WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.480 >> Okay, good morning, it's 9 o'clock. 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:08.440 So let's call to order, we do have a quorum. 00:00:08.440 --> 00:00:12.920 The Monday, October 14th Public Utilities Board for the City of Denton. 00:00:12.920 --> 00:00:16.500 First item is the consent agenda. 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:19.920 Are there any board members that wish to pull one of the agenda items? 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.440 >> Yes. >> Yes. 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:28.440 >> Item B is in Bravo, E is in Echo, F is in Foxtrot. 00:00:28.440 --> 00:00:36.140 >> Okay, so we are pulling B, E, and F. 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:40.140 Do we have a motion to approve A, C, and D? 00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:40.640 >> So moved. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:42.560 >> Second? 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:43.640 >> Second. 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:45.160 >> All in favor say aye. 00:00:45.160 --> 00:00:45.660 >> Aye. >> Aye. 00:00:45.660 --> 00:00:48.320 >> Motion carries. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:50.760 Item B, do we have someone? 00:00:58.360 --> 00:00:59.040 >> Good morning board. 00:00:59.040 --> 00:01:00.800 Terry Nolte, Assistant General Manager, DME. 00:01:00.800 --> 00:01:04.000 Yes sir, can I, what question can I ask? 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.720 >> Well I understand the value of the short term forecast. 00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:15.960 The value of the mid term and long term forecast is what I question. 00:01:15.960 --> 00:01:19.520 >> Yeah. >> Has significant value for us. 00:01:19.520 --> 00:01:23.720 >> So we use three forecasting tools, the first one is weather. 00:01:23.720 --> 00:01:28.020 And of course our business is driven very, very closely by weather. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:32.000 Both short term, mid term, and long term. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:36.960 The second one that we use is a kind of an artificial intelligence program. 00:01:36.960 --> 00:01:41.560 That is a learning piece of software that predicts output from our renewable 00:01:41.560 --> 00:01:46.280 resources based upon historical weather conditions. 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:54.960 And then the third piece, yeah, so those are the two main ones. 00:01:54.960 --> 00:01:59.720 And we use the longer term, mid term and longer term weather forecasting for 00:01:59.720 --> 00:02:01.800 budgeting purposes. 00:02:01.800 --> 00:02:05.200 So each year when we put a five year budget together, 00:02:05.200 --> 00:02:09.800 we have to have a baseline assumption of what weather we're expecting. 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:14.760 And that weather drives the load forecast, which is the third piece that we use. 00:02:14.760 --> 00:02:19.240 So all of these systems are integrated with one another, and 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:20.640 that's what we use them for. 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:24.320 >> Yeah, and in terms of dollars and cents, this may be a small amount. 00:02:24.320 --> 00:02:32.000 But there's so many different ways to get long term forecasts that cost nothing. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:38.720 Or you can share, you can find information from other organizations like EPRI perhaps, 00:02:38.720 --> 00:02:45.280 or I don't know what ERCOT has, or some other agency that looks at long term things. 00:02:45.280 --> 00:02:53.080 >> Right, so we do use- >> Is it worth paying for, extra, 00:02:53.080 --> 00:02:58.720 for another opinion of what the weather's gonna be two months from now? 00:02:58.720 --> 00:03:05.200 >> It is, because they provide actually very granular data for us. 00:03:05.200 --> 00:03:08.240 So it's traditional, free, or 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.680 commonly available weather data would just provide day ahead highs and lows. 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:18.040 This provides actual hourly forecast through the term of the forecast so 00:03:18.040 --> 00:03:22.160 that we can accurately project our electrical load demands. 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:27.240 Both for the system that we serve, and for ERCOT grid as a whole. 00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:32.560 Because, as you know, we're selling power into the grid at various points where 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:37.920 our renewable resources are, and we need to have that level of granularity. 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:43.480 >> Is a long term forecast accurate, generally speaking, that you pay for? 00:03:43.480 --> 00:03:47.240 >> As accurate as it can be. 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:52.480 I mean, we don't, the real value is in the short term forecast, and that's what 00:03:52.480 --> 00:03:56.800 you're really paying for, is that short term forecast and the learning, 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:02.840 that neural network, the learning aspects of the software so 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:05.480 that we can correlate different weather forecast or 00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:08.840 weather conditions to actual load that we're serving. 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:13.560 It helps us to manage both price and volume risk on our power procurement. 00:04:15.320 --> 00:04:17.720 >> Which is a very large budget. 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:24.640 >> Yeah, the power purchase contract, $60 to $80 million a year is what we're spending. 00:04:24.640 --> 00:04:31.920 So you're right, it is a small percentage, but it's very important to us. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.200 And this is what the rest of the market uses. 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:41.120 So when we are competing to try to procure power in a competitive market, 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.040 we need to have at least as good data as our competitors do. 00:04:45.320 --> 00:04:50.160 >> Okay, do we have a motion to approve? 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:53.680 >> I'll second that. 00:04:53.680 --> 00:04:55.160 >> All in favor say aye. 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:55.920 >> Aye. >> Aye. 00:04:55.920 --> 00:04:57.000 >> Opposed? 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.440 Motion carries. 00:04:58.440 --> 00:04:59.880 Item E. 00:04:59.880 --> 00:05:09.240 >> Morning, board. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:10.240 >> Morning. >> Good morning, chair. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.480 I'm Brent Heath, executive manager for energy delivery. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:15.280 If there's any questions I can answer, I'd be happy to. 00:05:15.280 --> 00:05:19.000 I do have a small presentation to go over, if y'all would prefer. 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:22.320 >> How long is your presentation? 00:05:22.320 --> 00:05:23.120 >> It's less than an hour. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:28.760 >> Now actually, we should be able to get through that in just a few minutes if we can get the screen on up here. 00:05:28.760 --> 00:05:32.600 >> That'd be fine with me, if you've got five minutes. 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:40.220 >> You see? 00:05:40.220 --> 00:05:43.460 Okay. 00:05:45.280 --> 00:05:48.560 >> May I take five minutes? 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:56.640 >> This is a land transaction for contract between the city of Denton and the city of Garland for a piece of property that are Spencer Interchange. 00:05:56.640 --> 00:06:01.840 Spencer Interchange is a substation that's right next to the Garland power plant that the city of Denton used to have. 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:10.240 The city of Denton power plant was actually sold to PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric in 2001. 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.520 And when that was sold, they took the land for the power plant, as well as the land around the station. 00:06:15.520 --> 00:06:18.600 We did retain the Spencer Interchange substation. 00:06:18.600 --> 00:06:28.060 They stayed here serving some businesses here in the state of Texas, PG&E, until 2005. 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:34.520 And then Garland actually put a bid in on that and bought the power plant back from PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric. 00:06:34.520 --> 00:06:36.280 Looks like the presentation's coming up. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:50.480 So this is the topics I was talking about, the power plant, Garland Power Plant. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:54.960 The property that was sold with the power plant to PG&E in 2001. 00:06:54.960 --> 00:06:57.640 Spencer Interchange over here in the southeast quadrant. 00:06:57.640 --> 00:07:09.280 2015, here's a picture on the left-hand side that shows the ring bus next to the coolant towers and what it looked like back at that time. 00:07:09.280 --> 00:07:12.840 2018, after we've done some construction. 00:07:12.840 --> 00:07:18.040 You might note on this coolant tower, if you come straight down here, that's where the fence line stopped. 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:23.720 We needed to acquire some additional land here to get some ground grid to properly ground the fence, 00:07:23.720 --> 00:07:29.840 the chain link fence to put a control building in there to resolve an aging infrastructure, a relay control building. 00:07:29.840 --> 00:07:33.600 It was an approved DME project. 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:38.000 We added some additional base terminals to bring transmission lines in. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.040 You might notice how clean it kind of looks here. 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:47.040 We had to bring some additional lines in on the north side up here, and we increased the bus capacity of this ring bus to 3,000 amps. 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:58.960 This was originally a TMPA project also for the station that they own, and they transferred that to the city of Denton for us to do this work in 2015. 00:07:58.960 --> 00:08:00.000 >> I have a question. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:00.400 >> Yes, sir. 00:08:00.400 --> 00:08:02.560 >> What is bus capacity? 00:08:02.560 --> 00:08:05.880 >> Bus capacity is like the size of the wire. 00:08:05.880 --> 00:08:06.720 How large is that? 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.960 How much current can flow through the bus, the conductor size, so to speak? 00:08:10.960 --> 00:08:11.840 >> Thank you. 00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:12.800 >> Uh-huh, yes, sir. 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:23.200 So when we were looking at how do we expand that fence outward, we just need a little bit of property. 00:08:23.200 --> 00:08:27.840 We need some access easement, and we needed some room to construct and work through there. 00:08:27.840 --> 00:08:35.000 We noticed as we were looking through that, the transmission line that existed already that came from the south, from our Parker substation, 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:42.680 when that land was sold, PG&E bought it, that was not reserved, and so we needed to resolve that issue as well. 00:08:42.680 --> 00:08:50.920 And so we talked with the city of Garland, they came in and said, well, because there's access easements, they need access, we need access. 00:08:50.920 --> 00:08:57.080 The transmission line easement, there's an existing fence line, let's just go ahead and resolve it and get it taken care of this time. 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:05.200 And so they came back with us to go ahead and acquire the 2.194 acres from them and grant the access easements. 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:10.520 We did go ahead and work with them, with the city of Denton real estate office and legal departments, 00:09:10.520 --> 00:09:15.760 to draft a right of entry that was executed in 2017 that allowed us to go ahead and 00:09:15.760 --> 00:09:21.440 enter the property, store materials, and commence construction so we could work with the peak load. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:28.360 This was very critical time-wise, we were in the process of converting part of a 69 KV transmission system to 138. 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:33.880 And we needed this in order to keep from having power outages, so we needed to go ahead and proceed with the construction. 00:09:33.880 --> 00:09:36.760 >> Is this clearing up title, basically? 00:09:36.760 --> 00:09:40.400 >> Yes, it allows us to have the city of Denton assets on this property. 00:09:40.400 --> 00:09:42.900 >> Okay. 00:09:42.900 --> 00:09:50.480 >> So here's a photograph from the street view of Spencer Road looking northward to the existing Spencer interchange. 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.000 The blue building was the old control building, it's really hard to see. 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:59.960 But right here is the new control building that the control relay panel has been put into with the new structures. 00:09:59.960 --> 00:10:07.600 This was a purchase price that was based upon an appraised value from a city of Denton and 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:14.960 city of Garland mutually agreed upon appraisal, and staff recommends approval of the sale contract in the 298,000 amount. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.960 >> So we had two separate appraisals. 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:24.920 >> We had one appraiser, but we wanted to make sure we both were going to agree upon that appraiser before we went forward with it. 00:10:24.920 --> 00:10:28.000 >> Okay, got it, got it, all right. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.720 >> Be happy to answer any other questions that you might have. 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:39.960 >> That's $136,000 an acre, roughly, rounded up in the nearest thousand, $136,000 an acre. 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:46.280 Tell me again why that's worth $136,000 an acre. 00:10:46.280 --> 00:10:50.000 >> The Spencer interchange site is in a very strategic location that's been there for 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:57.320 quite some time since I believe it was 1982 on an earlier slide, 1982. 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:01.640 This was where our 345 source from Denton West came into the city of Denton, so 00:11:01.640 --> 00:11:04.840 it was our strongest source to serve all of the city of Denton. 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:09.200 So it's a very critical location, and we need to go ahead and resolve these title issues. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:14.160 >> So the construction has already been done, is that right? 00:11:14.160 --> 00:11:14.840 >> Yes, that's correct. 00:11:17.160 --> 00:11:20.880 We're just in the process of trying to clean up some things that had happened a few years ago. 00:11:20.880 --> 00:11:29.120 >> And the Spencer interchange is owned by Texas Municipal Power Agency, is that true? 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:29.880 >> Yes. 00:11:29.880 --> 00:11:36.320 >> Okay, which is, it's a project for Texas Municipal Power Agency, right? 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:39.200 >> That they gave to us, we have done the work, 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:43.920 the city now owns this upgraded 3,000 amp bus and all the equipment we put in. 00:11:43.920 --> 00:11:47.040 It was a major upgrade to increase that capacity. 00:11:47.040 --> 00:11:51.360 >> Okay, so Denton owns the Spencer interchange now, not TMP. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.120 >> That is correct, that's why they gave it to us. 00:11:53.120 --> 00:11:57.040 >> That's why we're trying to clear up the title at this point. 00:11:57.040 --> 00:11:57.840 >> Yes, that is correct. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.600 >> Okay, any other questions? 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:07.160 >> This is a transmission work, so it's T cost eligible, I want to add that so 00:12:07.160 --> 00:12:11.680 we can get reimbursed for this full cost for the work that we do on the transmission component. 00:12:13.160 --> 00:12:14.000 >> Any other questions? 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:17.000 Do we have a motion to approve? 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:17.760 >> I'll move approval. 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:19.840 >> And a second? 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:20.840 >> Second. 00:12:20.840 --> 00:12:22.480 >> All in favor say aye. 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:23.320 >> Aye. >> Aye. 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:24.760 >> Opposed? 00:12:24.760 --> 00:12:25.840 Motion carries. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:27.040 Item F. 00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:35.800 >> Good morning members of the board, Ethan Cox, Director of Public Works. 00:12:35.800 --> 00:12:38.040 I don't have a presentation but I can answer questions. 00:12:38.040 --> 00:12:42.760 >> Okay, this is for a new CAT D9 dozer. 00:12:42.760 --> 00:12:43.280 >> That's correct. 00:12:43.280 --> 00:12:48.480 >> To push compacted waste toward a compactor. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:49.800 >> Correct. >> We'll then run over it, okay. 00:12:49.800 --> 00:12:56.760 It's a new machine, have you considered looking at an old machine since we like to recycle a lot of stuff? 00:12:56.760 --> 00:13:00.280 >> I'm not, I can't speak to that, Terry, do you know if we took a look at- 00:13:00.280 --> 00:13:01.000 >> The used machine? 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.600 >> The used market for these? 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.000 >> [INAUDIBLE] 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:10.400 >> So the answer is we had not considered a refurbished machine for this purchase. 00:13:10.400 --> 00:13:21.680 Is there a reason because, I mean, I just snooped around last night and found 50 D9s within a day's drive of here for various prices. 00:13:21.680 --> 00:13:29.880 Again, some of them might not, some of them may be junk, some of them might have some life left in them. 00:13:29.880 --> 00:13:35.960 >> Right. >> But some of the ones that had lower operating miles on them were half the price. 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.480 >> It's certainly something we can take this off and consider. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:42.880 I do know that the reliability of our existing dozer, this is about right sizing. 00:13:42.880 --> 00:13:46.640 We're running at 155 right now, which is about 20,000 pounds lighter. 00:13:46.640 --> 00:13:51.520 You mentioned compaction, that's the key thing for making this type of purchase. 00:13:51.520 --> 00:13:55.840 We can certainly go back and take a look at the used market if we want to reconsider the purchase. 00:13:55.840 --> 00:14:06.480 >> And in the explanation, the agenda item explanation, it said because of excessive maintenance and downtime, what is excessive maintenance? 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:13.160 >> I don't have the figures right now, but I do know from a downtime perspective every day that we don't have an appropriate size machine out there in the waste. 00:14:13.160 --> 00:14:15.200 We're losing airspace. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:18.600 This particular machine is Komatsu that we're currently running. 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:22.480 It's been down, I would say about half of the year. 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:23.880 >> What happens when it's down? 00:14:23.880 --> 00:14:25.120 What happens then? 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:31.400 >> I need to defer to fleet on the maintenance, but these are warranty pieces of equipment. 00:14:31.400 --> 00:14:36.400 So we do end up contracting with Komatsu to come out and do the maintenance. 00:14:36.400 --> 00:14:39.200 >> So do you have any particulars you want to share, Terry? 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:43.800 >> This is a critical piece of equipment for daily compaction. 00:14:43.800 --> 00:14:46.240 >> Yeah, what happens when you don't have it? 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:50.880 >> Typically the department will have to substitute another piece of equipment if available. 00:14:50.880 --> 00:14:53.920 We'll have to try to get them a rental unit if available. 00:14:53.920 --> 00:14:58.120 And a lot of times, because it is specialty, we can't get our hands on the rental. 00:14:58.120 --> 00:15:03.400 So it's pretty critical that we keep it up for them. 00:15:03.400 --> 00:15:06.980 >> And what makes it specialty is the big blade, right? 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:11.080 >> It's the weight of the machine and the fact that it's in refuse to begin with, 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:15.920 because that requires a whole other package to be added to a regular dozer. 00:15:15.920 --> 00:15:22.040 Because trash will find its way into the interior of the machine if it's not guarded, 00:15:22.040 --> 00:15:27.320 and that causes even more maintenance problems. 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:31.840 One of the other reasons that we did not look into a used machine is that we have an agreement 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:37.960 with the North Central Council of Governments so that we're eligible 00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:40.600 for some grant funding opportunities. 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:44.480 Part of that agreement is that we buy new equipment and not used equipment, 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:49.160 and that's because of emissions-related issues. 00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:51.720 >> And the refuse is very hard on the machines. 00:15:51.720 --> 00:15:56.560 I remember from my past, so typically that's why they don't use used also. 00:15:56.560 --> 00:16:01.120 >> It's the harshest environment out there, and that's the reason it's hard to get rental equipment, 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.840 because once we tell them where we're going to rent it. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.040 >> They're not going to rent it to you, right? 00:16:06.040 --> 00:16:09.160 >> So are you going to get a grant for part of the cost of this? 00:16:09.160 --> 00:16:15.440 >> This one is not eligible for a grant at this time, but we do take advantage of other opportunities 00:16:15.440 --> 00:16:18.120 when they're available and they meet our needs. 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:26.120 But the agreement we have is so that we can take advantage of those opportunities when they come up. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:29.920 >> Okay. Any other questions? 00:16:29.920 --> 00:16:31.480 Do we have a motion to approve? 00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:33.040 >> So moved. 00:16:33.040 --> 00:16:33.840 >> And a second? 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:34.600 >> Second. 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.120 >> All in favor say aye. 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.480 >> Aye. 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:38.840 >> Opposed? 00:16:38.840 --> 00:16:39.680 >> Opposed. 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:42.120 >> Nay. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.680 >> Motion carried. 00:16:44.680 --> 00:16:50.720 Next item, consider approval of minutes of September 23rd, 2019. 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.440 I did notice that the members present needs to be changed. 00:16:54.440 --> 00:17:00.720 We have Charles Parker and Barbara Russell, not Lillia, and Charlie Jackson. 00:17:00.720 --> 00:17:02.480 >> Yes. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:06.360 >> Other than that change, are there any other changes? 00:17:06.360 --> 00:17:08.560 >> I'll move approval as a second. 00:17:08.560 --> 00:17:09.520 >> Okay. 00:17:09.520 --> 00:17:10.560 >> Second. 00:17:10.560 --> 00:17:12.160 >> All in favor say aye. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:12.840 >> Aye. >> Aye. 00:17:12.840 --> 00:17:14.480 >> Opposed? 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.800 All right. 00:17:15.800 --> 00:17:22.240 Next item is consider recommending the adoption of an ordinance to declare the intent 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:26.560 to reimburse capital program expenditures for the electric utility, 00:17:26.560 --> 00:17:31.240 solid waste water, waste water, and general government. 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:32.200 >> Okay. Good morning. 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:33.000 >> Good morning. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:35.520 >> Board, my name is David Deans, Director of Finance. 00:17:35.520 --> 00:17:39.560 I'll have a very brief presentation to go over what the purpose of this ordinance is 00:17:39.560 --> 00:17:43.840 and how we use it to fund these projects. 00:17:43.840 --> 00:17:48.760 So we will issue debt here at late spring, early summer for all 00:17:48.760 --> 00:17:54.360 of the capital projects included in the FY19, FY19-20 budget. 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:57.640 But a lot of those projects we want to start before we actually issue the debt 00:17:57.640 --> 00:17:59.120 and receive the funds. 00:17:59.120 --> 00:18:03.880 So as a city, what we do is have city council approve a reimbursement ordinance 00:18:03.880 --> 00:18:08.440 which gives us authority to spend those funds prior to actually issuing the debt. 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:12.400 So it's something that we do every year and we always come to PUB to talk 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:15.640 through those utility items that were approved in the budget 00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:17.520 and that will be going forward with this ordinance. 00:18:17.520 --> 00:18:23.000 So all of the items within each of the utilities are directly from the FY19-20 budget. 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:26.320 There's no changes in any of the CIP, but these are the projects 00:18:26.320 --> 00:18:29.000 that the utilities would like to move forward with prior 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:32.120 to that late spring, early summer date. 00:18:32.120 --> 00:18:33.400 So I'll go through the list here. 00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:35.960 We have staff to answer any specific questions. 00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:38.520 We did go through all of these during the budget process, 00:18:38.520 --> 00:18:40.840 but staff would be happy to answer any questions. 00:18:40.840 --> 00:18:44.040 I'll just hit the high number, but if you have any questions 00:18:44.040 --> 00:18:46.240 on those projects, we can answer them. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:49.680 So the water projects included in the CIP that we have included 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:54.120 for this reimbursement ordinance is $2.4 million and you can see those there 00:18:54.120 --> 00:18:57.080 from the station down to the replacement. 00:18:57.080 --> 00:19:03.280 11.3 million in wastewater projects included. 00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:12.160 3.1 million for solid waste, including the renovations and the vehicles. 00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:18.040 And then our electric projects, obviously the largest category, 00:19:18.040 --> 00:19:21.840 a long list there of $37.6 million. 00:19:21.840 --> 00:19:23.960 You can definitely answer questions on any of these. 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:28.720 These across all of the CIP and the electric from transmission distribution also 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:31.880 to those other categories such as automated meter reading 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:35.240 and you can see those transmission distribution as we go down. 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:39.480 And as kind of alluded to earlier, those transmission assets will then be part 00:19:39.480 --> 00:19:41.680 of our TCOS filing in future years. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:42.720 >> May I ask you a question? 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:43.280 >> Sure. 00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:46.400 >> What are power factor improvements? 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:48.560 >> Well, hand that over to Brent. 00:19:48.560 --> 00:19:49.440 >> Can you take it if you want to? 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:50.120 >> No, no, you guys. 00:19:50.120 --> 00:19:51.400 >> Sure. 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:56.520 >> Brent Heath, Executive Manager for Energy Delivery. 00:19:56.520 --> 00:19:59.800 Power factor improvements for capacitor banks, capacitors, 00:19:59.800 --> 00:20:01.680 change the capacitance on the line. 00:20:01.680 --> 00:20:06.640 When inductive motors, large air conditioners, large motors get on the line, 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:10.240 they cause inductance on the line, cause the power factor to go lagging, 00:20:10.240 --> 00:20:13.800 to decrease and you counteract that by putting capacitors on the line 00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:16.640 which raises the capacitance, counteracts the inductance, 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:19.400 it gets it closer to a unity power factor. 00:20:19.400 --> 00:20:22.880 And so this, we do that across our distribution system to try to stay as close 00:20:22.880 --> 00:20:26.160 to unity power factor, either lagging or leading. 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:27.880 Unity is right in the middle. 00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:29.880 That's the zero point. 00:20:29.880 --> 00:20:35.760 >> So if there's, it's basically there to boost the power when there's a greater drain? 00:20:35.760 --> 00:20:38.760 >> There, it's the reactive component of the power. 00:20:38.760 --> 00:20:40.280 >> Yes. 00:20:40.280 --> 00:20:44.720 >> Okay. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:47.000 >> Okay, thank you. 00:20:47.000 --> 00:20:49.200 >> Yeah, I got it. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:51.160 >> Do some heavy thinking on that. 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:57.800 [ Laughter ] 00:20:57.800 --> 00:21:02.240 >> David, can you explain what bonds are being sold? 00:21:02.240 --> 00:21:07.760 Are these ones that we voted on in 2014 or are these general obligation or? 00:21:07.760 --> 00:21:11.280 >> These were also, all of the utility bonds will be certificates of obligation 00:21:11.280 --> 00:21:13.120 so they're not included in any bond program. 00:21:13.120 --> 00:21:15.120 >> Okay. 00:21:15.120 --> 00:21:18.640 >> Including the ordinance that you saw, we gave you the entire ordinance 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:19.720 that we'll be taking to the city council. 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:22.640 So within that, you can see some on the general government side. 00:21:22.640 --> 00:21:28.240 We're issuing that final general obligations for the 2014 bond program. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:32.760 That'll be our last issuance for the 2014 bond program on the general government side. 00:21:32.760 --> 00:21:33.640 >> Okay. 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.320 >> And what's the term of the bonds that are used to finance these programs? 00:21:37.320 --> 00:21:41.720 >> 20 years for the most part, although there's some electric that are 30 years. 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.240 >> And what interest rate do you anticipate? 00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:47.680 >> Well, interest rates are as low as they've ever been, right? 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.400 Or lowest as they've been in a number of years right now. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:55.760 So it's possible between 2 and 3 percent as low as that going into next year. 00:21:55.760 --> 00:21:56.040 So it's-- 00:21:56.040 --> 00:21:59.400 >> So you anticipate the rate of issuance will be between 2 and 3? 00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:03.320 >> Yeah, just given, you know, we issued bonds at the end of the fiscal year last year, 00:22:03.320 --> 00:22:06.040 a little later in the summer and we got rates in that range. 00:22:06.040 --> 00:22:08.160 So, you know, obviously things could change, 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:10.320 but it's a very low interest rate environment right now. 00:22:10.320 --> 00:22:12.880 So we'll be keeping an eye on it for sure. 00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:18.120 >> And back on the vehicles, do we use more like certificates so that that's more aligned 00:22:18.120 --> 00:22:20.520 with the useful life of the vehicles, correct? 00:22:20.520 --> 00:22:20.880 >> Right, right. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.200 So we won't do 20 years to the vehicles, we'll do 5 years, yeah. 00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:26.120 >> That was actually the gist of my question. 00:22:26.120 --> 00:22:26.600 >> Sure. 00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:29.760 >> Do you mind filling me in on what's done for the vehicle components 00:22:29.760 --> 00:22:31.280 of this and the short-lived assets? 00:22:31.280 --> 00:22:34.840 >> Yeah. So the vehicles would do 5-year issuances and then 00:22:34.840 --> 00:22:38.360 for facility maintenance and things like that we do 10-year issuances. 00:22:38.360 --> 00:22:40.960 For most other projects it's 20 years, although for some 00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:43.560 of our assets with electric we'll do 30 years. 00:22:43.560 --> 00:22:46.200 So it all depends on the life of the asset. 00:22:46.200 --> 00:22:52.120 So some of those electric assets that have the longer life will do 30 years, 00:22:52.120 --> 00:22:56.840 but definitely for vehicles it's always 5 and then 10 for facilities and things like that. 00:22:56.840 --> 00:22:58.120 >> Thank you. 00:22:58.120 --> 00:23:02.880 >> I'm sure the city has a debt management policy that says you can't issue debt 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.440 for a longer life than the assets. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.960 Most cities do, so I imagine you do too, right? 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:14.760 >> We do and as we go through our audit that's something that we have to abide by. 00:23:14.760 --> 00:23:18.720 >> Is this something that is standard practice? 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:20.480 This, the-- 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:21.280 >> Reimbursement. 00:23:21.280 --> 00:23:24.240 >> The reimbursement policy, does it have a history in the city? 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:24.520 >> It is. 00:23:24.520 --> 00:23:28.440 We've done this, I don't know what year we started it, but definitely over the past 5 00:23:28.440 --> 00:23:31.120 or 10 years every year, I don't know if it was prior to that. 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:36.080 But yes, it's a standard practice and it just, it helps us get those projects going sooner 00:23:36.080 --> 00:23:39.640 than waiting till almost the end of the fiscal year before we start it. 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:40.640 >> Thank you. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.800 >> Any other questions? 00:23:43.800 --> 00:23:45.680 All right. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:48.360 Do we have a motion to approve? 00:23:48.360 --> 00:23:51.960 >> Move approval. 00:23:51.960 --> 00:23:53.760 >> Oh, I'm sorry, I jumped in the middle of your-- 00:23:53.760 --> 00:23:54.200 >> Oh, that's right. 00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:54.720 >> No, I-- 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:55.400 >> I'm sorry. 00:23:55.400 --> 00:23:58.240 >> This is just the rest of the process. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:01.280 We'll go through-- we have a bond oversight committee for all of our bonds. 00:24:01.280 --> 00:24:03.440 So as I mentioned, we'll be issuing them in 2014 bonds. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:05.120 So there's the general government side. 00:24:05.120 --> 00:24:09.280 And then throughout the summer, June is a projected date. 00:24:09.280 --> 00:24:12.440 We could move that up and that kind of goes back to the interest rate discussion. 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:15.960 We'll try to take a feel for where we think interest rates are and we could make-- 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:17.680 do that sooner or later. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:21.840 But the reimbursement ordinance gives us that flexibility to do it as interest rate goes. 00:24:21.840 --> 00:24:22.720 So that's it. 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:28.960 Okay, now any other questions and a motion to approve? 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:30.080 >> So moved. 00:24:30.080 --> 00:24:30.920 >> And a second? 00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:32.880 Okay, all in favor say aye. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:34.480 >> Aye. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:35.480 >> Any noes? 00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:36.840 Okay, motion carries. 00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:38.160 >> Thank you. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:43.000 >> And on to city manager update. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:44.000 >> Yes, ma'am. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.120 Good morning, members of the board. 00:24:46.120 --> 00:24:53.040 In your packet, I included a memo at the request of Ms. Parker about PUB viewership. 00:24:53.040 --> 00:25:00.480 And in the memo, Billy Matthews, our manager of DTV, provided the data for the last 12 months. 00:25:00.480 --> 00:25:07.880 And included in that is we have a number of options in which ways the viewing public can see PUB meetings. 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:13.080 There are two live options, one through the app, the app that you use, 00:25:13.080 --> 00:25:16.400 the Legistar app that's available to others as well. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:21.800 Also through our Denton TV, our DTV live stream, which is happening as we speak right now. 00:25:21.800 --> 00:25:24.800 And the last option is on demand. 00:25:24.800 --> 00:25:31.120 So if a person misses a meeting, they can go back and the meetings are indexed. 00:25:31.120 --> 00:25:37.680 And so they can actually watch the viewing of the meeting as per the item. 00:25:37.680 --> 00:25:38.840 So they don't have to go through the whole meeting. 00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:43.040 They can fast forward, or they can rewind, however they see fit. 00:25:43.040 --> 00:25:51.760 Again, just provide the information at the request of Ms. Parker in regards to just the viewership for the last 12 months. 00:25:51.760 --> 00:25:56.240 As you can see, we have quite a few views throughout the course of the year. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:59.880 There is no pattern, quite honestly. 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:07.680 Just looking at it, I think just based on some discussions we've had with staff, I think a lot of it has to do with the topic at hand for 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:12.680 that specific meeting where people have interest in a specific item or items. 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:14.480 So they get some viewership. 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:17.680 So really just wanted to provide that data for you. 00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:21.240 If you have any questions, I'll try to answer. 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:23.280 Billy is actually running the meeting at the moment. 00:26:23.280 --> 00:26:31.600 So if he, when we were talking earlier this morning, he could send me Morse code through his little light here that he has. 00:26:31.600 --> 00:26:35.000 So I think one blink is yes and two blinks is no. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:43.160 So, but if there's some questions that you have and I can't answer, we'll be certainly happy to respond to you later this afternoon or tomorrow. 00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:49.960 >> I was suspecting that the jump in April and May had to do with class assignments. 00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:56.640 High school government teachers, you know, make their students attend the thing. 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:58.000 >> We do have that. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.600 In fact, we usually have around towards the end of a semester. 00:27:02.600 --> 00:27:02.880 >> Yeah. 00:27:02.880 --> 00:27:06.440 >> We usually have a series of students that come, high school and college, 00:27:06.440 --> 00:27:14.640 that come to a variety of committee meetings and board meetings throughout the course of those four to six week time frame. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:18.040 So that could be it, but. 00:27:18.040 --> 00:27:22.800 >> And I know on April 22nd, I was one of the viewers because I was gone that board meeting. 00:27:22.800 --> 00:27:25.320 So I went back and reviewed it to see what happened. 00:27:25.320 --> 00:27:26.040 >> Well, we appreciate that. 00:27:26.040 --> 00:27:27.280 >> Yeah, as easy as that. 00:27:27.280 --> 00:27:32.640 >> And again, you'll note that the meetings in November, the second meeting in November and December, 00:27:32.640 --> 00:27:36.640 those are, there's no viewers, there's no meeting because of the holiday time frame. 00:27:36.640 --> 00:27:42.480 >> Right. >> And then we had one meeting in August where there was a no meeting due to the lack of a quorum, so. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:45.520 >> Well, thank you. 00:27:45.520 --> 00:27:53.360 I was a bit surprised at how many people actually really do view it, so I'm pleased that people actually view it. 00:27:53.360 --> 00:27:57.680 >> And out of a note, next time we meet, the second meeting in October, 00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:07.720 there's actually, for the first time, we're actually simultaneously videoing or broadcasting two meetings at the same time. 00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:13.120 So this room won't be available because another board is using it. 00:28:13.120 --> 00:28:17.480 And so the committee, the board, the PUB will be in the council chambers. 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:18.640 >> Okay. 00:28:18.640 --> 00:28:21.680 >> So, just to make you aware of that. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:22.200 >> All right. 00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:30.760 Otherwise, just, we also have in the packet a memo about our put or pay agreements. 00:28:30.760 --> 00:28:36.320 If you have any questions about those, Ethan Cox can provide you more specifics about those. 00:28:36.320 --> 00:28:40.880 Those, a few of those agreements were considered last Tuesday, and the remainder of those, 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:46.240 or two of the three remaining contracts will be reviewed by council tomorrow. 00:28:46.240 --> 00:28:51.000 And then I believe the last contract will be reviewed by council the following Tuesday, so. 00:28:51.000 --> 00:28:53.760 >> I just had a quick clarification question on that. 00:28:53.760 --> 00:28:58.400 These are, I didn't quite understand the minutes of the city council meeting. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:29:07.800 These are contracts that just sort of pin down entities that are already using our landfill, right? 00:29:07.800 --> 00:29:08.520 >> That's correct. 00:29:08.520 --> 00:29:10.320 >> Right. >> We're a couple of alterations. 00:29:10.320 --> 00:29:16.560 So if you'll recall during the budget discussion, we talked to PB and council about kind of going in and negotiating with some of these firms. 00:29:16.560 --> 00:29:21.920 A few had approached us, kind of the regional landscape of landfills is really changing. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:26.960 The DFW landfill in Louisville's closing, a lot of those customers are already looking for other locations. 00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:33.280 And so, talking to a few of these firms, the only new firm which was approved last week was Wise County. 00:29:33.280 --> 00:29:40.600 So they're a new customer to the landfill, all the rest are existing customers that are in good paying status. 00:29:40.600 --> 00:29:43.840 The one thing that did change a little bit was the volumes. 00:29:43.840 --> 00:29:48.840 So some of these providers did propose increasing the amount of volume that they would actually bring to the landfill. 00:29:48.840 --> 00:29:56.360 And like I said, I think that's a direct result of kind of the regional pressures that we're seeing without a lot of other landfills being able to accept it. 00:29:56.360 --> 00:30:00.320 >> So the purpose of having a contract is so you can rely on it budgetarily. 00:30:00.320 --> 00:30:04.840 >> It is to provide you some certainty from a revenue standpoint. 00:30:04.840 --> 00:30:11.280 Previously, we didn't have these types of contracts and diesel prices go up. 00:30:11.280 --> 00:30:18.400 It may be more advantageous for one of these haulers to go down the road, and it is a significant piece of our revenue pie right now. 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.360 One of the things that we share with council is debt service begins to fall off over the next three years. 00:30:22.360 --> 00:30:26.920 We did have a number of projects like landfill mining, building materials recovery. 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:29.160 They were significantly underfunded. 00:30:29.160 --> 00:30:34.720 And so what was happening is the residential and commercial rate payers are having to subsidize some of their shortfalls. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:43.200 And so what these agreements do provide is some revenue certainty as well as what we believe will be some rate relief. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:45.120 And that's what the council will consider tomorrow. 00:30:45.120 --> 00:30:50.800 And then one quick add on, I apologize. 00:30:50.800 --> 00:30:57.440 These agreements are structured in a way that even if they do not bring the guaranteed volume to the landfill, they still pay that price. 00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:03.240 That's kind of the term put or pay, because you're going to pay at least that amount regardless of the volume you bring. 00:31:05.360 --> 00:31:08.320 >> Does otherwise, if diesel increases, they go somewhere else? 00:31:08.320 --> 00:31:09.800 >> That option to go somewhere else, correct. 00:31:09.800 --> 00:31:14.440 >> All right, and future agenda or? 00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:22.400 >> No, we do have a few more items coming up in October, and then I think the facility tour is still scheduled for later this month. 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:23.880 >> Okay. 00:31:23.880 --> 00:31:26.000 >> Otherwise, nothing else to report. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:29.320 >> What exactly will be part of the facility tour? 00:31:29.320 --> 00:31:34.400 I did a tour in May, and I'm wondering if this is a new one. 00:31:34.400 --> 00:31:35.240 >> I don't believe so. 00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:39.080 I think because we've had quite a bit of turnover on the board, it was just an opportunity for 00:31:39.080 --> 00:31:42.560 new board members to be able to go through the same tour that you went through. 00:31:42.560 --> 00:31:44.440 If you want to go through it again, we'd be happy to have you. 00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:47.000 >> I enjoyed it. 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:50.440 >> What was the date when we're not going to be here? 00:31:50.440 --> 00:31:51.160 >> October 23rd. 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:56.000 >> Okay, on to concluding items. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:31:59.960 Is there a board member that wishes to have anything added to a future? 00:31:59.960 --> 00:32:05.640 >> Nothing added, I just wanted to bring to your attention something that some of you may already know. 00:32:05.640 --> 00:32:14.600 The Lone Star chapter of the Sierra Club has done a clean energy survey of municipally owned utilities. 00:32:14.600 --> 00:32:19.320 And Denton came in second after Austin. 00:32:19.320 --> 00:32:28.240 And I have some literature here about it, if I'd like to share with you, which you can pass out. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:34.400 So I just wanted to bring that out because I think it's something that we should be very proud of and 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:40.960 really thank DME for the direction that they're taking with renewable energy and energy conservation. 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:41.880 >> Thank you for sharing that. 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:42.380 >> Yes. 00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:46.480 >> Any other concluding items? 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:51.880 All right, do we have a motion to adjourn? 00:32:51.880 --> 00:32:53.080 >> So moved. 00:32:53.080 --> 00:32:55.280 >> Second? 00:32:55.280 --> 00:32:55.960 I guess we're adjourned. 00:32:55.960 --> 00:32:56.480 >> Yep.