06/24/2002 - Minutes TIGARD WATER DISTRICT
BOARD OF COMMISSIONER'S MEETING
Monday, June 24, 2002
Members Present: Norm Penner, Beverly Froude, and George Rhine
Staff Present: Dennis Koellermeier and Twila Wilson
Visitors Present: None
1. Call to Order
Commissioner George Rhine called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m.
2. Roll Call and Introductions
Roll was called and all members were present.
3. Approval of Minutes—April 22, 2002
Commissioner Norm Penner motioned to approve the minutes of the May 28, 2002,
meeting and Commissioner Beverly Froude seconded the motion. A unanimous vote
was made to accept the minutes.
4. Visitor's Comments- None
5. Approval of FY 2002/2003 Budget
There was a brief review of the budget documents to verify accuracy; however, there
was no further discussion from board members. The meeting was opened to the public
for comments, but there were no comments. Commissioner Beverly Froude motioned to
adopt the 2002/2003 budget as presented and Commissioner Norm Penner seconded
the motion. The vote was unanimous to accept the budget and the board members
signed the Resolution document.
6. Status on the Replacement of Commissioners
Commissioner George Rhine reported that he contacted the individuals on the list he
was provided of write-in votes from the last election, however, there was no interest by
any of the individuals. Twila Willson gave Commissioner Rhine the names of two Clute
property neighbors who had previously been active in the community and he stated he
would contact them to inquire if they would be interested in serving on the Tigard Water
District Board of Commissioners until the next election in May 2003. The announcement
about the two vacant seats on the TWD has been made at the Citizen Involvement
Team (CIT) committee meetings on two occasions, but no one has come forward
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indicating any interest. It was suggested that the issue be addressed at the next
scheduled meeting.
7. Intergovernmental Water Board Update— Norm Penner
Commissioner Penner reported that the major topic at the IWB meeting was the
proposed water rate adjustment. The proposed increases would to go into effect in
October: 10% in 2002, 6% in 2003 and 6% in 2004. The IWB supported the proposed
increase and that recommendation will be presented to the Tigard City Council on
Tuesday night. One factor supporting the increase was that the school bond measure
passed, which will require coordination by Tigard water services to schedule the
construction of the reservoir in conjunction with the new school. It will be necessary to
go out for a bond to finance the reservoir. The rate increase program will assist in
recovering funding and will be a positive step.
Mr. Koellermeier added that the Capital Improvement Plan for the Tigard Service Area
was set up as a 'pay-as-you-go' (approximately $1.5 million per year) program. An
investigation was coordinated between the City and School District to agree upon a site
where an underground reservoir could be constructed at the school site. The school
administration wants to proceed quickly so that they do not exceed the timeframe of their
loan and lose the use of the selected property. This situation requires our 20-year
master plan to basically reverse the order of projects by moving later goals to the front of
the list. It also will not allow for the pay-as-you-go program because of the timeframe
and will require revenue bonds to acquire the money to back the project. The strategy of
the multi-year rate increase will have most of the debt service rate increases already
approved before going for a revenue bond and we will have the cash flow to deal with
the debt and make us more attractive to the bond market. The design phase is
scheduled for this fall and it has been determined that the reservoir could be built in
eighteen months if necessary. The school board has started the selection process for
an architect.
Commissioner Froude asked how much the 10% rate increase would come too. The
exact figures were not available to Mr. Koellermeier, but he estimated it would average
about$4.00. Commissioner Penner added that even with the rate increase, the Tigard
area would still be on the lower end of the scale in comparison to other jurisdictions in
the area. The October date for activation of the increases allows water users to avoid
the increase from summer peak use and also allows the City's conservation staff to work
their message into the picture.
Commissioner Penner asked Mr. Koellermeier to give the update on the Proposed Bull
Run Drinking Water Agency and the audit of Portland's assets. Mr. Koellermeier
explained the issue of how new members would acquire equity in the new system and
that would be by buying shares or membership. This is a controversial issue because
there are many different ways to establish valuation and how to divide that between the
members. Tigard's buy-in cost could be between $6 -43 million just to buy the old
facilities and would be much more with the new treatment plant construct.
Commissioner Rhine asked where the money would come from if Tigard did decide to
proceed in that direction. Mr. Koellermeier said that issue was being worked on, but
there were several possibilities, such as internally financed with the City of Portland that
would be paid through monthly water rates and revenue bonds, and the City of Tigard
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has approximately$6 million in savings that is available. The economists working on the
negotiation have discouraged spending high prices for the audit because everything will
be negotiated from that point anyway. There is a range of numbers that covers the
replacement and depreciation values.
Commissioner Penner brought up the water treatment plan options that were being
reviewed. There are four options being evaluated and the majority of those studying the
options are leading toward the membrane technology, which is the most expensive of
the options. The membrane reservoir is considered the most efficient, handles heavy
turbidity, and the technology is most apt to treat for future undeveloped regulations. Of
the four recommended locations, Powell Butte is recommended over all others because
it is on the downstream end of the conduits and could also allow diversion of the
Columbia River Wellfield water to it. The IWB discussed this information, but made no
formal recommendation on the matter.
Commissioner Froude asked how the financing would be handled to cover Portland's
reservoirs and Mr. Koellermeier said that the costs would be passed on to the
consumers through rate increases.
Commissioner Penner reported that the Clute property had been re-appraised and the
final figure valued the property at$285,000, which was up $20,000 from last year.
8. Assistant PW Director's Report— Dennis Koellermeier
ASR—The corner has been turned on the turbidity problem with good results on the
initial testing and flushing, which allowed us to recover within 10% of the baseline.
Current plans are to begin recovery of the water on July 1st and in early fall we will hold a
flavor panel (blind taste test). At the end of the year the results of the ASR will be
evaluated and recommendations made on how to proceed with future ASR projects.
Beaverton Intertie—The project started on June 17th and should be completed and
operational the end of August, which is later than hoped for, but will still allow us to take
water in the fall.
Joint Water Commission — Last week Mr. Koellermeier participated in a tour of the
JWC area with the Indonesian delegation. The group toured Hagg Lake and plant. It is
anticipated that water will be taken from the JWC through mid July. There have been no
problems with early hot days and the drought period is behind us although the outlook is
for drier and warmer climate.
Tigard's interties along with the ASR have been good investments in providing water for
peak days from various sources even though the water purchased may not be the
cheapest water available.
9. Non-Agenda Items
Members of the board discussed what to do to fill the empty seats. It was decided that a
notice should be placed in the Tigard Times and Oregonian as well as Cityscape and
perhaps the City's web page. Commissioner Froude was going to speak with Barbara
Sherman about placing the information in the Tigard Times.
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10. Set next meeting date
The board members scheduled the next meeting for Monday, September 23, 2002,
unless there was a need to meet sooner to swear in candidates for the vacant seats and
if that was necessary they would meet in August.
11. Adjournment
Commissioner Penner motioned to adjourn the meeting and Commissioner Froude
seconded the motion. The Tigard Water District meeting adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
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