Thank you.

Good afternoon, everybody.

Welcome to the November 21, 2024 meeting of the Sacramento

Area Flood Control Agency Board of Directors.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Thank you.

Director Olmstead, Director Frost, Director Hume,

Chairman Kennedy, Director Surna, Director Jennings,

Director Kaplan, Director Telemantez, Director Holloway,

Director John, Director Avatis, Director Bames,

and Director Conant.

Present.

Two, three, four, five.

We have a 10-member quorum.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

This meeting of SAFECA is being broadcast live

and will be re-air on Saturday, November 23 at 2 p.m.

on Metro Cable Channel 14,

and will be available on SAFECA's website

within 48 hours after the meeting.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Pledge of Allegiance is to the flag of the United States of America,

and it is a republic for which it stands, one nation,

under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Do you have time to answer?

It takes us to public comment.

Is there any member of the public that would like to address

the board at this time on an item not on the agenda?

Seeing none, do you have anything?

I have not received any requests.

Thank you.

Then we will recess to closed session.

We will reconvene an open session.

Would the clerk please call the roll?

Yes.

Director Olmstead.

Here.

Director Frost.

Here.

Director Whom.

Here.

Chairman Kennedy.

Here.

Director Serna.

Here.

Director Jennings.

Here.

Director Caplin.

Here.

Director Talamante.

Here.

Director Holloway.

Here.

Director Johns.

Here.

Director Avatis.

Here.

Director Baines.

Here.

And Director Conant.

Here.

We have a full 13-member quorum.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Council, is there anything to report on a closed session?

Next item, please.

And our next item are consent matters and items 1 through 14 are in order.

Any questions from the board?

Second.

Okay.

We have a motion to second.

I see no one in the chambers.

So all those in favor?

Aye.

Opposed?

Abstain?

Next item, please.

Separate matters, item number 15 is a public hearing resolution of necessity number 2024-112

regarding Sutter County APN 35150004 property located at 2700 Sankey Road. Property owners

Gary Lovayich on behalf of Odysseys Farms, the Scott Family Trust dated November 6, 2000,

and the Hust Brothers, Inc.

Good afternoon, directors.

Matt Gerroot, real estate program manager, Saifika.

So the property that was just mentioned is located on 2700 Sankey Road in the Atomos Basin

area of Sutter County. Acquisition of the real property interest is required for the

Pleasant Grove Creek Canal West Levy Reach E component of the project.

So here we have is a map of the different reaches of the Atomos Levy Improvement Project.

And we are in Reach E, which is up toward the top right.

Attachment B is a map of the property where it's located at. So you can see it there with

the two arrows going to Scott at all property, and it is located just off of Sankey Road.

And you can also note the Kauffman borough site location there on that exhibit.

Attachment C is a sketch showing the drainage and irrigation canal improvements on the property

of this location, which include installing a new ditch and operation and maintenance road.

Attachment D1 shows the proposed acquisition area, and it's right along Sankey Road, and

you can see it in the cross-ash area. And here we have another exhibit of the proposed

permanent drainage and irrigation canal easement. So this ditch is needed to provide drainage

from the Kauffman borough site that you saw on the previous exhibit to already 1000s interior

drainage system. Attachments E to E3 of the staff report is the project description and

necessity for the acquisition, the environmental compliance documents and considerations in

selecting mitigation sites, and design analysis for the relocated irrigation and drainage

canals. On January 18th of 2024, SAFICA sent a letter to the property owners advising them

that SAFICA and the state were preparing an appraisal to acquire the drainage and irrigation

canal easement over a portion of their property. On July 19th, 2024, SAFICA provided a formal

offer to purchase the property rights, which then again consisted of the permanent drainage

and irrigation canal easement. And attachment I to the staff report is the diary of discussions

between SAFICA's right-of-way acquisition agent and the owners and their attorneys,

in which they discuss the potential effects of the project on the property and the acquisition

process that follows. And on November 1, 2024, SAFICA sent a mail to written notice to the

owners of the property advising them that this board would hold a hearing today at this time

to consider the adoption of a resolution necessity to acquire the property rights by imminent domain.

And this just shows the exhibits that are going to be attached to the resolution.

So again, historically with this property owner, we have not been able to reach agreements prior

to obtaining a run for the acquisition. And it's no different this time. We have not received a

counter offer from the property owners yet. And so again, that's why we are requesting the board to

consider this action so we can continue to move the project forward. And as always, we'll continue

to negotiate. Thank you, Matt. Is there any questions? Any questions of the board? Seeing none,

open the public hearing. Is there any member of the public that would like to address the board at

this time and cite them? Hearing and seeing none, we will close the public hearings. There are motion.

I'll move it. Second. We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstained?

Next item, please. Item number 16, public hearing resolution of necessity number

2024113 regarding Sutter County APN 35227 and 029 on the south side of Sankey Road and east of

Pacific Avenue. Property owner Gary Levayich on behalf of Odysseus Farms.

Thank you. Grapher and Megan directors, Matt to Rowe. So again, the property in question here is

located on the south side of Sankey Road and east of Pacific Avenue. It's an entomous basin area of

Sutter County and the acquisition of the real property interest is required for the pleasant

grove creek canal and West Levy reach E component of the project. Again, here's our map of the

different reaches of an entomous project and we're in reach E again.

Test and B is a map showing the location of the property on the south side of Sankey Road,

east of Pacific Avenue. And you can see it again in relation to the Kauffman Brasit.

Test and C1 is a sketch showing the drainage and irrigation canal improvements

on the owner's property at this particular location, which include installing a new ditch

and operation and maintenance road. And attachment C2 is a similar sketch just at a different location

of the property.

Test and D1 shows the proposed acquisition. And again, it is on this time is on the

other side of Sankey Road and you can see it in the cross hatch section.

And here is attachment D2 which shows the rest of the proposed acquisition on the parcel over.

So here they are together. This is the entire of the proposed acquisition. And again, this is a

permanent drainage and irrigation canal easement, which is needed to provide drainage from the

Kauffman Brasit into RD1000 irrigation system.

Attachments E33 of the staff report is a project description and necessity for the acquisition,

environmental compliance documents and considerations in selecting the mitigation sites,

and design analysis for the relocated irrigation and drainage canals.

On January 18th of 2024, Saifika sent a letter to the property owners advising them that Saifika

in the state were preparing an appraisal to acquire a drainage and irrigation canal easement

over a portion of the property. On August 1st of 2024, Saifika provided a formal offer to purchase

the property rights, which were again permanent drainage and irrigation canal easement.

And attachment I is the diary notes of the discussions between Saifika's right-of-way

acquisition agent, the owners and their attorneys in which they describe the

acquisition in the project and the right-of-way process.

On November 1st of 2024, Saifika did not only written notice the owners,

the property advising them that this bore would hold meeting today at this time to consider the

adoption of a resolution necessity to acquire the property rights by in-mend domain.

Again, this slide shows the exhibit starting to be attached to the resolution.

And with the previous property owner, historically, we have not, this owner is one of the ownership

group for the other one, so we have not had any success reaching agreement historically with

this property owner prior to Iran. And we have not received a counter-offer additionally with

this property owner. And as always, we will continue to negotiate for as long as we can.

Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Is there any questions?

Seeing none, I'll open the public hearing. Is there any member of the public like to address

the board on this item at this time? Hearing and seeing none, close the public hearings or a motion?

We have a motion and a second. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstain? Next item, please.

Item number 17 is the Executive Director's Report.

Okay. Good afternoon, members of the board. The core provided some photos of some of the

construction, so I just wanted to share a few of them with you. Up at Folsom Dam,

we actually have three major construction contracts going on. The first one is at the main dam and

the right left wing dam. This photo here just shows the right wing dam, the flood wall construction,

which is what they're using to raise the right wing dam. Over on Dykes 1 through 6,

it's another contractor. This is a photo that it did impact the parking into some of the

accesses over by Dykes 1 and 2, so they're having to build a new parking lot and boat launch

access road. So this is part of that construction. And then over on Mormon Island Auxiliary Dam,

it's another contractor. This Mormon Island was the only one of the dams in Dykes that the

impervious core wasn't built all the way to the top when it was constructed originally. And so

the impervious core at Mormon Island only goes to the top of the conservation pool,

which is where the flood pool is. So because we're raising the dam and going to be raising

the water surface more often, we're needing to do a slurry wall to tie into that impervious core

from the top. So that's what you're seeing in this one here. So moving over to Natomas on Reach A,

the core put out a few photos just showing the equipment and some of the work going on with

this slurry wall. Work going along Reach A there and just another closer up photo of that piece

of equipment. On American Irreconvictors 2016, I put this one in to kind of show you the progression

on this on the far left. You can see that they're putting in some different lifts and

bioengineering material and then putting the rock on top of it and then placing the top soil

on top of that, which will allow for the planting there. Going over to the Sack Ware

widening a few pictures. This is one of the fish passage. You can see it's coming up out of the ground.

As these are the pier where they had the piles, these are the piers that are going to be coming

up for the bridge structure. And then they're putting together the structure for the north

abutment of the weir there. So it's fun to see stuff coming up out of the ground finally over there.

Okay, we had a the core when they do a study, it's supposed to be done in three years, cost

three million dollars, and it's always supposed to be three inches thick. So anyway, to get to do

something different than that, you need an exception that's approved all the way up at the

assistant secretary of the army's office. The YOLO bypass comprehensive study was much more

comprehensive and detailed than what we were going to be able to do in a three year, three

million dollar timeframe. So the core, the state and state could work together on a budget and

schedule about 13.9 million in about five and a half years. That was approved last month by the

assistant secretary of the army. So now we're good to move forward there. And then finally, in the

consent calendar, you approved canceling our board meeting in December because of its proximity to

the holidays and also the executive committee in January. So we just a reminder that we won't have

those. And I did want, since this is our last meeting of the year, didn't want to take an

opportunity to thank you all very much because none of this work could get done if it weren't for

your commitment and help in getting all these resolutions passed and all this work approved.

So thank you very much. And I'll take any questions with that. Any questions?

We have a question, director Kaplan. Just want your thoughts on, which by the way,

happy holidays upcoming, but with the change in administration and with the projects we have

going on, what is or will there be a change in the status of some of the federal funding we

potentially have coming? Do we have to start preparing on potentially less funding or more

lax rules? How is safe preparing? So I think the dam will get more right wing.

Oh, wow.

Not even sure how to follow that one.

So the good thing about generally most of our projects historically have been funded on an

annual level. The only project that we still have any annual needs on is Natomas and we don't have a

lot left. The core still has a lot of funding that they haven't spent on Natomas. And so we may need

a little bit more Natomas. The other projects, we were fully funded under the Bipartisan

Budget Act in 2018. So from the funding standpoint, we're in very good shape. I'm more worried about

some of the discussions about some of the ideas that might affect the size of government and if

that will affect the core being able to execute. So we'll have to see how that goes. But as far as

our appropriations and authorizations go, we're in good shape. And we'll see what the new

administration's priorities are and make sure that we're addressing those as we move forward with

the YoloCom study. It's very comprehensive. So we'll be able to be able to make it so that I

think it's attractive to whatever the administration's priorities turn out to be. But it wouldn't be

totally out of the realm if the core was shrunk. Then it may take longer for Natomas. So then we

need more waivers on potential timeline and everything else. If that's like worst case scenario.

Yeah. So I think Natomas, the reach A is already let there. So I think that one will go.

Reach is F and G. That's really the last big contract that could possibly get impacted a little bit.

And then on common features 2016, we do still have some erosion contracts and mitigation

contracts to go there. So we'll just have to see if there's an impact, if there's a reduction in size

of the forces there. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Next item, please.

Second matters item 18, resolution of appreciation, recognizing Mike Straughn for his contributions

to the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. All right. Thank you. So Mike couldn't be here today.

So I put his picture up so that everyone can look at him. He's watching from home. So I want to make

him as uncomfortable as I can. He really was not wanting me to do this. He's not wanting,

he doesn't like the tension. But some of you may not have met Mike, but Mike's been representing

SAFE since 2022. And he's our representative there for the congressional offices, for congressional

committees with the agencies and the administration. He has just been, he's very well respected.

And in fact, he has helped us through of our six projects that we talk about all the time.

For the six authorizations, he got an almost 100% of the funding came while he was working

for us back there. And the thing that always impresses me is when they put together a draft

Water Resources Development Act, the committee folks still send it to Mike and ask for his

comments from him. So he's just extremely, extremely respected back there. And so he's

always been very diligent for us. And I just give him a ton of credit for the success and wins we've

had over these last years. And Sacramento's much safer for him for this. So at this time, I'd like

to consider this resolution for him in spite of his protest on it, just to thank him and to

recognize for all of his good work. And so just, and he's also a good friend. So I appreciate that.

Okay. I'd please move the motion. Okay, we have a motion to second before we vote. Mr. Serna.

Thanks. I was going to chime in and move, but I do want to just say, assuming he is watching,

that I've had the good fortune of working with Mike, in particular back when we were all walking

lock steps to pursue authorization for all the work now that is thankfully nearing completion in

the Thomas. And he's certainly not just the consummate kind of technician when he needs to be,

but certainly really understands people and human nature. And I think that goes a long way in terms

of the nature of his business, especially when you're dealing with political atmosphere that's

gravitated to the extremes during during his tenure. So we're very fortunate to have had the

assistance of Mr. Strahd over the over the years. And I think the resolution is entirely

appropriate. Thank you. Thank you, Director Serna. I will echo those and say that, you know, for those

of us who've gone back and spent time with Mike, particularly on Capitol Hill and in the various

agencies, you know, he commands immediate respect when he walks in the room as not only a gentleman

and someone who has persuasive abilities, but also as a subject matter expert beyond many.

So, you know, thank you, Mike, for your service to SAFECA. We're all safer because of your work.

So with that, all those in favor? Opposed? Abstain? Chairman Kennedy, I caught the motion

by Director Conant, but I did not hear the second. Actually, I think it was by Vice Chair

Holloway that made the motion. And who seconded? It was Conant. I had it backwards. Item number 19,

resolution of appreciation, number 2024115, recognizing Matt Conant for his contributions

to the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. So I always hate this time of the year when we know

that some of our board members are, it's their last board meeting and, you know, get to know you

and everything over the years. Matt came onto our board in January 2017. And so he's been here

while we've seen all this activity that we've had. And Matt's really delved into the flood control.

He's also on the Sutter Butte Flood Control Agency Board and has been very interested. He'll

ask questions. He'll meet to get information. Been very active. And so I really appreciate

all the time and attention and effort that Matt has gone into. He's always,

tries to be here, and he always comes to the Executive Committee and participates. So

miss Matt and wanted to offer this resolution to thank him for his time here.

Thank you very much. Is there a motion? Second. We have a motion and a second. Matt, thank you

for your work. As Rick said, I don't know that you even ever missed an Executive Committee meeting.

Your commitment to your community and to this organization will be missed. So thank you for

your work. All those in favor? Opposed? Abstain? Matt, would you like to say a few words?

Yeah, I'd just like to say that the work we do here is so critical to the well-being of all these

communities surrounding the Sacramento region. And these jobs that these projects that we have moved

forward on the last eight years, raising a full sum dam, we're almost done with all of the

levees on the Thomas Basin in the American River, improvement on those levees and habitat

improvements we've done over the years are making this for a much safer, much better community in

the future. And I just think the work this group does is absolutely incredible. And the staff

is second to none. And we can't take this for granted. We got to keep moving with these projects.

And I would actually like to encourage this board to try to widen and the Sacramento bypass

more like we're talking about the study that's going on on a freement wear. Those projects will

benefit the entire region. And I know that the staff is not really the driving force behind it,

but somebody has to be. And I think that rests here. This will benefit the full sum dam. It will

benefit the American River, the Sacramento River going all the way down, the Feather,

the all the regional rivers that surround this area. And all this water comes through Sacramento.

So we better figure out a way to handle it safely. And I think that is one of the best

solutions we have. And I'll believe it that. Thank you very much. And thank you for your

all of your service. It's been a pleasure and honor of serving with all of you

for the last eight years. Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Thank you very much. Jason has your resolution

to hang up there on the wall somewhere. Next item. Item number 20 resolution of appreciation

number 2024116 recognizing Sue Frost for her contributions to the Sacramento area.

So similar to what I mentioned when I started with Matt,

Sue's just it's hard saying goodbye on these. When she came in, she was all smiles because

this was her last board meeting. But now I think it's hitting her that it's her last board meeting.

But she came on also in January 2017. So it's been here during the same time period.

And the thing that impressed me most with Sue is she just absorbed. I mean, she just

every briefing we had, every executive committee she'd asked questions. She was just

trying to absorb everything and understand and understand why we're doing it, learn why.

And I really, really appreciated the time and effort that you took to understand why things

were being done, how things worked and that. I don't remember you missing an executive committee

meeting at all. So she was very, very engaged and I really appreciated that and her support. So again,

not only is she leaving our board, she's leaving our state. So we'll miss her. So again,

have a resolution for you to consider there. Thank you, Mr. Johnson.

Sue, I will say that again, as with Mr. Conan, all of us here, but

you know, your work here on this board has made our community safer. And I think that we will,

as I understand it correctly, you are moving to Riverfront property in Arkansas. So

I expect that your expertise and knowledge will make Arkansas safer as well. So

thank you for your efforts and for being here and your dedication. Thank you.

Okay.

We have a motion to second. Who made the second?

Mr. Jennings. All those in favor?

Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Thank you very much. Our next meeting is January 16th.

Can I, through the chair. Oh, I'm sorry, Sue. I'm sorry.

You know, I like fast meetings and I just, I get caught up.

I have to say a couple of words. First, I want to thank Rick and all the staff for all the years.

All the, I've learned so much on this board. I can't believe it. I can't believe the first

meeting we had and the briefing was someone said I would be drinking through a fire hose. And I was

literally overwhelmed at all the information that, that you just basically recited from your mind

to me on that day in 2017. And I appreciate Barb Walco and all the people who went on tours to

show us the levies and give us a real bird's eye view of what's actually going on. I never thought

in my life that I would vote on so many ronds and eminent domain. And I knew it was the river city.

I had seen maps of, you know, decades ago before all the, you know, before the dam and before

everything, the water was really, began to be managed. But we, we are safer because of SAFECA

and the work that this board does is so important. And the work, I love working with engineers. I love

the way they think and, and I want to thank all of you for your kindness over the years and thank

the board for all of your support. And I'm going to miss everyone. My, but my whole family lives

here in California and all my friends are in California. So I'm pretty sure I'll be back

time to time. So thank you very much. Director Serna. Thank you, chair. Before you gavel us out this

afternoon, I want to publicly thank our esteemed clerk of the board directors,

Lindy Russell, for the very generous product of her baking talents. And this is a tradition that,

for whatever reason, I think faded away. Maybe it was COVID, but we used to, especially during

the holiday season, be inundated with all her great baking. And so, so thank you for that. And it just

occurred to me too. I think Lindy of all the boards and commissions that we serve on, she may have

tenure compared to most of those, those clerks. And so I just, it just occurred to me you've been

here well over, I was going to say well over a decade. So anyhow, thank you very much, Lindy.

That's why I always say would the clerk please state the statement and not read it because you

don't even read it. They changed it. Now I have to read it. Yeah. Okay. All right. Anybody else?

Thank you. Our next meeting is January 16th. We're adjourned. Happy holidays.