Woodland Hills Sanitary
District
September 2017 Minutes
The
September meeting of the Woodland Hills Sanitary District was called to order
at 6:32PM.
Roll
Call: President
Bobby Sadler established that a quorum existed to conduct the meeting. In attendance were Bobby Sadler, Evan
Hutchings, Beth Haivala, Garry Colasardo, Jim Stewart, Ed Striebel, and Lois
Lund.
Adoption
of Agenda: Bobby
presented the agenda to the board.
Garry made a motion to approve the agenda, second by Beth and the vote
was 5-0 to proceed with agenda as presented.
Secretary’s
Report: The
August minutes were reviewed. Garry
made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Beth and the minutes were
adopted by a 5-0 vote.
Income
Report:
Total income for July was $9354 which includes the special loan
assessments. Among the expenses were
payments for a pump and motor from the July 29 lightning strike.
There
were eight people who missed the September 1st payment due date. The water bill did contain a note about the
new due date but also contained verbiage noting the late date was still the 5th
of the month. Because of this wording
Garry made a motion to waive the late fee for August. The motion was seconded by Jim and approved on a 5-0 vote.
Jim
made a motion to approve the income report, seconded by Garry and the income
report was approved with a 5-0 vote.
Water
Report: Water losses for the month were at 7.5
percent.
Ed
worked with Dakota Pump to test the SCADA (supervisory control and data
acquisition) system. Alarms were
tested, including low and no-flow alarms at the two pump-houses.
The
water level at the two reservoirs is currently monitored by a transducer (a
device that converts variations in a physical quantity, such as pressure or
brightness, into an electrical signal) installed at the well house. Because the reservoirs are just 7 feet in
depth and there's an elevation difference between the well-house and the
reservoirs the pressure difference between full and low water levels is
difficult for the current transducer to detect. Ed recommends installing a transducer at the reservoirs. A proposal with a price will be presented at
the next meeting.
Ed
also discussed upgrading our SCADA system to allow more control of the water
system. Current our system reports on
pump action and volume but only allows remote control of the well-house
pump. With an improved SCADA system
all of the pumps could be controlled remotely in the case of an outage rather
than having someone visit the system in order to control pump activity during
an emergency. For example if a pump
fails SCADA will provide an alert but there's no way to order the alternate
pump to take over and requires an on-site visit.
Ed
will get a proposal and price from Dakota Pump on the SCADA upgrade.
The
South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources recognized the
Woodland Hills water system for 13 consecutive years of meeting requirements of
the Safe Drinking Water Act. To qualify
for a Secretary's Award for Drinking Water Excellence, public water systems
their operations have to meeting requirements for monitoring and reporting,
drinking water standards and certification requirements for 10 consecutive
years or more.
Jim
made a motion to accept the water report.
Garry seconded and the motion carried by a 5-0 vote.
Road
Report: the
district is eligible to apply and receive $14,000 in tax receipts in 2018.
Gary
Hansen had written the district about sharing $150 in road repair expense with
all the property owners on Lark Lane.
Jim made a motion to approve the expense provided that the others owners
on Lark Lane are participating, second by Garry and the vote was 5-0 in
favor. Jim will follow-up with Mr.
Hansen.
Jim
asked that the dip in the road near the well-house be repaired and the other
members of the board suggested B&H Asphalt on Peaceful Pines for a
price.
Old
Business: The annual picnic was a success. On the topic of the picnic, each year
tables have to be begged and borrowed for serving the food. Jim made a motion that the district purchase
six tables for use at the picnic. Bobby
seconded the motion and it was approved with a 5-0 vote.
Evan
has been working with the district's insurance provider about recouping the
costs of repair from the lightning strike.
A claim is being pursued.
Jim
has called Chris Stover of the forest service regarding the slash piles just
outside Woodland Hills and future thinning plans but has not heard back.
New
Business: Evan provided the board with insurance
renewal information. The current
valuation of the tanks, meeting building, pump-houses, well-house and valve
control building has been below replacement cost. For example, the two storage tanks on Lark Lane have been valued
at $68,000 but a more accurate replacement cost would be nearly $125,000 when
including the cost of getting a damaged tank removed and a new one brought up
and installed. Increasing the value of
the district's properties increases the premium. The recent lightning strike provided an example of what kind of
damage could happen and the board agreed with the insurance company's (South
Dakota Public Assurance Alliance) valuation changes. Evan made a motion to approve the $253 premium increase, Garry
provided a second and board voted 5-0 to approve the motion.
Garry
brought up the recent vandalism at pump-house two which demonstrates that
the district should consider fencing
around the pump-houses, well-house and valve control building on Lark Lane. Funds from the Department of Homeland Security
to upgrade water system security could be available for the fencing. Measurements of the amount of fencing will
be taken and easements will be considered.
Lois
requested that the district's web site have a more prominent mention of the
water rate schedule as she frequently gets calls on the issue. Jim will adjust the web site for that.
Resident
Comments: Sue Jones attended the meeting to thank the
district for current and past performance with the system upgrades.
The
meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm
Carefully
submitted,
Jim
Stewart
Recording
Secretary