01/25/1999 - Minutes L '
TIGARD WATER DISTRICT
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING
JANUARY 25, 1999
Members Present: David Strauss, Gretchen Buehner, John Haunsperger, Beverly Froude, Norm
Penner
Staff Members
Present: Mike Miller
1. Call to order:
Commissioner John Haunsperger called the meeting of the Tigard Water Board of Commissioners
to order at 7:08 p.m. on January 25, 1999.
2. Roll Call/Introductions
All members present.
3. Visitors Comments
There was none
4. Approval of minutes
Commissioner Strauss moved to accept the September 28, and November 23, 1999, regular
meeting minutes as written. Commissioner Penner seconded the motion. All members
present voting AYE, the motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Penner moved to accept the October 26, 1999, regular meeting minutes as
written. Commissioner Buehner seconded the motion. All members present voting AYE, the
motion passed unanimously.
4. Insurance Agent of Record
Loreen Mills, City of Tigard Risk Manager, presented the summary of insurance coverage for the
Tigard Water District Board prepared by the Board's agent of record, Drew Bollinger, who could
not attend. She mentioned that the coverage provided by the Special Districts Insurance Services
(SDIS) covered the Board members for any actions taken by the Board. She asked for
authorization to pay the$1,512 premium for the Board's 1999 coverage.
Ms. Mills stated that she asked Mr. Bollinger to review the Board's policy regarding possible
duplicate coverage. She explained that a City of Tigard employee who used to work,for the Tigard
Water District had authorized the premium payments in the past in good faith but she felt that it was
not appropriate for a City of Tigard employee to make those decisions. She urged the Board to
Tigard Water District Board -January 25, 1999 Page 1
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develop its own relationship with Mr. Bollinger, as their policy was separate from the City's policy.
She commented that they would not get better coverage for the money than the SDIS provided.
Commissioner Buehner recommended increasing the Board's liability coverage to $1 million from
$500,000, citing her experience as a business lawyer. The Board discussed whether they should
carry property insurance as they had no property to cover. Ms. Mills said that, according to Mr.
Bollinger, carrying a minimal level of property coverage enabled the Board to obtain a multi-line
credit. She pointed out that the bill indicated that the multi-line credit was not applied to their
account, and suggested asking Mr. Bollinger for clarification. She suggested discussing their level
of liability coverage with Mr. Bollinger also.
The Board discussed dropping the property coverage and raising the liability coverage to $1 million.
Commissioner Buehner asked to see a copy of their policy. Ms. Mills said that she has already
asked Mr. Bollinger for a copy.
The Board discussed whether or not they needed to go out for an RFP for another agent of record,
as it had been several years since they looked at the issue of insurance. Ms. Mills mentioned that
Mr. Bollinger did represent most of the water districts in the area and was very familiar with the
issues.
Ms. Mills reviewed the informational requests that she would check on. These included whether the
District had any property to insure and if there was a reason to keep the property coverage, what
the premium increase would be for increasing liability coverage to $1 million, whether the $2.5
million umbrella came down to meet the $500,000 limit, and the highway bond coverage.
Commissioner Penner asked for clarification on the business auto coverage. Ms. Mills explained
that if the Board were in a vehicle owned by one of the members and got in an auto accident while
en route to a meeting that fell within the scope of their duties as Board members, then the members
would be covered by this policy as the secondary policy with the vehicle owner's policy as the
primary policy. However, because of the"portal to portal" rule, this policy did not cover Board
members traveling from their homes to a Board meeting.
Ms. Mills recommended keeping the policy, as it meant the Board had the $2.5 million District
coverage to back it up in the event of a serious accident. She concurred with Commissioner
Buehner that it was important to look at the policy, as there were strange exclusions in some
policies.
Commissioner Haunsperger asked for clarification regarding a provision of the intergovernmental
agreement (page 7) speaking to the casualty and worker's comp insurance coverage provided by the
District. Ms. Mills reiterated that she has asked Mr. Bollinger to review what property, if any, the
District owned. She pointed out that the District no longer had to provide worker's comp insurance
as it no longer had any employees. Commissioner Haunsperger mentioned that at the time of the
IGA, the District pledged its assets to the City for use but never formally titled them over... Ms.
Mills said that she would check her notes regarding what was agreed to.
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Commissioner Buehner moved to authorize Ms. Mills to pay the insurance premium and to
discuss coverage on behalf of the Board. Commissioner Penner seconded the motion. All
members present voting AYE, the motion passed unanimously.
5. Intergovernmental Water Board Update
Commissioner Froude presented copies of the overheads used in the presentations at the special
IWB meeting. She mentioned that the Board did video tape the meeting. She indicated that the
meeting went well but no conclusions were reached.
Commissioner Froude commented that she had understood from the Portland presentation that
Tigard would not get the details of the Portland system until they agreed to go with the Portland
system, as the details were part of the negotiated agreement. The Board agreed with that
assessment. Commissioner Buehner mentioned that, in a conversation with a Portland
representative during the break, the individual told her that Portland would not give ownership.
Commissioner Buehner reported on her conversation with a deputy attorney in the Portland City
Attorney's office on the issue of ownership in the Bull Run, whether or not transferring ownership
required congressional action. She said that it depended on whether the land under discussion was
within the portion subject to federal review or within the portion not subject to federal review. She
mentioned that the deputy attorney also said that they would not know the direction of the
environmental litigation for another six to nine months. She stated that it was also very clear that
the Portland City Attorney's office had no idea that the City of Tigard did not own the whole
district but had an IGA with other entities.
Commissioner Penner suggested that all future documentation say"Tigard Water System" instead of
"City of Tigard." He held that most citizens did not understand that this was an area water system,
and that the City did not have sole say in what happened. He argued that this created a problem in
the public's perception of who had what authority. Commissioner Buehner said that she suggested
that the Portland City Attorney's office obtain a copy of the IGA. She mentioned the deputy
attorney's shock at the information that Tigard was not the voting entity and could not stop others
from doing what they wanted to do.
6. Utility Manager's Report
Mike Miller, Utility Manager, reported that Wayne Lowrey and Ed Wegner would make a short
presentation on the financial end of the two proposals to both the City Council and the IWB on
different nights.
Commissioner Buehner commented that she had not thought that the numbers Portland used for
Tigard's peak water demands were consistent with Tigard's numbers. Mr. Miller confirmed that
Portland used lower peak day numbers (under 20 mgd at 2050)in comparison to the MSA peak day
numbers (26 mgd at 2050). He explained that Portland based their calculations on the Wolf Creek
portion of the Tualatin Valley Water District and Metro's population forecasts while MSA used the
PSU population forecasts and Tigard's own numbers.
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Mr. Miller said that hedid not know why Portland did not use the historical data Tigard provided to
them on their water usage but noted that the Wolf Creek data went back 30 years while the Tigard
daily data started in 1995. He commented that the more recent data was more relevant than the
older data because it was after the 1992 drought. Commissioner Froude spoke in support of using
Tigard's data because Tigard was almost built out within its existing urban growth boundary while
Tualatin Valley Water District had huge undeveloped areas within its boundaries.
Commissioner Buehner asked if the land between SW 1318'and SW 137th, south of Beef Bend
Road, recently annexed by Metro,would come to the City or to the District. Mr. Miller said that
the land was outside Tigard's urban growth boundary and area of interest and would have to annex
to the district in order to receive water service.
Commissioner Buehner stated that King City has entered into a planning agreement with Derek
Brown to plan that area, and therefore this issue was time sensitive. Mr. Miller explained the
process King City would have to go through to get water to that area. Commissioner Buehner
expressed her concern that King City contracted out its planning which could result in major gaps in
the planning process. She supported the Board doing what it could to see that the area was
properly planned.
7. Non-Agenda Items
• Commissioner Strauss commented that the brochure sent out by the City to all users was excellent.
He stated that he told the people at their monthly Board meeting that they would be hearing a lot of
facts and figures thrown around regarding the upcoming water source choice that were not
accurate. He said that he urged them to wait until the true information came forth.
• Mr. Miller reported that a news release on the results of the Portland lead/copper testing program
would come out the end of this week. The tests found elevated levels of lead in the water in 10%
plus of the homes built in Tigard between 1983 and 1985. He stated that he did not know why the
elevated levels were found, reviewing several actions that could skew the test results. He
commented that the elevated lead levels showed up in homes outside of Tigard also.
• Commissioner Buehner asked if the area reservoirs continued to show an appreciable increase in
bottom sediment now that they were on the Bull Run system as opposed to the Clackamas River
system. Mr. Miller said that sediment continued to build up. He described the flushing program
used by the City to address the problem. He confirmed that the flushing program was one of the
hidden costs of the Portland program.
• Mr. Miller confirmed that the Menlor Reservoir has been online since August with only minor
exterior and landscaping work left. He said that the fencing was complete. He noted that it came in
under budget but not on time(due to difficulties with filling the reservoir during the summer).
8. Set next meeting date '
The Board discussed whether or not to hold monthly meetings for the duration of the water source
discussion. They agreed to schedule a meeting for February 22 and to cancel it if necessary.
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9. Adjournment
Commissioner Haunsperger adjourned the regular meeting to Executive Session at 8:06 p.m.
Executive Session
The Tigard Water District Board went into Executive Session at 8:06 p.m. under the provisions of
ORS 192.660(1)(d), (e), & (h)to discuss labor relations, real property transactions, and current and
pending litigation issues.
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