PSWID Regular Meeting Minutes – 2024-07-25

by | Jul 27, 2024 | Regular Meeting Minutes

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PINE-STRAWBERRY WATER IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

Regular Meeting

Thursday July 25, 2024, at 4:00 p.m.

PSWID Administrative Office

6306 W Hardscrabble Rd.

Pine, AZ 85544

  • 1. CALL TO ORDER
    Cory Ellsworth called the meeting to order at 4:00p.m.
  • 2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
    Conducted by Cory Ellsworth
  • 3. PRAYER
    Offered by Cory Ellsworth. 
  • 4. ROLL CALL OF BOARD MEMBERS
    Conducted by Cory Ellsworth:  Board members present: Sharon Hillman, Cory Ellsworth, Victor Tayao, and Larry Bagshaw. George Gorkowski, Roger Childers, and Brent Pruett were present via Go to Meeting.  A quorum was present. Paul Hendricks, EUSI, and Steve Bowen, operations manager, and Kristi Allen, accountant, were also present. Steve Wene, the district’s attorney, was present via Go to Meeting.
  • 5. CALL FOR MOTION TO APPROVE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING MEETING(S):
    July 27, 2024 – Public Hearing/Regular Meeting. Sharon Hillman moved the minutes be approved. Victor Tayao seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
  • 6. REPORTS TO THE BOARD
    • a. WIFA/EUSI Program Manager’s Report– As posted to the website.
    • b. Field Operations Report – As posted to the website
    • c. Treasurer’s Report – As posted to the website.
    • d. Secretary’s report – None.
    • e. Vice Chairman’s report – None. George Gorkowski will work on a report that will be posted to the website in a couple of weeks.
    • f. District Attorney’s Report –Steve Wene reported that things had been quiet. He did say that in the Gila River Adjudication case, that the district should file and register our wells and claims for the record, so no one could lay claim to them in the future. The district is working on getting the information together so he can file it.
  • 7. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC – David Diggs, one of the lawsuit plaintiffs said that the district wasted money on the deep well and that we should have gotten community input before drilling it. He also blasted the lawyer for profiting from the lawsuit. The lawyer responded that the district did try to get community input and that he resented being targeted like this. 
  • 8. BUSINESS Discussion and possible action regarding the following items:
    • I. WIFA WATER CONSERVATION GRANT AGREEMENT. Sharon Hillman. The grant in the amount of $1,575,675 has been awarded and the agreement was signed on May 22, 2024. As with State and Federal funding, there are a lot of requirements however, unlike any of the district’s loans and grants, the district will need to pay for the engineering and construction work as completed and submit for reimbursement. The request must be submitted through the grant website for approval by the grant coordinator, approved by the finance committee, and on to the Governor’s office for approval to be paid. The process currently can take up to 3 months to receive the funds electronically, if there are no issues with the request. Therefore, the district will need to use operations funds to pay for the work completed to date. The Pine Cove area is the water line replacement project for these funds.  The district’s match to the grant is $525,225 and was previously approved and the funds are earmarked in the capital project budget. The process was not known at the time of the application for the funds. Paul Hendricks did offer some insight into this. These funds are part of the infrastructure funds awarded to the state, and the process is new to them also and they are just getting staffed, and the kinks worked out. He hopes that by the time we need to start requesting reimbursement that things will go quicker.  After a brief discussion, it was decided that we needed to do this project to replace the current black lines with new ones. Victor Tayao moved that the district is authorized to use operation funds to complete the Pine Cove project, while waiting reimbursement from the state. Cory Ellsworth seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
    • II. FEES FOR PUBLIC RECORD REQUESTS WHICH REQUIRE LEGAL REVIEW. Kristi Allen. Kristi came up with estimates for publicly requested documents for both requests that do and do not require legal review.  The board took them into consideration and needed to determine which costs factored in cannot legally be passed on. Sharon Hillman moved to table this until next month. Larry Bagshaw seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. 
    • III. AUTHORIZE A STUDY FOR A 5-TO-10-YEAR PROJECTION OF WATER DEMAND BASED ON BUILD OUT OF AVAILABLE REAL ESTATE IN THE DISTRICT, INCLUDING COMMERCIAL VS RESIDENTIAL METERS ACCORDING TO DISTRICT POLICY. Sharon Hillman. There is an updated (June 2024) water model study from our engineers that should help with this. It will be worked on during the weekly engineering meetings to tie in with and update the 2014 Master Plan. 
    • IV. CHANGING THE DATES OF THE AUGUST MEETING TO AUGUST 29 DUE TO THE AUDIT, AND THE NOVEMBER MEETING TO THE FIRST THURSDAY IN DECEMBER SINCE THE NOVEMBER MEETING ALWAYS FALLS ON THANKSGIVING DAY. Sharon Hillman. The office staff will be too busy the week of August 22, the date of the regular meeting, to be able to both assist in the annual audit and do the month end reporting, so it is requested that the meeting be moved to August 29. Also, the November meeting almost always falls on Thanksgiving Day, so that meeting needs to be moved to the following week.  Sharon Hillman moved that the August meeting date be moved to August 29 and the November meeting be moved to the first Thursday in December. Larry Bagshaw seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
  • 9. IDENTIFY POTENTIAL AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE NEXT SCHEDULED BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING ON AUGUST 29, 2024.
    • I. Water model study.
    • II. Public Record Request fees.
  • 10. MOTION TO ADJOURN OPEN SESSION. Sharon Hillman moved the open session to be adjourned. Victor Tayao seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.