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a. The Governor's negotiation and execution of the Agn'ement furthers administration of the Colorado River Compact. Therc arc two arguments that thc Agreement is administrative. I;irst, the purpose and substalll'C oi'thc Agreement secm to 1;111 \\ilhin the plain language dctinition of "administer."' When interprcting the meaning of a statutory phrase. courts attempt to give ei'kct to the intcnt or purpose of the Ciclleral Assembly, Pcople 1'. R(}('!iII'CII. 125 PJd 410 (Colo. 2005). Accordingly. "in the absence ofa statutory delinition.lcourtsl seck first to give words their plain and ordinary meaning."' PC(}/lle \', }'lIs('l/1'Ilge. 101 P.3d 1090, IO(}) (Colo. 2004). Webskr's Dictionary detines "administer" as ..to manage or supervise the execution, use. or conduct of." WEBSTER'S II NEW COLLEGE DICTION\RY (3d Ed, 2005). Thus, in enacting C.R.S, ~ 24-1-109, thc General Assembly intended to ensure that the Governor's ot'lice continue to manage and superv ise performance of the obi igations created by the Colorado River Compact. The vcry naturc of the Compact is such that its overall management is dependant upon successrul micro-management of its component parts, The Seven Basin States Agreemcnt addresses the management of these component parts. For example, the Proposal suggests guidelines for the coordinated managcment of Lakes Powell and Mead iJ; surplus, average, and drought years. These guidelines are intcnded to increase the etliciency of the operation of the Colorado River as a whole in a range of conditions. The Proposal also sets rorth a policy and accounting procedure regarding augmentation, cxtraordinary conservation and system eftic:iency projects~ each of these is designed to increase the amount of water available to the Colorado River . System. Second, the Agreement and Proposal are intended to lit within the administrative framework of the Law of the River. Neither the Proposal nor thc Agreement contlicts with nor attempts to modify the provision of the Colorado River Compact. The Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, and //ri:ol/l/ v. Calif'ornia allocate to each Basin State a specific amount of Colorado River water. Lakes powell and Mead were created to store waters of the Colorado River in order assist the Uppcr Basin in meeting its long-term water supply obligations and to provide all Basin States with an opportunity to develop and use thcir appOltionment. The Bureau of Land Management has described the administrative interrelation between the Operating Criteria addressed by the Agreement and the Colorado River Compact: Section 602 of the Colorado River Basin Project Act directed the preparation of a set of operating criteria for the Colorado Rivcr Reservoir System.. ..The Operating Criteria provide tor the long-range operation of the dams and reservoirs constructed and operatcd under the authority of thc Colorado River Storage Project Act and the Boulder Canyon Project Act flJr the purposes of complying with and carrying out the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, and the Mexican Water Treaty. -I Additional detail was added to the Operating Criteria through the Secretary's adoption of Interim Surplus Guidelines ("ISGs") in 200 I. The ISGs specify under which conditions the "Secretary [will] declare the availability of surplus water tor use within the states of Arizona, California and Nevada in -I Reclamation of Land Management, Sixth Revie1\! o{'the 1970 Criteria for Coordinilted Long-Range Operation of' Colorado Rh'('/' Reservoirs, available at http://www.lIsbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/lroc/factsheet.pdf. 4