EXHIBIT
18-A
DRAFT No. 4
Leadership Task Force
Memorandum of Understanding
This Memorandum of Understanding (hereinafter referred to as “MOU”) is made and entered into as of the first day
of____________, among the signatory public agencies executing below.
WHEREAS, on November 30, 2004 the Board of
Supervisors of the Monterey County Water Resources Agency (hereinafter referred
to as
“Agency”) determined
that the Agency would
initiate a collaborative process with the
County, specified Cities and public water/wastewater agencies for development of
regional water supply solutions for the Monterey Peninsula, and the northern
communities of Monterey County, including Salinas; and,
WHEREAS, on April 19, 2005 the Board of Supervisors directed
the Agency’s General Manager to draft an appropriate agreement to form a Water
Authority (formerly known as Regional Urban Water Supply Board) to be comprised of members
from the County Board of Supervisors, City Councils, and members of Boards of
Directors of public water and wastewater agencies (hereinafter referred to as “Participating
Entities”), to engage a program management firm to assist in developing and
implementing a strategy to meet the long-term urban water supply needs of the
coastal and northern region of Monterey County; and to identify funding sources for the formation of the Monterey Bay
Regional Water Authority (hereinafter referred to as “MBRWA”), and
WHEREAS, the Fort Ord
Reuse Authority, Moss Landing Harbor District, U.S. Department of Defense installations
and other public entities are interested in analyzing potential regional water
supply solutions for the Monterey Peninsula and northern Monterey County, and
also would be considered Participating Entities; and
WHEREAS, the Participating Entities
signatory to this MOU desire to cooperatively
engage in water supply planning and jointly analyze proposed projects for the
coastal and northern urban areas of Monterey County; and
WHEREAS, the Participating Entities are willing
and able to furnish certain start-up resources and in-kind assistance in
support of this MOU; and
WHEREAS, the Division
of Ratepayer Advocates (hereinafter referred to as “DRA”) of the California Public
Utilities Commission (“CPUC”), has offered to facilitate a series of regional water
supply planning dialogues and to include effected public and private entities
along with California-American Water Company; and
WHEREAS, DRA’s
specific intent in forming these regional water supply reliability dialogues is
to identify an alternative regional project, or projects, and water management
programs that would be more cost effective for ratepayers and have greater
regional benefit than California American Water Company’s proposed Coastal
Water Project and result in an implementation strategy; and
WHEREAS, this MOU provides the most practical method to quickly create a leadership and management
framework responsible for developing
(during Phase 1) and implementing (in Phase 2) a strategy to comprehensively achieve regional water supply solutions, as
well as the start–up of a publicly-owned regional water supply project
if identified in the strategy developed during Phase 1; and
WHEREAS, the term of
this MOU will expire three years after the effective
date stated above, or upon formation of the MBRWA, whichever comes first;
and
WHEREAS, the Participating Entities are committed to considering the
establishment of the MBRWA;
and
WHEREAS, the Participating Entities recognize and respect that member entities exercise
independent control over their individual sub-regional projects.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,
that a Leadership Task Force comprised of a representative of the governing
body of each of the Participating Entities (hereinafter referred to as “LTF”),
and a Technical Advisory Committee comprised of the executive manager of each
of the Participating Entities (hereinafter referred to as “TAC”), are hereby
established to carry out the responsibilities described in this MOU; and
BE IT FURTHER
RESOLVED that, through
this MOU, the Participating Entities desire to
give the LTF a scope of responsibility to include the development of a
proposed strategy for consideration by the Participating Entities, that would
meet the long-term urban water supply needs, through publicly-owned
sub-regional project(s), regional desalination project(s) or other regional
public project(s), of the Monterey Peninsula and the communities of northern
Monterey County, including Salinas; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the LTF is directed to take the preliminary steps necessary for the
Participating Entities to consider eventual formation of the MBWRA to fully
accomplish the purposes described in this MOU; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the LTF, with technical assistance by the TAC, will 1) participate in
the DRA convened regional water supply reliability dialogues; 2) review of all
regional and sub-regional water supply projects to ensure that through the
collective efforts of all member entities the long-term urban water supply
needs of the region are fully and most cost-effectively met; and 3) maximize the
region’s overall competitiveness to attract state and federal grants to fund
such projects; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED
that each of the Participating Entities shall contribute the technical resource and in-kind assistance,
necessary to effectively implement the scope of responsibility described above.
(Add signature line for each Participating
Entity, below)
____________________________
Entity Name and Title
of Signing Official
____________________________
Entity Name and Title
of Signing Official
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