Submitted by UBSCGWMD
The Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District (UBSCGWMD) was formed Dec. 4, 1979, after written petitions, hearings and a vote of the electors of the district. The district administers and manages the ground water resources of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Designated Ground Water Basin. The district is specifically charged with the responsibility of adopting and enforcing rules and regulations for the use, control, conservation and protection of both quantity and quality of the groundwater of the basin.
The district has the authority to regulate the use, control and conservation of groundwater in the district, and works in a coordinated manner with the Colorado Groundwater Commission to administer groundwater in the district.
The district over the past several years has spent a substantial amount of money to study water quality and quantity in the district to better carry out our duties of managing and protecting the groundwater resources of the district. We have done an Aerial Survey of the district for water quantity and we have drilled wells to study water quantity and quality throughout the district. We also partner with the United States Geologic Survey (USGS) to study water issues throughout the district. We are doing the things that we have been charged to do and taxpayers of the district asked us to do when the district was formed.
The district is comprised of about 354-square-miles, with approximate boundaries of Vollmer Road on the west, Hodgen Road on the north, N. Lauppe Road on the east and Squirrel Creek Road on the south. Within the district there are five divisions, each with an elected director. This is strictly a volunteer position; the board gets no pay for the important job they do for the taxpayers of the UBSCGWMD to manage the groundwater resources of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Basin.
THIS IS WHERE YOUR HELP IS NEEDED.
Division 3 has been without a director for at least four years. We have been unsuccessful in filling this position. Now, several of the directors are term limited in 2026, meaning that they will have to give up their positions on the board. Given our difficulties in filling one position, we are asking the taxpayers to do away with term limits for the directors with the district so we do not lose continuity of operations because no one wants to fill the positions.
To do so requires a majority vote from the electors of our district. Accordingly, the district is holding an election on Feb. 4, 2025, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at 7030 Old Meridian Road, Peyton, CO 80831 in the Falcon Fire Department Community Room. At this election, the electors of the district will vote on a proposal to remove term limits for the directors of the district. If passed, the directors would still be required to run for re-election. This change would simply allow them to serve more than two consecutive terms in office. Several other counties and similar districts in Colorado that have faced similar issues have already removed term limits for their representatives.
To qualify to vote in the election you must be a resident taxpaying elector in a division in Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Basin or a resident within the designated ground water basin and a resident agriculturist who owns or actively farms or ranches land located within such division, §37-90-121(1)(b). “Taxpaying elector” means a person qualified to vote at general elections in Colorado, who owns real or personal property within the district and has paid ad valorem taxes thereon in the 20 months immediately preceding a designated time or event, which property is subject to taxation at the time of any election held under the provision of this article or at any other time in reference to which the term “taxpaying elector” is used. A person who is obligated to pay taxes under a contract to purchase real property in the district shall be considered an owner. The ownership of any property subject to the payment of a specific ownership tax on a motor vehicle or trailer or of any other excise or property tax other than general ad valorem taxes shall not constitute the ownership of property subject to taxation as provided in this article, See C.R.S. §37-90-103(18).
Please help us by voting to do away with term limits so your current directors can continue to run the district. If you are interested in running for a position on the board of directors, please contact us by calling 719-510-0780.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that an election will be held on Feb. 4 2025, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The board of directors of the district have designated the following polling place: 7030 Old Meridian Road, Peyton, CO 80831 at the Falcon Fire Department Community Room. Please do not park in front of the fire station truck bay doors or in areas that block or impede emergency vehicle access.
At said election, the board of directors of the district shall refer the following proposal to the electors of the district:
Shall the term limits imposed by state law on members of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District Board of Directors be eliminated pursuant to Article XVIII, Section 11(2), of the Colorado Constitution, so that said elected members may continue to serve without limitation as to the number of terms so long as the voters of the Upper Black Squirrel Creek Ground Water Management District choose to re-elect them?
THE UPPER BLACK SQUIRREL CREEK GROUND WATER MANAGEMENT DISTRICT THANKS YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
