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Special Member Meeting Follow Up

Westside Water Members,

 

We, your Westside Water Board, want to extend our deepest appreciation for the level and quality of participation of the Membership who attended the Special Meeting March 16th.    117 Members were represented – including 53 attending by Zoom in “real time”.   Meaningful participation by Zoom is not easily mastered and we believe we truly “showed up” as a community for each other and for our Association where we share a common cause in providing safe and reliable water for our Members.  

All 6 proposed Bylaw amendments passed by significantly more than the required 2/3rd’s vote. (amended Bylaws can be found here)

Your Board is now deliberating on how to proceed with the offering of the initial 4 shares.  We will let you know by newsletter and on our Association website when and how to request a share when we have finalized the process.  Meanwhile, we encourage you to review thoroughly the packet we sent out describing the share sales process (which can also be found on the Association website).

We want to acknowledge the diligent and careful work of the ad hoc committee that reviewed the Association Bylaws for consistency and clarity and recommended the proposed Bylaw revisions that were passed at the Special Meeting.   Thank you to Adrian Witherspoon, Jim Cross, Peter Meyers, Trish MacDonald, and Daniel Briggs who volunteered many, many hours of their time on behalf of our community.

Thanks too, to Hunter Davis who provided invaluable counsel in running our meeting according to Robert’s Rules of Order (as required by our By-Laws).

 

Annual Meeting reminder:

Remember to put the Association  Annual Meeting on your calendar.   That meeting is scheduled for May 19th.  We intend to hold this meeting in person but will continue to monitor the Covid situation and will confirm as we get closer to the meeting date.

With appreciation,
Your Westside Water Board

Special Member Meeting

There is a Special Member Meeting called for Wednesday, March 16th at 7pm.  The purpose of this meeting is for the members to vote on the proposed changes to the Association Bylaws.  Please click here to find the notice letter.

Annual Member Meeting 2021

Member Notice: 2021 Westside Water Annual Meeting

 

When:   May 27th, 2021 at 7 pm viaZoom:

 

Join via your browser:  Zoom  Meeting ID: 863 3034 3289,    Passcode: 035752

 

Link  (for those of you getting this message electronically):   Westside Water 2021 Annual Meeting Zoom “room”   (You’ll still need to enter the Passcode)

 

For additional Annual Meeting documents click here.

 

From:  Board of Directors, WWA

 

The Annual Meeting of Westside Water Association will be held at 7:00 PM on Thursday, May 27, 2021.  The pandemic we have dealt with since early last year continues and once again necessitates that this meeting be held remotely via Zoom.  Please “arrive” ½ hour before the meeting to check in.  Your early arrival will allow the time for us to record your attendance and, if a vote is taken during the meeting, to be able to tabulate your vote. We need at least 60 members to join the meeting via ZOOM, or by proxy, in order to conduct annual business so please, if you are unable to attend, take a moment to assign your proxy to someone you know who will be attending.  A list of people who are committed to attending is provided below (see “Proxy Statement”).  Proxies will be verified by the Association’s Secretary prior to the meeting.  You can scan and send your proxy via email to manager@westsidewater.org or send it by mail to PO Box 267. 

 

Your Board reports a number of significant accomplishments this year.  The big news is the addition of the Back 40 well which we expect will resolve last year meetings’ dominant concern of sufficient water supply for peak demand periods.  Adding this well required meeting  a series of regulatory requirements pertaining to  water quality and quantity;  It also prompted the submittal of a new Small Water System Management Plan (SWSMP); and a review of our organization’s bylaws and operating procedures in anticipation of having new member shares to sell for the first time since 1988.  We look forward to sharing this and other news at the annual meeting, receiving feedback from you and hearing any concerns or suggestions you may have.  To provide you with the information needed to better participate in this year’s meeting please read the latest newsletter emailed to you on May 7th.  Another recommended resource is the WWA web site: www.westsidewater.org.  On our website you will find the latest 2020-2021 financial report, a re-cap of this year’s voting issues, our water monitoring data, last year’s annual meeting minutes and more.  We encourage you to visit it.

 

The annual meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 PM, May 27th.  Again, please “arrive” in the Zoom meeting early, at 6:30 pm so you can be checked in.  You can enter the zoom information into your browser or simply click on this link.   Note: The pass code 035752 is necessary to access this meeting.  After you check in, you can go do something else until the meeting formally starts but checking in early will really help ease the chaos.

 

Last year we provided a tutorial on the use of Zoom, as a new platform, and it aided us to successfully connect for meeting together.  Should you want a refresher, or any help using Zoom, please contact Adrian Witherspoon at adrianspoon@gmail.comor by phone at 206-356-5891and we will determine how we can best assist you.Please plan to attend and take part in setting the direction of your Association for the coming year.  We look forward to seeing you all.

 

Remember, should you lack a computer or internet service you can also join Zoom by phone. Contact Adrian for details on how to do that.  

 

 

AGENDA

 

·      Call to Order/establishment of quorum

·      Minutes of 2020 Annual Meeting (Jim Cross)  – View on website. (or we can mail it upon request)

·      Treasurer’s Report (Richard Perret)- also on the website, or we can mail it upon request

·      Sunny Speidel will provide WWA’s yearly member review of the finances

·      President’s Report (Jeff Thurlow)

·      System Manager’s Report (Doug Dolstad)

·      Global Water Initiative Report

·      Old Business

·      New Business – anticipate additional member meetings to discuss possible bylaw changes and amendments which will require a forum

 

·      Election of Board Member for positions

Nominated, as of this date, are several current board members:  Jeff Thurlow, Jim Cross, and Adrian Witherspoon.  We encourage any member, should they wish to participate at this level, to offer their name by either contacting us prior to the meeting or during, when we will ask for additional nominations.  This is important, as we wish for the greatest member participation and the continual renewal of a board to keep it in line with member’s objectives.

 

·      Adjournment

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROXY STATEMENT

 

I, ___________________________________, member of the

 

Westside Water Association, do hereby authorize (pick from list below or write in a member’s name you know will be attending the meeting)

 

__________________________________ to vote my share at the

 

May 28, 2020 Annual Meeting of the Westside Water Association.

 

Signed____________________________  Account # _________

 

Dated _________________________________

 

Please designate a proxy from the following who have committed to attend this meeting:

 

·      Jeff Thurlow      _______________________

·      Richard Perret    _______________________

·      Adrian Witherspoon   _______________________

·      Jim Cross           _______________________

·      Pat Call    _______________________

·      Doug Dolstad     ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_______________________

·      Other (please identify by name) _________________________

Fall 2020 Newsletter

October 2020


Dear WWA members,

In our last communication we indicated concern about a documented decline in the aquifer that supplies the Anderson Well field (2 wells) and that we were pursuing the acquisition of a new well (aka Back 40A well) to enhance our water supply. This summer we were able to meet all of the demand with our existing sources but not with a very large margin and we had an average not a hot summer. We are pleased to report that the Washington State Department of Health, NW Drinking Water Operations has reviewed the Source Approval document that we submitted and has approved the new well for our use. Approval of this source by the State was a prerequisite to executing the purchase agreement crafted between our Association and the owners. We expect to complete the transfer of ownership in the next week or two.

That leaves us with some additional topics:

  1. 1)  Submission of a Small Water System Management Plan (SWSMP) to DOH as a required complement to the Source Approval document, and
  2. 2)  Payment for the expenditures associated with the acquisition and development of the new source

SWSMP

WWA last submitted a Comprehensive Plan in 1996 so updating that planning document with a SWSMP is long overdue and was also a major undertaking. The SWSMP is undergoing final review by your Board. It is our view that the acquisition of the new well puts WWA in the unusual (historically speaking) position to be able to add a modest number of new members. The SWSMP documents our rationale to increase the number of total shares in WWA to 245 which would mean an increase of a net 10 new shares. It is important to note that this request has not yet been approved by DOH, but we feel that the justification we provided is conservative and thus expect the request will be granted. The Board is working concurrently with the SWSMP submittal process to clarify the mechanics of the issuance of any new shares that result. An ad hoc committee consisting of 2 WWA Board and several Association members has reviewed the Association By-Laws and Board policies for congruence and will make recommendations for modifications to both the Board (regarding Board policies) and the Membership (for By-Law suggestions).

 

 

Repayment of the cost to develop the Back 40 well

We estimate that the Back 40A well acquisition and development to connect to the existing infrastructure will cost about $65,000. The Board feels that 1/3 of that amount should be the responsibility of existing members (based on the need to increase our capacity by about 10 gpm to serve current peak demand which is 1/3 of the 30 gpm capacity of the Back 40A well) and, in

 

particular, existing members whose summertime water usage represents excess demand. That will leave 2/3 of the cost to be paid back from the sales of new shares. Rather than create an assessment, the Board feels that the cost to existing members should come from an increase in the billing rate for water usage above the base rate. Assuming a three-year paydown schedule we will need to derive about $7,500/year from this water usage rate surcharge. Typically, we derive about 30% (or $38,000) of our annual revenue from water sales above the base rate. So, we are anticipating an increase of in the water billing rate of about 20% above the base rate for the next three years to cover the development of the new source. The Board is working on the details by water usage tier and will be publishing that information by the end of October with the new billing rates going into effect starting in November 2020. Any funds collected for share sales beyond the amount needed to pay for the Back 40A well will be added to the Capital Asset Replacement fund.

 

 

As always, the Board welcomes your questions and comments The WWA Board