March 18, 2019 Video Board Meeting
Transcript
Describer:
AGENDA
Board of Directors Meeting
Monday, March 18, 2019, at 6:00 p.m.
7404 Yorkshire Drive, Castle Pines, CO 80108
1. Call to Order Regular Meeting/Pledge of Allegiance.
2. Roll Call/Announcement of Quorum/Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest.
3. Consider Approving the Monday, March 18, 2019, Board Meeting Agenda.
4. Consider Approving Minutes of the Regular Board Meeting of February 19, 2019.
5. Opening Public-Comment Period. (3-minute maximum per person)
6. Open Space Manager's Report.
7. Legal Counsel's Report.
8. District Manager's Report.
9. Board Action Items.
A. Consider Financial Report and Items from Finance Director.
B. Review Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) Audit
C. Consider approving/ratifying current payables for February 2019 (Check numbers 24197 - 24254)
10. Directors Matters.
11. Closing Public-Comment Period. (3-minute maximum per person)
12. Adjourn
Describer:
The video starts with the Castle Pines Northern Metro District logo fading in. The date is March 18th, 2019.
Board President David McEntire:
Good evening. Want to call this meeting to order if I may. If you all would join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, please.
Describer:
The camera pans to the right quickly and back to the board during and after reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
All Speak:
I pledge 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 everyone. Welcome. I'm going to call roll in the forefront of that, know that Denise has been excused. Unfortunately, had a death close to the family and just wasn't feeling up to being out this evening. Asked if we would cover, and of course we will. So with that, I'm going to call roll.
Board Member Director Robert Merritt:
Robert Merritt. Here
Board Member Director Chris Lewis:
Chris Lewis. Here.
Board President Chuck Lowen:
Chuck Lowen. Here.
David:
And I'm here. We have a quorum. Are there any disclosures of potential conflicts of interest on anyone's part? No conflicts. No conflicts. None.
Very good. Then we will consider the approval of tonight, Monday, March 18th, board meeting agenda. Everyone has had an opportunity over the course of the last 7 to 10 days to review same, make the adjustments, I believe, have all been made. If that's the case, a motion by one of my colleagues to approve this agenda would be appreciated.
Chuck:
I make a motion to approve the agenda of March 18th, 2019.
Robert:
I second it.
David:
We've got a motion on the floor to approve the March 18th, 2019, board meeting agenda and a second by first was with Chuck Lowen and second, Chris Lewis. All of those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Any?
Hearing none, motion carries. Item number four is the consideration of approving the minutes of the regular board meeting of February 19th. Again, everyone's had the package. I know we spent a lot of time on that particular matter to ensure that we were comprehensive in the inclusion of all that was said.
Is there anyone that have any comments, questions or concerns about that before entertaining a motion for approving the minutes of our last meeting? Anyone? Hearing none, is there a motion on the floor to approve February 19th minutes?
Chuck:
I make a motion that we approve the board meeting minutes of Tuesday, February 19th, 2019.
Robert:
I second it.
David:
We've got a motion by Chuck Lowen and Director Lewis to approve the regular board meeting minutes of February 19th, 2019 as presented.
All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.
We're going to open the public comment period. We have a sign-in sheet. I think we have one signed in and she's not speaking tonight, so, but welcome.
City Councilwoman Mulvey, we appreciate your coming and recognize you in the audience there. Hearing or seeing no one else and hearing no one else, we'll hastily move on to item #6 of tonight's agenda, which is the Open Space Manager's Report.
Good evening, Greg.
Describer:
The camera zooms out from the board and slowly pans and zooms into Greg. He walks to the stand to talk about the Open Space Manager's Report.
Greg:
Good evening. You all have a copy of my report. Do you want me to go over it or do you have any questions?
David:
I think it was comprehensive, well constructed, and unless there's something that has changed on your part, don't believe that any of us have anything else that we hadn't already addressed.
Greg:
The only thing that I want to mention is kudos to my guys David Anderson and Natalia Maldonado. This last blizzard was a nightmare and they had a hell of a time. The snow was so heavy there were sections of the trail they could not plow because it got the better of the equipment. They persevered and we finished the last of the plowing today, believe it or not, two small sections of about 20 foot that we couldn't get because the snow is too heavy. But I want to give my kudos to those two guys because they worked their butts off and they froze to death doing it. So they really worked hard and got did a great job on the trails in my opinion. So just want to make sure they recognize.
David:
Let them know that we join you in those kudos. We watched them all week long, doing it two and three times, just get it enough off the ground to where they were able to move on. And so it was a job well done. So pass that on for us.
Greg:
You got it.
Describer:
The camera zooms out and pans back to the
David:
Thank you. Item number seven is the legal counsel's report. Mr. Seter, you're present. You have a report. We've reviewed it. Is there been any changes since then?
Legal Counsel Kim Seter, Esq.:
There are three items that we would like to address, two of which are not in the report. But other than that, nothing changes in the report.
David:
Do you want to go first or would you like us to go first?
Kim:
Once you go first, any questions you have and then then I'll go. Actually, you know what? Why don't I go first? Because you might have questions about what I say.
So the first item in the report on page one concerning Lagae Ranch, we brought that to you last month. That concerned the warranty periods. Under the district's inclusion agreements, the documents say that something like a lift station is constructed. It is preliminarily accepted after inspection by the district and then there's a one year period before it can be finally accepted. After it's finally accepted and conveyed to the district, the warranty begins.
What's been actually happening, though, in the district is that when the preliminary acceptance is made, the warranty period has begun and then at the end of the warranty period, there's a re-inspection, final acceptance and the warranty ends as well.
That is the process that we think will be the most simple and the most cost effective to continue, but it's not what your documents say. So the Lagae Ranch inclusion agreement has this much longer period. Beth has handed out to you an amendment to that contract. If you choose to go ahead with the shorter period that we're recommending, that amendment will implement that and then we can move on. And then we'll change the form contract so that that is the procedure from now on.
Any questions on that one?
Robert:
Why would we go with a shorter warranty? That doesn't make conventional sense.
Kim:
Yeah. The shorter process is the typical process and it is much better to not accept those facilities if you're not ready to accept them. So under the way the documents are written, you're accepting the facilities and then you're having a warranty period. There's no reason to do that because you don't have to accept them. You inspect them. If they're not good enough, maybe it takes another year before you do the final acceptance. During that entire period, the developer owns those facilities. He's fully responsible for their operation and functioning. And the other way around, responsibility gets a little fuzzy.
Robert:
So the warranty, even the longer warranty, only goes until final acceptance.
Kim:
Under the documents, it goes beyond the final acceptance. What we're proposing is the warranty just covers that period from preliminary to final and you choose when the final acceptance takes place.
Describer:
The board begins discussing the warranty period. The camera slowly pans to them.
Council, in collaborating here with my colleagues. We're of an opinion that we may not be best suited or prepared, if you will, to give you a definitive answer, having not seen this before.
And so unless there is some sense of urgency between now and next meeting we're certain to be able to vet this amongst ourselves and get back to you between now and then if that's all right.
Kim:
Yes in fact we can wait till the next meeting there is no there's no urgency right now. Let's do that. Okay. Okay.
The second item is attached to the report and that's the lease for the farm property in Weld County. That was already signed by Jim Worley.
The statute says that anything to do with real estate must be approved by the board so we just want you to ratify that lease. That's property that you own for the water rights underneath and you rent it out for somebody to farm.
David:
Only question I have in that regard is is is that lease in our package exactly other than the dates of course the same as it was with the lease last year and the lease or
Do you know the answer that Jim I think it was.
Describer:
The camera pans to District Manager, Jim Worley.
District Manager, Jim Worley:
I believe the answer is yes you have nothing changed on it this year.
David:
Other than the dates?
Kim:
Yes I believe that's correct. The water council did that took care of that lease so we'll be taking those from now on but as far as we know there's no change.
David:
Okay. Had we experienced or is anyone aware of having any challenges or problems with that lease in that last year's period? No sir. No.
Jim:
They continue to take care of the land basically and that's the reason for the lease for them to go back so that the water is continually used and that's been happening.
David:
And we haven't run into an issue within the lease where our aspirations for call it making some improvements would be hampered by having the lease as it is written on the property. This is an opportunity to modify that lease. Is there anyone looking for or recommending that we look at any modifications before we enter into another year? I like the fact that we're only doing it one year at a time and that generally means we have two years worth of time to do anything but I'm just for all of our benefit wanting to go through that Q&A. Okay. Yep.
Describer:
The camera zooms out from Jim and pans to the board.
Robert:
I think you just refresh our memory. It was almost a year ago now that we were briefed on the Fort Lupton property. We purchased that in lieu of doing something else. Is that part of the other plan?
Jim:
We purchased and I haven't looked back on in a while but we purchased those for the water rights and until we this yeah until we figure out where we might need to actually start taking that water and making those changes the lease just continues with with the farming that they take here because that also continues an annual use of the water which is very important in water rights cases so this is absolutely appropriate.
You bet. Thank you.
Chris:
Under rate. Okay. Under rate. Is that a market rate that's 30,000 and when's the last time we took a look at that? That's my only question.
Kim:
I think water council looked at that probably in November of last year before this lease was drafted.
Jim:
Yeah it happened every year. Austin Hammer who's our water attorney he stays on top of these all the time so he's always looking at that plus he deals in water all the time so he's pretty familiar with some of the costs so yes he looks at it very closely for us.
District Finance Director, Amanda Castle:
And we have had rate increases in that over the years as he looks at that that amount increases and then we've actually had the ability to add additional leases so we've got the Anders farm and Petrocco are the two leases we used to just have one lease now we have the two so that is reviewed on an annual basis and those are increased as necessary.
Chris:
Okay. Thank you.
Describer:
The camera zooms from Amanda
Chuck:
Quick question. Is there any ability to cancel this lease for cause or for any other reason as we move forward with our search if if we so desire? I didn't see anything right off the top.
Jim:
That's probably one reason why we just do it on an annual basis. Yeah and and so at the end of this lease my guess is we will know more quite a bit more we hope we know more we will know more let's put it that way and so that's why we do it on an annual basis.
Chuck:
That makes sense.
Jim:
You bet you bet I doubt that anything will come up definitively as far as having to do with anything on this lease for a while. You bet.
David:
Did you have did Beth have a new form that you wanted us to sign or we just want to ratify it and memorialize it in minutes?
Kim:
Just ratify it memorialize it in the minutes please.
David:
You want a motion on that word?
Describer:
The camera pans to the board as David prepares to make a motion.
David:
We're inclined to take your recommendation on this one and and with that I'll go ahead and make a motion to ratify the lease by and between by and between our lease or at the Fort Lupton Platteville area property that we own surface water rights on is that sufficient or do you want to name that's fine very good motion that a motion on the on the floor a second to approve the the lease for the lease for the property in Fort Lupton any other comments questions concerned hearing none I'll call for a vote all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed hearing? None motion carries.
Kim:
Then the third item that we also passed out to you tonight apologize for the lateness of it but it's kind of lagging is the CRS utility billing services contract and payroll we've reviewed the contract and the contract form itself is fine there's no surprises nothing in particular of concern in there so as long as Jim is in agreement with the fees as well as the scope of work it's ready for your approval whenever you're ready to do that.
David:
Thank you counsel I know that there's some questions for our finance director and and if there's no urgency to consummate that tonight we'll get after that between now and the next meeting as well okay thank you so much where is that contract?
Describer:
Jim and Kim discuss the contract's location and answer Jim's question.
David:
Very good thank you.
that concludes item #7 legal counsel's report we're off to item a Mr. Worley you have the floor sir.
Describer:
The camera pans and zooms to Jim as he walks up to the stand.
Jim:
Thank you good evening you have a copy of my report in your packet I'll address any questions you may have on that and then but I'll start off by telling you as you all recall I made the announcement last month related to our study and just the only update I have for you tonight is everybody's fully engaged so we're moving forward and gathering all the information we need and and maybe a little while before I have some data to talk to you about but everybody's fully engaged in moving along.
Chuck:
Quick question just for my own edification is there any agenda what you look at first or I mean this seems like a massive proposition that you're that we are jumping into is there is there a step one step two step three or can we color by numbers how do we do this? How do you do this?
Jim:
Some people may be colorblind said we won't do color by numbers but no we we have a very thorough list of documentation of information and who a lot of those people are and some of us have already met so I hope I'm answering your question but there we do have a guide that we're going by we've identified in our initial discussion areas that we need to address so we're working off a big sheet and then dissecting that so I believe we are sometimes we come up with stuff for instance Hidden Point came up the other day realizing they're not in the district but they're served by us so that's something that needs to be a part of it so we're coming up with different things as we look at it and everybody else starts looking at it and we add those to the list and jump on them.
Thank you Jim. You bet. Any other questions you may have from my report?
Describer:
Jim walks to his desk to grab another page from his binder. The camera follows him.
David:
Jim I noticed that on Greg's report he's still holding on to the Parkway waterline rehab to memorialize your your conversation of February 25th is he gonna drop that?
Jim:
You mean put it on the on the shelf and hold off on it?
David:
It's there he's memorialize that it's still on the on the report. And what we're talking about guys is where we have reserved and and made preparation to replace that section of waterline along Casa Pines Parkway to the tune of and for a lack of a more specific reference $4,000,000 in it for the immediate future that has been put on hold simply right cause the the city is does not have a definitive plan or a date certain where they may be making those road improvements our priority as Greg would share with you our engineer was to be able to get in there without having to dig up a new street if and when that were to occur so we're going to stand ready we're going to and we are there's nothing that needs to happen other than coordination with the city in the event that they're going to start any road work in that area in absent of that we will remain in a ready position. And I just didn't want it belabored on on his report him going through the effort and somebody making something out of it that it wasn't.
Jim:
You bet and and and he put it on there only to show that it was put on pause right now so it's kind of documented is another way to look at it but we're not moving nothing's moving forward on that at this point. Okay good. Perfect. You bet.
David:
Who Jim were you going to speak to the issue with PERA where is that going to be?
Jim:
Well it'd be combination of Amanda and Kim. Kim wrote the letter but she'll be discussing it here in just a few minutes it should be on the it's on the agenda as your item B. #9b. Top of the back page.
David:
Oh right there in front of me. I just didn't want to miss that you that the outcome was what we were looking for but I want to make sure we got through it. No I have nothing further guys.
Thank you Jim.
Jim:
You bet. And one quick thing thank you for your support I know last Wednesday was a strange day and we came in here anyway except for the people that do our plowing forests because we knew Wednesday would not be a good day to have them here but thank you for your support I sought you an email and said we shut the office down things about 9:45. I got people home and and wanted to make sure of that but your support is very important I appreciate that. Thank you. Oh great job. Thank you. Thanks Jim.
Describer:
The camera pans back to the board as Jim takes his seat.
David:
Alright item #9b. That is the reference to or the conversation we want to get updated on regarding the PERA-audit. Amanda you have been chosen to lead that discussion. Welcome back.
Describer:
Amanda walks up to the stand as the camera pans and zooms to her.
Amanda:
Thank you I appreciate it so I'll get into the PERA-audit. We have prepared for the board's review and approval the financial statements as of February 28th, 2019. This early in the year there are some things that are hard to project but those that are knowns we want to bring to your attention in the general fund well really general fund we've got property taxes coming in through February of $1,389,000. That's roughly 44% which is slightly under our collections year-to-date last year when we look at those collections it's really just a timing of who's paying last year we had a large I believe commercial property pay right at the beginning of the year so that allowed the percentage to be a lot higher right at the beginning of the year and then it kind of trickled back down so I would anticipate that catches up throughout the year by late summer we should see that around the 99% mark but right now it's trending exactly where I would anticipate so that's good. When we look at the general fund we did receive insurance proceeds from the fleet vehicle that was wrecked those insurance proceeds were approximately $27,000. The district then turn around and utilize those proceeds in 2019 to purchase a new fleet vehicle in the water and wastewater enterprise funds so the net effect on the budget over the course of two years is little to nothing because we took the insurance proceeds and we use them to purchase a new vehicle but you will see increased expenditures in the water and wastewater funds for 2019 that were not budgeted because we were not anticipating having to purchase a vehicle so while the net effect is really an in and out we have to show a revenue and an expenditure and because of that you'll see that line item within the budget. We also have included the contract for CRS that Kim was describing so we revised the finance and accounting budget upwards by just under $120,000 to account for the contract for payroll and utility billing services.
So we can discuss that if you'd like or I'd be happy to answer any questions and then in the enterprise funds the district received notice requesting payment to Parker water and sanitation for the sale of their storage space in Chatfield so we received that notice but the payment will not be due until 2020 so that would go into the 2020 budget not this year.
Jim:
Can I expound on that a little bit so that you know what we're talking about unless already do?
Describer:
The camera slowly pans to Jim.
Jim:
Castle Pines North and other districts bought storage rights in Chatfield that were owned by Parker Water and Sanitation and the original thing was what five years ago four years ago I believe and it was held off in pain the final amount of 110,000 based on a lawsuit that the Chatfield reallocation project is was involved with that when it was settled known settle it was over with basically a couple of months ago I think and so we got a letter from Parker saying time to pay up that lawsuits over well reviewing the the documentation related to the approval of the Chatfield included a six-year time frame for any lawsuits that could come up and that doesn't expire until May of 2020 May 29th I think. We got a letter today we had received a letter from Jeff Parker who is a legal counsel with Parker saying pay up got a letter today said don't pay up you don't have to pay up until 2020 so I just want to let you know the kind of the back part of that story so we owe the money but not until next year so we'll have it in next year's budget and assuming there's no lawsuits brought against Chatfield between now and then then we'll we'll belly up to the bar so to speak.
David:
You're speaking specifically about the Audubon society lawsuit?
Jim:
That's correct yes sir that was the only lawsuit that came against the organization I'll call it and that was finally lack of a better term thrown out or they lost the Audubon society lost is another way to put it and didn't try to appeal it that's the terminology past that date so that went away and the original thought by I think Jeff Parker was okay time for the money to come the lawsuits gone but then it was realized no they still have another year potential lawsuit so hopefully that answers your question thank you.
Describer:
The camera pans back to Amanda.
Amanda:
So beyond those items we are working with Jim and those at Parker Water and Sanitation on the consolidation study as Jim noted we did receive a kind of laundry list of items we were able to provide audits for the past no roughly 10 years that they requested they had they had only requested true audits for so many years but really when we looked at the the historical documentation that was needed it was easiest to provide that through audited financial statements and we have all of those we provided that capital asset details the rate studies really all applicable documentation and we'll continue to work with Jim and their team as necessary in the coming months so that we can get that really tied up as quickly and easily as possible so beyond that I'm going to kind of blend item A and B now so the PERA audit we did Kim's team did an excellent job sending a request to PERA to delay that audit ideally for a few years that was
PERA did not accept that so we pushed forward at that point in time we had already requested engagement from our current auditors RubinBrown to move forward with a PERA-audit when we when we were directed to request that delay from PERA we requested that our auditors delay that field work so they did as soon as we got that notice back we immediately re-engage them just so that we could get the ball rolling on that so the auditors have been working on that last week they were waiting on final documentation from the payroll team on that they were supposed to have it last Wednesday but with the weather last week that's been delayed so they followed up today and we're just awaiting that final documentation from the payroll provider to get to the auditor so that they can wrap that PERA-audit and get that out of the way so I'm not sure if there are any questions on that we're just kind of pushing forward from a compliance standpoint,.
Describer:
The camera pans to the board.
David:
I have a couple questions not specifically related to PERA as much as I have seen the documentation that has been passed around was volume as to say the least these being documents from from by and through through Eric and in PERA it appeared to me that when this took place a short time ago there was some engagement type of documents that needed to be signed is that going to occur again?
Amanda:
I believe that's already been taken care of yeah that's been taken care of it's the same thing as soon as we found out we were unsure as to if we would move forward with that PERA-audit or not we paused on that as soon as we found out we simply said hey Jim here's that engagement letter here's the necessary documentation about that all up to date.
David:
Trying to connect the dots sure because I'm not used to. It's not that I couldn't be convinced otherwise but I'm not used to this chain of communication that's happening or not happening. Okay. In your report on your front page of your report is an example item 2B where you talk about the revision of the budget upwards by a hundred and nineteen thousand eight eighty and and while I have issue with that in and of itself because there's no in looking at the financials I'm surprised that there's no reciprocal offset by the lady that was managing that work who is no longer with us and in fact as a side note I will tell you there's a number of inference or references in the financials this month where salaries and benefits are over so I'm confused to say the least in that regard when this should be a wash but here's the biggest thing yeah I'm not used to being responsible for a budget that someone else can adjust without my approval.
Amanda:
Now we can't adjust it without your approval we can't adjust the budget without the board.
David:
It says it right here
Amanda:
Right so that's the projected balance so when we're looking at it the way we paint the picture to the board on those projections those things that could happen is we put it into the projected column and then have that discussion with the board at a regular meeting of hey here's this contract here's what it looks like in those projections we then bring that to you if you say we're not comfortable without we don't want to move forward with that contract or we think x y and z is going to happen we go back and adjust but we would never amend nor pay that without authority and approval by the board.
David:
I really want to watch the text in the context of some of these descriptions so that it is not construed out of the abundance of transparency and clarity for you and for me and and for everyone that's involved that it that it is a recommendation as opposed to it's been revised as it says here I mean let's let's make certain that we use the right terminology and and when we're looking for a budget adjustment council are we happy with making those without a motion and as a part of or or should we be including something like that along with the ratification of the payables.
Kim:
Your direction to Amanda should be sufficient to get that done
David:
Okay and I and and let me take it a step further we just went through an exercise where the board had to had to consummate a lease that was signed prematurely sure okay and in and the way this is described to me and the way I'm taking it and making issue of it is again we have the CRS contract right that was was given to to staff first which I'm okay with right but I guess what I don't know is where we've taken care of that I believe we've taken care of that confusion on my part by and through contract a buying through a new contract with our communications folks yep making sure that there is a line of authority and a line of responsibility and they match and we have names associated with with with the one that should be next in line in your contract who is it that you report to?
Amanda:
I believe we report to the board of directors.
David:
That can't be.
Amanda:
I'm fairly certain that Kim and I are both contracted by the board of directors as consultants
David:
So it was just a mistake that I asked for communication you you you acknowledge my request and then never follow up on it again. February 22nd to be specific about my wanting to get with you to review a number of things including scrubbing the asset schedules etc and going over some of these concerns
Amanda:
Right nope that was more than really just an oversight on my part to get through that so as we work through this consolidation just trying to work through everything with the whole team and and really trying to align those pieces on our side and the district side so.
David:
Just I'm just bringing it to your attention. Jim's report and Jim's thoughtfulness and his helpful and his professionalism in his awesome desire to to take care of things like this right of which we all appreciate in a lot of cases require board approval absolutely this this joint study that we're involved in came from the board right so any direction that you're going to get and take make sure that you're certain that that direction comes from the board in that arena as well as the rest of them okay let's not muddy the water in and who does what to whom before it gets us in trouble please.
Chuck:
When a when a budget needs revision are there any state guidelines or statutes that were held to?
Yes you must post for a budget amendment-- Beyond the president of the board proving it there are are there other things he needs to do?
Amanda:
The president of the board only has one vote it requires the majority vote to amend the budget you must post for an amendment have a budget amendment hearing and an amend at that time so that what I think is being confused here is that we didn't amend the budget we simply showed you what a projection looks like which as the finance director is my job.
Chuck:
Okay well I assumed then that again what David said the word revised threw me off we
Amanda:
I appreciate your questions and insight.
Chuck:
We haven't revised the budget.
Amanda:
No we've revised as it says the projected budget.
Chuck:
Okay thank you I understand right
Amanda:
I also I also want to clarify while I believe our contract states we work for the board we're typically given direction by the district manager of most districts we work with because that person is typically the point person so I think that's where perhaps some confusion lies is that you know we're working directly with Jim on a pretty regular basis having phone calls and conversations and going through stuff now obviously I've got professional obligation to do things like bring contracts to your attention and that sort of thing that I'm not going to allow an expenditure to be made if it's not included in the budget that is my responsibility regardless of the direction provided to me because I'm not the state says we cannot enter into and pay on a contract that's not budgeted for so that sort of thing obviously we're gonna come and get direction from the board but in an effort like you said director McIntyre not to muddy the waters it can become awfully confusing on a day-to-day basis when we're working with the district manager so typically Jim is the person that we're gonna work with now I'm not saying that's gonna that's not that can't change but I'm just letting you know where we're coming from on the situation.
David:
Just clarify and apologize for my approach but I wanted to make a point. I don't think that any of this would would would make it to this meeting had I been given what I'm contracted to receive is your attention when I asked for it okay every one of these items that I have are things that we were to have addressed prior to the cart getting before the horse potentially muddying the water okay?
So with your acknowledgment that when myself or any other board member requests a meeting with you.
I understand and I appreciate your grace. I'm I truly thought I had responded appropriately but I appreciate your grace.
David:
One last thing we have been after and I believe I'm correct in saying Eric for some raw water information that was missing in the rate and water fee study right and I have not. It's it's taken too long to get that information to me and and I know that I have asked Jim to get involved and and as a reminder so that I don't have to bug you guys as well and he's not been able to provide that. Do you have an update for us?
Amanda:
I know that Eric's been working pretty diligently to pull that information it's not something that was really at the ready so he's been working very hard to try and get that information and peel out the necessary pieces of it it's not something like I said that's just there and then that coupled with the fact that we're working through the financial statement audit the consolidation the PERA audit and some other challenges have really pushed a lot of time into it.
David:
How about some previous work that he has done? I'm guessing out loud with you that this might have only happened once I'm hoping that it only happened this last year where that was missing given the contract that we have with the golf course. I which is an annual opportunity to sing from the same page the golf course in the district. That being said is there any information from last year that is or the year before that's on the shelf that could at least get us started
Amanda:
So the thing that Eric and I looked at with the raw water was and I think we have this conversation with you going through what is that water used for does anybody else use it the conversation we had was that we don't believe anybody else uses it so really that value becomes the value to the golf course only and would that value still exist if we didn't have that contract with the golf course so it's as simple as it seems it's a little bit complex in trying to figure that piece out we have historical usage data from the golf course the previous contract with the golf course was this big prepayment of expense and then we expensed it annually and then that to one or two years ago changed to a monthly billable amount that we have with the golf course.
David:
We both parties are looking to to to meet their obligations under the agreement neither party is able to as we speak I don't have a starting point and and have to believe there's other data out there and I appreciate you being stretched of course could have given me a call and let me know and that would have been.
Amanda:
And Eric's been working with Jim.
David:
I met with Jim over the course of the last couple days and I haven't got any update so again that line of communication would is really easy for you and and keeps this board informed as I take my responsibility to keep them informed as well with matters like this that are pending so if we could if I could hear from you this week on on some a target date then we can get with the golf course folks and let them know we're not avoiding them and that we have some forthcoming please.
Amanda:
I will have Eric follow-up with you directly.
David:
Okay and then if we could set a meeting where I could review with you the matters that are of concern at your earliest I would I'm pretty flexible I'll make myself available to you and your schedule best I can okay okay thank you so much.
Robert:
I just have one additional thing and just apologize for the tasks that saturation that PERA is gonna put on all this right and we'd like to see Kim's letter and their rebuttal to that however that being said my whole push with that would be to there's going to be some numbers that are requested from us who are you going to designate that's in charge of putting all that together and for when it is requested for the inclusion consolidation. Is that be you or Eric?
Amanda:
So Eric is the manager on the job so he would be the point of contact relative to that.
Robert:
Then specifically this goes to Eric and I want to buffer it a little bit because I know all the other projects that are going on right however my whole thing I was going to talk to you off-camera about it as well is just like to ask in advance that there's elevated attention given and it cannot fall through the cracks at all absolutely when those numbers are being requested by our hopefully consolidation partner an inclusion partner even before I've already had meetings with Jim saying we want to be on the forefront of that and have the even before to maybe even request it so again I want to buffer that with I know with the PERA and the other things that are going on but that when those numbers are requested if we could just the elevated attention would be awesome.
Amanda:
Right and I think we're doing our due diligence to keep that going as fast as we can we provided the information relative to the list within 24 hours I know like I said Eric's been working really really hard on the raw water data so any information that takes time is information we don't readily have and we want to make sure is complete and accurate.
Robert:
Okay and if there is any delays or something please CC me as well we'll do any communication with Jim or David or whatever if there is a delay with the with the numbers that right going to be asked and it's on that grand poof our list yeah and we can go from there will do it thank you so much.
Jim:
If I could add a little bit to that so that so that you understand what's going forward on it a two-page list was put together by their consultant saying here's what we need to do all this stuff they have that copy of that and there is a conference call we got next Monday everybody's gonna be on the phone together talking about that so it's moving forward as fast as we can they they jump right on it they've been sending me stuff we have a drop box and we're putting it in so we are moving quick.
Robert:
That's what I'm trying to preempt because when these conference calls happen and we don't have anything on our side that would be unacceptable at that point you know we just want to be in a position to be able to move forward as quickly as possible absolutely so thanks to everybody for for that
Amanda:
So having said all of that if there are any other questions I'd be happy to answer them I know that perhaps there were questions relative to this ERS contract.
Chris:
Is this appropriate time to talk about the financial statements are absolutely oh and
Amanda:
And really quick I apologize um director McEntire to your point on payroll so the payroll you're right is is slightly inflated right now the reason being we had paid out bonuses so the bonus payroll did go into effect within these financial statements and because of it it looks slightly teetered that was budgeted for and so we don't anticipate any overages within payroll but that is the reason for those elevated costs that should equal out throughout the year and we should also see offsetting costs to CRS relevant to the district administrator salary being excluded from the budget this year so we should have a decrease in that administrative salary that helps to offset this and the decrease in the salary is decrease in salary benefits all of those things so those will help to offset that expenditure
Chris:
On page four I I'm looking at the workers compensation insurance and the only reason I'm asking the question there is that it wasn't budgeted a lot but then seems like we are already up at the budgeted amount is there something going on?
Amanda:
Nope we pay a one-time payment per year.
Chris:
Down on well I guess here's our accounting and payroll $1.01 versus $1.61 that you have projected.
Amanda:
That includes that potential CRS contract inclusion so you'll see that across because accounting and payroll is designated to each fund the general fund gets 50% and then the remainder is split amongst the water wastewater and storm funds
Chris:
Okay but was that not budgeted for?
Describer:
David answers Chris' question.
Chris:
Looking at the right the $1.04 on page four the $1.01 versus $1.61 and you're saying that that's for the CRS or whatever the Norman cliche it's and I'm just asking if it's $1.61 here then and under the projected then somewhere else has budgeted for in this whole budget?
David:
Would have to be because we we made those adjustments in all professional we made about $250,000 at the 11th and a half hour in November of last year to accommodate those help me help me remember did we had we consummated a relationship with CRS I mean well I know we're just getting the contract now but it was it was somewhat of a fire drill had we did we have that information prior to the budget? We did not. Did not okay then that makes sense however note Chris that when when Jim and I were working through that we were very cognizant of as Amanda pointed out the compensation for our administrator and all the benefits that went into it and as I recall we while there's a couple additional items that have to be finalized to fully complete the things that we were getting from the administrator now through subcontractor that it was basically a wash. I mean absolutely wash and I'm not so sure that when we when we considered what was being asked of us to extend that relationship that this wasn't even more economical than that would have been is that I recall that correctly Jim I mean yes substantially yes sir sure was so we're in good shape there.
Chris:
Okay I'm gonna keep going so I'm on page five and I guess it's same thing in that salaries over there so you've got but my question I think I'm looking at your projected note that I appreciate you explaining the whole projected column because now I can look at that and see that what was budgeted and what's projected pretty much is the same so my question will go away there that's a timing issue probably okay so anything else. Okay, so page 9, yep we've got the same thing there with $49,000 versus this the $79,000 so that's split between all these accounts where we came up with a CRS I guess.
Amanda:
That's exactly right so the exact split is 50% general 25% water 20% wastewater and 5% storm.
Chris:
Okay engineering serviceable service reimbursable budgeted was zero and we're projecting $35,000.
Amanda:
So that number represents the district has reimbursable inclusion costs with Lagae and so we have expenditures that we incur but those are reimbursable from the developer we pay those expenses and then immediately get reimbursed so there's a equitable offset relative to the that cost so we've got the reimbursable inclusion costs in there and we anticipated that those would stop in 2019 we have had some trickle in but we we do think that those will slow here pretty quick but those are offset by reimbursable inclusion cost income which is in the revenue section at the top of that
Chris:
Page I saw that too $17,000 I was looking at that
Amanda:
Right so there's engineering legal that sort of thing that goes into that and then the district's reimbursed so we've got a tracker for each developer whereby they pay some developers actually prepay a portion and we just recognize that revenue as as attributable to an expenditure and others pay as billed but we do bill and collect on that regularly.
Chris:
Got it I'm tracking page 10 looking at the ditch land rights expense traditional rights that one was 11 versus $45,000 there.
Amanda:
Jim I know that Eric had
Jim:
Yeah that was I don't know the answer to that yet Chris just the other day Eric called me he says how come this has got more in it I said I need to look at some documentation so I don't have an answer to that yet it's either coded wrong or I've got to figure it out.
Chris:
Okay because we actually made up to February it looks like most of that was paid in February right $43,000 through February okay thanks all right so can we get some additional information now please? Yep.
Thank you I think those were all my questions.
Describer:
The board talks more about the budget off-mic. The camera pans back to them.
Robert:
Just on behalf of the board we'd like to thank you for your above and beyond work as usual.
David:
You done with us Amanda?
Amanda:
I am yeah thank you thank you so much appreciate it I apologize and I will get back to you.
David:
I know you do and I.
Amanda:
I always tell people if I say something make sure you hear me and I don't mean that you physically hear me I mean that I actually said what you wanted me to say so thank you for your grace I appreciate it. Ditto.
Jim:
thank you we still have the payables to.
Describer:
The camera pans back to the board as Amanda takes her seat.
David:
Sure. We've got item nine okay you bet item 9c is for the board to consider approving and ratifying the current payables for February 2019 checks numbers 24 197 through 24 254 if my colleagues will allow me I'll make the motion for
Describer:
Robert tells David that he'll second the motion.
David:
Like to make a motion to approve from the general fund and debt service $29,744.71 ratifying $67,007.00 for a total of $96,751.71 also from the enterprise own approve $144,896.84 ratifying $93,887.20 for a total of $238,784.04 electronic payments then would just be those requiring ratification of a $124,909.52 which is the same amount for the total making total expenditures for February 2019 $460,445.27 is there a second to the motion approval?
Board Voting All Speak:
I second it we've got a motion on the floor made by myself and seconded by Director Lowen any other conversation concerns comments hearing none asked for a vote on the motion those that would approve signify by saying aye aye aye any opposed seeing and hearing none motion approved directors matters
Kim:
Mr. Chairman before you move on to the directors matters there's two things I'd like to clean up on the financials one if you could accept or approve the financial reports that Amanda provided and the second one is we had communications with counsel for PERA and he specifically requested that after you had your conversation that we notify them whether or not the district is moving ahead with the audit so with your acquiescence I would do that if you want me not to do that say so I don't need a motion just your direction to go ahead and do it.
Board Voting All Speak:
Understand you're hereby directed to approve moving forward on the required PERA audit thank you and yeah my bad Amanda and not incorporating in my motion a request to approve the financials of February 28th or through February 28 knowing that we've had a couple months there so it is it's the financials that are before us that we've all had opportunity to review comment and and have questions on that are dated December 31st 2018 through February 28, 2019 is the motion for approval is there a second I second we have a second to my motion by director Lewis those in those that you are in agreement please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed hearing none motion carries. Sorry Chris directors matters Director Lewis are there any matters that you'd like to bring forward at this time?
Chris:
I would like to thank the staff I actually met with the staff earlier this week was it last week Friday I think yeah and they brought me up to speed and what they did both on the water side and on the park side it was good meeting everyone and actually putting the name to the face we did raise a couple issues that one had to do with the plowing of the of the roads and the salt there in and how that is affecting our vegetation and the landscaping to the tune of about two hundred thousand dollars or something like that and I think that's just something that will have some additional communications and discussion around and the city seems to be on top of it so that that's good and then the second one was related to the plowing again and that had to do with essentially based on the amount of snow we had and plows coming through you know after we had plow to the sidewalks you know now we had to go back and plow to sidewalk again so that was raised but other than that yeah other than that is actually was a good visit I appreciate that and I as I mentioned to to Jim I definitely will try and do that once a quarter or something like that and I opened my email and door to the staff anytime they want to contact me or any of the directors I pretty much told them they they're welcome to as long as they copy Jim and keep him in the loop and not caught unaware of what's going on so. Second thing I would say is we had some discussion around Facebook page social media and I went to the Facebook page and essentially it was really outdated and I think I mentioned that and maybe we want to you know look at it and decide whether if we're not using it why would we have that there you know we do have a communication director and we are putting out information and if we're going to have it then it should be current it I think the last update was sometime in August whenever that was so those are the only things I have mentioned.
Describer:
David asks Robert for any recommendations regarding social media.
Robert:
My recommendations would just be funneling it through one venue and that would be co-omega getting rid of all the other extraneous ones and have the transparency that we have been able to continue with the meetings on video and and the website and and through co-omega and being able to have everything sourced through one porthole seems to make more sense to me rather than trying to jump through hoops and answer oh did you see this over here and we can pay attention to one funnel because we have many other funnels that we need to pay attention to but for that I would say we discontinue all the social platforms and just continue with the website and co-omega.
Describer:
The board discusses.
Robert:
Jim, we're just going to make some notes and then put that on the agenda for next time and have that all sourced as we spoke.
Jim:
You're talking about the social media system. Okay, perfect. So you'll send me direction on what you want to do.
Robert:
That sounds good. Okay. And then we're just going to bring Ken into the loop on that. Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, absolutely. Okay.
David:
I'd say it appears and sounds like as early or as late as last month's meeting, one or a couple of us have run into similar situations with the Google pages and Facebook and some of the other social platforms that don't put our best foot forward without a tremendous amount of monitoring and maintenance and expense associated with that. All my colleagues and I are up here just wanting to take the issue one step further and consult with Ken to ensure that that matches and is parallel with our contract arrangements and his aspirations for our objective for, as Robert pointed out, the transparency and, of course, the honesty that comes thereafter. That being said, we'll let you know definitively here over the course of the next week, but the idea is to just concentrate on our web as our platform for communicating by and through the community as a whole, both to and from, and not participate in any of the other social platforms at any expense level anyway.
Okay?
Mr. Chris, thank you. Director Lowen, thank you. Director Merritt, thank you.
Robert:
I'd just like to thank Jim for his putting all that agenda together in his forward motion and kudos. Thank you.
Jim:
Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
David:
With that being said, it's obvious, even with my small rant sorry, Amanda that, things are running very smoothly and it is a reflection of everyone that is up here and everyone that's in the room, regardless of the snow and the blizzards and the 737 MAX jets and the things of that nature.
What's the time, Director Merritt? Oh, 7:14. I would like to make a motion that we adjourn if I could get a second.
Board Voting All Speak:
There's no one that signed in that wanted to speak. You're so used to getting up to the podium. You want to try that again? I second that motion. Do we have a motion on the floor? We have a motion on the floor in a second. All those in favor? Aye. I'll take the hearing done. Meeting adjourned.
Describer:
The video fades to black.