All in our places with bright shiny faces.

Fantastic.

Thank you all.

We have a quorum and I just wanted to get started so we can get through this big meeting we have

ahead of us.

I'm going to ask the Christmas tree to lead us in the pledge.

My pleasure.

End of my heart. Ready, pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

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

Okay.

Now we can do a...

You need to dial in.

Madam Chair, I'll call roll.

Yes, please.

Directors Desmond.

Here.

Dickinson.

Here.

Hume.

Jennings.

Kaplan.

Here.

Kennedy.

Orozco.

Here.

Pluckybaum.

Here.

Rachel.

Here.

Robles.

Rodriguez.

Here.

Sander.

Vice Chair Serna.

Here.

Soon.

Here.

Villegas.

Here.

And Chair Kapinski-Costa.

Present.

Thank you.

You have a quorum with the members present.

Thank you.

Could you please read the statement for public comment?

Yes.

This meeting of the Sacramento area sewer district is live and recorded with closed captioning.

It is cable cast on Metro Cable Channel 14, the local government affairs channel on the Comcast and DirecTV U-verse cable systems.

It is also live streamed at Metro14live.saccounty.gov.

Today's meeting replaced Sunday, December 14th at 9 a.m. on Metro Cable Channel 14.

Once posted, the recording of this meeting can be viewed on demand at youtube.com forward slash metro cable 14.

SAC Seward board members are compensated $100 for their participation in board meetings.

Compensation for Sacramento County Supervisors and City of Sacramento and Citrus Heights Council members

is paid to the county and cities respectively to partially offset the cost of those governments.

Compensation for the other agencies is paid directly to the individual board members.

Compensation for these legislative body meetings is verbally disclosed at each board meeting

in accordance with California Government Code Section 54952.3.

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's your turn to make a comment.

You may send written comments by email to boardclerk at saccounty.gov.

Your comment will be routed to the board and filed in the record.

This concludes your announcement.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

Next item is the approve of the consent items 1 through 7.

Does anyone have any items they wish to pull for separate vote, questions, anything?

I'll go ahead and move consent.

There are no questions.

Second.

We'll go with Sooner, Villegas.

The Christmas trees.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, let's all vote.

Please vote.

Your item passes unanimously.

Okay, next item, please.

Oh, was there any public comment on any of those items?

I forgot to ask.

We do not have any public comment.

Okay, so now the next item, please.

Madam Chair, item 8 is comments from the public on issues not on the posted agenda,

and we do not have any speaker slips.

Okay, moving along.

Item number nine is miscellaneous district engineer matters.

Presenter Christophe Dobson, district engineer.

Good morning, chair and board members.

Happy holidays.

This is going to be our last board meeting of the year.

So our next board meeting will be on January 14th.

And that's when your board will elect a new chair and vice chair and we'll have that turnover.

But I have one other thing to mention.

I just want to point out that item 12 on our agenda, it's not going to be heard.

It's just a receive and file item.

But just in transparency, it is an increase in benefits to our employees.

And so I already have the authority to approve the agreement.

It's for a lifestyle spending account.

It's part of our wellness program.

It's kind of one of the pieces.

We're starting to build that program.

And so I just wanted to bring that forward and let you know that was there.

And that's all I have.

Any questions of our district engineer?

Okay, next item, please.

The next item is item 10, Harvest Water Quarterly Report for July 1 through September 30, 2025.

Percenter Jofiel Borja, Environmental, Legislative, and Regulatory Affairs Manager.

That's not me.

Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the board.

My name is Mike Crooks. I'm the Harvest Water Capital Program Manager.

And so I'm going to start with the presentation today.

So can we bring up presentation for item number 10?

Thank you.

So again, so the item is for the quarterly update, quarter number 3 of 2025.

The presentation, however, will have more up-to-date information in it.

WE'LL COVER THE CAPITAL PROGRAM UPDATES, THE DELIVERY OF THE PROJECTS, THE CAPITAL

PROGRAM FINANCIALS, ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAM UPDATES, PROGRAM FUNDING AND FINANCIALS,

AND THEN UPCOMING BOARD ACTIONS AT THE END.

AND THIS WILL BE PRETTY BRIEF.

I'M NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH AND NAME ALL THE PROJECTS THAT WE'VE BEEN BUILDING AS

PART OF THE HARVEST WATER PROGRAM.

There are eight total construction contracts building the infrastructure that we need.

This first slide represents the pipeline construction packages.

We have the Elk Grove transmission pipeline, Franklin Eschinger pipelines, west pipelines

and central south.

Combined, it represents just over 43 miles of pipe, rather large diameter pipe for the

most part.

And I'm happy to report that all pipeline is in the ground.

It's been a long, almost two years.

But I'd say that things went relatively successfully.

We had the bumps and bruises that we were expecting,

but I think we managed them pretty well.

So there's still a little bit of work to be done.

Final tie-ins between some of the projects still remain.

That'll happen within the next probably two, three weeks.

But again, all pipeline is in the ground.

this slide represents paving that goes along with the pipeline construction

so basically all the roads that saw pipeline construction have been paved except for the

ones that are colored orange that's bruceville running north and south on the very bottom east

west road is twin cities and then the middle east west run is lambert they the trenches have

been paved, but it's temporary paving. What remains to be done is final paving, full width, edge to edge.

The contractor was hoping to get that done by the end of this calendar year, but the weather has not

been suitable for pavement. So most likely that'll happen in the spring of 2026. I'd like to mention

the city of Elk Grove. We still need to put down the final surface and striping on Franklin Boulevard

and Willard Parkway.

Again, the hope is that we could get that done this year.

It won't happen because of the weather,

and the city is good with that,

so we're planning to have that work, again,

also done in the spring of 2026.

So what remains is pump station construction,

which is shown here.

This is on the left side.

We've got what we call the suction side of the pumps,

the supply side of the pumps coming from the EquiWater treatment facility.

Those silver cans that are at the end of those laterals will receive what we call the pump cans or suction barrels that the pumps will be installed in.

On the right side, you see a couple of those pump cans being installed.

This particular project has struggled schedule-wise, and the reason primarily has been these pump cans.

we had some quality control issues with fabrication, which happened out of state.

They were delivered late, and they still have some issues that are affecting the contractor's ability to install them properly.

We have a good plan moving forward with the contractor.

We expect them to start gaining some momentum and getting these things installed fairly soon

so that they can backfill that excavated location.

A lot of the pump station construction can't happen

until that occurs.

And so I think we're looking at January, February

is when that area will be backfilled

and they'll be able to move a lot more quickly

with the rest of the construction.

This shows what we call the discharge side of the pumps.

So when the pumps are in,

those pumps that are pointing up out of the ground

will receive water and it'll go down

to the buried discharge header.

the discharge header, the exposed part of it in the photo on the right.

So the pump station header is closest to us.

The pipe on the other side of the gap is the Oak Grove transmission pipeline.

And so that's a tie-in that still needs to be made.

We expect that will happen before the end of this month, so December of this year.

This is the control building for the pumping station.

THIS SHOT SHOWS THEM GETTING READY TO POUR THE SLAB.

THEY'RE WORKING ON THE BURIED PIPES AND CONDUITS IN THE SLAB AND THE REBAR.

SCHEDULED FOR THE FIRST POUR IS NEXT WEEK, MONDAY NEXT WEEK,

AND THEN THEY'LL COMPLETE IT BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK.

SO THEY'LL GET THE SLAB POURED, AND THEN WITH THAT,

FABRICATION OF THE BUILDING SHOULD BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD FAIRLY QUICKLY.

I DIDN'T TALK ABOUT THE ON-FARM CONNECTIONS.

that is one of the other construction contracts

that's fairly new.

Just got started in September of this year.

They're making good progress.

This is out in the community south of the city of Elk Grove.

They're connecting or constructing 56 connections

on different parcels out there.

They're making good progress

and probably have another year before that one's done.

That's what we call the first phase

of on-farm connections.

The second phase, we're planning to come to the board

in January with a request to approve advertisement of that contract.

Financials, just a quick snapshot of how the capital program's doing.

I'll just run through it kind of quickly.

We have a budget for construction dollars of $326 million.

That was established a while ago.

So far, as of the end of quarter three, so the end of September,

we've spent $205 million or 63% of that established budget.

As far as change orders go,

we have a change order allowance that we use

with Kristoff's approval at 20 million

or 7.3% of the total construction contract values.

To date, well, yeah, as of the end of November,

we have approved $10 million in change orders or 3.7%.

We're projecting at the end of the program a change order rate of 6.2 percent based on what we see in front of us today.

And then the table below kind of breaks down the various values of each contract, change orders approved,

current change order rate, and then projected at completion.

And that's my final slide unless there's any questions for me.

Questions?

Director Kaplan.

Thanks, Mike.

Can you just go to the back one slide, please?

On the WEP, can you just briefly say,

because honestly a 6.2 change order rate is not huge,

it's within the norm,

but seeing on the WEP that that's potentially a 12% change order,

what came up that was missed on that?

I'll try and be brief.

We did encounter quite a few issues with unforeseen conditions, unforeseen utilities, utilities that were not where we thought they would be or not at the right depth.

One of the more significant changes on that one involved a PG&E gas line adjacent to the railroad tracks.

It's where we had a tunnel operation to go under the tracks.

the PG&E pipeline ended up being deeper than what design showed.

So we had to modify our tunneling operation.

It pushed us deeper, pushed us into groundwater, put us into dewatering, and everything just kind of snowballed.

That project, that same as the FEP project, but it also encountered a concrete layer underneath Franklin Boulevard that nobody knew was there.

And so that added quite a bit to the contract to cut through it, to remove it and dispose of it.

Was it checked for historical significance?

It was historic.

I don't know if it was labeled or categorized as something we had to preserve.

I have a chunk of it in my office.

We can probably get more if you want some.

But again, they ran into wet soils, which had to be addressed.

It was just a collective amount of things.

Road reconstruction touched pretty much all the projects.

The roads did not stand up to construction as we had hoped,

which meant there was a more robust effort to rebuild them before we repaved them.

So especially for the city of Elk Grove and in the county, they now have better roads because of this.

100%.

Yes.

I just want to say thank you.

The fact that everything's in the ground and it's the next stage, it's been a long haul and something you guys have discussed for a long time.

So I want to pause and say congratulations and good job.

Thank you.

We will have some more disruption when the contractor who has to go out and pave Bruceville and Twin Cities and Lambert, we will have some closures, but they will not be anything like we saw during pipeline construction.

Since you mentioned the roads, I think you recall Sacramento County DOT is contributing money towards those road improvements, $5.5 million.

So that went a long way to help us out.

Director Hume.

Thank you, Chair.

First of all, I apologize for being late.

I raced down here from Placer County, and I'm lucky I almost wore the same jacket as Director Sue.

No, we're lucky.

Yeah, we are lucky.

We're all lucky.

Yeah.

You know, it would have been embarrassing.

Twins.

You'd have been twins.

That's right, yeah.

I apologize.

I don't know where we are in the presentation.

Has Phil already given his presentation?

He's next.

Then I will save my comments until then.

Thank you.

Okay.

Anyone else have questions?

IS THERE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS ITEM? WE DO NOT HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT.

WHAT'S NEXT? GOOD MORNING, MADAM CHAIR, MEMBERS

OF THE BOARD. I'M STILL PART OF THE CURRENT ITEM.

I'M THE SECOND HALF OF OUR TREMENDOUS DUE OF MIKE AND JOE FELTZ.

IT'S A QUARTERLY SHOW. I APPRECIATE IT. I APPRECIATE YOUR PATIENCE.

I'M HERE TO PROVIDE YOU UPDATES TO OUR APMO PROGRAM.

OUR GOAL IN THE LAST YEAR AND A

HALF HAVE BEEN REALLY BUILDING

OUR OUTREACH PARTNERSHIPS AND

ENGAGEMENT WITH THE COMMUNITY.

WE'VE REALLY IMPROVED ON OUR

ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS WITH KEY

STAKEHOLDERS TO ADDRESS SPECIFIC

QUESTIONS.

DECEMBER 15TH THIS COMING MONDAY

IS OUR DEADLINE FOR THE PHASE 2

SIGNING OF OUR OFFGUS.

THAT'S BEEN A BIG PUSH FOR OUR

TEAM TO MAKE SURE THAT WE OUTREACH,

MEET, AND SIT DOWN WITH EACH AND

EVERY MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY,

ESPECIALLY THE FOLKS THAT HAVE

SIGNED THE LETTERS OF INTENT SO

so that they can, for the folks that have not already signed on to phase one,

to sign into the phase two of our push.

We're pleased to present to you that our eco plan development is progressing quite well.

Our crane forage pilot and crane roost pilot was completed in Q3,

and the pictures you see on the slide here actually are positive results

on some of the pilot projects that we've had.

As you recall, the eco plan has required us to establish a pretty well site

for crane foraging pilot and crane roosting.

Now, the birds that you see on the bottom picture

are not the actual sandhill cranes that we would like yet

because this was taken a little bit earlier in the season,

but we are pleased to see that,

although these are not the species

that we're intending to capture,

that the birds similar size are actually roosting

and siting at the sites that we have.

This is a critical piece because, as you recall,

in our contracts for public benefit agreements,

EACH SANDHILL CRANE CAN BE UPWARDS TO $90,000 FOR REIMBURSEMENT OF OUR GRANTS.

AND WE HAVE COMMITTED TO THE STATE, 700 INDIVIDUALS ADDED INTO LIFESPAN OF OUR PROGRAM.

SO THERE'S MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR EVERY BIRD THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE COUNTING

ON THIS PROJECT.

MULTIPLE LAND OWNERS HAVE ALREADY EXPRESSED INTEREST IN OUR RIGHTERY AND WET LAND MANAGEMENT

AND THE OPTIONS ARE ALSO BEING EXPLORED AS PART OF OUR ECOPLAN.

And we continue to meet with our legislative delegation, updating the progress of our project, as well as protecting harvest water for any potential state programs that may impact it.

We continue to push for recycled water service agreement in an execution through Q3.

As phase one, as Mr. Crook said alluded to, they've already started construction.

That phase one's 56 off cuts, which represents 68% of the summer irrigation demand goal.

PHASE TWO, WE'VE HAD NINE OFCAS SECURED THROUGH NOVEMBER 21 AND WE'RE WORKING TO SECURE

REMAINING SERVICE AGREEMENTS FOR PHASE TWO BY MID-DECEMBER 2025 AS NOTED FOR THE DEADLINE

ON DECEMBER 15TH. WE'RE ALSO OFFERING THEM A TOUR OF OUR PLANT FOR THE FOLKS THAT WE HAD

QUESTIONS ABOUT EITHER WATER QUALITY OR WATER DELIVERY. SO GROWERS, FARMERS, AND THEIR

FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE BEEN INVITED TO A MEETING AND A TOUR FOR THEIR QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

AT THE PLAN ON DECEMBER 15TH.

NOW AS PART OF OUR CONTRACT FOR PUBLIC BENEFITS WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE ENSURING

OR AT LEAST MEASURING THE LEVELS OF GROUNDWATER IMPROVEMENTS THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE BRINGING

AS PART OF THE HARVEST WATER PROJECT.

SO WE'VE CONTINUED OUR LEVEL MONITORING AT 8 EXISTING WELLS BECAUSE WE HAVE TO BE

ABLE TO ESTABLISH A BASELINE BEFORE THE WATER IS TURNED ON.

ONE WAS COMPLETE IN SEPTEMBER,

FOUR NEW WELLS AND TWO

INDIVIDUAL SITES AND ONE

NESTED SITE WAS INSTALLED IN

THE WEST SIDE OF THE SERVICE

AREA AND ROUND TWO IS COMING

IN IN 2026.

SO EIGHT TO 10 WELLS WILL BE

INSTALLED NEAR THE CENTER AND

THE EAST SIDE OF THE SERVICE

AREAS AND THEN THIS WOULD BE

COMPLETE IN THE FIRST HALF OF

2026, WEATHER PERMITTING.

THE DATA THAT WE'RE GOING TO

BE GETTING FROM THIS IS WHAT WE

NEED TO REPORT TO THE STATE

THAT WE'RE ACTUALLY INCREASING

OR WOULD BE INCREASING THE

TABLE THROUGHOUT THE LIVESPAN OF THE PROJECT.

BUT ALSO WE'RE ABLE TO COORDINATE WITH OUR LOCAL AGENCIES, EITHER OUR REGION WATER AUTHORITY

OR ACTUALLY OUR SCGA BOARD, FOLKS THAT ARE ACTUALLY HANDLING OUR SIGMA REQUIREMENTS.

WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE PRESENT THE DATA BECAUSE OVERALL HOLISTICALLY

THIS IS A POSITIVE BENEFIT TO THE REGION BUT ALSO CAN MEET OUR UNDERGROUND MANAGE, OUR

GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT GOALS.

to briefly go through our program funding and financials.

To date, in September, we were able to complete

Amendment 1 of our funding agreement

with the California Water Commission,

bringing our total award just shy of $306 to $5 million.

Our final funding agreement has been completed

and reimburses have been underway.

We've had additional $50 million invoices submitted

in October and November, and we've received close

to $100 million from the state on the WSIP program.

OF SIGNIFICANCE IN THE LAST FEW MONTHS IS THE FACT THAT PACHECO OR VALLEY WATER WITHDREW THEIR PACHECO RESERVARD PROJECT FROM THE WSIP PROGRAM IN SEPTEMBER.

WE CONTINUE TO ADVOCATE AND SECURE ADDITIONAL FUNDING THROUGH WSIP AND COORDINATING WITH CWC STAFF FOR THE PROPOSED EMERGENCY REGULATIONS THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO NOT ONLY COMPETE FOR WHAT'S FAIR AND PRO RATO FOR OUR PROJECT BUT TO ALSO POTENTIALLY SHOW IF WE HAVE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS TO BE ABLE TO BRING TO THE STATE

MORE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FOR HARVEST WATER.

AND SO THE WITHDRAWAL OF PACHECO ACTUALLY PUTS CLOSE TO $560 MILLION AT PLAY.

AND IF YOU RECALL, WITH PACHECO, WE WERE ONE OF SIX PROJECTS REMAINING FOR PROPOSITION 1 WSIP

FUNDING THAT WAS VOTED BACK IN 2014.

WE ARE NOW ONE OUT OF FIVE AND THE ONE THAT'S REALLY MAKING PROGRESS IN CONSTRUCTION.

SO WE FEEL CONFIDENT, NOT SECURED, BUT WE HAVE A GOOD SHOT OR AT LEAST CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC

THAT WE CAN AT LEAST ADVOCATE FOR OUR SHARE OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO CLOSE THAT GAP.

AND THEN ON TOP OF THAT WE'RE ALSO ENGAGING WITH THE STATE WATER BOARD BECAUSE WE STILL

HAVE A $15 MILLION ON RECYCLED WATER PROGRAM THAT HAS NOT BEEN FUNDED YET.

WE'RE CURRENTLY IN THE DRAFTING OF THE AGREEMENT WITH THAT GRANT BUT WE'RE ALSO HOPING TO

GET AN ANOTHER CLOSE TO $15 MILLION IN ADDITIONAL PROP FOR FUNDING FOR OUR PROJECT.

WANTED TO RUN THROUGH OUR PROGRAM BUDGET AND ANTICIPATED FUNDING AS YOU CAN SEE IN

THE GRAPH TO THE RIGHT. THESE ARE ALL OF THE GRANT AND

POTENTIAL GRANT AGREEMENTS THAT WE ALREADY HAVE.

OUR POTENTIAL FUNDING TO DATE IS 416 MILLION AND OUR TOTAL FUNDING FOR THE PROJECT IS

597.2. OUR GOAL COLLECTIVELY BETWEEN MR.

CROOKS AND THE CPMO TEAM AND APMO TEAM IS REALLY TO CLOSE THE GAP.

EITHER HAVE SAVINGS IN CONSTRUCTION AND THEN ALSO RECEIVE EXTERNAL FUNDING IN ORDER

FOR US TO REALLY ENSURE THE FINANCIAL HEALTH OF THE PROGRAM AND THE BUDGET.

THIS IS ANOTHER SNAPSHOT OF OUR HARVEST WATER PROGRAM BUDGET.

I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT OUR APMO BUDGET.

WE WERE BUDGETED ON $120 MILLION.

WE'VE ONLY SPENT THROUGH $17.6 MILLION THROUGH QUARTER THREE.

AND AS MIKE HAD ELUDED BELOW, THE CPMO COSTS OUT OF 263 OUT OF 477 MILLION.

NOW THE UPCOMING BOARD ACTIONS THAT YOU'RE GOING TO BE RECEIVING FROM US OR AT LEAST

anticipating from us in the first quarter of the year would include the customer reimbursement

framework for on-farm improvements for their use of the recycled water, potential CPMO consultant

amendment services during construction, and the eco-plan procurement activities to implement

the benefits. Now that's the end of my presentation. I do note that Supervisor

GMO or Board Member U did have a question, so I'm happy to pause there and answer any questions

or receive any feedback you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Joe Phil, and first of all, I want to

you know, recognize the comments by Director Kaplan.

This has been significant work.

It's unprecedented in many ways.

It has caused great disruption to the folks down there.

It's caused a lot of brain damage to our own staff

and a lot of consternation from at least one board member,

potentially more.

Joe Phil, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions,

and if you're not the right person,

I leave it to you to delegate to whom I ought to answer those questions.

So 68% of summer need in Phase 1.

assuming the other 32% would come out of phase two AFKAs.

Is that correct?

That's correct, sir.

So there's no other way that we actually meet the promised deliveries for this program.

Okay.

That's correct, sir.

Phase two, nine AFKAs secured to date.

You said we have a deadline by December the 15th, which is rapidly approaching.

I believe it's next week, if I'm correct.

That's correct, sir.

What is our stretch goal of how many AFKAs would we like to have by that time?

That's a good question, Supervisor.

You know, our goal.

SO LET ME TAKE A STEP BACK.

WHEN WE'VE RECEIVED OUR LETTER OF INTENTS, WE'VE ACTUALLY SIZED THE POTENTIAL PROJECT

OR DESIGN TO ABOUT 115% OF OUR GOAL TO ENSURE THAT WE HAVE ENOUGH LEAWAY JUST IN CASE

CERTAIN FOLKS DO NOT SIGN UP THAT HAVE SUBMITTED LETTER OF INTENTS FOR US TO BE ABLE TO AT

LEAST CAPTURE THAT PROJECT OR CAPTURE CLOSE TO 100% OF WHAT WE NEED.

SO YOUR QUESTION IS WHAT'S OUR

STRATEGY OR GOAL OR HOW MANY MORE

DO WE NEED TO GET?

ON PAPER WE'VE HAD RECEIVED CLOSE

TO 120 OF THESE LOIs, RIGHT?

SO WE NEED TO STILL CLOSE A

SIGNIFICANT GAP.

IT'S NOT JUST THE AMOUNT OF LOIs,

IT'S ALSO THE AMOUNT OF WATER

THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE

POTENTIALLY USING THROUGHOUT THE

YEAR.

SO OUR GOAL, SIR, IS TO BE ABLE

TO CLOSE THAT GAP.

NOW WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO GET

MORE THAN A DOZEN, TWO DOZEN OF

THESE FOLKS TO BE ABLE TO SIGN UP IN ORDER TO FOR US TO HIT THAT

WATER DEMAND GOAL. IT'S A BIG ENDEAVOR AND OUR TEAM

CONTINUES TO BE ABLE TO CLOSE THAT GAP.

NOW MR. CROOKS IS GOING TO BE BRINGING FORTH A CONSTRUCTION

PACKAGE IN JANUARY FOR THEM TO BID.

FOR FOLKS THAT HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO SIGN UP IN DECEMBER 15TH,

DOES THAT MEAN THAT THEY MIGHT NOT BE INCLUDED TO THE

CONSTRUCTION PACKAGE? I DON'T THINK THAT'S THE CASE.

I THINK THAT THE DISTRICT AND I'M LOOKING AT OUR DIRECTOR

here still has the ability to potentially include additional folks that would need to be able to

sign up should they go past December 15th. But it is a significant goal that we still need to get,

and our team is working every day to make sure that we address their questions and get that

delta or that difference from what I had mentioned earlier to be able to sign up through phase two.

Okay, so I'm going to save you a chair up here because you just gave me a very political answer.

I think I heard you say that there's about two dozen that you would need to secure.

That's the goal that we have left.

We have nine in hand, two dozen that we want to get by December 15th in order to demonstrate that we're making good progress on 120 LOIs.

Is that correct?

That's correct, sir.

And the or else on this is that the competitiveness for that money that's available, of which we have $181 million shortfall, and we can see $560 million available, and we're one of five projects competing for that money.

That money, the elusiveness of it, is in some way contingent on this progress that we need to make for this phase two of showing that we will meet the demands and actually deliver the project that we say we're going to do and the benefits therein, both with respect to recycled water usage as well as habitat availability and land.

That is correct, sir.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. I appreciate my colleagues' indulgence in my kind of line of questioning here because

I'm going to sound an alarm, and it's an alarm that I hope staff take seriously,

but more importantly, I hope it's an alarm that my colleagues take seriously.

We are at an inflection point right now. We have run out of goodwill. Whatever goodwill we had

available with those farmers in the South County, we are running out of it at a pace that I think

is not sustainable and will result in people taking an active dislike, disassociation,

and unwillingness to do any more business with sack sewer.

That is not hyperbole.

That is not an imaginary scenario.

Those are the calls.

Those are the emails that I am fielding.

And I see you nodding your head, and I see Christophe looking concerned, and I see Sonny

with a furrowed brow.

I need other than me to take this seriously.

We are right now at a point where we don't have the money to finish what we said we would do,

and we don't have the users to do what we said we would promise.

This is a serious issue.

These are not hayseeds.

They are not country bumpkins that don't know what a contract is,

that don't know the significance of what this program is.

they are people who are having their driveways destroyed, who are having tires destroyed,

windshields destroyed, business impacts, and they're pissed off.

I need you to hear me, and I need you to realize it's not just me. I am speaking for a whole host

of people who don't like what we're doing, don't want to see it proceed, and wish they could undo

the paperwork they've already signed. And I know that there may be people within our own staff

that don't believe in this project.

But let me tell you something.

This project is a damn good project.

It's worthy of pursuing.

Its goals are laudable.

To bring those water levels up,

to recycle that water.

I just had a meeting down in the Delta the other day

and went through fields

and saw probably 300 to 400 sandhill cranes

in these fields.

And it was magical.

But those cranes provide an impact to the farmers.

I talked to a guy.

He says, I lose probably about a million dollars from geese between what they eat up in my silage so that now I have to bring in hay to keep the cattle fed and what I have to do to repair.

And so these aren't without impacts what we're trying to do.

And we need partners.

And those partners have to have goodwill and feel like they want to help us.

They don't need what we're offering.

They don't need the water because they have wells.

And they certainly don't need to put water out on land that they could be farming in order to provide habitat.

So I'm saying this and I'm seeing nodding heads up on the dais, which is a good thing.

I may come to you in the very near future to ask for help.

Help to somehow break through. And I know that staff has taken it seriously and I know that you're trying.

But I'm just letting you know we have a tiger by the tail right now and that tiger is getting more and more hungry and angry.

angry and this is serious because the state they can deploy this money wherever they want to

they're not committed to our project so i i know that you're trying i know that you're trying i

know that you're trying i know that you're trying but i just i need to put it out there that this

is no longer some imaginary you know crystal ball scenario we are at the point now where people are

PACKING UP AND GOING HOME.

THANK YOU.

SORRY FOR GOING ON A RANT, BUT IT NEEDED TO BE SAID.

THANK YOU, DIRECTOR HUME.

THANK YOU.

DIRECTOR DICKINSON WAS NEXT IN LINE.

THANK YOU.

I HAVE JUST A COUPLE QUESTIONS, AND ACTUALLY I THINK THEY MAY RELATE TO WHAT DIRECTOR HUME

WAS DISCUSSING.

I'm assuming that the Groundwater Sustainability Agency that covers this geography has an approved groundwater sustainability plan through the Department of Water Resources.

To what extent is supply from this project an element of that GSP?

THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION, DIRECTOR DICKSON.

AS WE SPEAK RIGHT NOW, MEMBERS OF MY TEAM IS PRESENTING TO THE SCGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

MEETING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE UNFORTUNATELY I CAN'T BE AT TWO PLACES AT ONE.

BUT WE ARE A KEY PLAYER TO GSP AND THERE ARE SOME ASSUMPTIONS THAT ARE BEING MADE OF

THE POTENTIAL RECHARGE IMPACTS OF THE HARVEST WATER.

NOW I WOULD LOVE TO COME BACK TO YOU AFTERWARDS TO GIVE YOU SPECIFIC NUMBERS ON WHAT PERCENT

OF THE ASSUMPTIONS THEY'RE MAKING.

BUT I REST ASSURE THAT AS PART OF THE POLICIES THAT THEY'RE WORKING ON RIGHT NOW WITH SCGA

AS WELL AS THE REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY TO LOOK AT IT REGIONALLY THAT WE'RE MAKING

SURE THAT WE'RE PROTECTING THE AMOUNT OF GROUNDWATER RECHARGE THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE BRINGING

AND ENSURING THAT THOSE ASSUMPTIONS ARE ALSO BEING MADE AND BEING KEPT.

AND SO LONG STORY SHORT, I DON'T HAVE THE EXACT NUMBERS WITH YOU AT THE MOMENT BUT I'M

HAPPY TO GET BACK TO YOU ON THAT BUT WE ARE PART OF THOSE ASSUMPTIONS.

Are you capable of saying at this point

that delivery of recycled water

to offset pumping of groundwater

will be essential or crucial

to achievement of sustainability under the GSP

that's adopted for this geography?

Yes, sir.

I think that that's a correct assumption.

I think that it is crucial.

This is a Sigma-related project.

THAT IS ONE OF THE FACETS AS TO WHY WE WERE AWARDED A CERN AMOUNT OF HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO IMPROVE THE GROUNDWATER TABLE.

SO THOSE ASSUMPTIONS HAVE TO BE THERE AND OUR PROJECTS HAVE TO BE ABLE TO MEET THE INCREASE OF THE GROUNDWATER TABLE, HENCE THE WIDE SWOT OF MONITORING WELLS.

But sorry, just to finish one more thing.

But just as Director, you had alluded to,

the key facet to that is actually really having the farmers be a part

or the growers be a part of this program.

Because we need them to also understand and believe

that the use of the water is not just critical to their operations,

but there's also an ecological benefit in there.

So without the support of our growers in there,

not having to use the recycled water,

we won't be able to raise that table.

And so we would then have to have different conversations

with not just us the GA, but also with the state

on how we would have to do adapted management

in order to reach that table.

And frankly, on a short summary

of how we have to do adapted management

that's approved by CFFW in the state

is that we have to go out and still earn the goodwill

of more farmers and get more water delivered.

And so that is your adapted management.

And so that's why there's a critical junction there

of having to increase that.

Well, I think that's exactly a point

that needs to be underscored,

and I'm not sure that everybody follows this,

but I don't know the extent to which,

as part of our conversations with the landowners,

farmers, et cetera,

we are including the discussion

of the critical character of getting this project done

and their participation in it,

because if that GSP is not carried out as it has been approved by the state,

then there are going to be significant consequences to the property owners.

So it's not just them doing us a favor.

It's also helping themselves.

And I think that Director Hume's warning is certainly well taken under the circumstances,

but I also think it's critical that we're characterizing this for those that the district's talking to

in terms of that broader context of the essential nature of what you've just described as the connection

with satisfying the groundwater sustainability plan as well.

And as you come back to us, hopefully you can characterize more precisely exactly what that element is

so everybody understands.

I mean, whether it's 10 percent or 25 percent or 50 percent, whatever that is,

that the groundwater sustainability plan projects

is going to result as,

will come as a result of the harvest,

what are we talking about?

Harvest water?

Harvest water.

Whatever we're called.

The infusion of the recycled water

into the equation that offsets the need

to use groundwater.

Thanks.

Thank you, board member.

Director Suen.

Thank you, chair.

I want to thank Director Hume for his sobering account of the conversations that are happening with our partners down there.

I think this whole board concurs, Director Hume, that these farmers, our partners, our constituents, our residents, our community, their concerns we take seriously.

And on that note, I think you should not be the only one hearing their voices.

So again, I appreciate you bringing this to our attention.

I would like to propose we get a subcommittee of this board

so that we can dive deeper into the specific issues

that these farmers are having and the concerns

and how we can help.

Obviously, I know staff is working on it,

but I think it demands the greater attention of this board.

It's not fair that you're the only board member

that are hearing.

OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE CONSTITUENTS SPECIFICALLY BUT IT'S NOT FAIR THAT YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE HEARING THIS.

AND I THINK AGAIN I THINK A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THIS BOARD WOULD BE HELPFUL TO TRY TO RESOLVE THOSE ISSUES.

SO IF MY COLLEAGUES WOULD SUPPORT THAT MOTION I GUESS IT'S A MOTION I WOULD PUT FORWARD.

WHAT'S THE PROCESS? CAN HE MAKE A MOTION?

Yeah, I assume we'd have to agendize.

Bring it back to

our future meeting?

Okay.

If we could do that, thank you.

Anything else?

No, that's it. Thank you.

Director Desmond.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Yes, I would be willing to participate

on that subcommittee, too.

I just want to thank Supervisor Hume as well

for that impassioned and eloquent

discussion.

You definitely got all of us to stand up

and take much more notice.

and I have a great deal of confidence in your commitment to your constituents

and keen understanding of their sensibilities and their needs and their concerns down there.

And I know we all appreciate the value of this project from many aspects,

but you're absolutely right.

If we lose the goodwill and support from the proposed consumers and landowners in the South County

who are immediately affected by this, we're dead in the water.

So I just want to let you know, Superintendent Hume, I'm happy to join you in any meetings with staff

and your constituents.

Any other questions or comments?

Are we still no members of the public?

We have no public comments.

Thank you for your report.

I think you've opened some of the eyes of some of our,

you know, we in the north part of the county

don't always hear everything going on

in the south part of the county,

but it does raise concerns.

So we'll address it in January.

Is that the plan?

We'll bring back the item on the subcommittee in January.

Okay.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair and members of the Board.

Is there another item? Yes, ma'am.

Item number 11 is miscellaneous board members, board members' discussion

of issues for future consideration, points of note on communications received

in file. Our last item. We do have one that we just

brought forth. Is there any other things for future agenda items

or future comments or anything?

Just when I mastered this request to speak column.

I think you all and I'm going to adjourn our meeting