Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Thursday, March 22, 2012 commencing at 9:00 AM in the RID Board Room.
Attending:Alan HeggieChairman,John McKee, Vice Chairman, Byron Wilde, Director, Gordon ZoBell, General Manager and recording clerk, Mark Jensen Operations Manager, Kelvin Kado, Office Manager, attended as required.
BUISNESS ARISING
IRP Project Update given by Mark Jensen and Gordon ZoBell.
Gordon noted that the districts three year plan was approved by irrigation council on February 2, 2012. This also included approvals for the Welling #5 IRP 2240 and Ortho Photo’s IRP 2260, projects.
IRP 2218 – Stirling #12 – Mark reviewed the progress of the project. He noted that the inlet structure is now completely installed with rip rap and armour in place. The catwalk and screens will be installed soon.
IRP 2240 – Welling #5 – Gordon discussed, at length, with the board the proposed route of the pipeline for the second phase. He will continue to work with landowners and district engineer Darin Wilde, to select a suitable route.
RID Maintenance report – Mark noted that the RID crew will begin work soon on sloughing in the Don Heggie reach of the Raymond main canal.
Review, 2012 RID Seminar and AGM held March 15th at the Raymond Ag Society building – There were approximately 90 in attendance at the Seminar and 44 at the AGM. The board felt that the seminar was a success again this year. A plebiscite vote on expansion will be considered for the fall of 2012.
BUISNESS ARISING
Cody Heegie long service award – RID employee Cody Heggie was welcomed into the meeting. Chairman Alan Heggie presented Cody with a five year “long service award”. The Chairman thanked Cody for his diligent work and noted that he hoped Cody would be a fixture at the RID for many years to come. Cody thanked the board for the recognition.
AIPA directors meeting, March 19th in Taber – Report from Byron Wilde. Byron noted that he and Gordon had attended this meeting. The Prismatic Group has been assisting the AIPA with a PR campaign. A PR launch was held March 14, 2012 in Calgary. The launch directs the public to a new website called “Thanks to Irrigation”. This is a campaign that the AIPA feels is very important so that the public can be brought up to speed on irrigation issues prior to a planned public review, of water allocations within the Province of Alberta. There are nine billboard signs strategically placed in the City of Calgary which will stay up for one month as part of the campaign.
South Saskatchewan Regional Advisory Council meeting – held February 27th at the Holiday Inn. The RID Manager and Chairman attended. They discussed the new land use (proposed) legislation and the need for public input.
ORRSC – SW-16-6-19-W4 – Johan and Corry Walk – Proposed subdivision, to create a 16.29 acre parcel from a title of 99.36 acres for country residential use. On motion by Alan Heggie the board agreed with this subdivision, subject to no permanent irrigation acres transferring with the 16.29 acre parcel. Carried.
ORRSC – Calvin and Joanne Weber – SE-6-7-20-W4 – To subdivide a title of 9.92 acres and create two equal sized lots of 4.98 acres each respectively for country residential use. Approved on motion by Byron Wilde subject to the permanent water rights being removed from the parcel prior to subdivision. Carried. It should be noted that each parcel can continue to receive irrigation water under another agreement called a household purposes agreement. The permanent rights can be sold back to the RID or to another water user, but their placement must be approved by the RID board.
Irrigation District Water Quality – Steering committee meeting held March 2, 2012 in Taber – There are two sites monitored within the RID. The study will continue for two more seasons.
IRP Grants – Most of the grant will arrive in May of 2012, however a small portion will be released from the Province earlier.
Milford Colony – The colony applied for 20 acre feet of water under the other purposes amendment, for colony site water. They currently have 38 acre feet. They would like a total of 58 acre feet. The same diversion will be used for the extra water diverted. The diversion is located in 13-5-21-W4 from the Environment canal. This application was approved on motion by Byron Wilde and carried. The Milford colony will be billed a onetime capital charge for 20 acre feet of water at $750.00 per acre foot with an annual charge each year, thereafter, as noted in a yearly by-law.
Hitachi excavator – The board decided to wait on the purchase of a smaller excavator.
RID Employee Wage review – 2012 – Inflation reported by stats Canada, January 2011 to January 2012 is 2.9%. After much discussion the board approved the following. Motion: By Alan Heggie, to give each employee a 2.9%, salary and wage, cost of living increase, to match Alberta’s Consumer Price Index change for the past year January to January.
RID Chairman and Vice Chairman Selection for 2012 – Manager Gordon ZoBell asked for nominations for Chairman of the board. Alan Heggie nominated Byron Wilde. Gordon asked for nominations two more times and John McKee requested that nominations cease. Gordon declared Byron Wilde as the new RID Chairman. The board asked that Byron also sit on the SMRID Main Canal Advisory Committee and as a member of the Irrican board from the RID. They also requested him to continue to attend the AIPA directors meetings as an alternate. Byron agreed to these requests. Gordon then asked for nominations for Vice Chairman. Alan Heggie nominated John McKee. Gordon asked for nominations two more times. Byron Wilde requested that nominations cease. Gordon then declared John McKee as the Vice Chairman of the RID board. Both Chairman and Vice Chairman positions are reviewed in the first meeting following the annual meeting where all directors are in attendance.