Okay, it's, even though our clock's gone, it is five o'clock and let me call this meeting of the Utility
Services Board to order for Monday, March 9th. And to get started, we'd like to welcome our newest member,
Mr. Graham McKean. He'll be joining us. Just been appointed by our city council. We sure appreciate
that. Graham, if you'd just take a moment to introduce yourself
Let us know a little about your background. It would be great. Thank you, Kurt. Good to see you. Graham
McKean, previously with IU for the last 20 years. My background is in public and environmental health.
I have a degree in environmental management and sustainability. And I have since done a lot of work
with the university and now with the State Department of Health in various public and environmental
health programs, everything from food safety to recreational water to drinking water.
to community disease, hazardous waste. So also taught at IU for 10 years in environmental health science
course. And so know a lot about water systems, wastewater systems, how they work. But this is all new
to me. I'm just very excited to learn more and assist any way I can. Graham, we welcome you. We're awfully
glad to have you. I had a chance to work with Graham five years ago as we went through the COVID
journey and we depended on Graham for his updates and reports every day, sometimes twice a day, as the
university made the strategic decisions that it did. We depended heavily on Graham's latest day-by-day
updates and I'm excited that you'll be able to provide that kind of expertise that you've built over the years
for the City of Bloomington and our rate payers and our consumers. And you're one of them, so we're
glad to have you. Welcome. Thank you. Yeah. Well, are there any petitions or communications? Whoops.
Oh, I've got to get to the mission statement here, yes. Sorry about that. Just to remind everyone, our
mission at the City of Bloomington Utilities is to enhance the quality of life in our community by providing safe,
sustainable, high quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services in a cost effective manner,
promoting public health, environmental and economic vitality and environmental stewardship. Our vision
is that CBU will be the leading municipal water utility organization in Indiana. And just a reminder
for our board members, if they have any personal and financial conflict with any issues or individuals
on the agenda,
then please be sure to recuse yourself during those portions of the meeting. And with that then, we'll
start with any petitions and communications from the public. Any input from the public? Things to be
brought to us? All right then, next is approval of the minutes from the previous meeting. That's February
23rd of 2026.
hear a motion to approve. Second. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Motion carries. The minutes
are approved. Next is the approval of standard invoices get to the claims. And today's standard invoices
total 798,000
$780.01. Any questions about the standard invoices for today? All right, do I hear a motion to approve?
Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, standard
invoices are approved.
our standard utility bills, utility claims list, totaling $88,132.76. I move that we approve the utility
claims list. Second. All right, any discussion on utility claims? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed?
Motion carries for utility bills. Next are wire transfers.
for March of 26, dated the ninth day of March, for $651,647.56. I move that we approve the wire transfers.
Second. We moved and second. And any other discussion about wire transfers? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed?
All right, the wire transfers are approved. Next on the agenda is customer refunds for March 13th of
2026, totaling $3,892.26. Any questions on those refunds? Look like we have one vendor there that got
caught up with.
That actually was my question. What happened with the Hunter property, or Hoosier Court property, that
there were so many refunds? It's just us going back and cleaning up those inactive accounts, and they
just had several accounts that were inactive. Interesting. That's quite a bit of money for us. Wonderful.
Thank you. Yeah, no problem. So in that instance, the property manager pays
bills, not the tenant? That's my understanding, yes. Thank you. OK, any further discussion on customer
refunds? All in favor, say aye. Oh, you have the motion, sorry. Yes. I move that we approve the customer
refunds. Second. OK, it has been moved and seconded. Any discussion further on customer refunds?
All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed?
All right, customer refunds are approved. And let's see, those are all done there. Our next item is
the approval of the consent agenda. And we'll call on, I think, right, call on Kat for that. Good evening.
I'm Katherine Zegar, utilities director. I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling $10,774.29.
The slide is not updated. The first contract is with Electric Plus Inc. for $4,932 to run cables for
data for the new EV charger to the data closet. Next is with Brehab Corporation for $5,842.29 for replacement
of VFDs for solids feed pump at the Dillman wastewater treatment plant.
Are there any members who wish 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. Okay, thank you. The consent agenda is approved, and it's an updated
number from what we had on the slide.
Next item is the request for approval of on-call service agreement with Springfield Electric Supply
Company, and Jose will report on that. Good afternoon, board members. My name is Jose Fuentes. I'm the
purchasing manager here at CBU. We are requesting an on-call contract with Eco Plus, sorry, Eco Electric.
They do low and high voltage,
work and what's extremely important is the high voltage for us because of our plants and the station
and booster stations. All right. Any questions for Jose? All right. I move that we approve the contract
with Echo Electric. Second.
All right, it's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed?
All right, motion carries. Thank you. Next then is the request for approval of on-call service agreement
with Harmony Acres Incorporated, also known doing business as Value Fence Company. Jose. Yes.
I'm requesting this on-call contract with Value Fence. As you all know, we've had some storms in the
past couple of years that have done some damage, and this is just a safety, security concern for me,
and I just thought it would be important to have something like this. These are for fences at our facilities?
Yes, that are plants, booster stations, lift stations, and even here at CBU services.
services agreement with Harmony Acres? Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any other discussion on
this contract? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carried. And let's see, next is
the request for approval of on-call service agreement with Water Solutions Unlimited Incorporated.
Jose. Thank you again. Uh, this is for on-call, uh, services with, uh, water solutions. They work on
pumps fittings and they also do minor repair on, on our pumps as well. This would be for our plants
as well as our booster and lift stations. Okay. Jose, uh, this says it's got an expiration date of May
31st of 26. Yeah.
What's, how long is the period? It's a one year with three. It's a one year term that will expire in
March of next year with two renewal periods for a total of three years. Okay. Am I on the right one
here? It will expire March 27th. Okay.
Electric Plus, right? Water Solutions, Water Solutions, okay. That one's correct. It's next one that's
off. Yeah, go ahead. So looking at the agreement, I see they're based out of Minnesota. So I'm just
wondering, are there local people here that are able to do that? Or they come from Minnesota here to
do this work? If I'm not under the impression there's a,
one of their companies is based out of Indianapolis. That's the main headquarters, correct. Okay,
thank you. All right, anything else? Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded for the approval. Any
further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
motion carries and now we're to the request for approval of emergency contract with electric plus and
Hector will be joining us for that one and that's the one I noticed that on the cover memo we need to
make a correction it looks like I think is it if it's
Good afternoon, Hector Ortiz, City and Director of Operation. This contract was for an emergency that
happened February 5th, electric plus, we had a transformer that blew up the breakers, and we have a
certified, we have three certified electricians.
from Electric Plus who went there and make it work for that night and we're still using it so happy
to answer any questions. Okay so then that is correct then that the contract would expire by May 31st.
All right very good.
Well, that could be that. Yeah, that's I think that's what threw me off. The due date for signature
is March 9th of twenty five. Chris Wheeler was city legal. That cover memo is not part of the contract.
It's for your information. And I look at a lot of cover memos and sometimes I put wrong dates on them.
That should be for twenty twenty six. Right. Due date today. That's all that's going on there. So apologies
for the typo.
It isn't like we just do one or two things a meeting. There's a lot here. Thank you, Chris, for the
update there. I didn't think my eyesight was going too bad there yet. Good deal. All right. I think
we're ready for a motion. I move that we approve the request for contract with Electric Plus Incorporated. Second.
has been moved and seconded to approve this contract for the transformer switch bypass at Dillman. Any
further discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion is approved. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, next is the approval of resolution 26-04
which is the bid acceptance and contract award for the mineral water treatment plant, transformer replacement
project, and Daniel Hudson will report. Dan? I'm Daniel Hudson, capital projects manager for city of
Bloomington utilities. And I'd like the board to consider resolution 2026-04 for the bid acceptance
and contract award to empower
to replace the very large VFD and transformer for the high service pump number one at Dillman. We had
three bids. We had a special board meeting right before the board on the 23rd, I believe. And Empower
came out to be the most responsive and responsible of the three bidders and also the lowest.
Great. All right. Any questions for Dan? Looks like some good work here. Okay. I move that we approve
the request for public work agreement with Empower Incorporated. All right. All in favor say aye. Aye.
All opposed?
Oh, yes, right now. We got to do the resolution first. Sorry, we're one ahead. So the resolution is
2026-04. Yeah, for that one, yeah. I move that we approve resolution 2026-04. Second. All right, it's
been moved and seconded and really this explains
the project and gives a resolution that we've agreed to do it. You agreed to do it, okay, now we have
to. And then we'll get to the next one, so yeah. We have to vote. Yes. Call the vote. Any other discussion?
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's approved, the resolution. Now we'll get to the public works agreement
I'm Dan Hudson, Capital Project Manager for the City of Bloomington Utilities, and we have a contract
for Empower to do the replacement of the VFD and transformer at the Monroe Water Treatment Plant. This
is for high service pump number one. For 294,500.
that we approve the requests for Public Work Agreement within Power Incorporated. Second. All right,
it's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion or questions from Dan? All right, all in favor
say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Got some work to do. Thank you, Dan. Appreciate it.
Okay, next is
The request for amendment number three to the agreement with Commonwealth Engineers Incorporated. Kevin.
Yeah, Kevin White, Capital Projects Coordinator. This is related to the ongoing lift station improvement
project. If you all remember, we had a fairly significant savings from the contractor. Instead of just
taking that money back, we've moved forward with additional work. And so this amendment to the Commonwealth
contract will go towards
design related to the Westwood lift station. We set up a flow monitor at that location, showed we've
got quite a bit more flow going into the lift station than originally anticipated. And then there was
some additional growth in the area. So between those two is going to take a significant amount of engineering
work to redesign that that lift station to accommodate the flows and the amendment for $30,430.
We'll bring the new not to exceed up to $697,600 and no cents. We'll also add one year to the expiration
date of the contract with Commonwealth. They've already began the design, but by the time they do the
design and there's a lead times for some of the parts, pumps and pipe, what not related to the lift
station, they felt comfortable with the year timeframe. Happy to answer any questions.
Questions? Lift station improvements? All right. I move that we approve the amendment number three on
the lift station improvement contract with Commonwealth engineers. Second. Okay, it's been moved and
seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion carries. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks, Kevin. Next is the request for approval
of resolution 2026-03 to designate surplus property for auction or worthless surplus. Hello, Chris Wheeler,
City Legal. We as a board see this resolution roughly monthly. We didn't have one brought to the board
for February, but this is the February surplus list for
Items identified by CBU as either worthless surplus or items that are eligible for auction. And we would
ask the board to approve the resolution so that these items can be appropriately taken care of. Do we
do a normal auction? Regular auction? There are sites available online, government auction sites. The
city has an auction that it conducts.
I don't know how regularly they're doing that anymore but CBU will either designate an item for auction
and put it up for auction. First thing we do actually is we will make the items like office furniture
and other supplies and things like that that might still be worth some other department using. We'll
allow other departments an opportunity to take over those items and if they don't want them then they'll
go to auction.
The other items that are just worthless surplus, we discard. Very good. So items, let's say like the
vintage green filing cabinet, that might get some dollars. So like, do you leave that here or is there
the designated place with the city that you take that to? And then if somebody, or if it's tiered, like
if somebody buys it, they just show up and be like, I'm here for the vintage cabinet or what? Yeah,
if we auction it off, it's online. It'll stay here until,
first that buys it comes to pick it up on their own. Hey, that's gonna be a hot item about the third
week of August, let me tell you.
Kind of like our clock over there, isn't it? It won't be in the surplus sale. All right. Any other questions
for Chris? All right. All right. I move that we approve the request for this surplus property donation.
Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Any other discussion?
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, that is our surplus property designated approved. Thank
you Chris. All right, next item then is any old business from the board? We need to discuss.
Any new business? Oh, we're gonna go to staff for old business?
Sure, I think this fits an old business. So we had our field hearing with the IURC on February 25th.
I think it went really well. We had good press attention from the B Square Bulletin afterwards. There
were three testimonies from the public, two of which were from the business community and one was from
Southern Monroe Water Authority.
One of the speakers from the business community was Eric Spoonworth from the Chamber of Commerce. Who
was the other? The owner of HeartWorks Spring. Owner of HeartWorks Spring. OK. OK. And then the other
person you said? That was Rodney Ira with Southern Monroe Water Authority. OK. Great. Thank you.
I've asked Kat this question in email, but that was not recorded, correct? So we can't watch that. The
public can't see that. It was just simply an in-person meeting. Yes. Okay. Thank you. I looked for a
recording. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. They did record it, but I don't know if it becomes public.
I mean, they're not a video recording, but they had a transcriber there. Oh, yes.
court reporter. But not like a video recording. Thank you. I attended as well. And I've got some notes
on the three presentations. I don't have them with me. They're my other book. But can you give us the
clips notes? Well, I'd say there was the one speaker was what was his name that the first speaker Rodney
was really speaking
in favor about how we needed to do good work. Is that a good assessment? Yes. Okay. And then of course,
Eric Spoonmore from the chamber discussed the impact to the business community overall, particularly
the discussion about the fact that large users are going to have to absorb a very large percentage of the
the of the increase. And that's concerning from the economic development perspective. And then the owner
of Heartwork Brewing, she made a very good case about how this would be better phased if we could. But
of course, we couldn't, you know, I would have loved to explain I did before the meeting, discussed
with both of them about how
we can't do this by inflation adjustment each year, and so these four-year spans that we have to take
make it more difficult. But she was explaining the difficulties of operating in a small business with
the ups and downs, and how the IURC should take that into consideration.
And those are all good points. And it's a very official meeting that the state puts on. So very good
points by all three speakers. Thank you. All right. Any other old business, board or staff?
So I'm going to put this in old business as well. So on January 29th, the board meeting of January 29th,
this board approved an update to rules and regulations at section 24.2, adding a new measure that CBU
may consider for extension of sewer outside of city limits. I think there's been some discourse around
this recently, so I just wanted to
offer to answer any questions about it I was not able to attend that meeting but it's really just adding
a it identified a circumstance where we would allow for sewer extension outside of city limits very
specifically for development that's been identified by the city of Bloomington economic and sustainable
development
as a strategic economic development site that would contribute specifically to job creation and wage
growth. So I just wanted to make sure that was clear. I know that you had voted on this on January 29th,
and I'm sure there was great discussion then that I unfortunately missed, but I know there's been some
discourse around it, so I just wanted to make that clear and offer any additional discourse. Thank you, Kat.
Maybe you've seen some of the media reports about how the mayor's office is seeing this as an opportunity
to support large economic development projects. And glad that we could provide the support for that
back in January. Jim. But it is true that it still needs to meet the continuity requirement? No. No.
and it does not include residential. These are targeted economic development projects. Thanks for the
update. All right, next is new business. Any new business from the board? New business from staff? No?
Well, we just had a subcommittee, so subcommittee report.
two great presentations. The first was by Steve Stanford on the pretreatment program annual review.
In his presentation, he gave a background and history of the pretreatment program, the Clean Water Act,
and the objectives of that. We learned in his presentation that we are one of 47 municipalities in the
state that is designated as a control agent
which has the legal authority to oversee pretreatment in the area. With that, it controls funding, local
limits, significant industrial users, and enforcement response plans. Of note, there weren't many violations
in the violations that
were in there were corrected promptly. So very thorough report and another testament to our transparency
for our community. Then we had the state of the storm 2026 from Liz Carter in that she discussed the great
achievements of the MS4 program that she's headed for a couple of years. We had 21 outreach events in
2025 which are educational events around the community with IU with schools and things like that. She
also discussed discharges and enforcement of
construction sites, pre-construction, post-construction. Let's see what else my note says. She also
established goals for 2026 which operates around improving the post-construction mandates and enforcement
as well. One thing of note that we had discussed
Last year, I believe, was permit fees. And in 2025, CBU was able to collect $10,000 in permit fees,
which was collected by nine permits that were issued. Already this year, in the two months in change,
we've had about 25 to 30. So the permit fees should increase this year.
As I said, another great presentation and testament to our transparency and our mission and goal of
being the premier utility in the state. It's a good report. Thank you, Seth. I think the environmental
committee heard a lot of good things today. It's a good update for 2026. Any questions for Seth or anyone
else that was in attendance?
Thank you. Any other subcommittee reports? I don't think we have any others since the last two weeks.
Staff reports? Yeah. So we would like to welcome Savannah Stillions, our newest communications operator,
and we would like to congratulate Christian Eberle, who is being promoted to utilities mechanic two.
Great. Congratulations. Good news. Thank you. Thank you, Kat.
Any other petitions or communications? All right. Matt, I'd sure like to thank the City Council for
your latest appointment. We're glad to have Graham with us. Thank you for your help getting getting
that through the process. Sure, briefly, we're excited about Graham's appointment as well. I apologize
that it took us
months to get through it we have a bit of a clunky process with interview committees and recommendations
that to do appropriate vetting that I think the board requires or warrants did take us a minute but
I'm glad we got there and I'm glad for Graham's service. Thanks Matt. Appreciate it. All right. Is it
really is it kind of baptism by fire that we just throw them into this or does somebody
meet with him to kind of say. We'll get together maybe but it will be after my first meeting. Rachel
has sent him a nice introductory memo with all the background and when we meet and scheduling and things
and I'm sure we'll set up a time with Chris to do the normal orientation. A nice packet of materials
to review as well. Fabulous. We haven't had a new board member in so long and I was kind of like
What do we do? You know? So I hope. Well, may hopefully will. And I guess just in terms of two, if there's
something that does come up, don't hesitate to ask and say, hey, you know, how are we doing this? Sure.
I'm sure I'll have more questions. Great. Thank you. And good question. Great. Welcome again,
Graham Graham. Any other items for our board? All right, then we'll stand adjourned. Thank you, everyone.