Board Meeting - 5/14/2015
MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF SERRANO WATER DISTRICT
The Board of Directors of the Serrano Water District met in a special board meeting on Thursday, May 14, 2015. The meeting was held at the District Office located at 18021 Lincoln Street, Villa Park, California.
CALL TO ORDER: President Pharris called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.
ROLL CALL:
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS PRESENT:
C.L. “Larry” Pharris, Jr. President
Frank Bryant Vice President
Robert F. (Woody) Rickerl Board Member
Richard A. Freschi Board Member
Jerry Haight Board Member
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEMBERS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT:
Jerry Vilander General Manager
Ann Michel Director, Finance & Administration
Joel Kuperberg General Counsel, Rutan & Tucker
Laura Heflin Administrative Assistant
GUESTS PRESENT:
Adam Wood Curt Pringle & Associates
Diana Fascenelli Mayor, City of Villa Park
Wayne Silzel Resident, City of Villa Park
Duncan Moffat Resident, City of Villa Park
Art Turlu Resident, City of Villa Park
Brad Reese Resident, City of Villa Park
Ben Rejniak District Representative, Mimi Walters, 45th District
Arnold Mahler Resident, City of Villa Park
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mr. Mahler thanked the Board of Directors and management for their work at the District over the years. He requested assistance for residents to differentiate between mandates and recommendations from the State of California. He suggested that water be recycled for landscaping and other uses and questioned the District limiting residents’ freedom of choice.
Ben Rejniak introduced himself and offered his resources to the Board of Directors and staff on behalf of the office of Mimi Walters.
Mr. Silzel complimented General Manager Vilander on the Town Hall meeting held yesterday.
Mr. Moffat reported that he had met with his gardener and Village Nursery regarding watering, and they had recommended three days a week watering schedule instead of two using the same time frame allocated by the District. Mr. Moffat posed the question of whether or not this would be acceptable.
DROUGHT RESTRICTIONS, LIMITATIONS ON WATER USE AND PENALTIES TO COMPLY WITH STATE MANDATES
General Manager Vilander delivered a staff report on the current drought situation. President Pharris opened the public hearing. Comments were heard from the residents. President Pharris closed the public hearing. Questions and answers followed. Following discussion led by General Manager Vilander, it was moved (Director Haight), seconded (Director Rickerl), and unanimously carried with Directors Pharris, Rickerl, Freschi, Haight and Bryant voting yes to amend Resolution No. 2015-05-01 to include a lifeline of 12 units per month, per resident. It was then moved (Director Bryant), seconded (Director Rickerl), and unanimously carried with Directors Pharris, Rickerl, Freschi, Haight and Bryant voting yes to adopt Resolution No. 2015-05-01 of the Serrano Water District imposing a mandatory restriction on water use and establishing penalties for violations for the District’s water use restriction with the addition of the following verbiage added to section 3: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, no penalty shall be assessed against any customer using 12.0 units or less of District-delivered water during any calendar month.” Discussion led by General Manager Vilander followed. General Manager Vilander reported that in the event that funds are generated through the penalties, they will be set aside in a separate fund and not utilized to subsidize the daily operations of the District.
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Consideration of Serrano Water District Board Meeting minutes of April 14, 2015. Director Freschi moved that the minutes of the April 14, 2015 meeting be approved as submitted, Director Haight seconded the motion, and the motion was unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Freschi, Haight, Pharris and Rickerl voting yes. Consideration of Serrano Water District Board Meeting minutes of April 28, 2015. Director Freschi moved that the minutes of the April 28, 2015 meeting be approved as submitted, Director Haight seconded the motion, and the motion was unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Freschi, Haight, Pharris and Rickerl voting yes.
GENERAL MANAGER REPORT
General Manager Vilander summarized the status of Board Committee and management matters as agendized for the month of April. Highlighted items included an update on the insurance visit at the Smith Pump Station and the electrical situation.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Following presentation of the financial report by Ann Michel, Director of Finance and Administration, it was moved (Director Haight), seconded (Director Freschi), and unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Rickerl, Pharris, Haight and Freschi voting yes to approve the disbursements in the amount of $728,911.86. Director Haight asked Ann to put the dates back on the gas log and to investigate why the salary accrual was double compared to last year.
WATER REPORT
Ann Michel, Director of Finance and Administration, presented the water report. It was then moved (Director Bryant), seconded (Director Haight) and unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Rickerl, Pharris, Haight and Freschi voting yes to receive and file the water report. Director Rickerl requested that 2013, 2014, 2015 monthly consumption and production reports be included in board packets.
BAD DEBTS WRITE-OFF FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014-2015
Following discussion, it was moved (Director Rickerl), seconded (Director Freschi), and unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Rickerl, Pharris, Haight and Freschi voting yes to authorize staff to write off bad debts in the amount of $4,258.34.
AUDIT PROPOSAL FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2015
Following discussion, it was moved (Director Rickerl), seconded (Director Freschi), and unanimously carried with Directors Bryant, Rickerl, Pharris, Haight and Freschi voting yes to accept the proposal from LaVine &
Associates in the amount of $12,350 plus out-of-pocket expenses not to exceed $250 and estimated additional costs of $1,500 related to GASB 68 implementation. It was decided that next year the District will go out to bid for the FYE 2016 audit.
CORRESPONDENCE
None.
DIRECTOR COMMENTS AND REPORTS
Director Freschi reported that water was running off near the Wells Fargo building. He also remarked that he would prefer to have Board meetings at their regularly scheduled date and time. Director Freschi requested that changing the District’s voting precinct to not include those residents whom the District is not providing water to be agendized for discussion at the June meeting.
ATTORNEY’S REPORT
None.
CLOSED SESSION
CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL - ANTICIPATED LITIGATION
Government code section 54956.9
Attorney Kuperberg announced that it was not necessary to move into closed session.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was formally adjourned at 10:25 a.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 9 @ 8:30 a.m. at the District office.
Laura Heflin, Administrative Assistant