minutes

South Bay Irrigation District

February 16, 2004

The Board of Directors of South Bay Irrigation District held a regular meeting on Monday, February 16, 2004, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. Vice President Reynolds called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

· ROLL CALL

Directors Present: Alkire, Doud, Pocklington and Reynolds.

Directors Absent: Welsh.

Others Present: General Manager Bostad, Operations Manager Rogers, Legal Counsel Strand, and Board Secretary Farpón-Friedman. Sweetwater Authority staff Sandra Lozano, Sue Mosburg, Mark Molsberry, Joe Perez, Rita Schoonderwoerd, and Tom Woodrum, and Sweetwater Authority Director Beauchamp.

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

· OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT (Government Code Section (54954.3)
There was no comment from the public.

· PRESIDENT'S PRESENTATION
There was no presentation.

ACTION AGENDA

1. PRESENTATION BY TOM WOODRUM, JOE PEREZ, SUE MOSBURG, AND MARK MOLSBERRY
Sweetwater Authority Emergency Response Plan

General Manager Bostad introduced the SST team (Safety Security and Training) that operates under Tom Woodrum's leadership. Mr. Woodrum introduced the members of the team, Joe Perez, Sue Mosburg, and Mark Molsberry. He explained in detail how the team was formed and provided background information on each of its members: Sue Mosburg for Training, Mark Molsberry for Safety, and Joe Perez for Security. He said that Sue had worked for the City of San Diego Water Department for several years; Mark Molsberry had been with Sweetwater Authority since 1987, and Joe Perez had a 30-year career in the Secret Service.

Joe Perez started the presentation and said that in July of 1996, President Clinton created a Commission with tasks to formulate a comprehensive national strategy. As a result, in 1998 President Clinton signed the Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-63, which identified potential vulnerabilities and critical infrastructures. The directive indicated that because of our military strength, future enemies, whether nations, groups or individuals, may seek to harm us in non-traditional ways including attacks within the United States.
Mr. Perez talked about the following tasks set out by the directive: Vulnerability Analyses, Remedial Plan, Warning, Response Assistance, Reconstitution, Education and Awareness, Research and Development, Intelligence, and International Cooperation.

Eight lead agencies for the infrastructures were identified. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was selected as a lead agency for water supply. Because of 9/11, the plan was accelerated and EPA established a program to train the trainers. A number of agencies and engineering firms were set up throughout the country to train water agencies to coordinate with the implementation of the vulnerability assessments. The initial plan called for no later than 2000, and no later than five years from 1998 to protect critical infrastructures from potential terrorist acts. Sweetwater Authority's Emergency Response and Recovery Plan goals were designed to address organized response to emergency situations with emphasis on terrorism. One of the components of the Vulnerability Assessment was the review of our Emergency Response Plan with emphasis on potential terrorism attacks on the infrastructure. Also upgraded were the plans for natural emergencies such as earthquakes, floods, fires, etc., to allow for the process of recovery survivability and continuity of Sweetwater Authority.

The Vulnerability Assessment (VA) completion date was set for March 31, 2003, and Mr. Perez came on board in August of 2002 as project manager for the VA. The engineering firm of Metcalff and Eddy was hired to do the VA. A Risk Analysis was developed in conjunction with San Diego Labs and a copy of the plan was submitted to the EPA in February of 2003. The Emergency Plan Update and EPA recommendations had to be done within six months of the completion of the VA. The certifications were submitted to the EPA. One of the requirements of the plan is to exercise the plan annually.

Sue Mosburg said Sweetwater Authority had been doing emergency planning and emergency response activities for a long time before 9/11, but these activities have increased in the last couple of years. More comprehensive hazardous materials response training started in 1999. Some regulations regarding the standardized emergency management system for water agencies, fire, and policy departments came into play a few years prior. In 1999 Sweetwater started doing awareness level briefings companywide and chlorine release response team exercises at the Water Quality department. In 2000 and 2001, training was done on hazardous materials release and security.

In 2002 we focused in on evacuation drills. We also started looking at ways to use our resources across the company and how to integrate the training so that resources at one location would help the resources at another location. Staff was committed to do a full functional companywide drill by the end of 2003. The drill was scheduled for October 28th, and the firestorms happened on October 27th. By opening up the Emergency Operations Center on October 27th, staff had an opportunity to test some of the procedures and plans in place, and much was learned from this experience. As a consequence, when we did the full function drill in December, we had a better drill than we would have had in October.

Ms. Mosburg talked about staff participation in training since 2000. She said that training has been provided on emergency preparedness and response, hazardous materials response, security, evacuation, personal safety awareness, risk and safety management plan, and bomb threats. Staff committed a total of 1,700 hours to providing training over the course of the last four years. Only nine of our newest employees have not received targeted training. The total hours of training received by employees for the last four years is over 20,000 hours. This is a great investment as it contributes to staff doing their jobs as effectively as they are.

The goal for the future is to incorporate the lessons that we have learned into our plans and procedures. We have been able to take some of our daily processes and procedures and develop them into our Emergency Response Plan. We are also looking at targeting training to some specific teams and functions. For example, giving our leaders in the Emergency Operations Center some real targeted training and looking at how other areas in our company might best respond to specific emergencies. We are also looking at increasing the frequency of the training events, as well as doing some unannounced drills.

Mr. Molsberry said that Sweetwater Authority's Emergency Response Plan dated from the early 1980's, and it was contained in the old "red binder." This plan emphasized natural disasters, dam failures, contaminated water, etc., and how the company would react to those types of scenarios. The team did not start all over in reinventing the wheel, they used the old "red binder" with and emphasis on terrorist attacks. They also had to work with OSHA's regulations that came along in 1994, which was basically a processing management program for training and it emphasized on-site chlorine facilities greater than 2,000 lbs. Sweetwater Authority has the capability to have 36,000 lbs of chlorine on site.

The Process Safety Management (PSM) is for internal safety of employees and process equipment. If there were a leak, staff would be able to respond to it quickly and mitigate any problems. The PSM trains the Hazmat team to respond quickly to an ammonia or chlorine spill, for example. In the past, there were problems with the response of the fire department in Spring Valley. They would respond and wait about two miles away for County Hazardous Materials to show up, which would take a few hours. During the response period, we could not produce a safe water product and would have to shut down the facility. The more chlorine that was released, the more damage to our equipment and the longer it would take to get back on line. In order to respond to the processing demands, we developed an in-house Hazmat team, which is centralized in the Water Quality Department. The PSM also requires us to update and upgrade maintenance on our chemical systems and processes to avoid the possibility of having a piece of equipment fail and cause a leak.

Mr. Molsberry then talked about the Risk Management Plan (RMP), the other half of the Safety Management process, which was required by an EPA regulation. Sweetwater staff had to look at off-site consequences and how to improve our process to mitigate them. We had an orientation open house for the first time in 1999 to show our constituents the chlorine process, our maintenance records, and what our response team would do to stop a hazardous material leak. The information about PSM, RMP, and VA was sent to the EPA which put it out on the Internet. After 9/11, it became a terrorist vulnerability situation and this information was pulled off the Internet.

Mr. Molsberry described how our internal response programs have contributed to the Fire Department's confidence in our response team. He also talked about the importance of communication between organizations and how we have been working with other water agencies. For instance, Sweetwater Authority staff recently held joint training with Otay Water District for our Chlorine Dioxide pilot plant. It worked out really well and we learned from each other. During the recent firestorms, Sweetwater sent water trucks and a generator to Padre Dam Municipal Water District. We were also able to have a member of our staff present at the City of Chula Vista's Emergency Operations Center, so we knew first hand where the fire was heading.

Mr. Woodrum stated that much of the planning and training that we do at Sweetwater Authority is equally applicable to a chlorine leak, an earthquake, a firestorm, etc. The impetus of 9/11 accelerated our progress and contributed to us being better prepared than we were before. Emergency planning is not a one-shot event and we have to incorporate the culture of safety and security into our daily activities. Thomas Jefferson said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Mr. Toowdrum said he would apologize to Mr. Jefferson by paraphrasing and would add that the price of safety and security is continual training, communication, maintenance, and improvements.

Vice President Reynolds thanked the speakers for their presentation.

2. ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN OR REORDERED TO THE AGENDA
(Government Code Section 54956.5)

There were none.

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Pocklington made a motion, seconded by Director Doud, that the Board approve the minutes of the regular meeting of January 19, 2004. The motion carried.

4. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that warrant numbers 10084 through 10093 be approved. The motion carried.
5. APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS' ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS & FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

A. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve per diem for Director Pocklington's attendance at the Joint Meeting with CWA regarding Voting Structure on January 26, 2004. The motion carried.

B. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve per diem for Director Pocklington's attendance at the Joint Meeting with CWA regarding Voting Structure on February 9, 2004. The motion carried.

C. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the request for approval of per diem for Director Pocklington's meeting with Senator Ducheny on February 12, 2004 be added to the next South Bay Irrigation Board meeting agenda. The motion carried.

6. REPORT OF TREASURER

Ms. Avery reported there were no changes in interest rates.

7. REPORT OF LAFCO SPECIAL DISTRICTS REGULAR MEMBER

Director Pocklington said the meeting that they had this past month dealt with the Southern San Diego County Municipal Service Review. The review is contained in a booklet that he handed to the Board Secretary for review by Board members. He said that rather than going into a lot of detail, he talked to General Manager Bostad and they agreed to invite Shirley Anderson from LAFCO to give the Board a presentation on the final conclusions. There were 80 or 90 different determinations, some of which dealt with Sweetwater Authority, and he suggested that after Ms. Anderson gives her presentation to the Board, Sweetwater Authority send a letter responding to some of her comments. He noted that there would be a review every five years. The situation with Otay Water District could possibly get further attention either through the grand jury or the attorney general or perhaps even the financial or political forum in Sacramento.

8. REPORT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY REPRESENTATIVE

Director Pocklington reported that the Economic Study Group for the North County agencies had met with a couple of the members of the CWA and made some decisions apparently with the blessings of the Mayor of San Diego. A number of agencies were upset because they felt like they were left out of the loop. At their meeting this past Thursday, they determined it is not going to be grouped by north, south, east, or west but it will be county wide. They agreed that they would not send the issue back to the Assembly or Senate in six years instead of five. This will be on the agenda for the February 26th meeting.
He also reported on a meeting he had attended in Tecate last Friday with the Binational Pipeline Committee to meet with the state officials. They are aware that the binational pipeline is a dead issue and that we have made the decision to go with desalination. They want to build another smaller pipeline parallel to the one that they have and they hope to have it built by 2006. This will take care of their water needs up to 2010. A gas company offered to build another pipeline along their gas lines to take care of their needs up to the year 2036. They would achieve this by having the federal government pay 50 percent of it and private participation for the other 50 percent. Other facts that he learned at the meeting are that the water company there has about 260,000 customers and 260 employees. Seventy percent of the income comes from other government agencies and businesses, and the other 30 percent is from residential users. Their delinquent rate is about 25 percent. The water system is probably the most modern part of the Mexican Government. They raised their water rates in the past two years seven percent per year plus three percent inflation. They get 1.5 million acre-feet of water from the Colorado River. They only use 40 gallons per day per person. We use 170 gallons on average. They are considering desalination to a small degree, perhaps 10 or 20 million gallons per day. If everything comes together, they could have desalination as early as 2005.

9. DIRECTORS' COMMENTS

Director Pocklington said that he had been appointed to the Desalination Committee and they would have a meeting tomorrow. He asked Ken Weinberg about the $250 an acre-foot and Ken said it was not really their decision to make but MWD'S. CWA needs to answer Carlsbad's letter to that effect. He is sure they will discuss that tomorrow, and he will certainly bring it up.

10. CLOSED SESSION

There was none.

11. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, Vice President Reynolds adjourned the meeting at 4:40 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m., on March 15, 2004.