Item 5 - Ratify MWMC Budget - Laserfiche WebLink

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open houses and opportunities for comment, along with formal public hearing processes. The Commission has used a variety of approaches to inform the public along the way, including: · News releases, direct mailings to interested parties, display ads, legal advertisements, and civic calendar notices. · Establishment of the web sites Biocyclefarm.org and MWMCpartners.org in October, 2003, and January, 2004, respectively. · Posting of the MWMC meeting agendas and minutes on the internet, and mailings to a standing interested parties list. Based on the MWMC intergovernmental agreement (IGA), MWMC's budget is ratified annually by Eugene, Springfield, and Lane County. The Cities also adopt the SDC methodology and charges, the Industrial Pretreatment Program permit and fee structure, and the regional wastewater user fees. SDC-related State statutes require that the Cities adopt the 20-Year Project List, upon which the SDCs are based. In the case of the Wet Weather Flow Management Plan (2001) and the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan, the Commission determined these plans should be forwarded to the Governing Bodies because of their significance to the community and to provide additional opportunities for public review. Once MWMC completes its public review and adoption processes and forwards these matters to the Governing Bodies, the Governing Bodies' respective public notification, review and adoption processes are used, providing further opportunities for public participation. The information provided below summarizes the citizen involvement/public information efforts undertaken over the last several years. While not comprehensive, a representative sample of public informational materials for the projects is attached. MWMC Lon&Range Capital Planning The Commission recently completed the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. The foundations of this plan, including the strategies, policies and the majority of the projects are provided by the planning studies that were conducted by the Commission over the last several years. These planning efforts were adopted by the Commission after significant CAC and public review processes, and implementation of these plans has been reflected in the Commission's annual budgets and CIPs since their completion. The Commission's 20-year list of capital projects totaled about $100 million (in 2004 dollars) in projects prior to the recent completion of the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan. To complete the 2004 MWMC Facilities Plan, the Commission overlaid existing planning analyses with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) guidance for preparing Facilities Plans, and the additional environmental requirements which DEQ included in the renewal of MWMC's wastewater discharge permit in 2002. Prior to the current update of the Facilities Plan, planning efforts commenced in 1996 with a Master Plan. The Master Plan was intended as a general overview and status evaluation of the regional wastewater collection and treatment facilities, and was not meant to fulfill the rigorous analyses or comprehensive data sets required by DEQ for formal Facilities Plans. However, it provided a road map for short-term capital improvements, and identified the need for the significant long-range facilities planning studies that followed, i.e., the Biosolids Management Plan (1997), and the Wet Weather Flow Management Plan (2001). The 1997 SDC methodology also was completed as an extension of the Master Plan. The citizen involvement and adoption processes for these projects are highlighted below.