Brooktrails sets Dec. rate hearing
Rate increases | Remote meeting policy | LIVE! From the forest floor
Friday, October 21, 2022
Date set for Brooktrails water, sewer, and garbage rate hearings.
Brooktrails talks the future of remote meetings Tuesday.
A look at what’s happening: forest floor.
Brooktrails | Updates
Brooktrails has set a date of December 13 for a public hearing on water, sewer and garbage rate increases.
Directors voted 5-0 to advance the administration's proposal that water usage rates increase by 8.71 percent and base rates increase 2 percent for sewer and 2.5 percent for drinking water.
Solid Waste of Willits is asking the township to approve a rate increase for garbage service.
Brooktrails did not share any preliminary numbers from SWOW, but the garbage company will be asking for more, citing fuel costs as it did for a rate hike earlier this year.
Rate increases at the Brooktrails Golf Course will also be on a future docket and any rate changes would be the first since 2017.
Brooktrails | Pre-meeting brief
WHAT: Board of Directors
WHEN: Tuesday at 7 PM
IN-PERSON: Brooktrails Community Center/24860 Birch Street
REMOTE: Zoom or 408-638-0968 Code: 7794192028#.
Brooktrails Board of Directors will meet again Tuesday, October 25.
Brooktrails directors will see a short list of accounts payable up for approval.
They call this “approval of accounts payable and authorization to issue checks.”
The information Brooktrails includes for this item shows the fund or combination of funds used to pay an invoice.
Example: Willits Weekly, Public Notice Ad, Invoice Amount: $216.00, Invoice Date: 10/14/22, Administration: $96, Water: $60, Sewer: $60.
Anticipate approval of the districts 2023 meeting calendar at this meeting.
A discussion of remote meeting policy is set for this meeting, too.
State legislation has opened the door to 2026 for remote meetings, with changes to what people have grown accustomed to.
“Under AB 2449, a Board member will have to either have ‘just cause’ or an ‘emergency’, as defined under the law, to attend virtually,” a report from Brooktrails General Manager Tamara Alaniz stated.
Business-as-usual may continue through December, then AB 2449 will govern the process from 2023 onward.
General Manager Tamara Alaniz: Each meeting where a director is qualified to participate remotely must also adhere to three provisions:
1. Directors must disclose if anyone over the age of 18 is present in the room during the meeting and their relation to the director;
2. Both audio and video participation is required for directors to participate remotely in the meeting; and,
3. No director may participate remotely for more than three consecutive months or twenty percent (20%) of the meetings within a calendar year.
In the name of public participation, Brooktrails stated it will continue making meetings accessible by Zoom.
Nature
Aided by early rains and fair fall days, life thrives on the forest floor.
They almost grow right before your eyes as these have arisen from the soil and continue to ascend.
You can see beautiful striations amidst afternoon shadows on this one.