November 19, 2014 RID board meeting Highlights

Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Wednesday November 19, 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, Mark Jensen Operations Manager and Kelvin Kado, Offiice Manager, as required.

IRP Project Update given by Mark Jensen

IRP 2280 W#5 phase 3 – Construction will commence soon.

IRP 2307 – W#5 phase 3 – included in 3 year plan.

IRP 2308 – Ortho Photo’s – included in the 3 year plan

2015/2016 – RID Three Year Rolling Plan – Including new projects IRP 2307 and  2308 the board approved the plan as presented by the manager, on motion by Alan Heggie and carried.

Maintenance report – Mark Jensen showed the board a short slide presentation outlining work completed over the past month.

Irrican Power – Kelvin Kado – Production report for October has not yet been received, we will be getting it next week. 2014 total income from plants and Rec’s To September is $4,682,738.66. September has had a projected drop in income from past couple of years, due to lower production and lower prices. Insurance claim for Chin income loss has not been relayed to us yet. Misc. revenue of $245,000.00 from Fortis option “M” and interest to August 2014. Total income projected to be just over $5,000,000.00. The next ICPC board meeting is December 11 in the afternoon.

RID Financial – Kelvin Kado – Payments are rolling in. It will get busier again in December to avoid the late payment penalty. The A/R outstanding to November 17, 2014 is $120,356.8 down from $430,821.60 last month. Only $18,661.45 is older than 60 days, of which most is from our usual annual enforcement customers. This is slightly higher than the last couple of years, but still reasonable since the due date isn’t until December 31.

We are done DDIT stage 1 irrigation systems, Bob Winter is still reviewing. There are other items to update and Phil needs to enter his 2014 crop report. The new DDIT office is ready to go and is hooked up to the printer and the memory back up storage system.

New back up storage unit has been installed and a new offsite back up will be installed in the next week.

Phase #3 Progress certificates have been completed to October 6, 2014. We have used $416,506.04 of the $667,109.00 projected, leaving a balance of $250,602.96 to install the pipe. FYI, phase #2 total came in to $540,616.58, which was $38,383.42 under the projection.

Expansion Plebiscite in the RID – Waiting to hear back from Jennifer Nitschelm regarding our next step to be taken.

AIPA – The board was reminded of the conference being held November 24, 25 and 26 in Calgary at the Deer Foot Inn. Hotel rooms have been booked. Alan Heggie will be receiving the AIPA Gold award.

Village of Stirling – More armor was added on the Kipp Coulee at the project completed for the Village in 2013. The cost was $2500 and will be billed to the Village.

Leaders Dinner – John McKee attended a dinner recently where the new Premiere spoke. John noted that Premiere Prentice noted in his speech that Alberta is growing very quickly. 3300 people per month are moving into Edmonton alone. He estimates Alberta will be at 5 million people by 2025. John noted the Premiere spoke well and had a broad vision of the Province and of the future. He seems interested in irrigated agriculture.

Directors Items – Gordon noted that Terrance Lazarus has been hired as the new SMRID manager to begin his duties January 1, 2015.

Advisory Committee – Chris Gallagher and Jan Tamminga will attend a meeting in Raymond on December 1, 2014 with the MRRRWQSI group. “Advanced Water Technologies” will be making their pitch for funding a special project to assist with water quality in Cross coulee. Chris will note that before approval for any funding from the three districts can be approved the 3 boards must approve the proposal.

Stirling drain – Corner Pride, Lutz, Grant, McKee areas – Gordon went over a drainage project being undertaken on the Corner Pride parcel in SW-6-7-20-W4. Corner Pride is doing the work themselves at their own cost. Gordon also reviewed with the board the dynamics and water management of the Stirling drain in that general area.

Town of Raymond – On motion by John McKee the board approved the annexation proposal, put forth by the Town of Raymond, subject to the understanding that consideration should be given to relocating the RID canal out of the area being annexed. Costs associated with this relocation must be paid by either the town or the landowner or a combination of the two. The motion was carried.

County of Warner Ag Service Board – Re: Milk River Ridge Reservoir Water Quality Stewardship Initiative (MRRRWQSI) – Gordon reviewed a brochure, with the board, that has been circulated in the area from the group mentioned.

MNP – Fraud awareness course – December 9, 2014 at MNP 1 to 5:30 PM – all district board members are encouraged to take this course.

Boots and coverall policy – Currently the RID policy is $75.00 per year for boots and also the cost of one pair of coveralls. On motion by Byron Wilde the board approved a $175.00 allowance per year which will include both boots and coveralls. This amount is to be given to all outside employees only and will take place yearly in the month of April – The motion was carried. It should be noted that reflective PPE and coveralls for the welding shop as well as approved rubber boots will be supplied by the RID on an as needed basis.

Household Purposes Agreement – Darcy and Spring Quapp – NE-7-6-21-W4 Plan 0013689 Block 1 Lot 2. Approved on motion by Byron Wilde.

Household Purposes Agreement – Plan 0812901, block 1, lot 3 – SE-27-6-21-W4 – Ryan and Kendra Rae. Approved on motion by Alan Heggie.

RID current equipment list – 2014 – Gordon, Mark and Kelvin reviewed a current list of all RID equipment, the date it was purchased, and its general condition. Gordon and Mark were asked to make further comments and suggestions regarding the equipment that is close to being in need of replacement.

Next meeting date – Wednesday, December 17, 2014.

Motion to adjourn and time meeting ended – Having no further business the meeting adjourned at 2:02 PM, on motion by Alan Heggie.