All neighbors,
Attached you will find the PDF presentation that was given to the CLPOA Board of Trustees last night.
We realize we’ve been quiet the past few months, but we’ve been hard at work.
There are basically four main lines of effort occurring within CU at the moment.
The first effort involves the Plant Replacement. We have a committee that has been squeezing every expert (Ohio Rural Water Association, consulting firms, contractors, equipment suppliers) for information. What we’ve learned is that we anticipate being able to construct a new plant for approximately $1.75 million, which is $900,000 to $1.15 million less than the initial IBI estimates. We still have a bit more research to conduct on Dualator system costs, but feel confident enough in this figure to put it out there.
The second line of effort involves reincorporating CU as a non-profit. We have been exploring the in’s and out’s of 6119 Water Districts and non profits and believe that a non profit would serve us well as a water utility. Why? The main reason is tax savings. We pay over $40,000 annually in property taxes that a non-profit would be exempt from paying. We also pay “excise and poor” taxes because of our current For Profit incorporation status. All taxes added up, we anticipate a total annual savings of $50,000.
If CU were to reincorporate as a non profit, the CLPOA Board of Trustees would still appoint the CU Board of Directors. What this means is you the property owner would still have influence over who is on the CU Board in the exact same manner that you do right now.
To summarize the reincorporation line of effort: $50,000/year stays at home in your water utility instead of leaving as a tax expenditure, and the CU Board would still be appointed in the same manner as it is right now.
The third line of effort involves flushing taps. We have EPA approval to replace “blow off assemblies” with flushing taps in ~12 locations around the system. We have an initial estimate, and our committee is exploring other vendors and options to ensure we provide the best value to our customers and neighbors. These flushing taps would update some older infrastructure and allow us to flush the main lines in a more effective manner.
There is a very important item regarding these flushing taps – we’re not calling them “hydrants.” For a hydrant to count as a hydrant for insurance purposes, it must meet a requirement to provide certain volume of water over a period of time, such as 400 gallons per minute. Due to our main lines being a relatively small diameter (most are 4-6 inches), we are not sure if we would get the necessary amount of volume to actually count as a “hydrant”. We wouldn’t know until after they are installed and flow tested.
Therefore, we cannot promise you “fire hydrants” that would save you money on insurance. However, we need these hydrants for flushing purposes to perform system maintenance, so it’s a necessary expenditure. Obviously our hope is that they will save us money on insurance, but we cannot guarantee that at this time.
The fourth main line of effort involves standing up a CU office at the current plant facility. A few weeks ago we posted an opening for a administrator/clerk as part of this effort. We will be updating our accounting practices, billing systems, and communication systems in order to have better oversight and provide you with better service. We do anticipate some growing pains with standing up a new office (thank you in advance for your patience), but believe this is the best solution for CU.
If anyone has further questions, your board members are always available for questions. We love to talk about the nuances of pressure filtration vs gravity filtration, equivalent length flow rate engineering, accounting practices, Ohio Revised Code and other fun things.
The next CU meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 17 at 7pm in the Lodge. All are always welcome.