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Home My WebLink About10-23-2002 Steering Committee MinutesDRAFT MINUTES OF STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, October 23, 2002 A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was held on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 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: Shirley McCracken, Chair Steve Anderson, Vice Chair Pat McGuigan, Chairman, OMTS Committee Russell Patterson , Chairman, PDC Committee Brian Brady, Chairman, FAHR Committee Norm Eckenrode, Past Board Chair Directors Absent: Jim Silva, County Supervisor FILED IN THE OFF ICE OF THE SECRETARY ORANGE C('JI !~I"'V (.' ~ "IT~Tl()N DISTRICT (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PRO TEM No appointment was necessary. (3) PUBLIC COMMENTS OTHERS PRESENT: Thomas L. Woodruff, General Counsel Don Hughes Joan Irvine Smith Ryal Wheeler Mike Moore Don Schultz Bob Costin Randy Fuhrman STAFF PRESENT: Blake Anderson, General Manager Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical Services David Ludwin , Director of Engineering Bob Ooten, Director of Operations and Maintenance Sonja Wassgren, Sr. Admin. Analyst, Communications Jim Colston, Senior Regulatory Specialist Jean Tappan, Committee Secretary There were no comments by any member of the public. (4) RECEIVE, FILE AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the September 25, 2002 Steering Committee meeting were approved as drafted. (5) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR Committee Chair Shirley McCracken reported on the January 2003 CASA Mid-year conference that will be held in Palm Springs between January 15 and 18. There will be an Urban Runoff Ad Hoc Committee meeting on November 21. Chair McCracken recognized Russ Patterson's contributions as he leaves the Board next month. (6) REPORT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER A. Orange County Infrastructure Report Card General Manager Blake Anderson made a presentation on the Orange County Infrastructure Report Card, which was the subject of a roll-out on October 1 0. Sewers and wastewater received a C+. Taken separately, wastewater received a B+ and sewers an overall grade of C-. Overall, the District is in good shape but the County's sewers are suffering from age and grease buildup. Chair McCracken suggested working with the cities to provide assistance. A coordinated effort will be required to correct some of the deficiencies. B. GWRS Agreement and Amended Budget This agreement is on the Board agenda for approval. Mr. Anderson reported that the JCC unanimously approved the agreement in September and in October all three working committees heard reports on the agreement and the amended budget. The PDC Committee forwarded the agreement to the full Board with a recommendation to approve it, though it took no action on the amended budget. Last Wednesday, the Water District Board approved the agreement on an 8-1 vote. He mentioned that start-up of the project is estimated to be Spring 2007 and that the fully-escalated budget with contingency funds is now estimated to be $453 million, up from the late 2000 estimate of $352 million. A detailed presentation will be presented at the Board meeting. (7) REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL General Counsel Tom Woodruff did not make a report. (8) DISCUSSION ITEMS (Items A-E) A. Advocacy and grant-seeking activities in Washington. DC Mr. Anderson reported on the District's involvement in advocacy groups, mainly AMSA and CASA. In the last few years, our Washington representative, Eric Saperstein, has been working on several regional issues and grants. There is now a need for a far more larger effort to achieve our two major objectives: ensuring that EPA will give us reasonable time to achieve secondary treatment standards and receiving federal funding. Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical Services, explained how we plan to move forward. The District will not seek a language change in the Clean Water Act during this session of Congress. Mr. Saperstein and John Freshman will be meeting with the Steering Committee at a special meeting on November 7, 2002 between 3 and 5 p.m., prior to the PDC Committee meeting. They will discuss their plans on how to roll out these initiatives to the congress in the January through March time frame. Minutes of the Steering Committee • Page 3 October 23, 2002 B. Status of Ocean Permit Application and Negotiation Process Bob Ghirelli and Jim Colston provided an overview of the draft application and the timeline for review. The first draft is being presented to the Directors to provide an opportunity to comment and make suggestions before approving the application in November and submitting the application to EPA in the early part of December. C. Proposed Principles of Agreement between SAWPA and OCSD Blake Anderson reported that SAWPA is still about $3 million in arrears for engineering work on the SARI protection and relocation project. He announced that SAWPA has submitted a proposal letter that stated it would pay the outstanding invoices conditional upon our entering into negotiations for SAWPA purchasing the upper portion of the SARI line. There were nine deal points outlined and reviewed by Mr. Anderson and the general manager of SAWPA. These are being reviewed by staff. The Directors were asked to comment on this proposal, which would require moving flow from the SARI line to a new line through Yorba Linda. SAWPA would end up with sole responsibility for the upper portion of the SARI line and the District would be responsible for the new line. The Committee directed the general manager to put SAWPA on notice that they must be in complete compliance with the terms of the existing agreement and that their invoices are paid to our satisfaction before any further transfer of ownership discussions proceed. They also wanted to see a list of what obligations SAWPA has and which are outstanding. D. The Agenda Items scheduled to be reviewed by the Board's working committees in November were reviewed. Mr. Ghirelli reported that staff was prepared to make a report on the Huntington Beach Phase Ill study but the research team and the peer review panel have not submitted their findings and have indicated that it will be January before they are complete. The Directors directed staff to make the presentation when the information was complete E. The agenda items scheduled to be presented to the Board at tonight's meeting were reviewed. There were no questions. (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. (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 There will be a Special Steering Committee meeting on Thursday, November 7 beginning at 3 p.m. The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20, 2002 at 5 p.m. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 4 October 23, 2002 The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20, 2002 at 7 p.m. (13) CLOSED SESSION The Committee convened at 6:22p.m. in Closed Session, pursuant to Government Code Section 54956.9, to discuss an existing matter of litigation entitled; Orange County Sanitation District et al., vs. Kern County et al. Minutes of the Closed Session are on file with the Board Secretary. Confidential Minutes of the Closed Session held by the Steering Committee have been prepared in accordance with Government Code Section 54957.2, and are maintained by the Board Secretary in the Official Book of Confidential Minutes of Board and Committee Closed Meetings. There was no reportable action taken by the Steering Committee. At 6:40p.m., the Committee reconvened in regular session. (14) ADJOURNMENT The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. Submitted by: Tappan ring Committee Secretary G:\wp.dta\agenda\Steering Committee\02\0ct\ 102302 SC Minutes. doc