Minutes of Regular Meeting of Southern Black Hills Water System Board
Crazy Horse Monument
Thursday, October 26, 2023
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Crazy Horse Monument on Thursday, October 26, 2023. Chairman Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Board Members present were Wick, Baird, Krump, Nase, Seaboldt, and Zolnowsky; Beard, Kraus, and Smith were absent. Others in attendance were Don Peterson.
AGENDA – Motion by Krump, 2nd by Seaboldt to approve the agenda. Motion passed unanimously.
MINUTES - Motion by Seaboldt, 2nd by Nase to approve the minutes of the August 24 meeting with a spelling correction. Motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT –
Don Peterson presented the treasurer’s report for September 2023. The report was reviewed by the board members. Motion by Seaboldt, 2nd by Baird to approve the treasurer’s report and transfer $15,000 from the regular checking account into the RD account. Motion passed unanimously. The check sequence ending September 30 was check #4306 and beginning October 1 was check #4307.
OLD BUSINESS –
Managers’ Report
Negotiations on settlement of the lawsuit with the Town of Hermosa have expanded to include the possibility of SBHWS providing water service to the town. Our legal counsel has drafted an offer based on discussions with the board on acceptable terms for this service. Board review of the draft exposed the need to clarify a couple of terms of the offer.
Discussion at the annual members’ meeting showed that the policy under Resolution 2019-01 relating to lapsed membership can be an unfortunate surprise when the affected property in transferred without sufficient notice to the buying party. One suggested solution is a letter to the Black Hills realtor association advising advising them to have prospective clients buying properties with putative SBHWS service to check explicitly with SBHWS on what is necessary to obtain water service. Another suggestion was to post a sign at the meter post of affected properties advising to contact SBHWS for details on the requirements for obtaining water service.
Prior customer comments about the developer policy led to a discussion on amending that policy to address shortcomings and perceived inequities. Proposed changes are to require a two-year warranty on service lines installed by the developer, to eliminate the developer installation of meters so that lot buyers can connect to the service main where most appropriate for the chosen home site, and then to require connecting customers to pay the same costs as now specified for prior existing service mains.
The Town of Hermosa provided Don Peterson documentation on the clearance between the crossing of SBHWS’s water line from Paramount Point to the SD Hwy 79 Right-of-way and the Town’s sewer line connecting from the area of the Dollar General store to the Petersen development; this documentation was collected during the installation of the sewer line. The SBHWS engineer observed that the physical separation appeared sufficient but the sewer line pressure test was to the wrong standard. The separation issue will be deferred to the DANR review; SBHWS notified the Town that we will not pursue this issue further.
Forms for the customer notification system are being processed for input into the IRIS system; 178 forms have been entered. A second round of requests for contact information is planned for the November billing statement.
Based on customer requests, management is investigating the feasibility of payment via credit card.
NEW BUSINESS -
Motion by Baird, 2nd by Seaboldt to move into Executive Session; motion passed unanimously.
Motion by Baird, 2nd by Seaboldt to move out of Executive Session; motion passed unanimously. There were no motions arising from executive session.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS - None
UPCOMING MEETINGS -
The South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems 2024 Leadership Seminar will be held November 8-9 in Pierre; Zolnowsky has registered to attend.
The next meeting of the Southern Black Hills System Board will be November 30, 1:00 PM at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer.
ADJOURNMENT - Motion by Seaboldt to adjourn the meeting, 2nd by Baird. Motion passed unanimously.
Crazy Horse Monument
Thursday, October 26, 2023
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Southern Black Hills Water System was held at the Crazy Horse Monument on Thursday, October 26, 2023. Chairman Wick called the meeting to order at approximately 1:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL – Board Members present were Wick, Baird, Krump, Nase, Seaboldt, and Zolnowsky; Beard, Kraus, and Smith were absent. Others in attendance were Don Peterson.
AGENDA – Motion by Krump, 2nd by Seaboldt to approve the agenda. Motion passed unanimously.
MINUTES - Motion by Seaboldt, 2nd by Nase to approve the minutes of the August 24 meeting with a spelling correction. Motion passed unanimously.
TREASURER’S REPORT –
Don Peterson presented the treasurer’s report for September 2023. The report was reviewed by the board members. Motion by Seaboldt, 2nd by Baird to approve the treasurer’s report and transfer $15,000 from the regular checking account into the RD account. Motion passed unanimously. The check sequence ending September 30 was check #4306 and beginning October 1 was check #4307.
OLD BUSINESS –
Managers’ Report
Negotiations on settlement of the lawsuit with the Town of Hermosa have expanded to include the possibility of SBHWS providing water service to the town. Our legal counsel has drafted an offer based on discussions with the board on acceptable terms for this service. Board review of the draft exposed the need to clarify a couple of terms of the offer.
Discussion at the annual members’ meeting showed that the policy under Resolution 2019-01 relating to lapsed membership can be an unfortunate surprise when the affected property in transferred without sufficient notice to the buying party. One suggested solution is a letter to the Black Hills realtor association advising advising them to have prospective clients buying properties with putative SBHWS service to check explicitly with SBHWS on what is necessary to obtain water service. Another suggestion was to post a sign at the meter post of affected properties advising to contact SBHWS for details on the requirements for obtaining water service.
Prior customer comments about the developer policy led to a discussion on amending that policy to address shortcomings and perceived inequities. Proposed changes are to require a two-year warranty on service lines installed by the developer, to eliminate the developer installation of meters so that lot buyers can connect to the service main where most appropriate for the chosen home site, and then to require connecting customers to pay the same costs as now specified for prior existing service mains.
The Town of Hermosa provided Don Peterson documentation on the clearance between the crossing of SBHWS’s water line from Paramount Point to the SD Hwy 79 Right-of-way and the Town’s sewer line connecting from the area of the Dollar General store to the Petersen development; this documentation was collected during the installation of the sewer line. The SBHWS engineer observed that the physical separation appeared sufficient but the sewer line pressure test was to the wrong standard. The separation issue will be deferred to the DANR review; SBHWS notified the Town that we will not pursue this issue further.
Forms for the customer notification system are being processed for input into the IRIS system; 178 forms have been entered. A second round of requests for contact information is planned for the November billing statement.
Based on customer requests, management is investigating the feasibility of payment via credit card.
NEW BUSINESS -
Motion by Baird, 2nd by Seaboldt to move into Executive Session; motion passed unanimously.
Motion by Baird, 2nd by Seaboldt to move out of Executive Session; motion passed unanimously. There were no motions arising from executive session.
PUBLIC QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS - None
UPCOMING MEETINGS -
The South Dakota Association of Rural Water Systems 2024 Leadership Seminar will be held November 8-9 in Pierre; Zolnowsky has registered to attend.
The next meeting of the Southern Black Hills System Board will be November 30, 1:00 PM at the Crazy Horse Monument in Custer.
ADJOURNMENT - Motion by Seaboldt to adjourn the meeting, 2nd by Baird. Motion passed unanimously.
