Appoint Nancy Hendrickson as the City representative to the Urban Flood Safety and Water Quality District for term to expire June 15, 2025

The City of Portland has been an active participant in Levee Ready Columbia, an Oregon Solutions convened partnership of public, private, nonprofit, and neighborhood organizations working collaboratively to modernize the flood safety infrastructure along the Columbia River in Multnomah County, to ensure the local levee system continues to comply with changing federal regulations, and to improve the outdated way the system is managed and funded. In 2019, the LRC partnership worked with the Oregon State Legislature to create a new special district to take over the management of the flood safety infrastructure along the Columbia River Multnomah County, which is currently operated and maintained by four century-old drainage districts. Under 2019 Oregon Law Chapter 621, the Urban Flood Safety & Water Quality District will have an initial 17-member board that must, "organize the district and to develop, and approve or seek approval from the electors of, methods of funding the operations of the district." It is currently projected that this process will take approximately three years (until 2025) to complete. Once the initial board has put a revenue structure in place, they have the authority to call for the dissolution of the four existing drainage districts. At that point, the board will begin to transition to a permanent configuration of 9-members (5-elected and 4-appointed) serving four-year terms. The City representative on the Urban Flood Safety Water Quality District also serves as the City representative on the Levee Ready Columbia Intergovernmental Agreement Board of Directors.

Not applicable.

A 27-mile system of levees reduces the risk of flooding along the Columbia River in Multnomah County. Stretching from North Portland Road on the west out to the confluence of the Columbia and Sandy Rivers on the east, this infrastructure provides protection for over 7,500 residents, 2,500 businesses, 59,000 jobs, two airports, three interstate highways, and a number of other critical economic, recreational, and environmental assets. About two-thirds of the land located behind the levees is within the City of Portland's jurisdiction and the City is the second largest landowner in the region. Establishing this new district is vital to the efforts to modernize flood safety infrastructure along the Columbia River and the way it is managed in order to prepare to meet the impacts of climate change on the river, to take a more integrated and natural approach to flood safety, and to ensure we stay in good standing with important federal programs that provide technical and financial resources in the event of a major flood and provide property owners located behind the levees with access to affordable flood insurance. As the initial board will be responsible for establishing a rate structure for the new district, as well as potentially developing a General Obligation Bond package to send to voters, there will need to be extensive community outreach and involvement in the work of the new district as the initial board establishes the mission, vision, and values of the district; a strategic plan; short-and long-term cost projections and potential rate structures; and more.