PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT #13
Minutes of the March 20, 2007
Regular Session of the Board of Trustees

The Board of Directors of Public Water District #13, Jefferson County Missouri met in regular session at 7:07 p.m. on March 20, 2007 at the Lake Tishomingo Community Center, Hillsboro, Missouri.
Roll Call of Directors:
The following Directors being present or absent as indicated:
	Name	Present/Absent
	Lou Harting	Absent
	Rich Hirsch	Present
	Larry Kimmel	Present
	Henry Brym	Present
	Marilyn Meyer	Present

Also in attendance was District attorney Floyd Norrick, District engineer Bill Brunjes, Anne Scott (Brunjes Assoc.), and Leneigha Downs (guest of Mr. Brunjes).
 
Director Lou Harting arrived at 7:09 p.m.
.
Motion was made by Marilyn Meyer and seconded by Rich Hirsch to accept the Agenda. On voice vote, all Directors were in favor of accepting the Agenda.

The Minutes of the February 20, 2007 meeting were distributed to the Directors before the meeting. 

Motion was made by Marilyn Meyer to approve the Feb. 20, 2007 Minutes as written. Second was by Larry Kimmel. On voice vote, the Minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report:
There was no treasurer’s report.

Old Business
Median Household Income (MHI) survey update/Grant availability update

•	Rich Hirsch, Marilyn Meyer, and Ron Sansone met with Barabra Bohley in Pacific MO on Feb 21, 2007. Ms. Bohley was Grant Administrator (GA) for the Brush Creek Sewer District project and has secured numerous grants for the City of Pacific MO.
 
Ms. Bohley thought we could get $200k - $300k in block grant money, though we would have to get it directly from the Jeff County Block Grant Administrator. As Jefferson County is an entitlement county and we are not a city or village, grant money must come through the county administrator. [When Marilyn Meyer talked to the county administrator, Marilyn determined it was unlikely the District would receive any grant money.]
 
To qualify for a block grant we would have to do another income survey. We could not use the results of the MHI survey we did for the USDA-RD. In the Block grant survey, we would need an 80% response rate and a 51% favorable response rate.
 
Early on in the discussion Ms. Bohley said that a block grant would delay the project and mentioned Herculaneum as evidence.
 
Ms. Bohley suggested we contact Bond's office and try to get an EPA Special Appropriations Grant. One problem was that the deadline for applying for this grant was Feb 28, 2007. If we get a grant, the money would be available in Sep 2008, so there is a long lead time. 
 
•	Janet Hirsch followed up on the EPA Special Appropriations Grant (SAG) with Senator Bond’s office. 

The actual deadline for applying for the SAG was Feb 15, but we were given an extension until Feb 28. We applied for a $2 million grant. The EPA SAG requires that the recipient provide at least 45% of the total project cost. Our share of the cost will be based on the approved bond issue. State Revolving Fund loans could also be used.

If we get this grant, money will be available Sep 2008. 

•	Mary Leiweke met with Glen Taylor, a Bono-Del subdivision homeowner. Glen said he would go door-to-door and hand out the letters and try to encourage neighbors to fill out the surveys while he was there and make sure they mailed them. Glen said he thought that none of his neighbors made more that $39,000. 

Mary said she thought that it would be unlikely to get 25 more responses from homeowners that make less than $39,400, which is the number we need to qualify for the USDA-RD grant.

•	Mary Leiweke and Marilyn Meyer met with State Representative Belinda Harris on Friday March 16 to discuss Grant availability. Ms. Harris made these suggestions:
1) Contact the Carnahan office in Jefferson County in Crystal City
2) Apply for state revolving fund/grant (she gave us the form for filing). The loan program is 20 years at 2%. Very few grants are awarded through this program.
3) Ms. Harris felt that in terms of the MHI survey, we are hurt by part-time homeowners at Lake Tishomingo. Part-time residents own two homes and generally have higher incomes. A more equitable way would be to survey full-time homeowners only.  

New Business:	
There was no new business.

Engineer’s Report:
In talking with Donna Martin at the USDA-RD, Marilyn Meyer learned that there were a few items missing from the Preliminary Engineering Report (PER). It is important that the PER be completed, since Donna cannot allocate funds for our project until the PER is finished. Marilyn asked Mr. Brunjes about whether the material needed by Donna has been sent to her. Anne Scott (Brunjes Associates) said that the material had been sent to Donna. Upon a request from someone in the audience, Anne Scott furnished the Board with a copy of the material that had been sent to Donna.

Mr. Brunjes discussed two new bills, HR569 and HR720. HR569 has been passed the House of Representatives, but not the Senate. If it becomes law HR569 offers large sums for sewer construction. [To become a law the bill will have to be passed by the Senate, reconciled by a committee and then signed by the President.] 

Mr. Brunjes next suggested that we hire attorney (Leneigha Downs) to do the Environmental Review required for the sewer project.  

Attorney's Report:
There was no attorney’s report.

Executive Session:
Rich Hirsch made a motion that the Board enter executive Session, under the Missouri Sunshine Law authorized by Chapter 610.021, Sub-Section 1 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri. The motion was seconded by Larry Kimmel. On voice vote motioned passed unanimously.
The Board entered executive session at 8:20 P.M.
Executive session ended at 9:26 P.M.

Regular Session:
A motion was made by Lou Harting to write a letter on behalf of the board that requests the District engineer to try to reduce the cost of the sewer project, because the Board believes that grant money is not available and the project is too expensive at its current cost. The motion was seconded by Marilyn Meyer. On voice vote the motion passed unanimously.

Adjournment:
There being no other formal business to come before the Board, a motion to adjourn was made by Marilyn Meyer and seconded by Lou Harting at 9:30 p.m., with all Directors in approval.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rich Hirsch
Recording Secretary

Approved this 17th day of April, 2007.

___________________________	_________________________________
Secretary	Chairman

April 4, 2007