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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/06/78 AGENDA WATER BOARD - CITY OF BAKERSFIELD ¥'~DNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1978 4:00 P.M. Call meeting to order. Roll Call - Board Members: Ratty, Vice-Chairman, Barton, Bergen Hoagland 1. Approve minutes of regular meeting of November 8, 1978. 2. Scheduled Public.S~atements 3. City of Bakersfield Water Board response to'questionnaire from Kern County Water Districts Advisory committee. - BOARD TO APPROVE. .4. Staff Comments 5. Board Comments 6. Adjournment MINUTES WATER BOARD- CITY OF BAKERSFIELD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1978 4:00 P.M. The meeting was Called to order at 4:00 P.M. by Chairman Rogers in the City Hall Caucus Room. The secretary called the roll as follows: Present: Rogers, Bergen, Hoagland Absent: Barton, Ratty Staff Present: Bogart, Chafin, Hansen, Hostmyer, Needham Others Present: Tom Clark, Nickel Enterprises The minutes from the meeting of October 5, 1978, were approved as presented. A letter to Cawelo Water District regarding water supply was presented to the board. After a brief discussion by board and staff Mr. Hoagland made a motion that the letter be approved and the Chairman authorized to sign and, also, that a copy be transmitted to North Kern Water Storage District. The motion was passed. A letter from William T. Balch, Tenneco West, Inc. to Donald A. Rogers, regarding the 2800 acres owned by the City was presented to the board.. Mr. Bergen made a~motion that the letter be re- ceived and-placed on file, and that the staff answer the letter. and, also, call Mr. Balch to inform him that they are willing to discuss this matter with him at his convenience. The motion was passed. 'At this time Mr. Needham introduced to the board and staff Mr. John Hansen who is the new Domestic Water Superintendent for the City of Bakersfield, Staff Comments Water Manager Chafin at this time recommended that the City again this year make a donation to the Kern County Water Association. Last year $400.00 was contributed to the Association. Mr. Bergen presented a letter he had:received from Hodge Black, President of the Board of Directors of the Water Association pointing out their urgent need for funds. Mr. Bergen made a motion that the City Contribute $500.00 to the Association. The motion was passed. A letter to Mel Jans, Vice-President, Tenneco-West, Inc. was presented to the board by Mr. Chafin. The purpose of this letter is to inform Tenneco that effective March 1, 1979, the City will discontinue service under Agreement No. 78-03 W.B. regarding the operation and maintenance of the Pioneer and Little James Canals. After a brief discussion Mr. Hoagland made a motion that the 'letter be accepted and the Chairman authorized to sign. The motion was passed. / A letter agreement regarding a temporary arrangement for spread- ing and recovery of water between Buena Vista Water Storage Dis- trict and the City of Bakersfield was distributed to the board for their information. There being no further business to come before the board, Chair- man Rogers.adjourned the meeting at 4:25 P.M. ~ ._... ~O~ld A. Rogers,~h~irman 'City of Bakersfield Rater Board Linda Hostmyer, Secretary City of Bakersfield Water[Board Kern County Water Districts RECEIVED ADVISORY COMMITTEE Room ~06 1415 ]Sth St. 1978 Bakersfield, CA 9330] STETSON ENGINEERS SAN FRANCISCO MEMO TO WATER LEADERS: We are gratified to be able to report to you that we have had excellent communications with people in and outside the Kern County Water community during our present review of Kern County Water Agency functions. Water districts and water leaders whom we have thus far interviewed have been responsive and helpful in our important task. We have been able to keep expenses well within our modest budget. Response to the questionaire has been good and meaningful. In the event that you or your organization have not received or responded to the questionaire we are enclosing a copy for your use. We would appreciate it if you would Complete it and mail it in the enclosed envelope It will be helpful to the sub-committee if you sign it, simply for identification. Your comments will go no further than the membership of the sub-committee. At our first mailing we asked districts to help finance the expenses of the study with.a $100 participation. Many have done so, but a number have not been heard from to date. Since it is important that we keep current in the payment of our obligations, will you please check to see if you have responded in this regard. Checks should be made out to "Water Districts Advisory Committee". We appreciate your cooperation and truly believe that we are well on the way to completing a meaningful study and report before the end of December. If there is any additional information or opinion which you think might be helpful to the committee we would appreciate a note from yOU. - Thanks for your considerati~/n, , . 'MQg'h ~lllams, CH. WaTer Districts ~ ~' Advisory Committee. ~nnetfl'Wegi&, CH.yiew Sub-Committee CONFIDENTIAL STUDY QUESTIONAIRE 1. Should the Agency be: (a) Dissolved? (b) Continued as is? (c) Modified by changes in the Agency act? (d) Urged to make modifications in its 'functions & methods? 2. Do you favor an Agency board elected from divisions by popular vote or by some other method such as chosen from the board members of the contracting districts? 3. Should the Agency functions include' (a) Negotiation contracting for State Project Water? (b) Operating I D 4? (c) Operating the Cross-Valley Canal? (d) Flood control throughout the county? (e) Groundwater spreading and management? (f) Drainage study and operations? (g) Other 4. Should any changes be made in the present Z O B procedures and expenditures? (a) What'changes, if any?. 5. In the event the outcome of the proposals of the Governor's Commission to Review California Water Rights Law calls for "~ocal" authorities to set up groundwater or other management functions, should this be done in Kern County by: (a) KCWA (b) Joint power agreement (c) State of California D W R 6. What services, courtesies, or assistance could or should the Agency offer to entities obtaining all or part of their water supplies from the Federal Central Valley Project? On a separate sheet of paper please enumerate and discuss briefly any further 'suggestions you may have regarding the proper role. of the KCWA and/or how its staff or board might improve that role, bearing in mind that your confidential answers will be for the information solely of the study committee. Signed: CITY OF BAKERSFIELD RESPONSE TO QUESTIONNAIRE FROM KERN COUNTY WATER DISTRICTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Foil-owing is the recommended response to the questionnaire re- lating to the review of the Kern County Water Agency. The re- sponses are in the order of the questions as listed in the questionnaire. ' ~_ '~,,e _~~. '~~~ ~36- ~ The Kern County Water Agency can be said to have been formed~ fore,he s~ole pur~s~ ~6~'~no ~t~ct~~~the State of California to bring supplemental water supplies to Kern County.~ hough the Agency Act gives the Agency powers to do many other things, if the Agency were not. needed to contract with the State for water, it probably would not have been formed, since other entities can provide those things which the Agency is undertaking. Before, considering a decision on dissolution of the Agency, it would be much more productive to make an in-depth review of all of the activities of the Agency, to determine the needs and worth- iness of those activities, to determine if any of them are unpro- ductive or should be performed by some other local governmental entity, and then restructure the Agency to carry out the activities for which it is considered the more capable and the more responsible. Certainly, the Agency should modify or curtail its functions if such'functions, such as flood control, can be carried out ~ --c::p~u~l~'by others. 2. Should Agency board be elected by divisions or by some other method such as by representatives from contracting districts? We would not support an Agency board chosen from its con- tracting districts. This would mean fifteen (15) or more members as a Board of Directors,'presumably each with an equal vOte re- gardless of Size of district. .You would have'to develop a formula for representation and voting. Would be like the MetroPolitan Water District of South- ern ~alifornia, which has about fifty (50) directors on its board. Membership is based on population and voting is based on assessed valuation. Board members should be elected by divisions with the divi- sions based on equal population, as delineated by the courts. The Agency Act should be amended, so tha~ improvement districts can.be administered separately~ Boards T~2__CC2~C_ j__~L~2Ct~On~ where improvements are made, and their Own staff, if possible. In this way, I.D. No'.. 4 could be administered by board comprised of representatives from North of the River,' East Niles, City of Bakersfield, Cal Water Service, etc. ~ 3. Agency Functions? .. If Agency is retained its sole function should be that of administering the State Water Contract and securing additional supplemental water. As to operations' of Improvement District No. 4 and the Cross- Valley Canal, such functions could be performed by others. .If I.D. N0. 4 had its own Board of Trustees and operated sepera~ely .from the Agency Board, it will result in more efficient operations -2- t~~ 'of I.D. No. 4 facilities and would be more representative of the taxpayers of I.D. No. 4. The cross-Valley Canal coUld be operated 'by I.D. No. 4 under an,-'~ ~v~ry? board Comprised.of representatives of the districts which own the Cross-Valley Canal. The Agency should not be involved in flood control activities. This should be done by a separate arm of County government. Although groundwater' spreading and management and drainage studies would appear to be proper functions of the Agency because of the Agency's geographical jurisdiction, there is a tremendous lack of. confidence in having the Agency assume these roles. In the present climate an agency such as the City of Bakersfield, with its ownership of water and-water rights, water transmission facilities and water spreading facilities would be far more accept- able to initiate a water spreading and groundwater management program. The City is already taking an active lead in that field, with.the cooperation of.interested water districts. For the drainage studies, this~could be done by the Depart- ment of Water Resources in cooperation with the local water dis~ tricts requiring such studies and facilities. 4. Zone of Benefit Procedures. The Zone of Benefit procedures have been used, among other things, to subsidize the cost of irrigation water. There should be an in-depth audit'and report on all Zone of Benefit assessments and expenditures, all improvement district assessments and expenditures, and a complete accounting of costs and participation in the Cross-Valley Canal. -3- Properly applied, the Zone of Benefit procedure can be a valuable tool by which all areas can be made to pay their fair share of ~benefits received from imported water. 5. Groundwater Management. It should not be done by the Agency or by the State of California, Department of Water Resources, or any other State Agency. In the event that groundwater management is imposed legisla- tively, some variations of a joint powers agreement could be used. It could be done by contractual arrangements through a lead agency, such as the City of Bakersfield. It could be done through a stip- ulated judgment with a physical solution administered by a locally selected Watermaster~ 6. Services, courtesies, assitance, etc., by the Agency to Central Valley Project contractors. All water entities within its boundaries should be extended courtesies, assistance and service by the Agency. The Agency must know the water requirements and-sources of water supply to all districts within its' boundaries. Such information is needed to properly utilize the Zone of Benefit Procedures and to monitor the water balance in the basin. Besides, those entities pay administrative assessments to the Agency and should be considered part of the water community.