SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

January 2, 2025

Mark Dolson

Highlights:

  • Separating the Engineering and Environmental Committee into Two Independent Committees

  • Committee Appointments for Public Applicants

  • Committee Appointments for Santa Margarita Groundwater Board of Directors

  • Rate Assistance Program

  • Next Board meeting will be at 6:30 PM on January 16, 2025

Preliminaries

Director Largay was absent.  It has not yet been established whether or not this was an excused absence.

No reportable actions were taken in the preceding Closed Session.

There were no changes to the agenda.

There were no public comments.  Eight members of the public were attending online.

 

Unfinished Business

None.

 

New Business

Separating the Engineering and Environmental Committee into Two Independent Committees

Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item.   He said Staff believed there was some merit in separating these two committees. Having two separate committees will provide for more input and more public participation.  Concerns about increasing the required time commitment from Staff can be addressed via streamlining, at least for now.

All four directors expressed support for the split.  President Smolley said John had privately shared some recommendations for easing the burden on District Secretary Jen Torres and Network Specialist Soctt Mattoch.  Director Fultz suggested that meeting minutes could be limited to capturing actions.  He said he had been opposed to consolidating the two committees in the first place.  President Smolley said he had supported the previous consolidation, and he had observed improvements in efficiency and information sharing, but he was now fine with the proposed split.  Director Layng valued the ability to expand the number of public committee members.

There were two public comments.  Francis Cleveland said he thought the split was a good idea.  He recommended that there should be a revised process to ensure that information gets shared between the two committees.

Ken Lande said he had submitted a document in favor of splitting.  He felt that the single merged committee did not have sufficient time to review all projects.

President Smolley said the combined committee currently had Director Layng and himself assigned to it.  He said his suggestion would be to have Director Fultz and himself on the Engineering Committee and Directors Fultz and Layng on the Environmental Committee.

Director Hill saw Director Layng as an ideal choice for the Environmental Committee.  Director Fultz said he OK with President Smolley’s proposal.  Director Layng said she fully supported Director Fultz for the Engineering Committee, but she recommended Director Largay for the Environmental Committee.  She cited his relevant expertise and support for the scientific method as important considerations.

Director Fultz said there were times when it made sense for Board members to serve on committees that matched their special knowledge and other times when it made sense to deliberately broaden their exposure.  He added that he believed in the scientific method.

President Smolley moved that the Board create separate Engineering and Environmental committees with up to three members of the public for each committee and with Directors Smolley and Fultz on Engineering and with Directors Layng and Fultz on Environmental.  The motion was seconded.

The motion passed 3-1 with Director Layng opposed.

 

Committee Appointments for Public Applicants

Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item.  He said 17 applications had been received (2 from current committee members and 15 from new applicants).  There are twelve slots to be filled, and each appointment requires a majority vote of the Board.

President Smolley suggested that the Board could move forward this evening with appointments to the Administration Committee and the Budget and Finance Committee.  He recommended directing District Secretary Jen Torres to contact all applicants for the previously consolidated Engineering and Environmental Committee to learn their preferences.  He said the Directors could take this information and offer their recommendations within the next week.

Director Fultz expressed concern about people who had listed Budget and Finance as their second choice (after Engineering and Environmental).  Director Layng said she thought there was a Board consensus on appointments to the Administration Committee and to the Budget and Finance Committee.  She said applicant Galvin had listed Engineering and Environmental as a first choice, but she thought he would be better suited for Budget and Finance, and she thought he would be fine with either.  Director Fultz was OK with this so long as the District Secretary subsequently confirmed that this was acceptable to the candidate.

There was one public comment.  Applicant Cantin said she would be fine with any appointment.  President Smolley said the Board saw her as best suited to the Administration Committee, and she was fine with this.

President Smolley said the feedback he had received from Board members led him to recommend applicants Adams, Cantin, and Dolson for the Administration Committee and applicants Galvin, Mosher, and Russ for the Budget and Finance Committee.  He moved that the Board should approve these appointments and that the District Secretary should follow up with applicant Galvin.  Director Hill seconded.

The motion passed 3-0, with Director Fultz abstaining.

President Smolley said appointments to the Engineering Committee and the Environmental Committee would be announced at the Board’s January 16th meeting.

Committee Appointments for Santa Margarita Groundwater Board of Directors

Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item.  He said two Directors and one alternate needed to be appointed.

President Smolley said he recommended Directors Largay and Layng, with himself as the alternate.  When there was no further discussion or public comment, he rephrased this as a motion, and Director Layng seconded.

The motion passed 4-0.

 

Rate Assistance Program

Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item.  He said this item was coming back to the Board with the revised definition of “good standing” that the Board requested at the December 19th meeting (namely, that “good standing” merely requires that the account not have been past-due in the most recent 90 days).

The Directors agreed that this had been thoroughly discussed at the previous Board meeting.

There was no public comment.

Director Layng moved to adopt the revised resolution, and President Smolley seconded.

The motion passed 3-1, with Director Fultz opposed.

 

Consent Agenda

There was one item on the Consent Agenda:

a. Board Minutes from 12.19.24

The Consent Agenda was deemed to be adopted by unanimous vote.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15 PM.