STATE WATER COMMISSION TO MEET NEXT WEEK, ADDRESS ISSUE RAISED BY AG'S OFFICE

Nowatzki, Mike to Mike 2:24 PM

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Contact: Mike Nowatzki, 701.328.2424; Kelly Ivahnenko, 701.328.2937

Newly appointed State Water Commission to meet next week, address issue
raised by a orney generals oce

BISMARCK, N.D. (Aug. 16, 2017) Newly appointed members of the State Water Commission will meet for the rst
me next week and are expected to address an issue raised about the appointment process and recent ac on to help
drought-stricken ranchers.

Gov. Doug Burgum, who chairs the commission, appointed seven new members last Thursday. He expressed his
gra tude to the seven outgoing members for their more than 100 years of combined service on the nine-member
commission.

The following day, Burgum, State Engineer Garland Erbele and Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, who serves as
an ex-ocio member of the commission, received a memo from an assistant a orney general regarding the
appointment process.

Under state law, all seven appointed members of the State Water Commission are considered to have resigned
eec ve Jan. 1 of the rst year of each four-year term of the governor. Burgum accepted the members statutorily
triggered resigna ons on June 22.

To maintain con nuity on the board, per state law Burgum reappointed three members to con nue serving un l the
governors new appointments had been named and qualied.

The assistant a orney general asserts that because the terms of the reappointed members expired on June 30, the
commissions July 20 special mee ng lacked a quorum, and therefore the $500,000 approved for the livestock water
supply program on a 5-0 vote during that mee ng wasnt properly approved.

The governors general counsel, Leslie Bakken Oliver, said the appointment process was done carefully and is consistent
with the requirements set forth in North Dakota law, which states, in all cases the members of boards and
commissions shall con nue to serve un l their successors have been named and qualied. She noted the requirement
that members remain in place beyond their appointed term, un l a successor has been named and qualied, is
commonplace under state law.

To move past their diering interpreta ons of the law, Oliver has suggested following the assistant a orney generals
recommenda on that ac ons taken during the July 20 mee ng be ra ed by the commission at its Aug. 23 mee ng.
The $500,000 has not yet been disbursed through the livestock water supply program, which provides eligible livestock
producers with 50 percent cost-share assistance of up to $3,500 per project, with a maximum of three projects per
applicant.

The seven new commission members are Jason Zimmerman of Minot, Mark Owan of Williston, Leander Russ
McDonald of Bismarck, Richard Johnson of Devils Lake, Ka e Andersen of Jamestown, Michael Anderson of Hillsboro
and Ma hew Pedersen of Valley City.

The State Water Commission has the authority to inves gate, plan, construct and develop water-related projects, and
serves as a mechanism to nancially support those eorts throughout North Dakota. The State Engineer serves as the
commissions execu ve ocer, overseeing the sta who carry out the commissions work.

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