July 18, 2018 RID board meeting highlights

Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Monday July 18, 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, Kelvin Kado as needed. Mark Jensen Operations Manager.

 

The Agenda for the July 18, 2018 meeting was approved on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.

 

The Minutes of the, June 18, 2018 board meeting were approved on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.

 

BUISNESS ARISING

 

  1. IRP Project Update given by Mark Jensen

 

IRP 2334 Stirling #16 – Project is complete.

 

IRP 2341 – The project was approved for funding by Irrigation Council as submitted. Final

design is underway.

 

  1. Maintenance report – Mark showed the board a brief slide show of projects completed this past month.

 

  1. Irrican Power – May/ June production has been very good power generation income and as a result we will have good income from REC sales and FORTIS Option “M” income. Income to May 31 was $1,297,762.88. We will have a good income for this year. Line of Credit is paid down and we have $600,000.00 in our account. We have a new LOC for the Direct Energy $125,000.00 futures contract.

 

  1. RID financial – Kelvin Kado – I will be away on vacation Friday July 20 – July 27

Upon my return I will be spending most of my time updating and reviewing our assessment roll and preparing to send invoices out to water users on August 15.

 

  1. 2018 water situation – All reservoirs are still in very good shape. St Mary reservoir is at 260,000 acre feet which is the same as last season at this date. Crop development is advanced and water delivering is peaking this week.

 

  1. Current and future employee situation – An opinion letter was received from Jess Wilde. After much discussion the board instructed the manger to meet with each RID employee and try to obtain a written note from each explaining the year and date of each employees desired retirement from the RID. This will assist the board with future planning toward replacing retiring employees.

 

NEW BUISNESS

 

  1. Directors Item – There were no director’s items.

 

  1. Alternate parcel – From: Don Heggie 29 acres SE-14-6-20-W4 To: East Raymond Colony NW-15-5-20-W4. Approved by the board on motion by Rode Wendorff and carried.

 

  1. Alternate parcel – From: Todd Heggie 16 acres NW-14-6-20-W4 To: East Raymond Colony NW-15-5-20-W4. Approved by the board on motion by Rode Wendorff and carried.

 

 

  1. Ivory Harker (Hill) – possible HPA – Kyle Stone from Raymond entered the meeting at approximately 10:00 AM. He noted that he and neighbor Ivory Hill wished to hook up to the R 9 pipeline that delivers irrigation water along the extreme western edge of the town of Raymond. On motion by Rod Wendorff the board approved the delivery subject to proper easements being granted from the adjacent landowner and approval from the town of Raymond to cross the road R/W. The RID will request engineer Darin Wilde to recommend the size of pipe that could be hooked to the RID line in favor of the HPA deliveries. Carried.

 

  1. Parker Petersen – HPA – Plan 1711083 Block 1 Lot 7 – Approved by the board on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.

 

  1. Household Purposes agreement – Tod and Elizabeth Nelson Box 294 Stirling AB T0K 2E0 Plan 8411065 Block A Linc 0014609663 – NE-29-6-19-W4 – Approved by the board on motion by John McKee and carried.

 

  1. HPA – Jeff Kawade – Plan 0715606 Block 1 Lot 1 NE-36-5-21-W4 – need SMRID approval for Turn out before proceeding – Approved by the board on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.

 

  1. Raymond 8-1 – recent concerns – GZ and MJ to report – Gordon noted that the R8-1 pipeline is undersized and there has been difficulty during very dry years and peak delivery times to satisfy all water delivery needs. He and Mark recommend that this pipeline be added to the 3 year plan for funding approval to twin the line as per engineer’s recommendations. He also noted that ¼ mile of pipe should be replaced at the extreme north end of the project in favor of the Joe Horvath delivery. This upsizing of the line in that location would assist in water delivery in the short term and could be done prior to funding approval in hopes that costs could be recovered when the project is approved for funding. On motion by John McKee the board approved the request to include the Raymond 8-1 pipeline in the next 3 year plan seeking IRP funding approval. Carried

 

  1. Esther Hofer – review her conditional approval for new rights on 9-7-21-W4 – This item was discussed at length by the board and deferred to the next meeting pending more information.

 

  1. Art Hudson – reviewed letter from him dated June 30, 2018 RE: R7-1 pipeline – The board agreed to sit as an assessment review board to review the charges associated with the registered agreement currently in place where energy fees are divided between users and funds are collected for pump and switch gear replacement and maintenance for R7-1. This assessment review will take place prior to March 30, 2019.

 

  1. Next meeting date – Wednesday, August 18, 2018 at the RID board room.

 

  1. Motion to adjourn and time meeting ended – Having no further business the board ended the meeting at 1:45 PM on motion by Rod Wendorff.