Election of Water and Sanitary District Board members will be held on May 20th. Three (3) positions on each Board will be up for election (Water – Bill Campbell (Chair), Bob Cerelli, Chris Mastrandrea; Sanitary – Mark Engberg, Casey Short (Chair), Darr Tindall). Candidates can file between February 8th and March 20. Click here for form. https://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Documents/SEL101.pdf
*** IT’S BEEN A VERY FULL MONTH – SO THIS IS A LONG COMMUNICATION ****
This month is a good example of what it takes to fully administer the Districts, so that Matt and his team are freed up to keep things operating and to rejuvenate the plants. Administrative work is not nearly as fascinating and rewarding as operations, nor as stressful, but it is an essential and time consuming activity.
This communication covers work underway in the following areas:
- Billing System Transition – From UBMax to gWorks
- Progress towards an Interim District Administrator (to fill the role once the Board Chairs’ term ends in June)
- Budget Committee Members needed by March 15th
- Trump Administration’s freeze on Grant funding has impacted Lift Station Project
- New Ordinances for Assessing SDCs, Water Metering & Connecting with District Sewer lines
- Progress on District Rejuvenation Projects
A. Billing System Transition – From UBMax to gWorks
As mentioned in last week’s Special Edition #1, both Districts have been migrated over to a new billing system. A company named gWorks purchased UB Max, the system that we have been using. gWorks has phased out the UB Max system on their own timeline, with virtually no input from the Districts, and replaced it with their own. We had asked gWorks for a bit of notice before the final migration so we could check things out, and let everyone know what was coming, but alas…
The good news is that we all have almost a month to work out the kinks in setting up gWorks accounts for rate payers that want one. There is no rush. Until the billing statements are generated on March 10, there will be no information to view in the accounts. We encourage you to start the process now to become familiar with your gWorks account. If you find any issues, please let Teri know. She will work with gWorks to get things resolved. Just know that our experience to date is that gWorks works on their own schedule and responsiveness doesn’t appear to be a core value to them.
The Districts’ primary focus with gWorks is making sure that the March 10th billing statements are accurate. To the extent that we have gWorks’ attention, we want their first priority to be correct billing statements, their second priority to fix problems with accounts, and their third priority to provide us with user documentation for using their system.
We are also aware that gWorks’ autopay charge rate payers a fee for electronic bank debits, as well as for credit cards. We are looking into this to better understand gWork’s pricing structure and options available to rate payers.
We will be keeping the District web site updated with current instruction and known issues. Click here Please check it periodically and let Teri (archcapebilling@gmail.com) know of any question or issues that you are finding.
B. Progress towards an Interim District Administrator (to fill the role once the Board Chairs’ term ends in June)
3 proposals were received in response to our Request for Proposals (RFP). The Joint Personnel and Contracting Committee (comprised of both Boards) is now conducting an evaluation process that will lead to contracting with one of them. Ideally we will award a contract in March or early April at the latest. By State Statute, proposals can’t be made public until after the Notice of Award.
C. Budget Committee Members needed by March 15
The Districts could use your help with the FY2025-2026 budgeting process that starts this April. It won’t take much of your time.
Please consider applying to be on the Budget committee for the Water District, Sanitary District or both. It will only require participation in 2-3 Zoom meeting in April and early May (if necessary). If you are interested and willing to participate in the budget review process please send an email.
| Month | Day / Time | Event | Focus / Intent |
| April | April 3rd 4:00 | Budget Meeting Zoom | 1st meeting – Presentation of budgets and first round of discussion |
| April 17th 4:00 | Budget Meeting Zoom | 2nd meeting – Refinement of Budget | |
| May | May 1st 4:00 | Budget Meeting Zoom | 3rd Meeting – Final refinement and approval of Budget |
D. Trump Administration’s freeze on Grant funding has impacted Lift Station Project
The Webb Lift Station rebuild project is being funded by a FEMA grant that is supposed to pay 90% of the $575,000 estimated costs. By the terms of the grant, the District pays the contractors for the work and then, after the contractors’ payments clear the bank, the District can submit a reimbursement request to Oregon’s Department of Emergency Management (OEM), the State agency for FEMA. OEM then reimburses the District.
The Trump Administration’s freeze on Federal Grants came right after the first $116,000 payment was processed by OEM but before the second $220,000 was processed. Though we have been in touch with OEM, the District has still not gotten word about the status of the second $220,000 reimbursement payment or if/ when the cost of ongoing work will be reimbursed. The work on the Lift Station must be completed due to its age and level of malfunctioning.
E. New Ordinances for Assessing SDCs, Water Metering & Connecting with District Sewer lines
SDCs & Water Meters
Over the past several months, Clatsop County has adopted a broader set of approved dwelling types for Arch Cape and has adopted specifics standards for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). Those changes by Clatsop County have required the Arch Cape Water and Sanitary Boards to revisit the previous Districts’ Ordinances about how System Development Charges (SDC) are assessed. The Water Board also needed to repeal a previous Ordinance about requirements for water metering and adopt a new Ordinance.
In brief, SDCs will be assessed for each new or added dwelling unit that is on a lot, except for ADUs (which are defined as having less than 900 square feet of livable space). Water metering requirements will vary depending upon the type of dwelling unit permitted by Clatsop County, e.g., 2 meters will be required for a duplex, 3 meters for a triplex, etc.
Click to review the Ordinances.
Connecting to Sewer District lines.
Recently, some homeowners hired contractors to work on their private sewer lines and those contractors did not notify the District before doing work on the connection between the private sewer line and the District sewer line. In a few cases, the contractors did sub-par work that will require the District, at the District’s expense, to redo the connection.
An Ordinance has been adopted by the Sanitary District that requires all homeowners/ contractors to a.) get a Permit from the Sanitary District before doing any work that will result in connecting a private sewer line with a District sewer line and b.) follow specific standards and conditions when doing that work. This Permit is in addition to the permit required by Clatsop County before working on a sewer line that is in a public Right-of-Way, like under a road.
Click here to review that Ordinance.
F. Progress on District Rejuvenation Projects
In addition to standard operations tasks and addressing unexpected challenges that present themselves, the following progress has been made this month on the FY2024-2025 budgeted rejuvenation projects listed below – with green indicating completed and yellow indicating progress was made / new status reported. (The complete set of projects with descriptions and status can be found by clicking here.)
- Project 1 – Replace Operations Control Electronics for the Water Plant. PROGRESS MADE
The computer hardware and wiring has been rearranged to simplify and expedite the process for bringing the backup computer on-line in urgent situations.
The final step is to work with AT&T or Verizon to implement the capability for plant alarms to be broadcast to Staff members by text rather than email.
- Project 2 – Replace Webb Lift Station. PROGRESS MADE
The electrical work has been completed to bring power to the inside of the lift station building. And wires have been run to the appropriate locations in the walls to power the control panels, when they arrive.
Reimbursement of the District’s construction costs by the previously awarded FEMA grant is a critical unknown at this time.
- Project 3 – Upgrade & Bring Current the Business/ Admin Computer and Data System. COMPLETED
- Project 5 – Implement an Asset Management System. COMPLETED
- Project 6 – Upgrade & Bring Current the Districts’ Web Site. COMPLETED
- Project 7 – Inspect Water Lines for Lead. COMPLETED
- Project 8 – Replace Operations Control Electronics for the Sanitary Plant. PROGRESS MADE
A fan was installed and connected in the control room, along with a dehumidifier, to minimize the impact of corrosion on the computer systems and electronics
- Project 9 – Replace Operations Control Electronics for the Sanitary Plant. JUST COMPLETED
Installation of new hardware and software has been completed that now provide the control panel redundancy that was an integral safety & reliability component of the plant’s operational design.
A.C. Water District Board (Go to Home Page) 