Benny Westcott
The Sweet Home City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, Nov. 9, to appoint Josh Thorstad to the Budget Committee and Laura Wood to the Planning Commission.
Both Thorstad and Wood had vied for the commission vacancy, with the former also applying for the Budget Committee. The candidates were interviewed by the city’s Administration, Finance and Property Committee, which recommended the appointments.
Thorstad is the owner of Albany’s Thor Armory, which buys, sells and trades firearms, and Thor Targets, a high-quality target firm in the same city. In his budget committee application, he wrote, “I would like to learn about city budgets and city planning,” expressing an interest in working as an “extra mind.”
“I want to help and be more involved in my community,” he added.
The budget committee consists of 14 members, with seven comprising the city council and the remaining seven at-large positions appointed by the council. Thorstad will serve a three-year term.
Wood is the CEO of the Sweet Home-based New Era Consulting Solutions. She’s also an active member and past president of Albany New Business Generation (NBG), as well as a volunteer for Court Appointed Special Advocates For Children (CASA) of Linn County, Furniture Share, and wildfire recovery efforts.
“My work is focused on aligning business priorities with the decisions they are making and actions they plan to take,” she wrote in her planning commission application. “I hope to apply the same skills and expertise to a role on the commission.”
The seven-member commission provides citizen review and recommendations on planning-related matters to the city council. Wood’s term is set to expire Dec. 31, 2022.
In other business, the council voted unanimously to allow city staff to solicit for a finished water and backwash pumping project for the Sweet Home Water Treatment Plant.
Constructed in 2008, the 17,280-square-foot facility features three finished pumps that send potable water into the distribution network.
Currently, abrupt on/off cycles send water hammer (a pressure surge) throughout the network, damaging the city’s aged and aging pipes and contributing to new leaks, according to a request for council action (RCA) submitted by Utilities Manager Steven Haney and Public Works Director Greg Springman.
Another problem outlined in the RCA is that the plant’s pumps were sized for full buildout at 10 million gallons per day, and are thus oversized for the existing 2-million-gallons-per-day condition. During high summer demand, one pump is often not enough, but two pumps is too much, exceeding the rated water pressure limit of the receiving distribution pipes.
Proposed improvements include the installation of variable frequency drives on the finished pumps, which would allow operators to control their speed. According to the RCA, this would soften the on/off cycles, eliminating the water-hammer source and allowing operators to run two pumps at partial speeds to achieve a desired flow rate.
The project would also address an issue in the water treatment plant’s filter backwash system, which currently draws water from the distribution network to clean the filters. It starts and stops abruptly, which causes a water hammer that is measurable citywide in the distribution system, according to the RCA.
The proposed improvement would install a pump to provide backwash water out of the clearwell instead of the distribution network. This action would eliminate the water-hammer source, the RCA stated.
The backwash system’s existing connection to the distribution network would be maintained for emergency backup supply of backwash water, but would no longer be used for daily operation under the plan.
The closing date for proposed bids on the project is Dec. 14. The city has budgeted $520,000, and the Eugene-based West Yost Associates estimates a $504,000 cost.