IFPD chief gives FVWD $5,000 for siren contribution

Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD) Chief Mark LaMont attended the Fern Valley Water District (FVWD) Board of Directors meeting last Friday morning for several reasons.

He thanked the district for replacing about 47 fire hydrants saying that helps raise the community’s Insurance Service Office’s (ISO) fire rating, giving property owners better insurance rates, insurance rebates and possibly reassuring insurers who want to cancel policies.

He said Idyllwild currently has an 81 out of 100, an ISO of 2. He believes FVWD’s efforts will give the community additional credits but does not believe it will be able to reach 90 to get the ultimate ISO 1 rating for some time.

He emphasized that customers should visit https://idyllwildfire.com/uploads/3/5/0/1/35016909/iso_rating_2_announcement_letter.pdf to download the document and pass it on to their insurer as, he said, most insurers do not know this fact.

He, along with IFPD Office Manager Rachel Teeguarden, gave the board and staff good news that the Riverside County Board of Supervisors had given IFPD a Community Development Block Grant fund of $10,000 for the first of what LaMont hopes will be three emergency sirens in the community — the first one currently at IFPD’s station.

Because FVWD contributed to the siren, LaMont handed FVWD General Manager Victor Jimenez a $5,000 check from the grant.

He said FVWD, IFPD and Riverside County’s partnership amounted to $25,000, and the labor and pole were donated for a total of $30,000.

LaMont hopes the next two sirens will be in FVWD’s yard and somewhere near Idyllwild Arts so that emergency warnings reach all of Idyllwild and Pine Cove.

In financials, FVWD President Richard Schnetzer asked what was the reason for a $9,192.25 payment to the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in December.

Assistant General Manager Jessica Priefer said it is a required fee paid once a year. A SWRCB engineer is assigned to FVWD to analyze its water, said Jimenez. Out of less than 1,178 service connections, the cost is around $5 per customer.

All the water districts within a service area are charged the same, said Vice President Robert Krieger.

On Feb. 24, SWRCB will be doing its five-year inspection, Jimenez said.

A few months back, the board — because of COVID — had requested Priefer provide a report on customers in arrears. In December’s report, only 17 customers were delinquent more than 90 days at a total of $6,222. Jimenez said, “I’d like to request this as a bimonthly report.” He said it was a lot of work for Priefer and suggested it only at the fiscal year’s end.

But Krieger wanted to know comparisons before and during the pandemic to which Jimenez said, “It doesn’t seem to be affected by the pandemic; it’s not a significant change.”

Priefer’s report gave three cycles, the third being over 90 days late. Director Jon Brown said, “I’m only interested in Cycle 3 … Can we do it quarterly?”

Priefer added that she’s never written off a delinquent payment.

The board and staff discussed a chart Jimenez created showing water consumption by two-month periods from 2015 to 2021.

Director Walt Bonneau asked how many more connections have been added since 2015. “Jimenez said, “Maybe two.”

Jimenez said usage had decreased from 4% to 5% per year. “I think what this chart shows more than anything else is there’s no pattern here … The meters were very inaccurate so we were not billing for everyone.”

Brown said, “Maybe people are conserving more.”

At this point Bonneau and Brown discussed short-term rentals, which Bonneau believes have increased from his observations as he walks Fern Valley Road.

But Bonneau concluded, “If the AirBnBs have had an impact, according to this chart, it hasn’t affected water usage.”

Jimenez said, “The creek’s giving us a lot of water right now; we’re not using the wells.”

Brown noted that the electricity expense is at 70% of the fiscal year budget (ending June 30, 2022). Jimenez said it will drop because FVWD is only using surface water right now and not the pumps.

A long discussion ensued on the rain barrel capture program.

Ultimately, the board decided only to vote theoretically on three outstanding issues just to have a complete program to finally vote on in February: amount of rebate, whether existing systems would be included and rules/regulations. In February, the board also will decide whether to discontinue the toilet rebate program with its $19,000 coffers transferred to the new program, and also whether to apply the $5,000 FVWD received from LaMont to the new rebate program’s coffers.

First, the board unanimously agreed to offer these rebates:

$50: 50-149 gallons

$100: 150-249 gallons

$150: 250-999 gallons or greater

Second, the board theoretically voted to eliminate existing rain capture systems from the program with only Krieger dissenting.

Third, rules and regulations were sent back to the program’s committee, Bonneau and Brown, to further develop.

The board voted Priefer in again as board secretary. Each officer serves two-year terms. Schetzer’s term ended this month and Krieger was accepted as president; Bonneau vice president; Erb as secretary/treasurer; and Schetzer and Brown as members at large.

Committee assignments were given, too, for budget, planning, personnel and ad hoc groups.