WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.800 Okay, Susan. Okay. Good morning. It is 9 o'clock and we do have a virtual quorum. So we'll 00:00:05.800 --> 00:00:12.120 call to order the Public Utilities Board meeting from Monday, August 10th, 2020. The first 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:18.680 item on the agenda is a consent agenda. Does any board member wish to pull one of the items? 00:00:18.680 --> 00:00:27.560 All right. So then do we have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I move we approve. 00:00:27.560 --> 00:00:37.640 Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Next item is a consider approval of 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:43.800 the July 27th, 2020 minutes. And I was talking with Tony earlier and I just want to remind 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:49.620 everyone that this is supposed to be a summary of meetings that are official minutes are 00:00:49.620 --> 00:00:55.040 the videos. So we don't need to really make sure that it's verbatim, but at least that 00:00:55.040 --> 00:01:00.880 it's accurate reflection of the meetings. Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the minutes 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:12.800 of July 27th? I so move. Do we have a second? I'll second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. 00:01:12.800 --> 00:01:19.440 Then consider approval of August 3rd, 2020 minutes. Do we have a motion to approve? I 00:01:19.440 --> 00:01:30.360 move we approve. Okay. And a second? Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. 00:01:30.360 --> 00:01:34.720 Management reports. So thank you very much. So the first item that we have on the management 00:01:34.720 --> 00:01:41.760 reports is a update on a grant that we received. Dr. Banks is certainly on the line if you 00:01:41.760 --> 00:01:47.640 have any questions on that, but we will be taking a resolution to the council to receive 00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:55.260 approval for that grant. It is for surveillance of some sites, primarily around the city limits 00:01:55.260 --> 00:02:00.560 of the city where we have some frequent illegal dumping, but certainly our environmental services 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:05.740 staff will be working with the cog doing a risk assessment and potentially those cameras 00:02:05.740 --> 00:02:10.640 may be rotated from location to location. But if you have any questions on that, Dr. Banks 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:19.240 is on the line if you like to have anything that you'd like for him to add. Welcome, Charlie. 00:02:19.240 --> 00:02:26.080 Good morning. Sorry, I was a minute late. It's all right. Any questions on the surveillance 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:35.360 camera grant? Dr. Banks, real quick, I remember that this came up when you were going to apply 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:43.080 for the grant maybe a year ago. I was wondering if you had the date of that when it was on 00:02:43.080 --> 00:02:47.520 the agenda, just so I can go back and check my minutes. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:52.800 Good morning, board members. This is Ken Banks, general manager of utilities. Can you hear 00:02:52.800 --> 00:03:03.160 me? Good morning. We actually have the information on the prior action and review section of 00:03:03.160 --> 00:03:09.760 the agenda information sheet. So that information was provided to you, the board, on December 00:03:09.760 --> 00:03:14.620 the 8th and then we followed up with the December the 9th work session with the with the city 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:21.520 council, both the grant, both the board and the board recommended advancing in the council 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:30.600 advised staff to do so. Okay. Does that answer your question? Yeah, thanks. For some reason, 00:03:30.600 --> 00:03:36.960 I didn't see that on the on the information, but there it is now, of course. Thanks. Sorry 00:03:36.960 --> 00:03:46.800 about that. Okay. No, no problems. Thank you. All right. Okay, so the next item is a future 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.760 agenda items. This is certainly not a, you know, a fully exhaustive list. There's there'll 00:03:52.760 --> 00:03:58.080 be other items are just to give you a sense of women may be coming up in the in the coming 00:03:58.080 --> 00:04:04.560 agendas. And then the last item is our action matrix. Think everything on there except for 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:11.640 the very first one, which is the lawsuit update that the committee has or the board has requested 00:04:11.640 --> 00:04:16.960 legal department will be taking that to council for consideration and depending on their direction, 00:04:16.960 --> 00:04:22.440 and then we'll certainly follow up with the P B on that. And that really concludes the 00:04:22.440 --> 00:04:26.800 city management section update. If you have any questions, we certainly happy to answer 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:42.920 any questions we have. Yes, go ahead. You're on mute. Russ, you're on mute. Sorry, you 00:04:42.920 --> 00:04:50.960 missed all my wonderful narrative. Item four is something I asked about several months 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:57.760 ago. The difference between the approved capital versus the amount we're able to physically 00:04:57.760 --> 00:05:05.120 implement and accomplish. And it says the status of the July 27. I still don't think 00:05:05.120 --> 00:05:15.040 that we've got a adequate response on that. What's what's the What's the idea there? So 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:21.260 the rest of that's, that was an update that was provided to the PB as part of the budget 00:05:21.260 --> 00:05:27.400 presentation that we did for water and wastewater. We thought that we had addressed your question, 00:05:27.400 --> 00:05:31.320 maybe you and I need to get offline and get a better idea of what it is that you're looking 00:05:31.320 --> 00:05:36.980 for. But certainly, if that hasn't fully provided your response, I'll be happy to meet with 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:44.920 you and see what it is you're looking for. Yeah, you did the I think the comment was 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:52.280 made that we're getting more projects accomplished than we used to, but we still don't get everything 00:05:52.280 --> 00:05:58.640 done that we say we want to do and needs to be done. And my question is, why? What's the 00:05:58.640 --> 00:06:05.200 impediment? What are the obstacles that's preventing the utility department from getting 00:06:05.200 --> 00:06:11.360 the projects implemented on time? That's the question. I've never heard a real adequate 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:17.280 response to that. I think the adequate response is that it's taken us two or three years to 00:06:17.280 --> 00:06:22.040 basically pull up all the projects that had been approved based on fee increases implemented 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:28.680 from 15 to 17. And there was 10s of millions of dollars parked and unallocated funds and 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:34.800 in electric water, wastewater in particular, those projects were piling up, reporting wasn't 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:39.800 there. And there was no way of really tracking on a year to year basis what had been approved 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:44.440 versus what is actually getting implemented. It's taken us three budget cycles to kind 00:06:44.440 --> 00:06:49.200 of get all that pulled up along with the streets program as well. So we can actually sit there 00:06:49.200 --> 00:06:53.760 and audit it and then monitor monthly spend to ensure that whatever we're taking is getting 00:06:53.760 --> 00:06:58.340 invested in the infrastructure. But it was just simply poor reporting, not the ability 00:06:58.340 --> 00:07:02.880 to decentralize finances. So we've been able to put all that together. We're meeting on 00:07:02.880 --> 00:07:08.400 a quarterly basis to measure spend, make sure that what is being told to us that they can 00:07:08.400 --> 00:07:12.920 get done is actually getting done. And just really emphasizing the coordination between 00:07:12.920 --> 00:07:17.800 the water, wastewater and street departments in particular. And that breaking down those 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:22.320 silos, kind of sharing that information and putting all of our projects up on spreadsheets 00:07:22.320 --> 00:07:27.160 during the last 18 months has dramatically turned that around. But what we found is that 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:31.920 there was a significant four or five, six year backlog on projects that we had raised 00:07:31.920 --> 00:07:36.840 rates for but had not gotten done. And so that is that's the issue. And we've cleaned 00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:41.120 those processes up. And, and I feel comfortable that we could share the same kind of level 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:45.200 of reporting that we're seeing at house with you at any time you'd like to see those. 00:07:45.200 --> 00:07:51.880 Okay, that's good. I can understand getting behind. I guess my question is, can we see 00:07:51.880 --> 00:07:59.680 a projected schedule on when you think you'll be able to catch up? Absolutely. Approved 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:05.240 projects. Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly how we're monitoring it in house and making 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:09.080 sure and it's part of the reason that you've seen no rate increases request for us the 00:08:09.080 --> 00:08:13.360 last couple budget cycles is I won't support that with council unless I know that we can 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:18.440 actually keep up and get the projects done that we that we say we can get done and whittling 00:08:18.440 --> 00:08:23.920 down that backlog. So we were absolutely able to share that with you probably no later than 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:32.160 September or October in that timeframe. Yeah, that'd be great. I like okay. And on the list 00:08:32.160 --> 00:08:38.080 here that that we would I would like to see a written estimated schedule of completion 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:42.320 for all the various projects that didn't get done when they were supposed to be done. Yeah, 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:52.120 there's got to be some catch up period and some plan to catch up. Yep. Thank you. Alright, 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:56.640 that brings us to concluding items I guess already put one on the list there. Does any 00:08:56.640 --> 00:09:01.520 other board member have an item that they'd like on a future agenda or anything they'd 00:09:01.520 --> 00:09:17.400 like to say to the staff? Yes, Ed. Go ahead, Ed. You're on mute. Oh, there I go. I don't 00:09:17.400 --> 00:09:25.280 know if it's possible to pursue this now with but I would like any sort any sort of update 00:09:25.280 --> 00:09:32.240 on the progress of the solid waste strategic management plan where that stands. And I also 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:38.280 had some questions. We will be told or have the opportunity to have a presentation on 00:09:38.280 --> 00:09:47.560 the company that is that is chosen to do this plan the consultancy that's chosen or if it's 00:09:47.560 --> 00:09:52.880 just something that's going to be done by staff, and then when the plan is done, it 00:09:52.880 --> 00:09:57.800 will be brought to us and then the council. Will we have any voice in the preparations 00:09:57.800 --> 00:10:05.480 going into this waste management strategy plan? I guess is my question. So we have Brian 00:10:05.480 --> 00:10:11.000 Borner here. He could probably respond really quick on that. Brian. Good morning, Brian 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:14.520 Borner, Director of Solid Waste for the City of Denton. I appreciate the opportunity to 00:10:14.520 --> 00:10:20.000 address this question. We are very close to bringing forward to the PUB and the City Council 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:27.120 the contract to actually enter into the agreement with the company to go ahead and start our 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.320 solid waste management strategy. We're currently under a non-disclosure agreement, but as soon 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:36.640 as we get that all the I's dotted and T's crossed that will be brought to you. We will 00:10:36.640 --> 00:10:42.120 have a short presentation on the company, why they were selected, and what the flow 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:48.400 of the implementation and preparation of the strategy will be. So I would expect that within 00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:57.000 the within the next few weeks before the board. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Anything 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:06.360 else? Alright, then we will go into work session and receive a report, hold a discussion and 00:11:06.360 --> 00:11:11.720 give staff direction regarding update on options concerning the operations of the residential 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:23.560 recycling centers in the City of Denton. You're on mute, Brian. Excuse me. Good morning. Brian 00:11:23.560 --> 00:11:26.960 Burner, Director of Solid Waste for the City of Denton. I appreciate the opportunity to 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.300 talk a little bit about our residential recycling centers here at the City of Denton. We'll 00:11:30.300 --> 00:11:51.360 be sharing a screen. Alright, the City of Denton operates a very robust solid waste 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:56.680 and recycling program throughout the City of Denton. As part of our recycling program, 00:11:56.680 --> 00:12:03.580 we have established several convenience, convenient points throughout the city to actually collect 00:12:03.580 --> 00:12:11.680 residential recycling from our residents, whether they are currently have access to 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:16.480 our program or not. Currently, we have two locations. The first one is located at the 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:22.000 City of Denton Landfill. It's open during normal operation hours, Monday through Saturday, 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:28.000 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. of the landfill. And then we have an unattended, unstaffed site at the 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:33.120 North Lakes Park. Currently, just like the rest of our program, we take programmatic 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:39.000 material only. So we do not take textiles. We do not take metals. Really, if you can 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:44.940 put it in your cart at the curb, that is the material we will receive at our residential 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:56.760 recycling centers. We empty these dumpsters three times per week. And, you know, they're 00:12:56.760 --> 00:13:03.720 heavily used. And so we do service those on a routine basis. One of our issues, though, 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:09.300 is we have a tremendous amount of illegal dumping at the North Lakes site. Currently, 00:13:09.300 --> 00:13:15.880 we have, you know, lawn care equipment, electronics, furniture, just thrown out at the site. And 00:13:15.880 --> 00:13:20.700 it requires us to go in on a daily basis, usually multiple times during the day and 00:13:20.700 --> 00:13:27.280 actually pick up this material and haul it out. You know, both the sites, both our staff 00:13:27.280 --> 00:13:33.140 site at the landfill, as well as the unstaffed site at the North Lakes Park, is open to use 00:13:33.140 --> 00:13:39.040 by anyone. We do not shut our doors because we understand that this is a need throughout 00:13:39.040 --> 00:13:45.040 the area. But, again, we would assume that everybody using this site would dispose of 00:13:45.040 --> 00:13:50.280 program material also, programmatic material also. When we ask who actually is using our 00:13:50.280 --> 00:13:54.760 recycle centers, while the North Lakes site is unstaffed, we do not know actually who 00:13:54.760 --> 00:13:59.880 goes there. We do take names and addresses of people that come to the landfill site. 00:13:59.880 --> 00:14:04.700 And it gives us a good insight of who may be using our facility. At the landfill property, 00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:09.400 we have almost 60% city of Denton residents. So this could be, you know, just your single 00:14:09.400 --> 00:14:13.280 family dweller. This could be an apartment dweller. Just somebody who lives in the city 00:14:13.280 --> 00:14:20.160 of Denton and wants to manage materials other than at the curb or at their facility. About 00:14:20.160 --> 00:14:29.480 35% of our traffic actually comes from within Denton County, but outside of the city of 00:14:29.480 --> 00:14:35.000 Denton. So we may have cities like Sanger, Crumb, Valley View, Crossroads, Corinth, Lake 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:41.580 Dallas. The list goes on and on. But they come and they dispose of material at our facility. 00:14:41.580 --> 00:14:45.920 The remaining 7% of the visitors that come to our landfill come from outside of Denton 00:14:45.920 --> 00:14:51.520 County. We've had people come from as far as Decatur, city of Dallas, residents of Fort 00:14:51.520 --> 00:14:57.000 Worth, throughout Cook, Grayson, Wise, Tarrant, Collin, Dallas counties that actually come 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:05.760 to use our facility to get rid of programmatic materials. So again, we have a very diverse 00:15:05.760 --> 00:15:11.880 participation at our facilities. When you look at the recycling materials that we collect 00:15:11.880 --> 00:15:17.700 from all sources, only about 5% actually come from our recycle centers here in the city 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:26.440 of Denton. 65% of the material that we get on an annual basis or about 5,400 tons comes 00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:31.500 from the single family residential units and 100% of our single family customers have access 00:15:31.500 --> 00:15:36.680 to curbside collection. Currently about one third of our commercial customers, which again 00:15:36.680 --> 00:15:42.240 includes business and multi-family customers, choose to recycle with the city of Denton. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.920 While commercial customers are required to have trash service through the city of Denton, 00:15:46.920 --> 00:15:51.320 the recycling opportunities are open market and approximately one third actually choose 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:57.480 to come with the city of Denton. Those that do not, we know that some of those contract 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:03.640 with outside partners to manage recycle material, but we don't have a handle on who exactly 00:16:03.640 --> 00:16:10.200 or how much is recycled through that. So the 30% of our total sources that are collected 00:16:10.200 --> 00:16:14.280 are about 2,400 tons. That comes from our commercial sector. 00:16:14.280 --> 00:16:22.880 I had a question. Yes. You say roughly one third of commercial customers choose to recycle. 00:16:22.880 --> 00:16:31.280 What do the other two thirds do? Either they contract with a private hauler, 00:16:31.280 --> 00:16:37.140 so somebody else that may offer commercial recycling services elsewhere, they will come 00:16:37.140 --> 00:16:44.120 in and manage that material or they choose not to recycle because either one, they're 00:16:44.120 --> 00:16:49.840 processes or what they dispose of does not contain recycled material or two, just from 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.200 the cost benefit analysis, they've chosen not to do that. 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:55.300 Thank you. You're welcome. 00:16:55.300 --> 00:16:59.800 I've got a question. Yes. 00:16:59.800 --> 00:17:05.320 I was wondering if apartments were considered commercial or I know that Ed is probably going 00:17:05.320 --> 00:17:12.600 to ask about apartment recycling, so I thought I'd just jump in ahead of him, but what are 00:17:12.600 --> 00:17:22.200 the opportunities for apartment dwellers? Because only the single family. 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:27.040 Apartments are considered multi-family. So again, five units or above has the opportunity 00:17:27.040 --> 00:17:35.000 through our commercial collection to recycle. Again, about a third of those commercial customers, 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:39.040 both business and multi-family units, choose to recycle with the City of Denver. 00:17:39.040 --> 00:17:43.640 So they're considered commercial? They fall under a commercial collection, correct. 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:46.080 Thanks, Brian. You're welcome. 00:17:46.080 --> 00:17:51.600 I want to follow up on that. Do we know how many apartment complexes do offer recycling 00:17:51.600 --> 00:17:54.800 programs? We do, but I do not have that number off the 00:17:54.800 --> 00:17:55.800 top of my head. All right. 00:17:55.800 --> 00:18:01.000 I can follow up with you on that. I had also a question if you have the information 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:07.160 of how many rental units there actually are in Denton. 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:11.120 I do not know that off the top of my head because there are some rental units, which 00:18:11.120 --> 00:18:16.480 may be single family, which may be duplexes or quadplexes, which still fall into that 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:22.600 single family, but they are commercial, but the account is carried in the lessor or the 00:18:22.600 --> 00:18:26.560 renter's name, and as a result, we do not know whether that's rental property or whether 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:31.120 it's privately owned. 00:18:31.120 --> 00:18:38.400 Okay. Next slide. Looking back the past year, June 2019 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:44.400 through June 2020, and this may seem like an odd time period, but we wanted to make 00:18:44.400 --> 00:18:51.520 sure that we caught the COVID in our data analysis here. 00:18:51.520 --> 00:18:56.400 One thing that we've really seen since March is a real uptick in the amount of material, 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:02.400 both garbage and recycling, that's coming into the city of Denton as a result of material, 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:07.920 people staying at home, working from home, a lot more waste is generated from home. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:11.160 Going through what I like to call corn cleaning, you're quarantined and you need something 00:19:11.160 --> 00:19:16.400 to do, so you're cleaning out that old junk door, that closet, the garage, so we're seeing 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:23.920 a lot more material either placed at the curb or brought to the landfill as a result. 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:32.080 One other thing that between this June, excuse me, this June 19 and June 20 period, we did 00:19:32.080 --> 00:19:37.040 have an additional unattended site at the cupboard that was set up through the end of 00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:41.560 March. The city of, or excuse me, Denton ISD actually bought that facility, turned it into 00:19:41.560 --> 00:19:48.400 their IT center. As a result, we had to close down that facility, so part of our results 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:56.440 here include those volumes. Looking at our unattended staff sites, about 00:19:56.440 --> 00:20:02.880 63% of the material that we collect are actually programmatic, recyclable material. The other 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:11.000 37% is contamination, again, films, tanglers, textiles, materials that we don't have on 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:16.160 our program material and have to go through and go to the landfill. And again, that could 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.000 be a recycle material, but it's contaminated because it wasn't emptied or clean or dry 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:25.760 when we got it. As a note, this contamination level does not include the amount of illegal 00:20:25.760 --> 00:20:30.160 dumping that occurs at the staff site. That's collected as bulky material thrown in the 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:36.960 truck, so we don't have an actual weight on that material that we collect at the facility. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:42.680 If we look at our staff site at the landfill, you'll note that we collect about a little 00:20:42.680 --> 00:20:48.240 bit more than half the material that we collected at the other two sites, but again, on a one-to-one 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:53.840 basis, the volumes even out. About 85% of that material is actually recyclable, with 00:20:53.840 --> 00:21:00.440 the last 15% being contamination. Again, either program material that's not empty, clean, 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:06.000 or dry, or a plastic bag or something else that makes its way into the system. Again, 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:11.160 we note here by the data that having a facility that is staffed, somebody there, somebody 00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:15.600 sort of taking toll of who's coming in and out, actually creates an opportunity for the 00:21:15.600 --> 00:21:19.720 materials that we're collecting to be more valuable, cleaner, and at the end of the day, 00:21:19.720 --> 00:21:22.760 the potential to be recycled is greatly increased. 00:21:22.760 --> 00:21:37.240 I have a question, Brian. This is a better rate than it was previous year, correct? 00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:43.160 At the landfill it is. At the unstaffed site, it is not. If you'll notice, if you'll remember 00:21:43.160 --> 00:21:48.480 for those of you who've been here for a bit on the committee, about two years ago, the 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.600 landfill site was actually located at the entrance outside the gate, and at that point 00:21:52.600 --> 00:21:57.960 in time, 100% of the material that we collected was contaminated just because it was unstaffed. 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:04.240 By moving it back behind the gate, having staff at the landfill being able to observe 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:10.720 what's being offloaded and observe residents actually managing this material, we've actually 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:19.000 significantly cleaned it up and created a value chain that's beneficial to the city. 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:24.040 Thank you. In last year's budget, we actually proposed 00:22:24.040 --> 00:22:29.280 to move our North Lake site from the east side of the park to the west side of the park. 00:22:29.280 --> 00:22:35.000 This move was necessitated as a result of the creation of the City of Denton's Competition 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:41.000 Tennis Center. The area that is currently accounted for with our North Lakes Recycle 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:48.680 Center would be parking facilities as well as tennis courts, and as a result, we need 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:55.520 to be moving that. There was about $462,000 that was earmarked for this project, and it's 00:22:55.520 --> 00:23:01.080 actually funded through the residential customer class. So, again, this would be actually revenue 00:23:01.080 --> 00:23:06.960 funded. There is no bonding that's appropriated with this. Currently, we have completed design 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:13.800 and permitting. We're getting bids for the construction, and if we go forward with this, 00:23:13.800 --> 00:23:19.040 we estimate this job to be completed by December, end of December, end of this year. One of 00:23:19.040 --> 00:23:25.140 the upgrades from the existing facility, first and foremost, is the enhancement of the containers 00:23:25.140 --> 00:23:29.040 themselves. Currently, most of the containers that are collected are just standard dumpsters 00:23:29.040 --> 00:23:34.240 with holes in them that you can put material in. What we want to do is to put these 30-yard 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:41.000 containers in that have size-selected holes. So, basically, you can't put materials in 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:46.680 that are too large or non-programmatic. So that we've noted by doing some test runs on 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:51.840 these at the North Lake site, the quality of the material within these dumpsters are 00:23:51.840 --> 00:23:58.280 significantly cleaner. There will be video as well as time-controlled gates. So sunrise 00:23:58.280 --> 00:24:02.800 to sunset as opposed to 24 hours a day. In the dark of night, you don't have somebody 00:24:02.800 --> 00:24:08.600 coming in and illegally dumping. It would be actually closed down at that point. One 00:24:08.600 --> 00:24:12.900 of the things that we were thinking about, though, is that with the significant amount 00:24:12.900 --> 00:24:21.640 of outside residents that are using this at no charge to them, as well as the tremendous 00:24:21.640 --> 00:24:26.840 amount of illegal dumping, we've got to get a handle on this. We thought about piloting 00:24:26.840 --> 00:24:33.440 a mobile recycling center throughout the city over the next year, working to host events 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:40.560 basically 26 times a year. So every other Saturday, from about 9 in the morning to 12 00:24:40.560 --> 00:24:47.840 noon, we would basically hopscotch around the city, one site a weekend, start using 00:24:47.840 --> 00:24:52.660 recreation centers, park sites, city facilities, basically to host these recycle events. We 00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:58.840 would put two or three cans out on the ground, have city staff there to help assist residents 00:24:58.840 --> 00:25:03.440 answer any questions they have about recycling and appropriate practices. And as this thing 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:12.880 potentially works towards success, we can expand this, working with Keep Denton Beautiful 00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:18.360 Sustainability, add additional services such as appliances, home chemical collections, 00:25:18.360 --> 00:25:23.320 do tree giveaways at these areas. I think the opportunity to have that single point 00:25:23.320 --> 00:25:30.240 of contact with residents is greatly increased at this point. So when we look at the finances 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:37.960 between the two analyses, when we look at our single unstaffed site at North Lakes currently, 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:44.320 if we keep going down the road with the debt service that we've discussed, we're spending 00:25:44.320 --> 00:25:50.400 about $157,000 a year to operate and manage these sites. And that does include the revenue 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:58.040 offset of slightly more than $6,000 that we receive off the sale of those recycled material. 00:25:58.040 --> 00:26:02.540 We would anticipate that by moving to mobile staff, staff mobile collections, we could 00:26:02.540 --> 00:26:09.760 actually reduce that to about $44,000, almost $45,000 a year with, again, that commodity 00:26:09.760 --> 00:26:18.960 with no impact, commodity revenue offset. Annual savings of slightly more than $112,000. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:23.480 When you look what's happening regionally, you'll notice that most cities are actually 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:29.440 shying away from unstaffed type of facilities or events. Again, it goes back to illegal 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:37.800 dumping, very poor recovery due to contamination. By using staff site staffed events, whether 00:26:37.800 --> 00:26:42.840 it be at transfer stations, drop off stations, at their landfills, or again, like we're talking 00:26:42.840 --> 00:26:51.000 about potentially implementing pilot mobile sites, staff sites, again, create a cleaner 00:26:51.000 --> 00:27:00.880 product and again, have a much better result in the contamination sector. So to that end, 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:06.280 we have two options to consider for recommendation. The first one, which staff recommends is 00:27:06.280 --> 00:27:14.000 to actually keep the staff site at the landfill open and collecting material as we currently 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:19.120 are, but actually close the unstaffed North Lakes Recycle Center. What we would again 00:27:19.120 --> 00:27:24.840 do for about the next year, at least through the opportunity to complete our solid waste 00:27:24.840 --> 00:27:30.840 management strategy and then move forward based on those recommendations, is go ahead 00:27:30.840 --> 00:27:37.800 and pilot our new mobile recycling center program and then evaluate it as we move forward 00:27:37.800 --> 00:27:43.640 in our solid waste strategy. The second option, again, we can continue going down, expanding 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:49.440 the capacity at the landfill and North Lake site, create additional capacity with the 00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:55.960 customized dumpsters, try to double down again on our education program, targeting really 00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:04.560 the empty, clean, and dry moniker on the programmatic material. Again, installing cameras, fencing, 00:28:04.560 --> 00:28:08.560 but again, we would continue to evaluate this for appropriateness as part of our solid waste 00:28:08.560 --> 00:28:15.640 strategy. With that, I would answer any questions you might have and seek a recommendation from 00:28:15.640 --> 00:28:22.120 the board. I had just a quick question. Yes, sir. Now, 00:28:22.120 --> 00:28:30.920 there is going to be a new North Lakes Recycling Center, correct? Currently, that is the plan. 00:28:30.920 --> 00:28:36.320 However, if we go into this pilot, our recommendation would be to close the North Lake site only 00:28:36.320 --> 00:28:40.360 for several reasons. First of all, because of the illegal dumping and the contamination 00:28:40.360 --> 00:28:45.880 that we are seeing at the site and in the bin, but also because of the amount of material 00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:49.880 that actually would be able to be recycled, actually manage that material through the 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.840 mobile sites as opposed to North Lakes. Hey, Brian, just really quick, could you drop 00:28:53.840 --> 00:28:56.840 down your presentation? I can do that. 00:28:56.840 --> 00:29:00.200 That way everybody can be seen. There we go. Thank you. 00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:11.440 Okay, I understand. So the option then is to do away completely with North Lakes? 00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:18.760 Correct. Do away completely with North Lakes, but keep the landfill site operational. 00:29:18.760 --> 00:29:21.040 And use the mobile. And use the mobile, correct. 00:29:21.040 --> 00:29:28.400 Has there been any community survey done on how residents, especially residents in that 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:34.640 part of town, might feel about that? No, we have not done any sort of outreach 00:29:34.640 --> 00:29:41.600 at this point, but based on the amount of what we're seeing also from our landfill site, 00:29:41.600 --> 00:29:46.440 we're seeing residents come in from all areas of the city, not just from the area around 00:29:46.440 --> 00:29:51.760 the landfill. So again, we feel that by doing it this way, 00:29:51.760 --> 00:29:56.480 the mobile sites actually brings the Recycle Center closer to the neighborhoods as opposed 00:29:56.480 --> 00:30:03.440 to where the North Lakes side is. One thing I noticed, even though I get residential 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:11.700 recycling pickups every week, is myself and a lot of other folks were using North Lakes 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:18.280 and the cupboard when it was open, the cupboard site, for big bulky cardboard and things like 00:30:18.280 --> 00:30:28.680 that that couldn't fit well into recycling carts. So I mean, I know that people take 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:38.240 advantage of both. Even though they have the curbside, they also use the recycling centers 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:46.400 like North Lake. I don't think it's a correct impression if there is one, but a person who 00:30:46.400 --> 00:30:53.600 gets residential recycling just does that. They also use the actual recycling centers. 00:30:53.600 --> 00:30:59.560 Russ, did you have a question? Yes, a comment. I like the idea of the mobile 00:30:59.560 --> 00:31:06.680 recycling effort. Not only would that give you a larger amount of recyclables that have 00:31:06.680 --> 00:31:13.520 some value, but it's a continuing education thing for a lot of residents. And I think 00:31:13.520 --> 00:31:19.120 I looked at your proposed sites there. Might I suggest you drive it out here to Ropes and 00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:24.240 Ranch sometime? We have a big parking area and the people out here a lot of times throw 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:31.880 things in their carts simply because they're ignorant of the requirements for having a 00:31:31.880 --> 00:31:38.280 valuable recyclable item. And so you could gain some ground there, I think. 00:31:38.280 --> 00:31:42.560 And again, the map that we showed, I don't think was exclusive on the sites. It was just 00:31:42.560 --> 00:31:46.440 to show an example. And again, I think we would fully embrace bringing it out to Ropes 00:31:46.440 --> 00:31:52.840 and Ranch and other areas that may be satellite concentrations of the population. 00:31:52.840 --> 00:31:59.440 I think, Charlie, did you have a question? A comment. I echo Russ's comment and also 00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:06.280 on the mobile recycling. I like the idea. I think the idea of every other Saturday will 00:32:06.280 --> 00:32:12.960 be a lot more problematic for people. I think if I learned that Woodley Field had recycling 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:20.480 every Friday, even if the hours were a little shorter, or North Lakes was every Thursday 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:26.120 or whatever day. But the idea of doing every other week, you have to go to a website, you 00:32:26.120 --> 00:32:31.160 have to look up whether this is your week or not. And I think the frustration of having 00:32:31.160 --> 00:32:38.840 people come on the wrong week probably outweighs the benefit. I would encourage you to consider 00:32:38.840 --> 00:32:50.440 doing it every week. And second, if a lot of our recyclers are coming from Denton County, 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:55.240 I think it makes sense for us to encourage Denton County to participate in the cost of 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:01.580 the center. I think it's valuable to the county, particularly the unincorporated areas to have 00:33:01.580 --> 00:33:06.360 this kind of service available to people. And maybe they'd kick in some of that 150 00:33:06.360 --> 00:33:14.480 grand a year for one of these sites that it costs to do that. Third comment and then I'll 00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:24.160 be done. Education in terms of the non-programmatic materials. You know, what should you do with 00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:31.480 that hundred pound aluminum item that you have? What should you do with your 20 pounds of copper? 00:33:31.480 --> 00:33:37.600 Maybe on the city website, if we're not going to process that, we should let people who 00:33:37.600 --> 00:33:44.680 do buy use materials advertise what they offer as an alternative. Because I do feel bad throwing 00:33:44.680 --> 00:33:50.160 away something that has 10 or 15 or 20 pounds of aluminum in it. I know somebody would like 00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:57.040 to have that. I just don't know who that is. All right. Karen had her hand up. 00:33:57.040 --> 00:34:03.160 Oh, yeah. Just to sort of follow up on Carly's last question. Do you, Ryan, do you have an 00:34:03.160 --> 00:34:08.600 idea of what outreach and education and advertising you're going to do for the mobile sites or 00:34:08.600 --> 00:34:17.440 is it too early? Because you're going to have to reach people who, well, I don't know. I 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.960 suppose you could go on the solid waste bill or something like that, but how are you going 00:34:20.960 --> 00:34:26.200 to reach everybody who's going to be eligible for the mobile sites? 00:34:26.200 --> 00:34:31.200 Well, again, I think first and foremost, our web presence and social media outreach, while 00:34:31.200 --> 00:34:36.560 it's been successful, I think that would be our first hold. Citizens Connection putting 00:34:36.560 --> 00:34:41.280 out a 90-day calendar, which would say, you know, here's the next three months' worth 00:34:41.280 --> 00:34:49.720 of sites. We would put things in the bill and then next door and also work closely with 00:34:49.720 --> 00:34:55.040 neighborhood associations and homeowners associations so that they can communicate with their residents 00:34:55.040 --> 00:35:02.040 when this mobile unit would be in the area. But again, and also we have specific outreach 00:35:02.040 --> 00:35:09.240 that we do with our multifamily. As a reminder, again, every resident, single family resident 00:35:09.240 --> 00:35:13.800 in the city of Denton has access to curbside recycling. What we're really wanting to focus 00:35:13.800 --> 00:35:20.880 on, again, is those who either choose not to or have that extra material. So focusing 00:35:20.880 --> 00:35:27.600 very closely with our multifamily communities to manage that material in an appropriate 00:35:27.600 --> 00:35:44.080 manner. Okay. Yeah, okay. You're muted. Sorry, I had a question about the Mobile Recycling 00:35:44.080 --> 00:35:49.320 Center. It's called a pilot program. Correct. And most pilot programs have a time limit 00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:55.200 or a time framework. What is the time framework for this pilot and what will happen if it 00:35:55.200 --> 00:36:00.880 is not successful? What we anticipate is this pilot will run for a year and in that year 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:05.120 time is when we will be putting together our solid waste strategy. And from the strategy 00:36:05.120 --> 00:36:14.040 will flow what our ultimate determination will be on how we manage either mobile or 00:36:14.040 --> 00:36:21.280 fixed sites with regards to recycling, illegal dumping, things of that nature. So this is 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:26.040 a really a stop gap till we get through the solid waste strategy and then we move forward 00:36:26.040 --> 00:36:34.320 with recommendations and strategy. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So you need direct, 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:40.160 I am going to say I'm in favor of option one. You know, I have a background in solid waste 00:36:40.160 --> 00:36:46.440 and we have never been successful in unstaffed drop off centers, even with cameras. So you 00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:50.960 know who did it, but you can't really do anything about it and you can't go after them. So I 00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:57.880 really think the mobile program will be a success. We did it back in Minnesota and it 00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:04.320 was a success. So I'm a hundred percent behind that one. I think most of you have already 00:37:04.320 --> 00:37:20.460 said option one. Yeah, I'll go with options. Okay. All right. I think we have the direction 00:37:20.460 --> 00:37:26.800 we need. Okay. All right. Very good. Well, that is the agenda. So do we have a motion 00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:32.360 to adjourn? Don't move. Okay. We're adjourned.