CALL TO ORDER: The Board of Directors’ meeting of the Mid-Peninsula Water District was called to order by President Feldman at 6:30 p.m.
A. ROLL CALL:
PRESENT: Directors Altscher, Feldman Linvill, Vella, and Zucca.
ALSO PRESENT: General Manager Regan, General Counsel Cassman, Secretary Remeleh, and Engineer O’Flaherty.
STAFF PRESENT: Rick Bisio, Brent Chester and Jeanette Kalabolas.
MEMBERS OF PUBLIC:
Art Jensen General Manager and CEO of BAWSCA
PRESIDENT: Present Feldman presiding.
Whereupon the following proceedings were duly had:
B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Secretary Remeleh led the Pledge of Allegiance.
C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes of the Regular Board meeting of January 22, 2009, were unanimously approved on a motion by Vice President Vella and seconded by Director Zucca. President Feldman abstained.
D. PUBLIC COMMENTS:
None.
E. REPORT FROM BAWSCA GENERAL MANAGER, CEO ART JENSEN:
Art Jensen, the BAWSCA General Manager/CEO, gave a report on the current water supply situation and what it suggests in terms of rationing or not next year, the status of San Francisco’s Water System Improvement Program, and the connection it has to long term regional water supply planning and actions BAWSCA will be taking to address long term water supply planning issues. He also commented on the status of the negotiation of the new water supply agreement with San Francisco. He has guarded optimism on our current water situation. San Francisco has stated that the worst case would be a 20% mandatory reduction for next year. He presented graphs on the history of precipitation at the Hetch Hetchy reservoir and also this year’s precipitation. The recent storms have brought us near the median for this time of winter, but there is still a lot of uncertainty. San Francisco is giving reports that there is an 80% chance that the 10% voluntary conservation plan will continue, while there is a 20% chance that the reduction will be more than 10% and possibly mandatory. SFPUC should be making its determination on April 15, 2009, after they analyze the data from the April 1, 2009 snow survey.
San Francisco’s Water Improvement Program was created to rebuild a seismically unsafe system. He explained that if there was a major earthquake on the system there could be up to a 60 day water outage. This project will cost 4.4 billion dollars and is 15% complete in terms of cost. In terms of construction it is 5% complete and the remaining work is expected to be done between now and January of 2016. He explained that not all the cost would be passed on to the wholesale customers. Some of the work is scheduled on their own system in San Francisco and would have to be paid by San Francisco retail customers. About 2/3's of the work will be paid by the wholesale customers. On October 30, 2008 San Francisco Planning Commission certified the Program Environmental Impact Report for the project. Also on October 30, 2008, the SFPUC adopted the project with a phased WSIP. What this means is that the SFPUC changed one of the goals of the program that will change how much water will be provided to San Francisco and the wholesale customers by placing a limit on how much water they would sell from the Tuolumne and local water sheds until at least 2018. The agencies that are apart of BAWSCA will have to start planning for future programs to help their customers conserve water for the long term water situation.
Art Jensen gave an overview of the contract negotiations with the SFPUC for renewing the water supply agreements. He stated each agency has an appointed representative and Manager Regan is the District’s representative. He complimented Manager Regan on his straight forwardness and stated he works well with him. He also stated there would be a quarterly report out soon. The process is moving along well. Each agency will be receiving a summary of the agreement in March prepared by legal counsel. The SFPUC will act at the second meeting in April and after that each agency will need to consider and act on the agreement. There will be 2 agreements, one is the master agreement that has common elements for all the agencies and the other is an individual agreement with each agency.
Art Jensen answered a few questions from the Board. The Board thanked him for his time and presentation.
F. WATER CONSERVATION:
Secretary Remeleh reported that the District has met with the City of Belmont’s Parks and Recreation Department regarding the 2 new parks they are planning. One will be in the Davey Glen area and the other is on Semeria. Each park is very small in area. The City does plan on using drought resistant landscaping in these parks. Secretary Remeleh stated the next step with the City will be to review their overall water consumption and to work with them to find ways to reduce their water usage.
Director Altscher inquired about the staff's plan to inform the customers of the District’s current water supply status. Manager Regan explained there are ways that the District is planning to inform the customers of the current water supply status and staff will keep the Board informed as they are formulated.
Secretary Remeleh also reported that Earth Day is coming up and the City has asked us to participate in the Earth Day Fair.
Vice President Vella would like to spread the word to BAWSCA about the District’s water upon request program for restaurants.
Director Zucca asked about water conservation in the schools. Secretary Remeleh explained that there are meetings being planned to meet with the schools regarding conservation.
G. POTENTIAL DROUGHT MANAGEMENT ALTERNATIVE:
Director Zucca opened discussion on this item. He stated he would like to see the staff explore developing a program that would facilitate rate setting under drought conditions that would calibrate appropriate rate increases to the stages of cutbacks required and that would comply with the Prop 218 process. This could be a part of our water shortage contingency plan. Since the current Prop 218 process is an extensive one, revenue loss could become a problem if the District goes into mandatory water rationing. Counsel Cassman gave background on a new bill, AB3030, that was passed that relieves Prop 218 requirements in certain situations where rates are subject to automatic index increases.
Manager Regan stated that he will speak with Treasurer Ira concerning this issue. President Feldman asked if an ad hoc committee should be formed. Director Zucca stated at this point staff is going to be looking into this issue and Counsel Cassman will be checking on the legal boundaries. He would prefer to have this item remain on the agenda and have staff report back on their findings and recommendations. Director Altscher stated he felt time is of the essence and we should be moving on this item as quickly as possible. He also stated due to these issues the District needs to inform the customers that rate increases are a possibility. Vice President Vella stated he thought there should be a timeline in place on this issue. Manager Regan stated the Board will be receiving more at future Board meetings after information is gathered.
President Feldman directed staff to bring more information about this issue back to the Board at the next meeting.
H. EXBOURNE TANK PROJECT-RESOLUTION 2009-2 ACCEPTING AS COMPLETE AND AUTHORIZING A FILING OF NOTICE OF COMPLETION:
Manager Regan stated the District has not received the as-builts from the Contractor on this project and without them the District cannot file a Notice of Completion. General Manager requested this item be moved to the agenda of the next regular Board meeting.
I. CERTIFYING MPWD AS A GREEN BUSINESS:
Secretary Remeleh stated the District has been approved to apply for certification. She stated she has submitted the paperwork but has not heard back from the County at this point. After brief discussion, the Board decided to continue this item to the next meeting.
J. ANNUAL PLANNING DISCUSSION:
Director Altscher stated the Board had participated in a goals meeting on February 12, 2009, that he felt was successful. But due to an emergency the General Manager was unable to attend. He stated we left the goals portion of the meeting open so the General Manager could give his input. He stated the continuation of this meeting was to take place on February 19, 2009, but due to availability issues many of the Board Members would not be able to attend. The Board discussed the attendance of Vice President Vella by phone since he will be out of the County for this meeting. Counsel Cassman gave instruction on how this could take place. The Board set the date for March 18, 2009, at 6:00pm to continue the annual planning discussion.
K. DIRECTORS’ REPORT:
Director Linvill attended a program on January 10, 2009, that was held by the League of Women Voters of the Bay Area in Oakland regarding water. She gave an overview of The League of Women Voters and their mission. They held a meeting they called California’s New Gold, gold meaning water. They discussed the current water situation, climate conditions and the condition of the Delta. There was also discussion about environmental health and crop irrigation.
Vice President Vella attended the annual meeting of the Suburban Agency Group with Manager Regan. There was discussion about the Water System Improvement Program, operations and the upcoming rate increase by the SFPUC.
Director Altscher reported on his attendance at the HIA luncheon with Director Linvill and the General Manager on February 5, 2009. There was a speaker from the Tax Assessors Office. He also reported on the LAFCO meeting where the Municipal Service Reviews were discussed. Vice President Vella asked if there are any updates as to when the District’s Municipal Service Review would be taking place. Secretary Remeleh stated that so far we have not been contacted by LAFCo. Vice President Vella stated he wants to make sure the District has a successful review by preparing in advance for the District’s review.
President Feldman asked staff to provide a folder of customer letters, notes, etc., in anticipation of this review and to place this matter on the next Board meeting agenda.
L. MANAGER’S REPORT:
Manager Regan reported the abandonment of the 8” main on Ralston that ran from Notre Dame to Old County Rd is complete. The road will be grinded and overlaid.
The Exbourne Tank Project is coming along very well. He stated he had a meeting with Engineer Liu and most of the preliminary work is complete.
He also met with PAMF on the hospital project and stated the issues are being addressed. He stated a field meeting is set for next week.
Manager Regan also reported on the 6 emergency main line repairs in the past month. The Board had a few questions which the General Manager answered. On motion by Director Zucca and seconded by Director Vella, the Manager’s Report was unanimously approved.
M. FINANCIAL REPORT:
Director Linvill noted the main breaks have had a direct impact on the financials. General Manager Regan stated most of the cost is due to the increased cost of asphalt. Director Linvill also requested changes be made on the formatting of the financial statements so that the font is consistent. On a motion by Director Linvill and seconded by Vice President Vella, the Board unanimously approved the Financial Report.
N. FUTURE NEW BUSINESS ITEMS-SUGGESTIONS BY BOARD MEMBERS:
Potential Drought Management Alternatives, Exbourne Tank Project-Resolution 2009-2 Accepting as complete and Authorizing a Filing of Notice of Completion, Certifying MPWD as a Green Business.
O. COMMUNICATIONS:
The Board of Director’s received an e-mail from the City of Belmont regarding a joint meeting.
Director Altscher would like to push for an end of summer early fall meeting. He would also like staff to be prepared with an agenda for the meeting. President Feldman commented that he would like the City Manager to contact Manager Regan and come up with a joint agenda. He also agreed with Director Altscher’s suggestion of an end of summer early fall meeting. Director Zucca suggested developing an agenda with a series of goals and objectives for the meeting based upon conversations with staff. Vice President Vella would like to have the purpose of the meeting clearly defined ahead of time. Manager Regan would also like to know more about the purpose of this meeting. Director Linvill would also like to know what the topics will be for this meeting. Vice President Vella would like to make MPWD more recognized in the community and by doing this joint meeting it might be a step in the right direction. Director Linvill stated she agreed with the Directors and felt the nature of the meeting should be very clear and time sensitive. Manager Regan stated he would gather information from the City and get back to the Board.
Manager Regan presented the Board with a rates comparison chart for Board review and comment.
Rick Bisio stated his desire to address the Board at the next meeting.
P. ADJOURNMENT:
President Feldman adjourned the meeting at 9:30 p.m. The next regular meeting of the MPWD Board is scheduled for Wednesday March 26, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. in the District’s administrative offices at 3 Dairy Lane, Belmont CA 94002.
