RGBRT Minutes of 2-13-07 ex Rio 030907

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a draft for our re v i ew — gett ing calls and wants to be able t o refer people to web site for full info rmation Mos t valuable part of meeting was discussion of Col orado River issues — brought up controversy within CWCB’s C onstruction B ill re study of u n - appropriated water in the Color ado River system — where the Roundtable process and politi cs converge — Kathleen Curry Chair of Colorado House Ag Comm ittee and past manag er of Upper Gunnison C onservation D istrict — she was concerned to point of withholding support of CWCB constr uction bill. This points out the up and down sides of Roundtable — have no authority to be involved in t hese issues but do have political will to address . The IBCC may be a place for discussions to occur between people w ith a lot of knowl edge but not a lot of authority to discuss issues – we’ll see how it works out! Travis — as far as CWCB Board is concerned in Section 15 — furthering find ings of Tech Roundtable to meet gaps identified in SWSI — Scope of work was expanded to included water availability — Roundtable process has been great so far. I ssue s have not changed, it’s just that “h oneymoon is over” and real issues now have to be dealt with. Hopefully additional people are now at the table and participating in helpful discussion s — some growing pains with process . Mike G — wrote a letter on behalf of Rio Grande Roundtable to R ussell George thanking him — received response and thanked us for R io G rande B asin work to date Travis — challenges may be in part due to Russ G eorge’s having started the Roundtable s and early skepticism about them — now with a transition in leadership, a void needs to be filled — Sub district Le gislation Mike G. – another issue t o bring to our attention — Senator G ail S chwartz is ho ld ing a bill open for SLV sub districts — expanding them to include cities and municipalities as well as state and fed lands with wells were not included . Draft bill bein g worked on — feel free to e - mail Senator S chwartz and express importance of this bill. Ray - provided background: noted that the authorizing leg islation for sub districts was originally written in 1967 — modeled after other C onservation D istrict ’s — at that ti me, probably didn’t contemplate something like G round W ater M anagement Sub districts (GWMSD) — but it was mo deled to operate off of funding through a mill levy – to require an appraisal of all lands to determine benefits – essentially finding now tha t a lot of provisions of the original legislation are not in tune with a GWMSD . Many changes since then, such as TABOR — one of majo r parts of the new bill make it clear th at GWM SD’s can levy fees and assessments for water used , vs, appraised values – 1) would allow these fees to be levied 2) would include municipalities and state & fed eral land and water use 3) would change measur ement of water vs appraisal Page 2 of 8 RGBRT Minutes February 13, 2007