Water Commission (now under Utilities Commission)

CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES Frank Martinez, President Robert Shannon, Secretary Arthur Levine, Vice President Gloria Cordero, Commissioner Naomi Rainey, Commissioner Christopher J. Garner, General Manager Richard Anthony, Deputy City Attorney SPECIAL MEETING FINISHED AGENDA & FINAL MINUTES The Water Commission minutes are prepared and ordered to correspond to the Water Commission agenda. Agenda items can be taken out of order during the meeting. The agenda items were considered in the order presented. CALL TO ORDER The Board of Water Commission special meeting was called to order by President Martinez at 9:00 A.M. This special meeting was held via teleconference pursuant to Executive Order N-29-20 issued by Governor Gavin Newsom. ROLL CALL Executive Assistant to the Board, Sandra Fox took the roll call and confirmed a quorum. Also present: Christopher J. Garner, General Manager; B. Anatole Falagan, Assistant General Manager; Tai Tseng, Assistant General Manager - Operations; Sandra Fox, Executive Assistant to the Board. Commissioners Gloria Cordero, Naomi Rainey, Robert Shannon and Frank Present: Martinez Commissioners Art Levine Excused: 1. 20-201WA Recommendation to receive public comment for the Special meeting Page 1 of 6 CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES December 10, 2020. President Martinez opened the public comment period and asked if any written public comment had been received. Ms. Fox advised no written public comment had been received for the December 10, 2020 Special Board meeting. President Martinez then inquired if there was any public on the line who would like to speak. Hearing none, he closed the public comment period. 2. 20-202WA Recommendation for Board of Water Commissioners to approve sending a letter to the Board of Directors of the Water Replenishment District urging a thorough and transparent process in the recruitment and hiring of a new General Manager. President Martinez introduced the topic of agenda item 2. Mr. Garner provided background regarding the recommendation for the Board of Water Commissioners to send a letter to the Board of Directors of the Water Replenishment District (WRD) urging a thorough and transparent process in the recruitment and hiring of their new General Manager. He outlined recent actions that had been taken by the Water Replenishment District Board of Directors regarding hiring of a new General Manager. He noted other agencies and legislators had also expressed their concern regarding the process. At this point the meeting was put on hold at the request of Commissioner Shannon due to technical difficulties he was experiencing connecting to the teleconference meeting. Mr. Garner continued his explanation of recent questionable actions taken by the WRD Board regarding this issue. Mr. Martinez commented on the draft letter that he and Mr. Garner had developed for the Board's consideration. Mr. Garner asked the Board members if they had received their copy of the draft letter. All Board members confirmed receipt of the letter. Commissioner Rainey made comments regarding the recent actions taken by the WRD Board. She asked if our City Attorney had reviewed the WRD hiring policies. Mr. Anthony, Deputy City Attorney advised he had Page 2 of 6 CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES not reviewed their policies. Commissioner Rainey made additional comments regarding the Board of Water Commissioners draft letter. She requested that the Deputy City Attorney review the WRD hiring guidelines and report back to the Board. Mr. Anthony advised he could do this requested research as long as the WRD policies were public. Commissioner Rainey made additional comments regarding the draft Long Beach Board letter to WRD. Note: Commissioner Shannon was speaking at this point in the meeting, but his continued technical difficulties made it very difficult to hear what he was saying. The meeting was once again paused until Commissioner Shannon could call into the meeting only and not use his computer. Commissioner Shannon phoned into the meeting and continued his comments regarding the proposed Long Beach Water Commission letter being sent to WRD. He inquired if LBWD had any leverage against WRD taking the action they were currently proposing. Mr. Garner responded he was not aware of anything that LBWD could do at this point. Commissioner Shannon advised he felt that the Board of Water Commissioners should send the letter of concern to WRD, and depending on their actions be prepared to follow-up with even stronger language in another letter. Commissioner Rainey spoke again. Commissioner Shannon asked Mr. Anthony if he was okay with this proposed direction. Mr. Anthony responded, and noted he would reach out to the WRD attorney to assist in his research. Commissioner Cordero commented on the process and noted the LB Board letter is strong enough at this time. Page 3 of 6 CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES President Martinez inquired if Metropolitan Water District (MWD) had weighed in on this issue. Mr. Garner and Commissioner Cordero advised they were not aware of a response from MWD. Commissioner Shannon made additional comments regarding the possible search that the WRD Board might do to fill the position of their General Manager. Commissioner Rainey made the motion to the send the letter to WRD from the Board of Water Commissioners and to proceed with requested due diligence regarding the personnel hiring policies for WRD. She also requested that no specific persons be named in any correspondence being sent from the Board. Commissioner Shannon seconded the motion. President Martinez made closing comments regarding the matter and process. Mr. Garner also made closing comments. President Martinez called for any public comment. Hearing none he called for a roll call vote. A motion was made by Commissioner Rainey, seconded by Secretary Shannon, to approve recommendation. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 4 - Gloria Cordero, Naomi Rainey, Robert Shannon and Frank Martinez Excused: 1 - Art Levine Page 4 of 6 CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES NEW BUSINESS President Martinez called for a motion to excuse Commissioner Levine from the December 10, 2020 special Board meeting. Commissioner Shannon made the motion, and it was seconded by Commissioner Cordero. President Martinez called for any public comment. Hearing none he called for a roll call vote. The motion carried with a 4 yes, 1 absent (Levine) vote. ADJOURNMENT President Martinez adjourned the meeting at 9:27 A.M. to the December 17, 2020 teleconference meeting. Page 5 of 6 CITY OF LONG BEACH THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2020 WATER COMMISSION VIA TELECONFERENCE/WEB, 9:00 AM MINUTES NOTE: If written language translation of the Commission agenda and minutes for non-English speaking persons is desired, please make your request by phone to the Office of the City Clerk at (562) 570-6101, 72 business hours prior to the Commission meeting. Kung nais ang pagsasalin ng nakasulat na wika ng agenda ng Komisyon at ang minutes para sa mga taong hindi nagsasalita ng Ingles, mangyaring isagawa ang iyong hiling sa pamamagitan ng telepono sa Opisina ng Clerk ng Lungsod sa (562) 570-6101, 72 oras ng negosyo bago ang pagpupulong ng Commission. Si desea obtener la traducción escrita en otro idioma de la agenda y actas de la comisión para personas que no hablan inglés, haga su solicitud por teléfono a la Oficina de la Secretaría Municipal al (562) 570-6101, 72 horas hábiles antes de la reunión de la comisión. Page 6 of 6