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After evaluating several proposals and opportunities, EWEB is focusing its negotiations to sell the former riverfront headquarters property to the City of Eugene. The exact terms and details of the deal will be negotiated during the next few weeks.
Find Out MoreThe EWEB Board of Commissioners started off their first meeting of 2023 by choosing a new board president and vice president.
Find Out MoreCommissioners unanimously voted to approve a Record of Decision endorsing the General Manager's Recommendation to decommission the Leaburg Hydroelectric Project and approved Resolution 2302 directing the GM to develop a Leaburg Hydroelectric Project Decommissioning Action Plan
Find Out MoreFor their final meeting of 2022, on Dec. 6, the EWEB Board of Commissioners grappled with some major decisions and looked ahead to a new year.
Find Out MoreCommissioners supportive of General Manager's recommendation to remove Leaburg Dam
Find Out MoreAt the Nov. 1st board meeting, EWEB Commissioners got an update on the budget and rates for next year and the EWEB quarterly report.
Find Out MoreThere’s no obvious right answer to the question of what to do about the Leaburg dam and canal. EWEB’s Board of Commissioners met this week for a work session with staff about the project.
Find Out MoreEWEB's elected Board of Commissioners has voted to authorize General Manager Frank Lawson to pursue and negotiate the sale of the former EWEB headquarters building.
Find Out MoreEugene Water & Electric Board Commissioners are looking to the future in an uncertain time.
Find Out MoreIn 2022, residential rates increased for the first time in five years. Looking ahead, a variety of long-term critical projects coupled with short-term supply chain and inflationary pressures and a dynamic power supply market are likely to impact the prices customers pay for water and power.
Find Out MoreEWEB’s Board of Commissioners approved the utility’s first Wildfire Mitigation Plan during the July 5 Board meeting.
Find Out MoreThe tour focused on the coordinated response to the Holiday Farm Fire, emphasizing the effectiveness of large-scale floodplain enhancement projects for mitigating the impacts of sedimentation and increasing water temperatures.
Find Out MoreAs a public utility, owned by the people of Eugene, it’s important for us to be open and transparent with our customer-owners. The following State of the Utility Address, delivered by General Manager Frank Lawson at the March 1 EWEB Board meeting, highlights key events, accomplishments and challenges of 2021.
Find Out MoreCommunity organizations, property developers and others will soon be able to submit offers to purchase and develop a 4.44-acre site in a prime location along Eugene’s burgeoning downtown waterfront district.
Find Out MoreEWEB’s five commissioners earlier this month voted to elect John Brown as president of the Board and Sonya Carlson as vice president.
Find Out MoreAugust 12, 2022
“This is the biggest decision I’ll ever make, and this board will, I think, ever make,” said President John Brown at the EWEB Board of Commissioners meeting on August 2, 2022.
Brown was referring to the future of the Leaburg Canal.
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The canal helped power the development of the McKenzie Valley and Eugene, serving our community with clean and reliable hydropower for nearly 100 years. Built in the late 1920s, the canal today unfortunately has structural deficiencies that must be addressed. Therefore, EWEB’s elected Commissioners have directed the utility to determine the most appropriate future for the facility.
EWEB staff has prepared a Triple Bottom Line Assessment of four alternatives for the board (considering the impact on economics, people, and planet.) We’re also gathering public input by holding listening sessions in Leaburg this summer with more planned for Eugene in the fall.
As they draw toward a decision, Brown said he’d like to know what EWEB staff recommends.
“I’d like an assessment and a recommendation,” said Brown, who represents Eugene Wards 4 and 5. “We’re lay people. To me, we’re supposed to reflect community values. But I don’t know anything about the technical stuff per se. You guys do. You and your staff. Just because you make a recommendation doesn’t mean we have to follow it.”
While commissioners are elected to represent their constituents, they rely on the expertise of EWEB engineers, technicians and other skilled professionals to inform their decisions.
“It really helps me to hear how you all think about it as well because your perspective is so different than ours,” said Commissioner Mindy Schlossburg, who represents EWEB customers at-large.
EWEB General Manager Frank Lawson responded.
“I think what we’ll do is we’ll position this that, based on discussions and feedback from the board, based on information from the community as well as internal analysis, that we can provide some guidance and some recommendations to the board fully knowing that you’re the board making the decisions ultimately on this direction,” he said.
Lawson added that he wants to ensure the board has what it needs to make its decision, including technical assessments, financial analyses, and public input.
EWEB Board meetings are open to the public and customers provide comment and also contact commissioners directly.
Other major decisions on the docket for EWEB commissioners include 2023 budget and rate planning, the potential sale of our riverfront property, development of EWEB’s next Integrated Resource Plan, which will analyze possible energy resource portfolios for long-term electricity supply planning, and investment in a second water treatment plant to increase the resiliency of our community’s water supply.
As they anticipate a busy few months to come, Brown, who has served on the EWEB Board since 2007, expressed appreciation to his fellow commissioners.
“The dialogue we have challenging each other and having this back and forth,” he said. “I think we push each other, and we challenge each other. Thank you very much. Because I think we get to better decisions doing that.”
The board’s next meeting is on September 6th.
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