The Buena Vista Water Storage District’s board of directors met on Wednesday, December 4, 2018 at its Buttonwillow headquarters. Not a bit of fog this morning and before the meeting began BVWSD General Manager Tim Ashlock introduced a new employee Amrit Mangat to the board. Chairman John Vidovich asked him 
to stand up and embarrass himself. Mangat has recently graduated from Cal State Bakersfield. Right at 10:00 am Vidovich tapped the gavel and we were off. The minutes were approved without comment and the consent calendar was approved with four items taken off for discussion.
BVWSD Controller Marybeth Brooks gave the shortest financial report I’ve ever heard, literally less than 15 seconds. There was an equally quick public hearing for the 2019 budget. I was the only member of the public present and it’s none of my business how much they are going to spend. However, you might be interested to know the assessment was $38 per a/f. The budget was passed. The Depot Drain abandonment was a subject tackled by committee. Director Terry Chicca was on the committee and said all the agreements needed have been met in negotiations. Attorney Gene McMurtrey will finalize the language and that should be that.
Director John Cauzza said he didn’t want to set the allocation this early in 
the season. Although it is traditional to set an amount in December – this year’s looking at 1/5th an a/f. There was some discussion about this due to some questions about how best to use the water. If you have a pipeline in the district you can get water under this plan. But if you’re on a ditch just priming the system will about use up all the available water. Vidovich said Buena Vista is two districts; the north part hasn’t got the groundwater and the south part doesn’t have the pipelines. Cauzza was invited to become a committee of one. I didn’t realize but it is legal to have a committee of one. It was suggested Cauzza be henceforth referred to as the Emperor of the North. There is also some Brackish Groundwater Recovery Project water that could be added to the supply mix. In further news there will be about a $5 per acre cost charge to BVWSD for repairs to Isabella Dam on the Kern River.
Next the board discussed a couple of pipeline projects. The Milan Pump Station is coming along good – PG&E isn’t holding anything up. Ted Page is the President of the Kern County Water Agency and he was present. He was asked about the State Board’s attempt to take further water from San Joaquin River tributaries. Page said it will harm Kern County as well.
The Buena Vista Coalition needed its budget and fees approved and it was without comment. The meeting then went into closed session.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 by Don A. Wright
Buena Vista Water Storage District was organized in 1924 to manage the irrigation, drainage systems and water rights originally held by Miller & Lux. The district controls an average 130,000 a/f of Kern River water and approximately 21,000 a/f of supplies from the State Water Project. BVWSD is its own GSA. Board of Directors meetings are held the 3rd Wednesday of the month at district headquarters located at: 525 North Main Street, Buttonwillow, CA 93206. Phone: 661/324-1101 www.bvh20.com General Manager/Engineer: Tim Ashlock, Engineer Andrew Bell, Controller: Marybeth Brooks, Attorney: Robert Hartsock.
Board-President: John Vidovich, VP: Terry Chicca, Secretary: Jeof Wyrick, John Cauzza, Larry Ritchie
