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The Board of Directors of Brooktrails Township Community Services District met in regular session March 28, 2006 at 7:00 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 7:03 p.m.
REPORT ON CLOSED SESSION
None.
C. ADDITIONS/ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None.
D. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1. February 28, 2006. Director Orth moved to approve the minutes as presented; Director Ziady seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
March 11, 2006. Director Orth moved to approve the minutes as presented; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
March 14, 2006. Director Orth moved to approve the minutes as presented; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
2. Terry Krieg - Audit, June 30, 2005. Mr. Krieg reviewed the audit for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2005. He noted the Fire Fund deficit of $102,073 was due primarily to fire truck and other equipment purchases and higher operating costs, and commented that the increased fire tax revenues due in the future should help. A very significant component in the Wastewater Enterprise Fund was that when the District started FY 2005, the District was carrying a liability to Willits of some $272,000.00 or more based on the best available information at that time. Negotiations were underway as to what the District's fair share was of capital and operating expenses for the Willits plant. This issue was resolved and the District ended up with a prepayment of about $23,000.00. On the revenue side, the property tax revenues were $116,000.00 less than budgeted due to the State's ERAF tax takings.
Several comments were then made by Directors. Director Orth asked how we compared to other districts he has audited. Mr. Krieg said the other districts with government funds are in a more urban environment and their property tax revenues are very substantial, and therefore are probably in a better financial position. In terms of enterprise operations the District is probably very comparable to other districts. President Skezas asked about the golf contract. Mr. Krieg felt that the District should revise the contract in the future to provide for profit-sharing in the form of a franchise fee. This money could go into the General Fund.
Mr. Krieg then addressed the management letter. The first basic point was the delay in completion due to waiting for resolution as to the liability to Willits. The other comment was that the District should visit the issue of borrowing between funds and develop a formal repayment plan. Mr. Chapman said he would show the repayment plan later tonight; this proposed a transfer of $10,000.00 this year, but next year's transfer would ultimately send $50,000 into the Water department, $30,000 from Golf to Water and $20,000 from Fire. He said we could make some headway in a period of two or three years. The Board of Directors thanked Mr. Kreig for attending.
F. PUBLIC HEARING
None.
G. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Ginger Pohlson referred to the minutes of the planning meeting about the obligation of the District to provide water to undeveloped lots. She said that the District needs to address alternative ideas and asked at what point it would be better to not pursue water for every lot and pursue our buying lots program and merging lots to a suitable number for resale with the water that we have available. She said the Specific Plan says that degradation begins at 3,500 homes, and we have 4,000 as a goal in the Plan. She asked if we could do a redevelopment bond cheaper.
H. CONSENT CALENDAR
3. Review of Accounts Payable report and authorization to issue checks. Director Orth moved to approve payment of the accounts; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Director Orth asked on the USGS metering payment for $7,100.00 whether that was annual or quarterly; Mr. Chapman said it is quarterly. Joanne Cavallari said this is not a quarter, but a third of a year or a bit more due to delays within USGS in billing.
4. Authorization to issue checks, Clearwell project. Director Orth moved to approve payment of the checks; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
I. ACTION AGENDA
5. Management discussion of Terry Krieg audit for June 30, 2005. General Manager Chapman reviewed the different fund accounts by means of transparencies. Regarding the water department loan, he said $10,000.00 would be transferred this year; another $50,000.00 into the water fund next year. He said a very positive point was that we were turning customer rates into assets, and slowly improving the general water system. Of the "cash in bank" about $1.1 million was in the Sewer department. He said he remained very optimistic that the General Fund would heal after the State stopped taking $233,000 in the ERAF shift. He thanked Joanne Cavallari for her good work regarding the books in general. He asked the Board to receive and file the Krieg audit for P/E June 30, 2005. Director Orth so moved; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
6. Consideration of a resolution approving Budget Adjustments and Closure of the Golf Enterprise Fund. General Manager Chapman said this action was to adjust the current FY 2005-06 budget by closing the Golf Enterprise Fund. This was necessary for preparation of the new budget. Director Orth moved to approve Resolution 2006-7; Director Horrick seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
7. Consideration of a resolution adopting a Fixed Asset Capitalization Policy. General Manager Chapman said this responded to a recommendation in the management letter from the last audit. Changes to the policy were highlighted in bold print in the draft resolution. Director Orth moved to approve Resolution 2006-8; Director Horrick seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
8. Discussion of MCAQMD (Air Quality) standards on wood stoves. Chris Brown of Mendocino County Air Quality presented the basics of the proposed regulations to address PM10 emission standards and future growth. The State says this is caused locally by wood stoves and outdoor burning; the levels are highest in November due to air and weather conditions. The plan is to limit wood stoves in densely populated areas (defined as more than 1 house/acre). Any new wood-burning device must be EPA-certified if you're on a parcel of less than 2 acres. A question had been submitted by a Brooktrails resident saying that while he was on less than 2 acres, he adjoined 25 acres of greenbelt; Mr. Brown said this was a good question and he did not know how such a situation might be handled.
Director Orth asked whether the 2-acre provision was unique to this County and Mr. Brown said it was. Director Orth said he now has a wood pellet stove but still has the chimney from his old wood stove, and asked whether he would be able to go back to a wood stove if desired. Mr. Brown said he felt any approved device could be put in there if it were cleaner, although you cannot replace a gas-burning device with a wood stove. Director Orth asked why when buying a new EPA stove there was not a charge that could be used to replace an old stove polluting elsewhere. Mr. Brown said they did look at that idea; the biggest issue was equity because there wasn't enough money to replace everyone's stove. They considered charging a fee to have any wood stove which would be tiered based on the pollution level of the device. They did propose a fee level which the Board was unhappy with. Average fees elsewhere in the state for an EPA certified device would be $375.00 added on at purchase, as he recalled; fireplaces were two to three times that while pellet stoves were half that. Air Quality would then be in a position of collecting taxes but they don't have enough staff to do this.
Director Ziady expressed grave concerns about the cost of electricity and propane and oil. She had no problem with banning future fireplaces, but saying you have to have 2 acres of land for a wood stove made her uncomfortable. She felt we can offer some incentives for old stoves and fireplaces, education. She said she could not see banning top of the line wood and pellet stoves when we have concerns about fuel for the future and all this land with wood. Mr. Brown said the cost of fuel, electricity and of solar installations is going to rise, but we can't solve the problem by everyone burning wood. Wood stoves do not have effective control; biomass facilities do. Director Ziady said she felt the 2-acre requirement was elitism and she would support high standards and banning fireplaces only.
District Counsel Neary noted that "transfer of ownership" was not defined in the regulations; for example, if a living trust were created, would that be a transfer of ownership? He felt a lot of interpretation questions would arise. Mr. Brown said that County Counsel had not yet reviewed the proposed regulations.
Director Williams said he took it that no wood-burning devices would be allowed in any house to be built in Brooktrails in the future, since he didn't think there was a 2-acre lot in Brooktrails. He asked how much difference there is between the PM10 from a pellet stove and a wood stove. Mr. Brown said the pellet stove is much better because the pellets have a bigger surface area with better combustion; he felt it was one-third or two-thirds cleaner. But pellet stoves cannot be tested by EPA methods, so they are classified as exempt, although EPA does say they are cleaner. They would be allowed on 2-acre and larger parcels.
Don Morris said the high density did not really exist currently in Brooktrails due to the green areas; Mr. Brown said in some areas, it is high density. Mr. Morris said this smacked of economic discrimination. He felt if anyone was banned from having wood stoves, everyone should be.
Wallace Stahle said this is being done under the mandate of clean air but ignores long-term fuel supply issues, as we are now at the oil production peak. He then read a prepared statement and said prohibiting these stoves in our area with its fire threat was a shortsighted response. He said there was a conflict of interest between the need for clean air and utilization of excess forest growth. He asked the Board to request Air Quality for an exemption or modification that would allow installation based on proximity to other homes, and allow a new home to install a wood stove if they do a one-to-one replacement for an existing stove. He said Air Quality should create modification zones. Responding to comments from Mr. Stahle, Mr. Brown said you're not going to solve the fuel situation by putting Jackson State Forest into a wood stove.
Bob Turner commented on obvious smoky conditions in Ukiah and in areas of Brooktrails but said the regulations were growth discrimination and flagrantly discriminate against people who cannot afford 5-acre parcels. Mr. Turner asked where the pressure was coming from to implement this program; Mr. Brown said the state. Mr. Turner said the State didn't have a 1- or 2-acre provision, did they, and Mr. Brown confirmed they did not. Mr. Turner asked if they expected real estate agents to enforce this rule; Mr. Brown said it would be enforced by the title company through seller disclosure.
Director Ziady proposed that the Board send a letter demanding that new installations be of EPA quality or pellet stoves but encouraging the BOS not to ban wood stoves, due to our concerns about fuel cost and supply.
President Skezas asked whether they had considered creating zones in the County for regulations. Mr. Brown said the Bay Area has done that. They wanted something consistent county-wide so Planning & Building could tell everyone the same thing due to their workload. Director Williams said he read recently that Los Angeles Air Quality had reversed their position on particulates because they have found a way to measure by area and source, and have discovered that their assumptions about this were wrong. He urged Air Quality to recognize the huge differences between areas.
An audience member named David Leverett, owner of Earth Lab (which sells wood stoves and EPA-certified wood stoves), gave a short presentation. He said some of the proposed regulations have good points. SB 656 has mandated these standards and there are a lot of suggestions local air districts can choose from on a website, arb.cab.gov/pm/pmmeasures; these include public awareness programs, curtailment plans, voluntary programs, mandatory restrictions, burn days (outdoor burning). However, he disagreed with the 2-acre minimum. He suggested people self-monitor for use of proper stoves, maintenance, using dry fuel and proper fuel. Change-out programs can be phased in. The proposed regulations do not define what happens to the old stoves after change-out. He felt it was important not to have a mandatory program of change-out at time of sale but this one did not define what happens to the old stoves. When his company replaces a stove, they suggest disabling the old one. He felt the county supervisors should form a committee along with air quality professionals and members of the stove industry.
Director Ziady moved that the District write to the Board of Supervisors supporting many aspects of the regulations such as recommending upgrades with sale, but not supporting the ban on EPA-standard wood stoves in Brooktrails. Director Orth seconded. He pointed out that there are areas in Brooktrails we could define as residential and there are many areas that are not. He said all this program does is reduce incoming growth from having an additional impact; it did nothing to improve the current situation. He would like to see a comment that Brooktrails feels a change-out program has the ability to reduce current levels, while just a refusal to allow under-2-acre parcels to put in a polluting source will only impact future growth and not reduce current pollutants. He said any program promulgated by Air Quality should actually provide cleaner air and not just prevent additional pollutants. He agreed with charging a fee on new wood stove construction to go back and reduce pollution, which has been proven in other communities. He said he would like to have the letter and the motion reflect this point.
Discussion followed about whether the proposed letter needed to come to the Board on April 11th or whether it could be drafted and sent by staff. Mr. Chapman said the Board President could review it.
Director Williams recommended the letter be as short as possible with an assurance that one or more directors will be present when Air Quality takes the issue up. He felt our Board has a responsibility to represent Brooktrails. The motion carried unanimously.
9. Greenbelt Stewardship Plan Draft revisions and review of sections: Introduction, Erosion & Sedimentation, Riparian Zones. Director Ziady confirmed that when these portions of the plan are brought to the Board, it was the intent that the Board was in fact approving these sections, their definitions, guidelines and projects, but that final projects would be brought to the Board for specific approval. She said the Fire Safe Council were currently looking at abating a demonstration site, and they were negotiating with CDF about opening up part of Ridge Road. Director Orth said part of the process was the potential EIR for the whole plan, but he thought that if the Board places a policy guiding activity under the plan, the appropriate CEQA checklist could be done prior to any specific elements of the plan. He said this would be similar to the Specific Plan, which did not have an EIR. District Counsel Neary said he didn't suggest an actual EIR, but a CEQA review determining if any categorical exemptions applied, or if a negative declaration were necessary, or if a mitigated declaration or EIR would be required. He said he doubted an EIR would be required. Director Orth said some projects might, and in the plan we could have a page saying that for specific projects we would follow the CEQA checklist procedure. He asked Counsel Neary if that would satisfy. Director Ziady stated the plan already says that any greenbelt projects would come to the Greenbelt Committee and to the Board. She suggested adding the suggested CEQA provision in the one section she is rewriting, which has not yet come to the Board for approval.
Director Ziady reviewed the sections being reviewed at this meeting. There would be no changes to the Introduction. In the Erosion & Sedimentation section, minor changes would be made on page 11 and 12. No changes were proposed for the Riparian Zones section. She anticipated that when the Core Zone section was presented there might be some discussion on that section. Director Ziady moved that these sections be accepted; Director Orth seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Director Williams then commented that we were not actually adopting the plan, or adopting it section by section, but merely adopting changes made by the committee to the plan that ultimately will be, in one way or another, adopted by the Board after we have gone through the education process ourselves. Director Ziady responded that actually we did already adopt the Fire section and that it has already been utilized in negotiations. Director Williams said it didn't look like the Board's motion actually did that, but only adopted the changes. After discussion, it was agreed that the directors would revisit the Fire section after addressing the sections on this meeting's agenda. Director Williams felt that two motions were needed: one to approve changes, and the other to approve a section. Director Ziady agreed with this reasoning.
Director Ziady first moved to accept the changes proposed to the sections being discussed tonight. Director Williams seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Director Ziady then moved that these sections be accepted as they are for future actions by the Board. Director Orth seconded. Director Ziady added the caveat that each individual project would come to the Board for final decision. Director Orth seconded this amendment. Mr. Stahle said from the audience that the 1.68 acres in the Fire Safe Council project is not for a demonstration site, although it could serve that function; the purpose is for thinning. Director Ziady said it is a demonstration of trust from the Fire Safe Council living up to the standards that the District requests and the Stewardship Plan guidelines we are recommending, so that when we go on to future work with them there is a faith developed in the community. She confirmed that the name of the Community Park Zones had been changed to Neighborhood Greenbelt Zones. The motion carried unanimously.
Director Williams asked if Fire was part of the motion just passed or not. Director Ziady said it was separate. She moved to accept the definitions of the zones and the changes to the Fire section. Comments were made that this motion was already made at the earlier meeting. Director Ziady said then that her motion was that we accept those sections as guidance for future proposed projects in the greenbelt, and that those projects would come before the Board for approval. Director Orth seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
10. A resolution extending Ordinance 130 (waiting list ordinance). Mr. Chapman said only one individual had brought in plans since the recent discussions on the waiting list procedure. He said he had recently talked to Bruce Burton of DHS and was expecting a letter soon, although he did not know what the ruling would be. Director Orth moved to approve Resolution 2006-9 extending the term of urgency Ordinance No. 130 by 90 days. Director Williams commented this was being done to continue the procedures we currently have in place, pending receipt of new procedures. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
11. Release of District Counsel opinion: Committee Members (Brown Act). General Manager Chapman said this was in response to Ginger Pohlson's request. Director Orth moved to release the opinion; Director Horrick seconded. Director Williams commented that he understood this to mean that as a member of a committee, Ms. Pohlson could talk to directors or committee members as long as she avoided cumulative consensus. District Counsel Neary said no, she had the same rules as the directors did when talking among themselves, but there was no restriction on her talking to a director or a majority of the directors. The motion carried unanimously.
J. ADDITIONS TO FUTURE AGENDAS
None.
K. SPECIAL REPORTS
Directors: Director Orth said he has joined the Green Mapping Committee for the City of Willits. Eventually this would include things like PM10 emissions sources. Director Ziady said the first abatement class was rained out. The next will be April 22nd and another class will probably be proposed for May.
District Counsel: None.
General Manager Chapman: Mr. Chapman commented on the multiple engineers conducting inspections at the dam site last week. At this time there was nothing to suggest any real problems with the rubber spillway project. He said he would return with a better cost estimate for the core samples at the next meeting; the current estimate of $35,000 will probably increase to around $50,000. Director Orth asked if it was normal for Dam Safety personnel to show up when a core drilling is done. General Manager Chapman said he was surprised by this. The best news was finding a borrow site (hillside adjacent water plant) for compactable dirt for both reservoirs. There was a possibility of putting in 2' flashboards on Lake Ada Rose. Mr. Chapman explained that the engineers have suggested we may be able to raise Ada Rose as well, by as much as 10 feet. We would not need to change the permit we have for this but would have to have engineering and anchoring done. Mark Vogel had been requested to complete his Lake Emily survey by May 15th to help expedite the CEQA process for the rubber spillway. Bruce Burton, DHS engineer, would also be conducting a $10,000 chlorine circulation test at the clear well within the next 30 days. After the Finance Committee meeting, Mr. Chapman said, he realized he could not construct the Ohl Grove restroom between April and May as he first thought, because it would affect the General Fund too dramatically. Despite our getting reimbursed from grant funds in the next fiscal year, it is important to get the General Fund back to the black this fiscal year [Note: aused by the ERAF shift]. He said at least the sewer trench would be dug in April, and restroom construction could begin in late October.
Mr. Chapman noted a request for a computer just made by the Fire Department that day. He said his spending authority was $1,000, but the Fire Department needed a $1,200 computer for the abatement program which will work with their handheld devices. Director Ziady said she thought Chief Schoeppner was going to apply to the Fire Safe Council. Wallace Stahle said as a member of the Fire Safe Council, he was resistant to the Fire Safe Council spending grant funds for this purpose instead of on-the-ground work and would rather see such an expense paid out of the Fire Department budget. President Skezas said the directors would give direction to the General Manager that he could purchase the computer and come back at the next meeting for retroactive approval of the purchase, as the matter was not on the agenda of this meeting.
L. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
M. ADJOURNMENT
Director Horrick moved to adjourn and President Skezas declared the meeting of March 28, 2006 closed at 9:46 p.m.
GEORGE C. SKEZAS
President
MICHAEL V. CHAPMAN
Secretary to the Board of Directors
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