HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 03/16/1965• MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE WATER BOARD HELD MARCH 16, 1965 AT 4:00 olcw K P. M.
IN THE OFFICES OF FISCHER, FISCHER & BEATTY.
Board members present: Ward Fischer, Harvey Johnson, John Bartel, Fred Feit,
also present R. F. Boos, City !Manager Adam Fischer, City Engineer, Arthur March, Jr.
Assistant City Attorney, J. T. Banner and Jack Hall, Consulting Engineers.
Joe Banner presented the General Plans for the 1965 Water Improvement
Program. It was unamimously agreed to accept bids on four types of pipes,
which according to the engineers would be acceptable for this expansion program.
The City Council referred the following request to the Board:
March 9, 1965
City of Ft. Collins
City Council
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, Colo.
Gentlemen:
West Fort Collins Water District request permission to serve
Jack Quick with a water tap on highway 14 and 287 North West of
Ft. Collins approximately 400 feet south of Davis Skelgas.
Your immediate attention on this matter will be greatly appreciated
and should there be any questions, please don't hesitate to call
on us. Thank you, we remain:
Yours very truly,
West Ft. Collins Water District
Al Treiber
Motion was made by John Bartel seconded by Ward Fischer that approval
be given to the District for this tap.
The following letter was read at length and copies were sent to the
council members for study:
L- • •
CITY OF FORT COLLINS WATER. BOARD
March 8, 1965
The Honorable, The Mayor and Council
Members of the City of Fort Collins, Colorado
Dear Messers. and Madam:
For the last several weeks the Water Board has met with representatives
of the Fort Collins -Loveland Water District in an attempt to arrive at same
feasible solution to the problems which inevitably arise when two organizations
exist, in part, to serve water to the same area.
We have appreciated the obvious good faith of the District's representativ,
in seeking these solution, and we have attempted to fully reciprocate their attitude
A number of ways to reconcile the aims and purposes of the city
and the District have been explored, and some of them have merits The representativ4
of the District, however, have concluded that, insofar as the District is
concerned, only one alternative to the present situation is conceivable.
Their proposal is, in substance, that the City should lease the entire water
system of the District, be entitled to all its revenues, and, conversely, be
• responsible for its operation and maintenance, and -the obligation of its
outstanding bond issue (now totaling, with principal and interest, about 1.8
million dollars).
Your Water Board has carefully considered the advantages and dis-
advantages of this proposal to the city and to the community as a whole.
With a realization that the District system is primarily a system
designed for rural consumption, that the purposes of the system are entirely
different from the purposes and functions of the City's System, and that the
District encompasses a huge area reaching nearly to Loveland, the Water Board
cannot at this time recommend the acceptance of the Districtts proposal. We
have previously indicated that in proper circumstances the City should not
hesitate to serve water for use outside of the City, but this concept presumes
that the area so served will ordinarily develop as part of the City itself
within a reasonable time. While it would be impossible to say that the City
would never grow to encompass the entire District, yet the criteria of "within
a reasonable time" is here lacking. In short, we do not believe that it is
the legitimate function of a City to obligate its citize taxpayers to assume
the dual obligations of the furnishing of water for, rural purposes
and the ssption of a rather heavy indebtedness, the benefits of which are
felt only directly and remotely by such citizens.
The District and the Water Board have agreed to a moratorium as to
new commitments for the furnishing of water within this area by either. This
moratorium was proposed by the District as a good faith indication of its
desire to work toward a solution. Assuming the acceptance of this report by
40 the Council, the moratorium should, in fairness to the District, be considered
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• as lifted in order to allow the District to complete plans which have been
therewith curtailed.
The Water Board regrets that it has found no solution to this problem
acceptable to the District. We wish again to commend the District for its
earnest attempts at negotiation; and we hope that further though on both sides
may yet resolve the matter. We stand ready to meet with representatives of
this or any other district to explore common problems.
For the Water Board:
Ward H. Fischer, President