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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994-12-14; Water Commission Ad Hoc; MinutesMINUTES MEETING OF: WATER COMMISSION DATE OF MEETING: TIME OF ME€llNG: 2:OO p.m. PLACE OF MEmNG: December 14,1!394 (Regular Meeting) City Council Chambers CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Louis called the Meeting to order at 2:OO p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Absent: None. Commissioners Louis, Henley, Kubota, Maerkle and Melideo. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE was led by Commissioner Kubota. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE: There were no requests to address the Commission on a non-agenda item. NEW BUSINESS: 1. AB #1214-01 CONSULTANT RECOMMENDATION FOR WATER RATE STUDY. Bob Greaney gave the staff report, referring to the Agenda Bill included in the packet. The Request for Proposals was sent out on September 23. Ten RFP’s were mailed out and eight proposals were submitted. District staff narrowed the firms to four, and those four were interviewed on Monday, November 14. Mr. Greaney stated that staff had selected the firm of Montgomery-Watson to perform the Rate Study, and a copy of their proposal was supplied to the Commissioners. Mr. Greaney stated that during the interviews with the four firms, one common theme was prevalent; to get the public involved in things such as rate studies to get their input in the process. As a result of this, the scope of work was upgraded to have more detailed public participation. It is expected that there will be a committee established by the Board that will be comprised of representatives from the individual customer classification, such as residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural, etc. There will also be one Commissioner on the committee and this selection will be made subsequent to the Board’s approval of how the committee will be established. The BoardKity Council could appoint citizens on this committee or they could allow the District to come up with a list of names to present to them for the committee. The second option would be the one preferred by the District staff. December 14, 1994 WATER COMMISSION Page 2 NEW BUSINESS: (Continued) In response to query as to how the names would be obtained, Mr. Greaney stated they could go to organizations like the Chamber of Commerce and have them choose one of their members to serve on the committee. As far as homeowners, it would be more difficult to get the word out to have people that have concerns about water to be available to serve on such a committee. The suggestion was made that perhaps the League of Women Voters could help with supplying such names. Mr. Greaney stated that he thought that the citizen committee is the better wayto go. He said he also suggested a BoardICity Council Member attend the committee meetings and act as liaison with the Board to report back on the results of the public meetings. Commissioner Maerkle commented that on the Water Authority and Reclaimed Water Report, they had people from all walks of life on the committee and they talked before the meeting he attended, and instead of being against the recommendations, they were all for it, which proves that talking with people does help. Chairman Louis asked about the costs of the proposals, and Mr. Greaney stated they were all in the $70,000 to $80,000 range. Montgomery-Watson were lower than that, but when the District negotiated with them and brought out the public participation, their price changed to $85,500. The Sewer Rate Update would be an additional $20,000, but if that were left to next year, it would cost considerably more. Mr. Greaney stated that it would not be too difficult to add a sewer rate update analysis at this time. Chairman Louis stated that the committee would be working with Mr. Greaney, and that would not involve an extra cost to the consultant. Mr. Greaney replied that the consultant would be more involved working with the committee instead of the Commissioners at a workshop. This would involve ten to twelve people and an educational process. Chairman Louis said that staff could do this and the consultant was not needed for that. He expressed concern with an increase of $10,000 in the cost. Commissioner Melideo suggested that staff negotiate with the consultant with regard to the increase of $10,000 in the cost. She said this is a good program and she supports it. Commissioner Kubota asked whether the new scope on the proposal was different from the original, and Mr. Greaney stated that $75,000 was the original proposal prior to the last meeting with the consultant and the public involvement. Mr. Kubota said that in the proposal it was listed as so much cost per meeting. Task 11 would be $32,000, with Task 1 through 10 at $53,500, and the difference would be the refinement of Task 11. Mr. Kubota said that on a per-meeting basis, the cost could be less. Chairman Louis reiterated his hesitation to recommend the total of $85,500. The consensus of the Commission was that the contract should be for a “not to exceed” amount and based on a per meeting basis, with $85,000 for the maximum number of meetings. ACTION: On motion by Commissioner Henley, the Water Commission recommended to the Board of Directors approval of Montgomery-Watson as consultants to perform the Rate Study for the District’s Water and Reclaimed Water Systems; including the Optional Sewer Rate Update; not to exceed $1 00,000. AYES: Louis, Henley, Kubota, Maerkle and Melideo December 14, 1994 WATER COMMISSION Page 3 NEW BUSINESS: (Continued) Chairman Louis suggested that Commissioner Kubota be named to the committee to be formed for the rate study. Mr. Greaney stated that in the proposal to the Board, the recommendation of naming Commissioner Kubota to the committee could be made. WATER COMMISSION: Presidents & Manaaers Meeting Commissioner Maerkle reported on the November 15, 1994, meeting at the StoneRidge Country Club, stating that Wilbur Shigehara, Meteorologist in charge of the San Diego National Weather Service was the speaker, and one fact brought out was that January in San Diego is the month with the most rain. He said that trouble in New Zealand and Australia because of the change in water temperatures affects us. ACWA Commissioner Maerkle reported that one of the talks concerned legislation by Senator Cortese. This legislation is a result of a subdivision that was approved and the last people to find out about this was the water district. Bob Greaney added that this situation occurred a year or so ago in Oakland. The County approved a large subdivision only to find that there was no water to serve this development. This resulted in court action, and the result was that water districts should review and have input into cities’ general plans with regard to future water supplies. Commissioner Melideo asked for copies of the presentations made at the ACWA conference. Mr. Greaney said there are tapes and he will get copies for the Commissioners. GENERAL MANAGER REPORTS: GENERAL MANAGER’S MEETING - WATER AUTHORITY Bob Greaney reported on a recent meeting, stating that emergency storage was discussed and how long could agencies last without the emergency storage reservoir. If there were a two-month outage due to an earthquake, the aqueduct between Carlsbad and Skinner would be interrupted and 25 to 30 percent level of service would be the most any agency could provide. Based on our present usage, and cutting back 25 percent, we would have water for only a matter of days. Mr. Greaney stated that some other agencies could last longer, with San Diego and Escondido having the best supply of water. He added that there were some inconsistencies in the Water Authority’s tables on Carlsbad, as they didn’t give us credit for Maerkle Reservoir and for reclaimed water available. Chairman Louis asked whether there was anything new on the desalination, and Mr. Greaney stated they are proceeding slowly on that, as there are problems getting information out of Sam Tadros and making certain the District gets what it wants at the end of the study. Bill Plummer added that there are several issues that need to be resolved. Mr. Tadros has a Phase I permit to be used by April with the Bureau of Reclamation, but he needs a joint venture. There are five firms competing for the Bureau funds, and the Bureau will select three out of the five that they will assist in funding and will look more favorably on one where a public agency is the partner. We do not know how much money we are talking about and whether we would get anything out of it. Mr. Tadros wants a lot of commitment up front for a water lease, and he wants a contract that we will maintain the facility and he could not develop if the Bureau selected another firm. December 14, 1994 WATER COMMISSION Page 4 GENERAL MANAGER REPORTS: (Continued) COUNTY WATER AUTHORITY WORKSHOP ON PROPOSED METROPOLITAN RATE RESTRUCTURE Bob Greaney continued his reports, stating there was a meeting last Monday, December 5, with a Manager’s Meeting in the morning and a workshop in the afternoon for the Board Members, with a briefing on the proposed Metropolitan Water District’s rate restructuring. Metropolitan has a capital improvement program and need a fixed revenue source. They have two new charges, and they are a Ready to Serve Charge and a New Demand Charge, and those affect Carlsbad the most. A third charge is a Treated Water Surcharge. Mr. Greaney stated that Carlsbad’s concern is how Metropolitan will pass those fees on to the Water Authority and how the Water Authority will pass them on to us. The Ready to Serve Charge will take the place of the Standby Charge that appears on the property tax. The Water Authority is satisfied with the property tax charge and wants to continue to charge that. It is possible, however, that Metropolitan can’t charge a Standby and Ready to Serve Charge, as that is charging twice for the same service. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: On motion by Commissioner Maerkle, the Minutes of the Regular Meeting held November 9, 1994, were approved as amended. AYES: Henley, Kubota, Maerkle and Melideo ABSTAIN: Louis NUCT MEmNG DATE: The next regular meeting of the Water Commission will be Wednesday, January 11, 1995. ADJOURNMENT: I By proper motion, the Regular Meeting of December 14, 1994, was adjourned at 3:30 p.m. Minutes Clerk