minutes

Regular Meeting

Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority

June 8, 2005

The Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority held a regular meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 2005, 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: Inzunza.

Others Present: General Manager Bostad, Operations Manager Rogers, Legal Counsel Cowett, Treasurer Avery, and Board Secretary Farpón. Staff members Hank Gaus, Bill Olson, George Silva, Jim Smyth, and Don Thomson.

· PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Director Beauchamp conducted the pledge of allegiance to the flag.

· OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT (Government Code Section (54954.3)
There were no members of the public present for comment.

· CHAIR ’S PRESENTATION
There was none.

ACTION CALENDAR ITEMS

1. ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN, OR REORDERED IN THE AGENDA

Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, to add to the Agenda a request from John Amodeo, General Manager at Vista Irrigation District, for a letter of endorsement for Lynn R. Burzell for the International Water Industrial Hall of Fame award. A motion was made and seconded by said directors to send a letter of endorsement for Lynn R. Burzell signed by Chair Pocklington. The motion carried.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Beauchamp made a motion, seconded by Director Salas, that the Governing Board approve the minutes of May 25, 2005. The motion carried.

3. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve Warrants 100237 through 100460 including all voided checks. The motion carried.

4. OPERATIONS COMMITTEE (Meeting of June 1, 2005)

A. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve a one-year extension of the annual time-and-materials contract with Cass Construction, Inc., 1100 Wagner Drive, El Cajon, CA 92020. The motion carried.

B. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve a one-year time-and-materials contract with Sapphire Electric, Inc., 5725 Kearny Villa Road, Suite H, San Diego, CA 92123 and Enterprise Automation, 3002 Dow Avenue, Unit 508, Tustin, CA 92780. The motion carried.

C. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve a one-year extension of the annual time-and-materials contract with ABC Construction Company, Inc., 3120 National Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113. The motion carried.

D. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve the Water Supply Assessment as submitted by staff, in accordance with Senate Bill 610, with minor corrections as noted by the Committee. The motion carried.

5. AD HOC COMMITTEE – ACWA CALIFORNIA WATER BLUEPRINT OUTREACH (Meeting of June 3, 2005)

Director Beauchamp reported that the Committee had met to discuss a strategy for the ACWA Outreach Blueprint for California Water. The Committee focused on efforts addressed to the local area to ascertain that people understand the importance of the Bay Delta. Staff will prepare a power point presentation to be adapted to different audiences and to get the word out on how to move forward with the blueprint and get some local support from leaders in the area.

6. FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE (Meeting of June 6, 2005)

A. Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Doud, that the Governing Board approve membership renewal in the American Water Works Association Research Foundation and the payment of dues in the amount of $9,172, which is included in the proposed 2005-06 Budget. The motion carried.

B. Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Governing Board approve membership renewal in the San Diego East Visitors Bureau and the payment of dues in the amount of $100, which is included in the proposed 2005-06 Budget. The motion carried.

C. Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the Governing Board approve the proposed hourly rate increase for legal services from Best Best & Krieger LLP to become effective July 1, 2005, as follows: $195 for Partner, $175 for Senior Associate, $145 for Junior Associate, and $110 for Paralegal. The motion carried.

D. Further discussion of refunding bond indebtedness and issuance of new debt. Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the Governing Board approve the refinance of the Authority’s outstanding Series 2002 Bonds for the years 2003 through 2022 and the issue of new debt in the amount of $6.5 million; that Scenario 2 be used for the refunding of the debt; and that the Board hold further discussion at the Budget Workshop on June 10, 2005, and approve a resolution to issue debt at that time. The motion carried.

E. Further review of Fiscal-Year 2005-06 Budget. This was an information item and no action was required by the Governing Board.

7. APPROVAL OF DIRECTOR’S ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS.

A. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve per diem for Director Doud’s attendance at the First Friday Breakfast June 3, 2005 at the San Diego Country Club. The motion carried.

B. Council of Water Utilities, San Diego County Meeting at StoneRidge Country Club – Tuesday, June 21, 1005 – 7:15 – 8:45 a.m. All the Directors except Director Beauchamp and Director Inzunza will attend this pre- approved event. No action was required by the Governing Board.

C. National Water Resources Association (NWRA) – 2005 Western Water Seminar July 20-23, 2005 – Huntley Lodge, Big Sky, Montana. Directors Beauchamp, Salas and Welsh will attend this pre-approved event. No action was required by the Governing Board.

8. REPORT OF TREASURER – WANDA AVERY
Treasurer Avery was absent.

9. MANAGEMENT REPORT

A. Report of Operations Manager Rogers: Operations Manager Rogers showed a photograph of Loveland Reservoir that was taken on the 27th of May and that it is still spilling. Loveland Reservoir is about 100 percent full and Sweetwater Reservoir is about 79 percent. He noted that for the last ten days 100 percent of the water used as been local.

Operations Manager Rogers reported that the taste and odor problems recently experienced are cleared up now. He commended Water Quality staff for going above and beyond the call of duty. In their efforts to eliminate the algae they dropped copper sulphate in the lake on three different occasions and they were able to kill the algae. They cleaned out the sedimentation basins and have moved around the powder-activated carbon to different locations to take some of the color out of the water. He reiterated that there were algae blooms all over Southern California and that all water companies with reservoirs were affected.

B. Report of General Manager Bostad: Mr. Bostad reported that a group of about 25 to 30 engineers and managers from Australia had visited our facilities today. Staff took them on a tour of the groundwater desalination plant and the runoff diversion system on which they were quite interested. Australia has a serious drought and they are looking at ways to address those drought issues. This group has been traveling from Singapore to Orlando, Florida; St. Petersburg, Florida; Monterey, Mexico; San Diego; Orange County; Monterey; California; and San Francisco. This group found out about Sweetwater Authority through Paul Gagliardo who was a Senior Engineer at the City of San Diego for many years and is now a consultant.

Mr. Bostad talked about contacts with Helix and Padre Dam regarding our Natural Communities Conservation Plan. Rick Alexander will start working with the Authority in a few weeks and maybe these agencies could utilize Rick’s expertise in the Joint Water Agency Planning portion as a continuation of some early ideas to share not only equipment but also staff under the Shared Services Agreement.

He briefly reported on the recent tour and the positive comments received from attendees, particularly from Bill Rucker, General Manager of Vallecitos Water District, who was very appreciative of our time on the tour. Vallecitos is not very active in local resource management although it is getting more involved with recycled water efforts. It was a very good planning effort. We also made good progress with the Manager of the Chula Vista Nature Center. Staff had a subsequent meeting with them to coordinate some of the watershed messaging on protecting water quality and local water supplies. He read a thank-you note from Emily Cox who was one of the recipients of the scholarship four years ago.

10. DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS

Director Salas said that she saw a documentary at the Landmark last week called “Enron – the smartest guys in the room”. The traders at Enron were calling the power plants and saying “can you shut down the plant for a couple of hours – we need to drive up the price.” She said it was absolutely eye opening.

Director Beauchamp said he was in Los Angeles yesterday as an Operation Lifesaver presenter on railroad safety and highway rail crossing hazards.

Director Doud had a quote from Derrick Back, “If you think education is expensive – try ignorance.”

11. CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for one.

12. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, Chair Pocklington adjourned the meeting at 6:33 p.m., to the hour of 3:00 p.m. on June 10, 2005.