A Gonzo Account

The one and only notice of this meeting to those who requested such notification was e-mailed by the BWD on Wed, 11 Jan 2006 12:37:01 about 20 and one half hours before the meeting w/o comment or agenda. Still seems an odd way to maximize participation – if, indeed, that is the intent. I was unable to attend this meeting, but have obtained the following account from reliable and trusted sources. I take full responsibility for any errors or omissions. DWD

This, by all accounts, was a productive meeting. I don’t know if there was a printed agenda or not; but there clearly was an agenda. Two things happened:

1) Fritz Stradling, BWD Consul, introduced Andrea Roess from David Taussig & Associates, Inc., a public finance and urban economics consulting firm that has been contracted to "provide financial consulting services to assist the Borrego Water District in the creation of a district-wide standby charge and/or the formation of an Assessment District to fund groundwater recharge improvements or services." She previously worked on the Rams Hill Mello Roos assessment project. With respect to the BWD project, Ms. Roess is just beginning to inform herself about Borrego’s situation and collect information.

Kim Post, consulting engineer to the BWD, and Russ Fogarty, BWD General Manager, explained the aquifer problem and various options the district may have for solving it, i.e., fallowing agricultural land, conjunctive water use, recharge, reduced golf course water usage, etc. The engineers are in the process providing information re: boundaries, parcel data, land use, etc. Once Ms. Roess has that information, she expects to have an initial report and recommendations available for the district in about one month. That will be followed by probably three public meetings, a formal hearing, and balloting for all property owners.

2) Lane Sharman provided a PowerPoint program addressing his proposed Anza-Borrego Water Exchange. Mr. Sharman is offering to establish the exchange to "bring together parties who are (a) new users of water who must mitigate new use of the water supply with (b) other parties who can reduce demand for water or create new water sources." He has rented an office in the Mall and is forming what will probably be a 501-c3 (nonprofit) corporation.

To explore the feasibility of his idea, he is proposing that the Board appoint someone to join him and local representatives from farming and real estate on a working group to "analyze, fine tune, and give a thumbs up/down to the concept." He thinks the working group will meet a few times to try to get the project organized and financed. Mr. Sharman will be making a shorter presentation regarding his ideas at the next full meeting of the Board on 25 January. Mr. Fogarty has been asked to include Mr. Sharman’s request that the BWD provide a representative to his formation committee on the Board’s Agenda for action at that meeting.

Sounds like a good meeting. Sorry I missed it. Could there be a connection? Naaah.

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