Mark Dolson
Board approves further preliminary fact-finding re: water district consolidation proposal.
Last Thursday’s Board meeting of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District (SLVWD) was another lengthy one (over three hours), due primarily to extensive public comment on the controversial proposal to consider consolidating SLVWD and Scotts Valley Water District (SVWD) into a single district. The SVWD Board has said that it is interested in exploring this further if the SLVWD Board commits to the process, but virtually everyone agrees that more preliminary analysis is needed before either Board would formally initiate the multi-year “LAFCO” process that could ultimately culminate in consolidation. There is far less agreement, however, on when and how to engage with the substantial community concerns about this proposal, and many SLV residents (and some Board members) have argued that neither the District nor its customers would be well served by delving into such a contentious issue at this particular time (i.e., in the wake of the CZU Fire and the ongoing pandemic). The question before the SLVWD Board on Thursday was whether to move forward or table the issue. SLVWD District Manager Rick Rogers recommended that the Board approve a six-month preliminary investigation in which an Ad Hoc committee would engage with the public and also initiate the hiring of a consultant who would conduct a more in-depth assessment of pros and cons. This was presented as a responsible, informative, and judiciously limited next step, but public comment strongly favored tabling the consolidation topic for a later date. President Mahood agreed, saying that consolidation might ultimately be in the District’s best interest, but it would be wiser to revisit this possibility in three years. Director Fultz also opposed the Staff recommendation. . Director Smolley suggested instead that the SLV and SV District Managers could develop their own two-page summary assessment over the next two months (echoing a suggestion from the public). This proved popular with all five Board members, and this compromise was unanimously approved. Further public input argued that this decision still avoided the more fundamental issue of widespread public disapproval, but one could also argue that the requested “two-pager” is the document the Board should have been initially provided with when this topic first appeared on its agenda. In a sense, the Board simply agreed to complete the very preliminary fact-finding that would logically inform any subsequent action on its part. The remaining items on the agenda were relatively straightforward, although several of them still managed to generate prolonged discussion. Everyone agreed with approving the final paperwork for the District to obtain a $15 million, 20-year loan at a 2.4% interest rate from CoBank. Various related options had been discussed in detail at two previous Board meetings. The funds will be used to replenish the District’s cash reserves, to pay for fire-related infrastructure repairs (since FEMA will likely reimburse only 75% of the estimated $20 million repair cost), and to pay for previously-deferred infrastructure improvement. The Board also approved (3 to 1 with Director Fultz opposing and Director To no longer present due to illness) the revised, expanded response to the Grand Jury request for an update on the District’s management of its post-consolidation commitments to Lompico. Lastly, the Board unanimously approved the appointment of all four public applicants (Jaimie Newton, MaryAnn LoBalbo, Toni Norton, and Norm Hagen) to serve on the Lompico Assessment District Oversight Committee (LADOC) for 2021.