RAINIER, Rainier’s city council will vote Tuesday on borrowing $4.494 million from the state to design a wastewater plant overhaul that the loan papers price at $12.7 million, a project the city has to build to get out from under a state enforcement order.
Half the loan, up to $2 million, is forgiven if the city finishes the project and never defaults, according to the loan agreement in the council packet. The rest is paid back over 30 years at 2.06 percent plus a half-percent annual fee, with semiannual payments of $55,339. The agreement requires the city to set aside $57,841 in a reserve account and pledges the sewer system’s net revenues as security.
The money comes from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund and pays for design only. The agreement describes the full project as increasing the plant’s capacity, replacing outdated equipment, updating the biosolids plan, and “clearing the majority if not all of the deferred maintenance backlog,” so the city can “come back into compliance and maintain compliance in the future in normal and high volume storm events.” The estimated completion date is Dec. 31, 2032.
Rates Already Went Up
Resolution 26-11-01 commits the city to raise revenue, “in the form of sewer user rate increases or other reasonable appropriate revenue generation methods,” before repayment begins, and to send DEQ a written rate plan within a year. Sewer rates already rose this fall. At the Oct. 5 meeting, City Administrator W. Scott Jorgensen told the council there had been “only one billing cycle since the sewer rate increases took effect, so it’s too early to tell how the Sewer Fund is trending,” according to the minutes. Mayor Jerry Cole asked to revisit the sewer fund Tuesday.
The plant operates under a DEQ Mutual Agreement and Order, a negotiated enforcement agreement that sets deadlines for fixing permit violations. The item has sat on the council’s unfinished business list for months; in August the city’s public works staff reported the next progress report to DEQ was due Sept. 25, per the Aug. 3 packet. The council authorized the loan application at its Sept. 14 meeting.
Jorgensen also told the council the state would reimburse the city more than $200,000 for collection system improvements, money that goes into the sewer capital fund. The packet lists the reimbursement request at $193,792.
A Seat to Fill
The agenda also lists “Council Vacancy Discussion” and “Selection of Council President.” The vacancy follows the resignation of Councilor Mike Kreger, who resigned Oct. 22 after withdrawing claims that he had served as a Navy SEAL and received a Purple Heart. His name remains on Tuesday’s ballot for mayor. Kreger was present and voting at the Oct. 5 council meeting, according to the minutes. The packet does not say how the council plans to fill the seat.
Also on the Agenda
Paying Scappoose for economic development. An intergovernmental agreement would have Rainier pay $4,000 a year to the Columbia Business Alliance, a department of the City of Scappoose, for business recruitment, retention, and downtown revitalization services. The agreement lets the alliance raise the contribution up to 4 percent each July without a new council vote and charges half a percent a month on late payments. Clatskanie’s council takes up the same agreement Wednesday at $3,000 a year.
A plan for 1,500 acres of city forest. The council will consider issuing a request for proposals for a “Timber/Watershed Master Plan” covering roughly 1,500 acres of forested municipal watershed the city owns. The scope calls for a modern forest inventory, a water quality protection analysis, a wildfire risk and emergency response plan, and a harvest approach that provides “a predictable” revenue stream while protecting the watershed. The city’s financial report shows a transfer to the timber fund for loan repayment due in December.
Water valves. A Core & Main bid of $24,356.29 plus $300 freight for Cla-Val valves, dated Oct. 30.
Collections work invoice. Payment for collection system rehabilitation the financial report lists as “completed but waiting on additional invoices.”
E-bikes. A discussion of e-bike rules, with the state’s micromobility guide attached to the packet.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, at City Hall, 106 W. B St., and streams on KLTV and the city website. It closes with an executive session to review the city administrator’s performance and to discuss cybersecurity. The Rainier Economic Development Council meets at 5:45 p.m. the same evening at the same address.