minutes

Regular Meeting

Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority

December 11, 2002

The Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority held a regular meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 2002, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. Chair Doud called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

· ROLL CALL

Directors Present: Beauchamp, Doud, Pocklington, Waters, Welsh, Wolniewicz and Wright.

Directors Absent: None.

Others Present: General Manager Sorensen, Operations Manager Bostad, Legal Counsel Peggy Strand, Treasurer Avery, and Board Secretary Farpón-Friedman. Staff members, Hank Gaus, Mary Ann Mann, Bill Olson, Paula Roberts, Mark Rogers, George Silva, Jim Smyth, and Tom Woodrum.

· PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Director Wright 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 no presentation.

· ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN, OR REORDERED IN THE AGENDA
There were none.

1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Wright made a motion, seconded by Director Waters, that the Board approve the minutes of November 13, 2002 and November 27, 2002. Director Wolniewicz abstained from approving the minutes of November 13, 2002 as he was absent and Director Pocklington abstained from approving the minutes of November 27, 2002 as he was absent. The motion carried.

2. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Wright made a motion, seconded by Director Waters, that the Board approve Warrants 86032 through 86275 including all voided checks. The motion carried.

3. FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE (Meeting of December 9, 2002)

ACTION ITEMS

A. Director Wolniewicz made a motion, seconded by Director Doud, that the Governing Board approve Alfred Smith’s request for a leak adjustment and that a credit of $167.94 be applied to his account after all leaks are repaired and verified by staff no later than December 13, 2002. The motion carried.

B. Director Wolniewicz made a motion, seconded by Director Wright, that the Governing Board award a contract to Enartec in the amount of $70,000 to proceed with the Operations and Maintenance Manual for the Robert A. Perdue Water Treatment Plant. The motion carried.

4. REPORT OF THE SOUTH BAY IRRIGATION DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE AND THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY REPRESENTATIVE TO THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY

Director Pocklington referred to two letters regarding the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) transfer, one from Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and the other from Maureen Stapleton. He commented that he only knows what he has read in the papers. Both letters were provided to members of the Board and staff.

Director Pocklington then reported on each of the following items of interest to Sweetwater Authority that would be discussed at tomorrow’s Board meeting, as follows:

· Public Affairs Committee – Award of an 18-month professional services agreement to Katz & Associates for $355,000 for the Communications and Public Outreach support services for the Regional Water Facilities Master Plan.

· Fiscal Policy Committee - Monthly treasury report. Their investments are averaging around 3.3 percent.
· Notice of Reduction in the Fiscal Year 2002-03 Capacity Reservation Charge.
· Annual report on net water sales revenues for Fiscal year ending June 30, 2002.
· Adopt the amended Annual Statement of Investment Policy and delegate authority to the Treasurer to invest San Diego County Water Authority funds for calendar year 2003.
· Status report on new water billing system implementation.

· Administrative and Legal Committee - New schedule for Board meetings next year.
· Resolution establishing the number of votes that representatives of each member agency are entitled to cast for Calendar year 2003.

· Water Policy Committee - Report from MWD delegates.
· Study of the use of Chlorine Dioxide for MWD’s Skinner.
· Report by legislative advocates Carpi & Clay.
· Report by Colorado River representatives.
· Election of new officers for next year.

A discussion regarding the Binational Pipeline followed.

Representative Robert Valderrama spoke and thanked Chair Doud and Director Pocklington and staff for the very informative tour of the Sweetwater Authority facilities. He then gave a report on the following issues that will be discussed tomorrow at the San Diego County Water Authority Board meeting:

· Engineering and Operations Committee – Accept previous Amendments and authorize the Eleventh Amendment to the professional services agreement with Parsons-Harza Team for $138,000 for the preparation of an Emergency Action Plan.
· Award a professional services agreement to M.J. Schiff & Associates, Inc. and DeC Consultants for $150,000 and $100,000 respectively, for as-needed corrosion engineering services for up to a three-year period.
· Regional Water Facilities Master Plan Update. He talked about the short and long-term goals that staff is considering.

· Planning and Environmental Committee – Award a professional service contract to Greystone Environmental Consultants, Inc. for a not-to-exceed amount of $998,314 to provide environmental support services for the Regional Water Facilities Master Plan.
· Execute an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board for a not-to-exceed amount of $100,000 for permitting and planning activities pertaining to potable, raw, and reclaimed water projects.
· Biennial Report on the Implementation of the Best Management Practices to the California Urban Water Conservation Council.

5. APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS’ ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

A. Council of Water Utilities Breakfast – December 17, 2002 – StoneRidge Country Club – 7:15 – 8:45 a.m. All Directors will attend this pre-approved meeting. No action was required by the Governing Board.

B. Urban Water Institute – Water Quality in the New Millenium – Basin Plans and Urban Runoff – January 30-31, 2003, Marriott Hotel, Newport Beach. All Directors will attend this pre-approved meeting. No action was required by the Governing Board.

C. Director Pocklington made a motion, seconded by Director Waters, that the Governing Board approve per diem for attendance of Chair Doud at the First Friday Breakfast, December 6, 2002. The motion carried.

Some Board members questioned the benefit of attending this kind of events. After a brief discussion, they agreed that attendance at the First Friday Breakfast would be approved on a case-by-case basis, depending on the program, which would also determine attendance by the Chair only or by the full Board.

6. REPORT OF TREASURER – WANDA AVERY

Ms. Avery said the Local Agency Investment Fund interest rate for the quarter was 2.37 percent.

7. MANAGEMENT REPORT

A. Report of Rainfall and Reservoir Levels – Operations Manager Bostad: Operations Manager Bostad reviewed the Water Resources Update. He stated that evaporation had exceeded runoff by 303 acre-feet. Rainfall at Sweetwater Reservoir year-to-date was 2.98 inches and at Loveland Reservoir was 2.30 inches. The system storage is low, with 20 percent of total capacity at Sweetwater Reservoir and 28 percent at Loveland Reservoir. The estimated demand for the fiscal year is 24,714 acre-feet at a cost of $8.7 million. It would cost $11.9 million if we had to buy that amount of water. Operations Manager Bostad reviewed the 18-month source of supply forecast.

He also referred to a recent main break on “J” Street and Melrose Avenue and asked Director of Distribution Olson to give a report to the Board . Director Wright complimented staff for the efficient way in which they dealt with this main break. Operations Manager Bostad also informed the Board that staff met with the Chula Vista City Manager in an effort to improve communications with the City of Chula Vista.

B. Report of General Manager Sorensen: General Manager Sorensen noted that when he started at Sweetwater Authority in 1977, the water system had over 200 main breaks per year. Presently we have less than 30 per year and he is confident that in the next 25 years we will be down to practically no breaks.

8. REPORT OF WATER AUTHORITY RECLAMATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE - DIRECTOR WOLNIEWICZ

Director Wolniewicz said he has been reporting for some time the inability to have a quorum at WARAC meetings. At the last meeting, they were going to vote to ban WARAC but they did not have a quorum to do it. They are going to present the issue to the CWA Board. He has suggested keeping WARAC as an Ad Hoc Committee where a quorum is not necessary to make recommendations. He thinks the financial assistance program under WARAC is important and has benefited Sweetwater Authority and many other agencies, and he would not want to see it disappear. He encouraged our representatives at the CWA Board to mirror his views on the subject.

9. REPORT OF CALFED/BAY-DELTA OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVE - DIRECTOR WRIGHT

Director Wright said that he has not been to a meeting recently. He commented that the Congress did not approve funds for CALFED, and they intend to take it back to the new Congress.

10. DIRECTORS’ COMMENTS

Director Pocklington referred to an article regarding insurance. United Services Automobile Association did a research on why the cost of insurance is going up. They say a few members of their association disproportionately affect their rates. While 99 percent of their homeowner insurance policyholders have fewer than three claims in three years, about 1 percent have up to 11 claims in that same time frame. The one percent pay $13 million in premiums annually but receive $140 million in claims. Likewise, 92 percent of their members diligently pay their premiums on time but 8 percent habitually choose not pay their bills until they receive a cancellation notice. In many instances, state law requires USAA to pay their claims even before receiving payment and before the policy is eventually cancelled. The actions of these two groups increase the cost of the homeowner policy by $75 per year. Consequently, to the extent allowed by state regulations, USAA chose not to renew the policy this year of about 1/3 of those members whose actions put the rest at risk. This will affect about 3/10th of one percent of their total membership. He was absolutely amazed that one percent of their members could make that much difference in the cost of insurance.

Director Beauchamp said that at the NWRA conference there was a display of material helpful in reducing transportation losses, one of which was an alcohol that has a hydrated line and covers the surface of the reservoir yet allows oxygen to get in for biological processes. He said this is something that he would hope staff would be able to look at. The promoters are looking at a U.S. sight to test the material and perhaps we could try it at Loveland first. He thinks this is something we should look into. Today at the Board of Supervisors they mentioned a place at Warner Springs that had 9 acre-feet and the loss from the lake was 14 acre-feet. He also mentioned a JPA for San Diego to dump their sewage and thought that with our interest in brine lines, it may be relevant for us to be involved with the JPA to use that line and sneak down the big pipe. He sees a series of demineralization and desalinization sites going up the coast in our area and that would be the way to get rid of our concentrate. He suggested it would good to watch the JPA as it moves along, with Michael Cowett’s involvement. Director Beauchamp also made a comment regarding the Glacier Water situation. He thinks people need to know how much this water is costing them. He suggested some type of 60 Minutes expose showing the filter system and showing that Sweetwater water is better.

Director Wolniewicz said that he had attended the NWRA conference and had a chance to meet with the Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner. He asked Operations Manager Bostad to comment on it. Operations Manager Bostad said that we were one of the 33 agencies that met with John Keyes, the Commissioner of the Bureau who reports to the Secretary of the Interior. He is responsible for the Colorado River operations, the dam, the Columbia River operations and every other dam in the West, and he is a very interesting gentleman. They were able to thank him for the approximately $6.1 million that we received from the Bureau of Reclamation for the capital support of building the URDS II and the Demineralization facility which is 25 percent of the capital cost. He appreciated the fact that the projects are in operation. They expressed Sweetwater Authority’s interest in seawater desalination, which we think is an important role for the Bureau of Reclamation in the future. Instead of building dams they can use the ocean as a reservoir and start building seawater desalination plants. Director Wolniewicz added that this was a very good conference, better than 95 percent of those he has attended, and something actually came out of it.

Director Wright said he had distributed his trip report on that same subject. He stated this could generate more money as they get into more research on desalination. His tip to us was to watch Long Beach who may come up with the best plan. He said that Bob Johnson was part of a panel at the conference until he had to rush back to IID and try to put out some fires. They sat with one of the Orange County Directors at the banquet who volunteered that perhaps Steve Hall and ACWA were going to pull out of NWRA but Steve was taking an active part at the leadership conference on Friday. On a personal note, he attended this afternoon a service for Chuck Smith who was a close friend. He was commissioned with Chuck in Newport in 1955 and later he served with him in Coronado. Chuck was 82 years old and very active in the community. There were over 450 people at the church.

Director Waters said he had been busy answering a few hundred letters and also working on his front yard for Christmas. In the next couple of months he will be just enjoying himself and after that he might be doing something else. He turned in his badge a week or so in advance so that it could be mounted and it looks very good.

11. CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for one.

12. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, Chair Doud adjourned the meeting at 7:05 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m. on December 23, 2002.