From: Susan Hansen
Sent: Mon Jan 29 11:09:01 2018
To: WILLIAMS Karen
Cc: YELTON-BRAM Tiffany; Richard Whitman; jason.miner@oregon.gov; rdavis@oregonian.com; wwtp@cityofmolalla.com; DECONCINI Nina; grandinetti.robert@epa.gov
Subject: COMPLAINT: False information submitted by the City of Molalla in TDML reports
Importance: Normal
Dear Ms. Williams,
Members of Bear Creek Recovery have read the group of TDML "reports" sent to you by the City of Molalla. There are many things that need to be questioned regarding claims made by Molalla. What is DEQ doing to follow up when a city is constantly late and/or fails to produce timely reports, etc? Shouldn't that be a red flag to ODEQ that fact checking needs to occur?
At the end of this complaint is a fact check to Clackamas County Soil and Water regarding claims made by the City of Molalla in the TDML report about "opening a dialogue" with SWCD. Tom Salzar, Director of Clackamas County Soil and Water, notes to elected board member Joan Zuber, the rep for the Molalla area, that no such "dialogue" has happened to date. Please fact check this and ask Molalla to provide proof of any contact with Soil and Water.
Molalla totally fails to list anything about its impacts on the Molalla River. Please correct that. In its five year plan it only notes Creamery and Bear Creek.
Molalla claims to have done work to enhance/restore Creamery and Bear Creek watersheds. We totally dispute that any work of any kind has been done as claimed. Please ask for photo documentation and work orders and invoices showing that any plants were obtained by the city. Please ask for dates of any volunteer work parties for any such claimed work to enhance or restore.
Molalla claims to encourage residents to use native plants, etc. Please ask for proof of any way that has been done. We dispute that. We also dispute that any interest has been taken to preserve native vegetation, esp. trees, when development occurs. Please fact check any claim that Molalla has taken any interest in tree/native plant preservation - how and when any development was required to save native vegetation/trees. The same is true about existing wetlands, "protection" of wetlands has only been to put up a chain link fence around areas too wet to develop. There is also no Bear Creek Greenway project of any kind - it was only listed in the 2007 Parks Master Plan as a possibility and that Parks Plan has NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED in any way.
Accepting late reports/inadequate reports should trigger much greater interest in fact checking said "reports". Please fact check all claims made by the City of Molalla in the late/inadequate yearly and 5 year TDML "reports". Make certain the Molalla River is listed as a watershed that the City of Molalla has major impacts on, since it draws all its drinking water and disposes about 6 months worth of treated wastewater effluent into the Molalla River. The exchange that notes no dialogue has happened with Clackamas County Soil and Water is below. Perhaps you should also note that the City of Molalla has major impacts on groundwater, since DEQ has asked for a test well plan to figure out where the 173,000 gallons per day of sewage leaking from the unlined lagoons is going.
Susan Hansen
Bear Creek Recovery
From: Tom Salzer
Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2018 1:35 PM
To: Joan Zuber
Subject: Re: question
To my knowledge the City of Molalla has not opened a dialog with the District.
On Jan 27, 2018 3:15 PM, "JOAN ZUBER" <zuberj@molalla.net> wrote:
In the attached document it says that the city of Molalla was "opening dialog" between the city and Clackamas SWCD. How can I find out what the extent of this "dialog"? To whom would this have been directed?
Joan