Jeff Hill Response to Question #2:

2.  Please list in order of importance the current issues you would prioritize as a member of the Board.

a.    Overall, the District has a responsibility to continue delivering high quality water service to our residents at fair and reasonable prices.

b.    Rebuilding the district infrastructure destroyed / damaged during the CZU fire is the number 1 priority. Without this infrastructure we lose a significant portion of our highest quality available water supply, and we overstress our wells.

c.    Making the system more resilient to drought and disaster is a close second. We need to be able to take water from any of our sources and deliver it to any of our users at any time to cope with emergencies, drought conditions and seasonal supply variations. We need to be able to rotate our sources between stream water diversion and wells on a seasonal basis to protect the wells from excessive use, and to insure sufficient stream flow for Salmon during the spawning season.

d.    Equally important is the need for fiscal responsibility and careful management. The District is faced with some very large financial obligations in the near future, and we need to be both creative and careful in funding our necessary infrastructure replacement, capital improvement and maintenance projects. While the Federal Government (FEMA) will eventually pay for the vast majority of the CZU fire expenses, we will be faced with cash-flow issues to pay contractors while we wait for FEMA to reimburse the District.

Not less important, but interwoven with all our other decisions, the District needs to exercise environmental sensitivity in both system design and construction. Environmental sensitivity is not just an “add-on” to various projects…it needs to be designed into everything we do.