SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
February 16, 2023
Mark Dolson
Highlights:
Big Basin Water Company - Suspension of Negotiations
Fall Creek Fish Ladder Rehabilitation Project - Award of Contract
Policy for Return to In-Person Meetings
LAFCO Election for Regular Member Representative
Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on March 16th
Preliminaries
There were no actions to report from Closed Session.
There was no non-agenda-related public comment.
There was no President’s Report.
Unfinished Business
Big Basin Water Company
District Counsel Gina Nicholls introduced this agenda item. In November 2021, the Board
authorized the District Manager to explore the possibility of consolidation with Big Basin
Water Company (BBWC), which was extensively damaged in the 2020 CZU Wildfire. At
that time, the Board authorized limited expenditures of staff time and District resources
to explore feasibility, including legal barriers to consolidation, and to determine if
consolidation could be accomplished without the cost being borne by the District’s
existing customers.
Since that time, District staff has been evaluating the current state of BBWC facilities
and the capital expenditures necessary to bring the system into compliance with State
water quality regulations. On August 18, 2022, the Board designated Gina and District
Manager Rick Rogers as negotiators for the District. They and other District
representatives participated in numerous meetings including the owners of BBWC and representatives of State regulatory agencies and the County of Santa Cruz. Despite these efforts, District staff has been unable to identify a path forward for consolidation that adequately protects current District customers from absorbing potentially millions of dollars in consolidation-related costs. Staff therefore recommended that negotiations be suspended.
Rick said the District does not see a path forward at this time. He added that the proposed motion will also sunset the District’s emergency and other support for BBWC. In response to a subsequent question from Director Fultz, he clarified that the District would still continue to provide a water filling station if and when this is needed. This is not a big expense.
President Smolley reported that the Board had received a letter from County Supervisor Bruce McPherson expressing the County’s viewpoint. It recognizes considerable efforts on the part of both SLVWD and the County, and concludes that the parties are still no closer to a solution. President Smolley added that he personally participated in a number of discussions with the County and State beginning in December of 2021, and he hadn’t heard anything from the State as to a financially viable path forward that they could provide to the District.
For purposes of clarification, Director Fultz received confirmation from President Smolley that the District’s efforts to consolidate Bracken Brae and Forest Springs will continue unchanged. Director Fultz noted that, in contrast to BBWC, there is a funding path to support these efforts. He emphasized that he does not support investing District resources without a State or County funding mechanism. The District needs a resolution that doesn't put its ratepayers on the hook for funding.
Directors Mahood, Hill, and Ackemann all concurred. Director Mahood said the situation was regrettable, but Staff and Counsel had already devoted considerable time to this, and enough was enough. Director Ackemann said she remained open to helping support Big Basin customers (e.g., in making their case) on a personal basis.
There was one public comment. Jim Mosher said he was surprised that there weren’t a number of Big Basin customers on the call. He agreed with the Board and Staff; he felt that the District had done everything reasonable to be a positive neighbor, and it made him sad that there had been no progress. He expressed sympathy for Big Basin customers.
President Smolley moved to direct the District Manager and staff to suspend efforts to evaluate a potential consolidation with Big Basin Water Company and de-designate the District Manager and District Counsel as negotiators. Director Hill seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
Fall Creek Fish Ladder Rehabilitation Project – Award of Contract
District Engineer Josh Wolff introduced this agenda item. The Fall Creek Fish Ladder project includes modification to the existing Fish Ladder weirs, construction of two new weirs, refurbishment of the existing raw water intake pump system, and associated work. Fish and Wildlife requires that this work be performed between June 15 and October 15, and the company awarded this bid in 2022 proved unable to comply with this deadline. Two new bids were received January 31, 2023, and Staff recommended that the Board approve the low bid of $2,365,720 from Syblon Reid Construction.
Director Hill asked how many companies the District solicited bids from. Josh said he emailed almost 30 and contacted a couple of others. He guessed that many companies were deterred by the narrow time window and by site-specific challenges.
Director Fultz agreed that this was a very specialized task, and he was happy that the District had attracted a new and unfamiliar bidder. He asked about available grant funding for this project, and Environmental Programs Manager Carly Blanchard said the District had $1 million. Director Fultz also asked about the status of the District’s 2019 Certificate of Participation (COP) funds, and Rick said he thought the District was still okay. He said this would come back to the Board because one project had been removed from the list, and the District also needed to factor in FEMA money that it would be receiving.
President Smolley said he was impressed with Syblon Reid’s experience specifically with fish ladders. He asked whether their plan to work 10-hour days and some Saturdays presented any concerns (e.g., with the surrounding neighborhood). Josh said he didn’t anticipate a large difficulty. He expected this to mostly require additional time on his part engaging with the public.
President Smolley moved to direct the District Manager to enter into a contract with Syblon Reid for the specified amount. Director Ackemann seconded.
There was no public comment. The motion passed 5-0.
New Business
Policy for Return to In-Person Meetings
District Counsel Gina Nicholls introduced this agenda item. She explained that recent changes to the Brown Act are somewhat convoluted. Prior to Covid, the Brown Act included "teleconferencing" provisions (for remote audio and/or audio-video participation) that allowed Board or committee members to participate remotely for any reason as long a quorum was present within the boundaries of the District and the remote locations were listed in the agenda and open to the public. AB361 added emergency provisions that allowed for fully remote meetings. Both these sets of provisions remain in effect today, but there have been two more recent developments.
First, the Governor has announced that he will be lifting California’s Covid State of Emergency at the end of this month, so fully remote meetings will no longer be possible beginning in March. Second, AB2449, enacted this past September and effective January 1, 2023, has introduced additional options for remote meetings. Unfortunately, these options are so restrictive that they are of minimal interest to the District. They require a quorum to be present in a single location, and they allow Board or committee members to participate remotely only in very narrowly defined Just Cause or Emergency situations. Business or personal travel are not recognized as legitimate excuses for participating remotely. Worse, if video is lost to a remote meeting participant, then this person can no longer participate in deliberations, and the meeting itself can be subjected to constraints as to what can be accomplished.
As a result, the Administration Committee recommended that the District continue to follow the old pre-Covid Brown Act provisions. The committee directed Gina to draft a new policy affirming that the District will make remote public attendance available to the maximum extent practical, but the District will not necessarily stop a meeting when remote video access is lost. Remote access is a courtesy and is not required for the District to proceed with the meeting.
Rick added that the District has been preparing two offices in its “Johnson Building” adjacent to Fosters Freeze at 12788 Highway 9 in Boulder Creek. The District is setting up a hybrid Zoom facility and a YouTube account to store recorded videos online. The District has been struggling with supply-chain delays but is hoping to have this new space ready for the next Board meeting March 2nd.
Director Ackemann, chair of the Administration Committee, suggested that it would be helpful if Holly Hossack could prepare a standard checklist for Board and committee members in the event that they need to participate in a meeting remotely.
Director Fultz, who also participated on the Administration Committee, said that given the legislature's struggles to enter the 21st century, it was clear to him that he couldn't support AB2449. He was happy that the public will still be able to participate remotely, and he agreed that a limited loss of power should not necessarily disrupt a meeting, but he suggested that there could still be circumstances (e.g., when an issue of significant public interest is being discussed) where the Board might elect to voluntarily suspend discussion.
Director Mahood added her endorsement of the Administration Committee recommendation. She shared Director Fultz’s extreme distaste for AB2449 and feared that conforming to these provisions could have led to the loss of numerous public committee members.
There were two public comments. Alina Layng asked what Covid-related protections would be in place in the District’s new meeting location. Rick said the room will be quite large for committee meetings. Desks are three feet long and will have good separation. There are at least two doors. With masks, there should be no issues.
Mark Dolson, a public member of the Administration Committee, asked about a detail of the applicable provisions. The District’s new policy appears to allow Board and committee members to participate remotely and still be counted as part of the required quorum so long as their remote location is within the District’s boundaries, advertised in the agenda, and technically open to the public. He asked for clarification on this point. Director Ackemann suggested that there was still an unstated preference for a single physical meeting location, but Director Mahood and President Smolley advocated for accepting the policy precisely as currently written and making changes if and when these are deemed to be appropriate.
President Smolley moved to adopt the new policy, and this motion was seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
LAFCO Election for Regular Member Representative
District Manager Rick Rogers introduced this agenda item. He noted that the Santa Cruz Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) was requesting that the District designate a respondent and cast a vote by March 24th for one of two candidates to join the commission.
Director Mahood moved that the District appoint Holly Hossack to respond and that the District’s vote should be cast for Rachel Lather since she is part of a nearby water district. Other Board members concurred, and the motion was seconded.
There was no public comment. The motion passed 5-0.
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
Rick had two announcements. First, he welcomed Devon Jackson as a newly hired Environmental Planner I. Devon has a B.S. in Environmental Management from Cal Poly and was most recently an environmental specialist for the City of San Jose. Second, he announced the promotion of Jesse Guiver to Water Quality Manager. Jesse has been with the District for ten years and has recently become a Certified Lab Manager.
Department Status Reports
Director Fultz asked if there was any update on the Felton Heights tank. Rick said a meeting was being scheduled for February 23rd to tour the new site with the property owner.
Director Fultz asked if there were any updates on Huckleberry Main easements. Josh said the easement on the south side is being finished. The easement across the bridge is still being worked on.
Director Fultz asked if there was any update from the County regarding the landslide responsible for the Stewart Street Main break in the Riverside Grove area. Josh said there was nothing.
Director Fultz asked for clarification re: a reference to a grant in the report from the Environmental Department. Carly said this might have been a typo.
Director Fultz asked if there were any updates on the Sandhills Habitat Conservation Plan. Carly said draft chapters were awaiting Staff review.
Operations Manager James Furtado announced that District-wide flushing was about to begin.
The meeting adjourned at 7:40 PM.