May 19, 2004

Veterans Hall—McKinley County Courthouse

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Michael Daly White Cliffs MDWUA

Joan Sandy Pueblo of Zuni

Charley Long Thoreau Navajo Chapter

Rhonda Berg Rehoboth-Red Mesa Foundation

Paulene McCabe Manuelito Chapter Loline Hathaway Yah-ta-hey WSD

Sherry Botkin Thoreau WSD

FACILITATORS/STAFF:

Larry Winn Board President, McKinley Soil & Water Conservation District

Evan Williams Associate Planner, Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments

SPECIAL GUEST.

Marc Edwards Water Consultant, City of Gallup

I. OPENING. Larry Winn opened the meeting at 10:12 AM.

II. MINUTES OF 5/19/04. The group reviewed the minutes thoroughly and no corrections, additions, or subtractions were made to the minutes.

ACTION: Charley Long moved, and Mike Daly seconded, to approve the minutes as presented. The motion passed by consensus.

III. OLD BUSINESS

A. Bylaws—Final Review Draft. The Water Board had adopted the bylaws at the prior meeting, but we reviewed them one more time, and found several corrections that still needed amendments. The bylaws were finalized informally and given the blessing of the group to submit them to the County Commission for approval.

ACTION: Sherry Botkin moved, and Mike Daly seconded, to approve the bylaws with noted corrections. The motion passed by consensus.

B. Regional Water Plan. Evan Williams distributed a copy of the resolution adopted by the County Commission certifying the Region 6 Water Plan, based on the recommendations of the McKinley County Water Board. The basic presumption of this action is that the Region 6 Water Plan is a good plan for the areas it covers in the County.

C. Issues Follow-up.

1. Churchrock Uranium Mining Proposal. Mike Daly requested that more time be granted to him, before a presentation would be made, the group agreed to revisit the topic at a later date. The presentation to include both proponents and opponents as presenters, probably at different times.

2. Zuni River Basin Adjudication. Joan Sandy announced to the group that she was granted permission to give a presentation on the Zuni lawsuit. The Water Board then discussed possible times and dates for a trip to Zuni and places with the Board members. It was decided that the group would meet in Zuni on the regularly scheduled date for June - June 9, 2004 at 10 AM.

ACTION: Joan Sandy said she would prepare directions and send them to Evan Williams for distribution.

3. Visit to White Cliffs RO Plant. Mike Daly asked if it would be appropriate to take a field trip to the White Cliffs community, and check out his Reverse Osmosis Plant. After some discussion, the Board decided that it would be beneficial and the July monthly meeting was chosen. The meeting was set for July 14, 2004 at Veteran’s Hall, starting at 10AM, and leaving for White Cliffs at approximately 11AM.

IV. CONTINUING ED: The Gallup Town Hall on Water. This topic was deferred to a future date.

V. OTHER TOPICS AND ISSUES.

A. Working Model for Collaborative Planning. Mike Daly, White Cliffs MDWUA, gave a report on the progress of a recent project beginning to take place in the White Cliffs community that could act as an effective example of a working collaborative planning model.

History/Background: Just south of White Cliffs community there is 160-acre parcel of land that belongs to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). On either side of this parcel to the east and west is Indian Allotment land. In 1963, the City of Gallup entered into an agreement with the BLM to make use of this land for “recreational purposes”, i.e. a shooting range was created, but presently is defunct.

Mike Daly explained that he was eying the area for a potential location for sewer lagoons, so he approached the BLM. After discussions with the BLM, he discovered the area included five monitoring wells. The wells were used to monitor water quality in the wake of the dam. After this discovery, new ideas and planned uses were developed including: horticultural park and environmental hands-on facility, native plants nursery, community garden, and walking trails.

Further, Mike Daly believed he could reuse the effluent to irrigate these potential projects. So he pursued the matter. He held discussions with the State, finding that the City of Gallup held the title to the five monitoring wells. Next, Mike discussed possible water rights to irrigate 10 acres of land with the State Engineer. Both discussions led to the respective entities allowing and permitting Mike Daly and White Cliffs legal use of water.

The ideas became feasible and the next step was to meet with “Plants of the Southwest”, to discuss native plants. So far, Mike Daly has a multi-agency, dynamic partnership with entities including: State, USDA, City of Gallup, BLM, State Engineer’s Office, Private Developer, and local volunteer groups.

Comments:

Mark Edwards – Suggested that funding might be available through NRCS, BLM, and Forest Service for native seed production. Marc explained that with the advent of disastrous Western fires, the federal government has placed a bounty on native seed collection projects for native grass species, which are better for grass replacement in a post-fire environment than typically used rye grasses.

Rhonda Berg – Suggested getting in touch with Steve Heil, teacher at Rehoboth, who was awarded a USDA grant to build a greenhouse to demonstrate Native herbs and plants. He is also interested in native tea production.

B. Navajo Nation Representation on the Board.

Paulene McCabe entered the meeting. She announced that she had talked with Michael Benson and Johnny Francis and they were interested in presenting to the Board. Currently, they were busy coaching Chapter representatives on the Navajo Settlement and other water issues.

C. The Cost of Water: Impact on County Communities.

The Board then discussed the issue of the cost of water and that impact on County communities, and the trend created by the Gallup City Council to increase the price of water. The group began a discussion on several really large issues including but not limited to, the possibility of Gallup annexing local communities; the need for water associations to be subsidized, increase rates, or go bankrupt due to the increasing price of water; and the possibility of the County stepping in and playing the bad guy forcing water associations to raise rates across the board.

DISCUSSION

Rhonda Berg discussed a carrot and the stick approach to getting local communities to hook up to Gallup. She outlined tax incentive options for moving in that direction, or maybe the possibility of making those communities’ projects legislative priorities.

Karl Lohmann discussed his current dilemma with water rates in the Coal Basin community. The City of Gallup raised rates 62%, and based on that increase Coal Basin must raise their rates by 15% to pay for water.

Paulene McCabe explained her current situation and the presentation she made concerning the imposition of water rates on Chapter residents. The presentation was not well received, but she highlighted the need and necessity of having a funding source for operations, maintenance, and water infrastructure.

Mike Daly made several points regarding the conversation including the fact that increasing White Cliffs community water rates from the normal $30 a month to a break-even level for the MDWUA of $90 a month would lead to a backlash and he posed the question:

Does the water association have the power to raise rates, even if its residents are low-income?

Marc Edwards jumped in and talked a little bit about all communities in the state increasing rates. He stated that Gallup has shamed the rest of the state. Gallup has shown the rest of the state and nation that they are committed to doing something. He added that more local action increases our chances of gaining support from the state and federal governments. By raising rates, Gallup created leverage for federal Senators and Representatives.

Marc Edwards also highlighted the importance of appearance – to downplay water litigation and hold a public event with photo-ops for Senators and Representatives. He asked if we had ay ideas on an event or a contact to local media.

Two answers surfaced: Marianne Joyce – “Four Corners Business Journal” and covering a story of the reverse osmosis plant in White Cliffs from the angle of the County implementing workable solutions.

Marc Edwards talked about the importance of the County having a separate water budget. He also stated that it could and would be important for this Board to advocate that the County Commission pass a resolution that poses a challenge to the entire County. It would be based on the example of the Gallup Town Hall vision and mission, to become a world-class County for water usage. Once that resolution is passed, all memos and requests should start out with that challenge.

The conversation continued into regional collaboration and the strategy of forcing the Navajo Nation to support Eastern Agency and the 33 Chapters in McKinley County in terms of water supply instead of the NAPI project. The group also got into discussions surrounding the scenario of the Water Trust Board funding the Gallup Regional System and the possibility of the WTB reneging if the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project does not look like a go.

D. New Mexico Environment Department Outreach Meeting.

Evan Williams presented the opportunity of attending this meeting and the group formulated suggested public comments for this meeting and the state department. The Board brainstormed issues it wanted to address at the meeting, and Mike Daly volunteered to represent the group at the meeting.

VI. NEXT MEETING: Continuing on the second Wednesday of the month meeting schedule, June 9, 2004 in Zuni at 10AM. July’s meeting will be on July 14, 2004 at Veteran’s Hall at 10AM, and leaving at 11AM to visit the White Cliffs RO plant. Also, keeping in mind that Leonard Haskie would like to host a meeting in the summer as well.

VII. ADJOURNMENT: Mike Daly moved, and Charley Long seconded, to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at 12:25 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Evan Williams, Associate Planner

Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments