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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Minutes - Citizens Utility Advisory Commission - Meeting Date: 1/3/2018 • qv, GLFNIE FINAL MINUTES CITIZENS UTILITY ADVISORY COMMISSION OASIS WATER CAMPUS, 7070 NORTHERN AVE. GLENDALE, ARIZONA 85303 JANUARY 3, 2018 • 6:00 P.M. 1. CALL TO ORDER • Chair Jonathan Liebman called the meeting to order at 6:00p.m. 2. ROLL CALL Present: Chair Jonathan Liebman; Commissioner Robin Berryhili; Commissioner Stephen DeAngelo;.Commissioner Amber Ford; Commissioner Robert Gehl Absent: Vice Chair Ronald Short Also Megan Sheldon, Amanda McKeever, Katrina Alberty, Dan Present: Hatch 3. CITIZEN COMMENTS None. 4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Motion by.Commissioner Gehl, second by Commissioner DeAngelo,:to approve the December 6, 2017 meeting minutes as written. Motion • carried 5—0. 5. DIRECTOR'S REPORT Michelle Woytenko, Director of Field Operations, stated that Craig Johnson was ID this evening and unable to attend the meeting. Ms. Woytenko reported that the Finance Department will be presenting to Council the Five-Year Forecast for all funds: Water, Solid Waste, and Landfill. Ms. Woytenko stated that staff had asked the Finance Department to present the information to the • Commission first, however due to the timing, the they were unable to do so. Ms. Woytenko asked the Finance Department, in the future, the present the. Five-Year Forecast to the Commission prior to Council presentation. Chair Liebman inquired as to the date of the presentation. Ms. Woytenko replied that the presentation will be made at Council workshop on Tuesday, January • 9, 2018 at 12:30 p.m. Ms. Woytenko noted that there may be changes made to the Forecast after the Council review. Chair Liebman inquired if the workshop would-be broadcast live. Ms. Woytenko replied that the workshop would be broadcast live andalso recorded for later viewing. 6. PLANNING FOR 2018 STRATEGY AND AGENDA The Commissioners were provided with a listof topics that were on the monthly meeting agendas:from October 2015 through December.2017.. A list of monthly proposed agendatopics for the.2018:meetings was also.provided. Chair Liebman asked staff fora more detailed.description of each.proposed agenda topic. •January 2018:. Calendar Of Topics - •February 2018: Annexation.— Utilities West of 1.15th Avenue Ms. Logan, Deputy Water Services Director, explained that staff will present information regarding the current waste/water utilities west of 115th Avenue which are currently offered by private providersand an overview of the benefitsand challenges and the City's role going forward in regards to utilities west of 115th Avenue. Ms. Logan noted that this information has also been provided to Council. Commissioner DeAngelo inquired asto.the number.of vendors'and square miles.west of 115th Avenue.. Ms. Logan did not have this ' information at hand, but will:followup. Commissioner Berryhillrecalled that the City never intended to provide water services west of 115th Avenue, the area would be serviced:would be private providers. Mt. Logan replied that the stance of a previous Council was that the City was not going toprovide water and.sewer • services west of 1.15th Avenue,.which remains.. The current Council is reviewing the stance while acknowledging the private providers are doing an excellent job. . Chair Liebman wondered how far.the area west of 115th extends. Ms. Logan replied that the areaextends from 115th Avenue.to Highway-303:. • March 2018: Balanced Scorecard —City Strategic Planning Ms. Woytenko explained that this would be an.update.on the Balanced Scorecard:. where the City currently stands citywide and where the City .is going. Ms. Logan recalled that this.agenda item was previously suggested by Vice ChairShort. ..April 2018: Materials Recycling Facility Ms. Woytenko noted the following: The City's Recycling:Facility was built in 1999.0nd since that lime, no significant infrastructure improvementshave been.made. The facility isused for recycling, newspaper and other items, but therehas been a change'in the market.. A decision needs to be made whether to remodel the facility or outsource the service. The market has changed. In the past, much:of'the-recycled materials were purchased:by China, however, this is no longer the case. - Commissioner Gehl commented that he Was-recently listening to a program on theradio, which indicated that:China has stopped purchasing recyclables-from the US'andthis is an issue for other cities too. • Ms. Woytenko noted that residents.havebeen asking the City to recycle glass and there is a market for recycled glass. This will be part of the discussion during the agenda:item. •May 2018: Financial Update Ms. Woytenko.explained that this agendatopic Will be the financial :forecast. Ms. Logan added:thatthe rateincrease took effect yesterday and by April, there will be first quarter numbers to review at the May meeting. Ms, Logan noted that this would be the forecast versus actual figures. Chair:Liebman commented that.for rate increase Options 1.and.2, he hada pro-forma forecast and metrics. Chair Liebman'did not recall receiving this for. Option 3, which was the approved rate increase, and . wondered if this could be provided. Ms: Loganreplied in the.positive: •June:2018: No meeting.: •July2018: No:meeting. ' •.August2018: Commercial:Solid Waste Rate Study- Ms. Woytenko explained that commercial customers have the option to. use the City or a private provider for solid waste and therefore, the City needs to be competitive.- Ms. Woytenko would like to walk the Commission through the Commercial Solid Waste Study. The study will provide data to decide if the City should stay in this business or-not, Chair- Liebman wondered if this topic could be presentedin two parts.: updates on partnerships:that the City:has with commercial customers and opportunities for other commercial partners. Ms. Woytenko. explained that this service is whereby the City solicits and picks up.solid waste at commercial businessesand:the:Citycharges rates based on the frequency of pick-ups and bin size: Ms.Woytenko noted that this does not involve many partnerships, however, the IGA's do provide for partners with regards to the landfill: Chair Liebman.asked if there were opportunities to create more partnerships to compete with Waste Management•or Republic Services. Chair Liebman asked if the City is able to compete and go after more commercial customers to keep rates low for residents. Ms: Woytenko noted that in the past, the City considered apartment buildings to be residential properties. However, state law changed and mandated that the City has to consider apartment buildings as commercial properties. for the purposes:of solid waste.. That change was made in.July 2016. Since that time, the City has had to compete with Waste.Management, Republic.Services, and others for business with the apartments. Ms. Woytenko stated that the City initially lost approximately 20% of the - apartment business, This was expected because staff anticipated that the national companies.would contact the apartment complexes; :Ms. Woytenko noted.that since then, staff, has brought the number of commercial customers back to what it had been through working a little more.aggressively. Ms. Woytenko is-proud of.the:service that the City providesand this will be presented more in depth in August, September 2018: Blue Barrel Pilot Results Ms. Woytenko-stated that there has been an issue withcontaminationin therecycle program. Ms. Woytenko noted that in discussions With some residents, some do not-know which barrel is refuse and which is recycling. In light of this,.staff is rolling out.a Blue Barrel:Pilot Program, - Whereby in two areas of the City, staff will put out a blue barreland:talk with residents about the recycling program.. Ms.Woytenko relayed that nationally and:globally,..people associate the color blue with recycling, The goal of the pilot program is to see if the color blue:makes a difference in the recycling. Ms. Woytenko stated that the resultswill first be.brought:to.the Commission and then to Council before deciding on changing city-wide.to a blue barrel for recycling. Chair Liebman asked, if decided; the green cans Would be replaced with blue. Ms. Woytenko replied that this is.part of implementationand it could be done all,at one time or as the green-bins break and require - replacement. Chair Liebman asked if this change Would require a change to the truck infrastructure and Ms. Woytenko replied in.the negative. . . •October 2018: Landfill Master Plan Ms. Woytenko announced that the staff will present the 15-Year Landfill - Master Plan to Council in November or December 2018.and therefore, it willbe presented to the Commission in October for:review.. Ms. Woytenko noted that the Landfill Master Plan is tied into the financial forecast. • November 2018: Financial Update It was noted that this financial update is the same as May-2018, but with -six months of actuals and the Five-Year Forecast. •December 2018:- 2019 Rate Study Ms. Logan commented that in December, the rate study-process begins again. -Chair Liebman noted that one or two of the Councilmembers had concernsregarding how the previous rate study was put together. Chair Liebman stated that one Councilmember had a specific concern that there was not enough work regarding actual tiers of services and the Councilmember was adamant that more thought should.go into different: tiers of services for different volumes. Chair Liebman.requested'more analysis'of different rates for different tiers of service. Chair Liebman stated that basically, the recent rate increase was a percentage increase: Ms. Logan stated that there are tiers of series andstaff can take a look at all options. Ms. Logan agreed that the.recent rate increase was made uniformly across all blocks. Chair Liebman thought that this was why one Councilmember voted against the increase. Ms. Logan noted that one Councilmember asked staff to look into lowering the rate for the higher tier. Chair Liebman stated that he wouldoppose that and would prefer a higher rate on the higher tier to force water conservation: Ms. Logan noted that this is a good topic discussion to bring forward: does the Commission want a rate structure which promotes conservation? Chair Liebman suggested the following:. - •Chair Liebman would like to better understand the current City bond structure:, how much ate.the:bonds, when do they come due,-is there laddering of the bonds, and what is the final output. Chair Liebnian's. - biggest concern was the City's exposure In each year: Ms.'Woytenko suggested this topic as:part Of the.Financial Update. Chair Liebman clarified that this was for water and utilities only and asked if this could be added to the May agenda, :Ms. Woytenko and Ms. Logan replied in the positive. •Chair:Liebman requested'a quarterly update on the Capital-Improvement' Projects (CIP). •Chair. Liebman noted that in March-2017,.the Commission had a budget briefing and wondered if this would be done in'March 2018. Ms. Woytenko relayed that this.was not included.because the.Commission was provided with detailed financials/budgets during the Rate Increase Study, whichare the financials/budget that staff is taking to Counc il. Ms: Woytenko noted that all of the CIP projects havebeen submitted; all bond projects were due today, and all operationprojects are due by.the January 19th. Chair Liebman requested a'copy of the budget for FYI8-19.and Ms. Woytenko replied in.the positive. Amanda McKeever, - Administrator, Field Operations,'indicated that this.could:be included in the May agenda as staff'will have already brought the CIP.before Council and will have a better direction regarding:CIP numbers. Chair Liebman stressed that there should be a voice'regarding the budget With the Option'3 rate increase and the correlation to CIP. Chair Liebman - ' wondered if a capital project could be torpedoed. Ms. McKeever replied= that Staff is in close contact with the Budget Office. Chair Liebman wondered if during the Balanced.Scorecard agenda topic that the Commission could receive an update on the FY1-8-19 budget and the ' Option 3 forecast. Ms..Logan askedfor clarification that Chair Liebman would'information on the FY18-19 Budget and thecorrelation between therate study revenue and expenses. Ms. Logan noted.that Mr. Dan Hatch:is diligently working on preparing this information based on the Option-3.model:and it will be-provided once compiled. Chair Liebman' commented that for eight years;there was no rate increase and a . millionnote was given to the NHL. Chair Liebman stated that the City now has tO,catch Up with what should have been done and he does not want to see that happen again. Chair Liebman stressed the need for clean water and that:residents want the right infrastructure. Ms.:Logan agreed and'appreciated Chair Liebman asking about CIP. It was agreed that the.CIP.presentation Would be. held'in September. •-Chair Liebman requested a presentation on water quality: Ms. Logan explained that there is a Consumer Confidence.Report:(CCR) that could - be provided, which staff is drafting for 2017 and should be completed by late spring/early summer. It was agreed that theissue may not be a full agenda item for discussion, but rather distribution of the CCR and discussion if necessary. •Chair Liebman requested information on the drought. Commissioners Gehl and Berryhill agreed: Commissioner Berryhill noted the drought issues in California and wondered about the impact onwater supply. Commissioner Berryhill'wondered if residents west of 11-5th Avenue have private wells and if they were annexed, Would the wells be grandfathered in, - Ms. Logan stated that there are some private wells in that area and willfollow up on the grandfather clauses: Ms. Sheldon,.Environmental Program Manager, relayed that because the City is in an active management area, there are limits on how much can be pumped and issues with theinstallation of new pumps. Ms. Sheldon noted that most of these issues are handled by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the City does not have much - say in-the installation of a well. Ms. Logan stated that for this discussion, staff will bring in area experts to dive deeper into the topic. Commissioner Ford thanked staff for doing a good job in bringing:new . information to light during the Director's Report. Commissioner Ford felt confident that if a topic was not specifically noted in the agenda plan, that it would be reported.on.during the Director's Report. Commissioner DeAngelo agreed with the request for an update onWater quality. . Chair Liebman noted that there has not been issues with water quality in the City however it would be good to have an'update.. Commissioner Berryhill noted that the May meeting might bevery heavy and suggested the consideration of two meetings in May, With an additional meeting on the third Wednesday Of the month. Ms. Logan replied thatthis couldbe scheduled. Chair Liebman agreed, but announced that he could not attend the third Wednesday of the month. :Ms. Logan recapped that topics for the !Vial, meeting Financial Update include: • Bond structure •Current bonds •Laddering •When sold •When due •.Financial outlook • FY18-19 budget update The agenda topic list will be revised and re-distributed to include this evening's suggestions. 7. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS The floor was opened for Commissioner comments. No additional comments were made. 8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Previously discussed. 9. NEXT MEETING The next meeting regular meeting of the Citizens Utility Advisory Commission will be held on February 7, 2018 at 6:00 p.m. at the Oasis Water Campus, 7070 W. Northern Avenue, Glendale, Arizona, 85303. 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion by Commissioner DeAngelo, second by Commissioner Gehl, to adjourn the meeting at 7:03 pan. Motion carried 5—0. The Citizens Utility AdvisoryCommission meeting minutes of January 3, 201.8 were approved as amended on the 7th.day of February 2018. Deni e Kazmierczak Recording Secretary