The Washington County Board of Commissioners, acting as the board of directors for Clean Water Services, unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday morning, April 8, directing the public sewer agency to address excessive spending.

As first reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, executives from Clean Water Services stayed in luxury resorts during annual business trips to Hawaii that cost tens of thousands of dollars. The newspaper also reported that the sewer agency, over a period of five years, spent $440,000 on local and travel meals, four times more than its two metro area counterparts combined spent on food during that time.

Clean Water services works with Banks, Beaverton, Cornelius, Durham, Forest Grove, Gaston, Hillsboro, King City, North Plains, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin, small portions of Lake Oswego, small portions of Portland, and portions of Clackamas and Multnomah counties to provide sewer and water management to over 600,000 people in the urban areas of the Tualatin River Watershed.

Commissioner Nafisa Fai said since learning of the Clean Water Services investigation, the board of directors has been on a “fact-finding journey.”

“This wasn’t about blame; it’s about being better stewards of public trust,” Fai said. “Ratepayers deserve a system that’s not just forward thinking, but also financially sound and transparent.”

In an effort to restore accountability, the resolution directs the district to hire an outside auditor to examine the district’s travel and meal expenditures. The resolution also directs Clean Water Services to review and restrict district’s executive management team expenditures and directs the agency to review and revise the travel, meal and refreshment policies.

The resolution also proposes training all employees in compliance with laws and policies related to spending district resources and submitting regular financial reports to the board.

The resolution states that, absent compelling circumstances, local meal purchases by executive management team members are not reimbursable by the district and that it’s the district’s intent to reimburse its employees for reasonable, ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred when traveling on behalf of the district.

District employees, according to the policy, are responsible for obtaining approval for travel prior to travel, and the district chief executive officer must work with the board of directors on a plan to restore the trust of the community.

“It’s incumbent upon us to rebuild this by adhering to the values of openness and transparency,” Commissioner Pam Treece said. “Efficient and appropriate use of taxpayer dollars is absolutely critical and we, collectively, as a board, have not provided all of the necessary oversight. That is going to be changing.”

Clean Water Services offered a statement Wednesday afternoon, April 9.

“I take the recent media coverage about executive spending seriously,” Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, the agency CEO said. “I understand and agree with the oversight of the board to implement the requirements in the adopted resolution and order, and board statement, to limit executive spending and to enhance transparency and accountability. I am committed to upholding these requirements and to work with the board on a plan to rebuild trust.”