Southeastern Coloraodo Water Conservancy District 2002 Annual Report

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Senate Bill 141 required that appointments be made based upon population within individual counties, and counties with less than one percent would be excluded from having a member on the board. This would change the composition of the Southeastern District's board over a period of four years by reducing the representation from Bent, Chaffee, Crowley, Fremont, and Otero Counties from two directors to one; with representation from Kiowa /Prowers Counties staying at one; increasing the representation from El Paso County from two to five directors; Pueblo County from two to three; and one at -large position. Senate Bill 141 also provided that the new legislation could be instituted by legal entities within the District petitioning the Court, or petitions being filed with an appropriate number of signatures. On August 13, 1985 the City of Colorado Springs and the Board of Water Works of Pueblo filed appropriate petitions with the District Court requesting that the provisions of Senate Bill 141 be implemented in the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District. The Honorable Richard Robb held several hearings on the petitions, giving representatives from Chaffee, Fremont, and Kiowa Counties the opportunity to express concern over the loss of members on the board of directors. After due consideration, Judge Robb ruled on December 11, 1985 that the provisions of Senate Bill 141 should apply to the District. He then promulgated a procedure whereby appointments in 1986 would conform with those provisions. 401h ANNIVERSARY FRYINGPAN- ARKANSAS PROJECT August 16, 1962 will be a date recorded in the history books as the day when the members of Congress of the United States and the late John F. Kenney, President of the United States, authorized the construction of the Fryingpan- Arkansas Project, which would change the water management programs for the better for years to come. Public Law 87 -590, authorized the construction and operation of the multipurpose project. On January 21, 1965, the members of the board of directors of the District entered into a Repayment Contract with the United States to repay the reimbursable costs involved in the construction. The final Repayment Contract was signed between the District and the United States on October 23, 1981. Construction on the Fryingpan- Arkansas Project began on Ruedi Reservoir in 1964, and continued at a steady pace every year. The Project was declared complete in 1982, with the exception of the completion of the second unit at the Mt. Elbert Power Plant. Four different Presidents of the United States served during the construction period, and many water resource programs were changed during the 20 years, including passage of the National Environment Policy Act in 1969, the Federal Energy Act of 1973, and the President Jimmy Carter "Hit List" in 1977. Changing economic times saw the inflation and interest rates skyrocket to amounts unprecedented in history, and an environmental movement throughout the United States opposing such projects. The District and the Bureau of Reclamation officials were indeed fortunate that the members of Congress and the Presidents of the United States continued their support for the Fryingpan- Arkansas Project. 7 •