SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
June 17, 2021
Mark Dolson
Highlights:
Coastal Conservancy grant acceptance.
Freyer & Laureta contract approval for 5-mile pipeline study.
Sandis contract approval for Emergency Response Plan.
Personnel reclassifications and new position.
Approval of revised Utility Billing Policy.
Discussion of Reserve Fund policy.
Discussion of Outreach for Fire Recovery Surcharge.
Next Board meeting is at 6:00 PM on June 28. [Subsequently moved to June 30]
Preliminaries:
NOTE: Beginning during the closed session and persisting for about two and a half hours, the central portion of the San Lorenzo Valley experienced a power outage affecting over 5000 homes. This caused Director Henry to be present only intermittently and also led the Board to defer discussion of two agenda items (the District’s Urban Water Management Plan and its Draft Fiscal 2021-2023 Bi-Annual Budget). Members of the public who were without power could still potentially join this evening’s meeting via phone. Alternatively, they could retroactively view the CTV recording of the meeting. Unfortunately, the audio quality on this recording was frequently so poor as to render it useless.
District Counsel Gina Nicholls read a statement prepared by the Board in closed session: The consensus of the Board was to direct the District Manager to communicate to Supervisor McPherson's office to propose a meeting of principals in an effort to resolve the County's lawsuit against the District.
President Mahood announced that a Special Board Meeting will be held on July 8th. Agenda items will include Fall Creek Fish Ladder contracts, response to the City of Santa Cruz water rights petitions, and an update on Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency (SMGWA) activities.
Cynthia Dzdendzel asked if the possibility of tiered rates will be discussed or studied as part of the District’s upcoming rate study. District Manager Rick Rogers said he wasn’t expecting this, but that it would be up to the Board. Finance Manager Stephanie Hill agreed that this was still to be determined. Cynthia asked whether public comments would be considered, and President Mahood said they would be. She indicated that she would want to see tiered rates considered, and Director Fultz agreed.
New Business
Acceptance of Grant from State Coastal Conservancy
Environmental Planner Carly Blanchard reported that the District has been awarded $200,000 for fuel reduction around District infrastructure through the California State Coastal Conservancy’s Wildfire Resilience Program. Staff recommended that District Manager Rick Rogers be designated as the signatory and point of contact for this grant.
Direction Ackemann asked for more detail as to how the funds will be allocated. Carly said the focus will be on removing vegetation (ladder fuels rather than trees) around infrastructure and roads, primarily around easily accessed sites.
Director Fultz asked if the District had a priority ranking for its infrastructure. Carly said there was a broad overview in the Fire Management Plan and that a registered forester would work closely with the District. Rick Rogers said that sources of supply (i.e., well fields) and treatment plants would be a high priority.
There was no public comment.
President Mahood asked for someone to make a motion adopting the resolution to accept the $200,000 award and designate Rick Rogers as the signatory. Director Smolley made the motion, and Director Ackemann seconded it. The motion passed 5-0.
California Special Districts Association (CSDA) Board Elections
The California Special Districts Association (CSDA) is a 501c, not-for-profit association formed in 1969 to promote good governance and improved core local services through professional development, advocacy, and other services for all types of independent special districts. Each of CSDA’s six networks has three seats on the CSDA Board, and there is currently a vacancy in the Coastal Network (which SLVWD is a part of). All seats must be filled by either a board member or a management-level employee of a member district located in the network. Two candidates provided statements, and the SLVWD can vote for one of these two candidates. This vote must be submitted by July 16th.
Director Ackemann felt that Elaine Magner would be a better choice because her parks and recreation experience was closer to issues relating to water than the other candidate’s airport experience. President Mahood and Director Smolley agreed.
There was no public comment.
Director Ackemann moved to vote for Elaine Magner, and Director Smolley seconded. The motion passed 4-0, with Director Henry not available.
Five-Mile Pipeline Constructability Award
The District is now ready to begin contemplating next steps in the wake of the destruction of its “Five-Mile Pipeline” during the CZU Fire. This is a complicated issue that demands careful analysis and deliberation. Engineering Director Josh Wolff reported that two bids for an engineering assessment were received and reviewed by the Engineering Committee.
Director Smolley (Chair of the Engineering Committee) reported that the proposal from Freyer & Laureta was detailed and well-thought-out with clear plans for involving specialist consultants. It was also $70,000 lower ($248,500 vs. $319,120).
Director Fultz said he was glad to see the District thinking outside the box. He asked about FEMA support, and Rick Rogers confirmed that 75% of the cost will be reimbursed by FEMA (with a possible carve-out for the assessment of a possible microhydropower component). Director Fultz asked if there will be an explicit Return on Investment (ROI) calculation, and Rick confirmed that there will be. He noted that the proposal also includes public presentations.
Director Ackemann appreciated this latter feature. She wondered why the two proposals presented such different timelines, and Josh suggested that this most likely reflected staff availability which allowed for more or less parallelization.
Cynthia Dzendzel asked where the public could learn more about the referenced microhydropower generation technology (e.g., how is the power generated and transmitted?). Rick said the District had looked at an inline turbine microgenerator but that this discussion was still in its very early stages, and the District expects to learn more from the consultant. President Mahood said she was looking forward to learning more as well.
President Mahood asked for someone to make a motion instructing the District Manager to enter into negotiations with Freyer & Laureta for $248,500. Director Smolley made the motion, and Director Ackemann seconded it. The motion passed 4-0, with Director Henry still unavailable.
American Water Infrastructure Act 2018 Emergency Response Plan Award
Engineering Director Josh Wolff explained that water districts are required to provide certain plans and to update them at 5-year intervals. The current plan is very old, so the District is essentially starting from scratch and outsourcing this effort to a consultant. Only one bid has been received (from Sandis for $42,120), but Staff has been unsuccessful in soliciting others, and the District believes the Sandis response will enable it to meet its responsibilities.
President Mahood asked why the plan was needed so soon (given that the requirement took effect in 2018). Josh explained that the current plan was drafted in response to 9/11 and focused on a fairly different set of issues than those required by the more recent law.
Director Smolley noted that the District reached out to the Scotts Valley Water District to learn their cost for a similar plan. They paid roughly $40,000, and their district is both smaller and less challenging than the SVLWD.
Director Fultz asked how the District will benefit from this expenditure. Josh said: (1) it will keep the District in compliance with an act of Congress, and (2) it will provide a methodology to address emergencies and future problems. Director Smolley added that he hopes Sandis is able to introduce the District to some new best practices. Director Fultz asked what prevented the District from using its existing plan. Rick Rogers explained that the original plan (following 9/11) focused on terrorist threats. The new plan will focus more on trespass, mischief, theft, and cyberterrorism. Rick attended a 2-week class at Sandia Labs after 9/11, but this addressed a different set of circumstances than the District is concerned with today. Director Fultz liked the emphasis on cyberterrorism but suggested that it might be more efficient for the District to collaborate with other districts for the plan development; President Mahood agreed. Director Ackemann asked why the District didn’t collaborate with Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD), and Rick said SVWD selected a consultant that SLVWD would not have selected.
President Mahood asked for someone to make a motion instructing the District Manager to enter into a contract with Sandis and to update the Budget to reflect this expense. Director Smolley made the motion, and Director Ackemann seconded it. The motion passed 4-0, with Director Henry still unavailable.
Personnel Reclassifications and Addition
District Manager Rick Rogers introduced this agenda item. The District’s 2021-23 draft Biennial Budget provides for several personnel classification changes and one additional position, Project Manager, accounting for an increase in annual spending of approximately $205,000.
The Project Manager is a new high level management position reporting directly to the District Manager. This person will perform a variety of highly responsible, complex project and program management, strategic planning initiatives, water resource management, and other designated projects.
The Water Quality and Treatment Manager is a change to the existing classification Water Treatment and System Supervisor because the full scope of responsibilities for this position have greatly increased.
The Account/Office Supervisor classification is a request for a change to an existing classification of Accountant. The requested change is for the addition of on-site front-office supervisory responsibilities to an existing Accountant.
The Environmental Programs Manager change request is a promotion of the existing Environmental Planner who is currently performing duties of the Environmental Programs Manager and should be promoted. This is already an approved position and requires no Board action.
Director Ackemann voiced her support. President Mahood agreed, saying she has been very impressed with Carly Blanchard’s performance as Environmental Planner and adding that she strongly favored the new Project Manager position. She saw the timing as perfect now that the District is recovering from the CZU Fire and ready to start making progress on making operations more efficient.
Director Fultz took exception. He said it was odd to hear that the District was going to reduce operating costs by increasing them, and he asked how much of the budget increase was due to the new Project Manager position. Finance Manager Stephanie Hill said the position is budgeted at $160,000 (fully loaded). Director Fultz requested that the Board split the resolution in two so that his voting could clearly reflect his objection to the Project Manager position (as opposed to the promotions). A significant amount of procedural discussion ensued.
Director Fultz introduced a motion to adopt his modified version of the originally proposed resolution. This motion deadlocked 2-2 with President Mahood and Director Ackemann opposing and Director Henry still not present.
Alina Layng offered her congratulations to Carly Blanchard.
Director Ackemann moved to proceed with the original motion, and Director Smolley seconded this. There was some further discussion in which Director Fultz explained that he wanted to make it clear to current employees that the Board supports them. At the same time, he said, the Board had an opportunity not to increase headcount, and it chose not to.
The motion passed 3-1, Director Fultz opposing.
Unfinished Business
Utility Billing Policy
Finance Manager Stephanie Hill reminded the Board that the revised utility billing policy was discussed by the Board at the previous meeting and sent back to committee for final drafting. The revised policy has now been reviewed by the Budget and Finance Committee.
Director Fultz (chair of the Administration Committee) added that the Administration Committee had reviewed this as well. He noted the larger context for the new policy: SB 998 imposed a one-size-fits-all turn-off policy that was only appropriate for large districts. This started the conversation, and everyone concluded that it is easier not to engage in turn-offs, and to instead pursue the revised approach utilizing the property tax roll and not establishing separate accounts for tenants. He gave Stephanie Hill a lot of credit for her work on this. Director Ackemann concurred.
Director Fultz moved to adopt the revised Utility Billing Policy, and Director Smolley seconded. There was no public comment. The motion passed 4-0.
With the power outage still unresolved, the Board engaged in a substantial discussion about immediate next steps. They agreed that some agenda items could still be addressed but that others would need to be moved to a subsequent meeting.
Reserve Fund Policy
Financed Manager Stephanie Hill explained that the District, in response to previous Board direction, is looking to add a restricted reserve fund for the proposed Fire Recovery Surcharge.
Directors Ackemann and Fultz each requested a more detailed explanation of how the restricted funds will move through the budget as they become available, but both were comfortable with deferring this to the upcoming budget agenda item.
Director Smolley moved to adopt the new policy, and Director Ackemann seconded. There was no public comment. The motion passed 5-0.
Fire Recovery Surcharge Community Outreach
Environmental Planner Carly Blanchard presented a draft web page explaining the proposed 5-year Fire Recovery Surcharge and the associated Proposition 218 public notification and acceptance process. Stephanie reported that final mailings will go out June 21st. Rick added that the website will go live June 18th. Staff Counsel Gina Nicholls pointed out that both the formal Proposition 218 notice and the MBS technical memo (from the required rate study) are linked from the website. There is also an FAQ, developed by Carly and Gina, which will continue to evolve.
Director Smolley asked about customers who are billed electronically. Stephanie explained that the mailing is independent of billing and is based on county addresses from property tax rolls and also on the District’s address list.
Director Ackemann praised the thoroughness of the documentation. She asked if there would be an opportunity for Board members to help do outreach (e.g., at the Farmers’ Market).
Director Fultz noted that a number of ballots were not filled out correctly during the most recent Proposition 218 process. He asked if the District could offer an example on the website of a correct one. Stephanie said yes.
Director Henry pointed out that some people at the Farmers’ Market are not SLVWD customers and that it would be desirable not to have these people trying to vote. Also, she wanted to be sure that people understood that there is only one vote per parcel of property. (Since only “no” votes are allowed, any “no” vote from a given parcel is counted.) District Secretary Holly Hossack confirmed that she will retain all submitted votes for subsequent inspection.
Consent Agenda
Director Fultz asked to pull the minutes of the May 20th Board Meeting for a proposed edit. He wanted the summary of his comments in a specific discussion to state: Director Fultz responded that it is the Board's job to set policy for budget increases not direct Staff how to achieve this target.
Director Ackemann requested clarification on this process, and President Mahood responded.
Alina Layng commented, as politely as possible, that she felt there had been a lot of wasted time over the course of this Board meeting. President Mahood took her point and said it was important not to waste anyone’s time.
Director Fultz moved to accept the revised minutes. President Mahood seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
District Reports
President Mahood said she would prefer that Board members address their questions directly to relevant Staff via email. Director Fultz asked for confirmation that Rick Rogers approved this and that Rick should be copied on the emails. Rick agreed.
Informational Material
President Mahood commented favorably on the LAFCO overview. Director Fultz specifically called attention to items 4a and 4b about expanding the District’s sphere of influence.
District Counsel Gina Nicholls advised that the public hearing for the UWMP must be noticed correctly. The Board must adopt an order of adjournment specifying when the meeting will continue (and then post this within 24 hours of adjourning). If necessary, the new meeting can be readjourned.
President Mahood moved that the Board adjourn until 6:00 PM Monday June 28th. Director Ackemann seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.