SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

November 20, 2025

Prepared by Mark Dolson for FSLVW

NOTE: Provided purely as a public service — NOT the official SLVWD Meeting Minutes.

Highlights:

  • Long Service Line Agreement

  • Employee Handbook

  • Retention Schedule

  • New Personnel Policies

  • Local Agency Investment Fund Signatories

  • Treasurer Appointment

  • Urban Water Management Plan

  • Next Board meeting will be at 6:30 PM on December 4, 2025

 

Preliminaries

All five Directors were present, Director Fultz attending remotely.

President Smolley had one report from the just-concluded Closed Session.  He announced that the District has reached a tentative agreement on a property purchase related to the Felton Heights tank.   The Board unanimously directed Staff and Legal Counsel to begin preparing paperwork.

There were no changes to the agenda.

There was no public comment on non-agendized topics.

 

Unfinished Business

None.

 

New Business

Long Service Line Agreement

District Engineer Garrett Roffe introduced this agenda item.  He explained that two single-family homes were being built on parcels in Scotts Valley along Graham Hill Road just south of Lockwood Lane.  The District has available water supply to meet this additional demand.  One of the parcels has frontage along Lockwood Lane, which already has a District water main, so this parcel will merely have to pay the District’s standard $17,629 fee for a 1” meter.  The other parcel has no such frontage so, in addition to paying the $17,629 fee, it requires a Long Service Line Agreement.  In this scenario, the District installs a meter in the right-of-way, and the customer is responsible for installing the service line through an adjacent parcel with an easement.

Director Russ asked how much Staff time was required to address this.  Garrett said there had been about eight hours of meetings.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley moved to approve the resolution for the Long Service Line Agreement, and Director Russ seconded.

The motion passed 5-0.

Employee Handbook

Management Analyst Jen Torres introduced this agenda item.   She said the District did not currently have an Employee Handbook.   An Employee Handbook sets clear expectations and helps protect against employee claims, such as wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination.  Specifically, an Employee Handbook:

  • Introduces employees to the District’s culture, mission, and values

  • Communicates employee expectations clearly

  • Educates employees about what they can expect from management

  • Ensures policies are consistently communicated

  • Highlights employee benefits

  • Helps ensure compliance with federal and state laws

  • Protects against employee claims and legal risk

  • Builds a culture of trust and open communication

The draft Employee Handbook was presented to the Administration Committee in February.

The Directors all appreciated and supported the Staff’s work on this.  Individual directors shared numerous detailed questions and comments with Staff, primarily via email.  General Manager Jason Lillion said Legal Counsel had reviewed the document, and the MOU with the union would be appended (as some policies are dictated by the MOU).  Director Fultz noted that there was a fair degree of duplication between the Employee Handbook and other policy documents, and he observed that this would make it hard to maintain these in lock step.  He suggested either consolidating or referencing documents as much as possible.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley moved to approve the Employee Handbook with changes as recommended by Board members.  Director Layng seconded.

The motion passed 5-0.

Retention Schedule

Management Analyst Jen Torres introduced this agenda item.   She said the District was running out of storage space and wanted to discard obsolete documents.  However, she discovered that the only available guidance as to what could be discarded was contained in an outdated 2008 document.  She proceeded to draft a new records retention policy in consultation with Staff and District Legal Counsel.  The new retention schedule is expected to result in efficiency gains and cost savings.  It was driven by multiple factors:

  • SLVWD produces and manages many permanent records

  • Reduce duplication of records stored within multiple departments

  • Technology advancements

  • Changes in law

The retention periods comply with all applicable laws and are standard business practice for California water districts.  All Board agenda packets, minutes, resolutions, and ordinances are permanently retained.  Destruction will be authorized, following the request of the Department Head and with the written consent of the General Manager and General Counsel.

The Board discussion primarily focused on the broader issue of how to optimally archive documents going forward, using available technology to minimize both storage cost and demands on Staff, to ensure document preservation, and to facilitate access via digital search.  Director Fultz strongly urged that language be added to the draft policy to indicate that this was not a strict policy but just a guideline to support a purge.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley asked Staff to modify the document and bring it back to the Board.

Commentary:  None.

 

New Personnel Policies

Management Analyst Jen Torres introduced this agenda item.   In reviewing the personnel policies and procedures, it was realized that SLVWD doesn’t have a Vehicle Use Policy, Insubordination Policy, or Remote Work or Flexible Work Schedule Policy.

  • A Vehicle Use Policy is crucial for ensuring the safe operation of vehicles owned or operated by public entities. This policy provides internal procedures regarding access, use, and responsibility for driving District-owned vehicles.

  • An Insubordination Policy is crucial for protecting both the District and its employees to help prevent discrimination. It provides a definition and clarity for addressing insubordination, so Department Managers and Human Resources can consistently handle them in the same manner.

  • A Remote Work or Flexible Work Schedule Policy is crucial for ensuring compliance with California labor laws. The purpose of this policy is to support flexible work arrangements for employees, only if the needs of both the District and the employee are met.

The Vehicle Use and Insubordination Policies were reviewed and recommended to the Board by the Administration Committee on February 18, 2025.  The Remote Work or Flexible Work Schedule Policy was reviewed and recommended to the Board by the Administration Committee on October 10, 2025.

The Directors had some specific questions and comments, particularly around details relating to remote work. These were partially superseded by input from Director Largay.  His view was that it the General Manager’s responsibility to manage Staff.  He recommended that the Board provide suggestions or advice, and allow Jason to make the final decisions.

Legal Counsel Barbara Brenner said some of the details will be dictated by the MOU with the union.  Her expectation was that all of this would eventually be integrated into the Employee Handbook.  However, she said policies fall under Board jurisdiction, and it is up to the Board to adopt these.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley said the Board not make a motion at this time.  Jason said he would work with Legal Counsel to address the points raised by the Directors.

 

Local Agency Investment Fund Signatories

Finance Manager Cheri Freese introduced this agenda item.  The Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF) is administered by the California State Treasurer’s Office to provide local agencies with a safe, liquid investment option for surplus funds. The District maintains active participation in LAIF, which requires the Board to designate, by resolution, the individuals authorized to make deposits, withdrawals, and account inquiries on behalf of the District.  The current LAIF signatories were designated by the Board in March 2022, which authorized former District officers.  Staff recommends updating the authorized signatories to reflect the District’s current organizational structure.  Specifically, the new signatories should be General Manager Jason Lillion and Finance Manager Cheri Freese.  The Directors all agreed.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley moved to adopt the resolution in the Board packet.  Director Layng seconded.

 The motion passed 5-0.

 

Treasurer Appointment

Finance Manager Cheri Freese introduced this agenda item.  She said the California Water Code requires that the Board designate a Treasurer, and she was the obvious choice.  The Directors all agreed.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley moved to adopt the resolution in the Board packet.  Director Layng seconded.

 The motion passed 5-0.

 

Urban Water Management Plan

General Manager Jason Lillion introduced this agenda item.  He reminded the Board that the District needs to present an updated plan by July 1, 2026.  Jason presented a proposal at the Board meeting on October 2nd for SLVWD and Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD) to collaborate and share costs for this project.  The Board approved this but stipulated that SLVWD should be the lead agency.  SVWD subsequently decided to pursue its own plan.  Jason was now ready to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to assist SLVWD with this undertaking.  Director Fultz noted that Board approval wasn’t technically required to issue an RFP, but Jason said he wanted to keep the Board in the loop.

In principle, the UWMP is an important planning tool as it provides forecasts through 2045.  However, Director Fultz said he didn’t expect the District to make much use of the UWMP because he viewed the District’s situation as relatively static.  In principle, there is potential for significant increase in consumption based on the addition of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), but the Directors doubted that more than a small fraction of the possible ADUs would ultimately be approved and actually built.

Director Largay said he was happy to see this project going out for competitive bid, and he hoped that it would ultimately prove feasible to recycle much of the material in the District’s current (five-year old) UWMP.  Director Layng said she was glad to see the current plan being updated, particularly in the absence of a current Master Plan for the District.

President Smolley called attention to some schedule details in the RFP, and Jason said he was planning to push the due date to January 7th, allowing for approval at the January 15th Board meeting.

There was no public comment.

President Smolley said the Board consensus was that Jason should proceed as planned.

 

Consent Agenda

There was one item on the Consent Agenda:

a.     Board Meeting Minutes from 11.6.25

This item was approved without further comment.

 

District Reports

Finance Status Report. Director Fultz recommended that the category of “Unrestricted Funds” be elaborated to include mention of funds that are legally unrestricted but are nevertheless restricted by current Board policy.  Cheri agreed to follow up on this.

Accounts Payable.  Director Russ said he would bring his questions to a meeting with Cheri and Jason.  Director Fultz said the Board had routinely approved bills at some point in the past, but this practice was subsequently discontinued.  President Smolley asked Jason to take a look at this.


Written Communications

There were no written communications.

 

Board Comment

None.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.