Sacramento Area Sewer District Board Meeting – July 18, 2024
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Sacramento Area Sewer District Board Meeting – July 18, 2024
The Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD) and Northern California Sanitation Agency's Financing Authority held a board meeting on July 18, 2024 (the transcript states July 10, 2024, but the provided date is used per instructions). The meeting was called to order at 9:33 a.m. with a quorum present. Board members present included Chair Hume, Directors Frost, Kaplan, Carpensy Costa, Kennedy, Roblis, Swin, and Desmond. The meeting covered routine approvals, a committee report on infill development, updates to the Confluence Regional Partnership Program, and the annual collection of delinquent sewer charges.
Consent Calendar
- Items 1–14 were approved unanimously. These included routine approvals and actions, among them plans and specifications for septic conversion projects in Linda Manor, Old Florentown, Franklin, and Hood, which collectively received approximately $36 million in state funding.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made on the consent calendar or on non-agenda items.
- During the public hearing for Item 19 (delinquent charges), no public comments were received.
Discussion Items
- Item 16 – Miscellaneous Director and District Engineer Matters: The district engineer reported that the July 24 meeting is canceled and the next meeting is August 14. He highlighted progress on septic conversion projects leveraging state funding and provided an update on employee transition from the county to the district. Pension legislation (SB 1234?) was signed by the Governor on July 2, ensuring employees retain pension tier and service credit. Onboarding of 425 employees (current county employees) began; none have declined the transition.
- Item 17 – MPL Development Board Committee Report: Mike Hewitt, Director of Policy and Planning, presented outcomes of the Infill Development Board Committee, which met four times over the past year. The committee recommended adjusting the Economic Development Competitiveness Program to a single 50% impact fee reduction for all businesses creating jobs, regardless of job count, to better support small and medium businesses. The cost increase is estimated at $100,000 per year. The committee also recommended outreach improvements, including adding infill topics to development meetings, creating an online informational widget, and developing an impact fee estimating tool. The committee was disbanded by a unanimous vote.
- Item 18 – Confluence Regional Partnership Program Policy: Mike Hewitt presented updates to the Confluence program (formerly the non-rate, non-fee revenue and reserve policy). Key changes include: merging two district policies into one; renaming the program; adjusting the septic-to-sewer conversion program to a five-year rolling average of $600,000 per year; simplifying the economic development program to a single 50% fee reduction; incorporating sewer impact fee waivers (for low-income housing) into the Confluence program with a $1 million annual allocation; and reallocating budgets among categories (e.g., reducing watershed management by $25,000). The district engineer also gains delegated approval authority for certain programs. The policy was approved by a vote (8-0-1, with Director Kennedy abstaining).
- Item 19 – Collection of Delinquent Sewer Service Charges on Property Tax Roll: Mr. Banda presented the annual resolution to transfer delinquent charges to the property tax roll. Approximately 16,000 accounts remained delinquent after notices were sent (down from 19,000). The public hearing was opened and closed with no comments, and the resolution was adopted unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Consent Calendar approved unanimously.
- MPL Development Board Committee disbanded by unanimous vote after recommending program changes.
- Confluence Regional Partnership Program Policy approved 8-0-1 (Kennedy abstained). The policy will be effective immediately.
- Delinquent charges resolution adopted unanimously, directing the clerk to file the levy report with the Auditor-Controller.
- Meeting adjourned after the last item.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, I'm told we have a quorum. And so go ahead and call to order the uh Wednesday, July 10th meeting of the Sacramento area sewer districts, Northern California uh Sanitation Agency's financing authority at 933 a.m. and ask for a roll call, please. Here Desmond Frost here. Kaplan here. Carpensy Costa. President. Kennedy. Here. Roblis. Swin. Here. And Hume. I am here. And you have a quorum. Great. Thank you. Let's begin then with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you join Director Frost. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. For which it stands under individual with liberty and just route. All right, thank you. And now if the clerk would please read the Metro Cable statement and the public comment procedures. This meeting of the Sacramento Area Sewer District is cable cast live on the Metro Cable 14, the local governor government affairs channel on the Comcast and ATT U versus cable systems. This meeting is closed captioned and live streamed at Metro14 Live.SatCounty.gov. Today's meeting replaced Sunday, July 14th at 9 a.m. on Channel 14. This meeting can also be viewed at YouTube.com backslash metro cable 14. In accordance with government code 5495 2.3 compensation for meeting of these legislative bodies is required to be verbally disclosed. The amount of a hundred dollars will be paid for each member participating today as a member of the Sacramento Area Sewer District. Compensation for Sacramento Supervisors and City of Sacramento Council members is paid to the county and city respectively to partially offset the cost of those governments. Compensation for other board members is delivered to the individuals. To make an in-person public comment, please complete a speaker request form and hand it to the clerk. The chairperson will call your name when it is your turn to make a comment. You may send written comments by email to board clerk at SACCounty.gov. Your comment will be routed to the board and filed in the record. And that concludes the clerk's statement. Okay, great. All right, great. So then we will uh move on to the first item, which is our consent calendar. Items um your for your items one through fourteen. Okay, are there any public comments on the consent? I do not have any slips and do not see anyone in chambers who would like to make comments. Very good. We'll close public comment on that. Is there a motion to approve? So moved. Motion from Kaplan. Is there a second? Second from Desmond.
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