Our View: MID board inches ahead with a pair of decisions

The Modesto Irrigation District board, nearly paralyzed by dissension in recent weeks, has made slight progress on two fronts: deciding to hire from within the district for an interim director for the next year and naming people to serve on a water advisory committee.

The committee will make recommendations by the end of May on how the district can update its aging canal and water delivery system — the question that prompted the proposal for a water sale to San Francisco in the first place. Each elected director was allowed to name one committee member and, like the board itself, the resulting committee is all male.

The Stanislaus County Farm Bureau and the city of Modesto also get one representative each. Agriculture is well-represented on the committee, as is the viewpoint that the district should not sell water to San Francisco.

We sincerely hope the committee members can set aside any preconceived ideas and take an all-options-on-the-table approach to this serious subject, both in terms of what improvements are needed for the water system and of how to pay for them.

Of course the committee's meetings will be public. We hope committee members will solicit a broad spectrum of expert advice and opinions, not just from those who regularly speak at MID board meetings but from all kinds of MID customers. Ultimately any decisions will be made to the elected board, but this committee can serve a very useful role in making the process thorough and credible.