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01/09/2001 - Minutes TIGARD WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORKSHOP Tuesday, January 9, 2001 Members Present Beverly Froude, Gretchen Buchner, David Strauss, Norm Penner and George Rhine Staff Present: Mike Miller and Twila Willson Visitors Present: Thomas Pearson, Ann Hartman and Norm Hartman 1. Call to Order The workshop meeting of the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners was - called to order by Commissioner David Strauss at 7:07 p.m. 2. Roll Call and introductions Commissioner David Strauss introduced himself and each of the members in turn introduced themselves. Commissioner Strauss introduced Twila Wilson as the Secretary to the Board and Mike Miller as the staff representative and Utilities Manager*from the City of Tigard. Letters were sent to the citizens within the Tigard Water District providing information and requesting responses tothe survey as to how well informed they felt they were. One of the questions also asked for willing people to serve on an advisory panel Twenty-three people responded affirmatively to that question, three of which were at the meeting that night. Members of the Board would be presenting a small portion of the meeting to highlight a few things. The remainder of the evening would be for questions and comments. 3. History of the Tigard Water District— Beverly Froude • A brief summary was presented on the history of the Tigard Water District. The area used to be known as the Tigard Water District but is now known as the Tigard Water Service District. The old Tigard Water District was a private operation until 1938 when it became a Special Utility District called the Tigard Water District. The City of Tigard was not incorporated until 1961. The Tigard Water Service District now includes the City of Tigard (including a small portion of Metzger), King City, Durham and the Unincorporated area. The District is made up of 13 reservoirs in seven locations. There are four wells and eight- ) ight) TWD Workshop Minutes - 1- January 9,2001 pump stations. The reservoirs have a storage capacity of 24.5 mg of water storage. There is one parcel of land (150th near Woodhue) still to be built on_ -t The water supply comes from five different areas. -► City of Portland supplies 58% -► Tualatin Valley Water District supplies 14.5% -► Our four wells provide 14%of our water Lake Oswego supplies 11.4% Joint Water Commission(consisting of Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Beaverton, TVWD) supplies 1.5% This provides us with an interesting mix of possibilities. The Unincorporated area has 3,051 connections, with the amount increasing • daily due to development. The water charge to customers is currently$1.35 per hundred cubic feet for the basic rate. The Bull Mountain area has an additional booster charge of$3.22 and a customer charge of$3.66. In April there will be another increase of about 7%. The Tigard Water District remained a Special Service District until 1993. The City of Tigard decided they wanted to be a water purveyor in 1990 and look for their own source of water_ An Intergovernmental Water Agreement was drawn up on July 1, 1993, which has changed the entire structure of the Water District. The Intergovernmental Water Agreement is between the City of Tigard, the Tigard Water District(which is the Unincorporated area), King City and Durham. 4. Information on How the Intergovernmental Water Board Operates- Norm Penner An Intergovernmental Agreement was drawn up between four parties and signed in 1993. The result was to place the City of Tigard in charge of the operation of the water system. Part of the agreement was that Tigard was to establish an Intergovernmental Water Board. The IWB was to consist of five members. Tigard, King City, Durham, and the Unincorporated area were to each appoint one member to the IWB. The Board meets once a month. The representatives from Tigard, King City and Durham are all elected members of their respective City Councils and deal with many other issues besides water. The Tigard Water Board members on the other hand,are elected by their constituency to sit on the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners and deal with water issues only. To bring the number up to five members on the Board, there is also one Member- At-Large who is elected by all the other members of the IWB. The function of the IWB is to advise the Tigard City Council on water matters. They do not have any specific authority other than the following: i TWD Workshop Minutes -2- January 9,2001 • To review such things as rate structures • To consider and prepare plans-for and make recommendations to the City Council for long range operation and management programs • To investigate and study means of affecting economies and operation and management • To review and make recommendations to the budget committee and Council on all budget requests for operations and maintenance of the water system • To study and consider ways and means of improving the water system and services which it provides • To study and make recommendations on Tigard's program for providing insurance or system assets and operations • To make a continuing review of any and all rules and regulations regarding the water system which may be adopted by the Council • To periodically make recommendations for additions or amendments to such rules and regulations • To work with other agencies and jurisdictions in cooperative efforts to plan for the future water supply needs of the area • To make recommendations to the Council relative to all of the above mentioned matters and as to any other matters which the Intergovernmental Water Board may feel to be for the good of the water system, the overall public interest and for the benefit of the consumer The City of Tigard has the ultimate decision-making authority based on the recommendations given by the Intergovernmental Water Board. If three or more of the IWB members agree on an issue, then that recommendation would go forward. If, however, it is less than three, then it is not recommended. Sometimes there are differences of opinion. The dilemma the TWO faces is that they do not know if the recommendations they are making are in the best interests of its constituents because it is not the same kind of sounding board that the organized cities have. Commissioner Strauss stated that he thinks of the TWO as more of a watchdog to protect the interests of the people in the Unincorporated area. 5. Admission to the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners— George Rhine The terms of office are every four years. An election will take place in March. There are two ways to become elected to a Special District Board. . 1. Declare your candidacy and file to run for election by.paying the $10.00 filing fee through the Washington County Department of Elections. The$10.00 fee can be waived if you have 25 registered voters sign a petition stating they believe you should be elected. If you want something in the Voter's TWD Workshop Minutes -3- January 9,2001 Pamphlet, there is a$25.00 fee and it is your responsibility to provide them with a written statement, with or without a photograph. In order to file a declaration or petition to run in the next election, it must be in the Elections office by 5 p.m. on January 11. Two days after that the information for the Voter's Pamphlet is due. Commissioner Rhine has all the information if anyone would like to consider running for a seat on the Board. 2. The other way to become elected is to run a write-in campaign. Talk to your family and neighbors and ask them to write in your name. There will be two vacancies to be filled at the next election. 6. Visitor's Comments and Questions Thomas Pearson (11734 SW Royal Villa Dr., 503-620-4942) stated he is a native Oregonian and grew up in this area. He spent twenty years in south Texas and became concerned in the quality of water while living there. He knows quite a lot about water and the quality of water, but does not know much about the-governmental structure, but felt he could contribute to the community and actively participate_ He is willing to offer what he can. He also has a background in journalism. Commissioner Buehner asked him to consider running for a seat on the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners. There was a brief discussion to determine if he qualified as a resident of the unincorporated area. He does qualify as a resident. Several Commissioners mentioned how they became involved with the TWD and how their knowledge of water varied before becoming involved. They encouraged him to consider running for one of the available seats. Ann Hartman (14280 SW 141st St., (503)579-8037) expressed her concern about where TWD would continue to get water from in the future. She wants to - avoid areas with pollutants and would prefer to see water obtained from other sources she considers cleaner than the Willamette River. She has lived in the Tigard area for over 30 years and knows there has not been enough well water for many years. Commissioner Penner stated the well water is the only water Tigard owns; all other water must be purchased. He continued to explain that the water tables under this area are restricted. The State of Oregon owns all water and issues water rights and permits to drill wells. This area has been established as a critical groundwater level area and we cannot drill wells within this area. Commissioner Buehner said Tigard did not get water from Portland until about four years ago. Before that time, Clackamas River water was purchased from TWD Workshop Minutes -4- January 9,2001 Lake Oswego. The water quality went down when we changed to Bull Run water. Commissioner Strauss indicated the real trick is to get a water supply for the future. Ideally Tigard is looking for ownership. . Commissioner Penner added that the growth factor is an added problem. As the area grows there needs to be capital improvements made to increase the pipe size and replace old pipes. All these improvements are necessary no matter where we get the water. We will own the improvements, but we still will not own - any water. We will be at the mercy of the wholesale sellers of water. Ann Hartman stated she understood Bull Run would be expanding their facilities and wanted,to know if that would provide a chance for Tigard to buy in to that expansion. Commissioner Penner explained that the building of a third reservoir would require federal and various environmental agencies approval and could take many years in the process. There would be significant costs involved and there always is a chance they would not receive approval. The citizens of the City of Portland would have to vote for the expansion, not Tigard. The citizens of Portland may not care about our needs Commissioner Rhine added that the City of Portland has indicated that they are not interested in sharing ownership. Discussions with other water sources have indicated that Tigard's participation would be given ownership considerations based upon prorated expenses of the project. Ownership is important. Contracts expire and do not have to be renewed. Commissioner Buehner explained that that was one of the reasons for looking at the Willamette River as a water source; water rights are available. She gave a very brief summary of alternate long term water supply sources that are being pursued(South Fork and the Joint Water Commission). Commissioner Rhine stated that there has to bean entity that has the ability to • raise bonds to raise the money needed to finance projects and studies. That is part of the reason why the City of Tigard administers the water services for the greater area. They have bond-raising capabilities. Commissioner Froude spoke for a brief period about the Regional Consortium and the benefitsof working together. It is not each community for itself, however, Tigard is one of the few communities with no water rights at all and we are • growing the fastest Commissioner Rhine explained that the Tigard Water Area System contains four entities. Those four political bodies are dealing with numerous other political bodies, which tends to make the process slow and frustrating. ' TWD Workshop Minutes -5- January 9,2001 4 Commissioner Strauss asked how the citizen's felt about the water service today. -- Ann Hartman felt good about the water. She has noticed discolored water and knows it is part of being on the Bull Run system. Commissioner Buehner has studied chemical research studies to dean up water. She was very impressed with what can be done. Commissioner Penner stated the technology is available to clean up the Willamette River water and make it purer, fresher and taste better than the water being purchased from the City of Portland. Mrs. Hartman said she thought that information was not disclosed to the public well enough. She has read a lot about the issue and never got the feeling that the water could be cleaned up well enough to be drinkable. Commissioner Rhine interjected that it was also an emotional issue. There are some people who will not trust-technology. These are the issues that have to be contended with. Commissioner Strauss stated that the press coverage in the area was not well balanced. A great deal of effort went into trying to meet with people and reporters, invite them to tours and meetings but very little came out of it. The issues that were controversial got the focus of attention. There was a lot of misinformation that got out also. Commissioner Froude said the City of Wilsonville would be getting Willamette River water within the next two years with their new plant. Commissioner Buehner added that Corvallis has been drinking it for many years. Commissioner Strauss thanked those who participated on the advisory panel and they were invited to attend the regular monthly meetings on the fourth Monday of each month. The Board again encouraged those in attendance to run for one of the two vacating seats on the Board of Commissioners. Norm Hartman (14280 SW 141st St., (503) 579-8037) asked Mike Miller to comment on anything he felt had not been covered. Mr. Miller commented that issues had been well covered. He stated that the growth in the area has slowed down somewhat, but has annually averaged about 3% growth in the last five or six years. This also causes our water demands to increase. We average about 5-mgd; the summer supply demands increases and peaks at 13-mgd. By the year 2010 water usage will approach 18 mgd on peak days, 8 mgd on average day demand. We do not see growth leveling off until the year 2020. TWD Workshop Minutes -6- January 9,2001 Mr. Pearson asked Mr. Miller to explain about the delivery system. Mr. Miller indicated that most of the system is cast iron and is a good system. There is a new 20-year Capital Improvement Plan that targets about $1.5 million per year of improvements. A lot of the improvements are driven by new street improvement projects and by developers through growth area improvements. Commissioner Buehner asked for an explanation on the work being done at the well on 135th. Mr. Miller said it was general maintenance and clean up of the area. Commissioner Strauss thanked the citizens who attended the meeting. He invited their participation at future meetings. Commissioner Froude added that the TWD plans to continue to publish updated information through a regular newsletter. 7.. Further Action Commissioner Gretchen Buehner announced her resignation from the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners effective January 31, 2001. She indicated she would be moving into the City of Tigard at that time. Commissioner Rhine motioned to approve the minutes of the November 27, 2000 meeting and move to adjournment. Commissioner Penner seconded the motion. All board members voted unanimously to accept the minutes. 8. Adjournment The workshop meeting of the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners adjourned at 8:08 p.m. The next meeting of the Tigard Water Board will be on Monday, February 26, 2001. • TWD Workshop Minutes -7- January 9,2001