Acton Town Council Meeting Minutes, November 1, 2021 Approved

1. Call to Order, Flag Salute, & Roll Call – The meeting was called to order at 6:35PM by President Jeremiah Owen.  Followed by the Flag Salute.  Members present – Pam Wolter, Jacki Ayer, Jeremiah Owen, Tom Costan, and Kelly Teno.  Absent – Troy Pieper.
2. Community Comments – Non agenda items – None
3. Correspondence –  Correspondence included upcoming County events, upcoming County hearings and all email correspondence.   Flood Control District next meeting is November 3, 2021.
4. SCE Representative – Rochelle Silsbee – Dave Ford was with her also, they are both from Government Relations for LA County.  Ms Silsbee is an advocate for the communities she serves.  SCE goal was to put covered conductor in the over 300 miles of Acton and Agua Dulce.  A question was asked about new wind thresholds for PSPS now that the hardening is complete.  Ms Silsbee stated that it is now 56 miles per hour.  She also spoke about SCE switching protocols and each circuit will be segmented in sections since they are so long.  They are working on doing notifications by section also.  Jacki stated that the PUC decision was that SCE needed to harden to local conditions, so Acton will still have a chance to have a PSPS event.  Jacki spoke about the helicopter inspections over the years and the concerns of our community.  SCE listened to our concerns and started using drones verses helicopters.
5. water District 37 – Terri Alex who overseas customer communication came to answer community questions.  Question was asked about serving water out of the district.  District 37 is not allowed to go out of the district.  A project would have to annex in.  It was expressed that we want Acton basin water to stay in Acton, others should get AVEK water.  Spoke of the growth in Ag uses.  If large scale marijuana growth is legalized then the Acton Basin could have potential well problems.  We don’t want our basin to lose more water.  Ms Alex expressed that she would like to take a tour of Acton to get a better picture of what she is dealing with.
6. Grow House Update – Chuck Bostwick reported that the Sheriff is switching their focus from outside grows to inside grows.  Outside is getting to cold.
7. Trails – Jacki reported on the trails meeting with Mr Edleman from Parks and Rec. They would like to get the Nature Conservancy back open for non-motorized vehicle use trails.  They wanted to hear where Acton residents would like to enter and exit the Nature Conservancy to get to the forest.  This marks a real turning point for trails.  Resident John Kestler spoke about his trail mapping and GPS trail mapping.  Jacki spoke about the mapping of trails on the County GPS site.  They hope to come out soon and do a tutorial after the program is complete.  Mr Edleman wants a point of contact group.  Either Jacki or Pam will be part of the group.
8. Measure A –  Parks and Rec has been in contact with a resident about a trail near the Sierra Youth ball fields.  Not for sure about this since it is not a mapped trail.  The County has always stated that we cannot get trails that are not on the regional mapped trails.  Mr Kestler stated that it is the property just north of the ball fields and will be used for a staging area for horse trailers.  Jacki stated that if the County could get that trail mapped that quickly then they could map all of our trails.  Jacki reported on MCRA and gave a background of Measure A.  A conservancy acquiring land will typically not build on it.  We received the proposal from MCRA and they claim to be working with the County to get trails on the property.  How can they get trails that are not mapped?   Jacki made a motion to invite MRCA to an upcoming meeting to discuss the status of this Measure A project and other projects in this area and perhaps reconsider our current position.  Tom 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.  we will put this on the next agenda.
9. SCWP/ Water Plan – After a discussion about the Water plan and wanting to participate while things are being worked on a motion was made.  Jacki made a motion That we ask the Water Plan staff to have the draft water plan on every IRWN agenda for community input.  Also ask for the plan to be on more than the IRWN agenda as set forth in the Sustainability Plan.  Tom 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.
10. Redistricting – Carlo Basail reported on the redistricting in California.  All lines are being changed by population from State Government, County, School Districts etc…
11. Council Member Comments – Tom spoke about the Facebook Press Release on the loss of sheriff’s in the Sheriff Department due to the vaccine mandate.  He asked that Chuck Bostwick pass on to Supervisor Barger that we can not lose anymore law enforcement.
12. Unfinished/New Business – None
13. Items for Next Agenda – Officer Elections, MRCA, Drainage follow up
14. Adjournment – 9:20pm