Jul 13, 2020 Public Utilities Board on 2020-07-13 9:00 AM

Good morning. We do have a quorum, so we'll call to order the Public Utilities Board for Monday, July 13th, 2020. The first item on the agenda is the Consent Agenda, items A through D. Does any board member wish to pull an item? Yes, I'd like to pull item A. Any other items? Okay, do we have approval, have a motion to approve items B, C, and D? So moved. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay, item A. One question I had was there's no cost shown after fiscal year 2024. I wondered what the reason for that was. Mr. Baffert, I believe Tony Puente is on the line and should be able to provide a little more details on that item. Or Terry Nolte. Yeah, this is Terry Nolte. Can you hear me? Yes. Good morning, PUB, Terry Nolte, Assistant General Manager. So the current plan for decommissioning of a givens plant without the sale includes all items would be completed on the capital side by 2024. And so we've got capital costs that go out through 2024, after which time there will be operating costs to monitor the groundwater systems and the pumping and wastewater treatment systems. Right now in the budget that you're seeing, we're only showing capital costs, which under the no sale scenario total about $88 million of total decommissioning costs. So basically, Chair, we've got to be prepared for all alternatives here, right? Yes, until and if the plant is sold, we're operating under the premise that we have to remediate the facility completely and decommission the powerhouse. There are EPA regulations, the coal combustion residual regulations that mandate what activities we have to take with respect to the impoundments and landfills at the facility. I have a question. I think Mr. Baffert is on mute still if you're asking a question. Okay. Oh, yeah, I have a question. And this does or does not include the mine. That mine is totally separate issue. Is that right? That is correct. The mine is not part of the $88 million of capital investments. Okay. That's already in the budget, correct, Terry? I'm sorry? That's already in the budget, correct, Terry? Yes. The ongoing operating costs for the mine are in the budget. And the mine property itself, ultimately, the plan that the board has is to sell the mine property. So the only reason we're looking at this is because it exceeds a 20% increase. Is that true? Yes, sir. Under the joint operating agreement with the other members, any year on year increase is above 20%. It requires each of the cities to approve. So the reason that the increase is 20% or greater is because for the last couple of years, the only investment, only operating costs that we've had is a skeleton staff and some engineering work associated with this decommissioning study. As we start to actually expend dollars towards the decommissioning, it's causing the 20% threshold to be exceeded. Okay. And so the amount that Denton is responsible for is $231,000 plus per month. Is that right? I believe that's correct. Yeah. And that's in our budget. We've got that budget. Is that true? When we bring the fiscal year 2021 budget to you, I guess in a month or so, for approval, it will include all these costs associated with decommissioning. All right. Thank you. Did you have a question? Yeah, just a couple of things. So this, the total fiscal year 2021-25 total of $93,387,430. Denton's part of that would be it's 21.3%. That's correct. So Denton's part then would be $19,891. Yes, sir. Okay. When was this fund established? The fund was established, and don't hold me to this specific date, but I believe it was in 2016. So it wasn't put into place as part of the initial agreement when the plan was first commissioned? That's correct. There was an addendum to the joint operating agreement, which was approved by all the members in 2016 that included these costs for decommissioning as the plant was shut down and decisions were being made to shut the plant down. This separate fund was set up. Okay. Thank you. One other question I think is under the budget increase on the agenda information sheet, it says in parentheses generation/decommissioning. What is generation? That refers to the generation facility itself. So there's decommissioning activities that include both the demolition and decommissioning of the powerhouse and all the associated equipment, scrubbers, coal handling. And then what's termed the CCR impoundment units, coal combustion residual units, which include two landfills and a ash pond and a scrubber sludge pond. Okay. And if I may, one more. If the plant is sold and it is brought back online by the purchaser, are there any further expenses or costs like for reconnection or things like that that TMPA will be responsible for? With all due respect, Mr. Self, we are under a nondisclosure agreement with the potential buyers. We're not allowed to discuss the conditions of that. You will be, to the extent a fully negotiated agreement is approved by the board of TMPA, it will come before this body for final approval. Okay. Thank you very much. Any other questions? All right. Do we have a motion to approve this item? Move. We approve. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Next item is consider approval of the minutes of June 22nd, 2020 with a motion to approve. I move we approve. Second. Okay. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Management update. Mario, you're up. Yes. Good morning, board. How are you doing? In your packet, you have a memorandum from our excuse me, informal staff report from Ethan Cox regarding our clean fleet program. That information should have been included at your last meeting but was inadvertently left off and so wanted to include the details of our program regarding those vehicles that are combustion versus electric and hybrid. I was hoping that I don't see anyone on the line from public works or from fleet but if you have some specific questions, I can try to answer those if you have any. And then in regards to the new business matrix in future board meeting items, we have a number of items going forward in the coming weeks regarding the budget. So it will be budget intensive at your next meeting at the end of July as we move towards into the new fiscal year. I believe there was something that was inadvertently left on the future business matrix, I'm sorry, for the board agendas about the Gibbons Creek. I believe that should be removed. That is not ready for board consideration at this point and we'll bring that when that is ready. As far as the new business items, there are a number of items that have been complete through the month of June. We provided the item as I just mentioned, the hybrid and electric report for today and we'll be coming forward to you at the next meeting to discuss the utility budgets, et cetera, et cetera. Any questions? Go ahead, Ed. Yeah, thank you for this extremely comprehensive review. I just had one question and that is on point 1.4, non-essential fleet activities, establishing a plan to modify non-essential fleet activities on high ozone days to reduce air quality impacts. That is indicated that they have started that, but there is a need to formulate a work plan with operating departments. I just wondered if it would be possible to be updated upon that initiative, seeing as how our days, our summers are going to get hotter and our ozone levels are going to be higher. I feel that this is a pretty important aspect of the clean vehicle fleet. I'd like to be kept updated on the progress of this work plan. Absolutely. Thank you. Other questions? Okay, that brings us to concluding items. Does any board member have anything they want to add to a future agenda or comments to make? Yes, go ahead, Billy. Okay. Mario, do you need to do a TMPA update in our next meeting? You know, I don't know. Let me check. I believe Tony is on the line. He may be able to provide information on that. Well, Tony, I'm suggesting that just because of the recent news and discussions in the media and in the public. Yeah, we can certainly get with TMPA and see what we could cover in public versus closed session and we'll go with the city attorney's office and get something on the schedule. Very good. Thank you. Yes, sir. All right. Anything else? Okay. Oh, yes, Barbara. Could we get an update on the lawsuit with the DME employees? I believe that's on the future agenda. Isn't it, Mario? Yes, ma'am. It sure is. It's on there for a future agenda. That will be something that will be coordinated to the city attorney's office. Thank you. Anything else? Okay. Do we have a motion to adjourn? So moved. All right. We are adjourned. Have a good day. Bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Very well.