SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
September 19, 2024
Mark Dolson
Highlights:
General Manager Vacancy
Next Board meeting will be at 6:30 PM on October 3, 2024
Preliminaries
All five Directors were present.
President Hill reported that, in the just-concluded Closed Session, the Board accepted a liability claim filed by Bruce Benjamin and rejected a liability claim filed by Jan McGirk, Sean McGirk, and Tim McGirk. In response to a question from Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek, he said these two votes were unanimous.
President Hill further reported that an existing litigation matter was referred back to Legal Counsel without any Board action being taken. Lastly, he said the Board would be continuing its discussion about finding a temporary General Manager.
There were four public comments on items not on the agenda. Debra Lowen of Lompico Canyon said she was following up on a public record request. She wanted to see the invoice from Raftelis for the additional work that the District asked them to perform in conjunction with Measure U (which was expected to cost around $4000). She also reiterated her request for the District to ask Raftelis how much the District’s revenue was expected to decrease due to the reduction in Tier 1 water rates, independent of the other elements of the new rate structure which combine to increase the District’s revenue.
Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek said someone sent him the severance agreement for former Interim General Manager Brian Frus. He said Mr. Frus was entitled to accrued vacation and COBRA based on his original contracts, but these expired on August 21st. He characterized the resulting agreement as a $100,000 give-away to a former employee, and he accused the Board of rewarding bad behavior which was a matter of public record. He found this to be unnecessary and insulting. He also complained that the Board had not revealed its Closed Session vote on this matter.
President Hill said the vote was 4-1, but Mr. Holloway wanted to know how each Director voted. Legal Counsel Barbara Brenner said the Public Records Act did not require the Board to reveal this, but it had the option to do so.
Director Largay said Legal Counsel had advised that the Board was unable to act on recruiting a new General Manager until potential litigation involving the prior General Manager was resolved. Barbara confirmed this, saying that confidential personnel matters can't be publicly discussed until they are resolved, and this includes status information necessary to proceed with recruitment.
Director Largay said he objected to revealing the Board vote, as he thought the request was purely political. Director Layng agreed. Directors Fultz and Smolley argued to the contrary, saying that the votes should absolutely be made public. Director Largay said the reason not to do this was so that Board members would not be subject to inquiry on each and every Closed Session item as to how they voted. He said Closed Session was for the Board to act with a single voice on sensitive matters. Public disclosure would defeat the purpose of Closed Session.
Director Fultz asserted that it was the Board’s obligation under the law to disclose votes and associated documentation. He said it was troubling for anyone to think this was something secret.
President Hill revealed that the dissenting vote was cast by Director Fultz. Director Largay said he was glad the Board voted as it did so that it could resolve the matter and proceed with getting a new General Manager. He said Legal Counsel advised that there would otherwise have likely been a protracted negotiation.
Karen Vitale of Forest Springs said Director Smolley was supposed to be part of a team to work out a Consolidation Agreement. She requested that he engage very soon (i.e., within the next week) to avoid time-consuming misunderstandings that would otherwise need to propagate through lengthy chains of communication. Director Smolley said he understood the request, and he met with Staff last week and asked them for a summary of the situation. He said he was out of the country for the entire next week, so he would follow up the week of September 30th.
Nicole Launder Berridge of Bracken Brae said she was assuming that a corresponding meeting with Bracken Brae would be scheduled as soon as possible, separately from the meeting with Forest Springs. Director Smolley agreed.
Unfinished Business
None.
New Business
General Manager Vacancy
Director Largay moved to adopt the resolution recommended in the Board packet: Authorize the District’s General Counsel to negotiate a contract with a consultant to fill the vacant temporary General Manager position while recruitment efforts continue for a permanent General Manager and authorize the Board President to execute a contract with the selected candidate. Director Smolley seconded this.
Bruce Holloway of Boulder Creek complained that the Board Policy Manual requires the Board to hear from the public before making any motions. He also pointed out an error in the Background section of the memo in the Board packet. The memo cited Government Code Section 61050, but this section refers to Community Service Districts rather than Water Districts. Legal Counsel Barbara Brenner said she would have to review this, but both sections were likely to provide the same authority. Director Layng requested that Mr. Holloway email her separately regarding his claim about the Board Policy Manual.
Nicole Launder Berridge of Bracken Brae asked if there was an actual applicant or whether the District was seeking a consultant to assist with the search. Director Largay said this was a sensitive personnel matter that the Board was unable to discuss.
The motion passed 5-0.
Consent Agenda
There was one item on the Consent Agenda:
a. Board Minutes from September 5, 2024
President Hill moved to approve this, and Director Largay seconded. The motion passed 5-0.
Written Communications
The packet included multiple written communications, including a letter from Eva Sidlo of Forest Springs which raised concerns about the behavior of Nicole Launder Berridge on behalf of Bracken Brae, and a letter from Karen Vitale of Forest Springs, which asked the District to be more attentive to Forest Springs and to differences between Bracken Brae and Forest Springs. Karen Vitale also had a public comment. She said Eva Sidlo had asked her to read an additional letter. This letter was very positive in tone and focused on the importance of everyone working together toward a common solution.
Nicole Launder Berridge said she, too, looked forward to working with everyone, but she objected to the inclusion of Eva Sidlo’s letter in the Board packet for this evening’s meeting based on the fact that it was written in mid-August.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 PM so that the Board could return to Closed Session. President Hill subsequently announced that there was nothing further to report.