Flood control board amends J. Fuller contract to bolster post‑wildfire flood‑warning system ahead of monsoon season

The Coconino County Flood Control District unanimously approved an amendment on June 9 to its on-call engineering agreement with J. Fuller Hydrology & Geomorphology to add a clearer indemnification clause and increased insurance coverage for upgrades to the county’s post‑wildfire flood‑warning system.

Flood District Administrator Lucinda Andreani told the board the system — established after the 2010 Schultz Fire and expanded in 2019 and again in 2022 — now includes 18 rain and stream gauges and 21 cameras that feed data used by the flood director and emergency management to issue public alerts. Andreani said a public-access overload during a significant rainfall event last season (reported by staff as more than 4,000 hits per minute to the publicly accessible site) interfered with the director’s continuous access to critical data.

"We have to guarantee the flood director an uninterrupted feed of rain-gauge and camera information regardless of public traffic," Andreani said. The approved amendment creates a county-managed independent system for the flood director (maintained by county IT with software integration from J. Fuller) and adds insurance protections J. Fuller needed to proceed, after consultation with the county’s risk manager.

Flood district counsel Andrew McGuire explained the legal concern: state immunity for emergency functions does not clearly extend to private contractors working for a county district. The amendment therefore clarifies indemnification and documents the insurance coverage reviewed by the county’s broker. "We do not take this lightly; the change addresses both operational continuity and the contractor’s exposure," McGuire said.

J. Fuller representative Corey Helden said the company tested the new feed and worked with county IT to ensure the flood director can access gauge data in the event of heavy public traffic or internet interruptions. The board noted the work is urgently timed before the summer monsoon season.

The vote was unanimous. Board members asked staff and counsel to pursue a statutory fix with the Legislature to ensure clarity on the scope of immunity and to return with any needed contract revisions following that process.