MID Board Report Archive

MID Board Meeting of Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Contact: MID Public Affairs Department, Maree Hawkins, 209 526-7390
The next MID Board meetings are scheduled for June 6 and June 27.

Water report

Water Use Manager Joe Lima reported the weekend storm was a valley event with not much impact at the higher elevations. There’s less inflow into Don Pedro Reservoir since the City and County of San Francisco has decided to fill its three reservoirs above Don Pedro. Don Pedro’s water elevation, currently at 817.96 feet, should peak in mid-June.

Don Pedro Board of Control

Director Cecil Hensley reported that wet spring weather at Don Pedro Reservoir decreased visitor days and revenue. There’s a full campground for the Memorial Day weekend. Only a few campsites remain for the Fourth of July and Labor Day weekends. Don Pedro was recently named one of the 10 best places to rent a houseboat by USA Today. The Don Pedro fireworks display will be held July 3.

Closed session announcement

Board President Tom Van Groningen announced that the Board met in closed session and approved a settlement in the matter of Auldridge et al. v. MID. MID agrees to pay plaintiff employees amounts allocated to their overtime wage and liquidated damage claims and employees agree to release and discharge all of their claims against MID. The parties reserved for future litigation the allocation of the payments for purposes of the basic retirement plan. This settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by dispatchers who claimed their non-exempt status entitled them to overtime based on their extended schedule.

Billing system report

Assistant General Manager Lou Hampel, Finance and General Services, reporting in his capacity as project manager for the Customer Billing System, said Customer Services has identified the top 12 issues. IT is now focusing on fixing these issues. Although he feels the billing system is improving, it is still not 100 percent fixed. Staff is now beginning to tune up the system to make it more user friendly for customers and Customer Services representatives.

Legislative report

General Manager Allen Short reported on a mid-April visit he made to Washington, D.C. with Turlock Irrigation District (TID) staff. While in Washington, the group met with representatives from Senators Feinstein and Boxer, the House Water and Power Subcommittee, the Senate Energy Committee, the Bureau of Reclamation and Representatives Randovich, Cardoza and Costa.

Conversations centered on the Friant settlement, Senator Boxer’s introduction of wild and scenic status for Tuolumne River tributaries and San Joaquin River Agreement activity that is federally funded.

Although MID is not at the Friant settlement table, we could be impacted as a third party along with other irrigation districts such as Turlock, Oakdale, Merced and South San Joaquin. The Friant settlement could affect flows and channel restoration on the upper San Joaquin River. MID’s third party concerns include money, temperature, and reintroduction of a spring salmon run on the upper San Joaquin.

Until now, related Short, all MID-TID efforts have been focused on the fall salmon run. The spring run could be in conflict with the fall run and decrease it. A spring run would require additional water releases from Friant Dam—releases that would elevate water temperature into the 70-degree range. Fall run salmon need water temperature in the 60’s.

Current cost estimates are over $1 billion to restore the upper San Joaquin.

Short said the irrigation districts would be supportive of the settlement only if there are no third party impacts. “We are opposed to legislation that would harm our constituents,” he added.

Referring to the wild and scenic bill introduced by Senator Boxer, Short noted that in the 1980s, MID and TID were assured that in exchange for allowing wild and scenic status on the Tuolumne River, the tributaries would continue with an unencumbered status. This would allow the districts to consider water storage/power development on the tributaries.