Woodland Hills Sanitary District

June 2023 Minutes

 

Roll Call:  Attending the meeting were board members Garry Colasardo, Jared Nooney and Jim Stewart.  Also present were Lois Lund.  Garry called the meeting to order at 6:34pm.

 

Adoption of Agenda: The agenda was adopted with a 3-0 vote.

Secretary’s Report:  The minutes from May were approved with a 3-0 vote.

 

Income Report

May highlights:    

 

Water Report: A pressure transducer failed in May and caused the Lark Lane tanks to run dry.  Clearwater manually started the pump to fill the tanks and the transducer was replaced within 24 hours and normal operations were resumed.  The failed transducer was sending a reading of 35 feet (full tank level is 30 feet) even though the tank was empty.  The SCADA system was adjusted to sound an alarm if the Lark Lane tanks have a reading over 27 feet.  

 

Two water meters failed to provide remote reads and were replaced under warranty.

 

Water Loss

Statistics

Gallons

Pumped

Gallons

Sold

Loss

Rate

May 2023

468,241   

 413,500

11.7%

May 2022

407,396

 350,700

13.9%

May 2013

851,000

425,912

50%

May 2008

512,800

 361,857

29.4%

 

Road Report: A tax deposit of  $6,550.63  was received. 

 

Jared and Jim met with Mike Towey of Towey Design Group and asked his team to proceed with a study of the road system in Woodland Hills. 

 

June 16 update:  A resident asked about the cost and I realized I made no mention of the expense.  Towey Design will be conducting the survey at an hourly rate with a cap of about  $10,000.

 

 

Old Business:  Election notices were published in the Rapid City Journal.  The election date will be July 25.  There are two vacancies with Garry's term ending and Jim is filling out Bobby Sadler's term which also expires.

 

Garry said that Simon will be delivering gravel to the well-house road on Monday, June 11. 

 

New Business: The board discussed the proliferation of short-term rentals in Woodland Hills (essentially Air B&B) and could the water policy be used to somehow restrict their operation?  The water policy says the district will supply water for normal domestic household use.  Could a short-term rental be considered a commercial business and could we change the policy to stop water to a business? 

 

A South Dakota resident tried to use a community association’s declaration that only permitted property to be used for “residential purposes” .  After a resident began renting their property as a short-term rental another resident filed suit alleging that the short-term rentals unambiguously constituted a commercial purpose.  The trial court, court of appeals and the South Dakota Supreme Court all found that short-term rentals are considered a “residential purpose”.   Wilson v. Maynard, No. 29307.

 

The Meade County commission would have to pass a county-wide ordinance to prohibit short-term rentals but that would be highly unlikely because of the effect on people renting their homes for the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

 

Board member comments:  none

Resident comments:  none

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7pm.

 

The minutes are prepared by Jim Stewart, Secretary WHSD.