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HomeMy WebLinkAboutADMINISTRATION MINUTES 08-01-17LCentral Contra Costa Sanitary District Ih and the environment 5019 Imhoff Place, Martinez, CA 94553-4392 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD oFDIRECTORS: CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA PAUL SANITARY DISTRICT """'`"' ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE President Pro Tem 1 M INUTES a,��� W,,,J„I. R. Tuesda Au ust 1 2017 PHONE.: (925) 228-9500 Y, Augus (925) 372-0192 8:3 0 a. m. www.centralsan.org Executive Conference Room 5019 Imhoff Place Martinez, California ( nmmittpp- Chair Mike McGill Member David Williams Staff. - Roger S. Bailey, General Manager Elaine R. Boehme, Secretary of the District Ann Sasaki, Deputy General Manager Phil Leiber, Director of Finance and Administration Emily Barnett, Communication Services & Intergovernmental Relations Mgr. (arrived during Item 3.b.) Teji O'Malley, Human Resources Manager (arrived during Item 3.b.) Thea vassallo, Finance Manager Thomas Brightbill, Senior Engineer (arrived during and left after Item 3.b.) Russell Leavitt, Engineering Assistant III (left after Item 3.a.) Donna Anderson, Assistant to the Secretary of the District 1. Call Meeting to Order Chair McGill called the meeting to order at 8:33 a.m. 2. Public Comments None. 3. Items for Committee Recommendation to Board a. Review draft Position Paper to adopt new Board Policy No. BP 032 — Reimbursement of Toastmasters Dues Administration Committee Minutes August 1, 2017 Page 2 Member Williams supported removing the time limit on dues reimbursement and wondered if there was any way to provide an incentive for more employees to join Toastmasters. Ms. Sasaki said membership in Toastmasters could be encouraged as part of employee development plans. Ms. O'Malley added that about a year ago mention of the Toastmasters Club was added as part of the new employee orientation program. Chair McGill agreed with Member Williams' suggestion to consider options for encouraging more employee participation. He recommended moving the proposed policy forward now with a recommendation for Board approval, and requested that staff bring back to the Committee some potential options for encouraging active employee engagement to increase membership in the organization. Member Williams concurred and said he also would be interested in semiannual updates to the Committee on Toastmasters membership levels. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval of the proposed policy; and requested (1) staff to bring back to the Committee at a future date options for encouraging more employees to participate in Toastmasters, and (2) semiannual updates on Toastmaster membership levels. b. Follow-up discussion from June 6, June 20, and July 11, 2017 meetings on proposed new Board Policy No. BP 029 — Debt Management and Continuing Disclosure: Additional information regarding debt limits by program Mr. Leiber summarized the information contained in his memo included with the agenda materials, noting that after running the two debt coverage ratios discussed at the July 11, 2017 meeting through the financial model, it was concluded that an 80% limit for debt funding of non -pipeline projects would not likely impact the existing rate forecast, while a 60% limit would increase rates by 1.3-1.6 % per year. He did caution, however, that the financial model is not designed for this level of granularity and the analysis is further complicated when factoring in the contract with the District's largest customer, the City of Concord. Having said that, he said staff does not recommend codifying either of the debt coverage ratios into the debt policy. He said there are many things to balance when setting rates and taking on debt. Given that any bond issuance would require Board approval, leaving the policy as is provides greater flexibility with regard to the numerous variables that must be considered when issuing bonds and would better serve the ratepayers. Administration Committee Minutes August 1, 2017 Page 3 In response to the City of Concord question, Mr. Brightbill said the language in their contract with Central San is very brief regarding their participation in the District's debt and associated impact on ratepayers, and future discussions should be held to address these matters. Mr. Leiber noted that staff had made a couple of housekeeping changes to the proposed debt policy since the last meeting, and staff would recommend that these changes be incorporated into the version presented to the full Board. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval of the proposed debt policy, including the housekeeping changes referenced by Mr. Leiber, without codifying either of the debt coverage ratios discussed at the prior meeting. C. Review draft Position Paper to approve Board Policy No. BP 005 — Statement of Investment Policy and Investment Guidelines Document for the GASB 45 Other Post -Employment Benefits (OPEB) Trust Ms. Vassallo said the reporting provisions (Section X11) of BP 005 require that the Policy itself and the OPEB Trust Investment Guidelines Document (IGD) be presented annually to the Board for review. Ms. Vassallo said that staff recommends one minor clarification change to Section X11 of BP 005. She said the recommended changes to the OPEB Trust IGD, most of which relate to lowering fees on fixed income, are highlighted in yellow in the agenda materials. Chair McGill asked for clarification as to what type of securities would be issued under Rule 144(a) (see p. 5 of the OPEB Trust IGD). Ms. Vassallo said she would add wording to clarify. Member Williams asked why one of the documents was a Board Policy and the other called a "Guideline. " Ms. Vassallo said that BP 005 relates more to the County, and the IGD, which is maintained by Highmark Capital Management (the Investment Manager), relates solely to the GASB 45 OPEB Trust. Member Williams suggested that the IGD be referenced in BP 005. Mr. Leiber noted that a new IGD is being developed for the newly adopted Public Agencies Post- Employment Benefits Trust (pension prefunding trust) adopted by the Board on July 20, 2017. Member Williams requested that BP 005 be revised to reference both IGDs and cover all District investments. Administration Committee Minutes August 1, 2017 Page 4 COMMITTEE ACTION: Requested that staff bring both items back to for review with the changes and references noted. 4. Other Items a. Discuss opportunities for marketing unused proposed logo options Ms. Barnett said the District has an opportunity to recoup the costs of developing the unused logo options that were presented to the Board on July 20, 2017 by marketing them to a sister agency, and Mr. Bailey said he wished to run the concept by the Committee. Member Williams, having recently returned from a National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACW4) conference during which he noticed that quite a few agencies appear to be reinventing themselves with new logos and rebranding, asked if the Board could perhaps revisit the issue of a logo change in a year with logo option A that was presented at the July 20 meeting. Ms. Barnett said that was certainly an option, but noted there would be a substantial cost element to adopting a new logo in a year or two because of website redesign costs. Chair McGill said he liked the flexibility that such an approach offers. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended holding onto proposed logo option A for the time being and revisiting the idea of a logo change in another one or two years. b. Discuss information provided at July 20, 2017 Board meeting regarding California Legislative Process In response to a question from Chair McGill, Ms. Barnett said the information included with the agenda materials was up to date with respect to Proposition 54. Chair McGill noted that, as a Board Member, he tries to give policy direction on legislation affecting the District, but there are a great many bills at any one given time, making it difficult to make informed decisions. He said he finds the Priority Legislation Track Sheet prepared by staff to be very useful. Having said that, he asked if staff is having to spend an inordinate amount of time filtering through bills that fall outside of the District's mission. Ms. Barnett acknowledged that during the legislative season it takes more time for staff to cull the information. She said preparing the Board reports consumes the most time at present. She tries to whittle down the list to Administration Committee Minutes August 1, 2017 Page 5 only those pieces of legislation that are relevant and on which the Board Members should focus. However, figuring out which bills will progress, be amended, or die is not something that can be predicted. Ms. Barnett said she would like to be able to devote more time to legislative advocacy in those instances where she knows the Board's position. She also noted that advocacy methods are changing and that letters of support or opposition do not resonate as much as they have in the past, primarily due to the large numbers of Millennials that have become involved in the Sacramento legislative process. She has found that face-to-face encounters and electronic communication where all Board positions are summarized in a single document can be more effective when advocating with elected officials and their staffs. Member McGill said face-to-face meetings are always appreciated and suggested that as more email communication is utilized, perhaps the traditional letter could accompany the email. COMMITTEE ACTION: Discussed the information. C. Review Gantt chart of activities related to ongoing 2017 Labor Negotiations Chair McGill stated that the Gantt chart has been a highly useful tool leading up to negotiations but, now that negotiations are well underway, it no longer serves much purpose. Member Williams agreed. COMMITTEE ACTION: Advised staff it no longer needs to bring updated Gantt charts to the Committee for the 2017 labor negotiations. 5. Announcements 6. Future scheduled meetings: a. Monday, August 21, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, September 12, 2017 at 8:30 a.m. I ll%A%.AJFI A -W 11 %.4L W.WW . . New date/time: Thursday, September 28, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. 7. Suggestions for future agenda items None. 8. Adjournment — 10:12 a.m.