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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1994/09/19 - Totten Little Skookum CWD TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 ATTENDANCE: Mary L. Faughender, Commissioner William O. Hunter, Commissioner Laura E. Porter, Chairperson Wayne Clifford, Water Quality Coordinator The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by Chairperson Laura E. Porter. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Cmmr. Hunter/Faughender moved and seconded to approve the August 30, 1994 minutes as amended and the August 15, 1994 minutes as circulated. Motion carried unanimously. F-aye;H-aye; P-aye. BUSINESS HEARING - 94/95 FEE ASSESSMENT The Clerk read aloud the notice of hearing to consider reducing the$45 fee to a$35 fee for assessment year July 1, 1994 - June 30, 1995 for the Totten/Little Skookum Clean Water District. Wayne Clifford, Technical Administrator, presented a staff report. In 1992 Mason County received a $25,405 grant from EPA to create the clean water district. At the same time Mason County received a $378,865 grant with a 25% match required to implement sewage system inspections and develop farm plans within the watershed. In late 1992 the Totten/Little Skookum Clean Water District advisory committee was formed and was asked to review the grants and develop a funding recommendation to meet the fiscal requirements which the grant would not cover. The advisory committee recommended an annual assessment of$45 per year for three years to meet the program expenses. The recommendation was accepted for the first year. The committee was then asked to review the assessment for the second year. In June 1993,Department of Ecology and Mason County entered into a Consent Order. The Consent Order stipulated the County must provide the technical, legal and financial means to be used to identify and correct currently failing on-site sewage systems in a timely manner. The work is being accomplished through the Clean Water District at this time. In June 1994 the Advisory Committee passed a recommendation to the Commissioners to set a second year assessment at$45.00. It was the opinion of the Health Department at that time, this would not be adequate to meet the projected needs of the project; however, the recommendation was forwarded to the Commissioners. A hearing was held by the Board of Commissioners on July 18, 1994. After the hearing, two new pieces of information were received which affected the calculation of the proposed assessment. 1) Shellfish Growers submitted a letter of commitment of$18,000 for 1995;2) Conservation District reduced their budgetary requests needed to match their Centennial Clean Water Fund Grant for 1993 work.' These factors were used to recalculate the assessment proposal to$35. The revised proposal was presented to the Advisory Committee and they passed a recommendation back to the Commissioners to adopt the new $35 assessment. Mr.Clifford commented on the general status of the Totten/Little Skookum project and referred to one measure of project accomplishments is the comparison of work accomplished versus budget expenditures: For the period of 1/93 - 8/94 they completed 42.8% or 496 of the 1158 sewage systems within the district. The total grant budget for three years is $404,270. The total amount billed to the grant for the project from 1/93 - 8/94 is $138,715 which represents 34.3% of the budget. They have completed 42.8% of the surveys and have billed in the same period of time for 34.3% of the grant budget. The project is scheduled for completion in December 1995. V TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 - PAGE 2 He explained how they reached the assessment recommendation of$35.00. The first step was to anticipate how much money they would need to transfer from the Clean Water District to Water Quality for the period of 7/94-6/95 which amounted to$52,657. Next they subtracted the 7/1/94 ending fund balance of$23,469 from the Clean Water district the anticipated transfers of$52,657 reflect an additional revenue need of$29,188. They needed to adjust the 1158 accounts based on the 80% collection rate which they are currently experiencing for a total of 926.4 accounts. They divided the additional revenue need of$29,188 by 926.4 accounts and come up with $31.51. They rounded that figure up to the recommended assessment and calculated the revenue at the recommended assessment of$35.00 which brings the total to$32,424.00. Then they calculated the ending fund balance by subtracting the anticipated revenue need from the calculated revenue. At the end of the period in 1995, they anticipate ending up with$3,236 ending fund balance for the Totten/Little Skookum Clean Water District. A question was raised about the 80% collection rate. Mr. Clifford responded the 80% rate is calculated after two delinquent notices are sent out. Cmmr. Porter asked where the funding is set for the farm plan work. She was advised it is included in the budget calculations. Krag Unsoeld, Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, commented that from his project implementation - experience it is generally the case that the easy and less costly tasks get taken care of first. He was concerned about the fact there are 600 outstanding survey forms which hadn't been acknowledged. He added there will need to be some administrative effort to contact those 600 households and get them to answer the questionnaire and grant permission to perform the survey. He asked if the additional staff work has been incorporated into the budget projection or if they are assuming the same amount of staff work for the remaining households to be surveyed. Mr. Clifford responded they haven't taken it into account because their projections are for a twelve month period. They don't anticipate the project will be completed within twelve months. Harold Fitzwater referred to the July 18 minutes which stated, "Cmmr. Hunter noted this was a three year program to complete the project as outlined." He also mentioned a comment by Chairperson Porter at the June 6 meeting,"Chairperson Porter stated the budget year for the District is July 1 and she hoped billing would start around that time if possible. Most importantly is an accurate budget, that the fees are as small as they possibly can be to get the work done, and the advisory committee is satisfied they have had a full review." On August 15,Mr. Clifford said, "In light of new information they would like to take the problem of establishing a recommendation back to the advisory board . . ." There was mention of a briefing with Mr. Banner where a diagram was used to illustrate the issue in discussion; however it was not available at the public meeting. At the last advisory board meeting Mr. Banner presented a recommended assessment amount of$35.00 for the 1994/1995 fiscal assessment year. Mr. Banner provided handouts with budget projections and status reports to the committee. The Board set a public hearing to consider the clean water district assessment fee of$35.00. TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 - PAGE 3 Mr. Fitzwater submitted a narrative of the fiscal period using the Health Services chart. He wanted to clarify where his figures were coming from since there was a question from the Health Services Department. January 1993 - June 30, 1994 there was a difference of $16,357 (which was labeled clean water district payment for services) with the County Auditor's records for the same period. For the period of July 1, 1994- June 30, 1995 a budget was projected at $200,043, for which Mr. Fitzwater was not aware of a public hearing or approved budget. There was an item for transfer to the Conservation District for grant match. They listed $11,820 for grant match with the Conservation District. The grant existed before the Clean Water District. Again, he noted there appeared to be no hearing or approval for this expenditure. Frank Bishop,Advisory Committee Member, commented that after much discussion they decided$35.00 is fair and equitable for the coming year. Frank Wokojance asked if there were any other areas explored to fund the clean water district. He suggested collecting funds through a tax on all shellfish harvested in Mason County. The shellfish industry is the business making a profit. He also suggested, an update and review of all the tideland leases for possibly increases through the State Department of Revenue. Also, update the property values on the tidelands in comparison to the uplands. Warren Dawes,Advisory Board Member, concurred the committee spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and recommended assessment. The majority of the committee passed the recommendation of$35 fee. In earlier meetings they had presentations from the Conservation District showing the shellfish growers in their contribution to the Clean Water District were identifying that a portion of their money was for the Conservation District use as well. Mark Drain,Advisory Committee Member, expressed he was very impressed with the contributions the Water Quality Department has made to make the Advisory Board Members feel at ease with the budget. He commented Harold Fitzwater has some legitimate concerns and adds a credible source. The committee meetings have been encumbered by the ongoing debate of the budget and fees. He hoped the committee would form a subcommittee of those with financial concerns and representatives from the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority and Health Services so they can rectify the concerns. He offered it could also help in the future with any grants they might receive. Krag Unsoeld, Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, voiced his concern about their participation on a committee to advise the County how to conduct business. PSWQA has been in support of the work in the Clean Water District. They feel confident the Clean Water District is reasonable. Lynda Links,Advisory Committee Member,commented there was a lot of debate regarding financial issues and there seemed to be compromise to come to decision. The $35 fee seems to be a bargain. They need to move on to other business. She disagreed with the suggestion the job could better be done by having the private enterprise perform the work. There has been a lot of work involved in this process and the private enterprise would want a little profit margin. Letters were read aloud from Norma Kirmmse-Borden and Annette McGee. Harold Fitzwater suggested the proposed policies and procedures do not apply to clean water districts in general. It is written so it needs to be specifically different terminology for specific districts. Frank Bishop, Little Skookum Shellfish Growers, commented the 80% collection on the $35.00 would be approximately$32,000. The Shellfish Growers are contributing$18,000 which is more than 60% of the budget. TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 - PAGE 4 Secondly,he leases tideland,from the state which is the part which does not dry up in low tide. Every three years the State comes out and makes a survey of how much shellfish there is and they assess at the rate of 33% per year. They seeded their part of the lease land and the last time the rates were raised it was three times. Thirdly, Taylor United put up $18,000 and Mr. Bishop put up the second $18,000. There is one other shellfish grower contribute part of it. The shellfish growers have put in $54,000 into the program. Cmmr. Faughender/Hunter moved and seconded the public hearing be closed. Motion carried unanimously. F-aye; H-aye; P-aye. Cmmr. Hunter stated there was enough concerns raised today that he would like to look at it further before he can second the motion. Cmmr. Faughender commented that there were questions out there and time is going by. This has been discussed for six months. He felt it is time to get past this. He suggested there are more important things for the advisory committee to discuss in the future, such,as what will be done when the testing is completed. What about the people that won't let the staff on the land. Chairperson Porter expressed that the County in trying to take care of water quality efforts has a couple of big directions they could have gone. One is the strictly regulatory and policing direction. This direction while it is very uncomfortable to charge fees for households is a service oriented direction like a utility where there is a fee for service as opposed to just mandating that each and every household figure it out on their own or else face some serious penalties. Many other counties are also facing this difficult issue of water quality. She concurred with Cmmr. Faughender that the advisory committee has some big issues on how they will continue to be in the utility service mode and resolving the questions they have in the water quality. Cmmr. Hunter added the $35.00 is a minute amount to be asking for each household, but with the testimony today he would vote against it. Cmmr. Faughender/Porter moved and seconded to adopt the $35.00 fee as recommended by the Advisory Committee to cover the period of July 1, 1994 - June 30, 1995. Motion carried. F-aye; H-nay; P-aye. CONCURRENCE WITH COUNTY COMMISSIONER ACTION 1) 9/13/94 - Conservation District withdrew request for matching funds . . 2) 9/13/94-There was a motion to authorize the chair to sign the grant amendment for the Totten/Little Skookum Shellfish Grant Task 3. 3) 9/6/94 - Motion to set today's hearing. Cmmr. Faughender/Hunter moved and seconded to concur with the Board of County Commissioners Totten/Little Skookum Shellfish Grant Task 3 Amendment. Motion carried unanimously. F-aye;H-aye;P-aye. SURVEY STATUS REPORT Mark Tompkins, Program Manager, the graph chart shows two different seasons; dye testing, visual upland inspections over two full years and the small chart is 1993 and the first five months in 1994. This plan was developed June of 1994. They have planned to complete by November 1994 a total of 640 inspections. These would be the upland inspections. Right now as of August they are at 496. It shows the plan out to 1158 on-site septic systems within the district by the end of 1995. During the dye testing the number of duties increase because the more complex take more time. Another chart was distributed indicating they have completed 117 TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 - PAGE 5 inspections for the month of August. They found five failures and two of the failures were repaired. Cumulative results through the end of August is 496 inspections; 39 failures; 18 repairs. Cmmr. Faughender asked if they have the approval to complete the whole season of testing. Mr. Tompkins responded they have paperwork with permission to conduct surveys and they have roughly 200 of those which are on the shoreline which they dye tested this year. Completed survey forms in to the office is over 800. They are approximately 350 short. FISCAL STATUS REPORT Wayne Clifford,Technical Administrator,submitted a copy of the fiscal status report. He explained it shows the FTE (full time employee) reported by staff to the Totten/Little Skookum Clean Water District program. At the bottom it totals up the FTE for the month and shows what percent of the budgeted FTE's are being reported. The next page shows the expenses and revenues by line item and by month. It shows also the budget amendment and what percent of the budget was expended and what percent of the revenues have been received as was budgeted. The third page shows the district fund, the expenditures and revenues, assessments received and investments and interest earned. Cmmr. Hunter questioned about the line indicated as Field - Stevenson spent 120% of the budgeted amount. Mr.Tompkins explained Ms.Stevenson was budgeted for Lower Hood Canal Clean Water Program. The person to work in Totten/Little Skookum Clean Water District program was not hired at that time so Ms. Stevenson worked there. Mr. Fitzwater referred to the second page of the report. In addition to these sheets he has a sheet which shows the water quality budget went up a little more than $11,000. On the second page first column is the budget approved by the Commissioners at the first of the year for the fiscal year. In the second column it shows an extra $50,000 with the revenue. He recalled at the first of the year the Commissioners approved $36,000. He questioned why clean water district fees have been increased by$30,000 and the total for the year has been up to $195,000. Brad Banner, Health Services Director, responded the budget was amended in May or June with the assistance of the Budget Director. They amended all the Health Services budget to show the creation of Technical Administrator position and some other changes. Mr. Fitzwater asked if that has any connection with the Clean Water District having any voice in this. Chairperson Porter commented when they amend the budget there is always a public hearing. The County allowed individuals to voice any comments. She questioned the Budget Director about the difference between the budgeted expenses and revenues from the beginning of the year and the amended budget. Ione Siegler, Budget Director, responded that the County'does not have a sophisticated accounting program to perform cost accounting. The Clean Water District has their own cost accounting program which they perform manually. She deals with the fund and checks it for reasonableness. Chairperson Porter suggested that Stacey Creighton,Auditor's office, could provide assistance in answering the question outside of the meeting. IN r TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT SEPTEMBER 19, 1994 - PAGE 6 Mr. Clifford commented they can amend their budget,but it is still necessary to go through the Advisory Board to receive concurrence. Cmmr.Hunter interjected they would like to see a report written out on how and when the budget was extended. ADVISORY COMMITTEE EXPANSION Wayne Clifford recommended the Board expand the advisory committee by two members for a total of 13 members and name Jutta Riediger and Harold Fitzwater as full members. This is a by-law change and the Advisory Committee is reviewing a draft right now. Cmmr.Faughender/Hunter moved and seconded to expand the committee by two and name Harold Fitzwater and Jutta Riediger as full members. Motion carried unanimously. F-aye; H-aye; P-aye. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 3:16 p.m. due to no further business. Respectfully Submitted, Rebecca S. Rogers TOTTEN/LITTLE SKOOKUM CLEAN WATER DISTRICT Laura E. Porter, Chairperson c� y ,b William O. Hunter, Commissioner M. L. Faughender, ComAissionr