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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-26-2015 Steering Committee MinutesMINUTES OF THE STEERING COMMITTEE Orange County Sanitation District Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. A regular meeting of the Steering Committee of the Orange County Sanitation District was called to order by Chair Beamish on Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at 5:02 p.m. in the Administration Building of the Orange County Sanitation District. A quorum was declared present, as follows: COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: John Nielsen, Chair Keith Curry, Administration Committee Chair John Withers, Operations Committee Chair Tom Beamish, Member-At-Large Lucille Kring, Member-At-Large David Shawver, Member-At-Large COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT: Greg Sebourn, Vice-Chair PUBLIC COMMENTS: None. REPORTS: STAFF PRESENT: Jim Herberg, General Manager Bob Ghirelli, Assistant General Manager Rob Thompson, Director of Engineering Lorenzo Tyner, Director of Finance & Administrative Services Ed Torres, Director of Operations & Maintenance Nick Arhontes, Director of Facility Support Services Kelly A. Lore, Clerk of the Board Jennifer Cabral Norbert Gaia Al Garcia Laura Maravilla Richard Spencer OTHERS PRESENT: Brad Hogin, General Counsel Anna Laliberte, Alliant Insurance Chair Nielsen provided a report on the recent 6Qth annual CASA conference and stated that OCSD was a main topic of conversation in many areas. He and General 08/26/2015 Steering Committee Minutes Page 1of5 Manager accepted the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) Achievement Award on behalf of OCSD, OCWD and Black & Veatch for the initial expansion of the GWRS. He provided information of topics discussed at the conference including: product producer agencies as opposed to treatment agencies; digestion that creates biogas; fertilizer and composting projects; recent regulations regarding food waste; agency overlap regarding storm water recapture; CASA legislative platform including SB350 and suggested that we review the platform through our Legislative and Public Affairs Committee. Finally, the chair stated that many new technologies including Aqua Critox were discussed at the conference. General Manager Jim Herberg announced the receipt of several awards including: the Gold Peak Performance Award from NACWA; the National Safety Award from the Water Environment Federation; recognition from NOAA for TsunamiReady and StormReady; OCSD intern Danny Mejia received a $5000 scholarship from the CASA Education Foundation; and the Excellence in Procurement Award. Mr. Herberg announced recent outreach efforts, including an OCSD facility tour for Senator John Moorlach which was attended by Chair Nielsen and Directors Beamish, Kiley and Withers. Mr. Herberg updated the Committee on the progress of the GWRS expansion which is operating at a 30 mgd. increase and also informed the Committee that the General Manager Draft Work plan in included in tonight's information and provided a brief overview of the plan. Mr. Herberg announced the SAWPA tour on September 3, 2015 from 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. and the State of the District Event on October 16, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. Director Shawver arrived at meeting 5:13 p.m. The committee discussed the possible linkage between the CASA Legislative Committee and OCSD's Legislative and Public Affairs Committee. Director Kring commended Mr. Herberg on his work plan, particularly the succession planning and the employee engagement survey. Director Shawver asked if Mr. Herberg would provide an overview as to the working relationship between OCSD and the OC Waste and Recycling facilities and the vision for the future. Chair Nielsen commented that he recently visited the CR & R anaerobic digesters in Perris, CA, which are gearing up for food and green waste creating biogas, to fuel their trucks. Mr. Herberg stated that currently there is no available digester space, therefore we are not in a position to accept food waste, but pilot testing has concluded that it would be beneficial and he anticipates the target date in 2017 for completion. 08/26/2015 Steering Committee Minutes Page 2 of 5 Director of Engineering, Rob Thompson notified the Committee that a presentation of the Biosolids Master Plan will be provided to the committees in October. Discussion ensued. CONSENT CALENDAR: 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (Clerk of the Board) MOVED. SECONDED. AND DULY CARRIED TO: Approve Minutes of the July 22, 2015 Regular Steering Committee Meeting. AYES: NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: NON-CONSENT: Beamish; Curry; Kring; Nielsen; Shawver and Withers None None Sebourn Assistant General Manager Robert Ghirelli provided a brief introduction and short presentation of Item 2. 2. OCSD MEDICAL INSURANCE REOPENER (Robert Ghirelli) MOVED. SECONDED. AND DULY CARRIED TO: Recommend to the Board of Directors to: Adopt Resolution No. OCSD 15-17, entitled, "A Resolution of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Sanitation District Approving Medical Insurance Changes Identified Through the 2015 Medical Reopener Negotiations." AYES: NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: Beamish; Curry; Kring; Nielsen; Shawver and Withers None None Sebourn Questions were answered by Human Resources Manager, Richard Spencer and Anna Laliberte, Alliant Insurance regarding: Union participation; deductibles; PPO plans; lower premiums and pretax Health Savings Account. Assistant General Manager Robert Ghirelli provided a brief introduction and short presentation of Item 3, stating the report contains the final list of 18 agencies which will be used in the comparison study; 12 are the same from the previous study and six are new. He further stated that the consultant will review and normalize the data. 08/26/2015 Steering Committee Minutes Page 3 of 5 Concerns were raised by the Committee regarding the proposed list of agencies, particularly the Bay area agencies, where they expressed that the cost of living is much higher and may possibly drive up the comparisons. Mr. Spencer explained the process of normalization of the data in detail and the challenges of finding similar size and specialized agencies that compare to OCSD. Suggestions were made to possibly run two comparisons, one with all proposed agencies and one with only local agencies. In response to a question, Mr. Spencer clarified that the current MOU's, recently approved by the Board, commit us to completing this class and compensation study. The studies are typically completed every 5 years. The consensus of the Committee was that they were not in favor of bay area comparables and asked for alternate economic and geographic areas such as: San Bernardino, Riverside, Central Valley, Imperial County, and the Inland Empire be considered. 3. CLASSIFICATION & COMPENSATION STUDIES -COMPARISON AGENCIES (Robert Ghirelli) MOVED, SECONDED. AND DULY CARRIED TO: Direct staff to come back to the Steering Committee with the 12 comparable agencies from the previous list; add additional comparison agencies from other economic and geographic areas; and eliminate some of the bay area comparables. Approve the final list of comparison agencies to begin the next phase of the Classification & Compensation Studies, •.vhich includes a labor market survey. AYES: NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: CLOSED SESSION: Beamish; Curry; Kring; Nielsen; Shawver and Withers None None Sebourn CONVENED IN CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTIONS: 54956.9(d)(1); 54957.6 The Committee convened in closed session at 5:45 p.m. to discuss five items. Confidential minutes of the Closed Session have been prepared in accordance with the above Government Code Sections and are maintained by the Clerk of the Board 08/26/2015 Steering Committee Minutes Page 4 of 5 in the Official Book of Confidential Minutes of Board and Committee Closed Meetings. RECONVENED IN REGULAR SESSION: The Committee reconvened in regular session at 6:10 p.m. CONSIDERATION OF ACTION, IF ANY, ON MATTERS CONSIDERED IN CLOSED SESSION None. OTHER BUSINESS AND COMMUNICATIONS OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA ITEMS, IF ANY: None. ADJOURNMENT: The Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 6 :11 p.m. to the next Steering Committee meeting to be held on Wed nesday, September 26, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. Submitted by: 08/26/2015 Steering Committee Minutes Page 5 of 5