Consider proposals to gain local control
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Editor,
I do not like someone distorting my current and past positions as Wade Shepard did in his Dec. 9 Valley Journal letter. When I ran against Shepard earlier this year for Flathead Irrigation District Commissioner I publicly stated that I wanted to “Restore local management, not BIA.” I also clearly supported negotiation over litigation. Many irrigators must have agreed with my positions because I defeated Shepard by a large margin. Many irrigators are also fed up with the anti-government conspiracy rhetoric reflected in Shepard’s criticism of me.
To give some background, in early 2014, following the late 2013 dissolution of the FJBC, BIA submitted to each of the three irrigation districts a proposal to maintain the Cooperative Management Entity that had managed the project effectively for four years but with a BIA appointed chair having a tie breaker vote. Jocko and Mission districts agreed but the Flathead Irrigation District did not.
Department of Interior then ordered BIA to reassume project management in 2014.
I have been told by one Flathead District Commissioner from that time that having BIA chair the meeting was a deal breaker. But in effect, the Flathead District turned management of the project over to BIA with no irrigator participation as provided by the CME. The laws that BIA is required to follow as a project manager also triggered project management and personnel disruptions. Wow, what a better deal.
In order to restore local management as promised in my campaign, I believe the FJBC should discuss with Department of Interior the possibility of adopting, as an interim step, the CME proposal that the Flathead District rejected. And I would like to see that done before the 2016 irrigation season.
My approach does not preclude negotiating CME modifications at a later time after public discussion of alternatives, including the Project Management Entity outlined in Shepard’s letter. There are some ideas in that proposal worth considering.
Dick Erb
Moiese
