RANCHO MURIETA, CA (MPG) - Although the decision was not unanimous, the Rancho Murieta Community Services District Board voted at its Dec. 17 meeting to hold a public hearing on Jan. 27 to consider declaring a water emergency.

The directors also discussed a range of other topics, including steps needed to convert Lake Clementia for potable water use, issues with the gate arms, emergency notifications, audit updates and related matters, and positive news about the community’s drinking water.

Emergency Water Hearing

After Board President John Merchant requested that a public hearing on a water emergency be placed on the agenda, Merchant and Directors Linda Butler and Bill Gere voted in favor, Director Tim Maybee voted no and Director Randy Jenco voted “present.”

Although the initial plan was to hold the hearing on Jan. 22, Interim General Manager Amelia Wilder said the date was later changed to Jan. 27, with a 6 p.m. start time at the Rancho Murieta Community Church on Cantova Drive.

Calls for the Rancho Murieta Community Services District to declare a water emergency date back to July 2024, when residents organized a petition drive urging the board to declare a development moratorium until supply and infrastructure capacity could be fully evaluated. The effort, led by Save Our Lakes & Open Spaces, reflected growing concern about long-term water availability amid ongoing development and the absence at that time of an updated Integrated Water Master Plan.

Throughout 2024 and 2025, the CSD board acknowledged the requests but declined to declare a water emergency, citing the need for additional technical data and updated planning documents. In September, however, the board voted 3-2 to begin a water moratorium process, with Merchant, Butler and Gere voting in favor, and Jenco and Maybee voting no.

At the December meeting, Merchant recommended holding the hearing at the church, saying, “They have an incredible facility over there. The visibility is a lot better, and the seating is a lot better.”

Developer Bob Keil asked the board to refresh his memory about what the meeting would cover. Merchant said it was a requirement under Water Code Section 350 that the district hold a public meeting and post a notice in a newspaper before declaring a water emergency. After Keil asked whether the reasoning behind a moratorium would be disclosed before the meeting, Merchant assured him that it would.

Before the brief board discussion, two audience members urged the board to declare a water emergency. Longtime community advocate Janis Eckard expressed long-standing frustration with the community’s unresolved water problems and what she described as divisive infighting. 

“The developers are not bad people. I know all of them personally,” she said. “They are good people.”

Eckard first raised concerns in 2006 about the district overstating water availability, and she is upset that nothing meaningful has been done in nearly 20 years.

Eckard identified three major problems: the lack of an emergency water supply since the 1976-77 drought; insufficient reservoir capacity to withstand a repeat drought or major wildfire; and inadequate tank capacity to support firefighting during hot weather.

Eckard urged the board to declare a water emergency with language clarifying that it would not be used as an anti-development tool. 

“All it does is put in a pause,” she said. “We sit down with the developers. We try to figure out: Is there a means of coming up with another water supply?”

She also encouraged creative problem-solving, such as asking nearby landowners/developers about land for a reservoir or tanks, and stressed community cooperation rather than infighting.

Carol Prinzo also urged the board to act. 

“I want a solution. I want a plan. I’m tired of the red herring called a lawsuit. We need to get past that,” she said.

Merchant said he placed Lake Clementia on the agenda to approve the steps needed for it to be considered a potable and emergency water source. The ensuing discussion made clear that converting Clementia would involve complex technical, regulatory and legal work and would likely require outside assistance.

In the end, the board followed the suggestion of district counsel Patrick Enright, who recommended that Interim Operations Manager Travis Bohannon and other staff prepare a comprehensive report for the next board meeting outlining the full process for pursuing Lake Clementia as a water source. The report would include required testing, permitting steps, timelines, costs, realistic expectations and options, and note any potential need for legislative or consultant assistance.

In her general manager’s report, Wilder described the difficulties of repairing the gate arms because vendors did not have the necessary parts on hand, with Butler adding details in her role as chair of the Security Committee.

Butler said Security Sgt. Brandon Arino determined that not just the arms but the entire gate mechanisms need replacement. She added that the committee proposed immediately repairing the broken middle north gate and replacing two gate mechanisms per year over the next three years, with estimated replacement costs ranging from $18,000 to $25,000 per mechanism.

In her general manager’s report, Wilder said Code Red experienced a data breach and was shut down. The district has used Code Red to provide urgent communications specific to Rancho Murieta, such as issuing a boil-water notice after a vehicle struck and destroyed a fire hydrant.

Wilder said Arino located and implemented a replacement emergency alert vendor at the same price with improved service, known as the SISA Smart Alert Platform. Staff imported the district’s contact data into the new system, with previous subscribers remaining enrolled, and posted notice of the change on the district’s website and Facebook page. She also noted that Sacramento County’s reverse 911 system is separate and recommended that residents sign up for those alerts as well.

Audience member Tom Shewchuk offered to help the board run more efficient meetings free of charge. He said he taught effective meetings at Intel for 20-plus years and believes he can cut five hour board meetings to under two hours and three hour committee meetings to under one hour. 

At Wilder’s request, the board discussed possible changes to the days and times of board and committee meetings, with a final schedule to be determined at future meetings. However, it is likely that future board meetings will begin at 3:30 p.m. instead of 5 p.m.

Cecilia Min, the director of finance and administration, reported that she and her staff remain focused on completing the audit work and current-year financials.

Bohannon said the state now requires water districts to test for PFAS: so-called “forever chemicals” that persist in the environment and can accumulate in people and wildlife. He said four consecutive quarters of testing showed no PFAS detections in the community’s water supply.

Bohannon also provided an update on repairs to Lift Station 6B near the wooden bridge, saying the upcoming rains would test the system and related improvements.

Although scheduled to approve next steps to repair a drainage culvert at the equestrian center, the board referred the issue to the Improvements Committee, which was scheduled to meet Jan. 6.

The board also received the required annual report on the Community Facilities District formed in 2014 to help fund a new water treatment plant, approved a vacation accrual reconciliation requested by Min, and received an update on human resources activities and preparations for hiring a new general manager.

The board’s water emergency hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 27 at the Rancho Murieta Community Church. The next regular board meeting will be held Feb. 18.