 Good afternoon. I'd like to call the meeting of the Board of Public Utilities for the City of Santa Rosa to order if we may have a roll call, please Thank You chair Board member right Here board member Watts Here board member Walsh Here board member Grable Here, thank you board member Baden-Fort Here vice chair Arnone here Chair Galvin here let the record show all board members are present Thank you. Good afternoon again everyone just a reminder to mute your microphones when you're not speaking try and keep your Video on during the meeting and put away your cell phones and personal computers Next item on the agenda statement of extension by board members. Do we have any? Hearing none. We have no study session We have the minutes for the August 18 2022 meeting so at this time I'll open it up for 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 There's no one in the chambers Do we have anybody secretary? Manus we have no public comments. All right, then the minutes will be approved and entered We'll now move to item 5.1 Director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board item 5.1 is a staff briefing update on water supply alternatives plan and Call in close our senior water resources planner. We'll be making the presentation Excellent. Thank you very much. I just want to check and see that my volume is working. Everybody able to hear me, okay? Terrific, thank you so much. So thank you director Burke for that brief introduction and good afternoon chair Galvin and members of the board This briefing is going to provide you with an update on the water supply alternatives plan The last time we talked to you about this was in May and at that point we talked about our vision for this project The anticipated scope of work the purpose and strategies the estimated timeline and budget and at that point You authorize staff to release a request for proposals to solicit Assistance from a highly qualified firm to help us with a study and development of a plan So we have completed that competitive process and we wanted to update you on that as well as where we are today and where we're headed Next slide, please So as a reminder the purpose of this plan is to increase our water supply resiliency and reliability We know that we have a Mediterranean climate and drought is inevitable and we also know that emergencies can occur in Normal water years as you know and even slightly below average rainfall years We have more than adequate supply for our community But we do want to increase our reliability and resiliency for those situations where water shortages could occur So the approach is to conduct a thorough study of a wide range of potential water supply sources and assess them characterize them put together portfolios of options and then develop a path forward so that over the next five ten fifteen Twenty years we can increase our water supply resiliency Next slide, please The consultant selection process started with the request for proposals being advertised We kept that open for a full month. It was about 21 working days And we're very glad we did because we received four Proposals from very highly qualified firms and it was clear They had taken a lot of time and effort to very thoughtfully put together excellent proposals So it was a very competitive process We had a review panel that was formed that included first Board member Glenn Wright. Thank you so much for the extensive time and effort and energy you put into this Your input was invaluable. So thank you for that. Also director Burke Thank you for your time and help with this and I want to thank also all of the deputy directors and some key staff Including myself as the project manager for the work that was done on this each of the panelists Read the proposals ranked them individually and then we came together in an extensive meeting and discussed our own rankings Each of the proposals where they excelled where they caused us confusion or Concern of brought up questions and then we ranked them collectively Are we determined there would be prudent to interview these Firms so we went ahead and held interviews on July 14th with a subset of the review panel And at the end of the day Woodard and Curran was selected as the top rank Firm for this particular project So we did work with them to finalize the scope and the budget and the budget includes 362,365 dollars for the work outlined in the scope and we did request to include a 10 percent Contingency that is at our discretion only that can only be spent if we provide written Authorization for those monies to be used But the contract total then is 398,602 dollars Because This particular firm has already pre-qualified and has a master Professional services agreement with the city the instrument We were able to use for this contract was a project work order and because the amount fell within the signature authority of the assistant City manager were very grateful that Jason up was able to review this and go ahead and sign that contract So we were able to begin the following week with some early preliminary Discussions about scheduling and project goals and this sort of thing. So work began very shortly after this Next slide, please So now I'm going to talk about this scope of work and then again, I'll talk about where we are and where we're headed By design we have created this process to include a significant number of working sessions We want to make sure that we are Very carefully considering all of our options and that we're also receiving input from a wide range of interests So as project manager, I'll be meeting with the Woodard and current project manager every week initially And then we'll tailor that down to about every two weeks as we get going in the process We also have five working sessions with our interdisciplinary water team These will be about three hours each and we will be developing some decision-making tools and Looking at particular documents and milestones together during those meetings We have four working sessions with a stakeholder group. This is an external stakeholder group And I'll talk about the proposed composition of that group in just a moment We're also going to have four meetings for the communities will be workshops where we educate the community about what the project is What we're trying to accomplish how we're going about it and then opening it up for their questions and their comments and their ideas The first meeting is scheduled and that will be October 26th And that will go from 5 p.m. To the 7 p.m. And that will be by via zoom We do have a bill insert and it is going out to every one of our water customers And we also have a web page that's available for folks who want to learn a little bit more about this project That bill insert will invite all of our customers to attend the meeting should they be interested That workshop will be taped and it will also be Archived on our web page so folks weren't able to make it but are interested in learning more They'll be able to watch that later The web page for this project will be under the The the name our water future so the full email address will be s our city Dot or g Slash our water future and there are no spaces or dashes or anything of that sort between the work parts We will also be coming to you the BPU four times making presentations and asking for your input at key milestones in the project I'll highlight where those are in just a moment and then we'll be providing two updates to counsel at key points in the process as well all of this work will be With the assistance of wooded and current facilitating meetings and developing work products and helping us with all of these efforts over the course of the next year Next slide, please In addition, of course wooded and current is tasked with conducting a highly technical study They will be looking at all of the water supply options that we've identified of interest And they will be looking at them with about 16 different criteria To decide whether or not these are feasible and to help us characterize and understand the costs and the potential legal ramifications of some of these choices Just to be clear the legal Considerations will be a very high level. This will not be particularly legal advice But rather looking at what sorts of legal things we need to consider when we're looking at water rights and water Inertize water trading this sort of thing. It's a very high level legal input The cost estimates will be a class five These are not the kinds of cost estimates that are included with requests for proposals for actual building of projects These are the kind of Costs that allow us to look at the magnitude of projects and compare them because we won't have enough detail about each of these projects To do engineered estimates. So these are high level class five to give us again a sense of magnitude of what kind of funding We might need what amount of money? How many years we might need to parse out to build up to that sort of a project that sort of thing They're going to document their findings how they've characterized each of those water sources and prepare portfolios of options because we want multiple pathways forward knowing that regulations are going to change that Technology will change that our funding sources will change. So we want to be able to have Multiple pathways forward and that'll be documented in the plan Next slide, please Woodard and Kern will be responsible for a long list of Actual documents and materials that they will be providing us But the key deliverables that you will be seeing that you will be asked to consider and provide input on are the following we're going to Fine-tune the water supply goals. We had initially mentioned draft goals to you in May But we need to discuss those more thoroughly and fine-tune them and that will be included with the rationale So that five or ten years from now we recall very clearly not only what those goals were but why we selected those as goals We'll have a focus lift of water supply sources that will be studied So we'll understand again where we started with a long list and where we might end up with if there is any shortening of that list We'll have a clear description of the assessment criteria How are we going to analyze and compare each of these sources and the methods that are going to be used for the study? We will also have Resulting from all of that work at the end of it a feasibility study report that Woodard and Kern will provide to us That carefully characterizes each of the water supplies that's studied They will also provide us a Synopsis of the portfolios of the supply options so that we can discuss them and understand them and provide feedback and Perhaps any course correction is needed, but a clear understanding of what some of those mixes of potential water supplies could be And then of course the water supply alternatives plan there will be an internal working draft There'll be an external draft for review. There'll be a draft that comes to you in the public and of course the final draft Next slide, please So this puts together The deliverables and those working sessions and shows you this across a timeline So in this upcoming quarter considerable number of meetings as we get launched The key deliverables are going to be to finalize those water supply goals To finalize the list of water supplies that will be studied and to finalize the criteria and study methodology that will be used And when we come to you in december these are the products that we're going to bring to you for your input before they are finalized Then you can see there's an extended period of time about four months with very few meetings And this period is where Woodard and Curran will be doing the actual technical work of studying each of these water supplies And working out where we need to go in terms of these potential portfolios of water supplies They'll bring those work products to us in may the water team a stakeholder group and the community They'll revise them tighten them down and then come to you in june And we'll share with you where those are at provide your you can provide your input before they are finalized And then in that last four months, we'll be looking at Developing that plan so the plan will be based very much on all of that work that has occurred previously So that nine months of work will be culminating in then putting together a plan a path forward that will allow us to achieve our goals We will bring to you and to the city council The review draft of that in september and then we will present the final to you and then to the city council in october Next slide please The water team of course will include the director of water and myself as the project manager And it will of course include the deputy directors and their key staff members So we will have representation from engineering services environmental services local operations regional operations And water resources Next slide please The stakeholder group We have a list of about 20 organizations that we're going to reach out to and ask if they would like to have a representative working on this stakeholder group And participating on the stakeholder group will involve attending four meetings over the next year Each of those meetings will be about three hours long And reviewing documents in between and providing comments The sort of categories of interests that we are reaching out to include our regional partners and recycled water users Environmental and climate change interests Business and economic interests such as our various chambers of commerce Community interests and some local resource agencies such as the resource conservation district and the gsa and some others So this is where we're starting and we will be fine tuning that list of invitees and sending the letters out very soon Next slide So our next steps for this upcoming three months. We're going to be very busy Woodard and Kern will be coming to us on october 13th for an all day tour of our facilities They're also already beginning their introductory research They have a long list of very dense documents that have been Previously produced by the water department that they're reviewing currently and bringing themselves up to speed on We've also provided them with gis layers and schematics of our system so that they can get familiar with it before they arrive for the facilities tour We'll hold two working sessions with our water team And two working sessions with our stakeholder group And again, our first community workshop will be october 26th Then we'll be coming to you About I think it's december 15th And we will be providing you with an update of all the work that's been accomplished Including our review draft of our water supply goals The list of water supplies that will be studied and the study criteria and methods and we'll be asking for your input On those work products at that time Next slide, please So with that we are happy to take any questions that you may have Thank you, mr. Close appreciate the presentation. Looks like it's going to be a fun project board member right Thank you chair gowlin Just a couple comments. First of all as uh call one mentioned I was on the review Committee, I guess it's called And I have to tell you that call one runs a pretty tight ship and it was probably one of the most thorough and And fair processes in choosing a consultant. I think I've ever been through and and so Good job call one Secondly since I've been involved in this project. I'm realizing now Many many districts and cities are all doing similar projects as the state It seems to be a run a rush to the pump house to try and find more water for everyone So it seems like we're doing what everybody else is doing it and also what many Local districts have already started or completed So anyway, those are just my comments. Thank you Thank you board member right Any other board member questions or comments? board member grable Hi, thank you for the presentation. That was that was great and Uplifting to see that we got so many applicants too for what is such a Demanding field of expertise I just had a sort of a technical question on on the the approach of some of these firms Is it sort of best practices now with these firms to do like proxy climate modeling in terms of their their forecasting of Of water supply changes and or future scarcities not just based on Our drought cycles that we've seen but you know the some of the proxy modeling that you presented to us In the water conservation committee, for instance on like the the Paso Robles Proxy for instance It just interests me and I know it's it's it's relevant, but Yeah, did they uh, did they follow that that type of a modeling? program We have not asked for them to do a traditional modeling around climate change for this project, but many models exist and there's quite a known And some water has done a significant amount of work as well The gsa has done some work traditionally too. So there's a lot that we can rely on So we haven't asked them to recreate those wheels, but yes Part of the criteria we will be considering is the availability of those different water supplies and those strategies And what affects their availability whether it's seasonality For example with stormwater runoff or whether it could be in fact climate climate change Mediterranean climate climate cycles So that will definitely be a piece of it But we're not actually asking them to build a climate model for this particular one because we do have confidence That there are some pretty good models out there that we can rely on in terms of assessing those issues around availability We're member watts Thank you, and and I apologize for being off camera. I'm currently on the bus heading back to snowman county from the airport So I apologize for that, but I was just curious As board member right mentioned with a lot of other studies happening regionally With that in mind and I assume that there are probably Also regional approaches to water supply has there been conversations with other agencies that are doing similar work to make sure that it is Connected and discussed about the potential partnerships Yes, thank you for that question. It's really terrific. Yes Snowman water is conducting a resiliency study and they have invited all of the regional partners to participate very intimately in that process So we are definitely connected to that through director Burke and deputy director Peter martin. So they have been intimately involved in that process I've been a little bit more in the periphery of it that have been involved to some degree as well And when we're bringing partners to the table in our stakeholder group That's one of the pieces that we'll be keeping in mind Is making sure that we're thinking about making sure that the These kinds of partnerships are included at the table so that we can make sure they understand some of the thinking processes And some of the questions and the concerns that are coming up. So yes, this is it's absolutely part of one of the key Sort of strategies, if you will is looking at partnerships and coordinating Collaborating with our partner agencies in the area on projects It could very well be that a project would not make sense for one agency to do on its own But it might make sense for a group of agencies to do together We won't be making hard and fast Prescriptive decisions about which projects to literally do through this process We're really opening the door for what's possible and what it would take to make those kinds of projects work So the real rubber that will hit the road will be once we start to Implement projects. That's really where I think we'll be getting into even more of that immediate You know project-based collaboration and coordination But it's absolutely part of the criteria that we're considering Where can we be partnering with our local agencies to make sure that we're all benefiting from any of the work that's being done Thank you board member walsh Yes, thank you. Mr. Chairman I'm calling first. I appreciate the presentation and the analysis. This is great work and a good plan I think it's going to help us a lot Um, and then I just didn't understand one of the stroke of work in the study since developed cost estimates And then parenthetically class five What's uh, what what is that class five? I'm sorry if I missed it Yeah, I actually Glossed it a little bit. I was a little quick on that So essentially classified estimates are looking at sort of cost in terms of magnitude They can be off 50% either way But what they help you do is look at projects that have Really significant cost versus those that have more moderate and those that has very low cost They can help you understand cost cycles when cost You know when you may need to start building funds for a project that kind of thing So it's really very high level because we don't have all of the engineer detail So if for example, we were looking at decal plants We wouldn't have drawings of the building to then build our our cost estimates on we'd be thinking more in terms of Um, the magnitude if it were a you know, a certain number of acre feet per year Then we can estimate what the cost would be to build and operate something like that when it comes time to build it and operate it That's when we get into the engineered estimates that we then bank on and we budget to But we could compare the cost of desalination to for example potable reuse And although they wouldn't exactly match the cost of those projects if they hit the ground and were built They do give us that enough information to start to compare. What is the cost per unit of water? What is the cost for the life cycle? How much is the cost to own and operate something like that? And so we can start to do those kinds of comparisons So, um, it's a it's a very helpful tool when you have enough information To need to make some kinds of decisions, but you don't have all of the information Great. So it's about relative magnitude to help you decide which alternatives Are more cost efficient or less cost efficient and help you decide not necessarily budget at any detailed level Exactly I appreciate that on a kind of a related item Transportation and public works has been helping us a lot with running projects And then are they they part of the engineering services stakeholder group that you'll have involved in We have not yet involved them in this but we do have our asset management team So we will have engineers from them But because this is so early and because this isn't about actual specifications or actual hard projects on the ground Or the timing necessarily of those projects. These are things that might happen in five years or 10 years We have plenty of time to then bring them in if we make decisions about specific projects that get budgeted and approved through that budgeting process So I think that's one of the things to consider But I I don't know. I think I saw Assistant city manager Jason that did you have something to add to Colin no, I didn't I apologize Having some technical difficulties on this end. So I apologize for the confusion No, no problem. I was welcoming any input you might have Board member Walsh does that Help it does. It's great about water planning and wall and alternatives and not necessarily about construction yet Okay, great. Thank you very much. Appreciate your help Thank you other board member questions or comments All right, if not, we will open it up for public comment on item 5.1 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 public comments Thank you. Thank you again, uh, Colin for the presentation. That'll take care of item 5.1 We'll move now to item 5.2 director Burke Thank you, chair gavin and members of the board item 5.2 is a staff briefing our creek week update And kyle spawnberg An environmental specialist with our stormwater and creeks team will be making the presentation Thank you director Burke Good afternoon chair galvin and board members Throughout much of california including the russian river watershed city counties stewardship organizations are recognizing the third week of september as creek week On tuesday september 13th the proclamation was presented at city council Declaring september 17th through the 24th as creek week in the city of san aroza Next slide, please For over a decade creek week is offered fun educational and volunteer creek cleanups With all of our creek week activities being held virtually for the last two years Our stormwater and creeks team is very excited to be hosting in-person events once again for creek week Our first event will be taking place this saturday september 17th Where we'll be leading members of the public in a creek cleanup along the prince memorial greenway Next slide, please On sunday september 18th our environmental specialists and natural resource specialists will be leading a guided nature walk along san aroza creek Beginning at flat rock park We'll also be hosting two downtown underground tours One on tuesday september 20th and one on thursday september 22nd to explore the culverts that run beneath city hall On thursday september 22nd city staff are invited to clean up the creeks in our municipal buildings We'll have cleanup stations with supplies staged downtown at san aroza creek Along prince memorial greenway at san aroza creek at stony point road And the laguna de santa rosa at the laguna treatment plant Finally, we'll be ending creek week on saturday september 24th with tours the laguna treatment plant For anyone that cannot attend our in-person events We'll also have a number of at-home activities listed on our website srcity.org Slash creek week. Thank you for your time. We hope to see you out on the creeks Thank you, mr. Spongard Any questions or comments from the board? I don't see anybody's hands raised or anything. So if Oh mr. Spongard, did you want? No Remember badden fort Oh, there she is. I'm sorry board member badden fort No problem. I realize it's probably not a good contrast with my background. My apologies. I just wanted to say thank you when I was a fairly new Board member some staff staff took me Down on a couple of the different creeks in the different areas and I just really appreciate it Everything looks great. Um, I love that. There's a plant tour as well materials look great. Appreciate all your work Thanks for that. We'd be happy to take you down in some Thank you. Any other board member questions or comments? If not, we'll open it up for public comment on item 5.2 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 There are no public comments and I just want to note that there is A glitch happening in zoom Where kyle's hand is stuck up and I can't get it down So when kyle leaves the screen it'll go away Same thing happened with assistant city manager nut. So just that's why the hands are up No problem. Thank you All right, that takes care of item 5.2. We'll move now to item 5.3 director Burke Thank you chair galvin and members of the board item 5.3 is our last staff briefing our water and recycle water supply update and deputy director peter martin Sorry deputy director water resources peter martin and deputy director regional operations mic prince will be making the presentation Good afternoon chair galvin and members of the board. Um, very pleased to be before you with my final water supply update of the hydrologic water year as we conclude the Dry year this year we rest my hopes on perhaps maybe a normal or above average year next year So, um, let's uh, let's keep our fingers crossed. Uh, next slide so in terms of, uh, lake pillsbury storage Current storage is at about 37 000 acre feet as of sunday Um, this is about uh, you know, I think uh 70 percent of their target storage for this time of year um That represents about a 900 Ager foot reduction in storage over the last week Um, as you're aware, uh, pgne Asked for relief from their mandated flows some time ago and that was granted Um, pgne is currently releasing their minimum five cubic feet per second Um releases into the east fork of the russian river Um, plus whatever is required to meet their contractual obligations with the potter valley irrigation district Um, my understanding the way we've met with attack on monday is that uh snow water and others have been meeting regularly with pgne uh under their drought task force which is uh Required as part of the stipulation for their variants from these flows And they're reviewing temperature modeling and releases from lake pillsbury On a regular time step The group had proposed upping Those flows to 25 cubic feet per second, but at this time the uh resource agencies were not comfortable With that given the temperature needs of lake pillsbury and their releases into the eel river Um, it's notable that we did learn that um, there is some additional flow beyond just that minimum five cubic feet per second as long as potter valley irrigation district is receiving water under their contracts um, the diversion itself obviously, uh, isn't perfectly, um water tight. So, um, they do release a little extra So there's a little bit more water going into lake menesino as a result Of the the needs of the releases to meet potter valley irrigation district's demands Next slide Lake menesino is currently at 42,800 acre feet. This is as of today Uh, you know, that represents about a little less than 63 of their target water supply for this time of year It's about a thousand acre foot change over week over week You know, in general some water continues to meet their temperature change order flow monitoring and reporting requirements You know with the reduced flows they are continuing to see storage drop, but um, you know, it remains at a higher level of course than the last year they were able to take advantage of um additional flows coming in from the PG&E project for a longer period this year um I guess we can go ahead and go to the next slide in terms of Lake Sonoma storage, you know, it's a little bit of a different story Storage is very much where it was last year only a difference of perhaps 500 acre feet You know compared to last year right now storage is at about 113,500 acre feet So it's tracking very much of where it was last year, which if you recall Uh, it is the the lowest Levels last year in the history of operation at Lake Sonoma Releases are currently at about 100 cubic feet per second and Losses a week or week are about 1500 acre feet You know in terms of the long-term forecast, uh, you know, I I did rest my hopes on wet year this year, but um, you know, the the NOAA is calling for Forecasting a lawn union conditions You know, as you know, those impacts to Sonoma County are not necessarily always correlated, especially in the upper portions of our county But yeah, just preparing for a potential dry outlook for the beginning of winter With that we did learn from Sonoma water that they are Aware of the fact that their temperatures to change order expires on December 13th And very likely that they will have to take action and start preparing to refile another temporary to change petition to Be relieved of their mandated flows during normal water year conditions If you'll recall, you know that the index is related to Lake Pillsbury Which isn't necessarily a great indicator of actual large supplies in the Russian rivers. So When they file the petition they asked for it to be correlated with storage in Lake Minasino so again We'll take a look and over the next few months and keep you up to date on on Sonoma waters progress and filing that petition likely in the next couple months Next slide In terms of complying with the existing temperature change order As you'll recall Sonoma water is required to reduce their diversions by 20 percent This is directly related to the activities of different contractors and their conservation efforts over this last summer This is required from july through october of this year under the order and as of this week Sonoma water is seeing a reduction in diversions 29 almost 30 percent When compared to this time in 2020 Next slide In terms of our targets You know, I did try to rework this graph as it's now 14 months since we first declared stage 3 drought emergency The graphic was getting a little busy. So We kind of reworked it to look at the past six months We have met our targets Those set both by Sonoma water and our own internal targets of 20 for the last two months Last month in august san rose residents reduced their water use by 22 compared to 2020 And cumulatively for that 14 month period since june of 2021 Cumulative water use has been reduced by about 18 percent so Next slide Do you want to tout the success of our regional drought event which occurred on august 20th We're very thankful for support from freedman's home improvement here in santa rosa All in all over 600 drought kits were delivered We were also able to set up a really slick display Near their garden center It had displays with how folks can proceed with turf removal implementing gray water systems rainwater capture systems and through working with freedmen's we were able to Basically generate a list of all the The different things that someone would need in order to put in a gray water or ring water system And they could just walk right in and hold out the list and buy those things that they wanted to or take them for later But we did actually be a lot of engagement on that It was particularly hot that day. So, um, you know kudos to staff for hanging in there and You know staying hydrated and getting all those kids out There were six other locations throughout sonoma and maroon counties And so we did this as part of our summer water pop-ups Efforts, this was a coordinated effort that was region-wide And we did get some play on to the local news channels if I recall correctly Kron and some others in the Bay Area. So Definitely got some recognition for this particular event and it was well attended Next slide so again We are popping up everywhere throughout the city offering folks drought information and tools will be at the Prince Memorial Greenway cleanup on the 17th As well as the fiesta day in Benzia event at the Luther Burbank Center on the 18th And then of course, we'll be at the Halloween at Howarth Park event on october 29th You can sign up for those events at the links above I believe that the greek week cleanup event I'm not sure if they're still taking volunteers at this time But I think you can sign up for that one too as well And then uh, you know just uh, want to um You know, I'll point out that um When we go out to these events we've been taking out the hydration station again. So the hydration station has returned and you know, so just kind of Having a presence at a lot of events this summer has been really helpful to get the word out About uh drought and saving water So, uh next slide that concludes My portion of the presentation And I'll hand it over to uh deputy director, uh mike prince Thanks, peter. Good afternoon chair galvin and members of the board It's time for another recycle water update. Uh, these are a couple pictures that I've taken The one on the left is a picture. I think I've shown you before earlier in the season And the one on the right is actually a photograph of uh, more or less the same perspective of pond d That does have some visual indication of the drop in water level in pond d Um, that's also in the context of consolidating water from the system at large back Or I should say other ponds within the system back at the metal lane pond complex specifically pond d So it is that time of the year when water levels are considerably low relative to other times of the year Next slide This is a photograph. I thought it included just to get some color to the presentation. This is actually pond A which is part of the metal lane pond complex and it's essentially an extension Of what we refer to as the e station wet well, which is the wet well that supplies the geysers pipeline and also the reclamation Or laguna effluent disposal system pipeline that is a lower pressure pipeline than the geysers There is maintenance that's actually happening This week actually when I put the presentation together I wasn't aware that it was actually going to be done this week and it's ongoing right now But it's intended to remove the reeds and vegetation in this pond I think it's been overdue and I will probably be showing you a photograph of the before and after in my next update But this is the state before we do the maintenance and I'll have an update Showing the the condition afterwards, but this doesn't affect really the quality of the water The intake is lower than the surface and the reeds are stationary So it just didn't want to clarify that this is not a water quality concern It's just the state of the pond as of Last friday actually next slide This is the recycle water storage curve, which you'd seen many times before The only real change is over on the right hand side in the dark red line or bold red line This is actually the time of year from a storage Before the rains come that is kind of exciting I'll say because we start to make predictions about where we're going to finish the water storage year And we're coordinating with cow pine to make some adjustments and geysers flow rate To get the curve where we want it to be The black line is the conditions last year and we finished out the water year in the neighborhood of 400 million gallons Which is a little bit high. So we are targeting a lower value at the End of september going into october and by coordinating with cow pine. We're likely to be able to achieve a better target We have also been relying on usage from our urban and agricultural customer base as well Which has helped bring the curve down as well You can see the gray line sort of embedded between all the other lines and that's that's an average of many years and again the the light gray or should say actually bluish gray and lines sort of bracket the extremes that we've seen over the years 2004 to 2021 But the other exciting time of the year is during the winter when we're increasing storage levels And particularly when storage levels reach higher levels such as over on the left hand side of the curve Um, we uh monitor levels carefully coordinate closely with the geysers with the intent to avoid any discharge from the system Which is permitted, but it's undesirable because we want to make sure as much of our water is reused as possible So, um, I'm really looking forward to the balance of the year and seeing how coordinating with cal pine can help us get our Storage levels to optimal conditions for the end of the water year So moving on to the next slide Um, I have shown you these pie charts in the past or versions of these pie charts in my last update I showed you the pie chart on the left And the current state is reflected in the pie chart on the right All the colors represent the same Uh pond volumes that we've uh discussed in the past The real point that I wanted to draw out in this is that while storage levels are declining We do consolidate uh volumes in the metal lane complex, which is the blue slice of the pie And then empty volume that is uh freeboard essentially in the ponds or or unused volume Is obviously increasing between the prior uh state of affairs and the current state of affairs um I think that's all I want to say about that slide next slide Um, I wanted to give you a quick update on how Allotments for our agricultural customer base have evolved over this water year We started out with a 900 million gallon allotment in january, which was low Uh low relative to normal We were able to increase that an additional 50 million gallons in april and additional 200 million gallons in july And most recently an additional 100 million gallons in august to bring our total allotment 1.25 billion gallons We make adjustments in the allotments over the course of the summer when we look at How weather conditions and usage affect storage volumes and then as as we can we increase allotments throughout Uh the summer when possible and um, I'm I'm proud to say that we've been able to do that on several occasions and have Substantially increased allotments I will say at this point in the season Additional allotments aren't likely to change agricultural customers operational opportunities very much So I I don't anticipate there there'll be any change in allotments at this point And we'll be managing the curve mostly with adjustments in uh flow rates to the geysers pipeline and cal pine Next slide That's really all I have happy to answer questions as I'm sure deputy director martin is as well Thank you deputy director prins and also deputy director martin. We'll put it up now for any board member questions or comments Not seeing anyone raising hands or making any indication. They have a question So we'll now open it up for public comments on item number 5.3 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 public comments All right, that'll take care of the Staff briefings. We'll now move to the consent calendar. We have three items on the consent calendar I'll entertain a motion I'll move the consent calendar I'll second I believe we have a motion from board member right and a second from vice chair Arnone At this point, we'll open it up for public comments on items 6.1 6.2 and 6.3 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 public comments. Maybe we have a roll call vote, please Thank you board member right Yes Thank you. All right Board member what's Thank you Board member walsh I Board member grable I Board member baden-fort I Vice chair Arnone I Chair galvin I Let the record show the consent calendar passed with a unanimous vote Very good. Thank you. That'll take care of the consent calendar. We have no report items We'll now move to item 9, which is public comments on non-agenda matters If you wish to make a comment on agenda not item number 8, excuse me, uh, please dial star 9 or if you're dialing in via telephone Um, I think I messed that up hold on if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 secretary manis There are no public comments Very good We have no referrals. We have no written communications Subcommittee reports. I have a report with regards to The contract review subcommittee The contract review subcommittee met I can find my notes We met on september 1st to review two agreements both of which were unanimously recommended by the subcommittee and we're on today's consent calendar The first was the professional services agreement with green valley consulting engineers for construction management and inspection services for the backup generators project The backup generators project provides for the upgrade of emergency generators at 18 water and wastewater facilities The second item was a third amendment to the professional services agreement with brelgian race consulting engineers To increase compensation by 473 200 to provide engineering services during the construction for the backup generator project And that concludes my report on behalf of the contract review subcommittee Are there any other subcommittee reports? Any questions from the board? Very good. We'll open it up for public comments on item number 11 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. Do we have anything secretary manis? There are no public comments Item number 11 is the board member reports. Do we have any board member reports? Don't see anybody moving to say anything. So we'll move on to the director's report item 13 director berg Thank you chair gabin and members of the board. I have a couple uh two brief items to report to the board today First I wanted to give an update on the groundwater sustainability Groundwater user fee letters and the activities that have been happening at the groundwater sustainability agency As you may recall in july the santa rosa plain groundwater sustainability agency board of directors Approved a groundwater users registration program and adopted a groundwater sustainability fee of 40 per acre foot of groundwater pumped annually And this fee is to be paid by all groundwater users in the basin including farmers businesses public water suppliers And rural residents The fee will ensure that the gsa remains self funded for at least five years while we implement the adopted groundwater sustainability plan In the fee study by the gsa small domestic wells Basically rural residential were estimated to have a demand of a half an acre feet per year So this means for rural residential that basically use groundwater for single For their single home garden and landscaping They will have an annual fee of 20 dollars in their upcoming property tax assessment For all other users the groundwater fee will be based on estimated annual groundwater usage And that is based on land use designation crop mapping assessor use codes studies reports surveys and in the cases of municipal Based on metered usage I did also want to let the board know that the gsa is in sonoma valley and petaluma valley Established in sonoma valley a 73 per acre foot fee and in petaluma valley 147 per acre foot fee Um There was some concern about the differential between the three basins and so the sonoma county decided to Give a contribution from their 2022-23 budget to allow non municipal groundwater users to pay a fee of 40 dollars Equivalent to what was established in the santa rosa plain And in the next couple years Those two basins will need to reevaluate their funding mechanisms to Ensure that they remain self funded without that additional county contribution, but for this upcoming year it will be in place Um, so as I mentioned at the start this week Letters will be going to all property owners with registered wells within the gsa's boundary and jurisdiction And it will notify them that their annual fee Is going to be included in their upcoming annual property tax bill And it'll also tell them how they can access the groundwater user information data exchange or guide Program web page to review correct or confirm the information About their groundwater usage There will also be an established phone number and staff from uh, santa rosa water will be assisting the gsa With any calls that come in To respond to customers questions on the new groundwater fee The second item that I have is I just wanted to give the board a final update on the earthquake that occurred on Tuesday evening As the board may recall, uh, santa rosa Experienced a 4.4 magnitude earthquake About 640 on Tuesday evening and that was followed by I believe now a 4.3 aftershock is what it's been upgraded to Um, I just really want to give a huge recognition To the staff of the water department in particular Uh, we had a number of staff that went out the evening of the earthquake to ensure that all Facilities were still up and running and no damage Uh, tony wilson senior wastewater operator at the treatment plant, uh led the effort to review The laguna treatment plant and make sure everything was still operational We had flannery banks assistant engineer with our stormwater and creeks team that went out and took a look at a couple of the dams within the city And then flannery and andy allen supervising engineer With the water department went out and reviewed all the dams at the treatment plant the next morning With the assistance of reclamation staff And then we also had 12 utility system operators that were dispatched the evening of tuesday to go around and Review and inspect all the water pump stations water tanks and sewer lift stations to make sure that they were still operational And I want to acknowledge those folks. Uh, Troy atha Alex bowman jason leaf rick evits charlie higgins Kyle sheets and rike seguera Carlos vivis Elva shipman shiloh jones Cody o'brien paul gelardo and then our standby staff nate johnson Uh, we really can't uh operate the system and ensure everything's okay Especially in times of an emergencies without the extreme Dedication and selflessness of folks that are willing to come in in off hours and make sure that our system is still running for our community So I just want to thank everyone and in particular. I also want to thank my uh, director ports all my deputy directors everyone Was immediately available and everyone provided assistance and help to ensure That the community systems were still up and running and I'm happy to report that we had no damage Due to the earthquake and that is my report and I'm happy to answer any questions Thank you director Burke. I'll open it up for any board member questions or comments See none. We'll take public comments on item. Oh, I'm sorry I can't see her. Oh, there it is. I'm sorry board member badenford Or is that from earlier? Uh, no my my hands down, but maybe jason nuts is up Assistant city manager nut Yeah, thank you chair galvin. I I just um wanted to acknowledge the hard work of the center was a water team um Having been able to help coordinate between the emergency operations staff that went into the eoc And uh, the water team was easy. It was smooth um mostly because uh, Jennifer director Burke and her team are very well seasoned They know exactly how to work through these types of incidents and it was a pleasure uh to um Work with them again on this particular incident So I just want to express my appreciation from the city manager's office to the department for their efforts In helping us understand clearly what potential impacts may have caused by this Even though it was a relatively small earthquake. We haven't had one in a long time and therefore small was big for some of us Uh for the first time in quite a while. So uh director Burke. Thank you very much to you and your team Thank you. Assistant city manager nut Any other board member questions or comments? All right, we'll now open it up for public comments on item number 13 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine secretary manis. There are no public comments All right, that'll take care of the director's report. We'll now move to item 14.1 Which is a closed session and I'll turn it over to assistant city attorney morgan bigger staff Thank you, chair galvin board will be going into closed session for item 14.1 conference with real property negotiator as allowed pursuant to government code section 549 56.8 Concerning the property at 7 4 2 5 rancho los glicos road Agency negotiators will be stephanie valkovic and jill scott And we'll be discussing price in terms of payment Thank you assistant city attorney bigger staff So at this time I would like all the board members to please disconnect from their zoom And reconnect via the closed session zoom information that was provided to you And the board members and staff in the council chamber will move to the mayor's conference room And we'll start our closed session as soon as we have everybody hooked up All right, we're now back in open session. I would ask secretary manis to please do a roll call Thank you board member right Here board member watts here board member walsh here board member grable board member bedford Here vice chair anoni here chair galvin Here let the record show All board members are present with the exception of board member grable Very good at this point. I would ask assistant city attorney bigger staff to report out on our closed session Thank you chair galvin. There's no reportable action taken Very good. That concludes the agenda for today's meeting I wish you all a good afternoon and evening and we'll see you in a couple weeks. We are adjourned. Thank you, mr. Chairman