The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Regular Meeting
November 15, 2012 – 6:30 p.m.
Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room
Delhi, IA
The meeting of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District Board of Trustees was called to order by President Steve Leonard at 6:33 PM at the Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room in Delhi, IA.
Trustees present: Peter, Kray, Leonard, Davidson, Kramer
Trustees absent: Burger, Schneider
Visitors: Nicole Turpin – ECIA, Matt Schneider – ECIA, Jim Locke, Phil Thompson, Dave Larson, Bob Klima, Pat Dede, Don Dede, Ed Schmidt, Phil Jacobs –JJ Grant Management LLC, Chip Hughes, Doug Cox, Chris Stender, Matt Camel, Todd Boose, Todd Mangold – Snow Pioneers, Steve Vorwald – Snow Pioneers, Richard Camp, Dwayne Donels, Larry Aschenbrenner, Dan Staebell, Pat Colgan and Larry Murphy by phone.
Davidson made motion to approve agenda, Kramer second. Leonard wants to remove closed session. Davidson changed motion to approve agenda but remove item 11, Kramer second. All ayes,motion passed.
Kramer made motion to approve minutes of 10/18 and 11/8, Peter second. All ayes, motion passed.
Payments from General fund were distributed. The payment for Accident fund is for workman’s comp. We canceled this policy but this amount is for the period of time from 9/11/12 to 10/1/12. Billed to LDRA but sent to Laurie Kramer. Kramer will check on it further. LDRA had all the insurance but it has been transferred to the Lake District. Motion to approve all bills as presented (Accident Fund Ins – $46, Alliant Energy – $38.03, Mary Kray – postage $40.25, L&L Consulting – $2000, News Publishing – $8.24, Simmons Perrine – escrow – $5000, Simmons Perrine – $4321) except for Accident fund ins. Kray second. Leonard thinks should have discussion with LDRA if they needed to have the coverage during time period. Locke and Kramer discussed prior to meeting – not necessary. Kramer will discuss with insurance company. Utilities for office building questioned by Davidson. There are facilities and printers in the building also. Office was winterized last year. Discussion around whether to winterize again this year. Suggestion from public to take ink printer out printer if close it out. All ayes, motion passed.
Financial report presented by Kramer ending balance for Oct. 31, 2012 is $73,597.94. Received funds from county this month of $14,267.62. The debt service fund received $43,179.05 from the county and the bond fund accrued interest of $3869.92 and 2 warants from last month for Tegeler and B&J hauling.
Steve Vorwald, President of Snow Pionneers and Todd Mangold, Route Coordinator spoke to the board regarding the ability of the trail to go across the dredge site as the site will be under a new governing body shortly. The Snow Pioneers carry a $1million liability policy. The current lease is with the LDRA and will stay in place until property changes hands. Gate is not locked and is now open and they have signs up. Gave copy of insurance and what old lease was. Routes approved by the county. Davidson made motion to approve if transfer takes place during snowmobile season we would enter into agreement immediately with Snow Pioneers, Peter second. State is recommending new lease to be used and new statute. DNR came up with new lease agreemnt. Davidson questioned if there is an out clause. Vorwald indicated on the form where the out clause is. Vorwald wants to have us on the insurance company. Leonard said have Vorwald’s insurance company call him and he will discuss.
Resolution on automatic bond payments was introduced by Kramer. This is for informational purposes only for the board. Gave to County Auditor and she hasn’t had time to look at it. Gives county the right to automatically pay the bond bills. Kramer wants to table this for this month. Kray asked about if we still have to approve the payments if the resolution is in place. Kramer advised no, the resolution takes care of that. Kramer made motion to table, Davidson second, all ayes, motion passed.
Committee update
FEMA by Colgan – tasks completed by Stanley and Homeland Security has in their hands. Received all sediment maps and that shows all damage made. The deposits on the lake bed are shown by the 2008 and 2010 events. There was a story in the CR Gazette today that says FEMA needs more money since Hurricane Sandy. Still no guarantees of money and competition is intense.
The Fish ladder was discussed in our meeting last week. Stanley is working with the University of Iowa Hydraulic Lab and they have advised that nothing exists like this in the midwest. They have volunteered to write letter free of charge to advise of its opinion. Shouldn’t hold up construction. We have 42 ft. of elevation on the dam which makes the fish ladder difficult to design.
Law in Iowa code states if you will temporarily flood land, you need easements from property owners. Pat is working with Stanley on a different definition of top of dam. Looks like we will need some type of easements.
Murphy said the results of the recent election were the House of Representatives is still controlled by Republicans and Lee Hein was not challenged and still represents this area. Dan Zumbach won the local race in the Senate and Democrats retained control of the Senate. Gronstol is chair, McCoy is on infrastructure and Dvorsky on appropriations committee in Senate. Discussion ongoing with Gary and Larry with Legislators. Kraig Paulson still Speaker of the House. Nick Wagner was appropriations chair and was defeated. Big question on appropriations chair in house and that is an important committee for us.
Leonard reveiwed 4 items required to finish to move forward and they are the fish ladder, easements, sanitation plan and public access plan. Kray explained santitation plan and modifications. We approved and forwarded to DNR. DNR gave approval today and will assist in letter to property owners. Public access meeting on Wednesday with DNR, supervisors, county engineer, county conservation and lobbyist. Disucssed what we submitted and what DNR wants. DNR is being extremely cooperative because are aware of our money issues. We will modify plan in near future.
The District received 3 proposals for the RFP for FEMA Administrative Assistance and those were opened to make it a matter of public record. East Central Intergovernmental Assoc (ECIA) was opened first and Mark Schneider from ECIA was present and gave information regarding their company. ECIA is counsel to government organizations and is a 28E organization which covers the counties of Cedar, Jackson, Dubuqe and Delaware. They work within all local governments and assist on grant writing and within community development. Their quoted price within the proposal is $75/hr through 6/30/13 and $77/hr from 7/1/13 to 6/30/14. ECIA has worked with several city and county organizations on FEMA grant administration and was actively involved in the demolitions work from the 2010 flood in Delaware county.
The second proposal is from JJ Grant Management LLC in Treynor, Iowa. Philip Jacobs gave an overview and said it is a young company, only in their 3rd year of operation. Philip was with Homeland Security prior to opening his own business. All of his current clients are in Iowa. He has worked with flooding issues in Webster, Hamilton, Humboldt, Franklin and Wright counties. He also did FEMA work with rural electric cooperatives mostly in the western part of the state. He is also involved in doing 404 mitigation wetlands. His company only deals with FEMA disasters and 404 and 406 type grants. He was employed by Homeland Security during the 2008 flood disaster and has handled 5 disasters since he has opened his company. Their hourly rate is $100/hr fully burdened which means there is no travel or expenses added in and he won’t be changing his rates during the contract period.
The third proposal was from Adjusters International in Utica, NY and their pricing is $255/hr for a Senior Consultant. The Consultant rate is $185/hr and Specialist is $155/hr.
Leonard made motion to give Fry and Colgan the 3 proposals for their review and clarification and submit to Trustees a submittal of recommendation for the next regular meeting. Kray second. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Public comment – Larry Aschenbrenner asked what was our tentative proposal for public access. Murphy reveiwed that the District put together a plan and the legislators wanted the plan filed with the General Assembly. After DNR review, they are asking for a canoe and kayak portage and additional access to the lake. Currently the DNR measures how much of a public lake is accessible to the public and the lowest # in Iowa is 7% but Lake Delhi is significantly lower and they would like to see that increased. Leonard said he is confident we will get through this because of the ability to make it a long term plan.
Staebell asked if could explain the top of dam definition and Leonard said the state and DNR are concerned that if the permit is isssued to fill the lake, the state could be in a position that they would be liable if someone’s property was flooded. In current law today the dam requirements are to go to top of dam and in our case that could be the top of the road. With the spillway design we are arguing that it should be the spillway height. Gojng through legal discussion of what top of dam definition is and it is a work in process right now. There is a question as to whether this is a rebuild or a new dam. The Army Corps of Engineers is defining this as a rebuild. Peter said the rules for the Iowa DNR are in their Technical bulletin 16, Chapter 10 subsection A & B.
Bob Klima asked if we had looked at from Baileys Ford bridge and the Boon property on the McDowell side and Leonard advised we are looking at all properties.
Stender asked if expecting the district to fund all of this. DNR knows we have taxed ourselves to the full amount. Locke asked if these issues are for the Phase I permit and Leonard said all of the issues have to be resolved for the water inpoundment permit. Phase I was described and our tentative plan is to put Phase I out to bid this winter and start in spring 2013. We will need to put mitigation in place for the archeology issues. Phase I permit will require fish ladder property easement issues done by the fish ladder.
Dave Larson said the DNR is talking as if our water area isn’t good but what about what comes into our lake from upstream. Leonard said we will be asking those questions Bob Klima asked why is this taking so long and the Wisconsin Dells was faster. It was explained that the Wisconsin Dells area would have lost $1billion in vacation income and the Governor of Wisconsin put in an emergency order to put the road back.
Phase I construction is supposed to start in Spring 2013 so we are trying to resolve the 4 issues still outstanding. The Wastewater and Public Access plans will be complete shortly so that will be 2 out of 4 done. With those plans complete, we should see the money from the state. The impoundment of water Permit will require that the floodplain rights and fish ladder issues are resolved.
Davidson made motion to adjourn, Kramer second, all ayes, motion passed.