[GPSCC-chat] Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Jerry Brown Tunnels

[Wes Rolley]

There is to be a joint workshop between Santa Clara Valley Water 
District and members of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority. It 
will take place in both Los Banos and San Jose. This is from the San 
Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority notice:
> NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the regular April SAN LUIS & DELTA-MENDOTA
> WATER AUTHORITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 
> April
> 7, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will be held at two locations:
> • The Water Authority’s Boardroom, 842 Sixth Street, Los Banos, 
> California, and
> • Santa Clara Valley Water District’s Boardroom, 5700 Almaden 
> Expressway, San
> Jose, California.

This is not on the published agenda for our Water District.  So, I 
called the Water District and spoke to the clerk of the Board.  She 
indicated that this is not an official Water District Board Meeting, but 
rather a meeting of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority. However, 
Directors of our Water District are on the Board of the San Luis Delta 
Mendota Water Authority. It is not clear to what extent this is a public 
meeting.  All together, this is beginning to smell like a back room deal 
with our money as rate payers.

To my mind, this looks like a way to pull our Water District deeper into 
the machinations of the San Luis Delta Mendota Water Authority's 
financial problems, caused by the recent down grading of their credit 
worthiness and the fine levied on their  principal customer, Westlands 
Irrigation District, but the SEC.  It should be protested in the most 
firm manner possible.

There are two ways to do this.  One, we could show up at the water 
district's boardroom to attend the San Luis Delta Mendota Water 
Authority meeting.  I would not put it past the Water Authority to hold 
the meeting here in order to discourage public participation that would 
happen in Los Banos.  The other would be to send emails to the Water 
District Board of Directors letting them know that we will not tolerate 
our directors making behind the scenes deals.  The email address for 
this is: Board at valleywater.org

Major points to be made are as follows:

All decisions by the Board need to be made in as transparent a manner as 
possible.  There should be no back room deal with the Water Authority.

The ongoing work for the "California Water Fix" will not add to the 
water supply for CA and is not the most reasonable manner to ensure that 
the current infrastructure continues to operate.

The fact that both the Westlands Water District and the San Luis Delta 
Mendota Water Authority have had their credit ratings downgraded due to 
creative accounting is yet another warning flag that the rate payers of 
Santa Clara Valley could be put in the position of spending addition $ 
Millions in order to prop up a project that is on very risky financial 
footing.


-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, 
then you are wasting your time on this Earth" - /Roberto Clemente/
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