Dear editor:

I have read with interest the Letter to the Editor authored by Mr. Pat Nelson, and I will respond in my next Letter to the Editor with my thoughts and comments. In this letter I would like to update everyone on the FY2024 Fiscal Year Amended Budget Report hearing that I attended via conference call on May 7. As mentioned in my prior update, I thought this would be a very interesting learning experience for me since I’m not an attorney and I have not been involved in such matters before. I will be providing a summation of what was discussed and the findings of the court. If you should want to see the full transcript, I expect that it would be available by contacting the District Court Clerk’s Office.

The hearing was called to order by Judge Bill Simpson and both myself and Ms. Mary Reed, the attorney representing Shoshone Irrigation District (SID), were sworn in. Judge Simpson asked me to summarize my concerns regarding the lack of an amended budget for Fiscal Year 2024 being submitted and approved by the Court as required. Judge Simpson then asked Ms. Reed for her statement. In summary, Ms. Reed stated that the SID commissioners had in fact amended the Fiscal Year 2024 budget by voting on and approving a board of commissioner’s resolution. However, the SID Commissioners had failed to notify Ms. Reed of the budget resolution. Because Ms. Reed was not notified, she had no way of knowing that it would be necessary to prepare the necessary filings to present to the court to seek formal court review and approval.  

Ms. Reed also reviewed that SID had not borrowed the funds for the additional $450,000 that was authorized by the SID commissioners but used other funds that were available. 

At the end of the hearing, Judge Simpson expressed that he was thankful that this matter had been brought before the court as this allowed the court records to be complete and accurate.  Judge Simpson also stated that I should feel free to write to the court at anytime in the future if there should be other matters that I should feel warrant the review of the court. Judge Simpson also ordered that a copy of the formal approval of the 2024 Fiscal Year amended budget be sent to me for my records. Judge Simpson then adjourned the hearing.

Conclusions: The SID commissioners, for some reason, did not inform their attorney when they amended the FY 2024 budget. I will be requesting a copy of the 2024 revised budget resolution as well as the meeting minutes of this meeting. I hope that these will allow me to fully understand the process used by SID and how this oversite happened.  

I also am now aware that the official district court hearing notice is also posted at the SID office and are to be available to the general public. Why is this important to know? I believe that everyone who has concerns about the coming budget should know when the court hearing is scheduled to be held in Cody so that they can attend and present their comments and concerns. The court needs to hear that there are dissenting opinions and concerns and that not everyone necessarily agrees with past practices. The more individuals who attend the court hearing the more the court will understand the opinions (both positive and negative) of the members of SID.

In addition, I have learned that there will be a State Legislature Agriculture Committee meeting scheduled to be held in Park County, June 10 and 11 and the subject of irrigation districts is on the schedule. Currently, I do not have the exact date or time of the irrigation district discussion. However, this will be an extremely important opportunity for input by members regarding any issues or concerns. This is the state committee that proposes changes to regulations regarding irrigation districts. Sen. Tim French, R-Powell, from Park County is the committee chairman. I’ll continue to follow the schedules for this meeting and update everyone. But for now, mark your calendars to hold these dates open and plan on attending!

Lastly, once I receive the final court documents for the 2024 amended budget, I will post them and make them available for everyone to review.

Rob Stevens

Powell