MEETING NOTES: Desert groundwater agency questioned about “communications” spending

Agenda packet:
Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, Sept. 9:  CLICK HERE

Board members questioned why the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Agency is budgeting $195,000 for communications with an Orange County-based agency.

“My county spends a fifth of this total,” said board member Will Wadelton who represents Inyo County on the board.

Budgeting $195,000 is excessive for “a couple of newspaper ads and some Facebook posts,” he said.

The rest of the groundwater authority’s 2027 draft budget received little comment at the board’s  Sept. 9 meeting.

The amount set aside for Westbound Communications is a “not to exceed” amount of $195,000, said agency representative Christopher Perez. It was the same amount in the 2026 budget.

The agency anticipates only charging $165,000 this year, Perez noted.

He also pushed back on the idea that the agency only made a few Facebook posts saying Westbound has also assisted the authority with its website, created infographics, fact sheets and other forms of work for the district. 

Westbound’s fee has been questioned at several meetings with many pointing out that the agency is paid about $15,000 every month, which they have said seems excessive for “managing a Facebook page.”

Wadelton asked if there was any “doubling up” of work by Westbound and wondered how people prefer receiving their news.

While there isn’t any doubling of work, General Manager April Keigwin said an authority committee does review Westbound’s work before it’s posted on the authority’s Facebook and shared on other community members’ Facebook pages.

She added the majority of the authority’s constituents do get their news from Facebook.

Keigwin asked that directors reach out to her with more specific concerns or ideas of how to reduce the Westbound budget.

Water use relief program

Keigwin presented a proposal to create an unanticipated residential water use relief program. 

The program could provide billing relief to customers who experience unanticipated water use events. Keigwin said the authority would work with the Indian Wells Valley Water District to execute the program.

Keigwin said the water district had a similar program in the past and that it may be helpful as many residents have complained recently about unexpectedly high water bills. 

Board member David Saint-Ammand, who also sits on the water district board, agreed that the program would need to be hashed out by both entities before any type of agreement is brought before the board.

The board directed authority staff to begin work on the program.