WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 Good morning and welcome to the regularly scheduled Public Utilities Board meeting for 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:09.240 August 25th 2025. 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:12.940 It's 9am and we are starting the meeting. 00:00:12.940 --> 00:00:18.080 First are there any presentations from the public? 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:21.000 Seeing none we'll move on to the consent agenda. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:28.240 Does anybody wish to pull an item for discussion? 00:00:28.240 --> 00:00:30.440 Seeing none we'll entertain a motion. 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:31.520 Move approval. 00:00:31.520 --> 00:00:33.800 Susan moves approval. 00:00:33.800 --> 00:00:34.800 Lee seconds. 00:00:34.800 --> 00:00:36.680 All in favor say aye. 00:00:36.680 --> 00:00:37.680 Aye. 00:00:37.680 --> 00:00:41.240 Motion carries unanimously. 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:44.480 Now moving on to items for individual consideration. 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:49.160 Item A is consider approval of the August 11th minutes. 00:00:49.160 --> 00:00:52.160 Do we have a motion? 00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:53.160 So moved. 00:00:53.160 --> 00:00:54.160 We have a motion. 00:00:54.160 --> 00:00:55.160 Second. 00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:56.160 And a second. 00:00:56.160 --> 00:00:57.160 All in favor please say aye. 00:00:57.160 --> 00:00:58.160 Aye. 00:00:58.160 --> 00:01:01.640 Motion passes unanimously. 00:01:01.640 --> 00:01:11.660 Item B is consider adopting a rate schedule for ECALL effective October 15th. 00:01:11.660 --> 00:01:17.320 We have a presentation and discussion planned in closed session due to competitive matters 00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:18.320 on this. 00:01:18.320 --> 00:01:25.580 So we will hold this one until after the work session and the closed session. 00:01:25.580 --> 00:01:29.480 Moving on to item C. Let's see. 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:34.840 Consider recommending adoption of a contract with Mayhill renewables for a renewable natural 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:39.320 gas facility at the landfill. 00:01:39.320 --> 00:01:44.000 Good morning everyone. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:49.720 Brenda Haney director of solid waste with the city of Denton. 00:01:49.720 --> 00:01:51.520 Happy to be here with you this morning. 00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:53.320 Bring this project hopefully home. 00:01:53.320 --> 00:01:55.560 It's been a long one. 00:01:55.560 --> 00:01:59.680 So just a quick little run down of where we've been on this project. 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:05.280 We have an active gas collection system and we currently flair that and have been doing 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:09.040 so for a period of time. 00:02:09.040 --> 00:02:12.920 That is a currently we're treating it a little bit as a liability but we want to turn that 00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:14.000 into an asset. 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.240 And so we are working to execute this agreement that will move us forward, will give us a 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:25.440 beneficial reuse of that landfill gas, lessen our carbon footprint and turn something beneficial 00:02:25.440 --> 00:02:32.520 and profitable out of one of the nuisances of owning and operating a landfill. 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:34.760 So just a little bit of a background. 00:02:34.760 --> 00:02:40.280 We had a landfill gas to energy facility that has operated up until 2020. 00:02:40.280 --> 00:02:44.760 That facility was shut down and ultimately decommissioned. 00:02:44.760 --> 00:02:49.480 We started the process again to look at what our options might be going forward. 00:02:49.480 --> 00:02:56.600 And we specifically wanted to go forward with a project to refine that gas and turn it into 00:02:56.600 --> 00:02:58.320 a high BTU fuel. 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:05.980 In 2023 we issued an RFP that staled during the negotiation process and now we issued 00:03:05.980 --> 00:03:10.240 another one in 2024 and I'm happy to say it's been a long process. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:15.440 We are here today and we've got representatives from Moro Energy with us so that we can move 00:03:15.440 --> 00:03:17.240 forward with this project. 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:20.680 They were selected for this, just a little bit of history. 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:26.500 Also at the system out there we have 139 gas wells that are currently in place and that 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:30.560 gas is collected and simply flared off. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.280 So again, I told you this has been a long process. 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:39.360 So we've got Moro Energy, they'll be doing business as Mayhill renewables on our site. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:43.840 They'll assume the operations of our well field, expand that, I'm assuming expand that 00:03:43.840 --> 00:03:49.800 well field, improve the overall gas collection that happens out there and they'll clean and 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:51.440 compress that and sell that. 00:03:51.440 --> 00:03:58.660 And the open market, largely as a high BTU fuel, put it in the Atmos line most likely. 00:03:58.660 --> 00:04:02.920 So at this point we're asking for approval to execute both the lease agreement and the 00:04:02.920 --> 00:04:06.760 gas rights agreement and with that I will stand for any questions. 00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:17.800 Susan do you have a question? 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.060 Remind me why we stopped doing it in 2020 and decommissioned. 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:22.960 I was on the board, I should remember but I don't. 00:04:22.960 --> 00:04:28.440 Well I wasn't here and we were just having issues really where we weren't having a very 00:04:28.440 --> 00:04:33.520 effective system and we were having problems with the contractor on that and so we wanted 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:39.520 to get out of that project and get us into a more beneficial project going forward. 00:04:39.520 --> 00:04:42.040 So it's kind of obsolete and this is new stuff. 00:04:42.040 --> 00:04:43.040 Alright, thank you. 00:04:43.040 --> 00:04:50.440 We have an old antiquated flare that we're using now. 00:04:50.440 --> 00:04:55.440 This is just a curiosity question but had any consideration ever been given to having 00:04:55.440 --> 00:04:58.600 the city vehicles use this gas? 00:04:58.600 --> 00:05:01.920 There has been some consideration that was part of what was trying to be done in the 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:05.560 past wasn't terribly successful. 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:12.120 There are a lot of different fueling systems being considered out there for all city vehicles, 00:05:12.120 --> 00:05:14.080 garbage trucks in particular. 00:05:14.080 --> 00:05:24.160 Right now most are being run on some sort of electric is kind of in vogue right now 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.000 and there is some CNG that is out there. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:30.000 We've had CNG, we've seized operation on that. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.900 If it comes back around to being something that is feasible and practical and something 00:05:33.900 --> 00:05:36.120 that we can do, we'll certainly look at that. 00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:40.280 I'm just curious, I lived somewhere once where they did that and they took the gas and used 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:41.280 it in their vehicle. 00:05:41.280 --> 00:05:42.280 Right. 00:05:42.280 --> 00:05:43.280 Thank you. 00:05:43.280 --> 00:05:46.400 Yeah, yes sir. 00:05:46.400 --> 00:05:47.400 This is somewhat related. 00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:51.740 I was curious if the landfill is still operating the ELR system. 00:05:51.740 --> 00:05:55.200 We are not currently operating it. 00:05:55.200 --> 00:05:59.000 It will be something that we'll consider as we go forward. 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.140 I know has been some past controversy about the benefits of that system. 00:06:04.140 --> 00:06:11.040 One of the things that happens with the landfill is throughout its life and later in its acceptance 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:16.360 of waste we start to really kick off that gas production and that number goes up. 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:20.720 One of the things that the ELR system allows us to do is accelerate that degradation of 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:25.160 the waste and then capture that gas a little quicker and while we're there. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:28.060 So that's something that we'll consider as we go forward. 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:32.280 We're going to reassess whether there's some validity to moving forward with an ELR system 00:06:32.280 --> 00:06:33.280 again. 00:06:33.280 --> 00:06:34.280 Okay. 00:06:34.280 --> 00:06:37.520 Thank you. 00:06:37.520 --> 00:06:43.880 Any further questions to entertain a motion? 00:06:43.880 --> 00:06:46.800 I'll move approval. 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:48.920 We have a motion and a second. 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:50.520 All in favor please say aye. 00:06:50.520 --> 00:06:51.520 Aye. 00:06:51.520 --> 00:06:52.520 Any opposed? 00:06:52.520 --> 00:06:54.520 The motion carries unanimously. 00:06:54.520 --> 00:06:55.520 Awesome. 00:06:55.520 --> 00:06:56.520 Thank you. 00:06:56.520 --> 00:06:57.520 Thank you. 00:06:57.520 --> 00:06:58.520 Thank you. 00:06:58.520 --> 00:07:05.840 And now we'll move on to section D management reports. 00:07:05.840 --> 00:07:06.920 Good morning. 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:18.800 There are no future agenda items nor are there any new business items listed. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:42.160 If nobody is requesting any new items we'll move on to our work session. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:47.160 Chair board members, Krista Foster, customer service manager and I'm here to give you a 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.280 utility billing update. 00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:54.400 So as part of our background last year city council approved funding for us to conduct 00:07:54.400 --> 00:08:00.160 a review on our billing practices and collections policies and so we brought in an independent 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:05.440 consultant who conducted staff interviews, did call evaluations, looked at our performance 00:08:05.440 --> 00:08:09.960 over time, collected some of our policies and then compared those against benchmarks 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:11.240 in the industry. 00:08:11.240 --> 00:08:16.640 So what we're going to do is a high level review on the benchmarking and revenue trends. 00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:22.120 And we're going to look closely at our commercial deposit practices, payment arrangements and 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:23.120 leak adjustments. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:28.800 We'll do a quick summary at the end and then open up for questions and discussion. 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:35.000 So as you can see over the last five years Denton has performed very consistently and 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:41.340 against the benchmark standards of the industry Denton is outperforming those industry leaders. 00:08:41.340 --> 00:08:48.560 So we have provided very consistent revenue and collections performance over time with 00:08:48.560 --> 00:08:53.680 exception of the pandemic you can see that slight uptick during the pandemic. 00:08:53.680 --> 00:09:00.900 This is comparing us against 100 different U.S. utilities and 22 of those being Texas. 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:06.400 So in reviewing commercial deposits what we ask is that she look at it and see how do 00:09:06.400 --> 00:09:12.240 we compare with what private industry is doing what other municipals that provide electric 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:17.400 are doing and what we found is our calculation is consistent. 00:09:17.400 --> 00:09:23.720 Our application of supplying deposit interest is consistent that our retention period is 00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:29.840 not aligned with the majority of the cities and that our current ordinance is written 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:35.040 in such a way that it requires us to manually screen every account before we can do a refund 00:09:35.040 --> 00:09:36.460 of a deposit. 00:09:36.460 --> 00:09:42.480 So what is being recommended is that we retain residential deposits at 12 months as we do 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:49.080 today that for commercial deposits that we refund at 24 months of good payment history 00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:53.720 and there are qualifications instead of no late payments no disconnections no whatever 00:09:53.720 --> 00:09:59.240 are an A credit rating with our system no disconnections no meter tampering and that 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:01.680 your account is current. 00:10:01.680 --> 00:10:07.040 The reason that we're looking at 24 months for that deposit retention is that commercial 00:10:07.040 --> 00:10:14.340 new commercial businesses carry a higher risk 72 percent of commercial new commercial businesses 00:10:14.340 --> 00:10:16.940 and didn't close within two years. 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:24.380 So this would hold the retention rate to cover that risk and that is consistent with the 00:10:24.380 --> 00:10:32.840 overall community that they have those who refund deposits average at 21 months. 00:10:32.840 --> 00:10:38.920 So payment arrangements what we found is in the review that the way that the ordinance 00:10:38.920 --> 00:10:44.320 is written we have date calculation that's manual so it increases the likelihood of human 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:45.320 error. 00:10:45.320 --> 00:10:51.140 It creates an arbitrary date for a customer to remember that our eligibility and administration 00:10:51.140 --> 00:10:59.600 is restrictive because we only allow one adjustment or one arrangement per six months and any 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:05.400 deviation to that ordinance guideline would require council action. 00:11:05.400 --> 00:11:10.020 So if that customer has had one arrangement in the last six months they've now experienced 00:11:10.020 --> 00:11:13.560 a water leak and have a two thousand dollar bill. 00:11:13.560 --> 00:11:17.720 We would have to go to city council to be able to do something to work with that person. 00:11:17.720 --> 00:11:23.200 So what we are looking at recommending is moving the due date to be your current bill 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:29.200 date that way it's always clearly marked on your bill customer has easy access to it. 00:11:29.200 --> 00:11:33.960 It's already on the screens that the representatives are using so there's no manual calculation 00:11:33.960 --> 00:11:40.040 of dates that we remove the number of restrictions on from being this is how many arrangements 00:11:40.040 --> 00:11:45.960 you can have to instead you can have as many arrangements as you need as long as you're 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:47.360 fulfilling them. 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:51.360 If you're failing to fulfill them this is when we have to apply additional work with 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:55.920 the fields and with staff on trying to now remedy that account. 00:11:55.920 --> 00:12:02.400 So if you failed two agreements in a 12 month period of time that you have a 12 month restriction 00:12:02.400 --> 00:12:06.800 of not being able to set an agreement and then we will allow you to do that again so 00:12:06.800 --> 00:12:09.640 that there you're holding them accountable. 00:12:09.640 --> 00:12:14.640 Then we want to look at updating the ordinance to authorize the program authority to the 00:12:14.640 --> 00:12:21.480 manager and then discretion to the department head for anything that would be a exception 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:28.800 to the rule and then make sure that we ensure that city council has full notification before 00:12:28.800 --> 00:12:33.120 any program changes are made through something like a Friday report so that they can bring 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:37.840 things back in if there are questions or concerns so that city council would still maintain 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:41.320 oversight on that program. 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:46.800 And then leak adjustments we ran into some inadvertent wording problems from when this 00:12:46.800 --> 00:12:51.600 came through a couple of years ago so we want to make sure that we get those corrected and 00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:54.040 make sure we're in alignment with other cities. 00:12:54.040 --> 00:13:00.240 So what we found is the places that we are not aligned with other cities is the process 00:13:00.240 --> 00:13:03.740 for a leak adjustment is hard coded in city ordinance. 00:13:03.740 --> 00:13:09.840 So any deviation to it would require council intervention that they found that our filing 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:16.000 time was a little shorter than what the benchmark showed and that we had a little bit of a restrictive 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:17.880 policy in comparison. 00:13:17.880 --> 00:13:23.240 We didn't have consideration at that time for AMI metering for water and lower customer 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:30.600 eligibility because we had an again oversight that the language excluded renters because 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:32.620 they cannot pull a permit. 00:13:32.620 --> 00:13:39.260 So what we're looking for is we're going to revise the restrictions so that residential 00:13:39.260 --> 00:13:45.380 customers there would be no cap but commercial customers would cap their loss at one hundred 00:13:45.380 --> 00:13:46.880 thousand gallons. 00:13:46.880 --> 00:13:52.360 We've been asked to add a provision for sprinklers and pools but we would cap that at five thousand 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:57.520 gallons and at a reduced rate over what a normal leak adjustment would be. 00:13:57.520 --> 00:14:02.240 So that way there is some provision for those customers but it is going to protect the city 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:05.160 from significant cost. 00:14:05.160 --> 00:14:10.640 We will increase our submission deadline to 60 days and then we need to update the ordinance 00:14:10.640 --> 00:14:16.320 to make sure that the provision for renters is included and again authorizing program 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:22.420 authority to city manager discretion to customer service head of customer service and then 00:14:22.420 --> 00:14:31.120 council getting provisions for any changes are made and add language for AMI metering. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:38.940 So in summary collections is performing better than the industry and it's doing so consistently 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:44.240 and more effective and cost efficient and then we want to say our recommendations is 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:49.920 to work on being more responsible responsive to customer needs in the way that we're doing 00:14:49.920 --> 00:14:55.000 commercial deposits payment arrangements and leak adjustments and with that I'll answer 00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:58.000 questions. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.920 Do we have any questions. 00:15:01.920 --> 00:15:05.400 Customer service there are always questions going back a few slides where you're talking 00:15:05.400 --> 00:15:10.200 about your deposit requirements and you have the credit rating of a what are you using 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:11.560 to determine that credit rating. 00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:18.200 So it is an internal scoring system that evaluates the number of late payments disconnections 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:21.680 and other payment anomalies. 00:15:21.680 --> 00:15:25.520 So it is calculated automatically on a 12 month rolling period. 00:15:25.520 --> 00:15:31.320 So it's an internal metric based on our correct and it is defined in city ordinance. 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:35.920 And if customers don't need that credit rating are they able to get an understanding of why 00:15:35.920 --> 00:15:43.840 they're not meeting that if yes yes we can go back and be able to explain that. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:53.000 Yes I'm curiosity back on page prior to the summary it appears that the program authority 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:59.080 goes to the city manager and then the head of customer service whereas on the other remarks 00:15:59.080 --> 00:16:02.120 it went from the city manager to the department head. 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:07.400 This is the same the head of customer service that department head but that doesn't include 00:16:07.400 --> 00:16:11.600 the department head just a city manager. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:19.680 So I'm curious should the department head also have that discretion rather than wait 00:16:19.680 --> 00:16:25.720 for the city manager considering the breadth of that person's duties. 00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:31.080 What's listed is program authority to city manager meaning the city manager can approve 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:35.320 like what the program guidelines are oh changes to the right. 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:39.920 I'm sorry my apology I was thinking in terms of you know actual approvals whereas before 00:16:39.920 --> 00:16:48.840 you know that would go through the department head very well thank you. 00:16:48.840 --> 00:16:56.720 Any further questions. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:03.120 So I think this you know looks like a good plan removing that requirement of having to 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:08.280 go to city council putting that authority in staff I think is appropriate these programs 00:17:08.280 --> 00:17:15.640 probably need to get adjusted you know every few years based on changes in the market changes 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:21.500 in the community so I think I feel like that's an appropriate plan. 00:17:21.500 --> 00:17:24.400 Anybody else have any guidance to staff. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:29.680 Do we need to approve this to move forward or this is just informational yeah and any 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:31.400 guidance anything that you'd like to see. 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:35.760 I mean I think that's impressive the results that you guys have had thank you compared 00:17:35.760 --> 00:17:47.160 to the industry average. 00:17:47.160 --> 00:17:55.560 And now we will move into our closed session the public utilities board at 917 a.m. will 00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:00.640 convene in closed session to deliberate the closed meeting items set forth in the agenda 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:06.800 which are the following pub 25153 deliberations regarding certain public power utilities competitive 00:18:06.800 --> 00:18:17.520 matters under Texas government code section five five one dot zero eight six. 00:18:17.520 --> 00:18:23.960 The public utility board has now at 927 a.m. reconvened from closed closed session and no 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:26.220 official action was taken. 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:33.840 We will now consider individual item for individual consideration item B adoption of an ordinance 00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:47.240 establishing the schedule of rates for electric service for ECL. 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:52.640 Our transmission cost recovery factor so just a quick overview of our current rates our 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:58.720 native load ECA is set at point zero four six two cents per KWH does provide a buffer 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:03.080 of plus or minus twenty million dollars for our ECA balance and we're not recommending 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:04.680 any changes for this. 00:19:04.680 --> 00:19:10.560 Our large load ECA is currently at point zero five one five cents per KWH buffer of zero 00:19:10.560 --> 00:19:15.360 to twenty million dollars and our transmission cost recovery factor rates are shown here 00:19:15.360 --> 00:19:18.980 and we're not recommending any changes for this. 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:23.800 So our large load ECA we are recommending an increase to point zero five seven seven 00:19:23.800 --> 00:19:32.440 cents effective October 15th our native load ECA forecasted account balance is shown here. 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:36.640 If we maintain the rate of point zero four six two cents we will have a balance of nineteen 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:41.660 point six million dollars by June of twenty twenty six again that account balance buffers 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:47.760 plus or minus twenty million and our TCRF forecasted account balance as long as we maintain 00:19:47.760 --> 00:19:52.160 our current rate of point zero one seven six we will have a balance of six hundred and 00:19:52.160 --> 00:19:58.840 twenty three thousand by June of twenty twenty six. 00:19:58.840 --> 00:20:04.680 So our staff recommends an increase to our large load ECA effective October 15th again 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:09.920 that's increasing it to point zero five seven seven cents and we would need a vote on this 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:14.100 ordinance today. 00:20:14.100 --> 00:20:22.480 Is there any discussion or questions. 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:29.840 Chair would entertain a motion like a motion from Mr. Newquist and second from Mr. Rybak 00:20:29.840 --> 00:20:33.960 all in favor of approval please say aye. 00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:35.440 Any opposed. 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:38.420 Motion carries unanimously. 00:20:38.420 --> 00:20:44.440 We have no further business so we are adjourned.