County of Inyo

Board of Supervisors

Public Comment

The Chairperson announced the public comment period and there was no one wishing to address the Board.

County Dept. Reports

The Chairperson announced the County Department Report period. Mr. Pat Cecil, Planning Director, addressed the Board to invite the Board to attend the retirement party for Rennie Holland this afternoon from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. Ms. Jean Dickinson, Director of Health and Human Services, provided the Board with a flyer on the June 25, 2007 presentation by a UC Berkeley Professor Mark Stanford, Ph.D. on “Addiction as a Brain Disease.” Mr. Ron Chegwidden, Public Works Director, provided a brief update on the CTC Meeting he had attended. He said that the State is over programmed by $500 million in the RTP/STIP and noted the State is looking to eliminate the over programming by applying the bulk of the funding to State highway projects. Mr. Chegwidden went on to report that the CTC has voted to provide advanced funding for the Black Rock Project, which means the project will start about 6 months earlier than anticipated. He also informed the Board that the scheduled road improvements in the Big Pine area are being delayed until the fall because of work being done by the CSD during the spring. He said that the money scheduled for the Big Pine repairs would be redirected to the Keoghs Road Overlay, with the Big Pine roads being re-programmed in Phase II. Sheriff Bill Lutze informed the Board that the Governor and the Legislature had reached an agreement on the Prison Reform Act, which will be implemented in two phases. The County Administrator, Mr. Ron Juliff, reported on behalf of the Auditor that the first training session for the new Financial System is being conducted today and tomorrow.

Introduction

Mr. Kevin Carunchio, Deputy County Administrator, introduced Ms. Roberta Harlan, Museum Administrator, Eastern California Museum to the Board.

BofS/Emergency Medical Services Proclamation

The Board thanked all of the emergency medical services providers in the County and praised them for their commitment and dedication. Moved by Supervisor Cervantes and seconded by Supervisor Cash to proclaim the Week of May 20 through 26, 2007 as Emergency Medical Services Week in Inyo County. Motion carried unanimously.

Water Dept./ 2007-08 Annual Operations Plan

The Water Director, Mr. Tom Brooks, reviewed the LADWP 2007-08 Annual Operations Plan and the County’s response to the Plan in detail and at length. The Board agreed with Mr. Brook’s reply and thanked Mr. Brooks and the Water Department Staff for their timely response.

HHS-AODS/NNA Contract Amendment

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve Amendment No. 1 to the Negotiated Net Amount Contract between the County of Inyo and the State of California (AOD) Programs increasing the federal funds received for 2006-07 by $1,042; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-AODS/NNA 2007-10 Contract

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Negotiated Net Amount (NAA) Contract between the County of Inyo and the State of California for the provision of alcohol and drug prevention and intervention services for the period of July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2010, at the annual rate of $488,030 for a total Contract amount of $1,464,090, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of future budgets; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-Social Serv./Fox Contract

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Lorraine Fox, Ph.D., for the provision of training services targeting foster parents, mentors and other caregivers, child welfare and juvenile probation staff, community members working with children with special needs, and Health and Human Services staff, in an amount not to exceed $10,500 for the period of July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2007-08 budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-Social Serv./JPA and MOU Automated Welfare System Consortium

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve A) the Joint Powers Agreement governing the new thirty-nine county California Statewide Automated Welfare System Consortium IV for the purposes of design, development, implementation and on-going operation and maintenance of an automated welfare system, and authorize the Chairperson to sign; and B) the Memorandum of Understanding between the County of Inyo and the Consortium; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-Social Serv./Computer P.O. CSSI Western Blue

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to declare CSSI Western Blue Corporation as a sole source provide of mandated state program compatible desktop and laptop computers and approve the purchase of 12 desktop computers and 1 laptop computer from CSSI Western Blue Corporation, in an amount not to exceed $12, 523.77. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-HIV/MOU Contract Amendment

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve Amendment No. 3, to the Agreement and MOU between the County of Inyo and the State of California for HIV prevention, counseling and testing and surveillance, increasing the amount of the Contract by $57,776 for a total amount of $217,800 for the period of July 1, 2004 through June 30, 2007; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-Misc./ Christenson Lease

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Lease between the County of Inyo and Donald Christenson, M.D., for the property located at 380 Mt. Whitney Drive in Lone Pine, at the rate of $2,415 per month for the period of July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2007-08 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign. Motion carried unanimously.

HHS-Misc./ Vehicle P.O.

Moved by Supervisor Arcularius and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to A) declare Diamond Motors and Folsom Lake Ford as non-responsive bidders; B) award the bid to and authorize the purchase from Eastern Sierra Motors, as the low bidder, of 3 Ford Escape 4WD-XLT’s in an amount not to exceed $57,582.57; C) award the bid to and authorize the purchase from Rotolo Chevrolet, as the low bidder, of 2 intermediate sedans in an amount not to exceed $32,118.38; D) award the bid to and authorize the purchase from Perry Motors, as the low bidder, of one Chevy Equinox in an amount not to exceed $25,676.83. Motion carried unanimously.

CAO-Personnel/ Premium Pay Ordinance

The Chairperson announced that Agenda Item No. 15. to waive the first reading of an ordinance implementing premium pay for the District Attorney was being pulled from consideration at the request of the Department.

HHS-Soc.Serv./ Budget Amend.

The Chairperson announced that Agenda Item No. 16. for a budget amendment in the Social Services budget was being pulled from consideration at the request of the Department.

Water Dept./ Emergency Operations Protocol

The Water Director, Mr. Tom Brooks, reviewed the events, which predicated LADWP turning on Well 400, which was in off status to provide water to a lessee as a result of the failure of Well 61, which was determined to be out of order and in need of repair. Mr. Brooks provided a timeline of the pump operations and the notification process. He noted that DWP had taken full responsibility for the lack of notification of the County and had worked cooperatively to remedy the situation.

The Assistant Clerk read into the record a letter from the Lessee, Mr. John K. Smith, commending DWP for their quick response to his emergency request for water in order to prevent potential catastrophic loss of his alfalfa crop. Mr. Brooks explained that the Long Term Water Agreement does not provide for emergencies like that which require immediate solutions. He noted that while these types of events are extremely uncommon, a mutually agreed upon policy should be developed to handle rare events.

Mr. Brooks told the Board that in response to this event, the Technical Group had met and issued a “conditional exemption” to the on-off protocols from the time of the Technical Group’s meeting on April 23, 2007 until Well 61 was repaired or the next Technical Group Meeting scheduled for May 4, 2007. He explained that County Staff is in the process of evaluating potential impacts as a result of the pumping, clarifying that while he did not believe there would be any additional impacts as a result of using Well 400 instead of Well 61, he did not want to draw any conclusions prior to Staff’s evaluation being completed. He also confirmed that all water pumped from Well 400 went for in-valley use and no water reached the aqueduct. Mr. Brooks informed the Board that the distribution pipe between Well 400 and 61 was being left in place temporarily as a contingency until the repair were completed.

The Board and Staff discussed the draft protocol, which was recommended, as well as whether the Long Term Water Agreement needed to be amended to incorporate the protocols for handling emergencies. Supervisor Arcularius expressed a desire to make sure that the protocol that is developed addresses emergencies, which may be encountered by either the LADWP or the County of Inyo. The Board agreed that a common sense policy encouraging rapid response and solutions to emergencies needed to be developed and directed Staff to proceed and keep the Board informed.

Water Dept./ Water Comm. Appointments

The Board noted that all of the applicants for Water Commission were well qualified and thanked all those expressing an interest in serving on the Commission. The Chairperson asked for nominations for the appointments to the Water Commission.

Moved by Supervisor Cervantes and seconded by Supervisor Arcularius to appoint Mr. Matt Kemp to the Water Commission to complete an unexpired four-year term ending December 31, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.

Moved by Supervisor Brown and seconded by Supervisor Arcularius to appoint Mr. Rex Allen to complete an unexpired four-year term ending December 31, 2007. Motion carried unanimously.

Board Members and Staff Reports

The Board Members reported on their activities during the preceding week, including a Sierra Nevada Conservancy Web Conference call, an ESTA Meeting, the Opener of Fishing Season Press Reception, the Outdoor Writers Conference events, statistics on a recent large movie company shoot in the Lone Pine Area, notification of the upcoming Devil’s Hole Workshop in Death Valley, the Bishop City Council Retreat, the Candlelight Vigil for sexual assault victims, an update on SB 393, an update on the IMAAA Fundraiser, the vendor demonstration of the Reverse 911 System and the in-car video system, a report on the Big Pine Days in Big Pine Celebration, including the Chili cook-off, a notification that the Big Pine Care Center has been vandalized again, and an update on efforts to reduce truck noise in the communities and the possible introduction of a “noise ordinance.”

Adjournment

The Chairperson noted the passing of Mr. John Heston, a long-time resident of Independence and an important local news media leader. The Chairperson adjourned the regular meeting at 11:30 a.m., in memory of John Heston, to 9:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 8, 2007, in the Board of Supervisors Room, at the County Administrative Center, in Independence.