Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District

Report of District Activities

Manager’s Report

Board of Trustees Meeting

August 14, 2007

1. The General Manager, as the Southern Region Representative on the Board of the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC), attended the MVCAC Board meeting held in Ontario. One of the interesting topics was support of research on certain pesticides and risk analysis on those pesticides. These are similar to the fogging pesticides we use and information will be helpful for the District.

2. The District is awaiting the specifications from our environmental remediation company on the required scope of work for the Thermal property cleanup. Once the specifications are in, we will go out to bid for the work.

3. West Nile virus has risen in the Valley. Recent testing has shown mosquitoes to be infected with West Nile virus in the Mecca/North Shore area. District Staff fogged the area for several days and continues to closely monitoring mosquito activity there and in other areas. No human cases have been reported for Coachella Valley this year.

4. The District has not received a reply to its letter of response to the draft report from LAFCO regarding the sphere of influence boundaries. The District requested a revision in the draft report to reflect the sphere of influence boundaries that were agreed upon in the earlier mapping of the proposed boundaries. The District further requested a continuance of the meeting until September.

5. The General Manager, some Trustees, and the representative from our public relations firm Scott Kiner, met with several elected officials in the Valley to discuss recent newspaper articles. This was an opportunity to present the correct information to the cities and county in a manner that provided a good opportunity for an open question and answer dialog. We have received positive responses to these meetings.

Community Outreach Program

The Vector Classroom Presentation proposal (Part I – Mosquitoes) was presented to the three school districts for their review and consideration for inclusion in their classroom curriculums. Coachella Valley Unified School District and Desert Sands Unified School District have accepted the program, but the proposal is still under review with the Palm Springs Unified School District.

We are nearing completion of student workbooks and teachers’ guides to accompany Part I with a completion date in time for the beginning of the 2007- 08 school year.

With the end of the Summer School presentation, we are now actively soliciting opportunities to speak before Valley civic and community groups and are scheduling presentations before senior centers, rotary clubs, parks and recreation and other groups of the Coachella Valley.

RIFA HOA presentations have slowed because most HOAs do not meet during the summer months. With the launch of the new RIFA Golf Club Control Program, we are contacting golf course general managers as well as their superintendents to schedule meetings to discuss our RIFA program and to encourage their participation.

Community Outreach for June 20 - July 20, 2007
Group Presentations	Est. Audience
Civic and Community Groups
Monterey Country Club HOA meeting	25
Mesquite Country Club HOA meeting	12
Schools
Saul Martinez Elementary School	305
Coral Mountain Elementary School	292
Wilson Middle School	140
Mountain Vista Elementary School	302
Westside Elementary School	275
Las Palmitas Elementary School	245
Valle Del Sol Elementary School	310
Events
Total Outreach	1,906

YTD Comparison of Activities
Group Presentations	June/July, 2006	June/July 2007	YTD 2006/07	YTD 2007/08
Civic and Community Groups	50	37	909	37
Schools	0	1869	10,065	1,869
Events	0	0	36,950	0

FINANCE

The financial reports included in the packet show revenue and expenditures to June 2007. These reports are not the final amounts. A number of invoices will arrive that will be expensed during the adjusting period and also contractual revenue from the various redevelopment agencies should be received.

The auditors Teaman, Ramirez and Smith will be on site August, 27, 2007.

The Finance Committee met on July 6, 2007, and the minutes of that meeting are included in this month’s Board packet. The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, August 9, 2007. Discussed in the meeting was the scope of work for the municipal finance firm for inclusion in the RFP.

The District has hired a firm to carry out an actuarial valuation of its Postemployment Benefits Other Than Pensions (OPEB). This will determine the liability to be reported in accordance with the Government Accounting Standards Board Statement 45 (GASB 45). GASB 45 establishes the standards for the measurement, recognition, and display of OPEB expense/expenditures and related liabilities (assets) in the financial reports of state and local governmental employers. The GASB statement recommends government employers pre-fund the liability associated with these costs. Our objective is to pre-fund the District’s entire OPEB liabilities in a specialized trust, such as the CalPERS California Employers' Retiree Benefit Trust (CERBT).

DISTRICT FIELD OPERATIONS

Urban mosquito control activities continue to be a high priority, accounting for seventy-eight percent of the surveys and over eighty percent of the treatments conducted during the period. Ground fogging control activities were conducted along the Lincoln Street area southeast of Mecca in response to recent multiple detections of West Nile virus (WNv) in that area. The Valley aerial green pool surveillance has been completed. One hundred and seventy-seven potential green pools were located throughout the Valley, and District field technicians are inspecting each location for mosquito breeding and source elimination compliance.

A sixth aerial larvicide occurred along the Salton Sea marshes of the North and West shorelines. Mosquito breeding on the North shoreline remains below normal, while breeding along the West shoreline is above normal. Departmental control activities continue in both areas to reduce the threat of WNv in the area.

Service requests and standing water requests continued to increase during this period. All requests were addressed and responded to within twenty-four hours.

MOSQUITO CONTROL ACTIVITIES

27	FIELD EVALUATIONS BY SUPERVISORS
6	SERVICE REQUEST EVALUATIONS
4	OPERATIONAL MEETINGS
4	FIELD SAFETY CHECKS
6	MEETINGS WITH OWNERS/REPRESENTATIVES
18	NEW MOSQUITO BREEDING SOURCES
148	SERVICE REQUESTS
2,033	FIELD INSPECTIONS BY TECHNICIANS
753	MOSQUITO TREATMENTS (Larval)
0	URBAN/SUBURBAN ACREAGE FOGGED
310	RURAL ACREAGE FOGGED
2	FOGGING NIGHTS 2 Ground 0 Aerial
1	AERIAL TREATMENTS 1 Larvicide 0 Adulticide
3	MAJOR MOSQUITO SOURCE REDUCTION ACTIONS

TREATED THIS MONTH	ACREAGE TREATED JULY 2007	ACREAGE TREATED JULY 2006
LARVAL FOGGED	238Acres 310 Acres	210 Acres 3,549 Acres
FISCAL YEAR TOTALS	LARVICIDING	FOGGING
2007/2008 YTD	238Acres	310 Acres
2006/2007	2,294 Acres	5,075 Acres
2005/2006	2,027 Acres	20,172 Acres

COMPARATIVE MOSQUITO HABITAT ACREAGE TREATED

PERCENTAGES OF MOSQUITO HABITAT ACREAGE TREATED

HABITAT	May 2007		June 2007		July 2007
	Acres	%	Acres	%	Acres	%
Salton Sea