Water Commission approves consent items: August minutes and contract increase

The Santa Barbara City Water Commission approved consent calendar items at its Oct. 26 meeting, including the Aug. 21 meeting minutes and a staff-requested increase in authority for on-call control-systems integrator contracts.

Commissioners voted 4–0 with one abstention (Chair Keller abstained because he was absent from the Aug. 21 meeting) to approve the Aug. 21 minutes. The commission then unanimously approved the contract increase for the on-call control-systems integrators. Staff described the contract as originally issued in 2023 and running through 2028; they said about 70% of the current authority has been used and that the requested increase gives staff the authority to fund anticipated maintenance and control-system work as needed. Philip Maldonado, acting principal engineer, said the on-call integrators support water and wastewater distribution, treatment and collection crews and that funds are not encumbered until specific work is identified.

The votes recorded on the transcript were: Commissioner Snyder — yes; Commissioner Young — yes; Commissioner Cooney — yes; Vice Chair Davis — yes; Chair Keller — abstain on the minutes and yes on the contract increase. Staff said the motion on item 2 carried unanimously.