Meeting Minutes - Business Oregon | Infrastructure Finance

Infrastructure Finance Authority Board Meeting
Business Oregon
Fort Dalles Readiness Center, The Dalles
October 9, 2015
8:30am – 12:00pm
Board Members Present: Chair Erik Andersson, Laura Lockwood-McCall, Don Skundrick, Andrea
Klaas and Sen. Devlin. Mark Knudson and Niki Iverson joined by phone.
Staff Present: Robert Ault, Dennis Knight, Ed Tabor, Tawni Bean, Becky Bryant, Janet Hillock and
Connie Brautigam.
Board Members Absent: Pat Clancy and Rep. Caddy McKeown
Guests: Mike, McLaughlin, Mayor of Vale; Lynn Findley, Vale City Manager; Troy Baker, Anderson
Perry Assoc.; Janelle Evans, Canyonville City Manager; Steve Mayor, Canyonville & Drain Project
Engineer; Carl Patenode, Drain City Administrator; Brion Barnett, Beaverton Project Engineer;
and Dave Winship, Beaverton Principal Engineer.
Welcome/Introductions
Chair Andersson welcomed everyone to the meeting and called it to order at 8:35 am.
Introductions were made.
Public Comments
None
Board Member Comments
None
Review of Minutes
Chair Andersson asked if everyone had a chance to review the minutes from the last meeting on
August 14, 2015. A motion to approve the meeting minutes was made by Laura Lockwood-McCall
and seconded by Andrea Klaas. Minutes were unanimously approved.
Interim Director’s Report
Robert Ault, Interim Director of the IFA, began the report by discussing the search for a
replacement for IFA Director Schoessler. Interim Director Ault mentioned that the way the
process should play out is that first a new agency director will be selected and that could happen
shortly after the Governor returns from her trade mission. In order to prepare for the
announcement of a new director and then the replacement of Director Schoessler, a pool of
candidates for Director Schoessler’s position has been selected and initial interviews may be
underway in the next few weeks. Ideally, a new director would be appointed and in place by
November and would then be available to participate in the process of hiring a new IFA Assistant
Director.
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Activities Update
Interim Director Ault, said that we are on pace with last Fiscal year. In this new Fiscal year we’ve
done almost the same amount of business at this point as we did all of last year. It looks like
business has picked up quite a bit.
Interim Director Ault said that that there are a couple of things he would like the board to be
aware of. He talked about the Seismic Program and the $50 million funding round that opened on
October 1 and closes at the end of December. There will be another major funding round next
year but the bonds won’t be sold until 2017. There will be a slight increase in staffing at that time.
The next topic he mentioned was the National Disaster Resilience Competition (NDRC), which is
a major competition with a billion dollars of funding available from HUD. The state of Oregon
submitted a phase 1 application, hoping to be considered for the final round of funding. We’re
now in phase 2. We’re doing everything we can to move this forward. The intent of the NDRC is
to funnel money into the unmet recovery needs from disasters that took place from 2011-2013.
Interim Director Ault said that he’s heard that the money may go primarily to some of those
disasters that happened on the East Coast. However, he believes that Oregon has a strong
application. We also have a good consultant that we’ve been working with. He went on to say
that the budget number for Oregon would be $95 million. He said that the application has to meet
very stringent criteria and the two locations in the state of Oregon that qualify are Brookings and
Reedsport. HUD says that they hope to make the awards at the end of December but according to
our consultant that is probably optimistic. If any of Oregon’s projects are funded, Business
Oregon would be the administrator of those projects.
Laura Lockwood-McCall asked what kind of projects are being looked at. Interim Director Ault
said that they are high-level projects such as the Schofield Bridge in Reedsport that is critical
because it connects two parts of the city and it is very fragile. There also is levee work and water
resilience projects to make sure their reservoirs and pipes are strong enough to withstand some
seismic event. Also there is a request to move $23 million worth of sub-standard housing that is
at risk in the flood way.
Interim Director Ault added in regards to the financial report we have plenty of money in both
Special Public Works and Safe Drinking Water and we’re doing everything we can to increase the
pace to get it out.
Port of The Dalles Presentation
Andrea Klaas, Director of the Port of The Dalles, said she’s been at the port for about 20 years. She
began her presentation by giving the board some background information on the Fort Dalles
Readiness Center where the board meeting took place. She said it was a long uphill battle to get
funding to build the facility and many people were involved in getting it built.
Andrea gave a brief history of the community of The Dalles and the Port District. She showed a
map and described the areas as she went. She talked about the community’s good times and bad
times and the different investors and investments that had been made in the area over the
years. She said that after the devastating loss of the aluminum industry in 1986 some new
investors wanted the community to diversify and convinced the community to pass a $5 million
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bond for the Port District. The Port District began to invest the money in land, roads and
infrastructure in order to bring business to the community. Businesses began to purchase land
and in 2004, Google purchased and developed a 30-acre parcel. The Port District recently
purchased more land and has developed the sites, making them ready for purchase. The IFA has
aided with funding. Ten years after its original land purchase, Google is purchasing one of the
newly developed sites as well. Andrea also mentioned some of the other interesting projects that
the Port District has funded. The Port District now has 55 businesses that employ 1,500 people.
City of Vale
Tawni Bean, Regional Coordinator for the city of Vale, began by outlining the city’s request for
board approval of an award of $3,748,000 loan and $765,000 forgivable loan from the Safe
Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund for final design and construction of their water system
improvements. Tawni introduced Mayor Mike McLaughlin who gave a quick summary of Vale
and the surrounding area’s businesses. He went on to describe the city’s drinking water problem
of arsenic in the water system. He said the current system is old and dilapidated and expensive
to run and does not remove the arsenic to the EPA’s approved standard. Mayor McLaughlin
introduced the City Manager, Lynn Findley who he says is the driving force behind this project.
City Manager, Lynn Findley explained that the city has struggled with water quality issues for
many years. A previous arsenic treatment facility did not work with Vale’s water and was
ineffective in removing the arsenic. The IFA gave the city of Vale a grant to update their water
master plan, water management conservation plan, and their rate studies. As a result of the
water master plan Vale was able to find a coagulation filtration system that will fix the problem
and remove the arsenic from their drinking water. There were some other issues identified in the
plan such as inadequate source water capability, inadequate storage capacity and an inadequate
distribution system. City Manager, Lynn Findley went on to say that with all the water system
issues that need to be addressed and the additional cost to the community, there is still
community support for rate increases to fix the water system. The citizens of Vale want
drinkable water.
The board asked questions about the raising of rates, project start date, and the operating costs.
Don Skundrick made a motion to approve the award of $3,748,000 loan and a $765,000 forgivable
loan from the Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund for the final design and construction of
water improvements for the city of Vale. Laura Lockwood-McCall seconded the motion. The
motion was approved unanimously.
City of Canyonville
The city representatives for Canyonville, Janelle Evans, City Administrator and Steve Mayor,
Project Engineer introduced themselves. Becky Bryant, Regional Coordinator for the city of
Canyonville, said the city is requesting funding for a $1.8 million award to complete final design
and construction of Phase II of their Wastewater Treatment Upgrade. Steve Mayor gave an
overview of the funding request components. He said the request includes the completion of
Phase I of the project and the construction of Phase II.
The board asked questions about the increased rates, whether the USDA Rural Development
Grant is already in place, and the affordability rate.
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Laura Lockwood-McCall made the motion that the IFA Board approve the award of a $1 million
loan and an $800,000 grant from the Water/Wastewater Financing Program for the construction
of the Wastewater Treatment Upgrade Phase II for the city of Canyonville. Andrea Klaas
seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
City of Drain
Becky Bryant, Regional Coordinator for the city of Drain, introduced the city’s representatives
Carl Patenode, City Administrator and again Steve Mayor, Project Engineer. She said that the city
of Drain is here to request a funding package from the Water/Wastewater Financing Program of
$5,625,000, which consists of a $4,875,000 loan and a $750,000 forgivable loan. They have also
submitted an application for CDBG funds in the amount of $2,221,000. This funding will be for
construction and project management.
Steve Mayor, Project Engineer, told the board that the city of Drain has a 50 year old treatment
facility located within an existing flood way. The entire plant must be moved. Additionally, they
are out of compliance with DEQ and must upgrade the plant to comply. He gave more details of
the upgrades. Becky Bryant added that the city has gone through a number of steps over many
years to get to this point. She said that the city has been raising their rates already in anticipation
of these upgrades.
Don Skundrick made the motion that the IFA Board approve the award of a $4,875,000 loan and a
$750,000 forgivable loan from the Water/Wastewater Financing Program for the construction of
Wastewater Treatment Improvements for the city of Drain. The motion was seconded by Mark
Knudson. The motion was approved unanimously.
City of Beaverton
Janet Hillock, Regional Coordinator for the city of Beaverton, introduced Brion Barnett, Project
Manager and Dave Winship, Principal Engineer. Beaverton is requesting board approval for an
increase on an existing loan. The city is requesting a $2 million increase to its existing $3
million dollar loan for its current project for Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Well No 5. The
additional loan amount request is being made because of the updated cost of constructing the
Aquifer on a constrained urban site in a developed residential area.
Dave Winship talked about the current water source and storage system. He said that water is
released from the Tualatin River to a joint commission treatment plant with Forest Grove,
Beaverton, Hillsboro and the Tualatin Valley Water District. This plant serves about 400,000
people including Nike and Intel. The water is treated and then pumped to reservoirs and then it
travels 20 miles through a transmission system to the city. He gave some background on the
whole system and the problems with water availability over the years.
Dave Winship went on to talk about the Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR). Dave showed a map
of the wells and the proposed new well that the city is requesting funding for. He explained how
the Aquifer Storage and Recovery System works. The system will give the city the ability to meet
its summer peak water demands and during the winter it’s a green way to store water and not
lose water due to evaporation. It’s also a backup in-town supply. The Aquifer Storage wells are
more resilient to seismic events and they help contain capital project costs.
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Brion Barnett talked about the Sorrento Pump Station, which is the location of the present wells
and the site of the new well. In order to maintain their good neighbor status, a new concept of a
combined structure with the pump station was developed. The current pump station will likely
be torn down and the new combined pump station and well No. 5 will be constructed. This is the
reason for the additional funding request.
The board asked questions about water conservation programs, demolition plans, public
comments, and tree removal.
Nicki Iverson made the motion that the IFA Board approve a $2 million loan increase to the city
of Beaverton from the Safe Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund for Aquifer Storage and
Recovery Well No. 5. Don Skundrick seconded the motion. Mark Knudsen abstained due to a
conflict.
Next Meeting/Adjourn
The next meeting will be held in Salem on December 11 in Salem. Chair Andersson adjourned the
meeting at 11:05.