2009 Annual Meeting

I want to thank everyone who attended the 2009 MMWC Annual Meeting, and for their questions, contributions, and input. For those who didn't make it, I hope to see you at next year's annual meeting.

We had two very good candidates running for the Board -- Donna Brazill and Joe Weiner. Donna, who made tremendous contributions to MMWC over the past 3 years, was re-elected. I think that Joe, whom I met for the first time today, would have made a great director too. He has volunteered to help in a number of ways, and I look forward to working with him.

I presented a two-hour PowerPoint presentation setting forth a long historical overview of MMWC's infrastructure and budget challenges. Don enhanced the presentation with his input and several demonstratives (pipes, valves, etc.). For those of you who missed the presentation, an abbreviated version of the presentation is here. Most of the rest of the information I presented is discussed on Mountain Mutual Water Company's website, on the "Budget" and "Infrastructure" pages.

After the presentation, we presented two resolutions to the membership. First, MMWC will be assessing $80 per MMWC member or customer, to raise funds needed this year for operational and capital expenditures. Second, MMWC will raise user fees to $50/month in 2010, except that those who are metered by that time will pay the lesser of $50/month or $25/month + $0.005/gallon. Also, availability fees will be $150/year starting 2010. Both of these rather monumental resolutions passed without any opposition, which indicates that we successfully made the case that these measures were needed.

MMWC is implementing a lot of changes. For those on tight budgets, the changes may be difficult. We are sensitive to that. However, the grim infrastructure reality -- driven home by the challenges MMWC suffered during the harsh winter of 2008 -- is that MMWC cannot responsibly put off investing in much-needed infrastructure improvements. And the grim budget reality -- revealed in convincing detail on MMWC's "Budget" page -- is that MMWC has no good alternative to raising rates, and in percentage terms, rather significantly. However, even after these changes, MMWC's rates will still be below rates most other rural Teller County providers charge.