HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-08-24 - Citizens Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
MINUTES OF THE
YORBA LINDA WATER DISTRICT
CITIZENS ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
August 24, 2009
A meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee was called to order at 8:30 a.m. The
meeting was held at the District's Administrative Office at 1717 E Miraloma Ave,
Placentia CA 92870.
COMMITTEE STAFF
Cheryl Spencer Lindon Baker Ken Vecchiarelli, General Manager
Gary Melton Marlo Naber-Mole Pat Grady, Asst. General Manager
Gene Scearce Phil Hawkins Cindy Botts, Management Analyst
Gregory Meyers Robert Kiley
OTHER ATTENDEES
Mark Schock
1. PUBLIC COMMENTS
None.
2. DISCUSSION ITEMS
2.1. CAC Recommendation on Water Rate Increase at Public Hearing
Mr. Vecchiarelli quickly explained again why the costs of doing business
have increased and the relationship of these costs to the possible water
rate increase. Several CAC members stated that they would attend the
hearing and Vice-Chair Greg Meyers requested that the CAC members
present at the meeting let him know what the consensus of the Committee
was, in order to present to the Board at the Public Hearing. Four members
commented and the consensus from those four was that the Committee
supported the tiered rate increase, at the full amount proposed. No other
Committee members wished to comment. Mr. Vecchiarelli again reminded
all members that as residents they were entitled to speak at the Public
Hearing and their opinions did not need to necessarily reflect the opinion
of the Committee as a whole.
2.2. Orange County Grand Jury Reports
Mr. Grady gave a PowerPoint presentation on the District's response to
the Grand Jury Reports and requested input from the Committee. The
Committee made several suggestions in wording changes, but essentially
agreed with the District's stance on both reports. In the "Paper Water"
report, several Committee members stated that the District's draft
response to the Grand Jury's recommendation that each agency should
prepare a Water Element to the respective City's General Plan sounded
as though the District was not willing to work with the City on developing a
Water Element. Mr. Grady responded that as YLWD is not a part of a City,
YLWD cannot require, or write for them, a Water Element to include within
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their General Plan, and legally, YLWD is required to respond to Grand
Jury recommendations with either "yes, we will implement" or "no, we will
not implement". After re-wording with some suggestions from the
Committee, Mr. Grady indicated that the draft response would be changed
to state that we would be willing to work with the City to develop a Water
Element, should either City choose to do so.
In the "Public Involvement" report, several committee members disagreed
with the District's response to the Grand Jury's recommendation that
District's should schedule Board meetings at times that would generate
maximum attendance. These members thought that regardless of low
attendance at evening Board meetings, meetings should continue to be
held in the evening. Another committee member agreed with the District's
response, stating that if attendance was as low in the evenings as it is
during morning meetings, it is not necessary for the District to incur
additional overtime labor costs for staff to attend.
Another topic of discussion within the "Public Involvement" report was that
of the Grand Jury's recommendation that all water districts should use the
election process to fill Board vacancies, rather than appoint members. The
District's draft response was that the costs of special elections are
prohibitive and in regards to the YLWD Board, appointments have not
happened that frequently. One Committee member brought up the fact
that there may be strong public perception that this may be occurring,
even within the YLWD Board, due to high profile stories in the media.
Another couple of Committee members suggested that in order to avoid
any difficulties with public perception, the Board may wish to consider a
policy that states that after the resignation of a Board member, the Board
may wish to offer the position to the "runner-up" in that member's election,
particularly if the resignation occurs soon after the election of that Board
member by the public.
2.3. Water Conservation Ordinance Progress Report
Mrs. Botts gave a quick report on the progress of the conservation efforts
and on Ordinance compliance for August.
3. ADJOURNMENT
3.1. The meeting was adjourned at 10:45a.m. The next regular meeting of the
Citizens Advisory Committee will be held September 28, 2009 at 8:30 a.m.
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