The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Meeting
Thursday, August 15, 2013 – 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 6:34 PM at the Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room.
Trustees present: Leonard, Kramer, Gifford, Davidson, Kray, Schneider and Burger
Trustees absent: N/A
Visitors: Larry Peter, Eve Peter, Pat Dede, Don Dede, Ed Schmidt, John Carbaugh, Pauletta Carbaugh, Rich Reysack, Ken DeKlotz, Barb DeKlotz, Jim Willey, Cindy Blonigan, Dudley Brollier, Brian Hughes, Bill Hughes, Bonnie Hughes, Dave Larson, Lou Christiansen, Sue Christiansen, Dwayne Donels, Larry Aschenbrenner, Marcheta Cooey Lux, Bill Lux, Dan Staebell, Doug Herman
Agenda reviewed by Leonard. Motion made by Davidson to approve agenda, Kramer second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kray requested approval of minutes for the 7/23/13, and 8/7/13 meetings. Burger made motion to approve, Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer covered billings requiring approval for payment. Payments for the General Fund are Alliant Energy – $18.79; L&L Murphy Consulting – $2,000; Simmons Perrine – $2,054.36; Three Rivers FS – $144.45 (LP tank rental). Payment for the Bond Fund is $3,914.00 for Simmons Perrine. Gifford requested definition of different funds that we have and Kramer explained. Burger made motion to approve all payments as presented, Kramer second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer reviewed the financial report advising the General Fund had a beginning balance of $24,748.81 and an ending balance of $20,018.85. We just approved over $5000 for expenditures this month so that will take the General Fund to below $15,000 and we have no tax draws until August or September. Kramer has checked with Carla Becker, County Auditor and we can do an intrafund transfer. The Bond fund expenses this month are from the recent acquisitions of land and we show an ending balance of $5,702,101.03. Gifford asked how we have the bond fund invested. Burger explained County government can only invest in low risk items per Iowa code and we have asked Delaware County to invest our monies the same way. Burger made motion to receive and file the financial report, Kray second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer reviewed Hunt & Associates letter regarding understanding of the terms and objectives of the ‘compilation’ that they did for us along with the Delaware County audit. Leonard explained that Tom McLaughlin from the Finanace Committee requested this to make sure we understand what work Hunt & Associates completed for us. Burger said we received an inexpensive rate because Hunt & Associates is already in Delaware County doing their audit. Kramer made motion to approve Hunt & Associates letter to approve the compilation for us. Gifford second. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard covered the Release and Settlement with DCCI, LDRA and the District. The lawsuit was filed by DCCI against the LDRA. Leonard reviewed some of the agreement and read recitals B and D. The District and the LDRA went through mediation with DCCI to try to avoid a trial. During the mediation process on April 30, 2013 all parties agreed to settle the lawsuit. Leonard read the agreement and he believes, from our counsel, that DCCI and the LDRA have accepted the agreement. The District is now being asked to accept the agreement. Burger made motion to approve the agreeemnt as he feels it was a better option to settle in mediation and he fells it was a good settlement, Kramer second. Leonard said the cost of a trial weighed heavily on our decision to settle and mediate the amounts. Inidvidual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Leonard covered the 3rd amendment of the MOA with the LDRA and the District which covers the agreement to transfer the dam. There have been legal complexities as to some of the properties involved. This document allows for the transfer of all of the real estate except for the dredge site because there is still some legal work that needs to be done for final transfer of that property to take place. The properties noted as restrictive are parcel L (which includes the dam, building, office and land under the county road way), Lost Beach, North Beach and Turtle Creek Park. If those properties are ever sold to a non-public entity the District must notify the LDRA and they have 45 days to respond. However, if the south 1/3 of Parcel L would be sold to a non-public entity,the LDRA must notify the District with their response within 15 days. After a 5 year time frame, a request for sale to a non-public entity would go to the taxpayers of the District and require a 60% affirmative vote. Motion to approve MOA with the LDRA and substitue on #3 as a closing date of no later than September 20, 2013 by Burger, Schneider second. Gifford confirmed that the primary change is the voting procedure which was quoted by Leonard as he read the document. Brian Hughes said the LDRA board is nearly in full support but they haven’t been able to speak with all of the members yet. Kray said thanks to all for getting this done. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Committee updates
Finance – nothing additional to report
FEMA – Leonard said the District had a meeting with FEMA this week along with Homeland Security and Congressional leadership were involved in order to keep things moving forward. In the meeting today they had dialogue and the process should be moving at a quicker pace.
Dam Construction and Timeline – waiting on FEMA and the federal permit. Stanley Engineering has completed the design package for phase I and phase II for review and it is on its way to Pat Colgan for review. After Colgan’s review we will have a special meeting for the Trustees to review the documents. This is necessary for the DNR process so they can start to review and consider out state permit. Davidson asked if state permit could proceed before the federal permit and Leonard said yes that is his understanding.
Property Manangement – Davidson indicated he has not received anything back from Harbach yet regarding asbestos removal.
Public Comment – Rich Reysack asked why FEMA was asked to be involved. Leonard explained that we became ineligible for FEMA shortly after the 2010 breach and explained the appeal process we went through. We were approved as an eligible applicant after the second appeal process and FEMA became involved in the Spring of 2013 before we had our federal permit from the Army Corp of Engineers. The District had to work in cooperation with Homeland Security to prepare and review the project spreadsheets and supporting documentation for FEMA. Our goal is to open up options for funding and proceeding forward as quickly as possible. Kray said the District also needed to make sure we were FEMA eligible for future years.
Hughes asked about the FEMA 2008 funding and asked if that will be an issue and Leonard indicated we are trying to get clarification on that.
Reysack asked what are the 3 things you need from community to move forward. Leonard said we may need letters and phone calls but we are not at that point yet. What happens if still having this conversation in 1-2 years. Is there a line in the sand? Leonard said that there will be but said we also must have enough information to make that decision. Everyone needs to understand the pros and cons.
Doug Herman, City Administrator for Monticello, said he has worked with Homeland Security and they are good to work with. He did want us to understand that FEMA money is federal funding and that invokes the Davis Bacon wage act which can make your costs higher. He spoke with a congressional aid this week and they were well versed with Lake Delhi and Herman believes things would be happening faster for us.
Barb DeKlotz asked last week about the costs of the attorneys and she was told she could go to county auditor’s office and find the detaiils. She went into the auditors office and spent 1 ½ hours and had difficulty understanding the documents and process. Any documents that are archived require a payment of $.25/page and Barb DeKlotz thinks there should be more information available on our financial details. She would like to know how much the District spent on the Dave’s Complete Construction, Inc. (DCCI) agreement. Leonard and Kramer said our District attorney fees were about $4000 so far. Kray said we have insurance to cover attorney fees in instances like this. She said she understands that we will have fees for land acquisition and such and doesn’t expect us not to have some attorney fees. Leonard said we have asked our attorneys to break down their charges of dam issues vs. regular business which would include the DCCI issue. Gifford asked if it would be more helpful if we reviewed each invoice in our meeting and then that information would be part of the record. DeKlotz said as long as it was part of the record that would be helpful because then they wouldn’t have to go through all the papers. She believes the District should have hand outs of our financial sheets each month.
Peter said all the information as how to provide documents is in the open meetings law. Could be sent electronically to people who can receive it.
Barb DeKlotz asked about the volunteers who signed up for committees at our public hearings – were those names shared. Kray advised on the web site.
Dan Staebell asked for an update on the weed discussion and Kray gave update. John Carbaugh said has a lane going into cabins and they sprayed and the trees that were 8-10 foot trees are dying. Pat Dede has the name of the person who did the work for them.
Larry Aschenbrenner referred to the LDRA/District MOA and indicated he was disgusted with both committees. He said the community has voted for the representatives for both the LDRA and the trustees and we expect them to represent us and make decisions for us. Why is there a problem with one of our groups turning all of the property to another group. It has taken this long a time and paying 2 attorneys and based on the agreeement reached he sees nothing but problems and issues going forward. Leonard said did come to agreement tonight however he does share his sentiment on how long it has taken.
Brian Hughes wants to confirm that we have engineering package 1 and 2 and that is the 2 sections of work that needs to be done to bring the water back. He knows that is oversimplifying but just wants to make sure he understands. He also wants to confirm that the DCCI settlement is complete and behind us. Leonard said the agreement we signed this evening takes care of the settlement and all that is left is for the other 2 parties to sign. And then Hughes confirmed all we have left is getting past FEMA and the DNR permit and we can move forward.
Barb DeKlotz wants to confirm that after 5 years on the MOA it says the vote goes to the tax payers and there is one vote per tax payer. Leonard confirmed yes.
Motion by Davidson to go into closed session for the purpose of discussion regarding terms for acquisition of property and property rights for purposes fo restoring the lake and dam, second by Schneider. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed.
Motion to adjourn by Burger, second by Kramer. All ayes, motion passed.