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Water & Sanitation District Articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, July 18 – Board considers new roles for Merrick and Co.

By James Howald

The El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA or the Loop) board met in July to hear to hear suggestions for next steps from John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co., who also serves as the Loop’s project planning and workflow manager, and to consider a new contract between the Loop and Merrick. Board President Jessie Shaffer presented invoices from the previous month. The board also held an executive session, which was attended by representatives from all the participating districts, after which no action was taken.

Will Colorado Springs Utilities play a role?

Kuosman told the board that the option for Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to have a near-term partnership with the Loop was still being considered. The possibility that the Loop could make use of CSU’s pipelines and its Edward W. Bailey Water Treatment Plant has been discussed for months. Kuosman explained that a formal request to CSU had been made by the Loop and he expected CSU to provide a timeline and preliminary costs by mid-August. The possibility that the Loop could make use of CSU’s pipelines and excess water treatment capacity has a direct impact on the final cost of the Loop’s project.

Kuosman also said CSU is studying indirect potable reuse of water. “Indirect potable reuse” refers to systems where treated effluent from wastewater treatment facilities is released into a stream or river and then an equal amount of water is diverted from the stream or river to be reused by customers. The Loop is an indirect potable reuse design, with effluent from treatment facilities in northern El Paso County being released into Monument Creek and traveling downstream to Fountain Creek, where it is diverted, treated, and then conveyed north to customers for reuse. Kuosman said there were lots of overlap between CSU’s long-term plans and the Loop. CSU’s goals aligned with the Loop, he explained, but CSU’s timeline was years behind the Loop’s schedule.

New contract with Merrick for next phase

Kuosman told the board that its current contract with Merrick covered activities up to the drafting of the Member Agency Financing and Contribution Agreement, which defines the benefits and responsibilities of the participating districts. That contract is now complete, he said, and the board should consider a new agreement with Merrick for services related to the next phase of the project.

He briefly discussed financing options for the Loop, which include use of municipal bonds, federal grants, and public/private partnerships. He said he was working with Piper Sandler on financing options and with EPCOR, a company that invests in infrastructure projects and recoups its investment over the long term.

Kuosman said that the Loop’s current contract with Merrick covered project planning, workflow management, and advancing a conceptual design to the point where costs could be estimated. He suggested that the contract with Merrick for the phase two scope of service should include:

  • Project management, including attending board meetings, meetings with other agencies, and weekly phone calls.
  • Securing easements for 30 miles of pipelines.
  • Development of a hydraulic model for the project that will be used by engineering companies.
  • Exploring federal grants, federal programs, and public/private partnerships.
  • Pumping and storage, treatment and processing, and pipeline designs.
  • Putting BBNA’s conceptual design into an operating agreement for the participating districts to sign.
  • Long-term staffing plans.

Invoices

In his financial report, Shaffer mentioned four invoices that had arrived in the last month:

  • JVA Inc. for $5,519.
  • Kimley Horn for $3,150.
  • Spencer Fane LLC for $4,202.
  • The American Company for $18,341.

The board voted unanimously to accept the financial report.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive legal advice from the Loop’s attorney and to discuss negotiating positions. The session was attended by representatives from the participating districts, to whom the Member Agency Financing and Contribution Agreement was presented. No votes were taken after the executive session.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Loop Water Authority articles

Forest Lakes Metropolitan District and Pinon Pines Metropolitan Districts 2 and 3, June 14 – 2023 budgets amended

By Natalie Barszcz

The Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD) and Pinon Pines Metropolitan District (PPMD) 2 and 3 boards held a joint special meeting on June 14 to conduct public hearings on the amended 2023 budgets for FLMD and PPMD’s 2 and 3. The boards also adopted a second amendment to the FLMD and PPMD’s 2 and 3 budgets appropriating funds for the respective districts.

Note: The joint meeting was held via teleconference, the first meeting since December 2023. See www.ocn.me/v24n1.htm#flmd. A quorum could not be met for a special meeting scheduled on June 28 to approve the 2023 audits.

Secretary Joe Loidolt, president of Classic Homes, was excused.

2023 budget amendments

President George Lenz, executive vice president of finance for Classic Homes, opened the public hearing on the 2023 budget amendments for FLMD and PPMD’s 2 and 3. No comments were heard, and the public hearing was closed.

District Manager Ann Nichols said she had already amended the budget for FLMD for the conveyance of public infrastructure the district receives at year end for the Falcon Commerce Center phase 2 and FLMD filings 5, 6, and 7. Developers spent a significant amount on installing public roads, which creates a liability for the developers until those assets are transferred. The district immediately made the following entries to dedicate the public roads to the appropriate entities:

  • El Paso County filings 5, 6, and 7
  • The Town of Monument—Falcon Commerce Center

Nichols said there is no expenditure, just a journal entry the auditors insist is covered by an appropriation, and the board was asked to review the worksheet and approve the resolutions for:

  • The additional appropriated amount of $9.5 million for road infrastructure in FLMD, a contribution to other governments.
  • An additional $600 for the liability insurance increase for PPMD 2 (West Valley).
  • An increase in funds for the 2023 audit for PPMD 3 (Falcon Commerce Center).

The district had allocated $1,000 in the budget for a request for audit, but due to the level of activity in PPMD 3, a full-blown audit was required for about $6,000, said Nichols.

Treasurer/Assistant Secretary Douglas Stimple, chief executive officer of Classic Homes, said there had been no requirement to make similar corrections before audit presentations for any of the other special districts Classic Homes had developed.

Nichols said the district’s auditors, Hoelting & Co. Inc., had notified the district that even though there is not an actual expenditure of funds, a note in the audit would appear stating the district had exceeded its appropriations. It is worth the effort to make the journal entry corrections and appropriations before submitting the audit to the state, and the auditors agreed, said Nichols.

The board made a blanket motion to approve three resolutions appropriating funds for the three districts.

The meeting adjourned at 10:35 a.m.

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Meetings are usually held quarterly or when necessary, on the first Monday of the month at 4 p.m., via Teleconference. A special meeting will be held in July (date to be confirmed) for the 2023 audit presentations. Meeting notices are posted at least 24 hours in advance at forestlakesmetrodistrict.com. For general questions, contact Nichols at 719-327-5810, anicholsduffy@aol.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Forest Lakes Metropolitan District articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, June 10 – Residents question development and water availability

By James Howald

In June, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board heard concerns from residents regarding the future water supply, especially as it affects the proposed residential development Monument Ridge East (MRE). District Engineer Ariel Hacker updated the board on the pace of development and its impact on revenue the district expects from tap fees. The board heard operational reports, rescheduled its next meeting and planned a workshop. The meeting ended with an executive session, after which no action was taken.

Is there enough water for MRE?

During the public comment portion of its meeting, the board addressed questions about the availability of water to serve the MRE residential development, which is planned for the land at the northernmost edge of El Paso County, just south of County Line Road and east of I-25. About 444 residences in total, some detached single-family residences, some duplexes, and some fourplexes, are planned for the site.

Resident Lanette Prosseda reminded the board about the history of the Misty Acres development, which was originally to have just over 400 single-family residences but needed to be reduced in size in 2005 due to concerns about lack of water. This happened before the district’s purchase of the Woodmoor Ranch and its water rights, she said. She questioned whether there would be enough water for MRE.

Steve King, Monument mayor pro tem, said he understood MRE would need to buy supplemental water from the district, which comes at a much higher cost than the standard one-half-acre-foot of water per acre of land that is the standard water service in WWSD’s service area. He also mentioned a concern over the number of impervious surfaces that the development would entail.

Resident Gordon Reichal asked if the restrictions on outdoor watering meant the board was concerned about the availability of water.

District Manager Jessie Shaffer explained that the restrictions on water were primarily intended to manage issues of peak demand, not total availability of water. Handling peak demand was a costly issue for the district, he said. The water restrictions are aimed at leveling the peaks of consumption and reducing the overall costs of water delivery, Shaffer said. He added that demand management is “just good stewardship” of a resource and everyone should be mindful of the need to conserve water.

Shaffer went on to say that WWSD is not a land use authority and did not have the legal responsibility or authority to decide on land use issues: “We can’t tell anyone what they can build.” Land use decisions in the WWSD service area are made by the county, he said.

Shaffer said the district drafts a Long Range Plan (LRP) every five years that details the water rights to ground and surface water owned by the district. The current LRP, which estimates water needs at buildout, allows for 600 single-family residences on the land that MRE would occupy. He said the district’s supplemental water policy was designed to help ensure development paid for its demands on the district.

Board President Brian Bush said the district has enough water to serve “full buildout.” He said he was not on the board when the decision was made to purchase the Woodmoor Ranch and its renewable water rights, but he thought that decision was sound. He said the board was not able to help those who opposed MRE in any configuration. He suggested residents take their concerns to the county Planning Commission or the county commissioners.

King said his main concern is the impact MRE would have on the conservation easement in Douglas County immediately to the north. He estimated that only 15% of MRE’s land would be permeable, and said he believed that was a valid reason not to move forward with the development. Douglas County has protested the plans for MRE out of concerns for the conservation easement, he said.

Growth slows, reducing water tap fee revenue

In response to questions from the board at a previous meeting about expected revenues from water tap fees, Hacker told the board that her calculations showed that development in the WWSD service area was slowing. The estimate of new water taps used in 2024 was close to the actual number of taps sold, she said. The Cloverleaf development just east of Lewis-Palmer High School purchased 15 taps in the first half of 2024 and is expected to purchase another 15 in the last six months of the year. The Monument Junction East development has purchased 14 taps and is expected to purchase 48 more by the end of the year.

A 3/4-inch water tap, the most common size for residential uses, costs $37,235 and a sewer tap costs $10, 388.

Hacker said the Waterside, North Bay, MRE, and Monument Junction West developments are not expected to purchase taps until 2025.

At previous meetings, the board discussed the possibility of raising tap fees in mid-2024. Historically, the board has raised tap fees only once per year as a part of its budgeting cycle. Shaffer said growth was slowing, in part due to high interest rates, and he recommended leaving tap fees unchanged until next year. Bush said he did not recall the board ever raising tap fees mid-year.

Operational reports

In his financial report, Treasurer Roy Martinez commented that revenue from supplemental water service was at 100% of the budgeted amount, and income from leases had seen an increase from the district’s lease of a portion of Woodmoor Ranch to Enerfin Renewables Inc. to be used for a solar array.

Martinez said the district had added an additional bank account that was used for a money market account that generates much higher interest.

The board voted unanimously to accept the financial report.

In his report, Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine said water loss had returned to 10%, which was normal. He reported no breaks or failures for the previous month. He reported a loss of water pressure in some houses due to an error made in the installation of a pressure reducing valve required by the Monument Junction East development.

Next meeting rescheduled

The board voted to delay its next meeting to July 15 to allow an additional week to work on the 2025 budget data.

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The next meeting is scheduled for July 15 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District articles

Monument Sanitation District, June 19 – 2023 audit accepted; repair hits snag

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

In June, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board heard an audit report from Derek Watada of Olson, Reyes & Sauerwein LLC, the district’s auditor. In his Manager’s Report, District Manager Mark Parker discussed a change to the plan to repair a sewer line that runs under Highway 105 adjacent to the Taco Bell restaurant.

Audit shows no concerns

Watada thanked the MSD staff who helped with the audit. He described the district’s finances as “business as usual.” He mentioned that the grant MSD received as part of the American Recovery Plan Act, which is being used to repair a sewer main connecting the Willow Springs neighborhood to the Tri-Lakes Waste Water Treatment Facility, was a new category in the audit. The district’s net position, or equity in MSD’s infrastructure, increased from $5 million to $9.4 million, primarily due to a lift station built by the developer of Willow Springs and then donated to the district, which will maintain it.

Watada asked the board to be aware of the need to separate duties, pointing out that it was difficult to compartmentalize duties in an organization with such a small staff. Parker pointed out that Haynie & Co., the district’s accounting company, assisted Accounts Administrator Cheran Allsup and Parker in their efforts to separate all duties involving financial matters.

The board voted unanimously to accept the audit report.

Unexpected spot repair needed

In his Manager’s Report, Parker told the board that the repair to a sewer line running under Highway 105 was planned to be complete by June 4, but that deadline had not been met. After telling MSD that the pipeline could be repaired by relining it, with no need to excavate and interrupt traffic on the highway, the contractor, Aegion/Inasituform, had changed its position and now said a spot repair was needed. Parker said he believed that change of position invalidated the district’s contract with Aegion/Insituform. Parker said he was organizing a meeting with the contractor and GMS Engineering Inc., the district’s consulting engineers.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for July 17. See colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, June 20 – Loop water reuse project discussed

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

In June, District Manager Jeff Hodge gave the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board a detailed update on the status of the water reuse project, often called The Loop, in which DWSD is an active participant, along with Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District and Cherokee Metropolitan District. The board also considered a recommendation from Brett Gracely, a project engineer with LRE Water, to lease surface water from DWSD’s Willow Creek Ranch to the Arkansas Groundwater and Reservoir Association (AGRA). (Arkansas in this instance refers to the Arkansas River, not the state.) The board also heard financial and operational reports.

The Loop focuses on financing, member obligations, and easements

Hodge told the board that The Loop leadership is drafting a Member Agency Financing and Contribution Agreement that will define the benefits and responsibilities of participating agencies. He mentioned that some of the agencies are seeing personnel changes that will affect who represents them on The Loop board. A “Go or No Go” decision is expected from participating agencies in September. The agreement will help The Loop get the bonds needed to complete the project, Hodge said. DWSD was slated to receive 500 acre-feet of water per year, roughly 13% of the water produced, at a cost between $20 million and $25 million. That amount is equal to the cost of drilling eight wells, Hodge said. He pointed out that the average productive life of a well is 40 years, but The Loop, which will allow customers to reuse return flows from DWSD’s treatment facility after they have made their way through the watershed to Fountain Creek, will have a useful lifetime closer to 100 years.

Recalling the history of The Loop, Hodge explained that when American Recovery Plan Act funds became available in 2021, The Loop’s board asked for $145 million, enough to complete the entire project, but received $4 million, enough to reimburse the seed money that participating agencies invested in the project. Initially, the participating agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding to get the project underway, and then formed the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority

Hodge said The Loop was still discussing how it could partner with Colorado Springs Utilities, which has its own goals for water reuse. He also pointed out that some of the initiatives expected on the ballot in November could impact the financing for DWSD.

At The Loop meeting held earlier in the day on June 20, a contract was awarded to a company that will manage the acquisition of the easements needed by the pipeline that will convey The Loop’s water from Fountain Creek to customers in northern El Paso County. Purchasing the easements represents a risk for the project, Hodge said. See The Loop board meeting article on page < 17 >.

Board President Wayne Vanderschuere asked Hodge to get the agreement to the DWSD board for review as soon as possible so that the board would have enough time to review it thoroughly.

District decides to lease water

Gracely told the board that due to heavier than usual precipitation over the last year, some of the reservoirs where DWSD stores water are full, leading to the risk that some of DWSD’s water stored in those reservoirs might need to be released rather than delivered to customers. AGRA has a beneficial use for surface water from the Willow Creek Ranch owned by DWSD and stored in the Pueblo Reservoir. Permission was granted by the state’s engineer for AGRA to use a portion of DWSD’s water stored in the Pueblo Reservoir, Gracely said.

Gracely asked the board to give Hodge the authority to enter a revised or new lease with AGRA, subject to review by the district’s water counsel. The board voted unanimously to give Hodge that authority.

Operational reports

In his financial report, Hodge said water sales were on track to meet revenue goals in 2024. In 2023 abundant rainfall meant residents had less need to water lawns and gardens and that reduced the district’s revenue from water sales. Hodge anticipated that tap fees would generate higher than budgeted revenue because of a 44-home residential development planned by Classic Homes adjacent to the Big R Store east of I-25. Property taxes were being received as expected, Hodge said.

Hodge said legal review of the district’s agreement with The Loop would raise legal fees slightly, and upgrades to the district’s phone system would raise the large office equipment budget line item.

The board voted unanimously to approve the financial report.

Water Operator Ronny Wright told the board progress was being made in returning Well 16A to production. Issues with Well 1A were being analyzed, he said. Wright said he expected the repairs to the district’s water storage tanks to be complete before July.

On the wastewater side, Chief Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman reported E. coli numbers were down from the previous month at about 14% of the allowable level.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 18 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

Triview Metropolitan District, June 20 – Wastewater processing explored; legislative changes raise concern

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on June 20, the board received updates on the water sold and wastewater discrepancy at the Upper Monument Creek Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility (UMCRWWTF) and received legislative updates that caused concern over future revenue, density, and artificial turf replacement. The board received multiple updates and discussed funding for the Higby Road widening project. The board held an executive session to discuss water and land acquisitions and development incentives.

Wastewater processing discrepancy

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said that he had met with District Manager Jeff Hodge and Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman of Donala Water and Wastewater District, and Executive Director/Manager Bill Burks of Tri-Lakes Wastewater Treatment Facility (TLWWTF) about the excessive amount of wastewater leaving the UMCRWWTF from the TMD side of the plant. The plan is to meet at the plant to try to discover the cause. Hopefully Burks can help brainstorm the issue and discuss how he operates the TLWWTF, said Sheffield.

District Manager James McGrady said about 2 million gallons of treated effluent is being picked up per month within the plant. The outgoing flume could be inaccurately reading the wastewater effluent output, but the final amount of treated effluent should be less, not more than the untreated effluent entering the plant, he said.

Sheffield said the staff is taking a holistic approach as a team, exploring all avenues to understand the discrepancies in water pumped, treated, sold, and processed through the UMCRWWTF.

Legislative update

District counsel George Rowley said SB-233 addresses property tax limits and imposes a limitation on special districts to not collect more than 5.5% in property tax revenue than the previous year. That is not much revenue if inflation is 10% and the district should keep the limitation in mind when developing the budget, he said. The bill exempts new growth, but another increase in assessed valuation similar to the past few years would apply the limitation. The bill applies to the property taxes and not the debt service.

Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart said the bill is an incentive for the district to assess the full mill levy.

Rowley said the district could hold an election to vote out of the restriction, but it would be a hard sell and the restriction begins for tax year 2025, he said.

President Mark Melville asked about the legislation preventing commercial, industrial, institutional, and government entities from installing artificial turf or invasive plant species.

Rowley said the idea is to create areas that don’t have growing space and prevent heat sinks and chemical exposure concerns. The legislation will apply to the future replacement of the Sanctuary Pointe Park artificial turf. See snapshot on page < 20 >.

He also said HB-1152 prevents municipalities and counties from prohibiting the construction of accessory dwelling units on properties, such as he/she sheds and mother-in-law suites. Renting out the additional units would create additional density on properties.

Vice Chair Anthony Sexton said the bill could also create double usage on one tap.

McGrady said the district is set up mostly for one dwelling and one tap on each lot. A change to the tap structure will be needed if a multiple service line is required on any one lot, he said.

Melville said a solution would be to drive up the water sold tiers and make it cheaper to buy a tap.

Operational updates

McGrady said the following:

  • The Northern Delivery System (NDS) is about 96% complete and the electrics are installed at the pump house. The facility that will operate the NDS is secured by a fence. The district expects to turn the pumps on and begin testing on July 15.
  • The district is using its decreed Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. (FMIC) water shares and about 400-acre feet purchased from Pueblo to provide the necessary 800-acre feet needed to run the NDS through May 2025.
  • An additional cost of about $993,300 for the unexpected 120.4 acre-feet will be wired on June 21 to the two additional land owners who also decided to sell water rights to the district through the Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. (AVIC).
  • The district is waiting for its AVIC shares to be approved in the water courts. The additional water shares in conjunction with spring run-off will be needed to run the NDS from mid-2025.
  • The district is depositing water back into Stonewall Springs Reservoir in a paper exchange with Pueblo.
  • The Buena Vista land annexation plan, plat, and request for a zone change was submitted. The masterplan for the project is approved by the town of Buena Vista and the district plans to construct recharge ponds on the 296 acres purchased by TMD in late 2020.
  • The district is adding a pick-up lane on Leather Chaps Drive at Bear Creek Elementary School. The construction is expected to be completed mid-July. The lane was installed at D38’s request to elevate safety for students during drop-off and pick-up times.
  • The Promontory Pointe overlay project was completed June 6.

Sexton said Martin Marietta had done a “nice job” on the mill and overlay project; it was well organized, but he had received multiple complaints from residents about the black footprints and tread marks on sidewalks and some driveways.

McGrady said from personal experience the black marks will come off, but it will take a couple of months.

Financial report

Sexton said the graph showing sales tax revenue from Monument shows the district’s portion is $20,000 less than collected last year.

McGrady said he discussed the tracking of sales tax revenue with Monument, and although the town purchased a software package to track sales tax, it had no staff to run the program. The town did hire a contractor to begin tracking sales tax. Upon investigation, he immediately noticed that no sales tax had been collected for the Tractor Supply Store for several months. Those are the types of errors that the town needs to get after, McGrady said.

Sexton said the sales taxes should be filed with the state monthly, and Monument will need to identify the businesses and contact the state.

McGrady said the district had almost $5.2 million in the Wastewater Enterprise Fund, and $3.8 million in the General Fund. About $1.8 million will be needed from the enterprise fund to pay for the remaining NDS balance.

Melville said the district needs to let the general fund grow to fund road repairs that will cost about $4 to $5 million every 10 to 12 years to avoid using a bond.

The district estimates that about 55 taps will be sold by the end of June. It budgeted 75 taps for 2024 and collects about $45,000 per residential tap. The taps are mainly from the homes built south of Higby Road.

McGrady said the district closed on the Colorado Water Conservation Board loan on June 15. The loan was for $5.2 million at 2.05% to pay for the Stonewall Springs Reservoir project. It is the crown jewel of the district, he said. See www.ocn.me/v23n11.htm#tmd.

The board unanimously approved the May financial report.

Higby Road widening project update

Director Jason Gross requested an update on when the Higby Road widening project would begin and asked about the funding now that the Zeal for Living apartments are approved.

McGrady said the project will cost about $10 million to $12 million. Funding will be a combination of a number of things, including road and bridge fees for both residential apartments and commercial property that will generate about $2 million. The developers will contribute, and the remaining $8 million will generated by Sub-district A issuing bonds (debt service) for filings 1-6 in the south Higby Road development. Homes are going in and bonds can be issued, but the payments will be low initially and increase as the development grows and the commercial area is built. Kiewit provided the estimate for the widening project, and the district will pay $750,000 for a water pipeline this summer. The developers are installing storm drainage. The preliminary utility work is expected to be installed this year. The financing will need to be in place before the road project begins, but the growth is there and plats are pre-approved, he said.

Speeding concerns

Director Amanda Carlton said a resident of Sanctuary Pointe requested the district install flashing speed signs along Sanctuary Rim Drive in both directions before and after Sanctuary Rim Park, to help slow traffic and ensure safety, just like the signs installed along Gleneagle Drive.

McGrady said the signs cost about $7,500 each and the district will look into adding signs.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 7:43 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes sections 24-6-402(4)(a), for the purpose of acquisition of water/land, and 24-6-402(4)(b) to determine the positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategies for negotiations, and instructing negotiators as it relates to potential development incentives.

Sheffield confirmed that after the meeting returned to the regular session no action was taken, and the meeting adjourned at 9:18 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for July 18 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, June 20 – Board pursues easements

By James Howald

In June, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) board met to hear a request from John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co. who also serves as the Loop’s project planning and workflow manager, to award a contract for right-of-way acquisition services to Western States Land Services LLC. Board President Jessie Shaffer presented invoices from the previous month.

An agenda item to accept a secondary director from the Cherokee Metropolitan District, currently represented on the Loop board by Amy Lathen, was tabled until the next meeting. The board also held an executive session after which no action was taken.

Easement acquisition advances

Kuosman told the board that he had received responses from four companies to his solicitation for a contractor to help with the acquisition of easements needed by the Loop project. Of the four, Kuosman recommended Western States Land Services LLC. He said Western States would provide:

  • Planning and decision making, estimated at $10,000.
  • A preliminary assessment of easements needed, including utility easements, estimated at $7,500.
  • Recommendations for the cost of each easement, estimated at $5,000.
  • Purchase of the easements, estimated at $325,000.
  • Landowner coordination, estimated at $25,000.
  • Post-construction service, estimated at $15,000.

Kuosman asked the board to authorize him to work with Spencer Fane LLC, the Loop’s legal advisors, on an agreement with Western States. The board voted unanimously to authorize Kuosman to negotiate on its behalf.

Invoices

In his financial report, Shaffer mentioned five invoices that had arrived in the last month:

  • Fromm and Co. for $920.
  • JVA Inc. for 35,158.
  • Kimley Horn for $4,140.
  • Spencer Fane LLC for $5,923
  • The American Co. for $32,586.

The board voted unanimously to accept the financial report.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive legal advice from the Loop’s attorney and to discuss negotiating positions. No votes were taken after the executive session.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for July 18 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see www.loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, May 20 – Audit of 2023 budget shows financial health

By James Howald

In May, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board heard an audit presentation of its 2023 budget from Uli Keeley of Prospective Business Solutions. The board awarded a construction contract for well equipment and site work required by a new well at the Central Water Treatment Plant (CWTP). It heard updates on other projects, comments from residents, and operational reports.

2023 audit gets “unmodified opinion”

Keeley told the board that the audit process was smooth and efficient due to the preparatory work done by Office Manager Cory Lynch and District Manager Jessie Shaffer. The audit report determined that “financial statements are fairly presented in all material respects.”

In her summary of the district’s finances, Keeley said total assets including capital are $86 million and total liabilities are $16 million. The district’s net position (the difference between assets and liabilities) was $67 million at the end of December 2023, an increase of $489,000 over the previous year.

Keeley said the most significant change over the previous year was that several projects were not completed by the end of 2022 but were completed in 2023 and therefore became depreciable assets in 2023. Costs associated with WWSD’s participation in the Loop water reuse project were also new items in the 2023 budget.

Board President Brian Bush asked Keeley why leases of two portions of the Woodmoor Ranch were represented as an asset in the audit report. Keeley said the Governmental Accounting Board (GASB) had changed the rules concerning leases. Keeley explained that land leased out is a receivable and GASB requires such land to be on the statement of net position and on the statement of liabilities.

Bush said he was concerned the footnote covering this issue made further leasing of ranch land a “done deal.” He said any further leases would be new agreements. Keeley said it was difficult for her to make the accounting for the district’s current leases concise and clear under the new rules. Shaffer suggested that the footnote be amended to highlight the minimum amount that the district might earn from any future leases.

District lawyer Erin Smith pointed out the board could accept the audit report with direction to staff to clarify the footnote. Keeley said the report had not yet been sent to the state.

The board voted unanimously to accept the audit report with the provision that staff will clarify the current lease with Enerfin Renewables LLC and to review the updated report at the next board meeting.

Construction contract awarded

Shaffer introduced Josh McGibbon and Kelsey Traxinger, both Project Engineers at JVA Consulting Engineers, to tell the board about bids received for installation of well equipment and site work at the well under construction at the CWTP. The well will produce water from the Dawson aquifer.

Traxinger said three bids had been received: Hydro Resources had bid $192,610; Meraki Engineers had bid $245,954 and Moltz Constructors had bid $310,510. She said Hydro Resources had submitted the lowest bid and had experience working on other projects, including wells, for the district. She recommended the board accept the bid from Hydro Resources. Shaffer suggested adding $28,000 in change order contingency funding to the contract. The board voted unanimously to award the contract to Hydro Resources.

Project updates

McGibbon and Traxinger took advantage of their time before the board to provide updates on other projects JVA is managing for the district.

The Well 22 building on County Line Road is nearly complete, the downhole equipment has been installed in the well, and asphalt was laid the week before the board meeting.

Four meters for a sewer flow model study were installed the previous week and will gather data about sewer flows for the next four weeks. Peak sewer flows typically occur in May. The data collected will be used to determine which sewer lines should be replaced to increase capacity.

The design of an additional water storage tank adjacent to the South Water Treatment Plant is 30% complete. The next step is submission of the plans to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for a review that typically takes five to six months.

Two residents question new meters

During public comments, residents Charles and Laura Curtin told the board they did not want the new water meters the district is implementing installed in their home due to their concerns about 5G and radiation. They asked to be allowed to continue using one of the water meters that the district is replacing.

Laura Curtin said she was insulted and threatened by the district staff who came to her house to update her water meter. She said she asked the installers for technical information about the new meters and was refused. Her husband sent the district an email requesting information about the new meters. They intend to present the information the district provides to the Mayo Clinic and Harvard University. Curtin said she has heard the new meters may cause speech issues in children and growths on the sides of women’s heads.

Bush said the personnel issues raised by the Curtins were not proper for a board meeting. He asked Shaffer to discuss the behavior of district staff with the Curtins in a separate meeting. He said technical information about the meters would be provided to the Curtins. He asked Shaffer and Operations Supervisor Dan LaFontaine to explain how the new meters had been selected.

Shaffer explained that battery life was the main issue with the older meters, which were originally installed in 2006. Those meters use spread spectrum radio technology to transmit water usage data back to the district for billing purposes. The new meters, which are more robust, use the cellular network to transmit data, using Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology not 5G. LTE is a wireless data transmission standard that is a part of 4G mobile networking. The new meters transmit only data, not voice or video, Shaffer said, and are compatible with the AquaHawk back-end software that the district is using for customer billing.

LaFontaine said the district had reviewed products from all the meter manufacturers and had chosen the meters they are installing because they are safe and regulated by the Federal Communication Commission. The old meters are failing, and new parts are not available, he said.

Charles Curtin said he was concerned the water usage data the district collects for billing could be a violation of his privacy and could make his house more likely to be robbed if the district’s database were hacked.

Bush said the advantage of the new meters, which transmit data four times a day, is that they can detect water leaks before a large amount of water is lost. Shaffer pointed out that the meters only transmit a meter ID; the address is not transmitted. A robber would not be able to determine an address from the data transmitted by the meter. He added that on occasion the new meters have been installed on the exterior of the house to address customer concerns or connectivity issues.

Operational reports

LaFontaine told the board that in June the district would add water stored in Woodmoor Lake to the water delivered to customers. One of the district’s treatment plants would process lake water and the other would process groundwater so blending could be used to manage any taste and odor issues resulting from the use of lake water. He said he would use email and the Pipeline newsletter to notify customers of the transition.

District Engineer Ariel Hacker said the project to build a pipeline to convey water from Well 22 to the CWTP was out for bid.

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The next meeting is scheduled for June 10 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Monument Sanitation District, May 15 – Board aims to educate community

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

In May, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board discussed improving communication with district customers. The board also heard an operational report from District Manager Mark Parker and discussed a recent requirement that the district’s website be accessible to disabled customers.

Board brainstorms how to get their message out

Directors John Howe and Janet Ladowski told the board that they met to discuss how to improve the district’s communications with its customers. Howe suggested that, two to four times per year, the board put together a communication to district customers explaining what MSD does, who makes up the operational staff, and who sits on the board. How to contact the district should be included, he said.

Ladowski said the communication should cover anticipated road closures and should educate customers about the district’s infrastructure, explaining the role of lift stations and wastewater treatment. Howe said that one topic to cover would be how MSD, the Town of Palmer Lake, and the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District manage the Tri-Lakes Waste Water Treatment Facility (TLWWTF) on South Mitchell Avenue together using the Joint Use Committee. Howe said customers need to understand that MSD operates independently of the Town of Monument.

District Manager Mark Parker suggested the planned communication would be helpful when tap fees or rates need to be increased.

Operations Specialist James F. Kendrick said the communication could counteract the misinformation about the district that appears in social media sites such as Nextdoor.

Howe said a draft would be ready for review in time to publish in September.

Manager’s report

In his Manager’s Report, Parker said one of the pumps failed at a lift station serving the Wagon Gap and Trails End neighborhoods and had been repaired.

There were no issues with the tenants who rent space in the district’s headquarters building, and office painting and flooring repairs were complete.

Parker said the district would do a study of inflow and infiltration to determine how much rainwater is entering the system. Insurance companies use this information to determine the cost of policies, Parker said, and the study would help keep the district’s insurance costs low.

Parker said the replacement of a sewer line between the Willow Springs Neighborhood and the TLWWTF was underway. The American Recovery Plan Act was paying for $900,000 of the project’s total cost of $1.4 million, he said. The district has 180 days to complete the work, Parker said, adding that he was optimistic that deadline would be met.

Website accessibility

Parker said he was using an online service to verify that the district’s website was compliant with state law that dictates how the site must accommodate disabled customers. He believed the site was already 98% compliant.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for June 19. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, May 16 – Board refines relationship with CSU

By James Howald

On May 16, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) board continued its discussion of how it will coordinate its work with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU). John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co., who also serves as the Loop’s project planning and workflow manager, updated the board concerning reports on where to locate pipelines for the project, a study of the required water treatment, and the Member Agency Commitment Agreement (MACA), which specifies the benefits and responsibilities of participating districts.

Kuosman summarized a discussion held with the Town of Fountain concerning its possible participation in the Loop. The board also held an executive session after which no action was taken.

CSU will assist, not lead

Over several months, the Loop board has debated whether it should work with CSU to achieve its goal of water reuse or design a project that can “go it alone.” This discussion has considered, for example, whether the Loop could use CSU’s Edward Bailey Water Treatment Plant (EBWTP) to treat its water or whether the Loop should construct its own treatment facility. These decisions affect the total cost of the project and how the project will be financed.

Kuosman told the board he had met with 10 people from CSU the previous week to coordinate the efforts of the two districts. CSU brought people from the water quality, treatment operations, transmission, regulatory, and engineering side of the district. His recent discussions with CSU led him to believe CSU wants the Loop to create momentum for the concept of water reuse, wants the Loop to build its project, and will do more to help later, but it will not supply momentum itself. CSU “is a supporter not a driver,” he said.

Kuosman said CSU’s timetable for water reuse was about five years behind the Loop’s schedule. CSU was open to the Loop’s use of the EBWTF but can only commit to using blending as a water quality strategy for 5 million gallons per day. CSU wants additional analysis of the use of blending, Kuosman said.

CSU requested a more formal request from the Loop board, specifying how the systems will connect, the amount of flow and how water quality issues will be handled, Kuosman said. Conceptual discussions about the rates CSU would charge the Loop for the use of its infrastructure had also taken place, according to Kuosman. Further discussion of the role of CSU would be included in the executive session, he said.

Reports ready to review

Kuosman said he had sent two reports to Spencer Fance LLC, the Loop’s legal firm, for review. They concern the placement of pipelines required to convey the Loop’s water from Fountain Creek to customers in participating districts. One pipeline report addresses the southern portion of the project and the other the northern portion. He received four responses to a Request for Proposal for companies to manage easement and right of way acquisition for the pipelines.

Kuosman said the MACA, which details the roles, responsibilities, benefits, and commitments of participating agencies, was being reviewed by Spencer Fane LLC.

Kuosman explained that the documents were covered by attorney-client privilege and would be discussed during the executive session following the May meeting. He asked the board to schedule an additional meeting on May 30 at 9 a.m. The board voted to hold the meeting at the Cherokee Metropolitan District office at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd.

Kuosman described a meeting he and Director Jeff Hodge held with the City of Fountain as “very positive,” and said the city was not ready to commit but wanted to study participation in the Loop further. He explained the city has 200 acre-feet of water they could handle via the Loop. “They are willing to continue the conversation,” Kuosman said

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive legal advice from the Loop’s attorney and to hear further details from Kuosman. No votes were taken after the executive session.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for June 20 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Donala Water and Sanitation District, May 16 – Audit report positive

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

In May, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board heard an audit report from Tom Sistare of Hoelting and Co. Inc. on the district’s 2023 finances. The board heard comments from resident Tammy Ball and operational reports from district staff and from consultants. The meeting ended with an executive session, after which no actions were taken.

Good news on 2023 finances

Sistare told the board he had good news concerning the district’s 2023 audit. The district staff was well-prepared for process walkthroughs he performed in early March and the audit went smoothly, he said. He issued an “unmodified, or clean, opinion” in the audit report, as he has in the past.

The audit report included these highlights:

  • DWSD’s total assets exceeded its total liabilities at the close of the 2023 financial year by almost $47 million.
  • The district’s total net position increased in 2023 by $2.5 million.
  • Capital assets net of depreciation increased by $19,895 from the prior year.
  • DWSD’s total outstanding long-term debt decreased by $396,897 due to the payment of loans.

Sistare noted DWSD’s operational expenses were up 10.5 %. They declined by 8.5% in 2022.

Resident asks for help with repair schedule

Tammy Baugh, representing the Donala Club Villas Townhomes Association, told the board the association had issues with broken water lines and sewer backups and needed to make repairs to roads. She asked the board to advise her about repairs to water and sewer lines DWSD might have planned so that road repairs would not have to be redone. The roads could be damaged by the line repair work.

District Manager Jeff Hodge said repairs to the association’s lines had been delayed because the funds were redirected to the repair of eight of the district’s 12 wells. He said some of the failures Ball mentioned were service lines, for which the residents, not the district, are responsible.

Board President Wayne Vanderschuere told Baugh he would make sure the association got as much lead time as possible when the district scheduled repairs to its lines.

Water Operator Ronny Wright told Baugh he believed the association’s service line problems were due to the use of dissimilar metals that degraded over time.

Manager’s report

During his manager’s report, Hodge told the board he was expecting a memo from DWSD Attorney Linda Glesne outlining any compliance issues that arose from the last legislative session.

Hodge said the release of 400 acre-feet of water owned by DWSD from the Pueblo Reservoir, which was anticipated last month, had not happened. Consultant Brett Gracely of LRE Water explained this further in his report below.

In his comments on the Loop water reuse project, on whose board Hodge serves, he said the City of Fountain is considering becoming a participating district.

Operational reports

  • Wright and Chief Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman reported normal operations for water and wastewater.
  • Consultant Roger Sams, of GMS Engineering Inc., said spot blasting was underway in the first of the water tanks the district is rehabbing. He predicted the tank would be back in operation by the end of summer when demand for water is at its highest.
  • Gracely told the board Pueblo Reservoir had reversed its decision that it was necessary to release water for safety reasons. He said snowpack was still high and snow is continuing to fall at higher altitudes.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to deliver Hodge’s annual performance review.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 20 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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Triview Metropolitan District, May 23 – Water and wastewater rates and fees increase approved; billing discrepancy solves wastewater increase

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on May 23, the board held a public hearing on the proposed water and wastewater rate fees increases and discussed at length the district’s need to implement the increases before approving the rates effective June 1. The board heard about a discrepancy in the American Conservation & Billing Solutions (AmCoBi) process and received multiple updates on water delivery and wastewater solutions. The board held an executive session to discuss water and land acquisitions, and development incentives.

Vice Chair Anthony Sexton was excused.

Rate and fees increase discussion

President Mark Melville opened the public hearing on Resolution 2024-04, a resolution of the TMD Board of Directors regarding the establishment of rates and fees for the provision of water and wastewater services along with road and bridge fees for single family, multi-family, and commercial construction within the district, effective June 1.

District Manager James McGrady said the greatest expense for the district this year will be the operation of the Northern Delivery System (NDS) at $8.32 per 1,000 gallons for Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to convey, treat, and deliver the district’s water to customers. If the district does not make any rate or fee changes, in mid-July when water will hopefully be delivered via the NDS, the district will find itself upside-down when the fixed costs are due, he said. Raising rates is necessary to at least cover the additional cost of delivery; the district cannot charge less than the cost for delivery of water, he said.

McGrady said that almost everyone in the district uses less water during the winter months and typically most residential customers remain in the Tier 1 category during that time and transition to Tier 2 during the summer months. He estimated about a $20 increase for the average residential bill, or about a $16.50 increase on about 4,000 gallons. After the NDS begins delivering the district’s water, a cost to service study will reveal if a rate re-evaluation is needed. Inflation will be a major factor going forward for the district, he said.

Director Jason Gross said the district successfully secured renewable water, and realtors should be advertising that benefit for homebuyers in TMD.

Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart said the rate increases are part of the cost of transitioning to a renewable water system.

Melville said that regionally, TMD is the first district to transition to a renewable water system, and at some point other districts will need to catch up. Without the NDS, the district would need to drill new wells at a cost of about $2.5 million to meet demand. The NDS will lower the cost of well maintenance.

Water Attorney Chris Cummins said that if every district moved to renewable water sources, the wells could be saved for the future.

Melville closed the public hearing at the end of the board discussion after hearing no comments from the public for or against the proposal.

The board approved Resolution 2024-04, in a 4-0 vote.

Residential user rates and fee increases are as follows:

  • The base water rate (Renewable Water Fee) per month will increase from $31.50 to $40.
  • Metering and billing charges will remain $5 per month.
  • Tier 1 0 to 8,000 gallons will increase to $9 (up from $6.82 per 1,000 gallons)
  • Tier 2 8,001 to 20,000 will increase to $13.50 (up from $10.49 per 1,000 gallons)
  • Tier 3 20,001 to 30,000 will increase to $20 (up from $18.59 per 1,000 gallons)
  • Tier 4 30,001 to 40,000 will increase to $30 (up from $24.28 per 1,000 gallons)
  • Tier 5 Over 40,000 will increase to $40 (up from $35.97 per 1,000 gallons)
  • The sewer base rate will increase to $57.68 (was $52.44)
  • The average November-February volume use uniform rate will increase to $5.69 (was $5.17)

The full rate and fee scales for all categories and users can be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

Website accessibility update

District lawyer George Rowley said the state Legislature had extended website accessibility compliance until July 1, 2025. See www.ocn.me.v24n5.htm#tmd.

McGrady said the site had been checked and was already about 96% in compliance with the accessibility requirements. He recommended the district allow GroundFloor Media Inc. to continue managing the district’s site and correcting the remaining issues.

In a 4-0 vote, the board approved Resolution 2024-05, adopting a digital accessibility policy and designating a compliance officer.

Water sold and wastewater discrepancy

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the new District Administrator Sara Lamb had done an awesome job closing the numbers on water pumped and sold. The process had led staff to believe that more water was being treated at the Upper Monument Creek Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility (UMCRWWTF) than had been sold to its customers, he said.

McGrady said the district cannot afford to have discrepancies in the water pumped and processed through the UMCRWWTF if the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) project moves ahead. The AmCobi reports differ, and the district staff now know how much water is going through the flow meters, and the discrepancy is about 2%. A meeting to hash out the discrepancy with AmCobi is scheduled. The fluctuating amounts had been perplexing the board for several years and throughout his tenure as district manager. Thankfully, Lamb’s experience finally found the issue with the billing and procedures are now in place, McGrady said. The investigation revealed that some commercial customers were being undercharged, he said.

NMCI update

McGrady said the cost for the development of the NMCI is expected to be revealed by early August or September, and CSU will decide whether to pursue the pipeline. The design engineer has recommended a timely decision be made to ensure the implementation team is available to see the project through. If the project proceeds, the pipeline could be built by early 2027.

Cummins said a change of water rights decree will be needed if the district stops releasing treated wastewater into Monument Creek and uses the NMCI to send wastewater 10 miles down-stream through the pipeline to the JD Philips Water Resource Recovery Facility, Colorado Springs.

Northern Delivery System update

McGrady said the construction of the NDS pumphouse is going well, and completion is expected about July 15. The project is two weeks behind schedule due to the electrical crew needing to be increased from three persons to a six-person crew. The Town of Monument’s (TOM) potential tie-in to the TMD water delivery system agreement had progressed to the town’s attorney, he said.

Operational updates

Sheffield said:

  • The conceptual building drawings for the district office space were complete.
  • The Sanctuary Pointe Park reservation site is behind schedule due to liability issues.
  • The design phase for the Higby Road widening project was complete and the design plans have been submitted to the TOM. The design includes a 100-foot right of way instead of 120 feet, and those cost savings will be used for retaining walls.
  • The Creekside Drive turn lane requested by School District 38 was budgeted for $150,000 but is a little over budget and bid for $185,000.

Public works and parks and open space update

Superintendent Matt Rayno said the May 6 windstorm destroyed seven street signs and uprooted about 27 trees throughout the district. Cleanup is completed and crews will take care of the damage in due time. Some projects had to be pushed back due the manpower needed to address the uprooted large pines in Sanctuary Pointe.

Note: This reporter thanked the crews for replanting a tall spruce on the south Agate Creek Drive trail system on May 23. See accompanying photo.

Rayno also said:

  • Paving work began in Promontory Pointe, and crews will begin the mill work and overlay of Sanctuary Pointe in mid-June.
  • A production specialist was hired to check the power and lighting capabilities of the band structure at the Sanctuary Pointe Athletic Field. The structure was a little under-powered and an additional breaker was installed to give bands more power. A ribbon-cutting event with a live band and six food trucks was scheduled for May 31.
  • The district is fully staffed for the summer.
  • Staff attended a defensive driver training class to ensure safety in inclement weather.
  • The dated landscape beds along Leather Chaps Drive are scheduled for updating in June.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 7:47 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes sections 24-6-402(4)(a) for the purpose of acquisition of water/land and 24-6-402(4)(b) for the purpose of determining the positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategies for negotiations, and instructing negotiators as it relates to potential development incentives.

Sheffield confirmed that after the meeting re-entered the regular session at 8:58 p.m., the board publicly supported Director Jason Gross attending the next TOM meeting to voice support for the Higby Road improvement project, and to speak on the TMD board’s behalf.

The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month at the district office at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for June 20 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Above: District crews work to replant a toppled spruce tree on the south Agate Creek trail system on May 23. About 27 trees were uprooted by wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour on May 6. Photo by Natalie Barszcz.

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Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, April 8 – Board discusses bills to regulate wetlands

By James Howald

At its April meeting, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board heard operational reports from District Manager Jessie Shaffer, Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine, District Engineer Ariel Hacker and board Treasurer Roy Martinez.

Manager’s report

Shaffer opened his report with an update on HB24-1379, a bill before the Colorado Legislature that would create a state-run permit system to regulate when developers can dig up and fill in streams and wetlands. A second bill addressing the same issue, SB24-127, has been introduced, Shaffer said; the difference between the two bills is that the first would place regulatory authority under the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the second under the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. The two bills would either be reconciled or one of them would be dropped, Shaffer said.

In response to a question from Director Tom Roddam, Shaffer explained that both bills were responses to the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that removed many wetlands from the jurisdiction of the Army Corps of Engineers. The state of Colorado felt it needed to step in to protect Colorado’s wetlands and that is the goal of the two bills, Shaffer said. The outcome could affect WWSD by possibly complicating permitting processes and increasing the district’s costs.

Shaffer summarized the progress of the Loop project. The Loop authority is drafting an agreement that will define the benefits and the responsibilities of all participating districts and will specify the annual and monthly maximum water deliveries each district will receive once the project is complete. Another agreement under development will define operational details such as how excess water supply will be handled. Both agreements will be reviewed by the boards of participating districts, their lawyers and water attorneys, he said. If districts sign the agreements, they are committed to the project. Shaffer said he expected the districts to make their final decisions in the next two to four months.

Water operations report

LaFontaine told the board that water loss for March had declined. The 12-month running average for water loss was 10%, he said. The EPA considers a 16% loss normal and the average for new water systems in Colorado is 8%. WWSD’s system runs at higher pressure than many others, he said, and this leads to a higher amount of seepage. He said he was coordinating the reading of meters to get a more accurate measure of water loss.

LaFontaine noted two service failures in March and two sewer backups. One of the two backups was caused by a clog of flushable wipes and the other was caused by a telecom company boring through a sewer main. The district is investigating which telecom company did the drilling.

Engineer’s report

Hacker said the second phase of the project to widen Highway 105, Phase B, was months out from getting the necessary easements. She said she was requesting quotes for the sewer crossing at Lake Woodmoor Drive. Bids for the site piping for the Dawson aquifer well at the Central Water Treatment Facility (CWTF) adjacent to Lewis Palmer Middle School would go out May 1, she said. The pumphouse for Well 22, which is on County Line Road just east of I-25, is nearing completion and plans for the erosion and stormwater quality control at the well site have been submitted to the county.

Planning is underway for an additional tank at the South Tank site, Hacker said. Shaffer said the new tank would be concrete rather than steel because concrete is cheaper over the long term since it does not have to be recoated. He said once the tank design was done it would be presented to the board.

Hacker said she expected construction on the Waterside development to begin by summer. The development will include four single-family residences and 40 duplexes and is located at Woodmoor Drive and Deer Creek Road just north of The Barn.

Water sales down from previous year

In his financial report, Martinez noted income and expenses were on track. He pointed out that water sales for March were down from the previous year by about 3 million gallons.

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The next meeting is scheduled for May 20 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Monument Sanitation District, April 17 – Repair will spare traffic on Highway 105

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

In April, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board accepted a proposal to repair a pipeline that runs under Highway 105 and a proposal to upgrade the radios used by the district’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The board also heard an operational report from District Manager Mark Parker.

Pipeline to be relined, not replaced

Parker told the board that Insituform Technologies Inc. had proposed repairing a sewer line that runs under Highway 105 and serves the Conoco gas station, the McDonald’s restaurant, Jarrito Loco and the Taco Bell restaurant by using Cured in Place Pipeline (CIPP) technology. The repair will be made without interrupting traffic on Highway 105, Parker said.

When a pipeline is repaired using CIPP, a felt liner saturated in resins is pulled through the pipeline, then the liner is cured in place using steam. Using CIPP, there is no need to excavate the pipeline, which is 11 feet under Highway 105, Parker explained. Part of the McDonald’s driveway will be blocked for one day while the repairs are made, Parker said.

The board voted unanimously to accept the proposal.

Radios due for replacement

Parker told the board that I&C Design LLC had given the district a proposal to upgrade the radios used by the district’s SCADA system. The SCADA software collects data from the district’s lift stations and automates some aspects of the district’s sewer infrastructure. Parker explained that there are no replacement parts for the radios currently in use, and newer models are not backward compatible. Parker recommended taking a proactive approach and replacing all the SCADA radios at one time. He said the old radios would be sold.

The board voted unanimously to accept the proposal.

Manager’s report

In his manager’s report, Parker said the annual evaluation of the district’s collection system would begin in April. Pipelines would be assessed using video cameras and repaired as needed.

At its March meeting, the board heard a request from Rick Squires to provide sewer service to his property on Monument Lake Road. At that meeting, Parker told the board that efforts to locate the sewer main that Squire’s property would tap into had failed. At the April meeting Parker said that the main had been located 30 feet away from the documented location. Parker said the company that had incorrectly documented the location of the main had given the district a refund.

Parker said he had provided GMS Engineering Inc. the information it had requested for a rate study. He hoped the rate study would be completed in time to set 2025 rates.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for May 15. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, April 18 – Board discusses financial policy, water demand

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

In April, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board held a workshop and a regular board meeting, both on April 18. The workshop focused on the district’s financial policy and its projected water demand. During the regular board meeting, the board heard operational reports.

Financial policy based on four funds

General Manager Jeff Hodge told the board that the district’s total reserves were $9.5 million. That total amount is divided among four funds: the Bond Reserve Fund, the Strategic Reserve Fund, the Capital Reserve Fund, and the Operating Reserve Fund.

The Bond Reserve Fund is established by the issuance of bonds, and the funds are protected by bond covenants. The funds are used to pay down principal or in the case of default. The target level for this fund is established when bonds are issued and may be recalculated as bonds are paid off.

The Strategic Reserve Fund is established with income from property taxes that exceeds annual operating and capital expenses. New water rights and new infrastructure such as storage tanks and pipelines are financed through this fund. The target level changes based on buying and building opportunities.

The Capital Reserve Fund is financed by capital revenues such as the sale of water, and the funds are used for capital projects required by water and wastewater infrastructure and for major purchases such as vehicles and major equipment. The target level for this fund varies based on development activity. Board President Wayne Vanderschuere said this fund required special attention as its current balance is $3.5 million and that amount could be dispersed very quickly.

The Operating Reserve Fund protects the district from unforeseen cost increases such as increases in water costs, wastewater treatment costs, energy costs, and emergency repairs. The fund should contain six months of average operating expenses.

In his discussion of water demand, Hodge said DWSD’s three-year average water production was 765 acre-feet per year, and its three-year average for billable water was 745 acre-feet per year. The district has about four times the storage tank capacity it requires, he said. Electricity costs 9 cents per kilowatt hour, but renewable energy will cost more, Hodge said.

Overall, Hodge estimated the district has water available to meet demand for the next five to 10 years. Once complete, Hodge said, the Loop project would provide DWSD 800 acre-feet per year, enough to meet the need for indoor water demand. He added the Loop project’s effort to include Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) infrastructure in its design was a “dead end” because CSU was demanding Loop water have the same treatment requirements as water coming out of the Pueblo Reservoir, which was not practical for Loop water. Hodge estimated that in 10 years, Loop water would be DWSD’s primary water source.

Manager’s report

During his manager’s report, Hodge gave the board a summary of the Loop project’s progress. He said the Loop board had put out a Request for Proposal for firms to handle positioning and acquiring easements for 17 miles of pipeline that will make up the southern portion of the Loop infrastructure and will run from the Calhan Reservoir to the Hamlin Tank. The Loop board was also working on the design for a treatment facility that will be located on Woodmoor Ranch, he said.

Hodge said a quarterly meeting between himself and representatives of Forest Lakes Metropolitan District and Triview Metropolitan District to discuss operation of the Upper Monument Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility (UMCRWWTF), a facility the three districts share, had been congenial and productive.

Operational reports

  • In his water report, Water Operator Ronny Wright said the district’s newest well, 16A, should be in production by mid-summer. The testing so far shows the well to be viable and usable. Consultant Roger Sams said he expected the state of Colorado to take six to 12 weeks to evaluate the water samples from the well. Sams said Mountain View Electrical Association was finishing its portion of the well installation and all the necessary equipment had been purchased.
  • Chief Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman said E. coli levels at the treatment plant were slightly higher than last month but well under the limit.
  • Consultant Brett Gracely, of LRE Water, told the board that due to high water levels in the Pueblo Reservoir, which resulted from snowmelt and precipitation, water had to be released. About 499 million gallons of water belonging to DWSD had to be released, Gracely said.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

Triview Metropolitan District, April 25 – Water and wastewater fees/rates discussed; water rights lease agreement approved

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District meeting on April 25, the board heard about a proposal to increase the water and wastewater fees effective June 1 and reviewed a water rights lease agreement between the district and the Arkansas Groundwater and Reservoir Association (AGRA). The board discussed steps to resolve the unsold excess wastewater flows and heard about traffic concerns and hazards from residents. The board held an executive session to discuss the acquisition of water and land.

Director Amanda Carlton was excused.

Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhardt and Director Jason Gross joined via Zoom.

Water and wastewater fees/rates

District Manager Jim McGrady said a public hearing will be held at the May 23 board meeting to allow public comment on the proposed increases to the water and wastewater base rates, meter, and tiered volume charges and the average November-February volume uniform rate, and said:

  • Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) will begin billing the district $8.32 per 1,000 gallons for the convey, treat, and delivery of the district’s water via the Northern Delivery System (NDS) beginning in July.
  • The CSU rates are based on a detailed cost of service and a certain percentage increase for being outside the Colorado Springs city limits.
  • There is nothing like running water through the system to know the true costs of operating the NDS, but the district needs to ensure there are sufficient funds to cover the projected capital expenditures of the district, staff wages, operating expenditures, and making the debt service payments.
  • The district expects the electricity and chemical treatment costs for well pumped water will drop, because the water will already have been treated.
  • Repairs to wells will be curtailed, as annual costs of anywhere between $200,000 and $500,000 for well repairs lessen. When the NDS is online, the district will not be under the gun to make immediate repairs.
  • The district will need to juggle the fine line of delivering water through the NDS and rotating the wells and a schedule to run them on a rotational basis.
  • Through educated calculations and rate comparison to other communities, other than CSU, the rates are equal to or less than those reviewed.

Vice Chair Anthony Sexton said the district’s rates in comparison to other neighboring districts are mid- to top tier, but it is hard to compare when the district has had an aggressive push to move away from groundwater, and other districts have not made that investment.

Water rights lease

McGrady said the district has been leasing water to AGRA on a regular basis; the water is an excess of water decreed for agricultural use. Next year the water rights may be decreed for use in the NDS, and the district will revisit the lease in 2025. He requested the board consider approving the lease for $50 per share, generating a rental payment of about $67,000 per year combined with the lease of about 800-acre feet storage in the South Reservoir at a rate of $40 per acre-foot, generating revenue of about $100,000 for a year.

The board approved the one-year water rights lease agreement between TMD and AGRA in a 4-0 vote.

Excess district wastewater

McGrady said the district staff are looking closely at the influent numbers now that the results of the wastewater study are known. The district will look at how to close the gap between water pumped and wastewater treated, but it is not out of the question that the influent meters are reading low, and it could be due to turbulence with the 6-inch flume. The 6-inch flume may need to be removed, and the 9-inch flume will remain in use. Installing the new doppler technology and electromagnetic flow meters would be more accurate, or the district will have to learn to live with the 5% differential between sold water and treated wastewater. Flows were dramatically higher after the June and July rainfalls that produced 6-7 inches in 2023.

Utilities Department Superintendent Shawn Sexton said a meeting is scheduled between the executive and utility staff to discuss the findings of the study.

Under drain maintenance

Gross said several of his neighbors have installed sump pumps after experiencing flooded basements. Those sump pumps are tied to underdrains that are not being maintained. One neighbor’s sump pump drains to a low spot on the trail behind his property, and he requested the crews that had been investigating to continue to keep an eye on the wet area. The area is a long-wet spot at the end of the trail where it connects to Lyons Tail Road. He asked if the underdrains should be added to the maintenance schedule.

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the Vactor truck crews would be back out to inspect the area.

Sexton confirmed the drainage on his property in Promontory Pointe connects to the district’s sewer system and he does not have a sump pump.

McGrady said the underdrain beneath the sewer is blocked, and the Vactor truck crews are working to break debris free, but the engineers may need to dig down farther. The underdrains throughout the district are installed to protect the utilities, but the crew is focusing on cleaning out the manholes. There are some underdrain issues within the district, but they are not significant. Unsold water from sump pumps may be draining into the main sewer, and that could be part of the increase in wastewater treatment flows, he said.

Road traffic safety concerns

Gross requested direction and legal advice to personally address the delay to the planned Higby Road improvements. He said he would like to see action to enhance road safety for Lewis-Palmer High School students.

President Mark Melville said the discussion could continue in executive session to avoid changing the consent agenda. See Monument Town Council article on page 16.

This reporter cited safety concerns and the traffic speeds on Agate Creek Drive, as many motorists gather speed beyond the posted 25 miles per hour heading south to the T-intersection at Old Creek Drive. Many impatient motorists are unwilling to slow down when residents are backing out of driveways, prompting some to weave around the resident to the opposite side of the road, and negotiate parked cars to continue on. The speeding problem is prevalent and could result in a crosswalk accident where the busy trail connection crosses the southern portion of the road.

McGrady said speed control is a Monument Police Department responsibility, but installing a raised speed bump would help slow traffic, however it could cause an issue for a snowplow. A discussion with the traffic engineer could resolve the issue, said McGrady.

Note: After the meeting, this reporter noticed the crosswalk sign partially covered by tree branches and the speed sign missing for southbound traffic.

Spring road repairs planned

Promontory Pointe Homeowners’ Association President Ann-Marie Jojola requested the district take another look at gaps that are widening in Promontory Pointe. One resident with special needs had his bike wheel stuck in a large crack, and several other residents have stumbled in the gutters on Ann Arbor Way and Trans Continental Drive.

McGrady said there would be a fair amount of crack repairs during the overlay project. Both streets are on the list for the repairs this year and the district digs out the cracks and compacts them before the milling and overlay project begins. The high stormwater inlets along with the streets in Promontory Pointe will be inspected before the road project begins. Martin Marietta was awarded the mill and overlay contract for $717,219. The district also received a competitive bid just slightly higher from Schmidt Construction, said McGrady.

Landscaping workforce divides

Public Works and Parks and Open Space Superintendent Matt Rayno said the landscaping crews were only able to keep up with mowing services in 2023, so this year the workforce is divided into three-man crews allocated to separate areas of the district. The schedule will be more efficient and work will occur on a weekly basis, with the same level of detail the residents have come to enjoy in the landscaped areas. The crews will come together bi-weekly to service Forest Lakes Metropolitan District. Mowing will occur on Wednesday and Thursday, lowering the run-time hours on the mowing equipment from 23 hours to 16 per week this year. The district has a dedicated employee who maintains the native grass and pet waste receptacles. The native grass areas will be mown three times throughout the summer, and those areas receive limited irrigation. Minimal repairs were needed to the irrigation system, and the district is 100% staffed for the summer season landscaping services.

Website accessibility

General counsel Scott Goodstein of White Bear Ankele Tanaka and Waldron law firm said the legislation requiring full accessibility requirements to documents via the district website by June 31 this year had been delayed for another year.

McGrady said that most of the hundreds of state sites are not ready to be accessibility compliant. The district may need to hire a firm to look at site accessibility, but not before the district has reviewed the site with a critical eye.

Executive session

The board moved into executive session at 7:45 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 24-6-402(4)(a), (b), (e), to discuss the acquisition of water and land, receive confidential legal advice relating to potential consolidation, and for the purpose of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategies for negotiations, and instructing negotiators as it relates to potential development incentives.

Sheffield confirmed that after the board returned to the regular meeting, no action was taken, and the meeting promptly adjourned at 9:12 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. A public hearing will be held at the next regular board meeting scheduled for May 23 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Above and below Thirty-nine steps were installed on the St. Lawrence Trail, allowing easy navigation on a steep portion of the district’s trail system. The Triview Metropolitan District landscaping crews installed the stairs and plan to overseed the trail area with native grass and replant with trees to further eliminate erosion. The trail connects between St. Lawrence and Penn Central Way and was the access road to B-plant before the development of Promontory Pointe. Photo by Natalie Barszcz.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, March 11 – Board hears update on the Loop

By James Howald

At its March meeting, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board heard operational reports from District Manager Jessie Shaffer, Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine, District Engineer Ariel Hacker, board Treasurer Roy Martinez, and board Secretary Bill Clewe, who also serves as the district’s liaison with the Joint Use Committee (JUC), which oversees the Tri-Lakes Waste Water Treatment Facility. The meeting ended with an executive session.

Loop water reuse project advances

In his Manager’s Report, Shaffer told the board he expected a report on Colorado Springs Utility’s Edward Bailey Water Treatment Facility (EBWTF) to be complete in March. The report will help the Loop board decide if the EBWTF can be used to treat the Loop’s water, or if the Loop will need to build its own treatment facility. That decision will be a large factor in determining the total cost of the water reuse project.

Shaffer said the Loop was also working on pipeline alignments and easement acquisitions, and on the financial documents that will define the roles and responsibilities of the participating districts. The documents will address the question of whether the participating districts will lease water rights to the Loop. See the Loop article on page 14.

Shaffer also discussed bills under consideration by the state Legislature that could affect the district. A bill concerning Accessory Dwelling Units could have an impact on local land use policies, he said. Dick Brown, the district’s lobbyist, is also watching HB24-1379, which would create a state-run permit system to regulate when developers can dig up and fill in streams and wetlands. A second bill on that issue is expected.

Large water loss noted

LaFontaine told the board that the water report for February showed a 19% water loss. He said that, in addition to three other leaks, a service line to the Country Club at Woodmoor had failed and three days passed before the underground leak was identified. The lost water did not flow through the sewer system and may have made its way to Monument Creek, he said. LaFontaine said he was continuing to investigate the water loss.

He reported that the water meter replacement project was going well, with 12 to 14 meters a day being replaced. He estimated half the year’s goal for meter replacement would be met by April. He thanked the office staff for their effective communication with customers regarding meter replacement.

Engineering report

Hacker said Wildcat Construction would complete WWSD’s portion of the first phase of the Highway 105 expansion by April. Well 22, located on the southside of County Line Road, is pushing ahead, she said, and the transmission pipeline could be installed by summer if the county permitting process goes well. Installation of the pressure reducing valves required by the Monument Junction development would begin in March and should be complete in June, she said. A sewer capacity study was getting underway and planning for an additional storage tank for redundancy is beginning.

Water sales improve

In his financial report, Martinez noted that water sales were up in February, despite a fair amount of precipitation. Sewer revenue was on target, he said. The district’s repair or replace program was at 27% of the annual allocation due to general maintenance expenses and costs associated with Lake Woodmoor.

JUC receives hardware

Clewe told the board that the JUC had received two blowers, used to aerate sewage, from a sanitation district in Lafayette, Colo. The blowers are twice the size of the units they are replacing, he said, and they have variable frequency drives that pump less or more air at different times, which results in electrical cost savings.

Executive session

The board held an executive session to receive legal advice on Water Court Case 12CW1 and potential agreements with Enerfin Renewables, LLC, JWI, Inc., and El Paso County. No actions were taken following the executive session.

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The next meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District articles

Monument Sanitation District, March 20 – Property owner petitions for inclusion

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

The Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board held a public hearing March 20 on a homeowner’s petition for inclusion in the MSD service area. The board also heard an operational report from District Manager Mark Parker.

Failing septic system prompts request

Parker told the board that he had been approached by Rick Squires, the owner of a 2.8-acre property at 128 Monument Lake Rd., to provide sewer service to the property. Parker opened a public hearing to consider the request.

Parker explained that the leech field of the septic system at Squires’ property was failing, and El Paso County would not issue a permit to repair or replace it since MSD had sewer infrastructure close to the property. Parker said that Squires would pay all costs required to bring sewer service to his property. Those costs would include an $8,000 sewer tap fee and the cost of a lift station like the one in place at the Wakonda Hills neighborhood, as well as legal fees.

It was difficult to locate the MSD sewer main, Parker said. He believed the locating equipment did not correctly measure the depth of the pipeline. The pipeline runs under railroad tracks, Parker said, which added a complication to providing service.

There were no comments from the public, and Parker closed the hearing.

The board voted unanimously to approve the petition for inclusion.

Manager’s report

In his manager’s report, Parker told the board that accumulated grease had been pumped out of the Wakonda Hills lift station.

He said the upgrade of the district’s supervisory control and data acquisition system (SCADA), which controls, monitors and analyzes the district’s sewer infrastructure, had gone well so far but had revealed that the radios used by the system are no longer available to purchase and newer models are not backward compatible. Parker said replacing the radios would cost $16,000 if done now; next year the cost would go up to $25,000. He recommended immediate replacement.

Internet connectivity is in place at all the SCADA sites, Parker said, and he recommended that connectivity become the primary method of connecting the SCADA sites, with radios moving into a backup role. Parker said he would bring a detailed proposal to the next board meeting for consideration.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for April 17. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Triview Metropolitan District, March 20 – Additional acre-feet of water decreed; escrow agreement approved

By Natalie Barszcz

The Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) board held its regular meeting a day earlier than originally scheduled. The board heard about the district receiving an unexpected amount of additional acre-feet of water decreed from the Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. (AVIC), approved an escrow agreement with a landowner, received multiple updates on the district’s projects, and heard about the snow removal efforts during the mid-March winter storm that delivered about 24 inches in some areas of the district. An executive session was held to discuss various matters.

Secretary/Treasurer James Barnhart was excused.

Extra acre-feet of water decreed

District Manager James McGrady said AVIC had decreed an average annual yield of about 569.4 acre-feet of water. The district had been hoping for 526 acre-feet and had initially purchased about 435 acre-feet of water. The additional water cost to the district is about $688,775, for a total cost of about $5.9 million for the water rights. The district budgeted for the overage, but will need to make some adjustments, he said.

Escrow agreement approved

Water attorney Chris Cummins of Monson, Cummins, Shohet and Farr LLC law firm said in 2020 when the district purchased the Stonewall Springs Reservoir complex and the Excelsior Ditch and that batch of assets that the district contracted to receive an outlet easement from the east reservoir to be built in the future when the last reservoir is built, but the seller could not deliver. The district escrowed $300,000 in May 2020 at closing to obtain the easement from the landowner to put water in the river. After a series of extensions, $150,000 of the escrow money was released to Stonewall Springs Water LLC because the easement was unlikely to cost $300,000. McGrady finally reached an agreement with the landowner to purchase the easement for $45,000. The final post-closing agreement will release $105,000 to Stonewall Springs Water LLC, and the remaining $45,000 will be released to the district to pay the landowner for the easement, Cummins said.

The board approved the final closing escrow agreement and final release between the Stonewall Springs Quarry LLC and TMD, 4-0.

Northern Delivery System update

McGrady said the NDS total project cost including Segment D is about $22.274 million and Kiewit has earned about $19.687 million, about 88% of the overall project, and the only remaining item is completion of the pump station. The district owes just over $2 million to finish the pump station. The district is expecting substantial completion around July 5. The pump house will contain two pumps with room for a third. Testing of the system is expected in June and then a ribbon cutting around July 10 at the Highway 83 Colorado Springs Utilities water tank.

Vice President Anthony Sexton asked if the project was over budget by about $1 million.

McGrady said not quite because the district had the materials to install the Segment D (Conexus development) pipeline, and Kiewit billed about $200,000 worth of labor for that installation, and the rest was about $500,000 in over runs on the project.

Water movement and exchanges

McGrady said the district began moving water out of the South Reservoir on March 18 and expects to move about 30 cubic feet per second, making a release downstream from the South Reservoir and exchanging water up into Pueblo Reservoir. The goal is to exchange about 1,000 acre-feet out of the South Reservoir to create a “bucket” to capture spring snow melt. The snowpack in the Arkansas River Valley is at about 104% (low estimate) and additional snows and rain over the next six weeks will potentially generate about 120 acre-feet a day.

The district is juggling storage to help capture spring melt and will start releasing water from the Big Johnson Reservoir beginning the first week of April. The exchange will pay the Arkansas Groundwater and Reservoir Association (AGRA) back in water, because all the water in the South Reservoir technically belongs to AGRA, he said.

Note: AGRA is a water utility company located in Fowler.

Sexton said the water exchanges are fictional and never physical.

Cummins said the water is diverted at the upstream source and water is released at the downstream source, and we pretend the water released at the downstream source is what was stored at the upstream source. There are limited windows to complete an exchange, and it must occur when there is enough water in the middle, so that other parties with water rights are not injured when water is taken from the upstream source. It is a complex concept and does not involve actual water molecules, he said.

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said that at the direction of AGRA, the district released 100 acre-feet of water into the John Martin Reservoir on March 1-7.

Assistant manager’s update

Sheffield said the following:

• He took a field trip to the Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. headgate and diversion structures in Colorado Springs to look for potential improvements.

• He attended the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor “kickoff” meeting hosted by Colorado Springs Utilities.

• Made multiple site visits to the NDS pump house (under construction on the east side of Highway 83 at Old Northgate Road).

• Met with Tom Martinez of the Town of Monument (TOM) Planning Department to discuss and obtain approval for a right-turn lane on Leather Chaps Drive for the Bear Creek Elementary school pickup/drop-off improvements. Everyone agrees on the striping of the road, and the project is moving forward.

• Met with TOM Manager Mike Foreman and Public Works Department Director Tom Tharnish to discuss a potential interconnect between TMD and the town.

• Initiated the plan for a new security system at A yard with the district staff.

• Approved construction of a “distribution” trailer to be fully stocked for emergencies and maintenance purposes.

• Since January, the Vac truck and TV van cleaned and videoed 660 feet of sewer line. Three under-drain caps were found to be missing and replaced. The district maintains a parts trailer to replace missing and defective equipment.

Snow removal around the clock

This reporter thanked Superintendent Matt Rayno and the snowplow crews for the phenomenal job of keeping the streets plowed throughout the March 13-15 snowstorm.

Rayno said the snow removal crews worked around the clock during the snowstorm, keeping the streets passable in the district. Crews stayed with it to keep ahead of the storm, with prior budgeting for housing at The Fairfield Inn during major snow events staff operated on six-hour shifts throughout the storm. One truck completed over 300 miles during the snow event, and when a starter went out on a large truck, it was back in service within the day, he said.

Public Works and Parks and Open Space update

Rayno said the following:

• The final preparations are being made for the patching, mill, and overlay of Gleneagle Drive in the Promontory Pointe subdivision.

• An audit of the concrete within the district is underway to assess the condition of sidewalk and curb edging throughout the district. Bids will go out in April for the repairs.

• Street sweeping was completed on Jackson Creek Parkway and Leather Chaps, Lyons Tails, Kitchener, Gleneagle and Sanctuary Rim Drives. The inner district roads are scheduled for sweeping in April.

• The construction of the Burke Hollow Park is scheduled to begin on April 8. The district staff will save about $6,000 by removing the equipment before the contractors install a new playground.

• Enhancements are being made to the trail on Saint Lawrence Way and the Gleneagle Drive swing park.

• Spring preparations for the landscaped areas had begun.

District counsel George Rowley of White Bear Ankele Tanaka and Waldron law firm said the loan with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) had been finalized.

McGrady said the loan extension discussed in October was approved by CWCB to cover additional overages at the South Reservoir. The loan for $450,000 retains the original 2.05% interest rate and is accounted for in the 2024 budget as a reimbursement to the district, and payments will not begin until 2025. See www.ocn.me/v23n11.htm#tmd. The district is exploring the possibility of raising money to construct a slurry wall at the Central Reservoir, and an application for the loan with CWBC is expected to be presented to the board for approval in May.

Rowley said that since the last Legislature session, special district websites are required to be in compliance with full accessibility standards by July 2024. Sites must be available to individuals with disabilities, such as easily readable fonts, text size, and colors. Remediating old documents may be time consuming and removing them may be the simpler option, or employing a third party to correct any issues could ease the burden. Noncompliance could lead to fines, Rowley said.

McGrady said he meets with GroundFloor media, the district’s public relations firm, every other week and it assures the district it is familiar with the new requirements. GroundFloor media receives $5,000 on a retainer per month for producing the district newsletter, public relations and website maintenance. GroundFloor has been pro-active in ensuring compliance and saw the regulations in advance, but he and Rowley would approach the subject again to ensure the district is compliant, McGrady said.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 7:12 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402(4) (a), (b), (e), to discuss acquisitions, negotiations, and receive legal advice on: water and land acquisitions, the Highway Users Tax Fund share return, strategic planning, economic development incentives, and change case updates.

Sheffield confirmed the board returned to the regular session at 9:29 p.m. No actions were taken, and the board promptly adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of every month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for April 25 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and update, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, March 21 – Good news on radium, PFAS

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its March meeting, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board heard good news on water quality from General Manager Jeff Hodge. El Paso County Commissioner Holly Williams gave the board an overview of the county’s study of the Denver basin aquifers. The board also heard operational reports.

Radium and PFAS at low levels

Hodge told the board that the hydrous manganese oxide (HMO) adsorption technology the district had implemented had reduced radium in the water DWSD delivers to its customers from the Holbein water treatment plant. The maximum contaminant level for radium is 5 pCi/L and DWSD water had tested at 5.1 pCi/L in 2022, Hodge said. Recent testing showed radium at 1.2 pCi/L, well within the limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Hodge gave the board information developed by Merrick Inc., the engineering company DWSD hired to design its HMO system, that told the history of the radium mitigation project. The presentation tracked the project from the enforcement order DWSD received in 2022 through the third cycle of radium testing completed in December 2023. The project included new equipment and training for staff. The materials credited the district’s culture of transparent collaborative decision-making as contributing to the success of the effort.

Board President Wayne Vanderschuere pointed out that DWSD had used federal funds allocated to the district by the El Paso Board of County Commissioners effectively.

Hodge also had good news concerning the level of PFAS chemicals in district water. PFAS, the common name for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are used in a wide variety of consumer products, have been linked to diseases such as kidney and testicular cancer. Hodge said the district’s water did not contain a measurable amount of PFAS at present, but testing would continue.

Williams discusses county water availability study

Williams opened her discussion of a water availability study planned by the county by making a distinction between “paper water”—that is, legal rights to water—and “wet water,” that is, water in the ground. Williams said the county has not done a study of the Denver basin aquifers since the 1980s and wants a better understanding of the current state of those aquifers. The aquifers are depleting, she said, adding, “there’s not as much water as we thought there was.”

Williams said the county commissioners wanted DWSD, Triview Metropolitan District, Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Monument Water Department, Palmer Lake Water Department and Forest Lakes Metropolitan District to contribute data to the study.

Williams said the county has a 300-year water rule, adopted in the 1980s, that requires new developments to prove access to adequate water for that length of time. Hydraulic conditions have changed since then. Other entities have a 100-year threshold, she said. Williams said there is plenty of room to grow in the Black Forest neighborhood.

Williams said the study would assess the available water in each of the Denver basin aquifers, identify the top and bottom of each aquifer, and evaluate geospatial data to assess potential limitations on water availability. A final report would be written that would guide water supply regulations. Williams said lot sizes could be adjusted to make available water last longer.

Vanderschuere said DWSD had reached similar conclusions and had begun investigating indirect potable reuse, aquifer storage and recovery, and direct potable reuse.

Operational reports

  • In his financial report, Hodge noted water sales are slow, as they always are at this time of year. Expenses are on track. Hodge also mentioned that the district’s audit went well.
  • Consultant Brett Gracely, of LRE Water, told the board DWSD has been awarded a $290,000 grant from the Colorado Water Conservation Board to continue the district’s work on aquifer storage and recovery, a technology that pumps excess water back into aquifers for storage and future use.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, April 18 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, March 21 – Board debates relationship to CS

By James Howald

At a brief meeting in March, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) board heard a progress report from John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co., who also serves as the Loop Water Authority’s project planning and workflow manager. Board President Jessie Shaffer gave a financial report. The board also held an executive session.

Alignment study underway

Kuosman told the board that the alignment study, which will address the locations of pipelines and easements required to convey water from Fountain Creek northward to customers in the participating water districts, is underway and he expected it to be complete by the end of March.

At a previous meeting, Rebecca Hutchinson, a consultant with Merrick who is working on pipeline and easement issues for the Loop, told the board that she has contracted with two companies that specialize in easement investigations and acquisitions. Kimley-Horn is working on the pipelines and easements for the southern half of the project and Western States Land Services LLC is working on the northern half of the project, she explained.

Kuosman asked the board members to have their thoughts on the commitments that will be required of the participating water districts submitted to attorney Russ Dykstra of Spencer Fane LLC by March 28. Dykstra is drafting the contract that participating districts will sign to formalize their participation in the project.

Kuosman said progress had been made in defining treatment options for the water that will be diverted from Fountain Creek and he would provide details during the executive session.

Finances reviewed

Shaffer told the board that the Loop’s accountant, Kathy Fromm, of Fromm and Co., had suggested two companies for the board to consider as auditors: Haynie and Co. and Stockman Kast Ryan + Co. Shaffer said the federal grant money received by the Loop required more rigorous auditing procedures and the board would need to advise Fromm about choosing between the two auditing companies. The board voted to authorize Shaffer to continue to work with Fromm on this decision.

Shaffer said he had received invoices for the month totaling $32,932, with Bishop Brogden and Associates, Fromm and Co., and Merrick Inc. being the largest service suppliers. The board authorized Shaffer to pay the invoices.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive legal advice from the Loop’s attorney regarding negotiating strategies and to hear a discussion of water treatment options from Kuosman. No votes were taken after the executive session.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for April 18 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Jan 8 – Safe Routes to School trail approved

By James Howald

In February, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board discussed and approved an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Lewis-Palmer School District 38 (LPSD). The board allocated additional funds to the Highway 105 construction project. It also heard operational reports. The meeting ended with an executive session.

Walking trail for students approved

District Manager Jessie Shaffer asked the board to approve an IGA between WWSD and LPSD allowing the school district to use a portion of WWSD’s land for a Safe Routes to School walking trail to be used by students. The IGA had been a long time in the making, Shaffer said, and would permit the school district to use WWSD’s lower lake access road, which runs along the southwestern edge of Lake Woodmoor, as a trail students could use to walk to school. Shaffer said a second IGA would be needed to address the construction of a bridge across the spillway at the southern edge of Lake Woodmoor.

The IGA notes that the school district has obtained a Safe Routes to School grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to fund construction of the trail. It makes LPSD responsible for the maintenance of the trail and specifies that LPSD will install two double-leaf vehicle gates at the north and south ends of the access road and will also install a fence along the western edge of the lake. LPSD will be responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the gates, the fence, and signs at the trailhead. The IGA also indemnifies WWSD against any liability for use of the trail and insures WWSD against claims up to $2 million.

Director Tom Roddam said he was opposed to the IGA, arguing that the indemnification in the IGA would not prevent WWSD from being sued. “It’s not worth a hill of beans,” Roddam said.

Board President Brian Bush said WWSD has “passively acknowledged this plan for a lot of years.” (Our Community News first reported on the plan in 2017.)

Roddam suggested tabling the IGA until the plan for the bridge across the spillway was complete.

Shaffer said that prior WWSD boards had agreed to the plan, and it would be hard to renege on those commitments now. He said they could do so now but “it would be tough.”

Director Dan Beley expressed some reservations about the IGA. Director Bill Clewe and Treasurer Roy Martinez said they did not have a problem with the terms of the IGA.

The board voted to approve the IGA. Beley, Bush, Clewe and Martinez voted in favor; Roddam voted against.

Additional funds for Highway 105 allocated

Richard Hood, of JVA Inc., the company managing WWSD’s portion of El Paso County’s project to widen Highway 105 between Jackson Creek Parkway and Lake Woodmoor Dr., gave the board an update on that project and asked the board to approve some additional funds.

Hood explained that Wildcat Construction has completed about 60% of the work for which WWSD is responsible. Improvements on Knollwood Boulevard and the Maguire property west of Knollwood are complete, Hood said. Service lines have been moved as required. The remaining portion of the work is on the south side of Highway 105 on Morning Canyon Road and adjacent to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Hood said there are $143,000 in pending cost changes on the project. During the bid process, two mistakes were made: A pipe specification was changed from 8-inch to 6-inch and not properly accounted for and the costs of asphalt removal and replacement were underestimated. The pipe change will cost $76,500, the additional asphalt costs will be $33,026, and another $34,000 is required by unexpected conditions such as needing to change the depth of some pipes, undocumented utility conflicts, and pipe diameters that differed from historical records. Hood pointed out that even with these additional costs, the total for the work was still $200,000 less than the next higher bid.

Shaffer said the board had already approved change orders up to 5% of the value of the contract, which would be $50,000. He said the pending cost changes exceeded that amount, requiring the board to take action.

The board voted unanimously to approve another $150,000 for the project.

Details of operational reports

  • In his treasurer’s report, Martinez said water sales were higher than expected in January, up by 4.9% over the target. Sewer fees were as expected. WWSD purchased two new trucks, so equipment and vehicle costs were 90% of the budgeted amount.
  • Shaffer said that Sackett vs. the Environmental Protection Agency, a 2023 case before the Supreme Court, had changed the regulations concerning wetlands under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The decision may complicate WWSD’s costs for permits, consultants, construction, and mitigation.
  • Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine reported a 16% water loss in January due to five main breaks. He said the district’s water meter replacement project was just under 50% complete. The effort to refill Lake Woodmoor was a bit behind schedule, with the lake refilling about 1.5 feet per day.
  • In his review of upcoming development, Bush said he believed the proposed Waterside development, which would include 44 units on the west side of Lake Woodmoor adjacent to the Barn, after a delay, was now proceeding.

Executive session

The board held an executive session to receive legal advice concerning potential agreements with JV Ranches LLC, Monument Ridge West LLC, Enerfin Renewables LLC, El Paso County, and the members of the El Paso Regional Loop Water Authority.

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The next meeting is scheduled for March 11 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, Feb. 15 – Board considers request to extend service area

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its February meeting, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board discussed a request to extend its service area to include a portion of the Falcon Commerce Center. It extended an existing water lease. The board also heard operational reports.

Request for sewer service raises questions

General Manager Jeff Hodge told the board that he had received a request from the Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD) to provide sewer service to a proposed development in the southern end of the Falcon Commerce Center. The center is west of I-25 and south of Baptist Rd., and its northern portion is home to the Pilot Travel Center, QuikTrip, and the United Parcel Service Customer Center. FLMD requested DWSD to allow future development in the southern end of the center to connect to a 24-inch sewer line owned by DWSD, Hodge said. FLMD currently receives sewer service from Triview Metropolitan District (TMD).

In response to a question from board President Wayne Vanderschuere, Hodge speculated that FLMD was requesting service from DWSD rather than from TMD because it would be cheaper than using TMD’s infrastructure. Hodge said he would prefer that FLMD install a lift station that would allow the flow to be metered. Vanderschuere pointed out that, if the connection were allowed, DWSD would need to account for an additional return flow.

Hodge said any future development in the Falcon Commerce Center would not be allowed to impinge on DWSD’s easement for the sewer line.

Vanderschuere pointed out that granting access to the sewer line would raise accounting issues.

Hodge said it was not decided how the property in question would be developed; it could be commercial or residential. Vanderschuere said the property was just east of the Upper Monument Creek Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility (UMCRWWTF) and that any residential development should not be able to complain about the odor from the facility. He also pointed out that, if access was approved, the price would need to be beneficial to DWSD’s core customers. He added that the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor project, the future of which is not clear, could also complicate this issue.

The board did not act on the request. Hodge said he would meet with representative of FLMD later in February.

Water lease renewed

Hodge asked the board to renew an agreement between the district and Martin Marietta that allows the company to lease up to 135 acre-feet per year of treated effluent from the Upper Monument Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. According to the lease agreement, Martin Marietta needs the water to replace evaporative depletions and to support gravel mining operations at the Rich Pit in Pueblo County. Martin Marietta will pay DWSD $300 per acre-foot of water.

The board voted unanimously to renew the lease for a two-year term.

Operational reports

In his manager’s report, Hodge gave the board an update on progress made by the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, known as the Loop, which is working to build the infrastructure needed to capture effluent discharged by treatment plants in the northern part of the county from Fountain Creek, treat it, and return it to customers in the four participating water districts.

Hodge said the Loop is discussing governance issues with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU). The loop is considering using CSU’s Edward Bailey Water Treatment Plant rather than building its own treatment plant. Hodge said he was concerned that upper management at CSU does not have a clear strategy for water reuse projects. He said that if CSU management did not buy into the Loop’s plan, the Loop would return to its original plan to build its own treatment facility. Hodge said the Loop would meet with CSU in March to try to resolve outstanding issues.

Water Operator Ronny Wright told the board that scheduled rehabilitation of the district’s water tanks was scheduled to begin on May 1. He said Well 16A should be operational in the next few months and available for use by summer.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 21 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, Feb. 15 – Board debates relationship with CSU

By James Howald

At its February meeting, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) board continued its discussion of how to work with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), particularly how the Loop might lower construction costs by making use of CSU’s Edward Bailey Water Treatment Plant (EBWTP) rather than building its own treatment facility. John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co., who also serves as the Loop Water Authority’s project planning and workflow manager, updated the board on his discussions regarding the EBWTP and the Loop’s relationship to CSU. The board also held an executive session.

Consultant proposes lowering EBWTP capacity

Kuosman told the board that he had held a kickoff meeting with Carollo Engineers Inc., the company that designed the EBWTP, to discuss strategies for adapting the plant to treat the water that the Loop intends to return to its participating water districts. He said the discussion touched on whether the Loop’s water could be handled as a separate flow within the plant, on the plant’s capacity, and on whether redundancy of processing within the plant was possible.

Kuosman said that, based on his discussion with Carollo Engineers, handling the Loop’s water as a separate flow within the EBWTP was not possible.

Kuosman recommended “derating,” or lowering the stated capacity of the EBWTP. He explained that the plant had two treatment trains, each with five filter modules. Each treatment train is currently rated at 25 million gallons per day, for a total capacity of 50 million gallons a day. Kuosman argued for changes to the filter media, which would allow the plant to treat the Loop’s water but would also lower the total processing capacity. The proposed changes to the filter media would also allow the plant to remove PFAS chemicals. The alternative was for the Loop to build its own treatment plant, he said.

Director Amy Lathen, who represents the Cherokee Metropolitan District on the Loop’s board, asked if the plant’s capacity were reduced could it be increased later? She pointed out that the plant was not currently operating at full capacity. Kuosman said CSU’s plan for the plant was not completely transparent.

Loop board President Jessie Shaffer, who is also the general manager of the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, pointed out that the EBWTP is running at bare bones capacity: “just trying to keep the bugs alive.”

Governance approach discussed with CSU

Kuosman told the board he had discussed governance approaches with CSU. He said a regional convening authority was being considered. Existing governmental structures may not do what is needed over time, he said. Director Jeff Hodge, who is also the general manager of the Donala Water and Sanitation District, pointed out that the Loop was more nimble than CSU. Lathen said that CSU is not properly acknowledging the other regional players. She said she wanted to continue the governance discussion with CSU.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive legal advice from the Loop’s attorney regarding negotiating strategies.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 21 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority articles

Monument Sanitation District, Feb. 21 – Federal dollars help fund sewer line replacement

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

At its February meeting, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board approved a notice of award for replacing a sewer line, funded primarily by the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). The board also heard an operational report from District Manager Mark Parker.

ARPA provides $900,000 of $1.4 million needed for sewer line replacement

Parker asked the board to approve a notice of award to Pate Construction Co. for $1.4 million to replace a sewer line running east from the Willow Springs neighborhood to the Tri-Lakes Waste Water Treatment Facility (TLWWTF). Parker said Pate Construction’s bid was the lowest responsible bid of four bids presented to the district.

Parker said the existing line is made from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and was poorly installed. The line has low points, called “bellies,” where grit accumulates and blocks the line, requiring annual cleanings. When the line is replaced, it will be upgraded from 8-inch pipe to 12-inch pipe and will be moved 30 feet to the north within the easement belonging to Willow Springs. ARPA was funding $900,000 of the $1.4 million required to replace the line and the additional funds are earmarked in the district budget, Parker said. The district had offered to partner with View Homes, which plans to build houses adjacent to the line, but that effort was stymied by the Town of Monument’s moratorium on new construction, Parker said.

The board voted unanimously to approve the notice of award, which authorizes Parker to sign the agreement with Pate Construction.

Manager’s report

In his manager’s report, Parker told the board that residents in the Wakonda Hills neighborhood were continuing to see their septic systems fail, requiring them to connect to the district’s wastewater collection system. As many as 24 residences need to make this transition, Parker said. Connecting to the district’s infrastructure requires the homeowner to build a service line to the district’s pipeline, which can cost as much as $25,000. Some of the residents paid the required sewer tap fee ahead of time when the tap fee was between $1,200 and $2,000, less than it is presently. Those who waited to pay their tap fee must pay the current $8,000 fee.

Parker told the board that the process controller electronics at the Wakonda Hills lift station had been replaced. The process controller had lost its configuration and had gone back to its default settings, Parker said, causing the lift station to stop working. A power surge may have been the cause of the failure, he said. Parker also mentioned that the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) hardware in the headquarters building was being upgraded to match the equipment in use at the TLWWTF. Due to its age, replacement parts were not available.

Parker said the ducts had been cleaned at the district headquarters building for the first time in six years and he was working on getting the carpet replaced for an expected cost of $5,500.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 20. See colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Triview Metropolitan District, Feb. 22 – Renewable water supply increases; CSU ties into NDS

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on Feb. 22, the board heard about an increase in the municipal renewable water supply and the tie-in of Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to the Northern Delivery System (NDS). The board also discussed informing the residents about the district’s path to becoming an 80% renewable water supply municipality and how sales tax and growth had helped achieve the district’s goal. The board held an executive session and approved the potential purchase of land.

Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart and Director Amanda Carlton were excused.

Renewable municipal water supply increases

Water counsel Chris Cummins announced a successful water change case that decreed about 1,050 of the district’s water shares in the Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. (FMIC). The decree changed the shares from agricultural water to municipal use water shares that equate to about 740 acre-feet in municipal water. The district leases 244 acre-feet of those shares to Fountain Valley Power for about $15,000 per month. The remaining acre-feet will increase the municipal water supply to the district by about a half a year’s worth of water from now on. In July that reusable renewable water will be available through the NDS, he said.

District Manager James McGrady said about 80% of the district’s annual water supply beginning Jan. 5, 2025, will come from a renewable source, and the remaining 20% will be sourced from the district’s Denver Basin groundwater wells. The renewable water supply will further increase as more water rights come into play, he said.

Northern Delivery System update

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said Kiewit had requested substantial completion and the two-year warranty period begins for the NDS pipeline on Jan. 31. The tie-in to CSU occurred on Feb. 5, but the district is anxious to get water moving through the pipeline to ensure the system is working 100% and can hold pressure. Kiewit recognizes that the pump station will not be complete until June and the pipeline will not be fully operational until mid-summer, he said.

Cummins said some pressure testing has occurred and the fire hydrants installed along the pipeline route held the correct pressure when tested with the static water in the pipeline.

McGrady said the pipeline should hold, but there is nothing like running the water through the pipeline to know for sure. The NDS pump station (located east of Highway 83 at Old Northgate Road) is moving along in its construction and is framed with roofing to begin on Feb. 26. The interior will be dry-walled by the end of the month and then the installation of the pumps will begin, he said.

Public relations—the path to renewable water

President Mark Melville requested future newsletters reflect a timeline story beginning in 2015 on the district’s path to its renewable water source.

Vice President Anthony Sexton requested the newsletter communicate all the reasons for the decisions the board makes. Many of the projects and the district’s achievements are made through sales tax and growth, and an explanation would be useful for the residents, he said.

Director Jason Gross said the district has a wonderful story of vision, good timing, smart decision-making and long-term thinking and it would be a tragedy to not capture and share with the residents as the district reaches the end of the tunnel on its path to renewable water sourcing for the community. The story sets a good example for other municipalities, he said.

Cummins said in the last seven years the board only had about three votes that were not unanimous, and it has been important to have a board that can listen, understand, and make sound decisions and allow the district staff and consultants to do the things they need to do based on those decisions.

McGrady said there has been no micromanagement from the board; it gave vision and direction, setting the tone for staff to follow then standing back with confidence as staff and counsel pursued the projects needed to sustain renewable water for the future.

Operations report

McGrady said the following:

  • A meeting to discuss an emergency interconnect with the Town of Monument (TOM) was delayed due to scheduling conflicts and is now scheduled for March 4.
  • The Bale and Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. (AVIC) ditch change cases are both moving forward. The district is trying to avoid a trial on April 1 with the AVIC change case by getting the objectors out as quickly as possible.
  • The re-vegetation plan for the AVIC in Buena Vista is in order, and that had been a problem for some objectors.
  • The district is planning to build recharge ponds to accommodate the AVIC water in the future, after the change cases are decreed and the property is annexed into the town of Buena Vista.
  • Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) will kick off with a project meeting at the end of February.
  • CSU held a meeting to discuss an indirect potable reuse plan. The district does not necessarily need the project to manage the district’s wastewater return flows unless it becomes more cost effective.

Sheffield said the following:

  • D38, the TOM and the district have reached an agreement on the striping and layout on Creekside Drive. Two westbound lanes at Bear Creek Elementary School will be incorporated soon to assist with the drop-off/pick-up flow.
  • TMD is exploring the possibility of widening Leather Chaps Drive and is working with Black Hills Energy to avoid the gas line that runs about 36 to 42 inches deep beside the road.
  • Multiple meetings took place with the TOM planning staff and NES Inc. to discuss the water tank installation at Plant B on St. Lawrence Way in Promontory Pointe.
  • An extensive meeting took place with Classic Homes to discuss a potential connection of sanitary sewer into the TMD collection system for Flying Horse North, Hodgen Road.
  • District administrators are working with Ireland Stapleton Law to review and possibly revise the personnel manual.

Financial report

Sexton said he was curious about the check to Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority for $5,687.83.

McGrady said the annual Transit Loss Fee is variable and is required to pay for the re-calibration of the gauges on Fountain Creek down to the Arkansas River. Every water district that uses Fountain Creek for water transit pays the re-calibration fee annually.

Cummins said that the flows were excessive last year following the huge amount of rain received in May 2023.

The board accepted, 3-0, checks over $5,000 and the financial report for January as presented.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 7:18 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402(4) (a), (b), (e) to discuss acquisitions and receive legal advice for negotiations regarding water acquisitions, the Highway Users Tax Fund share return, strategic planning, and change cases.

Sheffield confirmed the board returned to the regular session at 9:20 p.m. In a 3-0 vote, the board authorized McGrady to sign a letter of intent to potentially purchase a 2-acre parcel of land near the northwest corner of I-25 and Baptist Road for the future home office and storage yard.

The meeting adjourned at 9:21 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of every month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for March 21 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Jan. 8 – Board passes administrative resolutions

By James Howald

At a brief meeting in January, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board passed its annual administrative resolution and handled other housekeeping matters. It also heard operational reports.

Administrative resolution passes

The board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 24-01, the first resolution of the new year, which lays out administrative procedures that will govern the board’s actions in 2024. This administrative resolution is updated annually and covers topics such as the timeline for the budget process, the reports the board must provide to the state of Colorado, and where the board will publish legal notices.

The board also voted to sell worn-out office equipment and drilling material and account for the money from the sales using the miscellaneous category of the budget.

Details of operational reports

  • District Manager Jessie Shaffer updated the board on the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA or the Loop). See the Loop article on page < 14 >. Shaffer said the Loop board, of which he is president, is working with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) to determine if the Loop can lower its construction costs by using CSU’s Edward Bailey Waste Treatment Facility to process its water instead of building its own treatment plant. He said the Loop board is focusing on the design of financing options that must be voted on by each participating water district. The Loop is also working on an analysis of the easements required by the pipelines that will convey water from Fountain Creek to the Loop’s customers in El Paso County.
  • Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine reported on four main breaks that occurred in December, one of which lost an estimated 1 million gallons of water. That leak washed out a road, he said. He emphasized the importance of the district’s project to replace and repair the oldest parts of the district’s distribution system.
  • District Engineer Ariel Hacker told the board that Phase A of El Paso County’s project to widen Hghway 105 is expected to take another two years to complete. Phase A addresses Highway 105 between Jackson Creek Parkway and Lake Woodmoor Drive. Phase B of the project will widen Highway 105 between Lake Woodmoor Drive. and Martingale Road., Hacker said, adding that planning for the easements required by Phase B is underway.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) articles

Triview Metropolitan District, Jan. 8 and 25 – Mill levy lowered; 2024 budget approved

By Natalie Barszcz

The Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) board held a special meeting via Zoom on Jan. 8 to certify the district’s mill levy and approve the 2024 budget. At the regular board meeting on Jan. 25, the board received multiple updates on water infrastructure projects and heard about a pause in planning approvals, the lower-than-expected sales tax revenues in 2023, and how street parking was hampering the district’s snow removal efforts.

Mill levy certification

District Manager James McGrady said the district finally received the total property tax revenue assessment for 2024 at the end of December. The district was anticipating about $179 million, but the final amount after the changes made by the state Legislature in November was reduced to just over $172 million for 2024. After reassessing the 2024 budget, the district is still in a position to lower the mill levy by 3.5 mills from the 2023 mill levy of 24 mills. The operating mill levy has been raised to 4.5 mills, but remains under the 7 mills limit, and 16 mills will be set for the debt service. He also informed the board that the 2024 budget had been revised to add $500,000 back into the 2024 budget for the Promontory Pointe overlay project. It had accidentally been omitted in the final proposed budget in December, he said.

Vice President Anthony Sexton asked if the district envisions ever needing to go to 7 mills or above for operational use.

McGrady said he projects the budget five years ahead and does not anticipate the district needing to increase the general operations mill levy to more than 5 mills unless the district loses a major retailer or a substantial downturn in property values occurs. Those losses could cause the district to go to 7 mills, but if the property valuations continue to increase and the district maintains the current retailers, even adding more commercial growth, the mill levy should not ever go to 7 mills.

Sexton said the board had lowered the mill levy consecutively for the past four years.

Director Jason Gross asked what was driving the increase in general operating costs.

McGrady said the biggest drivers increasing the general operating costs are inflationary pressures, wages, materials, gasoline and the increases in road miles and open spaces the district is required to maintain. The Northern Delivery System (NDS) is a separate entity paid for by water and wastewater rates and fees and is not funded by the general operations and debt service mill levy. To “cross pollinate” the two would be a direct violation of TABOR, he said.

The board unanimously approved Resolution 2024-01, accepting the 2024 budget and certifying the mill levy at 20.5 mills for 2024.

Note: The mill levy is needed to cover about $3.5 million in general obligation bonds and interest, and the debt service bonds and interest for 2024. The district’s property tax assessment was about $125 million for 2023. The certificate of tax levies for 2024 can be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

The Jan. 8 meeting adjourned at 4:57 p.m.

Above: The TMD Board of Directors is made up of, from left, Vice President Anthony Sexton, Director Amanda Carlton, President Mark Melville, Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart, and Director Jason Gross at the Jan. 25 board meeting. Photo by Natalie Barszcz.

District manager’s report

McGrady said the following:

  • The district has hit a pause on the NDS until the pump station construction is complete. The pump station is going well after some conflict between the construction company and the Kiewit engineers. The district has spent about $18.7 million to date on the NDS, and the project is about 82.4% complete. The total budget for the completed project is expected to be about $22.2 million.
  • The 16-inch pipeline that could transport water from the west side of I-25 (known as Segment “C”) has been installed to Old Denver Road. The pipeline will allow Conexus to begin construction. If the Town of Monument (TOM) requires an interconnect to the pipeline, the pipeline will be available for a fee.
  • The Fountain Mutual Irrigation Co. (FMIC) change case is processing through the water court. The district has 557 shares with the FMIC, and two parties remain in opposition to the change case. (The shares will be necessary to operate the NDS).
  • The box culvert installation project on the Excelsior Ditch is complete. The culverts were installed under the Nyberg Road underpass to allow the expansion of flows to the reservoirs from about 25 cubic feet per second to 170 cubic feet per second. The project cost about $340,000, with TMD contributing about 80% of the cost (about $270,000).

Water Attorney Chris Cummins said a couple of other choke points remain in different areas downstream that require box culverts, but they are less urgent and will be less costly to install due to the positioning under narrower, less-trafficked roads.

Water tank planning progressing

McGrady said the six-month moratorium the MTC approved effective Jan. 4 is unlikely to impact the six-month planning process for the 2-million-gallon water tank the district is planning to install at plant “B” (Promontory Pointe). The district scheduled a pre-application meeting with the two remaining town planners on Feb. 1. The $1 million matching water tank grant funding the district received through the American Rescue Plan needs to be spent by mid-2026. The planning process can take up to six months, and the district is expecting to install the tank by July 2026. See www.ocn.me/v24n1.htm#tmd and MTC article on page < 1 >.

Assistant manager’s report

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the following:

  • The district has engaged in multiple meetings with the TOM to discuss the plans and improvements for the Higby Road widening project. The project is dependent on build-out of residential homes, apartments and commercial growth in the northern part of the district.
  • JHL Contractors is redoing the head gate and the diversion at the district’s Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. ditch site in Buena Vista. The contractors conducted aerial LiDAR mapping over several weeks to provide a solution to the wetland constraints for the Matrix Design engineers.
  • The intrusion alarm on the SCADA system at the South Reservoir pump station on Nyberg Road, Pueblo, had been activated.

Financial update

McGrady said sales tax revenues were less than expected in 2023 and that it was likely due to less new construction and residents “tightening their belts.” However, the district received 92% of the projected water sales in 2023, “not bad” considering the late wet spring in May and June. The warm fall temperatures generated good water usage in September to help pull the numbers up, he said.

In addition, he said the district budgeted for 50 taps in 2023 but had a flurry of activity in the fourth quarter. The income for the taps added about $4.1 million to about $2 million that was received in early 2023 for the Thompson Thrift Apartments on the west side of Jackson Creek Parkway. The district had estimated about $5.3 million in tap fees but netted about $7.9 million in 2023. The district has conservatively budgeted about 50 tap fees for 2024.

District Attorney George Rowley cautioned about the rising crime of backflow preventer theft occurring in the Denver Metro area. He suggested the backflow units be individually noted on the insurance policy to avoid costly replacement should any by stolen.

Sexton said a community his landscaping company services had a backflow preventer stolen the night before.

The board unanimously approved checks over $5,000 and accepted the December financial report.

Parked cars hamper snow removal efforts

Public Works and Parks and Open Space Superintendent Matt Rayno said some streets were difficult to plow due to the number of parked cars on streets. It was particularly prevalent in a couple of the older subdivisions of Jackson Creek and on Panoramic Drive in Sanctuary Pointe.

McGrady said the district website requests residents do not park on the street during snowstorms and the TOM ordinances apply within the district. When heavy snow events occur, the problem of clearing the snow is particularly bad. Visit www.townofmonument.org Snow Plow Information Code of Ordinances: MMC 10.08.010 and MMC 12.04.2020 and MMC 12.04.040.

Rayno said the district’s snow removal team applies liquid brine to the priority roads before each snowstorm. The district aims to provide better service with each storm by revisiting the snow removal areas to see the result. If something is not working and ice dams are building, the problem will be addressed to avoid future issues, he said. The snow removal priority map can be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at about 6:50 p.m., pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 24-6-402(4)(a), (b), (e), to received legal advice regarding acquisitions and negotiations associated with water acquisitions, strategic planning, and change cases.

Sheffield confirmed that no actions were taken after the board returned to the regular session. The meeting adjourned at 8:53 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of every month at the district office located at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) articles

Monument Sanitation District, Jan. 17 – Willow Springs sewer line to be replaced

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

At its January meeting, General Manager Mark Parker updated the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board regarding a project to replace a sewer main. The board passed two administrative resolutions and heard operational reports.

Sewer main due for replacement

Parker told the board that he had attended a bid opening regarding the replacement of a sewer main running between the Willow Springs neighborhood and the Tri-Lakes Wastewater Treatment Facility. There were four bids for the project, Parker said, ranging from $1 million to $1.5 million. The four companies submitting bids were all companies he would be glad to work with, Parker said.

Parker said the American Recovery Plan Act was providing most of the funding for the project. View Homes would be responsible for about $350,000, Parker said. MSD’s 2024 budget has $1 million allocated for the project. The final documents for the project would be presented to the board at its next meeting. He expected work on the project to begin on March 2, Parker said.

Administrative resolutions passed

The board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 01172024-1, which documents administrative details such as the schedule and location of board meetings, how elections will be conducted, and who will serve as general counsel, accountant, and auditor for the district.

The board also approved Resolution 01172024-2, which designates the district’s website as the location where meeting notices will be posted. The district’s website is monumentsd.colorado.gov/.

Manager’s report

In his manager’s report, Parker told the board the pump at the Wakonda Hills lift station had been replaced. A lease for a portion of the MSD headquarters building had been signed with Cara Guirguis, the new owner of The Second Street Salon. MSD had received a grant from the Special District Association of Colorado and had purchased an automated external defibrillator with the money. Parker said he had submitted revised construction standards to GMS Engineering Inc., the district’s consulting engineers, for its review and he was working with Frontier I.T. to add offsite backups to the district’s security procedures.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 21. See colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District (MSD) articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, Jan. 9 and 18 – Budget adopted and mill levies certified

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

The Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board held a special meeting on Jan. 9 that included a public hearing on its 2024 budget. After the hearing, it adopted the budget and appropriated the necessary funds, set rates, and certified mill levies. It held a regular board meeting on Jan. 18, during which it passed its annual administrative resolution, set a schedule for board meetings, and heard operational reports.

Budget, rates, and mill levies wrapped up

At the Jan. 9 meeting, board President Wayne Vanderschuere opened a public hearing on the proposed 2024 budget, which had been discussed by the board at previous meetings. Information in the board packet noted that, due to actions taken by the state Legislature following the failure of Proposition HH, the district’s property tax revenue had increased by $416,080 and the budget had been adjusted accordingly. There were no comments from the public, and Vanderschuere closed the hearing.

Following the hearing, the board passed, with a unanimous vote, Resolution 2024-1, which adopted the budget, estimated expenditures for 2024 to be $23 million and estimated total revenues to be $33 million. Accounts Payable Specialist Christina Hawker explained that total revenues include the district’s savings and reserves. The board also voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 2024-2, which appropriated the same required funds.

Next, the board passed Resolution 2023-9, which sets new rates for 2024. The changes to rates were reported in the February issue of Our Community News here: ocn.me/v24n1.htm#dwsd.

Finally, the board certified its mill levies for 2024. Resolution 2024-3 set a mill levy of 21.296 mills for all the district’s service area except the Chaparral Hills neighborhood. Resolution 2024-4 set a mill levy of 10.648 mills for Chaparral Hills. Homes in Chaparral Hills use septic systems, do not connect to the district’s wastewater system and therefore pay a lower rate.

Administrative resolutions

At its Jan. 18 meeting, the board passed Resolution 2024-5, which establishes rules by which the board will operate, such as the timelines for budget approval and other required financial reporting and where legal and meeting notices will be published. This resolution must be updated annually.

The board also set the location, dates, and times for its 2024 board meetings. That schedule is published on the district’s webpage here: www.donalawater.org/images/docs/2023_Meeting_Schedule.pdf.

Highlights of financial, operational reports

  • In his manager’s report, General Manager Jeff Hodge told the board that the district came in under budget for the previous year.
  • Hodge said Classic Homes had proposed a residential development, consisting of 49 homes, adjacent to the Big R store and just east of I-25. To avoid paying a tap fee for each house built, Classic Homes had asked for all the homes to use a single water tap and meter. Typically, each residence has its own water and sewer tap, and the builder pays a fee for those taps when a house is built.
  • Water Operator Ronny Wright told the board that the study of hydrous manganese oxide to reduce radium levels in the district’s water was complete and he would submit it to the state after some fine tuning. After state approval, the district would begin using a process to remediate radium using hydrous manganese oxide technology, and all radium compliance issues should be resolved by the second quarter of 2025.

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The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 15 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, Jan. 18 – Consultants address financing, CSU facilities, easements

By James Howald

At its January meeting, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) board heard progress reports from two consultants. The board also held an executive session.

Consultants address financing, easements

John Kuosman updated the board on his discussions with engineering companies and Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU).

Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co. who also serves as the Loop Water Authority’s project planning and workflow manager, said he had received feedback from several engineering companies on projects they had worked on that were relevant to the Loop’s water reuse design. He used that feedback to determine the cost drivers that the Loop should build into its financial analysis. These cost drivers were used by Piper Sandler, the Loop’s underwriter, to develop financing scenarios that will be voted on by the authority’s participating water districts.

Kuosman said the Town of Monument is driving the Loop’s work to develop a financial model for the project, because the town needs to make a final decision whether it will remain a participant in the Loop or become a participant in the Northern Delivery System, a water reuse project that is managed by the Triview Metropolitan District. Kuosman said he had scheduled a presentation to the town at its executive session on Jan. 30.

Kuosman also reported to the board on his discussions with CSU. The Loop initially assumed that it would be responsible for construction of all infrastructure required to process and convey water to its customers, but as the project moved forward CSU became open to the possibility of the Loop using CSU’s Edward Bailey Water Treatment Plant (EBWTP), which has unused capacity. Using EBWTP would save the Loop the cost of building its own treatment facility. The potential use of EBWTP by the Loop to process water from the Chilcott Ditch raises the issue of treatment upgrades that might be required at EBWTP, Kuosman said, adding that CSU is funding a study to make this determination. Kuosman said he would review the water quality data the authority has collected and facilitate a meeting with CSU.

Rebecca Hutchinson, also with Merrick and Co., told the board she was investigating the easements that would be required to convey the water treated at the EBWTP, which is located at 977 Marksheffel Rd., to the east of Colorado Springs, to the Loop’s customers in northern El Paso County. Hutchinson said she is working with two companies that specialize in easement investigations: Kimley Horn and Western States Land Services LLC.

Executive session

The meeting ended with an executive session to receive information from consultants regarding water sources. The executive session was attended by board members from the participating water districts.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA, or the Loop) articles

Forest Lakes Metropolitan District, Pinon Pines 1, 2, and 3, Dec. 4 and 13 – District participates in Northern Delivery System; rates increase for 2024; budgets approved

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD) and Pinon Pines Metropolitan District (PPMD) 2 and 3 meeting on Dec. 4, the board approved participation in the Northern Delivery System (NDS), approved the 2024 budgets and mill levies subject to receiving the Jan. 3 revised property tax assessment, and approved rate increases and an updated contract for services with Triview Metropolitan District (TMD). The board received budget-related updates on the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) pipeline project and the Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority/Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) Indirect Potable Reuse Study.

A town hall meeting preceded the regular board meetings via teleconference at 3 p.m. District Manager Ann Nichols confirmed that no residents attended the six-minute meeting to receive updates on the FLMD public infrastructure project status, and the PPMD 1 and 2 outstanding debt and financial statement reviews. The PPMD 1 all-resident board members did not attend any of the scheduled meetings on Dec. 4. A rescheduled special meeting was held on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 4 p.m. At the PPMD 1 special meeting, the board approved a reduction in the debt service mill levy for PPMD 1, adopted the 2024 budget, certified the mill levy (pending the Jan. 3 revised property tax assessments), and approved the annual administrative and board member election resolutions.

Note: The meetings were held via teleconference.

FLMD and PPMD 2 and 3

Treasurer/Assistant Secretary Douglas Stimple, chief executive officer of Classic Homes, was excused.

Northern Delivery System participation agreement

District Attorney Russell Dykstra of Spencer Fane LLP requested the board approve a proposal for the district to buy into the capacity of the NDS.

Nichols said:

  • The district proposes a participation agreement in the NDS to connect the district to the CSU water storage tank (Highway 83) and deliver return flows back to the district.
  • TMD upfronted the cost of the NDS that is awaiting completion of the pump station at the Highway 83 tank before water can be delivered. See www.ocn.me/v23n12.htm#tmd.
  • The district will own 3.7% of the total share capacity of the pipeline.
  • CSU will charge a convey, treat and deliver fee annually to TMD for 25 years. The district will pay 3.7% of the total annual cost billed to TMD (subject to CSU rate increases).
  • The delivery fee will also increase incrementally for FLMD if TMD needs to increase the meter size in the future.
  • The district budgeted $200,000 in 2023 and $800,000 in 2024 (split into five payments of about $199,506).

Tom Blunk of CP Real Estate Capital, representing Forest Lakes LLC and Forest Lakes Residential Development, said it was important to protect water rights with TMD and complete the loop for the district.

Nichols said even though the district is not quite ready to exercise control of its return flows, the water supply including surface water is virtually all 100% reusable to extinction, and all the first use water supplied to customers can be recaptured and legally reused. It is essential in this environment to retain water rights and get the water back to the district when needed, and the TMD agreement will allow this to happen (via an existing interconnect) when the Beaver Creek flows into Bristlecone Lake are not very high, she said.

The board approved the NDS Participation Agreement with TMD, 4-0.

Future water reuse possibilities

Nichols said the district is considering moving its wastewater treatment to CSU in the future through the NMCI pipeline. The NMCI pipeline project request for proposal design is in process, and CSU is close to choosing a consultant. The NCMI will move ahead only if after 30% of the design phase reveals the pipeline is the most efficient way to provide service to customers, instead of making the costly regulatory requirements to the Upper Monument Creek Waste Water Regional Treatment Facility. The 2024 budget includes $90,000 for the district’s share of the design cost. The Pikes Peak Regional Water Authority/Colorado Springs Utilities Indirect Potable Reuse Study would cost about $350,000, and a grant for $250,000 had been requested from the Colorado Water Authority. If the grant is successful, the remaining cost of $100,000 will be split between the participants, she said.

Rates increase for 2024

Dykstra said the district had not received any public comments before the meeting. He opened a public hearing for the proposed 2024 rate increases for water, wastewater, and landscape services for FLMD and noted the increases had been published over 30 days in advance and posted appropriately on the FLMD website from Oct. 11, 2023.

Nichols recommended the board approve the proposed 7% increase in water and wastewater service rates, with no change in development fees, and a $1 increase for the irrigation/landscaping monthly fee. The increase is necessary to get the rates up to a level that will sustain operations for the future now that development fees cannot be relied on as the residential districts grow closer to buildout, said Nichols.

The board approved the rate increases, 4-0.

2024 budget—FLMD, PPMD 2 and 3

The boards unanimously approved the resolution adopting the 2024 budget and appropriating funds for 2024 for FLMD and PPMD 2 and 3.

Nichols said the mill levies are exactly the same as in 2023 for FLMD and PPMD’s 2 and 3, and she requested the board approve the resolutions to set the mill levies for the districts, subject to any final change after the El Paso County Assessor notifies the district on Jan. 3 with the adjusted property tax assessments.

Blunk said the debt service mill levy for PPMD 3 will be analyzed in 2024, and it’s possible that the mill levy will be lowered in 2025.

The board approved 4-0 the mill levies and transparency notices for FLMD, and PPMD’s 2 and 3, subject to any adjustment in early 2024.

Note: The mill levy for PPMD 2 was approved at 55.664 mills, and PPMD 3 was approved at 50 mills for collection in 2024. The mill levy for FLMD is set at 0.000 mills. The 2024 transparency notices for all four districts (including PPMD 1) will be posted in January 2024 at www.forestlakesmetrodistrict.com.

Amended 2023 budget for FLMD

Dykstra opened a public hearing to consider approval of a resolution adopting the amended 2023 budget for FLMD.

Nichols said the amendment is required at the end of 2023 for the conveyance of the public infrastructure from Filings 5, 6, and 7 development and Phase 2 of the Falcon Commerce Center. Collectively it amounts to just over $24 million ($9 million includes public infrastructure expenditure for roads that will be conveyed to the appropriate jurisdictions—El Paso County and the Town of Monument). The amendment increases the expenditures to sufficiently cover the conveyance, said Nichols.

The board approved the 2023 budget amendment, 4-0.

2023 audit engagement letter

Dykstra requested the board approve an engagement letter with Hoelting & Co. for the 2023 audits for FLMD and PPMD 2 and an audit exemption request for PPMD 3.

Nichols said the fees had not yet been finalized via letter, but the FLMD’s fee was expected to be $17,150, and the Pinon Pines districts’ fees are expected to be $6,250 each, according to the auditor.

The board approved the engagement letter subject to final legal review, 4-0.

The board approved the third amendment to the TMD Contract Operations Agreement to increase the fee by 10% for a total of $18,150 per month (the fee includes water and wastewater operations; customer billing; and the increase adjusted for the landscaping fee). See TMD article on page < 15 >.

The Dec. 4 meetings adjourned at 4:53 p.m.

2024 budget—PPMD 1

Dykstra opened the public hearing for the 2024 budget for PPMD 1.

Nichols said the assessed property values rose significantly on existing homes and the little bit of new construction in PPMD 1. She proposed reducing the existing debt service from 31.5 mills to 20.5 mills beginning Jan. 1, 2024, and said she would not know if the district would have enough mill levy to cover the operating expenses and management for PPMD 1 until the adjusted property tax assessment is received on Jan. 3 from the El Paso County Assessor.

President Mike Hitchcock said he did not want to put too much burden on the taxpayer, just pay the bills.

Nichols said even with the 11 mills reduction to the debt service, the district would still retain a little cushion at the beginning of the year and through to the end of 2024.

The board unanimously approved a resolution to adopt the 2024 budget, appropriate funds, and set the mill levies at 29.133 mills for collection in 2024 (subject to any necessary adjustment after the final evaluation of property tax assessments from the El Paso County Assessor on Jan. 3).

The board unanimously approved the 2023 audit for PPMD1 for a fee of no more than $6,250.

Annual administrative resolution

Dykstra said the state Legislature mandates that special districts must now provide a town hall for residents to attend annually. The district will hold an annual town hall meeting on the first Monday of December 2024 at 3 p.m. Out of the 120 town hall meetings previously held, only two residents had attended, and although there is good intent by the state Legislature, the meetings have not been super effective to date, he said.

All four boards approved the 2024 annual administrative resolution that includes the addition of an annual mandated town hall meeting.

Note: This reporter did not attend the town hall meeting at 3 p.m. on Dec. 4.

Board member election

The board unanimously approved the transparency terms for the board member election scheduled for May 2025.

Note: The all-resident five member PPMD 1 board has two director positions vacant. The three incumbent directors are required to be present to maintain a quorum for voting purposes at each meeting. Board director positions are not term limited.

The meeting adjourned at 4:18 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held quarterly or, when necessary, on the first Monday of the month at 4 p.m., via teleconference. Meeting notices are posted at least 24 hours in advance at forestlakesmetrodistrict.com. For general questions, contact District Manager Ann Nichols at anicholsduffy@aol.com or 719-357-5810.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD) articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, Dec. 7 – Water and sewer rates to increase in 2024

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its December meeting, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board held a public hearing and took a vote on a resolution setting new water and sewer rates that will take effect in 2024. The board briefly reviewed its proposed budget for 2024. It also heard financial and operational reports.

New rates for 2024

Board President Wayne Vanderschuere opened a public hearing on water and sewer rates. Resolution 2023-9 leaves most fees and charges unchanged but raises the district’s tiered water usage rates by 4% for all tiers. It increases the sewer service base fee to $7.14 per month plus $9.95 per thousand gallons of wastewater produced. The minimum wastewater service rate increases to $31.89 from $30.66 per month. Construction water will cost $18.39 per thousand gallons and will not be sold for use outside district boundaries. Residential water and sewer tap fees remain unchanged at $8,500. Commercial water tap fees for both ¾-inch and 1-inch lines will increase to $9,350.

The board voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.

2024 budget review

Christina Hawker, the district’s Accounts Payable specialist, told the board that when Proposition HH failed, the state Legislature held a special session to address property taxes. The special session pushed back the date by which DWSD must submit its budget so that final property assessments, which are needed for DWSD to finalize its 2024 budget, can be calculated. The final assessments are needed when the district calculates its mill levy, she said. The board scheduled a special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the district’s office at 15850 Holbein Drive to approve the new mill levy and submit the proposed budget to the state. Hawker said it would be simple to update the proposed budget once the final mill levy is determined.

Highlights of financial and operational reports

  • General Manager Jeff Hodge told the board that despite lower water sales the district would end the year in the black on water sales.
  • Hodge said interest on the district’s financial reserves would cover the district’s bond payments.
  • Water Operator Ronny Wright told the board that the study of hydrous manganese oxide to reduce radium levels in the district’s water was complete and he expected a response from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment by April.
  • Vanderschuere told the board that a water district near Pittsburgh had its program logic controllers (PLCs), which were made by an Israeli company, hacked by Hamas. Vanderschuere and Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman told the board that DWSD uses PLCs from other manufacturers that are not vulnerable to the exploit used in Pittsburgh.

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A special meeting on the 2024 budget in scheduled for Jan. 9. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 18 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, Dec. 12 – Board focuses on budgets

By James Howald

At its November meeting, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA) board determined its budget for 2023 did not need to be amended and concluded its work on its budget for 2024 with a public hearing. It voted to adopt the 2024 budget as proposed and to appropriate funds. The board also heard a report from its Project Planning and Workflow (PPW) manager and voted on a resolution specifying administrative matters. Finally, the board held an executive session to discuss the selection of an underwriting company.

Board wraps up 2023 budget, approves 2024 budget

Kathy Fromm, of Fromm and Co., the project’s accountant, told the board the budget for 2023 did not need to be updated and there was no need for a public hearing or a resolution on that budget.

Board President Jessie Shaffer opened a public hearing on the proposed budget for 2024, which was first presented at the board meeting in October. He noted Fromm had made minor changes based on the board’s discussion in November. Shaffer said the 2024 budget anticipated revenues of just under $1.2 million and expenditures of $1.66 million, which would leave projected total reserve funds of $445,000 at the end of 2024. Shaffer closed the public hearing.

The board voted unanimously to approve the 2024 budget and to appropriate the necessary funds.

Interviews with construction companies

John Kuosman, the EPCRLWA PPW manager, told the board he had been interviewing engineering and construction companies, particularly Forsgren Associates Inc. and Kimley-Horn, and was getting feedback from them that he was using to frame his cost estimates. Their detailed feedback would help determine the financial responsibilities of the authority’s participating districts, he said, adding he expected to have a more detailed cost framework ready in early 2024. He said he had also talked to Colorado Springs Utilities about its study of indirect potable reuse technologies and had been asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement concerning that discussion.

Administrative resolution

Russ Dykstra, the authority’s lawyer, asked the board to vote on an annual administrative resolution covering operational details such as records retention policy and budgeting schedules. The board voted unanimously in favor of the resolution Dykstra presented.

Executive session

The board held an executive session to discuss the selection of an underwriting company for the authority. The board reconvened into open session and voted to use Piper Sandler, an investment banking company, as its underwriter.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for Jan. 18 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Triview Metropolitan District, Dec. 13 – 2024 budget public hearing presented; rate increases discussed

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on Dec. 13, the board held a public hearing for the 2024 budget, deferring its approval until after the district property tax assessments are received on Jan. 3, discussed future rate increases, and approved a participation agreement for Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD) to participate in the Northern Delivery System (NDS). The board also approved multiple resolutions and agreements for 2024.

President Mark Melville was excused.

Note: Due to snow affecting travel in the region, a quorum could not be reached until 5:48 p.m.

District Manager Jim McGrady confirmed that the district had posted the public hearings in The Gazette, to include the issuance of additional debt in the form of a Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) loan and the switch to Zoom-only attendance.

2024 budget

McGrady said the district would not receive the final property tax assessment from the El Paso County Assessor until about Jan. 3, and the district would need to certify the mill levy no later than Jan. 10. Under normal circumstances, the district usually certifies the mill levy by Dec. 15 and a special meeting to certify the 2024 mill levy would be needed on Jan. 8 or 9. Before the change in the state Legislature, the district was planning to lower the debt service mill levy to 16 mills for 2024, for a total of 20.5 mills, down from the 24 mills assessed in 2023. The change may need to be revised after the property tax assessed valuation is received from the assessor.

He suggested the board consider the following items:

  • A 10% rate increase to the Tier 1 water rates to cover the cost of conveying water from Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU).
  • A sewer utility rate increase in February or March of about 9% to 10% before the heavy water use season that usually begins in April/May.
  • The district expects an increase of wastewater flow through the Upper Monument Creek Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility from 640,725 to about 957,838 gallons.
  • A potential lease of 300 acre-feet of water with Pueblo if 2024 is a dry year, budgeted at $70,000.
  • An increase in the Amcobi National meter reading service fee.
  • The budget allocates $500,000 to purchase land for a future office building. The district office lease expires in 2025, and no buildings are available for lease or purchase within the district.
  • $150,000 is allocated in the budget for Burke Hollow Park.
  • Well transformer and pump replacement costs.
  • Northern Monument Creek Interceptor for the 30% design cost for $350,000.
  • About $564,000 for the annual availability of service fee for CSU to convey, treat, and deliver the district’s water through the NDS.
  • An additional storage tank at Plant B to be built behind the existing tank. The purchase is made possible with a matching $1 million through the American Rescue Plan Grant. The design for the tank is budgeted at $250,000. The extra storage will assist firefighting needs and will allow the blending of surface and well water. It will be the last tank the district builds.
  • Arkansas Valley Irrigation Co. water rights utilization (annexation into Buena Vista) for $2.5 million. About 528 acre-feet of water is available to run through the NDS.
  • The NDS pump station is budgeted at $4.5 million. The district has spent about $16.7 million to date, and upon completion it is expected to total about $22 million (the total includes Segment D connecting to the west side of I-25 near Old Denver Road).

The budget allocation will decrease for:

  • Engineering fees—as the district nears buildout and plan reviews are fewer.
  • Development services and water attorney fees.
  • Water testing now that all tests have been completed for radium, and it is under control.
  • Electric utilities are expected to decrease when the NDS pump station is online and the well operations decrease. The cost to run the NDS pump station will be less than 100% of well operations.
  • The Vac truck is paying for itself quickly by avoiding costly outsourcing for sewer line cleaning.
  • The district expects about 75 tap fees to generate about $903,000 in 2024.

McGrady said every district has different costs, and typically the district’s rates are lower than most, but fixed costs are driving rate increases and the district needs to ensure debt can be paid. The district is considering an increase to the tap fees that have not increased in three years, but it is important that growth pays for itself with tap fees, he said.

Water Attorney Chris Cummins said the board is not approving the mill levy until Jan. 3 due to the failure of Proposition HH and the outcome of the state Legislature special session in late November. The board will adopt the 2024 budget by Jan. 10 based on the new El Paso County Assessor’s property tax assessment numbers, expected on Jan. 3. The rate increases will be approved separately in early 2024 after a public hearing.

Vice President Anthony Sexton said the budget review reveals the things the district would like to do, but nothing is set in stone, it is simply a guideline except for the mandatory expenses. Funds for projects can always be reallocated and projects rolled over to 2025—it is a work in progress. He likes to see the district always tightening belts, and if there is extra cash the district gets to do things like the NDS. The district has done rate increase studies, and the cost of the goods is increasing. The only way to keep the district operational is to increase rates when necessary. The district rates are low to mid-tier within the area and the 2024 budget looks good, he said.

Director Jason Gross said he would need to look at the proposed rate tables, but a 10% increase considering inflation does not sound unreasonable.

Treasurer/Secretary James Barnhart said the expenses are higher as the district transitions from well water to deliver renewable water to the district. Renewable water is just more expensive and there is just no way to “shake” that it is a big contributor, he said.

McGrady said the district never knows how much revenue will be generated from water sales, and the budget can be trimmed and tightened as needed, but the district is projecting about $5 million in cash at the end of 2023.

In a 3-0 vote, the board approved the following:

  • An audit engagement letter between TMD and Haynie & Co. to perform the district’s 2023 financial audit for a fee not to exceed $27,500 (including expenses).
  • The Northern Delivery System Joint Funding and Participation Agreement between TMD and Forest Lakes Metropolitan District (FLMD), with authorization for the district manager to sign. See FLMD article on page < 12 >.
  • An intergovernmental agreement between TMD and Lewis-Palmer School District 38 regarding the dedication of a 20-foot perpetual, non-exclusive easement to provide for future Higby Road improvements between Jackson Creek Parkway and Bowstring Drive. In exchange the district would make improvements to Creekside Drive and Leather Chaps Drive near Bear Creek Elementary School.
  • Amendment 3 between TMD and FLMD to provide utility operations services for a monthly fee of $18,150 in 2024. The terms and fee structure for the landscaping and snow removal services was extended to Dec. 31, 2024, with authorization for the district manager to sign.
  • Resolution 2023-10, an amendment to a loan contract from the Colorado Water Conservation Board for the Stonewall Springs Reservoir Complex Loan Contract, up to a maximum principal amount of about $5.2 million at about a 3% interest rate.

Note: The board packet for the Dec. 13 meeting can be found under Board Meeting Agendas & Minutes at www.triviewmetro.com.

Baptist Road intersection

Gross asked if Baptist Road was within the district’s area of responsibility and if a change could be made to the intersection opposite 1st Bank to prevent motorists illegally cutting through the left-turn intersection to avoid travelling east to the Leather Chaps Drive intersection to turn around and reach the Kings Soopers shopping complex.

McGrady said the district has no jurisdiction over Baptist Road except for maintaining the north sidewalk and it does supply water and wastewater services to the commercial properties on the south side of Baptist Road and the corner of Struthers Road. El Paso County owns and maintains the road and the traffic lights on Baptist Road, he said.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at about 8:20 p.m., pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402(4) (a), (b), (e), to discuss acquisitions and receive legal advice for negotiations regarding water acquisitions, strategic planning, and change cases. No actions were taken after the executive session. The meeting adjourned at 9:24 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday every month at the district office at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 18 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Dec. 12 – Board approves rate increases and budget

By James Howald

At its December meeting, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board concluded public hearings on rate increases and on its proposed budget for 2024. Both hearings were opened at its November meeting. The hearings were followed by votes on the rates and the budget. The board renewed the management contract between the district and the Chilcott Ditch Co. The board also heard financial and operational reports. The meeting ended with an executive session.

Rates increases for 2024 approved

At the beginning of the public hearing on rates, District Manager Jessie Shaffer told the board that an incorrect rate for Tier 2 water usage had been published on the district’s web page. The Tier 2 rate covers water usage from 6,001 to 25,000 gallons per month. Shaffer said the district intended to raise the rates for all usage tiers by 4% but had incorrectly published a 1.9% increase for Tier 2 water. Correcting the rate would require a 30-day waiting period while the new rate was announced to the public, he said. Shaffer explained that the average residence uses 6,785 gallons of water a month, so the bulk of revenue is from Tier 1 water sales and the impact of the lower rate would be negligible. He recommended keeping the lower rate in place, enabling the board to finish its work on rates quickly.

There were no comments from the public, and board President Brian Bush closed the hearing.

The board accepted Shaffer’s recommendation and voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 23-04, which adopts the rates as published.

Note: Details about the 2024 rates and fees can be found in the December issue of OCN here: www.ocn.me/v23n12.htm#wwsd.

2024 budget approved

Bush continued the hearing on the 2024 budget opened at the November meeting.

Shaffer told the board that the proposed budget included a 25% increase in potable water tap fees but made no change to sewer tap fees. He estimated the district would see $4.2 million in tap fees in 2024 if it sells 90 new taps as expected. He listed some fees that will increase in 2024 to allow the district to recoup the cost of delivering services, such as installing new water meters, which are more expensive than previous meters. Engineering fees charged by the district are increasing to $120 per hour. He noted that some construction projects expected to be completed in 2023 needed to be carried over to 2024.

There were no comments from the public on the budget, and Bush closed the hearing. The board voted to approve Resolution 23-05, which adopts the budget as proposed and appropriates the funds required. Bush and Directors Bill Clewe, Roy Martinez, and Tom Roddam voted in favor; Director Dan Beley voted against, arguing that the water tap fees should have been raised 47% as the district’s rate consultants advised.

Contract with Chilcott Ditch Co. renewed

Shaffer asked the board to renew its contract with the Chilcott Ditch Co., explaining this contract needed renewal every year. The contract obligates WWSD to provide accounting and administration services to the ditch company for a fee of $1,500 per month. The new contract did not increase the fee, Shaffer said. WWSD also provides labor to the ditch company for an hourly rate. Shaffer said the new contract increased the hourly rate from $36 to $39 per hour.

The board voted unanimously to renew the contract.

Financial, operational, and engineering reports

Board Treasurer Roy Martinez told the board that November was a normal month in terms of water usage. He said the district was at 81% of its expected water sales for the year.

Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine said there had been some small breaks in pipelines during November, one of which was complicated by the presence of an unmarked electric line. The district was running entirely on ground water, he said.

District Engineer Ariel Hacker gave the board an update on the status of new and existing wells. Site work has begun on Well 22. Drilling of the well at the Central Water Treatment Plant property, just northwest of the Lewis-Palmer Middle School football field, has not yet begun, she said. Some equipment had to be abandoned at the bottom of Well 12. Well 16 is out of production due to a motor failure.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2024 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) articles

Monument Sanitation District, Dec. 20 – Board sets bonuses and salary increases

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

At its December meeting, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board decided on bonuses and salary increases for its staff. It also renewed letters of engagement with the district’s engineering, accounting, and auditing companies and scheduled a workshop to review its duties and responsibilities.

Bonuses and salary increases

Board President Dan Hamilton told the board that he was happy with the performance of the district staff and had surveyed the bonuses given by surrounding districts to their managers, which varied from no bonus to $5,000. Last year, MSD gave General Manager Mark Parker a bonus equal to one month of his salary. He proposed giving Parker a $4,000 bonus for 2023.

After some discussion, the board settled on a $4,500 bonus for Parker, and bonuses for Accounts Administrator Cheran Allsup and Environmental and Regulatory Compliance specialist James Kendrick proportional to their pay rates. The board voted unanimously in favor of a motion to provide bonuses in those amounts.

Regarding salary increases, Hamilton reminded the board that last year it had given 9% increases. He said the Denver Aurora Consumer Price Index was 4.5% and suggested rounding that up to give a 5% salary increase to district staff in 2024. The board voted unanimously for a 5% increase.

Letters of engagement renewed

Parker told the board that the district’s auditors had asked the board to renew letters of engagement with companies providing services every year. He provided the board with letters of engagement for GMS Engineering Inc., the district’s consulting engineers, for Haynie & Co., the district’s accountants, and for Olson Reyes & Sauerwein, the district’s auditors. The board voted unanimously to renew all three letters of engagement.

Workshop scheduled

At the request of board Treasurer John Howe, a workshop to review the board’s duties and responsibilities with Allison Ulmer, of Collins Cole Flynn Winn and Ulmer, the district’s legal advisors, was scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. The workshop will be held at the MSD headquarters building at 130 Second St. in Monument.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are normally held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Jan. 17, 2024. See colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District (MSD) articles

Triview Metropolitan District, Nov. 13 – Commercial property inclusion; cell tower contract approved

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on Nov. 13, the board approved an inclusion of commercial property and a cell tower lease agreement, and agreed to approve an amendment to the Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) agreement to convey, treat, and deliver district-owned water. The board received updates from Kiewit representatives on the Northern Delivery System (NDS) pipeline installation project, and an update on the Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) pipeline project. The board held an executive session to receive legal advice and discuss negotiations regarding water supply contracts, property acquisitions, strategic planning and change cases.

President Mark Melville was excused.

Inclusion of property

District counsel George Rowley said a commercial property owner had petitioned for an inclusion of property into TMD Subdistrict A, about 19.88 acres south of the southeast corner of Higby Road and east of Jackson Creek Parkway.

District Manager James McGrady said commercial property would add substantial mills to the district’s revenue, and the additional revenue will help pay for the Higby Road improvements.

The board approved resolution 2023-09, 4-0.

Cell tower contract

McGrady requested the board review and consider a cell site lease agreement for $1,800 per month between Dish Wireless LLC and the TMD for a cell phone tower at the district’s C Plant in Sanctuary Pointe, and authorize the district manager to sign the contract after the Monument Planning Commission had reviewed the plan.

Several board members raised concerns regarding esthetics and the removal of equipment from the water tank should the contract end.

McGrady requested Rowley add the obligation to remove equipment to the contract, and a stipulation to maintain an esthetically pleasing look with the intent to match the color of the equipment to the tank, to include the shed.

The board approved the lease agreement contingent on the additional conditions, 4-0.

Convey, treat, and deliver contract amendment

Water attorney Chris Cummins requested the board review and approve an amendment to TMD’s convey, treat, and deliver water contract with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU). The amendment provides greater clarity for TMD to include additional lands into the service area, to provide water service outside of the TMD boundaries pursuant to contracts/commitments, and to wheel water through the NDS to other entities, specifically including Forest Lakes Metropolitan District. The amendment is pending review and approval by Colorado Springs City Council and the CSU board. Upon approval of the measure by the TMD Board of Directors, the district manager is authorized to execute such amendment on behalf of TMD, subject to approval by City Council/Utilities Board in January, he said.

The board agreed with the revision and expected to approve the addition in early 2024.

Northern Delivery System update

Construction/Operations Manager Mike McDonald of Kiewit Infrastructure said the NDS pipeline project began as promised in May 2023, the installation was on schedule, and overall the public is happy and only a few complaints were received. He thanked the board and the executive team for the opportunity to complete the pipeline.

Project manager Max McClean said 29,000 feet of pipe had been installed and the Pump House tank was enroute from France. The electrical equipment is expected to be in the district in March and the metal building will be constructed in December 2023.

McGrady said Kiewit Infrastructure had been on board for three years and had kept the price within 10% despite inflation. The district has spent about $16 million on the project so far, and the road overlay and completion of the pump house remain to complete the contract. The project is expected to total about $21.8 million. Fire hydrants are now installed every 1,000 feet along the pipeline route.

Cummins said that besides the Cherokee Sundance Pipeline that runs down Volmer Road, Rollercoaster Road is the second road in Black Forest with a continuous number of fire hydrants in a heavily wooded area within the county.

Kiewit will complete the Segment D pipeline installation to a new proposed road in the Conexus development on the west side of I-25. On completion, the NDS pipeline will connect northern El Paso County to CSU. There is nothing else like the NDS other than the Southern Delivery System in southern Colorado, he said. See www.ocn.me/v23n10.htm#tmd and www.triviewmetro.com.

Northern Monument Creek Interceptor update

McGrady said four vendors submitted bids for the NMCI design, and it makes sense to the district and Forest Lakes Metropolitan District to participate in the project. The district will know if the project will make financial sense in July 2024 and should budget accordingly for the potential for the project to move forward and be completed in 2026. The NMCI pipeline project would move wastewater from the district to the J.D. Phillips Water Resource Recovery Facility in Colorado Springs, located off Mark Dabling Boulevard.

Participating in the NMCI will lower operational costs and gives the district certainty that upgrades will not be needed in the future. The Upper Monument Creek Regional Waste Water Treatment Facility (UMCRWWTF) is land locked and the mandatory upgrades will be difficult to install should expansion be needed at the facility, he said.

Vice President Anthony Sexton said that in the past some quotes for the upgrades to the UMCRWWTF were estimated at about $30 million, and the customer rates to accommodate those upgrades would be high. The cost for the NMCI would be split with other communities participating in the project, he said.

Superintendent Shawn Sexton said the district’s wastewater flows will need to be known and accurate before fully participating in the NMCI. Bai Engineers of Greenwood Village began a six-month study in August to examine the fluctuating wastewater flows at the UMCRWWTF. The past couple of years saw slight increases in the flows, but not as significant as 2023. The district will know more in three months, he said.

Sanctuary Pointe Park update

McGrady said Classic Homes had decided to postpone the Sanctuary Pointe Park Grand Opening until June 2024. The park rental fees will be held in an escrow account for future maintenance and turf replacement, he said.

Assistant Manager Steve Sheffield said the district will look at how the county and city park rentals are managed, but the district will give priority to local teams.

Secretary/Treasurer James Barnhart suggested blackout periods to allow the residents to use the field.

Sexton said the district will need to collect enough funds to pay for the artificial turf replacement in about seven to 10 years. The replacement is estimated to cost about $1 million.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 8:03 p.m., pursuant to Colorado Revised Statutes 24-6-402(4) (a), (b), (e), to receive legal advice, discuss negotiations regarding; water supply contracts, property acquisitions, strategic planning and change cases.

District Administrator Joyce Levad confirmed that after the meeting, no actions were taken by the Board of Directors when the regular meeting resumed.

The meeting adjourned at 9:03 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday every month at the district office at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Nov. 13 – Budget hearing opened; fee and rate increases proposed

By James Howald

At its November meeting, the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board held a public hearing on its proposed 2024 budget. It also scheduled a public hearing on water and sewer tap fees and usage rates, to be held at its Dec. 18 board meeting. The board also heard financial and operational reports.

Budget hearing opened

Board President Brian Bush opened the public hearing on the proposed budget for 2024. District Manager Jessie Shaffer said he had made three small changes to the draft budget presented at the previous meeting:

  • Field investigation showed that a sewer line at Jackson Creek Parkway and Higby Road does not need replacement as expected; the $103,000 estimated for that work will be moved to reserves.
  • An upcoming meeting with Mountain View Electric Association may require a higher amount to be budgeted for electrical costs.
  • Approval of the final budget for the Chilcott Ditch Co., of which WWSD is the largest shareholder, may require small changes to the WWSD budget.

Shaffer said a copy of the proposed budget was available to the public at the WWSD office.

There were no comments on the budget from the public. The board voted unanimously to keep the public hearing open until the next board meeting, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Dec. 18.

Increases to water tap fees and some rates announced

The board scheduled a public hearing on proposed tap fee and usage rate increases for its Dec. 18 meeting.

The proposed tap fees and usage rates are published on the WWSD web page.

Water tap fees, which are one-time fees used to fund infrastructure improvements required by new development, will increase significantly in 2024. The most common water tap fee, for a three-fourths-inch water tap for a single-family residence, will increase from $29,788 to $37,235. A three-fourths-inch water tap for a multi-family residence will increase from $22,341 to $27,927.

The fee for supplemental water service will remain unchanged at $29,000 per acre-foot.

The water service base fee for a three-fourths-inch meter, the size used for most residences, will increase from $10.59 per month to $11.01.

Monthly water volume charges will also increase:

  • Block 1, for 0 to 6,000 gallons, will increase from $6.71 to $6.98.
  • Block 2, for 6001 to 25,000 gallons, will increase from $11.06 to $11.27.
  • Block 3, over 25,000 gallons, will increase from $17.68 to $18.39.

The Renewable Water Investment Fee will remain unchanged at $40 per month.

The monthly base rate for residential sewer service will increase from $34.32 per month to $35.69, and the monthly sewer volume charge for each 1,000 gallons over 6,000 gallons per month will increase from $4.47 per month to $4.65.

A complete list of proposed rate and fee increases is published on the WWSD web page at: https://www.woodmoorwater.com/. Scroll down to find attachments A and B.

Financial, operational and engineering reports

Board Treasurer Roy Martinez said water use returned to normal in October, compared to lower usage in the unusually rainy spring and summer months. Water sales were down for the year, he said; at the end of October water sales stood at 76% of the annual budgeted amount with only two months remaining in the year. Repair and maintenance costs were also down by about $50,000, he said. Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine explained that some projects would wrap up by the end of the year and some of that difference would even out.

In his operational report, LaFontaine told the board that the Chilcott Ditch operations were winding down for the year and the staff at Woodmoor Ranch was focusing on vehicle maintenance.

LaFontaine reported five line breaks in October, resulting in about 1.25 million gallons of lost water. In response to a request from Martinez, LaFontaine calculated the costs of some of the leaks. The largest leak, in which 397,000 gallons of water was lost, cost the district around $12,000, which includes costs for water treatment, road base and asphalt, and labor. The second largest leak cost the district just under $10,000, he said.

LaFontaine said that by the end of the year, 1,708 water meters will have been replaced with newer, more capable models. The meter replacement project will take another two years to complete, he said.

District Engineer Ariel Hacker told the board that El Paso County wants the district’s design for the second phase of the Highway 105 expansion project to be submitted by the end of December. The district’s portion of the first phase is on schedule, she said; work on the non-potable water line at the Monument Creek Exchange will start the third week of November.

Hacker also addressed an error in JVA Inc.’s bid for the first phase of the Highway 105 expansion. She said JVA had not included costs for asphalt removal and replacement of pipeline at the intersection of Morning Canyon Road and Highway 105. Those items will add $110,000 to the cost of the district’s portion of the expansion, she said.

Hacker updated the board on work related to new wells. Well 22, which is south of County Line Road just east of I-25, is waiting on a permit from the county. Well 19, which is adjacent to the Southern Water Treatment Plant and was taken out of service for economic reasons a few years ago, will be reconnected to the district’s infrastructure once water quality testing is complete. Well 19 is expected to produce 35 gallons per minute when it is back in production, she said.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Mon., Dec. 18 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District articles

Monument Sanitation District, Nov. 15 – Board approves budget, leaves rates unchanged

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

At its November meeting, the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board held a public hearing on its 2024 budget and voted on two related resolutions.

Budget approved; funds appropriated

District Manager Mark Parker opened a public hearing in consideration of the 2024 budget and told the board that he had made only minor changes since the last board meeting. The amount budgeted for contingencies had been increased, he said. He made a conservative estimate of the revenue the district would receive from sewer tap fees, pointing out that phase two of the Willow Springs development would require 32 new taps. Parker explained the tap fees could only be used to fund infrastructure maintenance and improvement. User fees fund administrative and operational costs, he said. The 2024 budget anticipates $945,000 in user fees, an increase of $80,000 over the amount budgeted in 2023.

Parker said he anticipated two more years of substantial revenue from tap fees, as the Monument Ridge North development along Beacon Lite Road and the RAO Investment’s development on Rickenbacker Avenue proceed.

Parker closed the hearing on the 2024 budget and the board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 11152023-2, which adopts the budget and appropriates $2.27 million from the General Fund to operate the district.

Rates remain unchanged

The board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 11152023-1, which adopts wastewater service and tap fees for 2024. The monthly residential use fee remains unchanged at $40 per month. Parker said rates and fees have not been increased since 2020.

The complete schedule of fees can be found on the MSD web page here: https://monumentsd.colorado.gov/schedule-of-fees.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are normally held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Dec. 20. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, Nov. 16 – District ends 2023 under budget

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its November meeting, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board heard a financial report from General Manager Jeff Hodge and operational reports from Water Operator Ronny Wright and Waste Plant Operator Aaron Tolman.

2023 finances in the black

Hodge told the board that at the end of October, the district was about $400,000 under budget. Lower than usual water sales due to the rainy weather were offset by the fact that DWSD spent less than expected—about $300,000—on having Colorado Springs Utilities convey, treat, and deliver water from the district’s Willow Creek Ranch to DWSD customers. Hodge said the district would not need to spend more this year on “The Loop” water re-use project, in which it participates with the Cherokee Metro District, the Town of Monument, and Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District. The Loop may refund $100,000 to DWSD, Hodge said. Higher interest rates benefited the district in 2023, Hodge said.

Hodge said the proposed budget for 2024 would be voted on at the Dec. 7 board meeting and a public hearing on rates would also be held. The December meeting will be held a week earlier than usual so that the budget can be submitted to the state by Dec. 15.

Highlights of operational reports

In his report on water delivery, Wright told the board about electrical problems at the R. Hull treatment plant. Motor starters failed, he said, requiring the replacement of a circuit board. The age of the circuit board made it difficult to find a replacement. Hodge asked whether the district should upgrade it or instead convey the water to the Holbein plant for treatment. There were no comments from the board, and no action was taken.

Wright also updated the board on the district’s test study of hydrous manganese oxide (HMO) technology to reduce radium in water delivered to customers. Three days of water samples treated with HMO have been sent to the state for evaluation, he said. Wright said the study is going well and he expected results from the state in April.

On the wastewater side, Tolman told the board that cracks in the walls of one of the sequential batch reactors at the Upper Monument Creek Waste Water Treatment Plant had been repaired. Board President Wayne Vanderschuere commented on the high efficiency of the plant, and Hodge said the effluent from the plant was cleaner than Monument Creek, into which the effluent is discharged.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Dec. 7 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, Nov. 16 – Board expands contract with consultants

By James Howald

At its November meeting, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA) board added to the range of services to be provided by specialized consulting companies. It also discussed the proposed 2024 budget.

Consultants take on larger role

The board heard an update from John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co. serving as the authority’s Project Planning and Workflow manager, regarding the role of consulting engineers. JVA Inc. was initially hired to test water quality and to design water treatment processes when it was assumed that the EPCRLWA would be responsible for all aspects of the project. In recent months, however, Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) has opened the door to partnering with EPCRLWA by providing water treatment at its Edward Bailey Water Treatment Plant (EBWTP), which would lower the cost of the loop water reuse project significantly by eliminating the need for EPCRLWA to build its own treatment facility. The EBWTP currently treats water for CSU’s Southern Delivery System (SDS) and has about 35 million gallons per day of excess treatment capacity, Kuosman said.

Kuosman told the board that the next step for the loop was a conceptual treatment evaluation for water diverted from Fountain Creek through the Chilcott Ditch to the EBWTP. Most of the tasks required for that evaluation are already included in EPCRLWA’s contract with Merrick. He proposed that the EPCRLWA’s contract with JVA be expanded to cover some of the tasks required to develop this evaluation.

Kuosman outlined the six tasks required by the evaluation:

  • General project management.
  • A request for technical data such as process flow diagrams, operating and maintenance manuals, and water quality treatment data from CSU.
  • From JVA, an interim summary memo assessing Chilcott Ditch current raw water quality, development of water quality targets for Chilcott Ditch water, and an additional three months of water quality testing. Kuosman estimated this step would add $58,500 to JVA’s current contract costs.
  • A decision on whether it is necessary to separate water from Fountain Creek from SDS water at the EBWTP. Kuosman recommended the EPCRLWA contract with Carollo Engineers to assist with this decision, at a cost not to exceed $10,000.
  • Development of conceptual treatment alternatives at the EBWTP. Alternatives that assume separation of Chilcott Ditch water from SDS water include: pre-treatment of Chilcott Ditch water by the EPCRLWA; pre-treatment done by the EBWTP and post-treatment done by the EPCRLWA; and both pre- and post-treatment done by EPCRLWA. A fourth option involves blending raw water.
  • A final report and memorandum that will be used by CSU to determine pricing for the services it will provide.

Kuosman said he thought tasks three through six could be completed in three months.

Kuosman added he was also working on the easement issues required by the project and recommended hiring Kimley-Horn to help with easements in the northern part of the project and Western States Land Services for easements to the south.

Following Kuosman’s presentation, the board voted unanimously to amend its contract with JVA as requested and to authorize Kuosman to continue negotiations with Carollo Engineering.

Budget discussion

Board President Jessie Shaffer said he had made some minor adjustments to the proposed 2024 budget following the October board meeting. Reimbursements to participating agencies were reduced to $100,000. Shaffer asked the board if the amount budgeted for professional fees should be increased. Kuosman recommended an increase from $350,000 to $500,000 and the board concurred. Shaffer estimated the project would have a fund balance of $444,000 at the end of 2024.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at the next board meeting on Dec. 12.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tue., Dec. 12 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority articles

Triview Metropolitan District, Oct. 19 – Traffic safety concerns; NDS pipeline nears completion

By Natalie Barszcz

At the Triview Metropolitan District (TMD) meeting on Oct. 19, the board heard about measures to enhance traffic safety measures along Gleneagle Drive, received an update on the Northern Delivery System (NDS) pipeline project, heard about an addition to an existing loan, and held an executive session to discuss water supply contracts, property acquisitions, strategic planning, and change cases.

Director Jason Gross was excused.

Traffic safety measures enhanced

Ann-Marie Jojola, president of the Promontory Pointe Homeowners Association, thanked the board and the district for the traffic study conducted in the Promontory Pointe neighborhood along Gleneagle Drive. The study will help alleviate a lot of the questions about speed for the residents, she said.

District Manager James McGrady said the district is making changes after the study revealed that motorists were travelling through the neighborhood a few miles over the posted speed limit of 30 miles per hour. The district will change the speed limit to 25 mph near the Little Train Park and through the curved areas from Kansas Pacific Court down to Baptist Road. The straight areas will be 30 mph. A split-rail fence will be installed along the east and south sides of the park to prevent children chasing after balls down Gleneagle Drive. An additional number of crosswalk reminder signs will also be installed, making safety improvements and signs that make sense for the road conditions, he said.

NDS update

McGrady said the Kiewit team installing the NDS pipeline would be wrapping up the installation project along Rollercoaster and Northgate Road by the end of October. Milling and paving has begun at the north end of Rollercoaster Road, and the overlay is expected to be completed before winter. After completion of the pipeline installation, Kiewit will install a pipeline to the Conexus development for $200,000. The pipeline to segment D (future Conexus development) is part of the NDS and it is hoped the installation will move the Conexus development forward. The pipeline will end about 200 feet from the Town of Monuments municipal water infrastructure. See MTC article on page < 12 >. The district has spent almost $15 million as of September and the project is about 68% complete. The project is projected to total about $21.8 million.

Note: For NDS pipeline project updates, alternative traffic routes, road closures, answers to questions, and to sign up for email and text notifications, visit www.triviewnds.com. The link can also be found at www.triviewmetro.com.

Addition to loan proposed

The district is working with the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) to increase an existing loan. The state-funded agency receives its revenue from oil and gas severance taxes and provides loans for water resource projects. The district received a loan from CWCB for about $4.7 million to build the first phase of the South Reservoir, but as the project is ending there are several invoiced items that arose, such as creating the bottom of the reservoir to enable good drainage, and $19,000 for additional engineering. Adding the expenditure of $419,930 to the loan at 2.05% for a combined project total of about $5.1 million is a smart solution, taking advantage of the low interest loan rather than spending district cash, he said. The proposal will be presented for approval at the Nov. 16 board meeting.

Operations report

McGrady said the following:

  • Water Attorney Chris Cummins is still working on the participate agreement with the Forest Lakes Metropolitan District’s (FLMD) attorney. Cummins is waiting on some information from JDS Hydro and the FLMD attorney and is aiming for a completed agreement by the end of December to enable the first payment at the beginning of 2024.
  • Northern Monument Creek Interceptor (NMCI) requests for proposal for the design of the pipeline were due at the end of October. The stakeholders will begin looking at designs around Nov. 6.
  • The district continues to work with D38 on the Higby Road design. Some of the developers will submit their final development plans soon, but the final right of way is still being discussed. Discussions with the Town of Monument continue regarding the final width of the widening/redesign project.
  • A flow test on the pump at the South Reservoir was conducted with the pump manufacturer, and the pump reached the maximum of 32 cubic feet per second. The pump is designed to allow 64 acre-feet of water flow into the reservoir per day.

Utilities Department update

McGrady said the following:

  • Water sales for September were a total of about 46.508 million gallons. The district hit the maximum to date at 50 million gallons in July. Production was at 1.5 million gallons per day, but it is down to less than 1 million gallons per day now that the homeowners have drained their sprinkler systems.
  • The check valve for the A4 Well, located at the bottom of a pipe 1,600 feet deep, had failed and was causing problems with the variable frequency drive, so every time it was turned on the pump had to move a full column of water to the surface. The pipe was pulled out and the valve at the bottom was replaced, and another valve was installed half way down the pipe to avoid pumping a large amount of water in the future.
  • All backflow tests and prevention checks were completed, and 100% compliance has been achieved.
  • The Vactor truck has cleaned about 1,600 feet of sewer lines since being placed into service. Monument Marketplace and the Vista Apartments are completed, and the district has saved about $48,000 so far. The process can take place only when the temperatures are above freezing. The truck is winterized daily and housed in a heated environment to protect the apparatus from any water residue freezing in the truck.

Badger water meters

McGrady said the district has about 158 Badger meters (a cellular water meter with real-time water monitoring technology) left to install out of 2,100 homes. It costs more for the district to manually read those meters from the street, and eventually the old technology will not be available to read the old meters remotely, and access to basements will be the only solution. The district may need to take steps in the future if 100% compliance cannot be achieved. Residents refusing the installation of the new meters may need to pay extra for meter reading in the future, he said.

Note: There is no cost to residents for installation of the new meter, and installation takes about 30 minutes. For more information about the cellular meter, visit https:/www.badgermeter.com.

Executive session

The board moved into an executive session at 6:45 p.m. pursuant to Colorado Revised Statute 24-6-402(4) (a), (b), (e), to discuss acquisitions and receive legal advice for negotiations relating to water supply contracts, property acquisitions, strategic planning, and change cases.

District Administrator Joyce Levad notified OCN after the meeting that no actions were taken by the Board of Directors when the regular meeting resumed.

The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m.

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Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday every month at the district office at 16055 Old Forest Point, Suite 302. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 16 at 5:30 p.m. For meeting agendas, minutes, and updates, visit https://triviewmetro.com.

Natalie Barszcz can be reached at nataliebarszcz@ocn.me.

Other Triview Metropolitan District articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Oct. 9 – Draft 2024 budget presented; tap fee discussion continues

By James Howald

District Manager Jessie Shaffer presented a draft of the 2024 budget to the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) board at its October meeting. The board continued its effort to set water and tap fees and voted on a change to its employee benefits policy. Two class action lawsuits related to Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) were discussed, and Shaffer updated the board on the district’s cybersecurity strategy. The board also heard operational reports.

Budget presented; workshop and hearing scheduled

Shaffer distributed copies of a proposed 2024 budget to the board and asked it to schedule a workshop for further discussion. The board scheduled the workshop for Oct. 24.

Shaffer pointed out that a change to rates or fees required an announcement to the public 30 days in advance of a vote on that change and said that if changes were decided on at the November meeting there would not be adequate time to announce the change before the December meeting. He suggested that the December board meeting be changed from Dec. 11 to Dec. 18 to provide adequate notice. The board approved his suggestion to reschedule the December meeting.

Attorney Erin Smith suggested opening the Nov. 13 board meeting with a public hearing on the budget and continuing the hearing until the Dec. 18 board meeting. Votes on any rate changes and on budget approval could be held at the December meeting, she said.

The board decided to follow Smith’s schedule.

Water and sewer tap fees debate continues

Following up on his presentations at the two previous board meetings, Andrew Rheem of Raftelis, the company that advises WWSD on rates and fees, presented another round of analysis intended to help the board decide how to set water and tap fees to balance the interests of current residents with those of future residents and developers. Rheem addressed the questions raised by the board following his previous presentations. He said he had corrected an error in his calculations and had reconsidered the role of the district’s Renewable Water Infrastructure Fee (RWIF), the monthly charge that covers debt service on the district’s purchase of Woodmoor Ranch and its water rights, in his analysis.

Rheem explained the guiding principles and the case law regarding the setting of tap fees. He said first there must be a link between the impact new development has on the system and the fees that fund that development. Secondly, there must be a rough proportionality between the fees and the impact of new development. Finally, the fees can’t discriminate between types of new development.

Funding the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA) water re-use project, in which WWSD is a participant, is an important factor in how WWSD should set its tap fees, Rheem said. He discussed three methods to fund the project:

  • Revenue bonds, backed up by rate increases, for $85 million in debt, with a 20-year loan term and 4.5% interest rate. This scenario assumes the other three participating districts will also assume their share of the costs.
  • General Obligation bonds, which would need to be approved by voters.
  • A “Go it alone” scenario where WWSD pays for the entire project, expected to cost $181 million with revenue bonds.

Rheem said he had re-calculated the replacement cost of WWSD’s entire system in light of the board’s comments at the previous meeting and the Replacement Cost New (RCN) of the system stood at $137 million, about $3 million more than he previously calculated.

Rheem said he had changed his approach to distributing the outstanding debt from the purchase of the Woodmoor Ranch based on last month’s discussion. WWSD has $12.5 million of unretired debt for that purchase. Dividing that debt by the number of residences when Woodmoor reaches complete buildout means each resident would be responsible for just under $2,400 of that debt, Rheem said.

Board President Brian Bush questioned this approach, asking Rheem why the unretired debt should not be divided by the current number of residents rather than by the future number of residents at buildout. Rheem argued using future residents was necessary to abide by the principle of proportional impact of development. Bush also questioned whether the Woodmoor Ranch and its water rights should be considered as outstanding debt or as an asset.

Rheem said the current water tap fee was $29,788 and proposed three potential water tap fees, each assuming a different approach to funding the EPCRLWA project:

  • A water tap fee of $44,791 if the project is funded with revenue bonds.
  • A water tap fee of $27,195 if the project is funded with general obligation bonds. In this scenario the project cost would be paid via property taxes, not tap fees. This fee would be $2,553 less than the current fee.
  • A water tap fee of $64,370, if the cost of the project is paid entirely by WWSD. This is the “Go it alone” scenario.

Director Tom Roddam asked Rheem to estimate the maximum tap fee WWSD could charge without being challenged in court. Shaffer said he thought a case could be made for a water tap fee around $54,000 if the EPCRLWA project were funded with revenue bonds and the costs were shared among the four participating districts.

Directors Dan Beley and Bill Clewe supported setting the water tap fee at $44,791, arguing that Woodmoor was a desirable community and new residents should be prepared to pay the price to live here.

Bush reiterated his concerns about how the RCN was being calculated, about whether Woodmoor Ranch should be thought of as an asset or an outstanding debt and about inconsistencies in how the EPCRLWA costs were factored in.

The board asked Rheem to update his analysis in time for its budget workshop on Oct. 24.

Hospital reimbursement option dropped

Shaffer asked the board to authorize removing the Hospital Reimbursement Plan (HRP) from the district’s employee benefit package. The option doesn’t pay for a lot, he said, and the Colorado Employer Benefit Trust (CEBT), which provides WWSD’s health plans, wants to remove it from its offerings. CEBT included the HRP in its portfolio to provide a low-cost, low-benefit choice so that districts could reach 100% participation. CEBT has dropped the requirement for 100% participation, Shaffer said.

The board authorized Shaffer to draft a resolution removing the option if CEBT accepts the possibility WWSD may not reach 100% participation by employees.

“Forever chemical” class action lawsuits

Shaffer told the board that class action lawsuits have been filed against 3M and DuPont regarding their production of PFAS chemicals, sometimes called “forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the environment. They have been linked to many health issues, including cancer. Shaffer said the lawsuits had been filed on behalf of every public utility in the country.

Shaffer said WWSD had tested for these chemicals in the past and they were not present in WWSD’s groundwater in detectable levels. Bush said the district could join the lawsuits if it had spent money on PFAS removal or testing. The lawsuits are asking for $11 billion in settlements. He asked Smith to file a claim on the WWSD’s behalf.

Cybersecurity strategy recommendations

At the previous board meeting, Shaffer was asked to review WWSD’s approach to cybersecurity. The district will add a technology called “endpoint detection and response,” which involves continuous monitoring of the WWSD’s IT assets. Shaffer said the staff would be trained on cybersecurity threats.

Highlights of the operational reports

  • In his financial report, board Treasurer Roy Martinez said that revenue from water sales was at 67% of the budgeted amount. Given the time of year, he would expect water sales to be closer to 75%, he said. Martinez attributed the lower sales to the year’s rainier weather.
  • Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine reported two main breaks, which together led to 2 million gallons of lost water.
  • District Engineer Ariel Hacker reported that the county’s project to expand Highway 105 between Jackson Creek Parkway and Knollwood Drive was uncovering unknown utility lines.
  • Hacker said WWSD had sold 58 water and sewer taps to Classic Homes for residences in the Monument Junction East development and 30 taps to the Cloverleaf development east of Lewis-Palmer High School.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District articles

Monument Sanitation District, Oct. 18 – Board addresses budgets, rates, liens

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

Financial matters—budgets, rates, and liens—were the focus when the Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board met in October. The board began work on its budget for 2024 and set a date for a public hearing. The board also briefly considered the 2024 budget developed by the Joint Use Committee (JUC) for operation of the Tri-Lakes Wastewater Treatment Facility (TLWWTF). The board discussed potential changes to rates and fees and scheduled a public hearing to consider them. The board heard a report on delinquent liens and a monthly operational report from District Manager Mark Parker.

MSD 2024 budget presentation

Parker reviewed the MSD budget for 2024 that he presented to the board at the previous meeting. In response to a question from Director Skip Morgan concerning reserve funds, Parker explained the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) requires the district to maintain a certain amount of money in reserve that can’t be used for operating expenses. He pointed out that the 2024 budget increased the money budgeted for property and loss insurance and for workers compensation insurance. He explained that engineering fees increased over the previous budget due to $43,000 in unpaid engineering fees owed to the district. Legal fees also increased because some recording fees and document review fees were included that would be broken out in future budgets.

The board voted to hold a public hearing on the 2024 budget at its next board meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 15 at the district office at 130 Second St. An announcement of the hearing is included in bills for October.

JUC 2024 draft budget

Parker presented a draft of the 2024 budget for the JUC. MSD partners with Woodmoor Water and Sanitation district and the Town of Palmer Lake in the operation of the TLWWTF: All three approve the JUC’s budget.

Parker said sludge removal costs are increasing due to increased fuel costs. Board President Dan Hamilton pointed out the operations costs increased by 30% in the proposed budget.

The board voted unanimously to approve the JUC budget as presented.

Rates and fees remain unchanged

The board discussed online payments, and Parker pointed out that out of 1,757 accounts only 302 pay online with a credit card. The district charges a 2.59% fee for online payments, he said. Hamilton commented that some customers pay by check to avoid the fee. The board discussed a small increase in rates to cover this fee for the customer, but Parker recommended no increase in the 2024 budget. He said staff would continue to study the issue.

Parker said MSD had not raised rates since 2020, when the monthly rate increased from $35 to $40 per month.

The board also discussed tap fees, which are charges paid when a new customer connects to the MSD infrastructure. Parker said the 2023 budget anticipated $500,000 in tap fee revenue but the actual figure came in closer to $1.9 million. He said he expected tap fee revenue to be lower in 2024. He explained some tap fees were being paid by homeowners in Wakonda Hills whose septic tanks were failing, requiring them to connect to the MSD collection system. Parker said he expected to see additional tap fee revenue in 2024 from the Willow Springs development, the Monument Ridge development, and from the Rickenbacker Avenue development.

The board scheduled a second public hearing to address rates and fees for 9 a.m. Nov. 15 at the district office at 130 Second St. An announcement of the hearing is included in bills for October.

Liens on delinquent accounts

Parker said the district had about 11 delinquent accounts and asked the board to approve Resolution 10182023-1, which would place liens on those accounts. One delinquent account amounted to $43,000, he said. The board voted unanimously in favor of the resolution.

Manager’s report

In his manager’s report, Parker said a recent upgrade to the MSD office building’s electrical service had been completed at a much lower cost than anticipated. He said he had signed a contract with a roofing company to repair the office building’s roof.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are normally held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 15, 2023. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other Monument Sanitation District articles

Donala Water and Sanitation District, Oct. 12 – 2024 legal budget presented

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its October meeting, the Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) board continued its work on a budget for 2024. It also heard operational reports.

DWSD District Manager Jeff Hodge began by pointing out that the budget before the board was a “legal” budget, in the format required by the state, with three columns showing the actual year-end figures for 2022, the projected year-end figures for 2023, and the budgeted figures for 2024.

Hodge predicted a $2 million decline in the district’s ending fund balance from 2023 to 2024 due to $1.6 million needed to repair storage tanks, leaving the district with just under $9 million in reserves in 2024. Hodge said he expected reserves to increase in 2025 and 2026.

Water sales were $3.4 million in 2022 and were projected to decrease to $2.7 million by the end of 2023, a decline of about $731,000, Hodge said. Water sales are expected to be $3.2 million in 2024. Sewer service revenue is expected to be about $1.6 million for both 2023 and 2024.

Hodge said that while the district was neither in favor of nor against Proposition HH, the 2024 budget was put together on the assumption that it would pass. The district’s general property tax revenue is budgeted to increase by $600,000 in 2024.

Interest income was $120,144 in 2022, is projected to be $446,512 at the end of 2023, and is budgeted for $594,000 in 2024.

Grant proceeds are budgeted for $1.6 million in 2024, due primarily to American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to DWSD for radium mitigation.

Overall, revenue is expected to increase slightly in 2024, Hodge said.

On the expense side, Hodge said operating expenses were expected to double from $3.4 million in 2023 to $6.1 million in 2024 due to a requirement by the state that certain repair and maintenance projects be included in this line item.

The board scheduled a public hearing on the budget for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the district offices at 15850 Holbein Drive.

Highlights of operational reports

  • Water Operator Ronny Wright told the board that the district’s study of hydrous manganese oxide technology to reduce radium levels in treated water was going well, and he expected testing to be complete by the end of 2023. The study results will be submitted to the state for review.
  • The planned maintenance on the district’s water tanks is scheduled to start in May.
  • The vault for Well 16A is complete, and work on the electrical system for the well is being scheduled.
  • Cracking in the walls of the sequential batch reactor at the Upper Monument Creek Waste Water Treatment Facility will be repaired using pressurized resin injection.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me

Other Donala Water and Sanitation District articles

El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority, Oct. 19 – Board reviews 2024 budget, finances

By James Howald

At its October 19 meeting, the El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority (EPCRLWA) board briefly discussed a draft of its 2024 budget and its finances for the previous month. It heard a progress report from its Project Planning and Workflow manager (PPWM). The board discussed finding a company to provide financial services for the project. Finally, the board also heard results from the most recent water quality tests.

2024 budget and September financial report

Board President Jessie Shaffer asked the board for comments on the proposed 2024 budget. EPCRLWA attorney Russell Dykstra asked if the participating districts—Cherokee Metropolitan District, Donala Water and Sanitation District, the Town of Monument and Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District—would be reimbursed in 2024 for the funds they have spent on the project so far. Shaffer said the goal was to reimburse the districts but that depended on how much of the $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding remained after needed studies and design services are completed. Not all district investments would be reimbursable, he said.

John Kuosman, a water practice leader with Merrick and Co. recently hired by EPCRLWA to serve as the project’s PPWM, said he thought the money allocated for professional fees was too little and he would work on a better estimate.

Board Secretary Mike Forman pointed out that no additional revenue beyond the ARPA funds was expected in 2024.

The board voted to hold a public hearing on the budget at its December meeting. Shaffer asked the board to prepare for further discussion of the budget at the November meeting.

The board also reviewed the project’s claims for September, which consisted of a $16,375 invoice from BBA Water Consultants Inc. for operations modeling, a $10,683 invoice from JVA Consulting Engineers for water quality testing, a $3,955 invoice from Spencer Fane for legal services and a fourth invoice for $280 from the Froman Co. The board voted unanimously to authorize the payment of the invoices.

Project report

Kuosman updated the board on his project management activities in September. He said he met with Jenny Bishop, a project engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU), to discuss how EPCRLWA could work together with CSU. Bishop is working on a grant to implement indirect potable reuse for CSU’s customers, and she is reviewing a proposal from EPCRLWA that CSU do some portion of the water treatment required by EPCRLWA’s loop project. Shaffer said he wanted EPCRLWA’s project specifically mentioned in Bishop’s grant language.

At the previous meeting, Kuosman discussed a letter of interest he intended to send to consulting and engineering companies to assess their interest in the loop project. At the October meeting, he said he had received 53 responses that would form the basis of a mailing list EPCRLWA would use to identify contributors.

Kuosman said he met with Dykstra and Shaffer to discuss the legal structure the participating districts will use to define contributions and operations. He said districts would need to make a final commitment to the project in 2024.

Kuosman mentioned he had been authorized to contact Mary Shinn, an environmental reporter at The Gazette, to keep her informed about the loop project. He said Foreman had already made a statement about the project to The Gazette.

Board seeks financial services company

Shaffer asked about a request for proposal (RFP) from financial services companies. Dykstra said the RFP should be finished later in the day and he would circulate it to five companies that he considered to be specialists in the financial areas required by the project.

The board voted unanimously to authorize Dykstra to write the RFP and circulate it as proposed.

Water test results show variation

Richard Hood, of JVA Inc., the company EPCRLWA has hired to assess water quality and design the water treatment aspects of the project, told the board the water quality tests done in September showed hardness, alkalinity, total organic carbon, sulfate, chloride and calcium all at their highest levels to date. The samples were taken from the Chilcott Ditch. He said further testing was needed to determine if the most recent results would continue. The board elected to continue testing a wide range of analytes to make sure adequate data was collected to design effective water treatment protocols.

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The next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 16 at 9 a.m. Regular meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Monument Town Hall at 645 Beacon Lite Road. Workshop meetings are held the first Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Cherokee Metropolitan District offices at 6250 Palmer Park Blvd., Colorado Springs. Please see loopwater.org or call 719-488-3603 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

Other El Paso County Regional Loop Water Authority articles

Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District, Sept. 18. Contracts awarded for infrastructure.

By James Howald

Construction contracts were the focus of the Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District (WWSD) at its September meeting. The board awarded two new contracts and changed the award of a third to a different company. It continued the discussion of water and sewer tap fees that began in its previous meeting, hearing a presentation from the consultants that provide the district with rates analysis. The board also heard operational reports.

Two new contracts awarded.

District Manager Jessie Shaffer gave the board a summary of the scope of work included in the construction contract for the Well 22 pumphouse project. Well 22 is south of County Line Road and east of I-25, and the drilling was completed in July 2022. The project includes the construction of the well house, the installation of the well’s pump, motor, and drop pipe, and associated piping, electrical support, and controls.

Richard Hood, of JVA Inc., an engineering company that advises WWSD, told the board that four bids for the project were received and Native Sun Construction was the low bidder at $1.17 million. Hood said Paintbrush Hills Metropolitan District, Woodmen Hills Metropolitan District and the City of Boulder gave Native Sun Construction positive recommendations.

Hood recommended that the board award the contract to Native Sun Construction, and the board voted unanimously to do so.

Rachel Frei, of BB&A Water Consultants Inc., presented her recommendations for the drilling, construction, and testing of a new Dawson aquifer well, to be drilled on the site of the Central Water Treatment Plant (CWTP), which is on Deer Creek Road adjacent to the Lewis-Palmer Middle School football field.

Frei said the proposed well would be designed to a different standard than other WWSD wells. Previously, WWSD has used the municipal standard for its wells, Frei said, but the last long-range plan completed by the district allows for some new wells to be built to the standard for commercial wells, which typically use lower quality and less expensive hardware components. Additional savings result from using smaller drilling rigs, she said. Commercial grade wells are usually 77% less expensive than wells built to the municipal standard.

Frei estimated the new well would produce 25 gallons per minute. WWSD’s Arapahoe aquifer wells typically produce 200 or more gallons per minute.

Shaffer said the well would be a test case for the district. He pointed out the commercial standard involved a bit more risk but would provide a much lower cost per acre-foot of water produced. The proximity to the CWTP meant less would be spent on pipeline and on building to house the well.

Frei recommended that the contract be awarded to Winegar Well Service LLC, which bid $219,315 for the project. The board voted unanimously to award the contract as Frei suggested.

Contract re-awarded.

At its previous meeting in August, the board awarded a contract to install the infrastructure for a new pressure reduction zone required by the Monument Junction development to Aslan Construction. Classic Homes, the developer of Monument Junction, was to be responsible for a portion of the project, but in August the WWSD board believed that Classic Homes would have WWSD manage the project and be reimbursed by Classic Homes for its portion of the work. Details about the original award of the contract can be found in a previous issue of Our Community News here: https://www.ocn.me/v23n9.htm#wwsd.

In September, Shaffer told the board there had been new developments. Classic Homes opted to use their own contractor to do its share of the work, he said, and Aslan Construction notified him that it had made a $170,000 error in its bid. As a result, Aslan withdrew its bid, Shaffer said.

Shaffer said he did not recommend rebidding the project. He recommended that the board award the contract to Midcity Corp., which had bid on the work along with Aslan.

After some discussion to sort out the consequences of Classic Homes choosing to use its own contractor rather than let WWSD manage the entire project and be reimbursed, the board voted unanimously to authorize Shaffer to move forward with Midcity’s bid of $438,722.

Tap fee debate continues.

At its previous meeting, the board heard a presentation on tap fee strategy from Andrew Rheem of Raftelis, a company that advises WWSD on rates and fees. At that meeting, the board voted to authorize Raftelis to continue its work, begun a year ago, to help determine how WWSD should set its water and sewer tap fees to ensure the district can fund the cost of service delivery and capital improvements looking out 10 years.

At the September meeting, Rheem and his colleague Harold Smith presented some preliminary results. They said they had developed scenarios that addressed issues such as how WWSD will finance its portion of the water re-use project often referred to as “The Loop,” which will build infrastructure to allow WWSD and other participating water districts to divert water from Fountain Creek, including treated effluent, and return it for reuse by customers.

Rheem and Smith said they estimated the final buildout of the WWSD service area would occur by 2042, with 6,500 connections to the water distribution system and 6,200 connections to the sewer system. They calculated the Replacement Cost New (RCN) of those systems to be $134.87 million. RCN is the amount it would cost to build systems of equal capacity at today’s prices and is a factor when tap fees are considered as a fee to buy a share in an existing system.

The discussion that followed raised some questions about the assumptions used to calculate the RCN. Operations Superintendent Dan LaFontaine pointed out that developers build pipes at their expense that are later conveyed to the district and asked how that was built into the RCN calculation. Other issues were how $7 million in recent capital improvements were calculated into the RCN, and how to account for the debt incurred by the purchase of Woodmoor Ranch, the debt service for which is paid by district customers every month in the form of the $40 per month Renewable Water Infrastructure Fee.

Uncertainty about how The Loop water reuse project would be financed—with revenue bonds or general obligation bonds that would require a vote for approval—complicated the issue of future tap fees.

Rheem and Smith presented a case for raising water tap fees, which are one-time fees paid when a new building is connected to the water distribution system, by $12,000 to $42,000. Board President Brian Bush argued that increase could not be made in one year. He also pointed out that federal and state regulations governing water quality were not likely to remain unchanged for 10 years and new regulations would impact the cost of delivering water to customers. Shaffer said the increase suggested by Rheem and Smith would raise objections on the part of developers.

The board did not vote following the discussion. Rheem and Smith said they would continue to work on their analysis, taking into consideration the questions raised.

Highlights of operational reports.

  • In his financial report, board Treasurer Roy Martinez said that revenue from water sales was down due to the unusually rainy summer and spring.
  • The 12-month rolling average for unaccounted water is 5%, which is low by industry standards.
  • 1,400 of the district’s residential water meters have been replaced with newer meters that are better integrated with the district’s billing system and support advanced functions such as helping customers avoid unexpectedly large water bills by notifying them when there is a leak on their property.
  • WWSD is issuing water taps for the west side of the Monument Junction development.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 9 at 1 p.m. Meetings are usually held on the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at the district office at 1845 Woodmoor Drive; please see www.woodmoorwater.com or call 719-488-2525 to verify meeting times and locations.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Monument Sanitation District, Sept. 20. Board approves email policy, plans building improvements

By Jackie Burhans and James Howald

The Monument Sanitation District (MSD) board met in September to vote on a resolution outlining the district’s email policy. It discussed a preliminary draft of a proposed 2024 budget and took up issues concerning improvements and repairs of the district’s headquarters building.

District email for business use only.

State law requires governmental organizations that maintain email systems to have a written policy governing their proper use. District Manager Mark Parker told the board that work on MSD’s email policy was begun with their previous lawyer and was now ready for a vote.

Resolution 9202023-1 specifies:

  • MSD’s email system is owned by the district and is limited to messages related to district business. Personal or private messages are not allowed.
  • Use of personal email systems for district business is not allowed and may subject the district to discovery orders, seizure, and inspection in the event of litigation.
  • Messages sent through the district’s email are public records and are available to the public through Colorado Open Record Act requests.
  • The district may monitor messages sent through its email system.
  • The email system is an extension of the workplace and is subject to the district’s personnel policies.
  • Board President Dan Hamilton summed up the policy by pointing out that there is no privacy in use of the email system. Parker pointed out that board members would need to be careful in their use of the “Reply All” feature, as emails going to three or more board members constitute a meeting. Parker said he used the blind carbon copy feature to prevent board members from inadvertently creating a meeting by replying to everyone on the distribution list.

The board voted unanimously to approve the resolution.

Preliminary 2024 budget discussed.

Parker gave the board a preliminary draft of the 2024 budget and asked for their feedback at the next board meeting. He said he estimates income low and expenses high, and that generally works out. Legal and engineering fees were underestimated in the previous budget. Legal fees were somewhat higher than expected in the 2023 budget because of the legal work needed on the district’s bylaws and employee handbook. For the 2024 budget, he assumed a 10 percent increase in worker’s compensation costs and a large increase in the cost of gas and electricity. Interest income is up due to higher interest rates, he said.

Parker pointed out that MSD could impose a 7.734 mill levy, but that was not needed because the district is able to cover its cost of service through tap fees and user fees.

HQ building needs roof repair, HVAC upgrade.

MSD owns the building at 130 Second St. that houses the office space and conference room used by the district, as well as three businesses: the Black Forest Foods Café and Deli, Santa Fe Trail Jewelry, and the Second Street Hair Studio.

Parker told the board that, due to age and hail damage, the building’s roof needs to be replaced. The cost of replacement is less than the insurance deductible, he explained, so MSD will be paying for the replacement. Parker said he was working with the district’s insurance carrier to find alternatives to the current deductible.

Parker asked the board to consider paying for an engineering study to design a comprehensive solution to the building’s problems with heating and ventilation. The Black Forest Foods Café and Deli kitchen has created issues with ventilation that were not anticipated when the building was designed. The kitchen hoods pull air out of the building and makeup air is needed to run the building’s furnace efficiently, he said. The study would need to assess whether the rafters can support the needed equipment as well as the snow load in the winter months. The building’s electric service would also need to be included. Parker estimated the study cost at $5,500.

MSD Environmental/Regulatory Compliance Coordinator Jim Kendrick pointed out that over the last 20 years contractors who addressed issues stemming from the restaurant kitchen have put in place ad hoc solutions. He argued the cost of a comprehensive study and design would be money well spent.

The board did not take a vote but agreed that Parker should proceed with the proposed study.

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Monument Sanitation District meetings are normally held at 9 a.m. on the third Wednesday of the month in the district conference room at 130 Second St., Monument. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Oct. 18. See https://colorado.gov/msd. For a district service map, see https://colorado.gov/pacific/msd/district-map-0. Information: 719-481-4886.

Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me. James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me.

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Donala Water and Sanitation District, Sept. 21. Preliminary 2024 budget presented

By James Howald and Jackie Burhans

At its September meeting, Donala Water and Sanitation District (DWSD) General Manager Jeff Hodge and Accounts Payable specialist Christine Hawker presented a preliminary draft of the district’s 2024 budget. The board awarded a contract for rehabilitating the district’s water tanks, updated a lease to sell effluent water, and made plans to sell a surplus variable frequency drive (VFD). Finally, district staff updated the board concerning the district’s testing of hydrous manganese oxide (HMO) to reduce radium in its treated water.

2024 budget overview.

The preliminary budget presented showed an increase in total revenue from $6.86 million projected for 2023 to $7.60 million budgeted for 2024. Water sales and interest income are projected to increase in 2024. Property tax revenue for 2024 was projected to be $2.24 million; that number reflects a $600,000 decrease in the county’s assessment due to the possibility of Proposition HH passing. Hodge said the 2024 budget assumes the district will not see any increase in revenue from increased property taxes.

On the expense side, total operating expenses are estimated to increase from $4.92 million projected for 2023 to $6.24 million budgeted for 2024. In the 2024 budget, $365,351 was moved from administrative expenses to operating expenses because upgraded accounting software enables better tracking of contract services. Utility costs for 2024 are budgeted to increase by $257,000 due to an estimated 10% increase in electrical costs by Mountain View Electrical Association. Engineering costs and well maintenance costs are also projected to increase in 2024.

Total capital and bond expense is estimated to increase from $3.44 million projected for 2023 to $4.31 million budgeted for 2023.

A total of $3.57 million was budgeted for capital improvement projects in 2024, with rehabilitation of three storage tanks, filter media rehabilitation at the R. Hull treatment plant, and funding for “The Loop” water reuse project at the top of the list.

Hodge emphasized that water and sewer revenue would cover the district’s operating expenses, and he estimated DWSD would have $8 million in reserves.

Board President Wayne Vanderschuere said the budget would need to be presented to the state by Oct. 15 and the board would hold a special meeting on Oct. 12 to formally accept a final 2024 budget.

Water tank rehab contract awarded.

Hodge recommended the board award a contract for water tank rehabilitation to Viking Painting LLC, which bid $1.05 million to rehabilitate the district’s three tanks. The contract had previously been awarded to Swedish Industrial Coatings LLC, but that company was unable to do the work.

The board voted unanimously to award the contract as Hodge suggested.

Effluent water lease extended.

Hodge asked the board to consider extending for two years a contract for DWSD to lease up to 6.5 acre-feet of effluent water per year to Letha Robison. The state of Colorado requires pond owners to replace water lost to evaporation. Hodge explained the new contract would raise the price of the water from $150 per acre-foot to $300. The board voted unanimously to extend the contract.

Surplus VFD to be sold.

Hodge told the board he had a buyer for a VFD the district is taking offline. VFDs control the operation of the motors that drive well pumps and allow them to ramp up or down smoothly rather than being completely on or completely off, thereby saving energy costs and reducing the wear and tear on pipelines. Water Operator Ronny Wright said he expected the VFD to be sold for $7,500.

HMO testing moves forward.

Wright updated the board on the status of the demonstration project the district is running to prove that treatment with HMO will reduce to acceptable levels the radium in the water delivered to customers. Wright said samples treated with HMO were taken between Sept. 11 and 17 have been submitted for testing. Two more samples will be taken in mid-October and in November, he said, adding he expected results by late December. When all results are received, the district will have 30 days to send the results to the state. Wright said he anticipated the state would respond by April, allowing DWSD to proceed with the design of an HMO-based radium treatment process.

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The next meeting is scheduled for Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m. Generally, board meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 1:30 p.m. and include online access; call (719) 488-3603 or access www.donalawater.org to receive up-to-date meeting information. The district office is located at 15850 Holbein Drive, Colorado Springs.

James Howald can be reached at jameshowald@ocn.me. Jackie Burhans can be reached at jackieburhans@ocn.me.

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