The Board wants to hear from you – residents and customers of Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District (Green Mountain). This is your district. They want to hear what you think.
You have two more opportunities to tell the Board what you think before they decide whether to settle or continue with the litigation.
During public comment at the beginning of the meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 6:00 pm.
During a public hearing on settlement/litigation Tuesday, April 20, 2021 at 6:00 pm.
There are basically three questions they want you to help them answer:
1. Do you want to provide sewer service to new homes outside of the district boundary.
If you want to provide service outside your district boundary, there are at least two options.
2. Do you want to include all the new development areas inside your district boundary (“Inclusion”). Its like annexation. You move your boundary line.
3. Do you want to keep the new development areas outside your boundary but provide them with service through an IGA (intergovernmental agreement).
They will be customers but not residents of the district. The new customers will not get to vote or be taxed.
Here is a little more information on each question:
First, here is a blog that provides even more detail and links to key documents:
Second, here is a brief outline of additional information for each question:
1. Do you want to provide sewer service to new homes outside of the district boundary.
No one with property outside the district boundary has a right to your sewer service.
As explained in earlier blogs, the plaintiffs in the Big Sky litigation are in the territory served by another water and sanitation district – Mount Carbon Water and Sanitation District. These plaintiffs/developers have property in the area served by another sanitation district. They want you to provide them with sanitation service instead of Mount Carbon.
But they are in an area served by another district. They are not in your district. You don’t have to provide them with sewer service. Mount Carbon did.
Typically every community is in a district that provides water and sewer. Every community needs water and sewer. A district is organized to collect the money and hire the professional staff to provide water and sewer services.
Green Mountain does that for your area. You live in the Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District. They have an obligation to collect your money and provide your service. Because you live in that district they have to provide you with that service.
The Rooney Valley developers own property that is not inside your district. Their land is in the area covered by another district – the Mount Carbon Water and Sanitation District.
The Rooney Valley developers know this because they had to get permission to leave the Mount Carbon District. After they left Mount Carbon, they started working on Green Mountain to give them sewer service instead of Mount Carbon. They decided to “exclude” themselves from Mount Carbon and took the risk that Green Mountain might say “no”.
They can always go back to their “home” water and sanitation district.
They decided to leave Mount Carbon hoping Green Mountain would provide the service instead.
But Green Mountain doesn’t have to provide them with service. Even Green Mountain will need to get permission to amend its service plan to provide service to someone other than “inhabitants” of the district, as stated in the Green Mountain Service Plan.
The plaintiffs/developers have other options as well. They can get sewer service in other ways.
Your service plan limits Green Mountain to “provid[ing] a complete waterworks distribution system for the District and the inhabitants thereof“. (Emphasis added)
There are reasons to provide service outside your district and reasons not to. For example, the district can make money selling their service outside the district. But there are no “free lunches”. The decision to provide service also has duties and liabilities.
Again, if you decide you want to provide sewer service outside the district boundary, there are at least two ways to do that.
2. Do you want to include all the new development areas inside your district boundary (“Inclusion”). Its like annexation. You move your boundary line.
Under inclusion, Green Mountain will control the distribution of sewer services in Rooney Valley.
So, if you decide to provide service outside the district one option is to include the Rooney Valley developers inside the Green Mountain district boundary.
Because the Rooney Valley developers left the Mount Carbon district, they could now be included in your district.
If the Rooney Valley developers are included in your district, then the future residents will be full-fledged residents of the district just like you. They will be able to vote in all Green Mountain elections. Green Mountain can tax them just the same as you.
Note that one of the typical conditions of inclusion is that the developer pays all the costs of building the new system. That cost is then passed on to the new homeowners and businesses that move in. If the inclusion is worded correctly, current residents of Green Mountain will not have to spend any money to build the system in the new “included” area.
However, once the system is built, it will be turned over to the Green Mountain district. Green Mountain will own and maintain the new system – just like they currently own and maintain your system. The district will collect fees from the new residents just like they collect your fees – to pay for the running and maintenance of the new system just like they pay for the running and maintenance of your current system. The new resident will be treated the same way as you are treated – collect fees to provide service.
And, any new development within the district will also have to pay to build their part of the system and then turn it over to Green Mountain.
There are pros and cons both ways. Let the board know what you think.
3. Do you want to keep the new development areas outside your boundary but provide them with service through an Intergovernmental agreement (IGA).
They will be customers but not residents of the district. The new customers will not get to vote or be taxed.
With an IGA, the developer controls the sewer service for Rooney Valley. For example, under the IGA that the board terminated on April 9, 2019, the previous board signed an agreement that set up Big Sky, run by one developer, as the new sanitation district, the new “master meter” for Rooney Valley.
Solterra is a current example. The developer paid for the sewer system, just like they would with inclusion (above). The residents repaid the developer for the system, just like they would with inclusion (above).
But instead of turning the system over to Green Mountain to own, run and maintain, the Solterra residents themselves own and operate their own sewer system. So, when a sewer pipe breaks, they are on their own. Its Solterra’s pipe, not Green Mountain’s pipe.
Now, Solterra has a separate contract to provide maintenance (cleaning in the pipes). And if a pipe breaks, they might work something out with Green Mountain. Solterra does not have sewer professionals on staff. But Green Mountain is under no obligation to do anything. Even the current agreement to take the sewage and send it to Denver expires in 2023.
Green Mountain doesn’t have any obligation to do anything because Solterra is not inside the district. They are a customer, but that customer agreement is to take the sewage. If anything goes wrong with the Solterra sewer system, thats Solterra’s problem.
Now, Green Mountain did design the Solterra system and monitor its construction. So there is potential liability if there were any defects in those areas. And, under the agreement to provide service, Green Mountain can step in if there is a spill or other violation of the state and federal regulations. But they don’t have to.
And, the Solterra residents don’t get to vote on district issues or for the board members. And they can’t be taxed by the district – their property does not fall inside the district boundaries.
There may be other options. Let the board know what you think.
The litigation has reached a point where the Rooney Valley developers and the district are talking about a settlement. Let the board know what you think.
1. Do you want to provide sewer service to new homes outside of the district boundary.
If you want to provide service outside your district boundary, there are at least two options.
2. Do you want to include all the new development areas inside your district boundary (“Inclusion”). Its like annexation. You move your boundary line.
3. Do you want to keep the new development areas outside your boundary but provide them with service through an intergovernmental agreement (IGA).
They will be customers but not residents of the district. The new customers will not get to vote or be taxed.
Here are the board’s email addresses:
adrienne.hanagan@greenmountainwater.org
jeffrey.baker@greenmountainwater.org
alex.plotkin@greenmountainwater.org
rhonda.peters@greenmountainwater.org
karen.morgan@greenmountainwater.org
Here is the zoom information for the meeting tomorrow:
“VIRTUAL MEETING: Jefferson County Public Health COVID Enforcement Division has provided direction for public, indoor meetings under CDPHE’s COVID Dial 3.0 (in effect as of March 24, 2021) – on April 9, 2021, due to worsening COVID metrics, JeffCo moved to a more restrictive Level Yellow. Therefore, the District will offer the means of participating in this meeting by a video/conference call. To attend, please go to
Or call +1 669 900 6833 and enter the Meeting ID.
Meeting ID: 993 9036 3271
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John Henderson
(Disclaimer – This blog is solely my work and does not attempt to represent the position of the Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District or any individual member of the District. The Board was not aware of and did not have an opportunity to review this blog. I have been asked on occasion to provide advice and counsel to the board on a pro/bono basis but this blog, again, is independent of any consulting role I may have provided in the past. All of the information contained in the blog is based upon public information or analysis independent of any consulting role I may have provided to the Board in the past. No information was obtained from the board or obtained in the context of providing service to the board.)
As my understanding is it is about sewer only. I think the best would be an option which would benefit maximum District residents and Green mountain water. But I am against providing out of district customers with water.
John, Thank you very much for providing a clear and objective summary of the options for this issue. Greatly appreciated!