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City, LLSWD leaders initiate joint planning
1/24/2008
By Evan Jensen
Splash Editor
LIBERTY LAKE - City of Liberty Lake Mayor Wendy Van Orman and Liberty Lake Sewer and Water District Commissioner Frank L. Boyle worked together long before an imaginary line separated city residents from LLSWD customers south of Sprague Avenue. So just days after Van Orman was sworn in to office earlier this month, the two arranged a meeting to talk about how to reroute the relationship between the city and the district. Since the city proposed a takeover of the LLSWD in 2003 by assumption, tension between the two government bodies have been tense at times, but that's all water under the bridge for Boyle and Van Orman. "I had a meeting with the mayor earlier this month," Boyle said during the Jan. 16 LLSWD meeting. "We talked about developing better cooperation between the city and the district, and she is fully in favor of that." Van Orman and Boyle set up the meeting after she conducted her first City Council meeting to talk about working together for the benefit of the city and the LLSWD. Among the issues the two elected officials discussed were joint efforts to support water conservation measures, combining efforts on the district's annual leaf clean-up day and the city's community clean-up day. Van Orman previously worked with Boyle and LLSWD Commissioners Tom Agnew and Steve Skipworth on the government study and transition team that led to establishing the City of Liberty Lake in 2001. In addition, LLSWD Manager Lee Mellish helped establish the city's planning department just after incorporation. "I have been trying to seek out the different entities to make sure we really have a partnership of collaboration," Van Orman said. "…You have to realize I have a past relationship with the people at the district. For the city to go totally offline with the district for the last few years was very disheartening. This is a whole new year and we want to work together as a team. All of us live here, and everything we do will affect the rest of the community. We have a lot happening here, so we need to plan together." Advertisement
 Based on their conversation, the city wants to help promote the district's beach and leaf clean-up day, and the district will reciprocate by promoting and assisting the city with the annual community clean-up day where residents can drop off yard waste at designated locations, Boyle said. The district also plans to pursue community-wide water conservation efforts, and Van Orman said she would support the district and encourage city residents to participate. "I think it is going to be a lot easier working with this mayor than the old one," Boyle said. In other business:
The LLSWD Board of Commissioners met in an executive session and approved a 5 percent raise for all district employees. Outdated LLSWD equipment including pumps and electronics was approved as surplus and will be sold as surplus property. A meeting to discuss the annexation of 370 acres in the River District was postponed by Greenstone Corp. The next LLSWD meeting will begin at 7 p.m. on Feb. 20.
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