HomeMy WebLinkAbout20043433.tiff rra, Applegate
Group, Inc.
lat; MI1,0: 25
November 23, 2004
REs : "_ 7 1-D
Mr. Lee Morrison
Weld County Attorney's Office
915 Tenth Street
Greeley, Colorado 80632
RE: Termination of Applegate Group Water Rights Services
Dear Lee:
I received your letter dated November 10, 2004 regarding your desire to switch services to a
recently departed employee Steve Nguyen. The timing of your letter to us terminating our
services leads me to believe that Mr. Nguyen was talking to you about leaving the company and
starting his own water rights services while he was employed by my company. I do not know
the content of any conversations that he may have had with you, but if you were led to believe
that we do not have the capability or desire to work with you, this was false. Our company will
respect your decision, but I do want to express our concern and disappointment that this decision
was made without any attempt on your part to see if we had the ability or desire to continue
providing those services that we have for the past 14 years.
My company has been working with Weld County since about 1990 on water rights issues, long
before Mr. Nguyen was even out of college. I think we have always been responsive and
provided quality work. You indicated that your decision was not a negative reflection on our
firm and your decision to continue to work with us on the engineering of the Hokestra Pit liner is
appreciated.
I would ask you to reconsider this decision based on the following:
1. Applegate Group has been in business for almost 20 years, our focus is on water
resources and we have a team of water engineers of which 3 are qualified for
testimony in Division I water court. We still have plenty of institutional knowledge
on your water rights portfolio and can provide highly competent services. We have
also been doing GIS work for Weld County on your water rights and all of that
expertise remains in our company.
2. We have senior level staff with water rights expertise on the South Platte basin that
cannot be matched by anyone. If you combine the total expertise in my office, we
have 85 years of water resources planning and water rights services under our belts.
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1499 W120th Aver 200 (303)452-6611 • Fax(303)452-2759
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2004-3433
Mr.Lee Morrison
Weld County
November 23, 2004
Page 2 of 2
I would like to talk with you directly regarding your decision to go with Mr. Nguyen. I have
concerns about the timing of your decision and your meetings with him immediately prior to his
separation from our organization.
As far as the work that we are doing now on Hokestra, the water rights component is currently
being handled by our staff with no need of services from Mr. Nguyen. Richard Raines of our
office has worked on the water rights for Hokestra in the past and is very familiar with them.
In the past, our water rights services contract was approved by the Weld County Commissioners.
I do not know if you intend to make this change in services administratively or if it will be
handled as it was in the past. Again, I would urge you to reconsider your decision. I would also
request the opportunity to discuss this issue with the Commissioners as it is important to me that
there is no question in anyone's mind about our capabilities.
Cordially,
Applegate Group, Inc.
Mike Applegate, PE, CCE >e,
1 .:
President C. MICHAEL Ai'FLECATE
cc; Files
Rob Masden, Chairman, Weld County Commissioners Office
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