The Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District
Board of Trustees Meeting
Thursday, November 21, 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 6:32 PM at the Maquoketa Valley Middle School Conference Room.
Trustees present: Leonard, Kramer, Davidson, Kray, Schneider, Gifford and Burger by phone
Trustees absent:
Visitors: Larry Peter, Eve Peter, Ed Schmidt, Don Dede, Pat Dede, John Carbaugh, Pauletta Carbaugh, Keith Schulte, Jim Locke, Dan Reyner, Dave Larson, Pat Colgan, Larry Aschenbrenner, Diane Bauers, Chip Hughes, Tom Cook, Marilyn Cook, Randy Rattenborg, Maggie Burger by phone, Sara Millhouse from the Dyersville Commercial.
Agenda reviewed by Leonard. Motion made by Davidson to approve agenda, Kramer second, all ayes, motion passed.
Kray requested approval of minutes for the 10/17/13, 10/30/13 work session and 10/30/13 special meeting and 11/13/13 meetings. Kramer made motion to approve, Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer requested approval of payments as follows for the general fund: Alliant Energy – $21.24; L&L Consulting – $2,000.00; Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergmann – $216.00. She also asked for approval of payments for the bond fund: Delaware County Abstract – $695.00; Simmons Perrine Moyer Bergmann – $3,248.50; Stanley Consultants for Engineering – $7,701.00; Stanley Consultants for FEMA – $1,869. Motion to approve all payments as presented by Davidson, second by Schneider. Schneider asked if there was any way to reduce the cost for L&L Consulting and not pay monthly if we are not using them. Leonard said they are working on a property tax issue and drafting language for a revised bill so they are engaged. Kramer advised the board that a request for bond payment has been sent to Delaware County for $125,306.25 as the board already approved the county to make the automatic payments for us. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer reviewed budget reports as of 10/31/2013. The General Fund had a starting balance of $133,532.45 and after receipts and expenses has a balance of $140,086.28. The Debt Service Fund had a beginning balance of $227,704.82 and after receipts has an ending balance of $266,296.61. The Dam/Spillway Fund has a beginning balance of $5,723,979.64 and after an interest payment and expenses ends with a balance of $5,619,642.86. Motion to file financial reports as presented by Burger, Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed.
Kramer introduced the request for payment to the LDRA. The details of the payment are as follows: the land transfer required a payment of a $1, the board also agreed to make a payment of $2500 after the transfer was completed and less half the closing costs as the LDRA agreed (total closing costs were $1,917.00 per Hektoen). Motion to approve payment to LDRA for $1,542.50 made by Kray, second by Gifford. All ayes, motion passed.
Maggie Burger of Speer Financial Inc. explained she earlier sent the Trustees the compliance procedures for tax exempt bonds. About 18 mos ago, the IRS posted regulations for compliance of tax exempt bonds. Because the District is able to issue tax exempt bonds we must have compliance procedures in place. This relates to bonds the District has already issued and also any future bonds we may issue. Dorsey and Whitney (our bond attorneys) prepared the resolution adopting tax compliance procedures and this needs to be done by December 31, 2013. Maggie Burger reviewed all rules that must be followed with the Trustees. Leonard then read Resolution 11.21.13. Motion made by Schneider to approve, second by Davidson. Leonard asked Maggie Burger who files this document and M. Burger advised Dorsey and Whitney will file the original with the IRS, the District should keep a copy and give a copy to the Delaware County Auditor. Individual roll call requested, all ayes, motion passed. Maggie Burger left the meeting.
Pat Colgan discussed the Engineering Services during construction provided by Stanley Engineering. Colgan explained the Contractor is responsible for details and specs of the construction. The Field Engineer will review submittals for payment, make sure the work is compliant with the specifications and quality of work and will approve items for payment. This Engineer will review change conditions and will provide clarification to try to resolve issues and the agreement also provides for an engineer to be here full time during construction. The Dam Construction committee will play a role but not in a contractural matter – they cannot direct the work. Bill Holman is the Project Manager and he will come out to the site once a month for a management/review meeting. Colgan sees the Field Engineer as a very critical position as they will do the day to day log keeping. If there are ever any issues, these are the records we would go back to for verification. The Field Engineer will mark up drawings as to what was actually built. The estimate for this work over the whole project is $250,000 to $300,000 and is about 2-3% of overall cost of the project (normally it is 6-8% of the project cost). If approved a supplemental agreement would be written between Stanley Engineering and the Trustees. Colgan recommends putting the supplemental agreement in place. He also advised the cost for this position has been included in the project scope projections. Kramer made motion to ask for supplemental agreement, Davidson second. Burger asked Colgan when this person would begin and Colgan advised the Field Engineer will start as soon as we begin construction and be here every day during construction. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard asked Burger to discuss recording secretary position and Burger indicated he wants to make a motion to refer the job description of this position to the Budget/Finance committee. Kray said there was a job description presented at the last meeting and why wouldn’t we move forward with that. Burger advised there were members of the board that have issue with this position so he would like to forward it to the committee and have additional eyes look at the description. Burger made motion to refer this to the Budget/Finance committee and bring this back to the December meeting, Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed.
Leonard presented the findings by the committee that reviewed alternate public access options and locations. In our discussions with the Delaware County Supervisors, the focus has been on the Turtle Creek area but the committee wanted to see if there were any other viable alternatives before finalizing an agreement with the County. The criteria used was that access to the public area could not be via a private drive. The committee came up with a list of 8 possible options and looked at the financial estimates and the pros and cons of each option. The options are 1 – previous Peck property, 2 – SW of Hartwick Bridge, 3 – Turtle Creek property with no bridge, 4 – Lost Beach area, 5 – Baileys Ford area, 6 – Turtle Creek plan currently under discussion with the County, 7 – Turtle Creek property with no new bridge but ramp in the cove, 8 – NE of Hartwick Bridge. Gifford asked if there was a second choice from the Option 6 and Kray feels isn’t really a better option than 6 and Kramer and Leonard believe Option 7 would be an alternative. Gifford asked what was the biggest drawback to the area down by the dam that the District currently owns. Leonard feels that utilizing that area for public access would limit our flexibility for work around the dam, it may cause some construction constrictions and also could be an issue with safety since it is right next to the spillway. There is also a need for a Portage area around the dam in the 28E agreement and that area would most likely be used for that purpose. Davidson said Option 6 is a big benefit with easily accessible restroom facilities for all parties on the lake and it only makes sense to create the public access at that location. Schneider said the County has already put in a lot of money for study and engineering work and he believes Option 6 is the right choice. Leonard said if we move forward with Option 6 will need to determine costs and how to move forward with the County. He also noted the County agrees the work would be done by completion of the dam and spillway because it will cost $200,000 more if the water is back before completion of the bridge. Kray advised the County has asked that 4 items be completed by 1/17/14 so a marine tax grant can be requested by 1/31/14 for the construction of some of the items of the public access. The 4 items are property transfer to the County, 28E agreement is complete between the District and the County, a budget for the project be in place and a design be agreed to by both parties. Leonard asked for a motion to approve option 6 as the best selection for public access to move forward with in partnership with the County assuming an agreeable cost share agreement with the District and County. Motion was made by Davidson, Schneider second. All ayes, motion passed. Leonard advised this discussion took care of both Item 10 and 11 on the agenda.
Committee Updates
Finance – committee hasn’t met for awhile. The District has received $473 from ICAP as an anniversary contribution. Burger said ICAP distributes the payments annually and it is based on the whole pool of customers.
FEMA – Leonard said our FEMA Chief Financial Officer, Dave Fry has notified him that his professional schedule is very busy and he won’t be able to complete the close out of the monitoring report. Fry has advised Leonard that the time and investment will be significant for this project. The District did go out for an RFP approximately a year ago that requested professional help with FEMA responses. Leonard advised he had a discussion recently with the parties that were recommended for hire from the RFP. Leonard wanted to thank Fry for what he has done so far. Leonard said there is someone else on the lake that may volunteer for this work but wants to meet with Fry first to understand what is required before he moves forward. There are approximately 27 notebooks full of information on the 2008 flood event and it will take countless hours to work through the process.
Dam Construction/Timeline – Leonard advised the government shutdown had a significant impact on timing for the federal permit. The Corp of Engineers is currently waiting for one more party which is the advisory board to give comment. The Army Corp of Engineers is the final decision making authority regarding the permit. Colgan said we need the federal permit to begin Phase I and Phase II design is done and has been distributed to the DNR. Burger asked when are they going to hear from the federal advisory board. Leonard said no one can make them respond but he is anticipating a response any day now.
State – County Legislative – Leonard said the lobbyists are engaged in FEMA details and are working with Homeland Security. They are also preparing a bill change to clarify the tax laws as it pertains to our district.
Property Management – Gifford advised a lot of work has been done on tree/weed mitigation just north of the bridge down to the dam. He is still tracking some spots of debris and will continue to work those locations.
Davidson advised demolition of the Peck property and Rocky Nook properties that we now own is scheduled to be done by the end of the year.
Burger asked if it was time for the board to go back to the administrative FEMA RFP and hire a company to assist so we don’t burn out another volunteer. He also asked if in Leonard’s discussion, did he ask if the companies would still hold to their quote. Leonard said their quote referred to the 2010 FEMA request so he does need to verify that the quote would remain the same for assistance with the 2008 event report. Schneider said he spoke with Fry and he indicated that we need an expert and not a volunteer. Burger suggested we put this item on the next agenda. Burger asked that the responses should be scanned and sent to all Trustees.
Public comment – Larry Peter asked about monitoring report and if the items on that report have to be satisfied before we can receive state monies and move ahead with construction. Leonard said the State money is not contingent on the monitoring report and should not impact permits for construction. Colgan said these are totally separate things and there is no connection between the 2 items.
Ed Schmidt said when the County Engineer first drew the plan, the new road went through the cove and is that still the case. Leonard said yes that is still the plan but the road is just moved back a little bit.
Jim Locke asked if the County looked at the base of the cove and are they sure they can put the bridge in. Leonard said borings are planned for that area but they haven’t been done yet. John Carbaugh asked how they will get rid of the extra dirt and Colgan advised they will use it in the dike construction.
Pauletta Carbaugh said the board discussed items of values of $300,000 and more tonight but why is it taking debate for so long on hiring a recording secretary for about only 10 hours per month. Leonard said the roles and responsibilities are going to be looked at by the Committee. Carbaugh said the board always discusses and approves large portions of money so this shouldn’t need so much discussion. Kramer said we need to define the role and what is ideal and most cost effective.
Dave Larson said he wanted to confirm construction won’t start until January and when would we see a coffer dam. Colgan said it probably would be more like May or June of 2014 when the coffer dam will be ready.
Chip Hughes was surprised that Lost Beach was considered as an option for local access. He wanted the public to know that he was not contacted and that the members of the committee had never been on the property as far as he knew so he did not feel the research would have been accurate. Hughes hopes the numbers used on the other options had more research done to justify them. Leonard advised that the real estate listing was used and the other estimates of all other public amenities were used identically in each option and this was just a best guess at this time to allow the district trustees an opportunity to determine which public access option they want to focus on for public access for now and in the future . Hughes said we probably passed on a chance for a public contribution because you never asked.
Larry Aschbrenner asked if the state will be satisfied with one additional public access site as he didn’t want to see additional set backs. Leonard said the state requirement was to submit a public access plan and they didn’t have specifications for us. Aschbrenner asked if we have considered asking the Supervisors to draw a letter to see if the permit can be expedited as he feels it is to the benefit of the County to get this area back to benefit the County economy. Leonard said each stake holder of this project have their own processes they have to work through. Leonard applauded the Supervisors as they approved the bond for the spillway at $2,999,999.00 at their meeting on Monday.
Leonard spoke again to Hughes about the public access options and said we had to put the options together in a short period of time but tried to get as close to estimates as possible. Public information is what was used for the estimates of the property evaluations. Hughes said a 30 minute phone call would have produced more accurate information.
Keith Schulte said he thought we were ready to go out for bids in October and is the delay caused because we don’t have the federal permit. He asked if the District has a high degree of confidence that the bids for construction will come in at the estimates we have. Colgan said Stanley Engineering works with contractors in the midwest and their estimation is based on experience. Schulte then asked if the financing is roughly in place or is there a gap that we will need to fill. Leonard said we anticipate a very tight budget and we believe we have most of what we need based on the funds that are currently pledged and that we already have in place.
Eve Peter asked if the property negotiations are done and is that acquisition contingent on the federal permit. Also, is the board going to spend money before we acquire that property. Leonard said we would most likely move forward once we get the federal permit.
Motion to adjourn by Schneider, second by Kramer, all ayes, motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.