James C. McGrady
City Utility Director

Information provided by the City of Castle Pines North

I was recently hired by the City of Castle Pines North (CPN) to serve as their Utility Director. After spending over five years with the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District as their General Manager, I was thrilled to have an opportunity to continue to serve the people of CPN in such an important and influential role. As many of you know I have a passion for utilities and the pursuit of renewable water.

During my five plus years with the Castle Pines North Metropolitan District, our community became one of the leaders in the South Metro Region as it relates to renewable water. Examples of those accomplishments during my years of service to the Castle Pines North community include the following:

The completion of one of the South Metro • Region’s first Integrated Water Supply Plans. This plan examined the expected longevity of Castle Pines North’s Denver Basin Wells and set a course for the transition from Denver Basin Wells to a renewable water supply.

In accordance with the Integrated Water Resource Plan, over 924 acre feet of renewable water was acquired in both the Upper and Lower Platte River Drainage Basin.

The acquisition of 1,500 acre feet of storage • in the soon to be completed Reuter Hess Reservoir.

Participation in the Chatfield Reservoir Reallocation Project that entitles Castle Pines North to approximately 884 acre feet of storage space in Chatfield once the Environmental Impact Study has been completed, and a Record of Decision is issued by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The negotiation of an agreement with • Centennial Water and Sanitation District for the installation of a 24” pipeline that links the two entities together and allows for the Castle Pines North community to receive renewable water by 2011.

Filed several key water court applications that will generate additional renewable water supply for the Castle Pines North community, thereby strengthening the long term municipal water supply for City residents.

Now that the City Council has directed me to complete the community’s renewable water plan that is needed for our community to prosper, I find myself having to contend with an issue that has proven to be quite divisive within the community. That issue of course has to do with whether the Castle Pines North Metro District should be dissolved and services transferred to the City of Castle Pines North, or whether there should be a cooperative integration of services between the two entities.

Having been involved first hand in this debate for the past couple of years I have come to the same conclusion long held by the City: that a complete dissolution of the District is not in the best interest of the community. By the same token I strongly believe having a Metropolitan District that is completely autonomous and independent of the City does not lend itself to efficient governance.

Given this dilemma, over the past month I have been working toward crafting a thoughtful plan for integrating the services provided by the City and the Metro District. The integration plan does not eliminate the Metro District, but rather seeks to capitalize on the existing strengths of the Metro District while giving the Utility Director control over daily operations, management functions, and an important role in continuing to guide long range utility capital improvement planning and renewable water acquisition – functions that are critical to the overall prosperity of the Castle Pines North community.

Over the next few weeks representatives of your City and the Metropolitan District will be working on outlining a plan to integrate services. The purpose of these discussions will be to identify significant cost savings to you the taxpayers and ratepayers of Castle Pines North, and also to discuss arrangements related to finalizing a streamlined service-delivery model. I truly believe that the City and Metro District can work together toward integrating services.