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The Board of Directors of Brooktrails Township Community Services District met in regular session May 9, 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: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick and Skezas. Also present were General Manager Chapman and District Counsel Neary.
REPORT ON CLOSED SESSION
District Counsel Neary reported that the Board discussed one item of potential litigation, received advice from and gave direction to counsel, and voted to establish a reserve of $26,874 for future liability pertaining to a joint powers agreement with FASIS.
C. ADDITIONS/ADJUSTMENTS TO THE AGENDA
None.
D. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS
1. April 25, 2006. Director Orth moved to approve the minutes as presented; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
E. SPECIAL PRESENTATION
2. Roland Sanford, Director, Mendocino County Water Agency. General Manager Chapman thanked Mr. Sanford for appearing to give the Board an update on County water projects. Mr. Sanford first discussed the Dos Rios High Water project. He said his agency has not been asked formally to analyze it, but he felt the concept was a good one: to take high winter flows would minimize environmental impact. His real concern, however, was that the source was fairly remote and required a lot of pipeline infrastructure (up to $1 million per mile), and what he saw was a very expensive project for a locally small amount of water. Mr. Sanford said typically you're taking less than 10% of the total peak flow at any given time, and the local need originally envisioned by Redwood Valley Water District was for 30,000 - 40,000 acre-feet for permitting. This small amount gave a good chance of getting through the environmental and permitting process, but despite having the railroad right-of-way, the cost could total $15 - $30 million for the pipeline, and you still need a facility to pump the water uphill and a reservoir to store it. He also said that a hard look at actual county water needs shows a need for at most about 4,000 acre-feet including growth over the next 20 years. Per capita use is roughly .2 acre-feet/person/year (180 gallons per person per day per year) excluding commercial uses. [Footnote: Brooktrails Township CSD would correlate more to .1 acre-feet per person per day per year.]
Director Orth asked if Redwood Valley Water District would be the lead agency on the project. Mr. Sanford said he did not know; he knew that their water rights application had been cancelled due to inactivity. Director Orth said that the District was required to do extensive environmental review for its water rights application, and said the water in our watershed is the same water we would pump from Dos Rios, so why would we want to buy the energy, environmental, hardware and other costs involved in pumping it?
Responding to an audience member's question, Mr. Sanford said a lot of people forget that the large water projects they see were heavily subsidized by the federal government to make them affordable, as were state water projects. In the case of Dos Rios, it would take that kind of subsidy to bring the cost down, but we are in a climate where federal subsidies are much more difficult to get than previously.
John Pinches expressed his support for the Dos Rios project and his regret that it had become a political football for the past 10 years. He compared the needed pipeline to oil pipelines and said the only real source we have now is rainwater. As to the need for more storage, he suggested Lake Mendocino. He felt that the huge cost to renew the lapsed water permit now ($800,000.00) could be negotiated with the state.
Hal Wagenet, Third District Supervisor of Mendocino County, agreed that there was plenty of water there and that engineers could probably move it, but he felt the only area that could really use this water was Brooktrails. John Pinches asked why, then, would Redwood Valley have gone to the time and expense of their application on this project?
Director Orth said we fill our reservoirs with water, but neither we nor any other jurisdiction's reservoirs can pump water, and this project would require new water storage. He said in the water rights application you must show how you'll get the water to beneficial users. He said the cost was astronomically high compared to other types of projects, and the energy cost must be factored in but is a total unknown.
Mr. Sanford then addressed County water projects submitted by the North Coast Water Resources Integrated Management Plan that have survived the first round in the Prop. 50 project selection process. He confirmed that the types of projects Brooktrails needs — new storage and expanding existing storage — were not eligible for funding under Prop. 50, Chapter 8. The possible Brooktrails major culvert replacement project was too early in the planning stage to be included in the current grant proposal. There may be an opportunity in the second cycle of funding in about a year. The County's proposed projects were: $_ million for the Willits wastewater project, $_ million for Westport, roughly $1 million for Covelo's wastewater plant upgrade, and a sediment reduction project in the Navarro drainage for about $1 million. President Skezas thanked Mr. Sanford for his presentation.
F. PUBLIC HEARING.
None.
G. PUBLIC COMMENTS.
Bob Terry asked about phones being provided at the Community Center. General Manager Chapman said this matter had been thoroughly discussed six months ago, and because the District was paying $675.00 for a phone that no one really used, and the fact that most people have cell phones these days, it had been decided to remove the phone (with Board and BPOA approval). An audience member commented there was no cell phone service here. Another audience member commented there is a pay phone at the Golf Pro Shop. Mr. Chapman said the District was trying to negotiate a fair deal for BPOA, but was also trying to reduce its substantial costs for the building's maintenance. Director Orth suggested a sign be placed noting where the phone is (i.e., golf course).
H. CONSENT CALENDAR
3. Review of Accounts Payable report and authorization to issue checks. Director Orth moved to authorize payment of the accounts payable; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
4. Retroactive approval, postage checks. Director Orth moved to retroactively authorize payment of the postage checks for the newsletter; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously. Director Orth moved to retroactively authorize payment of the postage check for the rate and fees mailer; Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
5. Allocation of Clearwell construction costs. General Manager Chapman explained that at the last meeting the Board approved these costs in the same amount, but we needed a bookkeeping modification. Therefore a motion was needed to invalidate the action from the last meeting and validate the allocations as indicated on the new attachment A. Director Orth moved to authorize issuance of checks from the Construction Account as per revised Attachment A. Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
I. ACTION AGENDA
6. Transfer of Workers Compensation Coverage to SDRMA. General Manager Chapman stated that as of July 1 we would transfer our Workers Compensation program from FASIS to SDRMA, because we are trying to extricate ourselves from the FASIS special assessments. SDRMA is our primary carrier for other types of insurance. The bid presented is competitive.
Director Orth moved to adopt Resolution 2006-13 to authorize the form and execution of a Fifth Amended and Restated Joint Powers Agreement and authorize participation in the SDRMA Workers Compensation program. Director Ziady seconded. Director Williams said he was not familiar with this issue and would therefore abstain. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
ABSTAIN: Directors: Williams
Director Orth then moved to adopt Resolution 2006-14 authorizing application to the State of California Director of Industrial Relations for a certificate of consent to self-insure workers compensation liabilities. Director Ziady seconded. Director Williams asked whether we were self-insuring under the JPA. General Manager Chapman said yes, and said this is a very large pool of 300-plus districts in a self-insurance program. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
Director Orth then moved to authorize the General Manager to execute all documents relating to inception and continuance of the Workers Compensation coverage through SDRMA. Director Ziady seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
7. Proposed sale of Fire Engine 5280. General Manager Chapman said we had stripped this truck of some $40,000 worth of equipment to furnish the new fire truck purchased two years ago, and it also had a slight transmission problem. He said we would like to see it used by another fire department in the County. The request from the Fire Chief was that the truck be declared surplus, and as a piece of specialized equipment be placed for sale with professional fire associations rather than put out to bid to the general public. Director Orth so moved. Director Horrick seconded. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
8. Fire Safe Council proposal for thinning in small parcel of greenbelt. General Manager Chapman thanked Julie Rogers, who was present in the audience, for her work on the grant at hand. He reviewed that their scope of work included thinning on some 13 private parcels, thinning to Brooktrails standards on a 1.97-acre parcel of greenbelt in the same area (Iris), and thinning for fire truck access on the private, gated section of Ridge Road. Director Ziady said that the Greenbelt Committee voted to endorse the proposal.
Julie Rogers reviewed the project in more detail, noting that the greenbelt parcel in question is surrounded by private property. General Manager Chapman displayed a transparency map of the area involved. Director Ziady and Ms. Rogers clarified that the standards were not shaded fuel break standards, because this is a Border Zone area of greenbelt, and therefore is subject to BTCSD fire department standards. Ms. Rogers said there are no final plans on the Ridge Road proposal yet. She said the greenbelt area on the map is very steep and they may not do the whole area. The Fire Safe Council request was that the Board approve the Greenbelt Committee’s recommendation to allow treatment of that one greenbelt parcel to Brooktrails abatement standards. Ms. Rogers said most of the property owners around that parcel have agreed to do their own clearing at their own expense, except for the Ramming property.
Ms. Rogers then said that although the private property/greenbelt thinning was previously the priority, the Fire Safe Council is reassessing the project and may put more emphasis on opening up the Ridge Road closed areas now than on the clearing project. President Skezas asked for clarification. Ms. Rogers said they asked that the Board approve that that one greenbelt lot be treated to Brooktrails abatement standards. The private owners above that area will spend their own funds to do their own property, but the greenbelt parcel is in the middle. Ms. Rogers then reaffirmed that if the Ridge Road Project costs more, they might not do the clearing project. She said they will probably spend about $4,000 on the whole clearing project area, including the greenbelt, and the balance of their $16,000 apportionment on the Ridge Road area. They would like to do this before fire season. Director Ziady said slash will be treated according to the greenbelt plan, and not burned, and Ms. Rogers concurred. Claudia Reed said the Ramming property would be required to follow Brooktrails standards anyway, since it is within the District. Director Orth said it was treated similar to Spring Creek.
Director Ziady moved to approve the clearing of greenbelt parcel APN 096-311-11 to Brooktrails Fire Department standards under the supervision of BTCSD Fire Department, and direct that private property clearing within the District shall follow BTCSD procedures and standards. Director Orth seconded. The motion carried unanimously.
9. Review of proposed changes and approval of Implementation section of draft Greenbelt Stewardship Plan. Director Ziady said that if the Board chooses for legal reasons to call the plan a "vision statement," she understood that concern, but she would also like to see the term "guidelines" included in the statement. The Implementation section was reviewed by means of transparencies and Director Ziady said it was totally reworked because of the number of variables in time and resources. Also, she said, we already have a planning process with goals and objectives already in existence, and the rewrite reflects that and allows flexibility to accommodate future political realities and community goals. The process was entirely public, and if there were a very controversial subject, the public would attend the committee or board meetings to comment.
Director Orth asked District Counsel Neary if approval in this manner will satisfy the CEQA issue. Counsel Neary said the first step in the CEQA checklist is to determine if it is a project that will have an impact on the environment; if it is not, that would stop the process. Director Orth moved to approve the Implementation section with the proposed changes, and also that the overall plan be called the "Guidelines and Vision Statement" and that specific projects be given CEQA review as they are developed. Director Ziady seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
10. Specific Plan Committee. General Manager Chapman the committee was now down to four members, and various suggestions had been made for its disposition. Director Orth said it was his experience that the committee was revisiting elements of previously finalized sections of the Specific Plan. He felt quarterly meetings of the committee would be adequate up until the fifth year, when more work is necessary to make recommendations for the Specific Plan update. General Manager Chapman confirmed the County expected the updated plan back in 2009. Director Orth said at the first quarterly meeting they would resolve the initial goals and then come back to the Board for further direction. He felt the committee needed direction from two Board members as an ad hoc committee of the Board. President Skezas asked if there would be a meeting on May 18, 2006 and Director Orth said yes. The matter was to be returned to the Board for further review.
11. Lake Emily progress report (Hanson Engineering) / Berm at toe of dam / Modification of 1982 Water Rights Application. General Manager Chapman advised that six core drillings were required instead of the projected three, and this involved more lab costs as well. This increased the cost from a budgeted $35,000.00 to $54,000.00. Director Orth moved to approve $54,000.00 for the core drilling costs and the geotechnical report from Blackburn Consulting, to be split 50/50 between the water enterprise fund and water capital facility fund. Director Horrick seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
Mr. Chapman informed the Board of a potential design addition of a berm which will replace part of the existing gravel underneath the dam. Such gravel is no longer acceptable because of current earthquake safety standards. He then described the probable technique for this retrofit; costs could be as much as a half million dollars. He also informed the Board of the need to begin the water rights modification for the 15-foot project now, as Hanson Engineering said this could take five years with the state. Work would be coordinated among Janet Goldsmith (water attorney), counsel Chris Neary, and John Hanson, PE. The Specific Plan described a buildout of 4,000 SFRs. If we were to modify our permit down to 1,000 acre-feet, that will cover that buildout in accordance to the Specific Plan. District Counsel Neary said a decision made by the Board in the 1990s was to analyze the environmental impact of potential growth in Brooktrails, and some of the Hanson Engineering calculations will satisfy parts of this environmental review.
Mr. Chapman said the $29,000.00 approved so far with Hanson Engineering was for the feasibility study that was about completed, and that we were now entering the blueprint phase. We do not have a full figure yet but it could easily be $50,000.00-plus. The Division of Dams will charge us $25,000.00 just to review the blueprints.
12. Consideration of increase in Oscar Larson engineering fees for Clearwell Project. General Manager Chapman reviewed that we have an expected $12,000.00 cost overrun with Oscar Larson & Associates due to the delay in being able to paint the Clearwell tank (inclement weather earlier) and because of change orders on the backwash ponds (redwood stumps) and paving. Director Orth moved to approve an increase of $12,000.00 on the Oscar Larson contract, for a total engineering cost of $123,000.00. Director Ziady seconded and the motion carried unanimously.
13. Consideration of AES CEQA review contract – Rubber spillway project. General Manager Chapman researched diligently to find a qualified firm that had considerable dam and waterway environmental review experience: Mr. Chapman chose AES. AES, besides experience, has extensive contacts at the state level, which is very important for a project to complete its milestones. Their proposal and estimate were discussed. Preparation for the environmental review (including initial and biological studies, delineation of flood zone, and a mitigated negative declaration) was quoted at $46,750.00; permitting costs with the US Army Corps of Engineers and California Fish & Game were quoted at $19,160.00; an optional addendum of a biological and flood zone study only for Lake Ada Rose was quoted at $10,050.00. The total estimate is $75,960.00. The biological review would need to be done as soon as possible while the spring bloom season was in full. The goal is to finish the CEQA process by November.
District Counsel Neary advised the directors that District policy required obtaining requests for proposals for any services over $10,000.00, but there was an exception when highly specialized services were involved. He suggested that the Board include a finding acknowledging that this exception applied in its motion and the minutes. Director Orth said he would include the Lake Ada Rose option in his motion. General Manager Chapman clarified this was for a proposed 2' raise of Ada Rose. Director Orth then moved to approve an amount of $76,000.00 for an environmental review as described in the staff report, including District Counsel's suggested finding that it is determined that the services required were highly specialized, and that for that reason, requests for qualifications need not be solicited in this instance. Director Horrick seconded. Bob Terry asked if these people were considering reestablishing the trail along the southwest side or not. General Manager Chapman said this was the first time the trail issue had come up. He also voiced that we were going to have to thin the trees and brush along the shoreline.
Director Williams said he assumed the contract had been thoroughly reviewed by District Counsel, and Counsel Neary said yes. Roll call vote was as follows:
AYES: Directors: Williams, Ziady, Orth, Horrick, Skezas
NOES: Directors: None
ABSENT: Directors: None
J. ADDITIONS TO FUTURE AGENDAS
None.
K. SPECIAL REPORTS
From Directors: None.
From District Counsel: None
From General Manager: General Manager Chapman said that DHS had denied our request for nine additional service connections on April 28, 2006. Their primary reason was that they did not want to set a precedent. They also denied three other local individuals who had requested hardship exemptions. President Skezas noted that DHS acknowledged that we had gone from 780 capacity to 1090 capacity, which was progress. Turning to a different subject, Mr. Chapman said we would try to piggyback another paving job at the Ohl Grove paving project when we pave the water plant in the near future: the bid for the Ohl Redwood Park parking lot (4 spaces and entryway) was $15,900 (including the drain).
Director Orth said it was significant that Lake Emily would no longer be stocked with trout, because trout were predators of the young endangered salmon. He said he hoped Fish & Game would identify a non-contiguous lake where they could stock somewhere on public land because Lake Emily was probably the most popular fishing spot for stocked trout in the area, so removing this was a fairly significant impact to public recreation.
L. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Nai Kang Chang, one of those on the waiting list for whom the District had just been denied by DHS, asked more about the DHS denial of connections. Mr. Chapman briefly reviewed the process that the District had undertaken. In short, DHS did not want to allow any more connections until we brought up our reservoir capacity to 1,510. He said that DHS recognized that our capacity has currently improved to support 1,090 connections. Mr. Chapman said we have spent $1.5 million in the past two years on capital related projects, and that we are moving forward on the four projects lined up for the next five years. Mr. Chang asked whether people in DHS were accountable to someone higher than themselves to overrule them. District Counsel Neary said the executive branch has the final word; if their findings were determined to be arbitrary and capricious, then there could be judicial review.
John Pinches asked whether the Board was going to take a position on the trout stocking and write a letter. Director Orth said we are working on that same lake to raise the water storage, and right now the storage was more important than the fish, and we have done a lot of expenditure to make Fish & Game happy with us. He said sending a letter of protest wouldn't go anywhere, and would not do us any good politically with CA Fish & Game, as we need their help with this whole process. Director Ziady and General Manager Chapman pointed out that the District will protest actions by County agencies, such as LAFCO and their recent budget.
M. ADJOURNMENT
Director Horrick moved to adjourn, and President Skezas declared the meeting of May 9, 2006 closed at 8:55 p.m.
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GEORGE SKEZAS, President Orth
ATTEST:
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MICHAEL V. CHAPMAN
Secretary to the Board of Directors
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