Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority board members voted Friday that the water pipeline to Portales will be the next phase of the Ute water pipeline project.
ENMWUA Executive Director Justin Howalt told board members the water authority needed direction on which phase to work on next from Cannon Air Force Base, whether it be the pipeline to Clovis, the one to Melrose and Grady or the one to Portales.
Board member David Lansford suggested the Portales pipeline be the next phase, because Portales city officials and councilors have expressed concerns about getting a return investment on money they are putting into the project.
Board members Sharon King and Jim Lucero, who both sit on the Portales City Council, said they believed it would put city councilors’ minds at ease to know the pipeline to Portales was being built first.
Portales City Manager Sammy Standefer also agreed it would set councilors’ minds at ease, saying he has had multiple councilors express concerns to him about Portales getting any benefit from the project any time in the near future.
Board members also approved extending several current contracts through December with plans to renew them for a year at their December meeting. The contracts were with Capital Consultants, Thompson Consulting, CH2MHILL, Hinkle + Landers, attorney David Richards, Rex Stall and RBC Capital Markets.
Lansford suggested only extending the contracts for the time being rather than renewing them for a year, because it would be a disservice to new, incoming board members to approve expenses that they will be dealing with once in office. Fellow board members agreed.
Board members also approved contracts with Canadian River Soil & Water Conservation District and NV5 with King voting against the contracts.
The contract with CRSWCD is a grant agreement to complete some work with the Environmental Protection Agency on the watershed management plan, according to Howalt.
Howalt said they are contracting with NV5 for the services, but they will send the bill for the services to the CRSWCD, which has a contract with the EPA for providing such services.
King said she did not agree that ENMWUA should be in the middle of the contracts, and CRSWCD should just contract with NV5 directly and leave the water authority out of it.
“It’s not our grant,” said King. “Why are we subcontracting to subcontract someone that just happens to work with us when that subcontractor has their own business?”
Howalt said the ENMWUA helped pay for and develop the water management plan initially, and EPA prefers they be part of the contract process.
“Once the watershed management plan was adopted and approved by the environment department and the EPA, they (CRSWCD) were going to try to go get grants based off the watershed management plan to be able to go out and maintain the water shed,” he said.
King said she still does not believe the water authority having been part of the development justifies them being the fiscal agent for NV5 with CRSWCD.
Chairwoman Gayla Brumfield and board member Wendel Bostwick were both thanked by several contracted officials and fellow board members for their services to the water pipeline project on Friday.
The meeting was the last for Brumfield and Bostwick who have both served on the ENMWUA board for several years — Brumfield for almost a decade.
“The main reason that she has worked so hard on this is ... she loves Clovis to the nth degree ... and the other is she loves water issues,” King said of Brumfield at the end of the meeting. “I know I’m biased because she is my best friend, but I think she has just given her all to this water issue and to the authority and to the city of Clovis. I think we all have a lot to owe her for where she has gotten us.”
Brumfield thanked everyone for being such a great team and told them to “keep the faith” and never say the project won’t happen, because it will; it has to happen.
The following were reports given during the meeting:
n CH2MHILL representative Wendy Christofferson told board members that her company has sent 19 second offer letters in regard to appraisals done for easements. She said they just received four new appraisals for the Portales piece of the pipeline and have sent initial offer letters for them, and there are four appraisals pending.
“We’ve mostly been focused on pushing towards the finish for our two segment, which is the alignment that goes to Cannon and Clovis,” she said. “We do need to now focus again ... to get the easement down north and south on the west side of Cannon Air Force Base, so we’ll be pushing on that.”
n Howalt reported that ENMWUA should be closing on its 2015-16 financial awards from the Water Trust Board soon, so he hopes to meet the schedule of going out to bid on the next project phases this summer.
