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Meeting Minutes of September 13, 2023

Call to Order/Roll Call:      Chair Robert Hughey present, Vice Chair Kimberly Cole present, Trustees Brewer present Dickson present, Heern present, Fiorino absent, Ladner absent.

Visitors: Scott Hickham, Auditor

 Staff and Professionals:                                                                         Present                     Absent

            Treasurer, Mike Williamsen                                                          Present

            Legal Counsel/District Secretary Mike Twomey                     Present

            Office Manager, Sage Lintner                                                      Present

            Maintenance/WSO Alex Heidbreder                                           Present

            Engineer Richard Howell                                                                                                   Absent

Approval of Minutes:                                

            August 8, 2023 Motion to approve August minutes PH 2nd GB all in favor, motion carried

Visitor & Customer Requests:              

a.  Customer 1:  6 years of usage was charged wrong due to an improper register. The customer does not want to pay the full amount and has offered to pay half.

b.  Customer 2: had an improper register, and this resulted in usage being charged incorrectly. The customer does not want to pay the full amount due.

Board discussion resulted in a motion by Trustee Dickson to offer a 10% discount if the amounts due are paid in full or the full amount due if the customers would like to pay the amount due over a 4-month period.  2nd by Trustee Heern.  Roll call vote resulted in 5 ayes and 0 nays Motion carried.  Office manager Lintner will draft the letter to the customers for Chair Hughey to sign. PENDING

Communications for August 2023        None

New Business:

  1. Scott Hickham, 2022 Annual Audit report to the Board:  presentation by Mr. Hickham showed 2 deficiencies with a late filing with the Controller in 2022 and non-compliant with the 125% requirement on the loan with First Mid.  Other highlights in the presentation are increased revenue by 9.4% and Increased expenses by 23.09% and Water loss overall in 2022 is 37.53%.  A motion was made by Trustee Brewer to approve and accept the annual 2022 audit by Scott Hickham’s firm Trustee Heern 2nd All in favor vote of 5 ayes and 0 nays Motion carried.
  • Bid award for hydro-excavating (LSLI contract work):  Board discussion.  Three (3) Bids presented for Bush, Escue and Followell.  Discussion and motion by Trustee Dickson and 2nd by Trustee Heern to approve Scott Escue hydro excavation bid for $24,000.  Roll call vote with 5 ayes and 0 nays motion carried.
  • Bid award for GIS mapping (LSLI contract work):  Board discussion.  Three (3) bids presented from Horner and Shifrin, Klingner, and Rogers Hydrant service.  Vice Chair Cole called Roger’s Hydrant service and Joey Cherry’s references and reported that all 3 were very favorable.   Motion made by Trustee Dickson and 2nd by Trustee Brewer to award the bid to Rogers Hydrant service in the amount of $10.60 per feature or $7388.20 for 697 features identified.  Roll call vote with 5 ayes and 0 nays Motion carried.
  • Contracts for hydro-excavating/GIS mapping awards:  Mike Twomey will prepare the contracts and have them ready for Chair Hughey to sign in a few days.
  • Additional $30K IEPA grant funding now available (3rd Round):  Vice Chair Cole reported that an additional $30K is available to cover the excess of the bids that were just awarded and there is possibly other work that can be done in the district for an additional $28K.  This will be investigated and Cole will purse and complete the paperwork with Office manager Lintner for the next grant funding which is due to the IEPA by October 22, 2023.
  • The October meeting will be held on October 4, 2023 at 6pm to allow time for Executive session, tentative budget, and strategic planning. Resolved
  • Office manager Lintner announced she will be on vacation the week of October 9, 2023 and will ask Ms. Cowan to cover the office in her absence.  Resolved

Old Business                                             

  1. Meeting with Alto Pass to discuss possibility to supply water:  Chair Hughey will be meeting with Scott Wilmeth and Trustee Dickson sometime in September, a meeting date is currently being set up.  Will report back to the Board in October.  Reported that this project is 3-4 years away and these are preliminary discussion.  Pending
  • IEPA Lead Service Line Inventory Grant: Vice Chair Cole reported there are 3 issues that need to be completed with the grant;  1.  Quickbooks separate accounting system completed by Office manager Lintner, a bank account set up that is separate from all other BPWD accounts Pending Chair Hughey will handle this at First Southern Bank, and the upcoming quarterly progress report is due 9/15/2023 by 5pm (narrative, PFR, PPR) Pending completion by Office manager Lintner.   Pending  
  • Lead service line inventory IEPA:  Pending work to hydro excavate 125 meter pits and GIS mapping. On track to submit to the IEPA by deadline April 14, 2024  Pending
  • Legal review of IRWA GIS mapping contract: Resolved, no longer an issue as IRWA has withdrawn their quote do to lack of personnel and unable to meet our deadlines.  Resolved
  • Pressure reducing Valve work:  Unresolved and unable to proceed as Brian Bush has not responded to the request for him to do this work or if he is able to do this work.  Brian Bush has to provide the part per contract agreement.  The valve is currently leaking.  ESI quoted parts at $2370.  Chair Hughey will sign a letter that Brian Bush is out of compliance on his contract to respond to work in a timely manner if contact is not made this week.  Pending
  • New Board member training and Tour (Ladner, Fiorino):  Meter reading of the district is scheduled for 9/25/2023 with Trustee Fiorino.  Trustee Ladner has missed 3 consecutive meeting and will be removed from the Board following a last request by email to him from Office manager Lintner to inquire if he intends to stay on the Board or resign.  PENDING
  • Repair of roof by WSO Heidbreder (ridge cap/seal): WSO Heidbreder reported that this is halfway done making the needed repairs.  Treasurer Williamsen stated that this work can be charged to capital including how many hours and parts for the repair.  PENDING
  • Employee handbook Rev 2.0 (copy to Ladner): Trustee Ladner is absent and may have resigned from the Board.  Unknown status.  PENDING
  1. Strategic plan 5-year TABLED TO OCTOBER MEETING           PENDING
  • Cross Connection Program:  Vice Chair Cole continues to work to complete 60 letters of clarification from customer surveys and projects these will be done by 10/31/2023.  PENDING

 Carbondale Water District:  Nothing new to report

Staff and Board group reports             

  1. Office Manager Lintner report Attached  
  • WSO Heidbreder report      Attached
  • Work Group 1 Ordinance update: Vice chair Cole presented 17 old ordinances she prepared from years dating back to 1975 where ordinances were only written into the minutes and never converted to an actual ordinance.  She gave these to Mike Twomey to review and he said he would get back to her with further instructions.   The subject of RVs being parked in customers’ property and connected to our water district needs to be addressed in an ordinance.  The discussion resulted in deciding to defer this item to the October meeting.  Pending X2
  • Work Group 2: Water Loss Next meeting is scheduled for October 5 at 10:45am at the district office PENDING
  • ROINC report as attached 

Accounting/Financial report:                

  1. Financials August 2023 Presented by Treasurer Williamsen RESOLVED
  • Budget line items corrected to approved 2023 budget (May 2023) Reported that no budget reports can be obtained going forward for 2023 due to the recent changes made in the accounting system in QuickBooks. RESOLVED
  • QuickBooks issues Reported as all resolved by Treasurer Williamsen and no details given.
  • New spreadsheet Treasurer Williamsen is now preparing an Excel spreadsheet of 5 months previous to distribute to the Board with data on water sold, income, total cash balance, and change from the previous month with note about the T-bill investment total.  Attached.  PENDING
  • T-bill investment update: $50K approved in July 2023: Treasurer Williamsen reported that he has made the investment for the $50K approval in July 2023.     RESOLVED
  • 2024 Budget plans:  Treasurer Williamsen will be starting the 2024 budget process with Office manager Lintner in the next few weeks.  This will give Oct-Nov time frame to prepare the budget and December meeting of the Board of Trustees to approve it.  PENDING
  • Additional signees on checking account Chair Hughey will set up additional signatories at the Bank with Mike Twomey and Trustee Dickson in order to have more flexibility on check signing.  Vice Chair Cole said that paychecks and timecards need to be signed by 2 signatures and more officers available to come to the office, the better.  PENDING.

Payment of the Bills:                                

  1. Approval of August 2023 Disbursements  Motion to pay the bills and 3 additional bills presented by Brian Bush motion by Trustee Brewer and 2nd by Trustee Heern to pay the bills.  Roll call vote of 5 ayes and 0 nays Motion carried.

Additional Public Comments or Questions:  None

Executive Session:  None

Motion for Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Trustee Heern 2nd by Trustee Brewer voice vote all in favor 5 ayes 0 nays motion carried.

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