Tuesday, July 5, 2011

(Imperial County) Grand jury commends the Imperial Irrigation District

By ELIZABETH VARIN
Staff Writer
1:26 a.m. PDT, July 3, 2011

In a stark change from last year’s report, the Imperial County Civil Grand Jury commended the Imperial Irrigation District for its cooperation and support of the grand jury in the most recent report released in June.

The grand jury, a 19-member commission of residents tasked with investigating county and local government agencies, thanked IID staff and the new general manager for working with the grand jury so well. As part of the recommendation made to the district, the grand jury asked that IID continue to work with all future grand juries as well as it had with the current one.

In the 2009-2010 report, 12 pages were dedicated to the IID, going over topics such as the local entity grant process, bidding process, energy cost adjustment fluctuation, falling water charge and meeting openness.

The justification for the grand jury to reinvestigate the IID was because of lingering concerns the group had, but after an investigation, the grand jury seemed satisfied with the results it found, not asking for a written response to the few recommendations it gave.

“I’m encouraged by it,” said IID General Manager Kevin Kelley.

He later added: “The grand jury represented ratepayers and the public at large. IID is a public agency and citizen oversight is as important to the district as it is to its ratepayers.”

In the past, IID and the grand jury misconnected, he said. He didn’t think IID intended to be anything less than cooperative, but now it’s encouraging that there seems to be a fresh start. The district has cleared up misconception about its willingness to engage with the grand jury and accept its constructive criticism.

The district has made progress in areas the grand jury had pointed out last year, he said.

In 2010, the grand jury pointed out that the energy cost adjustment rate had been fixed for years, asked whether IID’s board violated the state’s open meeting law and called for the district to distribute Local Entity grants more widely.

In response, the district has voted to float the energy cost adjustment rate again, reaffirmed its commitment to following open meeting rules and taken steps to get more information out about its grant, according to the 2010 response letter included in the 2011 report.

The only pending issue that the grand jury expressed concern over this year was increasing public awareness about illegal dumping. The group recommended the district partner with the county in a public awareness campaign.

The IID has been deficient in getting the word out about illegal dumping, Kelley said. He added that he expects the district will correct it.

“If we can do more to shine a light on this problem and change behavior, we’re going to do it,” he said.

Staff Writer Elizabeth Varin can be reached at evarin@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3441.

http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-news-grand-jury-commends-the-imperial-irrigation-district-20110703,0,2346138.story

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