The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Meeting
Saturday, January 12, 2013 – 11:00 a.m.
Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room
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 11:02 AM at Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room.
Trustees present: Leonard, Kramer, Peter, Davidson, Burger and Kray via Skype and Schneider via phone.
Trustees absent:
Visitors: Dan, Reyner, Dave Reyner, Rich Reysack, Ed Schmidt, Pat Anderson, Gordon Anderson, Eve Peter, Chip Hughes, Todd Boone, Doug Camp, Richard Camp, Tom McLaughlin, Annette Mohling, Bill Decker, Bob Galiher, Mark Schultz, Linda Schultz, Jim Gudenkauf, Sharon Gudenkauf, Don Dede, Pat Dede, Jim Locke, Phil Thompson. Pat Colgan via Skype. Bob Hatala and Matt Hektoen by phone.
Agenda reviewed by Leonard. Motion was made by Burger, second by Kramer, to approve meeting agenda. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard asked Hatala to review where we are at with transfer of the land between the LDRA and the District. Hatala said Resolution 1.12.13a is to approve an amendment to the Memorandum of Agreement because of the need to wait to complete the ‘right of first refusal’ with Kevin Harbach and the easement with the Strausser family for North Beach. Once that amendement is approved then Resolution 1.12.13b can be voted on to approve the acquisition of land and allows the President of the District to sign the bill of sale and quit claim deed to complete the transaction. Hektoen explained that the LDRA will maintain the containment site and the Harbach land because there has been no agreement finalized with Harbach. There is also a portion of land that is outside of the boundary of the District, within track 89 and 90, and the parcels have no offical description to confirm their exact boundaries so we won’t transfer that as well. Leonard thanked Hektoen and Hatala for work done into late last night. Hektoen also indicated the easement for public access to North Beach was not completed due to one of the Strausser family has passed away without signing the agreement and there is some difficulty with that estate. Parcel JJ was involved with this easement so it will not be transferred as well. Jim Locke wanted to make sure it was understood that the easement was for maintenance purposes and not public access. Leonard asked Resolution 1.12.13a to be approved. Burger made motion and Davidson second to approve revised Memorandum of Agreement. Kramer wanted to confirm this is everything and Hatala said yes. Hatala also indicated that there is nothing in the 357E agreement that says the District cannot own real estate outside of its geographic boundary and if there was an issue, only the state can challenge it. Kramer then asked if Hektoen could describe at a high level what is excluded. Hektoen said the containment site, North Beach properties and easements (Parcel JJ), properties outside of the district because they lack a legal description, and the Harbach frontage. Leonard wanted to confirm the District will have to work with the County Sanitation department to agree to cap the house and office septic or get an inspection done before final deeds are recorded. Hektoen indicated he sent an email to Dennis Lyons last night and believes that will be the case. We may need to delay inspection due to the cold weather or there is also a possibility, because the property exchanged hands without any funds, that the inspection may not need to be done. Hektoen will know more once he talks to Lyons. Locke confirmed Hektoen and Mitvalsky will follow up with each other and Hektoen agreed. Individual roll call requested on acceptance of amendment with Memorandum of Agreement. Hatala interjected that there had been a title examination of the dam but would need to be done on the other properties. Locke said the LDRA had a concern of whether the District can convey the Turtle Creek property to the County without a bid process and that the LDRA would be willing to transfer directly to the County. Hatala looked at this issue earlier and the only time disposal of property has a restriction is in the city and county code, a 357E does not have a like requirement. Even if the 357E did have the same requirement, a transfer to another governmental agency is exempt in this type of transfer. Individual roll call again requested on motion to accept Resolution 1.12.13a, all ayes, motion passed.
Leonard introduced Resolution 1.12.13b to now be addressed. Hatala said he had no addditional commentary, this resolution just gives authorization for the President to do what is necessary to complete the Memorandum of Agreement that we just passed. Burger made motion to approve Resolution 1.12.13b and Kramer second. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed. Next step is now to get the document to the LDRA to get their signatures and they are having a meeting directly after the Trustee meeting. Leonard asked Hatala if he should sign the additional documents and Hatala indicated he should wait to sign until the LDRA approves.
Colgan reviewed the timeline document and explained it is a management list of activities in order to allow us to track and stay within schedule the work that needs to be done to bring the dam back. The Trustees already have established committees and each committe has 3 members of Trustees. The intent will be then to break each committee into a number of subcommittees to handle the detailed activities as each item has about 50 to 60 work activities underneath it. This enables the Board to be aware of what each subcommittee is doing and enables the District Board to have oversight. Colgan commended Larry Peter because he sent Colgan an email this morning with activities for the construction committee and Colgan really appreciates the work Peter has done on this. The normal Trustee meetings will not get to this level of detail but the subcommittees will. Burger said if Colgan sees any other committees that should be formed to please let us know. Burger also indicated that other members from the community are involved in the committees and more can be added.
Budget/Finance Committee along with the Legislative Committee will need to decide how the monies are spent. Permits need to be done by 2Q. We have 2 levels of regulation, Federal, which is the Army Corp of Engineers and the State is the DNR. Corp sees the rebuild as repair and they put us on a streamline permit process. A Memorandum of Agreement now needs to be done between the Corp and the District regarding the results of the Archeology study to get the permit from the Corp and we are on course to receive the Corp permit in February.
This time line document details who is responsible for duties and what is the delivery date. In January it will be essential to address the General Construction contracts with the county so we know what the front end requirements and conditions of our construction documents will be. This meeting will include County personnel, Stanley Engineering, some Trustees and Bob Hatala. Also in January we need to develop our bidders list and the County and Stanley have a list of contractors. Phase I is ready to go out to bids but the funding and permits need to be better understood.
Kray said she feels we need to address the items that need to be worked on in January and Colgan said the general conditions of the contract are the most important. There is a 5 or 6 page questionaire that needs to be filled out and Colgan has taken care of about 80% of it but there are questions that will need to be answered by the Finance and Dam Construction Committees. We also need to address how we plan to pay as the construction begins. The Contractor will want significant dollars to begin the work so the Finance Committee needs to understand how monies will come in and how they will be spent. Burger asked Colgan if Stanley will have recommendations with limits of liability and such and Colgan said Stanley won’t give those kind of recommentdations, it is up to our attorneys and the District. The County will have a menu of choices and enough expertise to help us decide what we want. Colgan will keep us posted on the meeting with the County Engineer and get everyone involved that needs to be present
Leonard said in the last memo to the public, we requested volunteers again. He recommended that if we have neighbors and family with expertise that would be useful, please ask then to volunteer.
Burger asked Colgan that if possible, can he carbon the rest of the board when you he emails requests so that all Trustees are aware of what is going so that we can relate to the citizens what is happening and what we have seen. Colgan said he would do that.
Public comment – Bill Thompson had a question on water level for permitting and any progress on easements. Leonard indicated still working through issues with the DNR. but water level will stay the same.
Dan Raynor asked about public access. Leonard said County Conseration was at our meeting Thursday and the Legislative Committee is working as a team with several county members and the DNR. We are trying to complete plans for an additional boat ramp, a fishing area, a beach and additional parking. Currently the focus area for enhancement is the Turtle Creek area. We are working jointly with the DNR and the County on a grant application by Jan 31, 2013 for a 75% assistance with a 25% local match.
Gordon Anderson asked if we will be using the Peck property for public access. Leonard said the Peck property had some unique boundary line issues that are adjacent to the spillway and it allows better access for construction. We may look at the area for public access if it is deemed ‘safe’ by our Engineering firm and the State. Burger said we may also use this area as portage for canoe and kayaking but that has not been confirmed yet.
Kramer made motion to adjourn, Peter second, motion passed.