VVCA Spring General Meeting

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

5 Las Piedras St.

Attendees: Susan and Gary Conway, Bill Tagg, Charlie Krenz, Richard Swan, Claudia Mazzetti, Tim Bailey, Jim Southam, Mike Ward, Mary Bussmann, Rick Lloyd, Bill Rogoway, Melba Rogoway, Rich and Yvonne Tryce, David Smernoff

Meeting began at 7:45 p.m.

The meeting began with the approval of the November 2005 meeting minutes. Jim Southam, Treasurer, gave the financial report noting that there was very little spending over the last six months except for CERRP. Current balance approx. $6,194.

Claudia Mazzetti, Secretary, gave the report about the summer picnic and Spring Fling planning. [As of June 6, 2006, we have designated August 26, 2006 as the date for the summer picnic.] Claudia noted that we still needed a chair for the summer picnic and the Spring Fling had a committed number of 42 attendees. Jim will contact LTWoods Community Association about the amount of their support for the summer picnic.

Bill Tagg, Emergency Preparedness Chair, noted that the chipper program again was a great success. Richard will write a letter of thanks to CERRP and the Woodside Fire District. Our earthquake exercise went well and the group expressed their thanks to Loraine Archer. Bill expressed his goal of trying to get more VV residents involved in emergency preparedness (please note that PV Ranch’s CERRP participation had over 90 people involved with the earthquake exercise.) Bill also said that he would continue to work on joint communications with LTW. He will be updating the food and medical supplies in the upcoming months.

Mike Ward, a member of the Nominating Committee, voiced his request for people to join the committee. Jim Southam offered to train the next treasurer.

Richard Swan and Claudia Mazzetti discussed the call from Linda Drey-Nightingale about working on common problems, such as, speeding and unleashed dogs.

Claudia Mazzetti talked about the membership drive and why it was initiated earlier this year.

The balance of the evening was arranged as an opportunity for the LTC Water Board to communicate with the Vista Verde community.

David Smernoff, President of the LTW Water Board, discussed the Water Board’s meeting with LAFCO. During their latest meeting with LAFCO in May, both parties continued their discussions from the March meeting. LAFCO took positive notice of some of the advances made by the board, such as completing the survey, proposing to tie the rebate program to conservation and setting a cap. LAFCO accepted some alternate findings proposed by LTCWD but the overall outcome was still to consider dissolution and/or a sunset on the rebate program. David thanked members of the VC community, Richard Swan and Mike Ward, for addressing the LAFCO issues. The "rebate" program will continue and new service areas will be implemented. Community members can join the new committees, such as, land management and water conservation. Please contact David. Their recording secretary is retiring and the Water Board will be looking for a new recording secretary. VVCA thanked Toni Markley for her many years of service.

Questions from the floor:

• What is Blue Oaks’s role in Water Board matters? Blue Oaks residents are not taxed, but have a political role because they can vote for members of the LTW Water Board.

• There was a discussion about County Supervisor Richard Gordon’s comments about the rebate program. Look to the Water Board’s communications about his comments.

• We continued to discuss the results of the community survey, which noted that there was a 71% response to maintain Water Board lands as open space. Charlie Krenz noted that a committee was forming to investigate legal issues and create a vision of what the lands should look like. There was some discussion about the financial management of the Water Board and the two Water Board members said that the amount of money allocated to the rebate program would fluctuate year by year. Attendees responded that the majority of the community wanted to keep the lands as open space and the rebate program as a majority of the budget. Bill Tagg, seconded by Jim Southam, filed a motion to keep the rebate program at its current level. Attendees told the board member that if they changed the budget allocation formula to decrease the rebate program that they should expect another uproar from the community

Mike Ward then began a serious discussion and analysis of the need for water conservation for our community. Because of the Hetch Hetchy project to update our water infrastructure, our water rates may increase up to five fold in the next 5 to 10 years. At the end of the presentation, Mike noted that there are current ways to reduce your water use, such as, the "new" low flush toilets and washers.

He noted that there is new technology that can intelligently control outside water irrigation. These new controllers work differently because it adjusts the amount of water according to the climate.

The meeting ended at 9:45 p.m.