2PM Wednesday, July 15 - HELIX WD REGULAR BOARD MEETING

Attached is the agenda and board package link for our Regular Helix Water District Board Meeting:

 AGENDA
REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 2 p.m.
7811 University Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942-0427

CONSERVATION STATUS (PDF Page 77):: We are doing GREAT! Please keep conserving – but please don’t let the trees die, I was told that you can take a soaker hose and wrap it around your tree and let it drip for several hours twice a week and that would be acceptable.  I will ask about the penalty on Tier 3 and the need to continue and will ensure that it is not incorporated in our new water rate structure.
 Click Here for Drought Level 2 Restrictions
JUNE ‘13    3321.5    
JUNE ‘ 15   2490.2           102.8gpcd 
CUMULATIVE REDUCTION SO FAR –-25%  
PERCENT REDUCTION NEEDED ’13-‘15 By February 2016    -20%
 Items of Interest:
 No end of year financial report (June 30, 2015) included - unfortunately, there is no Treasurer’s Report in this package as our Director of Administration, Lisa Stoia reported “For July 2015 the first two Tuesdays are July 7 and 14 so we didn’t have time to submit the financials for the board package for the second board meeting of the month which is July 15.  They will be included in the board package for August 5.” 

 However, she did say that it will be available for the July 29th Special Cost of Service Study and Water Rates Meeting (proposed new rate structure & rates).

 Speaking of which, at our last Regular Board Meeting on July 1,  I had sent out an email to the Board stating that I had a conflict for the new scheduled August 5th Meeting (the staff changed the date without discussing with all Board Members – only asked the 3, Muse, Verbeke and Linden) to discuss the new water rate structure and gave two other alternative dates to consider. Unfortunately, Director Muse, Verbeke and Linden did not want to consider any other dates and President Verbeke hammered down the gavel ending the discussion and meeting in a haste (so not Robert Rules of Order)!

However, later after the meeting was concluded I had suggested to our General Manager to have a Special Meeting where staff could present the information to the public and Director Scalzitti and I could attend, July 29th. Problem solved! Apparently, the other Board Members when hearing about the Special Meeting had a quick change in heart and said that the July 29th date will work for them after all!

Thus, Wednesday, July 29th at 3pm, there will be a special meeting to discuss and review the Final Cost of Service Study Report and Draft Water Rates.  Then on August 5th, with or if all potential changes considered from the July 29th meeting, the rates will be adopted to go out for notice to the public (PROP 218). So, it is imperative that if you are interested in the new rate structure and rates, please consider attending the July 29th at 3pm meeting. I should have a draft sent to me ahead of time on July 24th to send out accordingly.

Item 15 (PDF Page 71) Adopt Emergency Drought Action Plan Resolution 15-49 (Again?)

Looks like legal wants us to update our Resolution and add more verbiage on the “Civil Volumetric Penalty”, aka a 10% increase to those residential customers who are in the tier 3 water level (greater than 30 units). Basically, the new resolution states that all domestic class customers are prohibited from using more than 30 units of potable water per billing cycle.

As the initial Resolution 15-38 was discussed in May, Helix was one of the first agencies to impose this type of penalty - three penalty rates were proposed and I fought for the lowest, with the intent to review our usage and get rid of the penalty as soon as possible. Other local agencies who also need to cut 20% Otay Water District and Padre Dam MWD have not imposed any penalty rate increases. I think this Resolution/Penalty will be worth discussing again.

As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.

 Per the request of the Helix Water District Board on May 16, 2012, the following language is to be added by all Board Directors in all outgoing Director correspondence. "This correspondence, and any documents attached hereto, reflects the individual opinions and positions of the above-named Director and does not represent the opinions or positions of the District's Board of Directors or the District.  Pursuant to Section 9.1-11(A) of the Helix Water District Policies and Procedures Manual, individual Directors, except as otherwise authorized by the Board, shall have no power to act for the District or the District's Board of Directors."

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