Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Meeting Roundup topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fox Canyon GMA meeting roundup: staffing, Las Posas yield, audit contract and follow‑ups
Summary
The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Board met Jan. 22, 2025, and approved a permanent executive officer job description, authorized staff to seek a one‑year extension of the Las Posas operating yield pending technical review, and approved an auditor contract for the Las Posas Watermaster.
The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Board of Directors met Jan. 22, 2025 and took several administrative and technical actions. Key outcomes are summarized below.
Votes at a glance
- Consent agenda (Items 8–13): Approved. The board adopted the consent agenda with a motion that included direction to return in a future meeting to reaffirm a prior request to add language to the Oxnard Subbasin five‑year periodic evaluation; the board also asked staff for additional explanation of an item in the December budget‑to‑actual report.
- Item 14 — Agency executive officer position: Approved. The board approved the draft duties, qualifications and compensation range ($200,000 to $260,000) and authorized steps to recruit a permanent executive officer using a professional recruiting firm and a stakeholder selection panel.
- Item 15 — Las Posas Valley Basin optimization study / operating yield: Approved (authorize counsel to seek court action). The board authorized agency counsel to request that the court extend the initial Las Posas operating yield of 40,000 acre‑feet through water year 2025, contingent on Dudek’s analysis demonstrating no adverse impact to reaching sustainability by 2040. The board discussed unresolved modeling access with United and asked staff to give TAC extra review time for model simulations.
- Item 16 — Auditor contract for Las Posas Watermaster: Approved. The board authorized an agreement with Brown Armstrong Accountancy Corporation for audit and review services for the Las Posas Watermaster with a not‑to‑exceed amount of $59,600 for a three‑year period (FY24–FY26), noting that the FY23–24 budget included $20,000 for audit services.
- Item 17 — Request to continue: Approved. A request from a participant to continue item 17 to a future meeting (at least 30 days) was granted so parties have time to review a late‑posted staff report.
Other business and public comment
- Public comment: Paul McDaniel of Strickland Mutual Water asked the board to direct staff to resolve a missing calibration record that has left the mutual showing a $28,000 balance in agency records; the board asked staff to follow up and assign responsibility for resolution.
- Executive officer report and staff updates: Interim executive officer Arne summarized 2024 staffing and program work, including a $15.2 million Department of Water Resources grant to drill monitoring well casings (19 casings at 8 locations) and operational work as Las Posas Watermaster. Board members thanked staff for hiring and operations work and reiterated ongoing concerns about the agency’s structure and its relationship with county staffing and finance arrangements.
The meeting recessed into closed session; staff advised no report was expected from closed session.
