ITEM:		CONSENT CALENDAR
2.	Consider Approval To Purchase PIT Tag Antennae array Equipment, Expendable PIT Tags, and OTHEr DISPOSABLE Tagging Supplies for the remAINDER OF Calendar Year 2019
Meeting Date:			April 15, 2019	Budgeted:	Yes
From:			Dave Stoldt, General Manager	Program/ Line Item No.:	Aquatic Resources/ Fisheries 2-3-1 H.
Prepared By:			Kevan Urquhart	Cost Estimate:	$20,000
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: N/A
CEQA Compliance: This action does not constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act guidelines section 15378.

SUMMARY: The District has been cooperating with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NMFS-SWFSC) since 2013 to tag juvenile steelhead with half-duplex (HDX) Passive Integrated Transponder tags (PIT-tags). Additional tags, tag injectors, needles, scalpels and other such disposable/expendable field supplies are needed in order to tag juvenile fish this upcoming summer rescue season, and during fall population monitoring. We need up to a total of an additional 3,000 PIT tags of two sizes (2,000 12 mm & 1,000 24 mm), so that we have approximately 3,000 of each size on hand per year, as well as the associated tagging supplies. The tags alone run approximately $1.65 each, plus tax and shipping, for up to an estimated $12,000 in tags each year, which does not include additional supplies necessary to complete the tagging process. We are ordering less than the full 6,000, due to having tags remaining from prior years’ efforts. We also need to buy replacement antennae array controllers and wire for ones that have been buried by high flows or failed in use, and to have two spares on hand for rapid redeployments. Replacement hardware, parts, and tags are not always available on short notice as they are custom manufactured, so must be ordered prior to the field season in sufficient quantities to cover maximum expected needs.

The Board last authorized similar expenditures in June 2018, allocated as $12,000 for the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018, and $8,000 for the current FY 2018-2019. These authorized amounts did not include ongoing minor supplies billed to the same Line Item. To date, in FY 2018-2019 we have spent approximately $24,158 of the $45,000 budget on all items related to the program, leaving up to $20,842 to be authorized. The additional hardware, supplies, and expendable/disposable supplies needed to continue tagging fish this Calendar Year, is estimated as up to $20,000. Any additional major hardware or equipment expenses for FY 2019-2020 will be proposed and documented in an additional staff note, next FY.

RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the District Board authorize additional expenditure of budgeted funds in the amount of $20,000 for FY 2018-2019 to cover the costs of expendable/disposable PIT tags and tagging supplies, replacement and back-up antennae array controllers, replacement deep cycle batteries, and antennae cable, not including other miscellaneous ongoing operational expenses to support the program.

IMPACT TO STAFF/RESOURCES: The Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Budget includes $45,000 for these ongoing studies to monitor steelhead related to our impending NMFS ESA Section 10(A)(1)(a) permit.

EXHIBIT

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