 this meeting to order and could you do roll call. Director Smallman is not here. Director Ferris. Here. Director Swan. Here. President Henry. Here. And Director Fultz is also not here. So are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? There's no addition or deletions, but I would like to move an item. I would like to move the new business political business association and request to place a bench on district property to the beginning of the meeting. I do believe we have, that's probably them outside. They weren't sure if it was okay to come in yet. They weren't sure if we could come in yet. Individuals from the business association would like to address the board. Okay. All right. I told him that the government wanted to touch in. Okay. You moved your own agenda. Oh, she moved it. Okay. Okay. We will have public comment at this time. How many people out there want to speak in public comment? Okay. Okay. So, I... Hmm? The people who just came in may not realize what the agenda topic is. Well, we're doing public comment right now. Okay. Okay. Just plain old public comment about anything that's not on the agenda. So, can I ask for those hands again? Excuse me. There's a folks needs help getting in. He's trying to dial in. What is the U.S. number? U.S. number. He's not using the German number? Zero. Okay. Okay. We have a little bit of a delay. Sorry. Your blood going there? Sounds exciting. It's looming too. So, what are we doing now? We're getting involved with the U.S. number to dial in. And I just sent it to him. He gave me a minute to dial in. Okay. In time maybe we could excuse Director Smallman. For what? For what are we excusing him? For being absent. Do we... We don't excuse if we don't know why he's gone, do we? Okay. I wasn't sure if somebody had heard from him. No. Was he your last name? No, he wasn't. Well, tell Bob for me, that if he wants to trudge off to Germany, he better not do it on a board meeting night. Okay. All right. I'm going to move forward with public comment. So, raise your hand. And I will call on you. The other thing is I'm going to ask that you don't talk among yourselves. It makes it so people can't hear in the audience. It makes it so the secretary can't hear. Anybody who's on the phone cannot hear. So, address the board. Mostly just you look at me and address me. And don't chatter among yourselves. Please. All right. Larry? Hey, Larry Ford and Felton. I had a really useful and interesting personal meeting with Lou Ferriss this afternoon. And learned quite a few things. And I want to make a couple of points about what I learned. One is that it seems to me that we're missing a really important planning opportunity to be prepared for both fire management and also earthquake, damage recovery, resilience to earthquakes. What I think is going to happen is a whole lot of really big expenses are going to come up pretty soon. And the board's or the district's ability to respond to those two kinds of emergencies is going to be really compromised by cutting the environmental programs if you do that tonight. I think that instead of focusing on cutting budgets, which is a very crude, awkward, old method to resolve these kinds of problems, you should be focusing on new creative ways to generate new revenues. Maybe you don't have to raise the rates, but you have to come up with some other ways to raise revenues. There are going to be these expenses somebody's going to have to pay for. Also, if one of the major reasons for cutting programs and cutting the budget is because of our concern, our charitable concern. The venue of Available Command Press Star 1. There is one other caller on the call. Disadvantage people in the community then what we need to do is have a way to provide the subsidies as needed. Are you there, Bob? The Scott Valley Water District has come up with a pretty creative way. It's on their agenda for their board meeting tonight. It's apart from using rate generated funds and I think we need to be more creative. This is my main theme every time I speak is that instead of these crude cuts which appear to have political purposes, we should instead be being creative and looking for innovative ways to solve these problems so that we can provide the services that the community wants, which includes the environmental programs. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, Jim? Jim Moser from Pelton. I hope all of you are able to go to the River Mountain Farrow. It was a really fantastic event and there was one sad moment which was when I went over to get my water. It was the Santa Cruz Municipal Water District that had provided that water instead of us and I thought it was really sad that we gave that district the opportunity for the free publicity and the good credibility instead of us. I'd still be wielded by this board's decision not to provide, which didn't come out of the budget, that water to our community and I hope that when the business association from Boulder Creek comes that you will realize how important these kinds of community events and community involvements are. Thank you. Next. Jenny? I just, Jenny Gomez and I love Pico. I just came from a meeting about PG&E and all of the shenanigans that have been going on related to them and I was just thinking about how really amazing and nice it is to have local public utilities as opposed to PG&E. PG&E has no environmental stewardship, no conservation. They're only concerned about their bottom line and their massive profits and bonuses and there are six times convicted felons who are killing their customers and they're gouging us to do it. My PG&E bills are just nothing compared to my water bills and just how much I appreciate having a local water utility that appreciates conservation and environmental stewardship and they have local employees who understand our community and who care about our community. They're good neighbors. They're our neighbors and having a local water utility to support our local events and things like that. This is something that we should not take for granted and this is the model that should be aspire to and not PG&E. And PG&E, another unfortunate thing about PG&E is there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. We are just less than David versus Goliath. We're the gum on the bottom of David's shoe versus Goliath with PG&E and our local public utilities there's also a accountability and there's also so much opportunity to work with our local utilities and people who run them and I just want to say that I really hope that we don't lose sight of that and don't pick the wrong model to aspire to. Thank you. Chris? Chris Spinney, Boulder Creek. Jenny just mentioned environmental stewardship and I was going through the budget earlier this week I guess and it occurred to me that there's a good deal more to environmental stewardship than Dan and Goliath would say that our watershed is a resource that provides us with the clean water that we all value and that once lost it is not easily recoverable nor inexpensively recoverable. It will cost a good deal more if we allow it to be damaged and the same thing goes for our aquifer. So I hope that the board will not be penny wise and count foolish and forget the importance of the environment to the product that you deliver to the community. Thank you. Yes, go ahead. I agree with everyone who has spoken here especially very forward in terms of trying to come up with more money and I know that there's one you mentioned and I'm wondering if you have got any ideas about how we can have more income instead of cutting important programs. I have mentioned to a couple of people the idea and I've been told it's impossible that we would charge more money for water for those people who use a lot more water and I know that there's a California law that says you need to charge just for how much that water costs. However, L.A. has a program and Marin County has a program where they do that and they have figured out how they can justify those increased charges and I think before we just say no it's impossible we need to look into that idea more because that would also be a way of discharging people from using too much water and there are many people in our San Lorenzo Valley who can't afford and who want to use more water and they should be paying more. Thank you. Debbie. Deborah Lohan, I'm Pico. I hadn't thought I would talk about it but since the subject is coming up I'm showing Chuck a book I just got at the library called Hip Santa Cruz 3 it's kind of interesting it's about the music it's from the 60s and 70s and the activists and musicians locally there's a whole section here on San Lorenzo Valley very interesting reading I just started scanning it talks about the McPherson's and Nancy Macy and all the work they did San Lorenzo River Alliance working with the county on the water plan for San Lorenzo and what's really amazed in this book they made a very high priority they made a list of all the things in the water district and what we needed to do to protect our water and the environment and number one was fixing all the leaks in the system including pipes, tanks fixing pumps making sure that all the waste is gone that was the number one environmental protection that they were working for at the time in 1972 and here we are looking at the same problems today and so I think that fixing a system which is what you've expressed as your top priority is the top environmental issue we have before us and I appreciate the board putting the energy into that it doesn't say anything about educating the public it says protect our water resources it starts here in the district protecting what supply we have and being careful with it and I appreciate your work, thank you Anybody else out there? Yes Hi, my name is Vi Campbell I live in Felton but I also work at the Soquel Creek Water District and the Water Conservation Department and San Lorenzo Valley Water District has been part of the Water Conservation Coalition of Santa Cruz County since 2000 about and it was started as a small group of representatives to share media costs for communicating to the public about similar issues that all the water agencies in Santa Cruz County deal with so that was the instigation of the group so each agency comes together and we have certain conservation campaigns and projects that we need to work on as a group that would be better that would serve our whole community and our whole county because as you may know, a lot of the newspapers televisions and radio stations cross those district boundaries so San Lorenzo Valley Water District has been a member of this group for many many years and has paid into the different projects that we share and it's a very minimal cost it's based on the number of connections compared to all the other agencies so the cost for the San Lorenzo Valley Water District is 11.2% of the total cost of whatever project is being worked on last year the one project that we've been doing as a group since 2007 is the Water Smart Gardening Website that is a photo website showing different plants that are water wise and helps gardeners choose plants that use less water and also communicates storm water management issues and how to deal with gardening water and gardening and so that is a shared cost that all of the water agencies input into a little central water district which only has about 3 employees they put in their percentage which is about 2% and last year it only cost the San Lorenzo Valley Water District for an online tool that we all help pay for to be put online is the total cost is $5,000 but San Lorenzo Valley Water District only paid about $500 and the other is that the Water Conservation Coalition does is a county wide booth that the Santa Cruz County Fair to communicate water conservation to the visitors of the fair and that's one thing that we all rally around and do as a group for the county fair and as you try and find places to cut and cut budget I urge you to consider still putting in your 11.2% into our shared projects at least the ones that are continuous every year that we do and it's always negotiable and we do make changes and other water districts take on the costs that if your agency cuts that budget completely the other water agencies are going to continue to have to pay for this website but we'll still pay for it and still out there the whole county to use but we urge you to still consider your contribution to that. As a group we have several projects that we're working on and they've been presented in the budget but I just wanted to point out of the larger budget which is about $17,000 $70,000, $85,000 San Lorenzo Valley Water District is only asked to be put in about $1,950 so it's a very small cost for a large spread of information about conservation in the garden conservation in our houses and communicating the California statewide message of conservation as a way of life even when we don't have a drought so thank you and I hope you can consider at least putting staff time if not just the minimal cost for our shared costs throughout the year Thank you Anyone else? Okay, thank you so we moved to the first item on the agenda the Boulder Creek Business Association request to place a bench on district property and turn that over to our general manager Rick Rogers Rick, close my place I'm going to get back that's item 5a that was moved right so it's now 4a should we double check Bob's excuse me it's now on the phone hello Bob he was there hello maybe there's a delay yeah probably okay thank you chair yes on June 4, 2019 the district received a letter from the camera of Kelly for the Boulder Creek Business Association requesting that they be allowed to place a bench on district property in front of the operations building which is this building right here but the sidewalks along the cow trams and you would put something on the sidewalks sometimes difficult to get the district property goes up to the sidewalks but there's some indentations that could house a bench if it were so desired and that would be on actually on district property staff was originally contacted a couple months ago regarding the bench because of problems associated with the homeless individual staff that declined the placement of the bench hopes to revisit the request and request the board's approval just some background we are currently having issues with people loitering in the area using our porch area for restrooms leaving garbage and verbal issues with staff we have concerns that are already having issues with cleaning up after the we've had the sheriff call there have been one arrest in the last couple of months but however the district realizes that we are in downtown Boulder Creek in the business area and would like to be able to work with the business association if possible I put together a list of requests that the board wanted to move ahead with their request that they would consider a formal agreement between the business association and the district with provisions for immediate removal at request of the district and a demarcation further covering the district possible three month pilot period with the board of directors re-evaluation the addition of a cctv camera to our system this building has a close circuit tv cameras pretty much 360 except for one dead zone right where that bench would be we request that business association add a camera to our system liability insurance naming the district as an additionally insured, maintain on going and return the garbage cans in front of the operation building at one time the business association did have garbage cans in front of this building but has re-evaluated move things around the town as necessary but we'd like to see that come back if the board would allow a bench and then part of a biannual cleaning of the area if it became food spills and so forth you have a memo from the business association or a letter from the business association in your packet I turn it over to the board for questions and I do believe there are several representatives here tonight that most likely have stuff to add to the presentation that can answer any of your questions okay so do you want to speak to us okay, to everybody I'm Tamriel Kelly I am one of the directors of the Boulder Creek Business Association I'm Karen Edwards treasurer of the business association and we have a storyboard here of some of the projects that we're working on right now this shows an example of the trash cans that are actually they've already been ordered and they're in storage right now waiting for coordination with town trans, the county green ways all the parties are involved and putting one bolt in the ground we have permits for these part of the site furniture set that we want to install downtown include park benches and potentially flower pots and what not we're trying to attract more people to downtown they've proven with more eyes on the street there's a little crime so we have to start somewhere sadly everything that we do is fundraising it's every dime that we have has been very hard-earned so we can't afford to buy all the benches at once we can only afford to buy one bench and use that as our fundraising mechanism to then buy the rest of the benches so it was our hope that we could buy that one demonstration set put it in a place where it was on private property versus in the town trans right away so that it's more easily one we could avoid all the permit costs that way we would also have more control over the bench because it's on private property if the bench is on public property we can already see where that could change things so we've identified several sites downtown that there's a little bit of a setback that would be an appropriate place some better than others so we're kind of getting the feel for who would be open to placing said bench in that place and then the board would sit down and discuss out of those locations which one is most ideal we already have people that want to donate and buy benches for their spouses, for their families who want to team up and put money into this but we have to start somewhere so we have the bench and we're just looking for that perfect site to put it in the beginning and we have a sample of the material that the trash cans are made out of so I can pass this around so you can actually feel the weight and the quality of the bench these are Victor Stanley benches these are commonly used in historic downtowns they are bullet proof they don't heat up as much in the sun because of the powder cutting process that they have so I just have all questions and we also have a category of the bench so you can see the measurements and dimensions and whatnot the bench that we actually placed the order for it's heavy isn't it I don't think anybody will be picking the bench up and moving it easily so the bench that we've ordered is actually designed on old casting from the turn of the century everything that we do in Boulder Creek we try to make it as correct as we can and the bench that we ordered is 6 feet long with a center arm rest which prevents people from laying down on it and sneaking on it you know there's two ways to look at benches they're pros and cons the idea that there might be alternative populations sitting on the bench is definitely a potential but there's also the potential for people like me who can't walk that far because of the foot problem people that are elderly just want to sit down and have an ice cream so we're trying to just give as many people downtown as we can and this was kind of our first shot at it we've also been given the wonderful opportunity to be chosen as the main street program for Santa Cruz County so what that involves is Santa Cruz County has given us their economic development officer to work on a program that's been in place for decades it's not funded, it's all grassroots the county is paying for her time and we have so far quite a few volunteers we have a lot of people that are very excited about it and part of the four points of the program is design and good design brings a lot of people downtown it helps the businesses it just enlightens the space so this is part of the design element of that program that we're starting to kick off do you want to add anything? I'm not sure if I've missed anything well to your points there were several points that you brought up the cleaning of the area we do have a woman that we've hired to go through a downtown once month and in front of the water district is one of those locations where she will be doing cleaning of layup weeds and cleaning any trash that's around things like that so that is something that has already been addressed and then we ourselves do a couple of town cleanups a year and we're the ones down here pulling weeds and cleaning up garbage and picking up things how over the map of where the trash cans are going? the trash cans were all sided specifically we had issues with trash cans that were too far on the edges of town and one of our big problems is that people come from out of town and step their garbage and we know what happens and we can't not everybody has cameras so we don't know who's doing it but they fill up our trash cans and the crows get in there and there's a couple issues you have with that so we started moving the cans around to see if we could eliminate some of the issues as far as putting cans in locations where they were needed more so closer to certain stores where we know there's a lot of activity so that way people won't just drop things on the ground where they are with these new cans these are going to be bolted into the ground so we can't move them when we started this program we had to involve green waste caltrans the county who else am I forgetting the contractor, me, everybody so it's like herding cats to get the locations sited they decided that the locations that we chose were good locations for the cans not in front of the entrance to the building and so on and so forth but the permit has been filed for the candy that specific place so we can't really change the permit at this point so we could probably in the future fundraise and add more cans but this is what we were allotted this is all we could do at this point was replace the cans that we had and some of them actually weren't such bad shape that they're terrible anyways so can you think of anything else that needs to be you know other than the fact that the ninjas like I said they'll bring people they'll bring them out they'll enjoy, they'll leave in our restaurants they'll just they've got a beautiful downtown and people should be able to enjoy it and I look at this way too it's like we do have a very small population of people that may be unemployed or hit a bump in the road a lot of times we know who these people are we know them by name sometimes we know who their issues are we've got some other people that float in and float out but for the most part a group of people that tend to litter downtown and regardless of whether this is a bench here or not they're still going to be here they're just going to be sitting on the sidewalk and seeing the curb, sitting in the planting they're going to sit regardless so we're just proposing that this is a really great way to kick off the program we want to bring more people to downtown it's not going to change the homeless element they're still going to be here and you know celebrate the ribbon cutting for the first bench as the beginning of the design element of the main street program and whoever ends up posting the bench would be a big part of that so it would be a time to kind of celebrate the sort of looking for the organizations working together to do something better for downtown so any questions? Any questions? I have a question so just to be clear we're talking about a bench and maybe some flower pots but not a trash can at this point it's not within the permit that we were given to put one there like she said we could fundraise for more trash cans but right now we're just talking about the bench and putting that on private property all the trash cans that were ordered are going to be on so and those are going to be about 18 inches off the face of the curb at all the locations pretty close to where they are now but the bench is a whole different thing so this is our promotion or demonstration set the flower pots are something we're still looking into that's kind of lower on the list of things because we don't have any water downtown we're very very limited access to water so you know we'd have to buy self-watering inserts and then we'd have to have somebody maintain those and it's just at an expense which we're looking at later on down the road but for right now we're going to start with the benches it's the easier thing to start with are we in the water business? yeah share a little water regarding the list of comments that the district manager had with regards to the conditions are you able to meet those or is it a decision? we didn't know about any of that so we're very new for the first time here tonight so what we do is we take that back to the Boulder Beach Business Association for discussion if you could outline that send that proposal back to them and then have discussion about it how about the public any comments from the public on the bench yes Elaine just to clarify if the water district says yes, it's okay you may choose another place we may, okay there are several locations and the board needs to decide the pros and cons for each of those locations and what might be a better place for it I mean we need exposure there are a couple things that we're trying to do one is we're trying to place it in a neutral place so that the other businesses don't feel slighted because one business got the park bench and they didn't so we're trying to find neutral territory first where there's no favoritism shown you know ideally in a location where you can see it people drive by it, they notice it and the location that they're going to use it since Shannis is right across the street I can see people sitting there having coffee in the morning you know it is in a nice location it's under a tree and there's plenty of room to put your legs out and stretch so it's you know so there's a few spots that are private property and have a better situation than others but that's for the board to decide once we sit down and figure out who the players are going to be when we go from there okay okay yes hi when we put the park in in Felton years and years and years ago there was a lot of comment some people were against it because well it would attract homeless people and that was the comment that park has proved to be an absolutely wonderful town and community center where you'll see kids playing with families picnicking and everything all the time the same thing with the the deck that's the center of Felton so I just like to support their proposal the more attractive you make your city the more you increase property values the more people want to be in your town thank you Chuck um this sounds like you've thought through this process very well and thought there's lots of upsides to this I believe I've read in the board packet that if it doesn't work out it can be removed so there's I mean it seems to me there's really no risk in this and ought to give it a try um okay when you get to the trash can stage of this will you be putting a recycling can next to it oh yes so there is a trash if you can turn it so she can see it trash and recycling so one will be labeled with trash and the other with recycle and they'll be side by side just how they are now they all have rain bonnets it'll keep the hopefully most of the rain out and it'll keep people from stuffing um crows that's a whole different story uh Rick did you have any more you want to say or you said I would just like I've outlined several bullet points in the memo and obviously the most important would be identifying the the district liability insurance agreement for council review and I'm not sure council has any comments or anything chief at this point but that would be very important if we have a draft for council review I'll have to go from there okay you know I do think the trash cans are important we did have trash cans out before now they just throw their garbage in the planters but you know and I do realize we are in downtown Boulder Creek and I also know that the parks that BCBA have done they get very good care of them they're very clean and you do a great job of managing the facilities that's for sure you see that okay okay thank you very much okay so I'll move on here to the public member committee appointments uh Rick you want to yeah I'll make you go back sorry yes as you know the district board director's manual policy provides the five standing committees and the Santa Marta Rita groundwater agency followed by the administration with the budget and finance we have the engineering and environmental we have the Lompeco oversight and the Santa Marta Rita groundwater agency at the May 2nd 2019 board director meeting two staff are advertised for applicants for the budget finance committee and the Lompeco assessment district oversight committee the advertisements ran in the press banner on May 10th, 24th and June 7th at a cost of $795 a sign was also posted at the entrance to Lompeco soliciting LADOC applications we received one application for the budget finance committee attached in your packet under that the staff will answer any questions I'm not sure the applicant is here there he is apologies so obviously the applicant is here would you like to stand up and introduce yourself sir yeah I apologize I hadn't prepared anything that's okay I'm Steve Archisel I'm actually new to the San Lorenzo valley I moved here about a year ago and I'm an auditor currently from a profession at UC Santa Cruz and I have a pretty long history in my career of working for federal government and now other the university's public auditing essentially so about 13 years now in auditing and I have a pretty strong financial background and I was just looking at this as something to do to serve my community once again I'm new to the area so I'm kind of coming at this from fairly fresh eyes does any of the board members have a question they want to ask him no his that's okay we were able to read a lot about you very impressive okay I would like to move that we add Steve Archisel to the budget finance committee is there any public comment okay oh okay Jim just quickly Jim Moser from Felton I did see your application in the board packet and I was very pleased to see that you replied and I think that it would be a really positive thing for the district to have you on the committee and have somebody new from the valley to get involved I was very excited to see your application Chuck likewise an impressive resume interested in serving the community I think he'd be wonderful we're on the budget finance committee I would be very happy to see somebody who gives talent for wanting to participate in it so do you want to ask Bob if he has any comments Bob are you there and I think I go with Jim and Chuck it was a very impressive resume really looking forward to having your expertise on the budget finance committee this is a really very positive thing and since I'm on that committee too I would as I said very impressed okay we have a motion do we have a second okay Director Smallman oh I'm sorry Director Ferris Director Swan yes Director Falls yes thank you welcome we'll be in touch thank you so oh wow here we go the budget so Rick you want to talk about that just we'll still we're not going to have just one last thing on the committees we will not advertise but I think we will continue to post in Lompico to see if we can drum up some support maybe even send a letter just to Lompico folks we only have three takes three to be a quorum I know just a thought I don't want to advertise again because of the expense but it costs about what $1000 to send letters to everybody in Lompico just to Lompico 400 bucks something like that that's all I think it would be worth it okay what we did before I think yeah I just wanted to point out that we also have an engineering department we can keep them on the website I'm just concerned about just because we're only one of them are absent they'll be good to drum up and get another one or two people on the committee right Debbie so the board has no problem with sending a letter right okay if it only costs for $500 I won't but otherwise I do Debbie you wanted to say something my only comment is I would prefer that the district try to do a next door in Facebook promotion before doing a letter because I don't believe the letter was very effective last time and I think that we on the committee can do more outreach and I think we need to talk about that so we done with that item yeah so I'm giving it back to you Rick the budget I'm going to give it real quick to Stephanie you have to try to do the the fiscal year 2019 2020 budget the finance managers here will present this to you so this is kind of the different things we've been looking at over the last couple of meetings all put together in our formal budget package the memo kind of goes over some of the highlights the district's overall budget request is $19.8 million with 8.8 of that being in capital projects which is a significant increase over prior years prior years have had high numbers budgeted but then lower actuals realistically coming in I really think that one is budgeted with a significant number and I think a significant amount of work is going to be actually getting done one of the more new highlights is that we are trying to walk in that loan that's going to help pay for a lot of the capital projects which is part of the reason we're able to have some of our cash reserves actually go up which will give the district a little bit more flexibility this near historic low rates locked in is going to be very advantageous so that we can pivot when we need to operating expenses remain relatively flat to the prior year budget operating revenues are considered similar with water usage but haven't increased due to the slated rate increase the backside has kind of the high level categories of the funds so it talks about where the money is coming from and then the uses of the funds for where the money is going we took everything from the last board meeting that we had and incorporated all of those different changes into here that's kind of where you'll be able to see some of the different changes incorporated here the district manager has this transmittal letter as well that will go ahead and insert into the formal budget packet if there's any specific questions that people still wanted some clarity on we can go over some of those I'll go to the board first then I'll go to the right pairs and then I'll come back to the board okay so have you got any questions there I do actually a question for Jen under the environmental section as far as I can tell there's only two areas that she would identify that you won't be able to do because of potential funding shortfalls and those are you can find it faster actually it was in I picked it back it was in your department report for last month you reported on what you could and could not do so like it was bad there was two do you remember what they were or am I going to have to there's a number of things it's much more than two well in your report there's only two that I can see public outreach and climate adaptation everything else there was reported on and progress was being made so that's fine my question is am I assuming that progress will continue to be made on those other areas but no progress will be made on those two well in the near future there won't be much progress in water conservation or environmental education or land management efforts I'm sorry again land management efforts water conservation and environmental education environmental education off the top of my head I don't have a list prepared okay I said it okay Steve I love it I'm fine with it I have no issues or questions okay so water conservation I understand will still happen because it will just be in a different department alright oh Bob I forgot about you Bob sorry really a great job on this sometimes budgets are like making sausage it's a very laborious process but I think through a vigorous exchange of ideas and understanding of priorities I think we've got to a really good place I echo what Steve said I think this is very good I think the only question I have is when can we start spending heat in toddlers and capital improvement we really need to do in our district for a long time and I'm looking forward to getting this kicked off as soon as possible do you have any idea when that long we might know about that long there in the middle of it it will probably be a 30 to 45 day process okay thank you any other questions Bob three months we've covered a lot of ground and I think we came to a really great place thank you okay we'll go to the right payers out there yes go ahead Larry Ford Felton I'm having a hard time finding anywhere in the budget where the water system upgrade is going to be paid for to make the the district more resilient in a major wildfire so I'm talking about increasing the pipeline dimensions from two inches in some places to six inches or a larger more fire hydrants I don't see that in the budget and we're starting this year we've now entered one of the most risky fire seasons that we've ever had here and so I want to know how we're going to prepare for that similarly we're at a point where we can expect to have a major earthquake maybe more than one occur so what are we doing and where in the budget is it going to come to prepare for things like you know an entire side of the valley having all the water lines broken where are we where is that going to come from you know resistant pipelines if you don't mind I'm going to turn this over to our general manager and let him respond to you okay could I ask one more thing sure one of the biggest problems that I've seen around the San Francisco Bay Area is when either of these two types of major catastrophes occur is that there are so many people in the neighborhoods now this isn't a water district problem but this would be a regional problem there's so many people with cars that are parked overnight that the fire trucks and emergency service vehicles cannot get to where they need to go so we don't have the water pressure and we don't have access and this is a catastrophe waiting to happen in spite of the best intentions of the fire department thank you Rick could you well the budget does provide for several capital improvement projects when we have which are main replacement a large transition main coming out our largest storage tank in Bullet Creek to connect to the Aplower system where you can move water from one end of the valley to the other to the emergency intertize that's a major project which its size is to increase for fire flow and to move large volumes of water from one end of the valley to the other it's been one of our weak links that's been identified a long time ago and there's several other projects the probation tank it's increasing in 100,000 to a half million gallon it is in construction as we speak I think they're laying the steel panels out as we speak there's the swim tank that we're moving on trying to replace and moving it from 20,000 gallons to 120,000 gallons so there are projects throughout the budget and then there's we are moving at the same time we just receive our request for proposals for our water master plan and what our water master plan is going to do is going to look at our entire system and model it and to look and see where we're efficient I know it's easy to stay with our two inch and that's pretty obvious where our efficiencies are but this is going to be a computer model that's going to tell us where we're efficient in fire flow and in our systems and where we need to upgrade we're working on that we are working right now don't think this budget doesn't have this budget has eight additional generators a big part of this fire safety plan it's PG&E out it you know we're talking about valley-wide power outage in Santa Rosa Valley so we've got eight additional generators four stationary four mobile in this budget it's going to take a while to get them and then get them out of the system that's a lot of generators to increase in one fiscal year and we're getting close to where we'll have enough generators for every site we're working as a mailing going out hopefully in the next week to two weeks to talk to people about preparation for the PG&E power safety shutdown not to use water to conserve our operation staff are right now there are working in each individual zone identifying the rate of rise in each tank so we know how long a generator needs to be we'll work with our SCADA system so there's a lot being done in preparation which the same preparation that we do for fire can be done for earthquake and it's a lot of water quality and we have emergency response plan I was here for the 89 earthquake and director of operations at the time and we're at the water system and we know where a lot of our efficiencies are and we came a long way since the 89 earthquake I know that's what quite a few years ago but there's been a lot of improvements from that situation there's always this district is waiting on there's no doubt about it we have infrastructure substandard that leaks undersized it doesn't have fire flow but the rate structure and this budget is actually one of our most aggressive for replacement of infrastructure the engineering department will probably even next month be out for a request for proposal for the plans and specifications for the loan and that loan is what 10 million dollars we're looking at 10 to 12 million in infrastructure and that's pipes and tanks you know that is fire supply or not only earthquake but for fire so we're actually moving in a most aggressive direction since I've been at the district most aggressive since when? since I've been at the district oh 40 plus years and we are actually really moving ahead and we fired the board funded the position of a district engineer so now we're on top of these projects in the house made a major difference in speeding up the process the board is talking about proving a pipeline crew which is crews for to install pipeline that are off the main highways that we can do then less expensive and don't have all the regulatory with Caltrans and mechanic private roads that we can do we don't have the traffic so we can lay pipe there and all of that will be with fire flow in mind with hydrants just because you don't see fire hydrants in the budget that automatically comes with main lines that's just part of of Gaffer the appendix too how many years will it take to get us up to speed for dealing with a major wild fire like that swept through you never will we'll be making headway it's an ongoing like they say the Golden Gate Bridge you know we've got a large amount and one of them with the master plan will tell us it will give us a price tag and that price tag has been scared the heck out of all of us when we get down on the master plan and see with the replacement of all of our small undersized water storage tanks our undersized means that that price is going to scare the heck out of us and we just don't work on it I mean the main thing is we keep moving we keep moving ahead and get a substantial amount done every year but we're never going to get a little unrealistic that kind of money is not unless we have some huge grants or something that kind of money to get in here the rate payers aren't going to be able to afford that aggressive capital I don't know maybe once we start getting the money the rate payers will come forward and say we like what we're seeing you guys are spending our money wisely we want to accelerate I think the rate payers are already saying that well, some aren't some aren't yeah, some aren't some have a bad taste in their mouth from the past when we didn't accelerate when a drought came or one thing another came took our funds, we didn't have the money to do it we have a rate we have a restructure now and it's aggressive and we're moving ahead okay, I know yeah, you've been giving me the eye I'm going to answer your question just answering the questions as Larry indicated we talked about this earlier I think it's a very good question what are we or what is this board going to do about fire planning but I think maybe another good question would be why have the boards in the last 20 years ignored this issue repeatedly but that's an economic exercise there's no sense in going there but that's a question I would love to hear an answer to because now we have to face the problem but to answer your question we aren't facing the problem it is on the agenda for the environmental committee we did start the discussion at the last meeting I think it's safe to say from the enthusiasm of the people during that discussion that's going to rise very quickly to the top of the environmental priorities would you agree with that, Janet so that is very at least top on my list both from an engineering standpoint as well as an environmental standpoint we need to address it but it's too bad that we have ignored it for so long which makes it an even tougher problem to deal with that and why as Rick was trying to say it's going to take years to fix because we've ignored it for years quite honestly Elaine I just a little confused about the rates will there be a rate increase this year and there was a five year plan a rate increase every year for five years and I think that's going to be third year in no time that is what is built into this budget one more person the environmental portion of the budget I can't remember five percent or four percent of the whole expenses and that has been cut I remember seeing that chart it just seems to me like it represents such a small amount of the whole budget that it just doesn't make sense to me but that's where do we continue to get the money from we got so much to do I agree but I think environment is really really important okay okay Jim you had your hand up I'd like to just follow up with Elaine and just in this discussion you want to note that the issue of environmental programming water conservation PG&E water conservation is going to be critical for the fire prevention generally and the environmental program is so important in making us making this district safe environmental programs are critical on so many different fronts habitat restoration fish monitoring liaison working regionally and to cut the staff by half I don't know what the staff positions are but I know that I went to the environmental committee and I really learned a lot and one of the things I learned is gosh there's so much to be done and there's so much work being done I'm astounded at what the environmental department is able to do with the limited resources they have now so I'm just bemused by why this is the one place that you would cut which I I see this as absolutely critical I think there's something that you say where is the money going to come from the kind of money that Rick was just talking about $240,000 it wouldn't be that much but to save that position and to save the fish monitoring and the habitat restoration that is really important stuff it's not going to bring us more than 20 feet of pipe that's not going to solve the problem and the long term implications of making these cuts we don't know what they are but I think they're going to be serious and it really is when the three of you ran for election what you said was that the rate increase was being misspent that there's all these cuts you're going to make you're going to show how we're going to save all this money but when we come to this budget or the infrastructure part of this budget I commend you for going forward with this that we have an aggressive plan that may need to be more aggressive but we're doing it that's great but why are we sacrificing the environment it's not that much money in the picture of things and I really I don't understand why that is considered waste it's absolutely critical to this valley as far as I'm concerned the last thing that I wanted to say it had to do with what I've lost that point now but I'll just stay with that that I really urge you to rethink losing a staff position I think we need having two people in that department again I'm not commenting on what each staff person does but just from the outside and hearing all of the things that it's being done it seems to me really doesn't make sense to me why that department has been picked on as the place that you're going to cut and in the meantime put $191.5 million into reserve we need bigger reserves I'm glad we're adding to reserves but if you put in 1.6 instead of 1.9 is that going to break the bank? I just think why cut back in this area where we clearly know that there's going to be more work Jenny to follow up and build on what Jim just said I worked in environmental consulting field for many years and you've got all of these big capital improvement projects that are coming online and you're going to need to have environmental compliance on those and the relationship that you have with the regulatory agencies is an extremely extremely important thing the nature of environmental compliance you know in ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure and you're going to end up sacrificing this department to build up a reserve that you're going to have to use that you're going to have to deal with because of that and how does that bring us out any farther ahead than where we are now banning glyphosate is not an environmental program and you need to figure out a way to manage Olympia what is the size of the reserve that you're looking to build and when you get to that number you know will you commit to you know bringing back all of our conservation funding to full levels again um I think that's time to answer now that I talked way along Chuck well I'm glad to see that it's possible to have a very aggressive capital program now that's wonderful I'm glad you're pursuing this and going out for the funding necessary to do that but then you know what others have said you know you have a 1.9 million dollar increase in reserves here and you're cutting one department very severely so I guess I would like to ask you to come back in sometime in the near future and say what is your long term reserve plan when how this is 1.9 million this year next year what you feel like it's necessary to get to and over what time period will it take to get there and at the end of that does the savings in monies that are now need to go into reserves get considered for other programs that members of the public are very interested in or is the message again going to be no we need to do the capital on that because it's been spoken that you know we need to cut programs because we don't have adequate reserves for a reserve level that is fairly respectable in a year and another year we get to you know up to something that if it were of the same magnitude something starting to get very comfortable looking so start thinking about a long term way to transition from this very aggressive of the capital and reserves only funding into something else that other people in the valley consider to be valuable Debbie you had your hand up and I am also concerned about fire safety and that's one of the reasons I'm really supportive of water master plan I know that one of the main purposes other besides playing water drinking water is for fire flow and I think everybody in the district knows that's something to be addressed and it will be formally addressed and engineered and with the help of our new engineer it will be moving forward and that's a real relief and as to fire protection ourselves I took a CERC class and a lot of people should probably consider that you learn a lot about fires and one of the first things we have to do is make sure our homes are ready for fire get yourself ready, get your neighbors ready talk to your family because the one thing about fires is they are not predictable they can move in amazing ways that you can't expect I know the city of paradox I read in the newspaper had one of the most comprehensive fire plans there was in the state and we saw what happened there they were on top of it and yet you cannot predict it and so we ourselves have to be ready one of the issues in the district is fire protection of our watershed plans and I know there's fire rows and Jen has talked about that those are maintained annually I looked on the bill pay list the district hires registered professional forester to maintain those roads both for erosion protection and for fire safety and he does clearing just this year I looked at the bill list he's been paid twice for a total of just over $5,000 it was also in the operation department report that he's meeting with them for road maintenance in our watershed so that reassures me that the district is looking at that and he does have plans that have been in place and if we can improve that that's fine but my biggest priority is improving the size of pipes and fire hydrants and the tank capacities and I believe that's all going to come out of the infrastructure and that's where I want to see my money go to conservation it's been addressed in several of the committees that the people in this valley are really really doing a good job of conservation so there's a limited amount of money that can be put towards that that we're not going to make that big a difference we're already doing a really good job and until the next drought I think we're good on that and like Jim I'm losing my thought I think I'll leave it at that but thank you very much for concentrating on the district and the district needs we have many many really fine groups in this valley that perhaps do environmental protection conservation we've heard from people who represent them they can do a good job educating our community on that but what they can't do is replace our tanks they are not going to step forward and pay to replace tanks they are not going to step forward and pay to put in fire hydrants that's the district's responsibility and that's our primary objective and that's at your hand thank you I had a lamentable experience with my first ex-husband we had an old folks wagon which is an air cooled engine and the fan belt broke and he drove it home because he didn't have $3 and he didn't have any change because people didn't have cell phones then to call me to get him $3 it cost us a lot to replace that engine because he burned it up and I am concerned that neglecting money to pay for watershed maintenance to pay for land management to do those sorts of things is eventually going to burn out our engine so the lack of a $3 fan belt is going to cost us our engine and so I do think that some of the things that Jen mentioned that are going to be delayed or not in the near term be able to be addressed at all or anything like that seem to me to be things that do have value in preserving our water quality and making properties less vulnerable to fire removing the broom for example which burns like that that these are important things and that they need to be funded or else the cost down the road could be much higher thank you anyone else I am April Zilber and I just want to make a general statement that my opinion is that environmental stewardship which you've all signed on for is not just the absence of the application of herbicides but it also means paying attention to the environment that you're running your water system in and so things like fish monitoring and restoration practices and monitoring are still important and so I wish you would reconsider cutting the budget for that staff that we need to do those activities thank you a budget is a statement of values and that's what we're seeing here and that's what you're putting forward and that's what you're voting on the values in this valley have always been ones of strong environmental stewardship and there's only two public agencies that govern this area, the school district and this is the one that's part of what you're responsible for and it's not just now it's the statement of what we're teaching our kids and how they will be stewards in the future we all see this as new people move into the area and they don't understand and they pave things over and they don't understand the need to start being able to go back into the land all of the permeable surfaces and things like that that we know are so important these educational the environmental educational pieces are so important I looked at this budget, the statement of values and I see that there's been this big increase the previous the prior board was able to put in place which is being used the budget is being used for improved capital investment which is wonderful but that was put there I am not seeing as I think Jim said, I'm not seeing the big savings what I'm seeing is a token savings and seeing this 1.9 million that's going into reserves it's great that we can increase reserves the cost of doing that this little tiny piece around 1% of the budget is making a statement and the statement it's making is that protecting our environment teaching our children about our environment and being good stewards of the environment is no longer important here and this budget is particularly difficult because this budget is being passed today I know you guys are going to do this but it's being passed on this Thursday when Sunday is the memorial for Fred McPherson one of the architects of the protection of this valley and we're doing this right at this time so if there's any chance that you could think about the pittance that we're talking about to protect this area versus putting take an extra year to get the money into the reserves and maintain the statements and maintain the values that have been so important in this valley thank you Bob are you still there do you have another speaker I am do you want to make another comment do you have another speaker I'm sorry go ahead no hang on Bob okay my name is Vi I'm Vi Campbell I live in Felton and I was very disappointed at the cancellation of Carly Blanchard's position as my values I agree with you the budget is really a statement of your values I really value tanks and hydrants and pipes and good models and maps I've been working in GIS for 20 years and in conservation and I've been water educator since 1999 and although the teachers are tasked with teaching our children values as it has been integrated in the next generation science standards that have been put in place last year it is still there is not a super strong focus on the value of water systems the value of water it's integrated but it doesn't have a strong focus when a representative from the water district shows up and talks about what is important about our water and why is it important for us to save it and conserve it through all of the changes of our climate and years of drought it is so important to teach that bigger picture of how our water system works why it's important to have open space to allow and forested land to allow that infiltration into the groundwater and there are students that I taught when they were in second grade and they are now out of college and they told me later on there are a couple of people I've seen over the years that are now graduating college and studying environmental studies because I remember your presentation about groundwater I understand why it's important to save it and to protect it and I was so disappointed that you cancelled the program with Senators of Valley High School and my children are not going to be able to partake in some of those science programs that you help fund that were great ongoing research that the students got to have hands-on learning which is really when you learn the best is to have that hands-on learning that this water district helps sponsor those programs and Jen and Carly have been doing an amazing job at communicating the importance of our environment and the importance of our stewardship of the environment as a total not just the pipes tanks and wells but really for the minimal cost compared to the entire budget I think it makes an impact that is not measurable by number of units sold but by years later the effect on how people use that water how they value their water system if there is an increase in their bill they can appreciate what goes into the back end of that and how important it is to pay for the water system as well it's like the bigger picture and so for the small percentage of those programs the cost that your total budget equals it just doesn't seem worth it to cancel programs that have been going on for years and years and years that support the culture of environmental stewardship in the San Lorenzo Valley so I really encourage you to not just completely cancel these programs and eliminate positions that help support that but to or continue to support that task in other whatever titles they are but continue to participate in programs that help support the environmental education and water system awareness and teaching that value of water in our environment there are not a lot of organizations that do that there are some but we also all work together as a team to help communicate that and also communicate the federal programs as well as the statewide programs that don't have a lot of budget for marketing it's the local agencies that help support those programs and the messages and communications those programs give us like water sense like the next generation science standards and the USGS the groundwater association of America those different organizations all have curriculum to teach these things and so I hope that you continue to value that in your budget and not completely cut these programs that have been developed over so many years but Carly and Jennifer have been doing a really good job of keeping that message going and those programs running thank you okay Bob are you still there you want to say something hopefully we will at least my priorities are budget I appreciate all the sincerely made statements really focused on the environmental aspect of this budget I think there's a few key items that actually is currently taking half of our watershed about 25% more water than we're actually providing to customers if we get our business substantially it has to take the water out of the environment to begin with and finally I think the real key thing here is right now I understand all of this there's also political, there's going to be on infrastructure point, dangerous expenses about $5 million in capital reserve we have a $3 million funded capital liability we have deferred maintenance that I believe in order of millions of dollars we have either replacement those numbers is this district at a point where we're not on these balls and if not then moving to it I fully support this budget and looking forward to voting on it more importantly seeing it the course of the next 12 months I've got to hear a false so no just say thanks so any other comments no if anybody missed it direct default is in Germany that's the yeah yeah okay any other public comment I think everybody's talked they don't give a talk again you're a board member yes I'm coming back to you thank you I reached out to Jen recently and to try to get some feel of the environmental department the first question I asked her was I read a report of this a few months ago now but in her departmental report it said she gets a phone call every six minutes and I asked her is that true and she says yes and that and looking at page 40 under the environmental department array of strategy and programs related to providing a safer, reliable sustainable water supply there's seven key elements and as I look at those and try to digest them I think we have a much bigger problem about cutting out of the budget tonight so having said that I want to make a passionate plea to the audience I'm pleased to hear a lot of people talking about environmental in such a passionate way because I'm not an environmentalist I admit that freely even though I am the new department chair I have no formal training in environmental studies but I'm a fast learner I've offered my services to Jen and together I asked you to start coming to the environmental committee meeting and helping us because one of the things I think we miss right now is a list of priority items for environmental what's the top thing? I don't know I look at the list and I can't come up today but I will make a pledge to you if we can come together and agree on what the real top issues are in environmental and we believe they're not being funded I will happily take that to the board is there any way we can get money for that? so um Steve? I'd like to make a motion approve resolution number 33 adopting the fiscal year 2019 and 2020 budget in its present form okay is there a second? is there more to the resolution than just what you talked about Steve I think there's there should be a resolution there is a resolution let me have I didn't hear any time to check so just resolution number resolution number 33 right I will second that okay okay um Holly would you like to call the vote? Director Ferris? aye Director Swan? yes President Henry? yes Director Falls? motion passes so um I guess that moves us on to um 5B which is Bear Creek Estates so included in the staff report the one proposal that we received on the Bear Creek State's wastewater treatment facility and the analysis RFB was taken to the environmental committee the environmental committee reviewed it and we had some public comment and the decision was made the environmental committee to me for engineering committee was that recommended for work that the RFB or the proposal we received be rejected and that additional evaluation be done of the firms that we solicited so I have done that basically we sent the RFBs at the 15 different firms I contacted all of those 15 different firms and basically only four of those 15 firms do this type of work the other 11 firms they just don't have the expertise to deal with it one of those four firms that we sent to is WFC and because they wrote the RFB for the district as an unfold consultant they were unable to submit a proposal on so I left you with three firms two of the firms are very large firms EKF engineering and Harrison Associates a lot of times if you're going to be working with those types of firms you need to interact then make phone calls who has the RFB on their desk answer questions if they have those sort of things another thing we can do to encourage engineering firms to make proposals is to have a field visit actually invite them out to a particular site show them the location that sort of thing I kind of got the impression that the two large firms just sort of thought it was a little small project not a lot of profit margin involved and sort of just dismissed it off hand which left the one firm that we did get the proposal from which was IDC so if we reject this then are we up the creek without a paddle? well I think we can chart it a different group of engineering firms got some firms here that we did contact that might be interested Corolla Brown and Caldwell there's a view if we would contact and let them know that we had an RFB they'd do that and we may encourage them maybe encourage them to submit a proposal so that would be our option and now that we have an engineer on staff we can follow through all the calls spoon feed them and work with them all over the process the one firm that did submit a proposal is a firm that's existing working on Bear Creek and one of the representatives from Bear Creek Estates that was here that really felt that they've been out there working and they haven't been able to get the plan of compliance and they felt it would be better if the firm was to look at them and do the proposal so is that an oxygen thing or what is it what is the problem? nitrate not oxygen sorry nitrogen reduction so the state board has tasked us with a 50% nitrogen reduction in discharge on the RP that we have we go out to bid and Darren will work with individual consultants and try to spoon feed them and get them to walk through so do we need to vote on this to reject it or what comment I want to make to the board there's medicine numbers thrown around that we went out to 15, let's go out to 30 I don't think we're going to go out to 30 but we're going to go out to maybe 5 or 6 but they'll be specifically targeted for that type of work and we're hoping that of the 5 or 6 that we target we'll get proposals compared to 4 of them and yeah, the recommendation one of the options included in the memo is to reject RFB and direct staff to solicit new proposals okay I'm going to be done by motion by motion of the board I want to make a motion I have a comment actually a point to add to what Darren was saying or a couple of points number one is I don't think we actually had a number of consulting firms that we wanted to get quotes from we were going to just put out a broader and see what comes in because we were limiting ourselves to local contractors and we only got one proposal so are you looking that way casting broader net getting the 6 from casting a broader net but specifically targeting those engineering firms that do this type of work that will give us a proposal it should lead to a proposal and the other thing was one of the reasons why we were recommending rejection of that proposal is there was a critical specification error that the company that IC did not note that the public had to bring to our attention which was embarrassing for me I don't know about everybody else has that been correct do we know is there error or is that part of an error in our RFQ that we need to fix no it wasn't an error in our RFQ I think it was just a typographical error or mathematical error that particular part of it there was a significant error it was lowering the goal by 50% which we don't want to do because it's a mandated requirement for us right the mandate is 50% reduction so if we send out a proposal for 25% we can succeed and fail at the same time we have to do 50% nitrogen reduction I got it right that time nitrogen that specification error was there to answer specifically to answer your question I think it was an error when I read the report they were basically saying that they reduced it by you know their effective reduction in nitrogen had been 15% and it actually was like 25% or something but it was far from the 50% that we needed I think they were talking more about what they'd actually been able to achieve to plan not necessarily attempting to change the percent reduction that was required by the state it wasn't a technical error I didn't feel it was that substantial but it was a technical error that had to be pointed out by members of that so this was a request for qualifications rather than a proposal or what was originally circulated was request for proposals or an alternative analysis for the wastewater and we got one and we're proposing that we reject that one and go back out to targeted proposals to people that A, accomplished the job because that's the other thing that was one proposal from somebody who tried to fix it in the past and failed so we have a real question about the risk factor going with this I think about three years I believe that's correct we limited them a little bit maybe it's fair to say it wasn't all their fault but at the same time that's correct Stacey does represent the majority of the people out of Barricade and you had a good point we're trying to respond to it it's worth responding to seemingly at one better I think the thing to do is to board reject by motion and direct staff to go back out the other two people that bid you said the larger firms they never did submit a bid to take it two large ones never submitted a proposal there's only the one bid from the people that did the work before that had been involved the last three years and the wider net you're looking at or the targeted five to six places are they identified or they don't really matter geographically I guess they could be anywhere in the Central Valley and still be a candidate but do you have those already identified? yeah so the two that I've already contacted would be BKF and they're in San Jose, Harrison Associates they're in Salinas I'm looking at Perolo Brown and Caldwell, Stantec there's another firm that EKI I don't know where these district offices are they're probably in the South Bay did you discover them by recommendation from somebody? talking to other engineering firms asking them do you have this particular expertise? no do you know of engineering firms that do have that particular expertise? do you have something like this? what firm would you be consulting with? it's worth noting though that there is some risk associated with this we are in a cease and desist order from the state we have a compliance order but what we'll do is we will do an update on our next quarterly report to the state telling where we are in the process and we have reason to believe that they're going to accept it usually if we're working on compliance and moving forward they work with you it's when you don't do anything but my point is that there is some risk because we're delaying it yet again by going out for proposals a second time they don't want to repair it correctly because they're tired of not being able to get it repaired in compliance they'll work with us I'm pretty sure they will do you have any idea of timing on these proposals? I could start over time as soon as no I mean as far as responses back we usually put it out there for 30 days and you think we'll get at least most of those 6 I'm certainly going to try to get as many as possible I think the risk is minimal just about there if we do reject this bid and we go out and we get no proposals do we still retain the ability to negotiate to select a firm and negotiate with that firm or by rejecting this proposal we lost that ability and that's a nuance there but I'd like to know I think there will always be a path forward if you want to go back to talk to these folks again I mean you could just because this is a services contract and not a construction contract and the requirements are less formal both for the solicitation and for the decision of the board I mean there's a few things you could do you could either include them in the re-solicitation or re-submit their proposal even though you've already rejected it or if you don't get any of the second time you could simply ask the one firm to re-submit their proposal and consider it again in light of not having gotten it so we have a path forward that's not any worse than where we're at right now should be getting no proposals on the second go round okay so proposal to reject this a motion I mean oh sorry any public comment out there got carried away yes is this the state water board that you're dealing with on this that's correct anybody else have a question out there okay Bob do you want to say anything the ladies the systems are just not here economically or even now in between you know you know most of this the regulations between the state the effort you're putting into this to you know define the other people I think the more targeted ones are going to be better there's no big company it's been recommended that we reject this yes we need a motion I'll make a motion that we reject the proposal received from IEC and direct staff to look elsewhere second Director Ferris Director Swan President Henry Director Pulse yes what's your task just a minute I felt I shouldn't stand up for the second since I was the committee chair that recommended it I did I thought I was losing my hearing oh really okay so the next item is the consent agenda and I would like to ask you were one of the board members to pull the meeting minutes from the consent agenda for the consent agenda okay I'm going to ask that we pull the minutes from the consent agenda and I would like to request a clarification on the minutes there's a report out of closed session listed but I don't believe that the board voted on that report so it's not I don't believe the board voted following the meeting so I would like to have the minutes reflect that there was no report out of closed session but they could note that President Henry made those comments I'm getting deleted right you're getting recharacterized oh okay alright and since we pulled the item from the consent agenda it would be appropriate to invite public comment and the board to accept the minutes okay any comment from the public on the minutes no comment sorry Lou you want to make a motion I will make a motion I would like to help in making a motion we look down I recommend a motion to approve the minutes from the special board meeting from May 29 with the clarification that there was no report out of closed session just comments by the president I will make that motion and ask I'll take it from the verbal of the meeting minutes thank you I'll second that Director Ferris Director Swan President Henry Director Pulse okay alrighty district reports issue of the district reports from the engineering of our mental finance and business legal and operations if you have any questions or comments the department did accept the operations he's on vacation he'd be here to answer any questions I think we're probably going to have may I make a comment about legal I don't typically I did want to update the board that I received confirmation today the self-proceeds in the holiday of the era matters have been dispersed to the payees and therefore the district will be filing a dismissal of its cross-complaint shortly and everybody else has found dismissals as well okay great news thank you would you like your picture taken with Bob okay Bob isn't here but it's an eight-time we'll show you what we have getting some souvenir and leader how do you finally know this I'm giggling about it all night sorry I missed that did you say it was going to be filed soon soon yes likely within a few days all the dismissals will be filed that's great big win-win alright thank you Bob good luck okay Rick I have nothing not to say department head would like to speak anything in the reports any highlights committee reports engineering committee and environmental committee both lose the reported on the results of the engineering committee for the last quarter as far as the the activity at the environmental committee last week there was presentation made by Jen thank you Jen regarding the exponent report that basically covers the recommendations for our water sustainability in the valley and of their 20 plus scenarios that they described the three recommended courses of action to be forwarded to the board and that will be coming out as a formal report formal one yes but not until later yeah but just to let you know what that is the first one will be that we will we will try to adjust the water right of the Felton water a fall creek basically to basically memorialize what we are already doing and we're not sure that's going to work but we're going to give it a try because we think that's the easiest solution the second one is that we're going to supply the south system with water from the north system but and that's probably the easiest thing to do and that will be the sequel and that will be the sequel and then the third thing is we're going to import water from Loch Lomond to the Kirby facility to be processed there that will not be an inexpensive fix nor a short term fix it's going to take money and time but those are the three recommendations that we believe will address the sustainability of the valley and more detail to follow with the chance report is there anything you want to add Jim? the sequel on the intertie is probably the most short term thing we can do and the other ones are very long term and possibly very expensive solutions there are not cheap solutions and short term solutions but at least we're moving forward with the sustainability plan as far as the new business we already talked at length about fire planning preparation and history we spent quite a bit of time and the committee meeting discussing that as well that's clearly going to rise to the top of the priority for the environmental committee we'll go into that in much more detail I do want to point out that there is no money currently in the budget for that so we'll probably be coming back with that in hand later to ask for money because we believe that's an important endeavor and right now we don't have any money budgeted to do it but we need to do it at least that's the feeling of the environmental committee so we can take the shutoffs Rick can go into more detail but basically we put more emergency generators into the budget to hold us over if there is a blackout that's right so that's four or eight additional generators that are in this budget that we'll be moving on but we've just begun the discussion of this because there's going to be a lot more evaluation and the input and decision making and we can assess what it is that PG&E can do with what they want to with impunity and we have to plan on being without power for days are there portable generators four of them will be portable and four of them will be stationary we're still supply and treatment we're still fine tuning exactly they want to put the stationary and the portable how are we going to do that back to the Lou said about fire safety all departments are working on fire safety it's an endeavor that we're all working on it is developing into our emergency response plan which we have with the state there's a lot to it and it's top heavy on water quality as the state requires but all departments are working on that there'll be more to follow just beyond doing and the last item was an update on all projects we didn't get too far into this because it quickly became evident that we're getting into a non-agendized item so we just deferred and carry it to the next meeting that's it so Rick with the portable generators that you move around do you locate them so they're near where they might be moved I mean how big of a deal is that to move them not to get too far into this but it's a huge deal that just to store these generators now we already have four to six portables and storing them and maintenance them and keeping them road improved it's a huge undertaking road and slug generators they destroy the windings and so forth so this battle moving them around will not be a problem but what might be a problem in a huge power outage will be traffic our district's not that big or we can't get to but most likely finishing touches on the portables will be kept out of the sites that we're going to originally need them at and then we'll move them from there and then we'll know how many hours we have to pump each individual site and then we'll move from site to site but generators in general it's a huge maintenance and a huge maintenance expense will be permitting with the Monterey Bay or pollution control board will be additional costs to have a fleet of generators is quite an expense to the district and a maintenance issue because half of them will be LPG will be propane the larger ones are diesel they do not have a shelf life you have to treat the diesel you have to filter the diesel every year it's just a there's a lot to it do you have a program for maintaining the generators in terms of turning them on most of them are on a one week on all exercise I think they all they automatically come on every week some go into a load test the treatment plans we have a mechanic a sort of pipe with that that come out every six months and we'll go through them that's another thing so you simulate a power out so the generator goes under load the few seconds and then if you haven't seen that switch throw you really should it's a fireworks display that is that anymore but yes they are load testing thank you so the chair for LATIC isn't here did you want to say something you don't have anything to report you don't have anything to report alright they are still looking for someone in this case in bottom alright so assessment assessment district so I would say we're done does everybody agree we're done can we get the nice chairs back get the next the nice chairs the nice chairs back you mean the chairs here yeah the comfortable ones you can ask I'm asking well I'm not in charge of chairs the demonstrate can we sell them? no no the demonstrate we have too many people yeah okay so we're going to a June and we can have this discussion