Hondius Water Users Project Committee 4/2/15 Meeting Minutes
Present: Jim Redman, Tim Breiding, Beth Coulson, Bill Rawsky, Brandy Flanagan.
Absent: Tony & Vi Burroughs, Don Piepgras, Ernie Dietrich, Thurmond Williamson.
Previous Meeting Minutes.
The Committee approved the minutes from the March meeting. Jim will forward for posting onto the website.
Update on Project Timing and Process.
Jim reported on the meeting he attended on March 23rd in Denver with representatives of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. See attached letter from Richard Markovich, the CDPHE Project Manager summarizing the meeting. The attendees at the meeting were well versed in the project and while pointing out matters that would need to be completed, gave the impression that the project could be accomplished from their standpoint. The terms of the loan if obtained in 2015 would be a 2% loan with pay back over 20 years.
One item that has changed under the 2015 loan program is the timing of obtaining the loan, due to the Federal government imposing tighter restrictions on having all the engineering work done prior to providing the loan. This could result in the need for an additional payment requirement prior to obtaining the loan proceeds; however, the loan proceeds would reimburse these costs once finalized (upon approval of the local improvement district election). The Larimer County representative was to have further discussions with CDPHE and determine if there were ways to work around this issue and is optimistic that he has found a way that additional significant cash outflow by the Hondius group can be avoided. This matter will continue to have our attention and follow up action.
The County representative also discussed with Jim the possibility of trying to obtain a waiver of the RFP process in order to accelerate obtaining the engineering work. This could help us to achieve an election by November of 2015, rather than 2016, of the local improvement district. Jim will further discuss with the County representative the cost of the work required (CDPHE refers to the preliminary engineering as the preliminary needs assessment) and whether avoiding the RFP process will still provide a reasonable cost for the work for the Hondius Users Group.
Jim also reported on a discussion with another County representative regarding the formation of the local improvement district in which the County representative indicated their belief that the local improvement district could be formed to include the current Hondius Users and also those along the line that are not currently users if they wished to be included in the project (and have access to Town water). This could be an optimal situation if it can be arranged as it should result in the average cost of the project be lowered for the group.
Hondius User Issues.
The Committee discussed information from a Hondius User that there was concern regarding certain issues and speculation regarding the cost of the project. The Committee discussed several issues and that many of these are being currently considered, including through communications with County and Town representatives and others will be determined from the preliminary engineering work. Some of these issues include the scope of the project and what lines will be replaced, the cost of service from the Town, and whether the Town will require all service lines to be replaced. The Hondius User also pointed out that Prospect Mountain was incurring issues with their water and the Committee will look into obtaining more information regarding the issues faced there.
Other Topics.
Jim contacted an individual new to the area. This individual’s unit is not currently on the Hondius system; however, the individual offered to assist with matters related to the project as he is an engineer and currently an inspector of engineering projects.
Closing.
Next Meeting: May 7th, 6:00 p.m. Mountain / 7 p.m. Central.