A regular meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Butte-Meade Sanitary Water District was held at District Office on January 13, 2021 at 8:00 a.m.  The meeting was called to order by the President of the Board, Bob Lewis at 8:10 a.m. Unless otherwise noted, all Board action was by unanimous decision.

Members Present: Bob Lewis, Gary Velder, Penny Oedekoven , Merri Stapp, Clerk Treasurer, Mike Wolff, District Manager. Absent: Brian Stambaugh, Judy Heisler.

Motion by Bob Lewis second Gary Velder to adopt the agenda. All voted yea.

The Minutes of the December 9h meeting were read and approved on a motion by Gary Velder, second Penny Oedekoven . All voted yea.

The Treasurer’s Report and bills were approved on a motion by Bob Lewis, second Gary Velder. All voted yea:  The Treasurer also gave the Board Clerk Komes’ grade for her first accounting class.  She received an A in the Principals of Accounting class.

On a motion by Gary Velder, second Bob Lewis, the following items were approved for the year 2021.

1. First National Bank, Newell SD as the official bank of the District.
2. Black Hills Pioneer as the official newspaper of the District.
3. Annual trustee election date to be June 8, 2021.
4. Dwight Gubbrud, Belle Fourche SD as the District’s attorney.
5. Independent Audit Services to do the annual District audit.
6. Extra help when needed @ 25.00 per hour.
7. Bob Lewis as President of the Board.
8. Penny Oedekoven as Vice President of the Board.
9. Brian Stambaugh as voting delegate for the District.

In other January business, the confirmation vote from the originally approved (in August 2019) permission for Clerk-Treasurer to defer vacation days to the year she retires was tabled until a full board convenes.  

Clerk Treasurer Stapp reported the Banyon billing system will be used for the first time with the January 2021 bills to be sent out.

Clerk Treasurer Stapp will send out a Customer Complaint form to a customer who was on the shut off list. The completed form when received back from the customer will be presented to the Board upon receipt.

Manager Wolff presented his monthly repair and maintenance report which included:

• Leaks repaired in the past month.

• Leak at the bore on Beet Road that they will need to go in and repair.

• Easements for work to be done near the old Bob Kosola place.

• Permits to be obtained from the Bureau of Reclamation for work on Donahey’s and Arpan Road.

• Potential new hook ups to be installed in the near future.

Discussion was held on increasing the District’s tapping fees on new services. Manager Wolff has checked into what other rural water systems in the state are charging, and they are substantially higher than the District.  On a motion by Gary Velder, second Bob Lewis, the District’s hook up fee will be raised to   2000.00 on new services effective January 13, 2021.   Manager Wolff will prepare a note to make all customers aware of the increase, to be included with the billing sent out to customers.

On a motion by Bob Lewis, second Gary Velder, the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m.