Board Meeting Minutes- January 13, 2025

Monday, January 13, 2025 at 2:00 PM | 601 Cherokee Leavenworth, KS 66048-0576

Attendance

Directors in Attendance

  • Richard Gervansini
  • Eric Peterson
  • Chad Lough
  • Nick Poff

Directors Absent (Excused)

  • William Daniels

Staff in Attendance

  • Joel Mahnken, General Manager
  • Dana Splichal, Finance Manager
  • Neil Seichepine, Treatment Manager
  • Britni Huff, Staff Engineer

Others in Attendance

  • None

Call to Order

Director Gervasini called the meeting to order at 4:58 PM.

Roll Call, Announcement of Quorum

Director Gervasini noted that a quorum was present.

Request, Comments, Petitions by Members of the Public

None

Board Member Items Outside of Executive Session

None

Approve Minutes of December 23, 2024

Upon motion from Director Poff and seconded by Director Lough, motion passed
4-0…

RESOLVED (No. 15553), that the Board approved minutes from December 23,
2024.

Consideration of Consent Agenda

Upon motion from Director Peterson and seconded by Director Lough, motion passed 4-0…

RESOLVED (No. 15554), that the Board approved the consent agenda as presented.

Consider Updates to the Personnel Manual

The Finance Manager reminded the Board that a personnel manual had been presented to them at the December 9, 2024 meeting for review and future approval.  The Board requested that we have 3 employees to review the draft and note their questions and comments.

No action taken.

Review Management Performance Evaluation Form

The General Manager noted that as part of the update to our Performance Evaluation process we have revised the format to suit each department while using the same fundamental form. The exception to this is the form to be used for Managers. The GM provided a draft and requested board input.

Discussion held and the Board requested changes and tabled approval.

Consider Amendment No. 2 to Agreement with Benesch and Co

Alfred Benesch and Co. have been the design engineers on the Lecompton Road Water Main Replacement project. The General Manager stated that it took several reiterations to obtain the easement we needed to cross private property, causing a delay in the completion of the plans and extra staff time for Benesch to do so (at our request). This was outside of the scope of services for our agreement. As of December 15th, only $744.06 remained on our contract.

Further noted that we typically need the design engineer through the Bidding and Award of the contract. With bid opening on January 22nd, Benesch is requesting an increase of $5,676.

Discussion held and upon motion from Director Peterson, seconded by Director Lough, motion passed 4-0…

RESOLVED (No. 15555), that the board approve Amendment No. 2 with Alfred Benesch and Co. in the amount of $5,676 and authorize the General Manager to sign.

Divison Reports Presented:

Administration

  1. Completed updating annual evaluation forms
  2. BS&A Software – go live date is set for July 28, 2025
    • Successful data discovery/extraction with their team on January 3rd
    • Scheduled first data extraction on January 17th
    • We have several meetings scheduled over the next 6 months
  3. Contacting vendors to research outsourcing of printing and mailing of bills
  4. Annual audit of financial statements scheduled and auditors will be on site the week of March 10th

Distribution

Water Distribution Projects

  1. Lead & Copper Service Inventory
    • Currently replacing known Galvanized services
  2. Lecompton Water Main Replacement (2023)
    • Final review completed, placed on Drexel for bids 1.2.25
  3. Mount Olivet Main Lines
    • CO in progress; Main installed awaiting valves and 73 HWY Tie-In

    4. Water Distribution Operations

    Between December 20th, 2024, and January 8th, 2025, the following water-distribution activities have occurred:

    a) Water Main Breaks Since Last Meeting:
    Break Date Location Main Description
    12.19.24 717 N 11th St 6” CI 1950
    12.24.24 1309 Vilas 6” CI 1954
    12.28.24 Folsom & Vilas 6” CI 1954
    b) Main Break Stats 2024:
    2023 Utah State Survey 2024 LVN Water Actual
    Breaks/Yr/100Mi. 11.1 33.0
    Age at Failure 53 66
    Size of Breaks 3”-8” 6”
    Types of Breaks Annular Annular
    Pipe Over Useful Age 19.4% 36% / 70.7 Miles

    48% of our system (95 miles) will be over useful age by 2035.

Water Treatment

Ohio Street Booster Station

  1. Nothing new to report.

North Plant Summary

  1. Working on 2025 C.I.P.

South Plant Summary

  1. New employee started 1/8/2025
  2. Working on 2025 C.I.P.

General Manager

  • Water Tank Project
    • Contract #1 Pipeline: Hettinger Excavating has been making progress, but missed Substantial Completion (December 31, 2024) and is expected to miss Final Completion (January 31, 2025). The contractor has submitted a request for additional time, currently being reviewed.
    • DN Tanks has been providing submittals. Their subcontractor is expected to start working on the site the week of February 17th. DN Tanks expects to be on site around April 1st.
  • South Treatment Plant Resiliency Project
    • Tenpenny Law continues to work on project grant funding potential.
    • FEMA issued Notice of Funding Opportunity for FY2024 BRIC Grants. Applications are due February 28, 2025. Contacted our Grant Writer to start working on the application.
  • The Lecompton WMR project scheduled to bid January 22nd.
  • Working on management specific Performance Evaluation forms.
  • Closed Office and Distribution on January 6th due to Winter Storm Blair.
  • We will be closed January 20th for MLK holiday.
  • Attached is a list of the scheduled Board Meeting dates. The Memorial Day holiday is our only conflict this year.

Adjournment

Upon motion from Director Peterson, seconded by Director Poff, motion passed 4-0.

Director Gervasini adjourned the meeting at 5:43 PM.