Kiowa Water and WasteWater Authority
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority was called to order on April 9, 2024, at 6:00pm by President Eric Whitman with the following in attendance:
Directors: Teresa Parker, Laurel Brown, Bret Wager and Tim Craft
Also present:
Rick Kolm, Town of Kiowa Mayor, Terry Howard, Town of Kiowa Board Member, Tammy Hart, Town of Kiowa Board Member, Kim Boyd, Town Administrator, Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utility Billing Clerk, and Paul Grant, Headways Consultants who was on Zoom.
Director Laurel Brown read a statement discussing conflicts of interest and concerns about violations of the Colorado Open Meetings Law. Bret Wager followed up the statement with comments supporting. Discussion followed between the board members.
Consent Items
Approval of Agenda
President Eric Whitman asked Director Theresa Parker to note the changes to the agenda:
- Under Old Business Section B- Remove that line completely.
- Under New Business Section A-take out "9% across the board, with 3-3 ½ annual raise each January."
- Under New Business Section A - add "after publication" after the notice for public comment sentence.
- Under New Business Section B -Remove completely because it is covered under Section C in Old Business.
President Eric Whitman entertained a motion to approve the agenda with the changes. Tim Craft made the motion to approve the agenda with the amendments. Teresa Parker seconded the motion. Motion passed with no discussion.
Approval of Minutes
A brief discussion was held to clarify the order of items. President Eric Whitman entertained a motion to approve of the minutes. Tim Craft made the motion to approve the minutes. Theresa Parker seconded the motion. Motion passed with no discussion.
Financial Report
The YTD Profit and Loss Report was examined by the board. A balance sheet was requested, and Administrator Boyd said she would see if the program could provide one.
Staff Reports
Paul Grant
Wastewater: $12,000 was spent with McDonald Farms to clean out the basin. The influent valve was replaced by Velocity after the basin was cleaned out and the system is back online and working well.
Water meters: About 100 regular meters are left to install. There are a few big meters that still need to be installed: Yuma Loop Apartments, the Justice Center, and the schools.
Water loss: Now that the auto dialer is functioning, and the weather is better-the water loss is down to around 9% and the system is working well. The auto dialer alerted that there was a leak a couple times, so they were able to come out and fix the issue right away so there was lot less waste. Usually cold/winter weather is the biggest problem when the controls get frozen or if the solar panel gets blocked with snow and ice. Insulation could be put in where the level sensor is, but if there is an overflow it will get washed away and need replaced often.
Flushing Hydrants: The fire department no longer wants to flush hydrants. Paul's company put in a bid of $2300/year to flush all the hydrants. Hydrants need to be flushed so they operate correctly and clear out sediment (primarily iron and manganese) that may have collected and settled in the water mains. It was suggested that the water flush is metered so we can figure that number into the water loss. A few days before beginning the process, signs would be put up around town, so people know when it is happening.
Anomalies: There was a question about water use anomalies, and most of those are caught during the meter reading - based on the customer's usual usage.
Sasha Davidson
Bulk Water: This month 29,500 gallons of water purchased. The next few months this should be higher with the Farmer's State Bank construction going in and summer construction projects.
Shut Off/Warning Letters: Four shut off and seven warning letters were sent out and so far, two of those have already paid their outstanding bill.
Neptune: Due to time constraints with training availability and physical hardware and software, we will not be able to implement the program this month but should be good to go for May. All the files on RVS's side are good and compatible with Neptune's files. An Android or IOS tablet is needed to go with the handheld reader, and they will travel together. The reader uploads the files into the tablet which is brought to the office and the files are transferred digitally into the RVS System. A request was made to purchase a tablet for this process. Two comparable products were offered for the board's recommendation and purchase approval. President Eric Whitman entertained a motion to approve the purchase of a tablet. Theresa Parker made the motion to approve the purchase of the Android 13 tablet from Amazon for purposes of working with the Neptune System. Bret Wager seconded the motion. Motion passed with no discussion.
Tap Fees: There was a brief discussion about tap fees for 652 Chippewa and Farmer's State Bank.
Public Comments
Tammy Hart - Spoke for 2 minutes about her water bill and the water meters that are shared.
Old Business
Rules and Regulations for Sewer Mains - Brief discussion about figuring out where the homeowner's responsibility and the water authority's starts and ends. The current stance is that from the main to the person's house is their responsibility and anything up to the main is the water authorities, but this needs to be in writing and voted on by the board. President Eric Whitman entertained a motion to table the decision until the May 14, 2024, meeting. Tim Craft made a motion to table the decision and vote until we get the rule put into writing and subject to legal review for the May 14, 2024, meeting. Theresa Parker seconded the motion. Motion passed with no discussion.
Town of Kiowa overreach on KWW A Authority - There was a brief discussion about expanding the previous conversation by adding the attached documents.
Competitive Bid Process for replacing management of KWW A. - Discussion was held about why competitive bid process for replacements was started before the current management was given notice of termination. The KWWA legal counsel advised that this was the best course of action so the board would have someone in place before the current management was terminated. At the time of the meeting, Tim Craft had received one bid estimate from a group he is a client of on another project. Further discussion centered around the other factors to consider before terminating the current management, which included: meeting place, an office, townspeople being able to access services, remote servicing of billing, charges for the meetings, website access, and other amenities. It was suggested that the fairgrounds, or fire department building could be used for meeting venues. It was noted that other utilities, like electricity and gas are not hosted locally and need to be accessed by phone or email, and other bidders might off er extended dates and times for services.
New Business
Considering a resolution for a fee increase. "Consider Resolution and Revised Fee Schedule in Connection Therewith." Set date for 30-day notice for public comment. - Plan for notice to be published in the Ranchland newspaper on April 18, 2024, and be posted online and on the public board. The proposed date to have a public meeting is May 21, 2024, at 6:00pm. Location to be determined upon staff availability.
Competitive Bid process for replacement management- RFP has been submitted to Ranchland News -April 4th, 2024, edition for bids - see attached document. No extra discussion was held.
90-Day letter Terminating Operating Agreement with the town of Kiowa - Initial discussion was held about the incorrect formatting of the letter, which needs to be amended. There was additional debate about whether the board was ready to act on terminating the operating agreement at this meeting. The board also considered other options besides terminating the current management. It was offered that the current management could put in their own bid in the RFP process for the job if they so choose. The next point was whether the management should be terminated with or without cause and what the timeline should be, and if it would be possible to renegotiate an operating agreement with the town should other bids not meet expectations. At the time of the meeting, only one RFP had been submitted and some board members wanted to have more information before going to a vote to terminate. President Eric Whitman entertained a
Discussion
Conflict oflnterest Forms - There was a discussion about conflict-of-interest forms and conflicts among board members. It was stated that there seemed to be conflicts of interest on the board, and there were concerns that protocol was not being followed. It was noted that even among the attorneys there was not clear direction about the use and necessity of the conflict-of-interest forms. One board member stated that of the 20+ boards he is on, he has never signed a conflict-of-interest form, and if he felt he had a conflict he would just abstain from the vote and disclose the conflict at the time of the discussion and that the board should rely on the attorney's to identify what could be a conflict of interest or legal issue. The final exchange dealt with the concern that there are some legitimate conflicts, and the board needs to do what is best for the residents of the community.
Correspondence/Information/Review
None
Adjourn
President Eric Whitman entertained a motion to close out the meeting. Tim Craft made the motion to adjourn, Bret Wager seconded, and the motion passed with no discussion. The meeting adjourned at 7:34pm.
The next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, at Town Hall at 6:00pm and a special meeting will be held on May 21, 2024, at 6:00 P.M., at the Kiowa Fire Department, 403 County Road 45, Kiowa, Colorado 80117.
Minutes Approved by: Eric Whitman, President
Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utilities Billing Clerk