BOISE PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION MINUTES May 13, 2010

Transcription

1 BOISE PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION MINUTES May 13, 2010 Commission: Guests: Staff: Jim Titmus, Chairman, Renee Quick, Joan Cloonan, Don Reading, Laila Maqbool, Donna Marie Hayes, and Lisa Young Beth Elroy, Micron Neal Oldemeyer, John Tensen, Paul Woods, Heather Mink, Marcia Schmelzer, Doug Strickling, Jim Pardy, Jon Williams, Bill Johnson, Vince Trimboli, Kent Johnson, Catherine Chertudi, Robbin Finch, Dick Bonnet, Pamela Williams, Megan Kershner, Tonya Wallace, Carmen Uscola, and Julie Quinn Item Page 1. Approval of Minutes, April 8, Tentative: Appeal on Sewer Connection Fee 1 3. Solid Waste Ordinance Update 1, 2 4. Rates and Cash Flow 2, 3 5. Account Write offs 3 6. Land Acquisition ~ Lombac Construction Property 3, 4 7. PWC Sub committee Report 4 Consent: 8. Updates to Utility Billing and Collections Policy Manual 4 Director s Report 4, 5 Call to order: Jim Titmus, Public Works Commission Chairman called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 1. Approval of the April 8, 2010 Minutes. Renee Quick moved to accept the April 8, 2010 Minutes. Donna Marie Hayes seconded and the motion carried unanimously. 2. Appeal on Sewer Connection Fee. The appeal has been withdrawn. 3. Solid Waste Ordinance Update. Paul Woods and Catherine Chertudi explained that the ordinance has not been revised since 2002, and should reflect the new trash and recycling wheeled cart program. Members and staff s comments follow: Support idea of converting details to policies, not ordinances Edit language p. 8, carts shall not be abused Language about recycling every other week allows flexibility for future changes (i.e. residential yard waste) in alternate weeks List of recycling materials may need to be updated to reflect current commodity market 1

2 Reduce Reuse Recycle is a program, not part of the ordinance Need to have clear language about liquids especially for fast food restaurants and movie theaters Language about cart placement and removal is satisfactory Paul acknowledged Catherine and her staff for their diligence and hard work in updating the ordinance. Building permit fees Currently the department reviews all commercial building plans for screening and size of the area for trash services. Staff has asked Planning and Development Services to help with enforcement for the as builts, the same as they do for stormwater drainage system inspections. Legal will review options and provide feedback about the process. Tires The department has received a complaint about tires sales and the number of tires stored on commercial properties. Staff will work with Code Enforcement to determine a reasonable number of tires that can be stored and recycled and bring back a proposal to the commission, along with improvements to the commercial recycling program. Glass As reported last month, the ACHD has notified the city they are no longer going to accept and store glass. This week, the staff toured the Mountain Home Air Force Base to see their glass crusher. The Air Force is interested in surplusing the crusher free of charge to Boise City; Ada County is interested in locating it at the landfill. The county could use the crushed glass for road mix and daily cover at the landfill. Staff will make a presentation about Curb It to the City Council on May 18, and will include information about the glass crusher. 4. Rates and Cash Flow. Jon Williams noted that staff is in the process of updating the FY 2011 budget, the 2 nd year of the 2 year cycle. The council will hold a work session in June and a public hearing is planned for July 20 th to consider the rate increases. Following is a summary of the cash flow projections for the funds: Solid Waste Fund In December 2008 there was a significant increase in customer rates. Since then there was an increase to Allied s reimbursement rate for residential but it did not impact customer rates. For FY 2010 rates are balanced. It is expected that if the landfill rates increase, then the city would consider an increase to customer rates. Geothermal Fund The projections assume a 3% increase for FY 11. A decision will be made later in the summer following a comparison with the Intermountain Gas rates. The projections also show peaks and valleys with expenditures and revenues related to the extension to BSU. The revenue budget for FY 11 has been adjusted to normal heating degree days. The rates were established with the goal of paying back the General Fund, $100,000 per year. 2

3 Sewer Fund The projections show both the one plant and two plant scenarios. Last year, the staff presented a rate analysis with customer rate increases of 12% in FY 10 and 5% in FY 11. A 5% increase in FY 11 is still the staff recommendation primarily to fund phosphorus removal over 10 years. Revenue projections are down about $ 1 million in part to lower usage at Micron and declines in winter water use for both residential and commercial customers. Overall water use is down due to a slower economy, energy efficient changes to the plumbing code, and conservation messaging. The decreases negate any growth the staff had projected for FY 11, and staff is revising budget projections to account for lower growth rates. Operations and maintenance expenses remain the same as do the service alternatives. The 5% increase is already in the budget to account for the deficit. While growth has slowed, there is plenty of capacity at West Boise should a new big business locate in Boise. Discussions regarding Lander Street are still out a couple of years. Should there be problems at the facility, West Boise will have the capacity to handle diverted flows from Lander Street. Donna Marie Hayes moved to approve the cash flow projection updates and to recommend Council approval of the 5% rate increase for sewer. Laila Maqbool seconded and the motion carried unanimously. 5. Account Write offs. Heather Mink noted that several months ago staff proposed the amnesty program for overdue accounts. Instead of offering this program staff, would like to take advantage of a new section in the Idaho Code which allows cities to add a collection fee of 33% for outstanding balances carried over 24 months. Staff would like to use this option and is requesting approval to issue an RFP and select an outside collection agency. The agency could begin collecting on outstanding accounts without having to offer amnesty, and the effort would not require funds from the city budget. In response to a question, Neal noted that the current collection process includes turning the accounts over to collections, sending letters, publishing names on the web (in lieu of the newspaper), and the sewer shut off process. Staff volunteered to look into the option of starting the collection process sooner, maybe at 12 months overdue. Laila Maqbool moved to approve the request to issue an RFP to select an outside collection agency for collection of closed Utility Billing accounts exceeding 24 months. Renee Quick seconded and the motion carried unanimously. 6. Land Acquisition ~ Lombac Construction Property. John Tensen updated the commission on the recommendation for the property acquisition. Originally, staff recommended the purchase of 2.5 acres to provide a buffer for the plant, control access for pipeline construction, provide a corridor for the Three Cities River Crossing, and to secure right of way for a relocated sludge line. In December 2007, the commission and Council approved the budget for the purchase of the Lombac property but due to complications with the owner s finances, the purchase did not go through. 3

4 This spring, the owner again contacted the city to offer the property for sale, and they negotiated a reduced price based on market conditions. After reaching agreement, staff learned that the Three Cities River Crossing project was unlikely and staff reevaluated the need to purchase the property. In the report, staff had recommended purchasing an easement for the right of way needed for the sludge pipeline relocation. After further evaluation, John recommended buying a corner of the property, about 30,000 square feet (estimated $ 60,000), to take care of the easement for the pipeline and reserve an area in the event Three Rivers Crossing is built. He also explained that in the future, access for biosolids trucks, septage haulers, etc. may be moved to the west side of the plant and the current access would be used for administration and the Boise WaterShed visitors and students. The Commission supported this recommendation and suggested that staff purchase enough property to meet the needs of the department. Joan Cloonan moved to approve the concept of purchasing a portion of the Lombac property, the specific amount of land to be negotiated between the city and the property owner. Don Reading seconded and the motion carried unanimously. 7. Public Works Commission Sub committee Report. Donna Marie Hayes noted that the committee (Joan Cloonan, Renee Quick, and Donna Marie Hayes) has met to tackle the commission s mission statement and goals. Chairman Titmus suggested adding outreach to the public education goal. Next, the committee will review the ordinances and terms. Members agreed with the committee s work thus far. 8. Updates to Utility Billing and Collections Policy Manual. By unanimous consent, the commissioners agreed to update the policies for vacancy, residential trash exemption, low income discounts and employee accounts as included in the staff report. Director s Report Paul Woods explained that the oil release to the Boise River is being addressed primarily by ACHD. The process for treating the discharge is defined in the stormwater permit and ACHD is the lead. City staff is working in a support role and verified that the oil was not coming out of the gulch system. DEQ analyzed the samples and concluded it was motor oil. ACHD has TV d 1500 linear feet and has not found the source nor have they determined the amount of oil. To confirm what was reported in the Statesman, the city is not going to use the monies set aside for the co generation project included in the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant funds. Instead, the staff will use a provision in the state code, the energy performance contract which is used by schools and cities to select a private entity to fund and build the installation. The entity will recover the costs of the facility by selling the power. Once the investment has been recovered, the facility will be turned over to the city. This solution gives the city the opportunity to have 4

5 co generation in place without impacting the cash flow. The Community Block Grant monies will go towards retrofitting additional streetlights to LED technology. The department is arranging a tour of the Dixie Drain property for the congressional delegation, July 7. They will also invite EPA and DEQ regional administrators, local officials and environmental representatives. The goal is to explain the trading concept and the beneficial uses for the Lower Boise River. Neal and staff continue to meet with EPA and DEQ about the trading concept. EPA has indicated they would issue an NPDES permit for the Dixie Drain to address only those pollutants added to the Drain itself, and not address phosphorus or any other issues at the plants. Staff is preparing a scope of work for a feasibility analysis on the Dixie Drain to describe how the water would be treated. The department is preparing an RFP for struvite production, and is using a design build operate and market format. Following legal review, the RFP should be ready to go in about 30 days. Paul Woods is participating in the Combined Aquifer Management Plan (CAMP) project on behalf of Boise along with other Treasure Valley cities. The management plan will include data about water needs and usage for the next 50 years, and will be adopted by the legislature and become part of the state s water plan The Bench Sewer District has sent a letter to the department requesting an extension to the merger contract to a date beyond Neal explained that he will not be making that recommendation to the PWC, Mayor or Council. The staff has informed the Mayor and Council and they will keep the commission informed as discussions progress. Neal announced that John Gardner from Boise State University will be joining the commission. The Mayor and Council are scheduled to confirm his appointment on May 18, 2010 to fill the current vacancy. Jim Titmus volunteered to serve on the selection panel with the Arts and History Department for review and selection of temporary public artworks. Donna Marie Hayes moved to adjourn the meeting. Joan Cloonan seconded and the motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 5:20 pm. Neal S. Oldemeyer, Secretary James L. Titmus, Jr. Chairman H:\msoffice\Word\PWC\2010\ MINS.doc 5