Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Minutes August 18 2005

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SECWCD August 18, 2005 7 RECORD OF PROCEEDING manageable. Should the Court deny the motion, legal counsel and Dick Stenzel will need to review the augmentation portions of the application in greater detail. A further settlement meeting among LAWMA, Arkansas Valley Ditch Association (AVDA), and Southeastern has been set for September 9, 2005. It appears that the State and Division Engineers' staff will participate in this meeting as well. From initial discussion, LAWMA's attorneys and engineers seem willing to consider conditions to meet Southeastern's and AVDA's desire to prevent any expansion of upstream calls. They are working on a settlement proposal to present at the September 9 meeting. Meanwhile, Dick Stenzel will consult with LAWMA's engineers regarding Southeastern's and AVDA's concerns and possible ways of resolving those concerns. Mr. Leonhardt will meet with Mr. Stenzel on August 23, and Carl Genova and Bob Hamilton will participate via conference call. If Southeastern cannot make major progress toward settlement at the September meeting with LAWMA, Dick Stenzel may need to begin preparing an expert report. Such a report will be due December 16, 2005, based on the Case Management Order that Judge Maes signed. Mr. Leonhardt reported the Arkansas Groundwater Users Association's (AGUA) change of water rights case for the Excelsior Ditch is proceeding toward trial before Water Judge Maes. AGUA's initial disclosures are due on August 29, 2005, and Southeastern's disclosures will be due 30 days thereafter. AGUA is attempting to set a trial date during 2006, likely for after LAWMA's April 2006 trial. AGUA is concerned that if trial is later than April, then it will not have a decree in time to use its water rights in a 2006 Replacement Plan. AGUA may try to negotiate a resolution to that issue with the State. District legal counsel has suggested that if the trial is later, Southeastern could agree to a month -by -month extension of the State Engineer's approval to use the Excelsior in 2006, so long as no diversions after November 15 are allowed. Paul Anderson, AGUA's attorney, recently provided legal counsel with a revised proposed decree that responds to some of the comments Southeastern and AVDA presented at the April 22 settlement meeting. Mr. Anderson is still awaiting revised proposed winter diversion limits from AGUA's engineer, Mark McLean. Mr. Leonhardt said that under the new proposed decree, the only change of the Evans shares would be for AGUA's augmentation uses. Mr. Leonhardt reported legal counsel is continuing to work with District staff on a potential comprehensive settlement agreement with Pueblo West. Discussions have addressed several points raised in the July 19 letter that legal counsel received from Pueblo West's attorney, Bob Krassa, including settlement of Pueblo West's two pending cases. Pueblo West has provided additional information on some of the additional issues raised in the July 19 letter; legal counsel is working with District staff on a response based on this additional information. In Pueblo West's lawn return flow and exchange case (85CW134(B)), Mr. Krassa provided a revised proposed decree and stipulation to address the comments that legal counsel sent to him on July 19. Legal counsel is reviewing the proposed terms for settlement of this case, to see what will be acceptable as part of a broader settlement agreement. Pueblo West has agreed to acknowledge Southeastern's 1939 exchange priority (as limited by the 1989 Stipulation with Colorado