 I'm happy to see so many of you here tonight, so we will have, there is nothing to report out of closed session and we will now have a roll call, open this, open meeting and have a roll call. What do you think? Director Ferris? Here. Director Falls? Here. President Henry? Here. Director Swan? Here. Director Swan is here via telecom. And you can hear us alright Steve? I can hear you just fine Willis. Okay great. So first item on the agenda is any additions or deletions to the open session? I have none. Oral communications, it's five, you get five minutes. How many of you think you're going to want to talk? I might not be able to give you five minutes. Not too many of you. You get five minutes and you may talk about anything that's not on the agenda. So who wants to go first here? Larry, do you want to go first? Okay, okay thank you. Larry Ford Felton, I think I'm going to get into conversation about fire management when that comes up on the agenda. Yeah you should wait for that. I will. And I'll speak then. Yeah. And I'll speak that in the eyes. Great. So I wanted to raise another issue. I'm concerned about habitat conservation and I'd like to know what the board or what the Water District has been doing, particularly about sandhills conservation and control of the brooms. I'm concerned about the endangered species there. We're now near the end of the growing season for brooms, which is a non-native invasive pest shrub and it severely threatens the sandhills habitat. We all know that. But I'm concerned that the board cut the Water District's environmental program by 50% recently and that doesn't sound very good for proceeding with control of the brooms and protection of the endangered species habitat. So I'd like to know what the updated plans are for both integrated pest management and also habitat maintenance of the sandhills habitat that we have. I learned that the district has now lost their other environmental employee. And so I'm really alarmed about that. That sounds like, you know, we're in some pretty bad shape. So I'd like to know why that happened and what is going to be done to fill back in the environmental staff. Thank you. Unfortunately, we can't answer all those questions. Okay. Virgil, you had your hand up there. Yeah. Thank you, Virgil. I think we need a strategy to better, you know, manage our Santa Margarita groundwater agency involvement. I've been a, you know, and I'd like to suggest that we have an agenda item on the next meeting to discuss this because we've got to have some kind of a coordination because I think we're being marginalized there. And I've been attending them for most of a year now. And there's still no clarity about their motivations, their goals, and the intended impact on the aquifer. And we depend on half, you know, half of our water comes from that aquifer. So anyway, and I'm also confused by the origins of the agency because we were originally considered ignorable by the state. And, you know, with respect to the Sustainable Ground Water Act. And that apparently somebody on our end thought that SIGBA was a good idea and petitioned the state for inclusion. This is just a rumor. I don't know this for sure, but we do need to know this. And we need to understand what that motivation is, and that might help, you know, inform our participation in it. It's a very expensive endeavor. We need to make sure that it's in our best interest. And I see no coordinated effort to do that. Thank you. Yes, I can clarify why. I don't think that's appropriate now. Can I jump by any of the boards? Okay, and give information to the board as to why the initial... You have about five minutes to speak. On the issue of the Santa Maria, I think it is a very important issue and I think that will be in the future. The reason for that was that the initial groundwater basins as defined were defined based upon the alluvial outprops, which are tiny, small and tiny pieces of the district. It looked from the perspective of the Department of Water Resources that there wasn't much going on there. So the Department of Water Resources did not understand the basin. The basin designations were inaccurate. They were wildly inaccurate. So when the reality of what those basins looked like came to be known, that was communicated to DWR. And it is realistic that the basin be a medium priority, not a critical one, but it's a medium priority basin properly. And there's nothing unusual going on for that change in designation. Thank you. Anybody else in public comment out there? Yes, sir. Yeah, my name's Dave from Felton. And I just was looking online at the applications or the statements from the potential new board members. And I was really impressed that we had somebody applying for a job that's a 40-year geology professor from Stanford who has substantial knowledge of groundwater issues who's willing to meet. You know what, you're going to get to talk about that when we take that item up and you can say all the good things you want about it. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Anybody else, any item that's not on the agenda? Okay. All right. So we will, and we're going to get to what you want to talk about. Unfinished business, the vacancy in the elective office of the board of directors. Do you want to? Yeah, but just your counsel, Nichols, that will take the time. Sure. Okay. So I provided the prior briefing on the process by which the board chose to appoint a new board member to fill the vacancy rather than going down the route of having a special election call. So the district did post the notice that was required for at least 15 days to solicit applicants. You have four applications, I believe, in your board packet. The board president has a good deal of discretion how to shape this process, but a recommendation is to do it as we have in the past for this type of process, which is to allow the applicants to introduce themselves, pose any prepared questions you may have to each of the applicants, conduct public oral communications where the public can speak to express their views about the applicants, and then board discussion where if you would like, Chairperson Henry, the suggestion would be to have each board member provide comments before entertaining motions to appoint any different applicants. Okay. Thank you. So I'm going to kind of do this like we did it the last time we went through this and call on the applicants alphabetically by last name. And I will ask them to introduce themselves. I have some questions. I'll run by the questions. The board hasn't heard them. So if board member wants to add something to the questions, I have six questions here. First one is why do you want to be on the board and what skills do you bring to the board? Two, do you understand the dynamics of being a board member? Three, what is your commitment to civil discourse? Four, being on the board is a big time commitment and hopefully you need to understand that. Number five is can you deal with criticism and listen? Six, are you familiar with the mission of Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency? So, and do you have anything you want to add? Lou? No. Okay. That being the case, I will call on Brant first. Is he there? Brant's on his way here from work. He had to work in the Bay Area today, so he'll be here any moment. Okay. If you could call him last, that would be appreciated. Is that an issue? No. Okay. So Gail, you'd be next. I guess we could hear you from back there. Probably. He might be tough to get out. So if you could just introduce yourself, give us a little information about yourself. Some of these questions, they're probably in your, what you gave to the board to see, but not everybody gets to see them. So some of my questions you will be repeating yourself probably. So just introduce yourself and give us the highlights. Okay. I'm Gail Mayhooth and I moved to Felton a couple of years ago and rapidly learned about the paradox of living in the Santa Cruz Mountains where there's an awful lot of water, but not enough storage of it. And I started attending the Santa Margarita groundwater basin meetings and became very interested in the problems of understanding the aquifer. These are rock units that I've known about because I've led field trips at Stanford for 40 years to the coast showing undergraduate students the same Santa Margarita water reformation and the purism and the granites that are the basement of us. And so I recently retired after 40 years and I'd like to contribute to the community and I thought maybe a good way to do that would be to partly be encouraged by my neighbors, including Elaine here, that I might want to get involved with the board. So when this opening came up and I thought that perhaps my skills in geology would be complementary to the skills of the other board members. Okay. So number one question was, why do you want to be on the board and what skills do you bring? I think I sort of answered that already. Let me just clarify. I am not a hydrologist. My specialty actually is volcanology. But because I've taught courses to general audiences and have led field trips all over the western U.S., I'm familiar with hydrology, geohydrology, and the sort of vocabulary that gets used in that. And I'm also familiar with the sorts of modeling and simulations that are done for groundwater models, for example, that we have to produce for the groundwater sustainability plan. So my second question was, do you understand the dynamics of being on board? What do you mean the dynamics? Well, I mean, what, as a board member, what are your responsibilities? Well, as I... Kind of, you know, how does a board work? My understanding is there's two meetings a month of the board of directors. And there's, obviously, from the agenda that we were sent, there's considerable homework that goes along with this. If you're going to do a good job, right? Reading all of these things. And then serving as a member on some of the other committees. So for example, in my case, I think maybe the engineering committee or the environmental one. And then, of course, I would like to be involved as a liaison with the Santa Barbara to the groundwater basin. And I guess I would also anticipate probably going to the meetings of the Central Coast groundwater, the Mid County groundwater, because they're way ahead of us. I haven't read, I've scanned the 400-page behemoth that we have that is their proposed groundwater sustainability plan. And so we're kind of lucky in the sense that they've got different groundwater issues, but at least we have a template for that. So I think following what they're doing would be helpful. So as far as the way boards like this run, I know that you deal with issues that are contentious and it's important that people be civil when they speak to each other. I've been a department chair at Stanford. I've been a vice provost. I've been a chair at the Stanford Faculty Senate. I know how to be involved in meetings and keep things civil. And so I know what that requires. I think you just answered question number three. Your commitment to civil discourse, right? Yes. And you realize being on the board can be a big time? I think I've described what I anticipate that there would be. And then there's, you know, presumably also, I think one of the things that I see as a challenge for the board is once we get going on the Santa Margarita Groundwater Sustainability Plan, that's going to have to be communicated to the public and, let's say, sold, but get buy-in from the public. And so people understand it. And so I, you know, I can see that's not going to happen the next year, but going forward, either one way or another, I would like to be involved in helping do that. How do you deal with criticism? Because, obviously, we get quite a bit. Well, let's say you're not a professor at Stanford. You get used to getting criticism, especially when you've been chair of the faculty senate. For example, I was a student suggesting I'd be taken out and hung because I suggested maybe we should bring back family grade at Stanford. So we're writing, you know, grant proposals and other people say great nasty things to you. So I've had plenty of experience being criticized. And I think I can handle it. Okay, good. So my sixth question, you know about Santa Margarita. You've been to the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency meetings. Any other thing you want to say? Just to echo what you're saying, this is really important, right? And it's going to, you know, not this year, but in the next couple of years it's going to be increasingly a big job of this board to develop that. And it's also going to control what we have to do in terms of thinking about reserving for capital improvements in the future that may be required in part by coming into compliance with things that have to do with the groundwater basin and also things that involve in the new and transfer of waters to various parts of the groundwater basin. So this is beyond the things that we're doing now which is fixing making pipes. It's a big issue. Thank you. Okay. Rick Moran. Rick Moran from Venlo. Thank you for considering my application. I grew up near Pond, and I saw the near extinction of the osprey, sea hawk or fish hawk. Nearby farmers had been using DDT, and DDT had the unintended consequence of causing thin, undeveloped eggshells. The osprey was in danger of extinction. The people responded. DDT was banned. They survived, and now the osprey is thriving. That was an important lesson to me. Now, our water district has a slogan of pipes, pumps, and tanks. Well, I have intimate knowledge of pipes, pumps, and tanks. I lived on a submarine for four years. Our lives depended on the smooth operation of those pipes, pumps, and tanks. Our water district also is heavily responsible for the alliance on those pieces of machinery. It will always be a top priority of mine that pipes, pumps, and tanks are taken care of. Now, some of you may know me from the Environmental Committee, where I served two terms, and I brought up and created awareness about the dangers of roundup and glyphosate. The people of this valley heard that. They responded. They voted for three new members of the board to promise not to use glyphosate. It was one of the first things this board did, was ban glyphosate. Thank you for that. Well, we're not done. We need to create an integrated pest management plan that deals with pest issues throughout the district. So... Yes? If I ask you the first question, why do you want to be on the board and what skills you bring? Are these...is that something you're going to... Yes. Talk about... Yes, I will. Okay. So you know me from the Environmental Committee. As a teacher, I taught at Quail Hollow School and SLB Elementary. I taught the Life Lab program. It was a science-based, hands-on, outdoor program. At White Oak High School, I taught environmental science, and my classes built a garden, raised a garden, and then ate from that garden. But they also became focused observers of their environment. They looked at the sand hills, the redwood forests, the creeks, they became environmentally literate in my class about their valley and their future in this valley. At home, I'm a gardener and my wife and I, we drought and flood have maintained that garden. And we often give garden tours. Most recently, we gave a garden tour to the Valley Churches United. Over 600 people visited our garden. They saw in our garden was organic food crops. They saw drought-tolerant Irish field. They saw cactus and succulent garden that thrives and droughts. But mostly, what they saw was that the appreciation and what we all share is the appreciation for this beautiful place. We've won awards, our gardeners won awards from the Monterey Bay Master Gardeners Program for water conservation. And my goal would be to have a water system that we can pass on to our next generation that they could live in this beautiful place. Thank you for your questions. That was a statement that I wanted to make. All right. Thank you. So why do you want to be on the board and what skills do you bring? Well, I've been coming to board meetings and I've been involved in various committees and various board and district activities for a few years now. And a few things that I'm interested in dealing with is the infrastructure. There is a bold infrastructure that is updated. There's broken pipes that need to be replaced. There's leaky tanks that need to be replaced as well. That's the top priority of mine. Also, water rates. We have a population that many people are on a tight budget and we need to be fiscally responsible. Third, we need an integrated pest management policy. We need to be environmentally sound caretakers of our watershed. And that means we need to have a district-wide guidelines about dealing with pest issues. Not just the sand dunes. And fourth is we need to get this grand jury investigation behind us. We need to follow their recommendations and get this behind us. But mostly, in those years that I've been coming I've seen three board members resign. And part of our political tradition is that we all ordinary citizens participate. Well, I'm an ordinary citizen. I want to participate. This is me stepping up to that obligation. You understand the dynamics of being on a water board. Yes, I do. I've come to many meetings. I've met with all of you privately or in public. And I've been on the committees. And I have a realistic expectation of what this job requires. And I've been able to fulfill that. And I already know the answer to this. What is your commitment to civil discourse? Well, I've been on losing any civil discourse. So I'm a proponent of being civil. And if I have the opportunity to be on this board I will be a respectful listener who works to find common ground. And you realize a big time commitment. Yes, I do. I've experienced it. I've been on these committees. I've come to meetings. I've been involved. So can you deal with criticism and listen? I've been criticized my whole life. I grew up with a family of four and I've been married for 43 years. I've gotten some criticism. We've worked it all out. We've worked it all out. You go, Chris. Okay. He can take it. Okay. Are you familiar with the mission of the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency? I am familiar with the purpose and the state mandate of the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency. I support there the idea of regional cooperation. But make no doubt I would never give up local control of our watershed. Thank you. Very much. Andrew Steele. Andrew Steele, is he here? So okay. Okay. Is Brandt here? I am. I'm late to the party. Thank you. Junior. Oh, it doesn't say junior. Well, Brandt, L had in junior. I had your service, ma'am. Okay. I wonder you were confused. Oh, all right. Yes, I'm confused. You're not the first. You won't be the last. I got blonde roots, so I can't help it. All right. So did you hear kind of some of the questions and that you're to step up and Sure. I've heard as long as I've been in here I heard the last interview. Okay. And to introduce yourself just give a little brief history of yourself. Ladies and gentlemen of the community and members of the board, my name is Brandt L Had in junior. I'm from Longpeaco. Alumni at San Jose State University. I run a small security firm. It's based in between Campbell and South San Jose. It's a little all the way down here into the valley. So I probably have 17 major contracts. Largest one is a C's Candy Corporation which I'm sure you're all familiar with. I was actually on a conference call with them so I apologize for my tardiness. But I am more than at your service at this moment for any questions that you guys have. I have six questions actually. Please do. Okay. I'm on the board and what skills do you bring? Well that's a fantastic question. First and foremost my whole thing is I'm a business man. And I've been lauded for my skills in quantitative analysis especially as a result to interpreting big data statistics hence my success at a young age. This seems like quite the problem with a lot of dynamic global issues. And these are the things that I really strive to analyze and find solutions for. Now often times in something as complicated as this I would be not totally honest if I said that I had full understanding of all of the concepts but I think that in that system is really what lies the kind of master of my facilitation skills in our ability to kind of take a step back and have a larger look at the overall problem and then find a common ground solution that works with all of the interchangeable variables in such a dynamic environment as the water district. Question two. Do you understand the dynamics of being on, of being a board member being on a board? Certainly and that's a fair question for someone my age. I've been the vice president of San Jose State Hockey for several years which is one of the largest hockey clubs in the collegiate level in the AACHA on the west coast and I started doing that off the young. I was also involved in student politics as a young kid growing up which was always a little bit too much fun but the nice thing about it is that as much as any young man could without actually being a member of this board I do understand the dynamic relationship of such a diverse group right and my whole commitment is to take a thorough understanding of that and do a comprehensive analysis and then work with yourself and the rest of the members of the board and the community to find reasonable solutions. Good answer. What is your commitment to civil discourse? Well I'm a big fan of history ma'am and I believe it was JFK who made a commentary on the importance of civil discourse and there's something to the effect of from debate comes understanding and in these type of issues often times I think that the biggest problem is having a difficult time understanding the scope of the problem because often times when you can do a good job of creating that sort of awareness it's a little bit easier to still take a solution. Being on the board is a big time commitment. Sounds like you've got a pretty busy job and there's committees, there's board meetings, there's various and sundry things there's the packets of reading. So do you have that kind of time? That's a fair question. I do have the time ma'am and I also have the youthful vigor to do my due diligence in that regard as well which I think is probably something we're going to need. It doesn't really take youthful vigor. Well you certainly have enough of it now. Oh boy! He is good! Okay. Can you deal with criticism and listen? I think that listening is the key word in dealing with criticism there. It's important to feel criticism especially because you know we all have the curse of a limited perspective right? So the more details we can take in and the more feedback from colleagues, peers, members of the community, mentors always is the benefit for not just myself but for the community in such a role. Last question are you familiar with the Santa Margarita groundwater you can see? I am familiar with the fact that it is a massive undertaking going underway here. I've been doing my due diligence in the research on all the variables associated with that and so I guess the best way to answer that question is to say I'm not going to stop learning about the Santa Margarita situation as it continues to develop and it seems like at this point that seems to be pretty much the consensus is it's a large issue and it definitely impacts efficiency and sustainability and future plans going forward in terms of finding efficient solutions to growth and not just that but creating community awareness. But I guess the answer to that one is as much as anyone could at this point. That's true. Well, I thank you for coming in and answering the questions. My pleasure. Thank you. So did Andrew Steele ever show up? No? Okay. Alright. So what I'm going to do now is turn it over to the public you can make comments about who impressed you, why they impressed you, whatever just be nice. Okay, I see a hand way back there. Oh, okay. Okay, Elaine. How many people are going to want to comment? Oh, I guess five minutes is okay. Okay, Elaine. Okay, hi everyone. I'm Elaine Fresco. I live in Felton and I serve as a volunteer on the environmental committee and I'm here to support Gail's application for the board. She is a neighbor a friend and we both belong to the same book group. So I have I know about her educational and her professional qualifications which can't be more impressive but I also know her in a group setting and we have a diverse group and we talk about our books but we also get off topic and sometimes it gets fairly heated and Gail is the calm and reasoned and diplomatic voice of her group. Everyone admires her and likes her and respects her and she's a very good listener and she's a very good teacher. She has a great way of explaining concepts and so I just think she would be an incredible asset serving on the environmental committee I've got those packets of information especially if you don't have the background I've had to google all these definitions to figure out what they were talking about so I think in that way also she just would be a wonderful addition to the board. Anybody else? That's my chair. That's my chair. I'm loaded for bear. I'm Gabe McClellan from Felton and I read most of the people and statements online and I was most notably really struck by the chance of us to have a geologist with 40 years experience on the board of this water company and also somebody like Grant Matt seems to have a really good grasp of business workings and I just wanted to say it seems like a really great opportunity these people have showed up now and that's what I had to say. Anybody else? Virgil? I've heard from Champlain Brookhead. You know this is the best candidate or best applicant congregate that I have ever seen in the several years that I've been watching this and it's kind of like you people get to pick the best of the best rather than the least worse and so I kind of really hate to take sides here but I happen to have witnessed the experience of Rick Moran and so if all things are equal the thing that isn't equal is the open history and exposure that Rick Moran has had for the last few years and so the quality of the candidates is no longer an issue they just took that away from you and he has integrity he has civility he was pilloried by a previous board and took it with the stride of withdrawal rather than engagement he would have to have been in civil to do that and you know that director that was responsible this was no longer here fortunately and I see the existing directors as being a font of um uh engagement and I don't know whether these applicants are the result of that engagement or serendipity for both really good reasons and he's also the only one that is mentioned affordability the only person that's mentioned affordability that is potential candidate and except for the California state water code it insists on affordability yet nobody raises that section 106.3 paragraph 8 and I've got to support that because there are a lot of people that aren't here now that affordability is a crucial thing in their life and I've said enough well I might be a little biased because I'm Brant Haddon's stepmother having had him in my household for 29 years now I can say he's a fine young man he worked not soccer hockey put himself through San Jose State I think he knows how to manage his time he's smart, he's sharp and he like he said is full of youthful vigor so I hope you consider him thank you any other my name is Alexis Crosstume from Felton and I was looking at the applications online and I think Gail was extremely qualified so I really urge you to appoint her thank you Annie okay Bill yes I really want to support Brant because he has so much experience with the district already and the general area he's attended board meetings he's been on the environmental committee and spends a great deal of time concerned about the environment and about the water district in general improving in the future of this current new board that has actually changed things considerably since the last election and I think that he would contribute a lot it would take him any time to get up to speed because he's already very knowledgeable about the Cummings annoyance of the district and he has problems and solutions that he proposes thank you anybody else Debbie Deborah Lohan and I'm also in support of Rick Ryan I've worked with Rick a lot on different projects in the district and I'm quite aware of his passion for environmental stewardship which I think is the missing key in this board on what he brings in addition to all the other qualified candidates is his depth of service and interest and his public outreach is outstanding he has a real passion for getting people to understand what the issues are and of reacting to what people want and I think that's what this board needs is someone who's really on top of where this district stands what we're motivated by what direction we're going in right now and he has some whole history with him and I agree with Bill he's going to hit the ground running and be a real asset and so I support the board's election attempt for this position thank you I'm Virginia Wright and I applied last time there was enough for you Ryan I remember I liked you if I would have gone for a woman well maybe you can have the opportunity to go for a woman this time I went online I read the application I'm trying to become more familiar with the water board and following things more than I have in the past and I really think that Bill would bring a lot because she is new and because she brings a level of it looks to me but it looks to me she would bring a level of professional interaction because I know what it's like both my parents were academics and I know that that situation of being in those meetings with very it can be very contentious to be in those things and she served on boards and committees and bringing that sort of level of expertise and new eye is actually something that's really helpful thank you yes my name is Martha Garrity and I'm bright small there's my bias is biological mother and I just want to talk a little bit about my son's strengths he has a creative solutions approach to problem solving things outside the box he grew up with a philosophy I don't know if you guys have read Rich Dad Poor Dad but he basically teaches that instead of saying this can't be done he says how can we get it done and that I think is huge because it opens up the possibilities to allow things to come in of learning we don't know what we don't know he also offers diversity to the board which I think is very important and the other thing that he has is he's a very caring person and taking care of people has always been one of his priorities many many years ago he actually went above and beyond to make sure that all of his cousins got Christmas presents and he was the one who provided them that year which is above and beyond for a young man to do it we have a massive family don't we and this day and age so I just want to say that I think his assets and his qualities and his caring about the community and about people he also puts in lots of extra time in taking care of the property and developing making sure that it's safe and that it's accessible and all of the water damage after the large floods that were done he spent a massive amount of time working on the property with that and bringing in some of his peers from San Jose State who have different businesses and different skills and abilities to help with that so I'd like to have you seriously consider thank you you have a fabulous young son thank you back Barbara thanks I was trying to see who had their paw that one I wanted to support Rick Moran I think I've known Rick for a couple of years and I've seen his passion about the environmental issues most specifically banning of life estate he brought forward a lot of the scientific data on health issues associated with this poison and he's had a passion for the environment and served two terms on the SLBWD Environmental Committee he attends most of the board meetings I know that he follows a lot of literature he subscribes to a lot of environmental literature and he's well aware of everything that the board is doing every single month I did also want to say that I was very impressed with Gail's resume and I think that someday you might make a great director but I think you probably need to have a little more visibility and be on the committee and just contribute but I was extremely impressed with your resume thank you and right right behind you is you Barbara Hanson Pelton I too am very impressed with Gail's resume and I feel it's really important on a board to have someone who's extremely good at managing expectations and system systems that she has wherewithal to do some of that education that we're going to need in the future that Santa Margarita is critical to our health of our community and I really want to see that succeed and I know it's going to take public attention I have a neighbor right now who has grass and waters as long as every damn day you know our people need to understand we live in a stricken area and education should be attended to thank you Peter Gallblum I live in Boulder Creek Grant sounds like a wonderful guy but I think that the choice really has to be between Rick and Gail and through the experience and for me it comes down to this that Gail is great to have a woman on the board who's severely unbalanced right now but more importantly she has this extraordinary depth of learning it's not just the resume but she knows more than probably anybody in this room does about the geology of this area and about geology in general including Rick probably Rick has a few more years experience with the board I think he's been following for three years and it's his first serving the environment committee in 2016 so and Gail I think has been following for two years now since she got here so one more year for Rick but it seems to me that it would be a great deal easier for Gail to learn about what she doesn't already know about the districts in her workings then it would be for Rick to learn what Gail has learned in 40 years not teaching science it's too late for any of us to learn everything she's learned so to bring those two things it seems to me that Gail is a better choice anybody else out there oh yes Lerner I saw your finger it was like okay was there somebody there was there somebody behind Larry Ford Felton wow this is really a difficult choice and each one of the three candidates who just presented themselves offers an awful lot I as you know I'm really concerned about fire management and habitat conservation I think we're in an extraordinary moment where we need really significant technical and innovation skills I think those are the two most important skills that you want to judge these candidates on the technical skills that they bring and innovation I was particularly impressed by Grant talking about his expertise with comprehensive analysis of big data you might not be aware of what that is but this is what's about to descend from Silicon Valley not only are they keeping track of all of our habits online and phone calls and things like that but it's also a lot of data that can be analyzed quickly in order to make decisions that normal people couldn't do so I think this is an extraordinary opportunity for you to pick somebody like Grant to be able to add that to mention we talked in previous board meetings about the dilemma of we have to cut costs we have to contain costs well the way to maintain an environmental program and other things while still cutting costs is through innovation so let's see some innovation let's bring that more to the forefront in here and then the other thing is it'd be crazy not to pick Gail emeritus professor at Stanford oh my god so all the skills that come with that about working with people understanding about how education comes together with technical knowledge I think either of those two would be really outstanding additions to this board I'm a technical person I also appreciate other things but I think there's a time of urgency to solve some really important problems one of them is the geology of these mountains and the other one is innovation to solve problems while cutting costs anybody else out there that I can't see I guess that does it I appreciate your comments fabulous all three of them I'm going to go to the board now and let them make some choices I'm going to go to you first Bob okay I have to echo what Larry was saying and I was saying this is a fabulous group in which to choose one of the things that I do think our board has responsibility to do is to work and encourage the next generation of leadership that transition is going to happen faster than all of us sitting up here want one way or the other and we need to be working on that and I think the kind of skill set that you have lends itself well to a board seat at some point in the future I would encourage you in the short term to become involved in one of our committees and the committee openings will happen in December and we do also have an opening engineering committee right now I think this would be a great way for you to learn a lot more about the district and to invest some time in understanding the issues that we face and I would recommend the same thing to Professor Moot because your background course is outstanding and I think there's a lot that you could help us with through the academic process myself I mean I I support Rick because I was actually at the meeting where that act took place and I never met Rick before I didn't know who he was but after I saw him articulate his position so well in public and to stand his ground when faced with and do it in a way that was very civil even when faced with a barrage I said that guy I want to be in a foxhole with when he first comes to show because he has the understanding of the environment in a way that just really impressed me that's two years ago now Rick I think maybe two and a half so take three it's been a while and I think Rick you've made an outstanding board member you will hit the ground running if you are selected you have my support Steve are you still with us? absolutely do you want to voice an opinion? I'd be happy to I was when I first heard that there was going to be an evasion on the board the first and only name that came to my mind was Rick Moran and I was so happy that he applied for the open position having read the applications and some of the residents of the other applicants as Bob said I couldn't encourage them enough to take the opportunity to participate in some of the committees that are open and will be open in the future and that's a great way of getting some of the nuts and bolts experiences with the board and the water district is like and as well as getting an opportunity to become more familiar with the staff in the board I'm I'm just thrilled to be in support Rick in his efforts to become a director I thank all the candidates for their participation and again I encourage them to get involved with the committees to start with and get ready for the next vacancy because there will be another one sooner or later Thank you Steve Luke First of all I'd like to echo what so many people have said which is that we're lucky to have a strong qualified group of applicants tonight and I'd like to thank everyone for applying for the position on the board I'd like to address all the applicants at this point and say continue to engage because if you don't get on keep trying and you will I think it was my fourth attempt to try to serve the board or serve the district before I was seated on the board so sometimes perseverance is the right attitude along with the right skills As far as who to pick I think about the skill set that's important to be a board member and as I analyze the different skills that are required or that I think that are required the one that really jumps out at me is being familiar with this district and our unique problems I think it's important for a person to be able to hit the ground running because that's what they'll need to do we have a very ambitious schedule of things we want to accomplish next year there's going to be an election so there's going to be some distractions from what we need to do so we really need to have the people on board that can get things done quickly and familiarity is something you just cannot replace so for that reason I believe the best candidate for the board is Rick Moran so I support him for a board member and again I encourage the others to continue to apply your term will come well it doesn't sound like I'm going to get a woman uh Grant you're great I would love you to be on the board and it would be great if you would actually apply to be on a committee I think you have a lot to offer man and don't call me man though um sorry um Gale I'm so impressed with you I talked to you at Santa Margarita meeting um I thought you'd be fabulous also um and hey another woman not that it matters whether it's a woman or a man it shouldn't it's mostly the men who say they want another woman I don't know why they've had me and I'm a pain so um I saw you shake your head there not you again anyway I it sounds like the decision is made these three votes and we've got three um recommendations for Rick Moran so somebody want to make a uh uh motion alright I move that we appoint Rick Moran as a director of the Valley Water District to serve through the 2020 election I will second that motion okay thank you uh Polly can you call the question Director Ferris hi Director Falls President Henry yes so um maybe we could take a little break here and then we'll have the oath of office given would it be okay if we took a five minute break it's up to you it's up to me let's take a little five minute break you have started you're going to give Rick the oath of office now you may stand if you would please and uh raise your right hand I state your name Rick Moran do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic against all enemies foreign and domestic that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance United States and the Constitution of the State of California and I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter the duties upon which I am about to enter so the next item is the Water District Revenue Certificate I can start out and this deputy can jump in at any time. I recommend that the board review the memo. We have a resolution dedicating the $14,500,000 in proceeds of the Santa Rosa Valley Water District Revenue Certificate in participation series 2019 issued under the trust agreement by and among the Zion Bank Corporation National Association dated as August 1, 2019 for the completion of capital improvement projects and we have an exhibit A in the agenda and we also have the nine projects marked on the map on the wall. You'll see green bush tents and each project is located up on that map. The district pursued certificates of participation upon upcoming capital improvement projects. The capital market interest rates became more favorable than the previous plan the USDA loan that the district filed an application for and was moving forward on. The certificate of participation is a tactic financing agreement that is solid to investors and securities resembling bonds. There is then a trustee assignment will take the semi-annual payment from the district and distribute to the investors accordingly. The loan terms are $14,025,000 for 30 years at a true interest cost of 2.99% for the prepayment option with no penalty after September 1, 2029. In your agenda packet you have a list of projects. The project was selected from the district's 2015 capital improvement project list. The project was selected based on risk of failure, age of the existing facility, improved fire safety, fire flow and community safety, a cost savings improvements to operations that we respond to a leak repair and different operational problems from the project. The amount of populations served, land damage to the project, water quality, real liability and some of these projects are reimbursed funding Oaxaco projects from Oaxaco Assessment District. The two largest projects are Lion and Quail Hall of Pipelines which will impact 100% of the district customers by the ability to move large amounts of water on one end of the distribution system to the other. These main land replacements and upgrades will correct many low water pressure areas, removing restrictions and greatly improve water flow, the Boulder Creek Dam Loanmen, Guarquico, Zioni and the probation zones. The project will be completed hopefully over a three year period and we have a resolution that requires board directors approval for any changes to the project list. We thought it would be important that the board approve these projects and that if there was a change that staff would just not come back to the board and discuss why there would be a change. The descriptions of the projects are in your packet, they're a little bit lengthy, but I'll give you the, basically it's the Lion Zone, it's 5600 linear feet with 12 inch water line. We have the Sequoia Avenue water main replacement which is 800 feet of 8 inch water line. We have the Hillside water main replacement which is 1900 feet, linear feet of 6 inch main. We have the California Drive project which is 1840 linear feet of 6 inch water line. We have the good old swim tanks that we've been working on replacement for quite some time, the 62,000 gallon bolted steel. The largest project which will make the big same impact to the distribution system for many different reasons for water supply is the Quail Hollow Zone which is 7,500 linear feet of 12 inch. It's a major restriction of flow right almost in the center of our distribution system. And then we have the Lumpico water storage tanks, the Caskey Lewis and the Drone Tanks. Those are the list of projects. You have a resolution in your packet. The finance manager is here also to answer any questions in regards to certificates for participation. And we'll open it up to questions to you all. Do you have any questions? What's the payment? Six months? Yes, every six months. Sorry, what's the payment? What's the payment? Every six months it's approximately $760,000. Isn't it on this list for the full year? Payments? Yes. A debt service? Yes. Sometimes ask things to make sure they get into it. Yes, so that would be worth an attitude payment in September and March. And is this money sufficient to do all of the Lumpico projects? The Lumpico tanks, just the things. That's correct. Steve, are you still with us? Yes, I'm here. Do you have any questions? No, I don't. Oh, Luke, how about you? I have no questions, but I have a thing I'd like to make. I would like to commend Grant Rogers in particular for shepherding this effort away from what was a $8 million project under the USDA consideration where we were doing projects that we could get done quickly, not projects that were important to the future of this district, to one where, albeit, it's going to cost a lot more money, we will be able to move large volumes of water from one end of the valley to the other, something we have not been able to do for a very long time. And that solves a lot of existing problems, I believe, that James deals with on a daily basis. So I just commend you for shepherding this through to where we went from projects that were easy to do, that were low on the period list, to projects that were tough to do, and will put us in a trying position to solve a lot of our infrastructure in the next three years. Good job. Thank you. Also, there's Director of Finance Stephanie having a huge undertaking here when she removed the USDA loan, saved the district considerable funds, and went out and got this other funding mechanism, but a lot of work in moving this forward. She really needs to take the most of that. Thank you. Okay, new board member, do you have anything you want to say? When I see this list, is it the list of the order that they're going to be done? No. Which one are you going to dig into first? The district engineer has bundled the projects. So I can't let him speak, but I do believe we'll go out to bed, we'll bundle the funds, we'll bundle, and then we'll meet with the contractor, and then they'll kind of select them. But hopefully, most of you, though, all of these pipeline projects and the tanks will be completed over the next three years. We're looking for, I don't want to speak for dinner, we're looking for a better price rate by larger, by bundling together, by more pipeline going to be found, but the smaller projects aren't getting the interest from bidders. So I think the district engineer will tell you that we've got considerable interest on these projects, as we've bundled it together. So is Gary going to want to speak? Yeah, sure. The three tanks, Caskey, Lewis, and the drone, those are currently out to design. We anticipate completing the design and environmental process later this year and going out to the construction of those tanks early next spring. The top five pipelines, lines for clay, alongside California Equal Hollow, we'll be opening an RFP for the design on Friday, at 3 o'clock. So once, you know, if the RFPs come in acceptable, we'll be bringing that back to the board for the design contract. The swim tank, we're currently trying to acquire the site necessary to construct the swim tank. That's the first step. Once we have a site that we're comfortable with, we'll move forward with the design of that tank. And maybe I can throw in, and we'll answer Larry Ford's question about there is considerable environmental work that still needs to be done, and we will be moving on a replacement for the environmental position very quickly. Are there questions from the public out there? Debbie? I also just have a comment. I'm really glad to see Equal Hollow pipeline on this. Rick has explained the importance of it to the whole district. It is important to us in Lompico, but it has a much greater expansive need in the district. And I'm really happy to see that on it. It was not on any previous list that I could recall. And I also want to thank you for getting the Lompico tanks going and leveraging the assessment district funds. That's the smart way to do this, instead of stretching it out and waiting for it to get more and more expensive. You know the money is coming in, and so this is a great leverage moment, and I appreciate the district moving forward on that. Anybody else up there want to make a comment? So we have a resolution here. Yes? I have one more comment I want to make just to make sure we didn't pass it up. Stephanie already also put together our debt service coverage numbers, which I think is important. This gives us an indication of how leverage the district is with debt. And for the forecast out through 2024, our low is 2.5 and our high is 3.4, roughly. And our requirement for debt I believe is 1.25. The requirement for debt coverage is 1.25. Best practices is probably about 2.5. So we're definitely in that best practices area, and hopefully over time, we'll be able to generate sufficient funds to do more. And then with our new website, we'll have a project section, and you'll be able to see updates, and your pictures, and all of this will be transferred to the new website, and we have a meeting today, and then we'll do a project to discuss, and these projects will be front and center, and hopefully you'll be able to follow the progress as we go along. So who's going to read this resolution? The president here doesn't need to be writing to the record, just requires a motion to... For resolution number 619. Yes. Okay. Well, I'll move the... We make this resolution number 619.20. I'll second that. I'm sorry. Do you second it? I do. So it doesn't have to be read in. It does not. Okay. I'm reading the resolution. Okay. You can do that. Thank you. Okay. Director Ferris. Hi. Director Falls. Yes. President Henry. Yes. Director Moran. Yes. Director Swan. Yes. Okay. The next item is about the facilities update. Sure. This memo is recommending that the board of directors discuss possible action moving forward with a public advisory or ad hoc committee for the sole purpose of evaluating the district's administration and operations facilities needs. The district admin building is believed to have been constructed in the late 1800s. In 1964, the district purchased the building and has been utilizing this building as our main headquarters for the district ever since. The district currently operates from four distinct facilities, the admin building, which is located in Boulder Creek, the operations building, which is this building here, a line treatment plant, which is in Boulder Creek and the Kirby treatment plant, which is in Felton. In addition, it utilizes other buildings for document storage in Felton and in Ben Alon. The administrative building, which is the building across the street, currently houses the administration, customer service, accounting, environmental services, engineering, and small parts storage. Currently there are 11 employees used by the new building. The structure is 100 plus years old and has been repeatedly adjusted to fit current needs. Current issues, not all inclusive, but include antiquated electrical, mechanical, and plumbing issues, lack of seismic improvements, lack of ADA compliance to the point that the staff will go out to the street and meet people in their vehicle and can't come into the office because they can't get through the front door of the limited lobby area. Lack of development, demeaning in office space, foundation, work flooring, bathroom issues, poor air quality, mold. Two years ago the district did install a modern HVAC system, which helped filter it out and made a positive pressure in the building to keep the outside odors, like from the old brewery and from the Mexican restaurant next door, which are problematic because we smell all day long for day in and day out. The operation building currently houses the field services, gated control in a combined break room, board room, meeting room. Currently there are 22 employees utilizing this building, the majority of which arrive in the morning and the evening and dispense for field during the day. The structure is 40 plus years old. This is a converted arco station. This is the lube room and doors used to come in. There used to be a lift right here on the floor. I think that blue you see is some of the oil still coming up. Let's see. The structure is 40 plus years old. The parking for vehicles is limited. The district often resorts to storing operational views at alternative locations. The district relies on street parking primarily in the downtown area in Boulder Creek with personal vehicles, which gets complaints from the business association that we take up important parking for the business town. The line treatment plant houses, district laboratory services, treatment staff, curvy plant houses, curvy treatment staff, which is another treatment plant that really doesn't have office space but we utilize it because we don't have office space. As time moved on after a long curment process in August 2004 the district did acquire several APNs referred to the Prosser site in December 2005 the district acquired a joining APNs referred to the Johnson site which is the buildings down the street in the side-by-side. The fifth and final parcel which was particular with the north of the Prosser site was acquired in March 2007. These parcels were purchased to consolidate, upgrade the district's administration and operations facilities. Moving along then in December 2007 an architect prepared an architectural master plan that outlined several existing conditions and identified future needs of a consolidation project. Plans and specifications were completed with an estimate construction cost of $6 million at that time. With the cost of $6 million the project became very controversial with following all of you remember. In January 2014 the board passed the following motion, staff is directed to cease from further new spending on the administration campus project without prior approval of the board directors with the exception of ongoing maintenance of the existing facility and as far as I do believe that resolution is still in effect. Then on August 7, 2019 this subject was brought to the district's administrative committee for review. It was recommended that we start the process over, the district is grown, technology is changed, board members and staff has changed and given the amount of controversy raised with the project, the public advisory or ad hoc committee is believed warranted. The committee voted to recommend to the board that a public advisory committee or ad hoc committee be created for the sole purpose of developing district facility needs plans, project and making a the committee would be comprised of five to seven members of the public appointed by the directors of the center of the valley water district for the purpose of developing a district facilities consolidation plan project, making recommendations of the district regarding the needs for the district admin and operations. The committee would have the undertaking a comprehensive review and make recommendations based on the following and basically we would go back over, there has been a lot of work, a lot of plans, a lot of engineering. A lot of studies done on what we need, the amount of space we utilize today with all of our facilities and we would basically review how we got where we are today the public input through public input through a series of meetings possibly public workshops, the goals of the project would be going over critical needs we would discuss needs for today's in the future. Existing district facilities we will get these facilities appraised to see their value as we would vacate these values, these buildings across the street and here it would move. Opportunities and constraints, key issues influence the design, the sizes and design criteria for rooms in the building remodel existing admin and operations facility or relocation we've done all of those studies and have a considerable amount of information that we could represent to a committee to review and not have to reinvent the wheel. We would have a big discussion would go on the board of directors meeting room. The last project, the campus project had a dedicated board meeting room that had a price tag estimated $1 million. The thinking now is we have a multi-purpose room such as this that we could figure into the design somehow so we could use it daily and then have board meetings in the evening. It's just one of the things that we will be reviewing. Environmental concerns, fuel storage concerns obviously estimated construction cost, the appropriate location for the district headquarters and operations facilities. There was a lot of discussion last time on that. Consolidating repair materials and equipment to one location there would be discussing bulk water sales. The district does sell a fair amount of bulk water sales which bulk water sales are trucks, construction trucks, people who live off the grid who don't have water supply that come in and haul. There is a fair amount of that and it's problematic as it is now because the trucks line up in the street and they're a traffic issue they don't have an off-street area like in 18 where they double park during the drought they were double parking all the way out the highway and high so that caused issues. And then basically the district is a critical needs and it has 24 hour emergency response and that would be re-evaluated by the committee again. Basically it would be start over but we would reuse and revisit all the information that we already have so we're not looking at a huge lift of expense or going out for studies and so forth. There may be a time down the end of the road that more information is needed or requested by the board that would be mainly some assistance by an engineer or from the facilities need to exit. So the committee the admin committee recommended that we bring this to the full board and move ahead with some type of public outreach committee or ad hoc and staff has no recommendation on how to move that forward and turn that over to the board for discussion and possibly council from district council on some of their ways to set those up. That's my presentation. So this way. Sorry. Good thing. So yes this was discussed at the admin committee and how would work and how many people we can have would it be to cumbersome there's a lot of questions and the committee recommended that we bring this to the board and get some ideas if you've got some ideas for us Gina or do you want to hear what we have to say? Well I can outline some of the consideration, the legal considerations that go into how to inform it and ad hoc committee would typically have an anticipated term of less than a year so if you thought the committee would get its job done quickly ad hoc might be a way to go but if it's going to take longer then it would typically be a standing committee and so we would in a lot of ways similar to Ladoch and the way Ladoch is described in the board policy manual the composition of the committee would affect whether it's subject to ground act if you've got a majority of the board on there it's definitely going to be subject to ground act if it's just the two members of the public it might depend on whether it's a standing committee you are up to meeting God, would you like to comment? Yeah one of the things that we discussed of what not the admin committee itself would take that on and it was felt that this was so specialized and that we needed to make sure we made it as broad as possible that was I think the basis for the recommendation I do want to mention a couple of things just from a personal point of view that I'm very much intent on making sure that we do not replicate what happened in 2014 and even the updated study that was done in 2017 which accounted for I think 6 in 2014 and 5 million in 2017 as the construction cost for implementing those particular things we simply cannot afford that kind of in my opinion cannot afford that kind of facility so this would be done hopefully at much lower cost and I think that's what the committee is going to be charged with so part of what we can also do as a board I understand is decide what the guardrails are and so at least those are two of my cardrails that's not millions of dollars of facility construction just to interject the board way back many years ago gave direction which probably it isn't the same as it is today that they did give cardrails by saying they wanted it to be on highway 9 corridor and they wanted to have a bus available that the bus stopped at that was the two parameters that they gave committees last time that was the only two that was only two that they didn't want to leave the highway 9 corridor they thought it was important and that bus service that was before internet and different things technology has changed well there was the engineer, not engineers architects report in 2017 that was just seemed kind of out there to me too much too much I mean the district manager he needs an office but he doesn't need a gigantic room and his secretary doesn't need a semi-gigantic room although maybe he does need a gigantic room but he he needs privacy and a secretary nearby but a lot of the other space can be open space and that plan had a huge conference room and just a meeting room for the board to just come in and look at things and I mean it just seemed kind of a little over the top just my personal facilities that really are driving this the math room, the facility, the ADA yeah the health of the building and the everyday working operations are we need a new building I totally agree with that we must have one we need a new location and probably a new location we do have a good idea we do have a lot of work that says our needs that we went out and architects went out and measured all of our square footers that we're utilizing and all of our yards, all of our office spaces and all the facilities and put together numbers of what we need under the same roof a number of parking spaces there are a lot of things that went into that the campus project that really escalated the cost by going with a two-story building a hundred thousand plus dollars in an elevator I hope that we could get away the committee could get away from an elevator keeping a single story the standalone boardroom was a million dollars there was office space there was a board chair's office I don't think we need a board chair's office but maybe the board chair could do that's what the committee will discuss we'll bring all this information to the committee they may say that the best recommendation is to move good stuff out I don't know we need to find out where the center of the district is and where it's best located for emergency response I have a lot of experience in it the department heads will be part of that committee the staff assist to help the committee I just have a quick question maybe this was mentioned but I didn't hear it are you looking at a lease or are you looking at a purchase or is that still open I think that's all I don't think anything's off the table I wouldn't want to restrict I don't think staff's job would be to restrict the committee perhaps you get 5, 10 people on a committee you're going to get a lot of good ideas a lot of crazy ones but a lot of good ideas and maybe a lease or something I don't know I wouldn't want to restrict the committee are we still on the board or have we opened it up to the public because I have a comment tonight no, yeah you can comment I'm ambivalent to the idea of an AHA committee I think whatever the admin committee agrees or suggests would be fine with me but I do have two recommendations one is I think one of the options to consider seriously is the Johnson Building and I feel strongly about that so if you could just add that to the it will be part of it all of our existing assets will be looked at I just don't want to say if you were to tell you that anything's off the table because that wouldn't be the point of having an AHA committee everything is on the table I would think to include looking at the Johnson Building and to include looking at all of our assets because I really believe that right now the HR person does not sit in a closed office and I think that type of person needs to have privacy because most of what they've talked about is private conversations so if anybody needs a closed office I think the HR person would try to address that now I agree question I have is so would you be considering selling the administration building because you did a pretty good job of saying the negatives of that building is it really can we get good value for that back roughly probably 15 years ago when we were discussing this on the campus project we did get an appreciation for both of these buildings this building came in at that time snapshot time I think it was around 700,000 and that one came in around 500,000 that was 15, 20 years ago so part of this process would if that was the recommendation we would get an appraisal of the value of these buildings because obviously that would be a big part to put into the so Steve did you have anything you want to say no I think I kind of like the idea creating an HR committee I think it should be able to be accomplished within a year given all the material that already exists and if you have a good group of members that hopefully created the nature you should be able to develop this dilemma within a year or so and I have an option maybe it would be appropriate Lois I think I had something to say I just wanted to say that two years ago we actually surplus the admin building and when that went out to the public we got three calls that first week people still have their names in them we're going to the problem is we can't find any resolution at surplus it was directed to surplus but then it didn't it would have needed to come back to the board again Brian didn't bring that I remember it was going to take two good surplus to out the family it appears we ever brought it back we're trying to do research for this building is very easy but the fact that three people were interested in it and they read that it's commercial property it's commercially zoned and both sides of the street have good functioning septic tanks versus some of the town has hallway systems so that's a plus too I think we'll be able to get a value out of this building it's a snapshot in time so anybody else out there virtual sorry I'm concerned about forming a committee that doesn't have a clear goal so that they know how to declare victory and some kind of a time limit because things can go on and on and on forever by mentioning ad hoc that says for this and I want to know what for this is and why is the one year restriction okay that would probably be just fine for this committee but what happens if we had another ad hoc committee and it might have very clear goals and very clear ending days that are two to three years from now and I'd like to know that well there are usually temporary committees and ad hoc doesn't really even have to follow the Brown Act they don't have to have open meetings you can decide to have it that way but I personally really don't care for ad hoc committees for the very reason that they can be closed and nobody in the public even knows about them and of course that isn't what we want here but we could have ad hoc one year and it's open it's just open but normally they're just temporary committees and three years wouldn't be temporary yes it would in geologic times it's just a microsecond my point sorry I wasn't clear enough I guess on my point my point ad hoc means for this it has a simple charter it has a simple goal that allows them to declare victory or failure and it will probably need as a backstop a time limit you guys aren't accomplishing anything and you really aren't going to accomplish anything the board of directors needs to take action to disband them but it is for this it has a purpose and that's what I mean maybe there's a legal there's something in black law dictionary that redefines ad hoc and I'm unfamiliar with that so maybe you could educate me well it does have a purpose like could have been the grand jury reporter you know usually they do have a purpose President Henry if I can clarify the agenda for tonight isn't set up to actually form the committee I believe the purpose is to get direction from the board about the general direction and then there would be a much more specific I guess we could bring back the draft charter and Biller-Shane's implicit purpose I stand correct but I think I've heard about this around less than a year I think it should be no more than a year we should be able to get and I think it should be strongly believed it needs to be open to the public regardless if it's an ad hoc or the meetings need to be open to the public advertised public notification it has to be public because of the bad person I agree maybe even schedule workshops before we get too far down the road like if we pick a new location if the committee picks any location maybe that would be a time to have a workshop to say hey we should develop some milestones and make sure we get up to the committee I have one other question I had to do with the changes that have taken place and how organizations work and the space requirements that are at least in the area that I work in very much different now than they were even 10 years ago I think I've mentioned before in space about half the size of what we're table at and one of the companies I work at there's three vice presidents and a couple of senior architects that sit in that area because there's not a lot of paper anymore everything's online that kind of examination of how the organization's going to be engineered has a direct impact on space requirements and when I look at the 2017 report which I went back and looked at they were very much taking what I call a more traditional approach to space and requirement another area is not so many private rooms but lots of smaller competions more than you would have had 10 or 15 years ago for those kind of one-on-one private conversations that need to take place hotel type facilities for staff that are moving in and out I think we have staff that do that during the day so to me the bigger issue around the facilities is not so much looking at just how much square footage is needed is how are we actually going to organize the district to be able to take advantage of those new technologies and ways of doing business that may reduce the amount of space that we need for being able to get the job I think that would be a bullet point that would be looked at I know it was looked at back when our storage was some of our shelving was 14, 15 foot tall definitely unsafe and we had to add on parts and equipment there's definitely issues with that in all-street parking and the county has requirements and it's maybe a big parcel down the street but we barely have the room in all-street parking so I understand what you're saying there needs to be looked at I don't doubt that that will be looked at Is that possible to do as part of the one-year territory? I wouldn't be I mean we may come back six months into it and say, my goodness gracious we've got some real issues that we need some outside help or something there may be it may slow down we'll just have to come back to the board and if it is an ad hoc committee and we wind up going 18 months but if we're making major progress and winding down I'm sure it I'll refer to Gina If it's going to be a public subject to the Brown Act it doesn't make that much difference whether we call it ad hoc or not so under those circumstances I would recommend setting it up as sort of a temporary standing committee you could set any term limit that you want I still don't think one here Yeah, that's the one thing by opening for the public it'll take longer just because of getting everybody scheduled to get up and getting it it has a tendency to take longer to be able to make those meeting goals but it has to be on the public and I still like women and I think we should get close to doing it we know a lot of it and I know senior staff has a lot of ideas that have been about this for a long time and we've got senior staff that have been here a while that know their needs today and they just need to take that and invade the committee and hopefully we get people on the committee that have the time that's a big issue of time commitment and have expertise and I'll be looking for engineers and some people that understood hopefully we should walk underneath it because we had contractors before they came in and discussed it when we discussed the other project that were against the project and had a lot of ideas and we could reach out to the committee as well Is that an idea for this to cost nothing or is it like they may get to a point to where they need outside to consult and help or like the architect help to try and help assess what the bathrooms need to be we have all that, a lot of that but for ADA we may need somebody but that's when we can come back to the board and say we've got a need for this and there's no one to move ahead and get direction from the board as close to zero as possible that would be the goal but I'm not going to say here we can do it all for nothing there will be a cost on our own law but I don't think it's going to be 100,000 dollars not just 100,000 it will be a little cost I hope but it will be a decision of the board for me alright, so are we ready to move on there? I like some direction of what you'd like to see staff to come back with a type of committee and maybe a make up of how many people you'd like and staff and council will come back with a draft charter and some ideas I think we do need to decide what's the definition of success what's the goal? what's the one year people's possible how many people? roughly five to seven sounds good to me there's a long barrier to get it more difficult it is people can, by having over the public we can encourage everybody and anybody to come so when do you want to have this on the agenda? on the 19th? when we make the 19th? well we'll try for the 19th okay next Thursday that's too soon I would just ask what do you think about having a re-evaluation after one year whether the committee should continue as opposed to having a hard stop one year sounds good to me I like the hard stop I like re-evaluate why do hard stops they're almost somewhere I don't want to drag out news I don't want to drag out either but what if another month or two it's Parkinson's that's all I just like to avoid it I'm overboding I think Lou said he was okay extending I just find that when you do that you give him permission to extend is that what you're saying? this needs to be done quickly for a whole host of reasons our employees have waited long enough that's correct if we get in the eight or nine months maybe we need an extra month I'm sure we'll come to the board and give an update say where we're at I think that's the intent of the board to see this moving and not just bogged down which we do get bogged down a lot there's a lot going on there's going to be a lot of projects we're going to be really busy this is a lot to take just my own personal thing okay so what's your for now we'll probably ask for more guidance formally what we bring is back to the board it'll give you more time to think about if there's anything in particular that you want to throw out give us our guidance can we move on to district efforts for fire do you want to say anything this is just a short update Director Ferris and myself and Mr. Larry 404 have been working and meeting and talking about the district's efforts for fire prevention and fire management planning preparedness and our watershed we plan to take this back to the environmental committee at the next meeting and most likely request either a public outreach committee or an ad hoc committee to develop the plan for the district but I want to bring this back to the board and because I know it is an item of concern I don't want to get the board over to the public we have been working and discussing we do have a considerable amount of facility mapping done and critical facility awareness plan done we have all of our facilities documented and mapped we've done some notification planning we're working on generator procurement the board has putting up six or eight generators in this budget the director of operations is working on putting together the formal bidding procurement for those generators we've done customer outreach we've updated operational procedures a lot of our work has been done in response to the PG&E extended power that is a high probability for this year and that has potential to impact 100% of the district customers in addition to operation planning and director Ferris Dr. Ford have been meeting with us and Mr. Ford has reached out to other AGCs and we've got more documentation more information we'll bring it back to the environmental committee and I think Mr. Ferris and Mr. Ford may want to add to that just a quick update I'd like to make a few comments first of all I want to make it clear that we do have as you indirectly we do have procedures on fire prevention planning it's not like we don't in fact I brought one with me this is the fire prevention planning procedure for the admin building so it's not like we're deficient in not having those procedures it's just a given what's been happening the last two years with those fires up north and what PG&E said we could be without power for up to seven days we need to clearly go back and revisit these with some priority and this memo was created second thing is given the fact that and I'm sad to hear this to hear the news that Jen has resigned we now do not have like an environmental manager and that kind of puts in question in my mind whether or not we want to have an ad hoc or a public advisory committee and first we have to talk with the full environmental board about that about how we go forward and things I believe and I think we've also I'll let Larry explain I think there's also people out there that can assist us and that we haven't we were probably waiting for the environmental committee to discuss what's available to us so I think we hope we can still move ahead we shouldn't let the loss of the staff member slow the process down no but it may change some of the things we said speaking about people helping us I would like to say some words about Dr. Ford and his effort over the last month to six weeks because I am just blown away by the the help that he's given us just to give you a sense of what's happened in only about a six week period of time he provided, we've had several meetings, he provided Rick and I with multiple documents of relevant background from Santa Cruz County, from Cal Fire from Santa Cruz County, from Diablo Fire Safe Council and from the California National Resources Agency and it took a while to digest a lot of that information in addition to all that background documents he went out and actually made a proposal for a consultant who could help us in this regard in terms of moving this forward fast because obviously we don't want to rely on Larry because he's doing this out of his heart right now and I think we've actually reached out to this person I don't want to mention the name but I think that was a great plus that you gave to us and the next is he actually proposed the planning process with three steps a. assessment of the fire management needs that we have, b. supplemental assessments and c. the fire management plan update from what we currently have and then the last but not least he's helped us with procuring grant money as well so it's just it's amazing to me how far we've come in the last month and we clearly couldn't have come anywhere near this this point without Dr. Ford's effort so for the district I would like to publicly thank you thank you can I add a few things? I didn't expect that part I just wanted to let you other board members know that I'm really pleased with this informal discussions that we've been able to have really pleased with the opportunity to be able to apply my my own expertise to this these challenges but also I think we did have really productive meetings I wanted to re-emphasize especially for the other board board directors here that we just hit the beginning of the peak of the fire season it's almost September remember most of the fires last year and the year before were in the fall there's a weather forecast for high winds and high temperatures over the next couple of weeks anyway I think this is really urgent and there could be a catastrophic fire that sweeps through the valley that goes beyond the heroic and amazing efforts of the firefighters they're prepared to swoop in with 747 tankers and all this stuff but it could be worse than that the governors declared a state of emergency the leading fire scientists that I work with say that we have a 50% increase in fire fuels this year compared to last year so that means bigger fires spreading faster all these kinds of things so I'm really worried about it not just for my home but for the whole valley and all of us who live here next I just wanted to say that I discovered or that I was informed about that they have accomplished it's amazing to me so I would say that the fundamentals of operations and infrastructure they're really on top of it I wanted to add to his list that they've done an analysis of the vulnerability of various parts of the water system things like what if a fire goes through here what would happen to some of the pipes that are above the surface of the ground that might release chemicals and cause that whole area to be shut down and not even just boil water but they couldn't drink it that kind of stuff is really important other things like tanks that could have some tree fall on it and then be completely unserviceable all these kinds of things I heard about there are the term that's used is fire flow that means how do you get water to the fire hydrants that are needed to put fires out they're working on that that's all part of the infrastructure improvement plan it's not there yet but it's part of the plan they've already collaborated with Cal Fire Rick was telling me that Cal Fire doesn't necessarily want to have him show up but he's prepared to show up probably with you James as soon as that fire starts you guys will be there and you'll be trying to help guide the emergency people to work on putting out the fire let's see I also was very impressed with this preliminary fire management plan Chapter 5 in the watershed management plan that I think Jen and Betsy before had worked on very good it's incomplete there's some zones of the water just included also impressed with some of the fire management planning that has been done by other agencies in the valley or including the valley Santa Cruz County RCD with the San Mateo County RCD putting together this community wildfire protection plan and there's a recent update anyway all this is not enough I mean it's the fundamentals for infrastructure and for operations but it doesn't cover several other things notably the incredibly high fuel load that we have in this valley that we need to deal with and it needs to be dealt with in a cooperative way so here are my mostly for the benefit of your other board directors sorry I'm mixing up terms here so we need further assessments of the watershed conditions not just infrastructure but the watershed things like that but also things like access for firefighters access for the water district maintenance people during and after fires we need some more hardening of the facilities to resist fire if it does come through and then I think the one thing about this valley that I know somebody is studying it but it's going to be the evacuation when this big fire comes into the valley how are we going to get everybody out because there's no way to do it there's no good way and so there needs to be a big cooperative effort that includes the water district to solve some of these kinds of problems and then going beyond that actually starting to control those fire hazards which ones what areas are the greatest risks usually fire managers fire scientists they start with a risk analysis so where would the fire start and where would it sweep under different weather conditions time of day properly related to commuter traffic things like that and then a lot of cooperation with these other agencies is going to be needed can't just be at this level can't just be the water district because these fuel loads spread out over the whole watershed regardless of ownership anyway then lastly one of you mentioned that there are a lot of state grants available right now so this doesn't have to cost the district a lot you don't have to worry I'm pretty sure this is true you don't have to worry about it costing a lot to get going because there's big bucks but they're going to require that you cooperate with the other agencies so it's going to be this coordination process and that's why Rick was mentioning that we need to have somebody probably on some contract that would facilitate this whole process so I'm really pleased about it at the same time having my adrenaline level up because we're entering into the fire season now for the worst of it so thank you for letting me give that a great support thank you any questions just one last comment I'd like to say that you can anticipate recommendations from the environmental committee in their future if not next week we're kind of up against it as far as the agenda for next week but it's certainly after that and probably going after that both for in terms of maybe changing the makeup of the environmental committee now that we've lost a member as well as asking for monies that are not budgeted something I know we're reticent to do but we haven't got 30 yet 100 for us yes what do we think is the ultimate scope of what we're trying to protect against here I mean there's many different kinds of fires so there's house fire sort of small brush fire there's the other end of the spectrum paradise style wildfire which would be devastating for the community where where do we fit in planning for fire prevention of course these projects are going in are going to be hybrid they're going to be huge for fire so where do we fit in that spectrum there's several different different points to the basic structure fire if we have fire hydrants or whatever in which we don't have a lot of the background of the system and the fire departments all drill and train for areas without water and so forth and me personally I'm not worried about the structure I'm worried about the watershed fires and I'm worried about the PG&E potential PG&E more wildfire because they're not going to really catch the distribution system because that would be fought by air and crews giving a lot of those types of things but they have the potential to cause a lot of problems in terms of catastrophic to burn our intake lines all our intake lines all around HDPE pipe which HDPE pipe and they got too caught in the northern California fires released a toxin and they pretty much had to replace it all there's quite a lot of articles on that but the PG&E power outages and what Larry said too if you do an evacuation or start getting even to a point where people are fearful and evacuating we're not going to be able to operate and move around there's going to be panic there's going to be shelter in place I think Montego several people say that Montego just came out on a list that they're one of the top areas number two for problems on evacuation so there's a lot of different problems associated types of things that we're looking at you know we're looking at PG&E power outages that's something we have to plan for and be ready for and that's something that could happen this year but if I can follow up on the on the wildfire stuff then it's sort of fuel related so in that sense since a lot of our property butts up against state some federal land state parks so are they committed to we obviously would have to eliminate fuel off our fuel brakes are huge, removal of ladder fuels on a basis you know eucalyptus trees our north water shed is obviously heavily timbered and you know the sudden oak debt has left a lot of fuel out on the water shed so that's all going to have to be evaluated and then you're going to start getting into a heavy lift but then you partner you partner with state parks, you partner with CDF whatever to remove ladder fuels and different things are they committed to that you know and obviously every time you have a huge event such as the Northern California fires it's not everybody's mind and as Larry said there's a lot of money available but the whole I think the whole thing we need to realize we just strike by the average hot we wait too long and say you know I'm on fire for four years you're going to see less and less money enthusiasm to get to do things but fire and CDF are doing using a lot of the CYA crews and so forth for cleanup of ladder fuels and that type of stuff but that's going to be a heavy lift for this district you're going to need to coordinate and work with agencies just to add to what Rick has already said because I've thought about this a little bit and one of the things I wanted to present with the next environmental committee meeting is what are our priorities when it comes to water planning and I think Larry was talking about hardening our facilities I think our number one concern has got to be destruction of district facilities and equipment that would make it even worse in other words no water will flow and you have to bring in tankers to fight fires that's my biggest concern is destruction of our capacity to deliver water and the second would be ladder fuels on our land like I saw the Olympia watershed for the first time last Friday and it's not just the area but it's also and then lastly is assisting other agencies when fires do break out because we're not the primary fire fighting tool but we can certainly assist in a lot of ways so that's kind of my one of the things we're doing we're changing our standard and looking at what it would take to get rid of all our wood pump stations our wood structure pump stations if anything new goes into remodeling we still have a significant amount of wood pump stations out there and we probably need to accelerate getting those clean places to go we need to look at that, put together a cost matrix and see what that would take to improve and bring grants, grants, of course but those types of things that would harden up our getting rid of the redwood tanks and our status system making sure that's functional without power and without lease lines and so on because I, when the panic comes in the center of the valley and a lump echo in our areas I don't think staff's going to be able to move it's going to be a real problem and then there's areas we don't want to send staff in for safer reasons in other words if we haven't prepared that's how we're going to do it right, often we hope it never happens but you can't just bear our head and say we have to plan and our operations department is planning on the operational for some time now we're really good tight operationals they can tell you how long a generator has to be and you want to be in an area to pump x amount of gallons of water and then how soon you'll have to move to another area we've got a response plan and now we're going to be able to move moving a generator to the drug control Steve, are you still with us? Yep, I'm there Any comments? No, look out Nothing at this time Any comments out there? Yes First of all I want to commend Director Ferris and Larry for taking on this issue it's an issue that has got to be a huge, huge concern for us in the valley I have a friend who lives half time up in Northern California and has experienced several fires he wrote an article, you may have seen it in the good times, about a year ago in which he interviewed fire chief fire chiefs around Santa Cruz County and is a concern across the valley his estimate is it's not if we're going to have a wildfire up here but it's a matter of when and we've learned a lot about how to address those how to lessen the scope of them but he really impressed upon me the importance that we've got to be planning now and it seems to me we in the water district have a really important role to play and I think it's fortunate that we have as much water should land that we can directly reduce the fuel because that's something at least my friends that is so important and we can be you know the other agencies are going to be helpful but we're the agency that knows the valley and our staff at the water district knows this valley so well and knows what the resources are and what the risks are so that us taking the lead in the collaboration and cooperation that you all are talking about I think it's just critical so I'm really glad that this is happening and I think you'll find a lot of support from the community for it when I hear Rick talk about the evacuation problems and you know my hair goes straight up of course it already is going straight up even more so it's just it is a frightening prospect to me and I think it is one with climate change coming that having the district take a lead in this you know I think there is a lot of money out there I can believe that and I hope we can get it but I know from my grant writing world it takes money to get money so it may take some investment but I really hope we can take leadership in this and I really commend the board for calculating it Any other comments? I've talked too much so the director of operations will take this item Oh we will huh Okay it is recommended that the board of directors review this now by motion of the board approve the purchase of a skid not a tracking estimator from Hitchwich West for a total of $24,306.45 and authorize the district manager to execute the purchase the background on this is the 2019 fiscal budget provides $25,000 for the purchase of a skid mounted vacuum estimator to be utilized in the water distribution department vacuum evasion loosens the soil with a blunt nose high pressure water source and immediately vacuums away loose material air and water when used appropriately are far less likely the sharp edge tools to damage underground structures this type of excavating is quickly becoming recognized as the best practice when working in areas with underground utility congestion soft excavation technology can dig around buried pipes or cables without the risk of damage and the risk of damage inherent with back hose excavators or other mechanical tools this will save the district money and time in spoil material backfill material, asphalt and man hours the vacuum truck is capable of digging out leaks, meters, valves, etc with a lot less impact staff solicited three price quotes for a skid mounted vacuum estimator as follows press tech $25,350 with a 15 to 18 week delivery AUI rents $21,465.37 with a 6 to 7 week delivery ditch witch west $24,306.45 with a 2 week delivery staff is recommending not taking the lowest price quote from AUI rents because of the estimated delivery time of 6 to 7 weeks and purchasing from ditch witch west due to specifications a 2 week delivery and the price difference of $2,850 and 8 cents more than AUI rents thank you James you know Rick showed me a video of how this works this is just fascinating also you didn't mention it saves on worker comp claims from guys digging does all this nozzle does get very heavy as well that's true anyway I was really impressed with this so any comments here I've seen one of these things in operation in removing trees and they were trying to remove this tree and put it they were going to put it back and this machine was able to save the fine root hairs that are so critical to easy regrowth of a tree and I was amazed it was a very soft touch to digging into hard ground it saves the backs of digging deep and hard it leaves the possibility of danger to pipes and stuff like that this is a great thing I've done enough working with Dan's water system while I was a kid if I had something like this doesn't he get down around the pipe it's like you gotta go by hand scraping it around so I think that's why we approved it before I guess I had a couple of questions here about are these three different machines brand machines or are they the same machine in just three different places? so they're three different brands each one of them is a different brand and they all have different little tweaks in their specifications that are different the pressure nozzle is different on each one the size of the water storage tank for the pressure nozzle is different on each one the fuel tank size is different on each one and the suction motor size is the same on two and different on the ditch which one so the ditch which has better specs we did come to that determination as well preferred specs I'm not gonna say better specs preferred specs for the ditch I'm not sure what the difference is between preferred well I'm not gonna say better because I mean what's better we haven't used the other one I can't say it's better well a reputation of having great equipment I did we go back to them and say hey dudes, drop your price a couple thousand when we started to get to close the first time we've been working on this for about a year now and when we started with ditches they were at $30,000 and so then when it got started getting more serious and serious all the quotes actually went down a little bit except for the one from AUI went up just a little bit because they ended up putting in the nozzle which was not included with the tank but they said it would change the prices like I said they started at $30,000 and they came down $24,000 by the time it was all set up is it possible after we get these three bids to go back and say hey guys practice of the district has not been to do that and so is it legal to do there's nothing to present asking the question just a policy model I just like to deal with it we've tried bidshopping in the past and what's happened especially on our inventory list cherry picking where they would wind up their bidders bidshopping because this is different this is a more one time this is true we don't buy a lot I asked already if we could go back and get two for the price of one but Rick said we need another truck as well we have a truck already but in order to purchase another one we'd have to purchase another $45,000 to $50,000 truck so you're looking at a $75,000 purchase in order to run another back skate and if we were to go with another factor we'd probably want to go with a bigger factor like a real backer truck like a huge backer truck but it's kind of too big for this topography here exactly so those bigger backer trucks are really big I guess I'm not beating it too much is on things like this going back and asking for it it's different than I get that but hey okay the only thing I would say is that I believe we should accept the recommendation from staff how about you Steve I agree with Lou I it was much that if I had said in the recommendation the staff is purchasing the district for 24k okay and new board member I agree Lou you want to make a nomination oh sorry Virgil sorry I have always been impressed with the way staff evaluates things and they do their due diligence, they're really good at that they know what they need and they know how to judge quality for their equipment if they think the ditch which is a better one for quality reasons they probably can actually explain it to me but the concept that they can deliver it four weeks faster doesn't fly so much drop it go with your quality do it okay so the quality is the shortest delivery time I'm not going to win this one but I knew it so a motion to buy to accept the recommendation of staff dated August 28 2018 regarding the purchase of the vacuum excavator I would make that motion I'll second that motion it was my first date woo so holly director ferris director polls president henry director maran director swan yeah thank you so next thing is minutes and unless somebody wants to yank the minutes for any reason they're on the consent agenda so we can just move on right now is the consent all the minutes that are there I think I might have one small correction we're split up into two committee sorry committee minutes my correction is on committee not part of the committee no parking I think are we going to accept the minutes then no poll um so department status reports engineering you got a report yes you do do you want to kind of highlight it for us we are just that's in the report there's a lot of these projects we've brought before the board before there's sort of an update on what we're doing if you have any specific questions I'd be more than happy to answer and Darren uses them at the engineering committee meeting meeting as well two questions we have so we're going to have a big opening certainly for the probation time better get done I hope it's not pictures on facebook well they're having a building a tank yet we're still a foundation it's hard to say huh we're a little big foundation we're having some issues and we're fully extended we have extended the contract they're about a month, two months behind is october still the date now I don't think so either but the tank is their specialty so maybe after they get the foundation done they'll scoop right along at least they're now working five days a week instead of four days a week which was a problem what's the completion date for the PRBs we're supposed to start on september 3rd just after labor day it was estimated that they would do one a week so it would be six weeks from the middle of november we recently had some delays in the PRBs themselves it looks like we're going to delay another two weeks to receive the PRBs we'll be installing so it looks like right now my best guess is the end of november for completion it's probably starting mid start mid september end of october end of questions you said you had two okay you had your two so do you have anything you want to say to us it does have the preliminary full year numbers revenue numbers shouldn't be changing really as much there will still be some changes to the expenses we still have some accruals to post the prior year and then when the auditors come they do some of the GASB 68 some of the actuarial entries that we then end up posting for the pension so there will be some changes still to those but in general it at least is giving the snapshot view that things do come in line with what we were expecting whenever we go through and do the budget process we do a revised core castle we think this is actually we're going to end that back so it looks like those are coming in pretty close one thing that is definitely interesting is if you look at consumption we did have that late rainfall in May if people recall and June was 18% below the average consumption so it's not very common we have a big old late rainfall like that and suddenly we definitely did see people not having to turn on their irrigation or do you know water their gardens so it just does kind of go to show how much that type of stuff impacts the district on consumption thank you any questions? I got more just one question looking at your packet part there are 31 pages of outstanding invoices and check rights total in the packet that's almost 20% how many questions do you get for that section the outstanding invoices and check rights it seems like from my recollection on board meetings and even committee meetings nobody seems to ask me questions about those pages my suggestion is not to get rid of them it's to put them on the website instead of killing trees by having increasing the packet by 20% we are required to put the AP outstanding the AP aging on there then at least gives the foresight of the things that are about to be getting paid and then the actual check register is something that we do that we do have to do is to show what what's good but what's the value of having it it's part of the board agenda part of it is required all that the AP outstanding is not but essentially the check register is a required piece for the board to review at a board meeting I look at those bill paves sometimes and I don't necessarily bring it up here but I'll ask a question and I want to know what was this money spent for why did we do it and that's why it's there because our main job is fiscal responsibility I understand that but it's on the website it's still available it's just not as far as the bookmarks at least did start breaking out the bill list from the financial summaries so people are at least click to step a little bit I just had to ask that because it's always there it's the part that I never print out because it's massive I looked at it we had calibration from wine country that was wrong that was the water mine I said what is this wine stuff and the boards in the past were very interested going down there are certain ways to get around having a quote-unquote bill list on it because it's interesting because I have looked over the hill to see what some of them kind of do but I mean in general for the most part you'll see every single public agency having their warrant bill list whatever they call it on the agenda and for me it was a great way to introduce myself to what really goes on it's just seeing the nitpicky stuff that is k-qor and stuff like that it's a great insight into the water district and I like to look at it and I'm with James I thought what is that wine country I have a few questions because I wasn't just another million dollar month or is that coming now we've got quite a few coming through this is around the time that we have a lot of our loans getting we have loans getting paid we've been getting a couple hundred hundred and fifty hits with the probation tank project it's not terribly uncommon a lot of times this is the time of year that you'll have consultants sending in year-ends typically when they're sending in a lot of their invoices so all of a sudden it's like $25,000 here and there I'm sitting at a very large bill list usually at the end of the year it's a long arc this year so on the quarterly how does that compare and do we capture when we do that sort of what the lead was the reason I'm asking is that part of the friction that occurs between the public and the district around leaks so I've had in my mind we need to be educating people proactively on what to do about making sure we don't get into a lead situation are we is it getting worse is it about the same it was this whole year the district gave back $42,000 to the customers that had leaks it's roughly around $10,000 per quarter the state will say how a leak was detected majority of the time it is SLB staff we get the meter reached back identify a high usage send someone out what about what the cause of the leak was is it a service line the cause of the leak isn't the report so it's saying a leak on someone's service line a toilet leak service line a lot of times is the common reason had a water heater leak they do have to tell us what the leak was and you've got to understand the houses in this valley are just as old as the system in this valley those pipes are just as old as our pipes that's one of the reasons why it's an education thing maybe the admin committee takes up is to basically tell people look at that your pipes are this and I don't know if we can tell them that but they're bad and we need to replace them so we get all the junk there for sure Stephanie and I have been talking about this report that's recently quite a bit and we think that we need to accelerate the change to the bathroom meter that can keep our customers I don't like to see us if we get maybe move ahead and accelerate that program I'm not sure where the money is going to come from yet but once you get the meter back you can adjust the policy and put responsibility on it let's start again it is angry these are bad news I'm talking about is there a way proactively for the district to basically say to the community look under these conditions this is what you're likely to have at least toilets this old service line this old we do have stuff on the website for how to find a leak or how to help identify it wouldn't be very difficult to have a section on fill your pipe something along those lines it's a little bit tricky we do have a high volume of tenant type of accounts they're not thinking about their service line until they're deprived but we do need to know who the owner is so it could be tool messaging that's where you're trying to get to I don't know if people know this but thank you very much for the new graph on the 13 consumption terms so basically what this is showing here is breaking out the various categories and also putting in forecast and budget so that you can see as you can see our actual units are way below in May and June this impacts the financial level I don't need to look at numbers in detail I can kind of look at this and say how do we do it's fabulous improvement I like to see war graphs on a lot of the reports that we do because it just helps the information faster and that's partly what we're trying to get to people complain and ask them questions as you get to that we will do once we have more final numbers we will do an analysis of the full year actuals versus budget and that's fine okay on a couple of the bills County of Santa Cruz health services scale head and stream monitoring is that the ongoing fish monitoring program that we've been doing that's correct that's for the payment for the payment that's our annual payment that we agreed to that's for the program with the county that's not the flow and set monitoring one so that's a program with the county that we contributed good luck in Brown what kind of okay that's Steve what you might call back I notice that we're getting a lot of separate invoices for internet services it looks like they make separate payments for those is there a way to consolidate that or is it all I don't think they summed the bill yet PG&U was summed your bill I don't believe I had Jim through a heck of a poops to get PG&U a very bill really? wow because that just increases and these checks they'll get depending on where you're looking they should be getting more so while I take it back some of them do go to different individuals depending on when they come in the timing of them we've been trying to work with them on getting them on at least the same timing schedule but they're not getting just a dozen bills this just increases our processing costs but sometimes you don't have any but that's where you go back I'm just curious a couple more here I think there was a couple of non-signal invoices I was wondering are those for last year or for this year it has those are the payments for the prior month or so there's normally dates well there's a data payment on there but I mean it normally says what the time period is not what I was looking at in Lawson and check number 17744 I couldn't tell you disbursements through the 531 it's at 34,000 Dan is on last year's bill that would be associated with a lawsuit that was the month we had to meet the issues so that would have been when I got approved back into the prior year yeah so I see you have a report yes and I was asked to point out to burn to the board's attention that the County Board of Supervisors did approve the District Conflict of Interest Code that was most recently revised in late May I believe so that has now been officially approved by the County Board so that's a higher level of disclosure in the case of the Conflict of Interest correct just so you guys know you know what when it takes Conflict of Interest training it's no worry unless you get an attorney who doesn't know what they're talking about well we don't have that kind and maybe this is a good time to reiterate Mr. Moran to now join the board if there are any questions around conflicts and how to interpret that policy please consult me soon you probably are familiar with it from the time on the committee yes and thank you I thought I would use you as your resource James I have a question on page one of your report you talked about other law firms being represented are you the clearing house for all law firms that we use I typically coordinate with any other attorneys that may be employed by the District for purposes of at a minimum kind of overseeing the work that they're doing for the District so for example I spend small amounts of time on a litigation matter at that time are you not handling what the SPR made just to make sure that we're all singing from the same book so that was at the direction of the board okay are we in okay James I'll just point out that there was three leaks in the last month that were significant water losses one on two bar road of 39,000 gallons one on Bear Creek Road of 29,000 gallons and one on Zionist school road of 45,000 kind of half and square okay thank you so for many two questions okay so in page 126 the production comparison chart that you've got James it looks like this could be for other reasons it could be for seasonal reasons because you've shifted down certain wells but it looks like we've shifted at least for the month of July from 2013 to 2019 we've shifted dramatically from well water to service water are we in that right yes that's correct service water has been being supplied with a lot more water this year because they're in past year so 13 was a dry year very dry year 13 and 14 were both very dry years our treatment plant is still doing over 500 gallons a minute here in Boulder Creek and we're still sending water down to Ben Lohman and in that direction up to Zioni and all out there we do have wells coming online right now and wells going off like Olivia 1 or 2 and 3 well Olivia 2 or 3 is off and Olivia 2 is right Olivia 2 Olivia 2 has started up this last month actually started back then years 13 and 14 were big drought years and then the second question was on your page about overtime clearly the big overtime consumer is leaks which is not surprising if you take that figure and you dollarize it and annualize it am I right in assuming that once we fix all of our mains or most of our piping infrastructure problems we will save approximately $45,000 a year because that's what we're spending just an overtime in my thinking right or in my way the more pipe we replace the more we'll save you're thinking right we're doing the right thing for a lot of reasons and one of them is overtime definitely that's just one of the cost associated with leaks but I guess I was surprised they had overtime much that just the overtime for leaks is costimates one of the major leaks this last month happened to the poor guys on Friday at like 4pm they put the late ones too so my point is we're spending a lot of money on infrastructure but we're going to save a lot more down the road definitely and one of James's pet projects is to go on time of use on PG&A once you get the large storage and large remains you can move on water in a shorter period you can go on time of use and save a significant amount of PG&A cost that's costimates an awful lot just moving water I know with the distribution system we have we're pumping 24 hours in a lot of places and then once we get the model done that will take you back onto that and help staff understand the system more because of the trauma, trauma error and be able to help us cost even more but we have a couple questions on the system-wide leakings issues you got service line replacement on Bear Creek, what was that service line replacement mean? I didn't say full service line replacement on the one, it was half of the service line out in Bear Creek Road we had to replace half of the service line the other half will have to be replaced later but we didn't want to shut down both lanes of the road during the same time and it's not leaking at this time so we replaced the half that was leaking but it was a main line not a service line to a customer it was our service line going across the road to feed the meter coming off of the main line okay, grab some fall creek I look at that chart here grab salt like the like the groundwater I really like these grasper wells because these actually show really good information very quickly which is it looks like at least in some places groundwater levels are starting to be leveled into that and it peaks a lot but the last two years have definitely increased there is one that dipped a lot I'm not sure why but most of them show a nice general upward trend which is good on the woke water I notice we're way down on woke water so it's a rainfall from the drought years and we'll go way up but even compared to last year we're still way down and it's strictly due to weather because last year was well we've been down compared to 2017 which is a wet year I had a lot to deal with where I want to grow operations with let's put it that way with the new what do you say but with the legalization the licenses were given out to a lot of people to grow and so there's not near as much growing in the valley as there was in the past when they clamped down on the illegal growths so and the last one was on the 811 locations how much does that cost the district to do I mean I know it's free to use but it can't be free to us it's not and when I look at last year for example 1500 locations so last year 2017 and 2018 there was a lot of pole replacements that PG and he was doing so the majority of those how much does it cost us to do a locate all depends on the locate a locate can cost a staff time of half an hour or a locate can cost a staff time of two and a half to three hours but I would not see I've never seen any locate go more than three hours figure a maintenance staff person at three hours at the max and a half hour at least what's the burden rate what's the total cost depends on the person that's going to be doing it and then you have a quite six twenty or thirty dollars probably for a half hour half hour I'd say probably fifty dollars an hour I was guessing fifty to seventy five okay great thank you okay thanks can I have some questions yes just to follow up on Bob's question the well draw down the court do we have can we go back further than 2015 sure where would I find that information just request it from James and Ruth Allen probably back it's just that you're out of room pushing wheels scrunching together then you wouldn't be able to read it how far back do you have that back to the conception of the well so they don't follow the well history can we move on is there questions out there I have just one quick question but it's not related to that earlier I think Stephanie said something about the website and that triggered a question in my mind we've had money in the budget over a couple of years now to improve the website and I I've seen some changes but I wouldn't say that there's this new and improved website now that we're in the middle of an RFP a vendor was improved and so we're working on it's going to be a completely new website so the last admin committee we showed some of the designs of it it's going to be at next week's admin committee as well but I mean that's probably still six months out it'll be a completely just totally different website alright committee reports I have a question Holly I don't see the engineering committee reports for August now there was a problem with the recording there is no recording no recording nothing there was a lot that we reported but maybe we can if Chuck was here he possibly hasn't he would give it to us so there may not be an engineering committee I don't have any information for it now I want to recognize that I want to pick up committee for doing what I think is outstanding work I'm putting together it can't be easy this is very comprehensive so thank you thank you for doing that and I have one correction page 181 the word BB should be underfunded I can get with you later on basically said underfunded public agencies they're underfunded they're underfunded they're underfunded underfunded I wish they were funded they're tuned to be underfunded and such okay anything else any other questions from the audience in that case I'd like to adjourn let's move