Minutes of the Board of Trustees – Wednesday, January 14, 2009.

1. Roll Call:

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

Absent: Evan Long.

Staff:          Manager, Michael Alburn.

2. Oath of Office:

Reappointed Directors, Belen Gomez and Harold Dozier took the Oath of Office administered by Bruce Myers, President.

3. Election of Officers:

Following discussion, it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Bette George and unanimously carried to approve Evan Long as Board President for 2009.  Further, it was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier and unanimously carried to approve Belen Gomez as Secretary.

4. Approval of December Minutes:

It was moved by Harold Dozier, seconded by Bruce Myers, and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the December meeting be approved as mailed.

5. Approval of December Bills:

Following discussion, it was moved by Bruce Myers, seconded by Harold Dozier, and unanimously carried that the December Bills be approved as mailed.  See:  Board Order to disburse funds No. 13, Exhibit I.

6. Approval of January Payroll:

Following discussion, it was moved by Bette George, seconded by Harold Dozier, and unanimously carried that the January Payroll be approved as mailed.  See:  Board Order to disburse funds No. 14, Exhibit II.

7. Public Forum:

None.

8. Operational Report:

The Manager reported on the following activities:

• CPR / First Aid Thursday January 15
• Continuing Education 10 hours of DVD viewing complete, 10 hours still required prior to June 30.
• Pre emergent weed treatments ongoing with one-third of all sites complete.
• Vehicle maintenance is ongoing.
• Sexual Harassment for Supervisors / Ethics and Diversity/ Preventing Harassment & Discrimination are being offered as part of the online training opportunities available through our JPA.
• Our crew was excited and appreciative of the holiday ham provided by the District.

9. Quarterly Expenditure Report:

The Manager provided the following information to the Board:

A comparison of Revenues year to date compared to last fiscal year (07/08).

Current Expenditures were discussed.  The Manager expects to receive approximately $150,000 in unanticipated revenues and a minimum of $50,000 will be carried over from this years budget.  The ending balance in 07/08 was $2,383,000.  The 08/09 budget is $2,069,434.

Highlights of the discussion are as follows:

· Audit (year-end) for Workers Comp without earned discount due to change in carrier cost about $7,500 that we could have earned had we stayed.  The savings from the change far outweighs the loss.

· Dues will not renew for CSDA saving $3,800.

· Public Relations will be scaled back to $5,000.

· Continuing Education for ESRI will be put off saving $2,450.

· Ball Joint & Universal Joint Press Kit will be put off saving $655.

· Scanner will be put off saving $225.

· Vacuum will be put off saving $150.

· File cabinet will be put off saving $425.

· 3 – NJ Light Traps to be used in Porterville will not be purchased saving $1,250.

Total savings looks to be about $14,000 in identified items.

Overall we don’t have a lot of fat in the budget so the need to take care of and maintain our equipment will continue to be stressed to all employees. 

10. East County Mosquito Abatement Study Steering Committee:

The Committee accepted the notice given by the District, not to pursue further the opportunity to annex territory into the Delta VCD.  Tulare MAD, Tulare County Environmental Health, and Supervisor Ennis gave a presentation to the Porterville City Council on Jan. 6^th.   By a vote of 2 -1 the council supported the idea of letting the citizens decide if they want to tax themselves for the service.  No financial assistance was offered.  Lindsay Council is expected to vote later this month as to whether they will provide financial support for the endeavor, give their blessing, or deny the need for the service.  It is expected they will support the idea with a chance for some financial backing.

11. Tulare/ Delta Sphere of Influence Discussion:

The Manager reported that he had meet with George Finney on Dec 22 to discuss the South Visalia boundary and to get a sense for the timeline to which the LAFCo Commission would be receiving the review from staff.  The Manager stated that he was able to go over in detail the shortcomings as he sees them as far as services for one area of Visalia over another.  He also shared the letters Tulare MAD has exchanged with Delta and asked if Mr. Finney could discuss with the TMAD Board the need to amend one of the lines SOI or Boundary.  He said he would encourage the District to reenter a conversation with Delta regarding a solution.  The time line looks to be approximately 6 months.  The Manager said he will be contacting the City of Visalia and attempting to generate interest by their administrators so LAFCo can hear from the community affected.

12. Adjournment:

The meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.

Board Minutes approved on February 11, 2009.

_____________________________________

Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary