Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District Minutes September 15 2005

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SECWCD September 15, 2005 6 RECORD OF PROCEEDING discovery is postponed until November 30, 2005, to allow the parties to focus on settlement negotiations until that time. Chaffee County's expert reports will be due March 3, 2006, and Southeastern's and other objectors' expert reports will be due June 30, 2006. Judge Maes also granted the motion filed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB), which Southeastern and others supported, to extend the deadline for the CWCB to make its findings on the Chaffee County RICD until November 30, 2005. CWCB will set a new deadline, likely in early November, for the parties to report any settlement agreement to the CWCB. District staff and legal counsel have participated in further settlement discussions, with the goal of reaching an agreement with Chaffee County before November. Mr. Leonhardt received several comments from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Arkansas River Outfitters Association on the proposed agreement for future operation of the voluntary flow management program (VFMP) for the upper Arkansas River, so he is working on revisions to that draft agreement. Mr. Leonhardt has had a series of discussions with attorneys for Chaffee County, Colorado Springs Utilities, the Upper Arkansas District and other interested parties on framework for settling the interaction of the RICD claims with junior and senior exchange rights on the Arkansas River. He expects to hear more from Chaffee County during the next two weeks, regarding how they intend to address those issues in the proposed decree and/or a settlement agreement. Representatives of Chaffee County, the State, Southeastern and most other parties then will meet on September 30 to discuss the full range of settlement issues, including the exchange issues, proposed decree, VFMP Agreement, and the draft memorandum of understanding (MOU). Mr. Leonhardt has indicated that in a settlement, Southeastern would hope to see reasonable settlements to resolve the concerns of the Upper Arkansas District, Colorado Springs, and Board of Water Works of Pueblo (BWWP), and would also want some protection of future exchange opportunities for use within the Southeastern District. Mr. Leonhardt also suggested that if such a solution could be reached, Southeastern may be willing to enter into a multi -year agreement on the VFMP (along the lines of the proposed agreement being negotiated), and to cooperate with Chaffee County in presenting the settlement for consideration by the CWCB when it makes its findings in November. Legal counsel will work with District staff in continued efforts to negotiate a settlement that meets these objectives, and will see if they can negotiate a proposed agreement to present for the District Board's consideration next month. Mr. Leonhardt reported that legal counsel is continuing to work with District staff on potential settlement of several matters with Pueblo West. Last month, Pueblo West's attorney, Bob Krassa, provided legal counsel a revised proposed decree and stipulation in Pueblo West's lawn return flow and exchange case (85CW134(B)), addressing most of the comments legal counsel had provided in that matter. Legal counsel is working with District staff on a final round of comments, and will see if they can have a negotiated settlement stipulation ready to recommend for the Board's approval next month. Such a stipulation will include Pueblo West's acknowledgment of Southeastern's 1939 exchange priority (as limited by the 1989 Stipulation with Colorado Springs, BWWP and AVDA). Mr. Leonhardt also is asking Pueblo West to sign a stipulation settling its objection in Southeastern's current Fry -Ark return flow exchange