WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.800 Good morning and welcome to the Public Utility Board's meeting of Monday, April 10, 2023. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:18.560 We're in the council work session room. We do have a quorum and we will start, I guess 00:00:18.560 --> 00:00:28.600 we're not going to do, shouldn't we do the, members of the public request before we go 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:33.240 into anything? It's up to you. Okay, that's what we're going to do. Are there any, there's 00:00:33.240 --> 00:00:38.480 probably not, but are there any presentations from members of the public? Got that over 00:00:38.480 --> 00:00:45.720 with. Okay. We are going to move to a closed meeting. The Public Utility Board, we're now 00:00:45.720 --> 00:00:52.400 at 9.01 a.m. convene in a closed meeting to deliberate the closed meeting items set forth 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:59.480 in the agenda, which include the following. PUB 23-071, deliberations regarding certain 00:00:59.480 --> 00:01:07.480 public power utilities, competitive matters under Texas Government Code section 551.086, 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:17.600 consultation with attorneys under Texas Government Code section 551.071. Okay, so that's, I 00:01:17.600 --> 00:01:23.640 say that next. Okay, got it. All right, so anybody that doesn't have any interest in 00:01:23.640 --> 00:01:32.720 this, please leave the room. I guess they're all here. It is, the Public Utility Board, 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:38.200 Public Utility Board has now at 9.20 a.m. reconvened from the closed session and no official 00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:46.240 action was taken. So we will move on to the consent agenda. Would any members of the board 00:01:46.240 --> 00:01:54.680 like to pull any of these items for discussion? Mr. Chairman, I'd like to pull items D and 00:01:54.680 --> 00:02:08.680 E. Dog and Everett. Yes. Having no others wish to be pulled, consider action on items 00:02:08.680 --> 00:02:24.720 A, B, C, and F. Oh, and G, excuse me. So moved. Do we have a motion? Second. Any further discussion? 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:38.520 If not, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Item D. Freeze 00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:49.960 and Nichols. Lake Ray Roberts. Good morning. Thank you for having me. Good morning. I was 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:58.120 just curious, this mentioned that it was the third amendment expenditure amount for the 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:03.400 professional services agreement. I was just curious, and this isn't like you're spending 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:08.120 too much money or I'm concerned. I'm just curious if this is the natural progression 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:13.400 of this project where they have moved from stage A to stage B to stage C. Is that why 00:03:13.400 --> 00:03:20.000 this is the third amendment? When they started out, this is a re-rate for the Ray Roberts. 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:26.200 And then we wanted to add, we wanted to do a separate project and they decided to add 00:03:26.200 --> 00:03:31.440 in on that second amendment would be the backwash filter system, which is going basically it's 00:03:31.440 --> 00:03:35.800 putting in an elevation storage to do some backwash. So it was going to be separate. 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:40.280 We decided we needed to put them together at one time for that second amendment. I mean 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:46.160 for the first amendment. I'm sorry. Okay. So this is an add on to the work at the Ray 00:03:46.160 --> 00:03:51.280 Roberts facility for the upgrade modernization. Yes, sir. This amendment is for one of the 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:57.200 things that is the actuator control system. And we decided that it's best to bring it 00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:03.360 on into the future and go with a field bus type actuator. So that's what this is for. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:08.460 While we're already there, let's go ahead and take care of that. So this is the design 00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:14.840 of that, not the actual installation. Yes, sir. It is completely designed as far as the 00:04:14.840 --> 00:04:19.600 re-rate ready to go. We actually, we're going to put it out to bid and it's ready to go 00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:25.920 to bid. It's just a matter of staff recommended we go to this style actuators, which is bringing 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:31.800 it into the future, really going to help us as far as reliability. Right. So just a curiosity 00:04:31.800 --> 00:04:37.600 question. What is the proposed budget for this change out? It's an, it's an extra about 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:42.720 a million dollars, I believe. Okay. Yeah. But as far as it will save us money in the 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:50.400 long run, as far as maintenance reliability, as far as just operations, it'll save us 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:56.480 money. Replaceability. Yeah. Replaceability as far as basically we're moving into fiber 00:04:56.480 --> 00:05:01.120 as far as it's not going to be a gang run of multiple conductors. It's going to go into 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:06.520 the fiber. So bring it into the 21st century. Yes, sir. Yeah. Okay. Well, that was my only 00:05:06.520 --> 00:05:12.880 question on item D. Thank you. Thank you. I had a question, please. Yes, ma'am. I'm 00:05:12.880 --> 00:05:21.320 sorry. Mine's on D. All right. Yours is on E. Okay. Yeah. On E. This is B. Yeah. Okay. 00:05:21.320 --> 00:05:27.720 Different. Excuse me. That's okay. We're good. Thank you. So would you entertain a motion 00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:37.000 then, Lee? Oh, Mr. Chairman, I move we accept item D. Consent agenda. Motion. Second. Second. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:43.880 All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, sign the same. Thank you. D passes. 00:05:43.880 --> 00:05:50.600 Thank you. So now we have item E. I guess I should have said echo if I was doing it correctly, 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:58.120 whatever just came to mind. Good morning, Board. Jeff Brown, Safety and Training Division 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:06.000 Manager with DME. My question was I think this is a great idea, but I don't remember 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:11.840 hearing about this before. Is this something we've just started? Well, this contract was 00:06:11.840 --> 00:06:19.800 initiated last year when we were trying to catch up on our training from COVID. And as 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:26.280 we moved forward, I was also using historical data. And we have moved from approximately 00:06:26.280 --> 00:06:31.040 five apprentices a year, because this is required training for our alignment work on our power 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:39.360 grid. We are now close to 30. So that has increased the overall contract cost exponentially, 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:47.740 as well as when we did the initial contract, we added extra programs to see if their quality 00:06:47.740 --> 00:06:53.760 was good, because this was a one-year contract with extension. So we're actually asking for 00:06:53.760 --> 00:07:00.440 the full amount for the four years to accommodate all the training that is available to our 00:07:00.440 --> 00:07:06.280 employees. Did I answer your question? A great idea, because when you're dealing with electricity, 00:07:06.280 --> 00:07:11.560 you need to know best practices well. Yes. So no, you guys did not see this because the 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:21.320 original contract was only for 50,000. But the quality of the product has proven out. 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:24.960 It was one of those. We wanted to make sure the training was of the same standard that 00:07:24.960 --> 00:07:34.920 DME used to have. That's a good question. Are we retaining the employees that were training 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:40.800 through these programs, or are they taking these skills and going elsewhere? Well, historical, 00:07:40.800 --> 00:07:46.360 I don't have all of that information. There is some turnover. But for the most part, DME's 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:51.480 longevity is very high. I would like to point out we have an employee that has been with 00:07:51.480 --> 00:08:00.560 us for 44 years. So we do have quite a bit of tenure. Is that Rowdy? Pardon? Is that 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:08.000 Rowdy? No, Rowdy's around 33 or 34. Rowdy's a rookie compared to Pete Shaw. Pete Shaw, 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:16.280 yeah. So the Northwest Lineman College has been in Denton for now over a decade. What 00:08:16.280 --> 00:08:20.960 we're doing here is instead of sending our linemen and apprentices outside of the city 00:08:20.960 --> 00:08:24.720 to do training, they're going to be doing it here locally. It was just the right time 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:28.960 for us to do that. And I think there's been some improvements at the lineman's college 00:08:28.960 --> 00:08:32.720 and we're ready to take advantage of it. But employee recruitment is certainly something 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:37.560 that's always on our mind. It's how we work in our culture and make sure that our employees 00:08:37.560 --> 00:08:42.080 have a safe place to work. And matter of fact, safety is our number one priority when it 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:47.600 comes to budgetary issues. I think I've said this before to you. My goal is to increase 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:52.720 that budget to 1% of our total budget. So we're at about $290,000. We still have a little 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:58.360 bit of $290 million. So we still have a little bit of ways to go. But as you see the budgets 00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:03.240 coming back to you this year, you're going to see some more focus on safety. Do you have 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:10.000 -- have you guys considered reimbursement agreements where, hey, you get a loan for 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:18.000 $10,000 lineman and we will pay it as long as you stay here for five years? Well, we 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:24.040 provide this training without those types of requirements. And, you know, these numbers 00:09:24.040 --> 00:09:27.540 that Jeff threw out, you know, what we're seeing a lot of turnover has been really in 00:09:27.540 --> 00:09:30.960 our senior lineman. So these are the people that already have their journeyman's card. 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:35.880 And so, you know, trying to recruit those individuals from other utilities is where 00:09:35.880 --> 00:09:40.280 some of the competitiveness comes into play. But we've been working on that over the last 00:09:40.280 --> 00:09:45.600 couple of years on compensation. But that's why we've seen such a big growth in apprenticeships 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:50.400 because we've had some senior people leave and trying to recruit their replacements at 00:09:50.400 --> 00:09:56.440 that level is challenging. But it's a challenge that all utilities have across the state. 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:03.400 But you don't -- and they fall under the same 20-year TRS, whatever -- TRS is not right, 00:10:03.400 --> 00:10:07.240 that's the teachers, but -- Yes, they're all in TMRS. 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:13.320 TMRS, yeah. Okay. Mr. Ryback. 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:18.000 My question was more about that training budget. So you had a small agreement, now you've grown 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:22.680 it to this larger agreement, and I'm thrilled to see you spending the money locally. I'm 00:10:22.680 --> 00:10:27.320 all for that. I was just curious, obviously, you're growing it because you found the product 00:10:27.320 --> 00:10:32.640 is good, the quality of the training is good. And my other question was about the budget. 00:10:32.640 --> 00:10:38.040 So I was like, was this the whole budget? Is there more budget than we've seen on the, 00:10:38.040 --> 00:10:44.000 you know, your projections on costs and expenses and looking at, you know, the rate increase 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:49.720 and all that? Or -- so is this the whole budget for four years then, the 1.2 mil? 00:10:49.720 --> 00:10:53.000 Yes, sir. Okay, that's only three. And that's to not exceed. 00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:55.080 Not to exceed. My goal is not to spend all of that. 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:57.560 That's still roughly $300,000 a year for four years. 00:10:57.560 --> 00:11:03.080 Yeah, so it's not all the safety budget. Certainly, there's additional dollars that are there 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:09.760 that are beyond what's covered in this particular contract. But, you know, but Jeff will probably 00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:14.240 tell you that he's requested quite a bit more money going into next year's budget, and this 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:19.080 part of the process that we're going to still to evaluate that and then come back to you 00:11:19.080 --> 00:11:22.680 in here in the next couple of months to make a recommendation on what we're going to recommend 00:11:22.680 --> 00:11:25.840 to add to Dean's budget. Well, I think I used the wrong term, safety 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:29.360 budget. I meant the training budget for your personnel. 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:34.640 Yeah, I think there's other dollars beyond just this particular contract that are dedicated 00:11:34.640 --> 00:11:40.240 towards training. Okay. Well, thank you. Those are my questions. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:46.120 In the marketplace, is it feasible that you ask after they've been trained that they stay 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:50.680 a certain amount of time? Is that a negotiable item? 00:11:50.680 --> 00:11:58.320 That's kind of what I was getting at. Yeah, we'd have to get with HR to see if that's 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:04.600 something that's possible. I will tell you, personally, I'm not very concerned about spending 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:11.320 these dollars on these employees because the majority of them do stay. You know, I think 00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:18.200 where we get into challenges sometimes, it's once they reach the journeyman level, getting 00:12:18.200 --> 00:12:24.280 them to the next level, there's very few positions, and that's where we have some challenges. 00:12:24.280 --> 00:12:27.600 But I think as we continue to grow, we're likely going to continue to add additional 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:33.680 FTEs, additional senior level positions, crew foremen, even superintendents. I think those 00:12:33.680 --> 00:12:40.040 opportunities will come up. But I will tell you, it's no different than what the rest 00:12:40.040 --> 00:12:46.720 of the cities is dealing with when it comes to recruitment and retaining employees. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:52.640 And to add to what Tony said, our last four people that we needed apprentices for, they 00:12:52.640 --> 00:12:59.600 were retirees. They'd done more than 20 with the city. So, I mean, we do have the tenure. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:08.200 Well, I just, as we were discussing the Trans Am situation this morning, it's a different 00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:12.200 generation, and the loyalty's just not there anymore. 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:18.200 Yeah, the other thing, too, that I'll just kind of volunteer out there, so Jeff and his 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:23.400 team have been working on certifying our program, which it's been certified through the Veterans 00:13:23.400 --> 00:13:28.000 Administration. And so if we hire you and you are a veteran and you're going through 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:32.720 our apprenticeship program, you can actually utilize that to access your GI bill benefits. 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:39.760 So if you decide not to go through a vocational program or two-year college or four-year university, 00:13:39.760 --> 00:13:45.120 our program is now certified to that. It's recognized by the VA for you to draw down 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:50.720 your GI benefits. And so we're seeing more and more veterans come to our program, and 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.600 we'll probably continue to see that because of that added benefit, because it's additional 00:13:54.600 --> 00:13:58.760 income to them at the end of the day, and it gives them opportunity to draw down that 00:13:58.760 --> 00:14:02.680 benefit because some of these folks may never want to go to university, and that's fine. 00:14:02.680 --> 00:14:05.600 We certainly want them and need them here. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:15.520 Okay, looks like there's nothing further. We entertain a motion to approve item E. 00:14:15.520 --> 00:14:16.520 So moved. 00:14:16.520 --> 00:14:17.520 Second. 00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:22.040 Motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. 00:14:22.040 --> 00:14:23.040 Aye. 00:14:23.040 --> 00:14:29.160 Any opposed, sign the same. It's unanimous. Okay, items for individual considerate. Thank 00:14:29.160 --> 00:14:33.180 you very much, by the way. 00:14:33.180 --> 00:14:37.920 Adams for individual consideration, consider approval of the minutes from March 27th. 00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:48.280 Motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. 00:14:48.280 --> 00:14:49.280 Aye. 00:14:49.280 --> 00:14:51.040 Move on to management report, Tony. 00:14:51.040 --> 00:14:56.160 So members of the board, so we have a few items for you. The first one is the January 00:14:56.160 --> 00:15:02.560 23 financials for the DEC. Certainly if there's any questions from the board, happy to answer 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:08.480 those. And then the next item is the purchase of property related to the Hickory Creek Wishwater 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:13.720 Attention Facility. I think we provided information to you on that. That item already went to 00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:17.000 the council because the timing has already been approved by council, but certainly there's 00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:20.040 staff here if you have questions about either one of those two items. 00:15:20.040 --> 00:15:24.040 You have briefed us on that several times, so. 00:15:24.040 --> 00:15:29.800 Correct. There's no questions on those two items. Future items, I think I've said this 00:15:29.800 --> 00:15:34.960 every time we've met, certainly budget, budget, budget, right? So make sure you're aware of 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:40.920 these dates. We certainly need you here, need your participation, and those will be coming 00:15:40.920 --> 00:15:43.600 to you here relatively quick. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:48.320 And then for new business action items, we did have one question at the last meeting 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:53.660 regarding debt load trends. I think Mr. Devon, you asked for that information. Finance is 00:15:53.660 --> 00:15:58.080 working on it. They anticipate having it for you at the next meeting through a memo and 00:15:58.080 --> 00:16:02.360 it'll be part of the management update as well. So that concludes my item. Happy to 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:04.760 answer any questions that you may have. 00:16:04.760 --> 00:16:12.440 No, I would remind the board though that if you've got questions or concerns that staff 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:19.120 is always there to, you know, set up a meeting and discuss them if you want to do it separately 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:25.880 from the board meetings. Of course, those can't be quorums, but they've always been 00:16:25.880 --> 00:16:29.440 very helpful. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:37.360 Concluding items, there does not appear to be any, so I will entertain a motion to adjourn. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:42.480 Those in favor, say aye. 00:16:42.480 --> 00:16:43.480 Aye. 00:16:43.480 --> 00:16:47.680 If you're opposed, don't say a word. 00:16:47.680 --> 00:16:57.680 [BLANK_AUDIO]