The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Thursday, October 17, 2019
6:30 pm
Lake Delhi Trustees Administration Building
Delhi, IA 52223
The regular meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District was called to order at 6:30 pm by President Staebell.
Trustees present: Staebell, Davidson, Burger, Herman, Schermann and Alftoff by phone
Absent: Leonard
Visitors: Dan Reyner, Ed Schmidt, Larry Aschbrenner, Ed Winfield and Randy Rattenborg
Staebell asked for a motion to approve the meeting agenda. A motion was made by Schermann, seconded by Burger. Motion carried.
Motion to approve the minutes of previous meetings was made by Herman, seconded by Davidson. Motion carried.
Claims were presented for payment in the amount of $6,983.61 from the General Fund for electricity, internet services, dam operation services, printer maintenance, lobbyist expense, clerical expense, additional insurance coverage, beach cleanup, office cleanup and LP gas. Burger noted that an additional invoice from ICAP was for liability coverage on both Lost Beach and North Beach. A motion was made by Burger to accept the claims as presented. Seconded by Herman. Motion carried.
September financial reports were presented. The General Fund had revenues of $126,469.49 from Delaware County. Expenditures for September were $14,394.57 ending September at $1,949,255.72. The Debt Service Fund had revenues of $165,554.57 from Delaware County with no expenditures, ending September at $260,528.40. The Dam Improvement Fund had no revenues or expenditures ending September with a $30,000.00 balance. A motion was made by Herman to receive and file the September financial report. Burger seconded the motion. Motion carried.
The Board considered a request for a donation to the LDRA for assistance with their dredge debt. The payment is for interest only in the amount of $20,517.55. Herman made a motion to approve payment and Davidson seconded the motion. Herman noted that there has been previous discussions of meeting with Bank One to renegotiate the loan schedule. Staebell suggested the Finance Committee get together before the next regular meeting to discuss possible options for renegotiations. With no further comment, Staebell asked for a vote. Motion carried.
The Board considered a request from Laurie Kramer for partial reimbursement on a new printer she purchased for lake and other use. Her invoice included the cost of the printer, one black printer cartridge and a service agreement. Davidson made a motion to pay for the printer cartridge and one-half of the cost of the printer. Burger seconded the motion. After some discussion the motion was amended to include paying for one-half of any future ink cartridge purchases. Davidson moved to approve the amended motion, Herman seconded. Motion carried.
Committee Updates:
Finance Committee – Burger noted he put together copies of the dredge loan for the new board members. The LDRA dredge loan has a current balance of $1.2M which includes $188,000 in interest. The interest rate is currently 3.26%. Because the loan is currently in a call position there’s an opportunity to pay off the entire loan or do a partial payoff. The GO Bond loan has been refinanced from 4.25% to 2.66%. The call provision is in 2023. By refunding we saved $528,000 in interest. Leonard had asked for updated information on the debt capacity of the lake. Burger noted that in 2018 there was a $2.5M increase in debt capacity and in July, 2019 the increase was $3.1M. Burger stated he projected an increase of 5% growth going forward. That estimate is subject to change and hard to predict. Burger noted any change in debt capacity would take a vote of the Lake Delhi residents but he felt giving the board this information would be helpful when looking at potential future projects such as dredging and water quality.
Staebell suggested the trustees consider holding a work session after a board meeting when the regular agenda is light to provide for more in-depth committee updates. He stated he would take that into consideration going forward and would check with the trustees to see if there would be a consensus to hold work sessions in the future.
Staebell suggested moving Joe Schermann to the Community of Life Committee and Joel Althoff to the Finance/Budget Committee. Both members agreed to the change.
Water Quality/Sediment Control Committee – Herman provided an update. He noted at the last meeting of the MR WMA he visited with Dave Mack from the NRCS. Dave mentioned they are doing water sampling above the lake. They checked for nitrates, sulfates and e-coli. Dave noted certain spots on Lake Delhi would be good testing sites. The costs would not be excessive and samples are taken by trained volunteers. Herman felt this was something the board should consider at a future meeting. Staebell suggested Dave come to a future meeting to provide more information.
Property Assets Committee – Davidson noted the Operations Team had a meeting on Tuesday, October 15. He reviewed some of the items that were discussed. Burrington Group is going to be doing a check for settlement issues on the south embankment. There’s also a gate actuator that is still stored with Lunda. There’s some discussion of moving that back to the dam. The diesel generator is scheduled for testing this month. The buoy system is partial disconnected and that’s going to be repaired. Kistler was at the dam to fix the hoist. Bubblers will be installed in front of the gates in the near future. Clean up is scheduled for around the LP tank at the dam. There was discussion about doing an upgrade to the computer that’s housed at the Scada building. Jason from Burrington Group will be checking with Jetco to make sure the upgrade will be compatible with their system. The cost for the upgrade is around $300.00. Battery backups also need to be replaced and Burrington Group will be taking care of that. Donna from Burrington Group is still looking into options to replace fiber optics system. Our current DSL is slow and expensive. The LP tanks will be getting filled for the winter season along with filling the diesel generator once it has been inspected later this month. The gutters at the Scada office have been cleaned and Davidson also noted that Burrington Group is looking into getting a computer desk for the computer system that is housed at the Scada office. It currently sits on a folding table. Schermann said he may have a desk he would donate.
Randy Rattenborg noted that Kistler will have some recommendations regarding concerns they had regarding installations issues with the hoist. He noted Alliant Energy brought down a bucket truck to see if it would work for trouble shooting if needed and it worked well. He also noted he was going to be meeting with Joel Althoff regarding cameras for the dam, internet issues and battery backups.
Staebell asked if the compliance reports and daily inspections were being taken care of. Davidson stated that there is a need for weekend volunteers to help with the inspections. Staebell also asked about the inspection reports that Stanley was to provide. Rattenborg stated that Bill Holman is waiting for the settlement report on the south embankment before he submits his final report. Davidson noted we have an estimate from Rotork for $3,700 for client support and general maintenance on the actuator. Staebell suggested putting the contract on the November meeting agenda for approval.
Public Comment:
Ed Winfield asked what the process is for handling trees that are floating in the lake. Staebell stated there was a cleanup that was done in conjunction with the ice jam damage. There are no plans for any further removal at this time. It was noted that tree removal is not the responsibility of the trustees and that previous removal was been done by volunteers.
Larry Aschbrenner asked a question regarding increasing the debt capacity and who votes on that issue. Burger stated it’s a vote of the residents of the lake and needs 60% to pass. He also asked about the gates and when are them closed completely. Rattenborg noted that around 500 cfs they are closed and at around 550 – 600 cfs they start to move. This is based on the Highway 20 bridge gauge.
Dan Reyner said he met with members of the LDRA board and there were some questions and information that came out of that meeting. 1) They wanted to know if the District planned to add sand to Lost Beach. Staebell stated that there were no plans at this time. It was noted that there may be some free sand available and Reyner was going to look into it. 2) The LDRA is working with the Fishing Club to offer fishing lessons to kids. 3) They are also working with the fire department to use their sonar equipment to make a depth map. Staebell stated the DNR may be helpful with that project. 4) Fundraising for the fireworks is going well. 5) Reyner ask if the Trustees had an email list that could be shared with the LDRA. Staebell felt it is important to keep the LDRA information separate from District information and he would check with Laurie Kramer to see if she could provide the LDRA with an email list. 6) Reyner asked for an update from last month’s visit with the DNR which was provided. Reyner stated the LDRA would like to put up signage for safety concerns. 7) Reyner noted the MVREC is bringing in fiber optics on the north side of the lake for internet access and that Alliant has no interest in providing that service. He asked if the trustees could influence the MVREC to come to the south side. Staebell said he felt a group in a certain area would have more influence rather than the Trustees. Rattenborg said MVREC has been taken care of their current customers for the first phase. He also noted that the MVREC needs to negotiate with Alliant because the south side is Alliant territory and negotiations are not going well. Staebell suggested reaching out to our lobbyists for potential help with the issue.
A motion to adjourn was made by Burger, second by Herman. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.