PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT #13
Minutes of the October 15, 2008
Regular Session of the Board of Trustees

The Board of Directors of Public Water District #13, Jefferson County Missouri met in regular session at 7:20 p.m. on October 15, 2008 at the Lake Tishomingo Community Center, Hillsboro, Missouri.

Roll Call of Directors
The following Directors being present or absent as indicated:
	Name	Present/Absent
	Marilyn Meyer	Present
	Rich Hirsch	Present
	Rick Lippitt	Present
	John Hindrichs	Present
	Carol Kline 	Absent

Also in attendance was Janet Hirsch (JWH, LTPOA Board member) and Tim Robbs (District engineer).
Approval of Agenda
Motion was made by John Hindrichs and seconded by Rick Lippitt to accept the Agenda. On voice vote, all Directors were in favor of accepting the Agenda.

Approval of Minutes of Past Meetings
The Minutes of the September 17, 2008 regular session meeting were emailed to the Directors prior to the meeting.  Motion was made by John Hindrichs to approve the Minutes as written. Second was by Rick Lippitt. On voice vote, the Minutes were approved.
The Minutes of the September 17, 2008 executive session meeting were emailed to the Directors prior to the meeting.  Motion was made by John Hindrichs to approve the Minutes as written. Second was by Rick Lippitt. On voice vote, the Minutes were approved.
Treasurer’s Report
In Carol’s absence, Marilyn gave the report:
After paying the surveyor’s bill for $1100, the District is now in debt to the LTPOA for $5930.62.
Eagle Bank checking account balance is $1.00.

Old Business
The Board discussed going into closed session for the easement discussion and decided that the discussion should be public since we would primarily be discussing a public mailing. 
Marilyn read a letter from Joe Boland (MDNR) advising that the priority point method of ranking clean water projects has been revised. The Board agreed that we were fortunate to have been placed on the “fundable” list this year as the new priority point system would probably make it more difficult to get on the list next year.
Transfer of real property and easement rights from LTPOA to PWSD #13
Janet Hirsch reported that materials were turned over to the Lake’s attorney, Dennis Tesreau (DHT), to transfer from the LTPOA to PWSD #13 the real property for the WWTP and the rights to lay and maintain sewer pipe within the subdivision. Materials given to DHT on Oct 7, 2008 were:
•	"Survey of proposed treatment plant area" by Jefferson County Surveying Company
•	"Lake Tishomingo detail of property line" complete property line along north end of subdivision
•	"Lake Tishomingo detail of dam" close-up of proposed treatment plant area
•	"Lake Tishomingo detail of signatures" close-up of plat map text
•	"Lake Tishomingo" copy of original plat map of Lake Tishomingo
 
Electrical easement issues
At the September meeting the Board decided that District attorney Floyd Norrick’s (FN) draft of a user agreement (UA) was unnecessarily vague and complicated, given that the Board is primarily concerned about the electrical easement. The Board was very concerned that homeowners would not accept such a UA. Also, the Board did not believe that the UA needed to be as confrontational as it seemed to be. 

Since the October meeting, JWH did some research and came up with an alternative UA that essentially includes just a temporary easement for the electrical connection. In an email Donna Martin (USDA-RD) wrote “on past projects with similar systems and situations as your project, we still obtained a temporary easement, not a user agreement.” The draft of the temporary electrical easement is based on a temporary construction easement from the US Dept of Transportation Fed. Highway Admin. 

On Friday Oct 10 an email was sent to FN asking for his opinion on the draft of the temporary electrical easement. As of 1 p.m. Wednesday Oct 15, the Board had not received comment from FN.

After some discussion it was decided that a permanent electrical easement should be obtained rather than a temporary one. This was to allow for shutting off electrical power to the effluent pump in case repair was needed after some years of service. 

[Some of the discussion believed by RH to be worthy of including in the minutes follows.]
RH: If there is a need to permanently shut off sewer service to a house, will we put a padlock on the homeowner’s disconnect? 
JH: A padlock can easily be snipped off and so would not be enough.
TR: There will also be a curb valve that can be shut off.

TR: We should consider having the District responsible for all of the electrical cable and connections beyond the homeowner’s disconnecting box.

TR: You may want to specify a width (5 ft or so on either side of the line) along the electrical line that a homeowner can’t build over. This is so if the District needs to repair the electrical line, there won’t be a concrete patio or wall over the line. This should be spelled out in the easement document.
MM: Can’t we make this part of the specification for the electrical line that the homeowner will have to install? 
JH: If the wire is in a conduit it should not hurt to build over the electrical line.

JWH: The temporary easement has been sent to DHT and he has approved it on behalf of the Lake Tishomingo property owners. 

TR: The pump vendor we’re talking to now has his pump control box mounted on the wall of the house close to the homeowner’s disconnecting box. Otherwise, there will probably be a utility box in the yard.
TR: The control box is a gray box with a red light that comes on if the pump fails. It’s similar to a well pump control box.
TR: Some designs have the control box on the house, some are in the yard. 
JH: I would rather have it on the house. If the control box is in the yard it can be hit with a lawn mower. There is also a problem in planting next to the box and blocking access. 
JWH: I don’t believe that the current electrical easement document allows for mounting a box on the homeowner’s wall. I don’t think we can allow for all possibilities. 

TR: It’s better to have a single contractor in charge of pumping out the old septic tank and connecting the homeowner to the central sewer, because these two jobs have to be done on the same day. If the homeowner is given the job of pumping out his old septic tank, it will be difficult to schedule pumping on the same day as hookup to the new sewer system.

TR: Donna Martin (USDA-RD) said that the only temporary easement she sees is for connecting the sewer line from the house to our tank. 

JHW: Let’s now talk about the cover letter. The cover letter explains the sewer system and the serious consequences of not signing and returning the electrical easement document. 

[JWH read the current draft of the cover letter. Changes were suggested.]

TR: We will need help in locating the septic tanks and where the main sewer pipe comes out of the house. We will deliver survey stakes. It would be helpful to have someone from Lake Tishomingo help mark these locations.

TR gave us his tentative schedule:
08/29/08	Facility plan completed
08/29/08	Construction permit application submitted
10/20/08	Surveyors begin determining placement of sewer lines                
12/01/08	Electrical easement due date
03/01/09	Sewer main and lateral lines collection plan complete
05/01/09	Submit project to bid
08/01/09	Equipment & electrical specs available from winning bidders
08/01/09	Begin construction of waste water treatment plant
02/01/10	Electrical circuit installed by homeowner
08/01/10	Start to connect homes to WWTP

MM: I was under the impression that USDA-RD requires us to have a hearing sometime soon.
JWH: MDNR requires us to hold two hearings, a user fee hearing and a facility plan hearing. I believe these hearings are required to be held before 90% construction is complete.
JWH: Going through the USDA-RD checklist, I could not find any requirement for hearings.
RH: I will email Donna and ask if USDA-RD requires any hearings.

TR: In terms of who is responsible for what, the District is usually responsible for the holding tank, effluent pump, and all equipment beyond the tank including the WWTP. The homeowner is responsible for the sewer lines inside the house and the pipe between the house and the holding tank. 

TR: In terms of the electrical lines, the District is responsible for the electrical connection between the disconnect box and the effluent pump, while the homeowner is responsible for the electrical circuit and the disconnect box that he installs.

[JWH read the current draft of the brochure. Changes were suggested.]

New Business
There was no new business

Attorney’s Report
There was no attorney’s report
Engineer’s Report
There was no engineer’s report

Adjournment
There being no other formal business to come before the Board, a motion to adjourn was made by John Hindrichs and seconded by Rick Lippitt at 8:55 P.M., with all Directors in approval.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rich Hirsch
Recording Secretary

Approved this 18th day of November 2008.

___________________________	_________________________________
Secretary	Chairman
November 3, 2008