Water Board, Ruth Lake Approach Mussel Consensus

Evergreen Pulp coughs up $80,000 a day late

Humboldt Sentinel
12/11/08
By Sentinel Staff

EUREKA -- If the Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District can provide the equipment, the Ruth Lake Community Services District can provide the personnel to keep Quagga and Zebra mussels from infesting their ecosystem.

That’s the tentative agreement these local government agencies are headed towards, with HBMWD general manager announcing today the approval “in concept” of this division of labor to protect both the fishing resources of Ruth Lake and the Robert W. Matthews Dam which ensures the flow of drinking water to much of Humboldt County’s populous.

The final draft of the plan, the budget to make it happen, and a Memorandum of Understanding between HBMWD and RLCSD will be up for formal adoption at the next Water Board meeting in January, but this would seem to be a formality, with Lake District general manager Rick James expressing confidence in moving forward.

“We’re all playing off the same page here,” he told HBMWD trustees this morning. “We know that for you to maintain additional staff at Ruth Lake is very expensive. We don’t have a lot of money, but we have people, so the whole concept behind our proposal is to get you to get the one-time infrastructure in place.”

Under the proposed terms, the Water District would install signage warning boaters of the infestation danger, along with shoreline obstacles to prevent boats from launching outside of designated sites and gates on boat launch ramps. Ruth Lake personnel will provide registration and inspection services for the recreational fishermen and women who flock to the tranquil environs in Trinity County. James also suggested the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office was willing to send an additional deputy to Ruth Lake during summer months to back up efforts by RLCSD.

“Policing in that area is a problem in general,” Water Board trustee Aldaron Laird said. “This is just another policing need.”

Laird also recently represented HBMWD at the Association of California Water Agencies conference, where he gave a presentation on statewide anti-Quagga infestation efforts. He proposed to ACWA that they implement a statewide boat tracking system.

“It’s mind boggling just how fast [the mussels] cover these hard surfaces,” Laird said. “It’s not going away and we’re getting more and more aquatic species spread around all the time.”

Pulp mill pays up, somewhat

On the heels of their special meeting on Monday concerning the potential shut-off of water to the Evergreen Pulp Mill, and consequently the township, power plant and government services of Samoa, Rische reported that the company had, indeed, come up with the $80,000 partial payment of their past-due water bill -- although it had only come in yesterday, instead of Tuesday, due to alleged wire transfer problems. However, $75,563.63 is still owed on the October balance, allegedly to be paid by next Tuesday, and the November bill, which is larger, is already overdue.

“The next default notice for November will go out tomorrow, so the clock is starting again,” Rische said. “If we do not receive a payment by next Tuesday, I would recommend we call another special meeting.”

Water Board trustees voted 4-0 on a motion by trustee Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap to give staff authorization to place a lien on the remaining balance by next Tuesday, and to keep adjusting it as payments on further bills are no longer current. However, they took this action without inviting any public comment, in apparent violation of state law concerning local government agencies.

In other news

Newly elected trustee Tera Prucha of McKinleyville was on hand for the last meeting she’ll be sitting in the audience for -- she'll take office on Jan. 8, replacing the long-absent Randy Turner. She was already pushing for change in the HBMWD however, in particular calling for evening-time Water Board meetings to include a meal break.

“My number one reason is so there’s more of an opportunity for the public to be involved,” she said. “I think that sharing a meal is important to keeping the cohesiveness and the bonding of the group.”

Rische reported on a federal grant application from College of the Redwoods for various vocational educational efforts, which include the initiation of a water and wastewater operation certification program. With senior HBMWD staff drawing near retirement, she hoped CR would get this program underway in the fall to allow local residents to train up for potential career opportunities with the Water District.

Trustees also adopted their annual audit from local accountancy firm Hunter, Hunter and Hunt, which gave HBMWD a clean bill of financial health -- along with a warning over their holding a $547,000 certificate of deposit in US Bank.