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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Commission - Minutes - 06/17/2021 WATER COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING June 17, 2021, 5:30-7:30 p.m. online via Zoom 06/17/202 1 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER 5:30 p.m. 2. ROLL CALL • Commissioners Present: Kent Bruxvoort (Chairperson), Greg Steed (Vice Chairperson), Cibi Vishnu Chinnasamy, Tyler Eldridge, Paul Herman, Randy Kenyon, Phyllis Ortman, John Primsky, Jason Tarry • Commissioners Absent - Excused: Michael Brown • Staff Members Present: Theresa Connor, Matt Fater, John Song, Liesel Hans, Meagan Smith, Donnie Dustin • Members of the Public: Amy Volckens (Brendle Group) 3. AGENDA REVIEW • Chairperson Kent Bruxvoort briefly summarized items on the agenda. 4. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION • None 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES CHAIRPERSON BRUXVOORT ASKED FOR COMMENTS AND REVISIONS ON THE MAY 20 MINUTES. Commissioner Ortman moved to approve the May 20 minutes. Commissioner Kenyon seconded the motion. Vote on the motion: it passed unanimously 9-0. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Staff Reports (Attachments available upon request) i. Financial Monthly Report (meeting packet only) WATER COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 06/17/2021 – MINUTES Page 2 Discussion Highlights A Commissioner noted that the report did not include revenue details. Staff Liaison Matt Fater will follow up and an updated report will be forwarded to Commissioners. ii. Water Resources Monthly Report (meeting packet only) Discussion Highlights A commissioner referred to an article with a photo of a cup of black water in another city impacted by the wildfires; Water Resource Manager Donnie Dustin responded that there has been no indication of that level of contamination in the Poudre River, but the city is waiting for storms at higher elevations to observe further effects. iii. Memo: Utilities Affordability Programs Update and Proposed Changes (meeting packet only) iv. Memo: Oak Street Stormwater Improvements Project (meeting packet only) Discussion Highlights A commissioner requested some big picture overviews for this project. Staff Liaison Matt Fater responded; he first made a comparison, namely that there are stormwater outfalls at both Magnolia and Oak Street. The two can basically be seen as parallel designs. This project ties to the existing storm system that is already in the ground, thus maximizing an existing outfall. It is currently estimated to be a $24M project. v. Memo: Post-Fire Water Status Update (meeting packet only) vi. Interim Utilities Executive Director Quarterly Update Theresa Connor, Interim Utilities Executive Director, presented on Water Utilities updates this quarter, including the One Water Organization Assessment, 2021 enhancement updates, utilities reporting strategy, and a utility billing system update. She also announced that the City of Fort Collins Drinking Water won 2nd place nationwide in the American Water Works Association (AWWA) “Best of the Best” Water Taste Test. WATER COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 06/17/2021 – MINUTES Page 3 Discussion Highlights A commissioner inquired if there were any red flags regarding budget planning, but Ms. Connor responded that there have been no issues. A commissioner asked if there were any successes to share; Mr. Fater responded that they are very excited about the Oak Street Project, as well as how the Poudre Canyon Waterline Project is gaining a lot of momentum right now. A commissioner commented on the contractual dispute regarding the billing system and wondered about the portion of a news article regarding high employee turnover. Ms. Connor responded that they had previously believed that they were purchasing a product that was ready for immediate use, but they are finding that there are many parts that are having to be manually completed. They are taking note of what worked and didn’t work to instruct the project manager as they move forward, and the ultimate goal is to protect the rate payers. A commissioner asked about the Maximo system and the timeline to get it up and running to a proactive response state, as opposed to just reactive responses. Ms. Connor responded that the GIS portion has made extensive progress, and master planning work has been completed to about 90% to create a comprehensive dashboard. vii. Water Resource Matters in the Fort Collins Growth Management Area Water Resources Engineer II Meagan Smith and Amy Volckens, Senior Engineering Manager of Brendle Group, presented on the Water Resource Matters in the Fort Collins Growth Management Area Study. Utilities kicked off the study in January of 2021, which provides an evaluation of challenges and opportunities that arise from having multiple water service providers in the Fort Collins GMA. A fundamental driver for this study is to gain a better understanding of the various aspects of regional water issues from the City and Utilities’ perspectives. Study outcomes will include highlighting opportunities for better internal alignment and clarifying feasibility of potential solutions and necessary resources. Discussion Highlights A commissioner commented that within the City, there are opportunities to improve communications, e.g. excess use fee. Another commissioner commented that the development review process and differing standards across districts seem to be high hurdles that could be improved to make room to collaborate better in order to get through challenges together. Another commissioner said that the simple issue is supply and demand, and developers are looking to buy the cheapest water from the organization with the best water rights, i.e. the City. Another commissioner commented that the WATER COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 06/17/2021 – MINUTES Page 4 City actually does well to cross-communicate, but there could be better singularity, e.g. requesting a voluntary water watch while parks are being watered. Ms. Volckens did note that the Parks department used good water- conserving practices, but could see where the commissioner was coming from. The commissioner also commented that it would be good to reach across silos to develop interconnects and standard operating procedures (SOPs) across organizations to use before we actually need them. Another commissioner commented that, internally, there seems to be dramatic turnovers that likely needs to be addressed. Next, Utilities’ messaging could be improved to directly address customers’ concerns and questions more simply. Further, there’s an inevitability to share resources across organizations during drought scenarios and other circumstances, and the City should have foresight in this regard. Another commissioner commented that Utilities is doing a tremendous job addressing weather-related scenarios and other demands. They did hope for more uniformity when working across districts. Another commissioner commented that communication, e.g. surveys, is key within the City and among districts. As a citizen, being reached out to and involved is a big deal. Another commissioner commented that regardless of the organization citizens are getting water from, at the end of the day, they are Fort Collins residents, so consistency among the water service providers should be first and foremost. Customer service and billing structures are different among the service providers, with differing fee structures and technical standards. Another commissioner commented on water allocation and excess use fee, such as at Rigden Farm and how there was a disconnect in the design and thus the homeowners’ association had to deal with the excess use fees, so there needs to be lessons about how to align goals. The City could also address the inequity of the cost of water across districts. viii. Safe Water Action Program Interim Utilities Deputy Director Liesel Hans presented on the Safe Water Action Program (SWAP), proactive maintenance work and public health improvement efforts that finds and replaces galvanized pipes and lead goosenecks in our water system to reduce exposure to lead in the City’s drinking water. Discussion Highlights A commissioner commented that there’s a balance to be struck between transparency and creating undue concern, as risks are relatively low. Another commissioner inquired about the cost that it would take for homeowners who have to replace pipes on their side of the property. Ms. Hans responded that WATER COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING 06/17/2021 – MINUTES Page 5 they are looking at options, such as incentives to be proactive, but ultimately it would be work on private property, and the City cannot justify using ratepayer money for work on the privately-owned infrastructure on private property. b. Regular Items (Attachments available upon request) None 7. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None 8. OTHER BUSINESS Staff Liaison Matt Fater wanted to mention that the City is going through the 2022 budget process and plans to update the Commission in August. The public outreach efforts for the budget are underway. The Commissioners can visit https://ourcity.fcgov.com/2022budget for more information regarding the 2022 budget. 9. ADJOURNMENT 7:41 p.m. These minutes were approved by the Water Commission on August 19, 2021.