The South Kings Groundwater Sustainability Agency met on Zoom Monday, December 28, 2020. This is the GSA formed by the municipalities that chose not to be a part of the Central Kings GSA. I’ve not been paying as much attention to SKGSA as it isn’t directly ag based but it does sit in the middle of South Fresno County’s grape and fruit area. David Peters of Peters Engineering of Clovis is the secretary and Karnig Kazarian of Fowler is Chairman. The meeting began at 1:00pm with a quorum minus Director Esmerelda Hurtado followed by public comment. There were no public comments.
Next was the consent calendar. The calendar only included the minutes, so that was, I don’t know, anti-redundant? In any event the calendar was approved without pulling the minutes.
The big item of the day was Resolution 2020-02 and it was presented by Peters. He said the resolution will authorize Fresno Irrigation District to file for a Prop 68 grant on behalf of SKGSA. SKGSA’s interest in this grant money will go toward a recharge basin near Sanger. As has happened with other GSAs in the Kings Subbasin it’s easier for an ID to file for these types of grants on behalf of GSAs. It cuts down on the red tape considerably. The board approved unanimously.
The next item was in closed session. The board left open session to discuss purchase of the property for the above mentioned recharge basin. This location will have the added benefit of tying in with nearby disadvantaged communities and help the grant application when it comes time for the government to score. I wish some intrepid reporter would investigate how much money is involved in grants. Before the state or the feds can give away grant 
money it has to collect it as tax money. So, the government takes the tax money, spends it on administering things like grants, then pits applicants against each other and often requires matching funds from the applicants before awarding grants. It is also common for the state to take forever and a day to actually transfer the money awarded forcing those entities who receive awards to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed later for any work done. Throughout all of this the entities receiving the awards have to meet requirements placed on them by the state. So, if I’m correct; the state takes the money from the taxpayers, spends a chunk of it on itself, offers to give some of the money they paid back to them if the folks applying will jump through the hopes or hoops as it were.
The open portion of the meeting ended at 1:13am. And that’s why this report is so very short.
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South Kings GSA members City of Fowler, City of Kingsburg, City of Sanger, City of Parlier & Del Rey Community Services District.
Board: Chair – Karnig Kazarian City of Fowler, Trinidad Pimentel City of Parlier. At this point I would humbly suggest the website www.southkingsgsa.org be updated.
Staff: David Peters of Peters Engineering of Clovis, Contact email: annikaromo@peters-engineering.com
