MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
of the
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF THE
MONTECITO WATER DISTRICT
held at the
DISTRICT BOARD ROOM

583 SAN YSIDRO ROAD, MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA
at 2:00 P.M. on TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2000

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL & DETERMINATION OF QUORUM

The meeting was called to order by President Puddicombe at 2:00 p.m.
Those in attendance were:

PUBLIC FORUM

There were no comments from the public during the public forum.

It was determined that an emergency resolution was necessary since several items requiring Board action had arisen subsequent to the agenda being posted. The General Manager explained the basis for the need to take action. Director Abel moved to approve Resolution No. 1891 to add the following three three additional items to the agenda: 1) Claim of Mr. Norman Gimbel for property damage at 241 Hot Springs Road, 2) Acceptance of Resignation of J. Timothy Campbell and consideration of Resolution No. 1892 expressing appreciation for the services of J. Timothy Campbell, and 3) Equipment budget augmentation. The motion was seconded by Director Jones. The motion carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. 1892

A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Wilson and unanimously carried to accept the resignation as a Director of J. Timothy Campbell and to approve Resolution No. 1892 expressing appreciation for his services. The Board took a brief break to express their appreciation to former Director Campbell. The meeting was reconvened at 2:40 p.m.

Director Abel said that she had some suggested changes to the minutes of the December 14, 1999 meeting. Counsel Wullbrandt also had several additional recommended changes for the minutes of December 14, 1999. The disbursements were discussed in detail by the Board. It was also noted that water sales for the month of December were 501acre feet, the highest in over 20 years. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Puddicombe and unanimously carried to approve the consent agenda.

It was the consensus of the Board of Directors that it was not necessary to elect a second Vice-President. President Puddicombe stated that normally the election of officers took place in December. Since the whole Board was not present at the December meeting it was continued until January 2000. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Jones and unanimously carried to elect Director Puddicombe as President. A motion was made by Director Jones, seconded by Director Wilson and unanimously carried to nominate Director Abel for Vice-President.

President Puddicombe presented a revised list of MWD Committee and Regional Board assignments. There were no comments from the Board relative to the proposed assignments.

APPOINTMENT OF BOARD SECRETARY AND DISTRICT LEGAL COUNSEL

A motion was made by Director Wilson, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to appoint the General Manager as Board Secretary and Price, Postel & Parma as the District’s Legal Counsel.

APPOINTMENT OF FRED ADJARIAN TO CCWA OPERATING COMMITTEE

A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Wilson and unanimously carried to appoint Fred Adjarian to the CCWA Operating Committee. Staff was asked to notify the CCWA Executive Director of this appointment.

Engineering Manager Mosby explained that the right-of-way condemnation would be completed the following day. He reported that the bids for both projects had come in under budget based on the Water Availability Charge schedule. A motion was made by Director Wilson, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to: 1) award a bid to Tierra Contracting, Inc. for the construction of the new UPRR water mains at Padaro Lane and Posilipo Lane in the total amount of $122,650, subject to possession of UPRR construction right-of-way and satisfactory performance of contractor’s insurance requirements; and 2) appropriate funds in addition to the budgeted $111,400, in the amount of $28,750 which included a contingency in the amount of $17,500 for a total project budget of $140,150 for this work.

STATUS OF ROMERO RESERVOIR ROAD WATER MAIN/UNDERGROUND UTILITIES INSTALLATION NEGOTIATED BID RESULTS

Engineering Manager Mosby said he had planned to start this project in September 1998. Due to certain circumstances the project was delayed and the bids were resubmitted with a 5% increase. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by President Puddicombe and unanimously carried to: 1) approve entering into a contract with Southern California Edison (SCE) for the extension of electrical distribution line and service for the District’s proposed Romero Canyon Reservoir Pump Station; 2) approve and execute the easement with Southern California Edison for the installation, operation and maintenance of Edison facilities on the District’s Romero Reservoir property; and 3) approve the payment of $28,693.92 to SCE for the extension of this electrical service line for the proposed Romero Reservoir Pump Station subject to review and approval by District staff of SCE’s refund policy. Appropriation of funds in the amount of $28,693.92 is not required since this portion of the project is part of the 1999/00 Fiscal Year budget for the Romero Reservoir Pump Station.

Manager Adjarian explained that District staff had met with County staff geologist Brian Bacca of County Planning and Development to review this situation and had also met in the field. It was decided that the District should establish terms and conditions relative to this issue. A motion was made by Director Wilson, seconded by Director Puddicombe and unanimously carried that the District should ratify the terms and conditions proposed by staff to protect the District’s existing 8" line at Greenwell Avenue.

Manager Adjarian said that the District had been in the process for nearly four years of selling the Buell property. Santa Barbara County Planning and Development staff had caused various delays on the sale of this property since the project had not been deemed complete. The General Manager asked that the Board ratify the letters from the District dated December 23, 1999 and January, 2000 to Mr. John Patton, County Planning Director. Mr. Adjarian noted that the District had received a letter dated December 30, 1999 from Mr. Noel Langle, with the County of Santa Barbara Planning. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Wilson and unanimously carried to ratify the letters to Mr. John Patton, County Planning Director. It was further noted that staff had received calls from County CAO Mike Brown, Mr. Salud Carbajal with Supervisor Schwartz’s office, amd Mr. Patton regarding the January 13, 2000 letter. Mr. Adjarian indicated that Mr. Brown would be setting up a technical staff level meeting of District and County staff to discuss the outstanding (remaining) aspects of MWD’s project application, and a schedule for hearing the project before the Planning Commission.

LOWER TORO CANYON WATER MAIN REPLACEMENT
PROJECT PROPOSED SCOPE OF WORK REVISION

Engineering Manager Mosby reviewed for the Board the exhibit for the scope of work. He stated a 10" pipe would be installed to service new Padaro Lane customers. About 90% of it would be steel and 10% would be PVC since it will be near electrical conduits. Mr. Mosby requested that the Board approve an additional 600 feet of 8" DIP. A motion was made by Director Wilson, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to: 1) approve the proposed scope of work change indicated on the exhibit map for the Lower Toro Canyon Road water main replacement project; and 2) appropriate funding in addition to the previously budgeted $168,800 in the amount of $41,200 from the 1998A Bond Fund for the addition of approximately 600 feet of new 8" DIP for a total project amount of $210,000.

Manager Adjarian presented a handout to the Board. Due to high water usage resulting to the rather dry season it was recommended that the District increase their state water order from 550 acre feet to 1200 acre feet. It was stated it could be sold back at a reduced rate if it rained late in the year. The Central Coast Water Authority has set up a program to buy it back at $23 per acre foot. In the event the water in not purchased locally, the DWR could by it back for $11 per acre foot. If there were no buyers for this water it would go back into Turnback Pool B. The Delta charge is $23 per acre foot, and costs approximately $200 for every actual acre foot delivered. If the water does not go into Lake Cachuma then there is no cost for energy to pump and treat the water. A motion was made by Director Wilson, seconded by Director Puddicombe and unanimously carried to: 1) increase the State Water order for the calendar year 2000, from 550 acre feet to 1,200 feet, subject to review of new data received from CCWA; and 2) approve offering the District’s 2000 state water entitlement available for purchase in excess of the delivery request to the CCWA’s Pool A or the DWR’s Turnback Pool A or B.

Manager Adjarian said that a letter request and proposed resolution had been received by the District from Mr. John Fink regarding the banning of fluoride from District drinking water supplies. It was noted that Mr. Fink is a District customer and President of the Santa Barbara Chapter of the Cancer Victors and Friends. Mr. Fink had requested the MWD Board of Directors consider a resolution to protect the citizens of Montecito from being "forced to consume an added fluorine-bearing substance without the customers consent". Manager Adjarian also noted that the Santa Barbara City Council had recently voted against placing fluoride in its drinking water supplies, and that the Operations Committee reviewed this item in detail and recommended denying the proposed resolution as the question was now mute and the Board had already responded to the City by letter at its meeting of January 10, 2000. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Jones and carried 3-1 with Director Wilson opposed to take no further action at this time since the City had already taken action.

Due to the lateness of the hour, it was the consensus of the Board of Directors to hold a Special Board meeting on Tuesday, January 25, 2000 at 9:00 a.m. to discuss the non-action agenda items.

The Board adjourned to the Montecito Water District Financing Corporation at 5:25. The Board reconvened at 5:35 p.m. to continue with the regular meeting.

Manager Adjarian reviewed with the Board the proposed revisions to the handbook which included a 12 month introductory period for new employees, allowing a certain portion of an employee’s sick leave to care for a sick family member, and for a District employee not to be allowed to give out any personal information on another employee. He explained that there was also a pre-employment drug and alcohol test required for new employees before being hired.

Manager Adjarian explained that the policy regarding family medical leave is only applicable when there are 50 employees but should be adopted in any case. It was noted that both these items could be adopted at the same time. A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Wilson and unanimously carried to adopt the amendments to the District employee handbook and the policy regarding family medical leave.

Following brief discussion by the Board, this item would be handled at the Special Board Meeting on January 25, 2000.

Counsel Wullbrandt said that the County needed to be notified of Director Campbell’s resignation and the vacancy in office. He said that the Board would need to appoint a replacement Director or call an election within 60 days of January 18, 2000. If the Board decided to appoint, the newly appointed Director would serve until the next District election which is November 7, 2000. The new Director would need to run for election at that point to fill out the two year remainder of the term.

ADJOURNMENT

The Board meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

Approved:

_______________________________
Robert W. Puddicombe, President

Attest:

______________________________
Fred J. Adjarian, Secretary

Note: The agenda for this meetings was posted at the front counter and in the public display case located on the front wall outside the Montecito Water District office on January 14, 2000.