Roscoe Moss Company

Fresno Irrigation District January 9, 2025

Share and Subscribe to WaterWrights.Net Today

Digital Marketing Services

JOBS/HELP WANTED

By Don A. Wright

The Fresno Irrigation District held its board of directors meeting at its Fresno headquarters on Thursday, January 9, 2025. The meeting was scheduled to begin at 3:00pm and I should have known better, what with Ryan Jacobsen chairing, but I had my doubts it was going to start on time. He walked through the door from the back room at 2:59pm and on the dot called the meeting at exactly 3:00pm. Unfortunately, Director Chris Woolf wasn’t able to attend and I’ve only recently learned how to spell his name correctly after years of butchering it every which way.

The Meeting

The festivities kicked off with a flag salute to the greatest country on earth, the way a public agency meeting should and all the housekeeping was wrapped up lickity split and we jumped right in to a public hearing about abandoning a pipeline the City of Clovis grew over and hasn’t been used for 20-years.

Engineer Lawrence Kimura presented the board and those in attendance with justification to abandon the pipeline. Resident Mark Dodd, who built in the area was told to leave room for equipment and he did. He said he’s all in favor of abandoning the route but he’s concerned with the pipe buried underground. He wants to plant trees and is concerned about the old 20” pipes. He was assured by the board full of farmers he wouldn’t have any problems with it.

Mark Awad spoke saying he has some business property in the impacted area and will be tearing out the pipe anyway and offered Dodd help in removing the pipe.

Ari Espinosa also wants the old pipe removed so he can build a fence. He was told by the City of Clovis to contact FID. Turns out the portion under his property doesn’t belong to FID.

FID Construction Superintendent Mike Prestridge said it is possible to run a five foot shank down the pipeline and that would leave material that could further collapse and cause a void. Jacobsen suggested moving along with the abandonment action and staff continue speaking with the landowners to address their concerns. This was achieved with resolution 2025-01 being passed. First resolution of the year. How about that?

Consent Calendar & Financial Matters

Director Jerry Prieto pulled item 7g, a developer project that had something to do with Fish & Wildlife and to some of our surprise it wasn’t about buying fishing licenses. Whatever was going on the board approved it and the entire consent calendar. Director Greg Beberian asked about some expenditures for shirts and it was approved also.

The lovely and graceful DeAnn Hailey-Stork, CPA gave her financial report saying the budget for November was under by, I believe she said three percent. Overall the district’s financial statements are immaculate as one would expect when farmers are paying attention. I’ve been in many meetings when the topic of expenditures was raised – the room gets quiet, the directors get a predatory look in their eyes as they scan the spreadsheets. After anywhere from five to 15-minutes they start arguing that staff could have purchased bushings from Bob’s Auto Parts and save a nickel apiece over buying from Sam’s Tractor Parts.

Water Report

Assistant General Manager Adam Claes gave the water report and it wasn’t as happy as we’d all like. There has been none to above average across the state. Northern California is about average, the Central State has been normal or below and Southern California is zero. However, the snow water content is the same as last year at this time and last year was alright.

Engineering Report

Kimura spoke again. He talked about the 23 notices sent to requests from private developer and public agency based projects. He spoke about High on Speed Rail. From what I could gather the fireman is still shoveling cash into the firebox without going anywhere because no matter how much they burn, there’s no steam in that train.

The urban trail initiative is ongoing. That’d be nice when some of the easements can be shared with the City of Fresno for trails. This has been a cooperative effort to make some of FID’s canals within the urban area safer and accessible for hiking around. Good for them.

There were a plethora of maintenance and repairs throughout the district Kimura showed on photos. Beberian asked if the High Speed funding dries up as is expected, will the district be left with a bunch of undone mess. Kimura said the hope is the tasks underway will have enough funding to finish. Beberian suggested taking one of the HSR bridges and turn it into the world’s largest water slide. I like it.

Attorney Jim Boswell said all this year’s contracts with HSR will be required to post full payment upfront before they can start. General Manager Bill Stretch told the board Kimura and his team has expertly handled HSR and has been able to stay unburden by things that have been.

The last item under engineering was resolution to quitclaim a pipeline and right of way for a line on the San Joaquin River that used to drain into the river. I believe the property owner is our old friend Bill Diedrich. Beberian asked why someone would want to takeover something that could spill into the river. Claes and Stretch said Diedrich understands the district is currently on the hook for repairs and he can use it for his needs. He was also willing to share the repair costs to get it back in shape 50/50. He’s a good guy, at least the board thought so and agreed.

Special Projects Report            

The also lovely and graceful Kassy Chauhan reported by the February board meeting the Army Corps of Engineers’ study on the Big Dry Creek Reservoir study should be completed. There is also a Dam Safety Grant from the Department of Water Resources. There will still be a need for more federal funding. Director George Porter asked for a field trip of the facilities. I used to ride my horse back there when I was a kid and a bomb was detonated by the Harvey’s Casino blackmailer as a test run. How fun to get another look at the historic whereabouts.

Chauhan reported the turnout from the Friant Kern Canal into the Big Dry Creek Reservoir is now in the planning stage. Next she said the solar project for five off-site locations and working with the USBR for the grants has been frustrating. It is slow motion result. Beberian asked if anyone expects solar grant money in California from the new administration. Good question.

FID is looking to install a backup power supply for the district’s services and radios. The firm of Blair, Church & Flynn has been getting bids. There is $120,000 budgeted and that includes automatic backup power should PG&E go out. They were looking at natural gas but ultimately diesel is cheaper and less hassle.

Construction & Maintenance

Claes reported recent dry weather has benefited maintenance efforts. He showed a pic of a Grade-All doing its thing trimming canal banks. Crews are trenching along the footings of older canals and then pouring concrete over light rebar. It was a pretty successful retrofit if I understood. All new actuators were installed on the Gould Canal. This incorporates the SCADA system into the structure and modernizes it. Lots of brush trimming using the chipper. There was also reason to clean out trash in the Fancher Creek now that Fish & Wildlife granted a permit. This will help keep the banks from washing out as water will flow more freely. The old skid steer is still hanging in there while crews wait for the new one to be delivered. The district has a dedicated truck and employee to repair and replace gates.

Administration Matters

Next Chauhan reported on what’s happening with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. She said the Kings Subbasin has been focused on getting the revised Groundwater Sustainability Plan approved and submitted before the end of the month. It’s also time for the five year update. This was in response to DWR comments. She stressed this is not an amendment.

Tomorrow, Friday January 10th the North Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency Advisory Committee will meet at 1:00pm at the Clovis Police Department in case things get too rowdy. But I don’t think they will. I intend to be there to report on matters.

Chauhan said the domestic well program is underway since last October, under great urging by DWR. One request has been made but the location wasn’t in the NKGSA. Berberian asked about the cost sharing for this program and how much it will cost FID. Chauhan said the budget is $500,000 and FID is paying more than half of that. However, FID will not be paying this much of the share after some more negotiations with the other participating agencies. In the meantime well monitoring planning is improving.

The Kings Water Alliance is looking at a Prioritization & Optimization study of the western Kings Subbasin, as established by the Regional Board. The Kings River Water Quality Coalition members has a report due in March and that could include on farm visits. The Valley Ag Water Coalition is expecting 2,500 pieces of legislation. The Water Blueprint for the San Joaquin Valley is ready to meet the deadline for the Delta Water Quality Control Plan that could go very bad for humans in California if the State Board adopts increased Delta flows instead of the so called Voluntary Agreements.

Chauhan updated the board on federal and state affairs. There are 160 new Congressmen and 10 new Senators – all needing an education on water. There is a piece of legislation proposed and it’s called the “Every Drop Counts Act”. This could benefit both surface and groundwater storage.

On the state side new Assemblyman David Tangipa will be holding a meet and greet at the Clovis Memorial Building at the end of the month. Consultant Austin Ewell will be helping FID with other opportunities of meeting elected officials.

For Christmas FID employees were treated with a luncheon celebration and everyone got a good knife set. Stretch thanked the board for supporting FID’s employees and also thanked staff for their hard work setting this up.

Hailey-Stork was looking down at her computer while it was her turn to give a presentation on the district leasing some land for cattle. Jacobsen told her to get moo-ving. I know, I suspect he also writes the jokes for the Fresno County Farm Bureau newsletter. I love the dad pun.

Back to the topic, there are about 75 acres of grazing land she intends to put out to bid for a five year lease. The location is up by Trimmer Springs Road near the Kings River. Boswell said the process will be a blank bid where the bidders put in their offers.

The last admin matter was handled by September Singh. The lovely and gracious Singh said long time FID employ Robert Metzler who is retiring at the end of this month. The board passed resolution 2025-02 thanking Metzler for his service. Singh also told folks the vision and dental for FID has changed and you can get dental plants now. Also, some other PPO policy changes in the IRS code were mentioned. It has something to do with if you have control over moving the funds around you can treat it differently when dealing with the IRS.

General Manager’s Report

It was Stretch’s turn to justify his existence and he did well of course. He said it has been busy with Christmas. The Kings River Water Association reported the Administration Hearing officer was silent for three years and then said there will be more info but no one’s heard from her for a year. He said the recent KRWA meetings have been short and he’s hoping for more snow. On the fishery management program the KRWA had a volunteer fish channel clean up. A Director at Laguna ID won reelection by one vote.

The Friant Water Authority is a little happier now with the new administration. Stretch and Porter are going to Reno for the Mid Pacific Region meeting. They said this might be the last time they are going to have that meeting in Reno. The Family Farm Alliance was holding meetings in Reno during this time of year also but they have moved the date to sometime in October. There are just too many Donner Party scenarios trying to drive through the snow.

Closed Session

Can’t have fun forever and even Fresno ID has to deal with closed session. Speaking of the Donner Party the meeting went into closed session at 5:27pm and that includes dinner.

DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY; Waterwrights strives to provide clients with the most complete, up-to-date, and accurate information available. Nevertheless, Waterwrights does not serve as a guarantor of the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, and specifically disclaims any and all responsibility for information that is not accurate, up-to-date, or complete.  Waterwrights’ clients therefore rely on the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of information from Waterwrights entirely at their own risk. The opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not represent any advertisers or third parties.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  Copyright 2025 by WaterWrights.net/DAW

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

David Burrows – Water Master

Michael Prestridge – Superintendent of Construction & Maintenance

DeAnn Hailey-Stork – Controller

Kassy Chauhan – Special Projects Manager/North Kings GSA Executive Officer

 

 

Emergy

RECENT NEWS