Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Projects topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
WES deputy director Ron Waringa details regional projects, $60M Tri City outfall and Kellogg Creek upgrades
Summary
Ron Waringa told Milwaukie’s budget committee that Water Environment Services operates five treatment plants in the region and is midway through major projects including a $25 million intertie pump-station expansion and a near-$60 million Tri City outfall completed in December 2025.
Ron Waringa, deputy director of Clackamas County Water Environment Services (WES), presented the agency’s 2025 state-of-district update to the Milwaukie Redevelopment Commission and Budget Committee.
Waringa said WES operates five wastewater treatment facilities and maintains roughly 600 miles of sewer and nearly 20,000 stormwater structures serving about 200,000 people. “Between our five wastewater treatment facilities, we clean about 7,000,000,000 gallons of wastewater every year,” he said. He told the committee WES’s operating budget is about $225,000,000 with a $264,000,000 capital improvement plan and that the utility maintains strong reserves and a favorable bond profile.
Waringa highlighted recent and ongoing capital work at the Kellogg Creek site and regionwide projects. He said a Kellogg Creek administration building remodel began in April 2026 and will take roughly ten months; the renovated building will include a community room sized for about 25 people. He also described an intertie pump station—near the 224 corridor by Lowe’s and CarMax—that diverts flow from Kellogg Creek to the Tri City facility and is being expanded as upstream growth approaches capacity. “This was about a $25,000,000 project,” Waringa said of the pump-station work.
The presentation noted completion of a separate outfall project at Tri City: “This was a near $60,000,000 project that was completed on time and on budget,” Waringa said, adding the new 90‑inch outfall was placed into service in December 2025 and is sized to accommodate anticipated flows through 2080. Waringa framed the projects as elements of a long‑range plan intended to protect public health and reliability across the regional system.
Committee members asked about rate impacts as legacy debt components phase out. Waringa replied the debt-service reduction will harmonize Milwaukee’s treatment rate with other cities by the 2030–31 fiscal year, and staff project modest, managed increases rather than a large single spike. The committee did not take formal action on the presentation; Waringa invited members to tour Kellogg Creek after construction is complete.
