Meeting Minutes of December 12, 1985
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm by Chairman Walter Brieschke. The roll was called. Present were William Hardenbergh, Vern Cornell, Phoebe Cox, Douglas Mayer, Fran Voss, Richard Parrish, and Walter Brieschke. Employees present were Becky Roberts and Mike Huskey.
The minutes of the November 14, 1985 meeting were approved.
Customer requests: Tap #79 has been purchased by Oschmann/Rowan Mod America Extrusion, Inc., and they were unaware of a lien of the property in the amount of $453.81. They requested that the entire $453.81 be waived. This was not accepted by the Board . They then proposed to pay 25% of the entire bill down and the remainder of the bill to be paid in 12 equal monthly installments in addition to the monthly water charge on time. Roll call was taken: Mr. Mayer – yes, Mr. Voss – yes, Miss Cox – yes, Mr. Cornell – abstained, Mr. Hardenbergh – yes, Mr. Parrish – yes, Mr. Brieschke – yes. The proposal was accepted. A check for $113.45 was received for the 25% down payment and $28.36 should be received for 11 consecutive months and $28.40 should be paid for the 12th and final payment, in addition to the monthly water charge. The water will be turned on at the new owners request and the lien will be removed after the 12th payment is received. A letter is to be sent to Oschmann/Rowan Mid America Extrusion, Inc. to confirm agreement.
Secretary/Treasurer report was read and accepted.
The Financial report was approved.
Payment of Bills: The bills werwe presented in the amount of $4,715.02. Mrs. Voss made a motion to pay the bills as submitted. Mr. Hardenbergh seconded. Roll call vote: Mrs. Voss – yes, Mr. Cornell – yes, Mr. Mayer – yes, Miss Cox – yes, Mr. Hardenbergh – yes, Mr. Parrish – yes, Mr. Brieschke – yes. Motion was passed.
The Water Supply Operator report was given by Mr. Huskey. Inventory was taken.
SHWD Dispute: A court date is set for 12/24/85 at 1:00 pm. Mr. Brieschke drafted a letter to be sent to Eugenia Hunter and copies of it to be sent to Brockton Lockwood and Judge Nelson. Mr. Hardenbergh moved to send the letter and Mr. Parrish seconded. All in favor voice vote.
Notification of new customers on rules: Mr. Cornell submitted a statement to be added onto the Application for Water Service Contract. Mr. Brieschke is going to put it on the agenda for all the Board members to view and it will be discussed next meeting.
Decision on State’s Attorney’s letter: Mr. Mayer read a letter from the State’s Attorney Office stating that a check from Mr. Gary Cox in the amount of $170.00 was enclosed to pay for the Water Supply Operators time and $47.00 for the water that was taken. It was discussed whether or not to pursue this matter further. Miss Cox made a motion to not to pursue this matter in the court system. Mr. Hardenbergh seconded the motion. All in favor voice vote. It was decided by the board members for Mr. Brieschke to draft a letter to Mr. Clemons about this matter and send it to all the board members to review it and discuss at the next meeting.
Holiday procedure for water shut off: It was decided that from December 12, 1985 through January 2, 1986 that no water will be shut off due to nonpayment.
Budget:
Regarding the Budget for FY 86. This is the best budget we have to date regarding form and content. It requires some refinement but we can work on that during the next year.
One problem which may result in having to re-write the budget is what appears to be a DEFICIT. Upon review I cannot find where we are operating on a deficit. A DEFICIT budget occurs when the available income and assets are insufficient to pay for the costs of operation. This is simply not the case.
What is happening, is that the budget is doing what it is supposed to do, i.e. – tell us in advance when we are getting into a financial bind. We now have the time to deal with the impending problems thanks to the forewarning provided.
In addition, a note such as appears on the budget does not belong. It doesn’t explain it lacks details which would help to devise a solution.
As I recall, the approximately $4,000.00 the budget indicates is needed to be added to our income is based on last winters’ problems with repairs from freezing and the excess water loss which went undetected for so long due to improper record keeping a master meter reading, i.e. details of daily operation which would have signaled an early discovery and repair of the problems.
These two items along with the unusually large increase in our insurance premiums are the 3 big items which contributed to the $4,000.00 problem.
Now, these 3 items should have been addressed in the BUDGET JUSTIFICATION accompanied by an explanation on how the trustees proposed to deal with these problems during the upcoming fiscal year.
Certainly we are looking at an eventual need to a water rate increase due to increased insurance costs and increased costs from SHWD. However, some reduction can be obtained by improved O&M regarding speed and accuracy of repair and greater attention to water loss prevention.
- Walter Brieschke
Mrs. Voss moved to adjourn the meeting and Mr. Cornell seconded. All in favor voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 8:33 pm.