ENMWUA becoming independent entity

MANAGING EDITOR

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The Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority has grown beyond being under the wing of municipal government and is now on its way to being its own independent entity, according the Chairman Gayla Brumfield and other members of the ENMWUA board.

With the first step of hiring its own executive director is out of the way, ENMWUA members approved resolutions and policy changes Thursday to keep the ball rolling on becoming their own independent entity.

Brumfield said the authority is hearing nothing but good news on both state and federal levels.

Brumfield and federal Consultant John Ryan said they recently returned from a trip to Washington D.C. where they teamed up with members of the Committee of Fifty and Cannon Air Force Base to talk about the importance of the Ute water pipeline project.

“The most important thing about the teaming up is the identity of our project and the idea that our project has a national security component,” Ryan said. “The primary effort in meeting with the Pentagon, at least with regard to water, was to make sure that communications were happening from the Pentagon and CAFB (Cannon Air Force Base) to the Department of Interior as to the importance of CAFB in the national security arena and also to make sure the importance of water for the base’s future is preserved, and that this project would solve many of the issues of long-term sustainability for water for CAFB.”

Ryan said he and other ENMWUA members met with the chief of staff to the secretary of the Air Force and his staff. He said the water authority asked for and got a letter of support. He said they also met with the region’s congressional delegation and they are supportive of the project.

Ryan said S.B. 1365 — the Rural Water Completion Act — was just introduced on May 19 with several senators from Southwest states shepherding it through legislation. He said the bill will guarantee $80 million for rural water projects, which would come directly from the reclamation fund rather than having to go through the “regular corporation process.”

He said they also met with individuals from the Department of Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation to stress the importance of the project.

State Consultant Joe Thompson said the authority is hearing good news at the state level as well.

“Just in the past five or six months, we’ve seen a transformation in Santa Fe with how the project has been regarded by the Legislature,” Thompson said. “It’s been a really great improvement.”

He said he is still holding out hope for a special legislative session to talk about capital outlay.

Thompson said the Water Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Peter Worth, will be meeting Monday, and he hopes to visit with them and ask if they have interest in meeting with members of the authority and receiving updates on the water pipeline project.

Brumfield said she thought the meetings in Washington were the most beneficial the authority has ever had. She said she feels the authority getting its own director helped further support.

She said Cannon’s new commander has also written a letter of support for the project and the project is Cannon’s “number one priority” in regard to supporting water conservation.

Brumfield said the Bureau of Reclamation and the Pentagon are highly supportive of Cannon, so it is important the authority can check off having the base’s water problems solved with the pipeline project.

Other items addressed during the meeting:

• Board members approved a $59,999 independent contract agreement with Greig & Richards P.A. for legal services.

Attorney David Richards said the contract is identical to the one the authority had under the city of Clovis; it just merely separates ENMWUA from the city, giving them their own contract.

• Board members approved the preliminary operating budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Don Clifton, city of Clovis fiscal agent, said the budget starts out with an estimated cash balance of $3.1 million, estimated revenues of $7.3 million and estimated expenditures of $7.8 million. He said with those estimates,

ENMWUA will end the year with an estimated $2.6 million.

• Board members approved executing a Water Project Fund Loan/grant Agreement.

Executive Director Justin Howalt said the loan process was began in 2014 and is now being closed. He said the loan was initially $3.2 million, which was broken up between a grant and a loan. He said the loan portion has a 20-year term with a .25 percent interest rate, which is an administrative fee.

Richards told board members the New Mexico Finance Authority is requiring changes to agreements. He said the changes will not apply to current loans with NMFA but will apply to future loans.

Brumfield said the agreement updates offer more security in writing for NMFA to ensure they will get paid back by borrowing entities.

• Board members approved a resolution adopting updated financial management and procurement policies and procedures for the authority.

Howalt said the updates entailed changing certain language to reference only the authority and not the city of Clovis now that the authority is its own entity.

Howalt also said he is working on getting certified as a purchasing agent, because the authority has to have one as its own entity.

• Board members approved a resolution authorizing the executive director, the chairperson, the vice chair and secretary to sign checks. The resolution will be effective July 1.

• Howalt gave a report in which he said his first month on the job has been a “whirlwind” as he has been working on next year’s preliminary budget and being educated in a variety of meetings. He said he will continue to get his footing with all of the various project information as he continues to be educated on all of its various aspects.

• CH2MHill Vice President Barbara Crockett gave a report in which she said a recent meeting with the Bureau of Reclamation went well and was productive with the authority gaining much more credibility by having Howalt on board.

The authority is actively working with the bureau to rework how they bring across the information of how vital the water project is, she said.

• Clifton gave a financial report in which he said year-to-date, the authority has received $2.4 million from the Bureau and member contributions equal to $464,000 with the remainder of the money being state grants, equaling a total of $6.8 million in revenue. He said the authority has spent $6.7 million of that.

• Water quality consultant Mark Murphy said the water shed plan is moving along and the contract between ENMWUA and Canadian River is ready to be signed.

• Crockett reported that a few minor things are going on with clean up, but for the most part, the Ute Reservoir intake construction is complete, so in essence, the project has its underground water structure.

• Crockett told board members that Water 1, the pipeline which goes to the waste water plant and north of Cannon, is complete as well as Water 2, which goes to Clovis and Cannon and Water 3, which goes to Portales.