By Joel Hastings
The Madera Irrigation District board of directors met in regular session at the district offices on Rd. 28 ¼ on the south side of Madera on October 15, 2024. Following a one-hour closed session, the open meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by President Jim Erickson. The Pledge was led by Assistant General Manager Dina Nolan, and then Counsel John Kinsey said there was no reportable action from the closed session and there were no
conflicts of interest for the open session. Public comment was invited but none was forthcoming in person or on the Zoom. Four directors were present with Director Dave Loquaci absent.
SGMA
Convening as the MID GSA board, the group heard Nolan report that MID had been awarded nearly a million dollars of grant funding through the Natural Resources Conservation Service to repair and improve infrastructure designed to manage the district’s water more efficiently. She pointed out the copy of a flyer headlined “Consider Before You Convert,” encouraging district growers to irrigate with surface water and to look for opportunities to recharge.
She referenced a letter in the board packet from Paul Gosselin, deputy director at DWR, that included analysis of the Madera Subbasin’s four GSPs indicating areas needing attention. The letter urged that this additional information be included in the 2024 annual reports for the subbasin due by April 1, 2025. A copy of an email from the district’s
consulting engineer John Davids pointed out that there need be no concern that this letter was implying that the Subbasin would be turned over to the jurisdiction of the State Water Resources Control Board. Director Carl Janzen said in light of the challenges faced by subbasins in the South Valley, he urged that these items be carefully addressed. General Manager Tom Greci pointed out that the deficiencies noted in the letter aligned with concerns that MID has had regarding the GSPs.
Nolan reported that a grant received earlier under the title of “SGMA facilitation support services” has been closed out now that the GSPs had been accepted, submitted and approved by DWR. (Note: seven GSAs for the subbasin submitted four GSPs.) She said Madera County has received grant funding for domestic well mitigation programs in the subbasin which will be apportioned to the GSAs in a fashion to be determined.
She reported that recharge Basin #10 is being completed with the installation of a new pump. Greci complimented the staff for their prompt work there. Next there will be work on Basin #11 on 60 acres of property being acquired, with the purchase scheduled for closing next week. Director Brian Davis asked how many acres cumulatively are represented in the district’s basins and Nolan estimated about 200 surface acres in all, but said she did not have an exact figure. Greci said there are discussions with the city of Madera for yet another parcel to be used for additional recharge.
The Board Meeting
Returning to the MID board agenda at 2:11 p.m., the consent agenda was approved which included the warrant of bills from July 29 through September 26 in the amount of $3,718,587.74. The financial reports approved for July and August showed funds on hand totaling $54,456,952.08 on August 31. Minutes for the August 8 special meeting were also approved.
O&M
Charles Contreras, operations and maintenance manager, gave his usual detailed report, referring to the seven pages included in the agenda with listings of work done along with photos. The variety of new construction along with repair and replacement of piping and
ditches is always of interest to the board members. It’s expected that with the end of the water season, this work will become the focus of his crew. Contreras also documents his department’s activities maintaining vehicles and equipment and application of herbicide as well.
GM Report
GM Greci began his report confirming that the water year had lasted six months, with water deliveries from April 8 through October 11. He said the district had brought in 156,000 AF from Friant and an additional 54,000 from Hensley Lake for a total of 210,000 AF. He said the month of May had seen the highest deliveries ever with almost 40,000 AF delivered to growers and brought into the district’s recharge facilities. That’s more water, he said, than in the months of June or July in other years, typically the high point of the growing season. He thanked the operating staff and the growers for doing recharge as well. He said that while he’s working on final numbers, there is carry over of about 4,000 AF at Friant and about 15,000 AF in Hensley. The district’s ability to hold water allows for new flexibility on weekends when many customers don’t want deliveries. He pointed out it had been a short maintenance season since water was delivered for all 365 days in 2023. He said there was good cooperation with the neighboring Chowchilla Water District which shares the Madera Canal delivering water from Friant to keep the canal full and the shared power plants running.
On the topic of power generation, he said the Madera – Chowchilla Water & Power Authority meeting had been held with repair under way to replace one of the power plants among four which had been shut down after it developed a serious vibration.
He said open enrollment for employee participation in the retirement program had begun on September 26. He said there will be no board meeting in November, but there will be a full agenda for the regular meeting on December 17 which will include budget consideration. He said the “breakfast with the boss” program for employees will be held November 22 and he invited board members to attend.
New Business
Moving to new business, the board approved a salary figure of $120,000 as an amendment to the employment agreement with Controller Jennifer Furstenberg. Greci and the board congratulated her on her 15 years of employment, rising from receptionist to fully qualified financial manager for the district.
The board next approved the operations protocol for the Fresno River that has been in effect for riparian rights holders, who will be notified this month.
With bylaw changes on the agenda for the ACWA annual meeting set for December 4 in Palm Desert, the board approved Director Janzen as the voting representative and Director Davis as the alternate.
A meeting highlight was the debut of a three-minute video giving an overview of the district’s responsibilities and operations with an eye to informing the public about this entity which receives taxpayer support. The city of Madera is within the district and its citizens vote on their assessment and on the directors, so it is expected this professionally done piece can provide information for not only growers but also the “civilian” non-ag folks. AD Nolan provided the introductory comments since she had spearheaded the project. It will be posted on the district website and a news release will be distributed. In keeping with the mood, fresh popcorn was provided for all.
Old Business
In one item of old business, the board heard by Zoom from Kip Hudson, CPA, whose firm Hudson & Co., Inc., had performed an audit of the district’s employee retirement program for the years 2022 and 2023. He complimented the group on the video and then said his firm had issued a “clean” report with no material weaknesses or disagreements with management. He said total assets at the end of 2023 stood at $1.8 million with an increase of $600,000 from the previous year and contributions from the district of $490,000. The presentation lasted only a few minutes, and the board unanimously accepted his report.
Reports from directors concluded the agenda. Directors Tim DaSilva and Davis had
nothing to report. Director Janzen said he had received a number of comments from growers saying they appreciated the length of the water season. He said he had attended the district ACWA meeting where a number of panel discussions were on the agenda. He said he was particularly struck by the information presented that predicted rising average temperatures in California for the next 20 years.
Erickson said he had made a three-day trip to Washington DC with Friant Association colleagues to meet with Bureau of Reclamation staff and elected leaders including Congress members Jim Costa and David Valadao. He said he has a couple of meetings yet as chair but would not accept reelection to that job. He said that as past chair, he would continue on the executive committee.
And with that, he adjourned the meeting at 3:00 p.m.
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Madera Irrigation District – 12152 Road 28 ¼ Madera, CA 93637 phone 559/673-3514
Staff: General Manager -Thomas Greci, Assistant GM – Dina Nolan
Board: Jim Erickson, Chair; Tim DaSilva, Brian Davis, Carl Janzen and Dave Loquaci
HISTORY: From www.madera-id.org The Madera Irrigation District (MID or District), founded in 1920, encompasses an area of approximately 139,665 acres. MID operates a primarily gravity irrigation distribution system with approximately 300 miles of open flow canal systems as well as 150 miles of large diameter pipelines.
The District has a Central Valley Project (CVP) repayment contract with United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) providing up to 85,000 acre feet (AF) of Class 1 and 186,000 AF of Class 2 water per year from the Friant Division (Millerton Lake). The CVP water is released from Millerton Lake through the Friant Dam, and then conveyed through the Madera Canal for delivery into the District’s service area. The District also entered into a CVP repayment contract with the USBR for the yield from the Hidden Unit (Hensley Lake). Under the Hidden Unit contract, the average annual supply available to the District is approximately 24,000 AF per year.
DWR SGMA # 5-022.06
