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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009-01-06 - Public Information-Technology Committee Meeting Agenda Packet~ Yorba Linda :Ell Water District PUBLIC INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 4:00 p.m. 1717 E. Miraloma Avenue, Placentia, CA 92870 - Tel: (714) 701-3020 AGENDA COMMITTEE STAFF Director Ric Collett, Chair Ken Vecchiarelli, General Manager Director Michael J. Beverage Pat Grady, Information Technology Director Cindy Mejia, Management Analyst INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS AND PUBLIC COMMENTS Any Individual wishing to address the committee is requested to Identify themselves and state the matter on which they wish to comment. If the matter is on this agenda, the committee Chair will recognize the individual for their comment when the Item is considered. No action will be taken on matters not listed on this agenda. Comments are limited to matters of public interest and matters within the jurisdiction of the Water District. Comments are limited to five minutes. • ACTION ITEMS This portion of the agenda is for items where staff presentations and committee discussions are needed prior to formal committee action. 1. None DISCUSSION ITEMS This portion of the agenda is for matters such as technical presentations, drafts of proposed policies or similar items for which staff is seeking the advice and counsel of the Committee members. This portion of the agenda may also include items for information only. 2. Update on Current Public Relations Activities a. New GM Press Release b. Triangle Complex Firestorm Video C. Customer Letter Regarding Triangle Complex Fire After Action Report ADJOURNMENT The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Public Information-Technology Committee will be held February 3, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. • OR G'!, A_ Items Distributed to the Committee Less Than 72 Hours Prior to the Meetinq Pursuant to Government Code section 54957.5, non-exempt public records that relate to open session agenda items and are distributed to the Committee less than seventy-two (72) hours prior to the meeting will be available for public inspection in the lobby of the District's business office located at 1717 E. Miraloma Avenue, Placentia, CA 92870, • during regular business hours. When practical, these public records will also be made available on the District's internet website accessible at http://www.ylwd.com/. Accommodations for the Disabled Any person may make a request for a disability-related modification or accommodation needed for that person to be able to participate in the public meeting by telephoning Michael A. Payne, General Manager, at 714.701.3020 or writing to Yorba Linda Water District, P.O. Box 309, Yorba Linda, CA 92885-0309. Requests must specify the nature of the disability and the type of accommodation requested. A telephone number or other contact information should be included so the District staff may discuss appropriate arrangements. Persons requesting a disability-related accommodation should make the request with adequate time before the meeting for the District to provide the requested accommodation. • • 2 ITEM NO. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE is Contact: Cindy Botts, Public Information officer 714-701-3024, cbotts@ylwd.com YLWD APPOINTS NEW GENERAL MANAGER Water District Board of Directors appoints new General Manager after retirement of veteran YORBA LINDA, Calif. (January 5, 2009) The Yorba Linda Water District Board of Directors on December 23, 2008 appointed Kenneth R. Vecchiarelli as General Manager. Vecchiarelli, previously Assistant General Manager and Engineering Manager, began his employment with the District almost 17 years ago as a Senior Engineering Technician. He was promoted through the years to Assistant Engineering Manager, Engineering Manager and Assistant General Manager. Vecchiarelli, who has a degree in Civil Engineering, is licensed by the State of California as a Professional Engineer and maintains a D3 Water Systems Operator license, worked on all of the projects the District has completed in the last 15 years. Some of these projects include the water and sewer system infrastructure for the Vista del Verde, Pulte and Shapell master planned housing developments in the northwest of the District, the Lakeview Reservoir and Booster Pump Station projects, the 100-year old Highland Reservoir replacement, development and construction of two new groundwater wells and the rehabilitation of four existing wells. • Vecchiarelli also was fundamental in completing improvements to the groundwater system's 16,18 and 36-inch pipelines which allow for decreased dependence on water derived from inconsistent availability and increasing prices due to environmental and regulatory drought from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta through the Metropolitan Water District (MWD). This improvement allowed the Yorba Linda Water District to benefit all of its customers by maintaining one of the lowest water rates in Orange County. "I am excited to have the opportunity to lead this agency through the next chapter of our history as we continue to prove to the community that we are indeed a premier service organization, worthy of their full trust and support. We can and should be proud of our service record and I am confident that we now have an opportunity to forge even further ahead, with a renewed level of dedication and improved level of service, "says Vecchiarelli. Kenneth R. Vecchiarelli replaces Michael A. Payne who retired at the end of the year after 35 years as an employee of the District. Payne, who is a recent resident of Yorba Linda, plans to maintain his involvement in the community. About YLWD The Yorba Linda Water District traces its roots back to 1909 and is one of Orange County's oldest utility companies, providing water and wastewater service to more than 75,000 residents in portions of Yorba Linda, Placentia, Anaheim, Brea and unincorporated Orange County. For more information please visit www.YLWD.com. is 2~ Ken Veccarelli In the wake of the recent fire, the water district is under strict scrutiny by residents and city officials. What will you do to appease customer's concerns? What is your number priority as the new General Manager? When can residents expect the after action report from the water district? What is being done about the Hidden Hills reservoir? How serious is future water rationing in the next few years? What do you plan to do differently from Payne? It's rumored that solar power has been talked about as backup power for some reservoirs/pumping stations, how realistic is that? C N IV14FnNeV~ /~V - J)4yj -A j Cj ~ \ L- Stio, ) 9' DRAFT ONLY 01-05-09 Dear Customers: On January 8, 2009, the Yorba Linda Water District will release a comprehensive assessment of how your water system performed during the Freeway Complex Fire, the worst fire disaster ever to strike our community. We invite you to read the full assessment on our website, or to review copies at the District office or your local library. In the meantime, we want to summarize our findings directly to you - and ask for your active support in helping make our system better. In summary, the Freeway Complex Fare Water System Assessment (Assessment) revealed that: • The fire threatened 9,500 homes and damaged or destroyed 178 within the YLWD service area. Of those, as many as five homes were claimed to have been lost in part due to a lack of water. • Reports of widespread problems in the water system were either false or exaggerated. The system delivered enormous volumes of water to the fire- fight without interruption- except in a few cases- and those volumes far exceeded the standard capacity of the water system. • The system operated substantially more effectively because of a series of major infrastructure improvements over the past 10 years that have largely kept pace with the dramatic population growth in our community. • We can and must do more to continue our improvement program and ensure we have in place as strong a water delivery system as possible. Water Svstem Performance: Based on objective measurements, the water system functioned well during the fire. During the fire, our system delivered an additional 20 million gallons of water, primarily to the highest elevations within our service area. Our Assessment did find that water flows were interrupted for several hours in some portions of an area encompassing eight streets and 118 homes in the highest elevations of Hidden Hills. The Orange County Fire Authority has stated that up to five of these homes may have been damaged or destroyed because of this interruption. Failures of water service have been reported in other catastrophic fire storms, including the recent Sayre fire in Sylmar, as well as the Laguna Hills and Oakland Hills fires in the 1990s. As part of our Assessment, we tried to determine why this happened in our District and what we might be able to do to prevent similar problems in the future. Our Assessment found that the interruption in water service in the upper area of Hidden Hills occurred after flames swept through the District's booster pump station and reservoir site, which serve this high-elevation neighborhood. Because of its elevation, this area in the District gets water directly from the booster pump station. We have not yet been able to determine exactly the extent of the water service interruption in that area in part because the fire destroyed our telecommunications links to these facilities. We expect to have more detailed information when the Fire Authority completes its own review in March 2009, and we will make this information available to the public. In the meantime, we are moving forward with previously planned projects - including construction of a new reservoir in this area - that will add capacity to our water system to maintain and enhance our service during both normal usage and emergency situations. We'll discuss these steps later in this report. Finally, our Assessment looked carefully at the reports that some fire hydrants failed to work during the fire. The District conducts annual inspections and tests of all 3,859 hydrants and repairs or replaces any inoperable or broken hydrants. In the wake of the fire our crews found three fire hydrants that had been damaged. The District has not yet been able to determine how those hydrants were damaged - or by whom. The three damaged hydrants have either been repaired or replaced. The Assessment found no evidence that the damage to these three hydrants affected the outcome of the fire fighting efforts, in part because nearby hydrants were working. Svstem Improvements - Past. Present & Future: In the past 10 years, to keep pace with population growth and the spread of residential neighborhoods along the boundaries of the wild lands, the District has completed millions of dollars worth of infrastructure improvements. These projects include over 15 million gallons of new reservoir storage at four sites; 8,300 gallons per minute (gpm) of additional booster pump station capacity to pump water up to and from these reservoirs; two new groundwater wells with combined capacity of nearly 4,000 gpm; and tens of miles of transmission pipelines ranging from 12-inch to 36-inch diameter to convey both local and imported water supplies throughout our service area. In addition to new projects, the District has replaced and upgraded miles of old distribution and transmission pipelines, thousands of aging meters and hundreds of service connections. Combined, these projects have improved our ability to reliably supply a rapidly-increasing amount of water throughout our entire service area for consumption, irrigation and fire protection purposes. The District is constantly upgrading and improving the community's water system. The current five-year capital improvements program for 2007-2012 calls for an aggressive list of projects estimated at nearly $58 million worth of additional system improvements, including: construction of the new Hidden Hills Reservoir; replacement of the nearly 100-year old Highland Reservoir; new and upgraded booster pump stations, new groundwater production wells; improved interconnections with other local water purveyors; additional meter replacements and more pipeline replacements. The new Hidden Hills Reservoir will be located at the eastern edge of Yorba Linda, within the Chino Hills State Park. It will be at a higher elevation than the homes in the Hidden Hills area, so it can rely on gravity to deliver water to that area. ' We also wanted to take this opportunity to clear up some possible confusion. There has been an assertion made that the Hidden Hills Reservoir may have been delayed because of the recently completed construction of the District headquarters. The headquarters was long planned and necessary to accommodate the growth in our staff, which paralleled the growth of our community. This building, located on land that has been owned by the District for nearly 100 years, offered a more cost-effective option for the District over the long term when compared with other alternatives. It also allowed us to house all of our Departments on one central site, increased efficiency for all personnel. This construction was separately funded and it did not cause us to delay water projects such as the Hidden Hills Reservoir. The construction of the Hidden Hills Reservoir was delayed for several years while we waited for a real estate developer to complete plans for that area. Until the developer finalized those plans, we were unable to determine exactly where to locate the reservoir and exactly how large it needed to be. If the District had started construction on the basis of a "best guess" the reservoir might have been built with serious design flaws (for example, when a reservoir is too big, water stands for long periods and water quality suffers) or a substantial waste of public funds through overbuilding or locating it in the wrong spot. Once the developer's plans were finalized, we sited and designed this reservoir. We hope to be able to begin construction in April 2009, with completion slated for May 2010. This start date, however, depends on the successful completion of the long and complex permitting process almost every major project faces in California. This project faces an additional challenge: we must obtain permits from the State of California - as the State is charged with ensuring this project satisfies environmental concerns at Chino Hills State Park. We invite you to help the District with its efforts to obtain the necessary State approvals by contacting your state legislators and asking for their assistance. Your Water District continues to review its response to this traumatic fire and the steps we can take to provide the best possible service to our community. Over the past decade we have dramatically increased the capacity of the water system to meet the rapidly growing needs of our community. We will continue to report to you on our efforts to improve our community's water system for the future. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 714-701-3000 if you have any questions. Sincerely, Kenneth R. Vecchiarelli General Manager