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SSLGC 04-19-2007 MINUTES OF THE SCHERTZ SEGUIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORPORATION THE STATE OF TEXAS ~ COUNTY OF GUADALUPE ~ SCHERTZ SEGUIN LOCAL ~ GOVERNMENT CORPORATION ~ On this the 19th day of April, 2007, the Schertz Seguin Local Government Corporation convened at 1:40 p.m. in the City of Seguin Council Chambers located at 210 E. Gonzales, Seguin, Texas. The following members being present and in attendance: Members Present Robin Dwyer Ramon Cook Jim Wolverton Sydney Bauer Ken Greenwald Hal Baldwin Members Absent Betty Ann Matthies Also in Attendance Alan Cockerell Don Taylor Doug Faseler John Bierschwale Patrick Lindner Troilo) Crockett Camp Bill Klemt John Winkler President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Director Ex-Officio Ex -Officio General Manager Schertz City Manager Seguin City Manager Schertz Assistant City Manager Legal Counsel (Davidson & Consultant Hydrologist Consultant Consultant (Bury&Partners) Constituting a maJonty of the persons appointed to the Board and a quorum for the transaction of business, and notice of such meeting having been duly given in accordance with the provisions of Texas Law. The first order of business was the callin2: of the meetin2: to order. President Dwyer called the meeting to order at 1 :40 p.m. The second order of business was public comment. No one addressed the Board during public comment. The third order of business was approval of the minutes for the Board Meetin2: held on March 15.2007. President Dwyer requested the following correction be made to the minutes: Page 3, Line 1 - Change "......discussion included pumping restrictions, well mediation......" to "..... .discussion included pumping restrictions, well mitigation..... .." Contingent on the correction, Vice-President Cook made a motion to approve the minutes. Treasurer Bauer seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion carried by unanimous decision of those board members present at the March 15, 2007 Board Meeting. President Dwyer abstained as he was not present at the March 15th meeting. The fourth order of business was presentation of the General Mana2:er's Report - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er. A copy of Mr. Cockerell's report was included in the board agenda packet. He reminded the Board that he had changed the format of his Manager's Report. His written report has additional items added to it which correspond to agenda items. Highlights of the report include the following: a. Combined City Staff Meeting Both city managers met prior to the April 19th board meeting. They will continue to meet before each board meeting in order to discuss business and establish future direction of the Corporation. Information gained from these meetings will also help to determine agenda items for respective board meetings. b. Water Production and Sales A small table was included in the report to show monthly and year-to-date sales of the Corporation. Colored graphs are also included to show sales for the past couple of years and seasonal production. Seasonal production is as expected for this time of year. c. Regional Water Alliance Meeting, March 29, 2007 General Manager Cockerell attended the RW A meeting March 29, 2007. An Executive Committee Meeting was held April 18, 2007, to discuss SAWS' request to join the organization and to make changes to the Interlocal Agreement which had already been adopted by 19 members. The RWA determined that no changes would be made. None of the changes SAWS recommended had any substance. The Alliance does plan to provide clarification of some of the items in the Agreement. The next scheduled meeting of the RW A is scheduled for April 26, 2007, at SARA. Mr. Cockerell plans to attend and provide the Board with any updates. d. Gonzales County -GCUWCD Meeting, April 10, 2007 Mr. Cockerell attended the GCUWCD meeting on April 10, 2007. A copy of the agenda was included in the board agenda packet. Normal business was conducted at the meeting. -Contested Case Hearing Status Mr. Cockerell read an email which was sent to him from Jim Matthews regarding the SAWS' contested case process. Mr. Matthews had received a report from the District on April 16, 2007. He was in the process of working on a response regarding information pertaining to model inputs which would be useful to other parties who would want to do their own modeling. He had spoken to Judge Hart who said he would be agreeable to serving as the mediator for the case. He plans to schedule a conference call between counsel and all parties to fmalize plans and schedule for mediation. 2 e. GCGCD Meeting, April 12, 2007 Mr. Cockerell attended the GCGCD Meeting on April 12, 2007. A copy of the agenda was included in the board agenda packet. Normal business was conducted at the meeting. A memo was also provided in the board agenda packet regarding possible conflicts of interest with board members of the District. Board members were concerned with the situation and provided a memo before the meeting as a part of public information. Three specific situations were addressed in the memo: 1) a general manager of a WSC who conducts business with the District also serves as a board member of the District, 2) a property owner within the District also serves as a board member of the District, and 3) an appointed board member of another political subdivision who conducts business with the District also serves as a board member of the District. The GCGCD Board went into Executive Session to discuss the issue. No action was taken as a result of Executive Session. The impact of this topic on SSLGC is that Hilmar Blumberg is a board member of the District and he owns property in Guadalupe County where SSLGC plans to request drilling permits and drill wells. Mr. Blumberg will have to abstain from voting when the Corporation makes permit requests from the District. Mr. Cockerell asked Counsel Pat Linder to provide clarification of the "conflict of interest" issue addressed in the memo. Mr. Lindner advised the Board that the issue of "conflict of interest" was properly addressed in the memo. He added, if a member of this Corporation or anyone feels a board member is using his position on the Board for his own personal interest or for that of his employer, criminal statues could be applied for misuse of public office. f. Vickery Property Mr. Cockerell provided a handout to the Board showing offers from six potential buyers. Based on the direction of the Board at the last board meeting, 23.28 acres at 2431 FM 467 in Seguin was put up for sale by the Corporation for $180,000. Mr. Cockerell sent thank-you letters to three realtors who had provided market value estimates for SSLGC and informed them that the Corporation would sell the property. The Corporation paid $175,000 for the whole piece of property which includes one acre the Corporation is retaining. Since the Corporation is retaining the one-acre strip that runs along the front of the property beside the road, there is no need to lease the property after it is sold. There are no Carrizo water rights associated with the property. The cutoff date for receiving contracts from potential buyers was April 18, 2007, at 5:00 p.m. Over sixty frrst-time phone calls were received from interested parties regarding the property. The highest offer was $150,000. Potential buyers were given a handout which listed the attributes of the property and were informed that owner financing could be available. No one indicated they were interested in that option. Mr. Cockerell met with most of the potential buyers and informed them that the Corporation would retain the one acre strip that runs along the front of the property. No one seemed to have a problem as long as sufficient access to the property was granted. After discussion, board members agreed the property should be advertised 10 local newspapers in order to possibly receive an offer closer to the $180,000 requested. 3 Mr. Cockerell was directed to contact the potential buyers and let them know the status of the sale. No action was taken by the Board. Further discussion was referred to Executive Session. Additional Notes: 1) Mr. Cockerell noted that the form of the agenda had been changed slightly. In the first paragraph of the agenda, "All agenda items listed below will be considered for discussion and/or action at said meeting," has been added in bold print and will not be included in each agenda item. Before addressing the next agenda item, Mayor Hal Baldwin was presented with a cupcake and the group sang "Happy Birthday" in recognition of his birthday. The fifth order of business was the Accountin2:/Finance Transition Plan - Susan Caddell. An Accounting/Finance Transition Plan was included in the board agenda packet. At the end of February, Ms. Caddell, General Manager Cockerell, Assistant City Manager Johnny Bierschwale and the two city managers, Doug Faseler and Don Taylor met to discuss the transition of accounting/fmance functions from the City of Seguin's Finance Department to the Corporation. They discussed functions that could be immediately taken over by the Corporation and functions which would be retained by the Finance Department. Ms. Caddell highlighted a few of the changes in the plan. At the beginning of April, Administrative Assistant Georgia Hanks met with Ms. Caddell to work on the March billing. Ms. Hanks will continue with the April billing in May with the assistance of Ms. Caddell if needed. Earlier this week Ms. Caddell handed out work papers for the FY2007-2008 budget to City departments. General Manager Cockerell will work with Water Systems Manager Dan Drugan and Water Utility Manager John Schraub on the operating budget. Ms. Caddell will provide assistance to Mr. Cockerell with the Repair/Replacement Fund, Future Development Fund and Capital Construction Fund portions of the budget. The Transition Plan which was included in the agenda packet lists functions, frequency of functions, current responsibility, new responsibility and effective date. The new responsibility section has been updated with either Mr. Cockerell, Georgia Hanks, Susan Caddell or a combination of the three, e.g., Alan Cockerell will be designated as the new investment officer for the Corporation. Later in the agenda today, the Board will have the opportunity to approve a resolution to amend the Investment Policy to assign Mr. Cockerell the title of investment officer. Asset tags will be ordered to tag capital assets in order to maintain capital asset inventory specifically for SSLGC. Functions which include, #20 - prepare bond packages, #22 - annual preparation of the continuing disclosure and #25 - the annual audit are examples of items being transferred to General Manager Cockerell. Ms. Caddell will provide assistance, if needed. 4 Functions are being phased in slowly over time while preserving good internal controls at the same time. Accounting/bookkeeping functions will be retained by the Finance Department at this time. Although Mr. Cockerell will continue to track purchased items, most purchasing functions will remain with the City of Seguin in order to maintain good internal control. Mr. Cockerell added that the Accounting Transition Plan spreadsheet will be expanded to add a column for estimated costs of functions in order to verify expenses of the Corporation for accounting functions provided by the City of Seguin. President Dwyer asked for comments from the city managers. Both city managers approved of the Accounting Transition Plan. Mr. Taylor added that the meeting between Cities had proven to be very productive. Plans are to continue to meet before each board meeting in order to address issues and provide information for agenda items for respective board meetings. Secretary Wolverton made a motion to approve the AccountinglFinance Transition Plan. Director Greenwald seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. The sixth order of business was Resolution # SSLGC R07-06 to adopt Amendment to SSLGC Investment Policy - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er. Resolution SSLGC R07-06 and a copy of the Investment Policy were provided in the board agenda packet. Director of Finance Susan Caddell and General Manager Cockerell have reviewed the Corporation's Investment Policy. The major change in the Investment Policy is on page three to indicate the general manager as the investment officer for the Corporation. According to the Investment Policy, the policy must be reviewed annually by the Board. Amending the policy now will be sufficient as the annual review. Secretary Wolverton made a motion to approve Resolution SSLGC R07-06 to adopt the Amendment to the SSLGC Investment Policy. Treasurer Bauer seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. The seventh order of business was Public Funds Investment Act Trainin2: for Investment Officer - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er. A flyer which provided information pertaining to an Investment Act Training seminar was included in the board agenda packet. According to the Corporation's Investment Policy, training is required for the investment officer of the Corporation and must be approved by the Board of Directors. Several individuals from Schertz will also attend the training. President Dwyer made a motion to approve Investment Act Training, April 24-25, 2007, in Austin, Texas, for General Manager Cockerell and to include reimbursement for expenses pertaining to that training. Vice-President Cook seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. The ei2:hth order of business was Resolution # SSLGC R07-07 to adopt SSLGC Capitalization Policy - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er. Resolution # SSLGC R07-07 and a copy of the Capitalization Policy were included in the board agenda packet. SSLGC did not have a formal Capitalization Policy, therefore, the 5 policy for the Corporation was drafted and modeled from the City of Seguin's Capitalization Policy. Treasurer Bauer made a motion to approve Resolution # SSLGC R07-07 to adopt SSLGC Capitalization Policy. Vice-President Cook seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. The ninth order of business was Proposal for Professional En2:ineerin2: Services. Property Acquisition Support. Amendment 5 to A2:reement for Professional Services between SSLGC and Burv+Partners - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er. Amendment 5 to the Agreement for Professional Services between SSLGC and Bury+Partners was included in the board agenda packet. The amendment increases the budget authorization for property acquisition activities within Guadalupe and Gonzales Counties as approved previously by SSLGC under Contract Amendment 3. In order to update information and identify landowners adjacent to the Corporation's property in these counties, an additional $20,000 is needed. The amount the Board approved previously is not sufficient to complete these activities. Bury+Partners will continue to manage the efforts of the subcontractor and to update map files with newly acquired property ownership information under its previous authorization. The funds will come from the proceeds of the bonds approved earlier in the year. President Dwyer made a motion to approve the Proposal for Professional Engineering Services, Property Acquisition Support, Amendment 5 to Agreement for Professional Services between SSLGC and Bury+Partners. Director Greenwald seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. The tenth order of business was Water Lease Contracts for Guadalupe County - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er and Pat Linder. L~al Counsel. Davidson & Troilo. Agenda item #10 was referred to Executive Session. The eleventh order of business was Water Lease Contracts for Gonzales County - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er and Pat Linder. Le2:al Counsel. Davidson & Troilo. Agenda item #11 was referred to Executive Session. The twelfth order of business was Guadalupe Countv Project Status - Alan Cockerell. General Mana2:er and John Winkler. Burv+Partners. A progress report from Bury+Partners was included in the board agenda packet. Mr. Cockerell referred to the technical memoranda addressed on page two of the report. Another meeting with Bury+Partners and SSLGC operators will be scheduled soon. Mr. Cockerell invited Vice-President Cook to attend to represent the Board as he did at the last meeting. Mr. Cook's input and feedback was and will continue to be valuable to the group as they move ahead with the Guadalupe County project. John Winkler with Bury+Partners displayed a map showing the overall view of the existing project in relationship to other entities. The map showed where the wells would be placed in the lower portion of the county and how they would be spaced. Mr. Cockerell noted that the 6 Corporation plans to own all of the property its wells are on in Gonzales County. The Corporation owns the property in Guadalupe County where the Water Plant will be located, however, it will not own the property, but have permanent easements where the well sites will be located. Roads will be built close to County roads so that operators can drive from well to well and along the lines of easements. At the present time the area of concentration is to identify where well sites will be located on the Blumberg property. The next step will be to identify and talk to property owners where additional wells may be drilled. Ardaga will help provide the Corporation with this information. The pumping test on Blumberg Well #1 has been completed. A copy of Bill Klemt's report was included in the board agenda packet. The pumping test was successful and the well should be able to produce water in quantities the Corporation needs. Mr. Klemt added that the average transmissivity value for Well #1 is about 46,500gpd/ft which is consistent with the pumping test results from the Blumberg Carrizo Water Well #2 in 2000. Mr. Cockerell reported that a water sample was taken to LCRA for analysis. Mr. Winkler added that the water actually had less constituents in it than the Gonzales water which may be good or bad. The water in the ground will have a lower Ph and be more corrosive than the Gonzales water, but will have less solids. No biologicals were found. Well tests for BOCs, i.e., oils and dissolved gases, etc., will be performed. A camera survey was conducted. Overall the screen and column pipe looked good. Peerless Equipment, Ltd. is installing equipment today to begin pumping tests on Blumberg Well #2 on Monday. Forty hours of pumping tests will begin, water samples will be sent to LCRA and a camera survey will be taken. Well #3 has had problems, but tests will begin after Well #2 is completed. Wells are 4,500 ft apart. Mr. Klemt reported that drawdown should be less with the new wells. Mr. Cockerell informed the group that storage tank design will be discussed in the upcoming operational meeting. Mr. Winkler added, the storage tank design should be fInished in a few weeks and a technical memo will be devised. The design will outline different options as to available material, costs, maintenance, etc. No action was taken on agenda item #12. The thirteenth order of business was Pump #5 at Booster Pump Station Bid Award - John Schraub. Water Utility Mana2:er. At a previous Board meeting, board members had instructed Water Utility Manager John Schraub to request bids for a fifth pump at the Booster Pump Station. A list of those responses for the pump and motor, mechanical contractors, electric motor hookup and SCADA was included in the board agenda packet. The lowest bids are listed below: Pump and Motor Mechanical Contractors Electric Motor Hookup SCADA Smith Pump Co., Inc. Morrison Supply Sullivan Contracting Services System Controls & Instrumentation $53,644.00 $21,456.34 $ 4,850.00 $ 3,400.00 7 Installation is included in the price. The fifth pump will be a backup and is needed for the future. The Corporation requested a specific brand to keep pumps and motors the same so that parts would be interchangeable, therefore, only one bid was received on some items. Four pumps are in place. Two are running right now. A third pump may be used this summer if demand picks up. Mr. Cockerell added that three projects were included with the bond monies collected earlier in 2007; design phase of the Guadalupe project, installation of Well #9 in Gonzales County and a fifth pump for the Booster Pump Station. Sixteen weeks lead time is needed when ordering a pump. There have been no mechanical problems with the pumps at the Booster Pump Station. Although Mr. Schraub would like to have a backup pump, in his opinion, the backup pump will not actually be needed until 2008. Assistant City Manager Johnny Bierschwale added that permits had been requested for 800 new homes last year. Secretary Wolverton made a motion to purchase the fifth pump for the Booster Pump Station and award the contracts to Smith Pump Co., Inc., Morrison Supply and Sullivan Contracting Services for a total of $79,950.35. Treasurer Bauer seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by majority decision. President Dwyer voted no. Mr. Schraub noted that a decision had not been made as to a bid for the SCADA system at the Booster Pump Station. Secretary Wolverton made a second motion to award the contract to System Controls & Instrumentation in the amount of $3,400.00 for the SCADA system. Treasurer Bauer seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by majority decision. President Dwyer voted no. The fourteenth order of business was Operations Status Report includin2: pipeline and well repair - Dan Dru2:an. Water Systems Mana2:er. Water Systems Manager Dan Drugan reported that work was being done on Well #8. Presently, operators are waiting for parts. Peerless Pump is waiting for a bottom seal and is expected to re-install the pump and motor the week of April 22nd. No work has been done on the valves on the transmission line to Schertz for the past few weeks because of inclement weather. Also, contractors have been on vacation. Plans are to begin changing out the valves on the 36" line between the Booster Pump Station and Schertz next week. Valve replacement should be completed in about three weeks. Mr. Drugan continues to monitor the corrosion on bolts during the replacement of valves. The Corporation is presently waiting for quotes to remove sludge (iron and manganese) from lagoon filters at the Water Treatment Lab. Well #1, Well #4 and Well #8 are not in operation at this time. Mr. Cockerell added that a cast iron pump had been ordered and will be installed in Well #1 or Well #4 in seven to ten 8 days. One of these two wells will be back in service shortly. Well #8 will also be in service soon. When the stainless steel pumps arrive in June, the remaining well will be made operational. One stainless steel pump will be kept as a spare at this time and not changed out with the cast iron pump which will be kept as a spare in the future until after the high peak period of summer. No action was taken on agenda item #14. The fifteenth order of business was Consultant Reports - Crockett Camp. Consultant and Bill Klemt. Hvdrolo2:ist Consultant. Mr. Camp reported that nothing new or of interest to the Corporation had been conveyed by Legislation recently. Most of the water legislation has been concerned with surface water. Thirty-six bills on Chapter 36 concerning water legislation had been submitted to the Senate, however, nothing significant to the Corporation. Mr. Klemt reported that water levels have been up in Guadalupe County by approximately two feet in the Artesian portion due to rain. The sixteenth order of business was Executive Session called under Chapter 551 Government Code. Subsection 551.071. to seek the advice of its attorney on le2:al matters relatin2: to the Board of Directors' ri2:hts and liabilities under certain contracts. Section 551.072 to deliberate the purchase of certain real estate. Executive Session was held from 3:19 p.m. to 4:22 p.m. President Dwyer closed Executive Session and opened Regular Session at 4:22 p.m. The seventeenth order of business was to consider and take action as a result of A2:enda Item #16. As a result of Executive Session, Secretary Wolverton made a motion to reject all offers for the property being sold by the Corporation at 2431 FM 267 in Seguin. President Dwyer seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion passed by unanimous decision. No action was taken in regard to Agenda Item #10, Water Lease Contracts for Guadalupe County, or Agenda Item #11, Water Lease Contracts for Gonzales County, as a result of Executive Session. The ei!!hteenth order of business was additional Board of Directors discussion and/or comments. No new discussion and/or comments were discussed. The nineteenth order of business was adjournment. President Dwyer declared the meeting adjourned at 4:24 p.m. The next regular meeting was scheduled for May 17, 2007, in Schertz. 9 MINUTES APPROVED TIDS DAY OF ,2007. SIGNATURE OF DIRECTORS Robin V. Dwyer, President Ramon J. Cook, Vice-President Jim Wolverton, Secretary Sydney Bauer, Treasurer Ken Greenwald, Director 10