MINUTES

BOARD MEETING
August 13, 2008

1. Meeting was called to order at 0900 by Chair Tretten

2. Report on Closed Session Nothing to report

3. Motion to approve the July Meeting Minutes. Motion – R. Machado Second – V. Wiemeyer All in favor – Aye.

4. Chief’s Report – given by General Manager Motzkus Calls 7/11 @ 1645 hours – Patient assist Tolowa Trail – Graeagle 7/12 @ 1200 hours – Possible vehicle fire near Clio 7/20 @ 1650 hours – Medical Aid/Rescue Plumas Eureka State Park 8/2 @ 1105 hours – Vehicle Accident at Feather River Bridge 8/8 @ 1803 hours – Vegetation fire Hwy 89 across from Coyote Grill 8/9 @ 2037 hours – Patient assist Sioux Trail – Graeagle

Personnel The Chief is pleased to announce that Dr. (retired) Bob Fulmer of Eureka Springs has joined the Department.

Grant Update Nothing to report other than passage of Resolution 2008-72 accepting the CALFire Grant for Wildland Fire Fighting Shelters.

Miscellaneous Asst. Chief Forster has been in contact with Sac Metro, Diamond Springs and El Dorado Fire Departments and we have received donated fire equipment from their departments.

5. Open Flame Fire The Chief recommends that the Open Flame Fire ban be kept in place until the State declares an end to fire season. The Board concurs.

With regard to establishing policy on Open Flame Fires, the Chief is researching whether policy language should be referenced to the California Fire Codes or the Uniform Fire Codes. Also, the General Manager advised the Board that he had been in contact with the Plumas County District Attorney’s Office to discuss the proper process to issue citations for violations on Open Flame Fires. The item was continued to the September Board Meeting Agenda.

6. Resolution 2008-72 – CALFire Grant The Board must accept this Resolution (boilerplate provided by CALFire) in order to proceed with the Grant.

Motion to accept Resolution 2008-72. Motion – F. Shepard Second – R. Machado

Roll call vote: Aye – F. Shepard, R. Machado, V. Wiemeyer, E. Tretten Nay – None Abstain – None Absent – L. Walker

7. Office Space At the July Meeting the General Manager proposed an expansion to the south side of the building to make additional office space since the other side of the building has an office that is being modified to a smaller size to accommodate the wildland firefighting rig. He spoke with local contractor, Ed Yelland who built the lower shop area and asked for a ball park figure on the proposed expansion. He came back with a figure of between $130 - $150 thousand dollars for the project. This figure is a bit high, but in order to obtain firmer prices we need plans drawn to go out to bid. The General Manager asked the Board’s for permission to proceed – permission was given to proceed. The item was continued to the September Agenda.

8. Wells and Arsenic update The Board was informed that we had sent bid requests to twelve engineering firms for a Preliminary Engineers Report on the arsenic issue. Only two bids were received, three firms declined and seven gave no response whatsoever.

Although the bid received from the firm named Eco-Logic is a bit higher than the bid received from AMEC, their proposal of approach to the issue is far more detailed and based on that the General Manager recommended to the Board that they accept Eco-Logic’s bid.

Motion to accept the bid from Eco-Logic for $55,200. Motion – V. Wiemeyer Second – F. Shepard All in favor – Aye.

9. Fire Department Recruitment At the July Meeting, it was proposed that to encourage members of the community to join the Department that CSD fees be waived. The General Manager informed the Board that this would create a bookkeeping nightmare and therefore has asked the Chief and Assistant Chief to propose other incentives. The item was added to the September Agenda.

10. Expenditure Requests Plumas Geo-Hydrology - $6,000 – to perform water monitoring for arsenic concentration within our aquifer. Motion to authorize the expenditure to Plumas Geo-Hydrology for $6,000. Motion – V. Wiemeyer Second – R. Machado All in favor – Aye.

The General Manager explained to the Board that in 2006, The Regional Water Quality Control Board (sewer) requested an inflow and infiltration study on WWTP7. It was not done and since then, the plant has been upgraded and the infiltration problem has been taken care of. However, they still want the report complete with a California Engineer’s stamp. They will not accept the General Manager’s credentials in lieu of this stamp. Therefore he requests $5,000 to have Shaw Engineering prepare the report. Motion to authorize the expenditure to Shaw Engineering for $5,000. Motion – F. Shepard Second – V. Wiemeyer All in favor – Aye.

11. LAFCo – Local Agency Formation Commission John Gullixson from LAFCo requested that he be put on the Agenda so that he could make a presentation to the Board about the Municipal Service Review and Sphere of Influence study that is required by the State every five years.

Historically, the Board has been very reluctant to enter into a contract with LAFCo to have these studies done because they are dissatisfied both with the language in the contract and the amount of money that it is proposed we will be charged for these studies ($8,000).

There was a question and answer period whereby the Board and members of the Public queried Mr. Gullixson about the State law that mandates that these studies have to be done, why the huge amount for the study as compared to other counties in the area as referred to in the Grand Jury Report, and the criticism of the Plumas County LAFCo operation as reported in the Grand Jury Report.

Mr. Gullixson advised that at the next LAFCo Commission Meeting set for later this month, the points made in the Grand Jury Report will be discussed and a rebuttal will be forthcoming in the near future.

Mr. Gullixson and his assistant had brought with them copies of - 1) Request for District Information, 2) Relevant Government Codes Relating to Municipal Service Reviews and 3) Roles of LAFCo, Cities and Special Districts; Sphere of Influence, Annexation and Incorporation (all of which are on file in the CSD offices).

At the conclusion of the presentation, the Board still took issue with the language in the contract (open ended) and the amount to be charged with no breakdown of the labor versus fees. They were informed that the Board can petition the Commission to lower or waive the fees and also request that the Commission amend the contract language. The Board thanked them for coming today.

The continued discussion on this matter was put on the September Meeting Agenda.

12. Plumas Eureka Ski Hill Memorandum of Understanding A draft copy of the Letter of Intent was distributed to the Board Members, General Manager and Fire Chief for review. All had concerns on the language in certain sections of the letter. The General Manager made a list of said concerns and he will contact the Ski Hill Group for revisions to be made. The item was placed on the September Meeting Agenda.

Clerk’s note: The Board took a break from 1045 to 1050 hours.

13. Emergency Preparedness Report Board Members Machado and Wiemeyer have been in contact with the Home Owner’s Associations, local business’s and interested members of the Community to form a group to start discussion this issue. They are going to try to set up a meeting of the group for September 4th starting at 1830 hours.

The Clerk advised that while she had been cleaning out one of the filing cabinets, she came across the Plumas County Emergency Plan, published in 1997. The Board members had been informed previously that the County did not have a plan. We will make a copy for them and our Fire Chief.

14. Numbers 47 & 49 East Ponderosa Drive We are in receipt of a letter from Mr. Greg Berzel, owner of these lots, he states that when he bought the lots, they were considered buildable, however when he approached the County about pulling building permits he was informed that they have been reclassified as flood plain and Mr. Berzel feels this makes the lots unbuildable. Therefore Mr. Berzel requests a waiver of the Water System Standby Fees, since he will never be hooked up to the system.

Upon receipt of his letter, the General Manager made a trip to Quincy and spoke to a Building Department representative. He found out that there is a way to build on these lots it will just be more costly. A Flood Plain Study would have to be prepared in order to establish the height required for the living space (such as living space over a garage). Also, if a septic system is not feasible, then he would have to hook to the sewer system.

After discussion, it was the sense of the Board that the lots are in fact buildable and there will be no waiver of fees. The General Manager will prepare correspondence informing Mr. Berzel of the decision.

15. Goals and Objectives Mr. Walker was not in attendance so the item was continued to the September Meeting.

16. Committee Reports Personnel – nothing to report Fire Corps – incorporated into the Emergency Preparedness Plan Safety – same as above Insurance – nothing to report

17. Future Agenda Items and New Business The Clerk reviewed the September Meeting Agenda items.

There was no new business

18. General Manager’s Report There was review and discussion of the July Financial Reports.

Motion to approve the July Financials. Motion – F. Shepard Second – V. Wiemeyer All in favor – Aye. - - - - - Vote - The CSDA (California Special Districts Association) has a vacancy on its board and we have been sent a ballot containing two names up for the seat. The General Manager polled the Board as to their choice of person, after discussion since no one was familiar with either person it was decided to vote for the incumbent. - - - - - CSD Vehicle – rather than purchasing another truck, the General Manager proposed going with an all terrain vehicle instead. A member of the audience, who is retired law enforcement, informed the General Manager and the Board that operation of these vehicles is against the law on surface streets. Discussion - Yes everyone does it, but it is not legal. Conclusion - We will do further research into this and report back to the Board. - - - - - PCSDA – There is a Plumas County Special Districts Association Meeting set for Friday the 15th if any member of the Board wishes to attend. - - - - - Question – Plumas Pines Realty contacted the General Manager and said that Garcia’s Landscape does weed abatement in the District and asked why they are not allowed to use the Dynamite Hill dumpsite for the weed debris. (The Board was informed by the Clerk that when she was originally approached by Garcia’s directly, they informed her that they only did landscape work in the District and did not do any weed abatement, the General Manager also informed the Board that he was aware of this original contact).

The General Manager and the Clerk further informed the Board Members that all commercial landscape businesses in the area are not allowed to use the Dynamite Hill dumpsite to dispose of their landscape debris.

It was the sense of the Board – there will not be any changes made to CSD policy on this matter. The dumpsite is for property owners and people that do projects for them for weed abatement.

There followed discussion on the weed abatement notice timing and the matter was put on the September Agenda for further discussion. - - - - - PEGG (Plumas Eureka Groundwater Group) held a meeting last week and will continue to meet periodically. The next meeting will be held later this year and Board Member Machado asked to be advised of the date and time of the next meeting.

There was a question raised about the proposed new well that was tabled when we did not receive the AB303 Grant. The Board was informed that this matter will be part of the Eco-Logic Study.

19. Written correspondence to the Board The Board was advised that the Assistant Chief had found an article on the hardships all volunteer Fire Departments are facing with regard to recruitment and he wanted copies be made available to the Board Members.

20. Opportunity for the Public to address the Board

John Olafson, a Board Member from the Graeagle CSD introduced himself to the PECSD Board. He spoke to the Board about the problems that Plumas County LAFCo is currently facing with regard to the Grand Jury Report. He also informed the Board that the Sierra County LAFCo representative, Tim Beals would very much like to come to our next Board Meeting to address the Board on how Sierra County’s LAFCo conducts business.

It was the sense of the Board that we should contact Mr. Beals and invite him to attend the September 10th Board Meeting to hear what information he may be able to impart. - - - - - Bob Graham had some questions about the water odor problems that some people are having. He was informed that we will be doing a system wide flushing project at the end of the season, when the population is reduced.

He also had questions about snow removal. He was under the impression from an article in our recent Update From The Board letter that the CSD was now going to provide snow removal from residences. We clarified that if requested by a homeowner, such as a widow or widower, we would plow the snow berm at the end of their driveway. Otherwise, snow removal was the property owner’s responsibility

He commented on the prompt response of the Plumas Eureka Fire Department and United States Forest Service on the recent fire at the end of Evergreen Circle and that if the Fire Safe Council had not been instrumental in doing some serious fire safe clearing, the fire could have done a lot more damage. He felt that a letter to the editor from the Fire Department should be in order. He was informed that this suggestion would be passed onto the Chief. - - - - - Board Member Vern Wiemeyer read the following statement to all present.

Whereas, sixteen men and women recently participated in fire truck driver training, leading to what is commonly known as Firefighter Restricted.

Whereas, five in our Volunteer Fire Department: Gary Castagnetti, Chad Castagnetti, Rich Machado, Craig Fox and Tom Forster were in this group.

Whereas, the training required two Friday nights and two full weekends to complete the class.

Whereas, this effort is an outward expression of their dedication to the Community.

I suggest that it is hereby resolved that they have our deepest heartfelt thanks as that dedication makes our homes safer places to live and enjoy.

21. Motion for adjournment Motion – F. Shepard Second – R. Machado All in favor – Aye.

Meeting adjourned at 1158 hours

In attendance: E. Tretten, V. Wiemeyer, F. Shepard, R. Machado

Absent: L. Walker

Respectfully submitted,

TERESA L. CUNNINGHAM Teresa L. Cunningham Clerk to the PECSD Board