TCID Board Confronts Insurance Spike, Project Delays

The Truckee-Carson Irrigation District board met Tuesday, December 2, and heard a staff report on a recent canal outage caused by planned maintenance. Kelly Herwick, watermaster, said that the project is on schedule. 

Staff also said they have been catching up on water orders after several months of being short-handed and training new employees. “We’re getting better there,” Herwick said, noting that a new water delivery analysis is underway and a written report should be ready soon.

The district is in talks with the Nevada Department of Wildlife over renewal of its grazing lease. NDOW is considering a shorter-term agreement than the traditional five-year agreement because an ongoing study could change the allowed cattle numbers partway through the lease.

Several board members questioned the logic of basing the study on low-water years when local permittees already cut back on their own in dry seasons.

“We’re the ones that cut ourselves back,” Lester deBraga said, pointing out that ranchers do not turn out full numbers when there is not enough water. “We do not just say, ‘Well, we are turning 100 percent out’ on a short water year.”

Directors said they would prefer a longer-term lease to give ranchers time to rebuild herds and take advantage of improvements being made on the ground. deBraga compared the timeline to aging whiskey: it takes years of planning before the first “bottle” or calf crop pays off.

The board heard that the district’s tower project, a key piece of infrastructure work, has run into challenges tied to federal grant requirements, particularly “Buy America” provisions that govern where materials are sourced.

Managers said complying fully with the requirement could push costs “substantially higher,” so they are seeking a waiver. That process itself requires additional paperwork, public advertising, and bid steps, but the tower project could cost 150% more if the waiver is not approved.

Because of those complications, the district is reevaluating how to move the project forward. Staff plan to return to the board within a few weeks with a revised approach and timeline.

A representative from the Bureau of Reclamation reported that an emergency-related request regarding the XM canal project as it relates to mud and dirt flows that cause the canal XM project to be delayed, that the district submitted at the end of September has been forwarded to Washington, D.C. but appears to have been delayed by the recent federal shutdown and a change in the agency’s acting commissioner.

The request has now been flagged for the current acting commissioner, and the Bureau is seeking an update on its status. At the same time, Reclamation staff are reworking the water measurement plan to make it “more reasonable and implementable,” and will be coordinating directly with TCID on those changes.

During the recent outage, Reclamation’s Technical Service Center has been looking at the Truckee River just upstream of Derby Dam. That work includes evaluating the fishway, an island that has built up in front of the dam, and how changes in the channel affect both fish passage and flow measurement for the Truckee Canal loss studies. The data feeds into storage, accounting for the system.

In action items, the board approved a temporary right-of-entry for Hiskett and Sons, which is interested in exploring a TCID-owned parcel west of US 50 near Bango Oil for potential sand or aggregate material.

The agreement allows access to specified district lands west of the highway, with an expiration date built in. Directors briefly discussed legal access and the fact that vehicles may need to cross two or three private properties to reach the site, but staff believe access can be worked out.

Any future agreement for sale or use of materials would require separate board action.

The board also wrestled with its employee health insurance renewal. The district qualified for an “early renewal” program, which locks in a 5% increase for medical coverage and about 4% for dental, with vision holding flat. If TCID declined the early renewal, the broker warned that increases could range from 15% to 23% later in the cycle.

Several directors said they were frustrated by the rising cost of coverage, especially for employees with families. David Stix pointed out that premiums for an employee plus spouse now run into thousands of dollars each month, with employee-plus-children sometimes priced lower than full family coverage.

Directors acknowledged that the district’s generous insurance benefits are one of the main reasons many employees stay, even though wages are often lower than in the private sector. They also noted a mechanic had recently left for better pay, suggesting the balance between wages and benefits may need to be revisited.

After discussion, the board voted to approve the early renewal “reluctantly,” with the understanding that staff will spend the next year seriously exploring other carriers and plan designs.

In committee reports, board members discussed significant cattle losses in one of the district’s grazing areas this past season. One permittee lost roughly 11-12 head, and others reported losses, totaling over 30 head between two owners.

The deaths are believed to be related to an insect-borne disease, Anaplasmosis, spread by flies and mosquitoes, with vaccination providing only partial protection. The problem appears to be concentrated in a specific area with heavy tamarisk growth.

The board revisited earlier conversations about spraying to control insects, noting that NDOW had been open to allowing a targeted spray program. Ideas ranged from aerial spraying to using drones over problem areas. Directors emphasized the fiscal impact, with some estimating that losing 20% of a small herd at current cattle prices represents a significant economic hit.

Board members closed by thanking staff for the strong irrigation season, noting there were very few damage claims and almost no complaints about ditch riders, a sign, they said, of excellent work in a complicated year.