Council Takes Unusual Step of Postponing Decision on Water Partnership

To All COLA LO Members,

Last night the City Council decided to postpone making a decision on moving ahead with the LO Tigard Water partnership until all of the additional information could be evaluated.     

City Staff had proposed that the council approve millions of dollars in contracts so the project could begin construction while engineering is approximately 60% complete.  

The council carefully questioned staff about the history of the project and the potential for additional increases in total cost.    After reviewing the details as part of the public process the council decided to wait on approving contracts until its next meeting in two weeks. 

Costs for the project have escalated dramatically over the past five years and are now estimated to exceed $250 million.   As such this would be the largest capital project in LO history.     One of the major issues has been the fact that with increasing water bills LO residents have dramatically conserved water use and reduced consumption by 30%+  over the past two years.  

 Given this information the council questioned staff on the need for the increased size of the facility and what the city would do with the excess capacity.    Staff is recommending that Tigard consider a greater share of the total project and its costs. 

Some details can be found in the following link:  Council Postpones

Please notify all members, contacts, and friends.