SALEM — The utilities commission heard concerns regarding water levels and property lines at the Salem city lake in its meeting Thursday.

During the hearing of public requests, the commissioners were addressed by Sara Valenzuela whose property on Teegarden Road is adjacent to the department’s, and with whom the department unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an easement for the ongoing repairs at the dam ultimately, pivoting to “plan B” and installing an access road on its own property. Valenzuela, said that she had been in contact with Utilities Superintendent Butch Donnalley about an easement for over a year, though Donnalley said it was closer to two years, and that she wanted to discuss the process with the commission.

She said that she had requested what the department was seeking in an easement in writing multiple times so that she could have it reviewed by an attorney, and despite asking for it multiple times she had never received it, a claim which Donnalley denied. Utilities Commission Chairman Bob Hodgson said the commission had a full chronology of Donnalley’s communications with her which included emails, letters, and records of Donnalley’s phone and text communications with her and that the decision to build the service road had been made by commissioners due to time constraints attached to grant funding. He also said that the matter of the easement was moot as the road had already been installed.

“We were under a deadline to get the work done to complete a grant we were given for over a quarter of a million dollars and it was this commission’s decision that if we did not have a working agreement with you or your neighbor by the end of February, we were going to put our own road in on our property and spend the money on our property. What has been done has been done, there is no further negotiation,” said Hodgson.

Valenzuela said that she was not looking to negotiate and instead wanted to “say her piece” and discuss the situation with the commission that previous calls to the department had not been returned. Hodgson reiterated that the commissioners had been provided with the chronology and were “comfortable with the contact that was made on the commission’s behalf.” Hodgson also said that she had already exceeded the three-minute per person time limit for comment amid protests by Valenzuela, who refused to leave the podium.

“I will continue. Get the police to throw me out, I should have the right to speak,” said Valenzuela.

Valenzuela accused Donnalley of not properly communicating with her, shouting at the commission but ultimately left before a requested officer arrived.

Following her departure the commissioners reiterated that all attempts at communication with Valenzuela had been documented and that they had made the necessary decision to meet the deadline.

“For public record from here we have the chronology with every single phone call log, every item that was sent, every single meeting that was scheduled from multiple sources and we did what we had to do to meet the deadline for the grant,” said Hodgson.

“We had to move, we had to do what we needed to do and after we had our property surveyed it was quite clear that we could put our own road on our own property and not have to seek easements from any other property owner and now we can access the damn much more easily,” said Commissioner Randall Malmsberry. “It is my opinion that in the long term that we are better off with our own road and access being ours because properties change hands, for the future I think it worked out best for us.”

Donnalley said that himself, Assistant Superintendent Chad Hess and Project Manager Bob Schreiner were visiting Valenzuela in October when she requested a list of what the department was seeking in an easement and that it was delivered to her about two weeks later.

“We had it to her as fast as we possibly could,” said Donnalley.

Donnalley said he was disappointed that an agreement couldn’t be reached and that Valenzuela was upset.

“We wanted to be good neighbors. We don’t live here but our property abuts yours in a lot of places and we want to be good neighbors, we still do,” said Donnalley.

Commissioners were also asked about water levels at the lake by Parks Director Kelli Pastore, Parks Commission President John Panezott, and Parks Commissioners Don Yeasted. They asked if there was a reason water levels were so low and if there was any upcoming work that might cause them to decrease further, and that due to low water levels last year people had been unable to launch boats and that lake season had been a $3,000 loss. Water Plant Manager Larry Sebrell said that the high volume of water line breaks in spring had reduced water levels, but that the department was working to send water back into the lake, and Hodgson noted that 20 to 30 million gallons of water had been lost from leaks.

Donnalley said that the water levels at the lake are currently higher than this time the last two years, and that efforts to raise levels were still ongoing. Hodgson said that the department was limited in its ability to help low water levels because they are primarily determined by the level of precipitation in the area, especially during winter.

Donnalley and the commissioners also reminded residents that the department’s annual consumer confidence report (CCR) was available online on the city’s website on the utilities page, or at https://gemgrp.com/eReports/CNOH018676-1Y25/#page=1.

The utilities commission will meet next at 3 p.m. May 15.