GLACIER VIEW MEADOWS
WATER AND SEWER ASSOCIATION
April 15, 2009

ATTENDANCE:

Frank Winter - President (absent)
Jerry Wood - Vice-President
Jim Petrie – Treasurer
Tom Willard - Secretary
Tom Bizzell - Director

STAFF:

Steve Horsmon
Mary Keller
Brian Schaneman

CALL TO ORDER:

Jerry Wood, Vice-President, called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. All were present except Frank Winter, who had an excused absence and a quorum was established.

REVIEW AGENDA:

The manager asked that item 11. Executive session be moved to the end of the Road & Recreation meeting.

APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES DATED: March 18, 2009

Tom Willard moved to approve the minutes dated March 18, 2009 as written. Unanimous-motion passed

TREASURER’S REPORT: (Please see the Office for attached/enclosed as none were provided with these minutes)

Jim Petrie presented the treasurer’s report for the Water and Sewer Association (see attached). Water and Sewer completed the sixth month of the fiscal year with no significant deviations from the budget. The Board reviewed the Treasurer’s report and no objections were noted.

MANAGER’S REPORT: Steve Horsmon, GVM Manager, presented the report.

General Office and Budget Updates:
  1. The 2009-2010 Budget Committees completed their meetings in March and their reports and recommendations are included in the April board member package. Committee chairmen to present at the April 15, 2009 board meeting.
  2. Operations Team Leader position interviewing was completed in March and Brian Shaneman accepted the position. Starting date was March 31. We welcome Brian to the team. His first two weeks were very productive as he immediately took on leach field construction, snow plowing, and road grading projects.
  3. The seasonal roll-off dumpster will be returning for the summer in mid-May
  4. We have given an application to the Larimer County Workforce Center for two summer internships. Using federal stimulus money, the Workforce Center is filling 100+ internships in the county. They will pay the hourly wage (up to 30 hrs./wk), insurance, and taxes for intern assignments. We are encouraging local youth (17-21) to apply and join us for the summer. If successful, we will use the interns for various association tasks including painting, mowing, tree trimming, organizing inventory, etc. If we do not get an intern, we have no plans to fill a part-time summer position this year in order to reduce labor costs.

Water & Sewer Association
  1. The wastewater treatment plant leach field was completed on April 4, 2009. Lynn Johnson has also completed reseeding on that area. The contractors for the concrete foundation and the chlorine contact tank have submitted their bids and the selections have been made. Blasting for the contact tank hole is complete. Foundation concrete work starts April 14th. The contact tank should be delivered and set about May 3rd. See project schedule and budget summary provided in the board package. It appears that we should have roughly $30,000 left over in the loan funds. We are tracking all GVM labor used for this project and plan to submit a reimbursement request at the end, depending on funds remaining.
  2. Jerry is reporting daily 4th filing water usage at around 9,000 gallons which is significantly less than our summer time averages.
  3. NO EMERGENCY WATER LEAKS HAVE OCCURRED SO FAR THIS YEAR!

APPLICABLE COMMITTEE REPORTS:

  1. Budget Committee Report: Cal Bruxvoort, Chair, presented the budget report for the committee. 2009-2010 Budget Committee Members are Cal Bruxvoort-Chair, Jim Couillard, Jerry Tucker, Jim Petrie – GVM W&S

The Joint Boards of Directors requested both Association budget committees this year to evaluate their budgets to include an increased employee medical benefit amount. The boards of directors evaluated the current $234/month medical flexible spending allowance benefit which was set in 2000. Due to increasing costs of medical services and insurance premiums, the boards of directors proposed the benefit be increased to $500/month per employee. This new level would cover the average employee’s private policy cost with a deductible of $1000. It would also help cover other uncovered costs related to dental, vision, hearing, and disability insurance costs. The budget committee was requested to consider the proposed medical benefit increase and to provide to the two Boards recommendations on whether an increase is justified and, if so, the amount of the increase.

The Water & Sewer Budget Committee discussed the proposal and decided that the increase seemed excessive in light of the economic times. The Committee discussed insurance rates and how much the employer should contribute to an employee’s heath care plan. At the end of the discussion, the Committee agreed that the benefit level should be increased from $234/mo per employee to $275/mo.

Also discussed was the Merit Pool budget line item which provides funds to allow the Manager to recognize increased contribution and value of employees, beyond a cost of living (COLA) wage adjustment. The Committee recommended that this line item be deleted in the 2009-2010 budget because such wage adjustments increased the base wage which is subject to future COLA increases. The Committee saw this as a risk for an ever increasing payroll situation.

The Committee also discussed the correct placement of the expenses for indirect payroll costs including: FICA, Workers Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Taxes, and Benefits. Traditionally, these costs were split by certain percentages between the three Water & Sewer budget accounts. The Committee agreed that these indirect costs should not be paid out of the two community system accounts (002/003). However, all wages related to value-added tasks associated with the community systems must continue to be paid from these budget accounts. The Committee agreed that The Water & Sewer management account (001) should cover the indirect employment costs as well as 50% of the Association’s secretary’s total wages.

Water & Sewer Budget Account 001 - Management
  1. No dues increase recommended for 2009-2010 fiscal year. Dues should remain at $144/yr for improved lots and $72/yr for unimproved lots.
  2. With a current balance of $133,552 in capital, no additional contribution to the 2009-2010 capital reserve funds is recommended.
  3. Recommend retaining the $100 rebate benefit to Water and Sewer members for septic tank pumping by private contractors.
  4. Recommend moving all indirect community system payroll tax costs ($7,687): FICA, Workers Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Taxes, and Benefits to the Management account 001 as the Budget can handle the increase without a dues increase.
  5. Recommend increasing the monthly employee medical flexible spending allowance by $41 to $275 total per full-time employee. (50% of total expense – split with Road and Recreation.)
  6. Recommend removing the Merit Pool wage increase line item from all budget accounts for the 2009-2010 Budget Year.
  7. Recommend moving all wage expenses for the Association secretary to the Management budget account 001. (50% of total wages – split with Road and Recreation)
  8. Recommend moving all the auto insurance and license plates for the Association to the Management budget account 001. (50% of total expense – split with Road and Recreation.)

Water & Sewer Budget Account 002 – 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th Filing Community Systems
  1. With the delay of the operation of the community Wastewater Treatment Facility, the 002 community system account will have a better carry-forward amount into the 2009-2010 Budget. However, a 10% increase in fees is needed to allow larger contributions to the capital improvement reserve fund. With a 10% increase, we will be able to contribute $20,000 to capital which will allow ongoing upgrades to the aging water and sewer infrastructure. The committee believes that increases in the 5% to 10% range in the next few years will likely be needed to continue funding needed capital improvements.
  2. Recommend moving all indirect community system payroll costs ($5,950): FICA, Workers Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Taxes, and Benefits to the Management budget account 001.
  3. Recommend removing the Merit Pool wage increase line item from all budget accounts for the 2009-2010 Budget Year.

The following fee increases are recommended:

Annual Fees Current 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012
Improved Lot W&S $858.00 $943.80 $1,038.18 $1,142.00
(Monthly rate over 12 mos.) $71.50.mo $78.65/mo $86.51/mo $95.16/mo
         
Unimproved Lot W&S $429.00 $471.90 $519.09 $571.00
         
Improved Lot
3rd Filing sewer only)		 $363.00 $399.24 $439.16 $483.08
         
Unimproved Lot
(3rd Filing sewer only)		 $182.00 $201.24 $221.36 $243.50

Water & Sewer Budget Account 003 – 12th Filing Community System
  1. A 10% increase in fees is needed to allow larger contributions to the capital improvement reserve fund. With a 10% increase, we will be able to contribute at least $10,000 to capital in the 2010-2011 Budget which will allow ongoing upgrades to the water and sewer infrastructure. Leach field capacity and eventual wastewater treatment plans will become an issue within the next 10 years. The committee believes that increases in the 5% to 10% range in the next few years will likely be needed to continue funding needed capital improvements.
  2. Recommend moving all indirect community system payroll tax costs ($1,737): FICA, Workers Compensation Insurance, Unemployment Taxes, and Benefits to the Management budget account 001.
  3. Recommend removing the Merit Pool wage increase line item from all budget accounts for the 2009-2010 Budget Year.

The following fee increases are recommended:

Annual Fees Current 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011
Improved Lot (water only) $495.00 $544.56 $598.95 $658.85
(Monthly rate over 12 mos.) $41.25/mo $45.38/mo $49.91/mo $54.90/mo
         
Improved Lot (sewer only) $363.00 $399.30 $439.23 $483.15
(Monthly rate over 12 mos.) $30.25/mo $33.28/mo $36.60/mo $40.26/mo
         
Unimproved Lot (water only) $246.00 $270.60 $297.66 $327.43
         
Unimproved Lot (sewer only) $183.00 $201.24 $221.43 $243.57
  1. Due to a low carry forward amount, there is no recommendation for a contribution to capital in the 003 account this year.

Cal Bruxvoort also discussed the community system fees and the fact that the fees keep increasing. Cal suggested a special assessment or a low cost loan to cover the costs of deep bury and related repairs. It is his opinion, that if the Association invest the money into the community system, and replace what needs to be replaced instead of in increments it will save money and the system user fees will stabilize.

The Board accepted the report for discussion and thanked Cal and the committee for time and effort spent on the budget report.

OLD BUSINESS: None

NEW BUSINESS:

  1. Nominating Committee–

    The manager informed the Board that we are in need of a nominating chair and candidates. The Boards discussed candidate possibilities and will continue looking for a chairperson and volunteers to help get nominees for each board and to help run the election in June.

PUBLIC INPUT:

Regarding the community system fees a resident stated that the fees indeed seem high. However, if there is a problem with a community well or leach field our fees go toward repairing the problem. On the flip side if a private well or leach field has a major problem, it is the individual owner’s responsibility to repair, and the cost depending on the problem, can be extremely high.

Jerry Wood moved to adjourn at 4:11 pm. Unanimous-motion passed

The Water and Sewer Board turned the floor over to the Road & Recreation Board.

Water and Sewer will adjourn into Executive Session (personnel discussion) immediately after Road and Recreation Association Board Meeting.

Opened new business session at 5:20

Regarding the 09-10 Budget Committee Recommendations:

Tom Bizzell mtioned to accept the 08-09 Water & Sewer Association Budget Committee report with the following changes:

The 09-10 budget should include an $83 monthly increase to the GVM full-time employee medical flexible spending allowance. This represents one-half of a

$166 total increase to the current monthly benefit of $234. The Road & Recreation Assoc. shall pay the other half of the benefit. Also, the current Merit Pool wage adjustment line item should be retained in all 3 of the 09-10 budget accounts. Unanimous - Motion Passed

Tom Bizzell motioned that one-half of the employee medical flexible spending allowance benefit should be paid out of budget account 001 - Management. However, all wage related payroll expenses ( FICA, Workers Comp., and Unemployment Taxes) must be paid by each budget account according to the percentage of wages paid in those accounts. Unanimous - Motion Passed