April 14, 2014 District No. 2 Meeting Minutes

MINUTES Of the MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS Of the BUFFALO RAPIDS IRRIGATION DISTRICT NO. 2 Terry, Montana APRIL 14, 2014 The Twelfth Regular Meeting of the members of the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District No. 2 at Terry, Prairie County, Montana, was held on the fourteenth day of April, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. There were present and participating at the meeting: Barry Rakes Scott Sackman Lance Kalfell Also present and participating were: Raymond Strasheim, Secretary; Pat Davis, Treasurer. President Barry Rakes called the meeting to order, stating that all necessary and advisable business be conducted during this time and that notice had been received by each Board Member. Thereupon, President Barry Rakes announced that legal notice had been given and a quorum was present so that the meeting was legally and lawfully ready to transact business. The Minutes from the March 12, 2014 Board Meetings were approved without corrections and, or additions, by Scott Sackman seconded by Barry Rakes. All in Favor. Motion Carried FINANCIAL REPORT: Pat Davis presented current budget figures which included payroll and expenditures for April. A list of invoices to be paid was submitted and forms for the Prairie County Treasurer to transfer funds in the amount of $44,881.45, to cover payroll and invoices were signed. April 15th estimated payroll: $6,870.98; April estimated invoices: $26,862.48; April 30th estimated payroll: $11,147.99. Investment transfer was also signed to invest the remaining monthly District No. 2 cash balances in the amount of $461,967.00 with Prairie County Pool. On a motion made by Scott Sackman and seconded by Lance Kalfell the treasurer’s report was approved. All in Favor. Motion Carried. Pat informed the Board that the annual audit by Strom & Associates was completed the week of April 7th, 2014. Pat also had for the Board’s review an inventory of all assets. MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Strasheim has contacted Watertronics about purchasing a variable frequency drive for the Shirley Pumping Plant. They stated that they are not comfortable installing the drive due to the high voltage involved at the plant. Ray also spoke with Doug Mangen of Mangen Electric and he stated he would like to work on a proposal for the District for the purchase and installation of a variable frequency drive himself. Western Area Power Administration has begun excavation at the Shirley Pumping Plant to relocate the transformer, but the project will likely not be completed before the upcoming water season. Ray has spoken with George Jordan, USFWS, and Dick Scheetz, NRCS, and informed them that the District may not install the fish screens this year due to: no design plans to alleviate the problems with rocks interfering in the screens, no resolution for the increase of power for the District, and the extremely high water levels on the Yellowstone. Ray stated, and the Board agreed, that the District should conserve their resources until the problems plaguing the project can be resolved. Ray spoke to the Board concerning the issue of extending the syphon for lateral 10.6 at Terry to accommodate the new railroad siding. Ray has been in contact with Knife River Construction who will be the contractor for the syphon extension. He will meet with representatives from Knife River Construction this week to discuss the project further and hopefully have a cost estimate amount for the construction. Ray notified the members of the Board that Allen and Bruce have been working at Shirley cleaning out the discharge line to get ready to install the internal seals that have been purchased to alleviate leakage. Allen and Bruce will work at installing the pump that was taken out for repairs and maintenance at Terry this week. Everything has been bought for the bypass valve installation at the Fallon Re-lift Pumping Plant. Allen has installed new pressure gauges at all of the pumping plants and on some pipelines. Ben Benjamin and Bill Fleckenstein will return to work for the District to help burn ditches this spring. Ray is also looking into a price quote for a new pump at the Fallon River Pumping Plant. A new swing motor has been purchased and is being installed by Bill Tusler for the 120 Excavator. Extremely high water levels occurred at the Shirley Pumping Plant when the ice went out on the Yellowstone River, and Bill Tusler has to remove large amounts of ice from the road leading into the plant. Scott Aspenlieder of Performance Engineering is working on the Shirley Main Canal Lining Grant. Ray stated that Scott thought they could line about ¾ of a mile of canal by Linda Jenny’s farm. Pat is working on attaining letters of recommendation from local area businesses to support the project to include in the grant proposal. Pat informed the Board that they have renewed the 310 permit through the Custer County Conservation District for the Shirley Pumping Plant. Ray stated that he spoke with Mike Ames of Agri industries and he had faxed over invoices for pump repair done for the District. The prices that were on the invoices sent were not satisfactory per the agreement between the District and Agri Industries. The invoicing will be discussed further with Agri Industries and Ray Strasheim until they agree on the terms of pricing. The meeting was adjourned on a motion by Scott Sackman, seconded by Lance Kalfell. All in Favor. Motion Carried. ATTESTED: ________________________________ ____________________________________ Raymond Strasheim, Secretary Barry Rakes, President