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02-28-2000 - Minutes TIGARD WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING February 28, 2000 Members Present: Beverly Froude, George Rhine, David Strauss and Gretchen Buehner Staff Present Mike Miller, Twila Willson Visitors Present Jack Polans 1. Call to Order The regular meeting of the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners was called to order by Commissioner George Rhine at 6:04 p.m. 2. Roll Call and Introductions Twila Willson called the roll. Commissioner Norm Penner is out of town and was excused. 3. Approval of Minutes Commissioner Gretchen Buehner moved that the minutes of the Tigard Water District meeting of January 24, 2000, be approved and accepted. Commissioner Beverly Froude seconded the motion. Those present approved the minutes. 4. Visitor's Comments Jack Polans from King City commented that during the last ten years the City of Tigard had made considerable annexations and other situations of which he agreed with some and disagreed with others. His main concern was that under the law, if the City of Tigard so desired, they could annex the unincorporated properties. Commissioner Strauss informed Mr. Polans that he was wrong on two counts; first, he is wrong on the law and second, he did not know what that had to do with the water district. He did not know why Mr. Polans was bringing that before the Tigard Water District. He restated that Mr. Polans was wrong on his assumption that the City Council had that right. Mr. Polans stated that he stood corrected. 5. Intergovernmental Water Board Update Commissioner Gretchen Buehner reported on the February 9, 2000, Intergovernmental Water Board Meeting and requested all the board members stay for the Annual IWB meeting later that evening. She described the follow-up presentation made by Art Griffith from CH2M Hill on the rate increase issue. He gave rough numbers and scenarios on different charts. Mr. Griffith based his presentation on the growth rate of 1.2% per year. TWD Meeting Minutes - 1 - February 28,2000 Commissioner Buehner raised a question about that percentage because the growth rate in Tigard has been significantly higher than that over the last ten years (closer to 3%). The IWB requested he prepare differing scenarios and show how they would effect rates, i.e., dollars for the standard capital improvement plan, and how much money to set aside for potential long term water sources. He will be preparing scenarios on $1,000,000, 1,500,000, and $2,000,000 for comparison. The rates have not been raised since 1993. The ratepayers have been very lucky. On the other hand, however, there was a consensus that it did not make sense to hold the rates down for another few years and then have to make a tremendous increase. It made more sense to try to slowly raise rates making it less traumatic for the ratepayers. Commissioner Buehner thought the presentation was to be made at the IWB meeting that evening, however, Mike Miller reported that the CH2M Hill presentation was scheduled for the meeting on March 8. Commissioner Buehner strongly recommended that all the TWD board members be present at that meeting in order to become better informed on the issues in order to pass that information on to the ratepayers. Commissioner Rhine inquired when the date for implementation was scheduled for the rate increase. Mr. Miller informed the members that July 1 is the target date, however nothing has been finalized on the date. Ed Wegner also made a presentation to the IWB on the status of the various meetings that had been held regarding water supply options. She just received the report from MSA on Water Supply Options and has that report available for any of the Board Members to read. At that meeting Ed Wegner still had not received the Joint Water Commission report, but she has since received it. Commissioner Buehner also had copies of the slides from Mr. Griffith's first presentation available for review. Mr. Miller told the Board Members that those slides would be part of the agenda at the IWB meeting later that evening. Commissioner Buehner presented a copy of Draft#2 of Paul Hunt's original letter, which would also be discussed at the meeting later that night. 6. Utility Manager's Report Mr. Miller updated the Board Members on various issues. The City of Tigard has annexed the Walnut Islands; this operationally becomes effective May 17. As of July 1, the annexed properties will be withdrawn from the Tigard Water District to coincide with the new tax year. Commissioner Buehner informed the board members of a hearing at Metro on Urban Reserve Area 49 annexation into the Metro Jurisdictional Boundary on March 9. Commissioner Froude has a copy of the staff report to bring it (126 acres) into Metro Jurisdiction Boundary, but she forgot to bring it tonight. The report is the first step to bring Urban Reserve Area 49 into the Metro Jurisdictional Boundary. Mr. Miller continued reporting about the ongoing process on the Clute property adjacent to the Menlor Reservoir. The land partition process began the first part of February and TWD Meeting Minutes -2- February 28,2000 is about a three-month process. The portion needed for access will be kept and the rest will be sold off. Those funds will be used toward the purchase of another reservoir property. The Beef Bend pipe project is almost complete (approximately one week away). Pressure testing needs to take place. The road will still be closed until the May 17 target date. The 1-5 and Bonita project is wrapping up. All lines have been tested and it is ready to be put in service. We have to replace a telecommunication line that was damaged during construction. A directional bore will be made for the line replacement. A discussion followed regarding various ODOT projects scheduled to commence in the vicinity that will cause traffic back ups. Mr. Miller reminded the Board Members that they needed to be considering budget goals. The budget meeting has generally been held in April. A brief discussion followed on the school property and the Cach property for future reservoir sites. Commissioner Strauss expressed a desire to see negotiations with the school succeed in order to save the taxpayer's dollars. 7. Non-Agenda Items Commissioner Rhine informed the board that Commissioner Penner had received the copy of the Ordinances on the Walnut Island Annexation and requested those documents be included with the IWB files. Twila Willson took the paperwork for filing. Commissioner Buehner questioned the status of connections from the properties on wells along 131st, not in the District. (Mr. Miller only knew of one connection.) Do we have to bring that area into the District as part of the Planning for Services under Metro standards? Mr. Miller responded, yes. Commissioner Buehner continued to report that the hearing in front of the Washington County Planning Commission is March 15 and the meeting in front of the County Commission on Ordinance 541 is the first Tuesday in April. They will be transferring the plan to King City. She wants the Board Members to stay on top of this issue. Commissioner Froude explained that there are different increments that are brought in. Under Senate Bill 122 it isn't brought in until it's actually planned. She questioned whether it was necessary to bring it all in. Commissioner Buehner's understanding under the ordinance is that we have to bring them into the District to provide water services as part of the planning process. Commissioner Rhine brought up that Commissioner Penner wanted the board to review the booklet (General Qualifications, Operations and Organization) previously distributed. This is to be included on the agenda for next month to be reviewed, updated and adopted into the records. Also to be included on the agenda for March should be a discussion of the Rate Study. TWD Meeting Minutes - 3 - February 28,2000 A discussion followed on what the board's stand would be at the IWB meeting. It was concluded that it was for information gathering only, however, it was strongly felt that they would continue to try to emphasize more planning be done on a regional level in an effort to enforce and strengthen. Commissioner Strauss requested copies of material distributed to the IWB representative be made available to all TWD members. Commissioner Froude previously requested being included on the mailing list of the IWB minutes. Commissioner Strauss requested the entire board be included on the mailing list for the IWB minutes. All board members agreed. 8. Next Meeting Date The next TWD Meeting will be on Monday, March 27 at 7:00 p.m. 9. Adjournment Commissioner Gretchen Buehner moved for adjournment of the meeting. Commissioner Beverly Froude seconded the motion. The vote to adjourn was unanimous. The regular meeting of the Tigard Water District Board of Commissioners concluded at 6:43 p.m. TWD Meeting Minutes -4- February 28,2000