JUNE 2024 MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, June 5th, 2024, 6:00 PM
Olga Community Center
1. Call to Order: 6:08 PM
a. Attendees:
i. OWUI Board Members, present:
1. Geoff Cunard, President
2. Paul Groeninger, Secretary
3. Guy Woods, Treasurer
b. OWUI Board Members, absent:
i. Pat Boehm, Director of Operations
ii. Dave Noneman, Vice President
c. Sue Min on behalf of Administration, present.
d. Sam Prado on behalf of Operator Eastsound Water Users Association (EWUA), absent
2. Approval of Minutes:
a. OWUI Treasurer Guy moved to approve May 2024 meeting minutes. OWUI President Geoff seconded. All members voted in favor. May meeting minutes were approved.
3. Operator EWUA’s May Report:
a. No report was provided for the Board Meeting.
4. OWUI Administrator’s Report
a. Sue presented the following on behalf of Administration:
i. Member Billing / Receivables
1. 2024 Receivables to date: $205,173
2. Outstanding Member Accounts: 14 Member IDs still owe OWUI payment, amounting to roughly $37,000 outstanding billing to collect.
3. Sue to follow up with Outstanding Member Accounts to continue collection efforts.
ii. General Administration
1. Sue continues to work on organizing OWUI and outlined to OWUI Board the projected phases through the end of 2024 for shifting from Google to Microsoft, which would include:
a. Phase 1:
i. Digital File Migration
ii. Domain Name Management
b. Phase 2:
i. Board Digital Access
ii. Streamlined Board/Operations Communication
iii. Dashboards
c. Phase 3:
i. Digital Archives
ii. Template Billing
5. Treasurer/Financial Report
a. As Treasurer, Guy presented the following regarding OWUI’s finances:
i. Bank Accounts
1. Overall, OWUI currently has about $337,000 in total across its bank accounts. There are invoices and other payables not yet billed to OWUI that are expected to reduce this total amount.
2. OWUI Treasurer Guy projected that OWUI’s financial reserves to have about $245,000 remaining by the end of next year.
3. Board discussed reserve amounts in relation to operational costs and expenses to assess whether OWUI should build higher reserves for additional financial stability.
4. OWUI Treasurer Guy continued to advise the Board regarding future expenses and projects such as tank replacement and meter replacements.
6. Operations and Maintenance Report
a. Old Business
i. Intertie Update
1. Prior to the Board Meeting, OWUI President Geoff spoke with Dan Burke of Operator EWUA on June 5, 2024. OWUI President Geoff relayed to the Board the following from Operator EWUA regarding the intertie project:
a. A valve is now in place to close the intertie pipe. The final 15 feet of pipe is to be installed. When they pressurized the pipeline, Operator EWUA found it to be leaking 9 gallons per hour. This new pipeline should have zero leaks. Operator EWUA is looking into the leak as well as Earthworks.
b. They are nearly complete with pipe construction, as 6” pipework has been completed and they are now working on the 2” pipework.
c. There will be a flowtest within the next week.
b. New Business
i. Review annual meeting materials, fee and rate vote procedure
1. Fee/Rate Schedule
a. Board discussed potential fee/rate schedules to apply for 2026-2028.
b. OWUI Treasurer Guy advised to apply a more gradually increasing rate across the three years:
Year 2026
Year 2027
Year 2028
$0.013/gallon
$0.014/gallon
$0.015/gallon
c. OWUI President Geoff agreed with OWUI Treasurer Guy, and Geoff moved for the Board to propose this rate change to OWUI Membership for the 2026-2028 fee/rate schedule. Guy seconded; no opposition. Board to propose this rate change, as noted above, to the OWUI Membership, subject to OWUI Membership vote, per OWUI bylaws.
2. Conservation Pricing
a. Board reviewed and discussed conservation pricing, which would also be subject to OWUI Membership vote. Board agreed to propose charging an extra $0.01 per gallon for usage over 100,000 gallons the proposed conservation pricing.
3. Annual Meeting Materials
a. Board discussed materials to be distributed to OWUI Membership for the Annual Meeting and previous materials/voting methodology.
b. OWUI President Geoff to work with OWUI Treasurer and prepare the President’s Annual Letter to the OWUI Membership, which will include OWUI financial budget, proposed Fee/Rate Schedule and Conservation Pricing and formal ballots for mail-in or hand-in if voting in person (or proxy) at Annual Meeting, July 13, 2024.
c. Sue to prepare a ballot form and include as part of the Annual Meeting Materials to be mailed to OWUI Membership. Ballot form will ask OWUI Membership to vote for the Board’s proposed 2026-2028 Fee and Rate Schedule and proposed Conservation Pricing.
d. These Annual Meeting Materials are to be mailed out US Mail by June 21, 2024, three weeks before the Annual Meeting per OWUI bylaws.
e. OWUI President Geoff advised that prior to next year, Board to consider proposing bylaws amendment to OWUI Membership to provide electronic voting option.
7. Public Access: none present
8. Next Meeting Time: July 13, 2024, 7:00 PM
9. Adjournment 7:35 PM