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Minutes of June 14, 2022

Call to Order:  Chairman Bob Hughey called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm at the District Office 79 Wiley Lane in Makanda. A roll call was taken.

All Board Members present were Chairman Hughey, Vice Chairman Kim Cole, and Trustees Grace Brewer, Pat Brierton, John Dickson, and Paul Heern and Joseph Burrow.

Staff and Professionals:

Treasurer, Mr. Mike Williamsen was present. The District Secretary position is vacant temporarily. The professionals present at the meeting were Mr. Mike Twomey, Legal Counsel and Mr. Joe Boyke. Water Operators present were Mr. Kenny Cowan and Mr. Bill Dailey. Office Manager Sage Lintner was present.

Visitors present:  Mrs. Lucille Burrow

Approval of Minutes:  The Board reviewed the revised minutes of the April 12, 2022, and May 10, 2022, regular meeting minutes. Trustee Dickson made a motion to accept the minutes of May 10, 2022, seconded by Trustee Brewer and with a roll call vote of (7) yay votes and (0) nay votes.; the minutes of 5/10/2022 were approved.

Visitor and Customer Requests:  None

Communications for May 2022: 

  1. Resignation of Jaime Senn, Maintenance operator
  2. Letter from First Mid moving safekeeping services to Tennessee and new signature card needed. June 7, 2022, Debbie Wilson, Accounting First Mid. Requests return of pledgee signature card. Referred to Treasurer Williamsen

New business: 

  1. The Maintenance position is open again and another INDEED ad is posted to receive applicants again. Interviewing will be conducted after screening and times can be set up. PENDING
  2. ROINC contract renewal by Kimberly Cole effective July 1, 2022-June 30, 2023. ROINC Cole requested payment of $300/month for services pending research by Legal Counsel Twomey into this being allowed by a Board member. UPDATE:  No payments for any contracts or services can be allowed by a Board member per Jackson County rules. Therefore, ROINC Cole will continue contract services for the BPWD on a volunteer basis until a new district employed ROINC is trained, licensed, and approved by the Board. Resolved

Old business:

  1. Reappointment of Joseph Burrows to a 5-year term has been processed at Jackson County Clerk’s office. Resolved       District Secretary 2022 appointment:  no discussion PENDING
  2. Accountant firm replacement update given by Mike Williamsen. We need a “reconciliation accountant†and two (2) have been interviewed. Both looked satisfactory. Mike will interview two (2) more next month so the Board will be able to pick one. PENDING
  3. Ordinance workgroup update:  None PENDING  Water loss workgroup update: Mike Williamsen said that our group will meet again soon. PENDING
  4. Strategic plan ideas from all Trustees were revisited with review of what is needed from the group. A blank spreadsheet was distributed, and Vice-Chair Cole said she would gather the ideas if everyone would fill out the sheet and return to her by mail, email, or the next meeting. PENDING
  5. Scott Hickham, the BPWD auditor has an intensive audit underway as requested by the Board in April 2022 and he is talking to Sage and Bob following his review of the books. Per Treasurer Williamsen, nothing earth shattering has been found to date. The final report is pending. PENDING
  6. Joe Boyke gave an update for the Board on various projects, invoices, disbursements, and water loss spread sheet. He presented the following items: 1.  Scott Escue will collect more NC water samples this week to complete the permit paperwork. Resolved 7/1/2022  2. Invoice presented for reclamation in the amount of $8200.00 for Scott Escue. There was a motion by Trustee Heern and 2nd by Trustee Burrows to pay this invoice. A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to pay this invoice. Resolved 3. Change order #2 will adjust the number of contract days and amount of $108905 to $90485. There was a motion by Trustee Heern and 2nd by Trustee Burrows to make this change. A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to make this change. Resolved 4.  An invoice was present for Clarida-Zeigler engineering #21595 for $630.00. There was a motion by Trustee Brierton and 2nd by Trustee Brewer to make this change. A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to pay this invoice. Resolved 5. A loan disbursement was present for $8830 for the IEPA. There was a motion by Trustee Heern and 2nd by Trustee Breirton to make this disbursement. A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to make this disbursement. Resolved  6. Joe presented the Board with $21,000 remains in fund account available. The Board discussed several options of needs for these funds and Joe will find out more from the IEPA about options. PENDING 7. Joe presented the water loss sheets. Several issues were brought up:  we need meters installed at the pump stations PENDING, we need to open every meter pit because many meters have the wrong modules installed PENDING, and many meters may need to be calibrated PENDING, the route sequences need to match meter numbers PENDING. All these issues could be contributing to wrong billing on the low side.  We need to send off meters to be assessed PENDING.  A plan needs to be developed with Billy and Kenny PENDING. Sage is getting the routes for the spreadsheet fine-tuned.  PENDING
  7. Class D study book for Sage and new maintenance operator to begin study for Class D licenses is needed in the district office and Kim agreed to go and purchase this at John A. Logan college. The board discussed the class given by Chris Johnston for our employees. It is about $400. PENDING
  8. Generator maintenance update:
  9. Pump Leak update was given. The pump has been removed from PS2 by CC pumps. The invoice for removal is being questioned. The single pump remaining is doing the full load alone and repairs are being expedited. PENDING
  10. Extension valves:  Bill Daily will research this longer telescoping valve wrench tool and order it PENDING
  11. Listening device:  We have one for use Resolved
  12. Meter lid hole drilling is all completed Resolved/New meters installed for leak detectors PENDING
  13. Repair exposed line PENDING/Jacobini hydrant replacement completed with no leak found at the site, Resolved /Bush contract PENDING
  14. Inactive meter/low flow report No report PENDING
  15. Loan refinancing options presented by Treasurer Williamsen. Approx. $2750/month goes into the infrastructure account and approx. $1200/month goes into the maintenance account. Options 1 and 2 presented:  1.  Pay 80K of the principle down to save approx. $590/month interest 2. Invest 100K at approx. 3% interest earned as recommended by Scott Hickham and First Mid now instead of refi due to the downturn in the stock market.  Chairman Hughey researched this also and 3% is fairly solid with Treasury notes. We get range of flexibility of 1 to 10 years if needed. It allows BPWD to retain our cash right now and investment option is a good one. He recommends that Mike check into where to invest and research further. There was a motion by Trustee Burrows and 2nd by Trustee Brierton to ask Treasurer Williamsen research the investment option further for $100K.  A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to approve researching the investment of $100K of BPWD funds in the infrastructure fund account.
  16. Badger upgrade was discussed, and it was decided that no upgrade is currently planned.  Future discussions will continue, and the Board will revisit.  Resolved
  17. Credit card update was given by Office Manager Lintner that the card is here and in use, however the current limit of $800 is not sufficient for BPWD monthly business. She recommended that the limit be doubled to $1600 to cover such expenses as she is using her own personal funds for. Treasurer Williamsen will research how high he can raise the limit and pursue the problem. Trustee Heern inquired how much fuel is being spent on the truck and OM Lintner responded there is not enough data yet to know exactly how the annual expense of the fuel will be.
  18. Jackson County funds was reported by Legal Counsel Twomey that all the funds have been allocated and we were not awarded any of it.  Much was kept by Jackson County to rehab the jail.  This was a disappointment to learn.

Carbondale Water District:  Nothing new to report

Office manager report:

  1. Presented the research done on other district policies.  Vice-Chair Cole will review and present a recommendation with ordinance draft wording to the Board in the future.  Previously OM Lintner had requested to shorten the time for the shut-off notice from 25 days to 5-10 days.  The Board asked her to investigate what other districts near us are doing and report back. Any future ordinance change on this matter will need to be done, with a newspaper notification of the change following any board approved changes. Pending and ordinance update
  2. Described the progress on the delinquent account and goals to have this completely caught up due to water shut-offs. Will report this to the Board each month.
  3. Explained a forced adjustment was made to QuickBooks back to January 2022 to reconcile. This was due to explanation given last month about the improper accounting practices of the previous Office manager. (Hendrix accounting process done in the past of a jump drive being taken to their office in Anna monthly. This should have been updated and edited to be accurate for the office version. However, the jump drive never was used in the office all the way back to prior to 2004 and never updated any records to reflect the accurate accounting that was done professionally by Hendrix. Therefore, the office QuickBooks ledger is off by over $30,000 from the Hendrix jump drive)
  4. Scott Hickam is doing the 2022 audit and the district office can become accurate once again on finances using the most recent jump drive reconcile.
  5. Explained that on-line transfers of the money with a printed receipt in hand is now being done to save time and mileage for the district office operations. Resolved and Completed
  6. Explained there was an ACH issue whereby customers had the wrong amounts withdrawn from their checking accounts. It was a Cambridge-ACH account software issue error. It was reversed and everyone’s account was credited, and the ACH process was re-ran.
  7. Flush hydrant at Jacobini was replaced and no leak found. There are several more work orders to complete.
  8. Legal Counsel Twomey is looking through regulations on all of the boxes and 30 year old documents and paper in the back of the office to see what can be legally shredded and a firm will be hired to complete this. He will advise the Board on timeframe.
  9. Reported that the donation of the laptop by Trustee Heern will not work for the BPWD. Recommends a purchase of a laptop for approx. $500 with multiuser Cambridge software installed is needed for additional $300 and network the computers. There was a motion by Trustee Dickson and 2nd by Trustee Brierton to ask Office Manager Lintner to research and the permission and justification for the purchase of another computer for the district. A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to approve the purchase of a 2nd district computer and software.
  10. The BPWD is now secured and in Sage Lintner’s name only. All KCD credentials are removed.  Explained that the website will be updated and training on the interactive forms will be undertaken.
  11. Currently working on boil order paperwork, profile requests to determine if a customer has a leak, and new services for the district forms.
  12. Working with Christine and leak meters and Route 6
  13. Facebook page is up and going. Not a lot of interest yet but will but a link on the bills and share it with contacts
  14. CCR is being prepared and will be sent in a few weeks with a deadline of July 1st, 2022
  15. The Cross Connection survey is underway.  186 have been received out of 400 and they are due back July 1st, 2022. A second letter will be sent out on July 2nd for anyone who has not responded.  Water shutoffs will be done after the 2nd is ignored.
  16. Reposted ad on Indeed for maintenance position to run 3 days Friday, Monday and Tuesday.
  17. A couple of renters have moved out and no hope of payments from them.  Asked the Board for advice on this. Ultimate action will be for Office manager to send this to a collection agency to work for us on these matters and we can expect to receive 2/3 of the payment if they are successful.
  18. Explained that a $25K transfer of funds is needed to the operational and maintenance account. There was a motion by Trustee Brewer and 2nd by Trustee Burrows to allow Office Manager Lintner to transfer $25K funds to the O/M account.  A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to approve the transfer.

Accounting and Financial report: Treasurer Williamsen reviewed the accounting and financial reports with the Board.

Payment of the bills and approval of June 2022 disbursements:  Office Manager Lintner gave the report on the bills and expenses in the amount of $42894.96 to be paid for the month. Trustee Brewer made a motion to pay the bills.  A second was made by Trustee Brierton. A roll call vote was taken and 7 ayes, and 0 nays was obtained, and motion passed to pay the bills.

Water supply Operators (Bill Dailey/Kenny Cowan) report:  Kenny gave update and reported all 64 valves have been exercised. 

ROINC Kimberly Cole report:

ROINC Cole provided a routine activity report for the month of June with all duties performed and all samples satisfactory. The IEPA Operational report was submitted.

No recent updates on the progress on the remaining violations and recommendations that were given to BPWD at the Feb. 26, 2021, IEPA inspection.  This will be a priority as soon as the office and Office manager Lintner is oriented to assist with the mailings.

  1.  The cross-connection survey is underway. Pending resolution
  2. Ten (10) missing operating permits that need to be submitted on BPWD projects dating back into the 1990’s. Pending resolution
  3. The (8) recommendations will be added to the agenda to be discussed at the water loss workgroup. Pending resolution

Additional Public Comments or Questions:  No additional public comments or questions were submitted to the Board

Executive session:  None.Motion for Adjournment:  Trustee Dickson made a motion to adjourn and Trustee Heern seconded the motion. All in favor by voice 7 yays, and no nays, the motion carried to adjourn.

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