June 18, 2018
Transcript
Describer:
AGENDA
CASTLE PINES NORTH METROPOLITAN DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
June 18, 2018 @ 6:00 PM
7404 Yorkshire Dr.
Castle Pines, CO 80108
Dave McEntire – President Term Expires May 2022
Robert Merritt – Vice President Term Expires May 2022
Denise Crew – Treasurer Term Expires May 2020
Kathy Rosenkrans – Director Term Expires May 2020
Norman Froman - Director Term Expires May 2020
1. Call to Order Regular Meeting/Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Roll Call/Announcement of Quorum/Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.
3. Approval of Agenda.
4. Public Comments.
5. Presentation of the 2017 Draft Audit – Rubin Brown.
6. Action Items.
A. Approve Minutes for the regular meeting of May 21, 2018.
B. Approve Minutes for the Board Retreat/Study Session on June 4 and 5th, 2018 and Study Session on June 11, 2018.
C. Accept Financial Report and Items from Finance Director.
D. Approve/Ratify Current Payables For the Month of May (Checks # 23622-23673)
General Fund/Debt Service Approve $ 26,198.42 Ratify $ 9,330.28
Enterprise Fund Approve $ 99,765.10 Ratify $ 87,818.25
Electronic Payments (all funds) Approve $ 0.00, Ratify $ 490,723.42
Total Expenditures Approve $125,963.52 Ratify $ 587,871.95
E. Consider Engagement of Kutak Rock as Bond Counsel – CWCB Loan Increase.
F. Consideration of Resolution 2018-006 Authorizing a Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) Loan Increase for the Chatfield Reallocation Project in the aggregate amount of up to $1,319,464.00, by and through the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District Water Activity Enterprise, and Authorizing Execution of Documents Related Thereto.
7. Open Space Manager’s Report.
8. Manager Report.
9. Legal Counsel Report.
10. Directors’ Matters.
11. Public Comments.
12. Adjournment.
Describer:
The camera shows the panel Board Member Director Kathy Rosenkranz, Board Member Director Norman Froman, Vice President Robert Merritt, Treasurer Denise Crew, and Board President David McEntire.
Board President David McEntire:
Good evening. Thank you everybody for coming to the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District Board of Directors meeting of June 18th, 2018. With that, I'd like to call the meeting, the regular meeting, to order and ask everyone to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
All Speak:
I Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
David:
Thank you again, everybody, for coming out this evening, participating with us. On this gorgeous June night. I'd like to, call roll if I may. And, at the same time as I call roll. provide me with the, announcement of, of, of any conflicts of interest that you, believe you may have as a part of the agenda tonight.
Board Member Director Kathy Rosenkranz:
Director Rosenkranz. Present and no conflicts.
Board Member Director Robert Merritt:
Director Merritt. Present, no conflicts.
Board Member Director Norman Froman:
Director Froman. Present, no conflicts.
Board Member Director Denise Crew:
Director Crew. Present, no conflicts.
David:
Of course I'm present, and I have no conflicts. That being said, we have a quorum. There are no potential conflicts of interest. Roll call is complete. Item number three is a request by me to, ask for a motion to approve the agenda.
Describer:
The camera pans over slightly to the right to show Jim, once he is done talking the camera zooms out to capture the board members and the district managers in frame.
Before we have a motion to approve that agenda, I've been, notified by Jim Nikkels, the district manager, that he may or would like to make, a plea for, for an amendment. Jim?
Jim: District Manager Jim Nikkel:
Yes. Mr. President we'd like to add an item number 12, thereby moving adjournment down to item number 13. This would be for an executive session under 24-6-402 4B with the Colorado revised statue for receiving legal advice on specific legal questions.
And the particular item here tonight has to do with HOA one fences.
David:
Very good. It's my understanding, correct me if I'm wrong that, while the board has not, been party to any discussions on that subject item, that this is a issue that has come up in the 11th and a half hour of today and that, it's your recommendation we pursue legal counsel before engaging in any action on that item.
Is that true?
Jim:
That is correct. In fact, legal counsel will provide you an update on our meeting that was held earlier today.
David:
Very good. Could I get a motion to approve the amended judgment to the, the amended agenda? That being item 12, where the board legal counsel, will move to executive session to discuss this nuance that occurred late today with HOA one pertaining to, a perimeter fence within our community.
And, of course, in moving the adjournment to item 13, do I hear a motion to that effect? So moved. Second? I second. Is there any discussion? Having heard none. The matter is approved.
Describer:
Brief Inaudible talking off mic.
Oh. Shoot. Three of us were on the same page. All. Yes, ma'am. So, backing up to, the discussion. Everyone settle down. At this point, could I get a vote on the motion?
Board Voting All Speak:
Signifying, a yea or a hand, you raising your hand for a yes. A nay for no. All in favor with a yea vote? Yea. Yes. All those in favor, all those not in favor. Nay. Let's do it again. Because I didn't vote. There you go.
We'll get there. Again I'd like to, get a vote from the board of directors on the motion that was made by Kathy to amend the agenda to include an executive session on item 12, moving, the adjournment and thereafter to item 13. Those in favor signify by saying yes and raising your hand. Yes. Yes. Yes. Those opposed signify by saying nay and raising your hand.
Nay. Nay. Very good. Motion passes item number four is, public comments.
David:
We have a number of folks here. And again, thank you so much for coming out this evening. Very much appreciate that. While we have, some dignitaries, we have only one that's going to speak, tonight. Al, would you join us mor, or this afternoon at the podium?
Describer:
The camera slowly zooms out and pans to the right to show the podium in frame. The camera then zooms in on public speaker Al Porteroraro. After he speaks he goes back to his seat the camera pans to the left to show the board members in frame.
Al Porteroraro, Castle Pines Resident:
Hello. My name is Al Porteroraro. I'm from, 278 Hardwick Court. Been here about 26 years. Just so you folks understand where I stand, I understood and agreed with the district's renewable water plan that, you know, obviously, a lot of the new folks in the board didn't agree with us. So I just wanted to be upfront about that.
But I, I really thank you, folks, truly, for volunteering. This is a very, my sense, having come to meetings occasionally, very difficult, area, and giving your time and what I consider to be the most important thing going, going on in our neighborhood, which is water. I appreciate your time. And I thank you for that.
I guess I hope, everybody is starting to get up to speed on how, unless you’re water people, and maybe you are, how significant, technically and legally, the whole area, water and renewable water is. Again, just for these, I've intended in the past. It's, it's amazing to me that folks who volunteer come and deal with this level of complexity, and I appreciate it.
I also hope that you guys have had a chance to take some time to understand the significant effort, time, money invested by the previous board and those who came before them. Working with district staff, water consultants, water partners, etc. to create that plan. I wish you the very best, truly, because it's good for the community that you investigate the alternatives that you think are something that should be done instead.
And I hope you can do that relatively quickly. But I think it's important because if you can find something that's better, although I was a proponent of the current plan, I get it. That's good for the community. So, so I wish you the best with that.
If, if you do find an alternative that's better. Although I, I was on the other side of the fence, I'll be one of the first on line to shake your hands. And truly thank you, because it again, it would just, it would just be a good thing for everybody. The thing that concerns me greatly, and it causes me to lose sleep at night, truly, is the election got so emotional.
Everybody got so divided that if you find something that's better, I think that's wonderful. And we should all have a party. If you don't find an alternative that's better, the reason I'm here is, I hope that everyone have, would have the fortitude, truly fortitude, the honesty, the integrity to support the current plan. If you don't find something that's better than the current plan.
The reason I'm concerned is today, and we can see it across our country. There are far too many people who are into winning the argument. And you guys won the first phase of the argument. But my impression is, my, what I see too many, with too many people today. They can't, if they realize, if they realize, that you know what, where they were going with all that work and effort is the right thing to do.
Many people today don't have it in them to admit that to themselves, to others. So the reason I'm here is I understand how ridiculously hard it would be if you find that the current plan was, in fact, the right thing to do when your alternative is not as good, whether it's cost, whether it's dependability, whatever, I don't know.
Again, I want you to succeed. I want the community to get the water they need. How we need it as cost effectively as we can. But I'm just asking you, and I felt the need to do this so I can sleep nights is please have an open mind. The battle is over. You won the battle. The guts it will take.
If you were to decide the original plan was the best. It's a lot of guts that I don't think people on this planet have these days. I beg you to have those, have, have those guts. Thank you for your time.
David:
Thank you Al. Thank you.
I can tell you had been here because I didn't have to remind you. You only had three minutes. It's awesome.
Describer:
Briefly Inaudible talking off mic.
David:
You are good.
Just taking a couple notes to make sure that I got your words of encouragement correct, because that's how I took them. And, and I appreciate that as well. I know the rest of the board does. All right. We've got a presentation of the 2017 audit. Rubin Brown is going to make that, or Amanda, or you.
Amanda Castle, District Finance Director:
I’m just going to introduce.
David:
So. All right Amanda. Thank you. So Rubin Brown prepared the 2017 audit for the district. They were new to the district this year. And they did an outstanding job really digging in, and digging deep, which I appreciate. They leaned in hard, they produced a fantastic product. And I like to think of myself as a pretty harsh judge, but they did a really fantastic job.
So, Russ is here to present the 2017 audit and their viewpoints presentation that I hope the board finds useful. And I just wanted to thank them for their service to the district. With that, Russ, thank you.
Describer:
On screen. Amanda goes back to her seat, Russell White CPA Partner from RubinBrown LLP, takes the stand at the podium. Another person from Rubin Brown walks over to the board of directors holding stacks of packets. He hands out the 2017 draft audit, financial statements to everyone.
Russell White, CPA Partner RubinBrown LLP:
Thanks, Amanda, for the very nice introduction. And, thank you, board Castle Pines, new and, old, and the, the management here. Thank you for allowing us to do the audit this year. It's a pleasure. And, hopefully I can provide you some of the meaningful information. I'm going to be at a high level, but if you have any questions, I'll try to do my best to answer them.
If not, maybe Amanda, dig into some of that detail. Starting, we've got a draft in front of me right now. I've got two documents. The, 2017 draft audit, financial statements. It's, 62 pages. It's in draft form. Items that are highlighted yellow are items that, are, presented to us to put into the report.
So they'll be coming later this week. And then I have the report to governance, which we call the, the viewpoints. And I'll present that last.
The good news is, as we started our audit, back in April and, completed about two weeks ago, we, put a draft out and on, page one, two and three of our financial statements. We have our opinion. That's three pages. The good news is, as you've had before, it's a clean opinion, unmodified.
So that's the highest you can get in an audit, a clean opinion. On page two of the opinion. We talk about management's representations, the, auditors responsibilities and the opinion. And again, the opinion is clean. It's unmodified. On page three and four, we talk about required supplemental information that it's required for governments and also, other supplemental information, which is in the very back part of the report that basically enhance and provide statistical and analytical data for the district over a, a two, three, and five year period.
So I just wanted to highlight those. It's, recap clean opinion. And we've got a couple of items in there from a paragraph standpoint that, dives into what I call account news, regarding what that opinion deals with. So, moving on to page four, I'd like to go over the statement of net position, highlight some items real quick.
Page four and page five. The financial statements are what we call on the full accrual system. So everything from an accrual standpoint is on their revenues are recognized when earned, expenses are, recognized when they're incurred. So on page four, we have, total assets of about $138,000,000. Total liabilities of approximately $30,000,000. And with that, I'll call it the for profit world.
We've have equity of about $108,000,000. In the governmental world, we call that, net position. So from a financial health standpoint, the district's in, very good health. Moving on to page five, statement of activities. Again, this is on the full accrual. And this is a standard format for, a district, a governmental entity. So, the highlight that we have total revenues of about $15,000,000 total expenditures about $8,500,000 is a, I'll call it, net income, which is squeezed out of here of about $7,500,000 on page five.
So overall, again, we've got, total equity of about 100, $116,000,000. moving on to page 11. It's the enterprise funds. That's a fancy name for the, the, the water district. What I'd like to point out there on page 11 is, on water charges. They're up about $1,200,000. It's a 33% increase. And, overall water charges, for the year.
That can be attributed to the 63 new taps, on the water connect fees from 2017 to 2016. So that's why the big increase is. And also bulk water sales are up about $70,000. Also two other items to highlight. I want to, paid give you attention to is you'll notice that, from the prior year, 2016 to 2017, if you look under water operations, repairs and maintenance, is down about $500,000.
If you can see in that middle column, $1,600,000 last year, this year, $1,100,000 and then also down storm drainage operations. As you can see, repairs and maintenance is down also significantly, from $656,000 to $36,000. So those are the big swings from 16 to 17 that I thought would be important to identify here tonight.
Moving on to page 13. Statement of cash flows for the Enterprise Fund. Just wanted to point out one item there. This is really the reconciliation of the enterprise funds checking account, cash, cash balance account. Overall, the increase in cash this year. It's a big number. It's $5,200,000 compared to about $2,000,000 last year.
And again, those swings are related to increased water tap fees and also repairs and maintenance expenses, significantly down from the prior year.
Moving on to, page 32. In the footnotes.
Just briefly highlighting the, Colorado Water Conservation Board loan. You know, it was approved by that board. We have a highlight. I think we have an item tonight, to see if this board approves it. And once, we get determination on that, we can go, we can update the language on that. And then back on page 49, which is the budget to actual.
Comparison, which is required by the Colorado State auditor's office. It's under the required supplemental information. Overall, we have a favorable variance on expenditures from budget to actual $225,000, which is really good. That's one thing the state of Colorado, the state auditors takes a look at to make sure that each governmental entity knows how to budget. And and, and if it's if it's over budget, then there's a footnote that we have to put in there.
But I just want to identify that. That's all from a high level highlight standpoint. I wanted to talk about it on these financial statements. Moving on to the report to governance, which is this other document that we have.
Describer:
Russell is turning the page and displays the page so the board can see where he is in the document.
Russell:
This is our report to governance documents in draft form. And basically we get some information, additional information in, what we usually, what we usually do. On page three of the document. We talk about the objective and scope of services of an audit. It outlines what the objective is, the auditors responsibility, the limitations of an audit engagement and what management's responsibility is.
Page four outlines the, our deliverables to you. Which would be the audit report, auditor communication, management letter, and best practice. Value adding recommendations, in here.
Page five talks about some, accounting literature that's coming down the pipeline in the future that, the board and management needs to be aware of.
Page seven, talks about the data analytics that we used when we did the audit testing.
And in that testing we used some gap analysis. We used, some data analytic software to review for any unusual gaps and check sequences during the year. And no gaps in check sequence were identified, which is very good. We also identified the top ten vendors, with this software. And we, were we reviewed any, unusual activity with management to make sure that all the expenditures on the top ten was particularly properly approved and, were correctly accounted for, and they were.
Page nine gives you a visual diagram of the top ten vendors from a percentage standpoint.
Page ten, talks about the Benford's curve, the Benford's curves, the natural way of numbers and the law basically says about 30% of all numbers in a list of financial transactions begin with the number one, and then it decreases to the number nine. So if you can see on the, the left hand side of the slide, that's what the Benford's frequency of the numbers one through nine, lie like.
On the right hand side is an example if the auditors for Enron would have used this curve, they could have identified significant unusual items with the number one, two, three, four, seven, eight and nine. On page 11, is the, the way the numbers from a disbursement standpoint, from the number one through nine. We did some testing on, number one and number three and number nine, and there was no unusual items.
Every one of the ones we tested that one of our, our variance analysis, we pulled some invoices and made sure that we had correct signatures, proper back up and correctly accounted for. And they all were. On page 12, we talk about, our observations and suggestions, two items that come to our attention, which revolve around a complex transaction, which is the Chatfield project.
We noted that, an item in accounts payable, wasn't accrued. And we also noted a revenue item that, was not, presented in the correct, standpoint. And so this is because this transaction doesn't go through the normal routine out of this office. It's accounted for by the CWCV, border RBC, RBC that’s wrong.
But, we've let the management know about this, and they they're going to make sure they, are working with, the outside, vendor to make sure they get these statements, to the accounting more timely. So this is not a big deal, as this is a complex, transaction. Moving on to, the auditor communication.
Page 14. Again, we have issued an unmodified opinion that equals a clean, clean report. Clean opinion.
Page 15 talks about the quality of the, aspects of the accounting practice and the management's judgment in accounting estimates. These, nothing, nothing out of the ordinary. No scientific transactions, were recognized in a different period than they occurred. Page 16 talks about financial statement disclosures. Which ones are sensitive? We also talk about, difficulties encountered performing the audit.
There were none. All the staff were very helpful and cooperative, very professional and knowledgeable. It was a pleasure to work with, you know, Pinnacle Amanda’s group and also, Jim and his, his, troupe here in the facility. So it was a very good experience. Page 17 kind of wrap it all up here. We had some correct, and uncorrected misstatements.
Those have been made. A lot of those were audit clean up entries from the transition from the prior auditor to us and a couple of journal entries, that I just identified on, on the management comments.
That concludes my presentation. Is there any, specific questions that anybody wanted to ask?
Describer:
The camera pans to each person that is speaking, and zooms in on them.
Norman:
How many, water districts do you actually audit per year?
Russell:
About 4. I, I audit 4 our firm on it's about ten.
Norman:
And how would you rate this one?
Russell:
How would I rate this one?
Norman:
Among those four?
Russell:
Let me choose my words wisely. Strong financial position. The district was late in being formed, and so basically, it's making up for lost ground to secure water rights and it's doing the best they can based on that, the resources that it has.
So that's how I would sum that up.
Norman:
So about 50%?
Russell:
I couldn't give you a percentage because each one of them are uniquely different. Based on, each, district and each, I call it water, district or wha, water, I call it water court there in so to speak. So each one has very unique laws and very unique rights.
Norman:
Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.
Robert:
The two items that came up with the Chatfield project. Yes. Do you see anything in the future, that would be concerning. I, I can’t. Do you see anything that can be concerning about the Chatfield project. No. That weren't included in those two items. No. That weren't included properly?
Russell:
No, no, not at all.
Denise:
Would you be so kind to educate me just a little bit on the audit process?
How were you chosen? Is it a different auditing company every year or same auditing? How does that process happen?
Russell:
You know, I did, let Amanda field that question. She could probably more properly address how that process happened then, I could I was just from the outside.
Denise:
So this is your first audit of the Metro districts?
Russell:
The first audit for Castle Pines North. Okay.
That's correct. Okay, so this is our first year audit. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome.
Amanda:
Would you like me to address that Denise? Sure. So the way that we go about an RFP for an audit firm is, first identifying the necessity for a new audit firm. So, the district switched audit firms a few years ago because, as I like to phrase it, we had outgrown our previous audit firm. The district has a complex set of financial statements, multi fund.
And it became apparent that we needed a larger audit firm. So we switched audit firms, and unfortunately, there was a large amount of turnover in the previous audit firm we had that led to issues with us getting the draft timely. And, and really just answering the same questions over every year because we have a new team. So we put out an RFP.
And Rubin Brown was actually proposed for the audit initially a few years ago, and they were one of our top contenders. And so, Pinnacle works with Russ and his team on a few other audits and wanted to make sure we reached out to them as well. So we reached out to multiple firms, received proposals for those firms, and brought those proposals to the board for their review and approval.
And so the board reviews, we try and pick out what we see as positive and negatives for example, if you have a firm that comes in, let's say, half the price of every other firm, that's usually a big red flag for us. That's not an appropriate firm, because they don't understand the complexities of the district. So we really try to estimate how much knowledge they have.
I will say to Russ and his team, they did a phenomenal job, and they were actually the only audit firm that reached out and interview us as a district prior to bidding for the audit. Really walking through the financial statements and everything else. So, last year the board approved their team as the audit firm. And then every year we will move forward with an engagement letter from Rubin Brown.
Until such time with the board, deems necessary to not. Which honestly, if they’re doing a great job, and they are, you typically keep this number by the way. So. Thank you. You’re welcome.
David:
I want to thank you for, this work. I also want to take the opportunity to recognize, this board, and give them the kudos they deserve. It was, just a short week ago. It seems like forever. The number of study sessions, the number of documents that we've been poring over, Q&A that has been taking place, and we've only begun. But give them the credit for having asked in one of those study sessions about that, same item that you discovered, or that you asked and identified on page 12.
Ironic as it may be. Nice job guys. Nice job on your part again for what looks like to be, heck of a report. We appreciate what you've given us here. We'll lean on Amanda, for the details, as you put it. And, and, get back to you with.
I, I, I, I'm guessing, Joan, that the board is going to be asked to embrace this one way or another. Meaning and approval, or are we going to do that when, when the board is finished vetting, their questions, comments and concerns about this audit?
Joan Fritsche Special Districts Attorney:
So the audit needs to be filed with the state no later than July 31st.
So at the board's July meeting, you will, be asked to approve the final audit. As, as you noted, there are some, it's still in draft form. And, we've all submitted our comments that need to be addressed.
David:
Very good. Another, another clock ticking fellas and ma'am. All right. Good. Thank you. If there's no other questions, comments, concerns by the board, staff.
Thank you again.
Russell:
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Really appreciate the opportunity.
Describer:
The camera zooms in on the board members.
David:
Okay. Item 6. Action items A, is to approve the minutes for the regular meeting of May 21st, 2018. Is there a motion from one of the directors to approve those minutes?
Norman:
I may. I make a motion that we approve the minutes?
David:
Is there a second? Second. Any discussion?
Board Voting All Speak:
All right. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any of those opposed by saying nay. Hearing none. Those meeting minutes are approved as presented.
David:
We've got another set of minutes which was a by-product, of again, one of the board retreat study sessions, a double day, effort on everyone's part. Appreciated. May I, have a motion to approve those minutes of the board retreat study session of June 4th and 5th, 2018, and the study session, that followed on June 11th, 2018.
Denise:
Motion to approve those minutes.
David:
Is there a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Hearing. None. Signify by saying aye if you approve.
Board Voting All Speak:
All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any disapprove or say nay. Hearing none. I get that to flow a little better and figure it out here in any case. Motion has been approved. item 6C to accept the financial report and items from the finance director.
Amanda.
Amanda:
Thank you again. I appreciate your time, this evening. We have presented for the board's review and approval the financial statements as of May 31st, 2018. I will go through these with a little bit more detail tonight. Just since it's your first go round with this, I'd like you to have, a good amount of familiarity here.
So property tax revenues recognized by the district through May of 2018. Total just over $2,200,000. This represents over 71% of the total amount levied year to date. Which is 1.3% higher than collections in 2017. Typically, we see the complete collections or, or nearly complete collections by middle of summer. Yes.
David:
So whatever you're going over, I don't know that we have a copy of it.
And I was not aware that if it was a part of a email that we were to print it and bring it, do you happen to have an extra copy?
Amanda:
Yeah I do. Yeah, I'll have Jana grab those for ya.
Describer:
Deborah grabbed a copy from the table at the entry and brought it to David.
David:
Is there only one or?
Deborah Mulvey:
It was on the table over there.
Amanda:
Does everybody need this?
Jim:
Anybody receive a work packet?
Janet:
I'll go grab some. Okay.
Jim:
We're still trying to figure out who's going to work off of hard copies, and who’s gonna work off of laptops.
Describer:
Amanda return to the podium.
Amanda:
Okay. Well, while we are awaiting that, I will actually address briefly the timelines that I presented for the board. These don't need reviewer approval. They're simply for information purposes only. I did provide a payroll and payables schedule for the board denoting the payables, review dates and approval dates, and then the processing dates as noted in the schedule.
Those may be subject to change depending on vacations and holidays and that sort of thing. But generally that is the schedule. Additionally, I provided the payroll schedule for the year as well as the schedule to prepare the financial statements. I know there, is some clarity that needs to be added to the process by which the financial statements are produced.
I just wanted to let the board know, kind of the quick turnaround we have. So, we work with the district to obtain information as soon as possible so that we are able to get the board, the most recent set of financial statements. So by the first, or the first business day thereafter, meters are read. Jana then has five business days to basically do all of her billing work, which takes a lot of work, where she gets the information from the meters, produces the bills, gets everything, into continental, which is the utility billing system.
That all syncs essentially with our bank account, and she provides that upload to our team. That takes about five business days. Our team then uploads that information into the financial software. And during that time, we're reconciling bank statements because, as you can imagine, if we're doing financial statements for May 31st, it's, a it's very important that we pull those bank statements on the first and really start processing them.
So we pull those as soon as we can and start to process those. We also pull the property tax information from the Douglas County's website as soon as it's available. Typically it's by the 10th of the month, but luckily it's sometimes earlier than that. you'll see, based on this schedule I provided, sometimes that turns out to be a bit of a pinch for us.
So we, as the accounting team, then have the initial set of deliverables due by our accountant. So there's a five member team, on our side. The accountant on our team delivers his deliverables by the 11th this month. So a few days after we've received the reports, he's reconciled all the bank statements he's made, any, journal entries, he's booked all of the necessary accruals and interest earnings and that sort of thing.
And he's run the financial statement back schedules that you'll see tonight. He then delivers them to the accounting manager on our side who runs the financial statements. He delivers them within a day. The accounting manager typically takes about a day, to run the financial statements and get that information to me. I then review and approve all of the information, pass along any comments or questions.
He, goes through and does all of those corrections, and provides the final financial statements to Jana for distribution on Wednesday, prior to the board meeting. Jana then emails on Thursday, and then the, meeting is the following Monday. So you can see we're really in a crunch to get that done. A prime example of that is September.
So September is a month that becomes quite a pickle I'll say for us. So, Tuesday, September 4th is the first day we can really start anything because the first Monday in September happens to be Labor Day. So we're strapped to starting on Tuesday the 4th. We then have deliverables due on our end in about a week. And so we've got five days.
But coupled with that five days typically Jana needs about five days to run utility billings. So in September, because of that delay, we're all kind of crunched whereby Jana gets her stuff to us as soon as she can, and then we're getting our stuff turned around as soon as possible. So I just wanted to walk the board through that.
I've listed all of the deliverables that we do on our end, so that you can kind of see the, process that we go through on top of that, obviously, we're working with the auditors and doing the budget and that sort of thing, but that's really the monthly snapshot of the work that it takes to produce the financial statements that you see before you this evening.
So I did want to walk you through that quickly. So now that you all have your packets, we will go through said set of financial statements. So as I was explaining, we're, just over 71% collected on our property taxes. I would anticipate that we have 99% collection or better by the middle of this summer, just based upon property tax due dates.
So I always like to point that out that typically we'll see that, property tax revenues are really strong revenue in that they're pretty well guaranteed because if you don't pay your property taxes, there's going to be a lien. So the district sees very good collections on those. Beyond that, there are some variances that I would like to point out for the board's review.
I will say that on page one of our financial statements, you'll note that we've got the accountants financial statement and preparation report. That's really just, the standard report, state, stating that we've compiled the financial statements for the board's review and approval. On page two and three of the financial statements. You will see the balance sheets of the district. The district does have two balance sheets, one for the general, or government wide funds, which are the general fund, CTF, COPs and debt service.
The debt was retired last year, so that fund has gone away. But we do show the prior period balance in there. Beyond that, we also have the enterprise funds, which are comprised of the water, wastewater and storm funds. The difference between the two being that a general fund, or a governmental fund has what I call government wide entries.
So instead of, carrying our fixed assets on our balance sheet throughout the year, we actually expense them through the year. And then at year end, they get moved up to the balance sheet and they're offset by an account called Investment in fixed assets. So you've got a contra account to balance those out. We've, the exact same thing with debt.
And you'll see that when we get to Chatfield. And that's a little bit of what, Russ's team was helping to identify there, that we've got these project costs in this, in debt incurred from the CWCB loan that we carry from a budgetary basis on our financial statements throughout the year. And then at year end, that's moved up to the balance sheet to show the offsetting liability.
So you'll see that as we walk through. Year to date, the district's, balance sheet looks great. Items are trending exactly where I would anticipate. The cash balance is slightly higher than year end. We did just make our, interest payment on the COPs, and we will have interest and, the principal balance due on those at December 1st.
So you'll see that cash balance climb until that interest payment and principal payment is made. And then it'll lower a little bit at that point in time, that long term liabilities relative to the COPs will also lower. Beyond that in the enterprise Fund. The cash and current assets are, slightly above prior year. We have restricted cash and capital reserves of just over $16,000,000.
Restricted cash for the escrow and CWCB of $52,000 and just over $2 million, or just under, rather, $2 million in cash and investments for the district. Moving on to page four. I'm just going to point out high level items that warrant the board's attention. So investment earnings year to date have been trending incredibly well. We are seeing, really good interest rates.
As of May 31st. We were earning 2.06% in our COLOTRUST accounts. I looked at those accounts today, and they're up to 2.14% right now. So, we're earning a substantial amount of interest earnings. To date across all funds we've earned over $150,000 in earnings on our, cash investments, which is really great. So it's good to have that money set aside for other projects in those funds, whereby we're earning interest to offset future costs.
Oil royalty revenue is also trending over budget. That is a little bit harder to project or predict rather. So we had adopted a budget of 20,000. Year to date we've seen about 46,000 in that account. So we're anticipating perhaps about $100,000 for the year. We will continue to monitor that as the year progresses. Looking at the salaries and wages category, I just like to point out that across all funds, workers comp insurance came in slightly higher than the budget, for 2018.
So you'll notice that those projections have been revised upward. That amount is pretty minimal. But I just wanted to draw your attention to that. Liability and property insurance also came in slightly higher in 2018. So once again, we've increased the projected balance, but we don't anticipate any additional costs in those. Beyond that, you'll notice on page four that consulting services, there are three line items.
Communication, communication events, and public relations have been revised downward from the original adopted budget. This is simply due to a change in our, PR firm. So we just went ahead and reduced those based on the anticipated cost for the year. Within the parks and open space, you'll notice that employee health insurance is trending under budget to date.
We had anticipated some costs, based on the elections that our employees had in those costs change relative to those elections, and therefore we're trending under budget. So we revised that budget downward to date. You'll also notice that telephones and alarms, the projected balance was increased by $5,000 from $3,800 to $8,800. This is as a result of the projected and required costs of upgrading the telecommunications.
For the irrigation control system. So we did update that even though the, currently it looks like we're trending under budget, we really are not. And so we just updated that projection.
On page six, you'll see the change in fund balance relative to the general fund. Year to date, the change in fund balance is $1,600,000 for the positive. We'll continue to monitor that through the year. The Conservation Trust Fund just represents the lottery proceeds that the district receives. Year to date, we've received $10,485. And we have earnings on our investments of $1,100.
Those can be used, but they have to be used for parks and open space additions. So every year we budget as though we're going to use them in case a project comes up. Year to date, we have not used any of those funds. On page eight, you'll see the 2015 COP Special Revenue Fund. This represents the fund where the COPs sit.
Base rental revenue for that fund. Which is really the transfer from the general fund for that was $900 year to date. Interest on the 2015 COPs was over $2,000. And as of May, we hadn't made that payment. It was actually due on June 1st. So you'll see the payment on interest come out in June 1st. We'll have half of that interest that was paid. So next month you'll see a 4000, or $400,000 payment relative to interest. And then we have trustee and other fees of $3,000.
Page nine is the, debt service fund, which, as I said, was closed out in the previous year. So that closed with our paid off of debt in 2017. Therefore, in 2018, there's no activity. Starting on page ten, you'll see the Water Enterprise Fund. There are quite a few items that I'd like to point out. First and foremost, water service revenues are trending over budget year to date.
It's still early in the year, but right now we're trending much higher than we normally would in May. So we had, quite an increase in gallons used for May. We had total billable usage for May of 2018 was 132 million gallons, compared to 119,000,000 in 2017, 98,000,000 in 2016, and 93,000,000 in 2015. So in looking at the changes that occurred within the district, not only did we bring on additional taps, thereby increasing usage.
We also had an anomaly in May whereby the temperature was nearly ten degrees, warmer than the previous year, and the precipitation level was almost an inch less. So we had these changes in the weather coupled with, increase in taps that led to this increase in usage. We do trend all of those and, throughout the year.
So as the season continues, we'll really start to see the trend of that curve for usage, and we'll be able to start to trend where we anticipate that revenue to come. It's still a little bit early in the year, so we, we did just keep the projected balance as is. But if usage continues to remain high, I would anticipate that, that number will go up throughout the year.
Beyond that golf course revenue, which is associated with raw water delivery to the Ridge Golf Course, is currently trending within budget. We began billing for usage in July of 2016, and we build $2.86 per thousand gallons used. usage is seasonal, so we'll continue to monitor that. Right now it's a little bit too early to know trends there.
But we're, we're trying to track that in an effort to best project that balance. The water connect fees, and renewable water fees are currently trending within budget. We'll continue to monitor those throughout the year to see if we need any, additional, fees, as or if we receive, rather, any additional fees as a result of Lagae, to know if we need to increase those budgets or not. Inspection fees are also trending higher as a result of service line inspections.
That are completed on new constructions and bulk water sales have increased as a result of higher usage. So we revised that projection up to $50,000 from the original budget of $7,500. So quite a bit of additional revenue coming in, which is good. Beyond that, salaries and wages are currently trending under budget. We had originally budgeted to include an additional water and wastewater employee that, that position has not been filled to date.
And therefore salaries and wages are trending under budget in those funds. Credit card processing fees are also trending slightly under budget. So we, we reduced that, fee from 24,000 in the water fund to $20,000. That was a new fee, last year. And so we were trying to estimate where we anticipated it coming in in 2018. Luckily, it's coming in lower, and therefore we were able to reduce that.
The engineering services, reimbursable income. You'll notice that, that line item was, adopted at zero, as was the reimbursable inclusion costs. Those are really one in the same. So as we have, fees relative to services that are, reimbursable with the Lagae development, we bill those out and then we receive that revenue in. So they net to zero.
So you'll notice that while we have an increase in the projected balance for reimbursable inclusion costs. Likewise we have an increase in the services receivable. I will say that should that number become high enough, the board may have to amend the budget because the budget is by fund. So if we trend over budget on one fund, even though we have an offset in revenues, we would still need to amend the budget relative to that expense.
So I just wanted to bring that to your attention. Beyond that, professional services for water rights, our costs associated with water court, in the district, obtaining the necessary water rights rather as a result of the Chatfield reallocation project to date, those are trending under budget, and we'll continue to monitor those. Overall, the district is projected at this time to be over in the water fund by about 38,000.
This is due to higher costs associated with the water or the Allen-Bradley water treatment plant. Costs associated with design, and equipment conversion. But beyond that, really that $40,000 is also attributable to the service fees that are reimbursable. So we'll continue to monitor that throughout the year in a fund this size. We could see that, gap close.
So when we believe that that gap is getting to a point where we believe the board might need to amend, we'll bring that to your attention so that we can schedule an amendment if necessary. In the wastewater, enterprise funds. You'll notice that the Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority budget is trending under budget. They implemented a decrease in rates of 7% for 2018.
And during the district's budget process, the board appropriated a 4% increase in rate, which was in line with their five year forecast. As a result, our projected balance has been revised downward to 658,000 from the original 741,000. Beyond that, you'll notice that there is a statement of cash position on page 19. The district currently has just over 24 million in accounts, for cash the majority of which are sitting in COLOTRUST.
As I said, interest earnings and COLOTRUST are very strong right now. So we're seeing quite a bit of interest income coming in off of those monies. A lot of that money is set aside for, capital projects. So nearly 16 million is attributable to capital projects. We have a portion restricted for debt and a small portion restricted for the conservation Trust fund, which is that lottery money.
Having said that, we have about, 25% of our total budgeted expenditures. That sits in an unrestricted balance. That's typically what I like to see just based on the timing of, property tax receipts and the expenses the district may incur. Beyond that, finance, as you know, was working to complete the 2017 audit report. So that was obviously presented for the board tonight.
I will be looking to, schedule a meeting with either two or more board members. And if we do more, obviously we'll have a work session. But to just go over the audit, any questions you might have, and really go through that in detail with you so that you can have a, a good understanding and feel confident with the approval at the July 16th meeting.
Beyond that, like I stated previously, we made the semiannual payment on the COPs on June 1st. and we're currently working on planning the 2019 budget process. So we will have a calendar to the board soon for that budget process. We really go through with staff and estimate when we'll have meetings with staff, when we'll have meetings with the district manager, and when we'll have meetings with the board.
So the final budget or draft budget rather is due to the board by October 15th. So you'll see that calendar soon. We like to get started as close to July 1st as possible on that process. I know that was a lot of information, but if there are any questions, I would be more than happy to address those for you.
Perfect. Thank you.
David:
Thank you Amanda.
Describer:
The camera pans left slowly to show the board members in view. Each time someone new speaks, the camera slowly pans to the speaker and zooms in.
David:
With that presentation, action item 6C would look for a motion to accept the financial report in the items from the financial or finance director. Amanda, do I hear a motion?
Kathy:
Yeah. So moved.
David:
Kathy has, made a motion to accept the financials. Is there a second? Second. Denise has seconded it. Any conversation?
Board Voting All Speak:
Hearing none, signify, board approval by raising your hand and saying yea, yea. Yea. Any nay’s? Hearing none. The motion is approved to accept the financial report and items from the finance director of this date.
Date:
Item 6D. Approve and ratify the current payables for the month of May.
Checks 23622 - 23673. Is there a motion from one of the directors to approve and ratify the current payables.
Denise:
I motion to approve.
David:
Is there a second?
Joan:
Mr. president, in the past, the board had a policy of specifically, approving the amounts by fund. And with those amounts being part of the, the motion being made.
Kathy:
Do you want me to do that? And then you guys can pick it up here, from here on out? Sure. Okay. I'd like to make a motion to approve and ratify current payables for the month of May. Checks number 23622 - 23673. Approve in the general fund debt services and amount of $26,198.42. Ratify $9,330.28. Approve in the Enterprise Fund $99,765.10.
Ratify $87,818.25, and to ratify electronic payments. All funds in the amount of $490,723.42, for an approval of total expenditures of $125,963.52, and ratify an amount of $587,800, and I'm sorry, $587,871.95.
Denise:
I motion to approve.
David:
Well that would have been a second. Is there any discussion? Question I would have, if I may, is, is the approval in the ratification is, for the same period of time referenced on the agenda as May? Is that true?
Jim:
No, that would be my error. That's actually June payables.
Describer:
The camera pans slightly to the right to show Jim in frame. Once he is done speaking, the camera will slowly pan back to the right to show David and the board members, and to zoom in on them.
Jim:
Okay. We have a difference of opinion. It's a matter of what, what the cutoff date is. It's really kind of mid May through May June, or mid June.
David:
And I noticed that, it is partially why I asked the question. The other part was, to make sure that we understood, that, that, that they both will fall under that same period of time.
Jim:
They, they do the, the way everything's broke out, it runs basically mid-month and not quite mid-month.
And it's actually a little bit short on, on both ends. So whether, it's whether it's May or June, I tend to put the.
Well you'll see it in my manager's report. We, we kind of function the same way though. I have more of a month, a day, one start of the month to last day of the month, and the reporting I do in terms of gallons used. But it's not the same that we do for the accounting, because of the time it takes to get things cut off, get processed, and then haul that information on the board packet.
So it's part May payables, part June payables.
David:
Thank you. Amanda. When you delivered that schedule that we had asked for in our initial meeting, I appreciate that. I was mentioning Denise that when looking at it and having this conversation as well about not only reports but ratification and, and approval of these numbersI wonder, what would be wrong with moving the district's regular meeting time closer to the end of the subject month.
I'm not looking for conversation at the moment, but it would seem like, accounting wise, it would be easier to keep track of. And it looks like you guys are hitting those milestones, date wise, to where we could, I don't know operation wise, whether or not we could or not, but to have the meeting two and, or three weeks after everyone has completed that month's worth of work, can be confusing.
So I'm just throwing it out there. We can talk about it.
Amanda:
I would say from an an accounting perspective, the deliverables that we're providing can be provided, as I stated in the timeline that I gave you, the earliest we can provide the deliverables for May 31st would be, last Wednesday, really for distribution on Thursday, it was end of day, Wednesday for distribution on Thursday.
So that really provides quite a time crunch for us to get anything earlier in the month. If a meeting were to move, we would need to provide financial statements for the month previously. Therefore, if we had a meeting earlier this month, from an accounting perspective, we would need to provide financial statements through April 30th, not May. Just based upon that.
David:
Yeah I, I, I, I guess I didn't see that. Let's, let's take, June as an example. Sure. I know that there's a bit of an anomaly in September.
Amanda:
So June's a pretty common month. So the first, the first Monday in June was really one of the very first work days. Therefore, five, five days, getting the deliverables because we have to have meter reads and everything else to get the imports, into the accounting system.
So that takes about five days for bills to process and everything else. We get the import, we import. And then on Monday of the following, week our staff is able to run financial statements and back schedules, which is really a good 8 to 16 hours worth of work that we're trying to get done. So he's running reconciliations, posting any journal entries that, that had to remain unposted at that point in time.
He then provides us deliverables to the accounting manager who turns around financial statements on Tuesday. I get those for review on Wednesday and provide any feedback. And I try and be as thorough and detailed as possible so it could take up to a day for him to clear comments that I have or really answer questions for the most part.
He then provides a final, set of financial statements no later than the end of day Wednesday, for distribution to the board on Thursday.
David:
Well, I see the, accounting manager Wednesday the 13th. Yeah. The email made Janet on the 14th. And then the third Monday of the month is the, board meeting for June? Correct.
But we're talking about the.
Is it? There's a lot of work that goes into it, and a lot of it gets done early. Is, is it is much the bank statements that aren’t unavailable until.
Amanda:
No, no. So the bank statements obviously aren't available until the first. But in an effort to close out the month, we have to have the utility billings, complete.
And those can't be complete until meters are read, but meters can't be read until the first because of month end. And Jana can correct me if I'm wrong, but they can't be read, so that takes time. Then Jana has to prep the bills for distribution, and then we upload all of that information into the accounting system. Beyond that, we really work to estimate accruals.
Because obviously on an accrual basis, any payables typically, I'll say, most payables paid in the month of June are related to work performed in May. So think of Pinnacle's bill, legal bill, that sort of thing. We bill at month end for the work we just performed. And so a lot of that we go through an estimate.
So we have, we have quite a detailed, estimate of accruals that we look at every month and say, have we received legal IREA, Pinnacle, and just go down the line to make sure that we've got the best accruals possible relative to that. If we've processed those payables by the beginning of the month, we're able to look at that estimate and put it in.
But beyond that, we're really just down to a time crunch, period. It takes us, I would say our team works probably about 32 hours a month to produce the financial statements and get all of the information in to make sure that it's clear and concise. So it takes us some time, but beyond that, it's, it's just waiting for necessary information and we get that information as quick as possible.
And I, I will give kudos to Janet in particular for really working hard to turn around information as soon as possible. We used to provide financial statements for the month previously. Thereby allowing us to have the appropriate accruals, and knowledge of any expenses that hit throughout the month. But it became apparent that there was a need and want to see financial statements for the month that just closed.
Therefore, we worked really hard. Last year we sat down as a team. We being the accounting team, and the district team, sat down and said, okay, how can we achieve this goal and how can we walk through this? And we really went day by day. Last year we sat down and went every single month. When do we have to have deliverables and how are we going to do this?
So having said that, unfortunately I don't think that we could do a current financial packet any earlier than we already are without giving the board time to review it first.
David:
Again, without belaboring it, I'm just trying to figure out what that one component is, and that is taking us three weeks to talk about the, the month, or month end to information.
Would it be, a good guess that. While, we have an accrual based accounting here. We don't have an accrual based revenue. Correct. And so it's because we're going, call it a cash basis revenue reporting scenario on accrual based accounting. That's really the big, item we were waiting for.
Amanda:
So we, we do wait for the revenue accrual.
We can't reconcile the bank account until that continental upload is done. So in my professional opinion, we would be giving you,
It's kind of that garbage in, garbage out theory that we're estimating everything at that point. So we're estimating expenses. We're estimating revenues. So in an effort to make sure that the bank balances tie out exactly that are statements, reconcile that we've really got the best, cleanest information for the board. We need to have the continental upload, the bank balance is reconciled.
We may be able to move it up a week should we not have continental. But that wouldn't allow us to reconcile the bank or anything. So that's where we have this anomaly, whereby we've really got to get, all of the dominoes in line, because if one thing falls out of place, we all, we all tumble.
Got it. And if it does make you feel better, this is the earliest I turn around a board packet for any client that I work with. So it's, it's quite a turn around. I just.
David:
We're all feeling good up here. Right, perfect. Yep. Thank you, thank you, thank you for that schedule. And, and thank you for helping me deduce what that, that milestone was that we had to achieve by the end of the month, that being the revenue or the reading of the meters and, in an accurate, reflection of the revenue so that we could reconcile with the bank statements, etc. There after.
So thank you. I, I got it now.
So we had a motion on the floor by Kathy. We had a second by Denise, had some discussion by myself, and, and Amanda, is there any more discussion? Hearing no more discussion.
Board Voting All Speak:
Take a vote of the board, by signifying, yea and nay for those that are yea in their hand, raised for those in favor. All in favor.
Aye. Aye. Aye. And those that are not in favor, nay and a hand. Any not in favor. Okay. Motion approved.
David:
Action item 6E, is the, consider an engagement of Kutak Rock as a bond council CWCB loan increase. While. Staff correct me if I'm, I’m, out of step on this. This is, a standard protocol for, bond counsel to be engaged when, we're involved in one of these major capital projects, and it, typically goes hand in hand with the obligation that we, considered and was approved in 2015.
And, apparently we're just looking for a motion, and an approval, if that's the way the board feels about it, to amend the original agreement, not only with the Chatfield project, but specifically, where we would need Kutak Rock’s help, to, to, perform with that. Be accurate.
Joan:
It's close. I can add a little more detail.
So, Kutak Rock has been the district's band council, for about, 12 years. and Christine Ley, partner at Kutak was bond counsel. I actually it was Sarah Ann Maxwell was band council in 2015 for the CWCB loans at that point. in your loan contract, amendment number one, on page three, number seven, one of the requirements is, a, an opinion from band council.
In order to approve and process the amendment. So it's, it's it's this document their, your loan amendment. And on page three, so the, the first two points under number seven, band Council's opinion that one, the person signing for the borrower were duly elected or appointed and has the authority to sign such documents on behalf of the borrower and to bind the borrower.
Number two, the borrower's Governing Body has validly adopted a resolution approving the amendment. Three there are no provision in any state or local law that prevent this amendment from being binding on the borrower, and four this amendment will be valid and binding against the borrower if entered into by CWCB. So the, the engagement letter is to authorize Kutak Rock to prepare the bond opinion.
David:
Specifically for the amendment amount of $1,572,000?
Joan:
Yes loan contract amendment number one. And bond counsel drafted the resolution that you will be considering.
David:
I would, If, if, if it pleases the board, we can consider, before taking a vote on them individually, we can consider both E and F together. For purposes of discussion, if it makes it any easier. If not, we can consider them individual or any preference, of the board?
Describer:
Brief talking off mic.
David:
Together if we can. Okay. Well, let's, let's consider, item F, 6F. That is a consideration of resolution 2018 006 authorizing the Colorado Water Conservation Board. CWCB the loan increase from the Chatfield reallocation project in aggregate amount of $1,319,464 by and through the Castle Pines Metropolitan Water District activity Enterprise, Enterprise Fund, I think, and authorizing execution of the documents related thereto.
Again, While, I could share with, everyone here, my understanding of, what the request is here. Well, Jim can add some color to it. Let me just say that, by virtue of the work study sessions that we've had, it has come to the board's attention, at least for new board members that we had, some initial estimates that were, part of the natural process associated with the Chatfield project. Namely, these were estimates for, design and actual construction costs that, were preliminary in nature as it was described to us and explained to us, we had counsel both our water rights attorney in tow.
We had, district council in tow, we had our accountants in tow. we had, the contractor, giving us some information. We had, of course, Mr. Nikkels, providing explanation, answers to questions, etc. And again, what we took away from, that exercise is our understanding to this moment where the board is being asked to, approve, this engagement with Kutak Rock, as well as an amendment to, a loan of which we have three of on the Chatfield Reservoir project and, on.
The loan in question, that had.
Had, an initial. What was it? What was the initial amount Joan?
Joan:
The initial amount was $4,102,000.
David:
Yep. Got it. I got it here. It's I, it's loan number two the initial $4,000,102 and, and, while, by virtue of, of the progress that we've seen out there, physically and, the provisions within the loan contract and with the, contractors, there was an, a chance that we could see some overages.
We could see some underages. And while it's my understanding we've had both, we have a situation, here acutely, because of a particular payment milestone that we've got to perform on. That being said, it has been estimated that, at least at this point in that process, we needed to, increase that loan amount, that had been previously approved, as I mentioned earlier, by 1,572,000.
Jim, I can I can, what I'd like to do is, beg the indulgence of, of the folks that are here tonight, as well as a board. And, and, just ask the board first if. They have any questions or comments about what I just said, or if I was clear enough that you're tracking with me. And we'll turn it over to Jim for additional color
Kathy:
The only, my only comment is, I, the additional amount on the loan is 1,320,851. I and, I think you might be looking at the 1.57 on that third. I am. That third draw.
David:
Oh, and, and, You're right. The difference between the 4102 and the five four is the one three that you're talking about. My bad.
Kathy:
No, no problem. I just wanted to make sure the public. That it ties correctly.
David:
Thank you. Sure. I want that to tie as well. Thank you for that. Anyone else?
Norman:
I’d like to point out that, you know, this entire project has been heading in a, in a particular direction for many years, and we might actually be looking at some other alternatives. And I don't think we have done enough of our, our due diligence on this, on this, to really determine if it's in the same direction or how this is going to affect the residents of, of Castle Pines.
If we approved this, and I just would like to see, you know, something that, that really put it in perspective on the new directions. Thank you.
David:
Anyone else? Anyone else? Jim, I'll turn it over to you for, some additional color on the subject, please.
Jim:
So, Mr. President, you did an excellent job explaining where we've come to so far.
I'm impressed because our new board members have been literally drinking out of a fire hose as we've been providing them information. We wanted to give a little recap for the public here tonight, because we did this in a work session. Didn't have any public really attending that night. But to give a little history to this, I have been explaining to the district board for the last two and a half years that this day would come, that we knew the estimates that were done for the original EIS were going to come up short on this project.
Those estimates had to be done without benefit of design plans. They were done, purely based upon, what the people involved in the project, knew about the project that, that point in time, and quite frankly, considering they started these numbers almost ten years ago, I'd have to say that group did a pretty good job nailing the cost on the project. For, for what we knew about the project.
As we got into design, we knew that we were not going to be able to bring the project in at the original $134,000,000 number that was recognized in the water provider agreements, particularly in, let me find note here.
Well, you could go to paragraphs IV, point D, IV point F1, you know, also go back to IVF point 1. There was, what we called, the off ramp. So the first part of these agreements is all the participants had to bring their money to the table and place that into escrow. That way, we knew everybody was going to jump at the same point in time.
Everybody would have money, or table stakes into this game. Our CWCB loans were part of our escrow amount. Cash of 10% was also part of our escrow amount, and over time we have been bringing that escrow down, paying monthly bills off of that. As we developed all the plan sets, as we put everything out to bid and received firm prices, that is how we then developed two things.
Did anybody want to take the off ramp? Because off rent was greater than 10% original cost, and the board that was sitting at that point in time, as well as all of the other participants boards. Nobody exercised the off ramp because the project is that important to everyone in this area. But at the same time, we agreed that the new escrow amount would have to come to the total $171,000,000.
A little bit of change. It's almost 172 million. Everything's done on a pro-rata basis on the number of shares. We started to work with CWCB, CWCB suggests absolutely. We can get the funding for it just know we have to go to the state legislature. They did that this last session. Typically the projects bill where, these types of projects, the funding for them is presented happens about midway through the session, this year.
It did not happen till the very end of the session. And then Governor Hickenlooper was slow on signing the bill. But nonetheless, we received notification that additional moneys would be available for any of the participants. At the same time, CMRC notified us that as of, June 11th, our money would be due into escrow. I explained to them, there's no way we could do that, because timing on our board meetings and CWCB had, we gave them the same explanation, we would not be able to say yes or no until following this meeting tonight.
Everybody is okay with that. They will be expecting us though, before the end of the state fiscal year, which ends this month, to either, have notified CWCB that we will take the loan extension, because if we don't, those funds will go back into the general fund. We'll lose that opportunity. Or if we're going to fund our additional, escrow requirement through cash, or if we're just going to walk away from a part of the project.
You do have three options tonight, per the agreements. We can fund the pro-rata share of the total project costs and continue on our course of 1,006 acre feet of space. As I mentioned in our tour, in one of our work sessions, we have a letter with CWCB reserving another 600 acre feet of storage. I did that because quite frankly, in this business, in this area, storage is what everybody needs.
It's the way that you produce firm yields on your water. We grab our water when we can, we put it into storage, we bring it into our systems. But having that piggy bank of water out there is critical for all of us. We can terminate and avoid, incurring further costs. We would still be liable for our pro-rata share of mitigation costs incurred to date, and we would have no asset at the end of the day, or a way to recoup our sunk costs.
We would simply walk away from what we've put into the project already. We could not fund, the project. We could relinquish a portion of our, storage rights. Based upon a total project cost of $17,000,000 versus the original $134,000,000, we would give up about 22% of our storage over there. Have It takes us down to about 785 acre feet.
It would be really ineffective for us, given the water rights that we're trying to, to use, given the assets that we already have in place. But that is an option. The board can exercise my opinion. If you're going to do that, it might be easier just to walk away from the project lick our wounds and absorb what we're going to lose and,
Gonna also ask, Joan to come up, talk a little bit about the loan agreements and, Amanda to also talk about, we heard the question. There was a concern about how this affects our customers. This loan's already counted into our, our rate study. It will not have an effect on our customers. We've already anticipated this happening.
David:
So specifically, the amendment has been contemplated. That is correct. Correct. Before Joan comes up, Amanda, if Jim doesn't have, the numbers in the hand, can you share with all of us?
What is the, position of the district through the financials that were approved tonight in dollars? Or what is their total investment amount to date in dollars on this storage project?
Amanda:
Do you want me to come up there?
Jim:
You, you got it right there.
Amanda:
Yeah. So I provided to the board a schedule for the Chatfield reallocation project that shows, year to date, or to date, rather cost of $2,200,000 for storage in the reallocation project from 2010 to 2018. We’ve got some additional expenses relative to that.
Describer:
Brief talking off mic.
Jim:
That's, that's the management fee.
Amanda:
The management fee. But to date, for at least the capitalized costs were 2.28, almost 2,300,000. And in fact, there have been some cost that trickled in since this point. So that number is slightly higher.
David:
And, and while these costs had, incurred in, since 2010, again for everyone's edification, the total cost to date has been $2.284M is that correct?
Amanda:
For the time of the project.
Jim:
And those are the capitalized cost, what's not. Correct? What's not covered in there are costs that the district expended on professional services, such as Joan’s time, Austin's time, as we said at the table, hammering out all of these agreements, protecting our position against other participants because, you know, we all want a little bit more at the end of the day, and we're all willing to give a little bit less.
It took a long time to, to hammer out these water provider agreements, and then you throw, on top of that, you throw the operation of the reservoir and how the original agreement had to be struck between the state of Colorado through Division of Natural Resources and the Corps of Engineers. We wanted to be at the table to protect ourselves also as those agreements were being drafted.
Those, those you won't see in there because those are just the capitalized cost.
David:
Appreciate that. So, Amanda, we have $2.3 million without the capital costs of all the professionals in the time that have, it has taken over the course of these eight years to bring this project to the, the the level of, of completion that it is.
You and I had this conversation and, and Denise earlier about, my preference to see the liability on the financial statement of what has to be spent to complete our financial obligations. I'd have to. Could you remind me, how you answered that question?
Amanda:
Sure. So, so to date, based on the 12-31 financial statements, you'll see, CIP additions which tie in to the audit of $343,000.
That's on the current debt. So that's what was due as of 12/31/2017 through May 31st, 2018, our outstanding obligation was $1,320,851. That has increased slightly due to costs that we received from CRMC on the district's behalf. But as of May 31st, the total liability on that debt was $1,300,000. And that is on a debt service schedule that I provided within the board packet as well.
David:
The total amount of debt service is a part of our rate structure and is being funded? Correct. By virtue of those fees that were approved by the previous board for 2018. Yes. The total amount of debt on loan 1 and 2 is what remains to be, paid to complete the project. And while those loans have been executed in 2015 they’re amortized over a long period of time, I don't remember that.
30 years. 30 years. Was it 30? Yep. I guess what I'm getting at, and I want to make sure that everyone in the audience is, is tracking with me and understands it the way I do. We're not looking for additional, we're not looking for any additional, fees or rates by virtue of the action being taken tonight. It is, it's a function of, as Jim indicated, as I tried to share with you, a process being, a developer and a builder myself, there are times that, you have to run with a, with the best guesstimate that you have. Right. And, and, that's what has taken place over a long period of time.
It's my opinion that it's not, a question of whether or not we need, the storage, at this, at this juncture, given the sunk cost that we have into it. As much as it is a question, when, when we do get, a good snow year and, and we do get good precipitation, and that water does come off the mountains and it is free.
Do we have a bucket we can catch it in? And. While, Jim has mentioned that our current, storage, ability. Correct me if I heard wrong. But was 6 or 700, thousand gallons. That being said, another thousand or another 1600. Given that opportunity, we have a right to exercise could potentially put us in a water storage position where we have if it were full.
We have, we have enough storage, for the water use on an annual basis. Okay. So 16, is, is, is a big number. We're talking about the 10,600 acre feet tonight. We're not talking about any fees, or rates that need to be adjusted. It's been contemplated. So, with that, Jim, did you want to say anything else or did you believe that we need to hear something from Joan, board.
If there's anything I want to jump in on?
Jim:
I, I certainly, leave that up to the board. I have nothing else to offer, but I'm available for any questions. I say, it is a lot to absorb in a few weeks time, when many of us have been living with this, for years now, and prior boards were prepped that this was going to be coming.
I say, I've been talking to the board for two and a half years. They understood the off ramp. They understood the decision they made when they did not exercise on the off ramp. It's unfortunate that we have four new members here trying to come up to speed and trying to make decisions around prior boards, but that's just how our business works.
It's no different than turnovers and councils, or turnovers and corporations in terms of board. So life, life has to go on and we all make the best decisions we can when we're faced with them.
Norman:
One question. The hawk-hocking water is going to hit the, Chatfield Reservoir right? Correct. How do you intend to get the water directly back to Cast Pines?
Jim:
The same way we do right now. Through the. Through the interconnect? Yep.
Norman:
So it would come right directly through Centennial and right directly across the interconnect.
Jim:
That's right. Currently, Centennial picks that water up at either the last Chance, staff, Ditch or the Nevada Ditch, which sits just downstream. They those two ditches, their head gate used to be right where Chatfield Reservoir is. In the 65 flood.
They were wiped out. The head gates were wiped out. The Corps of Engineers started shortly after that. Planning for the reservoir and the dam. Those two ditch companies move their ditches to just downstream of the structure, just across 470. And that is where Centennial currently picks up our hawk-hocking water. They bring it in their system, they treat it.
They bring it up to the tank next to the interconnect pump station. And as we want our water, we turn on the pump station and bring that through to our customers. Exact same way we will do with all of our other South Platte rights. Once Chatfield is ready to store those. Right now, with that water does not go through Chatfield, though, because we don't have a right to store until all the mitigation is in.
And it's approved by the Corps of Engineers. That's why they picked that water up to the last chance ditch still.
Norman:
I have a question what, what point do you anticipate it would take to get the, the Centennial, interconnect up to full speed?
Jim:
It would take, an investment into the water treatment plant. That's why we're limited right now in the winter time, because they do not have excess capacity in their system in the summertime.
It's part of the reason why they're expanding their water treatment plant. But it's that expansion of that plant. And then they treat the water and we bring it up. And then it's a function of how much water do we have sitting over there ready for them to treat? The hawk-hocking water will not get us, but if you, it's 335 gallons a minute year round. Okay thank you.
Robert:
I got a question. The Hawk-Hocking is approximately 200 and, net 280 acre feet, approximately? Approximately. Okay. And we're requesting, or have ability to get a thousand and six. Is there any anticipation that we will not, fully be able to utilize? Where, are we over buying? If we have 280, and there's a lot that can go in, but it can't right now.
Are we over buying with a, thousand and six?
Jim:
No. And that's what it's why when I had the chance to exercise the right of first refusal on another 600 acre feet, I, I. We were able to do that at no cost. All we had to do is put our name on the paper and get in line. I took that opportunity. Not only are we not oversubscribed, if anything were probably under subscribed in terms of if, if you want 100% renewable water, because as you've got more piggy bank to put water into, you're just that much better off for drought protection. Right now.
We'd have to rely upon our deep groundwater wells, dry summer. There's not much in storage. Then we have to fire the wells back up. It's a balancing act, though. Where do you want to end up at? 50% renewable. Most communities around us are now targeting 75% renewable. They'd all like to be at 100% renewable. It's very costly to do that in a one big step.
So you see all of us trying to pick off, in, in, incremental pieces of the, of the puzzle.
Norman:
I think what he's asking is where’s the other 1200 acre feet coming from?
Jim:
For the water?
Norman:
Well, the hawk-hocking only, only is, 280. Where is the rest of it going to come from to fill up the?
Jim:
From the Fort Lupton rights.
Norman:
And they don't seem to be able to, provide that type of reduction?
Jim:
The Fort Lupton rights?
Well they're going to protect, they will produce, between the two, about another 600 acre feet. And then you've got return flows that are coming down Plum Creek. It get, it gets us right at the, the 1000 acre feet. And then if there's free river, that's free water. Okay.
Robert:
Okay and we can use that
Robert:
And if you got a place to put it.
Robert:
A 1,006, I just want to get on the record that we're not over buying because I, was looking at the 280, and that seemed like it would fully service.
Jim:
But yeah, think of, think of the whole water portfolio, including return flows coming down Plum Creek. Okay.
Describer:
Brief taking off mic and laughs.
Denise:
I have a, just a couple of questions. Do we have any other major capital expenditures on, in our future? And if. We. In the next year.
Jim:
We always have reserves. In the event that something happens, a well goes down, a wall blows out the water treatment plant.
God forbid. Our next big capital project that we've been saving for, for the last three years. And we'll do this one more budget cycle, is the replacement of that water line along Castle Pines Parkway. And that's going to be in the $4,000,000 range. But we, I say, we've been building that fund up each year.
Denise:
So you don't anticipate loans?
Jim:
Nope. Not. Not.
Describer:
Amanda comes to the podium.
Amanda:
Along those lines, just because it ties in to some information I was looking at. So the district currently in our rate study budget's about $2,200,000 of additional capital per year, but that is attributable to future projects, as Jim said. So we're really building up that reserve so that we can utilize it. In my professional opinion, when we're looking at this potential loan increase for the CWCB loan, it's really low risk right now.
We're not required to that's, that's very much like a line of credit. So we'll put that money into escrow. But then that allows the board the opportunity during the budget process to look at our options for capital, for future debt, for future, capital projects and how we want to finance those, whether it be cash financing or debt. The strong point of this debt is that the interest rate is incredibly low at 3% over 30 years.
We have no prepayment penalties. We can pay it off at any time. But beyond that, if we take that 1.3 million and put it straight into escrow, we're losing the large amount of interest income we're getting right now, which nearly offsets the, potential interest rate. But beyond that, we've, we've lost our ability at budget season to really look at our long range capital plan.
So in my personal and professional opinion, when we're looking at this, we're really giving the board the opportunity to evaluate further during the budget cycle and really look at that rate model, look at future capital needs. My main concern would be, if we had a project like, Jim was alluding to, and instead didn't have the cash reserves, and at that point had to go out and obtain new debt, would we able, would we be able to secure it such a low interest rate?
I'm not sure we would. So we're adding risk, in my opinion, to go through that. So I just wanted to interject that.
Jim:
Now to give you the second portion of your question. You asked about, really the water side. So in the Water Enterprise Fund, our big capital project coming up is that replacement of that water main. On the sewer side though, and the sewer enterprise Fund, we do anticipate the need for some type of a loan as the expansion of PCWRA moves forward for our wastewater plant, we, again have budgeted for that.
We anticipate tap fee revenues paying for a portion of that, because there, there are two components to that expansion. One is additional capacity. That capacity is needed to serve Lagae. It's built into the tap fees that they pay when they connect. But there's also a component in that plant that is replacement, upgrades, permitting requirements. And those costs should fall to the entire community because everybody in the community, community benefits from those improvements.
What the Board of PCWRA has done has asked the engineers and management there to work as the plans are being developed, to work on breaking down what components go specifically to expansion, and which components, because we're all going to be looking to do that same sort of breakdown, either on taps or with customers. That is not an easy task because it is a plant and everything in that plant has to be there to make it function.
So there's a lot of debate going on as to whether it goes in column A or column B, but we will get there, and we will. Castle Rock’s got to do it for their ratepayers. Castle Pines Metro has got to do that for their ratepayers, and we'll have to do it for our ratepayers. But, so that you get the full picture.
Yes, we do anticipate, the need for probably a revenue bond when we're ready to enter into construction because it will, it will work very similar. All participants will be looking to escrow money and then draw down from escrow so that, the project's fully funded and we can move forward with it.
Norman:
How much would it cost for the, Plum Creek Reservoir?
Jim:
I don't recall what the dollar amounts are on it. The real problem is functionality, because it's not in a very, suitable place to build a reservoir. There's also an issue with segregation between the property for the reservoir, and where PCWRA sits. There is literally a 15 foot wide swath between those two properties, and, that property owner is not going to be easy to deal with to get connectivity between the two, I can tell you exactly what that property owner is going to want out of the deal.
And that's treatment capacity.
Describer:
Norman briefly talking off mic.
Norman:
So you don't have the estimate on hand...
Jim:
I, I don't it was it's been ten plus years since that reservoir was looked at. I can't say we've totally given up on it, but there are much better things to do with, all of us have better things to do with our water other than to, to put it into the Plum Creek Reservoir.
Norman::
Okay. Thank you.
David:
Jim, what's timing of that revenue bolen request?
Jim:
I would say at this point in time, a year from now.
David:
Okay. Any other comments, questions, concerns to the board for Jim, general or other? Hearing none. Thank you. It is with. That conversation, that we've just had that again I would, look to the board, for a motion to approve action items 6E and 6F.
Is there a, a motion, to be made or that we, you would like to make?
Denise:
I motion for approval?
Kathy?
I. Do, we need to do them separately, or is it okay to combine them? Yeah.
Describer:
Brief talking off mic.
Board Voting All Speak:
Is there a second? I'll second. Okay. We've got a motion, for approval of items 6E and 6F. Related items to CWCB.
Do we have a, and we have a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Need a vote from the board to approve, or not approve those in favor of approval signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Those. Aye. Those that, do not want to approve signify by saying nay. Hearing no nays all ayes, the item is passed.
David:
Item seven on the agenda is the Open Space Management report.
I assume that is Craig? Craig.
District Manager Craig: Craig Miller, Supervisor, Parks, Trails, and Open Space, CPNMD:
Thank you, Mr. President. our two employees, David, and Nat they just recently completed the second trail edge mowing. We mow all the edges of our sidewalks to keep the native grass down. So people don't lose their little dogs in the weeds as they're walking along the path. And we're very fortunate, to that the park board did approve some funds for us to buy our own mower, in house because we were paying over $10,000 a year to have those trail edges mowed.
We paid $25,000 for mower, and we were only mowing them once. Now we can mow them three and 4, times a year. Keep the residents happy, keep the property looking neat so again, my thanks to the the previous board, I completed my six part xeriscape class series at the Castle Pines Library at the end of May.
I have four more classes. They're starting in mid August. so I get a little break from them. I am still teaching classes on the weekends at Tagawa gardens, and we're averaging 90 plus attendees, which is great. And there's a lot of people from Castle Pines North that are coming up there to see them. I have one more class this Sunday and then I get a four week break, which is great.
It'll be nice, get my weekends back, and then I resume there again in early August. You'll notice in my report a picture of, Hidden Point Boulevard. Broken Arrow Landscape has been installing plants and irrigation for a 2018, landscaping projects. Work began on the xeriscape demonstration garden on Monarch. And if you haven't had a chance to take a look at that, you need to see it.
It's been completed. It turned out just absolutely beautiful. It's a really, a very nice addition to the community. They, they're working on Hidden Point now. They're finishing up irrigation and mulching this week. and weather permitting, they'll be starting either late this week or early next week at Briar Cliff and Briar Dale entry islands, followed by the Castle Pines Parkway and Monarch Boulevard Market.
Monuments, which are in the northeast and the southeast corners of that intersection. You'll notice all the plant materials been removed there. It was very badly overgrown. So with any luck at all, weather permitting, within the next 2 to 3 weeks, all of our landscaping projects for the year will be complete. But do get a chance to take a look at this new landscaping, because it really just, makes the community pop.
Hidden Point Boulevard really looks impressive at this point in time. We have an irrigation audit contract with Resource, Central. This is our Slow the Flow program. It, it was actually last week, early, it was only 45% filled, and we had a big jump. It's now 59% filled, and marketing efforts this month and next should help fill the rest of the slots available.
Again, to remind the board these are free irrigation audits that the residents of our community can take advantage of, and HOA’s can take advantage of. At this point, we have 41 more slots to fill. So if any of your friends or neighbors or any of you in the audience or interested in getting a free irrigation audit done, typically these irrigation audits are going to identify issues with your sprinkler system at home.
They will set a program for you, and it usually results in savings of anywhere between 20 to 40% of your irrigation water. In the sea, in the season, which is huge. I contracted tree removals and I note here it should be completed this week. They actually got done by last Friday. There were six large cottonwoods on the east side of Monarch, just north of Castle Pines Parkway, three cottonwoods on the north side of Castle Pines Parkway close to the tree, and two pine, retreat and two pines on the south side of Castle Pines Parkway, that were removed.
Stumps, ground, and everything like that. I've spoken with some of the residents involved ... near where those trees were and have put it on our schedule for 2019 to replace those trees. Our landscaping is pretty much burnt up this year, but we do have on the list to replace all of those trees. My goal when we remove trees is to try and replace two for one.
And usually we do it with little seedlings. But in some of these more primaries, we have to get larger trees just to help provide the blocking that used to be provided by the trees that were there. I met with representatives of Castle Pines Library on June 5th to discuss maintenance shortcomings on the new xeriscape demonstration garden there that was funded by the Parks authority.
The maintenance had not been done correctly. We had weeds everywhere. We had a lot of dead plants. Replacement plants are now to be installed and maintenance issues are being resolved. We are, agreed to meet on once a month basis. We have invested interest in it. As, represent, having a represented on the board of the Parks Authority.
So we want to make sure that our money was well spent there. But I'm pretty much convinced after our meeting that everybody is on the right track. On June 7th, Director Rosenkranz and I met with a group of residents concerned about the lack of vegetation along the roadsides on Monarch Boulevard between Winter Berry and Daniels Gate Road.
Describer:
Craig holds up a picture in the packet of the vegetation he is mentioning.
If you look on the back of the, of the handout, you'll see the pictures, the, the overview and the close up of, of what we got there. And I'll get to that in a minute. But I explain to them that it's an ongoing issue that popped up when private contractors took snow removal over, over from Douglas County. The contractor has been over applying salt and sand for winter traction, which has resulted in extreme high soil salinity.
Last year we did some soil tests, sent them to Colorado Analytical Laboratory, both up on Monarch and these areas affected, and also on Castle Pines Parkway. Because we continue to lose plant material on our median islands along Castle Pines Parkway due to, this issue. And it's costing us tens of thousand dollars annually in replacement plants. But what the soils report said is high salinity.
You aren't gonna be able to grow anything here. Number one, and high amounts of alkali in the soil. And what alkali does in the soil is it turns it into concrete. Essentially it's impenetrable. So these pictures right here, I have a little soil probe that'll go through bentonite clay. I can't even put it an eighth of an inch into this.
I mean, if you took a hammer and a screwdriver, you probably wouldn't be able to drive it into this material. It's just so hard. So we, we basically have two options, a summer overseeding with something called alkali. Sacaton grass, which is salt and alkali resistant. And our contractor, before I came here, about 5 or 6 years ago, did that on south sections of Monarch and was rewarded with monsoon rains.
You do it in summer months, because that's when you have to seed it. The monsoon rains made it germinate beautifully, which is why on the southern sections of Monarch, the native grass looks really good. So that's one option up there. Or we, do a fall overseeding with a more diverse blend of salt-tolerant grasses.
And the first option is obviously the cheapest, but it relies on summer monsoon rains. I'm not counting on those a whole lot right now, guys. The second option relies on winter and spring moisture, but will cost significantly more, as it is going to involve removing and replacing the existing soil, probably to a depth of about 12 inches. So this is going to become an extremely expensive proposition.
In either case, successful revegetation will be dependent on adequate moisture to germinate the seed, as well as a more careful application of deicing products in the future. Areas that we did to remove and replace on last winter or last fall. Have failed to, to germinate or have limited germination, you can actually walk up to the netting and see the white salt on top of the netting, which basically prevented the seed from germinating.
I do have a meeting with the city's public works director and his contractor for this Thursday at 9 a.m. Kathy, you're invited if you can make it. And we're going to see if we can find a solution. And then again, those photos just sort of illustrate the, concrete that we're trying to grow things in right there.
So it's been a bit of an issue and I'm happy to entertain any questions.
David:
Thank you for that report.
I'm assuming that we're going to hear more about your meeting, your upcoming meeting in our next. Absolutely. Board meeting.
Also, Craig, you have a, a program, about killing trees?
Craig:
Yeah, yeah, that's, that's my class this Sunday at Tagawa Gardens is how to kill a tree.
David:
Is that this Sunday?
Craig:
Yeah. Sunday at, at noon at Tagawa Gardens. Basically.
Describer:
Briefly talking off mic.
Craig:
And then, no, but those are easy to kill. Trust me. I've been in this business for so long, and I've been an arborist for so long, I just thought I would illustrate for everybody proper tree care by showing you the hilarity of bad tree care that I've seen and techniques for killing trees.
Craig:
So I hope to educate you through humor and, showing you what not to do. What. Would you want some tips? What? Well. I got a million of them.
David:
I'm not admitting anything. The question is, these presentations that you do, that one specifically, do you do a write up as well?
Craig:
Yeah. All our class handouts are on our website.
Every single class handout for every class I teach 23 different classes, and rotation, and all class handouts are there. So if you're interested. Just.
David:
And what time is that?
Craig:
That's at noon on Sunday at Tagawa Gardens Center.
David:
Duration of the class?
Craig:
It's about an hour. Very good.
Norman:
And, Craig? Yeah? Can you sow that, that soil for fill?
Craig:
No, unfortunately not.
Norman:
I mean, if they're going to use it for basin, side, and then overfill?
Craig:
You don't want to use it for anything. Because even if you were to grind it up and use it as like a road base or, a base under asphalt or something like that, the alkaline, the salt, salt is going to leach through the soil.
So it's unfortunately something that just has to be disposed of. And honestly, I don't, I mean, my concern, I've grown alkali Sacketon grass before. My concern is that it will not root into this stuff. It's so hard. That's the problem. You have to have a little bit of soil variability. In other words, a little bit of, of looseness to the soil at least where you can dig, dig a probe in at least an inch.
And we can't even do that. So we're going to have to look at some options. And yes, I'm going to be bringing to the board some, some proposals. Before we do any kind of work, because once again, we've got a limited budget It may be something we have to push into 2019, but I am right now active, actively soliciting some researching, reseeding proposals from a couple of contractors so that I have some information for in terms of cost. It's not going to be pretty.
David:
Are we seeing, a decay in the curb line in the sidewalk from salts as well?
Craig:
No. Well, I mean, it's, it's, it's you see it throughout the community on, on curb lines and things like that, but it's not as, as bad a deal as our lack of vegetation in some areas. And for me as a horticulturalist, it's very frustrating to be able to try and bring some beautiful designs and some really nice landscaping in the community and then just see it just get totaled by excessive salt.
There's a lot of communities that don't have this problem. I live in Parker in a, on a corporate, Douglas County. They do my snow and salt removal. We have native grass all around us and there's no damage to it, so it can be done. I've done snow removal for 15 years too, so I'm, I’m very familiar with what I talk.
David:
Is, is that your objective in this meeting that's coming up?
Describer:
David and Craig are briefly talking at the same time.
Craig:
My, my objective is, is to see if we can't get the city's contractor to just back off on the ice melt, and to also direct it properly. Right now they're throwing a, a salt snow sand mix onto the median islands instead of pushing it off to the sides.
I can replace sod a lot easier than I can replace the plants in the median islands, and also sod is irrigated, so it does tend to rinse a lot of the alkali in the soil saline right through the soil. We do have dead grass, if you'll notice, on Castle Pines Parkway on either side, but it's a band like this on Monarch.
It's bands like that because it's native and there is no irrigation. So I'll bring some solutions to you guys and I'll tell you the pros and cons of my professional opinions in terms of what's going to work, what's not going to work. And we can just go from there. But the residents, I think, understand now, after our meeting, that, we're working on it and they're very well pleased.
In fact, I got some very encouraging emails back from the first guy who contacted me who was very upset about this and says, hey, this is great. Thank you so much for setting the meeting and getting this underway. So he knows that we're actively looking for solutions at this point in time. And he's well pleased.
David:
I saw you guys out there meeting.
And, Kathy was, I mean, she had the whip behind her back, but. You can.
Kathy:
I do love the open space.
David:
Yeah, it, it was impressive, to say the least. The logos were, trucks were clean, logos were, were present. Nice job on that.
Craig:
I told director Froman, we take great pride, my team takes great pride in what we do.
And we're really proud of the open space and the landscapes that we maintain.
David:
Thank you for your report. Thank you.
Kathy:
I do, I do have a question, Craig. There's a lot of scrub oak being taken out. I'm assuming Xcel's doing that underneath the power lines. Are they going to physically remove it, or is it going to just sit there and rot?
Craig:
No. They will physically remove it right now. An update on the Excel power line clearance. Xcel energy is clearing their right of way of all scrub oak directly underneath their power lines. And, initially they've got, three bucket trucks out there. They're doing handwork. They're trimming the edges of the mitigation zone that they're going to be, be clearing.
Then they're going to bring the big grinder machines and cut down the trees and grind them all up, including all the brush that's down right now. So it will, what you'll see when it's done is just a whole load of wood chips all over the area.
Kathy:
Yes so they have done some in the past. So yep. Okay. Thank you. Welcome. Okay, thank you. Welcome.
Describer:
Craig sits back down and Jim walks to the podium.
David:
Item eight manager's report.
Jim:
I would just clarify one statement that Craig made. The Xcel property is not right away. They actually own that property, and fee title is where they're where they're working. And they do have right away or easement. Once you get back on to the property that the metro district owns between Castle Pines Parkway and just a little bit north of this building, but to the north of there, they actually own that property and fee title.
So they came to us and said, we're going to be doing this. We said well. Okay. Please notify the people that are affected. And of course, they put door hangers out with their phone numbers. And we received calls in here wanting to know why they're calling. Yeah, why,
Describer:
Briefly talking off mic.
Jim:
Why we were doing this. But just just for clarity. That is their property underneath those power lines.
Our water treatment plant, we still do not have high service pump. Number two, we're still waiting for our pump company technician to be able to come out and pull that pump, out and figure out what's going on. In spite of the warm weather. The last couple of weeks, we've been, we've been surviving okay. We can hope.
We're going to hope it doesn't get any drier any hotter. The rain last couple days has been really nice. Chatfield project, as you guys saw firsthand, our environmental mitigation components, are continuing, which is basically Plum Creek. They're on site, as the night that these folks got to tour the project, they had just started to move the water over into the new channel. They get to see what the functionality of the new improvements looks like.
And as they were just starting, then they continue to backfill the old channel and are already starting the revegetation process as they work that, backfill from South to North. Excuse me. I'm getting a little cold here tonight. The roadway on the, on the west side of the project opened this last Thursday that allows, park.
Not participants. But visitors, the opportunity to get down to all the day use, use, locations on the West side. You can still not get East to West across the park, because there's still a bridge that's under construction across the Platte River. That will not open up for several months yet, but we are able to get more park visitors into items around the park.
The, the swim beach there. It will not be finished this summer. As I pointed out, we'd always hope to have it open by July 4th. It's just not going to happen. It will be next season before the, the big swim beach is ready again. Lagae development, overall grading still continues down at filling two, and they have started to install their wet utilities water, sewer and storm sewer.
That is the area if you're coming down Lagae road that sits just to the South and a little bit to the West of where. What’s the builder? Lennar. Lennar, thank you, is working right now. And then Meritage Homes is, they're far enough along with utility installation that they're, they've actually approached the city as well as Fire District and ourselves to start to work on a plan for their first model homes, because their system will not be up and fully complete.
Most developers like to get models started. We always try to work with, any of our builders to get 4 or 5 models up and started. As long as the fire department is satisfied they have adequate fire flows, that there are adequate, hard surface roads to get in the event of an emergency or a fire. And we in the city, and as long as of as well as the fire district, will continue to work with them on developing that plan.
We have received a first submittal on a new set of water and sewer plans for the property that sits just to the South of us, here at the corner of Castle Pines Parkway and Lagae. That is a ten acre parcel. Developers looking to place approximately 200 units apartments on that parcel. This is not the first developer that has looked at the project, but it is the first develop, developer who has gone far enough along to put money into engineering work and start that submittal process.
I would expect, after talking to Sam Bishop, the city today, I would expect to see the first referral package on that project come to us in about six weeks. So they're out a little bit in advance of the city process, because water and sewer approvals always take a little while. We've got to work through easements. We've been working with that, developers engineer though, for about nine months now.
The plan set approval should be, go fairly quickly. PCWRA, as I mentioned, we continue to work on the design of the expansion down there. We're at about the 60% level on that expansion. Our percentage, the project total project cost is going to come in at about 13.82%. And today we're estimating, those dollars to be about $4,700,000 to $4,900,000.
So we're going to be looking somewhere just under $5,000,000 in in funding there. The other thing that we as the board have been doing there is looking at how to, expand additional office space. And most of this drives, derives around the need for additional chemistry space, lab space for testing. We have now looked at, four options.
Overall, none of the options were financially satisfying to us. There were way more expensive than what we can afford for our constituents. So we continue to look at new ways to, to try to figure out what to do with this lab space. One of the things that we are looking at is Castle Rock has, they feel that they're underutilized in their water lab, and we may move the water testing function down to Castle Rock.
And then that frees up some space for the sewer testing at, at Plum Creek. How we're going to deal with needed space for additional employees? We're not quite there yet, but, say it's, all three of us to sit on that board. Recognize the importance of keeping costs down to our constituents, and none of us could justify the cost of new buildings.
So we'll continue to look for a solution. This last month, we did bill for just over 60 million gallons of water. 30 days ago, when I, presented that little graph at the bottom here. Amanda had made a comment earlier in the night that we were behind on revenue. You see what happens in a few couple or a couple of dry weeks and, no rain.
Our usage in May went through the roof. We actually use more water in the month of May than we had in the four months prior combined. That's how much water we put out to our customers. Our well production in May total 52.2 million. And we did have the interconnect on to produce 2.5 million gallons of water that's back over that Memorial Day time frame when pump number two went down, we weren't able to respond fast enough.
We put a call in to our partners in Centennial and said, can we take a little water? It was amazing. Within about 30 minutes we had approvals. We had people heading up there to turn valves and a pump station coming on. So, I would say over Memorial Day, our, our friends at Centennial really saved us. The golf course for this last month used 9.4 million gallons.
You see how we're starting to trend upward on our usage? That will continue right through August before we start down the backside of the bell curve. And unless it continues to rain like we've seen in the last day or so, I would expect the bar in June to just slightly exceed those two bars from June of 2016 and 2017.
In addition to, oh, our wastewater flows were 16.5 million gallons for the month, pretty average. I placed before you. This is not in my report because it just hit here today, a letter from the city of Castle Pines as well as a map. I bring this to your attention. I'm sure this will develop over the next few weeks.
This is a, it's a letter. It's tough to tell exactly what they want, but I'll give you my interpretation of it. They are going. They have some project along Castle Pines Parkway where they need some additional right of way. They are going to request to purchase 0.003 acres from us. 115 square feet. And this property, it's took me a little bit of time with the legal descriptions provided, but this property sits on this map just to the East of our building.
Describer:
Jim holds up, and points to a piece of paper with the map of the location of the land where Castle Pines Parkway is requesting land.
Our building would be the pin. It's been placed there. And then the dark blue outline is the property actually affected by this. I would see no problem that we cannot work with the city, but, at some point in time that will provide us, an estimate of their value, and then we can discuss whether we want to just be nice neighbors to the city or whether we want, probably less than $1,000 here for 115 square feet of property.
But that will develop over time. The other item I have tonight that's not on this agenda, this comes out of the meeting with the Parks Authority this morning. Parks authority asked the Metro district to look at, acquiring, 2 or 3 proposals for design services on approximately could be two, but most likely it will be three new multi-purpose courts.
Primarily designed for tennis and pickle ball. The Parks Authority has a little under $850,000 that they're looking to put to use here in the community. And, would like us to start the process of building with their funds, the Parks Authority funds, most likely three new pickle ball/tennis courts, an additional parking facility, and then the drainage facilities that would go along with it, just to the North of our parking lot here.
I will bring you more information as we move forward. But that is what your Parks Authority is up to. They're looking for a way to basically spend down their cash and dissolve themselves. At this point in time, there is no additional funding coming into the Parks Authority. The time that I've been here, we've spent a little over $200,000.
I made the comment in my first Parks Authority meeting. At the rate we were going, we could continue to pay the attorney for about 47 years and then we'd run out of money. So at least this way, there's the opportunity to put this community's dollars, to, to work for the community. And with that, if there are any questions, I'd be more than happy to address them.
Denise:
Just, on the, with the tennis court you just talked about? Does the 850,000 cover the cost of that?
Jim:
We'll know as we get further into design, our basketball courts, to put two courts in was about $250,000 down there.
Denise:
Oh, okay. Nice addition.
Jim:
It's, it's going to depend upon really how much grading is going to be necessary, and we won't know that till we get in, but we want to set it up so that it will be either two and fully covered, or three and fully covered, so that we're not, scrambling to put additional funding in.
We want them to fully pay for it.
Robert:
How much community input did we have on the location of these tennis courts?
Jim:
Well, the, these funds have always been intended for what's known as Castle View Park. That, that's really what the funds are intended for. So that's the reason why they're looking to, to place them here.
This, this property out here has had at least two different park designs on it, and it's never progressed anywhere due to lack of funding. And the $850,000 won't start to build out the park over there. But, there is just no more money coming in. A few years back, there was $40 a month that came in from each resident, from the master association, and there was a request from a then mayor to let that go with a promise of, of backfilling of funds.
And that's never happened. So.
Robert:
So it'll be less expensive to build a new park here rather than making an addition to a Coyote Ridge Park, which was our largest park.
Jim:
And because those funds are really earmarked for Castle View Park. Okay. Thanks.
Kathy:
And do you have a question about input from, is that what you were really asking? Input from the community? Right. So, so to address the input from the community when we decided to locate those tennis courts over.
Jim:
Originally we wanted to put them.
Kathy:
Was that what you were kinda getting at?
Jim:
We wanted to put the basketball courts originally over at Retreat Park and got a lot of blowback, a lot of surprisingly, the negative comments weren't surprising. The racial overtones in the comments was a little surprising. That's what drove us up to, to place those up at, Coyote Ridge. And just.
Kathy:
So we would do those, I mean, so we would have to do the same because it's going to be, traffic and noise, and things that.
Robert:
As long as we're considering where the residents would want this, and there's a portion, the residents that are involved in pickle ball or such and take their needs. So okay, we can continue that. Thank you.
Jim:
It, it's, it's a work in progress.
David:
There's, no relationship to the lottery proceeds in this effort?
Jim:
No. This is purely.
David:
Totally separate.
Jim:
That's, this is purely parks authority.
David:
And they gave you this information, when? This morning. Merry Christmas.
Jim:
Yeah. It's, it's been discussed within the Parks Authority for a couple of years. We started this effort about two years ago and was asked to hold off by the city because they were developing their recreation plan.
Don't know what happened to the recreation plan, but I've got members in the Parks Authority that are ready to put dollars to work for the community and, and move on.
David:
The, plans that were submitted for the apartment project. Any of the plans that are submitted to the district, is that plan check done internally?
Jim:
It's a combination.
I do a, a small review on it, but most of the review is actually done by Kennedy Jenks, the district engineers. And the reason for that is they will run everything through their hydraulic model to make sure we've got adequate sizing of the fire protection over there.
David:
Any questions from the board? Jim. There's a, of part of our, our our need to get our arms around.
The, responsibilities and opportunities here in. We need a list. The board needs a list of, all the paid consultants that the district has, that are part and parcel to the 2018, approved budget. Okay. If we could get a list of those by name, some time inside of this week, please?
Jim:
Would you like their, with the function they perform along with that?
David:
If it's not obvious. Sure. Okay. Yeah, that'd be great. Thank you.
Jim:
Yep happy to do that.
Norman:
Do you by any chance have a, a matrix of all the water, water costs across the Colorado Mayan reservoir?
Jim:
No. And I don't recall ever seeing anything like that.
Yeah, I, I could, I could check, like, the DNR website or CWCB website. But in all my years in business, I've never seen anybody do a matrix in terms of cost like that.
Describer:
Norman is briefly talking off mic.
Norman:
That would really help me out. I’m trying to, do a reference between, between reservoirs.
Jim:
Yeah. One of the issues that you're going to run into is, that apple to apple comparison, because there are reservoirs out there that are compensatory storage, have multiple different users in them, which will have different rate structures. I suspect there's you.
Norman:
It’s not really perfect.
Jim:
Yeah. I just suspect there's a reason why I've never run across anything like that.
Because nobody's figured out how to do it and make any sense out of it, but I'm happy to poke around and see what might be out there.
Norman:
But I'd really like to, see it, if it could be done.
Jim:
Let me, spend a little time called friends down to DNR and start there and see what they what direction they might be able to point me in.
David:
Anything else? Thank you, Mr. Nikkels. Item nine, legal counsel report.
Joan:
There's no legal counsel report tonight.
David:
Very good. Item ten. Director's matters. Are there any matters that the directors would like to address at this time?
Robert:
I'd like to make a motion to have the committee further our transparency by investigating additions to our current website to include agenda minutes, board meeting, videos, and possibly, interactive question and answering. To form a committee to look at how we can better be transparent through our website.
Jim:
To, to just lay a little groundwork for this. We were approached to schedule a meeting with two of the board members, and in an attempt to be totally transparent, I suggested that it really should be an action that happens in a meeting.
That two board members are appointed, to come talk to staff so that the public is aware of what's happening and transpiring so that there's nothing happening behind the scenes we’re more than happy to, to work with whoever's appointed to this committee or any other committees. It was just when suddenly we got a call saying, we want to come talk about this.
And it had not been discussed in a meeting. It was my suggestion. It would be really good to put it out there and make the determination who was going to sit on the committee, and then we can start to work with them.
David:
So I'm going to get this list of consultants that make up the 2018 budget.
And as a part of, serving this community, I know I'm going to have a question. Might even throw a comment, their direction but want to engage them.
I'm not certain that I see the upside to, delaying, the answer to my questions by either calling a special meeting or waiting for a meeting to ask for the creation of a committee, to, to, to, represent that, whatever I'm up to, which is again, is for the benefit of the community is either honest or transparent.
It's, it’s almost offensive to me. And so, Robert, I'm, I'm, I'm not sure. I, if we need to negotiate our contracts to where this board individually can communicate with any of the consultants that we pay, and it's included, we have to negotiate those hour every month. I mean, something needs to be done in that regard because I don't I, I, I, I'm not sure that Robert's intent was, was, was to look for more to do as much as to.
Bone up on what was happening, and see if there wasn't a chance to lineate some of the benefit that, we derived as, candidates and, and now elected officials to improve, the relationship between our constituents in this district. It concerns me that, that, that, that effort would be made bigger than I think the initial intent was to find the answer to some, some questions, have some conversations with some I.T. people.
Jim:
And so the intent there was to make sure that the entire board had awareness of what was going to transpire. Because this board works as five individuals, as a group and not five individuals. I would say, and legal counsel can tell me if I'm wrong or not. What you've done this evening is explained not only that you want the list, but what your purpose’s on the list.
And now you have four other board members that are aware of what you're trying to do prior to this discussion this evening, not all the board members knew with the intent was in terms of trying to bolster or improve the website. That's, that's my only reason for making that statement.
David:
And while. That's fair, it's not the truth. Okay.
What, what's not true? This board doesn't, speak only at meetings. This board speaks to one another lawfully and, and is fully engaged. Let me tell everyone in this meeting, everyone in this room, that this board is as active as any board I have been a party to in the 60 years I've been alive. Okay, they are busting their butts. And I don't expect that they're going to do anything other than that until we've come up with, as Al pointed out, a way to deliver renewable water more wisely.
And if that calls for, or or, or, or, if that means that a board member or two, want to talk to anyone within this district, I genuinely, and sincerely understand the necessity of the structure that exists, that you should know about that.
But if it is, if we're asking something from the employees, if we're not asking something from the team by and through you, but rather consultants. Not only was my request for a list of those consultants, that was not my sole purpose, it was good idea, but it was not my purpose. I don't think it was Robert's purpose or Norm.
To work around you. Work around the staff, and I. I didn't work without the consensus of the board. Be assured that this board, the majority of this board, knew what was happening. Okay, that, that meeting was going to take place as a part of his efforts to bring honest transparency by and through that website, with every opportunity that he stumbled upon, by virtue of the due diligence that he was exercising.
Nothing more, nothing less. Again, I appreciate where you're coming from.
But I don't want to, I, I, I, I, I don't think it's necessary that, that, that, we delay. The benefit of, of everyone's individual or dual efforts, and leave the communication to us. If there's a comment, question, or concern, you have a direct line to each one of us. Or myself, much like yourself, Mr. President. I'll take every call.
I don't know what's going on then, then, then, maybe there's reason for concern or conversation, but, we're working together and going to continue to work together. We're unified in what we, promised our constituents were unified in, in, what our goals are, suspect will remain unified in achieving those goals.
Norman:
I'd like to second Robert's motion.
David:
We've got a motion on the floor, to organize a committee. I'm not sure what that committee is organized of, Robert.
Robert:
Or let me reiterate or just figure out what you were just saying. You're saying that we don't need a committee for me to go out and just basically talk to the person that operates the website right now to figure out the capabilities of the website, if we can bolster it, to let the residents know.
And you’re saying we don't need a committee for that. I may have overstepped by asking, asking for the motion. So if you could clarify that for us, I appreciate it.
David:
Yeah. and I'll defer to Joan. Joan, is there anything that either Jim or I said in regard to this issue that you want to expound on?
Joan:
So I would like to state at, the district's policy. And this is standard throughout the industry. The board president and board manager work very closely together. so communications, requests for consultants time, or staff time, or the activity going on in the district should all be run through the board president and, and the district manager.
So, Director Merritt's request to, I don't know exactly what that was. Meet with consultant? Talk to staff?
Robert:
I called and just asked, a front office staff. We would like to maybe bolster or see what the capabilities of the website are. They informed me that you have to speak to Craig. Okay, but Craig doesn't do a lot of, web stuff.
They have a director that does that, and okay. Can talk to him? And that's how that parlayed out. He said, hey, okay, I can explain what we do. Within a couple minutes, we'll set the meeting for Tuesday. Was not meaning to infringe on anybody's time. I would have done it during lunch. It took five minutes.
Joan:
It’s. It's not that. It’s more.
Robert:
That's the history.
Joan:
So, it's so that the, the board president has control as, as well as, the district manager is aware of what's going on. And it's, it's really control of, of the budget and also the board policy. So the actions, your activity is fine. You should work through the district manager and just copy that board president on any activity that you're doing.
And if, if there's an issue with what was requested, how it's requested, how things are done, then, that, that can all easily be worked out. A part of it is the, the board's role in setting policy. And I understand where, where this, the new directors are coming from. And that's absolutely fine. It's a, part of it is, is not micromanaging the staff.
The, the board has an issue. You'd like to see the website be more up to date, more informational, more user friendly. All that is, fine. It's, it's just working through, the set policy.
Robert:
The procedure was just a little bit slow, because we don’t even have our pictures on the website yet, it’s so. I understand the policy so. I’ll refer to David.
Joan:
So any, if you have a concern like that, the email should be sent to the board president and copied on Jim. And then, they'll decide, it just Robert. Go for it. Jim. Follow up.
David:
Well, we'll work out the bugs. Okay. Yeah. But again, I, I feel, passionate about ensuring, even if it is an adjustment to the contracts of these consultants, moving forward into 2019, that we have to negotiate individual time with a board member upon their request.
We'll figure it out. Like I said, this was not a request to staff. This was, the director who was pursuing answers, so that he could communicate with other board members on his finding based on his expertise, as well. And, and, and so please note that the, the passion that you. Hear from this president is, is, in behalf of each one of these board members that are giving their time, and their and putting forth the effort that they are, which is very commendable.
I'm, I’m certain that it's a little easier to follow the process, as Kathy has, has probably done with working with Craig, because it's all internal and, and, and, and, she's been there, done that. But as, as we get up to speed, if that happens.
Again, I feel confident that this president knows what's going on, but feel free to communicate with me directly before it's time we, shackle any of, of, of what's going on here. Because it's all very, the intent is positive and it's productive. Okay. Robert, I don't think that we need a commit. Or let me say, that it's up to you as to whether or not you want a committee or not.
If you, if, if you want to meet with that consultant, Jim, you'll make that happen. And and, but if you want a committee, by all means, you can make a motion and tell us who that committee is and give us a little background, what your, what your objective is and your future, what the future looks like, etc.
Jim:
And Mr. President, it doesn't have to be a committee. Again, my only intent here was to make sure that there was some clarity that all five board members were aware of what was going on, what was transpiring, what was happening? Used term earlier, the majority of the board. And again, I will reiterate, it's important that all five members understand and know what's potentially happening because you all have a fiduciary duty, as I do, to watch that budget.
And that at the heart of the day is, as passionate as you are as a new board president. Understand, I'm just as passionate about protecting the health of the finances of this district. So that's, that's what I'm looking out for.
David:
So noted. I'll take care of the board. You take care of the district.
Jim:
Okay. But it's going to take us walking hand and hand to do that.
You know where I live. You know my number. I do.
Robert:
For the record, I retract the motion.
Kathy:
And, and also, if any, I mean, I don't know how many people are interested in soil and things too. So if you want to come, if you want to come in, we just have to have a limit of two if we have three, we got a meeting.
So 9:30 on Thursday. Nine. Oh nine on Thursday. And won’t exclude anybody from the soil, problem.
David:
Nor, nor did Robert exclude anyone obvious by Norm's presence. Thank you. Kathy. You bet.
Are there any other director's matters? Hearing none. you know, open up the meeting for public comment. We heard from Al. I don't have an indication that there's anybody else that wish to speak.
Describer:
Jean briefly talking off mic.
David:
Keep it to three minutes. You got it. And for the record, would you please give us your name and address?
Jean Henry Castle Pines Resident:
Yes. So it's Jean Henry, 6746 Mary Court. And I just wanted to thank the board for their commitment to transparency, that I have confidence that if any policies need to be changed in order to support that transparency, that those policies will be changed and we'll, excuse me in reference to the previous comments by Director Merritt.
I think everybody should be aware that as you update the website, it would be fabulous if we leveraged, I don't know, technology that's 5 or 10 years old. That allows us to push notifications of meetings to those who register on the website, so that I could go on to the website if there was a study session, for example, right, that you would then just push it out to me, that it would automatically occur that technology is quite old.
So that's it. Did I make 90 seconds? Thank you.
David:
Sure. Thanks, Jean. I'm gonna, I'm gonna hand you this sign up sheet so you can put that information in for me. With that being said, we amended the agenda, in the forefront of this meeting to include, as our next item in executive session. Again, remember, that the purpose of this, albeit a surprise to the board, is to discuss a, a nuance, where, we're being advised we're going to, and would benefit from, legal counsel.
And, and so with that, if I have a.
Joan:
Mr. President could I read the motion, and then ask someone to make it?
David:
You may. Thank you.
Joan:
So, a motion to enter into an executive session to receive legal advice on specific legal questions pursuant to 24-6-4024B CRS related to HOA one fencing and threatened litigation.
David:
Do we have a motion, or a second I mean? Well you read the motion.
Kathy:
So I'll, I'll make that motion.
David:
Okay. Second?
Board Voting All Speak:
I'll second it. Discussion? Hearing none a vote of the board. While we, we, we did so as a part of amending, the agenda will do so as a part of this individual item. All those in favor of, of, moving to executive session, signify by saying aye, Aye. Aye. Those opposed indicate by saying nay. Nay. Nay. Nay.
Motion is denied.
David:
If there are no further items, to be heard on the agenda is presented to, everyone in this room on this date. I look for a motion to adjourn.
Robert:
Yes. Motion to adjourn. Second. Second.
Norman:
I second it.
David:
Any discussion? All in favor?
Robert:
Just say, discussion would be if we're going to do that, executive session. We just need a little bit more information, more time, because we, discussed, and ran out. We're not going to hold executive sessions without public, being present for, decisions. I understand the legality part of it, but I think it's important initially to, stick with what we ran on and, and go forward.
Describer:
This meeting did end soon after this discussion.