The Woodmen Hills Metropolitan Districtís Board of Directors met in October for their regular monthly meeting. They held an executive session prior to the meeting but no action was taken at that time.The board discussed a proposal by Robert Lovato, vice president, which would add an additional rate to the current schedule for water usage. The new rate would be for water consumption, both fresh and wastewater, for areas that benefit the community as a whole, he said.Keith Moulton, board president, said the new rate would only apply to areas within the district. ìCurrently, these areas are being charged a commercial rate, which is high,î he said. ìThe new rate would fall between the residential rate that has a base rate plus usage fees and the commercial rate. It would be just a water consumption rate.îThe new rate schedule was unanimously approved and will go into effect Dec. 31.During his report, water/wastewater director Gene Cozzolino addressed concerns about the new transmitting system that has been installed on the majority of the homes in Woodmen Hills. He presented a proposed opt-out program that would allow residents to have the radio transponder removed from their meter.The program would cost homeowners an initial $245 fee to have the transponder removed and a new meter put in that would be manually read, Cozzolino said. Broken down, this fee includes the $170 cost of the transponder, $25 for a new meter read dial, and the remainder is the cost for a service call to have the work done, he said. An additional $54.22 would be charged quarterly to manually maintain the new meter, he said.Steve Kreps, a Woodmen Hills resident who had requested the board research an opt-out program, said he didnít think the $245 initial charge was a fair fee for removing the transponder. Kreps said he felt the transponder could be used again on another home, and the cost for it shouldnít fall to him since he didnít ask to have it installed in the first place.Cozzolino said the transponder canít be reused. Moulton said the transponder was installed because the district as a whole determined it would save time and prevent damage up front by alerting the district when a problem was detected.Moulton said the boardís legal counsel is reviewing documentation from the proposed program and will provide information to the directors before they make a decision. The board also announced the date for the budget hearing, which will be held at the next regular board meeting Nov. 21.Eddie Avedikian, the districtís park and recreation director, updated the board on recent activity, including the cancellation of the Woodmen Hills Frightening 5K run/walk scheduled for Oct. 26. He said the race did not draw enough participants.Following graffiti discovered at Horseshoe Park, Avedikian said the sheriffís office investigated the person behind it because of other criminal activity possibly linked to the graffiti, which has since been deleted.Avedikian also introduced two new staff members, including Matt Pilger, the program and activities supervisor. Pilger presented information on a new fee schedule for the Child Watch and fitness programs. The board discussed the proposal but no action was taken.The next WHMD board meeting is Nov. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at the Woodmen Hills Community Center West.
