HWUA 2025 Membership – Annual Meeting Minutes
[DRAFT TO BE APPROVED AT NEXT ANNUAL MEETING]
August 1, 2025 – 12:30 pm MDT
Type of Meeting: Regular annual meeting of HWUA Membership
Location: Estes Park Public Library
Meeting Facilitator: Don Piepgras
Board Members Present: Don Piepgras, Ralph Turner, Jim Redman, and Beth Coulson
Call to order at 12:31 pm by Board President Don Piepgras
Agenda items:
- Approval of the 2023 and 2024Annual Meeting minutes. We did not have a quorum, will have to vote on this next year.
- Treasurer’s Report: Jim Redman reported that there is over $300,000 in accumulating funds from the last 3 years. Of the fees paid by the members, $1000 goes into interest bearing accounts annually. We are in good financial shape.
- Operations Personnel – Don Piepgras introduced Bill Harvey and his daughter Jen to those attending the meeting. Jen is training to take over Bill’s position as he will be retiring this year.
- Board Members: The Board Members introduced themselves.
- Operational overview and discussion of partial mainline replacement project. Don Piepgras stated that startup went smoothly and that it was a little late this year due to a cooler spring. Don went on to state that water testing is done throughout the summer and sent to a lab for analysis. There is a new requirement this year from CDPHE in that they want our water tested throughout the year, not just in the summer. Jen is willing to be trained to take these samples in the winter months. Don will get this set up with Richard at RH Water and Wastewater. Jim Redman stated that we recently had a pump fail. Our system runs on a 2 pump system and we had a spare as a replacement. Bill Harvey described that the system runs one pump until the tank is full and then switches to the other pump so that the pumps are not constantly running.
Partial mainline replacement – Don gave an overview of the current condition of the main waterline that runs along Penstemon. Parts of this line are galvanized, others are PVC. Parts of the line are exposed, while others are not buried very deep. In order to be able to work toward a year-round system, the lines need to be 5 to 6 feet deep. We have received a quote of $47 to $51 per foot to replace the current line with a 4” pipe at the 5 to 6 foot depth. We will also need to determine what easements are required in order to put the water line in. We have some information from a past study done by Van Horn Engineering, but need to obtain additional information. The other obstacle of year-round water is the placement of the tanks. Don feels that staying in the park would be the best alternative, but we would need to increase the size of the tanks and have a permanent lease. Also, we don’t know whether fire protection is available.
A question from the floor asked whether or not we could hook into either RMNP’s fire hydrant system or the Town of Estes Park’s fire hydrant system. Don doesn’t think there is a way to tie in, but would need to discuss with an engineer.
The Board wants buy-in from members to spend large sum of money prior to spending. The water lines are old and need to be replaced.
6. Cross-connection: Jim Redman reported that there are 8 people that have back flow devices attached to their homes. These usually involve the ability to switch between a well system and Hondius Water User’s system. Annual tests need to be performed on the Back Flow Prevention system by an authorized plumber. There are also 7 properties that use an air gap system or otherwise disconnected certain water systems to avoid cross-connection issues upon our original inspection in 2026 and these need to be checked every 3 years. These will be checked next year. Ongoing monitoring is done as properties change hands. Jim was asked to send a list of the 7 Back Flow Prevention homeowners to those 7 so they can compare notes.
7. ByLaws – Beth Coulson reported that the board has the authority to change at any time, but truly wants input from the members. Currently there are 64 members of the association. For a second year in a row, we did not meet the minimum of 20 members for a quorum.
Beth stated that we would like to change the Annual Meeting date from a hard August 1st date to a date range. There was discussion of early August due to people being in town, and also late August due to children being back in school. Both had the issue of parking as a reason.
8. Board election – no one at the meeting expressed an interest in being on the board. The board is to have 5 members, and currently only has 4. We did not have a quorum, will have to vote on this next year.
Meeting adjourned: 1:40 pm MT