WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.680 Okay. It's nine o'clock on January 25th, 2021. We have a quorum, so we'll call the Public 00:00:11.680 --> 00:00:18.800 Utilities Board meeting for the City of Denton to order. Are there any public people from 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:24.320 the public wishing to speak? Do we know? Hi there. This is Tyler. Currently there 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:30.640 is no one here to speak. All right. Thank you, Tyler. Then we'll go on to the regular meeting. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:38.720 We have first order of business is our consent agenda. Items A through C. Does any board member 00:00:38.720 --> 00:00:45.040 wish to pull an item? Yes, Ed. Go ahead. Item C. Item C. All right. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:57.600 And then do we have a motion to approve items A and B? So moved. Second. All in favor say aye. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:08.160 Aye. Opposed? A and B? Approved. Item C. Questions, Ed? Yeah, I was just curious as to what is 00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:18.160 encompassed by lab supplies. Is there somebody that can address that? Terry Nolte is going to answer 00:01:18.160 --> 00:01:30.720 the question. Hi, this is Brian Smith with the City of Denton. 00:01:30.720 --> 00:01:41.600 Can you all hear me? Yes. Go ahead, Brian. Okay. Your question about lab supplies? 00:01:44.720 --> 00:01:50.240 Okay. It's just, what this is, is we're trying to get a contract for the lab supplies for the 00:01:50.240 --> 00:02:02.720 both water plants and the municipal lab. So we can, in the past that we've just been buying, 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:14.320 you know, our chemicals and our lab supplies from just various vendors. And so we decided to see 00:02:14.320 --> 00:02:21.280 if we can get a contract, hopefully with one vendor, but it may end up being two to be able 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:29.120 to supply everything for everybody. Does that help answer that? Yeah, I was just curious as to whether 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:36.720 it was actual testing materials that were used to test the safety of the water or if it were supplies 00:02:36.720 --> 00:02:47.200 like test tubes and rubber gloves and stuff like that. Right, it's both. It's everything that we 00:02:47.200 --> 00:03:00.080 would need to do our testing. All these chemicals we get from HAWK, which is a lot of instruments 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:08.080 that we use are made by HAWK and we use a lot of their reagents and chemicals. The other thing that 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:15.280 HAWK doesn't provide that we get from other vendors to run the other tests that we have to run. 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:25.200 And of course, you know, like you said, you know, beakers and lab coats, anything else that's 00:03:27.200 --> 00:03:31.120 not a chemical, you know, is what we call just a supply. 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:37.520 Yeah, I was just curious as to whether or not the delay of this contract in any way 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:48.400 jeopardized the testing capabilities. No, sir. We have, you know, inventory currently so we can do 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:56.720 this. I understand. If we got low, we can always, you know, go out for, you know, do our quotes and 00:03:56.720 --> 00:04:02.960 get a purchase order that way. If we do, you know, if this gets to a point where it takes longer than 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:07.840 we anticipated. Okay, thank you very much. You bet. 00:04:07.840 --> 00:04:18.640 Do we have a motion to approve item C? Move approval. Oh, and Ed can second. All in favor say 00:04:18.640 --> 00:04:26.800 aye. Aye. All right. Carries. Items for individual consideration. The approval of the January 11th, 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:30.720 2021 minutes. Does anyone have corrections or changes? 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:42.240 Do we have a motion to approve? So approve. And a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:49.600 Okay. Next item is consider recommending adoption of an ordinance adopted concurrently by the 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:55.200 cities of Bryan, Denton, Garland, and Greenville, Texas, approving the execution by the Texas 00:04:55.200 --> 00:05:00.560 municipal power agency of an asset purchase agreement for the sale of the agency's Gibbons 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:07.360 Creek steam electric station and related assets in Grimes County, Texas, approving an associated 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:14.000 generation budget amendment and providing an effective date. Mr. Nolte. Good morning, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:42.880 PV. Let me pull the brief presentation up. Okay. Good morning again. This is 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:50.960 the formal request to the PUB to recommend adoption of the concurrent ordinance for the 00:05:50.960 --> 00:05:57.360 sale of the Gibbons Creek station. As you recall, PV members, we brought this to you 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:01.840 several weeks ago, had a detailed discussion. We've provided a number of 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:08.960 additional pieces of information in the Friday report and through informal staff reports. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:17.120 Just a brief summary of the transaction. Again, it's the sale of the Gibbons Creek 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:24.320 station to the Gibbons Creek environmental redevelopment company is the buyer. It's 6,200 00:06:24.320 --> 00:06:28.560 acres, including the reservoir and all the coal combustion residual units. 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:37.760 We do TMPA does retain ownership of all the transmission assets. And under the terms of the 00:06:37.760 --> 00:06:43.600 agreement, the buyer must decommission the power plant and remediate all the CCR units. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:54.320 Significant effort and security been put in place to ensure that these CCR units are properly 00:06:54.320 --> 00:07:02.320 remediated. And there are certain limitations placed upon future land uses for the areas that 00:07:02.320 --> 00:07:10.720 have the CCR units. There's a considerable economic benefit to TMPA members, including 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:18.960 Denton. We anticipate that the savings as compared to the self-performance of the remediation and 00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:26.960 demolition activities will save $48 million, $10 million to Denton. And for this fiscal year, 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:36.320 $1.8 million versus our current budget. The most important thing besides the economics is the fact 00:07:36.320 --> 00:07:43.760 that the environmental risk profile is greatly reduced for TMPA and for the member cities. 00:07:43.760 --> 00:07:51.120 They cite itself adjacent to the site is the is the 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:58.160 the mine, the lignite mine, which will be ultimately sold, 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:03.040 if so directed by the TMPA Board of Directors and additional 10,000 plus acres. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:10.800 So today we're recommending approval of the concurrent ordinance. 00:08:10.800 --> 00:08:18.480 Denton is the last of the four member cities to bring this ordinance before Council for final 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:25.360 approval. And as I mentioned, we did provide the information that was requested by both Council and 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:35.760 PUB in a series of Friday reports. The land use issue, Grimes County regulations, Grimes County 00:08:35.760 --> 00:08:44.640 does not have zoning, as most counties in Texas don't. There are requirements that are placed upon 00:08:45.280 --> 00:08:53.520 subdivisions in Grimes County. And with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions. Also have 00:08:53.520 --> 00:08:57.040 Bob Kahn, the General Manager of the TMPA on the line. 00:08:57.040 --> 00:08:59.680 Questions? 00:08:59.680 --> 00:09:05.440 Barbara, was your hand up? Okay, go ahead, Barbara. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:14.320 So once this is sold to them, as requirements change on things like this, 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:20.080 this will no longer be our responsibility. It will be the responsibility of the new buyer, correct? 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:21.600 That is correct. 00:09:21.600 --> 00:09:28.560 Any other questions? 00:09:28.560 --> 00:09:39.920 I will make a comment on that question, Barbara. The last meeting that TMPA had was a quick call 00:09:39.920 --> 00:09:47.680 meeting to approve additional insurance for any new developments. We were able to get another 00:09:47.680 --> 00:09:54.320 larger, longer insurance policy for 10 years, which helps that liability tremendously. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.920 Thank you, Bill. 00:09:57.920 --> 00:10:05.280 Well, I guess we did have a long discussion a few weeks ago. Do we have -- oh, go ahead, 00:10:05.280 --> 00:10:11.760 Ed. I'm sorry. I just had one comment, and that is that I think this is a really good thing that's 00:10:11.760 --> 00:10:22.960 happening for our air and future and development, everything. And right now, best as I can 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:37.520 ascertain, there are still 14 active coal plants in Texas, of which five by, I guess it's 2032, 00:10:37.520 --> 00:10:43.360 will either also be closed or converted to natural gas or some other fuel source, 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:50.800 which has not indicated what it is. But in any case, we all know that coal is on the way out. 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:56.800 Texas, unfortunately, is still the largest user of coal for electric generation. But 00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:04.080 things like the closing of Givens Creek are a step forward toward a renewable future. So 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:08.720 I'm very happy that this is occurring. Thank you, Ed. 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:15.680 Like I said, we had a long discussion a couple weeks ago. Do we have a motion to approve? 00:11:15.680 --> 00:11:18.960 So moved. Thank you, Ed. A second? 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:21.680 Second. All in favor say aye. 00:11:21.680 --> 00:11:25.360 Aye. Opposed? Carries. 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.960 Thank you very much. Thank you. 00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:34.160 Next item is management reports. David. 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:46.400 Given the number of management reports on the agenda, including a solid waste survey update, 00:11:46.400 --> 00:11:49.200 if you have any questions, we have staff available to answer them. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:53.600 I believe that was your item, Ed. Are you satisfied with? 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:57.200 Me? No, Ed. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:57.680 I'm sorry. 00:11:57.680 --> 00:12:07.840 I'm sorry. Do you have any questions on the solid waste management strategy online? 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:09.040 The survey? Yeah. 00:12:09.040 --> 00:12:12.080 No, I looked at it. I think it's very, very comprehensive. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:23.200 Okay. And I'm not sure about the timeline. How long will this be up before it's completed? 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:27.360 How long will it be before the public? I can see Brian's on the line. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:33.360 Yeah. Members of the board, members, my name is Brian Burner, Solid Waste Director with City of 00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:38.800 Ginton. This survey will be up for approximately one month. And then from that, the data will be 00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:49.280 taken and used to help create the talking points and questions for the think tank that will occur 00:12:49.280 --> 00:12:56.400 in March. And then based on survey data, waste characterization data, the think tank data results, 00:12:56.400 --> 00:13:02.640 plus items that are going on in the legislature and regulatory world, that will all be wrapped 00:13:02.640 --> 00:13:09.920 up in our anticipation is that the strategy will be completed by late third quarter, early 00:13:09.920 --> 00:13:17.600 fourth quarter of this year. Thank you. My only other question is, is where is this being publicized? 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:23.760 This is being publicized in all of our social media through our Friday reports. 00:13:23.760 --> 00:13:31.600 We're pushing it out on, you know, directly to different interest groups. And, you know, 00:13:31.600 --> 00:13:36.560 we've got a month. So we're hoping word of mouth as well as we would imagine there will probably 00:13:36.560 --> 00:13:42.640 something in the didn't record chronicle regarding the survey. Yeah, I was going to say, I hope that 00:13:42.640 --> 00:13:49.280 you could get a prominent article in the paper. That would certainly be an advantage. And is there 00:13:49.280 --> 00:13:56.640 time to put it in with bills and mailings? There is a citizens, one of the citizens 00:13:56.640 --> 00:14:01.200 newsletters that is going out here within the next day or two that it will be included with them. 00:14:01.680 --> 00:14:10.560 Terrific. Thank you. All right, then next is concluding items. Does a board member wish 00:14:10.560 --> 00:14:15.760 to have anything put on a future agenda item or have something to celebrate? 00:14:15.760 --> 00:14:23.040 All right, then we'll go into work session, receive a report and hold a discussion 00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:28.080 and give staff direction on the recent issues impacting online building portal 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:34.640 and auto draft customers. Madam Chair, board members, Krista Foster, customer service manager. 00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:44.400 If you give me one moment, I'll pull up our presentation. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:02.080 All right. So we received a request from one of the board members to provide an update 00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:09.600 on the context that you guys had seen online or received personally related to trouble that 00:15:09.600 --> 00:15:14.800 customers have had over the past fall and somewhat through the winter with either bill of viewing or 00:15:14.800 --> 00:15:20.240 interruptions of service due to auto drafts not coming through or problems with drafting. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:25.920 So what we're going to do is provide a quick overview. We had three separate events that led 00:15:25.920 --> 00:15:31.600 to some of these things. In August of 2020, we had bills that were not viewable online, 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:36.480 as well as auto drafts that were scheduled by customers in the online payment portal, 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:41.840 which weren't functioning properly. And then in November, we had a contractual change of our 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:46.640 merchant service provider, which caused all registered users to have to reenter their 00:15:46.640 --> 00:15:53.600 payment information. So first looking at the bill view, we had the problem was customers were not 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:58.800 able to access electronic copies of their bills and see their billing history. We identified and 00:15:58.800 --> 00:16:04.880 reported this with our vendor on September the 8th, and it was resolved on September the 14th. 00:16:04.880 --> 00:16:12.480 The remediation actions, what we found was the services to provide our online billing, 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:19.600 either your bill view or, or the auto drafts is related to that vendor receiving FTP file transfers. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:26.240 So the vendor for the billing system or the bill print had changed an IP address, 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:32.960 and it did not been communicated to the online provider. They appeared to not have a process 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:40.000 in place to identify that they were not receiving the FTP files as expected. So once we got that in 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:45.040 place, then we've coordinated with the vendors to ensure that they have a plan for non receipt of 00:16:45.040 --> 00:16:52.000 files. The same thing occurred with the auto drafts. This is payments that were scheduled by 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:56.960 customers by themselves in the online billing portal. These are not drafts that we would set 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:02.400 up in our billing system to auto draft, but ones that customers can go in and modify on their own. 00:17:02.400 --> 00:17:08.720 We identified the problem and reported it on August 15th. This one was not resolved until 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:15.920 September 11th. What we found was, again, there was an IP address change that prevented them from 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:21.680 receiving FTP files. They were unaware that they were not receiving the files and it took some time 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:28.000 to be able to identify what that problem was. This impacted about 3000 customers. We ensured 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:33.200 that during that time period, we stopped any form of disconnections so that there were no interruptions 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:39.920 by mistake. We increased our documentation so that we could better identify these types of problems. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:45.840 It's difficult for us to see draft versus web payment when the customer is setting it up 00:17:45.840 --> 00:17:50.000 themselves. There's no flag that can be turned on in our billing system so that we know. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:57.440 So we've increased our documentation for reporting technology changes to the vendor, 00:17:57.440 --> 00:18:03.920 as well as we've identified some means of reporting internally to help identify failures in drafts. 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.960 And then again, we've coordinated with the vendor to ensure that they have a communication plan for 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:19.520 non-received files. The final issue that we've incurred, that has occurred this year, was the 00:18:19.520 --> 00:18:24.800 change of our merchant service provider. Several years ago, when the city contracted with Wells 00:18:24.800 --> 00:18:31.440 Fargo Merchant Services, it was stated at the time that the volumes coming in from customer service 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:36.400 would be included in that so that we could get a city-wide pricing structure. We've been working 00:18:36.400 --> 00:18:42.320 for a couple of years to be able to move from Elavon to Wells Fargo and that had to occur this fall. 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:49.760 The Wells Fargo requirement is that we keep the billing zip code as part of the saved payment 00:18:49.760 --> 00:18:57.200 credentials. This helps us prevent fraud. It also lowers our costs. However, Elavon did not save 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:03.040 that information because the information was not in any of the payment records. We couldn't 00:19:03.040 --> 00:19:09.920 transition any customers' saved payment information. So it meant that all customers had to reenter 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:15.040 their auto drafts, either checking or credit, and that they had to reenter any of their saved 00:19:15.040 --> 00:19:21.360 payment information. So we knew that this was coming up. So October the 28th, we actually sent 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:28.000 out 7,000, a combination of 7,000 calls and emails. We sent 7,000 letters to customers who 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:34.080 would be impacted. The way that we did this is we looked at a list of all customers who had payments 00:19:34.080 --> 00:19:39.600 showing in the system as scheduled anytime from October through December. We cross-referenced 00:19:39.600 --> 00:19:44.240 that list if it was something that we had set up by telephone so the customer didn't have an email 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:49.760 address. We cross-referenced that against North Star data to get the telephone number on file so 00:19:49.760 --> 00:19:55.440 that we could make contact to that customer. In addition to letters and emails and calls, 00:19:55.440 --> 00:20:01.200 we did place information out on social media. We updated our website. We put a message on our phone 00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:08.480 queue. We put a message alert on the payment as portal, and we issued a press release. So on the 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:14.880 day of switch 11-5, we repeated 7,000 calls and emails to all customers who were impacted, 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.200 letting them know that the change had occurred and they could reenter their payment information. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:26.240 Things continued on into early December when we began receiving calls from customers who 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.160 were indicating that they were on autodraft and had been interrupted for non-payment. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:36.320 So as we started looking at that, first we want to make sure that it's noted that any of those 00:20:36.320 --> 00:20:40.960 customers who had been interrupted would have received both a courtesy call and a friendly 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:48.000 reminder call prior to interruption. But when I went out on December the 10th, I pulled a list of 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:54.400 all scheduled payments in the payment system and cross-referenced it to our original list of 7,000 00:20:54.400 --> 00:21:01.200 customers, and 6,000 of those customers had not reset up their payment information and started 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:07.680 their drafts again. So we did again stop all interruptions, and instead of just communicating 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:13.200 to those 7,000, we decided that it was probably better at this point to go ahead and notify all 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:20.160 payment as registered users. So we sent 35,000 letters, emails, and calls to customers, letting 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:26.880 them know that payments needed to be in place and scheduled by January the 4th. On January the 4th, 00:21:26.880 --> 00:21:33.440 we did send a final email notice to the original list of 7,000 customers if there had been no new 00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:42.400 scheduled payments. And that's pretty much where we are. We have begun cutting again and do not 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:48.720 seem to have the same kind of problems. Thank you. Questions from the board? 00:21:51.920 --> 00:22:00.160 So have those people all responded? Have you got everybody set up? We saw that the majority, 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.200 well, more than 50% of the ones that had not set up by December the 10th had gone back and set up 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:13.040 when we went resumed interruptions. Some of those customers maybe have chosen not to do auto draft 00:22:13.040 --> 00:22:17.280 for a little bit and are just making payments, but we have not seen an influx of customers 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:22.880 being interrupted. We have seen a lot of confusion because once we sent things out to everyone, 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:27.440 then we have customers that are upset because like they've looked and now they've gotten four 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:32.640 notifications. You know, some of those things, just the typical types of confusions that you 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:35.520 would see when trying to communicate to that broad number of customers. 00:22:35.520 --> 00:22:43.360 It sounds like you made every effort. I can't think of anything that you haven't done repeatedly. 00:22:44.080 --> 00:22:50.480 Yeah. Well, I was one of the customers impacted, but I got a phone call that, you know, I was past 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:56.480 due. I mean, you communicated, I think at least four times to me. So it was, you know, 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:01.680 you did the best you could. Thank you. We tried to do our best. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:07.600 Yeah. But the important thing is now you have those FTP. They know that something's not coming in. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:14.480 So that'll be a big help. Yes. Sure. Yes, Billy. So Krista, 00:23:14.480 --> 00:23:20.080 is there going to be a concern going forward when you, like if somebody changes services, 00:23:20.080 --> 00:23:26.880 that they'll have a flag on their account because of these circumstances where it really wasn't the 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:32.480 right payers fault? No, there will not be any flags on their accounts because we're not actually 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:37.440 charging any late fees or anything and we're not doing the interruptions. 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:41.760 It will not affect their credit rating. Yeah. And I'll just reiterate what Susan said 00:23:41.760 --> 00:23:47.440 because we were the same customer and I got at least three, maybe four phone calls. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:52.400 Communication has been really good. Thank you. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:58.800 Thank you. All right. Thank you, Krista. 00:23:58.800 --> 00:24:05.520 Thank you. Now we will adjourn into a closed meeting. 00:24:05.520 --> 00:24:11.040 I believe I need to read the entire item deliberations regarding real estate 00:24:11.040 --> 00:24:19.040 property under Texas government code section 551.072. Receive information from staff, 00:24:19.040 --> 00:24:24.560 discuss, deliberate, and provide staff with direction pertaining to the potential acquisition 00:24:24.560 --> 00:24:32.160 of certain real property interests located in the BBB and CCR company survey abstract 196, 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:44.160 the West Fork Survey abstract 1087, and the Jay Saver Survey abstract 1164, and the Jay 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:50.400 Withers Survey abstract 1343, all in Denton County, Texas for the utility infrastructure. 00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:55.760 Do we need a countdown, David? That was a multiple.