Minutes of the
Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District
Board of Trustees Meeting held
March 7, 2018 at 6:00 pm @
931 Mitch Drive, Gardnerville Nevada 89460
Pledge of Allegiance: Jeff James
Trustees Present: Leann Teter, Bob McDowell, Brad Newlon, Dave James and Jeff James
Also Present: Greg Reed, Dawn Hinds, Mike Rowe, Michael Bennett and the public
Public Comment: Arlouise White stated she heard that Bing’s Pit was going to be closing and that it will be made into a pond. Greg Reed said that he knows that Bing does have a limited life left. The amount of aggregate that they can pull out will run out some time in the near future. It is not known by the District staff or Board what will happen to the pit at this time.
Approval of the Agenda:
Brad Newlon motioned to approve the Agenda. Dave James seconded the
motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
Approval of the Minutes:
Bob McDowell motioned to approve the minutes from the February meeting.
Jeff James seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
Staff Reports:
District Engineer: Michael Bennett of Lumos and Associates reviewed his project tracking schedule for the month of March. (see attached project tracking schedule)
District Counsel: Mike Rowe and Greg Reed have begun the process of planning a strategy for the renegotiation of the MGSD contract and will keep the Board posted on his progress.
District Manager: Greg Reed mentioned that there will be three openings coming up for the Board of Trustees next year and because Jeff James will be termed out there will be an open position. Leann Teter and Brad Newlon have filed again to renew their positions. (see attached Manager’s Report)
I. For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action on utilization of the Intelligent
Rate process for accepting credit and debit cards for payment of District water and
sewer charges. Board discussion followed by public comment. Possible Board Action
to approve utilization of the Intelligent Rate process for accepting credit and debit cards
for payment of District water and sewer charges. Action Item.
Greg explained to the Board that the District has had the authority from the Board to take credit cards for 10 years and the District has been picking up the credit card fees for 10 years. Credit card fees run $20,000 to $25,000 per year for the District. The District currently offsets the credit card fees with penalty fees paid by those customers who do not pay their bills on time.
Tyler Bolton from EDGE Merchant Processing has a new program Intelligent Rate (CardX) available to governmental agencies that allow the fees paid to use the debit/credit cards to be paid by the customer at the time of the transaction. The CardX program updates its internal system with the hard costs of the credit card fees regularly. There are over $5000 hard costs for credit and debit cards and the costs are vastly different per card. Frequent flyer cards are much costlier than a debit card for example. Estimated annual savings to the District are $20,156.89. There is an upfront cost for the magnetic card reader which is around $100.00 and the cost for a computer for the office.
The Board discussed the program and decided it was a good product and time to proceed with the implementation of the program. Greg mentioned the District would put out notices in the office, website and bills etc.…to give advance warning of the upcoming new fees. Tyler also stated that there is a mandatory month and a half wait period before new customers can begin the program set up so those companies can notify their customers.
Jeff James motioned to authorize the District Manager to enter into a contract
with EDGE Merchant Processing for the utilization of the Intelligent Rate
program. Bob McDowell seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
II. For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action to modify the Gardnerville
Ranchos General Improvement District Board of Trustees Rules and Regulations. Board
Discussion followed by public comment. Possible Board Action to authorize the
Development of Resolution 18-03 modifying the Gardnerville Ranchos General
Improvement District Board of Trustees Rules and Regulations. Action Item.
Greg has suggested changing the order of business in the meetings to put the reports from staff at the back of the meeting as a courtesy to the people who have Agenda items. Those people can be heard at the beginning of the meeting and not have to listen to staff reports unless they desire to stay. Greg wants to replace initialing of the payables by each Board member during the first part of the meeting and instead present a check summary accounting for all checks written in the previous month with a corresponding bank statement on the Consent Calendar. A system is already in place where there must be two signatures each check; the District Manager and a Board member or two Board members.
Jeff James stated he thought it was a great idea to change the check process and also liked the idea of changing the order of the meeting item.
Dave James asked if the Agenda Item could be split into two items. Dave suggested making the check approval process a separate Agenda item instead of being part of the consent calendar.
Dave James motioned to authorize the creation of a resolution modifying
the Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District Board of Trustees
Rules and Regulations to amend the order of presentation of the Trustees Agenda to the proposal presented by Staff. Bob McDowell seconded the
motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: None
Dave James motioned to authorize the creation of a resolution modifying
the Gardnerville Ranchos General Improvement District Board of Trustees
Rules and Regulations to adopt a check summary of all checks written by the
District with a detailed purpose for each check for presentation to the Board with associated bank Statements to be presented as an Agenda item. Jeff James seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: None
III. For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action to authorize the District
Manager to pursue the installation of a restroom facility at the Robert Spellberg
Recreation Complex. Board discussion followed by public comment. Possible action
to authorize the District Manager to pursue the installation of a restroom facility at the
Robert Spellberg Recreation Complex. Action Item.
Greg explained that the restrooms presented on the Agenda are self-contained and pre-fabricated. The facilities are constructed of concrete and are vandalism resistant with fixtures that are stainless steel. Restroom will have automatic locks so that they can be closed after hours. A similar structure was installed by Indian Hills GID in 2017. Total construction costs would be approximately $65,000. Greg is looking into a 50/50 matching grant available from Nevada State Parks making the total out of pocket costs by the District $32,500. If approved this item would be included in the 2018-2019 budget and would be constructed this fall or next spring.
Dave James asked if the restrooms were heated and if there would be issues with freezing. Greg explained that they can be heated, however, in Indian Hills they have a space heater in the room that has the plumbing. The plumbing is located in a service room in the back of the restrooms not accessible to the public. Dave is in favor of the restrooms with the stipulation that they are only built subject to receiving a grant from the Nevada State Parks. Bob McDowell suggested a restroom with two units. Greg added that he plans to have a floor drain in the middle for easy clean up with fixtures that can be cleaned easily with minimal efforts.
Jeff James motioned to authorize the District Manager to pursue the
installation of a double restroom facility at the Robert Spellberg Recreation Complex contingent on the 50/50 grant from the Nevada State Parks. Dave
James seconded the motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
IV. For Possible Action: Board discussion and possible action of authorize the District
Manager to attend the American Water Works Association annual conference in Las
Vegas from June 11–14, 2018. Board discussion followed by public comment.
Possible Board Action to authorize the District Manager to attend the American Water
Works Association annual conference in Las Vegas from June 11-14, 2018. Action Item.
The American Water Works Association Annual Conference and Exposition is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas. This conference is attended by 15,000+ members. The purpose of the conference is to allow the District Manager to attend classes and maintain education requirements for water operator license certification renewal.
Bob McDowell motioned to authorize the District Manager to attend the 2018
American Water Works Association Annual Conference and Exposition in Las
Vegas from June 11 to 24, 2018. Brad Newlon seconded the motion. All ayes.
Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
Consent Calendar:
Jeff James motioned to approve the Consent Calendar. Dave James seconded
The motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
Trustee Reports:
Bob McDowell will not be able to attend the April meeting and will not be back until May 7, 2018. He does not want to miss two meetings in a row. The Board changed the May meeting to Tuesday, May 8, 2018. The Budget meeting and regular June meeting were then changed to Wednesday, May 30, 2018. The July meeting was also changed to Tuesday, July 10 because the first Wednesday of July is Independence Day.
Adjournment:
Brad Newlon motioned to adjourn the meeting. Jeff James seconded the
Motion. All ayes. Motion passed.
Public Comment: none
By
________________________
Dawn Hinds
Acting Secretary