The Buena Vista Water Storage District held its board of directors meeting on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at its Buttonwillow headquarters. It appears the heat may have broken for this summer. I say that optimistically every year about this time. Sometimes it gets nice and stays that way and sometimes it stays hot way into the year. I recall back in 1984 on Halloween night I was living in an apartment. It was so warm I was standing in the carport in just a t-shirt about 11:00pm. Someone called the cops and they made me put my pants on but it was certainly a warm night.
BVWSD General Manager Tim Ashlock commented just before the meeting began that nobody from the public was present. Of course he amended that statement when he saw me and then a farmer walked in. At that point Chairman John Vidovich called the meeting to order at 8:30am on the dot. A couple of items were culled from the consent calendar and controller Marybeth Brooks gave the financial report which was accepted. Director Julien Parsons was put on the budget committee. So, good for him.
BV has drains running through it as it used to be a swampy overflow of the Buena Vista Lake and flood plain. There is a drain called the Florida Drain and the district is thinking of rerouting it. Parsons was put on a committee to look at the matter and report back.
District engineer Andrew Bell gave the water report saying deliveries are over and 36,000 a/f of carryover in Lake Isabella and San Luis Reservoir also has 36,000 a/f at this time. He said if the need to bank the state water in SLR the district could do it in about a month. No one wants to lose their carryover water. A grower asked to pull item 9e about the Corn Camp Reservoir and pump station progress. Ashlock said there has been talks with one of the oil companies (I think he said Chevron) but they keep swapping attorneys. However, things are working out and he sees the ability to move Kern River water to the north side of BV. Construction has started and should be wrapped up by the early part of 2020.
Director Terry Chicca pulled item 9f because an attached map wasn’t provided in the board packet. However, large scale maps were posted in the boardroom. Ashlock pointed out some of the features and how flexibility will be expanded from the proposed pipelines on the maps. The meeting then went into secrete meeting mode – I mean closed session. There will be some property the district is looking to secure. There are three or four families who own the property and they’ve been willing to come together to sell. It’s purported to be good banking land and it will help the family out as well. Hopefully everyone comes out ahead on a win/win.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2019 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 or Isaac St. Lawrence
Board-President: John Vidovich, VP: Terry Chicca, Secretary: Jeof Wyrick, Julien Parsons, Larry Ritchie
