Annual Meeting Minutes Presented

Vista del Rey Mutual Domestic Water Consumers’ Association

6 p.m., Jan. 21, 2020

As the meeting Jan. 21, 2020, was the annual membership meeting, in which a potluck meal was served, those attending first ate, and the business meeting convened later. Attending the meeting were association President Wade Cornelius; Board Member Patrick Stafford and his wife, Deborah; Secretary Beth Morgan; Marty Howell, engineer, Souder, Miller, and Associates; members Andrea Cecur and Randell Mellor; members Terry and Susan Holder; and member Claire Baumgartner.

The president convened the meeting at 6:37 p.m. The sign-in book was still being passed around, so there was some hesitation between introductions to allow the noise to die down. Cornelius introduced himself, then asked the Souder-Miller representative to introduce himself. He noted that he is Marty Howell of the engineering firm. Claire Baumgartner and Deb Stafford were next. Then, Martha Trego introduced herself. Terry Holder and his wife, Suzi, said that they have not completed their move, as they still have a ranch in Pecos, Texas. Andrea Cecur noted she and Randell Mellor live across from the Holders, and Patrick Stafford, a board member, was last to introduce himself.

The president asked about minutes from the previous meeting next. Morgan stated that she had failed to bring a copy and could not respond to questions about them, so the approval of minutes was tabled until a future meeting.

Stafford presented the treasurer’s report, as David Lucero was not present. He said we had begun 2019 with $3,604.20 in the bank. During the year, we collected $15,150 in water payments, plus a transfer fee of $25 for total income of $15,175. Expenses included: Dropbox rental, $199; road maintenance, approximately $599; state taxes, $203; road maintenance, $599; attorney fees, $751; insurance, $1,818; utilities, $3,401; and well maintenance, $9,974. The bulk of the well maintenance costs was incurred when we lost a leg of our three-phase electrical system. This brought total expenses for the year to $16,045. Thus, Stafford said, we made negative income of $869.92. That left us with cash on hand of $2,734.28. Cornelius noted that it seems we have to pay for a major well repair every year, although Stafford said it is probably more like every other year. Cornelius reassured newcomers that, while our well has required some major repairs in recent years, the association had used grant money for an assessment of our system, for which improvements are now being designed. And we are pursuing additional funding to build the proposed improvements. When the president called for questions, Claire Baumgartner asked what Dropbox is and why we are renting it. Cornelius noted that Dropbox is an online service where we store important documents, and to which all board members have access. This, he said, is safer than storing our records in a box at someone’s home, where a fire could wipe them out all at once. Documents are viewable there, but they cannot be altered.

She also wanted to know who is conducting the road maintenance. Randy Mellor stated that he had been doing it, when the soil is moist enough. The president added that we had been paying $400 or so to have a professional come and grade it several times a year. It was determined we would cut back on that, as it was beyond our means, so we invited an association member to provide this service for a small remuneration. (While this sum may be used to pay one’s water bill, the individual providing the service must present an invoice and receive payment via check or cash. No one is allowed to use these earnings as credit toward one’s water bill.) We still may have the road grader driver come out a couple of times a year.

Next, Ms. Baumgartner asked what the $9,000 for well maintenance went for. Stafford noted that as El Paso Electric was working on our electric lines, the amperage was fluctuating enough to drop one leg of our three-phase system, which resulted in burning up our well’s pump motor. EPE did not take responsibility for causing the motor to burn up, but they did replace all their transformers so that we were able to get water flowing again relatively quickly. To her question about a warranty on the motor, if we had one, it seems it had expired. Water Operator Henry Torres has said in the past that motor warranties may be as short as six months. Stafford noted the worst occasion for the association regarding being without water was two weeks (Morgan said 11 days), when the well caved in at the bottom and had to be re-cased.

The last two times we had to pull the pump and motor out cost much less than previously. Stafford said that in the past, the association has paid about $3,000, but recently, we paid around $1,200. He added that, while our needs for well repairs has been frustrating, he remembered only one time that we were asked for a special assessment for repairs. He said we probably owe our water operator what we have as a cash balance ($2,734) or possibly double that. Lucero has complained that we are not paying Torres on a timely basis, but Stafford noted that it has sometimes been years before Torres would turn in an invoice, which the president has told Lucero more than once. Stafford noted that he has been a great water system operator, but tends to be slow in the bookkeeping department. The president noted that Torres has turned in invoices through September. Cornelius has paid him $500 since then, but we had other significant bills to pay at that time. For that reason, the president was waiting to make another payment on what we owe him, which is $2,400 after the $500. He said that he would make an additional payment immediately.

As he is local, and he knows what he’s doing, the president said, we want to keep Torres happy. Morgan stated that, as our system is a mutual domestic, we have to have a certified water operator to care for it. We recently had a leak near the well house and Torres had been working on that at midnight. Lucero was able to find a part the following morning, so we made that repair within 24 hours. Torres would normally be giving his report next, Cornelius said, but the president forwent that, as he had mentioned the repair Torres had been working on so diligently. Stafford had noted that he had bought a metal storage cabinet as the state Environment Department wanted us to get spare parts and extraneous items out of the well house. Stafford installed it and moved equipment that had been stored in the well house into it. The Environment Department had required us to do several things: fencing the well house, ensure that no one could get into the water tank, and periodic testing. The individual who came out (Ernest Valenzuela) has since retired. The president thanked Stafford for purchasing and installing the new storage unit.

He then moved on to the Open Meetings Act resolution. Morgan said she had failed to bring it along. They moved on to a discussion about passing a resolution for applying for Colonias Infrastructure Board funds. Marty Howell of Souder Miller and Associates, which has been responsible for conducting our preliminary engineering review, and the second phase of work—design, said that the design had been submitted to the Environment Department’s Construction Industries Bureau representative, Stephen Deal, for review. Deal had him remove all references to the EPA, a funding source being used by another water system whose name begins with a “V.” They also responded to his other concerns and have sent him back a letter, of which Howell provided us a copy, noting the company’s responses to his concerns. Howell also stated that Deal had begun with his company many years back, and indicated that Deal was well suited to his job of protecting the public. He said the company is awaiting his response, and that, as the president had submitted a check to the county for a permit, the project can proceed.

As soon as Deal signs off on SMA’s fixes, “Your design is done,” Howell said. The next step is obtaining funding to build it. As Lower Rio Grande already has the funds to build the interconnection between our system and High Valley Farms, they can proceed with that when Deal gives them a green light. Howell noted that for the remainder, there are two viable sources of funding: capital outlay and a combination grant/loan from the Colonias Infrastructure Fund. State senators and representatives can use this money in their districts to accomplish projects that are meritorious. They weigh the merit of the project against how many votes are coming out of the district to determine which projects get the money, Howell said. This year, you apply online. As we are a Tier II company (making less than $50,000/year) we are not required to execute a five-year plan, and therefore, have not yet appeared in this online system.

The Colonias Infrastructure Funds are 80 percent grant, 10 percent loan, and 10 percent match, Howell said. Unfortunately, this year, we cannot use money spent on previous work as a match. The engineer said it may be possible to roll the match amount into the loan portion. Realistically, he said, the cost of our project will be near three quarters of a million dollars. We do not, he said, have to ask for it all at once; in fact, it seems unlikely that we would get that much at one time, especially from capital outlay funds. However, if the association seeks funding from both sources, and was to receive some from capital outlay and some from the Colonias funds, we might have the option of accepting only approximately half from Colonias, thus lowering the amount of the loan the association would need to repay. He suggested that we ask for the entire amount from the Colonias fund. However, he had provided us with three iterations of a resolution to apply for the Colonias money: one for the booster station funds only, one for the water lines funds only, and one for both. Howell presented a proposed budget for the project, as well, and invited questions about it. The engineer noted that Souder Miller has staff in Santa Fe, so it could prepare documents to be signed by Gallegos to allow us to make a bid for capital outlay funds.

Howell noted the deadline to get registered to apply for capital outlay funds is Feb. 2, and the deadline for the Colonias Infrastructure Fund grant/loan is Feb 13. The board had the three potential resolutions to look at, as well as the proposed budget which Howell admitted he had done in a hurry.

Baumgartner asked how long the work is warrantied. The engineer noted that that is not the most appropriate term to use, but he said that “the contractor is on the hook to make sure that the system works the way it was originally designed, for a year after construction,” and different parts have different warranties, based the equipment’s anticipated life span—in some cases, as long as five years. Baumgartner wanted to know if the parts’ warranties would be made known to us. Souder-Miller will monitor the contractors’ work during construction, must do an inspection on the completion of the work, and then again, 11 moths after completion. If anything is wrong at that time, Howell said, the contractor will have to fix it before the end of the twelfth month.

The engineer noted that the capital outlay funds were not available a couple of years ago. There was money in the fund last year, and it should remain fairly flush. These funds come from oil and gas income in the state, so those funds should be available in the future. If we could get capital outlay funds a second year, that would be ideal, because there would be nothing to pay back. He said we would need to base whether we put all our eggs in that basket on input from Ms. Gallegos, the House representative for this district. However, if we all vote for her opponent, we might need to consider a different course, he said.

Rob [Campion] had offered to have a fundraiser/meet-and-greet with Ms. Gallegos at his house, where those of us who wished to contribute to the representative’s re-election campaign could do so, while also explaining why we were seeking capital outlay funds to rebuild our water system. Campion was ill the day that was supposed to happen. The president said he was not certain how Campion would handle contacting Gallegos about the association’s concerns now, but that it might be just a phone call. He asked when Morgan thought we needed to have a special meeting to sign the resolution for applying for funding—suggesting that it might be necessary to do so within a week to meet the deadline for applying for the capital outlay funding. The Colonias funding application is not due until the 13th. Howell said he would find out if a resolution was necessary for the capital outlay funds. Morgan had not brought the necessary resolutions because she picked up the wrong stack of papers.

The next subject was the signing of water association membership certificates by the treasurer and the president, the seal affixed, and copies made so that we can distribute them to new members Holder and Hatley. The president signed these while we waited, and Morgan vowed to contact Lucero to see when he might be able to sign them.

As no one brought up any old business, the president suggested that we adjourn at 7:33 p.m. However, when Morgan asked who had made the motion, he stated that Stafford had made the motion. Morgan stated that, as two board members were absent, it was up to her to second it. She did so, and the motion was accepted.

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