Brief by Central Staff
Water politics – June 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Only one election will be held this year for a seat on a water conservancy district board. Generally, such directors are appointed by a district judge, but it is possible (but not easy) to petition for an election.
That election will be held June 18 for the Division 7 seat in the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District. Steve Schechter will challenge Jim Cochran, who was appointed earlier this year to fill out the term of George Stowell, who had resigned.
Schechter did not apply then to fill out the term, since he believes all taxing district directors should be elected.
High Country Citizens Alliance, based in Crested Butte, has been the main mover in petitioning for elections in the UGRWCD. They circulated petitions for two other seats (Division 8, essentially the City of Gunnison), but they fell just 13 short of getting the 429 signatures required to force an election.
So those two seats will be filled by District Judge Stephen Patrick, who set a May 24 deadline for applications to be filed with the court. There was no petition for the other expiring director’s term, that of 24-year veteran Bill Trampe in Division 6 (Ohio Creek).
The activists who pushed for an election in the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District last year (Citizens for Water Integrity) have worked with Upper Arkansas to come up with a new way to appoint board members that might provide more political accountability without all the time and energy required for petitions.
It works like this. Each of the three counties (Chaffee, Frémont, and Custer) names one commissioner to a panel, which interviews the applicants for board seats, and makes a recommendation to District Judge John Anderson in Cañon City.
The commissioner panel met on May 6, and comprised Joe DeLuca of Chaffee, Larry Handy of Custer, and Keith McNew of Frémont. They interviewed these candidates:
Division 3, Buena Vista School District. Frank McMurry, the incumbent, a rancher, and a former county commissioner. Suzanne MacDonald, a Buena Vista attorney.
Division 4, Custer County. Bill Donley, the incumbent, an engineer, and a rancher near Wetmore. Pete LoPresti, military retiree and owner of several thousand acres in the Wet Mountain Valley. Chris Haga, owner of the Westcliffe Texaco station.
Division 2, Salida School District. Wendell Hutchinson, incumbent and rancher. Mike Kunkel, water purification entrepreneur. Chuck Reavis, engineer. Mel Kesserich, realty and auctions. Gene Rush, retired U.S.G.S. hydrologist and water manager.
The UAWCD did not make the commissioners’ recommendations public, and Judge Anderson is supposed to announce his appointments by June 1.
Terry Scanga, UAWCD manager, said he was impressed by the experience and knowledge of the applicants as revealed on their questionnaires and during the interview. “I think we’ve got a really good process now,” with one result being that the UAWCD “will be able to work more closely with the county governments.”
Would the new process have come about without the petition and election last year? “No, it wouldn’t have,” Scanga said. “We wouldn’t have moved this way unless we had been pushed into it.” So, even though he opposed the election, “this is a good outcome.”
