EXHIBIT 1-A
DRAFT MINUTES
Special Meeting/Board Workshop on
Monterey Bay Regional Water Authority
Governance Proposal and Draft Formation
Agreement
Board of Directors
Monterey Peninsula Water Management
District
February
22, 2006
CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
The
meeting was called to order at 7 PM in the Boardroom of the Monterey Regional
Water Pollution Control Agency offices.
Board
members present:
Michelle
Knight, Chair – Division 4
Judi
Lehman, Vice Chair – Division 2
Alvin
Edwards – Division 1
Kristi
Markey – Division 3
Larry
Foy – Division 5
David
Pendergrass – Mayoral Representative
David
Potter – Monterey County Board of Supervisors (Arrived at 7:10 PM)
Board
members absent: None
General
Manager present: David A. Berger
District
Counsel present: David C. Laredo
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The
assembly recited the pledge of allegiance.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
No
comments were directed to the Board during Oral Communications.
WORKSHOP/DISCUSSION
1.
Monterey Bay Regional Water Authority Governance
Proposal and Draft Formation Agreement
General Manager Berger gave a presentation on this
item. A summary of his comments is on
file at the District office. Following
Board discussion, District staff was directed to schedule a public meeting of
the proposed parties to the draft agreement in order to determine which
entities are interested in participating on the Monterey Bay Regional Water
Authority (MBRWA). The meeting should be
held within six weeks of the February 22, 2006 Board workshop. Each
participating agency should be represented by an elected official and one staff
person. A facilitator should be hired to
moderate the meeting. The Monterey
County Water Resources Agency will work with the District to coordinate this
meeting. The format of the meeting should
allow open discussion by the participants, and public comment will be received.
SUMMARY OF
DISCUSSION: At the request of the Board, Curtis Weeks,
General Manager of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency, addressed the
assembly. He explained that it is very
important to consider regional project planning, in order to take advantage of
state and federal funding sources. He
noted that the jurisdictions listed as potential signatories to the Agreement
have all expressed interest in formation of the MBRWA. The draft formation agreement is the first
phase of a process that will allow the participants to pool their resources to
find opportunities for collaboration on water supply solutions.
The following comments were made during the Board
discussion. The $5,000 fee to join the
MBRWA was set at an affordable amount to encourage participation so the water
needs of each community can be met.
Monterey County is committed to serving as the catalyst for formation of
the MBRWA, but the funding issue needs to be settled. Due to budget
constraints, Monterey County may not be able to commit $250,000 to the effort
as they had previously offered. Mr.
Weeks has made presentations to the cities mentioned in the formation agreement. They indicated an interest in reviewing the
agreement and had questions about how all the member agencies would work
together, and what level of public participation was envisioned in
establishment of the MBRWA. Representatives from Fort Ord and the Presidio of
Monterey have participated in meetings to plan formation of the MBRWA, but they
are not listed as proposed signatories to the draft formation agreement. The
goal of the MBRWA is to determine whether or not to develop one large
desalination project; the Authority will analyze the various water supply
options and decide which project(s) would be most beneficial and cost-effective
in the near term and long term. The
State is evaluating the once-through cooling process proposed for a desalination
project at Moss Landing, and may determine that the process is inappropriate
which will affect water supply planning in this area. The MBRWA could be expanded to include Santa
Cruz County and the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency if it were feasible
to expand projects into those areas.
Mr. Weeks has contacted the Pajaro/Sunny Mesa Community Services
District (PSMCSD) several times regarding participation on the MBRWA. He received a letter from PSMCSD in which
they declined to participate. It could
take ten years to develop a water supply project. Discussions of how to allocate costs among
the participants for a water supply project will also be lengthy. The District should ensure that participation
in planning for water supply solutions through the MBRWA will not interfere
with timely development of projects the District is working on. Concerns were raised by MPWMD Board members
that due to the recent lawsuit by the City of Seaside against Cal Am and the
resulting adjudication of the Seaside Basin, there might not be support among the
proposed parties to join the MBRWA and work cooperatively together on the water
supply planning effort.
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
The following comments were directed to the Board
during the public comment period on this item.
(1) Linda Agerbak, a member
of FLOW, stated that the PSMCSD perceives that it has been excluded from the
MBRWA planning process. She referred to
a letter from the PSMCSD dated November 4, 2005 (on file at the District
office) stating that the agency is willing to work with any public agency. (2)
John Fischer, resident of Pacific Grove, urged the Board to inform the
public about the proposed meeting in advance.
He noted that he found it difficult to discover public notice of the
February 22, 2006 preliminary meeting of the Watermaster. (3)
George Riley, a resident of Monterey,
stated that it will take the public time to understand the need for
regional cooperation to solve regional water supply problems. Also, the MBRWA needs to decide if Monterey
or North County water issues take priority.
The Board could proceed quickly on development of a water supply
solution, apart from the MBRWA. (3) Steve Leonard, Cal Am, stated that
the company supports a regional solution.
Cal Am will move forward on development of the Coastal Water Project. Cal Am would be agreeable to another entity
taking over development of the project or partnering with Cal Am. He reminded the Board that Cal-Am and
Monterey County were the first to collaborate on joint development of the
Coastal Water Project.
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