Creating public website declared “hardship” for powerful Kings County water district
There has never been a website offering the public a glimpse into the basic workings of the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District – a public agency – and that’s not going to change any time soon.
The board voted at its May 12 meeting on a recurring resolution that declares creating a public website to provide such items as meeting times, locations and agendas is a “hardship.”
There was no discussion prior to the unanimous vote.
SJV Water sent emails and left phone messages seeking comment from Tulare Lake Basin WSD Manager JJ Westra but did not receive a reply. Assistant Manager Chantal Ouellet directed SJV Water back to Westra.
Senate Bill 929, passed in 2018, mandates all public agencies, including special districts, create and maintain a website that includes contact information, agendas and financial reports, all posted 72 hours prior to meetings.
The law allows an exemption if the board passes an annual “hardship resolution,” which must state the reasons for the hardship, such as a lack of broadband internet, insufficient staff or limited financial resources.
Neither Tulare Lake Basin WSD board members nor the resolution approved at the May 12 meeting stated a reason for the hardship.
The hardship resolution was an unusual twist for David Loy, an attorney at the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit group that advocates for press freedom and public transparency.
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, just that it hasn’t come across my desk in the four years I’ve been at FAC,” he wrote via email.
Tulare Lake Basin WSD, which covers nearly 190,000 acres in Kings County and a small part of Tulare County, is directed by a majority of employees of the J.G. Boswell Company.
Of the 11-member board of directors, six are Boswell employees, including Chair Jeof Wyrick, George Wurzel, Dominic Sween, Mark Unruh, Gabe Cooper and Jonathan Sanchez.
Four of those same board members also sit on the five-member board of the El Rico Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), which covers much of the same land. Those include Chair Wyrick, Sween, Cooper and Unruh. Westra and Ouellet also serve as El Rico’s manager and treasurer, respectively.
El Rico GSA and Tulare Lake Basin WSD share the same address and meeting space at 1001 Chase Ave. in Corcoran. And they meet on the same day, the second Tuesday of the month, three hours apart.
Unlike Tulare Lake Basin WSD, however, El Rico GSA is required under the Sustainability Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) to maintain a public website, no exemptions allowed.
The El Rico website doesn’t include agendas or minutes and mostly directs readers to the state SGMA portal for information on groundwater plans.
The website includes an email at the bottom for interested persons to contact in order to receive notices of meetings and events.
Agendas for the Tulare Lake Basin WSD, meanwhile, must be requested prior to every meeting as district staff have told SJV Water the district is not obligated to maintain a regular email list of agendas or other notices.
In other board action, Tulare Lake Basin WSD approved a $10-per-acre supplemental assessment to raise $1.8 million for its general fund, though the money isn’t needed immediately, according to Assistant Manager Ouellet.
“It’s just the preparation in case and when we need it,” she said during the meeting. There was no public comment.
No action, other than paying bills, was taken at El Rico’s May 12 meeting. Chair Wyrick encouraged growers to submit their 2026 crop data for SGMA compliance.
“Get it in by October. We need time to churn it, spin it and conglomerate it,” Wyrick said.
