Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Rights Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council awards one‑year leases and sales for city water shares; staff to finalize contracts
Summary
Council authorized staff to proceed with recommended awards from a recent water rights advertisement, approving sale or lease of several shares and reserving the city's right to lease or split water for up to one year.
Gunnison City Council voted to award bids from a recent advertisement for water rights and related shares and authorized the mayor to execute the sale and lease documents.
City staff presented bids for multiple water assets including a 112-acre‑foot farm parcel and 36 shares described in the packet. Dennis (staff) said the city had received bids and recommended purchasing the farm parcel and selling the Gunnison/Fayette shares to the highest bidder to maximize revenue. "What we're recommending is that in the advertisement we said that the city reserves the right to lease out the water or split it," Dennis said.
Councilor Robert Anderson moved to award the bids as presented; Charles seconded and authorized the mayor to execute the documents. The motion passed with recorded yes votes listed as Charles, Connor, Crane, Hill and Anderson. The city noted one bidder had already submitted a check for $8,000 for specific drainage water and that some bids for the 36 shares were low; staff recommended finalizing sale of the city’s Fayette shares to the highest bidder.
Why it matters: The actions change the short‑term management of water rights the city purchased last year and can affect revenue available to city funds for the coming year.
Ending: Staff will complete the agreements and return completed documents for execution; the awards were described as one‑year agreements.
