MID Board Report Archive

Modesto Irrigation District (MID) Board Meeting of Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Media contact: MID Public Affairs Department, Kate Hora, 209 526-7454
The next MID Board meetings will be March 4, 11 and 18.

A Public Hearing on the proposed 2008 Water Allocation and Irrigation Water Rates will be held Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at 9:00 a.m. in the MID Board Room, 1231 11th Street, Modesto. Details of the proposal are available at the Office of the Board Secretary, 1231 11th Street, Modesto, telephone 209 526-7360, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday - Friday, excluding holidays, or online at www.mid.org. Affected landowners will receive written notice by mail per Article XIII D, California State Constitution (Prop 218).

Announcement following closed session

Regarding 38 of 800 homes in the Bridle Ridge development in Oakdale

By unanimous vote, the MID Board directed staff to relocate underground electrical lines serving 38 homes to a proper location within the Public Utilities Easement; to restore the yards and landscaping of affected property owners to original condition, at no cost from MID to the property owners; and to initiate legal action against Lakewood Homes and Lafferty Homes to recover costs associated with moving the underground electrical lines.

Staff reports

Fourth quarter unaudited financials and treasurer’s report

• Controller Jake Sonke summed up his presentation of fourth quarter unaudited financials by noting that, as expected, 2007 was not a good year. On a year-to-year basis, cash and short-term investments dropped from $153 to $149 million, while customer equity decreased by $7 million. The year ended with a net loss of $15.5 million.
• Assistant Treasurer Don Dermond reported that MID continues its very conservative investment approach, with 74.2 percent of funds in federal agency securities, 17 percent in corporate medium-term notes and 8.8 percent in a state money market fund. Average maturity is a little over 900 days; the earnings rate was 5.0 percent at year’s end.

Approved by unanimous vote

• An agreement with Liberty Benefit Insurance Services to audit certain employee benefit and insurance plans and negotiate reduced premiums on behalf of the District. Liberty will be compensated on a contingency basis and will complete the audit only if savings exceeding $50,000 can be achieved.
• Purchase of an updated voice recording system for Power Scheduling and Control operations.
• Changes to the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Rebate Program, including expanding the program to include solar PV systems between 30 kilowatts and one megawatt (MW) in size.
• Increasing MID participation in the program development phase of the Transmission Agency of Northern California’s proposed Zeta transmission project. This increase from 200 MW to 230 MW raises MID’s program development cost by $417,000 during 2008-2009, bringing the total cost of this phase to $7.27 million. The proposed Zeta transmission project will open up access to the most promising area in California for developing renewable energy resources.

Vote deferred

• An agreement with Irrigation Training and Research Center for Phase II of the Comprehensive Water Resources Management Plan was deferred. A Board workshop is scheduled for March 18.

Presentation

Financial markets update

Financial Advisor Jerry Gold of First Southwest Company discussed volatility in the financial markets. Gold focused on how the municipal bond market has been affected by the subprime mortgage crisis, and how bond investors’ lack of confidence is impacting MID. He outlined alternatives MID could consider with respect to its “auction-rate’ bonds.