minutes

Regular Meeting

Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority

October 27, 2004

The Governing Board of Sweetwater Authority held a regular meeting on Wednesday, October 27, 2004, at the Sweetwater Authority Administrative Office, 505 Garrett Avenue, Chula Vista, California. Chair Doud called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

· ROLL CALL

Directors Present: Alkire, Beauchamp, Doud, Pocklington, and Welsh.

Directors Absent: Inzunza.

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

· PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Director Welsh 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
Employee Service Awards

Operations Manager Rogers said that once a quarter we recognize those employees who have served the Authority in 5-year increments. The employees being recognized today were Bob Avery, Utility Leadworker, Janet Gonzalez, Engineering Secretary, and Ligia Hoffman, Customer Service Leadworker, for five years of service; Janette Horne, Customer Accounts Rep. III, and Michael McDonough, Senior Equipment Mechanic, for 10 years of service; and Marisa Farpón, Board Secretary/Administrative Aide, and Dina Yorba, Customer Service Manager, for 15 years of service.

The Chair called for a 10-minute recess. The meeting was called back to order at 3:45 p.m., with all members in attendance with the exception of Director Inzunza.

ACTION CALENDAR ITEMS

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 ITEMS TO BE ADDED, WITHDRAWN, OR REORDERED IN THE AGENDA

Chair Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the nomination of a new NWRA Delegate be added as Item 5.C. The motion carried.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Director Alkire made a motion, seconded by Director Beauchamp, that the Board approve the minutes of October 13, 2004. The motion carried.

3. APPROVAL OF DEMANDS AND WARRANTS

Director Pocklington made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve Warrants 96781 through 96998 including all voided checks. The motion carried.

4. FINANCE AND PERSONNEL COMMITTEE (Meeting of October 18, 2004)

A. Director Welsh made a motion, seconded by Director Pocklington, that the Governing Board approve the proposed five (5) percent wage increase for personnel in the Utility Worker series effective as of January 1, 2005. The motion carried.

B. Director Welsh made a motion, seconded by Director Pocklington, that the Governing Board approve the addition of a new rate class of CWA/MWD Surcharge that would reflect the changes in imported water costs. The Committee will further evaluate options prior to the Public Hearing that will be held in December for approval of the new rates. The motion carried.

5. NEW BUSINESS

A. Director Pocklington made a motion, seconded by Director Welsh, that the Governing Board approve rescheduling the Board Meeting of November 10, 2004 to November 17, 2004 due to conflict with the NWRA Conference and canceling the Board meeting of November 24th. The motion carried.

B. Director Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve voting for James Doud as President, Mark Muir as 1st Vice President and Trish Hannan as Secretary of the California Special Districts Association, San Diego Chapter. The motion carried.

C. Chair Doud made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board nominate James Doud as the new NWRA Delegate. The motion carried.

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

Robert Valderrama briefed the Board on issues that would be discussed at the CWA Board Meeting on October 28th. Under the Administrative and Legal Committee they will be discussing the Cooperative Interagency Resource Coalition, which was formed with a vision to encompass regional coalitions of city school districts, water districts, fire departments, sewer agencies and other special districts. The CWA will take the lead on this organization. Mr. Valderrama also reported on issues under Public Affairs and Planning and Environmental Committees. He noted that the Regional Seawater Desalination program would be discussed in closed session.

Director Pocklington reported on issues of interest to Sweetwater Authority that would be discussed by the CWA Board. Under the Fiscal Policy Committee they will take action on setting a public hearing on November 18th at 9:00 a.m., to raise capacity fees. The last time they raised these fees was in October 2000, and they are now considering raising the connection fee from $2,004 to $2,461. Under the Water Policy Committee they will discuss policy principals regarding the implementation of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program. He noted that there would be two closed sessions to discuss acquisition of real property in the Lake Hodges and the San Vicente Pipeline areas.

Director Pocklington briefly talked about the retirement of Mr. Gastelum from MWD as of December 31st.

7. APPROVAL OF DIRECTORS' ATTENDANCE AT MEETINGS AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

A. Joint Board Meeting of Helix Water District, Lakeside Water District, Otay Water District, Padre Dam Municipal Water District, Riverview Water District, Sweetwater Authority, and City of San Diego - Friday, November 5, 2004, at 10:00 a.m., at Helix Water District's Operations Center. Directors Alkire, Beauchamp, Doud, Pocklington and Welsh will attend this meeting.

B. Council of Water Utilities, San Diego County - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - 7:15 - 8:45 a.m. All Directors will be attending this pre-approved event. No action was required by the Governing Board.

C. Public Officials for Water and Environmental Reform - California Water Policy Conference at the Wilshire Grand Hotel, Los Angeles - November 18-19, 2004. Director Pocklington made a motion, seconded by Director Alkire, that the Governing Board approve per diem for directors who wish to attend this event. The motion carried.

D. ACWA 2004 Fall Pre-Conference Workship - "A Practical Look at the Principles & Practices of Good Governance - Palm Springs - November 30, 2004. None of the Directors will attend this pre-approved event.

8. REPORT OF TREASURER - WANDA AVERY

Ms. Avery reported that the interest rates of the Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF) have climbed up to1.89 percent.

9. BUDGET REPORT - DIRECTOR OF FINANCE GAUS

Director of Finance Gaus reported that Water Sales were $171,000 more than we anticipated. Other Income is $30,000 over budget. The Interest Income is also higher than we had expected by $42,000. The Operating Expenses were $236,000 more than we had budgeted. The cash flow after three months into the budget year is $2.6 million, which is also what we had anticipated. As for the Capital Projects, we have spent 15 percent, which is what we had expected. The overall picture is that we are ahead of what we anticipated by about $8,000.

10. MANAGEMENT REPORT

A. Report of Operations Manager Rogers: Operations Manager Rogers reported that the total system storage is up to 32 percent in Sweetwater Reservoir and up to 30 percent in Loveland Reservoir. The average year-to-date rainfall is less than one inch, and we have received almost six inches at Sweetwater Reservoir. The average at Loveland Reservoir is also one inch, and we received almost seven inches. We received 1,473 acre-feet of runoff into Sweetwater Reservoir and about 500 acre-feet into Loveland Reservoir. The total is about four percent additional water going into our two reservoirs.

B. Report of General Manager Bostad: Mr. Bostad said that a meeting has been set with Commissioner Keys during the NWRA conference on Thursday, November 11th. At this meeting we will share some of our plans on Recycled Water Master Plan and Brine Disposal and maybe on our Intertie project. He referred to the Monthly Report of Activities included in the agenda package and offered to answer questions that the Board members might have.

11. DIRECTORS' COMMENTS

Director Welsh said that the countdown continues to Tuesday, and asked for strong thoughts.

Director Pocklington said that Patti Davis called him to talk about the Steele Canyon Golf Course. She asked him if the board would take another look at that issue because the meeting with the Supervisors to discuss it is on November 23rd. He found out that when this golf course was originally designed, they signed an agreement not to use groundwater. He would like to bring this issue back to the Board and see if it is reasonable that perhaps we could give some support to the people there and stick to the original agreement.

Director Beauchamp said that a couple of weeks ago he was at his apartment in Tijuana and went out front to see that they were ripping up the street to fix the water line. He went over and talked to a guy who seemed to be the supervisor, he gave him his card and they had a chat. Then he received an e-mail that they were interested in looking at our facility, and he sent it over to Hector Martinez who is trying to find out what they want, the attendees, etc. He said that these are not the people that will be involved in the desalination plan, that all goes to Mexicali and Mexico City. But if we have a local contact, we can get a feel for what is really going on in Tijuana and if they were to build a plant in Mexico, what would their loss rate be and would the demineralized water even get to us. He also commented that he gave a talk at the university in Northwestern Baja California on environmental issues. There is a group of students that want to come up, and he is waiting for them to come to him.

Director Alkire congratulated General Manager Bostad for making the list on the speakers that participants of the Water Education Foundation Southern California Tour especially liked.

Director Doud said that Patti Davis had called a press conference for 8:30 this morning, which he had attended. He gave her a copy of the letter that we sent to the county of San Diego stating our opposition to this groundwater pumping at the golf course. The television crew would not let her speak on camera, although she called the press conference, because she is running for assembly and they could not interview her without her opposition. Ms. Davis said that last weekend Channel 10 and Channel 8 interviewed Shirley Horton, and she was not there. She was really upset and said that she was going to protest.

12. CLOSED SESSION

There was no need for one.

13. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business before the Board, Chair Doud adjourned the meeting at 4:35 p.m., to the hour of 3:30 p.m. on November 17, 2004.