County of Inyo

Board of Supervisors

Public Comment

The Chairperson announced the public comment period.  Supervisor Cervantes read a letter from Ms. Jan Rucquoi regarding the Tecopa Hot Springs into the record.  Supervisor Bilyeu thanked all those who attended and participated in the 4^th of July festivities in Independence, especially the generous contribution of fireworks by the Fort Independence tribe and others.

The Chairperson announced the County Department Report period.  Mr. Andrew Remus provided a brief report on the Yucca Mountain State legislative visits and received thanks from the Chairperson, Supervisor Williams for his hard work.   Mr. Chuck Hamilton, Deputy County Administrator, announced a Household Hazardous Waste Event scheduled for the Bishop-Sunland Landfill on Saturday, July 9, 2005, from 9:00 a.m., to 12 noon.

CAO-Admin. Serv./Cottonwood Plaza Lease

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cash to approve the Amendment to the Lease between the County of Inyo and Maudsley Enterprises, Inc. extending the lease for office space at Cottonwood Plaza for Integrated Waste, Parks and Recreation, Risk Management, Personnel, and Board/CAO, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, at the rate of $1,638, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005/06 budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Integ. Waste/ Shred Pro Contract

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cash to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Shred Pro, Inc., of Bishop, for confidential and service document destruction services, in an amount not to exceed $15,600, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.   Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Parks/Preferred Septic Vault Pumping Contract

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cash to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Preferred Septic & Disposal, Inc., for vault pumping services at Inyo County parks and campgrounds, in an amount not to exceed $9,920, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

HHS-Hlth. Serv./ EMS Funds

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cash to approve the Declaration of Intent to Apply for the FY 2004-05 Emergency Medical Services appropriation, and authorize the Chairperson to sign.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Probation/Mono Contract for Juvenile Placement

Integ. Waste/ Bishop Waste Olancha & Keeler Waste Transfer

Mr. Chuck Hamilton, Deputy County Administrator, briefly explained the bid process and how it related to the bids for the transfer of waste from the various County transfer stations.  Mr. Hamilton presented a letter he had received from Preferred Septic & Disposal, Inc., protesting the Bishop Waste Disposal bid and the Board took several minutes to review the letter.  Mr. Paul Bruce, County Counsel, confirmed that the Bishop Waste bid was not a violation of the Sherman Act as referenced in the Preferred Septic letter.  The Board, Mr. Comontofski of Preferred Septic, and Staff discussed the bid process and the bid submitted by Bishop Disposal in detail.  The discussions included (a) concerns with awarding the bid to the lowest responsible bidder; (b) the fact that Bishop Waste Disposal’s bid price is 50% lower than last year’s contract price; (c) price fixing concerns; (d) how unusually low bids could be an attempt to drive up market share by driving out the competition; (e) whether the lowest bidder is the most responsive bid; (f) the definitions of a responsible bid and an outrageous bid; and (g) the dilemma of whether the bidder could reasonably perform the duties of the contract at a 50% reduction vs. saving the County money.  Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Bishop Waste Disposal for the transfer of solid waste from the Olancha and Keeler Transfer Stations to the Lone Pine Landfill, in an amount not to exceed $26,000, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Integ. Waste/ Bishop Waste Disposal Darwin Waste Transfer

Integ. Waste/ Bishop Waste Disposal Big Pine Transfer Station Chemical Toilet Service

With regard to the request to award the contract for chemical toilet services at the Transfer Stations, Supervisor Bilyeu questioned staff regarding the ability to have more frequent chemical toilet services at the County transfer Stations.  Mr. Chuck Hamilton, Deputy County Administrator, explained that a new RFP could be issued changing the scope of work to require more frequent dumping services because of the health and safety concerns.  Mr. Hamilton suggested that this item be pulled for further evaluation and said that he will rewrite the scope work and reissue the RFP. 

Parks/Bishop Waste Disposal South County Waste Disposal

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Bishop Waste Disposal for waste disposal services at the County parks and campgrounds located in South County, in an amount not to exceed $9,790, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.   Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Parks/Bishop Waste Disposal North County Waste Disposal

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Bishop Waste Disposal for waste disposal services at County parks and campgrounds located in the area from Independence North, in an amount not to exceed $8,092, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Integ. Waste/ Bishop Waste Big Pine Transfer Station Waste Transfer

Moved by Supervisor Bilyeu and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and Bishop Waste Disposal for the transfer of solid waste from the Big Pine Transfer Station to the Bishop-Sunland landfill in an amount not to exceed $28,500, for the period of July 1, 2005, through June 30, 2006, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Moved by Supervisor Cash and seconded by Supervisor Bilyeu to ratify the contract between County of Inyo and Mr. Phil McDowell for the provisions of personal services for the period of June 28, 2005 through termination at a monthly salary of $7,200.00.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Mr. Chuck Hamilton, Deputy County Administrator, provided a brief history of the environmental and engineering consulting services provided to Inyo County through the RCRC JPA.  He responded to questions from the Board explaining that Minshew has the appropriate liability insurance, that they provide the quarterly, semi-annual and annual reporting required by the State, as well as performing the groundwater testing required at the landfills; and that this work cannot be performed in-house because of staffing and certification limitations. 

Moved by Supervisor Cash and seconded by Supervisor Bilyeu to authorize the Chairperson to sign the Agreement between the County of Inyo and Minshew Engineering for Integrated Waste Management consultant services for FY2005-06, not to exceed $198,300 subject to obtaining appropriate staff signatures and contingent upon Board adoption of the FY 2005-06 Budget.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

BofS/McKeon  Wilderness Plan Update

Supervisor Williams provided a brief explanation on the purpose of the Inyo/Mono Wilderness Committee, which is to assist Congressman Buck McKeon’s office in the development of legislation for a public lands proposal.  He explained that the committee was formed at the behest of Congressman McKeon in response to local concerns regarding previous wilderness legislation, which did not involve the local jurisdictions.  Supervisor Williams updated the Board on the first meeting of the local representatives, stressing that this Agenda Item was an update and that even the most preliminary development processes for a recommendation on the proposal has not yet begun.  The Board discussed how the County would be involved in the development of a proposal directing that when the proposal is finalized that it be brought back for Board discussion and consideration.   Supervisor Williams thanked the Board for their indulgence in giving him the opportunity to keep them informed on this very important issue, which will ultimately impact Inyo County and indicated that he would provide regular updates as the process proceeds.

Coroner/Deputy Coroner, Lab and Autopsy Services Contracts

The Board and the Coroner discussed the contracts presented for Coroner services, with the Board expressing their concern with recommendation E) to approve a contract with a contractor to be determined.  The Board directed that once the contract was finalized that it be returned for further consideration by the Board.  Moved by Supervisor Cash and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to approve the Contract between the County of Inyo and the following in the amounts specified, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005-06 Budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign: A) Medtox Laboratories, Inc., for toxicology services in an amount not to exceed $3,600; B) Milton R. Jones, M.D. for autopsy services in an amount not to exceed $31,300; C) Robert A. Franke for deputy coroner services in an amount not to exceed $11,680; and D) William D. Stinnett for deputy coroner services in an amount not to exceed $11,360.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Recess/

Reconvene

The Chairperson recessed the regular meeting at 10:35 a.m., to reconvene in open session with all Board Members present, except Supervisor Arcularius.

Moved by Supervisor Cash and seconded by Supervisor Cervantes to increase authorized strength by adding one Office Assistant III/Lab Tech position at Range 50 ($2,056 - $2,498) and waive the hiring freeze and authorize the recruitment and filling of this position.  Motion carried unanimously, with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

Planning-Yucca Mtn./Hydro-

dynamics Contract Amendment

The Board and Staff discussed the scope of work for this contract amendment, with the Board expressing their concern with the County incurring costs for our contractor to travel to Colorado to provide data for the Forest Service.  Moved by Supervisor Cervantes, with no second to ratify and approve Amendment Two to the Contract between the County of Inyo and Hydrodynamics Group LLC for hydrologic support services for the Death Valley Regional Ground Water monitoring program, amending the scope of work and schedule of fees and increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $37,855 for the period of February 1, 2003 through August 31, 2005, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005/06 budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  The motion failed on a two-to-two roll call vote, with Supervisors Cervantes and Williams voting yes and with Supervisors Cash and Bilyeu voting no, and with Supervisor Arcularius absent. 

Moved by Supervisor Cash and seconded by Supervisor Bilyeu to ratify and approve Amendment Two to the Contract between the County of Inyo and Hydrodynamics Group LLC for hydrologic support services for the Death Valley Regional Ground Water monitoring program, amending the scope of work and amending the schedule of fees increasing the not-to-exceed amount by $8,000 for task 2 and decreasing it from task number 11, for an total contract amount not to exceed $35,855 for the period of February 1, 2003 through August 31, 2005, contingent upon the Board’s adoption of a FY 2005/06 budget; and authorize the Chairperson to sign, contingent upon the appropriate signatures being obtained.  Motion carried on a three-to-one vote, with Supervisors Cash, Williams and Bilyeu voting yes, with Supervisor Cervantes voting no, and with Supervisor Arcularius absent.

The Chairperson recessed open session at 11:25 a.m., to convene in closed session, with all Board Members present, except Supervisor Arcularius to discuss Agenda Items No. 22.  PERSONNEL   [Pursuant to Government Code § 54957] - Public Employee Appointment - Title:  Director of Water Department;  No. 23. PERSONNEL   [Pursuant to Government Code § 54957] - Public Employee Appointment - Title:  Director of Public Works; and No. 24.  CONFERENCE WITH LABOR NEGOTIATOR  [Pursuant to Government Code § 54957.6] - Instructions to Negotiators re: wages, salaries and benefits - Employee Organization:  ICEA - Negotiators:  CAO Ron Juliff.