Buckman Direct Diversion is managed under a Joint Powers of Agreement between the City and County of Santa Fe, and manages the water rights portfolios for the City, County and the Las Campanas neighboring community that are diverted out of the Rio Grande.  The Buckman Direct Diversion Board is made up of 2 City of Santa Fe Councilors, 2 Santa Fe County Commissioners, an At Large Citizen member and an Alternate Citizen member, plus 2 representatives from the Las Campanas Community.

Under the Joint Powers Agreement for the BDD Project the City of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County, agreed upon in March 2005, the BDD Project Board is responsible for:

  • Diverting, treating, transmitting and delivering surface water by means of the BDD Project to the City and County and Independent Water Systems in accordance with respective diversion allocations and delivery demands;
  • Managing the Owners’ Consultant Contract and supervising the performance of the Owners’ Consultant;
  • Entering into the Design Build Contract and supervising performance of the Design Build Contractor;
  • Entering into the Project Management and Fiscal Services Contract and supervising the performance of the Project Manager; and
  • Entering into the Facility Operations and Procedures Agreement with Las Campanas.

The BDD Project Board’s authority and duties do not encompass:

  • The distribution of water to customers;
  • The assessment or collection of water charges;
  • The regulation of water use by customers or the ownership;
  • Acquisition or permitting of use of water rights or contract rights.

For more information about the BDD Board, visit the Intergovernmental Agreements section.

 

Board Members

(Edits in progress)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anna Hamilton

  • BDD Board Chairperson – 2023
  • BDD Board Vice Chair – 2022
  • BDD Board Member – March 2020
  • BDD Board Chairperson – March 2017
  • Board of County Commisioners, District 4
  • Chair, City of Santa Fe Finance Committee
  • Email:  athamilton@santafecountynm.gov
  • Phone:  505-986-6319
  • Anna has a biology degree from John Hopkins University, Masters in Aquatic Biology and received her PhD in Aquatic Ecology from UNM.  She has a passion for learning about the environmental impact and climate change on rivers, estuaries and wetlands. She has served as the President of the Greater Glorieta Mutual Domestic Water Consumer’s Association to maintain reliable delivery of water to that area. She coordinated funding and infrastructure upgrades for the rural consumers of Santa Fe County in Glorieta. Dr. Hamilton serves on the Santa Fe County’s Water Policy Advisory Board to continue to keep apprised of the changing water policies for Santa Fe County. Dr. Hamilton is also a certified wildland volunteer firefighter for the SFC Glorieta Pass Fire & Rescue district.
  • Besides sitting on the BDD Board as an active member, Dr. Hamilton sits on the SF Solid Waste Management Authority, SF County Investment Committee, North Central Economic Development District Committee and the SF County Capital Improvement Advisory Committee

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Romero-Wirth

  • BDD Board Vice Chairperson – 2023
  • BDD Board Chairperson – 2022
  • BDD Board Vice Chair – 2021
  • BDD Board – January – 2020
  • City Council, District 2
  • Email: cromero-wirth@santafenm.gov
  • Phone:  (505) 955-6815
  • Public Policy, MA from Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
  • UNM Law Degree, admitted to the New Mexico Bar in 1998
  • Political Science, BS, Colorado College
  • Committees: 
  • Carol has served on non-profit boards including the Santa Fe Community Foundation, Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe, the Wood Gormley Elementary School PTC, Breakthrough Santa Fe, Santa Fe Prep School and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.
  • Over the last thirty years Carol’s work has focused in public policy, government and politics; served as a commissioner on the City Charter Review Commission, and was the first associate director at Think New Mexico.  She has also worked as a public policy consultant on water, environment and sustainability projects, drafted bills for the New Mexico Legislature and staffed the Legislative Council Services.
  • Carol’s New Mexico roots go back generations from Mora, New Mexico.  Carol and her husband, Peter, raised two children in Santa Fe.

 

Councilwoman Renee Villarreal

Renee Villarreal

In a four-way candidate race for an open seat, Renee Villarreal was elected to the City Council in March 2016.  She is a native of Santa Fe and multi-generational New Mexican, and is deeply committed to community work centered on equity, social and gender justice, and self-determination. She has a Master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning from the University of New Mexico, and worked as a Community Planner for Santa Fe County over seven years, advocating for traditional and indigenous land-based communities. Renee also has extensive experience working in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, serving in a program director capacity for over seven years, and has a strong sense of statewide and municipal issues affecting underserved and marginalized communities. Currently she works as the Program Co-Director for NewMexicoWomen.Org, the only program and fund in New Mexico that works to advance opportunities for women and girls statewide.

Since elected, Renee has sponsored or co-sponsored policy measures and worked on community issues with an eye towards social equity, inclusivity, government transparency, and fiscal accountability.  Since 2016, Renee has served on the Finance Committee, Public Works/Land Use Committee, Public Utilities Committee, Solid Waste Management Agency Board, the Mayor’s Youth Advisory Board, and is chairwoman for the Community Development Commission.

 

 


 

 

 

 

Anna Hansen

  • BDD Board Chair – March 2021
  • BDD Board Vice Chair – March 2020
  • BDD Board Member – March 2017
  • Board of County Commissioners, District 2, Vice Chair
  • Email:  ahansen@santafecountynm.gov
  • Phone:  505-986-6263
  • Santa Fe River Commission
  • Council on International Relations
  • Conservation Voters of New Mexico
  • Sierra Club Member
  • Santa Fe Watershed Association
  • Commissioner Hansen was elected to the Santa Fe Board of County Commissioners in November 2016.  She has served as a Commissioner on the Parks and Open Space Advisory Commission from 2007-2015.  Anna served as board member and Chair for the New Mexico Board of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine for 3 years.  In addition, she served as Chair and member of Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) from 1999 to 2004.
  • Ms. Hansen established Dakini Design & Photography LLC in 1984.  She worked as Director Community Building and Development for the sustainable residential area of Oshara Village from 20014 to 2010. In 2009, she helped establish Green Fire Times as the art director.

 

Amanda Chavez

Councilor Chavez is a mother, educator, community servant, and a mental health advocate. She was born and raised on the south side of Santa Fe by both of her parents, Eliseo and Tomasita Chavez who are retired from the New Mexico state government. Councilor Chavez attended Sweeney Elementary School and Turquoise Trail Elementary School, Capshaw Middle School and graduated from Santa Fe High School in 2003. After high school, she moved to Albuquerque to attend the University of New Mexico. In 2007 she earned a double Bachelor’s in Special Education K-12 and General Education K-8 with a minor in mathematics. Councilor Chavez taught middle school in Albuquerque and was immediately drawn to the population of students that needed her most, the children with so much potential but so many barriers and challenges, inspired her to do more and to make a difference on a larger scale. In 2013 she began a Master’s Program at Grand Canyon University, and in 2015 earned a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership.

In 2015 she moved back home to Santa Fe and taught special education at Amy Biehl Elementary School for two years, then received an opportunity to become assistant principal at César Chávez Elementary School. After a year as assistant principal, she moved into the principalship at César Chávez Elementary School where she oversaw the school’s recent transition to a community school. This community school work allowed her to truly see the needs of Santa Fe, and to meet all of the community partners and individuals trying to address these needs. She was able to not only witness but experience the power of community uniting to address a common cause, and the impact it can have. This work is what motivated her to run for City Council as she wanted to bring her experience of united community efforts to the city leadership.

Councilor Chavez is also currently the Special Education Director at Santa Fe Public Schools. Her heart in both roles continues to be focused on making a difference for our youth.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hank Hughes 

Hank Hughes is the Executive Director of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness based in Santa Fe, NM since 2001. The Coalition has a staff of 20 who help agencies develop housing for people experiencing homelessness, operate a coordinated entry system and manage the New Mexico
Homeless Management Information System. Prior to his work at the Coalition, Hughes was the Executive Director of St. Elizabeth Shelter in Santa Fe. He started out as a Water Resources Specialist at the Cornell Center for Environmental Research and he has a Master of Engineering in environmental systems engineering from Cornell University.

Hank Hughes and his wife Bonney moved to Santa Fe in 1986 when she took a job at the New Mexico Environment Department. They raised two sons in Santa Fe, Chris and Nicky.

Hank joined Santa Fe Search and Rescue in 1995 because it offered an opportunity to combine his love of hiking with his love of helping people. Since then he has gone on many missions to find those who are lost or rescue those who are injured in the wilderness. He has served as the group’s president and vice president.

 

 

JC Helms 2016-002

 

 

 

JC Helms, PhD

  • Citizen At-Large BDD Board Member – March 2016
  • SF County Water Policy Advisory Committee
  • Email: westernservices@msn.com
  • President, New Mexico Companies, LLC
  • Harvard College, BA
  • Eberhard-Karls Universitaet-Germany, Fulbright Scholar
  • Harvard University, PhD
  • Mr. Helms grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has lived the past 27 years in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  He has a great interest in water issues for the Santa Fe community.
  • He currently runs his own business New Mexico Companies, which offers both residential and commercial construction, in addition to building affordable housing options for the Santa Fe Community.  He has 43 years of construction and development industries experience, mainly in the Southwest, but has traveled worldwide with contract development ventures for corporations such as Western Services Construction, Hunt Building Corporation, Gerald D. Hines Interests, General Electric, Litton Industries, Rockwell International, Development Corporation, Knight, Frank, Rutley of London and Linbeck Construction of Houston and Iran, along with many other companies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Ives

  • Citizen At-Large Alternate BDD Board Member – March 2020
  • BDD Board Chairperson
  • BDD City Councilor

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Egelhoff

  • BDD Board Member – Las Campanas Representative – January 2017
  • Email: tegelhoff@clublc.com
  • Director of Agronomy at Las Campanas
  • Rutgers University, Graduate Professional Golf Turf Grass Management Program
  • Ohio Air National Guard Unit
  • US Army Reserve
  • Tom has a passion and particular interests in the environment, water quality and conservation, and birding sanctuaries.
  • Tom is a native of Columbus, Ohio. He graduated from Rutgers University in the Professional Turf Grass Management Program after deployment to Desert Storm with the Ohio Air National Guard. Tom has been a Golf Course Superintendent at the Club at Las Campanas since 2002. Under Tom’s direction, he has focused on improving turf quality, and improving irrigation water distributions systems at the Club at Las Campanas. As a water conservation advocate, Tom has successfully managed over 150 acre feet of conserved yearly water usage at the Las Campanas golf course.
  • He has been involved with the BDD and water allocation as it pertains to the Club during the planning and construction phases of BDD since 2008.  Tom continues to work on a variety of water and habit conservation measures at the Club, and recently attained Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary certification at the Club at Las Campanas.

 

 

Jim Lightfoot

  • BDD Board Member – Las Campanas Representative – June 2020