IWD GM cleaning up issues

The March 30 meeting of the Idyllwild Water District (IWD) Board of
Directors included the swearing in of Mitch Davis to the fill a seat
that has been vacant for the last year.

This also was the first meeting at which interim General Manager (GM)
Curt Sauer was able to give a report of his management style in action.
Sauer began his service the first week of Feb. , after the board voted
to terminate then-GM Leo Havener, first putting him on one month’s
administrative leave.

The longest public comment came from John Jacobs, longterm resident and
IWD ratepayer. Jacobs expressed appreciation for the difficult decisions
the board has made recently including the “need for a change in
leadership and management” and the “the reinstatement of a couple of key
employees that had honorable histories here and deserved more
opportunity.” This was the first public reference to the return of Tyla
Wheeler to the office and Brian Wilson to the field. Fired by the last
GM, Sauer put both on administrative leave as he began to sort through
the district’s personnel issues. Later, President Charles Schelly
confirmed that the former GM’s chief water operator has been placed on
administrative leave.

Sauer began his operations report with a recap of the all-employee
team-building meetings he had called. He said he had asked staff two
questions: “What do you need to be better at what you do?” and “What do
you need to turn the district into something you could be proud of?” The
top three answers to the first were: Office staff need to go into the
field to see operations, better communications and radio communications,
and improved record keeping and documentation. The top answers to the
second question were: customer relations, cost savings, and improving
communications between field and office.

In a sign that these exercises are leading to action, Sauer noted that
“office staff is shadowing field staff to gain a better understanding in
the field.” This will take up to four hours once a month. Sauer
underlined that the office staff is the face of the organization, and he
hears calls from ratepayers with concerns. “We can do a better job
training [office staff about operations] so they can relay that to the
public.”

Sauer noted that work had finally begun on the lower office, with the
foundation in progress and heating and AC being installed that day. The
parking area will be repaved and the district’s field crew has
voluntarily cleaned up the property in preparation for landscape
improvements. 

Planning for the largest undertaking, replacing the aging Waste Water
Treatment Plant (WWTP), is going slowly. The firm in charge of the
initial plans is still three months away from finishing 30% of the
engineering, a benchmark that allows the application process for grants
and loans to begin. Sauer noted three things that have held this up: the
geotechnical report, “which we have received;” the 30-day period for
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) tribal consultation, ending
April 13; and another 30-day comment period for the entire CEQA, which
will be “about the end of May.”

Although most of IWD’s meters were recently replaced, there were still a
few old units in service, all in especially difficult situations. Four
of these tricky replacements have been completed, and now only seven
remain. About 15 of the new meters each month do not read remotely; “We
are looking into changing out their MXUs, the signal producing box on
top of the meters.” This will save time staff spends manually reading
these. Sauer’s “housecleaning” includes some literal housecleaning: the
maintenance shop has been inventoried and staff has identified “surplus
property,” also know as “piles of junk, that will be removed by the end
of the summer.”

Sauer also addressed one of the issues which had caused friction between
IWD and Idyllwild Fire Protection District (IFPD). His operations report
includes a note that it was based on data from Feb. 2024, and two items
that are part of “non water sales” (water that was lost or used
internally and not sold) were “based on data submitted by employees no
longer collecting that data, and I will be revisiting those.”

These items were WWTP back wash, 10,000 gallons and fire department
usage per IFPD, 100,000 gallons. This last was the bone of contention.
The previous GM was claiming a uniform monthly 100,000 gallons in
nonmetered water IFPD used, but IFPD had stopped using IWD hydrants for
training activities and had worked out a plan with Fern Valley Water,
collecting hydrant flushing water and reusing it. This, it follows,
would have skewed all of the former GM’s monthly loss figures.

One item was removed from the consent calendar, the approval of minutes
from the last several months. Director Stephen Olson noticed errors in
the submitted corrected versions and asked that these be repaired.

Schelly also noted that the interim GM’s contract was included in the
board packet. Public employees have public contracts. Sauer is being
paid $144,000 annually, with few perks, one being the use of a district
vehicle for commuting, or reimbursement for mileage. Sauer’s pay is less
than that of the former GM, whose pay was $168,000, with perks bringing
it up to $180,000, according to publicpay.ca.gov.

Sauer has hired colleagues on a part-time basis to assist while the
chief water operator is on leave: Randy Little from Joshua Basin Water
District and Bill Rojas from Oceanside. Each comes one day a week.
Little’s 33 years of water experience includes expertise with the SCADA
data acquisition systems the district depends on. Rojas has been coming
up Fridays for training.

Thursday and Friday, 11 applicants from a field of 24 were to be
interviewed for the operator in training position open with the
departure of a commuting employee who found a job a few minutes from his
home. In other employee news, office manager Kayla Stevens has begun
billing system training, and Wilson has received his certification for
grades D2 and T2. 

After the public session the board went into closed session to discuss
exposure to litigation. No action was reported from that session. The
next regular session is 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 17.