SLVWD Board Meeting Summary
April 17, 2025
Prepared by Mark Dolson for FSLVW
NOTE: Provided purely as a public service — NOT the official SLVWD Meeting Minutes.
Highlights:
LAFCO Runoff Election
CZU Vacation Status
Next Board meeting will be at 6:30 PM on May 1, 2025
Preliminaries
All five directors attended in person.
No reportable actions were taken during the preceding Closed Session.
There were no changes to the agenda.
There were four public comments on non-agendized topics.
Bob Elliott of Felton addressed the Board in his role as President of the Felton Heights Association. He reminded the Board that the District promised twelve years ago to replace a leaky 10,000-gallon water tank at the end of Lost Acres Drive with a new 60,000-gallon tank. He said an agreement was in place two years ago, but progress was derailed by the loss of District Engineer Josh Wolfe and the retirement of District Manager Rick Rogers. He said John Ericson, who owns the land, was willing to work with the District Legal Counsel and has reached out to Engineering Manager Garrett Roffe but has yet to hear back. He worried that applicable grant money was at risk of running out and that homeowners were meanwhile facing both increased fire risk and elevated home insurance costs.
President Smolley thanked Bob for his summary and said he recognized that the District had not yet identified a completion date for this project. He said the District had performed engineering and geotechnical assessment work, but there were still two major open issues: the land itself and lack of available funds. He said some of the other targeted grant-funded tank replacements were for tanks that had already been demolished. The Felton Heights tank was not on the top of this list. President Smolley said the Capital Improvement Project list was currently being reviewed, and he promised that the Board would look at this over the next few months to see how money may be allocated and how the property issue can be resolved.
President Smolley invited Director Fultz to comment further, but Director Fultz reminded him that the Board is precluded from discussing non-agendized topics. He said he would send Garrett some questions. President Smolley said he would add this to the agenda for the next Board meeting and would speak further with Bob in the interim.
John Jamison of Felton said his impression was that there isn't enough money for the Felton Heights tank project. He asked who the District and community could pressure for more money.
An unidentified third speaker from the Lost Acres community basically reiterated the concerns cited by Bob Elliott.
A fourth speaker wanted to provide an impromptu update on FEMA reimbursements, but President Smolley said he would prefer to receive this information with supporting documents as an agenda item at the next Board meeting.
Unfinished Business
None.
New Business
LAFCO Runoff Election
Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item. He noted that the Board voted last month for both a regular (Jim Anderson) and alternate (Ed Banks) LAFCO member. The Board was now being asked to vote in a runoff election between Jim Anderson and Lani Faulkner for the regular position and between Ed Banks and Lani Faulkner for the alternate position. The ballot is due May 1st.
Director Layng said she supported Lani Faulkner as the alternate. She said Lani had provided a very clear message and is very active and involved, more so than Ed. She is also a woman of color, and should be supported as such. She supported Jim Anderson for the regular position.
Director Largay agreed that Jim and Lani were a good pair. He said he knew Jim very well and that Jim had enormous expertise in core LAFCO matters. He said Lani was on the Board at Central Fire and that fire districts face very similar issues to water districts. He said Ed’s organization was not as directly relevant.
Director Hill said he agreed with these two eloquent recommendations.
Director Fultz had a different view of LAFCO. He described it as responsive rather than activist, and he viewed Lani as an activist. He feared that she would favor consolidation of special districts whereas he believed that local districts better serve their communities. He thought Lani’s goals were best pursued in other venues, and he favored Ed Banks.
President Smolley said he was impressed by the other special districts Lani was able to solicit support from, and he concurred with choosing her as the alternate.
There was no public comment.
Director Fultz moved that the Board vote for Jim Anderson to fill the regular position and authorize President Smolley to execute ballot. Director Hill seconded.
The motion passed 5-0.
President Smolley moved that the Board vote for Lani Faulkner to fill the alternate position and authorize President Smolley to execute ballot. Director Largay seconded.
The motion passed 4-1 with Director Fultz opposed.
CZU Vacation Status
Interim General Manager John Kunkel introduced this agenda item. He noted that 30 properties that were destroyed in the CZU Fire have not yet requested that their water meter be reset. They are currently on vacation status, but this status will expire at the beginning of August, so the Board needs to decide whether to renew.
The Board unanimously expressed support for extending vacation status. Director Largay asked why this wasn’t simply a Staff decision.
There was no public comment.
President Smolley moved to extend the current vacation policy for the properties in question. His motion was seconded.
The motion passed 5-0.
Consent Agenda
There was one item on the Consent Agenda:
a. Board Minutes from 3.20.25
The Minutes for 3.20.25 were deemed to be adopted by unanimous vote.
District Reports
Director Largay had a question about the February Finance Report. He asked why the District had only spent 23% of the budgeted $12 million in capital project expenditures in the first 67% of year. Finance Consultant Heather Ippoliti explained that a lot of projects are on hold due to lack of funding. The current budget assumed that the District would receive a large sum from FEMA this year, but this didn’t happen. Technically, the District still has $11.8 million in unrestricted funds, but the District’s reserve policy makes most of this money unavailable for capital projects. Consequently, bond funding or a loan may be needed to move the Capital Improvement Projects forward.
The Directors requested further visibility into this situation. The FY23-25 budget has maybe 60 different projects, and there is now good reason not to expect FEMA reimbursements for quite some time. Heather said this information would be provided in the context of upcoming budget discussions.
Written Communications
Director Layng noted a letter from April Zilber advocating for an expansion of the Ratepayer Assistance Program. She said the Administration Committee was in favor of this and had referred this matter to the Budget and Finance Committee.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 PM.