By Joel Hastings
President Dave Loquaci called to order the regular meeting of the Madera Irrigation District board of directors at 2:00 p.m. on August 18 at the district offices on the south side of Madera. He led the Pledge and it was reported there was no reportable action from the closed session held the previous hour. There were no conflicts of interest on the agenda and there was no public comment.
The GSA board was convened with Assistant General Manager Dina Nolan giving an update, saying there were exciting things to report. She described the informal reception held that morning at the newly opened recharge basin #11 near the community of Fairmead. The board had joined members of the community in a brief ceremony reported below.
She also said the domestic well mitigation program was underway with two individuals beginning the process. The program is a partnership with Madera City and the Madera Water District.
The MID board reconvened with approval of the consent agenda. The items here included the financial report with a total fund balance on May 31 of $97,489,754.49. The warrant list of bills to pay through August 5 totaled $4,133,910.54. And there were minutes from the June 16 and June 19 meetings.
Charles Contreras gave his operations, maintenance and engineering department report, detailed with photos included as usual. He said four pipeline replacements projects funded by NRCS grants were underway this year and scheduled for next. He said with the season winding down, repair of leaks along with grading and mowing of banks had begun. A
number of technical tools were installed or repaired. Required staff trainings were completed on workplace violence prevention and new excavator servicing. Ms. Nolan added that the ongoing research on water quality being conducted by Stanford University included new devices to remotely measure groundwater data, usable by both the researchers and potentially by MID staff more widely, without charge to the district.
The finance department report was given by Controller Jennifer Furstenburg who said that the third and final payment from Madera County of assessments and standby charges had been received in the amount of $158,915.88. The total list of 2027 assessments had been submitted to the county totaling $4,130,552.76. The audit of the district retirement program had been completed with results included in the board packet and an agenda item for this meeting. She said the final bond payments due September 1 have been made with all filing and reporting completed. She referred to the handout here that has been distributed to all MID landowners informing them that their taxes will go down now that the bond has been retired. As President Loquaci exclaimed, “We won’t owe anybody a dime!”
As scheduled at 2:20 p.m., Kip Hudson, CPA, joined the meeting via Zoom to deliver his report on the audit of the company’s retirement plan as of December 31, 2025. His firm’s report, dated June 10, cited a clean opinion with no material weaknesses in internal controls and no disagreements with management. He reviewed the balance sheet summaries saying there had been a net increase in assets amounting to $938,000 bringing the total of December 31, 2025 to $3,458,473. There was little discussion and the audit was accepted in a unanimous roll call vote.
General Manager Tom Greci up next gave his report saying a luncheon for all growers in the district would be held on October 20 beginning at 11 a.m. at the San Joaquin Winery. The plan is to report what the board believes are a large number of accomplishments, financial and operational, benefitting the district landowners. A “save the date” notice is being sent to all.
He said he and Dina had been invited by PG&E on a tour of the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant in San Luis Obispo County. He said they were told it generates nearly ten percent of California’s electricity. He noted they were very impressed with all of the safety precautions in place.
He then reported the transition of the management of the retirement program from John Hancock to Empower continues on schedule.
In conclusion, he said it has been a great water season and that it will wrap up with the flow in the Madera Canal scheduled to end next week (August 28). It will take several days for water to flow through and empty the system. He said about 150,000 AF had been delivered, beginning with some surplus water in January and February, which is about the same as last year. The season started and ended earlier but that reflected the early growing season with harvest about two weeks ahead of last year.
Next the board heard a presentation by Bob Shull of the California Cooperative Liquid Assets Securities System (CLASS). Based in Denver, this organization works with 45 water related entities in California and over 300 public agencies nationwide, managing their cash much like a money-market checking account but with much stricter regulation by the state of California to safeguard public funds. The current rate was 3.75 percent. He introduced a new fund paying a higher return in exchange for term commitments from 60 to 365 days. Using these tools with careful cash management, the district could earn as much as several million dollars annually with virtually no risk.
A review of the district’s capital budget and facilities plan was presented by Nolan and Contreras. The board was reminded that in 2019 an engineering firm had been retained to evaluate the district’s pipelines and facilities. From that work, a list of 32 projects have been developed in a planned sequence for replacement over the next ten years, based on their importance and likelihood of failure. To date 16 projects have been completed along with the development of five recharge basins and some emergencies as well. All this work is done in-house by Contreras and his crew with no outside contractors. And these capital improvements have to be accomplished in relatively narrow windows based on water seasons and weather conditions, along with all the regular work of the district. The directors expressed their appreciation for how this work is being done.
The directors then approved the addition to the district of 60 acres of owned land (APN 027-172-010) which has become the site of the Fairmead recharge basin #11, referred to below. It is immediately adjacent to the district boundary and there was unanimous agreement to submit the proposal to LAFCo (Local Agency Formation Commission) as required.
The board approved the 2027 Riparian Water Year plan for the Fresno River, which Ms. Nolan tried to explain to this reporter before saying it had to be done but doesn’t really matter, even though it’s the subject of an ongoing lawsuit against the State Water Board. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.
Directors’ reports conclude the agenda with Brandon Bishel saying he had nothing and Tim DaSilva adding he had nothing that he could remember. Brian Davis said he thought the activity in Fairmead had been great. He said he’s glad to see all of the projects coming together and that in hindsight, starting the water year early had been the right decision. Carl Janzen said he too had heard good things about the length and timing of the water year. He said the Friant board had been continuing to deal with subsidence and finally that the San Joaquin River Conservancy was hopeful that Sycamore Island could become a state park. Director Loquaci said that he hoped the issue of subsidence for Friant and elsewhere would finally put pressure on agencies [to reduce groundwater pumping] and that things are finally changing.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 3:15 p.m.
Fairmead Recharge Basin Dedicated
The morning of the meeting, the board held an informal dedication of the newest recharge basin in the system, Basin 11 near the community of Fairmead, just east of Hwy 99 on Avenue 22. Board and staff joined with members of the Fairmead community to celebrate what should help raise the water table and relieve pressure on domestic wells in the neighborhood.
Welcoming the ten members of the Fairmead Community & Friends organization about 9 a.m., General Manager Tom Greci said that in just two years, the district bought 60 acres of orchard which had been irrigated with pumped groundwater, took out the trees and created three water storage recharge basins. He said from this location, groundwater tends to flow north to the community. About 200 AF of water was brought into the new basins just this week to test the valves and check for leaks. As water is available, it will be used for farming and recharging the groundwater basin.
He introduced the board members and staff, Assistant GM Dina Nolan, Operations Manager Charles Contreras along with Carmina Espinoza from the office. Nolan praised the board for its foresight and commitment to accomplish this project for a community in real need of relief from falling groundwater levels. The group enjoyed coffee and donuts before walking from the entrance to the top of the bank to overlook the basin.
Greci thanked the group for putting up with the dust and noise of construction in recent months but said that with the work done, that would no longer be an issue. He said the district would welcome oversight from the Fairmead neighbors to keep watchful eyes on the property.
From the community group, Barbara Nelson said this is the only project completed to address the needs of her neighbors and that they are very pleased.
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Madera Irrigation District – 12152 Road 28 ¼ Madera, CA 93637 559/673-3514
Staff: General Manager -Thomas Greci, Assistant GM – Dina Nolan
Board: Dave Loquaci, president; Brian Davis, vice-president, Brandon Bishel, Tim DaSilva and Carl Janzen
HISTORY: From www.madera-id.org The Madera Irrigation District (MID or District), founded in 1920, encompasses an area of approximately 139,665 acres. MID operates a primarily gravity irrigation distribution system with approximately 300 miles of open flow canal systems as well as 150 miles of large diameter pipelines.
The District has a Central Valley Project (CVP) repayment contract with United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) providing up to 85,000 acre feet (AF) of Class 1 and
186,000 AF of Class 2 water per year from the Friant Division (Millerton Lake). The CVP water is released from Millerton Lake through the Friant Dam, and then conveyed through the Madera Canal for delivery into the District’s service area. The District also entered into a CVP repayment contract with the USBR for the yield from the Hidden Unit (Hensley Lake). Under the Hidden Unit contract, the average annual supply available to the District is approximately 24,000 AF per year.
DWR SGMA # 5-022.06
