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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOARD MINUTES 03-04-10MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING ' OF THE DISTRICT BOARD OF THE CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT HELD ON MARCH 4, 2010 The Board of Directors of the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District convened in a regular meeting at their regular place of business, 5019 Imhoff Place, Martinez, County of Contra Costa, State of California, at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 4, 2010. President McGill called the meeting to order and requested that the Secretary call roll. 1. ROLL CALL PRESENT: Members: Hockett, Lucey, Menesini, Nejedly, McGill ABSENT: Members: None a. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG Board and staff joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS ' There were no public comments. 3. CONSENT CALENDAR It was moved by Member Menesini and seconded by Member Nejedly to adopt the Consent Calendar as recommended. Motion passed by unanimous vote of the Board. a. Approve expenditures dated March 4, 2010. Reviewed by Budget and Finance Committee. b. Receive January 2010 Financial Statements. Reviewed by Budget and Finance Committee. c. Approve minutes of February 4, 2010 Board meeting. d. Accept the 2009 Sewer System Management Plan Annual Audit. e. Authorize the General Manager to execute an amendment to the existing professional engineering services agreement with Dodson Psomas, increasing the cost ceiling from $121,000 to $145,000, for the Wet Weather Bypass Improvements Project, District Project 7241. t Book 60 -Page 1 Board Minutes of March 4, 2010 f. Accept the contract work for ADA and General Improvements, District Project 8214, completed by Page Construction Company, and authorize filing of the ' Notice of Completion. g. Approve registration differential salary increase for Assistant Engineer David Hefflefinger, effective January 21, 2010. Approval recommended by Human Resources Committee. h. Authorize an extended leave of absence without pay for Engineering Assistant II Erika Liskamm through June 11, 2010. Approval recommended by Human Resources Committee. 4. CALL FOR REQUESTS TO CONSIDER ITEMS OUT OF ORDER None. 5. REPORTS a. GENERAL MANAGER 1) Report on Internal Audit of Capital Improvement Budget Allocation (CIBA rocess General Manager James Kelly stated that the firm Protiviti completed the audit of ' the Capital Improvement Budget Allocation Process. The internal audit results were reviewed with both the Capital Projects Committee, and the Budget and Finance Committee. Controller Debbie Ratcliff provided an overview of the results, stating that the audit was very detailed and resulted in several recommendations for streamlining processes. She described recommendations which are being implemented, including working on a revision to the CIBA form to incorporate a field to describe changes to projects; production of a quarterly report; and training for CIB staff. Recommendations not being implemented include elimination of updated cash flows with each CIBA request; reducing the number of signatures required; and using an abbreviated process. She noted that staff carefully reviewed those recommendations and determined that the current process is useful to staff in keeping current on the CIBA process and some of the recommended changes could cause confusion. She concluded her presentation, stating that staff will take recommendations for future internal audits to the Budget and Finance Committee for review. In response to a question from Member Lucey, Ms. Ratcliff confirmed that ' although some of the recommendations would reduce paperwork, staff felt that Book 60 -Page 2 °~. Board Minutes. of March 4, 2010 the recommendations would~~esult in reduce"d information and oversight of the ' program. In response to a suggestion made by Member Hockett, Ms. Ratcliff stated that staff will be looking into the possibility of electronic signatures in the future. 2) Update on District Financial Plan and consideration of possible Proposition 218 notice General Manager James Kelly stated that information was presented to the Board at its January 21, 2010 meeting. He referred to his memorandum dated March 1, 2010 setting forth rate increase options, and noted that a Proposition 218 notice is required if a rate increase is to be considered. He stated that four votes are needed to adopt a rate increase. He requested Board direction regarding whether to schedule consideration of a Proposition 218 notice on the next Board agenda. Mr. Kelly stated that consideration of reducing the UAAL is underway, but final consideration should be after CCCERA completes the de-pooling. The Board directed the General Manager to schedule consideration of a Proposition 218 notice on the next Board agenda. ' 3) General Manager James Kelly announced that the California Water Environmental Agency's 82"d Annual Conference will be held at the Sacramento Convention Center from April 20 to April 23, 2010. Eight employees will be attending. The employees are attending to moderate; present a paper on the Municipal Regional Permit; chair various Committees such as the Operations Challenge Committee and the Collection Systems Committee; attend classes pertaining to SmartCovers, CCTV and leak detection; and attend several relevant meetings. Although the Safety Person of the Year for Collection System Operations has not been named yet, they usually attend also. There are no employees attending from Plant Operations. 4) General Manager James Kelly announced that Director of Engineering Ann Farrell will travel to Washington, D.C. from March 17 to March 19, 2010 to fulfill her role as a member of the Water. Environment Research Foundation (WERE) Research Council. In this role, she provides input on what areas of research emphasis would be most beneficial to address issues currently facing utilities. Her expenses will initially be paid by the District and reimbursed by WERE. 5) General Manager James Kelly announced that the Contra Costa Clean ' Water Program (CWP) executed the Stormwater Inspection Service Agreement and forwarded an original signed copy to the District. The Book 60 -Page 3 Board Minutes of March 4, 2010 CWP also processed individual agreements with the participating cities, so the CWP staff did not authorize the District to start work under this ' agreement until they received the necessary paperwork. Four cities processed the necessary paperwork in December 2009, and work has started in those cities. The remaining five cities processed the required paperwork in January and February 2010, so work is now being conducted in all nine Central County cities participating under the agreement. Walnut Creek continues to implement the Stormwater Inspection Program using City staff. The agreement is formatted to enable Walnut Creek to participate in the service agreement in the future should their staff decide to do so. 6) General Manager James Kelly announced that the District's multiple- hearth incinerators are currently regulated under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act. Under these requirements, the District has an excellent compliance record. However, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now under a court order to determine if sewage sludge should be classified as a solid waste. If sewage sludge is determined to be a solid waste, the District's multiple-hearth incinerators will be regulated under Section 129 of the Clean Air Act. The EPA is scheduled to decide by April 15, 2010. If the EPA decides to regulate sewage sludge incinerators (BSI's) under ' Section 129 of the Clean Air Act, they must develop new emission standards for BSI's by December 2010. In order to meet this aggressive rulemaking schedule, the EPA issued an information collection request (ICR) to nine wastewater agencies in the United States that utilize sludge incineration. Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (the District) was one of the agencies receiving the ICR. The purpose of the ICR is to collect accurate pollutant emissions data to develop the new emission standards. Each of the nine agencies was required to conduct extensive emissions testing on their sludge incinerators and submit the results to the EPA by February 17, 2010. District staff conducted five days of emissions testing during the week of December 15, 2009. The analytical work was completed in late January 2010. The emissions data was submitted to the EPA on February 16, 2010. A preliminary review of the test results indicates that the emissions are reasonably consistent with previous emissions tests. On a positive note, no dioxin was detected in the emissions, and the concentration of PCBs was very low. Assuming that the EPA determines that sewage sludge is a solid waste, the EPA will analyze the emissions data from the nine selected agencies, and will develop new emissions limits for BSI's. The Board will be updated as information becomes available. 1 Book 60 -Page 4 .. Yt. Board Minutes of March 4, 20,10 7) General Manager James Kelly announced that construction began on Monday, March 15t on the HHW Improvements Project. In order to expedite the completion of the Reuse Room/Staff area, the Reuse Room was closed to the public on Monday and will remain closed until around the middle of May. In the interim, arrangements have been made with the Delta Diablo Sanitation District's HHW Program to accept reuse materials collected by our facility. Staff will deliver the reusable materials to their facility in Antioch weekly. Notification of the closure is posted at the facility, as well as on our website and HHW InfoLine. It directs reuse room patrons to the Delta Diablo Reuse Room. The Delta facility will not be able to accept all of the reusable materials we collect, so staff expects to store onsite about half of what will be collected during the 8-10 weeks the room will be closed. The stored materials will be made available to the public once the reuse room reopens. Staff would like to thank the Delta Diablo HHW Program for their assistance. 8) General Manager James Kelly announced that Human Resources ' Manager Cathryn Freitas spoke with Peter Marshall from the Contra Costa Firefighters at an event she attended. When he found out that she was from the District, he expressed to her that the use of the CSO building, before demolition, provided an opportunity for some of the best training that they have had in years. He said that it was rare for them to get an older building like CSO's to practice their suppression and rescue techniques. He asked that his thanks be relayed. 9) General Manager James Kelly announced that District staff met with representatives from the Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) on March 25, 2010. Staff submitted comments on the Las Vaqueros Expansion EIR/EIS which suggested that there was a nexus with the refinery recycled water project because it would increase the yield of the expansion and allow transfer of more water to project partners in the South Bay or other CVP contractors. CCWD explained their response to staff's comments and informed staff of their recommended project. They concurred that, if they had South Bay or other CVP partners, there would be increased yield by including the refinery project as a component of the expansion. However, because no South Bay or other CVP partners have been identified, the recommended project for the Los Vaqueros Expansion will be only a smaller, locally funded CCWD project. As such, CCWD sees no ' benefit to the refinery project from strictly a local perspective as their study shows that the expanded reservoir has more benefits to their rate payers Book 60 -Page 5 Board Minutes of March 4, 2010 than a similar cost for the refinery project. The final EIR/EIS containing the official response to staff's comments should be available to the public ' in the next week or so. Staff appreciated that CCWD staff explained their responses in person before receipt of the final EIR/EIS document. Staff will review the EIR/EIS when it is available and brief the Board as appropriate. 10) General Manager James Kelly announced that, as stated in the earlier written announcement included in the Board packets last week, construction began on the Household Hazardous Waste Project on Monday, March 1, 2010. In order to expedite the completion of the Reuse Room/Staff area, the Reuse Room was closed to the public on Monday and was thought to remain closed until around the middle of May. Since that time, staff has worked with the contractor to minimize the number of days that the room will be closed during construction. 11) General Manager James Kelly announced that District employee Paul Kelly has been appointed to the Martinez Planning Commission. b. COUNSEL FOR THE DISTRICT ,, No reports. c. SECRETARY OF THE DISTRICT ' No reports. d. BOARD MEMBERS 1) Board Member reports on future meetings or conferences for which they will receive the stipend for which the District will pay their expenses; recent meetings for which they received the sti end; and meetings or conferences for which the District paid their expenses. Member Hockett Member Hockett reported on her attendance at a District neighborhood meeting in Danville regarding District annexations. Member Neiedlv Members Nejedly and Hockett reported on the March 1, 2010 Budget and Finance Committee meeting. The Board received the report without comments. Book 60 -Page 6 ,; ~,: Board Minutes of March 4, 2010 [J President McGill President McGill and Member Hockett reported on the February 24, 2010 Recycled Water Committee meeting and summarized the Action Summary. Member Lucey stated for the record that he does not support the expenditure of District funds to install a satellite treatment plant to produce recycled water at the Moraga Country Club, and cautioned the Committee not to commit to anything without Board support. President McGill provided a written report on his meeting attendance. 2) Announcements President McGill provided a written report covering Announcements. Member Menesini announced the upcoming Environmental Alliance meeting to be held on March 15, 2010. 1 1 Member Hockett announced that she will be attending the CASA Conference in Washington, D.C. next week. 6. TREATMENT PLANT a. ACCEPT THE 2009 RECYCLED WATER QUALITY AND DISTRIBUTION ANNUAL REPORT General Manager James Kelly stated that the District has prepared its annual Recycled Water Quality and Distribution Report for the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The report is due each~year by March 15th. Acceptance of the report was recommended by the Recycled Water Committee. Associate Engineer Don Berger provided an overview of the report, and described the accomplishments and activities for the recycled water program during 2009. He stated that annual Recycled Water Reports are required by General Order 96-011. In,20Q9;~~-=-.~ the District provided 195 Mgal of recycled water to customers and 400 Mgal,to.the,;~ ~:~ = =_ Treatment Plant. Studies undertaken include the Refinery Recycled Water Project, East `-_';: County Industrial Reuse Study, and the Moraga Country Club Satellite Planf:.Staff ~ "= .- continues to pursue a Federal grant for the Concord Recycled Water Project. = ~ ~~_ ,` . ~_.. ,~ Mr. Berger acknowledged the work of the laboratory in monitoring the water~roduced .` by the treatment plant, as well as the contribution of other departments to the success,-~_ ~ ' of the program. ~ _ Book 60 -Page 7 Board Minutes of March 4, 2010 Member Lucey noted for the record that he does not support the expenditure of any District funds to develop a satellite plant for the Moraga Country Club, stating that the matter should come to the Board for a vote before any funds are expended or a project developed. It was moved by Member Menesini and seconded by Member Hockett to accept the 2009 Recycled Water Quality and Distribution Annual Report. Motion passed by the following vote of the Board: AYES: Members: Hockett, Menesini, Nejedly, McGill NOES: Members: None ABSTAIN: Members: Lucey 7. EMERGENCY SITUATIONS REQUIRING BOARD ACTION None. 8. SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS President McGill noted that the Board will be asked to make a recommendation regarding the upcoming California Special Districts Association (CSDA) election at the next Board meeting. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, President McGill adjourned the meeting at 2:32 p.m. L.-~ COUNTERSIGNED: ~~ ~ ; ;•,: _ _ -, .~. , ~. ~' ~ ~~ ~~ ~. Secretary. of the Central Contra Costa ~~•~ , Sa'rlifary'District, County of Contra Costa, State of California Michael R. McGill President of th oard of Directors, Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, County of Contra Costa, State of California 1 1 1 Book 60 -Page 8