Loading...
07/10/1996 - Minutes INTERGOVERNMENTAL WATER BOARD July 10, 1996 MEMBERS PRESENT: Bill Scheiderich, Beverly Froude, John Budihas, Paul Hunt, Robert Tydeman STAFF PRESENT: Ed Wegner, Mike Miller, Kathy Kaatz, Cyndi Turner, Trish Toedtemier VISITORS PRESENT: Todd Harris 1. Call to Order The meeting of the Intergovernmental Water Board was called to order at 5 : 32 p.m. 2 . Roll Call and Introductions Roll call was taken with all Board Members present with the exception of Robert Tydeman from the City of Durham who arrived momentarily. 3 . Visitors Comments The Board recognized Mr. Todd Harris who was present at the meeting to discuss an adjustment to his billing (Agenda item #5) and was allowed to proceed at this time. Mr. Harris began his discussion by noting his letter that had been submitted to the Board. He continued by stating that he was initially contacted by the City staff noting that there was an apparent water leak at his property. City staff contacted him and stated that the meter had been checked twice and there was a problem. The staff made contact with Mr. Harris at his work and after checking found a broken pipe underneath his garage. Mr. Harris stated that his water bill had climber to over $600 . 00 and when he contacted City staff was told they could allow him a $165 . 00 credit and if he was not satisfied he could appeal that to this Board. Mr. Harris continued by saying that he did not feel that the $165 . 00 credit was adequate for a billing of this size and questioned whether the adjustment should be based upon a percentage basis with this high of a dollar amount? Mr. Harris continued by saying that his repair bill on this break was over $2 , 000 . 00 . Commissioner Budihas questioned whether Mr. Harris received the $600 . 00 billing on one bill or two? Mr. Harris stated it was all on one bill . Mr. Harris stated that when he was contacted at his work, he was to meet someone from the Water Division at the property address . .--� Mr. Wegner stated that the process was that the meter readers read monthly for a every other month billing and when the read came in notably higher, someone was sent back out to re-read the meter which still indicated higher usage and that was when Mr. Harris was notified there was a problem on his side of the line. Mr. Harris would then have received the original bill for the $600 . 00 amount and after that receiving that he can apply for the credit . Mr. Harris stated that it was their assumption that the break was indeed on his side and he called a plumber who found it to be under the garage. Commissioner Hunt questioned the time frame between the two meter readings? Trish Toedtemeier stated that she thought it was about a day an a half between readings . Commissioner Budihas stated that as a homeowner, the area after the meter and to the residence it is the homeowners responsibility and that the Water Division had done what they could. Chair Scheiderich questioned where the amount of the $165 . 00 credit came from. Ms . Toedtemeier noted that it was her understanding that was a historical figure that was determined earlier and is generally increased with rate increases . Mr. Wegner stated that this figure was raised about one year ago when the revisions to the Rules, Rates and Regulations was --. updated. Commissioner Froude stated that in the previous minutes it was discussed and the Board decided that the Board would delegate to staff to allow credit for the bill minus the City' s direct cost of the water or $165 . 00 whichever is greater. The previous bill that was discussed was issued $165 . 00 credit plus the $204 . 89 which was the credit above the actual water costs . Commissioner Hunt motioned that the Board should be consistent and do the exact same for Mr. Harris. This motion was seconded by Commissioner Budihas. Commissioner Froude stated she would save her discussion until later. Mr. Wegner asked for clarification on this issue. He questioned whether the Board gave the staff approval on crediting Mr. Harris' s bill the same criteria as the last credit (Houghton) ? The Board stated that was correct. Ms . Toedtemeier stated that they had already calculated that out to see the outcome which was he would receive an additional credit of $158 .45 plus $165 . 00 which would leave Mr. Harris a balance of $265 . 00 . The Board voted on this motion, which passed unanimously. Mr. Wegner questioned if this formula would be the standard for billing adjustments and should this information be prepared prior to the meeting to see what the total adjustment would be? Chair Scheiderich questioned what percentage of IWB Meeting Minutes - July 10, 1996 Page 2 -� a dollar is charged per 100 cf is actual water costs (year around average) ? Mike Miller stated that it is approximately 70 cents . Ms . Toedtemeier stated that we currently charge $1 . 32 per 100 cf .. Commissioner Tydeman questioned the formula as reflected in the previous minutes (May 15 , page 2 , item #5) . Commissioner Froude read from the minutes as follows : "Mr. Rolf stated that the City only needs to recoup the actual costs of the water" with the following motion, "the Board delegate to staff to allow credit for the bill minus the City' s direct cost of the water or $165 . 00 whichever is greater" . The Board continued discussion with Commissioner Froude stating that since the policy of the $165 dollar allowance was determined, the Board has always changed the policy and allowed a larger credit . Commissioner Hunt requested that Mr. Wegner come up with a policy proposal to discuss at the next meeting. Mr. Wegner stated that Mr. Lowry will be involved in development of this policy. 6 . Director' s Report Mr. Wegner stated that he would like to bring the Board up to date on three or four projects that are continuing: Lake Oswego - We have been negotiating to purchase into the Lake Oswego treatment plant with the idea that they would expand their capacity from 16 mgd to 30-32 mgd. The Lake Oswego plant is located in the City of West Linn which is not allowing plant expansion since this plant is located within a residential neighborhood. The West Linn Planning Commission did grant approval to capital improvements necessary to the existing treatment plant, but did not give permission for an expansion. In the Metro 2040 Plan, Lake Oswego has been designated as the water provider for the Stafford Road area. Both of these issues have stopped negotiations with Lake Oswego on any degree of partnering. By the end of this week, we will be receiving a contract to purchase water from Lake Oswego. Two years ago we had a letter of agreement extending the old Tigard Water district Contract for a period of one year. They are currently writing a contract for the City of Tigard to purchase excess water. Tualatin Valley Water District - Gene Sibel has retired and Jesse Lowman, the previous Assistant General Manager has assumed the position of General Manager. Mr. Lowman has spoken to Mr. Wegner and hopefully the relationship with them will remain intact . We are currently purchasing water from them this summer as well as the Baylor Street connection. We are working with TVWD in buying water in the future which will involve some transmission improvements . TVWD will have between 8-13 mgd in excess water to sell . Murray, Smith and Associates and the TVWD Engineers are currently working on the conceptual design to see how this will work. IWB Meeting Minutes - July 10, 1996 Page 3 -� Consortium - Mr. Monahan and Mr. Wegner are both involved with a consortium that consists of the Citys of Wilsonville, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin, Canby, Clackamas Water District, Tualatin Valley Water District to look at the Willamette River as a potential water source. There have been a couple of engineering studies completed at this time and are looking at the feasibility costs of the treatment plant and transmission mains . A decision will probably be made in the near future in regards to Wilsonville since they are in need of an immediate water source. Tigard may go with the Consortium in purchasing land and build a small plant within the city limits of Wilsonville or an area down toward the river. Commissioner Tydeman questioned how much land would be necessary? Mr. Wegner continued by stating that if land was purchased within an industrial area they would look at approximately 40 acres and if they found land outside the industrial area they would probably look at a 100 acre site. The actual need would be for approximately 60 acres . Mr. Wegner stated that we are currently purchasing water from TVWD, Portland, Lake Oswego and utilizing two of our own wells . Mr. Wegner stated that he spoke with Portland Water Bureau today and they are currently producing 168 mgd to sell with Tigard taking approximately 4 mgd. July 1 we began taking 1 mgd from Portland to reduce costs . Regional Water Supply Plan - The revisions have been made and the final plan will be sent for review to this Board and the City Council in September. The Steering Committee of the Water Providers have embarked upon a group of attorneys to begin working on a IGA which we will have a draft of in the near future. Rate Study - We are proceeding with raising the SDC' s and Mr. Miller is following the same procedure as we did with the Park SDC' s . This will involve an Open House held at the Water Building and then a formal public hearing before the Tigard City Council and then bring back a resolution to this Board. The target date is to implement these new charges by January. The resolution will hopefully be brought back to this Board by September. Menlor Reservoir site - A conditional Use permit will be submitted in approximately one month to allow some further investigation with the neighborhood. We will be holding a neighborhood meeting at the Water Building inviting residents from Bull Mountain Meadows and surrounding areas as well as Board Members . Meeting Schedule - Recently we have not had a lot of Board action items, so do we want to consider changing our meeting schedule? Chair Scheiderich stated since he was the member at IWB Meeting Minutes - July 10, 1996 Page 4 large and not representing a specific group of people, he would leave discussion to the rest of the members . Commissioner Hunt stated that we do not need to meet just for the sake of meeting and stated that the Board could meet every other month or call meetings as needed. Mr. Wegner stated that he felt a lot of the future meetings will be informational meetings versus action type meetings . Mr. Wegner stated that we could meet and have a meeting monthly or every other month or look at the possibility of sending out monthly updates . Commissioner Budihas suggested that we try meeting every other month and call a meeting if necessary. Commissioner Froude questioned whether the discussion on billing credits would be on the agenda in September? This item will be on the agenda in September. The Board decided to begin meeting every other month beginning in September. Discussion was held on what to do in the meantime with a water leak issue. These will be placed on the agenda of the next scheduled meeting, at times which could be two months . Commissioner Hunt questioned whether we would want to address the issue of "reasonable time" in having repairs completed. Chair Scheiderich questioned whether the meter readers have the previous reading when they read a meter? Mike Miller stated that they have hand held reader that displays the previous reading. Discussion was held on whether there should be a door hanger that would flag the property owner to a high reading. Commissioner Tydeman questioned the term of the contract with Lake Oswego? Mr. Wegner stated that the existing contract with TVWD is ten years and we do not know at this time the length that Lake Oswego is considering, only that our rate will increase from 57 cents to 63 cents . Chair Scheiderich questioned the amount of TVWD output do we currently purchase? Mr. Wegner stated that we purchase 2 mgd out of their average 13 mgd output . Chair Scheiderich stated that since we are currently purchasing one third of their total output, we could consider annexing into TVWD or beginning a water authority. Commissioner Hunt questioned the length of the contract signed with Portland? Mr. Wegner stated that we did not sign a new contract with Portland, although we are operating under the Tigard Water District Contract which is effective through 2007 . We have modified the contract and increased our purchase amount at a reduced rate. During the winter months this will have a significant impact on Lake Oswego since our first purchase of 1 mgd will come from Portland. We could have increased this amount to 2 mgd although we did not want to have that sudden of an impact with Lake Oswego at this time. IWB Meeting Minutes - July 10, 1996 Page 5 Commissioner Froude discussed an article in the paper as well as radio time on conservation and questioned what we are doing in regards to conservation? Mr. Wegner stated that we have the last two months have placed articles in the Cityscape and the Columbia/Willamette Conservation group is doing public announcements beginning yesterday and PGE is also doing some water conservation announcements . Commissioner Froude questioned the possibility of including something in with water bills? Mike Miller stated that we have seen a reduction in water usage lately. In 1992 prior to the drought, average gallon usage per capita per day was 150 gallons which is currently down to 130 gallons per day. This is a drop of 130 overall . Discussion was held on separating the billing to split water from sewer. Currently County residents are not billed for sewer usage and City of King City and Durham receive a separate bill from USA. The Finance Department began combining sewer and water billing with the City of Tigard and will combine the other cities at some point . These costs are itemized although you do receive one billing. 8. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 6 :25 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is September 11, 1996 . kath y\iw b\iw h 7-10.mtg IWB Meeting Minutes - July 10, 1996 Page 6