Attendance:
Present:
Tom Godfrey - Chair
John Kirkham - Vice Chair
Patricia Comarell - Secretary
Donald Milne - Chair of Engineering Committee
Joan Degiorgio - Chair of Environmental Committee
Cindy Cromer
Absences:
John Mabey Jr. - Chair of Management Advisory Committee (Excused)
Approve 2025 fiscal year budget
All of the available funds will be used by the water district. There were over $100 million available, with most of it going towards the funding of capital projects. The availability of funds is nearly twice as much as in the past five years. More funds are available because the district is gaining nearly twice as much from previous years from property taxes. There will be a public meeting in June regarding property taxes, where community members can share their thoughts on the property tax rate. The district is projecting to make over $25 million from water sales to member cities next year. The money that is made will be used for capital projects and maintenance. Capital projects include the Salt Lake Aqueduct project, which is a 42-mile-long pipe going from Deer Creek Reservoir down to a storage reservoir in the Salt Lake Valley. This motion was passed unanimously
Approve a proxy for the Provo River water meeting.
John Mabey, the chair of the management committee, usually attends the Provo River Water Users Association meetings but is unable to attend the upcoming meeting on April 25th. The executive committee recommended that Wayne Winsor, the assistant general manager of the water district, attend the meeting in his place. The water district owns 61,900 shares of the Provo Water Users Association, making the district a “class A” voting group. This means that they get to elect directors, where they hold six out of the eleven directors in the voting group.
Approve easement agreement with AJ Rock
Ammon Allen, the engineering manager of the water district, explained that this easement has been around for 10 months. Allen explained that AJ Rock will be building apartments and hotels that neighbor the Salt Lake Aqueduct at 6695 South Wasatch Boulevard. The water district is working with AJ Rock to find the best way to cover the aqueduct. The easement agreement includes public and private roads and associated utilities to support the Salt Lake Aqueduct. The reason there needs to be a new agreement is because the district clarified the size of the aqueduct and the developer is relocating some of their blow-off pipes. Joan DeGiorgio decided to abstain from voting since she was not present at the meeting where this agreement was discussed.
Postponed Vote on Terminating Agreement with Pleasant Grove City
The water district has had a contract with Pleasant Grove City for monitoring water and the dumping of excess flows into Grove and Battle Creek. The water district will be looking into ending the contract “without cause”. When ending the contract in this way, they need to give Pleasant Grove City 15 years notice. This measure was on the board packet but it was postponed, It was not mentioned at all in the meeting, so it is unclear why it was postponed.
Additional Notes
Water levels are especially high right now. Utah Lake is at 100% capacity, so water is being sent down the Jordan River. The Deer Creek and Jordanelle reservoirs are both at over 80 percent capacity. Reservoirs are a lot fuller at this moment this year compared to last year.
What Passed
- Consider adoption of FY 2025 tentative budget (Tab 1)
- Consider acceptance of financial reports (Tab 1)
- Consider approval of Resolution 1933 for proxy for Provo River Water Users Association annual meeting (Tab 2)
- Consider approval of easement agreement with AJ Rock development (Tab 3)
- Consider approval of Board Meeting minutes dated March 25, 2024 (Tab 4)
- Close session for pending or reasonably imminent litigation
Everything passed unanimously.
Water Documenters is a collaboration between The Salt Lake Tribune and City Bureau and funded through grants from the Great Salt Lake Collaborative and the Rita Allen Foundation. College student journalists from all over Utah are hired to attend and take notes at public water meetings in Utah. These notes are then published for anyone to read or use. The project is aimed at providing better public access to meetings where major decisions are made about a limited Utah resource. For more meeting notes, click here. For more information, click here.
