The Huntley Project Irrigation District (HPID) has ordered Spectrum contractors to cease communication line installations on district easements. According to HPID, Spectrum contractors have bored roughly 85 communication lines under HPID managed lands, and a good amount of the logs for those bored lines contain incorrect data with some of them missing logs altogether. On December 31st, it was brought to the HPID boards attention that the Spectrum contractors were outside the compliance with HPID encroachment/easement agreements with many of their logged bore drills failing to reach required depths. HPID required spectrum to halt work on all HPID managed land while lines were located and bore logs were verified. According to Engineering Consultant Scott Aspenlieder, HPID is finally reaching the end of the verification process for the bore-logs as of the April 9th, HPID board meeting. Also, according to Aspenlieder many of the bore-logs contained fabricated bore depth records. HPID board members approved the continued stoppage of Spectrum construction on HPID managed land until all improperly installed pipe is removed and replaced. HPID has also required that Performance Engineering personnel be on-site during bore drilling to ensure proper bore depth. Lastly, HPID approved a measure to require future contractors to use machine integrated bore logging equipment to ensure the accuracy of bore-logs in the future.
Other Business Discussed at the April 9 regular board meeting for HPID included:
HPID expects water to fill the irrigation system sometime in late April to early May. The delay is the result of the delayed delivery of equipment/parts for the Lower Canal Screen System, in Ballentine. The screen on the lower canal will need to be installed be for the canal system can be filled. According to HPID Manager Travis Kamp, the delay is the result of a computer glitch in the manufactures production line causing an error in the production of the screen mesh requiring it’s remanufacturing. The original completion date of the screen-mesh was March 17th with the updated completion date estimated to be April 17th according to Kamp. Once completed the screen mesh and parts are estimated to arrive in the district from Winchester, VA, on April 21st. Kamp was able to get board approval for district employees to work around the clock to install the screen once it has arrived. The screen installation is estimated to be complete within the week of April 28th, with the water being released into the system that same week.
Aspenlieder gave a short presentation on the progress for the USDA’s Water Commodity Savings Program project that HPID was selected for late last year. The project would provide up to 15 million dollars in water saving projects for the HPID system including the installation of piping in place of dirt ditches, automation of canal gates, and other projects prioritized by the district board. According to Aspenlieder there is not much news on the program as the federal administration settles into place, stating, “no news is good news.” Aspenlieder plans to meet with Montana’s federal representatives over the coming week to champion the program on the federal stage.
Seth Katolas, representative for Nemont contractor Vantage Point, addressed the board requesting that the district waive encroachment/easement fees for the installation of Nemont service lines to the Huntley Project Museum (HPM), Homesteader Hall (HH), and MSUB’s Experiment Station (MES). HPM, HH, and MES all sit on land managed by HPID and require board approval for easements and encroachments. Katolas stated that the lines requested would only service the buildings listed. The board approved the request with the stipulation that no above ground boxes be placed on the property and the easement would only serve the aforementioned buildings.
The HPID board approved a tentative budget of $15,000 for contracted aquatic weed spraying within the irrigation system. Half of the budget will be used to assess the progress of the weed spraying before committing the full fund to the contractor.
With no other business the meeting was adjourned. HPID will hold its next regular board meeting at the district office on May 14th at 7:30pm.
Correction:
In the April 18th Printed Edition, Seth Katolas was listed as a representative for Spectrum in the “Fabricated Bore-Logs Cause HPID to Issue Spectrum Work Stoppage” story. Seth Katolas is a representative for Nemont. Katolas, Vantage Point contractor for Nemont, was petitioning the Huntley Project Irrigation District for an easement to install Nemont service lines to Huntley Project Museum, Homesteader Hall, and MSUB Experiment Station. YCN apologizes for the error.
