Dave Anderson Looks Back on a Storied Career
Story and photos by Rodger Nichols
Some people find the right career niche early in their lives, as was the case for Dave Anderson. Fresh out of what was then Eastern Oregon College with a degree in biology, Dave worked on a local farm for a bit.
He then landed a job as a shift operator at The Dalles water treatment plant at Wicks Reservoir. That was 36 years ago, and he’s never looked back.
When Dave first started to work for the city in 1988, the divisions that now comprise public works—water, sewer, stormwater, and streets—operated as independent departments. Shortly thereafter, consolidation brought them together as a utility department. Later, transportation was added to create a public works department.
During this time, Dave rose through the ranks until he was in charge of the treatment plant and watershed. He held that position for nearly 15 years.
When former Public Works Director Brian Stahl left to manage Gresham’s water department, Dave was tapped as public works director.
“I had some hesitation about doing that,” Dave says. “I really liked the job as manager of the water treatment plant and watershed. My job was technical and not political. I could just do the analysis, make the recommendations, and let the chips fall where they may.”
Today, Dave supervises 47 employees in multiple areas: the water treatment division, which covers the water treatment plant and the watershed; water distribution; wastewater collection, which also includes stormwater; the transportation department; and the staff engineering division.
“Getting up to speed on roads and streets was probably the biggest challenge,” Dave says. “Coming from a farming background, I was fairly familiar with the concepts of operating the equipment, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into immediately understanding maintenance programs or street construction standards. Fortunately, I was able to rely on the experience and expertise of the staff until I got up to speed.”
For Dave, the largest problem in the roads and streets division is financial, not technical.
“Funding maintenance is an ongoing challenge,” he says. “We don’t really have rates like we do for the water and sewer utilities to support the operations. We’re funded by revenues from state fuel tax and permits and fees, and a local 3-cent-per-gallon fuel tax. Our water and wastewater funds contribute a little, but those are fairly finite pots of money that don’t escalate with inflation.”
Fortunately, Dave says, in recent years the city’s general fund has benefitted from additional financial resources.
1 example is related to the longtime city responsibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, which requires the city to build ADA ramps on sidewalk corners in the city. Either 4 or 8 ramps are needed at each corner, costing $8,000 to $10,000 each.
“We were originally going to allocate about $150,000 a year to that program,” Dave says. “At that rate, it was going to take us 67 years to get all the existing ramps done. In the last 2 budgets, we’ve actually doubled the amount of money the general fund is contributing, which doubles the number of ramps that we’re able to do in a year.”
Grants have helped.
“Since 2006, we’ve been able to receive a little over $6.7 million in grants for various projects,” Dave says. “We’ve got about another $11.5 million in low-interest loans, the most recent 1 being related to the Dog River pipeline replacement project. We were able to get that loan for about $7.5 million on a 30-year term at 1% interest. That’s as close to free money as we are ever going to get.”
The Dog River pipeline replacement project was 1 of the major accomplishments of Dave’s tenure. Completed this year after more than 25 years of planning, permitting, and preparation, it replaced 3.5 miles of a 20-inch 1913 wooden pipeline that brought water from Dog River to Wicks Reservoir. The pipe, which provides nearly half of the city’s water supply, was leaking as much as 1 million gallons a day in the summer.
The department is working on an even bigger project: updating the city’s water master plan. The current 20-year plan was adopted in 2006, and most of its projects have been completed.
“A lot of things have changed since 2006,” Dave says. “The update process has been underway for about a year and a half. I wanted to tackle it while I could still participate in the process and at least share some of the experiences in the development of a new 20-year plan.”
At this point, he says, the staff has developed a list of projects that will be needed over the next 20 years.
“Now we’re looking at how to pay for it all,” he says. “We’ve been able to enter into an agreement for Google to build about $28.5 million dollars’ worth of new infrastructure. It will support some of their facilities, but also other facilities and other needs within the city, and it is not costing us anything to construct.”
Dave has worked for 8 mayors, 9 city managers, and 36 city councilors. He says Public Works has accomplished major projects because of backing from the city.
“I have been fortunate to have serious support from the city councils and mayors over the years,” Dave says. “They’ve been able to identify projects, prioritize the needs, and, most importantly, find a way to get them paid for.”