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ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE |
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3. |
CONSIDER APPROVAL OF RENEWED
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE MONTEREY PENINSULA WATER MANAGEMENT
DISTRICT AND THE CARMEL RIVER STEELHEAD ASSOCIATION – SLEEPY HOLLOW STEELHEAD
REARING FACILITY OPERATIONS |
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Meeting Date: |
July 6, 2006 |
Budgeted: |
Yes |
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From: |
David A. Berger, |
Program/ |
Various |
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General Manager |
Line Item No.: |
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Prepared By: |
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Cost
Estimate: |
N/A |
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General Counsel Approval:
Yes
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Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this
item on July 6, 2006 and recommended _______________.
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CEQA Compliance:
N/A |
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State & Federal
Agency Review: Consistent with the Annual Memorandum of Agreement between
California Department of Fish and Game and the District for operations at
Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility and the District’s License Agreement
with California American Water and permit application pending with NOAA
Fisheries. |
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SUMMARY: The Board will consider approval of a proposed Memorandum
of Agreement (MOA) with the Carmel River Steelhead Association (CRSA) to
deliver juvenile steelhead that are rescued from tributaries and the mainstem
of the Carmel River and to rear these fish at the District’s Sleepy Hollow
Steelhead Rearing Facility (Facility) (Exhibit 3-A). Only three minor revisions have been made to
the proposed MOA from last year’s MOA: (1) the District’s contact person was
changed to Beverly Chaney, (2) wording in item 8 was changed to reflect
consistency with the pending NOAA Fisheries Permit, and (3) the duration of the
agreement was changed to two years through June 30, 2008. Prior to the Administrative Committee Meeting
on July 6, 2006, the proposed MOA was sent to CRSA for their review. Staff will report on CRSA’s reaction to the
proposed MOA on July 6, 2006.
RECOMMENDATION:
District staff recommends approval of the proposed MOA (Exhibit 3-A),
and authorization for the General Manager to enter into the MOA.
IMPACT TO STAFF/RESOURCES: Additional
staff time may be needed to comply with the proposed 2006-08 MOA with
CRSA. This depends primarily on the
frequency of times when staff will be needed to pick up fish from CRSA after
weekday rescues. While the frequency
cannot be predicted with certainty, the total additional time should not exceed
24 hours, based on an assumption of six weekday rescues at 4 hours per day. No additional cost would be incurred for this
task, as the staff positions for this activity receive compensatory time-off
instead of overtime payment.
BACKGROUND:
In 2000, the CRSA requested that the District accept and rear juvenile
steelhead rescued by CRSA. In response
to this request, staff assembled a proposed protocol for this operation, and
negotiated with CRSA representatives to implement the request, subject to
approval of a MOA and review and approval by CDFG and NOAA-Fisheries. For the 2003-2004 season, a one-year MOA
between the District and the CRSA was signed in July 2003. The CRSA delivered one batch of fish to the
Facility in June 2004.
Two key issues
were: (1) whether the additional tributary and mainstem fish would impact
existing operations at the Facility, which is funded by the District’s user fee
on CAW bills and specifically designed to mitigate for existing CAW pumping
along the mainstem of the Carmel River in Carmel Valley and (2) that the CRSA
needed to add the District and CAW to its general insurance liability policy as
an “additional insured”. Regarding
Issues (1), staff reviewed this
situation and believed that the anticipated increased costs were relatively minor,
including small amounts of additional food, limited additional time on weekdays
and Saturdays to accept the fish, and some additional time to process and treat
the fish during the rearing season. Regarding
Issue (2), CRSA was willing to hold the District, its employees, and agents
harmless in the event that CRSA members were injured at the Facility.
For the
2005-2006 MOA staff made several revisions with the goal of improving security
at the Facility and continuing the practice of receiving fish from CRSA rescues.
The proposed
2006-2008 MOA has no substantial changes from the 2005-2006 MOA.
EXHIBITS
3-A Proposed Memorandum of Agreement Between
MPWMD and the Carmel River Steelhead Association: Limited Access and Use of
Sleepy Hollow Steelhead Rearing Facility
U:\staff\word\committees\Admin\2006\20060706\03\item3.doc