Special Report of the Operations Secretary

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one week of the occurrence of the event in question and a response should be provided within a week of receipt of the concern or complaint. • Good faith efforts to resolve concerns and complaints are expected on the part of the Operations Secretary and the Assistant Operations Secretary and their staffs and those good faith efforts are expected to continue as long as the participants perceive satisfactory progress toward resolution. In any instance where the explanation provided through this informal procedure does not satisfactorily resolve the concern or complaint and the Operations Secretary or the Assistant Operations Secretary no longer perceives that progress toward resolution is satisfactory, then the matter may be submitted to the Operations Committee. Any written report submitted to the Operations Committee by the Assistant Operations Secretary for consideration at the time of the annual meeting of the Arkansas River Compact Administration shall be made available to Committee members, the Operations Secretary, and to other interested parties, no later that December 1 of each year. It is believed that at least one additional meeting of the Operations Committee each year would be beneficial to improved relations between the States. An additional meeting or meetings would provide additional time for the members to become familiar with issues, including any concerns or complaints referred to the Operations Committee, and to reach decisions. The date for an additional meeting that is thought to be the most beneficial would be mid to late summer. It is thought that a meeting at this time would also conflict least with other demands. In the alternative, a meeting scheduled to coincide with the mid -April meeting of the officers and their staff members may be useful and offer an opportunity to review the anticipated conditions of the upcoming irrigation season. To improve communications between the Operations Secretary and the Assistant Operations Secretary and their staffs, I offer the following recommendations concerning future meetings of the Operations Committee: • Formal notes or minutes should be prepared and approved by the Committee for each meeting to create a reliable record of decisions reached and directives issued to the Operations Secretary and/or the Assistant Operations Secretary. (Note, it may be necessary to amend the bylaws to enlarge the responsibilities of the Recording Secretary, if that officer is expected to provide this service.) • Absent exceptional circumstances, the Operations Committee should not consider concerns or complaints that are referred to them for consideration unless; o A good faith effort has been made to resolve an issue through informal consultation, as previously described. -5-