By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Water Commission met on Feb. 15, 2018 and heard from Olga Morales, regional manager for the Rural Community Assistance Corporation, to discuss next steps for the commission relating to future funding on remaining phases of the Regional Water Project.

Phase I of the water project addressed the urgent need for the town of Hurley to have its own water source before the end of 2018, when a long-term contract, with Freeport-McMoran and its predecessors, to provide water to the town ends.

Morales said the RCAC offers contract services to help with entities' regionalization. She introduced those who came with her, Karl Pennock and Alicia Paz.

"We work with 11 states," Morales said. "I am the manager for all 11. We came together as a need to address regulations, redundancies, and as a driver for a lot of our communities to minimize rises in rates to end users."

She said the program has grown and has a lot of regional projects it has developed. She handed out a "map" of the RCAC regionalization process, which starts with forming the initial leadership team to identify stakeholders and to identify the common need.

"You have already completed a lot of the steps," Morales said. "You already have a joint powers agreement, which is usually in step 5 of the process. The process doesn't have to be linear, as in this map. Your need is a water issue. This process map is specific to New Mexico. We have worked 12 years in New Mexico and have completed close to 30 projects, mostly in New Mexico."

She said RCAC facilitates the process, which is important in regionalization. "What we are doing is providing resources and coaching the process. We have done four projects in California with 21 systems. A lot of regionalization groups come together to address needs. In California, it's water quality. We always want to eliminate redundancies to keep costs down."

"This model was born in New Mexico," Morales said. "And we have taken it to other states. We look at the governance structure." She showed a report on the Lower Rio Grande water system that RCAC helped write legislation for.

"We determine what type of structure you need," she continued. "We look at the financial pieces and assets and what will keep the entity going. One issue that often comes up is the perceived loss of identity. Our intent is not to change the community or culture of the community, but to provide services for the project to be sustainable."

She noted that funding is becoming more and more challenging. "It is no longer the case that you can get a 100 percent grant."

"The idea behind regionalization is to help every community have a voice," Morales said. "We are funded by the federal government - the USDA and the EPA, among others.

"Specific to the Grant County Water Commission is USDA funding which you are considering," she continued. "The question is who do we issue the loan to, who will assume the liability and who will sometimes help look for other funding. You've been able to attract a lot of dollars so far."

Morales said the RCAC process is clear, it's voluntary and takes the group all the way to implementation.

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, who invited Morales to the meeting, said that at the November meeting, the water commission members were asked to go back to their represented entities, but "some haven't gone back to ask about the USDA funding."

[Editor's Note: For background on the proposed USDA funding, see http://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/40653-grant-county-water-commission-hears-from-usda-representatives-111617?highlight=WyJ3YXRlciIsIndhdGVyJ3MiLCJjb21taXNzaW9uIiwiY29tbWlzc2lvbidzIiwiY29tbWlzc2lvbidzaW52ZXN0aWdhdGlvbiIsIndhdGVyIGNvbW1pc3Npb24iXQ== ]

"At that point, we had to acknowledge where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do," Lucero continued. "That's why we brought the municipal clerks here today to hear about the rules and regulations. I felt it was important to bring in Olga, when Kristy (Ortiz, Bayard clerk) asked me who was going to do the application and how we would get to where we wanted to be. Olga has that experience. We have to decide whether to continue to seek funding. Is there a possibility for RCAC to help guide this organization? That's why she's here today. What can we answer for you? We were looking at March to get the USDA application in. Do we want to go this direction?"

Alex Brown, Silver City town manager, who managed the meeting in the chairman's (Gabriel Ramos, representing Grant County) absence, said: "When we set up the JPA, it was not to operate a water system, but to develop toward our goals. There has to be a process to set up an entity to operate a water system. I always thought it had to be a separate entity or a lead entity, such as Hurley would become the entity, because getting water to Hurley was our first reason because it had no primary source of water after the end of this year. For Santa Clara and Bayard, it's for them to have a supplemental source of water. I think creating another entity is the only option. Neither Kristy nor I would be able to take on a loan when we don't need the water yet. Each entity is straight up on their needs. It was easy for me to give access to the water rights near the airport to Hurley. We don't need the water. Taking on a loan is something different. Santa Clara and the county have different goals. Rather than me, it might be Arenas Valley Water Association that might come to the table to be the loan entity. We, in Silver City, are using only 49 percent of our water rights. My primary goal was conservation. We were using 58 percent of our water rights, and now we're down to 49 percent. We don't even have the capacity to pump our entire water rights."

"Each member has different goals," Brown said. "We need to go through this whole process to determine our goals."

Morales said she sees the need to repurpose the water commission to meet needs in 30, 40 or more years. "Where do we all need to head and what kind of structure do we need?"

Ortiz said Bayard has projects that will take wastewater from the regional wastewater plant to the schools to water the fields. "We will give all our potable water to the residents, so we have no critical need for this water."

Brown said it's not 10 or 20 years. "This project needs to continue for my grandkids. We need to move forward slowly. I think Arenas Valley would be a better partner than Silver City. Arenas Valley ties into the regional system. It would take demands off our system. Let's go through the process. Things change. Last year, Bayard needed more water because the schools needed it. Now they don't."

Lucero said: "I hear the applying for the USDA funding is really premature."

Brown said he didn't want to be part of looking for funding.

Lucero asked what the next steps were.

Morales said: "Although I think you might not need the USDA funding right away, you still need to 'flirt' with USDA to keep them funding us. Start with the USDA funds that RCAC has. When we're out of funding, go for more."

Brown said he didn't want to start the process yet. Ortiz noted that with the upcoming municipal elections in each member entity next month, the players may change.

"This board needs to come together to determine each member's role in the process," Ortiz said. "Silver City is not going to need it. The county is not in the water business, so how do we secure systems?"

Morales said it all starts with needs and who the key players are. "No one should be dismissed. Everyone has a role. I commend you for thinking down the road. Most groups I deal with are in crisis. Take time to get where you need to be. It makes the project attractive to me. You have a comprehensive view of your needs and what structure is needed."

Ortiz said she agreed to taking it slowly. "It will allow Hurley to get into their system and work out any problems."

Brown noted the area has a regional landfill, a regional wastewater system, regional dispatch. "Maybe the water associations need to be at the table. The concept was not to give away our individual systems, but that may change."

"One of the things we do is work with an umbrella board and with homeowners," Morales said. "Communication and education are very important."

"Priscilla does that well," Brown said. "I think bringing in all the water associations is a good idea. It might make it cheaper for Arenas Valley to get water from a regional system rather than buying from us."

Morales emphasized that the process should not be facilitated by any stakeholder.

"I completely support moving ahead with the RCAC," Brown said.

A motion to move forward was approved.

Lucero clarified that the consensus was that the group was not ready to move forward with the USDA application this year.

The last item of business was to approve the Open Meetings Act resolution for 2018.

Although the date was set for March 21, as the regular meeting date, after the meeting Morales requested it be set for March 28 when she would be available to attend for a workshop among the members. Time and place to be announced.