Council establishes Water/Wastewater Advisory Committee for two‑year trial with revisions to scope

The Saint Helena City Council voted Jan. 14 to create a Water and Wastewater Advisory Committee on a two‑year trial basis to advise the council and staff on long‑term planning, operations and capital projects for the city’s water and wastewater systems.

The committee will be Brown Act‑compliant and, by staff recommendation, composed of five members with technical or business experience relevant to water and wastewater systems. Members would serve staggered four‑year terms after the initial two‑year pilot; council will evaluate the trial at the end of two years and may extend or convert the panel to a permanent standing committee.

Council and staff clarified that the committee’s role is advisory and that a topic matrix developed during exploratory meetings would be offered as a resource, not a prescriptive work plan. The committee will be expected to collaborate with staff and return a prioritized work plan to the council for approval. The council asked for a minor resolution edit (replace a reference to “Attachment 1” with “Attachment A”) to make the relationship between the resolution and the supporting materials clearer.

The council approved the resolution with the staff‑recommended change and directed staff to finalize appointment details and bring member nominations forward.

Council members and members of the public who had worked on exploratory meetings thanked volunteers and staff for their work on drafting the committee framework. Several council members stressed the need to narrow and prioritize the committee’s initial workload given the technical complexity of water and wastewater issues.

The committee is expected to meet frequently early in its term to build a work plan; staff recommended a minimum of 10 meetings during the two‑year pilot and noted robust public engagement would be part of the process.