Thorny issues on agenda for water company

Thorny issues on agenda for water company

Feb. 13, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

The directors of the Montezuma Water Company are set to consider tonight several controversial issues addressed in a flyer written by the MWC and published in the Cortez Journal on Saturday.

Mike Bauer, the manager of MWC, said the board would discuss meter-pit tampering, and the system of voting MWC employs, at its February meeting Tuesday at 6:30.

Letters to the editor, flyers, ads, and rumors were addressed by the 21-point flyer entitled "Facts vs. Fiction," published on Saturday.

"Not one of the issues except the term limits has ever been brought up at the meetings," Bauer explained. "These are just things that are coming pretty much off the wall."

Some of the items have not entirely come "off the wall," said board candidate Pat DeGagne. DeGagne has attended most of the board meetings for the past year, and said there needs to be better communication between the directors and the members.

"Well, a lot of people think there are a lot of secrets the board’s not saying," said DeGagne, who acknowledges that many accusations are unfounded but would like members to be notified when any by-laws are changed, something that is not done now. "With any community, if it looks like you have secrets, it raises a lot of questions, and some of them are not good. The secrecy has got to stop."

The MWC puts out a bi-annual newsletter. The flyer, in response to DeGagne’s complaint, answered, "The estimated cost to put a newsletter out monthly is $25,000 to $55,000 per year. The member will be asked to approve such expense. Check out our web site www.montezumwater.org."

Three directors are currently up for re-election. In District 7, Jim Youngs, the incumbent is running against Richard Swannter. In District 8, incumbent West Wilson is running against Donald Miller. In District 2, incumbent Cindy Green is running against DeGagne, and Wade Greene is running unopposed in District 6. According to Bauer, tonight’s agenda includes:

• Ballots as proxy. The board of directors changed the MWC voting system last year, so that any proxies received without a designated proxy would not be shared between the directors, but would be counted as part of the quorum.

The annual meeting and election of directors is on March 17. Members who cannot attend the meeting and vote in person must submit their proxies by March 9 at 4:30 p.m.

Bauer said the board may consider changing the proxy system to a mail-in-balloting system

• Meter-pit tampering. Anyone found tampering with a meter pit is fined $500, but "looking in the pit to check for a leak or reading your meter is not tampering," explained the flyer.

The MWC supplies water to approximately 3,500 rural members in Montezuma, Dolores, and San Miguel counties.

"All members are always welcome at the monthly board meeting," said Bauer.