|
The Board of Directors of Brooktrails Township Community Services District met in regular session on July 25, 2006 at 7:01 p.m. at the Brooktrails Community Center.
A. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
B. ROLL CALL
Roll call showed the following directors present: Ziady, Orth, Horrick and Skezas. Also present were General Manager Chapman and District Counsel Neary. Director Williams arrived at 7:02 p.m.
REPORT ON CLOSED SESSION
None.
C. ADDITIONS/ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None.
D. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1. July 11, 2006. Director Orth referred to a comment by him at the July 11 meeting about resale of District water and suggested there be an agenda item on that in the future.
President Skezas noted that a date of June 27 in the minutes needed to be changed to July 11.
Director Orth moved to approve the minutes as amended; Director Ziady seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
None.
F. PUBLIC HEARING
None.
G. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
H. CONSENT CALENDAR
2. Review of Accounts Payable report and authorization to issue checks. Director Orth moved to approve payment of the July 11, 2006 outstanding invoice report; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
3. Advance authorization for check run August 9. Director Orth moved to authorize said check run, to be retroactively approved at the August meeting; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
4. Review of accounts payable on Clearwell project. Director Orth moved to approve payment of the July 11, 2006 outstanding invoice report; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
I. ACTION AGENDA
5. Solid Waste of Willits annual financial review (garbage franchise). Jerry Ward of Solid Waste of Willits was scheduled to make a presentation on this matter but had not arrived. Therefore, directors continued to the next agenda item. [Mr. Ward did not appear; directors returned to this agenda item at the end of the Action Agenda.] General Manager Chapman said he had reviewed the financial statements presented and was satisfied with their operations. He asked for questions. Director Orth was glad to see their Workers Comp premiums going down. Director Williams asked what percentage of Solid Waste of Willits' overall business was in Brooktrails. The percentage of truck hour allocations was found in the report, with Brooktrails having 11%. President Skezas noted that the tonnage in 2005 showed us having 700 tons of a total of 30,000 tons (3%). Director Orth said we have not received any complaints about the service and this was true year after year. President Skezas observed he was seeing a lot of containers lying on their sides after pickup. Mr. Chapman said he would pass this comment along. Director Orth moved to accept the financial statements from Solid Waste of Willits for 2005; Director Williams seconded; the motion carried unanimously.
6. Consideration of Gitlin Subdivision proposal. Dr. Gitlin was not present, but his architect, Richard Ruff, was. District Counsel Neary said he felt the discussion at the previous meeting had taken on the tone of a negotiation and he had therefore suggested that he draft a potential "will serve" letter. He said he saw a sequence of events where we would issue this potential "will serve" letter, Dr. Gitlin would take it to the County, followed by considering the approvals necessary for the project in phases as actually submitted to the County, along with environmental review considerations. He felt tonight's discussion should focus narrowly on the "will serve" letter. He said it was entirely appropriate for an applicant to phase a project and obtain approval in phases. To obtain approval of a Phase 2, for example, he said, all that would be required would be submission of a current statement of ability by the District to provide water and that allows them to record the map for a second or even a third phase. The procedure would allow us to have the entire project considered as one concept, but the approval as being phased according to our ability.
Director Orth felt we would need to identify what each lot in Brooktrails would potentially demand over time for our Prop. 218 election. He saw tonight's action as a way to get this process started and he supported the "will serve" letter presented.
President Skezas paraphrased the letter by saying we would continue to provide water and sewer services as we are currently providing today, and that any change to that would require further Board approval. Mr. Neary confirmed this interpretation was correct. President Skezas reiterated that we're not committed at this time to any additional water hookups, and that we're not necessarily agreeing to changing any of the existing properties as proposed. Mr. Neary said this was correct. President Skezas said he wanted to make sure Dr. Gitlin understood that we are not approving any improvements on the property but are reiterating that we are providing for 21 service connections plus the commercial line. He said if that were correct he would support the letter. District Counsel Neary said this was correct, and what we are committing to is what we are currently providing now; reconstruction would trigger a review of the utility ordinance and the District is proceeding with its plans to increase its water supply capacity.
Director Williams said he would caution Mr. Ruff and Dr. Gitlin that while he approved the "will serve" letter, its language should be strictly construed. He felt that all the directors agreed that nothing should be read into it and that we are basically agreeing to what the sewer/water use current levels are with respect to residential, and that we would expect to work with him and hopefully get a great project that's clearly going to come on line only as the District has a greater ability to provide water. He added that there was also a sewer issue.
Director Orth moved to approve the "will serve" letter draft. Director Ziady seconded.
Mr. Ruff took the podium and said he had had very little time to consult with Dr. Gitlin, who was out of town. He had had only one phone call with him, in which Dr. Gitlin made comments regarding historical use, existing use and proposed use, and what that would require as far as hookups, which Mr. Ruff had then conveyed to Mr. Neary. Mr. Ruff thought they were fine with this "will serve" letter as establishing this existing use formally; he said they do intend to make the application as Mr. Neary suggested, and to get in line for the services as they become available. He said he had been told by Dr. Gitlin to just appear and find out what the tone was with the Board, and to continue with their application. The motion carried unanimously. President Skezas referred to an opinion provided by District Counsel Neary and said he would concur with the General Manager's suggestion to defer consideration of any release of this opinion. Directors expressed concurrence.
7. Consideration of services of Wagner & Bonsignore Corp. for a watershed analysis (Elder Creek database) instead of previously-approved WAA. General Manager Chapman referred to Richard Estabrook's preliminary assessment of the Elder Creek stream flow data. Mr. Estabrook had recommended that a watershed analysis be performed using the Elder Creek database due to its similarity to our own watershed's size and environmental characteristics. He noted Mr. Estabrook was advising caution, however. Since the moratorium was imposed in 2003 we now have some limited data from the USGS station. The question before the Board was to start a peer review process; initial cost would be $4,000.00, and if more money were necessary they would come back to us.
Director Orth was in favor of a peer review. He thought the gauging station empirical data was of importance and that it could be beneficial to do this before proceeding to a future Prop. 218 election. He requested that Mr. Estabrook's work be passed to the peer consultants. Director Horrick felt it was important to let DHS know that we were going to do this. Mr. Chapman advised this would be part of his quarterly report to them. Director Ziady asked whether, if we came up with a difference of opinion, would be, would we challenge DHS? Mr. Chapman explained that this was a Board decision. Director Ziady thought the $4,000.00 was probably would not be enough, asked how much money you want to keep spending, and said she still felt this should have been done much earlier. Director Orth said he thought we wanted to get the data from a gauging station before we reconsidered. If we had no data, he said, we would have no study, but he thought all this information coming together makes it worthwhile.
Director Williams said it looked to him like the $4,000.00 would be used to determine, by peer review, whether or not there we are serious enough questions about the study on which the moratorium was based to go farther. If the answer to the peer review is "yes," and the idea to use Elder Creek as a comparison to Outlet Creek is fruitful, then the Board could decide where to take it from there. He said he felt it would be useful to do the peer review, because we just have to have more information before a Prop 218 election. Furthermore, he said, it is very clear that what we're working with now is a data set with no data, and a decision-making process which is based on virtually no information about Willits Creek, and using Outlet Creek, which it turns out may not have been a very good comparison. He said he was astounded at our good fortune in having Rich Estabrook as a water model resource. He said he would vote in favor, with the expectation that, if nothing else, it will make it clear as to where we ought to be going.
Director Orth moved to approve a peer review of the Herman 2003 water supply study with the firm Wagner & Bonsignore, not to exceed $4,000.00. Director Horrick seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
8. Consideration of resolution decreasing USDA loan principal from $200,000.00 to $149,000.00. General Manager Chapman said we had taken out two loans with USDA for the Clearwell project, one for $454,000.00 and the other for $200,000.00. Of the second loan we needed only $149,000.00. This was based on 40 years at 4.375%. Director Horrick moved to adopt the resolution; Director Orth seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
9. Consideration of new Tier 7 for high-end water use; if approved, begin Rates & Fees process by scheduling public hearings and approving costs for notice of hearings. General Manager Chapman referred to the discussion at the last meeting about some customers' extraordinary use of water (in excess of 30,989 gallons [per billing period], which is about 5.9 times the normal usage). He said that in a situation where a drought emergency is declared, and someone using 40,000 - 50,000 gallons/month suddenly has to adjust to 4,000 gallons per month, we want to send a signal to these customers now, rather than next year when it might be too late for them to adjust their usage. He noted that the cost for this tier at the last meeting had been suggested by some to be as high as $1.00/gallon. Director Orth said that since that meeting he had learned that water delivery did not cost as much as he then thought; he said he had just talked to someone who had 4,000 gallons of potable water delivered for $200.00. Mr. Chapman discussed the current trend in California for tier systems being implemented to send a conservation signal to users. He also commented that lawns typically consume about one-half of California residential water use.
President Skezas said he supported the Tier 7 proposal and the $.25 rate. Director Orth moved to set public hearings on a Tier 7 water rate of $.25/cubic foot for September 12, 2006 and September 26, 2006. Director Ziady seconded. Director Williams asked if having a Tier 7 was enough. Mr. Chapman noted that there were only a few users who would be affected by this tier. He said that we are not out to rebuke anybody, but he believed a reasonable person would probably say that 6, 8, 10 or 12 times normal water use was unreasonable. Director Williams asked if we should have a 7 and an 8 tier. Mr. Chapman said he would like to start out with 7; he wanted to see if this would get the message across. He also asked what the process was to declare this, and asked whether we had any commercial meters. Mr. Chapman said we have approximately five commercial meters. Director Williams asked how we would go about putting a cap on use, and would we first have to declare a drought? Mr. Chapman said yes. Director Williams asked District Counsel Neary where this law comes from. Mr. Neary said the only authority for that was in reaction to a declaration of emergency under Water Code Section 350, which empowers drought response ordinances. Director Williams further asked what the impact was of this kind of use (by a few) on the moratorium calculation that we have only enough water here in a drought year to serve 770. Mr. Chapman said high users were part of the average calculations, and therefore skewed the results to some degree. He further suggested that the three top users were consuming as much as 30 normal homes, and denying others the opportunity to build. Director Williams asked if this usage was year-round for these people. Mr. Chapman said that one such customer used 27,000 gallons in December, the equivalent of two very large swimming pools, and that was when we had massive amounts of rain coming down. Most people typically use 3,000 - 4,000 gallons in December.
Bob Whitney of Iris Terrace took the podium and said it seemed liked we are headed in the right direction but he didn't think it would solve the problem; he said he knew for a fact that not only are these people using high amounts of water, but they are converting rental houses to marijuana operations, which is really an agricultural use. He said word is getting out throughout the United States and overseas that in Mendocino County you can rent houses, convert them to growing operations and sell the pot. He said these growers would be able to afford the cost. He said Mr. Neary is correct that in an emergency we clearly have the authority to cap use. He said with 30 SFRs use you're faced with the possibility of a claim that the District has the responsibility to control excess use of water that is used for agricultural or other commercial uses. He said he knew the District has the authority to regulate water use and he felt that under a moratorium, the District had the obligation to do so.
Mr. Neary said he agreed with Bob and felt that in this context you probably could put on a restriction on commercial use. Director Williams said he felt this would not have an effect because it was not enough money, if in fact this excess water was being used to create income. Mr. Chapman said when Richard Estabrook appeared in May, the forecast was for a dry year but not a drought year. He decided to put out the courtesy letter to high water users, and was shocked when he saw the top five or six users in the database. This alarm was reaffirmed when the following month saw little change in their use. The letter asked them to look for problems; he said he was surprised by the lack of response. At that time we were talking about adding Tiers 5 and 6, and he then realized those weren't going to do anything for this volume of use.
President Skezas said we can cover an additional tier if needed during next year's budget process, which would take effect July 1. Director Orth said in the budget process we could look at a water emergency as an option. Mr. Chapman said this was to handle the usage of a handful of customers in a dry year; he did not want to put a panic out for 1,500 water users when 1,495 are mostly being reasonable, but the others just don't care. Director Orth said if it's not making an impact after a reasonable period of time, then we will take the next step. Bob Whitney asked for clarification o the tier system. Mr. Chapman said it's equal intervals of usage.
The motion carried unanimously. Director Orth moved to approve the required public notice and the associated costs of $390.00 and $137.92 for printing and mailing. Director Horrick seconded. Director Orth commented that our water permit allowed us to supply water for domestic use and residential landscaping, but other than that we have some agriculture use for District property (the golf course and parks). We are here, he said, to supply domestic water, not agricultural water, which is raw water, not treated for domestic use. The motion carried unanimously. Director Orth moved to approve in advance the cost of publishing legal notice in the Willits News; Director Williams seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
10. Consideration of resolution naming three trails. Director Ziady said we have three additions to our trail system, and she thanked the Wild Turkey Club and Mike Aplet as well. She said we have two volunteers who are not just with the Club but are also on the Recreation Committee, one of whom may have to take leave soon for personal reasons. She said she would like to name the proposed Horsetail Meadow Trail the Harden Trail in honor of Gloria Harden, and to name the Lake Ada Rose Trail the LeBrun Trail in honor of Lou LeBrun. She said the name "Jurassic Trail" is much loved by the Wild Turkey Club. She said they keep discovering trails that are overgrown as they hike through the woods and adding them to our trail map; they often do hand clearing and marking.
President Skezas proposed that the next trail we name be named for Dick Robie [Note: Later we found out that the District had a trail (with sign) in his name]. Director Orth moved to approve Resolution 2006-24 naming three previously unnamed trails with Lake Ada Rose Trail being changed to LeBrun Trail and Horsetail Meadow Trail be changed to Harden Trail, and Jurassic Trail to remain the same. Director Ziady seconded. It was clarified that the trail names would just be the person's last name. Discussion followed about the need to confirm the spelling of Gloria Harden's name. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
The directors returned to Item 5 and minutes are provided under that item heading above.
J. ADDITIONS TO FUTURE AGENDAS
Director Orth asked that the next meeting allow for approval of costs of less than $400.00 for him to attend an energy conference.
K. SPECIAL REPORTS
From Directors: None.
From District Counsel: Mr. Neary said he had received a letter from FDAC-FASIS acknowledging that we had withdrawn from membership as of July 1. Mr. Chapman said he needed to know their response to the question of a $26,000.00 final payment and he would discuss this with Mr. Neary.
From General Manager: General Manager Chapman said we were unsuccessful on Well No. 4. Director Ziady said that at some point we would stop this attempt at wells because so many are failing. President Skezas noted that this well was drilled on the water witcher's recommendation and was by far the driest of the wells. Director Orth said this is why so many residents along Sherwood Road have abandoned their right to have wells; he said last week in the 110-degree heat a spring-fed well disappeared, and this has never happened before to this user's spring. Mr. Chapman pointed out a map on the wall which is the aerial survey of Lake Ada Rose; without changing the road behind the reservoir, we could potentially raise the reservoir by 17 feet and double its size. He said he would propose to Hanson Engineering that we see if we can raise it another 10 feet or more; this would actually make it bigger than Lake Emily in its prime, but the question of angle of repose had to be explored. He said the primary thing at the next Board meeting would be a report from Jim Hanson for the amendment to the 1982 water rights application. We had an additional inspection of the Community Center by the Elections Office; apparently there were some issues in the bathrooms now which would cost us a lot more money. He pointed out that the meeting referenced in his report Item 8 actually would take place July 31. He had discussed water reserves with Rich Estabrook; right now we have 8 acre-feet above projection.
L. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
M. ADJOURNMENT
Director Orth moved to adjourn, and Vice-President Horrick declared the meeting of July 25, 2006 closed at 8:08 p.m.
__________________________________
GEORGE SKEZAS, President
ATTEST:
___________________________________
MICHAEL V. CHAPMAN
|
