BRADFORD RECLAMATION
DISTRICT 2059
Regular Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 7, 2014
6325 Bethel Island Rd. Bethel Island, CA
1. Meeting is called to order and determine that there is Quorum. The meeting
begins at 10:10 A.M. and Present are the following: President Kuhne, Trustees:
Orozco, Davies and Hall. For the record Trustee Craig is absent today. Legal
Counsel Mia Brown is present along with, Engineer Dominick Gulli, Superintendent
Smith Cunningham and The District Administrator Angelia Tant is taking the
meeting minutes. A list of landowners present for today’s meeting is included in the
meeting binder.
2. Trustees Comments: President Kuhne personally thanks everyone for attending.
3. Public Comments: There are no public comments
4. Meeting Minutes – M/S/P by Davies/Orozco with all in favor and zero opposed
to adopt the following meeting minutes:
a. Approve Minutes for the meetings held on September 2, 2014
5. Permits –
a. DWR’s application for levee encroachment permits relating to proposed
temporary barrier on False River. – Dominick expresses that he feels that
something was billed to the DWR in error and expressed that he felt that this
should have been covered by another source. President Kuhne expresses
that this is not the way in which she recalls it however will look into the
matter.
6. DWR 50 Acre Mitigation Site – M/S/P by Davies/Orozco with all in favor and
zero opposed to adopt resolution 2014-08 authorizing a project funding agreement
to conduct the removal of the Himalayan blackberry bushes and other invasive
weeds. The motion also allows for the board President to take any other actions
required to get the contract executed.
a. Discussion by: Patty Frintock with DWR with regards to Adopting &
Executing the Signatures on Resolution 2014-08 Re: 50 Acre Mitigation Site.
Patty Frintock, Anna Burkholder and another representative are present
from the Department and Fish and Wildlife (DFW) to discuss the
maintenance plan. Patty expresses that we have a black berry bush issue on
the island. Patty expresses that originally they had anticipated on using the
California Conservation Corps. And now they are considering using a goat
grazer. Patty expresses that the DWR will be covering this expense and that
they will be spraying. Patty expresses that the black berry bushes will
continue to come back however, by continuing to spray the bushes, it will
allow for them to be more manageable. Patty expresses that they berry
bushes will be much smaller after the treatment. Patty expresses that she has
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made contact with American Express bank with regards to gaining access
and permission to install a fence on the previous owner’s property (Paul
Sosnowski). Patty reports that she has gotten no response. Dominick
expresses to Patty that there is a gas line located on this property and that
they should not do any digging on this property. Patty expresses that she
believes that there will not be any digging on this property for the temporary
fence.
Patty expresses that Robert has expressed that they have tested the goats for
diseases. Patty reports that the goats will not pass on any diseases to the
cows on the island due to the fact that they goats came out negative for the
disease. Patty expresses that the wife of the goat grazer is a Veterinarian.
Patty expresses that we need the resolution sooner than later. Robert’s goats
are available through the first of May and this will allow for the goats to graze
for 2 months. There is a brief discussion with regards to the goats eating the
other vegetation in the area such as the rose bushes and the purple flowers.
Patty expresses that this was taken into consideration however, Patty
expresses that the bigger issue is the black berry bushes that we need to
maintain.
Nicole with Department and Fish and Wildlife goes over the scope of work
that will be conducted on the island with regards to the goat grazing. There
is a question from Karen Cunningham with regards to bringing out an
excavator or a mini backhoe to come in and pull out the black berry bushes.
Karen also expresses that they can also spray the black berry bushes as well.
Patty expresses that the reason for it not being conducted in this manner is
due to access and the fact that they would have to have people come in
previous to the work with chain saws. Patty expresses that this is one of the
reasons that DWR will be paying for this project and that it will not be
coming out of the District’s funds.
Smith Cunningham expresses that he has an issue with the Veterinarian being
the spouse of the goat grazer and requests some type of certification that the
goats do not have any diseases. Smith expresses that you do not typically see
goats and cows grazing together and there is a reason for that. Smith
Cunningham brings two books into the board meeting with flagged pages
and hands one book to Trustee Orozco and the other book to Trustee Hall.
President Kuhne expresses that there will be canes issue after the goats are
finished. Patty expresses that the CCC will come back after the goats are
done to clear out and clean up the remaining canes. President Kuhne
expresses that they can only be cleared out to a certain point. President
Kuhne expresses that the birds will come in the next season and carry away
the seeds.
President Kuhne expresses that she feels that this contract is going to benefit
the goat grazer by allowing for his goats to get feed and the fact that the
contract will allow for him to get paid for this. President Kuhne expresses
that the way in which the Cunningham’s expressed would be a better
method. Patty inquires with the board on if there is a more feasible way that
the board feels to do this.
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Dominick expresses that a control burn may be one way to get rid of them.
The other way he feels would be feasible is to have Dino and Sons come out
and use their new equipment to pull out the black berry bushes. Dominick
expresses that he could come in and chop up the black berries and clear it.
Ana with DFW inquire on if his excavator will fit in with all of the overhead
brush. The response from Dominick is absolutely. Dominick expresses that
we need some light in that area as well. Dominick expresses that we can hall
the remaining brush over to our debris pile. Dominick expresses that since
the district is doing the work that maybe we can get a work agreement that
outlines who is responsible for what and expresses that if DWR is paying for
it then the District would have no problem with doing the work. Dominick
expresses that we can outline the rose bushes to Dino to ensure that he
doesn’t chop those up.
Trustee Davies expresses that he had Keven come out with the giant
hedgehog that he has and he pulled everything out. Trustee Davies expresses
that it would not be a good idea to burn out on the island with the peet soil
out there. Patty expresses that this is a learning experience for them and
expressed that her and Anna walked around in there and they both felt that
there was not going to be a way for the contractors to get in there and this is
the alternative that they came up with. President Kuhne expresses that the
staff at the DFW can talk to the District’s Levee Superintendent for input.
President Kuhne expresses that they can always talk to Dominick the
District’s Engineer or with Smith the District’s Levee Superintendent.
Landowner Gene Lewis expresses that historically, that they hired a goat
grazer and it was a disaster. Gene’s other concern is that the goat droppings
may act as a fertilizer and expresses who knows what else is in those
droppings and for how long it lasts for. Gene expresses that the other issue
with the goats is that they began to have kids and other animals began to eat
those kids and this created other issues on the island.
Dominick expresses that the district can put an alternative plan together and
presents it to the DFW. Patty is apologetic and expresses that she apologizes
if the board feels that they were not included in the scope of work that they
are proposing. Mia expresses that we can remove 6, 7 and 8 on the
resolution and amend on page 2 # 1 to redact any mention of the hiring of
the goat grazer. Dominick expresses that there is a pond in this area full of
tulles and is inquiring on if it would be feasible to clean this area out and add
a little dyck around it. Anna is inquiring on where the pond came from.
Dominick expresses that it is accumulated ground water. Anna expresses
that this could be dug a little deeper. President Kuhne expresses that we are
discussing the resolution and the long term maintenance plan and is
requesting that we separate the two.
Update on Long-Term Management Plan proposed by the California State
Department of Fish and Wildlife: Anna goes over the status of the funding
for this project and the fact that we need to stay within the means of the
endowment funding that we have to deal with. Anna goes over the
frequency of the treatment of the blackberries. Anna expresses that they will
come back out once or twice a year for treatment and follow-up treatment.
3 of 13 October 7, 2014
Anna expresses that they have a new environmental scientist on board and
she has expressed that if you treat it in the fall that this should be very
effective. There is some discussion on having the California Conservation
Corps come out and do some trails. This would be covered by the
Department of Water Resources. The maintenance of the trails after the fact
would not be covered by the DWR. Dominick goes over some additional
maintenance components that he would like to see implemented into the
contract.
Dominick gives some historical facts with regards to funding and
maintenance on the island. There is a brief discussion on the hawks out on
the island. President Kuhne expresses that she has a long term question. Is
there any plan to have that mitigation site to have public access? The
response to this questions is no. Anna expresses that they outlined in the
long term management plan how the entire process would work.
Anna expresses that once the work is completed, the invoices would be
submitted to her at the DFW, and Anna will forward the invoices to the
person who is holding the endowment funding. President Kuhne expresses
that Angelia will be the person they will be working with regarding the
billing. Anna expresses that she has Angelia’s contact information. Trustee
Davies expresses that Angelia is easy to get a hold of.
Anna addresses the questions outlined by Dominick with regards to applying
for a funding agreement with the DWR as a way to reserve the endowment
money. Anna expresses that she will be available for questions. Dominick
inquires on if a five year funding agreement would be a good start? Patty
expresses that DWR is only allowed to issue them as a 3 year plan. Anna
expresses that she can do an amendment and include an exhibit to have Mia
the District’s legal counsel review it. Anna expresses that once everyone is
comfortable with this then we can move forward. President Kuhne
expresses in the fall of the 2015 that it may be feasible to do the deferred
maintenance. President Kuhne inquires on if there are any questions from
the board on the long term management plan for the mitigation site.
Bill Hall inquires on if they would be planting additional cottonwood trees in
the area? Anna expresses that there is no plan at this time to plant any trees.
Patty expresses that she does not believe that they will be planting more trees
but rather some invasive plants. President Kuhne expresses that we should
put together a directive action plan and submit it to Andrea Lobato with the
DWR and send a copy to Patty Frintock at the DFW. President Kuhne
inquires on if this must be presented to the Delta Stewardship counsel?
Dominick expresses that this is a good question. Dominick expresses that
we go through the question on if the project is considered to be exempt.
Dominick expresses that we should keep a document on file in case that we
are audited.
7. Bradford Island Tract 19 Mitigation Site – M/S/P by Davies/Orozco with all in
favor and zero opposed to allow for the District Engineer to put together and
4 of 13 October 7, 2014
directive action plan and submit it to Andrea Lobato with the DWR and send a copy
to Patty Frintock with the DFW.
Instead of repeating the entire section again can you just state see above
discussion
Update on Long Term Management Plan proposed by the State of California
Department of Fish and Wildlife. Anna goes over the status of the funding
for this project and the fact that we need to stay within the means of the
endowment funding that we have to deal with. Anna goes over the
frequency of the treatment of the blackberries. Anna expresses that they will
come back out once or twice a year for treatment and follow-up treatment.
Anna expresses that they have a new environmental scientist on board and
she has expressed that if you treat it in the fall that this should be very
effective. There is some discussion on having the California Conservation
Corps come out and do some trails. This would be covered by the
Department of Water Resources. The maintenance of the trails after the fact
would not be covered by the DWR. Dominick goes over some additional
maintenance components that he would like to see implemented into the
contract.
Dominick gives some historical facts with regards to funding and
maintenance on the island. There is a brief discussion on the hawks out on
the island. President Kuhne expresses that she has a long term question. Is
there any plan to have that mitigation site to have public access? The
response to this questions is no. Anna expresses that they outlined in the
long term management plan how the entire process would work.
Anna expresses that once the work is completed, the invoices would be
submitted to her at the DFW, Anna will forward the invoices to the person
who is holding the endowment funding. President Kuhne expresses that
Angelia will be the person they will be working with regarding the billing.
Anna expresses that she has Angelia’s contact information. Trustee Davies
expresses that Angelia is easy to get a hold of.
Anna addresses the questions outlined by Dominick with regards to applying
for a funding agreement with the DWR as a way to reserve the endowment
money. Anna expresses that she will be available for questions. Dominick
inquires on if a five year funding agreement would be a good start? Patty
expresses that DWR is only allowed to issue them as a 3 year plan. Anna
expresses that she can do an amendment and include an exhibit to have Mia
the District’s legal counsel review it. Anna expresses that once everyone is
comfortable with this then we can move forward. President Kuhne
expresses in the fall of the 2015 that it may be feasible to do the deferred
maintenance. President Kuhne inquires on if there are any questions from
the board on the long term management plan for the mitigation site.
Bill Hall inquires on if they would be planting additional cottonwood trees in
the area? Anna expresses that there is no plan at this time to plant any trees.
Patty expresses that she does not believe that they will be planting more trees
but rather some invasive plants. President Kuhne expresses that we should
put together a directive action plan and submit it to Anna Lebato with the
DWR and send a copy to Patty Frintock at the DFW. President Kuhne
5 of 13 October 7, 2014
inquires on if this must be presented to the Delta Stewardship counsel?
Dominick expresses that this is a good question. Dominick expresses that
we go through the question on if the project is considered to be exempt.
Dominick expresses that we should keep a document on file in case that we
are audited.
8. DWR Meeting(s) –
a. Status Report from Committee – There have been no meetings with DWR
and there is nothing to report.
9. Prop 218 Sunset –
a. Status Report from the Prop 218 Committee: Oxy made a report that Oxy is
forming their new Corporation and President Kuhne expresses that she has
made an attempt to reach out to the Treasurer on this board and expresses
that she has gotten no response to date. President Kuhne expresses that the
District deals with the parent company Oxy and expresses that once the
changes take place that we will be dealing with a new California Corporation.
Re: the Prop. 218 is due to Sunset and President Kuhne expresses that we
need to do a new Prop. 218 by May of 2015. President Kuhne expresses that
if it rolls back to the old assessment amount then the district will become
insolvent. President Kuhne expresses that we would have to look into the
purpose of the district. Mia Brown expresses that historically, the board
opted to not collect the full amount of the assessments and expresses that
there may be some cushion and the option to go back and collect these
amounts. President Kuhne expresses that we have sent out the RFPs on the
218.
10. Subventions –
a. Deadline for Claim 11/1/2014 – It does not appear that the district will meet
the eligibility requirement for this year’s claim.
11. Ferry –
a. Monthly Report/Updates from Ferry Committee – Trustee Davies expresses
that he had attended a meeting. Trustee Davies was provided with a budget
and the budget was forwarded on to the board members for review. Trustee
Davies expresses that there is some current damages sustained to the ferry
boom. Trustee Davies expresses that this damage was a result of the
equipment being loaded incorrectly by the staff. Trustee Davies expresses
that none of the deck hands are putting a chock under the wheels and he has
noted this on several occasions. Trustee Davies expressed that Karen
Cunningham had suggested that they give a half a day of training on how to
conduct the adequate safety measures. Trustee Davies expressed that he
really got on them with regards to the safety issues due to the fact that if
there is an incident that it could jeopardize public safety and also increase the
cost of insurance.
President Kuhne expresses that at the last meeting that Dave Forkel was
present he expressed that if there are damages sustained to the ferry as a
result of a passengers error that they would go after the driver’s insurance.
Karen Cunningham expresses that this specific incident being discussed was
6 of 13 October 7, 2014
as a result of the ferry staff not doing their job adequately. Trustee Davies
reports that he will be addressing the issues with Dave and will report back
to the board at the next upcoming board meeting.
12. Carr & Ferrell – M/S/P by Davies/Orozco with all in favor and zero opposed to
make a settlement offer for $74,408.21. President Kuhne reports that she had gotten
a response from C&F and expresses that had they taken our original offer three years
ago that they would have been paid. President Kuhne reports that during the time of
the last offer she had found more billing discrepancies and the bill ended up being
reduced. President Kuhne expresses that they came back and requested that we
meet half way. President Kuhne expresses that unless that they are willing to open
their books and show that the calls and emails were district business then the board
is not willing to negotiate. The difference is about six thousand dollars. Mia Brown
gives a recommendation to the district from a legal stand point of view.
a. There is a brief discussion regarding the Response Letter
b. Options for a Payment Plan were discussed
13. By Law Amendment(s) – Mia Brown gives a report on the By Laws – M/S/P
by Davies/Hall with all in favor and zero opposed to accept these By laws presented
at today’s meeting and for them to go out to the landowners for approval and set a
date for an election for them to go out for adoption. We need to notice the election
date and identify the election committee as: Angelia Tant, Karen Cunningham, and
Mia Brown
There is a brief discussion with regards to having an all-mail ballot.
a. Monthly Status Report from By Law Committee – Mia expresses that there
were no major changes from the last district meeting to this meeting other
than formatting issues and expanding on the subject of the purposes of the
district. Mia expresses that unless that there is anything else that the board
would like to discuss or add, the By Laws are ready for adoption.
Landowner Gene Lewis expresses that he would like to have it stated on the
record from the District’s Attorney that his property is not being de valued
with regards to adopting the encroachment regulations. Gene expresses that
if these encroachment standards expresses that he cannot rebuild if the home
burns or the fence goes and he cannot replace his fence then he would like to
know why he is even keeping insurance. Mia Brown responds to Gene’s
question and gives a legal perspective on the subject matter. Mia expresses
that there are two types of encroachments that exist. Mia goes on the outline
what those types of encroachments are. Gene expresses that previous
engineers have expressed historically that specific encroachments were ok to
be installed. Dominick expresses that if these specific items are to be re
installed that the district needs to reevaluate the effect to the levee with
regards to the project.
Mia expresses that there are two types of animals that we are dealing with
when referring to encroachments. One of the animals being, that nonpermitted but documented encroachments that are grand fathered in. The
other animal being that other encroachments installed were under a blanket
statement of being ok’d by the district engineer. These other encroachments,
7 of 13 October 7, 2014
where installed and approved on a case by case basis by the district’s
engineer. Mia reports that when the encroachments deteriorate past a 50%
life span in the fiscal foot print then, it is possible that if you let something
get into this state of repair that it will have to be removed. If it does not fit
into the current levee standards then it may not be allowed at this point in
time. Mia reports that thing change over the years and the standards change
and what may have been accepted years ago may not be feasible in this day
and age.
Mia reports that the district is assessing things on a case by case basis at this
point. Mia expresses that the landowner having a permit issued by the
district is a factor. Gene Lewis is asked if he has a district permit for the
house and Gene responds by saying yes. There is a brief discussion with
regards to grandfathered in items. President Kuhne expresses that if the
landowner has a historical permit for an encroachment then at a later time it
may have to be reviewed by the District to have it comply with current levee
standards. President Kuhne expresses that they will come back to the district
standards.
Gene expresses that the real issue is how other parties will
interpret these items as a taking. Gene expresses that this could decrease the
property value. President Kuhne expresses that she needs to stop this due to
the fact that this has been discussed and the issue that he was not present at
the meeting where it was discussed. President Kuhne expresses to Gene that
his issue was discussed by the committee and apologizes to Gene that he was
not able to attend this meeting. President Kuhne expresses that there are
meeting minutes taken at these special meetings.
There are some minor revisions with regards to the By Laws and President
Kuhne requests that everyone do a pre curser and outline if they have any
questions with regards to the By Laws. President Kuhne expresses that we
have referenced the water code section. President Kuhne expresses that
these need to go out to the landowners for approval by a vote.
14. Engineer’s Report – Given by Dominick Gulli with Green Mountain
a. Work Agreement(s) BR-10-1.0 & BR-10.1.1 Billings against Budget –
Dominick expresses that he read the newsletter and gives some feedback
with regards to some information outlined in it. Dominick expresses that we
will have a good levee once the project is finished however he expresses that
we will not be out of the 100 year flood plain. Dominick expresses that this
is not scheduled to be done with this project. Trustee Hall would like to
know what the advantage would be to getting out of this. Dominick
expresses that you wouldn’t have to have flood insurance or certificate,
elevation issues of the house, and issues with septic tanks
b. Status Report for Work Agreement for Temporary Solidity Barriers
c. Current District Cash Flow Analysis Report to be provided by Dominick
Gulli – Dominick presents the report outlining the costs for projects and
goes over the three change orders in which have been all negative. Dominick
expresses that you get to the summary of the job and outlines that they are
each separated out. Dominick expresses 6,095.957.00 for construction,
projected to be 190,000 in engineering and expresses that he doubts it would
come to that. There is a $300,000.00 contingency. There is $310,000.000
8 of 13 October 7, 2014
that was not addressed. There is a surplus and Dominick reports that we are
well under budget by almost 1 million dollars
Dominick expresses that Cate puts a lot of work into the district and in
reviewing the billings submitted. Dominick expresses that some of it is his
fault and expresses that he sometimes sits on things for a while. Dominick
expresses that DWR will not accept anything directly from Dominick and
expresses that they must go to DWR directly from Mia or Cate. Dominick
expresses that there is going to be this big retention bill. Dominick expresses
that the advancements have been able to pay for everything that was owed.
Dominick expresses that the final advance has not gone off of Felipe’s desk
yet. Dominick expresses that we are a little behind on the advances.
Dominick expresses that we are pretty close to having enough in the bank to
cover everything. Dominick expresses that this month’s bill will be fairly
small for the contractor. Dominick expresses that the retention is going to
become an issue with the contractor. Dominick expresses to Cate that when
we do the bills, he tries to give Angelia a complete packet and expresses that
the bill does not have to be separated out.
President Kuhne expresses bogging down in the system. The district
received a no pay letter two times because Dominick failed to do his job.
The no pay letter was for over 3 million dollars. President Kuhne expresses
that DWR outlined that advances where to be submitted six months in
advance with supporting documents. President Kuhne expresses that when
the DWR got the advance requests that they rejected it. President Kuhne
expresses that the Cash Flow Analysis report was not submitted and once it
was, the District received the money two weeks later. President Kuhne
expresses that she received the request on 8/29/2014 and the request went
to DWR on 9/2/2014. President Kuhne expresses that the amount in the
letter was not even calculated correctly. President Kuhne expresses that he
did not do his math correctly and Dominick responds by questioning the
amount submitted in the letter.
President Kuhne expresses that we will be getting another no pay letter from
DWR regarding the vinyl sheet piling due to the fact that it had no
engineering backup. President Kuhne expresses that they still want to see
calculations. Dominick expresses that he believes that Felipe is confused.
Dominick expresses that the meeting with DWR at Fosters had concluded
that DWR had approved the vinyl sheet pile. President Kuhne reads from
her notes at the meeting at Fosters. Dominick expresses that they approved
the vinyl sheet piling at the Sosnowski home.
d. Update on Special Flood Control Funding Solicitation Packet
e. BR-09-2.0 went over budget by $10,167.00 and Dominick expresses that he
was attempting to spend all of the money. Dominick expresses that we had
delivered extra materials. Dominick expresses that the bottom line is that it
went over budget. Dominick expresses that $7,521.49 and of that $2,788.00
was the beaver den. Dominick expresses that he got direction from his boss
the levee superintendent to do the beaver den. Dominick expresses that he
has saved the district a substantial amount of money and gives the pump
station project as an example. Dominick expresses that if we are going to
9 of 13 October 7, 2014
ding him on projects that go over budget then he would like a credit for
items that go under budget. President Kuhne goes over to discuss historical
billings and the fact that bills were being sent into the DWR after the PFA
was closed out. President Kuhne expresses that what it comes down to is
that we are not dealing with the same DWR. We cannot go back to the
DWR and get more money. President Kuhne expresses that we get a certain
amount of money from the DWR to do a certain amount of work. President
Kuhne expresses that we need to do the work the way it was outlined in the
scope of work presented to the DWR, otherwise, the district will be on the
hook for the difference.
President Kuhne expresses that there is no discussion. President Kuhne
expresses that a beaver den needs to be filled and taken care of. Emergency
work can be taken care of under a different process. A beaver den falls
under subventions and had it been billed under subventions we would have
meet the criteria for the subventions claim. Dominick expresses that he is
willing to eat the beaver den however, one of the projects currently going on,
there was a lot of money saved, do I get a piece of the pie or a bonus asks
Dominick. Dominick expresses that he could have and should have went to
the DWR and requested more money to cover the beaver den costs.
Dominick expresses that over $12,000 has been sitting out there that has
been owed to him. The District Administrator Angelia expresses to
Dominick that at the time the funding came through that Dominick opted to
pay Burns his entire bill. DWR had kicked out some of the items for Burns
and Dominick expressed that he wanted to use his money to pay Burns bill
and would send Angelia a breakdown of what to pay on and what not to.
Dominick never sent this breakdown to Angelia to process. Dominick sent a
breakdown to Angelia on 10/6/2014 with a breakdown of what is to be paid
and presents it at today’s board meeting. Angelia expresses that she is
concerned that he may have notified the DWR that Angelia was taking too
long to pay when in fact he had never sent the breakdown to Angelia.
Dominick expresses that he has not mentioned any of this to the DWR and
Angelia responds by expressing to him that she saw Felipe Garcia with
DWR’s name in an email with regards to this subject matter.
M/S/P by Davies/Orozco with all in favor and zero opposed to accept the
amount presented at today’s meeting by Dominick for payment $5,793.75.
Dominick did make some adjustments and is will to eat some of the costs for
the beaver den.
Angelia apologizes to Dominick with regards to the billing. Angelia
expresses to Dominick that Cate is her direct boss and she cannot under
mind what she tells her to do.
President Kuhne expresses that we are not following the contractual
obligations of the PFA contract. President Kuhne expresses that the district
could be on the hook and liable to pay back the money. Smith expresses that
it is not an issue due to the fact that it has not been done yet. Smith
expresses that we have not spent the money on these items yet. Smith
expresses that DWR has approved all of the work that the district has done
10 of 13 October 7, 2014
to date. President Kuhne inquires on what the PFA was written for and
what where the terms included in the PFA. President Kuhne expresses that
these encroachments were a part of the original PFA. Dominick requests
that Cate review Felipe’s notes. Mia expresses that it is not DWR’s job to do
our engineering. Mia expresses that she did not appreciate getting chewed
out in a meeting by DWR with regards to the engineering. Mia expresses
that the term used was babysitting. Dominick expresses that he cannot read
their minds. Dominick expresses that the PFA does not outline that we have
to wait for a no pay letter from the DWR in order to issue a check on monies
that have already been advanced. Angelia expresses that this is due to the
fact that the no pay letter may outline items that have been kicked out and
non-payable. Dominick expresses that he does understand that and feels that
maybe there is another way of handling this.
Dominick expresses that the pay estimates do not need to be broken out.
Dominick expresses that he tries to package everything up for Angelia to get
processed. Dominick goes over the encroachment resolution report. Each
board member is supplied with a copy of this report. Dominick goes over
the encroachments benefit comparison report. Dominick expresses that he
tried to take out of the report what he felt was best and requests that the
board goes over what they feel is best. Dominick expresses that this report
will be the tool that they use to determine the legalities are. Dominick
expresses that he put a lot of work into this report. Dominick expresses that
this is a tool that legal and DWR can use to determine what is best.
Dominick expresses that he is happy to take the comments. Dominick
expresses that a staff member from the Delta Advisory Committee is looking
forward to meeting Mia Brown. Dominick expresses that if the DWR
accepts raising of the houses on Bradford Island then it sets a precedence for
them having to do this for other islands. Dominick expresses that he feels
with the District’s own money that we could eliminate some of the
encroachments. President Kuhne inquires on where Dominick got the
figures from to purchase the landowners properties. Dominick expresses
that this was his best guestimate. Dominick expresses that it is in the detailed
estimate.
Mia Brown expresses that none of this information is relevant due to the fact
that the DWR has expressed that they will not be paying this. Mia expresses
that this was a good idea. Mia expresses that if she can follow the logic and
the math and backup work is put behind it then it will make the DWR happy.
Mia expresses that if it is A+B and it can get to =C then that will be good.
Dominick reports that Gail Newton from the Advisory Committee reported
at the last meeting that they had 22 applications submitted for funding and
that they only gave 7 districts’s funding that totaled (38 million). Dominick
expresses that they are ripe right now and have the funding. Dominick
expresses that there are a lot of issues with the hyacinth. Dominick presents
a book of photos to the board of the hyacinth. Dominick expresses that the
hyacinth turns into Pete dirt within a two year span. Dominick expresses to
the district that there will be some costs to the district to prepare the
application.
11 of 13 October 7, 2014
Dominick touches base on the upcoming flooding issues. The board gives
Dominick the authorization to move forwarding with putting together to
application packet.
15. Informational Items - There are no informational items to discuss
16. Assessments –M/S/P by Davies/Orozco to adopt a payment plan for the
delinquent tax payers.
a. Update on the Status of Recovering Delinquent Assessments on Foreclosed
Properties
b. Change in Property Ownership Report(s)- The District Administrator will be
working on obtaining the new ownership information through the records at
the Contra Costa County
c. Lien Against Property Owner – A letter has been drafted and legal has
reviewed the letter and made some recommendations.
d. Charges Assessed to the District to Enroll on the County’s Tier Program –
Mia expresses that she has done some research on the laws and have found
some new information. Mia reports that she will draft a letter and request a
meeting
17. Chairman’s Report –
a. President Kuhne Gives a Verbal Report
b. District Administrator Reads from the Summary of Activity. A copy of this
summary is included in the meeting minute’s binder.
18. Super’s Report – Given by Smith Cunningham
a. Ditches Water Flow – Contractor should take care of the south end of the
ditch
b. Vegetation Control
c. Pump Station Monitoring – There was a big rat in the motor and Smitty
expresses that he needs to install some more rat screen.
d. Routine Levee Inspections – Continue to be conducted
e. Reports on Any Potential Emergency Spots on The Island – Smitty expresses
that he attended the DWR flood fight meeting
19. Treasurer’s Report a. District Financials are reviewed and discussed. There is a brief discussion
with regards to the profit and loss report and the differences between a cash
vs. accrual report. The budget amount for Smitty to purchase visqueen and
sandbags is discussed along with the Engineering budget for the year.
b. Status Report on Registered Warrants – A print out of all of the warrants
issued form the last meeting to this meeting were provided to the board of
trustees for review
20. Approve Warrants for General Expenses/ Work Agreements
21. Open Session Disclosure of Closed Session Items pursuant to Government Code
Section 54957.7 – Tabled
22. Closed Session – Tabled
12 of 13 October 7, 2014
a.
CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL -- POTENTIAL LITIGATION (pursuant to
Government Code section 54956.9(a)
i. 1 Potential case
23. Report on Reportable Items Coming Out of the Closed Session – Tabled
24. Attorney’s Report: Given by Mia Brown – Mia Brown goes over her availability for
the next couple of weeks.
25. Meeting Adjourned – Next meeting to be announced – November 11th at 10 AM will
be the next board meeting. The meeting is adjourned at 2:13 P.M.
13 of 13 October 7, 2014