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minutesRegular Meeting April 26, 2006 The Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority held a regular meeting on Wednesday, April 26, 2006, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. Chair Pocklington called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. • ROLL CALL Directors Present: Alkire, Beauchamp, Doud, Pocklington, Salas and Welsh. Directors Absent: Morrison. Others Present: General Manager/Treasurer Bostad, Operations Manager Rogers, Legal Counsel Cowett, Treasurer Delegate Farrow, and Board Secretary Schoonderwoerd. Staff members, Rick Alexander, Sue King, Bill Olson, Jim Smyth, and Don Thomson. Members of the public: Lin Wurbs, Theresa Thomas, Veronica Jacobo, and Linda Jacobo. • PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG • CHAIR’S PRESENTATION Operations Manager Rogers said that twice a year employees are recognized for service to the Authority in five-year increments. Mr. Rogers introduced, and Chair Pocklington presented service awards, to the following employees: for five years of service - David Torres, Plant Maintenance Technician II; Kevin Brunke, Pump Operator III; Sue Slaughter, Engineering Clerk II; and James Robinson, Customer Service Rep. I (Field); for ten years of service - Pete Famolaro, Biologist; B.J. Phillips-Burton, Water Quality Clerk II; Valori Oliver, Customer Service Rep. III; and Blanca Quintero, GIS Specialist; for 15 years of service - Brian Goodrich, Field Crew Supervisor; for 20 years of service - Bill Barsch, Plant Maintenance Superintendent; and for 25 years of service - Bill Olson, Director of Distribution. Tom Justo, Principal Engineer, and E.B. Clay, Water Treatment Plant Operator II, were not present to receive 15-year awards; and Francisco Montijo, Senior Engineering Technician was not present to receive a 20-year award. General Manager Bostad introduced Veronica Jacobo, Sweetwater Authority’s Wanda Avery Scholarship winner. Veronica is a senior at Hilltop High School with the following achievements: AP scholar with honors; winner of the Bank of America Award of Recognition in English; letter in Jr. Varsity Swim Club; and 50 Points Club-Accelerated Reader member. She plans to attend college at either UC Berkeley, Los Angeles, San Diego or Irvine and major in Anthropology for her Bachelors Degree. She is then planning to pursue a Masters Degree and eventually become a curator. Veronica wrote in her essay, “The government and public must not forget the significant role Special Districts have played over the years. Libraries, sewage and sanitation, health care, and even mosquito abatement services may not have received nearly enough attention to be effective. Without their efforts, the supply of fresh water in Sweetwater boundaries alone would not have been as inexpensive, as sanitary, or as reliable as it has been these past 27 years.” At 3:41 Chair Pocklington called a 10-minute recess to share coffee and cake with the recognized employees, Ms. Jacobo, and her mother. NOTE: Director Morrison entered the meeting at 3:45 p.m. The meeting was called back to order at 3:50 p.m., with all members of the Board in attendance. • OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT (Government Code Section (54954.3) Teresa Thomas identified herself as a homeowner in Chula Vista for 25 years
and a recent retiree from Southwestern College. On behalf of the community and
people from all levels of education, she expressed gratitude to the various
Boards that sponsor educational and community outreach programs. In January, she
participated in a day-long workshop spearheaded by Mr. Ivan Golakoff and met
Sweetwater Authority’s educational representative, who shared many of the
resources that the Authority provides for this community. She said support for
these programs will have a continual impact into the future. She also personally
enjoyed and learned quite a bit at the Authority’s open houses and opportunities
at the Sweetwater Reservoir. She wanted to thank the Board for these
opportunities and for creating an interest in the needs and the technology for
input to the community. ACTION CALENDAR ITEMS 1. ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN, OR REORDERED IN THE AGENDA Director Pocklington presented a letter received after the posting of the
agenda requesting the designation of a voting delegate at the ACWA Spring
Conference General Session for proposed bylaw amendments. Director Beauchamp
made a motion, seconded by Director Doud, that this item be added as Item 6.B.
under New Business. The motion carried. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Salas, that the Governing Board approve the minutes of the April 12, 2006 meeting. The motion carried. 3. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve Warrants 104847 through 105031 including all voided checks. The motion carried. 4. FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE (Meeting of April 19, 2006) A. Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the
Governing Board award a contract in the amount of $37,372.14 to Pearson Ford,
4300 El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92105, for the purchase of a Ford F350
utility truck, and that funding in the amount of $574.14 be available from the
Unallocated Reserve Fund to cover the projected deficit. The motion carried.
5. OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (Meeting of April 19, 2006) A. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve the request to quitclaim the Kimball Brothers Easement on the two Barber parcels, and that the owner be responsible for all costs associated with processing the quitclaim. The motion carried. B. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve the request to quitclaim the defined easement located on a portion of the Rojas property at 2137 Grove Street in National City, that the owners be responsible for all costs associated with processing the quitclaim, and that no value be assessed on the easement. The motion carried. C. Continued discussion of San Diego County Water Authority Drought Management Plan. General Manager Bostad said that this Drought Management Plan includes a Supply Allocation Plan, which handles how water is going to be provided to the different agencies should there be reduced overall supplies available to the region. They decided on an allocation that is based upon three years average demand on CWA’s wholesale supplies, and adjust that average wholesale supply by applying four credits. The four credits include local supply development credit, (provided with a 30 percent factor), a growth component credit (100 percent), conservation credit (100 percent), and a credit for loss of local supply (50 percent). As developed, the credits provide more consideration for conservation than for development of new, local supply. From the beginning, Sweetwater Authority urged the committee to grant more consideration to the local resources credit. We feel we expressed our concerns pretty well. One of CWA’s examples was presented to the Committee in which our total water supplies to the municipal and industrial sector were cut back from MWD by 50 percent; 30 percent of that supply would also be cut back to agricultural agencies; and by the year 2010, when our transfer water will be up and running, it would only be a net cutback of about 30 percent, which shows that we have more reliability due to that. But, the net effect of this model, after factoring in the three years averaging and the credits, indicates that we would have a total of 82.7 percent of our average supply, so we are in a better position than many other agencies, but not at 100 percent. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board direct the San Diego County Water Authority representatives to seek a higher credit (greater than 30 percent) for any local drought-resistant project and to evaluate financial incentive programs to encourage local project development. Those incentives could include capital funding matches and offsets from the CWA capacity fees. Director Pocklington said that he and Director Morrison will work towards trying to achieve this, and it is not going to be easy. He agrees that we need to give local agencies the incentive to look at their own agency and their own area and try to encourage them to invest in local water and that hopefully we can convince them to do that. He said the Drought Management Committee will meet next week to discuss this Plan. The motion carried. 6. NEW BUSINESS A. Upon a motion made by Director Welsh, seconded by Director Alkire, the following resolution: RESOLUTION 06-04 RESOLUTION OF THE GOVERNING BOARD OF SWEETWATER AUTHORITY PROCLAIMING NATIONAL PUBLIC WORKS WEEK MAY 21-27, 2006 was passed and adopted by the following vote to wit: Ayes: Directors Alkire, Beauchamp, Doud, Morrison, Pocklington , Salas, and
Welsh B. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that Chair Pocklington be designated as Sweetwater Authority’s voting delegate at the ACWA Spring Conference General Session for proposed bylaw amendments. The motion carried. 7. REPORT OF THE SOUTH BAY IRRIGATION DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE AND THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY REPRESENTATIVE TO THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY Director Pocklington reported that the Administrative and Finance Committee
would consider a one-year contract for janitorial services at the Kearny Mesa
and Escondido offices, and on the action agenda they had a resolution, passed
every year, establishing the amount due from the City of San Diego for the
In-Lieu Charge as a condition of providing water service for Fiscal Year
2005-2006, with this year’s amount being $408,475. Legal Counsel Cowett said
there is a provision in both the MWD act and the CWA act which enables any
member agency to pay CWA directly rather than to charge its property owners ad
valorem taxes. South Bay Irrigation District did this for a while before
Sweetwater took over the system. The City of San Diego has always done this, so
they receive money from the Navy, while if they were charging ad valorem taxes,
they would not be receiving that money. The Engineering and Operations Committee
will consider a contract for cathodic protection of the Escondido Pump Station
and acceptance of a Notice of Completion for the Wetland Creation for the
Manchester site. There will be a Closed Session regarding a claim from TC
Construction Company. The Legislation, Conservation and Outreach (L C & O)
Committee will consider authorization of Resolutions for the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation, Water 2025 and CALFED Water Efficiency Grant Program, which is $2.4
million available for agriculture and urban water conservation and efficiency
activities via CALFED. The L C & O agenda also contains a report from Carpi and
Clay; a resolution in support of SB 511 (Hollingsworth) dealing with CWA Board
Governance; an item to adopt positions of support on AB 984 (Laird), AB 2515
(Ruskin), SB 1640 (Kuehl), and co-sponsorship of AB 2496 (Laird) dealing with
the Tamarisk plant; and adoption of the 2006 water bond policy principles. Items
on the Imported Water action calendar include: an MWD delegate’s report;
quarterly and Ad Hoc Committee reports on the Quantification Settlement
Agreement; and a report and action on the All American Canal bid opening and
decisions on CWA’s participation in Reach 3 of the canal lining project; and a
closed session on potential litigation. Director Pocklington noted that Gary
Arant, Valley Center’s General Manager, will replace Gary Broomel upon his
retirement from the Board. Finally, the Water Planning Committee will consider
agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to provide staff for expedited processing of permits for the NCCP,
carry-over storage, and the San Vicente Dam Raise project; an agreement between
CWA and Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District for Reclaimed Water
Development Fund incentives; and authorization for the General Manager to enter
into a joint participation agreement with Sweetwater Authority for the
Sweetwater Authority/City of Chula Vista Joint Membrane Bioreactor Feasibility
Study to award an amount not to exceed $25,000 for the project. General Manager
Bostad explained that this is the partnership to evaluate the possibility of
developing a membrane bioreactor plant to provide wastewater capacity for the
City of Chula Vista and recycled water for Sweetwater Authority. If the power
plant along the coast goes to air cooling instead of recycled water for cooling,
it may impact the outcome of the project for Sweetwater Authority. Director
Pocklington added that there would be public hearings to receive comments for
the Mission Trails Flow Regulatory Structure II and Pipeline Tunnel Project EIR
and for the Regional Seawater Desal Project at Encina EIR, and a closed session
on negotiations on the Encina Power Plant site. 8. APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS’ ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS A. Joint Board Meeting – Helix Water District, Lakeside Water District, Otay Water District, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, Riverview Water District and Sweetwater Authority – Friday, May 5, 2006, 10:00 a.m. at Otay Water District. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve per diem for Directors who attend this event. The motion carried. B. California Special Districts Association, San Diego Chapter Quarterly Meeting – Thursday, May 18, 2006, 6:00 p.m. at the DoubleTree Club Hotel – Program: Scholarship Awards. Directors wishing to attend this pre-approved event will contact the Secretary. No action was required by the Governing Board. C. Urban Water Institute 5th Annual Clean Water Conference – May 31 to June 2, 2006, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Long Beach, CA. Directors wishing to attend this pre-approved event will contact the Secretary. No action was required by the Governing Board. D. Dinner co-hosted by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Sidley Austin LLP, and Sutter Securities Incorporated, in conjunction with the ACWA Spring Conference in Monterey – Wednesday, May 10, 2006, 6:00 p.m., at the Sardine Factory. Directors wishing to attend this event will contact the Secretary. No action was required by the Governing Board. E. CSDA Special District Governance Academy – Module 3: Board’s Role in Finance and Fiscal Accountability – June 9, 2006, Doubletree Club Hotel, Santa Ana, CA; and Module 4: Board’s Role in Human Resources – June 16, 2006, Hilton Sacramento Hotel, Sacramento, CA. No Directors present will attend this pre-approved event. No action was required by the Governing Board. 9. REPORTS BY DIRECTORS ON EVENTS ATTENDED Director Welsh reported on the Council of Water Utilities meeting on April 18th, and said that staff should feel very good that Joanne Price had such high regard for her collaboration with Sweetwater Authority on the project she presented. Director Pocklington said he thought it was a wonderful presentation, because it addressed the problem of long-term employees retiring and taking with them all of their institutional knowledge. Director Doud reported on the CSDA Scholarship Committee meeting on April 18th and distributed a written report of the meeting’s activities submitted by Melody Diaz, the Authority’s Education Specialist. Director Morrison reported on the April 19th National City Chamber of Commerce meeting. The main speaker, National City’s Port Commissioner Valderrama, reported on business opportunities and planning with the waterfront group. He said that a venture to look at approximately 52 acres on the waterfront for some type of public development could have an impact on the Authority if that area goes to higher water usage. National City has three miles of bayfront but no public access, as it is fenced off and guarded, so any large-scale development there will affect major water rights. NOTE: Director Salas left the meeting at 4:33 p.m. Director Pocklington reported on the Chula Vista Interagency Water Task Force meeting on April 24th. The City of Chula Vista reported on its desire to sell electrical power. If the City pursues this, they are encouraging the water agencies to be part of the group. He said that the City believes it can save money, but this issue still has a long way to go. Director Doud attended the Task Force meeting as well and said that what the City intends to do is buy power and sell it to the residents, businesses, etc., at a lower rate. The County of San Francisco and Chula Vista are the two cities right now that are pursuing this and hopefully it will happen. He added that Otay Water District gave an update on their golf course, which has a new lessee with plans to make it a first class golf course and build a big club house. 10. BUDGET REPORT – INTERIM DIRECTOR OF FINANCE FARROW Interim Director of Finance Farrow said that at nine months into the fiscal year, we are status quo. Water Sales are $593,202 over budget. Other Income is $38,085 over budget, and Interest Income is $326,966 over budget. Operating Expenses are $203,248 over budget. Fuel prices are impacting chemicals, the unleaded fuel we purchase for our fleet, and even our deliveries, as trucking industries are adding a fuel surcharge. As we move through the budgeting process for 2006-07, we are looking at how we can have some contingencies for that. We are about $700,000 ahead of where we expected to be on our year-to-date budget. We are about 37 percent invoiced on the Capital Projects to date as compared to the 56 percent estimated. Director Doud said that the Governor reported that Workers Compensation was reduced by 40 percent since 2004, and he requested a report on how the Authority faired in that. General Manager Bostad suggested that a report could be given after the ACWA/JPIA meeting coming up. 11. MANAGEMENT REPORT A. Report of Operations Manager Rogers: Mr. Rogers reported on an incident that occurred at the front gate of Perdue just before 7:00 p.m. last Sunday. Initially, all we knew was that the gate was down and it was unknown how it happened. Later, our security person viewed the camera film, and it appears that some kids were out near the end of that street with a go cart and one of them possibly got his foot on the throttle instead of the brake and rammed right into the gate and knocked it down. The Board viewed the surveillance camera footage of the incident. Once we file a report, we can find out if there were any injuries. B. Report of General Manager Bostad: General Manager Bostad directed the Board’s attention to the Monthly Report of Activities. Director Doud inquired about local sources accounting for 51.5 percent of the water produced to the system and the 12-month year-to-date unaccounted-for water percentage of 0.77 percent and whether this included the distribution system as well. Operations Manager Rogers explained that that is the difference between the water sales and the water produced and purchased, so that is the loss in the system, which is very small. General Manager Bostad added that most water agencies are anywhere from five to ten percent. 12. DIRECTORS’ COMMENTS Director Doud read a quote, “The worst thing about history is that every time it repeats itself, the price goes up, just like gas.” Director Beauchamp said that yesterday he rode the trolley from National City to San Diego State for an Association of Environmental Professionals presentation on water conservation given by Vickie Driver of CWA. That was followed by a PowerPoint presentation on global water issues given by a student representative for San Diego County. He also informed the Board of the passing of two long-time members of National City’s education community, Jo Knight and Virginia Hawken. 13. CLOSED SESSION There was none. 14. ADJOURNMENT With no further business before the Board, Chair Pocklington adjourned the
meeting at 4:50 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m. on May 24, 2006. |
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