Oregon Public Broadcasting

Who owns a wastewater treatment plant in Milwaukie? That question has set off a disagreement between the city and Clackamas County. It’s a cautionary tale about the cost of basic services, growth, and the importance of clear contracts in long-term planning. Ryan Knutson reports.

Doug Harbaugh: “Take a deep breath.”

Ryan Knutson: “Smells like a toilet in here”

Doug Harbaugh: “It smells really bad. That’s the smell of raw sewage, basically.”

I’m standing above an indoor tank of brown water at the Kellogg Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, which sits on 10 acres along the Willamette River in Milwaukie. This is the room where the heaviest materials are filtered from the fluid that flushes out of the area’s toilets, sinks and washing machines.

This facility is at the center of dispute between Clackamas County and the city of Milwaukie.

Last July, the county started billing the city about $25 a month per customer for sewage treatment. That’s more than twice what city residents used to pay, but it’s about the same amount other county residents are charged.

Kenny Asher: “If your cable bill showed up one day and was twice what it had been. And you called the company and said, ‘What’s this?’ And the cable company said, our costs have gone up, and your cable service is now twice what it was last month. I suppose you’d have the option of either canceling your cable subscription or paying up.”

Kenny Asher is the Public Works director for Milwaukie.

Kenny Asher: “That’s kind of how this is playing out, the problem is we’re not talking about cable television, we’re talking about probably the most basic service that you need in order to have a city.”

Asher says the increase isn’t fair, because it will pay for a new sewage treatment plant built to accommodate growth that occurred outside Milwaukie.

Milwaukie helped pay for the Kellogg Creek plant back in 1970. City officials thought then it was an investment that would prevent residents from having to pay for future treatment facilities.

Lynn Peterson: “We had to look at how much we to look at how much we charged the city of Milwaukie not just because the contract was old but because there was going to be maintenance and additional capacity that needed to be dealt with.”

Lynn Peterson is the chair of the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners.

Lynn Peterson: “This is the amount it costs us to do business, and we divide it among all of the users equally.

And a dispute over maintenance has left the plant one disaster away from spilling sewage into the Willamette River that’s not fully treated.

Doug Rumpel: “We typically require two blowers at once to run the system. Right now, our number four is disabled; it’s no longer able to function. So we’re really down to two with one backup and it’s got some issues as well.”

That’s Doug Rumpel, who operates the Kellogg plant. He says the blowers, which pump air to bacteria that digest the sewage, are critical to treat wastewater.

New blowers would also make the plant more energy efficient. But the ongoing bureaucratic dispute between the city and the county has stalled repairs.

Again, Clackamas County’s Lynn Peterson: “We need to get those blowers in so we do not overflow into the Willamette raw sewage. We’re running out of time at this point.”

Travis Williams is the executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper. He says keeping the river clean is the most important thing.

Travis Williams: “If you look at communities around the country as these facilities are being upgraded, you have to pay for them, that’s just the reality on the ground, and I guess if one’s bill is to increase from $11 a month to something a bit more than that it doesn’t seem like an incredible price to pay, especially given the alternative.”

Kenny Asher of Milwaukie says this has a lot to do with long-term planning.

Kenny Asher: “If it were just about finding a rate, this would be a lot easier. A lot of this is about who is entitled to their vision of the future.”

But it also has to do with the way documents were drawn up on the past. Ted Kyle thumbs through the original contract for the plant.

Kyle used to work for Clackamas County. Now he does consulting for the city of Milwaukie.

Ted Kyle: “A lot of the issues do arise by how you interpret the contract. If the contract had one more sentence that said, and each party shall own its share of the plant in proportion to its capital investment, then it would have been clear. It doesn’t say that. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t not say that either.”

Both sides say negotiations are moving forward. While Milwaukie is still fighting the increased rates, next week its city council will take up the issue of surcharge on sewer rates.