Board votes to amend the Templeton Recreation Foundation bylaws to allow it to function independently
TEMPLETON — The Templeton Community Services District (TCSD) met on Tuesday, Feb. 2, for closed session, before going into regular public session, with nothing to report on during the closed session.
The first item on the agenda was a COVID-19 update, which General Manager Jeff Briltz addressed. “Ruling out the regional stay at home order will allow us to offer some new sports programs,” stated Briltz, “though there are still many that cannot be offered under the purple tier.” He expressed the optimism of offering the spring softball program if the county moved into the red tier, while other high contact sports would have to hold until the orange tier.
The next agenda item was the discussion of the water buffer supply, which was presented by the District Engineer, Tina Mayer.
In 2016, a Water Supply Buffer Policy was established to ensure District water supply reliability and redundancy for current and future District residents and customers. The policy provides a reliable process for evaluating water availability within the District’s water portfolio. The policy reserves a percentage of District’s water supply to provide a buffer against potential problems with existing water supply sources.
This year’s model update indicates that a 20 percent water supply buffer has been achieved at the current supply levels, freeing up 16.6AF (~25 water units) of unallocated water. The model also predicts that more water units will become available once the Nacimiento water is relocated, which involves a longer timeline and significant infrastructure to complete. Staff recommendation is to release the 25 available water units for sale.
Board Member Geoff English proposed that based on the available water and the buffer supply model, there could be up to 95 units released with some small revisions. Board Members Pam Jardini and Wayne Petersen expressed interest in seeing this idea written up for a future discussion.
The Board came to an agreement that for now, the 25 units available would be released, and a future discussion would be held on how the staff does calculations of the gallons per day and whether that calculation needs to be adjusted.
The next discussion was on amending the Templeton Recreation Foundation (TRF) bylaws to make it more independent from the Templeton CSD.
“This is a request by the group so that they can function more effectively,” stated English.
The TRF was created by the District and Community Members in 2009, and its fundraising efforts have supported TCSD Parks and Recreation facilities and programs. The existing bylaws require all meetings to be conducted in accordance with the Brown Act, which includes only holding meetings where there is a quorum, which becomes problematic given the volunteer nature of the members of the TRF.
Peterson, who served on the TRF board in the past, explained how during his tenure, it was common that the TRF was not allowed to meet three or four times a year because they didn’t have a quorum, which significantly impacted what they were able to accomplish.
Jardini, as one of the founding members of the TRF, said she always thought it should be independent.
The motion was presented by English to approve the change of bylaws and allow the TRF to operate independently of the TCSD and was passed by all board members in a 5-0 vote.
The last item addressed was the Measure A Oversight Committee. On Aug. 27, 2019, the Templeton CSD successfully conducted an election on Measure A, which obtained authorization from voters to impose a special tax of $180 per parcel to fund Templeton Fire and Emergency Services with 24/7 staffing.
As part of this measure, the District is obliged to establish a Citizens’ Oversight Committee to satisfy the accountability requirements of Measure A. This requires a minimum of 3 citizens, and members would be allowed to apply for two back to back terms before being required to take a term off. It was suggested that the committee would have to meet no more than two times per year, once after the end of the fiscal year and again after the audit is complete, so the committee can review and comment on the audit.
The Board approved the bylaws as well as the application for committee members, and English recommended Rod Hewitt to be one of the citizen members of the committee.
The meeting concluded with a report from General Manager Briltz. He reported on the storm responses from the previous week, where Templeton had reports of areas receiving up to 7 inches of rain over 48 hours.
The next meeting of the Templeton Community Services District is set to be held on Feb. 16. The agenda items and link to join can be found by visiting templetoncsd.org/AgendaCenter
