MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE
IRONHOUSE SANITARY DISTRICT
November 5, 2013
The Ironhouse Sanitary
District (ISD) Board of Directors met in regular session on Tuesday, November 5,
2013.
The place of meeting was the
Ironhouse Sanitary District Office at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley,
California.
1.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by President Lauritzen
at 7:00 p.m.
2. Roll
Call:
Directors
present: David Contreras, David Huerta, Chris
Lauritzen, Michael Painter and Doug Scheer
Members
absent: None
Staff/Consultants present: Tom Williams, General Manager
Jennifer Skrel, District
Engineer
Susan Walde, District
Secretary
Fred Etzel, District
Counsel
Michael Welty,
Financial Officer
Joe Mueller,
Environmental/Process Compliance Manager
Interested
Parties: Susan Morgan,
Oakley
Justin
Williams, Mann, Urrutia Nelson, CPAs and Associates, LLP
Pledge
of Allegiance: Led by Tom
Williams
Employee
Awards – Louis Solana – Mr. Solana was not able to attend and will accept award
in December.
3. Approval
of Agenda
M/S M. Painter, D.
Contreras, and the Board voted to approve the agenda.
4. Approval
of the Minutes of the October 1, 2013 Regular Meeting.
Approval
of the Minutes of the October 9, 2013 Special Meeting.
M/S D. Contreras,
D. Huerta and the Board voted to approve the minutes of the October 1, 2013
Regular Meeting and the minutes of the October
9, 2013 special meeting with the following change to the minutes of October 9,
2013, Page 3 Director Painter “made” a recommendation. President Lauritzen abstained from approval
of the minutes of the October 1, 2013 meeting.
5. Public Comments – Communications from the public on subjects not on
the agenda.
There were no comments from the public.
6. Consent
Calendar
A. Approval of Payment Order, Report on
Financial Position & Operating Performance.
President
Lauritzen asked about the prepaid connections. Mr. Williams explained that
there are multiple prepaid connections and as the properties are brought online
they will show in the current year as revenue.
B. Consideration of 2014 District Holidays
M/S M. Painter, D. Contreras and the
Board voted to approve the consent calendar.
7. Business Before the Board
7A. CONSIDERATION
OF PRELIMINARY FISCAL YEAR END JUNE 30, 2013 ANNUAL FINANCIAL REPORT WITH
INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT FROM MANN, URRUTIA, NELSON, CPAS & ASSOCIATES,
LLP.
Mr. Tom
Williams introduced Justin Williams of Mann Urrutia Nelson, CPAs and
Associates, LLP. Mr. J. Williams gave an overview of the audit process with
ISD. The process typically reviews
controls, disbursements, payroll, and financial processes. After ISD’s fiscal year closing, Mann Urrutia
Nelson CPAs do testing of selected areas
of the District’s operations to prepare an audited financial statement. He gave an unqualified opinion and reported
that the audit was a clear audit with no audit adjustments.
He reported that cash transfer reconciliation recommendations
are already put in place and it is his recommendation staff update and adheres
to the District’s bidding and procurement policies, last updated in 1995. There were no material weaknesses and overall
it was a very clean audit. He thanked
ISD staff for being so prepared.
M/S D. Huerta, D. Contreras and the Board voted to
accept the audit as recommended by the Finance committee.
7B. UPCOMING REVIEW AND RESPONSE TO PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFT
OF THE BDCP AND EIR/EIS.
Mr.
Fred Etzel reported that he, Director Contreras, and staff attended a workshop meeting
on October 25th at CCWD regarding the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). Mr. Williams stated the State’s Bay Delta
Conservation Plan is moving forward. The
formal public review period will run from December 13th to April 14th,
2014. He is concerned with effects the
BDCP may have on Jersey Island, ISD’s river discharge, salt intrusion, and RD
830. Mr. Williams stated that the
District has until April 2014 to submit a response letter to the California
Department of Water Resources (DWR) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service, collectively
referred to as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan Proponents, commenting on the
BDCP and its combined Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS). Staff recommends
the Board direct staff to prepare a comment letter for review by the Board at
the March, 2014 meeting.
M/S D. Contreras, M. Painter and the Board voted
unanimously to direct staff to prepare a draft response letter to the Draft
BDCP and the EIR/EIS for review by the Board at the March 2014 meeting.
Mr. Williams stated he will be meeting with the Jersey
Island Management Committee to prepare the response letter for ISD and
Reclamation District 830 will also submit a response letter.
8. Staff Reports
Joe Mueller – Mr. Mueller reported that on October 6, 2013 the Water
Recycling Facility started discharging
to the river. Mr. Mueller reported that
he attended the Water Environment Federation annual conference in Chicago. It was very informative and he was able to
obtain vendor information, and information on screening improvements for future
reference. He reported that staff
submitted responses on several procedural items; one on the UV reporting and
one on QA/QC in response to the State inspection of the lab for certification.
Jenny Skrel – Ms. Skrel reported that the Outfall to the river was
inspected on Friday November 1st.
This is a requirement of the permit every two years. The renewal of the NPDES permit is on the California
Regional Water Quality Control Board agenda as a consent item for December 5-6,
2013. She reported that staff is happy
with the permit and the state addressed all the staff comments.
Solar – The materials have
started to arrive on site. She reported
she reviewed the switch gear and it has been ordered. Unfortunately, the switch
gear is critical path, with delivery approximately 20 weeks from now. Staff has been very timely in its response to
contractor’s submittals, doing all we can to keep the project on-time. The contractor will be moving his
construction trailer on site soon and will begin installing the foundations in
the near future.
Susan Walde – Mrs. Walde stated she submitted a written
report. She attended a workers
compensation conference today with York insurance, our carrier, which was very
informative.
Tom Williams – Mr. Williams reported that two staff members will be
retiring at the end of the year; Neil Sterud, Maintenance Supervisor and
Beverly Dagneau, Sr. Account Technician.
Neil will be here until December 31st and Beverly’s last day
is planned for November 26th.
Mr. Williams reported he met with the Personnel/Human Resources
committee regarding backfilling the positions, and reported the committee
concurred with filling these positions
internally. Staff will be interviewing
internally to fill Mr. Sterud’s position as Maintenance Supervisor and will
ultimately hire a new person in the Maintenance Worker I/II position.
Mr. Williams reported on the
Bay Area Water & Wastewater Coalition meeting; he had Mr. Mueller attend
the meeting to represent the District.
He reported that there was a representative from PG&E that spoke and
reported there is a shortage of utility workers. PG&E will be having a three month program
for veterans for an opportunity to train for possible job placement. The training will be cover interviewing, job skills, and equipment
handling. At the end of the training,
PG&E will host a job fair for all the trainees and will invite different
agencies to participate. This may be an
opportunity for ISD in the future to hire well qualified individuals which are
also veterans. RD830 – The 8,000 foot
stretch of levee work looks beautiful.
The shaping of the levees is excellent.
He reported RD830 has sent an advance request letter to DWR for the
Marsh Creek project in the amount of $75,000.
He reported he has spent time
working with staff and the auditor for the FY 12-13 audit. He attended the CCSDA meeting on October 21st
with Directors Scheer and Contreras.
Brent Ives was the speaker and spoke on succession planning.
The ECWMA quarterly meeting
will be held on November 14th at the ISD office. 11:30 will be meet
and greet, 12:00 lunch and 12:30 business meeting. Mr. Williams encourage the Board to take the
opportunity to attend.
He reported that he will have
the Strategic plan on the agenda for review at the December Board meeting. He
proposed a possible workshop date of Thursday, November 21st at 2:00
for the Board to review the Strategic Plan.
Mr. Williams reported he
attended the EC2 meeting at the Byron airport. He gave a report on the program of the
Patriot’s Jet Team Foundation, that are located at the airport and their
volunteer program. EC2 is working with businesses in the community to
better understand the different opportunities available in East Contra Costa. He reported on the proposed Route 239 connecting
Tracy to Brentwood and the opportunities it would provide to local business.
BIMID will be hosting an all-day
flood fighting training class on December 5th and both ISD and RD830
will be represented.
9. Board Members Advisory Reports
Director Painter – Director Painter reported this Saturday,
November 9, 2013, will be the opening day of Pheasant season. He and Mr. Williams will be available on
Jersey Island to facilitate hunters needing permits. Pheasants Forever will meet at the District
office on Thursday, November 7th at 7:00 p.m. to prepare for the
opening of the season.
He attended the Bay Delta Conference. He reported on the panel of agencies represented. He reported on the opinion of some that the
Delta is broken and the different sections of the Delta have their
problems. It was a very informative
conference.
Doug Scheer – Director Scheer reported on attending Breakfast
with the Mayor and concerns were brought up about the delay with the Oakley power plant opening,
which will also delay coming online with ISD.
President Lauritzen – President Lauritzen
reported on his recent trip, he was made aware of countries that don’ have ready
access to clean water but have treatment processes. How can we as a District utilize our high
quality water for the benefit of the ratepayer?
Director Contreras – Director Contreras
reported that at the Bay Delta Conservation Plan workshop, both Mr. Williams
and Ms. Skrel had an opportunity to talk with Contra Costa Water District about
future opportunities to use our recycled water.
He also reported on the Outreach Committee- They are
working P2Fog
campaign for the upcoming holiday; advertising, signs, etc. They are running two ads, one for after
Thanksgiving and one for after Christmas.
The signs are going up for the event.
The committee has also worked to get the signs updated and in place on
Jersey Island. He also reported on the
CCSDA meeting speaker Brent Ives. Mr.
Ives’ program was great, but he reported that succession planning is a key item
for the organization, and one that we will encounter during the next five
years. The average age of the CEO in California
is 53 years old. Planning for retirement
is important especially for key positions and it is the Board’s responsibility
to guide the General Manager with clear direction.
He also reported that Mrs. Gehlke is working with
staff on updating the website, including mapping and stated it will look significantly
different. The Outreach committee is
working on addressing all requirements needed for obtaining CSDA’s Transparency
and District of Distinction accreditation and noted we are well on our way.
10. Future Agenda Items for Consideration
Recommendation on Accepting and Implementing the
Total Compensation Study by Koff and Associates.
Annual Review of Strategic Plan
11. Adjournment
President Lauritzen
adjourned the regular meeting at 8:35 p.m. until Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at
7:00 p.m. for the next regular meeting in the Ironhouse Sanitary District
offices at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, California.
