MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORSPLUM CREEK CONSERVATION DISTRICTLOCKHART, TEXAS 78644
June 18th, 2024
Notices of this regular meeting were posted in the Caldwell and Hays County
Courthouses at least 72 hours prior to the meeting. Receipts of the notices areon file in the office of Plum Creek Conservation District.
Checks were reviewed and signed just prior to the call to order by
Treasurer/Secretary, Mrs. Lucy Knight.

The meeting/hearing was called to order by President of the Board, JamesHolt. The following Board members were present: Peter Reinecke (VicePresident), Lucy Knight (Secretary/Treasurer), and Tom Owen (Director).
PCCD Attorney Bob Wilson, PCCD Geologist Feathergail Wilson (via ZOOM),
and PCCD staff members Daniel Meyer, Nora Lopez-Castillo, Alan Burklund,and Tyler Farco were present. Jean Ann Maynard, PCCD Contracting Consultant, attended the meeting via Zoom. Elias Anderson and Trey Jones withMAC, lnc. were present. Nora Lopez-Castillo transcribed the minutes.
l:00 PM

President Holt called the meeting to order. Mr. Rothert was absent. Four
Board of Directors were present, which constituted a quorum.

l:00 pM President Holt requested public comments. There were no public comments

President Holt requested motions or comments regarding the minutes of theregularly scheduled meeting held on May 21s1,2024. Mrs. Knight made a mol:00 PM tion that the minutes of the regularly scheduled meeting held on May 21st,2024, be accepted as mailed out. Mr. Reinecke provided the second and themotion was approved unanimously.
l:01PM

President Holt asked if there was any unfinished business that required theBoard of Directors' attention. Mr. Meyer stated that there was no unfinishedbusiness.

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item V regarding appropriate
actions for bids received and opened by PCCD at the public bid opening heldon Wednesday, June 12th,2024, at 10:00 a.m. and receive and review construction contract award recommendations from the National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Project Engineer and Jean Ann Maynard, PCCD
Contracting Consultant. Mr. Meyer stated he would summarize NRCS' evaluation and recommendations for the bid that was received. Mr. Meyer informed
the Board that the project engineer's letter stated that the contractor showed
experience in the various aspects of dam construction, that the bid was
20.59o/o or approximately $2 million over the engineer's estimate, and that thel:01PM overall bid appeared to be partially materially unbalanced when considering
the amount of money that would be paid for clearing/grubbing and two concrete items. Mr. Meyer informed the Board that the project engineer also stated that based on the bid costs received as compared to the engineer's estimate, he did not conclude that the contractor represented the best value and/or resulted in the lowest overall cost alternative to meet the sponsods needs
and that without additional bids to compare to, he was unable to determine if
this was a competitive bid. Mr. Meyer then asked Jean Ann Maynard to present her recommendations. Ms. Maynard stated that the only issues she hadwith the bid were price and whether it was unbalanced. Ms. Maynard stated
she respectfully disagreed with NRCS' interpretation. Ms. Maynard stated2that all the rules were followed to receive competitive bids. Ms. Maynard stated that the bid was mathematically unbalanced, but it also needed to be analyzed to ensure that it was not materially unbalanced by performing a risk
analysis. Ms. Maynard stated a meeting was held with NRCS and a risk
analysis was performed, and she felt that the bid was not materially unbalanced, and the final contract price did not pose an unreasonable risk. Next,
Ms. Maynard reminded the Board that the Site 10 Rehabilitation was 34%
over the engineer's estimate, Site 2 Upgrade was 37o/o over the engineer's
estimate, and Site 21 Rehabilitation was 19.5% over the engineer's estimate.
Ms. Maynard informed the Board that the state had the necessary additional
funding and NRCS stated they had verbally received approvalfor the additional federal funding but would wait for the Board's decision before officiallyrequesting the funds. Mr. Bob Wilson updated the Board on submittal of theland rights letter, water needed for site irrigation, and easement matters.

l:51PMPresident Holt requested discussion of agenda item Vl regarding authorizing
Mr. Holt to issue the Notice of Award to Contractor if approved under agenda
item V. Mr. Owen made a motion that Mr. Holt be authorized to issue Noticeof Award for Site 28 Rehabilitation contingent upon receiving additional funding from NRCS and Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board(TSSWCB). Mr. Reinecke provided the second and the motion was approved
unanimously.

l:52 PM

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item Vll regarding authorizing
Mr. Holt to execute Contract Agreement after Contractor submitted"satisfactory" post-award documents as required by the contract. Mrs. Knight
made a motion that Mr. Holt be given the authority to executive the Contract
Agreement after the required post-award documents were provided. Mr.
Reinecke provided the second and the motion was approved unanimously.

l:52 PM

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item Vlll regarding a report forthe compliance of PCCD's Desired Future Conditions (DFCs). Mr. Meyer
stated that Tyler Farco would present this agenda item. Tyler reminded theBoard that this DFC report was only for PCCD's compliance as it pertained tothe Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer. Tyler stated that within the Wilcox, PCCD had 28
monitoring wells, with 17 of them in the middle Wilcox, and 1 1 monitoring
wells in the lower Wilcox. Tyler stated that more data would need to be gathered from the Carrizo area, but the drawdowns for the Wilcox-Carrizo werecompliant with the DFCs.

1:57 PM

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item lX regarding proposed
access easements for Site 10. Mr. Meyer informed the Board that the necessary documentation for this agenda item was not ready for the Board's consideration and would be presented to the Board at a future meeting.

l:57 PM

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item X regarding a Contract
between PCCD & Collier Consulting to assist GMA 10 in running models anddeveloping DFCs. Mr. Meyer stated that two Districts still needed to sign theinterlocal agreement, so this agenda item would need to be presented to theBoard at a future meeting.

l:58 PM

President Holt requested discussion of agenda item Xl regarding a Resolution to authorize PCCD's Executive Manager to amend the contract with Collier Consulting, lnc. Mr. Meyer stated again that two Districts still needed tosign the interlocal agreement, so would need to be presented to the Board ata future meeting.

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l:59 PM

2:01 PM

2:55 PMPresident Holt requested discussion of agenda item Xll regarding a Resolution to amend PCCD's Records Retention Schedule. Mrs. Knight made a
motion that the resolution be approved and executed. Mr. Reinecke provided
the second and the motion was approved unanimously.
President Holt requested discussion of agenda item Xlll regarding Site 2 matters. Mr. Meyer gave a brief recap on the Site 2 vegetation and stated that in
the summer of 2023, during the drought, MAC, the contractor. was planningto irrigate and vegetate, but the City of Kyle had imposed drought restrictions
so only portions of the dam were irrigated. Mr. Meyer informed the Board
that in October 2023, PCCD issued MAC an excusable delay for these reasons, and then in the winter months, MAC planted a winter seed mix to meet
TCEQ's Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan requirements. Mr. Meyer
stated that MAC planned on vegetating again in the spring; however, the Cityof Kyle was still imposing drought restrictions. Mr. Meyer stated that MAC
applied for a TCEQ temporary water use permit and had just received a permit for four-acre feet. Mr. Meyer informed the Board that MAC proposed thefollowing vegetation plan: (1) cut the current grass, (2) broadcast the Bermuda seed, and (3) irrigate using two water trucks. Mr. Meyer stated that MAC's
proposal did not specify the area that was to be vegetated. Mr. Meyer statedthat MAC proposed a cost of $3000.00 per acre and water for irrigation at $8per 1000 gallons. Mr. Meyer stated he had fonrvarded the proposal to Jean
Ann Maynard and Lance Finnefrock, AECOM Project Engineer, and Steve
Bednarz for their review. Mr. Meyer stated that the four-acre feet permit
would not be sufficient to irrigate the entire area and felt that the area should
be limited to the areas of works of improvement, which would be the auxiliary
spillway, the roller-compacted concrete (RCC) area and portions around theprincipal spillway pipe for a total of 8.5 acres. Mr. Meyer then asked MAC toaddress the Board if they wished. Trey Jones stated they proposed to disturb
the soil using chain link dragging before or during seed broadcasting and apply fertilizer. Trey Jones stated that the water would be applied as specified
in contract modification #11. Mr. Meyer stated he had concerns about damage that could be caused by the water trucks. Trey Jones stated they would
be using hoses to do hand watering. Jean Ann Maynard asked the contractor
why the permit was only for four-acre feet and Elias Anderson with MAC stated they had applied for the amount that remained in their TCEQ permit.
Jean Ann Maynard informed the Board that her concerns were that the contractor's proposal did not meet the contract specification and that if a contract
modification was issued, this could impact PCCD's rights to possible futuremonetary default damages. Jean Ann Maynard stated if more water wasneeded to meet the contract specification, the Contracting Officer could checkwith TCEQ to see if more water could be made available. Mr. Meyer statedthat Steve Bednarz had informed him that there was an expiration date on thegrant funding and waiting for sufficient water could cause funding to expire.
Trey Jones also stated that they planned to use about double the amount ofseeds. Mrs. Knight made a motion that given the drought and the City ofKyle's continued drought restrictions, the contractor's proposal was reasonable and that a contract modification should be issued to move fonryard withthe seeding and irrigation of critical parts of the dam (8.5 acres). Mr.
Reinecke provided the second and the motion was approved unanimously.
President Holt requested a report from the PCCD Geologist, Mr. Feathergail
Wilson. Mr. Feathergail Wilson stated he had a phone call with the driller'srepresentatives and the geologist with R.W Harden & Associates about theAlliance Regional Water Authority monitoring well that will be drilled to 9004feet in the Carrizo. Mr. Feathergail Wilson stated that the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer was exempt from the new law that required water availability studies beperformed and included when submitting subdivision plats for approval. Mr.
Feathergail Wilson presented and discussed slides that showed a sonic waterlevel meter, a well test with drawdown, a PVC completion screen, a diagramof a screen within a gravel aquifer, and a log of the Owen monitoring well thatshowed placement of the five screens.
3:15 PM

3:15 PMPresident Holt requested a report from the NRCS' District Conservationist,Mr. Jeremy Hasty. Mr. Hasty was not in attendance.
President Holt requested a report from the PCCD Executive Manager, Mr.
Daniel Meyer. Mr. Meyer informed the Board that the company that wasproviding PCCD with their current on premises document management system had notified him that they would now only offer a cloud version. Mr. Meyer stated that since it had been the Board's wish in the past to not use a cloudversion, he had asked the administrative assistant to gather proposals on
companies that offered on premises programs, which would be presented tothe Board for their consideration. Mr. Meyer gave an update on GMA-13 andstated that Webb County had asked the GMA-13 members to allow them tobecome a member of GMA-13. Mr. Meyer stated this would be unlikely giventhat Webb County was not a groundwater conservation district. Mr. Meyer
gave an update on Site 21 and stated that the grass on the construction site
had been identified as Teff grass, which was an annual grass with a very
shallow root. Mr. Meyer stated that the Site 21 project engineer informed thecontractor that the grass needed to be mowed to see if the Bermuda grasscoverage met the construction specification. Mr. Meyer gave an update on
fixing PCCD's access entrance to Site 31. Mr. Meyer reminded the Board
that three options had previously been considered: (1) revegetation, (2) roadbase application, or (3) creation of a concrete ramp, and that the Board asked
the PCCD staff to research the concrete ramp option. Mr. Meyer stated hehad had a meeting with the landowner and informed him of this and the landowner rejected the concrete ramp as a solution and asked Mr. Meyer tocheck if the Board would consider going back to the vegetation. Mr. Meyer
stated that he would mention this to the Board, but he did explain to the landowner that PCCD had the rights under the easement to create access to thesite of their choosing. Mr. Meyer asked for the Board's direction regarding
changing the Plum Creek Watershed Partnership's Coordinator from a contract position to an employee of Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority (GBRA).
The Board, by consensus, stated they did not have any objections to the coordinator position becoming an employee of GBRA.

3:35 PMPresident Holt requested a report from PCCD's Attorney, Bob Wilson. Mr.
Bob Wilson stated that he had recently reviewed Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEO) water rules, specifically researching rules about
reservoir water being more readily available for use to establish vegetation
during dam projects. Mr. Bob Wilson stated that he and Ed McCarthy would
be submitting permit applications to get more water for Sites 2,21 , and 28.
Mr. Bob Wilson suggested that in the future, PCCD may want to consider developing rules that discuss what a water availability study should be within
our District, then PCCD could notify the county about these rules, and thecounty could then decide whether to have a developer/subdivider comply withthese rules.

3:53 PMPresident Holt requested public comments. There were no public comments.

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3:53 PMMr. Owen made a motion to adjourn. Mrs. Knight provided the second andthe motion to adjourn passed unanimously.

President

Vice-President