The Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors voted 4-1 to direct the general manager to negotiate hiring Charles T. DuMars to help create a Quantification Settlement Agreement contingency plan should the current set of agreements be thrown out.
The QSA is a set of agreements to transfer IID entitlement water to Southern California water districts. It was invalidated by a Sacramento Superior Court judge in 2010, but the ruling was appealed.
District staff will bring a finalized contract for DuMars’ work back to the board with a scope of work, a timeline and mutually acceptable terms for developing a contingency plan, said General Manager Kevin Kelley.
DuMars has a focus on water and environmental law at his New Mexico law firm.
He’s “a very down-to-earth guy” with a good reputation, said board Vice President John Pierre Menvielle, who proposed hiring DuMars in July.
The move is to try and fix the problems with the current QSA, he said. It’s all about getting a better deal for the Valley.
“It’s not about changing things or the course,” Menvielle said. “It’s about getting a fresh look.”
The lone no vote was cast by board President Stella Mendoza, who said she didn’t see a reason to hire DuMars.
“I don’t have anything against this gentleman. I don’t know him,” she said. “I just don’t think he can bring anything to the table at this time.”
She expressed concern over his past involvement with the QSA, having written an amicus brief in the appellate case for Citizens for a Reliable Water Supply, a group of Imperial Valley citizens who say the QSA will cause environmental concerns that local residents will have to pay for. Mendoza questioned some portions of the brief, including statements about the Salton Sea having a right to the water, and water belonging to the landowners, not the IID.
She added she doesn’t want to pay another attorney hundreds of dollars an hour when the district board is already talking over contingency plans. The agreement can’t even be renegotiated while the case is still being litigated.
However, Director Jim Hanks said that unless something is changed, the board’s going to be dealing with the same issues in 10 years. The QSA needs to be modified.
No one on the current board voted for the agreement, he said. This board needs to get involved and look at all the options available, through a fresh perspective.
On a related note, Chief Financial Officer Greg Broeking updated the board on the potential impact if the QSA were to go away.
More than half of the district’s water budget from 2009 to 2047 is projected to be made up by the QSA, he said. Of the $13 billion that is anticipated to come in through 2047, 65.5 percent is from the QSA.
If the agreement were to go away, the department would have two options: find another agency to transfer water to or raise water rates, Broeking said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are five things that came out of Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting.
1 - Board members rejected plans to put a backup system operation center in La Quinta for the energy department, asking staff to bring back options for putting in the center in the north end of the county.
2 -The board is set to vote next week on improvements to Path 42 that will help move renewable energy out of the Valley.
3 -District General Counsel Jeff Garber presented the board with a report on legal fees from 2010 ($6.59 million) and the first half of 2011 ($2.87 million).
4 -IID will spend about $33,000 through the next two years to treat Asian Tapeworm found in grass carp the district hatches for aquatic weed control.
5 -The district hired on a new project manager for its natural gas-powered facility upgrade project, El Centro Unit 3.
The QSA is a set of agreements to transfer IID entitlement water to Southern California water districts. It was invalidated by a Sacramento Superior Court judge in 2010, but the ruling was appealed.
District staff will bring a finalized contract for DuMars’ work back to the board with a scope of work, a timeline and mutually acceptable terms for developing a contingency plan, said General Manager Kevin Kelley.
DuMars has a focus on water and environmental law at his New Mexico law firm.
He’s “a very down-to-earth guy” with a good reputation, said board Vice President John Pierre Menvielle, who proposed hiring DuMars in July.
The move is to try and fix the problems with the current QSA, he said. It’s all about getting a better deal for the Valley.
“It’s not about changing things or the course,” Menvielle said. “It’s about getting a fresh look.”
The lone no vote was cast by board President Stella Mendoza, who said she didn’t see a reason to hire DuMars.
“I don’t have anything against this gentleman. I don’t know him,” she said. “I just don’t think he can bring anything to the table at this time.”
She expressed concern over his past involvement with the QSA, having written an amicus brief in the appellate case for Citizens for a Reliable Water Supply, a group of Imperial Valley citizens who say the QSA will cause environmental concerns that local residents will have to pay for. Mendoza questioned some portions of the brief, including statements about the Salton Sea having a right to the water, and water belonging to the landowners, not the IID.
She added she doesn’t want to pay another attorney hundreds of dollars an hour when the district board is already talking over contingency plans. The agreement can’t even be renegotiated while the case is still being litigated.
However, Director Jim Hanks said that unless something is changed, the board’s going to be dealing with the same issues in 10 years. The QSA needs to be modified.
No one on the current board voted for the agreement, he said. This board needs to get involved and look at all the options available, through a fresh perspective.
On a related note, Chief Financial Officer Greg Broeking updated the board on the potential impact if the QSA were to go away.
More than half of the district’s water budget from 2009 to 2047 is projected to be made up by the QSA, he said. Of the $13 billion that is anticipated to come in through 2047, 65.5 percent is from the QSA.
If the agreement were to go away, the department would have two options: find another agency to transfer water to or raise water rates, Broeking said.
Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.
Meeting glance
Here are five things that came out of Tuesday’s Imperial Irrigation District Board of Directors meeting.
1 - Board members rejected plans to put a backup system operation center in La Quinta for the energy department, asking staff to bring back options for putting in the center in the north end of the county.
2 -The board is set to vote next week on improvements to Path 42 that will help move renewable energy out of the Valley.
3 -District General Counsel Jeff Garber presented the board with a report on legal fees from 2010 ($6.59 million) and the first half of 2011 ($2.87 million).
4 -IID will spend about $33,000 through the next two years to treat Asian Tapeworm found in grass carp the district hatches for aquatic weed control.
5 -The district hired on a new project manager for its natural gas-powered facility upgrade project, El Centro Unit 3.
