SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

August 1, 2024

Mark Dolson

Highlights:

  • Board Vacancy

  • General Manager Contract

  • Committee Appointments

  • Department of Water Resources Tanks Replacement Project Contract Amendment

  • Next Board meeting will most likely be at 6:30 PM on August 15, 2024

Preliminaries

All four directors were present.

There were four public comments prior to the start of the Closed Session.  All four speakers (Bruce Holloway, Debra Loewen, and two others) advised the Board against appointing Interim General Manager Brian Frus to be the District’s new General Manager.

There was no report from the Closed Session.

Director Fultz moved that item 10(b) “General Manager Contract” be postponed to the first meeting in September.  Director Smolley.  Interim General Manager is currently on an extension of his interim contract.  The motion passed 4-0.

There were six public comments on items not on the agenda.  Nicole Launder Berridge of Bracken Brae suggested that a consolidation working discussion could take place on August 15th.  She said only three weeks remain before Bracken Brae’s $1.265 million in FEMA funding potentially is lost.  Director Largay requested that she share any relevant written materials with the Board.

Danielle of Forest Springs said she wanted to check in with the Board.  She didn’t know why their consolidation wasn’t on the agenda.  She said they currently were not getting water from SLVWD due to issues with low water pressure.  They replaced a failed pump, but are forced to currently get water from Big Basin and from trucks.  She said she would like to see some support from SLVWD for the consolidation and for the water.  District Engineer Garrett Roffe said SLVWD had measured the pressure and verified that there were no issues on the SLVWD side.

Yvonne of Forest Springs seconded what Danielle said.  She said there is still no clear indication of what the next step is.

Karen Vitale of Forest Springs agreed.  She said they were in an emergency situation, and they don’t understand what is happening next.

Bo Jensen of Bracken Brae said they had requested a working meeting, and this has been stalled for months.  He said he was very frustrated, and his belief in SLVWD was really shaken.  Many others are similarly frustrated.  He said they would like to see some action and more transparency.

President Hill said the Board had voted to have a working session, and he would like Staff to set this up and report back to the Board.

 

Unfinished Business

None.

 

New Business

Board Vacancy

President Hill announced that the Board would now interview the two candidates who applied to fill the Board seat left vacant by Director Ackemann who resigned on June 21st.  The two applicants were Alina Layng of Boulder Creek and Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek.  Alina attended online because she was currently ill with Covid. 

Bruce said he had been a District customer since 1982 and started attending Board meetings in 2011.  Alina said she served for three years on the Environmental (now Engineering and Environmental) Committee.  She brought fifteen years of scientific work experience showcasing a deep commitment to environmental preservation.  She said she had a balanced perspective on evaluating short-term and long-term needs, and was also experienced as a public servant.  She pointed to specific contributions she had made to the District and the community, and she noted that she lost in the most recent election by only 51 votes despite being outspent ten to one.

Each Board member then had an opportunity to ask a single question (the same for each candidate).

Director Fultz had no questions.  Director Smolley asked for the candidates’ views on the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency (SMGWA).  Bruce said there was a longstanding need for a statewide solution for groundwater preservation which was finally addressed in 2014.  The SMGWA Board has a complicated two level structure: SLVWD and SVWD are a part, and the County is supposed to represent well-owners.  However, Bruce said he didn’t think this is how it has worked out.  Alina said the main SMGWA goal was developing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan.  She said she attended a lot of those meetings and strongly supported SMGWA and SLVWD's role in it.

Director Largay asked about relevant service to the community.  Bruce talked about his work in the early days of Quail Hollow Park and his other volunteer activities.  Director Largay agreed that Alina had already covered this topic in her introduction.

President Hill asked the candidates about their view of conjunctive use.  Both described themselves as strong supporters.

Director Smolley moved to appoint Alina Layng, and Director Largay seconded.

There were four public comments.  Former District Secretary Holly Hossack said Alina had been a constant for the past few years at the District and had had a positive effect on everyone.  She thought it would be a good idea to appoint Alina.

Debra Loewen of Lompico said both candidates were well qualified.  She said the Board picked the environmental candidate last time (Director Largay), so it should now give preference to business expertise.  She saw Bruce as the best choice.

Cynthia Dzendzel of Felton agreed that both candidates were qualified.  She recommended Alina based on her committee service and previous Board candidacy.  She said she believed Director Fultz provides budget and finance experience, and Director Smolley has extensive experience with contracts.

An unidentified speaker said the District was always running low on money, and finance was the Board’s primary responsibility, so Bruce was the better choice.

Director Fultz said he would not vote for either candidate because he objected to filling the seat seven days before the candidate filing period closes.  He saw this as an afront to our democratic system because this person will be able to register as an Appointed Incumbent and thereby gain an advantage in the upcoming election.

The motion passed 3-1 with Director Fultz opposed.  However, since Alina was not physically present, she was not able to be sworn in at this time.

General Manager Contract

This item was removed from the agenda, but the public still had the right to comment.  Four people spoke.

Holly Hossack (who retired as District Secretary this past May) said she had worked with Brian Frus and supported his appointment as General Manager based both on her experience and his commitment to the local community.

James Furtado (current SLVWD Director of Operations) said he did not support Brian’s appointment and did not understand how the interim appointment continued to be extended.  He said Brian treated the public and staff the same way he treated Director Fultz at the last meeting.  He said morale was going downhill, and he hoped the District didn’t lose more employees because nobody will work for someone who treats people like trash.

Garrett Roffe (current SLVWD District Engineer) said he was sorry to report that Brian does not possess the appropriate character for this role.  He said, following Brian’s outburst at the last Board meeting, Brian asked him if I thought he was an a-hole.  He said he had heard a report of Brian asking a member of the Staff, “are you as stupid as you look?”  He said Brian was reluctant to take the advice of Staff and preferred expensive consultants.  He described Brian as a terrible General Manager who should not continue working for SLVWD.  He said Brian was vulgar and unprofessional and should be dismissed immediately.

Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek called attention to a detail in the General Manager contract saying a future Board cannot terminate the General Manager for 120 days.  He questioned the legality of this provision.

 

Committee Appointments

President Hill observed that there was a vacancy on the Administration Committee, and he asked Director Largay if he would like to fill this.  Director Largay said he would not.

Director Fultz expressed indignation.  He said there was a four-year period during which he was summarily booted off the Finance Committee.  He said he had never protested a President’s appointment, and all Directors needed to work on the committees to which the President appointed them.  Director Largay said this was inconsistent with the Board Policy Manual, and he declined the appointment.

President Hill said the matter would be postponed to the next Board meeting, at which time the Board would have an additional member.

There was one public comment.  Debra Loewen of Lompico asked when the Administration Committee had last met.  She said it had been cancelled by Brian Frus for months and months, and she asked why the Board didn’t simply eliminate all committees.  She added that the Administration Committee would benefit from Director Largay’s participation, and so would he.

President Hill said he thought it was incumbent on Bryan to accept the appointment, but someone else raised a Point of Order, saying that this agenda item had already been continued to the next meeting.  Alina Layng commented that she would be happy to serve on the Administration Committee.

Department of Water Resources Tanks Replacement Project Contract Amendment

District Engineer Garrett Roffe introduced this agenda item.  He reminded everyone that the District was previously awarded $4.5 million from a Department of Water Resources (DWR) grant and required to provide a cost-share of $1.5 million to replace a total of 12 tanks with six new tanks. The project replaces four redwood tanks that are currently leaking and undersized with 120,000-gallon bolted steel tanks.  It also replaces four undersized polyethylene tanks damaged in the 2020 CZU Fire.  The Board of Directors authorized the contract with Mesiti-Miller Engineering, Inc. for the design of the DWR Tanks Replacement Project in an amount not to exceed $671,727 at the June 6, 2024 meeting.

Following authorization, an issue arose regarding the liability insurance limits of the two sub-consultants HKA and GV.  Staff negotiated a resolution in which both agreements would be with the District directly rather than through Mesiti-Miller, thus saving the District roughly $11,000.  Interim General Manager Brian Frus added that this amount was within his signing limit but, since this action is not consistent with normal District practice, he was bringing this to the Board to maximize transparency.

Director Smolley said he had done this sort of thing before with engineering consultants.  He asked if the District lose anything in professional liability aspects by having its design firm in this relationship rather than under the umbrella of the one lead.  Brian said the one-umbrella was his first choice because it’s simpler, but if somebody sues, everyone will show up.

Director Fultz said he opposed this contract to begin with because it was almost a quarter of a million dollars over the next bid with a justification that he thought was weak.  He said he was glad the District will save some money, but the original sin was entering into this contract in the first place.

Director Smolley moved to have the Interim General Manager execute the amendment as proposed.   President Hill seconded.

There was no public comment.  The motion passed 3-1, with Director Fultz opposed.

 

Consent Agenda

The Consent Agenda had three items (any of which could be moved to the regular agenda upon request from a Director):

a. Monthly Finance Report

b. Fall Creek Fish Ladder Contract Amendment

c. Board Minutes from July 18, 2024

Director Fultz pulled item (b).  Director Smolley moved to approve items (a) and (c), and President Hill seconded.  The motion passed 4-0.

Fall Creek Fish Ladder Contract Amendment

Director Fultz said he didn’t understand the justification for another month and another $30,000.  District Engineer Garrett Roffe explained that the original contract was to finish in October, but the work was about six months behind.  The contractor makes daily site visits and does labor compliance, reviews payments, and facilitates change orders.  They bill only for time actually spent, which is why they are only requesting one month of additional fees despite being six months behind.

Director Fultz accepted this explanation and moved to authorize the Interim General Manager to execute the agreement for $31,490.  President Hill seconded.

There was one public comment.  Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek asked if the contractor had already exceeded the not-to-exceed amount in the contract.  Garret said the schedule was delayed due to supply-chain issues.   Director Fultz said Mr. Holloway had asked a fair question, but it seemed that it would not be answered this evening.

The motion passed 4-0.

 

The public session adjourned at 7:50 PM, and the Board returned to Closed Session.