From: Susan Hansen
Sent: Tue May 05 10:50:37 2015
To: DECONCINI Nina
Cc: HAMMOND Joni
Subject: RE: Molalla wastewater plan April 30 hearing feedback
Importance: Normal
Thanks Nina. Tiffany has a very low voice - not her fault - but she could not be heard by even the small number of people who had to tell her to speak up and had to push their chairs forward. It is not the first time with difficulty hearing her so she should be aware of that.
Again, there was NO TIME LIMIT at a much bigger hearing last spring. If that is policy then it should be posted so people can prepare in advance.
I am frankly shocked it has taken months and your agencies can't decide who should notify a community about E.coli. I find that hard to believe and it needs to be decide so no community is left in the dark in the future. Department of ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY seems to want to not rock boats - people were very angry on social media after my letter was published about not being notified promptly. I expect that DEQ never bothered to go test Creamery Creek in the neighborhoods, either? We had the question of Shorty's Pond come up - Bear Creek leaves Coleman and soon drains into a city park west of Mathias where fish are stocked in the spring. UGH. Who knows what's in that mucky hole - between Coleman E.coli and the dioxin brownfields.
Susan
-----Original Message-----
From: deconcini.nina@deq.state.or.us
Sent: Tue, 5 May 2015 17:11:53 +0000
To: foxglovefarm@inbox.com
Subject: RE: Molalla wastewater plan April 30 hearing feedback
Thank you for your feedback on the hearing. I am sorry there was a delay getting into the building. There was no intention of insulting anyone. It was just a mishap.
Given the number of people who wished to speak, it may have been more efficient to have allowed a slightly longer time period for the oral comments. We typically do limit people initially so we can ensure everyone gets an opportunity to provide comments, however, we can and should make adjustments in cases like last week. As you know, all comments are treated equally, so if you or others provided comments in writing and in person, they will all be considered. If it was difficult to hear Tiffany, I hope you shared that with her directly. We have a portable sound system that we bring for larger meetings. I understand there were under 12 people at last week's hearing, so we wouldn't normally set it up under those circumstances. In the future, I will ask Tiffany to use the sound system so the public can hear what she and others say.
Your concern about the clarity of water being a barometer for safety is well founded. I spoke with Tiffany and she stated that Pat Heins was trying to make it understood that Class A water is measured by turbidity and the number of e coli colonies and in doing so, described that this water would be clear because only 2 NTU (the units of measure for turbidity are allowed) and to the eye, that is clear water. Signs are required where Class A water is applied stating that it is not for drinking.
The question about who has the responsibility of notifying residents when there may be unsafe levels of pollution in certain waters has not been resolved. This is why Tiffany could not provide a response. I have been in conversations with Dept of Ag about it and there is no clear answer at this time. We are continuing to discuss the issue with ODA to determine how to proceed. I have asked Joni Hammond to participate in our conversations. I can keep you apprised of our progress periodically.
Thanks.
Nina
From: Susan Hansen [mailto:foxglovefarm@inbox.com]
Sent: Friday, May 01, 2015 10:46 AM
To: HAMMOND Joni
Cc: DECONCINI Nina
Subject: Molalla wastewater plan April 30 hearing feedback
Dear Joni,
Here's some feedback about last night's recycled water plan hearing in Molalla.
When I arrived at 5:55pm there were a few people huddled on the steps of the Molalla Adult Center, including Tiffany and her co-worker. It turned out no one had a key to the building and we had to wait till 6:15 to even get into the building. The meeting was supposed to start at 6 and run till 8. It was disappointing and insulting to participants that no one in charge had made certain the building would be open on time.
Four people signed up to make comments on the recorded record. After some questions and answers, we were ready to make our comments before 8pm but Tiffany insisted that we each could only speak for 3 minutes and she closely timed us, including inserting distracting hand signals. My prepared statement (attached) might have taken 5 minutes. I can understand if large groups wish comment a time limit might be necessary - but after wasting 15 minutes waiting to get into the building, with only four people signed up to testify and over an hour of time left it seemed punitive and was distracting for Tiffany to be so closely timing us.
I believe it is important for citizens who take the time to attend hearings to be able to hear what their fellow citizens are concerned about. Once we all had our 3 minute turn Tiffany then allowed us to go back and do more testimony which made for disjointed statements, especially since I tried to truncate my initial allowed 3 minutes of comments. I think Tiffanyt should have allowed more time for comments, given the small number of participants (there were only 8 people in all plus Tiffany and her co-worker). There was no time limit imposed last spring at the hearing for Molalla's wastewater plan and that was a much larger group of people testifying.
DEQ should always send Tiffany out with a microphone - the people in the second row at this tiny meeting could not hear her and had to push their chairs so they could try to hear what she said.
In attempting to convince us that Class A recycled water is a safe resource, Tiffany's co-worker resorted to saying that if you looked at it in a glass it would be crystal clear. I am appalled any official attempting to provide scientific facts about water quality would default to claiming that if we looked at in and it looked clear it is safe. There is plenty of crystal clear water in the world that will make people and other organisms sick. Mountain streams look crystal clear but hikers are advised to filter that water for fear of diseases.
After the testimony on the record was over, I asked Tiffany to explain who might have been expected to notify the community about something like those huge E.coli counts in the stream that flows through Molalla neighborhoods. I noted that Dept. of Ag said it was DEQ's responsibility. Tiffany said "I am not going to answer that Susan".
Please tell me what agency we should contact in the future for problems like 14,800 E.coli counts in streams in neighborhoods? The Dept of Public Health? A different division of DEQ? Why would Tiffany refuse to answer that question? Does DEQ have any responsibility to notify communities if there is a public health hazard?
Sincerely,
Susan Hansen
Bear Creek Recovery