WESTSIDE RESOURCE CONSERVATION DISTRICT
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Meeting Minutes
June 18th, 2009

The following is a summary of the Westside Resource Conservation District Board of Directors special meeting held on June 18th, 2009, at the Westlands Water District Five Points office.

President Phil Erro convened the meeting at 10:12AM. A quorum was present and a sign-up sheet circulated. The draft minutes of the May meeting was posted on the Westside RCD web site and e-mailed to the Directors prior to June 18th. On a motion by Director Finster, seconded by Director Blankenship, both the agenda and minutes were unanimously approved by the Directors.

There were no public comments.

Under financial report, the Manager outlined the current financial condition of the District. There was cash available to address. The payables, bank statements and most recent financial report from the accounting officer, Mike Cuttone, were reviewed by the Directors. Director Brughelli recommended paying the bills that were presented at this time. Under a motion by Director Brughelli, seconded by Director Blankenship the payables were approved unanimously. The reported the end of the fiscal year was this month and the District would end the year with positive cash flow; that is the current cash-on-hand exceeded the known and anticipated expenditures. Finally, the audit for the fiscal year would commence soon and the Manager recommended the Board retain the services of the Jolley accounting firm. Under a motion by Director Brughelli seconded by Director Blankenship, the Board indicated its intention to seek the services of said firm. 

Under the Presidents Corner, President Erro summarized the PG&E-WRCD joint seminar on energy management at Harris Ranch on June 4th. PG&E and President Erro presented numerous programs. A strong response was obtained to the concepts of reduced demand. Numerous large electricity users who were present seemed to need to re-evaluate how to shut unnecessary energy loads to save money. Turning off the electricity at peak times especially has very generous incentives if they are automatic. The benefit is $250 per kilowatt hour. The Double “D” cooler has joined this program as well as Harris-Wolf. The opportunity may be somewhat limited by the number of larger users, out of 35 all except about 5 are less than 100kw.

There were no other Director reports.

Under the Manager reports, the Manager discussed a meeting with the CVRWQCB on upper Panoche-Silver Creek watershed management. The Board staff believed a substantial investment had been made already from their related agencies but they would not rule out participating in a comprehensive approach under a program like “integrated regional water management plans”. As a result of that meeting, the Manager will be developing a more comprehensive approach with various potential partners including but not limited to the Nature Conservancy, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, NRCS, Ca Fish and Game, DWR, the Water Board and Westlands as a minimum. The proposed application for upland habitat restoration was an example of a effort that could be folded into the more comprehensive strategy. A matrix approach will be developed to address the multiple issues and partners. The concept would integrate watershed management, habitat restoration and drainage management in a more holistic manner. The Manager then presented the DWR master contract for drainage and salt management for the next four years. The contract is needed to conduct the various tasks on drainage management like at Red Rock Ranch. The Board authorized the Manager to sign the contract.  discussed.

The “partners” in attendance included NRCS, Westlands and consulting agronomist, Clarence Finch. Written reports were presented by Westlands, DWR and Mr. Finch and are attached and made a part of these minutes.

In addition, NRCS partner Dave Durham attended and gave the following oral report. The EQIP process will substantially shortened this year by the changing funding sources and the staff is swamped with applications. The largest effort is the expansion of the air quality effort to eliminate older diesel engines. Of the 30 million nationwide, 16 million was coming to California. There seem to be a lot of old tractors! The EQIP farm bill limit for any applicant is $300,000 during the duration of the current bill, 2009-2014. Previous contracts that carried over will be counted against the $300,000 also. Dave checked on the cost of some retrofits for tractors and found vendors who said a tall clearance tractor might be $120,000, whereas small orchard tractors could perhaps be re-built to meet the rules for less than 20,000. Drought money recently announced was going to precision irrigation systems. The nationwide ag water enhancement program that Westlands applied for had 200 applications and the ranking was nationwide in scope. Finally, rangeland clippings found the grass at about 70% of average.

There were no further reports and the meeting was adjourned unanimously at 11:50AM.

Sargeant J. Green, Secretary-Manager