From Howard:
Q- What is the status of the USDA grant/loan?
A- Our application was submitted about 3 years ago. Our application has been stalled. Why is it stalled? Because USDA requires that we have a 40year water purchase agreement with Handy and until we have that agreement, USDA will not process our application. Handy has refused to give us that agreement unless we add a $5 /1000 gallon surcharge to our sewer rate. Could we do that? Yes we could. That would increase our cost for sewer by an estimated $75-100K/year. The downside is if we agree to the sewer increase and USDA does not offer us a favorable grant/loan proposal, or we decide not to accept their offer, then we would still have to pay the increased sewer cost.
Q- What effect will the Current Federal halt on grants have on our ability to secure a USDA grant/loan?
A- My understanding is that this hold is temporary, but there is no way to know for sure at this point.
Q- In the past two years how many water leaks have we had, how much did they cost to repair and did we do it in house or hire a contractor?
A- We have not been keeping track of these numbers so we don’t have complete information. We have purchased new software which will give us the ability to track this information going forward. I can tell you that we have used an outside contractor at least 3 times in the past year because either we did not have the equipment we needed to do the repair or the situation was deemed too dangerous for our staff.
Q- If we sell the system to a third party will I have to pay for water when I am away? I shut my water off when I am not here.
A- If a third party buys the water system you will still have to pay a base rate for water whether you are here or not. They will install a meter on your property and will charge you a fee to turn it off and another fee to turn it back on.
Q- I would like to volunteer on the water committee. How can I join the committee?
A- There are sign-up sheets at the office for all of our committees. Just put your name on the list. The new board will approve those committees at our March meeting.
Q- Why does our engineering report indicate that meters would cost as much as $2000/lot? My research indicates that meters run from $50-380 and can be installed by a plumber.
A- The $2000 figure as I understand it was based on a very high end meter with the ability to be read remotely. A less expensive meter could be installed but could require additional maintenance personnel to go around and read them manually. It is a trade off, but could be done either way.
Q- Why do we have 40 valves that are not working?
A- Because for decades we have not operated these valves. Most water systems have a maintenance program to regularly exercise valves in the system. When valves are not exercised they become frozen, like a rusty hinge. The concern at this point is that trying to operate them could result in them breaking. That is why we want to hire a contractor to perform this effort so that if they break, the resources and capability are available to deal with the situation.