Ronald Wastewater Board is Adding Two Commissioners to City's Dismay

The Ronald Wastewater District Board of Commissioners is moving forward to add two new board members, much to the dismay to the Shoreline City Council, which wants to acquire Ronald Wastewater, per a 2002 agreement.

For several years, the Board of Commissioners of Ronald Wastewater District, considered expanding the Board from three to five commissioners, according to a press release.

Under state law, special purpose districts with over 10,000 customers may be governed by a board of up to five commissioners.  Ronald Wastewater District has over 16,000 customers.   In May of 2012, the Board of Commissioners of Ronald Wastewater District voted 2-1, with commissioners Brian Carroll and Arthur Wadekamper voting in favor and Bob Ransom voting against, to expand the number of commissioners from three to five.  Carroll and Wadekamper  believed that expanding the Board would help the District outreach to and communicate with its rate payers, as well as attend industry, regional utility and community meetings.

The District notified all residential customers of the opportunity to serve and the Board received 21 applications for the new commissioner positions:  four women and 17 men.  The current Board was impressed with the quality and experience of the 21 applicants.  At a special meeting on July 23, the Board made the difficult decisions to narrow the pool of applicants to 5 finalists.  The current commissioners interviewed the finalists in open meetings on July 23 and July 25.  Shoreline Councilmember Chris Eggen, speaking personally and not on behalf of the City of Shoreline, recently complimented Ronald Wastewater District for its open and transparent commissioner selection process, according to the district. 

At the Wednesday, July 25, 2012 meeting, the Board of Commissioners voted to appoint Arnold H. Lind to one of the new commissioner positions.  The appointment vote was two in favor with one abstention.  Mr. Lind previously served as a District commissioner for 13 years, losing a close election in 2011 to current Commissioner Robert Ransom.  

The City meanwhile, in a May 25th letter from Mayor Keith McGlashan, questioned the action: "The city questions why it is in the best interest of the district to increase the size of its Board given the extra cost ($60,000-plus, according to the city) to ratepayers including the city. The District has operated with three commissioners since its inception. The District did not expand its board size after the 2008 election when residents in the Ronald Annexation Area voted to extend district voting rights to themselves. If a larger board was not needed then or at any other time in Ronald's history, why is it needed now?

"Furthermore, given the District has entered into an interlocal operating agreement with the City that sets the course for District assumption by the city at the close of the agreement in 2017, why is the District interested in increasing the size of its legislative body for the remaining five years of the interlocal agreement term?"

During the 2011 election, much of the debate between Ransom and Lind, was over if an election was needed to approve the assumption of Ronald into the City or not. Ransom claimed the city’s lawyers in 2002 stated that a vote by the people to absorb the Wastewater District was not necessary. Lind counters that a vote is necessary, according to state law, and it’s up the residents to ultimately make that decision.

The city, citing the costs of an election, tried unsuccessfully to change the state law that Lind cited.

"There's a lot of questions about that agreement," said Ronald Wastewater General Manager Michael Derrick, noting that since 2002 other cities have tried to absorb local utilities and not succeeded.

As for extra cost and pay, Derrick said commissioners are paid $104 for each meeting they attend up to $9,984 annually and the District spent money to send out notifications to customers seeking new Board members. 

There will be a special meeting on Friday, August 3, 2012 at 4:00 p.m. at the District office, 17505 Linden Ave N. At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Lind will be sworn in as a commissioner and will then join the Board to select another applicant to fill the five member board. The two newly appointed commissioners will flip a coin to determine who will fill Position 4 (serving until the next District election in 2013) and who will fill Position 5 (serving until the next District election after that in 2015).