RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Originally tasked with finding an outside consultant to review the draft 2024 Integrated Water Master Plan, Operations Manager Eric Houston has advised against finalizing it, citing its lack of a clear path forward.

Houston made that recommendation at the Rancho Murieta Community Services District Board meeting on Jan. 15.

In other business, the board voted to table an ordinance increasing barcode sticker fees, agreed to spend $170,000 to speed the completion of overdue audits, and reversed a decision General Manager Mimi Morris to cancel a property insurance policy. Morris didn’t attend the meeting because she is on a paid leave of absence. See four separate stories in this issue of the River Valley Times.                

Urban Water Plan

Although the agenda included an item for Houston to report on his efforts to organize a review of the draft IWMP by outside engineers and community residents, he addressed the matter differently. 

“I believe it would behoove us to basically restart that process and get one that’s usable,” he said. “I think we can use most of the data that has already been collected by Lisa Maddaus. But I definitely think we need a better plan and vision.”

After more than a year and a half of effort, the consultants submitted the draft IWMP in October. 

Rather than finalizing the draft, Houston proposes that the district develop an urban water supply plan, which will be required by the state Department of Water Resources once the district reaches 3,000 water connections — expected within the next year.

Houston also reported that Water Systems Consultants is preparing a scope of work for the district. The engineering consultants previously developed a Water Vision Report and an urban water supply plan for the City of Folsom. Houston indicated the cost could range between $300,000 and $500,000, although he didn’t yet have an estimate. The district has already spent around $400,000 on the IWMP draft.

Houston said the IWMP consultants had not thoroughly explored options to augment the community’s water supply. “I think anytime you want to make an agreement to supply water, it should never be solely based on conservation,” he said.

Houston said the district needs a more defensible water plan to effectively engage with developers and the county and make decisions internally. 

District Counsel Enright expressed his agreement to pursue an urban water supply plan. “We are remarkably close to 3,000 right now. So it doesn’t make any sense to have a plan that we’re going to redo basically once we get there.”

Merchant praised Water Systems Consultants. He attended one of the Water Vision meetings they organized in Folsom and was impressed. Merchant said he had wanted that firm to bid on the IWMP, but it never got a shot. (See an explanation later in this story.)

Board President Stephen Booth  also criticized the draft IWMP, saying it  “doesn’t provide a plan moving forward, and that is a major deficiency.”  As an alternative, Booth expressed hopes for a hybrid approach that uses already existing data. 

Director Randy Jenco expressed feeling blindsided by Houston’s proposal. While he stated that he was not opposed to hiring someone to explore options for increasing water production or reducing demand, he questioned the need to redo the IWMP, given the substantial funds already invested in its development.

Booth asked Jenco what could steer the conversation in a direction more favorable to him. Jenco responded that he would be ready to have that discussion once they received the scope and cost estimates from the new firm. 

Audience member Tom Shewchuk told the board they should instead consider his proposal to form an ad hoc committee involving CSD, the Rancho Murieta Association, and the Rancho Murieta Country Club to solve the community’s water problem. He said Houston has enough expertise to put together an urban water plan without hiring outside consultants.

Booth referred Houston’s proposal to the Improvements Committee for further consideration. Merchant and Jenco are on that committee.

During the discussion, Booth noted that the board has acknowledged the inevitability of full development in the already approved Residences subdivision on the north and Riverview on the south. Merchant added that he anticipates Clementia Reservoir will be designated as an emergency water supply, though he acknowledged it would not be sufficient.

Background

Updating the IWMP became a concern in 2022 when the Rancho North subdivision, proposing 697 lots, updated its application with Sacramento County planners in March. Comments by the late John Sullivan, who represented the developers, increased the sense of urgency.

After the district requested proposals to prepare an IWMP and an urban water supply plan, the only bid came as a joint proposal from Maddaus Water Management in California and Adkins Engineering in Oregon. When reporting that outcome at the Nov. 16, 2022, Board meeting, then-Operations Manager Michael said he had advertised twice and reached out to 11 qualified engineering firms. All indicated they were too busy to take on the project, although he received one rough estimate of $599,000. 

Although the Maddaus-Adkins bid was $340,000, which exceeded the budget of $250,000, then-Director Martin Pohll suggested approving the bid with the understanding that Fritschi would negotiate a lower price by reducing the scope. Pohll, Director Tim Maybee and a reluctant Director Linda Butler voted in favor. Jenco was absent.

Merchant didn’t vote on the bid because he unexpectedly resigned from the board a month earlier, telling the other directors he wanted to spend more time with SOLOS (Save Our Lakes & Open Spaces), a community action group. His resignation also came a month after Sullivan accused him of “malfeasance” at the Sept. 21, 2022, board meeting. Sullivan said Merchant had tried to “submarine” his project at county planning. 

Fritschi negotiated a reduced price of $291,000 by removing the urban water plan, with the understanding that most of the data from the IMWP could be repurposed for the second plan later.

The Improvements Committee met on Dec. 7, 2022, to consider the reduced bid. Merchant objected to the proposal, saying it was premature because Fritsch hadn’t exhausted the talent pool and because using Maddaus again would bring unintended bias. (She wrote the IWMP in 2010 and the Water Supply Assessment in 2016 that both  concluded the community had enough water for development.) Merchant also objected because the proposal lacked a provision for public meetings (which was later added). Maddaus attended that meeting to discuss her expertise and the project approach.

After the Improvements Committee recommended its approval, the board voted on the reduced bid at their Dec. 21, 2022, meeting. Newly appointed Director Booth, Pohl, Jenco, and Maybee voted yes, and Butler voted no. Booth said he was voting “aye” with some reticence, “So we can get this moving.”

Since then, the board has approved additional work that brought the not-to-exceed estimate for preparing the IWMP to $408,000, according to figures Houston supplied.