Minutes of the Board of Trustees – Wed, May 18, 2011.
1. Roll Call:
Present: President, Evan Long; Secretary, Belen Gomez; Larry Roberts; Richard Phillips.
Absent: Bette George and Rosemary Hellwig.
Staff: Manager, Michael Alburn.
2. Building Project Report:
The Manager reported that seven bids were opened on May 12, 2011 at 2 p.m.
The bids had a $490,000 spread. The three lowest bids were within $138,000. The lowest two were within 5% of each other and are local contractors.
The District is currently awaiting the bid protest period’s expiration in order to analyze the bids received. Conference call with counsel on May 24 at 9:00 a.m. is scheduled between District, Counsel, Hayashida and C.M. Construction.
The Manager asked if a trustee would like to participate in the conference call and it was affirmed that Richard Phillips was available and would like to join in the discussion. The Manager asked that the two meet prior to the call for thirty minutes to go over background.
The bids would seem to agree and confirm that the project is able to be performed with our current funding base.
3. Approval of April Minutes:
It was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Larry Roberts and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the April meeting be approved as mailed.
4. Approval of April Bills:
Following discussion, it was moved by Richard Phillips, seconded by Larry Roberts, and unanimously carried that the April Bills be approved as submitted. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 23, Exhibit I.
5. Approval of May Payroll:
Following discussion, it was moved by Larry Roberts, seconded by Richard Phillips, and unanimously carried that the May Payroll be approved as submitted. See: Board Order to disburse funds No. 24, Exhibit II.
6. Approval of Deutsche Bank Bills:
Following discussion, it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Larry Roberts, and unanimously carried that the May Deutsche Bank Bills be approved as submitted. See: Exhibit III.
7. Public Forum:
None.
8. Operational Report:
The Manager reported on these items of operational interest:
Swimming Pools were surveyed by aircraft on April 30 and we are up to 1100 being inspected.
Eric Rabuse, Tech III asked for a personal leave of absence and was granted such on April 25 – June 22. John Johnson Certified Tech I is filling in during the absence. John worked in the area last summer.
Larviciding Oil purchased, our cost $8.19/ gal… we will use approx. 10 – 12 K/ gal this year.
Staff is working with land owners who have cost significant money for irrigation shortcomings. Alta has only been operating since April 7 so we have seen a couple irrigations so far. We will continue to attempt to hold down treatment needs in these locations.
Continuing education DVD’s have arrived and of 10 hours needing viewing 5 have been completed. June 30 is our deadline so we will likely watch an hour in the mornings as long as the weather remains below normal.
9. Resolution 11-02:
Notice of Public Hearing is to be published in Visalia
Times-Delta, Dinuba Sentinel,
The Engineers Report was made available in the mailed packet. Trustees discussed the contents without any reservations being identified.
The Manager read the Resolution and Staff Report recommending approval of Resolution 11-02.
Following discussion it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Richard Phillips and unanimously carried to approve the Engineers Report and adopt Resolution 11-02.
10.
Bickmore Risk Services (Actuarial & Employer Services Branch) has alerted us to changes in the asset allocation strategies and related discount rates to be used by the actuary in preparing Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) valuations.
Three Strategies were evaluated, one identified to use in the OPEB valuation. CalPERS has been using Strategy 1 (11.73 percent expected rate of return, 7.61 percent discount rate) in past valuations. Strategy 2 has a 9.46 percent expected rate of return, 7.06 percent discount rate. The Manager recommended Strategy 3: Standard Deviation of Expected Return rate of 7.27%, with a discount rate of 6.25%.
The approximate expected contribution cost for 2012, including payments to CalPERS for retirees, would be roughly $10,600.
Following discussion, it was moved by Larry Roberts, seconded by Richard Phillips and unanimously carried to adopt Strategy 3 with a discount rate of 6.25 percent.
11. Salary Survey:
The Manager discussed the recently collected information regarding wage and benefit packages available at several districts. Trustees were informed that they could call and discuss any areas that needed further clarification. The report is in response to the request made by Trustees at the June 2010 meeting in which the Manager position was evaluated. The State Controller was to have information posted on the web site in time for the coming evaluation, however delays have made that posting unlikely to make the meeting date. The trustees appreciated the additional information. See: Exhibit IV
12. CA Mosquito-Borne Virus Surveillance and Response Plan :
The district uses the Plan among others to base a foundation in such things as our CEQA document and NPDES Permitting. Changes in the doc this year include:
Clarification that beginning in 2010, results from RT-PCR testing at CVEC distinguished between WNV recent and chronic positive birds based on cycle threshold (Ct) values. Chronic positive birds did not likely die from WNV infection and are of limited value for surveillance.
Deleted references to DYCAST, the model previously used to identify areas of increased WNV activity in space and time based on the occurrence of dead bird reports. Because the number of dead bird reports has declined, DYCAST is not currently being used. However, dead bird reports are still being made available weekly to local agencies.
In 2011, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) will be receiving/processing reports from the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System lab regarding WNV infected horses (CDPH performed this function in 2010). CDFA will forward this information to CDPH (Veterinary Public Health Section) and local agencies will be notified regarding cases by the Vector-Borne Disease Section.
The list of pesticides used for mosquito control in CA has been updated, and now includes Spinosad and other new products.
Reference to the document “Best Management Practices
for Mosquito Control in
Following discussion, it was moved by Belen Gomez, seconded by Richard Phillips and unanimously carried to approve the CA Mosquito-Borne Virus Surveillance and Response Plan 2011 as the guide for District operations.
13. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 8:21 p.m.
Board Minutes Approved on June 8, 2011.
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Michael W. Alburn, Recording Secretary