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With only a light agenda due to three items being carried over to the next meeting, the board meeting of the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District was shorter than usual.
An updated conflict of interest code was approved for public notification by the board. According to state law, the code has to be revised and amended on a regular basis. Changes recommended by General Counsel, William Wright, were revisions to disclosure categories and updates to code language.
Wright said the two main changes were adding the assistant operations manager to the list of those who must file a disclosure statement and modeling the code closer to the conflict of interest code followed by the county.
Approval by the board now allows the updated code to be noticed to the public and filed with the El Dorado County Registrar of Voters. After a 45-day period of public comment, if no one requests a public hearing, the board is allowed to adopt a resolution formally amending the code. Once that is done, the amended code has to be submitted to County Counsel and approved by the Board of Supervisors to go into effect.
Mary Pat Frick, Business/Finance Manager, reported that the agency is preparing for its annual audit. A two member audit committee was selected consisting of Kathy Otermat and Bonnie Neeley with Norm Krizl as the alternate. Frick said field work by the auditors would be completed by the end of August and a draft report would be produced in October with the final report brought to the board in November for approval. Frick said completing the audit would help the district secure a loan for the planned retrofit of the Auburn Lake Trails Treatment Plant.
Some in the audience thought that the audit committee should include public members but the board decided that it might be better to add them once the draft audit was produced in October. Staff will come up with a process for soliciting the names of those interested in serving on the audit committee. Selection of the public members will be at the September 11 board meeting.
The board also discussed figures indicating that Auburn Lake Trails Community Disposal Systems (CDS) wastewater customers are paying less of the actual cost of service than are non-Community Disposal System customers.
According to cost of service figures from 2010, non-CDS homeowners are paying a monthly rate of $22.51 versus a monthly cost of service of $20.36. CDS homeowners are paying a monthly rate of $50.87 versus a monthly cost of service of $56.73. The owners of unimproved lots, whether CDS or not, are also being undercharged according to the report.
Board members discussed the option of hiring an outside party to conduct a cost of service study to update the rates. The item will be brought back to the next board meeting for further discussion.
Contact Dawn Hodson at 530-344-5071 or dhodson@mtdemocrat.net. Follow @DHodsonMtDemo on Twitter.
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I was there too!August 10, 2012 - 11:17 am
From where I sat. 1. The audit is needed for the loan but the District will be using last year’s audit to present for the loan application which is due in September, the audit will not be done in time for the application. What Ms. Frick said was that the audit is needed to present information to the state for required filing of the District not the loan. 2. I had asked for the audit committee to include someone other than the board members, like a member of the public. Someone other than the ones who control the funding for a fresh look. I believe Ms. Frick liked the idea with her comments. 3. According to the cost of service figures you presented and the resolution 2008-11 the District is over charging the non-CDS customers and after a roundabout with the GM he admitted that I was correct and they are over charging, you did not report this. 4. As for hiring an outside consultant that was Norm Krizls idea, but Ms. Frick said it is easier for her to do it herself, but after the audit is completed. This item maybe brought back next month or within 6 months according to the GM. I understand the differences because the meetings are so jumbled that you really don’t know what the end result was, no action was taken on the hiring of the consultant or if this was coming back at the next meeting by the Board, but the GM will do as he pleases so then the Board will find out what they decided at the next meeting.
Can't wait for NovemberAugust 13, 2012 - 11:25 am
Off the subject of the recall but on GDPUD. I am thrilled that Norm Krizl and Bonnie Neeley will be running to keep their seats. Why? Because of just slinking away under the cold dark rocks from which they came from, we, their constituents are ready to handily replace them with two new opponents. My friends and I have been buzzing since Friday about how we got lucky this time to have two new folks file to run, Maria Capraun and Pat Snelling. Before the recall I couldn't given any thought about this, but these two directors and the recall proponents underestimated how their behavior has united a community against them. It caused me and many of my friends to read the insert provided by Director Otermat, Go to Flushthewaste.com to see even more evidence and most importantly listen to the audio tapes of GDPUD board meetings for ourselves. I can't wait for either of these "goons" to defend themselves in candidate forums. How can Norm on one hand vote for a $7/mo rate increase and on the other hand stick us ratepayers for a $420 dinner bill for 5 including 2 spouses? And how can both Neeley and Krizl defend their monthly board lunches, as illegal quorums, also paid for by us. And Neeley admitted in July she was responsible for one of the most slanderous lowly ads for Recall Otermat. This community is cleaning house. We started in 2008 when we voted for Otermat and McLane and we'll continue in November when we vote out Neeley and Krizl and vote in Capraun and Snelling. Thanks to the recall we've educated on ourselves and listened to your own words. I know the EDC Grand Jury is (alledgedly) investigating these two, the recall proponents and GM Hank White and GDPUD Legal Counsel Bill Wright. It will be far past November when any indictments come so this community will continue this message loud and clear when we vote for 2 new directors that aren't in the GM's pocket and are two more directors for the public. That must make Hank White awfully nervous. No wonder GM Hank White spent so much effort trying to recall Director Otermat by spewing his lies to anyone that would listen or needed to keep their job at GDPUD. He may think he's clever but the plan back-fired. Time to start packing Krial, Neeley Mr. White and Mr. Wright. The people will speak in November.