Sean C. Morgan
Editor’s note: This is the first in a seven-part series profiling City Council candidates running in the Nov. 7 election. Ballots are scheduled to be mailed in mid-October. Candidates will be presented in alphabetical order. The week of the final installment, each candidate will be given the opportunity for final comments in response to other candidates or emerging issues.
Of The New Era
Mayor Craig Fentiman has brought experience and knowledge, gained over 18 years on the City Council, to the table as he has helped navigate the city through sewer and water projects during his past term.
During the last four years, sewer and water issues, along with rates and development, have topped the council’s activities, Fentiman said. Coming up, those issues will continue to be important, but the city is also looking at ways to deal with storm water, along with growth issues.
He said he has the experience, knowledge and the ability to make hard decisions to successfully lead the city through these issues. The whole reason he serves on the council is to help make the hard decisions needed “in the best interest of the city” to help “the city grow and prosper.”
Fentiman has been an insurance agent for 25 years. He owns and operates a Farmer’s Insurance agency in Sweet Home. He is a graduate of Oregon State University with a bachelor of science in forest management. He is married to Penny. They have one daughter, Angela, 23.
Fentiman has served on the council since he was appointed to succeed Ruth Ganta in 1988. He won his first election to the office in 1990 and is about to enter his fifth council election. He is serving his fourth term as mayor, a position he has held at different times during his tenure on the council.
He has been part of several decisions in recent years to address needs in the city’s sewer and water systems.
“Certainly one of the biggest ones is the decision (in July) to contract out the operation of the water and wastewater facilities,” he said. As a councilman, he helped borrow some $6 million for “demonstration” projects aimed at repairing portions of an aging and deteriorating sewer system.
That project is part of the city’s effort to eliminate “inflow and infiltration” (I&I) under an agreement with the Department of Environmental Quality. Estimates range as high as $30 million for the repair of the city’s sewer system and elimination of most of the I&I. I&I is water that leaks into the sewer system through cracked pipes or cross connections to storm water systems.
Fentiman’s council also has worked on building a new water treatment plant to meet federal requirements that changed in the late 1990s, and the council started looking at developing a storm water utility to help deal with drainage issues around town.
“That’s pretty much been the focus,” he said. “And along with that, the new developments that are going.”
Much of what’s going on has driven higher utility rates and will drive further increases, and along with them the city gets public complaints about the prices.
“In a small town, yes, rates are going to be higher,” Fentiman said. “You don’t have a way to spread the cost.”
Set up a plant and make one gallon of water, it costs “x” amount of dollars, he said. Larger water systems can spread the fixed costs to more users.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen to rates once we get these new houses on line,” he said. Impacting those rates will be the ongoing work on wastewater lines and the new water plant.
“The one thing we’re going to try to do is minimize the rate increases and try to stabilize it,” Fentiman said. “I think contracting with OMI (for operation of water and wastewater plant) is going to help in stabilizing the costs.”
This year, the city maintained the fixed-cost portion of its rates, he said, although the charge per hundred cubic feet did increase. The city also is continuing to include, without additional charge, the first 400 cubic feet of water and sewer use for residences.
The results of the council and city’s work is “to make the water the best product we can put out there,” Fentiman said, and the work in the sewer will keep the city from bypassing untreated wastewater into the river and meet DEQ requirements, which if violated, can result in fines against the city.
Coming up, the council is beginning work on developing a storm water utility, Fentiman said, and the council will face issues related to growth.
A consultant is currently analyzing Sweet Home’s storm water system and developing recommendations for rates and system development charges for the new utility.