Tigard helps Indonesian city through CityLinks

by Jill Rehkopf Smith, The Oregonian

Thursday November 13, 2008, 3:27 AM

Samarinda, a poor city, gets help with accounting and its water system

Photo courtesy of Tom VanderPlaatTom VanderPlaat (left) of Clean Water Services and Dennis Koellermeier, Tigard's public works director (right) tour an Indonesian water treatment plant in 2005. Many areas of Indonesia have no treatment system. At an outdoor eatery, VanderPlaat remembers washing his hands in a sink on a deck overlooking a pond -- and watching the soap come out in the pond.

On a grassy swath outside the Tigard Public Library, families find shade in an Indonesian-style pavilion, dedicated in September to Samarinda's chief administrative officer.

The two sites reflect the success of Tigard's role in the CityLinks Program of the International City/County Management Association.

Former Sherwood City Manager Jon Bormet was in charge of CityLinks in 2002 when he called his friend Bill Monahan, then city manager of Tigard. Would Tigard be willing to help Samarinda, a struggling Indonesian city of about 300,000?

Monahan won city support for the cultural exchange, which was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Over the next four years, Tigard sent six delegations to Indonesia and hosted five in return.

During that time, Tigard participants worked closely with Muhammad Saili, who died in 2007 and is now remembered through the pavilion.

Tigard employees also benefited from the partnership, Monahan said. It increased their camaraderie, enthusiasm for their jobs, confidence in their skills and sense that "Tigard really has something to offer."

They helped the Indonesians in many ways, from introducing simple accounting measures and a direct deposit system to helping with their antiquated water supply system.

In Samarinda, about 60 percent of residents get tap water that is clean but not drinkable, said Tom VanderPlaat, the water supply project manager with Clean Water Services. The rest draw water from wells, streams or another source. Everyone boils water before drinking it.

At an outdoor eatery, VanderPlaat washed his hands in a sink on a deck overlooking a pond -- and watched the soap come out in the pond. Sewage generally runs straight from the home or business into the street, he said.

With Tigard's help, Samarinda issued water conservation decrees and began fixing leaks in its water lines and auditing large water users. For funding, they tried charging new development for water delivery.

Rate increases will never be a big money source, VanderPlaat said, when so many residents spend their days sitting on the sidewalk with fruit or other wares spread out for sale. "You see blocks and blocks of these kind of vendors."

That kind of poverty explains why Indonesian delegates came to Tigard with the preconception that Americans are all rich -- and left with the notion confirmed, he said.

VanderPlaat, who had never traveled to an undeveloped country before, said the experience opened his eyes: "You just don't realize how fortunate Americans have it."

Utility employees here in Washington County are particularly lucky, given that the worst public response to a rate increase is generally a nasty phone call.

In Indonesia, Monahan said, "the first time we suggested they increase water rates, they told us they would be stoned."
-- Jill Rehkopf Smith; jillsmith@news.oregonian.com