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General manager outlines priorities; board weighs volunteer help and staffing tradeoffs
Summary
The general manager presented a prioritized list of district tasks and said his contract provides roughly 30 hours per month; directors suggested reprioritizing some tasks, tapping contractors for communications, and exploring volunteer involvement while counsel warned of liability and Brown Act limits.
General Manager Savage presented a non‑exhaustive list of current and near‑term priorities — finance and accounting, project management, annual audit, RFP and contract work, assessment engineer selection, groundwater testing, grants and community communications — and explained he is contracted for about 30 hours a month.
"My contract essentially says work 30 hours a month," he told the board. Directors and public commenters suggested shifting lower‑priority items, using contractors for communications and outreach, and recruiting volunteers to help with tasks such as meeting setup and newsletter formatting. Counsel cautioned that a volunteer program would require board policy, insurance and worker‑comp considerations and might create supervisory burdens that could increase the general manager’s workload rather than reduce it. The board asked staff to return options for volunteer policy and contractor support and to reprioritize tasks where feasible.
Provenance: Agenda item 10 included a slides‑based presentation of the GM priorities, public offers to help with committee logistics and separate counsel guidance on volunteer program legal considerations.
