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Dakota Ridge Board of Directors Meeting
June 16, 2020 at 12:30pm via Zoom

Present: Sarah Jones, Ron Lemieux, Holly Van Deursen, Jim Lob
Others Present: Matt Mielke & Mary Andre (CDC), Andrea Wilhelm & Medora Fralick (Commercial Property Group)

Matt began by summarizing the attached PDF list of various capital improvements and operational changes that might help address/mediate the water loss issues. The Board members asked a number of questions in an effort to try to prioritize the list. Matt explained that a 500 ft portion of ductile iron pipe replacement near lots 27 and 28 on Agate Creek Rd. is already budgeted in this year’s CIP. The remaining 2300 ft, located at the bottom of the water system, is at a lower risk of leaking/corrosion due to the soil. Mary also spoke with Native Excavating to get a better understanding of the three leaks that Native helped repair for homeowners in the last year.

Ultimately Matt & Mary explained that there are many variables that could be contributing to either implied or real water loss including: fire hydrant flushing, delay in distribution from tanks to houses, level of water tanks at time of meter readings, the multi-day process of manual meter readings, service or main line leaks, etc. They explained that installing smart meters at each house would provide real-time data along with an opportunity for acoustic water leak detection on the service lines during meter replacement. They also agreed it would be helpful to spend more time gathering/analyzing results since the loss decreased from 53% in April to 28.5% in May. This percentage decrease could in part be due to consumption which more than doubled during that time.

After much discussion and no further questions for CDC, the Board agreed to move forward with getting estimates on the recommended operational improvements as well as #3 from the capital list (DIP on Agate Creek Rd.) The Board felt that given the complexity of the entire system, it would not be prudent to spend immediate/significant money in case the loss number decline with the ductile iron replacement and/or some of the operational solutions in #3-6. Once these changes are made in a systematic fashion and more data has been gathered, the next step to consider might be smart meters and leak detection.

Lastly, Andrea provided a brief update on the second cluster mailbox survey which currently has 15 responses. Angie will send a reminder today and responses will be compiled and sent to the Board on Thursday.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:40pm

Recorded by,
Andrea Wilhelm
Commercial Property Group