Blue Ribbon Commission Learns All About Portland’s Public Utilities
Posted on July 31, 2014 by Janice Thompson
Tags, Portland Water, Sewer and Wastewater, Public Involvement and Coalitions
At the second meeting of the Utility Oversight Blue Ribbon Commission on Tuesday, June 29th, the Bureau of Environmental Services and the Water Bureau provided thorough briefings on Portland’s water, sewer, and stormwater management services. Both briefings are available to view at the following links:
These presentations are chock full of budget data, information about public assets including miles of water and sewer pipes, and descriptions of environmental regulations and their impact on utility rates.
The Blue Ribbon Commission also learned about the national reputation of Portland’s utility bureaus. Two interesting factoids on that front:
1) The Bureau of Environmental Services developed a unique contracting method that helped ensure that the major tunneling projects to dramatically reduce sewage overflows into the Willamette River were completed on time and on budget. This contracting method is now known in the tunneling industry as the Portland Method.
2) The Portland Water Bureau is one of six water utilities that lead the nation in asset management. This contributes to Portland being awarded the best possible bond or credit rating, which lowers the cost of major construction projects.
There is more information for the Blue Ribbon Commission to digest, but this group is off to a great start in learning water and wastewater utility basics. Once the Commission is fully up to speed, it will turn to its major task of recommending improvements in oversight of these utility agencies by the Portland City Council. For example, at the next upcoming meeting on August 19th, CUB’s own Janice Thompson will be leading a discussion on elements of effective utility policy, budget, and rate setting oversight.
All the Blue Ribbon Commission meetings are open to the public, and all materials provided to Commission members are at the Commission’s homepage on the City of Portland’s website.
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04/14/17 | 0 Comments | Blue Ribbon Commission Learns All About Portland’s Public Utilities