Cottonwood Creek Consolidated Irrigation Company held a general stockholders meeting on Aug. 2 to report the progress of the irrigation improvement project. This meeting was held at the Orangeville City community center.
Craig Johansen Chairman of the board and of Johansen and Tuttle Engineering Inc. provided large maps of each farm land area around Castle Dale and Orangeville that the irrigation improvement project would help. These maps also provided the proposed positioning of irrigation lines and the acreage that could be irrigated, what kind of pressure could be anticipated and where connections would be put. Johansen reported on the various parts of this irrigation project. The Clipper Western is the project that is presently funded. “We have three projects that have been presently funded. The first one is with the Bureau of Reclamation and it involves the Clipper Western Canal and that project is funded for $6.5 million dollars. We have $1 million that has been assigned to the year 2010. We’ll have another $2.5 million for the year 2011 and $3 million in 2012. That limits how we put this project together. Some of the piping may not be in the ground until the end of 2012. It may be 2013 before the Clipper Western has water in the system for irrigation.
“The second project, we are working on is the Adobe Wash Reservoir and the third is the Adobe Wash Reservoir pipeline. That would be the pipeline from the head of the Western to the Adobe Wash Reservoir. We have three projects that we think we have funds for and we are proceeding with the designs.
“When we last met, we got a vote to go ahead with the project, which we did. Since then we’ve gone before the water resource board and borrowed $2.5 million. That loan is at 0 percent interest over 10 years. The loan is to be paid back at rate of $250,000 a year.
“We have been negotiating with PacifiCorp and we have worked out an arrangement with PacifiCorp where they will help build the Adobe Wash Reservoir with $6.5 million dollars. The reservoir will be a benefit to PacifiCorp as well as to ourselves, so it is a partnership.
“In addition to that we have the on farm, money through the NRCS program. That is estimated to be approximately $6 million dollars. We have total funds available to us of approximately $22 million. Consequently we are moving ahead on those three phases of the project.
“The pipeline is estimated at $4 million, and the reservoir is estimated at $4 million.
“In addition to the above. We have the help of Randy Johnson and through him we have made application for $3.5 million for the pipeline from the head of the clipper to the reservoir. If we qualify for the 595 appropriation program through the Corps of Engineers. It is a 75 percent grant.
“Senator Bennett created the language for the 595 appropriation in 2003, called the Utah Environmental Infrastructure Resource Protection Development Program. That is where the 595 money would flow through. The problem is to get this project funded for this year, which really means the year 2011. With Senator Bennett not being there next year. We may have difficulty getting that money. All of the 2010 money has already been spent. The 595 money can be justified by tying it to the contract to deliver water for Castle Dale and Orangeville, the power plant, and the pumping station. We believe this project will qualify for the 595 funds.
“If getting the 595 money fails, we will apply for some of the other grants that are available. That is where we are on the funding. The board has been working very hard to make sure we have adequate money to continue these projects. The board will soon prepare an application for the next phase with the Bureau of Reclamation.
“The board has contracted with an engineering firm RBG out of Provo. We had them do the preliminary design on the reservoir. We have contracted with Montgomery Archaeologists to clear the cultural resources for the entire pipeline project. You may have seen them walking around with their GPS units, putting up flags and wondered what they were doing. The board has entered into a contract with Johansen and Tuttle to design the sprinkler system. The sprinkler system for the Clipper Western will be designed, we will do the hydraulic design for the entire system of all of the phases. So we can show you what the whole project will look like. At this time there is no contract for the Adobe wash pipeline, but work is being done on it. To avoid a conflict of interest we have reorganized the board,” said Johansen.
Clyde Magnuson explained the reorganization of the Board of Directors, who should be on the board and who should be the project engineer. Craig Johansen was excused from the board’s discussion and the board decided to take on the responsibilities of the chairman and divided those responsibilities among the members of the board. The board formed a finance committee and appointed a finance chairman, a policy committee was formed. A right-of-way committee was formed, and an engineering committee to oversee the engineering. Every decision concerning the project will come through the board and be approved or disapproved. As far as the irrigation project goes Craig Johansen is the engineer and the board is the oversight committee.
Ross Huntington has been appointed as finance chairman. All financial matters will go through him. Craig Johansen remains the Cottonwood Creek Irrigation Company President while the board members make the decisions and sign the checks. We have given you an overview with these maps, as to what is being done in the design process as well as how the CCIC is to be managed in the future.
The above is a brief review of some of the reports given by the Cottonwood Creek and Irrigation Company board at this General Stockholders Meeting.
Carl Justesen has been appointed to replace Darrell Gardener on the board of directors.
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