City of Medford v. Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority

963 P.2d 120, 155 Or. App. 465, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 1333
Court of Appeals of Oregon·Decided August 5, 1998·No. 97-0086-E3; CA A98721·Published

Opinion

WOLLHEIM, J.

Plaintiff appeals a judgment entered for defendants after the trial court granted defendants’ motion for summary-judgment and denied plaintiff’s motion. We review the cross-motions for summary judgment as a matter of law, Hampton Tree Farms, Inc. v. Jewett, 320 Or 599, 613, 892 P2d 683 (1995), and affirm.

The facts are undisputed. Plaintiff, the City of Med-ford, and defendants, the Cities of Central Point, Phoenix, and Jacksonville, and Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority (Bear Creek), participate in a regional sewage treatment arrangement. The arrangement is governed by the Regional Sewer Agreement (Agreement), dated September 15, 1985. The Agreement establishes a Regional Committee (Committee), comprised of one representative from each of the five participants. Each representative has one vote. Plaintiff operates the sewage treatment plant that receives sewage from the participants through pipes called interceptors. Bear Creek, a joint water and sanitary authority,1 operates the interceptor system. The interceptor system was built 27 years ago, and has had two major capital improvements since then.

On November 18,1996, the Committee considered a resolution that proposed adopting a method of generating funds for the future improvement of the interceptor system. That proposal provides, in part:

“An. Interceptor Capital Expense Fee shall be established and maintained by [Bear Creek], This fee shall be used for a Master Plan Study and needed capital improvements to the interceptor system as approved by the [Committee] from time-to-time. Funds may be disbursed to pay for engineering studies, plans, specifications, and construction for interceptor enlargement, * * * provided, however, that before any such funds are disbursed, the [Committee] shall approve the same pursuant to the terms of the [Agreement].”

[468] The funds would be generated by an ongoing monthly charge to the participants. The fund would apply $300,000 to the Master Plan Study, and then continue to collect funds for future interceptor system improvements. The purpose of the Master Plan Study would be to determine whether there is a current need to improve the interceptor system.

Defendants supported the resolution. The smaller cities expressed their concern about the expected future need for major expansion of the interceptor system due to the expected increase in population in the areas served by the Agreement. They were concerned that it would be financially difficult for them to produce a large outlay of funds when the need for expansion arose and preferred to save for future expansion over time. In addition, Bear Creek complained that asking the Committee for funding takes a long time and argued that planning ahead is most efficient. Plaintiff agreed to fund its portion of the Master Plan Study but did not support the collection of fees and questioned the authority of the Committee to do so. Plaintiff argued that the Committee did not have authority under the Agreement to approve Bear Creek’s collection of funds for improvement to the interceptor system before Bear Creek had first found a current need for interceptor system improvement, determined proportionate cost allocations, prepared engineering and financing reports and submitted them to the Committee.2 Plaintiff argued that the funds used to prepare the Master Plan Study and related reports that establish a need for improvement are properly a part of the interceptor system operation and maintenance budget allocated to Bear Creek, as provided in Section III(C)(3) of the Agreement. The other participants disagreed.

The resolution was passed, with plaintiffs representative voting “no,” and the other four participants voting for it. Plaintiff subsequently filed a civil action against defendants, seeking a judgment declaring the resolution void and releasing plaintiff from its obligation to collect the monthly [469] charges from Medford customers. The court entered a declaratory judgment in favor of defendants holding that the resolution is valid and that plaintiff is required to collect the monthly charges required by the resolution.

On appeal, plaintiff assigns error to the trial court’s granting of defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the denial of plaintiffs motion, and also assigns error to the entry of the declaratory judgment for defendants. Defendants argue that the trial court properly entered summary judgment in their favor because the increase in fees was authorized by the Agreement, and the Agreement requires that a need exist and engineering plans be created only before the expenditure of collected funds.

The Agreement between the five parties was created expressly under the authority of ORS 190.0103 “to provide for the operation, maintenance and expansion of the regional sewage treatment facility and interceptor system.” Under the Agreement, each party “is vested with all the powers, rights and duties relating to those functions and activities that are vested by law in each separate party to the agreement.]” ORS 190.030(1).

We note at the outset that each of the cities is authorized to collect a “sewage charge” by ORS 224.5104 and [470] each of their respective city charters for the purpose of “planning, constructing, or operating a sewage disposal system.” Bear Creek is similarly authorized to collect a “sewer service fee” by ORS 450.8805 for the purpose of “financing the improvement, operation, and maintenance of a sewage disposal or drainage system.”6 We conclude that each party to the Agreement has legal authority to collect a sewage fee for future improvement and construction, and the question is, therefore, whether the Agreement limits the powers of the parties to collect such a fee.

We construe the Agreement as a matter of law. Yogman v. Parrott, 325 Or 358, 361, 937 P2d 1019 (1997). In construing the Agreement, we follow three steps. We first examine the document to determine its meaning. We do so without inserting what has been omitted, and without omitting what has been included. If the meaning is clear, our inquiry is at an end. Id.

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City of Medford v. Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority, 963 P.2d 120, 155 Or. App. 465, 1998 Ore. App. LEXIS 1333 (Or. Ct. App. 1998).

963 P.2d 120 (City of Medford v. Bear Creek Valley Sanitary Authority) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Yogman v. Parrott
937 P.2d 1019 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1997)
Hampton Tree Farms, Inc. v. Jewett
892 P.2d 683 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1995)