CITY OF YELM WATER CUSTOMERS SHOULD ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THEIR WATER BILL INSERT.
City of Yelm August Water Customer Bill insert

ALL THREE ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON THE INSERT ARE ALL FILLED WITH INNUENDOS, MISCONCEPTIONS & OUTRIGHT LIES – THE CITY’S OWN WATER SYSTEM PLAN REVEALS THESE DECEPTIVE ANSWERS!

IF THE PUBLIC WERE ALLOWED A TOWN HALL MEETING AND PRESENTED WITH THE FACTS, WOULD THEY ACCEPT THE COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CITY’S WATER SYSTEM PLAN?
OF COURSE NOT!

Lets examine each question/answer in the City of Yelms Water Bill Insert to their customers, of which I am one, owning a home in Yelm.

QUESTION/ANSWER # 3 ON THE INSERT:
“So, if we would have no population growth, we would have to pay increased rates?

Yes, operations and maintenance include; replacing aging pipes, detecting and repairing leaks, insuring that your drinking water is safe and maintaining sufficient water sources for the future are necessary for long time residences and those new to Yelm. Growth does help to fund the water system for the City of Yelm.”

Spare us the psycho-babble camel dung. This is all a bunch of smoke & mirrors, as discussed the previous two days.

The City of Yelm Draft Water System Plan mentions several times having wells in the SW Annex (Thurston Highlands property) – this has nothing to do with “replacing aging pipes, detecting and repairing leaks, insuring that your drinking water is safe and maintaining sufficient water sources for the future,” rather is all to support an MPC [Master-Planned Community] in the Thurston Highlands.

THIS LEADS TO SOME QUESTIONS:
– Why do we have wells proposed in the SW area project titled W-1 & W-2 & W-3 in the future (scroll to pg. 19) when the city has no rights over there?
– Is the city negotiating some land deal in exchange for exonerating the back taxes and debt owed the city by the Thurston Highlands’ developers?
– What is REALLY going on?
– Why has the city proposed moving their water system to the SW Yelm wellfield, as stated in the Plan?
– How does the city have access there, when the developers are gone?
– If so, is this to serve MPC’s [Multi-Planned Communities, i.e. Thurston Highlands] to provide future capacity (even without MPC’s in the 6-year improvement plan)?
The city is clearly planning to build an infrastructure for an MPC there as stated in the Plan, when upgrading the current well would be sufficient if there is no MPC.

Further from the Draft Water System Plan:
Transmission Main #1
12-inch pipe to connect W-1, WTS-1 (wells in the Thurston Highlands area), and RES-1 to the point where connection is made with the existing 16-inch line near Tahoma Terra.
Estimated length = 5,500 feet.

Questions should be asked:
– $1.5 million for a one-mile pipe? And from the Thurston Highlands area!
– From an area the city has NO water rights!
– Why do we need a new water system in the SW AREA, when all the city has to do is add new pipe and other infrastructure to upgrade the current system?
– What about getting new extended water rights for the wells the city currently has?

The city does NOT need to build a new water system, regardless of what City Hall says.
The City wants to tax the Yelm public and spend money “like drunken sailors” while no one is looking or cares! When the public get their bills will be too late.

More from the Draft Water System Plan:
9.4.1.2
A number of mechanisms can be considered toward funding local facilities. One of the following scenario typically occurs: (a) the utility charges a connection fee based on the cost of the local facilities (under the same authority as the SDC), (b) a developer funds extension of the system to its development and turns those facilities over to the utility (contributed capital), or (c) a local assessment is set up called a Utility Local improvement District (ULID/LID) which collects tax revenue from benefited properties.

Do you see any mention in the plan of a developer funding “extension of the system to its development and turns those facilities over to the utility (contributed capital).”
No, neither do I!

This is from the city’s DNS, on which they were pinning their hopes of getting more water:
“Existing water rights held by the City, including a pending transfer currently being reviewed by the Thurston County Water Conservancy Board and Ecology total approximately 952 acre-feet.

The Thurston County Water Conservancy Board approved water rights were REVERSED by the Dept. of Ecology!
Read the official letter from Ecology: CLICK HERE

Last week, the city was forced to withdraw their own MDNS for lack of water rights, as reported in The Olympian.
Read the citys letter of the MDNS withdrawal: CLICK HERE

IF THE CITY OF YELM WAS TRULY HONEST WITH THEIR CITIZENS, THEY WOULD ASK:

– Do you want a water system at the Thurston Highlands site that YOU will underwrite?
– What will the rate-payer get in return for their dollars to underwrite such a system there?
– Does the rate-payer approve the miles of pipe and infrastructure that would have to be built over a mile from the downtown core?
– If all rate-payers were invited to come to a meeting and presented this information honestly, how do you think they would vote?

BOTTOM LINE:
THIS CITY OF YELM PROPERTY OWNERS ARE GETTING A “SNOW-JOB” FROM THIS WATER BILL INSERT. SINCE FEW KNOW OR CARE ENOUGH TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT, EXPECT MORE MISINFORMATION, INNUENDOS, & OUTRIGHT DECEPTIONS FROM THE CITY OF YELM ABOUT THEIR WATER ISSUES!
THE CITY OF YELM IS NOW REALLY IN THEIR OWN SELF-CREATED PICKLE WITH NO NEW WATER RIGHTS & BEING AT OR NEAR PUMPING THEIR ECOLOGY ALLOCATED WATER. EXPANSION IS AT A SCREECHING HALT HERE, AS THE CITY HAS NO MORE WATER.