Boards should be occupied by irrigators
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Editor,
FIP Irrigators and friends: What happens when six lawyers, three tribal, three FIP, Tribal Chairman, seven top BIA officials, BIA superintendent, FIP Project manager, three Irrigation Chairmen, and DOI officials get together for an illegal meeting about the Operation and Maintenance of Flathead Irrigation? “We” were not invited and we pay the bills.
(1) One district chairman and lawyer tried to represent you and ask for representation and financial accountability for Irrigators from the interim board proposed to run Flathead Irrigation. They stood firm against increased 2014 instream flows, threatened from the Tribe to scare the FIP Irrigators into signing the CSKT compact.
(2) This meeting and the one in December are illegal in Montana because the public were not permitted to attend; the FIP is funded by public tax funds. Some Irrigators tried to attend.
(3) This week the three irrigation districts were sent a letter by BIA Northwest Director threatening BIA takeover of the FIP. If the three districts don’t agree with the reconstituted CME board designed at this illegal meeting, they had until Feb. 7, 2014 to have a meeting and inform the Irrigators and approve this agreement, final documents filed by Feb. 21, 2014. No law, either United States or the State of Montana was cited in this takeover threat by the BIA.
(4) The Flathead District did not agree to this threat in representation, accountability, and time table, and offered their counter proposal.
Mission District, against all negative public comment, approved the BIA threat proposal, with one board member against it. Jocko met at at 1 p.m. Friday, results as Mission were expected.
(5) Federal and state law states when Flathead Irrigation Project is paid off, the Irrigators will operate and maintain the project, not DOI, not BIA, not the CSKT Tribe — the Irrigators, plain and simple. Boards should be occupied by Irrigators; Irrigators by acreage representation, plain and simple, not an appointed, elected board.
(6) Financial, Project Management, and accountability is required by law to the taxpayers who fund the project and should be written into any agreement.
Tim Orr
St. Ignatius
