Commissioner's Corner
Edward Stewart

The recent announcement of the upcoming retirement of Tom Murphy, Superintendent of Federal Way School District, came as a great surprise. My direct interactions with Tom began when I joined the Lakehaven Board of Commissioners three years ago. Tom and I participated on several local government committees that include Lakehaven, the School District, the City of Federal Way and South King Fire and Rescue. His leadership and ability to assess and solve issues has made him a significant contributor to these groups. In addition to his contributions on the inter-agency committees, the District thanks Tom for his support of our water conservation and water resource education programs in local schools. We wish him well in whatever endeavors he pursues in his retirement.

A goal of the Board of Commissioners is to ensure that customers pay their fair share of the costs of components of the water and sewer system infrastructure that provide general benefit to the respective systems. When a property is connected to either of the two systems, a charge for the fair share of the system infrastructure is allocated to the property owner. This charge is referred to as the Capital Facility Charge, or “CFC”. The CFC is divided into units of capacity, known as equivalent residential units (“ERU”), based on the amount of service required for a typical single family residence. Single family residential customers pay one ERU for service. Commercial and multi-family properties are charged on the basis of the estimated number of “ERUs” of capacity in the water and sewer system that will be used.

Over time, the use of system capacity at these properties often grows above the original level of ERU’s purchased at the time of connection. In order that the system retains its equitable treatment of customers, it is necessary to collect the cost of excess capacity from those using more than was paid for. To make it less burdensome than requiring these customers to purchase additional ERU’s, as well as to reflect that some excess capacity usage is intermittent, the District has established a program that will allocate a capacity rental charge to commercial customers (i.e. non-single family residential property owners) who use more capacity in the water or sewer system than was purchased for the property. The use of excess capacity will be determined by comparing records that reflect the level of water and sewer system capacity owned by a property, typically acquired at the time of connection, against water meter readings that show the quantity of water consumed at the property during a bimonthly billing period.

Under the rental program, the District will collect 1% of the cost of the Capital Facilities Charge for each Equivalent Residential Unit (“ERU”) of water and/or sewer service of excess capacity used during the two month billing period. An ERU is the amount of sewer or water system capacity used by the average single family residence. The District will use a “rolling” twelve month period to determine the level of excess use. The rolling average will level demand and, by reducing the impact of peak consumption periods on the excess capacity calculation, will have the effect of reducing the amount of rent burden on customers. With an ERU costing approximately three to four thousand dollars for each system, the rent for an ERU will be fifteen to twenty dollars per month.

The capacity rental program was originally set to begin in 2009. To make certain that the data that supported the determination of paid capacity was accurate, as well as to fine tune some of the considerations for multi-use parcels, the Board delayed the program until 2010. It is not expected to create a significant burden on most commercial customers, however, customers are free to come in to Development Services and purchase additional capacity in the system to avoid, or limit, future system rent obligations. Water conservation will also lower, or eliminate, rent burden on both the water and sewer side of the bill and is encouraged. If you have questions, please call Morgan Dennis, at 253-945-1615.

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DON’T FLUSH UNUSED MEDICINE

A significant number of medicines go unused or expire.  Abuse of medicines by teenagers, including prescription drugs and cough remedies, is a growing problem.  Unwanted medicines need to be properly disposed of; however please do not flush them down the toilet because pharmaceuticals could be released into the environment.  The proper way to dispose of outdated medicine is to return it to the pharmacy.  Federal Way Group Health will accept unused medicines from residences for disposal even if you are not a member.

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IEMC TRAINING IN EMMITSBURG, MD

Greater Federal Way Emergency Management Planning Committee at FEMA Training Exercise in Emmitsburg, MD.  Lakehaven participants included Commissioner Ron Nowicki, Commissioner Don Miller, Steve Pritchett, Don Perry, John Bowman, Gene Yoder, and Dale Haase.

Public officials and emergency personnel, along with representatives from many area agencies of essential public services and volunteers participated in a week-long Community Specific Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) at the Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland, in early September 2009. The drill scenario for the community of Federal Way was a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that collapsed major roads, bridges, schools, and private businesses. The IEMC is a 4.5 day exercise based training activity that places public officials and emergency personnel in a realistic crisis situation within a structured learning environment. A combination of classroom lectures and discussions, small-group planning sessions, and practical exercises expose participants to new ideas and increase their awareness. For the emergency exercise, each participant is assigned a role similar to his/her real-life position. This prestigious accomplishment for the Greater Federal Way Emergency Management Program provided an outstanding learning environment for participants to build on the disaster and emergency response skills and capabilities.

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KIDS CORNER

Splish-splash, but don’t fill up the bath! Fill the tub only one-third full to save water.

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Chuck Gibson - President
Ed Stewart - Vice President
Don Miller - Secretary
Ron Nowicki - Commissioner
Vacant Position - Commissioner

Regular Board of Commissioners meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month.
These meetings are held at the Lakehaven Center at:

Lakehaven Center
31531 First Ave. S.
Federal Way at 6 p.m.