Minutes of the Board of Trustees – Wednesday, March 12, 2008.

 

  1. Roll Call:

Present:      President, Bruce Myers; Secretary, Belen Gomez; Evan Long, Bette George and Harold Dozier.

Staff:          Manager, Michael Alburn.

 

  1. Approval of February Minutes:

It was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Evan Long, and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the February meeting be approved as mailed.

 

  1. Approval of February Bills:

Following discussion, it was moved by Evan Long, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried that the February Bills be approved and ordered paid.  See:  Board Order to disburse funds No. 18, Exhibit I.

 

  1. Approval of March Payroll:

It was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried that the March Payroll be approved and ordered paid.  See:  Board Order to disburse funds No. 19, Exhibit II.

 

  1. Public Forum:

None.

 

  1. Operational Report:

The Manager reported the New Jersey Light traps were placed in the field at 14 locations.

Sentinel chickens are to be picked up April 1st, with cages being distributed this month.

Biologist, Kathy Ramirez will be in Monson Sultana 7th grade, March 26th.

Business card is being redone with current logo.

Advertising for summer positions in local papers and online.  The result shows a healthy response and many download of applications from the web site.

Sent out letters for the storm water retention basins where conditions were such that would facilitate breeding this summer.  The District is requiring a plan for mitigation be developed and agreed to with the District as we follow-up.

Fish continue to be collected and distributed to various containment sites in the district.

Training/ calibration/ fit test/ online medical evaluation- clearance for respirators is ongoing.

Drug screening of returning and new personnel is ongoing.

 

  1. Tulare County LAFCO :

The Manager reported that the Commission met March 5, taking no action on the SOI Update.  Tulare County Counsel advised the Commission on the details of forming a new mosquito abatement district.  The Commission still has not met the Government Code requirements for updating the District SOI.

 

  1. GASB 45:

The Manager reported that an issue has arisen concerning CERBT, the CalPERS trust for prefunding GASB 45 liabilities.  According to a CalPERS bulletin issued Feb. 20th and discussions with GASB staff, CalPERS will now require all participants in CERBT to complete actuarial valuations biennially.

 

GASB staff advised that agencies participating in the CERBT be on a biennial valuation cycle, because the CERBT is the “plan.”  Under the GASB standard, if a plan has a membership of 200 or more, then it should measure OPEB liabilities biennially.  Therefore, all participating employers ought to obtain a valuation biennially.

 

This information will affect only those agencies that expected to report on a triennial cycle.  To which, Delta would be one should we decide to actually prefund.  What this means is that agencies participating in the CERBT ought to re-measure their OPEB liabilities at least every two years.

 

The general GASB 45 rule for plans with less than 200 participants is every 3 years, that is the rule CalPERS has used up to this time, and indeed the previous CalPERS worksheets displayed a column for the third year results.

The advice contained in the CalPERS memo was given in a conference call between GASB staff and CalPERS staff; there is nothing in writing (not unusual for GASB).  The conference call lasted an hour, and CalPERS staff argued against the GASB staff’s position, but to no avail. CalPERS’ interpretation of the call was that the position did not relate to any of the specific features of CERBT, but would apply any time an employer participated in a trust where an employer with more than 200 plan members (employees plus covered retirees) also participated.  In that case, this would apply to almost every multiple employer trust in the United States.

This does not seem to be an issue that GASB understood at the time bulletin 43 and 45 were issued.  It really does not make sense to have a triennial valuation option (that is, look at your liabilities less frequently) if you have to move to a single employer trust (less asset diversification and more operating expense) to do it.

For now, CERBT is requiring biennial valuations for all participating agencies and will be two years before it has any real effect on our District should we prefund.

 

CAL Card:

In an effort to limit the use of personal credit cards when making one time budget approved purchases without effecting the available credit for the Manager, Asst. Mgr and Biologist, the Manager is requesting a fourth card with $1,000 credit limit be ordered for the office.  Typically, the assigned cards are tied up with reservation holds or reduced limits because payment is in process. 

 

Following discussion, it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Bette George, and unanimously carried to approve the acquiring of a 4th CAL Card with a $1,000 spending limit for use by the office staff.

 

  1. Operational Plan:

The summer operation will consist of five Vector Control Tech III’s and one VC Tech II.  VC Tech III, Paul Harlein has given his notice of resignation and we are advertising for a Tech II/ III at this time.  All personnel are going into the field 3/ 19.

 

The House mosquito program will consist of the VC Supervisor and 5 VC Tech I’s.  We are considering an additional 5 VC Tech I’s with the season’s conditions dictating the need.  We expect we would bring those on after Memorial Day if we need to.  The Manager reported that the District has not budgeted for the increased number but would like the Board to authorize the hiring of up to 10 VC Tech I’s for the House program.  It was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried to approve the hiring of additional VC Tech I personnel above and beyond the number budgeted for as necessary at the Manager’s discretion. 

 

The house mosquito zones have been redrawn again this year as we further concentrate the urban control effort.  Under this scheme, we will have one Tech I in Dinuba, 2 in Visalia, and 1 in Woodlake, Exeter, Farmersville.  This leaves one to be assigned to help in any of these areas along with the supervisor of the program dependent upon the day to day of the program.  The additionally approved personnel will supplement these areas if necessary based on our surveillance indicators.

 

The Vegetation Management program will continue to utilize the Foreman for grower contacts as well as two VC Tech I’s who will split time with the larval detail.

 

The Larval program will continue with the BTI application through mist blower set up from the previous year, supplemented with Golden Bear Oil applications as necessary.  This is a one-man operation and it is intended that VC Tech III’s will take care of their own treatment needs.  Oil treatments will be made utilizing the crew from the Vegetation Management program as supplement to the BTI effort.

 

Lab/ Surveillance will utilize 2 Biologist positions and up to 3 VC Tech I’s.  We do not know if Michele will be returning as she gave birth Monday.  She has been a solid seasonal employee for close to six years and works well with the lab staff.  The district will maintain sentinel chicken flocks at the District Office, Kings River, Daly Ranch and Kaweah River.  Light traps will be utilized in all the historical sites and co2/ gravid traps will be utilized in concert with dead bird calls and service request indexes.  In addition we anticipate purchasing a Revco freezer in the next budget so we can process mosquito collections all five days of the work week.  It is expected that we will begin a CO2/ gravid trapping program that uses specific sites to develop a background understanding, which will in time become a baseline for the adult mosquito population over a given area in time and space.  Dead bird collection will continue as well.

 

Radio PSA effort will start up in April through various markets and language broadcasts.  We will work with Tulare County to make sure we are not duplicating efforts.

 

Public Relations effort will include classroom presentations, public events such as Health Net fairs, and community events such as Senior Day in the park and other vehicles like Earth Day.

 

  1. Bureau of Automotive Repair:

The District was subject to an inspection by the BAR after being tipped off by the Tulare MAD that we did not smog our vehicles.  Actually, we have tried to smog our vehicles previously as we do register them with DMV but we have never been ask to after registration.  This first year we have 12 vehicles in need of smog certificates (1975 and newer to 2002, odd and even, no diesel and 6 years or newer exempt).  Next year we will only do odd vehicles, according to last number in VIN.  Cost is $21.75 per vehicle.  We are not subject to penalty for not having done the previous smog checks.

 

Safety Recognition Barbeque:

The Manager requested authorization to host a barbeque as part of label training and calibration day in order to recognize the excellent safety record achieved by the staff, including over 1,300,000 miles without a reportable accident.  It was moved Bette George, seconded by Belen Gomez and unanimously carried to approve a barbeque as requested.

 

  1. Adjournment:

The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.

 

Board Minutes approved on April 9, 2008.

 

 

__________________________________

Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary