Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-06-02 WUCFD MINUTESWATER UTILITIES COMMUNITY FACILITIES DISTRICT (APACHE JUNCTION WATER COMPANY) CITY OF APACHE JUNCTION, ARIZONA REGULAR MEETING JUNE 2, 2009 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 June 2, 2009, at the Apache Junction City Council Chambers pursuant to the notice required by law. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Insalaco called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Board Members Present:Chairperson Insalaco Vice Chairperson Eck Mrs. Robin Barker Mr. Douglas Coleman Mr. Rick Dietz Mr. Jeff Serdy Mr. Chip Wilson Staff Present:George Hoffman, District Manager Kathleen Connelly, District Clerk Frank Blanco, Water District Director David Fern, Utility Director Donna Meinerts, District Treasurer John White, District Finance Manager Kay Bigelow, District Counsel Others Present:Bryant Powell, Assistant City Manager Hazel Randall, District Admin. Asst. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 5, 2009 ) )Chairperson Insalaco called for a motion. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 1 of 8 Mr. Dietz MOVED THAT THE MINUTES OF MAY 5, 2009, BE APPROVED. Mrs. Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. Chairperson Insalaco stated they would move the executive session to the end of the meeting. CONSTRUCTION AGREEMENT WITH WEBER GROUP FOR PUMPING EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT AT WELL #6 )District Counsel Kay Bigelow briefed the board on the item. Chairperson Insalaco opened the item to council discussion.There being no discussion, he called for a motion. Mrs. Barker MOVED THAT THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RATIFY CHAIRMAN INSALACO'S EXECUTION OF A CONTRACT WITH WEBER GROUP L.C. FOR THE EMERGENCY PROCUREMENT OF NEW COLUMN PIPE AND OTHER ATTENDANT EQUIPMENT AND SERVICES FOR THE DISTRICT'S WELL #6 IN THE AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $72,318.25 PLUS ANY APPLICABLE TRANSACTION PRIVILEGE TAX (SALES TAX). Mr. Dietz SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. DISTRICT MANAGER REPORT None. DISTRICT DIRECTOR REPORT Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 2 of 8 Water District Director Frank Blanco stated the connection was made with the City of Mesa the Saturday before Memorial Day weekend.They are progressing easterly.They have been busy in terms of underground utilities.The Well #6 intercolumn pipe which transports water from beneath the ground to the discharge head needed to be replaced.The holes had been impairing the ability to move water into the system.The water had been filtered once it went through the column pipe.Security camera improvements have been completed at Booster #1 and are online. They are working on refining the motion detectors.This was paid for by the Homeland Security grant; the district has not paid any money on this project to date.The next phase will be barrier improvements to raise the fence to about an 8' height. District Counsel Kay Bigelow stated they do not need to follow the zoning laws as they are acting in a governmental function as the water district.It is providing infrastructure for the water district.The city normally has a fence height limitation; as this is a governmental function, it does not have to be adhered to. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated the fence being modified is on the 16th Avenue frontage and the Buena Vista frontage.It does not affect the RV park fence.The initial quote is under $25,000.They will use either a procurement contract or award it to one of the 3 lowest bidders without doing any formal advertising.Their deadline to encumber the funds is the end of September. Mrs. Barker asked who recommends the pickets sticking up from the top of the fence. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated the terrorism liaison officer.He works for the City of Mesa but is available for the Homeland Security projects to offer advice. Mrs. Barker asked if this is answering the Homeland Security needs. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated that is correct. There is a bid opening for bulk chemicals.The cost in 2008 was over $104,000 total.The costs have gone up due to fuel and transportation.There is a high demand for these chemicals as Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 3 of 8 other valley municipalities also use them.They have recovered long term storage credits through effluent recharge from the sewer district and by Central Arizona Project water that was recharged through New Magma and Roosevelt water conservation. They can be recovered for assured water supply and for fulfilling the replenishment obligations for Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District; this case was for replenishment obligations.In 1995 the Arizona Department of Water Resources set up a groundwater allowance for all municipal providers, based on 7.5 times the volume of water provided then, similar to home rule. Mrs. Barker commented no matter how much the city grows, the base will remain at 1994. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated that is correct.At that time, the allowance was 7,364 acre feet.They can use all the water in a short period of time, or if they have renewable resources such as Central Arizona Project water or other surface water rights, they can stretch it out and not •use all groundwater.We are a groundwater system; they have essentially gone from the 7,364 acre feet down to 453 acre feet in 2007. Mrs. Barker asked what that means to the district. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated if they go in the negative, they would not be able to build any additional homes or serve any additional areas.It is a serious situation.The recovery of the amount of water that was pumped is the solution for that.In addition, the surface water that they get from Central Arizona Project in the future will accommodate the district being able to grow and keep its assured water supply. It will be surface water instead of groundwater.The balance will increase over a period of time, but at a very slow rate of 4% due to incidental recharge.The solution this year was to recover 1,200 acre feet of long term storage credits, leaving a balance of 24,386 acre feet.It keeps us in compliance with the regulations for Arizona Department of Water Resources. Assistant City Manager Bryant Powell asked if they would still be drawing from that credit balance when they begin to utilize the Central Arizona Project allocation for the first time. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 4 of 8 Water District Director Frank Blanco stated that is correct. The 1,200 acre feet they recovered is also equal to the 1,200 acre feet that we have gained from the effluent recharge.As they get away from using groundwater, the credit balance will increase as they will no longer have to recover our long term storage credits.The storage credits are currently a resource, something they need to be using not only in 2007 but also in the 2008 and 2009 reports.In 2010, when they start using the surface water, they will no longer be using the long term storage credits and they will build up.The groundwater balance will also increase. Mr. Dietz asked if they will want to continue to recover the recharges when they grow to the south and have to look at wells south of the city. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated that is correct. When the developer comes to the table with water, they need to look seriously at policy decisions in surface water or renewable resources in effluent recharge, recovery or gray water use. Mr. Dietz commented the more they recover, the more they increase the credit balance and the better off we will be. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated they will want to increase the credit balance and recover what they need to. Vice Chairperson Eck asked if he had ever talked to the City of Chandler about their recovery program.He knows they do a lot of recovery; they have perk layer irrigation all over.He wondered how it works for them.He knows other communities do not do it enough as they are already established.It is hard for them to get established.They also do good things in Payson in conservation. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated the advantage Chandler has is that they are part of the Salt River Project District.They have surface water rights from Salt River Project and the Central Arizona Project.The recovery that they do is not as necessary as it is for us.There is also a financial impact on recovering credits.There is a cost avoidance in this case.The Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District tax would have been in the neighborhood Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 5 of 8 of $274,000.The Arizona Department of Water Resources groundwater use tax would have been about $3,600 for the amount of water that was pumped last year.The Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District obligation was reduced down to $22,000 by doing this, giving us a savings of about $248,000. They are working on getting a preliminary budget to Mr. Powell sometime next week.The cost to produce 1,000 gallons of water, including chemicals, electricity, wheeling charges and reserve capacity paid to Mesa, was $0.96 in 2007, $1.10 in 2008 and is at $1.13 for the first quarter in 2009.It is about a 3% increase to produce the water. Mr. Dietz commented they should see that drop tremendously once we get our station, interconnect and everything else up and running.The wheeling cost with Arizona Water and the City of Mesa is outrageous. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated that is correct. The wheeling cost with Arizona Water will go away.He is working on an analysis with finance to see what the impact will be with the additional cost from Mesa. Vice Chairperson Eck commented he believed he had already asked him for an estimate on what the cost is today as to what it will be a year from now when they are tied in and getting the Central Arizona Project water.There will be no more wheeling agreement or $3.00 for 1,000 gallons with the tier rate through Arizona Water. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated he will be working with finance with all the other factors that will come into play when they start using the Central Arizona Project water, including its cost, the cost for Mesa to treat it, the cost for reserve capacity and the electrical costs of the pump station. They are working on it, but they do not have an answer yet. Vice Chairperson Eck commented they gave us a wonderful price originally years ago on the treated water, but he is sure that has since changed.He believed it was only twenty -some cents per 1,000 gallons then. Water District Director Frank Blanco stated they are paying $250 per acre foot of water.He will confirm that for him. Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 6 of 8 DISTRICT TREASURER REPORT None. DISTRICT LEGAL COUNSEL REPORT None. MOTION FOR EXECUTIVE SESSION called for a motion. ) )Chairperson Insalaco Mr. Dietz MOVED THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION BE HELD AT 6:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009, IN THE CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSULTATION FOR LEGAL ADVICE WITH THE DISTRICT'S ATTORNEY IN ACCORDANCE WITH A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(3) AND (4) AS FURTHER OUTLINED ON THIS AGENDA. Mrs. Barker SECONDED THE MOTION. VOTE:Unanimous. The motion carried. ADJOURNMENT ) ) Chairperson Insalaco adjourned the meeting at 6:21 p.m. ACCEPTED THIS16TH DAY OF JUNE , 2009, 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 16TH DAY OF JUNE 2009. S. Insalaco airperson Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 7 of 8 ATTEST: Kathleen Connelly District Clerk 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, held on the 2nd day of June, 2009.I further certify that the meeting was duly called and held and that a quorum was present. Dated this 4th day of June, 2009. Kathleen Connelly District Clerk Water Utilities Community Facilities District Meeting Minutes of June 2, 2009 Page 8 of 8