Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
October 9, 2007
5. Agencies, Programs, People
Supply and demand: Steady source of water fuels growth in people, production -
A watershed project; Valley gone, but Solano has reward - Woodland Daily Democrat
LOCAL PROJECT IMPACTS:
$9B water bond could have major local impacts - Amador Ledger Dispatch
Column: Chamber wants water bond on ballot -
DELTA LEVEES:
Sacrifice of thousands laid the foundation for us all; For $1 a day, they broke their bodies and gave their lives to build levees that still stand to this day -
Relocated water museum reopens as Diamond Valley Lake Visitor Center - Riverside Press Enterprise
RED BLUFF DIVERSION DAM:
Guest Commentary: Saving
BROWN ACT ISSUES:
AVEK attorney studying possible oversights - Antelope Valley Press
OROVILLE RELICENSING:
Supervisors to get report on fight with DWR - Chico Enterprise Record
SBF moving forward with large projects - Oroville Mercury Register
Supply and demand: Steady source of water fuels growth in people, production
By Barry Eberling, McNaughton Newspapers
Monticello Dam created
Take away the dam and
Life without
“I think you'd have to look to some of the less-developed foothill counties,” said Davis Okita, Solano County Water Agency general manager.
Smaller cities
The other major water source is the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The North Bay Aqueduct pumps water out of Barker Slough in remote, rural eastern
But the Delta is the water source for 25 million Californians, as well as thousands of acres of farmland. Water availability varies from year to year, depending on how much snow falls in the
“What we got with (Berryessa) was an extremely reliable water supply that would just not be there in the summer,” said Rick Wood,
“We'd be on a real roller coaster ride every year,” Wood said.
He was uncertain how big
“You never would have gotten to be as large of city as we've become,” Wood said.
Plus,
Anheuser Busch is far-and-away the city's single biggest user of water at about 2 million gallons daily, 7 percent of the entire city's consumption. All of this is
Other
“We just couldn't have grown beyond our well water,” Vacaville Public Works Director Dale Pfeiffer said.
Pfeiffer took what he called a wild guess and said the city's growth might have been cut by a third.
The dam's completion in 1957 came at a crucial time. Travis Air Force Base had been built a decade earlier and caused a population surge. Meanwhile, the Bay Area population bulge was expanding in this direction, poised to take advantage of cheap land and transform rural
Some might find a less-populated
A lot less agriculture
“That would be unbelievable,” said Robert Hansen, who grows various fruits on 55 acres in
In the central county,
“You wouldn't have agriculture anything like it is now,” Hansen said. “You'd probably have agriculture, but it would be a lot less.”
The Solano Irrigation District delivers water to 73,000 acres of farmland, with about 50,000 acres being irrigated in any one year, SID General Manager Suzanne Butterfield said. Without the reservoir, the county wouldn't have the same amount of alfalfa, walnuts, sunflowers and other crops, she said.
The proportion of irrigated crops rose from 28 percent in 1962 to 41 percent in 1963, as
“Our forefathers, when they built the Solano Project and Monticello Dam, there was a lot of discussion if they wanted to do it,” Hansen said. “A lot of the growers had plenty of water. But enough saw that in the future, there wouldn't be enough groundwater to take care of it.”
Workers poured the final bucket of cement on Monticello Dam on a rainy February 26, 1957. They threw in coins for good luck.
With that act,
- Editor's note: This is the second in a five-day series examining the 50-year-old Monticello Dam. Tuesday: How Monticello Dam changed Putah Creek. #
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/10/08/news/090new0.txt
A watershed project; Valley gone, but Solano has reward
Woodland Daily Democrat – 10/6/07
By Danny Bernardini, staff writer
Looking back 50 years to when the Monticello Dam was constructed at the mouth of the
"There was opposition to it, and thank goodness we didn't need an environmental impact report," Balmer said from his
Balmer, now in his nineties, came aboard with
"It's a tremendously important project," Balmer said. "The people that came before me deserve a great deal of credit. There's a great deal of work that was done by the early water pioneers."
All the work and campaigning that was done, which Balmer said started in the early 1900's, gave way to one of the most important projects ever in Solano County.
The 50th birthday for that project will be celebrated Oct. 13 with a public event and tours of the dam.
Local water officials like David Okita, general manager of the Solano County Water Agency, also give credit to the engineers for creating an elaborate system that still sends water throughout the county.
"Folks that negotiated in the '50s were very much visionaries," Okita said. "The water is gravity-fed all the way to
The dam could have been drastically different, in both size and function, if both Yolo and
But as early as 1945, according to the Solano Irrigation District's book "The Solano Water Story," delegates from those counties were speaking out against the dam at state conferences, claiming the dam had no power benefits and would flood 25,000 acres of agriculture that was worth more than what would be irrigated.
"
There were also claims that a lake never would happen without water being brought in from the
"There were a great deal of people who thought the dam would never fill up without a drop of water from the
After President Harry Truman's block on new construction was lifted, ground was broken in 1953 on the project, which would cost $48 million.
"Every month, 30,000 people are coming to
When the dam was finally completed in November 1957, the next step was to start irrigating. The 1.6 million acre-feet of water would soon be available throughout the county, starting with the agriculture areas of
Getting dry-crop farmers to commit to a new and unproven water source proved difficult at first, but the advantages quickly were realized.
From 1958 to 1962, $10 to $15 million dollars was spent by
During that time, unimproved land was assessed at 60 percent higher than in the past. In all, 6,000 acres were irrigated in 1959 and 30,000 acres the following year.
While the agriculture community flourished during the first years of water delivery, it was in the next 20 to 30 years that the cities did so as well.
"The water was there in the '60s if they wanted it," Okita said. "The huge growth was in the '70s and '80s. Water was not a limitation for growth."
Okita points to the fact that many reservoirs have suffered during dry years, but Berryessa has never had to ration its water supply.
He said those who worked for years lobbying for the dam and those who built it were simply doing their job, but that job led to how the county would be shaped.
"No one would have guessed that
http://www.dailydemocrat.com//ci_7104125?IADID=Search-www.dailydemocrat.com-www.dailydemocrat.com
LOCAL PROJECT IMPACTS:
$9B water bond could have major local impacts
Amador Ledger Dispatch – 10/5/07
By Rasheem Hosseini, staff writer
As state lawmakers seek to head off a potential water crisis amidst a special legislative session, development pressures are forcing the region to more seriously consider from where its water will continue to come.
While
Under the current rights, the county is limited to only 20,000 acre-feet per year, "which is relatively small for a county," according to Abercrombie. The county currently uses up nearly 6,000 acre-feet annually, with 2030 projections putting those demands between 13,000 and 14,000 acre-feet a year.
The state is significantly worse off, however. A confluence of recent and long-standing issues - aging infrastructure, population growth, inadequate reserves and the quickening toll of climate change, among other factors - have fast tracked California's water problems into "what could quickly become a real crisis for the state," according to Sen. Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto), one of the authors of a $9 billion water infrastructure bond intended for the February ballot.
Lawmakers are currently in a special session to discuss both the water plan and health care reform. On Tuesday, Cogdill and Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow met with reporters at the Capitol to put the state's water problems in perspective.
With
"Our major reservoirs in the state are falling well below average for this time of year," he added. "We're starting this water year, which could be the second year of a drought, in a hole."
With a Delta that state officials are calling "broken" and a recent federal court ruling that the state has to restrict its use of Delta water by as much as 2 million acre-feet to protect endangered smelt, Snow said the challenges are mounting fast.
The bond package proposes heavy investment in water infrastructure, with most of the money slated for surface storage and storage both above and below ground. Money would also be spent on Delta restoration and grants for specific watershed projects in the state. The plan is similar to one proposed by the governor earlier this year, Cogdill said.
But the bond is important locally, Abercrombie said. The county has two potential water projects that could result in greater water supplies - expanding Lower Bear River and a conjunctive use project to bank diverted
Abercrombie said the county would also benefit from language in the bond protecting the water rights of counties of origin. That's also a concern for Sen. Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks), who said Wednesday that adequate water storage and protecting the communities where the water originates remained concerns for him as the special legislative session moves forward. "I'm very concerned about the area of origin," he said.
An informational meeting before the Special Committee on Water was scheduled for yesterday afternoon on the proposal, though partisan clashes over whether dam construction should be included in the bond package were bubbling to the surface a day before the meeting could be convened.
"To me, it's a question of analyzing whether they should be built, and who pays," said Assemblymember John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), leader of the Assembly Democratic Caucus Water Working Group. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal of building three dams at a cost of more than $5 billion would require a record level of public financing, Laird added, because he is proposing the state come up with 50 percent of the cost for each dam.
A meeting before the full Senate is tentatively scheduled for Monday, though it's unclear whether a vote will take place.
"What happens at this point, I think, is anyone's guess," Cogdill said Tuesday. #
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/news/newsview.asp?c=226685
Column: Chamber wants water bond on ballot
By Jennifer McCoun, CEO of the
The Tulare Chamber of Commerce has recently been in contact with Valley legislators, urging them work toward placing a water bond which will address
Our agriculture industry, and our entire economy and existence, are dependent on safe and adequate amounts of available water. Yet in the past three decades, no significant new water infrastructure has been built to keep up with our growing population. The Delta, the hub of water delivery for the state, is in a crisis and our state doesn't have the flexibility or capacity to meet water needs for our growing population.
Conservation
Conservation and recycling are critical to ensure an adequate supply of water — but conservation alone cannot solve our state's water crisis.
We need comprehensive infrastructure improvements now. Passing a water infrastructure bond during the special session for the February 2008 ballot will provide the funding necessary to address the following critical issues:
- Build additional storage facilities. Temperatures are predicted to rise in the coming years, reducing the state's snow pack and water supply. We need to invest in water storage facilities now to capture water and ensure that we have available supply of safe, quality water in dry years to meet the needs of residents, businesses, agriculture and the environment. Additional storage will also assist in flood management efforts by allowing water to be moved downstream instead of topping over levees.
- Infrastructure improvements in the Delta. The Delta supplies drinking water for 25 million Californians, hundreds of thousands of businesses and 750,000 acres of farmland. The Delta, which is extremely susceptible to natural disasters, is in desperate need of improvements to ensure reliable transport of water throughout the state.
If there were an earthquake, for example, it is estimated Delta water would be curtailed for two years, choking all who depend on it. A dual conveyance facility that helps restore the Delta and safeguards precious water supply is critical to protecting our fragile economy.
- Improve water quality. A clean, safe, reliable source of drinking water is a necessity of life.
Already, water quality in the
Failing to proactively address
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071005/OPINION/710050362
DELTA LEVEES:
Sacrifice of thousands laid the foundation for us all; For $1 a day, they broke their bodies and gave their lives to build levees that still stand to this day
By Alex Breitler, staff writer
LOCKE - Connie King can say what every leaning, peeling building in this old Delta town used to be: that one a restaurant, that one a gambling hall, that one a house of ill repute.
But King, 84, knows little about the earlier days, when Chinese laborers by the thousands helped build the Delta as we know it today.
For all the talk about the estuary's troubles, from wobbly levees to dying fish, little is known about those who stood waist-deep in the water, scooping out muck and piling it aside until the land could be drained and farmed, earning up to a dollar a day to send back to their families in China.
King hopes what is known will never be forgotten. She'll help dedicate a monument next Saturday to those long-gone laborers.
"I've been fighting for this for 40 years," she said. "I waited and waited and waited. I thank God for me to live to 84 years old."
"A hundred miles of levee built, the tule marsh made fertile
Generations of knotted hands work and rework, reclaiming the land
Farms and orchards, grains and fruit trees mark our labor
Now this land becomes grand."
So penned
Leung, who died in 1999, reported that many Chinese came to the Delta after the Gold Rush. The state in 1861 passed legislation to reclaim the land, and Chinese laborers - under the direction of American developers - were tapped for this task.
Risking malaria in the swampy wetlands, they built pyramidal walls of sun-baked tule bricks, using wheelbarrows to fill in the middle with mud. Horses leveled the tops of the levees, wearing oversized horseshoes so they wouldn't sink.
The Chinese drained 88,000 acres of land in 20 years, Leung wrote. That's about one-tenth of the Delta. Eventually, clamshell machines were built to claw mud from the shallows and get the job done faster.
Many of the laborers stayed to farm the land, launching a rich agricultural tradition in the Delta.
But of the perhaps 1,000 Chinese who once lived in Locke, only 12 remain today. Standing in her home of six decades, King walks into her bedroom and pulls down a framed photograph of a distinguished-looking man in a suit.
This was Jim King, the grandfather of her late husband, Tommy King.
Jim King was a levee worker. He drowned in the 1880s while earning his dollar a day; his son, Tommy King's father, searched for a year but could never find the body.
Now an 8-foot pyramidal stone monument rises from little
Plaques bearing the names of Jim King and other known laborers will be cemented to the wall.
"Nobody knows about these things," Connie King said. "We never thought of asking questions (of the older generations) when we were young. Now they're all gone."
Ninety-year-old Ping Lee remembers hearing stories when he was a boy. His father, Locke co-founder "Charlie" Lee Bing, has been referred to as the Chinese godfather of the Delta.
Like King, Ping Lee remembers few specifics. The monument is a fitting tribute, said Lee, who owned a market in Walnut Grove for 50 years and still lives there.
"I don't think you could ever give them enough credit," he said.
Before reclamation, the Delta's low islands frequently flooded; the estuary was a vast tidal marsh.
Once farming began, the loose peat soil compacted and the land began to sink.
Some islands have lowered 28 feet below sea level - an elevation drop perhaps unmatched in the world, a team of experts said in a report earlier this year.
The sinking land on the dry side of levees increases pressure against the water side, triggering seepage and levee breaks during rainstorms and sunny days alike. Levees have broken at least 160 times in the past century, according to state reports, despite structural improvements over the years.
Levee breaks not only flood farmland and, in some places, homes, but they also disrupt the state's water system. Two-thirds of Californians get at least some of the water that is pumped from the Delta.
Today, government officials, water users and environmentalists argue over solutions - including a proposed peripheral canal that would carry water around the Delta rather than through it.
Those who began building the Delta as we know it in the 19th century could not possibly have conceived of its future problems, said Joe Enos, a Delta history expert who sits on the board of one of the estuary's many reclamation districts.
"They did a hell of a job for that time," Enos said. #
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071006/A_NEWS/710060326
Yuba
CBS Channel 13 (
"We feel like we've been dumped, abandoned. We feel like we helped out to pay for the levees," said Monique White, a resident.
"It's probably safety first. It's economic development with all the commercial development that's coming in," said Mary Jane Griego, Yuba Co. Board of Supervisors.
A standing room-only crowd of homeowners argued
Homeowners are hoping between now and the end of 2008 when the levee is finished, winter and mother nature will be kind to them. #
http://cbs13.com/topstories/local_story_276015038.html
Relocated water museum reopens as Diamond Valley Lake Visitor Center
Riverside Press
By Gail Wesson, staff writer
The visitor center had a soft opening Sept. 27 in what had been the short-lived Center for Water Education complex on
The school groups will start arriving for educational programs next week, with some school curriculum-based programs booked through June, said Lynda Poggenpohl a governmental and regional affairs representative for Metropolitan Water District.
The center hours will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, and there is no charge for admission. The separately operated
Signs are going up to direct visitors to the new location, Poggenpohl said. In the first four days, more than 300 people signed the guest book. They came from as far as
The lake, its viewpoint south of
"The people you meet are interested enough to come down. They have questions that are pertinent," said Claire Gillette, who was an Eastern Municipal Water District engineer and administrator before he retired. Gillette, 90, and his wife, Frances, 85, have volunteered as visitor-center docents since the original visitor center opened almost 12 years ago.
Visitors "have been interested in the intricacies of water, how we use it, why we use it ... and the fact that we need to use it more wisely," Frances Gillette said. She catches the attention of youngsters when she tells them how the water available today is the same water here when dinosaurs roamed the planet.
A big sign just inside the door brings up a major theme of the visitor center: "It's time to get serious about saving water." There are illustrations in the center with hints like washing full loads in the dishwasher and taking shorter showers.
The center is a resource on all sorts of water topics.
I did get two calls: 'Why are you guys closing streets? What are you doing out there?' " one caller asked Poggenpohl. She referred that caller to Eastern Municipal Water District, which has a project in progress in
The center has a small auditorium and a library of videos on water and energy-related topics.
Center for Water Education exhibits remain in the building and others will be added, with opportunities for hands-on learning. More items will be displayed in one exhibit on the Colorado River Aqueduct. And one alcove is set up with computers that are preset to water-related topics, children's activities and the
The visitor center may work with other public agencies and private organizations for changing exhibits, and recruit high school seniors to help with children's programming, she said.
The water district, meanwhile, continues to negotiate settlement of claims with contractors involved in building the facility. The nonprofit Center for Water Education foundation also is involved.
MWD created the foundation several years ago to raise funds and build the center. MWD's board voted to take the property back and terminate the lease with the foundation when the group was unable to raise enough money to meet expenses and pay a share of construction.
Some 42 claims have been settled, with about $3 million paid out, and another seven unresolved claims involve about $1 million, John Clairday, MWD senior deputy general counsel, said by phone. Clairday expects the issues to be resolved in the next few months.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation awarded a $5 million grant toward building construction and notified the water district in April that the grant might need to be repaid if MWD did not come up with an operations plan that fit the intent of the grant.
"I think what we're seeing here is Met fulfilling its commitment and opening up as soon as we could," Bob Muir, a district spokesman, said by phone. Clairday said the agency is working with state officials to arrange a site visit to show what has been done. #
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_H_water06.3e50b9a.html
RED BLUFF DIVERSION DAM:
Guest Commentary: Saving
Red Bluff Daily News – 10/6/07
By Lynn DeFreece, president of the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce
The headline says what appears to be the shared belief of the majority stakeholders in the use of the
Were it not for the issue of endangered and threatened fish, the dam would not face the uncertain future described in the release, in late summer, of 2002 of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) on a fish passage improvement project. The document offered many options that involve the future of the dam. Positions taken varied.
The Tehama Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) favors construction of massive pumping facilities near Red Bluff to ensure downstream water users a year-round water supply, as was originally intended, instead of just during the four summer months when the dam gates are lowered and the lake forms behind them to provide irrigation water. Its representatives have continued to hold that position in dealings with others involved, but there are some encouraging signs that TCCA would like to reach a solution that includes use of the dam.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was favoring gates down two months a year, instead of the four months as has been the case for many years, but since the draft EIS/EIR was recirculated earlier this year, some at the Bureau reportedly are ready to press for gates out as part of an overall system-wide operations plan to move water and save fish called (Operations Criteria and Planning or OCAP). Some environmental groups favor complete removal of the dam structure itself.
The City of Red Bluff, the Red Bluff-Tehama County Chamber of Commerce and many other groups and individuals have always held that the lake should remain, at least four months a year and possibly longer if all groups work together to come up with a plan that will save threatened fish by improving the fish ladders and installing a smaller pumping plant to meet the year round demands for water.
A meeting on Sept. 19 at the offices of the Glenn Colusa Irrigation District in
U.S. Rep. Wally Herger and his staff get much of the credit for bringing about the meeting of the various stakeholders, although various groups had been seeking such a gathering.
Representing Herger was his local field representative Dave Meurer. Others at the session included Red Bluff City Councilmen Forrest Flynn and Dan Irving, as well as City Attorney Richard Crabtree. Representing the Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce were president Lynn DeFreece and board member Marshall Pike. Tehama County Supervisors George Russell and Bob Williams were there, as was Public Works Director Gary Antone.
Besides our local officials, there were representatives from the United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), the United States National Marine Fisheries Services (NMFS), GCID, Northern California Water Association (NCWA), and the Tehama Colusa Canal Authority (TCCA) were also at the meeting. The meeting was guided by a facilitator, Adam Saslow of Newfields Consensus Solutions LLC with support from John Schoonover of CH2MHILL's
Many readers of this series of articles may recall that a similar collective was involved in discussions beginning in 1999 when the Fish Passage Improvement Project began its public process. At the table Sept. 19 were only three or four individuals who were in attendance back then, although all the same agencies were represented.
In this series, we have chronicled those areas, including the concerns about the shortcomings of the process to produce a draft EIS/EIR and the many deficiencies in the document itself. We have shown the need for greater disclosure regarding the Canal Authority's preferred alternative of an expensive, massive pumping plant to replace the already paid for Red Bluff Diversion Dam. We told the reader about the belated entry of yet another species of concern, the green sturgeon, while the draft EIS/EIR is largely concerned with the passage of salmon.
At the meeting, CH2MHILL, the planning consultants to the Canal Authority and the Bureau of Reclamation would not predict when they would have the final document with responses to the hundreds of comments they have received.
But both agencies committed to giving the community a reasonable amount of time to judge for themselves if the results are satisfactory, something Red Bluff officials have insisted on but which until the meeting they had received no assurances they would get it. The City has made no secret that it eagerly awaits the response to comments made concerning the document and will consider further actions if it perceives it and other involved groups have not been treated fairly. The City has retained the services of qualified fisheries specialists to comment on key aspects of the EIS/EIR. Rep. Herger's office was also insistent that there be adequate time for review before a Record of Decision is published.
Saving the dam is the best idea, but it is important to recognize there is the possibility a judge might rule that the dam is "taking" an endangered species without a permit. That could force the TCCA and the Bureau to end impoundment.
That's an unacceptable risk for everyone involved. Out of fear that this could happen, the prudent managers and members of the TCCA have been looking for a contingency plan. What they've come up with is the pumping facility at the Diamond Mill site as the most acceptable to fisheries people and some environmentalists.
We have argued that the plant will have its own set of problems. There is ample evidence that even well-designed plants can be fish traps. Just as the
TCCA Board Chairman, Ken LaGrande, expressed his organization's position best: "We love the dam at Red Bluff and the lake that it creates. We would love to see it remain. But we can be sure that at some time in the future these fish passage problems will require new and different solutions. Because the four counties contain over 150,000 acres of farmland that must be irrigated, TCCA must plan for the worst possible case. The levels of water supply and reliability that we need are something that cannot be provided when the dam is operated for just four (let alone two) months of the year."
To retain the dam for recreation purposes must be a component of any new decision and any new funding authorization should reflect the legitimate use of the impoundment to support the recreation needs of the community and to mitigate any loss. The Bureau of Reclamation has experience in supporting the recreation development of other water related facilities in
We have set the stage for controlling the destiny of north state water users and managing area growth. The Governor's comprehensive water infrastructure proposal, announced the same day as the September 19th meeting, calls for a significant commitment to developing and managing water resources in
"Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting," is an old Western saw. Instead of a fight, we see the door opened. Stakeholders can work together in a common struggle.
We may not agree on the route to get there, but the end result seems to be shared.
Make the lake and the river work to benefit the fish, the farm and the community. #
http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/ci_7103900
BROWN ACT ISSUES:
AVEK attorney studying possible oversights
By Alisha Semchuck, staff writer
PALMDALE - Mistakes and oversights might be responsible for possible Brown Act violations by the Antelope Valley-East Kern Water Agency board.
That's how AVEK attorney William Brunick explained the allegations of wrongdoing in a letter he wrote to Jennifer Lentz Snyder, assistant head deputy of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Public Integrity Division.
Brunick responded immediately to a letter the AVEK Board of Directors received from Snyder on Sept. 26 - correspondence that informed them a complaint had been filed with the DA's office claiming they violated the Ralph M. Brown Act, a portion of the California Government Code which regulates the way meetings by public agencies must be conducted.
"We are in receipt of your correspondence … regarding alleged Brown Act violations," Brunick wrote.
"Per our discussion," Brunick said, referring to a telephone conversation between him and Snyder, "we intend to review each item and … to cure and correct where appropriate. We will also correct any deficiencies found on a go-forward basis.
"As we discussed, these appear to be mistakes and oversights. There is no intention on the part of the board or the agency staff to deceive or mislead anyone," Brunick assured.
In Snyder's letter, without identifying the person or persons who filed the complaint, she cited the alleged violations - especially pertaining to the July 10 meeting, when the board voted 4-2 - with one abstention - to close escrow 45 days early on property near 60th Street West and Gaskell Road in Rosamond, the site selected for a proposed water bank.
Snyder said the board seems to have failed to provide adequate notice of matters to be considered on its meeting agenda that would be discussed in closed session - items that possibly fall outside the boundaries defined by law as permissible closed session topics.
She said it also appears the board failed "to permit public comment as required by law." She also questioned whether the agency's attorney was present in the closed session portion of the meeting because his name was specifically listed in the attendance roster, although each agenda item stated "closed session conference with legal counsel."
Snyder also indicated that some agenda items lacked sufficient description of the matters under consideration or were, at best, confusing.
"The apparent violations listed herein are cause for significant concern," Snyder wrote. However, she pointed out that a "number of factual questions … remain to be answered." Therefore, she added, "We will withhold our final findings, and any appropriate action … until your agency has the opportunity to provide the information requested … and any explanation or authority which you believe is relevant."
Brunick informed Snyder that he might "not be able to provide a point-by-point response" to her letter by Oct. 1, as she had requested. "Nonetheless, I assure you that the board wants to comply with both the letter and spirit of the law. I do not anticipate that a formal demand for cure and correct will be necessary. If I review any items where I disagree with your analysis, I will contact you promptly."
Brunick assured Snyder she would have his research findings by Wednesday.
In his report to the board, Brunick said, "We take comments in (Snyder's) letter seriously. We will respond to those comments in detail - item by item. She seems satisfied with that. We will continue to work with her. A lot of these things can be fixed."
Furthermore, Brunick talked with the board about reviewing elements of the Brown Act.
He also emphasized the crucial need for water banking at this time, the reason the agency purchased the farmland in Rosamond.
"Right now water banking and growth are the most critical things in this agency," Brunick said. "If a bank doesn't get started, there needs to be a moratorium on building in both counties," he added, referring to Kern and
"That may satisfy the public," Brunick said, "but it's not good for the economy." #
http://www.avpress.com/n/06/1006_s10.hts
OROVILLE RELICENSING:
Supervisors to get report on fight with DWR
OROVILLE -- Tuesday the Butte County Board of Supervisors will be revisiting a familiar topic when they get a review on their ongoing fight with the state Department of Water Resources over the relicensing of the Oroville Dam water and power complex.
The county's Washington D.C.-based attorney Carol Smoots will make a presentation at 10:30 a.m. during the board's regular meeting.
For years
The state water agency asking the Federal Energy Regulator Commission to renew its license to operate the facility. DWR's original 50-year license expired the first of this year.
FERC can put stipulations on the licensing ordering DWR to do things, such as ordering DWR to defray county expenses, make payments in lieu of taxes to the county to cover lost property tax, order the state to provide low-cost electricity to county residents, or the agency can reject all of the county's claims and issue the license with no special requirements.
The FERC report is what is called a "time certain" item that is supposed to take place at the scheduled time of as soon after as possible.
Also during Tuesday's meeting, the supervisors will consider alternative ways for people living in unincorporated communities to get their voices heard by the board.
According to a document prepared by, Shari McCracken, deputy county administrator, there has been a recent upswing of interest among people living in such communities to have a "greater voice with the Board of Supervisors."
The residents can create informal community organizations or go all the way up to elected municipal advisory councils.
The board will be asked Tuesday to review McCracken's report and perhaps give the county staff direction on what way to go with these community organizations.
9 a.m. Tuesday
Administrative Building,
Oroville. #
http://www.chicoer.com//ci_7114057?IADID=Search-www.chicoer.com-www.chicoer.com
SBF moving forward with large projects
Oroville Mercury Register – 10/7/07
By Mary Weston, staff writer
Some disagreements centered on the criteria set by the committee to fund projects through the SBF and the language in Appendix B of the relicensing agreement.
The criteria for large projects states projects must be a non profit or overseen by a governmental agency. However, when the committee considered small project applications, this language was not included to allow for more versatility. Originally, Bill Cochran had suggested some private business might want to do a project that would be good for the community. One example was the owner of a business on the river might want to install a fishing pier. The non profit status was not included in the language describing small projects.
Consequently, grants were given to some small projects that did not have a non profit status. Then the discussion came up again last month when applicants for economic development projects presented their projects to the steering committee.
At last week's meeting, the steering committee again considered the "for profit status" associated with a grant application by Solar City Productions. Committee members expressed various ideas. Some said the criteria for large projects should apply to economic development projects also. Some were unsure.
City Attorney Dwight Moore said the SBF steering committee ultimately has to make all the decisions about funding, and the committee isn't bound by any board or body.
"The buck stops here,"
However, both applicants for Economic Development funding withdrew their grant applications. Paul MacBeth of the Greater Oroville Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber was withdrawing because the Feather River Recreation and Park District board had already instructed their two representatives how to vote, so applying for funds was moot. He also said they were not going to submit a line item budget for the project, as that had not been part of the grant guidelines.
Patrick Bulmer also said he would withdraw the
Committee members eventually agreed to take another look at the criteria, not to make changes, but to define what the existing language means.
The committee also discussed FRRPD's rating and ranking of the projects before the SBF meeting. Jim Prouty, a city SBF rep, said that bypassed the public process, as the FRRPD reps had already made up their minds before projects were presented at the SBF meeting.
Many said this made the SBF rating, ranking and voting a redundant process that was unfair to applicants. FRRPD boardmember Vene Thompson said the FRRPD rating and ranking took place at public FRRPD meetings that anyone could attend. Another FRRPD board member, Loren Gill, asked if the SBF committee was subject to the Brown Act.
FRRPD General Manager Bob Sharkey said it wasn't any different from the Lake Oroville Joint Powers Authority. The JPA reps all took decisions back to their governing boards for decisions, he said.
Gordon Andoe said he had chaired the JPA for four years, and he didn't remember the Oroville City Council telling him how to vote before the meetings. Andoe said the SBF committee represented the whole community and not just the agencies they represented.
Mayor Steve Jernigan agreed with Andoe that the SBF should act for the good of the entire community. The majority agreed that the rating and ranking should take place at the SBF level, and representatives should make decisions on the projects at the steering committee meetings.
City Administrator Sharon Atteberry said the large projects that the steering committee is considering now have a very detailed criteria. Atteberry said she will provide an analysis of the grant applications for the committee to review before they are rated and ranked by the SBF committee.
The analysis would evaluate the grant applications for completeness. This would allow the SBF Committee to give the applicants time to provide more information or documents if their applications weren't complete.
Sharkey said FRRPD should be part of the analysis, but city reps disagreed, saying the committee member's jobs were to rate and rank projects and to select them for funding.
Dave Steindorf, of American Whitewater, an advisory SBF member, said the first part of a feasibility study for a whitewater rafting park in the Oroville area will be finished soon. The feasibility study will be presented to the SBF committee. The first part of the study will present the various types of whitewater parks and potential locations.
Additionally, the SBF will be hiring a part-time employee for the Oroville Redevelopment Agency to work on SBF business. One upcoming need is for a strategic plan. The plan needs to be in place before the Committee can receive another $4.5 million upon the issuance to the California Department of Water Resources of a new license to generate electricity at the
If a 50-year license is issued, the SBF will receive $1 million a year thereafter over the license period, plus grant writing assistance to bring in more money. The State Water Contractors and DWR provide money for the SBF fund to benefit the community outside the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission boundaries under Appendix B of the settlement agreement. #
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