SLVWD Board Meeting Summary

April 15, 2021

Mark Dolson

Highlights:

  • Board Policy Manual revisions discussed.

  • Next Board meeting is at 6:30 PM on May 5.

Preliminaries:

There was nothing to report from closed session, and there was no public input.  The meeting began with five members of the public in attendance and ended with three.

There was no New Business and only a single item of Unfinished Business.

 

Unfinished Business

Board Policy Manual

District Counsel Gina Nicholls introduced this agenda item.  The Board began collecting and discussing potential revisions to its Policy Manual in January; three rounds of review have been completed, and a proposed final draft (with hyperlinks, correction of typos, and pagination still to be finalized) is now ready for potential approval. 

President Mahood opened the discussion by saying her goal was to complete consideration of the manual at this meeting.  She praised the careful and open process that the Board has employed, but she also noted that considerable time and money has been consumed.  She therefore asked that the Board members offer only substantive changes and save any further wordsmithing for the next annual review (in January of 2022). 

The ensuing discussion lasted nearly ninety minutes, so it may be most helpful here to provide only a summary of the most significant outcomes and exchanges.  Each Director ended up introducing a revision that was unanimously approved by the Board:

  • President Mahood recommended revising the stated deadline for public applications to Standing Committees from 11/15 to 11/26 so that announcements don’t have to be posted quite as early.

  • Director Smolley recommended increasing a proposed limitation on individual Director consultations with District Counsel from a quarter of an hour per month to half an hour per month.  President Mahood reported that the average use of Counsel in the past year was about 25 minutes per Director per month, excluding Director Fultz.

  • Director Fultz recommended that a sentence be added to the guidance for public input to Board meetings allowing a short follow-up request for clarification if a question was not adequately answered.

  • Director Henry recommended that the guidance for Directors seeking to add items to the Board agenda be revised.  The Board did not want to limit Directors to a single item but added the stipulation that items are placed on the agenda, “by the District Manager in consultation with the Board President,” to be consistent with wording elsewhere in the document.

In addition, Director Fultz sought a number of clarifications and suggested multiple revisions that were rejected by votes of 3-1.  In general, Director Fultz’s suggestions were aimed at retaining changes to the Board Policy Manual that he had championed in a 2019 revision that increased the time allotted for public commenters and expanded the ability of individual Directors to provide input to Board deliberations.  Three Directors preferred reversions back to previous policies (consistent with those of other public agencies) to promote more efficient meetings, but Director Fultz argued that this was a lower priority than maximizing the freedom of individuals to voice their concerns.

The motion to approve the revised final draft passed 4-0.  Director Fultz commented that he thought District Counsel Nicholls had done great work on the revised manual and that some really substantive improvements had been made.  He said there were still things he disagreed with, but he felt that the Board was sending a message to the community that it cared about getting these details right, and he thanked everyone for working so hard on this

 

Consent Agenda

Director Fultz requested that the meeting minutes for April 1st be revised to add a summary of a comment that he made during the meeting.  His proposed addition was rejected as too lengthy, but President Mahood offered a satisfactorily condensed alternative: "Director Fultz expressed concern about the continued increase in operating expenses.”  There was no public comment, and this revision was approved by a vote of 3-1 with Director Henry opposing.

 

District Reports

Department Status Reports

Director Smolley responded to a public input from L. Sanders who said he would like to see each committee prepare a statement in writing regarding the consolidation process.  Director Smolley’s opinion was that the consolidation issues are currently being appropriately addressed by the District Managers for SLVWD and the Scotts Valley Water District.

Director Fultz said he wanted want to recognize the effort that Finance Manager Stephanie Hill put into the Budget and Finance report to make it clearer.  The proportion of accounts past due over 30 days is staying roughly constant.

Director Fultz asked why the February and March numbers for Felton well production in the Operations Status Report were so high.  Operations Manager James Furtado explained that this is because the District has been exporting water from Felton to the North System under an emergency declaration since the fire.  Director Fultz noted that the District might do this routinely in the future when the conjunctive use currently under preparation is approved.  He cited this as an object lesson in the benefit of being able to operate the system as a whole instead of as three separate systems.

District Manager Rick Rogers revealed that the District expects to close escrow April 16th on the Naccari property.  The negotiations to obtain this small parcel as a site for a new tank had been extended, contentious, and costly, so this news was met with relief by the Board.

Cynthia Dzendzel asked how long Fall Creek will be out of operation when the Fall Creek Fish Ladder is revised.  James Furtado explained that there will be a temporary intake, so there will be no interruption in operation.  Cynthia also asked how soon the North System will be back on line.  James said the intake on Foreman Creek is operational now, one is targeted for the upcoming Fiscal Year, and two are targeted for the next three years.  The intake from Fall Creek will cease in July or August when the flow drops below state-mandated bypass flows for salmonids.  Lastly, Cynthia wanted to know whether the City application to the State to change its water rights is affecting the District’s ability to take out water.  Rick Rogers said it was not.  The District is in the process of submitting an emergency change in use (due to the CZU Fire) to the state Water Board.  This emergency designation has not yet been granted, but it is anticipated, and the state is aware of the District’s current water transfer.  The District is also working on a more encompassing conjunctive use proposal which would make transfers such as this legal in perpetuity.  President Mahood added that the City petition does not currently affect the District because it has to undergo public comment and a full environmental impact report before the State will render a ruling.  Her guess is that this will take a while to sort out.  She also clarified that the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency (SMGWA) has no say on use of surface water; it is all about aquifers.  (Note: It can, however, take actions regarding use of aquifers that degrade base flow contributions to creeks and the San Lorenzo River.)

Committee Reports

President Mahood announced that Rivka Lund resigned from Budget and Finance effective immediately just before the 3/16 meeting.  The committee now consists of four members, but the chair (Director Henry) prefers not to add a new public member at this time because the budget process is already quite advanced (and the quorum number hasn’t changed).  Director Fultz requested that this item be added to the May 6th Board agenda, and President Mahood agreed.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:35 PM.