WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.480 Good morning. I'd like to call the Public Utility Board meeting for the City of Denton 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:19.940 Monday August 8th, 2022 to order. First item is going to be, are there any presentations 00:00:19.940 --> 00:00:26.160 from the members of the public? I didn't see any comments or anything. So we'll move on 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:34.440 to the consent agenda. I already have requests from Mr. Ryback to pull D, E and G. Yes sir. 00:00:34.440 --> 00:01:04.360 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. 00:01:04.360 --> 00:01:16.920 Any opposed? Okay, let's go to item D, Mr. Ryback. I just wanted to get some more information 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:22.280 on this. I know the City Council had a meeting on Saturday and may have reviewed this in 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:28.760 more detail, but I'd just like to get a little update on this. Thank you. Board, board members 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:35.480 or chair, board members, Krista Foster, customer service manager. Items D and E are actually 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:42.160 not budget related. Our meeting Saturday was the budget workshop. This is simply Texhoma 00:01:42.160 --> 00:01:48.160 Council of Governments has federal funding that they currently have in place with us. 00:01:48.160 --> 00:01:54.680 Our customers have access to utility assistance for electric. They have now found a funding 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:59.720 source to be able to assist our customers with water bills and we have to bring that 00:01:59.720 --> 00:02:06.800 forward for approval. Item E is simply asking for an ordinance that says as long as we're 00:02:06.800 --> 00:02:12.880 working with a nonprofit or governmental agency that is funding assistance for our customers 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:18.040 at no cost to the city, that we authorize the city manager to be able to execute those 00:02:18.040 --> 00:02:22.040 so that we can do them in a more timely and efficient manner to be able to get our customers 00:02:22.040 --> 00:02:27.700 access. So what is the funding source? I do not know. That's TCOG has that funding source. 00:02:27.700 --> 00:02:33.080 It is a federal source that they have. Okay. So these are federal funds that are being 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:40.160 managed by? By the Texhoma Council of Governments. Correct. Yeah. The agreement is just confirming 00:02:40.160 --> 00:02:46.600 that we understand how we have to apply and use those funds when we receive them. So we 00:02:46.600 --> 00:02:51.720 do not yet know what the amount of those funds will be? We would not know what their funding 00:02:51.720 --> 00:02:55.520 is. We don't with their electric sources. We don't know what their funding sources are. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:03:00.160 They manage their budgets for that. This is why I have trouble with these. I'm like, okay, 00:03:00.160 --> 00:03:03.520 there's money coming from somewhere. We don't seem to know how much it is. We don't seem 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:08.920 to know who it's from. It's the same as... You're asking us to approve this going forward 00:03:08.920 --> 00:03:14.400 and I just left me a little... We're not approving any actual fund expenditures. It's the same 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:21.020 as if our daily bread or another community service group provides funds to pay for electric 00:03:21.020 --> 00:03:26.160 bills. It's just that with certain ones, sometimes it can be a FEMA program, sometimes it could 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:31.580 be a Texhoma Council of Governments that because of stipulations that they have to follow in 00:03:31.580 --> 00:03:36.200 order to receive funds, they have to do a vendor agreement that says we understand when 00:03:36.200 --> 00:03:41.280 they send us money, this is how we're to use it. That's the only thing we're looking at 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:46.260 is how we apply those funds. Well, back to my question. So there's an amount of money. 00:03:46.260 --> 00:03:51.920 We don't know what it is. We presume the funding source to be federal, but all we know is it's 00:03:51.920 --> 00:04:01.160 being managed by this Texhoma Council of Governments. Correct. Really, we don't look at their budget. 00:04:01.160 --> 00:04:03.960 We don't look at their budget. They manage that and determine... But they also are not 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:10.080 advising you what the budget amount for us to use will be. We won't be receiving that 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:15.720 type of funds. The customer applies through their program, goes through all of the documentation 00:04:15.720 --> 00:04:21.400 process and is approved or denied by Texhoma Council of Governments, and they simply write 00:04:21.400 --> 00:04:27.880 a check and send it to us. Okay. So essentially, we are a conduit for this funding. We are 00:04:27.880 --> 00:04:33.080 not actually managing or handling this money. Correct. We'll see. Now, that was not clear 00:04:33.080 --> 00:04:37.700 from this write-up. If I could add something, Tiffany Thompson, Director of Customer Service 00:04:37.700 --> 00:04:42.640 and Animal Services, we've been receiving these funds for several years. This is also 00:04:42.640 --> 00:04:48.120 just... Legal wanted to also have an executed contract on behalf of the city manager as 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:52.080 well. So we're just trying to be transparent that we've received these funds on behalf 00:04:52.080 --> 00:04:57.240 of customers for several years. We're just making sure that we have it on the books that 00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:02.160 the city manager can execute this contract. So we get funds on behalf of the customers 00:05:02.160 --> 00:05:05.400 for several years. We just want to make sure that you're aware of it and then also with 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:10.920 the additional to the water as well. Well, I was not aware of it until now. So we don't 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:15.240 know how much because they could say, "We want to pledge $100." Also, we're not handling 00:05:15.240 --> 00:05:22.600 the money. That was also not clear in this. So the customer client, our current electric 00:05:22.600 --> 00:05:30.080 or water customer separately applies to the Texoma Council of Governments. We simply make 00:05:30.080 --> 00:05:37.000 them aware of the program. Is that essentially what goes on? Sometimes we make them aware 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:43.440 of the program. Sometimes they are referred from another agency to that program. Basically, 00:05:43.440 --> 00:05:48.280 we are just... They'll write a check to say, "This is going to cover this particular account 00:05:48.280 --> 00:05:53.400 for X number of dollars." And we are receiving and applying the money on behalf of the customer. 00:05:53.400 --> 00:05:59.360 Okay. So we do handle money. We do receive the funds from Texoma based on the application 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:08.800 from the customer. Correct. Okay. Again, it's the same as if someone does go to our daily 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:14.200 bread or interfaith ministries. They manage what their budget is. Now, we put funds into 00:06:14.200 --> 00:06:19.680 interfaith ministries, right? But they manage it. They determine the qualification guidelines 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:25.480 and they determine if they have funds available to distribute. And then if they do, then they 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:29.160 would make that determination and we just receive them. When you're looking at something 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:35.160 like one of these agreements, typically the funding sources that require those types of 00:06:35.160 --> 00:06:41.980 agreements simply states, for the case of TCOG, that if that customer terminates services 00:06:41.980 --> 00:06:46.440 and part of that credit is money that came from this funding source, that we're pulling 00:06:46.440 --> 00:06:49.800 that back out and we're going to provide that back to them so that we know that... Or they 00:06:49.800 --> 00:06:56.680 know that it went to the actual bill. It's small things like that is what they require 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:03.300 the agreement for. Okay. Thank you. Here we go. I thought I saw you turn it on. Okay, 00:07:03.300 --> 00:07:07.080 so my understanding, and there's no strings attached here to this money, the intent is 00:07:07.080 --> 00:07:12.720 to help low-income families and they can either apply for it if they're aware of the program 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:17.760 or can something be done on DME's end where we see there's a need out there in the community 00:07:17.760 --> 00:07:25.080 and we alert them to them and help process the... We do some of both. Okay. First line 00:07:25.080 --> 00:07:29.800 of resource for our customers is we will refer them through Interfaith Ministries or United 00:07:29.800 --> 00:07:34.360 Way based on what program guidelines there are because we know that we have an established 00:07:34.360 --> 00:07:40.600 relationship with both of those entities. If for some reason they have exceeded the number 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:46.700 of assistance referrals from Interfaith or through United Way, they also provide a list 00:07:46.700 --> 00:07:51.600 of other funding sources that the customer may qualify for. If the customer does not 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:57.440 want us to provide them a referral to Interfaith or United Way, we also will provide them a 00:07:57.440 --> 00:08:02.520 list that tells them the different places that they can go to look for assistance. So 00:08:02.520 --> 00:08:06.200 we are looking for those things to try to help our customers. So if you see a homeowner 00:08:06.200 --> 00:08:10.440 that's missing payments, that would be a red flag for y'all to get them active? Typically 00:08:10.440 --> 00:08:15.400 it's when they contact us and they're expressing that difficulty or we're seeing that in their 00:08:15.400 --> 00:08:21.160 payment history that we will initiate those conversations. Got you. Thank you. So is it 00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:27.640 fair to say that D&E are basically, it seems like we're just talking about allowing a third 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:32.840 party to pay a bill, a utility bill. That is correct. And we're just defining who that 00:08:32.840 --> 00:08:38.040 third party is and saying that it's okay. And saying that it's okay. Because for us 00:08:38.040 --> 00:08:43.480 to come through the entire approval process, we're delaying customers access to those funds 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:49.960 for up to eight, 10 weeks sometimes. Okay. So this would allow us to more quickly get 00:08:49.960 --> 00:09:02.040 that revenue stream for customers. Okay. We're good. Okay. Can we do the, can we take these 00:09:02.040 --> 00:09:09.240 three together? Review them? Ask the questions about F and then do D&F together? Yeah. Unless 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:16.120 somebody pulls out, or D&G, excuse me. Yeah. We need to talk about G first. So just making 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:31.400 sure that's okay. Okay. Mr. Rabat, you had G also. Yes. I have a G question. Good morning. 00:09:31.400 --> 00:09:37.320 Jerry Luper, Division Manager System Operations, DME. Well, thank you for coming this morning. 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:45.000 I'm sure it was on short notice. I apologize for that. I'm curious about this contract, 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:49.320 not because of the amount or, but because of the work on the contract. I'm very familiar 00:09:49.320 --> 00:09:55.160 with Burns and McDonald's as an engineering firm. No problem with that. This looks more 00:09:55.160 --> 00:10:03.080 like a master systems integration kind of contract and I am not familiar with them having 00:10:03.080 --> 00:10:09.240 those skills, attributes and personnel. So I'm a little curious about why we're retaining 00:10:09.240 --> 00:10:13.920 an engineering firm to do a master systems integration project. So if you could help 00:10:13.920 --> 00:10:19.800 me out there. Yes. So right now we have three engineering firms in our professional services, 00:10:19.800 --> 00:10:25.840 engineering professional services. Out of those three, two provide some technology support, 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:31.880 Powers Engineer and Burns and McDonald's. Burns and Mack have an edge there with the 00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:37.400 owner's engineer contract and they've already done a couple of large scale utility network 00:10:37.400 --> 00:10:43.400 migrations. So we've chosen them to be the owner's engineer for a massive program or 00:10:43.400 --> 00:10:48.680 massive projects going to be spanned the next two to three years. It did look that way from 00:10:48.680 --> 00:10:54.320 the write up. It is and we'll try to contract Powers to actually do the conversion, Burns 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:04.680 and Mack to oversee it. Okay. So Burns and McDonald's is serving as the overseer or manager 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:09.480 of this process rather than as the implementer of the process. Yes sir. Okay. Well that makes 00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:18.440 a lot more sense to me. Thank you very much. Yes sir. Okay. Looks like there's nobody else. 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:28.080 I entertain a motion to approve DENG. So moved. Second. You got a second down here with them. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:42.440 All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Now we are at items for individual consideration. 00:11:42.440 --> 00:11:56.840 Consider approval of the July 25, 2022 minutes. Move to approve. Second. All those in favor 00:11:56.840 --> 00:12:05.360 please say aye. Aye. Opposed say the same. Item B is consider recommending adoption of 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:11.400 an ordinance of the City of Denton. Establishing the reach for water and water services repealing 00:12:11.400 --> 00:12:19.440 ordinance number 21-2112. It's a rush album. Providing for repealer. Providing for a severability 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:25.800 clause and providing an effective date. Good morning PUB members. Danielle Stanford and 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:30.020 her own budget manager. We're just seeking your approval this morning for the utility 00:12:30.020 --> 00:12:36.480 rates. We do have a presentation if you have questions but we are just seeking approval 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:45.440 this morning. Ma'am could you move the microphone a little more in line with your voice? Yes. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:55.640 Was there any discussion? Any questions? No? If not I'm going to entertain a motion for 00:12:55.640 --> 00:13:05.640 item B. Got a movement down here from Ben. Second. Second from Larry. Thank you. All 00:13:05.640 --> 00:13:11.640 those in favor please say aye. Aye. Item number C consider recommending adoption of an ordinance 00:13:11.640 --> 00:13:16.320 of the City of Denton, Texas. Establishing the schedule of rates and fees for wastewater 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:24.560 service. Repealing ordinance number 21-2113. Providing for repealer. Providing for a severability 00:13:24.560 --> 00:13:33.960 clause and providing an effective date. Same thing here. Just seeking approval. We do have 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:44.200 a presentation if you have questions. Got a question first Mr. Rebett? No it was first. 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:50.360 I would like to see your presentation if you have it available. Sure no problem. Thank 00:13:50.360 --> 00:14:00.640 you. Thank you. So this is just quickly going through the presentation objectives. The rate 00:14:00.640 --> 00:14:06.120 change history. The water wholesale rates. The wastewater rate changes. And the solid 00:14:06.120 --> 00:14:14.360 waste rate changes. And then next steps. This table just shows our rate history since 2016. 00:14:14.360 --> 00:14:22.720 There have been no rate increases for the City of Denton utilities since 2016. The water 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:29.000 wholesale rates. You will notice these rates have changed for the 22-23 proposed budget 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:36.280 since the last time you saw this. These rates were not available during our last presentation 00:14:36.280 --> 00:14:43.560 to PUB. Since then the data from the City of Dallas has become available so these 22-23 00:14:43.560 --> 00:14:50.480 rates are reflective of that. Wastewater rates have not changed since you last seen this 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:56.440 presentation. We only have two. The dino dirt per cubic yard and the dino dirt bagged per 00:14:56.440 --> 00:15:02.960 cubic foot. Solid waste did have a handful of changes. These have not changed since the 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:14.240 last presentation. And then our next steps. This slide is dated but we did have our budget 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:19.680 workshop on Saturday and then we will take these to council for approval on September 00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:38.400 27th. I'm just curious the raw waste, the raw water, is that from Dallas or to Dallas? 00:15:38.400 --> 00:15:43.640 This is from Dallas. This is our pass-through rate. So that's what they're charging us. 00:15:43.640 --> 00:15:56.160 Steven is going to come up. Good morning PUB member Rybeck. The wholesale water rate is 00:15:56.160 --> 00:16:04.200 actually what we sell. We sell upper Trinity from our resources in Ray Robertson Lake Louisville. 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:11.960 So we are selling this. Yes sir. And we base that rate off of 85% of what the Dallas raw 00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:17.840 water rate is. That's how Dallas gets into the conversation. Very good. Thank you so 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:24.720 much. We do have a member of the board, Devin, you are a raw water guy. Do you have any comments 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:32.240 or thoughts about this? I know these look like they're probably in line for large industrial 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:44.240 use of wastewater. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? One more. Move approval down 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:51.040 here and down here. I have one more question. Oh I'm sorry I thought you said move approval. 00:16:51.040 --> 00:17:01.240 So I think two slides down on the solid waste. Yes sir. The construction and demolition rate, 00:17:01.240 --> 00:17:05.960 that's a new rate, right? Doesn't exist in the previous rates? That is a new rate, yes 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:10.840 sir. I think I might have just found a minor clear clear then. The red line version shows 00:17:10.840 --> 00:17:17.760 it as if it's not new, like it's just already in the body of the ordinance. Okay. So I think 00:17:17.760 --> 00:17:26.760 maybe I just got like a bad red line. Sure we can follow up on that. Okay. Devin's moved 00:17:26.760 --> 00:17:33.080 approval. Anyone? Lee? Lee, you got a second down here? All those in favor please say aye. 00:17:33.080 --> 00:17:39.720 Aye. Motion passes. Thank you. Are you Dee also? I am. Okay. Consider recommending adoption 00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:44.000 of an ordinance of the City of Denton, Texas establishing the rates and fees for solid 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:49.160 waste and recycling collection service, providing further information regarding such collection 00:17:49.160 --> 00:17:57.880 and establishing indemnity of the city, incorporating and applying sections 26.3, 26.4, 26.5, 26.7, 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:05.960 26.8, and 26.9 of article one of chapter 26 of the City of Denton ordinances repealing 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:14.000 ordinance number 21-2114, providing for repealer, providing for a severability clause, and providing 00:18:14.000 --> 00:18:24.680 an effective date. I guess this is very similar, the minor changes here. Anybody want to see 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:32.480 the? It's the same presentation. This is for the slide that's shown now. Oh, okay. Sorry. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:45.320 I have a motion. Larry the second. All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? 00:18:45.320 --> 00:18:51.800 Motion passes. Okay. E's management reports. Is that you, Tony? Yes, sir. So, Mr. Chair, 00:18:51.800 --> 00:18:58.440 members of the Board, we have a couple items for you in the management update today. So 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:04.920 we have an on-call storm water services and CIP and engineering contract that went to 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:08.480 the council before it came here. And so we're now bringing it back to you kind of per the 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:12.320 procedure that we had established with you. We have some staff here if you have, if anyone 00:19:12.320 --> 00:19:20.480 has any questions regarding that particular item. Okay. The next item that we have here 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:26.900 is just, I previously emailed all of you, but DME was awarded the 2022 system achievement 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:33.640 award by TPPA for achieving 100% renewal. Actually it was 101%, right? Renewable offset of our 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:40.080 total load with wind and solar power. And so we did receive that award and we were co-recipients 00:19:40.080 --> 00:19:44.080 with the city of Bourne. I think I mentioned to you in my notice, you know, it's interesting 00:19:44.080 --> 00:19:48.240 because the city manager of Bourne actually started off as an intern here in the city 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.160 of Denton. So it was good to see him again and remind him that we didn't hire him in 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:56.880 the finance department when I was in finance. But it was all in fun. Now he's the city manager, 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:01.520 right? I think he, I think he fared pretty well. So, but, but it was, it was nice sharing 00:20:01.520 --> 00:20:05.440 that award with them. And certainly we've listed for you the past recipients. So we're 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:11.760 certainly in a, in a very good crowd of other utilities in this achievement. The next item 00:20:11.760 --> 00:20:16.600 that we have for you is a feature agenda items. Again, now, now that we've kind of gone through 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:24.080 the budget, yes, sir. Before we move on, can we at least say congratulations? Yeah. Congratulations. 00:20:24.080 --> 00:20:28.160 Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And when I say, you know, we accepted that internally on behalf 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:32.360 of our community that, that established that goal, but certainly all the work of, of our 00:20:32.360 --> 00:20:38.040 DME staff in making sure that we had the contracts in place and, and we worked very closely with 00:20:38.040 --> 00:20:43.640 the city auditor and making sure that we, that we were doing that correctly. And anyway, 00:20:43.640 --> 00:20:48.560 so thank you for that. So a feature agenda items now that we've gotten past the budget, 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:52.120 we don't have a whole lot of stuff here for you, but there's certainly a number of items 00:20:52.120 --> 00:20:59.880 that we'll continue to populate for you. So August 22nd, there's a discussion with you 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:07.720 about some water related items also associated with the army corps of engineers. September 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:13.760 12th, we have some discussion with you as well about water rights. And it sounds like 00:21:13.760 --> 00:21:17.600 this is all things that Stephen gay and his staff will, will be bringing forward to you. 00:21:17.600 --> 00:21:22.200 But I think as those items continue to, to, to bubble up, we'll, we'll try to give you 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:27.320 advanced notice of what's coming in the future meetings. And then finally, under the new 00:21:27.320 --> 00:21:33.160 business there, you know, we still have the one particular item. I can assure you that 00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:37.520 we keep saying that every meeting we are working on that. We're getting closer to that. We 00:21:37.520 --> 00:21:43.080 anticipate going to the sustainability committee sometime at the end of this month with a presentation. 00:21:43.080 --> 00:21:48.400 I know there was a question that Mr. jumper asked, I'm assuming the last meeting regarding 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:53.120 potentially increasing the budget for, for solar rebates. That's certainly an option 00:21:53.120 --> 00:21:58.640 that we'll be discussing with the sustainability framework advisory committee and then bringing 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:04.040 that to you and ultimately to the council and seeking direction. And so, you know, our 00:22:04.040 --> 00:22:10.400 plan is to certainly have a number of different options for your consideration. Certainly 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:15.240 any increase to the budget, certainly if it's an increase to DME, as, as you are very well 00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:21.320 aware starting next year, there is a plan drawdown of reserves already. So likely any 00:22:21.320 --> 00:22:26.160 additional increase in budgets may mean some type of rate increase. That'll certainly something 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:32.760 for you to consider. We also have now another pot of money associated with franchise fees 00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:39.560 all rise from the data center that's going into a sustainability fund, $4 million plan 00:22:39.560 --> 00:22:44.400 for that for next year. That'll also, I think, be part of that conversation. But so again, 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:48.040 we're developing that. I think that that through that presentation, we'll be able to respond 00:22:48.040 --> 00:22:53.200 to, to both of these items that, that are here on, on a new business action. So, so 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:55.680 with that, I'll surely stand for any questions that you may have. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:00.800 Just want to look at on the back of that, Tony, are y'all seeing a DME, a significant 00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:06.800 uptick in application for solar panels compared to previous years? 00:23:06.800 --> 00:23:11.840 I think, I think the short answer is absolutely. I think part of the challenge that we're having 00:23:11.840 --> 00:23:18.680 is that, you know, so we've dedicated $500,000 out of our budget for solar rebates. What 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:24.200 I can tell you is that right now, half of the solar installations that go into the city 00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:29.880 go in without the solar rebate. And so I think from my perspective, you know, you can carve 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:35.480 up that $500,000 as much as you want. You can certainly add additional money. But what 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:41.320 I can tell you is that the initial, the original intention of those rebates was because the 00:23:41.320 --> 00:23:46.400 cost of solar panels was considerably much higher, actually twice the cost that they 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:53.920 are today. So the same system today that cost 20 to 30,000 used to cost 50 to $60,000. So 00:23:53.920 --> 00:24:00.800 the market and the pricing for that has certainly come down and made it far more affordable. 00:24:00.800 --> 00:24:05.440 You could add, like I said, you can add additional money to that budget. But the issue is that 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:11.120 there's always going to be someone left out from that rebate, right? And so I think from 00:24:11.120 --> 00:24:15.720 our perspective, and I'm probably going to get a little bit ahead of myself here, right? 00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:19.720 From our perspective is when you're talking about energy efficiency, right, I think we 00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:26.240 got to recognize one, we're already in a 100% renewable energy community, right, by the 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:30.640 goal that was established and what we've achieved. And then second of all, there's likely other 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:37.480 initiatives, even within our existing green sense program, there may be a bigger bang 00:24:37.480 --> 00:24:42.360 for our buck. And then finally, the other thing that comes into play here is the issue 00:24:42.360 --> 00:24:48.280 of who is able to install solar versus those that aren't, right? So we have a large lower 00:24:48.280 --> 00:24:57.280 income customer base that has an older house stock that cannot, one, support the structural 00:24:57.280 --> 00:25:00.680 pressure on their roof, so there needs to be additional investment in that. And then 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:05.400 not only that, but I think from an income standpoint, from a disposable income standpoint, 00:25:05.400 --> 00:25:09.440 those individuals have a harder time being able to justify a $20,000 to $30,000 expenditure, 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:14.240 right? And so I think there's an equity and fairness issue that we've got to deal with, 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:20.600 along with some other issues, structural rate issues that we have in that there's a fixed 00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:25.880 component to our rates that has to be recovered that currently is not being recovered by the, 00:25:25.880 --> 00:25:31.660 I would say, is a very generous program that we have that's beyond even the solar rebates. 00:25:31.660 --> 00:25:36.040 This is how we credit people for the energy that they produce from the rooftop solar that 00:25:36.040 --> 00:25:40.480 we're not even able to recover our fixed expenses. So those are things that we're going to be 00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:47.880 coming back. Certainly, we understand this is sensitive information, and so we're going 00:25:47.880 --> 00:25:51.480 to try to give different options, certainly give our perspective, and then we'll be looking 00:25:51.480 --> 00:25:56.040 for policy recommendations from the various groups. 00:25:56.040 --> 00:25:58.040 Okay, thanks. 00:25:58.040 --> 00:26:01.280 My question on there, were you done? 00:26:01.280 --> 00:26:03.280 Oh, go ahead, please. 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 00:26:07.360 --> 00:26:13.520 it altogether? Kind of along those lines. So I might amend my question to say, do we 00:26:13.520 --> 00:26:19.880 need to reevaluate how that money is used to target specific groups of people, for example, 00:26:19.880 --> 00:26:25.520 like low-income or something like that? So that's kind of more the flavor of question 00:26:25.520 --> 00:26:27.160 I was kind of getting at there. 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:32.120 Okay. No, I just wanted to say, and I think in the presentation that we're contemplating, 00:26:32.120 --> 00:26:35.720 those options will be there, and certainly we'll be looking for recommendations from 00:26:35.720 --> 00:26:40.480 this body and from the sustainability group as well to then take to the council who will 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:43.320 ultimately set what that policy will be going forward. 00:26:43.320 --> 00:26:45.120 I have a question. 00:26:45.120 --> 00:26:46.120 Yes, sir. 00:26:46.120 --> 00:26:52.600 Since we're going to be working to assist local individuals, residential customers to 00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:58.960 get solar panels, like all pieces of equipment, they have a useful life. And it's one thing 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:04.460 for the large commercial operators that we procure power from to deal with disposal or 00:27:04.460 --> 00:27:13.040 handling of those. Are we potentially creating a problem for our solid waste group with these 00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:19.240 peripheral proliferation of solar panels in homes? It's a question, and I only came up 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:22.440 because we were talking about the panel issue. 00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:26.480 Yeah. Certainly I don't think there's anybody here from solid waste, but certainly that's 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:31.360 a consideration. I don't know what kind of agreements these homeowners and businesses 00:27:31.360 --> 00:27:37.480 have with their installers and whether or not they'll actually end up in the city's 00:27:37.480 --> 00:27:42.160 landfill or some other landfill or some other recycling process. And so it's difficult. 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:50.240 I think from a community penetration standpoint, I think we're at less than 25% of our total 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:57.000 customers that actually have roofed out solar. So it's a very small fraction right now what's 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:04.240 there. And so I think from a quantity standpoint, I think it's probably at this point, probably 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:09.440 a minimal concern, I would estimate. But certainly I think that we can certainly try to address 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:13.600 that question. We can bring in our solid waste folks and see kind of what their thought process 00:28:13.600 --> 00:28:14.600 is on that. 00:28:14.600 --> 00:28:17.360 It seems like over time we'd be leaving ourselves open for future problems. 00:28:17.360 --> 00:28:22.680 So Eugene McKinney is here, and maybe Eugene can respond to if they're seeing any of that 00:28:22.680 --> 00:28:26.680 and how they're treating that. 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:33.480 Good morning. Eugene McKinney, I'm Deputy Director of Solid Waste and Recycling. Great 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:40.440 question. We do see minimal. We don't see anything. But if this becomes a concern, community 00:28:40.440 --> 00:28:47.200 concern, this will fit perfectly into our comprehensive strategy. Keeping it away from 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:52.200 the landfill, finding markets for recycling this material, because definitely we don't 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:57.240 want it there. Again, we want that premium product in the landfill. So there will be 00:28:57.240 --> 00:29:03.440 the question is, let's find markets for this after it's reached this life. So just like 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:07.720 so many other products, the conversation that we've been talking about here lately about 00:29:07.720 --> 00:29:12.840 finding that second life, but keep it away from the landfill. So that would fit perfectly 00:29:12.840 --> 00:29:17.520 in there if it becomes a community concern, something the landfill issue. 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 00:29:23.840 --> 00:29:29.240 ago. If they have a 20 or 25 year service life, in five or 10 years, you'll start seeing 00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:32.200 the accumulation of these being taken out of service. 00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:37.640 Right. And there's several factors there. The makeup of the material, right? And what 00:29:37.640 --> 00:29:45.680 does it consist of, right? So typically anything that's from a landfill perspective and what 00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:51.040 we're trying to get out of it that produce that secondary product, which is methane. 00:29:51.040 --> 00:29:56.200 So you've heard it before, anything that doesn't fit into that, what should be going there, 00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:02.760 we want to divert it away. So again, finding those markets that'll take those solar panels. 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 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:12.280 maturity, the maturity date has set, well, this is no longer, we'll already have the 00:30:12.280 --> 00:30:16.960 button ready to go and say, okay, instead of coming here, here's an option for you. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:18.960 I'm glad you're planning for it. Thank you. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:25.200 I think the only other item that I'll add just very quickly is that as you know, if 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:30.640 you've kept up with, at the federal level, there's a current bill that's under consideration 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:34.840 that gets now moved out of the Senate into the House. It's likely going to pass. And 00:30:34.840 --> 00:30:41.080 so within the components of that bill is this tax credits offer to rooftop installers that 00:30:41.080 --> 00:30:47.920 I think it's like 23%. That is a very, I think, very lucrative, very generous tax credits 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:54.480 actually dwarfs the amount of the rebate that we offer. And that's planned to continue. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:59.920 And so I think there's a huge benefit there already built into trying to incentivize people 00:30:59.920 --> 00:31:04.560 to install rooftop solar that, you know, frankly, half a million dollars that we have dedicated 00:31:04.560 --> 00:31:08.120 our budget is pretty insignificant, I think, at the end of the day. Although I understand 00:31:08.120 --> 00:31:13.120 if you get that, it's still pretty nice to get, you know? But again, over half of our 00:31:13.120 --> 00:31:19.200 installers right now are not getting those. And I feel a lot of those phone calls as to 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 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:26.240 burden that goes into administering something like that. It'll be things that we'll be bringing 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.200 forward, hopefully addressing these questions. 00:31:28.200 --> 00:31:32.240 Eugene, what's the current timeline for the comprehensive plan? 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 00:31:38.740 --> 00:31:42.840 is from the planning, getting things together. We look at next fiscal season, you'll start 00:31:42.840 --> 00:31:47.560 some of these some of these pieces moving forward. Some of these outside vendors being 00:31:47.560 --> 00:31:53.360 set up, you know, there's been a large conversation on shingles and different C and D, different 00:31:53.360 --> 00:31:57.080 things that we typically don't want. You know, you'll start seeing a lot of those things 00:31:57.080 --> 00:32:01.600 set up maybe a year or two. And it's a progression, right? So as we move forward, you'll start 00:32:01.600 --> 00:32:05.440 seeing a lot of these things. But right now we got the administrative things set up, setting 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:10.200 them up. We're looking at the employees, we're looking at programs. So it's a timeline thing 00:32:10.200 --> 00:32:14.960 out from like, we got seven certain benchmarks from year one, year two, year three, year 00:32:14.960 --> 00:32:15.960 four, year five on out. 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. 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. 00:32:23.080 --> 00:32:27.000 But some things are when you got startup, some things are out of out of out of control. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:31.760 And as you write something next year, something else will change, you know, possibly, and 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. 00:32:35.040 --> 00:32:39.760 Yes. And then, you know, Tony mentioned about some things going on at the federal level, 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 00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:49.600 cities, you know, things are they're requiring these solar installers to kind of go through 00:32:49.600 --> 00:32:54.200 the city for permits and different things like that before they install. And those permits 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 00:32:59.040 --> 00:33:02.440 go to a landfill and it can't go to a waste to energy facility. 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 00:33:29.200 --> 00:33:34.480 lot of reusable materials in solar panels. Absolutely. And that's the that's the purpose 00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:39.080 of finding that second life. Yeah, because all of it's not say, let's say trash at this 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 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. 00:33:50.800 --> 00:34:01.360 Thank you. No further questions. Yes, we can move into concluding items. Our work session, 00:34:01.360 --> 00:34:04.600 which is receive a report, hold a discussion to give staff direction regarding the city 00:34:04.600 --> 00:34:09.760 of Denton ordinance and guidelines and issuing utility bill payment agreements. Is this connected 00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:21.340 with the last discussion or soon? No, it is separate. Chair, board members, Krista Foster, 00:34:21.340 --> 00:34:26.000 customer service manager. And this is actually to talk to you about our pay agreement guidelines 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 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 00:34:38.400 --> 00:34:43.880 through this spring, returning all of our business processes to normal, as we went back 00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:48.320 into charging late fees and interruption fees and things such as that, I really wanted to 00:34:48.320 --> 00:34:54.760 look at how were our existing guidelines going to be affected because everything has changed 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 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. 00:35:04.900 --> 00:35:09.800 We wanted to make things a little simpler where we could, um, increase the access that 00:35:09.800 --> 00:35:14.480 customers have to our program, make sure that if we're increasing access that we're keeping 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:19.560 that sustainable with our workloads, right? And then improve our ability to meet our customer's 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 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:30.560 and get some feedback. So our current ordinance and it is in ordinance, that's one of the 00:35:30.560 --> 00:35:35.500 things that we discovered, um, requires council approved guidelines on file with the city 00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:41.640 secretary and they currently allow for a five day arrangement, meaning that if you contact 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 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 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 00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:06.880 50% of the balance upfront and then we break up the rest over three consecutive months 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. 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 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. 00:36:32.480 --> 00:36:36.640 It relies solely on that customer writing down that date and remembering that they made 00:36:36.640 --> 00:36:42.940 that arrangement and please understand a pay agreement is a mutual accountability, right? 00:36:42.940 --> 00:36:47.240 There is accountability that we have in providing a program to the customer, but the customer 00:36:47.240 --> 00:36:52.560 also has some accountability in meeting the commitments that are made. However, if we 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 00:36:58.280 --> 00:37:03.520 on their bill reference materials, then we're just making things better for that customer. 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 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 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 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 00:37:23.600 --> 00:37:29.720 today. So it's not going to significantly impact, you know, timely collection of revenues, 00:37:29.720 --> 00:37:34.680 but it will give customers a little bit more of an advantage on remembering and meeting 00:37:34.680 --> 00:37:41.200 the agreements that they set. The next recommendation is, you know, we want our pay arrangements 00:37:41.200 --> 00:37:46.240 to offer our customers flexibility and we want to try to prevent them from accumulating 00:37:46.240 --> 00:37:51.460 large amounts of debt that they becomes an insurmountable amount. So one of the things 00:37:51.460 --> 00:37:59.280 that we noticed was by restricting the number of requests just as the number of requests, 00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:04.200 we're actually restricting our customers based on their need for an arrangement, not their 00:38:04.200 --> 00:38:09.320 actions in following through with arrangements. One of the things that I found in looking 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 00:38:18.560 --> 00:38:24.480 had assistance referrals to interfaith ministries, the denials, 46 percent of those because customers 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:31.240 didn't complete their documentation, and about 29 percent either they didn't qualify by income 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 00:38:38.160 --> 00:38:44.520 found is only 7 percent of customers are not completing their documentation and 70 percent 00:38:44.520 --> 00:38:50.040 of the denials are from people who either don't qualify or have already exceeded the 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 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 00:39:00.840 --> 00:39:06.200 payments or make those arrangements. We want to restrict based on are they following through 00:39:06.200 --> 00:39:12.240 with those arrangements or do they need to look at some of our other programs. Currently, 00:39:12.240 --> 00:39:19.240 for this year, we're looking at 36 percent of our arrangements have been defaulted. And 00:39:19.240 --> 00:39:23.360 completing an arrangement that a customer completes really creates very little additional 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:29.080 workload for staff. But an arrangement that's defaulted now results in having to have longer 00:39:29.080 --> 00:39:35.080 phone call conversations and upset customer. It requires field crews to go out. Yes, sir? 00:39:35.080 --> 00:39:40.840 >> You've been talking in terms of percentages. What kind of numbers are we talking about? 00:39:40.840 --> 00:39:47.080 How many of these arrangements a year? Or put this a different way, how many customers 00:39:47.080 --> 00:39:52.280 a year request arrangements? >> Correct. So I have it by number of arrangements, 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 00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:05.680 have had arrangements. So, you know, we're seeing a lot of customers requesting them. 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 00:40:12.080 --> 00:40:18.320 to restrict the number of defaulted arrangements and rather than the fact that you need an 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:22.040 arrangement. >> What was the percentage you said of those 00:40:22.040 --> 00:40:27.120 people requesting arrangements that defaulted? >> Currently, it has been 36 percent. But 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 00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:38.720 hoping that by creating that additional accountability that we can be more flexible for our customers 00:40:38.720 --> 00:40:43.480 as well as reduce those numbers of defaults. >> So how many total customers are there in 00:40:43.480 --> 00:40:49.600 that system? >> We have just over 65,000 customers currently. 00:40:49.600 --> 00:40:54.680 >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mm-hmm. And then our final recommendation 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 00:41:00.080 --> 00:41:06.760 that full council process. So for certain programs like this, what we are recommending 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 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, 00:41:18.560 --> 00:41:24.920 and it must require council notification prior to being implemented. So that way, it doesn't 00:41:24.920 --> 00:41:30.040 remove that important council oversight. And the same would be for the Public Utilities 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 00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:41.480 questions or concerns, it could always be pulled in for a full council process, but 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 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 00:41:54.880 --> 00:42:00.520 time a customer may have one active arrangement of either a short-term agreement that will 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 00:42:06.440 --> 00:42:11.480 arrangement. The long-term arrangement would still be the same requirements, 50 percent 00:42:11.480 --> 00:42:16.160 of the current balance, then three months of equal payments to be able to take care 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 00:42:22.920 --> 00:42:29.840 of time, they would be temporarily ineligible to receive a balance arrangement for 12 months 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 00:42:35.540 --> 00:42:38.400 to hopefully change the behavior. 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 00:42:49.200 --> 00:42:51.360 resources there are? 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 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 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. 00:43:08.040 --> 00:43:13.180 Educating them about our prepaid program, because a lot of customers are a little bit 00:43:13.180 --> 00:43:19.600 afraid of that. But as we see customers move to prepaid, it changes their lives because 00:43:19.600 --> 00:43:24.600 they get daily information about those balances, they never receive late fees. If they get 00:43:24.600 --> 00:43:30.200 an interruption, it's off for usually 10, 15 minutes because they can make a minimal 00:43:30.200 --> 00:43:37.640 payment to get it back on. So we do have those conversations with customers as well. 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 00:43:41.980 --> 00:43:47.280 of the process for staff and for customers, increase accessibility of the program while 00:43:47.280 --> 00:43:51.660 maintaining being sustainable, and be able to push changes that impact our public in 00:43:51.660 --> 00:43:57.200 a timely manner. So I'm here for questions. 00:43:57.200 --> 00:44:02.040 >> Just one concern there, and I understand the need to -- for a process to encourage 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 00:44:08.600 --> 00:44:16.580 the process and still haven't been able to accommodate payment, would you cut the service 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 00:44:23.660 --> 00:44:30.000 time to get past that kind of weather? >> Sure. City ordinance actually provides 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 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. 00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:53.560 So, yeah, we do make accommodation for that. >> Okay. Good. Thanks. 00:44:53.560 --> 00:45:00.120 >> Regarding the recommended change to the ordinance about approving -- so could you 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 00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:12.880 like a full ordinance amendment, I guess, to -- >> Correct. 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 00:45:17.840 --> 00:45:21.880 it takes effect? >> Correct. The ordinance would be updated 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 00:45:26.800 --> 00:45:32.880 the ordinance would still require that notification to ensure that City Council is not eliminated 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 00:45:38.800 --> 00:45:43.920 to be able to move through things that everyone would agree upon without having to prolong 00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:49.800 that by, again, sometimes 8 to 12 weeks. >> Okay. And so right now the process takes 00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:53.240 -- you said 8 to 12 weeks? >> Yeah. By the time we've gone through the 00:45:53.240 --> 00:45:57.160 getting things ready, started to write the ordinances, then having to go through the 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 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:07.080 write an ordinance and plop it in front of you. We're going to draft recommendations. 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 00:46:11.860 --> 00:46:16.200 all of that legal process with the drafting of ordinances, so it could potentially take 00:46:16.200 --> 00:46:20.400 even longer. >> Okay. And the new process, is it -- about 00:46:20.400 --> 00:46:25.160 how much time does that save? >> Well, in this particular case, we identify 00:46:25.160 --> 00:46:30.960 the changes that are necessary. We pull the current guidelines. We make the changes that 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 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 00:46:40.380 --> 00:46:46.680 information in a Friday report and potentially give maybe two weeks to allow for any questions 00:46:46.680 --> 00:46:51.200 or changes. >> Okay. Thank you. 00:46:51.200 --> 00:46:58.240 >> Good. Okay. Thank you very much, Krista. >> Of course. 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. 00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:11.920 So moved. Thank you very much. We're adjourned.