A letter detailing Flathead County’s priorities as negotiations continue over a tribal water compact will be sent to Gov. Steve Bullock.

County commissioners Gary Krueger and Cal Scott on Thursday voted in support of the letter, while Commissioner Pam Holmquist voted against it after trying unsuccessfully to add language stating Flathead County doesn’t support the compact as it’s currently written.

Krueger said he drafted the letter to the governor as a time-sensitive document that makes Flathead County’s concerns known at a state level before the Legislature tackles the water compact issue in January. The legislative Water Policy Interim Committee meets again next week, so time is of the essence, he said.

“It’s not meant to be an endorse or non-endorse [document],” Krueger said about the letter. “But it asks the question, does it protect our water?”

He further commented that Flathead County officials can’t “stand here with our mouths shut” while negotiations between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission are at a crucial stage. Two more negotiating sessions are scheduled in the coming weeks — one in Missoula and one in Polson.

Earlier this week the commissioners were scheduled to hold a two-hour discussion and public-comment session about the compact, but Holmquist pulled it off the agenda because she wanted to schedule the meeting in a bigger facility. That meeting has not yet been rescheduled, but likely will be held later in November.

Krueger said he and Scott opted to proceed with taking action on the letter this week specifically because of the time element.

The letter outlines five key points for consideration by compact negotiators, noting Flathead’s residential, commercial and municipal water rights should be recognized and protected from call in the future.

A couple of citizens who attended Thursday’s commissioner proceedings said they are worried the letter will be misconstrued as support for the compact. Audience members had only 15 minutes during a scheduled public-comment session to make their case, and more than a dozen people stepped up to the podium for brief remarks.

Clarice Ryan said she was very concerned the letter doesn’t represent Flathead’s electorate.

“Something like this would be an endorsement” of a water compact, Ryan maintained.

State Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, said the water compact is his top priority as a legislator, and after reading the voluminous compact he believes it still needs work.

“This letter is very general and could be interpreted as supporting the compact,” Jackson said.

Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, one of the area’s largest irrigators, said he believes the letter is both timely and appropriate.

“[The letter] takes a complicated issue and made it simple: Will there be water for us in the future?” Tutvedt said.

Alan Ruby said he fully supports the letter to the governor, and after 12 1/2 years of study over the compact, “this fear-mongering is unwarranted,” he said.

Bruce Young reiterated Ruby’s comment, saying “enough of the fear-mongering and obstruction.

“Fourteen other compacts have been resolved in this state,” Young said. “This compact is good for the valley and our future.”

Rick Breckenridge pointed to problems in Oregon’s upper Klamath Basin, where ranchers and the tribes are pitted against each other for a limited amount of water.

Debbie Biolo also wondered if the proposed water compact for Northwest Montana sets up this area for the same kinds of water fights going on in Klamath Falls.

“It’s not just giving up our water rights,” Biolo said. “We’re risking our constitutional protections.”

During discussion among the commissioners, Holmquist suggested several changes to the letter that would make it a document she could support. While none of her amendments were accepted, one in particular raised eyebrows when she asked that a portion of a sentence be removed that stated negotiations should continue “free of racism, partisan politics and with a desire to avoid protracted litigation.”

Krueger responded, saying “I don’t think we can take out lines” regarding racism.

When Krueger and Scott declined to support Holmquist’s amendment that Flathead County doesn’t support the compact as written,

Holmquist pointed out that Scott earlier had stated that very opinion.

Scott said a letter supporting a compact process that was approved by him and Krueger in January has been “used by all sides for [political] banter.

“I’m not going to cater to any further perceptions,” Scott said.

Krueger urged

Holmquist to support the letter to the governor as a show of solidarity for Flathead County, but she voted against it.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.