CommissionerSam.com

Looking Back on My Year as Public Advocate

Another year of Public Advocacy for Commissioner Sam Adams and I am pleased to say the calls are fewer this year compared to last. Commissioner Adams empowers his staff to look for opportunities to make changes as we listen to complaints, concerns and inquires from City of Portland residents. Taking action and initiating change in the way government does business can eliminate calls from frustrated, confused and angry constituents by ensuring the next person who experiences the situation has a more positive outcome.

Last year, the majority of the calls were from citizens concerned about high water/sewer utility bills. Decisions at City Hall helped in the reduction of calls from concerned City of Portland ratepayers: Under Commissioner Adams' leadership, the Clean River Rewards program was implemented. The Clean River Rewards program allows ratepayers who contain the rain on their property to get up to a 35% discount on their stormwater bill.

Also, as a City Council member, Commissioner Adams voted to expand the City of Portland Utilities low income and crisis assistance program assisting ratepayers experiencing hardships to pay late utility charges and avoid additional fines and possibly water shutoff.

This year, party-line sewer questions and concerns were the bulk of the calls. Party-line sewers are two or more properties sharing the same sewer line. These sewer lines usually cross one or more properties to access to a City sewer line in the right of way. Since these party-line sewer connections do not meet current state plumbing regulations, property owners are required to bring their private sewer into compliance by obtaining an easement or building a new City sewer to their property for a direct connection. Portland estimates approximately 4,000 properties are currently affected.

The discovery of a partly-line sewer can be very confusing and the cost to bring a sewer line into compliance can exceed $20,000 per individual property owner. Most party-line sewers are discovered in two ways, when a private sewer line fails and causes a sewer back up on the property or when a property sale requires an evaluation of sewer service lines.

Once Commission Adams was alerted of the situation, he directed the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) to devise a programmatic solution to help facilitate the conversion of party-line sewer connections. Through Local Improvement Districts (LID)s, BES is in the process of adopting a program that systematically reviews neighborhoods, assessing the need to build sewer lines based on the presence of party-lines. The implementation of this program requires advance property owner notification by BES. The program includes a guaranteed fixed price, City loans and safety net programs to help the homeowner finance improvements.

My most challenging discussion this past year was from a homeowner who started her letter with "I am asking your assistance to help us resolve a very traumatic situation." The homeowner experienced a sewer back-up in her basement. She judiciously hired a contractor who replaced the sewer line from the house to the street only to discover the problem had originated at the street, main line sewer connection. Her private branch line that connected the property to the City sewer main had been cut. Luckily, the property owner remembered that about two years ago, City workers cut open the street to service a water line.

After researching her complaint, it was evident that City employees had accidentally cut her sewer line branch in the right of way. Unfortunately, when the City workers called to report the accident, City records identified the line as private and did not have information on what property the line served. The line was not traced to a property and consequently not repaired.

If this weren't enough, the City gave the homeowner inaccurate information on where to re-connect her new branch to the main line, causing the total cost of the project to escalate, far exceeding the property owner's expectations.

A meeting was coordinated between the staff from two Bureaus to discuss what had happened. The City agreed that the sewer line was accidentally cut and that the City should have provided more assistance in the repair process. City staff also concluded that the assistance provided was far below the level of customer service they strive to achieve. Based on the unique, multi-faceted circumstances, the City agreed to pay for the right of way costs associated with the sewer branch repair.

In this situation, the homeowner's concise records helped me unravel and understand the series of events leading to the sewer line issue identification and were the means to creating an acceptable resolution to a daunting problem. And I'm happy to report that the myriad of circumstances surrounding this homeowner's sewer back up are very rare.