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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20070328 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) Regional Open Space ------------------ MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT Meeting 07-07 REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF DIRECTORS March 28, 2007 MINUTES REGULAR MEETING I. ROLL CALL President K. Nitz called the special meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Ken Nitz, Jed Cyr,Nonette Hanko, Curt Riffle, Pete Siemens (arrived at 7:34 p.m.), and Mary Davey Members Absent: Larry Hassett Staff Present: Craig Britton, Sue Schectman, Sally Rice, Cindy Roessler, Mike Williams, Gordon Baillie, Duncan Simmons, Rudy Jurgensen, Ana Ruiz, Stella Cousins, Annetta Spiegel, Pamela Hall, John Maciel, Kirk Lenington. 11. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There were none. 111. ADOPTION OF AGENDA III Motion: J. Cyr moved to adopt the Agenda. C. Riffle seconded the motion. The motion passed 5 to 0. IV. NEW STAFF INTRODUCTION R. Jurgensen introduced Pamela Hall as the new Community Affairs Supervisor. He gave some background information about her. P. Hall thanked the Board and said that she had enjoyed her first week at the District. The Board welcomed her to the District. V. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Meeting 07-07 Page 2 C. Riffle pulled the Revised Claims and said he had questions for the following Revised Claims: 6614, 6620 6624, and 6633 that were explained by staff. K. Nitz asked questions on Revised Claim 6602, 6631, 6636, and 6659 which staff explained. M. Davey announced that she would recuse herself from Revised Claims 6605, 6606, 6665 and 6666R and Agenda Item No. 6. N. Hanko said she would voluntarily recuse herself from Revised Claims 6605, 6606, 6665 and 6666R and Agenda Item No. 6. K. Nitz pulled Agenda Item 5. C. Riffle asked clarifying questions on Agenda Items 7 and 8 which were answered satisfactorily by staff. S. Rice corrected the February 14, 2007 Board Minutes on page 15, deleting the sentence, "he said the program should be considered." K. Nitz returned the Revised Claims and Agenda Items 7 and 8 to the Consent Calendar. Motion: J. Cyr moved that the Board adopt the Consent Calendar, including the Board Minutes of February 14, 2007 Special and Regular Meeting, Agenda Item 6, Approval of Annual Claims List, Including Deb Service Payments for 2007-2008 Fiscal Year; Agenda Item 7,Adopt Resolution No. 07-11 Implementing the Amended ICMA-RC 457 Deferred Compensation Plan to Allow In-Service Distribution of Rollover Assets; Agenda Item 8,Approve the New Human Resources Technician Class Specification and Salary Range Effective April 1, 2907; and Revised Claims 07-03. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0 on Agenda Item 7 and 8. The motion passed 4 to 0 on Agenda Item 6 with two recusals. The Revised Claims 07-03 passed 4 to 0 on Revised Claim numbers 6605, 6606, 6665 and 6666R with two recusals, and passed 6 to 0 on the remaining Revised Claims. VI. BOARD BUSINESS C. Britton requested to move Agenda Item No. 3 up due to a guest from POST in the audience. Motion: J. Cyr moved to re-order the Agenda to start with Agenda Item No. 3. N. Hanko seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. A. Agenda Item No. 3—Proposed License and Management Agreement with Peninsula Open Space Trust for the Orchard Area of the Stevens Canyo Ranch Property Within Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve•, Determine that • Meeting 07-07 Page 3 the Recommended Actions are Categorically Exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA) As Set Out in The Report; Authorize the General Manager to Execute the License and Management Agreement(the "License") with Peninsula Open Space Trust—(Report R-07-41 S. Cousins presented the staff report and started with an introduction of Sue Landsittel from Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST). S. Cousins gave a PowerPoint slide presentation showing pictures of the orchard site. She said that in 2006 the District acquired the property. She said that POST will provide services to the District to maintain the orchard and that the District will manage the operation. N. Hanko asked C. Britton if the District office receives any of the apples. Ms. Landsittel replied that the apples are not sold, but given to harvest food banks as a donation. N. Hanko thanked her and expressed her thanks to staff and to Jerry Lawson of Pie Ranch. C. Riffle asked if the District's involvement included supplying its equipment. S. Cousins said that staff members may help and use District equipment. Ms. Landsittel said that there is an old tractor there for use, adding that if District staff have time to help it is nice when they do. M. Williams said that the previous owners gave the apples to Second Harvest Food Bank. He said that staff was having a difficult time finding a manager for the property and POST was willing to manage the orchard. He complimented Ms. Landsittel and S. Cousins for putting the plan together. C. Riffle asked if there were any irrigation requirements. S. Cousins said they use dry farming. Ms. Landsittel said they use low intensity care. J. Cyr commended the cooperation between the District and POST. He was glad that the fruit is not wasted and that the orchard can be used as an educational tool. N. Hanko said that she had a large painting of the Orchard painted by Kay Duffy and offered to show it to anybody that wanted to see it. K. Nitz said he liked this proposal. He asked about the Appendices not included and S. Cousins said that they were yet to be determined. Ms. Landsittel offered to forward them. K. Nitz asked for clarification of the different terraces. S. Cousins showed slides of a map showing the different areas. Meeting 07-07 Page 4 J. Cyr asked if staff was dealing with the encroaching plants. Ms. Landsittel said that they are working on that and that in July they are scheduling to pull the exotic plants. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board approve the License and Management Agreement with Peninsula Open Space Trust for the orchard area of the Stevens Canyon Ranch Property within Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve; Determine that the recommended actions are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act(CEQA) as set out in the report; Authorize the General Manager to execute the License and Management Agreement(the "License") with Peninsula Open Space Trust. P. Siemens seconded the motion. Discussion: J. Cyr said he noticed in the Operations review on the activity at this property that the window screens were removed and he asked if this was an on-going problem. C. Britton said it was, but the building will be torn down, so this will not be an issue in the future. Vote: The motion passed 6 to 0. B. Agenda Item No. 1 —Adoption of the 2007-2008 Action Plan for the Implementation of the Basic Policy of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District—(Report R-07-48). C. Britton said that the Board's comments had been incorporated into the final Action Plan, was reviewed by the Administration and Budget Committee, and the changes were noted with underline and strike-out. He said that the District's 35th Anniversary planning was added and looking at a new District logo was added. N. Hanko said she appreciated having the Minutes from the February 14t" meeting prepared and included in the Board packet so they could be referred to in reviewing this item. She referred to Operations section, page 5 under the Resource Management Strategic Plan, key project A, "Review restoration plan..."and said that every time plans change, they should come before the Board. C. Roessler replied that staff wanted this to come before the Board on an annual basis. She said that the Board reviewed the original restoration plan several years ago and added that staff can bring a more detailed plan when the report is brought to the Board. C. Britton suggested changing the wording to, "Review restoration plan with the Board and including notifying interested parties of the Board's review prier to of the Restoration Plan." Meeting 07-07 Page 5 K.Nitz referred to page 5 of the Planning section on Pond Management and thanked staff for the new wording. He asked why the Pulgas Water Tank reference was removed. A. Ruiz said that it took the place of the Sausal Pond deck plans and specification. K. Nitz said that nothing was mentioned about increasing the off-leash dog area, a subject that came up two years ago. J. Maciel said that staff will respond to this at a later time. K. Lenington added that the District is about to receive the final sign-off on the Pulgas project and they are just waiting to get this from the County. K. Nitz said that the area should be expanded to the water tank area. J. Maciel said they were also looking at realigning the fence. K. Nitz referred to page 6 of the Planning section and thanked staff for including Sausal Pond. K. Nitz referred to page 5 of the Administration section and asked about Key Projects 3 and 4. S. Rice responded. J. Cyr said that the committee did an excellent job along with the staff. N. Hanko asked if the Board would receive a clean copy of the final Action Plan. C. Britton said they would and that a clean copy would be in their binders. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board Adopt the 2007-2008 Action Plan for the Implementation of the Basic Policy of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. N. Hanko seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. C. Agenda Item No.2a—Approve the Proposed Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Budget as Presented in Agenda Item 2b (Dort R-07-53), and Adopt the Administration and Budget Committee Recommendations Contained in the Report—(Report R-07-53). C. Riffle stated that he was impressed with the District's process of developing the budget and he thanked G. Baillie, S. Rice, B. Congdon, M. Davey and P. Siemens for their help and guidance. C. Riffle reviewed the five points the Administration and Budget Committee recommended. N. Hanko commented that she also marveled at the process and the great job staff did and how well the ABC committee worked together. Meeting 07-07 Page 6 J. Cyr asked for a wording change to page 3, adding, "the design and approval" after the word "plan", and in number 5, he asked that, "direct the Committee to"wording be added. K. Nitz suggested adding"(a)"and "(b)". P. Siemens referred to the Resource Management budget (item 4) and said that staff gave their best guess and that they should complete the five-year strategic planning before looking at the budget in more detail. He also suggested that another committee look at the details. N. Hanko thanked P. Siemens for his comment. P. Siemens said there was some discussion about this and that they are getting ideas to figure it out. K.Nitz said it would be nice to add a graph or trend line to the exhibit. He referred to page 2 paragraph 2 and asked for the dollar amounts for each amount in parenthesis following items (1), (2) and (3). N. Hanko said she agreed. K. Nitz asked if PERS will increase every year. S. Rice said that in future years they should not have big fluctuations. K. Nitz said he liked the graph, but noted that the District is "riding" right on the budget line of 7%. C. Britton said that they will need to be creative, or the guidelines should be adjusted. He recommended that the ABC committee look at other measures because currently there is only one measure for the guideline. If there are other measures, it would help the Board look at the overall picture of the financial health of the agency. He said he spoke with M. Foster about options to review. P. Siemens said that they looked at this ten years ago when it ran at 50150 between debt and operating costs. Now, however, the debt service is lower and the operating costs are growing. N. Hanko added that another question to discuss is the possibility of future annexations. M. Davey said that they should not spend more money than is received from their tax base. She thought there would need to be another election in three to five years to ask . for more money. II y K. Nitz asked about the polling and asked if they determined a need to get more tax money. C. Riffle said the committee discussed that they would need to look for more revenue sources. C. Britton said that they are trying to squeeze down expenses; however, he added that every dollar that goes towards administration management another item goes without funds. N. Hanko said that the Board should think about having an open budget meeting that would allow the entire Board to discuss the budget as a whole. C. Riffle said they should schedule that meeting before the end of the calendar year. C. Britton said they would need to go back to the committee, but the fall would be the best time to schedule the full Board discussion. Meeting 07-07 Page 7 P. Siemens said they need to look at the question of whether the District owned 100,000 acres if there is enough money from their current revenue stream to manage that amount of land. C. Britton said that the Board should vote on this item after they review Agenda item number 2b and then vote on both Agenda Items 2a and 2b together. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board should discuss and review Agenda Item 2b and then vote on both Agenda Items 2a and 2b after both items have been presented. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. D. Agenda Item No. 2b—Adoption of the Budget for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Including a 2.6 Point Salary Adjustment for the Office, Supervisory and Management Employees Beginning the Closest Pay Period to April 1, 2007: Approve the New or Revised Staff Positions, Including: (a) Operations Department: The Addition of Two Equipment Mechanic Operators, A Half- Time Training Coordinator Position; and the Conversion of the Two Part- Time Temporary Clerical Positions to Regular, Half-Time Receptions/Administrative Clerks-, (b) Planning Department: Addition of an Open Space Planner I Position; and (c) Public Affairs: Addition of a Web Content Manager/Writer Position; Adopt the Resolution Approving the Budget for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 (Exhibit A) and the Amendment to the Classification and Compensation Plan (Exhibit B) Reflecting the Two and One Half Point Salary Increase for All District Employees—(Report R-07- 53). Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board approve the proposed fiscal year 2007-2008 Budget as presented in Agenda Item 2b (Report R-07-53), and adopt the Administration and Budget Committee recommendations contained in the report; Adopt the budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 including a 2.6 point salary adjustment for the Office, Supervisory and Management employees beginning the closest pay period to April 1, 2007; Approve the new or revised staff positions, including: (a) Operations Department: the addition of two Equipment Mechanic Operators, a half-time Training Coordinator position; and the conversion of the two part-time temporary clerical positions to regular, half-time Receptions/ Administrative Clerks; (b) Planning Department: addition of an Open Space Planner I position; and(c) Public Affairs: addition of a Web Content Manager/Writer position; Adopt Resolution No. 07-10 approving the budget for fiscal year 2007-2008 (Exhibit A) and the amendment to the Classification and Compensation Plan (Exhibit B)reflecting the two and one-half Meeting 07-07 Page 8 point salary increase for all District employees. P. Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. E. Agenda Item No. 4—Approve Renaming the Sagebrush Trail at Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve to the Dick Bishop Trail—(Report R-07-5 1). J. Cyr asked C. Britton how many terms D. Bishop served and C. Britton said he served three full terms. R. Jurgensen reviewed the staff report stating that D. Bishop was a Director from 1976 to 1992. He showed a map indicating the trail portion that would be renamed. N. Hanko thanked staff and added that a 20-mile trail would have been a better choice because D. Bishop was such an avid hiker of long trails. She said D. Bishop's family was very excited about having a trail named after him. She said it would work better for the family if the District waits until the fall for the trail dedication ceremony and said that K.Nitz should be there since it is in his Ward and he is Board president. K. Nitz said this was great adding that Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve had the most named trails. Motion: M. Davey moved that the Board approve renaming the Sagebrush Trail at Pulgas Ridge Open Space Preserve to the Dick Bishop Trail. J. Cyr seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. F. Agenda Item No. 5—Authorize the General Manager to Extend the Contract for Graphic Design Services with Design Concepts for an Amount Not to Exceed $53.500; Authorize the General Manager to Extend the Contract for Printing Services with Patsons Press for an Amount Not to Exceed $107,600• and Authorize the General Manager to Extend the Contract for Mailing Services with Post Haste Direct Mail Services for an Amount Not to Exceed $30,500 for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 —(Report R-07-46). K. Nitz asked if these amounts were approved in the Public Affairs action plan and R. Jurgensen said they were approved in the 2005 action plan and that these were the final extensions of the contracts. K. Nitz asked if the mailings included the coastal area and R. Jurgensen said they did. C. Riffle said he appreciated seeing that the costs had decreased. R. Jurgensen said that they may see further lower costs because the response for the newsletter on the Coast had not been very high. Motion: P. Siemens moved that the Board authorize the General Manager to extend the contract for graphic design services with Design Concepts for an amount not to exceed $53,500; Meeting 07-07 Page 9 Authorize the General Manager to extend the contract for printing services with Patsons Press for an amount not to exceed $107,600; and Authorize the General Manager to extend the contract for mailing services with Post Haste Direct Mail Services for an amount not to exceed $30,500 for fiscal year 2007-2008. J. Cyr seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. VII. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS N. Hanko announced that M. Davey will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award from Avenidas this year. She said M. Davey was chosen under their environmentalist category and she said the event will take place on May 20, 2007. She said she went to the City of Palo Alto's State of the City event and was asked to sit with the elected officials. She reminded the Board that time was running out to file the Fair Political Practices Commission(FPPC) forms. Her only compensable meeting was tonight's Board meeting(3/28). J. Cyr said he received a fax about the wildflowers at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve and the Edgewood County Park. (R. Jurgensen said that it was sent out that day and K. Nitz requested that the notice be posted to the website.) He said his only compensable meeting was tonight's Board meeting (3/28). M. Davey said her compensable meeting this period was tonight's Board meeting (3/28). On March 27th, she attended the Volunteer and Docent Recognition event adding that it was a complete "lovefest". She said that K. Lenington gave a great presentation. She said she attended the Bay Area Open Space Council (BAOSC) meeting and enjoyed the great conversations in the drive both to and from the meeting. She said that there were over 35 people from different agencies attending the BAOSC meeting and it was a good show and tell meeting. She showed a letter stating that the District has the world's greatest staff. P. Siemens said his compensable meeting was tonight's Board meeting (3/28). He said he visited Death Valley and there were no flowers (or very little). C. Riffle said his only compensable meeting was tonight's Board meeting(3/28). He thanked R. Jurgensen for his preparation work for the Kiwanis Club meeting they attended. He said he went to a Sempervirens Fund dinner and said that Joe Simitian and Ira Ruskin were also at the dinner. He visited POST's Rancho del Oro and said it was a beautiful place. K. Nitz's only compensable meeting was tonight's Board meeting (3/28). He said that the parking lot was full with cars for people who went on the wildflower hike at Puigas Ridge OSP. Meeting 07-07 Page 10 C. Britton referred to several items in the FYI's, including the memo on the annual Volunteer hours worked; the book status report (adding that they probably will not have a second printing); that the Lois Hogle bench memo was there to remind them of the event on May 18'' and said that trees could not be planted around the bench as the site is a designated helicopter landing site, and they can only shuttle in about 20 people. He pointed out the notice of the checkerspot butterfly release of 12 adult males, and he asked if any Board members wanted to attend the April 5th event at 11:00 a.m. He asked which Board members were planning on attending the Special Parks Forum and asked them to fill out the registration form and fax it back to him by the end of the week(J. Cyr, K. Nitz, and C. Riffle said they planned to attend). He said that David Hanson announced his retirement at the BAOSC meeting. He told the Board that the Stanford G-1 trail went to the Board of Supervisors on March 27`h and Stanford has proposed payments instead. He said there are a few trail projects to use the money on and that the funds will only be allocated in San Mateo County. He handed out t-shirts commemorating the District's 35th anniversary and greenbelt celebration, and he said that P. McKowan had suggested having both on the t-shirt so it can be used all year. S. Schectman gave a status report about the appeal in the coast case and the motion to dismiss. She told the Board they do not know when the Appeals Court will review the motion. She said she had a brochure with resources to help answer questions for the FPPC forms. She said she has asked M. Freeman to create a map showing the 500' circle for real property owned by Directors to help identify any potential conflicts. S. Rice attended a meeting of the Santa Clara County Assistant City Managers group and learned a new term for going green, "climate control". J. Maciel let the Board know that C. Roessler brought in samples of slender false brome and a flyer about the plan to be shared with the Board. G. Baillie said there will be a CPR class scheduled for an upcoming evening and that both first aid and CPR will be taught and he said a handout was available for them to take. R. Jurgensen said that the District volunteer hours had increased by 10% over last year and that 75%of the projects were focused on resource management. He said the planned polling time was now increased to 18 minutes (up from 15 minutes). To equalize the cost, the consultant Godbe proposed to have only two focus groups instead of the originally proposed three focus groups. He said that each focus group would be videotaped. He said the Kiwanis Club meeting was a good opportunity to make connections with the community. C. Britton added to R. Jurgensen's comment about community outreach and said that C. Riffle was going to different groups and introducing himself. He said that if other Board members would like to go to city council meetings,they should let staff know I,I • Meeting 07-07 Page 11 to set it up. He added that this is a good way to touch base with the local cities in the District. P. Siemens asked if there was a kit Board members could take to different groups and R. Jurgensen said there was. M. Davey suggested that R. Jurgensen develop a 20-minute presentation for them. VIII. ADJOURNMENT At 9:35 p.m., the Regular meeting was adjourned. Lisa Zadek Recording Secretary