Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District
Meeting of Board of Trustees
Minutes of April 17th, 2023
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 P.M. by Sarah Gassaway, Chair. In attendance: Ivo Ballentine, Vice-chair; Gordon Maybury, Secretary; Brian Goldstein, Executive Director; Jackie Bryson, MSD Representative; Joe Martin, Previous Executive Director.
Approval of the Agenda
Agenda approved by consensus.
Approval of Minutes
Motion by Gassaway to approve March 2023 minutes Maybury seconded, motion carried unanimously.
MSD Report
Ms. Bryson reported: The proposed tour of MSD will have to wait till some of the work is completed at MSD due to safety. MSD West View Development is being worked on currently. Water lines were put in about 2 years ago. Right away policy is being updated, no major changes.
Public Comment
Richard from Citizens for Responsible Land Use stated that they lost their appeal regarding the Robinhood project. The project was conditionally approved based on the plans submitted and the developers would have to connect back to the main line. Easements are the responsibility of the developers. Councilman McAllister asked about process for approval by the district. The District conditionally approves a development for water. The District does not approve the project as a whole, just the water. The District does not take into account if its short term or long term rentals.
District Reports
Financial reports were discussed. Due to supply chain issues we are now receiving supplies ordered nine months ago, supplies were mentioned as rising by close to double the year before. Went through bank statements, our reserve accounts are seeing interest rising. We will be looking for investment opportunities in the new FY. Activity reports were discussed. Disconnect for non-payment have been reduced. AVL water usage has increased.
Director’s Report
1. Pre-Construction meeting for the Rydele Heights Development with Engineer, Developer, Contractor, and Field Supervisor. This was approved in 2021 but is moving forward now.
2. Took Trustee Maybury on a tour of the water treatment plant.
3. Partial refurbishment of the filter tanks at the treatment plant will begin on May 8th, and be completed within two weeks.
4. Continuing to replace broken (dead) meters in field. This should increase revenue for the district.
5. 6” PRV discussed at previous board meeting has been fixed/refurbished. Cost to Refurbish was under $3,000, cost to replace would have been $11,000.
6. Met with salesperson of a possible replacement of cellular meter company. Biggest advantage is it has a 20 year warrantee due to it being powered primarily with solar power, with a battery backup. Still looking at other options.
7. While working on FY 2024 Budget, we noticed that the Old Home Road main replacement project that was budgeted and completed at the end of the previous FY, was mistakenly expensed in the current FY. This will require a budget amendment for the current FY to account for this. Will be presented at the next board meeting.
Old Business
No old business.
New Business
Budget Resolution 2023-02 FY24 Budget Proposal
FY2024 Budget was presented to the Board of Trustees. Executive Summary of the budget was read to the Board. No changes were requested by Trustees at this time. The District will focus on 2” pipe replacement due to cost of larger pipe for Capital Projects.
Call of Board Members
Trustee Maybury had a couple comments regarding the AVL Watchdog article. After speaking to the Woodfin Fire Dept Chief, a pumper truck is always brought to a fire based on ISO certification which is also a way for home insurance rates to stay low. Many of the quotes were taken out of context. Trustee Maybury is doing some investigation into having the Water District join a Trade Organization. He feels we should belong to the NC Water Quality Association based on what he has researched at this point. He will bring more information to the board at the May meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 2:31 PM.