The creation of a proposed working group comprised of Eastsound Water User Association board and members is gaining speed.

In February, EWUA announced a new tiered system for billing that would penalize members who exceed the base rate of 5,000 gallons a month, or one Equivalent Residential Unit. Every single-family household in Eastsound has at least one ERU. According to the EWUA bylines, businesses receive 1.75 ERU per tax parcel.

A group of business owners hired an attorney to aid them in combatting the rate increase they viewed as unfair. On May 19, the board decided to put a six-month hold on the increase, and to begin working group discussions with members most impacted by the change. At the monthly meeting on June 21, board members Fred Klein and Patrick Shepler volunteered to create a format in which the working group will be operated.

“Fred has done this three times and has a recipe for success,” said President Brian Ehrmantraut.

The board has given them until July 12 to prepare a plan for what the format will be for the proposed working group. The board also unanimously decided to refund the surplus charge that some members experienced in April. Because of the way EWUA does its billing, commercial accounts, and some residential members, received a bill reflecting the tiered system that had been suspended on May 19.

A recent increase in data requests has resulted in the board discussing how its existing member privacy policy could be altered to aid access to water usage data.

The current privacy policy available on the EWUA website does not state that usage is included in protected personal data, however, EWUA General Manager Paul Kamin has shown a reluctance to release that information.

“We will release their water use pattern,” said Ehrmantraut.

Said Klein, “My goal would be to free us up to have an open … discussion on what [concerns] some of our members have raised.”

Ehrmantraut suggested the board use arbitrary account numbers to disguise members’ information to keep anonymity, but still allow access to water usage data.

“We [commercial members] believe transparency is the best way to go,” said Eastsound business owner Wally Gudgell. “As for commercial users, I don’t think we care.”

In an attempt to assist in the transparency the board is hoping to achieve, it will begin searching for someone to update the EWUA website. The board plans to have aggregate data and simplified meeting minutes. With more of EWUA’s data available online, that would free up employee time.

“We have a responsibility to be transparent,” said Shepler. “We have to triage what’s important. Much of this info we should have available.”

The board also discussed three positions that are up for election this year. Kamin suggested that the board hold the annual meeting during the regular, monthly meeting in August.

The next EWUA board meeting is on July 19.