BOARD00031 ‎(2)‎

• Board Meeting Date: 9/20/2006
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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and a lively discussion stemming from several thought-provoking questions. The ISF Section has
received positive feedback from recently hired staff as well as from those with many years with the
CWCB.

Contested Instream Flow Appropriations: On September 15,2006, prehearing conferences are to be
held for the contested instream flow appropriations on Anthracite Creek, Coal Creek, Smith Fork
Gunnison River, South Fork Smith Fork Gunnison River, Arkansas River and the North Fork Escalante
Creek. Hearings before the Board for these streams will be held in conjunction with the November 2006
CWCB meeting. A prehearing order for these appropriations will be issued by the Hearing Coordinator
in time for the Board's September meeting which will aid the Board in scheduling the hearings in
conjunction with its November 2006 meeting.

CWCB Awarded $200,000 From Flood Mitigation Assistance Program Planning Funds: Stafffrom
the Flood Protection Section acted on news from FEMA that additional planning funds were available
from FEMA under the Flood Mitigation Assistance (FMA) Program. These funds are used to perform
comprehensive flood planning for a particular jurisdiction or group of jurisdictions. Once the flood
planning process is complete, communities with completed plans become eligible to receive mitigation
project awards from FEMA. The additional funds for Colorado were made available because original
allocations to other states were not encumbered. The award of these funds represents great news for
Colorado since our normal annual allocation under the FMA program is approximately $11,500. In other
words, the state received 17 years worth of normal planning funds in one award. When adding the
$275,000 of planning funds awarded, Colorado received a total of over $510,000 from this program this
year; the normal allocation for the state is $135,000. Communities that have expressed interest to use
these planning funds include Boulder County, Teller County, Park County, Pueblo County, and Ouray
County, and it is anticipated that these will be countywide planning efforts that will include the
incorporated municipalities.

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Flood Protection Section Personnel Update: The CWCB Flood Protection Section is pleased to
announce that we have successfully hired a new employee to fill the FEMA Community Assistance
Program Coordinator position. Thuy Patton has officially joined our team and she began full time work in
early August. Ms. Patton has valuable experience with hydrologic and hydraulic analyses, floodplain
delineations, flood map revisions, flood control design, master planning, and report writing. Her
education, skills, and experience will provide and excellent foundation for the CWCB position.

In related news, the Flood Protection Section has worked closely with DNR human resources staff to
finalize and post a job announcement for a full-time position within the Section. The vacant position will
be responsible for watershed restoration program activities, water management and infrastructure support,
flood preparedness actions, education/outreach, and GIS liaison with the CWCB's DSS group. The
announcement closed on September 15th, and applications will be evaluated as part of the overall
selection process. We look forward to having a new employee to fill the vacancy.

Regional Workshops Scheduled for Statewide Floodplain Criteria Manual: CWCB staff is in the
process of developing four regional workshops to be delivered in Pagosa Springs, Glenwood Springs,
Fort Collins, and Pueblo during the current fiscal year. The workshops will focus exclusively on the
CWCB's newly released Statewide Floodplain Criteria Manual (Manual) in connection with the revised
Floodplain Rules and Regulations that became effective 9 months ago. The intended audience will be
engineers, planners, and local officials that desire to gain a better understanding of the tools available
within the Manual and how the guidance information can be applied to various situations throughout
Colorado. Staff anticipates a total attendance between 50 and 100 individuals, and we will use FEMA
grant dollars to hire a consultant to assist in the preparation and implementation of the workshops.

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