Minutes of the Board of Trustees – Wednesday November 14, 2007.
Present: President, Bruce Myers; Secretary, Belen Gomez; Evan Long; Bette George, and Harold Dozier.
Staff: Manager, Michael Alburn.
It was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the October meeting be approved as mailed.
Following discussion, it was moved by Evan Long, seconded by Bette George and unanimously carried that the October Bills be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 8, Exhibit I.
It was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Evan Long and unanimously carried that the November Payroll be approved and ordered paid. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 9, Exhibit II.
None.
Certified employees received continuing education training on October 25th at the Holiday Inn, Visalia. State Certification testing will occur at the District on Thursday, November 15th. Monthly safety training was held on Friday, November 2nd on the topics of herbicide and tools/ equipment.
The crew is fully involved in the maintenance schedule, which includes the outfitting of our new weed truck. California Department of Fish & Game will be notified this month of the trail maintenance schedule pursuant to the Stream Alteration Agreement dated (2005). We are holding off assigning due dates to the maintenance schedule for a bit as employees are using deserved and needed vacation time. We will firm up due dates in January.
Workers Compensation Premium credit from 2006/07 of $8,082.62 will be applied to 2nd quarter invoice as we paid an estimated premium which was overstated. The total audited premium for 06/07 was $71,051.83 less $12,789.33 for loss modification (82%), less $7,574.13 Credit Incentive Program effort (13%), net total of $50,688.38 with $20,363.46 discounted.
Senator Ashburn will have a representative in Visalia on Monday, Nov. 19th, Exeter, Tuesday, 20th and Farmersville on the 21st. The Manager will attend one of these opportunities to discuss the Eastern Tulare County control effort and to begin to establish a relationship with staff.
District End of Season Luncheon was held at El Torasco on October 29th and was outstanding. The entire staff wanted to express their appreciation.
Annual Thanksgiving Pot Luck Luncheon and Deep Pit Barbeque will be held on Wednesday, November 21st. If any Board members would like to place a turkey in the pit let me know so we can reserve a place for your bird.
The Manager reported that the District would be renewing the Cooperative Agreement with the California Department of Health Services, available as part of the Memorandum of Understanding between DHS and California Department of Pesticide Regulation. As signatory to the Cooperative Agreement the District is expected to perform the following:
· regular and proper calibration of all application equipment and maintenance of calibration records;
· maintenance of comprehensive pesticide application records;
· monthly submission of pesticide use reports; reporting any conspicuous or suspected adverse effects upon non-target organisms or property from pesticide applications;
· appropriate employee certification through DHS and maintenance of continuing education information; and
· regular compliance inspections by the county agricultural commissioner.
The agreement is available for renewal annually on the calendar year.
The District received confirmation of four additional WNv positive chickens, two from the flock located on the District premises and another two from the flock located on the Kings River, off Rd 40 just north of Ave. 416. A total of seven chickens in all, from these two flocks, where WNv positive, during the season. The flock at Woodlake had no positives during the season.
Thirty mosquito samples (11-50 specimens each) were submitted this past month, all of which were negative for virus. At season end, 378 mosquito samples were submitted for testing by the District, of which 22 samples were positive for West Nile virus infection. This represents an increase of 245 submissions over last year’s total of 133. Of the twenty-two positives, two were collected outside District boundaries, from the City of Porterville.
The District received sixteen telephone reports of dead birds during the month; fourteen were submitted for WNV testing. Of these, two were confirmed positive for WNV, bringing the total for the year to 28. A total of 159 reports of dead birds have been received through October. There continues to be a decline in dead bird reports from the previous two years. At the same time last year the District had received 491 reports and in 2005 we had received 2,288.
Human cases total 373, 16 deaths, 10 cases (1 death) in Tulare County (TC), 0 deaths and 6 cases within Delta Vector Control District (DVCD).
Horse cases total 28, 14 deaths, 2 cases in TC, 0 deaths, 0 cases DVCD.
Mosquito sample positives total 1,004, 23 in TC, and 20 in DVCD.
Dead Birds total 1,368, 37 in TC, and 28 in DVCD.
Positive Chicken sera total 3,073, 27 in TC, 7 in DVCD.
Porterville work has been summarized in the letter to the Board of Supervisors dated November 9 (See: Exhibit III).
Year to year information concerning WNv is as follows:
|
Element |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 (YTD) |
Total |
|
Human Cases (fatal) |
31 (0) |
779 (29) |
880 (19) |
278 (7) |
373 (16) |
2,313 (71) |
|
Horses |
12 |
540 |
456 |
58 |
28 |
1,055 |
|
Dead Birds |
96 |
3,232 |
3,046 |
1,446 |
1,368 |
9,200 |
|
Mosquito Samples |
32 |
1,136 |
1,242 |
832 |
1,004 |
4,476 |
|
Sentinel Chickens |
70 |
809 |
1,053 |
640 |
501 |
3,073 |
|
Squirrels |
- |
49 |
48 |
32 |
26 |
155 |
|
1 There were 20 imported human cases. 2 There were 3 imported horse cases. |
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The Manager reported on the highlights of the meeting:
· The Board voted 8-2 to replace Blanning & Baker, the current management services company, with Smith Moore & Associates. This action will save the organization approximately $275,000/yr.
· After an initial tie vote, the Board voted 6-4 to replace Blanning & Baker with Public Policy Associates for legislative services. This action will save approximately $60,000/yr.
· The Board deferred discussion on a request for a policy restricting MVCAC meetings and conferences to locations in California to the Board’s Strategic Planning Workshop December 11 & 12. Rooms are $110, Hilton Sacramento Arden West.
· The Board also deferred awarding the 2009 Annual Conference to Sacramento, pending review by the incoming President. Previously the incoming President was very supportive of Reno for this conference.
· We learned that the state budget shortfall has ballooned from a few billion dollars at the start of the year to over $10 Billion and continues to grow. Prop 1A - Starting in 2008-09, in an emergency declared by the Governor and a vote of two-thirds of both houses of the Legislature, property tax could be shifted, but it must be repaid, with interest, within three years.
· The MVCAC action on the management and legislative services was very positive. The financial situation improves immediately and the on-going budget deficit disappears. The organization has retained the services of two highly qualified companies and gotten rid of a company that, in the opinion of a good many members, was overcharging for their services.
· The South San Joaquin Valley Region selected the Delta Vector Control District Manager to represent the Region on the Board for the calendar years 2008/09.
The Manager has started the process of receiving a quote from the Vector Control Joint Powers Agency with a request of Brian Kelley, Executive Director to provide a information sheet detailing the necessary documents we need to submit to get a quote for 2008/09 on Workers Comp., Liability, and Auto coverage’s.
The VCJPA held a board meeting on Wednesday, November 1st in South Lake Tahoe in which the Manager attended and came away impressed with the professionalism of Bickmore Risk Services who have the management services contract. Also beneficial was the time available to interact with other district managers, staff and trustees for the extra day. VCJPA will next have their 20th Annual VCJPA workshop and Board meeting in Aptos February 24-26th at Seascape Resort in Aptos. They have indicated that an offer to attend along with a free room will be offered to the District, as it is to all member districts. The Manager will wait to see if we are genuinely going to entertain their quote before asking for consideration of that opportunity.
The District is providing administrative support to the Kings MAD on a two or three time per week schedule depending on work requirements. It is anticipated that the District will need to provide this support at least through the week of December 17th. Although the Manager speculated that it will be the end of January before we can completely dissolve ourselves of the necessity for being there. Thus far no burden has been created in lending the support and none is foreseen.
The District has begun billing for services on a monthly basis at the rate of $35.26/ hr for Sheri and $39.61/ hr for Mark. Calculations begin with departure from Delta VCD and end upon arrival back to our office. No charges for vehicle or fuel are being considered. October’s invoice was for $856.66 for 22 hours work.
We have been unsuccessful to draw a response from LAFCO staff. The Manager has twice sent emails to Marcus Sequra, LAFCO staff member who has responded that he has to discuss my inquiry regarding a detachment with annexation of territory in South Visalia with George Finney, Executive Director. Our third email did not receive a response until very late on the day of the Board meeting. Essentially, LAFCO’s position is that it is powerless to correct the boundary issue that allows Tulare MAD to operate outside of its Sphere of Influence. The only way to correct the concern is for our District to apply for a detachment and annexation so the boundary and SOI can come into alignment. Considering the powers of LAFCO for reorganizations and given that we see Tulare MAD operating outside of its SOI, but within its boundary, one would conclude that LAFCO is responsible for the corrections as they have the charge to encourage the orderly formation and development of local agencies. The money collected by the District should not be spent to fix a LAFCO issue.
Leslie Caviglia, City of Visalia and the Manager are to sit down in the next week or so in order to go over the issue as she has expressed interest and would like to discuss this. The Manager suggested seeing what Leslie has to offer and letting the issue settle a bit before seeing what course we should follow. The Board was in agreement with this conception.
The appointments to the Board for Exeter and Tulare County expire December 31st. The Manager was informed that both Trustees would like to be considered for reappointment.
The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Board Minutes approved on December 12, 2007.
_______________________________________
Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary