Minutes of Regular Meeting of Southern Black Hills Water System Board
Crazy Horse Monument
Monday, October 21, 2024
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Crazy Horse Monument on Monday, October 21, 2024.
Chairman Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Board Members present were Wick, Baird, Krump, Nase, Smith, and Zolnowsky; Beard was absent. Others in attendance were manager Don Peterson, counsel Talbot Wieczorek, and members/observers Kim and Michael Rutherford, Kyle Tompkins, Lynn Fillinger, Doug Musser, Sharon Dickson, Craig LaFollette, and Van Capansky.
AGENDA – Motion by Baird, 2nd by Smith to approve the agenda; motion passed unanimously.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS - Eight individuals representing seven customer accounts were present for comments. In order to make the public comment portion of the meeting more effective, the secretary will record specific questions and comments and the Board response will be provided at the next monthly meeting. One member offered to bring in his list of comments/questions between meetings.
MINUTES - Motion by Krump , 2nd by Baird to approve the minutes of the September 26, 2024 meeting. Motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT – Don Peterson presented the treasurer’s report for September 2024. The report was reviewed by the board members. Motion by Smith, 2nd by Nase to approve the treasurer’s report and transfer $15,000 from the regular checking into the RD account. Motion passed unanimously. The check sequence ending September 30 was check #4522 and beginning October 1 was check #4523.
OLD BUSINESS –
Managers’ Report
The September water sales report was distributed.
An ongoing meter audit is being started in Phase 1 and 2 areas, to be conducted as weather permits. This will require taking a physical reading at the meter and verifying the results match the remote report.
The manager distributed excerpts of water membership and usage rates from reports from AE2S, a water and wastewater engineering and consulting firm. AE2S collects reports provided by water and wastewater systems throughout the northern plains states. It was noted that almost all of these systems are larger, some significantly larger, than SBHWS. Other disparities in rates may stem from either the wastewater districts having the power to collect tax revenues or the choice by systems to service debt via surcharges not reflected in water rates.
A trial use of the IRIS notification system was conducted earlier in October. Issues uncovered included some email marked as SPAM, phone messages from a remote area code (to be addressed by using the SBHWS number as the caller), and text messages from an unrecognized number (to be addressed by posting on the website the number to be used for text messages).
Management has filed application to Custer County for the renewal of the tax exemption status for SBHWS properties.
Western Dakota Regional Water System has asked for another meeting with SBHWS to discuss the location of a tie-in point between WDRWS and SBHWS, as well as routing of SBHWS line expansions to provide water to municipalities in the SBHWS service area.
Ballots have been prepared for the election of Board directors who are member customers of SBHWS; there are three candidates for two open seats. Each member will have two votes, each of which can be voted in favor of any of the three candidates or abstain. Those holding proxies of members will have two votes for each proxy held; proxies must be turned in before votes are cast.
NEW BUSINESS -
A final draft of the process to be followed in handling applications to SBHWS for future developments into the system was distributed to board members. Motion by Krump, 2nd by Nase to implement this process, motion carried unanimously. The policy committee will draft revisions of PB 200 and 305 coordinated with the adopted process.
An Intercreditor Agreement between US Rural Development and the SD Department of Agriculture and Natural Resource for the handling of default on loans from the two agencies by SBHWS was presented to the Board. Motion by Baird, 2nd by Krump to authorize the chair to sign acknowledging receipt of notice of the agreement.
EXECUTIVE SESSION -
Motion by Baird, 2nd by Smith to enter into Executive Session at 1:32; motion passed unanimously.
Motion by Smith, 2nd by Nase to move out of Executive Session at 2:08; motion passed unanimously.
There were two motions arising out of Executive Session. Motion by Krump, 2nd by Nase to reject the sole offer on the Paramount Point / Springs Creek Acres Project C for elevated storage on the overall project; motion carried unanimously. Motion by Baird, 2nd by Smith to relet the request for bids on Project C with the date of completion extended to July 2026 with the expectation of getting more competitive bids; motion carried unanimously.
UPCOMING MEETINGS -
The annual membership meeting is scheduled for October 24 at 6:30 PM at the Pringle Community Hall.
The next meeting of the Southern Black Hills System Board will be November 21, 2024 at 1:00 PM at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer.
ADJOURNMENT - Motion by Krump, 2nd by Smith to adjourn. There being no further business, the chair declared the meeting adjourned at 2:10.
