Washington Association of Sewer and Water Districts

Pipeline

Articles from the May 2003 Publication

More Management Changes On the Horizon

More and more managers and other senior district staff are retiring or moving to other positions. It has been generally recognized for several years that general managers and other district staff covered under the State’s PERs 1 system would be in a position to retire soon.

This it appears is beginning to occur. Patty Grau recently was able to retire from Hazel Dell Sewer District in the Vancouver area. The District went through an extensive replacement search process before they selected Bob Bandarra, who until accepting this position has served as the General Manager of Woodinville Water & Sewer District.

Bob will begin his new position on June 6th. The Board of Woodinville has indicated that it will be submitting job announcements in the near future as it seeks a person to replace Bandarra.

Ronald Wastewater District is currently in the process of finding a new General Manager to replace Phil Montgomery who is retiring in August.

Recently Whatcom Water District #10 has changed managers with their new Manager Jim Neher coming on board the district on Monday May 19th. Jim, we understand, has previous experience in city administration but is leaving a petroleum services company to take over as Manager at Whatcom 10.

Someof our members may remember Pat Sizemore, the GM of Birch Bay prior to his retirement. His replacement at BirchBay, Roger Brown, reports that Pat is assisting a new district, Evergreen Water and Sewer District in eastern WhatcomCounty to get up and running.

The Ongoing Saga of Water

Like the slow, nerve wracking, drip, drip of a leaky faucet the fits and starts of water legislation is driving many people to drink (not water either). When is this torturous process going to end? Many are hoping that when the Legislature goes back to work in their May special session that they will pass three bills that will address municipal water rights, use of water quality laws to control withdrawals, and a watershed planning implementation bill. Respectively, HB 1338, SSB 5028 and HB 1336 are all still “alive” if legislators choose to work on them while they are in Olympia to pass a budget.

Nobody is really happy with these bills but after months of drafts, redrafts, lobbying and other pressure representatives from the Senate and House sat down in the final hours of the final days and advanced all new drafts of these bills. Done in closed rooms without the regulated community’s participation these draft bills are, as we currently understand, agreed to by the two legislative bodies and the Administration. The Governor will agree to sign all three bills if they come to his desk in the current form.

All parties agreed that no amendments would be accepted to these bills and if they were amended they would probably not get passed in the Senate or signed by the Governor. The tribes and environmentalists have put a tremendous amount of effort into killing these bills since the legislature went home at the end of the regular session.

The opponents have achieved a great amount of press ink over the past week against these bills. On Friday May 10th, the Seattle Times editorial spoke in support of the three bills and urged the legislature to pass them when they go back into special session.

Also on Friday, May 10th, the papers carried the news that both the House and Senate would not be going back into full special session but would gavel the session into being and immediately start a rolling recess. This will keep all legislators at home while those engaged in negotiating the budget come back to Olympia to work on the budget. At such time as both houses believe they have agreement then the full House and Senate will be brought to town to vote on the budget.

This may leave very little time for any action on water bills or another legislation. Some of those who watch the legislative process believe there is a chance there will be a second special session later in the summer if the budget gets passed quickly.

This second special session would address some other issues that were not handled in the regular session. Water would most likely be one of those issues.

If the budget process gets bogged down in May then the other issues may be acted upon. Time will tell.

Everything You Might Want to Know About DOE & DOH is on the WEB

Washington State is recognized as a leader in making the workings of State government available to the public on the internet. Not only can we now follow the activities of the Legislature on the web we can download RCWs (Reorganized Code of Washington), WACs (Washington Administrative Code), agency policies, agency committee meeting agendas, minutes, and membership rosters and a host of other helpful materials.

Your Association has been able to greatly reduce the cost of providing information to members on legislative issues, and other agency activities by use of the internet, state web sites and email. Bills being considered by the past two legislative sessions have been available on line for anyone who wanted a copy to be able to download one.

This year for the first time the web site where the bills were located was designed in such a manner that all one needed to enter was the 4-digit bill number to gain access to the bill, there amendments, reports, and digests as well as voting records on all these bills. This made it much easier for the Government Relations committee to provide information to members in nearly real time.

This level of access is also now available within any state agency your district may need to work with. For example if you wish to watch what the DOH, Drinking Water Division, Water Supply Advisory Committee is doing, just go to:

If water quality is your issue then you can follow the workings of the Water Quality Partnership at:

If your district needs loans for upgrading treatment or collection systems you can access the Dept. of Ecology’s Financial Assistance site at:

If it is information on the Public Works Trust Fund that you are seeking then go to: .

Almost any agency program, rule, policy, staff list, phone directory or office location can be found on the State’s web site. If you need to read about your powers as a district commissioner then you might visit RCW 57.08.005 which can be found at: . The resources you can find on line are phenominal. You can search the Federal Government in nearly the same manner. A fast way to get to where you want to go is by using Google.com as your search engine.

WASWD will continue to build on its use of the internet in its attempt to keep members informed on issues and to find out from districts what their needs might be.

Public Relations Committee Updating Association’s Marketing Tools

As special districts go forward to deal with the every growing issues of assumption, conservation, increased rates and system security the Public Relations Committee believes it is important to have communication tools that will make each district’s job easier.

The Committee is working to develop a set of tools and resources that districts may utilize to help them in their need to inform and discuss issues with ratepayers and the media.

One tool is the recently created “Public Relations Tool Kit.” The Tool Kit is designed to be used by district staff and commissioners when addressing issues such as rate increases and security matters with owner/customers, local media, and other local government jurisdictions. Need a press release? There is a model release in the Tool Kit. Being contacted by a local reporter on an emerging issue? The Tool Kit has a check list for dealing with reporters, either print or broadcast.

Another tool available to districts is a Power Point presentation designed to be used with local civic organizations which describes how special districts came into existence, how they operate, and how they obtain revenue. This Power Point is currently being modified by individual districts to contain specific information on their district and its current issues. If you would like to obtain a copy for your use or would like assistance in modifying the program for your district please contact Hal at the Association’s office.

In addition we can assist districts in locating specialized help in a variety of issues and problems. Just call for information.

2004 Budget Planning Underway

The WASWD Finance Committee began work on the 2004 annual budget early in February. Meeting on a monthly basis the committee has reviewed the past five years of budget in an effort to determine how accurate the Association’s budgeting process has become. Working with that information the committee reviewed the proposed 2004 budget and initiated a process that will allow them to look forward towards the next 5 years.

Several structural changes will be proposed to the Board of Directors and the membership regarding how the Association’s finances are handled.

One change is to have the Leadership Development committee determine on an annual basis how conference and workshop revenues can be used to assist in funding the Association’s operations. This is in addition to paying the cost of each conference and workshop.

The Leadership committee believes that for 2004 it will be able to contribute $15,000 towards the financial needs of the organization. That number increases in 2005 to $20,000. This method also provides a working fund for the committee to use to improve the quality of our two annual conferences.

The other major change that is being proposed is designed to allow the Finance Committee to determine what actual dues for the following year will be. This in turn will allow invoices to go out before the normal late November time frame. The goal is to stabilize the budgeting process for districts as they set funds aside to pay dues.

Funds remaining in the Association at the end of each calendar year will be set aside in a reserve account to be used to help fund the Association’s needs in the next budgeting cycle. Full information on these and other changes will be discussed at the June and July Board of Directors’ meetings and at July and August Section meetings.

Then at the Fall Conference in September on Wednesday, September 10th a preconference budget workshop will be conducted. The workshop will be utilized to present the proposed budget and finance changes to members. The members may ask questions, make suggestions, and gather information. During the budget portion of the Annual meeting two days later the members will be able to propose amendments or changes to the process before the final budget is adopted by the membership.

RCW 82.04.312Exemptions--Water services supplied by small water-sewer districts, irrigation districts, or systems--Rate averaging by department of health. (Expires July 1, 2004.)

Many smaller special purpose water/sewer districts have enjoyed the advantage of using what would have been their B&O tax obligation for improving their systems. This exemption is in its 6th year and was scheduled to expire in 2003 in the original bill. Fortunately, the irrigation districts came back to the legislature in the following year after our bill was passed and asked to be included in the exemption.

The legislature agreed and granted them the exemption and to provide for the full benefit extended the expiration date by one year to 2004.

There was a request by the Administration to address the expiration date this year rather than next year to help in solving this year’s budget crisis. We had planned on attempting to pass extending legislation next year.

Legislators this year were not in much of a mood to offer extensions to any B&O tax payers regardless of benefits derived from the exemption.

Our hope is that next year we will be able to pass an exemption bill. In the meantime, if you are currently eligible for the exemption you will be able to continue doing so for the balance of this year.

May 2003 PIPELINE Articles