Regular Board Meeting

This was a regular board meeting of the West Sound Utility District Board of Commissioners.

This meeting was held in person at the district office as well as via teleconference. 

 

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WEST SOUND UTILITY DISTRICT

Minutes of Meeting of the Board of Commissioners

Held in Office Building & Microsoft Teams (Hybrid Meeting)

2924 SE Lund Avenue, Port Orchard, WA 98366

Monday August 2^nd ,  2021 at 3:00 p.m.

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Chairperson:               Jerry Lundberg

Vice Chairperson:       Susan Way

Commissioner:            James J. Hart

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Attending:       Randy Screws, General Manager

Jerald Johnson, Utility Foreman

Kevahn Steinke, Maintenance Supervisor

Joy Ramsdell, Finance Manager

Ken Bagwell, Attorney

                        Amber Brooks, Customer Service Representative

 

 

The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Lundberg at 3:00 p.m. 

 

PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS

 

CONSENT AGENDA

 

1. Approval of the Regular Board Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021
2. Approval of Vouchers WSUD #29829 through #29857 in the amount of $95,415.14
3. Approval of Vouchers SKWRF #16580 through #16603 in the amount of $19,103.31

 

Commissioner Hart moved to approve items in the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Way; motion approved 3-0.

 

BOARD DISCUSSION/ACTION

Discussed Resolution 880-20, Emergency Declaration.  The Board decided to revisit next month.

 

Resolution 962-21, Approving Revisions to the Personnel Manual and Adopting Juneteenth as a paid Holiday

Approved 3-0

 

Resolution 963-21, Adopting Policy Revisions pertaining to Section 3.2 of the Administrative Code

Approved 3-0

 

Resolution 964-21, Approving the Developers Extension Contract for T-M Bethel Business Center Self Storage

Approved 3-0

 

PLANT MANAGER’S REPORT

Plant Maintenance Supervisor Kevahn Steinke reported:

• Summer in-house projects continue.
• Continuing to work with Puget Sound Energy on Conservation Grant Agreement.
• Sharples Panel Repair: Mead & Hunt continue working on structural review/design.  No further progress with ESCO.
• Utilizing summer temp help through Workforce, he is in week three and the Plant has him for nine weeks.
• City of Shelton Tour was Thursday July 29^th to look at their Dewatering Polymer units.
• Continue to work on 2022 Budget.

 

OPERATIONS MANAGER REPORT

Utility Foreman Jerald Johnson reported:

• South Park/Village Way Water Main Replacement: Final comments are with West Sound Engineering and possible conflict with storm culvert.
• Powell Booster Station Engineering: The project design should be back to us by the end of September.  No new updates
• Sedgwick Water Main/Culvert Project: We have been notified by WSDOT and Fisheries that the water main is in conflict with a new fish stream crossing culvert. We met with the County and West Sound Engineering and it looks like Baker Road is the best option for this project. West Sound Engineering conducting field survey work this week.
• Eisenhower Main Replacement: Plans with comments are back with West Sound Engineering for review.  No new updates.
• Fircrest/Mile Hill Main Replacement: Project is being reviewed and 2” galvanized line needs to be replaced. No new updates.
• Olney Sewer Replacement: HDR is working on the project estimate and bid documents and they came back high. The estimate came in at $112,000 and we will send out for more quotes.  Sent to West Sound Engineering for review.  Will start when other projects are returned to us.
• Well 21 Pump and Motor Replacement: We are continuing to run Hokkaido’s pump and motor and collecting the data for our hydrogeologist.  The reports states 700 gpm up to 7 days and 640 gpm up to 30 days with this well.  Running a longer range test pump to gather more data for Robinson Noble.

CREW

• Fred Meyer Lift Station and Control Upgrade: Pump and panel have been ordered.

• Working on the Madrona Lift Station upgrade options.
• The crew has been flushing the Bethel sewer main for 3 nights and worked their regular shift.
• The flow meters are ordered for Orchard Bluff and Sinclair Lift Station.
• New flight pump ordered for Crownwood.

 

FINANCE MANAGER REPORT

Finance Manager Joy Ramsdell  reported:

• Billed Consumption was 70m gallons, 4.8% up comparing with July 2020.
• July Revenues – Sewer $386K, 12% up; added 37 new connections, Water $426K, 28% up added 31 new connections.
• 1450 customers paid online including 1310 autopay; 45 accounts were final billed.
• There were 265 past due accounts of  90 days with total balance of $146K.
• County Work Day Software for AP and CT launched this Monday.  So far everything went smoothly with CT, but there is more work that needs to be done on the AP side.  Many questions were raised in session for Work Day by the AP Department and the questions haven’t been answered and now we have to utilize Work Day while waiting for the County to fix the issues.  Overall, two major changes: 1^st,  There is not a batch in WD.  So all CT have to be entered by daily deposits.  2^nd,  Approve invoice one by one and have to attach board approval on each invoice. This change adds to more workload.
• Prepare SKWRF mid- year budget review for SAC meeting.
• Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board financial disclosure filing is due at the end of this month.
• Assisting GM for 2022 budget.

 

GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT

General Manager Screws reported:

• Work continues on restructuring of the District Developer permitting process.
• FCS Group for the Rate Study. A meeting is scheduled with HDR and FCS Group on July 22^nd to discuss integration of the modeling information into the rate assessment.
• Staff continues to review and update the website. Staff are currently working on uniformity.
• Staff is working on the 2022 Budget Process.
• Rate Study- Modeling of the water system by HDR Engineering. The Board was previously informed that a meeting was scheduled with HDR and FCS Group on July 22^nd.  The meeting has been rescheduled for this Wednesday, August 4^th to discuss integration of the modeling information into the rate assessment.
• Long Term Care insurance options for employees was received and will be reviewing tomorrow in the all staff meeting.
• Email regarding Eric Roloff stated exemplary service was indicated by a customer, and the Board has been provided the email.

 

COMMISSIONER REPORTS

Commissioner Way reported she will not be in town for the August 16^th meeting. Commissioner Hart attented a presentation put on by AT&T regarding the ability to keep communication open during a natural disaster.  GM Screws reported that we are in the process of testing this with our communication carrier.  Commissioner Lundberg had nothing to report.

 

Adjourn

Commissioner Hart moved to adjourn the meeting at 3:52 p.m.  The motion was seconded by Commissioner Way; motion was approved 3-0.