HOLDREGE, Neb. – The Central Nebraska Public Power & Irrigation Board of Directors were provided an update on the General Manager search process at their August board meeting on Monday in Holdrege.
Board President Kyle Shepherd told the board the hiring committee met last week with the Woods Aitken Law firm to go over the list of candidates. A total of 99 applications were received.
The hiring committee has reduced that list to 11 candidates. The Committee will continue to narrow the finalists to four.
During the week of September 21st, the hiring committee is scheduled to conduct in-person interviews with the finalists and aims to select a candidate to present to the full board for the approval during the Board Working Meeting scheduled for Sept. 25.
Also at Monday’s meeting:
- Irrigation and Water Services Manager Scott Dicke reported that water was being pumped into Elwood Reservoir starting on August 1 in an effort to capture extra water released for irrigation from Lake McConaughy following the recent unexpected rain events. By pumping into Elwood Reservoir, the District can store the water now and release it later this month for irrigation through the E-65 canal. He thanked the irrigation staff for working during the middle of the night to get water moving after midnight on Aug. 1 to lower electricity costs. Around 675 acre/feet of water had already been pumped into the reservoir. He reminded the board that with the proposed new E-65 Siphon project, the water and likely more could have been moved into the reservoir more quickly and without pumping costs.
- The board approved an agreement with the Paxton-Hershey Water Company and Suburban Irrigation District that allows Paxton-Hershey to use Suburban’s unused amount of Glendo Storage Water that is stored in Lake McConaughy for the 2026 irrigation season. Suburban had an allotment of 1,200 acre/feet and Paxton-Hershey is now allowed to use the remaining water that has not been used of that allotment.
- Electrical Project Operations Manager Eric Hixson reported to the board that hydro production at Kingsley Dam may be forced to shut down due to the lack of oxygen being put into Lake Ogallala. In order to meet Nebraska water regulations, oxygen levels are measured and certain standards must be met. Due to the lower water level and higher water temperatures, the standards become very difficult to achieve. The District is working with the Nebraska Department of Water, Energy and Environment to find possible solutions. Hydro production was also shut down in 2007 when water levels reached lower elevations.
- Hydraulic Operations Manager Cory Steinke reported that Lake McConaughy’s elevation was at 3,207 feet (479,500 acre/feet) or 27.5 percent of capacity. The lake is dropping at a rate of .3 per day. Inflows are around 225 cubic feet per second (cfs) which is down from last week but higher that the average of 150 for majority of summer. Outflows are 2,300 cfs which is down from last week due to rain events but could pick up again this week due to irrigation demands. Steinke added that only 75cfs was being measured on the South Platte River at North Platte to highlight the lack of water in that basin.