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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.b. Conduct biennial review of Board Policy Nos. BP 010 - Contractual Assessment Districts, BP 022 - Alhambra Valley Assessment Districts, and BP 033 - Conducting District Business on Personal Devices Page 1 of 7 Item 3.b. CENTRAL SAN March 3, 2020 TO: ADMINISTRATION COMMITTEE FROM: KATIE YOUNG, SECRETARYOF THE DISTRICT REVIEWED BY: ROGER S. BAILEY, GENERAL MANAGER SUBJECT: CONDUCT BIENNIAL REVIEW OF BOARD POLICY NOS. BP 010 - CONTRACTUAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS, BP 022 - ALHAMBRA VALLEY ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS, AND BP 033 - CONDUCTING DISTRICT BUSINESS ON PERSONAL DEVICES Attached are copies of the above Board Policies, which are being presented to the Committee for biennial review. Staff has no recommended changes to any of these existing policies. If the Committee concurs, the policies will remain as is and be reviewed again in two years. However, if the Committee recommends changes, the policies will be brought to the full Board for consideration of any proposed revisions. Strategic Plan Tie-In GOAL TWO: Strive to Meet Regulatory Requirements Strategy 3- Comply with all federal, state, and local regulations related to District administration ATTACHMENTS: 1. BP 010 - Contractual Assessment Districts 2. BP 022 -Alhambra Valley Assessment District 3. BP 033 - Conducting District Business using Personal Accounts and Devices March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 24 of 47 Page 2 of 7 Number: BP 010 Authority: Board of Directors Effective: January 7, 1999 ==- Revised: February 1, 2001, September 5, 2002, October 4, 2012, October 26, 2015, February 1, 2018 CENTRALSAN Reviewed: Initiating Dept./Div.: Engineering/Planning & CENTRALSAMORG Development Services BOARD POLICY CONTRACTUAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS PURPOSE To encourage residential property owners to connect to the public sewer system. The Contractual Assessment District (CAD) program provides financial assistance to small groups of homeowners, often with inadequate septic tank systems, so that they may extend the public sewer system to serve their properties. The CAD program is intended for residential properties, primarily owner-occupied, and not commercial properties. POLICY This policy statement establishes the criteria for formation of CAD projects. Nothing in this policy is intended to bind Central San to continue with the program for any predetermined time period, nor does it create any right or entitlement in favor of potential program participants. The Board may consider technical, economic, staffing, budgetary, environmental and other factors in its consideration of whether to form a CAD. FUNDING CAD proponents are required to hire an engineer and pay the initial engineering costs for the design of the improvements. Upon approval of the CAD by the Board of Directors, funding for construction and inspection of the sewer improvements and reimbursement of reasonable initial engineering costs will be provided by Central San. This money is repaid by participating property owners, either in a lump sum at the completion of construction or in 10 annual installments. The annual installments include a nominal interest rate, are secured by a lien on the property, and are collected on the property tax bill. Subsequent participants who connect to the sewer main within 20 years repay their share of the CAD costs to the other participants at the time of connection. March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 25 of 47 Page 3 of 7 Number: BP 010 CONTRACTUAL ASSESSMENT DISTRICT POLICY STATEMENT Page 2of2 LEGAL CADs are formed pursuant to Streets and Highways Code Section 5898, et seq. While the State Legislature has found that CADs are voluntary, imposed pursuant to an agreement and are not subject to Proposition 218, Central San will not proceed with a CAD formation if a majority of ballots, weighted by the proposed assessment, are submitted in protest of the project. FORMATION CRITERIA In order to be eligible for participation in Central San's CAD assessment financing program, the proposed mainline sewer extension project must meet the following criteria: 1. A minimum of five properties must be directly tributary to the proposed CAD facilities. 2. A minimum of 60 percent of the properties directly tributary to the proposed CAD facilities must have existing homes served by septic tank systems. 3. A participant parcel may not have more than two dwellings to participate in a CAD. March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 26 of 47 Page 4 of 7 Number: BP 022 Authority: Board of Directors =- Effective: November 5, 2015 Revised: February 1, 2018 CENTRALSAN Reviewed: Initiating Dept./Div.: Engineering/Planning & CE T ALSAMORG Development Services BOARD POLICY ALHAMBRA VALLEY ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS PURPOSE To encourage residential property owners to connect to the public sewer system. The Alhambra Valley Assessment District (AVAD) program provides financial assistance to small groups of homeowners, often with inadequate septic tank systems, so that they may extend the public sewer system to serve their properties. The AVAD program is intended for residential properties, primarily owner-occupied, and not commercial properties. While the AVAD program is similar to the Contractual Assessment District (CAD) Program, it offers several additional incentives for property owners to connect to public sewers tributary to the Alhambra Valley Trunk Sewer, thereby enabling Central San to more quickly collect reimbursement for District funds that were used for the planning, design, and 2008 construction of the trunk sewer. POLICY This policy establishes the criteria for formation of AVAD projects. Nothing in this policy is intended to bind Central San to continue with the program for any predetermined time period, nor does it create any right or entitlement in favor of potential program participants. The Board may consider technical, economic, staffing, budgetary, environmental and other factors in its consideration of whether to form an AVAD. FUNDING AVAD proponents are required to hire an engineer and pay the initial engineering costs for the design of the improvements. Upon approval of the AVAD by the Board of Directors, funding for construction and inspection of the sewer improvements and reimbursement of reasonable initial engineering costs will be provided by Central San. The initial participating property owners repay their share of this money, either in a lump sum at the completion of construction or in 15 annual installments. The annual installments include a nominal interest rate, are secured by a lien on the property, and are collected on the property tax bill. Subsequent participants repay their share of the AVAD costs to Central San when they connect to the sewer main. March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 27 of 47 Page 5 of 7 Number: BP 022 ALHAMBRA VALLEY ASSESSMENT DISTRICT POLICY STATEMENT Page 2of2 LEGAL AVADs are formed pursuant to Streets and Highways Code Section 5898, et seq. While the State Legislature has found that AVADs are voluntary, imposed pursuant to an agreement and are not subject to Proposition 218, Central San will not proceed with a AVAD formation if a majority of ballots, weighted by the proposed assessment, are submitted in protest of the project. FORMATION CRITERIA In order to be eligible for participation in Central San's AVAD financing program, the proposed mainline sewer extension project must meet the following criteria: • A minimum of three annexed properties must be directly tributary to a proposed AVAD facility. • A minimum of 60 percent of the properties directly tributary to a proposed AVAD facility must already be developed. • A participant parcel may not have more than two dwellings on it to participate in an AVAD. March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 28 of 47 Page 6 of 7 Number: BP 033 Authority: Board of Directors Effective: January 4, 2018 =- - Revised: Reviewed: Initiating Dept./Div.: Secretary of the District's Office CENTRALSAN BOARD POLICY CONDUCTING DISTRICT BUSINESS USING PERSONAL ACCOUNTS AND DEVICES PURPOSE To establish a policy to maintain compliance with the California Public Records Act. POLICY It is the policy of the Board of Directors to ensure that all writings determined to be Public Records are open to inspection by any person at all times during regular business hours, or copies are made available upon request, unless the writings are made expressly exempt from inspection under provisions of law. (Gov. Code § 6253, subds. (a) & (b).) "Public Records" includes any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned, used, or retained by the District regardless of physical form or characteristics. (Gov. Code § 6252, subd. (e).) "Writing" means any handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, transmitting by electronic mail or facsimile, and every other means of recording upon any tangible thing any form of communication or representation, including letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and any record thereby created, regardless of the manner in which the record has been stored. (Gov. Code § 6252, subd. (g).) In addition to all writings physically retained by the District or stored on District electronic storage systems, certain writings relating to District business retained by a District employee or Board Member in their personal email or social media accounts, and/or on personal devices such as cell phones, tablets, laptops and computers, may also be considered Public Records subject to public review. Such records shall also be made available to the public consistent with adherence to proper procedures under prevailing law. All District personnel including Board Members, regular employees, temporary employees, co-ops, summer students and selected long-term contractors shall be subject to this Policy and District procedures adopted to implement this Policy. The Secretary of the District shall be the primarily responsible District officer for insuring March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 29 of 47 Page 7 of 7 Number: BP 033 CONDUCTING DISTRICT BUSINESS USING PERSONAL ACCOUNTS AND DEVICES Page 2 of 2 compliance with public requests for Public Records and coordinating responses required by the California Public Records Act. District employees and officials are encouraged to avoid conducting District business using personal mobile devices or on non-District accounts. Since keeping appropriate records of all District business is always good practice, this is the best way to ensure both that the District has access to Public Records and protection of employees' and officials' privacy. However, the District recognizes that some District employees and officials do not always carry a District mobile device and for effectively carrying out their District functions may occasionally need to use their personally owned mobile device on a non-District account. In that event, District employees and officials should endeavor to: 1) avoid use of texts for District business, and 2) use a District email account for District business. If a communication related to District business is received or generated on a personal device or non-District account, it should be forwarded or copied promptly to a District email account. District IT staff can assist individuals with this process as needed. This Policy recognizes that information must routinely be provided by staff to entities and individuals with whom it conducts the business of the District, typically including customers, vendors, consultants, contractors, developers, and other members of the public. Nothing in this Policy is intended to restrict the free exchange of information between District employees, officials and the public in the ordinary course of conducting District business. This Policy is merely intended to address the obligation of public agencies to make Public Records available upon request under the California Public Records Act. [Original retained by the Secretary of the District] March 3, 2020 Regular ADMIN Committee Meeting Agenda Packet- Page 30 of 47