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Board Report Archive
Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Board Meeting of Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2007
Contact: MID Public Affairs Department, Kate Hora, 209 526-7454
The remaining MID Board meetings for 2007 will be Dec. 18.
The first MID Board meeting in 2008 will be Jan. 8 and 22..
The MID Board Report is a summary of highlights of meetings of the MID Board of Directors and not a complete or official record of proceedings. Official records of proceedings of the MID Board of Directors are contained in the Minutes of meetings of the Board of Directors. For information about the Minutes, please contact the Office of the Board Secretary, 1231 Eleventh Street, Modesto, CA 95350, telephone 209 526-7360, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Friday,excluding holidays.
2008 MID Board President and Vice President selected
- The Board unanimously appointed Division 4 Director Paul Warda to serve as MID Board President for 2008.
- By majority vote, the Board appointed Division 3 Director Tom Van Groningen to serve as MID Board Vice President for 2008.
2008 Board Secretary appointed
By unanimous vote, the Board appointed Pat Mills to serve as 2008 Board Secretary.
MID Financing Authority
Convening as the MID Financing Authority, the Board unanimously appointed Director Paul Warda and Director Tom Van Groningen to serve as 2008 Financing Authority President and Vice President, respectively.
Water Report
It’s too early in the water year to have official snow measurements from the California Dept. of Water Resources, noted MID Assistant General Manager for Water Operations, Walt Ward. The bad news is that there hasn’t been much snow so far in the upper Tuolumne watershed. The good news is that temperatures at upper elevations have stayed cold, so what little snow there is has stayed put. Water storage in the Hetch Hetchy system is at 52 percent of normal. Elevation in Don Pedro Reservoir is 755 feet, 38 feet lower than last year’s 793. The rainfall year in the valley floor has gotten off to a poor start but that’s not necessarily an accurate predictor of things to come. It’s estimated that there are fewer than 1,000 returning salmon on the three eastside San Joaquin River tributaries (Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced) combined.
Approved by majority vote
- Acquisition, installation and maintenance of power scheduling software from Open Access Technology, Inc. This software will allow MID to retain the history of wholesale bulk power transactions per regulatory requirements. Soon MID’s current software will no longer be supported by the vendor.
Presentations
- Proposed changes to MID Purchasing Manual
Purchasing Materials Supervisor Denise Ray gave an overview of the existing MID Purchasing Manual, which has not been updated since1974. Since that time MID purchasing practices have evolved to make good use of opportunities to introduce more efficient, less costly work procedures that provide responsive customer service and save MID ratepayers money. Sending Requests for Proposals to prospective vendors by electronic mail is one good example. Moreover, the Purchasing Manual does not reflect important changes in Board policy such as implementation of the Oracle system or the use of MID purchasing cards.
- Three-dimensional groundwater model of the Modesto Groundwater Sub-Basin
Steve Phillips, hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and project manager for an ongoing study of the Modesto Groundwater Sub-Basin, updated the Board on the status of the groundwater model. In 2008 the model will be calibrated, and optimization tools will be added. In 2009 the model will undergo rigorous peer review prior to publication of a report.
In addition to MID and the USGS, partners in this multi-year groundwater study include the Oakdale Irrigation District; the cities of Modesto, Oakdale and Riverbank; and Stanislaus County.
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