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ITEM: |
CONSENT CALENDAR |
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6. |
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF SIX TEMPORARY FIELD STAFF POSITIONS FUNDED
THROUGH AN INTERAGENCY CONTRACT BETWEEN MPWMD AND NMFS TO PROVIDE FOR LEGALLY
MANDATED COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND MONITORING PROJECTS IN FY 2019-2020 |
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Meeting Date: |
June 17,
2019 |
Budgeted: |
No |
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From: |
David J.
Stoldt, |
Program/ |
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General
Manager |
Line Item No.: |
2-3-1 K, 2-3-1 L |
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Prepared
By: |
Suresh
Prasad |
Cost Estimate: |
Up to $55,500 (reimbursable) |
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General
Counsel Approval: N/A |
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Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this
item on June 10, 2019 and recommended approval. |
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CEQA
Compliance: This action does not
constitute a project as defined by the California Environmental Quality Act
Guidelines Section 15378. |
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SUMMARY: In 2017, the District entered into an interagency contract with National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Agency’s (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service-Southwest Fisheries Science Center (NMFS-SWFSC) for the purposes of conducting juvenile steelhead population studies. In 2018, the District entered into a second interagency contract with NOAA’s NMFS-SWFSC for the purposes of conducting juvenile steelhead studies at Los Padres Reservoir (LPR). As part of each of these separate the three-year contracts, for fiscal year 2019-2020, MPWMD will provide local employees to support up to two sets of three positions. The positions will be filled at one of five levels, depending on increasing skill level, possession of specific certifiable skills in electrofishing, surgical fish tagging, and red-legged frog identification and avoidance. Field work will be conducted for three months from August through October, or the four months of April through May, for a total of 3,600 combined hours.
The contracts are limited to a combined $55,500 per year. The funding for this contract comes from Cal-Am as a requirement of Water Rights Order 20016-0016. This field work will dovetail and complement the fall population sampling that MPWMD already does, and include the tagging of fish that we sample, and it supports initiation of monitoring studies at LPR. The data collected will guide future steelhead management by the NMFS and California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and may contribute information needed in a future Water Allocations Supplemental Environmental Impact Report, envisioned for some time after 2021. It is also provides data required by NMFS as part of the long term Los Padres Dam/Reservoir evaluations being conducted by the District and funded by Cal-Am.
Authorization
is requested to hire a combination of limited-term Water Resources Assistants,
Fisheries Aides, Fish Rescue Crew Leader, Fisheries Technician, or Field
Biology Assistant not to exceed the allocated contract amount for the year. These positions would prevent the accrual of excessive
compensatory time and overtime for higher level regular full-time positions, or
having NMFS/Cal-Am contract for more expensive part-time employees from the
U.C. Santa Cruz Foundation that they require be based in Santa Cruz and then
waste 3+ hours per day in round trip commuting.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approving up to six temporary field staff positions for cooperative research and monitoring projects with the NOAA/NMFS for fiscal year 2019-2020. This is a fully reimbursed project so the impact to the District will be zero. This project is part of the FY 2019-2020 Budget.
IMPACTS TO STAFF/RESOURCES: The total cost of the limited-term staffing described above would not exceed the interagency contract amount. MPWMD will provide the administrative overhead for onboarding, payroll administration, and use of District’s vehicles.
None
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