 I T can we confirm my check? Here we good afternoon everyone I'd like to call the meeting of the Board of Public Utilities for the city Santa Rosa to order if we may have a roll call, please Thank you Board member right Here board member Watts Here board member Walsh Here board member Walsh Here here Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you. You see you board member Walsh One moment, please Seems like the volume is really low Thank you for your patience during the technical difficulties. I will start the roll call over just so it appears or is heard on the audio Board member right here. Thank you board member Watts Here board member Walsh Here board member gray bill here Board member Badenfort She is marked absent Vice chair Arnone will be absent today and chair Galvin here Thank you Let the record show that all board members are present with the exception of vice chair Arnone and board member Badenfort Thank you again. Good afternoon everyone and I want to welcome our new recording secretary Dean Amanis So sorry you got up to a little bit of a rough start, but that's the way it goes sometimes But we're we're glad to have you so Reminder to board members to please mute your phones and your microphones when you're not speaking and to put away cell phones and personal computers Any abstainments of abstention by board members? All right hearing none. We will move to item 3.1 Which is a proclamation regarding our Now departing recording secretary Roberta, Atha, so I have the honor of reading the proclamation as follows Whereas Roberta Atha was hired on November 1 1993 as a senior clerk typist supporting the maintenance division of the Laguna treatment plant and Whereas during Ms. Atha's 28 and a half year career Roberta held many positions in the water department and city manager's office Including senior administrative assistant administrative secretary administrative technician and administrative analyst Whereas during Ms. Atha's career. She has been involved in many teams and specialty projects Including facilitating two multi-year steering team processes Helping to develop Santa Rosa waters new employee orientation and was an integral part of the city's employee fund drive serving as co-chair for several years and Whereas Ms. Atha is the creator and executive editor of what's on tap Santa Rosa waters treasured publications sharing information and celebrating accomplishments and Whereas Ms. Atha has been the lead of Santa Rosa waters woohoo waters ultimate hoopla unit Emceeing our annual event that celebrates water department staff and Whereas staff in the water department have an array of different questions Whenever that that staff of the water department have a ray an array of different questions and Ms. Atha has all the answers And whereas they miss Atha was the water department's liaison to the city clerk's office for city council items and Due to her outstanding work became the recording secretary for the Board of Public Utilities in September of 2020 and Whereas since September 2020 all BPU items are turned in on time because of Ms. Atha's strength of character to corral cajole and nag staff including the director to meet deadlines and Whereas Ms. Atha retired on July 5 2022 and will be enjoying maintaining her 1918 craftsman bungalow reading on her beautiful front porch knitting and walking and Whereas Ms. Atha has been a mentor friend support coach cheerleader and so much more to many city employees during her almost three decade career with the city and Will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure to work with her Now therefore be it resolved that the Board of Public Utilities or the city of Santa Rosa Does hereby recognize command and express our sincere and heartfelt Appreciation to Roberta Atha for her 28 and a half years of outstanding service to the community of Santa Rosa and to the city of Santa Rosa that is the proclamation which I have happily signed and Congratulations Roberta at this time I At this time I just want to comment Roberta that You are the consummate team player and have been for your entire career here at the city and so happy to have worked with you here at the BPU for the last few years Can only wish you much great success in your retirement good health lots of traveling And all some of the other things that the proclamation says you love to enjoy to do so we're going to miss you But we know that you're going to have a great retirement and you deserve it. So congratulations I'll open up now for any other board member questions or caught. Excuse me comments a board member, right? Yeah, it's a long time. I guess associate and friend of Roberta. I'd like to congratulate you on your retirement I know you're gonna enjoy it and It's great seeing you Yesterday or a day before yesterday, whatever that was so happy retirement and I'll see you in retirement bill Yeah, we're member Gravel Yeah, I like to echo both chairman Galvin and board member rights comments and just express mostly gratitude Gratitude to you for teaching us, you know showing and leading by example Always doing, you know, not just the work behind the scenes, but also front and center and the publications Just an extremely Good for all of us to fall in public service and And in leadership on a team Especially one as robust as Santa Rosa water. So just nothing but gratitude and and I hope you have a wonderful wonderful retirement Remember what's I? Yesterday I emailed you back Very delayed and got a bounce back that you were retired and I think I had to pull my jaw off the floor I was like, oh my goodness. What do I do? You've just been such an important part of of this board and this department and you will be You will be missed greatly and I really hope that you're not a stranger and we can maybe see you on your your porch and just Keep in touch and you know, you really deserve a great retirement. So thank you Remember walls Hi, Roberto, I want to thank you for all the help that you've provided me as a new member We noted that you were orienting new employees and With respect to the board of public utilities, you definitely oriented one of the disoriented. So thank you very much for that and With respect to the employee fund drive, I know it's not easy to ask people for money to donate but I'm sure with your skills. We did very well in the nonprofits of Santa Rosa Sure, I'll express gratitude for your efforts. Thank you very much. I think we've covered all the board. How about director Burke? Thank you chair Galvin and members of the board. I did want to take a moment to Thank Roberta For all the work she has done for the water department I think a lot of us do refer to Roberta as the heart of the water department She's going to be greatly missed Really, you just want to thank you for all the work and all the support that you have given everyone in the department For your great leadership for your patients for your ability to get projects done in a very timely way, but also making folks feel very appreciated appreciative of Your encouragement for us to get those projects done. You're an amazing facilitator an amazing leader and I am very Glad to call you one of my good friends and so I wish you all the best in retirement and I know that I speak for all the folks in the water department to say thank you and Really have the best in a very well-deserved retirement Thank you before I open it up to public comments Roberta I'll give you an opportunity if you'd like to say some words to everyone Wherever you want chair Galvin and members of the board. That sounds so weird to say Thank you so much for this proclamation and all the kind words and recognition This is day two of my retirement and so far so good When I was growing up in Vermont my mom was the town clerk of the my hometown and My dad and my uncle ran the general store. So for me, it was a very natural Fit to work for the city government in the community where I live The last 28 year and a half years have been amazing Except for maybe a couple days in 1998, but other than that it's really been great I've loved working and getting to know all the different people that I've worked with over the years in the different departments I've loved all the special projects The support of this water team and the city manager's office team when I was there were Beyond wonderful I Really will miss the people. I won't miss the deadlines. I won't miss the email But I will miss the people because they were there what really made it great for me So Thank you and be well and I'll see you around We'll now open it up for public comments. If there's anyone in the audience that wishes to speak you're welcome to Alright seeing no one rise. We'll still open it up for public comments on Item 3.1 if you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary Manus do we have anyone there are no hands being raised via zoom Okay, all your friends are here or so All right, that will conclude item 3.1. So again, congratulations on your retirement Day three, I guess it is huh? four two All right, that'll take care of item 3.1. We have no study sessions Item 5.1 is approval of the minutes for June 16th 2022 We'll take public comments on the minutes approval if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary Manus There are no hands being raised via zoom minutes will be approved and entered then that'll take care of item 5.1 We'll move to item 6.1, which is a staff briefing regarding the water billing division overview. So director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board. Yes item 6.1 is our water billing division overview and Two of our newer managers in the water billing department Kenny Cook and Stacey Hatfield our revenue operations Supervisors will be presenting Thank You director Burke. Good afternoon chair Galvin vice chair and members of the board My name is Kenny cook and I'm one of the revenue operations supervisors in the water billing division I oversee the operations team and a portion of the administration team Earlier this year the water billing division moved from the finance department to the water department This was no small task seen as the water billing had 24 members Luckily our deputy director Kim believes you need to know welcomed us with open arms Even though it meant a six-fold increase to the number of employees under her direction Just cook. Can you turn your? Yes, your your video on please so we can see you. Yes, I just realized that thank you. Thank you I mean just a little bit of a difficulty seeing the presentation Chair Galvin I pardon for the interruption Miss cook if you could just go ahead and go through with your presentation, we will advance it for you on on The meeting. Okay. Thank you and the next slide, please The water billing division is comprised of five sections including operations collections field services administration and IT support Next slide, please The operations team includes one senior CSR Patty Stapleton and eight customer service representatives Samantha Elliott, Tonya. I'm at lanko Megan Deustreau Nina Langerica, Jody Tosti, Annan Draken, Deanna Contreras, and one position which was recently vacated due to promotion Operations answers the busiest phone lines in the city with an average of approximately 1,000 incoming calls per week They assist customers with inquiries relating to starting or stopping service high usage and assistance with using our online system among other things They also place approximately 75 outgoing calls and 50 automated high use notifications per week There are approximately 52,000 accounts that are billed monthly Billing staff runs reports after meters are read and investigates any meter reading that is flagged as being outside normal parameters by the software They review approximately 10,000 accounts during our annual account audit Which is performed January to June to ensure that our customers are being billed accurately Payments of all most eight million dollars are collected monthly from our various payment methods Next slide, please and then I'm going to return this over to Stacey our other revenue operations supervisor Can you hear me all right? I'm Stacey Hatfield one of the revenue operations supervisors I managed the water billing collections team and the water billing field services team Water billing collections is here to support their customers by assisting them in setting up payment arrangements Resolving delinquent account issues and facilitating disconnections when fully staffed we have five employees in collections one senior customer service representative Julie party and four CSR's Christian Amador, Maria Enriquez and two vacant positions Each week we answer around 300 customer calls and during regular operations sent over 1,000 delinquent notices Next slide, please Our field services crew has four employees. This includes one senior meter technician Ron regular and three meter technicians Ken Kiriton Ray Landis and Troy Moya They are our in-person customer service and eyes on the street They provide assistance to customers by locating water meters showing customers how to read water meters Identifying leaks explaining city policy regarding ownership of equipment Identifying if equipment is no longer functioning and replacing it as needed In addition to that work they turn meters on and off for account starts or stops Reset meters and fire damaged areas and maintain meter box accessibility Next slide, please The administration team assists with a variety of organizational tasks from budget to software administration There are two revenue operations supervisors. Can I cook in myself? two administrative technicians David Hansen and Kyle Comedina one senior CSR Tara Telemonte and one CSR Karis D'Amarg and of course we have deputy direct director Zinino overseeing the whole bunch Their work includes but is not limited to being point of contact for third-party software upgrades and tickets filling out water surveys managing the ALI programs construction meter billing and administering the help to others program Next slide, please Kathy Fisher is our technology application specialist and provides us with IT support for our water billing software or CIS program She assists with software upgrades pulling data Integrating third-party software and troubleshooting issues. She helps assure that we are billing on time and with accuracy Next slide, please Water billing manages to help to others program. This program assists our lowest income customers by paying the fixed fees in full The customer only need pay for their water and sewer usage It is also a way for water use efficiency to connect with these customers as part of the application process To confirm that they are efficient water users This program currently serves 647 participants and is fully funded with cell tower leases We partner with community action partnership to process the applications and verify continued eligibility through annual renewals sent out by water billing staff Next slide, please and I'll return you to Kenny cook Water billing provides two online tools for our customers use invoice cloud provides account services such as online bill payment and auto-pay enrollment via electronic checking credit card Evil registration and an on 18 month online bill history The water smart portal allows customers to view and track their usage history Set up usage alerts and compare their usage to previous time periods The water billing staff utilizes many different computer programs in our day-to-day operation in order to fulfill the needs of our customers The main software that we use is CIS which houses all of our account customer information I won't go into details for the rest of the programs But as you can see our employees must learn a large number of programs to provide the level of customer service But our account holders have come to rely on Next slide, please Water billing offers many different payment options to our customers They can pay using credit card or electronic check through our online system or auto-pay enrollment They can also use our 24-hour automated phone system to pay by credit card or the 24-hour dropbox behind City Hall annex for check payment We accept electronic payments made by the customers via our online their online bill pay through their financial institution 7-eleven accepts cash payments for a small fee And customers may also pay by credit or debit card check or cash at our front counter during normal business hours Next slide, please Water billing like the rest of the city had to adapt our normal processes due to the COVID-19 pandemic This included suspending all late fees and disconnections starting in March of 2020 Staff worked extended hours to secure over one million dollars in funding for our customers from the California water and wastewater average payment program We're preparing to participate in the low-income housing Or the sorry low-income household water assistance program Which will provide a one-time assistance of up to $2,000 for past due water and wastewater bills And we're now implementing steps to return to our standard delinquent processing Which began with the resumption of late fees as of April of 2022 Next slide, please And in closing we would like to thank you for this opportunity to share a small piece of what water billing does Stacey and I as well as deputy directors. You know are happy to answer any questions. You may have Thank you both of you miss quick and miss hatfield. We appreciate the presentation. It's always nice to Hear about how our billing system is working and all the people that are involved in it So thank you very much. I'll open it up now for any board member questions or comments Seeing none, I will open it up now for public comments on item 6.1 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand secretary manis There are no hands being raised via zoom Thank you. That'll conclude item 6.1. Again. Thank you for your presentation We'll now move to item 7 the consent calendar We have uh Chair galvin Pardon me. We have uh item 6.2. I'm sorry item 6.2. Did I miss 6.2? Oh, I did. I'm sorry Sorry, mr. Prinz. It was all because of you Item 6.2 is our water report Deputy or director burk if you would go ahead Thank you chair galvin and members of the board Item 6.2 is our water and recycle water supply update and deputy director peter martin And deputy director mic prins will be making the presentation My apologies gentlemen Great. Thanks. Good afternoon chair galvin members of the board peter martin deputy director water resources here with a Water recycle water supply update. I'll begin this presentation off and hand it over to deputy director mic prins for the conclusion next slide so I've started to include this graphic that includes, uh, lake pillsbury storage for the request of board member battenford It's important to there's a lot going on in terms of some of the management of that reservoir and its linkage with the upper russian river As of july 4th the storage in lake pillsbury is about 50 000 acre feet The target storage curve for this time of year is about 77 000 acre feet This represents about a loss of storage of about if you can see that trend line of about 2 000 acre feet of the last week I do want to note, uh, you know, look at that black line storage is declining at a more rapid pace than last year, but in consideration overall The storage is considerably higher than this time last year As denoted by that line that's in peach, uh, I guess I'm going to call it peach color. That's about as close as I can get there Um, but I just want to point out that despite pgne filing a request in mid-may for variants from their FERC mandated flows in the upper russian river FERC has not yet made a formal decision on their request Just want to point out that some water estimated that if FERC had granted that variance early june as they had requested And reduced the flows down to the minimum five cubic feet per second Uh, it would have resulted in approximately 20 000 acre feet less inflow into lake mendicino this year Um, so it remains unknown when pgne or excuse me when FERC will make a formal decision on pgne's request But uh, if you'll recall both snow water and the water advisory committee To snow water submitted letters requesting that FERC considered the impacts of allowing pgne to reduce flows to propose drastic minimums that they had proposed um, and so That we'll continue to monitor that and provide this board with an update As that continues next slide uh, lake mendicino, uh, is currently at about 50 000 acre feet in storage, uh Which represents about 60 or so of their target, uh, water supply storage for this time of year Uh, overall storage is slightly increasing, uh, about 60 acre feet increased over the last seven days um Reservoir outflow is currently at about 75 cubic feet per second Um storage remains critical and simil water is taking significant measures to store as much water as possible And that includes urging users on the upper russian river to to reduce their water use as much as they can Uh, if you'll see those two trend lines again The black line uh is this year and the peach line is last year Storage is about 20 000 acre feet more than this time last year. So If you recall last year represented the second worst year on record in terms of historical storage and operations of that reservoir So that was pretty drastic last year Some limited curtailments of water rights in the upper russian river began on july 1st for some of the junior right holders Uh, not quite as drastic as last year Uh, if you'll recall significantly more users were curtailed Including some of the municipal and industrial water right holders like the city of hildsburg here and snoma county Next slide Outflows, excuse me. I'll talk a little bit about storage and lake snoma Current storage is about 130 000 acre feet Which represents about 53 of the water supply pool available This represents about a 1300 acre feet storage loss over the last week You know in in general as you can see the the trend lines there it's quite a Frequently pretty close to where we're last year. So uh, the trend seems to be falling pretty closely Uh with storage last year Um Outflows from lake snoma are currently at about 90 cubic feet per second Um, and snoma water did receive some relief in the form of a temperature change order It's about a week or two ago That allowed them to continue to better manage storage in both of these reservoirs earlier this month I'll talk a little bit more Excuse me last month. I thank you. I'll talk a little bit more about that in the next slides I'll be the next one. Thank you So if you'll recall snoma water's previous temperature change order, uh, was 180 days and expired on june 8th snoma water filed a temperature temperature emergency change petition on may 25th of this year And an order was issued by the state water resource control board on june 17th The order allows some water to operate the reservoirs under critical water supply conditions and reduce the releases from the reservoirs per their terms of their water rights Uh, that includes a 25 cubic feet per second Um in the upper watershed requirement and 35 cubic feet per second in the lower watershed Some of the terms, uh, as a part of this change temperature change order from the state Uh, require that the contractors are going to Ensure a 20 reduction in diversions. Uh, that's normal waters diversions And that'll last from uh, july 1st through october 31st when compared to 2020 Next slide So that means uh, summer allocations for snoma water contractors are in effect And those uh, per the order, uh, are going to match that july 1st through october 31st timeline Todd roadwell, uh, some of the waters Todd roadwell came online this week So some good news there that'll help offset some of those diversions through local groundwater And then there's several monitoring and reporting requirements for snoma water Many of those are related to flow diversions water quality and fishery health And then uh, some water Is obviously required to report a 20 reduction in diversions Um, and that's going to be july 1st to october 31st when compared to 2020 Uh, I do want to point out that could extend to when natural flows Return to 125 cubic feet per second at the high standard age. So Uh, let's hope for early returns on water again like we got last year Next slide So, uh, if the board is curious, uh, these are the allocations Uh for santa rosa and present this chart here um The allocations are in broken down into million gallon per day targets Over the month, um They are different than last year. Um, so in comparison to last year If you'll recall the water advisory committee unanimously agreed to a 20 percent Cross the board reduction for all the contractors And this was while the water shortage allocation methodology was refined and updated That water shortage allocation methodology was ultimately approved last year and has now Been put into use in this water year What is different is that that allocation methodology does take into account Things like conservation implementation by contractors and the resulting demand hardening from that As well as local supplies As you know, santa rosa has one of the lowest gallons per capita per day of all the contractors Therefore the allocations reflect that accommodation related to those factors and demand hardening. So, uh, a little bit more water This year as a result of not being presented with that 20 percent hard cut back Next slide Just very excited about some upcoming workshops that we have for the public Coming up in july and august of a drip irrigation basics webinar tree management and droughts and Laundry to landscape gray water Uh webinar Workshop, uh, folks can sign up at src.org slash workshops. Um, we're seeing a renewed interest in gray water systems. So, uh, and low water landscapes So we're very excited to engage the public on these items Uh, go to the next slide And just, uh, really excited, uh, we have zero waste week coming up at the end of this month Uh, the partnership is hosting a zero waste water webinar Um, and folks can go to the saving water partnerships web page at savingwaterpartnership.org To participate in that as well That concludes my portion of the presentation. I'm going to hand it over to deputy director mike friends for the remainder Good afternoon chair galvin and members of the board mike friends deputy director of regional reuse operations I'm happy to be here and give you my first update a little while This is a picture of the north end of pond d at the sub regional metal lane storage complex As you can see from the photo, there's evidence of declining water levels I thought it would was a good visual to show you that it's that time of the urban water levels are actually Dropping next slide, please This is a trend that I think you have seen before that our recycling water production Chart and it shows that uh earlier in the water year Last fall we were above our average The dark black line is obviously uh this year's trend and the gray line is our average I do want to point out that this curve or these curves are actually smooth monthly averages So this doesn't reflect some of the Substantial flows due to rain that we were seeing At the beginning of the water year in late october But it does show that while we were above average for a while there We did drop off pretty quickly and we're now pretty substantially below average Although the year is not out yet, but I suspect will be below average for the rest of this year next slide These are some Numbers to compare over the last few years and our average Um I suspect that even though right now we're only looking at 4.4 billion gallons of water for this year That is only to date. I suspect that we're probably going to be somewhere between 2020 and 2019 Volumes for the year again. I expect to be below the average potentially substantially But you can see there that we have been below by over a billion gallons a year for each of uh the last couple of years so next slide This this really paints a clearer picture of where we are in terms of supply And this is I think daily or possibly weekly data So you can really see the increase in flows or storage levels. I should say In late october at the left side of the chart The dark red line is our actual storage trend for this year There's a gray line that's shown and that's our average for the A pretty good chunk of time that's shown to be 2004 to 2017 And then the light blue lines sort of bracket the average those are our historical maximums and minimums and I think that paints a pretty good picture of how Earlier in the water year, we were substantially above Our our maximums that we have seen historically And then actually in april and uh may we were below our minimums So it's been kind of a kind of a little bit of a crazy year. I guess you could say I want to point out a couple of things. I did point out that we had quite a increase in storage in late october Again a pretty good increase in uh december We did have our geysers maintenance shut down At the end of may and I think uh end of may beginning of june somewhere around there And the geysers system has a pretty significant influence on the storage curve as you can see It did accentuate our peak for the year Had the geysers maintenance shut down not occurred then our peak would not probably have been as high Or possibly even as late as is shown there So that does affect where the trend starts to fall And you can see we're starting to decrease storage levels at approximately our normal rate Although because of our our geysers shut down, we are slightly above average right now This chart really accentuates. I think how weather dependent The system is in the the regional operation and how that's reflected in our our storage levels ultimately Keep in mind that throughout the course of the year Other than the geysers maintenance shut down the geysers pipeline is operating Continuously and as I said that does have a pretty significant effect on How that red line plays out over the course of the year Next slide please These are estimated deliveries Our average is shown as the first vertical column then last year just for comparison And then where we expect to be on the right hand side In terms of our different users Note we did not discharge in 2021. I don't expect that we're going to be seeing discharges in 2022 And our our total deliveries are going to be Better than they were in 2021. We predict although not as as robust as our average Um, I will also note that the 1.1 billion gallon Delivery to our ag Component of our customer base does include city farms, which receive I think right now we're targeting about 150 million gallons Next slide So here's an update on allotments for our ag customers In january we predicted that we would have a 900 million gallon allotment. That is pretty low Relative to normal. That's about 53 percent of normal Based on storage levels. We were able to increase that by another 50 million gallons in april of this year We did have our second all users meeting It near the end of april and those allocations are guaranteed until essentially the end of the water year End of september we are taking a hard look at our predictions for the year and if we can we are going to increase Ag customer allocations a little bit more We and it's always best if there's going to be any increases to determine those earlier as opposed to later Because our ag customers have to make business decisions for their operations operational decisions in effect And knowing how much water we think we're going to be able to give them affects the decision making Process for them. I want to highlight near the bottom of this list of bullets that there is a pretty significant project That's going to be going on this summer And that is how we're going to be connecting the geysers pipeline to delta pond The pipeline is very near delta pond, but it isn't really connected in a way that would facilitate much movement of water There's essentially a small diameter connection just used for draining the pipeline For maintenance related purposes, but we're going to be upsizing that connection so that we can actually use stranded capacity At the lano pump station or I should say unused capacity To have more ability to move water to delta pond from the metal lane storage area When conditions weren't doing that. It's a pretty significant project that requires us to drain delta pond Earlier than we might otherwise we are working with sinoma water to move water into their airport storage facility But this project may impact storage We are going through an operational scenario to minimize impact deliveries. Hopefully there will be no impact deliveries We can't guarantee that and construction is slated to begin august 1st So pretty significant project starting later in the season But cip has the schedule worked out. So we'll be able to work Even that late and into the winter Next slide So I wanted to show you a chart that maybe you haven't seen before Just to eliminate a little bit more about the system This chart shows The entire storage volume that we have in storage ponds in various locations in the regional system The large gray slice of the or light gray slice of this pie Is essentially unused capacity as of today the ponds are not full That's reflected in the storage chart as well but we have Two big storage areas the metal lane ponds are the blue slice of the pie and delta pond a single pond is Our largest storage single storage facility We have some storage on city farms and some other small ponds And I think staff might appreciate me highlighting the fact that really we can we can Move water between metal lane and delta pond as needed for operational purposes But the other ponds on city farms and and some other small ponds they're they're effectively one-way ponds We have one pond on City farms where we can move some water, but it isn't as interconnected with metal lane or delta But I wanted to just give you a picture to show the relative volumes Of ponds distinguish their their roles a little bit and then show you relatively in a different way How much of our storage is is not filled right now Next slide please So ultimately that's my presentation and Happy to answer any questions that any of those slides may have triggered and and deputy director martin would be happy to answer any Water supply questions. I'm sure as well Thank you both deputy directors and welcome back deputy director prince. Thank you very much. It's great to be back Good i'll open up now for any board member questions or comments Seeing none. We'll open it up for public comments on item 6.2 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand secretary manis Chair galvin, there are no hands raised via zoom. Thank you. That'll take care of item 6.2 Now we'll move to the consent calendar. We have four items on the consent calendar I will entertain a motion I'll move the consent calendar I will second We have a motion by board member right and seconded by board member watts any Comments by the board If not, we'll open it up for public comments on item 7 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star 9 to raise your hand secretary manis I see no hands being raised via zoom May we have a roll call, please Board member right Here Was that an eye? That's an eye. I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking Thank you Board member watts Aye Board member walsh Aye Board member gray bill Aye Chair galvin Aye That's a record show that motion passes or that resolution pass the consent calendar passes with five eyes with vice chair Arnone and Board member baden fort absent Thank you. That'll take care of the consent calendar We'll now move to item 8.1 director Burke Thank you chair galvin and members of the board item 8.1 is approval of agreement with gold ridge resource conservation district for expansion of existing rainwater harvesting rebate program And claire nordley our water conservation manager will be making the presentation Good afternoon chair galvin and members of the board As director Burke said i'm claire nordley water conservation supervisor Next slide, please Thank you. So this is an opportunity for us to be able to increase our rainwater harvesting capacity in santa rosa Basically gold ridge resource conservation district has the ability to pass through grant funding to us of up to $20,000 to expand our rainwater harvesting rebate program This is grant funding through prop one And through the county of sinoma's climate resiliency program So this would enable us to be able to double our gallon per Our rebate per gallon of rainwater storage installed. So Sinoma's water would still be providing 25 cents per gallon Gold ridge resource conservation district would be providing 25 cents per gallon And overall the customer would only submit one application and receive 50 cents per gallon of rainwater storage installed In order to participate in this funding opportunity, we do have to provide quarterly reporting Which we have worked through with the contract and should be relatively simple Next slide, please So just to explain a little bit about what our existing rainwater harvesting rebate is Is it's 25 cents per gallon stored currently We usually get about eight participants annually. So it's it's not a huge participation rich program, but certainly we have people request information about it regularly Since the rebate started in 2009, we've rebated over 176,000 gallons Next slide, please So this enhanced rebate program again would offer 50 cents per gallon of rainwater harvesting installed With the goal of installing 40,000 additional gallons of storage This increased funding for our customers would expire september 30th 2024 Or if the funding is expended earlier, it would end then The other great thing about this program is that Goldridge resource conservation district has Written into the grant application that they'll be providing more technical assistance to customers So they're going to be hosting hands-on workshops and technical information Webinars etc to customers to be able to help them Understand how to install a rainwater system and this is really exciting in my perspective Because oftentimes we hear from customers that a barrier to Adopting a rainwater harvesting system in their property is that they don't know how to get started So I think this technical assistance and hands-on workshops will be a really exciting component of this Santa Rosa water isn't going to be doesn't have to offer the workshops But we'll certainly do a lot of marketing to get our customers interested and signed up for those workshops Next slide, please So short and sweet You know our recommendation by the water department is that the board of public utilities by motion Approve the agreement for our rainwater catchment rebate program support between Goldridge resource conservation district and the city of Santa Rosa Thank you, miss Nordley. We'll open it up for board member questions or comments regarding item 8.1 board member grable Yeah, this looks like a great program. I just wanted to say thank you Because it's Goldridge rcd. Is this is there other geographic limitations on customers you can apply for the funding. What's what's the? um What is the geographic purview of Goldridge rcd with respect to this program? Yeah, thank you for the question board member grable Goldridge rcd is doing sort of a countywide rollout of this but in different cities They're offering different rebates. This is the specific rebate that would be for the city of santa rosa water customers So anyone within the city of santa rosa who's our santa rosa water customer would be eligible to receive this rebate Okay, and but the administrator of the The just so i'm clear the administrator of The rebate is us or Goldridge? So in order to simplify things for our customers. We wanted them to only have to Fill out one rebate application So they would our customers would fill out one rebate application The city of santa rosa. We would do our pre-inspection just as we do for our current rebate And then we bill Goldridge on the back end quarterly and then they reimburse us for the portion of the rebate that Is the 25 cents per gallon stored? Oh, not okay, is it it's 25 we bill back to them 25 and we supplement 25 is that? Exactly. So our current rebate is 25 cents per gallon They're adding an additional 25 cents per gallon So we'll still pay 25 cents and now they'll pay 25 cents in total the customers will get 50 cents per gallon Okay, so and that's how they'll be able to address because i'm sure So because they are an rcd They're also able to be a jurisdictional applicant for that funding from i'm assuming the state water boards or someone Yeah, it was prop one prop one. It's prop one funding. Okay, awesome. Um, and so For for our customers, it would be that partnership Do you know that do you know just for public information purposes because I've had a lot of interest in this just I think I like randomly posted about my rainwater cap capitation system at my home I have a 5000 gallon tank and just off of one little outbuilding it filled pretty quickly this year Um, and I just had all these questions like how do we do this? How do we get you know, is there funding for this? I said, I think so, you know, I was kind of um Just answering the best I could but so for people in the city We have the 50 cents because we're matching the 25 Do you know if people in the surrounding county and cities Have similar programs or for unincorporated? Is it just 25 cents? That's a good question. Um, each different area has a different rebate. Um, so I know goldridge rcd was talking about Funding much larger installations in more rural areas that aren't connected to different cities I don't know how much they're they're planning on providing to that Um, and then various different cities have different rebates. So I think for example, hildsburg is also 50 cents But petalumas may be different So I think it's different based on different jurisdictions But I do know that there is some funding for Rural land owners and the rcd will be managing those applications directly through them Do you know what who the point of contact for that is at our at goldridge rcd? uh Noel is her first name. I'm blanking on her last name, but I'd be happy to provide that to you in a follow-up Perfect. Thank you so much. Sure Thank you board member grable. Any other board member questions or comments? All right, then I will entertain a motion Okay, well, I'll move that the board of public utilities by motion approve the agreement for rainwater castment rebate program Uh support between goldridge resource conservation district and the city of san rosa second Thank you. We have a second uh for a motion by board member right seconded by board member grable I'll now open it up for public comments on item 8.1 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Say your turn manist There are no hands being raised via zoom for public comment. Thank you. May we have a roll call vote, please board member right Hi board member watts Hi board member walsh Hi board member grable Hi chair galvin Hi Let the record show this motion passes with five affirmative votes with Vice chair arnone absent and board member baton fort absent Thank you We'll now move to item 9 which is public comments on non-agenda matters If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing via telephone, please dial star 9 to raise your hand Secretary manis There are no hands being raised via zoom and none in the council chamber. Thank you That'll take care of item number 9. We have no referrals. We have no written communications We have no subcommittee reports that i'm aware of Any board member reports Okay, no board member reports. We will move to the director's report Thank you chair galvin and members of the board. I have a couple things to share with the board this afternoon First, I just wanted to let the board know that uh last Oh, gosh a couple weeks ago now on wednesday june 22nd We were able to give a tour to our new council member diana mcdonald We provided her tour of the local and regional operations systems with our acting deputy director ron marin check Acting wastewater superintendent christian williams and our deputy directors Peter martin mike prince and shon mcneal giving the tour We provided her with an in-depth dive and system tour of our local operations Provided information on our water and wastewater system assets including pumping facilities water storage tanks groundwater wells Our emergency mobile equipment vehicles and much more but most importantly also got to introduce her to a number of the santa rosa water team Um council member mcdonald Also was treated to a tour of our west college sewer lift station where she was able to descend 32 feet below ground to see the pump room As well as a tour of our water station for and our farmers lane treatment plant Then we went out to the laguna treatment plant and she had a presentation on our regional water reuse efforts And also was given a tour of the treatment process Basically following the process from entry to the plant at our headworks through filtration and disinfection And she was also treated to a number of underground parts of our treatment plant as well She was very impressed and complimentary of the facilities and our staff and I did want to let the board know that For some it's been a while for some you've been brand new since covid But we are opening back up to provide tours of our facilities So if you uh any of the board members would either like to retour or would like to have a tour for the first time Please let me know and I'd be more than happy to schedule some time To show you our local water and sewer systems as well as get you a tour of our treatment plant if you are interested Next I wanted to let the board know uh that I am very happy to report the successful return of our water smart expo This was held on june 29th and was part of the wednesday night market After a two-year hiatus we were able to Bring this event back Thanks to the support of more than 25 staff within the water department We really had a great showing um residents and customers were given the opportunity to create a customized drought kit And in all 500 customized drought kits were distributed at the event Um our customers were also given the opportunity to sign up for the water smart portal And the water use efficiency team had several water conservation displays to help our customers understand how they can achieve savings and take advantage of our existing programs We also had a number of partners participate and show different water use efficiency products and things that could be done around homes Um members of the event were also able or members of the public sorry that participated in the event We're also able to speak one on one with our water use efficiency team And uh we saw quite an interest in rainwater and gray water systems So very timely that we have the gold ridge agreement coming before you today We also had a great children's uh booth and kids were able to make water conservation themed buttons As well as received a reusable lunch bag with other activities um a number of other teams Besides water use efficiency also participated including stormwater and creeks environmental compliance We had our local staff local operation staff at the hydration station Zero waste Sonoma and Sonoma water also attended and uh participated in the event So just really want to recognize this is a huge event for us Um typically we do every year and I haven't been able to do the last two years and really appreciate all of the hard work that staff did to put this event together And uh really make it a great success. It seemed like we had um really Probably one of the greatest amount of participation in our water smart expo and quite sometimes so Great job by the team And then last I just wanted to take a moment to uh say thank you To our current interim city attorney, uh, mr. Bob Maddow It's been a great pleasure as always to work with you. I so appreciate your guidance and Just uh, you know everything you bring to the water department. We truly appreciate all the work you've done Coming back for a second time So I wanted to say thank you so much and I wanted to introduce our new attorney Our new assistant city attorney. That's assigned to the water department. Who's here next to me today And that's morgan bigger staff and morgan comes actually from the firm that mr. Maddow works at And uh has a great uh bit of experience especially working in this area Um has been the attorney for the north marin water district So has a lot of of good experience and brings a lot of water and wastewater Experience to the department. So we're very excited to have morgan here It's been a couple of weeks and he will be leading The efforts in the attorney role starting with the next bpu meeting And that's my report and I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have Thank you, uh, director burke. I too want to thank and express my gratitude to mr. Maddow for all of his work during two different transitions that we've had at the city attorney's office and Your expertise and ability to in particular follow Some of the ongoing efforts with regards to the potter valley project has been Very helpful to the board. So thank you again, and we greatly appreciate your service and I'd like to welcome Mr. Morgan bigger staff as our new assistant city attorney Thank you for joining us today. We'll look forward to getting the same kind of expertise and guidance from you And we will move forward from that I'll open it up now for any questions or comments by the board with regards to the director's report All right, uh, mr. Maddow. I see you've unmuted yourself. Did you want to say anything? Very briefly mr. Chairman and thank you very much for that opportunity I first want to express my thanks to City attorney sue gallagher and to jennifer burke for the two opportunities that were extended to me to provide interim service to the city it was um Something that I enjoyed doing a great deal and it's fascinating to me that in The combination of the two stints that I have had I've yet to have a face-to-face meeting with anybody on anything So someday I'm looking forward to the opportunity to make my way to Santa Rosa and perhaps greet many of you face to face for the first time even though my My time in the saddle there is is just about done I do want to say something that I want to address particularly to the board I've really enjoyed the opportunity to Um to observe this board in action. It is an extremely good board And I'm saying that based upon my experience having worked with a lot of different boards for a lot of different entities Over a long period of time. You have not heard me speak up very often Because as a very strong general rule, I don't have to because of the Quality of the work that is done by the water department staff They make it easier for the attorney Because they are so good at what they do And prior to the time agendas are framed up and agenda items are presented That's where we have an opportunity to work with them And I can say based again on my experience To the to the board members The department that Jennifer Burke heads is full of pros and you should be proud of them. They work well for you And uh, I think they are capable of great things and so To the board congratulations for having that great team Working for you to Jennifer You're one of the best I've ever worked with and I appreciate the opportunity and boy if you put together a good team Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Maddow much appreciated those comments At this time we'll open it up for public comments on item 14 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary manis There are no hands being raised for public comment on this item very good That'll take care of item 14, which is the director's report So it's now time for us to adjourn and obviously I would like us to adjourn in honor of reberda atha In honor of her retirement and her leaving the city and having a wonderful retirement So we will adjourn in your honor and see everybody at our next meeting Thank you Thanks reberda