Sunny Meadows Missoula County Water and Sewer District
Meeting Minutes
December 17th, 2025 06:00 PM at East Missoula Fire Department
Meeting moved to the 17th because of the Christmas holiday.
Roll Call: Paula Niccum, Cyndie Winchell, Meggan Quigley, Michael Bushey. System member Tom Walter also attended.
Approval of Minutes: A motion was made by Meggan, seconded by Cyndie, voted on and minutes approved.
Financial Information: Financial reports from the county are still incomplete and in an unusable format. Cyndie contacted the county and has asked multiple times to get help with the reports, they have not been reconcilable since July. She also questioned how money in our unreserved account was not to be found in the report. She requested more useable documents with dates and vendor information and location of the funds that are unaccounted for. Cyndie will try to schedule a meeting with the supervisor for after Christmas so Meggan and Cyndie can attend.
Public Input: Tom inquired as to whether the payments will ever be able to be made on Autopay. It can be set as a bill pay through the user’s bank. Robbie should be contacted for more details. Her contact information is on the invoices.
Old Business:
- The well pumps are fixed and running properly. Work on Telemetry has started and should be complete in time to use remaining ARPA funds for the work. We are hoping that sometime in the future we can link our sewer lot telemetry with the water system so it is all one. Amy will be attending our meeting in January to update us on any available grants.
- Rate increase discussion will begin in 2026. Rates should increase for everyone. The power bills for the booster station on the hill will require an additional increase for the four houses on the hill served by the station.
- ARPA Compliance Review will continue into 2026. It is a requirement to add conflict of interest language to our ordinances, they will provide the required language to us.
- Sewer Line video and manhole repair at 440 Edgewood to start in Spring.
- Meter readings review- Cyndie did the review and found two homes with increased use, one with leaking toilets, one with unusually high use for a short time. The homeowner stated he had a reason for the high use, usage will be checked gain if needed after the next reading. There was one home with a negative water use reading. Cyndie spoke with the homeowner about installing a meter pit to make sure all water going to the property is accounted for no matter how many connections come off of the line after the meter. The board plans to inspect for backflow preventers as required on each property and expansion tanks where needed in the future.
- Ordinances and by-laws will be updated in 2026.
- Curb stop maintenance: The board agreed that we should make the tools available to residents at their request for exercising or shutting off their curbstops.
- Removal of shed on well lot: Michael and Dusty will remove the shed when the ground is firm enough to minimize damage. In view of recent wind damage to trees, we may need to consider taking down the big tree on the property line between the well lot and the property on HWY 200 and Edgewood.
- This month we will make the last payment on one of our bonds.
New Business:
- New System Operator: Paula, Cyndie and Dusty met with Dan at IMEG Engineering and the board has hired them as our water system operators beginning January 1, 2026. Their contract runs through the fiscal year and then we will revisit the contract with IMEG to fine tune. We will provide them with a list of the vendors and contractors we have relationships with. Those would include Chris Rate for Excavation, Mickelson Plumbing, Paulson Electric & Advanced Pump Services. Tami Quinn sent a letter of resignation dated November 27, she agreed to do our testing in December until we could find a water operator.
- SMS system: Meggan and Cyndie are going to be looking for a better SMS service provider.
- Lawn Maintenance for well lot: The board will be looking for someone to maintain the Well lot lawn. It could be a contractor or a system user who would be willing to work for a bill credit each month that work needs to be done.
- Create a list of future improvements: Amy is trying to find us grant money for three phase controls for our well pumps. We will all be thinking of other items that can be improved over time.
Resolutions:
A RESOLUTION 2025-09 FOR ARPA DRAW #20: A motion was made for payment to Great West Engineering invoice #37515 for $2,427.55 (two thousand four hundred twenty seven dollars and fifty five cents) and Advanced Pump Service invoice #1956 for $610.00 (six hundred ten dollars and zero cents) for a total draw of $3,037.55 (three thousand thirty seven dollars and fifty five cents). A motion was made by Paula, seconded by Meggan and voted to approve.
A RESOLUTION 2025-10 FOR BOND PAYMENT WRF-09128
The District has issued bonds through the DNRC’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund SRF/WRF program; said bonds have a payment due on or about January 1, 2026 ; the payment due is $3,033.75 (three thousand thirty three dollars and seventy five cents) and the District’s payment will be transmitted by Missoula County to the appropriate recipient. A motion was made to authorize payment as required by the SFR/WRF program. It further directs any and all board members to sign whatever documentation is required to facilitate prompt payment. Motion was made by Michael, seconded by Meggan and voted to approve.
THIS IS THE LAST PAYMENT ON THIS LOAN!
A RESOLUTION 2025-11 FOR BOND PAYMENT WRF-23522
A motion was made to make payment on our bond which payment of 1550.00 due on or about January 1, 2026, payment to be transmitted by Missoula County to the appropriate recipient as required by the SRF /WRF program. Motion was made by Paula, seconded by Meggan, voted on and approved.
Adjournment: A motion was made, seconded and passed, meeting was adjourned.
- …
- District Website: http://www.sunnymeadowswater.com/
- Respectfully submitted by Paula Niccum
