The Board and Management of KWSC continue to oversee normal operations to reliably meet demand for clean water to its membership.  In addition, the Board has continued to review all aspects of the operation to assure that the Corporation is operating efficiently with transparent and businesslike processes. The following describe some of the progress that has been made during the past year:

Administration:  The acting General Manager, Mr. Bill Fry of Severn Trent, was replaced by Earl Foster who is a permanent, full time employee of the Corporation.  Earl’s experience has led to a number of improvements in operation of the system.  Examples are:

Better record keeping, chemical addition, training for employees, professional atmosphere etc.

Improved processes to execute provisions of the By-Laws and Board Policies regarding billing, fees, system extensions to developers and other administrative activities.  Consistent and fair dealings with the membership has improved member relations and reduced the burden on the Staff.

Review of the Staff and development programs has improved the quality of the staff and provided employees a clear career path.  The Staff’s increased training and participation has led to improved operation of the entire system.

Systematic review of the equipment in the water treating plant and the entire system has led to improved efficiency.

Changes in chemical treatment points has reduced the amount of chemicals required and improved the consistency of water quality.

Regular routine maintenance of equipment such as filters has increased capacity of the plant.  By “baby sitting” the plant during the past summer, the Staff delivered 1.7 - - million gallons per day of water meeting water quality standards from a plant designed to deliver 1.4 million gallons per day.

Routine change out of meters has removed inaccurate meters from the system.  Looping lines has decreased the amount of needed flushing.

Safety equipment has been maintained, added where necessary, and training has been better organized and regular to minimize the risk of injury to the Staff.

The shop has been organized, the inventory has been updated and computerized so that it can be used as needed, and kept up to date.

The payable process was changed.  The person receiving any goods or services verifies receipt.  The General Manager approves any invoice for payment.  Checks are signed by the Secretary Treasurer and either the President, Vice President or General Manager.  In the absence of the Secretary Treasurer, checks may be signed by any two the President, Vice President or General Manager.

Payables are now handled in the main accounting program removing manual steps and improving recordkeeping.  Checks are issued twice per month to improve administrative efficiency and communication with suppliers and contractors.

Arrangements were made whereby members can pay their monthly invoice by credit card.

The Corporation’s Auditors was changed to Michael Warner from Burnet.  Mike Center, who had done the annual audits for a number of years, had taken on other business responsibilities.  Further, the USDA Loan and Grant will require a “yellow book” audit, which requires training, and Government certification that Mr. Center does not choose to maintain.  Warner and Associates is certified to perform “yellow book” audits when required.

Tariff was updated.  Late fee was increased to 10 dollars, and reconnect fee is 50 dollars.  A voluntary contribution was added to the bill for the Volunteer Fire Department.

Board Policies.  The Board has:

Set a policy of transparency with the membership.  All actions except legal and personnel are taken at Board Meetings, which are open to the public.

Review of the financial processes showed that the requirement of Board Approval for expenditures over $1000 was too restrictive and did not allow the General Manager to effectively conduct day to day operations and handle emergencies.  The Board approved increasing the limit of the General Manager’s approval to $10,000, and with the Board’s Infrastructure Committee approval, from $10,000 to $25,000.  Larger expenditures continue to require Board Approval.  Three estimates will continue to be obtained for all non-routine expenditures, and expenditures over $25,000 continue to require public bidding.

Land Developers are required to sign a Non-standard service agreement before any talks begin.  Any developer requesting water to an undeveloped tract is required to pay the cost of providing the requested water service including extension of lines and increases in system capacity.

Set policy that the Corporation’s Engineer reviews all additions or modifications to the system, including all systems proposed by a developer for connections to KWS.

Set policy that when new main lines are installed, or old main lines are replaced, a minimum of 6-inch line with fireplugs will be installed.  This will eventually provide fire protection throughout the entire system. (Kingsland Water Supply Corporation has never undertaken to provide fire protection; the cost of quickly upgrading the existing water system would be prohibitive.  However, the Board recognizes the need and benefits to the community, and is moving to provide fire protection whenever a section of the system is upgraded.)  Kingsland Water Supply is working with the fire department on the location of fire hydrants and color coding for each for each fire hydrant according to its gallons per minute capacity.

Set policy that the Corporation’s lawyers, Webb and Webb review all agreements executed on behalf of the Corporation before execution.  Legal Council of the Rural Water Association is also called upon for interpretation of the State Laws.

Reviewed the Corporation’s Investment Policy, as required by law.  This review resulted in changes in the process to allow the Board to invest the Corporation’s cash reserves in investments guaranteed by the “Full Faith and Credit of the US Government” its agencies or instrumentalities, or AAA rated Corporate Bonds, and to invest in State Legislature established investment pools.  This has allowed the Corporation to negotiate better interest rates from local banks, and has eliminated the requirement to manage multiple investments in $100,000 value.  Collateralization agreements have been made with the banks to assure that the investments are secure.  The result of this more businesslike approach has increased our interest income during the last year of $70,000 as compared to $45,000 during the previous year.

Reviewed the By-Laws and Annual Meeting Processes.  The process of requesting proxies was modified to assure confidentiality of member’s ballots, and the deadline for submitting a proxy was moved forward from Monday to Friday to give advance knowledge of whether a quorum is reached to allow the meeting to be held.

Upgrade of Existing System.  Several locations were identified where replacing relatively short sections of small line or adding short sections of line to interconnect supply lines would improve capacity and pressure in the system.  Examples of those are: Link 300 feet of 8-inch, Elkhorn 400 feet of 4-inch, Cree 200 feet of 2-inch, Western 200 feet of 6-inch, Clover 200 feet of 2-inch, Geronimo 1200 feet of 6-inch, connected 12-inch to 4-inch line at Violets on highway 1431.

Updated the SCADA (System Control and Data Acquisition) system so that tank levels, chlorine residuals, and pressure can read from the computer at the main plant.  Also set up a backup computer to monitor the SCADA system.

System Mapping KWS and KMUD did not have accurate or complete maps of their respective systems.  Further, neither Corporation had accurate physical addresses of all facilities nor meters – in many instances, had only addresses where monthly bills were mailed.  A program has been conducted during the past year to develop computerized databases of all addresses of facilities and meters with the names of owners and mailing addresses.  These databases are linked with property records of Llano and Burnet County, and are shared by KWS and KMUD.  This program also included determining the size and location of all lines in both systems.  This information has been input into computerized maps of the system.

Portable Generator Acquired. Recognizing KWSC’s vulnerability to extended power outages, such as occurred in Marble Falls during last spring’s “rain bomb” or should a tornado strike Kingsland, KWSC purchased a trailer-mounted, diesel-powered portable generator capable of powering the input well pumps or the water treating plant.  The staff has been trained to use this generator in case of emergencies.

A computerized model of the entire KWS has been prepared using the map of the system.  This model is being used to determine areas in the system where line sizes or isolated supply lines are limiting capacity or causing pressure imbalances.  These studies, combined with line repair records, are being used to identify sections of lines that should be replaced or enlarged or interconnected to improve the water systems capability.  Examples are:

RR 2545 supply lines.  The line from the Tripod Tank located north of 1431 near RR2545 is connected to the main parallel 6-inch and 12-inch supply lines along RR2545 by a section of 8-inch line and a section of 6-inch line.  These lines are approximately one-half mile long, are a “bottleneck” in the system and significantly limit the capacity to that area of the system.  At some point, these sections of small lines need to be replaced.

The Williams Lakeshore, Lakeside Heights and Lakewood Forest III areas were among the earliest sections of the KWS. The lines are old and many are dead-ended.  The water model has shown that extending the 12-inch line along RR2545 and looping dead ends can eliminate low pressure in the area.  A side benefit will be that fireplugs can be installed offering improved fire protection in that area.

Results of this system modeling are being used to develop the 5-year plan for maintenance and expansion of the system.

Neighborhood Income Survey.  A survey of the income of households in the area northeast of Hwy 1431 and east of 2545 to Lakewood Forest III is underway. Information from this survey will be used to apply for grants, and in prioritizing system improvement projects.

Projects Completed or Underway:

Lookout Mountain.  Reviewed the Lookout Mountain Agreement and determined that there was no escape route.  Reviewed potential expansion in the area and determined that expansion was not economically attractive; KWSC could not recover the cost of expansion for 10 years or more.  Re-designed the system to maximize use of existing lines and rearranged the supply lines to minimize costs.  Reduced the cost from about $1.2 million to $918,000.  Bid, awarded to Nelson Lewis Contractors.  After consulting with our attorney, we can recover most of our construction costs through a capital recovery fee based on the construction cost specifically for this area.  The capital recovery fee for Lookout Mountain is $10,100 per lot connected, and the capital recovery fee for Rock Bluff is $3,500 per lot.  The system is operational, awaiting homes to be built and/or connected in these developments.

Bridgepoint:  The Bridgepoint Water System was acquired from LCRA for a cost of $100,000.
KWSC was already providing treated water to the subdivision.  Ownership of the system allows KWSC’s operating cost to be spread over the additional 38 homes and obtain control of water supply to any future developments along Hwy 2900.  The investment will be recovered by continuing to charge LCRA’s rates until the capital cost is recovered, thereby not costing KWSC’s existing membership.  In one month the capital cost recovered from Bridgepoint is approximately $1925.50.

Indian Trails: Evaluated alternatives to the Indian Trails project.  The Corporation had verbally committed to provide water to 26 residents of the Indian Trails area.  A grant was requested to pay $250,000 of the estimated $387,000 cost.  The grant was denied, and then awarded.  Evaluation indicated that the existing KWSC line along River Oaks Drive could be extended north to Dove and beyond.  A line laid across Dove to Indian Trails and North and South for a few hundred feet to supply most of the residents who were to receive water service under the grant.   A second line could be laid from RR3404 (Slab Road) to Indian Trails about 1000 ft to supply the remaining residents.  The cost was estimated to be much less than the original plan.

It was also determined that the Indian Trails Grant Plan could be amended to allow any remaining funds to be utilized to improve the KWS infrastructure in any area meeting the criteria of 61% low to moderate income residents.  This will allow any money not required for the Indian Trails area to be used in the Lakeside Heights area or where small line sizes and dead-end lines cause pressure limitations and require expensive and wasteful flushing of the lines.

J. Preston Mason
Secretary-Treasurer