WEBVTT

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 Okay, it's about 9.07 and it's time to call the Public Utilities Board of May 11th, 2020

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 to order.

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 We do have a quorum.

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 I want to remind everybody to mute your microphones and just raise your hand if you want to be

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 heard and I'll call on you then.

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 The first item on the agenda is our consent agenda.

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 Does any board member wish to pull any of the items A through G?

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 Okay, Ed?

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 Yeah, I'd like to pull C as in cantaloupe.

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 And Billy?

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 I'd like to pull A as an antelope.

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 And Karen?

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 I'd like to pull B as in boy.

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 Anyone else?

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 All right.

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 So item A.

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 Are we going to approve the other ones first or?

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 Oh, that's a good idea.

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 Gee, we're a little out of sync today, aren't we?

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 Okay.

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 So do I have a motion to approve item D, E, S, and G?

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 So moved.

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 Second.

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 All in favor say aye.

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 Aye.

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 Item A is the rejection of bids to add bays to the fleet services.

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 There's really not a lot of explanation that everything just come in over budget.

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 We have Cassie Ogden on the line, our procurement director, but I can give you a quick background.

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 As part of the budget reductions that the city was looking at over the last few weeks,

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 those were one of the items that we looked at is to stop construction on some projects

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 and facilities at this point.

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 It doesn't mean that that project can't come forward in the near future, but those were

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 part of our what we call tier one cuts for the upcoming future for the city operations.

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 That's the only reason.

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 Okay.

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 That's great.

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 I appreciate you guys being responsible with the budget.

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 I think the public needs to know that for sure.

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 Correct.

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 Thank you.

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 Thank you.

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 That's all.

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 Do we have a motion to approve item A?

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 I'll move approval.

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 I'll second.

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 All in favor say aye.

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 Aye.

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 Aye.

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 Okay.

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 Okay, and Russ did, okay, all right, my motion carries.

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 All right.

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 Item B. I think that was you, Karen.

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 Oh yeah.

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 Sorry.

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 Same question as Billy, I understood the rejecting certain budget items, you know, during this

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 time.

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 Could I, stupid question as usual, do we have a handle on the total shortfall, predicted

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 shortfall for this fiscal year?

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 At this, specifically to solid waste or utilities in general, we are working with our, I'm sorry,

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 we are working with our, with David Gaines, our finance director, he's in the room here

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 with me if you have some specifics, but we're working towards creating those forecasts.

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 It's still too early because of all the issues that occurred starting in mid-March.

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 So everything happened so rapidly with businesses closing and universities closing, et cetera.

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 And so while we're forecasting, we're still kind of playing a wait and see mentality until

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 we get at least another four to six more weeks under our belt so we can try to understand

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 what the full impact is of the last two months or so.

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 I was curious about our target numbers for cuts or whatever savings, I guess I should

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 say.

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 Sure, let me refer that to David Gaines, our director of finance, if you'll give him in

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 just a few moments, he'll be on the call.

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 Chairman Parker, before he starts, one thing I'd ask that you do when you take the vote

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 is to ask each individual member, their vote, since this is the only recording we have of

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 the vote.

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 Yeah, I'll do that.

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 Thank you.

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 David Gaines, director of finance, we took a forecast update to city council last month

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 where we touched largely on the general fund but also on each of the utility funds with

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 some very high level assumptions for revenue losses and then also what we've done so far

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 with expenditure reductions and are kind of what we've phrased our tier one strategy.

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 So I can talk about a very high level of what that entailed and also what those revenue

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 losses were.

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 We looked at a solid waste fund specifically about $800,000 revenue impact right now really

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 related to commercial revenues and revenues that we're anticipating to lose based on our

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 collections practices with deferring late fees and shutoffs.

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 So we had those with each of the utility funds of what we're anticipating and we've done

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 the same tiered strategy of reductions with the utility funds that we looked at in the

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 general fund as well and those were position freezes, merit increase, cessation of merit

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 increases, some one time expenditure reductions, things such as the fleet expansion that we

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 touched on with capital projects, reallocations and then we also have offered the voluntary

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 separation program which was detailed with council which is currently ongoing.

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 That's open to all employees not just general fund out to all the utilities.

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 So those are the actions that we've taken thus far.

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 The revenue impact there is definitely preliminary and we're rapidly as we go forward.

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 Okay.

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 Thanks David.

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 I was just wondering if things had changed since the report to council.

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 Nothing.

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 Nothing yet.

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 We're still trying to monitor it.

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 All right.

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 Thank you.

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 I'm fine with B. Okay.

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 Is it that your motion to approve?

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 Sure.

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 Yeah.

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 Motion to approve.

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 Do we have a second?

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 Second.

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 Was that Charlie?

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 Charlie says second.

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 And aye.

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 And aye.

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 Okay.

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 Ed?

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 Yes.

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 Billy?

00:07:00.080 --> 00:07:06.840
 Please click open Zoom meetings to save your system.

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 See the system dialogue.

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 If nothing prompts from your browser, click here to launch the meeting.

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 Russ?

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 Yes.

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 Charlie?

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 Yes.

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 And I'm a yes.

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 All right.

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 The next item is C, cantaloupe.

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 Ed?

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 Yeah.

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 If my memory serves me, as I recall, getting this survey done was contingent on getting

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 a grant from the North Texas Council of Government.

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 And I wondered what the status of the grant was.

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 If the grant was denied, then that is causing the cancellation of this bid, or little about

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 the background on this.

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 Sure.

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 I believe Brown-Burner, Director of Solid Waste, and then Alon, I believe he can answer

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 some of those questions, Mr. So.

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 I think he is.

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 Miss Bryan, can you hear me?

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 We can.

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 Yes.

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 Okay.

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 Very good.

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 Thank you very much.

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 Mr. So, you are correct that we did submit a grant application to the North Central

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 Texas Council of Governments to help fund this.

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 However, the completion of this was not contingent upon successfully getting the grant.

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 It was the direction of the council that, you know, had we not been successful, that

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 this was important enough for us to move forward.

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 However, in light of the COVID revenue reductions, at least at this time, we are taking forward

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 this recommendation to reject this bid.

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 And once we get a little more comfortable with where our revenues are, hopefully very,

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 you know, 90, 120 days down the road, we can reopen this bid and start this process again.

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 But right now, just, you know, in the -- where we find ourselves, it's a prudent thing to

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 do to at least defer this for a few months until we know where the funding is going to

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 be coming from.

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 Thank you.

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 Can you clarify, was the grant awarded or denied?

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 Or did you even submit it?

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 No, it was denied.

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 We did submit it, and it was denied.

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 Not so much it was denied.

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 It fell below the funding -- the funding level.

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 There was like close to $4 million worth of applications that were submitted and only

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 about $1.2 million worth of grant funds available.

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 So was there any -- We fell below the line.

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 So there was no priority given to these grant applications?

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 It was simply the financial consideration?

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 That is correct.

00:09:55.160 --> 00:09:56.160
 Okay.

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 Thank you very much.

00:10:01.160 --> 00:10:02.160
 You're welcome.

00:10:02.160 --> 00:10:03.320
 And I have one more question.

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 I assume that there's no target date at this point because of the state of affairs as to

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 when this will be re-solicited.

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 That is correct.

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 I mean, we're working close with finance, and once we get comfortable with where not

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 only our revenues are, but the total financial outlook, we will be putting together a plan

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 to take this back out on the street.

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 But as Mr. Gaines had previously noted, it's still just a little too early to really understand

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 where we are from a financial standpoint.

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 I see.

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 Thank you very much.

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 You're welcome.

00:10:40.400 --> 00:10:43.840
 And do we have a motion to approve then?

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 I move.

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 And a second?

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 Second.

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 Okay.

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 And to a vote, I'll vote yes.

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 Ed, we'll start with you.

00:10:57.120 --> 00:10:58.120
 Yes.

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 Billy?

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 Aye.

00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:01.120
 Yes.

00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:02.120
 Karen?

00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:03.120
 Yes.

00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:04.120
 Russ?

00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:05.120
 Yes.

00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:06.120
 Charlie?

00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:07.120
 Yes.

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 And Barbara?

00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:19.400
 Could you say that again, Barbara?

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 I said I'm sorry.

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 I am still dealing with problems.

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 I did not hear any of the discussion.

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 I will abstain.

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 Okay.

00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:26.920
 Okay.

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 All right.

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 So the next item is consider approval of the minutes of March 9th, 2020.

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 That was a long time ago.

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 Do I have a motion to approve the minutes?

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 I move.

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 We approve.

00:11:42.640 --> 00:11:43.640
 Second.

00:11:43.640 --> 00:11:46.480
 This is Russ.

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 And Karen seconded.

00:11:47.640 --> 00:11:48.640
 Okay.

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 Well, we'll start with Ed.

00:11:50.880 --> 00:11:51.880
 Yes.

00:11:51.880 --> 00:11:52.880
 Approve.

00:11:52.880 --> 00:11:53.880
 Yes.

00:11:53.880 --> 00:11:54.880
 Yes.

00:11:54.880 --> 00:11:55.880
 Billy?

00:11:55.880 --> 00:11:56.880
 Yes.

00:11:56.880 --> 00:11:57.880
 Karen?

00:11:57.880 --> 00:11:58.880
 Yes.

00:11:58.880 --> 00:11:59.880
 Russ?

00:11:59.880 --> 00:12:00.880
 Yes.

00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:01.880
 Charlie?

00:12:01.880 --> 00:12:02.880
 Yes.

00:12:02.880 --> 00:12:07.320
 And Barbara, I'm assuming you still can't hear.

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 Okay.

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 All right.

00:12:11.320 --> 00:12:15.800
 Then on to management reports.

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 Good morning, members of the PB, Mario Canazares, deputy city manager.

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 We have a few items here that we would like to review with you or at least just make it

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 available for you.

00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.760
 We've got folks on the line that can answer specific questions, but because of the fact

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 that with COVID and the pandemic, along with the various emergency declarations that were

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 issued by the mayor and city council, we had a number of procurement items that normally

00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:50.080
 would have gone to the public utilities board and other committees across the organization.

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 But as a result of the fact that we were no longer doing meetings for the remainder of

00:12:54.920 --> 00:13:00.640
 March and all of April, and some of these items required council approval, we went ahead

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 and proceeded with those items before the city council.

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 You should have a list in front of you.

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 And if you have any questions, believe Cassie Ogden, our director of procurement, is on

00:13:11.800 --> 00:13:20.000
 the line to be able to answer any specifics you may have about those items.

00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:23.760
 Do any members have a question on one of the items?

00:13:23.760 --> 00:13:24.760
 Just raise your hand.

00:13:24.760 --> 00:13:25.760
 Yes.

00:13:25.760 --> 00:13:26.760
 Yes.

00:13:26.760 --> 00:13:27.760
 Okay.

00:13:27.760 --> 00:13:28.760
 Russ?

00:13:28.760 --> 00:13:29.760
 I have one, too.

00:13:29.760 --> 00:13:33.380
 I have a question about the deck outage insurance.

00:13:33.380 --> 00:13:38.200
 Could you explain exactly what that covers?

00:13:38.200 --> 00:13:43.280
 Good someone?

00:13:43.280 --> 00:13:44.280
 Good morning.

00:13:44.280 --> 00:13:45.280
 This is Cassie Ogden.

00:13:45.280 --> 00:13:46.280
 Can you hear me?

00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:47.280
 Yes.

00:13:47.280 --> 00:13:56.440
 The deck outage insurance, and I can defer to Tony or Terry for more specifics, but it

00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:03.640
 basically allows us to have insurance in case we are we have an outage at the deck that

00:14:03.640 --> 00:14:06.440
 we were unable to operate during the summer.

00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:12.720
 So it's some insurance to make sure that if we lose revenue that it was a policy to cover

00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:15.440
 our lost revenue.

00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:19.400
 So it's basically a business interruption insurance for the deck?

00:14:19.400 --> 00:14:20.400
 Okay.

00:14:20.400 --> 00:14:22.400
 That's very similar.

00:14:22.400 --> 00:14:23.400
 Okay.

00:14:23.400 --> 00:14:25.520
 Does that answer it?

00:14:25.520 --> 00:14:26.520
 Yes.

00:14:26.520 --> 00:14:27.520
 It does.

00:14:27.520 --> 00:14:28.520
 Okay.

00:14:28.520 --> 00:14:29.520
 Okay.

00:14:29.520 --> 00:14:31.880
 Oh, I muted myself.

00:14:31.880 --> 00:14:34.640
 Any other board members have a question?

00:14:34.640 --> 00:14:36.880
 All right.

00:14:36.880 --> 00:14:38.040
 Okay.

00:14:38.040 --> 00:14:45.720
 And so in item number two, under management reports, as we've been providing to PUB here

00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:52.680
 recently, we've got the Energy Center dashboard that just shows the performance for the last

00:14:52.680 --> 00:14:53.760
 quarter.

00:14:53.760 --> 00:15:00.200
 And so I believe David Gaines is here if you have any specifics, and Mr. Puente is on the

00:15:00.200 --> 00:15:03.940
 phone as well.

00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:07.680
 Does a board member have a specific question on this item?

00:15:07.680 --> 00:15:08.680
 Yes.

00:15:08.680 --> 00:15:09.680
 Russ.

00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:10.680
 Yeah.

00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:16.440
 The title of the spreadsheet I see there says January 2020, but I think you just told us

00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:17.920
 it was for the first quarter.

00:15:17.920 --> 00:15:20.920
 Is that right?

00:15:20.920 --> 00:15:31.520
 This is the first fiscal quarter.

00:15:31.520 --> 00:15:37.960
 Mr. Bradford, our fiscal year begins October 1st through September 30th.

00:15:37.960 --> 00:15:42.600
 So the first quarter of the fiscal year would be October 1st through December 31st.

00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:45.600
 That's why you have it.

00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:48.600
 All right.

00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:50.480
 Okay.

00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:56.720
 Just to clarify on that, when it says January 2020, it means the quarter ending December

00:15:56.720 --> 00:16:01.520
 31st?

00:16:01.520 --> 00:16:02.520
 That's an affirmative.

00:16:02.520 --> 00:16:03.520
 Okay.

00:16:03.520 --> 00:16:06.520
 Thank you.

00:16:06.520 --> 00:16:08.520
 Mr. Stolf.

00:16:08.520 --> 00:16:09.520
 Yeah.

00:16:09.520 --> 00:16:16.640
 I don't know if this is a printer problem, but the last under plant monthly run hour

00:16:16.640 --> 00:16:26.820
 comparison, the last column for January 2020, is that green in color as opposed to blue

00:16:26.820 --> 00:16:27.820
 for the others?

00:16:27.820 --> 00:16:31.280
 And if so, why is it green?

00:16:31.280 --> 00:16:32.280
 This is Tony.

00:16:32.280 --> 00:16:35.840
 That's just to designate that that's the current month.

00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:36.840
 Okay.

00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:37.840
 All right.

00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:41.440
 Thank you.

00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.080
 Mr. Parker, let me make a correction.

00:16:43.080 --> 00:16:50.080
 I was corrected by our finance director, the DEC dashboard year to date, January 2020,

00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:53.560
 is for the actual month of January, not the previous quarter.

00:16:53.560 --> 00:16:59.280
 My apologies.

00:16:59.280 --> 00:17:00.280
 Any other questions?

00:17:00.280 --> 00:17:01.280
 All right.

00:17:01.280 --> 00:17:04.280
 Then future agenda items.

00:17:04.280 --> 00:17:14.080
 Let me toggle to that screen, give me just a moment.

00:17:14.080 --> 00:17:27.680
 I'm doing the same thing.

00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:37.220
 Okay.

00:17:37.220 --> 00:17:44.040
 You should have at your next meeting in June, excuse me, in June, a water loss audit work

00:17:44.040 --> 00:17:45.040
 session.

00:17:45.040 --> 00:17:49.520
 So that'll be presented by one of our members of the water department to be able to present

00:17:49.520 --> 00:17:55.200
 to you their analysis on any water loss that's happened within our system within the city

00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:04.000
 and also to you, while it's not listed, we'll be rolling into the budget season.

00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:10.500
 So you'll start seeing a lot of these slots filled with budget presentations and discussions.

00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:16.520
 So we're having to accommodate based on that since we typically would meet normally twice

00:18:16.520 --> 00:18:20.820
 a month and right now we're with the PUV and right now we're at this point doing once a

00:18:20.820 --> 00:18:28.440
 month meeting, so we're having to just adjust schedules accordingly until we get more in

00:18:28.440 --> 00:18:30.400
 a routine.

00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:32.600
 All right.

00:18:32.600 --> 00:18:35.280
 And then onto new business action items.

00:18:35.280 --> 00:18:36.280
 Oh, I'm sorry, Billy.

00:18:36.280 --> 00:18:40.280
 I have a follow-up question for Mario.

00:18:40.280 --> 00:18:41.280
 Sure.

00:18:41.280 --> 00:18:46.440
 I've been thinking about BUVs here for the past few weeks and usually we're getting started

00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:47.440
 already.

00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:51.160
 It'd surely be nice to see some preliminary stuff and I know you'd hate to put it out

00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:57.320
 there, especially right now, because you don't know what your budget's going to be probably.

00:18:57.320 --> 00:19:04.720
 But do you know when our first meeting, we'll have some information to review will be?

00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:10.020
 I would imagine probably we'll have to start in June with those discussions.

00:19:10.020 --> 00:19:18.360
 So we'll start probably seeing some forecast and also trending from the past as well.

00:19:18.360 --> 00:19:24.120
 Well, okay, appreciate it.

00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:27.880
 Thank you.

00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:28.880
 All right then.

00:19:28.880 --> 00:19:30.600
 Onto new business action items.

00:19:30.600 --> 00:19:32.720
 Any discussion on that?

00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:38.640
 All right, so then concluding items.

00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:44.160
 Does any board member wish to have something added to a future agenda or have anything

00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:48.320
 that they'd like to share now?

00:19:48.320 --> 00:19:52.320
 Doesn't look like it.

00:19:52.320 --> 00:19:53.320
 Okay.

00:19:53.320 --> 00:19:54.840
 Onto our work session items.

00:19:54.840 --> 00:19:59.880
 The first work session is to receive a report and hold a discussion and give staff direction

00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:18.520
 regarding emergency credit and collections measures and reopening strategy.

00:20:18.520 --> 00:20:23.900
 Madam Chair, board members, Krista Foster, utility customer services manager.

00:20:23.900 --> 00:20:33.280
 This morning I'm here to be able to give you guys a bit of an update on an update on where

00:20:33.280 --> 00:20:39.360
 we are with some of the credit and collections activities and statuses since the pandemic.

00:20:39.360 --> 00:20:43.460
 We're going to start with just a quick overview.

00:20:43.460 --> 00:20:46.960
 We're going to look at all active accounts that carry past due balances, look at the

00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:51.720
 current state and what our reopening strategy that we're proposing is.

00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:55.640
 Then we're going to look at other collections activities, again reviewing the current state

00:20:55.640 --> 00:20:58.040
 and a proposed reopening plan.

00:20:58.040 --> 00:21:01.480
 We're going to look at the customer service recommendations for how we would like to move

00:21:01.480 --> 00:21:07.160
 forward and then a quick update on some of the other collection activities.

00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:13.220
 So in response to the pandemic, we did suspend all collection activities on active accounts.

00:21:13.220 --> 00:21:18.600
 We did not charge any late fees or interest since the 1st of March and we stopped all

00:21:18.600 --> 00:21:22.040
 service interruptions effective March 13th.

00:21:22.040 --> 00:21:26.120
 We also suspended any collection activities that we take on closed accounts.

00:21:26.120 --> 00:21:31.720
 This includes any calls or letters letting folks know that their final balances are past

00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:36.560
 due and we've made no referrals to any outside collection agency.

00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:42.440
 We have, however, made sure that all customers who have contacted customer service have access

00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:46.240
 to basic utilities throughout the pandemic.

00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:50.680
 So we've exhibited a lot of extra flexibility in working with customers to ensure that they

00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:54.280
 have access to the utilities that they need.

00:21:54.280 --> 00:21:59.600
 In addition to that, the city has created some partnerships with United Way.

00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:04.640
 One of those things is for creation of a navigation line where residents and businesses can call

00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.160
 for help.

00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:09.820
 They can have someone who answers the phone or gives them a call back that can answer

00:22:09.820 --> 00:22:15.320
 basic questions or get them referral to subject matter experts in the community who are volunteering

00:22:15.320 --> 00:22:20.320
 their time and expertise to help navigate some of the challenges with the CARES Act

00:22:20.320 --> 00:22:24.840
 and resources that businesses specifically may need access to.

00:22:24.840 --> 00:22:30.600
 We have also provided $100,000 in emergency funding that has gone to the United Way.

00:22:30.600 --> 00:22:34.800
 There is still $48,000 of that assistance available.

00:22:34.800 --> 00:22:39.920
 We have been able to assist 86 families with either housing or utility assistance.

00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:46.840
 We added an additional $50,000 to our relief through interfaith ministries that is dogged

00:22:46.840 --> 00:22:49.080
 for the emergency.

00:22:49.080 --> 00:22:56.240
 We have given a total of $185,000 for this current year to interfaith ministries.

00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:01.360
 Just since March, we have been able to assist an additional 68 families, and there is still

00:23:01.360 --> 00:23:09.000
 $112,000 in available assistance funds for residents in Denton.

00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:13.200
 Part of the reason that we're here to talk about this today is that as state and city

00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:19.440
 charter prohibit debt forgiveness by a municipal utility, if we don't do something soon, as

00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:24.160
 balances are continuing to grow for our residents and businesses, we are going to put them in

00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:29.800
 a very bad situation in terms of recovery after the fact.

00:23:29.800 --> 00:23:34.800
 So as we look at the delinquent accounts, this is looking only at active accounts that

00:23:34.800 --> 00:23:37.740
 currently carry a past due balance.

00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:46.080
 We currently have, as of Friday morning, 2,660 postpaid accounts that are eligible for interruption.

00:23:46.080 --> 00:23:52.640
 That is roughly 4.5% of all active accounts, where normally our interruptions run at about

00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.520
 1.2% of average accounts.

00:23:55.520 --> 00:24:02.260
 We currently have $921,000 in past due balances, and for all of those accounts that carry a

00:24:02.260 --> 00:24:08.580
 past due balance, between the past due and current balance, that increases to $1.5 million

00:24:08.580 --> 00:24:12.880
 in outstanding debt for those customers who have a past due balance.

00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:20.080
 We have 29 residential and multifamily accounts that currently have charges of over $1,000

00:24:20.080 --> 00:24:21.600
 that will become due.

00:24:21.600 --> 00:24:27.000
 We have 175 accounts that have made no payments in over 90 days.

00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:31.400
 So this would include balances that would have made them subject to interruption prior

00:24:31.400 --> 00:24:33.440
 to the start of the pandemic.

00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:39.600
 We have an additional 215 past due accounts that have never made a payment on their accounts

00:24:39.600 --> 00:24:41.640
 since it was opened.

00:24:41.640 --> 00:24:42.640
 You can see...

00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:43.640
 Yes, sir.

00:24:43.640 --> 00:24:51.560
 Yeah, I just, sort of a silly question, but is interruption a euphemism for having their

00:24:51.560 --> 00:24:53.040
 power shut off?

00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:54.400
 Yes, sir.

00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:57.520
 Okay, thank you.

00:24:57.520 --> 00:25:03.000
 As you can see with the chart, you can see the month over month amount that we would

00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:11.840
 normally cut services for throughout any month, and we've now gone from $76,000 in February,

00:25:11.840 --> 00:25:19.920
 and we had interrupted services for, to currently $921,000 in outstanding balances.

00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:26.340
 In addition to the postpaid active accounts, we also have prepaid customers.

00:25:26.340 --> 00:25:31.840
 Right now we have 160 prepaid accounts that are eligible for interruption, and that is

00:25:31.840 --> 00:25:36.720
 28.5% of all of our prepaid accounts are currently behind.

00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:41.920
 That is $22,000 in outstanding monies that are due that have them in the negative.

00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:48.200
 And we do have 41 accounts with over $200 due, and about 50% of those owe in excess

00:25:48.200 --> 00:25:51.200
 of $300 to $350.

00:25:51.200 --> 00:25:58.680
 And you can see, again, the interruption statistics in terms of the dollar balance for prepaid,

00:25:58.680 --> 00:26:03.400
 and you can see that that is continuing to grow.

00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:10.480
 Our 60-day plan for reinstating collections on active accounts is if it were to start

00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:15.360
 June 1st, then what we would like to do is in the month of June, we'd like to provide

00:26:15.360 --> 00:26:18.180
 a message on all past due bills.

00:26:18.180 --> 00:26:22.300
 We normally send two courtesy calls prior to interruption, but in June we would like

00:26:22.300 --> 00:26:28.020
 to make those courtesy calls indicative that they have a past due balance, that if it's,

00:26:28.020 --> 00:26:31.820
 you know, showing as a past due balance on the July bill, they would be eligible for

00:26:31.820 --> 00:26:37.120
 interruption in July, that the customer should make a payment or call for arrangements, that

00:26:37.120 --> 00:26:42.400
 we will first offer pay-as-you-go to allow customers who have deposits to relieve part

00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.400
 of their outstanding balance, and we can work with them on moving some of the remaining

00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:48.560
 balances into debt recovery.

00:26:48.560 --> 00:26:52.840
 If they would like to stay on a post-paid plan, that we will offer up to a six-month

00:26:52.840 --> 00:26:57.200
 payment plan for them to get back on track and current.

00:26:57.200 --> 00:27:01.160
 If they need greater than six months, then at that point we would require them to move

00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:06.560
 to pay-as-you-go so that we can put those funds into debt recovery so that they're

00:27:06.560 --> 00:27:10.680
 continually making small payments as they keep moving forward without building up additional

00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:12.240
 balances.

00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:16.720
 We will still encourage customers to contact interfaith ministries or United Way for assistance

00:27:16.720 --> 00:27:21.360
 as there is a large amount of funding available currently, and during the month of June we

00:27:21.360 --> 00:27:25.400
 would do no interruptions and we would assess no fees or interest.

00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:29.880
 I do think it's important that we all know that once an arrangement has been made on

00:27:29.880 --> 00:27:35.680
 an account, they would not receive fees or interest for the balances that are on that

00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:40.380
 agreement as long as that agreement is kept and current.

00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:44.800
 In the month of July, we would again continue encouraging customers to contact interfaith

00:27:44.800 --> 00:27:48.300
 ministries or the United Way if they need assistance.

00:27:48.300 --> 00:27:52.320
 We would revert back to the standard bill message allowing them to know that their service

00:27:52.320 --> 00:27:54.980
 will be eligible for interruption.

00:27:54.980 --> 00:28:00.240
 We would begin interruption of services for past due balances showing on the July bill

00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.160
 where no arrangement has been made.

00:28:03.160 --> 00:28:08.480
 However, since we have not done interruptions since the middle of March, if someone has

00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:15.080
 not made contact and is interrupted, we will work more flexibly with them and allow them

00:28:15.080 --> 00:28:20.480
 to create an arrangement rather than forcing payment of all past due balances which caused

00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.000
 the interruption of service.

00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:28.720
 Again, we would charge no fees or interest so that we give every customer full opportunity

00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:33.840
 to get on some form of an agreement and get payments started before they ever are assessed

00:28:33.840 --> 00:28:35.260
 fees again.

00:28:35.260 --> 00:28:39.840
 In the month of August, now we have gone through alerting customers through the month of June.

00:28:39.840 --> 00:28:43.080
 We have done interruptions for balances in July.

00:28:43.080 --> 00:28:46.760
 In August, we are again going to continue to have them contact interfaith and United

00:28:46.760 --> 00:28:53.280
 Way, but we will begin following normal processes including fees and interest assessed on any

00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:58.680
 new past due balances or interruptions of service.

00:28:58.680 --> 00:29:05.120
 As for other account collections, for activity on closed accounts, as you can see, for accounts

00:29:05.120 --> 00:29:10.520
 that had a final balance due in January, those accounts should have gone to the collections

00:29:10.520 --> 00:29:12.840
 agency at the end of March.

00:29:12.840 --> 00:29:13.840
 That did not happen.

00:29:13.840 --> 00:29:17.900
 As you can see, the black dates will show the time ranges when each of these accounts

00:29:17.900 --> 00:29:21.520
 should have received either the automated call or the letter.

00:29:21.520 --> 00:29:27.000
 The red indicates that that is a timeline that is passed or will be passed.

00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:31.600
 And then you see the count of the accounts that were in question as well as the outstanding

00:29:31.600 --> 00:29:32.640
 balance.

00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:38.280
 For February 2020, accounts that had the final balance due in February, most of those customers

00:29:38.280 --> 00:29:43.080
 did receive their automated call and their collection letter, but were not sent to collections

00:29:43.080 --> 00:29:46.240
 on the 30th of April.

00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:51.520
 And then for balances that were due in March, they have had no activity taken on them, and

00:29:51.520 --> 00:29:57.880
 you can see the difference that makes in the number of accounts and the outstanding balances.

00:29:57.880 --> 00:29:59.840
 Collection activities on return payments.

00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:03.200
 We have not done interruptions of service for returned payments.

00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:10.720
 We currently have $32,000 in outstanding returned payments, and 22,000 of that is for commercial

00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:13.600
 accounts.

00:30:13.600 --> 00:30:19.920
 In regards to reopening, our 60-day plan would be, again, to mimic a lot of what we're doing

00:30:19.920 --> 00:30:20.920
 with active accounts.

00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:26.320
 So for return checks, in June, we would send the standard return check letter, but we would

00:30:26.320 --> 00:30:29.840
 not interrupt until July.

00:30:29.840 --> 00:30:34.560
 Once July hits, then any of those outstanding return checks, we would begin interruption

00:30:34.560 --> 00:30:36.440
 for those balances.

00:30:36.440 --> 00:30:42.160
 For collections on closed accounts, we're recommending that both January and February

00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:47.520
 customers, that in the month of June, they would receive a second collection letter to

00:30:47.520 --> 00:30:53.240
 remind them that the balance is outstanding, and then collections activity be taken on

00:30:53.240 --> 00:31:00.000
 the 31st of July for the people that had balances due in March and April.

00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:04.980
 We would be doing an automated courtesy call in the month of June, and then the collection

00:31:04.980 --> 00:31:09.000
 letter would go in July, and then you can see the respective dates for sending those

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:17.300
 to collections with the May 2020 final balances working off of the normal process and timeline.

00:31:17.300 --> 00:31:23.040
 So our recommendation is to go with a phased reintroduction of collection activities, effective

00:31:23.040 --> 00:31:28.540
 June 1st, that we would like to do courtesy contacts only through the month of June, that

00:31:28.540 --> 00:31:33.880
 interruptions and collection agency referrals would begin in July, that we would begin resuming

00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:39.960
 late fees and interest in August, and August would be a full return to normal operation,

00:31:39.960 --> 00:31:44.420
 that we would allow up to a six month pay agreement for postpaid accounts and utilization

00:31:44.420 --> 00:31:50.240
 of pay as you go, debt recovery for longer arrangements, obviously noting that if we

00:31:50.240 --> 00:31:54.920
 had outstanding situations that we would handle those on a case by case basis.

00:31:54.920 --> 00:32:00.080
 I also, oh, go ahead.

00:32:00.080 --> 00:32:06.280
 Okay, just, are there any backup plans, I mean, just looking at the news and looking

00:32:06.280 --> 00:32:15.160
 at projections and the uncertainty about what's going to happen with this so-called phased

00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:27.600
 reopening of the economy, what's, are there plans in place that if there are spikes in

00:32:27.600 --> 00:32:34.960
 the virus, as some medical folks are saying is going to happen, will, I assume that there

00:32:34.960 --> 00:32:42.580
 will be other plans that will have to be reinstituted, and if there are, are there any, can you

00:32:42.580 --> 00:32:51.000
 share any, what would you say, different plans that would have to be put in because of growing

00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.720
 severity of the virus?

00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:58.520
 Ed, this is Mario Canazares.

00:32:58.520 --> 00:33:06.080
 Are you speaking in regards to just facility openings or just in regards to the payment

00:33:06.080 --> 00:33:10.120
 and billing of utilities?

00:33:10.120 --> 00:33:14.800
 Payment and billing, in other words, you know, greater stress on the population?

00:33:14.800 --> 00:33:22.160
 Well, obviously, this is a very unprecedented situation, and we would be having to go back

00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:28.120
 and regroup and look at what is the best approach to continue working with our customers.

00:33:28.120 --> 00:33:34.880
 At this point, as some things have begun to reopen, our concern right now is for continued

00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:41.180
 growing balances and placing customers in an unrecoverable situation financially.

00:33:41.180 --> 00:33:46.360
 And since we do have a large number of assistance funds available, then, you know, we're hoping

00:33:46.360 --> 00:33:50.700
 that we can help to get them back on track in the event that something does change and

00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:56.080
 we have to regroup and maybe pull back some of the activities.

00:33:56.080 --> 00:33:58.640
 Thank you.

00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:07.960
 You probably have this, or already said this, what is the debt for commercial versus residential?

00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:14.420
 I'm assuming a lot of restaurants were impacted quite heavily by this, and, you know, chances

00:34:14.420 --> 00:34:17.360
 are some of them may not come back.

00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.520
 Can you cover that a little bit?

00:34:19.520 --> 00:34:20.520
 Sure.

00:34:20.520 --> 00:34:23.560
 Right now, let me pull this back up.

00:34:23.560 --> 00:34:32.680
 Well, let me see if I've got that on my printed stuff, give me a moment.

00:34:32.680 --> 00:34:38.600
 Right now, about 14% of the accounts that are scheduled for interruption are actually

00:34:38.600 --> 00:34:46.920
 commercial, and the average commercial past due balance is $1,200.

00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:58.520
 We have 301 out of that 2,600 that are commercial accounts.

00:34:58.520 --> 00:34:59.520
 Thank you.

00:34:59.520 --> 00:35:02.040
 You're welcome.

00:35:02.040 --> 00:35:06.460
 Before we get finished, I wanted to go ahead and make sure that I gave a follow-up on some

00:35:06.460 --> 00:35:11.720
 of the write-off performance, obviously with a six-month lag between when accounts final

00:35:11.720 --> 00:35:17.960
 and when they're written off, any of the impacts that we see because of the pandemic will not

00:35:17.960 --> 00:35:24.560
 be seen until as early as even 2021, depending on exactly how flexible we have to be with

00:35:24.560 --> 00:35:28.880
 the actions that we're taking internally.

00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:31.000
 Debt growth, as you can see, has slowed.

00:35:31.000 --> 00:35:33.680
 We are still monitoring it very closely.

00:35:33.680 --> 00:35:38.360
 What I've seen is the trend in the growth of debt as that's starting to level out and

00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:44.200
 drop a little bit from what we saw last year also follows the same type of trend that we're

00:35:44.200 --> 00:35:48.920
 seeing in late fees and interruptions.

00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:53.560
 It looks very early on as though pay-as-you-go, as those numbers of pay-as-you-go customers

00:35:53.560 --> 00:35:58.000
 has increased, that appears to be one of the major influencers.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.240
 It's still a little too early to draw a direct correlation, but that is something that we

00:36:02.240 --> 00:36:04.800
 are also watching and monitoring.

00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:09.040
 We are going to still recommend that we continue all of our current deposit and collections

00:36:09.040 --> 00:36:14.960
 processes without additional changes as we're working on stabilization of debt and that

00:36:14.960 --> 00:36:20.260
 we're going to focus on growth of that pay-as-you-go program as a containment strategy, which helps

00:36:20.260 --> 00:36:26.440
 us to control unrecoverable debt and additionally helps to relieve customer financial burden

00:36:26.440 --> 00:36:31.560
 with no additional fees.

00:36:31.560 --> 00:36:36.480
 And finally, this is other accounts that are not utility related, but I wanted to make

00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:37.480
 sure that…

00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:38.480
 Go ahead.

00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:39.480
 Karen Devaney has a question.

00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:41.480
 Oh, I'm sorry, Karen.

00:36:41.480 --> 00:36:43.840
 Hi, Krista.

00:36:43.840 --> 00:36:45.760
 I just want to backtrack a little bit.

00:36:45.760 --> 00:36:52.640
 You had mentioned that there's a charter rule, city charter, and I think some other…

00:36:52.640 --> 00:36:53.640
 And state.

00:36:53.640 --> 00:36:54.640
 Uh-huh.

00:36:54.640 --> 00:36:57.560
 That prevented you from forgiving any debt.

00:36:57.560 --> 00:37:00.040
 Could you give a little bit of history on that charter?

00:37:00.040 --> 00:37:02.800
 Is that the most recent rewrite?

00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:09.480
 I can give you guys some follow-up information related to the charters, both city and state,

00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:17.640
 but it is in… even in Texas state charter that we would not be able to relieve debt.

00:37:17.640 --> 00:37:21.760
 I think the city charter mimics what was already on the books for the state.

00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:24.280
 And that's been a fairly long-term policy?

00:37:24.280 --> 00:37:25.280
 Yes.

00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:26.280
 Yes.

00:37:26.280 --> 00:37:27.280
 Okay.

00:37:27.280 --> 00:37:28.280
 Thank you.

00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:30.280
 All right.

00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:31.280
 Charlie Parker has a question.

00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:32.280
 All right.

00:37:32.280 --> 00:37:33.280
 I just have a comment.

00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:38.760
 I'm very encouraged that the city is using discretion in its collections, but I do think

00:37:38.760 --> 00:37:42.960
 that people's utility payments should come ahead of their car payment.

00:37:42.960 --> 00:37:46.320
 They should come ahead of credit card bills.

00:37:46.320 --> 00:37:51.040
 I think that people should prioritize making their utility payments right up there with

00:37:51.040 --> 00:37:53.000
 their rent or their house payment.

00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:59.880
 With that in mind, I think there are people who will be opportunistic in this situation

00:37:59.880 --> 00:38:02.840
 and choose to make other payments.

00:38:02.840 --> 00:38:07.880
 And there's a lot of people that will have liquidity events in the form of the stimulus

00:38:07.880 --> 00:38:10.440
 payment and unemployment.

00:38:10.440 --> 00:38:14.680
 And it just seems to me that we need to remember that we are a business.

00:38:14.680 --> 00:38:21.280
 I don't think we should have punitive late fees, punitive interest rates, but I do think

00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:26.720
 we need to hold people accountable for the utilities that they're using and make sure

00:38:26.720 --> 00:38:33.560
 that paying your utilities is very high up on your list of priorities right up there

00:38:33.560 --> 00:38:38.560
 with your house payment.

00:38:38.560 --> 00:38:40.840
 Thank you.

00:38:40.840 --> 00:38:45.840
 The only thing that I have in terms of other departmental utilities or collections is that

00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:50.560
 we are working with Fire EMS, we're working with municipal court to make sure that we

00:38:50.560 --> 00:38:56.720
 can streamline our processes so that we're presenting a unified approach.

00:38:56.720 --> 00:39:01.720
 Fire EMS will end up following whatever utility customer service does in terms of their collections

00:39:01.720 --> 00:39:06.000
 guidelines while municipal court as they fall under the Office of Court Administration will

00:39:06.000 --> 00:39:11.960
 be following the guidance of the Office of Court Administration and the city judge.

00:39:11.960 --> 00:39:15.240
 And with that, are there additional questions?

00:39:15.240 --> 00:39:17.820
 Yes.

00:39:17.820 --> 00:39:27.080
 I just want to say that I really appreciate your efforts to accommodate people who perhaps

00:39:27.080 --> 00:39:37.140
 are less fortunate than we are and because the scope of the disruption of people's lives,

00:39:37.140 --> 00:39:43.320
 service workers and all, as you know, is just incredible and the future is so uncertain

00:39:43.320 --> 00:39:50.800
 for so many people who are dependent upon service jobs, et cetera, that I think that

00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:59.200
 these people should not be punished and that's why I think it's wonderful that the EME has

00:39:59.200 --> 00:40:04.600
 these policies in place where people are not unduly penalized for something that's completely

00:40:04.600 --> 00:40:06.420
 out of their control.

00:40:06.420 --> 00:40:07.720
 So thank you very much.

00:40:07.720 --> 00:40:08.720
 You're welcome.

00:40:08.720 --> 00:40:14.320
 I think it's also important to note that with the additional funding that has gone to interfaith

00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:22.240
 ministries, the pandemic-related responses that they get from the public, they have loosened

00:40:22.240 --> 00:40:29.320
 some of the income guidelines so that it can be used for true emergency relief for some

00:40:29.320 --> 00:40:32.600
 of those families that may not otherwise qualify.

00:40:32.600 --> 00:40:36.980
 So they have loosened some of those financial restrictions to be able to assist a greater

00:40:36.980 --> 00:40:44.700
 number of people who are suffering because of income loss during the pandemic.

00:40:44.700 --> 00:40:46.560
 Mr. Baffert.

00:40:46.560 --> 00:40:54.000
 Yes, I just – I think it's a very sensible approach, what you've laid out here, and

00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:59.080
 I think it's very lenient, actually, all things considered.

00:40:59.080 --> 00:41:06.040
 One thing I noticed is, if I understood this right, on slide number five, you've got 215

00:41:06.040 --> 00:41:11.240
 accounts that have never made any payments since the account was created.

00:41:11.240 --> 00:41:13.260
 Did I get that right?

00:41:13.260 --> 00:41:16.280
 That is correct.

00:41:16.280 --> 00:41:23.400
 And so that group and anybody that had a delinquent account prior to, let's say, the middle of

00:41:23.400 --> 00:41:31.120
 March when all this corona stuff started here anyway, I'm thinking they probably ought

00:41:31.120 --> 00:41:36.600
 to be looked at as a – with a separate set of eyes compared to people whose delinquent

00:41:36.600 --> 00:41:45.440
 accounts only began from about the middle of March and later.

00:41:45.440 --> 00:41:47.520
 So anyway, that's my two cents.

00:41:47.520 --> 00:41:48.880
 It's a good approach.

00:41:48.880 --> 00:41:50.600
 I think it's very lenient.

00:41:50.600 --> 00:41:55.600
 Thank you.

00:41:55.600 --> 00:42:01.200
 Thank you.

00:42:01.200 --> 00:42:03.200
 Any other questions or comments?

00:42:03.200 --> 00:42:04.200
 All right.

00:42:04.200 --> 00:42:05.200
 Thank you.

00:42:05.200 --> 00:42:06.200
 Oh, yes, Maureen.

00:42:06.200 --> 00:42:17.720
 Madam Chair, let me ask Krista, is this information going to be presented to City Council tomorrow?

00:42:17.720 --> 00:42:23.320
 So this is an opportunity if the PUB as a body would like to provide that input.

00:42:23.320 --> 00:42:26.760
 Is there consensus around the information presented?

00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:32.160
 It would be good for staff to be able to get that input from the board that they can be

00:42:32.160 --> 00:42:37.320
 conveyed to council based on your consensus of what you saw.

00:42:37.320 --> 00:42:39.080
 I heard comments that's too lenient.

00:42:39.080 --> 00:42:45.500
 I heard comments that look at accounts in a different manner based on when those accounts

00:42:45.500 --> 00:42:46.500
 became delinquent.

00:42:46.500 --> 00:42:52.240
 So it would be good to be able to get that input from the board as a body.

00:42:52.240 --> 00:42:57.360
 And so that way Krista can present that to the council when the information is presented

00:42:57.360 --> 00:42:58.360
 tomorrow.

00:42:58.360 --> 00:42:59.360
 Okay.

00:42:59.360 --> 00:43:06.160
 Then I'll just ask each member to just say what they think.

00:43:06.160 --> 00:43:07.880
 I think it's a fair plan.

00:43:07.880 --> 00:43:17.000
 I know a lot of businesses are suffering quite a bit in adding penalties and interest on

00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:18.680
 top of what's already happened.

00:43:18.680 --> 00:43:24.360
 I do agree with Russ that I think we look at the people who were delinquent prior to

00:43:24.360 --> 00:43:30.720
 this happening and the people who didn't even make a payment first.

00:43:30.720 --> 00:43:37.760
 Because as Mr. Parker said, some people will take this opportunity to not pay their utility

00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:40.520
 bill, but there are a lot of people who are hurting too.

00:43:40.520 --> 00:43:44.520
 So that's my take.

00:43:44.520 --> 00:43:52.800
 Yes, well, I stand by my previous statement and I also stand by what Russ said regarding

00:43:52.800 --> 00:44:01.080
 people who got accounts and then never paid at the very beginning before this actually

00:44:01.080 --> 00:44:03.920
 the virus actually really impacted us.

00:44:03.920 --> 00:44:15.240
 So again, I am very pleased with the amount of consideration that DME has for people who've

00:44:15.240 --> 00:44:18.480
 been impacted by this.

00:44:18.480 --> 00:44:20.080
 Billy.

00:44:20.080 --> 00:44:26.280
 I agree with the statements before.

00:44:26.280 --> 00:44:27.840
 I know it's very difficult.

00:44:27.840 --> 00:44:34.040
 It's sort of like in comparison to we all or a lot of people got stimulus checks.

00:44:34.040 --> 00:44:35.840
 Some didn't need it at all.

00:44:35.840 --> 00:44:38.040
 Others couldn't survive without it.

00:44:38.040 --> 00:44:41.120
 I think this collection runs into the same problem.

00:44:41.120 --> 00:44:45.800
 It's hard to tell the difference between who really needs it and who's taking advantage.

00:44:45.800 --> 00:44:52.560
 I don't admire your task, but I think your plan is a good one at this point.

00:44:52.560 --> 00:44:54.320
 Karen.

00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:59.120
 Yeah, ditto.

00:44:59.120 --> 00:45:05.440
 I'm admiring the flexibility you're providing within the constraints of state charter.

00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:12.840
 I think probably DME is doing the most it can considering there's a hard and fast line

00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:18.720
 against debt forgiveness or anything that might be construed as debt forgiveness.

00:45:18.720 --> 00:45:28.920
 So yeah, kudos on the flexibility and otherwise agreeing with previous statements.

00:45:28.920 --> 00:45:35.320
 Russ, anything more to add?

00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:38.840
 Yeah, just a thought.

00:45:38.840 --> 00:45:45.720
 Perhaps you might want to share with the council the total dollar amount is delinquent that

00:45:45.720 --> 00:45:51.320
 existed prior to the middle of March before this corona stuff happened.

00:45:51.320 --> 00:45:53.160
 That would be one amount.

00:45:53.160 --> 00:46:00.680
 And then the amount of dollar amount, total dollar amount of delinquency that began after

00:46:00.680 --> 00:46:02.760
 the middle of March.

00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:09.440
 And that might be an enlightening thing for folks to understand.

00:46:09.440 --> 00:46:15.160
 But it's a very lenient, very considered approach.

00:46:15.160 --> 00:46:17.480
 Good job.

00:46:17.480 --> 00:46:28.240
 Thanks, Barbara, unmute, you need to unmute.

00:46:28.240 --> 00:46:33.920
 Down in the right hand corner, you should be able to unmute.

00:46:33.920 --> 00:46:36.280
 Okay.

00:46:36.280 --> 00:46:37.280
 Now you're unmuted.

00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:38.280
 Now you're unmuted.

00:46:38.280 --> 00:46:39.280
 Go ahead.

00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:40.280
 Thank you.

00:46:40.280 --> 00:46:46.560
 I actually appreciate the punishing of it that because if you've got a bill, adding

00:46:46.560 --> 00:46:52.840
 on to it is just not the right thing to do.

00:46:52.840 --> 00:47:02.320
 But do I understand that if you have a utility balance, you can't open another account that

00:47:02.320 --> 00:47:10.960
 you have to pay past for the people that open an account and have never paid anything.

00:47:10.960 --> 00:47:17.720
 If they had a previous account, did not they have to pay that before they could open another

00:47:17.720 --> 00:47:18.900
 one?

00:47:18.900 --> 00:47:24.520
 Under our normal processes, under regular operations, yes, we require the balances for

00:47:24.520 --> 00:47:33.460
 outstanding accounts or at least 50% and an agreement depending on that case by case situation.

00:47:33.460 --> 00:47:38.000
 Currently we are working with customers on those situations because we do not want someone

00:47:38.000 --> 00:47:44.040
 to not have access to utilities currently.

00:47:44.040 --> 00:47:46.280
 Very thoughtful plan.

00:47:46.280 --> 00:47:48.040
 Thank you.

00:47:48.040 --> 00:47:49.600
 Charlie?

00:47:49.600 --> 00:47:59.720
 I'll just agree with Russ's comment that it looks like a very lenient plan and that we

00:47:59.720 --> 00:48:06.920
 do need to have people pay their bills that are owed for services they received.

00:48:06.920 --> 00:48:12.040
 This can get out of hand in a very quick way and I would hate to see us punishing the rate

00:48:12.040 --> 00:48:18.880
 payers that are paying on time with people who have taken advantage of the situation.

00:48:18.880 --> 00:48:23.320
 That being said, there are very legitimate needs right now and I realize those needs

00:48:23.320 --> 00:48:28.540
 need to be addressed with compassion.

00:48:28.540 --> 00:48:29.540
 Thank you.

00:48:29.540 --> 00:48:32.400
 Mario, do you have your consensus?

00:48:32.400 --> 00:48:33.400
 Direction?

00:48:33.400 --> 00:48:34.400
 Yes, ma'am.

00:48:34.400 --> 00:48:35.400
 We do.

00:48:35.400 --> 00:48:36.400
 Thank you very much.

00:48:36.400 --> 00:48:37.400
 All right.

00:48:37.400 --> 00:48:43.520
 The next item is to receive a report and hold a discussion regarding the following with

00:48:43.520 --> 00:48:48.680
 respect to Green Tree Estates, the actions taken and expenditures by the city in accordance

00:48:48.680 --> 00:48:54.120
 with the mayor's declaration of disaster ordinance, existing conditions, the extension of the

00:48:54.120 --> 00:49:00.040
 declaration of disaster, water infrastructure improvement options, and city council direction

00:49:00.040 --> 00:49:02.200
 received on May 5th.

00:49:02.200 --> 00:49:06.400
 Madam Chair, Mario, I'm going to be actually making the presentation, so I'm going to step

00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:11.360
 away from this workstation and go to the presentation workstation, so just bear with me just a moment

00:49:11.360 --> 00:49:14.360
 as I transition over.

00:49:14.360 --> 00:49:21.360
 I'm going to go to the presentation workstation.

00:49:44.360 --> 00:49:58.200
 Madam Chair, members of the Board, Mario Kenazares, can you see the screen?

00:49:58.200 --> 00:49:59.200
 Yes.

00:49:59.200 --> 00:50:00.200
 Oh.

00:50:00.200 --> 00:50:01.200
 No.

00:50:01.200 --> 00:50:02.200
 Which one is it?

00:50:02.200 --> 00:50:03.200
 That one.

00:50:03.200 --> 00:50:18.200
 All right.

00:50:18.200 --> 00:50:19.480
 Okay.

00:50:19.480 --> 00:50:20.800
 I think we're back in business again.

00:50:20.800 --> 00:50:21.800
 Yep.

00:50:21.800 --> 00:50:22.800
 You're back in business.

00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:28.040
 Well, I wanted to take a few moments to make a presentation to the Board.

00:50:28.040 --> 00:50:34.280
 This very presentation was given to the city council last Tuesday, and then so we just

00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:39.560
 wanted to cover the slides that were made to the council, and then the last few slides

00:50:39.560 --> 00:50:45.640
 of the slide deck is the direction that city council provided us after the conclusion of

00:50:45.640 --> 00:50:46.640
 the presentation.

00:50:46.640 --> 00:50:52.200
 So we've got a number of slides, certainly I believe there's kind of a stopping point

00:50:52.200 --> 00:50:54.080
 halfway through the presentation.

00:50:54.080 --> 00:50:58.440
 If you'll let me get to that point, I can stop and then answer any questions of the

00:50:58.440 --> 00:51:05.180
 Board, and then I'll continue for the remainder, okay?

00:51:05.180 --> 00:51:10.680
 As I mentioned, this was presented last Tuesday.

00:51:10.680 --> 00:51:18.240
 So overall, this all started back in November of last year, I believe Ryan Adams came to

00:51:18.240 --> 00:51:25.640
 you all now, it seems like a number of months ago, to cover this situation over at Green

00:51:25.640 --> 00:51:27.400
 Tree Estates.

00:51:27.400 --> 00:51:33.500
 What had happened was back in November, a water well that was connected to a number

00:51:33.500 --> 00:51:39.680
 of homes, notice was given to those homeowners, property owners and residents, approximately

00:51:39.680 --> 00:51:47.600
 14 of them, that their water service through the well would be shut down starting in mid-November,

00:51:47.600 --> 00:51:50.280
 mid-November of 2019.

00:51:50.280 --> 00:51:55.320
 The city stepped in, heard from the residents, the city stepped in as far as trying to come

00:51:55.320 --> 00:52:02.240
 up with a number of options, and one of those options was to provide water service to those

00:52:02.240 --> 00:52:03.240
 residents.

00:52:03.240 --> 00:52:09.880
 As a result, the mayor and city council back at the, just before Thanksgiving holiday declared

00:52:09.880 --> 00:52:16.040
 a disaster for the residents out there for approximately 100 days.

00:52:16.040 --> 00:52:25.940
 That was to expire in May 2020, or May 22nd of this year.

00:52:25.940 --> 00:52:33.400
 One of the things that was done back in February was to begin making, requiring the residents

00:52:33.400 --> 00:52:37.140
 to begin making payment of the water service.

00:52:37.140 --> 00:52:43.760
 So the way it works is you've got some residents that have one 275 gallon containers, you have

00:52:43.760 --> 00:52:50.520
 some residents that have two 275 gallon containers, and so for those residents that have one,

00:52:50.520 --> 00:52:54.000
 they are charged $20.59 a month.

00:52:54.000 --> 00:53:00.680
 For those that have two containers, they're charged $37.75 a month, and those costs are

00:53:00.680 --> 00:53:07.160
 just to pay for the cost of water.

00:53:07.160 --> 00:53:14.680
 Along with the extension of that time, back in mid-February, the city council also offered

00:53:14.680 --> 00:53:22.600
 for city staff to do voluntary courtesy inspections, and offered to send information regarding

00:53:22.600 --> 00:53:29.920
 code compliance, and also to address any issues related to health, life safety matters of

00:53:29.920 --> 00:53:32.600
 non-occupied structures there in the subdivision.

00:53:32.600 --> 00:53:37.920
 We had heard complaints from the residents over those weeks that there were several structures

00:53:37.920 --> 00:53:42.280
 that were unoccupied, basically dilapidated structures.

00:53:42.280 --> 00:53:49.520
 They were having issues with rodents, vermin, other issues, concerns with fire hazards,

00:53:49.520 --> 00:53:55.640
 or folks that maybe could potentially be using that as shelter, and just causing major issues

00:53:55.640 --> 00:53:59.320
 for those residents that actually were living in occupied structures.

00:53:59.320 --> 00:54:11.000
 So building inspections went out and inspected the subdivision, and began working with the

00:54:11.000 --> 00:54:16.600
 respective property owners of those structure, those lots, and of those structures to begin

00:54:16.600 --> 00:54:17.880
 the removal of those things.

00:54:17.880 --> 00:54:21.600
 So that's been in the works for the last number of weeks, and I'll give you an update here

00:54:21.600 --> 00:54:25.280
 shortly.

00:54:25.280 --> 00:54:29.300
 As part of the courtesy inspections, one of the reasons why we offered that is because

00:54:29.300 --> 00:54:35.440
 those homes were connected to the well system, ultimately the residents wanted to be connected

00:54:35.440 --> 00:54:37.320
 to the city's water system.

00:54:37.320 --> 00:54:43.680
 So before we did that, we wanted to make sure that residents, before they spent money on

00:54:43.680 --> 00:54:49.960
 upgrading their homes, that the city perform basically courtesy inspections.

00:54:49.960 --> 00:54:56.440
 And what that intended to do was just to identify any issues related to health and safety matters.

00:54:56.440 --> 00:55:05.800
 This is not about trying to condemn occupied structures or target those with any code enforcement

00:55:05.800 --> 00:55:06.800
 issues.

00:55:06.800 --> 00:55:10.440
 It was purely just to make sure that if you're going to connect to the city's water system,

00:55:10.440 --> 00:55:16.060
 that the infrastructure you have in your home is adequate and appropriate, that you have

00:55:16.060 --> 00:55:21.240
 appropriate backflow prevention devices so that you don't infiltrate our system on the

00:55:21.240 --> 00:55:26.800
 back end and then cause issues downstream for other residents connected to the same water

00:55:26.800 --> 00:55:27.800
 system.

00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:34.560
 To date, none of those inspections have been requested by the residents or performed by

00:55:34.560 --> 00:55:36.920
 the city as a result.

00:55:36.920 --> 00:55:44.200
 However, in late February, the city reached out to Habitat for Humanity.

00:55:44.200 --> 00:55:48.680
 We made those connections with that entity because they do this kind of work.

00:55:48.680 --> 00:55:52.840
 They work in sometimes rehabbing existing homes.

00:55:52.840 --> 00:55:57.280
 They also build new homes, so they're familiar with our codes, they're familiar with construction.

00:55:57.280 --> 00:56:02.480
 And so we wanted to make sure that if there was an opportunity to do this, could we work

00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:07.800
 with Habitat as a partner to make that connection with the residents?

00:56:07.800 --> 00:56:13.360
 Habitat was able to reach out to the residents and perform some inspections.

00:56:13.360 --> 00:56:19.320
 They actually inspected five of the 14 homes, and the reason five, because those five are

00:56:19.320 --> 00:56:20.880
 owner occupied.

00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:27.040
 So they were able to do some inspections of those homes and create the list of situations

00:56:27.040 --> 00:56:32.680
 that they observed that would typically be problematic for connecting to the city's water

00:56:32.680 --> 00:56:33.680
 system.

00:56:33.680 --> 00:56:38.700
 To this date, we are not aware of the details of those results.

00:56:38.700 --> 00:56:43.740
 We have a general understanding that some of the items that were identified were relatively

00:56:43.740 --> 00:56:49.760
 minor in nature and could be repaired within short order.

00:56:49.760 --> 00:56:56.560
 Habitat and working with the sweat team, which is a nonprofit group or a set of volunteers

00:56:56.560 --> 00:57:01.760
 out of Denton Bible, they're coordinating those repairs, I believe, starting in the

00:57:01.760 --> 00:57:03.680
 month of May.

00:57:03.680 --> 00:57:10.000
 And they would have started a lot sooner, but COVID stopped a lot of things.

00:57:10.000 --> 00:57:15.560
 And so they were not able to get started as they had hoped, but they should be starting

00:57:15.560 --> 00:57:18.320
 up here in the month of May.

00:57:18.320 --> 00:57:24.360
 As I mentioned, the city was working with the property owners of those dilapidated structures.

00:57:24.360 --> 00:57:28.000
 To date, 13 applications for demolition have been issued.

00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:31.760
 Of those 13, 10 have been demolished, and the other three were still working with their

00:57:31.760 --> 00:57:39.800
 respective property owner to get those sites cleaned up and cleared.

00:57:39.800 --> 00:57:45.720
 As far as connecting to the city's water system, the city sent out a large packet of information.

00:57:45.720 --> 00:57:48.640
 A lot of stuff was happening in the month of March.

00:57:48.640 --> 00:57:52.880
 The city sent out a large packet of information, just under 40 pages of information, both in

00:57:52.880 --> 00:57:57.200
 English and in Spanish, to all the property owners and residents at Green Tree.

00:57:57.200 --> 00:58:04.020
 The premise behind it was to give them very clear, concise, and step-by-step information

00:58:04.020 --> 00:58:08.320
 on how to connect to the city's water system.

00:58:08.320 --> 00:58:12.080
 And that was intended because at the request of the residents, they wanted to be customers,

00:58:12.080 --> 00:58:14.960
 and so we wanted to make sure they had all the information they needed.

00:58:14.960 --> 00:58:20.440
 To date, the city has not received any requests for the connection.

00:58:20.440 --> 00:58:26.320
 In conjunction with that letter, we were planning on having a meeting with the residents, a

00:58:26.320 --> 00:58:30.720
 face-to-face meeting with the residents at Subdivision, and it was scheduled for March

00:58:30.720 --> 00:58:32.200
 21st.

00:58:32.200 --> 00:58:38.040
 And that was to go over the letter to make sure they understood the OSSS, basically the

00:58:38.040 --> 00:58:39.040
 septic systems.

00:58:39.040 --> 00:58:42.240
 We had included a frequently asked questions component, inspections.

00:58:42.240 --> 00:58:45.520
 I mean, it was very comprehensive, the mailer.

00:58:45.520 --> 00:58:50.000
 And so we had scheduled a meeting for March 21st to meet with the residents.

00:58:50.000 --> 00:58:55.040
 Unfortunately, that meeting was canceled because of COVID, certainly at the request of the

00:58:55.040 --> 00:58:59.680
 residents, and it was a right call to make to not meet face-to-face because so much had

00:58:59.680 --> 00:59:05.000
 started to, with the pandemic, so much started to happen by mid-March.

00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:08.120
 And so folks were scared, understandably so.

00:59:08.120 --> 00:59:10.320
 So we decided to cancel that meeting.

00:59:10.320 --> 00:59:15.440
 We were also going to have a follow-up meeting in April prior to the presentation to the

00:59:15.440 --> 00:59:22.240
 city council, but as a result of the stay-at-home order, along with the continued pandemic situation,

00:59:22.240 --> 00:59:26.880
 that meeting was canceled as well.

00:59:26.880 --> 00:59:32.600
 As part of the mailer, and again, just to kind of give you graphically what we included,

00:59:32.600 --> 00:59:33.600
 it was this graphic.

00:59:33.600 --> 00:59:37.340
 Again, not drawn to scale, but it allowed the residents to understand where the bank

00:59:37.340 --> 00:59:38.740
 of meters would be set.

00:59:38.740 --> 00:59:44.320
 If we were going to install 14 meters for those 14 homes, it would be set right at the

00:59:44.320 --> 00:59:46.000
 neighborhood boundary.

00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:52.320
 And so it gives sort of just an artist's depiction of how the project would work, and that the

00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:58.640
 responsibility of the city, the responsibility of the owners, and so that way those things

00:59:58.640 --> 01:00:04.840
 could be outlined, and again, just more informative for the residents so they can understand what

01:00:04.840 --> 01:00:06.480
 was to take place.

01:00:06.480 --> 01:00:12.120
 Again, that was just one of the pieces of information that was included in the packet.

01:00:12.120 --> 01:00:17.720
 The next component was the fees piece, because one of the components is obviously paying

01:00:17.720 --> 01:00:26.640
 the tap meter and impact fee of $6,938, in which, as you can see, that fee is static.

01:00:26.640 --> 01:00:32.960
 The other fee is a variable fee, and that is the component, if I go back a slide, and

01:00:32.960 --> 01:00:40.400
 I believe my mouse is working, there is a component that there is to where my mouse

01:00:40.400 --> 01:00:46.160
 is, there's a section here where there is a water line, and then this piece here, this

01:00:46.160 --> 01:00:51.640
 dash line, this double dash line to the bank of meters, is that variable fee.

01:00:51.640 --> 01:00:58.840
 That is to connect the bank of meters to this water source here where my mouse is running,

01:00:58.840 --> 01:01:05.280
 and so that variable fee, it's contingent based on the $9,204, that's the estimated

01:01:05.280 --> 01:01:11.760
 cost of staff time and materials cost to connect that.

01:01:11.760 --> 01:01:18.320
 Based on the number of meters that would be connected, as you can see, if one person connected,

01:01:18.320 --> 01:01:22.040
 that person would, in theory, absorb that entire cost.

01:01:22.040 --> 01:01:28.480
 If more people connected, then that cost would be shared amongst those that are connected.

01:01:28.480 --> 01:01:34.680
 But as you can imagine, more than likely, people will be connecting at different points,

01:01:34.680 --> 01:01:41.280
 and so trying to work out a payment system would just be proved very difficult.

01:01:41.280 --> 01:01:45.600
 So one of the things that City Council, we had brought to City Council back in early

01:01:45.600 --> 01:01:51.880
 February was would there be a possibility under the emergency declaration for the city

01:01:51.880 --> 01:02:00.000
 to cover the $9,204 that allows for that fee to basically be absorbed as part of the original

01:02:00.000 --> 01:02:04.160
 $100,000 emergency declaration amount.

01:02:04.160 --> 01:02:07.400
 And so that way, it takes that piece out of the equation for the residents.

01:02:07.400 --> 01:02:12.040
 So really, the resident would be responsible for the $6,938.

01:02:12.040 --> 01:02:17.280
 That way, the fee is fixed, they know exactly what they had to budget for, they know exactly

01:02:17.280 --> 01:02:22.280
 what the fee is to the city, and there's no variable cost for the residents.

01:02:22.280 --> 01:02:27.320
 And so that was one of the big concerns the residents have because if one person connected,

01:02:27.320 --> 01:02:33.240
 they would, in theory, would be responsible for nearly $16,000 of a fee.

01:02:33.240 --> 01:02:38.360
 That just seemed extraordinarily high, and then for the city to try to collect the remainder

01:02:38.360 --> 01:02:47.080
 or for the resident to try to recoup his or her cost amongst 13 other potential customers,

01:02:47.080 --> 01:02:48.160
 that would prove problematic.

01:02:48.160 --> 01:02:51.400
 So that was one of the options we brought forward to council.

01:02:51.400 --> 01:02:57.160
 The council seemed receptive as long as there was progress with residents wanting to connect.

01:02:57.160 --> 01:02:59.840
 So I just wanted to share that with you.

01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:04.840
 That was part of the information that was sent to the residents as part of the mailer

01:03:04.840 --> 01:03:07.320
 that was sent in March.

01:03:07.320 --> 01:03:13.260
 Here is just a depiction of the subdivision.

01:03:13.260 --> 01:03:18.320
 There's 14 homes or 14 structures that are receiving water today.

01:03:18.320 --> 01:03:26.800
 Of those 14, five, the homes in blue are owner-occupied.

01:03:26.800 --> 01:03:28.640
 Those in gray are renter-occupied.

01:03:28.640 --> 01:03:33.840
 So again, just mentioning that 14 homes are being served by water as we speak.

01:03:33.840 --> 01:03:39.360
 They receive water three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, including holidays.

01:03:39.360 --> 01:03:44.280
 And so that's done rain or shine, all weather.

01:03:44.280 --> 01:03:51.440
 So even during the issues with the pandemic and the stay at home, the water was still

01:03:51.440 --> 01:03:58.560
 being delivered to the residents, and of course, our employees were observing appropriate social

01:03:58.560 --> 01:04:02.880
 distancing requirements.

01:04:02.880 --> 01:04:06.320
 As I'd mentioned, a lot was happening in the month of May, early May, excuse me, early

01:04:06.320 --> 01:04:07.320
 March.

01:04:07.320 --> 01:04:10.880
 By mid-March, things changed for everyone.

01:04:10.880 --> 01:04:15.740
 So a lot of momentum has been lost for the last six-plus weeks.

01:04:15.740 --> 01:04:20.720
 As you knew, the stay at home order by the mayor and council was issued back on March

01:04:20.720 --> 01:04:22.000
 25th.

01:04:22.000 --> 01:04:25.040
 That technically ended April 30th.

01:04:25.040 --> 01:04:30.800
 As I'd mentioned, our employees were delivering water, however, we were having to maintain

01:04:30.800 --> 01:04:31.800
 split crews.

01:04:31.800 --> 01:04:37.200
 We were making sure that employees were observing social distancing, that we wanted to make

01:04:37.200 --> 01:04:41.920
 sure that we're keeping our employees safe and keeping them from having to be quarantined.

01:04:41.920 --> 01:04:48.560
 And so far, so good, we've been able to manage that and not have any issues there.

01:04:48.560 --> 01:04:55.080
 So services were not disrupted for the residents.

01:04:55.080 --> 01:04:59.480
 As offered before, city inspections could be provided.

01:04:59.480 --> 01:05:09.360
 We've been able to be able to do the inspections remotely through our building inspections.

01:05:09.360 --> 01:05:15.420
 So if a resident or property owner is ready to connect, the city is willing and ready

01:05:15.420 --> 01:05:20.480
 and able to do the inspections in some cases without even stepping foot on the home.

01:05:20.480 --> 01:05:25.420
 There may be some requirements with the residents to be able to utilize their smartphone or

01:05:25.420 --> 01:05:33.720
 an iPad or tablet device to be able to show the piece that needs to be inspected and the

01:05:33.720 --> 01:05:38.760
 inspector can be able to, through a variety of angles, be able to determine whether the

01:05:38.760 --> 01:05:41.920
 improvement has been done appropriately.

01:05:41.920 --> 01:05:46.480
 So we've been able to do a number of things, and as mentioned before, our inspectors are

01:05:46.480 --> 01:05:49.000
 doing inspections all over the city.

01:05:49.000 --> 01:05:54.200
 So our city was open even though it was in a modified manner.

01:05:54.200 --> 01:06:00.840
 So with that, before I go into the staff recommendations, does anybody have any questions at this point

01:06:00.840 --> 01:06:03.840
 that I can answer?

01:06:03.840 --> 01:06:12.360
 Go ahead, Charlie.

01:06:12.360 --> 01:06:16.860
 First of all, kudos on the demolition permits.

01:06:16.860 --> 01:06:22.760
 After having visited there, there really were some really horrible problems with unoccupied

01:06:22.760 --> 01:06:23.980
 structures.

01:06:23.980 --> 01:06:27.320
 So thank you for doing that.

01:06:27.320 --> 01:06:32.640
 You showed the 14 people who are receiving water, but as I looked at that neighborhood,

01:06:32.640 --> 01:06:39.400
 that represents what, 40% or so of the total homes, do the rest of those homes have access

01:06:39.400 --> 01:06:47.200
 to utilities from the water well, from other sources or are they without water and unoccupied?

01:06:47.200 --> 01:07:01.680
 Actually, the remainder of the, and I can go back to that slide so you can see, can

01:07:01.680 --> 01:07:03.440
 you see that?

01:07:03.440 --> 01:07:10.200
 The remaining are, with the exception of the actual owner of the entire subdivision, which

01:07:10.200 --> 01:07:18.080
 the gentleman, I believe approximately 50 or so lots in that subdivision, and the major

01:07:18.080 --> 01:07:21.000
 property owner, I believe, owns about 30.

01:07:21.000 --> 01:07:28.440
 The other 20 or so or 15 or so are owned by a variety of owners.

01:07:28.440 --> 01:07:34.760
 The others, actually, those are, they're not inhabited, there's no structures out there.

01:07:34.760 --> 01:07:38.480
 Those that are living, those that are occupied, those that are shaded are the people that

01:07:38.480 --> 01:07:39.800
 are actually living in the subdivision.

01:07:39.800 --> 01:07:44.800
 The rest of them, I don't know why the aerial map, the way it shows, shows these structures,

01:07:44.800 --> 01:07:48.980
 but there are no other folks living out there.

01:07:48.980 --> 01:07:55.720
 Some of those are just former structures, so no one else is receiving services with

01:07:55.720 --> 01:07:58.840
 the exception of the owner of the well.

01:07:58.840 --> 01:08:02.440
 And my understanding is he's receiving water through his own well, and so he just stopped

01:08:02.440 --> 01:08:06.400
 delivering service to the rest of the residents that are living out there.

01:08:06.400 --> 01:08:09.720
 I don't know, I hope that answers your question, Charlie.

01:08:09.720 --> 01:08:12.720
 That does, thank you.

01:08:12.720 --> 01:08:13.720
 Okay.

01:08:13.720 --> 01:08:14.720
 Ed.

01:08:14.720 --> 01:08:25.640
 Yeah, I, just a question, I see, if I'm correct, Habitat for Humanity inspected five

01:08:25.640 --> 01:08:31.120
 structures that were owner owned that weren't being rented, is that correct?

01:08:31.120 --> 01:08:35.600
 That is correct, sir.

01:08:35.600 --> 01:08:46.300
 So I find it curious that the rest of the structures, which were rented, have had no

01:08:46.300 --> 01:08:53.480
 courtesy inspections at all, and I wondered if, who was contacted about that, the owners,

01:08:53.480 --> 01:09:00.940
 the actual owners of the property or the renters, because I could see a situation where a renter

01:09:00.940 --> 01:09:09.080
 might be afraid to ask for an inspection because if something is found that needs to be fixed,

01:09:09.080 --> 01:09:14.240
 that person has to go to the person from whom he's renting.

01:09:14.240 --> 01:09:21.320
 Yes, you're correct, but our policy has been that we notify the occupant of the structure

01:09:21.320 --> 01:09:22.840
 along with the property owner.

01:09:22.840 --> 01:09:23.840
 Okay.

01:09:23.840 --> 01:09:25.240
 So both.

01:09:25.240 --> 01:09:32.400
 And to follow up on that, is there any way to find out the results of Habitat's inspections?

01:09:32.400 --> 01:09:41.960
 Well, we could, except that Habitat, prior to them stepping foot on the properties, they

01:09:41.960 --> 01:09:49.760
 were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, and so as a result, those results have not

01:09:49.760 --> 01:09:58.200
 been shared, which was surprising, and again, I want to speak for or against Habitat, but

01:09:58.200 --> 01:10:01.320
 they were surprised by the fact that that needed to happen.

01:10:01.320 --> 01:10:06.360
 We had, I had reached out directly with one of the board members that was working as part

01:10:06.360 --> 01:10:13.600
 of the volunteer group to do so, and I had requested, once you start, if you would, please,

01:10:13.600 --> 01:10:18.640
 once you do your inspections and you've had the time to kind of create your list, would

01:10:18.640 --> 01:10:20.320
 you please share it with the city?

01:10:20.320 --> 01:10:24.000
 We're not gonna do anything with it, but it's just nice to know what are some of the issues

01:10:24.000 --> 01:10:29.960
 that you found so that if there are homeowners or property owners or residents that are willing

01:10:29.960 --> 01:10:35.520
 to and ready to start connecting, we can work directly with them and try to help move the

01:10:35.520 --> 01:10:37.520
 process forward.

01:10:37.520 --> 01:10:43.000
 I waited a couple of weeks after the inspections, reached out to the board member, and he said,

01:10:43.000 --> 01:10:47.680
 "I would love to be able to share it, but I can't because we were required to sign non-disclosure

01:10:47.680 --> 01:10:48.680
 agreements."

01:10:48.680 --> 01:10:52.120
 And who were they required by to do that?

01:10:52.120 --> 01:10:58.500
 Well, the residents, they signed it directly with the residents, and it's my understanding

01:10:58.500 --> 01:11:03.680
 that there are some advocacy groups working with those residents, and I believe they were

01:11:03.680 --> 01:11:07.400
 they were advised to do that.

01:11:07.400 --> 01:11:08.400
 Thank you.

01:11:08.400 --> 01:11:09.400
 Anyone else?

01:11:09.400 --> 01:11:17.680
 Okay, can I go ahead and continue for the remainder of the slides?

01:11:17.680 --> 01:11:21.760
 Let me pull everything back up.

01:11:21.760 --> 01:11:30.120
 Okay, everybody see it?

01:11:30.120 --> 01:11:39.840
 Okay, so can you hear me okay?

01:11:39.840 --> 01:11:40.840
 Okay.

01:11:40.840 --> 01:11:41.840
 Sorry.

01:11:41.840 --> 01:11:45.160
 This is new, just trying to get used to everything.

01:11:45.160 --> 01:11:53.680
 So what we did, knowing that the declaration was supposed to expire on May 22nd, just within

01:11:53.680 --> 01:11:59.960
 a few weeks, and knowing that the pandemic had caused a lot of disruption, we knew that

01:11:59.960 --> 01:12:05.680
 there had not been anything done, at least any connections with the city and the property

01:12:05.680 --> 01:12:09.520
 and homeowners out there.

01:12:09.520 --> 01:12:14.720
 We were going to be recommending from staff to City Council that the City Council extend

01:12:14.720 --> 01:12:17.560
 the declaration through July 31st.

01:12:17.560 --> 01:12:24.400
 This would give homeowners, property owners, additional time to go through the process.

01:12:24.400 --> 01:12:29.640
 Again, keeping in mind, we don't know the extent of the details regarding the inspections,

01:12:29.640 --> 01:12:33.600
 but we knew that they were relatively minor in nature and that it would take a few weeks

01:12:33.600 --> 01:12:35.120
 to complete.

01:12:35.120 --> 01:12:39.840
 Some of them can be done, I believe, by the homeowners and property owners themselves.

01:12:39.840 --> 01:12:45.600
 Some of them would require some help from outside sources for the sweat team.

01:12:45.600 --> 01:12:55.640
 So based on that information, we wanted to indicate that if the inspections would be

01:12:55.640 --> 01:13:03.640
 completed by mid-June, and if property owners would pay the fee by July 3rd, and the meters

01:13:03.640 --> 01:13:10.880
 set by our staff by mid-July, it would give residents and property owners the ability

01:13:10.880 --> 01:13:18.400
 to coordinate with each other, with contractors, plumbers, and to be able to get the work completed.

01:13:18.400 --> 01:13:25.560
 We felt that if we can get in front of City Council early May, and then now that the PUB

01:13:25.560 --> 01:13:33.640
 is up and operational again with you all, that it would give the residents approximately

01:13:33.640 --> 01:13:37.160
 two additional months to be able to get a lot of this work done.

01:13:37.160 --> 01:13:42.120
 And so again, within keeping the fact that the residents are wanting to connect to the

01:13:42.120 --> 01:13:45.920
 city's water system, they understand what the fees are.

01:13:45.920 --> 01:13:47.960
 The fees have not changed.

01:13:47.960 --> 01:13:51.160
 The city is willing and able and ready to start work.

01:13:51.160 --> 01:13:57.920
 We just need to sit across the table with the residents and property owners to go ahead

01:13:57.920 --> 01:14:00.840
 and begin planning for this work.

01:14:00.840 --> 01:14:06.460
 So as a result, we felt that adding some additional time was prudent and would give the residents

01:14:06.460 --> 01:14:10.440
 the time that they needed to coordinate the effort.

01:14:10.440 --> 01:14:15.800
 So that's what we were recommending, is to extend it through July 31st, the city would

01:14:15.800 --> 01:14:22.520
 still, through its emergency declaration, cover that $9,204 cost of a line extension

01:14:22.520 --> 01:14:25.480
 that I'd mentioned to you earlier, that variable fee.

01:14:25.480 --> 01:14:27.840
 That way is to fix costs for the residents.

01:14:27.840 --> 01:14:34.040
 And at that point, on July 31st, or in essence, August 1st, the residents would become regular

01:14:34.040 --> 01:14:37.080
 water customers of the city.

01:14:37.080 --> 01:14:43.040
 And then as a result, by July 31st, the emergency would end and we would stop the temporary

01:14:43.040 --> 01:14:50.160
 water service that we've been providing for the last several months, three times a week.

01:14:50.160 --> 01:14:55.180
 We met with the residents a day ahead of time via a Zoom call.

01:14:55.180 --> 01:15:01.240
 So we had a number of residents on the call, including some property owners.

01:15:01.240 --> 01:15:06.280
 The residents expressed vehemently that they've experienced financial and employment hardships

01:15:06.280 --> 01:15:09.080
 as a result of the pandemic.

01:15:09.080 --> 01:15:14.160
 They did assert that they've been demonstrating progress by having Habitat for Humanity do

01:15:14.160 --> 01:15:18.840
 the inspections of those owner occupied structures.

01:15:18.840 --> 01:15:24.120
 So as a result, they had requested a longer range plan.

01:15:24.120 --> 01:15:30.120
 In fact, they had requested that the city council consider the input they gave us and

01:15:30.120 --> 01:15:34.920
 that we would pass along the city council is that the city council should extend the

01:15:34.920 --> 01:15:39.020
 emergency declaration until May of 2021.

01:15:39.020 --> 01:15:44.600
 So an additional year worth of time.

01:15:44.600 --> 01:15:47.840
 We duly noted and got that information.

01:15:47.840 --> 01:15:53.040
 The city staff in conjunction with the call and keeping with the amount of money that

01:15:53.040 --> 01:15:58.840
 was set aside of the original 100,000, we were able to calculate that we could potentially

01:15:58.840 --> 01:16:01.720
 offer sort of a mid-range solution.

01:16:01.720 --> 01:16:07.920
 And so one of those was to potentially have council consider an extension through mid-November

01:16:07.920 --> 01:16:14.880
 that would give the city, excuse me, the residents additional time beyond July, but not all the

01:16:14.880 --> 01:16:17.320
 way into May of 2021.

01:16:17.320 --> 01:16:22.500
 So both the long range, both the, well, all three, the three options were presented.

01:16:22.500 --> 01:16:28.460
 The July 31st option was presented to city council last Tuesday, the mid-range option

01:16:28.460 --> 01:16:34.100
 through November, mid-November of 2020, and then the long range option that the residents

01:16:34.100 --> 01:16:39.460
 requested of May, 2021 was presented to city council.

01:16:39.460 --> 01:16:43.840
 There was quite a bit of debate with the council and discussion.

01:16:43.840 --> 01:16:47.240
 And so, and I'll cover that here in just a moment, but in kind of in summarizing, and

01:16:47.240 --> 01:16:50.000
 I'll give you here what council ultimately directed.

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:58.280
 So in summary, services are still being delivered through May 22nd of this year.

01:16:58.280 --> 01:17:01.040
 Utility payments are still being accepted and are ongoing.

01:17:01.040 --> 01:17:07.640
 I believe there may be one or two folks that have not been paying, but that's as of recent.

01:17:07.640 --> 01:17:11.720
 It hasn't been long-term, it just here have been a recent issue, but we're working with

01:17:11.720 --> 01:17:12.720
 those residents.

01:17:12.720 --> 01:17:18.880
 City, as I mentioned, is addressing and or has addressed many of the substandard structures

01:17:18.880 --> 01:17:21.080
 out in the subdivision.

01:17:21.080 --> 01:17:26.360
 We still yet have not received any inspections, but we're hoping that through the work that

01:17:26.360 --> 01:17:31.800
 Habitat is doing beginning in May, that that will begin.

01:17:31.800 --> 01:17:32.800
 And then we're ready.

01:17:32.800 --> 01:17:33.800
 We're ready to work.

01:17:33.800 --> 01:17:37.380
 We're ready to get going and connect those residents up with water once they make the

01:17:37.380 --> 01:17:42.560
 requisite repairs and make the payments that are required.

01:17:42.560 --> 01:17:47.560
 So based on all of this, this information was presented to city council last week.

01:17:47.560 --> 01:17:53.040
 Ultimately, the city council gave the following direction from staff to staff.

01:17:53.040 --> 01:17:58.840
 So again, as I mentioned, it was a lengthy debate and very lively conversation.

01:17:58.840 --> 01:18:07.300
 So the staff, the council concurred with extending the declaration through the end of July 2020.

01:18:07.300 --> 01:18:10.920
 They would also consider waiving the $9,200 fee.

01:18:10.920 --> 01:18:16.080
 So really they concurred with everything that the staff offered originally in its original

01:18:16.080 --> 01:18:17.080
 recommendation.

01:18:17.080 --> 01:18:24.920
 There were a couple of extra or two or three extra items that they added to the direction.

01:18:24.920 --> 01:18:31.120
 They wanted to make sure that no new customers in Green Tree Estates could establish water

01:18:31.120 --> 01:18:32.660
 after May 5th.

01:18:32.660 --> 01:18:39.840
 What had happened was one of the renters vacated the property, moved to a different area, don't

01:18:39.840 --> 01:18:41.600
 know where, they vacated the property.

01:18:41.600 --> 01:18:47.440
 That landlord then re-leased that property to another occupant.

01:18:47.440 --> 01:18:54.160
 And so that was recent news that we found out literally the week of last week, the week

01:18:54.160 --> 01:18:56.200
 of the presentation to city council.

01:18:56.200 --> 01:19:04.440
 So the council was concerned that how could a property owner, landlord continue to allow

01:19:04.440 --> 01:19:10.640
 other properties as they become vacant to continue leasing to folks that do not have

01:19:10.640 --> 01:19:12.780
 and not provide running water.

01:19:12.780 --> 01:19:19.680
 So as a result, that was one of the conditions that they made is that no new customers could

01:19:19.680 --> 01:19:27.720
 be added to the city under the provision in which we're working in now.

01:19:27.720 --> 01:19:33.360
 The other ones are pretty similar to what was presented before, the customer inspections

01:19:33.360 --> 01:19:36.480
 to be completed by mid-June.

01:19:36.480 --> 01:19:41.720
 The new one that they added was that a head of household living at Green Tree Estates

01:19:41.720 --> 01:19:45.080
 must establish a utility account in their name.

01:19:45.080 --> 01:19:50.920
 The way it was structured right now, it was literally account one, account two, through

01:19:50.920 --> 01:19:52.600
 account 14.

01:19:52.600 --> 01:19:57.420
 And so the premise was to understand not who's living in the structure, but just to make

01:19:57.420 --> 01:20:04.000
 sure that accounts are made in their name so that, again, as I've mentioned in that

01:20:04.000 --> 01:20:11.480
 first bullet, if something transitions out there, someone transitions out of the unit,

01:20:11.480 --> 01:20:13.200
 they can't acquire a new service.

01:20:13.200 --> 01:20:18.960
 So that's just another safeguard so that new accounts would not be added to the city's

01:20:18.960 --> 01:20:21.720
 account system.

01:20:21.720 --> 01:20:27.520
 And the last piece was really more a reporting item that on July the 14th that staff would

01:20:27.520 --> 01:20:36.720
 come to city council because many of the deadlines as far as the payment and inspections by then

01:20:36.720 --> 01:20:41.640
 would have been completed or should have been completed based on the direction that we had

01:20:41.640 --> 01:20:46.800
 requested of council is that we would report at an upcoming work session to city council

01:20:46.800 --> 01:20:50.480
 in July and just give them a progress on how things are going.

01:20:50.480 --> 01:20:58.520
 And so that would give council an understanding is how serious is our property owners and

01:20:58.520 --> 01:21:02.360
 homeowners willing to connect to the city's water system.

01:21:02.360 --> 01:21:11.100
 And then by the end of July, if the declaration would stop and then we would cease with providing

01:21:11.100 --> 01:21:17.280
 services there to Green Tree if people aren't connected.

01:21:17.280 --> 01:21:19.200
 So that's really all I have.

01:21:19.200 --> 01:21:21.440
 That's the direction that city council gave.

01:21:21.440 --> 01:21:24.860
 We are in the process of last week, late last week.

01:21:24.860 --> 01:21:32.880
 We sent a letter to all property owners, tenants, homeowners, et cetera, that live out at Green

01:21:32.880 --> 01:21:34.880
 Tree and own property at Green Tree.

01:21:34.880 --> 01:21:40.600
 We sent them a letter with this information and these deadlines will be presenting to

01:21:40.600 --> 01:21:47.920
 city council tomorrow afternoon a revised or new ordinance that extends the declaration

01:21:47.920 --> 01:21:49.880
 to the 31st with these provisions.

01:21:49.880 --> 01:21:55.320
 So that's what's being presented tomorrow and it will go into effect immediately.

01:21:55.320 --> 01:22:01.640
 So that way we can continue providing that service at the end of July and hopefully make

01:22:01.640 --> 01:22:05.800
 progress with the residents out at the subdivision.

01:22:05.800 --> 01:22:06.800
 Any questions?

01:22:06.800 --> 01:22:07.800
 >> Yes.

01:22:07.800 --> 01:22:09.400
 Barbara, you go first.

01:22:09.400 --> 01:22:18.900
 >> Yes, how are you -- you've sent the landlords the notice about not being able to connect

01:22:18.900 --> 01:22:19.900
 with water.

01:22:19.900 --> 01:22:26.000
 How are you going to monitor that to see that they do not lease a property if it becomes

01:22:26.000 --> 01:22:27.000
 vacant?

01:22:27.000 --> 01:22:37.000
 >> Well, as I mentioned, if a structure becomes vacant, they have to have water and the city

01:22:37.000 --> 01:22:40.000
 right now is providing that water service within three days a week.

01:22:40.000 --> 01:22:46.520
 So they would have to call customer service and set up an account.

01:22:46.520 --> 01:22:54.880
 And so now I guess in theory a property owner could -- a landlord could release a structure

01:22:54.880 --> 01:23:00.780
 out there, but then the resident that's living out there, when they connect to city water,

01:23:00.780 --> 01:23:05.120
 it would be prohibited of connecting them or -- I'm sorry, not connecting them, providing

01:23:05.120 --> 01:23:06.120
 that service.

01:23:06.120 --> 01:23:10.840
 So they would be without water, and I would assume that they would then go back to their

01:23:10.840 --> 01:23:15.420
 landlord and complain.

01:23:15.420 --> 01:23:23.320
 >> I can see that someone renting it and getting moved in will not necessarily know, and then

01:23:23.320 --> 01:23:29.400
 by the time you try to work it out with the landlord, that person is there and has spent

01:23:29.400 --> 01:23:31.320
 money to move in.

01:23:31.320 --> 01:23:34.800
 And they, you know, are without water.

01:23:34.800 --> 01:23:41.600
 And I can see a time lag in there that will cost the tenant money, and then ultimately

01:23:41.600 --> 01:23:44.680
 they'll have to move out, so.

01:23:44.680 --> 01:23:49.640
 >> Well, you know, that's one of the things is that's why we wanted to hurriedly send

01:23:49.640 --> 01:23:57.260
 the notice out to all the residents and property owners out at Green Tree to make them -- make

01:23:57.260 --> 01:24:03.880
 sure that they fully understand the council's direction and, you know, we can't be out there

01:24:03.880 --> 01:24:12.680
 and fully be involved in those private transactions, but I would hope that the property owners

01:24:12.680 --> 01:24:16.320
 understand that and then will abide by the council's direction.

01:24:16.320 --> 01:24:21.160
 >> Russ, I think you had your hand up before, Charlie, so we'll do Russ and then we'll do

01:24:21.160 --> 01:24:23.160
 you, Charlie.

01:24:23.160 --> 01:24:24.160
 >> Okay.

01:24:24.160 --> 01:24:32.960
 Yeah, it occurs to me that the $6,938 tap meter and impact fee, if you compare that

01:24:32.960 --> 01:24:40.060
 cost with the appraised value of the properties that you showed on the agenda item sheet,

01:24:40.060 --> 01:24:51.640
 page 3, that cost is at least 50% or more of the appraised value of their entire property.

01:24:51.640 --> 01:24:57.760
 And it seems to me it's going to be unlikely that -- or there's going to be a high likelihood

01:24:57.760 --> 01:25:03.280
 that this is not going to get paid by the people who rent there or by the people perhaps

01:25:03.280 --> 01:25:06.560
 who own the property.

01:25:06.560 --> 01:25:13.880
 So I think the council needs to be prepared to say, okay, they're not going to pay that.

01:25:13.880 --> 01:25:14.880
 They're not going to do it.

01:25:14.880 --> 01:25:21.100
 So we're going to stop giving them water or we're going to do something like that.

01:25:21.100 --> 01:25:28.280
 So this is a tough predicament that the city of Denton finds itself in right now.

01:25:28.280 --> 01:25:37.720
 And I think the council would be wise to figure out some way to make this $6,938 fee less

01:25:37.720 --> 01:25:44.440
 or spread it out over two or three years, something like that.

01:25:44.440 --> 01:25:51.880
 I think when a person has a property, living in a property that is valued at $10,000 and

01:25:51.880 --> 01:25:57.800
 you tell them they've got to spend $7,000 to get water, there's a good likelihood they're

01:25:57.800 --> 01:26:03.200
 not going to do that quickly, in my opinion.

01:26:03.200 --> 01:26:07.320
 That's my thought.

01:26:07.320 --> 01:26:12.480
 >> Charlie?

01:26:12.480 --> 01:26:17.360
 >> My question had to do -- Rush, you read my mind on the valuation.

01:26:17.360 --> 01:26:20.440
 I had not gone so far as to look up the property valuations.

01:26:20.440 --> 01:26:28.560
 But, yes, spending $6,000 in impact fee on a $10,000 property does not make sense.

01:26:28.560 --> 01:26:35.480
 My question, though, is it looks like from the diagram that the meters will exist at

01:26:35.480 --> 01:26:38.760
 rolling green and ash, basically, in location?

01:26:38.760 --> 01:26:39.760
 >> Correct.

01:26:39.760 --> 01:26:46.260
 It will be within -- I'm sorry, Charlie, it will be within the subdivision, but in that

01:26:46.260 --> 01:26:47.260
 vicinity.

01:26:47.260 --> 01:26:48.260
 Yes, sir.

01:26:48.260 --> 01:26:49.260
 >> Okay.

01:26:49.260 --> 01:26:56.000
 And if I were to pay my $6,900 to get a tap there, does that mean that if I lived over

01:26:56.000 --> 01:27:02.200
 on Hillcrest from Google Earth, it looks like it's about 1,000 feet, I would also have to

01:27:02.200 --> 01:27:06.920
 dig 1,000 feet of water line to get to my property from there?

01:27:06.920 --> 01:27:07.920
 >> That's correct.

01:27:07.920 --> 01:27:13.480
 That's part of the reason is why we're wanting to work with the residents and literally sit

01:27:13.480 --> 01:27:18.360
 across the table, and I know, obviously, this is different times, but the proverbial sit

01:27:18.360 --> 01:27:23.680
 across the table and make sure that this effort is coordinated because we believe there's

01:27:23.680 --> 01:27:29.960
 some economies of scale if the property owners -- and I'm using the property owners basically

01:27:29.960 --> 01:27:35.080
 sort of synonymous with the owner-occupied structures and, you know, the district properties

01:27:35.080 --> 01:27:40.200
 themselves, they're the ones responsible for coordinating this work that we can sit across

01:27:40.200 --> 01:27:47.640
 the table and have this work coordinated so that they can, you know, utilize the same

01:27:47.640 --> 01:27:52.920
 contractor to do the trenching, the same contractor to do the plumbing connections, et cetera.

01:27:52.920 --> 01:27:57.000
 There's opportunities there for some economies of scale, but at some point, there needs to

01:27:57.000 --> 01:28:01.880
 be a coordinated effort between the property owners and the city to make sure that it's

01:28:01.880 --> 01:28:08.720
 done well so that there's not any incurred or additional costs that's unnecessary for

01:28:08.720 --> 01:28:10.640
 anyone out there.

01:28:10.640 --> 01:28:14.640
 So part of that is just literally just sitting across the table and working through the process.

01:28:14.640 --> 01:28:22.920
 >> Billy, just as a ballpark, would -- if -- even if you were joint venturing the water

01:28:22.920 --> 01:28:27.720
 lines, is five bucks a foot a safe minimum?

01:28:27.720 --> 01:28:28.720
 Ten?

01:28:28.720 --> 01:28:33.840
 >> Oh. No. Okay.

01:28:33.840 --> 01:28:34.840
 >> I just don't know.

01:28:34.840 --> 01:28:38.620
 I don't know the -- I mean, we can get that information for you and let you know kind

01:28:38.620 --> 01:28:42.920
 of what that cost might be as far -- you talk about just the trenching itself or just the

01:28:42.920 --> 01:28:43.920
 work itself?

01:28:43.920 --> 01:28:48.120
 >> I'm just talking about putting in a one-inch water line deep enough to not freeze and make

01:28:48.120 --> 01:28:49.120
 code.

01:28:49.120 --> 01:28:51.920
 I didn't know if that was $5, $10, $15 a lineal foot.

01:28:51.920 --> 01:28:54.240
 >> You can find that out, and I'll get back with you on that.

01:28:54.240 --> 01:28:58.520
 >> I was just asking Billy because he's probably got the most educated guesses.

01:28:58.520 --> 01:29:05.360
 >> Yeah, smaller scales like that, it is very difficult, and it's going to be very high.

01:29:05.360 --> 01:29:10.120
 And it's not just going to be the one-inch water line, although the city's paying for

01:29:10.120 --> 01:29:13.360
 some of the access for the service lines.

01:29:13.360 --> 01:29:20.000
 But, you know, the impact fee is, you know, predicting down the road the eventual effect

01:29:20.000 --> 01:29:25.920
 of that water, streets, drainage, sewer, the whole bit.

01:29:25.920 --> 01:29:34.720
 And it's about a service line on a brand-new subdivision is going to be $1,000, $1,200.

01:29:34.720 --> 01:29:38.440
 But to go out there and start in a new area where you don't have new infrastructure, you

01:29:38.440 --> 01:29:43.200
 can probably double that in real cost.

01:29:43.200 --> 01:29:44.960
 >> Okay.

01:29:44.960 --> 01:29:51.840
 I guess I echo Russ's sentiment that it's an insurmountable obstacle for the people

01:29:51.840 --> 01:29:55.560
 who live out there.

01:29:55.560 --> 01:30:01.560
 They're talking about something on the order of $20,000 to get a water line to their house

01:30:01.560 --> 01:30:03.440
 that's in and working.

01:30:03.440 --> 01:30:09.160
 And when the properties are worth $10,000, that becomes something just about impossible

01:30:09.160 --> 01:30:14.960
 for folks who would be living there to do.

01:30:14.960 --> 01:30:16.920
 >> Agreed.

01:30:16.920 --> 01:30:24.320
 I did hear or see that there's a charitable fund that's been established, too, so this

01:30:24.320 --> 01:30:25.560
 is a tough one.

01:30:25.560 --> 01:30:27.920
 It's really tough.

01:30:27.920 --> 01:30:30.200
 Any other questions?

01:30:30.200 --> 01:30:33.920
 All right.

01:30:33.920 --> 01:30:34.920
 >> Thank you.

01:30:34.920 --> 01:30:38.840
 Appreciate your time.

01:30:38.840 --> 01:30:41.080
 >> That is the full agenda.

01:30:41.080 --> 01:30:44.440
 Do we have our motion to adjourn?

01:30:44.440 --> 01:30:46.680
 >> So moved.

01:30:46.680 --> 01:30:48.880
 >> A second.

01:30:48.880 --> 01:30:49.880
 >> All right.

01:30:49.880 --> 01:30:52.000
 We are adjourned.

01:30:52.000 --> 01:30:53.000
 Hopefully we get to see each other soon.