OPERATIONS REPORT CONTINUED
OK, if you will recall, Randy was giving his verbal operations report and GM Kampa changed the subject to the emergency PG&E call out on Friday. Keeping with the chronological order (since the following video jumps over this discussion and the beginning of KAMPA’s MAP PROJECT, let’s fill in the missing pieces before the next video clip.)
ELECTRICAL EMERGENCY AT THE PLANT
Randy advised that while working on a STATE MANDAED UPGRADE to install a meter in the 18” finished water line (water that has been treated and ready for distribution to customers) an electrical conduit with high voltage power lines had been discovered full of water next to the water line. Naturally all work stopped for safety reasons and PG&E was contacted about the situation.
Although the initial expectation was this meter project would now take several months to complete Randy contacted some PG&E employees he knew and explained the situation which resulted in approximately 15 various types of PG&E trucks and numerous employees showing up at the treatment plant. (He joked that it looked like every PG&E employee in Merced was present.)
The end result is that the District may now proceed with installing the new “mag meter” which is not only crucial if our decades old SIGNIFICANT WATER LOSS is ever to be located and corrected but was required by the State of California years ago and never completed.
[You know my opinion on this BS as well – how many years was this water loss problem permitted to fester and get even worse? But more importantly – why?
Why wasn’t it addressed with the millions of dollars in grant money Kampa obtained instead of creating a special benefit alternate source of water for groundwater substitution to assist outside place of use land developers?
I still believe it (the continuing massive water loss) may have been, and is, a simple and convenient excuse for intentional unaccounted for water use undetectable with simple “billing activities”- after all, seriously now folks,…
How can ANYONE possibly calculate a water loss (much less locate it) without knowing exactly how much treated water is actually leaving the plant?
Then add to this how many properties could theoretically be receiving water in direct violation of the original official district water service map that mysteriously disappeared during the “great expansion” that Pete Kampa himself was involved and advocated 20 years ago during his first LDPCSD employment tour?
At least another 9,000 plus acres!
You know, I have heard this STATE MANDATED WORK reference a few times now and must say,
it actually instills a bit of apprehensive confidence that someone, somewhere in legitimate California State Government might actually understand and appreciate what has been going on here not only for decades, but especially since Kampa’s return and is pushing the district to make these NECESSARY MANDATORY CHANGES. (At least I sure want to believe this anyway.)
One thing is painfully obvious, if left to the district these projects would NEVER HAVE BEEN STARTED OR COMPLETED!
Way too corrupt with special interest influence.]
OK, back to the meeting. My blood pressure is going up again.
COULD BE PUMPING FROM LAKE WITH FIXED INTAKE
Director James Sult confirmed with the rising lake levels there was no reason our one fixed intake pump could not be furnishing water to the treatment plant. Director Warren added that the ground wells would be needed if the one functioning fixed intake failed because the second was inoperable and the barge was down.
AGAIN….why weren’t these MAJOR PRIMARY INFRASTRUCTURE REPAIRS MADE PRIORITIES WHILE THE LAKE WAS DOWN WITH THOSE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PUBLIC GRANTS KAMPA SOUGHT?
This is something else that has been rolling around in the back of my skull….
why has KAMPA taken every opportunity to use groundwater when not absolutely necessary? He has said because it was cheaper and more convenient for the employees, but could he also be “paying back” in groundwater substitution the MERCED RIVER WATER that has already left the district service area?
Who knows?
What happened to the traditional OUTSIDE MIDPOU COMPLIANCE REPORT in the monthly board agenda packet again?
This is the ONLY WAY regular customers have any idea how much MERCED RIVER WATER is leaving the district to properties outside the permitted area of water license 11395.
Is the Merced Irrigation District also unconcerned about MERCED RIVER WATER compliance reporting so long as the LDPCSD publicly supports it’s S.A.F.E. Plan: (Salmon, Agriculture, Flows and Environment)?
Or is it a matter of –
Same Arrogant Failures Every-time?
Board President Danny Johnson then apparently attempted to get Randy to state the Board’s activities in promoting maintenance and modernizing the plant (filters) had saved employees work time in operations. Randy, however, corrected that assumption by stating it was more of a water quality improvement than time required, as the treatment process was the same. Mr. Gilgo again repeated that the quality of the water has been greatly improved though careful to say it was always good, it is much better now.
The Board President then commented on the filter inspections and whether Randy had the certification to perform those inspections. Randy explained there was nothing much to inspect other than superficially, but core samples are taken of the filter media every two years by a contract company looking for “mud balls”, size of media, and depth of the different media layers.
{Approximately 8 feet of media is contained within the filter pressure vessel so only the top layer of sand is visible when the hatch is opened. Those large white “submarine looking tanks” at the plant – lol}
KAMPA added there was a specific annual procedure for visually inspecting the media characteristics without a core sample every two years. After further questioning by President Johnson Kampa admitted that with more frequent inspections the District would probably have been aware there was a problem with the filters and scheduled the contract company for a more detailed media inspection.
President Johnson questioned Randy about the 60-80 customer water meters that were not working properly and whether there were new ones malfunctioning or just the same 60-90. Randy advised it was the same 60-80 with no new additional failures and some were just questioned because of apparent irregular readings that Syndie observed while processing billing.
Director Sult mentioned how chemical purchases have been questioned in the past and wondered if the repaired filters would affect that situation. Randy stated there was not a direct impact and that as it was the raw water quality that affected chemical usage.
Director Sult also confirmed the filters were rebuilt with PVC below the media and stainless steel above media.
IMPORTANT TIME LINE POINT: Chief Plant Operator Randy Gilgo then left the board room in order to obtain the barge estimate packet (eight pages) previously discussed for later handout to the board members and audience. (Thank you Randy for that extremely important information unfortunately I (and probably others) didn’t catch the apparent estimate anomaly until three days later while writing the previous post.)
Board President Danny Johnson advised he did not have a formal written presiding officer’s report and chose to make a verbal one commending board members for their work. GM PETE KAMPA echoed the complimentary comments by Danny Johnson regarding board member work and projects accomplished. Kampa stated that other than minor corrections he believed the State would give us a good “report card”.
KAMPA’s MAPPING PROJECT
The GM advised the matter should be an agenda item because the project cost could grow to a “very large number”. When questioned as to how large a number KAMPA advised more than $10,000! He advised he would not get into much detail since it wasn’t on the agenda [WHY?] but it wasn’t a matter of time required for the project because the time is relatively short but it is just “digital data that is plugged in” but decisions need to be made on how to proceed.
President Danny Johnson said he read Kampa’s paragraph in the packet concerning the matter and wanted one correction concerning a very controversial issue:
{insert}
“MID Place of Use, and properties served outside the CSD boundaries…”
Johnson stated he did not want to convey the idea that properties outside the boundaries were not part of the district. Johnson said the terminology made him cringe. He continued by saying the mapping project might find this to be true but his intent in supporting a map was to put a damper on the controversy regarding the various maps presented through the years. (NOTE: MANY OF THESE MAPS WERE FABRICATED BY THE LDPCSD AND ARE STILL DISPLAYED IN THE BOARDROOM) He said the district would not serve properties outside the district unless it had been done long ago and grandfathered in by other boards. (GRANDFATHERED? OR SIMPLY IGNORED DUE TO POLITICAL PRESSURE FROM SPECIAL INTERESTS?) Johnson said even if legally outside the CSD boundary he did not believe the district could legally now stop the water service provided for 50 years.
Johnson reiterated that the statement made him a little nervous. Kampa advised the map was to be historical and not one for future service and although there have been requests for water service outside the district they could not be processed without an annexation from LAFCo (Local Agency Formation Commission) or an outside area agreement also processed through LAFCo. (Tuolumne and/or Mariposa County LAFCo depending upon property location.)
Director Warren questioned whether Syndie in the office was the main beneficiary of such a map for answering questions regarding service availability, to which she agreed it would be helpful.
President Johnson stated he didn’t think it was just Syndie because the entire community had been at odds over the issue for decades. Johnson told Kampa to keep going forward and let the Board know – to which Kampa replied unless there was a special meeting to deal with the matter.
Director Emery Ross then suggested if there was to be a special meeting it should include the barge issue as well, but KAMPA replied that issue would only go on the agenda if it was over what the board had approved and it shouldn’t….
[???]
OK, that brings us up to the next video clip that I uploaded last night. Not sure if you folks ever see the verbal introduction that is displayed on YouTube but I’ll try to drop it in here-
Although this video is slightly out of chronological order (passed over discussion of the emergency PG&E call out to the plant on Friday – and beginning of Kampa’s map project – will try to get back to that) the video presentation at this time is necessary to show when the board of directors actually received the barge estimates which appear contrary to what was presented at the meeting. There are some other important matters as well: Kampa stating the barge issue would only be on the agenda if over the approved amount (which it clearly was but Kampa never admitted this fact); Director James Sult’s excellent comment that any production of a new District Map should be unbiased without the district furnishing the information for it’s RE-CONSTRUCTION (listen to Kampa’s answer…..anyone else smell another SNEAKY PETE on the horizon?); Board President Johnson seems to want a MAP that could be used in defense of past and future activities (he and Ross are the only two directors left from the original board that brought KAMPA back to Lake Don Pedro for OUTSIDE MID POU SPECIAL BENEFIT WATER SERVICE FOR DEVELOPERS , the other three current directors “inherited” Sneaky Pete); yours truly comments on the ridiculous and expensive KAMPA MAP PROJECT; (after which the video documents when directors and public actually received barge 411 that should have been in packet); Kampa dismisses the several month long state request for information as nothing to worry about and Kampa said the barge matter should not be on the next agenda unless over the approved amount which it apparently is by several thousand dollars.
BELOW ARE 11 PAGES OF THE METES & BOUNDS SURVEY WHICH WAS USED BY MARIPOSA COUNTY LAFCo TO CREATE THE OFFICIAL LAKE DON PEDRO COMMUNITY SERVICE DISTRICT BOUNDARY IN 1980.
WHY IS THE LDPCSD BOARD OF DIRECTORS
AND GENERAL MANAGER PETE KAMPA
(KAMPA COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS LLC)
GOING TO SUCH EXTREMES AND MONETARY EXPENSE IN ORDER TO SIMPLY AVOID THE LOGICAL RECREATION OF WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY LEGALLY APPROVED AS OUR OFFICIAL WATER SERVICE BOUNDARY MAP?
WHY NOT JUST HAND THESE 11 PAGES (WHICH THE DISTRICT POSSESSES) TO A CERTIFIED MAPPING ENGINEER AND HAVE A FRACKING MAP PRODUCED?
There goes the blood pressure again.
What a fracking circus of public betrayal!
(Again, this is directed only to those who continue to support this KAMPA KRAPA)
My best to you and yours, Lew
