Idyllwild Water District Director Vic Sirkin shared with his colleagues five pages of questions regarding recent board action and pending decisions Monday morning.

Among the issues Sirkin hopes the board will re-consider or consider with more legal input or analysis are the new rate structure, the long-time policy of “pre-paid water,” staffing issues and not just the waste water treatment manager, but the eventual hiring of a permanent general manager, and the cost and priority of capital-improvement projects.

In his letter, Sirkin wrote, “As a new board, there is much to learn and evaluate yet there always seems to be a rush to action. It is disquieting. Access to legal explanations and opinions will provide the needed education this board requires for future planning …”

Sirkin is very unsatisfied with the new water-rate structure and particularly with its continuation of the concept of “pre-paid water.” First, he argues that ultimately the current structure favors commercial users over residential, who pay more per gallon for usage of more than 3,500 gallons.

Besides a personal concern over the equity of the policy, he felt the public comments during the meeting raised some questions with merit about the recently approved water-rate structure. He urged the board to obtain a written opinion from its legal counsel regarding compliance with Proposition 218.

Later in the meeting, General Manager Jack Hoagland said he had an email stating that opinion and would share it with the directors.

The current policy gives residential customers about 2,250 gallons monthly at no cost. But as usage increases, the per-gallon cost for residential customers exceeds the cost for commercial customers.

Sirkin raised several concerns and questions about the “free or pre-paid” water policy that does not encourage conservation. Secondly, for customers such as single people and part-time customers, they seldom consume the pre-paid amount. Consequently, they subsidize the other users.

The district should establish a reasonable and fair base rate to cover the basic operating expenses and then charge all customers the same amount for each unit of water consumed, Sirkin opined.

“Charging for water actually used will promote conservation and many will see a smaller bill,” he wrote.

He also argued that changing the water policy would make Idyllwild’s fee policy similar to the other two local districts — Fern Valley and Pine Cove.

An evaluation of pipelines and a long-term plan for maintenance, repair and replacement is necessary, he urged his colleagues.

The need to decide whether to use a Riverside County grant for replacing 3,000 feet of pipe has raised these questions. The grant is for $155,000. When the previous board applied for it, the estimated total project cost was about $450,000. Recently, Hoagland has told the board that the total project cost may approach $600,000 to $675,000, without provisions for oversight and change orders.

Since this is about a fifth or a quarter of the district’s reserves, Sirkin is asking what the total districtwide need and cost is for pipeline repair and replacement.

He concluded with this advice. “To promote absolute transparency and fairness to all, we need to be in a position of knowledge … not only the knowledge but also the reasoning behind all critical decisions.

“All of us are smarter than one of us, … Now we need to pause, think together and take more time — if necessary — to make decisions that will work for us in the long term.”

Plans purchase of new equipment for water plant

In a special meeting of the Idyllwild Water District Monday morning, the board unanimously approved a new memorandum of understanding with the Idyllwild Arts Foundation. The agreement deals with water connection fees and replaces a 2013 MOU.

Four years ago, the school paid the district $150,000 in advance for water fees. As of today, about $123,000 remains. IWD is returning this money to Idyllwild Arts because the recently approved water rules and regulations emphasize the size of the customer’s water meter. In the future, if the school requires a larger meter, it will “pay the then prevailing water facilities connection fees …,” according to the board.

The board also easily approved General Manager Jack Hoagland’s recommendation to purchase two new pumps for the wastewater treatment plant. The total cost, including installation, will be about $43,000.

The district has two pumps, one of which is broken. Both have needed extensive repair over their lifetime, according to Hoagland. The new pumps will chop “non-organic” material, which gets into the sewer system and damages the current pumps.

“We need to do something,” he urged the board. “The new pumps will be less maintenance and last longer between rebuild.”

Director Steve Kunkle concurred that the new pump would work better and be less of a problem. “I think it is needed,” he added.

However, the third item, a request to approve a job description and salary range for a field operations supervisor, failed for lack of motion. For several years, the district has sought a chief sewer operator without success. Consequently, it has had to contract for part-time oversight from the California Rural Water Association. This has cost the district about $12,000 monthly.

Using a recruit firm, Hoagland found a candidate he wished to hire for about $85,000 annually. The job description gave the person full management authority for the waste-water system and oversight of the water distribution system.

Several directors raised questions about the long-term success of the arrangement. After taking some time to consider the proposal, none of the directors (Peter Szabadi was absent) offered a motion to accept Hoagland’s recommendation.

During the closed session, Director Vic Sirkin submitted his resignation to President Dr. Charles Schelly. He resigned for health reasons and stressed that it was unrelated to his letter addressing recent board decisions (see story at left). He is confident his former colleagues will address these issues and wishes he could participate, but does not believe it would be beneficial for his current health conditions.

About 8 a.m. Saturday, July 8, deputies responded to Humber Park regarding notice of a deceased hiker.

The Riverside County Sheriff Department’s Aviation Unit, Coroner’s Bureau and the Sheriff’s Department volunteers from the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit assisted with the recovery.

The body of George J. Wu, 51, of Newport Beach was recovered from the Ernie Maxwell Scenic Hiking Trail. When the sheriff’s deputy and RMRU found Wu’s body, he was alone with no evidence of which type of climbing he might have undertaken that morning.

The preliminary investigation determined Wu likely suffered traumatic injuries from a fall while climbing.

His Facebook page noted that he was an experienced climber.

Of the two Hill crashes that occurred last week, one involved a California Highway Patrol officer.

At 8:15 a.m. Thursday, July 6, California Highway Patrol Officer Graham Aanestad, 32, was driving his black 2011 Ford Expedition eastbound on Highway 74, 3.3 miles west of McCall Park Road. Behind him in a white 2014 Toyota Forerunner was Kelsi Lehman, 32, of San Jacinto.

Aanestad received a radio alert that an officer had stopped a motorist in Hemet and discovered the car was stolen. This is considered a “high risk” stop since, with a stolen car, the driver could be armed. Aanestad, according to the report, activated his lights and siren, and began to execute a U-turn when, at the same time, Lehman began to pass him on the left. She collided with Aanestad’s cruiser. Neither vehicle was significantly damaged, and there were no injuries.

At 3 p.m. also on Thursday, Danielle Olszewski, 30, of Oceanside, was driving her silver 2003 VW Jetta westbound on Highway 74 just west of Palm Canyon Drive when she made an unsafe turning movement that caused her vehicle to hit the mountainside and overturn. Olszewski complained of neck pain but did not request medical transport. Her vehicle was towed from the scene.