PEBBLE BEACH COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Regular Meeting of August 26, 2005

MINUTES

 

 

CALL TO ORDER

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Pebble Beach Community Services District ("PBCSD") was held in the District Boardroom on August 26, 2005. Board President Gary D. Hornbuckle called the meeting to order at 9:33 a.m.

ROLL CALL

Present:      Directors Jeffrey B. Froke, Gary D. Hornbuckle,

Leo M. Laska, Nancy D. McCullough, Richard D. Verbanec

 

Absent:        None

Others Present

Richard Andrews, General Manager/Board Secretary

Laura Paxton, Board Clerk, Paxton Ad Hoc

George Thacher, Associate Legal Counsel

Suha Kilic, Finance Officer

Michael Niccum, District Engineer

Sam Mazza, Fire Chief, California Department of Forestry and Fire

Protection, San Benito-Monterey Unit (“CDF”)

Dennis Carreiro, Fire Prevention Battalion Chief, CDF

Jackie Scoggins, Operations Battalion Chief, CDF

George Haines, Asst. Fire Chief, CDF, San Benito-Monterey Unit

Cindy Williams, PBCSD Paramedic, American Medical Response (“AMR”)

June Stock, Director, Del Monte Forest Properties Owners ("DMFPO")  

John Fischer, Pacific Grove resident

Mark Verbonich, Vice President, Community Affairs, Pebble Beach Company   

                   ("PBCo")

Vinod Badani, Vice President, E2 Consulting Engineers

Ray von Dohren, General Manager, Carmel Area Wastewater District

          (“CAWD”)

John Tormey, Pebble Beach resident

 

APPEARANCES AND ORDER OF BUSINESS

There were no additions or changes to the Agenda.

 

MINUTES

 

MOTION 08-05-01

Moved by Director Verbanec, seconded by Director McCullough, and unanimously carried, to approve the minutes of the regular Board meeting held July 29, 2005 with one change to correct the spelling of Costanilla Road on page 7.

 

FINANCIAL MATTERS

Statement of Receipts and DisbursementsWarrants Register

The Board received and reviewed the Statement of Receipts and Disbursements and the Warrants Register for July 2005. Staff answered questions from the Board.

 

MOTION 08-05-02

 

Moved by Director Laska, seconded by Director Verbanec, and unanimously carried, to approve the Warrants Register for July 2005.

 

FIRE PROTECTION

Fire Chief’s Monthly Report

The Board received and reviewed the monthly fire department operations report for July 2005. Battalion Chief Carreiro responded to questions from the Board regarding the status of vacant lot fire prevention compliance. He estimated that 20 properties remained out of compliance and said the owners will be sent final notices. He did not know the current status for residential parcel compliance, but indicated that he was unaware of any significant problems.  Director McCullough requested that any commercial fireworks permit applications be listed in the Fire Department’s monthly operations report to the Board. 

 

Performance Analysis of the Quick Response Vehicle (QRV) Program

Mr. Andrews stated that the presentation is to be continued to next month’s meeting to allow time for the ambulance company to provide statistics listing the outcome of patients treated under the program. Director McCullough requested that QRV personnel provide a presentation of the services they perform at next month’s meeting.

 

District Field Trip Regarding Fire Protection

The Board reviewed the General Manager’s report regarding a general itinerary and suggested dates for a proposed Board field trip to review fire roads, breaks, vacant lots, and open space areas. President Hornbuckle requested, and the Board concurred, that the field trip, which under state law is considered a public meeting of the Board, be scheduled for Monday, September 26, 2005, to convene at the PBCSD Boardroom at 9:00 a.m. CDF will provide 2 vans for transportation. The field trip is to include items 1, 2, and 3 listed in the submitted report, with lunch for participants optional. Mr. Andrews stated he would contact Cypress Fire Protection District Board of Directors for further information and determination of interest regarding arrangements for lunch with the PBCSD Board in the future and would report back to the Board. 

 

Amendment to PBCSD/CDF Three-Year Contract 

Mr. Kilic explained to the Board that PBCSD’s current contract with CDF covers a three-year period: fiscal years 03/04, 04/05, and 05/06. The contract includes the budget for fiscal years 03/04. Resolution 05-21 under consideration by the Board allows the budget for fiscal year 04/05 to be made part of the contract with no substantive changes involved.

 

Fire Department staff answered questions from the Board regarding the level of training for CDF contract firefighter personnel for structural fires and medical aid. Staff indicated that training in both areas is ongoing and meets high government standards. Mr. Andrews stated that the cost for the training officer is shared between PBCSD and Cypress Fire Protection District and that PBCSD warrants registers reflect costs of attending the academies and training for certain types of structural protection. Mr. Verbonich stated that, in addition to open space management, the Fire Department staff is a great asset to Pebble Beach Company in terms of checking for safety of temporary structures and helping sponsoring organizations meet state codes for events.

 

MOTION 08-05-03

Moved by Director McCullough, seconded by Director Laska, and unanimously carried, to approve Resolution No. 05-21 approving Amendment No. 1 which adds the fiscal year 2004-05 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Schedule “A” budget to the three-year Structural Fire Protection Service Agreement between the two agencies.

 

 

MAINTENANCE, ENGINEERING, AND CONSTRUCTION

Wastewater collection, treatment and disposal system

The Board received and reviewed the District Engineer’s Report of Utilities Operations and Maintenance for 7/20/05 – 8/17/05. To follow up on the source of water in the roadway identified in the Board report as the sewer force main from a residential lift station at 3192 17-mile Drive, it was determined the force main was damaged during installation of a new water main as part of the 2nd Priority Water Improvement Project.  Mr. Niccum stated that the contractor for the project, Monterey Peninsula Engineers, repaired a 10-foot section of the force main of the house lateral at no cost to the District. During subsequent discussion with the Board, Mr. Niccum indicated that house laterals are owned and maintained by property owners; private plumbing companies have cameras small enough to determine the condition of 4-inch private laterals; and, PBCSD has included an alternative in the proposed pipeline televising system specifications for a camera to inspect private laterals.

 

Forest Lake Reservoir

The Board received District Engineer Niccum’s memorandum and a slide presentation regarding construction progress on the Forest Lake Reservoir Project. The General Manager asked Mr. Niccum to clarify the potential impact on the project of PBCo’s recent request that the truck hauling of fill material from the Spyglass pit be temporarily discontinued.  Mr. Niccum stated that the construction schedule has to date been delayed approximately 10 days. Liner installation prior to rain is a critical path item, which will be impacted by a delay in completing grading work. He said it is necessary for the contractor to continue moving 1,500 yards of grading material per day from the Spyglass Pit to the reservoir for another week.  It the contractor has to discontinue hauling the material due to concerns about adversely impacting the First Tee golf tournament scheduled for the Labor Day weekend this would further delay completion of the project.  Mr. Verbonich stated that the hauling schedule and route was the topic of discussion this morning for PBCo personnel and he encouraged either Mr. Niccum or Mr. Andrews to contact Mark Stilwell or Steve Atchison after the Board meeting to work through the issue.

 

PBCSD Capital Improvement Projects

The Board received and reviewed the District Engineer's monthly status report on capital improvement projects. Mr. Niccum stated that the installation of a gate at the Pescadero Canyon Fire Road extension (no. 22) entrance essentially completes that project. Erosion control landscaping will be installed before the winter rains.  A problem telephone technicians encountered with the programming of the routers in the SBC network and the instrumentation controls at each sewer pump station is delaying completion of the SCADA system improvements project. The Forest Lake Project also includes integration with the District SCADA system.

 

Pipeline Televising Vehicle

The Board received and reviewed the District Engineer's memorandum, including proposed specifications prepared by the Engineering and Maintenance Assistant for a color television pipeline inspection system. Mr. Niccum responded to questions from the Board.

 

MOTION 08-05-04

 

Moved by Director Froke, seconded by Director Verbanec, and unanimously carried, to approve the proposed specifications for a pipeline televising vehicle and authorize an invitation to bidders.

 

CAWD Board Meeting

The Board reviewed the submitted CAWD Board reports for the Carmel Area Wastewater District Board meeting held August 18, 2005. Director Laska reviewed the issue of additional reclamation project tertiary water to be supplied to the Carmel River Lagoon and cost of the Phase II improvements over time. Ray von Dohren, CAWD General Manager, stated that an area of concern for both CAWD and PBCo relates to the expenditure of capital costs now to curtail having CAWD / PBCSD and/or the recycled water users fund future operations and maintenance costs. PBCo has come to terms with the proposed increase in project costs and authorized CAWD to proceed with the project design. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin in March 2006, with completion slated for the fall of 2007. Regarding the tertiary treatment issue, Mr. von Dohren stated the primary challenge is to effectively deal with the relatively high silica content in the wastewater and the potential biogrowth from some components of the wastewater, to avoid damaging the reverse osmosis units, and to achieve this at a reasonable cost.

 

CAWD Meeting Assignment

Director Laska accepted the assignment to attend the CAWD regular Board meeting on Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. in the CAWD Boardroom at 3945 Rio Road, Carmel.

 

Mr. Andrews will attend the CAWD Board of Directors special workshop meeting relating to staff issues on Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. in the CAWD Boardroom at 3945 Rio Road, Carmel.  It was the consensus of the Board that any director who wished to attend the CAWD special workshop may do so. 

 

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Director Laska submitted a written report and responded to questions regarding the meeting of the Monterey Regional Waste Management District (“MRWMD”) held on August 19, 2005.

 

GENERAL GOVERNMENT

PBCSD Response to Local Agency Formation Commission “Municipal Services Review”

The Board received and reviewed the General Manager’s submitted report responding to the Local Agency Formation Commission (“LAFCO”) request for information and comments from the District, which will be incorporated into the LAFCO’s review and analysis of PBCSD’s services, organization and financing. Mr. Andrews stated that one copy of a more recently edited version of the response report than the version submitted to the Board was sent to LAFCO. He noted that the edited version sent to LAFCo did not include any substantive changes.  Mr. Andrews responded to questions from the Board. As to the question of how the report might be used by LAFCO in the future, he opined that it may provide LAFCO with additional leverage to influence, but not order, how special districts will do business and obtain approvals for expanded services and boundaries. He said LAFCO came into being in the late 1960s with an aim at limiting the proliferation of governments, particularly single-purpose districts, and duplication of services by local government agencies. A 2000 Little Hoover Commission report concluded that LAFCO authority was not sufficient to achieve those objectives, and recommended the Legislature strengthen the LAFCO law. Moreover, another major report commissioned by the Legislature relating to governance in the 21st century also included recommendations for efficiency of state and local governments, including the strengthening of the LAFCO law and making LAFCOs independent of County government. He expressed the view that one way, for example, the information supplied by the District in its response to the LAFCO municipal services review could conceivably be used in the future, might be by a county to justify reallocation of local property taxes among agencies within a county.  He said following the approval of Proposition 1-A, which added safeguards to protect local government revenues from being used by the State government for State purposes, the law still allows the Legislature to authorize and/or direct individual counties to reallocate property taxes among local government entities within a county.  Mr. Andrews noted that while no bills have been introduced in the Legislature to implement that authority, the issue has been seriously considered by legislative and state administration staff.  Director Froke, remarking on his consulting experience in other counties, cited an example of the policy leverage that can be exerted by an active LAFCO.  He said Villa Park in Orange County is a small local government entity which is being challenged by LAFCO as to its ability to govern itself. The citizens of Villa Park are challenging LAFCO’s authority to direct them stating that LAFCO’s capacity is advisory only. Mr. Andrews concluded his comments by indicating that after the LAFCO of Monterey County completes all of its municipal service reviews, it will hold a series of public hearings in which it will be required to adopt determinations as to nine factors the new LAFCO law requires the Commission to review and evaluate.  He said a few important examples of the determinations LAFCO will make include “evaluation of management efficiencies”, “local accountability and governance”, “opportunities for sharing or consolidating facilities and services” and “rate restructuring”.  He opined that some of these determinations could ultimately lead to policy discussions at the LAFCO and County level, as to whether some of an agency’s resources such as property taxes could be more effectively utilized by reallocating them to other local government entities.    

 

Mr. Andrews informed the Board that the deadline for submission of the District’s response had passed but felt that if the Board believed additional information or changes should be considered in the response, that these could be forwarded for inclusion for the next 30 days or so, before the LAFCO consultant completes her review of the District’s response.  He requested that the Board ultimately support the submitted response as being accurate, as the information will become a public document, which will serve as a basis for LAFCO’s and the public’s review and discussion. President Hornbuckle complimented the staff on a fine report, and Director McCullough suggested the response report be retained and made available as an orientation resource for new PBCSD directors in the future.

 

Current and/or potential state legislation affecting the District

The Board had no questions regarding the General Manager’s Report of proposed legislation of interest to the District, in particular the remainder of the legislative calendar and status of the two bills being monitored by District staff: SB-135 (Kehoe), the re-write of the Community Services District Act and AB 1234 (Salinas), the so-called “sunshine in local government law”.

 

Safety Committee Meeting Minutes

The Board had no questions or comments regarding the minutes for the PBCSD Safety Committee meeting held August 5, 2005 and, by consensus, accepted the minutes as submitted.

 

Holiday Schedule for Board Meeting

The Board discussed whether to consolidate its November and December meetings or to hold and change the dates of those two regular Board meetings, due to scheduling conflicts with the observance of the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years holidays. 

 

By consensus it was decided that the November and December Board meetings would be consolidated into one meeting to be held Friday, December 9, 2005 at 9:30 PM. Thereafter, the next Board meeting would be held on the regular meeting date of January 27, 2006.

 

Status of PBCSD 2005 General Election.

Mr. Andrews had nothing to add and the Board had no questions regarding the submitted General Manager’s Report.  The report indicated that Director Verbanec had been the only candidate to file for the single two-year short term position on the Board, so will not be listed on the November ballot and will be certified by the Board of Supervisors as having been duly elected.  Three candidates have filed for the two long-term four-year seats now held by Director McCullough and Jeffrey Froke.  The three candidates who filed as candidates for these two seats in the November election include Director Froke, Gerald Verhasselt and Steve D. Rhee.

 

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS

Oral reports from General Manager

Mr. Andrews reviewed DMFPO efforts regarding the possible need for added police services within the Forest. DMFPO has contracted with Dr. Jan Roehl of the Justice Research Institute to assist in drafting questions for a community policing survey and later independent and objective analysis of responses.  The survey will attempt to gather data and assess perceptions of residents and property owners with respect to traffic, safety and certain related quality of life issues. DMFPO is formulating a “Blue Ribbon Committee” of various respected community members and others who have experience in dealing with Pebble Beach issues.  The Committee’s duties will be to review and assist in the development of the survey questions, and to offer recommendations to the DMFPO Board regarding possible alternative actions that may be indicated based on survey responses. Mr. Andrews said he was asked by the DMFPO President, Jack Kidder, to participate on the committee and asked the Board for its approval to participate. Director Verbanec supported the request and by consensus the Board subsequently concurred that Mr. Andrews’ participation would be appropriate.

 

Questions from Directors or staff seeking clarification of matters within the purview of the District

There were no questions from the Board or staff.

 

Oral reports or announcements from Board President, directors or staff

Director Hornbuckle announced he would be unable to attend the CAWD/PBCSD Wastewater Reclamation Management Committee meeting to be held September 16, 2005. He indicated that he did plan to attend the Pebble Beach Community Advisory Board meeting to be held September 1, 2005.

 

Director McCullough commented on a letter received regarding backwater from tides creating unpleasant odors in a small cove on 17-Mile Drive near Bird Rock Road. Mr. Andrews stated that PBCSD staff had checked for any District responsibility in the matter such as leaking sewers, found none and had referred the letter to the PBCo for review of possible stormwater drainage implications. Director Froke said he was familiar with the cove, acknowledged that the odors are at times particularly unpleasant, but expressed the opinion they are the result of a completely natural process that has been occurring over at least the last 10-15 years.

 

John Fischer advised the Board of a forthcoming meeting of the State Water Resources Control Board regarding proposed regulations for stormwater runoff into the Carmel Bay and Pacific Grove Areas of Special Biological Significance (“ASBS”).  He said the meeting will be held August 31, 2005 at the Monterey Conference Center to allow residents interested in the matter to attend. He indicated that District staff had information about the meeting. Mr. Andrews cited two District implications of the ASBS storm water run-off agenda: CAWD discharges into the Carmel Bay which is designated an ASBS; and PBCSD has the authority to be involved in the storm water issue, but does not presently have the responsibility.

 

CLOSED SESSION

President Hornbuckle announced the Board would not need to meet in closed session.

ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business at 11:56 a.m. a motion was made to adjourn. 

 

MOTION 08-05-05

 

M/S/C (unanimous) to adjourn to the next regular Board meeting to be held on Friday, September 30, 2005 at 9:30 a.m. in the District Boardroom at Forest Lake and Lopez Roads.

                          

                                                                   Richard Andrews, Secretary