Of the Sacramento Area Sewer District for Wednesday, March 11, 2026.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll of the stabs of quorum?

Yes, Mr.

Chair.

Directors Desmond.

Dickinson.

Hume.

Kaplan.

Here.

Kennedy.

Orozco?

Here.

Lecky Baum.

Rachel?

Here.

Robles?

Rodriguez?

Here.

Sander.

Soon.

Viegas?

Yes.

Here, sorry.

Karpinski Costa?

Here.

And Chair Serna.

Here.

You have a quorum with the members present.

Very good.

Please read our statement.

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 Direct TV Uverse Cable Systems.

It is also live streamed at Metro 14Live.gov.

Today's meeting replays Sunday, March 15th 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 Sewer 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 bodies 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 board clerk at SACCounty.gov.

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

This concludes your announcement.

Very good.

Thank you.

If you would please rise and join me in the pledge.

Again, I'd like to welcome everyone to this morning's Sacramento Area Sewer District Board of Directors meeting.

Again, as a friendly reminder, those who have joined us here in chambers are certainly welcome to address the board on any matter on our posted agenda.

You're also welcome to uh address the board on any matter not on our agenda.

We ask that you please complete a speaker slip and get it to our clerk, and I will call you in the order that I receive the slips.

With that, Madam Clerk, our first item.

Our first item will be closed session, which will be held in hearing room one.

Very good.

So we will then recess to uh closed session hearing one.

Okay, I'd like to call back to order this meeting of the Sacramento Area Sewer District for Wednesday, March 11, 2026.

Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll and re-establish a quorum?

Yes, Directors Desmond.

Dickinson?

Here.

Hume?

Here.

Kaplan?

Here.

Kennedy.

Orosco?

Here.

Pluckyb.

Rethel.

Here.

Robles?

Here.

Rodriguez?

Here.

Sander.

Soon?

Here.

Viegas?

Here.

Karpinski Costa?

Here.

And Chair Serna.

Here.

You have a quorum with the members present.

Very good.

Thank you.

And we have nothing to report out from close.

So we'll move on to our first open session item.

Okay.

The first item will be to approve items one through four of the consent matters.

Okay.

Does staff have anything to say about anything on consent?

I have some uh directors in the queue.

No.

Okay.

We'll start with Director Kaplan.

Thank you, Chair.

I'm just going to abstain on item four because of a contribution.

All right.

Please let the record show.

Abstention by Director Kaplan.

Director Dickinson.

Thanks, Chair.

I I actually have a question about or two about number one.

Do you want to take that separately or just take it and then we'll take it together, but we'll have the clerk read it number one.

Item number one is contract number 177, approved selection of and agreement with Transit Technologies LLC for fleet management information system implementation.

So uh uh thank you.

Christoph, uh looking at the scoring.

The proposed awardee uh outscored the second uh ranking uh bidder in only a couple of categories and only uh prevailed on total score really by the difference on product demonstration.

Uh in virtually every other category except a couple, they scored less.

So I uh can you give us some explanation about why the proposed award E is superior to the to the second scoring bidder?

So I guess I would say that a product demonstration is where you actually get to see it in action and see how it works as opposed to more of a paper analysis before.

So that's basically getting to that last step and doing the product demo.

Whoever makes it to that last step, then it's up to basically which vendor um does the best in that demo.

So I I agree with the what you said.

There's it's pretty close, but I believe that the the demo showed that this was the superior firm.

So you're uh you are then uh completely confident that they are superior to the second the second bidder based on the product demonstration essentially based on the product demonstration.

Yes, that that's I mean I I wasn't on the committee.

That was that was a different team that made the selection.

But yeah.

Okay.

All right.

All right, thanks, Chair.

All right, thank you very much.

Uh any other questions by directors.

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, do we have any one time to speak on consent?

We do not have any public comment.

I'm the consent for approval.

Okay, there's a motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

It's been moved and seconded.

Uh electronic vote, please.

Please vote.

Please vote.

Just acknowledges my accusing on item four.

Abstention, sorry.

You can vote abstention, could you?

Well, but this is all consent.

It's all together.

So it's all together.

So do I need to.

Okay, gotcha.

Your motion passes 10 to zero with Director Kaplan resuming from the side.

Yes.

Slow up on the slow on the uptake.

Are you?

Let the record show uh an affirmative vote by Director Viegas.

Again.

All right, very good.

Uh next item, please.

Okay.

Your next item is item five.

Comments from the public on issues not on the posted agenda.

I do not have any speaker slips at this time.

Okay, very good.

Next time.

Okay.

And your next item is item six, miscellaneous district engineer matters.

10 minutes by presenter Christoph Dobson, direct district engineer.

I'm sorry.

You don't have to use all 10 minutes.

Well, we have a little bit of time for something.

Uh so good morning, everyone.

Uh just quickly on meetings.

Our next meeting will be on April 8th.

We uh will not have uh the second meeting in March.

And then uh the other thing that may take up to 10 minutes is uh we have uh someone to recognize today, Rosemary Clark, our uh director of collection system operations is retiring after 35 plus years.

With a somber music.

So um I I have a few words to say, and then I know Rosemary wants to say a few things.

We have a gift for her as well.

Um and then, of course, your board uh would probably like to say a few things as well.

Um I feel pretty uh pretty qualified to say a few things about Rosemary because I've actually I was thinking back and we were uh kind of trading the dates of when we started working together, and we've actually been working together for 26 of those 35 years.

Either uh uh we are either reporting to the same person, so on the same team, or I was her director or I was her direct supervisor for almost that entire time.

So um so I've gotten to know Rosemary pretty well, and of course, uh over 35 years you accomplish a lot, and she has certainly accomplished a lot um throughout moving all uh all up through the organization from an assistant engineer all the way up to the director.

Um but there are two things that I really uh that really are just kind of burned into my mind as as to who Rosemary is.

One of them is that she has a tremendous passion for our mission, the mission to protect public health and the environment.

And that's something that she just lives and breathes every day.

Um and then the second thing is her love for the people of our organization, all of her staff.

And I was kind of trying to think of an analogy today, and what I came up with is it feels like every day at the end of the day, um, she kind of puts her arms around the entire organization, all 800 employees, and gives them a big hug.

So that's that's what I think of as uh as far as Rosemary trying to summer sum up her career in a little snippet.

Um so with that, I have uh a gift.

We're gonna do that first and then give you a chance to share a few words if that works.

That's that's fine.

Yeah, all right.

This is always the hardest part is digging up the award.

And I've watched so many people over the years get these fabulous gifts, and I get one too.

So we're gonna leave all this here.

Okay and go over to the podium so that we can do that.

Thank you.

Oh, beautiful.

Come on.

Okay.

Oh my gosh, how beautiful.

Okay, now another one this way.

Okay.

I don't want to end that one.

There you go.

Excellent.

Very nice.

All right.

One, two, three.

Nice.

Do you want one in front of the board as well?

Can I can you guys can I take one with all of you?

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sure.

Sure.

You look like your benevolent overlords.

Are you guys in the center?

We all have to like each other in this thing.

Okay, can you can you handle it?

One.

Yeah, move this way, yeah.

To be settered.

One giant set.

There you go.

And then one small leap.

All right.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah.

So I just wanted an opportunity to tell you what a an honor it's been to be in the director of collection system operations for the last 12 years.

And I am that person to be able to be part of protecting public health and the environment every day, that gets me through those doors.

And it just doesn't get better than that.

Um, to serve our community.

I work with the best people, and they provide exceptional customer care and care for each other.

And that's like we have done great and hard things, and it's been just such a privilege.

And I appreciate your board too for the trust and support over the years.

It it's palpable, so thank you.

And I've been able to provide for my family.

You know, it's just it's been a beautiful experience, and I really, really leave with a full and grateful, grateful heart.

So thank you very much.

Very good.

Thank you, Rosemary.

Um we may have uh we do have some folks that are entering the queue here.

I'm gonna start off uh by saying uh this poses a real problem because it now documents the fact that the district clearly violates child labor laws.

Uh no, in all seriousness, I I've had the opportunity for uh 15 and a half years working alongside uh Rosemary and um all the staff, all the great staff at our uh sewer district, and uh you've um been one one of those kind of um quiet stalwart um public servants uh who um I think as Christoph uh referenced really invests uh personally into your profession and I think you stated it well um your mission, everyone's mission at the district of protecting public health and the environment.

And uh I think you're you're not just um someone that will look back and say, wow, what a great job at the district in terms of her service, but someone who really entered um uh the public um the public realm and in terms of uh the mission of the district with the full intent of um quietly uh making sure that uh that we fulfilled the mission and that uh uh this board has always been well informed.

You've been part of that as well, and I want to thank you for that.

And uh you're gonna be sorely missed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Director Hume.

So we just appointed um a woman as a head dire our director of Department of Waste Management and uh Recycling.

I saw that.

And uh I said, you know, it's rare fried air for anyone to reach that level in their career.

It's even more rare for a woman to reach that level in career.

It's even more rare for a woman in an industry made up of engineers and roughnecks to reach that level.

And so you are remarkable in what you've accomplished.

But I just want to echo what Christoph uh mentioned.

Uh, you know, you've been a heartbeat away from the district engineer for the entire time Christoph has served.

And when we made that decision, that's one of the hardest decisions as a board member I've made sitting on this board because you each brought such different qualities.

If we could have messed you into one person, we'd have had the the ED or you know, the the district engineer from that everybody would be uh jealous of.

Um but your commitment to this agency and your love of the people you serve was evident, evident, and um it's it that's something that's special.

And so I know that they felt it, they told me they felt it, and and it's just uh it will be sorely missed.

And I think the other thing is that when we look at these very long-standing employees of the district, I hope that there's the next generation coming up behind you all because um it seems to be that people they come here to work and they stay and they move up through the ranks.

Yes, and we love to see that.

It's a place to learn and grow, and I would tell you I did that all 35 years, truly.

Good.

Yeah, and we tell that to our new hires.

We say we come and we stay, and then we tell them all the years, all the years that I'm surrounded by.

It it's it's great.

Yeah, yeah.

Good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Director Rodriguez.

Rosemary, I want to thank you for the 35 years that you have spent um with the uh organization.

I'm always amazed when somebody spends that long with an organization.

It really says a lot about the leadership overall.

And you know, um uh uh Supervisor Hume um spoke a little about what I want to share with you.

It's it's as women's history month, I it's always an opportunity to look back at women trailblazers and 35 years ago, it was probably a very male-dominated field.

And you have stuck there, and so I just want to um honor you uh this month and recognize your longevity and what you've done and uh ensuring that women enter these fields that have historically been male dominated.

So congratulations on retirement and I wish you the best.

Thank you.

And if I could add just for a second on that.

Last night it's a full circle moment because I went and spoke to the Mesa kids at SAC State.

And if it weren't for Mesa, it's mathematics, engineering science achievement, I would not be in this seat right here.

And that I mean, and then it was just sweet, a sweet moment.

Um and really grateful for all the opportunity.

First first college grad out of my family.

I mean, it's it's been amazing.

Well, you mentioned Mesa and you mentioned Mesa and uh my late husband was uh Mesa.

Um he graduated from Sack State with in civil engineering, and I really um I I really have a lot of respect for the organization and ensuring that kids get access to the sciences and so and math, yeah, yeah, information.

Thank you.

Vice Chair Roscoe.

Thank you.

New title.

Um that first off, the comments that I've already I I pressed my button a little too late because everything that everybody's already said is something that I wished I could have personally relayed to you.

You're uh by the way, the the discourse between about Mesa and the programs that really propel us forward, people that aren't traditionally seen in positions such as yours.

Yes.

I mean, we said it used to be a male-dominated industry, it it still is, okay.

And so let's be real.

You have trailblazed many paths, and there will be a million other potential Rosemary Clarks who will have the opportunity to envision what it looks like to sit in that seat.

I think I might be the longest serving woman on this sitting board.

Uh it's been 10 years now that I've had the greatest gift of walking in and sitting amongst such giants in this region.

And one of the constants is that I've often looked over and seen you there and this board, as many changes as we've seen over this last decade.

Um one of the things I will say is that uh I personally have changed myself, right, as a leader over many, many years, and you have reflected um some of the most beautiful gifts in my direction.

Thank you for recognizing uh how hard that is uh to sometimes manage so many things and to still show up.

And 35 years is is not uh a minuscule amount of time.

That's your entire you know, adult life.

Yes.

Um I just want to say I I want to appreciate uh Supervisor Hume's comments when he said about the di the district director position.

That was that was a perfect 10 against a perfect 10.

And either way we would have rolled, we would have won.

Um it is a it's a it's just wonderful to see you.

Um it's wonderful to to respond uh when it comes to just giving brief remarks about your next steps.

And and you know, best to you on the next part of this adventure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate every all of it.

Thank you.

Director Dickinson.

Well, thanks, Chair.

Uh I uh did you begin in 90 or 91?

91.

91?

90.

Um I'm just delighted to know that someone's associated with this organization before me.

And I uh I I have to say though, uh I think about all those years and all the challenges that the the district has has faced and and has surmounted all all the all the uh issues with the regional board, with local local issues, uh across the uh across the spectrum.

And uh the district has become uh uh I think with uh out doubt uh thanks to your considerable contributions, one of the standard bearers in the industry.

And so you have you have not just a long career to think about with pride, but uh uh roster of accomplishments and achievements that have occurred along the way that that will mark this district and your career forever.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

It's been one of the funnest things is to have a really strong relationship with our regulator.

We are in the same business, and to have them trust us and use us as the the setting the bar, truly, and having us teach new none of some of their new staff, and it's just it's been just it's it's been it's actually been great.

So thank you.

Any other comments?

See none?

Rosemary.

Again, thank you for your service and uh we wish you well in retirement.

Thank you.

You're quite well.

Now we can clap.

Oh right, very good.

Uh Christoph, does that conclude your district?

That's it.

Okay, very good.

All right, Madam Clerk, next item.

Uh Mr.

Chair, item seven is 2026 legislative and regulatory affairs platform for the Sacramento Area Sewer District.

Presenter Joe Phil Borha, legislative and regulatory affairs manager.

All right, before you get started, I feel to ask whether or not we had any public speakers on the last item.

We did not have any.

All right, just for the record, all right.

Uh item six.

Very good, thank you.

I can please have the PowerPoint.

Thank you.

Not too sure how I can follow that celebration with Rosemary.

But uh in the terms of SACS sewer, we're continuing the pipeline of progress, and hopefully we can follow with the big footsteps that she's uh she's leaving behind.

So but I'm here to segue uh about the legislative and regulatory affairs platform.

I normally present to you on our APMO updates.

Um you'll still have me for another half hour or so.

I'll be presenting with my critics after that.

So the legislative and regulatory affairs platform.

It was last presented to your board in 2018 by my predecessor Terry Mitchell.

What we're doing now is updating the name change from the 2018 legislative and regulatory policies and engagement protocol policies to platform.

This new platform will provide us the framework for continued advocacy on SACSUR legislative and uh regulatory priority areas for defining priority areas and funding interests as well as clarifying how our staff can engage in legislative and regulatory processes.

It supports timely responses to new legislation and regulations and funding opportunities, and it also provides a clear process for Saxour board engagement when updates are needed.

Since 2018, we've seen a number of changes both in the federal level, state administration's uh goals have also changed, thousands of bills introduced, and in average our our team here at Saxue retracts no less than 60 to 70 bills at every given legislative session and engage in dozens of those bills, whether it's in committee with the legislator staff or with our partners throughout the industry in making sure that we push to shape sound policies and regulations.

So our framework continues to be that we will advocate for the following principles focusing on environmental stewardship and with efforts that align with SACSURE's mission while supporting regional partnerships, promoting responsible actions that protect public health, advancing clean water, and promoting healthy environment while protecting our ratepayers' interests and supporting efforts based on environmental effectiveness, sound science, economic feasibility, and properly balancing our fiscal responsibilities to our communities.

And since then we've been able to uh shape our policies that really promote Sax Sewers' interest.

And we've been able to engage deeply in the legislature on key things such as PFOS or at least attempting to ban harmful substances that may enter our sewage system to really protect public health.

Our key priority areas have evolved, not really changed, but we've modernized it in 2026.

We continue to engage you in SACSEO's priority areas, including the Sacramento and South King Delta, contaminants of concern.

I mentioned about PFAS and PFOA, water quality and recycled water, sustainability, climate adaptation and resilience, infrastructure funding, and again balancing rate payer needs as a special district.

And the uh logos of the different industry are the governmental organizations that you see in your screen right now is just a sample of the folks that we interact and engage in a day-to-day basis, whether it's legislation, policies, technical advisory committees, or regulations that are being promoted or starting the process.

And we also looked at making sure that our platform aligns with industry organizations and comparisons to our peers.

We've looked and reviewed a number, if not every single one of your special districts and delegations and your cities and counties uh ordinances policies to make sure that we're also in alignment with that.

Uh we've reviewed with other peer organizations and internal feedback with our key department SMEs, and we've really looked at our partners from Civic With, that's Central Valley Clean Water Association, CASA, California Associated Sanitation Agencies, and Water Use California, as well as the Special Districts Association to make sure that we are in tandem and alignment with this platform and policies.

So I just want to say thank you again for listening to my presentation.

What are our next steps?

We'll continue to engage and advocate with our stakeholders and local and regional, state and federal partners.

We will continue engagement and updating our board with key legislation regulations and funding opportunities.

And as we enter in this world where week by week things may change.

That concludes my presentation.

Very good.

Thank you, Joe Film.

We have some directors in the queue.

I'm going to start off.

Can you go back to the slide with all the um regulatory?

Yeah, thank you.

Um I am not seeing uh the California Air Resources Board.

And I understand our you know wheelhouse primarily is water, but uh we also um are regulated um undoubtedly by CARB.

So I assume uh that we are continuing to keep our thumb on the pulse of uh what the state is attempting to continually do, um rightfully so, which is minimize carbon emissions and uh also be mindful uh through legislation in implementation of that vis-a-vis uh carbs actions as it relates to particulate matter and NOx and um you know other air quality um uh agents.

So can you briefly say uh how you're doing that or um maybe maybe I'm wrong?

Maybe the in the frequency of dealing with carb is not worth mentioning.

But um any thoughts on that?

Actually, you're correct, Chair Cerna.

Um, it's my my apologies that we did not put the CARP logo in there.

Um, as part of our team, actually, myself and and um our senior engineer Heidi Oriol, she sits as chair of our air clean and environment um uh committee at CASA that deals hand in hand with uh our carb and our carp committees.

We actually work very closely with our Sacramento Regional Representative, uh Councilmember Gera on a lot of the issues that we work on, very specifically with our advanced clean fleet, as we uh updated your board last year about our turnovers on the EV vehicles.

We sit very closely in those regulatory policy committees to make sure that we again advocate what's a proper balance on making sure that we attain uh or not just surpass attainment, but really um participate as a region and meeting those goals.

So you're correct, Chair Serna.

We're very deeply involved with with CARB.

We're looking at greenhouse gas reduction funds very closely for opportunities to really advance not just our eco water projects, but also improving and evolving our fleet, and we're in alignment with a lot of those state priorities.

Very good.

And even though they're kind of a sister local agency, uh I think it's also worth mentioning that uh we certainly have uh a history and a partnership working with our uh Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District as well.

Sir Director Hume.

Thank you, Chair.

First, a bit of seriousness relative to your presentation.

Obviously on several of the Delta boards, so anything I can do there, I always stand at the ready to help represent Sachs over there.

But I'm also been appointed to the advisory committee on SP 72.

So anything we can do as far as making sure that we're well represented as we uh undertake that most ambitious water plan in California's history, um happy to do that.

But I wanted to go back to how you began your presentation, which was how do I follow up such a wonderful um uh you know recognition and and it's pretty simple.

You just got to dedicate the next 33 or so years of your life to this agency.

So look forward to that.

I won't be here that whole time, but we know it is He's young enough to.

That's right.

Thank you, Director.

Director Karpinski Costa.

Thank you, Chair.

I just have a question.

How difficult would it be for you to update us on a periodic basis?

Because I get you know things from other agencies that these are the bills pending.

We support, we oppose, the supportive amended, or anything that we're directly involved in, we get a little email that says sometimes we can talk to our representatives and give a little extra push for the district.

So I'm just wondering how difficult it would be for you to provide us information along the way.

Thank you, Director Pittsekosa.

Not difficult at all.

We actually keep a very active tracker of the bills that we support, engage, and that we review with Director Ewit as well as General Manager Dobson.

And so uh let me get back to the team and make sure that we have the appropriate cadence as you understand, you know, committees are happening uh as we speak right now.

So we want to make sure that we give you timely updates on where we stand on the bills, where we're watching, what our positions are, or the ones that we may have some issue areas also.

And if you ever need help from us on an individual you know, basis or testimony or anything to let us know.

Thank you.

Very good.

Thank you.

Director Dickinson.

Uh thank you, Chair.

There are just a couple of things.

First of all, I wanted to underscore the fact that you have included product uh stewardship and support for efforts to encourage that in the policy.

And I and I I think that's great to see the I had a a question though, with regard to third-party citizen lawsuits under the Federal Clean Water Act.

And uh it is uh it is easy to say uh let's have legislation or let's support legislation that that would um reduce or eliminate frivolous lawsuits.

It's a a lot uh harder task to define what it is.

So can you can you uh give me an idea of first whether there's any legislation that you have in mind, or is this just a general prescription that you want to include in the policy?

And and and secondly, how how would you define frivolous lawsuits?

Because there are people who would define lawsuits to contest waters of of the of the country uh as frivolous when uh I think other people would say clearly they're not frivolous.

So can you elaborate a little bit on that, Joe Feel?

Yeah, thank you, Director Dickinson.

So I believe you are actually asking a question on page six of our attachment A third-party citizen losses under the Federal Clean Water Act.

So it's a combination of both.

It is a general statement that we've long uh reviewed with the district to make sure that we are in alignment of really protecting uh taxpayer funds on legal vulnerabilities and mitigating potential legal challenges.

We work very closely with our industry association to make sure that um if there is uh certain rhythm or certain moves that we're seeing in as an industry um that we at least be mindful of that.

Now I'm I'm not a lawyer, so um actually may uh may come back to you with a response with our legal counsel as to what we can determine to be a frivolous lawsuit.

However, what we've seen in the past is that potentially uh there are organizations that really challenge not just you know our water rights or not just um uh clean water act in general.

I think it's just being mindful that those things do exist, that those challenges are something that we want to you know keep in touch or at least know and understand.

But um, we'll be more than happy to come back to you on that and and and work with the definition.

I I'd appreciate that and I don't want to prolong this, but I would I would appreciate follow-up first of all on whether there's any active legislation that's being considered either at the this this is obviously the federal legislation, but we have parallel state legislation.

Uh first of all, whether there's any active legislation that that uh falls under this category.

Uh and secondly, how does how does the district define frivolous lawsuits?

Thank you, Derek.

Thank you.

We'll follow up.

Very good.

Thank you.

Any further questions for Joe Phil?

All right.

Thanks again.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, can anyone sign up to speak on this matter?

We do not have anyone signed up to speak.

All right, very good.

Next item.

Okay, Mr.

Item number eight is Harvest Water Quarterly Report for October 1 through December 31, 2025.

Presenters, Joe Phil Borhat, legislative and regulatory affairs manager, and Mike Crooks, Deputy Director of Eco Water Operations.

Good morning.

Good morning, uh Chair Cerna, members of the board.

My name is Mike Crooks, Harvest Water Capital Program Manager.

And I'm going to kick this presentation off by touching on the capital side and then Joe Phil will follow up on the administrative side.

So please bring up the presentation for item eight.

This slide just uh touches on the uh the topics that we'll discuss real briefly, um, starting with the capital side.

Um I'll just start by saying things are going well.

Um we've got seven active construction contracts right now.

Five of them are pipeline construction contracts.

All five of them are essentially complete.

They're in various stages of closeout, contract closeout.

Um there's still some final improvements that are being constructed as we speak.

Um, for instance, uh well, this this slide represents the fact that all pipelines are in the ground.

Um this slide is an exhibit that shows our alignment to the various pipelines.

Um the south south area where the the lines are shaded orange.

Um that's to represent uh final paving.

Uh that final paving activity started last week and it's ongoing right now, expected to be completed this week, if not today.

That's dependent on weather.

It's it'll be done.

Um everything in front of us looks good in terms of weather.

The the paving will be done, like I said, hopefully today, um, if not by the end of the week for sure.

Final striping will be put down probably in a couple weeks uh once the pavement has a chance to cure.

How do you feel about that, Director Hume?

Greatest day ever.

Have you driven down there lately?

Uh I have driven on the freshly paved Twin Cities Road.

And uh one of the farmers that lives adjacent to it, I said, Hey, I just drove on a fresh road in front of your house.

He said, Yeah, they didn't make the lane, they didn't pave it any wider.

I said, Don't worry, they're gonna stripe it wider.

It'll be okay.

Okay.

Um in the northern part of the project in the city of Elk Grove, uh, you can see the line is shaded blue.

We still need to do um final surfacing of the road.

It's microsurfacing, and then final striping, that's scheduled to occur in May.

Um, but again, uh the pipeline projects are essentially done.

So the the two remaining active projects are the the pumping station at the plant and the first phase of on-farm connections.

Um both of those are progressing.

Um here's a photo of the pumping station in progress on on the left photo shows the control slash electrical building for the pumping station on the right side.

Uh those are what we call the pump cans.

Those are the um basically the vertical cans that the pumps will fit within.

Um then here's a shot of the overall site, uh, the building, the pump cans kind of in the middle, and then on on the far left are the discharge pipes that'll actually connect to the pumps once they show up.

Um progress is good.

Uh we actually received an updated schedule from this contractor at the beginning of the week.

Um earlier on, the project had been challenged with a number of things, including equipment procurement, quality control issues that that caused their schedule to slide several months.

Um they were showing completion in September of 27, which was not great.

Um their updated schedule as of January, um, they're now showing completion in April of next year.

So they've actually recovered five months in schedule, which is really good.

Um not much to show on non-farm connections um right now.

Everything that they're doing is below grade.

Um first phase has 56 sites, and they're probably about 15 to 20 percent complete.

Um they've done undercround underground construction on maybe roughly 15 to 20 of them, but they're making decent progress, and their their progress I think will continue and probably uh accelerate a bit as as we get into the drier weather.

Um budget, so just construction dollars themselves.

This is a snapshot of what what where we're at.

Um we've got a construction budget of 323 million dollars of debt.

We've spent almost 234, leaving a balance of almost 90 million dollars uh in the budget.

Um the table on the bottom is is uh summary of the change orders for each of the projects.

Um not gonna go through each and every one, but uh you can see that we're projecting right now at the end of all construction, we'll be looking at a total change order percentage rate of 6.8.

Um That's all I had for my slides.

Um Phil's gonna jump up and finish his, but if there's any uh questions that we'd like to talk about, I can do that right now.

Director Hume.

Thank you, Chair.

All kidding aside, I do drive that area, and as we have been paving these roads, there's an immense uh amount of pride in in the improvement to the landscape, irrespective of all of the ecological benefits of this project, which I you know hold up as one of the the certainly most um forward thinking projects I've been a part of on this agency, on any other agency I've served, as far as working towards true sustainability and and recognizing the value of the resource that we process.

Um but going down there and seeing a road that we would have never cobbled up the money to to pave, and yet here's a brand new road.

Um you know it it offsets the bad days by uh by a long shot.

So thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

Very good.

Thank you, Director Hume.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you, Mr.

Cricks.

Chair members of board, it's me again, Joe Fulbora, manager of the APMO.

And we're here to provide you with our program updates and highlights.

Outreach partnerships and engagement have been a key tenet of um the APMO's drive this last quarter.

We continue to be part of members of the community, one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders and phase two AFCA eastment agreements and meetings.

We continue to develop our eco plan.

Um we've executed a new agreement for a new crane forage trial executed in quarter four.

Our picture on the right actually shows a raptor perch and owlboxes installed at the Gallagher implementation site.

And so, as part of our eco plan um activities, we've created a number of these pilot programs or pilot projects that do show our partners of the state that our environmental or active mitigation strategies and active management plans are working.

And so we planted a number of trees in partnership with some of our local community groups and nonprofits group.

When we saw that uh the mortility or the trees are not um doing as well, we looked and worked with our environmental stewards and see okay, what is impacting the ability of those young trees to grow um so that we can get the ecological benefits.

And then we did see that there were rodents.

And so instead of going through with uh potentially harmful substance, what can we do naturally to evade and uh impact this?

And so we've installed at a very low cost um these uh purchase for our boxes to actually go there, and so the presence of the ouse mitigates the pressures of the rodents, less rodents, the trees are able to grow.

And so that's just part of our active mitigation strategy that we need to do in order to get these ecological benefits.

Seeing these pilot projects really work in the community, and multiple landowners have expressed interest in both riparian and wetland management, and our options are being explored.

And again, these are critical movements that we need for the eco plan.

Before you leave the slide, Joe.

Yes, sir.

Uh if you can go back, thanks.

Uh so I assume it's Sandhill Crane uh forage field, right?

Uh and in the trials, yes.

Okay.

So uh I know that uh in the Lodi area, Sandhill Cranes uh actually function uh their their presence, their migratory uh seasonal migratory presence is a source of I would say borderline tourism for that part of um the valley.

So is there an intent?

I know this is a trial, um, but if it succeeds, uh at least uh preliminarily, is there any interest or ability to have this be uh function as an um kind of an augmentation to what we see happening a little further south in terms of inviting the public and I speak as a as a photographer here as as someone who would love to have more opportunities to go um capture uh the images of local bird life.

Is there an uh an intent to have this publicly accessible?

Yes, uh and thank you for that question, Director Cerner.

I actually saw some of your posts and videos of the Sandhill Cranes being called.

And so we we do work very closely with the property owners, and as long as we can have that uh mutual understanding uh and again respect with their their uh property rights and things like that, but working with both the property owners for the pilot projects, but also some demonstration projects with our open space partners such as either Stone Lights or Consumers Reserve, where we could be uh potentially able to have those uh managed uh crane forging sites and um uh other pilot projects, then I can definitely see a confluence and ability for the public to be able to enjoy now Sandhill Cranes that you know, mate and forage at a specific sets of time during the day.

Sure.

And so um as long as there's safe roads like uh Supervisor Hume said and public access, they can definitely see and enjoy and really see our work being done in nature in real time.

Yes.

Thank you.

Director Hume.

I would just add on that you don't have to go as far as Lodi, the city of Gault and Casumus River Preserve uh partner in a winter bird festival every year.

And on Staten Island uh is a massive uh Sand Hill Crane Sanctuary.

You can go out there just about any day uh just around dusk, and they will be coming in to settle down for the night.

And they are impressive birds to see in person.

Good point.

I was uh thinking specifically of the uh Phil and Maryland Eisenberg preserve.

So thank you.

Thanks.

Very impressive for and give us close to about 100,000 dollars each of rent money for additional 700 individuals as part of our ecoplant CAPE.

So very important for us.

Now, some of the good news since I uh presented in uh late the summer.

We continue to push for recycled water service agreement and execution through quarter for today.

Now our delivery goal, that is what we're contractually obligated for the state is 32,500 acre feet per year.

Our demand goals 39,000 because we know that during the summer season and during peak demand, the the demand of the farmers for the water ends and flows, and we want to be able to at least deliver the demands and the needs of the system, but also manage what we can um uh have an output through our pump station.

And so for phase one, as we've presented before, we've had 56 AFCs uh that is equivalent to 21,500 AFY per year, estimated delivery demand of about 68 percent.

I am pleased to say that we've now had during this time 22 AFCA secured that adds 7,100 AFY estimated demand.

Now we provided this um presentation last week.

As of this morning, we've secured an additional three agreements, bringing us to 81 offkiss that gets us to 29,500 AFY demand.

So 28,600 is no longer the right number.

It is now tethering between 91 percent and 76 percent, depending on where you look at it, either the delivery goal or the demand goal.

And so we're very pleased that since our last presentation to the board that we've been able to make critical and steady progress, really work with the community, work with our construction partners at CPMO to really not only address their issues and concerns, hear their feedback, but be able to continue building that trust with these families and generational um ownership to be able to sign up more folks into our program.

And so on top of that, we still have nine additional office closely anticipated between the end of this month, 14 additional being pursued within those nine off costs conservatively, we can present to the board that we would be at a very good place of 102 percent of deliverable demand or 85 percent of the demand goal again, working towards uh getting that water delivered.

So 102 percent, is that mean that there would be a waiting list?

There could potentially, yes, sir.

Uh good problem to have, I suppose.

It is.

And so uh as as the as the program comes to to the start, when we're closer to turning on, I believe that we're gonna be presenting to you how we manage our system and our ordering system.

Uh we have a very exciting app and as well as um in development, uh a lot of things behind the scenes.

So we work very closely with the farmers as they you know set up their demand and order in ahead of time and time for the water, and so uh you your board should anticipate us walking you through how that works, how the community is providing us feedback and that how really that synergizes with their operations.

I'm curious, Joe Phil, have have we uh looked at um have you looked at the the parcels, the the acreage that has in phase one and phase two thus far that are in Williamson Act contract?

Yes, sir.

Well, what what can you I know you probably don't have a slide to answer my specific question, but what can you just generally tell us about the uh overlap between Williamson Act and those that are taking advantage of the of the project?

Great question, sir.

So there's a number of those parcels that actually both have the conservation easements have signed up to the Williamson Act that fully utilize the water, some of them that actually use part grazing, some of them use part um uh silage and and other crops.

And so uh while we don't have the specific slide that tells you the convergence of those specific parcels, we can we can tell you that there's a number to a very good comfortable amount of folks that have signed up for both the Williamson Act and the conservation easements that are also participating in our program that are also very closely participating at our eco plan potential.

And so, as your board knows, um, some of the difficulties that we would have in the outer years on our 84-year program, is really how can we protect and make sure that conservation easements open places of habitat and natural protection and farming lands maintained to be farming lands.

And so the synergy of making sure that those easements do converge with our work with the eco plan, as well as making sure that those farmers also participate in our programs.

I think we're hitting uh we're hitting in the right angles.

And do you have any idea?

And maybe perhaps Director Hume can chime in here too.

Uh he knows this area better than anyone here.

But um do we know what likely will be the response from uh the farming community in this part of the county where the water availability crop rotation uh behavior will be different.

There will be I'm just uh uh by way of example, for instance, going from maybe uh uh uh a row crop to an almond orchard.

Um do we have any idea how that uh might happen or or or will it happen at all?

Um are you even just anecdotally hearing from the farming community that, oh well, you know, I'm gonna have this much more uh acre feet of water available.

Um and therefore, you know, because of marg what have you, um that may or may not affect the decision to put in specific crops.

If I may, Director Human, maybe I can get started.

Yes, uh Chair Turner, we're very closely in tune to every single one of these parcels, even the ones that we've not had an agreement yet, because frankly, that is what dictates the water demand that we're presenting to you today.

And so, as we all know, Sacramento County, half a billion dollars worth of agricultural industry.

Sometimes certain exports or certain commodities, such as grapes, wine grapes, may have been hit by the market.

And so some of our um some of our growers and farmers have shifted their business strategy to still align with a crop that could still potentially be able to survive market volatility.

We've worked very closely with members of not only our stakeholder advisory group, our agricultural advisory committee.

We work very closely with Commissioner Flores in making sure that not only do we track these parcels, that we work um hand in hand with the actual ownership group and say, what kind of plants are you going to be having to do?

What is the uh transitional period in which you may have your water demand impacted and what could it be potentially during the years that you would need the water?

Because that again, that ebb and flow corrects directly to the management of the water and the back end from where our pump station or water facility would be.

So you're correct, sir.

Uh we do that not just once per year.

Actually, we check in with them multiple times just to make sure that we still understand what the crops are.

And as part of the board's direction that you had since approved with the post-OFCA irrigation system, we would also know what kinds of chairboard irrigation system, even booster pumps that they would be providing in their fields so that we're adequately not only sizing the system, but working through their demand and anticipating that they need so that when they're ready to push an app, it's a simplified button or give us a call, the right time and the right water will be there for their demand and their needs.

Very good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I will uh thank you.

Great questions.

I really appreciate it.

I nerd out about these things.

So thank you for giving me the chance to to share what we're doing at the APMO team.

Um we're still working very closely in groundwater monitoring.

Our water level monitoring at 12 wells, we've included new wells um installed in September 2025.

Transducers will be installed in new wells in quarter one of 2026.

Actually, it's happening as we speak as the weather is progressing to be welcoming in spring.

Our round two installations are coming.

We plan to construct eight to ten wells mid-2026, weather permitting, and we continue to have discussions with CDFW and very close partnership with SCGA, their new director, and their staff to make sure that our monitoring wells can potentially be used in tandem and in synergy with our folks that are practicing Sigmo and ensuring that our regions are um you know meeting our Sigma qualifications.

We are also pleased to share that we had a really good update to the California Water Commission last month.

Um our team and I per presented this um this update uh back in February 18th.

We've officially requested our inflationary adjustment for both Prop 1 and Prop 4 regulations.

Um we are working closely with Director Jensen and her staff to potentially be agendized in their April meeting.

What does that mean?

In our presentation on the 18th, we mentioned that it's just part of their inflationary goals that we are looking for right around 25 to 50 million dollars uh that meets the intent of Prop 1 and Prop 4.

We're hoping to really take that home for the district and our ratepayers.

We've shared conceptual mechanisms for expanded benefits for new habitats and species, and we continue to coordinate with CWC and CDFW for additional funds.

We're going at two plots of fund um same pot of funding, but two different ways.

Inflationary adjustment, because as your board knows, we are one of five existing projects that have been funded both for Prop One and Prop 4, and there's hundreds of millions of dollars that's left for us to potentially compete for.

There's inflationary adjustment that's needed uh per statute and per the regulations, and we presented to them the expanded ability for additional species that have not been covered by our original cap Bs to potentially allow us for more uh hopefully millions of dollars for our program, really closing the gap of our project.

Excuse me, Joe Phil.

Director Dickinson.

Thanks.

Thanks, Chair.

This had actually occurred to me uh before, but then the chair's comment about 102%.

And then thinking about this, I see your bullets as uh requesting adjust uh inflationary adjustment in Prop 1, Prop 4 funding.

Uh my question is whether or not there's uh any uh aspect of the project that includes water banking or or groundwater maintenance.

Thank you, Director Dickinson.

There is an aspect of the program that is not maybe directly tied to per se the water banking framework.

We do participate at the regional authority and RWA as well as our SCGA folks, but as your board knows, we're contractually obligated to raise the water tables by a certain amount of feet at a certain amount of years.

And so, in a sense, we have to make sure that we meet those CAP B requirements for the amount of water that's left in the table.

Okay, but that that's to get to sustainability.

So I'm I'm really talking about what would go beyond Sigma in terms of getting to sustainability and getting to getting to actually uh groundwater storage that that could be used uh for whether it's uh purposes in the in this basin or uh potentially outside.

Uh I'm just curious whether that's a component at all of of uh of the capacity that you're gonna create with this with this project.

Thank you, Director.

I think director you would would like to.

Good morning, Director Nickinson.

I just want to touch on that.

So I don't believe there's a direct correlation with the groundwater bank with uh this here, but uh, what I would say is uh at a broad level for SAC sewer um and our water portfolio that the groundwater banking is definitely going to become an element of that and very important um aspect of this region as well.

Um so that's that will be uh future.

We are evaluating it more.

We don't have that all figured out as of today.

Thanks.

Thank you, Director Dickinson.

Program funding, I believe this is uh this is also me.

Um so our WISIP grant reinforcements and funding.

So currently our WISIP award is uh a hair shy over $365 million.

We're working to secure additional funding through WISIP.

And again, as I mentioned, we've uh asked the Water Commission for uh an additional inflation adjustments for existing public benefits, and we're working with both Fish and Wildlife and CWC to identify expanded and/or additional ecosystem benefits to qualify for additional funding.

That would essentially require us to uh potentially open up or make an amendment to our CAP B's additional requirements, therefore additional opportunities for us to close that funding gap.

Um the the pie chart that you see on the right side at the light green or lime colored remaining to be invoices 158 million, the funds received by check, and we do see this check.

Sometimes I frame them myself, but it goes to our uh director of finance, uh hair under 145 million dollars, and invoices to be submitted 63 million dollars, and we work very closely with the water commission and their staff to make sure that all of those index invoices are adequately processed.

Another exciting thing: additional grants in process.

Our federal wing grant that we've received thanks to our recycled water team is close to 30 million.

Uh, we have our semi-annual report due on April 30th.

We anticipate submitting a single reimbursement for all of the funds in Q2 of 2026.

We have submitted and have been in in working uh relationship with the State Water Board on our water recycling funding program grant, phase one of 15 million that is already on our intended use program.

So harvest water has been classified as a large-scale recycling project, which is now eligible for multi-phase funding that is uh brought in and cobbled through additional funds through Prop 4.

That opens up an opportunity for our state WRFP grant phase two.

We continue to have a grant application that we will be submitting hopefully this quarter next quarter for phase two AFCA construction that we anticipate can potentially net us close to an additional five to fifteen million.

Um, our team is going to be submitting a wildlife conservation board grant application that is up to 1.7 million of riparian enhancements along Consumers River, and our pre-applications have been submitted with our application in progress, and again, we're hoping to send that over by the end of the month.

Our harvest water program budget through Q4 and Q5.

Again, our total program budget remains at 597.2 million, our expenditures at 3.16.3.

Our APMO budget has not changed at 120.0 million.

Our cost through quarter four for APMO is 18.7.

The CPMO budget is at 477.2, and their cost through quarter four is just a hair shy of 298 million.

And you can see the pie chart delineated with what is spent and what is remaining.

So this chart just shows the program anticipated funding, which again includes both the grants that are currently in progress or the ones that we already are just working in an agreement, as well as all the underfunding sources that you've seen there.

And I'd like to again remind uh the board here that through the partnership and work with SAC DOT as Director Yume had mentioned, um, that $5.5 million have really gone a very long way to making sure that we improve no less than 40 miles of roads in the southern community.

I really would like to invite you all to just take a tour of the harvest water site.

You'll see some constructions and some um improvements that's happening in the road, but really it's a site to be seen.

Um again, all of the uh potential funding to date, our total program budget, our funding gap at 180.9.

That is again does not include all of the things that my team and our team here at Taxewers continue to work on day in and day out to make sure to close that 181 million.

Our next upcoming board actions, the CPMO is gonna have consultant amendments for services to construction and eco plan procurement activities uh will continue to implement the benefits.

And I believe that is the second to last of my slides, but Mr.

Kirks and I are happy to answer any questions, uh hear your feedback.

But again, thank you for the time and opportunity to present and update you today.

Thanks, Joe.

Any questions for staff?

All right, seeing none.

Good job.

Thank you.

Madam Clerk, do we have anyone sign up to speak on this matter?

We do not have anyone sign up for public comment.

All right.

Next item, please.

Mr.

Chair, item number nine is miscellaneous board member matters, board members' discussion of issues for further consider future consideration and points of note on communications received and file.

That's all.

Right, very good.

Uh any directors have any items to make note of.

Seeing none.

All right.

Uh we have uh, I believe in our materials uh communications received and filed.

So if there is no further business before this board, we stand adjourned.