Until Tuesday night, the Davis Water Advisory Committee had an identity problem.

At the committee’s first few meetings, the members — local residents drafted by the City Council to help make decisions on the city’s water future — weren’t exactly sure what they were supposed to be doing.

That changed at the City Council meeting Tuesday, when the council unanimously voted to solidify the three goals it wants the committee to accomplish during its meetings.

They are:

* To make recommendations about the proposed Davis-Woodland surface water project and any potential alternatives;

* To make recommendations about the design-build-operate model, or possible alternatives to such a model for the surface water project; and

* To make recommendations on all matters related to rates of the surface water project or for any project that the committee recommends as a feasible alternative.

Now, with clearly defined goals, Elaine Roberts-Musser, who chairs the committee, believes it can move forward with a purpose.

“I think (now that) we have the confirmation of the three motions, we will be off and running because we will set up a structure and a framework and an agenda that’s going to cover all of this,” Roberts-Musser said before the council on Tuesday. “We will do whatever work is necessary to get it done in time.”

Dianna Jensen, principal civil engineer and the city’s liaison to the committee, and Roberts-Musser will set up a schedule that will allow the committee to make recommendations in a timely fashion to the City Council, which has its own timeline for decisions about the city’s water rates and water supply.

At the committee’s meeting Thursday night, members received background information on the rate-setting process and compliance with Proposition 218, on the rate study that Bartle Wells Associates will administer for the city and on the Woodland-Davis Clean Water Agency from General Manager Dennis Diemer.

The Water Advisory Committee meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of every month at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Chambers of City Hall, 23 Russell Blvd. Their meetings can be viewed on Channel 16 or streamed live on the city’s website at http://cityofdavis.org/media/.

— Reach Tom Sakash at [email protected] or (530) 747-8057. Follow him on Twitter @TomSakash

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