San Juan County Commission discusses drought, water issues

by David Boyle
News Director
Members of the San Juan County Commission heard a report on Utah Navajo Water Settlement, approved an emergency drought declaration and approved a resolution clarifying the county’s form of government at their April 7 meeting.
Members of the Rural Utah Infrastructure Coalition, formerly named the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, approved a Jones & DeMille Engineering study to possibly expand water services to homes that currently haul water.
The settlement agreement between the federal government, State of Utah and Navajo Nation was finalized in 2022. The agreement recognizes the tribe’s reserve right of 81,500 acre-feet of water annually for the Navajo Nation within Utah and also set aside over $220 million for water infrastructure projects.
Preparations have been underway to get ready for potential projects. The presentation at the commission meeting included potential projects for water infrastructure on the Utah portion of the Navajo Nation.
The presentation received some feedback from tribal leaders, including Dr. Carma Claw, President of the Aneth Chapter. Claw urged the county and coalition to move toward co-planning rather than consultation.
Claw emphasized that chapters are local governing political entities representing the people involved in the settlement.
Commissioner Jamie Harvey echoed these concerns, stressing that the state and county must ensure that water settlement funds stay in Utah to benefit the seven Utah chapters rather than being absorbed by the central Navajo Nation government in Window Rock.
“We want to make sure that Utah does the due diligence to make sure that these settlement funds stay in Utah and are expended on Utah,” said Harvey.
Both the Navajo Utah Commission and Navajo Trust Fund were noted as organizations that could be helpful.
Daniel Hawley, and Brian Barton of Jones & DeMille agreed that public input is the way forward.
“I think those next steps are to start having those discussions and try to get this in the hands of the people that need to have it in their hands so we can see that these projects actually happen to benefit those communities.”
Members of the commission also approved an emergency drought declaration for 2026.
County Emergency Manager Tammy Gallegos explained that the declaration is necessary to access federal funds for farmers and ranchers through the US Department of Agriculture.
With an anticipated crisis for local agriculture due to poor water outlook, the declaration was approved.
Members of the San Juan County Commission approved a resolution intended to clarify the county form of government. 
County Attorney Jens Neilson presented the document, described as a necessary step to align county practices with Utah statutes. The update clarifies that county commissioners hold both legislative and executive powers. 
Despite that, Neilson said a key part of the resolution is not meant to alter statutory duties, autonomy or responsibilities of other elected county officers.
“In consultation with our risk managers who felt like this agreement needed to be adopted because some of our practices don’t really fall within the meaning or operation of the county commission form of government.”
With the resolution, an illustrative chart shows county departments with commission supervision.
Commissioner Silvia Stubbs raised concerns that the new structure strips power from the county administrator and puts additional oversight on the part-time commissioners.
Commissioner Stubbs said, “Commissioner Harvey has a full-time job, he lives far away, and he’s in charge of the road department, public health and the landfill, some of the three biggest departments in the county.”
Attorney Nelson countered that the County Administrator remains an “at-will” employee whose duties are determined by the commission, and that the resolution was vital for liability reasons. 
“You can decide how much power or how many things you want to assign to him.
“Mack’s an invaluable part of this county. He has the institutional knowledge that nobody has (...) so I don’t see that any of that is going to change and Mack’s duties from here on out are going to somehow be diminished or anything like that.
“This is to outline that the three county commissioners are running in one county. They have the legislative and the executive authority and how much or how little administrative authority they want to give to Mack is up to you guys.”
Members of the commission approved the resolution by a vote of 2-1, with Commissioner Stubbs opposed.
Members of the commission also renewed contracts related to public health and approved a letter to the forest service commenting on a proposed rule for locatable minerals.
While the county public lands coordination office is in favor of the efforts, they did note some concerns, including the rule change’s possibility to increase burdens on small mining operations to navigate the new rules, including shifting Endangered Species Act compliance to operators.
The letter also notes that workforce reductions within the Forest Service may make the agency’s proposed timeline for processing applications efficiently difficult and recommended a 60-day time limit; the letter also recommended the Forest Service align its regulations with the Bureau of Land Management for consistency for miners working across federal lands.