Study/Work Session
November 17, 2025
Transcript
Describer:
On screen.
Work Session Agenda
Monday, November 17th, 2025, at 5:30 p.m.
7404 Yorkshire Drive, Castle Pines, CO 80108
I. Call work session to order.
II. Roll call.
III. Finance.
A. Monthly claims for payments made from October 16th, 2025, to November 13th, 2025
B. Regional Rate Survey Presentation. Erik Helgeson, Bartle Wells
IV. Legal.
A. Review of the Amended and Restated Agreement with the Ridge Golf Course
V. Review of 2026 Professional Service Proposed Contracts & Agreements.
A. Elevated Clarity, Eric Harris
B. Sigler Communications, Bryn Webster & Chuck Montera
C. Kennedy Jenks General Engineering Agreement, Lisa Schwien
D. Semocor Inc., Will Parker
VI. Review of Expenditure Requests.
A. Filter Bed Rehab Project Engineering Services for Design and Construction. Kennedy Jenks
B. Access Control System for Water Treatment Plant. First Rate Fence & Access Control
VII. Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority.
A. PCWRA Resolution 2025-1 Approving Loan from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development authority
B. Construction Contract- GSE Construction Company Inc
VIII. Adjourn.
Board President Jason Blankaert:
All right. Good evening, and welcome to the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District. Work, study. Today is Monday, November 17th, 2025 at 5:30 p.m.. We'll call the work session to order, and we'll take roll call.
Board Member Director James Mulvey:
Jim. present. No conflict.
Board Member Director Tera Radloff:
Tera. Present.
Board Member Director Jana Krell:
Jana. Here.
Board Member Director Leah Enquist:
Leah. Present.
Jason:
And I'm present with no conflicts as well. We'll close out items one and two, and we'll move to item number three, finance.
And we'll look at the monthly claims for payments made from October 16th, 2025 to November 13th, 2025.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 3
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Disbursements Summary
For the Period October 16, 2025 - November 13, 2025
PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
Eric Describes.
Financial Director Eric Harris:
Good evening board. Just add one additional item under the finance section. Number three, we're gonna add an item C for discussion on the 2026 proposed budget as an addition. Just a discussion this evening. On page three of your work packet you have, the checks and claims presented for review tonight, totaling $1,255,195.94.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 4
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Disbursements Summary
For the Period October 16, 2025 - November 13, 2025
PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
Eric Describes.
Eric:
Upon review, there's just a couple of items of note to convey. On page four, you'll see a pretty high six figure 111,000 hundred and $12,000 payment to Core Electric. I've been working with Nathan on this, and we're looking into the rate structure as well. So more to come on this. And we're analyzing the accounts with their, with their representatives over there.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 5
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Disbursements Summary
For the Period October 16, 2025 - November 13, 2025
PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
Eric Describes.
Eric:
So, we expect to factor that in for next year. Moving on to page five. There's a couple items, the City of council, there's a check to the city of Castle Pines for approximately $529,000. That's, of course, related to the monarch project as well. So we're up to date on our items as it relates to that.
We have our final payment to Community Resources, Community Resource Services of Colorado for 17,472.50. That's related to the billing services that they provide. And then, further down, just some other high dollar items. Kennedy Jenks for 100, approximately $156,000 related to multiple capital projects. And Myers and Sons as well for 43,000. So those are just a couple items to note upon review.
Did anyone on the board have any questions regarding the claims for payment?
James:
Just real quick. The big payment for Core Electric. What is that specifically or combination thereof?
District Manager Nathan Travis:
Yeah, that's our total electric bill. So it covers all the facilities.
James:
Okay. That's what I thought. But the way it's specific,
Eric:
It's specifically it is for, high voltage utilities primarily driven from the wells.
So you have the seasonality associated with that reuse water, some, items at the lift station. So it's a it hits multiple items in our budget. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome.
Jason:
Great. we'll move on to item B, regional rate study survey presentation with Eric and Bartels. Is he present.
Nathan:
So we've got Eric online this evening.
Describer:
On screen. Title Page
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District 2025 Water and Wastewater Cost of Service Rate Study November 17, 2025
Presentation Overview Page 2
Overview
Water Svstem
Wastewater System
Questions and Discussion
Benchmarking Survey Page 3
BWA surveyed 11 neighboring agencies to benchmark and provide context for the District's costs.
How Much Does It Cost?
• $ per 1,000 Gallons
• $ per Account per Month
Why Are There Differences In Cost?
• Infrastructure age
• Number of accounts
• Use per account
Density - Pipe Miles per 1,000 accounts
• Staff Size - Full Time Employees per 1,000 accounts
Erik Helgeson, Bartle & Wells:
There I'll share my screen. Sure. All right. Can everyone see that.
Jason:
Yes we can.
Erik:
Perfect. Thank you. Well, thanks for having me tonight. I'm going to go over the, benchmarking survey.
We did to accompany the rate survey. We decided to look at, not just the how the rates compare to neighboring agencies, but we also wanted to see how the district's cost compared to neighboring agencies. We sent out surveys to 11 agencies. We received four responses in time for this, presentation from three of those agencies.
Describer:
On screen. Still on Page 3
Erik:
We did just receive, Parker's about 20 minutes ago. What we looked at was, how do the districts cost compared to, the surrounding agencies on a per thousand gallons basis and also on a per account basis? There's numerous things that can influence why costs are different. In this presentation, we included the infrastructure age, the number of accounts to give an idea of economy, of scale, the use per account, the density, some miles of pipe per thousand accounts, and also staff size.
Describer:
On screen. Still on Page 3
Erik:
So number of employees per thousand accounts. Try to add some context to why costs may be different. There are other factors that could influence us as well. On the water side, water supply source and treatment level can influence costs. On the sewer side,
Jason:
Erik can we pause for a second? can we just pause for one second?
Erik:
Oh, yes. Can can you hear me?
Jason:
Okay Erik. Go ahead and proceed.
Erik:
Oh no problem. Okay. Thank you. So yes, as, as I was saying, there's some other factors on the water side. There's, the source of where the water comes from. Is it groundwater surface water? Are you able to control the costs or are you buying surface water from another agency, for example, or on the on the wastewater side number of lift stations can be a factor.
And kind of yeah, the level of treatment that's required can also be a factor. so there's, there's certain things that can all be captured in these and these metrics, but we're trying to try to provide a more robust picture of how you compared to your, your neighbors.
Describer:
On screen. Water Enterprise title slide
Page 5
Single-Family Residential Regional Water Bill Comparison
Monthly Fixed Service Charges Plus 9,000 Gallons Consumption
This is a bar graph which includes Variable and Fixed Charges up to $160 per month from CPNMD comparing current CPNMD Charges to the proposed budget for 2026 charges for CPNMD to 3 other water districts. Today's costs for CPNMD are $93.69 and 2026 proposed charges are $98.02. Erik describes further.
Erik:
First we looked at water. And this is just, refreshing the, the survey we did on the rates, just to see the rates before we go into the benchmarking results.
And on the water side, looking at your median single family use or, or your average single family user, sorry, the, Pinery was the least expensive, at 9000 gallons of consumption. your rates are the, the the next, level, very similar to the town of Castle Rock's rates. We did find that their rates were going up 5%, and they had adopted that, for water rates so included their adopted 2026 rate in this comparison.
And then Roxboro rate was the final respondent and their rates were the highest at $136.25 per 9000 gallons of use.
Describer:
On screen. Water System Benchmark page 6
Cost Per Thousand Gallons
• Debt Service $ per 1,000 Gallons
• 0&M $ per 1,000 Gallons
A Bar graph for the 4 districts compared
Monthly Cost Per Account
• Debt Service $ per Account per Mont
• 0&M $ per Account per Month
A Bar graph for the 4 districts compared
Descriptive Metrics
System Age
Number of Accounts
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts
CPNMD
System Age 20
Number of Accounts 4,040
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 10.18
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 14.61
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 0.79
Pinery WWD
System Age 25
Number of Accounts 5,178
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 17.43
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 15.10
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 2.72
Town of Castle Rock
System Age 21
Number of Accounts 28,000
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 9.26
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 16.17
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 2.68
Roxborough WSD
System Age 50
Number of Accounts 4,025
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 11.24
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 22.52
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 1.99
Erik:
Looking at the the cost on a per thousand gallon basis, higher. It was the cheapest, followed by Castle Pines North and then the town of Castle Rock and Roxboro.
Hey, Erik, not to interrupt. I think we've got a director with a quick question for you.
James: Yes. I think you might be going over it now, but, you presented those results, particularly with the pine tree. and I was looking for background on why there are two thirds the cost and, and what you can derive from those numbers.
Erik:
Yes. Great question. And with the pine tree, there are, there's one the use per account is significantly higher.
So that's a significant driver. So if you're looking at their average, survey, it might this, this is including all of their customers. And, you know, the other survey is looking at just single family residential, but their average use is 17,000 gallons per count as opposed to the 10,000. Really everyone else's response was about 9000 to 11,000 per account.
So they have significantly higher use. And they also have, more. And this isn't shown in this result, but they also have more raw water sales than any of the other, respondents, which usually is higher volume, lower cost as well. So that kind of reduces the overall cost. And then, you know, they also have a higher use.
So I think that's probably why their cost is so much lower, because when you look at it on a per count basis, the district's costs Castle Pine North Metro District's costs are actually the lowest on a per count basis of this, set of of agencies.
One other thing to note. You know, Roxboro also has, absorbed some other agencies. They have some more complications. But, you know, they have significantly higher costs, but they also have, older system, and their water system is the, the least dense of the water systems having, 22, 22 miles per, 1000 accounts.
Any any questions on, on water before I move to sewer?
Jason:
No, I think you can proceed.
Eric:
And if I, if I add on pages 23 and 24 of your packet, you do have some of the summary information available to you to look at in detail.
Go ahead Erik.
Describer:
On Screen. Page 8
Single-Family Residential Regional Sewer Bill Comparison
Monthly Fixed Service Charges Plus 5,000 Gallons Winter Use
This is a bar graph which includes Variable and Fixed Charges up to $70 per month from CPNMD comparing current CPNMD Charges to the proposed budget for 2026 charges for CPNMD to 3 other water districts. Today's costs for CPNMD are $52.79 and 2026 proposed charges are $56.65. Erik describes further.
Erik:
All right. So on the on the water side, you have the town of Castle Rock. They didn't raise their sewer rates this year. you then have the this is for rates for based on an average winter use of 5000 gallons for a single family customer. Then you have Roxboro at $51, per month, followed by, the district's rates and, you know, showing the current rate and the increase.
And, Pinery is raising their rates for sewer and their proposed 2026 rate, which I believe is being presented this week is, $57.29.
Describer:
On screen. Water System Benchmark page 9
Cost Per Thousand Gallons
• Debt Service $ per 1,000 Gallons
• 0&M $ per 1,000 Gallons
A Bar graph for the 4 districts compared
Monthly Cost Per Account
• Debt Service $ per Account per Mont
• 0&M $ per Account per Month
A Bar graph for the 4 districts compared
Descriptive Metrics
System Age
Number of Accounts
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts
CPNMD
System Age 25
Number of Accounts 3,941
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 5.50
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 12.69
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 0.20
Pinery WWD
System Age 25
Number of Accounts 4,978
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 5.84
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 20.09
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 1.69
Town of Castle Rock
System Age 22
Number of Accounts 27,000
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 5.51
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 12.48
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 0.84
Roxborough WSD
System Age 50
Number of Accounts 4,025
1,000 Gallons per Account per Month 7.25
Pipe Miles per 1,000 Accounts 10.38
Full Time Employees per 1,000 Accounts 0.75
Erik Describes further.
Erik:
Looking at their their results, I will say, Roxboro is an outlier here. I looked at their, financial statements and did look like they were, running deficits on their sewer, fund.
And, so we actually need to look into that a little more, potentially because there's not a their costs and their rates don't really align. I just wanted to point that out. On the sewer side, also, volumetric, you know, cost per thousand gallons is, is a little bit more difficult because, you know, it's really estimated flow because at the, you have the water meter going in and then you have the flow potentially going into the treatment plant.
But that's affected by, infiltration into the sewer system. So the flow is really more of an estimated number. And so, you see the similarity, with the cost per account and the cost per thousand gallons on the sewer side. One other thing to note, on the, water side, the district has no doubt on the sewer side, the district does have have, some debt.
And that also influences the, annual annual cost. One of one of the other, somewhat one of the other factors that can influence this that isn't shown is also, the amount of revenue recovery from different customer classes. The town of Castle Rock has more of a commercial base, and it does look like they recover some of their costs on, potentially recover some of their costs from commercial customers, in greater proportion than, the district or, Pinery, for example.
But as somewhat interesting and binary also on the sewer system have the lowest amount of density of the respondents. for the, the customers they serve. The I think the high level result is that the, you know, the district costs are, competitive and in line with their peers. You know, sewer system has been undergoing more upgrades, and there's also some more geographic features.
Talking to Nathan, he did point out that, you know, comparing the district to the town of Castle Rock, the town of Castle Rock, serving 27,000 customers, only has one additional lift station, as compared to the district, serving only roughly 4000 customers. So, you know, with of all being said, I think the picture, shows that the district is, you know, costs are in line with its neighbors and very competitive, especially on the, the water side with the with its neighbors.
Describer:
On Screen. Page 10
Regional Comparison: Single-Family Residential Monthly Combined Water & Sewer Bills
This is a bar graph which includes Sewer and Water Charges up to $200 per month from CPNMD comparing current CPNMD Charges to the proposed budget for 2026 charges for CPNMD to 3 other water districts. Today's costs for CPNMD are $146.48 and 2026 proposed charges are $154.67. Erik describes further.
Erik:
And this just shows the, the rate survey of the combined bills, for a residential customer, going into, 2026, that's the summary and open for any additional questions.
Nathan:
And we are still working on getting comparables from, the other agencies we've listed at the other board meetings. It's a it's a more data intensive list, so we need more participation from them.
So we're actively working to get that. One of the things that we've talked about from a staff perspective, also with Bartle Wells, moving forward, is doing the survey on an annual or updating the survey on an annual basis, and then targeting that sometime in late spring so that we're we have more time to get this information, and then we'll just continually track it moving forward.
Jason:
Very good. Anybody have any questions. All right. I don't think we do. Thank you very much, Eric. Thank You. Okay. We'll close out item B and move off to item C. The 2026 budget review.
Eric:
Yes Board not to bring this up again to you all, but do want to open up the floor to any questions that we potentially have regarding the 2026 budget.
To set the stage for you on the budget, we've considered a number of different things. What has changed from this year to last year on the revenue side is we've incorporated the proposed 4% rate increases to the water fees, 6% increase the wastewater fees, implementation of a new cross connection fee of $150 per year that would be billed monthly to certain classes of customers.
Even though it doesn't run through the revenue statement. We are proposing a change from on our hydrant meter deposit from $3500 to $5500 to bring it in line to the cost and what it takes, to run that program. Our reuse rates for the golf course are reflected on on the back of the finance packet on table, on page 27.
Describer:
On screen. Table 14, Proposed Reuse Rates Castle Pines North Metro District Wastewater Rate Study - Draft
Reuse Customer Class
Fixed Service Rates ($ per month)*
2025 Existing $0.00
2026 Proposed $22,562.98
Volumetric Rates ($ per Kgal)
2025 Existing $3.04
2026 Proposed $0.51
Eric Describes:
Eric:
And that was updated after a meeting, Nathan and I had with the Ridge Golf Course to spread the cost out associated with the irrigation season rather than a 12 month process to align with their, their revenue generation that they have at the golf course. So we've implemented that change within our rate structure as well. And then an increase to our both water sales to eight, 25 per thousand gallons to bring it in line to market rates.
Our overall bulk water program should be kind of de minimis overall because of all the land development that has occurred to the South. You know, we're only using this for backfill of lots and, any sort of commercial properties that would be yet to be developed. So, with that, that kind of sets the stage. We're going to be looking over the next week to adjust for final timings, associated contracts that we're reviewing tonight.
We have a couple capital contracts. And then and our takeaways are just going to adjust for those, going forward. Bring this back to you for the rate hearing and budget hearing next Monday. are there any questions related to the budget?
James:
Sort of an overview. we're going to hear a bunch of presentations and I'd rather just ask it once.
But, comparison between contracts last year, this year. Have you, do you have a summary of what the deltas would be on a, I guess, an activity or per contract basis, or do we have to dig that out or something else?
Eric:
I can prepare a short one for, professional service providers. and, I think we're already providing it on the capital side, but I can provide those numbers for you.
It's a pretty short list, so it should be very easy to compile. The other challenge with that is you've had several vendors, that have changed obviously, over the last two years or so. So we just have to bring that on line with the scope so I can provide that to you.
Jason:
Any other questions? All right. All right. We'll go ahead and close out the, item C, the 2026 budget review and close out finance. We'll open it up to legal. I believe that Kim is on line with us. I hope you're feeling well enough to get through this.
Legal Counsel Kim Seter, Esq.:
And, thank you for noting that, Mr. Chairman, if I was unable to get a hold of Paul to talk about that agreement, find out what the status is so possible.
I'd like to put that up until the board meeting. He's still back east. He had a family emergency. I don't know if you know that or not, but
Nathan:
at Kim, I can and I can provide some context to there also. the ridge agreement just means a couple modifications of primary. One primary, which is the rates and fees change.
So that's part of that contract. So we need to include that because we're moving away from primarily a volumetric charge to a fixed base charge. We just need to make sure that that's reflected inside of that contract. And then there's just a couple of other details that we've been in contact with the Ridge, to also integrate in that.
So one, to primarily, address the board's concern about runaway usage there. We're going to make sure that the contractual maximum, the minimum maximum we provide them is built in the contract. So we can, have have a downforce on usage without having to do that through the volumetric rates. And then it's just some clarifications on delivery points.
Overall it'll be 2 or 3 adjustments to the contract, but the, the Ridges knows that they're coming and they've been involved with those conversations.
Jason:
Okay. Thank you. any questions. All right. Kim will once again get, feeling better. And we'll talk to you next week.
Kim:
Thank you for your patience on that.
Jason:
Okay. We'll close out item number four as a legal, and we'll move on to item number five, review of the 2026 Professional Service Proposal.
Contracts and agreements. And we'll start with Elevated Clarity.
Describer: Packet Page 28
On screen. Elevated Clarity Special District Accounting & Administration
2519 S. Shields Street, Suite 1K PMB 3076 Fort Collins, Colorado 80526 970.888.7699 contact@elevatedclarity.co
November 9th, 2025
Mr. Nathan Travis
District Manager
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
7404 Yorkshire Drive
Castle Pines, Colorado 80108
Subject: Proposal for District Accounting Services – 2026 Calendar Year Scope
Mr. Nathan Travis:
In response to your request on October 27th, 2025, Elevated Clarity is delighted to present a proposal for District Accounting and Finance Services to Castle Pines North Metropolitan District (“CPNMD”). Our comprehensive proposal aims to oversee, direct, and streamline your financial accounting & compliance operations for the upcoming calendar year.
Elevated Clarity was established to offer Title 32 Special District & Accounting consulting services to meet the needs of Special Districts (“Districts”). Our two founding principals
are directly responsible for all work and services provided to CPNMD.
Eric Harris, Principal, is an experienced Certified Public Accountant with over sixteen years’ experience in accounting and finance with the public and local government sectors. More specifically, he spent over seven years as a professional consultant for a Title 32 Special District management company and three years as a Chief Financial Officer of a 70-person general contractor and construction company. While managing Special Districts, he managed the accounting lifecycle for numerous client relationships with annual budgets between $50,000 and $55 million and was a client representative on
several debt issuances totaling $100 million. During his tenure in private industry, he successfully grew a company by increasing revenues 250% in three years.
Eric:
Again. Thank you. Board. On starting on page 28 of your packet, you have a proposal for 2026 Finance and accounting services for for this next year for 2026. a couple items of note. We wanted to make sure that we bring all your professional service providers into this work session so that we get these, reviewed and considered for approval at your next board meeting so that we're ready to go for January 1st and get going with the year, and that this will occur.
The approval will happen after you approve or consider approval of the budget. This this next, at the next board meeting, one item of note, we're bringing back a proposal every single year to all of our clients, us being Elevated Clarity in regards to House Bill 25 1090. And basically that allows that is, a simple requirement for any governmental vendors at a lot of transparency in how they price and how they operate to provide any proposals to local government.
So just want to make that important note for you. I've been working with Nathan to develop the scope, to present for you there's three additional items we wanted to add and we've added within our scope for this next year. And I referenced these over, a couple meetings, but I just want to spell it out clearly and concisely.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 29
Elevated Clarity proposes to:
1. Create and manage a centralized community financial database for District leadership and field staff
2. Attend and present regular and special District Board meetings
3. Direct and manage financial service providers and contractors to enact the financial programming approved by the Board of Directors, and as directed by the District Manager
4. Perform all Finance Director duties, including, but not limited to the below:
a. Perform and manage the District’s Annual Budget Process
b. Maintain the District’s Financial Management Checklist within our Project Management System
c. Guide and manage District Consultant(s) to update annual Rate Analysis
d. Maintain local, state and federal financial compliance
e. Maintain and submit required reporting for Debt Covenants
f. Attend and host meetings, as required, with District Manager, Staff, Board of Directors and/or other stakeholders
g. Maintain the General Ledger in the District’s Accounting System (Financial Edge NXT)
h. Prepare District Financial Statements and Forecasts
i. Provide oversight of the District’s Utility Billing and Accounts Payable functions, as performed by District Staff or consultants
j. Provide oversight of the District’s Control Environment and, where appropriate, implement segregation of duty controls
k. Compile Audit Workpapers for external financial auditors and review the applicable work product(s)
l. Perform ongoing cash management and account reconciliations
m. Perform District Payroll within District’s existing payroll system
n. Provide financial and strategic advice on initiatives undertaken by the District Manager, Staff, Board of Directors, or other stakeholders
o. Coordinate asset listings for annual insurance renewals in coordination with the District’s insurance broker
p. Review all pertinent documents for impacts related to the financial wellbeing of CPNMD
Elevated Clarity will not perform duties related to: the Utility Billing function, Customer Service Representative duties related to water and/or waste water billings or provide human resource consulting services.
We propose a scope of work related CPNMD for work from January 1st, 2026 – December 31st, 2026 as noted below:
The total comprises of an estimated 2,028 billable hours billed at a rate of$147.50 USD per hour with a maximum limit of $299,130.00 per calendar year, plus CPNMD approved reimbursable expenses.
Eric:
Concisely. We're in a, we understand the scope of work and have filtered into a great rhythm with Nathan and his staff on what is it takes required to essentially, you know, provide the finance and accounting services on a monthly basis? There's three items we wanted to, add as a proposal, and that was an assistance and project management of the UB4 implementation that would occur on, the first and second quarter of this year.
That is the new district billing system that will be occurring. So, you know, a lot of back ends associated with that. We want to make sure that that's completely tied together, and it's pretty seamless. And it will add further efficiency for this district going forward. And also assistance and project management that the black Bod improvements will be occurring to the district's financial accounting system.
I've spoken about these before, testing and making sure APIs work. Report writing, which would add to further efficiencies in the coming years for this district. A lot of dashboards, things of that nature to fully utilize the accounting system and then adding, some hours within here, just as an allotment to work with Nathan to organize all of the district's electronic records, and review with district and review with Nathan.
What we found was, this is, the byproduct of, you know, 30, 35 years it roll forward within the district of all these files. He did a monumental effort over the last several years to clean up upstairs. And so we want to make sure the same, process occurs on the electronic side as well. So, even though we are not certified record managers or if that is a certification, but what what we can do is we can make sure that everything's seamless.
We can get all of our finance records or the district's finance records on your server, so that if something happens, you know, you have all your records. We can also make sure, all the operation work with Nathan to make sure all the operations records are organized as well. There's also components of permission based, protocols that we have to work with.
And so that may involve that potentially at some point implementing like SharePoint or something like that, but that's somewhere down the line. But we just want to get in and start organizing those records for, Nathan and his staff. So those are the items of just ours, within the proposal, we just proposed to continue for a not to exceed amount built on time and materials.
Tera:
So as you're organizing all those electronic records, where are they being housed?
Nathan:
Currently? They're housed on our internal servers. That's one of the things that we'll be evaluating is possibly moving that SharePoint or cloud system. we're also doing some, frameworks to get, Kim's office access to our servers so that they or to our shared drive so that they're a part of that effort as well, to make sure that we have all of the legal documents they have.
And then that'll also give them easier access if they're looking for information without having to necessarily go through me.
Tera:
So thank you. And I do appreciate that. I mean, I think we all have nightmares of the boxes of information that were upstairs and that have been organized. So thanks for that. I like the idea that we will have the the records there for,
Our history.
Jason:
What was your contract last year? Our contract was, and I have this numbers for you. Ran from around the end of January to the end of this year for, approximately $239,000, billed at $135 per billable hour.
Leah:
Nate, do we have a sense, his my guess would be that there are firms that, like, just do that.
What that would cost in terms of billable hours,
Nathan:
Firms that just do that, meaning, like converting everything to electronic records. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, exactly. Yeah. So, like, if we're moving to the cloud, I want to make sure I understand. It sounds like you're proposing your firm would do that,
Eric:
And it would it would just be for the electronic records of everything that is available online.
So, not, not scanning documentation, if that makes sense. It would just be work organizing the documentation. And we can.
Leah:
Oh, okay. Yes, because I just didn't want to make sure we were using a high billable resource to do something that is essentially commoditized. Correct. That we wouldn't we would not. Got it. Okay. Thank you.
Jason:
Okay. Any other questions for Eric? All right. We'll go ahead and close out review of Elevated Clarity and we'll move to the next review, which is Sigler Communications is.
Nathan:
So we've got Chuck and Bren with us tonight.
Jason:
Chuck and Bryn okay. Welcome. There's on the microphone is on the bottom there. There's a little person talking. If you'll just push that button it should turn red for you.
There you go.
Bryn Webster, Account Manager, Sigler Communications:
Got it. Thank you. Thank you. So Nathan requested we put in a proposal. The one we had shared with you before was going through the next June. He recommended that we just do one to get us on the calendar year.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 38
Letter of Agreement with Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Sigler Communications, Inc. is pleased to provide communications support to Castle Pines North Metropolitan District. The following agreement details the terms of our professional engagement starting January 1, 2026. This letter, when signed by you, will confirm that Castle Pines North Metropolitan District has retained the services of Sigler Communications, Inc.
Scope of Work and Budget -- See attached.
AGREEMENT TERMS
For these services, Sigler Communications, Inc. will bill time and materials. Our team's hourly rates vary from $140 to $225 per hour, depending on the person assigned to a task. If additional work is requested from our proposal or work outside the parameters of this agreement, the client and Sigler Communications, Inc. will execute a written Change Order, which will describe the additional services to be provided and the agreed-upon fees.
Billing
Sigler Communications, Inc. will provide the client with an invoice at the end of each month. The invoice describes the work performed and includes out-of-pocket expenses incurred by Sigler Communications, Inc. Our payment terms are Net 30 or sooner.
Bryn Describers further.
Bryn,
So that's why we're coming to you guys now. And so this scope is very similar to the one that we proposed that you approved in June of this past year or a little bit before, and we added it.
Describer:
On screen. Date: October 30 2025
Sigler Communications, Inc.
2026 Scope and Budget to Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Submitted October 30, 2025
Following is a budget for 12 months. Sigler Communications bills on an hourly rate. Each consultant’s rates are based on their experience level. Our hourly rates are as follows:
Lisa Sigler, $225
Chuck Montera, $180
Janet Rummel, $180
Bryn Webster, $160
Graphic Design, $145
Following is an estimated budget using a blended rate of $180 per hour based on the scope of work in the RFP and executed in 2025, with some new and updated titles/categories as needed for 2026.
Communication Planning & Reporting: Regular team planning and reporting to the board. Monthly Team Planning & Coordination: Monthly or bimonthly calls as needed. Preparation and email
coordination.
5 hours per month x 12 = $10,800
Monthly Report: Write and present report to the board quarterly.
8 hours per report x 4 = $5,760
Subtotal: $16,560
Public Relations: Engagement with media and advertising with local papers.
Media Engagement: (including press releases and announcements)
3 hours per month ($180/hour) x 12 = $6,480
Advertising with Castle Pines Connection/Chamber of Commerce:
3 hours writing and coordination ($180/hour) x12 = $6,480
15 hours design per year = $2,175 (does not include media buy)
Subtotal: $15,135
Digital Communications: Social media, website adjustments and eNewsletter distribution. Social Media, Website and E-newsletter:
Subtotal: 15 hours per month x 12 = $32,400
Community Engagement: Organize and participate in community events and workshops. Create surveys, bill inserts, annual CCRs, budget and rate communications documents.
Water Treatment Plant Tour Event Planning & Support: 25 hours = $4,500
Water Treatment Plant Materials, Handouts and Banners:
10 hours writing and coordinating = $1,800
10 hours design = $1,450
Packet Page Number 39
Surveys: 15 hours total for planning, execution and results = $2,750
Infographics and Visuals:
30 hours writing and coordination ($180/hour) = $5,400
10 hours design ($145/hour) = $1,450
Inserts (Monthly or Every Other Month): Writing, approvals, and design. (Not printing)
4 hours per insert writing and coordination ($180/hour) x 10 = $7,200
3 hours design per insert ($145/hour) x 10 = $4,350
Annual Consumer Confidence Report (up to 10 pages):
10 hours writing ($180/hour) = $1,800
20 hours design ($145/hour) = $2,900
As-Needed Public Communications Messaging & Materials (Rates & Fees, Backflow, handouts,
door hangers etc.):
30 hours writing and coordination ($180/hour) = $5,400
15 hours design ($145/hour) = $2,175
Subtotal: $41,175
Crisis Communications: Ongoing engagement and develop plan.
Crisis Support (12 hours per incident): $2,160
Total: $107,430* (does not include media buy costs, printing, mailing costs, survey platform costs or printing
costs for event support but does now include event materials and design costs)
Bryn:
There's a couple of new things. For one, we aligned more of what is in the proposal, in the categories with what we've actually been doing, just so it matches the actual work, like the meeting hours and whatnot. And then we also included some scope for some key messaging for certain issues like, the rates communications, some back flow stuff that we need to communicate in 2026, and then also helping to do a water treatment plant tour when that plant is finalized.
So wanted to have some resources available to do that. We think it would be really great to share that with the public. So those are the main things that are different in this scope. It's like $7,500 different. I think if you scroll to the bottom. Yeah. You guys have any questions.
Nathan:
Yeah. So they would be on their normal time contract.
This contract would go in effect January 1st and kind of reset their their budget. the treatment plant tour is what we are doing in place of an open house this next year. We do want to plan on doing one open house event. so we doctor in the treatment plant was the best opportunity to to do that.
So that'll be, late June, early July.
Leah:
I have a question. I know initially when we were, negotiating the contract, we were trying to keep some of the costs down. Now that you've been in your role and you've been working with our district, our. Do you feel like there are any big gaps or priorities that are not included in the contract?
Bryn:
It's a great question. I think, honestly, I think we tried to rightsize the contract to meet that. So for I mean, we just reorganized the categories as needed, right? So we found out that we need to do some additional meetings with Nathan just to make sure we're all on the same page. Like the website effort was a big part of the last couple of months.
So like we rightsize that category and put some more money towards that out of our existing budget. So I would say probably making sure that we have the right budget for the treatment plant, open house, to make sure we do that really well is probably the main thing. And then just making sure we have some finances or some that issues management type stuff so we can produce like good videos and graphics and that kind of thing.
Do you have anything to add?
Chuck Montera, VP Sigler Communications:
No, I mean, just kind of bridging on what Eric said earlier. It's, you know, we I think we've found a rhythm in working with Nathan and it's a, it's a good rhythm. And you know, we just look forward to the new year and you're telling the good things that you all are doing, what the district's doing.
We've got some base analytics now from our surveys that we can build upon. And, we're excited to, you know, find out what people have to say this upcoming year, in the years, in the future.
Bryn:
Yeah, we'll share those with you guys next week. But it's good to have a baseline of where we're at.
James:
Two things.
Really appreciated the letter. Again. I'll just bring it up again. We had the, I don't know, party in the park or whatever that's called. the summary you guys put together, like to see more of that type of thing. It's easily digestible. It's simple a line or two that says what money was spent and what it was spent on.
Super useful. As someone that I guess, you know, how you get questions asked to me sometimes just walking the dog and people know I'm on the board. Another thing that I requested that I don't know if it's happened yet, was can we do a graphic that overlays the capital projects and things going on? Very simple little icon.
And I could have missed it if it exists. I don't know if I've seen it, but we we talked about this last year of when somebody drives by a bunch of equipment on the side of the road in, they're digging up something. If they can come to our website and click on it and go, okay, that's what those guys are working on.
They could
Bryn:
Like a QR code. I think we did talk about that.
James:
Yeah, something. Or you know, could just be they put their mouse over, just pops up. water line replacement. I think it would offload phone calls here. I don't know if you get those kind of phone calls, but, you know, these days people see something and.
Yeah, QR code. But I don't think people are stepping out of their car to scan a QR code that may be walking by. Those are the kind of things that elicit a lot of questions, and I think it's a simple remedy. If you guys can throw something together, I appreciate it.
Tera:
So, Nate, when he was saying, do you get a lot of questions?
Do you get a lot of questions?
Nathan:
Yeah, we we do. And we're for we're also kind of like the first phone call that a lot of residents make. So if anybody sees a backhoe, I think largely driven by a, driven by us being the longest standing, small or special government area, we get a lot of front line phone calls about basically everything.
Bryn:
And I know you guys are about to start the lift stations, and that's a bigger project, is probably one of the more high visibility ones. So good point. Thanks for reminding us about that. We're working on some other communications for that project.
Jason:
Very good. Any other questions? All right, I guess not. Thank you guys very much. Thank you. Thank you.
Okay. We'll go ahead and, close item B and move to item C with Kennedy Jenks review. Do we have Lisa joining us.
Lisa Schwien, Kennedy Jenks:
Yep I'm on here. Can you guys hear me.
Jason:
Yes, we can hear you.
Lisa:
Thank you. Hi, guys. so, yeah, I, I helped prepare the general engineering proposal for water and wastewater last year. We actually had the water treatment plant on there.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 41.
November 24, 2025
Mr. Nathan Travis, District Manager
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
7404 Yorkshire Drive Castle Pines, CO 80108
Subject: Agreement for General Engineering Services
2026 General Engineering – Water and Sanitary Sewer
KJ 2646002*00
Nathan:
This Agreement is for our 2026 general engineering services related to the District’s water and sanitary sewer facilities. The work under this Agreement allows us to continue as the District’s Engineer and generally covers the as requested, on-call, work that is directed by you for 2026. Our scope of services for general engineering is attached and it applies to the District’s water and sanitary sewer systems. Requested work related to the water treatment plant will be performed under separate agreements specific to the water treatment plant. This Agreement authorizes us to set up a new project number for
billing with the following phases and budgets:
General Engineering Phase – Water Budget $60,000
General Engineering Phase – Sanitary Sewer Budget $15,000
Total Budget for 2026 General Engineering Budget $75,000
Attached are the Standard Conditions that apply to this Agreement as well as our 2026 Billing Rates. If
this is acceptable, please sign below and return a copy to me.
Lisa:
But since a lot of the improvements have already been completed and we're kind of winding down on that and there's more specific projects happening. We talked with Nathan and decided to pull that budget out. It so this budget is actually the same for water and sanitary sewer as it was for 2025. We've used about 55% of our budget so far this year, so we don't really see any need to increase that.
It's it's basically budget that's there if we need it to support the district on different, different things. So it's the same budget. We included our new billing rates attached to that, but it's the same scope as the last year, minus the water treatment plant.
Jason:
Thank you. Good to see. Anybody have any questions? Any
Lisa:
kind of boring. Which is good.
James:
But just a quick summary. really, delta from, rates last year to this year, you know, your composite hourly rate.
Difference
Lisa:
the percent. I, I'm guessing 4 to 5%, but I can look at that and get you an exact number. I do know the different billing classes vary a little bit, with their increase, their delta, so. But I could give you an overall number. I don't have it off the top of my head, but I'm guessing it was 4%.
James:
Okay, maybe just forward that to Eric and make sure, you know, we get a summary because, you know, we only see this stuff roughly once a month. And usually just a day or so beforehand. So if you could summarize it like we talked about, appreciate it.
Lisa:
And I think we sent out a letter. Nathan, did you get that letter already with the summary of our rate increases?
Nathan:
Yeah I'll get that to Eric and he can include it, but yeah, I've got the I've got the letter.
Lisa:
Sorry, I just I should have had that pulled up. I don't have it pulled up to know the exact percent.
Jason:
Thanks. Lisa came up for just a second to piggyback on what Jim was saying. It would be helpful if when we're reviewing these some contracts, if we had the current year versus the proposed year handy at the same time, just so we could see what we're what we're looking at.
Nathan:
Absolutely. We will make that change going forward.
Jason:
Thank you. Any other questions for Lisa? Lisa, thank you so much for joining us. We'll go ahead and close out the Kennedy Jenks review. And that'll bring us up to item D. The Semocor review with Will Parker. Welcome Will.
Will Parker, Semocor:
Hello. So it's review time. So I figured we'd just bring this toward you. So, and James brought up a couple times, so we're requesting a 2%, which is $577 in some change per month. So we have that broken down. So, I just wanted to come to the board, see if you guys have any questions.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 46
AGREEMENT FOR
LIMITED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
THIS AGREEMENT FOR LIMITED PROFESSIONAL SERVICES is made and
entered into this __ day of January 2026, by and between the Castle Pines North Metro District, State of Colorado, a Colorado statutory metro District ("District") and SEMOCOR, Inc., a
Colorado corporation ("Contractor").
RECITALS:
a. The District requires limited professional services related to its water plant and systems.
b. Contractor has the requisite expertise and experience to perform the required limited professional services.
NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby agreed for the consideration hereinafter set forth, that Contractor shall provide to the district, professional services pursuant to and in accordance with this Agreement.
I. SCOPE OF SERVICES
The contractor shall furnish limited professional services related to the district’s water treatment, water distribution, and wastewater collection systems pursuant to the scope of services listed in Exhibit A, which is attached hereto and incorporated herein.
II. THE DISTRICT’S OBLIGATIONS/CONFIDENTIALITY
The district shall provide Contractor with reports and other data as may be available to the district and reasonably required by Contractor to perform hereunder. No District information shall be disclosed by Contractor to third parties without prior written consent of the district or pursuant to a lawful court order directing such disclosure. All documents provided by the District to Contractor shall be returned to the District. Contractor is authorized by the District to retain copies
of such data and materials at Contractor's expense.
III. OWNERSHIP OF WORK PRODUCT
The District acknowledges that the Contractor’s work product is an instrument of professional service. Nevertheless, the products prepared under this Agreement shall become the property of the District upon completion of the work. Contractor shall be permitted to maintain copies of all work product.
Tera:
Remind me. So I think last year you kept the same rates, right? You haven't raise your rates in, what, couple years?
Will:
I think last year we'd have to look into it. I think we did not. and what we did was we dropped some out this past year. That's kind of what we did. So we pulled it down a little bit, tighten that up.
And then there was coming back for the 2%. So thank you.
Jason:
Any other questions for Will? I guess not. Okay.
James:
Just thank you for having that tip of your tongue. Appreciate it. Yeah. I wish we all had.
Jason:
So thank you very much. Welcome. Yes. Well, thank you. I guess that's it for our questions for today. So thanks again for joining us.
Will:
Okay. And I was going to make sure does the board want me to stay or am I.
Jason:
No that's fine. If you're you're welcome to leave.
Will:
Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank
Jason:
you betcha. Drive safe.
Leah:
I did have a clarifying question. for Jim and then Jason, your request. And I know this is tactical, but are you envisioning kind of like a summary of all of the differences of contracts between just the year this year, like what we're like, they're telling us what they want this year.
Jason:
Show us what we gave them last year.
Leah:
Right. But I mean, like, can, you know, tactical but you could have that with each contract. Right. Or you can just have like one page that summarizes all the differences between, I don't know if you had a preference. And I know for me, it would be helpful to understand kind of the the why between the differences.
Like is it just increased because of inflation? Is it because it's, you know, our services are drastically different or like rates have gone up, something like that. Yeah.
James:
I was I was meaning to see the delta from one year to the next. And then if we saw an extreme change then your questions are right at where we we would take that is or the service level different.
Did we encounter, you know, did somebody, you know, discover something something that needs additional, you know, heads on it or something. But you know, if it's just a normal growth rate and it's inflation, then I think that, you know, is is expected. But if it's significantly different than that begs, you know, more details and more questions and things like that.
That's where my head was, is just getting that summary to try to understand what the cost growth is and if there's any significant sort of out of family changes thats all.
Leah:
Yeah. So so for me, like it would be helpful. Like if there was like a page and a table and it had kind of the, the vendors and what the rate was the previous year and then their rates this year and then like a third column for, the reasons
Eric:
I will work with Nathan this week to develop those list of attributes, to display a summary page that will be presented with next week's board packet.
Thank you.
Jason:
Thanks. Okay, we'll go ahead and close out. Item five the review of the 2026 Professional Service Contracts. And thank you everyone. And we'll move on to item number six. Now review of expenditure request. And we'll start with A the filter bed rehab project with Kennedy Jenks.
Nathan:
So Alex was unable to attend tonight. So the presentation on this one falls to me.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 57
11 November 2025
Mr. Nathan Travis, District Manager
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
7404 Yorkshire Drive Castle Pines, CO 80108
Subject: Filter Beds Rehabilitation Project – Phase 3 (Construction Phase Services) Proposal Amendment Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
Dear Mr. Travis:
At the Castle Pines North Water and Sanitation District’s (District) request, Kennedy Jenks (KJ) has prepared this engineering proposal for construction phase services for the Filter Beds Rehabilitation Project (Project). To date, Kennedy Jenks has completed the 90% design phase of the Project and is
nearing completion of final design. The proposed scope of services below is to provide the additional design services needed to support the construction phase.
PROJECT UNDERSTANDING
The Project is being performed under a Construction Manager/General Contractor (CMGC) project delivery method. On 9/5/25, Kennedy Jenks submitted a 90% design deliverable for the Project that contained 71 drawings and 43 specifications, as well as an Early Works Package for the CMGC to pre-procure several pieces of equipment. The proposed work for the construction phase services is based on the assumption that the design will not change significantly between the 90% and Final Design deliverables and that a GMP will be successfully negotiated with the CMGC by mid-October 2025.
Nathan:
This is, just a contract amendment for the filter bed rehabilitation project. This would be the last contract amended amendment from Kennedy Jenks perspective. Now that we're in the construction phase, it really just takes us through, the beginning of construction all the way through the end of developing owner manuals and materials. The reason that this wasn't firmly identified earlier was just because of the nature of the CMGC contract.
We didn't really know what the lift was or what we were going to be building exactly until we hit our 90%. So now that we've reached that phase, it's just time for the contract amendment. So the, and now Alex does a pretty good job of going through and detailing what's already been done. what was taken care of in the original phases, I apologize.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 65
Mr. Nathan Travis
Castle Pines North Metropolitan District
11 November 2025
Page 9
Table 3 – Proposed Phase 2 Budget by Task
Task
Phase 1 Authorized Budget $337,447
Phase 2 Authorized Budget $668,386
Total Authorized Budget to Date $1,005,833
Phase 3 Proposed Budget
Task 1 – PM and QA/QC for Construction Phase $123,009
Task 7 – Engineering Services During Construction $354,567
Task 8 – Record Drawings $62,614
Total Phase 3 Budget $540,190
Unused Budget from Phase 2 to be Reallocated -$200,000
Total Phase 3 Budget Augmentation $340,190
Total Project Budget (Phases 1, 2 and 3) $1,346,023
The Standard Conditions that apply to this Agreement remain the same under this amendment. The estimated number of hours for each scope of service task item is indicated in the Fee Estimate
spreadsheet attached to this proposal. This estimated fee will not be exceeded without authorization. We will notify you prior to expenditure of 80 percent of the budget if the need for a budget increase is anticipated, for this phase (Phase 3) of the project.
If this is acceptable, please sign below and return to Alex Page (AlexPage@kennedyjenks.com).Sincerely, Kennedy/Jenks Consultants, Inc.
Nathan:
So on packet page 65, is where the additional request comes from. and so the budget augmentation is $340,190. This is well in line with what we had budgeted for this project moving forward. We're looking, along with the construction GMP, guaranteed maximum price. We're looking at a total project cost of about one point or, I'm sorry, 4.15 million.
Jana:
Can you walk me through this is for phase. This is for phase three. The 340 and then, but then I see, test. Oh. Task seven. Okay. Correct. Yeah. Okay. So phase three will be the last of all the phases, like you said. Oh. And soup to nuts close out. Okay. And so
Nathan:
so the total project budget is the 1.346.
The additional ask is the three 4190.
Jana:
Okay. And then so phase one and phase two have already been implemented. Correct. Okay. Got it.
No more questions for me Jason
Jason:
okay. Thank you. This is, processing that zoom bills. Have any questions for Nathan on this? Hearing none. We'll go ahead and close out item A and we'll move to item B, the access control system for the water treatment plant.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 68
First Rate Fence & Access Control
795 E Kiowa Ave Unit 234 Elizabeth, CO 801075011
+17204584127 info@firstratefence.com www.firstratefence.com
Estimate
ADDRESS
Nathan Travis
Castle Pines North Metro District
7437 Village Square Drive Castle Pines, Colorado 80108
SHIP TO
Nathan Travis
Castle Pines North Metro District
7437 Village Square Drive Castle Pines, Colorado 80108
ESTIMATE # 4027
DATE 11/13/2025
EXPIRATION DATE 11/20/2025
JOB NAME
WTP Access Control and repair
Access Control System for Water Treatment Plant
--Card readers for ten doors and one gate.
--Electrified lever locksets for ten doors with storeroom function
--CAPXM Smart video intercom for the existing cantilever gate. Requires internet and an annual subscription
-- Centralized door controllers and PSU station. Requires internet and the same subscription
- -Door closers supplied and installed for any doors that are not currently equipped
-- Forty clamshell special-order access cards (credentials)
--Knox key switches and master key for existing knox box
QTY - 11 - AMOUNT $56,605.92
Repair to existing fence:
--Install 56' of 8' black vinyl coated fence with black privacy slats and an addition replacement of 10' of fabric and slats to match.
--Install two 42" bollards next to existing fence.
QTY - 66 - AMOUNT $7,783.00
SUBTOTAL 64,388.92
TAX 0.00
TOTAL $64,388.92
This estimate is for then installation of the above listed products. Customer is responsible for providing all conduit and wire runs to First Rate Fence and Access. Control specifications and at the locations we mark on site. We will identify device locations prior to installation.
Nathan:
So this request is for a a related project. I will have the summary for you completed for you at the next board meeting. going through the financial, expenditure, process that we have in place, I did want to get this in front of the board relatively quickly, though. This is directly or will be completed tangentially with the, water treatment plant filter project.
So this is really just keycard access to the building right now. We've got, you know, standard old key locks. We've been trying to get something like this in place of the treatment plant for almost two years now. I've gone through I don't even know how many vendors. we've had some people show up and not provide estimates.
I think I've worked with 5 or 6 different contracts. Acoma Locksmiths was the only one to ever the only other contract. The company that we looked at that even gave us a price. And then they disappeared after they gave us their proposal. That one was at about $80,000. I couldn't find the original one. It was about a year and a half ago.
So this is the 64,388. And so that includes, like I said, just the the higher security key card access system, one of the bigger issues that we have, both of the treatment plant in this building and some of the other stations, as we just don't really know how many keys are out there for a lot of these.
And they're old lock cylinders that require full building lock replacements. Anyway, this will allow us to just have a better handle on a building that needs to be much more secure than than is. So we've done some of the work for that already, putting in various conduits that we need. And then the electrical work will be done under the Myers and Sons contract as part of the filter projects.
So this is just for the equipment installation, and the actual equipment keycard system, getting all of that up and running, we will eventually roll this out to the entire district. So keycard access to this building are live stations, pump stations as well.
Jason:
What was, the budget line item for this there.
Nathan:
So this would be, part of the 2026 budget line item.
So there isn't one for 2025.
Eric:
And so I will have this incorporated as an option for next week's budget as well. This is the first time that I've seen it
Jana:
Just off the cuff. This is crazy expensive to me for what seems like $10, but in some sense repair. Am I missing something?
Nathan:
Oh, did he put the the the.
Jana:
So just I think doesn't make sense to us to me
Nathan:
the I'll I'll have to the fence repair is actually going to get pulled back out. I sent the board an email earlier this week about a valve that we were replacing. so that fence repair is part of that valve replacement? yeah. And I mean, the they're just very expensive systems.
And getting comparative pricing has been difficult, but, I won't be able to track down. I'll get I'll track down the Acoma proposal, and that's our best in person.
Jana:
And I hear you because I know when it's hard to get another quote. You think I don't even know what else to do, but I just want to make sure that we're not just going with somebody that responded.
Because this I would not have expected $56,000 to do something like change our locks.
Jason:
Well, I want to piggyback on Eric's comment just a second ago. This is the first year hearing of this, and Nathan started off by saying he's been looking at this for two years. And Jim always brings up, you know, what's in the budget that we're missing.
And this would seem like a pretty good piece of the budget that we're missing. So I guess when we're doing a budget, all these things should be factored in way beforehand. Then to come last minute at a at the meeting before the budget approval.
Eric:
Yes. Understood.
James:
And, I'm way out of my swim lane here, but only because they deal with high security stuff every day of the week.
what is the keycard access like, process? I mean, what did they propose? I mean, I know what a keycard is I got, but I'm saying is, can you remote wipe or remove somebody's access? Is there a pin associated with the keycard?
Nathan:
I don't know if there's a pin associated with the keycard. We can, remote wipe access to any of it to anybody that goes in.
So we'll have, you know, specific ones that we send out with contractors, pending board approval, of course. And then the more kind of detailed security features of that is inside of the water treatment plant, based on, you know, your operator certification level, you know, you'll be able to get it. Some people will be able to get into specific doors that other people can't get into.
Realistically, I shouldn't have access to anything that's got to control room. Anybody that's not the C or designee really shouldn't have access to those. So it gives us a high level of control not only in who's in these like more secure rooms, but also when they're accessing it, okay. And so on and so forth.
James:
And please tell me they're not ISO cards.
I that's I do you know, I any any kid with 30 bucks an internet connection can buy a writer reader and go anywhere he wants if he gets an ISO card. That's why the military has pulled them off of everything.
Nathan:
That's a that's a question I can ask. That's the. Yeah, that's out of my area of expertise for sure.
James:
And then integration with police and fire. Is that part of the situation here.
Nathan:
Yeah. Well it does integrate with our existing alarm system which already has police and fire integration.
James:
Okay. But I'm really talking about access. If somebody collapses or is sick in their they don't have to break every door to get in.
Nathan:
Okay. Yeah. Correct. So yeah that and that's we worked with South Metro Fire to make sure that all of our Knox boxes, emergency access to our facilities are up to snuff.
They do an annual inspection.
James:
All right. forgive me. Like I said, I'm way out of my Sling Lane, but I do deal with this stuff.
Jana:
And then what about the subscription? Annual subscription, which is,
Nathan:
I will have them break that out so that we know specifically. Oops.
Jana:
Or I guess maybe my question is, why do you need a subscription software?
you don't just buy the software once a month.
Leah:
If we can't find any comparison pricing, could we get a rep from the firm here and get a more detailed question and just kind of understand what's driving those costs?
Nathan:
Yep, absolutely.
Tera:
So what would you think? Just guessing. Jana. Ballpark.
Jana:
What would you think would be what passes my make sense test? $10,000.
I'm being honest, I just would. I mean, 10 doors, a thousand dollars a door didn't see. Doesn't seem to, Do you guys have feedback on that? Well, I mean, what do you. What?
Tera:
I don't I think, ultimately, it does. I want to say it concerns me, but but making sure that we have a very secure water treatment plant, which is what we're drinking and that that access can be pulled and that it can be narrowed down to rooms, I think is, is of high importance, at least to me, because, I don't have any feel for what it should cost.
But, being having our water treatment plant be secure, I think is, very important.
Jana:
And and I don't disagree with you here. I think it's just that it's one quote. So for us to just say that sounds right, doesn't seem responsible.
Jason:
All right. Anybody else? All right. we can I agree with Tera. I think, securing our facilities, all of them should be, should be top of our list. But, we do need more information. So we'll go ahead and close out. Item number B, and item nine, review of the expenditure request. And we'll move to item seven, which is, Plum Creek Water, Reclamation Authority.
The PCWRA resolution 2025-1.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 69
RESOLUTION NO. 2025-1
A RESOLUTION APPROVING A LOAN FROM THE COLORADO WATER RESOURCES AND POWER AGGREGATE PRINCIPAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $3,500,000
EXECUTION OF THE LOAN AGREEMENT AND GOVERNMENTAL AGENCY BOND TO EVIDENCE SUCH LOAN; AND PRESCRIBING OTHER DETAILS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.
WHEREAS, the Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority Authority , in the County of Douglas and State of Colorado, is a political subdivision, public corporation and separate governmental entity of the State, duly organized pursuant to Article XIV, Section 18(2)(a) of the Colorado Constitution and Section 29-1-203, Colorado Revised Statutes, as amended, and the Establishing Agreement dated December 14, 1989 ( the "Establishing Agreement") among the Town of Castle Rock, Castle Pines Metropolitan District and Castles Pines North Metropolitan District (collectively, the "Members); and
WHEREAS, the members of the Board of Directors of the Authority
have been duly elected, chosen and qualified; and
WHEREAS, the Authority owns and operates a wastewater system for domestic; and
WHEREAS, the Authority constitutes an enterprise under Article X, Section 20 of
WHEREAS, the Authority presently qualifies as an "enterprise" for purposes of TABOR; and
WHEREAS, each of the Members has at least one golf course within their respective boundaries; and
storage and distribution of partially treated wastewater which such wastewater is provided to,
WHEREAS,, the System includes a reservoir (the "Reuse Reservoir") for the storage and distribution of partially treated wastewater which such wastewater is provided to, pursuant to the Establishing Agreement for the Authority, dated December 14, 1989 by and between the Members, four local golf courses for irrigation at rates established by the Member
within which such golf courses are located; and
Nathan:
Yeah. so these have been long coming. these are the resolution 2025-1. This is really just the go ahead from PCWRA to move forward with the loan that we presented. Ao this is for the first loan, the direct loan for the first funding scope of the project. This is already been approved by PCWRA.
So it lines up with, the IGA that was put in place, now we're going to start, just in space where we need to bring it back to our individual boards for ratification. So it's not set in stone until we get it back to you guys on Monday. but that is the general summary for for this resolution.
I don't know if Eric wants to add any other details there or not.
Eric:
Just footnote just to further set the stage. This is for funding the capital contributions associated with it, with the loan. So when we say phase two, I'm going to I'm a call back saying this is one project, not in phase one or phase two.
We're at doing phase 1 or 1 capital around where we're going to be funding this directly with the loan that we've discussed over the course of a couple meetings, the second round of funding, which would occur sometime in the springtime, will either be cash funded by different entities. Certain member entities have said that they will cash fund or potentially it could be funded with a loan through PCWRA.
So this is just a kind of a final nail in the coffin so that the, the authority can go ahead and issue all the requisite bond documents with the underwriter and get things going and get the funding put in place.
Jason:
All right. Thank you. Any questions?
Hearing none. We'll move, to close item and move to item B, the, construction contract with GSC.
Describer:
On screen. Packet Page Number 80
PLUM CREEK WATER RECLAMATION AUTHORITY SECTION 00 70 13
AGREEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT
THIS AGREEMENT FOR CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT is made between Plum Creek Water Reclamation Authority (PCWRA) of Castle Rock, Colorado, a political subdivision, and _GSE Construction Company Inc._ (Contractor),
In consideration of these mutual covenants and conditions, PWRA and Contractor agree as follows:
1. SCOPE OF WORK The Contractor shall execute the entire Work described in the Contract.
2. CONTRACT The Contract represents the entire and integrated agreement between the parties hereto and supersedes prior negotiations, written or oral representations and agreements. The Contract consists of and incorporates the following Contract Documents, including this Agreement. In resolving inconsistencies among two or more of the Contract Documents, precedence will be given in the same order as enumerated.
Nathan:
Okay. And this is, in the same vein with plum PCWRA. This is the contract that ultimately was awarded the bid. They I think we looked at 6 or 7, different contractors. This was the low bid. We have worked with them, recently on a project here, Castle Pines North Metro.
So no real concerns about, the contractor costs or anything like that. But again, this is had been approved at PCWRA, and we need to bring it back to our individual boards for ratification.
Jason:
All right. Any questions regarding this? okay. I'm not hearing any. So we'll close out item number seven. And before we move to item number eight, which is adjourn. I just want to know why our configuration. I thought we agreed that our study sessions were going to be in more of a U-shape instead of,
Nathan:
Oh, yeah, it was.
It was a late email this afternoon, but. Yeah, I read your stuff. Yeah. Oh my apologies. Yeah. When? First. Yeah, when I started talking through it with, Terrence and Corby, with the number of presenters and presentations we have, it just didn't make sense to have a musical chair being rotated out of in our U-shape. But we'll go back to
Jana:
Jason my I ask a question to, Nathan, would you mind just giving us an update?
Real high level on staffing? you know, any of the are we getting good hits on the applications? We did hire somebody recently, right? But we haven't met them yet. yeah. So just looking for what's going on with the, metro district staff increase.
Nathan:
So the, deputy district manager position, did get reviewed by our HR firm, so that's IGL
Denver right now it's posted on. Indeed. I haven't gotten any I haven't heard anything from them, for the last couple weeks or week and a half. Two. We've had a posted. So we'll see as those resumes start to come in. And then we did hire our field services tech. His name is Troy. He'll be here Monday for a board introduction.
He's, he's had conflict at the last couple Monday nights, but we'll we'll get him here, and I'll have a more substantive update for you at the board meeting on Monday.
Jana:
Okay, but no, no substantial hits on the deputy. Not yet. Position. Okay. Okay. But Troy doing good. Okay. Thank you.
James:
And I just have, one quick one.
I thought there was a line item in the budget for next year, but, for protection for the pump station at the bottom of monarch. maybe add the bladder system in the compressor, and you said you're going to go a different direction. I just want to make sure that we didn't lose that one, or you didn't forget about it, because, you know, we're talking contracts going into the next year for capital.
And I'm just wondering what the status of that guy is.
Nathan:
Yep. So we are complete on design. we did some early procurement just on parts that we knew we were going to need. And, they were running that one through Level Engineering. So we'll look for, bid mid December. That'll go out. It's a relatively small project.
We're looking less than under. It's under $100,000. All in on that one. So but that'll be done in pretty sure later.
James:
Okay. So, like two sets of doors, but
Nathan:
I mean that one only has three doors in it, so.
Jason:
Okay. Has anybody else have a comment?
Leah:
I have a last question. I'm trying to remember when it was, but we were talking about, the set up for study sessions and the cost. Did we ever get, an updated cost estimate, like, it sounded like there were things that we could do to streamline the cost for our study sessions.
Nathan:
Yeah. The cost ultimately didn't change much because we just changed the equipment that we're using and kept it all in-house. So we're still doing all of the broadcasting, all of the projection that we used to. We just really changed the meeting format.
Go for it.
Leah:
And and by meeting format, you mean just the configuration would be a better word. Yeah. Okay.
I just figured while we were reviewing,
Terrence Lovett, ENLIVE tv Services:
We did cut your, live, open captioning and so we've gone to an automated captioning that is, save about, 500 bucks per month. So we did do some savings.
Leah:
When you were talking about ways to streamline costs. Was that was that really the only option or were there other options as well?
Terrence:
For open captioning or just in general for the meeting?
Leah:
General. Yeah. Because again, my, my point of view is like, do we need a set up like this for every study session? I think so for the board meetings and then what I heard was that there were potentially options to streamline costs, but like 500 doesn't seem as significant.
Terrence:
If you would like lower quality and, kind of, just a, a just a worse, worse set up. That was one of the things I was saying is that, as you lower the quality, it becomes less and less useful to the user. And so, that especially with what we just did today, was very intense with the, the different presentations, and they were coming from different places.
The zoom call and your in person, as complexity grows, you do need extra equipment to handle the complexity. Every time we, we, we started up pretty simple, many years ago with Nathan. We didn't have screens. We didn't have zoom calls, we didn't have a lot of things. And as you add pieces like being able to present, remotely, like, being able to attend remotely, the complexity, goes up.
for instance, we have two computers just dedicated to zoom call because the way things work, we can't do one computer and send it to places because of the way that treatment works. So we have to have two separate computer, one for zoom call here and one for zoom call for the broadcast in because, literally they put things inside of the computer, you know, these equipment that says, I don't want you copying copyrighted, you know, material.
And so that means one machine won't talk to the other for some reason or another, which then adds another machine and adds another machine and adds another machine. So it's about complexity. When we have a zoom call, it's more complex. When we have presentation, it's more complex. And yes, you can get a an owl or something like that and try to throw it all together.
But then the utility for the user goes down and the quality of the presentation, being able to understand it and keep track goes down as well.
Leah:
And so and that's helpful. Like I get that there are trade offs when you lower price. And so wanting to understand what those trade offs are it sounds like those would be audio and visual quality.
Is that what you're saying exactly.
Terrence:
And not only that, but just like our normal, visitors said, sometimes, people don't sit next to the mic. And so they're talking and they're talking over here. Now, the machine can pick it up a little bit, but he couldn't hear it. But he could read it because of the caption, open captioning.
And so access becomes the next layer of complexity. Being able to read a thing when you can't see his mouth or you can't hear him very well, that kind of thing. So that the there is no one pill that can do it all. They do try to make those, but again, the quality of it goes down and a complete, you know, the ability of the user to watch it, understand and and keep track and, and especially the complexity of what you're presenting, the quality of it, it's, it's tough to cover all of that.
We're at the level of a, a conference meeting, like if you would go to conferences, you guys, if you, you're at that level and in your complexity and technical technicalities at that level as well, it's hard to come down from there. And have people be able to really track and understand.
Jason:
Is this a crapshoot? Oh, sorry,
Leah:
I had one last one last follow up question.
It seems like it consists and piece of feedback from the board is that it's difficult to hear people listen. So like, if I'm calling into a zoom meeting, like, you guys have trouble hearing me, like we couldn't hear,
Jason:
is the captioning live, like, could we see the captioning? Right? Well, but my like,
Terrence:
today it is. Yes.
Jason:
So like, when Eric was talking earlier, could you capture could you stream his captions so that we could read it. Yeah. And you in in house it is going out like that. But yes, we can. But I guess my other point was, I, I would expect that to be higher like that. The audio quality like it for what we're paying and if we're at that like complex and conference level tier.
Terrence:
So you're, you're thinking of audio quality in zoom. Is that correct. Or hearing it in this room.
Leah:
Yeah. And I don't know the why like but because it's across so many different online speakers, it doesn't seem like it would be that individual. Okay. So so anyways, just wanting to understand like if we're if we're paying for quality and wanting to make sure.
Because to me, one of the biggest benefits of a setup like this is having people or board members be able to join remotely, but if we can't hear them, like then to me that dilutes the, the impact of that.
Terrence:
Understood. zoom in next.
Corby Wise, VIP Video:
Let's go ahead. The zoom issue is we used to be able to get a little bit better because the way we we had, the way we were, we were able to feed it.
We've had to change some things as we have included more. But one of the problems is, is we used to be able to feed the zoom call into your little speakers, and we're not able to do that now. So you're only getting the you're only getting from above those. There might be a way that we can hook up another monitor to be in front of you here.
So you could hear that. And, because out here you can hear it, but back there it's a bit of problem because on speakers project this way. So, yeah, I'll get a speaker that we could put up here on monitors so that you guys can hear better.
Leah:
But just because that would be a, because of like,
Corby:
it's it's because we have a different we have a different.
We used to be able to feed it through. So it goes through those little speakers.
Leah:
But why can't we do that.
Corby:
Because now, the now, if we do it the way it goes through, we get serious feedback. okay. So that's why we we don't do that because we don't want that kind of feedback. What changed. So me and I'm trying to remember we've changed a lot of things.
I forget I forget exactly when it was that we change that. But, I think.
Oh, it was with the addition of when we. Because whenever we have audio coming through in a presentation, the way that feeds through. And so because we were sharing it through so and I don't I remember the feedback definitely. It was definitely rough. But anyway, that's, that's one of the issues because if we do it right now, we'll get feedback if we do it right now.
So if we try to have it go through very early stream,
Tera:
if we eliminated this one screen, would that help if it's not just the screen. And so when we have presentations.
Corby:
So the thing is, is we never know exactly what's going to happen until the meeting happens. So we have to prepare for any type of setup that can happen.
So we have it set up like right now, because we didn't know for certain, until later that there wasn't going to be some we have to have an HDMI ready to go. so the whole system has to be ready for whatever happens, for whether it's very simple and it's just the five of you talking, or if there's more people, somebody, we have a third presenter.
We have to be ready for all of that to happen.
Nathan:
Yeah. We're keeping in mind. Also, it does it does look as though the city is going to move forward with their plans to renovate this room. and so that will include, in theory, the I, the kind of built in technology to broadcast a meeting. A lot of that comes down to improving the sound quality or like the reducing the echos in here.
And so that's also going to be a factor moving forward. speaking to not, drastically changing the study sessions, I did have that conversation with Sigler. Their their recommendation was especially this time of year, moving into budgets, moving into all of the public hearings. It's probably not the best time to do any kind of drastic change when we're presenting that kind of information.
So, I will have more information, hopefully by the board meeting on timing for the city project and the other impacts I will have for our meeting. Terrence and Corby are, have been talking with Michael, Penny a little bit to to talk through some of their expertise in getting that folded into what's ultimately the project that the city does in here.
Leah:
That's really great. Thank you for following up with Sigler. And that totally makes sense. And you you guys are wonderful. Thank you so much for answering questions, providing options. I would be open to exploring ways to make the sound quality a little bit better. I mean, assuming that it's doesn't add a lot of cost, I don't know.
Terrence:
I just wanted to say, just just so, you know, we're pushing the limits of what video in audio and live events, and we're jamming things together that were meant to be together, don't work well together, don't cooperate together. Don't. We're. You know, the reason why we're making this work is because you got two really smart video.
Guys have been doing this for a long time, and we truly understand what we're doing. If you have people with less experience. You've not heard feedback yet. You're not heard. So it's, what we're doing is, you know, usually it takes a much larger rig. We're taking shortcuts so it's cheaper. Okay.
Leah:
Thank you. And I appreciate you bringing your experience in from.
Jason:
All right. Thanks, Jim.
James:
I just had a comment for you guys. is, I mean, you discussed preparing for multiple options for speakers and presentations. Is there anything, guidance wise, that you could provide to, I guess, or subcontractors or what have you, or formats that would simplify your life so that we're not trying to do contingencies all the time.
Like, you know, is there anything you guys can share as far as guidance for presentations and formatting?
Corby:
Not particularly just because it just it sometimes changes, just different, different presentations. Sometimes there's there's something that's being presented that's an actual video, usually not. But we just have to be prepared for it. And a lot of times, for as much as possible, Nathan tells us you know, oh, we're going to have this many people, this many presenters, but but, but a lot of times we're already in the middle of, of doing it because he doesn't always know until later.
You know, sometimes there's some there I remember now, if it's not six months ago or so, there wasn't supposed to be somebody presenting, and they were the last second. So we had a real scramble to get it all set up. And so it's like, well, we should just be prepared and just go through it. Do do do the complete set up so that we're not caught, you know, and and because that's where that's when technical problems start happening is when you're, when you're trying to make changes in the last seconds.
So yeah. Yeah. Just you're more likely going to have problems if the and it'll trigger something else. It's like, oh because we were rushing to get this, we forgot to set this microphone properly or we forgot to do something else. So that's why we just go ahead and we just have have a complete set up and just try to do it.
And yeah, and I think we got it. And then like the U-shape the for the, for the for the studying sessions that we did that we tried last week, that was a whole different setup and everything. So we, we had some issues of course, getting to go in, it's like oh. We, and we had problems with, with, with the zoom call actually was one of the things, but now we know.
And so I was already to set that up and like, oh, is better set up this way for this time. But we'll do that. And also we will get I will get a couple of monitors so that you guys can hear better because if yeah, that is an issue that you guys seem to be having as it's hard to hear, through those speakers, you know, and that's just makes it really hard when you, when there is a zoom call.
So, and you're straining and we're hearing it. Fine. We're just going now. It sounds good to us. It's hope everything's good, but yes, if you guys are having a hard time, that's not right. So we'll get that taken care. Thanks.
Jason:
All right. Thank you guys. we will go ahead and enjoy the meeting. So thank you everyone, and we'll see you next week.