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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2013)
city/community news may2 Understanding the City Wastewater Project continued from front page determine whether the biosolids need to be removed, processed, hauled and land applied as fertilizer. To prepare for this the City entered an IGA with Clean Water Services to act as the hauler and land application contractor. The City will develop a contract process to select a dredger and biosolids processor, potentially in May 2013. However, the City is now informed that there is less biosolids matter in place in the lagoons and are asking the engineers for an opinion on the need to extract biosolids at this time. If the need is not present at this time, the City will instead modify the rates to establish the reserves to allow for removal in the next two decades. The cost of biosolids removal at this time is approximately $800,000 and would be funded through the DEQ loan. 3. WWTP New Construction Project. The WWTP project itself has three subcomponents: (a) elevating the dykes system above the 500 year floodplain, (b) construction and installation of mechanicals within a new small building, and (c) installing a pipe gallery to serve as a seasonal discharge array through the hyporheic groundwater zone to mix with the Nehalem River. The dyke elevation will require laying rock and gravel on the existing berms to an elevation of 622.7 – nominally 4 feet higher than the current elevation. The new building will be built atop the new berms near the headworks and will include pumps, filtration and aeration equipment. The pipe gallery will be three segments of pipe that total over 2800 feet in length. This perforated pipe will be used to slowly release, at a depth of 20 feet below grade, discharge that will mix with ground water before reentering the Nehalem River downstream. The City is hoping that this project can be started by August 2013, but there is reason to believe that the project will be delayed until the 2014 building season. This is a large complicated project. The rate adjustment is based on the current costs associated with the project. Also included in the rate discussion is direction from City Council to include building reserves. With the fixed and variable rate, customers would be charged a fixed rate, based on the size of their water meter, and then a fixed rate per 1,000 gallons used, determined by the average during the months of November through February so consumers would not be charged for watering gardens and lawns. Most residential and small commercial customers could expect to see a lower fixed rate than the current $53. What it will cost Financing options will also The current cost estimate is impact the amount of rate adjustment approximately $4.5 to $5 million. This needed in order to pay for the project. project will most likely be funded under a new DEQ loan, but other financing Financing options options are being assessed. The City has financing options Exactly how the Wastewater available from two sources – Oregon Treatment Plant upgrade will impact Department of Environmental Quality residents’ monthly bills has not yet Clean Water State Revolving Fund been determined. The Vernonia Public (CWSRF) and United States Department Works Committee has been meeting of Agriculture – Rural Utility Services with a rate study consultant, FCS Group, Wastewater Treatment Loan and Grant and has recommended an adjustment (RUS). to the Sewer Rate to the City Council. The City currently has an Council will now consider a fixed and open DEQ CWSRF loan that it may variable rate that would be tied to water retain and, as needed, by amendment, consumption at the May 20, 2013 Public add additional debt to fully fund the Hearing. proposed WWTP project. If they pursue 2013 5 this option the total debt will be over $10 million, the term will be less than 20 years, at an annual interest rate of 2.93%. The City may instead complete only the Flume Improvement and Biosolids Removal Projects, adding that cost to the existing debt and pursue a new loan with DEQ to capture a lower interest rate. There would be then a loan indebtedness of $5.5 million, for a term less than 20 years at an interest rate of 2.93%; and a new loan of about $4.5 to $5 million with a term of 20 years, with interest at or above 1.96%. Lastly the City is exploring the use of RUS loan and grant to take the place of some or all of the CWSRF debt and to refinance existing USDA debt. The reason that this may be of value is that the term is 40 years, allowing the extended repayment period to be a tool to allow rate relief as a trade-off for the longer repayment period. The City Council will review these financing options in the next two months in a work session. Questions? City Administrator Bill Haack is interested in taking your questions about this project by email: bill@Vernonia-or. gov, or contact him at City Hall at (503) 429-5291. The Sounding Board: Uproar Happens “Slow Learners: Two Hundred By Jack Phillips dialogue. He accepted my to like anybody. Simply, if Years of Unheeded Warnings” apology. We have con- we can put our shoulders to In my last article concerning WOEC, I made a factual mistake. When discussing the WOEC annu- al audit. I stated that Robert VanNatta’s daughter worked for Kenneth Kuhns & Com- pany which was incorrect. She works for AKT, another accounting audit firm that was being considered. It was my error. An apology is certainly in order. I regret the mistake. There was no intent to lie. AKT was being considered. Robert’s daugh- ter works for AKT. What I misunderstood was who worked where. My objec- tion was to the remarks ac- tually made. Nonetheless, there is actual good that has re- sulted. Mr. VanNatta and I have opened an email curred on several construc- tive points: audits and their review are not easy; running a utility is complicated; out- side criticism makes it more so. “Maybe”, as Robert has said “the concept of build- ing bridges isn’t all bad.” And I agree. The Board, the membership, folks who work at WOEC… all know that everyone hates high rates. It is a problem that does not go away. WOEC’s image is not good. People want something done. Folks know Power of One wants something done, despite our faults. If all those involved can stop, let go of the tug- of-war-rope, we just might get something done. No- body is being soft. Nobody is giving in. Nobody has the wheel, we can move for- ward. Will the rates go down? Is generation pos- sible? Will WOEC have to be sold? Will business have to be done differently? Who knows? Marc Farmer will certainly do whatever the Board directs him to do. What we do need to do is understand how things work; make counseled, for- mal application for access; look at the records; deter- mine where we are; make some hard choices and pick a solution. We should be able to do this “co-operatively.” If Robert and I can agree, it would be great if all of us can. START RIGHT. START HERE. SM Get Your Garden Ready Lawn Care Supplies • Insect Control Trimmer Line • Hoses• Seeds Potting Soil • Garden Tools Family owned & operated for over 40 years 834 Bridge St., Vernonia (503) 429-6364 The Vernonia Library was host on April 20, 2013 to an interest- ing conversation about warning signs of impending doom that the leaders and general population of our coun- try and planet are continuing to ig- nore. “Slow Learners: Two hun- dred Years of Unheeded Warnings” was the program facilitated by Dr. Richard Clinton, professor emeritus of political science at Oregon State University. The program was part of the Conversation Project through Oregon Humanities. Oregon Humanities offers free programs that engage communi- ties in thoughtful, challenging con- versations about ideas critical to our daily lives and our state’s future. Dr. Clinton used a series of historic quotes from authors, histori- ans, scientists and poets to stimulate conversation with the small audience in attendance. Clinton raised ques- tions about overpopulation and the earths ability to sustain continual growth, (“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable impera- tive.” - H.G. Wells), our continued reliance on technology to solve our problems, (“Men have become the tools of their tools.” - Henry David Thoreau), the unwillingness of the United States to take seriously the threat of global warming, the role of money and greed in our political de- cision making, the continuing dispar- ity between the rich and the poor, and how corporations and the rich control our economy and governments, (“An attitude to life which seeks fulfill- ment in the single minded pursuit of wealth, in short materialism, does not fit into this world, because it contains within itself no limiting principle, while the environment in which it is continued on page 6 Old, worn out and rusty? Need body work? Call... Meyer’s Auto Body •493 Bridge St• VERNONIA 503-429-0248
