BOARD MEETING MINUTES
October 8, 2008
1. Meeting was called to order at 0900 by Chairperson Tretten.
2. Report on Closed Session Nothing to report.
3. Motion to approve the September Minutes. R. Machado suggested that the arsenic levels reported in the minutes reflect measurement level that they are based on (ie. ppb/mg/L, etc.)
The Clerk will make the adjustment.
Motion to approve as amended.
Motion – R. Machado Second – L. Walker All in favor – Aye.
17. Opportunity for the Public to address the Board. Property owner Bill Starmer congratulated the Board on their decision to hire General Manager Frank Motzkus. In his conversations with Frank, he has found him to be very knowledgeable and has shown that he is a good leader of the team.
Both the Board and the General Manager thanked Mr. Starmer for his compliments and continued support of the CSD’s operations.
4. Chief’s Report (given by Assistant Chief Forster)
Calls - 9/12 Vegetation Fire Plumas Eureka State Park 9/18 Medical Aid – Longboards Restaurant 9/19 Structure Fire – Gold Ridge Road 9/21 Structure & Vegetation fire Valentine Road near Feather River Inn Discussion – the last incident was a total loss of the almost completed structure and the owner did not have insurance because of the tree population surrounding the property. The owner was not aware of the fact that they were not in a designated Fire District and that they would be invoiced from all responding agencies for services rendered. The Board suggested that local realtors should be informed of this so that they may clearly advise prospective buyers about Fire/Medical Services invoicing from responding agencies if you are not in a Fire District or do not have a protection contract with a local Department.
Personnel – no changes Grants – we met with FEMA for the Assistance Grant – the application is pending Miscellaneous – on September 12th we took delivery of the command vehicle (designated number 9100) the Auxiliary is picking up ½ the cost of the vehicle and the Department contingency fund is paying for the accessories to outfit the vehicle with radio, lights, etc. The Chief says Thank you for the command vehicle, now he can ‘move the Fire Department’ out of his truck.
6. Eco-Logic The General Manager introduced Ray Kruth and Mark Hanneman from Eco-Logic Engineers, which is the company that was awarded the bid to help us resolve our arsenic issue.
They outlined some of the actions they will take towards this resolution of the arsenic issue facing this area. There followed a question and answer period and the gentlemen were thanked by the Board for coming over to speak with them.
5. LAFCo The General Manager informed the Board that he had attended the LAFCo Meeting in Quincy on September 29th.
Among the topics discussed was a matter arising with regard to the Feather River Inn. It appears that they will need someone to operate their Water & Wastewater facilities when they open again. They currently have some type of understanding with Graeagle Fire for fire protection, but not the wastewater since there is no one qualified to operate that type of system on the Graeagle Land and Water staff. LAFCo has suggested to the Inn owners that they contact Plumas Eureka, since we would be able to provide all three services. The General Manager informed the Board that he had a telephone conversation the previous day with a representative from the Inn and that this person would be going to his Board with our information and would be in contact with us in the near future.
The other item of information is that Grizzly Lake Improvement District is applying to change their status from an Improvement District to a CSD. This will be a positive move for them because by changing their status, it will afford them better opportunities for grant funding.
7. Office Space The General Manager informed the Board that he had contact six architects in the surrounding area about producing a set of drawings for the proposed expansion. Four companies responded, they were Yelland, Roper, Daun and Swan. He recommended to the Board that the bid received from Mr. Swan be accepted. After discussion the Board decided that the General Manager should get a few clarifications on Mr. Swan’s bid language but to go ahead and proceed to engage his services.
Motion to accept the Swan bid with the aforementioned clarifications.
Motion – L. Walker Second – R. Machado All in favor – Aye.
Board Member Walker also brought up the subject of additional storage areas, since some of the pancake breakfast equipment is currently being stored at people’s houses and that PEPS could also use storage space. This will be forwarded to Mr. Swan for additional consideration.
8. Wells and Arsenic update The Board was informed that we have once again exceeded the Federal limits and another letter will be sent out to all property owners and will also be posted and published in the local paper. This will not be done until the hard copy of the laboratory reports have been received in the office.
9. Fire Department Recruitment The Assistant Chief presented a second, more streamlined proposal to the Board for consideration. It would increase call reimbursements from $10 to $18 per call, extra incentive pay for EMT certifications, additional fire fighting certifications and drivers licenses that have been upgraded to operate fire engines, training pay at $2.50/hr based on 50% attendance and the weed abatement inspector at $12/hr.
After discussion the Board asked for a spread sheet that would show a projected fiscal impact based on the figures presented. The item was continued to the November agenda.
Additional information The Assistant Chief passed out the first issue of “The Responder”, which is the title of the Fire Departments newsletter that will be sent out shortly. The Board complemented the Assistant Chief (he and his wife Maureen are the editors) on the quality of the publication. They were informed that future copies shall not be as intricate, due to publication costs that exceeded the budgeted amount. The Department contingency fund shall make up this first shortfall. At a previous meeting, the Board directed the Chief to send a Weed Abatement Notice to the County for removal of the dry grasses in their road right of ways within the District. This has apparently backfired on us, because we have recently been contacted by some rather irate customers who are in receipt of a rather blunt letter from the County demanding that they remove burn piles out of the right of ways in front of their homes or they will be invoiced for their removal by the County and attached to this letter is the abatement notice from the CSD to the County!! We had no prior knowledge of this correspondence and the Chief is attempting to contact the person from Public Works who signed this letter and ascertain an explanation for its issuance. To be continued.
10. Expenditure Requests None at this time.
11. Emergency Preparedness Plan The Board was informed that letters were sent out to all the Homeowner Associations and local realtors, inviting them to attend an informational meeting held on September 18th. There seems to be an apparent lack of interest since the only persons that showed up for this meeting were Fire Chief Castagnetti, Assistant Chief Forster, Board Member Vern Wiemeyer (other Board Member attending would have been Rich Machado, but he was called out of town on a family emergency) and PEEHA President Bill Carrera.
Although this was disheartening, the Board would still like Misters Wiemeyer and Machado to continue to pursue this Plan. They asked that a list be prepared on what type of equipment and supplies would be necessary to operate an Emergency Operations Center and that an outline on what’s been done and what needs to be done be compiled for reference. Mr. Wiemeyer informed the Board that he has also been in contact with Kathy Stang who is the new OES Risk Manager for Plumas County. She is very interested in our Plan and would like to be kept up to speed on our progress. She also indicated that she would be happy to come to a future Board Meeting to address the Board Members on the operation of the County OES and their goals for the future.
12. Goals and Objectives Mr. Walker reviewed some of the goals that have been or are being accomplished and the list will be edited in the near future.
13. Committee Reports Personnel – nothing to report Recreation – nothing to report Fire Corps – covered under item #11 Insurance – nothing to report
14. Future Agenda Items and New Business The Clerk reviewed the items listed on the November Agenda.
New Business Since we are headed into Fall and Winter, and since two of the Fire Department engines need to be moved outside for the Board Meetings, the Assistant Chief requested that the CSD personnel wipe down the windows on the units in the case of foul weather. This will be taken care of by CSD personnel by direction of the General Manager.
15. General Manager’s Report The Board reviewed the September Financial Reports.
Motion to accept the September Reports.
Motion – L. Walker Second – V. Wiemeyer All in favor – Aye. New CSD Vehicle – The General Manager has been in contact with CHP in Sacramento regarding steps that must be taken in order to legally operate an OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) on the County streets within the District. He still does not have any concrete information and will continue to pursue this matter and report next month on his progress.
Miscellaneous There is a Ski Hill Meeting in November if anyone else is interested in attending. The General Manager presented the group photo of the CSD Board and Staff that was done by Maureen Forster. We haven’t decided where it will be hung yet.
16. Written Correspondence to the Board None received.
18. Motion to adjourn.
Motion – L. Walker Second – R. Machado All in favor – Aye.
Meeting adjourned at 1211 hours.
In attendance – E. Tretten, L. Walker, R. Machado, V. Wiemeyer Absent – F. Shepard
Respectfully submitted,
TERESA L. CUNNINGHAM
Teresa L. Cunningham Clerk to the PECSD Board