Committee Exploring Water And Waste Water Partnership

The Water and Wastewater Working Committee (WWWC). The committee is working to find a way to merge and consolidate two city entities into a single entity or partnership.

The Water and Wastewater Working Committee (WWWC). The committee is working to find a way to merge and consolidate two city entities into a single entity or partnership.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Oskaloosa has been without a waste-water supervisor for an extended time, with a solution to filling that vacancy being one the City of Oskaloosa is carefully considering.

Will the future be similar to the past, with separate operations for waste-water and the Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department? Will there be a combination of the two entities, or could the city hire an outside firm to manage one or both of the facilities?

The Water and Wastewater Working Committee (WWWC) was formed in the fall of 2014 for the purpose of reopening discussions and exploring partnership opportunities between the city of Oskaloosa and the Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department. The WWWC is committed to an efficient and effective utility service provision for the betterment of the Oskaloosa rate and tax payers.

Members of the WWWC include: Mayor Krutzfeldt, Council Member Jimenez, Council Member Yates, Water Trustee Ryan, Water Trustee Vore, and staff Coon and Schrock.

At this point, the City of Oskaloosa is in the opening rounds of discussion with the Oskaloosa Municipal Water Department to see if those operations can be merged under a single department.

Employees of each department have certifications that could be used for either operation, “or department, of sorts, where we unify the operations so that you’ve got people that are cross-trained,” said Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt. That cross-training would allow staff to work on problems that may arise.

A potential new entity consisting of a 5 member board who would oversee the operations of the combined effort. “They would work in concert with the city council as well,” explained Krutzfeldt. The benefits of a 5 member board, beyond increased representation on the board, is it also helps with potential quorum issues and open-meetings regulations. Currently, no two board members can talk without the risk of an open-meetings violation.

The two parties will be coming to an agreement, on what the next steps will be in the near future, after a resolution by the Oskaloosa City Council encouraged the group to continue finding a solution to serve Oskaloosa and its residents.

Posted by on Nov 30 2014. Filed under Local News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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