Okay good morning it's nine o'clock and we do have a quorum so we'll call to
order the public utility board meeting for the city of Denton for Monday
November 8th. The first item is any public comment. Does anybody in the
audience wish to speak? How about on the phone? No there are no callers. All right
thank you. So the first item is our consent agenda. Does any board member
wish to pull it? Mr. Back, go ahead. Yes thank you chair. I'd like to pull item A
and discuss if we can a little bit more detail about this extraordinary fine.
Okay and I'm gonna pull item B and go ahead. Item E. And item E. All right and
the other items. All right do we have a motion to approve item C, D, C and D?
Benjump removed. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? That carries. Item A.
Who is here to speak to that item?
This is Rachel Wood deputy director of Capital Projects. I've also got Tracy
Beck on the line who's the project manager for this project and we're happy
to answer any questions. Go ahead. You need you need to have your mic on Mr.
Beck. There you go. Got it now. Okay I found this an extraordinary. You're telling me. You're absolutely telling me. Come on. Pardon me? Okay you can hear me okay? Yes. Okay. This is an
item that evidently I found out that the PUB discussed at a previous time so I
don't want to drag this out but I found it extraordinary that we were finding
something like this in one of our projects and it looks like the city did
its due diligence and all that. It's just that I hate to see this pass so quickly
without a little bit of discussion go on the public record. I was interested to
realize that this fine was considered I guess to be prehistoric since they
found some parts up to be 5,000 years old and I understand there was let's
say archaeologists involved in this along with the project manager and other
people and decided to do this data recovery as opposed to working around it
or preserving any part of it. So if you could just elaborate a little bit more
on that was it that deep into the area where we're going to work that none of
it could be preserved and it was determined it said that cost and time
would be excessive on that too and it just seems like a rare find like this.
I'm just curious to hear the a little bit of the reasoning behind the decision
to just go with the data retrieval. Is that help? Is that that's not too
confusing is it? And I'm sorry what was your name again? This is Tracy Beck.
Tracy Beck good name okay okay did what I say make sense? Yes sir it did and I
appreciate you asking the question. We had a project the Hickory Creek
Interceptor project dates back numerous years of a high need for the wastewater
department and for all the surrounding areas both existing and future
development. The alignment was set years ago prior to my involvement and as one
of the tasks that we're responsible to do when we go through a project
evaluation is look at the archaeological findings. Typically that's never been a
problem in the past. On this particular project we had a little special event
where when we went through the initial phase we do what's called a survey. They
take a look at the the surroundings and they say this might be a good area to
look into. So we did that and that got one of our amendment changes to look a
little bit deeper because the Texas Historical Commission came out and said
we need to look a little deeper dig under the ground and take a look. So at
that point they started finding some activity that showed that there was a
past history of folks passing through the area. They had evidence of ovens
earthen ovens and then mussel shells. So as they kept moving forward the Texas
Historical Commission said we'd like to take a look a little bit further. So
we're in what's called a phase three data recovery and what they're doing
today is out there collecting all the data collecting the evidence the years
sample soils everything that they need to recreate the story the best they can
as to what they found. So as far as avoiding those areas the alignment in
order to avoid the areas we looked at that option we looked at trying to bore
under the areas. We looked at anything that we could do to avoid the
archaeological expenses as well as the impact. But the reality is is that if we
shifted it left or right the Texas Historical Commission said there's
really not a way to find out if we could avoid them all together because it was a
community that came through this area. So at that point we didn't have an option
other than to start the project from scratch which based on the need for the
line was not an option that we could see. So what they're doing today is collecting
as much data, years data, taking pictures and everything. We'll end up getting a
several hundred page report maybe even a thousand pages. I don't know they said
it's gonna be huge. Showing all the evidence so that we can secure that
history. Okay did the Texas Historical Commission is there something on record
with them where we could kind of see in a little bit more detail their
perception on this and something for the public record more or less other than
what we got here? We have a scope that has been worked back and forth between
the archaeologists and the Texas Historical Commission and that's where
they negotiate back and forth discussing what are the needs for the project,
excavation, data recovery and that is a part of what we're approving today is
that scope. Okay as a private citizen though is there could I get
access to those records? We don't have them public right now but I believe that
we could add them to our Discover Denton pages. It's just going to document the
scope of the services based on what the Texas Historical Commission and our
archaeologists discussed. Okay if that can be done and is done Tracy would you
email me and let me know and just give me you know how I can go about doing that
otherwise I'm fine with this. Absolutely. Okay thank you so much. All right so do
we have a motion to approve item A? Mr. Beck is motioning. Do we have a second?
Mr. Cheek seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Carries. Item B. I did not
really have a question I just knew that Billy would have to recuse himself so I
need a motion to approve item B. Thank you Mr. Jumper. Moved? Second? Mr. Beck
seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Carries. Item E.
All right item E. Yes I guess do we have somebody here for that? Yeah we have some
folks from Solid Waste here they can probably answer your questions if you
want to ask your question Mr. Jumper. Sure okay so we're getting a new you want
to get a new truck I was a little confused on the purpose of the of the
truck is it it seems like it maybe it's like a backup or kind of a filler like
fill-in for odds and ends needs if you could just elaborate on that a little
more. Yes I love to answer that question it's really it really won't be a backup
this will be our one of our primary vehicles the purpose of a few reasons
for trying to acquire the vehicle now versus later but it'll it'll allow us to
create a faster response time as we respond to our customer concerns and the
complaints the smaller footprint is definitely a lot easier to maneuver
through the communities one of the things that we're here we're here a very
high standard to is taking care of customers in a short response time the
the the the fuel savings versus sitting in a big large truck across town late
and evening in traffic this truck will take care of that for us plus it'll
serve as our you mentioned backup and I say no to that this will actually serve
as our crew we have crew leaders on staff for each discipline that we have
this truck will serve as an office so instead of us waiting the customer
waiting for things to happen we're right in the field and we can take care of it
right away okay and then you also in the in the documentation there referenced
helping with spills so I was curious about all the spills happen a lot and
then how does that happen and what if you got an administrative code we are
required if there's a spillage we are required to take care of that spill
within a certain amount of time does that happen often it doesn't happen often
however when they do happen hydraulic spills things of that nature in this in
this business as the temperatures get hotter and warmer lines sometimes are
compromised right and you may have 20 to 30 gallons of hydraulic fluid on the
ground and we've got a short window to respond this truck will have spill kits
everything necessary right to take care of that spill to contain it until we
can get it better under control sometimes getting the better under
control is calling in some specialists and things like that before the
containment initially this truck is already in the field it can respond
immediately okay yes sir is this the first truck of its kind of this kind of
more light-duty quick response vehicle absolutely not their trucks been an
industry like this probably I'm aware I've been in the business 32 years I
know they're been in the business about 15 years no I'm sorry I meant for the
department is a few years ago we bought two we have two they're in a yard a
configuration and they work fine for us in fact we service our downtown valley
area with those trucks right now they work perfect for us this truck is a
little larger 11 yard to for more capacity so our return time to the
landfill is not as frequent great thank you I just was wondering if this was the
only one and if that was enough but obviously it's the third of this
particular type thank you if approved this would be our third vehicle of this
kind to our fleet thank you yes ma'am do we have a motion to approve item E so
moved then jumper seconds all in favor say aye motion carries next item is
recommend approval of the October 25th meeting minutes do we have a motion to
approve move approval mr. cheek moved approval mr. Beck seconds on favor say
aye aye that carries consider the adoption of an ordinance with the city
of Denton the Texas Home Rule Municipal Corporation authorizing the city manager
to execute a contract with Southern ionics ink for the supply of emissions
reagent for the deep Denton Energy Center
yeah they're not on our monitors they don't come up on the monitor okay good
enough everything look good yep good morning ladies and gentlemen Jason
Brown plant manager of the Denton Energy Center first off I want to thank you all
for allowing me time this morning to present this emissions reagent contract
that we're seeking approval of this morning the reagent used at the Denton
Energy Center is aqueous ammonia and is used as an additive in our exhaust
stream for NOx control NOx control is a condition of our air permit therefore we
have to have emissions reagent in order to operate the facility how we use
aquia aqueous ammonia or the additive is we inject the additive into the exhaust
stream where it mixes with exhaust gas and then flows through the SCR catalyst
selective catalytic reduction catalyst on the exhaust system in there a chemical
reaction takes place where the NOx deposits on to the SCR blocks and as we
as we operate the facility we maintain the emissions life or the perimeters of
that emissions catalyst with standard maintenance practices by monitoring the
catalyst block differential across the catalyst blocks and clean or refurbish
the catalyst catalytic blocks as we need the additive is a consumable that is
injected into the into the exhaust stream at 14 and a half gallons per hour to 18
and a gap 18 and a half gallons per hour depending on exhaust load or equipment
load and NOx control is a standard air permit condition to where we we need
emissions reagent with us injecting aqueous ammonia into the exhaust stream
at 14 and a half to 18 and a half gallons per hour we we have the need for
bulk storage this picture here in front of you is is our storage location the
big horizontal gray tank to the right is where we keep our aqueous ammonia and
it's transferred via pumps to the north and south engine halls through a common
header where it then is dosed by engine for the NOx control needs so our book
our bulk storage capacity is about 29,000 to 30,000 gallons or 172 plant
hours at full output our tank is designed to store aqueous ammonia and we
receive deliveries via tanker at 6,500 gallons typically every week during the
peak of summer to every three weeks during during the other shoulder months
as you can see from that picture in the center there that's where we offload our
our tankers they actually pull into a containment area if there was happen to
be a spill or any of that that nature it would go down into the containment area
that's designed to hold all that all that chemical capacity in that area so
as our contract came up and expired earlier or late last month we went out
for formal bids we went out with an IFB specified what need to be needed to be
quality of our aqueous ammonia and we're seeking approval for a five-year total
contract three years with two one-year extensions it was sent to 54 perspective
bidders one we got one response which happened to be our previous contract
supplier and we are recommending awarding southern ionics for our
emissions reagent aqueous ammonia questions yes mr. Beck thank you Jason
for your report and I appreciate your informative tour you gave a couple of
us this weekend yes would you and you mentioned during that tour and if you
would restate what is the EPA level of emissions that's allowed and where does
the DEC stand the EPA TCEQ has limitations based on your standard air
permit and the equipment type which basically boils down to eight tons per
year requirement I can't pull off top my head what the requirement is for NOx or
or CEO but I can definitely give you that information as well on the share
site we do put up our emissions values each month and and that permit limit is
is on that that spreadsheet as well you said something about it couldn't exceed
60% no during during the tour what we have experienced thus far in operation
is we we've only been achieving about 60% capacity of our total air permit
limit which is well under one tons per year yeah okay thank you yes sir yes sir
I have a question on the dollar amounts are fixed over the five-year period is
that a not to exceed dollar amount for the supply as required that's a great
question so it is a not to exceed amount additionally within that not to exceed
amount our previous operating history we've been spending about a hundred and
nine thousand a year over the last four or five months we've seen a 32% increase
in the cost of that that aqueous ammonia or that product in general so the way
that we build our budget for this consumable since it is a variable based
on the operation is we budget it to the to the max value and this contract is
built to that max value also we're fully expecting the cost of our aqueous
ammonia to be more down around the five hundred thousand range this year well
that was a curiosity my question was increasing costs in all areas I said
well this is fixed so I was wondering how you're gonna manage that so thank
you yes sir mr. chief does this take into account for the possible increase
in production at the DEC yes sir it does and remind me deep when we think the new
giant computer system will be online the Bitcoin place or whatever it is phase
one I want to say was online January February February sir okay sorry no
worries thank you other questions oh yes go ahead good morning good morning I was
so we have 172 hours of storage on site and it looks like one tanker truck it
would probably take five or six tanker trucks to fill the on-site tank there so
are you getting I guess deliveries every few days or weekly during during peak
season so so midsummer and and also there's a peak during the winter time
typically we're receiving about a tanker every week to two weeks fluctuates with
with engine operation whether if we run a lot we're gonna need more and it's
been about a week and it's the supply are they relatively local like in case of
transportation disruptions a snowstorm something like that the product is
manufactured in Houston and then our our shipping time is is usually two to three
days we don't keep the storage tank at max capacity unless they give us a
notice that the times are gonna be a little bit longer than we'll double up
and bring it to max capacity in case there is a shortage we typically reorder
about 60 60 to 70 percent tank level okay so those trucks are it's from
Houston a truck comes up takes him a day or two to place the order fill the order
and then get arrives two days later yes sir from the from the minute that we
place the order it's typically 24-hour turn around there is there is some
expedited fees in this contract if we did need it faster and and they can't
get it to us within the normal time frame three days and we can expedite it
we've we've had to expedite once during storm URI so we typically don't really
need to expedite thank you yes sir you took my next question did this happen
during storm URI perfect I'm glad I got to you first Mr. Beck go ahead thank you
just one other question just so I'm clear the waste product is essentially
what is emitted the the aqueous ammonia mixed in with the toxic elements there's
no physical or liquid waste product from all this is there there there is a
little bit of water during the during the chemical process it evaporates
within the SCR blocks with the heat okay most of the byproduct is going to be
attached to the SCR blocks where you actually go in the lance and take out
take out the material and dispose of and that wastewater evaporates we don't send
it all somewhere no sir thank you no no accumulation like that mm-hmm okay any
further questions okay seeing none do we have a motion to approve
mr. epic was motioned second mr. cheek second all in favor say aye aye opposed
okay carries management reports madam chair members of the PB appreciate your
time today it's on your management reports we did send you a memo with some
legislative information certainly if you have any questions we'll be happy to
answer those today we have a number of staff people here and also on the phone
that can address any of any of those bills that are impacting our utilities
certainly there's other questions about the attachment and some additional bills
we can certainly try to respond to those this morning but before I go to that I
just wanted to go quickly to the new business action matrix with having
wrapped up hopefully this legislative update today we've also completed the
emergency preparedness you know we also gave a tour to a couple a couple of
members last week and kind of showed them a little bit more kind of there on
site some of the things that we've done that leaves us certainly we have the
solid waste pilot program on on composting I think Brian will probably
address sometime probably today and part of his presentation and then we have one
additional item on the solar insulation and how they impact the grid and that'll
be forthcoming to you with a much broader presentation on distributed
generation and kind of what we're doing with some of our solar programs but with
that happy to answer any questions like I said we do have a number of staff
people available if you have questions on the memo
mr. Ratback go ahead my question is kind of an overview is there's somebody
available could give us kind of a overview or summary of what all of this
information in this memo about the legislative session and all the various
updates yeah certainly I'll see if Terry Nolte even come up here he can the bulk
of these had to do with what electric utilities certainly there's other bills
that have impacted our other utilities I will mention one before Terry goes
forward and that's that's HB 1520 that's related to gas utilities obviously we
don't have a gas utility but but we do have regular authority regulatory
authority over some of these utilities when it comes to rate setting and so the
city did intervene as part of a larger coalition with this gas securitization
bill which is very similar to what happened on the electric side and think
think that that is now pushing forward we'll just mention that's about three
point three and a half billion dollars that gas utilities are going to be
securitizing and in passing back through to customers coaster of gas that's one
of our providers here at at most energy is the other provider which is a much
larger provider but coaster of gas did opt out of that securitization they're
gonna do their own financing and they're gonna set that at their own you know
whatever their own rate is and and they'll be passing that forward all of
this will probably be about a two and a half dollar to four dollar regulatory fee
per use per your per your volume your MMBT you or I think it's a different
measure on your gas bill that you'll be seeing here probably in the next few
months it's just a pass through to to customers the utilities will collect it
and then forward that on to this securitization agency that's been set up
very similar to what we saw on the electric side but Terry I'll turn it
over to Terry
assistant general manager DME so a lot of the legislation as you can imagine was
a result of what happened in February with winter storm URI and I guess just
from a very high level the two biggest bills impacting our utilities here in
Denton were Senate bill 2 and Senate bill 3 Senate bill 2 was a bill that
basically is PCT public utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT
governance bill change the governance structure of those organizations be glad
to answer any specific questions you have about those there are now two new
board members of ERCOT the ERCOT board has those two members have solicited a
proposal for a recruiting company to come in and help find additional board
members for ERCOT and of course ERCOT is the organization that controls the
electric grid in Texas yes sir so does that mean there are currently only two
members of the board that is correct they all step down as the prior board was
made up of about 18 people various segments of the industry had
representation on the board for instance the public power sector had two
representatives on that board that board has been dissolved pursuant to Senate
bill 2 and so these these two new board members will be heading up the the
search to find additional board members one of the new requirements is that the
board members must live in Texas and that they have to have expertise in
finance energy management natural gas it's pretty specific and prescriptive
and in the bill well thank you I didn't realize the board had been completely
yeah thank you Senate bill 3 was probably the biggest is the omnibus bill
and it dealt with both electric and water systems everything from mapping the
natural gas infrastructure across Texas to each generating facility to identify
critical resources critical loads along the system part of the problem during
Yuri was that a number of compressor stations that were not deemed critical
were lost power and couldn't pressurize gas in the pipelines there were a number
of gas processing facilities that also were not critical that shut down
couldn't process natural gas so that exacerbated the the shortage of natural
gas that we saw during that week in February under Senate bill 3 the Texas
Railroad Commission is to establish weatherization standards for the the
natural gas pipeline system that effort is under underway all critical loads are
being registered now with their with their respective utilities and then next
winter by next winter we hope to see weather standards that will be imposed
across all of the natural gas pipeline systems for this winter unfortunately
there will not be reliability standards imposed weatherize weatherization or
reliability standards imposed because there wasn't sufficient time to get
those regulations in place or through the public process on the electric side
much much different story we do have new weatherization standards we provided a
report to you last month on that we've done our weatherization efforts out at
the Denton Energy Center there is additional efforts that we will be taking
over time the Senate bill 3 also directed the Public Utility Commission
of Texas to establish new reliability regulations for ERCOT those are ongoing
today I think on December 8 December 19th we anticipate that the Public
Utility Commission will issue their roadmap for new market changes
reliability changes to try to avoid the the issues that we experienced in in
February as well as to better situate the the grid for the coming
intermittency of generation we have we have 20,000 megawatts of new solar
patents solar projects that will be coming online in the next three to four
years we've got another ten to fifteen thousand megawatts of wind and while it
wasn't the primary cause of winter storm URI the intermittency of the grid does
pose a big risk and so these new rules are intended to address that this new
direction from the Public Utility Commission I don't expect that we'll see
any definitive rules out on that probably for a year or so because it'll
take some time to get it through the stakeholder on the water side water
systems were adversely impacted during URI we had wool water advisories
throughout the state a number of water systems were shut down for weeks and so
the water systems were required to submit like the natural gas facilities
a list of their critical infrastructure to their local utilities so that they
would not lose power if there were rolling back rolling outages again also
the water utilities are in the midst of developing and submitting to TCEQ
emergency plans that will be reviewed by the agency to ensure that they've got
adequate procedures in place in the event of a repeat of the URI event so
that give you a high level enough overview of those two bills there were
there were many other bills obviously there's a long list I'm not those are
the two that I'm saying that would affect the city of Denton's utilities
most directly well thank you very much that's what I was looking for just a
overview there was way too much here to digest over the weekend mr. Beck go ahead
oh your mics on there you go sorry about that was there in this legislation was
there any consideration to since ERCOT is a self-imposed confined system in the
event we run into another extreme weather condition that creates its
problem again in the methods we put out there don't don't suffice was there any
consider is it consideration to link up to the neighboring grids that could
supply was that even a consideration there was discussions at the
legislature during the session of that issue it never made it into the bill it
is not one of the mandates under Senate bill 3 or Senate bill 2 for the
Commission to look at so I'm not aware I've been very I've been monitoring all
the developments of the Public Utility Commission and so far I haven't seen any
effort on their part to reach out to any surrounding grids to discuss
interconnection okay thank you and I see that the violation penalties are similar
to the NERC finds that that's correct see so we're getting more in alignment
there so yeah we we actually have a our first certification for the weather
ization efforts will go in on December 1st to the PUCT yeah all right other questions
thank you I guess that's it isn't it okay concluding items does any board
member wish to have something added to a future agenda item or making public
comments no all right then we'll go on to work session the first one is to
receive a report hold a discussion and give staff direction regarding the
options related to the completion and implementation of the comprehensive
solid waste management strategy what we've been waiting for exactly pins and
needles here so good morning madam chair members of the board I'm Brian burner
I'm the solid waste director for the city of Denton and I appreciate you
being here and listening to our discussion with me today I have several
members of the of the leadership of the solid waste department as well as our
consultant Scott Pasternak with Burns and McDonald what we hope to do today is
to provide a status update and receive comment direction on the development of
the city's comprehensive solid waste management strategy as envisioned the
strategy is to be a comprehensive forward and future-looking document that
will help the city in making sustainable decisions regarding its solid waste
management stream it's agnostic with regard to programs we're in the in terms
of sustainability we're not looking at products we're not looking at programs
but we're looking at process taking materials from point A to point B how to
efficiently do it how to economically do it and most importantly how to
environmentally do it or how to do it in an environmentally friendly manner you
know in short this document is not is about leading it's not about following
it's doing what's right for the city of Denton and its citizens we don't want to
operate inside or outside a box that has been divide defined by somebody else or
some other organization we want to create our own box and in that box
create or think much larger with regard to our solid waste management program
you know we want to support maximum diversion of our waste stream while
minimizing cost environmental impacts and as part of this process we're
looking where no one's looking before we're thinking where people aren't
thinking about right now we're believing where people haven't been believing in
the past and as such we're trying to make our program sustainable as possible
over this past year we've been looking and working to evaluate our waste
characteristic characteristics excuse me reviewing existing
programs both locally and nationally reviewing state and federal laws to
identify strategic points of synergy and in today's discussion we're going to be
discussing those six strategies that we've identified and really where we
want to focus our efforts as well as the metrics to help drive future programs
what we'd like to do this morning is really run as part of the presentation
is run through the entire presentation look at all six strategies and how they
relate to one another and then we'll back up and then as a as a as a board
look at each strategy individually so that we can understand you know we don't
want to ask a question now that may be addressed you know in one of the later
strategies so get it you know look at it holistically and then go back and look
at it individually so with that before we go into our presentation I know that
we have several new members on the board and again welcome and thank you for your
service but I know many of you have not been out to the landfill here recently
we've just finished the construction of our new landfill cell we've got our
exciting public disposal facility under construction if anybody would like to
come out take a look discuss garbage with us a little bit more we would be
glad to have you and receive you just get with Kim we'll get a appointment set
up and we'll give you the 50 cent tour so with that I would like to bring Scott
Pasternak to the the podium here and talk he'll go through the presentation
on the the the strategy good morning madam chair and board members again my
name is Scott Pasternak and I'm with Burns and McDonald's I've had the
opportunity to continue collaborating with the city of Denton on this strategy
development I say continue as I have worked while at Burns and Mack and then
with my prior firm with the city of Denton since about 2005 so I've had the
great opportunity to be a part of some of the tremendous efforts that have been
made in the past and continue to this day we also work pretty extensively with
other cities and in the Council of Governments and in this region so there
definitely are a lot of very exciting things that are happening from in the
world of solid waste management and recycling composting and some of which
the city of Denton is really at the leading edge of and then we'll talk
about those this morning it's really what I want to do with you all this
morning is to focus on three items first would be just to provide you with a
broad overview of the project overall how we've gotten to this point we are
definitely at the stage to where we are pretty far along in in the strategy
development but but nothing is finalized whatsoever so that the timing of this
meeting today as well as tomorrow we have a presentation before the City
Council hopefully is pretty close to perfect in terms of we can hopefully
answer your key questions and then any direction that you want to provide to us
you know this is definitely a timely point for that as well so then after we
provide the overview of where we are with the project we have engaged in some
very meaningful stakeholder engagement efforts so I'll provide an overview of
that and then as Brian mentioned then we'll jump into the six strategies that
we are in the process of developing and then after that be happy to answer any
questions that you may may have for us so this slide gives you a sense of the
overview of the work that we have have undertaken so going from from left to
right I won't go through each of the details in these boxes but just to hit
the highlights we started off with an evaluation of the existing system that
did include a characterization study of the solid waste and recycling materials
in the city from residents residence apartment complexes and businesses and
that that's exactly what you may think that it is it's it's actually sorting
through all of that trash and recycling to understand what that is really
comprised of and I'll tell you in a few minutes how that that's really so
important but then also getting into the details of the current system and
understanding other issues such as the extensive growth that is occurring and
expected to continue happening not only here in Denton but in the surrounding
communities as as well so then where we've been focusing our efforts through
the summer and in fall it's been to work with the city to develop a number of
strategies and options which we will talk through with you all today which
are based on various goals and objectives that we have worked to
establish with the city so ultimately what we will be developing is the solid
waste management strategy which will include the six strategies that that
again Brian referred to as well as what are the specific steps that can be taken
now and into the future to implement those strategies the the bottom of this
slide communicates that we have undertaken extensive stakeholder
engagement in public outreach efforts as a part of this so let me walk through
what some of those key aspects of have been we started off with a citywide
survey of residents across the community and very pleased to report that almost
900 city of Denton residents did participate in that survey which we
thought was a great turnout and then we did conduct a series of workshops with
with the public that was really focused on helping them to understand not only
where where the city of Denton is now with respect to solid waste management
but more importantly where did the city of Denton want to go and into the future
and so I'm going to share the results of that on the next slide but before I do
that all the information as far as the results of the survey and then this this
effort which was titled as a as a think tank summit are summarized in on a web
page and in a report of which the website for that is listed at at the
bottom of this slide it's not showing up super well but but it is there if you
want to access that so in terms of the the stakeholder engagement outcomes a
key part of that effort was to work with city of Denton residents and community
members to ask them where do they want the city of Denton to be what's their
vision for the future and what what we found as a part of that process was that
in terms of the trajectory or the direction of that was that there was a
strong preference for what the group described as has changed the future now
so the context of that is we asked them to envision a future with different
scenarios in terms of what would be the role of technology and policies as well
as the importance of recycling reuse and reduction and there was a very clear
direction that that there was a strong interest in change and so of the
different categories of a future scenario the one that they picked was
the one that was was the most progressive in terms of changing that
the future and then the second bullet on that left-hand side communicates the the
velocity in terms of how how quickly versus how far out in the future does
the community want that to occur and based on the the responses from the
survey there is definitely significant support for near-term action hence the
change the future now perspective also we did talk with them about a number of
solid waste management trends the top three ones are communicated here and
you'll see those themes reflected in the various strategies that we'll talk about
in just a few minutes in terms of recycling education the population
growth that is occurring again not only here in the city but in surrounding
communities and the impacts that that has not only on the landfill side but
hopefully opportunities for for recycling and we're gonna hold off on
questions until they get through the whole presentation this time because
they're gonna get deeper dive is that yes yes if that would be okay and then
the last trend identified here is is with regard to landfill capacity so the
city had didn't as Brian just mentioned as has undergone recently efforts to
increase the capacity of the landfill which from an infrastructure perspective
is is very important but it still is a finite resource and so looking at how
that should be effectively managed into the future is a key part of the strategy
development effort so what I'll do now is is to walk through each of these
strategies and individually and one of the key reasons for the request to to
please hold the questions to the end is that a lot of these strategies are very
much interrelated to each other so that some of the recommendations and one
strategy will kind of rise up again under some of the other strategies so
that you can see how they are interrelated so I'm going to go through
each one of these individually at this point and so each of these next six
slides are organized in the same manner it's where the the top of it just gives
the background on what the strategy is and why it's important and then what we
have identified as shown in the the green numbered items are the specific
recommendations that are under consideration and at this point so
again we are actively working on developing these at this point so again
to the extent that you have questions or comments directions for us that would
definitely be appreciated and then as shown with the blue magnifying glass
that indicates what are going to be that the key performance indicators there will
be some overlap amongst the different strategies whereas others will have
their own unique key performance indicators or KPIs so as far as this
this strategy here it's it's really all about efforts to enhance education
outreach and and compliance the city of Denton does already have a very robust
education and outreach efforts but from a strategy development perspective this
is really critical because it there it gets just really so confusing out there
in terms of what materials should go into what what places from a trash
recycling and composting perspective and so to really focus in on that now and
into the future is it's really going to be important to minimize the stuff that
should not go into recycling carts which we call contamination as well as to
increase sustainability efforts so the three key recommendations here are for
the city to continue to collaborate with its recycling processor to understand
how much of the material that can be recycled is is actually being recycled
so if you think about aluminum cans plastic bottles paper that should be
recycled how much of that is truly getting recycled as well as on the
contamination side how much of the bad stuff is ending up in the in the wrong
places and so by getting more robust in terms of that information the city can
continue to target its education and outreach efforts in a data-driven manner
to those audience that really need that information most effectively and then
the third item is is to over time to look to incorporate incentives and into
various compliance programs so I think the city very much wants to lead with
with the carrot type of an approach but to the extent that after you have
exhausted extensive education and outreach efforts there may be a need to
look into compliance activities as well so the next strategy focuses on
implementing innovative organics management so one of the things that we
learned when we did the characterization work was how much organic material is
is going into the city's landfill from really across all three of the different
sectors that we evaluated so single-family and multifamily households
as well as the the commercial sector so we talk about the city of Denton being
very innovative I would say that these efforts on the organic side definitely
speak to that so the first one is is an effort to pilot commercial organics
composting or a co-digestion program at the Pecan Creek wastewater treatment
plant so this this is a program that's looking to bring in material predominantly
food waste from the commercial sector and to divert that so that it does not
go into to the landfill with it being a new program that's being done on a pilot
basis and then the second one is is to optimize a program that's already in
place that accepts predominantly yard waste but there is an opportunity for
residents to divert food scraps as as a part of that and so to optimize that
that program as well so essentially on the organic side the city is looking at
the continuation of a program that's already in place residentially but then
recognizing that there is a very significant amount of material
commercially out there and figuring out what's going to be the best way over
time to divert that material on on the landfill side here the strategy is is to
efficiently utilize utilize that landfill capacity and I think the the
city is is really wise here to recognize that there are a number of benefits for
the city to provide the use of the facility to neighboring communities but
also a recognition that that there is a finite amount of capacity and then these
issues to some extent are are somewhat magnified because some of the other
landfills in the region are reaching capacity and so that's going to create
further pressure on the Denton landfill in the future and so what we're
recommending here is to continue to to utilize disposal contracts with third
parties that want to utilize the the Denton landfill but this is probably the
first time I think that anybody's ever thought of this idea but to offer
somewhat better rates on disposal to the extent that those entities would
participate more so in recycling and composting programs so that they really
start to partner in to buy in with the city's broader efforts to divert
materials and then the city does definitely benefit financially from
these third-party times that come in to the landfill and is doing an effective
job to pay off existing debt with that additional revenue but after that debt
is retired the recommendation here is to establish a disposal contract revenue
specialized fund that you utilize to stabilize your residential rates as well
as to continue to fund diversion programs and then because landfill
pricing is so dynamic the third aspect is is to conduct routine market studies
to track landfill market pricing and to set rates accordingly again we have
mentioned how much growth is is happening and so that's really important to think
about with regard to planning for infrastructure it's it's been really
interesting as we've had an opportunity to take a deeper dive to understand the
potential development that's happening a little bit out out to the west with the
Hunter Cole area because that's going to require some some very significant
infrastructure planning not just for for solid waste but but across the city and
so we are recommending that the idea of a transfer station which is a facility
where trucks would go to drop off their material be considered and then that
material is then aggregated into bigger trucks that then would go to either the
landfill and or diversion facilities for organics and or or recycling but we are
we also are saying this should only be constructed when certain minimum tonnage
thresholds are achieved so that the facility can be operationally and
cost-effective there's also under item number two a trend and we're seeing this
not only in Denton but but really cities all across Texas and that is for single
family housing units to be built differently today and in the future than
now they have been historically in terms of you know typically smaller lot sizes
so more compact development yeah exactly yeah which which on one hand is is great
but our point here is that you just got to make sure that city policies allow
for those new home styles to be properly serviced by the city and in the future
and then recognizing under number three how important not only the the single
family sector is but also on the multifamily commercial and as it is more
construction occurs C&D stands for construction demolition materials to
look to further customize diversion incentives for those different sectors
as well so optimizing recycling processing is going to be a really
important strategy so the city of Denton does have just like many communities and
in Texas challenges with the wrong type of stuff making its way into the
recycling system and so based on the results of the characterization study
that I mentioned because we looked at not only the the trash side but also
recycling and so we have an understanding of what's the the bad stuff
that's going into the recycling stream and then also conduct talking with staff
as well as the the recycling company that processes the city's material is to
make a very concerted efforts to identify what those materials are and
what is the more appropriate way for that material to be diverted so believe
it or not a lot of clothing or textiles can make their way into a recycling
system so there's lots of great opportunities to otherwise divert that
material and so here it's connecting those those points to be able to
communicate that as part of those education and outreach efforts that I
mentioned earlier the city does have you know when when Brian mentioned coming
out for the 50 cent tour may cost you a buck if you also check out that the
recycling facility that's out there but it is co located out at the out of the
landfill complex and that was an innovative approach that the city put in
place with the recycling company and so that that agreement does have about five
years left on that and so we are working with the city in terms of developing
what the strategy could be for the next five years and and beyond we think that
there is on one hand a lot of value to see the extent to which that facility or
the city could continue that relationship with that company but also
as we talk about the need to look at servicing the community on a broader
perspective there may be a need to expand that facility as well and there
are several other cities and kind of in the northern part of the north central
Texas planning region that are also very much focused on increasing recycling and
and want to be innovative in terms of having the right types of processing
facilities and so city of Denton may be in a good position in the next couple
years to either look to expand the existing facility and or partner with
other communities in the area so then the the last strategy that that we're
talking about this morning is is the need to support combination of new
markets and and to leverage partnerships the really good news here is so much of
this or efforts that are already underway but from a long-term strategy
development perspective it's really important to keep the focus on these
efforts so this starts with continued coordination with other city
departments in the areas of sustainable procurement in terms of green purchasing
efforts requirements that will be put in place possibly initially for city
buildings in terms of green building requirements but that could look to be
expanded beyond that if the city chooses to do so and then just recognizing that
people should hopefully have an opportunity to recycle material not
only at their homes and businesses but also when they're out in the Denton
community from a public space recycling perspective there there's already
extensive efforts with the school district but coming out of the
challenges with with Kovac there's also a number of opportunities to really
specifically get back into the classrooms and to better leverage those
those partnerships with DISD as well as other local nonprofits for additional
diversion and community benefits such as food donations and then we talked earlier
about the idea of contracting with other local governments and to create
incentives on the programs that they put in place if they want to bring their
their landfill material to the city and to create incentives for them to also do
more from a recycling and composting perspective but City of Denton also
serves a really important need and not only for it for the city but also the
kind of the Denton County region and that is to provide services for the
management of household chemicals and that's a pretty unique service the City
of Denton is the only one in Denton County that offers that and so we think
that's a really good opportunity for the city to coordinate with those other
local governments to expand those efforts and not to limit that to the
household chemical collection but also on the landfill and other diversion
aspects so I appreciate your your patience and letting me go through the
the presentation but with that we'll be happy to answer any questions that you
may have for us. Thank you all right we'll start on that and Mr. Beck you go
first well I'm sure everybody has a question. Thank you for your
presentation one of the things that struck me and there's studies and
commentary out there about that are objective and some subjective about
recycling plastics is that going to be a problem for us I mean the use of
plastics is extensive I would hate to see us not be able to recycle those
things but right are you running into particular problems about this and could
you kind of sure no that's that's a great question and thank you for
bringing that up yeah so with plastics there's there's all different types of
plastics right and so some plastics are very easy to recycle and recycling
facilities have been constructed to process those materials and those
materials are actually extremely valuable so that would include your
water and soda bottles as well as detergent and milk containers as well
but where things get have gotten a little bit more challenging is so many
other types of plastics that have become so much more common in packaging over
the last few years so yogurt cups kind of the black plastic that you see so
often and to-go food containers so those those are the plastics that are that are
really challenging and in the ones that when you see things and in the news that
that are out there but there are some some technology developments that are
occurring that will hopefully allow for those materials to be recycled in the
future but they have had several challenges with their recyclability
challenging how well okay one of the biggest sectors also that that nobody
across the nation right now is looking at is plastic film you know you buy a
case of water at Sam's and basically it's just water bottles companies plastic
around it you bring home that t-shirt bag from the grocery store and the state
law will not allow us to ban those from state of Texas so you know or for our
use you know everything comes in some has some sort of plastic film on it and
and because of the the characteristic of the film it's not recyclable it basically
tears the plant apart so I think that that's a wonderful opportunity somewhere
we've got to again you know we're trying to think inside that the Denton box how
do we go about managing that sector of plastic also into something that can be
beneficially reused so not only the plastics that we see as containers
yogurt cups water bottles things of that nature but the things that that are
technically plastic that we don't consider plastic right now as far as
recycling program so it's a much broader question than what we originally
consider is this recyclable yes it is okay we would prefer that it be clean
dry and empty and the cap beyond when you drop it in your container keep the
cap on and the reason being is when the cap is off and we compact it in the in
the trash compact or in the in the truck basically becomes flat and so as it's
going through the Murph the the machinery in there reads it as a piece
of paper or cardboard because it's so flat by keeping the the cap on it it
creates a third dimension on it and we're able to pull that out as plastic
as opposed to contaminating the bale of paper that has been a little confusing
for some people trust me thank you all right mr. right back your turn yes I had
a question earlier on you had mentioned a survey early on in your presentation I
may have missed the framing of that survey who was surveyed where it came
from when it was done that sort of thing could you give us a little background
sure yeah no no of course happy to do that so that was a survey that was
focused on getting an understanding of how important did city of Denton
residents consider 18 different drivers of change that focused on a variety of
landfill and other recycling types of topics and so that was publicized through
various city city channels and like I did mention city got what I what we
thought was a very strong and positive response rate to that and show this as
as a slide but it's one that we could certainly get to if you want to see it
but one of the most interesting things that we saw about that was the
distribution in terms of ages was relatively evenly distributed across the
different age groups within the city so that was very indicative to us that it
was a very positive response rate and it lined up also perfectly in terms of the
interest in changing efforts was what was more pronounced the younger the
people are here in the city of Denton and so that you know I think that also
speaks to you know future generations that are you know really come in coming
into play now in terms of you know raising families and working here in
Denton you know really to some extent leading the charge in terms of that
whole change the future now perspective how many respondents were there to the
service just short of eight short of nine hundred I think was eight eighty
three okay thank you all right mr. jumper okay so you had one of the points was
talking about organics management and diverting it sounded like mostly food
waste to be processed differently I was curious how will that be processed what
does that mean exactly so on the there's a couple of different potential options
for that will be considered as a part of the pilot program is for that material
to be taken to the pecan Creek wastewater treatment plant and then there
actually will be a piece of equipment that the city's in the process of
purchasing it's called a macerator yeah macerator so kind of like a huge garbage
disposal right so it'll it'll really tear up that material so that it can
then go into the anaerobic digestion processing so that's that's one one one
option that is being considered and then the other is that as a part of its
recent permitting efforts on the landfill side the city could also if it
would have an interest in doing so also include food scraps as a part of future
composting efforts you know in addition to the back end manager of this I think
we're also be focusing on the front end management of this I mean guy walks into
the doctor's office and says doctor doctor it hurts when I do this and the
answer is don't do that you know part of it is we have to figure out how not to
make food waste are we purchasing the right amounts are we cooking the right
amount so your mom always said clean your plate so we want to make sure none
of that's going in you know if we if we can figure out how to manage that on the
front end that we don't have to make compost on the back end and again you
know the really good way about managing this potentially through the anaerobic
digesters again many of y'all weren't on the the board when we started this
process a year ago but you know we we we generate landfill gas at the at the city
of landfill what we want to do is go ahead and couple that with the gas that's
created the anaerobic digester we're in the final phases of looking at a contract
and hiring a company that actually grab that gas create pipeline grade quality
and pay us for it to the tune of considerable amounts of money that way
you know we can you know put that into the as green renewable gas you know into
that the utmost pipeline and then on the back end manage that in our existing
beneficial reuse program so again one we're using existing infrastructure to
we're using existing program how much does it cost for us to spin up that
program zero dollars but again we're we've got that synergy that's into a
fact in effect so again you know doing things just a little bit different but
again at the end of the day you know meeting our sustainability goes but
making it cost-effective and environmentally friendly for the
citizens of city of Denton all right mr. cheek your turn okay I got a couple of
categories here and I will admit that I didn't hit every backup link that you
put in here so it may be in here did you address in this your your pavement
recycling asphalt and concrete at all we have not and the reason being is there's
significant third-party opportunities out there city of Denton doesn't need to
be in a third-party business so if we can find you know recyclers out there
that have you know operations that can manage that material then as part of our
program it's education and outreach you've got brick you got asphalt you've
got concrete that needs to be these are the people you want to go with not city
of Denton you don't have contracts anymore to crush concrete we do not we
have not crushed in probably three years and so you refuse to take it as we
refuse to take it at this you know we do accept some small amounts of millings and
such into our landfill to help us with the interior roads but again we're not
doing it for profit we're not you know investing that effort and then turning
around we were losing close to a million and a half dollars a year as a result of
that process and that didn't make any sense whatsoever you know that it's in
the news right now that there's trouble having permits for third parties to even
make this process correct you know and so as part of this you know we may end
up you know contracting with somebody that you know we help them with permitting
or something along the way but I think that that's the bigger thought that we
have to look at from for regionalization standpoint that's a great idea if you
can get that sold yeah difficult to get that sold though thank you next next
question I had I know I've brought this up before is part of the study going to
come out with maybe at least one line item that says if we were to refuse
third parties waste into our landfills what would that cost the current the
existing Denton ratepayers it may not be that overt but there will be a
significant discussion about what the value of that material is coming in and
what it means as we look at funding programs in the future I mean none of
this is free City of Denton right now enjoys one of the lowest rates in the
entire city in the entire state of Texas with regard to its fairly robust
delivery and as we start adding stuff on we got to find ways to pay for it comes
from one or two places either from the residents pockets or some innovative
third party and if we can figure out that that management way I mean back in
the olden days you know you're a sustenance farmer you grew for yourself
you had seed corn and then you grew just a little bit extra that you could
barter with the guy down at the store sell to a neighbor this or that and
that's kind of what we're looking for that little bit extra that will help
contain those costs helps ensure some some financial security and reliability
but then also you know control the rates that were that were charging right and
I know you know what why I'm talking about that because what is the cost now
versus when we lose our landfill exactly so exactly but again you know if as Scott
was saying you know bigger picture if we can you know have some third-party
contracts but provide some financial operational incentives to give them just
a little bit lower rate to divert a little bit more than at the end of the
day our six-year facility may become an 80 85 100 year facility you know
everybody in this room will be gone by then but they'll be thanking us for
being as innovative and thought forward thinking trying to ensure that that's
that will happen yeah and I like the fact that again that you're working with
other city departments because obviously they're they're all be affected and and
then they can contribute to especially on the the paving products recycling so
okay thank you
thank you madam chair so this is a big shift from the last comprehensive solid
waste plan I I'm I was trying to align the previous one to the current one and
I don't know I'm having trouble even just even their entire sections that
don't that don't no longer exist I guess would be how to say it the the survey
overwhelmingly returned that we want to use technology to ease transition I
think there was a fair amount of interest in zero waste which I believe
the city of Denton landfill had been looking toward and was was actually part
of like the zero waste alliance maybe ten years ago and that's all gone
completely removed there was you know previously there were a focus on third
party partnerships at the landfill it was to to inset you know improve the
recycling services fine you know the biodiesel facility it's no longer there
the waste landfill ELR to waste gas to electric generation that we paid about
two hundred sixty thousand dollars to a company to remove a few months ago you
know there was also talk of other other forms of diversion the construction
demolition waste you know that that entire program was canceled and it was
it was costing money at the time but in the in place of that you know we'll
we'll give you the card we'll give you the phone number of a company that takes
construction waste well I can't show up with a pickup truckload of lumber and
shingles to the place down off you know on 35 they won't accept it you know I
have to be I have to be a construction scale customer to use those facilities
so if we go to the landfill on any given Thursday afternoon a quarter to a third
of the vehicles are small construction waste you know there's a lot of two by
fours and sheetrock and maybe some concrete and other just building
materials we're we're and that decreases our diversion rate we're land filling
that stuff instead of selling the scrap wood for cement kiln fuel or other kind
of you know perhaps composting those scrap that scrap wood if it's not
treated of course it could go in our in our yard waste composting we're no
longer taking oil private companies are taking oil but then a lot more oil ends
up like vegetable oil like food oil so we are currently taking vegetable oh you
are okay we've never stopped taking that but where does that where does that it
goes to our home chemical collection facility and then it goes to a biodiesel
recycler okay all right that's good to hear because I hadn't heard anything
about that and so I worry that our stated goal from our citizens and our
you know focus group is technology which is efficiency and ease of use which the
goal is to reduce the friction to do the right thing to make it where recycling
is automatic you don't have to think hard about it you don't have to do a
lot of work to do the right thing you don't have to you know more having more
recycling drop-off facilities I know they're they're challenging for the
pickup aspect around Christmas they get or any major shopping season they get
overfilled you know and they kind of create litter but when we begin to
remove those now that that stuff ends up in trash cans or it ends up you know
dumped alongside of the road or things like that so we have this we need to
there might be things that are laborious but that decrease the friction for
citizens and companies and so forth to to do the right thing it might be easier
to landfill the small construction waste that hits that reaches the landfill but
that uses airspace that shortens the life of the landfill there isn't really
any other diversion choice for somebody with a pickup truckload of you know
small construction waste you know that other examples glass textiles home
furnishings at one point there was like a lot of that stuff ends up at the
landfill just because you know there the friction to getting it somewhere else is
high and I really feel like we're missing the opportunity in this plan to
to implement that vision of a low friction ease of use high technology
partnerships with third parties for perhaps glass recycling or home
furnishing textile diversion there's a lot of land at the landfill and it'd be
pretty easy to do a 20 year lease with a facility or a 10 year lease or a five
year lease kind of like with Pratt our recycling facility to allow to lower the
cost of maybe a glass recycler or home furnishing you know reuse center or
something along those lines and I don't I don't see even where it fits like we
even when we talk about efficiently using our landfill we're talking about
like making it where Louisville has to recycle all that helps but I really want
us to more holistically look at all of the diversion possibilities and you know
the the friction and the friction points that prevent diversion from happening
well and I think you've hit the nail right on the head and I agree with every
single point you said yeah we've had you know solid waste management plans in the
past and we were going towards solid zero waste the issue with that is they're
very static and the minute we start diverting markets change this you know
something external happens to it we start forcing it it becomes expensive it
becomes you know under responsive and as a result we're spending a lot of money
for very little result what we're proposing here is a solid waste
management strategy not a plan so what allows us to do is be a little more
limber a little more nimble to be able to affect exactly what you're talking
about much smaller scale much smaller programs to affect not only the large
community in general but really the mom and pop who may have that sofa that's
still good we don't want to throw it into into the trash so we create some
sort of third-party your opportunity that allows us to get that out of the
waste stream so again that's what you what you succinctly tried to identify
there is that is the very reason we're going with the strategy versus a plan I
just spent four days in Florida with a thousand of the the top solid waste
directors across the nation at the solid at waste con basically it's you know all
garbage all the time in four days I heard the term zero waste one time and
it was in a negative capacity only because everybody who's had zero waste
goals which in reality are 50 60 70 percent diversion talk about really
having to push those goals out because they won't meet them they're arbitrary
and there's really only one number they're trying to chase if you noticed
in each of our KPIs we had our key performance indicators we had five or
six different things that we're going to be monitoring one may go up one may go
down but all these things to find the goal the term that we were using was
circular economy linear injunctions you know exclusions things of that
nature and that's really what the concept is behind the strategy so that
we can look much bigger and be able to more efficiently manage the health and
the direction in a much quicker manner than than what traditional solid waste
management plans and zero waste plans have in fact so again I appreciate you
you picking up on that but you know that's where we're going to be going
again you know and again that the first part of that you know you're sort of
seeing it here four or five months before before it in so we appreciate
you're bringing up those things but these are the strategies so that that
when we get this final document first part of next year it will include some
of those key points and programs that we may want to be considering first and
foremost from a sustainability standpoint but from a cost and
environmental impact standpoint also thank you thank you my turn I first a
couple comments I love the KPIs I can't prove what you can't measure and the
conversation around reduce don't create in the first time then reuse it give
that sofa to the college student who's moving into an apartment and you know
and your blender and your margarita machine whatever you know every college
kid needs one of those yeah and then start recycling the things that are
recycling and that goes right back to that whole education piece the food
waste I'm really interested in that like how much of that food waste that
restaurants are creating is gonna go into organics and how much can go to our
daily bread to feed the people who need to be fed well you know and I know
that's in your strategy so I'm applauding you on part of the strategy
on that is not a solid waste discussion at all it's a risk management discussion
you know taking food that the hotel may have had left over from a banquet and
giving it to our daily bread you know there is a risk piece to that there is
and until we get over that hill that will never happen if we can cross that
hill and all of a sudden we've we've eliminated a huge sector of waste and
it's been done I can tell you the community has been done it but and then
last plastics have a huge BTU content is there any way we could use that somehow
to create energy electricity you know there probably is and and you know
whether it's sending it to cement kiln for heat or you know setting up some
sort of waste energy plant here but you know Terry and his and Tony and his crew
they do a wonderful job with our renewable portfolio so I'm not sure if
they want to spin up another facility but again you know that they do you know it
does have a large you know BTU value but at the end of the day there's still ash
and other components of that that has to go to a landfill so you know just
burning it doesn't get rid of it yep absolutely
question from mr. Beck in terms of those will value plastics so like the the film
example or the because it's just it's combination of just like I mean just
start to collect all the various film that that you generated in your
household and it's a lot of it and so part of what we'll be addressing in this
strategy is you know first and foremost is you can just take that material right
back to the grocery store for that to be recycled but to the extent that that
does end up in the recycling system and can be diverted there's actually our
efforts underway that that's been termed quote advanced recycling it was initially
chemical recycling but the whole idea there is to take low-value recyclable
materials to put those through nada not an incineration process but a heating
process where you change the the structure of those plastics and to turn
those into into new plastics so that that's something that our
understanding is that there are at least a couple of facilities that are in the
development and or construction phase right now so we may see some of those
coming online in the next few years and I like the strategy because it's a
strategy it's fluid correct you know and just springboarding off what Scott just
said you know therein lies the economic development piece of the environmental
strategy or the solid waste strategy if we can regionalize and get enough of
that type of plastic here then now we want now one of the firms that is doing
this type of pyrolysis or chemical plastic conversion they want to be in
Denton and they're gonna come here and they're gonna buy property and they're
gonna pay tax and they're gonna create jobs and then we're gonna have firms
come in that want that plastic or that that intermediate to produce material so
again it's a whole circular economy built around just thinking strategically
about what we do with our trash did somebody have another hand up no just
okay go ahead well it seems like this discussion about film there's quite a
bit of it and I think in this era of having everything shipped to your home
everything is wrapped in some form of thin light plastic even if it's a bag
inside of an envelope or the envelope is a bag of thin plastic film so it seems
like we are creating more of this than ever and yet it I didn't realize it was
causing a problem at the at the other end so is there any effort afoot to for
these companies like Amazon and others who are shipping virtually everything
to us as consumers is there anything afoot for them to change how they're
packaging those deliveries you know there are nationwide discussions going on
right now but the extent of those discussions I'm not sure where we are on
that but again that that is a concern that's being communicated across the
entire supply chain thank you all right do you have what you need from us I do
thank you very much we appreciate your time very much good stuff all right the
last item is receive a report hold a discussion and provide suggestions or
recommending recommendations regarding the updates to the city criteria manuals
good morning madam chair members of the public utilities board my name is Ron
Megida I am with the development services department I am a principal
planner with the city bear with me as I pull up my presentation there are a
number of folks that are included in this presentation that are helping with
this effort so I will soon as I get this up do an introduction
there we go again as introduced by the chair this is regarding the city's
criteria manual updates that we are currently in efforts to update with us
today our members of development services myself also capital projects
engineering Becky Davini sideways Brian George and then water utilities will be
presented by Steven Moore so just a quick update or agenda for today's quick
presentation is really talk about the history and the introduction of what
we're doing and then we'll get into the different specific criteria manuals
again we have solid waste stormwater transportation water wastewater as well
as I'm sorry and then we'll have questions and answers at the end of the
presentations just a way of introduction we try to update our criteria manuals
annually we try to start those early in the year starting with the staff review
we'll have some recommendations based on those reviews then we'll schedule a
public meeting or work session that is with the planning zoning Commission it
was recommended that we take it to the pub as well I think it's a great idea we
don't normally do that I think that's something that we will start to
incorporate as we continue these efforts we also try to publish these criteria
manual drafts up on our website for the public to view and comment as well and
they have an opportunity to do that obviously on their time and then provide
comments directly on the website we also hold other meetings you know we had a
developer town hall not too long ago about two weeks ago this Friday we'll be
meeting with some key stakeholder engineering groups to discuss these
criteria manual updates so it's an opportunity to you know it's not just
our document it's everyone's document we want to make sure that those documents
are updated and reflect what is going on in today's world effective the date of
that criteria manual is we want to set it for January 1st so if an application
comes in prior to January 1st then they would obviously comply with the
criteria manners at the time however if an application comes in after January
1st then obviously they would have to comply with the criteria manuals after
that again the goal here is to create one document or one formatted document so
that someone that's looking at the criteria manuals they're not looking at
multiple criteria manners they're all within one document hopefully they're
formatted correctly and they look the same and so it's searchable and there's
no conflicts we want to make sure we eliminate any conflicts and we want to
make sure it's streamlined as much as possible so that is what our goal is for
today and the illustration that you see here you see that we did updates of the
criteria manuals in the past once more recent 2018 which is really gosh that's
almost three almost four years ago so we really want to get back into updating
these and then the solid waste one the last other one was in April of 2009 so
it was a little bit further away I won't spend too much on this slide here but
just want to illustrate how the criteria manuals fit within all of our documents
that we do through the development review process we have the development
code document which holds our policies our procedures in how we know developers
are supposed to go through the process our criteria mounts are more design
technical information they help implement or help enforce what the code
development code states that we need and then we also have specification and
standard details and I won't go into that Becky will talk more about that but
that's just another document that has this the materials the the construction
specs the cross-sections the things that you typically would like to see in our
development or need to have in our documents so just to kind of give you an
idea of where the criteria manuals fit within the development review process so
that we so that with this I'm gonna bring up Brian George and he's gonna
present the solid waste criteria manual update just kind of highlight some of
the changes that we're proposing with the ground as planning come up
good morning madam chair board members like I said I'm Brian George field
services supervisor for the solid waste department and I'm here today to speak
to you about the solid waste and recycling criteria manual updates
specifically enclosure I'm sorry lost some train thought container closure
details and the input implementation of an alleyway criteria for solid waste due
to the ever-changing designs and improvements to solid waste collection
vehicles it is necessary that new container enclosures meet a specific
design design model therefore all single enclosures will need to be widened about
12 inches and dual enclosures by 24 inches in the picture we provided there
you'll see the hydraulic hoses on the outside of the arms in the past we've
had those installed inside the arms and being aware item when they go out the
truck goes down because you have to take that arm apart so now we're putting them
on the outside make it a little easier for the mechanics to work on them a
little speedy operation at that point or even I could take it off take it to a
hose company fix it and then we're down 30 minutes instead of a half a day or
couple of days so with that in addition to improving the enclosures the
implementation of a solid waste alleyway criteria is needed to enhance the
maneuverability accessibility and to ensure the proper turning radius for
solid waste vehicles in the alleyway also the alleyway must be designed and
built specifically to support solid waste vehicles performing a weekly
service and things get pretty heavy and with an alleyway design now it's not
thick enough to support the weight so we're hoping we can update that so see
that that is final note so that concludes my portion if there's any
questions anything yes sir our developers actually including alleyways
and developments again our developers actually including alleyways in their
developments now I I mean I was raised with them I think it's a good idea but
I don't see many new developments with alleyways anymore for collecting trash
well there's a there's a demand now for alleyways but the new new developments
coming in really yes sir and typically we the service that we provide the
customer brings their cart to the curb right and the trucks go service them at
the curb but the alleyways are wanting us to come in through the alleyway and
with all those parts we it's hard to make them make the drive-through or make
the okay the turns so we're just asking to widen and and better support I was
just surprised I seem to be coming back that's good good to hear all right thank
you yes and so on the oh go ahead go ahead thank you probably gonna ask the
same question go ahead I think the geometric changes you're talking about
makes sense you know being able to get the trucks I said the geometric changes
you're talking about makes sense being able to get the trucks you know into
the places where they need to be to pick up the the trash you know get get to the
refuse containers and this might be more a question for mr. Mangida is there a
redline version of this available because it's it's hard to tell what's
changed versus you know what what already existed in in the criteria
manuals currently we don't have a redline version we can certainly put
that together what we do have is the existing criteria manual that was
approved back in 2009 and then we have the proposed version where much of that
information is just carried over to the new version but we don't have a redline
version version to present to you all today and and I have not looked at the
solid waste and recycling criteria manual probably ever before this I
noticed there's only one mention of commercial carts and I think it's
sometimes it's called the valet service like the downtown service is that
handled in a different document or like for for the small commercial accounts
downtown yeah those those are specifically on I'll see the downtown
as a special area and so we try to consolidate our dumpsters and you know
the one on Hickory Street for example there's there's one consolidate
commercial you know trash enclosure and you've seen several of those dumpsters
removed from the street and located there so I can't speak to you know where
where one can be done but I know that the solid waste department works very
closely in these special areas I don't think Fry Street would be another area
that we see those dumpsters that have now been relocated and I think they're
on a sycamore I think it is so just depending on the special areas I don't
think we have you know an availability for a development to to propose something
that but obviously it's it's part of the discussions when they're developing the
site if they choose to do something we can certainly accommodate accordingly and
is there a commercial cart option in certain areas of town like a smaller I
thought I swear I thought I've seen them in the downtown area like maybe I'm good
morning Adrian Hill solid waste operations manager I think what you're
getting at is if a resident needs help getting their container back to the curb
is that what you're asking no this for alternative like for downtown areas the
very dense areas where there isn't room for a dumpster you don't want to take
out 20 feet of prime curb with the dumpster yeah there's many small
businesses printed shops business that we do have residential carts for
commercial carts they just pay a different rates couple bucks more but
yeah there's several and we service those with the regular residential route
truck a rear load truck we run one ways with the rear load that pick up from the
rear so they're able to take that that truck in those small areas and and
collect rather than being an automated truck and those are not covered in this
criteria manual there they're just kind of a case by case case by case yes okay
thank you yeah and the site criteria manual also outlines if a building is
this size it needs a size of dumpster thank you yes my question was about
this criteria manual overall so these eight pages is this all that's being
changed or is this the entire manual was eight pages and now it's another eight
pages there's these are the two major things that were changing there's some
wording that's being changed it's not really changing like criteria this the
wording is being updated but these two are the major things that we wanted to
look at but this is the manual this eight pages is the whole manual this
isn't a portion of a larger that's really my question yes sir that for
solid waste it's just the eight pages there there are there was some
information that we're moving to the standard detail so that's that's where
some of them went but for solid waste yes just the eight pages is what's
proposed for the new update okay so this is the whole thing I thought this was
like a small part of something much larger but the more you talked about it
I realized this might just be yet for solid waste crime okay thank you thank
you thank you well madam chair so before before we go on to the next time just to
clarify so there was a request I guess for a red line of the changes is that
something that that still would like you would like to have or considering it's
eight pages is that sufficient that you can just compare the two documents or
so I make sure that we follow up on that request I think that was your request
wasn't it yeah I was actually having trouble finding the old version on the
website the website just recently changed so I don't know how to use it so
if it's if it's available I'd love a red line of all of them if that's if that
can be done pretty quickly and I don't think I don't know if anybody else wants
to see it and I did notice some of the other ones were redlined so I'm good
without it anyone else awesome thank you for the question so I'm gonna touch on a
couple of questions that have already been asked so specifically you're
related to I'm sorry I can't see specifically related to the redlined
versions I will make mention too that we're still receiving quite a few
comments so our red line versions are changing if not daily but weekly so I
would challenge you to evaluate some of the documents that you have in front of
you if you need copies of the old document so that you can compare them
screen by screen and happy to do so my red line version of the stormwater
criteria manual in the transportation criteria manual is very red and so I will
also mention that we've received quite a few comments from the Planning and
Zoning Commission and then internally and I forgot to introduce myself but I
just assumed it was I'm Becky Davini the City Engineering Director of Capital
Project so it's thank you for having me today so just to touch on that I will
also mention to you that we are working with the Solid Waste Department as
alleys were a question that was asked and there are developments that are
coming through with alleys the transportation criteria manual also has
a section of alley so we want to make sure we're not duplicating efforts my
least favorite thing is to show something in more than one place so that
when we change it in one and we forget to change it in the other we have
conflicting information so that's very important that we work through that so
we are looking at with working with our friends in solid waste as to where that
should land and then our team is also working to help solid waste with their
standard details so I'm gonna go through the stormwater criteria manual and then
also some of the updates in the transportation that I'm going to give
you a couple of other things just for you to be thinking about so specifically
on the stormwater criteria manual we are making quite a few updates to
definitions that includes basically deleting some of the terms that are no
longer necessary and then adding some terms that we feel like that are
necessary throughout the document we have changed the hundred-year frequency
to the one percent chance when you see that when you're talking about the
different flooding chances so that's something that we want to change kind of
that terminology one of the bigger changes is we've updated the driveway
culvert inspection to be the responsibility of actually the public
works staff versus the building inspection staff the public works
inspection team is a part of my department and so we already are doing
some of that work and our hopes are that we are inspecting everything that is from
the right-of-way line within the two boundaries of the right-of-way line and
then behind the right-of-way line of the building inspection team handles that
most of the driveway culverts are within that right-of-way line so that's a
change and then we are also updating the criteria manual to have all reinforced
concrete pipe required for the culverts the driveway inspection culverts and
then culverts in general so that's it that's a change so then the next thing
on the transportation criteria manual I will tell you there are still quite a
few comments that are coming in Ron had those hosted on the website I guess it's
been about a week Ron week and a half and so we still are receiving quite a
few comments so my goal is to take all of those comments collect them and see
what updates need to be made to the documents it doesn't work in progress
though and we are working to also present the same presentation at the
City Council meeting on December 7th similar to the stormwater criteria
manual we are updating definitions and deleting some of the terms that we no
longer feel necessary and we're updating the geometric street standards to
incorporate bicycle and pedestrian components as applicable I think you may
all know this but part of our team's goal is to make sure that we're looking
at all modes of transportation not just cars bicycles and pedestrian making sure
that our street sections and the different geometric standards that are
located within the documents show those different standards we also are update
updating the turn lane standards some of the on-street parking some of the
diagrams and amenities that include the movement of certain
information that's actually being removed from the criteria manual and put
in the code so I think Ron kind of went through the difference between the
criteria in the manual and the code my goal for the criteria manual is if an
engineer wants to design or come into town and understands here's the criteria
of the city of Denton the criteria says you know the dumpster enclosure shall
be made of whatever material and be whatever size the code says you shall
have a enclosure right so those are kind of the differences and it gives you a
little bit more detailed information we're also working through updating the
signs and markings diagrams within the document and there's going to be some
other changes from the multimodal perspective you may not be aware of this
but in July we actually hired a senior planner bicycle ADA pedestrian
coordinator and that's a hard title to get on one business card but I will
mention that he has had an opportunity to review the documents we were already
quite a ways down the process of doing the review so we're working to
incorporate his comments as we can as they make sense from the geometric
standards standpoint knowing that this is something that we do annually we may
not catch everything this year so and I'll give my my plug this is why it's
important so I know Ron mentioned the difference between the code the criteria
and the specifications and standard details and my friend Steven Moore will
present next on water wastewater but the reason why this is so important and I
want to make sure you all understand is when a capital project or a development
project comes through the city they need clear expectations of what the
requirements are to build within the city so that criteria gives you those
examples from the engineering perspective the code tells you thou
shalt build X of course there's variance processes that you can go through we are
also working on updating our specifications and standard details
that we do annually and last year in January I'm sorry this year in January
I don't know why I think it's last year in January we actually updated the
specifications and standard details and those went into play in January for all
of the capital projects that our team is delivering the important thing about us
working through this process is now we will be using those specifications and
standard details for the development projects let me tell you why this is
important it's important for one of many reasons but number one is the public
works inspectors who are out in the field actually inspecting the projects they
need one source of truth they need to understand no matter if it's a
development project or a capital project this is the way the city of Denton does
business and so that's a very helpful measure a sanitary sir clean out is
always going to be X feet behind the curb a sidewalk is always going to be
built in this manner a transition of a ramp is always going to be built in this
manner those are a few examples the other reason why it's so important which
helps our team right so they don't have to remember each project has a different
specification a different standard detail that it goes along with that
particular project so that's very important and I really like that we're
looking at using that single source of truth and it will definitely help our
inspection department but the other reason why is because anyone who comes
with to work within the city of Denton and build anything within the city of
Denton is going to understand what the expectations are and the requirements so
at 2 a.m. when we have a waterline break or at 4 a.m. when a live station stops
working and we now have an overflow our crews and the men and women that are out
there every day making sure that we're preparing and providing all the
essential services including the electric department solid waste etc but
they all know yes this is the manhole cover that we're going to use this is
the replacement our warehouse can also stock those particular pieces of
equipment so at the end of the day really the goal is to provide that
consistency so hopefully that helps you all and gives you a little bit wider and
broader perspective it's really a goal of mine and has been for a number of
months and a little over a year to help make this effort come together and Ron's
done a fantastic job of really leading the charge on this from a planning
perspective but just wanted to try to kind of close that loop and let you
understand why this is so important are there any questions for me before I turn
it over to mr. Moore just go ahead I just have one comment regarding the
bicycle amenities I noticed that if the in the initial section where you road
types include minimum widths with the sidewalk and so forth bike lanes are
included as referenced in the mobility plan which requires a new road you might
have a development where we said it only all arterials and collectors form
connections to other neighborhoods sure and they often are the only things that
have bridges across across rivers underpasses and overcrowded passes across
highways and so they are critical transportation infrastructure we know
that every bike every arterial and collector needs some kind of bike lane
of like amenity so I would and you the the criteria manual discusses that down
in the bike section but we could also go ahead and put it I think in that
dimensional section at the top just indicating that arterials and
collectors need need these you know facilities no I appreciate that comment
and if you look in those different geometric standards you're gonna see
that it says this detail to be updated a lot of it is the nomenclature and I want
to have a variety of different ways that the roadway cross-section can actually
look so if it's a primary arterial here's the standard but if we need to
make some modifications due to the right-of-way width or the the need or
actually matching maybe what was built prior to that we're providing that
seamless flow of traffic so I appreciate that comment and we're currently working
through quite a few of those geometric standards right now also I would say
that the geometric standards are kind of the guide you'll also then see standard
details that are going to be in a different document that are really going
to clarify a primary arterial looks like X here's a modified primary arterial it
looks like Y those types of things so we're in the process of updating those
but I do appreciate that comment
anyone else no thank you all right thank you
good morning I'm Stephen Moore senior engineer for the Department of Water
utilities and I want to start off by by saying I pretty much would repeat
everything that Becky just told you this is this is I don't want to repeat it but
this has been a huge effort and we are working very closely with the city
engineer with public inspection with planning with development services so
we've had two really big challenges that we're trying to do with our manuals one
is to update them with what's going on you know the old manual or the current
manual says thou shalt do X well we really don't want you to do X anymore or
doing X causes Y problem so we're trying to adjust to that and the second thing
is to put it all the information in one place so a lot of our changes have been
removing information because it's going into another document or adding a short
blurb because it's not found anywhere else so I'm not going to really get into
specifics because if you take the old version the new version laying one on
top of the other there are it doesn't look the same in fact there's many
sentences that were just rewritten to clarify them to make them easier to read
or easier to understand so I'm going to kind of go under go through our
different sections and what we're looking at different and what's become
different we do have as Becky said there's a lot of comments coming up and
there are issues where a developer absolutely wants us to do something and
our field crews actually don't want us to do it so we're trying to work out the
is it is it is it a true issue for somebody is it just they don't want to
do it is it just our guys don't want to do it and how and and that's we're trying
to fix all those conflicts and make it a much easier thing to work with so for
the water we've added several sections addressing meters underground utility
crossings fences and fence and wall crossings we really never addressed that
in the past as well as pressure regulators we've revised the section on
the water main replacement because there are some issues that were not addressed
in the past we're addressing them now on every time it comes up so we're putting
into the criteria manual to just spell it out in front in many cases just make
sure that developer doesn't forget about this because they will have to address
this as part of their project terms of wastewater we've revised the how you
estimate the wastewater flows separation between water wastewater we're more
closely matching what TCEQ tells us to do and actually clarifying because some
of the previous language there was some wiggle room there that we really can't
allow add in a little section of highway crossings a lot of other roads in the
city of Denton don't belong to us so we've put a note in there that if you
cross a text that road you got to get your permit from text on and we talked
about abandonment of sewer mains again this is an issue that comes up we just
never really address so we put some some language in there to make sure it is
part of our planning of the developers planning process we've removed several
sections preliminary design has been moved to another document rights away
and easements are not part of criteria that's this part of the city's work how
to deal with the Denda plan revision change orders we've fallen in line with
the city's process we don't have our own spelled out here same with submittals
there is a city process for doing that we don't we're taking it out of ours we
don't want to conflict with what the city is doing so that's pretty much the
end of again there's a ton of minor changes all we're doing is updating what
we're we've already started doing trying to spell it out make it clear for
everyone else but do you have any any can answer any questions about water
waste water just quick what where y'all going I've been watching the city
criteria has changed for over 30 years so where are you going with the water
and sewer now are you still staying under the edge of the street well there
was years ago when we put them in the in the yards you know if I were to get my
crews up here he'd tell you we keep it in the street they don't want it there
anywhere anyway at all we're trying to we prefer it in the street we have the
right of way it's easier for us to find we had the right away another sidewalk
and we're trying to put it out because when you put it on the sidewalk it's
harder and more expensive for us to fix because we're not sidewalk repair
specialists I did I'm sorry did I answer the question you answer my question I
just disagree with it with the answer I think the problem is you have to deal
with more citizens when you go in the yards that's that's the biggest
difficulty but to me to dig it up a street and digging up grass is digging
up grass is a lot cheaper to replace water in Syria so my opinion humble
opinion other questions thank you thank you thank you I appreciate the the time
I just just want to end that we we have the draft materials that you have on our
website and we will make sure that the old versions that are you know existing
today are also on that new website I know we can't we just transition to a
new website platform so maybe it was relocated or not included I'll make sure
that it's included so anybody else that's watching or that wants to see the
old version they can and then also compare it to the new version it's gonna
be on the website until November 25th so kind of gives us some time between
November 25th and the next meeting that we're scheduled to have this with City
Council so gives us some time to kind of look through what comments we have and
then present it to them at that time so again we're looking at a December 7th
City Council meeting to bring this forward and then hopefully an effective
date of January 1st and madam and madam Charo just so the DME is not left out I
would just point out that there is no DME criteria manual but we are working on
electrical service standards that will be coming to you along with a line
extension policy as well that that'll be forthcoming here in the next couple
you know couple couple weeks thank you all right then that concludes the agenda
do we have a motion to adjourn