Chelan City Council tackles the last meeting of 2018

CHELAN – The Chelan City Council voted to adopt the new fees and charges for water and sewer, effective March 2019 during the Dec. 18 meeting.

Andy Baker of FCS Group was brief and efficient as he went over the changes based on feedback from the last workshop session with the Council and staff.

“We have separated out the General Facilities Charges to be effective on March 1 rather than January 1, to have those going through the process time to react to that,” informed Baker.

The resolution includes the Lord Acres local facility charge area fee, which was not in the previous draft. However, the fee was included in the current resolution and there’s no change to how that is being handle at the moment.

New services within the Lord Acres area are charged an additional $1,970 per sewer ERU. According to Public Works Director Jake Youngren. “There was a sewer lift station constructed that had a benefit area to Lord Acres, it essentially reimbursement that cost allocation.”

The Lord Acres fee is not taking anyone by surprise, since it was part of the current code. “Everyone in that area has been paying this fee, when they are connected in addition to the GFC,” said Baker.

Council woman Erin McCardle felt uncomfortable about finding out about the fee last minute. “We spent two months really digging in and understanding the numbers and the cost behind GFC charges in general .. for things moving forward I don’t like things at the 24 hour asked for approval,” she said.

After further discussion and answering last questions from Council members, Baker explained why fees and rates are increasing to the public present.

“In the water plan, currently identified in 2027 there is a need for the expansion of the water treatment  plant to meet the anticipated Department of Health requirements … that’s a very significant cost $14 million,” explained Baker.

The options were to either keep the rates as low as possible and wait until 2027 to expand the water treatment plant and then raise rates. “When that would happen, five years of 15 percent rate increases every year, rather than take that approach based on discussion with staff and feedback of the Council. We are recommending to raise rates and begin setting rates higher now to set aside money,” Baker added.

Mayor Mike Cooney believes the Council is doing the right thing, by not putting it off for the future.

That evening, Chelan County Prosecutor Doug Shae was present to answer Council questions regarding the 2019 Prosecution Services Agreement.

The Council was informed that the contract price has not been increased since 2012 and it has maintained at a price of $44,100.  The 2019 agreement would increase the price to $50,000 for a one year term.

Shae informed the Council that Chelan is the only city in the county that doesn’t contract on a per case basis. He also reported that prosecution in Chelan have increased.

The Council then agreed to hear from the Chelan County Sheriff as to why numbers have spiked, before making a final decision on the new agreement.

The 2019 Lake Chelan Airport Budget and the City Budget were adopted by the Council, after many hours in workshops and meetings and a few tweaks here and there.

Cooney and the rest of the Council congratulated Finance Director Steve Thornton and the rest of the staff for their budget work.

Cooney is pleased with the work and effort by the Council and all the staff for the City of Chelan. As the year wraps up, another Council session is done and the Council was able to tackle a lot of things in 2018.

The first 2019 Chelan City Council meeting is scheduled for January 8 at 6 p.m.