisted’s recommendations for any investments that could be beneficial to the District.
Mr. Thisted made a motion to accept the first quarter financials as presented. It was seconded by Mr. Bowerman. The motion passed unanimously.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENTS
There was no other business to discuss. Mr. Bergman stated that there will be a Board dinner in September at the Keystone Ranch restaurant.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Berman made a motion to adjourn. It was seconded by Mr. Bowerman. The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Price adjourned the meeting at 5:33 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Scott Price
Recording Secretary
Approved by the Board of Directors
Steve Martin
Assistant Secretary