1. Call to Order:
8:07 p.m.
2. Roll:
Directors Amoroso, Bertsch, Kayfetz, McClellan present
Director Siedman absent
Director McClellan presiding
3. Manager’s Report
Manager Buchanan discussed several operations and maintenance issues:
New membranes for units 1 and 4 are needed at the Woodrat treatment plant to complete replacement on all units;
The roof at 270 Elm is in poor condition. During the spring, shingles blew off; there is buckling at the peak in one spot; the flashing at the chimney is leaking and needs to replaced. Raindance Roofing has proposed new felt and shingles over the existing roof for $9,800, with the bid good for 30 days.
The next issue of the Pipeline, going out to customers at the end of July, will go to the copy shop next week, with comments due by mid-day on Monday.
The District Hazardous Materials Program was inspected by the Marin County Office of Waste Management (OWM). As a result of the inspection, one site location in the Business Plan is now below the reporting threshold on quantities of materials and will no longer be required to pay an annual permit fee. OWM made recommendations concerning paperwork and operations. An updated Business Plan will be prepared, using OWM’s new forms. A spill kit will be purchased for the water treatment plant to prevent any spills of chlorine or cleaning solution from reaching outside the building. An employee training program will emphasize proper handling and storage of hazardous materials. The employees have requested a combo tv-vcr to use for viewing safety videos in the upstairs meeting room There were no objections to the purchase.
The Ocean Avenue / Canyon Road project, to protect the pipeline from erosion, is now complete, with new services to the three homes at the end of Ocean, and 10 Canyon’s service now switched over to the Canyon Road line.
The Board-approved Memorandum of Understanding for 2002-03, has been accepted by the employees.
The Marin Independent Journal published an article on possible purchase of BCPUD’s Pine Gulch Creek property by the National Park Service. The article indicated there is 1.5 million in the Administration’s 2003 Federal budget proposal for purchase of the property. Publication of the article resulted in a phone call from Gerry Coles, an Inverness resident and real-estate professional. He offered an hour of his time for consultation with the Board on managing this type of real estate transaction. There were no objections to setting up the meeting. Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing with the adjacent property owner regarding district access to its property.
Regarding the Star Route Farms Habitat Investigation, Marin County Deputy Planning Director Brian Crawford has responded in detail to the District’s May 21 letter to the Planning Commission, and John O’Connor, writing for Ken Fox and the Tomales Bay Association, has disagreed with points in Crawford’s letter. O’Connor’s letter will be forwarded to Brian Crawford and Steve Kinsey and their comments solicited. This item will be placed on the agenda of the August meeting.
4. Community Expression
Jenny Pfeiffer, expressing concern for the loss of avian habitat and renascent wildflowers north of Poplar Road, noted that the Holter property has been mowed. Staff will relay her concerns to the National Park and to Niman Ranch.
5. Bicycle/Pedestrian Path Process: status report; ballot advisory measure; Resolution 476, Proposing An Election Be Held In Its Jurisdiction, And In Territory Beyond Its Jurisdiction
– Kayfetz/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve the project committee’s wording for the ballot measure and to extend the vote to the boundaries of the fire district. The wording:
Shall a two-way bicycle/pedestrian path, 6 feet wide, except 8 feet on the steepest part of Phinney’s Hill, with a minimum 5 foot separation from the road edge, be constructed by the County of Marin on the east side of Olema-Bolinas Road from the school to the Mesa Road intersection?
A discussion ensued concerning design details and their availability prior to the election.
Staff will publicize in the Hearsay the deadline by which opponents of the measure must submit ballot arguments and verification forms.
– Kayfetz/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve Resolution No. 476.
6. Bolinas Lagoon Ecosystem Restoration Project: draft environmental impact statement
The draft environmental impact statement/report and the draft feasibility report for the proposed Bolinas Lagoon Ecosystem Restoration Project has entered the public comment stage, with a joint public hearing scheduled for July 24 at the Civic Center. The comment deadline is August 5. Copies of the reports were delivered to all directors a week before the meeting.
Director Kayfetz initiated the discussion by observing that the perceived need to open Seadrift Lagoon to maximum tidal action was a consistently repeated comment during the past two years’ development of the report. Then, finding that such work would amount to an enhancement of private property and is therefore prohibited with federal funds, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) dropped Seadrift Lagoon from the project. Contending there is nothing in USACE policy that mandates this decision, Kayfetz stated that it is simply raw political power at work aimed at preventing the people who can’t get through the front gate from canoeing in the back way.
– Kayfetz/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to request of participating federal, state and local agencies, using the Freedom of Information Act and the California Public Records Act, an opportunity to view and possibly make copies of all records, including notes, memoranda, meeting minutes, transcripts and correspondence, in which the issue of opening Seadrift Lagoon is mentioned. Copies of the records requests will be mailed to the Marin Independent Journal and the Point Reyes Light. Separate letters are also to go to federal and state legislative leaders, including Senators Boxer and Feinstein, Representative Woolsey, State Senator Burton, Assemblymembers Nation and Migden and Marin Supervisor Kinsey. These letters are to demand an immediate public congressional investigation seeking an answer to why USACE is recommending spending over $100 million on a project whose cost-effectiveness is jeopardized by the exclusion of an obvious and essential component of the work.
Following the vote on the motion, there was discussion of various aspects of the project, from copper sulfate in Seadrift Lagoon to the impact on wildlife of various dredging strategies, and to consideration of stationary vs. mobile dredges.
7. Resolution No. 477, approving BCPUD budget for fiscal year 2002-03
Staff recommended a combination of revisions to the proposed budget to allow for an expected doubling of the workers compensation insurance premium, the need to finish the filter membrane replacement at Woodrat Treatment Plant, and to re-roof the 270 Elm Road building. The changes would increase estimated tax revenue and draw from the designated replacement fund. It would not affect rates for water or sewer service.
– Kayfetz/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve Resolution No. 477.
8. Resolution No. 478, stating current rates and charges for water and sewer service
The only change in rates from 2001-02 is a doubling of the rate for disposal of septage at the sewage treatment facility. The cost has been $30 per load for the last 8 years.
– Kayfetz/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve Resolution No. 478.
9. Other Business
a. Committee Reports
-- Alternative Energy:
The Board received specifications on the Vestas V.47 windmill.
-- Legal:
Director Kayfetz expressed outrage at a recent letter from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe general counsel Thomas Coleman, denying BCPUD its request for records related to the Lockary, Gilbert and INA litigation – files the district has a right to. Staff will write a letter to Coleman, subject to BCPUD counsel’s approval, stating that the request has nothing to do with Orrick vs. BCPUD, that they have three days to turn over the documents or BCPUD will ask its attorney to file a complaint with the State Bar’s Ethics Committee and take all other action allowed under the law. When faxing the draft letter to counsel, staff will request that he discuss the issue with Legal Committee member Kayfetz.
Board received the June, 2002 statement from attorney Hadden Roth.
-- Mesa Septic:
There was nothing new to report on the SepTAC process.
-- Park and Recreation:
Director Amoroso asked if the proposed skateboard park is required to have flush toilets, since they were a feature of the original, larger project that included water reclamation from the sewage treatment facility. Staff will ask Director Siedman.
-- Solid Waste:
Resource Recovery Project: financial /operations reports:
The Board received the June financial report.
Garbage/Recycling Franchise Agreement:
The Board, if it votes on the award of franchise at the August meeting, will be making a tentative decision subject to execution of mutually agreeable contract language. Staff will notify the 3 proposers in advance.
b. Minutes of June 19, 2002 Meeting
– Bertsch/Amoroso 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve the June 19, 2002 minutes.
c. Warrants
– Bertsch/Kayfetz 4 ayes, 1 absence to approve the warrants.
d. Scheduling of Next Meeting(s)
August 21, 2002, 8 p.m.
10. Adjournment:
10:22 p.m.