EL RANCHO FLORIDA METROPOLITAN DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING – JANUARY 7, 2009
A regular meeting of the Board of Directors was held on January 7, 2009, 6:00 PM at 755 East Second Avenue, Suite 2B. Board members present were:
Steve Swisher – President
Tony Rocha – Secretary
David Shipps – Treasurer
Jack Wasserbach
Ray Smith – Water Operator and Marsha Moreland – Administrator was also available for this meeting. The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM.
MINUTES:
The minutes of December 4, 2008, Regular meeting and Budget Hearing were approved as written.
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE:
A motion was made, moved and passed to approve the payables submitted with the exception of the Performance Engineering & Surveying bill of $965.00. Jack will be speaking with them about the errors on the tank site survey plat.
WATER REPORT:
Ray Smith reported that he did attend the Source Water Protection seminar. He feels having our information on our system shared with all other systems, city and county, is not all that helpful. Most of the other systems are not ground water source systems, but rather wells that need a treatment plant. He explained that all the State, County and EPA regulations are being met with the El Rancho Florida Metropolitan District’s water system.
The seminar was not at all on the ‘source water protection’ that was in regard to the ‘zone of influence’ of the water system. Ray will get with Tony Rocha on the upcoming sanitary inspection that will be done this year by the State. It involves water treatment quality, condition of the pumps and inspection of the tanks. The Chlorine residual is at .25mg per liter and is checked three times per week. The system does meet its 30 minute contact time required by the State.
December 28th the main pump house froze up. A ¼” tubing to the control panel froze and the mercury switches. The heater in the pump house quite working and caused the freeze up. A new heater is on line and all is thawed out and functioning again. Ray would like to do away with the mercury switches and put in milliamp controllers. The unit costs approximately $710 and can be put in by Ray. The controllers will be an upgrade to the control panel and will save the pumps from coming on and off so much.
Meters are estimated at this time with usage estimated at 585,600 gallons sold. There were no leaks to report.
TANK SITE UPDATE:
The Board has questions as to the topographic survey done by Performance Engineering & Surveying. The survey needs to be discussed with Performance. Ray wants to be sure there is no erosion of the new tank by overflows from the existing one. Ray is to get with Jack and meet with Russell Engineering.
Page 2 – Jan.7, 2009 – Minutes – ERFM
GRANT & LOAN WITH DOLA:
There has been no word from Ken Charles after having sent a letter to him approving the loan request by the Board for $100,000 from DOLA along with the Grant that was approved back in September. Tony Rocha will continue to contact Ken Charles.
CLASS II APPLICATION:
Marsha reminded the Board that any more work that is expensed prior to receiving the contract for the Grant is work not considered in the District’s Match Money for the Grant. Until the contract is received no more work should be continued. She is emphasizing the concerns about being able to meet the match money required in the grant documents.
BILLING MESSAGES:
A motion was made, moved and passed not to include the minutes in the monthly mail outs at this time.
The District is progressing with the permitting process on the tank.
Grant was approved and a Loan for $100,000 was applied for to help with unforeseen expenses.
AUDIT EXEMPTION:
A motion was made, moved and passed to have CLARK, WHITE AND ASSOCS., INC. do the audit exemption for the District for 2008. It appears that an audit will need to be done next year and should figure approximately $10,000 to do the work.
ROADS:
Snow removal does not need to be done when there is 1-2” of snow on the road. It melts off by the end of the day. There is some question as to whether the blade can be angled in order to not leave such a berm in the driveways. Steve explained that in order for the plowing to be done in the whole subdivision by the time people are leaving for work it is impossible for George to minimize the berm in the drive entrances. County plows do not open driveways or lift their blades either.
BRIDGE MAINTENANCE:
There is concern that the re-bar used on the bridge decking is exposed on the east side of the bridge. Richard Vick has documentation on the specs for the repairs done in 1995 and will give the Board his findings for future maintenance on the bridge and costs.
REVERSE ‘911’ :
The County’s Office of Emergency Services can do a mass notification to residents in emergencies if need be. Jack will do more investigating into the prospect for such a service and if there are costs involved and just what is need.
The Board agreed that the meetings will continue to be held at 755 E. Second Ave., Ste. 2B but the time will be at 5:30 PM instead of 6:00 PM> There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 8:15 PM.
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Secretary