 Good afternoon I'll call the meeting of the Board of Public Utilities for the city of Santa Rosa to order if we may have a roll call, please Chairman Galvin here vice chair anoni here board member bannon fort Board Member Bannister Board Member Dowd here board member Grable here board member once Any statements of abstention by board members? Minutes from February 12. We have no study session minutes from February 21st will be approved and filed We have two staff briefings the first one is the water supply update. I believe the call-in close is going to give us that report Good afternoon Chairman Galvin and members of the board I am calling close senior water supply planner, and I'm happy to provide your water supply update today As you are well aware the recent Atmospheric storms provided quite a bit of rainfall. We've had significant precipitation and therefore not surprisingly the lakes are quite full The graph is from March 4th, but I have some updated information from today for Lake Mendocino It is at 85,600 acre feet, which is a hundred and 25 percent of the water supply curve Earlier this week releases were at 850 cubic feet per second those have been ramped down to 450 cubic feet per second And just a reminder the Armour Corps of Engineers is allowing additional storage in the lake During the winter season to improve water supply reliability and environmental conditions in the Russian River while also making sure that there is adequate flood supply capacity and they're using FIRO that is the Forecast informed reservoir operations to operate that reservoir so that they can manage that They have more flexibility to store water and then as large storms are coming they can release water in preparation for that The additional storage is about 11,600 acre feet. That's about enough water for almost a hundred thousand people for a year So this is making a significant difference Lake Pillsbury is at 59,395 acre feet and Lake Sonoma this graph is from March 4th, but today's updated information is that it's at 293,700 acre feet Which is a hundred and twenty percent of the water supply pool and the 24 hour average releases earlier this week We're up to five thousand cubic feet per second those went down as low as a thousand cubic feet per second this morning They were at four thousand so they're managing that actively as they need to with runoff continuing to fill that lake So whether it's a wet year or dry year as you know We work actively with our customers to use water wisely and one of our Strategies is to be a partner in the Sonoma Marin saving water partnership We've talked to you about them before you have their annual report in front of you And so that's updated information for the region for all 11 partners who participate in that program In addition the partnership has on going on going coordinated messaging that we participate in and we take advantage of that So that there's a regional look feel and message around using water wisely I'm going to zoom in on the water use efficiency is good planning piece because we are working with the partnership oops I'm sorry that's missing a slide I apologize, but we are having some workshops for the Landowners whose homes were burned during the fire in October 2017 The first will be March 28th at 6 p.m. That will occur at the utility field operation site six o'clock So folks can come and learn what information they need to bring to a second workshop on April 6th That's a Saturday They can either sign up to show up at 10 in the morning or at 1 in the afternoon and in two hours go from I'm not sure what my landscape should look like when I build to having approved landscape plans So we have Experts there available for them and staff from the planning department to make sure that they can do a one-stop shop So that again is March 28th at 6 at the UFO and then April 6th At either 10 o'clock in the morning or 1 o'clock in the afternoon And at the UFO and folks can call the water efficiency hotline if they need additional information. So that's 707 543 3985 707 543 3985 should folks need additional information about that opportunity In addition with the partnership we have the commercial kitchens water efficiency water energy rebate program So the partnership applied for a grant and three of the partners are participating North marine water district marine municipal water district in city of santa rosa And this is allowing commercial kitchens to get up to 100 back off the cost of Dishwashers steam cookers pre-rent spray nozzles and ice machines that save water and energy Folks who are interested can contact dabbling at the number shown on the slide 543 4506 Or they're welcome to visit the website srcity.org slash kitchen rebate for additional information I've also brought some of the postcards. So if anybody needs a postcard related to that program, I'm happy to provide that We typically Have been Observing fix a leak week. This is a national effort to make sure folks know that they should look for and fix leaps Particularly in their homes and we've been participating for quite a long time in that program This year the fix a leak week is march 18th through the 24th And we are providing to our residents bill insert that reminds them about that We also have simple kits that have dye tabs and instructions for them So they can know how to look for leaks particularly in their toilets toilets tend to be the biggest culprit To launch fix a leak week will be at the saint pat's day run That's a fundraiser for our recon parks department sunday march 17th We'll have a table with staff and information and leak detection kits The race lines up at 10 45 folks can register online before or they can register at the site from 9 to 10 30 at finley park So we're encouraging folks to come out. They'll see these mile markers as they're running along reminding them to Look for and fix leaks to find and fix leaks And this is a photo from last year's run So anybody who wants to participate again, they can go to the website fleet feet santa rosa.org or they can register on site I'm happy to take any questions. Should you have any? Thank you, mr. Close any questions from the board Thank you for the update and hopefully you'll have a successful event on saint patty's day. Thank you Item 5.2 is an update on the laguna treatment plant and emergency proclamation interim director berk Thank you chair galfman. I wanted to just take a minute and introduce this item as everyone is aware Last week. Was it just last week? We had a pretty significant atmospheric river that parked itself right over santa rosa and because of that we experienced Quite an impact at the treatment plant We had flooding that was occurring around the treatment plant that prevented ability for staff to get in and be able to potentially leave the plant Because of that we had non-essential staff reporting to a different location And we also started seeing significantly if not the highest some of the highest flows we've ever seen coming into the treatment plant And I really just want to take a moment to commend staff There are you know, we know day in and day out. We have an amazing group that works in our department and in particular the the foresight and planning and proactive nature that folks took recognizing The amount of water that was coming into the treatment plant what they needed to do and really planning ahead so that they could create storage space If and when we might be having more flows in the treatment plant that we could treat Being able to discharge to create that space so that we would only discharge water Fully treated recycled water Was really an amazing feat and I can't say enough How great a job those folks did out of the treatment plant. They kept it going Kept us in great shape through this process it was such a Impact to the treatment plant that we did have to declare a local emergency and so The interim deputy director Sean McNeil as well as I think interim plant superintendent boy and bryan bachin will be Here to present information on where we are today give a little bit of what we experienced and Why we had to declare the emergency proclamation Thank you, jennifer Chair galvin members of the board My name is Sean McNeil. I'm here to speak about the update give you an update on the Laguna treatment plant throughout this atmospheric river and the emergency proclamation That was announced So start with a proclamation of our local state of emergency We experienced an atmospheric river that led to about a 50 year rain event based on a 48 hour period This was a very large event for our treatment plant the flows coming in were about five times what our normal Elevated flows that we get in the winter So we went from about 21 million gallons per day rate to up to 105 million gallons per day rate during the middle of this storm caused a lot of localized flooding as Director Burke mentioned that led to A shutting the plant from non-essential staff. So just operators were out at the plant for almost a day and a half Where the regular staff couldn't be there to take care of our normal businesses our labs So we set up operations at the ufo Then the amount of water that kept coming in We realized that we didn't have access to all our facilities and our staff for having challenges getting to work So we declared a state of emergency on february 28th The city manager did and then the city council ratified that on march 5th Just to kind of get you a perspective of what we were looking at you could see in this graph here looking at the volume of water coming into the headworks at the Plant that we have this regular daily oscillation and then the storm hits On the um and you start seeing the amount of water rising coming to the plant our plant can only process a certain amount of water at any one time Otherwise the the the operations start to either get watered out or we can't Treat it all through our uv system. So we have equalization basins and that's what we have here in these stacked bar graphs We took that peak of that flow and were able to push that water into the west college equalization basin Approximately 35 million gallons were stored there And another 15 million gallons were stored on site at the luguna treatment plant to just take that peak off And even still with the amount of water that was coming in It was coming in faster than our uv system could regulate Or could effectively dose so we were going into an off-spec mode And what we do in an off-spec mode is we place that water that comes through the treatment Into separate ponds so that it doesn't mix with the ponds that we normally discharge from and this is critical to understand That we did not discharge any under disinfected water throughout this event Regardless of what you might have read in the paper So in talking about that discharge part of our concerns was the water was coming in so fast and our ponds were filling up Really quickly we quickly Realized that we needed space and we had limited access to our ponds So we began to discharge from metal lane ponds, which are the ponds right across from the luguna treatment plant On wednesday and then we got support from the fire department to get out to delta pond and open up The discharge there And once again, I just want to reiterate we only discharged Fully treated tertiary recycled water, which is what our permit allows us to do And I think what's news is that because the city of san aroza rarely discharges When we discharge that's news Any other treatment plant discharges all the time and it's not news So we have the permits to do that. This is all within our permit boundaries But we just I just want to make sure that was clear So what happened in delta pond? We lost power for an extended period of time out there the facilities The road getting out to delta pond was flooded So we didn't have a skata and skata is our way that we Communicate and understand what the pond levels are and what it's like out there And we needed to get both eyes out there from our operators as well as open up the valve So fortunately we got support from the fire department and their swift rescue boat came out Delivered our operators out there and they were able to open The valve and here they are this is a picture of it looks like the pond Because if you look on the left there, there's the pond levee with the pump house there But actually this is the creek and there's a six foot fence or maybe it's a seven foot fence Underneath this water And this is actually the access road that goes out to the pond and the pond is just on the other side So when we opened up that valve, this isn't a pump that moves that water. It's just gravity So the water just kind of sat there So fortunately we were able to evacuate water from the other ponds and once Santa Rosa creek Came down the elevation came down the discharge began to work properly So I want to just kind of Put this storm into perspective with another storm that we experienced in 0506 This is uh for any of us who were around then It was a big operation. We had flooding at the treatment plant We have we've talked about these pictures and so it's really started the discussion in a serious way That we need to have some kind of flood protection for the plant itself But the planted flood and the the new year's flood of 0506 and we didn't have the equalization basin That we have at west college facility now So we didn't have that ability to absorb that increased flow But if you look at the orange bars here You could see the flow volume that we received at the plant was much higher in this second This most recent event than that historic flooding event that we had And this resulted in no sanitary sewer overspills at the plant and resulted in no illegal discharge or any Major problems and and I wanted to say that the operator staff did a tremendous job In protecting the facility and the environment from harm through this operation With that take any questions Thank you very much. I just think it's pretty obvious that this board is so fully appreciative Of the work that everybody out at the treatment plant did to keep things in operation during this latest storm and I'm sure you learned some other valuable lessons And I know the the flood control That we have out there now that we didn't have an 0506 certainly had to help things as well So I'll open it up now to any board questions Board member banister Thanks, john for the presentation. I think I know the answer to this but I'd rather not assume it um Can you explain why we get so Dramatic an increase in inflows into the plant during these storm events Yeah, so we have it's called the inflow an infiltration and so sometimes we have inflow coming in where there's connections that aren't supposed to be connections of To our sewer system. So let's say a parking lot I'm not saying that there is a parking lot out there But this is an example of a parking lot that unintentionally was supposed to be routed to a storm drain instead goes into a The sewer system. So we get some of that maybe on a smaller location smaller Maybe construction sites and things like that But infiltration is where we get Where our pipe the groundwater is so full that the water is seeping into the pipes And so we get that from Oftentimes laterals private laterals as well as into our collection system. It's a phenomenon that every Collection system has Okay, the second question has to do with the newspaper coverage Um, I read the article and didn't think anything of it because I understand the system Um, but I know that you got some people that called in with concerns and didn't understand That it was tertiary treated water that was being released Was there a press release or did they call? somebody Or how did this go My understanding either with yes, there was a press release. There there was um opportunities for them to talk with our director Which they did talked with our adrian mertens, uh, also and What happened as I am to understand is it really was that the Title of their article that was the problem that said sewage And it's a little Close to home. There was a time that that happened with the city That that was more than 30 years ago But that's not it wasn't sewage and so that was just Something that I'm to understand was added to the article after the person who wrote it So the content of the article was in terrible. I don't know if Burke has Yeah, if I could just add a little bit so when we did um declare the local emergency There was a press release that was put out and information was on our website as well as some frequently asked questions And there was an initial article that was written and then when the council ratified the local emergency so When it was declared it was under the city manager's authority After the city manager declares a Local emergency it actually has to be ratified by the council So that happened at a special meeting of the city council on march the fifth And um the press democrat reporter was at that meeting and so he did talk With myself As well as a little bit with shawn As well as with a city manager mcgwin and then um afterwards he had sent us a number of questions and so adrian Merton's and I were both working trying to get information as well as we had some input from molly as well and um I do appreciate that the reporter did make a lot of corrections to the article when it first came online because there was a lot of Just misinformation that was in there I think this is a bit of a complicated story So he did make a lot of those changes, which we greatly appreciated Unfortunately, the reporter is not uh who does the headlines and so it's a headline editor And I do understand that there's always a desire to encourage people to read the paper And so you want headlines that will encourage that I think it was very unfortunate that it was an erroneous headline That did cause a lot of confusion. It caused an influx of calls to our call center We did update our frequently asked questions We did push out more information on our website and push out more information through our social media channels We we did at least get the press democrat to change the headline On the online article, we were hopeful that they were going to perhaps print a correction today because my understanding is they also got a lot of calls from concerned citizens Um, I did not unfortunately see that they had printed a correction today. So that was unfortunate that that did occur Thank you Any other board member questions or comments? I have one speaker card. I'm zailman Gina do we have a microphone for her? Let's see if we can get you a microphone. Hold on just one second. We may have to have you move back to the other table Yeah, Brenda Brenda Edelman Russian River watershed protection committee Um, I do want to congratulate you and your staff for doing such a fine job. I know that was a humongous problem and It was they say the sixth largest. It was only three feet down In gernvill from the worst flood in 86 So it was a pretty serious flood and we had a lot of problems in our area I basically just have one question It's my understanding that the laguna backs up a huge amount and we all know the laguna was flooded And it's my understanding that actually floods back into the delta pond So I don't quite understand how it works that And shod may have explained it and I didn't understand. I don't know but How do you release water into the laguna when it's already backing up into your pond the delta pond? so so There there was no breach of the levy. So none of the water from the Laguna or san rosa creek got into the pond But it is true that when the the level is high like I had in the picture Here that we have no head pressure to Discharge that water So while our permits want us to discharge when the water is high so we get maximum mixing This is too high for us To discharge But it flashes like this pretty quickly and goes down relatively quickly Um On the side and then we just a little bit of difference in elevation we could we could get water out through our diffuser But but just to be clear. I'm not aware of ever having water from the creek flood delta pond That would have been about it would have been a long time ago, but I think it did happen a few times Okay, thank you. Thanks So if I understand it john The even though the valve from delta pond was opened when the water level was high Water wasn't getting out of the pond because it couldn't go anywhere. Is that right? That's correct Yeah, it just uses the the balance wherever wherever is lower. It'll go there Great We're going to minister I can't help but take the opportunity to comment on Brenda's comment about the laguna holding a lot of floodwaters back As well as do it's been said that the laguna holds back the same amount of water as lake mendicino holds And that makes difference in gernville of I forget how many feet But maybe as many as 15 if I'm remembering correctly during these major storm events, so Putting a plug in for wetlands Thank you Board member gable Yeah, I just wanted to reiterate Some gratitude to staff because especially in these moments where we have headlines unfortunate headlines that include more sewage for tertiary water It can I'm just assuming you can feel very thankless after putting in long hours and After having improved so vastly since 1986 and in so many ways And the the amount of time and energy and just personal sort of commitment that a lot of our staff put into Minimizing any harm or public health or safety issues I just want to say thank you and and and I would encourage anyone to To write letters to the press democratics, you know expressing that It was not it was a very unfortunate headline and and not at all accurate in my opinion. So thank you Thank you Comments well taken. Thanks Thanks for your presentation gentlemen We have no Oh, I'm sorry or member doubt go ahead I just I wanted to point out that in your presentation you showed the Use of the west college ponds that are near the utility department and that's been a fabulous element that we have when we have big storm events that we can Side track that water there until there's a decrease in the water down by the laguna treatment plan and then feed it down there Where so it doesn't get into santa rosa creek at that point and we have adequate time to get it treated before it goes Either to the geysers or discharge. So it's a it's a very important element that saved our Regional system a lot of money Thank you for your comments anybody else Thanks again So we have no consent items. We have report items 7.1 On the sonoma county water agency water transmission budget and rate increase Deputy director zanino welcome While lin's working on that i'll do a little introduction um Good afternoon board or chairman galvin and members of the board Each year we come before you and we bring you the Sonoma county water agency transmission budget Rates They're also known now as you will see here a sonoma water Still however, they do have in their legal paperwork sonoma county water agency So that's what you see in your staff in your staff reports and in the documents that you have before you But they are now going by sonoma water. So you're going to see both of those names As we move through this The process is quite an involved process and I think there might be a couple of you that are not super familiar with it So I wanted to go through that with you First is that the sonoma water or the agency brings The draft budget to the technical technical advisory committee the financial subcommittee reviews that budget with the water agency And we work with them to Make any reductions possible for our customers The next step is then for that subcommittee to recommend to the actual technical advisory committee for them to recommend then the budget to the next step Which will be the water advisory committee And in between those pieces We come before our boards and councils In order to give our boards and councils the ability also to recommend the budget as well Because the actual approving authority is the board for sonoma water or the sonoma county water agency Who are also the board of supervisors so Lynn Has rizali from sonoma water has the opportunity to see many boards and commissions and councils during this period of time to give a real detailed update on the budget And to give a detailed update on the rate increase this year, I will point out that the Representatives for the subcommittee for the tac were a representative from windsor north marine valley of the moon marine katadi and santa rosa as well I also want to just recognize that the water agency for the last several years has worked very hard to keep their rate increase down Because we had drought so all of us were lacking some revenue Then we also had the fires and so there was obviously concerned for our citizens and so they worked very hard to keep very low increases over the last few years They are now Have a little bit higher increase than we've seen over the last couple of years But that is due to them Making that effort to reduce budget and deferring some projects that now need to start going forward And lin will be giving you some detail on that and so with that I will now turn it over to lin rizali from sonoma water No, thank you lin rizali finance manager sonoma water Good afternoon chair and board members Uh, first, I'd like to thank the budget subcommittee, uh, jennifer burk and kimberley's zinino participated as kimberley mentioned And it was very helpful to have their input To help guide the budget process Jump right into the presentation the budget is based on 43,870 acre feet in water deliveries That is a five percent increase in deliveries over fiscal year 18 19 The line items that you see there in the table all generate revenue that covers the costs of operations and maintenance Compliance projects under the biological opinion capital infrastructure debt service Maintaining a prudent reserve and then we also have a discretionary charges line item. It's called cap. It's a capital charge on the santa rosa aqueduct The water contractors all provide input on that line item And we use it as a rate stabilization tool and to build a fund balance for future capital projects So the rate on the santa rosa aqueduct is nine hundred and eighteen dollars and thirty cents which represents a four point six percent rate increase The city of santa rosa staff put the together this slide to show the impact to the average customer family of four that our Rate when passed through to the customers has on the customers So our rate increase of four point six percent equates to a pass to a pass through to the santa rosa customers of one point nine percent On the water usage charge. So that represents a 87 cent per month increase As a result of the sonoma water rate increase And I know that city of santa rosa staff can can expound upon this Slide a little bit more if you have any questions on that So the for those that that don't know The rate is set based on the restructured agreement for water supply that is signed by all of the water contractors The rate is prescribed the rate setting application Calculation is prescribed by the restructured agreement It takes the cost of operations and maintenance divides by the quantity of water sold and gets us the cost of water per acre foot And we are required to Use the lesser of the last 12 months of actual water deliveries or the three-year annual average And you can see because of the drought the three-year annual average is the lower of the two And we do the math and you can see what the rate is there and it is Uh a fully volumetric rate There is no fixed charge component to this rate and it's very sensitive to water deliveries So for these same expenses if the water deliveries were 40,000, which they were just a couple years ago The rate increase would actually be north of 14 percent instead of 4.6 percent. So it's very sensitive to water deliveries The budget is a 51.6 million dollar budget It is made up of 54 operations and maintenance costs 20 capital projects Biological opinion compliance water supply planning and water conservation make up 17 percent And debt service makes up 9 percent And we have grants bond proceeds and use of fund balance in the amount of 7 million that help offset those costs To help keep the rate increased down So compared to fiscal year 1819 The again the total budget gross budget is 51 Million 51.6 million that's 11 million more than fiscal year 1819 budget And as as kimbley mentioned We kept rates low low over the last several years because of drought There's an economic downturn that are drought then the fires So we had to defer some maintenance and capital projects The operations and maintenance line item That change is made up largely of three million dollars for a tank maintenance program We are programming a 38 million dollar 10 year Tank maintenance program to recode the tanks and upgrade the Catholic protection and do other maintenance activities out at the tanks The biological the capital projects Are increasingly have several capital projects that we expect to go to construction In fiscal year 1920 The let's see the two of them are hazard mitigation projects The russian river crossing and the mark mark west creek crossing hazard mitigation projects Those are not included in the budget because they were included last year and have 5.7 million and out in offsetting revenue Um Other capital projects include the mirror bell dam bladder replacement and the warm springs dam hydro turbine retrofit The biological opinion compliance water supply planning and water conservation line item 90 of that increase is due to the dry creek habitat enhancement project I'll go into a little bit more detail on that in in a couple of slides The debt service is going down because we will be issuing bonds this fiscal year So the cost of issuance is included in this fiscal year And therefore the debt service is going down next year And again, we have 7 million in grants use of fund balance and bond proceeds to offset these costs Over the past five years and for the next two years. We have been awarded grants In the amount of 17 million dollars that have benefited the water transmission system and all of the water contractors And it makes up about 25 of the capital projects In and helps offset rate increases greatly And with that, let's see we'll go to the next slide to show historical water transmission deliveries decreased 33 from 2008 until 2016 17 when they reached or 15 16 when they reached a low of 40 000 acre feet And in the years where the red line actual deliveries is greater is higher than the blue line which is the budget deliveries we're able to put away some fund balance and And use that fund balance in years when the reverse is true so that we can offset a rate increase and avoid rate spikes that we did have in the past And it was a concern of the water contractors that we were having rate spikes in the past and that you know smoother rate increases Would be preferred We try to keep our rate increases within the four to six percent range. That's Per hour long range financial plan last year's rate increase was 3.67 percent That was due in part due to the fires and the economic conditions that we're facing all of the water contractors So we can see that water deliveries are increasing at the end there in 17 18 we expect them to increase a little bit more in 18 19 that allows us to not only Put away some funds in fund balance so that we can Smooth rates when the next drought occurs because we're sure there will be another one But we're also able to begin implementing some of those deferred maintenance and capital projects. So we're able to do both of those So I mentioned the dry creek habitat enhancement project. This is a project required under the biological opinion There are six miles of habitat enhancement that have to occur the first three miles are the first three miles Not fully completed yet, but almost completed Um Were paid for by sonoma water with funds that are not part of the water transmission system Uh, they were paid with other sonoma water funds And so the water contractors did not pay for the first three miles of habitat enhancement um And that cost is about has been about approximately 11.5 million per mile However, uh miles four five and six, um of the biological opinion uh requires that we we Implement miles four five and six. We're in the design process right now We will be constructing beginning not next year, but the year after for three years So we are estimating that the um share our share cost share for Design and construction of this project will be 20 million dollars over six year period beginning this year It sounds like a healthy sum, but what we're doing is we are relying on the army corps of engineers and they are Committing to so far provide a 65 cost share Cost share so their their portion is 65 percent Our portion is 35 and that portion is the 20 million dollars We can't get other grant funding because this is a mitigation required mitigation project And we can't bond for it because it's not a capital asset So we do really rely on the army corps of engineer cost share to help keep those costs down We do have five million in fund balance that we will be using to help offset and smooth this rate as we go forward for um implementing this project And i've listed here a number of the different uh projects that will be occurring some of them are on aqueducts that santa rosa is Not responsible for the pedaluma aqueduct relocation and the sonoma booster pump station santa rosa aqueduct is not responsible for paying for those Um, but we do have the warm springs dam hydra german retrofit and the mirabelle dam bladder replacement projects and waller pump replacements As well as the two Hazard mitigation projects the russia river crossing in the mark west creek crossing and as i mentioned Where we are picking up momentum on Doing further maintenance projects including the tank maintenance program that i mentioned earlier And we've have hundreds of valves and meter replacements on the collector wells Each year the water contractors ask that we compare our wholesale rates to other wholesale agencies And it's not meant to be an apples to apples comparison, but we are on the far left at nine hundred eighteen dollars and thirty cents and We believe that we are able to keep our rates lower and smoother Because we keep them within the four to six percent range that's informed by the long range financial plan Whereas these other water contractors were forced to have 10 15 20 percent rate increases during the drought For a full disclosure the san Juan water district does have a lower rate And they have Approximately 48 000 in acre feet and deliveries each year and they are a wholesaler but two years ago they had a rate increase of 16 percent and Last year it was nine percent and that's going to be nine percent rate increases over the next two years So we're feeling fairly good about staying within that four to six percent rate increase And just to summarize the rate increase is nine hundred eighteen dollars and thirty cents And that results in a rate increase of 4.6 percent Technical advisory committee voted on march 4th to recommend This budget in rates. We are presenting the budget to city councils and district boards In march the water advisory committee will vote on monday april 8th and our board will review and hopefully adopt this budget on april 16th And with that i'm available for any questions Thank you, mr. Zellie board member questions Comments from staff sure So as was mentioned By both mr. Zellie and deputy directors and you know, we do work very closely with the Sonoma county water agency To look at this budget We had both kimberley and i served on the tax subcommittee budget subcommittee and reviewed in detail Not only the budget that was presented before you but also continued to look at the long-range financial plan for the water agency You'll also see in this particular budget that there's a discretionary charge of 27 per acre foot Which it helps us build fund balance for needed capital projects in the future This is also a charge that allows us to have some rate stability So in times when things are a little tight we can also reduce that down The last couple years it has been lower But because of the the needs of the water agency because things are looking a little bit better And because we know we have some pretty big projects capital projects on the aqueduct in the future Looking at that long-range financial plan. We did think it was the prudent thing to build that up And continue to build that fund balance. So Um, it's uh, recommended from staff that the bpu consider Recommending to the council that they encourage or direct their WAC representative to vote in favour And we're happy to answer any additional questions you might have Thank you If there are no other questions, we're looking for a motion to make a recommendation I would move to make recommendation to the city council regarding council's direction to its WAC member on the Sonoma water budget and proposed water rate increases Which is scheduled to be considered by the city council at its meeting on march 26th 2019 All second motion by board member Gravel seconded by board member watts to approve item 7.1 all in favour say aye Aye Any opposed Passes unanimously with one absence Thank you very much. Thank you. Good luck with your remaining presentations to all the other water contractors Item eight is public comments on non-agenda matters See no one rise. We have no referrals. No written communications Any subcommittee reports board member doubt This is uh bpu day for the budget review committee made up of Board member grable and watts and myself we met this morning for the second time and Then of course we had our after rooms meeting here. So we're we're on on full time today but I do want to report in that The staff we had 12 staff members with us this morning at our subcommittee meeting And their presentation was well put together And we are moving along quite well And if other members of the committee the subcommittee want to say any make any comments you certainly can do so Any other subcommittee reports? All right, any board member reports will move to the director's report interim director berk Thank you. I wanted to update the board on just a couple things first The board may be quite interested that the recruitment for the water director is now open And I believe that recruitment closes on sunday march 24th So that is progressing and my understanding Barely understanding of the schedule is that some initial interviews will be occurring in april So we'll keep the board informed as that progress or that process progresses I also wanted to let the board know you the board may recall that as part of the Resolution of the water quality contamination in the fountain grove area We did develop a plan that was approved by the division of drinking water to resolve and lift the advisory And so we are now this week in the third month of our monthly testing of all of the hydrants and sample stations in the area So far all results have come back non-detect And so we are hopeful that we'll continue to see that trend If all goes as we expect we'll be dropping down to quarterly sampling for the rest of the year. So that is good news Also, just wanted to let the board know You received an email earlier this week from w director walton regarding the microgrid project We do have some good news to share The cec did lift the stop work order We were able to work with train to provide all the information that the cec was Looking for I will say this has been a lot of effort By staff and so they've been doing a really great job To continue to work with train and move this project forward The construction is nearly complete. The solar array is operational The battery and the controller system are in place and one of the two Selective catalytic reduction or scr units on the chp engine exhaust has been installed. So that is good news And construction on the second scr is underway And we will be bringing a more detailed update to the board on where we are with the microgrid project Even with the progress that has been made we do acknowledge that we're still under a very tight timeline as the grant Deadline is the end of this month. So we're still working very closely with train And you'll have a more detailed update at your next bpu meeting on this particular project Last I wanted to provide an update on the groundwater sustainability agency As the board may recall as part of the santa rosa plane The city of santa rosa is a member agency of the santa rosa plane gsa And the gsa did commit to contributing funds for the first two years of needed expenses for the gsa With the goal of trying to develop a rate or fee to fund the next three years of the gsa In order to get through development of the groundwater sustainability plan The gsa board has been working Quite diligently on this The good news is that the gsa has applied for and been awarded a one million dollar grant For helping developing the gsp. So that has really reduced the amount That is needed to be covered by the fee that is being proposed We did have another Community meeting this week actually this week there are three community meetings occurring The first one had occurred in santa rosa on monday There was one last night in ronard park, and I believe there is one Tonight in winsor We had had previously a community meeting to share the information on january 30th And it was quite well attended over I would say 350 plus people had attended Much more than was anticipated and based on that and based on Not everyone being able to actually get into the meeting We decided to host the three meetings this week the one that happened monday I would say I would estimate about 50 to 60 people showed up and as Anticipated most were not Supportive of the fee in general. They're just not supportive of the law and the gsa Although a number of folks did acknowledge and want The groundwater basin to be protected and sustainability to be achieved so at this point Based on the feedback and the information the gsa board is scheduled to meet next week And to consider the next steps and potentially look to Adopt the rate at their next board meeting, which would I believe is tentatively scheduled for april So um, that's what I have and I'm happy to answer any questions Any questions for the interim director? Very good. Thank you for your report. We are adjourned