In a nutshell
- Matt Gardner (the new District Manager) on top of everything else he has to do, may have found the 15,000,000-million+ gallon leak.
- The recommended long-range financial plans for the Water and Sanitary Districts have been posted and will be reviewed by the Budget Committee on Tuesday. The cost of 6 years of Board neglect is a 50% increase in rates over the next 9 years bringing the combined water and sanitary rates from $439/quarter this past year to $659/quarter in 2031 (an average increase of 5.5% / year).
- Chris Mastrandrea has made in-roads with Business Oregon to use ARPA-COVID funds to help offset District costs for repairing/improving water and sanitary infrastructure.
- In spite of Chris’s willingness and early success in taking on this responsibility with Business Oregon, Board Chair Nadia Gardner has unilaterally appointed a $100/hr. consultant and the District Manager to be points of contact with Business Oregon. Distracting the District Manager with Forest responsibility is exactly what got the District into the operational and financial bind.
- Arch Cape Residents have an opportunity to make a difference in May’s election with a VOTE for an experienced management team that have the skills to stabilize the District. Ballots are out.
Tevis Dooley III (Position #1) Chris Mastrandrea (Position #3) Bill Campbell (Position #4) Sam Garrison (Position #5)
The Unsung Hero
Matt Gardner has been working solo since the previous District Manager quit in January. During that time Matt has been doing two full-time jobs – Manager and Operator. He is on call 24×7, working long days and unpaid overtime. He is operating the plant, opening the irrigation site, switching our water source to Asbury Creek, dealing with crises as they arise, working with Casey Short and the Budget Committee on next year’s budget & long-range financial plans, and doing whatever maintenance he can with the left-over time. On top of that, he is interviewing candidates for the Operator position and most importantly has spent evenings/nights (when residential water volume is lowest) to find the 15,000,000-gallon leak. Matt’s sleuthing came up with three possibilities. He had Cannon Beach confirm them and last Friday he brought in a leak detection company. The company used all their tools and tricks and they said that they have a 99% assurance that the leak is at Montbrecia and Pacific. The next step is to dig to confirm the leak.
Significant Rate Increases are required to pay for the 6 years of neglect
Over the past 4-6 weeks, Casey Short, Matt Gardner and other Community volunteers have been working on next year’s budget and developing a long overdue financial plan for how the District can pay for the neglected maintenance and deferred capital improvements that are outlined in the Engineers’ report. Their recommendations will be presented to the Budget Committee at Tuesday’s May 2nd meeting. Click here for Water Budget & Plan. Click here for Sanitary Budget & Plan.
Those recommendation call for a combined increase in water and sanitary rates of 50% over the next 9 years, from $439/quarter this past year to $659/quarter in 2031, (an average increase of 5.5% / year). And those rate increases assume that the District will be awarded a $262,500 grant from FEMA. If that grant isn’t awarded ….
It important to note that there is still no financial long range plan for the Forest. Based upon the previous Forest financial plan, which is being ignored by the Old Board, there is a strong likelihood that rate payers will be be burdened by costs for that as well.
And yet, the Old Board is either unaware of, or chooses to ignore, the pressing need to address the District’s financial challenges.
At the April Board meeting, newly appointed Board member Chris Mastrandrea overcame objections from Board Chair Nadia Gardner and past Board Chair Dan Seifer to ask Business Oregon whether the ARPA-COVID funds could be used to repair/improve District Utility infrastructure. Per a Board motion, Chris was given 10 days to get a written, positive response from Business Oregon or else Nadia Gardner would sign a $100,000+ contract for tree thinning in the Forest. (Zoom Recording 30 min 40 sec mark).
Since then, here’s what has happened
- Chris’ work has gotten a positive response from Business Oregon
Chris sent a letter to Business Oregon that presented a compelling case for using the District’s ARPA-COVID fund to repair/improve the District’s water and waste water infrastructure.
Business Oregon responded that since the title of the award from the legislature is ‘Arch Cape Forest’, the funds cannot be spent on waste water projects. However, the GOOD NEWS is that they connected Chris with a person from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) who is managing available federal funding for waste water projects. Chris passed the contact over to Matt Gardner and the Sanitary District Board. Obtaining this money would significantly help reduce the probable rate increases.
Business Oregon also responded in writing that ARPA-COVID funds could be spent on drinking water projects, depending on the project. They would like to get a better idea about a) the specific repairs /improvements that are needed and b) the other funds that the district has that can be spent on the forest. Chris is working with them to answer their questions.
2. Yet, Board Chair Nadia Gardner continues to spend District money and resources on complicating Chris’ efforts or replacing him (it is unclear which).
Even though a Board motion authorized Chris to work with Business Oregon, Nadia Gardner unilaterally instructed Daniel Wear, a District paid $100/hr. consultant from Sustainable Northwest, to reach out to Business Oregon to discuss use of the ARPA-COVID funds over “the next few years” for “our team”. (Click here for email from Daniel Wear – per Public Records Request)
Nadia Gardner also emailed Business Oregon to say that Matt Gardner would be the ongoing point of contact with Business Oregon. (Click here for email from Nadia Gardner – per Public Records Request)
In spite of the dire financial and operational status of the Districts due to the Boards’ distraction with the Forest over the past 6 years. . .
Nadia Gardner has decided to pay a $100/hr. consultant with no vested interest in the District to be a point of contact with Business Oregon. Is $100/hr. an effective use of District money when Chris Mastrandrea, another Board member, has been successful in exploring funding opportunities for water and sanitary infrastructure that the Old Board has been saying are prohibited by the contract with Business Oregon?
Nadia Gardner has also decided to include Matt Gardner as a point of contact for Business Oregon, in addition to tasking him with Forest activities, e.g., meeting with the Forester and Daniel Weir (again at $100/hr.), attending Forest Management Committee meetings and Recreation meetings. Not only do these tasks bring with them a risk of burning out Matt, but having the District Manager involved in Forest Activities is exactly what got the District into the operational and financial bind it is in. And at that time there were two staff members to operate the plant. Now there is just one, and that one, Matt, has to hire and train a new Operator on top of everything else. Is this an effective use of a very critical District Manager resource when discussions with Business Oregon are policy-focus and not operations-focused, and a Board member is willing to take on that role?
Your Vote is needed to Stabilize the District with an experienced Management Team
The operational and financial instability of the District along with the upcoming rate increases clearly demonstrate the need for a Water Board that has the relevant experience to bring the District back to solid ground. Stabilizing the district and putting necessary plans / controls in place will require Board members to have business operations and financial management expertise. Like any turn-around business, this job will take several years by a focused and cohesive team with shared objectives.
Ballots are out! District residents have an opportunity to vote for change – to bring in a management team with the needed knowledge and experience.
Tevis Dooley III (position #1), Chris Mastrandrea (position #3), and Bill Campbell (position #4) are running unopposed.
Nadia Gardner has chosen to run for re-election and is opposing Sam Garrison (position #5), who is a third generation Arch Cape-ian . In contrast to Nadia, Sam has experience running a business and his expertise/skills adds to & complements the expertise /skills of the other three members of the almost certain management team. Importantly, all four members of the team are aligned with these priorities:
1. Bring sound financial planning and management into the operations of the Water District.
2. Let the need for clean water drive the priorities of the Utility and Forest.
3. Make transparent decisions that are informed though community outreach.
PLEASE VOTE AND SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH VOTERS AND OTHERS!
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