MINUTES OF THE
REGULAR MEETING
OF THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS OF THE
IRONHOUSE
SANITARY DISTRICT
January 6, 2015
The Board of Directors of the Ironhouse
Sanitary District (ISD) met in regular session on Tuesday, January 6, 2015, in
the Board meeting room at ISD’s offices at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley,
California.
1. Call to Order
President David Contreras called the
meeting to order at 7:03 pm.
Roll Call
Directors present: David
Contreras, David Huerta, C. Lauritzen, Michael Painter and Doug Scheer
Members absent: None
Staff/Consultants
Present: Tom Williams, General Manager
Jenny
Skrel, District Engineer
Susan
Walde, District Secretary
Bob
Henn, District Counsel
Michael
Welty, Financial Officer
Mary
Ellen Marquis, Operator
Davie
Smith, Operations Superintendent
Roni
Gehlke, Outreach Consultant
Interested Parties: none
2. Staff Acknowledgements
Employee Service Awards –
Mary Ellen Marquis Five Year Service Award – Mr. Williams
acknowledged Ms. Marquis for her five years of service. He congratulated her for her
accomplishments. She started out as an
Operator in Training and will be applying for her grade 4 at the October
testing date.
David Smith Fifteen Year Service Award – Mr. Williams
Congratulated Mr. Smith for his 15 years of service with the District. Mr. Smith stated the he enjoys being the Maintenance
Superintendent and as the Safety Manager, he has worked to bring the
District up to compliance.
President
Contreras on behalf of the Board commends Ms. Marquis for getting into the
field as a woman. He is very familiar
with the process of testing and wishes her good luck. He also thanked and congratulated Mr. Smith
on his 15 years of Service to the District.
Director Lauritzen recognized both staff members on their hard work and
dedication to the District.
3. Approval
of Agenda
M/S C.
Lauritzen, D. Scheer and the Board voted unanimously to approve the agenda.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
4. Approval of the Minutes of the December
2, 2014 Regular Meeting, and the December 9, 2014 Special Meeting of the Board.
M/S D. Scheer,
M. Painter and the Board voted to approve the minutes of the December 2, 2014
Regular Meeting, December 9, 2014 Special Meeting of the Board.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
5. Public Comments – Communications from the public on subjects not on
the agenda.
Ms. Roni Gehlke
of the Delta Science Center wanted to address the Board and thank them for
again supporting DSC with their generous support. With the help of ISD, and other funding, DSC
was able to deliver calendars to 7,500 students in the fifth grade program from
Martinez, Rio Vista to Discovery Bay.
She presented the Board with the new calendars for 2015. She thanked the Board for all their support
and have enjoyed partnering with the District.
6. Consent Calendar
A. Approval of Payment Order,
Report on Financial Position & Operating Performance.
B. Acceptance of
Agreement for Acquisition and Construction of Improvements – Emerson Ranch –
Neighborhood 3, Tract #9349, Brookfield Emerson Land LLC (96 lots) (B.O. 15-01).
M/S M. Painter, D.
Scheer and the Board voted to approve the Consent Calendar.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
7. Business
Before the Board
7A. CONSIDERATION
OF PROPOSED BIOSOLIDS PILOT
PROJECT ON ISD MAINLAND PROPERTY.
Ms. Walde presented Ms. Susan Morgan and Mr. Chris
Lauritzen each with a Certificate of Election on behalf of the Contra Costa
County Elections Department. The District Secretary held a ceremony swearing in the newly elected
Board members Susan Morgan and Chris Lauritzen, who accepted the oath of
office.
At this time, President Huerta handed the gavel over
to Vice President Contreras and stepped down from the Board. The Board took a short recess to briefly
enjoy some cake, and thank David Huerta for his service to the Board, and the
fresh perspective he brought. Outgoing
President David Huerta thanked the Board and staff for their hard work over the
years, and all he learned from everyone.
7B. CONSIDERATION OF LETTER AND AGREEMENT
REGARDING THE PENDING RETIREMENT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER.
Vice President Contreras called for nominations to
elect a President and Vice President as stated in the ISD Board By-Laws, Article
4.4. Director Lauritzen nominated
Director Contreras for President.
Director Contreras nominated Doug Scheer for Vice President. Hearing no other nominations, the nominations
were closed.
The President called for an open ballot vote, and the
result of the verbal voting was unanimous, with Director David Contreras elected
to the position of President and Director Doug Scheer elected to the position
of Vice President.
7C. CONSIDERATION OF CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF
SANITATION AGENCIES (CASA) DESIGNATION OF AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES.
Mr.
Williams stated that, in response to the recent lay off and retirement of two
management positions, staff is proposing the addition of two operator positions
at the Water Recycling Facility (WRF), as well as eliminating the position of
Environmental/Process Compliance Manager.
Mr. Williams reviewed this need with the Personnel/HR Committee, which
the committee supports. Mr. Chris Christean,
ISD’s Operations Supervisor, stated we recently went from having three Grade V
and two Grade III operators, to one Grade V and two Grade III Operators. He indicated this loss has left the WRF very
short staffed. He strongly supports the hiring of two non-management Operator
positions, advertising for Operator III and Operator I positions. Mr. Williams
stated staff would like to look for experienced candidates to fill these
positions, ranging from Grade I Operators up to Grade IV. Staff will consider
hiring a Grade II Operator into the Grade III Classification, but would require
they obtain their Grade III certification within 18 months.
Director
Lauritzen stated he wants to take care of ISD’s legal obligations to the ratepayers,
but also wants to take care of ISD staffing needs. The District needs to be efficient and cost
effective to the District. Director
Contreras stated that with the State reducing our requirements to sample and
monitor our high-quality water we no longer need a laboratory, and eliminating
the Compliance Manager position is appropriate.
Mr. Christean stated that the WRF was management top heavy before, and
have lacked adequate staffing at the Operator I and III levels. With the addition of two non-management operators
they will have the balance of staffing they need.
M/S
M. Painter, D. Scheer and the Board voted to authorize the General Manager to
eliminate the position of Environmental/Process Compliance Manager, recruit
for, and hire two non-management Operators.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
7D. CONSIDERATION
OF MID-YEAR BUDGET UPDATE AND PROPOSED REVISIONS.
Mr.
Williams stated that the policy committee has been working on changes and staff
has been working with the attorney and recommended the edits to the By-Laws be
considered as drafted. Director Morgan
had the following recommended change; page 80, article 10.16, removing the words
“next regular”.
M/S
C. Lauritzen, D. Contreras and the Board voted to adopt the changes to the
By-Laws as reviewed and amended by the Board.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
7E. CONSIDERATION
OF ISD BOARD COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2015.
Mr. Williams stated that Mr. Dal Porto and Mr.
McGormley have been working with General Counsel to resolve issues with the current
uniform service provider. Mr. McGormley
stated that the District entered into a contract with Aramark for cleaning of
district owned uniforms in 2011. The
island has had extensive issues with ISD owned uniforms getting lost, misplaced
or damaged. The District has determined
that it is in the best interest of the District to terminate the contract with
Aramark. Staff have obtained bids from
G&K Services, Unifirst Corp. and Cintas for uniform service. Cintas has an existing contract with U.S.
Communities, and with our existing membership in the U.S. Communities program,
we would be able to obtain Cintas’s U.S. Communities contract pricing, making
Cintas the low bidder for this service. Mr.
Dal Porto defined the costs to the district for lost ISD clothing at over
$3,000 in replacement costs.
M/S D. Scheer, S. Morgan and the Board unanimously
voted to authorize the General Manager to terminate the agreement with Aramark
Uniform Services, to enter into the agreement with Cintas and, at his
discretion, to assign responsibility for administering the Cintas Agreement.
In favor: D.
Contreras, C. Lauritzen, S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer. Opposed: None. Absent: None.
7F. APPROVAL OF AGREEMENT
WITH CROP PRODUCTION SERVICES FOR FARM OPERATION SERVICES FOR AN ANNUAL COST
NOT TO EXCEED $50,000.
Board
members interested in attending the CASA conference please notify Mrs.
Walde. Director Scheer and Director
Contreras will attend. Director Morgan
will be attending the Special District Leadership Academy Conference later in
the month.
8. Staff Reports
Director
Lauritzen noticed the Emmerson property active again and asked Ms. Skrel to
report on the expected connections for the fiscal year. Ms. Skrel stated that from the Emmerson
Property and the Bethel Island project we will not see any hook-ups this
FY. Also, it looks like we will not be
close on connections for this year.
Director Contreras commented that using the budget numbers we are only
at half of what we had last year. Does
staff know the reason for this? Ms.
Skrel stated not at this time but, she will make some calls and report back to
the Board next month. Director Lauritzen stated that the District should be
starting a new budget and asked if Ms. Skrel could start calling developers to
see where they are with future connections.
9. Board Members Advisory Reports
Director
Lauritzen stated he submitted correspondence on the Delta Stewardship Council
meeting in Brentwood on Dec. 11, 2014.
He spoke about his concerns of flood protection and the economic
sustainability. Mr. Williams stated that
MBK Engineer would be involved, and he also plans to attend the meeting in
Brentwood.
President
Contreras reminded the Board to RSVP for the Ironhouse Christmas Party.
10. Future Agenda Items for Consideration
Committee appointment for Board Advisory and Ad hoc
Committees
Update on Recycle Water
12. Adjournment
President Contreras
adjourned the regular meeting at 10:12 p.m. until Tuesday, January 6, 2015 at
7:00 p.m. for the next regular meeting in the Ironhouse Sanitary District
offices at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, California.
APPROVED
____________________________
President District
Secretary
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