PUBLIC WATER DISTRICT #13
Minutes of the April 19, 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 9:05 a.m. on April 19, 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	Absent
	Marilyn Meyer	Present

Motion was made by Larry Kimmel and seconded by Marilyn Meyer to accept the Agenda. On voice vote, all Directors were in favor of accepting the Agenda.

Old Business
•	Professional services contract discussion 
Motion made by Rich Hirsch: "To move the project forward I believe that we need an engineer that is more responsive to the needs of the District. Therefore, I move that the District terminate its relationship with Brunjes and Associates." Motion seconded by Marilyn Meyer. On voice vote, all Directors were in favor.

There was a discussion about hiring a new engineer for the District. Representatives from the following firms were interviewed:
1) Missouri Engineering Co, Rolla
2) URS, St Louis
3) Cochran Engineering, Union
4) Metropolitan Engineering, Barnhart
5) Taylor Engineering, Farmington

Reasons for rejecting firms 1) through 4):
1) Missouri Engineering Co, Rolla
a) A salesman rather than an engineer gave the presentation.
b) We heard from a reliable source that a sewer project in a nearby town that was delayed where they were the engineer.

2) URS, St Louis
a) The Farmington branch of USDA-RD (our funding agency) had not worked with URS on any projects.
b) URS proposed a relatively low user fee that included only paying off the interest. This would not be practical.
 
3) Cochran Engineering, Union
a) The president of the company (Chris Boone) did the presentation. It was difficult to judge the engineer (Jeff) that would lead our project. When Jeff did speak, he addressed Chris, rather than the Board and seemed rather meek. The Board felt that a more aggressive project engineer would be beneficial.

4) Metropolitan Engineering, Barnhart
a) The junior engineer seemed bright, but most of the work presented was not done when he was at Metropolitan Eng., but at another company.
b) The lead engineer had not read our Preliminary Eng. Report (PER), even though he had been emailed the document over one week before the presentation.
c) We heard there was high employee turnover.
d) There were many typos in presentation slides.

Reasons for selecting Taylor Engineering, Farmington:
a) Project engineer had worked for MoDNR which the Board thought would be an advantage in securing funding.
b) President of the company had read the PER and was ready to discuss the PER when he arrived.
c) References for Taylor were all very enthusiastic, more so than for the other engineering firms.

After this discussion a motion was made by Rich Hirsch: "I move that we extend an offer to Taylor Engineering to become the District's engineer provided that a meeting with Taylor Engineering (TE) held in the near future is satisfactory." Second was by Marilyn Meyer. On voice vote, all Directors were in favor.

At the meeting to be held next week with TE we will discuss:
•	Immediately filing with the Mo DNR for grant money
•	Ask TE for a proposed schedule

New Business

The Environmental Report has been completed by the Midwest Assistance Program (Cynthia Mitchell). Copies have been distributed to the Board, Donna Martin (USDA-RD), and a copy will be given to Taylor Eng. at our next meeting.

The only problem appears to be that the planned location of the treatment plant is in the 100-year flood zone. This probably means that our engineer will have to raise the level of the sand filter to above the 100-year flood zone or move its location to outside of the zone. 

Adjournment:
There being no other formal business to come before the Board, a motion to adjourn was made by Marilyn Meyer and seconded by Rich Hirsch at 9:52 a.m., with all Directors in approval.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rich Hirsch
Recording Secretary

Approved this 15th day of May, 2007.

___________________________	_________________________________
Secretary	Chairman

May 15, 2007