WSP11938

• File Number: 8111.750
• Description: ARCA
• Basin: Arkansas
• Date: 12/8/2003
• Author: ARCA Operations Sec.
• Title: Special Report of the Operations Secretary Concerning Processes to Resolve Administrative Issues, the Status of Issues, and a Proposal to Alternate the Offices of Operations Sec. and Assistant Ops Sec
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Evaluation of altematinl! the offices of Operations Secretary and Assistant
Operations Secretary between the States

Kansas' representatives to the Administration suggested consideration of alternating the
election of the offices of the Operations Secretary and the Assistant Operations Secretary
at the reconvened 2002 meeting held on May 22, 23, 2003, The Operations Committee
requested an evaluation of this idea based on discussions to be held by the Operations
Secretary and the Assistant Operations Secretary to be reported at the December 2003
meeting of the Administration,

Although the basis for this request was not fully explained at that time, I assume that the
suggestion was prompted by the idea that consideration of the prospect of such a rotation
of responsibilities might cause the officers to consider the perspective of their counterpart
and appreciate how it might feel to "have the shoe on the other foot", Another possible
reason for alternating the positions is that Kansas might gain a better understanding of the
intricacies and practical difficulties of implementing operational agreements that have
been made, However, having considered the proposal from a practical perspective, I
cannot recommend its implementation at the present time,

The respective duties of the Operations Secretary and the Assistant Operations Secretary
are described by paragraphs 6 and 7 of Article II of the By-laws of the Arkansas River
Compact Administration, One of the duties of the Operations Secretary is the preparation
of reports of deliveries of water in connection with the operations of John Martin
Reservoir to be presented to the Operations Committee. Section VII A, of the Resolution
Concerning an Operating Plan for John Martin Reservoir specifies that the "Colorado
Division Engineer" shall make an accounting of the operation under the resolution for the
previous compact year, To a large extent, the duties of the Operations Secretary and the
Division Engineer overlap, So long as the Colorado Division Engineer is elected as the
Operations Secretary, these two documents would not be inconsistent. However, if the
Water Commissioner of the Garden City Field Office or other qualified individual were
to be elected, the resolution would need to be amended to prevent an unnecessary and
wasteful duplication of effort,

Fnrther, when I consider the qualifications for the office of Operations Secretary, I
believe the Divisiup. Engineer for Division 2 is better suited faT the position, The reason
has nothing to do with the capabilities of the individual involved, but with the
institutional responsibilities of their positions, The Division Engineer is accountable to
water users upstream and downstream of John Martin Reservoir, One of the key
principles of the Compact, set forth in Article IV C. (3), is that the conservation pool will
be operated for the benefit of water users in Colorado and Kansas, both upstream and
downstream of John Martin Reservoir. The Division Engineer must administer the water
Tights of water users in Colorado both upstream and downstream of John Martin
Reservoir. The water users in Colorado downstream of John Martin Reservoir generally
have same interests as water users in Kansas, at least with respect to diversions by water
users in Colorado upstream of John Martin Reservoir, The Water Commissioner of the
Garden City Field Office is only accountable to water users in Kansas and has

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