PUBLIC OUTREACH COMMITTEE

ITEM:		ACTION ITEMS
3.	REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF DRAFT PUBLIC OUTREACH PLAN
Meeting Date:			February 26, 2008
From:			David A. Berger,
			General Manager
Prepared By:			Same

SUMMARY: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Public Outreach Committee (Committee) to discuss the draft Public Outreach Plan that was reviewed late last year by the previous Committee members. This approach will give newly-appointed Committee members Regina Doyle, Chair and David Pendergrass, and on-going Committee member Kristi Markey, an opportunity to broaden the Committee’s look at the scope and substance of the draft Plan. This would enable the Committee to potentially address desired methods for communicating with the community on the State Water Resources Control Board staff’s draft Cease and Desist Order and other key policy issues discussed at the February 13, 2008 MPWMD Strategic Planning workshop, which are not specifically mentioned in the current version of the draft Public Outreach Plan. The draft Strategic Plan is included in the Board’s February 28, 2008 agenda packet.

RECOMMENDATION: Public Outreach Committee members should identify and reach consensus on substantive changes to the draft Public Outreach Plan desired to address the Board’s current strategic objectives, as well as changes suggested last October by the previous Committee, in order for staff to revise the document for further review and consideration at the next Committee meeting.

BACKGROUND: In its Strategic Plan adopted on October 16, 2006 the Board initially created its three-year goal of “Establishing respectful and effective relationships with California American Water, the eight land use jurisdictions and the Seaside Basin Watermaster.” In its update of the current Strategic Plan approved May 21, 2007 the Board added the general “public” to the goal, and created an objective of developing a “Public Outreach Plan (Plan)” for the Board’s consideration at its November 19, 2007 regular meeting, in order to focus and prioritize resources directed toward increasing District communication with members of the community regarding its regulation changes and other key activities. At its October 3, 2007 meeting the Public Outreach Committee considered staff’s suggested approach for implementing the District’s then-current strategic objective of developing a proposed Plan, which was based on the 2005 model public communication handbook, Open and Accessible: A Public Water Agency Guide to Communication and Transparency, published by the Association of California Water Agencies (Exhibit 3-A). Staff drafted a Plan that reflected the October 3 Committee consensus on elements that should be included in the recommended Plan (Exhibit 3-B). The Committee also identified a potential desire to add an additional element to the Plan related to upgrading the District’s website.

At its October 23 meeting the Committee reviewed the draft Plan, and asked staff to: 1) address the Public Outreach Committee’s role in developing the Plan and overseeing its implementation; 2) add a purpose statement expressing the District’s intent to ensure maximum citizen access and input on Board policy decisions; 3) reduce proposed actions to “bullet” points; and 4) reference the District Annual Report and its recent policy of distributing it to all citizens and businesses within the District. Also, based on a presentation at the October 23 Committee meeting by Chief Technology Officer Inder Osahan regarding District staff Website Team’s strategic objectives for website enhancement, the Committee asked that these objectives be addressed in the revised draft Plan. Staff did not make these changes due to workload priority conflicts, nor did the Committee meet again last year.

Finally, the District’s water rationing Contingency Plan that the Board reviewed and accepted at its January 24 meeting identified the key elements that should be included in developing an “outreach plan” for educating residents and businesses on the requirements of District Regulation XV rationing stages four through seven that would be triggered by a future Board-determined drought declaration (Exhibit 3-C). The Committee should also consider whether these water rationing community education components should be detailed in the District’s overall Public Outreach Plan, or created as a separate, stand-alone document for drought contingency planning purposes.

IMPACT TO STAFF/RESOURCES: The draft Public Outreach Plan describes, but does not yet quantify, the impact on District resources that would be required to implement it. The Committee’s October 3, 2007 consensus was that the District’s current, informal public outreach programs and practices were largely effective, and only a few enhancements were identified that would increase the current level of staff effort or add expense. Examples are the one time cost of creating a District display booth, and the biennial expense associated with public communication training. Depending on how the Committee chooses to address potential changes to the draft Plan, staff will obtain cost estimates for these items for inclusion in the fiscal impact section of the Board report that would transmit the final draft version of the Plan. Because its implementation is a strategic objective, District staff considers this policy item as a priority in relation to other workload demands.

EXHIBITS

3-A Open and Accessible: A Public Water Agency Guide to Communication and Transparency, Association of California Water Agencies, 2005

3-B Draft Public Outreach Plan (10/23/07 version)

3-C “Public Education and Outreach” section of District’s Contingency Plan for Implementing Drought Stages 4-7 of the Expanded Conservation and Standby Rationing Program (Regulation XV)

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