July 13, 2015 District No. 2 Meeting Minutes

MINUTES Of the MEETING OF THE COMMISSIONERS Of the BUFFALO RAPIDS IRRIGATION DISTRICT NO. 2 Terry, Montana JULY 13, 2015 The Third Regular Meeting of the members of the Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District No. 2 at Terry, Prairie County, Montana, was held on the thirteenth day of July, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. There were present and participating at the meeting: Barry Rakes Lance Kalfell Scott Sackman Also present and participating were: Tim Kortum, Secretary; Pat Davis, Treasurer, and Raymond Strasheim. 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 & Resolutions from the June 10, 2015 Board Meeting were approved without corrections and, or additions, by Lance Kalfell seconded by Scott Sackman. All in Favor. Motion Carried FINANCIAL REPORT: Pat Davis presented current budget figures which included payroll and expenditures for July to all Board members for their review. A list of invoices to be paid was submitted and forms for the Prairie County Treasurer to transfer funds in the amount of $96,684.33, to cover payroll and invoices were signed. July 15th estimated payroll: $9,630.65; July estimated invoices $77,057.78; July 31st estimated payroll: $9,995.90. Investment transfer was also signed to invest the remaining monthly District No. 2 cash balances in the amount of $460,635.00 with Prairie County Pool. Forms were also signed to transfer $19,090.21from Equipment and Emergency Reserve account for the final John Deere Excavator payment. On a motion made by Scott Sackman and seconded by Lance Kalfell the treasurer’s report was approved. All in Favor. Motion Carried. Pat stated to all present that she had received a refund for the insurance claim submitted for the repair of the Fallon River motor, minus the deductible. She also informed the Board that Montana Public Employees Retirement System contribution rates for the employer would go up .1% for the employer every year until 2024. The 2014 audit report has been completed and submitted to all required entities. MANAGER’S REPORT: Mr. Tim Kortum notified the members of the District No. 2 Board that Dick Sheetz and associates, of the NRCS, will tour the Shirley pumping plant to view the VFD and Fish screens that have been installed. Tim Kortum spoke with the Board that they had met with Scott Aspenlieder, of Performance Engineering and Consulting, at the office and reviewed the Terry Discharge Line Rehab project. Tim also asked Scott to look into the proposed Regional Conservation Partnership Program that would be between the District and NRCS. Scott also indicated that they were completing the paperwork for the water conservation plan and the technology grant through the DNRC. Mr. Kortum informed the members of the Board that he will be traveling to Billings next week to meet with representatives at HD Waterworks to discuss and ensure that the plans for the materials and equipment needed to begin work on the Terry Discharge Line Rehab project this fall are being finalized as planned. Pat Davis, Ray Strasheim, and Tim Kortum will meet with attorney Gary Ryder at the Carr Law Firm in Miles City on the 16th of July to discuss the water rights of Buffalo Rapids Irrigation District No. 2, and how best to proceed with issue of acres outside of the District boundaries. Mr. Tim Kortum informed the Board that the Shirley Fish Screens were still running, but the pump for the sluice had to be sent in because of seizing up. Agri Industries notified Tim that the pump was destroyed. Tim has ordered a new pump from Rentzal Pumps and should be here this month. Agri Industries will complete the assembly when the new pump arrives. One of the screens at the pumping plant is running slightly off of true and has lost most of the buckets on one side. The repairs to the screen will have to be done after they are taken out for the season. The Board discussed at length the cost of the screens to date, and the upcoming expense to the District to continue to operate the fish screens. Tim reported that the Terry Pumping Plant has been shutting off on a regular basis again this year. Mangen Electric and Allen Gierke have worked at the plant to try and diagnose and repair the problem, and have found an issue that did make it possible for the pumps to be restarted. Two of the pumps continue to turn off intermittently. Tim will continue to look into what is causing the problems. He has been discussing the issues with various electricians, and informed the Board that they need to have an electrician make the needed updates and maintenance to the electrical properties of the pumping plant. The Board discussed the best course of action to alleviate the problems with maintenance in the future. Mr. Kortum stated that he had talked with Mr. Robert Dolatta about issues he has with delivering water through his pipeline. Tim and the Board agreed that the issues with Mr. Dolatta’s pipeline were due to the designs plans of NRCS and that any modifications to the pipeline will have to be brought up to the local NRCS office. Tim informed the Board that Bill Tusler has completed needed repairs on Mr. Jim Finneman’s pipeline in Shirley Division. Lance also informed the Board that Bill has dug out the drain at Mr. Certain’s land and he had looked at the work done to inform the land owner of the work done. New walkways have also been built to be installed for over the canal in the Shirley Division. The meeting was adjourned on a motion by Scott Sackman, seconded by Lance Kalfell. All in Favor. Motion Carried. ATTESTED: ________________________________ ____________________________________ Tm Kortum, Secretary Barry Rakes, President