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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05.a.3) General Manager Written AnnouncementsSa-3) Board Meeting of February 5, 2015 Written Announcements: DISTRICT ANNEXATIONS a) LAFCO Approved District Annexation (DA) 185 — Danville and Lafayette; and Continues DA 186 — Danville (Magee Ranch) At its January 14, 2015 meeting, Contra Costa Local Area Formation Commission ( LAFCO) approved District Annexation (DA) 185 — Danville and Lafayette. The 172.3 - acre, 20- parcel boundary reorganization included annexations to the District and East Bay Municipal Utility District ( EBMUD). A public hearing was opened for DA 186 — Magee Ranch (Danville) and public comments were received, but the agenda item was continued to February to allow LAFCO staff time to assess the effect of ongoing, project - related litigation on potential LAFCO actions. Opponents of the Magee Ranch development, Save Open Space (SOS) Danville, have sued the Town of Danville and the developers regarding the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and legality of the development approval. They have prevailed on some points at the trial court level and obtained an injunction against "construction or development permits or undertaking any construction activities" dependent on the Town's challenged approvals. The Town and developers have appealed the trial court judgment and that process is expected to take six to nine months to conclude. Less than a week before the LAFCO public hearing, the opponents informed LAFCO, the District and EBMUD that they believed the annexation process to be a form of development permit and that approval of this boundary reorganization would be a violation of the injunction that could result in a contempt of court claim. While not agreeing with the opponents' position, District staff supported the continuance to allow more time to review the case documents. The District completed the DA 186 application process to LAFCO ahead of the trial court's final judgment. The District Board approved the DA 186 Resolution of Application on June 19, 2014 and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Notice of Determination was filed with the County Clerk on June 20, 2014. The statute of Limitation for a legal challenge to the Notice of Determination expired on July 20, 2014 with no legal challenge to the District's decisions having been received. The application and supporting materials were delivered to LAFCO on August 14, 2014 and a Notice of Receipt was received from LAFCO on August 18, 2014, the same day the trial court's final judgment on the SOS Danville was entered. Written Announcements February 5, 2015 Page 2 of 3 TREATMENT PLANT b) Natural Gas Pre - Purchase On March 20, 2014, the Board authorized the General Manager to pre - purchase natural gas through 2016 with a $6 per MMBtu limit. Energy prices have remained low; dropping to the lowest level in 12 years. Staff has pre- purchased an additional 333 MMBtu per day of natural gas at $3.85 per MMBtu. This amount represents two- thirds of the District's normal pre - purchase amount. SOURCE CONTROL c) No Businesses in Significant Non - Compliance for 2014 Federal pretreatment regulations require the District to report businesses permitted under the Source Control Program if they are issued a Notice of Violation during the calendar year. The regulations also establish criteria for agencies such as the District to use to determine if the violations of a permitted business are classified as Significant Non - Compliance (SNC). If a business is determined to be in SNC, the District is required to publish certain information about the violation in the newspaper at least annually. In 2005, Source Control staff initiated a program, at the Board's request, to work more closely with the regulated businesses to understand the actions they could take to minimize the events when they would meet the SNC criteria. This program has been successful and the number of businesses reported in SNC has significantly reduced. This year the program assisted two Significant Industrial Users (SIUs) to return to compliance from potential SNC violations. Fortunately, no businesses were determined to meet the SNC criteria during calendar year 2014 so there is no need to publish any notices this year. CONTRACTS UPDATE d) Recap of Contracts Signed by General Manager during Fourth Quarter 2014 The Board has asked to receive quarterly reports of the professional consulting agreements entered into by staff that fall within the increased staff authority limits that became effective December 15, 2011. On that date, the limit on staff authority for professional consulting services agreements was raised by the Board from $50,000 to $100,000. This is a report of all professional agreements entered into by staff which fall within the new staff authority limits (over $50,000 and less than $100,000) and amendments that cause agreements to fall within this dollar range. Written Announcements February 5, 2015 Page 3 of 3 Listed below are all such agreements /amendments entered into during the fourth quarter of 2014 (10/1/14 — 12/31/14): Date Agreement No. Amendment (Y/N) Company Name Description Total 11/6/14 042357 N Expert Title Title and CCR research $98,000 Research 12/30/14 040981 Y NexLevel Added $26,900 / IT $99,990 Information Master Plan and ERP Technology, Analysis Inc. All other contracts that are not considered "professional services," such as maintenance services, equipment, chemicals, and supplies do not require Board approval regardless of dollar amount. The Board approves the annual budget which includes the expenses that come from these contracts, so these contracts are not included in this report as they have historically been within staff authority.