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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 04/26/2001FORMCOLLINS WATER BOARD AUTES April 26, 2001 3:05 - 4:32 p.m. City Council Liaison Chuck Wanner Staff Liaison DeEtta Carr - 221-6702 ROLL CALL Fort Collins Utilities Training Room 700 Wood Street Water Board Chairman Tom Sanders - 491-5448 Secretary Kim Vondy - 282-6900 Water Board Vice Chair John Morris - 491-0185 Members Present Tom Sanders, Chairman; John Morris, Vice Chairman; Ted Borstad, David Frick, Rami Naddy, Bill Fischer, Thomas Brown, Robert Ward, Paul Clopper Staff Marsha Hilmes-Robinson, Wendy Williams, Mike Smith, Dennis Summer, Bob Smith, Dennis Bode, DeEtta Carr City Attorneys John Duval, Carrie Daggett Guests Gene Schleiger MEETING OPENED Chairman Tom Sanders opened the meeting. The following items were discussed: MINUTES APPROVED Motion to approve minutes by Paul Clopper. Seconded by John Morris. Corrections on page 8 with spelling correction in last paragraph. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Nomination of Tom Sanders for Chairman made by Paul Clopper, motion seconded by David Frick. Mr. Frick made motion to close nomination, seconded by Mr. Clopper. Vote was unanimous. Motion to nominate John Morris as Vice Chairman made by Paul Clopper, seconded by Rami Naddy. Vote was unanimous. FORT COLLINS WATER BL.RD MINUTES _ PAGE 2 APRIL 26, 2001 NORTHERN COLORADO WATER CONSERVANCY Gene Schleiger discussed handouts and noted that snow pack numbers are up and reported on the most probable stream flow forecast. The long-range weather forecast predicts above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures through June. Horsetooth project seems to be on schedule and looking positive. Monitor station on inlet canal is up and running. West slope issues remain. Pipeline on Windy Gap has been tested, will be pumping water to check repairs. BOARD PROCEDURES ON VARIANCES City Attorney, John Duval noted City Code Section 10-38, where the provision notes that persons desiring to appeal a staff decision to the Water Board shall at the time of making such appeal pay to the Financial Officer a docket fee in the amount of $300.00. Mr. Duval stated that a better process would be to have to request for the waiver of the $300.00 fee considered first. The variance criteria that should be considered as noted in Section 10-39 include: showing of good and sufficient cause or a determination that failure to grant the variance would result in exceptional hardship to the applicant. The other thing, which has nothing to do with the payment of the fee, is: would it cause additional flooding and those types of issues. In addition, Mr. Duval noted that it would be these kinds of criteria that would need to be considered in order to waive the $300.00 fee. Then the applicant would have the opportunity, if the fee were waived, to file a variance application. To further clarify, Mr. Duval added that the Water Board could consider the waiver of the $300 fee prior to receiving the fee from the applicant, but not hear the appeal or the substance of the variance until the decision has been made on the request to waive the fee. If the decision were that the applicant has to pay the fee, then the applicant would have to pay the $300.00 prior to consideration of the variance. It was further noted that the fee waiver process could take a month. Mike Smith added that this is the procedure that will be used; and noted that he suspects that Mr. Baca might be back. Marsha Hilmes-Robinson commented that in most cases, staff spends approximately a full day preparing the packet with all the facts, figures and maps. Mike Smith reported to the Board that John Duval has taken a position with the City of Loveland and Carrie Daggett will be doing all the utility work after John leaves. STAFF REPORTS Treated Water Production Summary - Dennis Bode Dennis stated that the report was included in the packet. In March we used 95% of the projected water for an average year. Larimer County Ag Board Meeting - Dennis Bode Attended meeting in March, County Commissioners were in attendance. One of the items talked about was the proposal that the City and possibly others have some kind of preferred rental policy. Some of the background information presented to them stated that some of the farmers have sold off their water and the County has a program where they are trying to be friendly with FORT COLLINS WAT.BOARD MINUTES • PAGE 3 APRIL 26, 2001 the farmers and provide an incentive so that they will keep farming. One of the problems outlined was to give farmers priority with water rental when the City has surplus water. The primary purpose of the meeting was to meet the County Commissioners and to get some indication as to whether they wanted to pursue this further. The Commissioners recognized that there were quite a few questions about the details of the proposal. COMMITTEE REPORTS Legislative and Finance - Robert Ward Robert reported on the Larimer Well Water Issues group he attends regularly. The group is trying to figure out a way to set up a water bank. They are exploring how to go about gaining broader consensus, noting that it is going to be necessary to have the people who own the water rights support the creation of a water bank. Conservation and Public Education Meeting - David Lauer Meeting was postponed until Kevin Gertig continues to research other approaches to bottling drinking water. Water Conservation Annual Report - Wendy Williams Wendy referred Board to the handout included in their packet. Wendy mentioned demand management measures, that consist of two goals for lowering demand and twelve measures for achieving those goals. Highlights of these measures: 1. Leak Detection Program - Crews discovered 86 leaks while surveying 128 miles of water mains. 2. Audit of Indoor Water Use - Most of work done in 1995. 3. Water Metering Program - Major progress has been made installing meters on City facilities. The only City Department that is not fully metered is Parks and Recreation. By the end of 2002, all City facilities will be metered. City Park Pool will be brought on line by next year. The other piece is the use of raw water for irrigation, which they started charging back several years ago. In addition, they do a lot with public education, focusing largely on Xeriscaping, providing daily information during the watering season to the Coloradoan, sponsoring a Xeriscape garden, offering sprinkler system audits through the use of two interns, supporting CSU's Tree and Turf Water Usage research project, cosponsoring the Children's Water Festival, and Water School for seventh graders at Blevins Junior High. 4. Research City -owned Landscapes - Completed 79 last year as well as 24 irrigation plans. Looked at ways for Parks and Recreation to cut down on their irrigation. 5. Continue to offer a zero interest loan program. Most of the loans were associated with replacing water service line. Expect to see a lot more in the next couple of years now that we are installing water meters in the old part of town. 6. Continue to handle wasting water complaints, 48 in 2000. 7. Still have approximately 6,500 homes to meter as of the end of 2000. Expect to have this completed by July 2004. Wendy also noted the two Resolutions referred in the report. Have exceeded the long-term plans for 2010. Reduction is in excess of the projected amount for 2010. 2000 was a dry year and FORT COLLINS WATER Bk_ _ ,RD MINUTES APRIL 26, 2001 17T61WJ water use was high. The per capita annual consumption reduction percentage has also exceeded the projection for 2010. Engineering - Paul Clopper Not much to report. Mike Smith stated that the recommendation and staff letter and on fluoridation went to the City Manager and he'll be giving it to Council soon. Mike expects it to be addressed in the next couple of months. Liaison Issues Bill Fischer, David Frick, and Tom Sanders plan to attend the Tri-City meeting on May 23rd at the Sylvan Dale Ranch. Other Business 1. Greeley News - Tom Sanders reported that Greeley's payment in lieu of water rights is $10,000 and we are charging $4,500. Mike Smith stated that we have been criticized for being so much lower. Mike responded that he doesn't feel that we should be at $10,000, maybe we should be a little higher, but need to carefully consider. Do we want to base decision on consistency with neighboring communities, doesn't think we can justify it based on actual future cost of a diverse supply of water. Thomas Brown wanted to know based on the $4,500, how much water we are getting versus cash. David replied that we are getting mostly cash. Suggestion was made to put this on the next agenda and Dennis will do some research prior to the meeting. 2. David noted that we have approximately $7 million in the reserve fund for purchasing water. Mike noted that we haven't bought large amounts of water for some time. Tom Sanders feels that we should lean towards purchasing more water. Mike noted that Dennis has been working with people on using this money for gravel pits. Dennis noted that there is an estimated population of 121,000 in our service area. Dennis stated that our water rights are fairly good, but we should look at storage. Currently looking at Halligan as well as some gravel pits, but would like to talk more about this in a few months when we have some proposals. Dennis stated that Halligan alone will cost in excess of 7 million dollars. Mike stated that we need to commit to this project within a few years or get out of it. 3. Dennis responded to the question on how he would calculate charge to Anheuser Busch for additional water compared with the process used for cash in lieu rate for individual developers. Dennis stated that the major consideration for Anheuser Busch is that as long as they are doing land application, we need a source for reusable water and it takes a different kind of water to meet that need. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned by Chair Tom Sanders at 4:32 p.m.