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Home My WebLink About10-27-2004 Steering Committee MinutesMINUTES OF STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Wednesday, October 27, 2004 A meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was held on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 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: Steve Anderson, Chair Jim Ferryman, Vice Chair Carolyn Cavecche, Chair, OMTS Committee Roy Moore, Chairman, FAHR Committee Shirley McCracken, Past Board Chair Directors Absent: Brian Donahue, Chairman, PDC Committee Jim Silva, County Supervisor OTHERS PRESENT: Director Cathy Green Director Tod Ridgeway Thomas L. Woodruff, General Counsel Brad Hogin, Counsel Don Hughes, Asst. to Supervisor Silva Steve Bone, Robert Mayer Corp Garry Brown, Orange County CoastKeeper Daniel Cozad, SAWPA Acting General Manager Marta Hayden, Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau Bill Workman, City of Huntington Beach Douglas C. Traub, Huntington Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau (2) APPOINTMENT OF CHAIR PROTEM No appointment was necessary. (3) PUBLIC COMMENTS Comments were made under item 6 below. STAFF PRESENT: Blake Anderson, General Manager Bob Ghirelli, Director of Technical Services David Ludwin, Director of Engineering Carol Beekman, Director of Communications and Administrative Services Jennifer Cabral , Public Information Specialist Jim Colston, Legal & Regulatory Affairs Liaison Jim Herberg, Engineering Manager Ed Torres, Engineering Manager Jim Burror, Senior Engineer Mike Moore, Environmental compliance & Monitoring Manager Layne Baroldi Legal & Regulatory Affairs Liaison Ann Sullivan, Principal HR Analyst Gail Garrett, Committee Secretary IN T FILED ORANG~E ~:.~!~~-OF THE SECRETARY . . . "' ,,.,.,.,.,1"\N DISTRICT NOV 17 200 4 BY ~< -------~--------~ (4) RECEIVE. FILE AND APPROVE MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING The minutes of the September 22, 2004 Steering Committee meeting were approved as drafted . Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 2 October 27, 2004 (5) REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE CHAIR Committee Chair Steve Anderson introduced our Director from Huntington Beach, Mayor Cathy Green. Chair Anderson also recognized Doug Davert as the active director for the City of Tustin at tonight's Board meeting, replacing Tony Kawashima. Director Davert is also appointed to the OMTS Committee . Chair Anderson announced the meeting dates for the standing and ad hoc committees. He noted that, due to the Thanksgiving Holidays, the Board will meet a week earlier next month on November 1ih. Chair Anderson also announced the November 6 christening ceremony for the "Nerissa", our new Ocean Monitoring Vessel, which will be held at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum. Attendance is voluntary and this event is not compensable for Directors . (6) REPORT OF THE GENERAL MANAGER General Manager Blake Anderson introduced Daniel Cozad, SAWPA Acting General Manager. M r. Cozad thanked the Board for giving Acting General Manager Bob Ghirelli authority to meet with him and discuss the current litigation between SAWPA and OCSD . General Manager Anderson noted that this item will be discussed in closed session this evening. Bob Ghirelli reported that the original estimate on the Labor Day spill was of treated and disinfected effluent into the Santa Ana River inaccurate. Further recalculation by both staff and outside experts indicated the spill was approximately 1.6 million gallons . Samples immediately following the spill showed a spike at the mouth of the Santa Ana River only although, as a precaution , the beaches were closed from Magnolia in Huntington Beach to 52nd Street in Newport Beach by the County Health Department soon after it was notified of the event. Dr. Ghirelli informed the Steering Committee that staff is preparing a report for the Regional Board next week which will be shared with our Board of Directors. He also informed the directors that the penalty against the District could be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range . Director Ridgeway questioned whether further information was received from Edison regarding the helicopter that purportedly dropped water on the power transformer. Dr. Ghirelli informed that the District has requested information on the alleged incident but has not received a response. Director Cavecche noted that the spill incident was an aberrance -the District has not had a spill into the Santa Ana River in 30 years. Dr. Ghirelli also reported on the Huntington Beach PR Fund proposal received from the Huntington Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau . He, Carol Beekman, Bob Ooten, and Jennifer Cabral met with the group and Mayor Cathy Green to discuss the group's request that OCSD pay for an advertising campaign to mitigate the bad press coverage received over the last five years . Director Tod Ridgeway introduced Douglass Traub, Steve Bone , Garry Brown, and Bill Workman , representatives of the Huntington Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau and the C ity of Huntington Beach. They each requested that the Sanitation District fund the public outreach campaign to improve the image of Orange County beaches and water quality, and to inform the public about the measures that have been taken to protect public health. After extensive d iscussion, Chai r Anderson requested a meeting with Director Tod Ridgeway, Director Cathy Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 3 October 27, 2004 Green, and the mayor of Seal Beach, and other interested parties to discuss the concept, after which he will present his findings to one of the District's standing committees. Director Jim Ferryman asked whether the District's participation would be a gift of public funds. Chair Anderson requested General Counsel to offer an opinion on the matter. General Manager Anderson briefed the Committee on the impact of last night's storm. The Corps of Engineers regulated the flow in the Santa Ana River at 2500 cfs . Protective rip-rap will be added to the vulnerable section of the SARI line as soon as the flow in the river subsides. Board Agenda Item 18 will address the emergency repair costs which were originally estimated at $350,000, but are now estimated at $635,000. This will be presented to the Board tonight. The two-year transfer of the Sanitation District's property tax was forecast by staff at $16 million in June and appears to be was on target. Our 2004-2005 budget, approved by the Board in June, accounts for this loss of revenue. Director Ridgeway introduced Marta Hayden , Newport Beach Conference & Visitors Bureau. (7) REPORT OF GENERAL COUNSEL General Counsel Tom Woodruff reported an additional item has been added to Closed Session , Item D. The District has received new claims on the Bushard Trunk project. General Manager Anderson handed out an Ethics Manual for the Steering Committee to review and decide if it would benefit all Board members to receive a copy. (8) DISCUSSION ITEMS (Items A-D) A. State and Federal Legislative Advocacy Update General Manager Anderson reported that our efforts to secure additional funds for secondary treatment will continue. Under authority previously granted by the Board of Directors, Mr. Anderson will renew the three contracts with the District's lobbyists, subject to a cost reduction for ENS Resources from $180,000 to $120,000. B. California Performance Review Update Dr. Robert Ghirelli , Director of Technical Services , reported the Governor's California Performance Review (CPR) has completed its hearings and prepared a report that represents the preliminary analysis and findings of the CPR Commission. Jim Colston reported that recent news from the commission indicates the likelihood the SWRCB and RWQCBs may not be eliminated as originally proposed. Staff will continue to monitor the CPR as it moves to the Little Hoover Commission. C . Agenda Items scheduled to be presented to Committees in November were not reviewed due to time constraints . D . Agenda Items for Board of Directors Meeting of October 27, 2004 were not reviewed or considered due to time constraints. Minutes of the Steering Committee Page 4 October 27, 2004 (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 The next Steering Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 17 , 2004, 2004 at 5 p.m . The next Board Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 7 p.m . (13) CLOSED SESSION The Committee convened at 6 :32p.m. in Closed Sess ion, pursuant to Sections 54956 .8, 54956.9, 54957 or 54957.6, to discuss five items. 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 . A report of the recommended actions will be publicly reported at the time the approved actions become final. At 6:55p.m., the Committee reconvened in regular session. (14) ADJOURNMENT The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m. Submitted by: Gail Garrett Committee Secretary H:\dept\agenda\Steering Committee\2004\1004\102704 SC Minutes.S.doc