“There’s not much to see here today,” Ramona Municipal Water District Director George Boggs told a group of students attending RMWD’s short  meeting.
   With the meeting lasting less than 20 minutes, Boggs offered to talk to students after the water board’s closed session following the meeting.    
   The students, from a Ramona High School civics class, were attending the meeting for an assignment.  According to RHS senior Chris Sanden, the students have to attend three public meetings and write a three-page summary of each meeting.
   “That was too quick,” Sanden said of the meeting, while other students were wondering what they would write about for their summary.
   Sanden said they can attend any meeting that has to do with funding for a community or changes within a community.  The idea is for students to see how a community works and what improvements can be made, he explained.
   As the board went through agenda items, Director Everett “Red” Hager asked about the bid process for the brine ponds at the San Vicente Wastewater Reclamation Facilities.
   RMWD Engineer Tim Stanton said that 29 people had attended the pre-meeting that was held Jan. 11.  Bids are due Feb. 2.
   “The market is still very competitive,” Stanton said.
   Boggs questioned an item mentioned in an agenda memo on Santa Maria Sewer Service Area Facilities about the staff discovery of lien contracts.
   According to Stanton, when staff members were researching records, Dec. 29, they found that, when a major use permit (MUP) was issued for Santa Maria in the early to mid-1990s, the county Public Works Department put liens on Santa Maria for improvements to Rangeland Road.  Technically, he said, the county can’t lien a public agency.
   Because traffic on Rangeland Road has not increased during that time, Stanton said the water district plans to go back to the county to see if it will remove the liens. He said there is a similar issue with the San Vicente Wastewater Treatment Plant, which  was issued an MUP in 1999.
   “I think the need and the justification for it isn’t there, so we’re hoping to get the county to remove the condition for both San Vicente and Santa Maria,” Stanton told the board. 
   With the 2010 election of officers for the board on the agenda, Boggs moved to retain the existing officers:  Jim Robinson, president; Bryan Wadlington, vice president; Darrell Beck, secretary; and  Hager, treasurer, which passed 5-0.
   The board met in closed session after the meeting to discuss existing litigation with Hidden Valley Ranch.