Due to the Corona virus pandemic the 2020 Annual Meeting was cancelled. We expect health conditions to improve this year and will schedule the 2021 Annual Meeting for sometime in December 2021. Normal business, including elections will be on the agenda. We look forward to seeing everyone in December.
At
the 2019 Annual Meeting John Wickersham announced his retirement as
Commission Chairman for the Acequia de La Puebla. We would like to thank him for the
great job he did for multiple terms.
The new Commissioners elected
from left to right in this picture are Karen Martinez - Treasurer, Tim
Martinez - Chairman, former Mayordomo Alberto Duran, and Deborah Bennett
- Secretary.
The Acequia accepted the resignation of Mayordomo Alberto Duran early this year. The Commissioners went to work and were pleased to announce that Mark Herrera would take over as Mayordomo in time for the 2020 irrigation season.
Despite a wet winter we experienced a very dry summer. The Commissioners would like to thank Mark for doing an especially good job providing water in spite of the drought throughout the entire 2020 season. See more below in the Chairman's Report.
The commissioner’s met with the acequia attorney along with Mr. Virgil and Clyde Vigil and their attorney. We came to an agreement on how to dig out the arroyo and the Vigil’s paid all back dues and penalties. We are still working on having the Vigil’s meet the conditions of the agreement and dealing with a counterclaim the Vigil’s have filed.
In
January or February, Mr. Duran notified the commissioners that he
was no longer interested in being Mayordomo for the 2020 irrigation
season. The commissioners contacted several folks to identify
another Mayordomo and placed an ad in the Rio Grand Sun. After a few
weeks, the commissioners were excited to announce that Mark Herrera
was appointed the new Mayordomo. Mark helped Mr. Duran in prior
seasons and was the best qualified person the step in.
The
season started off with plenty of water and Mark did a great job
cleaning the ditch and working with the parciantes. With the lack of
rain during the year, the water level at the dam went down and water
was restricted to three days a week. Mr. Herrera worked hard and
many hours to insure the parciantes had water. The commissioner’s
decided to give Mr. Herrera a couple of bonuses due to the workload
Mark was working. Mark was given $200 for working with the
Parciantes and $200 for providing spring water in the ditch on the
days the dam was not open.