Trustees to approve amendment memorializing co-ownership of irrigation water shares in prior land purchase

District staff presented a consent-calendar amendment to a previous real-estate purchase contract that clarifies water-share co-ownership and related restrictions.

Heidi Alder told trustees the district purchased land from several families and, as part of that transaction, acquired water shares from Hooper Irrigation. In agreements with Mr. Miles (executor for an estate), staff had allowed him co-ownership of 10 water shares so he could remain on the irrigation board; that arrangement had not been memorialized in writing.

Alder said the amendment on the consent calendar formally documents the co-ownership, forbids Mr. Miles from selling or encumbering the shares or watershed property without written district permission, and provides that the shares revert to district ownership upon his death. She stressed there was no new exchange of money and that this action merely formalizes what both parties had understood to be in effect.

Board members asked clarifying questions about whether the property had been declared surplus (the bill that would trigger buyer-choice rules applies once property is declared surplus) and confirmed the amendment is not creating a new transaction but memorializing an existing arrangement. The item was presented for the consent agenda and staff said they would be available in the board meeting to answer further questions.