Madera Irrigation District (8/3/21) 401(a) plan amendment + Madera Ranch contest — fresnoland

Documenter: Dani Huerta

Here’s what you need to know:

• A member of the public — Bill Deidrich said that a letter sent in July was inciting division among farmers in the Madera Irrigation District.

• The 401(a) plan was amended to have no allocation conditions instead of 1,000 hours of service per year.

• A contest to rename Madera Ranch which will end on Sept. 13, 2021 and the winner will receive $500.

Board Members

• Dave Loquaci, Division 1

• Rick Cosyns, Division 2

• Brian Davis, Division 3, ABSENT

• Jim Erickson, Division 4

• Carl Janzen, Division 5

The Scene

The meeting, which was a special (rescheduled) meeting, began at 1 p.m. on Aug. 3, 2021, and public attendance was held through Zoom. The meeting opened with a roll call with Director Davis absent. The meeting continued to public comment on closed session items. There was no public comment so the meeting moved onto the closed session which was mostly made of conferences with legal counsel. At 2 p.m. the board members returned but there were microphone problems. Due to this, the meeting was delayed for about 10 minutes but returned with the pledge of allegiance. Most of the meeting’s audio was hard to hear due to the microphone problems. 

Actions

There was nothing to report from the closed session. After the meeting adjourned, they continued the closed session. There was also no conflict of interest.

Adjourned as MID Board of Directors, Convene as MID Groundwater Sustainability Agency

• Update on MID Groundwater Sustainability Agency

  • They have been coordinating with other GSA’s and continuing work on the data management system. They are also continuing to move forward with property acquisition.

Adjourned as MID Groundwater Sustainability Agency, reconvene as MID Board of Directors

Consent Agenda

• Approved June 15, 2021 Board meeting minutes, June 18, 2021 Special Board meeting minutes, Warrant list payments through August 3rd, 2021, and Monthly financial report June 2021

Informational Items

• Finance Report

  • 2022 assessments and 2021 standby charges are getting ready to be added to the property tax payroll. The third [payment from Madera County will be received in a couple of weeks.

  • The semi-annual bond payment total of $3,515,625 is due September 1, 2021.

  • Audit for 401(a) plans will be presented at the next meeting.

• Human Resources report

  • They are considering district vacancies for recruitment & promotions.

  • There is a focus on mandated training to be completed, 4/6 have been completed for the year with the remaining two being scheduled for later this year.

  • Investing in self-certifying training materials for staff

  • Beginning to prepare open enrollment info for September & October

• Engineering/Operations/Maintenance Report

  • Basin 8’s scheduled well abandonment is waiting for the contractor to finish their other projects first. The design plans for Basin 8 and Basin 9 are complete.

  • Water samples have been collected by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for the 2021 water season to be analyzed

  • Statement of Water Diversion Licensee report has been completed, Underground Service Alerts are ongoing daily

  • There are shut down flows from Madera Canal on July 19, 2021 and hidden flows (Big Main) shut down on July 26, 2021, Canal break on the 6.2-14.5 Canal into Basin 7

  • The control box on the Orange Line was repaired as well as installed signs at Town & Country Park indicating no swimming. Dredging and re-establishing flow capacity on the Main I east of Road 23 has begun

  • A new swing check valve has been installed at Basin 1 to prevent back flow. The Mordecai Canal Head Gate has been removed and replaced due to a broken motor gearbox

  • There were no major issues other than losing flow for about 8 hours due to a plant shut off

General Manager’s Report

• Update of Activities

  • End of water season

    • Began about June 24 to July 26 and brought in about 32,00 acre feet

    • 20% class 1 supply remains, stay in place

    • Potential water transfer from Friant to avoid releasing into the river

    • Farmers willing to take water despite high prices this year

  • Other

    • Still compiling meter data

    • Attended a meeting about the structure of Friant that reaffirmed how Friant is doing

    • Reported that the Madera District Fair is expected to happen. Everyone laughed. One Director commented that it is held every other year and last year was cancelled. The Madera Irrigation District will be participating. The fair will be September 9-12, 2021.

New business

• 401(a) plan adoption agreement amendment and revised summary of plan description, Resolution No. 2021-11

  • For the retirement plan it used to be 1,000 hours of service but has been misinterpreted as 1,000 hours of service per year

  • Request to be amended as no allocation conditions as opposed to 1,000 hours of service per year

  • Approved 

• MID project naming contest

  • Madera Irrigation District is going through a rebranding and looking for a new name for “Madera Ranch”

  • This contest is for Madera county residents and the winner will receive prize money of $500

  • Submissions must be made by September 13, 2021 to correspond with the ending of the fair.

  • One of the Directors asked if he could win the money and everyone laughed. The Directors can submit but cannot win.

  • Judges are to be determined and their decision will be presented to the board

Director reports

• Director Cosyns said he was “sad to see the water season come to an end.” Director Janzen reported there is no Friant power meeting this week. Director Loquaci expressed that it was amazing they had as much water as they did this water season and was glad nothing was wasted. Director Erickson attended Friant last week. Things are still moving forward with canal realignment and contracts will be issued soon.

Adjourn to closed session

Public comment

Bill Diedrich, a farmer in the San Joaquin valley, was concerned about the contents of the grower letter of July 6th. His main concern was with the tone in the letter. He believes it incites division in MID farmers & ranchers. He attended a workshop yesterday and experienced the divisiveness that the letter incited. Deidrich also defended Stephaine Anagnoson Director of Water and Natural Resources of  Madera County and her hard work and said “I don’t believe personal attacks against the director are constructive”. He also said the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 has been painful for all it involves in California.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at Documenters-admin@thefresnoland.com with “Correction Request” in the subject line.