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09/09/2009 - Minutes
Intergovernmental Water Board (IWB) Meeting Minutes September 9, 2009 Tigard Public Works Building 8777 SW Burnham Street Tigard, OR 97223 Members Present: Gretchen Buehner Representing the City of Tigard Patrick Carroll Representing the City of Durham Ken Henschel Representing the Tigard Water District Dick Winn Representing the City of King City Members Absent. Bill Scheiderich Member At-Large Staff Present: Public Works Director Dennis Koeilermeier Utility Division Manager John Goodrich IWB Recorder Kathy Mollusky 1. Call to Order, Roll Call and Introductions Commissioner Carroll called the meeting to order at 6:32 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes —July 8, 2009 Commissioner Buehner motioned to approve the July 8, 2009 minutes; Commissioner Winn seconded the motion. The minutes were approved by unanimous vote of the Commissioners present, with Commissioners Buehner, Carroll, Henschel and Winn voting yes. 3. Public Comments: None 4. Know H2O Newsletter Mr. Goodrich introduced the new quarterly newsletter. It was mailed to all residents in the Tigard Water Service Area (26,500 households). He said the newsletter was developed in-house by several creative City of Tigard staff members. The Commissioners liked the newsletter. Commissioner Buehner especially liked the easy to read, non-technical language. The newsletter will be posted on the City of Tigard website in Spanish as soon as the translation is complete. Mr. Koellermeier is very happy with the newsletter. It accomplishes what the City wanted to do, to have a vehicle to communicate water related issues simultaneously to all the users. Intergovernmental Water Board Minutes September 9,2009 5. Water Supply Update Mr. Goodrich reported: • The rain that occurred over the three-day weekend drove sales from 8 million gallons per day (mgd) to 6 mgd. He anticipates an increase as the weather warms up. • The aquifer storage and recovery well (ASR) was shut off because it is not needed. 143 million gallons were used throughout the summer. The Tigard Water Service Area has a 96-day supply left in the ASR for emergency use. • During the heat wave, 12.7 mgd were used. The record of 14 mgd was set in 2002. Average peak day use has historically been 13.6 to 13.8 mgd so we have seen a reduction in use. Rain has a bigger impact reducing use than heat has with increasing use. • The water system is functioning as expected: pumping systems are all online and operating normally. 6. Discussion of Possible Methodologies to Calculate Ownership Interest. This item was continued from the Board's July 8, 2009 meeting. • Mr. Koellermeier summarized Mr. Goodrich's memo. The City used four different methodologies to calculate ownership interest. There are two things driving this issue: o The Tenancy-In-Common (TIC) agreements require us to recalculate ownership biannually, due this year. o How assets are dealt with in the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) rewrite. • Getting population numbers requires substantial estimating. Durham and King City are easy; PSU can provide the population numbers. However, population is not tracked at the district level for the TWD, and the area represented by Tigard does not correspond with city boundaries. These issues make population difficult to ascertain for Tigard and the Tigard Water District. As a starting point, population was required in the original methodology. When the Tigard Water Service Area was formed, it was not known how the formula would be utilized. It may have been required if there were a need to bond. The member jurisdictions are not expected to bond under the current or future IGA. • AWWA industry standard uses the meter equivalency model. It assumes a residential meter has a unit value of one. Bigger meters have some multiplier of one. This information is recoverable daily from the City of Tigard's billing system. Every account has a meter size and is tracked by jurisdiction. The calculations the City of Tigard completed were to verify the accuracy of this method compared to other methods. No matter what method is selected, the numbers are close. There is only a 2-112 percent difference between any of the methods. • Mr. Koellermeier stated meter equivalency is methodology to use for a few reasons: 1) Tests out mathematically. 2) Easy, accurate number to obtain whether needed for withdrawal, the TIC agreement, or any other purpose. 3) It is adopted and recognized by AWWA. • The current TIC requires us to recalculate population every two years. Mr. Koellermeier feels there is no value in this. The IWB can adopt the new Intergovernmental Water Board Minutes September 9,2009 2 methodology and run the meter equivalency report. This would negate the population issue. • If the IWB decided to move forward with meter equivalency, the TIC agreement would likely need to be amended and new deeds recorded. The 1WB may also want to remove the requirement that ownership interest be updated every two years. This new methodology will be used in existing TIC agreements, the new IGA, and any future documents. Commissioner Scheiderich can incorporate meter equivalency methodology and audit process language into the new IGA. • Commissioner Scheiderich is supposed to have the draft IGA done for October meeting. Commissioner Carroll is pressing him to get as close to finished project in four weeks as he can and to email advanced copies to IWB members. Commissioner Carroll would like to set up a special meeting or extend the November meeting to get the new IGA completed around the first of the year. He would like each member jurisdiction's legal counsel to have an opportunity to review and comment on the new IGA before then. He suggested each member jurisdiction schedule this with their governing body and attorney. Commissioner Winn made a motion recommending we use meter equivalency method for division of assets and any other applicable situations. Commissioner Buehner seconded the motion. The motion was approved with Commissioners Buehner, Carroll, and Winn voting yes. Commissioner Henschel abstained. 7. Informational Items: Update from Commissioner Buehner on Lake Oswego/City of Tigard Oversight Committee activities. Commissioner Buehner had nothing to report; a meeting will be scheduled in the next week or so. Mr. Koellermeier reported on the two processes going on: (1) legal front and (2) project front. 1) On legal front, Tigard and its co-defendants (the team) are participating in the discovery process. WaterWatch requested copies of the team's information. Some discovery requests were challenged; these will be resolved in the next couple of weeks. From a policy position, South Fork feels they have a senior claim to the water, and all other issues are immaterial. WaterWatch is on the other side of the policy saying the protected species are more important than the old state law; water must be kept in the stream. The team is stationed in middle. We have worked with the state and different agencies and can live with the settlement. The Administrative Judge assigned to the case has a reputation of looking for common ground and getting to the middle of an issue. This helps the team define its position as reasonable. 2) On the project side, the team is half way through the selection process of finding a Program Manager. We have done the Statement of Qualification and are requesting proposals from three firms. The final selection will be made and that firm will be operational before the year is out. • The hearing will occur around February and then the appeal process will begin. The legal issues are expected to be resolved early in 2011. This is not delaying the project. The problem is how much capital money should be put at risk, spent at the front end of design? The legal will be resolved in time to make a decision Intergovernmental Water Board Minutes September 9,2009 3 about negotiating an agreement with Portland. The problem is construction and whether the Tigard-Lake Oswego water partnership projects can be built before Tigard's water contract with Portland expires. • The legal process will not stop the permitting process. The team needs to get a permit for land use in West Linn. In-water permits will be difficult to obtain for all agencies that use the Clackamas River. The Corps of Engineers rules need to be complied with when tunneling under the Willamette River. Endangered species are in both rivers, which is a challenge. It has to be demonstrated that endangered species are not being killed. Over the next six months, more details will be available, such as the schedule, cash burn model, and a more detailed approach to permitting. • Mr. Koellermeier hopes Tigard can self-finance the build-out for one more year. A grant was acquired that paid for half of the $5 million pump station so Tigard can use that money, around $2 to $2.5 million. The other half of the grant is a low interest forgivable loan, which means we are self financing at a very low rate, 3 percent, rather than going to the commercial market. Very few agencies in State of Oregon received the money. All revenue is bond-based, so no vote was required. 8. Non-Agenda Items: None 9. Future Agenda Items Future agenda items were not discussed. 10. Next Meeting: October 14, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. Tigard Public Works Building, 8777 SW Burnham Street, Tigard, Oregon 11. Adjournment At 6:36 p.m. Commissioner Winn motioned to adjourn the meeting; Commissioner Henschel seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned by unanimous vote of the Commissioners present, with Commissioners Buehner, Carroll, Henschel, and Winn voting yes. IVVB Chair Kathy Mo] usky, IWB Ree der ©ate: Intergovernmental Water Board Minutes September 9,2009 4