Sentinel Gap Water Association Balanced with $74,000 in the bank

SCHAWANA - The Sentinel Gap Water Association, which provides potable water to 57 accounts in this unincorporated community, will decide the evening of March 23 whether to retain President Alfredo Gutierrez.

Gutierrez, pastor of the town's only church, Iglesia de Dios, was voted into the top post three years ago. He introduced discipline to the system, balanced the books and grew the association's bank account from $24,000 to $74,000.

If a water line breaks or ages, if a pump goes down, or if the SGWA wants to expand its service area, there is money with which to do those things, Gutierrez said last week.

The SGWA membership meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Iglesia de Dios, which is the only suitable community meeting place. It will include a financial report from Tina Gutierrez, SGWA secretary-treasurer and wife of Alfredo.

There will also be an election for president. Gutierrez's term concludes in March. There is no quorum requirement, and those water users who attend may vote.

After the meeting, there will be a potluck dinner. Tina expects to see several Mexican meat dishes, rice, beans and a good supply of tortillas.

"There were about 20 people at last year's meeting," she said.

Alfredo Gutierrez will serve another 3-year term if he's elected, but he's not going to campaign for the volunteer position. The clean-up of some messy books and the collection of large outstanding water bills was not easy. Feelings were hurt.

Gutierrez insisted that system users pay backed up bills, start to pay monthly and pay late fees when they applied.

Tina, who still has a year to go on her term, made sure bills arrived on time.

"Everybody is up to date now," Alfredo said. "Only one person pays late, but that person pays."

There was controversy from the beginning of Alfredo's term. Stern in his approach, he accused a former administration of fraud worth thousands of dollars that were never paid or were paid but never recorded. He took the matter to the county sheriff.

Nothing came of that, Gutierrez said, but he worked the problem another way, making a claim with the SGWA's insurance company to cover the supposed fraud loss. He gave the insurance company the same evidence he'd given the county, and the insurance company delivered a check for nearly $13,000 a few weeks later.

"We signed papers saying we wouldn't bring any other claims," Gutierrez said. "They said it was their concern now and that they might pursue a civil action to recover the money. So now we're not concerned what happens. The association has the money it should have."

The SGWA is facing a new challenge. Gutierrez said the board was planning to put in new hookups but was stymied by the Department of Ecology. He said the SGWA water right was lowered to 200 gallons per minute from the original right of 1,000 gallons.

"We have two documents, one says a right of 1,000 and one says a right of 200," Gutierrez said. "We have to try get this straightened out."

The way things stand now, Gutierrez said, any property holder of two adjoining lots or more can get a well permit to serve those lots, but the SGWA can't move on expanding its service area.

"We have lots with SGWA service and lots with wells interspersed among each other," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez would like to see the community grow. That could best be done with a bigger SGWA system. It would likely need a bigger reservoir than the existing one. That would mean financing.

One reason Gutierrez wanted to get the accounting in order was so that the community could demonstrate to funding agencies that it could repay loans made for expansion. It's in that position now, but there is no water with which to expand.

"We have more than 100 lots that can't receive water," Gutierrez said. "That means property owners can't build or sell. We can't grow."