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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 12/19/2013Water Board Minutes December 19, 2013 1 Fort Collins Utilities Water Board Minutes Thursday, December 19, 2013 Water Board Chairperson City Council Liaison Steve Malers, 484-1954 Wade Troxell, 219-8940 Water Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison Brett Bovee, 219-2747 Jon Haukaas, 221-6671 Roll Call Board Present Chairperson Steve Malers, Vice Chairperson Brett Bovee, Board Members Brian Brown, Liesel Hans, Andrew McKinley, Phil Phelan, Lori Brunswig, and Duncan Eccleston Board Absent Board Members Heidi Huber-Stearns, Eric Garner, and Becky Hill Staff Present Jon Haukaas, Kevin Gertig, Robin Pierce, Donnie Dustin, and Carrie Daggett Meeting Convened Chairperson Malers called the meeting to order at 5:31 p.m. Public Comment None Approval of November 21, 2013 Minutes Board Member Brown moved to approve the minutes of the November 21, 2013, meeting. Board Member Phelan seconded the motion. Vice Chairperson Bovee abstained from voting since he did not attend the November 21 meeting. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously. Work Session Review Chairperson Malers provided a recap of the topics discussed at the December 5 Work Session: - Update on oil and gas by Carol Webb, Regulatory and Government Affairs Manager. - Ballot measure called for a moratorium and a study to be conducted during the moratorium. Has the City put aside funding to conduct this study in the 2015-16 Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) process? It will go to Council work session on January 28th to discuss the citizen expectations and the City’s response prior to moving into the BFO process. - Code changes are underway on gray water use. - The brew waste pilot worked well. This is a new approach. If a dependency is established on a source of carbon for your process, the supply needs to be consistent. The City is figuring this out. - Timing of updates to the Water Efficiency Plan is changing from a 5 year to a 7 year cycle by the state. This is formerly called our Water Conservation Plan. Water Board Minutes December 19, 2013 2 Staff Reports Monthly Water Resources Report Water Resources Manager Donnie Dustin provided this report for the agenda packet. The year will end with 91-92% of projected supply. Issues with icing and “frazzles” (ice crystals) in the past two weeks prevented us from taking water from the Poudre River. Colorado-Big Thompson storage is still looking favorable. Snowpack in the South Platte basin is at 120%. These factors position us well for our 2014 water supply scenario. Mr. Dustin advised the board that we failed to file diligence on a Halligan Reservoir junior water right. The City is in the process of refiling this right with paperwork required by the end of this year. This will result in a change of our priority date from 1985 to 2013. Initial assessment indicates this does not impact the size of reservoir for the City’s storage needs. Most of the water rights that have been converted from agricultural use to supply use are planned for storage at the future reservoir. A conditional water right is meant to secure future plans. Due diligence is required every six years to prove to the state that the plan is still viable. Recognition of Board Member Phelan Staff and the board conducted special recognition for Board Member Phil Phelan, who has served nine years on the board with an engraved plaque and gift card. Board Member Phelan thanked everyone and noted that he has learned a lot during his tenure on the board. He has enjoyed the opportunity to work on protecting the City’s green canopy. Staff thanked Board Member Phelan for his service and noted the knowledge he brought to board discussions has had a significant, lasting impact. Draft Annual Report Chairperson Malers is working to develop the draft 2013 Annual Report. * Board Member Eccleston arrived at 5:57pm. Recommendation on Strategic Issues (City Focus Next 5 Years) The City is revising the Budgeting for Outcomes process, and the City Manager’s strategy team is working on five year goals and strategy. The team is seeking feedback from the City’s boards and commissions and through submissions to the Idea Lab website. Items that are not core services will be submitted to the process for consideration of approval with discretionary funds. Excerpt from Draft Water Board Minutes December 19, 2013 The Water Board developed the following list of opportunities for strategic focus by the City in the next five years. Items appear in a bulleted list and are not represented in order of priority. Areas of Recommended Strategic Focus Sustainability:  Maintain and enhance overall watershed health including sufficient level of monitoring  Restore more natural stream corridors within the city  Continue low impact development projects  Use the Ecological Response Model as a springboard to select and move toward desired outcomes  Minimize environmental impacts from resource development (energy-water nexus)  Gray water use in new construction and retroactively to existing construction Water Board Minutes December 19, 2013 3 Regional Opportunities:  Partner with our neighboring service districts  Develop water-sharing relationships with local agriculture Education and Information:  Increase awareness of water resources among citizens (“what you do matters”)  Communicate the value of utility services to the community  Shared vision planning as a community for water resource planning and use  Consideration of new alternative rate structures (e.g., water budget)  Develop a way to convey savings (share metrics) related to efficiency initiatives  Increased use of data (AMI) in policy and operations  Establish A nutrient removal plan including education and regulatory measures  Continue to partner with CSU on leading-edge, innovative projects Infrastructure and Human Resources:  System to capture institutional memory (succession planning)  Elevate safety as a driver in prioritization of stormwater infrastructure  Firm storage consistent with Water Supply and Demand Management Policy  Continual maintenance and improvement to infrastructure systems  Elimination of chlorine gas at Drake facility (convert to Ultraviolet technology)  System redundancy and contingency of raw water supplies  Philosophy of funding for capital projects (rates, bonds, etc.)  Nutrient removal using technology compatible with city values Preparedness:  Impact of catastrophic events on water supply (natural, transportation such as train derailment, etc.)  Climate change adaptation Comments on Code Changes for Review Board The Code provisions for the Ethics Review Board have remained the same for quite some time. This board also reviews complaints about board members. Therefore, the City Attorney’s office would like to give boards the opportunity for feedback on the code changes. Currently, as soon as a complaint is presented to Council, it becomes the object of public attention, regardless of merit of the complaint. A change is proposed to add a step where the Review Board would meet within ten days of the filing of the complaint to determine whether a formal investigation is called for, based on specific criteria. This serves to eliminate the potential for public attention on a complaint that may be without merit. Language about an alternate review board also needs to be added to the Code language. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously. Other Business Chairperson Malers noted that a Poudre River forum, “The River Runs Through It,” is scheduled for Saturday, February 8, 2014. More details are available at http://www.cwi.colostate.edu/thepoudrerunsthroughit/forum/index.shtml. Vice Chairperson Bovee asked that board members continue to bring opportunities to the attention of the board. Motion: Board Member Brown moves that the Water Board does not have any objections to the proposed changes with the Ethics Review Board. Board Member Eccleston seconded the motion.