All right, the time is now five o'clock. I'd like to call today's Utility Service Board meeting to order.
The City of Bloomington Utility's mission is to enhance the quality of life in our community by providing
safe, sustainable, and high-quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services in a cost-effective
manner, promoting public health, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship.
If any board member has any personal or financial conflict with any issues or individuals on the agenda,
then please be sure to recuse yourself during those portions of the meeting. We will begin with petitions
and communications. Are there any petitions and communications from the public? Hearing none, we'll
move along to the approval of minutes from the previous meeting. I move we approve on the minutes.
of the October 20th meeting. We have a motion, do we have a second? Second. All in favor please say
aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Minutes are approved. Moving along to the approval of the claims. First
we have standard invoices for a total amount of $1,129,849.
Are there any questions or comments on the standard invoices? I have a question for later. And given
that page two Denton's Bingham green bomb and page six STANTAC, just could we get an update on the status
of the water rate case during the staff meeting? Or the staff briefing?
Thank you. That's all. Any other questions or comments? How's our progress coming along with the third
Lincoln litigation? We will also save that for staff reports. Okay. I just brought it up here because we're,
paying an invoice. Glad to hear it later. All right, I move approval of our standard invoices for today.
Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Standard invoices are approved. Next
we have utility bills for a total amount of $11,165.09. Any questions or comments on the utility bills?
I move approval of utility bills, pay date,
October 30th. Second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Utility bills are approved.
Next we have wire transfers for a total amount of $550,442.72. Any questions or comments on the wire
transfers? I move we approve the wire transfers for November. Second. All in favor please say aye. Aye.
All opposed say nay.
Wire transfers are approved. Lastly, we have customer refunds for an amount of $2,308.52. Are there
any questions or comments on the customer refunds? Quick question. I just was interested in the type
of account that Bryant Park neighborhood has and why they're getting a refund. Not that they shouldn't
get one, but I'm just always curious when something like that comes in.
Does anyone know what type of account they have and why why the neighborhood has an account with us
What could be like in my homeowners association we have like common That I don't have one Thank you,
I don't have one at my house
And so then our homeowners Association pays for that because it's common to the neighborhood So I would
have that's what I assumed but I thought oh, it's gonna can who's continuing on maybe it's like a new
HOA president They're setting up a new account was my Assumption is familiar with the neighborhood.
So I right not a part of it. That's why I grew up Sorry, like what are the facilities associated with
them? Anyway, that's all just a question. Maybe you can tell me
some email or something like that later. Okay thank you. Okay I move approval of customer refunds for
November 7th. I second. All in favor please say aye. Aye. All opposed say nay. Customer refunds are
approved. Moving along to the approval of consent agenda. Catherine Zager.
Good evening, I'm Katherine Zager, utilities director. I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling
$27,151.95 for nonchemical contracts. First contract is with Stageflow Consulting LLC for $8,900 for
completing a high visual hazard AM inspection and report of Griffey Dam in accordance with guidelines
prescribed by the IDNR.
Next is with SET Environmental Inc for $16,451.95 for waste disposal and recycling services at Monroe
Water Treatment Plant. Next is with Brenntag Midsouth Inc for 38 cents a pound for the 2026 supply of
sodium bicarbonate or soda ash at Blucher Pool Wastewater Treatment Plant. Next is with Brenntag Midsouth Inc for
$1.225 per pound for the 2026 supply of sodium hydroxide or caustic soda at Blucher Pool Wastewater
Treatment Plant. Next is with Brenntag Mid-South Inc. for 37 cents a pound for the 2026 supply of calcium
hydroxide or lime at Blucher Pool Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Next is with Brent Eggman South Inc for 31 cents a pound for the 2026 supply of sodium aluminate paper
makers at Dillman wastewater treatment plant. Next is with Brent Eggman South Inc for 22 cents a pound
for the 2026 supply of sodium bisulfate at Dillman wastewater treatment plant. Next is with Brent Eggman
South Inc for
point one seven five dollars per pound for the 2026 supply of ammonium hydroxide or aqua ammonia at
Monroe water plant Next is with Brent hug mid-south Inc for point one nine five cents per pound For
the 2026 supply of sodium hydroxide or caustic soda and Monroe water plant and
Next is with Brinteg Mid-South Inc. for $4.03 a gallon for the 2026 supply of sodium thiosulfate at
Monroe Water Plant. The last is with Brinteg Mid-South Inc. for 25 cents a pound for the 2026 supply
of hydrofluorosilic acid or fluoride at Monroe Water Plant. Is there any member who wishes to consider
one or more of these items individually?
Hearing none, if there is no opposition, these items will be approved as recommended by staff. Hearing
no opposition, the consent agenda is approved. Thank you. Item six on our agenda is request approval
of encroachment agreement, Chris Wheeler. Hi, Chris Wheeler with City Legal. This item is
a request by staff to approve an encroachment agreement. And I kind of wanted to walk through it a little
bit with you here. Gotta pull up my notes here, sorry. So this is in Spicewood, section two, phase four
of Spicewood neighborhood. And it is part of the plat. This easement is a platted easement
which means we don't own the easement. We enjoy a reserved right to have our infrastructure in that
easement, and we have sewer lines in that easement. We are allowed to install and operate our infrastructure
in this particular easement. What we have discovered, not because of anything we did, but the
The owners of the property wanted to put a deck on their house, which has nothing to do with this issue.
But in trying to get the deck put on their house, they discovered that they've got an issue with where
their house is located. And I think we provided a map for the board to look at. There's a tiny little
corner of the house, just a, I think like a foot of the house sits into the easement, which doesn't
seem like a big deal. And as far as our ability to operate our infrastructure in that easement, it isn't
a big deal right now.
But we wanted to take steps with them to ensure that they are allowed to keep the house in the easement
and to take steps to make sure that CBU is protected in the event something weird should ever happen
with regards to that house in relation to our infrastructure in the easement. So we came up with this
agreement.
Ordinarily when we find situations like that and we've brought things to this court where or to this.
Sorry, I've been in litigation mind all day today brought before this board. We've often time we've
seen some kind of financial reimbursement. Like maybe we'll try to adjust the lines of the easement
or some compensation, but we don't. Since we don't own this easement, we don't have any monetary value
that's assigned to the easement.
change the lines of the easement. We don't have any authority there, so simply we're trying to protect
ourselves. And that's where I wanted to direct your attention. I think it's paragraph four. Let me pull
it up real quick. Real quick, it's famous last words, isn't it?
finding it in my computer at the moment. It's page 34 of the PDF. That's what you have. Chris, would
you like a paper copy? Do you have one? I'm not seeing it. I had it pulled out earlier, and then I started
to understand. Oh, right there. Paragraph four. My apologies. Go from here. I was right. It's paragraph
four. But that's the paragraph you want to look at. That's the name one we are concerned about, which
is basically to release any and all claims in action.
damages that might occur as a result of the existence of the house sitting in that easement. What this
essentially what in addition to that being very particularly important to us I wanted to point out that.
This plant language does not when when I'm looking at spice would and the way the developer
of the neighborhood. Created these easements this particular easement
does not prohibit property owners from using the easement. They own the property so they can use the
easement as long as it's not somehow contradictory or in conflict with our interest in that easement.
As it stands, the house sitting where it is isn't contradictory to what we are doing in that easement.
If someday down the road, long way down the road, we needed to upsize our infrastructure for some reason,
that would now create a problem between our existence in the easement and that house, they're on the
hook and they're gonna have to cover the cost of our damages as a result. So I'm trying to think of
an example here. We, in the big dig when we were renovating the culvert for the hidden river,
We had one property where the people owning the property wanted to keep their house. They didn't want
to get rid of it and it was situated in a position inside of our easement. We entered an agreement with
them and did. Monday's back and forth and they had to. We had to put a retaining wall in a great big
heavy structured retaining wall between the house and our infrastructure to allow them to stay in the
easement and us to have our infrastructure there.
That sort of a thing could happen in the future if their house continues to be where it is and we have
to upsize to a point where somehow the house is now undermined by the fact that we're digging. So this
this this agreement takes care of those types of future concerns. Also if their house ever gets destroyed
or they think they want to add on this agreements gone they can't they can't extend further into the
easement they have to get out of the easement. So I feel like it will protect us and our interests.
And staff, this is long wood that I apologize, but staff does recommend that you approve the easement
agreement. Appreciate it. Any questions for Chris? It's a good summary. Yeah. Thank you. I move approval
of the encroachment agreement as discussed. Second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed say
nay. The request is approved. Thank you.
Moving along to old business, any old business from the board? Old business from staff. Yes. I just
wanted to give an update about the questions we've had about the fleet charges. So Matt and Matt's team
has done a great job of finding some preliminary costs for just regular maintenance from a local shop
offered for research purposes only.
which is kind of difficult when you're not quoting or trying to get quotes specifically. We're looking
at these numbers now and they've been sent to the office of the mayor, the controller and to DPW for
comparison and verification to make sure they're an accurate comparison to what charges and work are
being performed by fleet. So we just wanna make sure that what we have is comparable to what we're receiving.
So hopefully we will be able to present to you soon, yet this year. Yes. And this was just our question
from earlier this year when we were going over the MOU and some other things. This is just for routine
maintenance that we're trying to get some ballpark coating on. It's not major repairs that we won't
know. It's just the routine maintenance. Thank you. Correct.
Any questions for Kat? Okay. New business. Any new business from the board? New business from staff?
Subcommittee reports. There was no subcommittee meeting today. Staff report. We had a bid opening. Do
we have to record that? When do we? No.
Do I need to mention that we had a bid opening or no? Okay, sorry, my apologies. No, you're fine. Staff
reports. Yeah, we've got a few. Let's start with, I think Phil has a staff report for the team,
for the board. Good evening, board. Phil Peden, engineering. So this is my chance to play Dave Roberts,
manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He, in the World Series, he took Shohei Otani,
hit some of the most home runs this season. He moved it from cleanup down to lead off because that gave
his team an advantage and made his lineup more efficient. So in engineering, we have looked at our division.
We've decided we can make it more efficient and streamline some of our practices by swapping a few people
in the lineup into different roles. So Rachel has a thing here. I'd like to show you the print small,
so you may have to turn around and look backwards. But the gist of it is Jane
Flee and Caden Swanson had members of their team that they managed that were parts of different programs
that we run. And so we've shifted those so that all of the plan review process is under Caden. And we
and we titled that new development and permitting engineering. And then under James, she now has the
inspectors and the technicians who handle a lot of the field work and construction activities. And so
she's the utilities engineer construction marks.
been in the role of capital projects coordinator or manager over over the capital projects manager and
capital projects coordinator. I missed up the words there, but his didn't change from what we have.
So what we're doing is as we work with Mr. Hiddles team and planning, try to get all our practices for
plan review incorporated into the EPL software. Kaden is is managing that program, developing that with
the IT department and
It seems to be already making a huge difference in our team having this reorganization. So just wanted
to share that with the board and and hopefully we can keep winning like the Dodgers with our new. Thank
you for that. I see you have blue on to represent the Dodgers as well. Phil is always
good for a great sports analogy. And I'll take this time to publicly thank or congratulate Bloomington's
own Will Klein, who was a pitcher for the Dodgers. So there's that. That was a really good story. This
is awesome, by the way. So thank you. Any questions? So Tanya's moved over from plan review coordinator
to project coordinator. Is that a new position?
So she took Nancy Axum's job. She was promoted. And so typically, we would bring someone to the board
to present them to the board when they were in. She was out following that. So we just haven't coordinated
that. But I'm sure she'll be in front of the board to present a contract or something where we can get
in there and acknowledge that. I kind of thought once we hired that new plan review coordinator, we
could bring them both in and do that. But we're interviewing for that position now.
What what where we and I'm glad you brought that up because that plan review coordinator was under utility
technician. It didn't have its own title and so they were all there was three utility technicians. They
all well two did the same thing and then tanius position has always been separate and it was doing plan
review and it's been like that for 20 some years, but in it and it just sat under that you utility technician
position. So we re we re. We redid the job description to make it accurate.
to what she was doing. Some of that came out in that job study that was done through the mayor's office
last year as well. We will be filling that position soon. Thank you for asking about that. Any other
questions for Phil? Thank you. Any other staff reports? Yes.
So Chris Wheeler, you want to give a progress report on Third and Lincoln? Work my way down my list.
Hi, Chris Wheeler with City Legal. So a while back, we were given the green light to pursue a lawsuit
against the now defunct
known as Leonard's Linens. I'm paraphrasing, I'm not exactly sure what their legal name is, but I call
it Leonard's Linens. We filed suit back on March 10th of this year. We are in front of Judge Bradley
in Monroe County Circuit One. The pleadings phase is completed. We did have an initial pretrial conference
on August 19th of this year. Out of that conference, the parties have agreed to a trial schedule, which the court
turned into its pretrial order. Some important dates in that order are that our discovery will require,
our discovery will close on May 15th of next year. So we're in the discovery phase right now. But fact
discovery closes on the 15th of May. Expert and damages discovery will close on June 30th of next year.
And the trial is set for November 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th of next year. We have filed a preliminary witness
and exhibit list in the matter, which was due, I think on the, it was due today. We filed it on Friday.
And so we've got that done. We're waiting for their witness and exhibit list to be presented to us,
which helps to inform us on how we might handle some of our discovery.
I'm happy to take any questions as far as what I can discuss in the procedural aspect of this case Otherwise,
that's it You remember I can't remember how much we spent on the remediation for this Yeah, it was just
a little north of a million dollars and our our damages are a little north of what we originally Demanded
in our demand letter. So and
Chris, in the case of a company that's defunct, I assume we're kind of looking at the insurance company
that they had at that time. Environmental law allows us to pursue an action and insurance law allows
us to look for old insurance policies and talk to insurance companies about their coverage at the time.
So that's just basic
basic law that allows us to still seek a remedy. And so you're working on the case with I think Barnes
and Thornburg is. Yeah, we have outside council. That's right. Okay. All right. Good. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay.
And then a rate case update just where we're at now. We are developing our written testimonies and we
are working with Dave McGimsey on that and we are hoping to file soon. We're kind of in queue. There
are some cases that have come in before us, so we are. There's no rush right now. So we're just getting our.
getting our testimonies in a good place, and we'll file as soon as we can. So we're actively working
on that. And then that nine, I believe you said it was a nine month to a year timeline, or that was
what we were told? Oh, right, for IURC. So does that start it, or does that start when we actually file?
I believe it starts when we file. Okay. Is that correct? Yes. I'm sorry. Yeah, it starts when we file. Okay.
even though we're kind of still in line. We know that there's not other cases that we anticipate coming
in line before we get ours. No, no. David McGimsey is staying on top of that. He's checking in on that
schedule. Okay, thank you. Okay, any other questions about the rate case? Okay, and then we have some,
Congratulations and welcomes. So we would like to welcome Timothy Golson to the Monroe Water Treatment
Plant. He's a new operator. And we would like to congratulate Jason Lasher at Dillman Road. He's earned
his wastewater operator four license. And Josh Farmer who recently passed his WT5 exam. That concludes
our staff report. Congratulations to them and welcome as well.
Are there any petitions or communications from the public? And then do we have a motion to adjourn?
I move we adjourn. Meeting is adjourned.