Saturday, February 24, 2007

Flood control, levees, newsletter discussed by MRGCD

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Albuquerque Flood control, levees and bylaws were among the issues touched upon during a three-hour meeting of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District (MRGCD) board of directors on Feb. 19.

When asked to approve the minutes for the Jan. 22 meeting, Bernalillo County director William Turner asked that the minutes be amended concerning an agenda item. That item at a previous meeting was a report from Jim Van Der Geest, a certified public accountant with Mackie Reid and Company, the company that performed the 2006 fiscal year audit on the district.

Turner said that during the report, there was discussion on his part concerning extra paid leave taken by district ditch riders. He made a motion to amend the minutes to include his comments, but it died for lack of a second. The minutes were approved with Turner casting the only no vote.

Bruce Estock, a professional engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, then gave a presentation to the board concerning flood control projects in the district that the corps is working on.

Estock said that in 2004, the corps conducted a comprehensive study of the Albuquerque levee system. "The system was almost 50 years old and approaching the end of its design life," he said. "They ended up on a list of levees of concern for that reason."

Of the 37 miles of levee in the Albuquerque system, Estock said five miles are high priority, 25 miles are medium priority and seven miles are low priority.

"We are going through the process of determining the order for reconstruction and cost estimation," he said. "We should be done in about a month."

Chairman and Valencia County representative Jose Otero asked Estock what could be done in Belen for flood control, in light of the flooding during last summer's storms. "The water came down off the mesa and into the Highline ditch," Otero said. "It then went up and over the canal and into Belen. Is there some way we could hold that water and then release it in a controlled manner, rather than letting it slam into our system?"

Estock said that solutions had been looked at in the past, but had proved to be cost prohibitive.

Director Turner asked chief engineer Subhas Shah for an update on the search for an assistant chief engineer for the district. Shah indicated that they were still looking for a qualified engineer.

Turner said he would like to see advertisements for the position placed in professional irrigation journals. Shah said he could do that and would continue to report back to the board on the status of the search.

Turner brought up the subject of the status of MRGCD bylaws. "The district has operated without bylaws since 1925," he said. District legal counsel Charles DuMars said that since the district is a political subdivision like a county or a city, bylaws were not required.

"The district is not privately incorporated," he said. "It does have a whole series of resolutions and policies. We are in the process of creating an index. It is a very valuable thing for the district to have."

When the board asked for items from the floor, Valencia County citizen Jerry Montaño read a letter from Rita Padilla-Gutierrez of Tomé. Padilla-Gutierrez's letter addressed an article in the district's most recent newsletter.

The newsletter article covered a presentation DuMars gave to legislators in Santa Fe in November 2006. The presentation addressed how the district works and the efforts it has made in conserving water over the past five years.

In the article, four Valencia County citizens were named as "complaining" to lawmakers about the district. They were Charlie Sanchez, Ken Wright, Jesus Sedillo and Padilla-Gutierrez. The four constituents voiced concerns about weeds, favoritism in reference to water delivery and ditch riders.

In the letter Padilla-Gutierrez stated that their comments to the committee were based on global, on-going and far-reaching issues. Some of those issues dealt with fairness in the delivery of water and the preferential treatment towards certain large farmers, the letter stated.

Her letter went on to say that it was made clear that the ditch riders were not to blame for these issues.

The article also indicated that the four citizens spoke near the meeting's end, after most committee members had left.

Padilla-Gutierrez's letter stated that while some of the committee members had left, Speaker Ben Lujan did stay and asked several questions.

In closing, her letter stated that she felt the manner in which the citizens were misrepresented in the newsletter was a form of retaliation.

DuMars said that the four constituents did conduct themselves in a respectful and professional manner while addressing the committee. Otero told Montaño the district had responded to Padilla-Gutierrez's letter in writing.

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