Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Disaster Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Tahoe City PUD committee reviews draft disaster, property-damage ordinances for sewer and water
Summary
Technical Services Manager Chris Bickers presented draft ordinances 315 (sewer) and 316 (water) to add disaster and property-damage policy language after staff reviewed Paradise Irrigation District's experience; staff said drafts aim to protect district revenue and continuity but will be revised following board feedback.
Chris Bickers, the Tahoe City Public Utility District technical services manager, presented two draft ordinances — Ordinance 315 (amending Sewer Ordinance 255) and Ordinance 316 (amending Water Ordinance 263) — to establish disaster and property-damage policies for the district's sewer and water enterprises.
Bickers said staff used the same policy language in both drafts "so minus the formatting and numbering sequences, difference between the two sewer and water documents, the two draft ordinances should read very much the same regarding the disaster and property damage policies." He told the committee staff developed the drafts after discussions with Kevin Phillips of the Paradise Irrigation District and pointed to Paradise’s experience after the 2018 Camp Fire, which staff described as causing an immediate, roughly 95% reduction in customer base. Bickers summarized financial supports Paradise received: a $3,500,000 business-interruption payout from JPIA, approximately $14,000,000 in state assistance, and about a $100,000,000 settlement from PG&E arriving several years after the fire. He also said Paradise still faced an annual operating deficit ("their current annual operating deficit is $3,000,000").
Staff framed the ordinance as a measure to "strengthen conditions that would safeguard district revenue stability in the event of a declared emergency or disaster, and to ensure continuity of operations and financial resilience." The draft gives the board authority to collect charges after a declared disaster as a tool to preserve staffing and services but, staff emphasized, the board could later reassess or roll back those charges depending on the district’s financial position.
The committee did not take a vote. Bickers said staff planned to collect feedback, make edits and return with revised language; he later told members that a May return was unlikely and staff would "regroup internally" and develop alternative versions before bringing the item back for further discussion.
