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1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: November 21, 2005 Meeting Type: Work Session Department: Public Works Q~j Staff Contact: Susie Smith ~r SPRINGFIELD Phone: 726-3697 CITY COUNCIL Estimated Time: 30 Minutes ITEM TITLE: COBURG REQUEST TO CONNECT TO THE METROPOLITAN WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT COMMISSION (MWMC) WASTEWATER FACILTfIES. ACTION REQUESTED: The City Council is requested to direct staff on appropriate follow-up to Coburg's request to connect to the MWMC systems In providing this guidance, the Council is requested to consider the work plan, costs, and concepts related to development of an appropriate full cost-recovery connection charge. ISSUE STATEMENT: The City of Coburg has requested to connect to the MWMC system, and has proposed a level of payment and time frames for completing the approval processes (see Attachment 3). In response to Coburg's request for a timely response to its proposal, the joint elected officials (JEO) of Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County agreed at their October 11"' JEO meeting to convene work sessions prior to their holiday recesses. The Springfield Council has indicated its support for proceeding with work leading to a potential Coburg connection under the expectation that Coburg would pay the associated up-front costs and connection fees based on full cost- recovery. The purpose of the November 21~` work session is to review the components of a connection charge that would result in full cost recovery. The estimated scope. of work, time frame and costs of the necessary work leading up to a Coburg connection also will be reviewed. ATTACHMENTS: 1: Conceptual Model for Full Cost Recovery 2: Estimated Cost and Timeline 3: Coburg Proposal Materials; Don Schuessler, Coburg City Administrator _ DISCUSSION: The Springfield City Council has indicated its general support for moving forward with a process potentially leading to extension of regional wastewater services outside the urban growth boundary (1JGB) to serve Coburg under the following assumptions and expectations: l) the precursor work would be paid for by Coburg; and 2) Coburg would pay a connection fee that recovers the full costs associated with its use of the MWMC system and capacity (i.e., current and future Springfield and Eugene taxpayers/ratepayers would not subsidize the extension of wastewater treatment services to Coburg). Attachment "1" is included to identify the poss ~ble components and the range of expected costs associated with a "full cost recovery" policy. Attachment 2 depicts the estimated time frame and labor costs associated with the work needed to implement a connection. Current estimated amounts Coburg would be expected to pay if connecting in 2008 under the full cost-recovery policy range from $7,269,000 to $12,610,000. These estm~ates include: l) the full cost of precursor work, ranging from $500,000 to $800,000 (in current dollars because the work would be completed up front); 2) a local (Eugene) system development charge (SDC) estimated at $1,262,000 (in 2008 dollars) because Coburg would connect to the Eugene wastewater collection system; 3) a MWMC connection charge ranging from $5,507,000 to $10,548,000 (in 2008 dollars) using MWMC's 2004 SDC methodology in one of two possible scenarios that were presented to the JEO as a model to approximate full cost-recovery, and assuming the payment for the full amount of capacity allocated to Coburg would occur in 2008. The Eugene City Council and Lane County Commissioners reviewed this matter on October 26~'. The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to support Coburg's request, approved Coburg's proposed intergovernmental agreement (see Attachment 3) in concept, and requested an expeditious process. The Eugene Council voted five to ` three to proceed to develop a model for making decisions as to whether Coburg's or other similar extraterritorial communities' requests for wastewater services could be approved, with the assumption of full cost recovery.