Acton Town Council Meeting Minutes November 20, 2023 Approved

1.  Call to Order, Flag Salute, & Roll Call – The meeting was called to order by President Jeremiah Owen at 6:31pm.  Present at the meeting: Jeremiah Owen, June Perkins, Kelly Teno, Jacki Ayer, Tom Costan, Pam Wolter via zoom.
2. Community Comments – None
3. Announcements and Correspondence – Jacki announced Community Events, which included Christmas Parades.  Messages from Congressman Garcia, Hazardous Waste disposals, Veterans information, County hirings, Metrolink news.  She also updated on upcoming ATC items and talks with the County.
4. Representative Update – Carlos Basail from State Assemblyman Tom Lackeys office was present via zoom.  Jacki asked him about the assemblyman helping us with our issue of CALISO refusing to refusing to provide information that should be public.
5. Library Report – Announced that all upcoming events are listed on the website.  Library closure dates:  December 25, and January 1.  The County has revamped the Study Room Policy and you can now book online.
6. Sheriff Report – 397 calls for service in October.  Extra patrols out during the winds and holidays.  Tom asked about the facebook rumor about a gang operating out of Thousand Trails.  The Sheriff is not aware of one but there is crime.
7. Baseball Fields – Jacki reported for Nick Coonis who is on the Little League Board.  The County has leased out the baseball fields to Happy Trails.  Happy Trails and our league will meet to talk about a sublease.  Many residents had expressed to Supervisor Barger that the fields are very important to our community.  We need to talk to the County about using Measure A funds for a ball field.
8. Battery Update –  Jacki followed up with the schedule for the Notice of Exemption Appeal hearing which is happening on December 19th.  Jacki spoke about the ATC comment letters.  Ruth Brock announced that 37 residents have confirmed that they are going and will speak at the hearing.  She has been taking orders for new t-shirts.  She thanked Deb Odell for all her hard work as the web designer.  Ruth also announced that she has been doing research on new battery storage technology that could be used.  Jacki Ayer made a motion that the Acton Town Council write a letter of support of the appeal of the Notice of Exemption on the Humidor BESS project.  June Perkins 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.
9. Thousand Trails – Jacki spoke about the quarterly reports and that Thousand Trails had not done one until August.  Jacki reported on the many issues with the report.  TT extracts about 2 million to 3 million gallons of water per day.  In the report TT states that they serving 28,000 people a day, but they only have about 1,000 campsites which can have a maximum of 10 people per site.  We should write a letter to the Water Board explaining all the problems and ask for the EIR to be re-done.  Jacki Ayer made a motion to writw a letter to yhe Water Board and the County about the Thousand Trails high water use and the violations in the quarterly reports.  Tom Costan 2nd the motion.  The motion carried.
10. Climate Action Plan – Jacki spoke about our submitted comments and that they changed and addressed some of the problematic.   The items that we expressed that were really bad for our community seeded to have been managed.  We need to take a good look at the final when it comes out.
11. Election – A resident who had turned in an application for the ATC election (which was waived due to not enough applications) has not been present at any meetings.  There are concerns whether or not he wishes to be on the ATC.  Tom will get his phone number and call him.
12. Treasurer Report – Tabled
13. Bylaws -The committee will plan to present to the council in February 2024.
14. Minutes – Past minutes have been posted.
15. Councilmember Comments –  Tom spoke about how the council job has changed over the years.  June gave a reminder about handicap transportation.  Jeremiah, Jacki and Kelly are all thankful for everyone and the work they do and the residents who show up and also work.
16. Committee Reports – The following committee’s had reports.  a. Education Committee –  Tom reported about post on facebook about discipline problems,  He spoke about how the mechanism to getting issues solved is not Facebook but coming to a meeting and speaking.  h.  Trails, Open Space and Recreation – Jacki reported that no trails meeting has been scheduled.  She will reach out.
17. Unfinished/New Business – We need to look at Jacki’s notes from the Wildfire Protection meeting.  Meeting update – January meeting 1-22-2024, February meeting 2-05-2024.
18. Items for the next Agenda – Will speak about them later.
19. Adjournment – 9:14pm