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Happy New Year. I was reminded just today how only a short time ago things were cruising along at a nice pace. There were no really big crises to speak of. In the last two years we have seen enough crises for a lifetime.

Instead of looking back as I often do in my letter to you for the New Year I want to look forward instead. Let us remember the blessings we have. We have each other. I have recently experienced great loss. I feel a grief of unbelievable magnitude in my personal life. For me it shadows all the other events of the last two years, and leaves an enormous hole. Counting my blessings is the only way I can cope with this.

So I want to help remind you of what I am grateful for as I begin my personal journey of healing. I am grateful for the family members who surround me. I am grateful for an amazing community full of wonderful people I am proud to call my neighbors. I am grateful for the rain and our mighty mountain who so far is holding, not sliding.

Please stay safe out there and remember to love and appreciate each other. I certainly appreciate you.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

Wendy Sigmund Publisher Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin

Photo by SLV Steve, December 2021

Letters

Letter to the SC Mountain Bulletin,

I visit your website to see my home town; the places and the people. I get homesick and visiting your site helps. The love in my soul for this special place lives on.

Thank you. ~ Kim Byers

- SCM Bulletin contributors -

Publisher: Wendy Sigmund-Mountain Publishing, LLC Editor: Lori Suzanne Holetz Contributors: Robert Arne, Dee Ash, Mark Dolsom, Kevin Foster, Lori Suzanne Holetz, Taylor Kimble , Marcey Klein, Marybeth McLaughlin, Lisa Robinson, MJ Stearns, Joy Stewart Photographers: Steve Kuehl , Chucke Walkden Layout: Bree Karpavage

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The opinions expressed herein belong to the writers, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Santa Cruz Mountain Bulletin (SCM Bulletin). SCM Bulletin is not responsible for the content of any of the advertising herein, nor does publication imply endorsement. Written permission from the publisher of the SCM Bulletin is required to reprint this issue of the SCM Bulletin in part or in whole. Progress on Consolidation Planning; Rejection of Rate Adjustment; 2022 Board Officers The two December SLVWD Board Meetings ended up being held in rapid succession on December 2nd and December 7th. Only a few members of the public were in attendance, and many of the agenda items concerned fairly routine procedural matters. However, there were also multiple developments of public interest.

The most consequential topic at the December 2nd meeting involved the possibility of a temporary rate increase that the Board was unanimously eager to avoid. The District’s current rate schedule (approved via a public process in 2017) included a provision for revised “revenue-stabilizing” rates to potentially take effect if cumulative consumption during a water year declined more than 10% compared to the average for the prior three years. This trigger threshold was designed to ensure that the District’s target revenue stream could be maintained, via a Board-approved temporary rate increase, in the face of reduced consumption due to conservation or unusual weather patterns.

District Staff explained that water consumption had recently fallen below this trigger threshold for a variety of reasons including both unusual weather and anomalous events like the CZU Fire and the Covid pandemic. They projected that revenue could be reduced by $613,000 if water consumption continued at lower levels for the remainder of the fiscal year. They also noted that the District had realized an unanticipated savings of $181,000 due to its inability to promptly fill three currently open Staff positions. District Manager Rick Rogers proposed that delaying certain capital expenditures (water meter replacement and vehicle and equipment purchases) could account for another $288,000, and the remaining $147,000 could be taken from the District’s reserve fund. The Board unanimously accepted this plan as preferable to temporarily raising rates; however, they also noted that this issue could resurface at some point in 2022.

The most contentious topic at the December 7th meeting concerned next steps in the process of enabling potential consolidations with the Bracken Brae and Forrest Springs water companies north of Boulder Creek, both of which are badly in need of assistance. District Manager Rick Rogers was seeking Board authorization to begin spending money on preliminary engineering work based on: (a) continued progress towards formalizing collaboration agreements with the two water companies, and (b) receipt of a grant for $3.2 million from the State of California. Board members, however, were concerned about the worst-case financial risk that this course of action could expose the District to.

Board members noted that the state grant was for a million dollars less than the District had estimated it would need and that, while it was possible that the State might make up the difference if necessary, there was also a conceivable scenario in which the State would effectively retract the grant (namely, if the projected collaborations were to fall apart). The ensuing discussion culminated in a fairly pointed confrontation between District Manager Rick Rogers and the Board, and the Board eventually approved a revised plan via which the District would move forward as recommended, but more cautiously and incrementally.

In other business, the Board approved a Proposed Water Rights Protest Resolution Agreement with the City of Santa Cruz in closed session but then ended up still having to press City representatives for more ironclad assurances (of appropriate protections for SLVWD) in the ensuing open session discussion. The City eventually agreed to put these assurances in writing.

Lastly, the Board approved (by a vote of 4-0, Director Fultz abstaining) to retain Gail Mahood as Board President and Lois Henry as Board Vice President in 2022. Committee memberships mostly stayed the same for Board members (though further changes appear to be pending). Twelve members of the public applied to serve on Board Committees (ten of whom served the same roles in 2021), and all twelve were appointed to their first-choice committees.

The next regular Board of Directors meeting is scheduled for 6:30 PM on January 6th (still via Zoom).

Nov-Dec Issue Answers