By Don A. Wright
The Oakdale Irrigation District Board of Directors held its Tuesday, April 7, 2026 meeting at its headquarters in beautiful Oakdale, California and online. It’s been a while since I attended an OID meeting and this one was online so beware some of the quotes, attributes and references may be a bit off. If so please let me know as I don’t have everyone’s voice memorized and the camera isn’t always focused on who’s speaking. I like attending OID, they are a friendly bunch but at $6 a gallon . . .
The Meeting
Things got going with the pledge of allegiance (as it should in a public meeting) when Chairman Tom Orvis called the meeting to order at about 9:00am. After the pledge there was roll call, approving the agenda and public comment.
Jeff Lamb of Oppenheimer’s Investment Group was in the neighborhood and offered to underwrite any bonds OID might need. That was thoughtful of him.
This was followed by the consent calendar. It had seven items. You know you can go to the OID website and get the specifics of what is on the consent calendar. It’s a great invention, you lump all the routine, reoccurring minutia into one motion and bam – you just saved who knows how many minutes of meeting time that could be devoted to other nonroutine minutia. Director Herman Doornenbal pointed out this isn’t a rubber stamp act. The directors review these things.
Action Items
For those of you new to water meetings, calm down. Even though “Action Items” sounds exciting it just means these agenda items will require the board to take action. That may be approval, denial or tabling an item.
I believe it was CFO Sharon Cisneros who presented the board with an amendment to its CalPERS retirement contract. It was asked if CalPERS was the only retirement program available to OID. Cisneros said once you get in the state’s system it can be costly to
extricate. However, OID has a relatively good deal. CalPERS does provide an incentive for employees from other public agencies to come to OID because their retirement moves with them. If I understood correctly. It bears repetition that General Manager Scott Moody said something similar about CalPERS to Winston Churchill’s remark about democracy, “It’s the worst form of government except for all the others.” I guess CalPERS sucks but it still works.
The next item was the OID Agricultural Scholarship. Moody said there was only one qualifying applicant. This anomaly is impacting other beneficial gifts and perhaps the local high schools are not getting the word out. The applicant was awarded $1,500 so, good for him or her. It also sounded like the government has gotten its nose and nuggets in the middle of this by capping how much can be given tax-free. Best check with your CPA.
Next item, a 10 percent cost share to replace a pipeline, the Adams Number One line, that is in the path of some development’s parking lot. Moody said the current pipe is in good shape. But the developer offered to replace the pipe with new higher grade pipe. The board agreed to get a 90 percent paid for new pipe. The directors said the developer was very easy to work with and I believe the phrase “pleasure to work with” was used to describe the nature of the negotiation. The board approved.
The next item was regarding an award to drill and replace the Howard Deep Well #2 Project to bidder Anthony J. Prieto Well Drilling Inc. as the lowest “responsive and responsible bidder.” One of the directors was not happy with a previous job Prieto completed near his farm. Attorney Fred Silva told the board the district doesn’t have to award the lowest cost bid. Orvis said there is precedent for this. Doornenbal made a motion to award the bid to Marselles Drilling.
Once a motion was made, discussion commenced. There were pros and cons mentioned. District Engineer Eric Thorburn said Prieto did reimburse the landowner for some trees that died due to a previous drilling project. The second was withdrawn. A motion was made to give the award to Prieto. One of the district growers spoke in favor of Marselles with high praise. A vote was taken and passed three to two with Doornenbal and Director Ed Tobias voting no.
Communication & Reports
Directors’ Comments were first and the topic of energy costs was top of mind. OID is facing a power purchase contract. OID has a sister agency Tri Dam and Moody will be speaking with them about
their chosen path. One director suggested retaining a consultant or specialized attorney if it will help them get the best possible contract. The recent rains must have been stronger in the Stanislaus River watershed than in the Kings and San Joaquin Rivers’ watershed because it allowed them to postpone irrigation runs.
The subject of redundant studies required by the state was brought up. Staff was praised for their work in making this better than it could. Orvis said SGMA is an example of over-studying and it’s time to make some hard decisions. He stressed the district’s constituents need to have their voices heard as a priority. He reminded everyone the ACWA Spring Conference will be here the first week of May.
GM Report
Moody told the board he wanted to thank staff for working double time to get the board reports together and they will hire a new board secretary to help carry the loads. He said the new candidate comes with glowing recommendations.
Moody also told the board a new meter was installed and the SCADA is working. There were a couple of tasks like adjusting a solar panel and the contractors decided to do some fencing on their own to save some ducats. It worked out well. Good for them.
Attorney Stef Morris said consultant Dan Steiner is estimating New Mellones will be able to get to 100 percent allocation. The unimpaired runoff is coming in now and will take a nosedive later in the summer. This year is strange. We’ve had a near normal amount of rain and snow but the way warmer than usual March caused an early snowmelt of major proportions.
So far so good for OID in the golden mussel department. They’ve taken an aggressive stance against the little boogers and are monitoring the situation closely. The meeting adjourned open session at 10:07am and was last seen heading over the hill into the closed session sunset for seven or so items. And that was that for Oakdale’s meeting this month. Go be good to each other and yourselves.
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OAKDALE ID: 1205 East F Street, Oakdale, CA 95361 www.oakdaleirrigation.com 209/847-0341 OIDGSA’s DWR SGMA NO. 5-022.01
OID holds its board meetings on the first or second Tuesday of the month.
Board: President – Tom Orvis, Ed Tobias, Herman Doornenbal, Brad DeBoer & Jacob DeBoer
Staff: GM – Scot Moody, Superintendent – Joe Kosakiewicz, CFO – Sharon Cisneros, Engineer – Eric Thorburn P.E., HR – Kim Bukhari & General Council – Fred Silva.
From the OID website: The District was formed on November 1, 1909 as an irrigation district of the State of California formed pursuant to the provisions of Division 11 of the California Water Code (the “Act”) for the purpose of delivering irrigation water to the agricultural lands within its boundaries. Geographically, the District encompasses parts of Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties, about 12 miles northeast of Modesto and 30 miles southeast of Stockton.
Water to supply the District comes principally from the Stanislaus River under well-established adjudicated water rights but also from water reclamation and drainage recovery systems and pumping from deep wells. The District encompasses an area of approximately 80,900 acres, with an additional approximately 77,700 acres within its sphere of influence.
