WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.120 all right it is nine o'clock and we have a quorum so we'll call to order the 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:12.320 December 13th 2021 City of Denton Public Utilities Board meeting the first item 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:20.600 is the public comment does anybody here wish to make public comment how about on 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:31.300 the phone anybody on the phone no all right and we'll go into the regular 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:36.880 meeting the first item is the consent agenda with items a through s I'm gonna 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:42.680 call pull item M does any other board member wish to pull an item yes mr. beth 00:00:42.680 --> 00:00:57.640 okay I'll go with mr. Rybeck I'm interested in looking at item F and H 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:11.240 and H and mr. jumper item E okay that was E as in Evan right and a question 00:01:11.240 --> 00:01:24.400 about J okay and then is that it all right so do we have a motion to approve 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:42.480 items A B C D G I L N O P Q R and S okay mr. jumper moved and Barbie second all 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:52.040 in favor say aye aye carries okay the first item then is item E so I think 00:01:52.040 --> 00:02:02.960 that's Krista would you come out there she is madam chair board members what 00:02:02.960 --> 00:02:08.520 questions can I answer related to item yeah so I was curious I think this is a 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:14.240 neat idea actually I was curious what what prompted the need or desire for 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:18.040 anything like that the virtual teller yes I'm sorry you know the virtual 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:22.760 teller unit is something that even pre-pandemic I had already had kind of 00:02:22.760 --> 00:02:29.440 on my agenda and had started developing with ad comp prior to you know there's 00:02:29.440 --> 00:02:34.680 been a desire for customer service to have kind of an outreach center where 00:02:34.680 --> 00:02:38.120 people don't have to come all the way to City Hall East to conduct their 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.240 face-to-face business and this is something that we felt like would be a 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:46.720 reasonable measure of being able to provide service to the citizens as 00:02:46.720 --> 00:02:51.000 opposed to the citizen coming to us so we'll be piloting it it's actually ready 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:54.400 for launch we're just waiting on a little bit of construction if you've 00:02:54.400 --> 00:02:58.080 been in the City Hall East Lobby the acoustics are great if you want to stand 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.160 in there and sing but not so much if you want to stand in there and talk about 00:03:01.160 --> 00:03:07.640 business so we're building in a little sound area so that we can install it as 00:03:07.640 --> 00:03:11.640 long as we get some good public adoption then we want to be able to expand that 00:03:11.640 --> 00:03:16.720 to maybe the UNT campus look at some overlays to see what customers are coming 00:03:16.720 --> 00:03:20.880 into the lobby what parts of town need to be best served by doing something 00:03:20.880 --> 00:03:25.720 with an outpost and then I was curious currently do you know kind of the 00:03:25.720 --> 00:03:30.760 percentage the breakdown of how many folks do business online versus coming in 00:03:30.760 --> 00:03:34.320 person versus on the phone anything like that you know I haven't looked at them 00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:37.880 recently because we've had so much going on I don't know if you've noticed it's 00:03:37.880 --> 00:03:42.440 very busy initiative wise and customer service currently that we usually only 00:03:42.440 --> 00:03:48.520 have a 10% or less of our customers who come in and do their business so it's 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:52.360 very difficult sometimes for us to keep those two lobby windows open all the 00:03:52.360 --> 00:03:56.680 time when we have callers you know on the phone that are holding for no 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:01.920 longer periods of time but we're hoping that with this particular initiative 00:04:01.920 --> 00:04:05.640 once we get it moved out that we'll actually be able to expand so as long as 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:10.080 you're not making a cash payment if you need to present that alternative ID like 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.280 a foreign student that you can actually do that from your phone or PC and still 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:18.840 do that virtual interaction from your home or wherever you happen to be as 00:04:18.840 --> 00:04:24.180 long as you're not doing a cash payment so we're hoping to expand this okay so 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:28.920 this new kiosk would be at your current facility currently it will be at the 00:04:28.920 --> 00:04:32.900 facility I will still have our standard kiosk available outdoors to just do 00:04:32.900 --> 00:04:37.960 their traditional kiosk business but inside the lobby if there's a line 00:04:37.960 --> 00:04:41.360 waiting or even if there's not a customer can go to that virtual teller 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:46.280 and conduct their business present their IDs scan documents whatever business 00:04:46.280 --> 00:04:50.160 they need to take care of so you consider this a pilot project then this 00:04:50.160 --> 00:05:00.080 is a pilot project thank you yeah other questions do we have a motion to approve 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:07.120 okay mr. Rybex move moving and mr. Beck is seconding all in favor say aye aye 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:18.280 thank you very much item F that was you right Lee that was your item F okay so 00:05:18.280 --> 00:05:24.280 we have a Daniel Kramer with our Street Department here good morning 00:05:24.280 --> 00:05:31.160 Dana Kramer deputy director of operations question this particular 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:36.960 contract not to exceed 2.6 million dollars from construction material 00:05:36.960 --> 00:05:42.320 testing and geotechnical investigation services is rather broad could you give 00:05:42.320 --> 00:05:45.920 us a little bit more information about what these folks be doing for you yes 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:50.640 sir Street Department is the one that actually kicked off this contract what 00:05:50.640 --> 00:05:55.560 we use that for is our lime series test and our subgrade tests so we know how 00:05:55.560 --> 00:06:01.120 much lime and mix to put into the street when we're rebuilding the street we also 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:06.060 use it for density testing compaction testing which is what utilities use it a 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:09.800 lot for for the ditch lines and everything we'll use it for density to 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:14.440 make sure we've met the 95 percent compaction before we can patch the road 00:06:14.440 --> 00:06:18.420 it'll also be used by DME which a lot of times we'll use that when they're 00:06:18.420 --> 00:06:22.240 installing the poles and stuff like that same thing with the compaction testing so 00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:26.880 this is just an on-call contract so that we can keep our construction operations 00:06:26.880 --> 00:06:30.840 moving throughout the years is this a firm we've been working with previously 00:06:30.840 --> 00:06:39.160 no sir we we originally had G consulting which is the one that had it for the last 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:43.400 one I think it was a three year if I'm not mistaken was the last terms on that 00:06:43.400 --> 00:06:48.960 contract all right so this is a new firm providing services that another firm had 00:06:48.960 --> 00:06:54.920 been providing and this is a not to exceed amount over the five-year period 00:06:54.920 --> 00:07:02.680 basically on a time of material basis thank you all right any other questions 00:07:02.680 --> 00:07:09.680 do we have a motion to approve mr. Ibex motion second and second all 00:07:09.680 --> 00:07:19.680 favor say aye thank you item H that was also you rightly yes okay 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:29.440 good morning good morning board madam chairman my name is Jerry Fielder I am 00:07:29.440 --> 00:07:33.440 the division engineering manager for didn't municipal electric I haven't in 00:07:33.440 --> 00:07:37.360 here with me Aaron Binion who's the project manager for this project as well 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:41.000 as the engineering firm and we can go through a formal presentation or just 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.920 answer any questions that you may have I'll see you are going to give us a 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:49.120 formal presentation on this or you can no we can you want to go ahead and see 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.720 that if it's all right with sure chairwoman I'd be very interested in 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:56.360 seeing that yes yeah thank you 00:08:00.760 --> 00:08:08.360 good morning give me just a moment to get this set up 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:34.400 I think it's being shared says that we are sharing all right I think we figured 00:08:34.400 --> 00:08:39.320 out the technology so again thank you for letting me be here my name is Aaron 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:44.080 Benyon I'm an engineer with that municipal electric and today we'll just 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:49.560 present a little bit on our new line extension policy so up to this point the 00:08:49.560 --> 00:08:54.320 line extension go ahead Madam Chair I would wonder if the speaker could take 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:58.200 his mask off I'm having a little trouble understanding him thank you thank you 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:05.480 I've often been told I've got a quiet engineers voice my apologies all right so 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:10.200 our current line extension policies are contained in the electric service 00:09:10.200 --> 00:09:15.600 standards these standards have been around since at least 2014 the latest 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:20.200 version was approved in 2014 and there really haven't been any changes since 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:26.040 then these standards include both technical requirements as well as policy 00:09:26.040 --> 00:09:32.040 relating to new developments extensions and developer and DME 00:09:32.040 --> 00:09:39.120 responsibilities now there is a need to update them and so DME has proposed that 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:43.320 we split them out into a revised electric service standards that would 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:48.240 focus on the technical requirements that ensure that developers and DME are 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:52.920 following the applicable codes and the line extension policy would govern the 00:09:52.920 --> 00:10:02.120 customer aid and construction contributions now the current line 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:06.080 extension policy that's contained in the ESS is really a one-size-fits-all 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:12.920 approach it's based on distance and so any extension up to 300 feet is covered 00:10:12.920 --> 00:10:22.400 by DME and by extension the rate payers and so there's a wide variety of costs 00:10:22.400 --> 00:10:25.760 that can be incurred in that mostly depending on what type of service is 00:10:25.760 --> 00:10:30.760 currently available what type of customer loads are coming and so it 00:10:30.760 --> 00:10:34.880 really leaves things pretty open for for what that can cost the existing rate 00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:39.480 payers developers are also responsible for the civil work and DME provides 00:10:39.480 --> 00:10:47.000 certain materials like conduit and pads for various pad mounted equipment 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:51.080 developers depending on the length of the extension they may pay none of the 00:10:51.080 --> 00:10:56.880 cost or they may pay some beyond that 300 foot distance and DME covers the 00:10:56.880 --> 00:11:02.960 rest our proposed policy would be that within the single certified areas of the 00:11:02.960 --> 00:11:10.920 city developers would pay the full cost of any line extensions to them now DME 00:11:10.920 --> 00:11:17.520 does have multi certified areas that we share with other electric service 00:11:17.520 --> 00:11:22.840 providers so encore and co-serve in those areas we propose that credit be 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:28.440 given based on a projected rate of return and that allows us to provide an 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:33.640 economic development incentive and basically stay competitive with some of 00:11:33.640 --> 00:11:38.640 the other developers go ahead thank you I'm wondering when you say multi service 00:11:38.640 --> 00:11:44.520 area so is DME essentially bidding if you will on the future service of these 00:11:44.520 --> 00:11:49.800 developments to an extent yes when it when a new developer comes in they have 00:11:49.800 --> 00:11:53.080 a choice in these areas they could choose whether they would like to have 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:58.120 DME co-serve or encore encore depending on the area serve them and one of the 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:02.120 challenges that comes with that is the first one to serve a development 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:06.160 generally takes the whole thing because of the costs associated with trying to 00:12:06.160 --> 00:12:12.160 get additional services from another provider in there so does this still 00:12:12.160 --> 00:12:19.280 give DME the flexibility to work with the developers on projects even though 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:23.680 we have this new standard that's being proposed yes yes it does thank you 00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:27.800 mr. Rebecca the one thing I'll tell you is the main cases in these multi 00:12:27.800 --> 00:12:32.080 certified areas developers are already being incentivized by the city through 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:36.880 other economic development incentives and so then additionally they they can 00:12:36.880 --> 00:12:40.920 either walk away from DME or request additional incentives and so there's 00:12:40.920 --> 00:12:44.120 double and triple dipping that occurs from time to time with those 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:47.680 development I think this helps us kind of equalize that and at the same time 00:12:47.680 --> 00:12:52.280 helps us address some of the some of the cost perspective cost issues that we're 00:12:52.280 --> 00:12:56.480 having at DME and that we're trying to address yes it does appear that these 00:12:56.480 --> 00:13:02.160 new policies are give you a little better structure in your program but I 00:13:02.160 --> 00:13:06.560 was running if it's also taking away the flexibility to negotiate so that's my 00:13:06.560 --> 00:13:14.080 question okay sorry did you have a question go ahead 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:24.200 thank you chair so I'm really conflicted on only incentivizing only giving an ROI 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:29.880 based discount in the fringe areas of the city like if you don't know if you 00:13:29.880 --> 00:13:36.360 have a map in your slide deck let me skip down to that yeah so everything 00:13:36.360 --> 00:13:41.120 blue would not receive the incentive that had to cover full full cost of 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.680 construction where if you're building a subdivision in the red area out west 00:13:46.680 --> 00:13:53.040 you're going to get ROI you know an ROI based value on your development 00:13:53.040 --> 00:14:00.540 mm-hmm so it will cost more to build closer to who to develop closer to the 00:14:00.540 --> 00:14:10.320 city center I'm curious what encore and co-serve what their policies are on 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:15.480 their single service areas and their multiple their competitive areas do you 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:21.520 know that so as part of the presentation we actually do cover what encore and 00:14:21.520 --> 00:14:27.800 co-serve do if it's okay we can jump back to that and work through that okay 00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:36.080 excellent okay so we're we're almost there all right just a couple of 00:14:36.080 --> 00:14:40.540 additional items on the proposed policy is that developers would be responsible 00:14:40.540 --> 00:14:44.920 for civil work as they had been but also that they would provide some of the 00:14:44.920 --> 00:14:48.940 materials that we've previously been providing and what that does is allow 00:14:48.940 --> 00:14:52.720 them a little bit more flexibility they're not completely dependent on DME 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:58.600 providing all of these materials and it frees up our warehouse and and others 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:04.080 from being the the sole point of contact sometimes that becomes a bottleneck and 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:09.280 again down at the bottom it just states that we we would expect them to cover 00:15:09.280 --> 00:15:15.320 the full cost of the extension except for competitive credits in those areas so 00:15:15.320 --> 00:15:19.680 the question is then what do other utilities do these aid and construction 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:24.920 fees are a standard in the electric utility industry we've worked together 00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:29.520 with the consultants and gathered research on what several other utilities 00:15:29.520 --> 00:15:37.580 do some credit is given in various forms throughout the state of Texas and so you 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:44.040 can see examples of what other energy providers use some base it on the fixed 00:15:44.040 --> 00:15:50.380 distance like DME has up to this point some use a fixed allowance a dollar 00:15:50.380 --> 00:15:56.360 amount where once it exceeds that they're responsible for it others have a 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:00.720 formulaic approach that again is tied to something like a return on investment 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:06.360 or other formula that they've developed and then there are some utilities like 00:16:06.360 --> 00:16:12.440 Austin Electric and Garland that they give no credit the the developers are 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:17.720 expected to pay for the entire cost so it's really across the board as you can 00:16:17.720 --> 00:16:22.960 see Encore and CoServe use both the fixed distance and the formulaic 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:28.600 approach and and then you have others that say you know what the developers 00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:33.920 can can cover the cost if they want to bring in do they have a split policy 00:16:33.920 --> 00:16:39.880 between single serve and duly certified areas I don't believe that they do it's 00:16:39.880 --> 00:16:46.240 it's across the board if you don't mind I can ensure that I used to work for 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:50.760 CoServe and the policy is typically you're going to get the service no 00:16:50.760 --> 00:16:55.800 matter what it takes and so they do have in the rate manual some degree of 00:16:55.800 --> 00:16:59.920 allowance associated with stuff but if it's a development like we're talking 00:16:59.920 --> 00:17:03.240 about in our multi certified errors they know full well they're going to be in 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.360 competition with Encore or DME and they'll do what they need to do from an 00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:12.000 economic standpoint also to get service to that development so it's really kind 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.600 of putting us on the same playing field as the other two competitors that we 00:17:15.600 --> 00:17:23.280 have thank you yeah sorry board member I think the difference here is that DME as 00:17:23.280 --> 00:17:28.720 an MOU has single certified area and multi certified area but co-ops and 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.840 IOUs or investor on utilities do not they are in a fully competitive 00:17:32.840 --> 00:17:38.360 environment so there is no single certified area for them I'm fairly 00:17:38.360 --> 00:17:43.240 certain that CoServe has single certified areas north of town in Cook 00:17:43.240 --> 00:17:46.920 County and I know Encore definitely has single certified areas across the state 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:54.720 but this I don't have a problem with our new formula what I what I'm concerned 00:17:54.720 --> 00:18:01.120 about is if you're in our monopoly zone we're going to charge you more if you're 00:18:01.120 --> 00:18:08.040 across the line we're going to you know provide a discount or we're going to 00:18:08.040 --> 00:18:10.560 take into you know and we're not providing a discount necessarily we're 00:18:10.560 --> 00:18:15.100 taking into consideration the ROI on this infrastructure it's gonna cost a 00:18:15.100 --> 00:18:18.760 million dollars to build it but we're going to get back line service fees over 00:18:18.760 --> 00:18:21.800 the next 20 years half a million dollars therefore we're only going to charge you 00:18:21.800 --> 00:18:26.560 half the cost right well it costs a million dollars to build a develop the 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:30.480 same service in the blue area we're gonna get back half a million dollars in 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:37.600 you know future you know line service fees so why would we not also give the 00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:45.560 ROI consideration inside of our single service area and that's like I said 00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:48.800 I otherwise I think the competitive nature I understand the competitive 00:18:48.800 --> 00:18:54.720 nature multi-service areas and we don't want to be at a disadvantage we don't 00:18:54.720 --> 00:19:04.000 want to bankrupt DME trying to compete but we but in like the split between our 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:09.600 service area and the competitive service areas where I have concerns I think the 00:19:09.600 --> 00:19:14.520 the question and if I understand correctly you can you can validate this 00:19:14.520 --> 00:19:18.800 formula is whether it's equitable to the developers to have two different rate 00:19:18.800 --> 00:19:24.560 possibilities or I'm sorry not rates but credit possibilities or from the 00:19:24.560 --> 00:19:30.840 flip side it's DME and the existing rate base and so really the goal is to 00:19:30.840 --> 00:19:34.440 minimize cross-subsidization anytime we do give a credit we're actually 00:19:34.440 --> 00:19:39.160 shouldering the burden on the existing rate pairs and so the goal that we're 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:44.160 striving for is the most equitable to the to the existing rate base and now to 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:49.760 be competitive there are times when when maybe we do have to give some credit to 00:19:49.760 --> 00:19:55.600 the developers but in general we've seen a consistent desire to come to Denton to 00:19:55.600 --> 00:20:00.200 build here and so there's less of a concern of driving away business and 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:05.800 it's more of trying to provide an equitable base for the existing existing 00:20:05.800 --> 00:20:22.720 rate pairs thank you okay any any other questions okay I'll continue again along 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.400 those same lines we just clarify a little bit of the differences between 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.160 the single certified territory and the multi certified territory so as as 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:36.520 mentioned before the new customers pay a hundred percent the the goal was to ease 00:20:36.520 --> 00:20:42.400 the burden on the existing rate pairs and and it's not unheard of to do this 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:46.120 there are several other large municipally owned coops that I'm sorry 00:20:46.120 --> 00:20:52.460 not co-ops municipally owned providers that that do the same the multi 00:20:52.460 --> 00:20:58.840 certified territory the focus was on a formulaic approach finding the best way 00:20:58.840 --> 00:21:04.360 to provide an incentive and yet still have a reasonable return on investment 00:21:04.360 --> 00:21:10.840 this allows us to be competitive the residential development credit is 00:21:10.840 --> 00:21:16.760 slightly different in that the data for that it's it's really a wide range of 00:21:16.760 --> 00:21:20.960 what a residential development could require and so we looked at the data 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:25.600 from the last five years and we were able to average out the cost per 00:21:25.600 --> 00:21:30.600 residents of extending to a to a home in a new development so that's where that 00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:35.680 came from but with the caveat kind of to what mr. Rybeck was asking before 00:21:35.680 --> 00:21:39.480 there is flexibility if we need to adjust that based on the formula we we 00:21:39.480 --> 00:21:44.480 can but that's a starting place for us and commercial and industrial credits 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:56.320 will be calculated using the formula okay so the requested action is that the 00:21:56.320 --> 00:22:01.200 council I'm sorry not the council but the board recommend approval of the new 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:09.600 line extension policy oops and also open it up to questions 00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:15.240 mr. Rybeck go ahead I see you turned your light on finally got it to come on 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:22.000 okay so this new policy is one that you guys have obviously work with the 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.680 utility to put together and really all you're looking for is for us to 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:31.440 recommend it on to council it eventually will have to be approved by the council 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:37.760 so I guess you weren't entirely wrong in your presentation I don't really have 00:22:37.760 --> 00:22:40.720 any other questions about it I appreciate that you came today to 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:44.800 provide us with this information and a little more background on it like a 00:22:44.800 --> 00:22:48.880 little surprised when I got the email took a look at it and said well what are 00:22:48.880 --> 00:22:52.520 we looking at here I think it was appropriate to pull it out from the 00:22:52.520 --> 00:22:56.000 consent agenda for us to have a better look at it so thank you I have no 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:04.480 further questions just a comment I think if you look at this as a whole it may 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.280 not be totally fair to a developer that's building inside the single 00:23:09.280 --> 00:23:13.720 certified versus outside the certified but the end the end result is it is more 00:23:13.720 --> 00:23:22.440 fair for the rate payers the overall rate payers all right no other questions 00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:27.560 do we have a motion to approve mr. Rybeck's motioning do we have a second 00:23:27.560 --> 00:23:38.560 oh mr. Beck all in favor say aye opposed so that was very fast I think I will say 00:23:38.560 --> 00:23:46.600 yeah actually okay okay I saw you were thinking so that was off all seven days 00:23:46.600 --> 00:23:56.360 correct all right thank you thank you very much okay the next item is J and I 00:23:56.360 --> 00:24:03.920 don't remember who pulled J oh I just had a question do we still have a city 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:06.640 engineer 00:24:06.640 --> 00:24:15.720 or is J pre-qualified engineering firms thank you so Barbara the answer the 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:21.080 answer is yes Becky Davini is is our city engineer this particular item is for 00:24:21.080 --> 00:24:26.080 engineering services at DME specifically which DME handled separately well I know 00:24:26.080 --> 00:24:35.080 you're doing a considerable amount of work and I just had wasn't aware if we 00:24:35.080 --> 00:24:39.120 still had one with there was one on staff and now there are more yes ma'am 00:24:39.120 --> 00:24:45.760 Becky Davini is our city engineer okay thank you that was it okay do we have a 00:24:45.760 --> 00:24:51.280 motion to approve so he's moving and Barbara's seconding all in favor say aye 00:24:51.280 --> 00:25:05.680 aye any nays no okay item K item J yes 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:17.040 okay now is item K thank you again Jerry Fielder division engineering manager for 00:25:17.040 --> 00:25:21.160 DME about mr. Doug Brion he was an engineering supervisor that will speak 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:30.560 to you guys about the young dry auger billing thank you thank you I'm Doug 00:25:30.560 --> 00:25:35.280 Brion engineering supervisor for DME and just answer any questions you have yes 00:25:35.280 --> 00:25:39.360 sir I was have a question about this contract similar to the other one the 00:25:39.360 --> 00:25:44.240 this is for the directional drilling appears to be for all three departments 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:50.080 of the utility so is this a new contractor that we're working with this 00:25:50.080 --> 00:25:53.520 is a contractor that we've worked with before in the past but we had a contract 00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:58.000 that expired a couple years ago and had not been renewed for this time so yes we 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:00.960 have worked with him okay so this is somebody we had worked with before but 00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:05.520 this is a new contract going forward again time of material not to exceed a 00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:10.880 given amount that's correct thank you that's really my only question okay 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:19.720 I'm sorry mr. jumper you have a question we have a motion to approve mr. Beck is 00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:28.040 motioning second please seconding all in favor say aye aye opposed all right item 00:26:28.040 --> 00:26:39.080 M we really don't have a question but mr. cheek had to recuse himself because 00:26:39.080 --> 00:26:48.400 his company bid on it so motion to approve so moved all right in a second 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:55.600 okay mr. Beck's seconding all in favor say aye aye Billy recuses himself all 00:26:55.600 --> 00:27:21.880 right I'll go I'll go you're welcome okay the next item is a recommend approval 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:28.640 of the November 8th minutes I did notice that there was an error on item E we had 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:33.200 board member Russell approving and she wasn't there so that item has been 00:27:33.200 --> 00:27:40.480 changed and for my signature were there any other changes okay do we have a 00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:48.840 motion to approve those with the correction Billy moves second Devin all 00:27:48.840 --> 00:27:58.240 in favor say aye aye okay next item item B the design build agreement for the 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:03.080 Hickory gas insulated substation an amount of forty million four hundred and 00:28:03.080 --> 00:28:08.040 sixty nine thousand dollars good morning count Phoebe Mark Zimmer DME 00:28:08.040 --> 00:28:28.200 engineering excuse me sir while you're queuing up would you mind taking your 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:39.320 mask off so we can understand you a little better thank you yes sir we're 00:28:39.320 --> 00:28:43.680 here this morning for your consideration of a contract to design and construct 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:50.080 the Hickory GIS substation so back in 2014 DME identified the need to rebuild 00:28:50.080 --> 00:28:55.700 the existing Hickory substation due to age safety concerns and incompatibility 00:28:55.700 --> 00:29:01.520 with future CFP projects to convert the station from 69 KV operation to 138 KB 00:29:01.520 --> 00:29:07.480 operation in addition DME determined that the existing site is not large 00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:12.120 enough for needed expansion to serve additional customers and load in the 00:29:12.120 --> 00:29:17.540 area so DME held public open houses to get citizen feedback on new substation 00:29:17.540 --> 00:29:21.560 sites that feedback was provided to council and council ultimately chose the 00:29:21.560 --> 00:29:26.000 site directly across the street from the existing substation that site was 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:33.220 purchased by DME in 2015 the appearance of the new Hickory GIS substation was 00:29:33.220 --> 00:29:37.840 some some importance to see council council directed us to use an aesthetics 00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:41.480 committee to determine the appearance of the perimeter wall around the 00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:45.240 substation the design that was chosen by the committee is shown here on this 00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:49.920 slide that is the design that is included in the contract in addition to 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:54.520 that council directed us to convert the existing overhead electric facilities 00:29:54.520 --> 00:29:58.100 around this project from overhead to underground that's also included in the 00:29:58.100 --> 00:30:03.520 contract the new Hickory GIS substation will serve approximately 20% more 00:30:03.520 --> 00:30:09.340 customers than the existing substation and because we're using gas insulated 00:30:09.340 --> 00:30:14.080 switchgear on the site we're able to do a future expansion on the site to serve 00:30:14.080 --> 00:30:19.160 an additional 100% more customers and because we can do that that negates the 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:27.040 need for Eagle substation until at least 2034 so DME prepared a request for 00:30:27.040 --> 00:30:31.400 qualifications to qualify firms capable of performing all pieces of the project 00:30:31.400 --> 00:30:36.160 we received seven responses and we evaluated them based on qualifications 00:30:36.160 --> 00:30:40.960 proven success stability and safety record after evaluation we chose for 00:30:40.960 --> 00:30:45.320 those firms to receive a request for proposals which included technical 00:30:45.320 --> 00:30:50.720 specification as prepared by our owners engineering black and beach after 00:30:50.720 --> 00:30:54.920 reviewing those we determined beta engineering was the highest overall 00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:59.780 evaluated and was also the lowest cost and also due to the instability in the 00:30:59.780 --> 00:31:04.080 market right now beta is only able to hold the cost on this project until 00:31:04.080 --> 00:31:08.840 January 14th of next next year so any delays and awarding a contract could 00:31:08.840 --> 00:31:17.360 result in a higher contract cost so if awarded we would issue a limited notice 00:31:17.360 --> 00:31:21.900 to proceed in January and we would expect project completion by October of 00:31:21.900 --> 00:31:29.920 2024 so staff recommends approval of a contract with beta engineering LLC for 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:33.240 design and construction of the Hickory GIS substation in an amount not to 00:31:33.240 --> 00:31:38.840 exceed 40 million 469 thousand dollars any questions I like that last 00:31:38.840 --> 00:31:51.840 parentheses yes yeah yeah good portion of goes in our teeth yeah could you 00:31:51.840 --> 00:31:55.760 remind me the difference in cost on putting the structure around it I mean 00:31:55.760 --> 00:32:00.160 I'm all in favor I know it's expensive for the perimeter wall yes yes sir the 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:04.320 perimeter wall is about six million dollars a typical wall is three four 00:32:04.320 --> 00:32:12.680 hundred thousand so quite a bit more this is gonna be real pretty I was 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:18.120 curious you projected that you wouldn't need the eagle substation until 2034 00:32:18.120 --> 00:32:23.640 curious how you arrived at that specific time frame and we used a projected load 00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:29.320 growth we use a percentage load growth an annual load growth to determine when 00:32:29.320 --> 00:32:34.520 the existing stations will need additional capacity and so based on that 00:32:34.520 --> 00:32:39.480 because we can add to this new Hickory GIS substation we can add additional 00:32:39.480 --> 00:32:43.040 transformers there to serve more loads how much additional capacity can you add 00:32:43.040 --> 00:32:50.640 to the new facility current 50 NBA currently the way this new substation is 00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:55.160 designed we will initially construct it with 50 NBA of capacity and then we can 00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:59.280 add another 50 NBA onto that so you can essentially double the size of facility 00:32:59.280 --> 00:33:03.520 thank you and that's because we're using the gas insulated switcher and what 00:33:03.520 --> 00:33:09.080 approximately is the savings of pushing that project out how many millions that 00:33:09.080 --> 00:33:20.080 was just approximately it was Jerry do you remember the numbers we've got the 00:33:20.080 --> 00:33:23.040 number but I don't remember right off the top of my head we can certainly get 00:33:23.040 --> 00:33:29.800 that to you guys just curious go ahead so we're going from above ground to 00:33:29.800 --> 00:33:35.840 underground does that bring any complications in any way for any 00:33:35.840 --> 00:33:39.840 maintenance or repairs anything like that all right so converting the 00:33:39.840 --> 00:33:43.240 overhead facilities right around the project from overhead to underground is 00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:47.160 of course more expensive those costs are included in the contract so that's one 00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:53.240 one task typically you can't have failures and underground facilities and 00:33:53.240 --> 00:33:57.360 that's accommodated for in the design so we include extra conduit and the 00:33:57.360 --> 00:34:04.080 underground of banks to accommodate for that so that is one concern we also are 00:34:04.080 --> 00:34:07.520 designing the project where those underground facilities would not limit 00:34:07.520 --> 00:34:11.920 the rating of the station in any way those are some of the things you can 00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:18.160 consider when designing those facilities okay this is the first gas insulated 00:34:18.160 --> 00:34:25.240 this may be me are there any issues with groundwater in the area since you're 00:34:25.240 --> 00:34:29.560 going underground yeah anytime we do a project in that and we seem to have 00:34:29.560 --> 00:34:33.640 issues with groundwater typically when it's typically when we're doing a 00:34:33.640 --> 00:34:37.320 transmission line design or we're digging a really deep hole we have that 00:34:37.320 --> 00:34:41.600 problem this project we don't anticipate the need but geotechnical 00:34:41.600 --> 00:34:44.960 reports have been done on the site and are provided to this contractor so 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:48.320 they're aware of the site conditions so are you required to take any additional 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:54.560 steps such as dewatering or anything like that not not on the side no there's of 00:34:54.560 --> 00:34:57.600 course drainage going to be installed inside the substation but no no 00:34:57.600 --> 00:35:05.640 additional features thank you okay go ahead dinner thank you chair if you just 00:35:05.640 --> 00:35:08.720 a few comments and then I have some questions I'm fairly new to the 00:35:08.720 --> 00:35:13.360 Commission so just like to get a little bit more information or the board so I 00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:17.000 love the the breakdown of the competitive bids it's really fascinating 00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:21.640 to see like some of the other bids are very competitive on the switchgear but 00:35:21.640 --> 00:35:26.080 then an extra six or eight million on-site design an extra three or four 00:35:26.080 --> 00:35:31.320 million on the wall suddenly they're no longer competitive and then just for my 00:35:31.320 --> 00:35:37.040 own information not really pertaining to approving this the the underground 00:35:37.040 --> 00:35:41.500 distribution out does that have to be gas insulated as well or no sir it's 00:35:41.500 --> 00:35:46.920 just an underground duck bank just in conduit okay and and then in the 00:35:46.920 --> 00:35:53.440 exhibits the mock-ups the photo mock-ups there appears to be one above ground 00:35:53.440 --> 00:35:58.960 line still headed I think it's south I was like trying to tell in the picture 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:01.840 if there was one shown there that's probably just an error in the float 00:36:01.840 --> 00:36:06.240 assimilation but right around the new substation side of all the underground 00:36:06.240 --> 00:36:11.520 facilities and then and at some point does it so there's a line that runs 00:36:11.520 --> 00:36:17.520 north to you know North Bonnie bray is that is it going to go like a thousand 00:36:17.520 --> 00:36:21.840 feet underground and the transition above or so there's two different types 00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:24.800 of facilities that will be converted to underground so there's overhead 00:36:24.800 --> 00:36:28.680 transmission facilities and overhead distribution facilities the existing 00:36:28.680 --> 00:36:32.120 overhead transmission facilities were pretty much stay in the existing 00:36:32.120 --> 00:36:35.480 alignment as they are they will convert from overhead to 00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:40.000 underground be on the west side of the convenience store that's right beside 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.600 the existing substation and then all of the overhead distribution facilities 00:36:44.600 --> 00:36:49.740 will all be converted within about a block around the site okay so then the 00:36:49.740 --> 00:36:54.920 existing transmission line runs to the current site and then and that will I 00:36:54.920 --> 00:37:00.040 guess that will stay DME owned it'll just have no equipment just like go 00:37:00.040 --> 00:37:05.120 underground or under them there'll be a what we call a riser structure that 00:37:05.120 --> 00:37:08.640 converts the overhead line to underground right there around the old 00:37:08.640 --> 00:37:14.480 hickory substation and the rest of that site will probably remain DME property 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:18.360 indefinitely the rest of that site we will demo the mall retire and demolish 00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:22.640 the old station and that'll be done under a separate contract and are there 00:37:22.640 --> 00:37:31.040 any cosmetic like fent like I know there's a lot of screening on this one 00:37:31.040 --> 00:37:37.240 is there any plans for changing the aesthetic of the existing location not 00:37:37.240 --> 00:37:48.440 this time okay thank you we just plan to remove it other questions okay seeing 00:37:48.440 --> 00:37:54.620 none do we have a motion to approve this item Devin of motions so move I'll 00:37:54.620 --> 00:38:01.760 second and then seconds all in favor say aye aye opposed thank you thank you 00:38:01.760 --> 00:38:09.360 it's been a long time in the making next item is management reports so madam 00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:15.480 chair and board of so there's a few items that we've provided to you contracts 00:38:15.480 --> 00:38:20.640 for some information on country for water and wastewater chemicals I think 00:38:20.640 --> 00:38:25.280 Council Board member Taylor had requested a red line of the solid waste 00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:30.200 criteria menu we've provided that to you as well and then also an update on the 00:38:30.200 --> 00:38:33.600 leak adjustment policy that recently went to the council what I'll say with 00:38:33.600 --> 00:38:37.240 with that one and also the chemical contracts certainly we endeavor to try 00:38:37.240 --> 00:38:40.920 to bring everything to to the board prior to going to council though 00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:44.320 obviously these did not were providing to you providing them to you kind of 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:48.200 retroactive I think as we move forward the council certainly talking about 00:38:48.200 --> 00:38:53.880 going to a strict to meeting type of schedule and so we're certainly 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:57.800 reinforced with our staff to make sure that that they properly plan out their 00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:02.880 items that they come to you before they go to the council so there's a couple 00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:07.120 staff members here if you have any questions on items one two or three and 00:39:07.120 --> 00:39:11.560 then finally on the new business section item again we just have a couple of 00:39:11.560 --> 00:39:15.880 items that that we've had on here for a little bit of time and do plan to bring 00:39:15.880 --> 00:39:19.640 those back to you obviously those were previously requested by you know mr. 00:39:19.640 --> 00:39:23.680 self who's no longer on the board but we've still kept them on there the plan 00:39:23.680 --> 00:39:27.400 is to still bring those back to you and we are working on that I just we just 00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:31.480 want to keep them on there too as a reminder so happy to answer any questions 00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:36.240 certainly the staff here if you have any questions on the other items mr. Beck 00:39:36.240 --> 00:39:42.280 thank you I'd be glad to add my name to mr. sauce on the second item there if 00:39:42.280 --> 00:39:50.840 that would help move it along okay very well thank you any other questions oh go 00:39:50.840 --> 00:39:56.400 ahead thank you I just wanted to thank staff and mr. 00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:00.880 Rangita for providing the the red line version of the solid waste manual I 00:40:00.880 --> 00:40:05.200 notice there's a lot of red line the entire sections were completely 00:40:05.200 --> 00:40:09.080 rewritten so there wasn't there wasn't a lot of detail to see in that red line 00:40:09.080 --> 00:40:17.000 but I think it's solid waste has an interesting aspect where a lot of the 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:20.360 infrastructure is privately owned where all of the other utilities they're in 00:40:20.360 --> 00:40:23.760 easements or they're in publicly owned streets if we want to change something 00:40:23.760 --> 00:40:29.300 well we can change our rules and we can go back and retrofit potentially solid 00:40:29.300 --> 00:40:37.320 waste all of that pickup infrastructure is on private property and so if if the 00:40:37.320 --> 00:40:43.120 design manual doesn't require it or allow it you know that that dictates how 00:40:43.120 --> 00:40:47.520 decades of infrastructure are built in the city and we can't go back and say oh 00:40:47.520 --> 00:40:51.960 now we want to use this other dumpster thing this other dumpster style and 00:40:51.960 --> 00:40:57.920 without forcing ten or twenty or fifty thousand citizens to change their 00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:03.680 property so I think that's a unique thing where the criteria manual reflects 00:41:03.680 --> 00:41:07.680 a major portion of solid waste infrastructure that can't be changed in 00:41:07.680 --> 00:41:11.400 the future so thank you for the detail 00:41:11.400 --> 00:41:18.040 other questions all right that brings us to concluding items does any board 00:41:18.040 --> 00:41:21.840 member wish to have something put on a future agenda or have any comments to 00:41:21.840 --> 00:41:29.360 make to the public I see no I'll just wish everybody a Merry Christmas happy 00:41:29.360 --> 00:41:38.040 holidays and healthy new year motion to adjourn adjourn we're adjourned