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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20090909 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD) (2) Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Meeting 09-25 SPECIAL AND REGULAR MEETING BOARD OF DIRECTORS MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 9,2009 MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING I. ROLL CALL - President Nonette Hanko called the Special Meeting to order at 6:05 p.m., and asked for the Roll Call Members Present: Pete Siemens,Nonette Hanko, Mary Davey, Larry Hassett, Jed Cyr, and Cecily Harris Members Absent: Curt Riffle Staff Present: Steve Abhors, Sue Schectman, Duncan Simmons 11. CLOSED SESSION—The Board recessed to closed session to discuss Agenda Item 1. REGULAR MEETING 111. President Hanko called the Regular Meeting to order at 7:02 p.m., and asked for the Roll Call. Members Present: Pete Siemens, Jed Cyr, Nonette Hanko, Mary Davey, Larry Hassett, and Cecily Harris Members Absent: Curt Riffle Other Staff Present: M. Williams, D. Sanguinetti, R. Jurgensen, A. Speidel, A. Ruiz, N. Perez, A. Duong President Hanko stated that there were no items to report on for Closed Session item 1. IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS—There were none. Meeting 09-25 Page 2 V. ADOPTION OF AGENDA Motion: Director Davey moved adoption of the Agenda. Director Siemens seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. VI. ADOPTION OF CONSENT CALENDAR Motion: Director Cyr moved adoption of the Consent Calendar to approve the Revised Claims 09-15; Approval of the July 22,2009 and August 12,2009 Board Meeting Minutes, Approval of three Written Communications; Authorization of Payment for Additional Legal Services from the Law Firm of Hope, Fenton,Jones & Appel in an Amount Not to Exceed $100,000 in the Matter of Chiocchi et al. vs. Presentation Center and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District(Santa Clara Superior Court Case No. 107 CV 095669); and Accept Audited Basic Financial Statements for the Year Ended March 31, 2009. Director Hassett seconded the motion. The motion passed 6 to 0. VIL BOARD BUSINESS A. Agenda Item 6—Accept Update on the District's Volunteer Program—(Report R-09- 103) R. Jurgensen introduced P. McKowan and thanked P. McKowan for his good work. P. McKowan gave a PowerPoint slide presentation. He thanked the Board for attending the Volunteer Recognition event and stressed how important the Board's support is for the Volunteer program. He said that staff sends a survey after each event to find ways to improve future events. He showed a slide showing the number of hours worked by District Volunteers by category. He estimated 7,000 volunteer hours for 2009. He reviewed the Advanced Resource Management Stewards (ARMS)program and described how it has been working. The ARMS program allows volunteers to work on volunteer projects without staff supervision. Director Hassett said he attended the Volunteer Recognition event and that it was the best event so far. He said the location was outstanding. President Hanko said it was a magnificent event and the best to date. Director Davey said the event was spectacular. She was very impressed with how the area was prepared, the great signage, and the food was terrific. Director Cyr said that choosing that location gave the volunteers an opportunity to see a key piece of district land in San Mateo County. Director Siemens said he enjoyed the event too. He said a recognition party one in awhile it helps with getting good volunteer support and said he is looking forward to an event at Mt. Umunhum. Director Harris said she was sorry she missed the event. She thanks P. McKowan for the annual report. The Board accepted the report. No further action was required. Meeting09-25 Page 3 B. Agenda Item 7—Accept Staff Report on Proposed Concept for District Coffee Table Book and Approve Moving Forward with Implementation of the Project—(Report R-09- 106) R. Jurgensen presented the report and said that the coffee table book is one of the key projects for the Public Affairs department. He said that staff presented the report to the Legislative, Funding and Public Affairs Committee(LAFPC) and the Committee requested that staff present it to the full Board. He said that K. Britt was the lead staff on this project,but she was unable to attend the meeting tonight. He gave an overview of how staff began researching how coffee table book should look. He said that staff suggested featuring photos done both by professionals and amateurs and to include artwork. He said that the upcoming Second Annual Photo Contest could feature winning photos. He said there might be a hosted art and nature day to have people go to a site for sketching, drawing, and painting. He said that the District already has donated artwork. The book would be about 200 pages. It would have a full page to index the photo and artwork with description of what the photo is about. Staff is still determining how to arrange the pages. The book would be soft-bound. The$30,000 budget would be j spread over two years. The next step is to issue an Request For Proposal (RFP) to select an author and a publisher. Director Cyr said that the committee is very excited about the project. He asked R. Jurgensen to show the East Bay Regional Park book. He said the committee preferred the idea of using photos from the community rather than from one photographer. Director Harris said she thought this is a great project. She said she knows a little about the small publishing process. She suggested some options for looking at cost effectiveness. President Hanko asked how much the book would cost the public. R. Jurgensen said that they estimated the price of the book for the public would be between $25 to $35 and that EBRPD's book was printed in China to control printing costs. Director Cyr said that the committee was very impressed with EBRPD's soft cover example. He said it feels more comfortable to handle. Director Hassett asked about the photo contest and asked why there was an age limit. He asked why youths were not encouraged to submit photos. R. Jurgensen gave the reasons whythe chose 1 S ears old as the limit, y y t,but he said that they could look at changing that criteria. S. Abbors said that they could have a child category and that he would work on tha t with R. Jurgensen to make that happen. President Hank g pp o said that it was time to make the District interesting to children and find ways to encourage them to participate. President Hanko suggested having the pictures organized by District preserve. i Meeting 09-25 Page 4 Director Hassett suggested encouraging seasonal photography in the contest. He said that the Skyline area is beautiful when it has a layer of snow. He said there are definitely four seasons in that area. He said that there is plenty of donated photography and art and said he didn't think they need to go out to hire a professional photographer. He asked if this would be a revenue neutral book. R. Jurgensen said that it was a goal to be close to revenue neutral. Director Siemens said the committee was unanimously in agreement not to pay for artwork. He said that the committee agreed that they did not want to see a lot of texts. He said that seasonal photographs are critical. S. Abbors said that this is the beginning of the process. He thanked the Board for their ideas. He said this is an opportunity for looking at ways to increase the District's recognition in the community. The Board accepted the report. No further action was required. C. Agenda Item 8—Review and Accept the First Quarter FY2009-1 0 Budget Status Report—(Report R-09-1 00) S. Abbors introduced the report and said this is the first quarterly report to the Board so they can see how staff is doing in reaching their goals. A. Speidel said that staff's goal is to present the information that will be as useful as possible for the managers and the Board. The expenditures are grouped into budget categories to see how spending in key areas is going. She said that M. Foster has presented some new estimates on the tax revenue. She reviewed the county revenues. She showed slides of actual percentages spent in the first quarter and said that 17% of the budget had been spent, overall district-wide with 25%of the year passed. Director Cyr referred to page 4 under Planning noting that they had zeroed out the Coastside Protection category previously,but now there are expenses showing. A. Ruiz said that they need to reallocate those funds. Director Davey said that she noted that operating expenses and administrative costs were at 25%. She said she looked at anything that was over 25% and then looked at the reason why. She said there was too much information in the report. She said this information is great for the departments,but she said the Board did not need so many line items to review. President Hanko commented that some Board members like to read all of the information provided. Director Hassett said that the layout and format of the report was easy to follow and to read. Director Cyr said the report is very informative and he feels more confident making budgeting decisions. He asked whether the time used to prepare the report was of value to those preparing it. He also said he was interested in knowing about projects that were jMeeting 09-25 Page 5 I I unanticipated. S. Abbors said that the object in doing this was to provide the Board with regular information on how projects are progressing. He said that he would discuss the process with the Managers when they meet. He said, ultimately, the goal is to get to an electronic budgeting system to track the budgets on a daily basis to simplify report preparation , but the District is not yet in a position to implement such a system.. Director Harris said that the report will be helpful for the ABC meetings. Director Siemens said he was also concerned about the amount of staff time. He said he found the information on pages 5, 6 and 7 to be most useful and interesting. President Hanko said she appreciated the information in this report. She said that this will help the ABC committee when they meet. The Board accepted the report. No further action was required. VIII. INFORMATIONAL REPORTS j I I COMMITTEE REPORTS Legislative, Funding, and Public Affairs Committee met on September 3, 2009. Director Cyr reported that they discussed the coffee table book. They looked at the Santa Clara County Fire Department request for a bench. He said the committee will recommend installing a bench at St. Joseph's Hill Open Space Preserve. He said they considered an amendment to the Rules of Procedure in regards to notice for standing committees. President Hanko thanked the committee for coming to resolution for the firefighter's bench. STAFF REPORTS R. Jurgensen said that the authors of AB979 amended their language to allow traps on open space land,but no longer allow shooting. He said it is now a two-year bill. He said he and S. Abbors went to Mt. Umunhum on Monday with a Washington staff member from Mike Honda's office, and will be going with staff from Senator Feinstein's office and also from Senator Boxer's office in the near future. Director Siemens asked if there was still $4 million in j the bill, and R. Jurgensen gave an explanation about how the money is arranged between the House and the Senate. Director Siemens asked about the stimulus funds. R. Jurgensen replied that staff is looking for stimulus funds for certain district projects. Director Hassett asked about the article to be submitted for the South Skyline newsletter and asked if he could see a draft of what was being prepared. R. Jurgensen said that they would provide a draft to him. M. Williams pointed out a Closing Memo in the Board's FYIs and he thanked S. Sommer and S. Schectman for their assistance. He gave an update on the former McCarthy property. A. Ruiz said that J. Andersen has been working on the defensible space project and has completed the outreach. She said they processed one permit so far. She pointed out a letter from the California Water Services Company regarding the parking lot project at El Corte de Madera. S. Abbors said that the employee retention survey is moving forward and is near the end of the information gathering stage. He said the comments are very helpful and candid. He said the C. Meeting 09-25 Page 6 Koopman represented the District at a San Mateo Farm Bureau meeting. He said the Farm Bureau is looking forward to seeing members of the District's Board there, and he gave two upcoming dates. He said staff will provide the Board with the information they need before they attend those meetings. He said there was a tour of the Woods property and said it will be a $10 million project. He said there was a positive tour at Hidden Villa. He said he met with Audrey Rust, and she said our website was the best site of its kind. She also praised the District's Land Management Program. He said that events are rapidly unrolling at Mt. Umunhurn and that they are preparing what Mt. Umunhurn might look without all of the buildings, with and without the monolith. He pointed out several FYIs in the board packet. D. Sanguinetti pointed out the Toyon Trail FYI. The section of the trail is completed and there is a nice connection between the old Park Ranch subdivision into Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. DIRECTOR REPORTS Director Davey said that tonight is her only compensable meeting. She said the Volunteer Recognition event was very welcoming and every detail was well thought out. She said the website additions are very interesting and especially enjoyed the interview with D. Sanguinetti. Director Cyr said that tonight is his only compensable meeting. He said he would be participating in the Trail Crew event on Saturday. He said he received photos from John Maciel in his mail. He received a newsletter spotlighting students using the natural world and found it interesting that they used Pichetti as one of their resources. He said he hoped they were notifying the District when they have groups going there. He asked R. Jurgensen to look at the article and contact them to mention the District in future articles. Director Hassett said that tonight was his only compensable meeting. He said that CalWater has purchased Skyline Water. Director Harris said that tonight is her only compensable meeting. She has been hiking at Purisima and witnessed all three user groups all behaved well, and was pleased to see this. She said she would be out of town from September 19 through 24 and will be attending the California Special District Association Conference. Director Harris asked what the staff recognition event was and if it is a whole day event. S. Abbors said it is a full day event and gave an overview of the event. Director Siemens said tonight is his only compensable meeting. He said he has been working on the displays at the Nature Center. S. Abbors said that Director Siemens has been doing a lot of work that would have cost the District a lot of money to repair and noted that he is volunteering his time. President Hanko said that she notices the La Honda meeting is scheduled on September 23, 2009, but there will be two Board members absent. She said that there is now a third option. She said that all Board members should be present and asked everyone to consider rescheduling the meeting to October or November. She also thanked S. Abhors and said there are now two trails that have a video showing what it is like hiking on a trail. S. Abbors said that staff is working with Google and that there may be three trails highlighted. President Hanko said tonight is her only compensable meeting. Meeting 09-25 Page 7 IX ADJOURNMENT President Hanko adjourned the Special and Regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District at 9:10 p.m. Lisa Zadek, Recording Secretary