Early Consent Consideration Potentially Saving Millions / Collaboration is Key to Success

I thought the zoom meeting we (Bluewater Water and Sanitation District) “BWSD”had on March  3, 2021 with John Vance Lee the Director of Facilities & Operations for Grants Cibola County Schools (GCCS) at that time went well and was well received or at least I thought it was.   After the 2021 meeting, I attempted to follow up and proceed to collaborate by making contact with John Vance.  This proved to be difficult after leaving multiple messages.  

When we finally were able to connect on the phone, he said that they “GCCS” were not able to provide any funding outside of the school property.  

Unbeknownst to BWSD Board of Directors, GCCS had developed plans to build their own septic system.  In the recording provided to you “via email or in the link found below “of our most recent zoom call with the new Director of Facilities & Operations for Grants Cibola County Schools, Ron Triplehorn joined by Richard Dicks, Regional Manager for New Mexico Public Schools Facilities Authority, Scott with Bradbury construction and Antonio from FBT Architects, it was said that the septic system was approved by New Mexico Environmental Department, this causes one to  wonder if normal standards and protocols were overlooked.  

Standard common protocols stipulate that when projects are being prepared that surrounding governments and entities or institutions are formally informed and are asked for consent or some sort of permitting, and clearances are established.  In this case early consent consideration of stakeholders who are represented by BWSD board of directors was not performed before proceeding with the Grants Cibola County school's project. BWSD was not involved in the early stages of design and discovery of GCCS project that would potentially affect BWSD’ s annual revenue through GCCS intentions of not planning on hooking up to the already established wastewater utilities.  This decision is in direct violation of Bluewater Water and Sanitation Districts bylaws.

This decision directly affects members/ratepayers of BWSD and has potential to affect current rates established for funding opportunities that were recently increased 50% higher than surrounding community public water systems service rates for the purpose of providing  “skin in the game” as they say, to meet state and federal regulations regarding affordability of grant/ loan eligibility that takes in consideration when formulating rates-based on number of connections to develop aforementioned grant/loan eligibility.

Perhaps government agencies and institutions' current modi operandi is to raise personal homeowners and family residences rates while seeking alternate affordable solutions to provide utilities services to themselves or in this case within their school districts properties.  This effectively causes harm through actions that lead to disinvesting in the surrounding community infrastructure in which school districts are located.   School districts choosing not to participate in the same cost of current living situations reflected through cost of utilities services in their surrounding community that fellow rate payers/stakeholders are required to pay, in order to update and improve aging and failing community infrastructure can prove to be destructive to the health safety and peace through the lack of law and order that local governments are responsible to maintain and uphold.

Indeed, when school districts choose not to participate in the same cost of utilities services as their surrounding community, it can have negative consequences for the health, safety, and overall well-being of the community. By not contributing their fair share towards updating and improving aging infrastructure, school districts may hinder the local government's ability to maintain and uphold the necessary standards for health, safety, and law and order. This can lead to a deterioration of the community's infrastructure and negatively impact the quality of life for its residents. It is important for all stakeholders, including school districts, to actively participate in supporting and investing in the community's infrastructure to ensure its long-term sustainability and the well-being of its residents.

In this 2023 meeting it was also stated that “New (BWSD) players are now involved”.  Two years later after the zoom meeting where I mistakenly interpreted Grants Cibola County Schools intentions, believing from our discussions that we had their support.  In response to that 2021 meeting, I wrote a thank you letter expressing that the board members of BWSD and myself appreciated their (GCCS)willingness to help us serve our community by reaching out to our elected officials in hopes of solving the funding issues with upgrading aging infrastructure that will help BWSD be in compliance with state and federal regulations.

The letter provided to Grants Cibola County Schools by MILLER ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS, INC.should have been verified before action was taken.  This could have saved $750,000.00 in engineering cost and the added  expense of equipment/materials that will add up to more than a  million dollars.  Between BWSD and  GCCS we have expended over a million dollars in engineering and materials and have failed to provide tangible results regarding BWSD’s aging infrastructure.

On the positive side of things GCCS new Director of Facilities & Operations Ron Triplehorn offered to stand with BWSD at the podium to request affordable funding and technical assistance in upcoming legislative committees and we fully intend to utilize Ron’s offer.  Looking back at the last three years I believe we have conclusively made a strong  case that it would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars if BWSD was granted the principle forgiveness (provided through the clean water act through state revolving funds) of $162,000.00 as requested in the 2020 legislative session so that BWSD could continue forward with the implementation of upgrading the wastewater plant to meet state and federal regulations, But I will leave that to the reader to determine whether or not following current state and federal laws are applicable and appropriate in this case.

August 3, 2023 meeting with GCCS:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gvJFXh_yZ_xZBJiS7d4criO2A-AGbAG0/view?usp=drivesdk