| Yuma
joins water authority |
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Written by Tony Rayl
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Thursday, 24 April 2008
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The Yuma City
Council has agreed to enter into an
intergovernmental agreement for the Yuma County
Water Authority.
A motion authorizing Mayor Gene Seward to
finalize the agreement, with a fee rate of $1 per
resident, passed on a 6-0 vote, during last week's
regular meeting, April 15. Mayor Seward and
councilmen Sergio Sanchez, Ralph Ebert, Shad Nau,
Dan Baucke, and Tony Layson Jr. voted in favor.
Councilman Fred Raish was absent, attending another
meeting.
The vote took place after the council discussed
the issue in an executive session at the end of the
meeting. The fee rate was added in on the city's own
doing.
Yuma County Commissioners Robin Wiley, Dean
Wingfield and Trent Bushner discussed the proposed
Yuma County Water Authority with the council earlier
in the meeting. Wiley gave an update on the
premediation hearing in Denver, in regards to the
Pioneer Irrigation District and Laird Ditch
litigation, with Wiley saying he was encouraged with
what transpired leading to mediation before a judge
on April 28.
“We feel it's extremely important to face this
situation as one group,” Wiley said, adding that he
feels water issues will never go away. “There's a
real value to owning surface water rights so issues
like this don't keep coming forward. The water
authority is an excellent tool to accomplish this.”
The tone of the discussion indicated the Yuma
County Water Authority could play a key role in any
potential buyout of senior surface water rights in
regards to the Pioneer and Laird. However, the
commissioners said it would be imperative that the
State of Colorado and the federal government also be
a partner in any deal.
With the mediation among all parties in the
Pioneer and Laird litigation quickly approaching,
Wiley said he felt the process forming the Yuma
County Water Authority needed to move forward
quickly. He said the county, along with the City of
Wray and Town of Eckley, were expected to sign the
intergovernmental agreement by this week — and the
water authority was going to move forward with
whatever county entities chose to be involved.
Baucke asked if the base fee to be paid by each
entity would be done every year.
Wiley said that is what the water authority will
decide. An example of $5 per resident was used in
the water authority document, but it was only an
example. The commissioners said that at the $5 rate
it probably would not have to be assessed each year
because the money probably would last a long time.
The base fee would be just for the maintenance of
the water authority. Currently, attorney fees is the
biggest cost.
The city took a preemptive stance in the base
fee situation, with the council including a $1 per
resident fee in its motion.
Bushner stressed that the Pioneer and Laird
litigation has nothing to do with the state meeting
its obligations to the Republican River Compact. He
added they are intertwined in that the Republican
River Water Conservation District's compact
compliance pipeline could be killed if the Pioneer
and Laird owners win their case. Even if the
pipeline wells were not shut off, there will not be
a way to pay for it because all the other wells will
be shut off.
(In a nutshell, Pioneer and Laird is asking that
any wells found to be impacting its stream flow to
be taken out of the ground water rules and instead
be put into the jurisdiction of the water court.
They are asking for an impact zone of at least 15
miles, meaning any wells within that distance from
the river and its tributaries could be shut down.
That would put the zone within one mile of the Yuma
city limits. There is talk that 15 miles might not
be enough.)
Wiley noted that of the 4,000 wells in
Colorado's Republican River Basin, 2,000 are in Yuma
County.
“We have the most to lose,” he said, adding that
there is going to have to be some local money
included in any buyout.
The commissioners said that regardless of the
outcome of June's hearing before the Colorado Ground
Water Commission, attorneys have stated it likely
will be a four to eight year process before it
finally concludes in the Colorado Supreme Court,
meaning major attorney fees for all involved. All
that can be avoided if some kind of agreement is
reached with the Pioneer and Laird owners. Wiley
also noted that a prolonged legal battle will create
more hard feelings between county residents, adding
that already some neighbors are not talking to each
other.
Discussion turned to the water authority taking
on debt for capital projects. Each entity in the
water authority can decide what level of
participation, if any, it wants in any particular
project. If an entity did not participate, it also
would not receive any of the project's assets if
the water authority were to dissolve.
“There's a risk,” Wiley said, “but we're facing
an even bigger disaster.”
City Attorney Roger Seedorf brought up some
points within the water authority document. It
states any entity wanting to withdraw has to give
six months notice. Seedorf said Yuma wanted two
months. The commissioners said the attorneys
drafting the document have stayed firm on six
months. Wingfield said he thought the reason given
was that two months was not enough time for the
other entities to reorganize.
Seedorf also brought up the votings rights being
divided as three for the county, and two each for
the three municipalities, saying Yuma prefers equal
votes for all the entities. Wingfield said it is
similar to the Landfill Board, and did not see the
votes issue as being a big deal.
Wingfield also noted that even if most of the
wells around Yuma were not affected by current water
issues, Yuma is the county's business center and
still would be affected by the shutting down of
wells.
Wiley said he knows there is competition among
different parts of the county but that everybody
needs to move beyond that.
“This is a threat to our entire county,” he
said. “We have to come together on this.” |
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