MINUTES
Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council
ADEQ Northern Regional Office
1801 W Route 66, Suite 117
Flagstaff, Arizona
Friday, December 14, 2007
Water Advisory Council Members Present
Liz Archuleta, Coconino County, WAC Chairman
Joelynn Roberson, Hopi Tribe, WAC Vice Chairman
Deb Hill, Coconino County
Rick Swanson, City of Flagstaff
John Kocjan, City of Page
Dennis Wells, City of Williams
Tom Whitmer, Arizona Department of Water Resources
Matt Capalby, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Ron Sieg, Arizona Game and Fish Dept.
Bob Michaels, Bureau of Reclamation
Brenda Smith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bob Hart, USGS
Rory Steinke, Coconino National Forest
Barry Baker, Tusayan
Lisa McNeilly, The Nature Conservancy
Liz Archuleta, Chairman, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and asking for introductions by those present.
The first item on the agenda was a report from the Executive Committee, specifically the proposed bylaws amendments and the request from Sedona to be made a voting member of the WAC. Chairman Archuleta reviewed the changes to the bylaws as proposed by the Executive Committee:
Bylaws amendments- after reviewing the bylaws the following amendments were proposed:
· Establishment of an Executive Committee
· Vice Chairman-formally including the position of Vice Chair and specifying that they will act as Chair if the Chair is not present
· Providing criteria if Chair resigns that an election be held to replace the Chairman and serving out the remaining term.
· Membership and appointment:
If someone/organization would like to be a voting member of WAC they need to submit a request letter. The letter is important because it should clearly state the interested party’s responsibilities with WAC.
Non-voting members do not need to submit a request letter.
· Attendance:
Four consecutive absences will result in a resignation, but providing that the WAC Chairman will make an effort to communicate with the absent committee member before deeming that membership resigned.
· A motion to approve the changes in the bylaws was made by Bob Michaels
The motion was seconded by Tom Whitmer, approved unanimously.
Chairman Archuleta stated that Sedona had made a request to become a voting member of the WAC, and that the recommendation f the Executive Committee was that such requests should follow the bylaws, thus requiring Sedona to submit to WAC a request letter with details of their responsibilities and justification as to why they should be elevated to a voting member. Deb Hill said that she agrees with that process. Tom Whitmer suggested that after Sedona submitted their letter, WAC would request that they present their contributions to WAC.
A motion to approve these step requirements was made by Deb Hill and seconded by Lisa McNeilly, and unanimously approved.
The next item on the agenda was the Strategic Plan Year-end Report. Chairman Archuleta said that the committees would provide a report to the group on their activities related to the strategic plan that was adopted last year at this time.
Public Outreach Committee Chair Deb Hill provided a summary of the committee’s progress. She stated that the “Pipe Dreams” article recently in the Daily Sun didn’t fully capture the amount of time and effort of WAC nor did it discuss all the different organizations involved with WAC. She noted that a press release regarding the last advocacy trip just went out, Hill apologized that the full WAC did not get a chance to see the release. The person who sent the release out without sending it to the group for approval was informed of the protocol for WAC press releases and this should not be a problem in the future. Deb distributed the press release for everyone to see.
For the year end report, Deb stated that the website is up and running. WAC meeting agendas and minutes will now be posted on the website. There are protocols in place in the strategic plan for a speaker’s bureau, the Public Outreach Committee is forming a sub-committee for education which will focus on water ethics education and is looking for volunteers to help in the education process. This committee is a big piece of next year’s WAC goals. Deb stated that the Public Outreach Committee is doing a wonderful job.
Next was the report from the Executive Committee. Chairperson Archuleta Liz mentioned that Appendix A from the original strategic plan was a bullet point list of key projects and actions listed by committee. She reported that committee members have done four presentations this year and have met with members from Hopi, Navajo and City of Flagstaff. She said that they need to develop key messages and suggested that once speakers bureau is established, key messages can be refined. She stated that one of the most impressive aspects of WAC is the 20+ various entities at the table. She said that the next challenge for 2008 is defining regional water ethics- each member will need to commit to developing key practices for water use. The Committee also needs to develop an operational budget for WAC administration and activities. She noted that she is proud of the work done by the TAC to receive the AWI grant. Need to identify other potential resources for funding. Big goal achieved was developing the 2 year strategic plan.
Next was a report from the Technical Advisory Committee- Leslie Meyers, Committee Chair, stated that the committee developed a 2007 report of accomplishments. The committee spent several months creating the scope of work. Under the strategic plan and utilizing the water budget, the committee partnered with USGS to create a ground water model. Committee plans to have Kyle Blasch from USGS present the model to WAC.
Committee reviewed report and has many questions for WAC. Environmental goal 1 was a huge task and accomplishment of the committee. The committee received a $28,000 grant from the Arizona Water Institute that will help accomplish some of the environmental goals, the grant is for one year. The committee created a presenter list that included several of this year’s presenters at WAC. Environmental goal 5 is in progress
No changes in feasibility report. Chairman Archuleta stated that the Technical Committee has a large responsibility and has accomplished so much.
Next was a report from the Governmental Affairs Committee- Joanne Keene, Committee Chair, reported that pursuing congressional authorization for the feasibility study has been a focus for the committee. She noted that committee members traveled to Washington D.C. on a couple trips. She said that updated materials for Senator Kyle are being gathered, almost ready to put the packet together. Packet is scheduled to be sent on Monday, December 17, 2007. Letter of support from member agencies should be sent to Joanne to be included in the packet, Tom is working on the nexus issue, and the EIS question is being addressed by Leslie Meyers. Joanne said that the committee would like to have more WAC members involved and create a vice-chair seat Chairman Archuleta commented that it is important to get information to delegates and appreciates this committee’s work. Deb Hill also thanked Joanne and committee for their hard work
Chairman Archuleta proposed that next steps would include a check-in of the strategic plan to see where we are and what the new year priorities will be. Deb Hill suggested a mini retreat to focus on strategic plan. Chair agrees a retreat would be good, did one last year. Tom Whitmer agreed retreat would help WAC stay on track.
Next was a report on the statewide water advisory group. Deb Hill stated that lot-split proposal was on the table, the concern is water adequacy for splits. She stated there is much concern over the lot-splits being a free for all. The recommendation is that there should be an affidavit of disclosure letter that should be filed with county recorder. Deb stated that a letter would include a checklist that outlines availability of water on property. When presented to SWAG they provided some revisions, realtors were concerned about a requirement to fill out another form, but they are supposed to by law already. Chairman Archuleta stated the Deb Hill and Tom Whitmer did a good job with this.
Tom Whitmer stated that the Water Development Revolving Fund is a sub committee of SWAG and is overseen by WIFA. The task of the sub committee is to identify projects, costs and funding. He stated that the AZ Water Policy Forum had drafted a white paper some years ago and SWAG is using this in its process. Tom reported that they may recommend that there be a fee on all water use, and new houses would be required to pay more. stated concepts presented to SWAG on the 11th. Brad Hill with the City of Flagstaff suggested legislation proposed NAMWA, a process with water stake holder
Tom Whitmer stated that there is a new agreement on CO River. Shortages possibly 2010, Mead and Powell coordinated now
Carl Taylor stated that the St. George Pipeline did a presentation for SEDI on where they are now and asked if they could also present to the WAC. Chairman Archuleta stated they have been invited to present for WAC. Tom Whitmer stated that the price of this project is being paid in thirds. State is getting some of the funding through taxes. ½ a million dollars was the original price, but the price is going up with the possible expansion of the pipeline. New cost is around 6 million dollars. This project will have a big impact on AZ.
Chairman Archuleta concluded the meeting by stating the next meeting will be on January 25, 2008. The meetings are usually always on the last Friday of the month, from 10am to 12pm at the USGS offices. At next month’s meeting, Kyle Blasch of USGS will be presenting on the Regional Groundwater Model, and there might be a presentation by someone on the St. George Pipeline. Bob Michaels suggested a presentation in February on the Colorado River Shortage Group.
Meeting adjourned for lunch.