Davis joins IWD board

The vacant position on the Idyllwild Water District (IWD) board was
filled last week. At its Feb. 27 meeting, the Riverside County Board of
Supervisors approved the appointment of R. Mitchell Davis to the IWD
board.

The seat has been vacant for nearly a year. Last March, former director
Gene Schneider announced his intention to resign from the board. His
resignation letter was received April 5, according to former General
Manager Leo Havener.

At a special meeting June 7, 2023, the IWD board had two applicants —
Davis and Jessica Priefer — willing to fill Schneider’s vacancy. The
board split, two directors for each and two opposed to the other. Since
the board could not agree to a replacement (it has 60 days to make the
choice), the decision went to the county supervisors, who also did not
make a choice.

The IWD board did not request that the vacancy be included on the
November 2023 ballot. But it did ask the registrar of voters to include
it on the March 5 Presidential Primary Ballot.

During the nomination period, only Davis filed candidacy papers.
Consequently, with only one person qualifying for the election, the
Registrar’s Office did not need to include this race on the actual March
5 ballot. Last week, the registrar sent a request to the board of
supervisors to appoint Davis since he was the only qualified person to
file papers for the election.

Tuesday, Feb. 27, the board unanimously approved Davis’s appointment.

Though he graduated from San Marcos High School, he attended 19
different schools from primary grades through high school as a
consequence of his father being in the military.

He married Denise, his high school sweetheart, 47 years ago. They have
two sons.

His family has a water industry background. Both his father and
grandfather were in water operations. In fact, after high school, while
visiting his father, who was working at Rancho Santa Fe Water, Davis
became fascinated with the treatment plant operations. Subsequently, he
began taking classes, enjoyed it and passed all his state examinations.

After graduation, he started working and retired at Yuima Water
District, which is in the Pauma Valley of San Diego County. It is
primarily an agricultural district with 350 customers.

In 2019, when he was preparing for retirement, Mitch and Denise wanted
to move from Pauma Valley. They had been visiting the Hill for more than
20 years to camp and enjoy the mountains.

Nearly 50 years ago, his first trip to the Hill was similar to many
other ultimate residents — with the Boy Scouts.

“We came so often to visit,” he said, “we decided to live here instead.”

After settling into their new home, his water background continued to
resurface. Since 2019, he has been attending IWD board meetings and
asking questions about its operation and management.

When asked what he saw as IWD’s priorities, he deferred his response. “I
can’t do anything until I know its strengths and weaknesses. I’ll hold
off,” he replied.

However, at the November IWD meeting, he did raise some questions about
the status of fire hydrants and their repair.

“At Yuima, I often did fire hydrant maintenance. We fixed them within a
week or week and half,” he related. “There is no excuse to be out of
service for more than a month.”

Then he added, “I guess I still think operationally instead of
politically.”

He also declined to state an opinion about future rate increases.
However, he noted that having read Idyllwild’s Rate Study, he believed
IWD’s strategy for annual increases over a five-year period is
preferable to Yuima’s policy of several small incremental increases each
year.

Employee salaries were another topic on which he had some general
comments. He noted that at Yuima, the salaries and benefits were based
on employee longevity. When he retired, there were five employees with a
combined 110 years of experience, but he noted that the longest service
at IWD was nine years.

He felt the salaries, work environment and other issues may be affecting
staff tenure.

When questioned about possible reasons for the IWD water production to
be growing each year since 2019, while the other local districts do not
reflect a similar pattern, he attributed it to temporary usage from the
number of tourists and short-term rental units in the district.

But he does favor stronger conservation policies, such as for low-flush
toilets and low-flow shower heads and faucets at house sinks.

Schneider’s term began December 2022 and was to end in December 2026.
Since more than two years are left in the term, there will be an
election to fill the final two years.

Davis has already committed to seeking election to the half-term and
then full-term. “When I applied for the position last April, I told the
board that I was doing this for the long haul,” he affirmed.

“I’m a nuts-and-bolts guy,” he said describing his objectives. “Really,
all I want to do is pass on some knowledge. It’s like a water fountain —
you can drink out of it or ignore it.”