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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-09-06 Min - Board REGULAR MEETING September 6, 2000 In accordance with District Code Section 2.08.010, the TDPUD minutes are action only minutes. All Board meetinas are recorded on audio tapes which are preserved perpetu- ally and made available for listening to any interested party upon their request. The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was called to order at 7:06 PM in the TDPUD Board room by President Hemig. ROLL CALL: Directors Joe Aguera, James Maass, Patricia Sutton, Nelson Van Gundy and Ron Hemig were present. EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Susan Craig, Ian Fitzgerald, Stephen Hollabaugh, Peter Holzmeister, Neil Kaufman and Ed Taylor. CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Counsel Steve Gross. OTHERS PRESENT: Among those present in the audience were Dorothy Burden, John Bollin- ger, Lin Zucconi, Georgeann Rudicel, Bob Stevenson, Juanita and Frank Schneider, Peggy O'Niel, Charlie White, Marjorie Adkerson, Sue Adkerson and Alex Rogerson. PUBLIC INPUT There was no public input. PUBLIC HEARING TO RECEIVE ORAL AND/OR WRITTEN COMMENTS FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC REGARDING THE DISTRICT'S INTENT TO ADOPT AN ORDINANCE AMENDING ITS CONFLICT OF INTEREST CODE There was no one in the audience having any input on this item. It was noted that the public hearing was actually scheduled for September 20 and was put over to that meeting. DONNER LAKE WATER SYSTEM — Consideration of retaining assessment district coun- sel — Consideration of retaining assessment district engineer — Consideration of retain- ing a consulting engineer to perform services related to system acquisition Director Van Gundy excused himself from the room because of a possible conflict of interest. At the last Board meeting, the Board began to assemble a team of experts who will analyze acqui- sition of the Donner Lake water system. To complete the team, an attorney and engineer spe- cializing in assessment district formation and an engineer to perform services related to system acquisition are still needed. The District has proposals from Sam Sperry of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and from David Casnocha of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth. The PUD has worked with Sam Sperry several years ago with respect to the Farmers Home Administration loan. More recently the District has worked with David Casnocha. The fee quoted by Mr. Casnocha is considerably less than that quoted by Mr. Sperry. Both are qualified. Manager Holzmeister suggests retaining David Cas- nocha. 9/6/00 Page 1 ,.� There is a proposal from Terrance Lowell & Associates. Mr. Lowell has significant knowledge and experience in assessment district engineering. The District has worked with Mr. Lowell be- fore and staff has great confidence in his abilities. Proposals from Terrance Lowell & Associates and from a team put together by Rick Lind have been submitted to perform services related to system acquisition. Staff is familiar with the work of Terry Lowell and has great confidence in him. Staff is not familiar with Rick Lind, although he comes highly recommended by Dennis DeCuir. Mr. Holzmeister recommends retaining Mr. Lowell to perform this work. Dennis DeCuir and David Casnocha are both willing to work closely with him. After consideration, Director Aguera moved that the Board accept the proposal from David Cas- nocha of Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth to perform services related to assessment district formation for Donner Lake water system at a fee not to exceed $15,000 without prior approval of the Board. The motion was seconded by Director Maass. ROLL CALL: Van Gundy, absent; all other Directors, aye. SO MOVED. Director Maass moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the Board accept the proposal of Terrance Lowell and Associates to act as assessment district engineer and to perform engi- neering related to acquisition of the Donner Lake water system. ROLL CALL: Van Gundy, ab- sent; all other Directors, aye. SO MOVED. Bob Stevenson, Juanita Schneider, Peggy O'Niel, Charlie White, Alex Rogerson were present and spoke of their desire for the District to acquire the Donner Lake system. It was noted that there will be a PUC meeting tomorrow and it is expected that the Commission will deny without prejudice Del Oro's request for 3.7 million in funding. CONSIDERATION OF A RESOLUTION HONORING ROBERT "PETE" SILVA ON THE OC- CASION OF HIS RETIREMENT Mr. Holzmeister noted that Pete Silva has retired after 34 years of service with the PUD. The Board reviewed a draft resolution recognizing the contributions made by Mr. Silva. Director Aguera moved, and Director Van Gundy seconded, that the Board adopt Resolution No. 2000- 16 honoring Pete Silva. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye. SO RESOLVED. Mr. Holzmeister is to have a plaque prepared for presentation at the awards banquet. PUBLIC BENEFITS PROGRAM — Consideration of a resolution to dispense with competi- tive bidding and to authorize the installation of automated controls on the District's elec- tric distribution system — Consideration of a proposal to fund energy efficiency projects for the Town of Truckee at the new Town Hall under the District's public benefits program Power Supply Engineer Hollabaugh noted that automating the electric distribution system has been defined as a critical strategic issue. This will reduce the duration of outages in the District. New technology will allow staff to accomplish this task as an integrated component of the cus- tomer information, mapping, SCADA and fiber systems. After attending a Distributech conference in February, staff has been in touch with Cooper Power Products and Radius concerning their automated switch products. Radius sent the Dis- trict a switch operator/concentrator to install on a trial basis and staff was very pleased with its �-. capabilities. District interest has resulted in Radius making the TDPUD a proposal to supply the District with equipment at a greatly reduced cost. 9/6/00 Page 2 Radius Sweden AB, a Sweden based company with a US associated company, will supply 20 switch installation units along with one network concentrator, a radio site survey, commissioning after installation, training for three people at a large Radius customer site and will swap, free of charge, the existing radio units with a fiber optic communication media. Radius has the intention of using the TDPUD system as a reference site and has made a very attractive proposal. A minimum of ten units will be installed before the end of December 2000 and the complete in- stallation finished no later than June 31, 2001. Price of the total agreement from Radius is $100,000. Director Maass moved, and Director Van Gundy seconded, that the Board adopt Resolution No. 2000-17 dispensing with bidding and authorizing staff to accept the Radius US Inc. automation system proposal priced at $100,000 and also to purchase ten "M-force" switches from Cooper Power Products at a cost not to exceed $25,000 provided Counsel reviews the law and finds that purchasing outside of the US is acceptable. ROLL CALL: Sutton, no; all other Directors, aye. SO RESOLVED. Planning Director Terrell is proposing that the District authorize the expenditure of$15,000 from public benefits monies to cover the cost of energy-efficient improvements in the new town hall (which is one-third of the building space in their building on Airport Road). After some discussion, Director Aguera moved, and Director Maass seconded, that the Board approve $15,000 for the Town of Truckee to upgrade 99 light fixtures to high-efficiency and add pipe insulation to the existing space heating, air conditioning and water heating piping distribu- tion system. ROLL CALL: Aguera, Maass, Sutton, Van Gundy and Hemig, aye. SO MOVED. TRUCKEE FALLS IRRIGATION PIPELINE PROJECT — CONSIDERATION OF CONTRACT CHANGE ORDER NUMBER 1 — REVIEW OF BIDDING FOR 1-80 PIPELINE REHABILITA- TION; POSSIBLE AUTHORIZATION FOR STAFF TO NEGOTIATE A CONTRACT Water System Engineer Neil Kaufman is requesting a change order to the Truckee Falls Golf Course Irrigation Pipeline contract with Longo Construction. The original design included installation of a 24" steel casing across Donner Pass Road. It was decided that direct installation of the 16" pipeline instead of the casing would require less time and would be cheaper. Longo is proposing a credit to the District of $14,925 for substitution of the 16" pipe. Lahontan has imposed some revegetation requirements that Longo Construction will perform at a cost of$9,900. CalTrans determined that the drainage ditch that the pipeline would cross is a wetlands area and a Corps of Engineers' permit will be required for the construction. An alternative alignment involving the construction of 493 feet of pipe along the shoulder of SR89 and down the Shell Station driveway was developed. Longo will perform the additional construction for$38,889.81. A small amount of rock excavation was encountered during construction and amount of $1,469.55 is due to Longo Construction. After discussion, Director Maass moved, and Director Van Gundy seconded, that the Board .. authorize Contract Change Order No. 1 in the amount of $35,334.36 and extend the contract completion date to September 30, 2000. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye. SO MOVED. 9/6/00 Page 3 The District solicited competitive bids to line a portion of leaking water line in Highway 89 that will be used to provide service to Coyote Moon Golf Course and received no bids. The project size may have been too small to generate interest. Staff is asking for authority to negotiate a contract to perform the repairs to this line. Director Maass moved that competitive bidding be dispensed with, that staff be authorized to negotiate a contract to repair the leaking portion of the water line in Highway 89 that is to be used to provide service to Coyote Moon Golf Course and that staff return to the Board for ap- proval of the negotiated contract. DISCUSSION OF DISTRICT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE; POSSIBLE ACTION At the strategic plan workshop held in August, one issue identified for action was the District's organizational structure. The concern expressed was that the General Manager may be dealing personally with too many critical matters and it may be advisable to have an Assistant General Manager. Another strategic issue that was identified was the need to review the efficiency and effectiveness of all District departments. This issue recognizes that technology must do as much work as possible so the District can remain a "lean and mean" organization. A work plan for each department that evaluates what is done, how it's done, the role of automation, the ap- propriate staffing and organizational structure and opportunities to work with other agencies is to be presented to the Board in the Fall of 2000. Mr. Holzmeister presented a draft job description for an Assistant General Manager and indi- cated an appropriate salary range for the position would be $83,000 to $87,000 per year. He said he believes the Power Supply Engineer, Stephen Hollabaugh, is capable of acting as As- sistant General Manager in addition to his current duties. After some discussion, Director Maass moved, and Director Van Gundy seconded, that the Board approve the position of Assistant General Manager, with a salary range of$83,000 to $87,000 and authorize the General Manager to fill the position. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye. SO MOVED. REVIEW OF PERFORMANCE AND COMPENSATION OF THE DISTRICT GENERAL MAN- AGER; POSSIBLE SCHEDULING OF A PUBLIC HEARING A change in the Manager's compensation needs to be done by ordinance preceded by a public hearing. Mr. Holzmeister noted that it is always helpful for him to know whether his performance meets the Board's expectations. Director Maass moved, and Director Hemig seconded, that a public hearing be set for the first meeting in October to consider increasing the Manager's salary. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JULY 19 AND AUGUST 2, 2000 Director Van Gundy moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the minutes of July 19 and August 2, 2000 be approved as presented. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye. SO MOVED. 9/6/00 Page 4 TREASURER'S REPORT—APPROVAL OF THE MONTHLY REPORT—APPROVAL OF DISBURSEMENTS Director Maass moved, and Director Van Gundy seconded, that the Board approve the monthly report. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. Director Maass moved that the Board approve the disbursements; seconded by Director Aguera. ROLL CALL: Aguera, Maass, Van Gundy and Hemig, aye; Sutton, no. SO MOVED. CLOSED SESSION Conference with legal counsel—existing litigation pursuant to government Code Section 54956.9(a), two cases: TDPUD vs. USA Media and USA Media vs. TDPUD Conference with legal counsel —anticipated litigation. Significant exposure to litigation pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 54956.9: (one case) The Board adjourned to closed session at 9:04 PM. RETURN TO PUBLIC SESSION The Board returned to public session at 9:50 PM. There was no action taken or direction given as a result of closed session. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:51 PM. TRUCKEE ONNE UBLIC UTI DISTRICT J. R He , P es' ent Prepared b Susan M. Cra g, Deputy District Clerk smc 916l00 Page 5