We kicked off the new year with our always popular Joint ACEC/APWA lunch meeting on January 10th. Our guest speaker was Assembly Member Roger Dickinson. Roger was formerly a Sacramento County Supervisor. He represents the 7th District, which includes most of the Cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento. Special thanks to Diane Nakano at Regional Transit (and their advocacy people) for reaching out to Assembly Member Dickinson for this event.

The turnout was excellent with many Sierra Chapter members in attendance, including President Ted Hopkins who sat at the head table with Assembly Member Dickinson.

Roger spent most of his podium time talking about the importance of including the “locals” when discussing regional water issues. He cited the EBMUD/Sacramento water wars of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as an excellent example of regional collaboration for the benefit of all parties. In that case (as most of you already know), a solution was reached that worked for everyone (i.e. taking water out of the Sacramento River at Freeport instead of the Folsom South Canal at Lake Natoma). In the case of Bay Delta and the proposed twin tunnels, the “locals” are not getting a seat at the table and this is not good for anyone. Assembly Member Dickinson also answered many questions from the audience before heading back to the Capitol.