McMinnVille officials outline $300 million-plus wastewater master plan, cite December overflow and regulatory pressures
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Summary
City staff presented a draft 20-year wastewater master plan that inventories aging pipes and pump stations, models peak wet-weather flows, and recommends a large capital program; the draft lists projects in the "300,000,000 plus range," and staff said rate and SDC changes will be needed to fund options.
McMinnVilles public works director, Jeff Hunsinker, told the City Council at a work session that the city is updating its 20-year wastewater master plan to meet regulatory requirements and prepare for future growth. "The biggest reason is for regulatory compliance," Hunsinker said, noting the city must maintain an NPDES permit and is working with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on an update expected this calendar year.
Hunsinker described the consultants scope as a hydraulic-modeling and flow-monitoring program across the conveyance system, a regulatory review of the treatment plant, and an added SCADA assessment to modernize aging telemetry and control systems. He said the citys flow monitoring and modeling are complete and that the consultants first-draft capital improvement program (CIP) lists a large number of recommended projects. "They gave us a pretty large number," Hunsinker said, placing the draft total in the "300,000,000 plus range." He emphasized that the figure is an inventory of all recommended work, not a proposed package the city must adopt as written.
Why it matters: DEQ guidance and the Clean Water Act set the plans design standards, Hunsinker said, and the city is planning to meet a 5-year design storm standard for peak wet-weather flows. He explained two central planning assumptions: pump-station firm capacity (planning on one pump out of service) and a minimum 3-foot freeboard in manholes to prevent overflows into the public right-of-way. Hunsinker also drew attention to regulatory risks that could add cost, including potential summer temperature limits the city presently would not meet and emerging EPA scrutiny of PFAS in biosolids.
Staff identified several project types in the draft CIP. The largest single item under close review is an offline storage tank to hold peak storm flows so pump stations do not overflow. Hunsinker said the engineering team will seek peer review to validate the need and cost of that storage project. Other recommendations include widespread conveyance rehabilitation and upsizing, pump-station upgrades, SCADA modernization, and equipment replacements at the 30-year-old treatment plant. He said an additional fourth treatment train would be considered only if growth materializes at high rates.
Hunsinker also provided operational context and recent events: "Back in December when we had that 5 year storm, we did have an over flow at that location of about 600,000 gallons that, flowed into the Yamhill without any full treatment," he said, adding that the discharge was screened before release and that other communities experienced DEQ violations during the same storm.
Finances and timing: The citys current wastewater fund balance was presented as an undesignated balance of about $33,000,000, plus roughly $5,000,000 in interfund loan repayments expected by FY29. Hunsinker said the city brings in about $11,000,000 in annual sewer-fee revenue, with approximately $6,000,000 typically allocated to capital and roughly $5,000,000 covering operations. Under current assumptions, he estimated roughly $70,000,000 of potential spending power over the next five years.
Hunsinker and the council discussed funding strategies. Options include continuing a pay-as-you-go approach, issuing revenue bonds (which would require council action and likely rate adjustments), pursuing state revolving fund loans, applying for EPA WIFIA financing, or seeking grants. He cautioned that different instruments carry different administrative burdens and legal constraints and that funding choices will affect the pace of work and rate trajectories.
Next steps: Financial consultant Deb Gallardi will model specific rate and system-development-charge (SDC) impacts and present scenarios at a future work session. Hunsinker said staff hopes to bring a final plan with finalized rates and SDC methodology for council adoption in the third quarter, but emphasized council policy choices about risk tolerance, pace of delivery, and which projects to accelerate will determine exact costs to ratepayers.
What council asked for: Councilors requested clear, digestible breakdowns showing which CIP items are growth-related and therefore eligible for SDC funding and which would be borne by rates. Hunsinker said staff will provide that analysis; "It's a requirement to build your SDC methodology that you have to parse out what is growth related, what's not," he said.
The council did not take formal action on the plan at the work session; staff will return with financial scenarios and more-detailed project cost breakdowns for another work session and subsequent adoption discussions.
