Chairman Charles Miller called the Special Board Meeting of the Hermiston Irrigation District Board of Directors (BOD) to order at 4:06 p.m. The meeting was held in the District office building. Also present at the meeting were Board Members Mike Bergstrom, Len Jeppeson & Wes Locke; District Manager, Chuck Wilcox; and Secretary, Annette Rambel.

DROP STRUCTURE WARRANTY ISSUES: Manager Wilcox gave the Board a copy of a letter from Swaggart Bros, Inc (SBI) to Anderson-Perry dated November 2, 2009. SBI has begun work on the warranty repairs. They have put in some additional rip rap, secured anchors, cut-off ties, sealed some cracks, etc. They have not done the shotcrete removal and replacement that is needed.

SBI agreed to put in some rip rap that needed to be done, but wanted to be assured that if they put in the rip rap that they would not be responsible for anymore in the future. Manager Wilcox and Jeremy Morris agreed that it was acceptable.

Manager Wilcox informed the Board that it is too late in the season to repair the shotcrete this year. The District has already begun receiving exchange credits. SBI’s current performance bond for the Drop Structure Project is due to expire on November 14, 2009. SBI was informed that they could get another bond for the remainder of the work needed to be performed under the warranty agreement. SBI requested that they be allowed to do the work under a new contract, without obtaining a bond. Manager Wilcox read aloud a draft contract agreement for the remainder of the warranty work. The Board discussed the matter further and decided that they want the contract to be reviewed by HID’s attorney, and that the contract needed to be secured by another bond or the full amount of the estimated warranty work placed in an escrow account.

Director Jeppeson moved that with the approval of the District’s attorney SBI be allowed to sign a new a contract with the full amount of the cost of the remaining work in an escrow account or SBI will need to obtain a new bond. Director Bergstrom seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

Director Bergstrom moved to allow Chairman Miller to sign the contract based on favorable feedback of the contract by the District’s attorney. Director Locke seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

PIPE BIDS: The District received three bids for pipe for upcoming improvement projects. The bids were broken down by job. The bids were from Elmer’s Irrigation, Valmont and PGG. After some discussion, Director Coleman moved to allow Manager Wilcox to purchase the pipe and fittings at the lowest price per job. Director Jeppeson seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.

OWRC ANNUAL CONFERENCE: The conference will be held December 2-4, 2009, in Hood River, OR. Chairman Miller, Director Jeppeson and Director Bergstrom indicated that they plan to attend the conference along with Manager Wilcox and Field Manager Eicher.

BURNS DEVELOPMENT: Paul Burns has contacted Manager Wilcox and two of the Board members numerous times. Mr. Burns wants the District to sign-off on the plat for his new development. Mr. Burns was given a Developer’s Agreement and a list of all of the necessary requirements about a year ago and has not fulfilled the requirements yet. The City of Hermiston Planning Department is also requiring Mr. Burns to fulfill the District’s requirements. Neither Manager Wilcox nor the Bureau of Reclamation will sign-off on plats until they have reviewed the engineering plans and all requirements have been met. Mr. Burns has been invited numerous times to bring this matter before the Board and has not yet attended a Board meeting to discuss this matter.

One of the requirements that Mr. Burns needs to fulfill is to transfer the water rights off of the developing property. The District has a list of people that are interested in obtaining water rights. It was decided that the District will send a letter to the persons on the water list providing them notice that there are water rights available and giving them Mr. Burns’ information.

After much discussion, the Board instructed Manager Wilcox to contact Mr. Burns in writing, inform him again of the requirements, let him know that the District will send out letters to people interested in obtaining water rights, and to include copies of minutes of the City of Hermiston Planning Department.

There being no further business to be conducted at this Special Board Meeting, the meeting was adjourned at 5:29 p.m.

_______________________________             ________________________________

Charles Miller                                                      Annette Rambel

Chairman                                                             Recording Secretary

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