Organization, Drinking Water, 'Frankenstein' are CSD Topics
Sep 25, 2025 09:08AM ● By Gail Bullen, River Valley Times Reporter
RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - While a proposed water moratorium drew a full house at the Rancho Murieta Community Services District board meeting on Sept. 17, directors also took up several other matters, most of them after the crowd left. (See separate story on the moratorium.)
Two topics involved maintaining the district’s operations in the absence of a permanent general manager. Another dealt with minor odor and taste issues in the drinking water, and a fourth concerned a “Frankenstein” software problem that slowed follow-up work on an audit.
Organizational Changes
Early in the meeting, Board President John Merchant announced that the board had appointed Amelia Wilder as interim general manager but offered no details. Wilder has served as district secretary since January 2020. (See separate profile.)
Merchant also presented a temporary organizational chart designed to maintain continuity and oversight until a permanent general manager is hired. The chart reflects Wilder’s promotion, the creation of an interim board secretary position and adjustments following Operations Manager Eric Houston’s leave of absence, which began Sept. 1 for undisclosed reasons.
At the top of the organizational chart is a Board of Directors Ad Hoc Committee. It was initially formed at the Dec. 6 board meeting to provide a liaison between the board and staff in six areas, including audits, water issues and security, and it had a term limit of six months. The committee initially included then-Board President Steve Booth and Vice President John Merchant. After Booth stepped down, Merchant continued as the sole member with board approval.
At the September meeting, Merchant said Director Bill Gere had joined him as the second member of the ad hoc committee, which will oversee four managers on “equal footing.” The four are Cecilia Min, director of Finance and Administration; Travis Bohannon, chief Plant operator; Corey Carskaddon, Utilities supervisor; and Amelia Wilder, interim general manager.
Wilder now supervises the security staff, the IT manager and the interim board secretary, Dyanne Fleet.
When audience member Tom Shewchuk asked if the board planned to hire a new general manager, Merchant replied, “Legally, we haven’t been without a general manager, and let’s leave it at that.”
Moments later, Merchant told Shewchuk he wanted to focus on the interim approach.
“We are not going to go forever without a general manager, but we have four people in the top line I feel pretty good about,” he said. “I’d like to give it an opportunity to settle down and decide what we really want to do and what we really want to look for in the next hire that we make.”
Later in the meeting, Wilder reminded the board about the temporary nature of ad hoc committees. After some discussion over the technicalities, directors agreed to hold a short special meeting at 11 a.m. Sept. 29 to effectively create a new ad hoc committee, define its scope and officially appoint Merchant and Gere.
Drinking Water
As part of his operations report, Chief Plant Operator Travis Bohannon addressed recent complaints about odors and tastes in the drinking water.
“This is only an esthetic issue, not a water quality issue,” he stressed.
Bohannon said the problem stems from byproducts created by algae when hot weather warms the water.
“The district is prone to this due to how we store our water,” he said.
The only way to remove the byproducts is to feed powdered activated carbon into the treatment process: a step that can only be done at the older conventional water plant, since charcoal would damage the membranes in the newer plant. To mitigate the issue, the district has been producing more water from Plant 2 and blending it with water from Plant 1.
He added that residents can minimize the problem by cooling their water before drinking.
Another solution also is in sight.
“Once the temperatures cool down, the issue will go away,” he said.
To reduce algae, Bohannon is resuming annual mechanical harvesting of aquatic vegetation along the Chesbro Reservoir shoreline and will recommend harvesting at Calero Reservoir every few years.
As for the taste and odor issue, Bohannon jokingly added that the ultimate solution would be to replace Plant 1 with a second conventional plant.
Frankenstein
In addition to her detailed report on finances and overdue audits, Finance Director Cecilia Min briefed the board on what she, staff and a Great Plains software consultant have dubbed “Project Frankenstein.”
The goal, she explained, is to get the district’s accounting system to fully function with modules – “arms and legs,” as she put it – that had not been used before.
But they weren’t getting a heartbeat.
“Frankenstein should be waking up,” she said.
Min said they recently discovered the main reason for the lack of response was the outdated server hosting Great Plains. IT Manager Andy Lee told the directors that the system had been pieced together over many years by different consultants, resulting in missing licenses, broken update services and frequent errors. He has obtained a replacement server and is repairing the update functions.
On another topic, Min showed the board a new format for financial statements, developed from lessons in the last audit. She said the format will be used for the next three audits.
Other Business
Director Linda Butler, chair of the Security Committee, reported that one new patrol officer has been hired and another candidate is in the background process. The district is budgeted for four patrol officers, so staffing is nearly complete. For gate officers, the district is authorized for seven full-time and eight part-time positions but is currently operating with only four part-time staff members.
Although directors did not discuss it, the board packet included a letter from Brad Beer, owner of Rancho Murieta Airport. Beer said he had received a water shutoff notice from Wilder for nonpayment of fees. Beer wrote that while he always has remained current on water, sewage and drainage charges, he has withheld security dues due to a longstanding dispute with the district: one he says has gone unresolved because of a lack of response from district staff. He warned that cutting off the airport’s water would also shut down nearby hydrants, creating a public safety risk.
Wilder told the board she intended to resolve the issue with Beer.
IT Manager Andy Lee reported steady progress on infrastructure upgrades and said he has also been assisting staff with “Project Frankenstein.”
In other business, the board adopted an ordinance updating the district’s purchasing and bidding rules and spending limits.
Directors also approved a temporary 5% pay increase for the chief plant operator and utilities supervisor, citing the extra duties they have taken on during the operations manager’s absence.
The next board meetings will be at 11 a.m. Sept. 29 for the Ad Hoc Committee and 5 pm. Oct. 15 for the monthly meeting. The next Improvements Committee meeting, scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 2, will consider several topics of note, including water and sewer will-serve letters issued to the entitled subdivisions and a requirement that the developer of the Residences subdivision build a third water tank.
Organization, Drinking Water, 'Frankenstein' are CSD Topics [1 Image]
Click Any Image To Expand
