LGPF Grant Closing Goal of June Meeting

Vista del Rey Mutual Domestic Water Consumers’ Association

Special Meeting of the Board of Directors, 6 p.m., June 19, 2018, The Lord's Ranch

The president opened this special meeting at 6:06 p.m. As those present knew each other, introductions were skipped. Those attending included President Wade Cornelius, Secretary Beth Morgan, Treasurer David Lucero, Mark Sechrist, Skip and Martha Trego, Randell Mellor, Grover Heard, and later, Claire Baumgartner. The president asked whether the secretary wanted to have minutes approved during the meeting or to wait until the July meeting. She opted to wait, so that board members would have more time to read the minutes from the April meeting, which had only recently been completed.

The water operator was not present, as he had just gotten off work. Since High Valley Farms began working on merging with Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority, Henry Torres was hired to work for LRGPWWA. Cornelius noted the water operator’s report could wait until July quarterly meeting. At that time, the president noted he was using the agenda from April’s meeting, not one for the current meeting. After some searching, he found the current agenda.

David Lucero presented the treasurer’s report. He stated that he did only an income and expense statement, as the association is currently carrying no debt. On January 1, 2018, the association had $5,983.19. Income since that time has been $7,125. During that time, he reported that the association had road maintenance costs of $71.50, utilities of $1,560.62, donated $250 for meeting space, paid $576.46 for well and pump house maintenance, contributed $50 in fees to the NM Secretary of State’s Office, and paid $78.60 in taxes to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department. We had total expenses of $2,337.18 since January 1, income of $4,787.82, and our total cash on hand is $10,771.01. He prepared copies for members who wanted them, and a ledger, as well. As there were no questions, he moved to approve the treasurer’s report. Morgan seconded it, and it was approved unanimously.

Following the discussion on the treasurer’s report, the meeting had progressed to the item for which the special meeting had been called: closing out the Local Government Planning Grant, for which Souder, Miller, and Associates (SMA) was hired to prepare a Preliminary Engineering Report. The president noted that this was a 100 percent grant for $50,000 and the resulting report has been posted on our website for those who wish to examine it. NMFA had sent a number of documents to be approved by resolution, passed in a roll–call vote, signed in various places, attested to by the secretary, and the seal affixed. The resolution is a legal document authorizing NMFA to release funds that it has been holding on behalf of the association, in order to pay SMA. Cornelius noted that SMA only invoiced us for something over $43,000. While VDRMDWCA was awarded up to $50,000, that the remainder would revert back to the Local Government Planning Fund has always been understood. Morgan noted that she has a circulating hard copy of the PER that people could borrow, as well as accessing the PER online, and she has a non-circulating copy for her records. The president also stated that Alfredo Holguin is expected to attend the board’s July meeting to answer any questions about the alternatives presented in the PER.

Randell Mellor asked when the next grant award was due. Morgan noted that it had come and gone and that VDRMDWCA had been awarded a 90 percent grant, 10 percent loan from the Colonias Infrastructure Fund for the design portion of our initial project. The loan portion is about $8,700, to be paid back over a period of 20 years. If one divides the loan portion by households and months in the year, it should come to about $2.50 per household per month. That does not include any loan portion of the third-phase construction funds, which may or may not come from the same source. At the end of the design phase, the association should have a shovel-ready project. This is a 0 percent-interest loan, only available to systems within 150 miles of the border, Morgan said.

The reason the board selected the option to replace lines, enhance the booster system, and interconnect with High Valley Farms is that this was the option identified by the engineer as the most appropriate to pursue. Souder, Miller and Associates’ Alfredo Holguin discussed that us with at a meeting in December. And, as we have recently cleaned and resleeved our well, it should be good for perhaps 10 years, Morgan speculated. She stated that a decision based on the engineer’s recommendations was made, so that the funding application could be submitted in time.

As the proposed option includes the design of an interconnection with the neighboring High Valley Farms waster association, which is in the process of merging with the Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority, members questioned whether HVF would pay for half the cost of interconnecting. Morgan could not answer that question, but, she said, it would be reasonable to request that if, for example, VDRMDWCA paid for the design, perhaps HVF or Lower Rio Grande could pay for the construction of the interconnection. While neither system may presently be capable of providing support to the other, the planned improvements to the High Valley Farms system would probably make it possible for them to supply us with emergency water, and it is anticipated that improvements to the VDRMDWCA system would make it possible for us to supply them. (As has been noted in the past, neither system could support the other indefinitely. The president pointed out that in an emergency situation, we might only be expected to open the valve to our neighbors at a certain time of day, for example.) The possibilities are something we may address in July.

Morgan noted that, in addition to simply make it possible to continue applying for grants from the Colonias Infrastructure Board, which looks favorably upon small rural systems that are willing to help one another in times of need, the board is also very much interested in seeing their grant and loan dollars go as far as possible. She said that a system applying for funding that has 50 users would generally be looked upon more favorably than one with 17 (like ours), although, they’d probably actually prefer the number of users to be much larger.

David Lucero then asked whether we needed to make a motion to release the funds to pay Souder, Miller, and Associates, for the completion of the Preliminary Engineering Report. Morgan said yes, noted that she had provided the closing documents to board members, that they comprised about 12 pages, so she did not plan to read them, but in essence they state (via resolution, roll-call vote) that we authorize NMFA to use our LGPF grant to pay Souder, Miller, and Associates the amount of $43,705.18. Lucero made a motion to release the funds, seconded by Morgan. Proxy votes were provided by Patrick Stafford and Rob Campion. Lucero questioned whether that was allowed. Morgan and Cornelius noted that as far as they could discern, it was allowed. However, with three board members present, that represents a quorum and we were able to vote. The vote was positive by all board members present. Morgan was organizing the documents to be signed and testing which seal worked prior to having the president sign and date all the relevant documents.

A long discussion on scheduling the next meeting ensued. While the documents were being signed, members chatted with each other regarding acronyms, and whether Morgan’s pen was working. As there were several documents to be signed, Morgan was shuffling through them trying to ensure that all were completed, the seal properly affixed, and the date indicated. The volume of the conversations grew to a point at which Morgan then asked if she could have some quiet while preparing the documents, adding that she could not hear herself think with four people talking at once. She noted that the roll-call vote had not taken place, so we would have to back up and do that again. She then asked Lucero how he voted, to which he responded “yes.” Morgan stated that she voted “yes,” and the President indicated that he voted in the affirmative. Campion was to call in but had not done so and could not be reached by phone. However, both Campion and Patrick Stafford had offered proxy votes via Facebook, in the event that they were needed, both affirmative, for closing out the grant and authorizing payment of Souder, Miller, and Associates.

At this point, Morgan reviewed which documents had been signed. She found two more that Cornelius and she needed to sign and which needed to have the seal affixed. Claire Baumgartner asked why it had taken so long to get the documents for closing out the grant. Morgan indicated that 1. We had started work on the project late, 2. The project was finished late, and 3. We had to wait until the NMFA attorney was available to draw up the papers. He was gone for a week or so in May, then, Morgan was gone for more than a week. The documents had been prepared as quickly as possible upon her return.

At this point, Morgan found an additional document needing to be signed. She had given Cornelius a fountain pen for signing, which he said wasn’t going to defeat him. David Lucero began a discussion about our neighbor to the north, who had planted pomegranates, fruit trees, llamas and alpacas, and goats. He said it’s all “off the grid.” He noted Dr. Ernesto Ponte was planning next to build a house for his daughter to live in. He had bought a kit to build a log cabin, but his contractor wasn’t licensed to build log cabins, so the kit is sitting there, just north of the Sechrist property.

Morgan and Cornelius noted that all the papers had been signed. No old business was to be discussed. What was next on the agenda was open forum. “Don’t say anything,” the president joked. Lucero said he would be quick: he wanted to find out about leasing water rights. He had heard from someone on the east side of the state that water rights or gas and oil rights not being used could be leased. He wanted the opinion of those present regarding going to the State Engineer’s Office to find out what water rights normally lease for. He also wanted to pick the brain of the Deputy Administrator of the Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works Authority, to which all replied favorably. Karl Pennock, who did the public education training session at the Lord’s Ranch recently, had told Lucero it was possible water rights could be leased, but he did not say under what conditions. Lucero was encouraged to pursue it. The meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m., upon a motion made by Lucero and seconded by Morgan.