CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Charles Miller called the December Regular Board Meeting of the Hermiston Irrigation District (District) Board of Directors to order at 3:32 p.m. The meeting was held in the District office building. Also present at the meeting were Board Members Len Jeppeson, John Lybrand and Mike Bergstrom; District Manager, Chuck Wilcox; Secretary, Annette Rambel; and patron Ken Eddy.

Ken Eddy joined the Board meeting as potential candidate for Director of Division 4.

MINUTES 

The Board reviewed the minutes of the November 15, 2007, Regular Board Meeting. There were no changes suggested. Director Jeppeson moved to approve the minutes as presented. Director Lybrand seconded the motion. There being no further discussion the motion carried unanimously.

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS & VOUCHERS

The Board reviewed the Profit & Loss Report for November 2007. The Board reviewed and signed the November 2007 Voucher Report. Voucher Numbers 34783 through 34832 were reviewed and approved.

ELM ST PROPERTY: Manager Wilcox spoke with Jari Boettcher of the Hermiston FFA Resource Center, Inc. (FFA). The FFA Board met and is considering partnering with the Hermiston School District (HSD) in the purchase of the property. The FFA is unsure about the partnership, but will have a decision for the District by February’s board meeting.

It was also discuss to add to the agreement that any additional transfers of ownership of the property be subject to the approval of the District. If the FFA decides not to purchase the property then HSD will probably be interested in purchasing it. The Board would then need to decide what the selling price would be for a party other than the FFA.

DROP STRUCTURE: The District has received confirmation that the Plans for the Drop Structure have been received by the Bureau of Reclamation. BOR staff indicated that it is their intention to have their comments back to the District by the requested date of December 15, 2007.

EXCHANGE AGREEMENT: Manager Wilcox reported that there has still been no written progress made on the Agreement.

ELECTIONS: There are two open positions for director. No nominating petitions were received by the December 9, 2007, 5:00 p.m. deadline. Craig Coleman has agreed to continue to serve on the Board if appointed to Director of Division 3. Patrons Wes Locke and Ken Eddy have both expressed an interest in the position of Director of Division 4. If both patrons are still interested, then the Board will bring the matter to a vote and appoint the chosen patron as Director of Division 4 for the 2008 year. Both appointments are to be sworn in at the January Organizational Meeting.

HID 100 YEARS OF SERVICE: Manager Wilcox reported that staff has gathered pictures and historical documents. This information needs to be gone through. The East Oregonian is considering doing a tabloid insert. Manager Wilcox also suggested setting a date for the 2008 HID Annual Meeting. The sooner a date is set the more likely that Bureau of Reclamation officials will be able to attend the meeting. The Board agreed to a potential date of February 26 or 27, 2008. Manager Wilcox will make the arrangements for the Annual Meeting and invite the Commissioner, Regional Director, etc.

NEW BUSINESS

QWEST CROSSING AGREEMENT: Qwest submitted a crossing agreement requesting to bury cable under the Feed Canal at Edwards and Loop Roads. The cable would be buried 4’ below the canal and they would remove the existing cable from the bridge. Director Jeppeson moved to approve the crossing agreement. Director Lybrand seconded the motion. There being no further discussion the motion carried unanimously.

NEWMAN CROSSING AGREEMENT: Mary Newman submitted a crossing agreement requesting to keep two bridges on her property. Both of the bridges are in very good condition and have been in place for many years. One bridge crosses the A-Line and one crosses the Maxwell Canal. She is interested in partitioning the property and a crossing agreement is required for the partition. Director Lybrand moved to approve the crossing agreement. Director Jeppeson seconded the motion. There being no further discussion the motion carried unanimously.

TRANSFER RESERVE FUNDS: $30,000 was budgeted to be transferred to Vehicle & Equipment Reserves. Director Jeppeson moved to transfer the funds. Director Lybrand seconded the motion. There being no further discussion the motion carried unanimously.

OWRC ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Chairman Miller brought in two manuals that he said covered a lot of the issues that were discussed. There was a session on water and land use planning and there was a meeting with BOR staff about getting the District’s water rights certificated.

2008 BUDGET: The 2007 figures have been projected, but are subject to change. The 2008 budget was balanced based on those figures. A 2.3% COLA was added to the Operation and Maintenance line of the assessments. The Board was presented with three wage proposals that included a 2.3% COLA and performance incentives. Scenario B was formulated into the budget. The budget also included increases in Fuel and Canal R8M expense accounts, $30,000 for the Drop Structure Project, one new pick-up truck, one tractor and a mower.

OWRC MANAGER’S WORKSHOP & BOARD MEETING: This meeting will be held in Newport, OR on January 31-February 1, 2008. Manager Wilcox will be attending this meeting.

BOR WATER MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP: This workshop will be held in Denver, CO on February 4-7, 2008. Field Manager Greg Dell has attended this workshop in the past. There are scholarships available for the tuition, but travel costs would be incurred by the District. Chairman Miller advised that it would be advantageous for an additional crew member to attend this workshop. The agenda includes topics such as maintenance management, canal operations and efficiency, water measurement, and basic pump and motor maintenance. Director Lybrand moved to send Rick Hlawek to the workshop. Director Bergstrom seconded the motion. There being no further discussion, the motion carried unanimously.

SDAO ANNUAL MEETING: This meeting will be held in Bend, Or on February 7-9, 2008.

NW IRRIGATORS: This meeting will be held in Boise, ID on February 12-14, 2008.

OWRC O&M WORKSHOP: This workshop will be for geared towards maintenance crews, like the one held here at HID in 2003. This year’s workshop will be put on by Owyhee Irrigation District. The workshop will take place in Ontario, OR on February 4-7, 2008.

FAMILY FARM ALLIANCE ANNUAL MEETING: This meeting will be held in Las Vegas, NV on February 28-29, 2008.

WATER REPORT: Manager Wilcox reported that there is currently 2,927 af in CSR. The Feed Canal was shut off this morning. It was turned on a week ago Tuesday.

PERSONNEL CHANGE: Tom Flanagan quit on October 12, 2007. He was working as a ditchrider through Barrett’s Temp Agency. He has been replaced through Barrett’s by Bryan DeChand.

BOR O&M BUDGET: A copy of the BOR O&M budget is available in our office if anyone wants to review it to see how their expenses are allocated.

FISH PASSAGE: There is a problem with the fish passage at the head of the Feed Canal. The agency required to do maintenance on the passage has not done so. They got an emergency permit to put in 50 yards of fill, but only put in about 25-30 yards, which was not enough to solve the problem. The fish ladder’s operations & maintenance is BPA’s responsibility and they are trying to get them to take care of it.

PHASE III-TRIBAL WATER RIGHTS: Bob Hamilton with the BOR wants to know what it would take to modify the facilities to provide all of the District’s water to come from Cold Springs Reservoir in lieu of diverting water at the Maxwell. He also wanted to know if it would be possible to exchange more water to allow for diversion and storage of Umatilla River water in another location for other uses.

ACROLEIN RISK ASSESSMENT: At present the Environmental Protection Agency is doing a human risk assessment as part of the re-registration process. The District will be submitting comments in support of the re-registration and providing information in relation to the human risk within our district.

ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by Chairman Miller at 5:16 p.m.

_______________________________             ________________________________

Charles Miller                                                     Annette V. Rambel

Chairman                                                            Recording Secretary

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