Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Repost of Notice of Public Hearing, Agenda and Minutes of Ordinance and Order adjusting Sewer Service Fee

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE IRONHOUSE SANITARY DISTRICT

Public Hearing and Board Consideration of an Ordinance and Order adjusting Sewer Service Fee (Ordinance No. 51 Order 13-20) Action on Proposed Sewer Use Fee for Fiscal Year 2013/2014.

June 4, 2013

The Ironhouse Sanitary District (ISD) Board of Directors met in regular session on Tuesday, June 4, 2013.
The place of meeting was the Ironhouse Sanitary District Office at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, California.
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by President Lauritzen at 7:00 p.m. 

2. Pledge of Allegiance led by Chris Lauritzen
Roll Call: Directors present:
Painter and Doug Scheer Members absent:
Staff/Consultants present:
Interested Parties:
David Contreras, David Huerta, Chris Lauritzen, Michael
None
Tom Williams, General Manager Jennifer Skrel, District Engineer
Susan Walde, District Secretary
Bob Henn, District Counsel
Michael Welty, Financial Officer
Joe Mueller, Environmental/Process Compliance Manager

Susan Morgan, Oakley
Randy Pope, Oakley City Council Randy Mager, DWR

3. Approval of Agenda
M/S D. Contreras, M. Painter, and the Board voted to approve the agenda.

4. Approval of the Minutes of the April 2, 2013 Regular Meeting, Minutes of the May 7, 2013 Regular Meeting and the Minutes of the May 16, 2013 Special Workshop Meeting.
Director Contreras noted corrections to the Minutes of the May 7, 2013 Regular Meeting. M/S D. Huerta, M. Painter and the Board voted to approve the minutes of the April 2, 2013 regular meeting; minutes of the May 7, 2013 regular meeting and the minutes of the May 16, 2013 special workshop meeting with the corrections noted.

5. Public Comments – Communications from the public on subjects not on the agenda.
Randy Mager of DWR gave the Board an update on the Dutch Slough project. The update on the planning efforts is going forward with a completion date of April – May of 2015 for phase 1 construction. He stated that DWR would like to have a decision from the Board as soon as possible as deadlines are approaching to complete permit applications for the project and define how much fill material, if any, will be imported to the project area. President Lauritzen asked Mr. Mager if DWR would be responsible for maintaining the new western levee on ISD property that would be created as part of the fill removal process. Director Lauritzen wanted to clarify there would be no cost to the ISD ratepayer from the project to remove of up to 600,000 cubic yards of material from ISD’s property. Mr. Mager stated it is his understanding the intent of DWR is to implement the project with no cost to the ISD ratepayer. It was decided to have a follow- up workshop to further discuss the project.


6. Consent Calendar
A. Approval of Payment Order, Report on Financial Position & Operating

Performance.
B. Approval of Posting & Publishing of Ordinance No. 50/Order No. 13-11 Trunkline and Capacity Fee Adjustments (BO 13-18).
C. Approval of Posting & Publishing of 2011/2012 Sewer Service Charge Adjustment. (BO 13-19).
M/S M. Painter, D. Huerta, and the Board voted unanimously to approve the consent calendar.

7. Business Before the Board

7A. Public Hearing and Board Consideration of an Ordinance and Order adjusting Sewer Service Fee (Ordinance No. 51 Order 13-20) Action on Proposed Sewer Use Fee for Fiscal Year 2013/2014.
Mr. Williams gave a brief presentation regarding the publication of rates in the newsletter; newspaper, notice to interested parties, and postings on website. He reviewed with the Board the documentation publicized in the newsletter notice to the public, outlining items mentioned regarding how the district is working to keep the rate affordable to the rate payer. He reviewed the alternative funding programs the district participates in, which are not rate generated, to save money for the District.

At 7:27p.m. President Lauritzen opened the public hearing. Hearing no additional comments from those in attendance; At 7:28 p.m. President Lauritzen closed the public hearing.
M/S D. Contreras, D. Huerta and the Board voted unanimously to adopt Ordinance No.
51 and Order No. 13-20 setting the Sewer Service Fee for FY 2013/2014 at its current level of $618 per EDU.

7B. Consideration of Fiscal Year 2013/2014 Proposed Budget.
Mr. Williams asked the Board if they would like a presentation. President Lauritzen referred the request to the finance committee. Director Contreras stated that the budget is a reflection of many meetings with the input from staff, the Finance Committee, the Board of Directors, and via the budget workshop. The committee going forward is working to develop a better defined Reserve Policy, as well as build the capital expenditures reserves in anticipation of future asset replacements and capital expenditures.
Mr. Williams stated the committee’s recommendation is to use to carryover revenue from FY 2012/13, combined with the transfer of existing Royalty Reserve balance, and anticipated revenue from the possible sale of dirt to RD830 to fund the Capital Expenditure Reserve up to $650,000 during FY 2013/14.
Discussion was held regarding the reserve accounts, and opportunities to fund these reserves in the future.
Mr. Welty reviewed the net revenue test with the Board detailing the required net revenue for the debt coverage ratio. The test is one component of the debt covenant requirements through the State of California and shows the “net of revenues equal at least the annual debt service payment. Also, the debt covenant conditions require the district have, at all times, at least one annual payment in reserve.
President Lauritzen commented that the total debt payment for the wastewater treatment plant divided by the current number of EDU’s equates to $202 per ratepayer for debt service.
Mr. Welty reviewed how the cost for debt service per ratepayer will shrink as new connections come on line and the “ratepayer base” grows.
Director Contreras stated that hopefully we will be receiving connections from the Oakley Generating station to help build the ratepayer base very quickly.
Director Huerta stated the Finance Committee recommends the net revenue overage be dedicated to capital expenditures reserve.
Director Painter asked if the Board is adopting the budget without the results of the Compensation Study update included. He stated that the employees are not at the 50 percentile.
Mr. Williams stated that the budget currently does not include changes related to the Compensation Study as the study is not yet complete but, there is money in the budget that can be utilized to implement recommendations of the study. He also stated that he is currently working on the draft compensation study with Koff and Associates. The Human Resources and Personnel Committee will review the study upon receiving the data from the consultant.
Director Huerta stated the Finance Committee is pleased with the budget work that has been done but, is not pleased that compensation study is not complete to have adjustments for salaries, based on the compensation study, included.
Mr. Williams stated he will have a draft Compensation Study for the Board to review with the consultant at the workshop later this month.
President Lauritzen recommends we pass the budget as proposed and later review the
trend of new connections and possibly adjust the budget. Director Painter agrees with the President.
Director Painter pointed out that staff has had some years of low cost of living increases and years of no cost of living increases, and that it has been 7 years since the last compensation study was updated.

Mr. Williams stated that there have been no salary modifications (review and adjustment of salary in relation to other comparator agencies) since the original 2006 study, just cost of living adjustments.
M/S M. Painter, D. Scheer and the Board voted unanimously to approve and adopt the FY 2013/14 Budget keeping the rate at $618.

8. Staff Reports
Jenny Skrel – Ms. Skrel reported that the State Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) was at the district yesterday, June 3rd, for a tour of the Water Recycling Facility (WRF) in preparation of reviewing the district’s submitted request for update of its NPDES (river discharge) permit. After touring the facility, RWQCB staff seemed agreeable to some of the changes ISD has requested in its renewal application. The water quality monitoring the district has been doing over the last 18 months has shown the WRF is producing better water quality than originally permitted. The permit renewal will go before the RWQCB in January/February of 2014. RWQCB staff will have an administrative draft of the permit renewal in August 2013 for ISD to review. With regard to salt levels in the water received at the WRF, the levels are currently lower than at the time of facility startup back in 2011 but, salts are an ongoing concern for the NPDES permit renewal. Also, as the Oakley Generating Station (OGS) gets closer to construction, ISD staff is working with their staff regarding documented/anticipated salt levels in our water, in preparation of possibly utilizing recycled water at the new OGS.
Joe Mueller – Mr. Mueller reported that plant staff is still having problems with the SCADA servers. They have been working with JSP to get the new server loaded and on line. Mr. Mueller and Ms. Skrel gave a report on the built-in facility redundancies to safely direct non-compliant flows to the 30 million gallon south storage pond in case of a fault or other facility malfunction. The District has two SCADA servers to serve the plant. Mr. Mueller stated that in working with both Dell and the integrator, they have not seen these types of servers go down as they have at our facility. This appears to be a rarity. As an additional redundancy, the integrator has our program off-site and can rapidly reload it in case of a system failure. The plant was designed with efficiency, flexibility, and redundancy in mind.
Tom Williams – Mr. Williams reported he has been working with Randy Mager of DWR on the Marsh Creek Enhancement project to setup a workshop for the Board on Tuesday June 18th at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Williams would also like to include at the workshop Mr. Georg Kramer of Koff and Associates to review the compensation study. He also reported he attended the Special Districts Legislative Days with Directors Contreras and Huerta in Sacramento. They toured one Senator and three Assembly members’ offices. The day was very eventful.
Mr. Williams attended the East County Water Manager’s Association meeting with Director Huerta and offered to host the next meeting November 14th at ISD. This gives ISD another opportunity to offer a tour of the WRF facility to other water and wastewater special districts. He attended the Delta Protection Commission Meeting in Courtland. The commission was considering which direction to take on the Delta Plan. There were in excess of 100 in attendance with over 20 speakers. The commission made a decision to oppose the plan.
Discussion was held on the possible effects of the plan on Jersey Island.

Bob Henn – Mr. Henn reported that Mr. Etzel has been assisting staff on the Ordinances and other district business
Roni Gehlke – Ms. Gehlke reported that she has been working with Freedom high school for 9 months on various educational programs the District is trying to incorporate. Last week, ISD hired its first Freedom high intern to work on Jersey Island for the summer. He will be working with ISD staff in the areas of cattle management, the recycled water/hay operation, and other aspects of working on a ranch, and around ranch equipment. He will be starting on June 17th.
9. Board Members Advisory Reports
Director Scheer – Director Scheer reported that Delta Coves on Bethel Island is out of receivership and should be moving forward with development.
10. Future Agenda Items for Consideration
There were no future agenda items suggested for consideration.
11. Adjournment

President Lauritzen adjourned the regular meeting at 8:42 p.m. until Tuesday, July 2, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. for the next regular meeting in the Ironhouse Sanitary District offices at 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, California.


Notice of Public Hearing August 6, 2013
IRONHOUSE SANITARY DISTRICT
NOTICE OF A PUBLIC HEARING ON
FISCAL YEAR 2013-2014 SEWER SERVICE CHARGES
          NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that pursuant to Section 5473 of the Health and Safety Code of the State of California, the Board of Directors of the Ironhouse Sanitary District has adopted its Ordinance No. 25, wherein it has elected to collect its sewer service charges for the fiscal year 2013-2014 on the tax roll in the same manner as its general taxes, and has filed with its Secretary a written report containing a description of each parcel of real property receiving sanitary sewerage service from said District and the amount of the charge for each such parcel. A copy of the report may be inspected at the Ironhouse Sanitary District Office, 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, CA after July 22, 2013.

          NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that on Tuesday, the 6th day of August, 2013, at the hour of 7:00 p.m., at the regular meeting place of said Board, 450 Walnut Meadows Drive, Oakley, California, said Board will hear and consider all protests and objections to said report. Upon the conclusion of the hearing, the Board may adopt, revise, change, and reduce or modify any charge or overrule any or all objections and shall make its determination upon each charge as described in said report and the use of the tax roll.

/s/ Susan V. Walde
Secretary to the
Board of Directors