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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-10-14 Agenda Packet - Board (16) Agenda Item # l� M4M RIM o To: Board of Directors From: Peter Holzmeister Date: October 10, 2003 Subject: Donner Tract customer laterals Why this matter is before the Board: This is a matter that appeared on the last board agenda but was not completed. Staff was asked to provide additional information at this meeting History: When the original request was made by property owners at Donner Lake for TDPUD to take over the Donner Lake water system, Donner Tract was not included in the plan. It was a small privately owned water system separate from the system owned by Del Oro Water Company. After we began the process of acquiring the Donner Lake water system I had conversations with Tom Bennet, then the President of the Donner Tract Homeowners Association, and with other members of the Donner Tract Board of Directors. Eventually the Donner Tract people agreed to become part of the assessment district. The idea at that time was to build the new water system such that it would be available to serve Donner Tract if its private water system ever failed. So Donner Tract property owners would pay the assessment of $6,925.52 on their property bills, but would not actually connect to the water system and would not receive a monthly water bill. Then things changed. Nevada County Department of Health ordered Donner Tract to either make improvements in the operation of its water system or shut it down and receive water service from TDPUD. So at that point Donner Tract decided to shut down its water system and asked to receive water service from TDPUD. Since none of the other existing Donner Lake water customers were charged a standard District connection charge, we did not charge Donner Tract a connection charge. Those costs were part of the assessment district charge. When we began to construct the water system through Donner Tract we began to discuss with the property owners the connection to their service laterals to the homes. The old Donner Tract water system was constructed without regard to streets, easements or property lines. It was constructed from the spring box to the homes through back yards, front yards or whatever worked. It was a private water system so normal public water system design did not apply. The system served Donner Tract quite well for many years. TDPUD builds its water system in roads and easements and sets a service box at a property corner. Our traditional practice requires the homeowner to construct the service line from the home to the TDPUD service box. In Donner Tract we built the water system in their private roads and set service boxes at property corners as best we could, given the unusual arrangement of roads and driveways in the Tract. In many cases, because of the way the Donner Tract water system had been developed over the years, there was no house service lateral near our service box. However, Southwest Gas was constructing a gas line to each home. We suggested that homeowners joint trench with Southwest gas to have the water service lines constructed to their homes. This option would not work in all cases because of the path chosen by Southwest Gas to get to the home. There was no single plan that worked for everyone. In some cases the old Donner Tract pipeline was close to the TDPUD service box and could be used as the house service line. In some cases the homeowner could joint trench with Southwest Gas. In other cases the homeowner was on his own to construct a service lateral from the house to the TDPUD service box. None of this is the result of anything done by TDPUD. It is the result of the original construction of the Donner Tract water system. In an effort to help the homeowners of Donner Tract, Neil Kaufman worked with our contractor and Southwest Gas to provide for the joint trenching options where practicable. The Board met on October 1 and discussed these matters with Scott Saibini. As a result of that discussion the Board asked for answers to three questions. 1. Did the documents resulting in formation of the assessment district state one way or the other that the District would fund house laterals? No. The formation documents are silent on the matter of house laterals. The documents talk about construction of a public water system, the facilities that TDPUD would normally be responsible for. I would not have expected the assessment district documents to mention house laterals because they are not part of the public water system that TDPUD constructs, owns, or maintains. Z If it is the policy of the District to construct the public water system to the point of the meter box and the homeowner is then responsible to construct the lateral from the meter box to the house, would it be proper for the District to construct that house lateral for customers at Donner Tract? I spoke with Dennis DeCuir regarding this question. I did not learn anything that we did not already know. He told me what attorneys have told us before. After talking with Dennis I believe that the case could be made that District payment of the cost to construct the house lateral could be construed as a gift of public funds. We are required to treat customers equitably. We are not supposed to pay for house laterals in certain cases and have the homeowner pay for house laterals in other cases. Once we adopt a policy we are supposed to adhere to it or change it for everyone. 3. Are the circumstances surrounding the property owned by Mr. John Shreck sufficiently unique to suggest that the District should pay for the house lateral to his home. The facts seem to be that John Shreck was not given the option to construct his own line and possibly do so less expensively than the line constructed by Herbert Suter Construction. One option would be for Mr. Shreck to construct his own line at this time and not use nor pay for the line constructed by Suter. Recommendation: 1. 1 recommend that the Board deny the request of Scott Saibini. Z 1 recommend that the Board require Mr. Shreck to pay for the house lateral constructed by Suter if he chooses to use it. cuTr UCK E Public Utility District 1 Memorandum To: Peter Holzmeister From: Ed Taylor Date: 10/10/03 Date of Board Meeting: October 14, 2003 Subject: Donner Tract 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD At the October 1st Board Meeting, the Board heard Donner Tract owner's complaints regarding the cost to bring the water service line from the water service box to the customer's house. The Donner Tract homeowners complained that the District had deceived them. They argued that the District had made promises to pay for the water service lines and then later changed their minds and began billing the homeowners. They also argued that Southwest Gas was paying the PUD a portion of the cost for trenching, thus double billing for the project. The Board of Directors decided at the October 1st meeting to continue discussions on this subject at the October 14th meeting. 2. HISTORY Design The Donner Tract pipeline was a complicated project from the start. The District knew that it was important to involve representatives of the Donner Tract during the Design phase, as well as throughout the process of bidding and construction. The District did not want to design something that didn't work. The question was "how do we provide service"? The Donner Tract homeowners Association provided the District with information they had on their existing system. In turn, the District provided Mr. Saibini with all pertinent design information including Bid Documents and Bid results after the Bid opening. The first phase of the design was to determine how service could be provided to all the customers. This included the evaluation of service all the way to the house. This was done to minimize the cost to the customer for the meter to the house service line. I instructed Neil Kaufman to design the entire project, including the customer's line. The next phase of the design was to identify options to reduce the cost (i.e. joint trench with Southwest Gas). The Last phase of the design was to determine who pays for what? Meetings On four occasions District staff met with members of the Homeowners Assoc. to discuss the project. These members represented themselves as the responsible parties able to make decisions on behalf of their homeowners and in turn keep their homeowners apprised of any actions being taken. The first meeting occurred on February 25th of this year and among a number of issues, service laterals were discussed. Neil Kaufman was the only District representative present for this meeting. The second meeting with the representatives of Donner Tract was on March 5th and District staffs, Neil Kaufman and Ed Taylor were present. On May 22nd, Peter Holzmeister, Ed Taylor, and Neil Kaufman attended another meeting with the Donner Tract representatives. The fourth meeting with the Donner Tract representatives occurred on August 5th and was attended by Neil Kaufman and Peter Holzmeister. Construction Throughout the months of May and June, the District Engineer, met with Donner Tract homeowners on site to discuss the water service line options. Each meeting took between half of an hour to an hour to go over the project plan. Every homeowner was contacted via a letter, a personal visit to the home, or a call to discuss the options. The homeowners were also given the option to hire their own contractor to install the lines. Mr. Saibini was unable to hire a contractor and requested that Herbert Suter Construction (the District's contractor) perform the work on their behalf. The District negotiated in good faith with the representatives of the Donner Tract Homeowners the financial impact the project would have on the Donner Tract Homeowners. In order to provide service to these homes and minimize the financial burden to the homeowner, the District worked with Southwest Gas to share the cost of trenching. 3. NEW INFORMATION The Sierra Sun published an article in the October 3rd issue outlining the Board meeting of the 1st. The article pointed out that the fault was with Neil Kaufman, District Engineer. At no time did Neil work independently of the Team. He was directed by myself to proceed with the project and did so with great respect for the homeowner wishes. The District negotiated with the homeowners, involved them in the entire process from Design to Construction and gave them the option to hire their own contractor. At no point did the District deceive or attempt to deceive the Donner Tract Homeowners. 4. RECOMMENDATION I recommend that the Board deny this request and not place the funding of the Donner Tract Homes on the shoulders of the rest of the Donner Lake Assessment District.