 Okay, it being now six o'clock I will call the Board of Directors meeting to order Leave we're all here. Yes. We're all here so Roll call shows everyone's here. We have two public hearings Item 2.1 is a request for variance Whose item is this? So that's my item Item 2.1 is a request for a variance from one of our customers Ms. Cherry Maurer at 3560 via Flores and Aptos Miss Maurer has been on vacation and was not at her property And she experienced an incident of high-water use where she used about 27 units in two days If you take a look at page 14 of the packet you can see a data log that shows when that water was used Miss Flores would like to request a variance from our leak adjustment policy which stipulates that That we can adjust a bill for in certain instances such as a service line leak a toilet leak or an irrigation leak It doesn't allow for an adjustment in instances of unexplained high usage. So our position of staff is that that would be a Grant of special privilege. So our recommendation is to deny but it's before you to take a look at this evening Do we get those kind of cases sometimes we get them quite frequently especially and in homes that are not occupied Okay, and you do as you're requesting and we typically deny them and we'll offer them a payment plan Right most times, but we don't offer an adjustment on the bill. Okay. Any questions? I Want I just have one is it could is it at all conceivable that it could have been a meter problem Typically when we see that type of consumption meters don't repair themselves So usually when we see that type of consumption, it's indicative of a fixture being turned on and then being turned off There's a lot of things that can contribute to that But spec it would just be speculation on my part to to try and figure out what it was We're not at the property Didn't we have something come up? about a Somebody had turned on somebody's Hose in the past we have had incidences where people have used External host spigots and not shut them off and and a passerby has noticed it running and shut it off Of we've had lots of incidences of some fairly bizarre reasons for water use It's difficult to determine what happened because I remember this coming up But I remember thinking that it would kill me to come home and find out that I had a thousand dollar bill and I Didn't really do anything or benefit from it It happened to me once well I had a three hundred dollar one. I just paid it but I paid mine But I think mine I personally think that we messed up on our sprinkler system and that's what happened But so I took responsibility for it, but I thought that there was a one-time We do offer an adjustment in situations where it can be proven that a leak was repaired And the reason I believe for that is because that way we can we have some assurance that it's not likely to recur again Right, but if it's vandalism or something else that you can't You don't you know, we're not at the property It's awfully hard for us to speculate as to how that water may have been used How many showers would you have to take to use that much water in two days? We've had incidences where of water theft We've had incidents of burst hoses and things left running and shut off It's it's very difficult for us to know since we're not at the property how that water may have been used All we know is it flowed through the meter Any other questions? Okay, I'll open the public hearing on this public hearing Anyone Mr. Dressis on this item? Hello. Good evening. I'm cherry mower and I'm the person who endured this horrific water bill and is trying to reconcile this situation as I indicated in my letter. That's in your packet I was away on a 15-day trip to Japan the same trip I had taken the prior year the prior year my water bill for the time I was gone was $45 My water bill typically averages 45 or 48 dollars and has for years. I Am the sole occupant of my house. I have been since 2010 when my son died No one had access to my property except my boyfriend who came by Twice to water my plants and if you look at the log which the district maintains You can see a tiny little spike when he watered my plants until the day before I returned Which was May 19th the day before I returned the 19th and the day I did return on the 20th Suddenly the spike is almost off the charts. I have been a resident of the district and a homeowner since 1988 that's 30 years. I have never had a water leak I have never had a bill in excess of normal consumption as a matter of fact. It's been below your average I am a very responsible person. I pay my bills on time I paid this bill when I was told I had to pay it or face extra charges And so I did pay the nine hundred dollar bill despite my opposition I would really like your reconsideration of my situation given the facts I've relayed more of which are in your packet and if you have any questions. I'd be glad to answer them I have one. So do you have any idea what could have happened because I I'd actually like to present that to staff I'd like to find out how that much water could be used in two days What would be the explanation Roy Sykes of your district came out to my property at my request After receipt of the bill to examine any possible potential Culprit he looked at the toilets. He looked at the faucets inside the house He looked at the exterior faucets he examined my bill history He looked at my bill history in the in the subsequent days and his conclusion what he was he couldn't figure it out What he posited was that in some instances there is water theft And it is definitely a problem near the beaches where surfers will go and try to hose off on people's property Or sometimes people who are homeless will try to access out exterior faucets My faucet is in my front yard and it is Visible from the property line, but again in 30 years. I have not had that particular problem Thank you Any questions or comments for me? We're mystified ourselves, but it seems like it was a water theft to me that someone stole water And Roy Sykes suggested that I get a faucet lock To apply to that exterior faucet which I will do after this hearing He also suggested when I take another trip and I take one a year that I turn off my water, which I will do Thank you. Thank you anyone else My name is Nina Beatty one of the traditional problems with AMR meters and AMI meters is over billing and If you check out the media reports in the newspapers across the country, you'll find these are fairly universal problems The appears to be some sort of interference with the digital interface in the meter And if you look up Cal California American Water Company in Monterey County, I live in Monterey And the news media has been full of reports. We had a twenty four thousand dollar bill over there And unfortunately it fell on an attorney who's very well equipped to do investigation people have had investigations people come in and look at their meters and Evaluate if there's leaks in their system looking for toilets running the whole thing and no leaks could be found And this has been mystifying to everyone people have could talk to the media about feeling like they're drowning in their water bill And odd things happen such as a bill being up one month and then being back to normal the next month This is known in the industry well known in the industry that their meters are causing this and yet There hasn't been an investigation by the appropriate boards to say Something needs to change analog meters didn't do this, you know, there's water theft and leaks and that's it But with this sort of situation There's these false readings and Cal M even had the temerity to go up to the CPUC and say we want to be a reimbursed by the rate payers for these Credits that we're giving even though there was no actual water that had been used by the customer So I would ask you to examine the meters that you're using and and look into this problem because it's well known by the Industry and it's well known by those who've been studying this issue for quite a while. Thank you Okay, thank you anyone else Marilyn Garrett I want to support what Nina Beatty said. That's well Substantiated that may be the problem here. I'm in central water district and once I there was a leak and central water district has and what I didn't have a bill this Exorbitant extra over the top They have a one-time waiver or Policy where if there's a leak you it's waved and so that might be a possibility here And I suggest To avoid these kind of over billing. This is so ludicrous here We return to the our keep analog meters They don't have this problem and they don't emit radio frequency microwave radiation, which is also damaging It seems like this needs to be put aside that the this excessive unjust Unsubstantiated bill She miss mower presented all her records it that needs to be rescinded and dropped That that seems to be obvious to me, and I bet many members of the public. So thank you. Those are my comment. Thank you Anyone else? We're not going to read them. So I can hand them there We'll put it We'll listen to you, but we don't have times is or a moment listen at the same time. Yeah, so Hi, my name is Glenn Chase. I'm a university professor I'm an I teach environmental economics, and I'm an expert in environmental toxins I worked for the city of capitol in Santa Cruz years ago for the light brown apple moth Remember that they were gonna spray a pheromone. They never did the program and we to this date not have a single incident of damage from the light Brown apple moth even though it was incorrectly reported in the sentinel that we had Anyway, I work around the country and even in other countries have taught in eight different countries locally I've taught at the naval postgraduate school and CSUNB. I guess lecture at You see Santa Cruz Something that is so familiar with to me and obviously not familiar to all layman is the smart meters and all the wireless Communication devices and I just went ahead and googled electromagnetic radiation insurance electromagnetic radiation is Wireless radiation. It's called EMF the electromagnetic frequency radio frequency. There's numerous names But in Google, which is what I wanted you to hold and I want you to look and it's highlighted It says insurance articles insurance exclude risks associated with electromagnetic radiation Insurance no longer covers electromagnetic radiation Loids of London excludes liability coverage for harm from RF. So since 2015 companies with wireless equipment cannot get liability insurance From any of the insurance companies So I think better than reporting any science to you That's the ultimate conclusion. Lloyds of London is the actuarial Organization that all the insurance companies around the world look to to make the choices and if they give an liability policy They have a Exclusion for any harm from RF and I was called I live in your district I was called by a number of neighbors Asking me to come and tell you about this and just I'll finish just to show you Verizon has reported to these Securities exchange commission that they will likely be paying out on Claims so and you you might be a few I mean you may never have heard this. I live with this every day So I'm totally aware of it and the final one that you might be interested in is the wireless companies because of their massive Liability from the past are joining with organizations. So they're attaching their equipment to city county State equipment and I'm not an expert in the legal But I believe that if you use their equipment you assume the liability So I just included a one-page letter from an attorney who worked in this field and so The smart meters are a tremendous promotion and a tremendous representation for the people that want you to use them But it's pretty obvious. They're not very smart. Thank you. Thanks so much This is not a hearing about smart meters anyone else want to talk about this request for variance Seeing no one. I'll move because the public hearing second promotion and a second on favor I Just I just we had a nice presentation on the actual science about that a month ago So I would refer them to that because I would go with the science over the insurance companies on this case As far as this issue I get one the they're obviously questioning them the the correct the accuracy of the meter so The staff heard anything about such so, you know What is the reliability and has a new ultrasonic meters that are coming out that are smart meters We have heard that there have been some problems with those in San Diego and that got misrepresented as a problem with This smart meter technology the type of System that we're looking at does use an analog a multi-jet meter And it just has an electronic register component. So we're Comfortable with that and we checked the analog component on this particular one to see that it met was the same as what was reported Yes, okay. Yeah, and if you look at the consumption pattern It very well matches up with what the homeowner is reporting in terms of when she was gone and when she last used water So, you know, it's it's highly likely that something was left on Yeah, that it was Saturday and Sunday that happened so I Think the fact it happened on a weekend is is relevant You know, I think It's possible, but unlikely that this is a meter problem I'd like I think that What I would I suggest doing here, there's first of all, it's a lot of money and A lot of that is because of being charged at higher tiers And I'd be willing to charge at the commercial rate or a tier one rate just Because that there was no intent here to use a lot of water But I Would like to leave open that if if in the future there Is an irregularity with this this particular meter that we can revisit this in the future and give a credit but I don't see any any indication of Being able to apply our league policy here Because you have to have evidence of a leak By the way for many years now We've had a policy that a customer wants to have their meter checked they can And if it's found to be defective we pay for that check if it's not defective The customer has to pay for the check, but if they really think there's a problem with the meter They can get it checked out What is the tier one rate? Well on this bill it's Six dollars and ninety cents, but a lot of the water is being charged at forty four dollars So what would it end up being? Yeah Seven times thirty so two hundred ten dollars. Can I can I just clarify because this happens frequently is this? Policy change or is this a one-time variance? That's the yeah, I think to do a policy change We would have to have a hearing have a hearing on it. It's a it's a one-time variance But it does it does open the door for a policy change if it's just so unusual Compared to the normal patterns something happened They in their she was away Water was used that you know so we can't say Nothing, you know, you know wouldn't be fair to the rest of our customers To to have no charge, but to have a you know charge at the lower rate I I think would would be a kind of a compromise And in your memory has anyone ever reported these Kind of suspicious usage patterns that happens all the time to the police though Oh, we have had actually a couple of since I've been with the district We have had a couple of customers who have contacted the police and filed a police report and actually it Leslie Correct me if I'm wrong, but having worked back in conservation for a long time It seems like it happens when people are gone And this I think if my math is right it equates if it's a 48 hour leak a gallon a Minute so put some perspective on it. Yeah, I was I think two things one is that the tier one rate wouldn't necessarily be right But the potentially the commercial rate, which is actually covers the cost of producing the water Would be more reasonable But I also would think maybe we should look at What we charge these for and bring the policy back as well I think if we're doing this for one person, we can't say exactly You can't just do it for one person that came to us. I mean, I think that I agree with Dr. Jaffee I mean, it's unlikely this is gonna happen again I mean the goal of the policy is to have people take care of leaks so that they don't happen again But I guess there's no way to protect this I guess we'd have to also have a way to put a lock like if we'd have to I would have to Feel like something was done to prevent this from recurring Whether it's a lock on the outside faucets or whatever. That's what I did everyone my faucets has a lock now It is difficult to differentiate because we're not on the property and we're not aware of when homeowners are home It's awfully hard to differentiate between what is an intentional use and what is intentional use Somebody could very well fill a pool and then come to us and say Well, I think it's pretty clear that Ms. Maurer wasn't home But in general, yeah, just saying as a general policy that Right, but as far as the rate we charge You know that could be looked at. Yeah a commercial rate Where it covers the cost of the water? I think it's me or instead of being just a deterrent at least it covers Covers the cost of producing that water probably probably not satisfying to You but it really the the leaked policy doesn't doesn't apply here Because there is no leak right Yeah, that's where it gets gray is Sometimes we won't know what a leak is or isn't I think what you know the perfect instance was the time the person Ex-door filled their pool with the water from the person was on vacation. So You know, so that person be paying but you know, it's it's it was an intentional act for sure Yeah, I might make a suggestion if the board is leaning toward a policy Change or a recommendation for staff to come back with some Language and proposal of that to hold off on this and mr. Balsow It would be appropriate if we do come back with potential policy if that is changed then it'd be retroactively Applied for this case for this case. Yeah, because the we may not you may not land on it exactly here And then be different from the policy I say that we could continue this item. I think that's correct, right? Yes We could continue this item and then Have this I don't I'm not talking about a complete redoing of the leak policy Well, I think at least looking at the cost that we're charging Well, I think we'd have to redo it because this is not considered a leak. So that alone is a change Maybe an unexplained unexplained water water loss. You can say yeah So Okay, I agree with you though. That's a better way to go is to establish the policy first and then Or at least look at it. We might still not decide to change it and by the way I was thinking this morning when I was reading through the packet that we might want to also consider changing this leak policy when we had the RMI of the AMI Because that opens things you could say anytime we let them know Which would probably be the day after we find you know, they do it We let them know and give them a day to fix it and if they haven't fixed it a day, then we start penalizing them You know The actual leak or loss wouldn't be penalized at all Just their response to it would be penalized and that could apply to anything. Anyway We might want to talk about it all when it comes back So how do you turn off your water when you go on vacation you turn it off at the valve at the house? So somebody could still access that If you put an external host spigot on it, I don't think they can turn on your house valve. Okay. It's a locking hose bib I'm going to Italy, so Well, don't tell anybody No, but I I will make a motion that we continue the item and bring back the policy that would include Unexplained water use in addition to leaks I'll second that we have a motion and a second all in favor I I I think of variance is in order, so I'll say no, okay, but I can understand how Yeah, okay, so that passes so Since she's already paid her 900. She's gonna get a rebate some point you away, so yeah, it's fine Just I just want to make sure we're fair to everyone right right. Yeah Yeah, but there's there's the there are these cases That just are really unusual. Yeah, that's what variances are for yeah Right, but I don't think it's from the staff's perspective. This is completely unusual So we're they're just not here right now and just just to give you this Perspective we do grant about a quarter of a million dollars a year in leak adjustments All right when there's another public hearing item 2.2 public hearing first reading for ordinance 1801 superseding 1601 and that's me again So tonight we're bringing an item to you. This is the first reading of an ordinance 1801 Ordinance 1601 is our ordinance fixing rate charges and fees. This would be An ordinance to replace ordinance 1601 and it's done in accordance with the writ of mandate that was provided to us by the court of Santa Cruz County and we are Proposing that we rescind the collection of tier 2 water rates effective July 1st and all water consumed up to 8 units of Consumption would be billed at the tier 1 rate The second part of that is we would rescind the collection of private fire protection fees effective July 1st 2018 Until such a time as we can provide a recalculated meter equivalency number to the court and they would then go ahead and let us know What rates we could charge for private prior private fire protection services? And at that time we would probably bring back an ordinance that would supersede ordinance 1801 Okay, any questions of staff? Okay, this is a public hearing. I'll open it for anyone to address us on this item confused we had the presentation at five Regarding rates, and I assume that topic was regarding funding for pure water That whole hour our whole financial plan Okay, so we're somewhere assuming we don't get a supplemental supply. Okay, so now you're talking again about rates but What is this have your discussion now have to do with the rate discussion in the previous session This is just past rates that were adopted Three years ago and a and a glitch was found. Is that a good term? Well The court determined the glitch was found we haven't yet decided whether you're going to appeal or not But we're following the court's mandate to make the recalculations that were ordered in the writ of mandate In the event we don't appeal Well, thank you. That's what I meant. Okay. Thanks Anyone else And I have a couple of comments to make first of all The first one I want to make is I want to commend you on Proposing to adjust the commercial irrigation rate The water quality flat rate. I was worried that you would not consider this in conjunction with the reduction of the tier two I see that the fee was adjusted down to 63 cents from nine dollars and ninety seven cents to nine dollars and thirty four cents That's paid seventeen of the packet However, it appears that you did not take in consideration that the fees were subject to an across-the-board twelve percent increase First in January of 2017 and another 12% increase was applied in January to 18 So that fee really went from 63 cents to 71 cents in 2017 and 79 cents in 2018 so The proposed July 1 2018 flat rate should should really be it's overstated should be nine dollars and 18 cents So I would preach that if you take a look at that and Make sure I'm correct The other issue I have is kind of a very critical one The red has directed you to recalculate the private fire protection fees Using the correct meter equivalency of two inches and report those fees back for court approval However, this is impossible Because none of the public and private fire service connections have a water meter at the fire flow discharge point we've covered this You know that the chief your chief engineer confirmed that publicly two years ago. There is no correct meter equivalency Now how is that a problem? Well, the district design specification and the fire department's private public fire flow requirements require a water system design To supply a minimum of two thousand gallons per minute But the rate study in that equivalency schedule States that the district guidance have a maximum again a maximum continuous safe flow of only fourteen hundred gallons per minute Only fourteen hundred gallons per minute not two thousand so that whole equivalency schedule is understanding the flow and So therefore the cost allocation Between public and private is invalid because more costs are associated with the the private Okay, you see that where that's going so really you can't do this And and just correcting the two and a half inch to two inches not going to suffice Because if you go to the court and say, okay, we redid this and we're going to just down about downsides infrastructure to two two inches You still have a problem You need to look at that you need to you need to look at your own M1 manual Okay, the M1 manual has a full chapter Rates for fire protection service Well, I'd like to leave this I'll leave this with you Bob Yeah, it take a look at that and get your engineer involved so he can look at that Okay. Thank you. Thank you Anyone else? See no one want to make a motion to close it I'll make a motion to close the public hearing public comments second Gary of motion and a second on favor That passes unanimously Okay So What do we want to do here? The staff want to change anything that we have in front of us The court ordering us to do something. We can't do is that I wasn't quite clear about that I'm not either I'm not clear. Mr. Cole has contended from the beginning that meter equivalencies Which is one of the criteria that is in the M1 manual Could not be used here, but the judge in the writ of mandate ordered us to Recalculate based on meter equivalency, so he's kind of still arguing his point He'll get a chance at September, but we're we are following what the writ of mandate says Okay, so there are There's one motion here. I Will make the motion direct staff to bring ordinance 18-1 back etc. I'll second him All in favor Post that's unanimous Okay, so we move on to the consent agenda Resolution right yes all of the motion three so we are done with that So we have a consent agenda any items that people want to take off I Was I was interested to hear a little bit more discussion on 3.7 Anything else? Anything the public would like to have removed from consent to talk about Okay, I would like to pull off 3.2 311 and 314 So I I'll move approval of the remaining which is 312 313 3.3 3.4 3.5 and 3.6 I'll second that I have a motion second all in favor I Bet you know us okay, so I had some of these here This is the first one is the minutes of the minutes indeed Okay in 311 on page Let's see 24 144 at the very top there is a motion and It's says directors Jaffee comma, sorry Lather comma Jaffee Christiansen comma There needs to be a comma between Jaffee and Christiansen Otherwise, I don't know who this Jaffee Christiansen person is and Similarly the next motion item 6.2 also has Jaffee Christiansen there needs to be a comma between those two These are minutes for the 311. It's for June 5th Where is that second one I caught the person it's in the box. It's it's it's the motions I got the first motion on the page the second motion on the page Number 24, I've got a care or three of four of that particular minute. You can see the top one up there and There's the other one, yeah It's the second one's harder to see because there's it's on different lines, but there is no comma after Jaffee So it has to be Jaffee comma Christiansen Okay We ready to move on Okay, this is the minutes for July 17th page 37 of 144 items 6.1 same problem is in the motion Jaffee Christiansen and item 6.5 Top of page 39 again Jaffee Christiansen Right Do a motion and approve those now or later I'll move approval of those two Okay, all in favor I Okay, I had questions about 3.2 And It's the very first item browning Caldwell 1.465 9 1 over what almost one and a half million dollars for our consultant Have they finished building our project now? That's a It's a big piece of change and purchase it is a lot of work I have to admit that you when we've had meetings with them And we see people coming from all over the country to these meetings I've wondered in some cases they just sit there and you know are we racking up So I would I would like to ask staff to look at these bills and make sure that this is indeed true and in the future Watch out more carefully to make sure that we are not spending money on stuff that we don't really need to have Inviting people to come to meetings where we pay their expenses and they really don't contribute to the meetings That's a big waste and we need to make sure that doesn't happen again, okay That was it that wasn't that's my comment is thank you. I have a problem with this I don't know some justification later would be fine It doesn't have to happen now, but that's a big chunk of money And either we haven't ever paid them and this is you know two years worth of work or Something is a little Okay, it looks like Mellie does want to Just want to note that that's a purchase order. So again, those are items where we do I know Bill So we will watch and know what you said It's to bill against right, right? Okay, and there were some questions on three seven. I think you had oh, yeah, I was just well It was a denial of claim. I just wanted to Understand the rationale for that so typically in a in a claim such as this we go ahead and Settle it in-house But because there was some inconsistency in the amount of the claim I talked to our representative at Aqua Jba JPA our claims adjuster And she said her recommendation was for us to go ahead and deny it at the board level and they would go ahead and investigate that and send the claims adjuster out because The the amount of damage that was done was right near the meter And it should have been just a couple of hours to fix it and the invoice that we received from the customer on this claim Was actually to replace her entire service line from the meter to the house over a three-day period so When we couldn't reconcile that discrepancy that's when aqua JPA said please send it to us and we'll step in and investigate So this is just a formality and then they'll take it from here And is there a cost to us when we have somebody from aqua JPA come out? No, it's the other way around under our contract with it JPA It's like your insurance company. You have a duty of cooperation So if they it's a claim is of a certain amount They want to adjust it. They don't want us to adjust it right and it's below that to 2,500 we have the option of paying right When it one of the things that just caused me some confusion I didn't know what the what the damage was it didn't it wasn't really described very well So I didn't understand what the claim was for or Right, and I think you can see in the picture. Well, yeah, I could see that But near the meter that that was the damage and And our crew took a look at it and said this should have been no more than a couple of hours of time spent So it just broke on its own or did so we were doing some work on the meter. Oh, see I didn't know that The district isn't denying responsibility We're just saying because of the discrepancy in the in the amount being claimed. We're referring it to aqua JPA So what what happens in a situation like that if it happened like in another a weekend? it looked like that was a holiday hours and everything and so a Customer doesn't have access to the district Workers right so typically they would hire a plumber who would come out and assess the damage and Take a few hours to repair it and they may be charged more for that Because it is a weekend or a holiday weekend rate But I think what? We were contesting was not so much the holiday weekend rates But it being a three-day fix and an entire service line from the meter to the house You know, I guess what concern me is that I thought maybe the customer is at the mercy of the plumber who showed up at And and that that will be determined by aqua JPA a when their claims adjuster investigates this a little bit more Yeah, I'm fine. I just move to prove that to deny the Seeing this 3-2 We don't need to approve that do it's just for information. They're quite agree No three-point to the general manager purchase or approval 3-2 Do we need to approve that one? 3-2 no, I think it's just 3-7 report to know it was 3-7. All right. Yeah, so you do have to know we have to 3-7 so all second Director Christiansen's motion to deny the claim All in favor aye aye post that's unanimous So we move on to oral communication. So this is the time to address us on any item not on tonight's agenda My name is Nina Beatty. I'm a national educator on smart meter issues I assist also assist people that have been injured by smart meter emissions. I have a website smart meter harm That publishes international information for the public and has been up since 2012 my report First the California legislators that I compiled in 2012 is available on my website And I spoke to California legislators last year at two Commission testified to two Commission hearings on Wireless impacts I will be speaking to the sequel issues when that agenda item comes to the board But I wanted to speak in general terms now about the smart meter program A person would have to be living under a rock in Santa Cruz County to have missed all the uproar and the problems with smart meters With PG knee smarter meter starting in about 2010 There was a board of supervisors moratorium and then there was another board of supervisors moratorium and other actions There was a health department report But I know that you didn't live under a rock And I know that you received regular updates from the public about information was that was coming out on smart meters And this was to counteract the Kool-Aid that comes from the industry that there are supposed benefits and that all as well These industry benefits have been debunked by experts and I'm perplexed tonight because this board has been considering smart meters AMI meters And has already installed AMR meters quite some time ago. I'm perplexed about this solution for ratepayers The and I'm perplexed also because your AMR meters malfunctioned under warranty and not a few but thousands This has been expensive for the public It's been expensive in labor and time and special meetings if the costs were covered by the contractor by the maker But somehow this doesn't deter you from making an arrangement with the same Company and I don't understand that this is not on the item that we're going to be talking about later No, you're talking about sequa later So passing the cost along to the rate pair seems like a poor approach as well as liability for these faulty meters Which of course will come back to the district Lawsuits can be very very expensive and emotional distress and negligence are to just two items that people In the district can can sue this district for as far as I understand and lawsuits can lead to bankruptcy and privatization and takeover of this district I urge the this board to be very very careful about the decisions it makes tonight And I do not come to you lightly. I come to you not costing you like some of your consultants I didn't cost you a dime in my gasoline and time coming over from Monterey, and I'll be speaking later on sequa Thank you. Thank you Next Thank you. Good evening. My name is Becky Steinbrenner or isn't it a Vaptas? I In many other people requested from your district and your environmental Sequa consultant an additional time A time extension for public comment for your draft EIR on the pure water pure water so-called project. I Was shocked that that request those requests were denied and General manager Ron Duncan said that that was denied because not many of the requests were from ratepayers and The cost to the ratepayers in the delay to the project which you Continue to claim you haven't made a decision to choose yet Would be $14 per service connection. I Think this is a violation of sequel law If people ask for an extension of public comment, you cannot restrict it to ratepayers because This project would affect people outside of your ratepayer district 11 miles of pipeline from the wastewater treatment plant on Bay Avenue will affect many people. I Have asked you at other committee meetings to please reconsider your decision to deny an extension of public comment time for your very complex and lengthy document The draft EIR for pure water so-called and I'm asking you again I have also submitted my request many times in writings as have other people I'm protesting your decision to deny public comment time extension and I asked this board tonight to reconsider and allow the public more time to Read thoroughly your document and submit comment that could actually improve the project should you really choose to take this project on I Think you have violated sequel law and I think that you are possibly opening yourselves up to a lawsuit By denying public comment when it has been requested by many Thank you. Thank you. I Was one of the people who wrote a letter requesting the extension of the comment period I also think it's a violation of sequel law and I wonder what's the rush What's the rush? This is a huge document that needs to be looked at carefully and I also Think this hole you call it pure water I call it poop water because it's sewage water, but as I've been learning more about it I kept thinking Injecting these chemicals deep into the ground that sounds like fracking Putting these toxins down there. We know there are always accidents And this county has a ban on fracking Anyway, I just think So often the labels put on things are the descriptions Mislead and deceive the public and I think we need to have reality comments so Anyway, that's on that topic. The other thing is a Fifth generation 5g rollout is Coming and I want to remind you and I've been here many many times With literature data References on adverse effects of radio frequency microwave radiation Not one of you can say you never heard there was a problem It's well substantiated Another indication of it is this detector Radiation this is picking up from the totality of cell phones cordless phones and Tana's Wi-Fi I'm going to give you a copy of the 5g Peel on the harmful effects of radio frequency microwave exposure Which have already been proven? This is a recommendation for a moratorium on the 5g rollout Over two hundred and thirty scientists from more than 40 countries have already expressed I'm reading their language. They are serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to emf Operated by electric and wireless devices already before this additional 5g rollout They refer to the fact that numerous recent scientific publications have shown that emf effects Living organisms at levels well believe believe most below. I'm sorry most international and national guidelines Thank you. The effects are devastating. I'll give you copies We need to halt this harm Thank you. Thank you The next person Gary Lindstrom aptos I also object to the time extension not being Given to the people that we're trying to work on the Sequa draft. It is horribly complicated. This is a huge decision This is at least 90 million dollars that you're talking about and They the estimates have gone up to a hundred and thirty five and then I heard a hundred and eighty seven So even if it's at 90 million dollars, you have the opportunity to possibly get some grant money 70 million dollars is out there you say there's no guarantee that you're going to get all 70 million dollars a 90 million dollar bill left to the ratepayers even at your lowest estimate is a huge huge Commitment and I just think that we need we have other answers that need to be followed first That we need to get this water transfer get this water flowing And we need to work with central water district also to start flowing from them. They have a surplus of water so with that and the other things as per aquifer and so on We can take care of this problem for a lot less than 90 million dollars and Again, the important thing is to get the water flowing and I think the public has every right if they're gonna have to pay this bill To be able to answer the Sequa draft and all we were asking for was what another 13 days So two weeks it can't be that big of a deal You've got to be able to listen to the public. They're paying your salaries and They are the people in this county that you have to talk to you have to make it clear to them That you're spending their money wisely They want to tell you what they don't like in that report and you won't let it happen a mere two weeks that's shameful for a 90 million dollar project Said my piece. Thank you Anyone else? Yes, I Bruce Tanner Santa Cruz. I have here CD recordings for all of the board from Program on KPF Kpfa radio last week on the 14th of Dr. Martin Paul He is a PhD professor and researcher who has been researching EMF radiation for two decades and He says in the course of this interview that the more he researches it the more shocked and Disturbed he is and I have been researching EMF for quite a while and in listening to that It's about a 45 minute interview I Was shocked beyond a man imagination We are seriously facing An apocalypse that is going to affect the entire civilization of the developed world and Nobody is paying attention We are being lulled to sleep by these studies coming from industry Which cover up everything? They know they have done research. They know what the what the problems are and they are not releasing that information They're releasing that information to the FCC But the FCC calls it proprietary and won't release it to the public and so because they've released it to the FCC they've covered their rears and Nobody can find out what's going on. There is no health research on 5g radiation at all and The exposures that we're going to face from that are massively more than any of the other Wi-Fi radiation that we have Experienced so far. It's we're in a very dangerous situation And I hope you take the time to listen to this and and you know Do your own due diligence to find out if he's really on the money. Thank you very much. Thank you anyone else See no one Back to the board the board communications I'll just mention That It's hard not to want to respond to some of that because I do I will say one thing is just that when they say Putting out incorrect information and calling it putting chemicals and toxins down in the water And calling it poop water. I Mean that's more inflaming people's and you know when this is technology that's Purifying water to the extent that it's similar to distilled water and Has been used Successfully for many years and the fact that all of us would think that we're wouldn't would want to do that If it wasn't safe, I mean we're all concerned about safety I mean that's one of the reasons I'm even here to make sure there's a safe water supply for my children and You know so Anyway, I'll leave that there Otherwise, my other comment was we had one of those coffee talks again this week and this was at Seascape in seascape at ground control coffee and we try and make ourselves available to the public whoever wants to come talk about an issue and it was really Kind of neat there was a group of people one of we one of them was a hundred and two years old and they were very interested group of guys getting together That I thought it was just a successful thing that's all And I think there's one in September that you and I are both doing so if you want to come talk to us That's where to come Couple things I wanted to mention if people are concerned about EMF the electromagnetic creation Then you should be rooting for AMI because the current AMR system We have turns on every 11 seconds to transmit and with the new system It'll turn on once every 12 hours to transmit So whatever whatever radiation there is is much much much less than it is now So this transition is a good thing Finally about the IR I've told everyone that's asked that you know it doesn't stop with the comment period So continue looking at continue studying it continue to submit concerns because I know in the past We've done EIRs and the very last day when we're sitting there trying to decide whether to prove it or not We've made changes to it based on input So if you think you have a good idea or something's wrong Let us know even the last day which will be you know months from now and So don't it's not over It's just that was a time when people can look at it And I know some people didn't I talked to a couple of people a couple weeks ago They didn't even start looking at it until August so you know we submitted this in in June the whole month of July went by and they didn't look at it and Then you know they were upset that they only had two weeks in August to look at it And they didn't bother to look at it for the entire month of July. So That's but I told them the same thing. Don't stop Continue studying it if you find problems. Yeah, let us know Go ahead no, I Did just want to note that in terms of the draft EIR for public comment There is you know an official close which was August 13 I do you know appreciate that the board is encouraging Public comments to still come in regarding issues or concerns related to the project There will be another public process for the the formal part of the EIR Which is when we release the draft EIR and I think dr. Daniels that's where you may be you know coming in in terms of Comments specific to the the the final EIR the final year will include the the comments that came in from the June 29th through August 13th, and that will have all of the comments plus a response to comments that will have Some additional things from the ESA and then that will have another public comment period And then it would go to the board for certification and Project approval. That's right. Thanks for that clarification of the schedule. So and if you like I also have a slide I know it was important to the board to get out as much information as early as possible. I can show that regarding the draft EIR So just to the So, you know the requirements suggest really that a notice be given one of the three ways that you see bolded down there, so Publications so in a general newspaper Circulations that might be the Sentinel of Aptos times maybe Posting of at the sites Is another way you can do it or you can do direct mail So the law requires that you do one of these three so next slide so in normal fashion for the district We threw everything we Could add it oops go back up, please so We didn't do one of those we did multiple so here's an ad here's in the paper We did three Advertisements we posted at all three sites. We held them a public open meeting that wasn't As part of it. We posted it. We know a lot of people use next door and Facebook So again, we went beyond the call of duty there for newspaper articles Emails to over 10,000 people post it on our website press release 7,500 postcards sent out and put in every library. So only this one this one or or Direct mail Which required but we went ahead and did that and I think the telltale none of the regulatory agencies Requested a time extension and they're the ones that usually do the most thorough review so Anyway, I just wanted to put that up there And there was there is a cost associated with that if you assume that the project moves forward and We've calculated that in our cost that we presented to the board, you know earlier And that's a five million dollar a year escalation Costs and what I previously said if you took that five million dollar escalation cost per year And you delay it by the time extension, which is basically a half a month It does roughly come up a little under a quarter million dollars, which is roughly fourteen dollars per Connection that we have so taking all that information and totality And this is not to mention all the board meetings that we've spoken at in private groups where we've given out information I think the 45-day comment period is sufficient Any other director comments This I mean this all the aspects of this project that is described in the EIR are things that are within the purview of Things that the so-called Creek Water District has done in the past we've dug trenches for pipes We've purified water. These are all things that are should be familiar to our customers and they and the idea I Think 45 days is a really good time If you enough time if you focused on what the things that are bothering you about this project and what suggestions You'd like to make and I just say that This is I've been involved in preparing EIRs and in critiquing them and fighting projects Project EIRs and this is the most transparent EIR process. I've ever seen so I don't I mean it just I Really just wanted to get that comment out about this process All right, so why don't we move on? Good idea Reports 5.1 board planning planning calendar Yeah, not lots of report there except I'll know tomorrow night. Some of us will be back at Simkins Center for a groundwater sustainability plan advisory committee meeting We can talk a little bit about that more on the MGA item if you want, but this list things out We just went through a host of our standing committee meetings, which we did Induct if you will the new committee members one which showed up earlier tonight for the finance meeting, which is great to have them on board Any questions by the board or a public on that They none we move on to five to special board assignments status report Yeah, nothing really to report there except the groundwater modeling I will take note of since it's in red and that's how we differentiate new items That was postponed it will be talked about a little bit tomorrow night at the GSP committee But just due to the timing things timing with the hydrologists and everything we Delayed that Yep, definitely. I would prefer it's in September and not a October Okay, okay, great. Thank you can do that. Okay. Yeah any questions by other directors our staff or Public Seeing none, let's move on 5-3 quarterly organization wide status Okay, I'll start conservation customer service field. I'll just add that we did make a offer to Jacob Arnold for customer service field worker one position That was a vacant position due to a retirement and he accepted and so he's he's on board So that'll be nice having another person in our department. We've been running lean Questions engineering Evening Taj. Good evening Just two items the most important one is that we did only receive one bid for the Civil improvements at the granite way well It's gonna be my recommendation that we bring back that bid to you and that I ask you to reject it and we will Package the project in a different manner maybe acquire Some of the electrical cabinets that are long lead items as well as facilitate just with our own staff Subcontracting to a well drill or to install the pump and then kind of it'll be a little bit more manageable Maybe it'll attract some of the more the local contractors. It's just a terrible bidding climate right now We've you know, it's 200,000 over the bid. It was a $977,000 bid and our estimate was 714 so and we feel Pretty confident in that estimate that it shouldn't even get up to that level so We will move forward and you'll see that again in September And the other one is I just want to make sure that if anyone didn't hear the presentation from black and beach on the Bench scale testing results for compatibility with Santa Cruz water and District water they're going to be doing another presentation on August 27th, which is next Monday at the water Commission meeting in Santa Cruz Yeah, I just have a question on that last sentence on that one black and beach also confirmed the monitoring prior to any Transfer could be done prior to the zone isolation if the district's wells are not back in service in time Okay, let me also I will answer that I will explain that but also I think at the during the presentation here the board asked about the pH range That would be acceptable if the city's water was a little outside of the range tested And so they did confirm that we have a little wider range than was tested. So that's good news And then our intention was to isolate the zone Prior to accepting any water or purchasing water that could only be feasible if the the three wells in that area before wells were With an O'Neill Ranch Main Street and Garnet were Online and right now O'Neill and Main Street are both out of service We wanted to know whether we could still move forward with Pre-test monitoring prior to the transfer just as it is today Which would include, you know more well for more water from other wells that wouldn't be there during the transfer black and beach thought that that would wouldn't be detrimental to the monitoring plan and that we could move forward with that if we had to so the water quality of the other sources is Close enough, right, right? Okay But then there's still recommending isolation when the transfer actually starts correct, okay? And if the three wells are not up by them Well during the transfer we wouldn't be using the wells Well, that's something that's assuming we get enough water transferred to fully Serve that right. That's true I guess maybe one of the wells could be make up the difference maybe we anticipate those wells will be back online in You know during November December period It's the the two months prior that we would have a hard time. We'd have to kind of start that real soon Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome Any staff question any public questions of the staff? No, okay Well speaking of those two wells The well modification work at O'Neill Ranch was completed Last week and we're in the process of disinfecting and testing that well and it may be back online as early as Friday or Monday and we'll be able to see if it worked the last iteration The liner at Main Street well was installed yesterday and pump it installations going to start on Thursday, so Then we'll have to do disinfection and testing of that But hopefully we could get that back online in another week or two as well. That'd be great Was that just the one we're replacing with a more appropriate stainless steel? Yeah the liner, right? We're okay the upper part of the well that's not stainless steel Carbon steel we're going to line we've lined with stainless Any other questions? Okay, thank you special projects nut, okay any questions of that No, okay Finance I've got next So I just want to point out just a couple of things you can see that we've got quite a bit going on in finance right now But I did want to let you know that on the 2013 COP We did go ahead and perform our rebate arbitrage report We're required to do this every five years with both of our COP offerings And the point behind that is to determine that where we have the funds invested which right now is at late We're not earning more on the investment than we should be They prohibit you from borrowing funds and then making money on it So while we've got that money sitting there, they just double-check to make sure we're not Making excess earnings on it and we're we're okay where we sit now And then I also want to let you know that we did just have a CD mature in July I was able to roll it over into a new CD here at the end of the month But what's most notable is that was a 0.9 percent Yield on the five-year CD that matured and I'm able to roll it into a 3.3 percent yield now Okay, and next is human resources. I have no additional comments, but I can answer questions if you have any questions Thank you General manager. Yeah, I'll comment on the two items up there Why well we're looking at a multiple of options to solve our seawater intrusion issue from Purewater Soquel to D cell to Obtaining River or Creek water from the North Coast There there are agencies that you know are looking to go the other way in different places where maybe they Don't have so much water or need want to put more in so Just pointing out a solicitation there to enhance flows in Different places and then the second item is an economic analysis has been completed and by a university professor up at UCSC and Well and a graduate student will be presented at a forthcoming date I Was confused with the first item When I saw locally, we are evaluating and I wondered what we is that because I don't think we are thinking about taking water from Any of the creeks or streams because we have no water rights to any of the creeks or streams Yeah, I guess I used it in the in the sense of global sense. Yes in a global sense. I think maybe that language that word should be Clarified so people aren't yeah city is looking at. Yes Okay, fair enough Okay, any questions on or comments on any of these these items who've been through See none. Okay. We move on to Finance and administrative service committee, so we had a finance committee meeting on July 23rd and we welcome to new public members Gary Nass and Robert White and We had our supervising accountant Ryan Kenny give us an update on where we stand on our fiscal year-end audit And then we kind of went over the rate setting and finance plan Formulation methodology with our new public members and went over some of the preliminary assumptions that were in those plans Okay Comments or questions? Five four public outreach Yeah, so we too welcome the new members. We got four new public Members on this committee and they're all outstanding already They were contributing one of the members up there offered to help write a monthly column that we do she has background in that to Various things but basically what we did is try to orient the new people to the Outreach committee and the things that have been done. So laid out the outreach plan for the upcoming year talked about the water-wise Academy if they want to get more education they can become part of that Director Christensen brought in an article from the New York Times that was very interesting regarding climate change And miss Campbell noted the water harvest festival. That's planned and so Kell Park on October 20th I'll just add that it was I think it's really valuable to have these additional people willing to serve and come to meetings and Work and bring their ideas. I think they're here. I think it's great Any comments or questions on that I am Not five six the water resource committee Yeah, so again, we have four people on this committee one of them is in the Audience night. Mr. Larry Freeman out there. Hi and then we have a returning member Ken Jard who was on our finance committee last time as experienced in the water industry Mariam Kaplan and then Pete Cartwright and I'll just make a note Pete Cartwright came to us actually Because his well was hit with seawater intrusion A year or two ago and so wanted to try to participate in the process So it'll be an honor to have all of them on board and again to give them an orientation. We went through the various portfolio portfolio of projects at the district is Evaluating and considering to help solve seawater intrusion issue Comments or questions on that I am 57 MGA and the advisory committee Yeah, I'll just report out that tomorrow is the GSP advisory committee meeting and and that's going to be kind of a groundwater modeling 102 we had 101 a while back and just kind of Informing the committee of the process that's been done with the modeling not so much results, but more How they set things up and calibrating things like that. So again, that's tomorrow night and the last meeting at the MGA Which was about different projects Santa Cruz and so Cal were the primary presenters and we Presented the whole host of various projects being evaluated by the city, which is recycled water diesel and River transfers or AS aquifer storage and recovery to and then Lou and then ours are diesel Recycle and river transfers also So Anyway, it's moving along. Okay Comments or questions No, there's just actually just like to make a comment that I I wasn't able to attend one of the meetings and went online to the The resource they have Where and it was fantastic, you know, the quality of the sound was Very very good. You could hear all the comments and They had the slides up and it just was good a good experience. Yeah, we've been refining that. Thank you. I'll relay that district council Well, we're still waiting on a bunch of cases We haven't got great oaks back from the 6th 3rd district Sorry 6th district and I'm waiting for the decision and go lead of both of which Deal with in one way or another to prop to 18 rates, right? Comments or questions Okay, so we move on to 6.1 ministry of business We'll serve letters Taj, did you want to? Jump in on that. That's okay Or are Shelly don't really have anything special to say about this one any questions No, sorry. Sorry. They're already completed. They're just one question How long was how long were they on the WDO list? That's a question. I would have to pass to Shelly They chose the option of doing direct toilet installs and so they weren't really on the list for a very long Yeah, I'll move approval All second we have a motion a second all in favor Hi, I oppose So that carries we move on to 6 to this is the sequel one So 6 to is to approve staff's determination that an AMI project with base stations and Yeah base stations would be exempt under sequel based on a categorical exemption and that exemption is under section 15303 class 3 and that's a new construction or conversion of small structures We did a lot of research on that We consulted with legal counsel and some other sequel consultants And they also came to that same conclusion We did find some other agencies that have declared the same Categorical exemption for their AMI projects And there was also a precedent setting court case That ruled that a wireless communication facility qualified for this class three categorical exemption and so we feel comfortable hanging our hat on that and What we're asking is for the board to Approve our assessment. We did go ahead and do As shown in attachment one Completed the sequel checklist even though the project is exempt from sequel And then with the board's approval of that determination, we will file the Attachment to which is the notice of exemption for sequel with the county clerk's office And that concludes the any questions of staff Seeing none open it to the public My name is Nina BD sequel exemption is not appropriate for this project and AMI meters are Often told to the public that they only transmit so many times a minute and Every single claim from companies that I've seen has proved false when people have gone in and actually measured the pulses So I would expect this would be the same And exempting is inappropriate because this is a known and recognized environmental Has impacts especially to sensitive receptors and as well it has ADA related problems as I said previously the San Francisco or Santa Cruz Board of Supervisors in 2012 requested a report From the health department which was entitled health risks associated with smart meters And in it has information about the health risks attached to this program this type of program Including impacts to people that are electromagnetically sensitive electromagnetic sensitivities was recognized by the u.s. Access Board in 2002 and again in 2005 And can they commissioned an environmental environment environmental quality? report on indoor environments For EMS and multiple chemical sensitivity and their focus was reducing emf exposure To create as they said overall healthier environments for everyone. This is from the access board The California architects office was involved and our own department of public health in Sacramento has done its survey in 1998 finding that three point two percent of the population The respondents said that they were electromagnetically sensitive This disability it qualifies for protection against discrimination and Accommodation in terms of access barriers Even our own legislator recognized EMS and granted accommodation to people last year The district should return to analogs because they don't have this problem EMS People have substantial this defined as a disability is defined as a substantial limit to one or more Major-life activities including major bodily functions And there have been reports including from the European Academy of Environmental Medicine and the Austrian Medical Association about this issue You're really in deep water on this The board must comply with title two obligations to accommodate disabled people and you must also comply with Utility code public utility code 7901 that says that facilities in the right-of-way cannot income out of the public And yet this in commodes a protected class of people that's disabled The meters and their infrastructure interfere with people's right to enjoy Their own homes to enjoy and including impacts from neighbors meters And from the utility infrastructure itself So and as well as transportation and being able to freely travel thank you in their facilities in the community Thank you. So ignoring the sensitive receptors is not appropriate under sequel and I ask you to oppose this exemption. Thank you Next Becky Steinbruner resident of Aptos. Thank you Nina BD for coming all the way from Monterey County to provide Your board and staff with his information I also feel it's inappropriate to issue a categorical exemption sequel exemption for this when there has been no consideration given to future sites and impacts of Transmitter towers other radio equipment that will possibly be required To gather the information from some of the mountainous canyons like Cathedral Drive you'll need to have something high and I have not seen any Locations for any of that equipment. So I do not understand how you can make a categorical sequel exemption having no information about those issues. I also take issue with the fact that these Transmitters in your system would be along the roadways and I am sensitive to emf And I know at the last meeting your board presented information that said there's no problem But there is a problem if you're sensitive and I Have no way to opt out Because I'm not one of your rate pairs but I go through your district all the time and would be and Subjected to the effects of this this system I want to know how you will give How you would give those with emf sensitivities anyway to opt out and Again urge you not to issue a categorical sequel exemption on this and to really do more study respect miss BD's information and Give this more thought Thank you next Maryland gear at part of violence radiation alert network. I also urge you To not see this as a categorical exemption there's much evidence of harm to The environment and all living systems. There's a publication called bees birds and mankind Destroying nature by electro smog Translated from the German by warn key speaks of functional impairment caused by the superimposition of these pulse modulated frequencies over the natural and You know bees are in great decline I will leave you with what I've left you with be for mobile communications the cause for the global Disappearance of the bee and you know we cannot live without the bees and the Pollination of the plants that they provide You know you said earlier you believe things are safe Are they really and what's the evidence and I keep referring to this book called Toxic sludge is good for you lies damn lies and the public relations industry And we can say that about toxic radiation is good for you toxic roundup But we have been lied to very skillfully by those promoting these projects and The evidence by independent scientists shows the damage So I'll leave you with this in terms of the meters you are planning. Here's a brochure smart meters Costing you money risking your health privacy and safety and there's quite a section on here in here on the AMI meters And it's very different from what you said mr. Daniels Here's just part of it. Am I uses a mesh network of wireless pulses between meter and utility and Tennis and can remotely shut off power These are pulsing some of these meters 190,000 millisecond bursts of radiation a day. You may be told by the industry Certain things but you know believing the telecom industry is like taking the word of the tobacco industry about the safety of their products Also, I will leave you with the images of red blood cells affected by electromagnetic wireless radiation Including pictures of animals Living by these cell towers very deformed and all life is negatively impacted Please listen to the DVD the CD you receive. Thank you. Thank you Anyone else? Yeah, Bruce Tanner Just briefly I'm sure you've heard that the damage from the Electromagnetic radiation is cumulative it builds up and gradually over whelms the system There there are at this point a lot of research projects on animals that shows Their physical functions failing In particular as you will hear if you listen to that a CD reproduction They expose mice to an existing antenna farm and within three generations, they were entirely sterile and they Took them a few more generations to see if they could recover and they found that they could not the worst thing about some of them of the Radiation is the pulse modulation and that is particularly Pernicious with the smart meters The body can tolerate a much higher level of a long term Even waveform, but when they're hit with these spikes, it's shocking to the system and and research shows that it's very damaging We've been going blithely along just assuming we all want this wonderful technology And what it provides for us and we're just under this spell of assuming that everything is all okay but we're entering into the point where human health potentially will start to fail on a very large scale and At a certain point you can recover from it, but if we keep going down this road, it's possible that we will see Our ability to function as modern societies begin to become so degraded that we are facing Really catastrophic effects. Thank you. Thank you Anyone else saying no one bring it back to the board. I'll move Approval of both motions. I will second So we roll call for this or not. No, I guess not So first first, I thank you for including the checklists that the termination of Exempt is made on and I I'm looking at and there's only really one thing that I think even remotely could could enter into it and That's if for some reason there's an item on emissions near schools and Do we know whether or not we're gonna be within a quarter mile of a school? That's not saying that it's necessarily harmful emissions, but I just you know The point that Becky made about not knowing where these these meetings are going to be We do have an idea of where the base stations and the repeaters will be located We've done a preliminary propagation study To determine that and there's looks like we're going to need four base stations and about eight repeaters To carry the signals in certain areas All of the sites with the exception of one our district-owned Properties and the majority are existing tanks where the antennas will be mounted on top of the tanks or on the side of a tank Or on a utility pole at a well site So that that's what we're planned. We're also looking at using one Streetlight for a photo cell repeater Which is basically the same thing that is used now to turn lights on and off solar operation So that's what we're looking at whether or not any of those locations are within a quarter mile of a school Has not been assessed, but I don't think they are off the top of my head. Maybe one is a Little closer, but whether it's outside of that radius. I'd have to take a look at that okay, so The item is hazardous and has hazards and hazardous materials So it's number seven on the checklist And it's C or it says admit hazardous emissions and I don't I don't know whether these You know the details on the emissions of these repeater sites and transmission sites Or handle hazardous or acutely hazardous material, which doesn't apply Deficiencies or waste doesn't apply within a quarter mile of an existing proposed school and that's been checked off as No impact so Is that we've we've brought to you at the last meeting an analysis of the RF Transmission and we found that that was not a hazardous emission Okay, so that's the basis. Yeah, and there's no hazardous materials That are generated from the operation of of antennas and there's no hazardous materials related You know only be the emissions part just to clarify I think the papers that Alyssa brought forward on those were not once done by industry Those were done by independent researchers including Also, what the board of supervisors looked at was a PG&E Smart meters and calling something a smart meter doesn't mean it's the same thing as the PG&E and I you know I Respect the information about the PG&E smart meters, but I wasn't in a position to vote for that But I don't see these as being equivalent because they're so much Just different in fact the mesh technology that was complained about it's what PG&E uses They use that topology, and I understand this uses a spoken and Radius Apology, so it's very different very different Okay, so I think you know one of the ways typically houses are determined is to Look at occupational exposure, which is an much more intense exposure than what people living or in the environment are experiencing and it's really if I looked at the health Health effects information, and they were independent studies. They were not industry studies, and they were having a hard time teasing part Facts that were directly related to that kind of exposure The load on the AMR our meter Metering system is at the bottom of a list of a long a high great number of things that emit radiation in people's homes And outside their homes to what you know the Wi-Fi Cell phones all kinds of things and there may be eventually a Long-term reckoning of this but the water meter is really at the bottom of the riskless this whole calculation I do recall that Yeah, so anyway So I looked at that I look carefully for the you know that Health hazard checkoff because I was very concerned about that myself over the years over the decades myself, and I just I concur with the international agency for research and cancer and these other agencies that have Sort of done a risk assessment on our behalf to any more discussion So what's your pleasure folks? We already made a motion and a second We did okay, so we have to have a vote all in favor Okay, we move on to six three proposal generate offsets All right, that's me also Okay, thank you All right six three is a proposal to generate offsets for the water demand offset program Through an implementation of advanced metering infrastructure and The memo before you presents the status of our current water demand offset or WDO program It proposes funding AMI with WDO fees It Presents research regarding how much water and AMI project could save Resulting in the generation of offset credits available for purchase by development project applicants It provides estimated costs of an AMI project Relative to the estimated amount of offsets generated and it discusses how an AMI project meets the criteria that the board established for offset generating projects under the WDO program Just to summarize our key findings Under the WDO program. We currently don't have enough offset credits to sell to current and future development project applicants We have a shortfall and an offset generating project is needed to generate those credits and Cover the projects that Have already gone through as well as future an AMI project meets the board established criteria for conservation or water supply projects to qualify for WDO program funding and AMI is estimated to save 5% Easily save 5% of total water demand per year Resulting in an estimated water savings of 86 acre feet per year And before I dive into those details I want to set the stage a little bit for the audience and give a quick background on our district's water supply shortage and our WDO program Our district is currently 100% dependent upon groundwater Locally and due to historical over pumping by us and other users of the basin At a rate that succeeded our rainfall and recharge were challenged with overdraft and see water intrusion at our coastline As a result of these challenges and future challenges coming our way such as climate change We developed a action-oriented community water plan several years back based on community input that Community water plan or CWP is our roadmap to meet our goal of sustainability in 2040 by proactively managing our groundwater basin Seeking supplemental water supplies to meet our current and future water demand and Promoting water conservation and neutral development to reduce groundwater pumping and really that last item has been our insurance policy While we're searching for supplemental water supplies Both conservation and water neutral development are achieved through our water demand offset program and The program was initially up adopted by our board 15 years ago, and it's been in place ever since with some variations The program requires that all new development and some expanded Existing development offset their projected water use to make sure that it doesn't add to our groundwater Overdraft and see water intrusion problem The program was envisioned as a bridge again to hold us over until we can get a supplemental water supply and Reduce our groundwater dependence and overdraft under the program applicants currently have to offset two times their expected use and They do that by purchasing offset credits from us at a cost of fifty five thousand dollars per acre foot of water That's roughly three hundred and twenty six thousand gallons For reference a single family home on a lot sized between a quarter acre and a half acre Which is our most common project type in our service area Has to offset just under a half an acre foot of water and pay a WDO fee of about twenty three thousand dollars Half of that fee currently goes to fund our enhanced ultra-high efficiency toilet rebate program for existing customers and the other half We've been putting aside for conservation and supply projects That the board would would approve and we would carry out As you know for the last couple of years We've been consistently taking a look at different conservation and supply projects to receive the program funding And we've really been looking for big projects that can generate enough offsets At a relatively low cost To cover our maximum Projected forty three acre foot shortfall that we are looking at right now as well as hold us over and meet the needs of any Future development and our community until supplemental waters obtained in sufficient quantities In the last year our efforts were focused on evaluating stormwater capture at the board's direction And that would be for the purposes of recharging our groundwater basin While those efforts potentially look promising They've been put on hold due to the pending sale of the property that we preliminarily identified as being feasible for such a project In lieu of the stormwater project We've identified AMI as a conservation project to receive this funding And again AMI is a technology system connecting customer water meters to Soquel Creek Water District or any utility using radio frequency transmission Utilities can collect the meter data and any leak alerts or tampering cross-connection alerts on a frequent basis and convey that data As necessary to customers to avoid those not only leaks, but high usage Situations that you heard about tonight in the public hearing This access to the frequent usage data and leak alerts benefits our customers by again decreasing the water loss to leaks decreasing water loss to high usage that doesn't register as a leak and increasing customer engagement people understand how how much water they're using on a daily basis and Can seek ways to reduce that usage and better monitor and be prepared to pay their water bills An upgrade of our drive-by automated metering system to AMI has been in the backs of our minds for a while as an offset Generating project, but until the last year it was expected that we could hold off on this project For about another 10 years to coincide with our meter manufacturers warranties However, we did encounter a problem where the meter manufacturer identified a design error and in the electronic register component of the system That has caused a greater wear on the battery than normally expected and we've been experiencing an early die-off of those registers That's resulted in us having to go back out and manually read meters, which has been very very time-consuming for staff Well, the majority of those registers are under warranty. We could simply replace those with AMR registers and continue to use our drive-by AMI system For approximately 10 more years at which time the majority of our meters, which are 5 8 inch meters for single-family homes and small properties Would have to be replaced anyways. They have a 20-year warranty and and we would we would need to undertake that effort However, this failures really provided us with an opportunity to re-evaluate the benefits of AMI For both the district and conservation and saving water and the benefits to our customers much sooner than we thought So due to the benefits and our ongoing water supply shortage The board has directed us to move ahead with evaluating AMI and to prepare for a pilot test of the technology They've also you've also directed us to evaluate the water-saving potential and to assess the project as an offset Generating project for the WDO program and the results are laid out of that evaluation in the memo in summary To determine how much water can be saved with AMI We researched the following the prevalence of leaks and amount of water typically lost to leaks and water systems And we also looked at studies that have been done on the water saved by Transitioning from an AMR system such as ours to an AMI system in regards to leaks a 2014 pilot study by East Bay Municipal Utility district or East Bay mud found a surprising number of leaks and that was reinforced in more detail by work done by water smart Software the same company with that came out with the home water reports that we utilized that has a lot of data Analyzed analytic capabilities They showed an average of 40 the 43 percent of homes or accounts showed at least one leak per year and That that number was closer to 75 percent for utilities That such as ours that would set lower leak thresholds The 2016 residential end-use study, which is a nationwide study found that the average water loss to leaks was 17 gallons per household per day Our research on water savings due to an AMI upgrade shows a water savings ranging from a minimum of 5 percent of water used up to 15% due to decrease water loss to leaks alone. That is they didn't factor in savings from a reduction in high usage Not registered as a leak and they didn't factor in any water savings from increased customer engagement Lawrence Berkeley National Lab they their report cited in the memo Concludes that an upgrade to AMI would result in a conservative 10 percent savings From customer side leak fixes and behavioral changes And with all that research we think that we could easily achieve a 10 percent water savings However, we have a unique situation our customers have already achieved a Very low per capita water use Compared to other areas of the state and so we do likely have some demand hardening And because of that we're recommending that the board consider approving a conservative water savings estimate of 5 percent At a 5% savings rate 172 acre feet per year could be saved over 20 years However, due to the fact that the AMI project doesn't fully meet the board's project criteria for permanence Meaning the water savings has to occur every year for 20 years and the fact that we were Not looking at doing this project for 10 years out We reduced the estimated water savings from this project by one half So that brought it down to 86 acre feet per year over a 10-year period We also evaluated an AMI upgrade in comparison to again the criteria that have been established under the offset program Those are additionality permanence which we Addressed by prorating the savings major ability high major ability with water metering and benefit to customers high very high benefit to customers and the cost and the cost that we We estimated is under our current $55,000 a per acre foot threshold. It's very close. It came out at about $52,000 So if approved at it as a WDO project We feel that AMI would be a valuable conservation and customer service asset provide benefit to customers But it does it's not expected to come at their expense as long as we have development funding Or compete with funding Compete for funding with other important capital improvement projects and water supply projects that we also have going on concurrently So the next steps if approved tonight would be for us to come back at a subsequent meeting We're proposing October 2nd with a proposed implementation plan to address or reestablish an offset credit bank relative to the offset shortfall that we have The existing projects on our wait list and future applicants. We would also in that plan bring back Changes to program materials We have a lot of information about the offset program on our website and this would be a process change that would need to be outreach to customers And we would also need to address What we think should happen to the current enhanced toilet rebate program amongst some other details so With that Alyssa, and I can address any questions or comments that you might have and the motions are laid out in the memo Questions Many go ahead Well, let's see so that when I start at the end And then get back in more detail So Measurability One of our criteria and you you say this Will be measurable After its operation So When how do we do the you know how when when does the Aquifer benefit from this and when should the credits be offset credits being given If this is it takes many years to get into place How did at what point do we say? Yes, we're we're saving water So we can allow Development to occur without having detriment to the aquifer so What's your proposal and those are the kinds of issues that we would be bringing back at a subsequent meeting tonight All we're really asking is for the board to Approve AMI as a WDO project Well, whether I approve it or not depends on the details Okay, so Yeah, so the AMI project itself is planned to have a two-year implementation period full deployment for two years We are going to Once we get the go-ahead to start a pilot test and we'll be Populating that area of the service area first and get that up and running and then once we get that area up and running We can start looking at data from that and Seeing how that looks and also Notifying customers immediately of leaks we can come in on a daily basis And go through our leak alert list which will be prioritized based on the size of the leaks Which is another feature of the system So we'll have a mechanism in place to notify customers on day one of their leak or day two or three if it's After the pilot project you envision that at that point you can Test whether or not these numbers that are from other areas For the estimates of water Our goal for the pilot is to test the technology and make sure the technology is working and find areas where The signal is not being sent to a base station and we're not getting the data and we're having to you know make adjustments As far as looking at water savings From the AMI you would need to have the system in place I would think for a good couple of years to be able to look at a before and after and there's also going to be a lot of variables that could really Skiw that data. It's hard. You know when you're looking at another drought coming at the same time or You know, there's just a lot of variables that go into Looking at a water savings estimate and attributing that to one item, but I Think one way to do the wet water savings would be since you're going to do two years The first year you'll have half of it done and the other half not done. You can see how about how the relative Things change with that, right? That's the gold standard to have a control group if you went that way Dr. Jaffee a couple things that may input that may play into your calculus two things that come to mind for me one is They took a very conservative number. They feel Alyssa and Shelly on the water savings. So hopefully we're not bumping up or Doing any harm to the aquifer plus we have the two factor that goes into that equation The other thing is and this isn't a perfect match, but usually the development You know, it takes a couple years from when they come to us when a project goes online I'm not going to give you a number, but you know for even a house It's a couple years usually so there's a delay in that as they go through the process So I'll just throw that out there. So you're saying that the delay in in the house Using the water might match the delay. It's potential to paint on where people are in there and their program But it's not unusual at all for I mean touch build a house from scratch But I've gone through the process a couple times just in the permitting and yeah I mean two years is not an underestimate. Would you agree with that Alyssa with? Yeah, I would agree and One thing I want to point out too is that we think that as the program goes forward and the more outreach we're able to do We're gonna see the water savings more and more as we go on so Just comparing our water savings for for the first year might not really be an accurate representation of what we're going to be able to achieve. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah So you're counting on more than just delete Decreasing the leaks. Yeah The stat the numbers were astounding on how big the leaks were Just how frequent and how frequent too. Yeah What I had a I had a question I was wondering about with the size of the pilot and what this what area that We're thinking that would take place in the pilot is going to coincide with The area around Aptos Village because they're that development project is also coming online and it It made sense to just get started there with the equipment Instead of having to come back later six months later. However long change it out so we'll be We would be populating that area around Aptos Village first and Those meters or end points that are expected to send a signal to that first base station and repeater So then you might potentially have the well the Aptos Village would be new so that wouldn't be part of a comparison group, but you'd have some Yeah, it would be About a quarter of our our meters with four base stations we're kind of Looking at it and in quarters, so So would there be a control there too? Not all of the places would have the meters a Control it within that part of our service area Well, I think he's saying you could use Aptos Village as the trial and then other people as the control Is that what you know? He was saying you'd have to have half of it Half of it because new construction is very different than 10 or 20 year old construction You can only do a control if half of Aptos Village was done half not done But that's a point well taken to new development probably the leak leakage rate would probably be much differential then No, I was just thinking of the spread the Aptos neighborhood spread not the Aptos Village Because that is oh, it would be beyond Aptos Village project It would be that general area portion of our service area again that would fall within that bucket of Picking up the frequency or the signal from the area I Mean to make most likely to get good data on it We're gonna have to use other utilities data to decide whether to proceed or not I mean honestly, yeah, that's why I take time. Yeah, that's true So probably like 3,000 services would be part of that first kind of pilot Well, the yeah, and that's why they've been conservative in their estimates although I wonder one of the studies page 112 the East Bay mud study where they have seven percent Water savings the date on the the The study is 2016 which is Right after the drought. So I I haven't looked at the studies. I assume that Well, I'd hope that you would try and rule out that We're not looking at some effect That's unrelated to having the AMI Like a like a drought where people would reduce their use I mean, I do think it'd be good to make sure we do whatever we if we do start start it to have the historical data From the houses that we do you can at least compare Historical usage. I think the biggest thing to check for you would expect now that many leaks last a week or two because we only Meter every month right right and I'd expect that to go way way down and that should be the most obvious savings If we can get most leaks found and fixed, you know in a few days That's where you're gonna say when how soon would the? Customer interface and the app be yeah that because that's another way people I mean once they're aware and they're checking their water use that have that same question that would be I think the final step for each of these areas as we as we get the registers in and We get the fixed network constructed and we switch we have to reprogram It's a easy switch to convert the meters from reading an AMR to AMI We would do that there would be outreach associated with that out to our customers and at that time or somewhere around there We're not quite sure yet. We would Announce the portal and how people sign up for the portal once you're sure it's working. Yeah, yeah And we're working on all those details right now. There's a lot of pieces to this. There's Procurement and inventory and getting ready for those things so that we're organized and we have good record-keeping and Outreach is another big component and then actually performing the work And permitting as you heard tonight permitting and environmental analysis so a lot of pieces in The air I'm just wondering and I'm wondering if that's what maybe I'll need more detail Before I I mean say proceed with the planning, but I may need more detail for I make a decision And in the minute dr. Hu and detail in regarding what aspect all these how this would actually roll out Okay, you know and where it would be done and you know how we would be gathering data Any more questions. Yeah, I just wanted to double-check on the $52,000 calculation There you had gone with conservative 5% instead of 10% and That but did you also discount it for 10 years instead of 20 years? So you did both those things. Yeah, I thought you did but I just wanted to double-check and then just a last comment about Additionality To me this can be viewed either as additional or not additional Because this is something that we could be doing ourselves Whereas something that's additional is like what came from with the inner light Property where they went out and found Areas to retrofit and seascape and that that to me is clearly additional this so this is Could be viewed as additional or not additional. Yeah, I think where we True that dividing line was the meters are guaranteed for 20 years. Some of them had a battery Malfunction where they drain faster 10 years We thought we could get another 10 years out of the existing meters and we could do that because the manufacturer is held true to their word, but By replacing 10 by doing this you're jumping the gun by 10 years. No, my common Additionality sorry, additionality was more on The project being an additional whether it is additional additionality truly additional Because we do have the option of funding it but yeah, it would cost our ratepayers And I don't know where it's different. We're inner light We didn't have that option. They were the ones that decided to go to seascape resort find the you know The source of retrofits and did it so that truly is additional to me, right? And that was because they went beyond our minimum standards. Yeah, yeah, so we're the building We're funding it So it's a benefit to our customers. We're funding it with WDO. We're proposing to do that So it's a benefit or customers in that sense, but it's not in my mind strictly Meet the additionality test Any other questions? I Had one So as you pointed out whenever we have a retrofit for a property We have them pay a hundred percent upfront and then a hundred percent gets put because we offset by 200 percent Hundred percent gets paid for upfront and the 200 percent is kind of held in arrears for future projects And I don't see the other hundred percent in the calculations here. Is it there? I See all kinds of new new new and this would assume that we would put all the money Toward this project. It wouldn't be split anymore. The point is that some of it has to be covered and we have several Maybe a dozen or two dozen acre feet of the other hundred percent remaining still to have offsets against them We've collected the money For that other hundred percent, but we haven't done projects to do that And I would like to see those those in the list so that we actually cover those as well, right? I think what you're talking about is included under district WDO project requirement Because those are offsets that are purchased but are not yet allocated to a district project So that's what we've been collecting to go towards something like this Okay, so you're that at the end of the day would have covered everything all the hot first hundred percent all the second hundred percent They would buy it all that's what you mean versus do a yes. Okay. I don't have any more questions Just some comments with okay. Let's open it to the public You want to comment on this WDO program? Yes, I I heard some conflicting information I heard that you need credits for future development But I also heard you say that historic overpumping has led to overdraft and seawater intrusion Which is where you're at today and then I heard Conversation about the Aptos village so what I see and the decisions being made is that there's a problem and That this this somehow is going to help Future development continue and continue to exacerbate over pumping and salt water intrusion Monterey situation is real different We got a cease and desist order because the district water district is pulling a lot of water from the Carmel River And so in Monterey for instance, there's no building going on right now and in other areas Unless water credits miraculously become available. There is no building Pacific Grove is another place so we are forced into a Conservation mode and of course everybody's desperately trying to get new water online, but I'm just concerned that there's a focus towards building that's not reflected in realism in terms of the district AMI is not a conservation or water-saving project. It just isn't I can tell you from the electricity that was all the rage that when Smart electric meters would come in that they were going to save electricity and people are going to watch their energy use And all this was going to happen and I've seen the charts from the PUC and It just isn't there and they've had to admit that it's not happening People are not going online to check their electricity usage. They aren't so this isn't going to create more water It's not going to have you've already said that the water savings is hardened So how are people going to dig deeper? And if there is continued drought, there's going to be a problem There will they will have to decide between letting their planting go dry or sucking more water out of the aquifers I Also think that any savings are going to be maybe perhaps dramatically seen in the first year when you say oh These are all the leaks and we got them all fixed And then those leaks are fixed and then the second year and the third year it's gonna Drop down to to the very low level and you'll have occasional things But your big egregious leaks will be fixed all for a very expensive system. You're putting in And one of the variables that will come up for you to experience will be when these water meters are Malfunctioning and so you'll say is it a leak isn't it a leak the situation tonight earlier tonight was about water theft But this won't be necessarily you won't know because the screen is flashing it sent you a certain number But as I said previously, this is a historic problem with water AMI meters is false readings So you won't know what you're actually saving. Thank you next Thank You Ms. Beatty for restating the Error problem with the meters. I want to point out that there are board packet is deficient of your former resolution Identifying the criteria for your water demand offset projects. I Remember your discussions about other water-saving conservation projects that could be Considered for your WDO expenditures and this project was never discussed One of the criteria that is not mentioned in your staff report is that it must be a project that would not have otherwise been done Now it seems to me because your AMR meters are failing you are required to do something The AMI meters do not fit your criteria that you established and your board packet is deficient in Laying that definition out clearly in the ordinance copy for the public So I ask you do not take any action on this tonight Correct the deficiency and bring it back for further discussion I want to take issue that your pilot project is in the Aptos Village project It is a new development and this is only phase one that has been built Is the top of building for the three-story structure the only Transmittial location that you would not own there seems to be a very cozy relationship here with the Aptos Village project And I also want to point out that this is all new construction and would offer no Information about actual water savings because there would be no historic information to compare and really see what's being saved I Also attended one of your special board meetings last month Where in it was stated that in trying to come up with money for to fund the pure water so cal project This was one way for your district to get more money to do that to take the AMI money And have that be paid for by the WDO money, and that would free up money to help pay for pure water So Cal I think this is really disgusting And I think it's disgusting that you're you're going to inundate a Community with this type of EMF Call it water conservation when it does not fit your criteria and use WDO money to do it in In the interest of funding pure water so Cal I Think you need to if you're going to proceed with this you need to find a pilot study place That is old construction that's really going to give you the information that you must buy your own definition Supply your board to justify this WDO expense Next I May I just will mention that In the board memo it specifically has the concept of additionality Which is what you were saying that it wouldn't have happened anyway, so those are outlined pretty clearly on page 113 and 112 and 13 first of all I request equal time Presentation to the misleading and accurate statements that have been given here and Give that time to Becky Steinbruner and Nina Beatty who have researched this quite thoroughly This is very unbalanced and I Think deceptive. I just handed out to you the smart meter brochure and This is touted while you set as a conservation program but the manufacturer and operations of millions of power-consuming smart meters and data centers Increases the electrosmog pollution No power savings no electrical savings power savings have been attributed to smart meters which squander resources for That could be used for other local project and real Savings of energy. That's in this here also Barry Trower has an article here, and I've referred to him before he's an expert on Microwave radiation weaponry and he says these pulse Frequencies and Wi-Fi Etc. Are the same frequencies and power density used by the military to Harm those they considered the enemy and he states How could it be that microwave radiation used to cause impairment illness and death Can be used as a communications tool Of course, it can't be used safely in this article He also addresses the carbon footprint You know how we're always told turn off the lights when you go out of the room But you're never told to turn off the Wi-Fi and this it has been Estimated that the annual carbon footprint for the worldwide Telecommunications industry is approximately a hundred and ten point seven million tons of CO2 into the environment equivalent to the use of 29 million vehicles This isn't a savings of any type except it's great for the telecom industry And you just said how the manufacturer Did not follow through on the warranty. So I think this This is needs to be continued, but this is not Genuinely a savings or an offset to sham. Thank you Next See no one back to the board I just mean it is using you know as far as the question of as you mentioned already They're only transmitting much less than than the previous meter. So I'm I'm happy with that There's it may be sensible though to start someplace I the savings by going someplace where you're putting in new meters is you don't have to put an old one in first and then that But I think having a you know an established community I mean hopefully would I guess my question would be do we have enough established Houses that we'd have data on in that same. Oh, yeah, I'm talking about Roughly three thousand or a quarter of our total services would be part of the pilot Okay, and they just happened to coincide with the new apt us village project. So the majority 95% of those will be existing customers with multiple years of data now I In some ways my head spinning because of all the different information But I was under I thought I've heard that Like you guys already do that you call and say hey, you've got a leak We do like but that's long after you do it once a month, right? And this would be more daily daily I'm not going to be looking at the computer waiting for a leak to come up, right? No, okay Somebody's going to tell me hey, we just noticed you got a leak. You want to look at your toilet? Yes, and with people that sign up with the customer portal they would in the app. They would be notified Immediately through that as well. Okay, so Because I'm not planning on sitting. No, you don't have to sit around looking to see if I have any leaks Okay, and you know, it's it's quite different from The electrical Industry and those smart meters. I mean yeah, they don't call me to tell me I'm using too much or you left the lights on exactly so Okay, yeah, I just want to make sure I'm clear on that and Yeah, and toilets do leak Periodically and you got to go jiggle them because you hear them. You might not notice them running So it's not necessarily a break in your your Waterline yeah, and you can yeah, it could be high usage You can set the parameters on the app To say if you're going to be out of town for a week if I have any usage at all on my meter I want to know about it or if I'm worried that you know, my kids are going to use too much water Playing out in the yard You can set you can set thresholds where you'll get a notification if you exceed that Okay, because I Don't want to have to look at my computer We'll be doing that there's no doubt in my mind that's this will save some water I didn't but I don't know exactly how much so The motion of 86 acre feet I think it's premature I need Personally I need more time to evaluate that And I thought that's what the plan was to come back in in October with a More more details, but I'm I'm I'm for pursuing the idea And In terms of the motion to Reallocate money previously budgeted back to capital facilities reserve fund I think that's premature for me as well to I want to see the details of the of the program So that's where I stand on it I might look at the East Bay Mudd study because I know most of their a lot of the homes are 80 years old or more so Kind of but half you took half of what they came up with you remember those details Did they say how old their homes were that they end? I don't remember So I mean We're in agreement that it's gonna save water I think that we're just I think the biggest question probably is just is the additionality question, right? Dishonality is one question. I feel like it's measurable. How much water is it gonna save? How do we how do we? What do we rely on for that for addition? I think they've tried to be conservative I think what we can say is that We could go ahead and replace the failing registers with AMR registers and continue to operate that system For an additional 10 years But we're choosing to do something above and beyond that because of the benefits of that and so from that Angle, I think it thoroughly meets additionality, especially when we cut that savings in half by that 10 years Putting it another way I'd like to make a comment on that too. You know one of the you know, we have a The industry standard standard on leakage and water wastage is what 8% 8 to 10 percent and we're well within that So this is not but there has been a lot of discuss discussion in the industry literature about Finding ways to reduce that level of water and I'm not even proposing that this Would substantially cut it but I think as you can see from the projects that we're considering the you know At our urban water management plan, you know finding a supplemental supply it could be that we are going to have to put a network or a Whole menu of things into play to save more water and this actually has a potential to do that So that's why I had been interested in furthering this along. We won't really know But actually that is often the case in many WDO projects we make estimates really know that conservative Seescape we refit will actually save a bunch of water either. We don't you know, that's going forward that has math Yeah, they have people there so many days a year and yeah, but now it's still going It's still going forward. This is the project that's going forward and we could Go with the status quo on this But if we have we have sort of an opportunity a window of opportunity to try something That might eat away at this one aspect of water wastage, let me see if I can get us out of here tonight So motion one is approving the funding Well, we're not going to fund this until after the October when we know the details of how this thing is going to work So we don't need to do a motion one tonight We could do motion one when we know exactly how the program is going to work because you're not going to Implement it before you decide how you're going to write but it impacts the finance plan and rates So you'll either included or not included or some portion that was part of the rationale Well, we can make a okay I'm just just laying it out how it will be included in one or the other okay But if we didn't approve funding, then it's not going to be in the finance plan Right well if we don't if we don't approve number one. We don't approve the funding of this Program, and that's not going to be in the finances And if we do put it in the finances, then we would do motion three which is to pay for it with WDO funds So it again is not going to impact things Well, we were under the understanding that the board wanted the AMI Infrastructure project so if it's not included as a WDO, it would be in the finance plan That was no no stay in this motion one is approve the funding of the implementation of AMI But if you're not going to approve that tonight, then we won't well we can make another motion here I'll make a motion to not to not fund it at all Right and wait you can wait until October Right until that time I mean what we had is had it in the finance plan until recently right so stay there until you know Let's direct us differently right it wouldn't be in there And if we do approve it in October, which I would hope I'm ready to prove all three as a WDO As a WDO, then again would be Like it like we're intending to do it now So it wouldn't be paid for out of go pay go funds or anything. It'd be paid by the developers, right? Exactly I will point out to we were hoping to get a little more From you so that we can Present to you the the kind of finances of like the board wants a little bit more from you Okay, right in terms of numbers and how much savings did the East Bay get and and I think tonight We wanted to kind of keep it simple because this is a really large issue It's AMI and the offset program and so we wanted to kind of chunk it out in steps So that it wasn't so overwhelming and and bring back the details at a later date, but it sounds like Most of us need detail before we want some details to think about We like the idea. I do like the idea, but I'm not going to prove 86 acre feet until I right So that's the other that's the other thing we don't need to know tonight So I I can say let's not do any of those three. But you can't do three without doing number one. Yeah So because this has finance plan implications, can I just clarify something quick? Am I adding this project to the finance plan out of Pago? No, so it's not in the finance plan at all and the rates won't support it We do it. We won't do it. We do it. It'll be under WDO. Okay, if we were gonna do it We're gonna do it with other funds. That'd be hard to say. It's really additionality. Yeah Yeah, one of those things we defer for who knows how many decades So and if we if we don't do it at all then the manufacturers just gonna replace the Existing ones with ones with better batteries, right? Yeah, the ones that are under warranty. Yeah, so they're following through on their war Yes, they are following through and they're offering a significant discount if we if we do go forth with the AMI the full system, so I Want to make sure we we it's hard to get you an exact number unless you do Controlled based study so in in the spirit of moving this forward the next time so we hit it more on the mark We may never get exactly where you want to be with something along the lines of Maybe reduce the amount of acre feet till a control study is done because I could see putting in new meters Controlling the section we haven't been done And then if it comes out you could up it up to a higher number or something like that Well, well you just have to do we have to decide on a number I'm just trying to understand what exactly you're looking for because we we've given a good shot on I don't think we're getting close to water savings unless we do a control study and that'll take well time to get data Yeah, we'll have to install a large portion Well, once you could get data from another firm and we East Bay for example was mentioned right I'm not we have to find those numbers or see more into those I don't think we have to wait to do the whole Project with since you predicted we could do it over two years until you have our own study complete Because that would delay it quite a bit would delay the water saving There's two bits doing the project and then apply it to WDO actually you applying the credits to each of the Applicants and they can be separate so we could do the entire project and then start applying it to of course That means you know a lot of people are going to sit in line for two years or longer Yeah, that's something the board would have to be comfortable with it. I Mean I guess for me I would I want the number one is the detail on on the other studies that and as many as you can find that are good solid data and a little more detail on how we came up with the the amount that would be saved and How the how the plan would be rolled out a map of where it's going to be done How many houses are going to be old houses? I mean you're talking about if we did a control type study. It will just I mean you're not going to roll it out You're just doing that just for quality control to see whether it's going to work or not, right? Mm-hmm. I just kind of want all that information And there's anything else. Yeah additionally so If we replace a toilet today We know we're going to get savings from that right away And so we give credit right away with this Even though they're estimates now, we don't know how many times the toilets flushed in the right, but it's more well known than this Yes, I don't know I mean, I think it is still it's not a guarantee even with a toilet And so we have to make a little bit of a leap of faith. We do they're going but the data is there But my point is my my well better data, but my point is this is a little different beast Because this is something that's going to take time for The savings to be realized Because you had three thousand I had a leak and they called me a week later And if they called me the same day, I would have checked it quicker and not had as much Okay, you could save money if you have three thousand homes You're going to save some of those well the first month. Yes And some you're not the leaks great time, but that's where let's flushed every day leaks or happen They happen Over time it was just one house I agree But if you've got a large number of samples large sample size, it's going to happen in some no I agree it's going to happen some of but it it's over time that that it happens And you see your savings over time same with toilets. We kind of have a historic thing here We pay out What two hundred forty thousand dollars and paid out in league adjustments already in the past and we you know with this system Yeah, yeah, I'm obviously more expensive, but it still will cut down into have we have leaked data already We do have leaked data. Yep True back liquid fry find out. How long does the average leak take before you find out about it even now with AMR? That'll be a good number week two weeks work with us on that work with us on that offline maybe really to Devise a methodology excited. I'm comfortable with the number, but obviously there are others who want a little more data A little bit more convincing of the reasonableness Well, we'll go back and find what we can if we can't we'll propose a Another you know way to achieve that obtain that data and see where you want to land Because I think it would be us At this late hour, I'm thinking, you know, it's we install some we see the water savings We hold a control group off to last and we see the difference between the two and Maybe decide on some number and adjust that based on the control study, but maybe we'll come up with other ideas But I know that they've Researched what they can maybe we can go deeper into some of those to give you more information about East Bay mud exactly You know new houses old houses sort of thing Okay, so we need to make a motion that the AMI is not going to be funded out of Pago, right? Is that good enough for you? Okay, I make that motion Okay, second That the AMI will not be funded out of Pago The only way we would ever fund it now is if we were to decide to do it out of WDO And you suck did it all in favor hold on before you go for it. We're doing it already So we're already paying out of doing out of Pago. So maybe there's some Okay explain So we're replacing the registers because they're they're hybrid and so we're using them in the AMR mode right now and We need to continue to do that so that we can get ahead of the ones that are not putting an AMI infrastructure No, it's not putting in the infrastructure It's putting in a hybrid register to basically read it the same way We've been reading it and so we need funding to be able to continue that Otherwise, we're going to get in a situation where we can't keep up with all of the manual reading that we need to do All right And you could give her numbers for what you need to have to do that hybrid replacement as opposed to just the So AMR registered replacement Any idea what that would be To keep the project moving I Mean they're like a hundred and twenty dollars per register and we we want to keep things going if we have a two-year Implementation, I would think we would want to get through a quarter of them and then at six months. So Boy It's bad to do math, but if you want to direct us direct us to whatever To include whatever is appropriate to to continue to replace them and Maybe I'm not understanding. So we had a million dollars in our budget this year for the project And so that needs to be moved out Even though we haven't approved the other funding mechanism for the project Well because it constrains our budget Mm-hmm suddenly drop a million dollars in there means something's got to get pushed out Maybe get rid of all the rebates for example without it to it You know something big is gonna have to change to make that fit in because we're really planning our heads Okay, wouldn't have to fit in So so is the is that we may have to come back on this one But is the concept here don't spend any of the capital any of our money on AMI right now or our budget for it is that it's other than the replacement That is going on the registers other than replacement of registers No other funds will be from and some funds have been spent already. So does that We had budgeted a million dollars in this year's budget out of capital facilities reserve Toward the AMI project Towards AMI or towards replacement of the fault. Well, we called it the AMI project So it was a kind of a combination of replacement of the existing registers with the hybrids, but it's not starting Infrastructure Infrastructure we have not reprogrammed meters to read an AMI mode We're still gonna be towers right they're just little in their antennas Yeah, so the question from a from a finance plan perspective is then do I go ahead and include additional funding in the finance plan for subsequent years To continue that project or do we stop with the million dollar capital facilities reserve that we allocated this year? How much is gonna cost us to do these registers? And is it just the registers that failed we're talking about or all the registers? Because that's a huge difference. All right, let us go. Yeah, I mean I can't let us down that cause what it would it be appropriate to Because we've all been going since five Yeah, let's let's table. Let us continue in the motion. We've been doing only one more agenda item and then letters and to It's not gonna be you have closed session Well, I guess we could come back after closed session, couldn't we? Well, I don't I don't mean All right, well, that doesn't resolve it Once they're the details that I agree with I'm supportive, but I'm not supportive until I agree with the details Oh, I think the best thing is to continue it So we'll come back and we don't have to have an emotion about Do we have a motion to continue it? I'll make that Well, do we need to withdraw the thing we sure let's do that. We just passed There is funding there is funding already allocated towards it this budget here. Okay, so we can just let us keep it the way it is Okay So Motion to you made a motion to continue it to the next next meeting All right next Yeah, yeah for us to get it. Okay. I'll second that Thank you. All in favor Goes on six. It's a big subject. We appreciate all your work. We really do. It's just you know, we all It's kind of a big decision bill format so we're in the midst of Implementing a new software program for Utility billing and for finance The go live date on it is expected to be next spring However, we're at the stage where we need to evaluate the forms that we're going to be using with this new software So we're taking the opportunity especially look like a to look at a form That's highly customized like our current billing statement and decide whether The new Tyler system has a form that we can utilize already that standard or whether we need to continue with a custom solution So my question of the board tonight is I've given you kind of a look at what our current bill looks like and what the Tyler options are To see if we need to stay with a custom bill or if there's one of the Tyler formats that you feel comfortable with Question, what's the price difference that I don't know yet. It depends upon the level of customization of our bill Okay, that's important. So it will be more Of course It depends upon whether we stick with our current bill or if you want to change our current bill into something else That would be a different price. I like our current bill and in particular. I like the flexibility of having flexibility So if we decide something new comes up, we already have it in hand that we can change it and add it Again given the price Can I just ask a question? Why are we? Considering changing it well, Springbrook didn't offer us a very robust standard billing option the Form that they had for us didn't even include a breakout by tears So at that time the board decided that our customers needed more information on their bill And so we went to a custom bill format now that we're looking at Tyler They do have a more robust standard form that does include tiered billing It's not as pretty as our current bill probably not as eye-catching but it does include tiered billing and it would include a Comparison graph if we so chose But there is some flexibility in us designing our own bill We can put different things on there. We can put graphics. We can put pictures I know for our commercial customers. We don't actually use the household efficiency graph. We actually put a JPEG image of one of our current ads that are running in our newspapers So our commercial customers get a small ad on their bill So that's some customization that we can continue to utilize with Tyler or we can go with one of their standard forms And I just wanted to give the board that option Yeah, well the graphics weren't as eye-catching Unless it's prohibitively expensive to go with the way that we're going now I would say we should continue it. Okay. It won't be any more expensive than what we're currently doing It would it would be a cost savings rather than an additional expense. I like the current one, too I guess we have we need to do the motion on that motion number one public team. Oh When Mr. Justice on this item, okay bill format. I'll make the motion Oh Thank you, I have a question I I think I heard you say that on commercial bills. There's a commercial ad. Is that correct? There's a there's an ad there's a space on the commercial bill where we take out the household efficiency graph and We add a an image of an ad that is currently running in one of our newspapers So it's an ad for something relevant to the district, right? It would be you know save water All right, that's what I wanted to clarify that type of whatever we're running. Yeah, thank you very much Anyone else I'll make motion number one. I'll second Any discussion on? Favor hi That's unanimous. Okay We have some written communications and correspondence You wouldn't want to talk about anything in the public Becky Steinbruner Some of these are in communications are from me and I would like a Written response to my communications. I Again feel that the public warrants Additional time to review the draft EIR for pure water so Cal I Understand that the public may still continue To submit comment But those comments do not have to be addressed in the final EIR as I understand Law and maybe mr. Basso can help us with that so we can continue to send in comment, but it may not be of any import in the final product and Most people don't know that that you can continue the people I've talked with recently have said well I guess I lost my chance Because I couldn't get through that document So I again don't understand the big push if you truly have not decided on Selecting this project. What is the harm in giving the public a little more time? It can only improve your public image in this whole thing and that I don't understand why you're not willing to do So with that I do want to also point out that one of the emails from mr. Sile was that he didn't know where to take it He was told he couldn't take it at to the UPS store and brought it to the district offices and those People whoever they were didn't know anything about the UPS store and said well you should have been bringing it here anyway So there was confusion There was no clear method in the document about where to hand deliver things and some people like to do that because they do not trust the U.S. Mail and Do not have access to the internet So again, I want to ask that you reconsider your decision and grant more time on the EIR Even though people may still submit comment most do not know they can do that and any comments Registered after the close of the 45-day Minimum required date, and I will repeat it was the minimum required date by law. You can extend it Their comments will not be having the same weight or or consideration in the final document. Thank you Thank you One more. Hi, sorry Gary lids from Aptos. I want to reiterate what Becky was saying We did start reading this in June and July I took it upon myself to start reading it and it is so in depth that one person can't just sit there and Calculate everything that's in there You came to miss to one of our sessions because everybody was having this problem They couldn't decipher all the information in there. So we all decided to take a section of it Now by just taking a section of it Then we had to start researching deeper into that To make sure that the information we were giving was proper and correct and Losing that two weeks all of us some of us were just finishing up our first Draft of what we wanted to say So that two weeks cutting it off kept us from printing up what we worked so hard on for a month and a half two months So I just think that the two-week extension would have been a whole lot of help to a lot of people and again, it would have been Nice thing to do just simply for the fact that this is a huge project, I Mean 90 at the least 90 million dollars It's just I just think it warrants the public having as much say as possible And the two weeks would have helped us a great deal You're not getting the reports that were written that were on their first draft So, you know, I hope you'll reconsider. Thank you. Thank you Anyone else? See no one. Okay Anyone want to talk about any of these letters? No. No, okay. We're done closed session Discussion with council concerning pending elicitation Thank you everyone