By Bob Cress, Shane Brooks, Ron Wandler, Jim Rokosch, Citizens for Fair Water, Stevensville
It has been brought to the attention of Citizens for Fair Water that BRID subdistrict supporters have recently been telling Three Mile water users that if they do not sign the petition for the subdistrict, that they will not get their water delivered this season. This is not true.
On February 3, 2016, Judge Haynes signed a “Stipulation” that BRID “shall continue to deliver water in the usual and customary manner to the individual farm turn-outs and customary point of delivery for irrigation water by BRID to the Three Mile Gravity Irrigation System. BRID shall continue to maintain responsibility for the operation, maintenance and repair of the Three Mile Gravity Irrigation System in the manner in which it has operated, maintained and repaired the System since the System was first operational.” In other words, your irrigation water and services from BRID will remain 100% the same until this issue is resolved, no matter how long it takes. A copy of this Stipulation is available upon request.
We understand the “fear” of not having your water delivered. This Stipulation is just one of the steps we have taken in the ongoing litigation we have been forced to pursue, due to BRID’s threat to declare the Three Mile Gravity System a private entity. At this time, BRID continues to not provide any supporting document to prove they have the authority to declare the Three Mile Gravity System a private entity. We believe BRID has no legal basis to disclaim responsibility for owning the Three Mile System. Indeed, we believe that is why BRID supporters are so eager to create a subdistrict, because they will lose their legal argument that they are not responsible for the Three Mile System.
CFW is pursuing this litigation for the benefit of ALL the Three Mile water users and the Three Mile area, as a whole. There is no benefit to the Three Mile water users to join a subdistrict. And, the potential exists for great harm in the future, such as diminished property values (in a Special Assessment District), and dramatic rate increases after the first two years, which may affect our children and grandchildren.
We understand there was a lot of misinformation given to water users who may have signed BRID’s petition when told they would lose their water if they did not sign or that if they declared us private we would have to maintain our own water system. Of course, neither of these is true. We ask that you consider rescinding your signature from the BRID petition to help us keep the system like it has been for the past 30 years minus the Three Mile Gravity System assessment payments from your taxes (30 year BRID assessment paid off in February 2016), for generations to come.
If you have any questions or need a Rescind Form, please contact one of the persons listed above.
Stacy Coulter says
Something that BRID tax payers should consider is that at this time, Citizens for Fair Water (CFW) continues to not provide any supporting document to prove they have the authority to declare the Three Mile Gravity System a BRID-owned entity when the thirteen other gravity systems on the BRID canal are privately owned. So far, CFW has used $25,000 of your tax money since October of 2015 by suing BRID, and litigation may take a year or more. As BRID’s legal fees continue this exponential growth, CFW is asking their neighbors for donations to pay THEIR attorney and asking the court for BRID to pay their legal costs (that’s YOU – BRID’s income is your property tax dollars). With 1400 users and 16,665 irrigated acres served, I can think of hundreds of better ways to spend your hard-earned money.
Stacy Coulter says
I’m the office manager at the Bitter Root Irrigation District. To clarify, here is a quote from our current Bitter Root Irrigation District newsletter: “Three-Mile Gravity Flow System:
For thirty years, property taxes of BRID irrigators in the Three-Mile area have included a payment on this gravity flow system. In February, it was finally paid off! The District office has received a lot of calls from curious and concerned water users inquiring about current litigation in regard to this system. A lawsuit was filed against BRID by a small group in October, 2015; details of which will remain between the attorneys throughout litigation. We want to assure water users in
Three Mile that BRID will continue to deliver the water and quality customer service that we always have as this matter gets sorted out. The District would like to remind water users that, as always, our board meetings take place on the
second Tuesday of each month at 10am at the BRID office. Any change to the meeting schedule will be posted in the Ravalli Republic newspaper. These meetings are open to the public and we encourage you to attend any time. Additionally, all of the District’s financial matters (annual audits,
expenses, budgets, etc) are public information that any of our water users are free to review.”
The full newsletter can be seen on our website at bitterrootirrigationdistrict.net, feel free to call or stop by with any questions or to pick up a copy of our 2016 newsletter. 961-1182