Board Meeting
Approved Minutes of the September 24, 2024 Regular Board Meeting
THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OF STOCKTON EAST WATER DISTRICT WAS HELD AT THE DISTRICT OFFICE
6767 EAST MAIN STREET, STOCKTON, CA
ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2024, AT 12:30 P.M.
A. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE AND ROLL CALL
President Atkins called the regular meeting to order at 12:30 p.m., and District Engineer Evensen led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Present at roll call at the District were Directors Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti and Watkins. Also present were Manager Hopkins, Assistant Manager Vega, Director of Finance & Administration Ram, District Engineer Evensen, Maintenance Manager Higares, Administrative Assistant Rodriguez and Legal Counsel Zolezzi. Director Cortopassi was absent.
B. CONSENT CALENDAR (None)
C. PUBLIC COMMENT (None)
D. SCHEDULED PRESENTATIONS AND AGENDA ITEMS
- Minutes 09/17/24 Regular Meeting
A motion was moved and seconded to approve the September 17, 2024 Minutes, as amended.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
2. Warrants
a. Fund 56 – Construction Fund
b. Fund 68 – Municipal & Industrial Groundwater Fund
c. Fund 70 – Administration Fund
d. Fund 71 – Water Supply Fund
e. Fund 91 – Vehicle Fund
f. Fund 94 – Municipal & Industrial Fund
g. Payroll
h. Short Names/Acronym List
i. SEWD Vehicles
A motion was moved and seconded to approve the September 24, 2024; Warrants as presented.
Roll Call:
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
3. Preliminary Base Monthly Payment – Fiscal Year 2025/2026
a. Public Hearing
President Atkins opened the Public Hearing at 12:33 p.m., to receive comments on the Preliminary Base Monthly Payment (BMP) for Fiscal Year 2025/2026.
Manager Hopkins provided proof of publication of the public hearing. Manager Hopkins reported this process is dictated by the Second Amended Contract.
Seeing no public comment, President Atkins closed the Public Hearing at 12:34 p.m.
b. Resolution No. 24-25-07 – Setting the Preliminary Base Monthly Payment for Period April 1, 2025,to March 31, 2026
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with Resolution No. 24-25-07 – Setting the Preliminary Base Monthly Payment for Period April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. Manager Hopkins reported each year the District is required to adopt a Preliminary Base Monthly Payment per the Second Amended Contract. Manager Hopkins reported the Preliminary Base Monthly Payment for April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, represents a 3.14% increase from the current fiscal year which is due to a decrease in credit from prior fiscal years.
Assistant Manager Vega reported Resolution No. 24-25-07 provides the budgeted costs for the contract period of April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, which includes Debt Service, Operations & Maintenance, Administration, Payment into the Water Treatment Facilities Reserve Fund with the total being $36,154,125 a decrease from the previous fiscal year which was $38,115,346. Assistant Manager Vega reported a rough draft of the Preliminary BMP and Annual Budget Fiscal Year 2025-2026 will be submitted to the Urban Contracts in October for their comments. Assistant Manager Vega reported on the projects the District is planning for fiscal year 2025-2026 such as the engineering design of Sedimentation Basins 1 & 2 Replacement with Plate Settlers, the engineering design of Four New Filters and Retrofit of the Eight Existing Filters and other projects noted on pages 29-33.
Director McGurk inquired why the projects overlap multiple years in the annual budget. Assistant Manager Vega replied some of the projects noted in the annual budget are multiyear projects that include design and construction.
A motion was moved and seconded to approve Resolution No. 24-25-07 – Setting the Preliminary Base Monthly Payment for Period April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, as presented
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
4. Resolution No. 24-25-08 – Authorization To File A Grant Application With The United States Bureau Of Reclamation For The WaterSMART Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects (Funding No. R25AS000123) For Fiscal Year 2025
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with Resolution No. 24-25-08 – Authorization To File A Grant Application With The United States Bureau Of Reclamation For The WaterSMART Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects (Funding No. R25AS000123) For Fiscal Year 2025. Manager Hopkins reported the District is applying for a grant for the Clements Pipeline Project, which has a total estimated cost of $2.45 million. The District is seeking to cover half of the amount through grant funds, with the remaining $1.225 million being provided by the District. Staff recommends the Board adopt Resolution No. 24-25-08.
Director Nakaue inquired for clarification on what the Clements Pipeline Project entails. Manager Hopkins replied it is a proposed project to bring water from the Calaveras River south towards Highway 26 near the alignment of Clements Road.
A motion was moved and seconded to approve Resolution No. 24-25-08 – Authorization To File A Grant Application With The United States Bureau Of Reclamation For The WaterSMART Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects (Funding No. R25AS000123) For Fiscal Year 2025, as presented.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
5. Stockton East Water District – Budget Amendment – Emergency Expenditures Stemming From Lightning Strike Memo
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with a Budget Amendment regarding Emergency Expenditures from a Lightning Strike Memo. Manager Hopkins reported the District experienced a lightning strike on June 24, 2024, which caused the High Service Pump Station (HSPS) and Low Lift Pump Station (LLPS) to lose power and go offline. The LLPS required rental of a standby generator to power it until repairs could be made. The District has been awaiting all related invoices to finalize the total cost of the repairs. The total emergency expenditures resulting from the lightning strike amounted to $213,636.68, which was unbudgeted and will require a budget amendment. Staff is seeking the Board's approval for the budget amendment as detailed in Table 2.
Director Sanguinetti inquired whether the District has determined the cause of the failure of the first generator. Manager Hopkins replied the CAT generator fuel pump failed.
Director Sanguinetti inquired what type of diesel the standby generator is using. Manager Hopkins replied red diesel.
A motion was moved and seconded to approve Resolution No. 24-25-08 – Authorization To File A Grant Application With The United States Bureau Of Reclamation For The WaterSMART Drought Response Program: Drought Resiliency Projects (Funding No. R25AS000123) For Fiscal Year 2025, as presented.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
6. Stockton East Water District – Budget Amendment – Request For Cancellation Of Contract With Unifirst Memo
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with a Budget Amendment – Request For Cancellation Of Contract With Unifirst Memo. Manager Hopkins reported the Districts’ contract with UniFirst was up for renewal on August 2024. District staff requested UniFirst continue providing services temporarily until a new vendor could be selected. Manager Hopkins reported after evaluation of UniFirst and Cintas the Board of Directors (Board) approval, District staff awarded the new contract to Cintas. Upon notification of the decision, UniFirst’s representative informed the District a five-year contract renewal had been established on December 6, 2022, when additional garments were added to the service for Water Supply. Staff is recommending a budget amendment and settlement of the UniFirst contract. Manager Hopkins reported the proposed budget amendment will involve transferring funds from the Bellota Debt Service funds to the Uniform and Laundry Budget, with the total buyout amount for the UniFirst contract being $36,875.16.
Director McGurk inquired if the December 6, 2022, contract was a renewal of the original contract. Director of Finance & Administration replied yes, District staff only requested additional garments be added and once the request was signed it was an automatic rollover of the contract.
A motion was moved and seconded to approve the budget amendment presented in Table 2 and authorize the General Manager to proceed with the cancellation of the UniFirst contract and approve the payment of the $36,875.16 liquidated damages cancellation fee and all outstanding invoices from UniFirst, as presented.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
7. Stockton East Water District – Professional Services Agreement – Filtration Retrofit and Addition Design Memo
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with a Professional Services Agreement – Filtration Retrofit and Addition Design Memo. Manager Hopkins reported as part of the Water Treatment Plant Master Plan one of the biggest projects is to retrofit the Districts’ filters and add four new filters to provided sufficient redundancy to meet current filter design criteria. Assistant Manager Vega reported District staff contacted three consultants, Carollo Engineers, CDM Smith and Stantec Consulting for the filter retrofit and design. The three consultants provided proposals and presented them to District staff. Assistant Manager Vega reported based on the scope, labor hours and schedules included in the proposals, staff selected Carollo Engineers due to their filter experience, project team and labor hours. Carollo Engineers provided a proposal for the outlined scope of work in the amount of $1,670.814. Assistant Manager Vega also reported the approximate duration for the design will be 19 months. Staff respectfully recommends the Board authorize the General Manager to execute a Professional Service Agreement with Carollo Engineering for $1,670,814, plus a 10% contingency of $167,082 for a total of $1,837,896 and make all other necessary approvals.
Director McGurk inquired if the $1.6M was only for the design of the filters. District Engineer Evensen replied yes, this is only for design and the construction amount will be approximately $18M.
A motion was moved and seconded to authorize the General Manager to execute a Professional Service Agreement with Carollo Engineering for $1,670,814, plus a 10% contingency of $167,082 for a total of $1,837,896 and make all other necessary approvals, as presented.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
8. Stockton East Water District – Consider Approval of New Finance Software Memo
Manager Hopkins presented the Board with a memo to Consider Approval of New Finance Software Memo. Manager Hopkins reported staff met with the Administration Committee to discuss a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) and a Financial Software replacement for Financial Edge from Blackbaud. Assistant Manager Vega reported in 2013 the District developed a comprehensive plan (Master IT Plan) to address its aging information technology infrastructure. Assistant Manager Vega reported in 2013 the Financial Management Solution was estimated to cost $720,000. In 2015, rather than implementing a new financial system, District staff re-implemented the Financial Edge database to streamline and fix what was an inefficient program. In 2022, the District made the switch to Financial Edge NXT since Blackbaud informed the District it would remove the standard version. Financial Edge NXT has limitations in customization, integration, and scalability, as well as issues in cost, support, slow response times, and poor training resources. Director of Finance & Administration Ram reported Financial Edge NXT is not able to provide real-time expense reporting. For managers and staff to understand the real-time budget, they must navigate multiple obstacles to find the remaining amount, and even then, the information may not be exact. Director of Finance & Administration Ram reported staff has issues printing purchase orders and the billing program is not synchronized to the cloud. Director of Finance & Administration Ram reported District staff contacted three different financial software companies which are Springbrook, Tyler Technologies and OneSolution. Director of Finance & Administration Ram stated that Tyler Technologies offers a comprehensive, scalable financial management suite which includes budgeting, procurement, and payroll, making it suitable for our current and future needs.
Director Sanguinetti inquired how long it will take to transfer the information the District currently has on Financial Edge NXT. Director of Finance & Administration Ram replied the implementation will take approximately 12-18 months.
Director Sanguinetti inquired if the power goes off and staff is working on a purchase order, will the purchase order be deleted, or does it automatically save as you make changes. Director of Finance & Administration Ram replied Tyler Technologies is cloud based and therefore the software automatically saves changes. Discussion followed.
A motion was moved and seconded to authorize the General Manager to approve the contract for software implementation with Tyler Technologies for $282,535 plus a 10% contingency of $28,254, totaling $310,789, and make all other necessary approvals, as presented.
Roll Call:
Ayes: Atkins, McGurk, Nakaue, Panizza, Sanguinetti, Watkins
Nayes: None
Abstain: None
Absent: Cortopassi
E. COMMITTEE REPORTS
1. Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority Steering Committee Meeting, 09/11/24
Manager Hopkins attended the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority Steering Committee Meeting and reported all the action items presented were approved. Additionally, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) shared that they are currently working on flood preparedness efforts. If sufficient interest is shown by local agencies, DWR may secure funding for land clearing to support floodwater recharge. The Westgate Landing monitoring well, funded by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Ground One grant, has been completed. A request was also made to include a discussion of SB552 on a future agenda.
2. Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority Board Meeting, 09/11/24
Director Panizza attended the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority Board Meeting. Director Panizza reported the Board approved the August 14th minutes, Adoption of the Domestic Well Mitigation Program, Adoption of a Response to the San Joaquin Civil Gran Jury, Approval of a Resolution Expanding the 2022 GSP Project List and Directing Staff to Include the Projects in the 2025 GSP Update, Approval of an amendment to extend staff services with South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), Direct staff to release an RFQ for an on-call Technical Services and September 25th, GSA Open House and Presentation of 2025 GSP update public review draft. Director Panizza reported the only item not discussed was the presentation from River Partners: Mokelumne Integrated Conjunctive Use Project (MICUP).
F. REPORT OF GENERAL MANAGER
1. Water Supply Report as of 09/17/24
Manager Hopkins provided a handout of the Water Supply Report for information only that included storage, release, and production data collected from various sources as of midnight last night.
There is 185,173 AF in storage at New Hogan Reservoir. Current releases are set at 168 cfs. There is 1,827,777 AF in storage at New Melones Reservoir. Current releases are set at 1,100 cfs. The current release at Goodwin Dam to Stanislaus River is set at 254 cfs and release to all water users is set at 1,315 cfs. The District Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is currently processing 48 mgd. North Stockton is currently utilizing 12 mgd. South Stockton is currently using 10 mgd. Cal Water is currently utilizing 27 mgd. The City of Stockton WTP is currently processing 18 mgd.
2. Information Items: None
3. Report on General Manager Activities
a. Stockton East Water District Activities Update
Manager Hopkins reported another break-in occurred on September 19th. Staff found no damage to the fencing or any cut locks, and the Sheriff's concluded the intruders likely jumped over the fence. Although they did not enter the main campus, they did gain access to the solar facility, as the solar company has not yet repaired the fence. Manager Hopkins reported that District staff are currently in discussions with surveillance security companies to enhance surveillance coverage across the campus and to install alarms on campus buildings. Additionally, staff will consult with the solar company to propose having a security guard patrol the campus temporarily.
Manager Hopkins reported the Bellota Pipeline leaks have all been repaired. No new leaks were reported after being recharged.
Manager Hopkins reported the Clements Road Pipeline Project is moving forward as the resolution was presented today to apply for grant funding. District staff are also contacting landowners along the alignment to discuss taking surface water and providing right of way.
Manager Hopkins reported the employee spotlight has been uploaded to the District's LinkedIn page as well as the District's website. This month's spotlight features the District’s Assistant General Manager, Vega, and Water Treatment Plant Operator, Adams.
4. Stockton East Water Distrcit Fiaance Update
Director of Finance & Administration Ram provided the Board with a financial update. Director of Finance & Administration Ram reported progress bills have been printed and will be mailed out on September 30th andthe final copy of the fall newsletter was presented to the Board members. Additionally, budget meetings will soon be scheduled with the Municipal Committee and the Agriculture Committee. The finance audit is nearing completion and is on track to be presented to the Board on October 8th.
G. Director Reports
1. 2024 CSDA Annual Conference & Exhibitor Showcase, 09/09/24- 09/12/24
Director Atkins, Director Watkins and Assistant Manager Vega attended the 2024 CSDA Annual Conference & Exhibitor Showcase. Director Atkins reported he attended the Southern California Edison Green tour along with Director Watkins. Director Atkins also reported he attended the First amendment audit meeting which talked about YouTube and how people are going to public agencies to cause confrontation and record it.
Assistant Manager Vega reported he attended a meeting on Artificial Intelligence (AI), which emphasized agencies should establish an AI policy. This is important because certain aspects of AI can produce inaccurate information or copyrighted information.
2. Stockton East Water District – Washington D.C. Trip, 09/15/24 – 09/19/24
Director Atkins and Manager Hopkins recently traveled to Washington, D.C. Director Atkins reported they met with Congressman Josh Harder, Senator Alex Padilla, Congressman John Duarte, Congressman John Garamendi, Ian Hart, Congressman DeSaulnier, Carissa Bunge, and Stephy Jackson. During the meeting, Congressman John Duarte presented a map outlining his plan to bring water from the Folsom South Canal to San Joaquin County, which Director Atkins shared with the Board. Manager Hopkins reported the Bellota Project did not advance to Senator Butler’s Committee, but the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors will adopt a proclamation supporting the District’s CVP contract changes.
3. Eastern Water Alliance Special Meeting, 09/23/24
Director Sanguinetti, Director Watkins, Manager Hopkins, and District Engineer Evensen attended the Eastern Water Alliance Special Meeting. Director Watkins reported the following items were approved: Minutes from March 7th, June 6th and September 5th, conflict of interest code and the DREAM Pilot Project Results. Robert Granberg from Granberg & Associates, Inc provided the committee with a presentation of the Mokelumne Integrated Conjunctive Use Project (MICUP). The Eastern Water Alliance Committee alternate representatives will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
H. COMMUNICATIONS
I. AGENDA PLANNING/UPCOMING EVENTS
1. 2024 Interbasin Coordination Meeting: Eastern San Joaquin & Tracy Subbasins, 9:00 a.m., 09/25/24
2. Central San Joaquin Water Conservation District & Stockton East Water District Committee Meeting, 2:00 p.m., 09/25/24
3. Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority -Groundwater Sustainability Plan Update – Open House Presentation, 5:30 p.m., 09/25/24
J. REPORT OF THE COUNSEL
1. CONFERENCE WITH LEGAL COUNSEL – ANTICIPATED LITIGATION Potential exposure to litigation – Government Code Section 54956.9 – one case
President Atkins adjourned the meeting to closed session at 1:55 p.m. The regular meeting reconvened at 2:02 p.m., with the no reportable action.
K. ADJOURNMENT
President Atkins adjourned the meeting at 2:03 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Justin M. Hopkins
Secretary of the Board
bra