January Minutes

957th MEETING OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES
OF THE ALAMEDA COUNTY MOSQUITO ABATEMENT DISTRICT
January 13, 2010

President William Spinola called the Board meeting to order at 5:04 p.m.

Trustee Edwards was absent from the meeting.

The minutes of the 956th meeting held December 9, 2009 were reviewed and approved (Prola/Hughes– unanimous with abstention by Centeno).

The Board reviewed the warrants dated December 15, 2009 numbering 030010 through 031510 amounting to $87,076.86 and warrants dated December 31, 2009 numbering 031610 through 035010 amounting to $109,814.22.

Long Range Planning Committee Chair Denny Mcleod reported that the committee met before the Board meeting. The committee received information on a survey of mosquito districts around the state to determine which districts would beinterested in developing an irrevocable trust independent of the ones offered by PERS and PARS. There appear to be 3-4 very interested and a half dozen that might be. The Committee is interested in using the Golden Gate Bridge Authority trust if it is a public document that can be used by our District.

District Entomologist Bruce Kirkpatrick presented the Monthly Operational Report for December. The District received a total of 17 requests for service during the month. There were 2 mosquito-biting reports. The ten-year average for adult mosquito service requests in December is 4.2. 7 requests for mosquitofish were received and 6 requests for inspections of potential mosquito sources. Employees continued to work on clearing ditches in tidal salt marshes in December. 4,322 linear feet of ditch were cleared of vegetation and debris. Our district joins with other mosquito districts in the region to obtain source reduction permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, State Water Quality Control Board and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission.

The Board received updates from the District Manager on several other outside agencies:

The Alameda County Chapter of the California Special Districts Association’s chapter met in the morning at EBMUD office in Oakland. Supervisor Alice Lai- Bitker spoke about the County’s budget during the economic downturn.The annual dinner meeting is scheduled for Thursday, March 25th at the Marriott Hotel in Pleasanton.

The Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California annual conference is in Sacramento February 7-10th. Trustees Bray, Garcia, Golden, Edwards, Hughes, McLeod, Quinn, Kohnen, Washburn and Rusmisel will be attending along with several members of staff.

Michael O’Connor, CPA with R. J. Ricciardi, Inc. conducted the annual audit on November 25th. The audit report has been delayed a month but should be delivered at the February 10, 2010 Board meeting.

District staff is working on gathering all of the data for the next biennial report. They are still waiting for the final financial figures and end of the year service request information.

AB1234 requires a two hour Ethics Training for Board members and Management staff every two years. Most of the Board is due for training. This can be done on line at http://www.fppc.ca.gov/index.php?id=477

A solar powered electric gate has been installed on the main entry gate. The gate is still being locked at night to make sure that it can’t be opened in the evening.

The new signs for the Harvey Scudder Memorial Library have arrived. We are working with Florrie Scudder on a dedication date and it looks like we might try for the March 10th Board meeting.

President Spinola asked for volunteers to serve on a committee to review District policies. Dennis Bray, Marisel Brown, Jim Doggett and Bill Spinola will serve on the committee.

Nominating Committee members Dennis Bray and Jim Kohnen nominated a slate of officers to serve in 2010, John Hughes as President, Marisel Brown as Vice President and Jan Washburn as Secretary. The slate was approved (Bray/Centeno – unanimous.)

Jan Washburn provided a report on the ESA (Entomological Society of America) conference that was held in Indianapolis. Trustee Washburn reported that there has been success in developing a bedbug pheromone trap. Aedes japonicus has been detected in the Appalachian states as well as Washington and Oregon. It is mostly a container breeding mosquito but has high tolerance to salt water. Ae. japonicus is a vector of Dengue Fever. There was a presentation on Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) public relations problems and sessions on how not to get sued. WNV seems to be on the decline but there still is new information coming out, robins appear to play a large part in the disease transmission cycle by serving as a reservoir of the virus.

President Hughes asked if there were any items to add to agenda for the next Board meeting on February 10th, hearing none, the meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

                                                                                                                                           Respectfully submitted,

                                                                                                                                          ____________________
                                                                                                                                           Jan Washburn, Secretary

Approved as written and/or corrected
at the 957th meeting of the Board of
Trustees held February 10, 2010

__________________________
William Spinola, President
BOARD OF TRUSTEES