Interim Manager’s Report

June 2008

1. An Agreement is being finalized with Salton Sea Air Service to provide additional helicopter resources for use in dealing with potential future outbreaks of West Nile Virus. The Agreement runs through December 1, 2008. The District will pay Salton Sea Air Service at the rate of $1,400 per spray hour if or when their services are required.

2. Since your May meeting, I have met with Trustees Baker, Nigosian, Henderson, and Underwood to discuss District issues. It is my hope to meet with every Trustee in the next few weeks to get your individual perspectives on District operations.

3. I have scheduled a meeting for June 5^th with the City Manager of Indio to introduce myself. It is my goal to meet with the other City Managers from member agencies as soon as possible.

4. As of May 23^rd, 2008, all employees have taken the loyalty oath that is required as a condition of employment with the District.

5. Over the past several weeks, I have had a number of meetings with District employees. I have had the opportunity at these meetings to listen to their issues and consider their suggestions. During this same period, I have been reviewing current District policies, procedures, and practices. My audit of the District’s operations has progressed to the point where it is now possible for me to provide the Board with some initial conclusions and recommendations. These are as follows:

• The employees working for the District at all levels are sincere and dedicated people, and are a very valuable and perhaps currently underutilized resource.
• A number of our job descriptions that establish the requirements used to recruit new employees and determine the eligibility of others for promotion should be revised to create career ladders which allow related experience to substitute for certain educational requirements.
• Consideration should be given to combining certain job classes to provide greater upward mobility for employees and permit the District to have a larger pool of fully certified people to address operational contingencies.
• Greater emphasis should be placed on providing supervisors and managers with training in interpersonal relations, report writing, and personnel procedures.
• The evaluation forms used for supervisors and managers should be revised to include specific performance objectives to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of District operations.
• There appears to be an unusually wide pay gap between the General Manager’s position and our highest paid department manager, amounting to some 60%. This gap is even wider in relation to other positions in the organization. To address this issue, a salary survey needs to be conducted to determine whether the General Manager’s pay rate is currently too high in relation to other positions in this organization, to establish where it falls in relation to comparable positions in other agencies, and to assure that pay rates for the rest of our people are competitive in this labor market.
• The possibility of redrawing the District’s organization chart to realign certain functions and lines of authority in ways that are consistent with the organizational structures adopted by other Vector Control Districts should be evaluated.
• A Capital Improvement Master Plan should be developed that focuses on long-term capital construction priorities and will assist in establishing the proper allocation of reserves and the appropriate annual assessments required over time to support these priorities.
• An up-to-date document retention policy should be adopted to address the storage and destruction of District documents.
• Current procedures related to the allocation and use of certain District vehicles by management employees should be reevaluated.
• Current procedures related to the use of District credit cards by employees should be reevaluated.

6. Hal C. Miller, Vector Control Technician I, suggested implementing a “Toll-Free Number” for residents of the Coachella Valley, because they were incurring a toll charge when contacting the District. Ed Prendez our Information Systems Analyst spoke to Verizon, and they stated anyone outside a 13-mile radius from the District had been incurring a toll-charge when calling the District. As of May 27, 2008 the District’s new “Toll Free Number: 1-888-349-9399”. This service will cost the District $10 per month.

Community Outreach Program

Presentations were made at Rancho Mirage Elementary, Rio Vista Elementary, and Andrew Jackson Elementary Schools. They were attended by 398 second grade students and 19 teachers. The students were actively involved and had many questions on mosquito biology and breeding sources. All three schools invited the District back for the 2008-09 school year as part of their new curriculum.

On May 17th, 21 members of the Desert Cities Young Marines, ages 8 – 14, with their chaperones, visited the District. These Young Marines, led by Commanding Officer Michael Sorg, marched from the Old Town Indio Fire Station to learn more about mosquitoes and to tour our District.

Field Supervisor Rodney Chamberlain and Vector Technician Hal Miller escorted a crew from KMIR-TV to area green pools. They answered questions on the District’s surveillance and Green Pool Treatment program. The story was featured on the 6 pm and 11 pm local news on May 20. Additionally, KVER-TV interviewed Field Supervisor Chamberlain about green pools on the same day. The story aired on May 20th during the 6 pm and 11 pm local news segment.

The following represents the activities of Community Outreach since the May Board Report.

Community Outreach for April 20 - May 20, 2008
Group Presentations	Est. Audience
Civic and Community Groups
Young Marines	21
Schools
Andrew Jackson Elementary	160
Rancho Mirage Elementary	125
Rio Vista Elementary	132
Events
Total Individuals Reached	438

2007 - 2008 Totals

FINANCE

The financial reports included in the packet show the balance sheet, receipts, and the revenue and expenditure report for the month ending April 30, 2008. The revenue and expenditure report shows that total expenditure for July 1 to April 30, 2008, is $7,463,756; total revenue is $6,404,785, resulting in a deficit for the year to April 30, 2008, of $1,058,971. This item is shown on the balance sheet as Excess Revenue over (under) Expenditures.

The District’s investment fund balance for the period ending April 30, 2008, is $12,678,175; the portfolio composition is shown in the pie chart. Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF) accounts for 43 % of the District’s investments; the Riverside County Pooled Investment Fund is 21 % of the total. The LAIF yield for the end of April, 2008, was 3.40 %; the Riverside County Pooled Investment Fund was 3.41 %. This gives an overall weighted yield for District investments of 3.02 %.

District Investment Portfolio 4/30/2008

The auditing firm Mayer Hoffman McCann was at the District commencing April 28, 2008, to carry out preliminary audit work. The audit partner is Mike Harrison, and the audit manager is Nicole Scherer-Hamilton. The final phase of the audit field work is scheduled for early August after FY 2007-2008 year end.

DISTRICT FIELD OPERATIONS

The prevailing warmer weather during the past month continues to cause considerable vector breeding and activity in the Valley. Mosquito abundance and breeding, especially along the Salton Sea Shores, Duroville, urban and Agricultural sources continues, requiring District control activities in those areas. During the month, surveillance and treatment response continued to the nine positive mosquito pools detected for West Nile Virus along the North and West Shores of the Salton Sea, as well as southeast of Mecca. Ground and aerial fogging operations continued through late April to assure disruption of transmission magnification and reduction of mosquito abundance along with intensified larval surveillance and treatments. A fourth aerial treatment of the Salton Sea marshes using Altosid pellets (a long tern control product) was applied in late April.

A meeting with representatives of the attorney handling the Duroville waste water treatment facility was conducted on site April 15^th. Recommendations for facility mosquito source reduction were provided to the attorney’s representative and management of the construction company. All information presented was discussed and noted with the group’s assurance that the District’s recommendations would be acted upon within a month to obtain compliance.

Ongoing meetings with local farmers continued during the month to obtain improved cooperation between the farmers and the District to obtain source reduction of Psorophora related to Agricultural production.

Urban mosquito surveillance and control activities, as always, remain a high priority in order to continue to protect residents from the threat of West Nile virus infection. Mosquito abundance suppression through continual surveillance and treatments (87 percent of the treatments and 90 percent of the surveys) is ongoing. Agricultural irrigation is now intense with the warmer weather, creating additional mosquito breeding sources and breeding, and requiring additional surveillance and treatment activity.

The urban country club and agricultural eye gnat and fly trapping programs are now well underway, with thirty-six country clubs (1,538 collar traps established), signed up for eye gnat control service. Fly and eye gnat disposal bottles are also being placed and baited in many of the agricultural fields to assist in reducing abundance. O date, 3,532 bottles have been set and are being maintained with bait, with additional traps still being set.

MOSQUITO CONTROL ACTIVITIES:

16	FIELD EVALUATIONS BY SUPERVISORS
3	SERVICE REQUEST EVALUATIONS
4	OPERATIONAL MEETINGS
3	FIELD SAFETY CHECKS
12	STANDING WATER REQUESTS
68	GREEN POOL ADVISORIES RECEIVED
7	MEETINGS WITH OWNERS/REPRESENTATIVES
7	NEW MOSQUITO BREEDING SOURCES
82	MOSQUITO SERVICE REQUESTS
4,228	FIELD INSPECTIONS BY TECHNICIANS
1,229	MOSQUITO TREATMENTS (Larval)
0	URBAN/SUBURBAN ACREAGE ADULTICIDED
3,497	RURAL ACREAGE FOGGED
17	ADULTICIDE NIGHTS 10 Ground 7 Aerial
3	AERIAL LARVICIDE TREATMENTS
4	MAJOR MOSQUITO SOURCE REDUCTION ACTIONS

COMPARATIVE MOSQUITO HABITAT ACREAGE TREATED

TREATED THIS MONTH	ACREAGE TREATED APRIL 2008	ACREAGE TREATED APRIL 2007
LARVACIDING ADULTICIDING	224 Acres 3,397 Acres	46 Acres 0 Acres
FISCAL YEAR TOTALS	LARVACIDING	ADULTICIDING
2007/2008 YTD	3,414Acres	13,486 Acres
2006/2007	2,073 Acres	5,075 Acres
2005/2006	1,698 Acres	20,172 Acres

PERCENTAGES OF MOSQUITO HABITAT ACREAGE TREATED

HABITAT	March 2008		April 2008		May 2008
	Acres	%	Acres	%	Acres	%
Salton Sea	89	1	5	3	40	18
Duck Clubs	143	88	55	34	6	3
Residential	15	3	64	40	90	40
Agriculture	14	8	37	23	89	39
Totals	261	100	161	100.00	225	100.00

MOSQUITO INSPECTIONS

HABITAT	March 2008		April 2008		May 2008
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Salton Sea	12	1	19	1	33	1
Duck Clubs	224	15	164	7	41	1
Residential	1158	77	1,885	84	3,788	90
Agricultural	113	7	179	8	366	8
Totals	1507	100	2,247	100.00	4,228	100.00

MOSQUITO HABITAT TREATMENTS

HABITAT	March 2008		April 2008		May 2008
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
Salton Sea	12	3	11	2	15	1
Duck Clubs	106	22	72	10	14	1
Residential	339	70	597	80	1,067	87
Agricultural	28	5	61	8	133	11
Totals	485	100	742	100.00	1,229