So six o'clock and we will go ahead and call the
April 23rd
2018 public utilities board
meeting to order and
First on our agenda is a work session
Where we will receive a report and hold a discussion
regarding the fiscal year 2017 water audit
We're ready
We're gonna go over today our fiscal year 2017 water audit
similar to a budget audit where we scrutinize every dollar
and cent that goes into a budget and where it ends up we do
the
Same thing with our water system will scrutinize every drop
of water that we put into our system and where it ended up
and
So in its most basic form a water audit is where we take
all of the water we produce
So this is finished water from our plant that gets pumped
into our system
And then from that total we subtract out how much water we
sold that was captured in our billing system
And the difference in what we're left over with is referred
to as non-revenue water
And so there are a lot of different reasons for having non-
revenue water, but every utility will have non-revenue water
We have operational usage
So the flushing of new lines the flushing out of dead-end
mains new development every time we put a new development
in the ground
We do have to flush those mains out to get all the
chemicals out of the new pipes and get them ready and
healthy
For service for our customers. There are errors with our
data in our metering system and unfortunately we do have
theft
There are also system breaks and leaks that cause us to
lose water water quality maintenance
So hydrants and dead-end mains and then parts of the
utility system that are spread out
We do have to flush the water because after a while the
chemicals bond together differently and it's no longer safe
for consumption
And then also for firefighting we don't meter our firefight
ing usage and training time
So what we want to do is now that we know why we have non-
revenue water we need to kind of understand what that means
So we'll analyze our non-revenue water and it's a really
good starting point for figuring out the health of our
system
It's also good for budgeting because we do have to absorb
the cost of non-revenue water
In the amount of water that we sell it's good at
identifying potential concerns on a broad scale and
operational decision-making
But what it's not good for and where we want to further
analyze is engaging the health of our system because there
are different
Factors that go into non-revenue water. It doesn't quite
let us know how good our actual pipes are
It's not the best for identifying specific opportunities
for improvement. We have to have a little bit more of a
granular analysis
And it's not the best for benchmarking either
However, because we're all curious. This is how we stack up
in terms of benchmarking through throughout the
Metroplex and so if you look we are in the median but we
are in the higher end and there is a good reason for that
Some considerations when it comes to benchmarking with
other utilities are the size of the system
So as a system grows more we're gonna lose a lot more water
from our billing system as we flush out these new lines
Also the topology of the system and our water quality
So for example if everyone thinks of the north end of town
by north loop 288 where we've got that water tower
Because the usage isn't as heavy but we still have the
infrastructure taking the water out there
We do have more instances of needing to flush out that
water for to maintain our regulations on water quality age
Also the age of our infrastructure the older system is the
more prone it is to breaks and leaks
And we do have an older infrastructure as compared to some
of the other cities in the area
Audit validation so that's actually the quality of
information that goes into our water audit. So
We do vet our data and we have a lot of
Check marks and validation processes that we go through to
make sure it's accurate
Not all other cities are large enough and staffed up enough
to be able to do the level of validation we do and then
some
Cities are going to do more validation such as Dallas
And then the differences and unbilled authorized
consumption across utilities
So I mentioned we don't bill and meter our fire department,
but other other municipalities do
And so that's why it's no longer an apples to apples
comparison when we look at non-revenue water across
different utilities
There are several types of non-revenue water that are
important to understand. We've got unbilled authorized
consumption
Which is exactly what it sounds like we don't bill it but
it's authorized and we're completely fine with that water
being used but not billed
So we've got our firefighting and our firefighter training
time the flushing out of new lines and the operational us
ages such as the water quality maintenance
Hydrant maintenance flushing new development. We have a
parent loss a parent loss is exactly what it sounds like
It looks as though we lost it, but we didn't quite a parent
loss is water that we didn't capture in our billing system
But it did in fact go through the meter or was used by a
customer
So the instance of theft it's not going to go through a
meter, but it was used by a customer
Billing system errors also customer service on occasion. We
have waived some bills where
customers do have a leak on their side and just as a
You know as good customer service
We will forgive that bill even though it passed through the
meter and then there are metering and accuracy is meters
slow down as they age
And that's just a fact of the water business and then real
loss
We have main breaks main leaks and then service leaks
before the meter and the real loss is water
That is really lost from our system that actually leaks and
it's a good gauge of the health of our actual pipes and
infrastructure
So for benchmarking the water development board and the
American Water Works Association looks at three different
performance indicators
Real loss so the amount of loss that's really lost through
the system through our leaks and breaks and that's an
indicator of our system health
Apparent loss which is our paper loss
So the water that was used but wasn't accounted for and
that's more of an indicator of our fiscal health and then
our infrastructure
Leakage index which is a fairly new benchmarking
Statistic but it's the theoretical minimum loss a system
can have and it's a ratio of that minimum loss
Based off some factors unique to our system compared to
what we actually lost
and so these are the three key things that the that we use
for benchmarking and
So kind of an easier way to look at and understand the way
the audit breaks down is
The water produced that we produced for the fiscal year
that top area going across is water that's exported
So we have some wholesale customers on Krummen Sanger and
then the water supplied that's the amount of water that
went into our
City of Denton billing system that large arrow right there
The build authorized consumption is all the water of the
water supplied that was building captured in North Star our
billing system
And then below that we have our non revenue water as a
component of non revenue water
You'll see the unbilled authorized color coded in blue to
indicate that we are okay with that usage
And that once again is our operational usage our firefight
ing
Below that is our apparent loss. So that's gonna that's all
the water once again that was used
But we didn't capture it in our billing system and that can
be farther broken down into metering inaccuracies
Unauthorized consumption data errors and it's important for
us to break it down further so we know where our
opportunities are
And then the real losses we've got main breaks and then
also water that we suspect
Leaked from our system, but it is unaccounted for and so we
didn't physically see that break
But we know it's somewhere out there either broken or
leaking into our system
And so real loss is a gauge of our system health
That's where our main breaks and leaks will let us know
where we really need to target our capital improvement
We want to minimize them within economic reasons
So we assign a dollar value to how much revenue we've lost
because of these breaks
And so we are going to try to mitigate those losses up to
that point, but we certainly don't want to find ourselves
in a situation
Where we're spending a dollar to save a dime
But the water audit does help estimate the costs and
engages our system health for fiscal year 2017
We lost five hundred and thirty one million gallons and
while it seems like a large amount that was only eight
point five percent of our total
produced water for the year
Now our apparent loss which is an indicator of our fiscal
health
That is mostly due to metering and accuracy. So customer
meters, they actually decline
I know there's sometimes sticker shock in the summer where
you get a large
Water bill and there is fear of over registering
But typically as time goes on the meters will slow down and
under register due to calcification and other issues with
the meter itself
And so the water audit also estimates this apparent loss is
much more expensive than real loss
Because real loss leaks before it reaches a customer we
understand and value that at what it costs us to produce
that water
Which is about 33 cents per thousand gallons
But we can sell that water for four dollars and fifteen
cents per thousand gallons
And so when that water is used by our customer base, it's
quantified at a much more expensive rate that four dollars
and fifteen cents
So for 2017 we estimate about 197 million gallons of
apparent loss
Which was three percent three point one percent of the
entire amount of water we produced that year and
Then the infrastructure leakage index which is that new
benchmarking target that we have which is the ratio of the
theoretical minimum
Based off of the size of our system
So we have a little over 600 miles of pipe and then the
number of connections that we have in our system
It's a standard calculation provided by the water
development board
Based off of those factors and then it compares that to our
actual loss
And so we're left with a ratio which is considered the best
kind of apples to apples comparison across different
utilities for benchmarking
For 2017 we had a 2.07 and here's what that means
So there are several target ILI ranges
Anywhere from a 1 to an 8 is considered acceptable. We
shoot for the tightest
Range which is a 1 to 3 which is four systems where water
is scarce
We are a semi-arid region and to where we really don't want
to push rate increases
Upon our customers
But if you look down where it says five to eight that could
be a city along the Great Lakes or somewhere where water is
plentiful
It's cheap to develop new resources and it's not going to
push that development out to our ratepayers
Anything over the Nates not recommended anything under than
one is not considered valid data
And
So if you look across region C, which is our water planning
region, you'll see that we are much lower than if you just
looked
At non-revenue water alone. So still in the median but on
the lower end of that
And
So just to summarize the reason we audit is it does help us
gauge how well we steward our water resources
Which is very important and how efficiently we turn those
resources into income
And so we'll take the results and analyze that and that'll
help us decide a leak detection detection program system
reinvestment and meter
accuracy issues
Any questions?
Question about the
What you were saying before about how meters when they're
first installed
They tend to overestimate usages am I hearing that right?
No, okay
They start at about we can't have them estimate it caps at
a hundred but it can be as low as I want to say
99.98 percent of under registration
And then over time it goes down at about
we tend to replace our meters on about a 14 year cycle, but
actually the
Cost wise if we replace it at 18 years
That's kind of the margin of diminishing return where the
amount of lost water is kind of equivocal to the cost of
replacing the meter
We do it a little bit sooner just because we are in a semi-
arid region
Tolerant to drought not completely drought tolerant and we
just want to make sure we are kind of stewarding our
resources
Okay. Good. Thank you. Thanks. That's very helpful. Thank
you
Questions Charlie what what is the method for breaking down
the non-revenue water into those three categories? Oh sure
To that
Was it the unbilled apparent and real-loss categories here?
Okay. Yes, so the unbilled authorized
We have a bunch of different data sets
So even though we don't actually meter the water that the
fire department uses they do keep record of their fire
events
and so we try to kind of get a gauge of the time and
There are some formulas that can take the water pressure
versus the four inch diameter of the hose pulling from the
the fire hydrant and
The pressure of our system we can take all those factors
together and multiply it across the number of firefighter
events and get a rough
Estimate on that the same with the firefighting training
time. We also
We do where it says unbilled we still meter our usage for
some of the events such as new line flushing and
Some of our operational usages, so we still have a handle
on that. It's metered, but we're just not
Administratively re billing the water department for the
water the water department uses the main breaks
That is once again
It's kind of a standard formula where we take the the type
of failure mode on the pipe the estimated amount of time
It's leaking so it's not perfect because we start it when
it gets called in
And then the meter metering and accuracies
We have something called high low reports and that flags
when a customer has an anomalous spilling read kind of
based off of their particular
Baseline and so we can look at the data on that and kind of
see if it was an error
How much was it? We also have some I think I mentioned
earlier we have forgiven some high bills
And so we kind of keep that into account on apparent loss
as well theft
That's a kind of a standard calculation provided by the
water development board as is the a
component of the systematic data handling error
And so these are just kind of standard across the board
calculations that they they give to us their pretty boiler
plate
But that's how we go into there. There's a couple other
factors as well. I know with our
billing cycles
With our water systems we kind of keep into account that
the billing cycles will overlap the the calendar dates
And so sometimes if there's bills being forgiven in that
time, we'll kind of try to quantify them to the correct
year
and then a couple other
Small little pieces of data going to thank you. Oh sure
So you mentioned that sometimes you forgive large bills
What's the I can imagine what the answer would be but I'm
more interested in what the actual answer is
You know, what is the the the protocol for that, you know?
Is there an actual policy in place on on you know
forgiveness policy or?
Is if you could just go into a little bit more detail on
you know, what kind of
Circumstances lead to forgiveness and then what what doesn
't
Can you get a little closer to the mic I'm sorry
Thank you. It is it's a component of us having outstanding
customer service. It is on a case-by-case basis
and so while we don't like to
Advertise that we do that because anything that any leaks
that do happen after the customers meter
So from their meter to their house, that's their service
line and while they are responsible for that
There are just some times where it's just not
economically
In their well-being to charge the customer that so we don't
have any policies in place because we we like to make sure
everybody is
Responsible for the water they use and their plumbing
But it it does happen where just for customer service and
kind of goodwill to our citizens. We will forgive it
Thanks, and that would be in is that the unbilled metered
Okay, okay and just
We do this we do not it once a year or is that right?
Yes, we do it once a year. However, we actually are in the
process right now of moving towards doing a monthly audit
There are several reasons behind that but it is just kind
of getting a tighter control over
When exactly if we have are having issues that they would
be occurring the main reasoning behind moving towards that
monthly audit
To you as we have we have to have our system built out in a
manner to handle our big peak flows in the summer
But then also still keep it running and pressurized
When we slow down in the winter and so it'll kind of give
us a better clue as to is it actually our equipment
That we're having issues with our data or is it the nature
of higher demand? So but right now it is annual. Okay
How does this compare to like the last couple of audits we
've had is it up down?
So it does fluctuate. So I y'all may have noticed I was
talking about this is an update and all the figures in here
are our
2017
Figures that were mentioning however on the the bar graphs
I showed it was 2016 data because this isn't due until May
1st
We had to pull from last year's and so for example on this
chart for the non revenue water
It was
11 point five seven percent
It was up to 13 percent for 2017
But then I just for fun did a mid-year audit recently and
we were back down to 12 percent
So we will fluctuate as long as we're under 15 percent
Non revenue water that's what's expected as per the water
development board and the American Water Works Association
So those those fluctuations are expected now if we have a
big dip say under eight percent all of a sudden
We'll actually start to look not so much at our system
health
But at our data and our data handling because that would be
unexpected or if we have a big jump
But historically we haven't witnessed any of that. It's
been stable within one or two percent points
All right, maybe other questions
Yes
Question about the the water forgiveness. I wonder and you
might not be able to answer this now
But if there was a kind of a checklist that
That would be something, you know on paper on the website
that customers could see and again
I'm not even sure if this is a good idea, but this is my
inclination is to think it is but
Whereby
You know customers could see that okay if people get
forgiven on water
It's because they've had say one or more of the following
You know and as long as it and of course you want to leave,
you know some kind of leeway
So it could be it's holistic, you know, you could say it's
holistic something like that
but at the very least because I'm thinking from the point
of view of a custom, you know say customer who
you know, they have a leak in this big bill and then they
have to pay and then
Just but then they hear a story that somebody else had
theirs forgiven, you know
So and I have no reason to think that it's not fair but
just to be able to show
Customers look it's it's on an individual basis and it's we
take a holistic approach
But it's not arbitrary. You know what I mean instead of
just saying oh trust us we go
So, you know, so I'd also be interested to know, you know,
does the forgiveness tend to happen?
More in residential accounts or commercial accounts kind of
what's the breakdown how often that's I guess that that is
data that I would
like to see
And and you know and and maybe the answer is well, it's you
know for legal reasons
It's not a good idea to do that. But still I would like to
know
To hear your thoughts on that sure colleagues thoughts on
that
Sure, so I think and then just off of the top of my head
today
That doesn't mean we might not come to a different
conclusion if we explored it more
but we probably don't want to advertise on the website or
have a checklist that we do this because it really
We don't want to do it often
It really is like I said us just trying to adhere to our
core value of outstanding customer service and if someone
really really needs it
And that tends to be you know, one of the first thresholds
is not advertising it
But if they get to a point where they reach out to us
then that
Without finding that information on there and just you know
, hey guys, please work with me. That's so far
That's how we have handled it
But I'm definitely willing to take a look and kind of
analyze that data a little bit closer. Oh sure
Yeah, I just be curious to know what you know, what kinds
of accounts?
It's not an arbitrary decision generally speaking. We do
not forgive any kind of water leaks or any kind of issues
related to accounts because it is
she was mentioning water that we've produced and we paid
for and
There are other customers are paying for that
So let us get you some more statistics and we can come back
with a report on
Exactly how that's done and the specificity that it's done
with but there's not an arbitrary basis and we're not out
there deciding that
We're going to relieve this forgive this one and not
forgive this one and those kinds of things
There's very specific reasons are very far and few between
that if there is something like that that happens
So we'll get your report. So thank you address that
Okay, thank you. I have no reason to think is our well, I
just want to make sure it's clear
We're not we're not forgiving bills if it the water has
been used we're gonna charge for that water
Oh, yeah, I'm in the num I mean in the numbers and that
slide showed that that's very rare
But thank you for answering questions about them. Thank you
, Brian
Any other questions
No, thank you
Okay
Our next next on our agenda is
To convene in a closed meeting to consider specific items
When those items are listed below under the closed meeting
section of this agenda
Okay, we'll now reconvene into our regular meeting
First item we have is our consent agenda we have items a B
C and D on the consent agenda is there any
Member who would like to have any of these items pulled for
individual consideration see
item C
Okay
Anybody else
Okay, then we have a motion then for items a
B and D on the consent agenda
Recommend approval a second have a motion and a second for
approval any discussion on the motion
Hearing none all in favor say aye. Aye any opposed same
sign
Okay motion carries item C
Mr. Cox will be right with us. Okay. I'll just read what it
says
Consider recommending adoption of an ordinance of the city
of Denton, Texas the Texas home rule municipal
corporation authorizing the city manager to exit a contract
for odor neutralizer chemicals with probe America
incorporated
Providing for the expenditure of funds therefore and
providing an effective date
In the three-year not to exceed amount of $130,000
No, this is a new thing for me
So I just wanted to ask a few questions because I didn't
see anything in the in the information that was provided
The odor neutralizer chemicals is this the same have we
been using this for a number of years?
We have there's actually two layers of our odor control
system. The first is on our perimeter
There's actually a network of tubes that actually spray
vapor into the air. So that's kind of the perimeter
odor control this is actually for the odor control that we
put in our water trucks that's
Used directly on the working base to try to neutralize the
odors
Okay, and then to I was just a little concerned anytime you
're talking about chemicals and sure putting them into the
air or into
you know water
Transfer whatever I didn't see anything with regards to any
kinds of
Stats on the effect on the environment or to humans or to
animals or anything like that
So I was just wanting to know if you had any information
about that
I don't have it with me this evening, but I can certainly
get that back to the board in terms of a staff report
Okay
because that's one of the
Concerns I have certainly yeah huge concern. I had I had
that concern too. I'm glad you asked that
But we have used this company before
We've used the chemical. I'm not sure about the company,
but we have used these chemicals before we have used these
chemicals before
Okay, thank you, okay
All right any other questions
If
how
As far as you can describe, you know, how bad the smell
would be without it, you know, is it more it's more for the
Protection of and comfort level of workers people in the
area
We actually have some regulatory requirements. I can't
recite them off the top of my head
But there is an odor control requirement in our TCEQ
operating permit that requires certain things like this for
odor abatement
Certain days are more important to use this and others high
wind days are particularly challenging for us because
The perimeter odor control system isn't quite as effective
when the winds are above a certain miles per hour
And so that's when we do use the water trucks and try to
suppress not just the odors
But also the dust so we mix these chemicals with the water
in the water truck to suppress both at the same time
Thank you. Okay, so for clarification that I mean we've
used the chemicals before they're
approved
EPA whatever
Public safety they all come with that certification and all
that is that correct?
I'll need to clarify relative to the question about because
I'm not getting a yeah
That's one of the things that concerns me is that you know,
if it's been approved if it's EPA approved
You know, it's you know blessed and whatever that then that
would you know
Then I could say yes. Well, let's go for it, but I'm not
getting that information
Is there any reason we couldn't get that research done and
bring it back to them? Absolutely. We can certainly pull
the atom
Why don't we do that?
That would be great. I'd be curious to know
Are there any?
alternatives and
Maybe we don't
You know, maybe there's no reason for alternatives because
maybe this is perfectly safe
But you know, it are there more environmentally friendly
alternatives and it's so what's the cost is it cost prohib
itive?
Let me look into this and make sure that we've done our due
diligence on that invented that out in terms of the
environmental impacts
I'll circle back and we'll repost the item for you
Okay
So item C is pulled replaced on a future agenda
Okay
All right
Items other items for individual consideration. We have the
public utility board
meeting minutes of April 9th
2018
These are in your packet been distributed in advance
Or any questions comments?
Corrections
Hearing none is there a motion to approve those minutes as
submitted
so many
to prove
Most to approve second second and a second discussion
All in favor say aye
Any opposed?
Thank you
Item B under items for individual consideration is to
consider recommending
adoption of an ordinance of the city of Denton, Texas the
Texas Home Rural Municipal Corporation
Authorizing the city manager to execute a contract for the
supply of a mission system reducing agent
Ammonia for the Denton Energy Center via Southern ionics
incorporated
Providing for the expenditure of funds therefore and
providing an effective date
in this in the three-year not to exceed amount of
1,000,000
287,000
$772.50
George Morrill DME general manager I rise to introduce
Chris Lutrick Chris is our project manager for the Denton
Energy Center and
He handled this procurement. I'm gonna let him take away
the presentation. You know, it's his presentations have
more pictures
Good evening, thank you for your time
So give you a little bit more information on the aqua
ammonia supply that was detailed in the IFB
6701
As you see we have some updated pictures if you haven't
been out to the deck to see what it's looking like these
days
In this in this quick presentation, we're going to talk
about what is ammonia
What is the function of aqua ammonia at the Denton Energy
Center the important the safety?
storage and handling of the aqua ammonia
emergency response plan
The bid summaries and then any questions you may have some
of the information in here is a little bit technical
So if I say something that's not quite clear just just stop
me
I'll be glad to try to clarify it. If not, dr. Banks is
here to help with the chemistry
So ammonia
Chemical compound is NH3 its chemical properties are it's a
colorless gas with a characteristic pundits pungent smell
It is a naturally occurring compound that is present in
nature and it is also in the human body
An important fact is readily dissolves in water and there's
everybody's probably heard of anhydrous ammonia
Anhydrous is Greek for without water. That's ammonia in its
pure form. It's a gas
Aqua, ammonia is a solution of water and ammonia where the
ammonia has been dissolved in the water
Aqua ammonia is defined as between 15 and 30 percent
And 19 percent is what we'll use at the deck
Ammonia is everywhere. It has industrial and household uses
and hydros ammonia is used worldwide as an agricultural
fertilizer and
Being that it's it's to get in its liquids form. It has to
be compressed
So gases that change state easily from a gas to a liquid
have some cooling properties. So therefore
Ammonia is very prevalent in industrial refrigeration
systems as a refrigerant these days
Ammonia solutions five to ten percent probably a lot of
people here have that under your sink at home. It's basic
Mr. Clean Windex a lot of these products started as ammonia
based solutions
And ammonia is a it dissolves organic materials to oil
grease grime
It's good at that. So it's used as a cleaner
In our application, there's aqua ammonia at our percentage
of 19 percent and urea is another term
That's that's commonly used. It's about a 40 percent
the city of Denton so urea is primarily used as
Reducing agent much like our aqua ammonia at the plant
Some quick stops and racetracks the city of Denton has a u
rea pump
So a modern diesel vehicles rely on a similar system to the
deck. They now have urea
Tanks on them. So when you fill up your tank with diesel,
you have to keep your urea tank full
So you ammonia is all around us
Aqua, ammonia as I said in urea are widely used in reducing
agents in selective catalytic reduction systems or SCRs
So in particular for the deck
our SCR are basically to give you some background on what
the SCR is the SCR system uses a chemical reaction to
reduce in part the
Nitrogen oxides that are produced by combustion engines in
particular the the SCR system at the deck
Will remove about 97.5 percent of the NOx from our plants
emissions. So they're very effective system
So that's why you're seeing them
Most commercial or nearly all diesel engines nowadays use
the same type of system because it's very it's very
effective at reducing the NOx output
The three main components of the system are the catalyst
the reducing agent in our case. That's the aqua ammonia and
heat
The AA is introduced into the exhaust stream just outside
of the building where it's mixed in a mixing duck
And using the the heat that's present in the exhaust gases
and it enters the catalyst housing and this catalyst
housing is where the
chemical
interaction of the three main components
Effectively reduces the NOx down to nitrogen and water
The deck SCR system utilizes aqua ammonia as a reducing
agent
So of the of the other forms of ammonia that I've mentioned
that there's an hydrous ammonia and urea
Aquas ammonia is by far the safest and most stable
Form of nitrogen that's available. So being it's 19% you
have to handle about five times the amount of volume
But it but it's much safer
So the
Aquas ammonia will be consumed at a rate of between 18.5
and 14.5 gallons per engine hour
The 18.5 is the manufacturers guaranteed consumption rate
the 14.5 being their expected consumption rate and
The plant has an automated system that will ensure that the
aqua ammonia is dosed properly
So here we have a picture if you can see my mouse here
So here's actually a the ammonia storage tank at the Denton
Energy Center as you can see it sets within a concrete
containment
Dyke
Where this truck is parked here, you'll see these grates
The tankers will back into this area here. So when that
when the plan is finished
This will also be concreted. You don't have roll curbs on
it
so as the tanker backs in even the tanker will be encaps
ulated within a containment area and
Just for note that this same system is used for the lube
oil, which is on the other side
So the plants storage capacity is 30,000 gallons and again
based on that maximum consumption rate
That's 172 plant hours of runtime and a plant hour is all
12 engines running at a 100% load
The storage tank that you saw in the previous picture was
designed and rated to store ammonia
the
Ammonia will arrive to the plant via tanker and that
frequency depends on plant operation
So the tankers carry about 6,500 gallons of ammonia at a
time
So it takes four to five tankers to completely fill the
tank and again and the plant has offloading facilities to
properly transfer
The ammonia from the tankers to the tank. It's a closed-
loop system
So any any any vapors any any gas that's in the tank is
transferred to the tanker as it fills
So it's a closed-loop system
Safety is important. So it is it is a chemical
The plant has an overall emergency response plan and a
section of that plant
that plan addresses the aqua ammonia spill prevention and
containment countermeasures
As I showed you in the picture the storage tank it sits
within a concrete dike
That has sufficient capacity to contain all of the tank
contents
So say there was a tank failure the tank ruptured the
liquid would be would be contained within the containment
dike
And as I mentioned again the plan also has a tanker offload
ing area to handle any minor spills
When you're when that when the products coming in for the
transfer
Those facilities are in place
The emergency response has multiple layers if day-to-day
activity the plant
The plant staff would be responsible for any minor spills
Anything of that sort of nature would be taken care of by
the plant following the safety data
Sheets provided by the manufacturer and their own safety
plan
The next level would be provided emergency response to be
provided by the den fire department
So the the plant manager has has had contact with the den
fire department
They've already been out there kind of an informal basis
and when the plan is when all of the facilities are
completely finished
The fire department will perform a site site audit. They'll
visit the site. They'll get list of everything that's
stored on site
So that'll be done prior to the plant going
Commercial and any and if we were to have a spill that got
outside of our containment area
The remediation would be handled by an environmental
contractor if warranted and finally any
Non-contained discharges greater than 25 gallons would be
reported to the TCEQ. That's the reportable limit for the
aqua ammonia
So the summary of bids this is kind of a specialty chemical
But we use the process the invitation for bid for a three-
year supply of aqua ammonia
Two bids were received the low bid was about 65 cents per
gallon and the the high bid was about 74 cents per gallon
The staff recommends awarding the lowest cost bid so
submitted by Southern ionics out of a Pasadena, Texas
an amount not to exceed
1,000,000
287 thousand seven hundred seventy two dollars and fifty
cents and I should note that that's a budgetary amount
So we calculated that based on that guaranteed guaranteed
consumption rate by the manufacturer. So we
And it's covered in the budget, but we expect that cost to
actually come in at about 70% of this of this figure
So with that I'll open it up to any questions
Okay questions
Yeah
I think I think you're very thoroughly presentation. I
tried to be quick. So
Yes recommending approval
I have two questions waiting to see
One, you know, so this week obviously the the testing on
the deck is gonna start in and I saw that
Unless that's been changed
But I know we're in the testing case now. Yeah, and I
noticed that I
Read that
Whereas the testing for knocks and VOCs in particulate
matter is gonna that's gonna be test sent out
I guess to a lab somewhere and then the results will come
back
I'll take a while for those to come back but that for the
ammonia testing this the relevance of the ammonia
But I saw that that there's an ammonia test
That in the results of that are gonna be available on site
at the end of each day
So I was wondering since you know, there's a presentation
about about ammonia and the role of ammonia and the catal
ytic conversion
if you could say a little something about how the ammonia
testing happens and
Because that's something that I know less about than about
the
The particulate matter. Yes, ma'am. So that that is part of
our emissions testing
So actually you don't send the lab out you bring the lab to
the plant. So for our test plan
We'll have four four labs. So what their lab is is a it's a
trailer
They pull behind a truck it has all their sensors and all
their equipment inside the truck
And then what they do is they have leads that actually run
out to the exhaust stacks. They take
The old days used to get your emissions test
They put something on the end of your tailpipe to to
measure the gas. That's exactly what this is
so there's probe ports that are built into the
Yeah, so if you can can you see my mouse there
So this is basically the backside of the plant
So as we come through here that the silver boxes in the
middle or the catalytic converter then after this is just
Exhaust up to the stacks. So actually right there is one of
them
You can see one there one there one there that is where the
testing is done
So it's come it's after it's gone through the the SCR unit.
Those probes will be placed in
At 90 degrees at each one of these engine tests
So then while the engines running those probes are
gathering data
So they're gathering data on all of the parameters that we
're testing including ammonia slip
So the that's the test that they're that they will be
running at that time
They will gather that data in real time and then process
that and then generate a report
In a pretty quick in a pretty quick manner
So that that is a report that we will be when it's when it
's when it's finished with that
We will be sharing with the P B and the and the City
Council
So the ammonia
Testing the results of that are immediately available
But there was something in the it was in a staff report for
council about about the testing
That said that that the for particulate matter the results
Would not I think they analyze their data. I don't exactly
they have a turnaround. It's pretty quick
I want to say we're getting a draft report within a week.
Yeah. Yeah, it was something like seven to eight days
Yes, whereas it's a pneumonia will be part of that as well.
So that they validate their their calibration
All of that so that that ammonia will come with the with
all the other
Reports we get okay. Yeah, okay. That's interesting. Okay.
Thank you
And then that sets your so then that sets your your ammonia
usage. So the plant
Has a way so they're gonna test so every year or every on
the testing cycle for the
For the energy center all of those tests will be run again.
So you'll see that hey our ammonia slip
I just happen to have it in front of me. It's three point
one seven pounds per hour
So you're gonna gonna find a rate so that matches your dos
ing rate
So that is your the plants indication that that you're
maintaining your ammonia slip by knowing what you're
putting in is what's coming out
Okay, thank you. You're welcome. And then my other question
was just about
emergency preparedness
You know, you'd mentioned that you've worked with a fire
department
To be prepared for in case there's an emergency
and is there been any if there been any discussions kind of
between the or among the
Deck and fire and the airport since the airport is such an
enclosed proximity
as to
You know if there is an incident what the you know people
working at the airport would would do you know, is there
some collect?
There hasn't so we've had some collaboration with the
airport and some other issues the stacks are
125 feet tall as far as particular on the ammonia
One of the one of the reasons that aqua ammonia was
selected is because it's a liquid so there some of the
other there's other
Businesses near the airport that have
Ammonia gas which is I think what you're referencing is if
you did have an issue
That ammonia could live again a gas form could leak and
drift around and that would affect the airport
But ours is in a liquid form. So it's it's it's contained
It's it's not going to cause an issue that a refrigeration
would leak would have so we haven't had direct
Communications on the ammonia. Yeah, I guess yeah. No, that
's that's absolutely true
Yeah, I kind of saw where you're going yeah, yeah we have
Yeah, we've worked with them that it's been good we
actually are sewer line that we brought to you
Before Christmas last year actually crosses the airport so
we're working with them on a daily basis. So yeah, you're
welcome
Okay
So, but I mean the safety features on the ammonia is self-
contained yes in the storage tank and the off off
Offload area and all that stuff. So, okay. Yes, sir. Okay
any other questions
No, we have a motion for this item I move
Prove motion for approval and a second further discussion
All in favor say aye
Any opposed same sign. Thank you motion passes item number
C
Is to consider recommending approval of an ordinance affir
ming the authority of the city manager or his designee
To enter into a purchase of natural gas for operation of
the Ditten energy center
after completion of the projects test phase
Good evening, George Morrow
general manager of DMA again, so before you to this evening
is an
ordinance that would affirm the and authorize the city
manager to execute a a
An agreement for the purchase of natural gas for the
commercial operation of the Denton Energy Center may recall
you've
previously viewed and recommended a
Gas agreement for the deck prior to commercial operation
and this is the pace that goes
Beyond that time so commercial operation is scheduled for
about the 1st of June
I'm open to any questions or comments
Questions
So one question that I have is why why is it
Incumbent on the city manager to make that agreement
instead of having it go before
Council
We're gonna take it to the City Council also
Yeah, so
The way these agreements are set up, you know, there could
be a number of short-term long-term
Transactions under this nays be and I think it's just
And there is some authority provided to
the city manager under the
Risk-management policy. So a short-term transaction wouldn
't need necessarily to go to the City Council
I know the city manager thought it was prudent and
Go forward on such a large transaction is this
So but he may at other times think you know if it's just a
day or a week or a month
Maybe to just do an arrangement like that. Yeah, so if
there was an adjustment
So the con the terms of the contract that were that you
know council will be discussing in closed session that
specific terms
If something came up and there was an adjustment and not
those terms
that would go right to the
the city manager, you know
would would have authority to
Deal with them without having to go back to
To council. I don't see I don't see any adjustment to the
terms of the agreement
Basically, we're asking for it's the it's a time period and
we're trying and we try to provide you some
Ideas to the amount to be spent but the terms will be set
once the agreements pass. So it's really no negotiating
There's just simply authorizing the agreement after the
council approves it
Okay, and then the other reason I thought this was so
important to bring back to you is about
You know, it's just the fact that it's a negotiated deal.
It's something that we don't do often don't
It's not our preference. However, in this particular case
given the ball top volatility of the gas market and
This follows important to educate the PUB council public as
to as far as why this approach is necessary
Okay. Okay. Got it. Yeah, so you know, so there are no
changes
Anticipated yes, so it's basically giving city manager
Authority to exactly yep to sign on what council and PB had
agreed. Okay. Yeah, that was my one
Good clarification question
Okay, other questions comments
Their motion I have it I have a comment if nobody has
comments or questions
Okay
You'll do it now or after we get the mode. It doesn't
matter. Yeah, I would like to do it
I would like to do it now. Okay, just to you. Can you put I
just like can you can you put on the board the redact
on the
appear on the screen the redacted contract
That's a see what I can do public
That's right in the backup
Confirmation agreement. Yes. Sorry. Yeah natural gas kind
of confirmation agreement
Just a second here
You
Sorry, but I don't I don't have that
You want to do it on the website that somebody has a guys
have probably been through this before
Go ahead and
Let's see do we need to sign into our camp
All right
Thank you so much. I would just I just like for the public
to
To see because people don't always go and look at the back
Not just people who are here but people watching at home
You
Talk about the confirmation. Yeah that one that one if you
could click on that
Great yeah
Yeah, that's the one. Yeah, and if you could scroll just to
the very bottom of that
Yeah, and
Yeah, so I just wanted to say thank you so much for yeah,
that's perfect
I just want to say just for people who are watching here
now people who are
You know what people who might be watching at home?
That I myself plan to vote
No on this because of how much has been redacted from the
contract, but I also want people to know
Here and at home that and this was something that we
discussed in
the closed session that
This is redacted
because the
The company that we're doing business with had requested
this but but efforts were made on
behalf of the
art management to try to
Make this information public so that this is being this
information is being withheld by request of the
Corporation not by request of the city so the city really
did
You know do their job in really trying to to get this
information made public and it's just it's an unfortunate
situation
that
they this company said no and
there they had the leverage because
For a number of reasons they're the only one that that we
could do this deal with
So anyway, I just wanted to make that clear that this is
That
That the city did what they could to try to get make this
information available
to the public but
And I don't expect anybody to just trust me
But I do have to say like this information that it's
missing that the special provisions is a secret stuff
It's the most banal ordinary
It is you know, it's just pretty banal ordinary standard
stuff and I just I think it's unfortunate because
You know nothing we can do about it. But when people see
this they're gonna think what is the secret, you know?
Being withheld. So anyway, so sorry to go on about that,
but this is really for the public
To let them know why I'm voting no
You know and I see at the bottom of this it's got our on
the letterhead our core values integrity, you know
transparency
Obviously this doesn't show transparency
But that's not because our you know management didn't try
for the utmost transparency. So I just wanted people to
know that so thank you
Thanks a lot
See anybody else have a statement
Is there a motion on this item? I move to approve
second
motion and a second
discussion
All in favor say aye. Aye any opposed?
me
Okay motion carries
Thank you George, thank you very much
Next item we have is the ACM update
Mr. Chairman members of the board. I'll be short
There are a couple of things listed on your future agendas
item for the next couple of meetings as we roll into
Later part of the spring into the to the budget cycle of
the PUB
And then as far as your the business matrix goes
There are still a few items outstanding that will be
covered through the bit through the budget process
The PUB as I mentioned here shortly shortly ago. Those are
the reconnect fees for the meters now that there were
implementing the smart meters
The impact on revenues along with some information
regarding to capital projects in DME and solid waste, okay
And looks like
We're projecting budget discussions
Second meeting in May, is that correct?
That's correct. Okay
Any comments on the ACM report questions
I was just a question. Is this where we would put that
report on the
odor neutralizer
Typically yes, but we'll have that ready for you on May 7th
the agenda
I think that she had to we
That agenda item is going to be voted on or looked at
Okay
Concluding items
Under section 551 point 042 the Texas Open Meetings Act
respond to inquiries from
public utilities board or the public with specific factual
information or
recitation of policy
Or accept the proposal to place the matter on the agenda
for an upcoming meeting
We have any
requests for agenda items for future meetings
There's going to be after the testing is done that'll come
back
Okay, very good I
Want to thank the people in the audience who so graciously
excuse themselves a little for just a little while and
Sticking around hopefully you learn a little bit about
How these things operate?
Thank you for coming
Is there a motion to adjourn
Move in seconds all in favor say aye any opposed very good.
Thank you