1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,120 Okay, it's nine o'clock. Let's call to order the November 11th Public Utilities Board. 2 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:21,240 Can you hear me? Hello. It's nine o'clock. November 11th. Let's call to order the Public 3 00:00:21,240 --> 00:00:26,880 Utilities Board of November 11th, 2019. Before we jump into the work session, I just wanted 4 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:33,320 to thank any of our veterans who are serving or have served. Today we honor them, but we 5 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:38,760 should really honor them every day for keeping us safe and keeping our democracy in place. 6 00:00:38,760 --> 00:01:04,560 With that, let's hop into the work session. Brian. Well, good morning, Madam Chair, members 7 00:01:04,560 --> 00:01:07,640 of the committee. My name is Brian Burner. I'm Director of Solid Waste for the City of 8 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:12,040 Denton. I do appreciate the opportunity today to come before you to talk about a proposal 9 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:17,320 to create a comprehensive solid waste management strategy for the City of Denton. You may remember 10 00:01:17,320 --> 00:01:21,160 about two years ago, the City of Denton hired a consultant to basically come and look at 11 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:27,320 its solid waste program, STEM to Stern. And over the past 18 months, we've come before 12 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:31,760 you with several business case analysis talking about the effectiveness of certain programs, 13 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:37,160 some programs we've enhanced, some we've actually dismantled, and just because they weren't 14 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:43,160 cost effective, they weren't effective in meeting the goals and objectives of the of 15 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:49,040 the plan or of the program initially. And they've been done sort of piecemeal. What 16 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:56,120 we want to do today is to really talk about coming together to develop this strategy to 17 00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,920 define really where we want to go over the next 15, 20 years. The purpose of today's 18 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:05,840 presentation, again, is to define what a comprehensive solid waste management strategy is, talk about 19 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:10,280 the process, identify potential funding sources, and at the end of the day, set a schedule 20 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:15,320 for completing this process. So really, what is a comprehensive solid waste management 21 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:21,160 strategy? It is a forward looking, futuristic thinking document, for lack of a better term, 22 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,680 that allows us to ask some very serious questions about what we want to do, where we want to 23 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:32,480 go, how we want to actually affect solid waste management over the next 10, 15, 20, 30 years. 24 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:38,800 We'll be identifying trends, you know, looking at markets, establishing baselines, forecasting 25 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:44,400 waste streams, and all this is going to come together to basically create some very, very 26 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,760 strong goals. And from those goals will flow our ability to put into place programs and 27 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,880 ordinances to potentially affect the way that we look at solid waste strategy. A couple 28 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:59,240 of weeks ago, I was in Arizona at the what was called WasteCon, which is really the big 29 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:07,280 solid waste conference in North America. You know, you don't think about going to conferences 30 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:11,360 for this or that, but who would think about going to a garbage conference? Well, we spent 31 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:18,160 about four days there, and it was really an exciting conference. If for no other term, 32 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:23,120 they focused on really future thinking. You know, we've gotten into a place now looking 33 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,960 at recycling programs, garbage programs. We keep doing the same things over and over, 34 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,400 and they said, if we're going to break this cycle, we've got to look at things differently. 35 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,520 There was a very pointed question that was asked, and really affects the way that we 36 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:39,600 do recycling today, but really how we may do it tomorrow. You know, with the national 37 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:47,160 sword that China cast here two years ago, the question was, what is our next China? 38 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,800 Where is our next China? And at the end of the day, it may be here in America. It may 39 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,560 be in North Texas. We don't know. But by putting into place this strategy and asking those tough 40 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:01,720 questions, what it does is it allows us to be sort of on the front end of being able 41 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:07,240 to react or to steer ourselves so that we're not caught behind, we're not looking at diverting 42 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,840 materials to where we don't want them to go. That's really the purpose of the strategy. 43 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:15,720 Now when we look at strategies, these are just words on a list. There's no order or 44 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:21,360 whatever to them. It's just things that we consider. We look at garbage, recycling, residential, 45 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,520 commercial, multifamily. We look at ordinances. We look at states and federal laws. I know 46 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,880 that, you know, between council and public utilities board and other committees, we've 47 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,100 talked about our recycling program and things that we would like to see. We talk about food 48 00:04:35,100 --> 00:04:39,400 waste and organics diversion and things we like to see. We've talked about zero waste 49 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,120 concepts and things that we would like to see. At the end of the day, we'll develop 50 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:49,840 strategies around these and a whole lot more of our diversion and goals. And from that, 51 00:04:49,840 --> 00:04:54,120 create this plan that will move forward. How will we strategize this? Again, it will not 52 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,240 be done in a vacuum. This is going to be a very open, very transparent process starting 53 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:03,280 with this committee, with the council, with committee on the environment. We'll be looking 54 00:05:03,280 --> 00:05:09,440 at citizens, city council staff inputs. We're going to be evaluating city and regional growth 55 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:14,040 demographics. This will be a solid strategy for the city of Denton, but from that could 56 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:19,840 flow things that actually affect bigger. Denton County, the small cities around here, even 57 00:05:19,840 --> 00:05:23,280 the way that we manage garbage in the North Texas area. It's going to have a very, very 58 00:05:23,280 --> 00:05:29,860 heavy sustainability aspect, looking at market dynamics, constraints from regulations. Going 59 00:05:29,860 --> 00:05:34,880 back to WasteCon, there was a discussion that right now, you know, we talk about packaging 60 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:41,600 and recycling, but a lot of our packaging is related on federal regulations that were 61 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,720 cast 30 years ago. So we may have to work with our federal legislators to look at some 62 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,320 of these health and safety packaging issues to help drive what we're going to be doing 63 00:05:51,320 --> 00:05:56,760 in the future. From a funding standpoint, we're at a point of potentially a perfect 64 00:05:56,760 --> 00:06:01,420 storm, so to speak. Every biennium, the North Central Texas Council of Governments on behalf 65 00:06:01,420 --> 00:06:06,320 of the TCEQ actually administers a grant program. The source of the funding is actually our 66 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,400 landfill tipping fee. Every ton of garbage that comes across the scale, 94 cents of that 67 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:16,000 actually goes to the state to help fund state processes, but part of that goes back into 68 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:22,940 a fund to help put back into the community to help define grants that will help manage 69 00:06:22,940 --> 00:06:29,120 source reduction, and part of what one of the eligible -- or actually two of the eligible 70 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:33,960 categories include solid waste management, planning, and technical studies. Again, you 71 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,960 know, this strategy actually falls within both of those two, so we feel fairly confident 72 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:46,620 that we would actually be able to win one of these grants if it was applied for. Each 73 00:06:46,620 --> 00:06:51,960 of the grants that we can apply for is up to $200,000 per project. We anticipate that 74 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:57,440 the funding for this would be in the $100,000 range. Save for that, if we're not successful 75 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,560 in getting funding from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, we would be 76 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:06,520 coming forward mid-year for a solid waste budget amendment to help fund this. From a 77 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:13,240 timing standpoint, this will be about an 18-month process. Part of it is dictated by the grant 78 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,280 funding cycle, and part of it is just dictated by the amount of effort that's going to go 79 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:23,600 into this. The grants are due to the COG in January, and they will take about two or three 80 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:28,720 months to actually evaluate and award these, so it will not be until about the beginning 81 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:36,960 of Q2 that North Central Texas Council of Government is in place to actually start contracting 82 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:41,700 with eligible agencies that were successful in the granting opportunity. We'll know in 83 00:07:41,700 --> 00:07:46,400 late February whether we were successful or not. So in this six months between now and 84 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:52,160 basically end of Q1, we'll go ahead and start developing our RFQ, start shopping it out 85 00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,360 on the street, getting all the front-end stuff that we need to have done so that come Q1, 86 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:02,400 we can go ahead and contract with them with our funding source in line. From there, it'll 87 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:07,520 take about a year for us to go back and do all the things that we had discussed. All 88 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:15,320 the COG projects have to be completed by May 2021. So again, we hope to be done well before 89 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,600 that so that we can turn in all the grant information that they need and move forward. 90 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:25,960 So again, about an 18-month process from the time we hit the go button. With that, I'm 91 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:29,920 here to answer any questions that you might have. This was presented to the Committee 92 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:35,540 on the Environment last Monday and to the Denton City Council last Tuesday. We're going 93 00:08:35,540 --> 00:08:42,000 to be coming back to the Council with our RFQ or excuse me, our RFP once that's developed 94 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:45,960 and then we'll get the go-forward to put that out on the street here probably in December 95 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:53,000 sometime. I have a question. Yes, ma'am. On the grants, what kind of requirements are 96 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:58,000 there for a report? Sometimes grants have so many requirements that it's not worth the 97 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,480 hundred grand that you just got. Correct. And this is a little bit different. This process 98 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:07,560 has been in the North Texas area now and across the state for about a dozen years. On a quarterly 99 00:09:07,560 --> 00:09:14,120 basis, they're basically looking for metrics that we set. So it's not anything like you 100 00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:19,600 have to hold on to a piece of equipment for 15 years or use it for 80 percent of the time. 101 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:24,200 We define the metrics in conjunction with the Council of Governments and really it's 102 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:32,400 the 2021 time period that is important for us to report those. Other questions? So the 103 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:38,400 grant would cover the consultant and other expenses or just the consultant? Consultant 104 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:43,640 and other expenses that we outline require to create this strategy. But mainly the consultant? 105 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:48,000 Mainly the consultant and again that building process. So if we have to, I mean, let's 106 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:52,600 say printing and travel and things of that nature, but if we're going to be renting 107 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:57,560 a place to have a community meeting, that could go in there, things of that nature. 108 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:04,120 Mr. Sopac, question? Actually, I have a comment and that is that I'm very pleased with the 109 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:12,320 broad focus of this and the fact that it's proactive rather than reactive. And I applaud 110 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:22,400 you for initiating this process and I hope it comes to fruition as planned. Thank you. 111 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:32,520 So the results of the study will be built into the rate payers' fees, correct? From 112 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,760 these goals, from this strategy, we'll create goals which will create programs which will 113 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:45,280 define what we put on the street and what will face the rate payers. So in a very lineated 114 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:51,880 way it will, but part of that, you know, once we start with the implementation, it comes 115 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:56,680 to the staff to probably and again that triple point of sustainability where not only do 116 00:10:56,680 --> 00:11:00,680 you affect the environment and affect the people, but you also have to look at the financial 117 00:11:00,680 --> 00:11:05,720 piece of this and how do we do it, you know, in the least cost possible with the highest 118 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:10,360 quality and customer service at the end. You don't want it ending up in the ditches. 119 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,960 Yeah, I guess the really I was getting at is that this, the grant, is going to pay for 120 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:20,560 the study and the direction for staff to take into consideration, but in the end it's we'll 121 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:26,200 all be paying for whatever this costs. Correct. Okay. Mr. Brecker. On your list you mentioned 122 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,960 that it was just a list of different areas for concern, but there's three of them that 123 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:35,640 are highlighted. Is there a reason for highlighting on those three? Yes. You know, I've been the 124 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,640 Solace Director for about six months and coming to this committee, coming to Committee on 125 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:45,240 Environment, coming to Council, these are just programs that have been brought up in 126 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:49,160 part of the discussion. So we wanted to highlight that yes, we've heard you, we understand that 127 00:11:49,160 --> 00:11:52,720 these are important, but again there's other things that will be considered as we move 128 00:11:52,720 --> 00:12:03,920 forward. Thanks. Other questions? Oh, all right. Thank you. Thank you. All right. The 129 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:11,540 next item is the consent agenda. We have items A through C. Does any board member wish to 130 00:12:11,540 --> 00:12:23,560 pull one of the items? I would like to pull B. Okay. Item B? I would like to pull C. Okay. 131 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:31,200 Item C. Do we have item A? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve item A? I move we approve 132 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:40,360 item A. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Item B. I'd just like to 133 00:12:40,360 --> 00:13:02,280 hear the discussion about this. Okay. Is there someone available for item B? Yes. Good morning. 134 00:13:02,280 --> 00:13:07,360 Terry Nalti, Assistant General Manager at DME. I've got a quick presentation I can run 135 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:26,360 you through just to give you an update of what the Black Start service is. Okay. Here's 136 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:32,440 what we'll just cover real quickly. What it is and why it's needed, our role during the 137 00:13:32,440 --> 00:13:47,440 process, the requirements, and then benefits. So what it is, blackout is a system wide interruption 138 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:56,280 of power. And here you can see in 2003 we had a major blackout in the eastern interconnect. 139 00:13:56,280 --> 00:14:04,000 This is what it looked like when the blackout took place. The blackout actually lasted between 140 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:14,720 seven and 14 days. It took 14 days to restore power completely to all communities impacted. 141 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:22,000 So in the event that we do have a failure like that in ERCOT, the Black Start units 142 00:14:22,000 --> 00:14:31,200 would be called on for specific service to bring the grid back online. The recovery is 143 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:38,440 managed by ERCOT, who's the reliability coordinator for Texas. And the Black Start agreement is 144 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:44,280 a bilateral contract between the market and a resource entity. In this case, it would 145 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:51,400 be the Denton Energy Center. It is one of the few generators that has the ability to 146 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:58,160 start completely front with no outside resources. So it has its own generator on site that can 147 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:03,880 bring the units online to power air compressors and other critical equipment to bring the 148 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:13,240 units online. The process is very coordinated with ERCOT. It defines a specific path that 149 00:15:13,240 --> 00:15:19,200 we have to be able to energize. And in this case, we would energize certain gas compressors 150 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:28,680 because we need gas in that line to continue to burn gas. And it requires for us to staff 151 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:33,840 the facility on a 24-hour basis, and that means we'll be adding two additional FTEs 152 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:43,360 to bring our complement out there to, what's the total, Jason? 16 people, okay. Here's 153 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:49,480 what we have to do. We had to pass a test to ensure that we were capable of providing 154 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:58,320 the Black Start service. Again, as I mentioned, we have to run without any external support. 155 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:05,040 We have to operate at a stable, low output and flexible levels, and then ramp up as we're 156 00:16:05,040 --> 00:16:11,480 called upon. We have, there's a competitive bidding process for these, so there are a 157 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:16,000 number of units that have the capability to do it, and it's a declining auction. So we 158 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:21,240 start at a high price, and it goes down until the lowest price no longer is willing to provide 159 00:16:21,240 --> 00:16:29,960 the service, and that's the price that the auction clears at. Can I ask a question? Yes. 160 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:39,000 Can you explain how an external electric supply would affect the deck? I don't understand 161 00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:44,160 what that... So the deck is configured so that it can be completely isolated from the 162 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:51,120 grid, and it can start up without any electric. So think about starting up a power plant. 163 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:57,400 You have air compressors, pumps, motors, all those run on electricity. So we have a small 164 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:04,160 generator out there that supplies enough electrical output to start the equipment that we need 165 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:16,360 in order to start the bigger engines. It's a two-year contract. It begins in January, 166 00:17:16,360 --> 00:17:26,720 and we receive a standby fee for this, and the fee is to compensate us for the 24-hour 167 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:36,640 availability and the equipment that's necessary in order to do the testing. So here's the 168 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:43,760 fee. So the contract starts in January, and that's why you see the higher fee in the second 169 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:49,480 year of the contract. We don't have a full fiscal year. We have a full fiscal year next 170 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:57,600 year. We have included this revenue in the budgets, and it is curious to note that if 171 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:06,120 we do have a blackout situation, the control moves from ERCOT to DME for our control area, 172 00:18:06,120 --> 00:18:11,240 for the city itself. And so as we power back up the grid, it's very likely that we'll be 173 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:20,240 able to, which is termed island, we island the Denton and we're able to provide power here. 174 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:25,520 Again it does not increase our operating hours. If it is called upon, we'll all be glad that 175 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:30,520 it's there to be run, everyone in the state would. So any questions? 176 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:38,400 You have a question. I'm just curious. ERCOT's a pretty big area. How many Black Star facilities 177 00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:48,400 do they have? I think the award, do you remember the number, Jerry? 13 units. This is a good 178 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:55,280 thing in my opinion. It's something that the citizens of Denton get revenue for just being 179 00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:00,480 there. I commend DME for putting this together. And in a major blackout, they're the first 180 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:06,720 ones with the power back on. It's a good thing. Keeping the lights on, keeping the water running. 181 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:15,920 Any other questions? Thank you. Move approval. Do we have a second? All in favor say aye. 182 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:28,720 Aye. Motion carries. C. Good morning board members. Frank Pugsley, water utilities director, 183 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:35,040 here to answer any questions you've got about the RPR phase services contract for free syndicals. 184 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:43,120 So this is an amendment to a 2017 contract and the amendment amounts to almost a third 185 00:19:43,120 --> 00:19:48,480 of the original contract. Was there a way to predict this? The way we plan construction 186 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:54,720 phase services really has to start after we have the design or near completion. We have 187 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:59,360 been negotiating this with free syndicals since about February or April I believe, but 188 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:05,920 we're just taking the construction contract today on the IC and then to council tomorrow. 189 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:12,000 And this actual, their RPR phase actually covers two construction contracts. The Lake 190 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,560 Louisville phase two improvements as well as the Lake Louisville treatment plant dewatering 191 00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,640 improvements. So their personnel will be our eyes and ears and inspector on the ground 192 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:27,280 for both of those contracts, which total about 23 million. Would it have made any sense to 193 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:33,440 predict this in the original contract or does it make more sense to just kind of keep adding 194 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:40,720 amendments? It's since this contract, you know, the design phase runs about a year and 195 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:46,320 there's lots of scoping items that occur. We could make some estimates in the outset, 196 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,640 but it'd be difficult to really hit a good target number. We'd end up taking a larger, 197 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:55,360 probably conservative fee to be approved up front. I was just really surprised at the 198 00:20:55,360 --> 00:21:01,040 amount of the amendment compared to the one and two. Well, those were small design amendments 199 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,760 and this one is someone to basically be a resident at their water treatment plant for 200 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,320 I think 18 months essentially. Yeah. No, I was just, I was just curious about the amount. 201 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:18,160 Sure. No, no problem. Thank you. Yes. Just what, what, what do they do to 202 00:21:18,160 --> 00:21:24,240 hopefully keep zebra mussels under control? In this project, we are adding zebra muscle 203 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:30,160 control at both raw water intakes and we are installing a copper ion generators. 204 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:36,640 So they will put a very low dose of copper ion into the raw water line to make it uncomfortable 205 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:41,120 for the zebra mussel larva to attach to the pipe. So they run on an intermittent basis, 206 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:47,440 kind of a pulse basis to stop them from attaching. Does it work? 207 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:54,720 This is, yes, it works. The copper concentration is something that zebra mussels don't particularly 208 00:21:54,720 --> 00:21:59,520 like. And there are other utilities that are installing this same technology as we speak. 209 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:07,040 I come from up north where zebra mussels are everywhere. And the last time I was 210 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:12,000 talking to a biologist up there, they were like, the only way I've killed them is boiling them. 211 00:22:13,120 --> 00:22:19,760 They can, if you've got something that, that works, that's a, that's a good thing. Yeah, I think like 212 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:23,600 Tarrant Regional Water District has been doing a pilot study on this and they've seen success. 213 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:28,880 Since the lakes have had zebra mussels, they had a kind of a peak and they've kind of subsided. 214 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:33,760 We haven't really seen too much impact lately, but we want to be prepared so that we don't 215 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:41,200 end up with a problem in the future. All right. Do we have a motion to approve? Oh, I'm sorry. 216 00:22:43,280 --> 00:22:44,800 I've almost forgotten my question. 217 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:55,600 I remember when these came on board and there was a public awareness. Are we doing, are we continuing 218 00:22:55,600 --> 00:23:02,560 on about telling people that use their boats to check, do whatever's necessary to make the public 219 00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:06,480 involved in this? Right. We rely primarily on Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and their 220 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:16,880 clean, drain, dry campaign for, for boating. We should have that water plant fixed after this, 221 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:21,440 you've been working on it. A lot of deferred maintenance, if I recall. Correct. This is, 222 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:26,000 there is a lot, this contract, the, the primary construction contract we'll talk about in a minute 223 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,800 is, is a lot of major maintenance at the plant. Nothing new, no new processes, major maintenance. 224 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:39,760 Any other questions? Do we have a motion to approve? Move approval. And a second? Second. 225 00:23:39,760 --> 00:23:47,520 All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Next item is approval of the minutes of October 28th, 226 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:56,720 2019. Did anyone have any changes or suggestions? No. I'll move approval of minutes. Do we have 227 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:03,760 a second? Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. That carries. Next item is consider recommending an 228 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:08,880 adoption of an ordinance of the city of Denton, Texas authorizing the expenditure of funds for 229 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:18,000 payment of wholesale transmission charges in the amount of $7,219,975 and 36 cents. 230 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:26,000 I have a couple of questions. Well, who's, let somebody say, oh here comes Mr. Fuentes. 231 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:34,160 Tony, point to the Chief Financial Officer. I was wondering just for my own education, 232 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:38,000 do you have a map that shows the location of these eight different 233 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,440 transmission service providers, their lines, their substations and so forth? 234 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:46,960 I'm sure we do. I don't have it with me today. Could we get that or can you 235 00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:52,800 give me a link or something? Absolutely. Okay. Another question, it says that in the 236 00:24:53,920 --> 00:25:00,720 agreement here that DME is going to be going to receive payment from other people 237 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:09,440 for their distribution. Who do you have that you provide other distribution services for? 238 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:14,560 So any investment the city makes on any improvements for its transmission 239 00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:20,800 service in our service territory then gets allocated out as well to all the other recipient 240 00:25:20,800 --> 00:25:25,360 organizations and then those payments come back to us through ERCOT and so there's a netting that 241 00:25:25,360 --> 00:25:30,960 occurs. I know that there's been some questions that the PB has had about T COAS and so our plan 242 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,320 is to come back to you in November, later in November or December when we provide you an 243 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,720 update on the budget and also give you kind of a T COAS 101 and kind of go through that process 244 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:48,000 at that time. That'd be good. I just have one question comment with respect to this. 245 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:54,880 It's very possible I missed it. I'm assuming this is for last fiscal year, the true up, 246 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:59,120 the seven million dollar expenditure. No those are for this current fiscal year. 247 00:25:59,120 --> 00:26:01,840 For this current fiscal year. These are payments that we're going to be making this fiscal year. 248 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:09,840 Okay. I looked for some kind of a dating to say this seven million dollars applies to this period 249 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:15,840 of time and it didn't find it. If it's not there it seems like it would be a good idea to clarify 250 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:21,440 that. Okay. But in looking through the city packet and the ordinance itself I didn't see where it 251 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:26,080 referred to a specific period of time. I assumed it was for last fiscal year. It sounds like it's 252 00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,040 budgeted for this coming, this current fiscal year. Correct. These are payments that we're 253 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:33,360 going to be making in the current fiscal year. Correct. But for services provided during what 254 00:26:33,360 --> 00:26:38,880 period? No it's for investments that were made probably in previous years and so there's a number 255 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:45,120 of investments that are made that are amortized over a 20 or 30 year period and so that's what 256 00:26:45,120 --> 00:26:49,040 these payments reflect is investments that were made in previous years that are now going to be 257 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:58,320 recouped going forward. That we need to pay for. Yes. But this expenditure applies to usage during 258 00:26:58,320 --> 00:27:03,600 the current fiscal year? It's not it's not usage it's an investment in capital that was made 259 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,760 and it's a return on that capital investment. The transmission cost of service. Yes. So it's. 260 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:18,960 Microphone please. Historically what happens is as transmission companies provide investment 261 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:25,040 to the transmission grid that's authorized by ERCOT those chargers are then we term peanut 262 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:34,800 buttered across the entire market and so it's the load ratio share of our component it's 0.5 percent 263 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:42,240 of the total cost annual cost of the total transmission system in ERCOT so in each fiscal 264 00:27:42,240 --> 00:27:49,360 year the reason why we forecast this is nothing new comes in this year it would have came in last 265 00:27:49,360 --> 00:27:55,680 year so we're paying for costs that were incurred last year and prior to that over a 20 year period 266 00:27:55,680 --> 00:28:01,920 30 year period any new investments that are made would be recurred recouped in the following year. 267 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:08,480 Got it. Are these calculations made based on megawatt hours in the current fiscal year or are 268 00:28:08,480 --> 00:28:15,360 they based on physical dollar expenditures? It's it's actually um. I mean obviously it's to recoup 269 00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,760 the capital from prior years I get that. So it's supposed to. I'm just talking about how the 270 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:24,480 calculations how we come up with the seven million dollars net. So that's actually calculated by 271 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:31,520 ERCOT it's a it's our rate load ratio share of the total operating and fixed cost expenses 272 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:38,560 including debt and interest expense for the entire transmission grid in ERCOT. Got it. Load ratio 273 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:42,480 share for what period of time? For the year. So the load ratio. For the current fiscal year? 274 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:47,760 The prior year. For the prior year? Yeah. Okay so this is based on what we used in a prior year. 275 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:54,880 Yeah the actual load ratio share is calculated based on our contribution to the what's called 276 00:28:54,880 --> 00:29:03,440 the four CPs the four coincident peaks that occurred through the last fiscal year. Got it. Okay. 277 00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:16,400 Other questions? Motion to approve. So moved. I second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. 278 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:22,560 Next item is consider recommending adoption of an ordinance for the city of Denton a Texas Home Rule 279 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:27,520 Municipal Corporation authorizing the city manager to execute a contract with Archer Western 280 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:32,640 Construction for the construction of Lake Louisville water treatment plant phase two improvements 281 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,120 providing for the expenditure of funds therefore and providing an effective date 282 00:29:37,120 --> 00:29:43,920 award the Archer Western Construction LLC and not to exceed amount of fifteen million five eighty eight 283 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:50,320 eight eighty. Thank you. Good morning again. Frank Pugsley water utilities director. Just a brief 284 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:57,600 recap on this project we bid this project previously in the year and the base bids came in above our 285 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:04,720 budgeted amount so we broke it up into multiple ad alternates with a base bid and based upon the bid 286 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:09,040 we received again from the original contractor Archer Western was the only one to bid the first 287 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:14,400 time and as well as the second time even though we tried to solicit additional local qualified 288 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:20,000 contractors we were going to select the base bid which is the major maintenance items at the 289 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:25,360 Lake Louisville water treatment plant the two chemical facilities and zebra muscle control at 290 00:30:25,360 --> 00:30:31,280 the Ray Roberts intake and the Lake Louisville intake as well as select bid alternate a two which 291 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:37,920 is improvements to the Lake Louisville raw water intake structure the we have two levels of intake 292 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:43,520 at Lake Louisville and the lower intake is currently silted in and we're going to clear that up and 293 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:49,040 provide some siltation protection so that we can have that access to the lower water in the event 294 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:54,880 we experience a severe drought in the future some of that scope like we mentioned is a new 295 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:59,360 electrical building and electrical improvements for the plant currently all the electrical equipment 296 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:05,520 is inside the original building that was constructed in the 50s it's tight and it's constrained and 297 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:12,160 there's no way to upgrade or repair any electrical equipment and keep it under current codes replacing 298 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:17,200 the treated water meters the large diameter meters that measure how much water we're sending to the 299 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:22,800 distribution system that will help us tighten up our water audit making drainage improvements 300 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:29,120 around the clear wells just to prevent standing water there replacing large valves as valves age 301 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:34,080 they get more difficult to operate and it's difficult for our staff to maintain and replace 302 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:38,800 very large valves some major maintenance on the high service pumps the pumps that actually send 303 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,960 water to the distribution system and an extensive amount of basically structural preservation and 304 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:50,000 maintenance as concrete ages it does develop cracks and surface deficiencies that we're going to 305 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:55,840 again to take care of under this contract and Archer Western as I mentioned was the the one 306 00:31:55,840 --> 00:32:04,080 bidder we received we reviewed the bids and feel that the prices is is a fair price and additionally 307 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:10,080 alternate a2 we find to be much cheaper than some of the other contractors we discussed that 308 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:14,320 piece of the project with it's our understanding that Archer Western currently has a barge on Lake 309 00:32:14,320 --> 00:32:18,320 Louisville and so this would probably be the cheapest time we'll ever get these intake 310 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:22,560 modifications done without having to have someone mobilize a new barge in the future I think they're 311 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:27,520 about half the cost of what we had heard from other contractors we're discussing the project with 312 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:33,600 and there's a site map we will be at three locations stretching north to south across the 313 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:40,080 city entertain any questions you may have I have a question about the motor control centers yes sir 314 00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:46,160 you're installing a new motor control center or more than one we're constructing a new electrical 315 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:52,240 building to house new motor controls for the pumps all the large pumps okay do you have 4160 316 00:32:52,240 --> 00:32:58,320 volt motors or are they all 480 volt or you know I don't have that information on the big I believe 317 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:03,760 we're running 480 at that plan I know we have some 4160s at Ray Roberts but I think the way 318 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:09,360 the Louisville plan is set up it's all 480 I was just curious why there was only one bid because 319 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:17,040 the 15 and a half million dollars and I know a little bit about motor control centers 320 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:25,360 a lot of people it's almost a commodity anymore the cubicles and the motor starters and that kind of 321 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:30,160 stuff what we're seeing right now in especially the water and wastewater utility construction 322 00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:35,760 industry in north Texas is there is so much work that the contractors aren't really that eager to 323 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:41,360 bid and provide construction services on all of the projects that are going on there's a lot of 324 00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:46,320 projects going out there from our other similar utilities are only getting one or two bids as well 325 00:33:46,320 --> 00:33:50,160 it's just the market is so flush with work the contractors don't have to try very hard at the 326 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:56,720 moment and the 15 and a half million dollars that includes the relays and motor starters and so 327 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:03,280 forth inside the cubicles or not it's a full new electrical facility to house all of the electrical 328 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:09,280 distribution and motor control equipment for the pumps all of the old equipment is obsolete we 329 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:12,080 can't you can't obtain parts for the old equipment anymore 330 00:34:12,080 --> 00:34:21,440 okay other oh you're done with it mr cheek just a follow-up question with that also I 331 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:26,960 noticed that you mentioned the ll you uh included the llc members I wasn't clear as to why 332 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:32,480 that was oh that's a council direction council has requested that whenever uh anyone coming 333 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:36,320 to be awarded a contract that is an llc we are required to provide the members of the llc 334 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:42,400 okay archwestern is such a big company that's why I was pretty interesting it's transparency 335 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:48,240 all right other questions do we have a motion to approve 336 00:34:48,240 --> 00:34:57,520 move approval second all in favor say aye aye motion carries okay I'm not going to read this 337 00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:03,920 whole one um next item is uh consider recommending adoption of ordinance the city of denton 338 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:11,920 regarding well right-of-way construction and other things is that that's fully legal 339 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:18,880 looking for my icon here 340 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:28,640 you know what I can do this 341 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:43,680 all right well I'm pulling this up um good morning my name is Hayley Salazar and I'm 342 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:48,160 with the traffic engineering department at the city of denton and here we go 343 00:35:51,920 --> 00:36:00,000 sure all right and so I'm here today as part of our efforts to move forward in the adoption 344 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:04,960 of article two the construction portion of a new comprehensive right-of-way ordinance 345 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:12,480 and so as a city our main priority has always been to ensure the safe travel of pedestrians 346 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:18,400 and vehicles in our right-of-way and that includes during times of construction but currently we lack 347 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:27,120 the tools we need to make sure that that happens um we've been operating under uh what you see here 348 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:34,800 this is our current um article two not only is it not very robust but it's lost some of its relevance 349 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:40,240 since it was created over half a century ago as we all know dentons changed quite a bit since the 350 00:36:40,240 --> 00:36:46,480 60s um as have the players in our right-of-way and the technology we use to track and monitor the 351 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:53,360 activity in our right-of-way so what we're proposing to do is repeal this right here and replace it 352 00:36:53,360 --> 00:37:00,000 with this much more robust article two you see to the left um and this is also much more relevant 353 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:05,280 and I want to be really clear though that we are just talking about the construction in the 354 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:10,240 right-of-way so boots on the ground backhoes barricades that's what we're talking about right 355 00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:16,160 now we're not talking about um storefronts or patio furniture walkability within our right-of-way 356 00:37:16,160 --> 00:37:20,560 that's a different portion of the right-of-way ordinance that we're going to get to at a later 357 00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:28,080 date um but a little bit about the methodology that we use to draft the right-of-way ordinance 358 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:34,000 in order to save time and money we sought out other texas cities who had recently been through 359 00:37:34,000 --> 00:37:39,120 the exercise of adopting successful right-of-way ordinances and we took the parts that were relevant 360 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,760 to the city of denton and used that as our foundation and then of course went through 361 00:37:43,760 --> 00:37:50,400 extensively to ensure it was cohesive and part of this ordinance to give us the authority we need 362 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:57,200 to enforce the rules um does include fees but once again we did not do this in a vacuum we sought out 363 00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:04,160 other cities um as a yardstick with which we set our fees by and so the next steps are we hope to 364 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:10,960 move forward and adopt this so that it's in place by the first of the year so do we have any questions 365 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:22,800 questions could you show that previous slide again please yes 366 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:34,400 can you give an example of the situation maybe that brought this to a head that you felt like 367 00:38:34,400 --> 00:38:40,880 you needed to change the ordinance absolutely um oh okay um there was over by the central fire 368 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:46,320 station off of mulberry we had planned construction in the right-of-way um i forget the intersection 369 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,760 but it was a planned activity we knew was going on to improve our infrastructure 370 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:58,160 okay so stormwater of the sycamore and there was unplanned activity also in the right-of-way farther 371 00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:04,160 farther down but mulberry was that was that a franchise utility or that was the unplanned 372 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:10,720 is that what you would refer to unplanned so we have this occur all the time construction 373 00:39:10,720 --> 00:39:15,840 going on right away several things happen all at one time one we don't know about it 374 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:22,320 because it was a vertical construction project somebody forgot that that might have to tie into 375 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:26,400 water which then has to get out across the sidewalk and into the street and you start 376 00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:31,920 tearing up all those components the example that hayley's referring to is kind of the perfect storm 377 00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:36,000 we were out there working on a project on sycamore we had sycamore shut down we were doing 378 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:42,480 stormwater improvements to the system at the exact same time nctc started going to construction on 379 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:46,800 both the their building the building of the old dental chronicle building and then the 380 00:39:46,800 --> 00:39:51,920 parking structure that's on the other side of mulberry so they're right across the street 381 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:57,600 from each other they shut down mulberry so the segment of mulberry they shut down is the back 382 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:03,520 entrance to the fire station they have a large crane sitting out there so what our ordinance 383 00:40:03,520 --> 00:40:09,280 allows us to do today is it says i as a city engineer can go out there and say would you 384 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:15,120 please move your equipment you're in the way and you didn't ask for a permit and if you don't move 385 00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:20,000 i'll be back here tomorrow and i'll ask you to do the same thing again and then somewhere down 386 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:24,880 the line would you finally move i'll send you a bill for any damages potentially you made to the 387 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:33,200 right-of-way the only teeth we have to that is that if it's over 500 you can pursue it in court 388 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:38,720 that's really the limit of what our current ordinance allows us to do what the proposed 389 00:40:38,720 --> 00:40:42,080 ordinance will allow us to do is in the event something like that happened 390 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:48,800 that person for doing any kind of work within the right-of-way or that company would have to go get 391 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:54,800 a permit if they don't get a permit it gives the city real teeth to be able to say you don't have 392 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:59,840 a permit you must stop all activities within the right-of-way till you get a permit and until you 393 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:07,520 get a permit you're going to pay a fee or a fine per day so in this case where they were right 394 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:12,720 behind the fire station it wouldn't be just a an inconvenience in the right-of-way which would be 395 00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:18,720 up to 500 this is more a safety and welfare concern so it'd be uh be something we could 396 00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:23,680 potentially go up to two thousand dollars a day and if you ignored us then we'll come back tomorrow 397 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:28,000 and we'll give you another one and another one until at some point it does have enough teeth 398 00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:34,720 that you're ready to quit and you say this happens all the time all the time yes and we find out about 399 00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:39,440 it through various means it's important yes so and part of what we're trying to do is have a 400 00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:47,200 mechanism for keeping tabs on where everything is right question what kind of turnaround time do you 401 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:55,200 would you expect between the time contractor applies for a permit and your granting of the 402 00:41:55,200 --> 00:42:01,440 permit depends on the type of permit so there are a variety of types of permits this would apply for 403 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:08,720 city utilities as well as it would to anybody else turnaround time can be is very quick depending on 404 00:42:08,720 --> 00:42:13,280 what is they're doing if they're just going out there to say turn a valve or do some kind of 405 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:21,360 modification to what they have in in place that we could turn around in a day or less 406 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:25,680 depending on what it is other types of things where they're going to be in the right away for 407 00:42:25,680 --> 00:42:29,280 longer where it might have more impact to the right away say they're shutting down an 408 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:34,800 entire lane or the entire roadway then we would go through a process of reviewing what their plans 409 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:39,840 are making sure that we understood the impact to the transportation network that could be five to 410 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:49,760 ten days depending on how extensive their application is go ahead berber you described that 411 00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:54,720 a lot of times this happens when you get into one thing and then something else happens it's an 412 00:42:54,720 --> 00:43:01,120 emergency yes you don't know about it and so pre-planning might not have been possible 413 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:06,400 and there's provision in here for those emergency scenarios if there is an emergency that crops up 414 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:12,160 we understand that happens i mean atmas has issues or we have a leak in a line we're not saying don't 415 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:16,880 go do it go take care of it but as soon as you get it under control come get a permit we're not 416 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:22,240 going to find anybody for taking care of emergency work there is provision within the ordinance that 417 00:43:22,240 --> 00:43:27,520 allows them to go do the work you need to do just come back and get that permit as soon as you 418 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:32,320 possibly can so because typically they're doing other things you fix the problem now i've got to 419 00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:35,840 start putting the asphalt back or the concrete back and they're going to be back out there a 420 00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:41,120 little bit longer than that and what kind of public outreach are we going to do so that 421 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:46,480 they know this is changing and they start being a little more proactive i think hayley can address 422 00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:50,000 that probably better than i can but we have been through a process of making sure we reach out to 423 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:55,040 franchise utilities to the development community folks know this is coming it's this has not been 424 00:43:55,040 --> 00:44:00,400 done in a vacuum we actually talked about this for the first time with council in its draft format 425 00:44:00,400 --> 00:44:06,320 in february so they knew where we were in that process and then we spent the last seven eight 426 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:12,720 months going through revisions as we got feedback from the utilities good enough telling me to know 427 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:19,920 could you explain the barricade fee a little more what exactly is that barricade fee 428 00:44:19,920 --> 00:44:24,320 it's actually a deposit on our end 429 00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:33,120 so if you look at the other cities that we're comparing against they have actual fees we're 430 00:44:33,120 --> 00:44:38,400 charging a deposit with the intent of returning the deposit and it's just an incentivization to 431 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:45,600 remove the barricades in a timely manner so that's why it looks a bit higher than what you see with 432 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:54,640 san antonio is that a 500 deposit per project or per barricade per project per project if a project 433 00:44:54,640 --> 00:45:03,760 has four requires four barricades the cost is 500 deposit is that true yes what about the other 434 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:11,280 cities i'm asking because i don't know how they do this they charge per square foot what does that mean 435 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:20,560 so that's typically per square foot of what you've shut down in the right away 436 00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:26,480 so if you've taken up a thousand feet and it's 12 foot wide that's what's under construction and 437 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:32,320 you've blocked off they're going to charge you by square foot for that area you're basically leasing 438 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:40,960 the right of way for that period of time it's a half million dollars in it it could be ouch typically 439 00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:45,520 it's going to be a you're not typically going to see that kind of fee for an overall construction 440 00:45:45,520 --> 00:45:50,800 project that's going to be a limited space our biggest problem here is really the the barricade 441 00:45:50,800 --> 00:45:55,280 fee where you're attempting to use it like hailey said as a means of making sure that you come get 442 00:45:55,280 --> 00:46:00,000 your stuff i don't know how many times you walk through the downtown area especially you look down 443 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:04,640 the sidewalks there are signs there are barricades that are left and get the construction and the 444 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:11,040 contractors long gone so how do we at least get them to pay attention enough to come back and get 445 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:18,240 their signs when they're done sometimes what does happen is the barricade company most of your 446 00:46:18,240 --> 00:46:23,040 contractors will hire out to a barricade company to come set up signs and barricades for a 447 00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:28,320 construction zone and that barricade company may know they've got another project that's just a 448 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,120 week or two out so they don't want to come pick up everything take it back to dallas or fort worth 449 00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:38,400 and then haul it right back a lot of times they will just attempt to leave it and then come pick 450 00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:44,800 it up when they're ready to move it to another site it seems to be it might be smart to wrap this 451 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:50,240 include this in some way with your purchasing procedure to have some kind of hold back with a 452 00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:56,720 contract to prevent final payment until he retrieves all of his but it's not always our project 453 00:46:56,720 --> 00:47:02,640 yeah it's not always our project it could be a private developer and that's really where this fee 454 00:47:02,640 --> 00:47:10,160 is geared towards is towards the private developer mr parker you gave us the perfect storm example 455 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:16,960 and i think we clearly all agree that it's a bad idea to have a crane blocking access to fire trucks 456 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:21,520 to and from the fire station yeah that's kind of a no-brainer let's talk at the other end of the 457 00:47:21,520 --> 00:47:28,480 extreme where do you see this application fee start and again i'm a little naive on this but 458 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:36,560 for instance a typical water meters are those typically located in the often located in the 459 00:47:36,560 --> 00:47:42,240 right away there's a lot of variability there sometimes it is in the right away just on the 460 00:47:42,240 --> 00:47:48,080 extreme edge of the right away so it's out of the sidewalk it's out of the roadway if you're just 461 00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:54,720 setting a meter you're typically not going to be getting that permit because we're even if you are 462 00:47:54,720 --> 00:47:59,600 it's just us knowing that you're in the right away this is really geared towards your blocking 463 00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:04,320 access to the sidewalk the roadway you're going to be impacting the roadway or the sidewalk in 464 00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:10,960 some form or fashion where people can't walk they can't move through the area okay so at the most 465 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:18,000 benign if you mentioned the example of turning a valve earlier if somebody needs to turn a valve 466 00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:24,880 in a residential street obviously for shutting down teasley lane i agree this kind of enforcement 467 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:30,000 should apply if you're talking about a residential street or a lightly traveled street or a sidewalk 468 00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:38,000 at what point does this kick in if you're planning on closing any lane of traffic 469 00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:44,800 anywhere for any period of time we need to know you're going to be there so the problem you all 470 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:51,920 invariably run into is you have a vehicle out say a city vehicle it's just like a city vehicle 471 00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:57,040 they go out there's a valve right in the middle of the road they're wanting to do something 472 00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:01,200 typically you're not turning that valve just because they want to turn the valve if they're 473 00:49:01,200 --> 00:49:06,720 going to do that just to exercise the valve yeah that they're not even going to be there more than 474 00:49:06,720 --> 00:49:11,760 five minutes i mean they're going to hop out turn it and move on we're not worried about that 475 00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:18,400 what we're worried about is if they're really going to be there for some period of time it's 476 00:49:18,400 --> 00:49:23,440 going to say like a fire flow test so they may be shutting a valve here and shutting a valve here 477 00:49:24,240 --> 00:49:27,760 or they're shutting one valve and then turning a fire hydrant but they're closing off lanes of 478 00:49:27,760 --> 00:49:34,080 traffic for an hour two hours long enough that i'm probably going to be getting a phone call anyway 479 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:40,320 that something's going on in the right away did you know about it today we have really no mechanism 480 00:49:40,320 --> 00:49:45,600 of knowing when things like that happen but they absolutely do impact people and what they're doing 481 00:49:45,600 --> 00:49:51,360 so are we going to catch everything probably not there will be things that happen within the 482 00:49:51,360 --> 00:49:57,840 right away that we'll miss but this does give us the better chance right if you're impacted for an 483 00:49:57,840 --> 00:50:03,120 hour by the time you make a phone call say a citizen calls i'm probably going to get out there 484 00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:08,000 and look at it and they're gone we're really targeting those types of things where they've 485 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:14,080 shut it down to the point where you can't access your house or your business or you can't move 486 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:19,680 through the corridor for hours on end this is really what we're talking about is shutting down 487 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:26,720 mulberry for months and not having direct access to the backside of the fire station or i have a 488 00:50:26,720 --> 00:50:32,800 whole lane of traffic that's shut down for a week and a half with no cover over the top because 489 00:50:32,800 --> 00:50:38,000 atmas is doing some work or dme is doing something in the right away and they have a truck parked out 490 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:42,000 there for four or five hours where they're trying to make adjustments in the line i need to know 491 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:48,080 that's there because i absolutely am going to get phone calls about that that's why this is all in 492 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:55,760 place okay i guess my concern is a local plumber needs to go shut off water to something he shuts 493 00:50:55,760 --> 00:51:01,120 off water he's back out of the right away in 15 minutes he does his work he goes back out he turns 494 00:51:01,120 --> 00:51:06,800 it on is that the kind of case that he would not be required to do a permit application fee and an 495 00:51:06,800 --> 00:51:13,360 annual registration fee etc it would it totally depend on what he's doing uh a lot of time valve 496 00:51:13,360 --> 00:51:18,880 for 15 minutes i understand it very much depends on what he's doing if he's repairing something 497 00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:23,120 in your house there is a valve on the back side of the meter which is on the private side of the 498 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:30,720 property he's doing that work he's going to do that work and it's not permanent i mean it now 499 00:51:30,720 --> 00:51:35,600 if he's doing something where he's re-plumbing the house that's a whole different set of permits 500 00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:40,560 that typically goes through building inspections uh we're just purely talking about stuff that's 501 00:51:40,560 --> 00:51:44,880 in the right way it yes we do need to know but most of your contractors already know they got to 502 00:51:44,880 --> 00:51:49,520 go pull a permit anyway for that kind of work right pulling a permit i'm just trying to add 503 00:51:49,520 --> 00:51:56,240 to avoid adding a new permit to a small contractor who's trying to do a relatively small job 504 00:51:56,240 --> 00:52:01,360 obviously if he's shutting down a lane of street for four hours yeah you need to be involved let's 505 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:05,840 be clear blocking a sidewalk for 15 minutes well let's be clear this is not a new permit 506 00:52:06,560 --> 00:52:12,880 this is a permit that has always been exists been in existence since 1966 as a requirement it's just 507 00:52:12,880 --> 00:52:19,280 we had had no teeth to enforce nor the time to enforce a lot of these things over our history so 508 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:27,280 it just was the way it was the policing powers of the city right exactly it's always been there 509 00:52:27,280 --> 00:52:34,320 i've got a couple of questions uh i know i don't mean to imply at all that the various departments 510 00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:39,440 the city might not get along and argue over these things but uh does this apply to other 511 00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:44,640 departments in the city yes okay the mechanism by which they make the application will be a 512 00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:49,120 little different just because it is internal but they have to pull a permit they do today 513 00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:55,360 uh this but and they won't be any different okay okay and my second one was so you have public 514 00:52:55,360 --> 00:53:02,080 works contracts hypothetically that uh the city directs the contractor to do some work how does 515 00:53:02,080 --> 00:53:07,120 how might that be complicated well now you shut them down obviously you have the right to you're 516 00:53:07,120 --> 00:53:12,320 the owner you can shut them down but well and when you get into a large public works project like that 517 00:53:12,320 --> 00:53:17,920 it is a little different so much of that they're still going to pull permits but it's a longer no 518 00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:23,280 the permits there in the contract that's what i'm saying it's still a permit it's just a variety of 519 00:53:23,280 --> 00:53:30,240 it's a different variety of permit because okay the review that we go through on a capital project 520 00:53:30,240 --> 00:53:35,360 is very different and much more extensive since we're doing the design ourselves we're also looking 521 00:53:35,360 --> 00:53:40,240 through every piece well we're not physically doing our consultants designing it we're reviewing 522 00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:46,000 it with a fine tooth comb and then we go through the overall purchase process as well as ticket to 523 00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:50,800 council for awards so there's no other permit that you're going to pull in the city well i 524 00:53:50,800 --> 00:53:54,960 probably shouldn't say that there's probably some others there's very few permits that you'll get 525 00:53:54,960 --> 00:53:59,520 within the city that requires you to go to council before you ever take action out in the field 526 00:54:00,400 --> 00:54:06,800 every one of our construction projects absolutely does okay okay thank you oh 527 00:54:06,800 --> 00:54:14,080 yeah i see where where uh there were two opportunities for the public to comment on 528 00:54:14,080 --> 00:54:18,960 this do you have any sort of sub summary of what the results were of the public comments 529 00:54:18,960 --> 00:54:22,960 yes and i'll let hailey answer that because she was wrangling all of this thanks 530 00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:33,120 so first what we did was we brought this in front of the franchise utilities at our franchise 531 00:54:33,120 --> 00:54:37,760 utility meeting that we have once a month we brought that in front of them twice then later 532 00:54:37,760 --> 00:54:43,120 i worked with the public affairs department and we got a draft version of the ordinance online 533 00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:49,520 for a um two and a half week comment period every comment we got whether or not we accepted the 534 00:54:49,520 --> 00:54:53,440 comment or we thought well it's not really applicable we kept track of it in a comment 535 00:54:53,440 --> 00:54:58,400 log and then not only do we keep track of it we listed out what the action was whether or not we 536 00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:05,360 accepted the comment applied it or um didn't and why um then we took the draft version of the 537 00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:10,080 ordinance off of the website and applied all of the comments from the first round and then put it 538 00:55:10,080 --> 00:55:15,920 back up again for a second period of comment and repeated that exercise one other time just in case 539 00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:20,800 not everybody got the word that it was out the first time and then once again we combed through 540 00:55:20,800 --> 00:55:25,760 all those second comments and um kept that log up to date and then that's what we used to make 541 00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:34,400 sure everyone's voice was heard other questions it just looks like you it's a lot of good house 542 00:55:34,400 --> 00:55:40,000 cleaning is what you did here so it's good good job updating 50 years of something 543 00:55:43,760 --> 00:55:51,440 do we have a motion to approve oh and a second second all in favor say aye aye 544 00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:58,640 okay motion carries on to city assistant manager update good morning uh madam chair members of the 545 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:06,960 board you have several uh memos in your acm update uh this morning one of those um and again we can 546 00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:12,960 certainly answer questions if the board has has um any certainly questions uh to those but one of 547 00:56:12,960 --> 00:56:18,800 those was brought up last month about the schedule for the pub and i've included a memo believe it 548 00:56:18,800 --> 00:56:24,560 or not it was almost exactly to the day two years ago when the request was made to to move our 549 00:56:24,560 --> 00:56:31,920 meetings uh to split one in the morning one in the evening and so really um it's just purely 550 00:56:31,920 --> 00:56:37,760 informational um we'll continue doing what we've been doing we can certainly entertain making a 551 00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:43,680 change it's really up to the board uh at the last meeting when i looked back at the minutes and there 552 00:56:43,680 --> 00:56:49,360 was no formal action it was just a work session and then you all just through consensus or the 553 00:56:49,360 --> 00:56:53,920 board at the time through consensus just just recommended making that change and we started 554 00:56:53,920 --> 00:56:59,920 that that change i believe january the first meeting in january that way finish out the year 555 00:56:59,920 --> 00:57:04,000 and then start the new year with that revised schedule so however you want to do it we're happy 556 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:11,600 to oblige i was trying to think back who else was on the board two years ago besides me at the time 557 00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:21,200 we made the change you were no okay i it's you it's me it's all my fault no i saw i mean i see 558 00:57:21,200 --> 00:57:27,200 the reasoning yeah well this doesn't seem to have any pertinence right at the time it seemed like 559 00:57:27,200 --> 00:57:31,760 that would increase transparency and that we wanted people to have the opportunity if they 560 00:57:31,760 --> 00:57:38,000 worked that they could attend the evening meeting but it just doesn't seem to be working that way so 561 00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:45,760 i it's probably better we go back to 9 a.m but i i think does that impact you greatly i've got 562 00:57:45,760 --> 00:57:51,840 lots of vacation time i mean i i do actually have to take time off from work okay but it's 563 00:57:51,840 --> 00:57:58,720 i'm a good person yes okay i think probably everybody else in the room would find it more 564 00:57:58,720 --> 00:58:05,360 convenient yeah right i mean i do think the impact of the staff i mean i mean i know that 565 00:58:05,360 --> 00:58:13,360 you always say it doesn't matter but it does it does matter during work hours yeah okay well and 566 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:19,040 you know as you mentioned transparency in the previous month we had included statistics 567 00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:26,720 regarding the the viewership these meetings and many of our board meetings are streamed 568 00:58:27,440 --> 00:58:34,480 live streamed they're also through the the app that you can download or through the city's website 569 00:58:34,480 --> 00:58:40,400 or dtv and then also as you know they're recorded so a member of the public a lot of time staff goes 570 00:58:40,400 --> 00:58:46,720 back and reviews the the previous meeting and its index so member of the public or really any anyone 571 00:58:46,720 --> 00:58:52,400 can go back and go to an item that they specifically wanted to see and i have to fast forward so it's 572 00:58:52,400 --> 00:58:57,520 it's fully recorded and it's uh and it's archived in that way as well and any item that we are 573 00:58:57,520 --> 00:59:04,880 seeking public input we would we could move it to a time period where the public could attend so 574 00:59:04,880 --> 00:59:14,560 my preference is to go back to 9 a.m both meetings that's okay that's fine with me all right so that 575 00:59:14,560 --> 00:59:20,320 being said um just if that's the wishes of the board then we would if that's okay we would make 576 00:59:20,320 --> 00:59:26,960 that official january january 2020 uh if you look into your uh future calendars there are no more 577 00:59:26,960 --> 00:59:32,640 evening meetings for november and december because of the thanksgiving and and uh christmas holiday 578 00:59:32,640 --> 00:59:39,040 so uh it would be effect uh come january 2020 okay so we'll start at 9 a.m for the second and 579 00:59:39,040 --> 00:59:46,640 fourth monday of the month okay good thank you uh in regards to the other items um again we've got 580 00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:50,720 staff here that can answer specific questions that you all may have there are several things on here 581 00:59:50,720 --> 00:59:57,440 and certainly can entertain any questions about any of these uh uh memos we've got the energy 582 00:59:57,440 --> 01:00:04,720 center quarterly report as requested from before uh we uh included an item here just informational 583 01:00:04,720 --> 01:00:10,560 just because of the timing of some contracts uh solid waste cost of service detail based on the 584 01:00:10,560 --> 01:00:16,320 reduction in rates um and then of course we've got the future agenda items and then new business 585 01:00:16,320 --> 01:00:20,560 and i believe the new business a lot of those things and again we can get direction from the 586 01:00:20,560 --> 01:00:25,360 board can either come off because some are being answered through the solid waste management study 587 01:00:25,360 --> 01:00:31,120 that's about to uh we're about to embark upon uh we can leave it on the matrix if you would like 588 01:00:31,120 --> 01:00:35,440 or we can bring it up or we can take it off and then bring it back forward uh bring it up again 589 01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:39,280 whenever uh those results come back from that study so it's really the wishes of the board 590 01:00:39,280 --> 01:00:44,480 however you would like to do that well i know it was mr solfe's request so i'd really look to him 591 01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:51,680 how comfortable he is taking it off there and if it's going to be covered in future presentations 592 01:00:51,680 --> 01:01:01,840 i see no reason to keep it on yeah yeah sounds good so for the the facility tours i know most 593 01:01:01,840 --> 01:01:09,280 people got the tour of the solid waste water treatment is there a possibility for a recycling 594 01:01:09,280 --> 01:01:16,560 facilities tour to be added i would also be interested yeah we can do that uh certainly 595 01:01:16,560 --> 01:01:21,040 we can do a recycling tour and i believe there was a request to do a dead energy center tour as well 596 01:01:21,040 --> 01:01:26,640 yes so we can i think that was through email so we can certainly schedule that it's just a matter of 597 01:01:26,640 --> 01:01:33,280 just getting it on the schedule and potentially posting it for quorum so if that's okay uh i'll 598 01:01:33,280 --> 01:01:39,520 lean over to kim mankin to help coordinate schedules with board members on doing both the 599 01:01:39,520 --> 01:01:46,480 dead energy center tour and a tour of the recycling facility is that okay that's good 600 01:01:46,480 --> 01:01:55,120 so on that i think same line we talked about earlier that dme was going to do some education 601 01:01:55,120 --> 01:02:00,240 on t-cost and other other relationships to urcon is that going to be away from the board meeting 602 01:02:04,240 --> 01:02:08,800 i think more of an orientation to the budget process okay it would be through the budget 603 01:02:08,800 --> 01:02:13,760 process if that's okay it would be but we can also do a work session if you'd like to do it 604 01:02:13,760 --> 01:02:17,760 ahead of time it's just it seems like it ought to be an orientation and not part of the board meeting 605 01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:24,080 i would agree with that it it's hard to ask informal questions when you're on tv and you 606 01:02:24,080 --> 01:02:29,520 have a posted agenda if the objective is learning and continuing education and getting the board up 607 01:02:29,520 --> 01:02:36,000 to speed i think i understand we want to stay away from public meetings oh no we want to stay in 608 01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:42,480 public meetings well stay in public meetings we want to stay away from illegal public meetings 609 01:02:42,480 --> 01:02:49,440 and we would still have to post that as a quorum so i guess really if if we have four i believe 610 01:02:49,440 --> 01:02:54,080 mr four more members of the board present at anything is going to be posted 611 01:02:55,280 --> 01:03:01,520 our preference would always be that it get videoed so i mean i think the end of the day it's just 612 01:03:01,520 --> 01:03:06,640 if you want to do it with smaller numbers we can certainly do that it just requires more scheduled 613 01:03:06,640 --> 01:03:13,680 meetings but um regardless it's going to be done in this room we can do it in another facility but 614 01:03:13,680 --> 01:03:19,360 it would just require the the videoing minute taking agenda posting etc etc so 615 01:03:20,720 --> 01:03:27,040 is there not an education continuing education available if requested i mean if he wants to 616 01:03:27,040 --> 01:03:32,080 meet with someone by himself for an hour or two people be fine absolutely yeah okay yeah we'll 617 01:03:32,080 --> 01:03:38,080 anyway we can do that to help educate board members uh about the intricacies of our various 618 01:03:38,080 --> 01:03:43,440 utility system we'd love to do that i mean we can do it all in in a session like this work session 619 01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:48,080 we can do it privately it's just really your preference but honestly and i'm not so sure some 620 01:03:48,080 --> 01:03:54,560 of that isn't appropriate to be public because we want the public to understand too sure so but i 621 01:03:54,560 --> 01:04:01,280 understand that you'd want some detailed questions asked too i i understand that we can do we can do 622 01:04:01,280 --> 01:04:05,120 it however you would like so if we would like to do it privately we can do that as well okay in 623 01:04:05,120 --> 01:04:11,280 addition yeah all right i think that brings us to concluding items is there a board member that 624 01:04:11,280 --> 01:04:18,240 wishes to have anything added to the future agendas okay not at this time do we have motion 625 01:04:18,240 --> 01:04:24,080 to dismiss adjourn all right we're adjourned