August 19 2020 RID board meeting highlights

Highlights of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Raymond Irrigation District held Wednesday August 19, 2020 commencing at 10:20AM 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 August 19, 2020 meeting was approved on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.

The Minutes of the, July 15, 2020 board meeting were approved on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.

BUISNESS ARISING

Expansion and RID annual meeting – Reminder of the annual meeting on November 19 and the plebiscite on November 26. Gordon will facilitate the annual meeting.

IRP Update – IRP 2341 – The quote from Precon for the Hancock structure was $27,500, plus the cost of renting a crane. Wilde Brothers Engineering asked there contractors for pour in place quotes. Only one contractor replied, Arrow Creek Contracting Inc. and provide a quote of $16,700.

On Motion made by Craig Palmer and carried, the Board approved acceptance of Arrow Creek Contracting’s quote for the pour in place structure on IRP2341.

IRP 2356 – R8-1 – Cody Heggie reported that for R8-1, 3 risers are completed (which is 30% of the risers), and road crossing agreements for the 2 crossings have been reached with a contractor for $5,000 per crossing.   

Monthly Operations and Maintenance report – Cody Heggie showed a slide presentation of work performed over the past month.

Irrican – Kelvin Kado reported that ICPC management is discussing the amount of the payment to the districts for the 2020 year.

RID financial – Kelvin Kado reported that assessments were mailed out on August 17 and payments are starting to come in.

Town of Raymond – Jason reported that he provided the Town with the two options provided by the Board in the last Board meeting to complete the drainage agreement. The options were: complete the agreement between the RID manager and the Town CAO, or turn the agreement over to legal council for both the RID and Town, with the Town paying all legal costs. The Town has decided to complete the agreement between the RID manager and the Town CAO. Jason has been in contact with Kurtis to work on completing the agreement.  

Sprayer – Cody reported that work has yet to start on constructing the sprayer.

NEW BUISNESS

Directors Items – there were no directors items

Jason Miller – review position – Gordon reported that he is pleased with Jason’s work and recommends that the Board promote Jason to the position of RID General Manager effective September 1, 2020.

On motion made by John McKee and carried, the Board approved making Jason Miller the General Manager of the Raymond Irrigation District as of September 1, 2020 and effective immediately, granting him signing authority for the district and signing authority under seal, and granting him all the rights and responsibilities of an irrigation district manager as set out in the Irrigation Districts Act of Alberta.

Bruce Hancock – RE: Right of Way – This matter was deferred until the September Board Meeting.

Minister Dreeshen – Meeting August 4th in Raymond – John, Rod, Gord and Jason attended a meeting held by the Agriculture Minister of Alberta, Minister Dreeshen on August 4 in Raymond. In attendance was Minister of Infrastructure, Minister Panda, and Minister of Red Tape Reduction, Minister Hunter. The event was a discussion regarding Irrigation in Alberta, including red tape that hinders irrigation, irrigation expansion and the governments support of irrigation.

GPS – Darin Wilde and Dale Russell will be updating the GPS report.

Emissions Reductions Alberta (ERA) – Jason has completed an 8 page express of interest (EOI) application for ERA grant funding of $5M for the GPS. The EOI will be submitted by August 27.

RID Policy Manual Review – This item was deferred to the September Board meeting.

Isotope study – A meeting was held on July 30 regarding the Isotope study. The government needs additional sampling from land that has been manured close to the sample sites from participating districts. The RID will provide a list of sites the government can obtain the required samples within the RID.

HPA – Ryan and Sarabeth Baldry applied for HPA’s for:

Plan 0514251, Block 3, Lot 1 of SW-11-6-21-W4

Plan 4489J, Block 106, Lot 2, Church Ave, the North Half of Parcel 18A

On motion made by Rod Wendorff and carried, the HPA’s as noted above were approved by the Board.

Next meeting date – Wednesday September 16, 2020

Motion to adjourn – There being no further business the meeting ended at 12:10 PM on motion by John McKee.

This Board meeting was the last official Board meeting for Gordon ZoBell acting as General Manager. Gordon will continue to be on staff until December 31, 2020 on vacation and acting in an advisory capacity as needed. The Board thanked Gordon for his 43 ½ years of service and dedication to the RID.

Following the meeting the Board, staff and recently retired staff (Mark Jensen and Phil Wilde) attended a BBQ. The Chairman presented the retirees with a plaque and thanked Mark and Phil for their years of service and expressed the gratitude of the Board, staff and water users for their contributions and dedication to the RID.