HomeMy Public PortalAbout20221206 - Minutes - Board of Directors (BOD)
December 6, 2022
Board Meeting 22-27
*Approved by the Board of Directors on January 25, 2023.
SPECIAL MEETING
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MIDPENINSULA REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
The Board of Directors conducted this meeting in accordance with California Government Code
section 54953(e) and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Resolution 21-33.
APPROVED MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE MIDPENINSULA
REGIONAL OPEN SPACE DISTRICT
President Kersteen-Tucker called the special meeting of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space
District to order at 9:01 a.m.
ROLL CALL
Members Present: Jed Cyr, Larry Hassett, Karen Holman, Yoriko Kishimoto, Curt Riffle,
and Zoe Kersteen-Tucker
Members Absent: Pete Siemens
Staff Present: General Manager Ana Ruiz, General Counsel Hilary Stevenson, Controller
Mike Foster, Chief Financial Officer/Director of Administrative Services
Stefan Jaskulak, Assistant General Manager Brian Malone, Assistant
General Manager Susanna Chan, Acting District Clerk Maria Soria,
Controller Mike Foster, Budget & Analysis Manager Rafaela Duran,
Finance Manager Andrew Taylor, Natural Resources Manager Kirk
Lenington, Chief Ranger/Visitor Services Manager Matt Anderson,
Planning Manager Jane Mark, Land & Facilities Manager Brandon
Stewart, Engineering & Construction Manager Jay Lin, Human Resources
Manager Candice Basnight, Information Systems & Technology Manager
Casey Hiatt, Public Affairs Manager Kori Skinner, Real Property Manager
Mike Williams, Budget Analyst I Lupe Hernandez, and Budget Analyst I
Elissa Martinez
President Kersteen-Tucker announced this meeting is being held in accordance with Government
Code section 54953(e) and Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District Resolution 21-33,
allowing Board members to participate remotely. The District has done its best to conduct a
meeting where everyone has an opportunity to listen to the meeting and to provide comment. The
public has the opportunity to comment on the agenda, and the opportunity to listen to this meeting
through the internet or via telephone. This information can be found on the meeting agenda, which
Meeting 22-27 Page 2
was physically posted at the District’s Administrative Office, and on the District website. President
Kersteen-Tucker described the process and protocols for the meeting.
Director Pete Siemens joined the meeting at 9:04 a.m.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
There were no oral communications.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA
Motion: Director Holman moved, and Director Kishimoto seconded the motion to adopt the
agenda.
ROLL CALL VOTE: 7-0-0
BOARD BUSINESS
1. Informational Presentation - Peninsula Open Space Trust Strategic Plan Overview
General Manager Ana Ruiz commented that for the past eight years the Board has reviewed the
annual strategic plan goals and objectives alongside the findings of an environmental scan to
consider how best to position the District in the upcoming fiscal year to have the greatest impact
in accomplishing its goals and mission, and best address the new and emerging needs, challenges
and opportunities. Ms. Ruiz introduced Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) President Walter
Moore. Ms. Ruiz stated that Mr. Moore will review their organization’s strategic plan, which is
important for the District to understand since POST is one of the District’s strongest partners.
Mr. Moore presented an overview of POST’s updated strategic plan, which included updates to
their processes, goals and objectives, and strategies.
Director Riffle stated that the District has worked with POST over the last forty-five years mainly
as an acquisition partner. Director Riffle inquired about how POST sees the partnership going
forward and whether the District should think or work differently with POST or continue with the
same type of partnership.
Mr. Moore stated POST will be looking to the District for guidance in areas such as community
engagement, building trust within communities, best utilizing local groups, all of which is
relatively new to POST, and to continue to work together in connecting biodiversity and protecting
the lands.
Director Holman expressed excitement about POST expanding its community engagement and
future discussions on connectivity.
Director Siemens remarked his astonishment at the growth of POST through the years. Director
Siemens stated this is his last year on the Board of Directors but looks forward to the continued
cooperation between POST and the District in supporting each other’s goals in the future.
Meeting 22-27 Page 3
President Kersteen-Tucker thanked Mr. Moore for the presentation and found it both important
and informational.
Public comment opened at 9:48 a.m.
No public comments were submitted.
Public comment closed at 9:48 a.m.
2. 2022 Environmental Scan and Fiscal Year 2023-24 Strategic Plan Goals and
Objectives (R-22-137)
Chief Financial Officer Director of Administrative Services Stefan Jaskulak described the
purpose and process used to develop the annual environmental scan. Mr. Jaskulak described key
themes of the environmental scan, such as the cost-of-living withing the District and surrounding
areas, mental and physical health concerns for the workforce, the onboarding of two new Board
members from Wards 1 and 6, the high costs facing the Wildland Fire Resilience Program along
with high competition for in-demand contracted services, the need for sufficient internal capacity
to manage new lands and facilities, significant inflation affecting the costs of goods and services,
the District’s stable financial status, and that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion continues to be of
high importance for the community. Mr. Jaskulak continued to review what opportunities could
assist with those challenges.
Director Kishimoto inquired what percentage of work is contracted versus completed internally
and what are the constraints affecting the Wildland Fire Resilience Program.
Mr. Malone stated contractors are being used for grant work with likely an equal amount of staff
conducting the regular work. Currently, forest health is running about 100% contracted out and
fuel treatment work is running close to a 50-50 split between contractors and staff.
Ms. Ruiz stated her concerns of having available outside resources to augment internal District
resources, given that fuel management work is being pursued simultaneously by so many other
organizations, that they too are having internal discussions about whether there are sufficient
resources to contract with.
Director Holman expressed concern after reading a section of the report regarding the cost of living
and the recruitment challenges stating that the District’s high-valued mission may be diminishing
in terms of attracting people to consider District employment given the broader statewide focus on
preserving the environment.
Mr. Jaskulak explained the pool of people who want to work in government is small compared to
the private sector, and that the number of retirements that happened during the pandemic further
reduced the labor pool. The District has seen a trend of smaller candidate pools and sometimes
there are zero qualified applicants, requiring the District to resolicit. In the past, many applicants
would apply because of the mission, but nowadays many seem to balance the mission with pay.
Mr. Jaskulak stated the District does stay competitive with neighboring agencies and provides
the opportunity for continuing education and hybrid work environment. Moreover, the
internship program has been ramped up and expanded into more departments as a pipeline for
employment.
Meeting 22-27 Page 4
Director Holman inquired if there are any studies that show how much job satisfaction is a factor
in job selection.
Human Resources Manager Candice Basnight stated that this subject was discussed at a recent
labor conference and that job satisfaction is important, but more important in the local region is
the cost of living and cost of housing. Ms. Basnight stated the District’s competitive edge is the
mission, but pay is a significant factor and the District must stay competitive. The District’s
strategy is to stay ahead of things and to looks for ways to attract qualified people who share in
the same vision, while also retaining existing staff and developing and implementing succession
planning.
Director Hassett suggested the District should consider how fuel load reduction management is
structured moving forward as it would save resources and be financially beneficial if more of that
work was done internal versus being contracted out.
President Kersteen-Tucker suggested scheduling a Board Retreat in January once the two new
Board members join the Board of Directors to discuss the best practices of high functioning boards,
and how best to work with staff.
President Kersteen-Tucker suggested that the Financial and Operational Sustainability Model
(FOSM) review and update of the 2015 FOSM timeline should be sped up to stay ahead of
priority areas of operational growth.
President Kersteen-Tucker suggested the Board should review the mission statement and think
about what ecologically sensitive public enjoyment and education entails. The balance between
public access and natural resource protection is a continuous struggle and is something the Board
might consider deliberating.
Director Siemens suggested designating a trails coordinator staff position focused on trail plans,
the visitor trail experience, and closing trail gaps.
Director Siemens suggested picking one trail a year that the District can reroute where slopes are
steep. Director Siemens suggested a trail in Sierra Azul that goes from the lower parking lot at
Mt. Umunhum and up and over to the Lexington Reservoir; this trail would benefit from
rerouting small sections of the trail to reduce erosion and improves the user experience.
Director Riffle stated that ecologically-sensitive public enjoyment includes public accessibility,
which is a much broader topic beyond trail alignments and trail construction. Director Riffle
stated the District would miss an opportunity if the Board equates ecologically sensitive public
enjoyment strictly to trails.
Director Riffle stated the FOSM has been tremendously helpful to the organization and in recent
years there have been discussions about updating it. Staff is critical to the organization, next to
the land, and its staffing growth has been well informed by the FOSM in prior years.
Director Riffle stated that the District will be expanding geographically with the proposed
purchase of its 27th preserve. An important consideration is the geographic expansion of the
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District, and its connections with diverse socio-economic communities. Lastly, Director Riffle
stated it is worth exploring whether there are areas where staff should be hired instead of
contracting out the work, such wildfire management projects.
Director Riffle inquired what is the best forum to have the discussion of ecologically sensitive
public enjoyment.
Ms. Ruiz stated this item could be agendized as a future workshop topic for the Board.
President Kersteen-Tucker commented the item could be added to the board workshop that will be
scheduled in January/February.
Mr. Jaskulak gave a brief summary of what the process is to update the FOSM, and stated the
contract should hopefully be in place by March.
Public comment opened at 10:44 a.m.
Craig Gleason commented on the Environmental Scan regarding roads and trails, erosion issues,
and balancing the cost to maintain them and using the trails as a means to educate communities to
the natural environment.
The Board recessed at 10:48 a.m. and reconvened at 11:02 a.m. with all Directors present.
Acting District Clerk Maria Soria mentioned there was an additional public speaker.
Ryan Augustine a member of the Midpeninsula Ranger Peace Officers Association provided
comments about what employees look for in job selection and asked the Board to look at why
staff are leaving to other agencies. Staff if very well trained and it is important not to lose
institutional knowledge and the investment made on the employees.
Public comment closed at a.m. 10:52 a.m.
Mr. Malone reviewed the process used to develop the District’s strategic plan, which guides the
development of each year’s budget and action plan. Mr. Malone reviewed the draft FY23-24
Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives and proposed changes.
Public comment opened at 11:30 a.m.
No public comments were submitted.
Public comment closed at 11:30 a.m.
The Board suggested edits to the FY24 Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives.
The Board recessed at 12:05 p.m. and reconvened at 12:25 p.m. with all Directors present.
President Kersteen-Tucker opened public comment at 1:08 p.m.
Meeting 22-27 Page 6
Craig Gleason commented he attended a volunteer restoration event with the District and another
volunteer event with Grassroots Ecology. He noticed interesting differences between both of the
events the District’s volunteers are mostly older than him and the Grassroots Ecology volunteers
are mostly younger. He asked the District’s Volunteer Program Lead is she was training
successors and if she had a pipeline of new volunteers joining. Mr. Gleason suggested the
District should partner with Grassroots Ecology to attain new volunteers. Mr. Gleason also
stated the Woodside Beasts Mountain Bike Team contacted him, they use the District’s preserves
and they are interested in their kids participating on trail maintenance projects for the trails they
use. Mr. Gleason suggested combining land stewardship with trail maintenance to engage the
kids in the land that they already experience.
Public comment closed at 1:11 p.m.
Mr. Malone reviewed the proposed edits to the FY24 Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives.
Motion: Director Cyr moved, and Director Hassett seconded the motion to adopt the FY23-24
Strategic Plan Goals and Objectives, as modified.
ROLL CALL VOTE: 7-0-0
3. Board Policy for Closing Measure AA Portfolios and Amending the Expenditure
Plan (R-22-138)
Assistant General Manager Susanna Chan provided progress updates on the Measure AA
commitments. In 2014, voters approved Measure AA (MAA), which is a 30 year, $300M
general obligation bond to implement 25 priority actions identified in the Vision Plan. These
Priority Actions are capital projects grouped into 25 portfolios, organized by geographic area
within District boundaries. The MAA Expenditure Plan, which was incorporated as part of the
bond measure, lists each portfolio and corresponding Priority Actions along with an estimated
funding allocation for each portfolio. The District began using MAA funds in 2014 and Fiscal
Year 2021-22 (FY22) marks the completion of the eighth year of funding. The overall MAA
completion range is determined by using two different estimation methods for each MAA
Portfolio and then calculating a weighted average of all portfolios using two different weighting
methods. Ms. Chan stated the estimated overall MAA completion ranges between 25.8% and
44.4% using these two methods. This compares and aligns well to currently being at almost 28%
or 8.5 years through the 30-year MAA timeframe. Ms. Chan continued to review the status of
the FY19 to FY23 MAA five-year project list and the accomplishments.
Director Hassett inquired if the Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) has been provided this update.
Ms. Chan stated the BOC meets yearly and they receive the Measure AA Annual Accountability
Report.
Director Kishimoto expressed her appreciation of the analysis. Director Kishimoto stated that
inflation affects the rising costs of materials and the costs to complete projects.
Director Kishimoto suggested the $10.9M in grant funding should be included in the report, and
going forward also tracking additional grant funding and any general funds used in MAA projects.
Meeting 22-27 Page 7
Mr. Jaskulak reviewed the proposed policy on Procedures for Closing MAA Portfolios and
Amending the Expenditure Plan. The proposed policy explains how the District would close a
completed MAA portfolio and reallocate any remaining portfolio funds. At the end of every
fiscal year, staff would review the accomplishments made for every MAA Portfolio. If all the
Priority Actions have been addressed, yet the District has identified projects that further the
intent of that portfolio, the portfolio would be deemed substantially complete. If all Priority
Actions have been addressed and no future project is anticipated, the portfolio would be deemed
complete. District staff is preparing to present a list of proposed Expenditure Plan Amendments
to the Action Plan & Budget Committee (ABC) for initial review, upon concurrence by ABC, the
proposed amendments would be presented to the Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) for its
advisory opinion. ABC concurrence, along with the BOC opinion would then be presented to the
full Board of Directors for consideration of approval by at minimum a two-thirds majority vote
at a publicly noticed meeting to adopt the Expenditure Plan Amendments.
Director Kishimoto inquired if there is a process of retaining funds in a portfolio for a project that
requires repairs.
Mr. Jaskulak stated it depends on the project, if the project is a capital improvement project
funding could be left in the portfolio and staff could identify the amount, otherwise it would be
funded by the general fund as maintenance.
Director Riffle expressed his concern of shifting funds from an incomplete MAA portfolio to
another underfunded MAA portfolio and about the commitments that has been made to the
public.
Mr. Jaskulak stated this process is not a typical circumstance but provides the flexibility to shift
funds into other portfolios that may be overfunded. Also, any funds that are shifted will be
presented to the ABC then to the BOC and finally to the Board for approval by a two-thirds
majority vote.
Public comment opened at 1:55 p.m.
No public comments were submitted.
Public comment closed at 1:55 p.m.
Director Riffle commented shifting the funds makes sense and understands the need for
flexibility but wants to ensure there is transparency to the public if funds are to be shifted.
Motion: Director Kishimoto moved, and Director Cyr seconded the motion to approve the General
Manager’s recommendation on Board Policy for Closing Measure AA Portfolios and Amending
the Expenditure Plan.
ROLL CALL VOTE: 7-0-0
President Kersteen-Tucker reviewed the topics suggested by the board to ensure they are
captured in the minutes. The topics include scheduling a Board Workshop early in the upcoming
year. Ms. Ruiz stated she will work with President Kersteen-Tucker and Vice-President
Kishimoto on the logistics of the workshop. In addition, adding an agenda item for the upcoming
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Board Workshop or at a future Board meeting to discuss the balance between Natural Resource
Protection with Ecologically Sensitive Public Enjoyment and Education. Adding the Cloverdale
property as either an opportunity or a challenge to the Environment Scan, scheduling a future
study session on youth engagement, and lastly to consider the discussion of expanding the
geographic scope of the organization.
Director Holman thanked the Board and staff for all of their work on behalf of the public and
more importantly on behalf of nature for their efforts in protecting the environment and wildlife
and stated she is proud to be a part of the organization.
Director Kishimoto commented she has been approached by other organizations to use the
Districts new administrative office and stated the District could play a larger role in convening
the environmental community in the new building.
Director Riffle complimented staff for their work and thanked Ms. Ruiz for inviting Mr. Moore
to present their environmental scan to hear about their goals, programs, and how it all applies to
the District. Also, he looks forward to expanding the District’s partnerships and reiterated the
importance of updating the FOSM, which is fundamental to the District’s continued progress.
Director Hassett stated this is his last year serving on the Board and that he is grateful the District
is in good hands with the staff and the two incoming Directors.
Director Siemens commented he appreciated working with the current board, past board and
talented staff, and is looking forward to seeing the outcomes in the future.
ADJOURNMENT
President Zoe Kersteen-Tucker adjourned the special meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District at 2:04 p.m.
Maria Soria, CMC
Acting District Clerk