March 11, 2025 Minutes

Kiowa Water and WasteWater Authority

Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority was called to order on March 11, 2025, at 5:32pm by President Gabehart.

Pledge of Allegiance

President Gabehart led the Board in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll Call

Present: President Donald Gabehart, Director Bret Wager, Director Laurel Brown and Treasurer Teresa Parker and Secretary Jill Duvall

Also in attendance: 
Mayor Howard, Town of Kiowa Board of Trustees 
Trustee Hart, Town of Kiowa Board of Trustees
Kim Boyd, Town Administrator
Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk
Paul Grant, Headways Consultants on Zoom
Paul Polito – KWWA Attorney on Zoom 

Consent Items

1. Approval of the Agenda - Administrator Boyd noted that there needed to be an amendment to the agenda adding the topic of bulk water to Elbert County Road and Bridge to “A” under Old Business. President Gabehart entertained a motion to approve the agenda with the addition. Treasurer Parker made the motion to approve the agenda. Secretary Duvall seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.
2. Approval of the minutes of February 11, 2025, Meeting. - It was noted that there some typos in the previous minutes – specifically noting that there were a few occasions where Treasurer Parker was mentioned as Secretary Parker. President Gabehart entertained a motion to approve the minutes of February 11, 2025, meeting with corrections. Director Wager made the motion to approve the minutes with the corrections. Director Brown seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.

Public Comments

There were no public comments. 

Financial Reports

There was a payment made to Ferguson for the new meters which is under GL account 6730 instead of account 6731. It was also noted that there were changes to the GL account 6840 percentages under computer supplies and software. 

Staff Reports

1. Paul Grant, ORC
   1. Monthly Report – written report was submitted in the packet. No discussion.
   2. Repairs at Sewer Plant –The second influent pump will be installed on March 12, 2025, and the third pump will be pulled for repair. After the second pump is in, they should be able to start pumping down the lagoon. There was a question about the price on the pumps which will be investigated. There was also a question about whether the pumps were being replaced or rebuilt, and the answer was rebuilt, which falls under infrastructure repair and maintenance under sewer.
   3. Water Tower - There was one alarm at the water tower due to a power glitch so there needed to be a reset at the water plant. There was a question whether anything at the water plant was connected to Wi-Fi, and the answer was that the auto dialer runs through the phone company.
2. Kim Boyd, Town Administrator
   1. Grants Update – CDPHE was reviewing our project file. There was $1809.00 left on the planning grant, however due to miscommunication, the period to utilize those funds has passed.
   2. Issues with Hydrant at Nordman Park – Monday the 27th of February, it was noted that the lock on the hydrant had been cut. The lock was replaced promptly. Currently, there are discussions with Comcast to get Wi-Fi in the park so that cameras can be installed on the light pole to monitor the hydrant and the park.
   3. Quit Claim Deeds from TOK to KWWA – Three quit claim deeds have been recorded: the water tower, the sewer plant, and the fire department property. An item that still needs to be recorded is the storage tank by the town shop, but at this time it needs to be replatted or separated first before this can happen. It was noted that after recording the deeds, the assessor’s office noted that the deed for the sewer plant has an error going back to the original deed showing “west” instead of “east” in the legal description. It has been rectified on the assessor’s side, but to have clean paperwork it needs to be fixed officially. It was noted that the original deed was correct, but when the deed was next recorded, east was transposed to west. This mistake carried on through all the other deeds. It was noted that Elbert County Abstract needed to look at the original deed and not just the most recent and should make the necessary corrections.
   4. TOK SH-86 Improvement Project – After discussions with multiple entities it came to the attention that the storm drainage is going to run down both sides of the highway as do the water mains. The depth of the storm drains will be at the same as the water lines, so the ORC will be joining the conversations going forward about how best to handle this issue.
   5. Civic Plus – Mass Notification and Meeting – KWWA Staff did an initial training and onboarding in January and a follow up training in February. Internal contact lists and templates have been created and currently we are trying to get our social media platform MetaCert verified which is something that needs to happen to tie in the software for mass notifications. In the next 30 days we will invite the public to sign up for notifications and they can opt to receive notices through social media, text or phone messages or email. We will be attending a training session at the end of March for the meeting management software.
3. Sasha Davidson, Clerk
   1. Systems Total Report – There was about an 11% loss of water this month. We believe some of that loss could be attributed to stolen water from the hydrants. However, as water use goes up there will show more loss due to the older meters not being as accurate as the new meters. As the meters get replaced, some of those problems should be rectified. Six shut off letters and 14 warning letters were sent out this month. There were also two letters sent out for insufficient funds/returned checks. Those two people will have to pay by cash or certified funds.

Old Business

1. Bulk Water to Elbert County Road and Bridge – After special counsel’s review, it was determined that the County Road and Bridge can be considered the same as the fire district as an extension of municipal services. Three options were considered: 1. Inclusion – Section 103.2 of Establishing Agreement allows the County to submit a petition for inclusion into the Town, and the Town holds a hearing and submits a motion to the District Court to agree to the inclusion and it would become part of the Town’s service area. 2. Annexation – This would require the County to pursue annexation of the property into the Town of Kiowa which would include public hearings, complying with state statutes and other procedural steps and court hearings. 3. Water Plan - The water permit provides that the place of use is the Town of Kiowa’s service area where KWWA may furnish water service at wholesale, retail or other IGA’s under a water plan, which exists in draft form from 2020. It was noted that the previous plan was geared towards the new development that was supposed to go in on County Road 45, so much of the information is obsolete. The KWWA board needs to review the draft and identify areas for updating and to make a complete clean document which would allow the sale of water to the County Road and Bridge. An engineer would look over the board’s suggestions and determine what needs to be done and how much it will cost to complete the plan. There was discussion about the area where the water would be used; however, it was explained that it would be used in our local area, but an updated IGA might be required to spell out specifics. According to the special council there are broad definitions about what constitutes municipal use and if the Road and Bridge facility is deemed within the service area, which would fall under the water plan, then there is a strong case for water to be sold to them. It is recommended that all bulk water contracts should have language to protect the Authority from a future challenge by another water use or from the groundwater commission or engineer.
2. Review proposed revisions to the KWWA and TOK Operating Agreement – Updated copies of the operating agreement were provided. There were a couple questions and a brief discussion over a few other revisions. The operating agreement had already been passed by the Authority at a previous meeting, so the operating agreement with revisions will be sent to the Town of Kiowa Board. A final copy will be provided after all is completed.
3. Review bids for the rehab of water storage tank – Only one bid was submitted by Maguire for rehabbing the water storage tank. It was noted at the monthly meeting with Paul Grant that the proposal was within standard pricing for sanding and painting the tank. There was discussion over whether the inside and outside needed to be done at once. It was requested that a follow up bid be requested from Maguire. It was noted that rural water had been contacted about possible grant options, but no response had happened at the time of the meeting. The dates for inspection of the tank were also discussed and the next time it is due is in 2027.

New Business

1. Testing of existing Dawson Well near fire station – review proposals from WWE – There were two bids submitted to test the well. Pros and cons were discussed about both options. Secretary Duvall moved to accept the bid from Colorado Water Well to test the well. Director Wager seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.

Consent Items

1. RESOLUTION NO. 1, SERIES 2025 – RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING MONTHLY METER SURCHARGE
   There was a brief discussion about the meter surcharge versus the meter deposit. It was noted that at the budget discussion each year, the meter surcharge could be revisited. President Gabehart entertained a motion to pass Resolution No. 1, Series 2025 with corrections to the name spellings. Director Wager made a motion to pass Resolution No. 1, Series 2025 with the name corrections. Treasurer Parker seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.
2. RESOLUTION NO. 2, SERIES 2025 – RESOLUTION INCREASING METER DEPOSIT AMOUNT.
   It was noted that if this resolution fails, then decisions need to be made about the meter deposit account at the following meeting. There was discussion about tracking back which properties had a deposit in the past, because not all collected a deposit. President Gabehart entertained a motion not to pass Resolution No. 2, Series 2025. Treasurer Parker entertained a motion not to pass Resolution No. 2, Series 2025. Secretary Duvall seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion. Resolution No. 2, Series 2025 was not adopted.

Correspondence/Discussion

1. Legal ownership of adjudicated water rights within the Town of Kiowa – It was discussed that this is a special counsel issue. At this time, there are no funds budgeted for this and there are other matters that take precedence. It was noted that the Town of Kiowa also does not have the funds to adjudicate these issues this year. It was recommended that these be looked at in the next budget year due to the extensive costs that could be incurred. There was also brief discussion over a special warranty deed from August of 2023 that was not signed, notarized and recorded. It was noted that this issue would be resolved.
2. Agreement with Bill Sewald dba Frontier Fence – Due to the fact that the board must wait until it receives the grant money for the fence, it is not fair to have Mr. Sewald sign the contract at this time. The concern is that the cost estimate could change between now and when the grant money comes in and that it wouldn’t be fair to hold him to the contract if the costs go up. It was agreed that when the grant money came in and the project was ready to start that there could be a renegotiation of the contract at that time if the costs were substantially different.

Adjourn

President Gabehart entertained a motion to adjourn. Director Wager made the motion to adjourn. Secretary Duvall seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion. The meeting adjourned at 6:48pm.

The next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, at 5:30pm at Kiowa Town Hall.

Minutes Approved by: Jill Duvall, KWWA Secretary

Sasha Davidson, Secretary to the Board