Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority

MINUTES MONTEREY PENINSULA REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY (MPRWA) Director's Meeting 7:00 PM, Thursday, June 8, 2017 COUNCIL CHAMBERS 580 PACIFIC STREET, MONTEREY MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA Directors Present: Director Carbone, Director Dallas, Director Edelen, Director Roberson, Director Rubio, President Kampe Directors Absent: None Staff Present: Executive Director Cullem, Legal Counsel Don Freeman, Clerk Romero CALL TO ORDER President Kampe called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. ROLL CALL Director Roberson arrived at 7:07pm. Don Freeman was present via speakerphone during the meeting. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE REPORTS FROM BOARD DIRECTORS AND STAFF Executive Director Cullem reported that California American Water’s (Cal Am) current schedule has been distributed to the Directors and may be pulled from consent if more information is requested, and that Chuck Chech provided a written public comment which was also distributed to the Directors. President Kampe gave an update that MPRWA is currenlty in discussion with Marina Coast Water District (MCWD) regarding a potential collaboration with water assets of MCWD and the Peninsula being joined for mutual benefit as well as supplemental sources which will help meet Cease and Desist Order (CDO) requirements. He added that collaboration with MCWD in the long term is also being discussed, although MCWD has voiced concerns about their basin being ignored. President Kampe said that the discussions have helped to keep MCWD’s concerns in mind. He commented that 91 parties have commented on the draft environmental impact report (DEIR). Executive Director Cullem reminded the public that Mr. Van Der Maaten, MCWD General Manager, has been an active Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) member for the past 2 years and has been providing input from MCWD. He also requested that item #6 be moved ahead of item #5 due to a presentation. PUBLIC COMMENTS:  Tom Rowley, Monterey Peninsula Taxpayers Association (MPTA), spoke about problems with water in Honolulu, Hawaii. He voiced concerns with the quality of the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP) schedule on the video recording of MPRWA meetings.  Mr. Malik, requested that the Authority be flexible with their support of Cal Am and to consider other water supply projects that may cost less, such as public ownership of water.  MPRWA Minutes Thursday, June 8, 2017 CONSENT AGENDA On a motion by Director Edelen, seconded by Director Rubio, and carried by the following vote, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Approved the Consent Agenda: AYES: 6 DIRECTORS: Carbone, Dallas, Edelen, Roberson, Rubio, Kampe NOES: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSENT: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSTAIN: 0 DIRECTORS: None RECUSED: 0 DIRECTORS: None 1. Approval of Minutes from May 11, 2017 Action: Approved 2. Approve and File Authority Checks through May 31, 2017 Action: Approved 3. Receive Update on SPI (Geosyntec) and Staff Review of Comments Received on the MPWSP DEIR/DEIS Action: Received report 4. Receive an Update on the Summary Project Schedule for the Monterey Peninsula Water Supply Project (MPWSP) and the Status of Test Slant Well Operations Action: Received update ***End of Consent Agenda*** AGENDA ITEMS 5. Receive Report on Current Water Authority Work Plan and Policy Statement, Discuss, and Provide Staff Direction Action: Received report and discussed; no changes made at this time Executive Director Cullem said that the policy position statement (attachment B) should be reviewed and discussed periodically by the Authority. Don Freeman, via conference call, said that the Authority would have to obtain approval from all represented agencies before amending the the JPA mission statement. Executive Director Cullem pointed out that the policy position statement includes wording that says "should Deep Water Desal (DWD) or Peoples Moss Landing (PML) project become viable...." so the public should be aware that the Authority is open to other projects besides Cal Am. President Kampe briefly summarized the MPRWA Workplan Priority Ranking Draft (attachment A) saying that there are a number of completed tasks, and the rest are a reminder of what still needs to be addressed. President Kampe asked Don what would need to be done to expand the Authority’s role, and Don responded that it would need to be agendized at a future meeting to discuss. Director Rubio requested that any policy position mission statement amendments be continued because the Directors have enough to focus on at this time, and should not get involved in mission creep. Director Roberson voiced agreement with Rubio not to re-evaluate the mission Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Director's Meeting Minutes - Thursday, June 8, 2017 2  MPRWA Minutes Thursday, June 8, 2017 statement at this time. He also pointed out that item #9 of the policy says "obtain various City permits" which is not within the scope of the Authority and should not be considered a workplan priority. President Kampe said that the intent of the workplan is to show which agencies are involved in the various steps of the project, not necessarily what the Authority is responsible for. PUBLIC COMMENT:  Tom Rowley, MPTA, complimented the Authority on keeping its focus on the supplying water to the public. He commented that the Authority.....get involved in water management district. He also said that NOAA has approved two additional fees for ratepayers? He said the price tag for ratepayers keeps going up.  George Riley, commented that the Authority policy mission statement contains 8 requirements for the water supply project. He wanted to point out that the large settlement agreement is a shell of what it was and circumstances have changed since the 8 requirements were created.  Jan Shriner, Marina resident, said the water management district has been doing positive things for the community. She spoke about Cemex and sand mining which was a recent topic in a Marina Council meeting. She appreciates that the Authority does consider other projects besides Cal am. President Kampe responded to Ms. Shriner’s comment by stating that earlier in the meeting he reported that the Authority is already in collaboration with Marina Coast Water District. He also reiterated that the Authority's mission is securing a water supply for the peninsula, not to ensure public ownership of the water district. Director Roberson responded to Ms. Shriner’s comment saying that the Monterey City Council submitted a letter months ago to the Coastal Commission asking them to study and analyze sand erosion by Cemex, and said that it's up to the individual jurisdictions to respond to this problem with Cemex. He also said that the Herald article that accused the Mayors of not supporting putting a stop to Cemex was misleading. Director Carbone said that the Sand City also sent a letter to the Coastal Commission regarding Cemex and sand erosion. President Kampe asked if the board would like to agendize re-evaluation of the mission statement at a future meeting. Director Edelen and Carbone requested holding off on re- evaluating the mission statement. Director Dallas said that there should be collaboration with the Authoirty, Marina Coast Water District, and the Water Management District to come up with a backup plan if the MPWSP fails. President Kampe summarized that the overall consensus of the Authority is to not re-evaluate the mission statement at this time. No action taken at this time. 6. Receive Update, Discuss, and Provide Staff Direction on the People's Moss Landing Desal Project Action: Received update and discussed; requested future updates from People’s Moss Landing Paul Moncreef, representative from People's Moss Landing Project (PML), introduced David Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Director's Meeting Minutes - Thursday, June 8, 2017 3 MPRWA Minutes Thursday, June 8, 2017 Balch, who gave an update on the current status of the PML project:  PML is working on extending leases between the Harbor District and the Moss Landing Commercial Property for outfall pipeline.  The PML EIR is reviewing different types of intake, however, Harbor water is probably not feasible with the Coastal Commission, so they are still looking at other options such as open ocean intake.  Aspen, an environmental group, will peer review the PML DEIR. The DEIR is estimated to be ready by December 2017, and approved by summer, 2018.  The project permit process will take about 1 year, with some overlap during the time that the DEIR is approved.  Estimated February 2021 for delivery of water. The schedule is about 1 year behind due to waiting to find out what type of intake technology the Coastal Commission will deem feasible. PUBLIC COMMENT:  Jan Shriner, resident of Marina, said that the State of California is telling the public that aquifers will never be needed and Marina is building a desal plant. She voiced concern about this spread of misinformation and said she hopes the Authority will help set the record straight. Director Rubio asked Mr. Balch if there are any conflicts of interest between Aspen and PML and Mr. Balch responded that Aspen has already been involved in the PML DEIR process, vetted, and found to not have any conflicts with the project. Mr. Balch said that Poseidon has already been working on getting approval for open ocean intake, and the hope is that if the Coastal Commission will approve this technology so that PML will be able to move forward. He added that the PML DEIR hinges on what type of intake technology is approved by the Coastal Commission. Director Rubio asked about the overall schedule for PML, and Mr. Balch responded that they are looking at alternative intake strategies which has pushed back their water delivery date to 2021. Director Rubio asked about the financial cost of the Peoples Moss Landing project. Mr. Balch responded that it will cost an estimated $2100 per acre foot of water delivered, and total project cost is $240 million using conservative estimates. He said that although PML cost is lower overall than Cal Am’s project, the project that will ultimately move forward is the one which has the ability to deliver water the soonest. Director Edelen commented that PML is making progress, however Cal Am's project is scheduled to be completed 1 year sooner than Peoples Moss Landing, and he would like more information next time to convince the Authority of why the PML project is better and should be considered. Mr. Balch responded that according to the Coastal Commission, Moss Landing's project has the preferred location for a desal plant in Monterey County, and added that it remains to be seen if the Coastal Commission will approve slant well and subsurface Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Director's Meeting Minutes - Thursday, June 8, 2017 4  MPRWA Minutes Thursday, June 8, 2017 technology. Director Rubio made a statement that the Authority has consistently made an effort to look at the feasibility of all of the different water supply projects in the area, and not only Cal Am’s project. Director Dallas commented that up until now PML hasn't provided a substantial update on the project in the past year and going forward would like more updates for the Authority on the status. Mr. Balch agreed and said he would like to be able to bring more information to future meetings. President Kampe thanked Mr. Balch for coming in with an update and questioned what the public ownership plan is for PML. Mr. Balch responded that the ownership model will be a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) of stakeholders and public ownership; however, the potential stakeholders want to see the PML EIR first. Mr. Balch stated that he appreciates the Authority's interest in PML project and their continuous consideration and evaluation of their project. PUBLIC COMMENT:  Tom Rowley, MPTA, commented that there are different intake technologies being pursued by the various desal projects as they wait for the Coastal Commission to make a decision on what they will deem feasible.  Mr. Malik reminded the Directors that PML is self funded, and although they have had some setbacks Cal Am’s project has also had several delays and should be held accountable as well. No action was taken on this item; received update and discussed. 7. Elect Water Authority Board Officers for FY 2017-2018 Action: Elected Kampe as President, Rubio as Vice President, Edelen as Treasurer, and Carbone as Secretary for FY 2017-2018 On a motion by Director Dallas, seconded by Director Rubio, and carried by the following vote, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority elected Director Kampe as Authority President for FY 2017-2018: AYES: 6 DIRECTORS: Carbone, Dallas, Edelen, Roberson, Rubio, Kampe NOES: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSENT: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSTAIN: 0 DIRECTORS: None RECUSED: 0 DIRECTORS: None On a motion by Director Edelen, seconded by Director Dallas, and carried by the following vote, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority elected Director Rubio as Authority Vice President for FY 2017-2018: AYES: 6 DIRECTORS: Carbone, Dallas, Edelen, Roberson, Rubio, Kampe NOES: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSENT: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSTAIN: 0 DIRECTORS: None RECUSED: 0 DIRECTORS: None On a motion by Director Rubio, seconded by Director Roberson, and carried by the following vote, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority elected Director Edelen as Authority Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Director's Meeting Minutes - Thursday, June 8, 2017 5 MPRWA Minutes Thursday, June 8, 2017 Treasurer for FY 2017-2018: AYES: 6 DIRECTORS: Carbone, Dallas, Edelen, Roberson, Rubio, Kampe NOES: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSENT: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSTAIN: 0 DIRECTORS: None RECUSED: 0 DIRECTORS: None On a motion by Director Kampe, seconded by Director Roberson, and carried by the following vote, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority elected Director Carbone as Authority Secretary for FY 2017-2018: AYES: 6 DIRECTORS: Carbone, Dallas, Edelen, Roberson, Rubio, Kampe NOES: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSENT: 0 DIRECTORS: None ABSTAIN: 0 DIRECTORS: None RECUSED: 0 DIRECTORS: None ADJOURNMENT President Kampe adjourned the meeting at 8:25pm. ATTEST: Nova Romero, Clerk of the Authority MPRWA President Monterey Peninsula Regional Water Authority Director's Meeting Minutes - Thursday, June 8, 2017 6