Agassiz Water District meeting marked by heated exchanges
Apr. 21—MANVEL, N.D. — Rural residents who live within the boundaries of the Agassiz Water Users District on Wednesday re-elected two board members and directed the board to resume work on a new set of bylaws that some residents claim was either discriminatory or did not offer a fair election procedure.
Residents re-elected Chad Thorvilson and Diane McDonald to the seven-member board at the rural water district's annual meeting. The meeting, held in the community center in Manvel, drew about 40 attendees, with a few hundred more voting by proxy, in a mailed-in ballot.
The meeting was marked by heated exchanges between board members and some rural water users. Ed and Theresa Shulz, of Arvilla, North Dakota, claimed that proxy ballots allowed the board to re-elect any sitting board member who wanted to run for another term on the board. The proxy ballots are sent in by water district customers who have decided to let the board cast the ballot in the manner board members deem most appropriate.
Ed Shulz made a motion, which ultimately failed, to do away with the proxy ballots, and instead allow attending members to vote directly on who they wanted to serve on the board. It's unclear how effective this maneuver would have been since Thorvilson and McDonald were running unopposed, but Shulz and his wife took issue with how candidates for the board were nominated.
"This is going to go to the state's attorney because this is crap," Theresa Shulz said after the failed motion.
The meeting was characterized by back-and-forth exchanges between some water district customers, and board members, as they argued about voting methods and points in a proposed set of new bylaws. At one point, board President Eric Stanislawski pounded his hand on the table in order to move the meeting forward. Calls frequently came from other members to let people finish speaking or to have order.
Another issue, raised by LouAnn Hagen of Gilby, was allegedly inappropriate or secret meetings between Stanislawski and Bret Burkholder, who is one of the board's four directors and administrator of the Grand Forks County Correctional Center, and a consultant.
Hagen claimed the pair of board members met with the consultant, who apparently charged the water district about $3,000. She wondered if other board members knew about these meetings.
On that topic, Theresa Shulz detailed a series of three meetings that allegedly took place on or after Feb. 27, 2019, with specific dollar amounts charged by the consultant. It's unclear how Hagen and Shulz obtained the specific dollar amounts of the alleged private meetings.
After the meeting, Stanislawski and Burkholder told the Herald the meetings were authorized by the board, and were held to, among other things, learn what it takes to hire a new manager for the water district. The consultant was an engineer that works for Grand Forks civil and environmental consulting firm AE2S.
"I was just on the board a year and a half and now we have to hire a manager, so we went and talked to her to get questions to interview for a manager," Stanislawski said.
Board members also tabled a motion to accept the new set of bylaws that Theresa Shulz claimed was discriminatory. In addition to how board elections are conducted, some water district residents objected to a section that forbade a relative of an employee, either by blood or by law, from serving as director on the board. That same familial provision, had the bylaws been adopted, also stood for former employees of the district. Some members said the restrictions prevented suitable people from serving on the board.
"That's discrimination," said Theresa Shulz.
Burkholder replied: "That's pretty standard," and shortly thereafter explained that some district members would prefer there be no ties between decision makers and water district employees.
The topic of adopting a new set of bylaws will be taken up at a subsequent meeting.
The meeting also included the reading of various reports about construction work and finances. Concerning the latter, Phil Kraemer, board chairman in Falconer Township — which is included in the water district — asked how many customers would be lost should the proposed Fufeng corn-milling plant come to fruition. The plant is set to be located on a portion of the township's land.
John Eaton, manager for the district, said about 22 commercial customers would be lost, meaning the district would be out about $17,000 per year. Eaton said he's had discussions with Grand Forks city leaders about the possibility of compensation for the loss of revenue. Also, he said the city has indicated it would pay for water district infrastructure to be relocated.
The Agassiz Water Users District is a rural utility that covers Gilby, Honeyford, Johnstown, Inkster, Forest River, Ardoch, Manvel, Mekinock and north Grand Forks.
