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Friant Water Authority July 29, 2021

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Bermad irrigationThe Friant Water Authority held its Thursday, July 29, 2021, board of directors meeting. The meeting was live, no phone, no online, at the Visalia Convention Center. Chairman Cliff Loeffler called the meeting at 10:35am. The closed session portion of the meeting began at 8:30am and there was no reportable action. The first item was an invocation for wisdom. Amen brother. The next item was public comment where I boldly stated the snacks provided were peanut based. My fearless advocation for almond based snacks was well received. And while I’m on the subject why not a mandate raisins be provided at all salad bars in the San Joaquin Valley?*

The Meeting

The consent calendar was approved, which consisted of the minutes and the financials including paying the bills.

Attorney Don Davis was asked to conduct a public hearing on the condemnation of property involved in the Friant Kern Canal repairs. Director Steve Kisling stepped out of the meeting to avoid any conflict of interest. This is not a classic case of public domain being used as a bludgeon on some outgunned landowner trying to preserve the family plot. This was more about odd-shaped parcels along the canal. The board approved a resolution in favor. There were three such public hearings in total. Only one involved Kisling and only one had any public comment. Attorney Rob Kush representing Malley Investment Properties told the board his clients are in favor of the project. He said there was some dispute over the process and these comments are intended to reserve his client’s rights. He added the Friant staff and attorney Davis have been extremely helpful and this protest is in no way meant to reflect on anyone’s professionalism and cooperation. The problem was the taking of property would cause a loss of access of Malley’s farming property to a county road. This was identified in the original document but not evaluated in the offer. Kush said the principal difference between Malley’s appraisal and Friant’s appraisal is the account of the access. Kush pointed out the second public hearing for Kyte Properties did take into account the access issue. In fact, Kush said, Friant’s approval of the Kyte Property condemnation actually included the taking of a portion of Malley’s property and giving it to Kyte for access and as a result Friant has locked itself into a position it may not been aware of.All Water Rights

Davis said Malley has had the appraisal since June and today is the first time Friant has heard about this issue. He gave a summation of the items impacting negotiations in an action of this kind and felt the Malley concern doesn’t present enough of a problem to prevent the board moving forward. I guess the board agreed because no one objected during the vote.

Action Items

Loeffler invited CFO Orvis Wilson to explain the next resolution, which if adopted would commit Friant members to spend $50 million on the FKC repairs, if I understood correctly. I believe he said it was the City of Fresno and Fresno Irrigation District that had heartburn on this. Davis walked the board through the resolution. There were no comments or questions and the vote ended up being unanimously in favor. The board also approved an agreement with the City of Lindsay and Garfield Water District for a payment deferral to help them structured payments on their share of the canal repairs. Good for them.

Next CEO Jason Phillips explained the contract laying out FWA’s obligation for terms and conditions for payments to the US Bureau of Reclamation for the $50 million. Phillips said this doesn’t cap the payment at $50 million but it does guarantee that price won’t exceed that without the board’s approval. He also said it is expected that outside payments will cover this portion of FWA’s costs. Sounds like a good deal. It didn’t sound like such a good deal to the City of Fresno and Fresno ID as they abstained, which adds more unity than opposing. The resolution passed.

Wilson dealt with the call for funds for the fourth quarter. He said there were some cost savings this past year and to everyone’s surprise there is no need for a fourth quarter call for funds. However, Phillips said the 2022 legal budget is expected to be significant. The Executive Committee recommended not doing the call for funds but the home boards need to save up for next year’s lawyer fees. That action passed unanimously including Fresno and FID. Good for them.

Reports

Phillips said the schedule for the FKC repairs is now at the point of reviewing bids based on technical evaluations. This is a separate process from the financial portion. If the contractor can’t handle the technical side the cost is a moot point. That doesn’t mean the folks in this room don’t care about the cost, but they will have to wait until September to find out the price point of the bids submitted and deemed technically adept.

Phillips began the water report saying Water Resource Manager Ian Buck-Macleod’s written report is very important. He said the Exchange Contractor’s summer water demands are usually met by storage in San Luis Reservoir. There’s a real problem if the water levels at SLR drop too far. The SLR is fed not by rivers of rain and snow melt but by pumping water from the state’s California Aqueduct and the federal Delta Mendota Canal. This water comes from the pumping plants in the Delta sending Sacramento River and San Joaquin River water into the canals. What happens upstream from the Delta impacts what happens to water throughout the state. For instance, Friant contractor Arvin Edison Water Storage District has sent water to Metropolitan WD. Met WD is a State Water Project contractor. The water, about 50,000 a/f moved in blocks of 10,000 a/f from Millerton Lake to Arvin Edison to make this work was offset at SLR where it was used by Ex Con preventing a call by the Bureau on Exchange Contractor supplies coming from the San Joaquin River. The different types of water are referred to as colors. State water is one color, federal water is another color. Understand? If not drop me a line and we’ll find out together what it means.

Buck Macleod said this should keep Friant’s 20 percent CVP allocation intact or at least decrease the chances of a call. He said the State Board is looking at curtailing pre-1914 water rights in the Delta and other places across the state. That’s a hornet’s nest of a deal and watch for legal action. Many are saying the State Board is making the same mistake it made during the 2014-2015 drought and is about to get its pants sued off. FWA is preparing comments. Loeffler thanked Arvin Edison and Delano Earlimart ID for their help in this matter.

Chief of External Affairs Johnny Amaral was the sole reporter of government matters today. We all hope Alex Biering and Mike Villines are well, if anyone explained why there weren’t available I didn’t hear it. Amaral said the state budget includes $200 million for SB 559. He’s meeting with DWR representatives later today to nail down some of the details. State Senator Melissa Hurtado has put together a coalition and it’s holding. Hurtado has been increasing her support from the folks in her district by supporting the folks in her district. What a concept for an elected official. Good for her.

Amaral reported drought has overtaken wildfires as the most distressing issue facing California. This could be good or bad depending on which legislator does what. Infrastructure is still a big issue and it is big on both the state and federal side. Amaral said the team in Washington DC is poised to put as much impact as possible to benefit the Valley.

Austin Ewell gave the board an update on the San Joaquin Valley Water Blueprint saying a new management team is being assembled. A community coalition manager position has been given to former Tulare County Supervisor Kyler Crocker. He’s going to head up outreach to the Valley’s communities. The efforts taking place at Stanford University to put together a diverse coalition of interests are starting to pay off with a statement expected in September. There also looks like some funding for the Fresno State, Leadership Council, Friant cooperative drinking water study.

Superintendent Chris Hickernell reported an excellent safety record for his crews. He also said copper sulfate has been effective on aquatic weeds. Terra Bella ID Director Loren Wheaton asked where the pistachios are coming from and he didn’t mean the trees. He said there is a good deal of whole nuts floating around in the FKC near his district’s turnout.

Wilson gave an update on the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Agency. One of Friant’s big costs is paying for it share of the SLDMWA operations and maintenance. Friant contractors have been billed.

CEO Report

Phillips said the recent offsite retreat yielded some direction for the FWA strategic plan. That is being distilled and will be discussed at next month’s executive committee meeting. He said before he went on vacation he took a tour and spoke at Friant Dam about FWA. US Senator Alex Padilla, Congressman Jim Costa and state Senator Hurtado where there. Phillips said Padilla’s interest was much appreciated as has been Senator Dianne Feinstein’s.

Lastly Phillips reported both he and Tulare ID General Manager Aaron Fukuda own electric vehicles. It sounded like they both pulled into a charging parking space and had to share one extension cord or whatever you call the thing that fills up the batteries. Phillips has a Tesla and Fukuda has an electric Mustang. It seemed like yesterday I passed a Toyota Prius with racing stripes and snickered at the sight.

And the meeting then broke for a quick lunch baked chicken and brussels sprouts and went back into closed session. My protest that brussels sprouts smell like a locker room deprived of Lysol wasn’t as well received as my almond comments.

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*Red-face-o-rama alert – Attorney Davis cornered me after the meeting by the snacks and sure enough there were almonds listed as an ingredient in one of the granola bars. I stand corrected and ask not to be taken to court for liable.

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FRIANT WATER AUTHORITY

854 N. Harvard Ave., Lindsay, CA 93247, Office 559/562-6305 Email: information@friantwater.org www.friantwater.org

The Friant Water Authority is a Joint Powers Agreement with 17 districts to operate and maintain the Friant Division of the Central Valley Water Project. Water from the San Joaquin River is diverted at Friant Dam at Millerton Lake to the Madera/Chowchilla Canal to the north and the Friant/Kern Canal to the south. More than one million acres of mostly family farms and numerous communities get their surface supplies from the Friant Division.

Staff: CEO Jason Phillips, COO Doug DeFlitch, CFO Wilson Orvis, Government Affairs & Communication Alexandra Biering, Water Resource Manager Ian Buck-Macleod, Superintendent Chris Hickernell, Chief of External Affairs Johnny Amaral, Director of Technology Christopher Hunter and Attorney Don Davis.

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