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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-07-15 WUCFD MINUTESWATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (APACHE JUNCTION WATER COMPANY) CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA REGULAR MEETING JULY 15,2002 The regular meeting of the District Board of the Water Utilities Community Facilities District (Apache Junction Water Company),City of Apache Junction,Arizona,was held on July 15,2002,at the Apache Junction City Council Chambers pursuant to the notice required by law. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Coleman called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Board Members Present:Chairperson Douglas Coleman Vice Chairperson Anne Surra Mr.Rick Dietz Mr.Joe Durbala Mr.R.E.Eck (arrived at 6:08 p.m.) Mr.Brian Milkey Ms.Carol Urich Staff Present:Kathleen Connelly,District Clerk Keith Lewis,District Treasurer Doug Dobson,District Operations Manager Brian Hall,District Water Superintendent John White,District Accountant Bill Farrell,District Counsel Others Present:Assistant to the City Manager Bryant Powell APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JULY 1,2002 )Ms.Urich MOVED THAT THE MINUTES OF JULY 1,2002,BE APPROVED. Mr.Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 1 of 10 VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. DISCUSSION ON PROPOSED DISTRICT BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 TO INCLUDE PROPOSED RATES,FEES AND CHARGES . APPLICABLE DURING .FISCAL YEAR 2002-2003 AND DISCUSSION ON DATE,TIME AND LOCATION FOR CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED FINAL BUDGET) )District Accountant John White - -briefed the board on the item.He outlined the growth in the district.The challenges the district has are to determine the availability of water supplies and the lost and unaccounted for water,groundwater recharge and the financial management of the district.They can utilize the Central Arizona Project allotment or add additional well capacity;the district hopes to do both:He updated the. status of the wheeling agreement between the district, the City of Mesa and Arizona Water Company.The construction of our own water treatment plant lies in the future.They are proposing an amount in the budget for the construction of one new well and for the purchase of land for at least one additional well site.;The.lost and unaccounted for:water has gotten worse,with 18':91 lost while the industry standard is 10%.They are proposing $9,800 for consultants to address the problem.He commented on the graphs provided that project the district revenues. _Mr.Dietz commented they bring up the Water loss every year,and,hey were supposed to be addressing the problem.This year they Are at 20.27%and he cannot understand what is happening'. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they are still in the process of improving the system,and they have not discOnnected the old system.They are still getting leaks in the old system.All the large meters over 2"have been tested this past year and a couple of those 6"and 8"meters were drastically underreading.It will make a big difference next year,and they are proposing to test those meters annually as they have recovered the cost of the testing service with one month of revenues from the repaired meters.They also need to read meters accurately,including the water they are selling.They have been paying more , Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 2 of 10 for the water than what they have been selling.Some of the water loss was not really water loss but accounting,bookkeeping and.meter reading. Mr.Dietz stated the unaccounted for water loss has been unacceptable to him. •District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they have not been losing i t into the ground.There is also the issue of per capita per day and not counting winter visitors. Ms.Urich asked if the money proposed for a leak detection survey will help solve the problem. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated he thinks it will make an effort towards a portion of it.They have to show the Department of Water Resources that they are doing something to curtail this.Most major leaks tend to surface and become visible;he does not believe there are that many hidden leaks.He wants to make sure they have the capacity to do the whole system if i t is needed. Ms.Urich asked if something else would be put into place after this. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated if they find that there is not the volume of leaks that they can go out and fix,then they have to be extremely accurate when they check or recheck a meter.He believes they are getting better,but they need to have experienced employees. Mr.Dietz asked about the reading adding a zero or dropping a zero and if a zero could just be added when they read the meters. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated different meters are read differently.Some have a decimal point, some have more than one dead zero.They have a standard,but two things affect it.Some people are not that good in math,and when they have a remote read,it only triggers every 100 or 1,000 gallons depending on the meter size. He has done a memo on how to read the meters and works with those employees having problems. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 3 of 10 Mr.Dietz asked when Royal Palm would be on the new line completely. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated i t is on the new line:they are having a problem disconnecting the old line because the majority of the valves in that area will not shut down. It is also an antiquated system and they have found lines in the ground that were not even on the map.They will put a "T"on lines in the new phase and put a rubber plug in the "T"to stop the water.They will then make connections to the new system.Some of the water loss may not be into the ground but into-connections they are not aware of as they are not on the maps. Mr.Dietz commented i t is pretty messed up.He thought they were just replacing and redoing everything new. Vice Chairperson Surra asked i f these lines.could possibly be connected to water theft or were they lines from the other company. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they are main lines from the other company.It would not surprise any of them that when the old system is drained and shut down that they may get people contacting them because they arenot getting any water.They have pushed the fire district to keep more accurate records on the water they flush,but i t is like pulling teeth.They have gone to a monthly reporting' system for the district instead of an annual one. Mr.Eck asked if they claim leaks as water loss. .District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they, cannot do that accOrding to the Third Management Plan.A leak is unaccounted for water. Mr.Eck commented they can estimate the water loss. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated not according to the Third Management Plan. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 4 of 10 Mr.Eck commented everyone else is doing that.That may be why their percentages are lower. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated that may be why they are different from other .valley cities. Mr.Eck commented he believes that is where a lot of that percentage is,including when a hydrant is left open. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they can estimate for open hydrants. Mr.Eck commented he believes other companies are being creative. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they will not be creative but will be fair in what they estimate. Mr.Eck asked who checks the well meters. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated those are tested annually with the large meters.Generally the meters read slow,but the turbo meters can over read.Some of the 'meters that work near the booster station are right off the discharge of the pump.They need to be a certain distance from the discharge to prevent weird readings. Once this is rebuilt,they can compare what is going out of the tanks with what is coming in.. Mr.Eck asked if the check valves on the large meters had been repaired.The meters have been accurate but the check valves have let the water through in the past.He believes they lose a lot of water there. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they would look at that. District Accountant John White commented about the increase in commercial sales amounting to $400.000.He attributes this to the increase in construction sales.He is projecting Water Utilities Co*unify Facilities District Meeting Minutes of JuW.5::..20Q2-• Page 5 ot 1U $1,155,000 for commercial sales for next year,which is similar to this year. The hookup.fee has been increased and it has created a healthy balance that has remained untouched.He would like to take $10,000 from that balance this year for capital projects. Mr.Eck asked what the monetary difference was in the increase. District Accountant John White stated i t is $136,000 based on the 5/8ths inch meters,with $131,000 from residential meters and $5,000 on the commercial meters. District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated several of the capital items are carried over from the current year,such as a pick-up truck;fire hydrants in existing areas and improving other areas,a new project to become ongoing Of contractual valve replacement, and the acquisition of two parcels,one for the proposed booster station and one for an additional well.The budget is balanced by taking $10,000 out of the capital facility fees fund.They are continuing to try to. expand the warehouse.They have earmarked $300,000 to finish the Royal Palm project. They still are including the drilling and spacing of a well and intend to finish the high pressure manifold on booster station number one.There will be capital obligations to make adjustments and modifications to the connection we now have for emergency connection with Arizona Water Company:inthe amount of $37.000 once the wheeling agreement is completed.This includes the balance of the design for the interconnect.They are proposing a .new project to replace the facility that burned down from the lightning strike at well #5. He briefed the board on the events occurring in the last 36 hours regarding • the facility.They are proposing to fund i t from two areas and make improvements over the Old facility,jncluding..a.dding. emergency power.The funding is proposed to come from the insurance.risk -poOl and from capital appreciation,the latter beinga replacement fund for capital'.They do not have any numbers as of yet,but are;Troposing $200,000-foh the project and that they can trim back before final budget.Theybelleve this is a balanced and reasonable budget.' Mr.Dietz asked for a status report on the purchase of a generator. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 6 of 10 District Water Superintendent Brian Hall stated they have the bid together but he wanted to make sure the budget would cover it.After what has happened,he would like to get two. There was discussion between Mr. Dietz and District Water Superintendent Brian Hall as to the cost and type of .the generators. District Operations Manager Doug Dobson stated he talked to Southwest Risk today and they will be down tomorrow to look at the site. There;wasgeneral discussion on the date of final budget adoption.It was suggested to adopt the budget at the first meeting in September. PROPOSED RESOLUTION NO.2002-001,A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA),PURSUANT TO A.R.S.§ 48-716 ADOPTING A PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1,2002 AND ENDING ON JUNE 30,2003;ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC HEARING AND DESIGNATING DATE,TIME AND LOCATION FOR PUBLIC HEARING FOR FINAL BUDGET ADOPTION )Chairperson Coleman opened the public hearing on the item.There being no one wishing to speak,he closed the public hearing and reopened the item to board discussion.There being no further discussion,he called for a motion. Vice Chairperson Surra MOVED THAT RESOLUTION NO.2002-001,A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA) PURSUANT TO A.R.S.§ 48-716 ADOPTING A PROPOSED BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1,2002 AND ENDING ON JUNE 30,2003;ESTABLISHING A PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED BUDGET;DIRECTING DISTRICT STAFF TO SOLICIT COMMENTS FROM THE CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION ON THE PROPOSED ANNUAL BUDGET;ADOPTING NEW RATES AND CHARGES AND RE -ADOPTING ALL EXISTING RATES AND CHARGES FOR THE Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 7 of 10 FISCAL YEAR,BE APPROVED WITH THE FOLLOWING AMENDMENTS:THAT WE ADD AN ADDITIONAL $200,000 FOR CAPITAL OUTLAY REBUILDING OF THE BURNED OUT WATER WELL SITE; AND THAT THE PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE FINAL BUDGET ADOPTION BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 3,2002,AT 6:00 P.M.IN THE CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS. Mr.Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. DISTRICT MANAGER REPORT Assistant to the City Manager Bryant Powell commended staff for their great job last night. Mr.Durbala commented he had talked to Judd Williams today who told him Brian Hall was the best person he has ever seen handle anything for the water district regarding a situation like they had last night.He stated he was professional,accurate,and went to any means necessary to get the water back up as fast as possible. DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT REPORT District Water Superintendent Brian Hall reported.that the repair of the Water reservoirs went very well on Saturday.The sediment level was not deep enough to hinder finding the hole and it was quickly repaired.He described the process used to repair the tank.He commented he and the mayor went to Washington,D.C.for a couple Of days and met with Arizona Congressional delegates to explain the expense associated with meeting the new arsenic levels.They also talked about grants and funding for other water infrastructure needs.Senator Kyl has staff up to speed on pertinent bills and they have asked our staff to submit to them any language changes on one of the bills.There is a.lot of support for this bill and i f i t stalls they will. write an amendment to another bill to get it passed.They felt positive about their efforts.He will attempt to keep in contact with everyone to keep the district's name in front of them.Williams and As'soc)ates attended four of the meetings with them and gave them some pointers on the others. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 8 of 10 DISTRICT TREASURER REPORT None. DISTRICT COUNSEL REPORT None. ADJOURNMENT meeting at 6:50 p.m. Chairperson Coleman adjourned the • ._, .•.,-, ACCEPTED THIS 5TH DAY OF AUGU.St',''2002,BY THE CHAIRPERSON AND DISTRICT BOARD OF THE WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (APACHE JUNCTION WATER COMPANY),CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION,ARIZONA. SIGNED AND ATTESTED TO THIS 5TH DAY OF AUGUST ATTEST: Kathleen Connelly District Clerk Douglas Colelan Chairperson Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 9 of 10 2002. WATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT MINUTES CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are a true and correct copy of the minutes of the regular meeting of the Water Utilities Community Facilities District of the City of .Apache Junction,Arizona,helarOn the 15th day of July,2002.r further certify that the meeting was duly calledand held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 17th day of July,2002. Kathleen Connelly District Clerk Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of July 15,2002 Page 10 of 10