The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Regular Meeting
Thursday, January 21, 2016
6:30 PM
Lake Delhi Trustees Administration Building
Delhi, IA
The regular meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District was called to order by President Steve Leonard at 6:30 pm.
Trustees present: Leonard, Gifford, Burger, Kramer, Davidson, Herman, Colgan (via Skype)
Trustees absent: None
Recording secretary: Shelley Kallenbach
Visitors: Larry Peter, Eve Peter, Donald Dede, Becky Willey, Jim Willey, Ed Schmidt, Margie Schneider, Bruce Schneider, Randy Rattenborg, Jason Wenger, Dave Larson, Ben Pasker, Bill Lux, Marcheta Lux
Motion to approve the agenda as posted made by Davidson, seconded by Burger, motion approved.
Motion to approve the December 17, 2015 meeting minutes made by Burger, seconded by Gifford, motion approved.
Kramer presented payments for approval. Payments in the amount of $2,672.26 for electricity, printer maintenance, warrants, lobbyist, salt and sand, and internet were presented from the General Fund. Payments in the amount of $660,463.50
for dam operations, Phase 2 and Phase 1 payments, and engineering services were presented from the Dam/Spillway Project Fund. Motion to approve payments as read was made by Burger, seconded by Gifford, motion approved.
Kramer read the financial reports through December 31, 2015. The General Fund had revenues of $4,814.86 from the county and interest, and expenditures of $3,568.38 from approved miscellaneous payments, ending December at $257,397.70. The Debt Service Fund had revenues of $6,539.62 from the county and interest, and no expenditures, ending December at $178,137.00. The Dam/Spillway Project Fund had revenues of $1,245,412.59 from county, community fund, and LDRA revenues, and expenditures of $445,412.45 for Phase 2, engineering, and contracted services, ending December at $3,692,058.17. Motion to receive and file the financial reports made by Burger, seconded by Herman, motion approved.
Motion to request reimbursement in the amount of $299,681.95 from Delaware County made by Herman, seconded by Gifford, motion approved.
Motion to request reimbursement in the amount of $350,530.55 from the Community Fund to Rebuild Lake Delhi made by Davidson, seconded by Gifford. The Community Fund will have approximately $60,000 left in it after this requested draw. Motion approved.
Motion to approve Thursday, March 3rd at the Administrative Building at 6:30 PM for a public hearing to approve the FY 2016/2017 budget was made by Burger, seconded by Gifford, motion approved.
The Board considered possible action on a proposal from Dubuque Fire Equipment for equipment needed for dam operations. Dubuque Fire Equipment was recommended to assist with finding necessary fire protection equipment for the dam. A walkthrough was conducted, and DFE provided an itemization of what is needed and pricing. Their recommendation for equipment came to a cost of $2,614.00. Colgan advised that he believed this was an appropriate recommendation. Motion to approve the proposal from DFE as read made by Herman, seconded by Burger. The proposal does not include regular maintenance, which is a nominal fee. Motion approved.
Motion to table discussion on a possible credit card for operational purposes until an example policy can be obtained made by Burger, seconded by Gifford, motion approved.
Change Order #7 was canceled. Colgan presented GCI Change Order #8. which is the equipment required to allow the SCADA computer to be installed in the LDRA building across the river from the concrete powerhouse. The control room where the computer was to be placed has environmental problems including high humidity. An alternative location was recommended to eliminate the need to make major modifications to the control room to improve the environment. Part of the benefit of the SCADA system is to allow JetCo to remotely reprogramming of the PLC. Change Order #8 is for the purchase and placement of this equipment to allow the SCADA computer to be located across the river in the LDRA building. Kramer motioned to table discussion on Change Order #8 until further information is obtained, seconded by Herman, motion approved.
The Board discussed the need for a job description for paid contractors and dam volunteers. The operating plan has the dam operations automated 85% of the time with daily inspections made by volunteers. However, for the other 15%, trained operators would be needed during gate movement, etc. This group of people would also be responsible for upkeep, maintenance, buoys, etc. A meeting with Burrington Group is scheduled to discuss this subject. Motion to table discussion on a job description made by Burger, seconded by Davidson. It was emphasized that it is important to clarify the job responsibilities of a contractor versus an employee for legal purposes. Motion to table approved.
The Board heard Bruce Schneider’s proposal for reimbursement for sediment removal from the lakebed. Schneider presented a letter detailing his proposal. His first proposal had been for an 80% cost share for $25,680 for the 6,420 cubic yards of material he has removed since 2014. Since this proposal was made in October of 2015, he has removed an additional 2,938 cubic yards of sediment at an estimated cost of $14,700. He proposes a reimbursement of $25,000, with the remainder and any further work donated by himself, to cover fuel and machinery costs.
Burger motioned to approve a $25,000 reimbursement to Schneider for this and future dredging, seconded by Davidson.
Discussion was opened on the proposal. The sediment location removal was originally driven by the search for black dirt for the Schneider family farm, and it removed approximately 75 to 100 feet out toward the lakebed to create about 6 feet deep of water near Schmidt’s cove. Concerns about the recreational value of this dredging were raised. The benefit of sediment removal for future dredging requirements was reiterated. Concerns about opening up reimbursements for dredging work completed in 2014 or earlier by private individuals was raised, as well as concerns about reimbursement for work that may or may not happen. The original state of dredging with the October proposal was visited and seen by Leonard, Herman, and Davidson, but the additional work has not been seen.
A roll call of concerns to be addressed prior to approval was made.
Leonard commented that he appreciated Bruce removing dirt and silt from the Lake for the potential benefit of many. He stated he wanted to look at the updated work prior to making a recommendation, as well as the goals and plans for going forward. He stated that he wished they had brought a plan to the board before doing any work as it is difficult to understand what specific benefits there is to this proposed reimbursement project. Reminding everyone that safety, public recreational benefit, and cost effectiveness needs to be considered and the only way to do that was to have the board involved since inception. He wants to do his due diligence to see the benefits to the lake prior committing anything to be fiscally responsible to taxpayers.
The Schneiders’ commented that they don’t expect to keep working for free without having an agreement in place to get paid. Leonard said that anything going forward should be agreed to by the District board with all appropriate District criteria considered if reimbursement is to be requested.
Colgan says there is a benefit to the sediment removal and the amount requested is fair, but wants to see more detail prior to approval.
Kramer agreed with Colgan that removal of sediment is a benefit to the lake but expressed concern that there was no Trustee oversight on this project.
Gifford explained that he is having difficulty determining what the value of what Schneider did because he does not know the before and after depths, or dimensions of the area where sediment was removed.
Gifford wants to know how deep it was in this location prior to sediment removal, and how deep it is now. He also asked if any sand was removed besides the black direct. Schneider responded that he didn’t take the sand because it had no value.
Gifford then asked Schneider if his project was profitable and beneficial, explaining he is assuming it was or why would Schneider proceed with it. Schneider responded that it was profitable and beneficial to him.
“Herman indicated a desire to be able to explain, in detail, to anyone that asked the reasons that the Board approved a cost share on any given project. In order to do so, Herman wanted to have a quantification of material to be removed or that has been removed, especially if the Board were to consider the approval of a prior removal from 2014. Herman also indicated that the use of prior and subsequent LIDAR data would be beneficial.”
Motion to table the motion made by Burger was made by Herman to allow board members to take a closer look, seconded by Gifford. Votes tabled as follows:
Leonard: Yay
Gifford: Yay
Kramer: Yay
Herman: Yay
Burger: Nay, because he feels it is time to approve this particular request.
Davidson: Nay, because he feels that this is an incredible deal.
Motion approved; discussion on a possible Schneider reimbursement tabled until the February meeting.
The Board heard committee updates.
The Lake Bed Cleanup Committee had no updates.
The Dredge Committee will be having a work session soon to work on the going-forward strategy for dredging and a vision for sediment maintenance.
The Dam Construction Committee says that GCI has stuck with it every day in January that work was possible. Next week work will be to construct one of the inclined slabs on grade and will include placing the granular fill, installing rebar, and concrete pouring on Thursday or Friday of next week. He applauds GCI for working through tough situations and not asking for additional funds.
The Water Quality Committee is tackling many water quality issues and also pursuing a Rockwell grant. Work on these water quality issue will be discussed at the upcoming planning meeting.
The Funding/Finance Committee had no updates. Burger complimented Kramer on her solid work on the presented budget.
Herman updated the Board that he has received a petition for a declaratory judgment as discussed in previous meetings and is working on filling in the blanks. He is also working on a FEMA quarterly report.
There was no public comment.
Davidson motioned to adjourn, seconded by Gifford. The meeting adjourned at 8:21 pm.