Editor’s Note: The 2024 Presidential Election will be Tuesday, November 5. The Idyllwild Water District has three Board of Directors seats to fill. While there are four candidates on the official ballot, one, Steve Kunkle, has already withdrawn from the race and announced that he will not accept a Board seat even if he is one the three candidates with the most votes.

The three candidates seeking election are incumbent Board President Dr. Charles Schelly, incumbent Board Vice President Peter Szabadi and challenger Jessica Priefer. All three have consented to an interview with the Town Crier. Since he no longer is seeking a seat on the IWD Board, there is no interview with Kunkle.

Dr. Charles “Chip” Schelly

Dr. Charles “Chip” Schelly, 60, grew up in Palm Desert. He is married, with three grown children and is practicing chiropractor.

He joined the Idyllwild Water District Board in December 2016 and was chosen Board President the same month. He has been re-elected to the Board twice and continues to serve as President ever since.

Schelly believes that his objectivity about IWD is an important attribute to govern the District. “I don’t have a lot of sentimentality. I don’t have friends or family who work there,” he noted.

During his time on the Board and as an Idyllwild resident, he does not believe that climate change has affected the District’s ability to provide water.

“In my 40 years here, precipitation is down in our watershed, that’s not good,” he acknowledged. “Yet, we’ve always been able to supply adequate water to our customers.”

In his opinion, IWD’s highest priority is starting and completing the changes to the wastewater treatment plant and conceded it should have been addressed 20 years ago.

“Nobody planned for its replacement, and we have to deal with it now to make it as effective as possible,” he emphasized.

“We need to address the Strawberry Creek divergence, as well,” he continued. “We do have a long-term plan for pipe replacement. While that’s a lower priority than the treatment plant, our contractor, El Co, continues to do good pipeline work.

“Maintenance of the water tanks continues, we just refurbished one tank. Maintain pipelines including flushing them, and leak detection continues, and all the hydrants are functioning,” he added.

Schelly’s tenure began in 2016, but IWD has had seven different general managers in the past 10 years. One of Board’s first actions after Schelly joined was selecting Jack Hoagland as manager.

But Schelly recognized that it is difficult to recruit the best people. Idyllwild’s distance from metropolitan or suburban areas discourages many potential applicants who choose not to move here. In addition, he conceded that IWD is a small district with a limited budget and cannot offer the salary levels to compete with the larger districts.

“Our salary and benefit package is not attractive enough unless they see the job as a stepping stone to another,” Schelly granted.

No active initiative is present to consolidate the three local water districts – Fern Valley, Idyllwild and Pine Cove. Schelly is not a proponent. “I have not put any effort into that. I’ve focused on cooperation,” he replied.

He has seen the cooperation among the three districts grow since becoming Board President as well as with IFPD. He specifically mentioned the areas of joint training, hydrant maintenance, and leak detection.

“There’s lots of help the managers are talking. They are working as cooperative partners. It’s very refreshing,” he noted.

Increasing the director’s compensation has been on the IWD agenda over the past several months.

“I pushed to increase it. I think people have a misperception that we’re volunteers and some feel that there should be no compensation,” he conceded. “But volunteers sometime don’t take the task seriously.”

If Jessica Priefer joins the IWD board, he does thinks she would be a good addition and it definitely would not be a conflict, he added.

“It does not matter if you’re employed with another water district,” he stressed. “It could be beneficial to both districts.

Schelly has much respect for volunteers. He has served as one in many local organizations for many years. He has given much time to his church as well as the Idyllwild Community Fund. He’s been a volunteer firefighter and served on the Idyllwild Fire Protection District Board for four years. He has also been active in youth sports and is well known as the Master of Ceremonies at the Idyllwild 5/10K Run and Race, which he has hopes may resume next year.

“I really appreciate all the people who come to the meetings. The are a lot of concerns and we’re trying to address them,” Schelly said in conclusion. “The wastewater treatment plant is our top priority because the cost will be expensive.

“The current gang of employees are the best since I’ve been on Board. What they’re achieving is outstanding,” he stated.