ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE
16.	Consider Approval To Purchase Expendable PIT Tags and OTHEr DISPOSABLE Tagging Supplies for the remAINDER OF Calendar Year 2018
Meeting Date:		June 11, 2018	Budgeted:	Yes
From:		Dave Stoldt,	Program/	Aquatic Resources/
		General Manager	Line Item No.:	Fisheries 2-3-1 H
Prepared By:		Kevan Urquhart	Cost Estimate:	$20,000
General Counsel Approval: N/A
Committee Recommendation: The Administrative Committee reviewed this item on June 11, 2018 and recommended __________.
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 6,000 PIT tags of two sizes (12 & 24 mm), ~3,000 of each size per year, as well as the associated tagging supplies. The tags alone run approximately $1.70-$2.25 each, plus tax and shipping, for an estimated $12,000/year, that does not include additional supplies necessary to complete the tagging process.

In August 2017, the board approved a not-to-exceed amount of $8,500, and then approved an additional $3,200 in April 2018 solely for the purchase of major items of equipment, hardware and tags. These authorized amounts did not include ongoing minor supplies billed to the same Line Item. We have not had to purchase any PIT tags to date, as they were supplied by NMFS, but stocks of those tags are almost depleted, and we have begun the annual Fish Rescue Season. To date we have spent approximately $19,000 of the $65,000 budget on all items related to the program, leaving up to $46,000 to be authorized. The additional expendable/disposable supplies needed to continue tagging fish this Calendar Year, is estimated at $20,000, allocated as $12,000 in the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018, and $8,000 in next FY 2018-2019. Any additional major hardware or equipment expenses for FY 2018-2019 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 $12,000 for FY 2017-2018 and $8,000 for FY 2018-2019 to cover solely the costs of expendable/disposable PIT tags and tagging supplies, not including other miscellaneous ongoing operational expenses to support the program.

IMPACT TO STAFF/RESOURCES: The Fiscal Year 2017-2018 Budget includes $65,000 and the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Budget is proposed to have $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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