SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

May 4, 2023

Mark Dolson

Highlights:

  • Ratification of Emergency Contract for Quail Hollow Road

  • Ratification of Emergency Contract for Main Relocation at Park Drive and CA-9

  • Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on May 18th

Preliminaries

Legal Counsel Gina Nicholls reported that the Board unanimously voted in Closed Session in favor of entering into a stipulation for judgment on a minor legal issue.

District Manager Rick Rogers announced that Agenda Item 12a (amending the minutes for the Board’s April 6th meeting) was being deferred to a future meeting.

President Smolley delivered a brief President’s Report.  He noted that in the Written Communication section of the Board packet, there is an email stating that the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency (SMGWA) received approval in April from the State for its Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP).  Work on this plan began in 2017, and the plan was submitted in January of 2022.  President Smolley described this as a milestone accomplishment, and he thanked all the Staff and Board members who participated.  Director Mahood added that SMGWA was one of only 24 GSPs that have been approved to date.  49 have been found to be inadequate or incomplete, and 54 are still in review.  The State had only minor comments on the SMGWA GSP, so no further action by consultants will be needed.

 

Unfinished Business

None.

 

New Business

Ratification of Emergency Contract for Quail Hollow Road

District Manager Rick Rogers advised that the Board should limit discussion on this agenda item due to potential litigation.   District Engineer Josh Wolff explained that the District contracted with Anderson Pacific Engineering Construction to perform excavation and backfill operations associated with an emergency repair on Quail Hollow Road, necessitated by subsidence issues following recent storms.  President Smolley confirmed with Josh that the repairs are temporary, and there has not yet been any discussion of plans for completion.

Further background was provided in the memo included in the Board packet:  The District recently replaced over a mile of pipeline in Quail Hollow Road.  During the winter of 2022/2023, the trench line was observed to be sinking, requiring the District to excavate the asphalt and slurry placed during its previous pipeline construction and replace this with ¾” drain rock. During this excavation, the water table was found to be too high to allow for proper repair of the road. After consultation with the County, the excavation was backfilled with ¾” drain rock up to the level of the existing roadway, then steel plates were installed over the full width of the lane for the full length of the excavation. District will coordinate with the County and FEMA for a more complete repair after the water table has subsided enough to allow such work.

President Smolley moved to ratify the emergency services contract for repair of the trench failure in an amount not to exceed $108,000.

One member of the public addressed the Board.  Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek asked what was wrong with the work performed in 2022.  He inferred that the County assigns responsibility to the last one to touch it.  His question was: how do we avoid these problems in the future?  Gina advised the Board and Staff against offering any response at this time.

The motion passed 5-0.

 

Ratification of Emergency Contract for Main Relocation at Park Drive and CA-9

District Engineer Josh Wolff introduced this agenda item.  He explained that the District’s 2-inch main in CA-9 serving the Shadowbrook neighborhood was exposed by the slip out now known as the Jaye’s Slide (near the former Jaye’s Timberlane, north of the far more substantial Holiday Slide), immediately adjacent to the intersection of Park Drive and CA-9.  Caltrans is preparing to construct a soldier pile and lagging retaining wall to address the slip out,
boring for which would impact the existing main.

The District contracted with Preston Pipelines to construct a new 6-inch main connecting the Shadowbrook neighborhood’s mains to the existing 6-inch main in CA-9.   This eliminated 35 feet of 2-inch main.  Preston Pipelines deployed a crew immediately to accomplish this construction.

President Smolley asked if the District would have any further work after Caltrans is finished.  Josh said the District’s work is complete.

President Smolley moved to ratify the emergency services contract in an amount not to exceed $82,522 for the temporary main.  (The final billing for this project was $49,187.)  Director Mahood seconded this.

One member of the public addressed the Board.  Bruce Holloway said this sounded like a much more favorable circumstance than the previous agenda item.  The cause of the failure here had nothing to do with the District, and the District responded promptly to serve the neighborhood.  His question was about how this was being paid for.  Rick noted that the District’s mainlines are not insured, but that FEMA would pay for part of this activity as part of the state of emergency declared for the winter storms.

The motion passed 5-0.

 

Consent Agenda

These items are deemed adopted if nobody pulls any of them for further discussion.   The minutes for the Board’s April 20th meeting were adopted without comment.

 

District Manager’s Report

There was no District Manager’s Report.

 

Department Status Reports

There was no discussion of Department Status Reports.

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:50 PM.