Board Meeting Minutes August 2021
North Fork Special Service District
Monthly Board Meeting
August 12, 2021 @ 6:30 p.m.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions and concerns, this meeting will be hosted via Zoom Application without an anchor location. Any members of the public that would like to join the public portion of the meeting will need to email a request for invite to the District Clerk at admin@NFSSD.org or call 801.225.7263 or 801.404.4734 prior to the meeting/hearing.
Visit NFSSD.org for additional information including meeting minutes and a link to access The Little Manual for Local and Special Service Districts.
Closed Executive Session
Board members present:
Stewart Olsen-Vice Chair, Duaine Dorton, Gary Liddiard, Chad Linebaugh, Keith Payne, Scott Hart
Staff members present:
Emily Johnson-District Clerk
Stephen Miche-Public Works Director 7:00 p.m.
Monthly Meeting of the Board of Officers
Board members present:
Stewart Olsen-Vice Chair, Duaine Dorton, Gary Liddiard, Chad Linebaugh, Keith Payne, Scott Hart
Staff members present:
Stephen Miche-Public Works Director, Aubree Lincoln-Public Works, Emily Johnson-District Clerk, David Marsella, Nathan Bracken-Legal, Ryan Taylor
Joseph Martin-Controller left at approximately 8:00 p.m.
Public present:
Chris Storbeck
Steve Spiker arrived at 7:30 p.m.
Jeff LaBar
Ann Marie Howard-General Council for Sundance Group
At 7:02 p.m. Gary Liddiard motioned to leave the closed session and enter the August Board Meeting. Keith Payne seconded the motion, at 7:05 p.m. the meeting was brought to order by Stewart Olsen-Vice Chairman.
Public Comments
None
Action Items
#1 Approval of the July 2021 Board Meeting Minutes
Chad Linebaugh moved to accept the July 2021 board meeting minutes as written, Duaine Dorton seconded. All aye, no opposed. Motion passed.
#2 Approval of Rules of Order
– Nathan Bracken of Smith Hartvigsen PLLC presented. Specific rules of order and a process to deal with conflict of interest were prepared for the District. After review by the Board and Staff over the past month, the final draft (2021-1) is complete and ready to be adopted and made effective immediately.
Keith motioned to approve the Rules of Order and District Policy/Ordinance that were prepared by Nathan Bracken and reviewed by the Board of Officers (2021-1). Chad Linebaugh seconded, all aye no opposed. Motion passed.
#3 Action and Voting on District Policy/Ordinance
This item was included in action #2 (2021-1)
#4 Storyteller Agreement Committee Appointment
– The members of this sub-committee shall have no conflict of interest with Storyteller Canyon (Sundance Resort). All members must be unaffiliated with the resort. The purpose of this committee is to work with the District’s legal counsel on agreements pertaining to the District and Storyteller Canyon (water and water rights) before being presented to Board and public for a final vote.
Scott Hart motion to appoint Dr. Minton, Stewart Olsen, Gary Liddiard, Stephen Miche, Emily Johnson (when needed) and Ryan Taylor for consultation as members of the “Storyteller Agreement Committee”. Duaine Dorton seconded the motion, all aye and no opposed. Motion passed.
#5 Committee Chair Assignments
– Duaine Dorton moved to table matter, Keith Payne seconded. Matter tabled until next meeting.
#6 Utah Title 73: 73-1-6. Eminent domain -Purposes
– Jeff LaBar presented. Mr. LaBar has been attempting to correct an illegal hook up to a property he has acquired. He has presented to the Board and conferred with District staff on multiple occasions to resolve this matter and has sought out water to deed to the District to obtain a legal hook up to the District’s water system. He has been declined an easement by Storyteller Canyon (Sundance Resort) to connect through their property. In his research to find a remedy for his situation, he found Utah Title 73: (73-1-6) regarding eminent domain and he wanted to bring this information before the Board. He is asking what the District’s policy is on matters regarding eminent domain within the District.
Nathan Bracken explained that the District is currently working on updating its policies but there is not a policy regarding this specific issue. He explained this title is used to service multiple customers, not a single customer. In Mr. LaBar’s case the lateral line would need to cross private land (Sundance Resort) to connect a single private property to the District’s system. Nathan referred to case statues (see attachment highlighted in yellow).
Nathan discussed the costs for litigation and related costs for an easement. Since this is a private matter for one individual and not the District as a whole or even a large group of the District it wouldn’t be appropriate for the District to incur this cost. Nathan advised that this shouldn’t be the Districts responsibility in this situation, and he recommends only using this authority (73-1-6) if it benefits the larger water system rather than one property, particularly when there is a dispute between one property owner with another.
Mr. LaBar expressed his frustration with the back and forth between Sundance Resort and the District he has experienced regarding this matter and his conversations with Chad Linebaugh. Chad Linebaugh stated he met with Mr. LaBar as the General Manager of Sundance and not as a North Fork Board Member to discuss this matter. Mr. LaBar asked for a final decision on this issue so he can move forward and connect to the water in an amicable way. Stephen Miche explained that the main meter is on the Sundance Resort property which would require an easement from the Sundance Resort, the meter is approximately 20 feet from the LaBar property. Since everything from the meter to the private residence is on Sundance property and it would be Mr. LaBar’s responsibility to maintain the lateral, an easement is required. An agreement between Mr. LaBar and Sundance Resort must take place before a connection can be made. Nathan Bracken explained to Mr. LaBar that as a private individual he may seek litigation under title 73-1-6, but it would not involve the District.
Stewart Olsen stated historically the District has never had to use Title 73, this has never been an action that needed to take place in the past. He stated that this title should not be used unless it is for the benefit of the District as a whole. Mr. LaBar asked that a policy be created by the District regarding these issues, even though the practice of the District has not been to use the eminent domain.
Duaine Dorton motion that The District make a preliminary policy that is consistent with its past practice, that it will not use Utah Title 73: (73-1-6) on anything involving a lateral. The District would only use this authority as associated with the main line and components of its water distribution that services the whole system and not a specific customer. Nathan Bracken is instructed to address this in the rules of the District. Gary Liddiard seconded, all aye and no opposed. Motion passed.
Informational Items
#3 Financial Information
– Joseph Martin-Controller (Joe) reported in the 2020 financial audit performed by Squire (the District’s external auditors) they found a Risk Assessment required by the State Auditor’s was not completed by the District. The assessment has now been completed and was done in anticipation of policies that were being developed. Joe asked if the questions on the assessment will be addressed in the upcoming District policies being prepared. Nathan stated this will be addressed in the purchasing policies that are being developed.
Joe went over the assessment questions (see attachment titled Fraud Risk Assessment). Nathan suggested the District maintain membership with the USAD and complete their annual training and/or conferences. Joe stated that a District our size has “a lot of eyes” on everything which helps us to be lower risk based on the amount of people viewing the records/financials. Joe feels the District is in good shape regarding fraud risk.
Joe reviewed the financial statements and budget. The financial statements for June 2021 were sent out prior to the meeting, Joe expressed that anyone with questions can reach out to him.
#1 Fire/EMS Report
– Chief Marsella sent out the fire reports prior to tonight’s meeting. A correction needs to be made on May’s data as there were no transports which caused a glitch in the software. Chief Marsella reported the data as relayed to him from our third-party collection service, Gold Cross. This will be corrected before next month’s meeting after Gold Cross resolve this error in their reporting.
- June and July have been busy. There is a large fire forecast in Utah for August, the District is not in this forecast. The drought index shows we are still in a drought, and this will be the trend over the next month. The State has moved to a stage 2 fire restriction, notices have been placed around the District and on social media. This means no open fires at all including charcoal BBQ’s.
- Non-emergency numbers for the Sheriff’s office as well as the Utah County and Salt Lake Highway patrol were included in his reports. Please call these numbers if cars are blocking roadways.
- There was a structure fire last week in the area of South Fork that our team responded to, the cause of the fire is currently under investigation. Most of the structure was saved by our team.
- The Wildland Crews have been on fires in Montana, Idaho, California, Nevada, and Utah. The water tender arrived back in town tonight. The other crew is in California on the Dixie Fire, they are in good spirits and doing well.
- Ambulance rates increased by the State. Milage went up 5% and procedures went up depending on the procedure approximately 2.5% which means we can increase the fees for these services.
- We have received a wildland reimbursement grant for radios and PPE for just under $10,000 dollars.
- We have been short staffed due to the wildland fire deployments and health issues. This will be addressed with some hiring in the Fall and recruitment of interns.
- Rocky Mountain Power sent a notice today that there will be power outages due to wildfire prevention through October if the wind picks up and humidity is low enough. There is a link to sign up for notifications on their website.
- The 1999 wildland engine has had mechanical issues, a discussion of selling, keeping, etc. needs to be had. Chief Marsella will be considering this issue with Chief Hart.
#2 District Clerk Information
– Emily Johnson-District Clerk presented. Check registers were emailed to the Board prior to this meeting. She asked if there were any questions regarding purchases made in July, there were no questions. There have been several transfers of property over the past months by property owners within the District. Please notify the Clerk of sales/purchases so the transfer can be done properly.
#4 Water/Wastewater Report
– Aubree Lincoln-Public Works presented. Graphs and reports were distributed to the Board prior to the meeting. The unaccounted water dropped 5.6% due to some fixes made by the water department last month. The remaining unaccounted water is in the upper pressure zone, there has been no success in tracking this leak down. 63.78 ac-ft has been used out of the water storage.
Water Department Information for July
- Our water consumption has increased overall for this same time last year by 1,393,925 gallons, or 4.3 ac-ft.
- Deer Creek capacity is 62%, down from last month.
- Jordanelle capacity is 61%, down from last month.
- Aspen Grove wet-well levels peaked around 8.2 feet in middle of June but have dropped to an average of 6 feet for July. Still keeping up with demands, just not recharging as quickly as it used to. There is no excess water leaving our wet-wells.
- Stewart Spring was averaging 38 gpm going into the tank in June, is now averaging 25 gpm, so a decrease as well.
- The water leak fixes we made in June addressed the unaccounted water on the Lower and Stewart Pressure zones. For the month of July, we had no unaccounted water in both Lower Pressure and Stewart Zone as a follow up to those fixes.
- Unaccounted water in the Upper Pressure Zone – Still trying to track this down. This is where most of our unaccounted water is.
Wastewater Department Information for July
- Lab results indicated there were three violations for July, one for BOD and two for TSS. Not sure why July 29th, 2021, were so high. When we poured our composite sample – there was an obvious higher thickness to the sewer sample than usual but other than that there was no noticeable difference from previous samples.
Sundance is being proactive on resolving these violations as they have been notified as soon as the labs are received by the District. The status of the EQ Basin Project is the final electronics are scheduled to arrive on August 18th, integration of the equipment should take place on August 23rd at which time we can start utilizing the system. Stewart Olsen stated there is a contract between the State of Utah and the District that the Plant will be operated as specified, and Sundance Resort has a contract with the District to deliver effluent that meets these requirements. We are moving on target on this project, all due haste must be used to complete this project. We are cooperatively and vigorously addressing this matter.
Stephen Miche reported $12,000 was authorized by the Board for the well designed, those funds are coming from the Stewart Cascade redevelopment project budget that was scheduled for this year. Stephen stated the residual amount set aside for the Stewart Cascade development is planned to be used towards the District staff conducting work internally beginning the first week of October 2021. This will include the install of cleanouts and adding laterals to the system.
Stephen reports he has been working on construction standards. We have been operating off “best practices” in the past. He has been working with TO Engineering on developing construction standards regarding assets of the District such as new tanks, water line, etc. He is hoping by next month they will have produced standards to be approved by the Board.
Stephen has been working to find a resolution for the District’s internet and connecting District asset to the internet such as water pumps (they must be manually turned on at this time).
There has been fire and EMS training due to the staff shortage in the fire department. Stephen and Chief Marsella have been working together to develop a training program for staff and addressing concerns of water staff responding to calls.
Stewart Olsen thanked the staff for their work and services provided.
At 8:58 p.m. Scott Hart motioned to close the August 2021 Monthly Meeting of the Board, Duaine Dorton seconded, all aye, no opposed. Meeting ended at 8:58 p.m.
- Minutes noted and recorded by Emily Johnson-District Clerk.
- All materials presented in the meeting will be posted as an attachment to the meeting minutes at NFSSD.org and on the Utah Public Notice Website which can be accessed through NFSSD.org.
Agenda Board Meeting 8-12-2021
Agenda-Item-Form-LaBar_2021-08-12
7-2021 Monthly Water Report for Board
2021-06 NFSSD Financial Statements
NFSSD – ADOPTED Proposed Rules of Governance and Order and Procedure (8-12-2021) 4826-1767-7558 v.1