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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdministration MINUTES 10-15-19 Page 2 of 6 Arlai CENTRAL SAN CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT 5019 IMHOFF PLACE, MARTINEZ, CA 9,4553-A392 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DAVID R, WILLIAMS CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA President SANITARY DISTRICT MICHAEL R.MCGHL President Pro Tem ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE PAUL CASEY JAMES A.NEJEDLY TAD J PHECKI MINUTES PHONE: (925)228-9500 FAX.- (925)372-0192 Tuesday, October 15, 2019 www.centralvan.org 8:30 a.m. Executive Conference Room 5019 Imhoff Place Martinez, California Committee: Chair David Williams Member Mike McGill Staff.- Roger S. Bailey, General Manager Katie Young, Secretary of the District Kenton L. Alm, District Counsel Phil Leiber, Director of Finance and Administration Emily Barnett, Communications and Intergovernmental Relations Manager (arrived during Item 4.a.) Danea Gemmell, Planning and Development Services Division Manager Kevin Mizuno, Finance Manager Donna Anderson, Assistant to the Secretary of the District 1. Call Meeting to Order Chair Williams called the meeting to order at 8:37 a.m. 2. Public Comments None. 3. Items for Committee Recommendation to Board a. Conduct biennial review of Board Policy Nos. BP 003 - Hiring of District Retirees and BP 021 - Social Media Communication November 7, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 358 of 414 Page 3 of 6 Administration Committee Minutes October 15, 2019 Page 2 Chair Williams suggested a several non-substantive changes to BP 003, to which Member McGill agreed. Ms. Young said staff will present the changes to the full Board at the November 7, 2019 meeting. The Committee concurred with staff that no changes are needed to BP 021. COMMITTEE ACTION: Reviewed and recommended minor changes to BP 003 — Hiring of District Retirees and no changes to BP 021 — Social Media Communication. b. Conduct biennial review and consider adoption of revisions to Board Policy No. BP 029 - Debt Management and Continuing Disclosure COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended Board approval. 4. Other Items a. Discuss customer assistance program alternatives, as requested by Board of Directors at the April 18, 2019 meeting Mr. Bailey reminded the Committee that at the April 18, 2019 rate hearing several Board Members asked staff to bring information about potential options for providing customer assistance to fixed-income seniors and/or hardship cases with paying their annual sewer service charge. Mr. Leiber reviewed an array of potential options ranging from discount programs that would involve the use of Central San revenues and require significant setup and administrative effort, to simple options that would involve neither. Upon conclusion of his presentation, Mr. Leiber said staff was not recommending any particular option at this time but was simply bringing forth the information in response to the Board's request. Member McGill thanked staff for the comprehensive research and outstanding presentation and offered the following comments, concerns, and considerations: • The amount of staff time it would take to administer some of these types of customer assistance programs. • Ms. Barnett's input would be helpful as to (1) Central San customer desires on this topic, and (2) her sense as to the timing and likelihood of a state or federally mandated assistance program that would affect wastewater agencies. • How might implementation of a customer assistance program at Central San impact the City of Concord, both financially and politically? November 7, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 359 of 414 Page 4 of 6 Administration Committee Minutes October 15, 2019 Page 3 • If the decision were made to implement a customer assistance program involving the use of Central San revenues, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association should be involved early in the process. • Mr. Alm's input would be helpful as to any Proposition 218 implications. • The simplest approach would be including a link on Central San's website to the State Controller's Office Property Tax Postponement Program, as Mt. View Sanitary District has done, which allows homeowners who are seniors, blind or have a disability to defer current-year property taxes on their principal residence if they meet certain criteria. Chair Williams said he was trying to reconcile whether customer assistance is a significant issue for Central San's ratepayers, given his recollection that so few Proposition 218 protests have been received for rate hearings in recent years and, of those, only a portion related to senior citizen/hardship requests. He also said there is an issue of fairness because others must make up the slack when discounts are provided. Ms. Barnett framed the issue from the view of what is going on legislatively in Sacramento in terms of water. It would appear that the state wants to implement a blanket customer assistance program for water customers, and it is probably only a matter of time before wastewater customers are included. Also, she said it appears to make little difference whether an agency has a customer assistance program already in place. From a communications standpoint, Ms. Barnett said a customer assistance program is never a bad thing; however, extensive discussion about rates could open the door to comments that rates are too high, which can take a lot of time and effort to refute. While staff is prepared to carry out whatever the Board desires in this regard, she had no recommendation one way or the other. Ms. Gemmell commented regarding the City of Concord, stating that staff is currently reviewing treatment plant and recycled water costs to assure that the City is paying its share. She added that implementing a customer assistance program at Central San could potentially put pressure on the City to offer something similar to their customers. Chair Williams asked Mr. Alm about potential Proposition 218 issues. Mr. Alm said there is no case law on this topic, but Proposition 218 laws, in general, are becoming more stringent in terms of the process for setting rates. Because Central San is a single purpose agency, the underlying issue is if a customer assistance program is subsidizing a portion of your population and a significant portion of your revenue comes from the sewer November 7, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 360 of 414 Page 5 of 6 Administration Committee Minutes October 15, 2019 Page 4 service charge, then you must demonstrate that the source of funds is legitimate and not just being moved from one pot to another. Having said that, Mr. Alm opined that if the Board wishes to implement some type of customer assistance program, it could likely be structured to be at low risk of challenge to Central San. Chair Williams noted that the approach used by Mt. View Sanitary District (a link on its website to the state's Property Tax Postponement Program) seems to be the very least that could be done. Mr. Bailey noted that the District receives from Contra Costa County the entire amount of the sewer service charge billed on the property tax roll; the County is responsible for collecting any delinquencies. He asked if that has any bearing on Proposition 218. Mr. Alm said that he is unaware of any case law in that regard. He said he would be willing to present to the full Board the basics of how a customer assistance program would be affected by Proposition 218. The Committee Members'concluding remarks were as follows: Member McGill said, at a minimum, a link to the State Controller's Office Property Tax Postponement Program should be added to Central San's website. Other than that, he said he has no strong feeling one way or the other about a customer assistance program. He expressed some concerns about it being a "slippery slope"and the amount of staff time that it could take to administer a program. He added that he never heard the issue of hardship raised during his 2018 Board campaign. Ultimately, he said he was unsure as to any next step. Chair Williams queried whether this is a solution in search of a problem, particularly for Central San's customer base. There has been so little customer feedback in terms of financial hardship that it does not seem to be a big issue. He thanked staff for the comprehensive presentation but said he was inclined to wait and see what develops legislatively with a potential state-mandated program. Member McGill suggested that Chair Williams emphasize this discussion at the November 7 Board meeting when the minutes of this meeting are reviewed to see if there is interest in a presentation to the full Board. Chair Williams concurred. COMMITTEE ACTION: Recommended including a link on Central San's website to the State Controller's Office Property Tax Postponement Program, and to determine at the November 7, 2019 Board meeting if the other Board Members wish to receive a similar presentation on this topic at a future meeting. November 7, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 361 of 414 Page 6 of 6 Administration Committee Minutes October 15, 2019 Page 5 5. Announcements a. Mr. Bailey asked about adding a question to the next customer survey regarding potential customer assistance programs. Ms. Barnett said the question could be cross-referenced to better understand customer income as part of the responses. Member McGill suggested that if staff believes such a question makes sense, it should first be reviewed by the Administration Committee. b. Mr. Bailey announced that, thus far, there have been no reports of damage to the treatment plant from the 4.5 earthquake centered in Pleasant Hill at 10:33 p.m. last night. 6. Future Scheduled Meetings Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, December 4-017, 2019 at 8:30 a.m. 7. Suggestions for Future Agenda Items a. Receive list of upcoming agenda items and provide suggestions for any other future agenda items COMMITTEE ACTION: Received the list. 8. Adjournment— at 9:31 a.m. November 7, 2019 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 362 of 414