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Twenty years ago, a proposal to combine city of Spokane and Spokane County sewer programs into a single utility was met with icy skepticism by many.
There were questions about who would set the user fees. There were still more over who would own what pieces of infrastructure. And many were concerned about a standing provision from Spokane that required Valley residents to sign a waiver that they would not contest annexation by the city in exchange for sewer service.
Next week, the leaders of several local municipalities and Spokane County will gather once again to float the idea of regional wastewater governance.
This time around, however, county officials are hoping there isn’t the same drama there was in 1989.
“We’re just going to introduce the notion of regional governance,” Bruce Rawls, director of Spokane County utilities, told county commissioners at their regular Tuesday morning CEO meeting. “We want to see if there’s any interest.”
If there is, Rawls said, a task force or committee would be put together with representatives from the county and cities of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, Millwood and Airway Heights. That group would then delve into the specifics as to whether all the assets and facilities would be jointly operated, or if they would somehow be separated along with the various jurisdictions’ billing structures.
Since Spokane Valley has already partnered with Spokane County to build a new wastewater treatment facility at the old stockyards area at Freya and Trent, the real focus will come down to whether or not the city of Spokane and Spokane County can reach some sort of agreement, Rawls said. Advantages to such a partnership would include broadening the financial base for future sewer projects or infrastructure improvements.
“We represent 300,000 people between the two of us,” he said.
Rawls added that he didn’t want to get too bogged down in the details of how such governance would work at this point. Rather he would rather the meeting – which is scheduled for next Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Spokane City Hall – to concentrate on the pros and cons of such a venture.
“The focus next week really to see if people are interested in doing this,” he said.
Commissioners Mark Richard and Todd Mielke – Bonnie Mager was not present – said they are supportive of having a meeting to discuss the issue. Richard noted that the county has been struggling to keep a balanced budget and that any future annexations, like the one currently occurring in the West Plains, could have a negative impact on future revenues.
Rawls said he wanted to concentrate on the “win-win” aspects of such governance at this point.
“What we didn’t want to do is the first meeting is highlight any deal-breakers before we ever got out of the starting blocks,” Rawls said.
Still, Mielke said the “devil is in the details,” which has derailed any attempts at joint sewer governance in the past.
“Let’s get the objections identified as quickly as possible,” Mielke said. “That would be my goal.”
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By
Mike Huffman
