October 18, 2006 Minutes-Board Meeting
The regular monthly meeting of the Lower Arkansas Valley Water Conservancy District Board of Directors was held on Wednesday, October 18, 2006 at 10:00 a.m., at 801 Swink Avenue, Rocky Ford, CO 81067.
Chairman Singletary announced a quorum was present. Director Gill has an excused absence from the meeting.
DIRECTORS PRESENT:
John Singletary-Chairman
Pete Moore-Vice Chairman
Wayne Whittaker-Treasurer
Melissa Esquibel-Secretary
Loretta Kennedy
Leroy Mauch
DIRECTORS EXCUSED:
Lynden Gill
DISTRICT STAFF:
Jay Winner-General Manager
Bart Mendenhall-Attorney
Kim Chavez-Financial Coordinator
Randa Morlan-Administrative Assistant
Bill Hancock-Conservation Program Manager
MOTION TO ENTER INTO WATER ACTIVITY ENTERPRISE:
Director Moore moved that the Board convene into the Water Activity Enterprise, seconded by Director Whittaker. Motion unanimously carried.
At the conclusion of the Water Activity Enterprise meeting Director Whittaker moved to reconvene the District Meeting at 10:09 A.M., seconded by Director Kennedy. Motion unanimously carried.
INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS:
Chairman Singletary welcomed each of the visitors to the meeting, asked them to introduce themselves and identify the organization which they represent.
VISITORS PRESENT:
Gilbert W. Werdel, Larkspur; Dale Straw, State Engineers Office; Ken Weber; Del Nimmo, Colorado State University (CSU) – Pueblo/Biology; Mike Bartolo, Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC)– CSU; Bret Schafer, Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC)– CSU; Tom Simpson, Aurora Water; Manny Torrez, Fort Lyon Canal; Virgil Cochran, Southeastern Land & Environment; Doug Montgomery, City of Lamar; Wesley Ech, Fort Lyon Canal; Abdel Berrada, Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC)– CSU; Chris Woodka, Pueblo Chieftain; John Merson, John Martin Reservoir State Park; and Brenda Fillmore, Arkansas Ground Water Users Association (AGUA).
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
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September 20, 2006 Monthly Board Meeting Minutes- Chairman Singletary asked if the Board members had reviewed the minutes for the September 20, 2006 Board Meeting, and whether there were any corrections or additions. Director Moore moved to approve the September 20, 2006 minutes, seconded by Director Kennedy. Motion unanimously carried.
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September 20, 2006 Work Session Meeting Minutes- Chairman Singletary asked if the Board members had reviewed the minutes for the September 20, 2006 Work Session Meeting, and whether there were any corrections or additions. Director Moore moved to approve the September 20, 2006 Work Session Meeting minutes, seconded by Director Kennedy. Motion unanimously carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Director Whittaker reported that the financial report for the month of September was included in the Board’s Monthly Meeting Packet. He reported September total revenues of $57,775.51 and total expenditures of $57,804.67. Director Whittaker moved to accept the September Financial Statement, seconded by Director Esquibel and carried unanimously.
GM REPORT:
General Manager Winner introduced Mike Bartolo of the Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC)– CSU to give a presentation on the Lysimeter. Mike Bartolo then introduced Dale Straw from the State Engineers Office to give the presentation.
PRESENTATIONS:
Dale Straw – Dale Straw of the State Engineers Office made a presentation on a lysimeter located at the AVRC.
Mr. Straw began his presentation by stating what a lysimeter is. A lysimeter is a device which can be used to measure the amount of actual evapotranspiration which is released from an area of irrigated farmland and is most accurate when vegetation is grown in a large soil tank which allows the rainfall and irrigation input and water lost through the soil to be easily measured.
He then continued his presentation by showing pictures of the construction of the lysimeter and explaining each picture.
The presentation continued by Mr. Straw stating what the requirements for a lysimeter are in the Arkansas Valley.
The background for requirements are:
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KS v CO Arkansas River Litigation.
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Colorado Compact compliance determined using a computer model.
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Method to determine crop water consumption for use in the computer model changed (Blanney-Criddle to Penman-Monteith)
The Requirements Driven by Switch to Penman-Monteith Equation for ET are:
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Calibrate Penman-Monteith equation to accurately predict ET of alfalfa reference crop in Arkansas valley (Requires lysimeters).
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Determine crop coefficients to convert alfalfa reference to specific crop ET in Arkansas valley (Requires lysimeters).
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Determine corrections to Penman-Monteith results to account for non-ideal irrigation management and salinity conditions (Requires lysimeters).
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Determine additional weather data at more locations than presently available to properly use Penman-Monteith (Requires additional weather stations).
Mr. Straw then gave the uses of the lysimeters and improved CoAgMet Network in the Arkansas Valley. They are:
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Potential $800,000 annual savings for well users from reduction in amount of water required to replace depletions from well pumping.
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Improvements in efficient use of surface water from improved daily estimates of crop evapotranspiration based on better crop coefficients and better weather data.
Mr. Straw then presented funding history, which included:
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March, 2004 – CWCB approved $300,000 for design, installation, and operation of weighing lysimeters at Rocky Ford.
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March, 2004 – CWCB approved $130,000 for enhancement of CoAgMet network in Arkansas Valley.
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March, 2004 – CWCB approved $220,000 for monitoring of irrigation amount, timing, and crop yield in Lower Arkansas Valley.
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Fall, 2004 – State Engineer and CSU Ag Exp Station began planning for long term funding of above projects. Worked with congressional delegation for USDA earmark.
Lastly, Mr. Straw presented current long-term funding strategy:
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Obtain long term funding - State and local resources.
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Request a two year grant from CWRRI. (~$50,000/yr)
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Develop a budget request to provide funding from the State budget to be submitted in the next budget cycle. (“Bare Bones”~$130,000/yr)
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Determine if the Conservancy Districts and other agencies in the Arkansas Valley can provide additional funding to help support ongoing lysimeter and CoAgMet operations and maintenance in the Arkansas Valley. Local participation will be extremely helpful. We believe that the Legislature will be more inclined to approve the “bare bones” request if there is also local support.
A brief question and answer period was held after the speech.
GM REPORT:
General Manager Winner stated that at this time, the District had purchased 3.3 shares of Twin Lakes.
General Manager Winner stated that there was a misunderstanding from last months motion to give money to smaller entities to assist with their dues with the conduit. Director Mauch said that the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (SECWCD) had sent the bills to the entities and had expressed they believed the money would be going to the project as a mass grant. Director Moore suggested revising the motion from the previous month. The Board left the motion as is from the previous month with the understanding that once an entity shows the payment of the dues, the District would reimburse them.
General Manager Winner suggested putting together a work group to discuss issues with the SECWCD. The group would consist of two board members of the SECWCD and two members of the LAVWCD. There would be no staff members present in the group.
General Manager Winner stated that the outreach program website is now available at www.lavwcd.org/education.
General Manager Winner turned time over to Chairman Singletary to discuss Aurora.
Chairman Singletary stated that the Aurora Environmental Assessment has a comment period for the draft environmental assessment ending Nov. 9, but contract negotiations are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Oct. 25 at the Occhiato Ballroom of the Student Center at Colorado State University-Pueblo.
Chairman Singletary suggested taking action towards the Bureau of Reclamation and ask them to delay contract negotiations with Aurora until it reviews comments on a draft statement.
Resolution 06-14: Director Whittaker suggested sending a resolution stating it is inappropriate to start negotiations before comments are completed. Director Whittaker made the motion to send the resolution and Director Mauch seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
General Manager Winner stated that the District is bringing more and more water into the valley from Larkspur Ditch.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
Chairman Singletary briefly discussed ongoing negotiations with Colorado Springs, though Colorado Springs is unable to manage their storm water. He stated that once Colorado Springs is able to manage this problem, negotiations will move forward.
Chairman Singletary commended the Board’s initiative from the last meeting to give CSU funding to continue their research on water quality. He stated Colorado Springs called to see if they could join in the project once the word spread about the Districts funding the project.
Chairman Singletary said there is a tab in the board packet dealing with digital signs. He thanked Rachel Bogner for getting information on the subject, though he would like information on a stationary sign opposed to a portable sign. The sign will be used to give information to the valley about meetings, as well as to give encouragement to the area sports teams.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Personnel: Director Kennedy had nothing to report.
Liaison: Director Kennedy stated that she and Director Mauch had met with the Lake County Committee and thinks Lake County would be a great asset if they decided to join the District. She also stated that the District would be a great asset to Lake County as well. She suggested advising Lake County to put the issue on their ballot. Director Mauch stated the discussions went well with Lake County and they need to decide which conservancy they would like to join. Director Kennedy also stated that the issue would not be on the November ballot, though Lake County is planning on having a special election to vote on this issue.
Legal: Director Esquibel had no report and stated that the District is not being sued.
LEGAL REPORT:
Attorney Mendenhall stated that the District is continuing to work on conservation easements and he is currently following up with the easements where the District is waiting for other people to complete or provide information.
Attorney Mendenhall said the District is currently working on contracts for leasing water.
Attorney Mendenhall stated he had two resolutions to present to the board for approval.
Resolution 06-12: Director Whittaker moved to accept resolution 06-12 to amend the contract for temporary water storage with United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, for the Frying Pan Arkansas Project to increase the amount of storage available under the contract for 500 acre feet to 800 acre feet. Motion was seconded by Director Moore and carried unanimously.
Resolution 06-13: Director Whittaker moved to accept resolution 06-13 to transfer funds from the Enterprise Fund to the General Fund to correct a previous action. Motion was seconded by Director Moore and carried unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
There was no public comment.
ADJOURNED:
Chairman Singletary asked if there were any other matters to come before the Board. Hearing none, motion was made by Director Mauch, seconded by Director Moore to adjourn the meeting. Motion unanimously carried. Meeting was adjourned at 11:45 P.M.