In its May 17 meeting, the Idyllwild Water District’s (IWD) slimmed down board of directors approved two assessment fees, returned the district to a water conservation Stage 1, heard the latest on its building rehabilitation, and announced several special meetings or workshops to be held before the next regular meeting currently planned for June 21.

With a vacant directorship and Vice President Peter Szabadi on personal travel, only three directors were present, the minimum for a quorum and to take any actions. Attending the meeting was President Dr. Chip Schelly and colleagues Steve Kunkle and Steve Olson.

The board held two public hearings — both for parcel assessments — during the meeting. Annually, the board must approve resolutions setting assessment standby fees on undeveloped parcels within both the overall water district and the sewer district.

The fee for each is $30 per acre or less. The fee applies only to undeveloped parcels and helps the district install pipelines and ensure water and sewer capacity in a neighborhood that would benefit the future development of these parcels. Thus, the cost of infrastructure is shared with the current customers and potential future customers who will seek these services in order to build on their property.

There was no public comment on the resolutions and the board approved both unanimously.

General Manager Leo Havener reported the latest information on IWD’s efforts to renovate, and to remove mold and possible asbestos from its headquarters building.

The latest bid, which he solicited, was for $21,000. However, that appears to be just for mold removal and repair. This contractor suggested that Havener solicit another contractor to analyze the premise for the possibility of the presence of asbestos. He plans to do this soon, and this is actually the next step.

“Before any work is done, he recommended we do an analysis of whether asbestos exists,” Havener told the board.

Havener also announced several special gatherings — Town Hall meetings and workshop — before the next regular board meeting on June 21. At 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, May 30 and 31, IWD will hold “Town Hall” meetings. These are intended to give the rate study contractor an opportunity to explain the rationale for the increases and how they will be applied. Also, it will allow customers and the public time to ask questions and to discuss the proposed rate increases with the contractor and staff.

Havener said these rate increases will be on the agenda of June 21 board meeting for approval. If approved, they would be effective July 1.

A week later, on June 7, there may be a special board meeting to fill the vacant board position created when GenoeSchneider resigned.

Finally, at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 10, the dirctors plan to conduct a workshop as they draft next year’s budget (fiscal year 2023-24). The final budget proposal will be on the agenda of the June 21 meeting for approval and should be available for public review when the agenda is posted.

Water production for the first four months of 2023 was 24.4 million gallons. The first two months were 2.3 million gallons greater than January and February 2022, but March and April were 3.4 million gallons less than last year. For the four months, production was about a million gallons less than 2022.

Consequently, Havener recommended the board move back to Water Conservation Stage 1 from Stage 2.

However, usage during this period is nearly 13.6% greater than the 10-year average for these four months, although Havener said production was back to normal. With no discussion, the board unanimously accepted his recommendation.

The district’s Ordinance 66 is for adopting a water shortage contingency plan. The ordinance provides for five water shortage levels. Stage 1 — Water Supply Watch — is the lowest of the five and is defined as “… while near-term supply and storage conditions may from time to time improve due to wet weather, there are continued long-term challenges that warrant continued wise and efficient use of water. … Under Stage 1 conditions, the District’s Basic Capacity Ratio (BCR) is 0-50%. Customers are requested to continue to use water efficiently and practice sensible voluntary water conservation.”

The principal criterion for determining in which water conservation stage the district will be using for conservation limitations is called the BCR. This is simply the prior month’s water usage divided by the district’s supply capacity. Havener’s Operations Reports indicates the BCR was 50% in April. For the last six months, the BCR only exceeded 50% in January.