Overview
- Outgoing WCWRC, Evan Pratt, served as the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner from January 1, 2013, until his decision not to seek re-election in 2024, marking nearly 12 years in office. Evan implemented innovative projects, like the Tyler Dam Drain for flood control, promoted educational initiatives, and forged and encouraged numerous partnerships. Evan is also recognized for many infrastructure improvements and serving on national public works committees.
- During Evan’s term as commissioner, the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner's Office he forged and expanded upon partnerships with organizations like the Huron River Watershed Council, MiCorps, and local agencies to improve water quality, manage stormwater, and promote sustainable practices, leveraging shared resources and community engagement for effective environmental stewardship.
- Evan points out that, “...no regular taxes cover stormwater – everything we do requires others to participate in Special Assessments. This ties in with our need to be an excellent partner with so many different people and entities.” Washtenaw County Water Resources uses special assessments in partnership with organizations, like Ypsilanti Township and YCUA for projects like the Tyler Dam Drain, which replaced aging infrastructure, and with the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority to fund regional recycling programs, ensuring equitable cost-sharing and sustainable solutions.
- Washtenaw County has faced severe climate-driven storms, such as the 2021 flood emergency and the 2023 "500-year storm," highlighting the need for resilient water management. The next Water Resources Commissioner must upgrade stormwater infrastructure, implement the Resilient Washtenaw Climate Action Plan, and secure funding for projects like those supported by recent $784,000 stormwater grants to address increasing rainfall and flooding challenges.
- Evan says that Gretchen Driskell, the incoming WCWRC, will inherit aging infrastructure that is only getting older. He likens U.S. infrastructure management to car maintenance, where minor, affordable fixes are prioritized while costly, essential repairs are deferred, leading to premature failure. The industry is shifting toward 5-year Infrastructure Asset Management Plans to stabilize spending and reduce costly surprises through proactive maintenance. However, this approach relies on collaboration with communities and property owners. Over the past 12 years, workload demands—including permitting, routine maintenance, and major improvements—have nearly doubled, adding significant strain on staff and underscoring the need for continued investment in both infrastructure and workforce capacity.
- Another high priority challenge for Gretchen Driskell will be contamination of water resources in the county. He says, “I’ve already taken Gretchen on a tour of some contaminated areas and briefed her on some specific concerns. While we do not have authority over groundwater or contaminated discharges, some situations are directly impacting areas we are responsible for so her legislative background will be very helpful in continuing to press for better regulations or highlighting a need for action. Some 900 reported contaminated sites in Washtenaw County and emerging contaminants, like PFAS compounds and 1,4 dioxane. Polluters are definitely not paying in too many situations – and there needs to be state funding to temporarily address numerous sites discharging above allowable limits for the entire time lengthy investigations are done. Current laws allow contamination to continue while responsibility and solutions are being figured out.”
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and some changes are coming in Washtenaw County government. Following the November elections, we know there will be some new faces in different offices within the governmental structure. Among them, there will be a new water resources commissioner. Democrat Gretchen Driskell won the election and will begin serving her first term in January. I'm David Fair, and this Issues of the Environment segment on WEMU is a follow-up to that. Driskell is going to replace outgoing water resources commissioner Evan Pratt. He decided against running for reelection in this cycle after serving three terms and 12 years in the position. We spoke with Driskell the morning after the election, and that conversation is available to you at wemu.org. Today, we wanted to talk with Evan Pratt about his time in offices and the challenges that lie ahead for his successor. Evan, thank you so much for the time today!
Evan Pratt: Yeah, it's great to be here, David!
David Fair: What one word would you use to characterize the last 12 years spent as water resources commissioner?
Evan Pratt: I think "interesting" would be a great word.
David Fair: So much has happened in the last decade. Plus, it is, in fact, interesting. Would it be a fair characterization to say that the changing climate has and will continue to play a huge role in defining what the water resources commissioner position will be moving forward?
Evan Pratt: Yeah, climate change is definitely one of the 3 or 4 bigger challenges that we've got. It's been brewing for a while. And, fortunately, our team is already working on yet another revision to our standards to address that. We're not quite there yet, but I never thought, in 2014, when we made some major changes in our development standards and our own standards, that we'd be right back at it ten years later. But there we are. So, all you can do is take a look at what you're doing and figure out is it working as well as we think or do we need to tweak it a little bit? Sure enough, we need to tweak that a little bit.
David Fair: The 2021 flooding emergency and then the 500-year storm we experienced in 2023 highlighted the weather-related challenges to come. It also pointed out to significant need for upgrades in infrastructure. As you prepare to leave office, how well-positioned is Washtenaw County to meet those challenges?
Evan Pratt: I'd say we're as well-positioned as anyone else in our business. But it is not a robustly funded segment of infrastructure, David. As you know, due to that scheduled investment and maintenance, that's your best chance of getting your car to last 20 years instead of maybe 12 or 14. And the infrastructure isn't quite to that level yet. But we have a lot of partners, and that's probably been the most useful thing for us. And the thing that we always try to remember is when things look grim, we've got a lot of partners to help us out.
David Fair: 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment conversation with Evan Pratt continues. He is outgoing Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. Because there are no taxes to specifically deal with stormwater, special assessments and the collaborations you mentioned are key. So, as you prepare to turn things over to Gretchen Driskell, what partnerships have you helped forge that will benefit her ability to move the county forward?
Evan Pratt: Sure. We try to work with each individual community on its own terms. So, one of the things that we've done over the last 8 or 10 years is come up with, we call them, asset management plans. We're managing assets or infrastructure. They're expensive assets, and we're working now. We've got ten plans like that with communities that see more problems or have more development than others or have more miles of drainage. So, we feel like the communities that have the most amount of infrastructure and the biggest challenges, at least we've got a game plan to try to level out the expenses. And to me, David, the game has been to reduce the number of surprises. There's always things in our lives that are going to be surprises. But there's also things where, if we put a little thought into it ahead of time, we can prevent the surprises. And that's where working with our community leadership partners in units of government has been very helpful. But we're spending the local units' money, so we want to make sure that they've got input.
David Fair: Because there are no taxes collected for much of this work, you have to use special assessments and that goes towards a greater. And what are some examples of effective use of special assessments?
Evan Pratt: Well, we've got a broken dam, for example, on the Huron River. It was built in 1965. And what it does is it maintains a lake level on what's called the chain of lakes for Portage Lake and Baseline Lake that are the southernmost of eight lakes and series on the Huron in Livingston and Washtenaw was about 1500 people that have access to Portage and Baseline Lakes. And those folks are all going to share in the cost of repairing the dam. That was the purpose that it was originally built for. So, even back in the '60s, it was set up with a special assessment district to anticipate the day that major repairs were needed on the dam. So, it's about a million and a half dollars in repairs. It's what we're thinking right now. We don't have our bids yet, and there's about 1500 people. So, although $1,000 might not be the best thing to see on a single year added to your tax bill, we'll spread that over several years. What we've talked to folks about is making that manageable. So, it's $150 to $200 a year for all 1500 people. So, there's a way to take a big number like a million and a half and turn it into manageable bites over multiple years for folks. And that's the plus side of special assessments.
David Fair: As you make the rush toward the end of your term as Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner, there's probably not been a lot of time to reflect. But what else are you most proud of accomplishing since you first took office in January of 2013?
Evan Pratt: Well, sometimes, I'm a little slow on the uptake, David, so I reflect on how much I've learned about toxicity standards. I don't know if that's something to be excited about, but learning is an important thing. So, I'm happy I know more about the various chemicals and contaminated sites. I mean, gosh, there's 8 or 900 in just our county alone. But the ability to then turn that around into how does that affect our work, what are our thoughts on legislative efforts--that is really something that's been helpful. So, I take that knowledge and be able to work with other folks in a similar position, legislators at the state regulatory agency, to make sure that we're doing the right things, that we're aiming for the right clean-ups, and that we're, again, trying to be as efficient as we can with our money. So, that's one thing. The other one, I think, is adjusting our standards in 2014 to both deal with climate but also deal with stream health. Essentially, our goal has been to soak more water into the ground because that's what used to happen before we built things. And that's been working very well. Kind of a offshoot of that is we're up to almost 2000 rain gardens that have been constructed in the county that our folks know about, that our staff has had a role in either training the master rain gardeners, of which I think we're pushing 900 now, or providing technical support to homeowners who want to do it themselves. And if we can soak more water into the ground, that provides a lot of resilience because that water doesn't need any space in a creek or a pipe.
David Fair: We're talking with outgoing Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt on 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. In the conversation I had with Gretchen Driskell following her election win, she said you've been a great resource as she prepares to take over the position. Do you plan to remain accessible as she jumps into that job with both feet?
Evan Pratt: Absolutely! I wish things like my predecessor and my legal counsel weren't on the speed dial on my phone, but they are, because I need to talk to them. So, I want to pay that forward as well, because everything that I've accomplished has been with a boatload of other people providing me advice, expertise, new knowledge, or just kicking around is this a good idea or bad idea, that type of thing. And we've traded notes on a half a dozen issues. We've driven on the east side of the county where we've had those issues in 2021 and 2023 with flooding. And that kind of described what the project's vision would be to provide some meaningful relief to folks on the east side of the county, particularly the Ypsi/Ypsi Township area. So, there's a lot going there. And I think Gretchen's skill set with a history of being the CEO of a service delivery organization when she was mayor of Saline, as well as being a legislator and understanding how there is some funding available and how to work with folks that are on either appropriations or in the grant side of things. I think that's going to be a great fit for the needs that we have right now.
David Fair: So, what is next for Evan Pratt?
Evan Pratt: Next for me, David, is just kind of slowing things down a little bit, doing more of that reflecting, like you said, traveling a little more, spending time with my kids a little bit more, basically getting a little bit more use out of that hammock I've invested in.
David Fair: Wise choice of plans for the future! Well, at the beginning of our conversation, Evan, I asked you to use one word to characterize your tenure as water resources commissioner. How do you hope the public will write your legacy?
Evan Pratt: Well, that's a good question. I hope that what people will remember is that I'm always willing to listen, that I've always been willing to talk about new ideas and that I'm also willing to accept we've got a situation where it's going to be too expensive to do something, and maybe we all need to just sit tight if that's what our customers are looking for, whether those customers are in a special assessment district or they're at a municipality. So, I think I'd rather be remembered for more of the soft skills than the physical investments. But, hey, if people feel good about having lots more rain gardens and having the strongest development standards in the state, then I don't mind if that's something folks remember, too. But I'd really rather that people remember we always had a good professional relationship and that we could also laugh a little bit while we were trying to get our work done.
David Fair: Well, Evan, thank you so much for the conversation today, and we wish you all the best in your retirement and your future endeavors!
Evan Pratt: Yeah, thank you so much, David! I've really enjoyed the opportunity to be on the show once in a while, and I know that the office is excited about continuing to work together on Issues of the Environment. WEMU is one of our many partners!
David Fair: That is outgoing Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt. He decided against seeking reelection and will be succeeded by Democrat Gretchen Driskell. For more information, just pay a visit to our website at wemu.org. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM, Ypsilanti.
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