Meeting highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Wednesday August 20, 2014 commencing at 9:00 AM in the RID Board Room.
Attending: Byron Wilde Chairman, John McKee Vice Chairman, Director Alan Heggie, Gordon ZoBell, General Manager and recording clerk, and Mark Jensen Operations Manager. Kelvin Kado, Offiice Manager was absent due to his attending a scout camp.
IRP Project Update given by Mark Jensen
IRP 2262 – Welling #5 phase 2 – final leveling in Ben Walter and Wilde Brothers is required.
IRP 2280 phase 3 – Waiting for crop to come off before construction will begin.
Irrican Power – Production report for July has not yet been received, we will be getting it soon. There will be a line usage fee due to AESO. AESO has approached us and said they require an increase in a letter of credit, (increase to $80,000.00) this is in place as of August 19,2014 from the First Choice Credit Union.
Irrican will be evaluating the income for the first 3 months and decide if a bulk payment can be made to the districts and/or ATB financial loan (No decision yet). This may not be the year, due to the poor average power pool prices and Chin shutdown due to weather, lightning. There have been inquiries about our remaining rec’s, none left for sale. Chin was up and running August 15th after approximately a one month shutdown due to a lightning hit. It has run without problems since then.
RID Financial – Irrigation assessment mailing day was August 15th. There have been a few recent changes this past month, due to land sales. Payments are starting to roll in already.
Expansion Plebiscite in the RID – Gordon noted that RID staff continues to work on updating DDIT.
Directors Items – Gordon reminded the board of the SMRID office grand opening today, August 20, 2014.
RID shirts – Gordon noted that shirts will be ordered for board members and employees. These shirts can be worn to official functions.
AIPA September 22 extraordinary meeting in Picture Butte – Re: By-laws – Byron and Gordon will attend this meeting in conjunction with the regular AIPA directors meeting. The RID board was requested to review the AIPA By-Laws and proposed changes prior to the September AIPA meeting, and to convey any concerns they may have to Byron or Gordon.
Town of Raymond proposed drainage plan – Scott Barton and Darin Wilde – These gentlemen entered the meeting at 10:00 AM. Scott Barton reviewed, with the board, a possible funding opportunity to assist the town with natural drainage concerns in and around the town. The proposed project would see cutoff drainage channels installed to the south and east of the town that would divert natural drainage water into RID owned R/W and away from the town. Scott requested that a letter of support be supplied from the RID since RID works would be included in the proposal. After much discussion and explanation and on motion by Alan Heggie the board determined that they would support the town in its proposal and a letter of support for the project would be sent. It should be noted that the natural drainage water targeted here already enters the same general drainage system and that the proposed adjustments will not impact RID water users adversely.
Household Purposes Agreement – Steele and Karma Sheridan – Plan 0711718 block 3 lot 1 W-32-6-19-W4.
Household Purposes Agreement – JD and Peggy Gibb – Plan 1010450 Block 1 Lot 1 SE-28-6-20-W4.
Household Purposes Agreement – Duong Luc Plan 1013074 Block 58 Lot 1.
Household Purposes Agreement – Ryan and Kendra Rae Plan 0812901 Block 1 Lot 3..
Household Purposes Agreement – Dwight Douglas and Nicolle Dawn Kabatoff Plan 0715123 Block 4 Lot 6.
Household Purposes Agreement – Bradley M Prince and Lindsay E Prince Plan 4489J Block 84.
Household Purposes Agreement – James and Grace Maldaner Plan 0113603 Block 1 Lot 1.
All of the above noted Household Purposes Agreements were approved by the board.
AMEC – Water Smart report – Byron and Gordon attended a meeting, on August 19th, to review a study completed by AMEC and Water Smart. The meeting was held in the Lethbridge Holiday Inn. Byron reported that the study will be made public very soon. The conclusions of the study show that additional storage in Alberta would not be advantageous at the present time under current water guidelines between Alberta and Saskatewan. All of the Irrigation Districts had attendees at the meeting. The general consensus was not positive toward the conclusions of the report. The full report is available online and will be emailed to RID board members.
Next meeting date – Wednesday, September 17, 2014 commencing at 9:00 AM at the RID board room.