TUD Public Meeting Tonight

The Tuolumne Utilities District is holding a public hearing tonight to update the community of the status of the TUD´s Ditch Optimization Plan and to get public comment and ideas.

TUD General Manager Gary Egger says they are counting on the public tonight to provide usable information. “We´re trying to develop how we´re going to manage the ditch system and how we´re going to improve it in the future,” Egger said. “A lot of folks know things that we might not be aware of, so we´re going to crank that in tonight.” he added.

Although the process to begin gathering input started about five or six years ago, consultants have been working with the TUD for the past two years, Egger said. Over the years several studies suggested that TUD pipe the entire ditch system. They have now started to sway away from that concept, Egger said. “But, we have come to realize that with all the public input, there´s a lot of value out there to having an open ditch system that´s dear to folks,” he said.

After the TUD gets the public´s input at tonight´s meeting, it will be about two or three months before another meeting is scheduled to allow the public a chance to hear what the TUD´s first draft of the ditch plan, Egger said.

Tonight´s meeting gets underway at 7 p.m. at the Tuolumne County Senior Center on Greenley Road in Sonora.