By Randy Kugler
My response to the City Hall researchers: The only issue I have ever raised was paying the City Manager and the Assistant City Manager 50% of their salaries from the Water Fund.
If you look only at the City Manager salary in the years I was employed by Manzanita, 25% was charged to the water fund, not 50%. Unlike the present situation of five staff at City Hall receiving compensation from the Water Fund, there were only two staff at City Hall taking salary from the Water Fund back in 1989-1996, myself and an Accounting Clerk/Secretary who took 75% and who did all of the billings, new accounts, and customer service and correspondence.
80% of City Hall maintenance was paid by the Water Fund for most of that time because all utility administration and billing was done at City Hall and there was no Oak Street Public Works facility. All Public Works staff offices and their water utility equipment and supplies were housed at City Hall and in the adjacent garage building.
The fixed assets inventory record keeping was completed once I convinced the City that we needed to embrace the use of computers for record keeping tasks.Up until I became City Manager there were no computers, EVERYTHING was done by hand on paper ledgers and the City had no records of equipment inventory or a process to calculate depreciation.
- Wrote all of the water system grant applications and contract proposals for water utility projects.
- Developed the first Water System Master Plan.
- Created the first Public Works Equipment Reserve Fund for Water Fund equipment.
- Created the Anderson Creek Watershed Timber Management Program.
- Administered the construction and financing of the blue water reservoir without any additional Bond funding request to city taxpayers.
- Served as City Personnel Officer for water utility personnel.
- Developed the “City Water Conservation Program” which received the 1992 statewide 1st place award for Excellence from the League of Oregon Cities.
- Administered the construction and financing of the Public Works facility on
Oak Street without any additional Bond funding request to city taxpayers. - First installation of City wide water meters.
- First computer generated water billing system.
- First personnel manual for Public Works employees.
- First water system System Development Charges to insure that developers and not
current water system users were paying their fair share to upgrade and expand the City water system. - Served as the Chairman of the North Tillamook County Water Resource Committee to investigate and plan for the future water needs of all 3 area cities.