Held Wednesday March 18, 2021 commencing at 9:25 AM in the RID Board Room. Covid19 provincial health guidelines were followed during the meeting.
The Agenda for the meeting was approved on motion by Craig Palmer and carried.
The Minutes of the February 24, 2021 board meeting were approved on motion by Rod Wendorff and carried.
O&M Report and IRP Project Update:
Cody Heggie showed a slide presentation of the work performed over the past month. IRP 2356 (8-1 Pipeline) is on track to be largely completed by March 31. This will give the crew time to change risers, complete some maintenance, and finish some custom work started in the fall, prior to water being turned on.
Irrican – Kelvin Kado reported:
Winter maintenance is being completed to get ready for the 2021 power generation year. It could be an early start this year, due to the dry conditions. We have entered into some power contracts that should help supplement our income this year.
RID financial – Kelvin Kado reported:
The year end audit is underway. The auditors were at the RID office on March 16 for the onsite work. The audit exit meeting is planned for March 23 at 3 pm. The auditors will be available for our AGM on March 25.
R7-1, R 8-2 and R15 energy billing being completed. The municipal water conveyance report has been received and billing will be sent out shortly.
Solar array grant applications have been submitted and we are waiting on approval.
AGM – Thursday March 25, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. – Jason Miller reported:
We are finalizing the annual report and the audit is being finished for the AGM. We have purchased a camera and a better microphone so that we zoom the meeting easier and with higher quality sound and video.
Subdivision Approvals – NE 27-6-20-W4 & E1/2 5-6-20-W4:
E1/2 5-6-20-W4 has no irrigation. The board has no objections to this subdivision.
NE 27-6-20-W4 has 70 acres of irrigation. The board is not opposed to the subdivision, provided that the entire 70 acres of irrigation will remain with the south part of NE 27-6-20-W4. No irrigation acres will be transferred with the 0.75 acre subdivided parcel that is to be consolidated with Lot 1, Block 1.
Corner Lake – Trout Stocking / development – Jason and Kelvin reported:
The Town of Raymond and the Rotary are working together to develop a plan to improve Corner Lake. to stock Corner Lake with trout. Part of that plan involves stocking Corner lake with trout. Jason and Cody had a phone conference call with stakeholders, including the Alberta Conservation Association. The RID reiterated to all groups that the primary purpose of Corner Lake is irrigation. All other activities are second in priority to irrigation. The stakeholders acknowledged this and feel they can work under that guideline. They would like to stock trout in the lake this spring, but the majority of the stocking would occur in the fall.
Alberta Agriculture – Farm Gate Allocation 2021
The board reviewed the first Alberta Agriculture farm gate allocation for 2021 that was released on March 17.
New Acre Allocation Update – Jason reported:
The RID office staff have been working to finalize the paperwork for the 2021 acre additions to the district. The board deferred discussion of Hoferland expansion until the next board meeting as they are waiting to hear back on several keys things that could impact this project.
RID Policy Manual Review:
The board reviewed policies 37-40.
Directors’ Items:
No director items were brought forward.
ATB Investment Update – Darren Tanner and Tyler Simms from ATB presented:
Tyler Simms and Darren Tanner presented to the Board a summary of RID’s ATB investments to date. The RID invested $2.6 M since 2009 and the portfolio has grown to $4.37 M. This is an average rate of return of 4.3%.
Common Carrier Agreement:
The board review the previous presentations from SMRID and TID, information provided by Len Ring, and a slide presentation prepared by Jason. The board directed Jason to prepare a slide presentation for next week summarizing RID’s point of view.
Next Meeting Date
The next meeting is set for April 21, 2021.
Motion to adjourn – There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 3:41 PM on motion by Rod Wendorff.