Staff summarized four GSP public comment letters and the board directed staff to check in with DWR before returning in October with an EKI scope and cost estimate to prioritize comments. GSAs were reminded model data to EKI via Ignite are due Nov. 30 to avoid higher costs. Three grant programs were reviewed; project forms are due Sept. 30, and no projects had been submitted yet.
The board approved a ~$21,000 cost-share for regional subsidence benchmark monitoring, contingent on other sub-basin participation. A $1,061,350 second cash call for the approved FY27 budget was tabled pending a clearer breakdown, to be revisited in August. Staff said well-registration templates will go out in July, with data due Nov. 30 to support model calibration and PRP compliance.
The board approved a $30,000 fixed-fee contract for EKI to pursue a federal Water Smart grant (due July 8) that could fund up to 50% of model calibration costs, and continued the cost-share decision to June 8 while EKI proceeds under the current 1/7 split. Q1 had no groundwater level minimum-threshold exceedances; subsidence and water-quality QA/QC remain key watch items.
The Joint Powers Authority held its inaugural meeting, following execution of the JPA by all GSAs. The board approved a $1.6 million budget with an initial assessment of $76,621 per contributing member and authorized key consultant contracts for program management, GSP implementation, and data management. Optional subsidence modeling and basin-wide monitoring tasks will require future board action.
