MINUTES

DEPARTMENT OF WATER & POWER
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING
APRIL 26, 2005

A Regular Meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Department of Water & Power, City of Big Bear Lake, was called to order at 8:02 a.m., by Chairman Herrick, at the DWP Board Room, 41972 Garstin Drive, Big Bear Lake, California.

FLAG SALUTE: Led by Chairman Herrick

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:

Rick Herrick, Chairman
Eddie Etter, Vice Chairman
Susan Conley, Treasurer
Bill Speyers, Board Member
Barbara Willey, Board Member

BOARD MEMBERS EXCUSED: None

OTHERS PRESENT:

Jerome D. Gruber, General Manager
Scott Heule, Assistant General Manager
Diane Muir, Administrative Manager
Bill La Haye, Principal Analyst
Steve Wilson, Water Superintendent
Robyn Bratton, Secretary to the Board
Darrell Mulvihill, Mayor
Ken Dally, City Council Member
Bill Jahn, City Council Member
Bob Colven, CSD Board President
Rick Ollila, CSD Board Director
Steve Schindler, BBARWA General Manager
Danielle Seckler, Bear Valley News
Michele Pinney, Big Bear Grizzly
Two Members of the Public

ITEM NO. 2 - PUBLIC FORUM

Charlie Brewster, Big Bear Lake, addressed the Board and asked if they would consider allowing 1,000 square feet of sod as opposed to the current restrictions of 500 square feet of sod. Eagle Point Estates residents have installed large lots of sod and don't seem to be concerned with the drought issue, while some of their neighbors have let their lawns die. Now that there is some light at the end of the tunnel, these residents may want to revitalize their sod or begin watering it again.

ITEM NO. 3 - CONSENT CALENDAR

Motion made by Treasurer Conley, seconded by Vice Chairman Etter, and carried 5-0 to approve the Consent Calendar.

ITEM NO. 4 - ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR

(None)

ITEM NO. 5 - AMEND WATER SHORTAGE EMERGENCY RESOLUTION FOR STAGE I REGARDING SQUARE FOOTAGE OF TURF ALLOWED

Principal Analyst La Haye requested that the Board approve changing from Stage II to Stage I conditions of the Water Shortage Emergency Ordinance #2005-03, pertaining to the installation of sod. He requested changing the installation of sod square footage from 1,000 square feet to 500 square feet to be in agreement with the new Landscape Ordinance.

Motion made by Board Member Willey, seconded by Treasurer Conley, and carried 5-0 to approve Resolution No. DWP 2005-08 stating the proposed change to Section WSER 5.A.E. in Resolution No. DWP 2005-03.

ITEM NO. 6 - RECEIVE TRT REPORT & CONSIDER CONSERVATION STAGES I & II, NUMBER OF CONNECTION LIMITS

AGM Heule gave a PowerPoint presentation on the latest information provided by the Technical Review Team (TRT) Committee.

Board Member Speyers asked about the slant wells at CSD and if they are letting the water spill onto the ground. AGM Heule stated that in order to prevent the water from spilling, some is being transferred to the DWP via the water interconnect in Erwin Lake.

Chairman Herrick stated that the DWP is just now seeing the results from this past winter, but there is not enough of a track record to make a final decision regarding a change to Stage I. He felt things are happening too fast, and we should take some time to realize the full effect of this post winter on our well production capacity.

Board Member Speyers concurred with Chairman Herrick and felt we still need to conserve because we don't know what will happen next winter. He felt we should stay in Stage II conditions.

Vice Chairman Etter felt that if we ask people to conserve, then we have a good winter and don't give back, it's not fair and we need to be a bit more flexible.

Chairman Herrick stated he understood the construction side of what Vice Chairman Etter was saying; however, the DWP can't take the lawns back and then allow more sod to go in.

Board Member Willey agreed to keep at Stage II. She stated it took two years to get people to adhere to conservation. We can't do anything about the Eagle Point residents at this time, but we can be an example. Just because we had one wet winter doesn't mean we're out of the woods, and felt we should leave the connections as they are, at 160.

Treasurer Conley stated that the TRT committee had a very healthy conversation about this and after about two hours came up with the decision to go to Stage I. She stated she is having second thoughts about the recommendation and believes that while the wells are coming back to pre-drought conditions, it has taken about three years to get to where we are now, conservation-wise, and does not want to lose momentum. She did feel, however, that we should stay in Stage II, and we need a full year of the Water Demand Offset Program to feel the effects.

Board Member Speyers stated that if we change now, it would have a knee-jerk reaction.

Principal Analyst La Haye wanted to remind the Board that the picture is larger than just the stages. The DWP has also initiated a turf removal program and so far, there are customers who will be removing approximately 25,000 square feet of turf. We are also pushing the ET Controllers and working with the landscapers.

Board Member Willey stated that the DWP needs to be consistent and not go back and forth, and to give ourselves another year or two to establish a benchmark before implementing changes.

Chairman Herrick asked that we at least wait and see where we stand at summer's end or next spring before changing to a different conservation stage.

Motion made by Board Member Willey, seconded by Board Member Speyers, and carried 5-0 to stay in Stage II.

Vice Chairman Etter again reiterated that we should go back to 200 connections due to the Water Demand Offset Program. He felt that even at 180, it would be a compromise. We need to bend a little bit.

Chairman Herrick stated that paying an amount for the water offset doesn't necessarily have instant results. There is a lag time right now due to the program just being initiated. He wanted to wait three or four months.

AGM Heule stated that 160 connections with the Water Demand Offset Program would offset 44 acre-feet which equals water demands of 260 typical customers when 30 percent are full-time and 70 percent are part-time.

Board Member Willey felt a history should be established first with the Water Demand Offset Program.

AGM Heule stated that TRT meets twice per calendar year and runs November to November.

Chairman Herrick suggested it should be looked at on a monthly basis, but Vice Chairman Etter felt it should be annually. Chairman Herrick also thought there should be a policy of how often we can change the connection limit.

Board Member Willey felt it should only be one time annually and connections remain at 160, and perhaps increase it next year.

GM Gruber stated that right now, any change in connections would affect the budgetary process and an amendment would have to be incorporated into the budget.

From a technical point, the consensus was that it would be best to make a decision on the number of connections allowed in November so the contractors could schedule for the amount of jobs they could do in the spring.

Board Member Willey believes that the DWP is sending mixed messages with the various changes to the connection limits, i.e. from 200 to 180 to 160, back to 180 at this time without analyzing all the data.

Treasurer Conley did not feel that the DWP has been sending mixed messages.

Chairman Herrick felt that technically, the connection limit needs to be addressed once a year and done in the fall or spring. He felt that a change in connection limits in the fall would not impact the budget process that much.

Motion made by Board Member Willey, seconded by Board Member Speyers, and carried 4-0-1, with one abstention by Vice Chairman Etter to keep the connection limitation to 160 connections per year.

Motion made by Treasurer Conley, seconded by Vice Chairman Etter, and carried to maintain conservation Stage II for the Lake Williams water system.

Motion made by Treasurer Conley, seconded by Vice Chairman Etter, and carried to maintain the connection limitation of four annually for the Lake Williams water system.

ITEM NO. 7 - RECEIVE 2ND DRAFT OF THE FY 2005/06 BUDGET

GM Gruber commended Administrative Manager Muir for her large part in the budget-making process.

Administrative Manager Muir reviewed the revenues & expenditures with the Board, AGM Heule reviewed the rehab and capital budget with the Board, and GM Gruber reviewed the Reserve Policy Balance with the Board.

ITEM NO. 8 - CITY REPORTS (nothing to report)

ITEM NO. 9 - BOARD MEMBER REPORTS

A question was asked about the Development Committee meeting in May. The Board gave their availability dates to GM Gruber.

Chairman Herrick adjourned the meeting for a break at 11 a.m.

Chairman Herrick reconvened the meeting at 11:21 a.m.

Into Closed Session at 11:21 a.m.

ITEM NO. 10 - CLOSED SESSION

CONFERENCE WITH REAL PROPERTY NEGOTIATOR
Pursuant to Section 54956.8 of Government Code

(a) Property: APN #304-126-04 (West)
Negotiating Parties: General Manager & Assistant General Manager

(b) Property: APN #306-096-18 (39121 Robin Rd. - Loftis/Christianson)
Negotiating Parties: General Manager & Assistant General Manager

(c) Property: APN #307-212-15 (Southern California Water Company - Cienega)
Negotiating Parties: General Manager & Assistant General Manager

ITEM NO. 11 - OPEN SESSION

Into Open Session at 11:27 a.m. - No reportable action taken.

ITEM NO. 12 - ADJOURN

There being no further action to come before the Board, Chairman Herrick adjourned the meeting at ll:37 a.m.

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Robyn Bratton, Secretary to the Board

Approved at meeting dated: May 24, 2005

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