Woodland Hills Sanitary
District
January 2019 Minutes
The
January meeting of the Woodland Hills Sanitary District was called to order at
6:30pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2019.
Roll
Call: President
Bobby Sadler established that a quorum existed to conduct the meeting. In attendance were Lois Lund, Ed Striebel
and board members Jim Stewart, Beth Haivala and John Knight.
Adoption
of Agenda: Bobby
presented the agenda to the board and it was unanimously adopted.
Secretary’s
Report: The
December minutes were reviewed. Bobby
made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Beth and the vote was 4-0 to
approve.
Income
Report: Net
income for December was $4,827. Among
the expenses was an annual renewal of $999 for the SCADA monitoring
system. Two residents missed their
December payment.
Water
Report: Water losses for December were 15.5%. Historically, water loss ratios have
increased during the winter months when fewer gallons are pumped. The loss ratio is between gallons pumped and
lost. With water losses remaining
fairly constant each month the loss ratio will decrease during the summer and
increase in winter. In January 2017 the
loss ratio was 18% and June 2017 the losses were 6.5%.
There
had been discussion in a previous meeting of getting a new main well pump and
relining the well casing. Ed will check
the history and hours on the pump for February's meeting.
Road
Report: The road account received a tax deposit of
$1,064. The board approved a payment
of $200 each to Tim Severson and Brian Walker for plowing Woodland Drive and
the lanes after the recent snowstorm.
Garry
and John placed the new gravel barrels.
They were in place for a few days when the one on Eagle Lane and
Woodland Drive was hit by a vehicle.
The Eagle Lane road sign was also knocked over. Jim will check with Summit Signs about
replacing the Eagle / Woodland sign post.
The barrels should be filled with gravel during the January 12 weekend.
Old
Business: A budget for 2019 was approved with a 4-0
vote and will be placed on the web site.
The
board discussed installing a "dry" fire hydrant. As described in Wikepedia: In rural areas
where municipal water systems are not available, dry hydrants are used to
supply water for fighting fires. A dry hydrant is usually an unpressurized,
permanently installed pipe that has one end below the water level of a lake or
pond (or in Woodland Hills case, our main reservoir). When needed, a pumper fire engine will pump from the lake or pond
by drafting water. This is done by vacuuming the air out of the dry hydrant,
hard sleeve, and the fire engine pump with a primer. Because lower pressure now
exists at the pump intake, atmospheric pressure on the water and the weight of
the water forces water into part of the dry hydrant above water, into the hard
sleeve, and finally into the pump. This water can then be pumped by the
engine's centrifugal pump.
The
board was concerned over liability. If
the hydrant fails to operate and a house burns would the district be
liable? A web search discovered a case
where a water district lost a $69 million lawsuit filed by homeowners because
fire hydrants were dry when homes was burned because of wildfire. The board voted 4-0 not to proceed with the
dry hydrant.
The
board also discussed moving the monthly meeting back to the second Tuesday of
the month. Meetings were held on the
2nd Tuesday until August of 2007.
Bobby would be unable to attend on the 2nd Tuesday and Ed would be
unable to attend if the meeting were moved to the 2nd Thursday. The board decided to keep the 2nd Wednesday
meeting date.
New
Business: A
rate increase was discussed. Jim said
that rates had not been raised in several years and suggested that a COLA (cost
of living adjustment) be considered.
Jim made a motion to raise the minimum rate from $37.50 to $38.50. The motion did not receive a 2nd and was not
voted. The rates will not be changed.
Late
fees were then discussed with Bobby and John suggesting they were too
high. Bobby made a motion to lower the
late fee from $25 to $10. John seconded
the motion. The vote was tied 2-2 and
the motion did not carry. Late fees
will not be changed.
The
board switched to an executive session and agreed to waive the late fees of a
resident who had worked with the board to get their account balance current.
Board
member comments: None
Resident
comments: none
The
board adjourned the meeting at 7:42pm.
Carefully
submitted,
Jim
Stewart
Recording
Secretary