VIRGIN VALLEY WATER DISTRICT REGULAR BOARD MEETING
VIRGIN VALLEY WATER DISTRICT OFFICE
FEBRUARY 1, 2011

Minutes of a Regular Board Meeting of the Virgin Valley Water District Board held on February 1, 2011, at the Virgin Valley Water District Office at 5:00 p.m. Attending were President Karl Gustaveson, Vice-President Mark McEwen, Secretary-Treasurer Kenyon Leavitt, and Board Members Ted Miller and Sandra Ramaker. Also present were District General Manager Ken Rock, District Legal Counsel Bo Bingham and Administrative Assistant Mary Johnson taking minutes and other interested parties of agenda items.

President Karl Gustaveson called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m.

Kenyon Leavitt offered a Prayer and Ted Miller led the pledge.

Public Comment – There was no public comment at this time.

Discussion: Board Comments – Kenyon Leavitt stated that he had received an e-mail asking if the same procedure was to be held this year as in the past and if Board members wanted to evaluate the General Manager at the first meeting in February. The consensus was to evaluate and it’s not on the agenda. He was wondering why and when the decision was made to not evaluate at this meeting. Kenyon also commented that he wondered if these e-mails were a violation of the Open Meeting Law (OML), getting opinions from the Board. Ken commented that with clear direction he would put it on the next agenda, but there seemed to be ambivalence as to when it was going to be at this meeting, for 7 months of employment, or to wait until he had been here one year after the last meeting.

Sandra said that she had discussion about this and one of her concerns was that the District did not have a policy on evaluating or goals set for the General Manager.
Mark stated that he agreed with Kenyon and that he has seen and also thinks that it might not be a bad idea to sit down and review Ken every six months for the first eighteen months because of his rank.

Karl commented that he had answered the e-mail and thought that the evaluation was okay to do at this first meeting, but since the policy only states that the evaluation will be done annually, and not the first meeting of February, he didn’t feel it was a violation of the OML. Karl further stated that the consensus is to evaluate and asked that the General Manager have his evaluation be brought up at the next Board meeting. Ken stated that there is currently no format for a performance review and that he would recommend that the Board members have some type of form to reference, and that Sandra had an example.

President of Board Comments - None

CONSENT AGENDA:

Kenyon Leavitt made a motion to approve the consent agenda as listed below. Ted Miller seconded this motion and it was unanimously carried. 5-0

1. Discussion & Action - Approve Agenda

2. Discussion & Action – Approve Minutes from 1/18/11 Work Session Meeting

3. Discussion & Action – Approve Minutes from 1/18/11 Regular Meeting

4. Discussion & Action – Approve Minutes from January 20, 2011 Work Session Meeting

5. Discussion & Action – Approve Financial Statement for November 2010

6. Discussion & Action – Approve Bills Paid - $418,372.90

7. Discussion & Action – Approve Purchase Orders Over $2,500
a. Alford - $2,600 – Clean out cracks and crack seal patches

** End of Consent Agenda**

8. Discussion & Action – Ratify approval of contracts secured by the Hydrologist and signed by the General Manager after receiving competitive bids for the emergency rehabilitation of Well #31

Ken stated that the District received more than one bid for the pump and Layne-Christensen was the low bidder at $17,733.85; with the high bid coming in at $22,405.00; and that the pump had arrived today. Ken further stated that five bids were received to pull and rehabilitate the pump, ranging from $15,050.00 and $70,475.00 with Weber Group L.C. the low bidder. A contract was developed with the help of Bingham & Snow and the Notice to Proceed has been issued.

Kenyon Leavitt made a motion to ratify approval of contracts secured by the District Hydrologist and signed by the General Manager for the emergency rehabilitation of Well #31. Mark McEwen seconded the motion and it was unanimously carried. 5-0

9. Discussion & Possible Action – Consideration to continue the existing accounting services of Draper & Gleave, LLC, with or without adding to their scope of services

Kenyon stated that due to a conflict of interest because John Gleave is his brother-in-law and David Waite is his cousin, he would not be participating with this item.

Ken began by stating that this was a reprise of three previous items that had come up at the previous Board meeting. Ken further stated that the Board had requested that David Waite come back and make a presentation on how they might address the concerns and desires of the Board and General Manager, and Ken’s direction was to give the Board an approximation of what it might cost to hire somebody in-house to compete with outside services from Draper & Gleave or somewhere else. There was a memo in the packets with what Ken proposed for either full-time or part-time accounting services at a wage scale between Supervisor & GM or within the current Supervisor scale; along with other benefits and taxes that the District would pay.

David Waite distributed a memo to the Board members with a proposal from Draper & Gleave. David began with a brief history of Draper & Gleave’ services with the District through the years and how their role has gone from closing the books at the end of the month and assisting with basic regulatory requirements to what it is today and explaining the increase in fees for the last two fiscal years. David explained that in Fiscal Year 2010, Draper & Gleave continued to do the things that they were doing. When the old GM was terminated Draper & Gleave assisted the Interim GM and staff more with the budget process than in prior years, plus the Water Rate Study, the Vanguard lawsuit and additional bond reporting.

David then reviewed the current needs of the District as a result of discussions during the accounting work session and their interpretation of what the Board and staff were requesting of the accounting department. David read from his memo how the current reporting system would be updated; what monthly reporting to the board would include; how a project proposal process would be implemented and what it would include; and implementing a fraud program.

David explained Draper & Gleave’s proposal going forward with the District, still utilizing John Gleave in his same capacity, and engaging David to implement items noted in section “III. Current Needs” section of the memorandum; and the expected costs.

David answered questions regarding the proposal.

Ted stated that he feels that the accountants were also responsible for the District’s present financial problems and that the District needed a change.

Sandra stated that she believed that John Gleave has given a lot of dedication and work to the District and did what was asked of him, but feels that the Board wants more hours at a lower amount of money and it is a time to make a change and bring someone in internally.

Mark stated that he totally disagreed with Ted and that Draper & Gleave had nothing to do with the District’s current financial status and the District received what they asked for. Mark further stated that he was not opposed to other options, but that it was not the right time.

Ken explained how he got the numbers in his memo. There continued to be discussion regarding hourly rate and hours and hiring an internal employee vs. an outside accountant.

Mark McEwen made a motion to continue to use the accounting services of Draper & Gleave without adding to the scope of services.

Bo commented that he wanted the Board to realize that with a conflict of interest and Kenyon abstaining, that three Board members must agree to pass any motion by a majority vote.

Karl asked if there were any questions on the motion and asked if Mark’s intent was to have another motion to pursue a part-time employee. Mark stated that would be covered in the following items.

The motion died for a lack of a second.

 10. Discussion & Possible Action – Consideration of approval of a Senior Accountant as a regular VVWD employee. The Board may decide to hire at ½ time or full-time depending on perceived needs, cost and value.

Sandra stated that she would like to see the Board give direction to the General Manager to put out a job request for hire for a Senior Accountant and after a time when we get the applications back, then we see who applies and what qualifications, and then we could take it from there. Karl stated that could be difficult and that the Board should make a decision before advertising whether it would be for part-time or full-time.

Kenyon stated that the idea regarding accounting services was to save money; if the District created this job, it would be a permanent government job with benefits, and if we went with an independent person, we would not have to pay all the benefits, taxes, workers comp, etc. Ted asked for a point of order and asked if Kenyon was trying to keep his brother-in-law on the payroll. Kenyon stated that he was not, but was trying to say that it is not a good idea to hire a part-time employee and paying all benefits. There continued to be a lengthy discussion and debate on contracted services vs. an employee with benefits, the hours, etc. and what the best direction should be for the District.

Kenyon Leavitt made a motion to go out for an RFP for accounting services to re-evaluate our accounting costs. Mark McEwen seconded the motion and the motion failed by a vote of 2-3 with Karl Gustaveson, Ted Miller and Sandra Ramaker opposed.

There continued to be discussion.

Ted Miller made a motion to hire a half-time employee depending on perceived needs, cost and value.

The motion died for a lack of a second.

Sandra Ramaker made a motion to put out for a part-time accountant with benefits at the level of a Senior Accountant within the range of a District Supervisor that tops out at $33.65 per hour. Ted Miller seconded the motion.

Mark questioned the motion stating that it appears to him that if we hire a half-time person, we will be paying more ultimately than what we are paying right now, in our current budget, after a rate increase and wanted to verify that this was the motion.

The motion passed by a vote of 3-2 with Kenyon Leavitt and Mark McEwen opposed.

 11. Discussion & Possible Action – If the recruitment of a new accountant has been approved, consideration to request a continuance of the accounting services of Draper & Gleave, LLC for approximately three months after the new VVWD accountant is hired or until those services are no longer required for transition or backup

Sandra stated that we obviously needed to keep an accountant in place until we hire someone and have their assistance until the new employee is comfortable. There was some discussion on the time-frame we would need to continue with Draper & Gleave services.

Mark McEwen made a motion that we request Draper & Gleave to continue their accounting services with us for as long as we need to complete the transition to our new employee. Ted Miller seconded this motion and it was passed by a vote of 4-1 with Kenyon Leavitt opposed.

12. Discussion & Possible Action – Authorize the General Manager to further research and propose possible means to enact secondary water service similar to that for regular culinary water service

Ken stated that golf courses have a strong desire for guaranteed water service as culinary water customers. Ken suggested metering the service at a lower cost than culinary water meters and charge at a price per 1000 gallons. This would greatly benefit the golf courses in securing loans for financing their construction and operations.

Kenyon asked if we are guaranteeing water to golf courses if the river runs dry. Ken answered that we would be constrained to the realities of the irrigation systems.

Rob Fuller of Wolf Creek Golf Course stated that he has had conversations with Ken Rock and feels that there is a lot of logic in this thought and would be supportive of these types of arrangements. Mr. Fuller further stated that Wolf Creek Golf Course has installed a magnetic meter per requirements of the Water District previously. Rob would also like to see a rate of around 8 cents per 1,000 gallons as they are paying now; and further stated that modifications may be challenging.

Ken stated that he had crunched numbers and his figures came out to about .128/1000 gallons, plus a meter charge. There continued to be discussion regarding improving the water quality, contracts with the City for recycled water, access to the irrigation ditches, costs to the District and the time frame.

John Paul commented that the long term effect of stability for the lending institutions is really big news for the golf courses.

Ted Miller made a motion to authorize the General Manager to conduct further research and to propose possible means to enact secondary water service similar to that for regular culinary water service. Sandra Ramaker seconded the motion and it was unanimously carried. 5-0

13. General Manager’s Report

Ken had included a written report. Ken also informed the Board that he met with Barry Stubbs and Mike Ford and they are very encouraged by the direction the District is going, along with the City and Bunkerville Irrigation Company, in terms of a comprehensive solution to rebuilding the Bunkerville Dam. The City has agreed to sponsor that project so that potentially 75% grant money is available.

Ken also stated that he had some corrections to make in comments that he has made. One is that he stated golf courses do not use any potable water, and in actuality, they are our 6th largest user and use 4% of our water. Ken then stated that we are struggling with a 12% increase in medical insurance rates for a second year in a row, but we are looking at something similar that could be $40,000 less. Ken also stated that he would be out of town on Friday. Ken also reported that we received 7 proposals and after he and Aaron reviewed, there would be 4 presentations at the special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 9 beginning at 7:30 a.m. and that there would also be a meeting at 3:00 on this same day regarding the secondary system.

14. Hydrologist’s Report

Aaron had included a written report, but was not present due to attending a conference in Reno on Water Rights.

15. Public Comment

Rob Fuller again thanked the Board for being open and creative and concerned about the future of golf and willing to work out an arrangement with the golf courses; and that their (golf courses) intention is to be a re-use consumer.

John Paul thanked the Board for addressing issues to satisfy all needs and that the golf courses do use culinary water in their restaurants, restrooms, washing carts, etc. and would continue to do so.

16. Adjournment

President Karl Gustaveson adjourned the meeting at 7:25 p.m.

NOTE): The minutes of this meeting have been tape-recorded and will remain on file in the District office for a one-year period for public examination.

•  Board Meeting Minutes: 2011-02-01 (.pdf 34.K)