The Fresno Irrigation District held its board of directors meeting at its Fresno headquarters on Thursday, December 9, 2021 in person only. Well, I recognize I have a double standard with this. I do sincerely hope districts and other public meetings will preserve the remote access for the public. Gas is more than $4 per gallon and there are still those clutching pearls over the Sino Cooties and we have the technology to go online and in most cases have been doing so. But FID is fairly close to home for me and they feed you there. So, yes that’s my double standard. If your meeting is 25 miles or less from Clovis and you feed people, in person only isn’t as bad as say driving three hours and being served peanuts in the midst of almond and pistachio orchards.
The Meeting
Chairman Ryan Jacobsen called the meeting at 3:00pm and we saluted the flag together. The agenda was fine as is. Director Greg Berberian asked under public comment if the board and staff was happy with the 3:00pm start time. It sounded like any earlier and it makes it more of a challenge for the staff to get a day’s work in before the meeting and any later and folks end up staying later than they really should have to. Everyone agreed to think it through and get back together on it later.
The consent calendar was passed and Controller DeAnn Hailey gave the financial report. Director Jerry Prieto asked about amending the policy addressing staff travel. Prieto is a former Fresno County Ag Commissioner and he said instead of bringing each travel request to the board, create an annual list and leave it up to General Manager Bill Stretch to decide if something isn’t routine and necessary. The board agreed and accepted the financial report.
FID has an agreement with Wells Fargo and last night Wells Fargo changed the installment purchase agreement language. The bank included provisions that don’t really apply to FID, like agreeing not fund terrorist or giving money away – not exactly but it was something out there a bit. In-house council and former director Jeff Boswell said he’d looked it over and there isn’t anything to get heartburn about. Overall it sounded like FID will make out better under this arrangement by saving on interest. I think it’s a $20 million deal. Most of that money will go to purchasing property. The board voted for it in the form of a resolution which passed. But before it passed Boswell said he’s going to keep an eye on any changes that could come up. Between him and Hailey the board was comfortable with the deal in the resolution.
Water Operations
Assistant GM Adam Claes asked Assistant Water Master David Burrow to report on the rain – a half inch at FID HQ and there is some snow in the mountains. Pine Flat storage is at 75 percent of normal for this time of year with FID having 62,000 a/f in storage. The summer’s forest fires had very little impact on the Kings River watershed. The initial Central Valley Project ag allocation is ZERO due to such low storage in the state’s reservoirs. There wasn’t much increase from the last storm in October as the ground was so dry it sucked up the water. That didn’t account for how earlier releases created a dearth in storage. By the way, Water Master Jim Irwin hasn’t yet retired but he (and Director George Porter) wasn’t able to attend this afternoon.
Claes reported on a fish count at the Kings River that happened a couple of days ago. Some folks walked around with a battery pack shocking fish. Others gathered them in nets and put them in trashcans and counted them. It was very low flow condition and Claes said it was a fun time. Of course the fish were released unharmed after the count was made.
Engineering
FID Engineer Lawrence Kimura reported there wasn’t much happing in the private developer sphere. High Speed Rail was the big topic. Kimura is putting together a map showing HSR’s impact on the district. Obtaining right of way has been a problem for HSR throughout the entire route. According to my journalist math just five miles of HSR costs would more than pay for the entire refurbishing of the Friant Kern Canal to design capacity with a big chunk of change to spare. Where are the socially justified NGOs on this matter?
Kimura reported on the urban trail efforts of the City of Fresno to put walking paths alongside FID canals running through Fresno. I wasn’t sure what was happening there.
Director Chris Woolf said there is a great cache of large pipe being stored near Olive and Highway 99 near the Farm Bureau offices. Jacobsen is the Executive Director of the Fresno Farm Bureau and he said he thought those were taxpayer funded canvasses for the artists in the neighborhood. Woolf said traps are starting to show up which indicate a dual purpose facility of not only public art but housing as well.
Maintenance
Claes showed the board a series of photos of the progress made with canal lining
throughout the district. He said it was bad there hasn’t been much rain, but it helped to get about a mile of dredging and shotcrete completed. This is going to pay for itself in the long run as it will help collect runoff from these channels during storms. Kimura said shotcrete is cement with smaller aggregate blown over wire mesh. It is unfinished and not suitable for skateboard riding. All in all FID got a lot of work completed during this dry time. Both the eastside and westside of the district is getting a share of the maintenance and construction love. Even a handful of long crested weirs have been installed. These weirs are of special design and have been helpful in maintaining consistent water delivery service.
Claes said FID received a letter from Bayer saying there is a supply chain shortage globally in glyphosate used in Roundup herbicide. Things will be getting much more expensive in the weed control department. Jacobsen said growers are looking at a shortage this spring. Other chemicals are going to be in short supply. Many of the critical ag chemicals are now manufactured overseas, fertilizer being one of the leading problems.
Claes showed a breakdown of manhours and the majority of the time was spent on canal work and improvements. Unfortunately 10 percent of the time is spent removing trash. Beberian complemented Claes and the FID staff for doing such clean work. Good for them.
SGMA
Special Projects Manager Kassy Chauhan reported DWR has sent out a letter warning the Kings Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan has been deemed incomplete. That will come out in the January evaluation of the GSP and then the clock starts on the 180 day time period to fix it. Was the DWR letter influenced by the State Board comments? The Kings Subbasin should get $10 million in grant funding for projects.
Chauhan said the State Board comments excluded the James and North Fork Kings GSA GSPs from the letters sent out by DWR. She said there was no reason given for this omission. She did say she would bet domestic wells mitigation will be the big fix that will need to be addressed. The State Board letter stated the San Joaquin and Kings Rivers are fully appropriated and not a source of new water rights. The letter was also critical about the amount of engagement not going far enough. It sounded like the State Board is playing games. Does it want to force the rewrites of GSPs? It took a couple of years to develop and write the GSPs and the law only allows 180-days to address the problems identified. Prieto pointed out the timeline is going to force accelerated project development.
Changing gears Chauhan reported on special projects saying the district headquarters will get some solar power on the roofs of the various buildings on campus. FID will also qualify for eight electric vehicle charging stations. And unlike most these EV stations won’t be available to the public and will be reserved for FID vehicles. Now that means Friant Chief Jason Phillips and Tulare ID GM Aaron Fukuda can’t just pop in and charge the batteries on their Tesla and somehow or other electric Ford Mustang.
The Fresno Stream Group provided Chauhan and Stretch with a legislative update and there is hope for some increased funding for the Big Dry Creek Reservoir. The district is upgrading its SCADA system and its paperless in-house operations is progressing. FID no longer provides printed agendas for the public.
Chauhan said the Kings Water Alliance, a group set up to help landowners with nitrate issues, has received an underwhelming amount of response. There is replacement water, testing and other funding available but folks are not yet taking advantage of these helps. The Kings River Water Association legislation committee is following up on State Board fees and looking at how to be more engaged in the coming year. She also reported on the federal infrastructure act. There’s money for the Army Corps of Engineering to get something done, like $150 million. There’s $3.2 billion for aging infrastructure and other goodies being handed out.
On the state side the land repurposing program had its budget cut from $500 million to $50 million but there are still opportunities to for funding on a regional bases. It’s not clear if it will be allocated on a subbasin or GSA basis. Stretch said he and Chauhan attended a session at ACWA conference where a state official said the state is looking at directing much of this money to the San Joaquin Valley but it comes attached with the threat of undergoing CEQA to put in a recharge basin. And there is a fear of accidently creating an endangered species habitat. Beberian asked, “What other country in the history of the earth has deliberately taken its top farmland out of production?” Because even though the bureaucrats like to call it repurposing, it’s actually retirement and fallowing.
ACWA Conference & Other Matters
Stretch, Chauhan and Claes rode together to the recent ACWA conference in Pasadena. He said they got caught in traffic and also got a lot of work done. Beberian said he attended as well and left with an impression that districts are timid to question state officials. He said he went to Glendale for a visit and said there was mile after mile of heavily landscaped properties. There is not a water shortage there.
Next Stretch said Clovis City Manager Luke Serpa is retiring soon and FID passed a resolution expressing its gratitude for all the good work and cooperation Serpa gave. Good for them. Lot of folks stepping out of the public realm.
GM Report
Stretch reported Fresno’s Public Works Manager Mike Carbajal is leaving to go to work at Consolidated ID. Stretch has some questions for City Manager Tommy Esqueda as to who will replace Carbajal. Reggie Hill as reported earlier today, Serpa and Devin Nunes, now Carbajal. Why can’t the bad guys quit?
Stretch said there is progress is being made at KRWA but didn’t elaborate in open session. Stretch went to the Friant Water Authority retreat last month. He said they did a good job. Here’s another one, Doug DeFlitch FWA’s COO quit and moved back east. Johnny Amaral will be the new COO and he’s a great replacement. There was much talk at the retreat about the current canal repairs and what could come after that.
Stretch said there was no discussion at ACWA about surface storage. But there is the Del Puerto Reservoir, Sites Reservoir, raising San Luis Dam and the Pacheco and Los Vaqueros Reservoir expansion projects, so some stuff is happening.
Stretch announced Chauhan was appointed to the San Joaquin Valley Collaborative Action Plan. Good for her. She, I predict will be a good addition to this effort. This is the same group run by Tim Quinn and it does bring together a diverse bunch. There are five caucuses from groups like ag, enviro, urban and I forget who else. It’s a good deal to have her there.
The Sierra Resource Conservation District is proposing an annexation and Stretch along with Chad Wegley GM Alta ID, Phil Desatoff GM Consolidated ID, Dave Merritt GM Kings River Conservation District have been meeting with Steve Hayes of the SRCD on an agreement that will keep everyone from stepping on each other. This will keep water supplies and grant applications separated. He said the Fresno LAFCo has validated this and he is much more comfortable with the arrangement.
FID is meeting with the City of Clovis on long-term master planning and water its needs as the city grows. Stretch said it’s pretty high level at this point.
Chauhan spoke about the Aqua Vera water bank in the McMullin Area GSA. FID included a comment letter with Alta ID, the North Kings GSA and the Central Kings GSA in the plan to allow CVP water into the bank. There was a scoping session held last month and there was little detail provided as to the source of the water and potential impacts. The US Bureau of Reclamation has to sign off on this. Stretch said there are concerns but at the same time MAGSA needs such a viable project and hopes all the concerns can be laid to rest.
Next Stretch said Jacobsen gave the Greater Fresno Chamber of Commerce state of the ag speech at P&R Farms as part of a ceremony honoring grower Bill Smittcamp. Stretch also attended a meeting at Grasslands Water District and he’d never been there before. Said it was pretty cool. He and Desatoff also met Boswell Farm’s Jeoff Wyrick in Corcoran to keep the dialog open.
Directors Reports
Beberian said merry Christmas and the Mid Pacific Region Conference in Reno is coming up next month and it is an event to attend. I liked it when I went. If you enjoy bowling it’s extra enjoyable.
Woolf said he saw firsthand the efforts to remove a homeless encampment at Palm and Dakota. He said there were police, sheriff, social services and FID folks with dump trucks.
Prieto told staff and everyone else merry Christmas and the meeting went into closed session.
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Fresno Irrigation District – The Fresno Irrigation District is located at 2907 So. Maple Avenue, Fresno CA 93725 phone 559/233-7161 and meets at 4:00pm on the third Tuesday of the month at district headquarters. FID is part of the North Kings GSA DWR # 5-022.08
Board
Ryan Jacobsen – President, Jerry Prieto – Vice President, Greg Beberian, Christopher Woolf & George Porter
Staff
Bill Stretch: General Manager
Adam Claes – Assistant General Manager – Operations
September Singh – Assistant General Manager – Administration
Laurence Kimura – Chief Engineer (you had him nailed down good)
Jeff Boswell – In-house Legal Counsel
Jim Irwin – Water Master
David Burrows – Assistant Water Master
Michael Prestridge – Superintendent of Construction & Maintenance
DeAnn Hailey – Controller
Kassy Chauhan – Special Projects Manager/North Kings GSA Executive Officer
