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Home My WebLink About08-22-2001 Steering Committee MinutesFILED DRAFT IN THE OFFICE OF THE SECHETARY ORANG E COUI\ITY ,,,~Niifo,TiO N DISTRIC T MINUTES OF STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING SEP 2 6 2001 Wednesday, August 22, 2001 ev ____ _/_ t;_. ______ _ A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was held on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 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: Norm Eckenrode, Chair Peter Green, Vice Chair Pat McGuigan, Chairman, OMTS Committee Steve Anderson, PDC Committee Shirley McCracken, Chairman, FAHR Committee Jim Silva, County SupeNisor Directors Absent: None OTHERS PRESENT: Thomas L. Woodruff, General Counsel Don Hughes Director Tod Ridgeway Wally Kruetzen Chip Prather Dana Smith Janet Huston Ryal Wheeler Sonja Wassgren Joe Racano Doug Korthof STAFF PRESENT: Blake Anderson, General Manager -~--............. ~ Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical SeNices David Ludwin, Director of Engineering Greg Mathews, Assistant to the General (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PROTEM No appointment was necessary. (3) PUBLIC COMMENTS Manager Lisa Murphy, Communications Manager Tom Flanagan, Project Specialist Jean Tappan, Committee Secretary Mr. Doug Korthof expressed his views on the water crisis in Orange County including antiquated water laws, crumbling infrastructure, over building in coastal zone, the 301 {h) waiver, testing methodology that should be updated, continuous monitoring of the ocean and going to full secondary. Mr. Joey Racano discussed people's resistance to change. ,Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 2 August 22, 2001 (4) RECEIVE, FILE AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the July 18, 2001 Steering Committee meeting were approved as drafted. (5) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR Committee Chair Eckenrode reported on the CASA conference held last week in San Diego. He stated that the session headed by Blake Anderson was the most informative. Blake provided an overview of the session that included taking an integrated approach to watershed management that considers technical solutions and governance issues. Chair Eckenrode reported that he has called a meeting of the Urban Runoff Ad Hoc Committee for next Wednesday, August 29, 2001, at 4 p.m. here at the District. Members of that committee are: Directors Steve Anderson, Shawn Boyd, Don Bankhead, Peter Green, Beth Krom, Tod Ridgeway, Jim Silva and himself. He has also invited other agency representatives in the area. The goal is to set standards for what we need to do, fund it, and seek financial support from EPA. (6) REPORT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER General Manager Blake Anderson reported that he has reorganized the Administrative Services group to include strategic planning and oversight of the reinvention programs (DART and LEAD). By integrating these initiatives, increased efficiencies should result. Bob Ghirelli, Technical Services Director, provided the members with a heads-up on a new regulatory control on sewering agencies being proposed by the Regional Water Quality Control Board. New permits would be issued to all entities in Orange County that collect wastewater, which would establish controls, detail reporting requirements and spill responses. It is anticipated that the Sanitation District would be the lead agency. It appears that the Board has taken the federal CMOM requirements and incorporated them into these new permits. This program is being presented to the Regional Board in October. Staff will be discussing this with Regional Board staff members to find out exactly what is being proposed and the get together with the cities in the county to review the information and then make recommendations during the hearing process. Concerns expressed by the members were the issue of redundancy and duplication in the information requested, funding, inconsistency between cities/county of requiring grease traps, ability of the Regional Board staff to evaluate the data; loss of flexibility to let agencies find solutions. Mr. Ghirelli will report back to the members as this program evolves. Lisa Murphy, Communications Manager, thanked Chair Eckenrode for participating in the District's booth at the Orange County Fair. Ms. Murphy then described the results of the phone survey that was conducted during a 1 0-day period in June. There were 1500 respondents and the survey has a ± 2.6% accuracy rate. The questions addressed sewage treatment, urban runoff and costs of treatment. The data has been analyzed and the results from inland cities and beach cities have been separated. The major questions raised by the directors concerned whether the respondents were homeowners or not and how many people lived in a residence. It was suggested that an interest initiative be circulated regarding placing the level of treatment on the ballot, though the timing may be a problem. The Directors directed Ms. Murphy to present the complete survey report at the September Board Committee meetings. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 3 August 22, 2001 (7) REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL General Counsel Tom Woodruff reported on the draft MOU with SAWPA regarding major repairs to the SARI line . It appears that the draft prepared by SAWPA is an attempt to rewrite the 1972 agreement. The SAWPA draft included provisions that would give equal votes to both agencies on determining an alternative for the improvement project but did not address impasse. They also asked to serve as co-lead on other aspects of the project, and that SAWPA must approve all major repairs over $5,000. Mr. Woodruff indicated that he has rewritten the MOU to address those requests. The Steering Committee authorized presenting it to the Board for approval in concept, as there are still some changes necessary. When the MOU is finalized, it will be presented to the PDC Committee for review. (8) DISCUSSION ITEMS (Items A-B) A. County Leadership Program: Authorize General Manager to provide $5000 to fund a county-wide leadership retreat for elected officials and to confirm participation in the retreat by the Orange County Sanitation District. Wally Kruetzen, CEO of the Transportation Corridor Agencies, presented the background that led to formation of the sponsoring group, which is made of up executives of the major agencies in Orange County. The goal is to increase leadership skills and build relationships between the major Orange County utilities to work more cooperatively on regional infrastructure issues, as well as building future leadership capacities in the county. Major challenges in the county that are anticipated in the next 20 years were discussed and it is anticipated that the seminar will help electeds make the hard decisions. It will be an educational opportunity without scrutiny to generate ideas and to start addressing the actual issues/problems facing every city in the county. MOTION: It was moved, seconded and duly carried to authorize the General Manager to provide $5000 to fund a county-wide leadership retreat for elected officials and to confirm participation in the retreat by the Orange County Sanitation District. (9) OTHER BUSINESS, COMMUNICATIONS OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA ITEMS, IF ANY There was no other business discussed. (10) MATTERS WHICH A DIRECTOR WOULD LIKE STAFF TO REPORT ON AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING There were none. . . . Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 4 August 22, 2001 (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 September 26, 2001 at 5 p.m. The next Board Meeting is scheduled for September 26, 2001 at 7 p.m. (13) CLOSED SESSION The Committee convened at 6:55p.m. in Closed Session, pursuant to Section 54957.6, to discuss salaries, benefits, terms and conditions of employment for At-will Contracts with members of the Executive Management Team. Minutes of the Closed Session are on file with the Board Secretary. The minutes of the Joint Board will report on the actions when they are approved. At 6:58p.m., the Committee reconvened in regular session. (14) ADJOURNMENT The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:58 p.m. appan ng Committee Secretary G:\wp.dla\agenda\Steering Committee\01\Aug\082201 SC Minutes. doc