Minutes of the Board of Trustees – Wednesday August 8, 2007.
Present: President, Bruce Myers; Secretary, Belen Gomez; Evan Long; and Harold Dozier.
Absent: Bette George.
Staff: Manager, Michael Alburn.
It was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the July meeting be approved as mailed.
Following discussion, it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried that the July Bills be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 2, Exhibit I.
It was moved by Evan Long, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried that the August Payroll be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 3, Exhibit II.
None.
The Manager reported on the following items:
The fish tank is inoperable as a load of contaminated fish was introduced and destroyed the tank equilibrium. Currently cleaning tank with the hope to get it up and running by next week.
Two summer personnel have gone back to school, one from weed crew and the other from house mosquito program. Presently filling in with supervisors and full time staff as required.
Ditch water for Alta was cut off on Monday, August 6th at the dam, just waiting for it to run out. Kaweah Delta on August 15th. Pine Flat is at 24% of capacity and Kaweah is at 16% of capacity.
Area Realtors have been sent a letter asking for their help in finding untended backyard sources.
Corn is being cut putting house mosquito populations in search of a new home and breeding site. A lot of activity in this regard.
A helicopter flyover was done twice during the month to locate dirty swimming pools after receiving notice of a positive mosquito pool at the COS farm. The area within Mooney, 198, Shirk and Caldwell was surveyed at a cost of approximately $400.
Baseball game was a “hit” and everyone appreciated the generosity of the Board.
The Governor issued a West Nile virus State of Emergency Proclamation for Kern, San Joaquin and Colusa counties. $1,000,000 in control and $350,000 in surveillance assistance was committed.
Tulare County and DVCD have agreed to a collaborative effort in the Porterville-Lindsay corridor. We will provide adult mosquito surveillance over a twelve week period so we can better understand the location of virus in and just outside the southeast portion of the District. Because this surveillance is out of our sphere of influence we will be working in concert with the County, sharing the data with the Health Officer who can make appropriate decisions on public information and announcements.
WNV activity is as follows:
Deaths 5, Human Cases 80, Horses 5, Dead Birds 552, Mosquitoes 402, Chickens 66, Squirrels 7.
All dead birds in Tulare County are from Visalia (6). Mosquito samples that have tested positive are from Dinuba and Visalia. Door hangers have been distributed in a few locations following clustering of dead birds and in areas with positive mosquito samples. Intensive inspection routines have been implemented. The WNV surveillance score is 2.75, remaining in the emergency planning stage, 2.6 – 4.0.
The Manager presented an amended budget as the books have closed on the 07 fiscal year. Budget items were amended as follows:
· Revenue ($1,755,170) increased by $129,035 or 7.9%.
· Budget ($1,756,574) decreased by $107,180 or 5.75%.
· Carryover ($1,936,404) increased by $406,330 or 26.6%.
· Reserves ($1,935,000) increased by $642,545 or 49.7%.
· Reserves are now equal to 110% of our annual budget.
Following discussion, it was moved by Evan Long, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried to approve the budget with amendments as identified by the Manager.
The Manager met with George Finney, CEO of LAFCO and two other staff personnel.
Our Sphere of Influence is not in accord with our boundary. We can seek to have those lines adjusted with $3,476 LAFCO fee along with a Board of Equalization fee, which is determined by acreage, between $2,500 and $3,500. Revenue from the detachment and annexation will have to be negotiated it does not automatically change.
A Municipal Service Review might be in the works. Originally, we were exempted by LAFCO as an agency that would not be part of a MSR study. Mr. Finney thought that might be able to be re-looked at since Hospital Districts are included and with West Nile it would make sense to consider an MSR for us too.
The Board was in agreement with the Manager contacting Dale Bacigalupi, Attorney to see what the process would be to negotiate the revenue from the detachment. Further information will be provided to the Board as it becomes available.
The Manager requested travel approval to attend the conference where he will receive credit toward the risk management premium as well as many educational discussions relevant to the district. Following discussion, it was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried to approve the Manager’s travel to the CSDA Annual Conference as requested.
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Board Minutes approved on September 12, 2007.
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Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary