Hermiston
Irrigation District
Board
of Directors
Regular
Board Meeting Minutes
GUESTS: There were no guests present.
MINUTES: The Board
reviewed the minutes of the
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS & VOUCHERS: The Board reviewed the Profit & Loss Report for August 2008. The Board also reviewed and signed the August 2008 Vouchers Report. Voucher Numbers 35370 through 35430 were reviewed and approved.
OLD
BUSINESS
ELM ST PROPERTY: Manager Wilcox reported that he has not been able to meet with Fred Maiocco to work on the contract yet. The BOD instructed Manager Wilcox to offer the property to Hermiston School District for $18,000 per acre with the possibility of entertaining negotiations. The District is still going to request that the buyer pay all of the closing costs. The BOD agreed to split the attorney fees for drawing up the land sale contract.
EXCHANGE AGREEMENT/WATER RIGHTS:
Manager Wilcox
reported that the District’s attorney, David
Manager Wilcox will make arrangements for the BOD to meet with BOR personnel during the OWRC annual conference.
Oregon Water Resources Department is stating that the District needs to provide them with digital mapping to negotiate what the Department has claimed that the District’s has for certification purposes. The mapping was supposed to have been done years ago when OWRD had funds for mapping this area. However, OWRD did not map HID because the water rights were not certificated. The water rights are actually in the BOR’s name, not the District’s.
KLOEPPER: Mr. Kloepper has not returned the Water Delivery Agreement that was given to him at the last BOD meeting, he has not made any contact with the District, and his gates are still welded shut.
CITY OF ECHO: Echo has sent an insurance binder to the District. This binder was forwarded to SDAO. SDAO suggests that the District get an agreement that Echo holds the District harmless, etc.
Director Jeppeson moved to grant the City of Echo access to HID’s bridge. The City will be charged a $500 use fee, which is to be reviewed annually. The City will also be responsible for paying any fees for developing the agreement. Director Bergstrom seconded the motion. There being no further discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
SURPLUS EQUIPMENT: The District did not receive any bids on the tractor/mower during the first round of bids. The BOD instructed staff to publish the tractor/mower again with no minimum bid requirement and a right to refuse any and all bids clause.
KALBERER: Patron,
Jackie
Kalberer
appeared before the BOD at the last meeting.
Since that meeting Manager
Field Manager Eicher added that her water started at 8:00 a.m. and by 2:00 p.m. there was already a problem with the water in the road. Field Manager Eicher called the ditch rider and told him to turn the water down.
After some discussion, the BOD decided to cut Ms. Kalberer’s water time back to 18 hours at a reduced rate to prevent excess run-off. The scheduled time of delivery will be at the District’s convenience. The BOD also decided that the District will bring rock in to that location to improve the road, but that Ms. Kalberer is responsible for the previous repair charges. It is not the responsibility of the neighbors to maintain the washed out road.
DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT-REVIEW & FEES: Manager Wilcox, Field Manager Eicher and Attorney David Hadley have continued working on the Development Agreement. The most current draft has an engineer’s certification that states that the project was done according to the Plan. The developer would have to have a letter of credit in the event that items don‘t get done properly or at all, it is like a bond. The agreement also states that if the lands keep the water rights the system belongs to the District after it is completed. The Agreement will need addendums attached to each specific development. There is a Project Requirements Checklist so that everyone knows, what has been provided and what still needs to be done.
The Agreement includes a no encroachments clause. Any unauthorized structures will be removed and the District will be free of responsibility for damage or destruction. Signs on the rights-of-way will be required. It also addresses transferring water rights prior to approval.
Manager Wilcox requested more direction from the BOD regarding fees. The BOD extensively discussed how they would establish fees based on number of lots, number of lots that encroach, number of feet of the easement that is effected, etc.
Director Bergstrom moved to set the subdivision fees as follows: a $1,500 base review fee, $150 per lot fee and $1,000 per lot encroachment fee. Director Jeppeson seconded the motion. There being no further discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
Director Bergstrom moved to approve the Development Agreement based on the District Manager’s approval. Director Locke seconded the motion. There being no further discussion the motion passed unanimously.
DROP STRUCTURE: Manager Wilcox reported that Swaggart Bros. are having limited success on dewatering the site and it appears that they are behind on their work schedule. Anderson-Perry & Associates engineers have met with Swaggart Bros. representatives, HID personnel and BOR personnel to discuss future options for construction and the consequences of not being completed on time.
NEW BUSINESS
UMATILLA BASIN COALITION: The Umatilla Basin Coalition (UBC) met at the District office this morning. Umatilla County is hoping that this coalition will take over the Umatilla County Critical Groundwater Taskforce’s suggested 2050 Plan. Manager Wilcox handed-out a Memorandum of Understanding drafted September 10, 2008. The UBC is expected to consist of representatives from the local irrigation district, tribes, counties, ports and UEC.
PERSONNEL BUDGET: Field
Manager, Rick
Hlawek
has taken a position with the Bureau of Reclamation.
Jeff
After discussion the BOD came to the consensus that an increased pay scale as suggested by Manager Wilcox is necessary to obtain the necessary qualified personnel.
MANAGER’S
REPORT
WATER REPORT: There is currently 126 cfs running through CSAO. ALTO is running at about 41 cfs and the Maxwell canal is running at about 37 cfs. CSR had 416 af in it as of this morning and the District had 7,565 af in exchange credits. We have a remaining duty of 4,594 af. The BOD instructed Manager Wilcox to run the water as long as possible.
FISH PASSAGE AT FEED CANAL DAM: That project is under way and the coffer dams are in. Since the BOR hired Rick Hlawek they are not looking to the District for help. They have enough people through BPA and their own staff. Next week the District will supply some materials for decking.
OFFICE SPACE RENTAL: Manager Wilcox spoke with Bev Kopperud of Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD). SWCD has made arrangements to have phone service installed for their satellite office located in the District’s office building. They will be moving in the first week of October.
UMATILLA BASIN WATER SUPPLY STUDY: The BOR is looking at a number of elements in the study which include Westland Irrigation District (WID) full exchange, WID partial exchange, additional HID exchange, Maxwell Canal full exchange, McKay Dam Raise (pump from Umatilla River near Pendleton and gravity diversion from Umatilla River near Thorn Hollow) along with a number of alternatives which are created by combining various elements.
Water supply alternatives that were considered but dropped were to pump to the Reservation from the Columbia River and a trans-basin transfer from John Day Basin.
OWRC BOARD MEETING ON LEGISLATION: At the last OWRC Board meeting the Board approved moving forward with the ten issues presented by the legislative committee, five related to water rights, three related to elections and management and two related to clean water and storm water.
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by Chairman Miller at 7:18 p.m.
Charles
Miller