Throughout the late summer and fall, the proposed incorporation of an Arch Cape city captivated our attention. As such, I was remiss in keeping everyone updated about the transition of the Districts to July’s newly elected Boards. The just-previous Boards’ terms ended with a number impactful District needs/ opportunities still in process. Addressing this unfinished business will fall to the new Boards.
One transitional change is that I am no longer on the Water Board and as such this conversation thread IS NOT an official communication channel of the Boards, unless otherwise indicated. The articles will be based on information that can be obtained publicly, e.g., Districts web site, Board Meetings, discussions with Board members and staff, etc.
This year-end blog is intended to bring into focus these unfinished needs / opportunities as they are likely to be major themes of discussion throughout 2026.
- Sustainability of the Districts. (Water District & Sanitary District)
- Benefit Analysis of Merging the Arch Cape Water District and Cannon View Park water. (Water District)
- Doability of a Cell Tower (Water District)
1. Sustainability of the Districts
Background
The historical staffing level of the Districts was two operations staff and a part-time book keeper. 2 1/2 years ago when the just-previous Boards took office, they recognized that though the historical staffing level may have been sufficient to take care of the core functions of operating the plants, responding to emergency situations and very basic administrative functions, it was noticeably insufficient to keep up with preventive maintenance, refurbishing /replacing the aging above and underground infrastructure and administering the newly purchased forest.
To enable operations staff to focus exclusively on stablizing the Water & Sanitary plants and infrastructure, the Board Chairs took over all administrative duties for the utilities and the forest-watershed. Their decision was fortuitous because midway into their term, the junior operator resigned and the Districts have been unable to find/ retain a second full-time staff member. Anticipating a continuing need for professional administration of the Districts (thus relieving future Board Chairs of this responsibility) a tax was levied to contract with a part time administrator for a period of 2 years to; 1) take over the administrative duties and 2) recommend a viable plan for sustaining the functions of the Districts.
Current State
a. The Districts’ position continues to be a bit precarious. There is/are:
- One operations staff, Matt Gardner, who works 24×365. Fortunately, there is an agreement in place with a contract operator who comes to town periodically to give Matt relief for 3-4 days.
- Very limited backup support available from Cannon Beach and no support from the County or State.
- A ½ time Administrator, Collin Stelzig, who is only contracted through June 2027. And Teri Fladstol, a part time contracted bookkeeper/ admin asst.
- A growing backlog of 11-15 years of untouched preventive maintenance and equipment replacement/ refurbishment.
- Over 30 years of neglecting the decaying infrastructure of in-ground water and sewer pipes.
- Expanding disrepair of the sewer pipes (cracks and holes) that causes the seepage of enough storm water to overburden the sanitary plant. Case in point, on one day last week only 12,000 gallons of water was distributed to the community yet 624,000 gallons of water was processed at the sewer plant. This storm water inflow requires excessive operator time to manage the processing of the sewage and premature aging of the equipment. (Click on video from camera looking into one of the many decaying sewer pipes. Click on video with a voice over by Matt looking down into a sewer manhole.)
- Limited financial reserves and annual rate increases projected at 4-6% per year for the foreseeable future.
- Grant funding for the forest-watershed will concluded in September of 2026 leaving a limited amount of financial reserves to pay for ongoing operations.
b. As part of his contract, Collin will be conducting an organizational assessment of the Districts and will prepare a report to the Board by this time next year about District sustainability. The assessment will include evaluation of:
- The long-term need for an Administrator.
- Skill sets and time requirements for future Administrator roles.
- Appropriate staffing structure, including the need for and roles of the Operations Manager and District Operator.
- Administrative Support staffing needs.
- Alternative “external” options for managing District services, under explicit direction from the Board.
This evaluation is critical for making informed business, operations and financial decisions for July 2027 & beyond. It is also important to recognize that since Collin’s contract is for a fixed number of hours, his time spent on the assessment will take away from the administrative tasks that he has been doing over the past 6 months. Thus, some administrative tasks will not be done. To protect Matt’s physical and mental health, it will be prudent to ensure that the burden of any gaps in administrative support doesn’t fall on him.
2. Benefit Analysis of Merging the Arch Cape Water District and Cannon View water to reduce rates and obtain a second source water supply
The Arch Cape Sanitary District provides sanitary services to the houses in Cannon View Park (Carnahan Road). However, the Arch Cape Water District does not distribute water to Cannon View Park as they have their own water production and distribution system.
For decades, the Arch Cape Water District and Cannon View Park have volleyed back and forth the idea of merging the water systems. In the very early days, it was Arch Cape making the request to merge and more recently it is Cannon View Park making the request.
A preliminary benefits analysis of a possible merge done by the just prior Board shows that:
a) The investments made by Cannon View Park home owners in their water system infrastructure are about equivalent to the System Development Charges (SDC) that are paid by Arch Cape homeowners.
b) With the addition of CVP’s 50 homes, there are strong financial benefits to the Arch Cape Water District in terms of lower rates and/or greater financial reserves that can be used to refurbish the aging infrastructure.
c) Arch Cape Water District would benefit by having a second water source – Cannon View Park has springs and Arch Cape has creeks.
At the November Board Meeting, a Water Board member raised questions about the maintenance liabilities that the Arch Cape Water District might inherit if they acquired the CVP infrastructure. In response, Cannon View Park is working with an engineering firm to evaluate the distribution system and its predicted reliability.
A secondary benefit of a merger is that if/once the Water District merges with Cannon View Park water, then the Water District and Sanitary District could potentially consolidate into one single District leading to simplicity and additional cost savings.
3. Doability of a Cell Tower
The Water Board has formed a committee to look at the doability of a Verizon Cell Tower being located in the Arch Cape Forest-Watershed.
Arch Cape Conversations 
6 responses to “Unfinished Business of the Districts”
my recollection is that cvp in the past was only interested in a tie together so water could be transferred in either direction as needed. Only recently has there been thoughts of a combining of districts. Just like the ac system is aging so is the cvp system.ac has been upgrading along the way as funds where available. Once the cvp group has hired an engineering firm it would be great if ac could see the results of their findings and pass it to our engineers. All sounds plausible but let’s cover all aspects
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Most recently, Iit was the District’s engineering firm that recommended that the District consider a merge with cvp as a way to get a second water source. (See link to letter). A preliminary analysis done by the just prior Board also shows financial benefit to the District and rate payers. This benefits analysis would also require a more detailed pass once the cvp system is further evaluated. Documents between cvp and the District are a matter of public record and will be included in future editions on this topic.
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CORRECTION:
Bob is correct – the most recent discussions prior to the last June’s letter were limited to an emergency connection between the two Districts.
Also – Though the District’s engineering firm has responded to questions and requests from CVP, the firm has not charged CVP for those conversations. So CVP cannot be considered a client of the District’s engineering firm .
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Thanks for the continued diligence to keep us informed. The effort is very much needed AND appreciated.
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Inquiring minds do want to know!
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For useful and insightful recap. Thank you.
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