Stream Commission denies open meetings violations

A battle is brewing between the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission and a former director who alleges the body has violated the state Open Meetings Act more than a dozen times. On Monday, retired Santa Fe engineer Norman Gaume told the commission he thought their Gila River subcommittee had met several times “without public notice, without publishing minutes of the meetings and without publishing agendas prior to meetings,” in violation of state law. Gaume, who served as Interstate Stream Commission director from 1997 to 2002, said the subcommittee also discussed public business and acted under the authority of the full commission in violation of the Open Meetings Act. The Interstate Stream Commission fired back a denial Tuesday. “Allegations of violations by the Interstate Stream Commission of the Open Meetings Act are nothing more than a show to cast aspersions on the Commission’s public process to consider projects under the federal Arizona Water Settlements Act,” the commission’s general counsel, Amy I. Haas, says in a letter. “Only meetings of a quorum of the full Commission are subject to the provisions of the Open Meetings Act. The Gila Committee does not constitute a quorum and its meetings are not public meetings requiring notice under the Act,” Haas’ letter says. “The Gila committee is merely advisory an not empowered to take action on behalf of the full Commission.” The Gila committee has been vetting some proposed projects for possible commission approval and federal funding under the 2004 Arizona Water Settlements Act. The act settled the water claims of the Gila Indians in Arizona. As part of the deal brokered by then U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, New Mexico received the rights to 14,000 acre-feet of water from the Gila River Basin, $66 million to use on any water supply, or for reuse or conservation projects, and $34 million for a river diversion project...more