Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Wednesday March 21, 2018 commencing at 9:00 AM in the RID Board Room.
Attending: John McKee Chairman, Craig Palmer vice Chair, Rod Wendorff Director, Gordon ZoBell, General Manager and recording clerk, Mark Jensen Operations Manager. Kelvin Kado as needed.
- IRP Project Update given by Mark Jensen
IRP 2321 W#5 phase #5 – Meyer Line – The project is complete other than some leveling
once the frost is out.
IRP 2334 Stirling #16 – The project is complete other than finish leveling.
- Maintenance report – Mark showed the board a slide presentation of work completed under the district’s IRP program over the past month. There is drainage water moving and district excavators have been at work cleaning snow from drainage channels as required.
- Irrican Power – by Kelvin Kado – ACFA Loan #2 was paid off March 15, 2018.
Maintenance is completing the software upgrades to the plants through Wonderware, should be up and ready for this generation season.
- RID financial – Annual report is in publication
2017 financial report will be ready this afternoon, exit meeting VIA telephone and the audited
financial statement will be added to the annual report
Rate enforcement follow up to continue
Review of R7-1 and R8-2 pipeline energy costs. We were locked I at 7.9 cents per kwh. It
looked like it ended up at $105.00 – $110.00/acre
In a breakdown it worked out that was 16.5 inches of water/acre (Hay crop)
We will have a meetings in early April with the users of both pipelines to review each pipeline
and see if we can make a better system.
- 2018 water situation –The snow pack has continued to build. Upstream reservoir storage is on the rise. We continue to plan for a water short year but indicators look good for us to receive normal precipitation this spring. A meeting is being planned for late April with a water license holders on the southern tributary rivers to discuss water sharing should it be required. We feel it is a good exercise even if we have sufficient water. It keeps all license holders abreast of the current water situation from year to year.
- Current and future employee situation – We await the 2018 Provincial Budget announcement and of how it will affect our rehabilitation funding. This will play an important role in what the RID future employee pool will require.
NEW BUISNESS
- Directors Items – It was noted that a large wind generation farm is being proposed for an area east of Stirling. 32 large wind generators are proposed.
- Household Purposes agreement (sec 19 ID Act) – Joran and Tricia Ririe Box 1882 Raymond AB – NE-7-6-20-W4 Lot #4 Blk 118 Plan 0811829 – Approved on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.
- Auditor exit meeting – telephone meeting with Doug Wilde – Doug entered the meeting via telephone and went over the entire audit he had completed on behalf of the RID for the 2017 year. There were no problems with the audit and Doug thanked the board and staff for another clean audit without discrepancies.
- Stirling lake – need new water delivery agreement with the Province – The last year for the payment of water conveyance delivering water to the Stirling Lake (Michelson marsh) was 2017. $50,000 was paid to the RID 30 years ago and a new water conveyance agreement is required. Staff will look into which Provincial department is in charge of this expenditure and begin a discussion regarding the water delivery fee.
- RID seminar and annual meeting March 22 – review agenda and annual meeting report – Kelvin went over the completed annual report and the board reviewed all of its content. Gordon went over the seminar final agenda and made assignments to board members to M/C and wrap up the event.
- Seepage exemption plan 2018 to 2022 – Gordon presented the new plan for board approval. On motion by Craig Palmer the plan was approved by the board. The plan will be advertised in the local paper as legislated and will be available at the RID office for viewing over a 30 day period. After the period has ended, with no objections filed, the plan will be forwarded to Irrigation Council for final approval.
- AIPA – March 16 directors meeting report – The meeting was held at the Lethbridge Lodge Hotel commencing at 10:00 AM. Richard Phillips BRID Manager is the Chair of the organization. John McKee and Gordon ZoBell attended on behalf of the RID. Margo Redelback the new executive directors is doing a very good job in her new capacity. The AIPA mission and vision were reviewed at the meeting. It was noted that on May 8 an MLA mixer will be held in Edmonton at the Federal building which is very near to the Legislature. At least one member from the RID will attend. Irrigation Council would like the AIPA to put together a reservoir ranking system so the Province can see from the districts perspective which new reservoirs the collective districts could put forward in order of importance. Calgary Aggie Days is being held April 10 to 15th. The RID will supply personnel to attend on the 15th to man the booth and help dismantle and pack up once the day is over. The next AIPA conference date has been set as February 8, 2019 in Calgary. The next AIPA director’s board meeting is September 27.
- R-7-1- meeting to discuss billing process similar to R-8-2 meeting (Hudson) – The board determined that they would like to first handle the 8-2 discussions and considerations before looking into any changes at the R7-1 project.
- Water Quality meeting March 20 – GZ report – The water quality in the RID was very good last year. The study driven by AIPA will continue this year and is in its 10th year now. It is good information to show the public the science of our water and that it is in good shape. The Mussel concern was also discussed and the problem has been kept out to date of our province. Montana and BC are doing very good monitoring as well. We must remain vigilant and proactive toward keep mussels out. The program to keep Alberta free of Mussels is ongoing. There was also discussion about Neonics in our water samples. They are very low and not anywhere near raising concerns toward the use of this important insecticide in our Province.
- Next meeting date – Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at the RID board room.
- Motion to adjourn and time meeting ended – Having no further business the board ended the meeting at 3:45 PM on motion by Craig Palmer.