- Good evening everybody. Welcome to our utility services board meeting for April 6th, 2026. A reminder
- that our mission for City of Bloomington utilities is to enhance the quality of life in our community
- by providing safe, sustainable, and high quality drinking water, wastewater, and storm water services
- in a cost-effective manner
- promoting public health, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship. And our vision is that CBU
- will be the leading municipal water utility organization in Indiana. Okay, on our agenda tonight, we
- have petitions and communications to begin. Are there any of those, anybody want to speak to petitions
- and communications?
- What comments? Next is approval of the minutes of our meeting of March 23rd, 2026. Everybody's had a
- chance to review those from that meeting. Any changes or updates? I move that we approve the minutes
- from the last meeting. Second. It's been moved and second to approve the minutes of the meeting of March
- 23rd. All in favor, say aye. Aye.
- All right, motion carries. Next is approval of claims and our first is standard invoices in the amount
- of $828,014.02. Lots of claims. Any questions on the claims for tonight?
- The Friends of Lake Monroe are matching funds for the watershed management player. Could you just, since
- it's matching funds, I'm just not exactly sure what that is, but I know that's an important contribution.
- Yeah, sure. So we contribute that annually to the Friends of Lake Monroe, and it supports that specific
- position, the watershed coordinator position. So there are other matching funds
- Thank you. Yeah, Amanda. I have questions too. On the what I think is then page two where we've got
- our city of Bloomington charges. Excuse me. So the first one was my first question is about our vehicle
- maintenance on utility vehicles of what we're paying there. And I was looking through our notes and
- it looks like
- We had our presentation on this back on December 1st of some of that preliminary data, but it was determined
- that while it was data, it wasn't exactly what we were looking for. Where are we on that project? We
- have data from 2023 and 2024 summarized, and we're working on summarizing 2025. From fleet. From fleet,
- like taking fleet data. Correct.
- But we also had, we had some research from our data that where we were doing averages of, you know,
- oil changes and that type of, I mean, we're doing that stuff. And I recall we were going to try to get
- that information a little bit cleaner too. So I just was kind of curious where we are with that whole
- fleet project.
- So we did refresh that. And I think there was discussion around the, I guess, refresh presentation.
- And we discussed this with Fleet. Fleet then said, okay, let us look at our numbers and run our numbers.
- And so now we're in a position where they're giving us their numbers to compare. They gave us, did you
- say 23 and 24? Yeah, and we just got the numbers from 25 to compare. And so now we're at the stage where
- we wanna come together and start comparing what we have versus what they have and start those discussions.
- Okay, so again, just for point of point, I don't know,
- We have been discussing this at least from my notes since February of 2024. And I know we've had questions
- about this going even further back with the MOU. So I do think that this is dragging on a little too
- long as far as kind of old business follow-up. I just want you to know I'm tracking this.
- you know, when I see these big expenses for this come out and we still don't have answers on it, it
- just kind of raises a red flag for me. So it doesn't mean I wouldn't not approve this, but I would like
- to see us perhaps make some progress on that. I think to tag along with that, there's some expenses
- for the vehicles that are in here as well. And I know things come up,
- Like Amanda said, we've been at this for a long time without any answers or answers that aren't complete,
- I guess. And if we're double-dipping, we've got to figure something out. And then I had a second question,
- but I am mistaken. It was just the one. All right.
- Any other points on claims? Yeah. Just a question on the sodium spill at the intake facility. One, everybody
- okay? I don't know if we know what the causative agent or issue was there or if there was like a breach
- of secondary containment or anything like that. I've certainly seen worse invoices for emergency response,
- chemical cleanup in my lifetime, but
- I just didn't know if we had the info on what happened or. So this is the sodium permanganate cleanup.
- Sorry, I'm trying to find it. Page 20 on the packet. Set environmental. Set environmental? Yeah, in
- the middle. Thank you. Second to the last page. So the sodium permanganate spill at the intake facility
- We were doing work on, I believe they're the injectors, and there was not a very large amount, everyone
- is okay. Yes. Good. So to answer your first question, yes, everyone is okay. And it was, it had spilled
- into the vault that it was in, and we were cleaning that vault. And the vault is the secondary containment,
- is that like where it's normally stored?
- All right, any other questions for our standard invoices? All right, accept the motion to approve. Move
- that we approve the standard invoices. All right, it's been moved and seconded by Seth. Any other discussion?
- All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carries and next then is our utility bills.
- For this period totaling two hundred six thousand seven hundred fourteen dollars and eighty three cents
- Updated like right before the meeting Okay
- It should be on the packet on the Chromebooks, though. So what is the correct amount? On the Chromebook
- here, it's $206,714.83. I always bring a paper packet because it's easier for me to navigate the packet
- when I review it.
- If you'll just give me just a minute, I'd just like to lay my eyes on that. It's standard. Page 22.
- Thank you. Yeah. And while you're looking, I should have mentioned that, of course, our standard conflict
- of interest statement that if any board member has any personal or financial conflict with any of the
- issues or individuals on the agenda, then please be sure to recuse yourself during those portions of
- the meeting. Quick reminder.
- Any other discussion on our usual utility claims list? All right. Megan, do you have a point?
- You find it? All right. Moved and seconded to approve utilities for this period. All in favor, say aye.
- Opposed? All right. We've got utility bills approved. Next is wire transfers down on page 33 of the
- packet, totaling $709,336.25. And we've got all the
- register there with all of those expenses. I move that we approve the wire transfers. All right, it's
- been moved and seconded and for wire transfers. Thank you, Seth, for the second and any other discussion?
- All in favor? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah. So in the packet, it looks like we have the payroll register for
- like employees. I feel like we should have
- Well, it's public record, but we normally don't get it in this detail. Is that new? It's usually in
- the folder that's on the Chromebooks, and that's in the Google Drive. It made its way into the packet
- this month. It doesn't usually make it into the packet. But it's not a problem? No. OK. No. I did have
- a question on the Chase Bank fee, so I believe that was
- I last a couple months ago and that was with the Tyler, if I'm correct, the system. So we still phase,
- do you have an update on that? We're still working through that one, but we did get, when we implemented
- the credit card, passing the credit card fees on to the customer last year, they didn't implement it
- correctly. So we did get a check, a refund check for about $9,000 for that. So we are making progress.
- We did receive or we will receive? We did. We did receive, I guess. And then so, I'm sorry, you've told
- me a few months ago, but can you remind me then why we're still billed credit card fees? It's the fee
- that Tyler has to pay Chase, and they're still charging us for it. So it's not a credit card fee that
- is being charged to the customer or to us. It's an interbank fee that Tyler has to pay for
- for them to do their side of the transactions. Because we accept credit cards? Correct. I know that
- that's nominal compared to our $100,000 before. But could that be an extra penny on everybody's bill,
- or is that just something that we're going to have to pay every time?
- Until we get it worked out with the contractor, we're going to have to pay it. But that's why I brought
- up the refund because we did get a refund when this wasn't right last year. But that was for money that
- we had already. Correct. Shouldn't have. Correct. Lost anyway. So I guess this would be till the end
- of this current contract with them or something. Or until they've had some turnover on their staff.
- And so it's been challenging trying to find the right person.
- When you find the right person, they're not there anymore. And then you have to find the next right
- person. So it's just proven to be a little more challenging than I expected. OK. And I know we've discussed
- that this is we're not the only city department using this system, correct? Downtown uses. Downtown's
- choice to use this that we. They chose to use Tyler, yes. Right. So I guess other departments also incurring
- these fees that would rather not be. They're moving away from that.
- So I think that some departments are and some departments aren't. But their goal is to move to where
- the city does not pay any fees. Okay, so maybe the department that doesn't get charged this, maybe they
- know the right person to contact? I've tried, but yes, it's a very fair ask. Thank you, okay. No further
- questions. Yeah. Anything else on wire transfers? All right.
- wire transfers, yeah? Second. Thank you, any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
- All right, wire transfers are approved. Next is approval of customer refunds in the amount of $2,757.03.
- Any questions on any of those refunds?
- approve the customer refunds. Okay it's been moved. Seconded to approve the customer refunds for pay
- date April 10th. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right motion carries.
- Then next is our approval of the consent agenda. We'll ask Director Zeiger to take us through that.
- Good evening, I'm Katherine Sager, utilities director. I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling
- $49,255.77. First contract is with Electric Plus for $1,770 for low tower light installation at Monroe
- Water Plant. Next is with VET Environmental LLC for $11,389.79.
- for consulting and reporting on results of phase two environmental site analysis for improved rights
- of way between Madison and Bryan streets related to the Broadview sewer extension. Next is with MEG
- services LLC DBA Midwest engine and generator for $7,364 for the replacement of generator air filters
- and fuel lines at Monroe water plant.
- Next is with Shambon Sun LP for a not to exceed of $16,361.98 to troubleshoot existing HVAC control
- systems at the service center. Next is with Tyler Technologies for $3,510 for new world reorganization
- based on the 2026 rate case. Next is with Electric Plus Inc for $960 to
- set a new EV charger at Monroe Water Plant. Next is with AMI Roofing Contractors Inc. for $1,620 to
- install gutters and replace snow cleats on the admin building at the Blucher Pool Wastewater Treatment
- Plant. Next is with MEG Services LLC DBA Midwest Engine and Generator for $6,280 for the replacement
- of intake generator air filters and wait, and fuel lines at Monroe Water Treatment Plant. Is there any
- member who wishes to consider one or more of these items individually? Hearing none, if there's
- no opposition, these items will be approved as recommended by staff. Hearing no opposition, the consent
- agenda is approved. Thank you. Consent agenda is approved and the next item
- discussion is the request for approval of professional services agreement with TY Lynn LLC and Dan Hudson
- will present on that. Good afternoon I'm Daniel Hudson capital projects manager with the city of Bloomington
- utilities. A few weeks ago we had a failure of one of our medium voltage boxes at the Dillman wastewater
- treatment plant
- and we had to hire an emergency contractor to do a wire around a fix, but it was a temporary fix. What
- I'm proposing here from TYLN is a design to fix that box. Plus we have five other boxes out there and
- they're gonna design all of them together. These boxes are 60 years old, so,
- One failed, are the other ones gonna fail? We don't know. But would like to go ask the board to go under
- design for TYLN for $149,220. Okay, thank you, Dan. Any questions on this request? Yeah, go ahead. Once
- the project is designed to
- built, what do you think our timeline is? And is this temporary fix? You know, do we think that that's
- going to be able to last that long? We hope it's going to last that long. You know, it's hard to tell.
- It is a temporary fix. If it goes, we'll have to hire another emergency contractor to do it again.
- The design, I'm thinking, is going to be about eight months, probably. And then we have to go out to
- bid. That's another two months.
- And so it may be the end of the year, fall, before we get a contractor in there to do it. Okay.
- Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I think we got our 60 years worth, money's worth of the product for 60 years.
- Yes. I am just hopeful that whatever we find, while I know things don't work necessarily like they used
- to, I do hope there's something that is, you know, going to take us to the next jump that we need to do.
- I hope it goes another 60 years. But this is a medium voltage, which seems to be high to me. It's 1.4
- kilovolts. And it steps down to 480 volts. And that's where the delay may happen. To buy transformers
- today on the market, it may take 12 months, 18 months after you order them to get here.
- It's hard to say when the project actually is going to be completed. Yeah, cross your fingers. All right.
- What's the general life expectancy of these units? About 60 years or? Yeah, 50 to 60 years for that
- kind of equipment is about right. And I was told, I don't know if it's totally true that they don't make
- transformers in the United States anymore. So we have to go outside the country and I don't know if
- there's tariffs on them or what. We used to make them here. We used to make all of them. But that's
- that's another story. Yeah. That's for another board meeting. Okay. Any other questions for Dan?
- All right. I move that we approve
- the agreement with TY Lynn? Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
- All right. Motion carries. And next is the request for approval resolution 2026-08, which is the declaration
- of surplus and worthless items. So this is the,
- the same thing that we're trying to bring every month. This one's a little light. We just have a few
- stacks of pallets up on the hill that we would like to get rid of one way or the other. And a bonfire
- was out of the question. Not on the premises. I was hoping we could have a company bonfire. These do
- have market value, so good move. All right, any other questions for Matt?
- Any discussion? Okay. I move that we approve the surplus for auction resolution. All right. It's been
- moved and seconded. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right.
- Next is the request for approval of memorandum of understanding between CBU and Joe Smith for a sewer
- connection. And Mr. Wheeler will present this one. Good evening, Chris Wheeler, City Legal.
- For some time now, the engineering department has been working on ways to expand and enhance the capacity
- that Dilman Wastewater Treatment Plant would enjoy.
- Our assistant director, Mr. Peden has identified a rather large piece of property situated just to the
- east of our interstate that could be used for additional detention retention, which would greatly enhance
- our capacity at Dillman. We engaged Mr. Smith for the instigation of the steps that would move towards
- eminent domain so that we could go onto the property and do
- some investigation and survey of the property of our own to try and identify what portion of the property
- we would like to purchase from Mr. Smith. He was amenable to these overtures. He does have an attorney
- involved, as you can see at the bottom of the signature lines on the MOU. After working through several
- different items of negotiation with Mr. Smith's attorney, we arrived at the
- outline of this MOU as an agreement that takes us a substantial step towards purchasing the property.
- This is a little different than what we normally do because there are some moving pieces. We still need
- to do a survey on the property so that we have a formal legal survey that identifies exactly what we're
- purchasing. Mr. Smith then needs to go through processes through the county to subdivide the property.
- And once we go through those dance steps, we can then actually do a transfer of the real estate
- as legally identified from Mr. Smith to the city of Bloomington utilities, and then make our payment
- to him as we've agreed, which is a $200,000 payment. That $200,000 was arrived at from an appraisal
- done through a contract that this board approved months ago. We arrived at an appraisal value for a
- fair market value on what we believe to be the identified property.
- That's how we arrived at that. There are some caps on what, uh, so I'm sorry. One of the pieces
- of consideration in addition to the $200,000 was to allow Mr. Smith to connect to our sewer system.
- Should that property, that little piece at the bottom. So the big piece at the top that looks like a
- big mouth Chris,
- Could you go and, I know it gets you off the mic, but could you show us, because we did not get the
- map in our packet. That's okay, but could you go up there though? That's the property we're looking
- at purchasing. And where's Mr. Smith's?
- Okay. Thank you. Should it ever be eligible for annexation? You know, go through all the steps of our
- rules and regulations or for some reason get identified as economically important by ESD. Uh, so going
- through those steps, but in the MOU, you can see, we point out currently that property is not eligible
- for connection. It would only become.
- they could become connected if at some point it becomes eligible. We will identify when we're putting
- infrastructure in, we will stub it out so that they can connect someday in the future, assuming that
- that will occur. There are some caps on that connection. It can only be for service that doesn't exceed
- a capacity of flow of 3000 gallons per day, and it has a cap on the size of the meter. That meter is going to
- the cost of that meter going in is part of the MOU, unless he wants it to be a larger meter, then he'll
- have to pay the difference. So those little bells and whistles are built into the MOU. But we believe
- this is a very good thing for CBU because it will provide a great deal of property available for us
- to use to expand capacity at Dilma, which is much needed. So we would recommend, the staff does recommend
- approval of this MOU. I'm happy to try and answer questions.
- So just the sentence in the middle of the first paragraph. Oh boy, right out of the gates. The connection.
- In the first whereas or the first enumerated? The first whereas? Oh, no, I'm in the memorandum.
- The memo. Right. Are you looking at the where? The cover memo. Oh, in the cover memo? Mm-hmm. Oh, the
- staff memo. But is that your work? That's what I was looking at. OK. And now I'm wondering if maybe
- the question is answered on the next page. But I'll go ahead and answer it.
- ask it anyway. Yeah, so that first paragraph reiterates that connection may only occur if the property
- becomes eligible, but is the MOU bypassing that? No. So what's the advantage for him to have this?
- It seems like he's not getting any special. We're stubbing it out so he can connect and we're going
- to give him an easement across our property that we're buying at the top. When that becomes our property,
- we're granting an easement so he can cross the property and connect at the stubbed out area. But that's
- only going to be something he can do at a later date when the property becomes eligible for connection
- because currently it's outside the city. So it's just an additional eligible and we hadn't done this.
- He would not have been able to.
- connect at that point, is that right? If his property becomes eligible to connect. And we weren't doing
- this. At a later date, then he would need to negotiate with us for an easement to cross our property
- to get there. OK, so we're making one step easier. So we're making it easier for him to make that connection.
- OK, thank you. Making stuff easier? I'm sorry? I said, what, we're making stuff easier? This is awesome.
- I was saying that sarcastically. Sarcasm received and appreciated.
- question for you is that is that the Dillman plant that's on that other side that that's right oh right
- there okay okay yeah 37 runs down these to the east and right up to the east northeast is Mays greenhouse
- so my question is what is why we're up there the Kirk what is what are all the red boxes then up
- at the right. Those are other people's properties. That's just identifying other people's properties,
- buildings on other people's properties. Okay. Um, so my question to that is if we are going to be going
- in and doing this work and those are other properties, are they, they're not, they're not included in
- any of this and it's to no benefit to include them in it in the event that this area were to ever get annexed.
- There was no need for us to even communicate with them because we're not touching their property and
- it doesn't impact them. Perfect. Thank you. Those are my questions. Now to the north and as you, you
- go up north, we are looking, we are buying properties to, to do additional work, to do sewer relief
- as I under can, as I understand down through this property. So there are, we are doing additional work
- that you're going to see coming along in the future.
- potential extra capacity this could give us? I do not, that might be, we don't know yet. Engineering
- says no, we don't know yet. But it's more regarding this. It's looking to future planning of what we
- could need, so. Get it while it's available. Exactly. The information that I have and maybe there's
- additional documents online it doesn't list
- Mr. Smith is working with an attorney that I could see. Did you see that? There's a signature line at
- the bottom with, oh, I thought that the attorney was in there. It only lists the property owner. It
- has Joe signing, that's right. I apologize. He is working with an attorney though. Okay, and I'm glad
- to hear that he feels good about this offer since we approached him about his land. So I think that's
- very important and feels that's a fair
- for both sides. We feel that's fair and he feels that's fair. Yes. I don't know how Joe feels. I've
- never spoken with him directly. Okay. He feels good enough to sign a value. But he signed it to suggest
- that he's okay with it. In the right direction. And then, okay, so I know he'll be doing surveying,
- but is there a guesstimate of how many acres this is? The city will be doing the surveying. Oh, we will
- at our expense. We're going to get the legal survey prepared. He's going to be doing the subdivision. Okay.
- and then we'll prepare the deed and record it. But what's the guesstimate of acreage? I can't tell those
- little numbers. Say 5.27. I don't know off the top of my head what the acreage is. 19 acres total and
- 14.27 is in FEMA floodway. We tracking right on that? Yeah.
- eyesight is still working in the haze of the slide. That's great. Oh, Chris, you mentioned eminent domain,
- but we're not in that department on this, right? Well, that's in order to, yes, in order to initiate
- communications with a property owner, the steps that we are taking are statutorily built into our eminent
- domain statutes.
- So we are talking eminent domain, but we send an initial letter of intent that we are going to come
- on the property to inspect and would prefer, I'll give you the process. We would prefer that they cooperate
- with us and give us a right of entry, which Joe Smith did. We came on the property, surveyed and inspected
- to see if it was suitable, found that it was. And then we send this formal offer
- true eminent domain, giving them a fair market value of the property that they can either accept or
- reject. If they reject it, we can then take the matter to court and force the sale. So we are in an
- eminent domain situation. But because the offer that we made was acceptable, there's no need for us
- to worry about court proceedings or anything like that. And that's usually what you think about when
- you think about eminent domain is that it's that it's an adversarial relationship. But in this case,
- we're in good shape along those lines because we've done our due diligence as we should in the process
- and he's agreeable with it. Yeah, there are conditions precedent to filing in the court for eminent
- domain and these steps that we have taken are those conditions precedent. I always like to, you know,
- my opinion is if you can come up with a good agreement with a property owner, it's a whole lot better
- than government
- grabbing as some people look at it, even though we can prove overwhelming public benefit in these cases,
- which is why we have the ability in the first place. The second question I have, I assume we did an
- average of a couple of appraisals here or how did that work? No, we only used one appraiser. Okay. And
- he was good with that too. He was good with the number we suggested. Okay.
- We're good with it, obviously. Okay, good. All right. Good work. Good work for everybody that worked
- on that. Is there any issue for us that it's in a floodplain or our use of the land will not?
- My understanding is the area that we're going to be putting the infrastructure is not subject to the
- floodplain, but Phil's coming up to give us a better understanding. Philippine Engineering.
- We are limited by the floodplain. We can't put, we can't fill in the floodplain. So some of this might
- be underground storage within that same space. There's also other utilities that cross this. So there
- is that red line that kind of bisects north and south through the center of the, as I don't know that
- he referred to it as this, but the Pacman words. So anyway, the red line there, that's an electrical line.
- So there's an electrical easement that goes through north-south. And so our engineer has indicated that
- there's enough space there, either underground or other space there where we can add more storage. Along
- with the Dillman Relief Sewer that's gonna pass through this space parallel, somewhat parallel to that
- existing sewer that you see along the top that's green, the Dillman Relief Sewer will be oversized to
- provide inline storage. So we'll get that with the phase one and then phase two would be where we add
- some storage off of that main line. So it's going to be like underground storage or there will be buildings
- there as well? Not positive yet, but I think we'll be challenged to put above ground storage in the
- floodplain. So it may be a combination of both.
- Other questions, discussion? All right, looks like we're ready for a motion then. I move that we approve
- the memorandum of understanding with Joe Smith. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Any
- other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. All right, motion carries. A good way
- to plan for the future here. Okay, next on the agenda is
- Any old business? Do we have any old business for the board? All right. New business? Yeah, so yeah.
- I got the nod there. New business from the board, or yeah? I just want to give a public thank you to
- the crew that came out to work on Easter Sunday at a water main break that
- was at the corner of Rock Creek and Wood Bluff. They were out there very quickly and it was a wee bit
- challenging from what I understand and hopefully everything is hooked back up, but they were out there
- working and again, just appreciation for all those folks that come out on weekends and after hours and
- on a holiday when they should hopefully be spending time with families and loved ones, but they're out
- there taking care of our community. So thank you to the team.
- Good comments there. All right, any other new business from staff? All right. We didn't have
- any subcommittees today, so I don't think any subcommittee reports. Staff reports. Yeah. I'd like to
- go ahead and congratulate Curtis Richardson for obtaining their CDLB license. And then I'd like to welcome
- Phil Peden to come and introduce our new staff member.
- in Philippine engineering. I don't know about you all, but I've been watching a lot of college basketball.
- How about you all? And so you watch some of those teams, and you see that, man, that's a great team.
- But then they go into that NIL transfer portal, and they grab a couple of really good players that makes
- them the championship team, right? And so in the last few months, that's what we've been doing
- in engineering. We've been building our team. And so back in December, we added Tonya in the back.
- And then most recently, we added Ginger Davis. Ginger has a lot of great experience and a good background
- she's going to make for a strong team and build our championship team. Which position is that? She filled
- the utilities engineer position, so she's going to be doing a lot of storm water and playing review,
- overseeing the playing reviews. Great. Welcome. Yeah, welcome to both of you. Thank you.
- Thank you, Phil. Yeah, thank you. Yeah. All right. That's our staff report. Okay. Any petitions
- or communications from the public? All right. Anyone else? All right. Well, we stand adjourned then.
- Thank you. Thank you.