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 Good morning. I'd like to call the Public Utility Board meeting for the City of Denton

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 Monday August 8th, 2022 to order. First item is going to be, are there any presentations

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 from the members of the public? I didn't see any comments or anything. So we'll move on

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 to the consent agenda. I already have requests from Mr. Ryback to pull D, E and G. Yes sir.

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 Are there any others? Okay, if you'd like, we'll entertain a motion to approve A, B, C, F, H, I, J, K, L for approval. So moved. Motion second. All those in favor please say I. I.

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 Any opposed? Okay, let's go to item D, Mr. Ryback. I just wanted to get some more information

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 on this. I know the City Council had a meeting on Saturday and may have reviewed this in

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 more detail, but I'd just like to get a little update on this. Thank you. Board, board members

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 or chair, board members, Krista Foster, customer service manager. Items D and E are actually

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 not budget related. Our meeting Saturday was the budget workshop. This is simply Texhoma

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 Council of Governments has federal funding that they currently have in place with us.

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 Our customers have access to utility assistance for electric. They have now found a funding

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 source to be able to assist our customers with water bills and we have to bring that

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 forward for approval. Item E is simply asking for an ordinance that says as long as we're

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 working with a nonprofit or governmental agency that is funding assistance for our customers

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 at no cost to the city, that we authorize the city manager to be able to execute those

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 so that we can do them in a more timely and efficient manner to be able to get our customers

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 access. So what is the funding source? I do not know. That's TCOG has that funding source.

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 It is a federal source that they have. Okay. So these are federal funds that are being

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 managed by? By the Texhoma Council of Governments. Correct. Yeah. The agreement is just confirming

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 that we understand how we have to apply and use those funds when we receive them. So we

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 do not yet know what the amount of those funds will be? We would not know what their funding

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 is. We don't with their electric sources. We don't know what their funding sources are.

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 They manage their budgets for that. This is why I have trouble with these. I'm like, okay,

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 there's money coming from somewhere. We don't seem to know how much it is. We don't seem

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 to know who it's from. It's the same as... You're asking us to approve this going forward

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 and I just left me a little... We're not approving any actual fund expenditures. It's the same

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 as if our daily bread or another community service group provides funds to pay for electric

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 bills. It's just that with certain ones, sometimes it can be a FEMA program, sometimes it could

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 be a Texhoma Council of Governments that because of stipulations that they have to follow in

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 order to receive funds, they have to do a vendor agreement that says we understand when

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 they send us money, this is how we're to use it. That's the only thing we're looking at

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 is how we apply those funds. Well, back to my question. So there's an amount of money.

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 We don't know what it is. We presume the funding source to be federal, but all we know is it's

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 being managed by this Texhoma Council of Governments. Correct. Really, we don't look at their budget.

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 We don't look at their budget. They manage that and determine... But they also are not

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 advising you what the budget amount for us to use will be. We won't be receiving that

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 type of funds. The customer applies through their program, goes through all of the documentation

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 process and is approved or denied by Texhoma Council of Governments, and they simply write

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 a check and send it to us. Okay. So essentially, we are a conduit for this funding. We are

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 not actually managing or handling this money. Correct. We'll see. Now, that was not clear

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 from this write-up. If I could add something, Tiffany Thompson, Director of Customer Service

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 and Animal Services, we've been receiving these funds for several years. This is also

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 just... Legal wanted to also have an executed contract on behalf of the city manager as

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 well. So we're just trying to be transparent that we've received these funds on behalf

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 of customers for several years. We're just making sure that we have it on the books that

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 the city manager can execute this contract. So we get funds on behalf of the customers

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 for several years. We just want to make sure that you're aware of it and then also with

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 the additional to the water as well. Well, I was not aware of it until now. So we don't

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 know how much because they could say, "We want to pledge $100." Also, we're not handling

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 the money. That was also not clear in this. So the customer client, our current electric

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 or water customer separately applies to the Texoma Council of Governments. We simply make

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 them aware of the program. Is that essentially what goes on? Sometimes we make them aware

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 of the program. Sometimes they are referred from another agency to that program. Basically,

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 we are just... They'll write a check to say, "This is going to cover this particular account

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 for X number of dollars." And we are receiving and applying the money on behalf of the customer.

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 Okay. So we do handle money. We do receive the funds from Texoma based on the application

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 from the customer. Correct. Okay. Again, it's the same as if someone does go to our daily

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 bread or interfaith ministries. They manage what their budget is. Now, we put funds into

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 interfaith ministries, right? But they manage it. They determine the qualification guidelines

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 and they determine if they have funds available to distribute. And then if they do, then they

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 would make that determination and we just receive them. When you're looking at something

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 like one of these agreements, typically the funding sources that require those types of

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 agreements simply states, for the case of TCOG, that if that customer terminates services

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 and part of that credit is money that came from this funding source, that we're pulling

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 that back out and we're going to provide that back to them so that we know that... Or they

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 know that it went to the actual bill. It's small things like that is what they require

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 the agreement for. Okay. Thank you. Here we go. I thought I saw you turn it on. Okay,

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 so my understanding, and there's no strings attached here to this money, the intent is

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 to help low-income families and they can either apply for it if they're aware of the program

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 or can something be done on DME's end where we see there's a need out there in the community

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 and we alert them to them and help process the... We do some of both. Okay. First line

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 of resource for our customers is we will refer them through Interfaith Ministries or United

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 Way based on what program guidelines there are because we know that we have an established

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 relationship with both of those entities. If for some reason they have exceeded the number

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 of assistance referrals from Interfaith or through United Way, they also provide a list

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 of other funding sources that the customer may qualify for. If the customer does not

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 want us to provide them a referral to Interfaith or United Way, we also will provide them a

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 list that tells them the different places that they can go to look for assistance. So

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 we are looking for those things to try to help our customers. So if you see a homeowner

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 that's missing payments, that would be a red flag for y'all to get them active? Typically

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 it's when they contact us and they're expressing that difficulty or we're seeing that in their

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 payment history that we will initiate those conversations. Got you. Thank you. So is it

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 fair to say that D&E are basically, it seems like we're just talking about allowing a third

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 party to pay a bill, a utility bill. That is correct. And we're just defining who that

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 third party is and saying that it's okay. And saying that it's okay. Because for us

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 to come through the entire approval process, we're delaying customers access to those funds

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 for up to eight, 10 weeks sometimes. Okay. So this would allow us to more quickly get

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 that revenue stream for customers. Okay. We're good. Okay. Can we do the, can we take these

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 three together? Review them? Ask the questions about F and then do D&F together? Yeah. Unless

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 somebody pulls out, or D&G, excuse me. Yeah. We need to talk about G first. So just making

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 sure that's okay. Okay. Mr. Rabat, you had G also. Yes. I have a G question. Good morning.

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 Jerry Luper, Division Manager System Operations, DME. Well, thank you for coming this morning.

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 I'm sure it was on short notice. I apologize for that. I'm curious about this contract,

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 not because of the amount or, but because of the work on the contract. I'm very familiar

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 with Burns and McDonald's as an engineering firm. No problem with that. This looks more

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 like a master systems integration kind of contract and I am not familiar with them having

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 those skills, attributes and personnel. So I'm a little curious about why we're retaining

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 an engineering firm to do a master systems integration project. So if you could help

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 me out there. Yes. So right now we have three engineering firms in our professional services,

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 engineering professional services. Out of those three, two provide some technology support,

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 Powers Engineer and Burns and McDonald's. Burns and Mack have an edge there with the

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 owner's engineer contract and they've already done a couple of large scale utility network

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 migrations. So we've chosen them to be the owner's engineer for a massive program or

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 massive projects going to be spanned the next two to three years. It did look that way from

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 the write up. It is and we'll try to contract Powers to actually do the conversion, Burns

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 and Mack to oversee it. Okay. So Burns and McDonald's is serving as the overseer or manager

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 of this process rather than as the implementer of the process. Yes sir. Okay. Well that makes

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 a lot more sense to me. Thank you very much. Yes sir. Okay. Looks like there's nobody else.

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 I entertain a motion to approve DENG. So moved. Second. You got a second down here with them.

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 All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Now we are at items for individual consideration.

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 Consider approval of the July 25, 2022 minutes. Move to approve. Second. All those in favor

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 please say aye. Aye. Opposed say the same. Item B is consider recommending adoption of

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 an ordinance of the City of Denton. Establishing the reach for water and water services repealing

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 ordinance number 21-2112. It's a rush album. Providing for repealer. Providing for a severability

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 clause and providing an effective date. Good morning PUB members. Danielle Stanford and

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 her own budget manager. We're just seeking your approval this morning for the utility

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 rates. We do have a presentation if you have questions but we are just seeking approval

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 this morning. Ma'am could you move the microphone a little more in line with your voice? Yes.

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 Was there any discussion? Any questions? No? If not I'm going to entertain a motion for

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 item B. Got a movement down here from Ben. Second. Second from Larry. Thank you. All

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 those in favor please say aye. Aye. Item number C consider recommending adoption of an ordinance

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 of the City of Denton, Texas. Establishing the schedule of rates and fees for wastewater

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 service. Repealing ordinance number 21-2113. Providing for repealer. Providing for a severability

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 clause and providing an effective date. Same thing here. Just seeking approval. We do have

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 a presentation if you have questions. Got a question first Mr. Rebett? No it was first.

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 I would like to see your presentation if you have it available. Sure no problem. Thank

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 you. Thank you. So this is just quickly going through the presentation objectives. The rate

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 change history. The water wholesale rates. The wastewater rate changes. And the solid

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 waste rate changes. And then next steps. This table just shows our rate history since 2016.

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 There have been no rate increases for the City of Denton utilities since 2016. The water

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 wholesale rates. You will notice these rates have changed for the 22-23 proposed budget

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 since the last time you saw this. These rates were not available during our last presentation

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 to PUB. Since then the data from the City of Dallas has become available so these 22-23

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 rates are reflective of that. Wastewater rates have not changed since you last seen this

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 presentation. We only have two. The dino dirt per cubic yard and the dino dirt bagged per

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 cubic foot. Solid waste did have a handful of changes. These have not changed since the

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 last presentation. And then our next steps. This slide is dated but we did have our budget

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 workshop on Saturday and then we will take these to council for approval on September

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 27th. I'm just curious the raw waste, the raw water, is that from Dallas or to Dallas?

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 This is from Dallas. This is our pass-through rate. So that's what they're charging us.

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 Steven is going to come up. Good morning PUB member Rybeck. The wholesale water rate is

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 actually what we sell. We sell upper Trinity from our resources in Ray Robertson Lake Louisville.

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 So we are selling this. Yes sir. And we base that rate off of 85% of what the Dallas raw

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 water rate is. That's how Dallas gets into the conversation. Very good. Thank you so

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 much. We do have a member of the board, Devin, you are a raw water guy. Do you have any comments

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 or thoughts about this? I know these look like they're probably in line for large industrial

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 use of wastewater. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? One more. Move approval down

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 here and down here. I have one more question. Oh I'm sorry I thought you said move approval.

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 So I think two slides down on the solid waste. Yes sir. The construction and demolition rate,

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 that's a new rate, right? Doesn't exist in the previous rates? That is a new rate, yes

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 sir. I think I might have just found a minor clear clear then. The red line version shows

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 it as if it's not new, like it's just already in the body of the ordinance. Okay. So I think

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 maybe I just got like a bad red line. Sure we can follow up on that. Okay. Devin's moved

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 approval. Anyone? Lee? Lee, you got a second down here? All those in favor please say aye.

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 Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Are you Dee also? I am. Okay. Consider recommending adoption

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 of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas establishing the rates and fees for solid

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 waste and recycling collection service, providing further information regarding such collection

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 and establishing indemnity of the city, incorporating and applying sections 26.3, 26.4, 26.5, 26.7,

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 26.8, and 26.9 of article one of chapter 26 of the City of Denton ordinances repealing

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 ordinance number 21-2114, providing for repealer, providing for a severability clause, and providing

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 an effective date. I guess this is very similar, the minor changes here. Anybody want to see

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 the? It's the same presentation. This is for the slide that's shown now. Oh, okay. Sorry.

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 I have a motion. Larry the second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

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 Motion passes. Okay. E's management reports. Is that you, Tony? Yes, sir. So, Mr. Chair,

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 members of the Board, we have a couple items for you in the management update today. So

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 we have an on-call storm water services and CIP and engineering contract that went to

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 the council before it came here. And so we're now bringing it back to you kind of per the

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 procedure that we had established with you. We have some staff here if you have, if anyone

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 has any questions regarding that particular item. Okay. The next item that we have here

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 is just, I previously emailed all of you, but DME was awarded the 2022 system achievement

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 award by TPPA for achieving 100% renewal. Actually it was 101%, right? Renewable offset of our

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 total load with wind and solar power. And so we did receive that award and we were co-recipients

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 with the city of Bourne. I think I mentioned to you in my notice, you know, it's interesting

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 because the city manager of Bourne actually started off as an intern here in the city

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 of Denton. So it was good to see him again and remind him that we didn't hire him in

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 the finance department when I was in finance. But it was all in fun. Now he's the city manager,

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 right? I think he, I think he fared pretty well. So, but, but it was, it was nice sharing

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 that award with them. And certainly we've listed for you the past recipients. So we're

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 certainly in a, in a very good crowd of other utilities in this achievement. The next item

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 that we have for you is a feature agenda items. Again, now, now that we've kind of gone through

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 the budget, yes, sir. Before we move on, can we at least say congratulations? Yeah. Congratulations.

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 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And when I say, you know, we accepted that internally on behalf

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 of our community that, that established that goal, but certainly all the work of, of our

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 DME staff in making sure that we had the contracts in place and, and we worked very closely with

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 the city auditor and making sure that we, that we were doing that correctly. And anyway,

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 so thank you for that. So a feature agenda items now that we've gotten past the budget,

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 we don't have a whole lot of stuff here for you, but there's certainly a number of items

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 that we'll continue to populate for you. So August 22nd, there's a discussion with you

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 about some water related items also associated with the army corps of engineers. September

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 12th, we have some discussion with you as well about water rights. And it sounds like

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 this is all things that Stephen gay and his staff will, will be bringing forward to you.

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 But I think as those items continue to, to, to bubble up, we'll, we'll try to give you

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 advanced notice of what's coming in the future meetings. And then finally, under the new

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 business there, you know, we still have the one particular item. I can assure you that

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 we keep saying that every meeting we are working on that. We're getting closer to that. We

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 anticipate going to the sustainability committee sometime at the end of this month with a presentation.

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 I know there was a question that Mr. jumper asked, I'm assuming the last meeting regarding

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 potentially increasing the budget for, for solar rebates. That's certainly an option

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 that we'll be discussing with the sustainability framework advisory committee and then bringing

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 that to you and ultimately to the council and seeking direction. And so, you know, our

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 plan is to certainly have a number of different options for your consideration. Certainly

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 any increase to the budget, certainly if it's an increase to DME, as, as you are very well

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 aware starting next year, there is a plan drawdown of reserves already. So likely any

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 additional increase in budgets may mean some type of rate increase. That'll certainly something

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 for you to consider. We also have now another pot of money associated with franchise fees

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 all rise from the data center that's going into a sustainability fund, $4 million plan

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 for that for next year. That'll also, I think, be part of that conversation. But so again,

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 we're developing that. I think that that through that presentation, we'll be able to respond

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 to, to both of these items that, that are here on, on a new business action. So, so

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 with that, I'll surely stand for any questions that you may have.

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 Just want to look at on the back of that, Tony, are y'all seeing a DME, a significant

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 uptick in application for solar panels compared to previous years?

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 I think, I think the short answer is absolutely. I think part of the challenge that we're having

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 is that, you know, so we've dedicated $500,000 out of our budget for solar rebates. What

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 I can tell you is that right now, half of the solar installations that go into the city

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 go in without the solar rebate. And so I think from my perspective, you know, you can carve

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 up that $500,000 as much as you want. You can certainly add additional money. But what

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 I can tell you is that the initial, the original intention of those rebates was because the

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 cost of solar panels was considerably much higher, actually twice the cost that they

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 are today. So the same system today that cost 20 to 30,000 used to cost 50 to $60,000. So

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 the market and the pricing for that has certainly come down and made it far more affordable.

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 You could add, like I said, you can add additional money to that budget. But the issue is that

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 there's always going to be someone left out from that rebate, right? And so I think from

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 our perspective, and I'm probably going to get a little bit ahead of myself here, right?

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 From our perspective is when you're talking about energy efficiency, right, I think we

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 got to recognize one, we're already in a 100% renewable energy community, right, by the

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 goal that was established and what we've achieved. And then second of all, there's likely other

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 initiatives, even within our existing green sense program, there may be a bigger bang

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 for our buck. And then finally, the other thing that comes into play here is the issue

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 of who is able to install solar versus those that aren't, right? So we have a large lower

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 income customer base that has an older house stock that cannot, one, support the structural

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 pressure on their roof, so there needs to be additional investment in that. And then

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 not only that, but I think from an income standpoint, from a disposable income standpoint,

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 those individuals have a harder time being able to justify a $20,000 to $30,000 expenditure,

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 right? And so I think there's an equity and fairness issue that we've got to deal with,

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 along with some other issues, structural rate issues that we have in that there's a fixed

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 component to our rates that has to be recovered that currently is not being recovered by the,

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 I would say, is a very generous program that we have that's beyond even the solar rebates.

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 This is how we credit people for the energy that they produce from the rooftop solar that

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 we're not even able to recover our fixed expenses. So those are things that we're going to be

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 coming back. Certainly, we understand this is sensitive information, and so we're going

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 to try to give different options, certainly give our perspective, and then we'll be looking

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 for policy recommendations from the various groups.

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 Okay, thanks.

246
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,280
 My question on there, were you done?

247
00:26:01,280 --> 00:26:03,280
 Oh, go ahead, please.

248
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:07,360
 It was actually a two-part question. Do we need to add money to it or perhaps remove

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 it altogether? Kind of along those lines. So I might amend my question to say, do we

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 need to reevaluate how that money is used to target specific groups of people, for example,

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 like low-income or something like that? So that's kind of more the flavor of question

252
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 I was kind of getting at there.

253
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 Okay. No, I just wanted to say, and I think in the presentation that we're contemplating,

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 those options will be there, and certainly we'll be looking for recommendations from

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 this body and from the sustainability group as well to then take to the council who will

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 ultimately set what that policy will be going forward.

257
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 I have a question.

258
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 Yes, sir.

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00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:52,600
 Since we're going to be working to assist local individuals, residential customers to

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 get solar panels, like all pieces of equipment, they have a useful life. And it's one thing

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 for the large commercial operators that we procure power from to deal with disposal or

262
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 handling of those. Are we potentially creating a problem for our solid waste group with these

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 peripheral proliferation of solar panels in homes? It's a question, and I only came up

264
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 because we were talking about the panel issue.

265
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 Yeah. Certainly I don't think there's anybody here from solid waste, but certainly that's

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 a consideration. I don't know what kind of agreements these homeowners and businesses

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 have with their installers and whether or not they'll actually end up in the city's

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 landfill or some other landfill or some other recycling process. And so it's difficult.

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 I think from a community penetration standpoint, I think we're at less than 25% of our total

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 customers that actually have roofed out solar. So it's a very small fraction right now what's

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 there. And so I think from a quantity standpoint, I think it's probably at this point, probably

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 a minimal concern, I would estimate. But certainly I think that we can certainly try to address

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 that question. We can bring in our solid waste folks and see kind of what their thought process

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 is on that.

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 It seems like over time we'd be leaving ourselves open for future problems.

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 So Eugene McKinney is here, and maybe Eugene can respond to if they're seeing any of that

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 and how they're treating that.

278
00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:33,480
 Good morning. Eugene McKinney, I'm Deputy Director of Solid Waste and Recycling. Great

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 question. We do see minimal. We don't see anything. But if this becomes a concern, community

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 concern, this will fit perfectly into our comprehensive strategy. Keeping it away from

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 the landfill, finding markets for recycling this material, because definitely we don't

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 want it there. Again, we want that premium product in the landfill. So there will be

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 the question is, let's find markets for this after it's reached this life. So just like

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 so many other products, the conversation that we've been talking about here lately about

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 finding that second life, but keep it away from the landfill. So that would fit perfectly

286
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 in there if it becomes a community concern, something the landfill issue.

287
00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:23,840
 Well, I assume over time, the first solar systems may have been put in 10 or 15 years

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 ago. If they have a 20 or 25 year service life, in five or 10 years, you'll start seeing

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 the accumulation of these being taken out of service.

290
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:37,640
 Right. And there's several factors there. The makeup of the material, right? And what

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 does it consist of, right? So typically anything that's from a landfill perspective and what

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 we're trying to get out of it that produce that secondary product, which is methane.

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 So you've heard it before, anything that doesn't fit into that, what should be going there,

294
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 we want to divert it away. So again, finding those markets that'll take those solar panels.

295
00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:07,720
 Looking now, right? Because we know it's going to come, right? So we look now. So when those

296
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 maturity, the maturity date has set, well, this is no longer, we'll already have the

297
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 button ready to go and say, okay, instead of coming here, here's an option for you.

298
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 I'm glad you're planning for it. Thank you.

299
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 I think the only other item that I'll add just very quickly is that as you know, if

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 you've kept up with, at the federal level, there's a current bill that's under consideration

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 that gets now moved out of the Senate into the House. It's likely going to pass. And

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 so within the components of that bill is this tax credits offer to rooftop installers that

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 I think it's like 23%. That is a very, I think, very lucrative, very generous tax credits

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 actually dwarfs the amount of the rebate that we offer. And that's planned to continue.

305
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 And so I think there's a huge benefit there already built into trying to incentivize people

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 to install rooftop solar that, you know, frankly, half a million dollars that we have dedicated

307
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 our budget is pretty insignificant, I think, at the end of the day. Although I understand

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 if you get that, it's still pretty nice to get, you know? But again, over half of our

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 installers right now are not getting those. And I feel a lot of those phone calls as to

310
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,000
 why didn't I get it? Why don't you restructure this program? And so there's a lot of administrative

311
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 burden that goes into administering something like that. It'll be things that we'll be bringing

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 forward, hopefully addressing these questions.

313
00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,240
 Eugene, what's the current timeline for the comprehensive plan?

314
00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:38,740
 Well, right now we're in the planning this first fiscal season. And what we brought before

315
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 is from the planning, getting things together. We look at next fiscal season, you'll start

316
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 some of these some of these pieces moving forward. Some of these outside vendors being

317
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 set up, you know, there's been a large conversation on shingles and different C and D, different

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 things that we typically don't want. You know, you'll start seeing a lot of those things

319
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 set up maybe a year or two. And it's a progression, right? So as we move forward, you'll start

320
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 seeing a lot of these things. But right now we got the administrative things set up, setting

321
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 them up. We're looking at the employees, we're looking at programs. So it's a timeline thing

322
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:14,960
 out from like, we got seven certain benchmarks from year one, year two, year three, year

323
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:15,960
 four, year five on out.

324
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:19,200
 So it's like a five, it's a five, it's gonna take five years to write this.

325
00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:23,080
 You know, and typically I say that we'd like to see some things happen a little sooner.

326
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 But some things are when you got startup, some things are out of out of out of control.

327
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 And as you write something next year, something else will change, you know, possibly, and

328
00:32:31,760 --> 00:32:35,040
 then this act will go into effect and we'll have to figure out how that works.

329
00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:39,760
 Yes. And then, you know, Tony mentioned about some things going on at the federal level,

330
00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:44,640
 you know, I've worked in several large municipalities. And as this becomes more prevalent in those

331
00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:49,600
 cities, you know, things are they're requiring these solar installers to kind of go through

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 the city for permits and different things like that before they install. And those permits

333
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:59,040
 and ordinances are written to where disposal is your responsibility. It can't be, it can't

334
00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,440
 go to a landfill and it can't go to a waste to energy facility.

335
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:29,200
 Thank you. So language up front is very important. Yes, sir. Yes. Yes. And that's the goal. A

336
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 lot of reusable materials in solar panels. Absolutely. And that's the that's the purpose

337
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 of finding that second life. Yeah, because all of it's not say, let's say trash at this

338
00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:43,040
 point, women, there's some good product here that has another life. We want to find those

339
00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:50,800
 markets for that versus just bury it and let it sit forever. All right. Okay. Great. Thanks.

340
00:33:50,800 --> 00:34:01,360
 Thank you. No further questions. Yes, we can move into concluding items. Our work session,

341
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:04,600
 which is receive a report, hold a discussion to give staff direction regarding the city

342
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:09,760
 of Denton ordinance and guidelines and issuing utility bill payment agreements. Is this connected

343
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:21,340
 with the last discussion or soon? No, it is separate. Chair, board members, Krista Foster,

344
00:34:21,340 --> 00:34:26,000
 customer service manager. And this is actually to talk to you about our pay agreement guidelines

345
00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:34,160
 and processes. Um, so as you know, we've had a couple of wild years and lifted a lot of

346
00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:38,400
 fees, did a lot of things differently during the height of the pandemic. And as we've gone

347
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:43,880
 through this spring, returning all of our business processes to normal, as we went back

348
00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:48,320
 into charging late fees and interruption fees and things such as that, I really wanted to

349
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:54,760
 look at how were our existing guidelines going to be affected because everything has changed

350
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:59,440
 with our economic climate and the way that it's impacted our customers. So what we did

351
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:04,900
 is we set to look out to look at the process that hadn't changed since November of 2010.

352
00:35:04,900 --> 00:35:09,800
 We wanted to make things a little simpler where we could, um, increase the access that

353
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 customers have to our program, make sure that if we're increasing access that we're keeping

354
00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:19,560
 that sustainable with our workloads, right? And then improve our ability to meet our customer's

355
00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:26,000
 needs as we see the need for change. So we're going to present some opportunities and recommendations

356
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 and get some feedback. So our current ordinance and it is in ordinance, that's one of the

357
00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:35,500
 things that we discovered, um, requires council approved guidelines on file with the city

358
00:35:35,500 --> 00:35:41,640
 secretary and they currently allow for a five day arrangement, meaning that if you contact

359
00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:47,680
 us, we can allow you up to five days past your interruption date to make payment for

360
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:54,520
 that bill. You can do that once every six months. If you have say a leak or just an

361
00:35:54,520 --> 00:36:00,760
 extremely high bill for some reason, then you can do a multi-month arrangement. It does require

362
00:36:00,760 --> 00:36:06,880
 50% of the balance upfront and then we break up the rest over three consecutive months

363
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,520
 in equal payments and you may do that once every six months. So, and I forgot my paper.

364
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:27,280
 Give me one moment. So the first thing that we recognized is a five day extension creates

365
00:36:27,280 --> 00:36:32,480
 kind of an arbitrary D date, right? It's not printed on anything that customer would see.

366
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:36,640
 It relies solely on that customer writing down that date and remembering that they made

367
00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:42,940
 that arrangement and please understand a pay agreement is a mutual accountability, right?

368
00:36:42,940 --> 00:36:47,240
 There is accountability that we have in providing a program to the customer, but the customer

369
00:36:47,240 --> 00:36:52,560
 also has some accountability in meeting the commitments that are made. However, if we

370
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:58,280
 can simplify that and provide them a due date, which is easy to remember or they can see

371
00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:03,520
 on their bill reference materials, then we're just making things better for that customer.

372
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:08,760
 So the first thing we'd recommend is changing the due date of the extension to match the

373
00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:14,040
 due date of the current bill because that's printed on their bill. They can see they have

374
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:19,240
 past due charges. They can see when their new bill is due. This would only change the

375
00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,600
 amount of time that's being allowed by up to two calendar days more than what they received

376
00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:29,720
 today. So it's not going to significantly impact, you know, timely collection of revenues,

377
00:37:29,720 --> 00:37:34,680
 but it will give customers a little bit more of an advantage on remembering and meeting

378
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:41,200
 the agreements that they set. The next recommendation is, you know, we want our pay arrangements

379
00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:46,240
 to offer our customers flexibility and we want to try to prevent them from accumulating

380
00:37:46,240 --> 00:37:51,460
 large amounts of debt that they becomes an insurmountable amount. So one of the things

381
00:37:51,460 --> 00:37:59,280
 that we noticed was by restricting the number of requests just as the number of requests,

382
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:04,200
 we're actually restricting our customers based on their need for an arrangement, not their

383
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:09,320
 actions in following through with arrangements. One of the things that I found in looking

384
00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:18,560
 at some of our numbers is in the previous year, sorry, 46 percent of our customers that

385
00:38:18,560 --> 00:38:24,480
 had assistance referrals to interfaith ministries, the denials, 46 percent of those because customers

386
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:31,240
 didn't complete their documentation, and about 29 percent either they didn't qualify by income

387
00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:38,160
 or they had too many assistances because we allow up to two. Over this year, what we have

388
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:44,520
 found is only 7 percent of customers are not completing their documentation and 70 percent

389
00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:50,040
 of the denials are from people who either don't qualify or have already exceeded the

390
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:56,480
 number of needed assistances. So we want to be able to give them an extra avenue to try

391
00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:00,840
 to get that additional time. Don't restrict the number of times that they can make those

392
00:39:00,840 --> 00:39:06,200
 payments or make those arrangements. We want to restrict based on are they following through

393
00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:12,240
 with those arrangements or do they need to look at some of our other programs. Currently,

394
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:19,240
 for this year, we're looking at 36 percent of our arrangements have been defaulted. And

395
00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:23,360
 completing an arrangement that a customer completes really creates very little additional

396
00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:29,080
 workload for staff. But an arrangement that's defaulted now results in having to have longer

397
00:39:29,080 --> 00:39:35,080
 phone call conversations and upset customer. It requires field crews to go out. Yes, sir?

398
00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:40,840
 >> You've been talking in terms of percentages. What kind of numbers are we talking about?

399
00:39:40,840 --> 00:39:47,080
 How many of these arrangements a year? Or put this a different way, how many customers

400
00:39:47,080 --> 00:39:52,280
 a year request arrangements? >> Correct. So I have it by number of arrangements,

401
00:39:52,280 --> 00:40:00,960
 but that's okay. So from February to July of this year, that is almost 2,200 customers

402
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,680
 have had arrangements. So, you know, we're seeing a lot of customers requesting them.

403
00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:12,080
 It is a daily activity in our business. And so what we'd like to do is change that program

404
00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:18,320
 to restrict the number of defaulted arrangements and rather than the fact that you need an

405
00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,040
 arrangement. >> What was the percentage you said of those

406
00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:27,120
 people requesting arrangements that defaulted? >> Currently, it has been 36 percent. But

407
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:32,960
 we don't penalize the default behavior. We just restrict based on the request. So I'm

408
00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:38,720
 hoping that by creating that additional accountability that we can be more flexible for our customers

409
00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:43,480
 as well as reduce those numbers of defaults. >> So how many total customers are there in

410
00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:49,600
 that system? >> We have just over 65,000 customers currently.

411
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:54,680
 >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mm-hmm. And then our final recommendation

412
00:40:54,680 --> 00:41:00,080
 is we discovered that in order to make changes to benefit our customers, it has to go through

413
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:06,760
 that full council process. So for certain programs like this, what we are recommending

414
00:41:06,760 --> 00:41:12,520
 is placing an ordinance that we are required to have a program that it must be approved

415
00:41:12,520 --> 00:41:18,560
 by the city manager, it must be on file with the city secretary, it must be on our website,

416
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:24,920
 and it must require council notification prior to being implemented. So that way, it doesn't

417
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:30,040
 remove that important council oversight. And the same would be for the Public Utilities

418
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:35,440
 Board. It would go out in a Friday report prior to implementation so that if there are

419
00:41:35,440 --> 00:41:41,480
 questions or concerns, it could always be pulled in for a full council process, but

420
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,640
 it wouldn't require it so that we could get these changes in place for our customers and

421
00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:54,880
 impact them more in a more timely manner. So what we are recommending is that at any

422
00:41:54,880 --> 00:42:00,520
 time a customer may have one active arrangement of either a short-term agreement that will

423
00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:06,440
 allow them to get an extension to the due date of their current bill or a long-term

424
00:42:06,440 --> 00:42:11,480
 arrangement. The long-term arrangement would still be the same requirements, 50 percent

425
00:42:11,480 --> 00:42:16,160
 of the current balance, then three months of equal payments to be able to take care

426
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:22,920
 of that balance. And then if a customer defaults to arrangement requests in a 12-month period

427
00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:29,840
 of time, they would be temporarily ineligible to receive a balance arrangement for 12 months

428
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:35,540
 from the second default. So that there is a little bit of a repercussion for that failure

429
00:42:35,540 --> 00:42:38,400
 to hopefully change the behavior.

430
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:49,200
 I don't think it was in here, but shouldn't education to the customer what other available

431
00:42:49,200 --> 00:42:51,360
 resources there are?

432
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:56,960
 We do that as we go through the process of setting up arrangements. Sometimes as we're

433
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:02,000
 setting up those arrangements, we'll have that conversation of do we need to do a referral

434
00:43:02,000 --> 00:43:08,040
 to an assistance agency, do we need to provide them that list of resources, things like that.

435
00:43:08,040 --> 00:43:13,180
 Educating them about our prepaid program, because a lot of customers are a little bit

436
00:43:13,180 --> 00:43:19,600
 afraid of that. But as we see customers move to prepaid, it changes their lives because

437
00:43:19,600 --> 00:43:24,600
 they get daily information about those balances, they never receive late fees. If they get

438
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:30,200
 an interruption, it's off for usually 10, 15 minutes because they can make a minimal

439
00:43:30,200 --> 00:43:37,640
 payment to get it back on. So we do have those conversations with customers as well.

440
00:43:37,640 --> 00:43:41,980
 And so really what we're looking for is, again, trying to meet the goals of simplification

441
00:43:41,980 --> 00:43:47,280
 of the process for staff and for customers, increase accessibility of the program while

442
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:51,660
 maintaining being sustainable, and be able to push changes that impact our public in

443
00:43:51,660 --> 00:43:57,200
 a timely manner. So I'm here for questions.

444
00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:02,040
 >> Just one concern there, and I understand the need to -- for a process to encourage

445
00:44:02,040 --> 00:44:08,600
 people to pay in a timely manner. But if you run into a situation where they've gone through

446
00:44:08,600 --> 00:44:16,580
 the process and still haven't been able to accommodate payment, would you cut the service

447
00:44:16,580 --> 00:44:23,660
 off on certain days when it's extremely hot or extremely cold, or would you allow some

448
00:44:23,660 --> 00:44:30,000
 time to get past that kind of weather? >> Sure. City ordinance actually provides

449
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:37,440
 clause for that, and we do not do any interruptions if it is over 100 degrees, or there's a Denton

450
00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:43,840
 County heat advisory in effect, and we also do not interrupt services if it is below freezing.

451
00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:53,560
 So, yeah, we do make accommodation for that. >> Okay. Good. Thanks.

452
00:44:53,560 --> 00:45:00,120
 >> Regarding the recommended change to the ordinance about approving -- so could you

453
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:09,440
 return to that slide? Right now City Council has to approve the ordinance change, so it's

454
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:12,880
 like a full ordinance amendment, I guess, to -- >> Correct.

455
00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:17,840
 >> And this would just make it where we post it publicly and notify City Council, and then

456
00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:21,880
 it takes effect? >> Correct. The ordinance would be updated

457
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:26,800
 to reflect that we still have the requirement of having one, that it be -- is on file, and

458
00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:32,880
 the ordinance would still require that notification to ensure that City Council is not eliminated

459
00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:38,800
 from the process, because they're a very important part of that process. But it would allow us

460
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:43,920
 to be able to move through things that everyone would agree upon without having to prolong

461
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:49,800
 that by, again, sometimes 8 to 12 weeks. >> Okay. And so right now the process takes

462
00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:53,240
 -- you said 8 to 12 weeks? >> Yeah. By the time we've gone through the

463
00:45:53,240 --> 00:45:57,160
 getting things ready, started to write the ordinances, then having to go through the

464
00:45:57,160 --> 00:46:02,480
 legal and the PUB and the council, and with a change like this, we're not going to just

465
00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:07,080
 write an ordinance and plop it in front of you. We're going to draft recommendations.

466
00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:11,860
 We're going to go through the entire process, get recommendation, then go back and go through

467
00:46:11,860 --> 00:46:16,200
 all of that legal process with the drafting of ordinances, so it could potentially take

468
00:46:16,200 --> 00:46:20,400
 even longer. >> Okay. And the new process, is it -- about

469
00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:25,160
 how much time does that save? >> Well, in this particular case, we identify

470
00:46:25,160 --> 00:46:30,960
 the changes that are necessary. We pull the current guidelines. We make the changes that

471
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:35,720
 are there, get some time on the city manager's schedule, make sure that we can get approval

472
00:46:35,720 --> 00:46:40,380
 in that she says these are great changes, let's go for it. Then we're going to provide

473
00:46:40,380 --> 00:46:46,680
 information in a Friday report and potentially give maybe two weeks to allow for any questions

474
00:46:46,680 --> 00:46:51,200
 or changes. >> Okay. Thank you.

475
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:58,240
 >> Good. Okay. Thank you very much, Krista. >> Of course.

476
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:06,360
 >> I think there's any more questions. So I guess we'll entertain a motion for adjournment.

477
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:11,920
 So moved. Thank you very much. We're adjourned.