July 2020 Newsletter

Happy 4th of July!

Exhale. Day Spa Opens with a Bang!

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ver the past many weeks while the spa was in SIP, or as the staff at Exhale. likes to think of it as Spa in Place, there was certainly no grass growing under the feet of the Owner, Kim Pursley. For those of you who may know her sunny disposition, even on the cloudiest of days, she brings a brightness to our community.

As Kim prepared for the Re-Opening of Exhale. her thoughts of how she could help our community get through these uncertain times was her inspiration for new treatments and Spa in Place home care packages. Over the weeks that the spa was closed Kim worked closely with our high-risk senior community and others by sending Spa in Place care packages to help lift their spirits.

This inspired an ongoing program that she will continue to offer to those who want to send a pick-me-up Spa in Place package to a friend or one for yourself to enjoy at home.

Re-Opening feels like a perfect time to celebrate and what’s a celebration without some kind of party — even

better how about a SPA PARTY? With all COVID regulations in place of course. FarmHouse Fresh Happy Hour treatments are back! FarmHouse Fresh is an all-natural body care line that supports USA farmers, including California grown Bartlett Pears. These treatments smell and feel as good as some of their product names sound.

Take summer to whole new level with treatments that include products like Watermelon Basil Vodkatini Body Scrub, or Brandy Pear Smooth body scrub with a spectacular fruity kick! This decadent cocktail body polish is brimming with mouthwatering pear-infused brandy from Bartlett pears grown in California.

Exhale. continues to create signature relaxation and beauty enhancement treatments including HydraFacial The deluxe treatments are a 90 min session including Express Facials for all skin care needs. If you have not our signature relaxation techniques. Exhale. is now experienced a HydraFacial it’s time the results are truly offering and express HydraFacial for those on a time amazing. Using a series of Med-Spa grade serums and the restraint. patent HydraFacial vortex wand your skin will feel the “Exhale.” page 14 benefits for weeks.

Scotts Valley Rotary Celebrates 45th Anniversary

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By Cindy Schuette, President Rotary Club of Scotts Valley

he Pandemic that we are all challenged with has not stopped the Rotary Club of Scotts Valley from serving our community. Until groups can meet in person, Rotarians are meeting via ZOOM. Members, former members and other friends as far away as Puerto Rico connected via a ZOOM meeting recently to celebrate their 45th Anniversary. The club was started in 1975 by a group of 20 Scotts Valley leaders.

Bob Pagett, Founder of Assist Inter-

national, a non-profit humanitarian organization and active member of the club for 45 years, was honored along with his lovely wife, Char. They were pleasantly surprised during a scheduled club program on Assist International given by Michelle & Ralph Sudfeld, their daughter and sonin-law who are co-Presidents of Assist International. Also honored was Jun Lee, former Mayor of Scotts Valley and an honorary member who was not able to attend due to illness.

Happy 4th of July!

Throughout the years these charter members were joined by other community leaders who put ‘Service above Self’, the motto of Rotary.

Rotary inducted 2 new members via ZOOM. Assemblyman Mark Stone returned as an active member.

Although his work at the State legislature keeps him busy, he continues to support the goals of Rotary and service to our community. Scotts Valley Fire Chief Steve Kovacs, a former Rotarian before he moved to Scotts Valley, joined Scotts Valley

Rotary to also give back to the community through Rotary service.

Scotts Valley Rotarians presented 42 outstanding student awards for Jr. High through High School and 11 college scholarships to graduating seniors.

Our club could not honor them in person at our annual Student Awards banquet held for over 20 years but heard from all our scholarship winners via our ZOOM meeting.

“Rotary” page 14

Call the Chamber Today or Visit www.scottsvalleychamber.com

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Scotts Valley Chamber News

Scotts Valley Water District

Q & A With Piret Harmon About How COVID-19 Has, and Is, Affecting Business

By Erin K. Allshouse The Scotts Valley Water District is an essential business, so it hasn’t shut down through the COVID-19 pandemic, but commercial water use declined by 40 percent during Shelter In Place. How does that affect the operating budget? ommercial sector makes up a relatively small portion of our customer base. We are projecting a $140,000 revenue loss in this year (FY 2020, ending 6/30) and approximately $330,000 in the next fiscal year. The District has rate stabilization reserves that we typically tap in case of revenue shortfall during droughts.

These reserves will be used to balance our budget.

Have you had to cut hours for employees? Layoffs? he District has not had to cut hours or reduce the workforce.

How many customers are having trouble paying their bills? Is that an issue? e have seen a little uptick in delinquencies but not certain how much of this is contributed to the economic hardship related to Covid-19. It might be partially due to the fact that a good measure of customers rely on past due notices to pay their bills and because we temporarily suspended late fees and service disconnects, they are not receiving their usual “signal”.

The District has a Rate Assistance Program that is available to eligible customers and we are also offering payment

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plans. Only less than 20 customers are currently utilizing these offerings.

Are some employees working from home for their own safety? o employees are working from home — the type of work that most of us do, does not lend itself very well for conducting it remotely. The customer service lobby has been closed since mid-March and the District offers many online services.

We have strict and thorough processes to ensure the health and safety of employees and customers Did you put projects on hold until revenue rebounds? he “life cycle” of a typical water infrastructure project is quite long and it is impractical and often impossible to deploy stop-restart tactics. The District uses strategic planning tools and 5-year capital projects cycle that relies on pay-go funding (from current year revenue) as well as repair & replacement reserves and debt issuance when appropriate.

Any idea when revenue will rebound? e anticipate some impacts to last through next fiscal year (July 2020 – June 2021). Although this global health and economic crises was totally unpredicted, California water agencies are accustomed and therefore somewhat prepared to frequent variability of the climate conditions that is always accompanied by demand fluctuations and revenue variability.

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What changes have you made due to COVID-19? e temporarily suspended activities requiring direct customer contact and will implement appropriate protective measures when reactivate them. The District swiftly transitioned all meeting, including Board meetings, to virtual format and is planning to continue with digital Board meetings after the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. Internally, we have set in place detailed procedures to ensure the health and safety of employees.

How do you comply with the social distancing requirement for customers in your office? he office lobby has been closed since mid-March. We are planning to open it on July 6 and are making sure that all relevant and necessary safety measures are in place: 6ft distance, masks, hand sanitizer etc.

Have visits to the office dropped? aving the in-person service temporarily suspended has allowed the District to promote the online services and solutions: start/stop service, bill payment, rebate application and usage tracking.

SV Water is using software from a 2009 SF startup with $13 million called WaterSmart Software to help customers understand and manage their water use.

Why this software? aterSmart customer engagement portal is only one (the last) component of a complex system and enables the customers to view, manage and understand their water use. The District evaluated several vendors and choose WaterSmart as the best fit considering the

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features, functionality, ease of use, and administrative structure.

The main elements of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) are Orion Cellular LTE endpoints that are connected to the water meter in the existing meter boxes, capture readings and communicate with the encoder.

Did you consider the 2015 Santa Cruz startup Buoy Labs to help people manage household water use? uoy Labs offers a stand-alone add-on solution for those people who want to understand their indoor water use on more granular level. It requires installing an additional meter and connecting it to the local wifi network. It is more costly and from a water system perspective offers less value to the District.

What’s the expected payback with WaterSmart? Months/years for the cost of software to start generating savings?

When might there be enough data to say how well it is working? s mentioned earlier, WaterSmart is only the last layer of enabling the customers to manage their water use.

The foundational component (i-Meter network) is much larger investment than the customer engagement portal that costs about $2.50 per customer per year. It has already paid off by allowing the District and the customers to detect leaks much quicker (within 24 hrs vs 60 days).

In fiscal year 2019 the total amount of water lost through leaks tracked by Leak Adjustment Program was 7 million gallons. In fiscal year 2020, the same number is projected to be about half of that or 3.5 million gallons.

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Scotts Valley Chamber News

Retire Right

Hosted by Cheryl Rebottaro Edward Jones Financial Advisor

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etirement is something we all dream about, but without proper planning it can turn into a nightmare.

Planning your finances for retirement is a critical first step, but oftentimes that is where the planning stops.

What will your retirement look like?

How? Where? When? There are many aspects of your life that will change with retirement. In this 90-minute workshop, we will provide you with some key insights on what aspects of your life you should be focused on, and what you

Saturday July 11, 2020 on Zoom Register in advance for this webinar: https://edwardjones.zoom.us/ webinar/register/ WN_9azoeHN6SKiH Suzie Golden-Riley KvYHWKs1GQ After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar Facilitators: Cheryl Rebottaro financial

advisor with Edward Jones-presenting “Retirement: Making Your Money Last” and Suzie Golden-Riley Executive Coach ••• Suzie Golden-Riley, MBA, is an executive coach with 9 years of experience in coaching leadership development, and more than 25 years of experience in healthcare administration.

Cheryl Rebottaro, AAMS®, CRPC®, has worked as our financial advisor in our community for more than 16 years, and you may have seen her perform with various local bands for that past two decades.

Santa Cruz County COVID-19 Supplies

s Santa Cruz County businesses have been opening up, and working hard to do so safely, we see locally and nationally a lack of understanding from some members of the public about the importance of complying with the basic health directives, namely wearing a mask and social distancing.

Given our status as a tourism destination this issue has an added level of urgency.

Visit Santa Cruz County is working with Chambers of Commerce and other business associations around the County to provide materials for posting to communicate best practices

with customers in a friendly and clear manner.

Some communities around California and the Country are approaching the public information effort by incorporating a Safety Pledge to “protect

ourselves and others”. After discussing this concept with various businesses and associations around the county we are moving forward with a focus on two behaviors, wearing a mask and social distancing.

Cheryl D Rebottaro, AAMS®, CRPC® Financial Advisor

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can and should do now-financially and logistically-to make sure you retire right and set yourself up for the retirement you have been dreaming of.

What matters most to you?

Cheryl Rebottaro What type of lifestyle do you want in retirement?

Once you can picture your retirement, you’ll need a strategy to help make it happen.

Interested businesses are being provided with flyers and posters that can be used by any agency or storefront business countywide.

Flyers encourage everyone to “Take the Pledge” to protect others and themselves.

Printable versions of the flyers are available online at Visit Santa Cruz County’s website: https:// w w w. s a n t a c r u z . o r g / p a r t n e r s / covid-19-resources/.

Additionally, the Scotts Valley and San Lorenzo Valley Chambers of Commerce will be helping to distribute materials to local businesses.

Let’s Cruz Again Safely!

edwardjones.com

Member SIPC

221 Mount Hermon Rd Suite F Scotts Valley, CA 95066-4038 831-461-9311

MKT-9811B-A

www.tpgonlinedaily.com Scotts Valley Times / Scotts Valley 2020 / 13

Scotts Valley Chamber News

Relieving Stress Caused By Sheltering In Place A t Empowering Hands, they have always held the health and wellbeing of our community, clients and team members as a top priority.

To continue keeping everyone healthy and thriving, their re-opening precautions closely follow the recommendations of the Federation of State Massage Therapy Boards (FSMTB) along with OSHA and the CDC. This includes but not limited to properly sanitizing all equipment used in “Rotary� from page 11 The students shared their hopes and gratitude and were positive even though their last few months of high school presented many challenges.

The club, with the help of generous

“Exhale.� from page 11 These treatments are great for all ages, completely non-evasive and those who are maintaining healthy skin or may be having some skin care concerns that staff professionals can help with.

In addition to the skin care treatments Exhale. is now offering a new Signature Sports Massage. The signature Sports Massage is a blend of targeted stretching techniques and

between treatments, HEPA air purifiers in each room, taking temperatures of everyone that enters the studio along with a thorough intake of COVID-19 possible exposures.

Now the wait is over, and now is the time — experience the many benefits of therapeutic massage whether you have chronic pain and fatigue from injuries or being overly stressed each massage is tai-

lored to the individual. Rates for 60 minute massage start at $80.

All treatments include the use of hot towels, complimentary essential oils and an application of “Deep Blue Rub� to the focus area, unscented oil is available as well.

Hot stones, sugar foot scrubs and dry brush exfoliation are also available.

If it is your first time booking a massage with Empowering hands you can take advantage of the New Client Discount to save 10% on your first massage session when booking online. “Empowering Hands is where therapy meets luxury and we can’t wait to see you again!â€? ••• Empowering Hands: 4200 Scotts Valley Dr Suite A, Scotts Valley.

donors and the Rotary Foundation is in the process of acquiring PPEs, Protective Personal Equipment for 7 Rotacare Clinics in our Rotary District.

The PPE’s will help all the clinics including the Santa Cruz County clinic located in Live Oak area provide care

safely to low income families who do not have medical care elsewhere.

Although, the club was not able to hold their annual fundraising concert this year, members will look at other ways to raise funds to continue serving our community. We appreciate all the support from

our extended Rotary family ‘ohana’ in our community. ••• We invite anyone interested in learning more about the Rotary Club of Scotts Valley to contact Cindy Schuette, President at kinikiasch@cruzio.com

deep tissue manual therapy. The focus of this treatment is to increase pliability in order to prevent injury and relieve pain related to existing injuries.

The treatment begins with an assessment of functional movement then transitions to active and passive stretching, and concludes with focused massage on target areas of the body. If you’re ready to feel rejuvenated this is the perfect treatment to try.

Now is the time to use your gift cards and

book your customized Summer Spa Retreat for yourself or come in with friends! Exhale’s team is COVID trained and they have updated all of their guidelines to follow all state and county guidelines to ensure the safety of our team as well as our beloved community.

All sessions have been given extended time to prevent cross traffic and time for the team to ensure proper cleaning. To help ensure compliance we are asking that you book ahead of time by either giving us a call at

831-600-7116 or book online at ExhaleDaySpa. com Everyone at Exhale. Day Spa appreciates and is grateful for both SLV and Scotts Valley communities for your support You can find them on Facebook @exhale.scottsvalley and check-out summer promotions on the website at www.ExhaleDaySpa.com ••• Exhale. Day Spa is located in the Scotts Village Shopping Center, suite D (831) 600-7116

The District office reopens Monday, July 6, for those who need to conduct business that cannot be completed online or by phone.

CURRENT RENTALS

Immaculate 3BR/2.5BA Home w/patio and garage. Lockwood Ln, Scotts Valley . $3800 Charming 2BR/2BA Home w/Large yard, deck & carport. Upper Rd, Boulder Creek . . $2600 Updated 2BR/1BA Apt. in duplex with patio. Farmer Street, Felton . . . . . . . . . . . $2200

COMING SOON

• Large Updated 2BR/2BA Home w/new deck, yard and garage. Hihn Road, Ben Lomond • Large Retro 3BR/2BA Home w/3-car garage and a view. N. Navarra, Scotts Valley • Sunny 3BR/2BA Condo with patio. Castillion Terrace, Santa Cruz • Secluded Downstairs 1BR/1BA Apartment with deck. Rural Scotts Valley

If you visit the office, please maintain a 6-foot distance and wear a face mask. Do not come in if you are feeling sick or having symptoms.

2 Civic Center Drive 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday The office will be closed every other Friday this summer beginning July 10.

(831) 438-2363

Advertise in the Scotts Valley Chamber Newsletter

14 / July 2020 / Scotts Valley Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com

CALL FOR SPECIAL RATES 831.688.7549

Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce 360 King’s Village Road Scotts Valley, CA 95066