Big Bear Lake, CA — Though the Department of Water and Power did not hold their regular monthly meeting this morning (due to lack of a quorum), the agency did take center stage a few times during last night’s Big Bear Lake City Council meeting. DWP General Manager Joel Dickson’s first trip to the podium on June 14 was to join Mayor Liz Harris in recognizing DWP’s Water Resource Manager Bill LaHaye for his five years of service, which also included a stint as acting General Manager prior to Dickson’s appointment in 2008. “When I first started,” Dickson told Council, “Bill was my main resource.” He went on to praise LaHaye for pursuing $5.2 million in federal grants for the DWP, adding, “Bill worked just tremendous hours, and now we have that money.” For his part, five-year employee LaHaye noted, “It’s certainly been very interesting and challenging, and I am glad to be here.”
The DWP stand-by charges were also reviewed by City Council, and the $53 fee (to maintain water infrastructure on as-yet-undeveloped properties) was unanimously approved. “It’s a modest charge,” per Dickson, “which is $53 on the property tax. This [vote] is simply re-establishing the existing fee that is in place. This fee is associated with the infrastructure requirements, rather than the water supply itself.” As added by Mayor Harris, “This fee has been the same for 20 years, so it’s not a big issue.”
City Council also authorized staff to advertise a vacancy on the DWP Board of Commissioners (prompted by Karen Dally’s move), as well as a vacancy on the Planning Commission (prompted by Rich Lambert’s move); though the City Council and DWP have placed a charter amendment on the November ballot, at present, appointees to the DWP Commission will still need to be residents of the City of Big Bear Lake.
