September 10, 2024 Minutes

Kiowa Water and WasteWater Authority

Call to Order

The regular meeting of the Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority was called to order on September 10, 2024, at 6:00pm by President Whitman.

Roll Call

Present: President Whitman, Director Parker, Director Brown, Director Wager and Director Duvall

Also in attendance:

Trustee Howard, Town of Kiowa Board of Trustees
Mayor Rick Kolm
Kim Boyd, Town Administrator
Paul Grant, Headways Consultants

Consent Items

Approval of Agenda

Director Parker asked that the following revisions be made to the agenda:
1. Move New Business under Public Comments
2. Under New Business, make A. Qualifications for new board members per Article I, Section 104-1, 2(a)(b), 3{a)(b) and move Proposed 2025 Budget to B.
3. Under Old Business move CRS Contract and termination of Operating Agreement with ToK to A. and renumber the remaining line items appropriately under that.
Director Parker made the motion to approve the agenda with the revisions. Director Brown seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.
Approval of the minutes from August 13, 2024, monthly meeting
Director Brown made a request for revision by adding "via Zoom" after Jacob Hollers of Spencer Fane and Director Parker asked to add "Ruth Borne, counsel for ToK, via Zoom". Director Wager made the motion to approve the minutes from August 13, 2024, with revisions. Director Parker seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion.

Public Comments

Resident Sally Pippin advised they have a resident she and her husband are in the process of evicting due to nonpayment of rent. Further, they recently received a letter from the Town, as the owner of the property, advising this resident has not paid for water and sewer for approximately a year and if she does not bring it current, they will incur the whole $1200 balance that is now owing. She advised they will need a hardship request granted so that they would be able to pay the bill now, if the resident did not. She expressed frustration that her water was not shut off prior to now so that the balance had not been allowed to get to such high amount, which is not a manageable amount to pay in full at this point, and she will have to make payments.

Resident Ronald Pippin, Sr- reiterated what his wife just said and expressed the same frustrations with the matter.

Ms. Boyd asked to respond, and President Whitman concurred. Ms. Boyd advised she and Mr. Pippin had spoken numerous times in the past several days concerning this matter. Ms. Boyd advised her preliminary research into the matter was leaning toward a possible oversight on this account for several months, but she needed to wait for the Billing Clerk's return to discuss the matter further with her and see if there is information she is missing. Ms. Boyd advised she has already discussed this matter with the Mayor and Trustee Howard and the Town is prepared to make this matter right with KWWA and the resident, should it be determined the Town is at fault.

New Business

Qualifications for new board members per Article I, Section 104-1, 2(a)(b), 3{a)(b)

Director Parker opened a discussion regarding the qualifications for a new board member to their Board. She referred the board to the Amended and Restated Kiowa Water and Wastewater Authority Establishing Agreement dated June 4, 2013, which she handed to the board at the beginning of the meeting. Director Parker made the assertion that this board is not in compliance with this agreement in that Director Duval l's appointment by the Town Board of Trustees, with a designation of representative, does not allow the board to be in COrl)Pliance. Ms. Boyd inquired as to how Ms. Duval l's appointment is any different than previous board member, Tim Craft's, appointment under the same circumstances and which they (President Whitman and Director Parker) fought so hard to keep in place for the past several months. Director Parker asserted she understands they were not in compliance then, but they now need to now move more toward being in compliance and the board can only achieve that by having a town resident on their board and not another appointed by designation of representative. Ms. Boyd asserted that this designation was vetted by a litigating attorney and the Town's general counsel, and both found it to be completely valid. Director Parker asked Director Duvall for her immediate resignation based off her interpretation of the Establishing Agreement to which Director Duvall said she will not.

Director Parker made the motion to remove Director Duvall from the board based on her interpretation of the Establishing Agreement. After President Whitman asked for a second to Director Parker's motion and receiving none, he himself gave the second to Director Parker's motion. Motion failed with a vote of 3 NAYES and 2 AYES.

ROLL CALL VOTE
Director Brown NAY
President Whitman AYE
Director Parker AYE
Director Wager NAY
Director Duvall NAY
2025 Proposed Budget - Director Parker and Director Brown, Budget Committee
Director Parker made a motion to approve the Proposed 2025 Budget as presented, and Director Wager seconded. Motion passed 5-0 with no discussion. Ms. Boyd advised the final approval, and a public hearing will be scheduled for the December monthly meeting.

Staff Reports

Paul Grant

Monthly Report
Issues with people taking water from hydrants seem to have subsided, but Paul cautioned the staff and himself are only here part time and can only monitor that when they are here. Locks and hydrants are being checked regularly, but more hydrant locks and padlocks are needed for the remainder of the town. The locks are approximately $150/each and the device that goes on the hydrant are approximately $60/each. Paul confirmed the fire department had keys.

Ms. Boyd confirmed the water loss numbers are not available without Sasha's report, and she is out until the next week.
Sewer Plant Repairs
It was recently discovered that the wiring hardness for the influent pump that pulls the wastewater up to the basins had an enormous hornet nest in the box and entwined around the wires, which shorted out the pumps. One pump was pulled and sent to the shop to get the motors rewound. When that pump comes back, we will swap them out and send the other for repair. In the meantime, waste is being sent to the lagoon and being reported as a spill, per CDP HE guidelines and protocol. We are still in compliance with the State.

The school has had issues locating the main line due to the out-of-date drawings not showing the path accurately. This incurred more costs to the Authority since the contractor needed to make numerous potholes to locate the line. It was found at the north side of a house off Cheyenne, goes under this house's fence approximately 3'-4'. It will either be tied in here or in the street and then taken over to the school. The map will be updated to reflect this. The cost was $3400 to do the potholing to find the main, in addition to the contractor to be there to direct and then to make the subsequent repairs once it is done.
Farmers State Bank plumbing issue
Advised the Board he has received a second bid for the repairs at Farmers State Bank's current building from C & C Construction, but he is still waiting for a third from Unbridled. Paul advised the repair will entail correcting the small "belly" in the line by raising it up and verifying the slope from the property owner's property to the tap. This confirmation will be accomplished by utilizing TV's to scope the line at completion.

Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utility Billing Clerk - Absent this month. Will report at the October 8, 2024, monthly meeting.

Kim Boyd, Town Administrator

The Authority has received formal termination of contract letters from both Whitebear et al and Spencer Fane. All files have been digitally received from Whitebear et al.
Ms. Boyd read memorandum to the Authority Board into record regarding public comment by Debbie Ullom at the August 13, 2024, monthly meeting.

Old Business

CRS Contract and termination of Operating Agreement with ToK
Director Brown made a statement asserting she found the action by certain board members retaliatory and employing revenge tactics by voting and approving a termination letter to the Town and subsequently approving the CRS contract in June. Director Brown made a motion to rescind the previously approved CRS Contract and the letter terminating the administration of the Authority by the Town of Kiowa. Director Duvall seconded the motion. Motion passed with a vote of 3 AYES and 2 NAYES.
ROLL CALL VOTE
Director Brown: AYE
President Whitman: NAY
Director Parker: NAY
Director Wager: AYE
Director Duvall: AYE
General Counsel Legal Representation
Ms. Boyd advised the RFP was out on Bid net for approximately 2-3 weeks. This RFP was sent to approximately 84 firms across Colorado. She suggested that possibly the location of Kiowa in the far rural eastern plains of Colorado and speculated operating budget could have played a part in the lack of responses because it often does for the Town. Director Parker requested Ms. Boyd to put this out in the Ranch land News as public notice. President Whitman asked if this was sent to Lisa Meyers with Spencer Fane. Ms. Boyd advised she sent the RFP to them through the Bidnet environment. Director Parker advised she sent it directly to Spencer Fane but had not heard anything back from them. Director Brown suggested the Authority Board reach out to Town general counsel, Ruth Borne, considering she has a lot of knowledge regarding the background and issues the Authority faces. Director Parker asserted this would be a huge conflict of interest. President Whitman advised this conversation came up in the past and it was declared a conflict at that time, early in the establishment of the Authority. Director Brown asked that we reach out to another legal counsel and inquire as to the amount of conflict this would cause the Authority.
Fairground Tap
Ms. Boyd informed the Board that there was no representative from the fairgrounds due to the county making the decision to move forward with installing a leach field outside Town boundaries of the fairgrounds so that they can reach compliance under the State. This was the most cost-effective option for them.
Dedicated KWWA email addresses and tablets for board members
Ms. Boyd presented the information she compiled relating to the costs associated with the Board going to dedicated email addresses: $7.20 per month per email address. She reminded the Board the liability involved with the continued use of personal email addresses, the ability for other items in their personal emails to be made viewable through a subpoena, and the ability for the community members to reach out to them directly, because right now the staff will not give out personal email addresses of board members. As well, Ms. Boyd advised that due to the rising costs of copies and the lion share of those costs being associated with the monthly board packets to both boards, she is inferring that the Authority Board also move to the use of tablets for their monthly meeting packets and other documentation or business correspondence. Director Parker asserted she likes the ability to have a hard copy to follow at meetings. Ms. Boyd understood this but asserted that possibly the overhead costs covered by the operating agreement be revisited and amended because it is not deemed fiscally responsible of the Town to continue paying increased costs with taxpayer money, especially when there are other options. Ms. Boyd advised the cost of the iPads are $348 total cost each and the maintenance plan is $2 per month, per device. Director Brown asserted that possibly the board members can print the copies they want at home.
Project Needs Assessment (PNA) final review
Ms. Boyd reminded the Board that there were no revisions to the context of this document, but rather the names of the contacts. Director Parker made the motion to approve the final form of the Project Needs Assessment (PNA) and instruct Wright Water Engineers to proceed with submitting it to the CDPHE to move forward in the process. Director Brown seconded the motion and the motion passed SO with no further discussion.

Correspondence/Discussion

Director Brown opened a discussion into recommending the Authority Board move to include the pledge of allegiance to the monthly agenda and at the beginning of the meetings like the Town. Others agreed it was a good idea. Director Brown made a motion to include the pledge of allegiance in the monthly agenda and at the beginning of the monthly meetings. Director Wager seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no further discussion.

Ms. Boyd read into recorded the memorandum from Coberly Web Design dated September 1, 2024, discussing the importance of compliance with HB 21-1110 and HB 24-1454.

Adjourn

Director Wager made the motion to adjourn. Director Parker seconded the motion, and the motion passed 5-0 with no discussion. The meeting adjourned at 7:15pm.

The next regular meeting will be on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, at 6:00pm at Kiowa Town Hall.

Minutes Approved by: Donald Gabehart, KWWA President

Sasha Davidson, Town Clerk/Utilities Billing Clerk