Council approves amendment to regional sewer agreement to fund wastewater capital needs

The Medford City Council voted Tuesday to amend a 20-year regional sewer agreement with Rogue Valley Sewer Services to allow the city and its partners to set aside rate revenue for current and future wastewater treatment facility capital projects.

City Manager Rob Field and staff told the council the change removes a barrier that previously prevented the regional rate committee from reserving funds for major capital work at the wastewater treatment facility.

Field said the amendment is “a fix to this agreement to basically enable us to do that with the rate dollars so that this kind of stuff we can solve it for the wastewater treatment facility that we're trying to build as well as future capital projects.”

Councilor Nick Card moved approval of Council Bill 2025-68; Garrett West seconded. In roll call the motion passed with six yes votes and one abstention (Councilor John Quinn), recorded as 6–0–1.

No additional staff report was requested during the meeting, and the council did not attach conditions to the approval. City staff described the amendment as a technical but necessary change to ensure the region can fund major treatment-plant projects through the established regional rate framework.

The council did not identify any immediate fiscal impact beyond enabling the rate-reserve mechanism; staff framed the amendment as a step to stabilize funding for planned wastewater capital work.