Minutes of the Manchester Community Council Meeting of 8/24/04

Action Items:

1)      Carol Kowalski to arrange for a Health Department speaker at the 9/28 meeting.

2)      At the annual Bylaw review, consider the change proposed by Carol Kowalski

3)      Any member interested on serving on a sub-committee, contact John Winslow

4)      Carol Kowalski to pay for room for September

Minutes:

The meeting was called to order by President, Bob Ballard at 6:32PM in the Manchester Library.  Bob welcomed the 30 people in attendance, and expressed his appreciation for the excellent turnout.  Bob then proceeded to introduce the guest speaker, Rick Gagnon, Sr. Program Manager for Kitsap Public Works.  Rick’s topics for the evening were the Sewage Treatment System and the process required to extend the system further.

Gagnon’s remarks were primarily focused on the Manchester Sewage Treatment Facility.  He said that the plant has received nine different awards for excellence. Other plants in the Kitsap system include those in Kingston, Suquamish, and Central Kitsap.  The Manchester facility processes only 5% of the total for the four plants and is similar in size to the Suquamish facility.  Specifically addressing expansion of the service area, Mr. Gagnon stated that the County doesn’t extend the sewers, but leaves it up to developers and neighborhood L.I.D.’s (Local Improvement Groups) to accomplish this task.  The Manchester Plant is currently operating at 43% of capacity.

A question on many minds at the meeting was “What is the process, and what does it cost for an LID to be successful?”  Rick had a thorough explanation; LID’s are officially formed by petition or by resolution of intent by the County Commissioners.  To be successful, owners of 51% of the property area within the boundary of a LID have to agree to the formation of the LID.  In the last 20 years, the County has had 7 successful LID’s.  The cost to each property owner is allocated on a common basis (such as frontage).  Typically these costs are in the $10,000-$15,000 range plus there is a connection fee assessed by the County of $3500.  Gagnon mentioned that they realize that the costs cannot exceed the benefits to be practical.  It was mentioned that the recent Beach Drive base fee was approximately $12,000+ per parcel.

A Civil Engineer in the group, Paul Gilligan, mentioned that he was involved in the planning of a LID that would run along Colchester from Hemlock to the South end of Miracle Mile.  The 32 parcels encompassed would incur fees of $15,000-$20,000 including the connection fee.  In this area, of the 32 parcels, 24 owners are supporting the LID, 4 are opposed, and the other four are undecided.

Rick Gagnon was asked what would happen if the Manchester plant became over-used.  He said that the use grows slowly, and when it reaches 85% of capacity they begin planning for expansion (he didn’t see this being an issue in Manchester within the foreseeable future).  He further stated that he has looked at the potential of adding sewers all the way down Colchester to Mile Hill Road.  His analysis suggested this is a doable situation with the use of just one pumping station in the Haida area and gravity-feed for most properties, although this would require the waterfront properties to pump up to the main line.  Doing this in one large project would be the most cost-effective approach, but unlikely to occur since so many people would be involved, making this a large organizational task.

The crowd asked, “How long does this process take?”  Rick said that typically the entire process runs 2-3 years for the formation of the LID, design work, and the actual installation.  Sometimes formation of the LID can actually take as much as 2 years.

Mr. Gagnon concluded by offering that the facility operators are always happy to conduct tours.  Feel free to contact Public Works to set this up.

President Ballard then mentioned that this organization does not currently have a bias either for or against sewer extension, but it is considered a topic of interest and we should likely organize a sub-committee to investigate the interest of the community in sewers.  Ron Rada mentioned that he is forming the previously mentioned LID up to Miracle Mile following the Beach Drive example.  He mentioned that recently interest in the sewer extensions has been heightened by a number of septic failures identified by the Health District, which is taking (eviction) action on property owners with failing systems.  Paul Gilligan then described the steps being taken by this LID.  First the property owner group needs to decide what the boundaries of the LID should be (how many properties and where), then they conduct a preliminary engineering study (frequently on a deferred cost basis), preliminary cost study.  Next an analysis of individual property owner cost impact is made.  Then the LID organizers meet with County to agree on a basic plan, then they develop a petition.  Next they conduct a public meeting with all potentially affected property owners advising them of the estimated costs, and then take a vote of the property owners to see whether the owners of 51% of the area agree with the plan.  Only then can a LID be formed.  The connection fee (remember the $3500!) is paid by those electing to connect to the sewer after the completion of the LID.  A Bond covers the rest of the sewer system cost.  Many individuals choose to re-finance their homes at this point to take advantage of the tax deduction available in support of this capital improvement.  Hopefully, the sewer connection adds value to the home proportionate to the expense.

Paul Gilligan said that he has run some tentative numbers that would suggest to extend the sewer the full length of Colchester to the south (170 homes affected) would cost about $13,000-$15,000 with the homes requiring a pump incurring an additional $3,000 expense.

President Ballard polled those in attendance to determine the whether their homes were connected to the sewer.  Of those voting, 14 were currently hooked to the sewer, 8 were not connected-but interested in connecting, and were happy with their septic systems.  Bob once again reinforced that the MCC does not have a position on sewer extension, but would be willing to support the community’s interests.  He suggested that next month we should try to have a speaker from the Health Department attend and speak to the issue of failing septic systems.  Carol Kowalski offered to contact the Health Dept. to arrange for a speaker.   It was mentioned that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been recently spent on septic upgrades in Manchester due to failing septic systems.  One person present mentioned that they were facing approximately $30,000 in expenses to install a new septic system and connect to the water system!

We then turned to the election of Executive Board members at large.  We had seven candidates running for five available positions.  John Winslow said that several members had approached him with the suggestion that we accept all candidates for the time until the next official election and temporarily amend the Bylaws to allow the additional Members-At-Large.  This approach was discussed and during the discussion, Bob Lamb offered to defer his appointment to simplify the process.  There apparently was some confusion on the part of several of us, and it was approved to accept the remaining candidates.  Due to the apparent mis-understanding that was revealed after the conclusion of the meeting, the Member-At-Large vote will be re-considered at our next meeting.

In discussing what other topics we want to pursue within the MCC, it was suggested that a strong core Blockwatch/Crime Prevention group exists (Bud Larsen is Blockwatch Captain), and that might be appropriate.  We were reminded that there will be a community-wide Blockwatch meeting on Wednesday September 8^th at 6:30PM in the Library.

Carol Kowalski gave the Treasurer’s report.  We currently have $10 in the treasury and were accepting additional donations at this meeting (an additional $39 was collected).  Carol had a suggested change in wording to a line in the Bylaws and it was suggested that it be deferred until an annual Bylaw review. (Article 2:…and [advise] (prioritize the objectives of) the citizens…).

To expedite the process of forming working sub-committees; please contact John Winslow (johnwinslo@aoldotcom) if you are interested in serving on a sewer, Crime Prevention. or other committee.

President Ballard concluded the meeting with the suggestion that now we have the bulk of the administrative efforts completed, and now is the time to get down to the business of making Manchester what we all want it to be!

Our next meeting will be Tuesday September 28th at 6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library.  The Bob Ballard and John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for distribution with the reminder, several days before the meeting.  At this point the tentative agenda includes; Health Dept, Sewer and Crime Prevention sub-committee formation, Vacant lot at Main and Colchester discussion.  If you have any additional items for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to September 21st.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:00PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John Winslow, Secretary-Manchester Community Council