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Home My WebLink About04-26-2000 Steering Committee MinutesDRAFT MINUTES OF STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, April26, 2000 A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was held on Wednesday, April26, 2000 at 5 p.m., in the District's Administrative Office. (1) The roll was called and a quorum declared present, as follows: STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Directors Present: Pat McGuigan, Chair pro tem and Chair, OMTS Committee Norm Eckenrode, Chair, PDC Committee Tom Saltarelli, Chair, FAHR Committee Jim Silva, County Supervisor Directors Absent: Jan Debay, Chair of the Board Peer Swan, Vice Chair (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PRO TEM OTHERS PRESENT: Thomas L. Woodruff, General Counsel Ryal Wheeler STAFF PRESENT: Don Mcintyre, General Manager Blake Anderson, Asst. General Manager Jean Tappan, Committee Secretary Michelle Tuchman, Director of Communications Gary Streed , Director of Finance Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical Services Mike Moore, ECM Manager Jim Herberg, Engineering Supervisor Pat McGuigan was appointed Chair protem because of the absence of Directors Debay and Swan. (3) PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no comments by any member of the public. (4) RECEIVE, FILE AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the Regular March 22 and Adjourned April 3 , 2000 meetings of the Steering were approved as drafted. Director McGuigan abstained. (5) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR The Committee Chair did not make a report . F ILED IN THE OFFiC E OF THE SECRETA RY ORANGE COUNTY SANITATION DI STnrC · MAY 24 2000 'l'/ /J( __ Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 2 April 26, 2000 (6) REPORT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER General Manager Don Mcintyre reported on the negotiations with the City of Brea on connection fee waivers for Bexley Neighborhood properties currently on septic tanks. Director Daucher has now suggested a compromise of a loan, or lien, against the property in the amount of $3,000. Staff will prepare several alternatives for terms and conditions for the loans for presentation to the FAHR Committee. Supervisor Silva asked that some type of interest be assessed. General Counsel Tom Woodruff indicated that a loan program is allowed by the Special District Act. Mr. Mcintyre will notify Brea and the County that this will be presented to our Directors for consideration. Agenda Item {9)A. will be removed from the agenda. Senator Polanco has pulled his bill from consideration; however, he has committed to reintroduce the bill next session after the state-wide EIR has been adopted. Jim Herberg discussed the most recent meeting with the City of Huntington Beach and the State Fish and Game Department regarding landscaping at Plant 2. A go-ahead was given to begin design with an advisory committee formed to review it. Mr. Mcintyre indicated that an item would be added to the Board agenda, requesting approval of the MOU with the County of Orange on urban runoff, which outlines the District's responsibilities and fair share of costs. (7) REPORT OF THE ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER Blake Anderson reported on the activities of the Little Hoover Commission, which is currently looking at special districts' governance, public authority, reserves and revenues. A report is due this week and staff will analyze the findings and report to the Directors. The Rebuild America program is also working with public agencies, but is looking at the longer view of infrastructure needs. One may balance the other. (8) REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL General Counsel Tom Woodruff indicated that the Court has denied a writ filed by an employee. He updated the members on the activities regarding the Kern County biosolids lawsuit. The State's office of Planning and Research has determined that Kern County shall be the lead agency for the CEQA documentation related to Yakima's Class A biosolids processing facilities . However, he also mentioned that Yakima has withdrawn its application for the facilities for a number of reasons. Emilio Ariston, an employee who is challenging a problem solving decision, may address the Board. Blake Anderson met with him, and indicated that he is free to address the Board, but that there is no administrative recourse at this point in the process. (9) DISCUSSION ITEMS (Items A-F) A. Resolution in Support of Senate Bill 1956 (Polanco). This item was pulled from the agenda. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 3 April 26, 2000 B. Urban Runoff/Coastal Remediation Action Plan. Robert Ghirelli reported that this item is on the Board agenda . A request for an additional $160,000 of funding for the District's share of Phase 2 studies has been received from Huntington Beach. Staff is in the process of evaluating this request to verify the District's share. The status of the diversion of urban runoff flows from Huntington Beach was discussed. There are now nine pump stations diverting flow to the District. So far our ocean discharge permit limits have not been exceeded by this practice. Staff will continue to monitor the early affects of this practice. Director Eckenrode expressed concern about making sure all of the affected parties are involved in the discussions. At a presentation put on by the County, there was no mention of the Sanitation District's role. Director Silva indicated that he would be asking one County staffer to be assigned as lead for this program. The first stage is to determine the source and the second stage will be a cooperative program to remedy the problem. Staff will present its recommendations on the request for additional funding to the OMTS and FAHR Committees. C. Changes to Standard Agreement Form for Cooperative Projects Program, Job No. J-73. Jim Herberg discussed proposed changes to the form of agreement for these projects as a result of a letter request from the City of Huntington Beach for verification that all of the District's funding is from local sources. The City may be requesting matching funds from the federal government. It was moved, seconded and approved to incorporate the following into the Cooperative Projects Program agreements: (1) Require the local agencies to reimburse the District for costs incurred by the District, including costs for financial audits, resulting from local agency participation in state and federal matching fund programs; and (2) Require local agency project funding to match that of the District's, dollar- for-dollar, regardless of state and federal grant or loan participation. D. US Bureau of Reclamation/Southern California Recycling Projects Initiative. Jim Herberg reported on the District's participation in this program. The Bureau is seeking interested agencies as partners to share in the costs and by doing so would allow the District membership on the Executive Management Team, which is responsible for the overall direction of the program. Costs would depend on the number of partners and should be known by June. Staff was directed to forward the information to the GWRS Joint Coordinating Committee at its next meeting and report back to the Steering Committee in May. E. What has the EMT done since its January Retreat? Transition Plan Blake Anderson, in an effort to make an orderly transition, described where the EMT is, where it wants to be and how it plans to get there. He described the steps taken to date, including the management training (conducted by a firm called MAP) for all EMT members and division managers and the EMT retreat in January. Management has been establishing expectations for the next budget, Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 4 April 26, 2000 achieving alignment through the vision and mission statements for departments and divisions, developing operating philosophies using the basic MAP tools for setting goals. Staff is working on a five-year staffing plan, which will consider each division as a separate business unit, developing goals and objectives and staffing requirements to meet those goals. Macro issues that may impact all departments are being developed so that they may be considered during the development of the five-year staffing plan and work plans. An issues list that was a result of the EMT Retreat will be considered by an Operational Organization Committee in attempt to prioritize the items and fix those things that need fixing. F. Review Agenda Items scheduled to be presented to Committees in May . The OMTS Committee agenda will include a tour of the lab and the PDC Committee will meet at Plant 2 to tour several of the sites of future projects. Several items listed for review by the OMTS Committee have been removed from the agenda. (9) OTHER BUSINESS, COMMUNICATIONS OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA ITEMS. IF ANY Don Mcintyre reported that representatives from Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch were at the District last week for presentations prior to their determining a rating for our finance offerings. (10) MATTERS WHICH A DIRECTOR WOULD LIKE STAFF TO REPORT ON AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING There were none. (11) MATTERS WHICH A DIRECTOR MAY WISH TO PLACE ON A FUTURE AGENDA FOR ACTION AND/OR STAFF REPORT There were none. (12) CONSIDERATION OF UPCOMING MEETINGS The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for May 24, 2000 at 5 p.m. The next Board Meeting is scheduled for May 24, 2000 at 7 p.m. (13) CLOSED SESSION There was no closed session. ~ .. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 5 April 26, 2000 (14) ADJOURNMENT The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. H:\wp.dta\agenda\STEERING COMM/TTEE\00\Apr00\042600 SC Minutes.doc