Steve Haugen, Kings River Water Association Todd Flanagan, North American Weather Consultants Larry Osborne, Madera Power, LLC

Transcription

1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors of the Kings River Conservation District (District) held January 12, 2016 at the District offices. President Cehrs called the meeting to order at 1:30 P.M. DIRECTORS PRESENT David Cehrs, President Paul Stanfield, Vice President Ceil W. Howe Jr. (departed 2:15pm) Mark C. McKean Norman B. Waldner Mike Yoshimoto (arrived 1:35pm) DIRECTORS ABSENT Gildo Nonini OTHERS PRESENT KRCD Staff Casey Creamer David Merritt Eric Osterling Donna Pepper Randy Shilling Brian Trevarrow Cristel Tufenkjian Consultants & Others Steve Haugen, Kings River Water Association Todd Flanagan, North American Weather Consultants Larry Osborne, Madera Power, LLC ADDITIONS TO OR DELETIONS FROM THE AGENDA PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS APPROVAL OF MINUTES It was moved by Vice President Stanfield, and seconded by Director McKean and unanimously carried that the Minutes of the December 8, 2015 Regular Board meeting be approved, as presented. (AYES: President Cehrs, Vice-President Stanfield, Directors Howe, McKean, Waldner, - NOES: - ABSENT: Directors Nonini, Yoshimoto) WATER CONDITIONS Water Conditions: Steve Haugen, Kings River Water Association (KRWA), summarized a report on water conditions stating total storage in Pine Flat Reservoir (Reservoir) as of 2400 hours on January 10, 2016 was 213,384, and available to KRWA units was 153,384 acre-feet (AF), with the Reservoir having a vacant space of 1,040,616 AF. On that date, the calculated natural inflow to the Reservoir was 387 cfs.

2 Mr. Haugen also presented the snow sensor readings taken from the Kings watershed on January 10, 2016 as follows: Current Snow Sensor Readings as of April 6, 2014 ELEVATION WATER CONTENT (INCHES) APRIL 1 AVERAGE (INCHES) PERCENT APRIL 1 AVERAGE SENSOR Big Meadows % West Woodchuck % Upper Burnt % Mitchell Meadow % State Lakes % Black Cap Basin N/R - Charlotte Lakes N/R - Bishop Pass N/R - Snow Sensor % Average Weather Conditions: Todd Flanagan, North American Weather Consultants, presented an overview of the recent weather conditions and the Precipitation Augmentation Program reporting December was active with several storms moving through the State and temperatures were below normal for the month. Mr. Flanagan s report also included the following data: FRESNO SEASONAL PRECIPITATION INFORMATION Precipitation season (7/1/14 6/30/15) 6.61 Current precipitation season (7/1/15 11/30/15) 5.75 (+2.19 ) Normal season precipitation (7/1 11/30) 3.56 Percent of average WATERSHED PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS Station Dec (avg) Dec % of Normal Balch Camp 5.38 (4.65) Grant Grove 6.11 (6.67) 99.8 DIRECTORS REPORTS Director McKean reported Paul G. Peschel has been hired as General Manager and will begin employment with the District on January 25, Director McKean thanked all staff involved for their efforts in the process. Director Howe reported he must leave the meeting at 2:15pm and President Cehrs acknowledged his leave of absence. President Cehrs reported the Board received a letter of resignation from District general counsel Gary Sawyers. President Cehrs appointed an Ad hoc General Counsel Recruitment Committee for the purpose of identifying new general counsel. The Committee appointees were named as Directors; Howe, Waldner and Yoshimoto.

3 President Cehrs recognized Director Howe who suggested the President or Vice President might be named to the Committee because of the Board President s working relationship with legal counsel. President Cehrs reported he would take the suggestion into consideration and amend appointees if necessary. INTERIM GENERAL MANAGER S REPORT Randy Shilling, Interim General Manager, directed the Board to the Interim General Manager s written monthly status report and highlighted the following: Mr. Shilling reported the homeowner who submitted a claim for damages as a result of equipment used by Flood Operations overturning a PG&E power pole on October 20 th has settled with the District and withdrawn the claim. Mr. Shilling further reported a letter has been sent to PG&E indicating the tension wire supporting the pole had been anchored in the levee in violation of the encroachment permit and asserting that PG&E was at least partially responsible for the accident. No response has been received from PG&E. Mr. Shilling also reported on a December 15 th meeting of the Trustees of the 1986 Mitigation Lands Trust, which was created for the purposes of purchasing, holding, managing, administering and (if necessary) disposing of approximately 149 acres of mitigation land. Discussions pertained to potential sale of the land to the Bureau of Reclamation. LEGISLATION Cristel Tufenkjian, Manager of Community & Public Relations, reported the Legislature will reconvene January 4th and the Kings River Legislative Committee will meet on January 18th. Ms. Tufenkjian further reported the ACWA State Legislative Committee will meet on January 22nd. The last day to submit a Bill requests to the Office of Legislative Counsel is on February 19th. Ms. Tufenkjian also reported Assembly Speaker Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) announced committee membership changes for the Regular Session, some of which are Agriculture Committee- Assemblymember Bill Dodd (Dist. 30) will replace Assemblymember Perea as chair (Dist. 31), for the Natural Resources Committee- Assemblymember Rob Bonta ((Dist.18) will replace Assemblymember Rendon (Dist. 63), and the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee- Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman, (Dist. 13) will replace Assemblymember Rendon (Dist. 63). Ms. Tufenkjian reported Assembly Member Alejo reintroduced the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 ( ) as AB350. This bill was vetoed in 2015 by the Governor as AB182 and it was vetoed the year before. The Kings River Legislative Committee will watch this bill. PUBLIC INFORMATION Cristel Tufenkjian, Manager of Community Relations, distributed printouts of the announcement of the District s newly hired General Manager Paul Peschel. CORRESPONDENCE, MEETINGS AND CONFERENCES

4 STATUS REPORTS AND PRESENTATIONS Power Resources: David Merritt, Deputy General Manager, reported on the operations at the Jeff L. Taylor Pine Flat Power Plant (Plant). Generation for the month of December 2015 was 0 MWh due to reduced irrigation releases. Turbine discharge for the month was 0 AF. Discharge through the turbine bypass system was 9,580 AF. Spill from the dam for the month was 0 AF, and flow from Mill and Hughes Creeks was 60 AF. Mr. Merritt also reported on upcoming events at the Plant such as a third party audit of all facility safety programs / OSHA compliance in February. Also NERC/WECC Generator modeling to be performed the first week of June on all three generators, and breast wall engineering analysis with MWH Global Inc. Mr. Merritt further reported on continuing contractual discussions with the Department of Water Resources (DWR). Mr. Merritt also presented an overview of the 2016 National Hydropower Association Regional Meeting he attended in Sacramento in December. Some of the topics were the FERC Licensing Process. Mr. Merritt anticipates challenges with the relicensing process under the Electric Consumers Protection Act (ECPA) The ECPA requires a detailed environmental assessment of a plant s impacts on fish and wildlife habitat, water quality, recreation, land use, local communities, and cultural resources. Other topics at the NHA meeting were post wilderness fires and the fallout, and energy storage. Hydro Development: Mr. Merritt reported on the Gould Weir project noting the District had received the draft preliminary analysis from NLine Energy and comments have been provided back to them. NLine Energy anticipates the report being finalized by the end of this week (January 15 th ). A Power Resources Committee meeting is scheduled for February 9, 2016 preceding the Regular Board meeting to discuss this project. Flood Operations and Maintenance: Mr. Merritt reported that on December 10 th, KRCD, KRWA, Laguna Irrigation District and Last Chance Ditch met with the High Speed Rail Authority s contactor Dragados Flatiron JV (DFJV) to review the levee vertical clearance design and other upcoming activities for the river crossing. Current proposed height clearance above the levee crown is 14 6 and further conversation will continue. Environmental: Mr. Merritt reported the season s first batch of trout eggs were released into the river January 7 th and staff is now working in the incubator building preparing for the second round of eggs that will be released on January 13 th. Water Quality: Casey Creamer, Manager of Water Quality, presented an update of the Nitrogen Management Plan (NMP) reporting the Executive Officer of the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) approved the Nitrogen Summary Report. Mr. Creamer further reported Outreach for growers continues and several workshops are scheduled which focus on the continued implementation of the NMP and the Farm Evaluation Survey due by March 1, Coalition staff will also provide general program updates and will be available to answer member questions at all workshops. Mr. Creamer also reported the new Kings Coalition website is now public and the database where growers will gain access to submit their data for the Farm Evaluation Survey will be completed in the near future by 4Creeks.

5 Mr. Creamer reported the CV-SALTS/Alta Archetype draft report which was delayed is now back on track. Additional contracting has been recently authorized in part to incorporate an extreme no agriculture groundwater quality modeling scenario at the request of stakeholders from both agricultural and environmental advocates. Current expectation is that a draft report will be completed by early February. Groundwater: Eric Osterling, Manager of Water Resources, provided an update of the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), reporting KRCD submitted Notices of Intent for proposed groundwater boundary modifications to the Kings and Tulare Lake subbasins on December 21, To date, some comments have been received from impacted agencies and landowners, all of which are believed to be resolvable. Mr. Osterling also reported that in December, DWR staff presented to the California Water Commission an informative preview of certain components of the yet to be released draft SGMA Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) Emergency Regulation. DWR plans to adopt the regulation by June 1, BUDGET AUGMENTATION Randy Shilling presented an overview for Board consideration regarding certain adjustments and augmentations to the fiscal year (FY) budget. After some discussion, it was moved by Director Yoshimoto and seconded by Director Waldner and unanimously carried approving and authorizing the General Manager and/or his designees to execute an augmentation/adjustment to the FY Budget. (AYES: President Cehrs, Vice-President Stanfield, Directors McKean, Waldner, Yoshimoto- NOES: - ABSENT: Directors Howe, Nonini) FINANCIAL REPORT Brian Trevarrow, Director of Finance, presented an overview of the Budget Comparison report for the month of December, and an expenditure-to-budget comparison report for the period ending December 31, It was moved by Director McKean, and seconded by Vice President Stanfield and unanimously carried, bills in the amount of $685, as presented in the schedule of Disbursements and Current Accounts Payable, were approved and ordered paid. (AYES: President Cehrs, Vice President Stanfield, Directors McKean, Waldner, Yoshimoto, - NOES: - ABSENT: Directors Howe, Nonini) ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, President Cehrs adjourned the meeting at 3:31 P.M. Approved on February 9, 2016 Board President Donna M. Pepper Assistant Board Secretary