These conversations are primarily NOT ABOUT whether we should purchase the forest or log it or recreate in it. 

These conversations ARE ABOUT the process for arriving at those ends.

My Bias:  The purchase of the forest is a fundamental and radical change in the business of the water district.  Since the purchase and ongoing operations of the forest increases the liability and financial risk to ratepayers and taxpayers, they should be kept informed about forest decisions and have a say.

Just so everyone knows, I come to the Forest Conversations with a background in business management consulting and two intertwined biases.  Since those biases are sure to eke out into the posts, I will come clean about them here:

1. The Business:  The Arch Cape Water District is a utilities business to provide drinking water to residents and whose operation is subject to Oregon state statutes.  30 years ago, the community was legally required to vote to make this so.  If the Water District’s business is going to be more or different than a water utility, the community should similarly have a say, and
2. The Stakeholders:  Decisions about significant expansions of/ improvements to the district’s business (such as purchasing and operating a forest in perpetuity) should include community deliberation and input that is informed by the due diligence rigor of a dispassionate business process.

Given the financial responsibility of our shared ownership, everyone should be made aware of the approaches that are being considered as they emerge, everyone should have the relevant information about those approach(es) and their implications, everyone should have the opportunity to voice their perspective, and there should be a structured process for meaningfully including the community’s voice in the Board’s deliberations and decision making process.  I appreciate the work that it takes to reach out to the community in order to encourage and help them to overcome the inertia to engage in the process, but my bias is that it is worth it.  And I am more than willing to jump in to help make this so.

My Hope:  A formalized structure and process will be established to a) inform the ratepayer and taxpayers of emerging ideas that will impact that forest and its operations, b) gather their input while those ideas are still fluid, and c) meaningfully reflect their input in the Board decision making process.

My hope is that this blog will be a catalyst and a forum for bringing everyone up-to-date, keeping you current and giving you a voice.   Though a blog starts as a monologue, it can grow into a series of conversations between all of us.  It can be an informative and valuable resource that encourages the sharing of perspectives so that we all get a better and more complete sense of what everyone’s interests and concerns really are!  And hopefully, the community and the Board can find our way through to a more inclusive and collaborative process for  deliberating and making decisions about our shared business.

The posts in this blog are intended as thought-provoking Conversation Starters. They will lay out and explore questions, issues and concerns that are being raised in the community; some of them are mine and some of them are raised by others and all are shared by more than one.   I will provide as much “objective” information as I can and call out my bias/take.  Since conversations are at least 2-way, I’m hoping that you put your own perspectives in the different posts so that everyone knows what everyone is thinking.

Our next step is to figure out a formalized structure that allows for this community’s input  to influence Board decisions.

New questions and issues will arise over the next bit of time as we all go through this process.  They will be the source of future blog posts.  So, feel free to reach out to me (wec3@viaconsulting.com) if you want a specific topic presented to the community via these conversations.