City Council - Public Works and Natural Resources Committee

bring us order here uh today is June 3rd uh 2024 and we will be conducting our committee meetings here this afternoon and the first one is public works and natural resources and that's chaired by council member Hammerstone thank you very much president Hamill good afternoon I'm joined on the public works and natural resources committee by council members Anderson and Lil Quist we have one item before us this afternoon it's an interlocal agreement with Western Washington University for Lake watcom water quality monitoring program so beginning in the 1980s a lake watcom monitoring program was initiated by the city and Western Washington University to measure and track long-term Lake data for temperature pH dissolved oxygen um conduciveness over the years this program has expanded to include the testing and monitoring of waterways that feed Lake wcom the work on the monitoring program is performed by Western Washington University Institute for Watershed studies and funded by the city the partnership between Western Washington University and the city and the city for Lake WKA monitoring is a key component of the Lake wcom management program Council action is required to renew this interlocal agreement and continue this vital water quality monitoring program um this contract as noted in the um in the report states that the contract has a maximum payable amount of 1,162 which is over 3 years um and is contingent upon future budget approvals for this item on first turn to Public

Works director Eric Johnston thank you m Stones Eric Johnston public works so this is again renewal of many many decades of work with Western for monitoring both Lake Wacom and the tributaries that flow into Lake Wacom uh we'll note that this is this is much the same as work we've done in the years past uh this current iteration has the addition of monitoring total organic carbon in the tributaries that flow into Lake wam uh just that's a request of the uh folks doing the computer modeling for that particular effort uh as I said this has been going on for many many many years if not decades I looked on this Western's website this morning they have the reports back to 1993 that are available to the public for review uh these are the reports the staff are using to help measure the assessment the the the effectiveness of programs that we're doing and monitoring that long-term performance on health of the lake they're also used by our water operators at the Wastewater excuse me at the water treatment plant uh to monitor what's happening at the lake in terms of things that might affect our ability to produce water specifically algae and algae species that might be growing in the lake so with that Mike oer is also here he's responsible for the division that helps track this from the Water Production standpoint and happy to answer any questions you might have our recommendation is to approve the inter local thank you very much council member list well I definitely support the

recommendation this is critical work as you say not just for the cleanup but also just for operating the water treatment plant um I have two questions um one this information is beneficial to the entire County do we already get a contribution in a certain sense indirectly from the lake walkom water and sewer district because of course they pay in and have we talked about any Financial contribution from Lake watcom which again also has a responsibility over the lake so that's my first question um it's a fair price I'm just wondering about if there's financial help on those other parties maybe in other ways uh not directly no but in in an indirect sense those customers that pay the city for their water whe whether they are inside city limits or outside City Limits and that would include our our customers who are are wholesale contracts both like quac and water s District as well as the other water districts that the city provides water for so there's not a direct contribution from those Ides organizations but indirectly through water rates that our customers are paying the second thing is just a pragmatic question why three years it seems to me this is ongoing work three years is maybe a good number maybe four years maybe five years was that talked about or is that just the number we use in the past because it does seem like we do want to and have had a long-term relationship and maybe maybe the three-year term isn't the right number three years is three years we could pick

four we could pick two or five Rene's got a better answer than I do so I'll let her answer the question didn't know she was here Public Works um we have it a three years and it's uh I want to say tradition but it's just what we've done in the past and the reason for that is because we often are requested to sample for different things at different times um we use the monitoring a lot in the modeling that work that we do and the reassessment work that we that the county is now doing that is a partnership with the city and the county um and based on that information we might want to change the parameters that we Monitor and how often things like that so I was suggesting a longer term might be better um because we're going to be doing this for years to come you're saying that a slightly shorter time frame is better because maybe we would revise the parameters that gives us a chance to do so okay that's reassuring um I would go ahead well wait a minute Le sorry council member Anderson thank you um speaking of changing parameters as we go forward hopefully in the next year or two looking at um some of the multi family while density for around Lake wam as we're looking at perhaps changing that but also recognizing that some of the housing along the lake that is well established doesn't have necessarily appropriate storm water uh and runoff uh mitigation uh have we had them look specifically along the shoreline in areas that potentially might be hot spots after large rain events in

order to compare data so we could really identify areas that might be contributing to um more phosphorus and um especially things like feal chloroform and you know matter um have we considered doing that and if we do consider that in the future would they be the appropriate agency to do that type of work and would we be able to modify the contract to add that work we can always modify the contract the council's directed that we the public work staff along with the uh with the Water Resource Advisory board look at different options for uh doing various things with late Wacom uh this contract would not specifically allow or provide for that very specific type of testing that I think maybe your referen toing to the city does have our own staff that we could do our own testing if we needed to at very specific discreet um uh event type monitoring if we needed to uh but that's certainly something we could come back and revisit in the future once the water resource Advisory Board uh has a chance to get into the questions that were that were referred to it from the council a couple of weeks ago thank you so just to follow up briefly um gu what council M liquis was pointing out so the Lake walko management program right does involve all three districts so the city and the county and the um and the Sewer District but the lake Waka monitoring program this program specifically is just between the city and the University um I just wanted to confirm right the the amounts outlined for the

next 3 years um compared to write the lake WKA Management program that progress report from our joint joint um councils and commission meeting mentions right total expenditures under monitoring and data at like $488,500 program extends Beyond just this particular U monitoring program that's correct right that is correct yes um and then with respect to the figures I was just curious when we're talking about some potential changes going forward is how the amounts are determined roughly and wondering is it a chicken and egg thing where it's like okay we've committed X number of dollars and then Western right um is going to be providing right whatever data collection and services can be achieved right within that monetary amount or are we saying this is the data we want to collect how much is that going to cost and then back feeding it that way do that makes sense as far as how we come up with that figure yeah so we are we are suggesting the data that we want to collect and then they're providing us with the cost of what it is to collect that data and it it is two-way communication with them and they suggest us hey we should start looking at this looking at this data or that that data and and evaluating that process and so as Rene said that's why we try to look at this every couple years so so that we can make sure that we're evolving with how the lake is changing and and getting the right data collected I think one of one of the values of this type of data collection is the many

many years of data and the long-term trends right so as you look at the reports they are reporting not on individual years with their data but the trend over many many decades and I think that's a great value to us in looking at the uh our the city Cooperative response with the county and the district about our approach to managing Lake Wacom because it shows that Trend over many many many years and the final question I guess I had was um just confirmation on whether I know we've talked about the climate vulnerability assessment and that coming forward and just wanting to know if that intersects at all with the the work in this contract or if that's completely a separate um separate contract and undertaking through a through a different entity that's a completely separate contract just want to make sure um anything further from committee or other council members were present no move approval of the agreement okay thank you very much um so we have a motion from council member Lilo Quist to approve the interlocal agreement with Western Washington University for the lake watom monitoring program any further discussion okay seeing none I'll call the question all those in favor will say I I I any opposed or extensions seeing none that passes 30 and I'll bring forward that recommendation this evening thank you very much that's the only item before us um this morning I mean or this afternoon so with that we'll adjourn and turn it back to you president Hamill okay thank you uh

exactly on time well actually a minute over but pretty pretty well done uh the next item is the community of the whole uh we will re recess into executive session we have one item that is potential litigation with uh Mariner for approximately 15 minutes and I'll bring us back in at uh 1:26 thank you