By admin In a big California city, a $100 million water project is a line item spread across hundreds of thousands of ratepayers. The individual burden is small. The math for a similar project in rural California is brutal.
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Unincorporated, disadvantaged communities like Madison (west of Woodland in Yolo County) are held to the same rigorous state environmental and public health standards as Los Angeles or San Francisco. Yet, Madison has fewer than 200 parcels to shoulder the cost.
When the Madison water system needs fixing, the financial burden per household can be cost-prohibitive. Yet, the need remains. It takes a specific kind of local leadership to survive in that gap. It looks less like the grandstanding you see on the news and more like Leo Refsland.
Refsland has served as the general manager of the Madison Community Services District since 2007, running a utility that supports just 450 permanent residents and 300 seasonal migrant farmworkers. He calls himself a working general manager because the district has no other full-time staff. That means his day-to-day reality spans the entire universe of public utility operation. He oversees customer billing, handles administrative work, monitors water quality, and files meticulous compliance reports required by regulatory authorities.
When the 1960s-era asbestos-cement pipelines fracture three to 12 times a year, Refsland is the one digging trenches to locate leaks and installing repair clamps. Patching the failing system costs about $1,000 per break without addressing the underlying crisis.
The permanent solution, replacing over 13,000 feet of pipeline and installing modern residential meters, required a multimillion-dollar-investment. If Madison had to fund this strictly on the backs of its few hundred local parcels, the project would have been dead on arrival.
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In rural California, leaders have to fight for every infrastructure dollar. Refsland spent years securing funding and now is managing the enormous construction project himself. In 2022, he joined Yolo County leaders Elisa Sabatini and Kristin Sicke in securing a $3.8 million grant from the California Department of Water Resources. But when rising labor and material costs drove up construction bids, Madison suddenly faced a major funding shortfall.
Refsland squeezed what he could from the district’s modest general fund reserves, partnered with local consulting firm Consero Solutions to chase down leads, and coordinated heavily with the Yolo County Housing Authority and local school districts. Ultimately, that grit caught the attention of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which stepped up with a critical $990,000 Doyuti T’uhkama Grant to clear the final hurdle and get shovels in the ground.
Those who work alongside Refsland know that his determination is matched by deep personal integrity. He is hardworking, diligent and honest, and uses humor to keep his project teams laughing through the stress of rain delays and utility conflicts. He is quick to express gratitude, constantly thanking the people around him, both verbally and in writing, for helping move Madison forward.
Refsland’s dedication to Madison extends beyond its water system. As a founding member of the Madison Community Committee, he helps operate a food closet for residents from the district office. When the workday ends, he is a devoted family man who lights up when he talks about his wife, Cessna, his children, grandchildren and spunky cats.
Rural California needs more leaders like Leo Refsland who know how to piece together a puzzle from a dozen different spots and do the heavy lifting required to ensure their communities have a safe, reliable supply of drinking water. That is not just competent administration. In a town like Madison, that is survival.
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Matt Rexroad is an attorney, political consultant and certified fraud examiner.