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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (July 19, 2018)
july19 2018 free VERNONIA’S volume12 issue14 reflecting the spirit of our community Water and Sewer Rate Update Vernonia water and sewer customers will see an adjustment on their next bill By Ben Fousek A Brief History and a Philosophy In 2012 the City hired an outside firm to evaluate our water rates, and sug- gest new rate structures, with accompa- nying rates based on the use patterns at that time. In 2015 the City went through the same process for sewer rates. In both cases, the City adopted rate structures which are a good fit for the size and use patterns of our water and sewer systems (more on those rate structures below). Despite having good rate struc- tures in place, the City could have done better by regularly evaluating, and mak- ing proper rate changes as our use pat- terns and economy changed. The options for evaluating rates are to hire an outside firm or have the ca- pacity within City Hall to fundamentally understand the rate structures, maintain accurate use data, and propose appropri- ate rate changes. In 2016 City staff and the Public Works Committee decided on the latter to save the cost of expensive outside consulting, and create a deep in- stitutional knowledge of how our utility rates work. As we undertook this process, we needed a guiding principal to check our efforts against as we moved forward. Public Works Committee member Dale Webb made a point of regularly asking, “What is our utility rate philosophy?” Af- ter many discussions and debates, a few core ideas and values came to the surface. Provide the community with simple, fair, budget-driven utility rates. Simple to un- derstand and administer; fair to all of our customers; and based solely on budgets to promote rate stability and transpar- ency. 2018 marks the second year of the ad hoc Utility Rate Review Commit- tee, which convenes every March-April to evaluate changes in last year’s use pat- inside 10 where do you read the voice 12 schools sports fields progress 19 4 th of july parade terns to current rates, inform the budget process, and recommend rate changes to City Council. Rate Structure The City utilizes a Base + Con- sumption rate structure for both water and sewer rates. The concept behind this rate structure is to generate enough revenue to cover the cost of maintaining the sys- tems, regardless of customers consum- ing water or putting wastewater into the sewer, with flat base rates, while generat- ing the remainder of the budgets through consumptive charges to cover the vari- able costs of production and delivery of water, and treatment of wastewater. The base rates are an equal dis- tribution across all customers, and con- sumptive rates charge each customer based on individual consumption. The current water rate is split 77%-23%, and the current sewer rate is split 70%-30%. Base-consumptive splits are somewhat subjective, however a review of fixed and variable costs of the water and sewer budgets at the line-item level are in line with these base-consumptive splits. Wa- ter consumption is monthly gallonage registered through a water meter. Sewer consumption is based on the four previ- ous winter months (Nov-Feb) of water consumption. Water and sewer loans are a sep- arate component of utility rates. Loans are distributed equally in the same man- ner as base rates. Base rates and loans are multiplied by a meter multiplier based on meter size. 94% of our water system me- ters are 3/4” meters, with a multiplier of 1. Larger meters pay more based on cost and capacity ratios. A 2” meter for ex- ample, pays 2.9 times the base and loan rates. The End of Water Allowance A significant change in our rate structure beginning here in July is the elimination of water consumption allowance. All 3/4” meters have received a 2,000 gallon water allowance every month before being charged for continued on page 3 UNWC Culvert Project Will Improve Fish Habitat By Scott Laird A project to replace a culvert on Apiary Road that will allow bet- ter fish passage will close the road for a month starting August 27. Local watershed advocates think the in- convenience is worth the significant impact and overall benefits the project will have on wildlife habitat and lo- cal fish populations. Maggie Pey- ton is the Executive Director of the Upper Nehalem Watershed Council (UNWC). “We know shutting down the road will impact peo- ple, especially the tim- ber industry,” said Pey- ton during a recent interview. “They use that road a lot. We are concerned about how it affects the community and business. It was determined that a safe detour or onsite by-pass is not possible near the construction site.” She fur- ther explained, “We worked diligently for eight years with Columbia County Road Department, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lower Columbia Engineering, UNWC Board of Direc- tors, funders, and technical advisors to develop a cost effective project design that meets state and federal fish pas- sage standards and could be installed in a timely manner limiting local im- pact.” The project will replace a 125 foot long undersized metal culvert at mile post 16.1 on Apiary Road (river mile 3.5 on Oak Ranch Creek) with a pre-cast, reinforced concrete, open bot- tomed arch designed by CONTECH. The current culvert is completely im- passable to juvenile fish and only pass- able by adult fish under the right flow conditions. The current small culvert and deep road fill also restricts stream flow and sediment transport, and wild- life migration along the creek. The culvert was previously re- placed in February of 1996 following heavy rains that created stream flood- ing that backed up behind the stream crossing and washed out the road. “In this case, it really is neces- sary and has needed to be done right since 1996 when the road blew out and the County had to do an emergency re- placement,” explains Peyton. “It was initially semifunctional but over time it became a barrier to fish passage due mostly to stream erosion caused by re- striction.” The project is being funded by the Oregon Watershed Enhance- ment Board (OWEB) and the Ore- gon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). The UNWC secured the funding and engineering for the proj- ect, the Columbia County Road De- partment will manage the construction. The actual work will be completed by Kynsi Construction from Clatskanie. The project will provide continued on page 11 New Owners Reopen Automotive Shop Josh and Tera Rullmann have opened AV Automotive Repair in Ver- nonia at 745 Adams Avenue. Formerly the home of Ward Mobile Shop and Services, the Rul- lmanns say they will be making a few changes, but will also be offering many of the same services already in place. The Rullmanns have purchased the business from owner Reggie Ward, after spending about three weeks work- ing with him and learning how he ran his business. “We’re doing our best to try and carry on everything Reggie was doing here, including his relationships with his customers and the business he built,” says Tera. “We’ll be honest with people and try to keep things lo- cal. We’ll work with other shops here in town if we need to. We hope people will give us a chance and help us get started.” In addition to auto repair services, AV Automotive Repair will continue to offer propane, the self-serve car wash and vacuum, and auto detail services. Tera and Josh say they are working to clean up the shop and make it their own. Tera and Josh, along with son Eli, moved to Vernonia about two years ago from Oklahoma, where Josh was stationed and served in the U.S. Army, working in artillery. Josh has a fairly extensive background working on all kinds of cars. “He’s very creative,” says Tera. “If there’s a problem that needs to be solved, he’s able to adapt and figure it out. He’s always worked on his own cars, and then we met Reggie while try- ing to help a local with a difficult auto continued on page 13
