Monday, March 18, 2024

City will act as lead agency for utility regionalization study

Posted

The Leavenworth City Council has approved an inter-local agreement between the city and Chelan County PUD about a utility regionalization study. The PUD has asked the city to be the lead agency and manage the study.

“We’ll be the ones to put out the RFQ (request for qualifications). We’ll be ones to call the meetings. We’ll be the ones to review the invoices from the consultant, once they are selected. We would pay the consultant, then request reimbursement by the PUD,” said City Administrator Joel Walinski, at the April 25 city council meeting. “What this inter-local agreement does is assure us the PUD is going to provide the $150,000 funding. It lays out the city’s responsibility.”

Walinski said he is putting together the scope right now, much in the same way they are putting together the scope for the parking study. He said they are looking for a discussion on merging three or four entities in terms of utilities.

“That is the basic scope of work. I didn’t want, in the RFQ, to get into the scope. We’re going to put it out there, then the stakeholder’s group will meet with the consultant and refine that scope of work so that the issues people feel are important are included in the study,” Walinski said.

The focus of the study is on sewer and water. Councilman Elmer Larsen, who has championed the regionalization idea, said one of the key issues is acquiring new water rights.

“One option is to look at the irrigation and line those ditches and free up a lot of water. That would provide enough water,” Larsen said. “Cascade (Irrigation District) takes up 12 acre feet and we get three feet for the city. They could cut that in half. There’s tremendous amount of water to be gained by the city. If the irrigation isn’t part of the thing, I don’t think you can do much with the water. We don’t have any other source.”

That is something for the stakeholder group to bring to the study, Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar said.

“I do know the city of Entiat has an innovative program where they have acquired water rights from irrigation districts without the changeover. They didn’t buy out the water right. They are repurposing the unused water,” Farivar said. “There are a lot of unused water rights, especially around Entiat, where orchards are turning into homes, much like Leavenworth. The repurposing of a water right is something we might be able to accomplish.”

That is an ideal source for increased water, Larsen said. As the city representative to the stakeholder group, Farivar told Larsen she’s leaving it up to him to bring that into the discussion.

Councilwoman Margaret Neighbors asked if it was normal for the PUD to ask a city to be the lead agency on a study. Walinski said he believed the PUD asked this of the city because this is how they want the study to be seen.

“The study was requested by us and the city of Cashmere. The PUD does not want this appear like they are foisting something on us as opposed to us leading the charge,” Farivar said.

Larsen said the PUD is the ideal entity to look into this.

“The PUD is a utility district and even though they’ve taken on the small water systems around the lake and in Peshastin-Dryden, they’re focus has always been electrical. The cities are saying, you are a utility, you are the best to deal with the county, city confusion,” Larsen said.

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here