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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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:
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