About Cambria

The May meeting of the CCSD Board provided some glimpses on some of the most critical policies of the District. The district is pursuing desalination at any cost, virtually ignoring the most cost effective element of its “balanced portfolio” of water supply: conservation.

Some evidence: Over $6,000 a month on a lobbyist for desal, at least a portion of the district engineer’s salary, and untold hours of staff time in just one month of spending versus $2,000 (or less) budgeted for the entire year for the rebate program that offers $150 for every water conserving replacement of a toilet or washer. In fact, the entire budget for 2009-10 for conservation programs is less than what they plan to pay the desal lobbyist.

Policy is a social choice. It is not determined by science, although it is, or should be, informed by such.

At the last CCSD meeting , GM Tammy Rudock reported that she had voted “No” on the recent Mosquito Abatement District Assessment on behalf of the District and the properties it owns. She decisded that this was within her authority, since she is authorized to enter into contracts for the District. As to why she voted no for the district: the money wasn’t in the budget to pay it.

This action might not have caught my attention, except that over the last two weeks, I’ve attended four meetings of agencies subject to the Brown Act: the SLO Board of Supervisors, San Miguel Advisory Council, Cambria Community Healthcare District and the Cambria Community Services District. At each of these meetings, the staff brought the issue to Board to vote on, as they seemed to consider it more of a policy issue, rather than a management one. Looking at the agendas for a few other CSDs it was clear they also left the vote to the choice of their Boards.

Since it wasn’t even on the consent calendar, the public had no opportunity to make comment on it and no analysis was provided of what the fiscal impact (or other benefits) would be for the District.  Whether to support or oppose the formation of another department in the county should be a decision for the Board, not the General Manager. It may seem like  I’m nit-picking, but if we continue to ignore these small transgressions, the laws that are intended to limit the powers of our local agency staff and provide for oversight by elected representatives, we begin to slip away from agencies that provide services for the community toward an unaccountable clique controlling the community.

After the overwhelming rejection of the ballot measures on May 19, the Governor has come up with one way to make up some of the multi-billion dollar state budget gap: Close state parks. The Governator made a similar suggestion a little over a year ago. No parks were closed at the time. This time, the campaign to keep the parks open began in earnest – almost before the official announcement.

State Parks (like Hearst Castle and Julia Pfeiffer in Big Sur) don’t take in enough money to sustain their operation. I’d argue that closing them doesn’t eliminate the the expense for running these places – maintenance must be provided and and police patrols have to be stepped up to prevent vandalizaton and theft – and that, too costs money.

To read more about this issue: http://www.savestateparks.org/

A couple of years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) noted the critical “importance of sustaining our Nation’s water and wastewater infrastructure. Effective utility management is key to achieving this goal. Effective management can help utilities enhance the stewardship of their infrastructure, improve performance in critical areas, and respond to other challenges.”

Put plainly, management of our water and wastewater system is not to be taken lightly.  A committee of industry leaders from seven organizations  (AMWA, APWA, AWWA, EPA, NACWA, NAWC,and WEF) found that water sector utilities across the country face common challenges, such as rising costs and workforce complexities, and that utilities need to focus attention on these areas to deliver quality products and services and sustain community support.

There are ten attributes provide a succinct indication of where effectively-managed utilities focus and what they strive to achieve.

The Attributes are:

1. Product Quality: Produces potable water, treated effluent, and process residuals in full compliance with regulatory and reliability requirements and consistent with customer, public health, and ecological needs.
2. Customer Satisfaction: Provides reliable, responsive, and affordable services in line with explicit, customer-accepted service levels. Receives timely customer feedback to maintain responsiveness to customer needs and emergencies.
3. Employee and Leadership Development: Recruits and retains a workforce that is competent, motivated, adaptive, and safe-working. Establishes a participatory, collaborative organization dedicated to continual learning and improvement. Ensures employee institutional knowledge is retained and improved upon over time. Provides a focus on and emphasizes opportunities for professional and leadership development and strives to create an integrated and well-coordinated senior leadership team.
4. Operational Optimization: Ensures ongoing, timely, cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable performance improvements in all facets of its operations. Minimizes resource use, loss, and impacts from day-to-day operations. Maintains awareness of information and operational technology developments to anticipate and support timely adoption of improvements.
5. Financial Viability: Understands the full life-cycle cost of the utility and establishes and maintains an effective balance between long-term debt, asset values, operations and maintenance expenditures, and operating revenues. Establishes predictable rates-consistent with community expectations and acceptability-adequate to recover costs, provide for reserves, maintain support from bond rating agencies, and plan and invest for future needs.
6. Infrastructure Stability: Understands the condition of and costs associated with critical infrastructure assets. Maintains and enhances the condition of all assets over the long-term at the lowest possible life-cycle cost and acceptable risk consistent with customer, community, and regulator-supported service levels, and consistent with anticipated growth and system reliability goals. Assures asset repair, rehabilitation, and replacement efforts are coordinated within the community to minimize disruptions and other negative consequences.
7. Operational Resiliency: Ensures utility leadership and staff work together to anticipate and avoid problems. Proactively identifies,  assesses, establishes tolerance levels for, and effectively manages a full range of business risks (including legal, regulatory, financial, environmental, safety, security, and natural disaster-related) in a proactive way consistent with industry trends and system reliability goals.
8. Community Sustainability: Is explicitly cognizant of and attentive to the impacts its decisions have on current and long-term future community and watershed health and welfare. Manages operations, infrastructure, and investments to protect, restore, and enhance the natural environment; efficiently use water and energy resources; promote economic vitality; and engender overall community improvement. Explicitly considers a variety of pollution prevention, watershed, and source water protection approaches as part of an overall strategy to maintain and enhance ecological and community sustainability.
9. Water Resource Adequacy: Ensures water availability consistent with current and future customer needs through long-term resource supply and demand analysis, conservation, and public education. Explicitly considers its role in water availability and manages operations to provide for long-term aquifer and surface water sustainability and replenishment.
10. Stakeholder Understanding and Support: Engenders understanding and support from oversight bodies, community and watershed interests, and regulatory bodies for service levels, rate structures, operating budgets, capital improvement programs, and risk management decisions. Actively involves stakeholders in the decisions that will affect them.

The Committee also explored the barriers that can inhibit improved utility management. These challenges and barriers provide insight into where a sector strategy should focus to be effective and how the Collaborating Organizations will want to structure their promotion of effective utility management to help utilities successfully make improvements. Within this context, the Committee identified the findings and recommendations for a future sector strategy. Read the full report here.

An management advisory letter from the CCSD independent auditor is part of the board agenda packet for Thursday’s meeting. (Available at the CCSD website.) The letter is not included in the audit report itself and even though the observations are outside the scope of the basic financial audit,  Crosby and Cindrich thought these important observations about district management should be made available to the Board.  The suggestions and comments refer to district infrastructure, enterprise fund deficits and inventory.

In particular,  the letter states: “…during our audit, we became aware of a couple of matters that are opportunities for strengthening internal controls and operating efficiency. The memorandum that accompanies this letter summarizes our comments and suggestions regarding those matters. This letter does not affect our report dated December 18, 2008, on the financial statements of the Cambria Community Services District….This report is intended solely for  the information and use of the Board of Directors and the Cambria Community Services District Management.”

About the CCSD infrastructure management, the auditors wrote: ” The purpose of these infrastructure requirements [of GASB 34] is to ensure that the governmental unit is properly maintaining its infrastructure assets and adequately providing for future needs.  It appears as though the District has not adequately established an ongoing method to periodically assess the condition of all capital assets and infrastructure, and to estimate their replacement dates and adequately project and compute the District’s needs for future repairs and replacements.”

Read more about infrastructure maintanence and asset management for water districts in these resources:

• Asset Management for Local Officials Published by the US Environmental Protection Agency,  Office of Water, April 2008
• Building an Asset Management Team Published by the US Environmental Protection Agency,  Office of Water, April 2008
• Bridging the Gap: An Educational Primer on Sustainable Water Infrastructure Asset Management. The Project was undertaken by Penn State’s college of engineering and was funded through a cooperative agreement between the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Pennsylvania State University, 2006
• A Guide to Asset Management for Small Water Systems. This Asset Management Guide provides a brief overview of asset management for
  small water and wastewater systems and a list of recommended resources for implementing an asset management program. While the CCSD doesn’t technically fall into the “small system” catagory, (less than 3,000 AFY or fewer than 3,000 customers), most of the principles, resources and policies in this document can be applied for our system.
• Asset Management: A Handbook for Small Water Systems This guide is designed for owners and operators of small community water systems (CWSs). CWSs include all systems (both publicly and privately owned) with at least 25 year-round residential customers or 15 year-round service connections. Typical systems that may find this guide useful includes small towns. Published by the US Environmental Protection Agency,  Office of Water, September 2003.

The comments on the enterprise fund deficits should come as no real surprise.  In a nutshell, the enterprise funds (water and wastewater departments) are operating at a deficit and if allowed to continue will certainly spell real trouble. The previous auditor made similar observations.The rate increase (and proposed increases that previously failed) is intended to address this concern.

The final comment topic was on inventory. “During the audit, we noted that a fuel inventory was not made at year end.”  They suggest how the District might better manage this issue.

This information will be presented to the board at this week’s meeting (Thursday, 12:30pm at the Veterans Memorial Hall). Let’s see how the Board plans to respond to the concerns raised by Crosby and Cindrich’s letter and audit.

Read the management advisory letter and related response from management here.

I spend far too much time online. I’d like to think the time isn’t wasted, which is why I post links to resources and articles online. No need for you to surf for hours on end to find this stuff….I’ve taken care of that. The links below have some useful information or opinions that may provide a greater understanding of our challenges and successes.

• According to the current State Water Plan, 23 percent of Texas water in 2060 will come from water conservation activities.
• Water/Wastewater Rates in Nebraska
• Take a 90 second quiz about water use and Kohler will donate $1 in water conserving products to Habitat for Humanity.
• National Tap Water Quality Database. Personal and local: enter 93428 into the zip code form to view more about  Cambria’s water quality than you ever knew existed.
• City Eyes Top Home Water Users. San Diego‘s top single-family residential water customer used 5.5 million gallons during a recent 12-month period – enough to serve about 44 typical homes, according to newly released figures from the city. The city is sending letters to that La Jolla homeowner and the next 999 largest single-family water consumers, urging them to schedule a free efficiency audit of their property. Read the rest of the article here.

Veterans Memorial Hall to Be Rededicated Monday!

American Legion Post No. 432 will be rededicating the Veterans’ Memorial Building to 16 local servicemen who died while serving our country during wartime.  It will be a special ceremony featuring powerful speeches, Post 432′s honor guard, and singing by the Cambria Chorale and others.

Following, the Sons of the American Legion along with the Legion Women’s Auxiliary will host a barbecue for a $5.00 donation.

Even though those that have served our Country and their family members and friends understand the significance of Memorial Day, sadly, there are many for whom this day carries no special meaning.  The holiday is observed in honor of our nation’s armed service personnel who were killed in wartime so, please tell your friends and neighbors. Please educate those that may not understand the high significance of Memorial Day.  Fly your flags.  Be proud.  Honor our own.

Even though those that have served our Country and their family members and friends understand the significance of Memorial Day, sadly, there are many for whom this day carries no special meaning.  The holiday is observed in honor of our nation’s armed service personnel who were killed in wartime so, please tell your friends and neighbors. Please educate those that may not understand the high significance of Memorial Day.  Fly your flags.  Be proud.  Honor our own.

National Recognition – 3PM Memorial Day

A few weeks ago, a HART volunteer found little Billy running loose on Moonstone Beach Dr. with a collar, but no tags. He hadn’t been microchipped either. So signs went up all over town to try to find the owner and Billy came to live with Max Power and Trent Steele until HART could find him a home. He weighed only 4 pounds when he was found and may be up to 5 pounds by now, though he probably won’t get much bigger than that. He’s probably about 6 or 7 months old (still losing his puppy teeth and teething a bit.).  He has been fixed and had his shots. He’s slightly underweight still, but otherwise a healthy dog. He’s 98% housebroken…puppies can have an occasional accident, Billy has had two – both of which were over a week ago.

He seems like a Jack Russell-Chihuahua mix. He’d propbably be best as an only dog, but he does get along fine with other dogs and would be good as a doggy brother. I haven’t had an opportunity to check out how he is with kids. He would be a great exercize companion. Two walks a day would be great. Long walks make him a happy pup. He travels well in the car and rarely barks.

If you want to meet Billy or learn more, call HART at 7377 or Amanda and Gordon at 4191. If you don’t want  a dog right now, but can help cover the veterinary and fostering costs, donations of cash or supplies to HART, as always,  are tax-deductable.

Send the link to this post (right click on the underlined text to copy link) to everyone you know who might be able to help us find Billy a home. He deserves a great family. Thanks for your help.

Guidance for You and Me:

A 2005 publication titled  “Dollars and Sense: Financial Reporting and Management Guidelines for Public Water Agency Officials” was developed by ACWA as an introduction to the governmental financial environment and the fiduciary responsibilities of district directors and management. It is aimed at helping individuals without a financial background gain a better understanding of sound financial practices as well as key reporting and auditing requirements.

The purpose of an independent financial audit is to provide assurance apart from district management that district financial statements (reports) are reliable–that is, that the financial statements fairly present, in material respects, the financial position, the results of operations, and cash flows of the district. Such assurance is important to district directors, management and the customers, taxpayers and community or communities they serve.

Operating the district’s utility system in an open and transparent manner and demonstrating that the district  is a proper steward of public resources, including public funds, is essential to maintaining public trust. Therefore, any system designed to track, control and report on the financial affairs of a special district should include the following elements:

1. Internal accounting systems sufficient to track and document all financial transactions of the agency and adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
2. Internal controls designed in an effort to detect errors and deter fraud or other forms of financial abuse
3. Regular, frequent reports to the governing body on all significant financial activities of the agency using reporting that clarify the data being presented in a non-intimidating, usable format. The readers of the reports should be able to determine what the financial status of the district / agency is without the assistance of a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
4. Written policies governing all significant financial affairs of the district, including a written policy on any funds that are held in reserve, (minimum and maximum amounts to be held and any specific use / designation for these reserves)
5. An annual financial audit by a qualified independent auditor.
6. Publication of all significant financial reports of the district, including the annual audit in a form that is readily available to the public.

Auditors do not attempt to ensure that all of the data contained in the financial statements are 100 percent accurate, rather the auditor is testing that the financial statements are free from any material misstatements. Auditors do not attempt to examine individually every transaction or event affecting a district’s financial statements. Instead, auditors perform their work on a “test basis”, which is often statistically based to provide a certain level of confidence.

For CCSD Directors:

Governing board members can gain a more thorough understanding of the district’s financial health by reviewing notes to financial statements as well as any estimates, assumptions, post retirement benefits and potential debts not listed as a liability. An annual audit provides the district governing board with the opportunity to provide policy guidance to district management in any areas deemed necessary, and the audit provides a “checks and balances” opportunity between an elected board and district management.
There are eleven questions  the district governing board and management should ask during the process of producing basic financial statements:

1. Is the district better off today than it was one year ago?
2. Are there any estimates in the financial statements? If so, what are they and what assumptions are used (e.g., interest rates, discount factors, usage rates)
3. Are there any pension and/or post retirement benefits being funded by the district? Is there any unfunded pension or post-retirement liability?
4. Is there any debt or potential debt of the district not presented in the financial statements?
5. Are there any deviations from GAAP?
6. Are there any differences between the published annual audited financial statements and the internal financial statements used by staff and directors to manage the district? If so what are they?
7. How do the statements compare to annual budgets and projections?
8. Do the investments tie to portfolio report?What is the review process to insure the financial statements are appropriate and accurate?
9. Does the district have written fiscal policy and procedure manuals?
10. Are the employees, board members and volunteers who handle cash and investment bonded?
11. Is there adequate insurance coverage to safeguard the district’s assets?

All content provided herein is from a Association of California Water Agencies publication.  (ACWA)  ACWA’s mission is to assist its members in promoting the development, management and reasonable beneficial use of good quality water at the lowest practical cost in an environmentally balanced manner.
ACWA is a statewide non-profit association whose 440 public agency members are responsible for about 90% of the water deliveries in California.

This just in: the agenda for next week’s CCSD meeting. The meeting is scheduled at the Veterans Memorial Hall on Main Street at 12:30pm. Download the full agenda from the CCSD website. Excerpts below.

On the consent agenda:

A. Consider Approval of Expenditures for Month of April 2009
B. Consider Approval of Minutes of Board of Directors Meetings April 14 and April 23, 2009
C. Consider Resolution 20-2009 Approving Award of Fire Hazard Fuel Reduction Contract
D. Consider Adoption of Resolution 18-2009 Nominating Director Muril Clift as a Candidate for Election to the Special District Risk Management
Authority Board of Directors
E. Consider Resolution 22-2009 Approving Assignment of Banking Powers for the Cambria Community Services District’s Bank and Investment
Accounts
F. Consider Approving Extension of Intent to Serve Letter for Senior Care Facility, Michael Clark, Applicant, APN 024.191.052
G. Consider Approving Extension of Intent to Serve Letter for Cambria Shores Inn, Kim Eady, Applicant, APN 022.381.002
H. Consider Ratifying General Manager’s Approval of Professional Services Proposal by Carol Cowley, CMC, to Officiate the 2009 Water and Sewer
Rates Protest Process

HEARINGS AND APPEALS
A. Public Hearing to Confirm Itemized Report of Water and Wastewater Standby or Availability Charges as Provided in Government Code 61124
1. Receive Financial Report
2. Conduct Public Hearing
3. Consider Adoption of Resolution 21-2009 Confirming Water and Wastewater Standby or Availability Charges

REGULAR BUSINESS
A. Receive Water Conservation Presentation
B. Receive Fiscal Year 2007/2008 Management Letter from Crosby and Cindrich, CPAs, and Response by Management

Two time slots for public comment are on the agenda, a change I wholeheartedly support.  See you there next Thursday!