Photo: Meeting of the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) board, October 2024.
The San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) board of directors is scheduled to hold a public meeting this afternoon, Monday, June 9, at 4pm at their office, 46 Eaton Drive Suite 5. The meeting might include a closed-door executive session to discuss the potential sale of the Running Iron Ranch, and the development of a future water reservoir on that property.
Following the May 29 public presentation to the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board by Zipper Valley LLC representative Trey Fricke, I attempted to meet for coffee with a couple of the SJWCD board members who had attended that presentation.
I had hopes that, perhaps, the Zipper Valley offer to purchase the 660-acre Running Iron Ranch and dedicate, free of any cost, an easement for a 3,000 acre-foot water reservoir in the middle of the Ranch might appeal to certain SJWCD board members, considering that the SJWCD district has been hoping to create a reservoir on that property since at least 2003, with nothing, so far, to show for its efforts.
Zipper Valley was not only promising the reservoir easement, but also suggested they might be able to arrange for a $3 million construction account to help move the project forward. SJWCD currently has no construction account established, 21 years after obtaining water rights for the reservoir.
I felt somewhat optimistic when SJWCD called a special board meeting for last Thursday, June 5. Was it possible, that PAWSD and SJWCD could stop fighting each other in court, and find a way to cooperate? The only thing on the SJWCD June 5 agenda was a closed-door executive session, to be followed by a possible public discussion and perhaps a vote, concerning the Running Iron Ranch.
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer member of the PAWSD board of directors, but this editorial series reflects only mu own opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the full board or the PAWSD staff.
SJWCD has known about the Zipper Valley purchase offer since November 2024, but had thus far refused to meet with Mr. Fricke and begin negotiations. That refusal to meet with a potential reservoir partner resulted in PAWSD filing a lawsuit, to clarify PAWSD’s right to sell the Ranch without needing the SJWCD board’s agreement to sell.
SJWCD’s attorney then filed counterclaims against PAWSD. That case is ongoing.
I attended the June 5 SJWCD board meeting with PAWSD Board President Gene Tautges, who was recently re-elected to the PAWSD Board for another four-year term. We listened to the motion for the SJWCD board to enter into executive session with their attorney, and were then instructed to leave the meeting room.
Fortunately, there were a couple of chairs in the lobby outside, and Gene and I spent the next hour and 40 minutes chatting about water infrastructure, grandchildren, marriage, Pagosa politics, and the inconveniences that accompany getting older. Not necessarily in that order.
Then, the door to the SJWCD office opened and we re-entered, only to hear SJWCD President Candace Jones ask for a motion to adjourn the meeting. No public discussion. No invitation to hear from members of the PAWSD board who had taken the time to attend the meeting. No indication as to what the SJWCD board had discussed for one hour and 40 minutes, or what the next steps might be, to encourage intergovernmental cooperation.
This was actually not surprising. Disheartening, yes… discouraging, yes… but not surprising. SJWCD has been highly secretive about their strategy to prevent the sale of the Running Iron Ranch to Zipper Valley, with all of their board discussions on that topic being held behind closed doors in executive sessions.
Not surprising, but also somewhat hypocritical.
Here’s a portion of the statement posted by SJWCD to their website last November:
PAWSD’s Rush to Litigation is a Bad Use of Limited Public Funds
Public/ratepayer funds should not be spent litigating when cooperative efforts could answer the questions that divide PAWSD and SJWCD. The Districts’ funds would be better spent on professional services assisting the SJWCD, PAWDS, and the community plan for long-term water needs, evaluate drought risks, and assess the feasibility and requirements for building a reservoir at the Running Iron Ranch…
SJWCD is ready to work with PAWSD and other community stakeholders in a cooperative planning effort. SJWCD has been moving over the past year to build public awareness of our watersheds and environmental conditions affecting them, introduce community members to the Running Iron Ranch, and engage professional services for reservoir planning. SJWCD foresees public uses of the Ranch beyond water storage.
The June 5 meeting could have provided evidence that SJWCD is indeed “ready to work with PAWSD and other community stakeholders in a cooperative planning effort.” The meeting provided no such evidence, to PAWSD or to the community.
It did provide, however, more evidence of closed-door secrecy.
Is SJWCD really interested in “a cooperative planning effort”? We don’t have much evidence yet that such is the case — despite what was posted to the SJWCD website last November.
Our community has not historically been supportive of SJWCD’s efforts to build a reservoir on the Running Iron Ranch. When SJWCD went to the voters in 2018, seeking a 0.6 mill increase in their property tax mill levy specifically to move the Dry Gulch Reservoir project forward, they lost at the polls by a 3-to-1 margin.
Now, a potential partner has stepped up, promising more financial support — potentially — than would have been provided by the proposed mill levy increase in 2018.
But there’s a confounding sticking point, I believe, as posted to the SJWCD website in November.
SJWCD foresees public uses of the Ranch beyond water storage.
The SJWCD desire for additional public uses of the Running Iron Ranch — beyond beneficial water storage — would be extinguished by a sale to a private rancher.
I will once again quote our Archuleta County representative on the Southwestern Water Conservation District board, JR Ford, referring to the reasons why PAWSD and SJWCD exist as special taxing districts:
“I know some people are considering other options for the land [at the Ranch] but the reality of it is, the two boards are not ‘recreation boards’. These two boards are for water rights, and water storage…”
“You don’t look a gift horse in the mouth — twice. I mean, it would be sad to see [SJWCD] walk away from that again…”
30 years ago, PAWSD and SJWCD lost the right to benefit from raw water from the Hidden Valley Reservoir, when they sued Hidden Valley for public access.. Like the Zipper Valley easement offer, the Hidden Valley Reservoir water had been offered to the community at no cost.
“This is 35 years of dinking around, playing the same game, and every couple of years, a couple of new people get on the board and have a new vision, and they lose sight of the original intent, which was for water storage…”
The SJWCD board will hold another public meeting this afternoon at 4pm at their office, 46 Eaton Drive Suite 5. At least a portion of the meeting is likely to be held behind closed doors, but not the entire meeting.
Public comments will be allowed at the beginning of the meeting.
Should we expect a cooperative planning effort to come from the Board?
Or something else?
Read Part Six… tomorrow…