Minutes of the
Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District
Board of Trustees meeting held
August 29, 2018 @ 6:pm at
931 Mitch Drive, Gardnerville, NV
Pledge of Allegiance: Led by Jeff James
Trustees Present: Jeff James, Dave James, Brad Newlon and Bob McDowell. Leann Teter was unable
to attend. Bob McDowell is acting Chairman.
Also Present: Greg Reed, Dawn Hinds, Mike Rowe, Michael Bennett and the public
Agenda:
Dave James motioned to approve the Agenda. Jeff James seconded the motion.
Four ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
Public Comment: (No Action) This portion of the meeting is open to the public to speak on any topic not on tonight’s agenda and must be limited to five minutes.
John Engels is not a resident of the Ranchos and wants to be more involved and stated that water is critical to Nevada and there is a huge demand for it. There is not enough water to accommodate everyone from over the hill and the topic regarding water is often neglected.
Old Business: None
New Business:
I For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action to enter into a contract
with Lumos and Associates to develop a Comprehensive Pavement Management
Plan. Board discussion followed by public comment. Possible action to enter into a
contract with Lumos and Associates to develop a Comprehensive Pavement
Management Plan not to exceed $59,000.00 Action Item.
This plan would give the District a quantitative analysis of the District’s road systems and develop a plan of maintenance and repair that is in keeping with that quantative analysis. The District does currently have a road maintenance program which uses a qualitative analysis of the streets within the District on a five-year rotating basis. Mike Bennett explained that a Pavement Management Plan is a tool for long
Term planning and budgeting to help managers make more consistent, cost effective, and defensible decisions about what work to do and when to do it. It helps decision making by providing information about inventory, condition and cost of various work options. District Staff would be trained through online inspector classes to be familiar with what the different distresses (cracks, potholes, etc.…) are in roadways. Street Saver is the platform that Lumos will be using. There is an annual licensing fee of $1,500.00 per agency and there will be a small increase in the retainer to cover design and evaluation of inspection results. The District has a Water Resource Master Plan, a Water Master plan and a Sewer Master Plan. The Pavement Maintenance Plan is a master plan for the streets.
Jeff James motioned to enter into a contract with Lumos and Associates to develop a
Comprehensive Pavement Management Plan at a cost not to exceed $59,000.00. Dave
James seconded the motion. Four ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: Jim McKalip of Lassen Way, stated he is very happy with the roads. He was curious if there were other bidders for this contract.
Ron Bush asked if there were going to be additional training costs for District employees and what is the inspection criteria. Mike stated it is visual observation where the methodology is called random sampling. There will inspection units per segment of road that are laid out in a random pattern. The inspector will identify areas of distress then measure and quantify the areas, and analyze them within the unit and come up with a rating for that segment.
Greg explained that Lumos is the District’s engineer and they provide professional services for the District and GRGID is not required to go out to bid for professional services. Furthermore, NRS 625, specifically states that the selection of an Engineer must be qualification based, not based on competitive fees.
II Board discussion and possible action to enter into a contract with Lumos and Associates to develop a special assessment process for future development projects. Board discussion followed by public comment. Possible action to enter into a contract with Lumos and Associates to develop a special assessment process for future development projects at a cost not to exceed $8,000.00. Action Item.
The Rancho Sierra Project which was denied by the County this summer will be back at some point along with other development. When development occurs, the District needs to be prepared and have a mechanism in place to determine costs of future infrastructure improvements. This is an opportunity for the District to be proactive in determining the proper assessment and allocations for the future (see attached Proposal for Engineering Services). The District will continue to charge water/sewer connection fees, but for all new parcels annexed into the District there will also be a special assessment for future growth.
Dave James motioned to authorize the District Manager to enter into a contract
with Lumos and Associates to develop a special assessment process for future
development projects at a cost not to exceed $8,000.00. Brad Newlon seconded
the motion. Four ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: Jim McKalip thinks this is a good idea you can’t do enough planning.
John Sheridan is concerned about special assessments for sewer. Mike Bennett explained that the sewer lines are appropriate for 20 year build out as the District does not treat the sewer, sewer is treated in Minden by MGSD.
Ron Bush wants to encourage the Board to consider a similar sewer study in the future.
III For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action to authorize the District
Manager to enter into an agreement with XIO to try a cloud-based SCADA
monitoring system at our Springfield lift station for a period of four months on a
trial basis at no cost until after the trial period has expired. Board discussion followed
by public comment. Possible action to authorize the District Manager to enter a
agreement with XIO to try a cloud-based SCADA monitoring system at our Springfield
lift station for a period of four months on a trial basis at no cost until after
the trial period has expired. Action Item.
Greg Reed explained that the District currently has a conventional SCADA system with programmable logic controllers. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. This system operates the pumps and lift stations within the District through a computer in the office. The system is currently maintained by Sierra controls and costs about $50,000.00 a year. A cloud-based system would be an alternative and would in the long run be a cheaper way to go after initial set up fees. The cost of the system for the lift station is $10,207.00 that includes all XiO supplied hardware and all programming. The cloud service fee is $39.00 per month per controller and includes all programming, ongoing support, alarms, report generation, unlimited access to the secure website and an extended warranty on the FIU control module—Soft-I/O as long as the cloud fee is current. XiO has been trying to get the District to try out the product and has offered a period of four months trial basis at no cost to the District until the trial period has expired. If we like it at that time we would pay for it. If we don’t like it, we ship it back at no cost. This cost is for only one lift station. The selling point for this product is that if anything goes wrong with the product the District will ship it back and a new one will be returned within 48 hours. The entire system, if all wells and lift stations were on the cloud-based system, would be around $7,000.00 per year.
Jeff James likes the option to try a project for free.
Dave James is concerned about a cloud-based system going down. Greg stated that the lift station is an independent system and it operates at the lift station, there are generators to run the lift station if the power should go out. The Cloud-system is only a monitoring system and if it went down it would not affect the lift station operation.
Brad Newlon suggested bringing this back to the Board three months after the initial installation for board discussion.
Brad Newlon motioned to authorize the District Manager to enter into an
agreement with XiO to try out a cloud-based SCADA monitoring system at
our Springfield lift station for a period of four months on a trial basis at no
cost until after the trial period has expired; results of will be agenized three
months after initial installation. Jeff James seconded the motion. Four ayes.
Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
IV For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action on a review of the Petition
for Inclusion of Real Property into Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District
for Damascus Road Christian Assembly of God on Tillman Lane. Board discussion
followed by public comment. Possible action of a review of the Petition for Inclusion of real property into Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District for the Damascus Road Christian Assembly of God on Tillman Lane. Action Item.
Public Comment: none
There is not currently an annexation agreement with the church; the District has a petition for annexation. This is just a review and discussion to bring the board up to speed on the item. The Church will have to prepare an annexation agreement in accordance with the District’s Policy and Procedures Manual. Items to address in the agreement include allocating the Church’s well to the District and building the infrastructure in accordance with District specifications.
Consent Calendar:
Minutes:
Brad Newlon motioned to approve the minutes of the August 1, 2018 board meeting.
Dave James second the motion. Three ayes. Motion passed. Jeff James abstained
as he did not attend that meeting.
Public Comment: none
Check Summary:
Brad Newlon motioned to approve the check summary. Jeff James seconded the
motion. Four ayes. Motion passed.
Staff Reports:
District Engineer: Michael Bennett reviewed his project tracking schedule with the Board.
District Counsel: Mike Rowe has been working the audit response letter which is the packet (see attached)
District Manager: The District has had a couple of complaints about credit card fees through email and Greg has been responding to them and explaining that these fees are assessed by the credit card companies, not the District.
Greg has a meeting with Frank at MGSD. They will be talking about setting up a meeting at their next meeting.
Well 4 replacement Bids will be opened tomorrow. Greg suggested holding a special meeting in September to award the bid. The Board will have a special meeting September 17, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. to award the bid for the Well 4 replacement project.
Trustee Reports:
Jeff James asked about the grant at the park for the restrooms. Greg stated the District has been awarded the grant and he is waiting for final paperwork.
Dave James stated he has four tickets to the Chamber Gala in November 3, 2018 and he will not be able to attend. He offered the tickets to Greg in the event he would like to attend.
Brad Newlon wished Leann well. She has had foot surgery and was unable to attend. Brad thanked all the public who attended the meeting.
Bob McDowell wanted all to be aware of an ordinance for new vacation rental rules. Greg will follow up on the ordnance and bring the information back at another meeting.
Public Comment: John Engels told the Board he appreciates their hospitality. He wanted to clear up a rumor he is not opposed to development. He is not opposed to development just a type of development. He is concerned for the aquifers and that they are over appropriated. He is big on being cautious and protective of our water supply.
Bev Anderson told the Board that the second reading on vacation rentals is coming up on September 6, 2018. The County will vote on weather they will bring vacation rentals to the valley.
Ron Bush asked about striping for bicycle lanes on Tillman. Mike Bennett said he would check into it and let Greg know.
Adjournment:
Dave James motioned to adjourn the meeting. Jeff James seconded the motion.
Four ayes. Motion passed.
Meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
By
____________________________________
Dawn Hinds
Acting Secretary
