Minutes of the Board of Trustees Wednesday June 13, 2007.
Present: President, Bruce Myers; Bette George; Evan Long; and Harold Dozier.
Absent: Secretary, Belen Gomez.
Staff: Manager, Michael Alburn.
It was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the May meeting be approved as mailed.
Following discussion, it was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried that the May Bills be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to Disburse funds No. 23, Exhibit I.
It was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Evan Long and unanimously carried that the June Payroll be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to Disburse funds No. 24, Exhibit II.
None.
The Manager reported on the following items:
Annual Audit. The District has received the contract for Michael Oxenrieder to begin the annual audit, cost will be $4200. It was received too late for the agenda, so we will wait to sign the contract and will put it on the agenda for July. The Board indicated a willingness to sign the contract, which the Manager will convey to Mr. Oxenrieder. Payment will be at completion, approximately October/ November.
Overtime. The District performed 58 hours of overtime catching up with Weed control effort and treating catch basins within the 30-day window in the least amount of time away from regular zone work. This month the seasonal workforce will alleviate this need while herbicide treatments to waste water retention lagoons are back on track. The employees were very happy with the chance to earn the extra money too.
Early Start. Warmer daytime temperatures coinciding with irrigation water starting to flow creates more spray hours and less of those in the cooler part of the morning. Beginning June 18th we will start at 6:30 for as long as the crew utilizes the extra hour to get out and make treatments in the cooler part of the day. We have adjusted the routine of checking out chemical, filling gas tanks and servicing vehicles so that we are not here for 45 minutes in the morning. I will keep you posted on our progress.
Fuel Card Use. The District has created a report that mirrors the invoice we receive from Valley Pacific Petroleum so that we can set the billing period and call up mileage, gallons, date, time, employee, vehicle #, and location site. This allows us to do a side by side comparison for fuel purchases and validate that no misuse has occurred as well as ensure that we are not being charged erroneously.
The District, in following with the California West Nile Virus Response Plan did an assessment of:
Environmental conditions 3;
Mosquito Abundance 1;
Virus Infection Rate 1;
Sentinel Chicken Seroconversion 1;
Dead Bird Infection 1;
Equine Cases 1;
Human Cases 1;
Proximity to Urban or Suburban Regions 1
Average rating for the month of May was 1.125, Normal.
Normal Season 1.0 2.5
Emergency Planning 2.6 4.0
Epidemic 4.1 5.0
Assessments will continue on the last day of each month throughout the season.
Within the District we have had 68 dead bird calls to date. 16 have been submitted, of which 8 were called into the office rather than the state hotline.
One chicken has died from natural causes, no positive sentinels.
The District has submitted 5 mosquito pools to date. 1 Neg., 4 Pending. Waiting on results of the June 11th trap set ( 2- CO2 and 2- Gravid pools submitted).
A Kern County resident is being considered the first infection of the year, even though he is not considered a case because he has no symptoms.
Statewide:
0 - Human cases;
1 Equine;
33 Dead birds Sacramento, San Bernardino and Shasta are new, 9 counties.
4 - Mosquito pools from three counties with Stanislaus being new.
2 - Chickens from 2 counties.
0 - Squirrels.
CalPERS has completed the individual agency analysis of the unequal contribution method of health care premium payments for retirees. The employer contribution for annuitants is influenced by each employers contribution for active members and now, the number of years the employer has been in the program. New health premium rates will not be available until after June 20th, so the comparative examples were the hypothetical change between 2006 and 2007 rates. The example we have received shows the difference between the premiums to be $19.40 instead of $12.30 / month. My reading of the analysis says that we are not facing an immediate crisis concerning retiree health insurance premium costs. We will apply the 2008 rate in late June and advise further.
Property and liability coverage is renewing and will be on the list of bills next month. The District has dropped BMi as broker because we were paying a fee in excess of $6,475 for them to basically pass paper between us and SDRMA. In most instances we were finding ourselves doing the paperwork and giving it to BMi to mail or calling SDRMA ourselves to get answers. The district has been working hard to gain credit incentives in its safety program and we were in essence giving 50% of those credits to BMi.
Our coverage last year with $5.0 M limits for G/L, A/L, and E & O plus broker fee was $71,396. This year the same coverage less broker fees and with benefit of 13% savings due from safety program credits will be $64,213.
Credit is due to the entire staff for its hard work in earning the incentive credits. This coming year additional credit is available for having no paid claims. We will be informing the crew and working toward earning that distinction as well.
Finally, Sheri Davis, Administrative Technician was very investigative in this process as she worked to find out what was the status of our credits because BMi was not indicating they were a part of the invoice. Once we learned that we were not simply paying to keep the lights on at BMi it was Sheri who said she could take care of the paper work with no problem. She is the reason for the $6,475 broker fee savings.
The District has been using Bank of America for some time and it is nearly impossible to keep from having a late fee because the window is too narrow when compared to the warrants schedule available from the county. Also, Cal Card has no annual fees (B of A = $25 / card). This is a Visa accepted card offered through the State of California. We have put a limit of $1,000 per card for the Manager, Assistant Manager and Biologist since we do the attending of conferences and pay for hotels etc. It was moved by Evan Long, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried to approve the Cal Card application.
SDRMA Resolution Authorizing execution of Sixth Joint Powers Agreement. This is an Administrative Resolution which will cause a stop in paying the California Special Districts Association a fee for member participation. The SDRMA wants all members to pass the resolution and submit it to them so they can essentially change their practices and procedures policy as it relates to the fee. It was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried to approve Resolution 07-02.
Policy 2128 Safe Driver Policy
New Policy defining what constitutes an insurable driver for District employment. We are in the process of putting together what will become the Motor Vehicle- Fleet Safety Program when complete. The District requires that employees be insurable with the carrier. Our current carrier will insure drivers who have a valid license which is a bit of a risk considering the ability a poor driver has to get the judge to allow for driving at work in some pretty serious driving offenses. With the idea that the public deserves employees who are careful and able to follow the rules of the road, I have put together a thought out set of requirements to be met in order for employees to drive district vehicles in the scope of their employment for your consideration.
Members will contact the Manager during the month of June if they wish to make comments or changes to the proposed policy.
Resolution of the Delta Vector Control District Regarding District DMV reporting process and District Employees with excessive points policy. This resolution adopts the core of Policy 2138 and explains the DMV Pull Notice Program currently in place. These are components of the Motor Vehicle-Fleet Safety Program being organized.
The Board will take up Resolution 07-03 at the next regular meeting in conjunction with Policy 2138.
The Board conducted the annual performance appraisal of the General Manager.
The meeting adjourned at 8:22 p.m.
Board Minutes approved on July 11, 2007.
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Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary