MINUTES

1. July 26, 2005 -- Director Horrick moved to approve the minutes; Director Skezas seconded and the motion carried.

2. Review of Accounts Payable Report and authorization to issue checks. Director Skezas moved to approve payment of outstanding invoices; Director Horrick seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

3. Approval of Clearwell Project outstanding invoices $168,973.50. Director Pohlson moved to approve payment of the outstanding invoices for the period ending August 20. Director Skezas seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

4. Retroactive approval of check run of 8/10/05. Director Horrick moved to approve the check run; Director Skezas seconded and the motion carried unanimously.

Retroactive approval of check issued 8/3/05 for TTHM mailing postage. Director Skezas moved to approve payment of outstanding invoices; Director Horrick seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

5. Request by Mark and Patricia Duffy for extension of time to utilize water connection. General Manager Chapman gave a brief staff report, and Mr. Duffy took the podium. President Orth asked if it were correct that Mr. Duffy had already had building plans approved, and Mr. Duffy confirmed this. President Orth asked if he understood that the previous extension was predicated on getting the building permit; he further commented that the "drop dead" date was December 31, 2005. Mr. Duffy responded by saying they already closed on their construction loan and the building funds were available. President Orth said they did not require the building to be complete, but he would recommend that the Duffys have (1) approved plans, and (2) pay the connection charges by December 31, 2005, so as to be concurrent with all other extensions. Mr. Duffy said they would pay the connection fees as soon as the County gives them the go-ahead. Director Skezas moved to allow President Orth's suggested extension; Director Horrick seconded. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Duffy asked if he could get a letter and General Manager Chapman said he would issue one the next day.

6. Report by Fire Chief Schoeppner -- Evacuation Routes. Fire Chief Daryl Schoeppner announced that the plan was now complete. It was prepared with and approved by all the related agencies. He felt the plan was a good plan which can be adjusted as needed. Funding for the plan pamphlet and mailing was being provided by the District so it could be released without delay to the public. In March 2006 the Fire Safe Council will have some grant funds available to Brooktrails. At that time the plan will be readjusted if needed and mailed out again. The pamphlet will be mailed to residents of Brooktrails, Sylvandale and Spring Creek. Chief Schoeppner stressed that fire is extremely dynamic and the plan might be changed at the time of an emergency to respond to that. He pointed out that the pamphlet asks that residents park their cars on their property and not on the street - to allow emergency vehicle access. A local radio station, KUKI, will broadcast evacuation announcements; a Spanish-speaking channel would also be used. The Fire Department planned to discuss this with the public more at the pancake breakfast in October. Chief Schoeppner said a PDF file of the plan will be put on the District website.

In response to a question, Chief Schoeppner said people using Sherwood Road to evacuate should also practice an alternate route. He stressed that all evacuation routes other than Sherwood Road can cross private property, and people should respect this private property by not walking them or going through gates. The property owners have been very cooperative in allowing the fire officials to check the routes and use them in an emergency. President Orth commented that Sherwood Road also has a terminus at 101 in Laytonville. There are a couple of creek crossings, but a standard car should be able to cross them this time of year. Lt. Allman commented that Sherwood Road to Fort Bragg was not suitable for cars.

In a laudatory tone, Chief Tolbert of CDF thanked the Brooktrails Fire Department and the other agencies involved. He felt the plan was a valuable educational resource. Bob Houtz complimented the fire personnel of the community and expressed appreciation to them, prompting applause. Director Pohlson asked Chief Tolbert what would be the next logical step for having more assembly areas. Chief Tolbert commented that these required defensible space as big as the space outside the Community Center. Chief Schoeppner said the fire department was trying to identify some right now.

Some general discussion followed with some audience discussion about how to check out the sight of smoke in the District, and whether houses with disabled residents were identified. Chief Schoeppner responded that due to confidentiality issues and frequent changes, the District no longer maintains data on this. The discussion turned to the establishment of phone trees for disabled residents and neighborhoods getting together in advance to identify special needs residents. Director Ziady voiced how the greenbelt management plan was tied in to neighborhood cooperation, and that this meshes with the fire safety issue. Director Pohlson moved to approve the printing and distribution of the evacuation plan, not to exceed $2,500.00. Director Skezas seconded and the motion carried unanimously. President Orth and other directors thanked Chief Schoeppner and all the other agencies involved for their production of this plan.

7. Report by Fire Chief Schoeppner -- Hazard Abatement Program. Chief Schoeppner defined defensible space and its purpose in allowing the fire department to fight the fire. The District needed the ability to enforce what it was requiring for hazard abatement, and the conclusion was that the ordinances in place now were sufficient to allow the District to cite / lien someone for noncompliance or nonmitigation of a hazard. Chief Schoeppner said he would focus on enforcing specific significant hazards and hazardous wooded lots. For those situations, the Fire Department would come before the Board and request a lien on the property, so that an outside party could be hired to perform the mitigation (and allow the lien process to take place). In the future, and to avoid problems of the past, county records will be checked the day the lien is being placed to determine current ownership. President Orth pointed out that more time to comply is allowed in wet years than in dry and may be decreased in dry, drought years.

An audience member inquired about whether junk clearance is included in the program. Chief Schoeppner said that Ordinance 85 addressed the buildup of trash, rubbish, junk cars, etc., and that the District has the authority to enforce that. In another matter, General Manager Chapman clarified for Claudia Reed of the Willits News that the District would not be proceeding under PRC 4291, after having had consultation with District Counsel. Chief Schoeppner said the procedure will be to seek bids from local abatement companies and the Board will then look at the bids. Administrative costs will then be added to the lien. He stressed that the Fire Department works with lot owners and tries not to be too rigid. Director Pohlson said she felt it was very important to remind everybody every year that they were required to abate. Director Ziady asked, in lien situations, when the contractors were paid. General Manager Chapman said they are paid out of the General Fund, and under a state program called the Teeter Plan the District seeks reimbursement within 12 months. Then the county takes over the process and adds interest to the amount, and ultimately collects within 5 years upon lien sale. Director Ziady asked if the large landowners with several lots were complying. Chief Schoeppner said when they are in the field they do not know who owns the lots, but only that they are inspected and entered in the data base.

Capt. Jon Noyer gave the statistics on citations given and complied with in the past year. Grass lots were winding down, and he was now starting to address defensible space issues and specific complaints. President Orth thanked Chief Schoeppner and Jon Noyer for their presentations and the audience for attending.

A five-minute break was taken.

8. Consideration of resolutions establishing annual update of Investment/Indebtedness Policies. General Manager Chapman noted that these policies were reviewed each August. He pointed out that because of the Clearwell project currently being constructed, the LAIF cash reserve balance shown will diminish substantially during the coming year. President Orth commented on the District turning to a project-oriented district. Director Skezas moved to adopt Resolution 2005-19 updating the investment policy; Director Horrick seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:

AYES:	Directors:	Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES:	Directors:	None
ABSENT:	Directors:	None

Director Horrick moved to adopt Resolution 2005-20 updating the investment policy; Director Skezas seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:

AYES:	Directors:	Ziady, Horrick, Pohlson, Skezas, Orth
NOES:	Directors:	None
ABSENT:	Directors:	None

9. Approval of agenda for Sept. 17 community forum meeting. General Manager Chapman pointed out that the meeting will occur between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Presently listed on the agenda are a water capacity presentation by Richard Estabrook; an update on water projects in general by Mr. Chapman; the Recreation Committee report from Chair Ziady; the Specific Plan Committee report from Chair Dussault. President Orth said he would like to see the fire chief discuss the evacuation brochure; as the lead-in speaker. Director Skezas moved to approve the agenda as so modified; Director Ziady seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

10. Consideration of Sherwood Road quarry lot for deposit of biomass and dirt from Clearwell/Backwash Ponds project. General Manager Chapman commented that this lot was not only purchased for disposal purposes, but also for other possibilities, such as an off-site water storage area. However, in the current backwash project, a large amount of biomass was found which must be disposed of or stored. This peat-like substance may be saleable in the future, but for now, the problem is where to put it. The contractor is only obligated to dispose of the dirt, and the District is responsible for the bio-mass. (Contract negotiations only considered excavation and removal of actual dirt; the biomass is a different substance.) The solution proposed is to allow the contractor to deposit his excavated dirt in the crevasse on the Sherwood Road lot, and also take our biomass and deposit it separately in the crevasse. Financially, this should recoup much of the additional cost caused by the unanticipated amount of excavation and the discovery of the biomass material. President Orth asked about progress on acquiring the two lots adjacent to the north (presently owned by the County); General Manager Chapman responded that he and District Counsel were working on this. DOT apparently would like to be able to deposit their own dirt on these lots, and both County Counsel and District Counsel are preparing opinions. District Counsel said he felt the County's concerns about reversion of title could be assuaged by having a quit claim to the District from the Bank of California.

Discussion followed about the nature of the biomass. President Orth said he has approached David Drell of the Willits Environmental Center to look at it, and perhaps it could be donated to a project in Willits Valley; Director Ziady asked whether the dumping site was near the watercourse and was advised that it was not. President Orth noted that the biomass will be tested for organic ingredients. Director Skezas moved (1) to approve use of the Sherwood Road quarry site lot as a fill site; (2) to approve the sale and/or storage of the biomass from the backwash pond area; (3) to authorize the General Manager to begin the CEQA review and to deposit the dirt / biomass from the backwash ponds project in the quarry site lot crevasse as soon as practicable; (4) to authorize the General Manager to negotiate a financial arrangement with Richardson Engineering allowing them to deposit excavated dirt in the quarry site in return for hauling and depositing the District's biomass as well, and (5) to direct that the biomass be tested before being deposited. Director Pohlson seconded. Director Skezas noted that if both piles were at the bottom of the pit and the rains came, they will intermingle, so some barrier method must be devised. The motion carried unanimously.

11. Consideration of draft letter and agreement -- City of Willits. General Manager Chapman reviewed the fact that we have not received the Willits sewer audit for June 30, 2004. Via Board direction, a draft agreement had been prepared by Chris Neary proposing to use 26.32% as the basis for estimated payments until July 1, 2007. (The city had proposed that we wait until the new sewer plant is completed and an accurate denominator meter can be installed there for calculation of the actual percentage.) Counsel Neary said that while at the last meeting he had suggested the District would be responsible for an operational cost percentage of any new meter, he now believed it was possible that it might be considered a capital cost. Responding to questions from Director Pohlson, President Orth repeated the history of figures charged by Willits, and noted that the 44% charged last year was in fact not paid; the services of engineer George Rau had been used to check that charge and Mr. Rau determined that 23.62% was the better figure. Director Skezas moved to submit the draft agreement to the City of Willits; Director Ziady seconded and the motion carried unanimously.