10 — THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016
Local
Public Works Advisory Committee League of
discusses water facilities plan Oregon Cities
meets in
Prairie City
BY EILEEN DRIVER
Eileen@TheBakerCountyPress.com
Gina K. Swartz / The Baker County Press
L-R: The Public Works Advisory Committee—Michelle Owen, Doug Schwinn, Gary Carter, Jim Bruce, John
Wickert and Jim Thomas.
BY GINA K. SWARTZ
Gina@TheBakerCountyPress.com
A meeting with the
Public Works Advi-
sory Committee was held
Thursday January 21, 2016
to discuss the water facili-
ties Plan.
In attendance were Mi-
chelle Owen, Public Works
Director, Doug Schwinn,
City Engineer, Commit-
tee Chairman Gary Carter,
committee members Jim
Bruce, John Wickert and
Council representative Jim
Thomas.
Not present at the meet-
ing were committee mem-
bers Myrna Morgan, Allen
McDaniel and Milo Pope,
who has resigned from the
committee.
The meeting began by
reviewing minutes from
November 5, 2015 meeting
with all in agreement to
approve those minutes.
The main focus of the
meeting was the Water
Facilities Plan.
This plan was put to-
gether by Murray, Smith
& Associates based out of
Boise, ID. The document
they put together, which
is available on the City’s
website, was a collabora-
tion with Baker City and
as City Engineer Doug
Schwinn explained, “The
plan has been through a lot
of discussions and revi-
sions.”
The plan outlined the
existing system address-
ing items such as our
location and climate, our
watershed and the service
area, water requirements
based on historical produc-
tion and use, historical
population including per
capita demands and what
population projections and
demand projections may
be in the future, offering
suggestions.
Other areas addressed
in the document include
an analysis of our cur-
rent system, a ground-
water capacity expansion
evaluation, water quality
and regulations, a capital
improvement plan and
fi nancial summary.
Baker City’s current
system is identifi ed in the
plan as being 77 miles of
distribution pipe serv-
ing our just under 10,000
citizens with nearly 4,600
connections.
It is noted that the City
primarily receives its water
supply from the 10,000-
acre watershed located 10
miles west of town within
the Elkhorn Mountains.
Water is collected from
13 intakes mostly by grav-
ity and piped to the UV
facility and reservoir. The
City currently has one ac-
tive groundwater well.
In a fi ve-year plan
another is suggested and
a third is proposed for a
20-year plan. Although the
water demands will not
grow signifi cantly based
on projections, a .03%
increase is anticipated that
will add another 600 users
to the service area.
The water demands
increase by at or less than
1% for both fi ve- and
20-year estimates. The
system analysis revealed
that while the city can
adequately meet the MMD
(maximum daily demand)
and will easily be able to
in the future there were
concerns raised about the
scenario of a major fi re in
our watershed which as
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Owen pointed out could
take time to get that
groundwater back to the
quality it needs to be at
even with the new UV
plant.
There is a lack of redun-
dancy in the local sys-
tem—adding another well,
possibly a second would
alleviate that concern.
The report also showed
a few areas within the city
where the water pressure
is lower than it should
be, nothing drastic just
something that could be
improved, especially in
areas where fi re hydrant
connections for suppres-
sion are used. The City
also has a number of old
meters that occasionally
need replaced.
New homes built or
subdivisions created are
being fi tted with radio
read meters, so basically
a city worker can point a
“reader” at the home and
get the usage read rather
than having to physically
read the meter.
There are both positive
and negative feelings about
this system.
For the City, the negative
being the cost but the posi-
tive newer, more accurate,
easier to read meters but
for many citizens there is
question about accuracy of
such a system.
Old meters that have
to be replaced, for what-
ever reason are not being
replaced with radio read
meters, they are the same
standard meters.
Radio read meters are
expensive. It was men-
tioned that in the future the
radio read meters would
not even require city staff
to drive by the home for a
read the information would
be transmitted to City Hall
though a special software
program that would also
allow daily monitoring.
If for example, there was
a leak in the pipe providing
water to a home it could be
detected almost immedi-
ately. Whereas now with a
bi-monthly billing system
leaks are often not discov-
ered for several months.
The Committee dis-
cussed the pros and cons
of switching to monthly
billing with Owen stating,
“Often people wait to pay
that water bill until the
next one comes out and
then it is really diffi cult to
pay them both, maybe bill-
ing monthly would allevi-
ate that to some degree.”
There was also mention
of a rate increase, although
not the lowest in Oregon,
Baker City is still among
one of the lowest.
Owen acknowledges that
no one wants to see their
bill go up but unfortu-
nately the cost to pay for
improvement has to come
from somewhere.
“We had a huge outcry
just last year when we
raised the rates to help pay
for the UV treatment facil-
ity,” she said.
The Committee agreed
that this Water Facilities
Plan was a good direc-
tion for Baker City to go
and agreed that this plan
should be presented to the
City Council for adoption.
Owen informed the
committee that it had to
fi rst be sent to the state
for approval and advised
if there were any major
changes she would inform
them before presenting it
to Council.
School exclusion
date is February 17
February 17 is School
Exclusion Day, and the
Oregon Immunization
Program is reminding
parents that children will
not be able to attend school
or child care starting that
day if their records on fi le
show missing immuniza-
tions—OR parents provide
an exemption.
Parents of children
with old exemptions on
fi le signed before March
2014 will need to submit
updated documentation. If
the child has received the
vaccines, the parent needs
to turn in the immunization
dates to the school.
If the parent wants a
nonmedical exemption,
the parent needs to turn
in a Vaccine Education
Certifi cate showing that
they’ve received education
about vaccines, either from
a health care practitioner
or from the online vaccine
education module.
The parent also needs to
sign a new Certifi cate of
Immunization Status.
More information about
exemptions can be found at
the division’s vaccine ex-
emption website at www.
healthoregon.org/vaccin-
eexemption.
The League of Oregon Cities Eastern Oregon Region
8 Small Cities Support Network meeting was held on
Thursday, January 21 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the
Prairie City Strawberry Grange located at 204 N McHal-
ey in Prairie City, Oregon.
This quarter’s meeting was focused on Code Enforce-
ment in small cities with quest Speaker Nikki Lesich,
CEP, Code Enforcement Offi cer, City Attorney’s Offi ce,
the Dalles, Oregon. Due to weather and road conditions
Nikki was delayed getting to the meeting so the agenda
was rearranged putting her presentation at the end of the
meeting rather than the beginning. Each city represen-
tative present introduced themselves and gave a short
update on what’s happening in their city. The host city of
Prairie City’s Mayor Jim Hamsher opened the meeting
with, “ We welcome you and want to thank you
all for making the trip thru the snow to Prairie City.”
Present with him from Prairie City was Councilor/
Mayor ProTem Georgia Patterson, City Recorder Taci
Philbrook, and Public Works Director Chris Camarena. It
was reported by Chris Camarena that they are currently
working on a sewer repair and maintenance project to get
the cities infrastructure in good condition.
The city of Monument was represented by City
Recorder Dorothy Jordan and City Councillors Carrie
Ussery and Bob Yokawa. They reported working with
Portland State University on a new Income Levels Survey
and are now reeligible for grants from which they were
excluded last year. They are now working toward a sewer
update project.
City Councillor Louis Provencher was present for John
Day and had this to report, fi re station construction is on
schedule and expected to be completed in the spring. Also
a city bike lane project is underway and they are work-
ing on updating their employment applications to comply
with new state laws and they have fi nished the update on
their employee manuals.
Long time City Manager Peggy Gray is planning to re-
tire in July and the City will soon be posting that position
and looking for qualifi ed applicants to fi ll the position.
Seneca City Manager Josh Walker stated that Seneca had
also worked on a new Income Level Study with PSU
and are also glad to report that they are now once again
qualifi ed for block grants as well and are working on
securing funding for their sewer project. They have six
volunteers going thru fi refi ghter training and are working
on updating their fi re department and equipment so they
can reopen their fi re station.
Roberta Vanderwahl, Nyssa City Manager, accompa-
nied by former Mayor Sue Walker, reported on Nyssa’s
water treatment project including the plant and total over-
haul of hydrants and water lines. She also told of her trip
to Salem to give the small cities perspective to Capitol
Hill, on the proposed minimum wage increase.
She stated, “ I was glad of the opportunity to have our
views listened to, but I don’t believe it will change their
minds in any way.”
Former City Councillor, now Planning Commissioner
for the City of Sumpter LeAnn Wolf was on hand to
report for Sumpter. She told how the sewer project had
to be put on hold due to the weather but will start again
as soon as possible. They are also working on Planning
education and enforcement and the revamping of their
charter.
Wolf explained, “Our charter calls for all our legal pub-
lications to be posted in the New York Times since they
had so many absentee mine owners from the east. It’s
time to change that.”
Huntington was represented by President of the Council
Eileen Driver and Deputy City Recorder Shellie Nash.
They reported that Huntington has a Dispensary opening
in February and has had a fl ood of requests for commer-
cial lands available. Which are dwindling fast. The sewer
project is continuing on schedule and they are currently
working on a Business License ordinance.
They also reminded those present of the Mayor’s
Luncheon being held in Huntington on Thursday January,
28th.
Also present was Ann Mitchell of the Rural Develop-
ment Initiative, Andy Gehrke of Holiday Engineering,
Mike Berry and Shawn Mallory of ODOT Ontario, David
Wildman of Anderson Perry Engineering and Randy
Jones of RSS DEQ La Grande.
After a delicious lunch of beef or chicken tacos, Nikki
Lesich arrived and gave the group valuable informa-
tion on Ordinance enforcement. The most important can
be summed up in the following quote, “ In my time as
Mayor half the town hated me and half did not. In my
position in Code Enforcement the whole town hates me
and you have to not care what they think.”
First is to have defi nitive Ordinances to enforce and the
right person to enforce them with a fi rm but empathetic
manner. Half hearted enforcement without follow thru
will not get the job done. She also handed out informa-
tion on the Oregon Code Enforcement Association and a
copy of their newsletter “The Enforcer.”
The next quarter’s meeting will be a joint regional
meeting with all LOC Member Cities, large and small,
held in John Day on May 19th at 11:30 a.m. Guest
speaker Craig Honeyman will update on what’s happen-
ing in Salem.