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Minutes of May 10, 2022

Call to Order:  Chairman Bob Hughey called the meeting to order at 7:00pm 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. Mr. Bill Dailey was absent.  Chairman Hughey welcomed our new employee Jaime Senn, as the Maintenance Water Operator to the district and we are pleased to have you on-board. 

Visitors present:  Mrs. Lucille Burrow and Midwest Meter reps Chad Sampson, and Matt Carls.

Approval of Minutes:  The Board reviewed the minutes of the April 12, 2022, regular meeting.  A correction was made that John Dickson was absent.  A motion was made by Trustee Burrow to accept the minutes of April 12, 2022, with the so-noted correction, as presented; seconded by Trustee Brierton and with a roll call vote of (7) yay votes and (0) nay votes.; the minutes of 4/12/2022 were approved.

Visitor and Customer Requests:  None

Communications for April 2022: 

  1. The letter of resignation of Jack Hendrix Accounting firm correspondence was received and accepted.  Mike Williamsen is taking the lead to find a replacement and informed the Board that there are 5 interviews scheduled to hire another firm as soon as possible.  Sage informed the Board that Quickbooks software ledger was never updated by the previous office manager with the Hendrix monthly edits he did on the jump drive, as far back as 2004.  This leaves the office ledger inaccurate.  See further Board discussion regarding Quickbooks and office ledger in the Office Manager report later in the Board meeting.  Pending hiring new firm.
  2. Scott Hickham wrote a letter dated May 10, 2022, explaining his proposal, purpose, and quote for the 2022 audit.  It will be extensive this year as requested by the Board due to the change of Office Managers and will be performed from the latest Hendrix jump drive for an estimate of $4-5K. Pending audit

New business: 

  1.  Maintenance position update and has been filled with Jaimie Senn. Training is underway.  Resolved and completed.
  2. Joe Boyke gave an update for the finances for the 2021 tower and post office hill, and leak detectors.  He presented a retainage payment #4 to Maxcor for $15,000.  Trustee Dickson made a motion to pay, with second by Trustee Brewer.  A roll call vote of 7 ayes, and 0 nays was taken, motion passed to pay this.  Joe presented an invoice for Scott Escue for $33, 143.61 waiting on reclamation of the site in pay estimate #3 for the entire project.  A motion was made by Trustee Burrow, with a second by Trustee Brewer to pay this.  A roll call vote was taken with 7 ayes, 0 nays to pay this passed. There is $21,000 remaining after all the bills are paid.  The options we have are to spend the amount or reimburse ourselves and spend $9,000 on needed items such as another leak detector vault with the IEPA approvals for change orders.  Joe will put together suggestions and prices of needed projects and email to the boards for review.  A decision can be made at that time.  Joe will do a 60 day extension with the IEPA on our loan and projects right away.  Pending decision on $21K
  3. Joe presented an invoice to Clarida-Zeigler for $3450.00 to pay.  A motion by Trustee Heern was made, second by Trustee Burrow to pay this, and a roll call vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays passed this motion.  Resolved and completed.
  4. Class D study book for Sage and Jaimie to begin Class D licenses is needed in the district office and Kim agreed to purchase this at John A. Logan college.  The board discussed the class given by Chris Johnston for our employees.  It is about $400. Pending purchase
  5. May re-appointments were conducted with motions and seconds and votes as follows:

Chairman Hughey motion by Trustee Burrow, second by Vice Chair Cole, All in favor

Vice-Chair Cole, motion by Trustee Burrow, second by Trustee Brewer, all in favor

Treasurer Williamsen, motion by Trustee Burrow, second by Trustee Brewer, all in favor.

District Secretary deferred to next Board meeting Pending appointment

Legal Counsel Twomey, motion by Trustee Burrow, second by Trustee Heern, all in favor

Engineering Firm Clarida-Zeigler motion by Trustee Heern, second by Trustee Brewer, all in favor

Accountant deferred to next Board meeting Pending appointment

Trustee Burrow term is expiring May 1, 2022, and a form will be submitted to Jackson County following his reappointment. Pending form to be mailed

Old business:

  1.  Economic Interest forms:  Resolved and completed.  All forms have been sent into Jackson County and Union County for all Board members.  Resolved and completed.  Office manager Lintner will repeat this in April 2023.
  2. An IEPA Project update for Post office Hill was given and the project is now complete.  Resolved and completed
  3. Work group -ordinances- update:  No update, Pending update
  4. Work group-water loss-update:  Joe Boyke presented the Board with a map and update of the spreadsheet.  The numbers look to be accurate.  The yellow and pink areas are the most concerning overall with 48% loss.  The map is a great tool for Jaime to focus on these areas.  The Board discussed a strategy to being the work to locate the leaks.  Pending strategy and resolution
  5. Strategic plan ideas due from all Trustees-No report.  Kim agreed to make a spreadsheet for 1 year, 5 year, 10 year, and 20 year plans for a working guide for the Board. Pending spreadsheet and input
  6. Delinquent accounts:  Chairman Hughey updated the Board on 72 accounts late and is now down to only 12 accounts.  These 12 have been given payment plans and this will be monitored and managed by Office Manager Lintner to follow our ordinance of disconnection protocols.    Pending resolution
  7. Equipment purchases update:  A new truck has been purchased and the Magna-trak locator has been received by the district.  Resolved and Completed
  8. Generator maintenance update:  For pump station #2, the main breaker failed due to mouse poop.  Jamie explained that the new HMI interface on the unit was purchased on e-bay, and it will be meshed in to keep mice out.  This needs to be excersized for 30 minutes each month.  This generator is working now, and Brad Chapman will be coming again this week to work on it again.  Will update in June 2022.  Pending update
  9. Pump leak update:  Chairman Hughey reported that CC pumps was going to remove it and take to the office for repair, however there were no parts available yet, so he rescheduled this work once parts are in.  Pending repair
  10. Extension valves:  There is a need for a telescoping valve wrench.  Jamie to check into purchasing this from Schulte Supply.  Pending purchase
  11. Listening device for water leaks:  We have this device and Kenny, and Billy will show Jamie how to use it.  Pending training
  12. Jackson County funds update:  No update.  Pending update
  13. Mike Williamsen provided the Board with our agent Thomas Couch.  Mike has set this up with him through 1st Mid Bank.  Resolved and completed.
  14. Pending repair.  Chairman Hughey mentioned that we do not have a contract with Brian Bush since 2013 and the Board discussed this and options to consider.  Pending contract
  15. Pending completion   Also, the readers need to be ordered. Pending.  Sage will talk to Christine about setting up a new route. Pending purchase
  16. Pending resolution
  17. Pending decision
  18. Pending resolution
  19. Pending repair

Carbondale Water District:  Nothing new to report

Office manager report:

  1. Office manager Lintner asked to shorten the time for the shut-off notice from 25 days to possibly 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 research and ordinance update
  2. Office manager described the progress on the delinquent account and goals to have this completely caught up.  Will report this to the Board each month.
  3. Office manager Lintner will provide the Board with a report of activities each month going forward.
  4. Office manager Lintner described the 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.  The board discussed this oversight and gross error by the previous office manager.  Sage has begun a paper ledger system back to January 1st, 2022, and this continue until an accountant can be hired and Scott Hickham can do the 2022 audit and the district office can become accurate once again on finances.  Pending resolution
  5. Office manager Lintner would like to do on-line transfers of the money with a printed receipt in hand.  This will save time and milage for the district office operations.  Resolved and Completed
  6. Office manager Lintner would like an Operations /Maintenance account to have a $5,000 float.  She would like to do a deposit to that account from Fund account. Resolved and completed.

Trustee Brewer made the motion to allow the online transfers and the additional deposit of a $5,000 float to the Operation /Maintenance account, with a second by Trustee Burrow.  Motion passed with 7ayes, and no nays.

Accounting and Financial report: Treasurer Williamsen reviewed the accounting and financial report and the 2022 budget status with the Board.

Payment of the bills and approval of May 2022 disbursements:  Office Manager Lintner gave the report on the bills and expenses in the amount of $29,221.19 to be paid for the month.  A motion was made by Trustee Brewer to pay the bills.  A second was made by Trustee Burrows.  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 on training plans with Jaimie, lists of activities to prioritize for him, and valve exercising. Jamie discussed some items needed such as a weed eater.

ROINC Kimberly Cole report:

ROINC Cole provided a routine activity report for the month of May with all duties performed and all samples satisfactory (Boil orders, Routines and THM/HAA samples).  The April IEPA Operational report was submitted.

No new 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 has not been done since 2011 but is required every (3) years.  Will be completed as soon as Office manager Lintner can assist.  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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