Questions keep popping up about what to do about the ongoing water problems here.  As new exempt domestic wells continue to be drilled here, further eroding the limited ground water supplies currently available, there are no regulations in place in Oregon to control the proliferation of wells.  On our Annexation and Zoning page we allude to the fact that the City could, if it wanted to, restrict sewer connections as a way of protecting ground water supplies here; however, from what we are told, most of the land use control at City Hall is provided through personal conversations between city staff and developers, hardly vehicle for code enforcement..
  Tentative efforts are underway at City Hall to look at bringing river water here.  Plans involve a $5MM loan from the State of Oregon to be paid back by user and connection fees and voter obligation bonds.  Efforts to do this in the past have failed so we don't expect this one to materialize either, especially given the fact that during the last decade a local developer was favored with the use of City water that had been stored behind Lost Creek Dam for City use.  Furthermore, in 2008, then mayor, Ruth Keith, quietly transferred all the water stored for our City over to her own private water system, without any authorization from the Council to do this.
   This story goes all the way back to 2002 when the City entered into an agreement with the Army Corps of Engineers to store 12 acre-feet of water for the City in Lost Creek Lake.  This was around the same time Mike Malepsy was building a water system for land he was developing in and around " the Cove," now known as the Anglers Cove, the Shady Cove Heights, and the Old Ferry Road/Quail Run Drive subdivisions.  Since this water system began using the City water once the system was completed, it would appear a deal was struck between the City and Mr. Malepsy for this water, which then raises questions regarding who paid for what and how. 
   In his on-going attempts to find overlooked sources of revenue for our little town, Bud Rees requested public records from the City last February regarding fees the City was charging quasi-municipal water systems for surface water they were using that belongs to Shady Cove.  He was told that there are no water fees because the City has no contracts to provide river water to private water systems here.  Obviously, looking at the contracts we have linked to this page, that is not entirely true.
   So here we are with yet another example of the City favoring a developer over its own citizens (see Flywater-Gate "Park" and City Hall Shenanigans) and then putting out false information when questioned about it.  While acting as a surrogate so this developer can provide water to his subdivisions, at the same time the City refuses to work with those residents who are pleading for public water.
   During his campaign for City Council in 2008, Bud Rees asked the people of Shady Cove, "What if the City, the Council, the Water District and the people all came together up here at the Community Center to work to solve this water crisis?"  The current mayor, however, in answer to a direct question from a citizen at his "Time with the Mayor" session in February, stated that the City was not willing to work with the Shady Cove Water District to find solutions to the water crisis here.  And through it all, former mayors Anderson and Keith have been ready, willing and able to hand over city water to Mr. Malepsy and the people who bought his lots several years ago.  If I were a homeowner, running out of water every year, I would not be at all happy with these developments.