ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT

October 2010

            I missed September’s report because of a death in the family.  Since August, we have moved to complete the water tank and place some PRVs in the system.  As I write this, the water tank is being filled with water to test for leaks.  It will then be drained, cleaned and refilled, ready for use.  During the cleaning and refill stage, it will be insulated and backfilled.  By mid-month, it should be totally covered.  We’ll keep working on the PRVs as weather permits.  We have to make sure that we don’t open up the water lines when the weather is freezing as once the ground gets frozen, the pipes tend to freeze even if we keep them warm until we cover them back up.  We may construct some more vaults without connecting them to the water lines and then connect to the lines in the spring.   I want to do as much as we can, because next year we have another tank to do, the chlorination station to build and a lift station to construct as well as all the lines to connect everything.  This summer has been busy and we can look forward to a busy summer in 2011.  At least we will be re-bidding everything.

            We’ll also be working around the office in an effort to create more parking space for the employees and visitors.  The stairwell will be redone to provide more light and a safer entry way.  We recently re-floored my office, so now we have wooden floors in all the offices and a fresh coat of paint throughout.  The only things we still need is more storage space and a council meeting room.  I also would like to redo the Public Safety office, but will have to wait a little longer for that.

            We had our annual audit in September.  The state audit was good, with no exceptions.  The lodgers’ tax audit of businesses chosen at random, showed that one business owed us money.  This confirmed our impression of what was happening with that business.  We had our Federal IRS audit in August.  The auditor said that we had to have a W-9 on everyone we were required to pay.  We then would have had to issue 1099s at the end of the year.  There are exceptions, so that in the final analysis, there were 8 vendors that we did not have a W-9 for, so the auditor asked us for a civil penalty of $800.00 ($50. for no W-9 and $50. for no 1099).  We decided that it was less expensive to pay it than to fight the IRS.  Our CPA agreed.

            We had a safe driving class in September.  Everyone that drives a Village vehicle had to take this class in order for the Village to qualify for lower rates from the Municipal League.  The class was also given to the volunteer firepersons.  On the 1^st of October, Dave, Joey, Ray and I will attend a seminar in Albuquerque about dealing with “problem” employees.  We don’t have such an employee at this time but we surely don’t want a repeat of what happens in other jurisdictions.  Also this month I will attend the International Municipal League Attorney’s conference in New Orleans.  I am required to earn 15 credit hours of continuing legal education every year and they have a good program, focused exclusively on municipal legal problems.  I’ll give you a report next month, but some of the classes I will attend include zoning issues, private contact issues and state investigations.

            Finally, we have been working on the EQRs and water rates, which we’ll discuss later.  Just a thanks to Ann Marie and Vanessa for their work on it.  A special thanks to the Mayor for modifications to the spread sheet presentation.
            September 2010 no report
            August 2010