CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION: Application of Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District and California-American Water Co. to construct and develop test slant well to determine its suitability for use as a desalination facility source water well, at Marina Coast Water District offices at 11 Reservation Road, in Marina, Monterey County, August 2011

ABSTRACT: For background purposes, the California Coastal Commission Addendum to Staff Report E-11-019 – Test Slant Well adjacent to Monterey Bay shoreline in City of Marina (Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, and California-American Water Company), including COMBINED STAFF REPORT, COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION, August 11, 2011, and CORRESPONDENCE & EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS RE: SUBJECT: August 12, 2011 – AGENDA ITEM 6 – REGIONAL DESALINATION PROJECT documents are embedded.

 APPLICATION FILE NO.: E-11-019 (changed from previous File No. 3-11-036)

APPLICANTS: Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, and California-American Water Company

PROJECT LOCATION: Adjacent to the Monterey Bay shoreline at the Marina Coast Water District offices, 11 Reservation Road, City of Marina.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: A test slant well and associated monitoring wells to determine the feasibility of the project site as a potential long-term water source for the Monterey Regional Desalination Project.

CCC F6a-8-2011 -

Addendum to Staff Report E-11-019 – Test Slant Well adjacent to Monterey Bay shoreline in City of Marina (Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, and California-American Water Company), including COMBINED STAFF REPORT, COASTAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION, August 11, 2011

CCC Correspondence F6a-8-2011-a1 -  

CORRESPONDENCE & EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS RE: SUBJECT: August 12, 2011 – AGENDA ITEM 6 – REGIONAL DESALINATION PROJECT

CALIFORNIA COASTAL COMMISSION 

AUGUST 2011 AGENDA

WATSONVILLE CITY HALL CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
275 MAIN STREET 
WATSONVILLE, CA 95076
(831) 588-4112

FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011

1. CALL TO ORDER.

2. ROLL CALL.

3. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT. Public comments will be heard at the beginning of the agenda, if time permits and/or at the end of the day’s agenda.

ENERGY, OCEAN RESOURCES AND FEDERAL CONSISTENCY

6. COASTAL PERMIT APPLICATIONS. See AGENDA CATEGORIES. Attention: Items appearing in this section of the agenda may be moved to the Consent Calendar for this area by the Executive Director when, prior to taking up the Consent Calendar, staff and the applicant are in agreement on the staff recommendation. If an item is moved to the Consent Calendar it will be processed in the same manner as other Consent Calendar items (See AGENDA CATEGORIES) except that if that item is subsequently removed from the Consent Calendar by a vote of three or more commissioners, the item will be acted upon at the meeting in the order in which it originally appears on this Meeting Notice and in the manner Coastal Permit Applications are processed. The purpose of this procedural change is to expedite the Commission's coastal development permit process.

[An addendum has been appended to and correspondence received linked from the staff report for item 6a below on August 10; additional correspondence has been added on August 12.]

a. Application No. E-11-019 (Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, California-American Water Company, Monterey Co.) Application of Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District and California-American Water Co. to construct and develop test slant well to determine its suitability for use as a desalination facility source water well, at Marina Coast Water District offices at 11 Reservation Road, in Marina, Monterey County. (TL-SF) [TO CONTINUE]

DRAFT MINUTES of MEETING of AUGUST 10-12, 2011

 FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2011 pages 11 to 12

1.  CALL TO ORDER. The meeting of the California Coastal Commission was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Chair Shallenberger.

2.  ROLL CALL.  Chair Shallenberger, Vice Chair Stone, Blank, Bochco, Brennan, Kinsey, McClure, Zimmer. Non-voting: Norvell.  Sanchez arrived at 9:05 a.m.  Absent: Bloom, Burke, Mitchell.

ENERGY, OCEAN RESOURCES and FEDERAL CONSISTENCY 

6.  COASTAL PERMIT APPLICATIONS.  

a.  Application No. E-11-019 (Monterey County Water Resources Agency, Marina Coast Water District, California-American Water Company, Monterey Co.) Staff recommended approval with conditions.

Motion & vote:  Blank moved to continue and recommended a yes vote,  seconded by Sanchez.  Chair Shallenberger ruled that the vote was unanimous in  favor of the motion.  Continued.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement, Regional Seawater Desalination Project

ABSTRACT: HIGHLIGHTS of Letters to the Editor regarding the Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement, Regional Seawater Desalination Project, are presented; links to the complete letters are provided.

HIGHLIGHTS:
• “What is not understandable is that, as far as we know, not even one of the attorneys involved advised the mayors that they did not have independent authority to unilaterally sign the agreement. As a result of this collective oversight, it is my understanding that the agreement is not legally enforceable…I cannot at this point blame the mayors. But perhaps it would be a good time for them to have a discussion with their respective councils."

Source: Letters: Silent treatment required backing of councils, Mike Brown Carmel, The Monterey County Herald, 08/12/2011

• “To all six conspiratorial mayors of Sand City, Pacific Grove, Monterey, Carmel, Seaside and Del Rey Oaks who signed the non-disclosure agreement concerning the completely corrupted regional desalination plant,...I am disgusted and ashamed of you because you have given credence to the criticism that we are ethically corrupt and morally bankrupt backroom dealers with no respect for the law or the public.”

Source: Letters: Some advice before resigning, J.A. Sullivan Pacific Grove, The Monterey County Herald, 08/10/2011

• “Relative to the CDO mediation, outside counsel Russ McGlothlin of Brownstein Hyatt Farber and Schreck prepared a confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement for signature. Signatories were advised by city attorneys Deborah Mall and Don Freeman that the nondisclosure agreement and all pertinent documents were subject to the Public Records Act.”

Source: Letters: Clearing air around editorial, Deborah Mall and Don Freeman, The Monterey County Herald, 08/07/2011
Editor's note: Mall is the Monterey city attorney and Freeman is the city attorney for Carmel and Seaside.

• “Unless these elected and appointed officials take immediate steps to resign from the agreement, the public should regard them as weaklings and cowards, lacking the character to hold public office. A public office is a public trust. It is high time that they start making themselves available to answer questions.”

Source: Letters: Hate the silent treatment, Thomas Ethington Pacific Grove, The Monterey County Herald, 08/06/2011

• “Then in June, the mayors and Cal Am all agreed in writing to keep the details of these back-room dealings a secret from the public. My question is, given the definition of criminal conspiracy, when will the indictments against the mayors and Cal Am be filed by the Monterey County district attorney. Do we need the attorney general to come in and clean up this mess?”

Source: Letters: Backroom deal screams conspiracy, M. Saraka Seaside, The Monterey County Herald, 08/03/2011

ADDENDUM:
Joe Livernois: Ethics in public service a quaint notion, The Monterey County Herald, 08/12/2011

CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT regarding the Regional Seawater Desalination Project

Editorial: Secrecy puts desal project in deep hole
The Monterey County Herald 08/03/2011

ABSTRACT: CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT regarding the Regional Desalination Project, dated and entered into as of June 17, 2011 by and between the Mayors of the Cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Sand City and Seaside “for the purpose of binding each Mayor executing this Agreement, the respective City represented by each Mayor, and the staff of each respective City, to the terms of this Agreement,” is embedded. The signatory parties include, but not limited to, City of Carmel-by-the-Sea Mayor, Sue McCloud; City of Del Rey Oaks Mayor, Jerry Edelen; Monterey Mayor, Chuck Della Sala; Pacific Grove Mayor, Carmelita Garcia; City of Sand City Mayor, David Pendergrass; and City of Seaside Mayor, Felix Bachofner and respective city managers. The existence of the AGREEMENT became known to the public after attorney Michael Stamp, representing The Open Monterey Project, filed public records requests for the agreements and Carmel-by-the Sea City Attorney Don Freeman decided to release the AGREEMENT last week. Although the AGREEMENT has been made public, attorney Michael Stamp stated that “he has yet to receive any document, which he requested, showing how the agreement was proposed and acted on, and authorized, as well as the mayors’ authority to impose the terms of the agreement on city officials and staff,” according to reporting in The Monterey County Herald, 2 August 2011. Attorney Michael Stamp, in a BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE (COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, DIVISION THREE SIERRA CLUB, Petitioner, v. SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ORANGE, Respondent. COUNTY OF ORANGE, Real Party in Interest), wrote, as follows: “The California Constitution guarantees that access to government information is a fundamental right” and “Under the California Public Records Act, the Legislature and the Courts consistently have declared the importance of the right of public access and meaningful public participation in local government. Those rights are fundamental and essential to open government and to the democratic process itself.”
Note: The Open Monterey Project, “an unincorporated nonprofit association active in environmental and open government matters in Monterey County and throughout California” was established in 2002 and “has taken a leading role in promoting the California Public Records Act (CPRA) in several cases and in public educational efforts.”

CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT

CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT
(courtesy of Monterey County Weekly)

HIGHLIGHTS:
CONFIDENTIALITY AND NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT, dated and entered into as of June 17, 2011 by and between the Mayors of the Cities of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Del Rey Oaks, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Sand City and Seaside for the purpose of binding each Mayor executing this Agreement, the respective City represented by each Mayor, and the staff of each respective City, to the terms of this Agreement.

The Cities are engaged with the governance and oversight over the Project as constituents of the Municipal Advisor that is a non-voting member of the Advisory Committee, which is the governing body for the Project.

Various recent developments have raised questions concerning the Project’s timing and feasibility (including financial feasibility). These developments include a pending lawsuit filed against the Project filed by the Ag land Trust, and investigations into the approval of the Project by MCWRA in light of a possible conflict of interest by one of its Directors.

Because of these recent developments the Cities desire to communicate openly among themselves about how these matters affect the Project or an equivalent alternative project, the adequacy and effectiveness of the present Project governance, and related concerns for Project timing to meet critical water supply deadlines set forth in the CDO. Given the various present uncertainties, including the pending lawsuit and the investigations referenced above, it is important that the Cities’ communications concerning the Project be kept confidential for the immediate future.

AGREEMENT

Purpose. The purpose of this Agreement is to provide assurances that the Confidential Information disclosed hereunder will be kept confidential by the Cities and their respective Mayors and staff during the Period of Confidentiality.

Period of Confidentiality. The Period of Confidentiality shall extend from the Effective Date for an initial period of ninety (90) days, which may be extended or shortened by unanimous written agreement of the Mayors.

Term. This Agreement shall remain in effect for one (1) year from the Effective Date.

Press Comments for the Mayors

The six Peninsula Mayors have had initial discussions regarding the recent revelations surrounding the Regional Project. The Mayors are disappointed by the issues associated with Mr. Collins and his actions that potentially threaten the validity of the RMC project management contract and the Water Purchase Agreement. The Mayors remain unanimous in their support of the Regional Project as the only project far enough along in its conceptual/technical development that it has the potential to provide water in time to avert the draconian economic impacts associated with the Cease and Desist order, scheduled to go into effect December 31, 2016.

The Mayors await the investigative finding s to determine the appropriate next steps, on the part of the cities, to ensure that a reliable and timely water supply for the peninsula is put in place. The Mayors are aware of the other potential water project concepts that are being discussed and encourage the responsible agencies to continue development of theses concepts. The Mayors completely understand and are focused on the critical need for a new, sustainable and reliable water supply to be developed for the Monterey Peninsula, so that the Peninsula can maintain economic viability.

Related News Articles:
News Blog
Mayors Sign Confidentiality Agreement On Regional Desal Project
By Kera.Abraham
July 29, 2011

Mayors agree not to talk desal
Confidentiality deal not reviewed by city councils
By JIM JOHNSON Herald staff writer 08/02/2011

2010 MONTEREY COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT

ABSTRACT: The 2010 MONTEREY COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT, JANUARY 10, 2011, is uploaded. Particularly pertinent sections include PUBLIC EMPLOYEES’ RETIREMENT SYSTEM IN MONTEREY COUNTY – CALPERS (pgs. 7 - 16) and THE MONTEREY COUNTY REGIONAL WATER PROJECT (pgs. 111-117).


MONTEREY-COUNTY-GRAND-JURY-FINAL-REPORT-2010

2010 MONTEREY COUNTY GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT
JANUARY 10, 2011