Okay, let's call the May 22, 2017 Public Utility Board
meeting to order.
Our first item is our consent agenda.
We have three items on the consent agenda.
Would any member like to pull any of those items for
individual consideration?
Hearing none then, is there a motion to approve the consent
agenda as presented?
Motion from Lillian?
Second.
Any discussion?
All in favor say aye.
Aye.
Any opposed?
Same sign, consent agenda passes.
Next we have the Public Utility Board meeting minutes of
May 8, 2017.
Those have been distributed prior to.
Any corrections, amendments to those?
Any one?
Hearing none then those will be approved as submitted.
Item B, and I think Dr. Banks is going to do the
presentation on this.
Good morning everyone.
I can't think of a more exciting topic to have on a Monday
morning than to talk about
fire sprinkler tap fees and tap and meter fees.
So I hope you all enjoy the ride.
This is a topic that has a little bit of history associated
with it that I think is important
to this discussion.
And so I want to talk a little bit, talk about what a fire
sprinkler tap fee actually is
and then give you a little bit of that history to kind of
show you what led up to the point
that we're at.
So a fire sprinkler tap is just a water line tap fee.
It is usually a larger line than you'll see for a service
tap.
That's really about the only distinction there.
The tap is made on the line itself.
A gate valve is installed and then the person that's
requiring the fire sprinkler tap is
responsible for the expenses of extending that service to
their facility.
The fees do depend on tap size and then the installation
type, whether it's a paved or
unpaved situation.
Fees are based on our average installation cost, which is
always we try to base our fees
on cost of service.
And so these are no exceptions.
We take a look at the cost and every year we put together a
cost of service analysis
that will show what these fees actually are.
This is included in the utility fee schedule that you'll
see every year at the end of
the budget process and then it goes on to be adopted by
ordinance by the city council.
And if site conditions differ substantially from average
conditions or if we have a specific
requirement that's requested by fire, charges are based on
the actual cost of the installation
itself.
So a little bit of history on this.
The fees were charged for fire sprinkler taps just like any
other tap prior to 1991.
And in '91 there was a new fire sprinkler system ordinance
that was adopted citywide.
And at the time that was a much more stringent ordinance
than existed in the DFW Metroplex.
And so there was discussion and ultimately an agreement by
council to waive these fees
for a temporary but unspecified period of time.
So basically the language that you see in the utility code
of ordinances stated upon
written request to the superintendent, the utility
department shall waive the installation
charges for water taps exclusively dedicated to fire sprink
ler taps.
The superintendent shall have sole discretion in the
application of this subsection.
Similar language was actually included in the water rate
schedules and has been in place
since 1992.
That language is in there today.
And around 2000 there were conversations between fire and
water department staff that indicated
that the Denton sprinkler ordinance was consistent now with
other Metroplex cities.
In other words those Metroplex cities had caught up with
our code.
This prompted in 2001 the water department to survey 41
cities, 21 were from Texas,
9 were in the Metroplex, 20 from around the United States
and tried to determine whether
fire tap fees were actually charged by these entities.
All of them required the developer or building owner to pay
a fire tap and connection fee.
And this prompted an item to be brought to the public
utility board in March 2001 recommending
charging for the fire sprinkler taps.
And based on the PV direction at the time staff began to
assess fire tap fees in 2001
and have been doing so since that time.
However, that language was not changed in either the code
of ordinances or in the rate
schedule itself.
And that has caused some confusion through the years as to
why that language still exists.
We were asked to bring this information to the council on
February 14th and that was
a request by the mayor.
And in April this item was brought forward as a part of
bringing this information forward
as a work session to council.
We conducted a survey of 19 area cities in March of 2017.
We felt that the previous 41 city survey was quite dated
and we wanted to be sure that
this information that we were bringing forward was as
current as possible.
18 of these cities charged fire tap fees as a part of the
regular tap fees.
One charged a separate fee for the water line tap for a
fire tap plus a one-time demand
charge that was based on the tap size.
So they all charged this one was just did it in a little
bit of a different way.
So as I stated, we had a request to bring this forward in
February.
We ended up having a work session on April 18th with the
council.
The council was direction from that work session was to
remove references to waiving fees for
fire sprinkler taps from 26-126-1 of the code of ordinances
and to remove that language
from the water rate schedule and continue to collect fire
sprinkler tap fees as we have
been since 2001.
We did get into a discussion about clarifying what is
included in the standard water tap
and meter fee.
The council felt that our rate schedule needed some
additional language so that the applicants
would understand exactly what the fee they were paying
actually went towards and what
the applicant was responsible for.
And so we were asked to clarify what was included in the
standard water tap and meter fee and
clarify when a special price quote to perform nonstandard
work would apply.
So exhibits two and three of your agenda information sheets
show the changes that we have made
in response to the council request.
We removed the 1991 language about waiving fire tap fees
from the code of ordinances and
from the current and future water rate schedules.
We are looking at clarifying language for the rate schedule
itself.
And all of these will have to be taken forward to the city
council with an ordinance to enact
these changes.
So right now the current water rate schedule, if the board
direction is to move forward
with this, will be modified outside of our normal sequence.
We'll try to get that done as quickly as we can with the
council.
So that will happen before it would usually happen at the
end of the budget cycle when
we adopt the entire rate schedule.
Real quickly, I know this is a bit tedious because it's
code language, but I wanted to
be sure that we worked through the additions that we have
made to the rate schedule.
For the water taps with meter section, we added the text
that you see on the screen
to the beginning of that section basically explaining that
the installation of the water
main tap, service line from the main to the water meter,
the meter box and the water meter
itself are actually included in those fees.
Water impact fees are not included.
And for situations where portions of the installation
requires a pavement cut or the repair or water
service line has to be bored underneath the street, the
paved street fee shall apply.
We do have a nuance with some of our streets that are
constructed of full concrete panels.
Those panels are weakened if you just cut them and patch
them.
And so what we are requiring on those is a full concrete
panel section replacement.
And so in that particular instance, if you've got a meter
that's larger than two inches
or a full concrete panel section that has to be removed,
that takes you to the special
price quote section which is called fees for installations
not listed.
Water meter fees, just the meter itself, this would be
installation for water meters for
new developments and existing properties that are
requesting a larger water meter as long
as they have an adequately sized water tap and service line
.
This fee would include the installation and setup of a new
meter, new water meter box
if required.
Impact fees are not included.
And again, for those meters that are larger than two inches
, we would provide a special
price quotation.
For the relocates, this is for relocating an existing water
meter to remove them from
a conflict like if someone wanted to put in a driveway or
sidewalk or other type of surface
obstruction.
This fee would cover relocation of the meter box itself and
the water meter, water service
line up to 10 feet.
It does not include pavement removal or replacement.
And for distances longer than 10 feet, we'll provide a
price quotation in increments of
10 feet.
The taps themselves, one of the things that we've done that
was causing a little bit of
a confusion was that the water line tap section currently
has taps for one inch and two inch
lines.
Those are covered elsewhere in the fee schedule, so we
simply removed those from the -- from
this section.
This will cover larger than two inch diameter service lines
and those fire lines that are
installed by a private contractor.
The fee includes the tapping sleeve itself and the
isolation gate valve, the installation
of the tap and removal and restoration of the pavement for
water tap installation only.
The contractor in this case is responsible for installing
the main line extensions, service
lines, and fire lines from that tapping sleeve isolation
valve to its point of service.
As I stated, we removed the one inch and two inch taps.
And for those taps that impact a concrete pavement that
require a full panel removal
and replacement, we'll provide a special price quote.
We did want to put in there -- this is asked of us on
occasion -- we can offer to make
a short extension of the main or service line to the
backside of the street curb.
That makes it a little bit easier for the contractor to
pick that up and take that on
to the point of service.
And so while we're out there doing that, if they so choose,
we can provide a special price
quote for doing that activity.
And then for the fees for installations, not listed section
, we modified this to make it
consistent with 126.1.
It was a little bit different in the fee schedule requiring
a 50% upfront.
That was inconsistent with 126.1, which required an upfront
payment based on an estimate and
then the final payment based on the actual cost of doing
the work.
So we made that change.
So I know that was a bit tedious and a lot of information,
but those are the changes
that we're proposing as staff to address the council
concerns.
And I'll be happy to answer any questions anyone has.
I have one on this last slide.
The change is from paying 50% upfront to the entire amount.
That's correct.
Right.
And that is currently what is required in our code of ordin
ances.
Barbara, thank you for the question.
You mentioned on page two, there are a couple of terms on
page two and page seven talking
about average conditions and nonstandard.
Are there definitions for that?
How does one know?
What we do when we set a meter fee cost of service is that
we are, when we're going out
there and doing the work, we're actually collecting
information on the cost of materials, the
cost of labor, what it takes to do a line bore, anything
that goes into it.
And we come up with a standard fee or an average fee that
actually goes into the rate schedule.
And so that is based on our normal conditions of installing
a meter.
We look at that every year and base our fees on that actual
cost.
And so what we will look at is basically are we going to be
within the range of that cost?
And we have a tendency to deviate maybe 10% on either side
on average.
And so if we're substantially above that, that kind of
pushes us into that nonstandard realm.
And so what we're trying to do is we're trying to set a fee
that makes it easy to administer
and that everybody understands what that fee is.
But at the same time, if we've got an installation that is
much more expensive than the established
fee, then the cost of service approach would indicate that
we need to do a special price
quote.
And the person that would be in that position would know
before they began how much they
were going to have to pay?
As a part of the development review process, what they're
proposing, we'd be able to go
out there and take a look at the situation and come up with
if they're in a situation
where we have a nonstandard, they would know that
beforehand.
Okay.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
No?
Okay.
Thank you, Kenny.
Appreciate it.
Thank you.
Is there a recommendation?
Yeah.
I was about to get to that.
Is there a, excuse me, a motion then for recommendation on
to adopt this as presented?
Second.
Okay.
First and second.
Any further discussion?
All in favor say aye.
Aye.
Any opposed?
Same sign.
Okay.
Motion passes.
Item C is a matrix.
And AC, or excuse me, ACM report.
I don't know.
I think the only thing...
Okay.
Yes.
Barbara?
Are you ready for us to add something?
Sure.
Absolutely.
I'd just like an update on the sale of the coal plant and
where we are on our electrical
work.
I'm seeing the lot on 288 grow void of equipment and
materials.
And I just, if you could bring us up to date on how close
we are to being done, how much
is left?
All the transmission is still going.
Okay.
I guess that'd be two separate items then.
Yes, sir.
Okay.
Any other additions to the matrix?
Questions?
Would like to see for future agendas?
Okay.
Hearing none, then nobody here.
Looks like the seats are empty, so no public comments.
So is there a motion to adjourn?
So moved.
We don't even let you do it, Brendan.
Second.
And Brendan?
All in favor say aye.
Aye.
Thank you.
I think that's a record, by the way.