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09-16-2010 MinutesMINUTES OF THE SCHERTZ-SEGUIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORPORATION THE STATE OF TEXAS. § COUNTY OF GUADALUPE § SCHERTZ-SEGUIN LOCAL § -- GOVERNMENT CORPORATION § On this the 16th day of September 2010, the Schertz-Seguin Local Government Corporation (SSLGC) convened at 1:30 p.m. in the City of Schertz Council Chambers located at 1400 Schertz Parkway, Building #4, Schertz, Texas. The following directors being present and in attendance: Ken Greenwald Robin Dwyer Patricia Ramirez Andrew Koenig Jim Wolverton Betty Ann Matthies Hal Baldwin President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer Director Ex-Officio Ex-Officio constituting a majority of the persons appointed to the Board and a quorum for the transaction of business, and notice of such meeting having been duly given in accordance with the provisions of Texas law. Also in attendance were: Alan Cockerell Don Taylor Doug Faseler Susan Caddell Johnny Bierschwale Shawn Shimek Emery Gallagher Georgia Hanks Sam Willoughby Crockett Camp Bill Klemt John Winkler Patrick Lindner General Manager Schertz City Manager Seguin City Manager Seguin Finance Director Schertz Assistant City Manager Water System Superintendent Seguin Water Utility Manager Administrative Assistant Schertz Public Works Director Consultant/Project Manager Hydrologist Consultant CoriSUltant (Walker Partners) COU11sel (Davidson & Troilo) The first order of business was the Calling of the Meeting to Order. President Ken Greenwald called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m. The second order of business was Public Comment. Mayor Hal Baldwin addressed the Board to comment on the recent Water Symposium sponsored by the City of Schertz. He commended the participants and speakers on their topics, knowledge and enthusiasm. Mayor Baldwin further stated that Dan Jackson with Economists.com was a good example. Mr. Jackson explained "economies of scale" in the water industry during his presentation. Mayor Baldwin said that attendance was good from the officials of the cities of Schertz and Seguin, SSLGC, SAWS, LCRA, GBRA and SARA. He is looking forward to holding another Water Symposium south of Guadalupe County, possibly Pearsall, sometime in the near future. The third order of business was Approval of the Minutes for the Board Meeting held on August 19, 2010. Vice-President Robin Dwyer made a motion to approve the August 19, 2010 minutes as written. Director Jim Wolverton seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion carried by unanimous decision. The fourth order of business was Presentation of the General Manager's Report - _ Alan Cockerell, General Manager. General Manager Cockerell's written report was included in the board agenda packets. He added the following items to his written report: o Water Production. Water production and sales increased during the month of August at 103.5% of Gonzales County Underground Water Conservation District's (GCUWCD) monthly allowable. Seasonal Pumping and Monthly Water Sales charts were included in the agenda packets. Production for the month of August was higher due to a dry month. GCUWCD. General Manager Cockerell attended the regular monthly meeting on September 14, 2010. During Public Comment, several attendees of the meeting expressed concern over the accuracy of data in an article that had appeared in the Gonzales InquiNer on September 3, 2010. The article indicated that plenty of water was available in Gonzales County now and in the future, and showed examples of suppliers and their respective water usage. Discussion of Link Benson's permit application for an irrigation well was included on the agenda. Mr. Benson is a member of GUCWCD's board of directors and owns property on the eastern side of Gonzales County. Spacing of the well created some concern from landowners at the meeting and a Contested Case Hearing was requested by one of the adjacent landowners. No decision was made as the agenda item was for discussion only. The subject will be addressed at a later date. GCUWCD General Manager Greg Sengelmann addressed water quality in his General Manager's Report. He takes water quality measurements annually from a number of a wells at different aquifers in the District. His report indicated that water quality has not changed. Mr. Cockerell stated that he plans to submit SSLGC's first mitigation payment which is due in October to the District. The District has developed a budget for the Mitigation Fund. They are currently seeking bids from well drillers to get an idea of who they can contract to perform the work. o GCGCD. Mr. Cockerell called attention to a Hearing Report for GCGCD that he handed out to board members. He proceeded to page five of the handout and without reading the whole sentence or paragraph, read the following: "..... it is the Presiding Officer's recommendation that the Board adopt all of the rules using the version of the language available for review at the July 8`h hearing. Additionally the Presiding Officer proposes to conduct at least one additional public hearing to allow the public and Board to consider further amendments to the permitting requirements to address historic users, enforcement of its rules, rulemaking hearing procedures, and permit evaluation criteria. Otherwise, the Presiding Officer is of the opinion that it is unnecessary to conduct an additional hearing on the rules addressed at the hearing held July 8, 2010. " Mr. Cockerell explained that by reading this section he could not tell if the District planned to hold a Public Hearing or not. He added that counsel can respond with written comments and exceptions by the deadline of September 20, 2010. Mr. Cockerell requested that President Ken Greenwald defer any remaining discussion to Executive Session to seek legal advice from Counsel. o Region L. Mr. Cockerell reminded board members and staff that nominations for an industry representative must be received by 5:00 p.m., September 24, 2010. He added that two additional positions will become vacant at the November 2010 meeting - a water district position which is currently held by the EAA and one of the county positions. o Operations. Contractors and operators are in the process of pulling Well #8 because of a leak in the stuffing box around the shaft. Counsel Patrick Lindner referred back to the GCUWCD and stated that the adjacent landowner who was opposing Link Benson's permit application for an irrigation well is Richard Crozier, one of his partners. The fifth order of business was Oil and Gas Leasing Program Implementation -Alan Cockerell, General Manager. Attorney Bill Knobles has met with various individuals who may be interested in acquiring oil and gas mineral rights from SSLGC. He prepared an addendum to a standard oil and gas lease which included additional requirements and protections for SSLGC and sent it to Mr. Cockerell. Mr. Cockerell has forwarded the lease to Counsel Patrick Lindner for his review. Global Geophysical Services has approached SSLGC and would like to perform a geophysical survey on its property. They presented Mr. Cockerell with a contract and are offering $57,000 to perform the survey. Mr. Cockerell forwarded the contract to Mr. Knobles for his review. He will add any necessary requirements or protections for SSLGC. One stipulation Mr. Cockerell would like to see in the contract is that the results of the survey may be reviewed by SSLGC and Geologist Bill Klemt. Discussion was held regarding processes used by the survey company and whether or not the survey would help or hinder potential oil and gas mineral right opportunities for SSLGC. Mr. Cockerell explained that the survey could help or hinder SSLGC depending on results and timing. After discussion, all agreed that SSLGC would be protected with an addendum to potential contracts which would include necessary stipulations by the Corporation, e.g., the process in which the measurements would be conducted and appropriate distance from SSLGC wells. The sixth order of business was Gonzales County Expansion Protect -Alan Cockerell, General Manager. Mr. Cockerell provided a summary of the activity on the Gonzales County expansion project. The rig supply well for well #12 is complete; the rig supply well for well #10 is almost complete; and work will soon begin on the rig supply well for well #9. Drilling will begin on well #12 the week of September 19, 2010. Bid openings are scheduled September 30, 2010 on the following projects: • Construction of roads and collection lines • Well pumps and equipment including the placement of existing stainless steel pumps that were received earlier in the year • Cathodic protection survey of existing pipeline A pre-bid conference is scheduled September 23, 2010, for construction of roads and collection lines and well pumps and equipment. Mr. Cockerell plans to present contracts for these two projects for approval at the October board meeting. Qualified contractors for the cathodic protection survey are limited and not many bids are expected. The Nixon plant was shut down one day, September 14, 2010, for installation of the new chlorine injection line by Bryan Construction and Hanson Pipe. Contractors plan to modify the main pipe coming out of the plant that goes into the storage tank in order to put in a man-way and injection point for caustic. The entire caustic line will be exposed for easy monitoring by operators. The seventh order of business was Contract between SSLGC and Jack Fickessen. Legislative Consultant -Alan Cockerell, General Manager. Mr. Cockerell explained that Mr. Fickessen's contract expires December 31, 2010. He requested approval from the Board to renew Mr. Fickessen's contract beginning January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2012, at the same rate of $6,000 per month. Director Wolverton recommended that agenda item eight be addressed prior to action on agenda item seven. President Greenwald adjourned agenda item seven to address agenda item eight. The minutes will reflect that agenda item eight was addressed before action was taken on agenda item seven. Before voting on whether or not to approve Mr. Fickessen's contract, several members of the board and representatives of the cities commended him for his assistance over the past two years and recommended his support over the next two. Vice-President Robin Dwyer made a motion to approve the contract between SSLGC and Jack Fickessen for the period beginning January 1, 2011, through December 21, 2012. Secretary Ramirez seconded the motion. Upon a vote being called, the motion carried by unanimous decision. The eighth order of business was Legislative Update -Jack Fickessen, Legislative Consultant. Mr. Cockerell advised the Board that the Natural Resources Committee has scheduled a Public Hearing September 22, 2010, to discuss interim charges one, two and four. Charge number one is to discuss the implementation of the state water plan and differences in costs. Charge number two is to review the joint planning process for management of groundwater resources. Charge number four has to do with alluvium wells. Mr. Cockerell asked Mr. Fickessen for his opinion in regard to SSLGC's participation at the Public Hearing. Mr. Fickessen stated that the Senate Natural Resources Committee has a new chairman. The new chairman is in the process of gathering information for groundwater resources. He recommended that Mr. Cockerell or Counsel, someone who is familiar with the history of SSLGC's issues regarding groundwater in Gonzales and Guadalupe Counties, attend the meeting to make the committee aware of their concerns regarding the management of groundwater resources. Mr. Fickessen added that mass change is not expected at the next Legislative Session, but that slight modifications could be projected. He predicted that mass change could.possibly be expected in 2013. Mr. Cockerell continued the discussion by providing board members with a link to draft reports issued by the Bureau of Economic Geology regarding the Carrizo Aquifer - http://www.beg.utexas.edu/cswr/aquiferstud~. In review he said that the bureau had been tasked with gathering information from groundwater districts and stakeholders regarding the Carrizo Aquifer. SSLGC management and staff had provided information to the bureau. As an example of the findings of the bureau, the report stated that 16 out of 21 Carrizo Aquifer groundwater districts did not provide information to one question pertaining to scientific data used in developing the rules. Further, the range and scope of the scientific information considered while developing the rules by the five districts was as erratic as the response to requests for scientific information used in developing the management plan. Mr. Cockerell added that Mr. Fickessen and staff are in the process of reviewing these reports. When asked by board members how he planned to work for the Corporation in the future, Mr. Fickessen assured them that over the last twenty years he had developed good relationships with legislators in Austin and his expertise lie in his reliability and knowledge in regard to water issues. He would continue to represent SSLGC's interests in groundwater by keeping board members, management and staff aware of decisions and policies surrounding groundwater issues in Austin. After agenda item eight was addressed, President Greenwald reconvened to agenda item seven for action. The ninth order of business was Mutual Regional Water Supply Contract Between SSLGC, the City of Schertz, the City of Seguin, and the City of San Antonio Acting By and Through Its San Antonio Water System -Patrick Lindner, General Counsel. President Greenwald deferred agenda item nine to Executive Session. The tenth order of business was Formation of a New Local Government Corporation - Crockett Camp, Consultant/Proiect Manager President Greenwald deferred agenda item ten to Executive Session. The eleventh order of business .was General Manager Job Evaluation -John Bierschwale, Schertz Assistant City Manager. President Greenwald deferred agenda item eleven to Executive Session. President Greenwald closed General Session at 2:31 p. m. The twelfth order of business was Executive Session called under Chapter 551 Government . Code, Section 551.071, to seek the advice of its attorney on legal matters, Section 551.072, for deliberations regarding real estate and Section 551.074, for deliberations regarding a __ __ specific officer or employee. __ President Greenwald opened Executive Session at 2:45 p. m. Executive Session was held from 2:45 p. m. to 4: OS p. m: The thirteenth order of business was to Consider and Take Action as a Result of A enda Item #12. President Greenwald opened General Session at 4: OS p. m. No Action was taken as a result of Executive Session. The fourteenth order of business was Consideration and/or Action on Questions and Possible Items to be placed on the next Agenda Mr. Cockerell stated that the Water Development Board is sponsoring a seminar, "Texas Innovative Water 2010 Advancing the Development of New Water Supplies in Texas," at the Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center on October 11-12, 2010. He added that he could provide more information to anyone interested or they could go to the Water Development Board website. No additional discussion was held. The fifteenth order of business was Adjournment President Greenwald declared the meeting adjourned at 4:06 p.m. The next regular meeting was scheduled Thursday, October 21, 2010, in Seguin. MINUTES APPROVED THIS (~/,Q~' DAY OF ~~~~~~-Q~ ~, 2010. tic~~---- Patricia Ramirez, Secr tary