Zone 7 Meeting - January 6, 2021

3. Call Meeting to Order

4. Public Comment

5. Consent Calendar

6. Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Status Update

7. PPWTP Upgrades and Ozonation Project Quarterly Progress Presentation

8.Summary of Calendar Year 2020 Homeless Encampment Activities in Zone 7 Facilities

9. Reports - Directors

10. Items for Future Agenda - Directors

11. Adjournment


MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

ZONE 7

ALAMEDA COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

SPECIAL MEETING

January 6, 2021

The following were present:

DIRECTORS: SANDY FIGUERS

DENNIS GAMBS

LAURENE GREEN

SARAH PALMER

ANGELA RAMIREZ HOLMES

OLIVIA SANWONG

MICHELLE SMITH MCDONALD

DIRECTORS ABSENT: NONE

ZONE 7 STAFF: VALERIE PRYOR, GENERAL MANAGER

OSBORN SOLITEI, TREASURER/ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER, FINANCE

COLTER ANDERSEN, PRODUCTION MANAGER

JARNAIL CHAHAL, ENGINEERING MANAGER

CAROL MAHONEY, INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGER

AMPARO FLORES, INTEGRATED PLANNING MANAGER

MONA OLMSTED, ASSOCIATE ENGINEER

ALEXANDRA BRADLEY, COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST

DONNA FABIAN, EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

COUNSEL: CLIF MCFARLAND, DOWNEY BRAND

REBECCA SMITH, DOWNEY BRAND

PATRICK VEASY, DOWNEY BRAND

The Board went into Closed Session at 6:00 p.m. and came out of Closed Session at 7:13 p.m. There were no reportable actions.

Item 1 - Closed Session

a. Conference with Legal Counsel - Anticipated Litigation - Initiation of litigation pursuant to § 54956.9(c).

Item 2 - Open Session and Report Out of Closed Session

Item 3 -

3. Call Meeting to Order

President Sanwong called the meeting to order at 7:21 p.m. Roll call was taken, and all Board members were present.

Item 4 -

4. Public Comment - none

Item 5 -

5. Consent Calendar

Director Ramirez Holmes moved to approve Item 5a and Director Smith McDonald seconded the motion. The item was approved by a roll call vote of 7-0.

Resolution No. 21-01 Renewal of Environmental Vegetation Technical Services Contracts

(Item 5a)

Item 6 -

6. Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion Status Update

Valerie Pryor, General Manager, stated that in August 2020, Zone 7 executed a second amendment to the cost-share agreement for the Los Vaqueros Reservoir Expansion project continuing Zone 7's participation through December 2021. Ms. Pryor introduced Marguerite Patil, Assistant General Manager of the Contra Costa Water District. Ms. Patil gave a presentation on the progress of the project with some highlights from 2020. Ms. Patil reiterated that this project is not just for water storage, but also a conveyance project.

Ms. Patil touched on the Joint Powers Authority (JPA) and why it is needed. Ms. Patil stated that it is to provide governance for the project to ensure that all of the participating agencies have a seat at the table and that discussions are conducted in a transparent and open method. Ms. Patil stated that they are trying to get the JPA formed as soon as they can, but hopefully by Spring.

Director Gambs asked how much storage Zone 7 needs. Ms. Pryor responded that Zone 7 is currently subscribed for 10,000-acre feet of storage. Director Gambs asked if we knew how much that would cost. Ms. Pryor replied that the costs are pretty fluid right now.

Director Palmer stated that one of the things that excites her about the project is the ability to have various interties. Director Palmer added that it is crucial to extend the ability to have resiliency in times of flood or emergencies when other parts of the system may go down.

President Sanwong agreed with Director Palmer. She believes projects like this, where we are working together with other agencies, is really going to help us have a stronger future in terms of water supply reliability, and also working together with the other agencies.

Director Green asked if the feasibility study, risk register and a risk assessment was available. Ms. Patil replied that on the last slide there are links to both the project website and the Reclamation's website and both have posted the feasibility report there, but the risk register is something CCWD has been doing. It is a companion piece to the feasibility report and is still a work in progress. Ms. Patil added that the risk assessment is a separate report and is also forthcoming.

Director Gambs asked if there is an option for conveyance only. Ms. Patil replied that there will be an ability to customize things for each partner, but the whole thing has to hold together as a whole, and that there will be certain times when people's needs are so great, like in the fifth year of a drought, where we have to figure out a way to manage the priorities and manage the operations the best we can.

Item 7 -

7. PPWTP Upgrades and Ozonation Project Quarterly Progress Presentation

Mona Olmsted, Associate Engineer, presented the quarterly update on the construction of the Patterson Pass Upgrades and Ozonation Project. Ms. Olmsted stated that the overall project status is yellow, and that is due to the potential for project delays and cost impacts associated with COVID-19. The project is currently on schedule, and is approximately 60% complete, with the anticipate in-service date of spring 2022. The project is under control, change orders to date total $1.7 million, which is about 2% of the original contract amount. Project issues are under control, and no decisions are requested at this time.

Director Green asked if there were lessons learned from the project at the Del Valle Water Treatment Plant and if they were applied to this project. Ms. Olmsted replied that those come up almost monthly and they are always in touch with the project team.

President Sanwong asked what possible delays might be in terms of COVID-19. Ms. Pryor stated that the project is on schedule right now and there hasn't been any delays due to COVID.

The Board took a 5-minute break.

Item 8 -

8.Summary of Calendar Year 2020 Homeless Encampment Activities in Zone 7 Facilities

Valerie Pryor:
Good evening, welcome back from the break. This is an annual informational report. We do have a number of these we present to the board, and this is going to summarize homeless encampment activities in the Zone 7 facilities, for the last calendar year 2020. We do have instances of homeless encampments in our flood control facilities.

Obviously we're very empathetic to people experiencing financial or homeless insecurity, and often when local shelters are at capacity, people do turn to the flood control channels. This can lead to instances where encampments dig into channel sides and undermine the structural integrity of channels. And also there can be debris trash and other hazardous materials, which can impede flood flows, and also have urban stream and water quality issues.

So, we do have to balance the needs of our multiple stakeholders, and we are very empathetic to our homeless population, but we do need to maintain water quality, and flood channel integrity. When we do cleanups of active encampments, we do coordinate with our local law enforcement public safety agencies, and they help us with the noticing, and they coordinate with social services agencies. So we try to do this in as empathetic manner as possible. So with that overview, I will turn it over to our production manager, Colter Anderson, and he will summarize our activities for last calendar year.

Colter Andersen:

Good evening, President Sanwong, members of the board, and my esteemed colleagues, and members of the public. My name's Colter Anderson, I'm the production manager in charge of the flood control maintenance department. So, in order to support the mission statement to deliver safe, reliable, efficient, and sustainable water and flood protection services, Zone 7 Water Agency prepares an annual report on homeless encampment activities strategic plan, Goal D is for effective flood protection. Provide an effective system of flood protection. To deliver on this goal, Zone 7 manages and cleans debris impacted channels.

So, of this last year, 4 primary sites were addressed on the following channels. We had Arroyo Los [inaudible 01:13:42] , Arroyo Seco, Dublin Creek, and Arroyo Mocho. These occupied homeless encampment sites on Zone 7 property. They're noticed within 72 hours, and typically longer in advance of any cleanup activities. We coordinate with the local cities and law enforcement when posting eviction notices and providing social services to support the unhoused.

So, majority of these cleanup events are just cleaning up debris, they're not actually displacing residents of our channels. We had 11 cleanups of these 4 sites, were cleaned up this year. 8 of the eleven cleanups were of abandoned debris only. So, no noticing needed to be done. It was just literally trash in the creeks. So, the cost per site varied from staff time to approximately $145,000 for a contracted ten-day cleanup. A ten-day cleanup included propane tanks, a 55-gallon drum half full of needles, it contained 40 tons of material in 1440-yard bins.

So imagine 14 of the biggest dumpsters you've seen, that amount of trash was taken out of [inaudible 01:15:00] Las Posadas, behind Kohl's and Walmart, and of that area in Livermore. Typically in these areas, mowing is not an option. So we like to, once the cleanup is done, we do a vegetation abatement services. So, we'll have goats come in and take down the grass. So you can take down grass from 3 to 6 feet, and now you have less of a fire hazard, and then we like to raise up the trees that are around, so limbing them up anywhere from 6 to 8 feet. And that also mitigates the fire dangers from tall grass and low tree limbs.

So, those are the activities that went over in this past year. All of our activities are coordinated with local law enforcement. We really work with City of Pleasanton Police Department to [inaudible 01:15:49] Livermore and Dublin. We have liaison officers that we work with, that also help to bring out social services, and make sure that the unhoused get those services. During this 10-day cleanup, we had approximately 12 individuals get permanent shelter, so it was a very good thing to have. So with that, I'll answer any questions that you folks have.

Speaker 4:

Okay. My question is, what's the status today? So, I know we might still have some residents at some of these encampments, can you share an overview of that current situation?

Colter Andersen:

Part ff the complexity with our channels is that we don't own all of the properties. So, if you look behind Kohl's and lo... I'm sorry, Kohl's and Home Depot in Livermore, our property is actually not inhabited right now, it's the Cal trans property and private ownership right now. So, in our jurisdiction right now, there's approximately 5 individuals are more towards Pleasanton, and we're working with Pleasanton to help those individuals receive services. I work with their Homeless outreach team, out there to help these individuals get the help they need. And then, the other part is local jurisdictions, overpasses, bridges, we're not responsible for those areas. So those go back to the city's Cal trans, or the county to work with those folks to help the homeless get out of those areas.

Speaker 4:

And in Pleasanton, is that along Arroyo Mocho, is that more Chain of Lakes area or...?

Colter Andersen:

Along Arroyo Mocho.

Speaker 4:

Okay. Do any other members of the board...? Laurene.

Laurene Green:

Yeah, my notes here say, "Wow." I'm just looking at the 42 tons of debris, ten days of cleanup. And so, I guess what I'm wondering is how much of that is actually related to the homeless, and how much of that is just dumping that's being done?

Colter Andersen:

All that cleanup, that was all homeless activity.

Laurene Green:

Wow.

Colter Andersen:

[inaudible 01:18:10], that was two very specific areas in the city of Livermore on our channel properties, behind the Home Depot and Walmart area, and then also behind the Autumn Springs Apartment.

Laurene Green:

Yeah. I'm still trying to fathom what all that was. Okay. All right. That answers my question. Thank you.

Speaker 4:

Angela, I see your hands raise.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

Thank you. So what did... I notice on the chart... So the chart that was included the staff report, could we get that separately? It was I think shrunk perhaps to fit on an eight and a half by 11. And so some of the headers are missing, so I'm not sure what those headers are. I can guess that there's some. So anyway, that would help me probably figure out some of these questions. But, what determines when we... Zone 7 last summer, I think put... We spent a million dollars on... We approved a million-dollar contract for services, for cleanup. What determines...? And I showed that three of the chart used the contractor. What determines whether we use the contractor, or where their Zone 7 Staff is used for cleanup?

Colter Andersen:

It's what the debris actually contains. A lot of times, the illegal dumping is just general debris, so it'll be refrigerators, or a couch, something innocuous like that. When we look at a previously occupied area, we look for biohazards, real technical debris, and in that case, we need specialized contracting to come out and pick that stuff up. So, it's about what is dumped in the creek. So, you're looking at hazardous materials, biohazard, that kind of stuff.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

So... Well. Okay, but we're not talking about general dumping, we're talking about All Homeless in this chart. So, is it that you go and make a determination at the site, and then you go, "Oh, well there's only this, and we don't see any extra special things, so Zone 7 Staff can take care of it?" Or so like you make an assessment at the site.

Colter Andersen:

Yes ma'am. We make an assessment at the site. Okay.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

Okay. And has... And the contractor in general, how is that working out? Well, I mean obviously, it was a lot of money when we did it. We knew we had a sort of big problem. We didn't know that we had really any other choice, but is that working out? I know we were trying to save staff from dealing with certain things and what not. Is that working out well?

Colter Andersen:

It is working out well. COVID has made things challenging. So, but overall it's working out well. To transport and dump into various facilities, it's taking a little longer to process personnel shortages, different types of administrative

Colter Andersen:

The work is taking longer than normal.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

So, how are we managing the sites? Is that we've noticed? Is that we get a complaint? I know that I passed along a constituent complaint at one point. Obviously, we know there are certain areas that are continual issues that people keep going back to the same locations. How are we deciding... Do we regularly review common sites? Do we wait for a complaint? Do we go back to the same areas that we've cleaned before? I'm just looking for a process.

Colter Andersen:

So, we monitor our normal hotspots and then we also do inspections once a month on our channels. We go out and take a look around. We also have our day-to-day operations, where we look. We also have complaints that come in that we'll investigate, but we'll see it while we're out working in the field.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

So, let's say either you saw it or got a complaint, then you would go take a look. And then how do you decide whether you pursue a cleanup or do you immediately pursue a cleanup? Do you assess numbers of people there?

Colter Andersen:

All of the above, Director Holmes. So, all of the above is taken into consideration. Are there a lot of occupants? Is it just an abandoned site? Was it somebody that just backed a pickup truck up and shoved everything out and then took off? All of those things come into play while we figure out how we're going to clean it up. Where it is in the creek, how dangerous it is to get to, is it our property, all of those things come into play when we assess how and when to clean up.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

So, in reference to Director Green's question, you talked a couple times about random abandoned dumping, but they're on this homeless report. So, is that that it's there's no people when we see it, but we know it's been a previous encampment and there's debris leftover, or we've combined all of it into the same report where there may not be people?

Colter Andersen:

Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether it was an encampment or just illegal dumping or has become an illegal dumping spot. So, when it's big enough and it looks like it's been an abandoned site, we'll put it onto the homeless spreadsheet that you see before you.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

I see. Thank you.

Colter Andersen:

Thank you then.

Olivia Sanwong:

Sandy?

Sandy Figuers:

Yeah, I go past the Home Depot Kaiser area probably once every couple of days. I have been awed at how much debris continues to appear on a daily basis. It's amazing. Yes, almost all the encampments are gone except for the stuff north of the creek, which is Zone 7. You don't see encampments, but they're still anywhere from four to a dozen people congregating around there. There's one spot where they have a bathroom and there's a large bin or something that collects debris. The thing fills up. I'm just trying to figure out where in the world they get all this stuff. It's just amazing.

Sandy Figuers:

Now, on the dumping, people dumping, they're usually going to dump it right next to the parking lot, because one, there's a fence there. They won't tend to drive in through things and go way down into it. So, yes, it's pretty easy to differentiate between outside, "Let's just dump it here," and other stuff that is carried in by the homeless, but it's fascinating to watch the volume of debris that appears. Thank you.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yeah, that's a good comment, Sandy. I know there was a series of liaison meetings or community meetings through the City of Livermore in regard to their Homelessness Task Force and some of the programs they were doing a trial for or trying to initiate. It was now maybe 18 months ago to one of these meetings. They talked about this very topic, the debris and how they were going to have a trial program with the dumpster bins. It would be interesting to maybe circle back and understand what some of these causes are.

This may require outreach to the Human Services Group at the City of Livermore, but I agree it would, it would be helpful to know because even if the concentrations on the Caltrans property next to the Zone 7 property, it's still all along the creek and the watershed and the flood control channel. I think it would be helpful to better understand that culture. Is that something that we could maybe follow up with the City of Livermore at some point on just to better understand and also maybe get a sense of is there something we can do to partner with some of our nonprofit organizations to help facilitate a decrease in terms of all of this debris?

Colter Andersen:

Yes, it is.

Sandy Figuers:

One thing I would say, right now on the Caltrans property, there are two very large tents north of the creek. I think there was one or two smaller ones in other property. So, the volume of encampment has been cut 90% significant reduction, but the debris collection, it's amazing.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yeah. I'd like to better understand, because this is an issue. Let's say, we do get a major storm and there's all this debris and that storm could potentially... You mentioned one of the things was that a container full of needles. If that's near the creek and we get a major storm, that could then wash through the creek system. It's bad for our ecosystem, the creek ecosystem and the watershed.

Olivia Sanwong:

So, it would just be helpful to understand and also see what can be done. This is a very sensitive topic. Yes, there's so many different concerns here. I think though at Zone 7, we do need to think about some of the debris and waste and also, how that might affect the watershed, but then also how we can be a sensitive partner and understand what can we do to help with this situation and the human element of the situation.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

We do that. The board directed the staff to do that. Colter, maybe you can just talk about all of the agencies and social services we've coordinated with.

Colter Andersen:

So, we work with the cities who have all of those relationships. So, CityServe, Monthly Miracles, Open Heart Kitchen, Block By Block, Abode were all utilized at the 10-day cleanup where we knew we had occupants inside the creek. That's where we had 12 that were moved to permanent residents. So, each of the cities has their own homeless outreach programs that they utilize different social services.

We coordinate with their liaison officers to make sure that those social services are utilized when we're doing a large cleanup like that. A lot of these social services, they already know the people that are living in these areas. So, there's a large familiarity with these folks, their tendencies, and that kind of stuff. So, it's not unknown. So, that's really nice too.

Olivia Sanwong:

I see Michelle with her hand raised.

Michelle Smith McDonald:

Do we have a good sense when we go to these sites, as we're talking about, how quickly the debris is reproducing? I'll just briefly share my own personal experience last week. I'm just wondering. So, as we are all home a lot, we're cleaning out closets. So, there's a lot of people bagging up their stuff, right? So, I tried to go to Goodwill in Dublin and Goodwill was closed. Savers didn't open for a couple hours. I've heard the line has been around the block. And then I drove to Livermore, because the girls got to have someplace to go when there's no place to go. I went to three different donation areas and nobody was open. Nobody was taking anything.

Michelle Smith McDonald:

I ended up driving back to Savers and I waited in line for an hour to drop off my donations. My total time on the road was three hours. All of by which by saying, there are a lot of people that are trying to get rid of stuff while they're stuck at home. I'm wondering how much of this debris is people figuring out that there is a dumpster that's meant for somebody else and people are just starting to dump their belongings in spaces where they've seen other debris dumped, because they just feel like that's just... I don't know. I'm just wondering how much of this do we know is attached to the folks that are using those homeless encampments or how much this debris is multiplying and it's people stuff.

Sandy Figuers:

Michelle, if you need to get rid of stuff, go to the Goodwill in Tracy. They open six days a week. They open from 8:00 to 6:00 at night. They take everything.

Michelle Smith McDonald:

Yes, I'm going to keep that tip. That was just my question was I know that I had an experience trying to get rid of donated goods. I'm just wondering at one point; people are giving up and just hucking things into an open space where they see other debris.

Sandy Figuers:

I had the same problem with where to dump things. That's how I found out about Tracy Goodwill, a Godsent

Olivia Sanwong:

This may be a bigger topic for us to think about with all of the cities in our area, because I walk a lot of the Royal trails in Pleasanton. There's also a lot of debris that gets dumped along the trails. I'm fairly confident most of the debris that I see on the trails that I walk is not due to homeless encampments, but probably more similar to what Michelle is describing in terms of people cleaning out their homes and not having anywhere for things to go.

So, I think that would be helpful for us to better understand and also think about what can we do. Maybe we can one day partner with our Living Arroyos program. We as a board or some of the board members could be out there that day to help clean up some of the debris and hopefully, alert the community that this is something that's not good for our creeks and our watershed and the ecosystem.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

Every spring, there's a creek cleanup. Some of us participate along our own Arroyos. We put on our Zone 7 shirts. We're out there with the little grabby things and bags and buckets.

Sarah Palmer:

In September as well.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

There you go. Your time is just around the corner, Olivia.

Olivia Sanwong:

Let's do it this spring. I'll be there. Okay. Let's make sure we get that information and make an effort to be there.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

Alameda County Creek clean-ups, they do a great job.

Olivia Sanwong:

Good.

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

I should say Zone 7 is a partner with them. We do partner with them and participate and host these events every spring. So, just so you know.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yes. Good. Are there any other board questions? I don't see anybody else's hand raised on the Zoom list. I don't see anyone in the windows. What I'll do is I'll take a moment to then open this for public comment. I don't see any members of the public with their hands raised in the Zoom feature. Donna, to double check, has anyone from the public had submitted a comment request?

Donna Fabian:

No, they haven't.

Olivia Sanwong:

Okay. Okay. So, thank you, Donna. We did receive one email from David Lennon. I know Angela talked a little bit about the email in terms of being able to look at some of the information that was available in the agenda packet. That question was already asked and addressed, but I think there's some other good information in the email about how he's also a volunteer with some of our programs to do creek clean-ups.

Olivia Sanwong:

So, I like to thank him for sending us the email and also mentioning, some of his perspective here. That email, I believe, will then be included in our official records in regard to this topic. Okay. So, we'll close public comment and bring this back to the board for any final comments on the topic. I don't see anyone with their hand raised. Michelle, go for it.

Michelle Smith McDonald:

I just want to say, I appreciate the effort. I appreciate the coordination with the cities and the social services. I appreciate the empathy and the compassion for the folks who find themselves in this situation. I appreciate the hard work of the staff who are cleaning up these spaces because they're important. I just want to express a general appreciation for the effort for this, because I know it's a big task and I know it's a difficult task. I just want to say, thank you.

Olivia Sanwong:

Excellent comment. Yes. I agree that there's a lot of different entities involved. Certainly, I remember back in August receiving some urgent correspondence from someone from one of these groups and just being able to connect the different people to each other, sometimes a lot of that's happening behind the scenes. But I think in particular to the August clean-up, I did receive some feedback from City of Livermore Human Services, who said that we at Zone 7 did a great job in terms of coordinating with human services and some of the nonprofit entities.

Olivia Sanwong:

So, I do want to thank our staff for doing that and for being very sensitive to the topic and for partnering with the City of Livermore and for them feeling that we such a great job, that they shared that feedback with me. So, I want to make sure that that's shared here. Sandy?

Sandy Figuers:

Yeah. I wanted to echo Olivia's comments. Colter, you and your group have done a magnificent job. Thank you.

Item 9 -

9. Reports - Directors

Olivia Sanwong:

The California Water Commission, I think they emailed all of us on the board, possibly through our Zone 7 Water email accounts. I think it's next Tuesday in the afternoon about the area in Northern California water topics. So, I think that'll be an interesting one. I actually can admit, I don't believe I've attended a California Water Commission meeting. So, I think maybe one of the silver linings of this COVID-19 experience is that everything is on Zoom. So, there is the possibility to be able to attend some of these meetings that may be in the past we might not have been able to, maybe because of scheduling or driving or traffic or what have you. So, I'm looking forward to that.

And then I know that there's also a California Special Districts meeting for Alameda County the day after Wednesday that I'll also make an effort to try to attend, just to get a little bit more perspective. I know Dennis has been going to some of those meetings. I actually can also admit that I personally haven't attended one of these specific special district meetings, but one reason I want to go is I'm on an advisory committee for East Bay Regional Parks. Through that, I found myself at the end of December at Castro Valley Sanitary District to pick up some items. I know that they are our coordinator for Alameda County Special Districts Association.

So, I do really want to make it to at least one of the meetings. Since it's on Zoom, it's something that I should be able to fit in next week. I think it's good to know what some of our neighboring special district agencies are doing and what some of those items are. Dennis, I don't know if you want to share a few comments about special districts, because I know you have bee

n to a few of those meetings, but I think it's good for us to be aware of what's going on.

Dennis Gambs:

I'm going to admit, I missed their last meeting. That was, I think, in December. So, I don't have anything to say about that meeting.

Olivia Sanwong:

But previous meetings you've attended.

Dennis Gambs:

Well, yes, once.

Olivia Sanwong:

Okay.

Dennis Gambs:

In September. They don't meet monthly. So, they're spotty, but I think next topic is the LARPD. The general manager there and some of the staff are going to make a presentation. So, it goes to your point, we connect with our local agencies and what they're doing.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yes. Okay, great. Thank you. So, those are the comments I have this month. Sarah, I see you have your hand raised.

Sarah Palmer:

Okay, on the theme of upcoming meetings, Sandy, this is one, you might be particularly interested. It's the Groundwater Resources Association of California. They've got a meeting January 13th from 5:30 to 7:30. It's the San Francisco Bay Area Branch meeting for the regional water board update. So, that should be of interest. And then also, I did a couple of things. I've been involved with, as you know, the Aqua Water Quality Committee. I'm Vice Chair of that one. We had our general meeting on December 14th, but there was a hexavalent chromium MCL letter that went out on December 31st. So, I was working over the holidays.

Sarah Palmer:

On this one, it was basically looking at economic feasibility for hexavalent chromium MCLs and the risk factors for some of these and the operating and maintenance basically costs for water treatment and how it didn't exactly go with the linearity of how much it really costs various different things. So, again, back to the idea of local control and local determination of what the risk factors actually are. So, that letter went out to January 31st. I don't know what happened right there. Did I go off? Am I off?

Olivia Sanwong:

No, you're good. You're good.

Sarah Palmer:

Okay. My camera went off, but if you can still hear me, then that's good. Okay. January 6th, we put up the Aqua CMUA SP-200. SP-200 is looking at to be safe drinking water for all. It was basically white paper put out by the State Water Resources Control Board on the affordability and risks to sewer systems and water systems and what goes into it with SB-200. So, those things, I'm putting the links to those for our next meeting. So, it will be on my report. You can just link on and look at the information. That's it.

Olivia Sanwong:

Great. Thanks, Sarah. Angela?

Angela Ramirez Holmes:

Just to add, Finance Committee will meet on January 25th. It'll be on the next agenda, but just in case you want to plan ahead.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yes. That's a great point. And then I also saw in last week's General Manager's Report from Valerie that we do have some liaison meetings that are being scheduled for the year. So, if other board members didn't see that, that is on the General Manager's Report from last week. Dennis?

Dennis Gambs:

Yeah. I wanted to briefly mention that the Livermore Valley Chamber of Commerce had their Business Alliance meeting this morning. That's where you get a group of businesspeople and a lot of government and other community heads to attending. What they do, they'll feature a speaker sometimes too, but also, a lot of the entities report with their agencies. For example, we got a good report from the school district. At that particular meeting this morning, I gave a very high level of our flight control plan just to let them know it's going to be a three-year process. We're going to get input from stakeholders thing. This morning, and I will say Valerie was there as well as Alex, in part maybe because the Cal Water made a presentation.

The main feature there was their Water Conservation Coordinator. So, the Cal Water Conservation Coordinator is for their whole agency, which is throughout the state. The other thing they talked quite a bit about is their emergency operation. The fires have caused Cal Water to do a lot of efforts in emergency planning. What it reminded me is, is that even though you think of Cal Water as just a local agency, it's statewide. So, we have a lot of assets, the water retainers. But there are good mix in there, because they have business things and they have some resources.

I think that they talked about us, working with us as partners on water conservation and the poster contest. I'm sure we'll get an update at some point with Alex on that poster contest. Anyway, it was nice to see all our brothers and sisters in the water field working here.

Olivia Sanwong:

Yeah. Dennis, if you have any materials or Valerie, if you have any materials from Cal Water and want to share it in our next agenda packet as part of the notes section. I know I'd be interested in taking a look.

Dennis Gambs:

What they do is, in that particular occasion, they make a presentation. There's PowerPoint. You can get those at the Chamber site. So, you can share a PowerPoint.

Olivia Sanwong:

All right. Sounds good. Thanks. All right. I don't see anyone else with any hands raised. Okay, Laurene, please go ahead.

Laurene Green:

Yeah, I wanted to save this for last. I feel like after today's events, I need to make a statement. Normally, I think national politics, this is not an arena for that. So, I'm surprised that I'm having to make this statement. I don't plan on making a statement like this again, hopefully, but I do feel like I need to go on the record on something. So, here we go.

As an elected official, I feel duty bound to address the events in Washington D.C. today. In no uncertain words, I wish to condemn the attempted siege on congress, which was trying to thwart the electoral vote count, an important constitutional event for our democratic republic. I support our democracy and reject assaults on its integrity. We have many challenges in our country, which we will need to address with our new leadership. I call on the people of the Tri-Valley and indeed all Americans to turn their focus to the work ahead and ignore this distraction which attempts to divide the good people of our nation. I look forward to solving problems together and building a better, more vibrant, and prosperous nation for all, and moving past this dark chapter in our history. Thank you.

Item 10 -

10. Items for Future Agenda - Directors - none

Item 11 -

11. Adjournment

President Sanwong adjourned the meeting at 9:08 p.m.