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<br />Mr. Aanney and Mr. Berry agreed that there seemed to be a breakdown in <br />communication between the Attorney Generals Office and the Division and from <br />the Division to the Bank. The Division did not have sufficient money available <br />to pay the Attorney General regarding the conveyor lawsuit or to correspond <br />with the Bank. The Coal Program was in a State of flux having lost a number of <br />key individuals within the Division including a change in the supervisor and <br />director. <br />The original proposed civil penalty considered the problem to be significant <br />and the fault to be intentional, both having a penalty of $1000.00, for a total <br />of $2,000.00 civil penalty for reasons outlined above, the First National Sank <br />of Florence requested that the civil penalty be dropped to $0.00. The Bank did <br />not disagree with the Division that erosion had occurred on and off site. <br />A review of the Letter of Agreement dated February 22, 1990 between the <br />Colorado Mined Land Reclamation Division and the First National Bank of <br />Florence did outline what was expected of the Bank in regards to sediment and <br />erosion control. After considerable discussion, I, James B. McArdle, concluded <br />that while there were obviously many problems with communication, the Bank was <br />negligent in doing everything in its power to maintain the site. This <br />negligence resulted in sediment leaving the site and impacting 100 feet of a <br />small irrigation ditch. The ditch was not being used at the time, therefore <br />the seriousness of the situation was minimal and the problem was corrected in <br />the time frames outlined by the Division. Due to my conclusions, I could not <br />recommend to the Director that this civil penalty be reduced to $0.00. Taking <br />into account the numerous communication problems outlined by the Division staff <br />and the Bank, I reduced the civil penalty to $250.00 for the minimal <br />seriousness and $250.00 for negligence for a total civil penalty of $500.00. <br />After providing a summary of my conclusions, I terminated this assessment <br />conference. <br />