Commission discusses Mountain View reservoir and storage for West Linn; schedules staff work session

Commissioners discussed long‑standing questions about the Mountain View water tower (referred to as Reservoir No. 2 in the discussion), its $600,000 deferred repair estimate, and whether the city should charge West Linn for storage or transfer the facility to the South Fork Water Board.

Public‑works staff told commissioners the city is preparing a water master plan and anticipates decommissioning Reservoir No. 1 because it lacks a cover; staff said the properties recently acquired near the tower are intended as potential reservoir sites to meet future storage needs and to provide operational redundancy. "Right now, we're about to decommission Reservoir Number 1... we're also just starting our water master plan to figure out what kind of storage the city is gonna need in the next 20 years," a staff member said on the record.

Some commissioners argued the city should consider billing West Linn for storage used historically; others suggested the city could sell or transfer the tower to a regional utility to avoid capital outlay that would otherwise be borne by Oregon City ratepayers. Commissioners requested a 45‑minute work session with Dan Bradley and Nancy Kreshauer to review storage accounting, maintenance responsibilities and options for resolving the capital cost and rate impacts.

No final decision was made at the meeting; staff and commissioners agreed to gather data and meet in a work session to clarify options before any transfer or billing action is pursued.