Amador County – Crunching budget numbers in a workshop Monday, the Amador Water Agency board of directors dropped its Washington, D.C. lobbyists for the coming fiscal year and discussed other budget items. Dropping the D.C. lobbyist 2009-2010 will mean a savings of $90,000 dollars. Board Chairman Terence Moore recommended they “drop it for next year,” noting that the agency “could barely afford it last year.” Vice Chairman Bill Condrashoff agreed. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the lobbyists, which were paid a total of $277,500 dollars over the previous 3 fiscal years, helped the agency secure $3 million dollars in funding from the USDA Rural Utility Service for expansion of the Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant. The consolidated administrative budget line items included a 300 percent increase in the public relations budget, from $2,500 dollars to $10,000. Moore said: “I don’t have any heartburn with $10,000.” A woman in the audience showed a 1-page folded newsletter from Calaveras County that she said costs 50 cents, compared to the AWA’s full-color, glossy newsletter. She said the agency should come down a bit on its costs, because “we’re talking about ratepayers here.” Moore said may they need to “have department heads report to us on where we can see savings,” and they “should direct staff to come back to us with some cuts.” Abercrombie said “I would ask them directly. They will know right now.” In public comment, David Evitt said the AWA needs departmental cost savings reviews, and each department should “bring in their cost savings and analyses, then see where the fat is.” Abercrombie said he does not “ask the department heads to report on things that they should be doing” as part of their job, and that is finding “cost savings” for the agency. Construction department head Barry Birge said he does a lot of research for purchases, spending a lot of time on the phone and the computer to get the best product at the cheapest price. Condrashoff said he saw some items in staff reports that he thought were expensive, so he wrote down the items and did his own research of prices. He said Birge is “kicking butt” in his shopping. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Joint Water Committee last week saw water service commitment numbers in Amador County, and discussed current and conditional “will-serve letters,” and non-binding “notice of availability.” Amador Water System’s Tanner treatment plant has a capacity is 6,902 Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDUs). Its maximum daily use is 4.7 million gallons a day, while its capacity peak flow is just over 6 million gallons a day. Tanner’s commitments in March, according to the Amador County Planning Department, included will-serve letters for 361 EDUs, committing hook-ups, for a total peak flow of just over 5 million gallons daily. Tanner also had “conditional will-serves” for another 1,261 EDUs, committing a total peak flow of 6.2 million gallons a day. The letters of availability for Tanner totaled another 4,807 EDUs, for a total peak flow of 10.5 million gallons a day. The Equivalent Dwelling Units committed by will-serves in the Tanner system included 48 units in operational meters with zero use, and 102 units at Jackson View, 45 at Sierra West Business Park, 40 at Amador Central Phase 1, 21 at Golden Hills, 20 at Amador Ridge Business Park, 19 at Ridge, and 13 at Mesa De Oro. Of the conditional will-serves at Tanner, the city of Plymouth holds the bulk, at 744 EDUs, for 670,000 gallons of water a day at peak flow. The Valley View Vista has 60 conditional will-serve EDUs, and Sutter Creek Crossroads has 41. Tanner plant “letters water of availability” include 1,785 EDUs at Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort. Wicklow Way in Jackson, holds notices for a total of 1,044 EDUs, including 844 for its final phases, 3 & 4. Seven projects have notices of availability in Plymouth, for a total of 1,180 EDUs. Golden Vale, proposed off Highway 88, west of Martell, has a notice of availability letter for 472 EDUs. Buckhorn Water Treatment Plant’s Central Amador Water Project as of March had committed to 502 will-serve units and 166 conditional will-serves, and had 333 EDUs mentioned in letters of water availability. The will-serves included 405 “standby accounts,” and 92 operational meters with zero use. The conditional will-serves for Buckhorn included 60 infill projects and 90 EDUs and Cedar Ridge View trailer park. Martell District 12 had 240 EDUs committed by will-serve letters, with 256 conditional will-serves, and 1,724 letters of availability. Pine Grove District 1 had 65 will serves and 126 letters of availability. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Sutter Creek Planning Commissioners on Monday heard about a sweetheart of a sewer deal the city has in the works with Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort developers, and that money recently spent on the system was not a waste. About 60 people attended a meeting discussing Gold Rush’s Specific Plan, and City Manager Rob Duke said putting $750,000 dollars into the wastewater treatment plant before a planned retooling of the plant by Gold Rush was not a “waste” of money. He said more than half of the improvements would be used in the new plant. The work removed solid matter accumulated in the plant, which diminished the capacity. The work was needed to lift a “cease and desist order” for violations at the plant. Duke said the city teamed with Amador Water Agency to split the upgrade cost and also will split any added capacity 50/50. The city’s previous work is believed to have raised the plant capacity from 480,000 gallons a day to 600,000 gallons a day, Duke said, “but we won’t know until we turn it on.” The improvements do not yet have appropriate permits. He said improvements to Amador Regional Sanitation Authority and the treatment plant could be worth $30 million dollars over next 30 to 40 years. The value was roughly estimated by engineers, including $9 million dollars to expand Henderson Reservoir and boost storage, $5 million dollars in pipeline installation, and $2 million to $3 million dollars in disposal land. Duke said eliminating water runoff and underground seepage into the city system reduced daily operation capacity by 50,000 gallons a day. And he expected many more of those were in place around the city. In the agreement, Gold Rush would demolish part of the wastewater treatment plant. It would then build a new plant and restore Sutter Creek’s 480,000 gallons a day treatment, and meet its own sewer needs. At Gold Rush’s build-out, it is estimated to need 4 million gallons a day of wastewater treatment capacity. Duke said “we are skeptical that we will have that kind of growth in 15 years.” Duke said the upgrade from secondary to tertiary level treatment allows Gold Rush to irrigate its golf course, and upgrades the city’s water treatment level. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board of directors last week got what they asked for – the brutal numbers involved in having zero percent rate increases for fiscal year 2009-2010. Option “A” of, one of 3 options staff gave the board, would cost 17 employees their jobs in order to realize 0 percent increases. It would also cause a $118,000-dollar deficit in contingency funds of 4 systems including Martell and general wastewater, and Camanche and LaMel water. Option “B” suggested 4 percent increases across the board in all AWA systems, along with 14 job layoffs. It would also cause $114,000 dollars in deficits in those same 4 systems. Option “C” recommended a 15 percent increase in Martell wastewater rates, and an 8 percent rate increase in all other systems. It would also cause a $164,000-dollar deficit in the 4 contingency funds, and would require the layoff of 4 AWA employees. Finance Manager Mike Lee gave a presentation on Option “C”, and the board asked questions. Director Bill Condrashoff asked if they would also go through Options “B” and “A”. He pointed out a $30,000-dollar error in a Camanche system, in the budget, and he wanted to go through the Martell budget line items to see if there were any problems in it. Lee adjusted a percentage rate, and it lowered the budget numbers in a few areas. Condrashoff also asked why the details of budget items were not shown. General Manager Jim Abercrombie said the board asked for the budget “at summary level.” Condrashoff directed Lee to adjust the wastewater system budget, in effect reducing it by $27,000 dollars. Abercrombie said “you would be removing about half of an (plant) operator.” Board Chairman Terence Moore said “I think we’re getting nowhere fast,” and he “cut to the chase,” and asked to “see how many votes we have to pass Option “C,” so they could recommend changes and have staff go and revise that option. Director Gary Thomas said he was likely to vote for Option “C,” but was not yet satisfied with the numbers. Moore said “we’re going to micro-manage this thing to death.” They did agree to drop the Martell rate increase from 25 to 15 percent, Director Debbie Dunn said. Moore reminded the board that it would still face hearings for rate increases. Thomas said he needed to “justify the numbers.” The Option “C” layoffs would include 2 temporary engineering positions; a customer service tech/utility clerk; and a staff engineer. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency board heard Monday it might not be the best time to refinance a $23 million dollar loan. Finance Manager Michael Lee said interest is $4.6 million dollars on the loan, which built the Amador Transmission Pipeline. Vice Chairman Bill Condrashoff asked if it could be refinanced, and Lee said “you’d have a hard time finding loan money, and rates would probably be higher.” Lee also answered questions on a $77,000 dollar budget request for telephone and communications. He said part of that is a high speed band width upgrade, from T1 to D3, at $2,600 dollars a month. Lee said due to the amount of data the agency transfers in its operations, “we would get calls daily from AT&T, saying you are banging up against the top of the band width. You are slowing up the whole network.” The budget line item includes Volcano Communications, a computer reporting system, 2 vendors, pagers, cell phones, the agency radio system, and “a lot of AT&T bills.” Another area, Lee said, is the federal GASB 45 retiree health benefits funding and future liability issue. GASB recommended and the agency has done an actuarial study of costs, and started putting money aside. They now put away $40,000 to $50,000 dollars a year, which Lee said is not meeting the amount actually paid. And the board could further throw off the balance by using the funds elsewhere. Elsewhere, the board looked at consultant costs per system, led by $221,700 dollars in “Agency General.” The Amador Water System had $27,165; Central Amador Water Project wholesale was $2,850; and wastewater was $3,275. The board asked if consulting was put out to bid. Abercrombie said it falls under professional services, which do not require the bidding process. He said several reasons help the agency stay with its current consultant, Bob Reed. Reed was originally selected in a bidding process as lowest bidder, his rates have not changed, and he is familiar with the system. Abercrombie said the agency is pleased with his past work and comfortable with him. Lee said a 2006 bidding for consultants, during the ENRON scandal era, nearly led to a loss of the agency’s bond rating, due to an inept company. Firing that company led to the rehiring of Reed, who was second lowest bidder. He has remained the agency consultant since then. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador Water Agency Board discussed its Water Supply Assessment of the Gold Rush Ranch & Golf Resort last week, then made a confidential staff direction after a 1-and-a-half hour closed session discussion of the item. Board Chairman Terence Moore said Vice Chairman Bill Condrashoff requested the discussion of the assessment, which the previous board approved in January 2008. Moore said “it’s kind of disturbing to me that this has made it on the agenda.” He Condrashoff’s report being used to affect policy puts him “on the ragged edge of practicing engineering without a license.” Condrashoff said he reworked the analysis and found 42 cubic feet per second would be needed to meet peak flow, unlike AWA’s figure of 32 cubic feet per second. Condrashoff said “if we miss on this assessment,” can the AWA and Sutter Creek “be sued if the water supply falls short.” Moore said Condrashoff used a similar analysis to protest Jackson’s Wicklow Way Subdivision. AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said AWA spent “a good portion of 2008” accumulating volumes of information addressing Condrashoff’s analysis. Abercrombie said “staff believes Bill’s analysis of Wicklow and Gold Rush is incorrect.” Engineering Manager Gene Mancebo said AWA’s assessment was conservative, using current water demand, and needs for Gold Rush, known planned projects, and even “unanticipated,” hypothetical projects. Mancebo said Condrashoff’s analysis does not consider commercial, industrial and business uses, which are less that residential. Director Debbie Dunn asked if they could change what was submitted in the board’s approval last January. Kronick said he wanted to address that in closed session. Gold Rush water attorney Eric Robinson, said AWA’s assessment was “hyper-conservative,” and “bulletproof, iron clad and highly defensible.” He said AWA revisiting the assessment is not allowed in Senate Bills 610 and 221. He said “it’s now up to the land use agency” – Sutter Creek City Council – “to determine what to do with those comments.” Sutter Creek Mayor Pro Tem Tim Murphy said the place to comment about this is at the planning commission level. Sutter Creek Planning Commission addresses Gold Rush at 6 p.m. today. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Four months into the construction of the Plymouth water pipeline, the project is 65 percent complete. Project Manager John Eudy of Livermore gave a tour Wednesday of the site of the days work, and he said workers from his company, Mountain Cascade could be finished with the main pipeline by October, and wrap up the rest of the work in a few weeks to a month after that. Segments 5 and 6, between Plymouth and Amador City, are completed, and the crew worked on Segment 4 this week. Eudy said it is 1,800 lineal feet in all, running across property owned by Amador City rancher Hope Luxemberg. He gave a quick tour of the work site, with Quality Control Engineer Bob Valdez, of the Amador Water Agency, showing the blue pipe of the main section, and some black pipe that will be used in low altitude, higher pressure areas, below a steep hill that heads toward Water Street in Amador City. They should get to the 48-degree sloping hill in a few days. They worked further up the hill Wednesday, preparing to tie into a connector. Steel plates covered the existing water main pipeline under a construction road, to protect it. Valdez said the late 1960s pipeline was buried too shallow for modern requirements. He said they bury the 12-inch Plymouth pipeline 5 feet deep, on top of a 6-inch layer of sand, then cover it with a foot of sand, and then finish it with 3-and-a-half feet of cover. The crew includes a production foreman, a couple of technical foremen and a geotechnical soil analyst. Eudy said they mobilized in February and started production in early March. 4 months later, they are 65 percent complete, and about a month ahead of schedule. When they finish on the Luxemberg property, the next step is Segment 2, because Segment 3 uses existing pipelines. Segment 6 was 20,000 linear feet, Eudy said, and Segment 5 was 11,000 linear feet. Valdez, a 10-year resident of Sutter Creek, said people like the look of the new footbridge in Sutter Creek, which will be used to run the pipeline across the creek. Workers will then finish the bridge with a seat running the length of the bridge. The pipeline will deliver treated potable water from the Tanner treatment plant on Ridge Road. Plymouth has a “will serve” letter for rights to 670,000 gallons of water a day. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – The Amador County Joint Water Committee holds a regular meeting Monday at the Amador Water Agency office, with a wide variety of local and regional topics. The committee, made up of the top 2 board members of the AWA board of the directors and the Amador County Board of Supervisors, will discuss 10 water issues and 5 wastewater issues. Members are Supervisor Chairman Ted Novelli (District 3) and Supervisor Vice Chairman John Plasse (District 1); and AWA Board President Terence Moore (District 5) and AWA Board Vice President Bill Condrashoff (District 1). Among the 10 “water matters” on the agenda, the committee will discuss improving the remainder of Amador County water rights that the Jackson Valley Irrigation District is currently using. They will also discuss new development inquiries of more than 100 units; the status of the water supply for Carbondale Industrial Park; and the water supply pipeline project under construction to serve the city of Plymouth. The committee will also receive a briefing of the status of Mokelumne River Water Forum; and discuss the Amador County General Plan Revision in relation to water and wastewater planning; and the Calaveras County Water Element Draft. They will also look at the “co-assignment” the 1958 agreement between Amador County, the East Bay Municipal Utility District and the AWA. They will also discuss the proposed National Wild & Scenic River designation for the North Fork of the Mokelumne River; get status reports on the Lower Bear River Reservoir Expansion Project and also the Gravity Supply Line Project; and discuss the East Bay MUD 2040 Plan. The 5 “wastewater matters” include a discussion of capacity constraints on the wastewater system operated by the Amador Regional Sanitation Authority and Sutter Creek. They will also talk about Camanche area wastewater matters; Amador County Airport water and wastewater service needs; and regional coordination of water reuse and recycling. They will also discuss Assembly Bill 885, relating to regulation of Individual Septic Tank Systems; and talk about future meeting topics. The committee meeting is open to the public and meets 1 p.m. Monday (June 29th) in the AWA office at 12800 Ridge Road in Sutter Creek. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – In its second workshop on the 2009-2010 budget, the Amador Water Agency board of directors on Tuesday clarified its directions to staff from the previous meeting. Board member Don Cooper pointed at a 13.9 percent rate increase in wastewater and told staff he thought he had told them to look at “no rate increases.” AWA General Manager Jim Abercrombie said he thought the direction of the board was to have “staff come up with some kind of revenue stream to close the gap.” Board member Bill Condrashoff criticized Finance Manager Mike Lee for “math errors” and figures that did not add up correctly. Lee projected the last 6 weeks of the fiscal year, and “it’s the most realistic prediction I can give you.” Cooper said “I would like to see the impact of removing $800,000 dollars from this budget. We are not supposed to build this budget line by line.” He said “I’m a little frustrated because that is not our job.” Board member Debbie Dunn said the only changes staff pointed out in the new draft budget was the Cost of Living Adjustment. Abercrombie said he was looking at 5 different board members’ directions, and “some want to go line by line and go through the minutiae,” and some want a more wide view. Board member Gary Thomas said he would like to see the broad budget and then go line by line when needed. Chairman Terence Moore said “I would like to see this thing flat, see if we can give them a breather for a year.” He suggested balancing the budget using reserves. Condrashoff said he would like to see it balanced this year, but not by using reserves, because they would just face the same problems next year. Cooper said he thought the budget was over-projecting revenues and “stacking the deck – you are expecting to get more revenue that you will probably get.” Condrashoff said he wanted to minimize rate increases and cut the budget. Moore said he did not “know if we can cut out all the rate increases.” He suggested trying to keep the increases low, in the 2-4 percent range. Cooper said “we probably can’t take it to zero, but I’d like to see what happens when we take ti to zero. I would like to see what it looks like without the wound getting cut open.” Condrashoff agreed, saying he would like to see the Amador Water System rate increase “down to zero.” Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Amador County – Early this morning, Thursday June 11th, the Amador Water Agency and contractors were scheduled to haul an 80-foot long steel footbridge into town and lower it into place across the namesake creek in Sutter Creek with a giant crane. AWA requested that the public avoid the creekside construction areas, for safety and to minimize traffic. AWA Construction Manager Ken Hunt said the steel bridge, which will carry foot traffic and also the Plymouth Pipeline across Sutter Creek, was to be delivered sometime Wednesday. It will be hauled toward downtown Sutter Creek and anchored into place today. Engineering and Planning Manager Gene Mancebo said the bridge was so long and the destination roadway so narrow that the crane would be used to carry it around the corner of Main and Church Streets, then place it across Sutter Creek, where it will join city parking lots off of Church and Eureka Streets. Mancebo originally thought the bridge would arrive in pieces and require assembly, but then he found out it would come in one, 8-foot wide, 80-foot long, complete unit, hence the need for the crane. Hunt said the installation of the bridge would take place between 9 and 10 a.m. today. Contractor Mountain Cascade Incorporated and AWA crew members will thread the bridge through town and anchor it in place over Sutter Creek, to connect the lot on Eureka Street, across from Susan’s Place Wine Bar & Eatery, with the lot behind Sutter Creek City Hall, the auditorium and the community center. The one-piece bridge was manufactured by Excel Bridge Manufacturing Company in Santa Fe Springs, in southeast Los Angeles County. It was to be parked on Old Highway 49 in Sutter Hill after delivery. Crews will begin moving it to downtown Sutter Creek beginning at 6 a.m. today and will set it in place on foundations already constructed by Mountain Cascade. For safety and to avoid unnecessary street congestion, the agency it requested that the public avoid the construction areas on both sides of the creek. The Sutter Creek Police Department will coordinate traffic control during construction. Work is expected to be finished by this afternoon, and the bridge will be open to foot traffic later this year. The 8-5-mile Plymouth potable water pipeline project began construction in March and is a month ahead of schedule, working this week along Bunker Hill Road, in the hills north of Amador City. Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.