This communication covers work underway in the following areas:
- Tax Levy measure passed – Request for Proposals process underway
- Looking for Community Members willing to do some work for pay
- New policy to appeal accidental use of an extraordinary amount of water
- Progress on District Rejuvenation Projects
A. Tax Levy measure passed by 2 votes, 74-72. Request for Proposals process underway
The local option levy on the November ballot — paying for a 2-year contract with an Interim District Administrator — passed by 2 votes, 74-72.
The Request for Proposals for the Administrator has been developed and vetted <click here>. In compliance with state regulations, the District will begin the procurement process by posting the Request for Proposals on January 3rd. Candidates will be evaluated and selected, followed by contract negotiation. The contract will take effect on July 1, 2025. District cash/revenues will be used until tax revenue are collected by the County in the Fall to reimburse the District.
B. Looking for community members interested in being paid for some work
For several months the District has been operating without an Operator, which puts a huge burden on Matt and leaves some work undone. Our District is not alone in having an open operator position. It appears that there are at least 3 other similar open positions on the North Coast. No one is having any luck finding staff. For our District, this situation is not sustainable. So we are pursuing a number of creative options to get the work done and free Matt up for more tasks that require his skill set and experience.
One of the options is to use community members to do some of the standard & routine District work, and pay them for it as very part time District employees (no benefits and no PERS as less than 600 hrs per year).
- Weekend walkabout – Walking around the two plants on weekends to make sure that nothing appears to be out of the ordinary from sight, sound and smell. This should take no more than ½ hour a day on Saturday, Sunday and holidays.
- Weekend watch – Staying within the community on some weekends to respond to alarm calls and reach out to the necessary resources to get them addressed. A weekend rate for be set. This would require significant training.
- Mowing / weed eating – of district properties and around hydrants. The required time would vary by season.
- Once weekly housecleaning – Clean the District office, lab and bathrooms – vacuum, sweep , mop , clean all countertops and wipe down cabinet doors. Finish with a few quick sprays on surfaces / countertops with spray lysol for disinfectant. Staff does it during the week, this effort would be to “polish off” the offices over the weekend for a fresh Monday start. This work takes about 1-1.5 hours / per week
- Weekly meter reading: Once weekly meter reading – drive the district with the IPAD and radio read the meters. This work takes about 2.25 hours / per week
- Safety watch: Matt is working alone during storm events. From a safety perspective, he should be periodically checking in with someone. Also, at times, he may need an extra set of hands. This work takes virtually no training and time requirements are infrequent and as needed.
- Task Coordination: Completing the hiring paperwork for all, scheduling the work with substitutions as needed and confirming work completion.
Any required training would also be paid by the District.
Reliability and conscientiousness are the critical required capabilities for these tasks
If you are interested please send Bill Campbell an email <click here> and let him know which tasks are of most interest and your weekly availability.
Please forward this information on to others that you know that may be interested.
Your work will be a huge value to the District.
C. New policy to appeal accidental use of an extraordinary amount of water
Note: This policy is in addition to the Water Leak Policy #23-09 WD
On October 17th the Water District Board adopted the Extraordinary Water Usage Appeal Policy #2024-1017 WD that takes full effect for all water usage after October 17th. <click here> For water usage prior to October 17, the policy has/will be adjusted to be more aligned with the policy that was in effect at the time of the usage.
Based on this Extraordinary Water Usage policy, if a homeowner accidentally uses an unintended amount of water, they can appeal the amount of their water bill. With sufficient evidence of the “accident”, this new policy gives District staff specific guidelines for adjusting the excess usage charges on the water bill. The homeowner’s historical usage volume will be billed at current excess water usage rates and the remainder of the excess usage volume will be billed at the per gallon base rate / which is currently 1.27 cents per gallon. The policy also caps, at 40,000 gallons, the amount of water that be billed at the per gallon base rate – as a deterrent for irresponsible use of water. (This cap will not apply if the usage is before Oct 17, 2024.)
There has been some discussion that this policy may be too punitive or not punitive enough. This policy is not punitive in any way as its only objective is to reduce a bill if/when there is sufficient evidence of an accident. The more relevant question is whether the policy is too lenient or not lenient enough.
On the lenient side, the policy does take into consideration the real possibility of accidents happening. Oversights, mistakes and forgetting can happen to all of us. But the policy doesn’t totally release a rate payer from the financial responsibility of using an extraordinary amount of water, even by accident.
On the not lenient side, the policy does enforce the Board’s a) fiduciary responsibility to make sure that there is financial equity in the billing amounts charged to rate payers and, b) conservation responsibility to protect and conserve the water resources for which the District is responsible – even if a rate payer is not.
D. Progress on District Rejuvenation Projects
In addition to standard operations tasks and addressing unexpected challenges that present themselves, the following progress has been made this month on the rejuvenation projects listed below – with green indicating completed and yellow indicating progress was made / new status reported. (The complete set of projects with status can be found by clicking here)
- Project 1 – Replace Operations Control Electronics for the Water Plant. COMPLETED
- Project 3 – Upgrade & Bring Current the Business/ Admin Computer and Data System. JUST COMPLETED
All computer systems at the Sanitary Plant, administrative and operational, are now behind a firewall.
The previous vendor’s wifi equipment has been replaced with the District’s own to avoid the ongoing cost. Wifi access has been placed behind the firewall.
- Project 5 – Implement an Asset Management System
A series of management reports have been developed that will use work order data entered into the new application in to monitor work load, plant maintenance & operations status.
These reports have identified how work order data can be categorized differently so that the results are more meaningful. Data capture will be done using the new categories and the reports will be rerun when two months of data is available
- Project 6 – Upgrade & Bring Current the Districts’ Web Site: COMPLETED
- Project 7 – Inspect Water Lines for Lead. COMPLETED
- Project 8 – Address Corrosion in Water Plant:
An additional fan has been installed at floor level to remove chlorine gas as it is heavier than air. Awaiting electrician to connect it.
As time/resources allow, all componentry, pipes and fittings will be scrubbed back down to the original bare metal and restored to new like condition in order to establish a clean baseline. A first pass has been taken.
A.C. Water District Board (Go to Home Page) 