Minutes of the Special Meeting July 8, 2015

Vista del Rey Mutual Domestic Water Consumers’ Association

6 p.m., July 8, 2015

Lord’s Ranch, Vado, NM

President Wade Cornelius opened the meeting at 6: 12 p.m. Attending in addition to Cornelius were Ernest Valenzuela, Karl Pennock, David Lucero, Rob Campion, Patrick Stafford, Mark Sechrist, and Beth Morgan, with Geoff Hathorn, Rebecca Flores, and Mary Lucero joining those assembled after the meeting was under way. The meeting began with the introduction of guests Ernest Valenzuela, compliance officer for NM Environment Department, Drinking Water Bureau, and Karl Pennock, Drinking Water Bureau, NMED.

Minutes from the May 27 special meeting were summarized. Patrick Stafford made a motion to approve them, which was seconded by Rob Campion. The motion passed unanimously.

David Lucero reported that the work the board had asked he and son James to do at the well: fabricating a cover for the wellhead, closing off access to the tank’s ladder, and a cover for the overflow pipe, was almost complete. He noted that he had materials in his truck for completing the job.

Upon the President’s query, Morgan reported that the treasurer’s final balance as of May 31 was $8,225.16.

The board then moved to the Well Manager’s report, in which Rob Campion noted he had not met with Henry Torres as planned at the previous meeting, but he will remedy that. He said improvements to the well had been made, and as a leak had been discovered at the well over the previous weekend, it was quickly repaired and back on-line in a matter of minutes rather than hours. Campion noted that working on the well has been aided in that we have a supply of spare parts on hand. Patrick Stafford noted member Bob Melvin recommended getting a couple of pressure switch control and added that a gauge needs replacement. He said pipes on the other side of the check valve should be monitored, because electrolysis is in play where brass meets steel. Stafford and Campion have keys to the well house, and there is one for member Glenn Merrill, as well.

Lucero reported that his son had built the frame for the wellhead cover and was to put the skin on the frame of the well cover by the next day. Valenzuela noted this is required as part of the Sanitary Survey. The ladder access cover work is also planned for the near future when Lucero is able to help with that work.

Stafford reported he and Grover Heard had inventoried materials on hand for the fence around the well house and learned that about half a dozen posts are still needed. Postholes have been dug. Brackets for barbed wire on the second gate may have to be built. Lucero also noted that where he had stopped drilling postholes, the posthole will have to be shallower than the typical 3-3 ½ feet to avoid puncturing the main water line. He recommended digging it by hand and probably only 2 feet deep, as Bob Melvin told him the line was only 3 feet down.

Morgan presented the treasurer’s report for June. Morgan also presented the June figures, noting that we started with the $8,225.16 the treasurer had recorded at the end of May. We took in $1,210 and had expenses of $454.27. As of June 30, our balance was $8,980.89. It was noted that the expenses are largely the electric bill.

Stafford reported that he and Cornelius had met and filed our annual report with the Secretary of State, so we are back in good standing. However, while he had sent the letter for the change of agent and payment some months ago, that is not yet reflected on the Secretary of State’s website.

Valenzuela brought some printed information on steps toward selecting compliance options for well’s higher than allowable “gross alpha,” or radionuclides. The uranium in our water has gone done some (from 30 to 28 mcl), but the gross alpha (other radionuclides), the limit is 15 mcl, and ours is at 16 mcl. Valenzuela has taken quarterly samples and has averaged that, and noted that they radionuclides are fluctuating on the high side. He brought information from the Environmental Protection Agency on treatment options, one of which is drilling a new well that doesn’t have the uranium and radionuclides, or treatment at the well. Another possibility Stafford has suggested is that we could recommend that each household install a reverse-osmosis system for drinking water. Valenzuela noted that this would require 100 percent participation. Quarterly sampling would still be required, at each household, and because we don’t have 20 users, the state will not pay for the sampling. The water operator would have to be trained to do that sampling, and would have to be a level II or higher. Additionally, we pay for the majority of the sampling required, which Karl said for uranium would cost $30 to $50 per sample.

Valenzuela is aware that we are pursuing a grant for a Preliminary Engineering Review and suggested that we seek additional funding for a hydrology report. He also noted that the gross alpha could potentially go down. Lucero noted that he thought it possible that having our well cleaned out in November might have stirred up sediments underground, resulting in these high readings, and that with time, they might go back down. He later also stated that High Valley Farms had had a similar problem, which resolved with time. Stafford noted our well operator had put him in touch with someone who is researching ion exchange, which could be another solution. Lucero also reported on a clay filter that Robert Marquez, an NMSU chemist has developed for use in third-world countries, is another potential fix, and that he has one at his home. Pennock expressed an interest in this.

Valenzuela noted that he will continue monitoring quarterly, at least for the next year. He said that we need to write an action plan to keep from getting an administrative order regarding the high radinuclides. However, he noted the time frame for correcting the issue is years, not days. Stafford said that our well operator has been posting the results of his sampling on a website dealing with drinking water, so that we can find out easily what’s in it. Valenzuela further warned us that he will be moving to a new building later this month, which could complicate communications for awhile. Valenzuela and Pennock then left the meeting.

The next item up for discussion was the proposed hiring of Henry Torres as a well operator. As Campion stated earlier, he had not met with Torres but he vowed to take care of it. Cornelius noted that there were concerns that our current well operator, Raymond Morales, had been charging us for shipping other water systems’ samples as well as ours, and had not been adding bleach to the water when asked. Morales also has not been consistently giving us monthly reports, although we got one recently, which does not provide much information. Additionally Campion noted that Torres had indicated there were things that weren’t being done. Even though we are not charged on the basis of how much each household uses, Torres noted that meters should be checked by the well operator to determine whether there are any leaks in the system. A final decision on hiring Torres, who is local to the neighborhood, will be made after Campion meets with him and we have reviewed Henry’s proposal.

Morgan and Cornelius reported on the work of the Bylaws Committee, which has made revisions to Articles I-VI, with work progressing, and a possibility of completion by August. A discussion ensued regarding why the convenants for the Vista del Rey Estates allow us to subdivide our 5-6 acre lots once, but the owner of the second lot (should we sell it) cannot connect to our water system. Reportedly, member Bob Melvin, whose former company once owned the subdivision, does not believe that there is enough water in the aquifer to supply water to double the lots now in existence. Lucero noted that in a conversation with Melvin, Bob had admitted to allowing the lawyers to create the covenants and signed off on them without reading them. Morgan noted that if the owner of the subdivided lot drilled a well, the water still comes from the same aquifer, so the point is moot. Patrick indicated that he had found and posted statistics on how much water we used in the last six months. (According to his post, it was 2, 758,900 gallons in six months, or 28,760/month per household, or 958 gallons per day.) Convenants are actually a separate issue from the water association; however, Morgan noted that we can create a homeowners association to deal with those issues, if we choose.

One item proposed that is related to the bylaws was that we shorten the name of the Association by two words, which Morgan requested we change in anticipation of the acceptance of Bylaws, Articles of Incorporation, and Rules and Regulations revisions. The reason for this was that we need to purchase a seal and to finish the membership certificates she designed recently, and the name needs to be shorter to fit on the seal. Her motion was to remove the words “The” and “Estates” and to begin using Vista del Rey Mutual Domestic Water Consumers’ Association, in anticipation of changing the Bylaws and other documents, in order to move forward with the seals, the logo, the website, and the membership certificates. It was seconded by Rob Campion and passed unanimously. However, since it will take quite some time to complete the revision of Bylaws, Rules and Regs, and the Articles of Incorporation, it was noted we should proceed with our grant application using the documents we already have. The radionuclides issue has impressed us with the need for proceeding with the grant application with all possible haste.

We began discussion of the website created by member Mary Lucero. Cornelius wanted to know if we had a link to our Facebook page included, and Campion noted that he could not open the website on his phone. Mary Lucero joined us toward the end of the meeting and reported that we do have a link to our Facebook page. There is a blog where meeting minutes can be uploaded, and a calendar, where events, such as meetings can be posted. The website has the 40-year-plan, the Articles, the Rules and Regulations. We were not sure if the Bylaws were included. There is a newsletter function, which some of us had seen. We will be making it public, so that we can use it.

Follow-up on the draft budget, which had been mentioned earlier, was simply to announce that the NMFA had okayed the documents that Jana Melvin has submitted, and therefore, that piece of the grant application is ready.

We briefly discussed the bonding of association money handlers, but noted that we should take care of it by the time we submit our grant application. Morgan made a motion to table the matter until such time as it is required. Stafford seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

The master calendar was on the agenda, but was covered under the discussion about the website.

Ken Henrie was on the agenda to report on the Colonias Infrastructure Board meeting he had attended in Socorro. He did not attend the meeting, so the report was not available.

The next meeting was set for 6 p.m. August 19, at the Lord’s Ranch. The July 8 meeting was adjourned by Cornelius at 7:55 p.m.