Flathead Irrigation District Meeting
August 11,2020. 1:00 PM
Ronan City Park on Eisenhower
Attending Commissioners: Paul Guenzler, David Lake, Dave Vincent, Bruce White and Janette Rosman.
Absent: No-one.
Pledge:
BIA Report: Laurence Nelson reported Zim and Nick were far too busy attending irrigator/irrigation concerns. There continues to be a shortage of BIA employees to deal with the irrigation season due to BIA hiring process. Even hiring part time employees for 6-month part time employees requires ditch riders to go thru federal BIA process. Paul asked how many working BIA working employees are there? Larry responded 44 in the field, 47 on the books. Larry stated they are severely behind getting water orders to irrigators. Water availability is good. They are also behind on filling out green sheets. One person who has passed aquatic spraying requirements. September 15th is cut off time for irrigation season. Hot Springs has requested September 20th cut off date (letter from Larry Prongua). Their quote has been raised up to .75 and season extended to Sept. 24th. Zim is not comfortable setting a new quote for Lake County. Flathead River Pumps (two of them) are running well and following irrigation season all three pumps will be dismantled and electric starting systems will be replaced with 1M Winn Act funds out of 7M being handled by the tribe. This is a temporary fix. For now. Winn Act study stated it will take 35M to redo pump house. There maybe 3.5 M for pumphouse in 2023. Some of the projects in the future are: Falls Creek, Valley View lateral, 5-year construction in Moiese on leak and Jocko K Canal that Larry could recall.
Financial Report/Warrants: Judy received two months report from county last month. She has not received the county report this month and only reported on the Warrant list that included the following: Whaley & Assoc. $600, Click Here Designs, $55, Local Governments $135, Local Governments Services filing fee $1300.00, Local Government Services FJBC $55 by shared Dist. %’s $43.90. Reimburse Janette Rosman $53.92 (notebooks, Thumb drive and City of Ronan payment for meeting $25). US payroll deposit $127.70 and Dept of Rev. withholding tax. Total $2342.56. ADM fund $634,786.00 and O&M $1,799,268.00 as of 06/30/2020.
Resolution 2020-2, Resolution declaring FID Admin fees and O&M fees for 2021. FID commissioners approved Admin and O&M Budgets for 2021. Keep FID Admin Fees at ZERO. BIA O&M fees continue to be $33.50. Accepted Financial Report. Bruce White made motion to approve Resolution and Dave Vincent Second, passed. Resolution was signed by commissioners, dated, will be notarized and recorded at Lake and Sanders County Courthouse.
Meeting Date, third and final reading. Article VII, Section 1. FID Bylaw. Janette made motion to approve: The District shall meet in a regular monthly meeting on the FOURTH WEDNESDAY, 1:00 PM of each month unless at a previous meeting it is determined by majority vote of the commissioners attending that the next regular meeting is unnecessary.
Third and final reading Bylaw Article 6, Section 7. Secretary: The Secretary shall collect all charges and assessments of the District shall be responsible for preservation and maintenance of all funds, securities and related items of the District and shall maintain full and complete books of account with respect thereto. The board may outsource bookkeeping and financial responsibilities. The secretary shall deposit funds of the District in such banks or other depositories and in such manner as are provided in these Bylaws, as directed by the Board or required by law. The funds and bookkeeping of the Flathead Irrigation District shall be maintained in accordance to MCA 85-7-2136 (1-5) The County shall collect assessments of the District and be treasurer of those funds. (Second reading stands until September when it will be voted on). Pg.1
Richard Erb Emails: July 13, May 31, 2020 and October 21, 2019 were presented to commissioners before the meeting and reviewed. Richard attended the meeting and commented on discrepancies he observed on the budget report and shared his frustrations with Whaley Accounting firm. David Lake and Paul Guenzler suggested that the documents that were presented to them at the meeting be given to Whaley Accounting and report back to the commissioners. Richard thought that Whaley Accounting already had the emails. Janette stated, she did not think she should move on that suggestion without the rest of the commissioner’s approval. Richard is suggesting two things. 1. New accounting firm. 2. Higher a part time office person to handle details of financial matters. There are too many errors in budget reports. Dave Vincent had concerns and talked to Judy and she was able to address his concerns and questions. David Lake stated we owe it to Whaley Accounting to talk to them. Board agreed to consult Whaley Accounting. Paul gave me his copy of the emails to give to Whaley when I brought the warrants back.
Next meeting will be our first meeting with new meeting date by-law change. September 23, 2020, Fourth Wednesday at 1:00. Location to be determined, depending on Covid-19 case count in Lake County.
Adjourn: Janette made motion to Adjourn, Dave Vincent second. Passed
Janette Rosman
FID Secretary