Jan 13, 2025 Public Utilities Board on 2025-01-13 9:00 AM

>> Okay, it is nine o'clock, so a call to order the Public Utilities Board meeting for the City of Denton on Monday, January 13th at 2025. The first item of business is presentations of members to the public. Did we have anyone sign up, Cassie? No? All right, then we'll move on to the consent agenda. Does any board member wish to pull items A through D? Okay, seeing none. Do we have a motion to approve items A through D on the consent? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay, least moved. Rob seconded. All in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Next item is receive nominations and hold elections for the Chair, Vice Chair, and Secretary. I'm going to be traveling a lot this year, so I have decided to step down as a chair and have other people maybe take that role. I would like to nominate for Chair Billy Cheek, Vice Chair Devon Taylor, and Secretary Thomas Pluck. Do we have any other nominations? I see none. Okay, do we have a motion to approve the nominations? >> So moved. >> Rob moves, second? Lee seconds, all in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Aye. All right, now we change seats. We'll keep the name plates. >> [LAUGH] >> Now I understand why you dressed up. >> I wore that. >> [LAUGH] >> Good morning. So our next item of business is to consider approval of the December 9th, 2024 minutes. Do we have a motion? >> Move approval. >> We have a motion, do we have a second? Lee seconds. All in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed? Carries unanimously. And then our next item for individual consideration. Consider recommending adoption of an ordinance to the city of Denton authorizing the city manager to execute a contract with WEG Transformers for the purchase of substation power transformers for Denton Municipal Electric. Totaling for three years with an option for two one year extensions not to exceed $24,890,000. Good morning, Mark Zimmer, DME Engineering. For your consideration this morning is a contract to purchase substation power transformers for DME's capital improvement projects. Substation power transformers reside in DME substations and convert the transmission voltage down to a distribution voltage. These devices are the most expensive and the most important devices in our substations. DME has several approved capital projects that require purchase of substation power transformers. You can see the listing and the quantities here on the slide as well as a picture of what a typical substation power transformer looks like. So DME prepared a technical specification, issued an RFP and received three bids. They were evaluated using the criteria you see here on the screen. WEG Transformers was evaluated to the highest. Total contract price was calculated using the quantity of transformers we need for these projects, spare parts and a 10% contingency. That 10% contingency will be used in case any redesign is needed or any special features are needed for certain projects. WEG Transformers USA LLC is the highest evaluated proposal and DME recommends award of contract with WEG Transformers. Any questions? Yes, sir. >> All right, three. So the first three, we need two additional ones. Are you saying two additional ones for Underwood? One additional for Jim Crystal and then two for Southwest. And then the substation, so those will be five brand new ones. >> Right, those will be five. >> And then the substation for Fort Worth, that'd be two brand new ones. We're just, okay. >> So seven total units under this contract. Again, it doesn't require us to spend this amount. It's just we have a contract to purchase them for projects when they're needed. Yes, sir. >> So this is all part of the high voltage upgrade that we're currently undergoing? >> Yes, sir. These transformers will support the 25 KV initiative that's being done at DME. >> And so of the five, the top three stations there, are they replacing current equipment? >> No, sir, these are brand new. It's just the bottom Fort Worth substation has two transformers that are seeing overloads in the future, and so we need to replace them with larger units. The top three projects are all brand new transformers. >> And are we standardizing on this size, or is it all just project based? >> We are, yeah, and we've always standardized on a size. In the past it was 25 MBA was the capacity, and 13.2 for the distribution voltage. And now we're standardizing on a larger 50 MBA unit. It'll serve, of course, more customers on it, and we're changing to the 25 KV distribution voltage. That'll be our standard moving forward. >> I'm curious, I call it the Bonnie Bray station that you're going to be switching over. Is that one of those, and I just don't recognize the name, or is that stand alone in good shape? >> Bonnie Bray substation? >> Yeah. >> There's two on Bonnie Bray. >> Well, the one that we're going to be moving across the street. >> Okay, so Hickory substation. >> Is that what that, okay, I wasn't sure. >> Yeah, that is not included in here. That already has new transformers. >> Okay. Could we go to page five, please? >> Yes, sir. >> One more. So I'm curious, the WEG transformers, are they on our approved list, or is this something that we don't need to worry about when we do bids like this for those type of units? >> No, they're not an approved list necessarily. I'm not sure that we have that for these types of items. >> Is that necessary for purchasing like that? That's what I'm curious about. >> Right, we received several bids and evaluated them. Of course, this was the highest proposal. They were the ones that met our technical specifications and could deliver on our project timelines. So, yes, sir. >> I am also unfamiliar with this name, WEG Transformers. Are they a new company? Are they a renamed older company? >> No, they've been around a while. They're actually from Mexico. So the manufacturing location is in Mexico. We actually own a WEG transformer now. It's been in service for seven or eight years with no issue. So we're fairly comfortable with using them. The manufacturer we used to use, which was Waukesha, their lead times are four or five years now. So we just we can't use them, unfortunately. >> Seeing no other questions, I'd entertain a motion. >> Move to approve. >> We have a motion and second from Rob. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Carries unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Our next item of business is management reports. >> Good morning, Mr. Chair and members. You would have received in your packet a memo from water utilities for Lake Louisville filter restoration question that came in during your November 18th meeting. And we do have Stephen Gay, general manager of water utilities present to answer any questions you may have in reference to that. >> I just have a quick question. You are here, sir, I'm sorry I didn't see you. I thought I was going to be asking it through Mr. Dixon. Thank you. >> Yeah, good morning. >> Good morning and happy new year. >> Happy new year to you as well. Stephen Gay, utilities and street operations general manager. How may I help you? >> I was wondering, when we originally, you presented this to us, you told us the thing would be probably wrapped up in a couple of weeks. It does appear from the memo, it took a little bit longer than that, obviously. >> Yeah. >> And are there any other things that we can look forward to in terms of continuing repairs in these areas? >> Yeah, we've actually implemented a program to go through and systematically remove the filter media from each filter, investigate or inspect the under drain system, and then initiate repairs should we deem necessary. So it's an ongoing process. We have 16 filters at this site. And so two of them failed, and we're just going to go through each of them systematically to evaluate. >> So do you have a time of year you're doing now? >> Yes, low demand, we're doing it right now in the winter months, yes, sir. >> Excellent, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> And aside from that, that was the only new business action item that we had for this meeting, and if there was anything else that you all would like followed up on, we'd be happy to bring that back to you. >> Are there any items for new business? Thank you. >> All right, thank you. >> Chair would entertain a motion for adjournment. >> I'll move. >> Congratulations, and I move. >> Thank you.