VILLAGE DISTRICT OF EIDELWEISS
Commissioners Meeting
Friday May 27, 2022
The Board of Commissioners met at 7:30am on Friday May 27, 2022.
In attendance for the public meeting are Commissioner Jay Buckley, Commissioner Mike Smith, Commissioner Ralph Lutjen, Alexis Wagoner-Administrator, Doug Prescott & Larry Leonard.
At 7:30 am Commissioner Ralph Lutjen calls the meeting to order
Public Meeting
Ralph Lutjen makes a motion to open the Commissioner’s meeting, Jay Buckley 2nds passes 3-0
Larry Leonard makes a motion to open the Water Committee meeting, Doug Prescott 2nds, passes 2-0
The AMP draft dated May 26, 2022 was reviewed, this draft reflects corrections that were made to eliminate inconsistencies in prior drafts.
Larry Leonard comments that a lot of people have reviewed and provided information to make this draft presentable.
Review of Table 6-1, Jay Buckley states that the formulas used to determine the risks were provided by DES.
Larry Leonard mentions that the mapping is much better now, the old mapping was missing a lot of piping and information.
Mike Smith wants to point out that the VDOE has to act as if we will not get any grant money and the VDOE will have to pay for these projects.
Discussion on grant money. Must plan grants accordingly and depending on which grants we receive (if any) that will determine which projects will be done.
A lot of improvements have been made to the initial draft and this draft is in a much better position realistically.
Discussion on bleeders. Bleeders are not a high priority since replacing them all would be an astronomical cost. If pipe is to be replaced and there is a bleeder there, then it will be addressed.
Discussion on Muddy Beach pump station. Ian recommended putting VFD’s at the Muddy Beach pump house to bypass the tank and pump directly up.
Discussion on Chocorua pump station and it being at the top of the priority list.
Discussion on VDOE capital assets, this was not provided to Horizons.
Discussion on poor record keeping in the past. Need to get better at documenting and updating the mapping.
Mike Smith states there are two things that need to be done. 1. The VDOE needs to improve record keeping and 2. The VDOE needs to hire an engineer to be consistent going forward and not going from one engineer to another. We are going to need to spend some money to get the recording keeping up to date.
Discussion on Aspen (top-down) on the priority list. This is for adding a new water line there.
Mike Smith mentions that band aids have been placed on all these projects, but we need an engineer to review the work and determine what work is to be done and the priority levels.
Discussion on the Asset Risk Matrix table which uses a consequence of failure to determine what category an item falls into.
Mike Smith suggests taking 2023 to establish an engineer and provide them with all the information they need regarding the system. Also increase the water bill to get a financial head start then in 2024 start projects that were determined in 2023. All parties agreed on this plan going forward.
Mike Smith mentions we will also need to determine in the future if we should do all work in house and purchase an excavator & dump truck or outsource the work.
Discussion on increasing the water bill rate. The average rate in the state is around $600 a year.
Discussion on a District engineer. Larry Leonard comments that Horizons has done a great job for this project. Alexis Wagoner States the RFPs were sent out and are due back on May 30th.
Doug Prescott has some comments: 1. This is a working document not something that is set in stone. 2. We need to schedule future meetings with all collective parties to contribute to record keeping and mapping. 3. There is an extension grant to this Asset Management Grant that we could go for and continue our work on the mapping.
Discussion on the leak detection grant. The grant would have the state come in and check for leaks and then pay for any leaks they detected no matching.
Discussion on providing the state with the invoices paid to Horizons and Simply Water to get the $20,000 match.
Going to set up a monthly meeting with the Commissioners and Water Committee so that everyone is on the same page.
Mike Smith brings up that we need to include the roads when considering projects.
Larry Leonard brings up the SCADA system and the need for Tom to be included as well in some of these meetings.
Doug Prescott suggests we do a quarterly meeting with the Commissioners, Water Committee, Simply Water, Tom, and the Engineer that District choses.
Discussion on mapping, need to include a line item in the AMP regarding getting funds to upgrade the mapping system.
Going to add the mapping line item and a line in section 7 regarding the ability to pay to the final draft.
Discussion on having an engineer for grant writing and an engineer for design. There is possibly an engineer that is better at grant writing and securing grants. Having 1 engineer would be preferred and the Asset Management to write the grant.
Ralph Lutjen makes a motion to adjourn at 9:06 am, Jay Buckley 2nds, passes 3-0
Larry Leonard makes a motion to adjourn at 9:06 am, Doug Prescott 2nds, passes 2-0
Ralph Lutjen makes a motion to open the meeting back up at 9:08 am, Jay Buckley 2nds, passes 3-0
Ralph Lutjen makes a motion to submit the information to the state including the billing of $40,000 and the proposal, Jay Buckley 2nds, passes 3-0
Ralph Lutjen makes a motion to adjourn at 9:09 am, Jay Buckley 2nds, passes 3-0
Respectfully submitted,
Alexis Wagoner, Administrator.