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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 01/18/1991Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 3:00 p.m. - 4:10 p.m. Light and Power Conference Room 700 Wood Street Members Present Henry Caulfield, President, Neil Grigg, Vice President, Tom Moore, Mark Casey, Tim Dow, Terry Podmore, Tom Brown, MaryLou Smith, Tom Sanders, Dave Stewart, (alt.) Staff Mike Smith, Dennis Bode, Ben Alexander, Andy Pineda, Molly Nortier Guests John Bigham, Agency Coordinator, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District Dorothy Huff, Observer, Larimer County League of Women Voters Members Absent Ray Herrmann, Paul Clopper President Henry Caulfield opened the meeting. The following items were discussed: Minutes The minutes of December 21, 1990 were approved as distributed. Update: Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District John Bigham distributed the "Waternews" publication from the District as well as the most recent snow --precipitation update. He said that the upper Colorado River is 76% of average and the South Platte River Basin is 67% of average. Carter Reservoir is a little over 73,000 AF and is about 68% full. A year ago at this time, it was only 56% filled. Horsetooth is a little over 100,000 AF and is about 67.4 % full which compares to 55 % last year. Granby, the largest storage facility, is a little over 171,000, which makes it 36.8%; last year at this time it was just 22 %. Mr. Bigham went on to say that there has been a gain in the actual storage, and that is primarily due to the District Board setting a 50% quota; plus there was significant rainfall in June. "It is going to take several good precipitation years to get the storage back up to where we would like to have it," he concluded. Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 2 He also reported that it may be another 30 days until the draft of the regional study is completed, and submitted to the District Board of Directors for review and acceptance. Following that, it will be made public. Mr. Caulfield wanted a clarification of the term "acceptance" of the report. "That doesn't mean accepting the recommendations, does it? Won't it be distributed for comment before any Board consideration of the recommendations?" he asked. "That's right," Mr. Bigham replied. "The study is only in the first phase," he added. Mr. Bigham announced that the Poudre Study has been completed and the reports have been printed. He anticipates that a report will be mailed to the Water and Wastewater Utility. Staff Reports Status of Water Items on City Council Agenda Mr. Caulfield asked for a status report on the water items that appeared on the City Council agenda at Tuesday's Council meeting. Mike Smith reported that the Council passed, on second reading, the changes in the water Plant Investment Fees (PIFs). They passed, on first reading, the changes in the Wastewater PIFs. In addition, the adjustment in the Cash -in -Lieu -of water rights was passed on first reading. Also, the Utility requested money to be appropriated to replace the Lincoln Street sewer which was leaking last year. Mr. Smith was asked if there was any significant opposition to any of the items. He said that Ed Stoner, of Fort Collins, Inc. talked briefly about reducing the impact of the PIFs on the development community. As a response, the City Council asked that the Wastewater Master Plan Committee look into the possibility of the City carrying some of the PIFs over time; in other words, financing some of it for payment in smaller increments. Both the Wastewater Committee and the Demand Management Committee will be meeting again. The DMC has a number of items on their agenda, while the Wastewater Committee will discuss primarily the financing or phasing in of the PIFs. Dave Stewart asked if staff will be soliciting input from the economic development community on that. "I expect we will," Mr. Smith replied. A great deal of information already has been shared with those groups, he said. Mr. Smith was also asked what the Council's basic reaction was to the increases. He said that they passed the increases 7-0 because they recognize that this is something that must be done. Mark Casey was also at the meeting, and agreed with Mr. Smith's assessment. He thought the Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 3 thrust of Ed Stoner's comments were related to how the City can package fees for marketing purposes, which he thinks makes good sense. Dave Stewart pointed out that prospective companies won't only look at Fort Collins fees, they will be comparing ours with other front range cities, but theirs obviously are packaged differently. When comparing the fees themselves, ours are higher, so we should be able to package ours the same way other cities do. Mike Smith explained that some of the other cities haven't reached the point where they are going to expand their facilities without the use of grant funds, which Fort Collins is now doing. Furthermore, some cities fund in other ways; for example, by mill levy taxes, or some even take the interest expense from the bonds they borrow and let the ratepayers pay it. In other words, they allow the developers to pay the principal and everybody pays the interest, and the interest has a significant impact. Mr. Smith pointed out that because of all the high water demands that are being projected by cities, there probably will be more requests than there is money available for the low interest loans from the revolving loan fund from the Colorado Water Resources and Power Development Authority. "With the financial market getting much tighter on lending," Mark Casey asked, "not just to private developers, but also to municipalities, will there be any impact on the amount we can borrow?" Mr. Smith replied that it might. "We are probably a year away from the bond market on that and it could really be tight a year from now," he said. "However, interest rates are going down," Mr. Casey pointed out. Neil Grigg asked how the effective interest rate is calculated. "When the Authority issues the bonds, they actually look at the average rate over the whole term of the issue, Mike Smith explained. "Then they subtract from that the part the Program picks up." The average rate is about 4.65, Mr. Smith continued. There are some restrictions about how long you can use those funds. Dr. Grigg asked what would keep you from investing that in current CDs and treasury bills at 7%. There is a limit on the length of time you can do that, Mr. Smith replied. Are there any restrictions on cities with regard to the amount of money they have, Mr. Caulfield asked. It's based more on physical need than financial need, but now it is primarily first come, first served, he responded. Security Measures for the City's Water Supply Mr. Caulfield was told that the Utility had instituted some security measures regarding our water supply. Apparently that information was part of an article in the newspaper on preparations for acts of terrorism. He said that he had a discussion with Mike Smith on this matter and he was Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 4 told that indeed measures have been taken to ensure the security of our drinking water. Dr. Grigg remarked that this is a problem for all public water supplies, but particularly in Europe at this time. Treated Water Production Summary Dennis Bode pointed out that the table the Board members received completes the year 1990. The total treated water use was 28,508 AF, and that was about 97% of what had been projected. The precipitation for the year was slightly above average; 17.27 inches compared to the average of 14.47. Most of that came in March when record snowfall occurred. It was close to an average year for the Utility, he concluded. Mr. Caulfield indicated that the total use for the year was less than last year;1989 was 29,302 and 1990 was 28,508 AF. Mr. Caulfield asked if the District's 50% quota impacted the City in any way in 1990. "It caused a few anxious moments at times," Mr. Bode replied. It took a little more management in terms of some of the exchanges the City does with North Poudre and simply dealing with people who requested rental water, he said. When it turned cooler in July and August, things turned around from that point, he continued. However, if the weather had remained hot through July and August, it would have become tight, he concluded. Mr. Caulfield remarked that although it is too early to say what the District's supply will be for the next water year, with the way things look now, there could be another 50% quota. Mr. Bode observed that if this basin is lower than it was last year, it could intensify the situation somewhat. There will be more demand and the City will be unable to meet the requests for rental water that it did last year. He related that last year the runoff in the Poudre Basin was close to average. Update on Halligan Reservoir Dennis Bode reported that staff has been talking again with North Poudre about the proposed agreement on Halligan Reservoir. One of the things North Poudre wants to do at their annual meeting is discuss the agreement with their stockholders and get their approval to negotiate with the City on an agreement. It would be an agreement to "tie things up" so that the City could proceed with additional studies, design work, and financial analyses, and try to reach a comfort level of what kinds of arrangements the City can negotiate in terms of ownership, operation and maintenance. He went on to say that North Poudre is looking primarily to gain several benefits from the project that they focus on: 1) They recognize that down the road there will be additional work on Halligan Reservoir. 2) They want to maintain their storage decrees that are associated with the existing reservoir. 3) They anticipate being able to reduce some of their debt on some of the Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 5 work they have done on the North Poudre system. On the other hand, the City's benefit comes from having another reservoir in which to store water. There is a conditional decree of approximately 33,000 AF. Basically, that would be the City's share of storage. Mike Smith added that once North Poudre submits a concrete proposal that the City can look at, the Water Board will be able to review the proposal and the issues related to it; perhaps within the next couple of months. Mr. Caulfield asked if the Judsons still have an agreement for recreational use of the lake. Mr. Judson holds an optional agreement with the City that states that he or his successors can allow the City the option to acquire the additional land that the reservoir would inundate from him or his property owners at the site, if the City chooses to do so at a later date, Mr. Smith responded. In exchange for that, they would be able to obtain the recreational rights on the reservoir. Is that something North Poudre is free to handle? Mr. Caulfield asked. North Poudre has consented that in any agreement, the City would be in control of the recreational rights, Mr. Smith replied. That is a reason that it is preferable for the reservoir to be public, because it would provide recreation for the area. He stressed that the City may never want to exercise the options with the Judsons. "We may want to purchase the property instead, because it may be more beneficial to have it an open public area than allow it to become a private facility and get property in exchange for that,"he said. He also clarified that the Judsons do not have a firm interest in anything that relates to Halligan. It is basically under the City's control. However, we could get them involved by exercising the option, he concluded. Tom Moore remarked that it certainly holds the possibility of becoming a great project for the City if we can make it happen. Mr. Smith stated that this is the only existing reservoir site where there is the potential to accomplish something without a great deal of conflict. It is an existing reservoir and the Nature Conservancy that owns the land below is very supportive of the project. In addition, the environmental impact will be minimal compared to other sites. Mr. Smith acknowledged that there are other reservoir sites, e.g. Glade, Grey Mountain, etc. but they could be quite controversial. He emphasized that Halligan "isn't a sure thing," even with all of its advantages. Mr. Caulfield pointed out that we would have to increase the capacity of the reservoir. Mr. Smith explained that the most recent study showed that we would build a whole new dam just below the old one. It would be about a 40,000 AF reservoir. Approximately 33,000 AF would be the City's storage and North Poudre would retain their original 6400 AF. The arrangement Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 6 being explored specifies that the City would own the reservoir and the City would guarantee North Poudre their original storage right. In a related topic, Tom Moore asked if Greeley has talked to Fort Collins about joining them in enlarging Seaman Reservoir. Mr. Smith said there have been rumors about that, but they haven't directly talked to Fort Collins. Mountain View Sanitation District Dissolution Mike Smith announced that the Mountain View Sanitation District and its Board of Directors ceased to exist on January 1, 1991. According to a memo by Webb Jones, the District was created 20 years ago to fund the installation of a sewer collection system for approximately 450 homes outside the City limits, northwest of Fort Collins. The bonds were paid off in 1990, fulfilling the purpose of the District. A special election and a hearing before a district court judge were held as required by state law for the dissolution of special districts. The Water and Wastewater Utility has been responsible for maintaining the sewer collection system funded by the District, and for sending out the monthly bills to Mountain View customers. The District Board of Directors was responsible for collecting the monthly payments. With the recent dissolution of the District, the City Revenue Division will begin collecting monthly bills. Mountain View customers will receive bills with reduced monthly sewer charges now that the District has been dissolved. Mike Smith said that the Laporte Sanitation District hasn't proceeded as fast as Mountain View, nor is their system in as good a condition. Henry Caulfield asked what that means as a matter of policy for us. Do we assess them an extra charge to bring them to the proper standards? When Laporte dissolves and becomes the City's customers, we want to assess some kind of surcharge, but we need to determine how much it will cost to bring them up to standards, because there is a substantial amount of infiltration, Mr. Smith explained. Laporte's attorney has been informed about the possible surcharge. Initially the District thought they did not want to go out of business. When they learned that the City could install a master meter and send them the bill, they changed their minds, Mr. Smith said. There is an agreement with them that they will dissolve when the time comes. "We hope to hear from them soon," he concluded. Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 7 Mike Smith also related that Cherry Hills Sanitation District continues to function, but their situation is different. They maintain their own system, and pay the City wholesale freight. They have not indicated that they want to go out of business at this time. Committee Reports Water Suooly The Chairman of the Water Supply Committee, Neil Grigg, said the group had not met, but he wanted to use the Committee's time slot to raise an issue. Dr. Grigg reminded the Board that a few years ago, the Chamber of Commerce formed a water committee which he now chairs, whose main objective is to study the relationship between economic development and water supplies in this region. The Chamber also has an environmental committee to look at other types of water issues. Last year, the water bank concept was discussed at several meetings, including two regional meetings. The Chamber's committee agreed to suspend committee meetings until after the Northern District's Regional Study had been completed, because the was looking at many arras that the committee needed to know about. The District seems to be within 30 days of releasing the study, and Dr. Grigg thinks it is important that the Water Board hear about the report. He plans to schedule Carl Dreher from the District for a presentation at the Chamber as soon as possible. He invited members of the Board to attend the presentation. "We could have a general discussion of where we are going regionally with water," he said "and how it relates to economic development." There will be some obvious linkage to things like basin of origin issues, he continued, and the Legislative and Finance Committee may want to look into some of the legislative issues relating to water. As soon as the District says it is ready to make the presentation, Dr. Grigg will issue the invitation to the Water Board. He acknowledged that the Water Board may want to have its own briefing, and that is an option. Mr. Caulfield suggested that the Water Board think about it in this way: The Chamber meeting can be a briefing about the report, but if the Board wants to pursue any issues about the report they can discuss them at one of their meetings. One issue that the Water Board will probably want to discuss, is if the District plans to do some treated water or raw water wholesaling. Mike Smith explained that there are actually three studies going on at one time: 1) The Regional Study which includes part of the Denver Metro area; 2) A sub -study of the regional report about regional water treatment, which is almost finished, and; 3) Another sub -study that was done for the City of Fort Collins to identify some improvements at the Water Treatment Plant for water Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 8 quality purposes, and that study is completed. Mr. Smith stressed that the Water Board will be reviewing the regional water treatment study, and identifying the options for future treatment. That ties in somewhat with the larger regional study, he said. Dave Stewart asked if the Board could obtain a draft to review and offer comments on. Mr. Smith will check with District on the status of the report. Mr. Caulfield pointed out that one of the options in the report is that the District might have a treatment plant to serve the newer small towns going east from Boulder, and that it might be better to consolidate than have a proliferation of treatment plants. The City of Fort Collins, of course, has separate plans for ELCO and North Weld, etc. John Bigham made it clear that the District is not anxious to get into the water treatment business. That was not the District's intention, he stressed. The District was merely responding to a possible future need, he added. Mr. Smith indicated that one of the lower cost options for future treatment is for the City and local water Districts to get together and expand the District's treatment plant because it is sized such that a rather large addition can be done at fairly low cost. The issue became, were the three districts that own that plant interested in inviting the City to become a partner in that expansion? If politically that can't happen, then obviously that is not an option, he said. The consultant doing the study is close to resolving that issue, Mr. Smith related, and the study will be released soon. Mr. Caulfield pointed out that the situation has changed since the Northern Treatment study was begun. Fort Collins is now required to install meters in all single family residences and duplexes. In addition, the City and Fort Collins -Loveland Water District have negotiated an agreement for the District to buy treated water from Fort Collins, so we may be able to delay expansion. Mr. Smith agreed that the City probably won't need additional capacity until the end of the decade, after the next set of modifications is commpleted in 1991 and '92. That is the case even with serving water to the District. If we were not providing water for them, we probably could last until 2007 or 2008, of course depending on the growth rate, he said. MaryLou Smith asked if the larger regional report deals with raw water wholesaling. Mr. Bigham explained that there would be a concerted effort to combine the collection and distribution of raw water or treated water. "However, if you distribute raw water, everyone needs their own treatment plants, but if you distribute treated water, they may or may not need a plant or an expansion of an existing plant," he said. 0 Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 9 Dr. Grigg has asked Mr. Dreher of the District about all the institutional aspects of the study. "Are you going to look at all the various options of what could be done in the region for things like that?" he asked Mr. Bigham. Mr. Bigham responded that they were going to look at that with a separate consultant. Mr. Caulfield asked what is new on the Samson study. Mr. Bigham replied that he thinks the model is running. Now they need some funding to verify the data, he said. Dr. Grigg reported that there is another interesting thing going on that relates to the South Platte Management, which might get the Samson model on board a little later. The Colorado Water Resources Research Institute funded a project in Boulder to develop an advance decision support system for the upper South Platte. Six water user organizations have signed on as participants: Denver, Aurora, Englewood, Centennial Water and Sanitation District, Consolidated Ditches and Thornton. They are working with the researchers to "get into the state engineer's data base and get it cleaned up so they can manipulate it and figure out answers to various questions," he explained. They are planning to move downstream below Denver as a next phase and try to apply that same technology to the lower South Platte. They haven't arrived there yet, but if they do, then the logical thing for them to do is get in touch with the study group here to see if the Samson model can't be used as a simulation to show what is going on in the river and plug into the State Engineer's data base. It looks promising, he said. Dr. Grigg said that there is also another dimension which plugs somewhat into the District's regional study. One of the consultants for the regional study, CDM, is also doing some work for the metro plant. There are nitrates issues and stream standards issues that need a lot of attention, so they are interested in pursuing some water quality modeling. "Hopefully, we will be able to look at all that at the same time at some future date," he concluded. Dr. Grigg also reported on another water supply/water treatment issue. The Denver reuse plant is going out of business. CSU, CU and the School of Mines are trying to get it resurrected as a research center. Recently the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute selected that center to be put forward to the National Science Foundation as a State of Colorado Research Center on Advanced Water Treatment. AWWA is also supporting the idea. "If that goes through, it will be a valuable thing to have in Colorado," he said enthusiastically. There was further discussion about other projects in this country and around the world concerning reuse, de-salinization, electro-dialysis, etc. Water Board Minutes January 18, 1991 Page 10 Legislative/Finance Committee Chairman Tim Dow said that with the Legislature being in session, the Committee will be meeting before the next Water Board meeting. Staff included in the Water Board packets, a summary of water related bills being considered in the Legislature. Neil Grigg had attended the Water Congress meeting that morning and said that there he heard about at least 30 water related bills in the Legislature this session. Some of the people at the meeting made comments about the bills they are going to be involved with. The Statutory Water Committee bill and the Conservation bill were mentioned. Tom Norton said he will be pushing the Water Quality Classification bill and a bill for fees on storm water. Conservation and Public Education Chairperson MaryLou Smith said that the Demand Management Committee will be meeting before the next Water Board meeting, so there probably will be a report in February. Since there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:10 p.m. Water Board Secretary g H k a ME City of Fort Collins DATE: Utili ervices cc: Council Stormwater December 24, 1990 MEMORANDUM TO: Storm Drainage Board Members ���vv%// - FROM: Greg Hurst, Chairman Storm Drainage Board'{1Yf RE: January 9th Meeting Cancellation U Please be advised I am cancelling the regularly scheduled January 9th meeting of the Storm Drainage Board and rescheduling it on January 16th, due to a request from staff of an item needing additional time for further consideration. The January 16th meeting will be held at the usual time and location. I hope your holidays are joyous ones! Thank you. cc: City Clerk Rich Shannon Steve Burkett Gerry Horak 235 Mathews • P.O. Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522-0580 • (303) 221-6589