North County JPA sets directors' per diem at $150

The North County Joint Powers Authority has set the per diem payments for board members.

A 5-1 vote April 3, with Milt Davies opposed, approved a $150 per diem rate for board members.

The joint powers agency board currently consists of three members from the Fallbrook Public Utility District and three members from the Rainbow Municipal Water District. Those members will select an at-large member to give the North County Joint Powers Authority an odd number of directors; the at-large director might but is not required to be someone who lives in one district but owns a business or property in the other district.

Each of the two member districts also has an alternate member who can attend board meetings and vote in the absence of one of the member agency’s primary board members. Milt Davies, Al Gebhart, and Don McDougal are FPUD’s representatives on the North County Joint Powers Authority board and Bert Hayden is FPUD’s alternate. Rainbow’s three selections to the JPA board are Helene Brazier, Bob Lucy, and Dennis Sanford with Jack Griffiths as Rainbow’s alternate.

The initial motion was to approve a per diem of $100 per meeting, but the JPA board amended that to match the higher per diem of the two member districts. The Rainbow Municipal Water District pays members a per diem of $150. FPUD’s per diem policy utilizes an annual escalation factor, and the amount is currently $115.76 per meeting.

In February the FPUD and Rainbow boards voted to create the joint powers authority which will allow for functional consolidation between the two districts while maintaining separate governing structures. The formation agreement authorizes general powers to accomplish the purposes of the agreement. Specific powers include entering into contracts, employing agents, maintaining or operating building or infrastructure facilities as well as constructing or acquiring such facilities or leasing them, acquiring and disposing of property, incurring debts or other liabilities which do not constitute a debt or obligation to a member agency, accepting grants or other contributions and applying for grants, setting compensation amounts including consultant or legal fees and any per diem pay for board members, prescribing the duties and adopting day-to-day conduct rules for employees and other agents, filing lawsuits, investing funds, and enforcing the agreement provisions.