 It being after six, let's call our board of directors meeting to order Roll call will show Carla is not here. Oh There she is. Okay. There's all shows everyone is here There's no public hearing and the first item up then is the consent agenda. I Would like to pull three six. What's on tap me too? And Anything else people I have a question on 3.3 3.3. Okay Anything else anything the public wants to pull Okay I'll make the motion to move the other items approval Second, you have a motion a second all in favor. Hi. Hi post That's your animals So we go to three three. Yeah, I just I always have questions on certain things I guess and I just wasn't sure and on the warrants about the sixth one downs once again the state state Water Resources Control Board water system fees for a year or yeah So 38,000 Yeah, I'll respond to that It was quite a piece of change isn't it 30,000 dollars. I don't know what we give to the state water resources control board This is of the agendas page 11 and of the warrants. It's the very first page is about the sixth one down $38,780. Yeah So those are our drinking water fees annually and it prior to a couple years ago They used to bill us on an hourly basis. Oh, that's right And it's now under the state water resources control board, right? So this is a flat fee based on the number of connections that they Recalculated and some agencies got the short end of the stick and some got the longer end of the stick ours went up How did it work for us? It went up and it'll be that every year Ours fluctuated depending on what type of permit amendments we had going on any given year But you know if there was a year where we didn't have anything other than our routine Water quality samples being sent to them. They really didn't expend much labor And so it you know, maybe be a third of that. Okay, you know it ranged from Never let me just say this it was never more than that or never even close to 30. Okay, so but it is a it's a way They calculate our annual fees. Okay. Thank you for that I was the only question I had so I'll move approval of the warrants. I don't think we actually approve those, do we? Okay, all right, well second to your motion all in favor Now we go on to what's on tap Yes, I just wanted to present this is our 20th Year of doing what's on tap the services volume 20 number one for several years we did it out of with a consultant and Now we're doing all of this in-house I did pull the item just to let you guys know we did find a couple of small typos that we're going to be correcting as well as We still have like a fill in the blank for the web page for where we're doing the Advertising for the Standing Committee positions, but if you have any other questions We'd like to get some feedback Yep, so you may have already noticed some of these but at the first article on Leaks It says to go to page three and it's actually goes to page two So just for lack of confusion And then on this is now the third page of the What's on tap newsletter, but also on page 40 of the agenda Under the future of water talking about the Cape Town situation About boy ten lines down from the beginning you got that one. Okay, and I didn't know when on the picture They just call it a dam is it but since it's not really showing the dam It's I missed I'm assuming the lake or reservoir behind the dam So I didn't know if it had a different name because it's just labeling it a dam and it doesn't look like a dam to me It's the water behind the dam and the sediment behind the dam That's all I mean, I don't know what the right name of it is. Maybe that's the only name That was what was listed on that source, but we can Okay, and then and this is just a personal thing that just struck me. I wasn't sure if it was What everybody else wants, but I just wondered if we should have the remembrance of Laura Brown on the cover Instead of on the second page And that can be something you guys can have it. I just wanted to mention that's how I just struck me On the Cornwell tank recoding rehabilitation project at the very end I We mentioned that it's part of our ongoing capital improvement program And I don't know is that something we just need to We're our ongoing maintenance program would be the important thing to them I Don't know what what you think about that, but I think that's more accurate. Okay That's fine. And then the last thing under pure water so Cal at the very end on page 4 or page 41 of the agenda I Don't know if it's this isn't typos or anything. It's just If we need to say what the total funding source Coming from the state water board is the fact that we got a $2 million grants really important But whether they need to know That this is how much went out to the whole state just doesn't seem important to me And maybe makes it seem smaller in perspective. I don't know the part that says this money is part of an 800 million Yeah, yeah, I would think of more interesting would be 2 million is the maximum award under that program Which we got so right that's something relevant and interesting Right opens up the possibility I think it's kind of interesting to find out how much the state we remind how Being out Your the customers are also And my yeah My last question is just on the very last Sentence of that article It says the $2 million grant is timely and extremely useful in support supporting studies that are currently underway such as water quality This is not a study because there's groundwater modeling and an environmental review, but it's a water quality Monitoring or test testing or something maybe testing I'm done. Okay anyone else well on that on that same item The my understanding is that we have a sequel review and there is no project Until that's certified. So I think it's misleading to say word that we got funding for planning It's really evaluation That would be a better way to put it. Yeah Well, it's it already has evaluation there. So I just That's a good point. Yeah, it's a planet. They call it a planning grant But if you feel more comfortable, we can just cross off the planning Again my way of looking at is we do not have a project to plan for until there's a sequel We want to evaluate or investigate our study or Okay Yeah, I understand it's a planning yet and then Just a comment on the I agree with with Laura Brown being on the front cover So how about we switch that out just so we get agreement here with Cornwell tank? Does that sound good sounds good and I have something to okay I would like to save the update on pure water so kill on the front page, too Because okay, that's something I think our customer should see and it should be on the front cover Good suggestion. Yeah, so put those two on the front and be my but I had a comment about the Cornwell tank Rekhote it'd be an opportunity to Put a sentence in there about how much of our budget does go for For maintenance of the system Just to so the people You know know that X number a million dollars per year goes towards maintenance So they'd be an opportunity to point that out Our major cost right anyone else I got a couple I think on page 40 The very bottom the URL is got an xx accident so you need to finish that which you probably already knew about and Under employee spotlight, I think the second paragraph should say The executive assistant board clerk performs numerous duties and fulfilling her charge True. It is true. We're not in it And that's all I had I think this is the new gender neutral Officers in this board meeting You could say to make it clear then you could say the blah blah blah role and then the role of the executive. Yeah, it's I will let the board clerk make that choice Whether she wants to be a her or in its I changed it to her All right, so I think we're done with that You now go to the Oral communication, so it's time for anyone on the audience to address us on any item not on tonight's agenda Good evening Board members and staff Stephanie Harlan capitol city council resident of capitol for many years The last meeting I was reminded of the brochure that we have for residents Along Soquel Creek that is titled care of the Soquel Creek for residents or something like that. I forget anyway I asked our staff to print some more and distribute it And we would I could distribute it and other volunteers could distribute it on both sides of the creek They said the Commission on the environment had already done that Partially and so I said well find out how partially it is please and let's print some more and make sure all the residents because we Have lots of new people in town, so I'm really glad that we're doing that I also wanted to bring you some brochures that we have upstairs that we've had for a long time called care for your creek together We can keep Soquel Creek beautiful, so I don't know if you've seen these before, but we've had them for a long time I don't know how they're distributed, but I'm gonna find out and this would also be a good one to mail out to all The residents along the creek We also have the brochure that you've seen slow it spread it sink it a homeowners guide to turning runoff into a resource that was done in 2015 by the Resource Conservation District funded by the state water resources control board etc. It's a wonderful wonderful brochure with fabulous pictures on how to do it shows you what to do and Bruce's house is a wonderful example of this So in case you haven't seen it I just wanted to pass this around and I'm gonna ask that we reprint those also and try to distribute more of those somehow bring them to public events or Wherever we can to distribute them because that's a great resource. So these are for you. Thank you. Thanks for doing that. Thank you Anyone else see no one Any word comments So I became aware of a study comparing during the drought the effect of What we did in terms of rates to finds done by the city of Santa Cruz It's by a PhD student economics at UCSC and there's a paper online and Seen as we're we could well be entering into another drought I think it would be good to if he's willing to have a short presentation on that It's a rich, you know, I've only glanced at the paper But it is a rigorous approach to it Relying on the statistics There's another paper that was just written in the last year It's about the rebound issue and I did some study of Three or four water districts in the Bay Area, not our Bay, but San Francisco Bay area So that might be relevant as well Yeah, they actually when when I contacted him just to see if he was willing. He said, oh, I'm expanding the study to these other areas it's it's a working paper that's online and That'd be interesting as well, but I think in terms of our situation Just the direct comparison the two districts would be most pertinent sure and and there, you know did receive information that Was very thrilled to be able to work with our staff and the staff was was Very friendly and and gave all the data that was needed for the for the studies They did a good job on that I'll reach out to that person I have a couple things I wanted to mention Some of you may have noticed that the Orange County District has done a formal world record that in 24 hours they used 100 million and 8,000 gallons They actually had the monitors come in and verify that that happens It's they've been doing that for quite a while something like that But you know they formally measured it and put it in the record book And certainly they deserve it given out there. They've been with that capability Another thing I wanted to put out is Our irrigation that we have both for WDOs and other things You know if you feel of notice, but you know December we had almost no rain and we're going to close out February prior with little or no rain and You know, we've always kind of assumed tacitly that we had something like six months of rain And we didn't have irrigation going from our pipes and that's no longer true And is that person from the WDR said, you know two weeks ago, this is a new normal And so we may want to look in and recalculate how much irrigation water is needed by particularly turf Because it's going to be in fact those of you who saw my climate change presentation There was a study at UCSC which showed that you know, we're going to go from Basically four months of intense rain down to two months. So instead of being December, January, February, March of Lots of rain we will probably have just about two months of that kind of rain But we'll see So we might want to consider doing that Okay, so let's move on Next item is the board planning calendar Yeah, and I'll just on that I'll just point out that next Wednesday the groundwater the mid-county Santa Cruz mid-county groundwater agency groundwater sustainability plan Advisory committee Will meet at the sheriff headquarters from 5 to approximately 8 p.m. So and that's open to the public and then it's it'd be on an upcoming month but For the finance committee and I don't think it's shown here where we stop a month short but Normally we would meet on April 23rd. That's the finance advisory committee and we'd like to change that to April 9th from the 23rd to the 9th And I know Carla director Christiansen director Daniels are on that Later director Lathers a backup, but I'll put that out there And I'll send you an email if that can work for you and then we'll work with our public Member also so going from April 23rd to the 9th switch that out. It would help us with our budget planning. There's some other Things that we need reasons we need to switch it All right, any questions on those? See none we go next to the Special board assignments. Yeah, and we've knocked most of the stuff off this list. We're getting down pretty small There's a couple items at the end. I think we want to bring back specifically related to conservation, but I Did receive I think what is the final draft report? for the sky Tim or see water intrusion today from Denmark and so My estimation is that it will be presented at the March 15th mechanic groundwater meeting and Maybe a week before a little bit of discussion around it here at this board meeting The author of the paper max from Denmark will be coming in for that presentation at the MGA Meeting, so that was important to so highly technical to have him Be part of that discussion. Okay, that's all Any questions on that? questions in the audience Okay Item 5 3 the organization wide abbreviated status update Or Conservation and customer service. I just wanted to report that we are starting to take a look at our water year totals the water year ends on March 31st and Well rainfall is is one of our Triggers for declaring various water stages the others a groundwater emergency Just looking at rainwater alone right now. We're in a stage 3 which is our current stage So we need a couple more inches to push push us from a stage 3 to a 2 if we're just looking at rainfall alone So if we get that before the end of the year, we'll we'll see I think the end of the year is April 1st March 31st Now the April Fool's Day Or it may be Okay, Taj a quick question. Oh, sorry So I just as you said you met with seascape golf course and then and just and it said they indicated an interest So I just wonder if you could give any more details on that They're very interested in in having a project there at the local level, but they are They have a parent company that's out of Los Angeles And so they they essentially make the decisions and so But we have the general manager support of the golf course the local Management so the next step the next step is Well, we're we're moving ahead with hydrometrics. We've asked them to give us a quote to Calculate some of the things that the board was interested in knowing before we move ahead with any sort of soil Boring's and then we're also developing a letter of interest that we plan to take to that parent company American golf in Los Angeles and get their buy-in It will be pretty non-committal at this point because we don't know what we're doing yet Just a general letter of interest. So, okay. Thank you Anything else? Tash I just have a couple items on the report the first one is an update on the Corrosion testing that we're doing with Santa Cruz City Santa Cruz water as well as our water There's a table in there. That's worth mentioning. There's 12 weeks worth of testing that started on the 6th of February and during those weeks they're going to be looking at seven different water conditions and They're basically our existing groundwater with a pH of 7.5 the our the district's water with an adjusted Orthophosphate but the same pH Then the city's surface water at 7.2 with orthophosphate. That's how it comes to us would come to us right now And then their water adjusted up to 7.8 with orthophosphate and then their water Then the next three conditions five six and seven are alternating City water district groundwater city water, and we wanted to make sure that the Specimens that'd be a yearly season right and we want to see how the specimens react They're changing the water out three times a week and they're checking for turbidity metals and calcium so we will report back You know as those results come in But it's underway and We'll keep you posted any questions on that Explaining the table. No, that was helpful The choice of pH is I take it or based on what's likely to happen or is happening Yeah, the baseline testing is basically our pH and their pH as it comes generally and then adjusting it up is Usually comes with reduced reduced corrosion So adjusting their pH up to match or a little bit above ours helps Minimize corrosion the thought is although we will have their baseline test to see if there's any difference between doing that Obviously want to see if it's worth doing or needed Which which of those would be the cheapest of the pH adjustment or the orthophosphate? The pH adjustment most likely because that's done at one location Right, and they would use carbon dioxide And I guess sodium hydroxide I guess they'll see the combination of the two, okay The next item is just a little bit more in-depth. I know there was an article in the newsletter about Cornwell tank We did get to a point where we felt the structural Retrofit is needed for the the roof structure that's supported by a center column The tips of the I-beams are showing at least 50% loss in material and so they're This week they're going to be welding in a round ring Further outward where there's enough Metal and that'll tie into the existing column and that that is a change order For about 27,000, but it's a significant amount of work if you can imagine it's a 10-foot diameter ring supported by the The center column, so I'll present some updated photos when that gets done, but it's scheduled for this week and The corrosion is just a normal thing to happen Well, no not normally It is in an area, you know contrary to what you'd believe think The area that is not underwater is more susceptible to corrosion just due to the humid environment. There's more oxygen So anything above the waterline is looks a lot worse than anything below the waterline, but Typically, I think when they built the tank they may not have done as good of a job as we can do today with coding technology and I Can't I don't know this was built, you know, 20 some odd years ago And I don't know if the inspection of the coating was done as rigorous as it is done today with the controls and you know Holding them To doing it, but so I hope that this this coating will last longer and we'll get a better coating life O&M I Don't have anything to add to this report unless you have any questions Guess not. Thank you. Thanks Special projects, I just have two things all point out In terms of the education and outreach Each of you received a little flyer At the Dias that just kind of is promoting that the educational Signage and exhibits that we are creating as part of the Bureau of Reclamation Grant for the community water plan and components of the pure water Soquel should be done next month So we are going to be having a little grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony that we'll be talking to the board about Exciting and we're also having a day prior to that and unveiling to the staff We also will be having the trailer at quite a few places in fact Vias started to schedule the trailer to go to the farmers markets and Then lastly just wanted to let you guys know we did receive comments back from the feasibility study for the groundwater replenishment Recycled water project that we had for the Bureau and we'll be meeting with them next week It's just some minor comments before they accept our final Feasibility study is complete was that they wanted us to add more to the recommended project section So I think it is what we did was we had Outline and propose the project as where it stands now, which is a component based several different options in terms of location For the treatment facility and the pipelines and the recharge wells and when they read it It looked like we just kind of had all of these options and they really from a finance and funding standpoint They really want to see a more defined project description So we were adding language back in there to describe the the original efforts Which was recycled water reclaimed water and then narrowing that to look at non potable irrigation uses And then potable reuse and so the indirect potable reuse project the pure water Soquel is the the narrowing and the recommended project with different components that are being evaluated so we are revising that chapter to resubmit to them and Hopefully by the mid to late Spring we should have a complete feasibility accepted and then that would go to Be submitted to Congress as a finding that our feasibility is complete and that we would be a recognized title 16 feasibility study project So they don't need to know the pipeline alignments or the locations for the filtering or from a feasibility standpoint We've gone one step further in kind of evaluating more components, but At that level we we fulfilled that requirement Questions finance Yes, since lovely strome is down in Southern California at a conference I'll just mention that we just got notified for the second year in a row the districts received the California Society of Municipal Finance officers operating budget excellent award and the second time we've gotten that I Think the plaque is in the mail. So when it does arrive will make a little photo op of it, but I'm very proud of that You know, it's a third-party recognition that we're keeping things on track as far as a from a financial perspective HR I Have nothing to report in this agenda, but I'm here to answer any questions if you have anything questions Okay, thank you General manager great, and I'll I'll take a little of Tracy's time here then I've got a couple items up and I'll just point them out San Francisco began construction on a recycling plant. Well, that's fantastic. I'll just point out that the pure water Soquel Project that's being evaluated Would produce, you know, two to three times the amount of water which they're estimated make it in pure water much pure water and Be, you know, roughly a third of what their cost is. So, you know kudos to us for Keeping costs down Arizona is moving the ball forward direct with direct potable reuse and why we're not doing that We want to just take the purified water and replenish the groundwater basin to prevent further seawater intrusion I think it is it just gives a nod to how far that That fields coming that, you know, they're looking at putting it directly in the pipe and The water tax proposal that was being floated by Bill Monning Has kind of taken on a Different shape the governor's inserted something into his budget that would tax Each customer one to ten dollars per month, so we'll see we'll keep tabs on that whether that makes it Makes it through and then the last one was just Cape Town I mean you can go head down to the pictures actually Shelly if you would you know it just If if this shouts anything what's going on there? I mean this is the first really modern city that we've had to face this level of crisis Here they are buying a bunch of bottle water and up above they're going to Springs. I think it just To me the lesson I take home is diversification's resiliency because they're their reservoirs are going dry and they have all their eggs in one basket now They're building desalination plants, you know in a hurry, and I'm sure that's you know Not the most cost-effective way to approach it. I just wanted to point that out and that's all I have Any questions? Also Cape Town is actually part of this has a similar Mediterranean type climate that that our section of California has so it's got the Wet winter dry summer, so they are they're observing in the southern hemisphere exactly what We are exceeding here in California The other interesting thing is that they did try to do desal and it was voted it down because they didn't think they needed it And that was I think five years ago Hmm, I think they're they're gonna list the names of the people that voted against it Okay, I'm not going there All right, so anyone in the public wish to comment on these items we've just been through Seeing no one Let's say we go to the district council Only a few items the coal matter which mr. Cole was some new challenges prop 28 under prop 218 was set for February 19th, but not unexpectedly I think the court clerk took a look at the volume of paper and moved it over now to March 23rd So that'll be heard on that date report to you after that There's been another case there was Ramona water district about a month ago that held at the appellate level that You don't have to have you don't have to protest to bring a proof 218 measure Marin had a case that went the other way at the trial court But after Ramona was decided the judge granted a new trial so now Marin's the same way as Ramona So that's likely to go up On appeal and Aqua's participating in both of those appeals and finally on The SB 831 we heard today that the California Special Districts Association is going to oppose it and I checked in with Aqua this afternoon and They're going to oppose it as well because it's just so broad in the impact on special districts and water districts and it appears to violate prop 218 because if The people that are building ad use don't have to pay any water fees of any sort Then everybody else has to pick up the additional expense Okay, thank you All right, we have no item 6.1 no will serve letters So we go to 6.2 water demand offset new applicant offset generating project Yeah, so when we revamped the water demand offset program last year the board wanted to give flexibility to people to come up with creative solutions to offset their development projects and so you ask staff to go and develop a Basically a proposal or an application process for people to bring those projects forward to you and a Framework for you to evaluate the projects and so tonight. We are bringing forward our first applicants project and it's for a Development in Soquel the applicants are proposing to build 16 condominiums and townhomes at 5701 Soquel Drive They are currently on our wait list in the number 29 position So that's going to be a while for them if they are to wait for toilet rebate applications to come in to meet their offset Their total offset requirement is four point five six acre feet And the project that they are bringing forward is to install buoy water monitoring devices at district customer homes and those devices Basically will alert a customer through an app anytime. There's a leak They also provide an automatic shutoff function So if someone's out of town and they get a notice that there's a leak they can shut off their water And the other benefit of the buoy system is that They also provide customers with metrics on how their waters being used on a daily basis. So, you know You used 20 gallons today by showering or or X amount of gallons for clothes washing They have gone through and done a pretty thorough Job on their application and they've cited references from environmental protection agency on nationwide leaks They pulled information from our urban water management plan to come up with the the amount of water savings per device And so what we're bringing forward tonight is their application, which is included as attachment to and the criteria that the board is looking at is Permanence is the project something that will produce water savings for 20 years Additionality is it something that wouldn't otherwise happen through building code changes retrofit on sale ordinances or district rebates and Measurability is it water savings that can be measured with a certain degree of accuracy and so I think that of those three criteria Permanence is the units the buoy units are estimated to last ten years and Our criteria is 20 so technically we would need to divide that water savings by two however, the technology could be Supplemented by AMI full Automatic meter meter installation throughout our district within ten years. So maybe in this case 20 years would be moot Because that technology would do basically do the same thing Additionality, I think they score fairly high on that. This is not something that is Going to be mandated by any regulatory agency in the near future Measurability I think is also very very high because the units rely on a badger meter Badgers a common meter manufacturer with relatively high accuracy similar to our master meters that we use so I think the measurability is good And so with that I just want to say that the applicants are here tonight We have Jonathan and Tim Gordon from workbench. They're the development company and we also have Hillary Bryant here tonight Representing buoy. So if you have any specific questions about their project or the technology I'm sure they would be happy to answer those questions. I also want to state that We were a little uncertain as to the degree of detail that the board wanted Staff to include in a report if you wanted if you were seeking recommendations from staff about how we Felt about an application or we felt it was valid So any input that the board wants to provide if you'd like to see more detail from us or or recommendations or that sort of thing Please let me know and we'll we'll make a change the next time around so for the first time we just wanted to get it out and Present unbiased information and and kind of let you Evaluate it so that's all I had to say. Thank you Okay Any questions of staff? Let's open the public hearing come and talk to us about What you want to tell us? I'm Tim Gordon. Oh, thanks for your time tonight and John so We have a company in town workbench and we are development design and construction all in one shop This project for us. That's so Cal as Shelly mentioned is likely going to be 15 units after all 40% affordable and Hoping hoping to be able to help the community out by providing affordable housing and just more housing Little bit about that project the key thing buoy tonight is a device that sits on the water line After the main meter, but before it splits off to landscaping or other areas of the house It measures just like a typical water meter with a lot more detail and puts that into an app that Customer can see Exactly how much while they're using based on the fixture type so they can say okay my landscape use this much water my Toilet I flushed it three times today at these times and use this much water the key thing that it does is leak detection and Awareness it's a little bit about leak detection If you a estimates 10% of all water usage in the home is due to leaks Yeah, according to the EPA Yeah, 10% is due to leaks which if we According to If we use a amount of 135 gallons per day, that's 13 gallon 13 and a half gallons per day That's just per customer that's being lost due to leaks the buoy system excels at Fixing this problem because what it does is basically notifies you of any Averint water usage, so if you can determine, you know how the Like where your water usage is going as far as you know this much to shower this much to your dishwasher this much to your sink then anything extra is obviously a leak and needs to be fixed and That's the kind of thing that Wouldn't really be determined by other water metering systems They would often Like when you get a water bill you see how much water you're using but you don't really know exactly where it's going in the Home and say you can't really determine, you know, whether it's a leak or whether you just used extra water in your faucet that day, so The buoy really eliminates that problem pretty much all together as well as in emergency situations We actually had a property that had Did have a big leak that the customer didn't know about and then within a couple days like their entire yard was flooded and there was like Inches of water underneath the house. That's just you know gone to waste and if we would have had the Buoy system in there at the time then that would not have been the case and all that water would have been saved This is our project the one we just purchased about a week after we bought it. Yeah Was an explosion of a water pipe But in addition to the leak savings another really great benefit of Buoy is It provides insight into how the customer is using water Many customers have changed their usage once they actually see where their water is going for example a Lot of times you just get your bill and like I said, you don't know where it's going So you don't really know how much water you're using when you take a shower or how much water it actually takes to wash dishes or things like that and It really having that data right in front of you really provides Incentive for people to you know take shorter showers to use an HE dishwasher instead of hand washing the dishes I'd use a high-efficiency clothes washing machine Or even get like a tankless or inline water heater a Couple of examples just from Buoys that have already been installed is there was one customer who discovered that he was using over 80 gallons of water per day just to hand wash his dishes and He realized that by buying a efficient dishwasher He would actually use only about three gallons a day. So he's saving over 75 gallons of water per day just by using an efficient dishwasher and There's another instance where Buoy allowed a customer to quantify That there was a toilet running in a guest bedroom and it was the kind of thing that he figured was just a small problem And it turned out to be that he was able to determine that it was using over 150 gallons of water per day Which is a huge amount, you know and He realized that it's the kind of thing that he should probably get fixed sooner rather than keep putting it off as well Buoy's actually been able to Catch leaks in brand-new irrigation systems that were just in salt and that's the kind of thing that it's underground You don't see it and you pretty much never know that there was a leak there and this was able to catch it first day Does the do it through sound Basically, it's what it does is measure measure the water usage and record all of the Usages It's able to determine Like when something is turned on and off as far as like, you know time of day and These are that and determine Like over time it kind of learns how you use your water and whenever You flush a toilet like it knows what to expect, you know for a flushing toilet And then it is able to determine other things like, you know, how much you use for a sink how much, you know duration of you know how long it takes a Closed washer to run for example, so it uses all those data metrics to determine Where the water is actually going So in other words it kind of guesses so you can easily confuse it by doing your dishes at a strange hour like midnight Leave is also based on pressure as well and Hillary knows a little bit better It's measuring the flow of the water My parent use the microphone so we can record it It's a local company Sorry, I didn't want to I wanted to let them do their presentation. I'm Hillary Bryant with Buoy Labs Thank you all for your service. I know what a tough job you have and it's actually measuring the flow of the water and it's it's Running off the customer's Wi-Fi So it's a single device. It's installed typically on homes where the shutoff valve is and it's measuring that flow It sends the information via the customer's Wi-Fi up to the cloud. It disaggregates the information It's all based on machine learning algorithms So it's the flow the time of use a data set that we have and it gets The device because of the machine learning algorithms gets smarter over time But every device in your home has a signature toilets Showers sinks things like that are very easy for us to pick up the harder signatures It takes some time to learn it takes the first couple of weeks are the washing machines the dishwashers depending on the cycle the amount of Water being used by each device that that takes a little longer But within the first two weeks for about 90% accurate over the entire home And then you can also correct the device so you can say no That wasn't my dishwasher. That was actually my washing machine and then the device will learn that so over time It gets it gets significantly smarter continues to learn and sometimes we'll see things For example, if you all of a sudden you put on a pressure washer We would identify that as this is an unusual water use it would look sort of present as if it was a leak but if if that was something an activity that you did frequently then the device will learn that that's Signature that it should know so it we have about I think we're up to about 20-something categories of different. This is the app. This is actually my house I'm not going to show you because I don't want to shame myself in my water use But it tells you you know you can categorize Everything from a water filter to a water softener regen cycle. So it we have a variety of categories That we've learned over time and and do you do you tell it what it is? Or did you learn automatically? It learns automatically the first two weeks We don't send anybody leak alerts. We're just learning it very quickly like I said It'll learn some of those basic shower sink functions And you can help it learn more quickly by you can categorize it if like I said if we get wrong It's three o'clock that had a dishwasher on you can do that But after two weeks all of a sudden you'll start seeing all the categories come in How many customers have this already? We have hundreds of customers. We're now across the US. We're in 48 states and then Hawaii I'm excited about Hawaii. I'd like to have more devices in Hawaii. We don't have any Alaska yet We we spent two and a half years really testing In pilot programs across the country because we wanted to know as you all know and we didn't know as well Plumbing is not standardized in any way shape or form. So we wanted to know Not only about plumbing setups in different areas plumbing codes, but then additionally really take a look at different climates how that affected the buoy and Things like I didn't know they had whole house humanifiers in Colorado But apparently that's a thing there So there's the devices that are area specific that we needed to spend some time learning on So this is really new it sounds like we we've been and we've been working on this for two and a half years But it's an it's a new It's a new category. It's a smart home device. There are more and more companies coming out with similar devices What we're how we differentiate ourselves as we really give you real-time information the device checks in every minute So we're giving you real-time information about what's being used in the home And we also give you real-time information about leaks that we're finding and then I could shut off the water at My house from my phone right now. I could turn it back on too Which they would probably appreciate But but it allows you to not only understand your water use and identify leaks But then it allows you to do something about it. So you're shutting off the water the whole house should you find a leak Do you know what percentage of homes have Wi-Fi? You know, I don't I don't we Currently are just operating on Wi-Fi And haven't found that to be a problem although in this year will be piloting programs with Cellular capabilities, but we haven't we're not there yet and that's an added expense So the device is the cost of the device the installation and the data for life So we're not charging people a subscription for that information, which is why we're using Wi-Fi. I have a concern about the app I mean, I can see this being really useful for water wonks who want to know, you know all the water they use today, but like the PG&E has a similar kind of facility for power usage And in theory you can look at that and I've never bothered. Oh, I have you have you I look at it So you're you're electricity wonk Everything wrong But but I think what's being proposed here is is not going out and finding wonks to give this to but just kind of normal people So if you're if you don't even know about the app and wouldn't wouldn't use it Even if you did what services can this provide that people would then benefit from if you know If you didn't care a bit about what the water use was in your house But you still I can't imagine somebody not Worrying about their home leaking at some point, you know, you could never look at this, but we could still send you notifications We think there's unusual water use so we've identified a leak and you could shut the water off from the app So you don't have to check in with the app for us to push notifications to you notification so That's where I I think that even if you if you weren't concerned about your water use Then perhaps there's still a value to you if you're if you're worried about your home leaking Have you contacted the customers in our district already? We do have customers in this we have customers in your district already already I wonder if People could get a reduction in their insurance policy for their house because of having this Only because I did have two different occasions leaks that were pretty Devastating because we didn't know the leak was there. It was behind a wall and all of a sudden the whole wall crashed in my son's Closet and my daughter's ceiling two different things so I would have loved to have had that In fact, we've done a lot one of our first large-scale pilots was with one of the top ten insurance providers in the country And in other areas at State of California, I believe has insurance laws that don't allow for that But other in other states you can get five to ten percent off your Annual homers insurance policy if you have a leak detection device and it's all in the home It's not in California. I don't believe it applies to California So I was looking at your spec sheet one of the one of the things we have to evaluate is How permanent? This would be in your spec sheet as a one-year limited warranty so I Know you don't want to have liability for 20 years down the road, but And you comment on Whether this device will really work for 10 years or five years or do you have any idea yet? Because it sounds like it's a relatively new device. It is a relatively new device in the field But the the device that the components that we have inside the device are designed for 10-year lifespan So we're certainly not at a 20-year lifespan. I don't know, you know, how that whether that's being measured against You know, I don't I'm not aware of whether toilets have a 20-year lifespan or shower head low-flow shower heads I don't I don't know the comparison, but from a Standpoint of the lifespan expectancy. It's 10 years. There's a year a warranty on the hardware and we're certainly You know, we're we built the company here in Santa Cruz. We're growing We're on a nationwide scale now and and our intention is to Provide the best service for our customers, but I can't I would never want to get up here in front of you and say Absolutely 20 years because we haven't we haven't been in the field that long some other things on permanence If someone has a small leak or minor leak The big blowouts Something smaller They're never gonna find There's something that it's gonna hit the system as just leaks, you know, they're not They're never gonna find those unless they try to As well as the Just the overall Awareness that it brings people that buy a buoy that are water conscious aren't gonna keep it to themselves You know, they're gonna talk to their friends. Hey, I have this collab this cool product Save me this much money They're putting money into buying a buoy, they're not gonna waste their money on that I think those are some other permanents think they could look at I Know we're kind of not worried about us if we had it at our house It just I had one of those hidden leaks in a garden hose and things but that yeah Didn't run up the catastrophic breakdown, but it did cost a couple hundred dollars a month for a couple months before I figured out where it was but I still am kind of concerned about the ability of the average customer to use it And you know, is there a training program or a training video or is there a way to see how the thing actually works on Everybody's phone or we do and it's it's online on our website My apologies. I was my understanding that it was workbench's proposal and I didn't bring any of our You know our advertising, but it's we have really made that it's a consumer focused product We've really tried to make it very consumer friendly. It's a very simple app My children who are 12 and 14 they obviously use a lot of apps, but they're you know It's something that kids can use adults can use We really have tried to I mean if it's breaking down You're water used by Devices and icons that are very consumer friendly It gives you a use over the day by comparison You know yesterday to today last week to this week month over month So you're really trying to give people just general information and then information about you can drill down on to How much water does my dishwasher use in every cycle some people will care about it some people will not care about it But there is an amazing There's amazing power in giving people the information in the data They don't understand something if they're looking at it in ccf's But if you give it to him in gallons if you give it to him by appliance if all of a sudden they can say gosh that running toilet That was a hundred fifty gallons overnight I had no idea that just letting a flapper valve go because I don't hear it. I don't think about it It's not causing any damage. It's a lot of water. It's an astounding amount of water and we we put a Buoy in a house just last week over in the Seabright area and we found four leaks within the first You know 24 hours of it being on a house two were in the irrigation and two were in the house And one was a dripping shower head that they had just ignored. No, it's just a few drips a minute I don't pay attention to it, but cumulatively It was over a hundred gallons a day and the you know, they just they just weren't aware Because they didn't have the information and I really think that this is the way You know, I know that you're considering am I in the future. I think most agencies are doing that When we started when we it's expensive and when we started this project people were We were the only ones doing it and now I really think it's It's starting to become an industry standard and the nice part about this is if somebody finds leak they can shut their water off I mean we've had people call and say I was on a camping trip and the water shouldn't have been going at my house I just shut my water off. I didn't think about it again. So I got home so it really gives people the ability to Change how they interact with their water and a better understanding of how it's being used and for some people They may not care about that, but anyone who's had a leak or I can't tell you how many leak damage stories I've heard now It's it's shocking and they're catastrophic, you know $300,000 in damage But if you can if you can have this as a piece of mind Then then for some people that will that'll make a big difference. I'm wondering about the measurability for this This estimate from EPA. Do you know how old that estimate is or the From a couple of years ago, but we in aggregate. I was actually talking to Shelly about this before Over the two and a half years. We've been working on this We've we've found that it's from our data and all the homes that we've had it on It's about nine and a half nine point eight percent of of water use is just going to leaks and part of the reason We started the project was it was the height of the drought And gosh if we could just cut out the leak part of it That that's gonna make a difference that that's gonna get you halfway to the restrictions that were in place at the time My concern is that not all homes are the same like you know before We had a system where we would go and read the meter every two months And all we'd see is the number before was x and the number now is y and we've gone to a mr Now in fact Shelly can tell you that you know when something runs all the time I a leak our system can tell her that and we send out people all the time to people's homes So the question is what leaks would you find that Shelly's you know, we spent millions putting this AMR system in What's what leaks would this system find that our system doesn't already find perhaps maybe exactly the same I you know, I wouldn't know that comparison But the fact of the matter is we're checking in every minute So we'll find a leak in the first 60 seconds first five minutes whatever that you know the smaller leaks We take a little longer to identify the burst pipes the big leaks We notify you right away and if we get it wrong We're rather get it wrong then then not notify you but then you can shut your water off immediately So the difference between the response time is really, you know, if you're at the office And I shut the water off in my house over concerns one time It was a bunch of kids coming in from surfing and using too much water But you know, there's there's times where if that were a real leak it would make a difference and we have We've caught those first pipes in the wall When somebody's at work they shut the water off and then get back and find you know They've at least stopped it before the damage is good. So that's the difference But I don't know in terms of the question about a measure ability you you may catch exactly the same ones It's just in terms of we're we're I have a question Oh, we may be able to give data on when the leak happened, but I don't think they get it until their monthly bill So when we read the run for a whole month. No, well it could 29 days It could run or could run for one day, right two weeks would be kind of the average Yeah, so it could save two weeks of a leak It's probably those irrigation ones that people don't notice especially when conditions are really dry And it just it goes for a long time before you notice that that patches pretty green and everything else is brown I think it reads every 15 minutes are yeah But we we only detect the leaks when we drive by and pick up the reads once a month And so if you know, you had a leak that started on day one after we had read the meter Then that's you're not going to get notification from us until day 30 Oh, yeah, yeah, we can detect leaks down to 116 to 1 8 1 8 this probably about the average So shelly does are I was under the impression ours also detected leaks based on their being continuous use so an intermediate Yeah continuous use is a pattern I guess and a logarithm that set up so That's one of the leaks or With toilets you generally see like a Gallon used and then another hour later another gap, you know when toilets are running So there's definitely patterns when you download the data from the meters. Those are the data logs that we could pull But like Tom said, we're only we're only reading it once a month when we drive by and that's when we're notifying people if they have a leak Well, I like I like yeah, no no more questions Comment public. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. So anything else to add? Okay, thanks Hillary he wants to see the device I've got the picture Watching the actual devices about like that. That's bigger Okay, so anyway the public wishes to address us on this item say none we'll close that Oh comes with a carrying case This is what I thought it'd look like Yeah Is a water provider we're we're held to meeting the NSF standards for no lead in all of our meters and components and National Safety Science Foundation Same like National Science Foundation No I'm thinking it's if we have that I'm not sure Christine do you happen to know what NSF exactly stands for? The maker come all the way up here, sorry A few years ago they changed your name officially to just NSF international and it doesn't stand for anything anymore But I think it used to stand for National Sanita sanitary foundation or sanitation foundation So all of our products that touch water have to be certified But the manufacturer has to go through the certification process This device all of the components have been through that, but the device itself has not and So that's I Like creativity, it's very creative. I question the numbers just In terms of I think there's a lot of unknowns there on just how much water it's gonna save and That's really what you know the toilet is a no, you know, there's a certain number of flushes, etc, etc But I Guess my leaning is is to to try it at a smaller scale and see if you know track it and see what see what happens with it and You know and do our best to say this is what you know the credit should be the offset credit should be for this device That That's actually one of the things I was gonna suggest too So I I agree with that idea like if there's any way to do a little pilot and see what the actual savings might be with Some customers because it's hard to volunteer It's hard. It's hard to adapt that But just if it but even if it changed it may change water use just without the leaks I agree. I agree. It wouldn't be enough time maybe to catch Some of our high-end users But also I'm just gonna mention that Even though I know that It's probably limited the number of people that will be water wonks and look at the app If you're gonna do any of this even if we develop a system ten years from now that is all like that It's gonna have to be presented on some media like whether it's their computer or their phone. So I I Don't think that's necessarily a limiting factor because I'm gonna have to interface with it in some way I think those people that had that big leak because somebody had turned on their Hose and it had been on for a month Would have really appreciated having this and then being able to turn it off right well I think one thing we could do right off the bat is we've been Finding and fixing leaks because of our AMR system for quite some time So we have some records of that so we could give them credit for two weeks of savings for each leak So if we find a leak of X gallons We would assume that it could have been gone on average two weeks and they would have fixed it in one day So and use that as the that is them as metric. Yeah, that's a possibility I'd like to see staff come back in consultation with With the with the developers who are proposing with some some rationale for how much credit it should be Taking into account, you know the 10 years versus 20 years and I hope that it you know pencils out that it that it that's financially feasible because I think there's a big upside to it and I agree that not everybody is gonna change their habits and not everybody's gonna have a leak but I Do think that it has the potential to save water Yeah, I was gonna say I agreed with the idea of sharing sharing that day, and I noticed that you had Estimate the toilet offset is what 290 toilets and the buoy offset was 150 so I was trying to think of some way to play with some of those numbers to get things started at least maybe that would be Especially if you had some pre identified customers who are interested already I mean that's how a lot of people are trying to build homes or add on to their homes They get their neighbors, and you know, they start building a Customer. Yeah, I don't think it'll be hard to find people who want this But I was thinking some mixture some sites for show Yes, I'm fraction of I'd be interested to Yeah, you know Some proportion I mean some proportion we might be on in March March 4th and 5th I think they have the imagine H2O in San Francisco where there's like, I don't know 20 types 20 groups of people who have new technology and they bring it to Water environment Federation and this imagine H2O and they're the cutting edge You know the ones that are Leading the way and there's so much technology just out there There's people that can detect a leak from a satellite and tell you where it is in your road and It's just amazing the things I saw though. I went to the one last year. I'm going to this one too So I think we need to make a motion. Yeah, go for it. So I'd like to direct staff to work with the developers on coming up with a more definite metrics on what the what the WDO offset should be for this device and to propose some type of pilot study and Included in that would be a reasonable length of time to evaluate it and you know Realistic size for the pilot study not so small that it's not statistically valid but not so large that it You know owners That's kind of a lengthy motion You can I'd like to second it because I bet recognizing that this could be a great boon For the customers in this district because we've had you know, really at least once a month We've had customers coming with asking for relief on water bills with after a catastrophic leak leak and We didn't have a good way of we haven't had a really Satisfactory way of dealing with that. So I think it has a great deal of potential and I think there's some support for that but We can't this is a WDO Program and it has to Demonstrate that saving water It's actually saving customers water on a regular basis and a predictable basis for it to be part of the WDO project So are you saying that you're open to it, but you need more information That's the motion Here is my motion rambly, I was having trouble focusing. I Have worked with the developers to drive a WDO offset credit and Design a pilot study that is not too arduous in size and length Okay, come back to you. That's right and though part of that pilot would be a WDO offset Yeah, right, right. So we'll I think the first place is start with the credit and see if that if that works with the developer Okay, we have a motion and a second all in favor. Hi. Hi That's so unanimous thanks for coming So if you guys already have a system that collect data and they have data it might be good to go back Well, the problem is as I said every home is different. So some systems already have AMI So in those systems where you're actually getting, you know, daily updates that might not save all that much Whereas we have updates every month They can detect leaks and there's some systems don't detect leaks at all Well, I've taken more like if they change their behavior of water uses more. Yeah, that's that's part of it I believe if I understood you it you were saying that if they have systems already in our water district We might be able to use that Yeah, I'm sure you'd take that into account Thanks for coming and I think it'll be interesting to work with you So that's good and if you need a tester for your software my father-in-law would be We need people to volunteer to have leaks in their home Okay item 6.3 approve request for quote for consultant services for development of finance plan and rate study Yes, I'm gonna again cover this for Leslie since they're down at a training You know the district's been working for over a year now with a public advisory committee to try to Enhance our rate structure find a new one. What you know, what would be better even better for our customers and so and that's been reported back to the board a couple times, you know our Teared rate and then the customer select model so At one of the finance administrative standing committee meetings on January 2nd We presented some of this information and the committee recommended that we come back to the full board with a request for quotes usually you think of that as request for qualifications, but actually a request for quotes and for Rate consultants to do a ten-year plan and compare the customer select model Against a tiered structure. So this is just the in the SOQ or the RFQ in this case is Attached and we just want the motion is to Authorize staff to distribute it to qualify consultants Have any questions of staff? Ten years That that's not for the that's that's the Planning horizon often you look out to get an idea that of your capital improvement projects or whatever you got going on So you can kind of set the state's the rate structure would be three to five at max It just seems to me even planning ten years is It gets it gets tough because of interest rates discount rates and things like that But you need to it is prudent to at least have something that you can and we have a model. It'll be done at a level where We can you know that there'll be some information, but we won't rely on that heavily we won't hang our hat on it But it'll give us some okay direction this way. It's also a model that we can change and You know consumption and that sort of thing just my experience Yeah, ten years. Yeah, no way. I agree, but it's it's still a five years Maybe yeah, but probably not a few years. Yeah, it goes like just yeah, exactly I think one thing to note is that we currently are using the 2015 10-year finance plan that you approved So this is an update of Yeah, a lot of change a lot of change already and since then so that proves your point Any other questions? I Had one question. I think last time we did this We have one firm do our finance plan ten-year finance plan and another firm do the rate study So I'm wondering why they got merged. Yeah, first of all. Yeah, and second in doing this finance plan I don't see how any firm could really do it without basically sitting with our finance team and asking how much this Caught somebody wanted about this. So I'm wondering, you know, our finance team is so great Why don't they just put together a finance plan ten years instead of hiring someone to basically ask them a bazillion questions about This that and the other I see this is what happens when you miss a meeting Yeah, go ahead. Well, let me answer that in part because this is sort of the basis of prop 218 hearings and one of the criteria that the courts have been looking at is Do you have an expert analysis to support this these rates? Okay, and that usually requires an expert analysis to support your financing Okay, and the courts look with some suspicion on internal financing approaches. Well, then why don't we find the best firm? We can do the Finance plan and then find them particularly for the rate study because that's got a weird thing that not many can do So that could perhaps rule out a lot of people who could do a great job with a finance plan Yeah I mean in general you want them that you want the same firm doing both the reason it happened last time is just because of the transition time the firm Bartlewell's doing the ten-year plan and Some decisions made wanting to go out for the rate component and you generally don't want to do that It's like, you know build half the automobile and then the other half But we lived with it and wasn't the optimum I mean that actually the rate consultants at a disadvantage because they had to come back in and really understand some of the other nuances to the model That I asked the question. Thank you Anyone in the public wish to address us on this item Becky Steinbrenner of Aptos I remember when your rate consultant came and there were some errors that Were made and it cost the district a lot of money because you'd already put things out to the public and all that so I Really want to encourage you to make sure that Whoever it is you hire to do that that they have errors and omissions Policies in place that will cover the cost of any errors like that. So the district ratepayers are not Expected to make up that that cost. Thank you. Thank you anyone else See no one I will close that back to us I'll move approval Before you do that. There's one thing I think is wrong in here. Okay. Go for it on page 70. It's number four plan overages And it mentions that Automatically the plan allotment are automatically switched on their next bill to the plan in which their usage occurred for the remainder of the year We haven't decided on we didn't decide on that and I think that was one that we had a real problem with because I mean You could have 12 months of you know way up there That's a good point and we talked about having six months or three months or or we all kinds of possibilities It's definitely not been determined. Yes. Yeah, so we would want them to actually look at Various time frames maybe three six or 12 months the plan switching above talks about that yeah, although It's a little different switching plan versus an overage Well, again, this is talking about you know, there'd be one time in the year when you could switch And then if you switched and the next month you had a you know, whatever It's also doesn't talk about leaks. I don't think we talked about that There's a lot of things we talked about I think there should be in here and aren't I Definitely saw that one as something that we had not agreed on had said a lot of controversy about So in fact, okay, whoever takes this on to come to us with a solution for all that right, right, we'll The other the other discussion that I don't think it was That there's agreement on is just on whether it you know Just the the period For the plan is there same water rate did your water rate get set by your highest water rate in the summer or is there winner in a summer rate plan That that I think I Don't think we agree on how that should be done. We're looking for direction on that. Okay We had lots of discussion and I don't think we're not resolved. Yeah, I agree with that Well, the question is whether You know one of these classes, I think that was part of the problem in the previous rate study, too That things are set, but it was clear even from the one rate meeting I attended beginning that the rate consultant didn't have all the information and in this case we haven't actually Developed all of the information that the rate consultant might have to use and it is sort of a problem if That rate consultant relied on those five points that we really would want to need to Hash that out. This is a request for qualifications, right? Well, it's for what request for quotes do the work Yeah, it's it's similar Yeah, and you know, I have to talk to Leslie but I know some of these ideas were Still not fully baked, but that may be part of the the analysis Maybe you know this one does it better, you know, this way does it better than the other but ought to see how many But the point is these Undecide things need to be put in there because we expect whoever takes on this contract to resolve these which may require a lot of extra work That he might not think or she right or to evaluate different variations Valuate the different options and come up with how much But the pros and cons would be all right. Yeah, so it could either come back to us Okay, after it's more detailed or You know like the way that number two on page 70 is Is written where achieve a structure a number of plans and plan size widths achieve a structure is fair and equitable and Etc. Etc. The plan switching and plan overges could be the same thing, you know, it's achieve a structure that They use number two as kind of the guidance for the other one. Yeah, just where where it's not Seven stone yeah that that because They're the experts They know what we want and so they can come up with different options, okay So just to be clear either will take that approach make those items Look more like item two three four the other ones that are appropriate. Otherwise, we'll bring it back for further Agreement from the board. Do you think we should see it again? Yeah, okay. We want to see it again before it goes out Yeah, I do Everybody else I agree this particular case So we're taking no action Okay, we'll bring it back Okay Anyone the public wish to address this on this item that we're not doing anything about Yes, okay item 6.4 provide direction regarding sampling monitoring of Aptos and Valencia creeks Right, and I think we have Mr. Alley in the audience tonight. Thank you for coming So last week we brought our two weeks ago We brought you back this proposal about fish monitoring and the board decided to Not only contribute what we normally contribute to the county wide effort, but also roughly Around 10 grand to sample Soquel Creek and the board asked us to come back and say what would it also cost to sample Aptos and Valencia creeks, so we brought that back to you tonight and the Cost range between seven and ten thousand dollars the difference is If you sample the lagoon which mr. Alley recommends it's ten thousand if you don't sample the lagoon It's seven approximately seven and Yeah, and so with the motions are asking tonight is whether you want to do Nothing or the ten thousand dollar Effort or the seven thousand dollar effort And I I guess I will note that and then just to um You know for us to plan that in the next year's budget What that would be and then we still have to go through the process, but um Uh the other little tidbit was Fish and wildlife are sampling Aptos Creek too. So there was some thought that there might be some value State fishing game. Thank you, Carl Fish and wildlife now Fish and wildlife. So the name is changed. Yeah. Yeah, that's right and um Might be some value in and cross referencing that data potentially too. So anyway I'll be glad to answer questions or don would also any questions of staff I guess I have one question. I have it's just that These estimates are such nice round numbers You know, but I don't see any detail on where they come from And I was just wondering like is this just not to exceed? And then it's based on actual time and materials are well I'll give the big summary and then don he gave me detailed spreadsheets So I just didn't attach them to him because we were moving pretty fast and and Uh, but I think actually one number was like $6,950 and the other one was 9857 or something. I just rounded uh for planning purposes. So he does have you want to add to that? For the the lower option we'd sample four sites two in Aptos and two in Valencia Which we've traditionally done We have a crew of three Which is a minimal amount a lot of people use four or more people in electrophishing We're also going to habitat type two segments in Aptos Creek to decide where to sample In in the lagoon. I've scheduled Just four people to sample a lagoon Which is again a spartan group, but we're in good shape and we have a lot of experience The sampling will be consistent. We've we've been sampling Aptos and Valencia for a dozen years Um, we've sampled the lagoon. We sampled it for four years And then there was a three-year gap and then we sampled again last fall so There's no there's no fat in this uh Proposal it's just a bare minimum as far as working with uh calfish and wildlife I haven't been able to determine what they plan to do yet But I would certainly coordinate with them Uh, and hopefully we could use each other's data to get as much power as we can out of it I'm going to be talking to Jennifer Nelson's Boss if I can to find out what she's planning there So I know you could answer this in an hour or more But in just a few sentences I I know why I think it's important, but why do you think this is important? in just a few sentences well for one for one thing it it'll it'll be a comparison between Aptos and Soquel so we've got two different watersheds. We'll see how each one is doing comparatively um for Aptos the lagoon is a very important habitat and During the four years that we sampled it before We found that the first year we got our estimate was 450 fish But by the fourth year we only had like a half a dozen fish that we caught But then this last last fall we had our estimate was about 185 so it went up during a wet year And so there needs to be some guidance on the management of the lagoon down there. Okay, there's artificial breaching So the sampling will help determine what happens during dry years versus wet more clearly That's an important thing is that Aptos creek is doesn't have a lot of diversions on it doesn't have a lot of people on it Whereas Soquel does So it's a good kind of a good comparison between high human impact and less so Okay, those those are good reasons I'd like to add note that occasionally the some of the state sampling Plans don't pan out. They don't you don't actually get to the They don't actually do the sampling when they said they were going to do it If For better or worse that happens. We have it covered with this and we agree to the sampling Yes, and uh both Aptos and Soquel The juvenile densities have gone down drastically uh I was really pleased to see that at least in Aptos Last fall the numbers went up They didn't go up in Soquel Except in a couple of sites most most of Soquel we didn't get higher juvenile densities. We've got fat really faster growing fish but With these dry years things are getting very tenuous And I'd like to say something in relation to what dr. LaHue LaHue mentioned Last meeting I was at where he was saying well What are we doing with all this data? What good is it? I worked very hard on a watershed management plan for Soquel Creek and we finished it in 2004 I I'd sampled the creek for about six years. Fortunately with Soquel Creek Water district funding so I had a good idea what the watershed was like And then I spent two years studying watershed more for the plan since then we've had a number of drought years And uh, unfortunately very little of that plan was implemented Uh, so there's a lot of projects in there that I developed that would certainly Help the fish if they were implemented So we need someone who really cares about the fish To try to implement the plan So somebody's gonna some agency is gonna have to have Additional staff and then have the fishery biologists work Work with them to apply for funding if we're going to get a change. It's not hopeless And there are things we can do that don't relate to water use Well, I was really pleased to see these ideas about catching water leaks is very important And you're gonna have more people in your watershed as time goes on using water But there are certainly things that can be done Uh that haven't been implemented, but if if we have a mindset where The project's got to be a win-win situation where humans win and fish win Those kind of projects are rather limited At this point, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to be willing to do projects where the fish win People don't have to lose but the fish win We if we always have the mindset Well, we're not going to do projects where humans win And then if the fish happened to win a little bit, that's cool We're not going to get anywhere. So it takes a change in mindset Yeah, we're we're not doing any projects for that but tonight, but the sampling is the issue So anyone in the public wish to address this on this item? Thank you Thank you. Becky Steinbruner of Aptas. I'm I'm curious about the It what I remember last time that there seemed to be a disconnect between the work that mr Ali has done and is doing and what fish and wildlife has done and is doing And I'm I'm curious about that disconnect It doesn't make sense to me as a citizen when you've got all this work going on that there is in coordination So I would I would like to ask for Someone to come from fish and wildlife Perhaps Jennifer Nelson as he said and talk with you about, you know, this whole picture I also think that That I'm hearing talk about Aptas Creek, but I'm not hearing much talk about valencia And it's a completely different creek with a lot of problems So I would like to have a little more information about what this sampling entails on valencia And um, I think it's important to to do Not only fish counts, but stream flows, especially since the district has just put in a new Very large and deep well at granite way that may change the stream flows potentially in that area I think this could be very good information to submit as baseline information for The mid-county groundwater agency's plan for sustainability's factors That must be submitted to the state by 2020 So thank you very much. Thank you anyone else See no one will bring it back to the board What's your pleasure? I would get I I will make a motion for item number one The lagoon at the same time as we If we were to go for the rest of the rest of the two creeks, I think the lagoon is really important to Worth the extra money I'll second that all in favor I Okay, we now go on to some written communication. We have two of them. The first one has a I think a proposed uh response Does it Yeah, so I'm asking the board if they approve that draft response so we can send it out to uh, mr. Stanton, I believe Looks good to me. Looks good to me Likewise, okay. Do you need a motion? Uh, no, that's good. No. Their public consensus is good. Yeah. Yeah any public comment on either of these? That is Seeing none Um, yeah, I think these are okay. Okay. We'll send out the response in. Thank you. Thanks Okay, and we now go to a closed session Two items on the agenda Thanks everyone for coming