Highlights from the February IVCSD meeting
In a meeting, which rarely sees any animosity or feistiness these days, the Indian Valley Community Services meeting Feb. 12 proved to have a bit more bite to it.
Since January, meetings have been held around the conference table of the small CSD office, as few members of the public have shown up to the meetings in recent months. But this month proved to be almost standing-room-only.
Public comment started with community member Sharon Strecker asking general manager Chris Gallagher when the report on “the dam (Round Valley dam) emergency response plan” would be ready and when the whistle would be replaced on the fire station. “Still working on it,” he replied to both questions.
The minutes from January and December could not be passed without clarification of a couple lines of verbiage to include that the board wants to review grant applications ahead of board meetings. All approved the minutes with the amendment except director Bob Heard.
The Indian Valley Fire Department now has volunteer Lucas Griese reporting on fire department activity. He provided a map and a brief overview in the agenda packet of incident breakdowns.
From Oct. 31 to present there were three patients flown out for care. The majority of calls to the fire department were medical calls (87 percent), not fire (13 percent). He also reported on meeting attendance of volunteers, which showed huge participation toward the end of the month. Griese explained that the meetings consisted of training.
Board director Lee Ann Schramel offered that the report should indicate specific training — especially any specialized training.
The most contentious discussion came with the general manager’s proposal of having the company Eco Green Solutions work with the district to replace light fixtures in buildings owned by the district with the hopes to lower PGE bill for the district. The proposal would bring a no-interest loan with payback of $141.16 a month to the district in exchange for the energy upgrades (LEDs, etc.).
The board discussed the issue at length — chiefly around the proposal being a breach in policy because it would mean not getting bids from other companies for the same project.
“We jump around. We don’t know what we own. I don’t want to spend money. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m in a bad mood,” said director Mina Admire.
Admire continued to voice frustration with the office not having an inventory of what the district owns and what each property needs before going after loans for more work.
“I’m not going to discuss this anymore,” Admire said.
Director Bob Orange brought up the dire need for upgrades. The Taylorsville fire station building, he said, has aging wiring and flickering lights inside.
Several directors brought up the known issue of “opening a can of worms” with old buildings in the area, where one issue can be exacerbated and therefore made more expensive by unseen issues lurking underneath, (wiring, mold, etc.). The proposal was not approved and directors indicated they’d like to see other bids.
Potential water contamination
Don Silva gave a presentation on Cross Connections to highlight the possible contamination of drinking water in Indian Valley by customers with both city water and wells on their properties that are inadvertently or intentionally feeding into the system.
Silva noted that he thought there were about 40 places in the district where irrigation or wells might be contaminating water. Silva is hoping customers will be willing to be surveyed on this matter and directors expressed interest in getting customers on board with the project mandated on both the federal and state levels. There is no mandate deadline for the project.
The general manager said that the district is getting prepared for an ISO (Insurance Service Office) rating. The rating determines property insurance by examining distances from fire stations, working fire hydrants and available water supply.
New billing system
The general manager also offered a brief report highlighting work in January. Chiefly, the new CUSI billing system that has been set up with a payment portal for customers, which will roll out in February. Customers should also be seeing a decrease of $3 on their bills.
Pumps at the lift station near Highway 89 and Humphrey Circle are being replaced and Gallagher reported maintenance personnel spending many hours on that specific job.
He also reported that the Water Board has “asked for additional work and testing to be done at our ponds.”
Earlier in the meeting, he let the board know that the IVCSD crew is shorthanded — which resulted in both overtime for existing crew and projects not quite finished yet. Director Bob Heard voiced concern that pipes at 712 Main St. needed to be completed.
Gallagher reminded the board of the office’s continued work on finalizing the application for an additional tank at the water plant, work with the Dam Emergency Response Plan, and outfitting maintenance trucks with tools and duplication.
Conflict over easement
Though resident Tamara Talent came to the meeting too late for the initial public comment, board director Wayne Dannemiller gave her the opportunity to speak at the end of the regular session before the closed session.
She spoke at length regarding the easement (road) through her property that the IVCSD uses to access the sewage ponds. She voiced concern over the possibility of commercial waste being dumped in the ponds post Walker Fire. As she had previously sent a letter, which was now with attorneys for the district, none of the board members commented on her issue.
