MEMORANDUM 05-32

TO: Mayor Hornaday / Homer City Council

FROM: Walt Wrede

DATE: February 23, 2005

SUBJECT: Water and Sewer Standards Committee

The Committee of the Whole Agenda contains a discussion item regarding the Water and Sewer Master Plan and the Water and Sewer Standards Committee. As you will recall, several Council members requested that the Council be included in the planning process before we get to a final draft of the Plan. Carey informed me recently that the consultants are now at a point where they have something to review and gather input on. Carey and I discussed the best way to get the Council, and ultimately the public involved in the process.

Carey reminded me that a Water and Sewer Standards Committee existed at one time and suggested that perhaps that would be the place to start. Mary did a little research on the committee and reported that the committee was inactive, that it had not met for years, and that new members would have to be appointed if the Council wanted to reactivate the committee.

My feeling on this is that we probably have too many committees already. This is placing a serious strain on the staff and on the budget. We are having a difficult time providing the level of staff support that we would like to the Commissions and Committees that we already have. Another committee would not be helpful in that regard, even if it were a committee that had a very short lifespan.

Given this concern and the fact that Council members have asked to be directly involved, I would suggest that the Council skip reactivating the committee. You could schedule a briefing on the work performed to date on this plan at a future Committee of the Whole. If there are citizens that you think have a special interest or expertise in this area you could invite them to take part in the meeting. After the briefing, the Council could give us further instructions as to how it wants to proceed from there regarding future input from the Council and the public.

RECOMMENDATION: Do not reactivate the Water and Sewer Standards Committee. Schedule of full briefing in a workshop type environment at a future Committee of the Whole meeting.