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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBOARD MINUTES 01-17-19 CENTRAL SAN CENTRAL •NTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT 5019 IMHOFF MINUTES* BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DAVID R WILLIAMS President REGULAR BOARD MEETING MICHAEL R.hICGILL Board Room President Pro Tem Thursday, January 17, 2019 PAUL H.CAUSE Y 1:30 p.m. JAITAD J PI ECKI Open Session — Board Room (Video recorded) ROLL CALL A regular meeting of the Board of Directors was called to order by President Williams at 1:30 p.m. Secretary of the District Katie Young called roll.- PRESENT.- oll.PRESENT.' Members: Causey, McGill, Nejedly, Williams ABSENT. Members: Pilecki PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Board, staff and audience joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. INTRODUCTIONS 1. Spring 2019 Intern Students BOARD ACTION: Welcomed the Intern Students. PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD None. REQUESTS TO CONSIDER MATTERS OUT OF ORDER None. These summary minutes are supplemented by a corresponding video recording available on the District's website at centralsan.org. Book 67— Page 11 CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 12 CONSENT CALENDAR 2. Approve the following: a. January 3, 2019 Regular Board meeting minutes 3. Adopt updated salary schedule for all District job classifications With regard to Item 2.a., Member McGill provided a correction to the draft minutes, advising he was now Chair of the BART Bond Oversight Committee. BOARD ACTION: Motion was made by Member Causey and seconded by Member McGill to adopt the Consent Calendar, with amended minutes. Motion passed by the following vote: AYES: Members: Causey, McGill, Nejedly, Williams NOES: Members: None ABSENT: Members: Pilecki OTHER BOARD ACTION ITEMS 4. Authorize the General Manager to execute a temporary wastewater diversion agreement with the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) - East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) Recycled Water Authority (DERWA) Director of Engineering and Technical Services Jean-Marc Petit reviewed the presentation included with the agenda materials. President Williams expressed concern regarding some of the public requests for an additional meeting and their concern about wastewater flowing throughout the neighborhood. Mr. Petit advised that staff originally mailed two separate invitations for the community meeting to a large sphere of approximately 2,500 residents, but only twelve attended the community meeting. Of those that provided comment cards at the meeting, those residents were invited to today's Board meeting, yet there was no one in attendance from the public. Communication Services and Intergovernmental Relations Manager Emily Barnett opined that from conversations with those that attended the community meeting, the neighborhood was more concerned about a possible reoccurrence of an overflow at the San Ramon pumping station. President Williams asked for clarification on the issue brought up by some of the neighbors'around the San Ramon Pumping Station regarding their concern about wastewater flow from Dougherty Valley coming through their neighborhood, and the overflows that occurred at the Pumping Station approximately 20 years ago. District Counsel Kent Alm provided an explanation, including that there were lawsuits against Central San at the time (both by the City of San Ramon and the neighbors) regarding the decision to route Dougherty Valley's wastewater flow through that CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 13 neighborhood to the San Ramon Pumping Station. Central San won the lawsuits in trial court and the City filed an appeal, but later withdrew it and granted Central San the encroachment permit to install the sewers to connect Dougherty Valley's wastewater flow to the San Ramon Pumping Station. There was a lengthy conversation regarding the concerns of the neighborhood and the need for more customer outreach regarding the project or the San Ramon pumping station. Mr. Petit replied that unless there was strong opposition at the Board meeting today, staff did not plan to hold another public meeting prior to consideration of the agreement. Member Causey added that the Guiding Principle on community acceptance is a huge item for him and that the project itself is very simple and straightforward and he doesn't see a problem with it other than we must deal with the residents in the local area and make sure that they understand what's going on. Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) Engineering Services Manager Judy Zavadil thanked the Board and staff for the willingness to consider this project and work with DSRSD over the past two years. She stated that she realizes there have been community concerns related to the pump station and that the staff and Board have had concerns, which have led to the Guiding Principles, but that through the community outreach and incorporation of the Guiding Principles into the proposed agreement, that we've tried to address everyone's concerns. She concluded with a reflection that we've talked about a lot of the issues, but in the end, we're taking wastewater that would be treated and discharged into the Bay and taking that water and putting it to beneficial use to irrigate green spaces within Central San's service area and she thinks that's a good thing. President Williams asked for elaboration on Guiding Principle #8— Benefits to Central San Customers. East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD) Director of Water and Natural Resources Mike Tognolini (also acting as DERWA Authority Manager) advised that the recycled water served by DERWA serves EBMUD's San Ramon area, which is in Central San's service area, in addition to the DSRSD's Dougherty Valley, which is also in Central San's service area. A motion was made by Member McGill and seconded by Member Causey, to authorize the General Manager to execute a temporary wastewater diversion agreement with DERWA. Motion failed as no vote was taken. Member Causey said he agreed with the temporary wastewater diversion agreement but expressed extreme concern about Guiding Principle #5— Community Acceptance. President Williams concurred and requested additional outreach be made to the customers. Ms. Barnett advised the Board that staff is fully committed to the customers and has captured all of the concerns and comments. Staff is prepared to hold a CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 14 neighborhood meeting in February, which was the timing request of the most vocal neighbors surrounding the pumping station. Member Causey stated that he would like more enhanced community outreach before and during construction to allow customers to feel comfortable, and to have an understanding that should the agreement and any of the Guiding Principles not be met, Central San has a right to get out of the agreement. There was a discussion on the construction of the concrete vault structure and bypass for this project and the potential for something to go wrong. Ms. Zavadil stated that even if both gates close, the system will be designed so that the pipe does not get blocked off and redirects the flow. Member Nejedly asked for Pumping Stations Supervisor Leo Gonzalez'opinion on the project. Mr. Gonzalez stated his belief that Central San should absolutely not do the project, because it could damage our equipment, there will be sewer lines during that summer that we won't be able to flush and clean and there will be odors. President Williams asked about impacts to Central San from removing a third of the flow from the Pumping Station during the driest part of the year, which could create the potential for sedimentation and associated odors and how that will be handled and monitored. Mr. Petit advised that Central San staff has been working on this project over the last two years, having internal and external meetings to discuss the concept and scope of the project, and that staff went through a point where we were adding a lot of features (i.e. automated gates, SCADA, small pump replacement, etc.) to mitigate potential impacts, which was adding a lot of costs to the project and it was approaching three quarters of a million dollars. In response, DERWA was then requesting a longer-term agreement (ten years) for that higher level of investment. Central San staff responded by negotiating a simpler diversion structure to minimize DERWA's cost investment in favor of a shorter-term agreement, but there are still concerns about odors and if Central San must flush any impacted lines all the time, then we could bring back one of the Guiding Principles. Mr. Petit explained the two data points we have from DERWA — in 2017, if this project had been in place, DERWA would have diverted flow for 2 weeks and in 2018 not at all, so we're not expecting a prolonged diversion. He stated that there are still risks to this project that have not been mitigated, but that's why we have the Guiding Principles. Member Nejedly stated he will be voting against the agreement for a couple of main reasons: 1) it's temporary and it's going to be a pretty good expense for somebody, and its public money being spent and 2) because he lived through the past San Ramon Pumping Station overflows as a Board Member. Member Nejedly also stated that we've never done anything like this before and, after 20 years, we're getting closer to developing a project to serve the nearby refineries and getting rid of 20 million gallons of our own recycled water. Furthermore, it will be extremely tough to get out of this deal if something happens. CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 15 Mr. Alm stated that the intention of the agreement is the party that creates the problem or has the problem will pay for it, so if it was directly a result of this system not functioning correctly, then that would be the obligation of DERWA. However, if we have an overflow that has nothing to do with this diversion or there is negligence on our part in terms of operations, then Central San would be responsible. Mr. Alm added that he would repeat what Mr. Petit said in that this agreement is not risk-free, but one of the key things in our negotiating and coming to agreement is that if the amount of use is going to be fairly small, as it would have been for the last few years, then it's not a big deal at all. If this was a long-term agreement with a million or a couple million gallons a day being diverted for 6 months out of the year, then it would require a totally different agreement. President Williams asked, in reference to Member Nejedly's comment on this being a public cost for DERWA, how the cost of this diversion project compares to DERWA's other short-term water supply options. Mr. Tognolini stated that the other option would be rationing their recycled water customers and that, as currently configured, that this diversion project is fairly low-cost construction (for less than 100 feet of pipe and a new box). President Williams asked follow-up questions on what other new water supply options are out there and is DERWA going to be proactively pursuing those, so that this diversion is at the most a five-year agreement and then DERWA is off on its own. Mr. Tognolini answered affirmatively and added that DERWA is pursuing multiple other sources of supply. Local groundwater is one that DERWA is particularly interested in, in the fringe basin in the San Ramon and Dublin area that DERWA will piloting a well project there in the summer 2020 and, if that goes well, to expand that program to a capacity that would be potentially greater than the capacity of the diversion coming from Central San. President Williams asked Mr. Alm, in reference to Member Nejedly's comments about the development of recycled water projects that Central San is pursuing (Naval Weapons Station and the nearby refineries), if those projects come to fruition quick, is the agreement iron clad in terms of us having the water if we need that to serve these other bigger projects. Mr. Alm responded that it is intended that this be a three-year agreement and it can be extended an additional the two years, but there are ways to get out of it which would not be particularly expensive. Mr. Alm added that if some urgency came up where we absolutely had to have this water in two and a half years from now, we have to give a six months'notice, so say it came up two years from now, we could get out six months earlier and if we owed them some small amount of money, that would all have to be worked out. President Williams stated that he is sensitive to the issue of impacts on operations (sediment and odors) and asked Mr. Bailey that as we go forward on this project, if there is a need for DERWA to use the diversion, if the Board could have a report back on what's happening with operations during or after the diversion occurs. Mr. Bailey responded affirmatively. CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 16 Mr. Petit advised that the agreement requires DERWA to provide an annual report on the diversion and their plan to eliminate the need for it, so staff would bring this report to the Board. Member McGill amended his motion to include the report back to the Board on operations when diversions are occurring. Mr. Petit reiterated that it is a three-year agreement and there is a provision to extend it two years, but staff has to come back to the Board after three years and request for the extension. Mr. Petit added that it is not extendable beyond five years, because then it would be considered a long-term agreement. Member Causey requested that if after the first season we have a big community problem, he would like staff to bring that back if any of the nine Guiding Principles are not met after the first year of operation, so that the Board can deal with it in an expeditious manner. He added that he assumes that would be part of any annual report that the Board would receive, because community acceptance is hugely important. Mr. Petit stated that staff would report back annually after each diversion event and also annually to the Board in regard to the Guiding Principles adherence and any operational impacts. Member Nejedly added that if we get out of this agreement, Central San will be on the hook for DERWA's costs for this project. Mr. Alm disagreed and clarified that's not how the agreement is drafted. Mr. Alm explained that since the diversion facilities do not benefit Central San's operation and are being built specifically to benefit the project, so Central San would not owe anything if we had to get out early. BOARD ACTION: Motion was made by Member McGill and seconded by Member Causey to authorize the General Manager to execute a temporary wastewater diversion agreement with DERWA and for staff to provide reports to the Board on operations when the diversions are occurring during the term of the agreement. Motion passed by the following vote: AYES: Members: Causey, McGill, Williams NOES: Members: Nejedly ABSENT: Members: Pilecki REPORTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 5. General Manager— Reports a. Receive informational list of pending board and Standing Committee future agenda items BOARD ACTION: Received the list. CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 17 B. General Manager—Announcements a. Announcements — January 17, 2019 1) General Manager authorized contracts, agreements, etc. — Fourth Quarter 2018 2) Update on Personnel Actions — Fourth Quarter 2018 General Manager Roger S. Bailey made the following announcements at the meeting: 3) He advised the Board that late last night, due to the storms, the treatment plant and all associated buildings lost power but that there were no National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) reportable events and one air reportable event for Furnace Bypass damper opening. He stated that the cause is still being investigated. He stated that the power event caused the cogeneration system to fail, the standby generator breakers to trip and the breaker to PG&E to open, resulting in a total power loss. The power was out for 16 minutes. There was a discussion on the procedures taken during the outage and training for future outages. 4) Mr. Bailey announced that there have been more than 62 applicants for the upcoming Central San Academy. BOARD ACTION: Received the announcements. 7. Counsel for the District a. Written Legal Update BOARD ACTION: Received the update. 8. Secretary of the District Ms. Young announced the following upcoming Committee meetings: Real Estate, Environmental& Planning— Monday, January 28 at 8:30 a.m. Finance— Monday, January 28 at 2:00 p.m. Administration — Wednesday, January 30 at 8:30 a.m. CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 18 Ms. Young also reminded the Board Members of the Long-Term Vision Planning Workshop being held on Wednesday, January 30, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Pleasant Hill Community Center. BOARD ACTION: Received the announcement. 9. Board Members - Reports and Announcements Board Member reports on recent meetings or conferences for which they received the stipend or for which the District paid their expenses. a. Member Causey - No report. Member McGill • January 10, 2019 — Contra Costa County Mayors' Conference hosted by the City of Richmond Member McGill also provided a written report covering his announcements and other meetings. Member Neiedly— No report. Member Pilecki — No report. President Williams • January 9, 2019 — Board Liaison presentation to the Moraga Town Council BOARD ACTION: Received the reports and announcements. 10. Board Members - Requests for Stipend/Reimbursement or Conference Attendance Authorization to receive a stipend for meeting attendance or expense reimbursement not specifically addressed in the current Board Compensation Resolution, or authorization for conference attendance not previously approved by the Board. No requests. EMERGENCY SITUATIONS None. REQUESTS FOR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS None. CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT January 17, 2019 Board Meeting Minutes—Book 67-Page 19 ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:44 p.m. David R. Williams President of the Board of Directors Central Contra Costa Sanitary District County of Contra Costa, State of California COUNTERSIGNED: Ql,--- k96e'VungN Secret of the'Pistrict Centra�Cont�a Costa Sanitary District County of Contra Costa, State of California f I