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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990-02-05 Min - Board REGULAR MEETING • February 5, 1990 The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was called to order by President Jim Maass at 7 : 00 P.M. in the TDPUD Board Room. ROLL CALL: Directors Joe Aguera, John Corbett, Richard Curran, Pat Sutton and Jim Maass were present. EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Debi Black, Tom Buckhouse, Paul Colburn, Maria G. Chavez Martinez and Peter Holzmeister. CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Counsel John Phelps and Civil Engineer Keith Sauers. OTHERS PRESENT: Among those present in the audience were Charles White, Joel Alford and Bob French. CONSENT AGENDA After some discussion, Director Sutton moved that Item (a) , approval of the minutes of November 6 and December 18 , 1989, and Item (c) , consideration of a letter from John Phelps dated February 1, 1990, be placed under routine business; and that Item (e) , authorization to transfer funds from the prepaid connection fees . restricted fund to the water general fund be moved to new business. Further, she moved that the minutes of November 20, 1989 and December 4 , 1989 be approved, and that Items (b) and (d) be approved as follows: that the contract for purchase of two padmount vacuum switches for use at Baywest Properties be awarded to A. B. Chance Company in the amount of $22 , 305; and that the letter from Congressman Norman Shumway concerning the acid rain bill be acknowledged. Director Corbett seconded the motion. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. AUTHORIZATION TO AMEND LEASE OF OFFICE SPACE - CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Currently, CalTrans leases 2 , 262 square feet of office space at $1. 05 per square foot, which amounts to $28 , 500 annually. Their lease expires on February 28 , 1990, and they have proposed an amended lease; the major change is the inclusion of air conditioning. Mr. Holzmeister estimated that the cost to install and operate window units is about $2 , 000 per year. This amounts to an increase in cost of seven cents per square foot per month. Mr. Holzmeister requested authority to renegotiate the lease to include the cost of operating the air conditioner. He would also like to modify paragraph 18. CalTrans is asking that the air conditioning units maintain a constant room temperature not to ® exceed 70 degrees fahrenheit; Mr. Holzmeister would like to change that figure to 73 degrees. Charles White, member of the audience, suggested using 78 degrees, the temperature recommended by the state for energy conservation. 1 Director Corbett moved, and Director Curran seconded, that the Manager be authorized to renegotiate the lease with CalTrans as he suggested, with the agreement to maintain the temperature not to exceed 78 degrees, and to report back to the Board. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION OF A LETTER FROM JAN E. HAGEL, NEVADA COUNTY LAFCO, DATED JANUARY 22, 1990 Nevada County LAFCo is seeking nominations for persons to represent special districts. Three positions are open - one for a two-year term; one for a four-year term; and an alternate position for a four-year term. Nominations must be returned by each district to LAFCo by March 26, 1990. Upon receipt of the nominations, ballots will be prepared by LAFCo's Executive Officer and sent to each district via certified mail. The ballots should then be returned to the Executive Office via certified mail within 30 days. Votes will be tallied for each position and the person receiving the most votes for that position will become the representative for the respective term of office. Director Sutton noted her objection to the LAFCo Executive Officer's decision to hold this election by mail rather than at a meeting. She reminded the Board that when the Local Agency Formation Commission was formed, the PUD gave up some of its latent powers. In exchange, LAFCo added two seats on the Commission for special district representatives; Director Sutton believes that one of those seats is supposed to be reserved for a representative from the Truckee area. This could be difficult to monitor if the election is conducted through the mail rather than at a meeting. She suggested the a letter be written by the President to LAFCo' s Executive Officer expressing the District' s concerns. There was some discussion and, thereafter, Director Aguera moved that Director Sutton be nominated as a candidate for a position on the Local Agency Formation Commission. Director Corbett seconded the motion and agreed that the Chairman should write a letter confirming Director Sutton' s nomination and expressing the District' s concerns. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. AUTHORIZATION TO TRANSFER FUNDS FROM THE PREPAID CONNECTION FEES RESTRICTED FUND TO THE WATER GENERAL FUND Finance Supervisor Colburn' s memorandum of February 1 notes that the District's restricted water account prepaid connection fees represents prepaid connection fees and accrued interest for the Ponderosa Ranchos and Martis Woods subdivisions. During 1989 , the District installed eight new services in Ponderosa Ranchos and five in Martis Woods. Mr. Holzmeister explained that the prepaid connection fees originally paid by the developers for Ponderosa Ranchos and Martis Woods were $400 and $225 respectively, per lot. With the accrued interest, the amount currently restricted per lot is $707 . 50 for Ponderosa Ranchos and $397 . 97 for Martis Woods. 2 Staff is requesting that the Board authorize a transfer of $7 , 649 . 85 from the prepaid connection fee fund to the water general fund. The amount of $7, 649 . 85 includes $5, 660 for Ponderosa Ranchos and $1, 989 . 85 for Martis Woods. Director Sutton asked for assurance that the amounts required to install the remainder of the services are still restricted and, thereafter, Director Corbett moved that the transfer of $7 , 649 .85 from the prepaid connection fee fund to the water general fund be authorized. Director Sutton seconded the motion. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input. BILLS FOR APPROVAL Mr. Holzmeister clarified the Otis Elevator bill in the amount of $1, 099 . 21 at the request of Director Aguera. Director Aguera then moved that the bills presented for consideration be approved for payment; seconded by Director Corbett. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 6, 1989 Directors Corbett and Aguera asked that these minutes be put over so as to have an opportunity to review the tapes. The Chairman tabled the minutes to the February 20 meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 18, 1989 Counsel Phelps proposed additional language to the draft minutes of December 18 that clarifies the fact that there is a one-year statute of limitations for establishing a legal claim against the debtor for damages to District facilities caused by the collision of a vehicle with a District power pole. Director Sutton moved, and Director Corbett seconded, that the Secretary be directed to prepare the minutes of December 18, 1989 as amended. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION OF LETTER FROM JOHN PHELPS DATED FEBRUARY 1, 1990 By letter dated February 1, Counsel Phelps is proposing that the District consider adopting a program of undergrounding those electrical utilities that are located in the heavily traveled portions of Truckee. After some discussion, Director Sutton moved, and Director Maass seconded, that the matter be referred to the Electric Committee for 40 reviewe and recommendation. STAFF AND COMMITTEE REPORTS 3 February 3, 1990 storm Manager Holzmeister briefly reported on the February 3 , 1990 storm, and the Chairman commended District Electrical Engineer Buckhouse and the line crew for following through with the maintenance program. He said there are fewer and fewer outages, and the program appears to be paying off. Hirschdale meeting Civil Engineer Hyde provided a memorandum summarizing the January 31, 1990 meeting of the Water Committee and about 15 Hirschdale residents in the Board packet. Director Sutton briefly reported that the Hirschdale residents are not exaggerating regarding the water quality; the problem is serious. From a visual standpoint the water is quite unappealing. Most of the residents attending the committee meeting made it clear that they do not want a centralized treatment plant or other large improvement project built at their expense. They seemed willing to deal with the problem using in-home treatment units. The meeting ended with the PUD promising to implement whatever operational changes are reasonable on an experimental basis. The residents will observe the water quality for signs of improvement. After a month, another meeting will be held to discuss progress and to determine where to go next. Interview of consultants for Tahoe Donner leak analysis Director Sutton reported that the Water Committee, Peter Holzmeister, Dave Rully and Andy Hyde interviewed five candidates on February 1, 1990. The selection has been narrowed down to two firms; staff will review their proposals and make a recommendation to the committee. A decision will be reported to the full Board at the February 20 meeting. NCPA Commission meeting Director Maass reported that he attended the NCPA Commission meeting on January 25. He said that, for the most part, the business conducted was routine and concerned future planning. He said that he hopes to place his reports in written form from now on. Director Maass mentioned a recent letter that appeared in the Sierra Sun indicating that the NCPA was nothing more than a "power lobbying organization. " For the record, he noted that the individual who wrote the letter was totally inaccurate. The Northern California Power Agency is a power company consisting of 14 utilities, including the PUD, joined together by a joint powers agreement; he defined the purpose of NCPA and explained the benefits of membership. Current development in the Gateway Zone of Benefit 4 . Engineering Technician Black provided background on the District' s master plan and noted that she has been meeting with developers with projects in the Gateway Zone of Benefit. She advised that the master plan shows deficiencies in domestic water as well as storage for fire protection, and a storage tank must be constructed. In order to meet their water requirements for both domestic and fire protection, the Wall Street developers must build or participate in the construction. The District could apply the money intended for the 1990 construction of a second 150, 000 gallon tank at Donner Trails to the 450, 000 gallon tank construction. If a 450, 000 gallon tank was constructed in 1990 in place of the proposed 150, 000 gallon tank at Donner Trails, the District would reach 72% of its current needs, and 52% of its ultimate need in Gateway. Current development in the Gateway Zone of Benefit includes Wall Street Property with approximate storage needs of 300, 000 gallons; Truckee Business Park, two parcels, with approximate storage needs of 90, 000 gallons per parcel; Orme Development, with an estimated storage need of 200, 000 gallons; and Burge Development, storage needs unknown. The developers constructing Trailhouse Square entered into an agreement with the District prior to completion of the master plan and have paid $20, 000 in facilities fees. Mr. Sauers confirmed that the storage deficiency is serious at this point. Ms. Black noted that current District customers will benefit by construction of additional storage. She again stated that Wall Street developers (as well as other developers) , must build or participate in the construction of a storage tank to meet water requirements. She said the District will collect fees from subsequent developers to be applied to the cost of the tank construction, and fees already collected from development in the Gateway area can be applied to the construction costs. Director Sutton expressed concern about constructing such a large (450, 000 gallon) storage tank. Mr. Sauers noted, to give proper perspective, that the Northside tank is 400, 000 gallons. The Gateway master plan, he said, shows the need for two 450, 000 gallon storage tanks to meet the build-out conditions. Possible locations and the possibility of obtaining state funding were discussed. Relating to fees, Ms. Black noted that with the schedule in effect prior to completion of the master plan, (and if the capacity was adequate) Wall Street Properties would pay $140, 000 to "buy into" the system. The problem is the District can't build the facility to provide service to the developer; the facility has to be in place in order to provide the service. Mr. Sauers noted that the developer can't proceed with the project unless the storage is available. Chairman Maass asked that, within the next week, staff, Consultant Sauers and representatives from Wall Street Properties meet and look for a compromise to solve the problem. Mr. Sauers advised that meetings have been conducted and, presently, there seems to be 5 an impasse. The Chairman directed the Water Committee to become involved in the meetings as soon as possible and attempt to reach a solution. For the record, Mr. Sauers advised that the Gateway area is also deficient in source. CLOSED SESSION There was no closed session, but the Chairman noted that his research project, a closed session matter, is in the process of being typed and will be made available to the Directors prior to the next Board meeting. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, Director Corbett moved that the meeting be adjourned at 8 : 30 P.M. ; seconded by Director Aguera. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT C'�mes A. Maass, Priden Prepared by Susan M. Craig, Deputy District C1 k smc 6