Board approves 4/10 workweek and purchase of stand-by generator

Three individuals have submitted applications to fill the vacancy left by Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) Director Trischa Clark. The board will have a special meeting at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12 to interview and select Clark’s replacement before the district’s next regular board meeting Oct. 16. The final day to submit an application for those interested in filling Clark’s vacancy is Oct. 9.
The board of directors approved keeping a 4/10 work schedule. Director James Rees was the lone no vote.
One of the directors commented that there are no vehicles in the district’s office parking lot some Fridays and Mondays and asked how the district handles the office when no one is at the office.
General Manager Victor Jimenez responded “It is the same as a Saturday or Sunday. Those days are not operating hours. It has not been a problem and the schedule is actually more effective because staff is here longer hours.” The district, according to Jimenez, tends to see issues arise in the evening or early morning. Staff has gone out as a courtesy to assist customers with thawing frozen pipes, especially those new to the mountain, and get the roads to district facilities plowed early so the roads are cleared before the majority of roadway activity.
“We have been doing 4/10 workhours for 15 months and it is working well,” said Jimenez.
The board unanimously approved the purchase of a stand-by generator from Northern Tool + Equipment for $5,576.14. The item, presented at last

month’s meeting, was tabled to the September meeting after Director Robert Krieger “asked how much more a larger generator would cost for the replacement generator for the district office. The district currently has an 8,000-watt generator at the district office which is incapable of running the office air conditioning during a power outage, delivering only about 70 amps of power,” the staff report reads. It was determined that a 22,000-watt generator would cost $800 more than the previously proposed 16,000-watt generator.
Jimenez gave an update on the status of the community siren during his general manager’s report. He is hoping to bring a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the board soon. Another MOU had to be drafted when the Idyllwild Water District decided to vacate of the project.
Jimenez also reported that there have been no issues with meter readings and there have been positive results with the data logging. When customers have called to dispute their bill, the district will send field staff out to data log the meter, which gives a snapshot of the usage every five minutes. This dissolves any billing disputes, according to Jimenez.
The district is on track to get two new fire hydrants installed a week as long as the workload permits. The goal is to install the hydrants on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. There are about 30 fire hydrants left to replace.
Residential water consumption is up almost 200,000 cubic feet over September 2019 from 896,878 to 1,095,488 and multiple connection consumption is down by 61,722 cubic feet, almost half. However, water sales are still up 17% over last year. In addition, the current demand is averaging about 137 gallons per minute, according to the general manager’s report and “The filter plant remains online because total organic carbon (TOC) levels continue to drop in the creeks.”