August 8, 2023 KWWA Minutes

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Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority was called to order on August 8, 2023, at 6:00pm by President Debbie Ullom with the following in attendance:

Directors: Eric Whitman and Teresa Parker appeared in person, Tim Craft began the meeting on zoom and then joined in person at 6:07pm. Annette Burmaster was absent.

Town Clerk/Utility Billing Clerk: Sasha Davidson
Town Administrator: Kimberly Boyd
Guests present:

Gabriel Mata, Colorado Rural Water Association
John Hill, Ranchland News
Paul Grant, Headways Consultant, LLC, appeared via zoom.

Consent Items

Approval of Agenda
Eric Whitman made the motion to approve the agenda. Teresa Parker seconded, and the motion passed with no discussion.

Approval of Minutes
Teresa made the motion to approve the May 9th regular meeting minutes with corrections. Eric Whitman seconded, and the motion passed with no discussion.

Financial Report

Year-to-Date P&L
The financials were reviewed and discussed.
Ms. Boyd advised there have been ongoing issues with the accounting software that is being dealt with.

Staff Reports

Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk
The System Totals reports for July and June were included in the packet for review. The water loss in June was 15.37% and in July it was down to 12.65%. There was a discussion about comparing last year's rates to this year's rates and a question about the fire and flushing line amounts. It was noted looking at the past due accounts that there is now a minimal number of people who were grievously behind compared to last month.

Kimberly Boyd, Town Administrator
Ms. Boyd advised preliminary paperwork pertaining to the DOLA grant award that has been submitted. A representative with the Colorado Rural Water Association is in attendance tonight to give a presentation on source water protection and a grant associated with such.

Paul Grant, Headways Consultant, LLC
There was discussion about continuing efforts to repair/replace the fiberglass elbow at the wastewater plant scheduled with C&C, as well as an ongoing wiring issue with Velocity. The work required by Velocity will still fall under warranty. Based on some recent repairs, there was also discussion on mitigating issues with some of the older water main valves around town that need to be replaced before failure. Work continues regarding the conversion to digital meters and the software will be updated soon to facilitate reading them.

Public Comments

John Hill - Ranch land News remarked that the roads were dry, and it was not raining.

Old Business

Ordinance for water determinations and Bargain and Sale Deed
It was stated that this process was done, it just needed to be signed and it was finished. Ms. Boyd advised the town board will be hearing the ordinance pertaining to this at their meeting later in the evening.

Clean up Operating Agreement between Town of Kiowa and KWWA
Tabled until September.
The board discussed the operating agreement and what needed to be done to get it finished and submitted. It was decided to table additional discussion and a decision until September. Debbie Ullman stated that the final vote would be tabled until September after the numbers that were needed to complete the agreement were obtained at the end of August.

Resolution Establishing rules and regulations regarding payments of fees.
There was discussion about the resolution regarding several issues. Three changes of note are: Under 14.6.4 it was specified that "the Customer or Owner may notify the Billing Clerk". Under 14.4.6, there will be a turnoff service fee of $25.00 that will be charged, but the board did not see the necessity to charge a reconnect fee in addition to. Under 14.6.9 it was specified that the return check fee will be subject to whatever is charged by the bank at the time of the return. Eric Whitman moved to approve the resolution with the changes and Teresa Parker seconded it. The motion passed with no discussion. It was noted that there was no reason to post or report it because there was not a fee or rate change.

New Business

2024 annual payment amount for Operating Agreement with ToK
Tabled to September,
There was a brief discussion regarding waiting for insurance quotes before moving forward and it was moved to table this issue until September. Debbie Ullman stated that this issue would be tabled until the next meeting where it would become old business.

Presentation by Gabriel Mata of the Colorado Rural Water Association regarding Source Water Protection and Planning and grant for KWWA
Mr. Mata presented a PowerPoint about source water assessment and protection program (SWAP). There was discussion about grant funding and identified needs in the future that could be covered. It was noted that the Authority will be saving around $50,000 in required matching grant funds fees by having SWAP do the studies, rather than utilizing an Admin Grant from DOLA. A town committee will be formed to facilitate the process. Lastly, there was discussion about the grants going through the municipality vs. the water authority.

Discussion

None

Correspondence/Information/Review