MINUTES OF A SPECIAL 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, JULY 18, 2000

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

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

PUBLIC FORUM

There were no members of the public present during public forum.

PUBLIC HEARING ON PROPOSED WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND FIRE FLOW UPGRADE PROGRAM, PROPOSED FINANCING, AND ANY OBJECTIONS OR PROTESTS TO THE PROPOSED CHARGE AND REPORT

President Puddicombe opened the public hearing at 2:04 p.m. Manager Adjarian reviewed with the Board the proposed capital improvement projects for FY 2000/01. There being no written comments or public present for verbal comments, the public hearing was closed at 2:25 p.m.

CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION NO. 1902 ESTABLISHING WATER AVAILABILITY CHARGE FOR 2000/01 TO FINANCE WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND FIRE FLOW UPGRADE PROGRAM AND CONSIDERATION OF REPORT ESTABLISHING WATER AVAILABILITY CHARGE FOR 2000/01

A motion was made by Director Abel, seconded by Director Wilson and carried with the following roll call vote to approve Resolution No. 1902 establishing the Water Availability Charge for the FY 2000/01 to finance the water distribution system and the fire flow upgrade program and consideration of a report establishing the Water Availability Charge for FY 2000/01:

AYES:        Directors Abel, Bachman, Drewry, Puddicombe, Wilson
NOES:        None
ABSENT:        None
ABSTAIN: None

GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT

Manager Adjarian said that he had nothing new to report at this time.

 ADJOURN TO REGULAR MEETING OF MWD BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The Special Meeting of the MWD Board of Directors was adjourned to its regular meeting at 2:35 p.m. at the MWD offices, located at 583 San Ysidro Road, Montecito, CA.

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

583 SAN YSIDRO ROAD, MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA
at 2:35 P.M. on TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2000

CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

The meeting was called to order by President Puddicombe at 2:43 p.m.
Those in attendance were:

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

The following consent calendar items were considered by the MWD Board of Directors:

A. Minutes of June 18, 2000 meeting.
B. Water Production Report for June 2000.
C. Water Sales Reports for June 2000.
D. Water Works Operation Report for June 2000.
E. Investment of District Funds.
F. Payment of Bills for June 2000.
G.    May 2000 Cashflow Report with June 2000 Sales.
H.    Report on Distribution System and Fire Flow Upgrade Program,
       Water Availability Charge and the 1998A Bond Project Funds.

The Board discussed several consent calendar items. A motion was made by Director Drewry, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to approve the consent agenda as presented.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Puddicombe requested that this item be tabled and be brought back at a future date with a revised proposal for the consideration of the Board of Directors.

ENGINEERING / DISTRIBUTION / TREATMENT

Manager Adjarian explained that the Board’s Operations Committee had met on July 10, 2000 to discuss this item and were recommending approval. Mr. Steve Tanner of Padre Environmental Associates briefly reviewed with the Board the timeline for the environmental process and the project management issues associated with the covering of the Ortega Reservoir. A motion was made by Director Drewry, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to approve the proposal from Padre Associates, Inc. for engineering and project management services for a not-to-exceed fee of $32,310.50.

B. UPDATE / ORTEGA RESERVOIR WATER QUALITY STATUS

Manager Adjarian noted that the Operations Committee had met and discussed pending water quality issues at Ortega Reservoir (which had a positive Bac-T test for E-Coli and that all distribution samples were negative.) Mr. Adjarian had met with Dr. Mike McGuire, of McGuire Environmental Consultants (MEC), and MWD’s Water Treatment and Production Superintendent, Mr. Steve Hickox to walk the Reservoir to review the situation. MEC will prepare a letter proposal for the Board’s consideration at its August meeting. The proposal will contain suggestions (if necessary) for enhancing MWD’s water quality sampling protocol at Ortega Reservoir .

Manager Adjarian explained that several projects in connection with the Ortega Reservoir had been previously approved by the Board, but did not designate a specific funding source. A motion was made by Director Drewry, seconded by Director Abel and unanimously carried to appropriate funds from the MWD 1998 A Bond Funds for the following projects:

• CEQA/NEPA environmental documentation services to be provided by Padre Associates, Inc. for the proposed covering of Ortega Reservoir for $23,900.
• Engineering services provided by Boyle Engineering Corporation regarding the Cater Water Treatment Plant Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement for a not-to-exceed fee of $34,950.
• Project management services for Ortega Reservoir by Padre Associates in the amount of $32,310.50.

Manager Adjarian explained the proposed disclosure requirements as defined by AB 1542 which came into effect in January 1996. Counsel Chip Wullbrandt explained the requirements in the level of detail required by AB 1542--- in comparison with the District’s current procedure for disclosing all expenditures, Director and staff reimbursements on a monthly basis. Following lengthy discussion by the Board, President Puddicombe called for a vote on the proposal. The item failed to receive further consideration by the Board of Directors for lack of a second.

Director Wilson reported that the replacement of the Executive Director for the Montecito Association had been discussed at the last meeting of the Association. He also reported that Director Drewry was doing an excellent job on the Membership Committee and that membership had increased as compared to the previous year. Director Wilson also reported that CALTRANS had agreed to irrigate certain street corners with MWD meters already installed in the area.

B.  CENTRAL COAST WATER AUTHORITY MEETING OF 6/22/00

President Puddicombe said that there was nothing new to report.

C. CACHUMA CONSERVATION RELEASE BOARD MEETING OF 6/26/00

Director Abel said that all of the lobbying efforts to obtain funding for the CCRB and ID #1 fish enhancement projects over the last two years have been successful. She said that Governor Davis had included in his FY 2000/01 budget $750,000 to fund CCRB and ID #1 fisheries projects through the Proposition 12 bond. She stated that in addition a letter was received from the California Department of Fish and Game informing CCRB of $25,000 funding for the Salsipuedes Creek project. She mentioned that there would be additional funding in the future from both state and federal sources. Director Abel noted that Counsel Wullbrandt should be commended for his lobbying efforts in obtaining funds for fish enhancement projects.

Director Abel said there was no new information to report relative to the COMB meeting.

A.  OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

President Puddicombe stated that everything had already been discussed.


B.  FINANCE COMMITTEE

Director Wilson said there was nothing further to discuss at this time.


C.  PUBLIC INFORMATION COMMITTEE

Director Abel reported that a meeting was scheduled in August to discuss the next MWD newsletter. Director Abel directed the Board’s attention to the notice in the Board packet stating that the next ACWA Board meeting will be held in Santa Barbara. She noted that the last time ACWA had held a Board meeting in Santa Barbara was 50 years ago.

GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT

Manager Adjarian introduced Lin Ball. Ms. Ball was present to briefly summarize for the Board the key points of the draft MWD compensation philosophy. Manager Adjarian said the draft philosophy had originally been presented in written form to the Board following the April 12^th presentation by Mr. Livingstone. At this time, in order to move forward with the salary survey work, the Board needed to establish the compensation philosophy to guide the study. The proposed draft philosophy was brought back to the Board in May. However, the Board had a number of questions that needed to be answered by Mr. Livingstone or Ms. Ball.

The Board requested clarification of which coastal communities would be included in the survey. Ms. Ball stated that these would be agencies that matched similar cost-of-living areas and were of like size in terms of various parameters i.e., service area, staffing, number of connections, etc. There was also discussion to clarify what percentiles would be used for line and management staff salary ranges. Questions were also asked by the Board regarding other issues including the length of time to complete the survey, cost-of-living adjustments, benchmarking, etc. Following additional discussion, it was the consensus of the entire Board to move forward with the salary survey.

A.  DISTRICT COUNSEL REPORT

Counsel Wullbrandt stated that he had nothing new to report at this time.


B.  RECESS TO CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE 54956.9(a)/PENDING LITIGATION / MWD VS. UPRR (SANTA BARBARA SUPERIOR CASE NO. 01 001 654)

The Board recessed to closed session at 5:20 p.m. The Board reconvened to open session at 5:45 p.m. President Puddicombe noted that no action was taken by the Board regarding the above captioned matter.

There were no additional requests for items to be placed on the next agenda by Directors.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the MWD Board of Directors, the meeting was adjourned at 5:49 p.m.

Approved:

_______________________________
Robert W. Puddicombe, President

Attest:

_________________________________
Frederick J. Adjarian, Secretary