Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Wednesday June 17, 2020 commencing at 9:00AM in the RID Board Room.
Attending: John McKee Chairman, Craig Palmer Vice Chair, Rod Wendorff director, Gordon ZoBell General Manager, Jason Miller Assistant Manager and recording clerk, Cody Heggie Operations Manager and Kelvin Kado as needed.
It should be noted that Provincial Health guidelines were followed during this meeting due to the CVOID-19 pandemic concerns.
The Agenda for the June 17, 2020 meeting was approved on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.
The highlights of the, May 20, 2020 board meeting were approved on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.
BUISNESS ARISING
- Expansion and RID annual meeting – Will be advertised for November 19, 2020.
- IRP Update – IRP 2341 – Working on final design for the Hancock structure – possible pipe drop.
IRP 2356 – R8-1 – Preparations for the project are well underway. Gord and Jason have obtained all of the easements for the project, pipe was ordered prior to the IPEX price increase on June 15, and the material for the risers has been received. Cody and the ditch riders will begin fabricating the risers during down time.
Shovel ready projects – Gord and Jason have been working with Darin to get the RS#4 design finalized. Gord and Jason have also spent time reviewing the future 9-mile project and will discuss design timelines with Darin.
- Monthly Operations and Maintenance report – Cody Heggie showed a slide presentation of work performed over the past month. The crew has been completing repairs as needed, including replacing a rock weir at Hartley’s delivery on the New Dayton lateral.
Cody also reported on research he completed for a new spray unit. He visited with Jamie Meeks, employee of the County of Warner, and reviewed their spraying units and discussed various avenues for purchasing / building a new unit. A quote was obtained for a new unit from the USA for approximately $5,000 US plus shipping and duty. A similar unit could be custom built by a company in Calgary for $10,000. Cody suggested RID staff could built a customized unit for around $7,500-8,500.
On motion by Craig Palmer the board approved RID staff to built a new customized spray unit. Carried.
- Irrican – John McKee, Gordon ZoBell, Jason Miller and Kelvin Kado attended an online Irrican board meeting on June 9, 2020. It was reported that all plants are operational; however, power prices have been very low and repairs and maintenance have been expensive year-to-date. URICA completed a presentation and are optimistic that prices will increase as summer progresses. The Irrican Board will evaluate purchasing futures towards the end of June. In addition, the Renuwell Solar Array project has been approved by SMRID, TID and RID.
- Main Canal Advisory Committee Meeting – John McKee, Gordon ZoBell, and Jason Miller attended an online main canal advisory committee meeting on June 9, 2020. It was discussed to use RID CAP funding on behalf of the main canal group to apply for funding to study reservoir storage and complete a main canal optimization modelling tool.
On motion made by John McKee, the RID consents to make an application on behalf of the main canal group to use RID CAP funding to complete a reservoir storage study and the main canal optimization modelling tool. Carried.
On motion made by Craig Palmer, the RID appoints Jason Miller to sit on the SMRID Main Canal Technical Committee. Carried.
- RID financial – Kelvin Kado – R7-1 Pump Fund: Due to repairs the fund is over extended and owes RID $3,698.70. We are waiting on final billing from Hagen Electric and then we will send out letters and notification to the R7-1 users for payment.
R8-2 HPA users will have an additional charge beginning this season of $100.00 ($60 pump fund, $40.00 (NRG)) per user starting for the 2020 irrigation season.
Computers have been received for the Ditch riders. Alberta agriculture will be downloading DDIT to all machines. Jason and Kelvin will assist in making spreadsheets and input sheets for the ditch riders. Curtis Start will be upgrading our back up system and computer security for our office and new laptops.
Rate enforcement: have been continuing to follow up. Nothing by way of Rate Enforcement has been announced, may not file until next year.
IRP, R8-1 is at $1.13 million expended to April 2020.
IRP funding agreement has been signed, funds should ne received shortly.
- Town of Raymond – A draft agreement has been sent to the Town to accept their drainage that is currently flowing into our drainage channel north of Raymond and convey it to the Stirling drain. The town is agreeable to share the maintenance costs 50/50.
On motion by Craig Palmer, the RID board agrees to enter into an agreement with the Town of Raymond to convey their drainage, that currently enters into our drainage channel north of Raymond, to the Stirling drain. Carried.
NEW BUISNESS
- Directors Items – Several small items were discussed. Concern over R7-1 pump deficit and the deficit to be billed to R7-1 users was discussed. Soil moisture is looking really great for many in our district.
- Michelson Marsh (Stirling Lake) –Gordon noted that Ducks Unlimited is continuing to fill the marsh, but we are still waiting to receive the finalized agreement from them.
- CEBA Loan – Jason reported that the CEBA loan was applied for and received. The funds will be used to retain Ben Richards as an employee over the summer months.
- Computers for the Ditch Riders – discussed in the RID financial report above
- Household purposes agreement – ID Act S (19)
- Raymond, Plan 1412234, Block 1, Lot 1, SW-4-7-20-W4
- Raymond, Plan 9610970, Block 1, NE-26-5-20-W4
All the HPA agreements noted above were approved by the board on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.
Next meeting date – Wednesday, July 15, 2020 at 9:00 AM in the RID board room.
Motion to adjourn – There being no further business the meeting ended at 2:20 PM on motion by John McKee.