So welcome, thanks Brent.
Dan mentioned that we have these stakeholder meetings in D.C., three or four time a year maybe mainly around budget time and so forth,
But we haven’t had a chance to come out and meet with…, we meet with your representatives in D.C.
usually you all can’t make it out there but it’s good to get out west as always kind of back to our roots.
So it’s good to see some familiar faces for me, the stakeholders we’ve met over the last year and a half that I’ve been back in D.C.
in particular,
Some of you I’ve meet in a series of 15 minute meetings in NWRA,
and you'll forgive me if I don’t have all of your family history from those meetings.
I was whining that I did 32 of them last year until I saw that Estevan gets to do 50 this year.
That’s the good news for me, the bad news is I think I have to sit with him while he's doing 50 and I actually have to take notes this year.
Never get off the hook. We’re going to be covering a few Reclamation-wide topics and then work our way down.
Brent and some of his management staff here will be doing regional-specific topics as we work our way through the agenda
and leave some time for Q&A at the end. I wanted to touch on a few changes that are going on in D.C.
As you all know, Mike Connor moved on about seven-eight months ago from our Commissioner to the Deputy Secretary
position which which opened up the Commissioner of Reclamation position.
Estevan was nominated shortly thereafter and has gone through the hearing and is at this point not yet got a floor vote.
We're hopeful that in the lame-duck session he will get that, but at this point, leadership wanted to get him in the building and get moving,
so I'll let Estevan explain, the Vacancy Reform Act? Was that the, .. I think that is the name of the law that I had never heard of before,
but his official title is Principal Deputy Commissioner of Reclamation, highest ranking official within Reclamation,
so he has all the authorities he needs to run the organization. You also may have heard that Anne Castle moved on recently.
out of the Assistant Secretary, Water and Science.
Jennifer Gimbel, who many of you know had been working for Reclamation as one of our Deputy Commissioners,
she has moved into Anne’s position as Assistant Secretary, and she also is not yet confirmed.
so her official title is also Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. So her business cards get large.
And then, of course, closer to home, Larry Walkoviak. We introduced Brent as the acting Regional Director.
Larry left us a little quicker than we expected. We hope to see him; some of us hope to see him on this trip.
I think his health is rebounding. So all good thoughts out to Larry. I’m sure you all hopefully will get a chance to see him yourselves here.
I think I overheard maybe later this fall Brent that Larry's going to try to get together with folks.
With that, I will go ahead and introduce our Principal Deputy Commissioner, Estevan López.
I was going to give introductory remarks, but I saw his talking points and I think he knows them better than I do, so I will let him cover that.
I will say that my wife took his wife around touring D.C. last week and ended at a winery,
which this time cost Estevan money and not me. I think Suzanne paid, but the one think he and I have in common is we both married well,
so by all accounts, things are great on the home front for Estevan.
I know exactly what it is like leaving the family and going back to D.C.
It’s a heavy lift, so we do appreciate you stepping up and really look forward to working for you.
So with that, I will turn it over to the Principal Deputy Commissioner López.