From: Elizabeth Klein

Sent: Fri Jan 24 08:14:20 2020

To: Dan Huff; Gerald Fisher; Keith Swigart

Subject: Fw: Water Infrastructure Legislation

Importance: Normal

Morning,

You all may receive this email as well but in case you didn't, forwarding for you to look at. I don't know anything about this legislation or what it would mean for Molalla... may try and look at it later...

Elizabeth Klein

City Council

City of Molalla

503-829-6855

From: Michael Greenblatt <mgreenblatt@hilltoppublicsolutions.com>

Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2020 5:21 PM

To: Elizabeth Klein

Subject: Water Infrastructure Legislation

Hi Councilor Klein,

I'm writing to let you know about LC 199, which is legislation that will be introduced in the upcoming Legislative Session in the State Capitol. This bill would make it so that local governments that receive state money for water infrastructure projects adhere to an "open competition" model to select materials for water infrastructure projects.

As cities update their aging water infrastructure, they might miss possible cost-savings by relying on potentially obsolete guidelines for choosing the appropriate materials. For instance, a report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors stated that allowing open competition for infrastructure bids could have significant savings without compromising material quality. Likewise, the League of Oregon Cities projects that cities statewide may spend $7.6 billion replacing water infrastructure in the next 20 years. Allowing open competition of material selections could reduce costs between 43%-78%, thereby saving money for taxpayers and governments, and allowing them to spend money on other priorities. It is important to note that this proposal doesn't mandate any specific materials or requirements on local governments; it instead seeks to expand the criteria used to select materials when considering water infrastructure projects.

We're hoping that you'll contact your state legislators to urge them to support LC 199. Please let me know if you'd like to advocate for this proposal, and I will write a draft letter for you to send to your legislators.

Since the upcoming short Legislative Session begins on February 3 and only lasts for a month, we are trying to have outreach to legislators completed as soon as possible, preferably by the end of January; accordingly, if I haven't heard back from you in the next few days, I will probably call you to gauge your interest.

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more information about this proposal.