SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
March 18, 2021
Mark Dolson
Highlights:
Director To resigns.
Little Lyon Tank recoating contract approved.
Olympia Watershed Restoration contract approved.
Buzz PR contract extended on a month-to-month basis.
Letter to PG&E approved.
Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on April 1.
Preliminaries:
President Mahood announced that Director To resigned today for personal reasons, effective immediately. President Mahood said the agenda for the next meeting of the Board will include a discussion on how to fill the vacancy. She also announced that Director Fultz was absent due to illness, so there were only three Board members present. Director Fultz’s absence was unanimously approved as an “excused absence.”
There were no Communications from the public.
New Business
Little Lyon Tank Recoating
District Manager Rick Rogers introduced this agenda item. The interior of the Little Lyon tank was contaminated during the CZU Fire by volatile organic compounds. The tank was subsequently pressure-washed and scrubbed, but this was not sufficient to eliminate the contamination; hence, media-blasting and recoating are required. Two bids were received: Superior Tank Systems bid $196,000 and Unified Field Services bid $215,000 (but planned to use a material that did not meet the specifications). Staff recommended that the Board approve the Superior bid.
Director Smolley reported that the Engineering Committee had reviewed the bids, and District Engineer Josh Wolff had answered all of their questions. The Superior bid is preferred.
Director Henry asked how long the coating would last, and Operations Manager James Furtado said it should be good for 20 years.
The motion to approve the contract with Superior Tank Systems passed 3-0.
Olympia Watershed Restoration Contract
Environmental Planner Carly Blanchard introduced this agenda item. To mitigate the impacts on rare species and sensitive habitat during operation, maintenance, and capital improvement projects within the sandhills habitat, the District opted in 2016 to set aside and manage 6.7 acres of high-quality sandhill habitat within its 180-acre Olympia Wellfield. As part of the Olympia Conservation Area Management & Monitoring Plan a 5-year phase of implementation was agreed upon with reports due annually to the Federal Fish & Wildlife Service. The District received a bid from Jodi McGraw to restore, manage, and monitor the Olympia Conservation Area and to complete the 2021 Annual Report, at a cost of roughly $11,000. The other firm approved by the County to do this kind of work doesn’t do field work anymore, so the District was very limited in its options. On the other hand, the District’s experience with Jodi McGraw has been excellent.
Director Henry said she totally trusted Jodi McGraw. President Mahood agreed that this was a very reasonable price, and she asked whether it might make sense to establish a multiple-year contract with Jodi. Carly said this was under discussion.
Former Director Rick Moran said Jodi McGraw is a highly qualified biologist with a great deal of experience in this water district. He asked for an update on surveys of endangered species and on the status of the endowment that is supposed to fund the conservation area. Carly said that species were first surveyed in 2018 and would be reassessed at the end of the fifth year. She said the endowment provided about $7000 this year.
The motion to approve the hiring of Jodi McGraw for completion of the restoration work and preparation of the 2021 Olympia Conservation Area Annual Report as required in the plan passed 3-0.
Professional Services for Communication and Outreach
Environmental Planner Carly Blanchard introduced this agenda item. She explained that The Buzz PR (formerly Chatterbox) has submitted a proposal for nine more months of work for the District at a cost of roughly $33,000. Marci Bracco of Buzz was present to answer questions.
Buzz listed its primary goals for the contract extension as follows:
1. Continue to develop clear and concise messaging that communicates who SLVWD is.
2. Spread the word around Santa Cruz County about SLVWD and what it offers.
3. Share SLVWD mission with key stakeholders.
4. Through storytelling and testimonials, promote the vision of SLVWD.
5. Communicate updates on construction and capital improvement projects.
Their marketing objectives included continuing to develop a public relations strategy to increase articles, radio, and TV exposure and a social media plan to ensure strategic growth with followers. This included the use of Instagram and Twitter to grow a younger audience, developing a campaign to increase customer use of autopay, developing a marketing timeline to help SLVWD build a brand presence in Santa Cruz County, holding educational events throughout the year, and encouraging customers to receive their information directly from the District.
Director Smolley opened the discussion by asking what the District's objective is (i.e., what is it trying to accomplish, who is it trying to reach, and how?). Carly said the District was trying to reach its customer base, and that more people are turning to social media for information. Marci said the initial survey conducted by Chatterbox in the spring of 2020 was designed to understand how SLVWD customers want to receive information, and Chatterbox had responded to these results. They handle media tours, they have made communications more consistent, and they served as a useful resource during crises. Rick Rogers added that the original target was to disseminate information on capital improvement. This plan was somewhat hijacked by Covid and the CZU Fire, leading to a heightened focus on water quality. He said the District will be excavating from one end of the valley to the other, and it wants to get the word out about this. The District is also still responding to ongoing emergencies and still adapting to customers’ increased use of social media. People are going online at 10:00 PM to report to neighbors that they are out of water instead of calling the District.
Director Smolley asked if the District prefers the phone for urgent communication. Rick said yes; it is dangerous for people to use social media for this kind of issue. Marci said some customers want social media to be their information base; Buzz walks a thin line in educating people on the right way to communicate for a given issue. Social media is for tips and notifications, but it is not the place to report a problem. There is also an e-newsletter that goes out once (sometimes twice) a month.
Director Smolley asked what metrics Buzz has been tracking. Marci said that Buzz has been using Sprout to monitor this. Carly said she would be happy to share this data with Director Smolley.
President Mahood noted that the metrics would be more useful if they made it clear what social media they were for and if they listed actual numbers instead of percentage increases. Rick Rogers offered to provide a quarterly analytics report to the Board.
President Mahood said she also had a concern about overreacting to social media. She recounted her own mixed experience with NextDoor and wondered how many people were actually being reached. She also wondered about demographics, noting that public Board meetings used to be predominantly attended by older people. She urged that the District make its website the definitive main source for our ratepayers. Marci said the website is always updated first, and that social media was secondary. It is used to educate and inform, and it also serves to organically improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
President Mahood asked Director Henry what she would want Buzz to be focusing on. Director Henry emphasized the promotion of automated bill paying and on generally educating people, though she said she didn’t know how to get people to call the District to report problems. Rick said that whenever something comes to his attention, he asks the person to call District Staff.
President Mahood asked how much time Staff is spending on writing and how much time Buzz is spending. Carly said that Staff provide bullet points, and she drafts text. Marci does the final edit, and Carly then approves it. Carly also provides photos. Marci said her interaction with Carly is seven days per week; she also attends a Staff meeting roughly once per month. Rick added that content is also reviewed by the District’s Legal Counsel.
Director Henry said a lot of people, like herself, were not on social media. There are people in Lompico without cell phone or computer access. These people want to read something printed; Director Henry said she found the District’s mailers helpful in this regard. Marci noted that there is currently a budget for about two mailers per year and that Buzz also works with the media weekly and monthly.
Alina Layng said she was younger than Director Henry but still shared her preferences. Marci noted that she could subscribe on the website to receive notifications. President Mahood suggested that more use could be made of this.
Cynthia Dzendzel said she found email useful for notifications, and she liked website links for meeting reports, recordings, and presentations in order to access in-depth discussions.
President Mahood said some of the language about branding and marketing was not appropriate for the District. She wanted to see a better framing of the priorities for what the District and Buzz are trying to accomplish, not just better visibility. For example, she observed that the website is not very easy to use and not very engaging or friendly. Consequently, she didn’t yet feel quite ready to move on this agenda item. In addition, she was concerned about the distribution of tasks among Staff. Carly has so many important things to do on the environmental side that it is questionable whether she should be the point person for outreach. This potentially connects with a discussion in the Budget and Finance committee about possibly adding a new staff member to assist Rick Rogers.
Rick Rogers said it was premature to discuss this, but he did believe a new staff person would work on outreach, preparing statements, and working with Carly on getting the message out. He said he has multiple tasks that he wants this person to work on. He sees them working with all his department heads and supporting them with their tasks. Outreach could be part of this. Carly added that Marci and Buzz don't do anything on the District’s website directly. Carly posts Press Releases to the site herself with Marci only providing recommendations, but she also said she definitely couldn’t manage this without Marci. Rick said the website would be one of the new staff person's objectives. He really wants to grow the website’s Engineering section and other departments as well.
Director Smolley agreed with President Mahood that it was premature for the Board to authorize the contract extension, and he suggested continuing with Buzz on a monthly basis while the Board or a committee works on prioritizing objectives. Rick agreed, saying he would like to see the full Board continue this discussion. Director Henry agreed as well.
Rick Rogers asked exactly what the Board wanted to know. Director Smolley requested that Staff educate the Board on how this is helping the District. The role of social media was particularly unclear. Carly noted that the District has a very limited budget, and social media costs very little and also makes the District a lot more approachable.
President Mahood was prepared to move that the Board approve payment on a month-to-month basis while it investigates ways to focus the efforts, but Legal Counsel Gina Nicholls said a formal Board motion wasn’t required for $3600 per month.
Letter to PG&E
Environmental Planner Carly Blanchard introduced this agenda item. She said the Board wrote a letter to PG&E in May of 2020 in response to a request from the Valley Women’s Club and the Friends of San Lorenzo Valley Water. This letter detailed the District’s dissatisfaction with PG&E’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan and tree removal on District watershed land. PG&E provided a generic response in June of 2020. During the first 2021 meeting of the Environmental Committee meeting, Staff was directed to draft a follow-up letter to address PG&E’s more recent actions (and inactions). The Environmental Committee recommended revisions in March, and the final letter was now being brought to the Board for approval. President Mahood noted that Nancy Macy had recommended two minor revisions to the latest version of the letter which would presumably be incorporated without objection.
Director Henry asked if PG&E had cut down a lot of trees and just left them on the ground. Carly said the District believes that this is what PG&E has done on the District’s property above the cemetery in Boulder Creek.
Director Smolley said the current draft letter left the reader struggling to recall what it was actually requesting. He recommended the addition of a summary paragraph with three bulleted requests and a specific time frame for a requested response. President Mahood agreed, saying the District wants a response to the three bullet points before the start of fire season in May or June.
Director Henry asked for a deadline for PG&E to remove the debris that they left. Rick Rogers suggested that PG&E detail a plan for removal by a specific date. Carly said the direction in the Environmental Committee was that the letter needed to be very diplomatic and not tell PG&E what to do, but Director Smolley saw no problem with making specific requests. Rick said a revised letter would be brought back to the Board.
Unfinished Business
Possible Action on Committee Memberships
President Mahood proposed at the previous Board meeting that Directors Fultz and Henry swap committee assignments (between Finance and Administration). Director Fultz requested two weeks to contemplate this further. At the meeting this evening, President Mahood reported that Director Fultz had requested another two-week extension. She then announced that she was withdrawing this item from Board consideration because she didn’t want to disrupt Budget Committee activities that are now underway.
President Mahood also noted that Director To’s resignation had created critical vacancies on the Environmental and Engineering committees. The Board approved her proposal that until the Board vacancy is filled and the President proposes a new set of committee assignments, Director Smolley be appointed to the Environmental Committee and Director Henry to the Engineering Committee.
District Reports
Director Smolley asked a number of detailed questions about various aspects of the Engineering, Environmental, and Finance reports. Some of these concerned typos, but others were more substantial, and various Staff members promised to get back to him with better information.
Former Director Rick Moran reported that the pipeline project on California Drive had recently been completed and that all of his neighbors appreciated the conscientious work of the contracting company. The neighborhood went from having a leaky 2" corroded pipe to a brand new 6" pipe, upgraded from one fire hydrant to two, and upgraded to smart meters for all residents. The Directors appreciated this positive feedback from the public.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.