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Thank you all for being here. Welcome to the West Face Municipal Auditistic Special Board meeting, June 6, 2025. It is now 2-10.

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Call this meeting to order. Let's do it in a minute if you do. We have a quorum.

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Roll call. Director Tommy Favante. Director Desi Alvarez here.

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Director Scott Houston here.

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Director Dawn Geer here.

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President Gloria Gray here.

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Thank you very much.

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Item 4 presentations are being

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increased in patients.

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Staff has no presentations today.

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Item 5, I can count.

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You did skip over public comment.

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I'm so sorry.

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I'm sorry. Let's go to item 3, public comment.

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Do we have anyone from the public

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who wishes to speak?

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Madam President, we have not received any requests

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for public comment, though this meeting is

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being held both in person and virtually.

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If there is any member of the public

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that would like to speak, please indicate so by raising your virtual hand.

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And I do not seem to

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regret it. I thank you all for in the meeting virtually. Thank you very much for being online.

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And we will go back to action to calendar for agenda item five action calendar. Any action

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calendar? We have no action items. Item six, information calendar. I think we're going to

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Go out of order. We're changing the board of the agenda.

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So, rather than 6A, we're going to take item 7 closed session.

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Is that in agreement with the board? Is there a consensus to do closed session?

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Yes.

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Do you have consensus? So, at this time, we will be going into closed session.

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Yes. Thank you very much, Madam President.

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Just to note, item 7A is conference with the legal counsel.

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This relates to the initiation of litigation.

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Initiation of litigation pursuant to paragraph 4 of subdivision D,

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second 549-569, for one matter.

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Thank you. We will be convened shortly.

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Thank you. We have returned from closed session. Mr. General Manager, is there a report from closed

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session? Yes, thank you very much, Madam President. We did meet under closed session with the media,

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with our attorney. There is no reportable action in the Brown Act. Thank you very much. We will go

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Go back to item 6A, Mr. General Manager, please reset that item.

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Yes, Madam President, this is the reason we are here today. We do have one information item. It is our fourth budget workshop for you.

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Again, this is our last scheduled board workshop. However, the direction from the board of directors is to schedule a new one. We are happy to do so.

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but we hope to kind of tie up any and all loosens, answer any of those questions that

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you've been asking, you know, in previous meetings, and hopefully we have all the information

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available for you here today.

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So with that, can we go to the next slide?

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Oh, my.

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My eyesight is still on.

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One of these.

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So we are here for the board workshop.

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You can see that we'll be going through the fiscal year 2526 proposed operating expenses.

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We'll note that there is no change from the previous meeting.

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Our fiscal year 2025, 2026 proposed operating revenues.

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There are some slight adjustments there, so we'll walk you through that.

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Our debt payment schedule, as I mentioned before, we internally we are keeping our eye on the prize.

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We know that in 2030 the standby charge will be dropping off.

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And so keeping this constant look at our current debt load and the revenue that we're generating

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from the standby charge is important. Fiscal year 2526 CIP budget, we covered that in workshop

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three, but we're ready to discuss that because we want to talk about how to pay for that.

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Then of course, our challenges and opportunities. Then we'll touch on the fiscal year 2526 proposed

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reliability service charge for more recycled water rates. This obviously is the biggest

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component of the change this year and of talking about what that rate would look like in the

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next fiscal year. And then our cash reserves, we want to have a conversation about that.

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And lastly, the fiscal year 2526 budget and CFG funding scenarios.

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I don't have it on my computer for whatever reason. It usually is on the screen. But

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So anyways, we hope to have everything for you here today, a little bit of everything at least.

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And then hopefully we get some direction from all of you as far as moving forward on potential budget adoption.

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Next slide.

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This is just our schedule keeping to that again.

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It is June 6, but we do plan to have our regularly scheduled board meeting on June 23.

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And again, if we need a special board meeting, we can add that.

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Next slide.

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And so, with that, I'm going to hand it off to our Chief Financial Officer,

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Wendy O. Kelly.

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Good morning, Mr. Director and President. On page nine, the next slide, I'm sorry. Since

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our last budget workshop, number three, the proposed operating expenses, they remain

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at $66.7 million. So there's no change in the operating expenses. And then our

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next slide for other memberships and for district overhead.

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DJ, did you want to do that one?

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Yes, please. For the district overhead and other memberships, the proposal for this year,

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for the annual budget for 2526 is remaining at $186,000, $86,000 and $70.

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And then the next

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Next slide is for the Chamber of Commerce and what you can see here is there is a division

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within the service area.

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That proposed budget for 2526 is $12,440 and then outside of the West Basin service area

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is one location and that dollar amount is $470 for 2526.

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Wendy if I could just touch on this.

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So we did research on all those chambers just to make sure that they do.

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So the San Pedro Chamber actually does cover a portion of the service area, the only one

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that doesn't is Santa Monica, but they are back actively engaged in the west side cog

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and west side cities, which includes large portions of our service area, but obviously

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the city of Santa Monica is not.

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These slides were created with the intention of answering any questions that Director

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Alvarez raised during Budget Workshop 2. And again, we're just seeking consensus of the board

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if any changes are desired.

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Actually, I want to go back to the memberships.

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You know, we do have an awful lot of memberships and some of them are very pertinent to what we

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do and some of them, a lot less pertinent. And I question any more why we're participating

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or in the CalD cell, TASA, although TASA itself is one of the smaller numbers, and the California

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Special District Association, and we really need to be a member of that, also with the

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the other county business federation.

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So those are some of my concerns,

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but in particular, CalDESAL and CASA

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doesn't seem like they're really wanted.

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Why respond to that, Mike?

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CalDESAL is a legacy organization

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that was actually created here

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at West Basin Municipal Water Group.

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One note that the West Basin does not have

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an active ocean water desalination program.

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CalDESAL does a lot of great work outside of that.

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Obviously, brine management as well as brackish desalination,

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which covers a large portion of the service area when you look at the same

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bloom in the West Coast basin and impacting

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several of our customer agencies that pump groundwater.

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So there is some value. It's obviously, it's

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$5,000, it's not that much as far as the membership.

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CASA, that is an organization that West Basin has participated in for some time.

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They do have conferences, but I think more so.

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CASA does a pretty good job of advocacy within the water industry,

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especially in partnership with water reuse.

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And what was the other organization?

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Well, the other two are less critical. Those of the two have actually left one out up there in terms of why are we members.

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I don't think we're an active participant.

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And that's the California Municipal Utilities Association.

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Within the industry, CMUA is just very active.

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Again, I think West Basin's participation in every organization changes over time.

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CMUA, again from an advocacy perspective, is very actively engaged on issues of

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Sacramento. So they're not always aligned with necessarily aligned with our

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issues and I personally do not see them. And I chime in. A couple of things. One

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One is, you know, Calvysel, first of all, it's not a lot of money, quite frankly, but

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also I understand watching Calvysel that they have pivoted quite a bit to, you know, inland

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groundwater, brackish, so on and so forth, because obviously there's not a lot of ocean

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water salination, you know, potential projects happening.

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So I've seen them focus much more on that.

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I know that we don't really have a board member, I don't think at this time, who

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does much with them or serves because it used to be Director Williams but I think

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we should stay the course with them. I don't know right now where they're out

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as far as reorganizing and so on and so forth but you know me that's a smaller

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issue.

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I will just say personally Special District Association I think is

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excellent. I used to go to the conferences when I had time as did

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Director Williams. I still get the magazine. I still get some of their

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newsletters, you know, daily. They have a great government relations team. I think

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EJ can attest to this, too. And so, you know, I can't see not being a part of them.

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I actually would wish that we would do better in participation. And EJ, maybe

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you can help us on that with whoever that regional rep is. We haven't seen

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them in a while down here. But they do a good job, in my opinion. And I'll

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just speak up for BizFed, you know. I'm actually, you all appoint me to be

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the Rep for BizFed and I'm on their board and there are a few other water districts as well and actually co-chair the water committee.

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But I think BizFed does an excellent job as an advocacy organization in this whole region on many issues.

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But water has been taking up a larger part of that.

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So, you know, I just want to, I would be here to defend them quite frankly.

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I don't know what exactly is the water efficiency partnership.

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I really don't even know what that is, to be honest with you.

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So maybe you can tell us about that.

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But otherwise, I'm pretty okay with this list.

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I don't know how much more we've been trending or anything.

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But what about that one, EJ?

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Which one did you refer to?

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All of the morning, a water efficiency partnership.

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That's CalWeb.

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Yes, so Gus Mesa is very active with this organization.

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It's within our water policy and resources development.

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They offer several tools that we actually utilize to help our customer agents.

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So really kind of plotting and planning new opportunities for water use efficiency and conservation.

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You know, it's an organization that helps share ideas,

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but also cultivates whenever the California gets involved with regulating water demand and water usage.

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CalWeb assists as far as how they do that.

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Let me just ask a quick question on the Chambers of Commerce.

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If that's okay?

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You know, all these chambers are pretty active in their own ways,

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and I actually tried to go to the majority of things when I personally can.

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But I would like to know the Gardena Valley Chamber of Commerce.

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I really haven't seen them active in quite a long time, and I'm just wondering, do they

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do anything?

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Yes.

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What chamber is this?

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Gargina?

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Gargina Valley.

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So, I'm trying to remember the name of their executive director.

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What's Wanda Love?

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Wanda Love.

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Right.

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I don't know.

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So, as you know, she serves on the state of council, but I know that they have been active. They've toured ECL. They've held their meetings at ECL in the past.

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Before COVID, I would, these are all small numbers, quite frankly, but, you know, all these chambers are all very active at that chamber. I've not heard it peep from yours, quite frankly.

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So if there's one to look at, you know, if they are still running and doing anything or not, I think we should check on that.

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Thank you.

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You know, I think we, you know, fairness, I think we should probably check on all chambers.

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You know, that's a perspective from Brett Houston. I don't know what they do. And I don't know what any of them do if they have it.

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I don't know what we expect them to do, so maybe that's the question.

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Well, what I mean, actually, what I expect them to do, so.

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If I can, the only reason is because, you know, most of them, they'll have their luncheons.

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They'll have the state of the city.

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They'll have, you know, some sort of gathering or a board installation.

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Most of them have something.

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But, you know, and Harvard City and Harvard Gateway, the same story.

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I mean, I know it's only $175, but I'm not familiar with them.

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You know, we all know that the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce, you know, Hermosa, Inglewood,

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there's many that actually do stuff, right?

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I'll stop right there out of the witty window.

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Okay, all right.

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Okay.

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You don't have to say it, right?

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You don't have to say it.

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No, I think they all have something.

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Let me, you know, let me, let me finish that on one finish.

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But that would be, you know, I just, I don't know what that particular one's been

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doing for quite a while, so, you know, is it still in operation or not?

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The other ones, you know, that I'm aware of, they're all doing things.

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And usually I try to go to the ones that are in my area and even some of the other areas, you know, just because.

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They're good agents, they're good organizations.

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So that would be my only thought.

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I'm not here to nick one, dying about it.

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You know, my comment really is, what do we, what are our implications?

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I know that some of them do have state of the city.

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Is that what it's called?

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Mm-hmm.

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And it does happen.

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I don't know when the lives turn good.

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I'll get an email from one of the laws to invite me to something, but it's not as frequent

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as some of the others that I get hard to.

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I get author-oriented from others, but we probably should figure out what do we expect

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them to do.

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I mean, we have membership in all of these organizations, and we look at them, and we

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try to figure out what's the benefit to the community.

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That's my perspective.

229
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How does this, if we are a member of them,

230
00:59:11,430 --> 00:59:13,810
how does it benefit the community in terms of what we do

231
00:59:13,810 --> 00:59:17,250
as what's based in board directors and so forth?

232
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So maybe we should figure out what do we expect them to do.

233
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Do we want to be notified, let me get to you now.

234
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Do we want to be notified

235
00:59:24,110 --> 00:59:25,430
of when they have to stay at the union?

236
00:59:25,610 --> 00:59:26,630
Do we want to be in the program?

237
00:59:27,130 --> 00:59:28,230
Do we want to be a board member?

238
00:59:28,430 --> 00:59:29,330
Do we want to whatever?

239
00:59:30,290 --> 00:59:33,030
It would not just the chambers of any of these artists.

240
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Even though we know Agua, we're very active.

241
00:59:35,850 --> 00:59:41,690
very active with some of the others, but some I think are just industry related and I think

242
00:59:41,690 --> 00:59:47,470
having our names supporting them is important because they use this stuff as the board to the

243
00:59:47,470 --> 00:59:52,810
industry, right? You know, so that's kind of my perspective in terms of supporting them,

244
00:59:53,210 --> 00:59:56,990
but I know Director Alvarez and Director Thrier have some comments for me.

245
00:59:56,990 --> 00:59:59,710
with respect to the chimps.

246
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:06,480
Bureau of Commerce, Director Houston's right, a couple of these chambers you never hear from.

247
01:00:07,200 --> 01:00:14,840
Most of the other chambers are active, but they're not anything that really serves West

248
01:00:14,840 --> 01:00:22,540
Basin. And yes, they have stayed in the city. They are geared for the, most of these are

249
01:00:22,540 --> 01:00:28,020
smaller chambers. They're not regional chambers of commerce. They are geared to working with

250
01:00:28,020 --> 01:00:33,520
their city government we're not really represented in those chambers and if we

251
01:00:33,520 --> 01:00:39,300
wanted to be represented we needed to become much more active individually as

252
01:00:39,300 --> 01:00:47,040
board members and get on those chamber boards etc. I personally think that the

253
01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:53,320
chambers are great for what they do but they don't serve us very much purpose

254
01:00:53,320 --> 01:01:00,520
So, I would pick one or two chambers of commerce that are more regional in nature, and that

255
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:01,140
would be it.

256
01:01:01,640 --> 01:01:07,580
I always look at the list and it's like, well, we're paid to be in all of these chambers,

257
01:01:07,820 --> 01:01:12,940
but at the end of the day, I don't think most of us participate in chamber activities.

258
01:01:13,080 --> 01:01:19,780
I think Director Houston is the most active, but I know I'm not active and, you know,

259
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:26,040
or better or worse, and I believe the rest of the board members aren't all that active either,

260
01:01:27,040 --> 01:01:28,500
let them speak for themselves.

261
01:01:28,800 --> 01:01:30,520
And that doesn't speak for themselves, Anthony.

262
01:01:34,560 --> 01:01:42,360
So why are we involved in a lot of, you know, as many money, if any one of us wanted to go

263
01:01:42,360 --> 01:01:47,600
to any chamber activity, any chamber, or any one type of thing, we just pay as a non-member

264
01:01:47,600 --> 01:01:51,600
It would be a lot less expensive than all of this, and I don't believe that we're going

265
01:01:51,600 --> 01:01:52,840
to participate on that much.

266
01:01:53,440 --> 01:02:00,760
So I would pick one or two, maybe three or four, that are more regional in nature, and

267
01:02:01,840 --> 01:02:08,180
that would be instead of this whole litany of chambers that in reality we do not participate

268
01:02:08,180 --> 01:02:11,280
in and don't do much for us.

269
01:02:11,860 --> 01:02:17,600
I think it would do us good to know the reason in the beginning why we joined these chambers.

270
01:02:18,460 --> 01:02:19,560
How did it, how did it start?

271
01:02:19,980 --> 01:02:22,400
When I came aboard, it was quite a long time ago.

272
01:02:23,180 --> 01:02:26,020
We were already in all these chambers, both of them.

273
01:02:26,580 --> 01:02:34,920
And I don't really have the background as to why it was recommended and decided by the then board to join those chambers.

274
01:02:35,500 --> 01:02:36,720
What we did, if anything.

275
01:02:36,720 --> 01:02:41,760
Now, these chambers can take a lot of your time, and they walk the other organizations.

276
01:02:42,580 --> 01:02:46,940
We ought to have a way of reviewing our membership there, too, on kind of a regular basis.

277
01:02:47,620 --> 01:02:56,260
And also, so how we're being served by that organization is the money we're spending on it at various funds.

278
01:02:57,200 --> 01:03:01,880
I like to have kind of a regular review of the membership for these organizations.

279
01:03:03,260 --> 01:03:06,840
Well, that's why I said, you know, we really need to do-

280
01:03:06,840 --> 01:03:07,220
I'm present.

281
01:03:07,820 --> 01:03:08,940
Oh, you want to go first?

282
01:03:09,120 --> 01:03:09,820
Oh, sorry.

283
01:03:10,660 --> 01:03:11,300
Go on.

284
01:03:11,560 --> 01:03:16,860
Well, I don't have an issue of being a member of all these, and I don't know how it got

285
01:03:16,860 --> 01:03:17,240
to there.

286
01:03:17,360 --> 01:03:20,720
I'm actually glad that the district is, because in the big picture, they're bare.

287
01:03:20,920 --> 01:03:24,000
I mean, I'm shocked at how little it is to be a member of a Chamber of Commerce.

288
01:03:24,180 --> 01:03:24,840
I mean, I really am.

289
01:03:25,300 --> 01:03:29,100
And in the whole, it's very inexpensive.

290
01:03:29,100 --> 01:03:34,920
actually it's also funny to see one of them and their price went down instead of up which I'm kind

291
01:03:34,920 --> 01:03:41,800
of amazed too but um but that I know right I was like what I mean price a very good up but

292
01:03:42,300 --> 01:03:46,100
by the way I don't see the Lomita Chamber of Commerce on here which I thought we remember

293
01:03:46,100 --> 01:03:52,140
of and maybe it just got missed or not I don't know but all that to be said I personally would like

294
01:03:52,140 --> 01:03:59,180
like to stay members of these, you know, because every board member, if you're prerogative

295
01:03:59,180 --> 01:04:03,700
to decide what you want to go to or not, I don't have time to serve on these boards

296
01:04:03,700 --> 01:04:04,580
of those chambers.

297
01:04:05,240 --> 01:04:11,180
But to go, you know, as a member, I think we are part of the regional community and

298
01:04:11,180 --> 01:04:12,940
a lot of other agencies do the same thing.

299
01:04:13,080 --> 01:04:14,740
So I have no issue with that.

300
01:04:15,300 --> 01:04:19,600
You know, sometimes usually these bigger ones, the other memberships, the industry-related

301
01:04:19,600 --> 01:04:23,620
ones that cost a lot more money, those are the ones I think we always have to

302
01:04:23,620 --> 01:04:27,580
look at and see what is the value in that, what are we getting out of it, which

303
01:04:27,580 --> 01:04:32,740
we also know staff is highly engaged in a lot of those, you know, and I think

304
01:04:32,740 --> 01:04:37,940
that's really important. You know, from staff's perspective, obviously

305
01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:44,680
members of the board have been the ones to request membership with specific

306
01:04:44,680 --> 01:04:52,240
chambers. Yes, this list has grown. From my perspective, every dollar that we spend at West Basin,

307
01:04:52,380 --> 01:04:59,080
I want to maximize the value out of it. So when the board makes the decision to join a chamber,

308
01:04:59,420 --> 01:05:04,740
I'm going to do everything I can to maximize the value. We promote our business, our commercial,

309
01:05:04,880 --> 01:05:09,980
industrial, and institutional conservation programs whenever we can within those chambers.

310
01:05:09,980 --> 01:05:16,100
that includes a grass rebates. We promote water recycling in several of these chambers.

311
01:05:16,300 --> 01:05:23,420
If you think about going to the El Segundo chamber is one example. When you're at that

312
01:05:23,420 --> 01:05:27,980
meeting, you have Mattel there who's a customer of West Basin. You have Chevron who's a customer

313
01:05:27,980 --> 01:05:33,520
of West Basin and you're talking about what it is we're doing and possibly identifying new

314
01:05:34,580 --> 01:05:40,180
customers that are in there and so this is the decision obviously for the Board

315
01:05:40,180 --> 01:05:43,660
of Directors as far as where you want to have those memberships but just know

316
01:05:43,660 --> 01:05:48,400
that from staff's perspective when we make that decision to be a member we're

317
01:05:48,400 --> 01:05:50,360
going to do everything we can to maximize the value.

318
01:05:51,680 --> 01:05:55,620
Injured you're right I do recall that board members would

319
01:05:55,620 --> 01:06:00,420
suggest recommend that we join a chamber you recall it's got you in here

320
01:06:00,420 --> 01:06:05,980
and done too. And that's how the list has grown. I mean, I don't know how it started, which is done

321
01:06:05,980 --> 01:06:13,080
to the list. But, you know, my perspective is, really, what are our expectations? I mean, you know,

322
01:06:14,040 --> 01:06:18,660
how's the Gondo Chamber? Scott goes there. You guys make a presentation. Does that mean that

323
01:06:18,660 --> 01:06:23,660
you go to all these chambers of those in our service area and make a presentation about

324
01:06:23,660 --> 01:06:28,280
whatever and so the communities don't find. I mean I think that's the kind of

325
01:06:28,280 --> 01:06:33,980
stuff that makes sense in terms of justifying in any organization, right?

326
01:06:34,160 --> 01:06:38,540
Our involvement of what our expectations are not just, you know, they're, they're

327
01:06:38,540 --> 01:06:43,620
listed as we're a member. Does that appear, are we listed in the new, do they do a

328
01:06:43,620 --> 01:06:49,740
newsletter? Are we listed there? I don't know. I mean so again I'm suggesting

329
01:06:49,740 --> 01:06:54,500
that we really figure out what are our expectations because I agree with Scott.

330
01:06:54,720 --> 01:06:59,600
I mean, I don't think we just watched it, you know, completely. I mean, just list

331
01:06:59,600 --> 01:07:04,500
without figuring out what it was. Why did we need them? You know, there's a

332
01:07:04,500 --> 01:07:08,980
chamber in Incawood. Do we need to be make sure they're aware of what we do?

333
01:07:09,060 --> 01:07:12,900
What space did we go make sure staff goes there every year to make a

334
01:07:12,900 --> 01:07:16,560
presentation or that we're in the newsletter that we can put an

335
01:07:16,560 --> 01:07:22,620
article in the newsletter. So, I think it's the expectations of any organization where

336
01:07:23,300 --> 01:07:28,700
we're giving, we're funding them through public funds. What do we get out of it? So, what are

337
01:07:28,700 --> 01:07:29,240
our benefits?

338
01:07:32,340 --> 01:07:39,300
I just wanted to follow up on this, Director Deere. I've been on the board for five years

339
01:07:39,300 --> 01:07:45,880
now. And in that five years, I don't think we've added chambers of commerce. But we've

340
01:07:45,880 --> 01:07:51,900
had this list since, and Director Dears, the longest-serving member on this, and he says

341
01:07:51,900 --> 01:08:02,640
they're all here pretty much, so when Dirt was clean, the Chamber of Honours, we're

342
01:08:03,280 --> 01:08:04,020
on the right list.

343
01:08:07,360 --> 01:08:15,940
So, at some point it's like, you know, and President Gray's point, what purpose do they

344
01:08:15,940 --> 01:08:16,220
serve?

345
01:08:16,340 --> 01:08:22,980
If we're not actively involved, I would support, you know, let's find the ones, El Segundo,

346
01:08:23,180 --> 01:08:31,660
because if you do have the refineries, you have Metall, you have other industries

347
01:08:31,660 --> 01:08:37,260
that we serve. But you have some of these chambers. There really is no industry. There's

348
01:08:37,260 --> 01:08:42,520
no one we serve and we're not attending. I agree that it's not an awful lot of money,

349
01:08:42,520 --> 01:08:47,020
but at the same token, it's like, I might even have them on the list.

350
01:08:48,620 --> 01:08:49,140
Yeah.

351
01:08:50,000 --> 01:08:55,220
They have voters there and they have members, they have constituents of the board members.

352
01:08:55,220 --> 01:09:02,120
I feel good when I know that my city is represented on these events, but is it really just a vulnerable

353
01:09:02,120 --> 01:09:02,340
one?

354
01:09:02,440 --> 01:09:02,980
That's a good question.

355
01:09:04,680 --> 01:09:05,120
Yeah.

356
01:09:05,180 --> 01:09:09,320
And again, it kind of goes back to how do we interact with them, right?

357
01:09:09,560 --> 01:09:09,660
No.

358
01:09:10,580 --> 01:09:10,860
That's key.

359
01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:12,540
I'm pressing.

360
01:09:13,060 --> 01:09:14,040
Well, here's an idea.

361
01:09:15,200 --> 01:09:19,460
The one thing with a lot of these chambers, they have usually a lot of them that they're

362
01:09:19,460 --> 01:09:22,200
pretty organized, have a government affairs committee.

363
01:09:22,740 --> 01:09:23,540
They do.

364
01:09:23,540 --> 01:09:26,160
Usually a smaller group, it meets monthly on its own.

365
01:09:27,320 --> 01:09:29,580
Like myself, I might happen to sometimes go or not.

366
01:09:29,720 --> 01:09:34,420
I don't have all that time, but you know what, I think if we're members of these, what would

367
01:09:34,420 --> 01:09:40,520
be great would be staff, I assume you're getting probably the emails or invitations to things

368
01:09:40,520 --> 01:09:43,240
and how do you parlay that to the board.

369
01:09:43,840 --> 01:09:47,480
And I know it's a lot, but I think it would be good if somehow the staff would

370
01:09:47,480 --> 01:09:54,520
let us know of things, you know, that are coming down the pipe, right? Like, hey, you

371
01:09:54,520 --> 01:09:58,600
know, these chambers having X, Y, and Z this month, if they want to go or whatever, because

372
01:09:58,600 --> 01:10:04,440
it's a lot to keep track of. But the other thing is some of those key committees or maybe

373
01:10:04,440 --> 01:10:09,380
even a staff member from West Basin could look at being a board member at a chamber

374
01:10:09,380 --> 01:10:14,880
on our behalf. That might be an idea. But for sure, the Government Relations Committee

375
01:10:14,880 --> 01:10:15,680
or whomever.

376
01:10:16,320 --> 01:10:21,040
It's good to keep pulse of these, because, for example, in El Segundo, and we've done

377
01:10:21,040 --> 01:10:26,260
this over the years, is when we've attended and we have presented or we had a topic we

378
01:10:26,260 --> 01:10:32,520
wanted to make sure that that core group was aware of, and we would go, or we would go

379
01:10:32,520 --> 01:10:34,300
to some key chamber that had an issue.

380
01:10:34,540 --> 01:10:38,080
So to me, it's more like, you know, they're always going to be doing what they do.

381
01:10:38,160 --> 01:10:42,380
But how do we engage with them and bring the value on our side, too?

382
01:10:42,380 --> 01:10:47,440
I'm knowing that we all have limited time you know but I also think it's great

383
01:10:47,440 --> 01:10:51,200
because if a staff member was interested in doing something or maybe if they live

384
01:10:51,200 --> 01:10:57,780
in that town they can be there and do it it's not always just the director but

385
01:10:58,280 --> 01:11:03,460
anyway I would say we keep the list you know I don't advocate at all you know

386
01:11:03,460 --> 01:11:08,180
going away with it and maybe this is a topic for down the road but you know

387
01:11:08,960 --> 01:11:15,740
I want to piggyback on something that Director Houston said, and that is, how much are we aware of what these chambers do?

388
01:11:16,620 --> 01:11:18,740
And we're going to speak for just division three.

389
01:11:19,280 --> 01:11:21,440
In division three, what members are the most?

390
01:11:33,720 --> 01:11:44,660
of all those chambers. I get regular e-mail from the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce.

391
01:11:44,660 --> 01:11:53,320
I'd never get any emails from Pardondo Beach or Mosa Beach, Torns, Lomita, Carson.

392
01:11:53,600 --> 01:11:54,980
I have no idea what they mean.

393
01:11:55,480 --> 01:11:57,280
I have no idea what they do.

394
01:11:57,860 --> 01:11:58,200
Nothing.

395
01:11:59,220 --> 01:12:06,340
Manhattan Beach probably is two or three or four months in terms of emails notifying

396
01:12:06,340 --> 01:12:14,040
me about chamber mixer, chamber activities, they are maybe this is something we ought

397
01:12:14,040 --> 01:12:19,780
to do. The Manhattan Beach, I think they almost sent it out weekly. They profile

398
01:12:20,360 --> 01:12:25,780
businesses. We've never been profiled that I remember seeing, but they do send out

399
01:12:25,780 --> 01:12:29,520
an email profiling the business of the month or the business of the week,

400
01:12:29,640 --> 01:12:35,840
whatever they call it. I've never seen one for West Basin, if you remember, but

401
01:12:36,420 --> 01:12:42,620
that might be something to consider. But all these other ones, they're all in the

402
01:12:42,620 --> 01:12:45,880
I have no idea when they make what they do or anything else.

403
01:12:48,200 --> 01:12:49,060
But we do start.

404
01:12:49,380 --> 01:12:49,680
Yeah.

405
01:12:50,280 --> 01:12:51,680
It's not here, but I believe we'll remember.

406
01:12:52,500 --> 01:13:00,140
The one thing I would add is that I do receive all of the medals from those.

407
01:13:00,380 --> 01:13:05,480
And if it's the direction of the board, I could certainly send them all to you.

408
01:13:05,920 --> 01:13:06,820
But there's a lot.

409
01:13:07,620 --> 01:13:11,500
We do have Darryl Robles young here, obviously as the manager of our communications department.

410
01:13:11,500 --> 01:13:19,760
His role, really, along with Matt Bay, a manager of water policy, are to engage in organizations like this.

411
01:13:19,960 --> 01:13:21,660
And so, Darrell, throw it over to you.

412
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:29,180
Thank you, EJ. And I would say that I am the Ricky communications manager, asking the same questions you are,

413
01:13:29,520 --> 01:13:36,740
because I have not seen or understand the communication strategies if some of these changes are still active or not.

414
01:13:36,740 --> 01:13:51,940
So as part with the new fiscal year upon us, my intent was to assign the task of one of our staff people to an audit of all these chambers to figure out how active they are, what their communication strategies are, a lot maybe.

415
01:13:52,540 --> 01:14:02,780
So we can work together with our water policy team to determine our strategies for communication with these stakeholders because as you know those chambers are more active.

416
01:14:02,780 --> 01:14:11,280
Oh, they have a wealth network that could easily get the word out for us and therefore reduce our potential advertising costs.

417
01:14:12,300 --> 01:14:14,140
So, I could please the board.

418
01:14:15,080 --> 01:14:16,800
We will be answering those questions.

419
01:14:17,180 --> 01:14:21,980
And if you'd like this to bring back a summary we have found, it would be more than happy to do that.

420
01:14:22,320 --> 01:14:26,080
Yeah, I think what you've heard is that we would like you to do that.

421
01:14:26,480 --> 01:14:31,560
And also, as part of that audit, you know, what are we getting from membership?

422
01:14:32,160 --> 01:14:37,420
I would think that when you ask anybody to join anything, there's something that you're

423
01:14:37,420 --> 01:14:38,300
getting for it.

424
01:14:38,320 --> 01:14:38,460
Right.

425
01:14:38,900 --> 01:14:43,000
And if they have not met that obligation, then no, all right.

426
01:14:43,260 --> 01:14:48,580
So, but again, I would think, so please do that and bring the report back to the board.

427
01:14:48,900 --> 01:14:50,980
If you have a fuller discussion, make a decision.

428
01:14:51,920 --> 01:14:52,800
Is that okay, board members?

429
01:14:53,220 --> 01:14:53,780
Can we move on?

430
01:14:54,120 --> 01:14:57,500
And may I, I'll just add one last thing, because I don't know if you're going

431
01:14:57,500 --> 01:14:59,000
to get this done before the end of the month.

432
01:14:59,000 --> 01:14:59,980
then I don't I don't

433
01:15:01,800 --> 01:15:06,580
So what I'd like to do is we just kind of keep moving forward on this, but I will say this.

434
01:15:07,180 --> 01:15:13,500
But they're not eliminated. Oh, no, no, that's what I mean. But I actually, as I was sitting

435
01:15:13,500 --> 01:15:17,980
here and I did that, like on the fly, but I do encourage, like, if it makes sense where

436
01:15:17,980 --> 01:15:23,340
staff could engage in some of these on their own, working through, you know, the right

437
01:15:23,340 --> 01:15:27,700
channels, because actually think about, you know, Charles Gale, works for Metropolitan.

438
01:15:28,560 --> 01:15:33,820
He's a member of a lot of the chambers and he's actually been on words and he's been in leadership.

439
01:15:34,460 --> 01:15:40,740
So obviously he represents Metropolitan and almost everybody thinks that we work for him or he works for us, by the way.

440
01:15:41,240 --> 01:15:48,400
But that being said, you know, if we had anybody on our staff that wanted to engage in these, I think that that would be a great opportunity too.

441
01:15:48,540 --> 01:15:50,460
So just, you know, putting that out there to staff.

442
01:15:50,900 --> 01:15:54,940
We have, you know, through the chambers, a lot of them have leadership classes.

443
01:15:55,560 --> 01:15:58,060
So, we've had staff engaged with the leadership classes.

444
01:15:58,360 --> 01:16:02,500
We have all the leadership classes that we're aware of, tour the facility, and we do briefings.

445
01:16:02,940 --> 01:16:06,420
So there's a little bit of that, but we're very open to it as well.

446
01:16:06,900 --> 01:16:10,720
I'd like the report back to you, and then the board can decide how we want to interact.

447
01:16:11,640 --> 01:16:11,940
Okay.

448
01:16:12,340 --> 01:16:12,620
All right.

449
01:16:12,760 --> 01:16:13,100
Thank you.

450
01:16:13,260 --> 01:16:13,900
Let's move on.

451
01:16:14,320 --> 01:16:17,880
So, let's move on to the next issue.

452
01:16:22,090 --> 01:16:24,490
Next slide is the district sponsorships.

453
01:16:24,490 --> 01:16:31,290
And so here you'll see the sponsorships for 24-25, but the budget for 25-26 remains the

454
01:16:31,290 --> 01:16:31,490
same.

455
01:16:32,770 --> 01:16:33,810
$55,000.

456
01:16:35,050 --> 01:16:42,270
So just to make sure that that's clear, we don't extend our sponsorships year after

457
01:16:42,270 --> 01:16:42,470
year.

458
01:16:42,630 --> 01:16:44,570
We bring them individually to the board and directors.

459
01:16:45,010 --> 01:16:49,750
So in this case, we're just utilizing the approved sponsorships from 24-25 just

460
01:16:49,750 --> 01:16:54,390
to highlight some of the things that we do, but we're maintaining the budget at 55,000.

461
01:16:59,890 --> 01:17:06,470
This is the one where directors just recommend sponsorship of events at any one of these

462
01:17:09,980 --> 01:17:10,560
organizations.

463
01:17:11,280 --> 01:17:16,360
This would be our district-wide sponsorships, but brought forward by board members.

464
01:17:18,940 --> 01:17:39,580
So, um, you know, I personally, and I've argued this and you know, I voted in the past, I don't see why if we're members of all of these organizations already and pay membership to, and then we then move forward and also sponsor events.

465
01:17:41,140 --> 01:17:43,480
And I've never been supportive of that.

466
01:17:43,780 --> 01:17:49,620
So I do think from time to time there are going to be events that we should probably sponsor

467
01:17:49,620 --> 01:17:57,200
and they should be considered on their own and that we would then appropriate some money.

468
01:17:58,500 --> 01:18:06,760
But in general, I don't like the idea of sponsoring events and organizations that we already paid the members of.

469
01:18:08,720 --> 01:18:20,000
I, yeah, I know that this is not specifying any one organization because it is just a budget for moving forward, but this is my thought.

470
01:18:20,640 --> 01:18:33,820
Is this the general policy in the industry, the organizations, the district's joint organizations, and then go on to do additional plans for special events?

471
01:18:35,480 --> 01:18:36,640
It's fairly typical.

472
01:18:36,820 --> 01:18:46,940
If you attend a conference, just AQUA having just happened, each of the functionalities of the conference are sponsored by different agencies.

473
01:18:48,000 --> 01:18:49,840
And so you'll see the different agencies' names.

474
01:18:50,180 --> 01:18:55,780
There are firms that do it as well, but I would say it's fairly common.

475
01:18:57,620 --> 01:19:05,460
Some agencies more so than others. They like to see their names out there. There are agencies that you don't ever see sponsoring.

476
01:19:06,240 --> 01:19:13,120
And I would argue that really the intent of sponsorships is more for firms to get out there and do their marketing.

477
01:19:13,560 --> 01:19:18,580
And it's kind of morphed into getting the organizations that are already members of the,

478
01:19:19,460 --> 01:19:27,060
and these associations to then contribute more money for their annual budgets if I can be

479
01:19:27,060 --> 01:19:27,520
so good.

480
01:19:30,960 --> 01:19:39,360
And I'm looking at the last, some of them we may be members of an organization and they're

481
01:19:39,360 --> 01:19:45,040
having an event and we're providing a sponsorship, I don't think that's unusual, that happens

482
01:19:45,040 --> 01:19:49,520
with most organizations, they have an event and they request sponsors.

483
01:19:49,520 --> 01:19:55,520
I look at the taste of soul where there's no membership involvement there that's just

484
01:19:55,520 --> 01:19:56,740
the event that we support.

485
01:19:57,820 --> 01:20:03,380
So again, I just look at these as a separate event, but I understand the point you're making

486
01:20:03,380 --> 01:20:05,040
about those where we have membership.

487
01:20:06,160 --> 01:20:12,780
But again, I just view it as an event that they're having to probably write your death.

488
01:20:13,480 --> 01:20:18,700
Those where we have membership that does kind of lessen their budget this way, they're

489
01:20:18,700 --> 01:20:27,160
asking for sponsorship. And they may need sponsorship to, again, support the event.

490
01:20:28,920 --> 01:20:32,940
So it's a better event, I don't know. But most events, I mean, people do ask for

491
01:20:32,940 --> 01:20:38,200
sponsorship. Or I'd say you can do ask for sponsorship. So I think we just need to be

492
01:20:38,720 --> 01:20:42,680
diligent in what we do when the request comes here, which is what we do.

493
01:20:42,680 --> 01:20:46,780
We discussed it, and we looked at the merit of the request to make a decision.

494
01:20:49,600 --> 01:20:51,660
That's my view of this list. Do you have any comments?

495
01:20:52,400 --> 01:20:57,460
I agree. At the end of the day, it's just a pot of money that we have that –

496
01:20:57,460 --> 01:21:00,580
and these are district-sponsored events, and usually, by the way,

497
01:21:01,500 --> 01:21:04,540
a lot of these come straight in the staff who brings it to the board.

498
01:21:05,140 --> 01:21:08,440
These are – you know, sometimes it might come to a director's attention

499
01:21:08,440 --> 01:21:14,500
And it gets pushed in as that way like moonlight on the marsh because we all have it's in a stone. So it's district

500
01:21:14,500 --> 01:21:17,820
But yet it's an at-large thing same with taste of soul

501
01:21:18,700 --> 01:21:24,420
But all that to be said I think just having a pot available that we've been

502
01:21:25,000 --> 01:21:31,720
Looking at these one-on-one every year. I'm fine with that and we've been very very diplomatic about it. So

503
01:21:35,580 --> 01:21:40,880
We get rid of the WRD sponsorship and they can get rid of ours because all we're doing

504
01:21:40,880 --> 01:21:41,820
is trading checks.

505
01:21:42,060 --> 01:21:43,620
Why would we want to do that though?

506
01:21:43,960 --> 01:21:49,780
No, we get to be at their event and they get to be at our event, but why should we write

507
01:21:49,780 --> 01:21:52,880
them a check for $6,000 and they write us a check for $3,000.

508
01:21:52,880 --> 01:21:54,400
How are you going to have that discussion, Buck?

509
01:21:56,020 --> 01:21:58,900
I can discuss that with WRD, but again,

510
01:21:58,900 --> 01:22:00,320
I mean, they just think about it.

511
01:22:00,340 --> 01:22:02,900
If they did that, I don't know that I would change that.

512
01:22:03,160 --> 01:22:04,540
No, I understand that.

513
01:22:04,800 --> 01:22:05,320
I'm just saying.

514
01:22:05,340 --> 01:22:06,060
Well, I can just discuss that.

515
01:22:07,140 --> 01:22:10,900
Because it gets to the point of, it's kind of ludicrous.

516
01:22:13,400 --> 01:22:15,440
They sponsor our water harvest.

517
01:22:16,000 --> 01:22:17,160
We sponsor theirs.

518
01:22:19,400 --> 01:22:20,560
We're trading checkers.

519
01:22:21,760 --> 01:22:22,200
I

520
01:22:24,410 --> 01:22:25,730
think that's very good, though.

521
01:22:26,050 --> 01:22:28,730
You're aware of your partners there.

522
01:22:29,490 --> 01:22:30,790
You're involved in their events.

523
01:22:30,790 --> 01:22:35,010
We can make that awareness achieved other ways.

524
01:22:35,290 --> 01:22:38,730
I mean, we actually recognize them at the event and they recognize us.

525
01:22:39,350 --> 01:22:39,450
Anyway.

526
01:22:40,390 --> 01:22:41,250
That's because of sponsors.

527
01:22:46,750 --> 01:22:47,310
We move on.

528
01:22:48,170 --> 01:22:48,750
Next.

529
01:22:50,190 --> 01:22:54,310
We decided you're going to have a discussion about the WR&A and we're moving out.

530
01:22:55,130 --> 01:22:55,690
Okay.

531
01:22:55,690 --> 01:22:56,130
Thank you.

532
01:22:57,370 --> 01:23:03,150
Page 13 is our proposed revenue for 25-26 fiscal year.

533
01:23:03,150 --> 01:23:09,270
And those are estimated between the 0% and the 8% scenario, first it starts in the first

534
01:23:09,270 --> 01:23:16,530
column, $103.5 million, with a zero point scenario, all the way over to $105.7 million

535
01:23:16,530 --> 01:23:18,450
at the 8% rate scenario.

536
01:23:19,090 --> 01:23:24,810
Essentially, if you look at this layout and the range, it's basically with every 1%

537
01:23:25,470 --> 01:23:29,050
increase, it proposes an additional $277,000 in revenue.

538
01:23:30,250 --> 01:23:35,910
And then on the next slide, page 14, that's our debt service payment.

539
01:23:36,270 --> 01:23:39,650
Again, we're just showing you that for the next fiscal year.

540
01:23:39,830 --> 01:23:46,510
You see approximately for FY26, we have $22 million in debt service payment.

541
01:23:47,130 --> 01:23:50,310
Here, broken out, you can see the four different categories,

542
01:23:50,470 --> 01:23:53,550
with three of them being our refunding revenue bonds,

543
01:23:53,550 --> 01:24:00,150
And then also the low interest loan that we have from California State Water Resources Control Board.

544
01:24:01,010 --> 01:24:07,330
And in our last column is that standby revenue that we are continuing to monitor that EJ brought up earlier.

545
01:24:08,010 --> 01:24:12,930
Those effects, that standby revenue will happen once it discontinues after 2030.

546
01:24:13,050 --> 01:24:19,790
But then, if you look at 2031, that's our first reduction in the debt service payment.

547
01:24:20,010 --> 01:24:22,570
That reduces by 3.4 million.

548
01:24:22,570 --> 01:24:27,610
There's still a shortfall there of $3.2 million as these numbers stand today.

549
01:24:31,340 --> 01:24:41,280
Just on that point, though, in 2031, the standby charge revenue drops off and the debt service

550
01:24:41,280 --> 01:24:42,800
payment drops off.

551
01:24:43,260 --> 01:24:48,240
The debt service payment service drops off by about $3.5 million a year.

552
01:24:49,440 --> 01:24:52,560
The revenue drops off by $7.5 million.

553
01:24:52,660 --> 01:24:52,860
Right.

554
01:24:52,860 --> 01:24:55,900
And the delta between the two is the 3.2.

555
01:24:56,260 --> 01:24:57,420
I didn't realize you said that.

556
01:24:58,660 --> 01:24:59,560
Thank you.

557
01:25:01,740 --> 01:25:03,860
On the next slide, page 15.

558
01:25:05,440 --> 01:25:12,380
Last workshop, these were the proposed capital improvement program budget that we proposed to you at $26.3 million.

559
01:25:13,000 --> 01:25:19,120
Staff identified about $7.5 million that will be funded by grants or refinery fixed payments.

560
01:25:19,120 --> 01:25:29,320
And then the remaining, which is the PAYGO, which is based on our net revenues, those would be the remaining funds coming from our CIP portion.

561
01:25:31,200 --> 01:25:33,220
Okay, good question.

562
01:25:35,080 --> 01:25:38,220
When we're looking at that, that's not for next year.

563
01:25:38,740 --> 01:25:40,680
This is fiscal year 2526, yes.

564
01:25:41,200 --> 01:25:47,440
These are the ones that have already been approved. Most of this money then is for the solid family.

565
01:25:48,960 --> 01:25:53,820
Director, if you recall, between the two big projects that the board has approved, the

566
01:25:53,820 --> 01:26:00,340
Soliton handling upgrade and the DCS update, those total, I think, approximately $14 million

567
01:26:00,860 --> 01:26:03,740
of the total $26 million for CFP next year.

568
01:26:07,460 --> 01:26:12,440
But what you see before you is all of the projects that there are some other projects

569
01:26:12,440 --> 01:26:16,540
that Wes Basin has already contracted with or anticipates contract.

570
01:26:16,540 --> 01:26:17,580
Okay,

571
01:26:20,180 --> 01:26:25,480
but maybe I need a further breakdown of the projects.

572
01:26:26,100 --> 01:26:33,660
I'm thinking we've approved the two big ones, the biggest one we got is the solid sampling

573
01:26:33,660 --> 01:26:40,560
and then the DCS, and then there's a series of smaller projects and most of them when

574
01:26:40,560 --> 01:26:44,560
they were approved, we pretty much understood how they were to be financed.

575
01:26:47,930 --> 01:26:50,970
Yes, Dr. Columbus has essential projects.

576
01:26:50,970 --> 01:26:54,930
Those are ones that the board has weighed in and approved.

577
01:26:55,830 --> 01:27:01,530
So in addition to the two large projects that Eric mentioned, other smaller projects like

578
01:27:01,530 --> 01:27:08,270
the FIRE system project, the filter rehab project, the elevator, so on and so forth.

579
01:27:08,970 --> 01:27:14,050
So yes, they also include the small one in addition to budget for capital expenditures

580
01:27:14,050 --> 01:27:17,730
for small assets, membranes, so on and so forth.

581
01:27:17,730 --> 01:27:22,250
all that in using that first column under the $17.8 million.

582
01:27:23,910 --> 01:27:30,550
The projects that are still up for debate and for board approval, we put that in that second

583
01:27:30,550 --> 01:27:32,790
column called projects for consideration.

584
01:27:33,250 --> 01:27:38,490
So those are projects that are in planning level that have not yet necessarily been approved

585
01:27:38,490 --> 01:27:42,990
by the board that will be coming in and showing you examples of that would be, for

586
01:27:42,990 --> 01:27:45,410
For example, the fencing around TCL.

587
01:27:46,950 --> 01:27:49,330
We're putting together an item with some options,

588
01:27:49,510 --> 01:27:53,370
comes to the board to see what do we want to do with that.

589
01:27:54,330 --> 01:27:58,050
I'd like to clarify, Director, that the statement you said,

590
01:27:58,130 --> 01:28:01,690
I believe you suggested that we have already identified

591
01:28:02,470 --> 01:28:04,250
how those projects would be paid for.

592
01:28:04,650 --> 01:28:07,610
And what I might suggest is the budget presentation

593
01:28:07,990 --> 01:28:11,430
here today will really be the identification

594
01:28:11,430 --> 01:28:13,630
of how we intend to pay for those projects.

595
01:28:14,070 --> 01:28:16,110
So as Wendy progresses this presentation,

596
01:28:16,430 --> 01:28:18,610
you'll see the various rate options.

597
01:28:19,270 --> 01:28:22,330
And of course, we have the option of using

598
01:28:22,330 --> 01:28:25,090
that line of commercial paper of Pago

599
01:28:25,590 --> 01:28:29,130
and all of those decisions will really be influenced

600
01:28:29,130 --> 01:28:33,230
by the ports decision for the rate increase this year.

601
01:28:33,870 --> 01:28:36,190
And so I don't think it's accurate

602
01:28:36,190 --> 01:28:39,370
that we have a source of funding

603
01:28:39,370 --> 01:28:43,990
already perfectly identified for the projects that the board has already

604
01:28:43,990 --> 01:28:46,490
approved. So I missed the comment.

605
01:28:50,880 --> 01:28:54,420
On that point I thought when we had those

606
01:28:54,420 --> 01:28:58,080
discussions that in general we identified a whole series of funding

607
01:28:58,080 --> 01:29:03,720
sources and including that we would just pay for out of existing revenues

608
01:29:03,720 --> 01:29:04,820
that we come in.

609
01:29:07,040 --> 01:29:11,300
And that was the basis to move forward with the projects

610
01:29:11,300 --> 01:29:20,100
that we've approved today that we actually have under contract such as the solid attainment facility.

611
01:29:22,210 --> 01:29:30,260
So I'm a little bit personally because that's been my understanding that we pretty much have these

612
01:29:30,260 --> 01:29:37,100
under control and a little bit taken aback by your comments.

613
01:29:38,080 --> 01:29:41,000
But I don't mean to suggest that we don't have the money to pay for them.

614
01:29:41,140 --> 01:29:46,080
What I mean to suggest is that through this budget workshop and rate setting process,

615
01:29:46,580 --> 01:29:53,420
we will be identifying what our pay go balance and revenue might look like,

616
01:29:53,520 --> 01:29:58,840
because it is just a budget estimate, but would look like under the rate adoption this year.

617
01:30:00,080 --> 01:30:07,780
And when we balance those contracts that we've already, that the board has already approved against those projects that are still necessary,

618
01:30:08,380 --> 01:30:22,760
certainly those are going to have the priority. As we see, as we see those PAYGO amounts in later slides, that PAYGO amount in many cases will cover the projects that you're referring to.

619
01:30:24,540 --> 01:30:32,320
So, another point here that I know I brought up in the past and they're in the repair replacement

620
01:30:32,320 --> 01:30:33,060
chatting room.

621
01:30:33,240 --> 01:30:38,700
The one thing that we know we're going to have to do periodically, and we can pretty

622
01:30:38,700 --> 01:30:43,240
much say it's going to be every three years or five years, depending on which system we're

623
01:30:43,240 --> 01:30:45,100
looking at, is membrane replacement.

624
01:30:46,640 --> 01:30:48,360
And that's very predictable.

625
01:30:48,960 --> 01:30:54,520
So we should be setting aside, and I've brought this up in the past, we should be setting aside

626
01:30:55,060 --> 01:31:03,920
a fund to say in two years we're going to have to replace whatever membranes wherever

627
01:31:04,360 --> 01:31:06,700
and that's going to cost us a million dollars.

628
01:31:07,100 --> 01:31:12,560
So we should be saving or setting aside money annually so that in two years when

629
01:31:12,560 --> 01:31:19,160
we have to purchase of membranes, the money is there. Very predictable. I don't think we've

630
01:31:19,160 --> 01:31:27,600
done that. I'd like to see us really establish these funds that are identified for specific

631
01:31:27,600 --> 01:31:30,400
type of projects that we know we have to refer.

632
01:31:31,160 --> 01:31:35,780
And that's at some point, Director Roures. And I would just say that we are extremely

633
01:31:35,780 --> 01:31:42,080
fortunate to have Wendy O'Kelly join us here at West Basin because I think she

634
01:31:42,080 --> 01:31:47,280
shares a lot of your thoughts. We've talked about some of these different

635
01:31:47,280 --> 01:31:51,940
aspects of how we budget and how we dedicate funds. You know that our

636
01:31:51,940 --> 01:31:56,700
refinery partners do fund specific projects, including Chevron pays for

637
01:31:56,700 --> 01:32:00,580
some of those those membranes as the others do too. And so we've talked about

638
01:32:00,580 --> 01:32:03,900
what we could be doing and should be doing in the future and I think that

639
01:32:03,900 --> 01:32:07,920
given some time when these will end with us for a few months, we'll be

640
01:32:07,920 --> 01:32:13,920
working towards getting there. But I think that you're already seeing that. I also want to just

641
01:32:13,920 --> 01:32:23,340
step back because when you were talking about the projects, you mentioned that you felt that the funding

642
01:32:23,340 --> 01:32:28,640
was identified. And I just want to remind you that when we did approve that item, and I don't want

643
01:32:28,640 --> 01:32:33,800
to quote it, but within the fiscal impact, it stated that the way we would be paying for

644
01:32:33,800 --> 01:32:39,280
these projects would be to first use pago, second reserves, and then if necessary utilize

645
01:32:39,280 --> 01:32:41,080
our line of commercial data.

646
01:32:42,760 --> 01:32:48,160
And so we wanted to, we added that to those memos to make sure it was very clear as to

647
01:32:48,160 --> 01:32:49,600
how we would plan to pay for that.

648
01:32:50,020 --> 01:32:54,560
And then decisions that we made for our budget for next year will really define what we're

649
01:32:54,560 --> 01:32:58,700
paying for with our pago reserve and potential commercial paper.

650
01:32:59,100 --> 01:33:00,960
And that's of course in this presentation.

651
01:33:02,930 --> 01:33:07,610
Okay, but to your point about setting aside reserve funds for very predictable

652
01:33:07,610 --> 01:33:11,250
priorities and something that probably would have helped a lot in negotiating

653
01:33:11,250 --> 01:33:17,950
with the defineries since they are paying for certain things and they're paying to

654
01:33:17,950 --> 01:33:25,730
those priorities is having specific reserve account where the money goes

655
01:33:25,730 --> 01:33:30,750
for that. I think he's going to win my checkboxes. I know I've raised

656
01:33:30,750 --> 01:33:35,930
this point last year and the year before and the year before, and I always use this as an example

657
01:33:35,930 --> 01:33:41,670
because it's an easy one, is the filters. We have membrane filters and we know we're going to be

658
01:33:41,670 --> 01:33:46,230
placed. We know with predictability what they're going to be and it's why aren't we sending the

659
01:33:46,230 --> 01:33:51,830
money aside and saying okay it's time to do it and it's in fund XYZ. Director, something

660
01:33:51,830 --> 01:33:58,230
that the four of us have been begun discussing is just that, that each one of our refinery

661
01:33:58,230 --> 01:34:03,890
customers have a volumetric revenue that they receive as well as that fixed payment.

662
01:34:04,770 --> 01:34:10,250
And by setting aside or creating a reserve or a fund where just the funds from that

663
01:34:10,250 --> 01:34:17,250
refinery goes into and just the costs of that refinery facility comes out of, we're

664
01:34:17,790 --> 01:34:22,710
intending to manage each refinery, each treatment stream in such a fashion.

665
01:34:22,710 --> 01:34:28,830
The cost of service study that came before the board I think back in January has really

666
01:34:28,830 --> 01:34:33,810
helped us appreciate the need for that to understand not just what the costs of each

667
01:34:33,810 --> 01:34:35,890
facility are but what the revenue is going through.

668
01:34:36,170 --> 01:34:43,070
So as E.J. mentioned this coming year, Wendy's job is not to stop or slow down with the

669
01:34:43,070 --> 01:34:47,030
adoption of this budget process because we do have some changes we're looking to

670
01:34:47,030 --> 01:34:49,430
incorporate over the next coming months.

671
01:34:51,420 --> 01:34:55,460
I think some of your comments will be addressed in the PowerPoint as we move through it.

672
01:34:56,060 --> 01:34:59,520
And I do know that we have two directors that have limited time.

673
01:35:00,100 --> 01:35:02,700
And so I want to make most of this quorum while we have it.

674
01:35:09,140 --> 01:35:15,540
I think we'll still have a quorum until 4 o'clock.

675
01:35:17,940 --> 01:35:22,580
on the next slide it does address some of those restricted funds and also the

676
01:35:22,580 --> 01:35:26,040
reserves that you were talking about Dr. Alvarez. So I will try to be mindful of

677
01:35:26,040 --> 01:35:31,700
time on page 16. There's a few circumstances that are outside of our

678
01:35:31,700 --> 01:35:36,780
control and so we're going to monitor these financial impacts and they

679
01:35:36,780 --> 01:35:43,080
begin with the two previous, the 223, 223, 224 we had some revenue shortfalls

680
01:35:43,080 --> 01:35:48,220
that caused us to draw down more funds than anticipated from our cash reserves.

681
01:35:48,900 --> 01:35:54,240
Another challenge is the impending unknowing tariffs and the fiscal impact

682
01:35:54,240 --> 01:35:58,360
that they're going to have on our future pricing. And then also the investment

683
01:35:58,360 --> 01:36:02,880
revenue that is because of the market volatility we're seeing that we're

684
01:36:02,880 --> 01:36:08,580
looking at less returns, fewer returns on our investments. And then talk about

685
01:36:08,580 --> 01:36:13,160
the standby charge or standby charge excuse me that's sunsetting in 23 and

686
01:36:13,160 --> 01:36:18,280
then inflation as well that remains flat but it's still prices are still high

687
01:36:18,280 --> 01:36:22,740
and some of our larger expenses related to our aging recycled water

688
01:36:22,740 --> 01:36:26,940
infrastructure but on the other hand there are some opportunities that are

689
01:36:26,940 --> 01:36:31,940
on the horizon for this fiscal year which includes some savings that we

690
01:36:31,940 --> 01:36:39,040
anticipate from our new operation operator contract and then also because of

691
01:36:39,040 --> 01:36:44,300
certain cost savings we're looking at the ability to replenish cash reserves and

692
01:36:44,300 --> 01:36:50,020
then also build that CIP reserve account that we have been talking about as a

693
01:36:50,020 --> 01:36:55,440
team here. By building that CIP reserve and also taking those refinery funds

694
01:36:55,440 --> 01:36:59,060
and restricting them it helps us avoid the use of commercial paper.

695
01:37:01,960 --> 01:37:02,240
So those

696
01:37:02,240 --> 01:37:05,720
Those are some, like Daryl mentioned, he has some assignments to do for 2526.

697
01:37:06,000 --> 01:37:08,600
These are some of my tasks for 2526 as well.

698
01:37:09,540 --> 01:37:10,880
And then the next slide on page 17.

699
01:37:12,260 --> 01:37:15,500
I do have to lead, so who is the director?

700
01:37:16,940 --> 01:37:19,040
Who is the next, who is the vice president?

701
01:37:19,740 --> 01:37:21,160
Oh, that would be Director Deere.

702
01:37:21,560 --> 01:37:22,380
Director Deere.

703
01:37:23,380 --> 01:37:26,480
I have to lead, so you're in charge.

704
01:37:26,720 --> 01:37:27,100
I'm sorry.

705
01:37:27,100 --> 01:37:29,740
Thank you all for your presentation today.

706
01:37:32,720 --> 01:37:34,840
Oh, we're gonna perform right now.

707
01:37:38,080 --> 01:37:39,520
Thank you.

708
01:37:41,160 --> 01:37:52,320
Then page 17, if I may continue, is the RSE and POTA whole tier one rates with the five different scenarios.

709
01:37:52,320 --> 01:37:59,040
So, this slide here is a combination of MWD's rates for calendar year 25 and 26.

710
01:37:59,400 --> 01:38:05,380
Then also, in appropriating the west-facing for both RSE rate scenarios for our fiscal

711
01:38:05,380 --> 01:38:10,540
year 25-26, which is why you see the two different breakouts, and each column represents

712
01:38:10,540 --> 01:38:12,700
those five different rate scenarios.

713
01:38:12,900 --> 01:38:21,320
So, here, the difference between is about for every 1% rate increase equates to $3

714
01:38:21,320 --> 01:38:22,220
dollars per acre feet.

715
01:38:24,660 --> 01:38:26,320
That is going to be on page 17.

716
01:38:30,420 --> 01:38:31,760
So at the bottom you can see the

717
01:38:31,760 --> 01:38:39,360
overall RSE revenue proposal is highlighted there and that begins with 24.7 million based

718
01:38:39,360 --> 01:38:41,900
on 80,000 acre feet of potable water.

719
01:38:44,510 --> 01:38:47,010
On the next slide, next page is 18.

720
01:38:47,370 --> 01:38:54,990
Before you move on, I just want to make a comment with editorial nature. But if

721
01:38:54,990 --> 01:39:04,790
If we look at our tier one rate for January of 26, we're looking at $2,000 in acre foot

722
01:39:04,790 --> 01:39:05,110
water.

723
01:39:07,630 --> 01:39:14,330
Twenty years ago, that rate, we've been talking, oh, that's desal rates.

724
01:39:17,020 --> 01:39:19,380
So just how things have changed.

725
01:39:20,820 --> 01:39:29,120
And we put that number down and we're I think a little bit casual about it, but

726
01:39:29,120 --> 01:39:34,120
that's a lot of money for water. And that's happened in a very short period of

727
01:39:34,120 --> 01:39:41,700
time. For water rates to move that much in the past, we've taken much longer than

728
01:39:41,700 --> 01:39:46,720
what we've seen the increments showing up. I say that because I do want to

729
01:39:46,720 --> 01:39:51,780
address the fact that we're going to be taking an action on water rates today.

730
01:39:55,580 --> 01:39:59,820
And we need to think about the very near-term future.

731
01:40:00,760 --> 01:40:06,740
Metropolitan, which is our social water, whatever we raise our rates, it's going to be on top of the

732
01:40:06,740 --> 01:40:13,920
MET rates. And the MET rate is a big driver in that number right there. And then we add to it.

733
01:40:14,880 --> 01:40:16,800
The MET rate is going to have to go up.

734
01:40:16,960 --> 01:40:17,740
I don't know how much.

735
01:40:18,780 --> 01:40:26,780
Obviously, it's going up between now and January of 26th by about 11%, and that's beyond our control.

736
01:40:27,260 --> 01:40:28,820
But MET will be raising rates.

737
01:40:29,160 --> 01:40:35,040
It needs to do that because of all of the same challenges that we face and more.

738
01:40:35,840 --> 01:40:45,940
they're looking at having to invest in, I don't know where things will land, but if they

739
01:40:45,940 --> 01:40:51,600
invest in all of the projects that are facing them, the rates will go up substantially.

740
01:40:52,460 --> 01:40:56,140
And we're not talking 10%, we're talking a lot more than that.

741
01:40:58,780 --> 01:41:05,140
So, when we raise rates this year, next year, et cetera, the keep in mind of affordability

742
01:41:05,140 --> 01:41:11,400
is beyond what we raise, we have to pass on other rates, and they're going to be going

743
01:41:11,400 --> 01:41:12,040
up quite a bit.

744
01:41:15,840 --> 01:41:16,000
Question.

745
01:41:16,420 --> 01:41:20,580
Director Alvarez, actually, can you, because it's hard to hear over here, and so can you

746
01:41:20,580 --> 01:41:24,580
just repeat the beginning, because I think that was actually really good, you had mentioned

747
01:41:25,360 --> 01:41:28,760
which one were you talking about, the 2004-5, was that the number?

748
01:41:28,760 --> 01:41:37,280
Whether it's 2045 or 2069, the fact that it became over $2,000 an acre foot for water

749
01:41:37,280 --> 01:41:44,960
today, you know, 20 years ago when I was talking about, and others in the industry were talking

750
01:41:44,960 --> 01:41:50,500
about water, we were saying $2,000, that was what we were looking at for diesel costs.

751
01:41:51,720 --> 01:41:56,320
As a matter of fact, I think when I got on this board, and this board was looking

752
01:41:56,320 --> 01:42:02,140
and building desalons. It was looking at saying, oh, we can do this for about $2,000 an acre

753
01:42:02,140 --> 01:42:08,660
for it a little bit over that. And it was not my question at the time and etc. So, and that

754
01:42:08,660 --> 01:42:16,380
wasn't that long ago. That was five years ago. So, yeah, water rates are way up. And they're

755
01:42:16,380 --> 01:42:22,260
we're paying right now for things that people in the industry 20 years ago would have not

756
01:42:22,260 --> 01:42:27,620
foreseeing this. I know I didn't and I was sitting around with others talking about rates.

757
01:42:28,200 --> 01:42:32,320
You remember approximately what the price was 20 years ago, give or take or where it was at?

758
01:42:32,720 --> 01:42:38,200
For what? For the treated. I can treat it at that almost less than half of it.

759
01:42:38,640 --> 01:42:42,160
Okay so I mean it's just a very good point you know.

760
01:42:43,300 --> 01:42:47,600
So if you look at inflation and water rates, what rates have you seen as inflation?

761
01:42:47,600 --> 01:42:56,940
much. Thank you for making that point. Appreciate that. And you know I just want to keep in mind

762
01:42:56,940 --> 01:43:01,900
affordability because at the end of the day customers do pay for this. We're in a very

763
01:43:01,900 --> 01:43:06,900
fortunate situation that a lot of our customers can afford to pay but not all of our customers

764
01:43:08,240 --> 01:43:14,920
are so privileged and their incomes don't keep up with inflation

765
01:43:15,680 --> 01:43:21,900
much less was the rates that they're paying for water, and water is one of those things that you can't do without.

766
01:43:24,890 --> 01:43:38,710
I thought it was very interesting too, because, I mean, we were all talking about how much the cost of imported water would eventually crisscross with recycled water and with the salinated water and on and on.

767
01:43:38,710 --> 01:43:43,950
but it's pretty shocking. I've been on the board for 10 years now, but it's shocking when you

768
01:43:43,950 --> 01:43:50,310
think about what the price of water was, if it was 10 years or 15 or 20, when folks were sitting

769
01:43:50,310 --> 01:43:57,050
around a table, and here we are, there are bare minimum. There's over 2,000 acre foot, right?

770
01:43:57,830 --> 01:44:03,670
So anyway, we're all cognizant of that, but it's also something we have to help explain

771
01:44:03,670 --> 01:44:09,010
to our public, too. I mean, the costs are not going down, no way around it. But yes,

772
01:44:09,150 --> 01:44:15,810
how do we do what we've got to do to manage it here and make sure that we can pay for our needs?

773
01:44:16,390 --> 01:44:24,930
So thank you, thank you very much. All right, we're moving on to packet page 18.

774
01:44:26,310 --> 01:44:31,750
So for recycled water, the five scenarios are continue with the proposal for inside,

775
01:44:31,750 --> 01:44:37,130
side, the West Basin Service Area, which is the top section there, and the two-

776
01:44:37,130 --> 01:44:41,510
Excuse me. My 18 is a showbap. It's something different.

777
01:44:44,190 --> 01:44:50,210
Well, it says 14 on the slide deck, I think, but it's 18 on the packet.

778
01:44:51,670 --> 01:44:53,290
We just finished that?

779
01:44:55,550 --> 01:44:56,790
No, that's it right there.

780
01:44:58,050 --> 01:44:59,750
to the side of that one. Good luck, please.

781
01:45:00,000 --> 01:45:00,920
This is the next item.

782
01:45:03,040 --> 01:45:03,400
Okay,

783
01:45:07,380 --> 01:45:10,600
14, slide 14, page 18.

784
01:45:13,870 --> 01:45:18,890
The cross-section is the inside service area for recycled water rates with the five scenarios.

785
01:45:19,850 --> 01:45:25,870
And then the proposal for the five different scenarios were outside our service area.

786
01:45:29,260 --> 01:45:35,060
Now, because this water is not the cost that was shown up on the cost of service days.

787
01:45:37,750 --> 01:45:43,150
So this is less than our cost to produce this water.

788
01:45:45,620 --> 01:45:51,540
Eric, if you could touch on that, because A, this is extensive irrigation water.

789
01:45:52,360 --> 01:45:55,040
It's built upon our potable rate.

790
01:45:55,640 --> 01:46:01,700
If you look at the cost of service study, one of the things that you'll notice is that this water supply is pretty expensive.

791
01:46:01,700 --> 01:46:07,300
And as you would point out, the reason for that is in part due to the cost of delivering

792
01:46:07,300 --> 01:46:12,280
it, the individual purple pipe projects and related debt on those projects.

793
01:46:13,000 --> 01:46:18,180
So the cost theoretically is quite high, but Eric, you can maybe give us a little bit

794
01:46:18,180 --> 01:46:19,120
of...

795
01:46:19,120 --> 01:46:19,560
Sure.

796
01:46:19,660 --> 01:46:25,060
I would start by saying that these rates recover more of our costs than any other

797
01:46:25,060 --> 01:46:27,460
historical time in West Bay's history.

798
01:46:28,660 --> 01:46:29,640
I don't disagree.

799
01:46:29,640 --> 01:46:33,980
As a point out director, this is the only one water.

800
01:46:34,340 --> 01:46:41,180
We also have a number of our recycle waters that are dictated by contract, and as those

801
01:46:41,180 --> 01:46:48,380
contracts expire and are renegotiated, we are looking at negotiating terms that we'll

802
01:46:48,380 --> 01:46:52,480
collect most if not all of the costs associated with that water.

803
01:46:52,480 --> 01:46:58,640
And so the methodology that went into this year's rate increase associated with

804
01:46:58,640 --> 01:47:03,440
recycle water is consistent with what has been done previously, primarily because

805
01:47:03,440 --> 01:47:08,840
we have so many contracts that are under negotiation that as we look at a

806
01:47:10,040 --> 01:47:15,700
holistic philosophy for setting our rates across the board, we're still in the

807
01:47:15,700 --> 01:47:20,920
process of doing it. So we anticipate by this time next year, when the board

808
01:47:20,920 --> 01:47:26,560
is faced with a rate of setting process. It won't be based on this year's methodology,

809
01:47:26,680 --> 01:47:32,920
but rather on a new methodology that is still under development that will seek to capture

810
01:47:32,920 --> 01:47:42,080
as much of the current cost as possible, as well as identify how much, if any, supplement

811
01:47:42,080 --> 01:47:47,420
from the potable side needs to happen. So that's a long way of saying. We certainly

812
01:47:47,420 --> 01:47:52,920
understand and appreciate that this number isn't necessarily the number generated in the cost of

813
01:47:52,920 --> 01:48:00,000
service because you'll recall that that number was even higher than this number. And frankly,

814
01:48:00,100 --> 01:48:03,700
I think it would probably cause people to revert back to protocol.

815
01:48:07,080 --> 01:48:08,940
Thank you for explaining all

816
01:48:08,940 --> 01:48:16,380
that. I just wanted to make sure that we keep the cost of service study as a forefront and as

817
01:48:16,380 --> 01:48:24,020
we move forward. I know that with respect to the refinery agreements, and those are coming

818
01:48:24,020 --> 01:48:30,240
up in the short term, there will be recovery in the cost of that water, at least in most

819
01:48:30,240 --> 01:48:38,020
of them. And that's to the good. But in general, we need to really keep that in the forefront

820
01:48:38,020 --> 01:48:42,580
and thank you for explaining that we're moving in that direction. But at this point,

821
01:48:42,580 --> 01:48:46,520
and we're still subsidizing because of the recycle.

822
01:48:47,620 --> 01:48:50,300
Right, and I would add that one of the things

823
01:48:50,300 --> 01:48:52,260
that we owe the board, if you recall,

824
01:48:52,360 --> 01:48:55,620
the cost of service study that was presented in January

825
01:48:55,620 --> 01:48:58,700
was based on the budgeted numbers for FY25.

826
01:48:59,560 --> 01:49:03,480
Staff has been working on developing an actual

827
01:49:03,480 --> 01:49:05,940
for FY25 as we approach the end of it.

828
01:49:06,000 --> 01:49:08,520
And of course they've also used budgetary numbers

829
01:49:08,520 --> 01:49:11,240
for 26 and put that into the methodology

830
01:49:11,240 --> 01:49:17,000
but the cost of service. So we have, you know, three data points now between the FY20 budget

831
01:49:17,780 --> 01:49:23,780
to the actual, I think we have a mid-year and a projection on 25, and we seek to bring that back

832
01:49:23,780 --> 01:49:33,760
to focus on point of future. So to that point, part of the 25-26 budget, and it's a little bit

833
01:49:33,760 --> 01:49:38,760
of an unknown, so I would appreciate some discussion from you guys on this, is the fact

834
01:49:38,760 --> 01:49:47,920
No, we anticipate, and I think soundly anticipate that we're going to see significant savings

835
01:49:47,920 --> 01:49:56,160
as a result of changing the operations maintenance for our recycle water treatment facilities.

836
01:50:00,450 --> 01:50:06,270
How good a handle is there in the projected numbers that we're going to be adopting

837
01:50:06,270 --> 01:50:06,790
here?

838
01:50:06,790 --> 01:50:13,250
In other words, how much of that savings do you think you're capturing or are the numbers

839
01:50:13,890 --> 01:50:23,430
by the nature of having to budget so that you're not coming up short, so conservative that

840
01:50:23,430 --> 01:50:29,330
we will end up having significantly more money budgeted than we're going to need to

841
01:50:29,330 --> 01:50:35,870
spent. It's a long winter way of saying, you know, do you have a handle on the savings?

842
01:50:37,190 --> 01:50:43,870
Yes, but not much better than what we presented to the board in the contract award for that contract

843
01:50:43,870 --> 01:50:55,730
because the budget for this proposed budget for 2526 is based on those contract values. So they

844
01:50:55,730 --> 01:51:01,350
haven't changed dramatically. But of course, when Jacobs takes over control of the plant

845
01:51:01,350 --> 01:51:07,110
and the new contract is in place as of September 1st, you know, I think what we talked about

846
01:51:07,110 --> 01:51:13,070
previously is the biggest unknown on our overall annual savings is in the area of maintenance

847
01:51:13,070 --> 01:51:20,110
and specifically the unplanned maintenance. As this contract looks to perform more planned

848
01:51:20,110 --> 01:51:25,570
maintenance ideally to reduce the amount of unplanned maintenance that's happened historically.

849
01:51:26,330 --> 01:51:31,530
I do believe there's going to be a savings in the long term for the unplanned or emergency

850
01:51:31,530 --> 01:51:36,730
type maintenance that we've had to do on the system of repairs. It's very difficult at this

851
01:51:36,730 --> 01:51:43,670
stage with Jacobs not even on site yet to suggest that what the savings might look like.

852
01:51:43,670 --> 01:51:48,490
But I point you back to the presentation for the contract.

853
01:51:49,290 --> 01:51:51,710
If you recall the one slide we had,

854
01:51:51,870 --> 01:51:56,370
we showed that all things considered are expectation

855
01:51:56,370 --> 01:52:00,710
for those types of services that Jacobs will be now purchasing

856
01:52:00,710 --> 01:52:03,610
under the new contract with a total of about $37 million.

857
01:52:04,550 --> 01:52:09,710
And of course, the contract was structured with $31 million,

858
01:52:09,710 --> 01:52:13,370
dollars I believe in total with that $3 million contingency.

859
01:52:14,110 --> 01:52:21,950
And that $3 million, to getting to your point, that $3 million allows us to address these

860
01:52:22,890 --> 01:52:25,730
uncertainties associated with the savings that we might expect.

861
01:52:25,930 --> 01:52:31,010
And so the things that aren't necessarily contracted that we still will have to pay

862
01:52:31,010 --> 01:52:34,550
for unexpected or unplanned maintenance, we have the ability to do that.

863
01:52:34,550 --> 01:52:41,690
all that to say that we think there's a real savings of $3 million right off the top.

864
01:52:42,070 --> 01:52:45,190
And these are the same numbers that we presented back in March.

865
01:52:45,950 --> 01:52:50,510
But we also think, optimistically, it could be as much as six,

866
01:52:50,670 --> 01:52:53,450
depending on how that first year plays out

867
01:52:53,450 --> 01:52:57,610
and what we actually find once Jacobs is on site and managing the facilities.

868
01:52:57,610 --> 01:52:58,550
And

869
01:53:00,980 --> 01:53:09,020
right now, our budget for the year is within that $3 to $6 million savings, I think, with

870
01:53:09,020 --> 01:53:15,420
the way that we budgeted and assumptions based on our historical unexpected or unplanned maintenance costs.

871
01:53:15,640 --> 01:53:16,960
We've accounted for that in this budget.

872
01:53:17,480 --> 01:53:23,220
So what you'll see in this budget year isn't necessarily a very optimistic $6 million savings,

873
01:53:23,740 --> 01:53:27,440
but it would be that $3 million savings that we're fairly confident.

874
01:53:27,440 --> 01:53:28,520
on

875
01:53:35,240 --> 01:53:43,660
page 19. Next slide. Cash reserves. So today, where are our cash reserves? This is a five-year

876
01:53:43,660 --> 01:53:50,600
look back, a four-year look back, showing 2024-25 proposed projected year-end and then also what

877
01:53:50,600 --> 01:53:57,180
we're proposing for 2025-26 where our cash reserve levels will be. So as I mentioned in the

878
01:53:57,180 --> 01:54:01,220
previous slide, there was a drop in revenue which resulted in a drawdown from our cash

879
01:54:01,220 --> 01:54:06,420
reserves. So the red line suggests we maintain at least two months of reserves in our short-term

880
01:54:06,420 --> 01:54:14,200
investments. And so as you see the red line it fluctuates between about 38 million to down to

881
01:54:14,200 --> 01:54:20,860
or 30 million to 38 million based on our operating cost, where the blue columns represent our cash

882
01:54:20,860 --> 01:54:25,940
reserve levels that we had on hand for the various years. And the last blue bar again is

883
01:54:25,940 --> 01:54:31,940
are proposed reserves for 25, 26, which are coming in a little bit underneath 20 million.

884
01:54:35,580 --> 01:54:39,240
So on this slide, I had a really hard time understanding what this means.

885
01:54:39,620 --> 01:54:43,520
So you're seeing a cash reserve right now of what, 20 million dollars?

886
01:54:44,180 --> 01:54:44,700
Yes.

887
01:54:44,860 --> 01:54:49,060
So when we present to you the investment report, there's two different sections of

888
01:54:49,060 --> 01:54:50,040
that investment report.

889
01:54:50,300 --> 01:54:55,340
And so when we talk about short-term investments for cash reserve, we're looking

890
01:54:55,340 --> 01:55:00,980
at anything that is, we can liquidate in 12 months or less, so underneath one year.

891
01:55:01,500 --> 01:55:06,500
So that number is about $20 million that we have on hand cash ready.

892
01:55:09,150 --> 01:55:15,170
So if I look at our cash, at the monthly, we're running about $62 million that we

893
01:55:15,170 --> 01:55:15,390
have.

894
01:55:15,890 --> 01:55:20,490
So when I think of cash reserves, and it's pretty consistent month-to-month, and you

895
01:55:20,490 --> 01:55:26,210
guys provide that information to the board every month, so I look at the cash reserves

896
01:55:26,210 --> 01:55:33,430
around $62 million. I use the round figure, we have about $60 million. And so I was a little bit,

897
01:55:33,530 --> 01:55:38,950
you know, I still don't understand the reason, the rationale of, so we're like,

898
01:55:39,310 --> 01:55:47,350
when we have $20 million, we run, pretty consistently, cash reserves of about $60

899
01:55:47,350 --> 01:55:53,110
million, which is down from, if I go back three or four years ago, we used to run about $80

900
01:55:53,110 --> 01:56:00,990
million dollars. So I don't I mean we're playing a little bit of a game it's like

901
01:56:00,990 --> 01:56:07,210
well these are invested in long term maturity investments which there's a

902
01:56:07,210 --> 01:56:11,910
whole multiple you have three months investment, six months investment, year

903
01:56:11,910 --> 01:56:15,730
investments and all the way out to four or five months which is a very small

904
01:56:15,730 --> 01:56:19,630
percentage of our portfolio. I'm sorry four or five years which is a very small

905
01:56:19,630 --> 01:56:28,630
percentage of the portfolio. But the fact is, we have $60 million, not $20 million.

906
01:56:29,130 --> 01:56:35,150
So, just to clarify, Director, when we speak about cash reserve and what's on hand, we are

907
01:56:35,150 --> 01:56:39,610
the definition of that would be those investments that the maturity date is

908
01:56:39,610 --> 01:56:43,870
underneath one year. Anything that's over one year are their longer-term investments.

909
01:56:46,530 --> 01:56:47,090
So,

910
01:56:47,090 --> 01:56:55,670
portfolio, you will see the 60 million or 62 million dollars that we have that we report to you guys the board on a monthly and quarterly basis.

911
01:56:55,930 --> 01:56:58,670
I understand that I just disagree with that definition.

912
01:56:58,930 --> 01:56:59,210
Understood.

913
01:56:59,870 --> 01:57:00,970
What a reserve is.

914
01:57:01,870 --> 01:57:02,430
Okay.

915
01:57:03,170 --> 01:57:06,010
I invest money, you know,

916
01:57:08,430 --> 01:57:15,270
three, four, I'm sorry, three, six, one year, two-year maturity, but it's all reserves.

917
01:57:16,090 --> 01:57:19,750
It's just so that it rolls over and you can take advantage of it.

918
01:57:21,590 --> 01:57:27,510
We do it for similar reasons, so we have short-term investments and long-term investments, short-term

919
01:57:27,510 --> 01:57:32,630
investments, in case you access to that money on a shorter-term basis, but you reinvest

920
01:57:32,630 --> 01:57:37,450
every three every four months or every six months or whatever it's not used up

921
01:57:37,450 --> 01:57:41,450
it gets reinvested the money doesn't go away and it consistently shows about

922
01:57:41,450 --> 01:57:48,250
$60 million. So the direction that I have given to Chandler is there's a

923
01:57:48,250 --> 01:57:52,550
certain amount that they are going to reinvest that the terms will be between

924
01:57:52,550 --> 01:57:56,850
three years and underneath three years so we do have a cash on hand and so

925
01:57:56,850 --> 01:58:01,450
that's 62 million or 60 million that we're talking about that if we were

926
01:58:01,450 --> 01:58:05,710
to withdraw immediately and we needed the use of those funds the maturity and as

927
01:58:05,710 --> 01:58:10,530
you know the penalty on that would not be withdrawing 62 million. It would be

928
01:58:10,530 --> 01:58:17,090
37 months less. I get it. So most of the money, 50% of your cash is invested in

929
01:58:17,090 --> 01:58:22,010
short-term securities of four months or less. Just look at the monthly

930
01:58:22,010 --> 01:58:26,870
financial reports you provide. At the end of the day, we can do some

931
01:58:26,870 --> 01:58:29,930
And you can say, well, that's not reserved short term.

932
01:58:30,370 --> 01:58:32,970
To me, it's all reserved, it's all cash that's available.

933
01:58:33,390 --> 01:58:36,790
Yes, if you take out money that's a low-term investment

934
01:58:37,330 --> 01:58:40,910
and you take it out sooner than its maturity date,

935
01:58:41,290 --> 01:58:42,770
it comes to the penalty and you're gonna get

936
01:58:42,770 --> 01:58:43,910
some amount less than that.

937
01:58:44,250 --> 01:58:46,630
I get that, but it's all cash.

938
01:58:47,190 --> 01:58:50,310
It's all cash, and it's part of our investment policy,

939
01:58:50,330 --> 01:58:51,690
if we do choose to change it,

940
01:58:51,770 --> 01:58:53,530
would be making that delineation

941
01:58:53,530 --> 01:58:55,670
between what short-term and what's long-term investments.

942
01:58:55,670 --> 01:58:59,250
So, I'm just reporting based on what the district has reported a short term.

943
01:58:59,490 --> 01:59:00,410
We have $60 million.

944
01:59:01,290 --> 01:59:08,350
Director, in the context of this budget presentation and next year's budget, you know, this graph

945
01:59:08,350 --> 01:59:12,330
represents the cash that we would have immediate access to within that year.

946
01:59:12,970 --> 01:59:18,830
And as we proceed with this presentation and talk about how we pay for all of our

947
01:59:18,830 --> 01:59:24,690
needs, including those capital projects, what we're really talking about is this

948
01:59:24,690 --> 01:59:30,130
$20 million bucket. If we have to dip into reserves this year to pay for anything, it

949
01:59:30,130 --> 01:59:31,550
will be coming out of this.

950
01:59:32,390 --> 01:59:37,290
And that may be because by definition you're saying that's what we're sending inside as

951
01:59:37,290 --> 01:59:44,490
a reserve. The reality is you can look at it that way and that's one way to look at

952
01:59:44,490 --> 01:59:46,930
it. You can also look at it as, I guess $60 million.

953
01:59:46,930 --> 01:59:47,290
it up.

954
01:59:48,630 --> 01:59:49,050
Agreed.

955
01:59:49,450 --> 01:59:50,370
Just like my own.

956
01:59:50,750 --> 01:59:54,330
Oh, it's just a matter of how you want to define reserves.

957
01:59:55,290 --> 01:59:55,510
Correct.

958
01:59:55,670 --> 01:59:59,710
Yeah, just in this context, I just want to be clear that staff

959
02:00:00,000 --> 02:00:06,820
You know, is looking at the cash that we have access to within the next year, should we need to fund

960
02:00:06,820 --> 02:00:13,180
any of those projects or other activities that Westpacin does. But yeah, absolutely, we have

961
02:00:13,180 --> 02:00:20,040
more money in the bank than it suggests here. And the other thing, you know, to everyone's

962
02:00:20,040 --> 02:00:25,320
friend, is that this year, for the first time in about four years, we're actually going to be

963
02:00:26,580 --> 02:00:36,520
having more revenues than anticipated and less expenditures, so we are going to be building up our assets.

964
02:00:37,680 --> 02:00:40,100
That's really good. So congratulations.

965
02:00:43,040 --> 02:00:49,300
We don't have a course. That is correct. I have a question into our attorney. This is an information item. It's not an action.

966
02:00:49,300 --> 02:00:56,280
And so we have in the past continued with information items without a form, but I'm confirming with our return.

967
02:00:59,160 --> 02:01:00,700
Do you want to continue the discussion?

968
02:01:01,200 --> 02:01:01,520
Good, good.

969
02:01:01,940 --> 02:01:04,540
I have a free the entire evening.

970
02:01:13,500 --> 02:01:14,940
We're pretty close to the end.

971
02:01:16,000 --> 02:01:16,380
Let's finish.

972
02:01:20,160 --> 02:01:20,540
You're otherwise.

973
02:01:20,820 --> 02:01:21,360
Do we run along?

974
02:01:21,620 --> 02:01:21,980
Where are we?

975
02:01:22,820 --> 02:01:23,300
All right.

976
02:01:23,640 --> 02:01:25,120
Moving on to packet page 20.

977
02:01:26,260 --> 02:01:26,480
20.

978
02:01:26,480 --> 02:01:26,680
Thank you.

979
02:01:26,680 --> 02:01:31,460
20 of 27. You only have seven more pages, but some of them are just cartoons at the end.

980
02:01:33,820 --> 02:01:42,540
Okay. On the consolidated budget on page 20 consists of our total revenues, minus total operating expenditures, including the debt service pay net.

981
02:01:43,360 --> 02:01:48,660
The net difference of the two is what we consider the PAYGO balance available for CIP funding.

982
02:01:48,660 --> 02:01:52,200
So you'll see that in the middle of that chart.

983
02:01:52,900 --> 02:01:59,380
And the CIT budget, as I mentioned earlier, $2.63 million for proposed fiscal year 2526.

984
02:02:01,240 --> 02:02:06,020
The staff has identified $7.5 million that will be paid by grants, refineries, or other

985
02:02:06,020 --> 02:02:07,340
outside funding sources.

986
02:02:08,160 --> 02:02:15,140
And then thereafter, this is just a consolidated view of the other funding options based

987
02:02:15,140 --> 02:02:17,400
on each scenario, rate scenario.

988
02:02:17,400 --> 02:02:17,560
scenario.

989
02:02:17,920 --> 02:02:20,980
And the next slides I'll go into the details of each race scenario.

990
02:02:26,810 --> 02:02:32,170
So before I go into this slide, I just wanted to kind of highlight off to the right of your

991
02:02:32,170 --> 02:02:37,790
chart here, the next few slides are all going to be fairly similar.

992
02:02:38,130 --> 02:02:44,250
You're just going to see the ability to pay for those capital improvement projects

993
02:02:44,250 --> 02:02:49,490
will change based on the different scenario or the different monies that are available.

994
02:02:49,490 --> 02:02:55,670
So for the first section of that box off to the right, it starts with capital improvement projects.

995
02:02:56,230 --> 02:03:01,530
What we mean there is – or what we're – the question that we're asking is, does a scenario contribute to CIP?

996
02:03:02,090 --> 02:03:05,610
And so in this scenario, by checking the box, it's answering yes it does.

997
02:03:06,310 --> 02:03:11,950
And then the next one is debt coverage of one and a half times more or better.

998
02:03:12,530 --> 02:03:18,370
And in this scenario as well, as you can see at the bottom of your slide, the answer comes back yes as well.

999
02:03:19,390 --> 02:03:26,050
And then the question is, is there no use or no need to use commercial paper for this

1000
02:03:26,050 --> 02:03:27,130
particular scenario?

1001
02:03:27,470 --> 02:03:31,710
This is unchecked because there is a proposal of using $1.1 million in commercial paper.

1002
02:03:32,450 --> 02:03:37,930
The reason is to protect those cash flows and also those cash reserves that are under

1003
02:03:37,930 --> 02:03:38,670
one year.

1004
02:03:40,570 --> 02:03:45,190
To save you some time, Wendy, if the director do go along with this, I think we can

1005
02:03:45,190 --> 02:03:52,350
focus on slide 16 which is page 20.

1006
02:03:54,830 --> 02:03:58,110
There's four slides, five slides are all very similar.

1007
02:04:01,770 --> 02:04:09,410
And we're really talking about what rate increase are we going to be comfortable with. If you

1008
02:04:09,410 --> 02:04:14,850
look at scenario two, which is the five percent, which is the one you've had up

1009
02:04:14,850 --> 02:04:24,710
there, people are rudely interrupted. It is one that shows that we do not need to

1010
02:04:24,710 --> 02:04:32,010
borrow any money, so we do not need to take on any debt, and allows us to basically

1011
02:04:32,010 --> 02:04:38,130
proceed with all of the items that we need to proceed with. And in looking

1012
02:04:38,130 --> 02:04:46,650
just a rate increases. This is where I'm headed. I came in having looked at all this and said that

1013
02:04:46,650 --> 02:04:53,050
I could support a 5% rate increase. I don't want to see us have more than a 5% rate increase this

1014
02:04:53,050 --> 02:04:57,230
year. We're going to have to raise rates again next year for the reasons I talked about earlier

1015
02:04:57,730 --> 02:05:03,470
and a year after that, a year after that. So if we look at just projections, you know,

1016
02:05:03,470 --> 02:05:09,570
cost of living, whatever you need to call it. The inflation so far, I am surprised. I

1017
02:05:09,570 --> 02:05:15,730
anticipate it's going to be greater once this administration's machinations with our economy

1018
02:05:15,730 --> 02:05:19,870
are done that we're going to see greater inflation than we're seeing, but it's holding at 2.8%.

1019
02:05:22,130 --> 02:05:28,000
Yet our rate increases are going to be more in the 5% to 6% range. I think we ought to

1020
02:05:28,000 --> 02:05:34,760
target 5% as a reasonable rate increase. The rest of the board is in here, so at this point you're

1021
02:05:34,760 --> 02:05:41,620
just listening to my opinion, Director Dears. Just listening, I haven't got a lot to say.

1022
02:05:42,040 --> 02:05:49,560
He decides why a friend of rate increase is he supports, but I would support about 5% and I

1023
02:05:49,560 --> 02:05:53,940
don't think we should go beyond that for all of the reasons that we've discussed.

1024
02:05:57,640 --> 02:05:58,160
Support

1025
02:05:58,160 --> 02:05:59,040
to 5% also.

1026
02:06:02,770 --> 02:06:09,230
Any else? If we could turn to that scenario where we just have 5%, I'd like

1027
02:06:09,230 --> 02:06:16,090
to just highlight those things that 5% does accomplish, including, as you've already pointed

1028
02:06:16,090 --> 02:06:22,010
out, Director, our ability to avoid these commercial paper. I would just point out

1029
02:06:22,010 --> 02:06:28,290
to the sake of the full discussion that, you know, the 5% does not necessarily allow

1030
02:06:28,290 --> 02:06:33,410
us to begin putting money aside for those reserves or restricted funds that

1031
02:06:33,410 --> 02:06:38,270
we're talking about to cover future payments. But understand your

1032
02:06:38,270 --> 02:06:42,650
perspective and that's something that the board will need to consider.

1033
02:06:45,790 --> 02:06:50,990
But to that point too I do think that next year if you do a really job as you

1034
02:06:50,990 --> 02:06:55,350
did this year which I'm sure you will of bringing in our expenditures

1035
02:06:55,350 --> 02:07:03,870
and lower than budgeted and that our revenues are going to do well that we

1036
02:07:03,870 --> 02:07:12,490
will probably be able to absorb that draft in the cash and we'll be doing

1037
02:07:12,490 --> 02:07:20,010
okay and I trust in you guys too you did a very very good job this year of

1038
02:07:20,010 --> 02:07:24,910
bringing in the budget, under the budgeted amount,

1039
02:07:25,850 --> 02:07:27,190
if we'll do that next year.

1040
02:07:27,510 --> 02:07:29,250
And I think kind of our revenues

1041
02:07:29,250 --> 02:07:31,130
will probably be a little bit greater than anticipated.

1042
02:07:33,780 --> 02:07:35,660
That appreciates the vote of confidence, director.

1043
02:07:36,880 --> 02:07:38,220
Yeah, it's important to note,

1044
02:07:38,820 --> 02:07:41,120
so as you know, director Tommy Favai

1045
02:07:41,120 --> 02:07:43,000
was not able to be here with us today.

1046
02:07:43,320 --> 02:07:45,200
I do have a call scheduled with him

1047
02:07:45,680 --> 02:07:46,760
at six p.m. this evening.

1048
02:07:47,520 --> 02:07:50,400
I'll be meeting with several of the directors

1049
02:07:50,400 --> 02:07:51,500
individually, one-on-one,

1050
02:07:51,500 --> 02:08:00,360
so we can talk about this. Obviously, I appreciate your comments and I appreciate your support

1051
02:08:00,360 --> 02:08:05,900
for 5%. I'll discuss that with them and in our individual conversations, making sure

1052
02:08:05,900 --> 02:08:14,380
not to avoid or not to reach the Brown Act. I don't want to do that, but I will share

1053
02:08:14,380 --> 02:08:17,160
your thoughts and support for 5%.

1054
02:08:17,160 --> 02:08:22,060
And then Director Nielsen said that he's been quite signing about all of this.

1055
02:08:22,340 --> 02:08:29,000
Yeah, there are a multitude of percentages. I haven't decided on one as the one I'm for.

1056
02:08:29,500 --> 02:08:33,200
I'm not opposed to anything particularly, although all of our ones are nicer.

1057
02:08:35,300 --> 02:08:37,140
After all, we aren't.

1058
02:08:37,560 --> 02:08:42,140
Representing a large constituency will be taxed because of our decisions.

1059
02:08:44,450 --> 02:08:45,290
They'll look at it lightly.

1060
02:08:49,080 --> 02:08:50,380
Who in the long world are we?

1061
02:08:50,380 --> 02:09:00,000
Well we prepared beautiful slides the other options including you know we

1062
02:09:00,000 --> 02:09:06,680
focused in on the 8% last time I highlighted kind of why we did that so

1063
02:09:06,680 --> 02:09:11,340
we have those scenarios if they're in the packet please review we don't want to

1064
02:09:11,340 --> 02:09:15,880
take any more of your time and we'll utilize this PowerPoint presentation

1065
02:09:15,880 --> 02:09:19,900
in our individual conversation because I know that two directors had to leave

1066
02:09:19,900 --> 02:09:24,060
a little bit early before we got to this point. And then, of course, Director for

1067
02:09:24,060 --> 02:09:29,400
God wants to discuss this as well. So I'll do my best to share with them

1068
02:09:29,400 --> 02:09:34,680
your thoughts. And again, I appreciate everybody's time today on a Friday. I

1069
02:09:34,680 --> 02:09:40,380
appreciate our staff time. I appreciate everybody online that joined us. It is

1070
02:09:40,380 --> 02:09:46,160
worth noting that we've held our customer workshop yesterday and gave

1071
02:09:46,160 --> 02:09:52,300
staff gave an excellent presentation there, too. We did not receive much feedback from

1072
02:09:52,300 --> 02:09:56,560
our customers, but we'll be doing some individual outreach to them as well.

1073
02:09:56,760 --> 02:09:59,020
If I may ask, who was at the customer workshop?

1074
02:09:59,880 --> 02:10:01,220
We had representatives.

1075
02:10:02,200 --> 02:10:05,020
We had nine customers. We're all nine there.

1076
02:10:06,000 --> 02:10:08,060
We don't have nine customers, technically.

1077
02:10:08,920 --> 02:10:12,380
WRD was not there. They are a customer of ours.

1078
02:10:12,380 --> 02:10:15,580
We did have some stakeholders, so not retail agencies.

1079
02:10:17,600 --> 02:10:21,300
We had LA County, oh, do you have the list?

1080
02:10:21,480 --> 02:10:24,900
Yes, we had LA County, Water Works, El Segundo,

1081
02:10:25,500 --> 02:10:29,180
Golden State Water, Lumida, and Torrance.

1082
02:10:30,520 --> 02:10:33,080
The water wasn't there, and Calamum was not there,

1083
02:10:33,800 --> 02:10:35,520
and the Zadhat Beach was not there,

1084
02:10:36,520 --> 02:10:37,680
and Inglewood was not there.

1085
02:10:38,300 --> 02:10:39,080
Inglewood was there.

1086
02:10:39,160 --> 02:10:40,160
Oh, you mentioned Inglewood.

1087
02:10:40,160 --> 02:10:40,440
I'm tired.

1088
02:10:44,060 --> 02:10:46,980
Interesting that we'll reach out to them in the

1089
02:10:47,400 --> 02:10:50,180
that we'll make sure that we test base.

1090
02:10:50,340 --> 02:10:52,620
There is so

1091
02:10:54,860 --> 02:10:58,660
little interest in our stakeholders on rates

1092
02:10:58,660 --> 02:11:01,340
and that they'll have to deal with it.

1093
02:11:01,340 --> 02:11:04,700
It's possible they feel their input will not make a big difference.

1094
02:11:05,280 --> 02:11:07,220
And that's a shame.

1095
02:11:07,620 --> 02:11:07,720
Yeah.

1096
02:11:12,650 --> 02:11:14,750
With that, do you have any other questions for us to answer?

1097
02:11:16,410 --> 02:11:16,890
No.

1098
02:11:18,210 --> 02:11:18,330
Okay.

1099
02:11:18,510 --> 02:11:20,030
Or we have just, hang on.

1100
02:11:20,150 --> 02:11:21,090
Was our agenda for today?

1101
02:11:21,490 --> 02:11:22,630
Disclosed is not our agenda.

1102
02:11:22,810 --> 02:11:26,790
You can see the, we don't have any additional workshops scheduled.

1103
02:11:27,550 --> 02:11:30,190
Our next board meeting is June 23rd.

1104
02:11:30,230 --> 02:11:33,250
We are required to adopt our fiscal year budget by the end of this month.

1105
02:11:33,890 --> 02:11:37,110
Staff will be preparing a board memo with that in mind,

1106
02:11:37,170 --> 02:11:41,130
but unless I get an individual request and a consensus from the board

1107
02:11:41,130 --> 02:11:44,730
for another workshop, we would plan on presenting the budget.

1108
02:11:44,730 --> 02:11:46,410
it at that time.

1109
02:11:48,750 --> 02:11:55,530
I do have a request, and I think you can put it on the agenda for the 23rd.

1110
02:11:55,630 --> 02:12:07,370
We talked a little bit about the O&M changeover for treatment facilities, and it was mentioned

1111
02:12:07,370 --> 02:12:10,450
that Jaycups will not be on board until September.

1112
02:12:11,550 --> 02:12:17,010
Part of the reason for extending the Viola contract was that there would be some overlap.

1113
02:12:17,530 --> 02:12:28,090
We have a signed contract with Jaycups, so you may come back with a presentation or at

1114
02:12:28,090 --> 02:12:33,210
least a board item that discusses what we are on the transition, because I would think

1115
02:12:33,210 --> 02:12:40,370
that right now Viola should have started staffing and that they're taking over the responsibility

1116
02:12:40,370 --> 02:12:47,330
over there and that we're not waiting until September for Viola to leave and here comes

1117
02:12:47,330 --> 02:12:52,910
the start. The whole idea was there was to be a transition and that there would be handing things

1118
02:12:52,910 --> 02:13:00,650
off and Jacob's procedure going would be in place from September and they're not going to

1119
02:13:00,650 --> 02:13:06,530
start and so we've had a discussion of that for our next board meeting.

1120
02:13:07,270 --> 02:13:11,470
Happy to bring something back director and I can I can just tell you that as of

1121
02:13:11,470 --> 02:13:15,170
this morning we had a another transition meeting that included both

1122
02:13:15,170 --> 02:13:21,110
the OAA and Jacobs and so transition is progressing as we would hope and it

1123
02:13:21,110 --> 02:13:26,110
will not just happen that Jacobs will start but they will start their

1124
02:13:26,110 --> 02:13:33,070
responsibility for the O&M on September 1st? At that point, it's a clear break, but yeah,

1125
02:13:33,170 --> 02:13:38,750
if you can just bring back an item that discusses how this transition is happening,

1126
02:13:40,090 --> 02:13:48,070
because I'm assuming that starting now, you're seeing Jacobs staffing up and taking over

1127
02:13:48,070 --> 02:13:55,590
responsibility and passing stuff along. I believe that was our intent to meet it.

1128
02:13:55,590 --> 02:13:56,930
extended their contract.

1129
02:13:57,550 --> 02:13:59,450
Yeah, we can come back with an in-depth presentation

1130
02:13:59,450 --> 02:14:01,950
of what's going to happen in the coming months,

1131
02:14:02,030 --> 02:14:03,070
but I can tell you right now

1132
02:14:03,070 --> 02:14:04,490
that we've already begun the engagement

1133
02:14:04,490 --> 02:14:05,770
with the on-site staff,

1134
02:14:06,150 --> 02:14:09,730
and Jacobs has been developing job descriptions

1135
02:14:10,250 --> 02:14:13,910
and job postings will be made for the current staff

1136
02:14:13,910 --> 02:14:16,290
to apply to within the next two weeks.

1137
02:14:21,800 --> 02:14:24,080
We were supposed to, I can recommend,

1138
02:14:24,380 --> 02:14:26,180
this committee was supposed to make a recommendation

1139
02:14:26,180 --> 02:14:28,500
on the budget, but you can do that

1140
02:14:28,500 --> 02:14:29,400
along two of those years.

1141
02:14:29,400 --> 02:14:40,620
No, I think we've got a direction. We'll definitely include that request as one of the options with the adoption of the motion.

1142
02:14:41,620 --> 02:14:42,980
Is there any further business?

1143
02:14:44,380 --> 02:14:45,500
And we're for the committee.

1144
02:14:46,640 --> 02:14:52,640
Thank you, staff very much for staying late on Friday and it's in the weekend, but I know you like stating bus.

1145
02:14:54,120 --> 02:14:54,960
Thank you very much.

1146
02:14:55,440 --> 02:14:56,140
Thank you, everyone.