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 Hello, everybody. Welcome to committee on the environment. Glad we could be here today.

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 It is Tuesday, September 8. And the time is 102. We do have a quorum. So we will go ahead

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 and get started rather quickly. Our first item for individual consideration is consider

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 approval of the June 25, 2020 minutes. Councilmember Metzler. So moved. Okay. Second. All right.

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 All in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. All right. We'll move right now to the next one. Item

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 B, receive a report, hold a discussion on the regional air quality update and collaboration

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 summary. Is that you, James? That is. Good afternoon, council members. James Douglas

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 conservation programs coordinator. Let me pull up the screen here. Okay. And can everybody

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 see that? Yes. I think we're good. Okay. Perfect. So like you said, we're here to give an update

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 on the regional collaboration efforts on the topic of air quality between the sustainability

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 office and the north central Texas council of governments. And so you'll hear me refer

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 to it as the cog, probably from here on out. And so the cog has some great efforts going

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 and the city of Dutton participates in those as one of many cities in the region. And so

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 we are here to give you an update on some of the things going on there. So for today's

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 presentation, we're going to discuss three of the different partnerships that are going

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 on with the cog right now. And the results of some of those partnerships are some information

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 related to the impacts of COVID-19 on both transportation and regional air quality. And

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 so we're going to touch on that a little bit. And towards the end of the presentation, we

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 will give a 2020 update on the regional analysis of air quality, both in Dutton and the DFW

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 as a whole. So just a little bit of background. Today, you're going to hear me reference some

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 numbers related to ozone. What that is, is the air quality index, and that's an EPA index

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 for measuring major air pollutants that are a part of the Clean Air Act. Like I said,

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 today we're going to focus mainly on ozone. That's the main one that we see when we get

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 an air quality alert here in DFW, typically it's ozone. So the, I mentioned three partnerships

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 before that are led by the cog and the sustainability office participates in. And so just briefly,

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 the three of those, the first one is Air North Texas, which acts as the outreach and education

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 wing of the air quality and transportation division for the cog. And so basically what

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 the cog does there is they help us to standardize our outreach information with our neighboring

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 cities and other public entities. And so you may be familiar with one of those standardizations,

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 which is Arlo the Air Modillo, and he's their mascot for that. And in 2018, Denton actually

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 got an award for best utilization of that character throughout 2018 marketing. The second

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 that I have listed here is a new initiative that we're really excited to be a part of,

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 and that's the Air Quality Public Health Task Force. And in terms of some of the collaboration

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 regionally, this is probably the most horizontal of the efforts crossing many different sectors.

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 And so this brings together education, atmospheric science, nonprofit, public health, and of

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 course the local governments. And so basically this is in the early stages, but the goal

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 is to bring these organizations together and to share data sets, which is what we're doing

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 right now. And so really we're learning from each other what everybody has to offer. And

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 from that, we're going to pose some actionable questions that at the regional level we can

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 use this data to improve air quality. And so, like I said, really excited for the new

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 initiative and we'll have more updates on that in the future. And then briefly, the

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 last one is the Local Government Energy Reporting Group. This was previously at the state level

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 but the COG took this over for a regional effort to increase energy reporting amongst

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 public entities. And so this is for a state effort to improve air quality by lowering

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 energy consumption in the region. And so Denton has been participating in that reporting since

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 about 2001. And so the sustainability staff has had a pretty big role in terms of getting

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 other cities reporting. And I think between the year before and the year after the COG

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 took this over, there was about a 90% increase in regional reporting in the area. So it's

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 really good to see. And like I said, Denton has had a role in that. And so the COG kindly

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 provided some slides and this is for the effects of COVID-19 on regional transportation and

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 air quality. And so we've got a lot of good information here. And so we're going to dive

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 right into that. So we're going to start with the transportation side of things and then

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 we'll talk about the impacts to air quality after that. So we're going to get started

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 just pretty generic here. We're going to compare the freeway volumes from 2019 to 2020. And

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 this is a comparison of each individual month. And so you can see that this kind of peaks,

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 the decrease peaks in April, we see about a 30% decrease in freeway volumes. And this

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 follows, it was the, I believe the second or third week of March when the stay at home

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 started coming about. And so we can expect to see that peak in April. To give you a little

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 bit of reference here, a 10% decrease is what we would typically see between weekday and

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 weekend volumes. And so, you know, we get at least that March through July, and then

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 we see about a 30% there in April. Another way of thinking about that data, we can think

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 about freeway speed. And so this is average weekday speeds weighted by traffic volume.

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 And what you can see there in yellow for February is what we would typically see on any given

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 weekday where you see a decrease in speed with rush hour traffic. If you take a look

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 at April and May there in green and light blue, we see a much flatter curve. Due to

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 those decreased volumes, we see a more consistent speed and we see, you know, less congestion

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 there on the freeways. And this is for the DFW region as a whole. With those, with less

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 cars on the road and increased speed, we see the following results in terms of motor vehicle

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 accidents. And so we see a decrease in the number of accidents due to lower car volumes

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 on the road. But with that increased speed, we do see an increase in fatalities. And so

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 those are, you know, inversely proportional there. And we can see that data March through

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 July once again comparing those months, 2019 versus 2020.

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 Moving to a different side of transportation. So this is public transportation here. Once

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 again, we see the highest decrease starting up in April. Unlike the previous slides, though,

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 you'll notice that this has not started to return to 2019 levels. And so this is something

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 that we're definitely going to be keeping an eye on. And they are keeping an eye on

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 at the regional level. And so we see a pretty consistent decrease there between April and

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 July.

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 Another one that has a large impact on air quality is the impact of airports. And so

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 a similar trend here. We do see this one starting to return to the sort of 2019 trend. But once

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 again, peaking there in the decrease in April and, and slowly returning. And I would like

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 to point out that this is airport passengers. And so another good metric that we will more

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 than likely have data for is the number of flights and fuel consumption as well may be

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 better ways to track this. But this is good data to start with.

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 The flip side of that coin. So if we're driving and using transportation less, we see bicycle

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 and pedestrian impacts here on trail counts. And so a 50% increase starting in March, and

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 then we get into April and May, and we start to see increases in the 70% range as compared

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 to those months in 2019. Once again, we're seeing that slowly return to 2019 values as

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 well. I would like to point out that this is not normalized for weather impacts. So,

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 you know, January, February, maybe it was a little bit warmer. And people were out using

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 the trails, you know, during that timeframe, but still a large, a large impact. And we

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 can attribute that to, you know, less, less transportation by other means.

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 So with all of that in mind, those are the impacts to transportation. And we know, of

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 course, that transportation has an impact on air quality. And so this is something that

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 is probably going to be studied for five, 10 years to come. But it is a good case study

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 to take a look at, okay, we had in April, you know, a 30% decrease in freeway volumes.

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 What was our impact to air quality? And so before we get into some of the graphics, just

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 a brief summary of impacts here from the COG. And so, like I said, emissions from vehicles

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 was reduced. Up until August 3, this was the lowest frequency of high-level unhealthy exposure

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 days to ozone that we've seen. And I would like to point out that ozone levels are influenced

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 by meteorological conditions, and that includes high temperature, low winds, high UV, limited

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 rain, and limited cloud cover. The transportation emissions that impact ozone are the ozone

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 precursor pollutants, and those are nitrogen oxides and VOCs, volatile organic compounds.

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 And so those are what are going to impact ozone levels in terms of the emissions side

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 of things. In terms of visibility and just bluer skies and, you know, clearer skylines

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 as you drive in and out of DFW, something that is currently under review by that Clean

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 Air Task Force in public health that I was speaking to earlier is the leading to a healthier

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 populace. Obviously, COVID-19 causes some variability, to say the least, in terms of

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 the public health data. And so it's going to be a bit of a challenge to take that variability

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 out to try and analyze the impact that the air quality had on public health, but that

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 is something that's under review. Like I said, this is, you know, one of the first times

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 that we can get a real-world analysis in terms of a regional reduction in transportation.

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 And one of the COGS conclusions here is that state implementation plans on air quality

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 are more than likely going to be necessary in the future to reduce background. And so

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 the transportation, the decrease in transportation, did have an impact, but it did not account

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 for all of the variability. And so there is some variability due to background concentration

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 of air pollutants. And so in order to address those, you know, we talk a lot about air quality

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 being a regional issue. You know, it does go beyond that to state by state. And one

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 of the things that the COG is focusing on is how can we sustain the impacts of this

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 reduced transportation? And one of them is limited emission vehicles, electric and fuel

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 cell and also travel demand management. And so things like telecommuting, how can we implement

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 these to, you know, keep those transportation numbers a little bit lower? So with that,

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 we will move into a little bit of the 2020 analysis for air quality. And so what you

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 see here is a regional map of all of the air monitors that monitor for ozone. You can see

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 there towards the top in the center of Denton County is the one located at the Denton Airport.

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 And so a lot of information here, but you can see the ones with ozone design values

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 between 71 and 85 are in orange, and then the lower ones between 56 and 70 are in yellow.

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 And we're going to be talking a little bit about design values. And so it is a little

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 bit of a complicated value. And it's basically the three year average of all of these monitors.

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 And you take the annual fourth highest daily maximum eight hour average ozone concentration,

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 and that's the design value for any given three year period. And so those are what you're

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 taking a look at here.

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 Another way of taking a look at this data, you can see 2020 on the far right side. So

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 this is, we talked about the air quality index. And so these are days in moderate and yellow,

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 orange and then higher risk in red. And so in 2020, we have each month as it compares

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 to 2017. And then you have your three year design value period there, 2018, 2019, and

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 2020. And so if you take a look at March and April, things were going really well with

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 those. We did have one red day there in May. And then I think the next slide will kind

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 of give a better comparison there. So this is just a comparison with 2019. And so once

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 again, you can take a look at March and April, where we have lower values there in 2020.

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 And then moving forward, we see comparisons in May, June, July, and August. And so I think

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 I mentioned August 3 earlier. So we did have some very hot weather there in the first two

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 weeks of August. And so you see those two red days there. That's when those took place.

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 So here we're taking a look at the cumulative ozone exceedances. And so this is any time

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 that that air quality index ventured into yellow territory or higher. And so if you

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 take a look at the June and July timeframe, especially, we were kind of on pace there

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 to have the best year that we were going to have in five years. Like I said, those days

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 in August did tip the scales a bit for us. And now we're kind of on an average pace here

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 for the five year period for 2020. So the previous slide showed the number of exceedances.

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 So the number of times that we ventured into yellow territory or higher. This is a comparison

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 of the design values for 2016 through 2020. And blue is the current 2020 track. Once again,

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 we can see there in July, we were on pace to meet the 2008 EPA standard of 75 there.

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 And once again, those exceedances in early August did tip the scales. And so we are on

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 pace to be about in line with 2018. And then a little bit simpler way of taking a look

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 at this here. So this is nothing to do with design values or anything like that. This

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 is just the average regional ozone in months in 2019 versus 2020. And once again, a lot

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 of variability based on meteorologic conditions. But we do see about a 30% decrease in average

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 in March and 9, 10% there in April. And we move sort of into a little bit more variability

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 there May through August. And so the presentation today is really to

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 give you a sense of the efforts that are going on at the cog. They do have a full team of

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 air quality planners there in their transportation division. And so the availability of information

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 over the last two years has definitely increased. And they are definitely taking a full new

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 view of this topic. And so they, like I said, they kindly provided these slides to us and

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 they wanted to also provide their contact information. So if you have any follow up

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 questions, you can feel free to reach out to any of them. Also, feel free to reach out

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 to the sustainability office if you have anything. And we've been working together for a few

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 years now and we would be happy to pass those along for you. So I will open it up to any

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 questions that you might have. If we can take the slides down so we can see

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 everyone's smiling faces, we will take questions. Yes, Councilmember Meltzer.

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 Yeah, I've kind of a minor-ish question and a major one. I don't think I understand page

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 16, slide 16. I think I heard what you said, but maybe just the facts are peculiar because

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 everything's about how, you know, there was less activity, therefore basically less pollution.

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 But then slide 16 shows several months of higher ozone in 2020 than in 2019. So correct.

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 So that's something that is currently under review. So two main things that it could be.

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 One of them is variability in meteorology. So the difference in, you know, high ozone

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 conditions, you know, the high UV index and low winds and high temperatures. The other

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 thing and was kind of referenced in the COGS analysis was the need for more state-level

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 action and state implementation plans to address background. And so potentially less was attributed

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 to transportation than was previously thought. And so that's another possible explanation.

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 But like I said, currently under review with that.

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 That could be one of those little anomalies that isn't so little and that leads to like

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 a major different way of viewing the world, right? Even if it's with so much less activity,

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 you know, what else are the candidates for higher ozone?

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 Correct.

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 So we don't know. Okay. Well, that's going to be very important to find out. Well, that

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 kind of, you know, sets the stage for my bigger question, which is what's actionable about

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 this? But I think we have to get the analysis first before we can even tell. There's something

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 very actionable that's very different than what anyone thought.

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 Correct. And I think the question of actionability is really one of the things that's going to

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 be addressed in that air quality, regional air quality task force. And so when we take

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 a look at the different data sets that are available and what we can learn from those,

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 you know, we'll be posing those questions for sure.

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 Yeah, that's pretty shocking. You know, everybody stays home and it still gets worse. Weird.

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 Okay. Thank you.

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 Did you have another question or was that?

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 No, that, that.

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 I have to extend to that.

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 That's it.

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 Okay.

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 Until we understand that, you know.

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 Councilmember Davis, do you have any questions?

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 No, I don't have any questions. I thank you, Paul, for asking that one though, because

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 that's, that's perplexing. That'll be interesting to find out what we can find out about that.

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 Yeah, that was one of my observations and questions as well. I mean, because we hear

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 the reason where our air quality is so bad is because of the traffic and transportation

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 and everything in our area. And we have unfortunate situation that has lend itself to allow us

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 to get some data. And so now we can explore that. And I am equally as interested to figure

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 out, you know, what's happening there. And one of the things that I thought was interesting

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 as well as now we can directly tie. I mean, we knew high speeds caused fatalities, but

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 now there's data that shows that those high speeds cause more fatalities, which is unfortunate.

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 But it's there in the data. The only other question I have is as far as the non-attainment

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 area, when you looked around, I mean, we're all orange. Every one of those that surround

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 Denton is orange. I guess just for clarification, are they supposed to be yellow or is it just

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 an orange monitor and we're within the data that's allowed?

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 So the design value for that monitor determined whether it was orange or yellow. And so the

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 ones that fell into the higher category, I believe it was, we'll check on the numbers

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 there. Yeah, anything, yeah, between 71 and 85 was in the orange and then between 56 and

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 70 was there in the yellow. And so that would be the design values for the individual monitors,

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 not the region as a whole. Okay. And so there is a percentage that we're

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 supposed to be at and I'm trying, I'm going way back and I know that we had gone over

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 that limit. Are we still over the limit that's allowed for our area? And are there any penalties?

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 I remember a couple of years back, there was discussion of a penalty or something that

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 was attributed to those monitors. So I believe it's the, so the design value

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 for the region is the main value that we take a look at in terms of comparing it to the

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 EPA design value. And so the 2008 design value is what we are currently as a region trying

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 to achieve. And then there's the 2015 one, which is beyond that still. And so it's at

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 a regional level. And so, you know, whichever monitor is the highest in the region will

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 sort of drive that design value for the region. And it is not the Denton monitor at this time

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 that is driving that design value. Okay. If that makes sense.

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 Okay. And I see Dr. Banks is here with us. Is there any chance, I know that we had talked

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 about maybe trying to get another monitor since there was just one in Dent County. Is

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 that still any, is that still a conversation or not a possibility at all?

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 Another monitor in our area. If you can unmute.

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 There we go. Sorry about that. I haven't heard of any recent conversations. I'm looking

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 over at Catherine just to see if there's been some here lately. All right. She's bringing

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 a note. All right. So they're looking at one in Pilot Point right now. Okay. So they've

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 added one in Pilot Point since we talked last. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that. All right.

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 Dr. Meltzer? Yeah. You know, I'm just really, I've really taken cause over this oddity of

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 less traffic, less flights and higher ozone. And I'm wondering, do we know, is this just

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 a regional phenomenon or is this nationally true, globally true? You know, traffic down

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 and ozone up. So from what I've heard from some of the

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 conversations, it's relatively consistent, at least in some of the Texas area. And I

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 think that they're putting more of that information together. Obviously with the cog, they have,

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 you know, this North Central Texas data more readily available. And as more people do these

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 analyses, and I think that there will certainly be more coming, you know, as this does act

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 as a case study. And so as we get those in, we'll be able to compare more readily.

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 Yeah. Okay. That'll be interesting to know. Thank you. I mean, maybe the planet's just

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 cooking and once fissures open up on the earth, you're done. I don't know.

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 Well on that comment, we will move on to the next item. Item C, Receive a Report, Hold

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 a Discussion, and Give Staff Direction Regarding an Update on the Recent and Upcoming Projects

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 in the Solid Waste and Recycling Department. Dr. Oh, there you are, Brian. Welcome. If

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 you could unmute and then you can start whenever you're ready.

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00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,440
 Very good. Sorry about that. Good afternoon, Madam Chair, members of the committee, Brian

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 Berner, Solid Waste Director with the City of Denton. We can all concede that the year

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 2020 has been an interesting year and with COVID, it has pushed a lot of things back.

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 And we've been before council here on several occasions over the past six months saying

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 this thing is coming and that thing is coming. And we wanted to get before the COE today

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 as we get closer to some of these things coming to fruition, lay out some of the projects

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 and give you a little better idea of what is coming down the pike. So with that, let

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 me share the screen real quick. There we go. So project updates. So the purpose of this

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 is really to provide the Committee on the Environment an update on some outstanding

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 projects, some things that have recently been implemented, as well as some projects that

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 have been in the pipeline for a while. We want to talk a little bit about why they're

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 important and really set some expectations as we're moving down the implementation and

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 set a timeline. A couple of these projects, we're still in the contracting phase. You

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 will see them very, very shortly. But we are still under the Purchasing Non-Disclosure

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 Agreement. So we'll be talking generalities about the project. We will not be able to

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 give the name of successful suppliers until that contracting is complete, but we'll try

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 to answer as many questions as you can. There are several projects that we have here before

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 you today. What we'd like to do is go through the entire presentation and then come back

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 and answer specific questions about the specific projects. With that, I do have a couple of

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 people here to help me today, a couple of staff members, really key to help implement

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 some of these actions that we're going to be doing today. First off, we'll be introducing

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 Ms. Tina Eck. She is our Senior Business Analyst with the department. And following her, Ms.

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 Alison Wing will be talking. She is our Solid Waste Applications Coordinator, and she'll

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 be talking about a project that we have. So I'm going to switch places with Tina right

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 now and we'll talk a little bit about our IVR system. Good afternoon. So our interactive

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 voice response system has been developed in a partnership with our customer service department,

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 and it provides our residents self-service options in making their solid waste requests

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 specifically related to our yard waste program. So we do have a separate number there that

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 you can dial in. It is live and up to date right now. You can make requests in English

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 and Spanish 24/7. And it allows you to do things like opt in and out of the yard waste

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 program, either craft bag or cart, and schedule a brush collection if you are not currently

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 opted into the program. If you are opted in, you can already have your brush collected

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 automatically weekly. And additionally, you can also schedule a brush bulk collection

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 of bagged leaves two times per year. Some of the benefits are specifically with the

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 Monday collection day, we do have customers there that can go ahead and call in over the

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 weekend. Formerly, they were having to wait essentially an additional week if they were

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 to do yard waste kind of tasks over the weekend. So now that they can go ahead and call that

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 in and have it scheduled for Monday collection next day, and also it enables you to be able

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 to have the reservation without having customer service. I'm pretty proud of that. And up

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 next, I'll be introducing Allison Lee, our applications coordinator.

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 Hello. Hey, as Tina said, I'm Allison wing, the solid waste applications coordinator here

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 to talk to you about the smart routing system. We are nearing the end of our RFP for smart

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 for procuring smart routing software. This will replace existing software for managing

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 work orders, container inventory, rolling stock inventory, and will support audit tracking

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 and reporting, but will but will come with added enhancements that are new to the city.

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 Each collections vehicle will be outfitted with an iPhone or iPad that will give turn

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 by turn directions for the day's route and work orders, and will be a communication portal

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 for the supervisors, dispatch and the collections technicians.

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 Each vehicle will be tracked by GPS in real time. At all times, we will have the ability

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 to log into a portal and see where all vehicles are and easily be able to send the best vehicle

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 to an emergency situation, or quickly get to a vehicle in distress or whatever situation

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 may arise. This also means that we will be able to see what percentage of each route

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 has been completed at any point during the day, and exactly where each vehicle is on

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 their route. If someone calls customer service asking why their cart hasn't been emptied

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 yet, customer service will be able to answer that question. They will be able to tell the

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 customer that their street hasn't been serviced yet, or that their particular home wasn't

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 serviced because the cart wasn't out when the truck serviced their street. There will

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 be a note and a photo indicating the reason with evidence for any missed service for both

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 residential and commercial collections immediately clearing up confusion for the customer. This

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 photo evidence feature of the software will also back up any collections that require

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 fees, such as large piles of brush or bulky items in excess of two. We're really excited

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 about this project and excited to get it rolling and expecting that we will see much more efficient

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 service for the residents of Denton with implementation of this software. And now we will go back.

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 From a timing standpoint, we anticipate that the smart routing system will be presented

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 to the PUB next Monday, the 14th, and then will come before council for final approval

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 on the 22nd. So that one is just right at the finish line. You should see that one within

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 the next week, two weeks for approval. We'd like to talk a little bit about the comprehensive

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 solid waste management strategy. We had re-upped that procurement, and we're in the process

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 of finalizing contracts with our successful proposer at this point in time. As a reminder,

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 the comprehensive solid waste management strategy is really a forward-looking document that

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 helps the city strategize and identify what its solid waste procurement or operations

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 will look like over the next 5, 10, 15 years. It allows us to set long and short-term goals,

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 look at policies and actions, really help manage the generation diversion disposal waste

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 in the 21st century. Now, this is not a solid waste management plan. The plan flows from

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 the strategy. We've all seen those war movies where, you know, the sergeant goes, take that

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 hill and everybody, you know, gets ready and they move towards that hill. But how did they

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 select that hill? Why did they select that hill? Is that the right hill that they should

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 be focusing on? So that's what the strategy is to do, is to look at everything in a large,

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 from a 30,000-foot view and help us really narrow down which pieces need to be implemented

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 at the city level and how that will look. From the standpoint, you know, we're going

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 to be talking with, we're going to start out doing residential and commercial waste audits.

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 We are somewhat unique in the city of Denton in that we do provide commercial service.

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 So while there have been residential waste audits that have been completed throughout

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 the country and throughout the region, we have not seen really anything substantial

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 in the commercial waste sector. So we'll be kicking the strategy off by completing commercial

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 waste audits. While we're doing that, we're also going to be completing listening and

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 feedback sessions so that we can focus on the people that we'll be servicing. So again,

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 sitting down with council members, boards and commission members, community members,

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 staff to really identify what's important, what needs to move forward, looking at different

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 rules and regulations internal to the city as we operate, as well as federal, state and

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 local regulations, defining not only what we can do with recycles, but looking at how

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 products are manufactured, supporting how material is managed throughout the process.

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 We don't want the tail wagging the dog. We want it to flow the process from the start

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 where materials are sourced to the end of life. And again, looking at these, at growth

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 from a regional, looking at regional growth and generation trends as we move forward.

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 Denton is growing extremely rapidly. So how do we work to get ahead of this curve as opposed

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 to trying just to play catch up all the time? And again, this project will be data driven.

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 So again, it's important that the data that we're getting from our smart routing system

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 as well as other implementation programs that we're looking forward to, we'll define the

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 feedback on that. Again, the results of this project will help us, you know, use to vision

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 the expectations of this program over the next 10, 15 years, answering those questions.

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 What should we be recycling? How should we be managing it? You know, looking at our long

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 term garbage management goals, helping define what future legislative agendas might look

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 like. And then again, as we're going through this, trying to identify, you know, third

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 party or grant funding opportunities that will help us support us. So really, I'd like

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 to refer to this as a solid waste 3.0, you know, solid waste 1.0 was when we went from,

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 you know, at the turn of the 19th century, from burning trash in the backyard or whatever

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 to actually being collected. And then solid waste 2.0 when we started separating it out

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 and recycling. And this is really 3.0, taking that step back, looking at what's happening

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 here in the 21st century and designing for the future as we're moving forward. As I said

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 earlier, we're in the process of contracting, working through the contract with the successful

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 proposer at this point in time. We anticipate bringing this to the PUB at the first meeting

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 in October and then the council meeting following that for council approval.

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 The last project I'd like to identify and talk about today is our City of Denton landfill

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 scale software system replacement. We have a system in place right now that's about 16

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 years old. It's at the end of life. There was an audit completed three years ago. And

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 as a result, there were several issues that are identified. First and foremost, there

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 are no institutional controls available in this software system. Due to security issues,

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 it allowed different people to access different parts of the program. So keeping track of

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 where the accounts were being managed was somewhat difficult. We have put some security

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 in place to help us alleviate a lot of those issues. But again, we still have issues that

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 require a lot of maintenance as we're moving forward. It's a very old piece of software.

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 And it's at its end of life. And it's no longer being supported by the provider. So

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 we're at a point that necessitates us replacing this software piece. What we are hoping to

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 do is within this next week actually have it hit the street. It will be open for about

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 a month, six weeks. We'll go through a review process. And hopefully by the end of the year

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 actually have a successful vendor selected, bring that forward to council and early in

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 FY or early in calendar year 21, actually start moving towards the implementation of

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 a new scale house system for the landfill. And that will help us again capture appropriate

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 data that we need to make some of these long-term decisions. With that, I'd be willing to answer

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 questions that you might have regarding the system.

384
00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:45,040
 Okay. Take the slides down and see who has a question first. There we go. Anyone? Lots

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 of information. No. Councilor Meltzer? Yeah, just to comment, you know, a lot of great

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 new stuff on the systems front. And I wasn't sure I caught, I think you said next couple

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 of weeks, but just what is your expected timing now on the next step of the big strategy process?

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00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:14,160
 As I stated, we're in the final stages of contracting. So that will still have to go

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 through the city attorney's office. But once we get into the system, we're anticipating

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 the first part of October, it will go to the PUB and then the next meeting that we would

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 set the agenda date on. So probably middle of October, the council, the full council

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 would see it for approval. To hire the? To hire the consultant. Correct. Okay. Thank

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00:40:35,560 --> 00:40:43,000
 you. All right. Well, thank you. I have just a kind of clarification question myself. So

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 on this slide, we saw it was strategy that it wasn't the plan. And so to get from the

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 strategy to the plan, we're going to hold a lot of meetings and discussions. And is

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 that correct? Correct. To get to the end result of the strategy, we'll have visioning sessions.

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 We'll create task force. We'll put this strategy together. And then moving from the strategy

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 to the plan, again, we'll do significant outreach and we'll create those short term

399
00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:16,560
 plans, those short term goals to move us forward into the implementation of the project. Okay.

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 And that is where recycling and food diversion and all of those things that have been mentioned

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00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:26,560
 to us from the public will come in, those conversations. Correct. Yeah, the strategy

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 may say what? Yeah, we're going to do food diversion. Food diversion is important because

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 of X, Y, and Z. And these are the things to consider. And then as we put the plan into

404
00:41:34,760 --> 00:41:39,880
 place, you know, we may go with something curbside. Or as a result of what the strategy

405
00:41:39,880 --> 00:41:46,480
 is telling us, it may say, no, that's not cost effective, nor is it physically appropriate.

406
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:52,880
 We may do some sort of centralized collection or an augmentation of an existing program.

407
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:58,740
 So that strategy will help us define what the plan looks like. Okay. And just a couple

408
00:41:58,740 --> 00:42:04,920
 of comments. Very good on the voice response system. That's really great to see positive

409
00:42:04,920 --> 00:42:10,660
 feedback. And also the smart routing. I'm really excited to see that. I can't wait

410
00:42:10,660 --> 00:42:16,560
 for that to be implemented. That's going to be pretty beneficial, I think, to everyone.

411
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:24,280
 On that, if a bin, recycling bin, trash bin gets eaten, will that also register on that

412
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:30,560
 system, smart routing system? Like, whoops, we just. Yes. If a bin falls in the hopper,

413
00:42:30,560 --> 00:42:33,920
 I mean, obviously we don't want our driver crawling in and trying to recover it. Oh,

414
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:39,600
 no, no. But again, what that would add, what we would manage that as an exception, the

415
00:42:39,600 --> 00:42:43,640
 driver would just basically punch a button on his tablet. It would automatically print

416
00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:48,880
 a work order and we could dispatch our cart delivery team out to deliver another without

417
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:54,240
 the customer having to make a phone call or having to get back and manually tagging this

418
00:42:54,240 --> 00:43:03,040
 through a manual paper process. That's fantastic. That's really great. Thank you. You're welcome.

419
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:10,000
 Okay, so I think if we don't have any more questions on that item, we will move down

420
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:17,880
 to D, management updates. I think we have three here. Dr. Banks, are you going to go

421
00:43:17,880 --> 00:43:24,740
 through those with us? Yes, just real briefly. So the first one is an update of the RISE

422
00:43:24,740 --> 00:43:30,260
 coalition that stands for regional integration of sustainability efforts. Basically, this

423
00:43:30,260 --> 00:43:35,720
 is an outgrowth of a name y'all may be more familiar with, the North Central Texas Stewardship

424
00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:43,480
 Forum. That was an EPA grant and it was facilitated through the COG. And once the grant was over,

425
00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:49,360
 this group saw benefit in continuing to share information, kind of work as a group, serve

426
00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:57,880
 as a clearinghouse. And so they've created this next iteration of the group. A little

427
00:43:57,880 --> 00:44:05,240
 bit of information available for you, as well as the web link. And then a little brief note

428
00:44:05,240 --> 00:44:11,240
 in there just to acknowledge that Denton's own Catherine Barnett has been elected vice

429
00:44:11,240 --> 00:44:16,640
 chair of this group. And so we congratulate her for that and interested to see where this

430
00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:24,600
 group is going to go. The next item is just a very brief update on the sustainability

431
00:44:24,600 --> 00:44:32,640
 advisory committee. That is item two of your matrix. And so we wanted to give you just

432
00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:37,640
 a brief update on kind of where that's at. So the intention is to bring back, staff is

433
00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:41,840
 still doing research. We're going to come back in front of the committee on the environment

434
00:44:41,840 --> 00:44:46,800
 at the meeting in October. And right now we are targeting the October 13th meeting with

435
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:52,920
 the full council to have a discussion about options and hopefully get some guidance from

436
00:44:52,920 --> 00:45:00,120
 the council on how they would like to put this together. Last item is basically just

437
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:11,200
 the actions matrix. And basically the only pending item that we have after the sustainable

438
00:45:11,200 --> 00:45:18,440
 implementation committee is SoulSmart design. And we've spoken with the EME peers at the

439
00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:23,240
 intentions to bring this back at the next meeting that we're going to have in October.

440
00:45:23,240 --> 00:45:29,320
 And that's all I have. I have a question about number one, my commercial

441
00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:34,880
 food diversion programs. I know that was in 2018 and we've been kind of waiting for the

442
00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:42,240
 conversation that's coming up. But I have a question because I'm not real sure and this

443
00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:47,360
 could be brought back to us in an update next time or a work session if anyone wants to

444
00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:54,120
 hear about what's allowed and what's not as far as for private businesses to do food scraps

445
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:59,600
 for commercials or residential. I know that council had someone come speak that had a

446
00:45:59,600 --> 00:46:06,160
 company who did that for certain businesses. But since then I heard that it wasn't allowed.

447
00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:11,440
 And so if I may have heard mistakenly or, you know, if that's something we need to discuss

448
00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:18,820
 as a policy in the community, that may be something we need to do to allow private businesses

449
00:46:18,820 --> 00:46:29,440
 to do that. I think Brian may have a comment on this.

450
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:37,440
 And it may be in our strategy. I don't know. Councilmember Briggs, that is true. It is

451
00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:44,120
 an important element we are going to be examining in our strategy. And the name slips my mind

452
00:46:44,120 --> 00:46:49,360
 of the person that came and did the presentation. But again, they are not the only person on

453
00:46:49,360 --> 00:46:54,800
 the block doing this. There are several companies out there that, you know, will collect material

454
00:46:54,800 --> 00:47:02,440
 and compost it. So there's nothing wrong with a private resident taking material to a third

455
00:47:02,440 --> 00:47:07,760
 party, you know, just like sorting out aluminum cans and taking them to a metal processor.

456
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:12,640
 There's nothing against the law for doing that. But the city is the sole by our ordinance

457
00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:19,320
 is the sole provider of solid waste services in the city of Denton. So we cannot set up

458
00:47:19,320 --> 00:47:25,160
 a program where, you know, allowing a third party to come in and provide part of that

459
00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:29,880
 service. So as part of the strategy, we'll be looking at how that's implemented moving

460
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:34,360
 forward and determining what sort of ordinance we may have to change or how it may affect

461
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:36,680
 us in the way that we deliver that service.

462
00:47:36,680 --> 00:47:43,480
 >> Okay. Well, I would like to keep that on the matrix just as we're going through to

463
00:47:43,480 --> 00:47:51,600
 make sure that it stays on there as the conversation comes forward to us, if that's okay. And other

464
00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:58,480
 than that, does anyone have anything to add to the matrix for our concluding items?

465
00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:02,440
 We'll move to concluding items.

466
00:48:02,440 --> 00:48:12,880
 >> You know, I think it's sort of always the same things that I think there's a consensus

467
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:18,200
 for taking action on. Like maybe I'm wrong about this, but I think this consensus, at

468
00:48:18,200 --> 00:48:24,440
 least on the part of our committee, taking action on collecting compost for attacking

469
00:48:24,440 --> 00:48:31,080
 commercial and multifamily. And it just seems like it's always planning for another conversation

470
00:48:31,080 --> 00:48:35,760
 about a conversation about a conversation. And I'm just kind of watching the years tick

471
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:46,240
 by. I'm a little curious how it ever comes to like, when are we actually going to look

472
00:48:46,240 --> 00:48:53,240
 at options and to really do it. But maybe that's a concluding item, just an expression

473
00:48:53,240 --> 00:48:57,040
 of frustration.

474
00:48:57,040 --> 00:49:03,400
 >> Did we have a date for the strategy to come to -- I mean, I know that we saw a timeline,

475
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:08,800
 but is there a date that we can lock that down where this will be a discussion for us?

476
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:18,800
 >> Again, we're working, you know, trying to contract the contractor. And once we get

477
00:49:18,800 --> 00:49:23,600
 that underway, then, you know, as part of a council presentation, or excuse me, as part

478
00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:27,640
 of the approval by the council, we can take an opportunity there to discuss it as well

479
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:34,000
 as when we start implementing the process, we'll be having specific and direct and intimate

480
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,440
 conversations with each of the council members as we move forward.

481
00:49:38,440 --> 00:49:45,840
 >> Okay. So I assume that will come to us as a body here as well.

482
00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:46,840
 >> Correct.

483
00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:50,760
 >> Okay. So thank you, Councilmember Metzler, for your note. Councilmember Davis, do you

484
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:52,560
 have anything you'd like to add?

485
00:49:52,560 --> 00:49:55,560
 >> No, not today.

486
00:49:55,560 --> 00:50:02,440
 >> Okay. The only -- I'm curious about our conversation on carbon reduction, if that's

487
00:50:02,440 --> 00:50:09,040
 going to come back to us in the future. I know we were waiting on some more data there.

488
00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:16,240
 And also the last thing is if we want to consider changing notification status, I think in our

489
00:50:16,240 --> 00:50:22,800
 ordinance for spraying, it's 24 hours. If we wanted to up that to 48 or 72 hours, I

490
00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:31,080
 know that our city has done well beyond the 24-hour notification that's in our ordinance.

491
00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:36,360
 They've done really, really great on this one. But if we wanted to make those changes

492
00:50:36,360 --> 00:50:47,400
 in an ordinance, if that's something we wanted to consider in the future for the matrix.

493
00:50:47,400 --> 00:50:51,320
 Or an update on it, maybe, even.

494
00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:56,840
 >> We can definitely add that to the matrix. We can discuss it in more detail. Part of

495
00:50:56,840 --> 00:51:02,520
 the challenge is if you have multiple cases that are in close proximity in time, with

496
00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:08,600
 a single applicator and a single machine to apply, sometimes you can't do that within

497
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:17,480
 a 48-hour time period. But we haven't seen a year like that since 2012. So we'd be glad

498
00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:21,080
 to bring back some information to kind of discuss the pros and cons.

499
00:51:21,080 --> 00:51:27,560
 >> Okay. That'd be great. So we'll just add that. Thank you. So I guess we are at our

500
00:51:27,560 --> 00:51:33,400
 conclusion of the meeting. And I appreciate everyone joining in today. And we will adjourn

501
00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:38,460
 at 1.53. Thank you, everybody.

502
00:51:38,460 --> 00:51:39,760
 >> Thank you.