IWD Board approves vehicle purchases

The Directors of the Idyllwild Water District met this month at the Idyllwild Fire Protection District meeting room, as their own board room is under construction. Board President Charles Schelly acknowledged the recent resignation of director Steve Kunkle. He said, in answer to a question from the public, that the board would not attempt to fill the empty seat before the November election, and said the “most likely scenario” was that voters would know about Kunkle’s resignation and so the other three candidates, Schelly, Vice President Peter Szabadi, and candidate Jessica Priefer, would get more votes and be sworn in at the November meeting.

GM Bill Rojas told the board that the acquisition from the Idyllwild Arts Academy of the land for the new Wastewater Treatment Plant has been finalized and recorded with the county. This summer we heard that the lot adjustment documents had to be resubmitted several times due to small errors. Rojas also said that the engineering firm Dudek has completed their independent review of the initial engineering design for the plant, and Rojas said he will set up a meeting with staff and Dudek to go over their responses to comments and recommendations. Rojas reported that “Dudek has said that the overall design is good but noted there are some complicated operations questions/details that need to be addressed.” Specifically, he said that the some of the design is not automated, and the new plant should be capable of remote operation and adjustment. The GM also reported that he had met this week with the California Special Districts Association in regard to grant funding sources, both state and federal.

The board discussed several expenses on the financial report. Director Steve Olson noted that the SCE bill was over $12 thousand, double what was budgeted. CFO Hosny Shouman noted that this was due to increased pumping costs. When Foster Lake well 1-A was taken off-line to replace the uranium filter media, the district had to rely on a pair of downtown wells, one 900 feet deep, the other 1,100. Rojas noted “It takes a lot of energy to get the water up to the top of the wellhead.” This water then had to be pumped uphill to the tanks. This, Shouman explained, was a 24/7 operation, and so outside any “Time of Use” (TOU) discounts. The filter media was also expensive, the largest item is $15,000 of “Water Maintenance and Supplies.” Rojas added that the district knew the media had to be replaced when the lab notified them that readings were outside their normal range. Shouman confirmed that disposal of the media will show up on an upcoming statement.

The GM’s report noted 11% water loss. Five leaks were mentioned, including main line leaks on North Circle at Alderwood, and on Westridge. Rojas noted that “Dig Alerts” took a lot of staff time this month. These were mostly due to pole replacement work by Edison. In most months the district may get five or ten, but this month staff responded to over 100 Dig Alerts.

Rojas reported that the recently recoated Foster Lake Tank #3 has been refilled and will be online again after the lab has given it a clean test result. He also told the board that the newly mandated state lead and copper service line survey was completed and submitted by the October 16 deadline, and praised Office Administrator Tyla Wheeler for her effort. Rojas said that the district has no lead pipe.

The latest section of the Raw Water pipeline, from Jameson to Fern Valley Road has been completed. This reporter notes that the repaving has also been completed. Rojas added that soon residents will soon be seeing IWD crew flushing fire hydrants as the annual hydrant and valve maintenance begins.

The board approved the purchase of two new trucks, a 2024 Ram Laramie for $78,272, and a 2024 Toyota Tundra for $55,651. Rojas said that the Ram is a 1-ton truck that “will pull any of the equipment or trailers that we have safely.’ Then Olson asked why this purchase was not on the Capital Improvement Plan. Shouman answered that they were not expecting to be at full staffing when the plan was written, and the creation of a vehicle maintenance report in September revealed the high mileage of district vehicles. Olson opined that going forward, vehicles need to be first in the discussion around CIPs. Schelly agreed that review of vehicles is more important with rising prices and noted IFPD’s practice of searching for used vehicles. This reporter pointed out that IFPD, IWD and Pine Cove Water all introduced vehicle reports or catalogs this year. Schelly said that for IWD this was a response to the state’s plan to phase out gas vehicles. “We are trying to make sure we have vehicles that are in top shape so if we ever have to change over that we’ll be able to do so with a plan instead of waiting to the last moment and paying top dollar.”

The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20.

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