Kiowa Water and WasteWater Authority
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority was called to order on August 13, 2024, at 6:00pm by President Whitman.
Roll Call
Present: President Whitman, Vice President Parker, Director Brown, Director Wager and Director Craft (who began the meeting on zoom and then joined in person at 6:10pm).
Also in attendance:
Trustee Howard, Town of Kiowa Board of Trustees
Kim Boyd, Town Administrator
Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utility Billing Clerk
Paul Grant, Headways Consultants
Gary Woirhaye, Facilities Manager for Elbert County
Jacob Hollars of Spencer Fane, LLP, Special Counsel for KWWA via Zoom
Ruth Borne, General Counsel for Town of Kiowa via Zoom
Consent Items
Director Wager made the motion to approve the agenda with the revision to move the New Business section up after Executive Session and Vice President Parker seconded the motion. Motion passed with no discussion.
Executive Session
Subject to C.R.S. 24-6-402(4), the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority will meet in an executive session upon affirmative vote of 2/3 of the quorum present, for the sole purpose of considering:
(b) Conferences with KWWA Attorney and Special Counsel for the purpose of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding Town of Kiowa, et al. v. Tim Craft, et al., and Town of Kiowa, et al. v. Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority, Case No. 24CV30050, Elbert County District Court.
Vice President Parker made a motion to move into executive session at 6:04pm. Director Wager seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken:
Laurel Brown - Yes
Teresa Parker - Yes
Bret Wager -Yes
Tim Craft - Yes
Eric Whitman -Yes
Motion passed 5-0.
Discussion was held whether Administrator Boyd and Clerk Davidson were to be present in the executive session or not. It was decided that they would not be allowed in the executive session. It was noted that the meeting zoom link would be disconnected, the computer would be turned off during the executive session and not be available to the KWWA Board due to the computers belonging to the Town and they held confidential Town business, making it inappropriate for them to be operated outside the supervision of the staff they belonged to.
New Business
Action on proposed stipulation regarding settlement of Town of Kiowa, et al. v. Tim Craft, et al., Case No. 24CV30050, Elbert County District Court
Director Wager made the motion to consent to the proposed stipulation regarding settlement of Town of Kiowa, et al. v. Tim Craft, et al., Case No. 24CV30050, Elbert County District Court and that the board accept Director Craft's resignation from the board, as long as the stipulation stay in place and the Town does not make further changes to the proposed stipulation. Director Brown seconded the motion.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Director Brown - Yes
Vice President Parker - Yes
Director Wager-Yes
Director Craft -Abstain
President Whitman -Yes
Motion passed by majority vote with 4 AYES and 1 Abstention.
Public Comments
Debbie Ullom - See attached statement read into record.
Staff Reports
Paul Grant
- Monthly Report
Farmer's State Bank continues to call about back-ups in their sewer. The lines have been videoed and have been clean. It has been found that there is slight belly in the line, which up to this point has not affected their flow but repairing it and making sure that their line is installed and sloped correctly should fix the issue. The first bid estimates the cost of repair is $5,329.00. The board requested that Mr. Grant seek out other bids for the repair, before they moved forward. - Outage at Tower
The auto dialer called when there was an outage, so they were able to go out and get everything back online quickly. - Sewer Plant Repairs
There is a waste pump in SBR-1 that needs to be replaced. Mr. Grant will get some bids for that. There is also an air leak, so the tank will need to be partially drained to repair it, but expense should be minimal on that. - Hydrant Lock for Bulk Water - The hydrant set screws come loose when a hydrant is opened frequently like the bulk water hydrant, so Paul went and tightened them down so the hydrant should be good for a while.
Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utility Billing Clerk
- System Totals Reports - Based on the amount of water supplied and water used, including around 100,000 gallons of bulk water, the loss this month was 21%, which is a very similar amount of loss during July 2023 and July 2022. Several warning letters were issued, but no shut off notices were issued.
- Hydrant Flushing - September 16-20 the hydrants around town will be flushed. A notice has been put on the bills that will go out at the beginning of September. We also have purchased bright blue signs to be placed in front of the hydrants so people will be aware when the hydrants will be flushed. There has also been a notice put out on social media.
Kim Boyd, Town Administrator
- Project Needs Assessment -There have been several emails between CDPHE and Wright Water Engineers and everything seems good at this point. It was offered to the board that they could go over the revisions before it is finalized. The board agreed that they would like to go over the PNA one more time before it was uploaded.
Old Business
- Fairgrounds Taps - Gary Woirhaye, the Facilities Manager for the Fairgrounds, spoke about options for a sewer tap for the fairgrounds. There was a discussion between the board and Mr. Woirhaye about whether there should be individual taps for each of the 72 trailer spots or just one for the whole area. If there was to be only one sewer tap, there would probably have to be a flow meter to measure how much sewage was going to the treatment plant. Concern was expressed that chemicals that come out of RV's could negatively affect our sewer treatment. Options for leach fields and holding tanks were also entertained. There was also discussion over the billing cycle and whether it should be monthly for the whole year, or only for the busy months. It was suggested that more research be done into other similarly situated fairgrounds and RV parks and how they handle them.
- 2023 Financial Audit - Administrator Boyd went over the completed audit, and that it has been sent to the USDA, the State Auditor's Office and DOLA on July 30, 2024, meeting all statutory requirements. It was noted that the document was not up for revision or for approval. There was a suggestion made by Director Craft that it should be looked over by legal counsel. President Whitman made a motion to ACCEPT the financial audit. Vice President Parker seconded the motion, and the motion passed with no discussion.
- 2025 Budget and Committee Selection - The proposed budget was briefly looked over, noting that red line items are over budget, yellow line items are those that KWWA should not be paying because they are included in the operating agreement and so will need to be amended, and green are items that are not currently in the budget but should be in the next year. A committee was formed with Administrator Boyd, Director Brown and Vice President Parker to work on the budget for the next year.
* Vice President Parker excused herself from the remainder the meeting after the budget discussion due to illness.
Legal Representation
- Engagement with Lisa Mayers of Spenser Fane, LLP for General Counsel
Administrator Boyd suggested that an RFP be put out to make sure the Authority is getting representation for a reasonable price, so it was decided to table the discussion until that could be done and the Board can review possible bids. - White Bear Ankele et al termination of contract with KWWA
Administrator Boyd advised a formal letter of termination has not been received, to date, only an email. She has requested a formal letter along with all KWWA records. - Engagement with Spencer Fane, LLP for Special Counsel
A signed copy of the engagement letter was provided.
Correspondence/Discussion
None
Adjourn
Director Wager made the motion to adjourn. Director Brown seconded the motion, and the motion passed SO with no discussion. The meeting adjourned at 8:01pm.
The next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, at 6:00pm at Kiowa Town Hall.
Minutes Approved by: Eric Whitman, President
Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utilities Billing Clerk