Oct 13, 2025 Public Utilities Board on 2025-10-13 9:00 AM

- All right, good morning. Like to call the Public Utility Board meeting for the City of Denton Monday, October 13th, 2025 to order. Are there any presentation from members of the public, Cassie? No, there are not? All right, then we'll move on to the consent agenda. Would any board member like to pull any items from the agenda? - I would like to remove items E and F for the review. - Any others? No, okay. Then we'll entertain a motion for items A, B, C, and D for approval. - So moved. - We have a motion. - Second. - And a second. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed? Passes unanimously. All right, item E. Good morning, board members. Aaron Skinner, Senior Project Manager, Capital Projects. Questions might you have today? - I was wondering if we could review the presentation that was included and be able to ask our questions from that. - Being a consent agenda item, we didn't have a presentation prepared for this, but I'm happy to answer any questions. - I'm sorry, there was one included with the documents. - Aaron, it's up there. - It is in there, okay. Perfect. 25192. - Sorry about that. - No worries. - So this is for the standard utility agreement for the FM 1515 relocation project. It's wastewater relocation and abandonment. It's a textile is coming in and widening FM 1515, so they've asked us to get our utilities out of their way. And this is gonna go from Bonnie Bray all the way to Mosh Branch, so almost all of Airport Road to the airport. And here's our project estimates. I'll give you a moment to kinda read through that for a moment. You have questions on this, sir? - So the scope of the project was something that was mandated by Texas DOT? - Yes, sir. - Well, not the full scope, the general relocation, and so the city took it upon ourselves to include some betterment in this project. So as we're moving, let's go ahead and upsize the pipes as we go for future development. - Okay, so this project was partially mandated by Texas DOT requirements for changes to the freeway. So what portion belongs to the city and what exactly is the city proposing to do and is that part of some other work that had previously been planned? - No, the work wouldn't have been planned until Texas DOT approached us to move. So the city just took it upon ourselves to include the betterment. And it looks like on this slide, our net reimbursement for this project is $25,000. So most of this is betterment for this project 'cause we were able to stay in Texas DOT right away for a lot of this. And so there were minimal-- - I'm sorry, could you say that again? - We were able to stay in part of Texas DOT right away for a lot of this project, but we still needed to move within that right away. So while moving, we're gonna go ahead and issue the betterment and upsize pipes. - Okay, so what are the additional benefits that the city is providing in this project? - Utility betterment. And so after the FM 1515 project by Texas DOT, the city will take over FM 1515. - It's Airport Road. - Airport Road, yes, sir. - I'm sorry, I don't think I quite caught that. I apologize. - So Texas DOT is going to redo and widen the road. And once Texas DOT, similar to the Elm and Locust projects, once Texas DOT is done with the road maintenance and widening, the city will take over maintenance of that road and it will become a city of Denton Road. - Okay, so the maintenance, the additional maintenance isn't included in this project, is that correct? - Correct, yes, sir. - Okay, so how much additional maintenance will the city be on the hook for? - That would have to be a streets department question, but I'd be happy to get some schematic numbers for you and it may take a little bit of time to get that from the streets department, but I'd be happy to look into that for you. - Okay, I would request to get that information. Those are my questions. - Okay, additionally, this net reimbursement to utility was not listed in the agenda item. - Yes, sir. - It was also not apparent, didn't track back to the whole, the contract award and all that. And so there was a few questions that we had and just the item wasn't evident on the information that you've discussed. - Understood. - I guess my question would be, was there, was there a, I forget the name of those agreements, were the repurchase when TechStop basically gives money for us to take over the road? - Yes, sir. - Like we get on McKinney Street? - The AFF, I believe. - Did we get a dollar on that? - No, we, on these projects, they've asked us to do the standard utility agreements for reimbursement after the facts 'cause costs are pretty fluid on these projects. As issues come up, we don't wanna, we'd rather have reimbursed for the exact amount. - So what exactly was $25,000 gonna buy us? - Easement. - Just the-- - Easement. - Okay, that's pretty-- - Yes, sir. - That's pretty cheap. - Yeah, we had to buy I think 400 square feet of wastewater easement. - That's it, just for that turn there, is that what it was? - Yes. - Yeah, right there? - Yes, sir. - I know what you're talking about. - Yes, sir. - Okay. All right, any other questions? Mr. Ray. - Yes, sir. - Thank you. When you were talking about the, you said utility improvements. Did I get that right? - Yes, sir. - Tell me what that is. - Basically, water and wastewater pipes, if you've got an eight inch right now and we have a lot of future development coming in, we may upsize that to a 12 or 16 inch. - But not, thank you, but not necessarily moving or will those pipes then be, are they gonna be moved because of the widening? So that's what's part of this. - Yes, sir. - Your incentive to do this and so you were using the money to do that. - Yes, sir, that's correct. - Thank you. - Just to follow up, excuse me. - Yes, sir. - Normally, if we had to move our utilities due to a textile widening, they would have to pay us reimburses for the moving. But I'm gonna assume that this case is because we wanted to move those utilities, we wanted them to pay for the betterment of that road. - That's a little bit of it, but mostly we were able to stay in the right-of-way for a big portion of it. A lot of times, the reimbursement is triggered by having to move out of the textile right-of-way. - All right, so the rest of the right-of-way was acquired through textiles doing. - Yes, sir, that's correct. - All right, okay. All right, very good. Anymore? - I have a question. We approve this, does that, do we keep this at bay until you get your information, or what is our procedure here? - It goes to council and then council will approve it. - But I mean, you were asking for additional feedback. Is that necessary for, do you need that for your vote? - It's not necessary to me. I'm willing to get it after the fact. - And that's all, I was just a little confused as to where we were. - That's a good question. I should have thought of it at the time, thank you. - And I think, board, I think that that particular item will come back to you as a separate action item once that, once we're ready to move forward with taking that over. Usually there's an agreement as well on that. - That would be acceptable, thank you. - Okay, all right. There are no more questions. All those in favor of this item, please say aye. - Aye. - Aye. Any opposed, sign the same. We didn't do that, did we? Sorry about that. We'll entertain a motion before we take a vote to approve this item. Thank you, we have a motion. - Second. - We have a second. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed, sign the same. Passes unanimously, item F, similar. - Board members, Aaron Skinner, senior project manager, Capital Projects. So very similar process to the last one, a little bit of a larger project. And so this one is out on I-35, north of Loop 288, almost all the way to Sanger. And here's the meat and potatoes of that one with a much higher reimbursement for this one. I'll let you guys kind of read over that and any questions on this, yes, sir. - Could you go back to the photograph? - Okay, there appear to be some highlighted items there on the north side of the road, or west side of the, east side of the road. Are those the locations of the lift station? - Mr. Rybeck, I'm gonna be honest with you, as I look at this photo, this is not a photo of this project. (laughing) That is Fort Worth Drive. - Oh, that's the previous, that's the same photo. - Yes, yeah. - I wonder why I was confused. - My apologies on that. Yeah. (laughing) We did a relocation program on this site last year, but my apologies. Yes, sir. - Yeah, it kind of makes my point. - I would really like them to see where this actually is going and where these facilities are gonna be located vis-a-vis the road work. - Sure, so the lift station itself is gonna go by the TA truck stop. And so, and then the lines run pretty much on the east side of I-35 and the west side. The west side goes behind some properties, so there's a little bit of a longer run. It doesn't just run along the access road on the west side due to some other property issues. - I'm not sure that I can visualize that properly. (laughing) Go ahead. - Is that also tying into that large residential subdivision being built there? - Yes, sir. Absolutely. - Is that the catalyst that's creating this, or no? We just, it happens to be there. - That's part of it, yes, sir. - Okay. - The widening of TexDOT, TexDOT's widening has a lot to do with this, right? - Yes, sir. - It's a $650 million project, right beside of what, $125 million project? - Yes, sir. - Yeah, Aaron, I don't know if this, I mean, this is a customary-- - Mr. Aaron, can you answer some questions on that? - Sure, I'm on up. - Gonna answer some questions. David Brown, Water Utility Project Manager. Actually, there's gonna be a lift station at Ganja Road right there at, right there at 35, and that's gonna take any flows from the new development. And what this also did was, this was called a, Mylam, I can't remember the name of the total project, but it actually got rid of two lift stations at the, one at the TA truck stop and one that was there on Bartol Road. Used to be where the, I'm dating myself, where the truck stop was there before the Loves. So in this project, we're getting rid of two lift stations and actually going a larger gravity line along 35 and going into one regional lift station at Ganja, be the Mylam lift station, and we refer to that because of the creek up there at Mylam Creek. And then once we're able to put in our Clear Creek Interceptor, that lift station is actually gonna pump into the new Clear Creek Interceptor and be able to flow wastewater that way. But for right now, this project is actually gonna come back to town, that's what we call it, back into Pecan Creek Interceptor until we get Clear Creek Interceptor built. So it affords us availability to get them those, that new development service in a quicker fashion, so. - I do appreciate your better description of the project's location and scope. Is there any reason that the presentation did not include an appropriate photograph or map of the area? - I wasn't in part of the presentation, sir. But we can get you a map and display of what this project entails. - I would really appreciate that because I feel stupid now that I didn't realize it was stock photo, so I'm looking at that going, that doesn't look right. - So we're also doing water and wastewater improvements on the project along 35 there that better meant. So again, some service out there where we didn't have adequate service. - Yeah, member Rebecca, I mean, Aaron, I don't know if we can pull up a Google Maps up here and show them the general area to see if maybe that would be helpful. Would you like that? - I would very much appreciate that. - Okay, take a moment. I got you, Rob, I see you over there. (typing) All right, Mr. Ryback, we're looking, so you've got loop 288, I don't know, yeah, the cursor's showing up here. - There's Mylam Creek. - It's coming all the way up here and on this side, coming back down. - Okay, so the road you indicated, is that Mylam? - Let me get the satellite on there. - Mylam Creek Branch Road. - Mylam East, yeah. - Yep. - Okay. - Yes, sir. - Okay, this makes a lot more sense. Thank you, please continue. - Apologies, yes, sir. - So would you like to go back to the slides or keep on this description here? - I'm sorry, say again. - Would you like to go back to the slideshow or would you like to keep talking about the map? - So are all the facilities near this intersection? - Yes, sir, so from here down by the loop, all up I-35 and the lift station being up in this general. - So that whole section is going to be replaced? - Yes, sir, on both sides of the intersection. - Relocated, excuse me. - Pretty much already done. - Yeah, and Aaron, this one is in progress right now. - Aaron and David, can you guys point out where the two lift stations are now, where the other one's gonna be located? - So in all actuality, the lift station's gonna be here. And, oh, I'm sorry, it's gonna be here at Ganser, my bad. So it's gonna be at Ganser and what's going on is beforehand we had a lift station here by the TA, a lift station over here by the, used to be the Border Cowboy. I'm dating myself, but the Border Cowboy. And so it would, yeah. - It's got you all right. - And so what we were able to do because of the 35 being widened and we were able to actually get rid of a lift station here, lift station here, there was a approach to go a larger pipe so we can get a grade to go gravity all the way to this location. Gravity here across the road, and then a lift station here, and actually we'll have a force main that comes back to Pecan Creek, our initial, where we're gonna initially take the flows. And then once, like I said, once we have our Pecan Creek Interceptor completed, then we'll be able to pump it over there and take it to Clear Creek. - Okay. Well, thank you. That makes a lot more sense than what we got that information that we had, which other than the photograph was. - And what it is, it lets us, it's just a good opportunity for us to get rid of lift stations, which are a big maintenance issue. And so when we go gravity, that's always, that's a win-win situation as far as maintenance for its cost. And we have one regional solution there for a lift station. - Well, that certainly makes good sense. And I would appreciate in the future, if you would provide us with that kind of visual data. - Sure. - Simple map, locations, what comes out, what goes in, what's moved. You're increasing the size of the line. Things like that would be very helpful 'cause I'm always nervous about just consenting to five and seven and $8 million items, even though they may make good sense. And a great deal of work has gone into the planning and preparation of getting to the point of having the project. You're asking us to approve and I'm looking at it. You could see, I was looking at MapCon, this doesn't make any sense. 'Cause it wasn't a map, it was a photograph. And unfortunately, it was a photograph from the other one. So appreciate a little bit more detailed information in the future for this type of project. - Yes, sir. - Would have been easier to say, "Yes, let's just go ahead with it." If the information visually and as written made a little more sense. - I can get you to get that as soon as possible to you. All right? - Thank you. - Thanks. Is there any more questions on this map before we change? I know you've got a question. - I do. - Is it on this map? - Yes. - Okay. - Clear, oh, thank you. Clear Creek is the east of all this, is it not? - Yes, sir. It's over in this location. - Okay. So then the lift station at Ganzer Road, then will it be a dual purpose going towards Pecan and to Clear Creek? Or are you gonna take everything up to Clear Creek and then that line that was going down to the truck stop, it's still in effect, but it doesn't need a lift station? - Well, from, so it's kind of, if you look at it, it kind of, it goes actually gravity to the north, which I know that's kind of- - That's right. - But we were able to use a larger line to get the slope that we needed to get to Ganzer. And then it goes over across the road to the lift station. And initially, because the flows are smaller, we're able to put a force main there that is smaller to get down to Pecan Creek interceptor. Pecan Creek area, which is the north part of town there. And then once Clear Creek is in and where you have a facility for Clear Creek, we'll be able to just switch it over to Clear Creek. It certainly doesn't mean that we can't have the advantage of if there is an issue, we can pump back to Pecan if we needed to split those flows. - Okay, so it could be split. Okay, and then I'm through with that slide also. Thank you. - Okay, thanks. - So I have another question. - Yes, no? - Not on that slide, but on- - The reimbursement slide? - Reimbursement. - Okay. - Is the numbers that we're looking for, that is for the Ganzer to the truck stop, the lift station to Clear Creek, we're not there yet for numbers or anything, is that correct? - No, sir, these- - This has nothing to do with that. - On which part, sorry? - This $6 million has nothing to do with, what we are agreeing to here is nothing to do with what will be the Clear Creek line, that's down the future, down the road. - Correct, correct, yes, sir. - Additional money later. - Yeah, right. - Thank you, that's what I was carrying. - It's part of the whole plan, of course, right? - Okay. - All right. Yeah, I will entertain a motion to approve this item. - So moved. - We have a motion. - Second. - We have two seconds. Choose one, Cassie. Susan, of course. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed, sign the same. Thank you very much. - Thank you, board. - All right, we're gonna move on to items for individual consideration. First is item A, consider of the approval of the September 29th, 2025 minutes. Already have a motion and a second. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Item B, consider recommending adoption of orders of the City of Ditten, considering all matters instant and related to the issuance sale and delivery of $11,235,000 in principal amount of City of Ditten, et cetera. All right. - Well, good morning, Chair, members of the board, Matt Hamilton, ADF Finance. Here this morning to present the Texas Water Development Board Utility System Revenue Bond Ordinance. So as you may recall, the city entered into a financing agreement with the Texas Water Development Board on August 19th. This is the second year of the financing program through SWIFT, and the funds for this project will go toward Ray Roberts Treatment Plant expansion. The increased treatment capacity will add 20 MGD, as well as an additional 30 MGD of future capacity. For a total new treatment capacity of 50 MGD and a total final combined treatment capacity of 70 MGD. The expansion is intended to be financed with bonds through the Texas Water Development Board sold over five years. So as I mentioned, this is the second year of the program. The first issuance was 10.1 million last year. This year is 11.235 million. These bonds will be issued at a 30-year term with reduced interest rates through the Texas Water Development Board. The board met on October 2nd to determine rates, and the city will receive a 14% subsidy. And this 4.1% estimated borrowing cost, this was a preliminary cost prior to the October 2nd meeting just because of the timing of posting the agenda and things. So the outcome of that meeting with the 14% subsidy, our rates would be close to 3.32%, so quite a bit of savings over current market rates. And the reason for that is because the Texas Water Development Board is AAA rated, so when they go to the market and issue at that AAA rating versus our utility system at an A plus rating, we are capturing that interest rate savings based on the rating of the state program. - Okay. - So next steps, this will go to council, and following council approval, we will close and deliver on the funds December 3rd. - All right. - Any questions? - Mr. Wehmeck. - Yes. - I'm curious, you referred to the subsidy of 14% on the rates, so from 4.1 to? - So the 4.1% was a prior preliminary rate before the Texas Water Development Board met on October 2nd. Once they met on October 2nd and determined all the participants in the program, the market rates, as well as the state had set up this fund and has a pool of cash to subsidize the participants in the program, they then determined, based on our 30-year term, we would be eligible for a 14% subsidy. So the market rate is, with the subsidy, will be about 3.3% on average over that 30 years, which is lower than what we were anticipating with the 4.1%. - Isn't that like a 40% reduction or something? - Well, so a couple things change. I mean, a couple things changed. The market changed since this preliminary number, and we didn't know at the time the subsidy amount as well. So with the market changes, with that 14% subsidy, we'll be close to 3.3%. - Oh, that seems excellent. - Yeah. - Thank you. - Any other questions? All right. Do we need to take action on this? No, I just, okay. All right, we have a motion to approve. Ms. Parker, we have a second from Mr. Ryback. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed? Passes unanimously. Item number C, consider recommending adoption of ordinance to declare the intent to reimburse capital program expenditures of 109 million for the general government, of course, for solid waste, 18 million, 249, and water utility, 55651, and rest of it's on there, okay. You may get the whole thing, okay. And the water utility, 55 million, 651,541. The wastewater utility, 141 million, 892,454, and the electric utility, 58 million, 434,588, with tax preferred obligations, certificates of obligation, and general obligation bonds, with an aggregate maximum principal amount not to exceed, 383 million, 998,218, and providing an effective date. - Good morning, Randy Klingle, Treasury Manager. And I wish I could make that caption shorter too. All of mine seem to be really long with a lot of dollar amounts. So today for you, I have a reimbursement ordinance, which is the first step of a bond sale anytime we're gonna have a bond sale in the fiscal year. And the purpose of the reimbursement ordinance is for all intensive purposes is for the city to dedicate and allow and let it be known that we're gonna reimburse ourselves with proceeds from a future bond sale so that the projects can currently get started if they have cash revenue that they can start these projects with. The IRS requires that we make that formal intention to reimburse ourselves later with those bond proceeds. We generally sell the bonds within 12 months of this ordinance. We like to do it in the same fiscal year. And the reimbursement is allowed by our city's debt policy. And just because we do the reimbursement ordinance also does not mean we need to actually sell all these bonds. We're not tied to that by doing the reimbursement ordinance. So for your review, I have the CEO Utilities Reimbursements Ordinance Summary for the 25-26 year. This total and this summary are all the projects that you've already reviewed during the budget process for the capital improvement plan. So you've seen all of the projects. These are all the same ones. So for solid waste, we have $18.2 million. Water is 55.6. Wastewater is 141.8 million. Electric comes in at 58.4. With a total for all utilities for solid waste and what's considered the utility system with the three utilities is $274,227,583. Back that up. 274,227,583. Always a lot of numbers. So the detailed project list is in exhibit A in the ordinance if you wanna see all the detailed line items. So what will happen next is in April, we will do a Notice of Intent, which is also required by the Certificates of Obligation. We will in May then consider a bond parameters ordinance which will be the final numbers that we project out for the bond sale. And then June will have the bond sale and then July will have received the actual proceeds from the final bond sale. Any questions? - It's a lot of money. - Yes, sir. - So this is just allowing us to sell the bonds if so chosen by the council? - Yes, it's allow us to reimburse ourselves if we spend any money before we actually get the proceeds. Yes, sir. - Okay. So this won't actually go into effect until next year? - This reimbursement ordinance will be effective when council approves it in a couple of weeks. I think it's next week. And then that will just allow us to use any money on these projects before we actually receive the funds, which then we'll then reimburse ourselves with any money that we spent. So it'll be the fiscal year. - From those funds which will not actually be issued until the obligations will be issued until next year? - It'll be in the same fiscal year, but yes, 2026 in July. - Same fiscal year. - Yes. - Sorry. Do we have an idea what we think our rates will be for those bonds next year? - No. I would like not to guess. - I'm curious, I mean, we're getting such a good deal. (all laughing) - You're a healthy woman. We do, they do analyze that. And whether we work with our bond counselor and our bond advisory, we're constantly looking at the market and they look at the refunding opportunities and those things. And so when we do go to market, we will look at those conditions. And sometimes-- - Well, if we were to go to the market now, what would the rate be? - You know, I don't even know if I know that right now. I have not even investigated that. I don't know if Matt, you have anything? Current rate might be. - Yeah, I think we've seen recent rates, high 3%, low 4% area. We can pull the data for the most recent bond sale in 2025 and follow up with you in a management report. Detailing what that cost looked like, but four to four and a quarter percent would be pretty typical. - Okay, I was just curious. It seems like we're in a rate environment where there's an expectation they're going to fall. So I was just curious if we had some thoughts about where that might be going. So yes, I'd appreciate that report. Thank you. - Sure. - Thanks. Mr. Ritter? No, you got it? Okay. All right. Any more questions? Not entertain a motion for that big money. Mr. Newquist and second for Mr. Rapet. All those in favor, please say aye. - Aye. - Any opposed, sign the same. Thank you, Ms. Taylor. All right. Now we're moving on to this calendar. I believe a meeting schedule. I believe everybody has a copy of this. All members do. If there's any that you want to discuss, they move the May as usual. And then we have the holiday, each holiday that might be a conflict. - Good morning, PUB members. I'm going to pull this up for you real quick. Get a little bigger. So this morning I have for you the proposed 2026 PUB meeting schedule. The meetings will continue to be held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month, with the exception of the May, November, and December meetings, which deviate slightly just due to the holidays. But I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. - All right. I don't think this needs an action or anything. It's just a discussion. If you have anything going forward, be sure and put it out there to Cassie or Tony. - We're actually asking for approval. - Okay, all right. All right, entertain a motion to approve this schedule as it is proposed. - So moved. - It's not supposed to be for action, but if you want to give them direction, I think they can change the schedule without you getting a motion. - Gotcha. Everybody good so far? Everybody good? Okay, there you go. Thank you. All right, management reports. - So Mr. Chair, members of the board, today we don't have any new business action items, although I've heard two requests from today that we'll go ahead and put on, and we'll work with Public Works and also with Matt to get you that information back to you as soon as possible. And then for future items, just again, the only reminder we have here is first meeting in January will be our officer election date. And so again, as we're kind of moving towards that, please be thinking about that. We have reached out to our current, or we'll be reaching out to our current officers to see kind of where they are going into next year. So that's all I have, unless you have any other questions for me. - I have a question for you. I'd like to ask legal counsel. Last, I did not vote for the approval for the minutes because I recused myself for part of that meeting for continuity. Should it be noted that I abstained on approving the minutes? - That vote already happened. So you don't have to abstain just because you weren't in a meeting. It's not necessary. If you're asking to reconsider that motion. - I'm just asking for the smooth continuity. I didn't want it to cause any friction later on down the road. - I don't know. I guess that would be other board members, whether that would cause friction. But I think it was on, we recorded that that was a unanimous vote in this meeting. So it's gonna be on the record that you did not abstain. You voted in the affirmative, but that's not, there's no legal issue with you doing that or- - Yeah, I mean, it's on a video in case you ever weren't, he could have reviewed it on video. So we'll just, we'll assume that. >> All right, we stand adjourned.