1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,120 It's 9 o'clock and we do have a quorum so we'll call the December 9th Public Utilities 2 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:10,120 Board to order. 3 00:00:10,120 --> 00:00:15,160 The first item on the agenda is to receive a report, hold a discussion and give staff 4 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:20,160 direction regarding solid waste and recycling grant applications to the North Central Texas 5 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,160 Council of Governments. 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:24,760 Good morning Madam Chair, members of the committee. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:25,760 My name is Brian Berner. 8 00:00:25,760 --> 00:00:27,800 I'm Director of Solid Waste for the City of Denton. 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:33,080 I appreciate the opportunity this morning to talk about some exciting, potentially free 10 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:41,440 money coming from the COG to help us implement a couple of programs here in the City of Denton. 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,160 What we're looking for today is basically to provide you with a quick briefing on what 12 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:50,080 the money is, what the grant program is, outline a few projects and then receive some feedback 13 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,760 and direction on these proposed projects. 14 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:59,680 North Central Texas Council of Governments, every biennium goes through a process where 15 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:06,840 they fund a grant program to promote solid waste programs that support the regional solid 16 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:07,840 waste management plan. 17 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:13,040 Ideally, we're trying to reduce waste, ensure materials are being used to recycle whenever 18 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:18,040 possible, trying to affect illegal dumping and then at the end of the day safely handle 19 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:22,520 any remaining waste at permitted facilities. 20 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:32,240 Of the approximately $2 million allocated to the COG, about $1.2 million is allocated 21 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:33,720 to support local projects. 22 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,840 The rest remains with the COG to support a regional project. 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:44,200 There is some reporting requirements for those who are successful in getting one or several 24 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,360 grant awards. 25 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:53,400 There is a progress report that's due on quarterly basis at the end of August 31, 2021, 26 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,560 which is the end of this next legislative biennium. 27 00:01:56,560 --> 00:02:01,920 TCEQ, we have to report to TCEQ what our results are and then one year later we have to report 28 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,440 any sort of status update with regards to how the process is working, how the money 29 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:09,920 is being spent, so on and so forth. 30 00:02:09,920 --> 00:02:13,840 There are several project categories and again, these are broad categories that are eligible 31 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:19,240 for grants including but not limited to local enforcement, source reduction recycling, household 32 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:24,000 hazardous waste, litter abatement, citizens convenience centers, solid waste management 33 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:26,000 plans and on and on. 34 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:32,480 In this grant cycle, the COG has seen fit to place a priority on increasing recycling, 35 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:37,360 looking at food waste diversion, pharmaceutical disposals, targeted education campaigns and 36 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,360 construction demolition debris because based on a survey that they did last year, this 37 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:47,680 appears to be the most underserved areas of solid waste management in the North Texas 38 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:48,860 area. 39 00:02:48,860 --> 00:02:56,000 From a grant funding timeline standpoint, we are in Q4 here. 40 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,880 We will be presenting today to the PUB the proposed grant packages that we would wish 41 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:02,880 to submit. 42 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,640 Tomorrow, we will be presenting those to council. 43 00:03:05,640 --> 00:03:11,200 The grant packages are due in January or January 6th. 44 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,680 So again, a fairly short timeline to get everything else together. 45 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,640 We have been working on getting the data, so that's not an issue. 46 00:03:17,640 --> 00:03:23,520 We will hear back in March whether we have been awarded these grant projects. 47 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:29,760 In April, we will have contracts executed and then by the end of May 2021, we should 48 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,800 have all of the projects actually completed and all of the information back to the COG 49 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:40,520 about how successful and such that we were with the grant funding cycle. 50 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,560 So with this, I'm actually going to -- this is going to be sort of a cast of characters 51 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:45,560 today. 52 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:51,840 I want to turn the podium over to Ms. Tina Eck who is going to talk about the proposed 53 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,180 projects that we have here in solid waste and then we're going to turn the podium over 54 00:03:55,180 --> 00:04:04,640 to Deborah Viega to talk about a proposed project that they have in watershed. 55 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:21,840 Our first proposal that we would like to have you consider is the comprehensive solid waste 56 00:04:21,840 --> 00:04:22,840 management strategy. 57 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:27,560 We have spoken a little bit about that already, but what this would do would be to fund the 58 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:33,520 consultant that would come in and get that kicked off for us and there's an entire category 59 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:38,300 that's just focused on this award. 60 00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:47,840 Our next one would be for recycling dumpster contamination reduction in lids and locks. 61 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:52,160 So what we've noticed particularly at our multifamily properties is some of the contamination 62 00:04:52,160 --> 00:04:59,240 is for bulky type items specifically and so these restrictive size lids would reduce that 63 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:03,040 so essentially it would come down and lock onto the lid and then create an opening that 64 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:07,720 was essentially large enough for just a bin so that you could dump your loose recyclables 65 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,520 in there. 66 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:17,960 One of them costs about, let's see, it was about $3,000 a piece I believe and that's 67 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:23,720 without installation so this is a wonderful opportunity to have that done without additional 68 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:24,720 burden. 69 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,080 They're technically two separate pieces so each piece and then the lock that comes down 70 00:05:28,080 --> 00:05:34,900 over it but it's a gravity lock type system so once it flips back over it just closes 71 00:05:34,900 --> 00:05:45,520 so there's not anything that you would have to do to lock or unlock it manually. 72 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:50,240 We have our submission that we would like for the public disposal area recycling center 73 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:52,760 improvements and upgrades. 74 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:58,120 So what this is is kind of a bundled picture so we have our existing facility that's at 75 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:00,560 the landfill at the public disposal area. 76 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:06,820 It will need to be moved by the time we develop the next landfill cell so this would cover 77 00:06:06,820 --> 00:06:11,920 the design costs to give a really thoughtful design to what that public area looks like 78 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:18,440 and how we construct it and then additionally our current site at North Lakes is being relocated 79 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:22,320 but what this would do would be to and that's already funded in our capital program but 80 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:28,540 what this would do would be increase the funding for cameras and also when litter fencing and 81 00:06:28,540 --> 00:06:33,300 just some other type improvements to the site to make that more successful. 82 00:06:33,300 --> 00:06:44,560 What do you think can be done to reduce illegal dumping not only in a place like North Lakes 83 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:52,200 but also with multi-family what you're talking about the restricted access on those dumpsters. 84 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:57,460 What's to stop people from just leaving their stuff on the ground there just as they do 85 00:06:57,460 --> 00:06:58,460 here? 86 00:06:58,460 --> 00:06:59,460 Yes. 87 00:06:59,460 --> 00:07:00,460 Yeah. 88 00:07:00,460 --> 00:07:06,480 That is very true so ultimately really with the drop-off site that it's a manned operation 89 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:11,880 is the most effective and or at least having hours of operation for it and then closing 90 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:16,880 the gates but then it just goes the material goes right outside the gate so it's still 91 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:21,520 a concern unless it's a manned facility which is what's particularly successful about our 92 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,520 Lee Enfield site comparatively. 93 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:31,200 I didn't know if you had anything you wanted to add to that answer. 94 00:07:31,200 --> 00:07:35,240 Again to reinforce what Tina said until you get a staff member out there actually checking 95 00:07:35,240 --> 00:07:38,800 people in and out you will always have illegal dumping I think what we're trying to do is 96 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:44,320 raise the bar here by putting in video surveillance what that allows it it does add a level or 97 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:50,680 a layer of accountability so we can go back and prosecute or do we need to do to minimize 98 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:51,680 those those issues. 99 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:57,280 I know there used to be a video camera out at North Lakes I don't think it's operative 100 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:58,280 anymore. 101 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,640 No it is not and again the quality of those are extremely poor and part of what we want 102 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,760 to do and I think that's part of what what Deborah is going to be talking about illegal 103 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:10,760 dumping around the city is some very very high quality where we can you know get facial 104 00:08:10,760 --> 00:08:15,000 recognition we can get you know license plates we can get the evidence that we need that 105 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:19,200 a prosecutor can actually take something forward and make it stick. 106 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:24,320 Thank you what's sorry what's the penalty for illegal dumping. 107 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:32,000 At this point I can't respond to that but we can bring that back to you if we need to. 108 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,160 Is it a misdemeanor? 109 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:48,160 Again I would have to bring that back to you. 110 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:52,120 We have our current home chemical collection program but we would like to enhance it to 111 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:58,200 include mobile events and so this grant request would be for a trailer especially outfitted 112 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:05,120 trailer so that they could go out into neighborhoods and have a public it would also have an education 113 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:09,880 component in it as well and an outreach component to have public collection events and so the 114 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:15,880 request would be for the trailer a forklift to load and unload out of the trailer and 115 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:20,000 collection and packaging supplies and then outreach material so this one is kind of a 116 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:26,900 combination of many different facets that would would essentially enhance this program. 117 00:09:26,900 --> 00:09:34,360 And then our final one is yard waste collection craft bags so as you all well know I'm sure 118 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:41,160 we began our yard waste collection program modifications on October 1st and so what we 119 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:46,220 were thinking that this could accomplish would be to get an additional supply of craft bags 120 00:09:46,220 --> 00:09:52,200 that we could give out that would have the educational material printed on them so kind 121 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,560 of give a boost to the program and hopefully increase the diversion and the participation 122 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:02,080 in the program. 123 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:14,800 And that concludes ours and then there is one more. 124 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:21,560 If I understand if you elect to have the bags you can get additional but if you elect to 125 00:10:21,560 --> 00:10:27,280 have the cart people in the northeast that have so many trays that cart doesn't even 126 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,800 begin to make a dent what what is available to them? 127 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:36,160 Basically the cart service comes with unlimited craft bag collection at the same time so you 128 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,360 can have one cart and 50 craft bags if you would like and they're all collected at the 129 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:41,360 same time. 130 00:10:41,360 --> 00:10:42,360 Okay. 131 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:43,360 Alright. 132 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:44,360 Thank you. 133 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:45,360 You're welcome. 134 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:52,680 Good morning the Brevier Environmental Services I will be presenting for the remote cameras 135 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:57,480 for the illegal dumping throughout the city we have identified sites especially the outskirts 136 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:05,800 that are prone to be magnets for illegal dumping due to the secludeness of the location. 137 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:11,200 Illegal dumping is a it's not only a water quality issue because most of that trash end 138 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:16,960 up being on the creeks and being end up at the lakes where we take our water for portable 139 00:11:16,960 --> 00:11:22,240 purposes but also it becomes an issue of safety welfare and health. 140 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:30,200 Most areas are could if the trash end up being at the creek it can increase our flood conditions 141 00:11:30,200 --> 00:11:35,560 that means that our drainage department will have to go out and get that cleaned up. 142 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:42,320 It could be a breeding ground for mosquito related illnesses so it's a safety issue and 143 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:47,040 definitely is a welfare issue as well and aesthetics. 144 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:53,560 So just to give you an update when we first put this together we were looking to get approximately 145 00:11:53,560 --> 00:12:01,080 $5200 as a grant as of last week when we met with COG they actually told us to bump up 146 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:11,120 our request because they have they have granted similar awards in the past and they recommend 147 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:16,760 to use a better quality high resolution cameras that tend to be more expensive. 148 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:24,080 So the grant actually will be around $15,000 because each camera will cost around $3,000 149 00:12:24,080 --> 00:12:25,760 to $4,000. 150 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:31,920 Those cameras have higher resolution so we will be able to get better picture if we have 151 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:38,800 the elements for prosecution and also they are more difficult to be stolen and dismantled 152 00:12:38,800 --> 00:12:43,040 which is our experience with the current set of cameras. 153 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:51,600 So people tend to either remove them or tamper and so this new set of cameras would be higher 154 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:53,800 quality and provide us with that. 155 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,600 So if you have any questions for that program? 156 00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:58,600 Questions? 157 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:00,680 I have one question. 158 00:13:00,680 --> 00:13:04,700 It looks to me like the use of this kind of camera would be pretty broad for a number 159 00:13:04,700 --> 00:13:14,080 of people if there's not some compelling reason not to if you wouldn't mind sending back just 160 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,360 to the committee what you end up selecting and what you had planned on selecting prior 161 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:27,120 to the request for increase of the budget amount affected there's a lot of demand for 162 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:33,280 that and a nice you know stand alone system like that. 163 00:13:33,280 --> 00:13:38,680 There's probably other uses both inside the city and for other benefits that I think people 164 00:13:38,680 --> 00:13:42,640 would like to see what we end up with if we find an adequate solution. 165 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:48,720 My question then is it looks like that's a Wi-Fi antenna on the housing do you anticipate 166 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:54,160 having Wi-Fi access for each of these locations or is it going to be cellular based or something 167 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:55,160 else? 168 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,680 It would probably be cellular based to be honest with you and depends on the location 169 00:13:58,680 --> 00:13:59,680 of it. 170 00:13:59,680 --> 00:14:04,480 Most of the sites are more in the outskirts we have been in communication with the county 171 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:10,040 as well so in that way if we just happen to be taking pictures of something that happened 172 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:14,960 nearby but outside city limits we can provide that information for them and then take it 173 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:19,520 from there that's a part of the coordination where other jurisdiction can actually benefit 174 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:21,440 from it. 175 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:27,640 We definitely if I'm not mistaken it would be similar. 176 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,040 So the communication will be cellular? 177 00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:31,040 Correct. 178 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:32,040 Yeah. 179 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:33,040 Thank you. 180 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:39,280 And we will bring more information later as you requested. 181 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:46,640 We can respond to any additional questions you might have on these. 182 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,440 Yes sir. 183 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:56,080 Yeah is there I don't know if this well I'll just ask it. 184 00:14:56,080 --> 00:15:03,100 With all the concern now about plastic pollution will there be an educational component in 185 00:15:03,100 --> 00:15:12,280 this regarding educating people about single use plastics and all the stuff that we're 186 00:15:12,280 --> 00:15:15,040 having problems with? 187 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:20,680 Within each of these grant applications no at this point but as part of our solid waste 188 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:26,400 management strategy part of that education plastic or part of that education program 189 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:31,200 will entail some outreach regarding plastics, plastic diversions, single use things of that 190 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,960 nature so indirectly yes but directly no. 191 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:37,080 Okay thank you. 192 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:42,080 Have we approached the county with collaborating on this? 193 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:43,080 No we have not. 194 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:47,640 When do you plan to do that? 195 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:52,960 Well again I believe that with the with the illegal dumping camera yes that the county 196 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:57,080 has been approached on that one but the other one but the other programs from solid waste 197 00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:02,460 are specific to our operations within the city so there really isn't a need to bring 198 00:16:02,460 --> 00:16:06,360 the county in at this time on those. 199 00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:13,680 Two questions I have one pertains to the security of the installation of the camera itself and 200 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:20,440 then the other is lightning do you anticipate putting these cameras on a pole or how do 201 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:22,980 you anticipate mounting them? 202 00:16:22,980 --> 00:16:27,840 Traditionally with the illegal dumping they're mounted very similar to game cameras they're 203 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:34,200 put on posts they're put on trees and again they're not a static installation I mean 204 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:39,920 ideally we know where our high use you know frequent sites are they're used for illegal 205 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:44,440 dumping but you move them around because once you start enforcing in one area they move 206 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:48,580 to another so you've got to be able to move those but again there's significant camouflage 207 00:16:48,580 --> 00:16:55,640 and other items so again you know they're not as just in your face so to speak they're 208 00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:57,880 out there collecting the evidence. 209 00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:03,000 From a lightning standpoint again these are fixed these are you know standalone units 210 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,400 just like any any other piece of electronic equipment that happens to get you know hit 211 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,480 by lightning then it's fried but otherwise there is no surge protection or anything else 212 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:13,920 because it is contained within itself. 213 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:19,680 What's our record of being awarded these grants? 214 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:26,280 This program with the cog is well over 15 years old and while I have not been with the 215 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,840 City of Denton for over 15 years you know having worked in the North Texas area that 216 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:35,680 entire time I know that the City of Denton has been very successful anytime that it has 217 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:36,680 been awarded these. 218 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,960 Now you know sometimes the installation or the execution of some of these grants has 219 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:47,640 not been as well as done as well as we would have anticipated however you know we have 220 00:17:47,640 --> 00:17:54,520 a very high regard for what's going on here and we are having talked with the cog staff 221 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:58,840 there behind what we're doing here so we have a very good feeling that we will be awarded 222 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:04,360 these if the grant application is put forward. 223 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:11,640 Is there any record of progress made with past grants that the City has received? 224 00:18:11,640 --> 00:18:16,800 Have we gotten grants from cog for this before or is this? 225 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:21,200 Not for these no these are these are separate projects but in the past we've had household 226 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:27,080 hazardous waste we've had education and outreach we've had basic you know all the different 227 00:18:27,080 --> 00:18:31,280 categories just like every other city in North Texas area we've put in grant applications 228 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:35,120 we've won those we've implemented programs we move forward. 229 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:43,920 And is there a requirement that you submit a report to the entity or is it like an arts 230 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:44,920 grant or anything else? 231 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,520 Correct I mean there is a reporting requirement so you know in the first quarter while we 232 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:53,200 have it there is a reporting requirement at the end of the grant period we have to report 233 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,840 to the TCEQ how we've done and then we basically have to do a year later showing what the progress 234 00:18:57,840 --> 00:19:00,200 is. 235 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:05,880 Another question about the very first item you mentioned developing a formulating a plan 236 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:07,640 for solid waste. 237 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:08,640 Correct. 238 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:18,360 Do you have any does your department have any plans of its own on what you think should 239 00:19:18,360 --> 00:19:24,600 be done or is this looking for a consultant to tell you what the best practices are? 240 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,120 Well again this is actually this is not a plan this is a strategy so it's a forward 241 00:19:28,120 --> 00:19:29,120 looking document. 242 00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:32,400 What we want to do is look at the trends that are happening out there if we were putting 243 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:38,080 this together two years ago nobody would have envisioned that the national sword that happened 244 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:43,400 in China and we would have thought you know managing plastics the same old same old. 245 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,920 Where we sit here today at the end of 2019 we know that recycling is an issue and how 246 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:51,280 we did it even 18 months ago has to be addressed a little bit different. 247 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,060 So what the consultant is going to come in and do is help you know through discussions 248 00:19:55,060 --> 00:20:00,800 with boards like this with the council with the public looking at what's happening across 249 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:06,120 the nation trying to forward vision what some of these strategies are we'll take that information 250 00:20:06,120 --> 00:20:11,440 and we'll put together the plans to meet those goals to reduce the amount of material we're 251 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,640 sending to the landfill to try to increase diversion try to increase you know reuse and 252 00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:17,800 recycling of material that are out there. 253 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:23,600 Now some of this may go back to you know just the way we manage physical you know material 254 00:20:23,600 --> 00:20:27,720 that we pick up other may be some sort of a little more aggressive legislative type 255 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:32,920 plan because we are bound right now by several laws that are in place in the state of Texas 256 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:39,520 that don't allow us to do certain things or as I you know as I brought up here you know 257 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,600 some of our food packaging laws right now are 20 and 30 years old and they require certain 258 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:48,080 things that may or may not need be needed right now from a health and safety standpoint. 259 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:52,080 So going back and looking at those and trying to get changes in those which at the end of 260 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:58,880 the day would affect the material that we have to recycle. 261 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,240 Other questions? 262 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:07,260 If not then you know our plan is to take this presentation tomorrow to council for their 263 00:21:07,260 --> 00:21:10,760 approval we will complete the COG grants and submit that. 264 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:16,400 One other thing that you will see probably in the January time period is we are required 265 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:22,780 to submit to the COG a resolution from the council basically allowing us to accept the 266 00:21:22,780 --> 00:21:27,240 grants if they are awarded so we will be running that information past you and as part of that 267 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,880 we can share with you the grant application so that you can see specifically what pieces 268 00:21:31,880 --> 00:21:39,120 of equipment we are specing out and things of that nature. 269 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:45,600 I just wanted the illegal dumping is a nuisance violation it's a class C misdemeanor it's 270 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:50,960 a max of $500 fine of $71 that goes to the state and taxes additionally. 271 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:53,800 And that's $500 per day? 272 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:54,800 Well per violation. 273 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:55,800 Per violation. 274 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:56,800 Thank you. 275 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:57,800 Thank you. 276 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:06,240 All right our next item is receive a report and hold a discussion and give staff direction 277 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:17,660 regarding the Denton municipal electric budget. 278 00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:21,060 Good morning committee members David Gaines director of finance. 279 00:22:21,060 --> 00:22:25,760 This item is intended to give an update of the DME budget now that we have closed out 280 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,120 the previous fiscal year at least preliminarily. 281 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:35,040 For those of you who were on the board during the budget process you will recall that as 282 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:40,800 we were going through the budget discussions for DME we pointed out that the ECA rate the 283 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,680 portion of our rate which I'll touch on as we go through the presentation was significantly 284 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:50,040 underfunded at our current rates but we also had a significant fund balance so the discussion 285 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:55,160 points with the board and with city council during the budget process last year were do 286 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:59,500 we need a rate increase now do we want to hold off on a rate increase till possibly 287 00:22:59,500 --> 00:23:04,200 the next fiscal year or do we want to see how this year shakes out before we make any 288 00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:09,840 of those decisions and ultimately that's where council landed was let's not have any changes 289 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:16,280 to the rates during the budget process but come back to both the PUB and council once 290 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:21,040 we see how we end the fiscal year and at least give the update and that would give that option 291 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:24,160 to consider a mid-year rate change in our rates. 292 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:28,200 So to kind of cut to the chase at the last slide we are at this time not recommending 293 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:34,240 any rate changes for this fiscal year as we go through the budget process for the 19, 294 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,520 for the 2021 budget we'll obviously be having those discussions and as we go through the 295 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:43,280 budget process obviously it will be a much more detailed presentation, much more detailed 296 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:49,480 information for everyone and we've also had those conversations about having a more in-depth 297 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,680 presentation just on T-cost itself and getting the board up to speed all of those so definitely 298 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:59,360 as I go through this very high level short presentation we have D&E staff here to answer 299 00:23:59,360 --> 00:24:02,520 any questions that you might have obviously we can get into any of the detail that you 300 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:07,000 would like but this was really the intent of this presentation was really to give that 301 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,760 just update on how we ended the fiscal year. 302 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:15,800 So this just lays out everything I just went over for the objectives of the meeting. 303 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:20,560 So this chart basically says right what I just pointed out of where we thought we would 304 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:24,960 end the year or where we ended up in finishing the fiscal year. 305 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:30,240 So as we brought the budget to the board and to council during the budget process we estimated 306 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:37,320 that we would end the fiscal year with about an 18 million dollar deficit in our operating 307 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:41,720 fund last year and which would be a draw down on fund balance and that the deck would be 308 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:49,960 about two and a half million from a net income basis under, with revenues under expenses. 309 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,920 We also said that we would have no increases as I just mentioned on those on either other 310 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:57,260 of the primary rate classes. 311 00:24:57,260 --> 00:24:59,200 We ended the fiscal year much better than that. 312 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:02,720 You know obviously as we're going through the budget process we come to PV early in 313 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:06,440 the spring and we even adopt we'll get to a point where we're ready to adopt a budget 314 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:11,520 in September having these discussions in the summer it does make it difficult with the 315 00:25:11,520 --> 00:25:17,120 water budget with D&E where we have our highest usage months in August and July and we don't 316 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:22,240 have some of that data when we're making the estimates but August was a month that had 317 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,680 a significant impact on our fund obviously with increase significant increases in demand 318 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,960 a couple weeks where it was kind of almost record setting in the amount of demand that 319 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:36,400 we had and also the cost of power had that significant impact to have us use the deck 320 00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:41,400 more had us pay more in purchase power but also had us receive more in revenues. 321 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:45,920 From a fund level perspective it was a good in our net position of the fund balance where 322 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,200 we didn't have to draw down fund balance at all we actually added another two million 323 00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:55,080 almost three million to our fund balance as opposed to that that significant drawdown 324 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:56,080 in fund balance. 325 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:02,960 So that's this is again at the very high level fund balance perspective for where we ended 326 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,920 and then as we look at the ECA rate versus the base rates I'll touch on that briefly 327 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,200 obviously can answer any questions when we're talking about the ECA rate where the energy 328 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:17,160 cost adjustment rate so that's a rate that is really intended to fluctuate with power 329 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:23,880 costs so as the cost of energy increases that rate is intended to increase with it to fluctuate 330 00:26:23,880 --> 00:26:28,720 directly where the base rates are really intended to cover those fixed costs those costs that 331 00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:32,280 we can predict year over year. 332 00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,720 There are you know as we look at this you know this is obviously a very simple way to 333 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:40,880 look at it we have the ECA separated there's a lot more that goes into base rates as we're 334 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:46,480 talking about this and a significant piece of that is our T-cost we know that we are 335 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:50,960 collecting significant amounts of revenue for our transmission cost assets over what 336 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:57,080 our debt service is so that that difference in what we're collecting allows us to somewhat 337 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:02,400 subsidize our base rates here so when we show our base rates over collecting a big portion 338 00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:06,960 of that is that T-cost is over collecting to some degree and helping us to not have 339 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:12,040 that impact on the base rate so that's kind of everything that goes into this simple slide 340 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:17,920 but it is good to see this perspective that our ECA rates are under recovering significantly 341 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:21,800 and that's something that we will need to address as we go into the budget year and 342 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,640 some of those options would be do we think about trying to get that ECA rate to where 343 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:30,800 it fluctuates more in future years and maybe decrease the base rates to kind of to negate 344 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:36,240 that impact and those will be the discussions that we're having but prior to this year 345 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:42,720 we didn't see this huge deficit in the ECA rate and that's really directly tied to our 346 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:47,800 debt cost we have our debt operating cost and our debt service cost that flow through 347 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:52,240 the ECA rate so that's a big portion of why once we get that those first debt service 348 00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:56,520 payments we started seeing the change in the ECA rate and why we probably have to have 349 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:04,360 that discussion on how that impacts the total but again overall just good news in the sense 350 00:28:04,360 --> 00:28:09,480 that we don't have to have that mid-year change right now we can really just move forward 351 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,840 knowing that we're going to have a more detailed discussion as we go through the budget process 352 00:28:13,840 --> 00:28:16,840 here in a few months. 353 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,640 So here are our highlighted revenues and it really just hits on everything I've just been 354 00:28:20,640 --> 00:28:27,600 saying that we did base rate revenues outperform our estimate and then also with ECA revenues 355 00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:30,960 and then we have a little bit more on the deck later on we have our deck dashboards 356 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,720 that we've been sending out and you can see that the deck was really used a lot more than 357 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,640 we had used than we expected to use it as we finished the fiscal year you know another 358 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,680 important point that we talked about and a reason that we kind of decided to press pause 359 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:49,640 after after meeting with council and the PUB was we had didn't have a full year of what 360 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,300 does the deck even look like so we're still learning we're still getting data points and 361 00:28:53,300 --> 00:28:57,960 having that significant August what will help us prepare the future try to project in the 362 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:03,000 future but also shows what it looks like when we have that significant usage of the deck. 363 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,000 Sure. 364 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:10,720 Quick question regarding the deck is its revenue because of a large adjustment that came in 365 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:17,200 the last couple of months of the year is its budget done as one twelfth of an annual estimate 366 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:21,880 each month or is that seasonalized? 367 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:26,600 It's seasonalized we seasonalize so even the budget was seasonalized it just ended up that 368 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:32,120 August and September just happened to be highly profitable for it beyond normal seasonal adjustment. 369 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:33,120 Correct. 370 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:39,040 Yeah it was more than we anticipated but again we hadn't even had an August so it was still 371 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:43,900 trying to kind of guess what the usage would be with the deck. 372 00:29:43,900 --> 00:29:50,160 And then one more question on the deck net income you mentioned a couple of slides ago 373 00:29:50,160 --> 00:29:57,760 you mentioned energy cost adjustments are those made within deck net income or are those 374 00:29:57,760 --> 00:30:00,760 outside of that? 375 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:08,520 The impact on the ECA rate is from the debt the net debt cost so when we say the deck 376 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:13,200 revenue really that's just kind of a part of our TNPA payment it comes in as a credit 377 00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:18,560 in our TNPA everything that goes into what we pay in TNPA so the net of all that is what 378 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:29,360 the ECA covers if that makes sense. 379 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:34,400 So here's just a slide that we do that we show just try to make it as clear as possible 380 00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:39,520 on what's in the ECA so you can see everything that's in the ECA our purchase power obviously 381 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:43,520 everything that we pay out for our power then we have our operating cost for the deck our 382 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:49,440 debt service any prior year balance and then we have then we subtract from that our ERCOT 383 00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:56,400 revenue so the deck that's a net of any of the revenue that we see from the deck as it's 384 00:30:56,400 --> 00:31:01,600 out in the ERCOT market so it is a net from the revenue that we receive from the deck 385 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,760 but there's still we still have to cover those costs with the ECA rate. 386 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:13,400 Okay and you've got deck operating costs and deck net service obviously operating cost goes 387 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:21,040 into deck net income but the deck net income is that adjusted by ECA or does deck net income 388 00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,680 go toward calculating the ECA? 389 00:31:23,680 --> 00:31:27,000 It goes toward calculating the ECA. 390 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:31,760 Can we get a copy of that slide there this is not that is not on our presentation. 391 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:32,760 Absolutely. 392 00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,920 We have this slide in our budget presentations around the year but we can definitely send 393 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:36,920 that out no problem. 394 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:43,360 I know I've asked this question before but what is the reasoning of the debt service in 395 00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:44,360 the ECA? 396 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:49,120 You know that's a discussion that we've continued to have that was a decision that was made 397 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,800 when we started the deck it was made you know once the deck came on board as we were having 398 00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:57,080 those conversations to include it all so I think you know you can have that discussion 399 00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:03,240 in either way I think the idea of keeping the debt service in there is it's a ultimately 400 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:08,920 the deck is a cost of power everything that we all the costs that we have for the deck 401 00:32:08,920 --> 00:32:12,320 are a cost to purchase power if we didn't have the deck we'd be purchasing that power 402 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:18,720 elsewhere so all costs associated with the deck should be in there even the debt service. 403 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:23,440 I know that kind of goes against the idea of having a fixed cost so that is a discussion 404 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:28,040 and we had that discussion during the budget process as we went through it and there's 405 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:33,680 definitely you know validity on both sides but the justification for having it in the 406 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:41,040 ECA is we have we use the deck to purchase power so here's a total cost of the debt. 407 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:47,320 One follow on to Billy's question you show ERCOT revenue including deck revenue is all 408 00:32:47,320 --> 00:32:53,820 of decks revenue included in it all all of the revenue comes from ERCOT and all of the 409 00:32:53,820 --> 00:33:02,160 right yeah it is and if all of our income is going to that the debt service should certainly 410 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:03,160 come out of it. 411 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:17,560 Let's say revenue doesn't say income net income. 412 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,840 But operating costs and debt service are there yeah again that when we show our net income 413 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:27,080 or the dashboard we're kind of doing the operating costs deck and then taking out the so it's 414 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,680 all mixed in there and we even when we say deck revenue I was I mentioned it's not we 415 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:35,240 don't necessarily receive a check for that revenue or anything like that it's just netted 416 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:37,720 out from our ERCOT cost as they come through. 417 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:45,240 I have a question about the budgeted revenue for deck for the next budget cycle it's a 418 00:33:45,240 --> 00:33:53,800 lot less than what it is for this year like 11 million dollars projected what's the reason 419 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:56,720 is it going to be cooler next year? 420 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,840 So you're talking about this number right here the deck revenue $25 million dollars 421 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:04,480 well you know that just goes back to as we were going through the budget process we didn't 422 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,920 have August to project we didn't know what August looked like when we were projecting 423 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:13,760 the revenue so we've tried to be conservative as we don't know that we haven't had the history 424 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:18,440 with the deck so I think it's two parts first being conservative and trying to estimate 425 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:23,880 how much we think we're going to use the deck and second we don't even now I think it would 426 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,440 I don't know that we would even say now we want to say 37 million dollars for our budget 427 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:33,680 because that August was somewhat extreme so we don't have that history to know so obviously 428 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,680 I think it's a conservative estimate on the revenues there but that really flows down 429 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:41,940 to the expenses as well I think so that's kind of where we stand. 430 00:34:41,940 --> 00:34:45,720 And David also wasn't the budget adopted in mid September? 431 00:34:45,720 --> 00:34:51,960 Exactly yeah it was adopted in mid September months ahead of that time. 432 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:57,960 But as we gain more history with the deck we'll be able to project that a little bit 433 00:34:57,960 --> 00:34:58,960 better. 434 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:02,840 That's a goal we have and even when we project it we can come and say you know here's what 435 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:06,760 it would look like in a regular scenario here's what it would look like in an extreme scenario 436 00:35:06,760 --> 00:35:10,440 and go through that process so definitely I mean as we go through the year we'll see 437 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:13,960 this budget and it's very you know likely if we hit what we did last year we're going 438 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:18,760 to be exceeding it both on revenues and expenses but it all you know it all plays together 439 00:35:18,760 --> 00:35:22,940 and I think if Terry came up here and was talking about this as you have any questions 440 00:35:22,940 --> 00:35:27,000 he would say you know everything that when we use the deck that affects our purchase 441 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:40,520 power on our regular purchase power cost so it all really does tie together. 442 00:35:40,520 --> 00:35:43,760 Terry Nalti, Assistant General Manager at DME. 443 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:49,840 Anytime we look at a deck forecast revenue we have to remember that that's based on a 444 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:55,940 set of prices in the future it's an assumption that we're making based upon the then currently 445 00:35:55,940 --> 00:35:58,680 traded forward market. 446 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:04,280 So this was established in September based on a curve date that was actually in May of 447 00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:06,620 2019. 448 00:36:06,620 --> 00:36:12,160 Today the curve is significantly different higher for the summer months as a result of 449 00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,680 what we experienced in August and September. 450 00:36:15,680 --> 00:36:20,280 So if we were to recast that forecast today it would be higher. 451 00:36:20,280 --> 00:36:27,360 In fact the last time we looked at it a few weeks ago it's actually we would project net 452 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:32,240 incomes that were in excess of what we achieved this year. 453 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:39,800 But you will see that formally when we put the new budget together in early next year 454 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:43,160 and you'll start to see what July time frame or so. 455 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:45,160 Early spring. 456 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:52,480 Really you all start the budget process for the whole city we started off here. 457 00:36:52,480 --> 00:36:58,680 We've kind of bounced around and we've hit most of the slides I will touch on the expenses 458 00:36:58,680 --> 00:37:02,540 and then a lot of this were the discussions that we had during the fiscal year. 459 00:37:02,540 --> 00:37:07,280 As you look at administration you can see our budget we significantly spent less than 460 00:37:07,280 --> 00:37:08,560 our budget administration. 461 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:13,120 That's really tied if you recall for those of you who were here I can definitely bring 462 00:37:13,120 --> 00:37:14,960 everyone else up to speed. 463 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:20,760 We had budgeted 28 a little over $28 million to pay off our TNPA scrubber debt going into 464 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,520 the fiscal year knowing that we had a fund balance and that was an option that we went 465 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:25,520 forward with. 466 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,760 We decided to hold off on that actually early in the fiscal year knowing that we had so 467 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:36,480 many variables outstanding from debt performance, TNPA and that turned out to be a good decision. 468 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:41,280 So that's why you see a decrease in our total expenses and what we ended up doing with that 469 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:47,440 TNPA debt was refinancing it which saves us $2 or $3 million over the next five years. 470 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:52,320 We didn't extend the life of the debt it still goes away in five years for this specific 471 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,240 TNPA debt but have $2 million less in expenses. 472 00:37:55,240 --> 00:37:59,680 So that's the biggest reason that you see for a decrease there in administration and 473 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:04,240 then wholesale power you see increases which are really directly related to purchase power, 474 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:08,960 the increased demand and cost that we had that were associated with that. 475 00:38:08,960 --> 00:38:19,140 So those are the biggest changes that you see in our expenses for the fiscal year. 476 00:38:19,140 --> 00:38:20,140 We just touched on the debt. 477 00:38:20,140 --> 00:38:25,040 The only thing I'll point out you can see that our full debt service payments are now 478 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:29,880 in the budget moving forward for the debt associated operations really. 479 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:34,280 The biggest piece of our operations is the fuel that goes along with the debt and then 480 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:40,120 you can see the other expense categories there. 481 00:38:40,120 --> 00:38:47,360 Just the salaries and benefits, yes, yeah, I've been trying to get us to switch to the 482 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:54,820 spelling of personnel but it's hidden everywhere and it pops up. 483 00:38:54,820 --> 00:39:04,080 The previous slide showed the expenses for DEC going up roughly 50%. 484 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:05,880 What's the reason for that? 485 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:12,720 The expenses for the Denton Energy Center going up 50% next year. 486 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:18,480 So they're the same numbers but this has more detail so I'll stick on this slide. 487 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:28,360 And I guess do you want to talk about the energy expense? 488 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:33,840 So one of the things that we have to forecast when we look at, again, dispatching the DEC 489 00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:39,080 against the forward curve is how many hours a year it's going to run and that's based 490 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:45,520 upon the price of natural gas and then the price of electricity during that same period 491 00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:47,960 of time. 492 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:56,520 So we assume that if the cost of the DEC is, say, $28 on a variable cost basis, any time 493 00:39:56,520 --> 00:40:02,540 that the forward market is above $28, we're dispatching the unit into the market and then 494 00:40:02,540 --> 00:40:05,080 purchasing gas for those hours. 495 00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:12,240 So when you see these numbers, you can see that the 50%, the biggest change here is this 496 00:40:12,240 --> 00:40:14,440 $14 million that was budgeted. 497 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:20,760 We actually only spent about $7 million in fuel costs because we ran actually half the 498 00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:28,360 hours that we anticipated running in back in May of last year when we were doing the 499 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:35,600 budget, May the previous year when we were doing the budget, and what we actually ran. 500 00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:39,480 So we only run the units when they're termed in the money. 501 00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:44,680 So if it's above $28, in my example, we'll run it. 502 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:51,960 And this year, this past summer, August and September, the prices were significantly higher 503 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:57,280 than we expected, but they didn't last as long as we expected. 504 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:02,960 So we ran the units half the time and achieved a much greater margin in the hours that we 505 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:04,200 did run. 506 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:10,200 So our $12 million estimate, 12.5 for the next fiscal year is again based upon that 507 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:16,440 May 10th, 2010, I'm sorry, 2019 curve. 508 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:22,540 And that curve has changed significantly because of the performance in the summer. 509 00:41:22,540 --> 00:41:29,760 So while underlying power prices for the calendar year are relatively similar to what they were 510 00:41:29,760 --> 00:41:36,080 at this time last year, more of the value is now in the super peak hours in the summer. 511 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:38,000 And that's why the big difference. 512 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:40,400 I hope that answers your question. 513 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:45,040 So the deck expenses includes the cost of the natural gas itself. 514 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:49,720 That's the largest single cost, yes. 515 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:53,040 One more quick question. 516 00:41:53,040 --> 00:42:00,120 You are showing debt service principal as an expenditure and subtracting principal debt 517 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:01,760 service from net income? 518 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:02,760 Yes. 519 00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:03,760 Okay. 520 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:04,760 Yep. 521 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:05,760 Okay. 522 00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:06,760 But no depreciation? 523 00:42:06,760 --> 00:42:07,760 No. 524 00:42:07,760 --> 00:42:08,760 Okay. 525 00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:19,640 I just wondered how much would the deck have to run to where it couldn't run anymore because 526 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:24,720 it had reached the limits to its pollution? 527 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:30,440 I don't have that exact number, Mr. Self, but I can certainly get it to you. 528 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:34,720 We don't see any time in the future where that's going to be an issue based on the current 529 00:42:34,720 --> 00:42:36,000 forward curves. 530 00:42:36,000 --> 00:42:41,880 Prices would have to come up significantly for the non-summer months in addition to the 531 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,280 summer months in order for that to happen. 532 00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:45,800 But I'll get you the number. 533 00:42:45,800 --> 00:42:46,800 Yeah. 534 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:47,800 Thanks. 535 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:48,800 Yep. 536 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:56,400 So just to recap, obviously no mid-year changes. 537 00:42:56,400 --> 00:43:00,440 We'll be updating our forecast as we've been discussing just over the next couple months 538 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:05,760 and then back to you pretty soon as we start talking about the 2021 budget. 539 00:43:05,760 --> 00:43:10,200 And then obviously we'll continue to provide those deck dashboards, kind of showing that 540 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:11,200 net income. 541 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:15,120 And definitely if you have any feedback on those as we go through the process, let us 542 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:19,560 know and we'll continue to try to tailor those to get you all the information you need. 543 00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:23,120 And that's it for the presentation, but we can definitely stand for any more questions 544 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:24,120 that you may have. 545 00:43:24,120 --> 00:43:25,120 Any questions? 546 00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:26,120 Okay. 547 00:43:26,120 --> 00:43:27,120 All right. 548 00:43:27,120 --> 00:43:28,120 Thank you. 549 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:29,120 Thank you. 550 00:43:29,120 --> 00:43:35,480 Now we'll go into a closed session, deliberations regarding certain public power utilities, 551 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:43,320 competitive matters under the Texas Government Code Section 551.086, consultation with attorneys 552 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:47,440 under Texas Government Code Section 551.071. 553 00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:51,120 Do I need to read this whole? 554 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,720 Okay. 555 00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:58,200 It's about 10.35 and we'll reconvene the regular meeting of the Public Utility Board. 556 00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:01,000 The next item is the consent agenda. 557 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:05,680 Does any board members wish to pull one of the three items? 558 00:44:05,680 --> 00:44:07,320 Wow. 559 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:09,160 Wow. 560 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:13,480 Do we have a motion to approve? 561 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:15,040 Move for approval. 562 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:16,040 I second. 563 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:17,440 All in favor say aye. 564 00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:18,440 Aye. 565 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:19,440 Aye. 566 00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:20,440 Motion carries. 567 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:26,560 Items for individual consideration, the approval of the minutes for November 11, 2019. 568 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:28,960 Are there any changes or corrections? 569 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:29,960 Yeah. 570 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:36,880 When I read that, there's some spelling problems there and some sentences are truncated, they're 571 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:44,040 not complete sentences, so I think we should run a spell checker and a grammar checker 572 00:44:44,040 --> 00:44:47,400 on the minutes before we sign off on them. 573 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:52,280 I also noticed that Chair Parker thanked the veterans for their work session. 574 00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:53,280 I did, huh? 575 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,280 That was very nice of you. 576 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,040 Well, I think the veterans, I think, but not for the... 577 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:01,040 Oh. 578 00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:02,040 Yeah, I see that. 579 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:07,000 I'm grateful for the work session as well. 580 00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:08,960 So, can you take care of that, Kim? 581 00:45:08,960 --> 00:45:15,160 Thank you. 582 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:20,560 So note in those changes, would approve after. 583 00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:21,560 Okay. 584 00:45:21,560 --> 00:45:27,200 Oh, then we're onto future agenda items. 585 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:28,200 Yes. 586 00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:29,200 Thank you. 587 00:45:29,200 --> 00:45:30,640 Good morning, members of the board. 588 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:32,960 A couple of things to note. 589 00:45:32,960 --> 00:45:38,440 In your future agenda items, you'll be seeing in January a report and maybe an impossible 590 00:45:38,440 --> 00:45:46,320 action on an emergency declaration that was issued to do some repairs at the old Alton 591 00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:47,320 lift station. 592 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:51,720 We'd had an overflow, and so staff's been working through that for the last couple of 593 00:45:51,720 --> 00:45:56,200 weeks, and so we're in the process of getting those repaired, and then we'll have a report 594 00:45:56,200 --> 00:46:00,000 to you all about what all expenses occurred on that. 595 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:04,880 And outside of that, as we close the end of the calendar year, just on behalf of staff, 596 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:06,720 I'd like to thank the board for your service. 597 00:46:06,720 --> 00:46:12,160 Thank you for your interest in not only, certainly the questions that you all ask, but also just 598 00:46:12,160 --> 00:46:15,600 pure interest in our facilities and assets that we have. 599 00:46:15,600 --> 00:46:20,080 It's tremendous being in a community like this where we have electric, water, wastewater, 600 00:46:20,080 --> 00:46:21,080 solid waste. 601 00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:25,120 And I know you all have toured the energy center, I believe last week or a few of you 602 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:26,120 did. 603 00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:32,920 And our solid waste facility and other utilities, and I believe you'll be touring our recycling 604 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:34,360 facility here in January. 605 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:38,040 So again, thank you, thank you for your service, and look forward to working with you all in 606 00:46:38,040 --> 00:46:39,040 2020. 607 00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:40,040 Have a great year. 608 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:41,040 Have a great holiday. 609 00:46:41,040 --> 00:46:42,040 That was a great tour. 610 00:46:42,040 --> 00:46:43,040 Yes. 611 00:46:43,040 --> 00:46:44,040 Thanks for that. 612 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,040 I appreciate you being able to see that. 613 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:54,040 I had a question, speaking of future agenda items, is the green tree water situation going 614 00:46:54,040 --> 00:47:01,500 to be, is that something that we will have any advisory powers over? 615 00:47:01,500 --> 00:47:04,560 Well, actually, yes. 616 00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:12,600 We will actually be briefing the council tomorrow on kind of the status of that event and situation. 617 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:18,320 We can certainly provide an informal staff report to the board on Friday, this coming 618 00:47:18,320 --> 00:47:22,480 Friday, because we would like to get some direction from council. 619 00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:28,520 And if you would all like, we can certainly bring further information to a future board 620 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:31,720 meeting if you so wish, based on the information that we provide to you. 621 00:47:31,720 --> 00:47:36,120 And if you want a work session, we'd be happy to provide that for you as well. 622 00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:37,120 Yeah. 623 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:38,120 I appreciate that. 624 00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:39,120 Thank you. 625 00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:40,120 Oh, go ahead. 626 00:47:40,120 --> 00:47:43,680 On a new business thing, just kind of a comment. 627 00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:51,520 We get asked to approve replacement of equipment, different pieces of equipment periodically. 628 00:47:51,520 --> 00:47:58,960 And I know that sometimes in the past when I ask, well, what is -- we get told the reason 629 00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:05,040 we need to replace this is because there's very high maintenance, it's very costly, it's 630 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:06,040 excessive, whatever. 631 00:48:06,040 --> 00:48:14,480 There's a lot of adverbs used prior to the adjectives to describe how bad something is. 632 00:48:14,480 --> 00:48:20,980 When it comes to cost, I think it would be better to be objective in this and be able 633 00:48:20,980 --> 00:48:31,960 to state what the actual cost is, what the historical record was for spending money to 634 00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:36,760 repair a certain piece of equipment compared to other pieces of equipment, that kind of 635 00:48:36,760 --> 00:48:38,960 thing. 636 00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:45,000 Rather than just say it's high cost, excessive cost, poor maintenance, yeah. 637 00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:52,960 I think it would help us understand more objectively just how bad it is. 638 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:58,160 I understand that everybody wants to have -- we all like to drive new cars. 639 00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:01,600 We all like to have new stuff. 640 00:49:01,600 --> 00:49:10,080 But I would hope that we can make this whole process a little more objective in identifying 641 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:15,260 what the dollar cost is for these things and how that's changed over time. 642 00:49:15,260 --> 00:49:21,120 So that's just a comment. 643 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,120 And we have all that information. 644 00:49:22,120 --> 00:49:28,800 We can certainly include that in the agenda information sheet as well. 645 00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:30,720 Concluding items, any other items? 646 00:49:30,720 --> 00:49:36,680 I'd like to formally thank the Denton Energy Center for hosting us on the tour. 647 00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:38,200 It was very enlightening. 648 00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:45,800 It's a great asset for the taxpayers of the City of Denton, as we have seen. 649 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:49,800 And it's -- I think -- I don't know what the appropriate forum would be to do this or how 650 00:49:49,800 --> 00:49:58,860 to do it, but I think the City could justifiably crow a little bit about the beneficial effect 651 00:49:58,860 --> 00:50:04,600 that the Denton Energy Center has had for the ratepayers in Denton and the taxpayers 652 00:50:04,600 --> 00:50:13,160 in Denton, due to four days in August, four hot days in August, changed the whole budget 653 00:50:13,160 --> 00:50:16,200 complexion here. 654 00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:17,360 It's an important thing. 655 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:19,720 People are going to continue to move into North Texas. 656 00:50:19,720 --> 00:50:22,840 Last time I looked, I see it all the time. 657 00:50:22,840 --> 00:50:29,800 They're going to continue to want to be cool when the August afternoon is 100 degrees. 658 00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:37,600 And because the City of Denton has the ability to generate power during those high peak times, 659 00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:41,160 that's an important asset for the City. 660 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:44,440 Yes, it is. 661 00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:45,440 Any other items? 662 00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:46,440 All right. 663 00:50:46,440 --> 00:50:48,840 Do we have a motion to adjourn? 664 00:50:48,840 --> 00:50:50,840 So so moved. 665 00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:51,840 All right. 666 00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:52,840 Second. 667 00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:53,340 We're adjourned.