||| FROM FRED KLEIN |||
Perhaps a bit of history from the point of view of a long time member and former board member of EWUA would be helpful for the membership to understand, confront and deal with the current chaos.
Once upon a time…for many years since its inception as far as I know…the rate structure for EWUA was pretty simple as it abided by the WA State-sanctioned method known as “Equivalent Residential Units” or ERUs.
A homeowner within the service area of EWUA who wished to have water service would purchase one ERU at a price determined by EWUA. Once a member, the homeowner would pay a monthly Base Rate which would include 5000 gallons of water, and if a homeowner’s water usage exceeded that number there was an additional charge per 1000 gallons.
The Base Rate was set to cover the cost of producing the water and maintaining the existing system. The money collected from the sale of ERUs was intended to be set aside to provide capital to fund expansion of the system. I’m unclear as to whether or not that allocation of revenue was strictly adhered to.
When a commercial user wanted to connect to the system, the application form asked for an estimate of expected water usage, a figure which was then converted into the requisite number of ERUs. Those ERUs were then purchased by the commercial
user and all was well.
A little over a decade ago, it became apparent that a couple of commercial users, either in their application for EWUA membership or under their existing membership, had significantly underestimated the volume of water they would be using; the consequence being that the commercial users had purchased far fewer ERUs than were necessary to support their high water usage…and…EWUA did not receive the funds anticipated with the then-existing rate structure.
These high-usage commercial members resisted requests to purchase additional ERUs to maintain the required balance between the number of ERUs held and the amount of water consumed…this was understandable given that the price of a single ERU was over $12,000.
Paul Kamin, the long-time General Manager, proposed…and the EWUA Board approved…a change in the rate structure whereby the charge for water usage beyond that included in the ERU base rate was raised significantly as an incentive for commercial users to purchase the proper number of ERUs. The EWUA Board then scheduled at least one workshop which was well attended to explain the new rate and the reasoning behind it.
Some of the high usage commercial members were unwilling to accept their responsibilities and later showed up at the EWUA annual meeting with plenty of proxies to defeat the re-election of incumbent Board members and essentially took control…Paul’s proposed changes to the rate structure were never implemented. And that was the end of my service on the EWUA Board.
The new Board thanked Paul for his service, wished him well in his retirement and, after a search for his replacement, hired the current GM who had recently departed Rock Island (internet provider) and had zero experience with or understanding of community water systems.The new hire did, however, have experience spending money on quite expensive non-essential equipment and decor, while giving away serviceable vehicles and buying new trucks, much to the concern of experienced EWUA staff.
After an extensive study by the new Board, the GM, and several community members, significant changes were made to the rate structure including the abandonment of the ERU system. I am not privy to the nature of the discussions leading up to the new rate structure. For residential members, the Base Rate no longer includes the monthly allocation of 5000 gallons of water. For commercial users, no additional capital contributions were required.
For a while, it appeared that the rate changes shifted some of the burden of system expenses from commercial users to residential users…but now…at least one commercial user I’ve spoken with complains bitterly about how his water bills have gone through the roof. Apparently all users are suffering from increased cost of water.
Some EWUA members question the degree to which the current board performs its oversight role as well as its setting GM compensation which has risen from $108K to $181K in five years. In fact, four years ago when the GM salary was set at $118K, the
GM wrote checks to himself in addition to his salary totaling well over $10,000 for which one Board member conceded to me, “…that was probably not a good idea.”
Administrative costs at EWUA rose again when the present Board endorsed the GM’s desire to hire a high-priced deputy who has water system management experience as well as the demeanor and people-skills which he lacks but are essential to respect and retain the experienced workers who actually maintain the system. These dedicated folks have the technical training to meet the WA State Department of Health standards, and allow the community to continue to have a dependable, safe supply of water for its daily needs.
Most of the current EWUA Board members came on board after the hiring of the current GM. Some may not be aware that the primary mission of a member-owned community water system is to deliver safe, potable water at the lowest possible cost.
Despite numerous red flags raised by the membership and the resignations of valued EWUA staff, I’ve seen no signs that the Board is aware that something is amiss…
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For an example of the rising water rates, we stayed within the 5,000 gallons monthly limit in 2018 and paid only $564 (12 X $47) that year. In 2025, however, we exceeded 5,000 gallons only once, in September, and paid a total of $1,245.55 — and expect to pay a lot more this year, since our bill exceeded $100 in January. See https://theorcasonian.com/letter-to-editor-awash-in-water-bills/
Thank you, Fred and Michael for the information about the rate history, for newer residents.
Thank you, Fred. Corruption abounds! So sad that the years go by and the members have yet to wake up and smell the stench! EWUS keeps on spending our money unwisely.
Yes, Carol, and in Fred’s telling, that corruption began when several prominent Eastsound businessmen (they were all men then) took over the EWUA board and tried to use their newfound positions to favor commercial over residential water users. Paul Kamin, a highly respected and professional general manager, retired shortly thereafter and left the island as EWUA slowly lapsed into its current chaos. Sad.
Paul Kamin ran a pretty tight ship, and the few times I was in touch with EWUA during his tenure, it was Paul who answered the phone. If you examine their 990 IRS returns over the past decade, you’ll notice that he had managed to accumulate a seven figure reserve account, funds that might normally be used for developing new water sources, updating older infrastructure, etc. The new manager bought new trucks, reportedly gave away the old ones (to whom?), bought expensive equipment that was not needed (according to two employees), managed to garner a high salary, and above all, squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees on litigation and for other reasons. So our water rates jumped in order to pay for all of this, and a loan has been opened at a significant interest rate to pay for a new well that quite probably been paid for out of savings, a few years back.
It is very hard to find EWUA members who are willing to put in the time to properly supervise a manager, especially one with certain issues relating to employee relations and budgeting. Board positions are voluntary, and the Chair often wields considerable authority, while others might be expected to rubber-stamp what the chair proposes at their meetings. In this board, any criticism and attempts to right this slow motion shipwreck cause ejection of those members-just ask the five board members who were kicked off the last couple of boards for awkward questions about organization finances. The current Board, apparently unwilling to do anything other than maintain their status quo, should all resign. But the problem is: how can we find competent replacements, especially some with actual experience running a rural water system, which only some employees there–past and present–have? It’s a real conundrum, unfortunately.
Fred, for transparency you omitted many very important items. Paul did his best, but even as a human not all decisions were well thought out.
You forget the group that you managed were many of US citizens participated in. As an athlete club we used water.. so I had a stake in finding out resolution, the issue we had was our multiplier was not per portion of actual water used. You will recall EWUA went through a significant revamping of SPECIAL DEALS that were allowed through the years. Trying to incentivize users to carry the load. It wasn’t just water used if you recall, Paul’s argument was and I feel well founded that bigger users should also carry a larger percentage of backbone (capital) .
As one user, I showed the number of gallons our facility used sense inception.. The original owner and builder actually had his number accurately defined.
I had to add more memberships to make it work yet using the same water data. The issue,, the formula had changed from unit fees.. which was tagged on to the actual memberships.
Paul took that task head on, frankly that was daunting!
So then, costs were around $500 to as much as &600.
When I sold the building the monthly costs were over $1,100. And that was after cleaning up EWUA’s formula issue. I knew of several other businesses that like me stepped up, Country Corner, I believed Island Market. The Herring was our public school, that was resolved with Parks and Rec I believe.
I’m just calling you out on Us versus Them. That’s inconsistent with the Circle of discussion one shares.
I say this with a smile. I’ve served on that board at least thee times over 35 years. It’s not only complicated, it takes hard work. Opel and other institutions came forward with new challenges, people worked through them for best case scenarios.
It’s a shame were EWUA IS AT TODAY.. it doesn’t bode well for anyone. Today I sip from my own well.. you can imagine how grateful I am.
Hi Clyde…Just read your comment…I stand by what I’ve written…and…as you point out, there are things which happened that I didn’t mention, but that was simply because they were not known to me.
As for the Athletic Club, I was aware that for some unknown reason, a Board previous to the one i served on re-purchased from Andre a number of ERUs he had originally bought to provide water service to the Club…something which left you in a pickel after you purchased it. I didn’t mention it in my article because I did not want to name individuals or specific businesses.
I’d be very interested to learn how how the water consumption issues at Country Corner were resolved, given the presence there of the commercial laundry which handles a very considerable amount of hotel and B & B laundry from Friday Harbor.
As the View Haven Estates Vice President, I worked with Paul Kamin in the mid-teens on the design and construction of an 80,000 gallon water tank in our midst, coordinating with him on concerns of the VHE residents. It gave me a close-in view and appreciation of his considerable project management skills. The tank was a big part of a more extensive project that I recall came in on budget at just over $200,000 ·(paid out of reserves and existing cash flows) and included replacing our 2-inch pipes with 6-inch pipes to provide strong fire flow and bring the water down to Bonnie Brae and other EWUA members below us. Not only that, but Paul installed two fire hydrants in the VHE development, filling a crying need for fire protection and lowering our insurance rates. And he installed a pump and backup generator to assure that homes at the highest levels in View Haven always had adequate and reliable water pressure — something we had seriously lacked before then.
At the time I would often sit in on the EWUA Board meetings chaired by Brian Ehrmantraut, to answer questions on behalf of View Haven if they came up. I recall one meeting where they turned to discussing Paul’s salary increase, and I excused myself from what should have been an executive committee session. But I could not miss that he was being paid only a paltry $85,000 annual salary. When he retired in 2020, his salary was $108,000 according to the IRS Form 990 for that year, but a knowledgable board member told me that this figure included a $15,000 bonus for his many years of professional service. Compare that to what the current general manager is making (Note that I didn’t use the verb “earning.”)
Paul was also a spirited public servant who often went beyond the strict requirements of his GM position, signing his EWUA communications, “In the spirit of service, Paul Kamin.” During the debate over vacation rentals, for example, he gathered extensive EWUA data on the water usage of VRs and reported that they used 89% more water — and in the summer high season when water was most scarce — than year-round residents. This figure was disputed by the Board, but when I asked Paul about it, he said he stood by his number. One of the things I liked about him was that he usually had reliable numbers to back up his arguments and decisions. Being a “numbers guy” myself, I really appreciated that, even if I disagreed with his numbers.
I think that most of us EWUA members are now realizing what we lost when Paul retired and left the island.
Michael. Paul was a Bear, few understood him.. but he was Just, a thinker and a Very Hard Worker!
I came in about that time. Many though oh Michael.. a needy individual.. But Paul listened, then proceeded to do what he needed to do to get his job done.
I had several dealings with him also, but like you I found him engaging, sincere and a force to reckon with.
He served on many committees.. which got him in trouble.. only because he cared!
We lost more than a manager, we lost a caring individual that stood up for what he believed in. Again I use the Bear as my analogy, like Moma Bear Paul protected what he believed in. I personally thank you for seeing that. Working with it and making your situation better.
Yes, Clyde, and Paul was not always right — just most of the time. I recall that (then EWUA Board member) Tenar Hall challenged his numbers on the VR water usage, mainly on his assumptions about the use of those residences in the off season. A better number would have been about 70% increased water usage. And Paul told me that increase was not just due to showers and toilet flushes but mainly from the additional watering of lawns and shrubs that VR owners did to keep their offerings attractive to tourists. Whatever the case, he should have passed his conclusions before the Board for its review before going public with the data.
Quick clarification on this, even after factoring in some conditions Paul missed, both my and Paul’s numbers showed that VRs used significantly more water than non-VRs. However, according to the usage numbers I was given, the VRs did not use more than allotted to them by their ERUs. Moreover, compared to the capacity numbers I was given, the VRs even with their increased usage, were not over-burdening the system. Paul and I had different purposes: His was to show the impact of VRs in general, mine was to make sure no user group was abusing the EWUA system, which was part of my job as a board member.
All that said, I was new on the board at the time and naively trusted the numbers that were handed to me. Since then, I have become painfully aware of the incompetence and very poor practices at EWUA and doubt, well… pretty much everything.
I did try to get clarification on the source of the capacity numbers used in that study from Dan a while back, but was unsuccessful.
Michael, Paul’s Achilles Heel was just that. He acted, then included the Board with his process, usually there was fall out, not necessarily because of his actions, but change. . We want it all.. until we have to answer or pay for it.. human nature. Paul raised the bar substantially while in his tenure. That’s a fact!