SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

January 19, 2023

Mark Dolson

Highlights:

  • Storm Update

  • Huckleberry Water Main

  • Santa Cruz Integrated Regional Water Management Plan

  • Department of Water Resources Drought Relief Funding

  • Board Committee Appointments for 2023

  • Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on February 2nd

Preliminaries

There were no actions to report from Closed Session. President Smolley announced that the Board would reconvene in Closed Session at the end of the Open Session.

There were no non-agenda-related public comments.

There was no President’s Report.

Unfinished Business

Remote Meeting Authorization

Governor Newsom’s Covid-related state of emergency declaration is about to expire, so February 2023 will be the final month that the District will be authorized to conduct its meetings entirely via Zoom. (The recently declared federal state of emergency has no bearing on this.) Beginning in March, Board and Committee meetings will need to be held in person (with very limited exceptions), but the District still intends to support optional remote Zoom access as a courtesy to the public.

Director Mahood moved to ratify and readopt the required resolution allowing the Board to continue with remote meetings for another 30 days. This motion was seconded, and there was no public comment. The motion passed 5-0.

New Business

Storm Update

District infrastructure incurred substantial storm-related damage between December 29th and January 14th. District Manager Rick Rogers referred the Board to a spreadsheet listing 27 distinct incidents totaling $2.9 million in estimated repair costs. He reported that PG&E power had now been restored to all facilities, but he noted that there were still some lingering communication issues that should be resolved in the next couple of weeks. He said water storage is currently at capacity, and the Lyon treatment plant is currently running at capacity as well, with water being transferred to Felton and the south service area. (The Fall Creek and Bull Creek intakes that normally provide water for Felton are off-line due to damage. The south system, which has no local surface sources, was switched over from well water at the start of the rainy season.) It appears that FEMA will reimburse expenses for debris removal and temporary pipes at 100% of cost; FEMA may also reimburse other categories at more than 75%.

Director Ackemann and President Smolley offered their sincere thanks to Rick and all of the Staff for their efforts over the past few weeks.

Huckleberry Island Main

District Engineer Josh Wolff introduced this agenda item.  He explained that the District had already engaged Anderson Pacific Engineering in an emergency repair for a broken main that resulted from the underlying stream jumping its banks in response to tree blockage.  Anderson Pacific responded promptly to install 1000 feet of replacement main, and the Board was now being asked to retroactively approve the contract.

Director Mahood expressed some concerns about the wording of the supporting memo (with regard to ensuring full FEMA reimbursement), but Legal Counsel Gina Nicholls explained that the contract in the packet would stand on its own.

Director Ackemann moved to ratify the contract, and Director Mahood seconded.  There was no public comment.  The motion passed 5-0.

 

Santa Cruz Integrated Regional Water Management Plan

Environmental Programs Manager Carly Blanchard introduced this agenda item.  She explained that the District planned to seek $305,000 (with an equal match) for fire-hardening 14 pump houses.  To enable this, the Board needed to adopt a resolution authorizing the Regional Water Management Group (RWMG) to apply for grant funding on behalf of the District and also formally adopting the updated Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) Plan first developed in 2016.

There was some confusion about exactly what we being requested, and Legal Counsel Gina Nicholls corrected some of the wording in the Board Packet.  Director Mahood then moved to adopt the resolution adopting the IRWM Plan with Gina's changes and the stipulation that the last line should cite the current date.  President Smolley seconded this.

Director Fultz asked if District Staff were actively involved with the Steering Committee or some other operation of this organization.  Carly said they were not, though they had attended some meetings.  Director Fultz clarified that this was a framework outlining agreement on certain principles that he found worthwhile, and he said he saw the potential for additional funding as a win-win scenario.  He asked what it meant that the District was “invited to apply,” and Carly said the invitation was extended to all eligible agencies.

There was no public comment.  The motion passed 5-0.  The funding request will come back to the Board at a subsequent meeting.

 

Department of Water Resources Drought Relief Funding

Environmental Programs Manager Carly Blanchard introduced this agenda item.  She explained that the District intended to seek $4.5 million from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) via its Urban Community Drought Relief Funding Solicitation to be applied to the cost of six new, steel, water storage tanks ($1 million each).  These tanks will replace five leaking redwood tanks and one temporary polyethylene tank while also substantially increasing the District’s total storage capacity (from 160,000 gallons to 720,000 gallons).  A required 25% match will cover the remainder of the cost.  In response to a question from Director Fultz, Carly explained that both the reduced leakage (the amount is still TBD) and increased storage were relevant to drought resiliency.

President Smolley sought and received assurances that the proposal would be ready to submit by January 31st and that the work would be completed by the end of 2026.  Director Smolley moved to adopt the resolution and to appoint the District Manager to be the signatory and point of contact.  Director Mahood seconded this.

There was no public comment.  The motion passed 5-0.

 

Board Committee Appointments for 2023

President Smolley proposed the following assignments for Board members to sit on the District’s various standing committees:

  • Administration:  Directors Ackemann and Hill.

  • Budget and Finance:  Directors Mahood and Hill.

  • Engineering and Environmental:  Directors Smolley and Fultz.

  • Lompico Assessment District Oversight Committee:  Director Ackemann

  • Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency:  Directors Mahood and Fultz (Alternate: Smolley)

President Smolley noted that the Board Policy Manual specifies that each committee must select its own chair.  This struck him as odd because it tasked brand new public committee members with making an uninformed choice at their first meeting.

 

Consent Agenda

These items are deemed adopted if nobody pulls any of them for further discussion.  There was no request to pull the previous meeting minutes.

 

District Manager’s Report

There was no District Manager’s Report.

 

Department Status Reports

President Smolley asked about the status of reimbursements from the Department of Water Resources (DWR) for the District’s work in support of Bracken Brae and Forest Springs.  Josh said the District had not yet submitted its request because the necessary agreement is not yet in place.  He said he had been working with DWR but it was taking far longer than he would have anticipated.  President Smolley asked if he needed any assistance, but Josh didn’t feel that this was necessary.  He said he was working to provide DWR with the exact wording that they were seeking.

 

The Open Session adjourned at 7:20 PM.  The Board agreed to reconvene in Closed Session at 7:30 PM.  There was no subsequent report out of Closed Session.