Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Thursday, July 17, 2019 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, Cody Heggie Operations Manager in training and Kelvin Kado as needed. Mark Jensen Operations Manager, was needed in the field.
IRP Project Update – Cody showed the board a slide show of maintenance and operations activities over the last month.
Monthly Maintenance report – Cody Heggie gave a verbal report of the operations and maintenance performed over the past month.
Irrican Power – Solar arrays (power generation), going forward with 40 mile and possibly at (SMRID) Bow Island 12 and Yellow lake. Recs: To Direct energy for $11.5/Mwh, should be a net income of $531,000.00 Bull frog 2019 contract for $10.50/Mwh up from $6.25 last year. Fortis Option “M” $85,815.03 for May will be deposited this week.
RID Financial – Report from Kelvin Kado – RID newsletter, the response to provide contact info has been slow. I have sent 2 letters of interest regarding 2 grant prospects for solar projects; (1) Community Generation Project Incubator (CGPI) and (2) the AIDA and ATCO Solar project grant. I had meetings on July 10 and 11 in Lethbridge about the community generation projects. We do not fall under the Community Generation program. The process takes 130 weeks to get up and running and has several regulations and regulatory bodies to get approval. Distribution Generation (DG) has some advantages, but more disadvantages. We would probably not get approved due to the Solar project near Stirling and the Wind Project near Stirling. We do fall under the Micro Generation (up to 5Mwh) production, we would best to stay under 1Mwh production for tax and approval. This would include a system on our building and an array at either R7-1 or R8-2. We had a lightning strike this past month and has caused a few problems with our computers, the are getting ironed out. Went to the Calgary Stampede, sponsored by IPEX on Friday July 12, invited for supper, and Grandstand show. Very enjoyable. Patrick from Doug Wilde office was out and assisted with year ending adjusting entries on July. Starting to prepare for the August 15 assessment.
RID Employment – The manager and board discussed the applications received for the position available to replace Phil Wilde. On motion by Rod Wendorff the board approved hiring an individual. The manager will meet with them to determine if they will accept the terms of the districts offer to hire them on a full-time basis. They will start their employment with the RID in August. Phil Wilde is retiring at year end. The motion was carried.
Equipment purchase – On motion by John McKee the board approved the purchase of a new Bob Cat E 55 excavator with attachments from Evcon Equipment in Lethbridge for the total cost of $90,500.00 carried.
Directors Items – John McKee noted that Denise Wall is selling her home parcel including yard. There may be a delivery concern. The manager was made aware of this and will watch the sale to make sure all are informed regarding this delivery. The board also voted to increase the 2019 irrigation water delivery amount at the farm gate in the RID to 14 inches on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.
SMRID tour July 9, 2019 – John, Craig and Gordon attended the tour and noted the immensity of the SMRID was very evident. The tour was well received and assisted those attending in understanding Main canal and SMRID issues better.
Art Hudson – wants to purchase R/W in 44893 Block 202 Lot 6A – The manager reviewed this request again with the board after meeting with Mr. Hudson after the June board meeting. Mr. Hudson is willing to enter into an agreement that would see all permanent acres removed from the parcels located in NW-17-6-20-W4 north of the drainage canal. In return he would like to obtain title to a small appendage of R/W containing approximately 1 acre. This would allow his parcels to be squared up in that area. On motion by Rod Wendorff the board approved this request subject to Mr. Hudson paying all legal costs to take ownership of the parcel. The agreement that he will remove the permanent water from all parcels in that area in the event that any one of the parcels is sold to a different owner is to be placed on the title as a instrument running with the title. Carried.
ORRSC – ORRSC file number 2019-0-098, Dexter Wilde – E1/2-8-6-21-W4 title number 161 238 888 +3. Dexter sold his land north of Highway #5 which necessitated a title adjustment. There will not be any impact to the RID. The application was approved earlier by the manager.
SMRID, MID, RID, TID proposed collaborative meeting in September – The manager noted that he had met with Terrence Lazarus and Cam Anderson recently. It was determined that a meeting should be held where a small delegation from each board including managers are invited to discuss collaborative possibilities that could be examined between the four districts. The board assigned Rod Wendorff and Gord ZoBell to attend the meeting as noted.
HPA – Brandon These and Brooke Emard – Plan 0614071 Bocl 1 Lot 1 (old SMRID ditch rider home) – Approved on motion by Rod Wendorff.
Next meeting date – Proposed Wednesday August 21, 2019, (or as schedules permit for RID board members), to be held at the RID board room.
Motion to adjourn and time meeting ended – Having no further business the board ended the meeting at 2:00 PM on motion by John McKee