MANAGER'S REPORT
02/10/2021
Budget Position Report
Operational income for January was $64,964.01. Operational expenses were $47,372.51. We took in $17,591.50 more than we spent.
There were no capital expenditures in January.
In the Reconciled Budget Position Report it shows a Fund Deficit of $17.60. That is because in my first trip through all the numbers I came up with a slightly different expense number, which is the number I used to transfer funds to the Major Repair Reserve. I ran out of time to re-calculate everything to show a $0.00 Excess/(Deficit). Which is my target. I want to transfer as much as possible into the Major Repair Fund.
We made interfund transfers from the 401 (Regular Maintenance) Fund totaling $17,172.03: $4,200 to 404 (payment to USDA) Fund; $4,771 to the 403 (Capital Asset Replacement) Fund; and $8,201.03 to the 405 Major Repair Fund.
Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurer’s Report is now in balance. Support at Bias helped me track that one down.
Fund Balances To Date:
Regular Maintenance $ 63,955
Capital Replacement $ 62,022
Major Repair Reserve $265,330
General Facilities $144,916
Total Funds Available $536,223
An increase of $17,820 over last month. General Facilities is almost back to where it was 10 years ago. Major Repair Reserve is way too low for any kind of comfort. The Capital Replacement Fund is right on plan.
Do not be alarmed by the negative balance in the 601 Revenue Clearing Fund. That balance reflects various timing issues. We are not overdrawn at the bank. See Cash Accounts #1 and #11 on page 2.
Copier
This is the year in which the Asset Management Program plans the replacement of the copier. Since the current copier has some shortcomings I will move forward in accordance with the plan.
I intend to use our historical approach, which is to purchase a lease return at a steeply discounted price from new.
This is a planned asset replacement and will be funded from the Capital Replacement Fund.
3810 Aberdeen Lake Road
We have received a request for an appeal for a past due water bill. The customer is (redacted)
(Redacted) inherited the property from (Redacted). Prior to the official inheritance the house was occupied by (Redacted)’s sister, who ran up a large water bill. She then skipped out leaving no forwarding address.
Normally, past due water bills would be taken care of in the escrow process. Since the change in ownership occurred as an inheritance, that did not happen.
(Redacted) is requesting that an exception be made to district policy and that he be relieved of owing water bills incurred prior to his acquiring the property.
I have a suggestion regarding an approach we might consider.
State Auditor
The audit is over. They will set up an exit interview soon. Probably the first week in March. The estimated bill is $7,100.
Procurement Manual
It is apparent that our Procurement Manual is way past due for updating and editing. The current manual is not well suited to this district and has not been formally adopted by the commissioners.
I will go to work on that project in the course of this year.
Reynvaan Extension
We have one item left over from the last Sanitary Survey. The Department of Health will expect that all items identified by the previous survey will be addressed prior to the next one. Due to the COVID-19 shut down we are past due for our next survey.
To refresh memories, there are several properties down hill from the Reynvaan Booster Station that have low pressure. DOH is requiring that we alleviate that situation. The most effective means of doing so is to come off the uphill water main downstream from the booster station and run a separate water main south on Reynvaan Drive to serve the low-pressure properties.
Because the water main in this area doubles as the transmission line to the Reynvaan Reservoir it is not possible to simply loop to the main from upstream of the booster station.
This is a project on which we must get moving. I am proposing to use Jerome Morrisette & Associates for the engineering and will contact them shortly.
I plan to fund the engineering from the General Maintenance Fund. I am not sure yet what fund to tap for the actual construction. I am anxious to see how the budget performs as the year progresses.
Water Rights
NWS has requested some basic information to get the ball rolling. I have not been able to gather and send the information due to the audit.
I am funding this project from the General Maintenance Fund.
Payroll Report
No surprises. We will always have some overtime. There are tasks that have to be accomplished after hours, and there are always emergency responses.
Pandemic
The new parameters have no impact on our operations. The office is still closed to the public.
The exception being requiring deposits for service. We are not allowed to do that.
Isolation Valves
No progress in January.
Past Due Account
There is a seriously past due account. The most recent owner has not paid a bill since move-in. He has passed us an NSF check.
Should we place a lien on the property?
Damaged Fire Hydrant
Hydrant #115 on Grange Road was hit by a car. This time we have an accident report. If we can get a copy. I failed. The catch is that the accident is still under investigation. Apparently it is a Records Management Act requirement that information not be released until investigations are complete.
Our recourse is to periodically contact the Sheriff’s office and inquire about the status of the investigation.
The replacement will be funded by the at-fault driver’s insurance, if they have any. My concern is that the longer we are prevented from filing a claim (we don’t know who the driver is) the more difficult it will be to recover our costs.
Well #5 Source Meter
American Pump has provided a detailed estimate. Their previous estimate was a ballpark. For the new one American Pump did a bit more research. $8,903.94. This is a deferred item that is way past due.
This is not an item that is included in the Asset Management Plan as it was due for replacement before the plan was implemented. My current plan is to fund it from Regular Maintenance Fund.
North Bank Reservoir
We should have had the roof stripped and re-sealed this past Summer. With the main replacement and the well pump there were just too many other things going on.
This needs to be done.
I have started the process of getting this scheduled for Summer.
This kind of got buried in the end of the year activities and the audit.
I plan to fund this from the General Maintenance Fund.
Ashley & Kayla
The water main in this area is 6” AC, which appears to be in serviceable condition. We will be working on replacement of the nylon service lateral fittings into the Summer schedule. I am sure there are leaks there that have not yet surfaced. We should be able to do all this work in-house.
The service lateral piping is good quality HDPE, so just the fittings need to be replaced.
I am proposing that we fund this project from the General Maintenance Fund.
Hydrant Maintenance
No hydrant flushing got done in January. We are still behind in tagging and painting. See “Maintenance Activity” below.
Rate Study
I was not able to find the time to update the rate study. I should have it in better shape for the March meeting.
Shop Fence
No progress on this project yet. This will take some discussions with the fire district as the 50-foot strip of fire district-owned property to the west presents some challenges as to where the fence should be located.
I will need more information before I can propose a funding source.
New Regulations
Modifications to the Water Use Efficiency rule require us to take monthly static and drawdown level tests of the wells.
This is not a major task, taking a couple of hours twice a month (two wells). But it is another mandated task added to all the previous ones.
Personnel
No news.
Maintenance Activity:
I did not get in a Manager’s Tour this month. For the rest, see the attached report.
Roads
We have two access roads that are ongoing headaches. The North Bank Reservoir access road and the Clemons Reservoir access road are both steep and, when maintained, gravel. They are constant maintenance problems. Every time we drive up there we end up digging holes in the gravel. The recent heavy rains have really made these roads a mess. At North Bank a considerable amount of gravel got washed down into a neighbor’s yard.
I don’t know when yet, but we really need to consider paving those roads. It obviously won’t be until Lakeside opens up in the Spring. It needs to be done. I can easily visualize a number of scenarios in which we need to get equipment to a reservoir and are barred from doing so by the condition of the access roads.
I propose to fund this project from the Major Repair Reserve. I am painfully aware that the Major Repair Reserve is way lower than it needs to be. But the money needs to come from somewhere and I think this project will cost too much to be funded from the General Maintenance Fund.
Contractor Repairs/Assistance
Replace Fire Hydrant #115 on Grange Road. Hit by a car, again.
Tank Cleaning
We have received the estimate. $9,095.00. No date yet. I haven’t signed the proposal yet.
I plan to fund this project from General Maintenance.
Shop Organization
We may need to retain some temporary help to get the inventory done preparatory to surplusing all those old ductile iron fittings, and other items that are of little to no use. The district’s field techs are simply too busy on tasks more related to serving our customers to have the time to go through all the old parts.
I am reasonably positive that the value of the items we would want to surplus exceeds the $2,500 amount requiring commissioners’ approval.
As a side issue, we also have a collection of obsolete computers that need disposal.
I really, really, want to get this done and get all those old, and generally useless, fittings gone. I am sure that the disorganization in the shop is costing the district money. The key to organizing the shop is getting rid of all the bits and pieces for which we have no need.
And there is the requirement within the Asset Management rules that there be an inventory control system. Though we have developed some of the pieces for such a system, the physical aspects cannot be planned or implemented until the shop is organized.
Training/Certifications
Mick does not yet have the exam scheduled. I keep nagging.
No action yet on setting up for webinars and online training. But I have to do something soon so that we can all keep up with our CEU’s. Though I can do some training with my laptop computer.
Kenny has satisfied his CEU requirements to the end of 2021. I still need to collect a few units.
Safety
We have a mini safety meeting every morning.
Vehicles
Service Truck: The driver’s seat is beginning to wear out. We will need to have this seat re-covered. No action yet.
Pickup Truck 1: No Issues
Pickup Truck 2: No issues
Backhoe: No issues.
Web Site
The January Manager’s Report has been posted.
In ramping up for the upcoming audit, the State auditor’s office liked our website. But they would like to see commissioners meetings minutes posted. That is easy to do.
I will work that task into my schedule soon. I will start by posting January 2021 forward. I don’t think I have the time to post prior minutes. But we shall see.
New Connections
The new connection at 106 Mason Lane will be complete by the time you read this. We were originally going to come off the highway for this one, but the private road is created by an access only easement. No provision for utilities. So we are bringing it off of North Bank Road.
It has been an adventure. The water main is not where we thought it was. It turns out it is below the ditch with inadequate cover and almost no cover at the north end of the ditch. We spent almost a full day finding the water main and investigating tap locations, since tapping in a flowing ditch is not advisable.
I have advised the County road department regarding the location of that water main. Aggressive ditch cleaning would almost certainly damage that water main. It serves as the primary transmission line to the North Bank reservoir.
It may be possible to re-contour the ditch at the north end to some extent. But we need permission from the county to do that. I will be in discussions with the county on that subject soon.
Another concern arising from this project is that I noticed that the discharge for North Bank reservoir, which empties into this ditch, is flowing. That is a long pipe and my guess is that the pipe has deteriorated somewhere along the line and ground water is infiltrating the pipe. That is not a big problem and indications are that is the case.
However, it is also possible that the shut off valve up at the reservoir is failing. We will be investigating that possibility in the weeks ahead. We can’t do much during these rainy periods.
Fire Station
I have been contacted by the dirt contractor. He will be leveling out our well site, in accordance with our handshake agreement, very soon.
Spoils Site
In almost all the excavation work that we do, the native soils are not suitable for backfill and must be disposed. The spoils are rarely of a nature useful for fill that would support buildings or traffic.
Our first spoils site (at least since I have been involved) was the shop site. There has been no room for spoils there for a long time.
We have been using the well site. Most of which is low and subject to flooding, so some fill is definitely in order. The spoils work great in that situation since we do not drive on most of the well site.
But that site is almost full. We will be better able to evaluate how full once the existing spoils have been leveled (see above).
I don’t know where we go from here.
We own eight acres on Central Park Drive west of the Country Club between CPD and the railroad. But that area is wet and, I am pretty sure, would classify as wet lands. I doubt we could get a permit to deposit spoils there.
Though we own a couple of other properties, neither of those are suitable spoils sites. One is small and definitely wetland, the other is on a wooded hill side with no practical access.
I will be working my contacts in an effort to find a convenient and affordable location for excavation spoils.
Capital Asset Management
Everything is proceeding according to the plan. See the comments on the copier.
Disaster Management Planning
No progress in January.
Procurement Policy Manual
Ours is in need of serious editing. I will get on that soon.
Isolation Valve Exercise Program
On hold
Shop Insulation
On hold until the “Stay-at-Home” order is lifted. It is still a priority, as effective insulation helps keep interior moisture down, but we determined it does not contain asbestos. So I am dragging my feet a bit on this one.
Long Distance Service Laterals
No new thoughts or events.
The service connection at 106 Mason Lane presented an opportunity for a long service lateral. We opted, instead, to run a small (1-1/2”) main extension east along North Bank Road with the service connection at the property corner.
I generally do not favor small diameter main extensions. In this case all the other properties in the area are already served by the district with little likelihood that there would be cause to install a larger diameter water main.
It would be beneficial to install a 6” main east along North Bank Road, but that would be for the benefit of the district with no real benefit to any of the property owners. The district does not have the funds available for that project.
Respectfully Submitted:
Reg Hearn
General Manager