WEBVTT 00:00:00.194 --> 00:00:07.142 - We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order July 27th of the Utilities Services Board meeting for the 00:00:07.142 --> 00:00:14.494 - City of Bloomington. And just a reminder that our mission is to enhance the quality of life in our community 00:00:14.494 --> 00:00:21.306 - by providing safe, sustainable, and high-quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services 00:00:21.306 --> 00:00:28.254 - in a cost-effective manner, promoting public health, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship, 00:00:29.026 --> 00:00:37.023 - And our vision is that CBU will be the leading municipal water utility organization in Indiana. 00:00:37.023 --> 00:00:45.937 - All right. First on our agenda is petitions and communications. Do we have any petitions or communications 00:00:45.937 --> 00:00:54.684 - from the public? Seeing none, we'll go to approval of the minutes of the previous meeting and that would 00:00:54.684 --> 00:00:56.350 - be July 13th, 2026. 00:01:04.610 --> 00:01:16.319 - Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:28.359 - Minutes are approved. Next is standard invoices and the amount of $1,921,561.09. Any discussion or questions 00:01:28.359 --> 00:01:32.446 - from the board on standard invoices? 00:01:41.378 --> 00:01:52.077 - the standard claims. Second. All right moved in second to approve standard invoices. All in favor say 00:01:52.077 --> 00:02:02.777 - aye. Aye. Opposed? All right invoices are approved. Next is utility bills for July 16th in the amount 00:02:02.777 --> 00:02:04.350 - of $49,026.37. 00:02:09.282 --> 00:02:19.879 - questions or discussion on utility bills for July 16th. I move that we approve the utility bills for 00:02:19.879 --> 00:02:30.372 - July 16th. All right it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right and next is 00:02:30.372 --> 00:02:35.198 - utility bills for July 23rd and the amount of 00:02:37.186 --> 00:02:47.806 - $4,758.67. I move that we approve the utility bills for July 23rd. Second. All right, moved and seconded 00:02:47.806 --> 00:02:58.325 - without any other discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, utility bills for the 23rd 00:02:58.325 --> 00:03:04.798 - are approved. Next is wire transfers in the amount of $577,000. 00:03:05.538 --> 00:03:15.704 - $690.48. Any discussion on the wire transfers? Just for the record, I think it's $577,670.48. Great. 00:03:15.704 --> 00:03:25.769 - Thank you. I stand corrected in my speech there. Thank you. Any discussion on those? I move that we 00:03:25.769 --> 00:03:34.526 - approve the wire transfer. Second. All right. I move and second. All in favor say aye. 00:03:35.426 --> 00:03:47.424 - Opposed? All right, wire transfers are approved. Next is customer refunds in the amount of $3,409.57. 00:03:47.424 --> 00:04:00.246 - Questions on the refunds? I move that we approve the customer refunds. Second. It's been moved and seconded. 00:04:00.246 --> 00:04:03.422 - All in favor say aye. Aye. 00:04:04.194 --> 00:04:12.411 - Okay, refunds are approved. Then we have a special check run of $7,230.42. Any questions on 00:04:12.411 --> 00:04:21.611 - those expenditures? Discussion? Bless you. I move that we approve the special check run. Second. Okay, 00:04:21.611 --> 00:04:31.614 - special check run's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, those are approved. 00:04:31.842 --> 00:04:38.111 - I failed to mention that we have a new ex-officio member with us this evening. Lynn Coyne is joining 00:04:38.111 --> 00:04:44.380 - us as the new Director of Planning. Is it interim? Director of Planning and Transportation. Director 00:04:44.380 --> 00:04:50.773 - of Planning and Transportation of the City of Bloomington. We're glad to have you, Lynn, and thank you 00:04:50.773 --> 00:04:57.166 - for joining us. We look forward to having you at all of our meetings. And we'll ask questions, and you 00:04:57.166 --> 00:05:00.766 - can ask questions too, and we'll keep it all coordinated. 00:05:01.026 --> 00:05:08.652 - Oh, no. Well, thank you. It's great to be here. It's great to work with the capital. Thank you, Glenn. 00:05:08.652 --> 00:05:16.129 - Good to have you. All right. Next is approval of item or item five is approval of the consent agenda 00:05:16.129 --> 00:05:23.681 - in the amount of $28,989 and 84 cents. Director Zeiger will let us know about that. Good evening. I'm 00:05:23.681 --> 00:05:26.494 - Catherine Zeiger, utilities director. 00:05:27.234 --> 00:05:36.516 - I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling $28,989.84. The first contract is with Shambaugh and 00:05:36.516 --> 00:05:45.616 - Sons LP DBA Precision Controls of Indy for $12,361.98. It's an extension of the expiration date for 00:05:45.616 --> 00:05:55.262 - HVAC work at the Utility Service Center. Next is with VET Environmental Engineering, LLC, for $11,441.95. 00:05:55.778 --> 00:06:03.421 - For water main relocation site investigation at West Jed and West Joy streets. Next is with McAllister 00:06:03.421 --> 00:06:10.915 - machinery company incorporated for $5,185 and 91 cents to replace the control panel on a switch gear 00:06:10.915 --> 00:06:18.336 - for jet for generator at Blucher pool wastewater treatment plant. Is there any member who wishes to 00:06:18.336 --> 00:06:22.046 - consider one or more of these items individually? 00:06:24.514 --> 00:06:31.865 - Hearing none, if there's no opposition, these items will be approved as recommended by staff. Hearing 00:06:31.865 --> 00:06:39.072 - no opposition, the consent agenda is approved. Thank you, Kat. I appreciate that. Next item is item 00:06:39.072 --> 00:06:46.351 - six, requesting approval of the 2024 interdepartmental agreement between the city of Bloomington and 00:06:46.351 --> 00:06:53.342 - CBU. Matt Havy and Jeff McKim are here. I'll take the lead on it. Give that summary we can show. 00:07:00.162 --> 00:07:06.983 - So my plan here is to take everybody through a summary of where we were in 2023 and then tell you or 00:07:06.983 --> 00:07:13.803 - communicate to you what we came up with as a process going forward for 2024 and 2025. Utilities, the 00:07:13.803 --> 00:07:21.164 - Office of the Mayor, the Office of the Controller, Public Works have all been involved in this conversation. 00:07:21.164 --> 00:07:28.187 - So I feel pretty confident that we have a pretty good process going forward. So my plan is just to take 00:07:28.187 --> 00:07:30.078 - you through the percentages 00:07:30.498 --> 00:07:38.674 - and then kind of give you an idea of how they were brought up or how they were calculated. And so if 00:07:38.674 --> 00:07:46.931 - you look at the, is that the clerk up there first? Your controller, I can't read it from here. Clerk, 00:07:46.931 --> 00:07:55.107 - so back in 2023, our allocation to the clerk was 1% after discussions with the team, we decided that 00:07:55.107 --> 00:08:00.126 - the utilities really doesn't need to fund the clerk's office. 00:08:00.482 --> 00:08:08.752 - So we changed that to zero going forward. Carbon Council, in 2023, we were paying 7.2%. Again, the team 00:08:08.752 --> 00:08:16.943 - decided that the utilities didn't need to fund that. Same with ESD. Engineering, we kept the same. And 00:08:16.943 --> 00:08:24.974 - the work that they do for us is they waive right away fees. There's a $100 flat permit fee. And they 00:08:24.974 --> 00:08:30.302 - streamlines the processes for the utility. So we felt that it was, 00:08:30.466 --> 00:08:38.375 - to keep some money in for engineering. Fire, again, was reduced to zero. Human resources was changed 00:08:38.375 --> 00:08:46.677 - to a percentage of headcount. So that's the HR budget based on each department's headcount going forward. 00:08:46.677 --> 00:08:55.134 - So hopefully that leads every... ITS is based on the people in the hardware that we have for the utilities. 00:08:55.134 --> 00:08:58.110 - So there is a detailed summary behind 00:08:58.306 --> 00:09:06.300 - the numbers and assumptions we're using for IT. Planning, we went down to zero. Again, with the police 00:09:06.300 --> 00:09:14.838 - it's the same. We decided that utilities really didn't need to be funding those two divisions or departments. 00:09:14.838 --> 00:09:23.142 - Risk management was based on how much time the risk team spent with automobile accident claims and general 00:09:23.142 --> 00:09:26.014 - liability claims. So that's based on 00:09:27.010 --> 00:09:34.251 - the size and breadth of the claims and how many there were for 2024, it was deemed to be about 12% of 00:09:34.251 --> 00:09:42.060 - their time. And for 2025 was deemed to be about 20% of their time. For the work with comp, that is calculated 00:09:42.060 --> 00:09:49.231 - as you either use the lower of the payroll exposure or the three year rolling average. So we do have 00:09:49.231 --> 00:09:54.910 - a process in place for that. So that percentage will change based on, you know, 00:09:55.426 --> 00:10:04.000 - what numbers the rolling average come out to or the payroll comes out to. Control, there's a typo there 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:12.409 - on my part. D14 should be minus 40. And the reason it went from minus 100 is because in 2023, we were 00:10:12.409 --> 00:10:20.900 - using 100% of a number that was just given. And now we have a formula and assumptions behind it to get 00:10:20.900 --> 00:10:25.022 - to 100% and we're allocating 40% to Public Works. 00:10:26.626 --> 00:10:33.185 - So that's just a show in our math more. Um, and then I don't think I'm following on the minus percentages, 00:10:33.185 --> 00:10:39.745 - which I know we're going to get to at line 15 as well. So the minus percentages are items that CBU charges 00:10:39.745 --> 00:10:45.936 - the civil city for. Yep. So we have the control office over here. Um, and so, uh, public works picks 00:10:45.936 --> 00:10:52.312 - up, is going to pick up 40% of that going forward. Okay. And then we do the billing for state notation. 00:10:52.312 --> 00:10:55.806 - And so that, that, um, that calculation stayed the same. 00:10:56.994 --> 00:11:06.530 - So back to Line 14 Control 24-7. Yep. In 2023, the city picked up 100% of that. But in 2024, and then 00:11:06.530 --> 00:11:15.973 - you said corrected in 2025, they will cover 40% of that, correct? In 2023, they were paying 50%. But 00:11:15.973 --> 00:11:24.574 - the way the files were set up, we didn't sum everything together and then allocate 50%. OK. 00:11:24.770 --> 00:11:31.530 - that we just put in one number saying this was 50%. And so they were paying 100% of the 50%, right? 00:11:31.530 --> 00:11:38.291 - So they were paying 100% of 50%, and now they're going to be paying 40% of the actual total. Of the 00:11:38.291 --> 00:11:45.119 - total amount. Yes. OK. But then what about, so then it goes back up for 20.5? That's the typo that I 00:11:45.119 --> 00:11:52.082 - had in there. That's supposed to be 40. That's supposed to be 40? Yep. OK. OK, so CDU is covering 40%. 00:11:52.082 --> 00:11:53.502 - 60. Or 60. 60, yeah. 00:11:54.466 --> 00:12:00.660 - Public Works takes four. OK. Thank you. And that's based on calls and whatnot, I assume, just like all 00:12:00.660 --> 00:12:06.674 - the other categories that you worked through. Pretty much. I mean, we don't really track the calls, 00:12:06.674 --> 00:12:12.687 - but we had a conversation with Public Works, and we decided that 40% made more sense going forward. 00:12:12.687 --> 00:12:18.821 - OK. And then for sanitation billing, we have a department for that, so we just sum that up and charge 00:12:18.821 --> 00:12:24.414 - them for all that. And that's our labor and the printing costs, postage, and all that stuff. 00:12:26.050 --> 00:12:31.611 - So those are the assumptions that we have banked in going forward for 2020. Well, I know we're going 00:12:31.611 --> 00:12:37.228 - past, but going forward from 2023. So I'm happy to field any. Oh, and there's a couple of things over 00:12:37.228 --> 00:12:43.065 - to the right as well. So the controller's office went through each person in the controller's department, 00:12:43.065 --> 00:12:48.571 - opposite the controller, and they made an estimate of how much time each person or each role spends 00:12:48.571 --> 00:12:54.132 - on utilities work, spends on utilities work. So that's where that came from. The legal assumption is 00:12:54.132 --> 00:12:55.454 - one full-time attorney. 00:12:55.810 --> 00:13:04.049 - in 10% of a paralegal, I think is what the term is. And the mayor's office is just a proportion of the 00:13:04.049 --> 00:13:12.048 - mayor, deputy mayor, and the communication manager's salaries. Can I just? Yeah, absolutely. Sorry. 00:13:12.048 --> 00:13:20.446 - Jeff McKim, city controller. And thanks, Matt, for the detailed description. Particularly for the, there 00:13:20.446 --> 00:13:23.326 - are several numbers that you'll see 00:13:23.522 --> 00:13:31.468 - that may have gone up for 2025, including the mayor's office. And that was because of the union negotiations. 00:13:31.468 --> 00:13:38.691 - So we would expect it to go probably back down to the 2024 level in the future. But we actually did 00:13:38.691 --> 00:13:46.059 - a kind of detailed discussion with the relevant staff and did our best to kind of estimate the amount 00:13:46.059 --> 00:13:49.598 - of costs that were actually spent on CBU issues. 00:13:56.834 --> 00:14:09.845 - So if you want to scroll down, there's a little summary for the actual dollar amounts. So you can see 00:14:09.845 --> 00:14:23.112 - what those changes percentages yielded for a new rate for each of the departments. So if you take 2023, 00:14:23.112 --> 00:14:25.918 - compare that to 2024, 00:14:26.082 --> 00:14:35.989 - Based on these expenses, we reduced the interdepartmental that the utilities owes by about $840,000 00:14:35.989 --> 00:14:45.996 - in 2024 and 2025 compared to 2023, it's about $661,000. A few comments. So number one, thank you for 00:14:45.996 --> 00:14:51.742 - providing these detailed numbers, really looking at this. 00:14:51.874 --> 00:14:58.562 - Together with the teams This is what we've been looking for for years Especially like I think HR is 00:14:58.562 --> 00:15:05.385 - the easiest one What's our headcount for the city and like so it's awesome to like have these numbers 00:15:05.385 --> 00:15:12.207 - in front of us So thank you for your time with this And we're looking at the dollars We talk about we 00:15:12.207 --> 00:15:17.758 - pay the inner department interdepartmental agreement When we're looking at the the 00:15:18.114 --> 00:15:24.879 - the control 24 seven and the sanitation and that's subtracted off of our bill, then so it's not like 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:31.644 - we say, okay, well here was the, this is what we sent in paper and postage and we send sanitation to 00:15:31.644 --> 00:15:38.476 - bill and they send us a check. Correct. That's not what happens. No, no. So when we're looking ahead, 00:15:38.476 --> 00:15:45.576 - we know we're keeping track in 2026. So we know when we have this conversation next year, this is exactly 00:15:45.576 --> 00:15:46.782 - what was spent on 00:15:46.882 --> 00:15:54.996 - postage and everything, and that's what we'll get back. Correct. OK. Yeah. OK. Thank you. All right. 00:15:54.996 --> 00:16:03.029 - Yeah, Amanda. So I echo again what Megan said. Thank you both for really drilling into this and for 00:16:03.029 --> 00:16:11.063 - all the other team members that were involved. So we've asked for this for a long time. So the fact 00:16:11.063 --> 00:16:16.606 - that you've kind of gone through and done all the nitty gritty on it 00:16:17.186 --> 00:16:25.866 - Thank you. No problem. You know what I'm going to ask, probably. Can you guess? I got one guess, but. 00:16:25.866 --> 00:16:35.227 - Fleet? I'll keep it to myself, yeah. OK, so in the memo, it outlines some other costs that are not reflective 00:16:35.227 --> 00:16:43.737 - in this spreadsheet here. But some are. So I'm kind of like going back and forth here. I understand 00:16:43.737 --> 00:16:45.694 - the health care trust. 00:16:47.170 --> 00:16:55.850 - I'm just very grateful that we have insurance for our employees. That's fantastic. Maintenance. So the 00:16:55.850 --> 00:17:04.278 - fleet maintenance cost is in addition to all of this, another $850,000. That's correct. That is not 00:17:04.278 --> 00:17:12.958 - reflective here. My last notes on fleet are from our April 6th meeting of this year that you guys were 00:17:12.958 --> 00:17:15.486 - going to look at the numbers, 00:17:16.354 --> 00:17:24.045 - And like, like, is this the result of the negotiation or is there with with fleet or is there still 00:17:24.045 --> 00:17:31.966 - stuff going on? This is the negotiation would be going forward. These years are already done. So these 00:17:31.966 --> 00:17:40.042 - have all been agreed upon and fleet has been paid. OK, so thank you for the reminder. So these are still 00:17:40.042 --> 00:17:45.502 - the old these are the old numbers. Yes. Well, from twenty twenty four. 00:17:45.762 --> 00:17:56.167 - But we haven't changed the way we do fleet yet. So the process is still the same. OK. Yeah. And when, 00:17:56.167 --> 00:18:06.675 - like, I mean, I think we brought this to the board as early as I can remember is February of 2025. Now 00:18:06.675 --> 00:18:15.550 - we are at, where are we? June 2026. How are we getting any closer to that negotiation, 00:18:16.130 --> 00:18:24.683 - Those numbers? We've had conversations, but we haven't actually bottomed out how we want to carry forward 00:18:24.683 --> 00:18:32.751 - with how we handle the fleet charges. OK. Better update than that, Kat. I don't know. But there are 00:18:32.751 --> 00:18:40.900 - ongoing conversations. OK. But I guess, at what point do we expect to have answers on this? That I'm 00:18:40.900 --> 00:18:43.966 - not sure of. OK. May I just say that? 00:18:44.706 --> 00:18:52.225 - The first time that it would really even be possible would be for the 2027 budget. Because, yeah, 00:18:52.225 --> 00:19:00.051 - I mean, the fleet set rate is already set for 2026. And it's basically the total costs divided by the 00:19:00.051 --> 00:19:07.799 - vehicles. Which is that's in the budget that we're approving today. That's in the budget already. So 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:14.014 - we're going to be going really even before that, 2024. I have written down 2025. 00:19:14.466 --> 00:19:22.323 - I know that wasn't the first time we talked about it. So we've gone 2024, 2025, 2026. We're going to 00:19:22.323 --> 00:19:30.102 - approve 2027 today. And we're still going to be in conversations. And we're still in conversations. 00:19:30.102 --> 00:19:38.037 - We're coming on four and five years that I guess I don't understand why we can't get solid answers on 00:19:38.037 --> 00:19:42.782 - this. So I mean, I'll approve this today because I know it's 00:19:43.522 --> 00:19:53.134 - pass paid, but we're five years without an answer. And I just don't think that's acceptable. Understood. 00:19:53.134 --> 00:20:02.655 - That's all I have. Good points. Other questions about our interdepartmentals for 24 and 25? Well, we're 00:20:02.655 --> 00:20:12.175 - still at 24, because we've got to approve each one. Yeah, but just the presentations for both. Correct. 00:20:12.175 --> 00:20:13.182 - I got you. 00:20:14.530 --> 00:20:21.867 - And you know, man, I was thinking about what we're going to do when we get to 27. And to your point, 00:20:21.867 --> 00:20:29.277 - we're going to be approving a number for 27 in fleet, but it could always still be adjusted according 00:20:29.277 --> 00:20:36.613 - to how staff comes back with actual costs. If we get to that point, you know, we've, we've still got 00:20:36.613 --> 00:20:43.006 - to approve a number, but the, you know, ongoing discussion with fleet between fleet and 00:20:43.554 --> 00:20:52.619 - and us and the controller's office, that can all come together still in 27. For the 2028 budget. Well, 00:20:52.619 --> 00:21:01.773 - you know, we're going to we're going to approve a number for 27. Sure. But if there's a better formula, 00:21:01.773 --> 00:21:10.926 - we could adjust up or down. Even down. These are the same conversations we were having three years ago, 00:21:10.926 --> 00:21:12.158 - respectfully. 00:21:12.930 --> 00:21:22.990 - It's a difficult, you know, as we know, this is a complicated question. But we still are interested 00:21:22.990 --> 00:21:33.152 - in making sure, the whole idea is making sure that we're getting the best results in service for the 00:21:33.152 --> 00:21:42.206 - right cost for our rate payers. But you know, I think we've taken a big step forward here 00:21:43.042 --> 00:21:51.617 - in that kind of accountability with this interdepartmental allocation process that we're seeing this 00:21:51.617 --> 00:22:00.276 - evening. It's a good thing. Headed in the right direction. All right. I move that we approve the 2024 00:22:00.276 --> 00:22:08.766 - interdepartmental agreement between the City of Bloomington and CBU. Second. I then move and second 00:22:08.766 --> 00:22:12.926 - to approve the 2024 interdepartmental agreement. 00:22:13.154 --> 00:22:21.556 - All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carries. Next is requesting approval of the 2025 00:22:21.556 --> 00:22:29.957 - Interdepartmental Agreement between the City of Bloomington and CBU. We've had our staff presentation. 00:22:29.957 --> 00:22:38.522 - Any further questions or discussion? I move that we approve the 2025 Interdepartmental Agreement between 00:22:38.522 --> 00:22:41.214 - the City of Bloomington and CBU. 00:22:42.082 --> 00:22:50.991 - All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right. 00:22:50.991 --> 00:23:00.242 - Next item eight, requesting approval of the conflict of interest disclosure. And I need to make a statement 00:23:00.242 --> 00:23:08.808 - that I'll be recusing myself from discussion and vote on this issue. Our vice president isn't here. 00:23:08.808 --> 00:23:11.806 - I can still call for votes though. 00:23:11.938 --> 00:23:21.883 - I can't die or should I pass that gavel to someone? I should pass the gavel to someone. Here we go. 00:23:21.883 --> 00:23:32.026 - Immediate past president. Okay. Audrey Brittingham will be presenting the information on the approval 00:23:32.026 --> 00:23:34.910 - of the conflict of interest. 00:23:38.402 --> 00:23:49.025 - I am here to present and request approval for the conflict of interest form that Kirk White has completed. 00:23:49.025 --> 00:23:59.251 - So Kirk is entering into a contract with the office of the mayor for certain services unrelated to his 00:23:59.251 --> 00:24:05.406 - work with the utility service board whenever a public servant 00:24:05.858 --> 00:24:14.343 - contracts with the entity in which they also serve on a board or are employed and are employed to work 00:24:14.343 --> 00:24:22.580 - for, then they can only enter into a contract with that entity under specific circumstances. One of 00:24:22.580 --> 00:24:31.806 - the circumstances are basically if the work is entirely unrelated to what they do as a public servant and as if 00:24:31.938 --> 00:24:40.949 - when they've made certain disclosures and public disclosures and filed that disclosure with the state 00:24:40.949 --> 00:24:49.961 - of Indiana and with Monroe County. So essentially what this is is Mr. Kirk has completed the required 00:24:49.961 --> 00:24:57.470 - state conflict of interest disclosure statement. That is what's in your packet here. 00:24:57.634 --> 00:25:06.606 - It lays out the required information that the state asks for in order to essentially sort of waive or 00:25:06.606 --> 00:25:15.666 - allow the contract to move forward. And then part of the requirements is that the conflict of interest 00:25:15.666 --> 00:25:23.230 - be signed by a public body and presented to and signed and approved by a public body. 00:25:23.490 --> 00:25:32.918 - And so we are here asking for the USB's approval and signature of the conflict of interest disclosure 00:25:32.918 --> 00:25:42.161 - statement. I'm happy to answer questions that you have about this. Thank you, Audrey. Any questions 00:25:42.161 --> 00:25:51.682 - or comments from the board? Hearing none, do we have a motion for approval? I move approval. Go ahead. 00:25:51.682 --> 00:25:53.438 - I move to approve. 00:25:54.178 --> 00:26:03.962 - Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay. 00:26:03.962 --> 00:26:14.459 - All right. Thanks again, Audrey. Thank you. Motion passed. All right. Thank you, Seth, for taking over 00:26:14.459 --> 00:26:23.326 - there. All right. Item nine is requesting approval of the 2027 budget recommendations. 00:26:23.874 --> 00:26:33.574 - and we're in that stage of where we heard proposals at our last meeting, kind of a draft, and our director 00:26:33.574 --> 00:26:43.002 - is here this evening to take us through the presentation for 2027. Catherine Zager, utilities director. 00:26:43.002 --> 00:26:52.158 - I'm presenting tonight our 2027 budget for City of Bloomington utilities. I'd like to note with this 00:26:52.158 --> 00:26:53.790 - presentation that 00:26:53.890 --> 00:27:04.020 - This is the first of two opportunities that the USB has to see this budget. So I'm welcoming any and 00:27:04.020 --> 00:27:14.350 - all suggestions. And if you do not have them tonight, feel free to send them via email. If, perchance, 00:27:14.350 --> 00:27:23.678 - you want to vote on it tonight, you're also able to do that. So I just want to let you know. 00:27:23.842 --> 00:27:30.971 - All right. Well, with that, okay. Uh, the city of Bloomington utilities mission is to enhance the quality 00:27:30.971 --> 00:27:37.697 - of life in our community by providing safe, sustainable and high quality drinking water, wastewater 00:27:37.697 --> 00:27:44.086 - and stormwater services in a cost effective manner, promoting public health, economic vitality 00:27:44.086 --> 00:27:51.081 - and environmental stewardship. City Bloomington utilities is currently staffed with 191 full time staff 00:27:51.081 --> 00:27:53.502 - and four permanent part time staff. 00:27:55.202 --> 00:28:03.671 - Our budget change from the 2026 budget is an addition of $7,560,000. And our key budget topics for 2027 00:28:03.671 --> 00:28:12.059 - center around the implementation of our water rate case beginning September 2026, continued investment 00:28:12.059 --> 00:28:20.610 - in Monroe Water Treatment Plant modernization, and distribution system improvements, including strategic 00:28:20.610 --> 00:28:24.926 - water main replacement and booster station upgrades. 00:28:25.826 --> 00:28:35.174 - Now I'll take you through some 2026 highlights. In water, some of our highlights were that we rehabilitated 00:28:35.174 --> 00:28:43.917 - our fluoride system and returned consistent fluoride to our drinking water. We rehabilitated our low 00:28:43.917 --> 00:28:49.630 - service pump number four. We installed a secondary backwash pump. 00:28:50.114 --> 00:28:59.474 - And we are undergoing currently our chemical feed line project that will put new chemical feed lines 00:28:59.474 --> 00:29:09.575 - at the plant to increase our resiliency. In wastewater in 2026, we had the rehabilitation of the non-potable 00:29:09.575 --> 00:29:16.062 - water pumps at Blucher Pool. The replacement of VFDs at Blucher Pool. 00:29:17.410 --> 00:29:26.511 - replacement of suction lines in the pump station at Dilman, and then the installation of a fifth blower 00:29:26.511 --> 00:29:35.349 - to increase the plant flow rate at Dilman. In stormwater, the Clear Creek Renewal Feasibility Study, 00:29:35.349 --> 00:29:42.174 - RFQ, was released and the firm was selected to conduct the feasibility study. 00:29:44.994 --> 00:29:51.078 - We completed the Winslow Rain Garden as part of our continued commitment to partnering with City of 00:29:51.078 --> 00:29:57.222 - Bloomington Engineering for the installation of green infrastructure and right-of-way projects where 00:29:57.222 --> 00:30:03.428 - possible. We also had our O'Neill, our SPIA O'Neill fellow delivered a report on the E. coli sampling 00:30:03.428 --> 00:30:09.633 - project in Clear Creek and its tributaries. This report included recommendations and identified where 00:30:09.633 --> 00:30:14.622 - higher concentrations were found to guide illicit discharge elimination programs. 00:30:18.146 --> 00:30:28.007 - I also want to give a brief update on our assistance program. I think it's truly worth highlighting. 00:30:28.007 --> 00:30:37.868 - In 2025, CBU budgeted $100,000 each year for the program, but our participation levels did not fully 00:30:37.868 --> 00:30:46.558 - utilize the available funding. This prompted some program updates that include two major 00:30:46.914 --> 00:30:53.258 - categories of updates. One is consecutive assistance. Previously, customers receiving direct payment 00:30:53.258 --> 00:30:59.916 - assistance were required to pay two bills after every three months of support. Under our updated program, 00:30:59.916 --> 00:31:06.197 - customers may receive assistance consecutively, provided that they reapply and continue to meet the 00:31:06.197 --> 00:31:12.918 - eligibility requirements. We also increased our program flexibility. So customers were previously required 00:31:12.918 --> 00:31:15.870 - to apply for assistance before being shut off. 00:31:16.034 --> 00:31:24.220 - That requirement has been removed, allowing eligible customers to apply even after their service has 00:31:24.220 --> 00:31:32.406 - been disconnected, as long as they continue to meet the program requirements to have it restored. We 00:31:32.406 --> 00:31:40.673 - again budgeted $100,000 for this program in 2026. As you can see in this graph, we are much closer to 00:31:40.673 --> 00:31:42.942 - being on track having spent 00:31:43.106 --> 00:31:51.900 - 48,000 so far this year in July. Um, and yeah, so I'm very, I'm very proud of the progress we've made 00:31:51.900 --> 00:32:00.781 - in this program. Okay. Now we'll move on to 2027 priorities and goals for our budget. So, uh, our 2027 00:32:00.781 --> 00:32:09.747 - budget prioritizes maintaining or enhancing our existing assets with a focus on reliability and climate 00:32:09.747 --> 00:32:10.782 - resiliency. 00:32:13.058 --> 00:32:20.685 - Our priorities are as follows, distribution system improvements, electrical and control upgrades at 00:32:20.685 --> 00:32:28.388 - Monroe Water Treatment Plant, Blucher Pool Wastewater Plant upgrades, Dillman Wastewater Plant Phase 00:32:28.388 --> 00:32:36.168 - 2 electrical upgrades, Dillman Collection System Relief Sewer, our Lower Cascades Stormwater Culvert, 00:32:36.168 --> 00:32:41.278 - Clear Creek Renewal Project, the Winslow Sports Complex Detention, 00:32:41.378 --> 00:32:48.565 - and then Utilities Service Center at Winston Thomas. Go through these individually now. For our distribution 00:32:48.565 --> 00:32:55.422 - system improvements, CBU will be updating and replacing equipment at the south central and west booster 00:32:55.422 --> 00:33:02.543 - stations which have met or exceeding their life expectancy. This project will fully modernize both stations 00:33:02.543 --> 00:33:07.422 - with new pumps, valves, controls, electrical system, SCADA and telemetry. 00:33:08.162 --> 00:33:17.006 - We also plan on completing several large water main replacement projects with full neighborhood replacement. 00:33:17.006 --> 00:33:25.119 - The design for these will be in 2026 to 27, with construction beginning in 27 and 28. The estimated 00:33:25.119 --> 00:33:33.801 - total cost for combined design and construction is $11,150,000. That picture is also what I would consider 00:33:33.801 --> 00:33:36.478 - the world's worst hot tub party. 00:33:37.218 --> 00:33:44.959 - Our next priority is the electrical and control upgrades at Monroe Water Treatment Plant. These critical 00:33:44.959 --> 00:33:52.774 - electrical upgrades will be made to the water plant's transformer and switch gears, emergency generators, 00:33:52.774 --> 00:34:00.220 - variable frequency drives or VFDs, and associated conduits and duct banks. These electrical upgrades 00:34:00.220 --> 00:34:01.694 - will be accompanied 00:34:01.794 --> 00:34:09.759 - accompanied by improvements to our SCADA system, including replacement of our programmable logic controllers 00:34:09.759 --> 00:34:17.432 - and conversion of our system to a more modern platform. This will increase reliability and cybersecurity 00:34:17.432 --> 00:34:24.959 - at the water plant for an estimated total cost of $10 million. Next, we have Blue True Pool wastewater 00:34:24.959 --> 00:34:30.878 - plant upgrades. We will be improving the dewatering and solids handling systems. 00:34:31.202 --> 00:34:38.224 - This will include the replacement of our belt press system with a new screw press system, improving 00:34:38.224 --> 00:34:45.387 - the efficiency of our treatment process and reducing cost of waste disposal. Design will be in 26 and 00:34:45.387 --> 00:34:52.690 - 27, with bidding for construction occurring in 27. The estimated total cost is $2.3 million for design. 00:34:52.690 --> 00:34:57.886 - Next, we have our Dillman wastewater plant phase two electrical upgrades. 00:34:58.786 --> 00:35:05.125 - This second phase of our whole plant electrical upgrades will begin next year. This project will include 00:35:05.125 --> 00:35:11.283 - the replacement of medium voltage switch gears, the main substation for the plant and the addition of 00:35:11.283 --> 00:35:17.441 - a plant wide emergency generator. Design is slated for 26 and 27 with bidding for construction in 27. 00:35:17.441 --> 00:35:20.158 - The estimated total cost is 500K for design. 00:35:27.426 --> 00:35:35.396 - stormwater, we have our lower Cascades stormwater culvert. The goal of this project is to connect the 00:35:35.396 --> 00:35:43.365 - North Walnut box culvert and the old State Road 37 or lower Cascades box culvert. This will eliminate 00:35:43.365 --> 00:35:51.491 - erosion, improve flow and capacity and protect our sanitary sewer in the area. Our estimated total cost 00:35:51.491 --> 00:35:55.710 - is $750,000. Next is our Clear Creek renewal project. 00:35:56.098 --> 00:36:04.000 - Our goal is to convert the hundred-year-old limestone block open channel that confines Clear Creek south 00:36:04.000 --> 00:36:11.978 - of West First Street into a more naturalized urban stream channel with water quality treatment amenities. 00:36:11.978 --> 00:36:18.526 - The study phase is underway and will run into 2027 with design to follow in 27 and 28. 00:36:18.882 --> 00:36:25.068 - The study phase will include the development of no fewer than three technically feasible alternatives 00:36:25.068 --> 00:36:31.254 - that aim to reduce the regulatory floodplain for potential redevelopment within the corridor and will 00:36:31.254 --> 00:36:38.046 - provide innovative stormwater treatment technologies. The estimated total cost for the study phase is $500,000. 00:36:42.850 --> 00:36:48.431 - Next, I'd like to highlight our Winslow Sports Complex detention plans. CBU will be partnering with 00:36:48.431 --> 00:36:54.403 - the Parks Department to improve the detention of stormwater runoff from the facility. We will be combining 00:36:54.403 --> 00:36:59.985 - innovative water quality treatment techniques to improve the quality of the runoff. We will also be 00:36:59.985 --> 00:37:06.068 - incorporating stormwater detention to lessen the impacts that large storms have on our downstream neighbors. 00:37:06.068 --> 00:37:11.650 - This will further enhance our community's resilience to climate change. The estimated total cost is 00:37:11.650 --> 00:37:12.766 - $75,000 for design. 00:37:17.154 --> 00:37:23.660 - Finally, for our priorities, we have our utility service center at Winston Thomas. With implementation 00:37:23.660 --> 00:37:30.355 - of the water rate increase, CBU will be resuming the design and moving forward with plans for the Winston 00:37:30.355 --> 00:37:37.177 - Thomas Service Center. Plans are currently at 50% with design work being renewed this fall. A purpose-built 00:37:37.177 --> 00:37:44.062 - service center improves logistics for field crews, allowing faster deployment and better emergency response. 00:37:44.642 --> 00:37:51.390 - It also allows for stronger protection of capital assets, such as specialized service vehicles and supplies, 00:37:51.390 --> 00:37:57.766 - which are currently being stored in the elements. Building a service center that meets utilities needs 00:37:57.766 --> 00:38:03.957 - moving forward is an investment that will save resources over time. Our estimated total cost is 2.5 00:38:03.957 --> 00:38:08.414 - million for design and 2.3 for construction management. That's in 2027. 00:38:11.778 --> 00:38:19.245 - Now I just wanted to highlight in our challenges and opportunities section, primarily some opportunities. 00:38:19.245 --> 00:38:26.360 - Our first is that I'm proud to say that we've secured a $5 million state revolving fund loan. It's a 00:38:26.360 --> 00:38:33.616 - low interest and partially forgivable from the Indiana Finance Authority to replace lead service lines 00:38:33.616 --> 00:38:36.222 - and aging water main infrastructure. 00:38:38.434 --> 00:38:45.083 - We also received $2.5 million in congressional funds for our booster stations and another potential 00:38:45.083 --> 00:38:51.864 - 700,000 for our Dilman relief sewer project. Uh, finally, um, our clear Creek project, along with our 00:38:51.864 --> 00:38:58.579 - other CBU climate mitigation projects were added to the county's multi-hazard mitigation plan, which 00:38:58.579 --> 00:39:05.893 - puts us in a position to access additional funding sources like FEMA's, um, building resilient infrastructure 00:39:05.893 --> 00:39:07.422 - and communities funds. 00:39:07.554 --> 00:39:17.677 - which we are currently pursuing for our Clear Creek renewal project. Next, I'll do a quick review of 00:39:17.677 --> 00:39:28.501 - our 2027 revenue budget summary. In our water, we have a 25% increase due to new water rate implementation, 00:39:28.501 --> 00:39:36.318 - August 1st, 2026, which customers will expect to see in their September bill. 00:39:36.418 --> 00:39:45.612 - Our sewer revenue has a slight increase. This is because we're anticipating a possible rate increase 00:39:45.612 --> 00:39:54.806 - in 27, but because we do not have the timing certain, we're keeping that as a conservative increase. 00:39:54.806 --> 00:40:04.090 - Same is true with our stormwater revenue. For water, so now we're just gonna look at the departmental 00:40:04.090 --> 00:40:06.366 - budget for each utility. 00:40:06.466 --> 00:40:15.394 - For water, we no additional staff, and then we just have a slight increase that reflects our COLA adjustment 00:40:15.394 --> 00:40:23.749 - and then some increases for updated union wages. And supplies, we had a slight increase due to annual 00:40:23.749 --> 00:40:31.940 - price increases. And then our category three, which combines other services and then extensions and 00:40:31.940 --> 00:40:35.134 - replacement, there's a large increase. 00:40:35.394 --> 00:40:43.045 - in extensions and replacement, which reflects our ability now to fund portions of our capital projects 00:40:43.045 --> 00:40:50.473 - through cash funds after the implementation of our rate increase. And then our other services had a 00:40:50.473 --> 00:40:58.273 - moderate decrease, which was due to the collaborative reevaluation that we had of our interdepartmental, 00:40:58.273 --> 00:41:04.958 - resulting in lower costs to the utility. And then our category four had a slight increase 00:41:05.090 --> 00:41:13.823 - Due to fluctuation fluctuations and interest rates and then bond term variability. Next and wastewater 00:41:13.823 --> 00:41:22.980 - again personnel did not change significantly with increases reflecting regular coal adjustment and increase 00:41:22.980 --> 00:41:31.714 - for updated union wages. Supplies and wastewater had increases due to annual price increases increases 00:41:31.714 --> 00:41:33.918 - in the cost of chemicals. 00:41:34.626 --> 00:41:43.876 - And our supplies line item increased based on our run rate from last year, which reflected the actual 00:41:43.876 --> 00:41:53.036 - cost of supplies that were used for projects that we were doing last year that we were able to do in 00:41:53.036 --> 00:42:02.195 - addition to what we expected. So this increase anticipates that we will continue to complete work at 00:42:02.195 --> 00:42:03.646 - that same pace. 00:42:04.098 --> 00:42:13.595 - In category three, we have a net decrease, but this is the combination of an increase in extensions 00:42:13.595 --> 00:42:23.282 - and replacements to support expanded project capacity. This is then combined with an overall decrease 00:42:23.282 --> 00:42:30.974 - in other services, which had the moderate decrease due to the interdepartmental. 00:42:31.938 --> 00:42:40.793 - And then a moderate increase in professional services due to the fact that we are doing more projects 00:42:40.793 --> 00:42:49.822 - in sewer now. So overall, all of that came to a net decrease of 3.3%. And then again, in category four, 00:42:49.822 --> 00:42:58.504 - there was a slight increase with fluctuations in interest rates and bond term variability. And then 00:42:58.504 --> 00:43:00.414 - in stormwater, again, 00:43:00.706 --> 00:43:10.092 - Category one is the same as water and wastewater. The increase in supplies reflects the completion of 00:43:10.092 --> 00:43:19.385 - additional work on the system, and we anticipate that this work will continue at that pace. And then 00:43:19.385 --> 00:43:25.182 - the line item three is a combination of other services in E&R. 00:43:25.282 --> 00:43:32.053 - Other services had an increase reflective of the historic actual costs of our projects and the addition 00:43:32.053 --> 00:43:38.694 - of professional services anticipated to support the design of those projects. And then extensions and 00:43:38.694 --> 00:43:45.595 - replacements had a decrease, which just reflects the changes in our anticipated capital project spending. 00:43:45.595 --> 00:43:52.171 - Again, it's worth noting in stormwater that the percentages are larger just in general because small 00:43:52.171 --> 00:43:53.278 - changes on small 00:43:53.762 --> 00:44:00.776 - Um, smaller totals results in larger, um, percent changes. And then in conclusion, the 2027 budget requests 00:44:00.776 --> 00:44:07.529 - from the city of Bloomington utilities allows us to provide safe, sustainable and high quality drinking 00:44:07.529 --> 00:44:14.283 - water, wastewater and stormwater services in a cost effective manner, promoting public health, economic 00:44:14.283 --> 00:44:20.712 - vitality and environmental stewardship. Thank you for your consideration. Happy to take questions, 00:44:20.712 --> 00:44:22.206 - suggestions, comments. 00:44:28.866 --> 00:44:39.315 - So thank you, Kat. It's been a while since the board has really discussed Winston Thomas, and my memory, 00:44:39.315 --> 00:44:49.765 - which may be faulty, is that in the past we okayed one thing at a time, the assessment of this building, 00:44:49.765 --> 00:44:58.622 - the okay for this, with always the idea that there was an off-ramp because we were never 00:44:58.914 --> 00:45:08.660 - committed to the whole project. Well, at what point are we going to decide to either commit to the project 00:45:08.660 --> 00:45:18.041 - or not, and on what basis will that decision be made? We keep spending a little bit of money, a little 00:45:18.041 --> 00:45:27.513 - bit of money, and a little bit of money, and pretty soon that becomes a lot of money. So. That's a good 00:45:27.513 --> 00:45:28.606 - point, Jim. 00:45:29.026 --> 00:45:36.912 - what we've done up to this point is things we needed to do to make a good decision. First, we needed 00:45:36.912 --> 00:45:45.266 - to clean the site, which we needed to do anyway. We got that done. And we needed to see what a new service 00:45:45.266 --> 00:45:53.230 - center would look like and what we really needed in a service center. So we did the space studies and 00:45:53.230 --> 00:45:57.758 - we've had architectural proposals, but not in detail. So, 00:45:58.946 --> 00:46:08.562 - I'm not mistaken what we'd be doing if we approve this proposal then we'd be we'd be down the path of 00:46:08.562 --> 00:46:17.989 - paying for architects to design a building and so that this is where we're about to the off-ramp or 00:46:17.989 --> 00:46:27.604 - on the on-ramp one of the other and stay on-ramp I am 100% with with what Jim said we as a board have 00:46:27.604 --> 00:46:28.830 - not approved 00:46:29.954 --> 00:46:39.176 - the building of a center. One of the other things that has also been part of the discussion is that 00:46:39.176 --> 00:46:48.582 - money has been set aside and that money would be coming from the water increase. Again, we were going 00:46:48.582 --> 00:46:57.803 - to have the funds to do that. But I'm now seeing a number of $2.5 million for design, and I believe 00:46:57.803 --> 00:46:58.910 - we've spent 00:46:59.874 --> 00:47:08.027 - 800, 900,000 in design already. That is included in that number. That is included. Yeah. That's the 00:47:08.027 --> 00:47:16.262 - total cost. So we're about, I thought we had spent more, but we're about 50% into the design, right? 00:47:16.262 --> 00:47:24.823 - Yes. We absolutely have 50% design. And so the idea is to move closer to 75% in the fall when we restart 00:47:24.823 --> 00:47:26.046 - this, correct? 00:47:27.682 --> 00:47:33.643 - And that's the off ramp that we're talking about. Once we get that deep, you guys, we feel like. I feel 00:47:33.643 --> 00:47:39.489 - like we've been paused on the ramp for two years waiting on this rate case. And then now seeing it in 00:47:39.489 --> 00:47:45.279 - this budget is our first hearing about it. So I wrote that down, too. This is our first time hearing 00:47:45.279 --> 00:47:51.240 - about it. So I think before we would approve the budget, we would vote and say, we want to move forward 00:47:51.240 --> 00:47:57.086 - with a side at Winston Thomas. Let's also remember, too, that the city has come to us with asking for 00:47:57.762 --> 00:48:10.143 - The mayor came to us, I forget the date, asking us to consider property for the fire. Not for the fire. 00:48:10.143 --> 00:48:22.166 - That one's done for public works. We've heard nothing on that. So I personally feel like this is now 00:48:22.166 --> 00:48:27.166 - here right in front of us, and we haven't 00:48:27.490 --> 00:48:39.091 - really finalized any plans. The beginning of these conversations and the spending of monies began quite 00:48:39.091 --> 00:48:50.358 - a bit before you came on as director, and that's a lot of years. The longer this takes, the costs of 00:48:50.358 --> 00:48:56.382 - building a new building are going up, up, up, up, up. 00:48:56.770 --> 00:49:06.207 - I mean, at some point we just have to decide, are we doing it or not? And I think spreading this out 00:49:06.207 --> 00:49:15.457 - over five, it must be five years now. And I guess does the city need our approval to even do this? 00:49:15.457 --> 00:49:24.894 - I mean, are they going to do it no matter what? I don't think so because we need to spend the money. 00:49:30.274 --> 00:49:37.626 - I was just going to interject on the existing contracts that are in place for Winston Thomas, the design 00:49:37.626 --> 00:49:42.878 - and the construction management. Those are already pre-approved contracts. 00:49:43.138 --> 00:49:49.164 - And as Kat mentioned, we've already spent some towards the 50%. So we had to stop because we didn't 00:49:49.164 --> 00:49:55.431 - have the money until we got the estimates so that we could put it in the rate case. And of course, yes, 00:49:55.431 --> 00:50:01.759 - that did take quite a while. Now we're preparing to move back forward with those contracts. And in doing 00:50:01.759 --> 00:50:04.350 - so, we're going to have both the architect 00:50:04.578 --> 00:50:11.188 - The construction management agent, Weddle Brothers, come back forward with amendments to those contracts 00:50:11.188 --> 00:50:17.609 - just to update their costs there, because their hourly rates have changed over the last two years. So 00:50:17.609 --> 00:50:24.093 - it's minor to the adjustment, but those will come back to the board. You'll approve any contract, just 00:50:24.093 --> 00:50:29.758 - as you did with the 2.5 and 2.3 million contracts previously. Those are already in place. 00:50:29.954 --> 00:50:36.336 - As we said, the sewer was already approved in 21 in that rate case to bond for the Winston Thomas. And 00:50:36.336 --> 00:50:43.027 - then we were just waiting on water. Now we've got water approved through this rate case. So we've completed 00:50:43.027 --> 00:50:49.347 - a lot of those steps. And then the next step will be completing design and bid for next year with the 00:50:49.347 --> 00:50:50.462 - board's approval. 00:50:58.850 --> 00:51:09.508 - trying to follow here. So the amount that is in the budget, are you saying it's already been approved? 00:51:09.508 --> 00:51:20.166 - Yeah, those were contracts already in place with the Champlain Architects and Weddle Brothers. The 50% 00:51:20.166 --> 00:51:24.926 - design though, right? No, the full amount was 00:51:25.154 --> 00:51:32.850 - the full amount was approved. Now they had clauses in there where we could terminate the contract at 00:51:32.850 --> 00:51:40.774 - 50%. They did have clauses in there and those had cost if you terminate early that we incur if we chose 00:51:40.774 --> 00:51:48.775 - not to move forward. Where I'm confused, Phil, is if we're approving in the 27 budget an amount, because 00:51:48.775 --> 00:51:53.118 - it looks like it's in the, it's a budget request, right? 00:51:53.314 --> 00:52:00.295 - The costs that are in this budget presentation are total costs of the project. Not all of that cost 00:52:00.295 --> 00:52:07.415 - is in the 27 budget. This is more of a presentation of the total costs of these projects that we will 00:52:07.415 --> 00:52:14.396 - be working on in 27. Does that make sense? She prefaced it with saying this is a priority that, and 00:52:14.396 --> 00:52:21.377 - I took it as saying, like, we have been working on this and we're revisiting this coming this fall, 00:52:21.377 --> 00:52:23.262 - but leading into 27. Yeah. 00:52:23.394 --> 00:52:30.233 - It was presented more as a goal and priority for the utility overall. The actual budget costs are what 00:52:30.233 --> 00:52:37.271 - was kind of in those charts and then in the budget memo. Kat and I met earlier this week and she recalled 00:52:37.271 --> 00:52:43.977 - previous budget hearings where, you know, what's the update on the new service center? So she wanted 00:52:43.977 --> 00:52:50.750 - to provide in her budget statement, just an update to the board about the, you know, where it stands. 00:52:51.746 --> 00:52:59.299 - There's not a lot of new monies in 2027 that's going into this. Most of this has been pre-approved and 00:52:59.299 --> 00:53:06.705 - done. So we don't have any new monies going in. So nothing new is being done. Hold on. It seems like 00:53:06.705 --> 00:53:14.111 - there is some monies. With the presentation that Matt made a couple weeks ago, was there anything in 00:53:14.111 --> 00:53:21.150 - that I can't recall? I know. I don't think so. No? No. It just had numbers. It wasn't detailed. 00:53:22.754 --> 00:53:29.108 - So to clarify a little bit, we paused on almost all water expenditures because we were low on money. 00:53:29.108 --> 00:53:35.398 - And that included the new service center. So that money was approved by the board, but we paused so 00:53:35.398 --> 00:53:41.815 - we didn't have to borrow from sewer. And so now we're going to have the new revenue coming in and the 00:53:41.815 --> 00:53:47.791 - bond that can pay for the previously approved contract. There's going to be small adjustments, 00:53:47.791 --> 00:53:52.446 - maybe $60,000 on a $2.3 million contract to adjust to those hourly wages. 00:53:52.674 --> 00:54:02.369 - in the coming month. We'll bring that back to the board. Maybe I watch a little too much HGTV, but I 00:54:02.369 --> 00:54:12.063 - see what those people do to existing structures. I think I could take this building and turn it over 00:54:12.063 --> 00:54:18.782 - to some HGTV people and they'd make it into a wonderful thing without 00:54:18.978 --> 00:54:27.660 - This way, we're spending a million here, a million here, two million here. With that much money, I mean, 00:54:27.660 --> 00:54:36.177 - that's why I say we have not made a decision whether to go forward. And we keep spending more and more 00:54:36.177 --> 00:54:44.776 - and more monies. And I guess I'd like to see what the cost of turning this building into something that 00:54:44.776 --> 00:54:47.422 - would really be usable, better, 00:54:48.866 --> 00:54:58.960 - And we've not done that. Well, I think a lot of that discussion's been that this isn't big enough for 00:54:58.960 --> 00:55:09.252 - not necessarily the building. But for me, the discussion tilted towards how much yard space and storage 00:55:09.252 --> 00:55:18.654 - space that were kind of landlocked here unless we wanted to go outside our current boundaries. 00:55:20.898 --> 00:55:29.821 - committed that we have to move somewhere. This does seem to be the best place. Why don't we budget for 00:55:29.821 --> 00:55:38.657 - it and do it? So where we are is getting us back on track as we've approved design contracts. What we 00:55:38.657 --> 00:55:47.406 - haven't done is approved construction because design contracts would give us what it's going to cost 00:55:47.406 --> 00:55:48.446 - to do this. 00:55:51.202 --> 00:55:58.717 - I thought Whitehall Brothers told us that, like, in November of 24, it was like $52 million or something. 00:55:58.717 --> 00:56:05.807 - So I feel like we kind of got to a stopping point there, and then we were waiting on the rate case. 00:56:05.807 --> 00:56:13.038 - So at some point, either before the budget goes to council and we have a vote next month that say, we 00:56:13.038 --> 00:56:17.150 - want to move forward with the service center, yes, no, or 00:56:17.666 --> 00:56:25.356 - we move forward with it as you have it presented, and you say pending utility service board approval 00:56:25.356 --> 00:56:32.969 - or something. I mean, I felt like we were always waiting to approve the next step. I agree like the 00:56:32.969 --> 00:56:40.583 - expenses have skyrocketed, I'm sure, since just November of 24. But I didn't feel like we ever gave 00:56:40.583 --> 00:56:44.542 - it the green light to like, we're going to do this. 00:56:45.218 --> 00:56:53.278 - I seem to recall flowchart that was provided to us by Vic that was here were all the points that we 00:56:53.278 --> 00:57:01.902 - were going as a board that we were going to make a decision that we were going to have to make a decision. 00:57:01.902 --> 00:57:10.526 - And nowhere to my knowledge have we approved going for like full 100 percent going forward. No we haven't. 00:57:12.962 --> 00:57:22.529 - And we've got our clauses if we wanted to stop. Right. And again, this is not like, I don't mean to 00:57:22.529 --> 00:57:32.286 - make it sound like it's an accusation. I think we all know we're where we are in this process. But we 00:57:32.286 --> 00:57:41.566 - have not put the final approval that this is what we're going to do. And there are still things. 00:57:41.698 --> 00:57:50.504 - that are up in the air with the office of the mayor, that they proposed to us, that I think play a part 00:57:50.504 --> 00:57:59.310 - in us making this decision. They presented to us, again, I can't even, I'd have to go look, I feel like 00:57:59.310 --> 00:58:07.777 - a year ago, with a proposed idea, and we've heard down nothing. Or maybe there has been talks going 00:58:07.777 --> 00:58:09.470 - on with staff, but, 00:58:10.594 --> 00:58:21.147 - they may be waiting on us. Because the discussion was what would we sell this building for? And if we 00:58:21.147 --> 00:58:31.493 - would also give property to public works so that they could build on the Winston Thomas site. So it 00:58:31.493 --> 00:58:35.838 - was kind of twofold. And I believe that I 00:58:36.770 --> 00:58:46.137 - I believe the idea was that they were going to use this area for housing projects. That was one of the 00:58:46.137 --> 00:58:55.596 - options. Can I make a suggestion? Sure. Just a couple. So one, I'd like to be able to highlight Winston 00:58:55.596 --> 00:59:05.054 - Thomas in the budget. I think we've put a lot of work and money into it. I could change the language to 00:59:05.474 --> 00:59:13.151 - represent where we are with design and be more specific that we've approved design. That's where we're 00:59:13.151 --> 00:59:20.977 - picking back up design and don't make mention of construction because we have not approved construction. 00:59:20.977 --> 00:59:28.580 - Because that seems to me where we're at as far as incremental approvals along the way. We've approved 00:59:28.580 --> 00:59:31.710 - the contract for construction, and again, 00:59:31.842 --> 00:59:44.699 - When we bring those updates to the contract, this board can approve the cancellation of the contract. 00:59:44.699 --> 00:59:57.430 - This board can approve the amendments to the contract. But sorry, where was I going with that? Yeah. 00:59:57.430 --> 01:00:01.086 - Sorry. It's been a long day. 01:00:01.506 --> 01:00:08.344 - Yeah, so I can change the language. I can remove it entirely. I just really wanted to highlight what 01:00:08.344 --> 01:00:15.521 - we've done. Oh, we've made incremental approvals. I think it's important to think about our conversations 01:00:15.521 --> 01:00:22.766 - around the water rate case and how we did have conversations as to whether or not to include the financing 01:00:22.766 --> 01:00:28.318 - for Winston Thomas in the rate case. It doesn't mean you've approved to build it. 01:00:28.930 --> 01:00:36.040 - But I think that is also an incremental step that this board has approved is that we said, yes, we will 01:00:36.040 --> 01:00:42.945 - include this in our rate case, which is kind of a big thing to include in the rate case in a serious 01:00:42.945 --> 01:00:49.850 - step. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I want you to suggest it. Because the council needs to 01:00:49.850 --> 01:00:55.934 - know where we're headed, where we are in all this, too, when you make that presentation. 01:00:56.610 --> 01:01:05.477 - And I think it'd probably be a good idea for us to get an update and revisit the whole topic 01:01:05.477 --> 01:01:15.298 - in a subcommittee meeting so we can dive into this a bit. And one other thing just to consider, again, 01:01:15.298 --> 01:01:25.118 - when we had the original designs put forth, I know many of you guys were here in some roller capacity. 01:01:25.442 --> 01:01:36.362 - But I know we were under different leadership. Is the vision in these designs indeed what this leadership 01:01:36.362 --> 01:01:47.282 - team sees? If that makes sense. I mean, I know we're 50% there, but are we 50% there with what's happened 01:01:47.282 --> 01:01:49.342 - in two years? Yeah. 01:01:52.706 --> 01:01:59.396 - you know, a vision of one leader can be different than another. So I, you know, I wanna support, I wanna 01:01:59.396 --> 01:02:05.831 - support that whatever we're doing is not just for the here and now, but for the next, you know, what 01:02:05.831 --> 01:02:12.267 - do we think, 25, 50 years. Yeah. I mean, I will say that the initial work that Champlain did with us 01:02:12.267 --> 01:02:18.766 - was very collaborative, not just with the existing leadership at the time, with some of us who are in 01:02:18.766 --> 01:02:22.270 - different roles, but also with the staff who are here. 01:02:22.754 --> 01:02:33.636 - a lot of the staff who would be impacted by the design changes, folks working in supply, folks who are 01:02:33.636 --> 01:02:44.623 - working out in the yard. One more question. Yeah, so this is the budget for 2027. Do we anticipate that 01:02:44.623 --> 01:02:49.694 - there will be a large amount of money available 01:02:50.370 --> 01:03:04.560 - for a 2028 budget that would move Winston Thomas forward by increments? So in the budget, so we have 01:03:04.560 --> 01:03:15.518 - now both in water and wastewater adequate rates to fund payments on bonds for 01:03:15.874 --> 01:03:25.125 - bond for Winston-Thomas. And so that's in the, so if you look to the 2028 budget, how would we be moving 01:03:25.125 --> 01:03:34.465 - forward with Winston-Thomas? It'd be securing that bond. It would be making those bond payments. Correct. 01:03:34.465 --> 01:03:43.276 - Yep. Okay. Our plan is to have a separate bond that covers the Winston-Thomas project itself. Okay. 01:03:43.276 --> 01:03:45.214 - Thank you. So I think 01:03:47.426 --> 01:03:56.825 - I think we ought to plan a property planning subcommittee meeting to dive into the latest details and 01:03:56.825 --> 01:04:06.132 - have some discussion about so we can spend some time with this. A lot of good discussion tonight and 01:04:06.132 --> 01:04:15.070 - some good clarification. I appreciate all that. Well, we have a couple of options here, I think, 01:04:15.714 --> 01:04:25.178 - in requesting approval of the budget recommendation, we can vote to approve this tonight, or as Kat 01:04:25.178 --> 01:04:34.736 - mentioned, we can deliberate some more over the next couple of weeks and approve it in two weeks. So 01:04:34.736 --> 01:04:44.862 - if we need more discussion, we can wait, or we can move forward this evening. It's good either way, right? 01:04:45.474 --> 01:04:55.257 - Very much so. What's your pleasure? I'm not sure much is to be gained by waiting, I think. You know, 01:04:55.257 --> 01:05:04.943 - if Cat feels there's the best way to present it to the council, that's fine. We're committed to the 01:05:04.943 --> 01:05:13.758 - monies, and that won't change. So I'm prepared to vote right now. OK. I see heads nodding. 01:05:14.274 --> 01:05:22.970 - OK, I think with the clarification, if you kind of fix that statement number nine based on what we're 01:05:22.970 --> 01:05:31.667 - proposing here, I could live with everything else. So except for one thing, it's not cola adjustment, 01:05:31.667 --> 01:05:40.193 - it's cola. Because it's like saying cost of living adjustment, adjustment. So it's like when people 01:05:40.193 --> 01:05:43.262 - say RSVP, please, it makes me like. 01:05:43.426 --> 01:05:51.747 - for saying ours, please respond, please. But it's, yeah, COLA's, there's no COLA adjustment. It's just 01:05:51.747 --> 01:05:59.906 - COLA. I move that we approve the 2027 budget recommendation. Second. It's been moved and seconded to 01:05:59.906 --> 01:06:07.985 - approve the budget recommendation for 27. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? 01:06:07.985 --> 01:06:10.974 - All right. There we go. Next item is 01:06:12.258 --> 01:06:24.933 - The item 10, requesting approval for the service agreement with Ingersoll Rand, and Hector will give 01:06:24.933 --> 01:06:37.734 - us an update on that. Well, I hope mine is easier than the budget, so. This request or this contract, 01:06:37.734 --> 01:06:39.742 - if for $46,237, 01:06:40.066 --> 01:06:49.533 - dollar with $0.52 with Ingersund run industrial. This is to maintain the three compressors, do preventative 01:06:49.533 --> 01:06:58.474 - maintenance in the three compressor at the wastewater plant that they are vital for the operation. So 01:06:58.474 --> 01:07:07.590 - happy to answer any questions. Is that at both plants, both wastewater plants? Not only Monroe drinking 01:07:07.590 --> 01:07:09.694 - water plant, my friend. 01:07:09.954 --> 01:07:20.453 - Oh, OK. Monroe. Monroe only, OK. Yes. All right. Any discussion on the service agreement? Move that 01:07:20.453 --> 01:07:31.477 - we approve the service agreement with Endersoll Rand. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor 01:07:31.477 --> 01:07:38.302 - say aye. Aye. Opposed? OK, motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. 01:07:38.946 --> 01:07:48.676 - Next is requesting approval of the Emergency Service Agreement with Wynn Industries, and Dan Hudson 01:07:48.676 --> 01:07:53.054 - is here to discuss this replacement project. 01:07:57.506 --> 01:08:05.083 - Dan Hudson, the capital projects manager for the city of Blooming utilities and I want to thank the 01:08:05.083 --> 01:08:12.811 - board for your lively participation in the budget and also thank Matt and Kat for their presentation. 01:08:12.811 --> 01:08:20.539 - I thought it was great but I need to turn to something more immediate, an emergency service agreement 01:08:20.539 --> 01:08:22.206 - with Wynn Industries. 01:08:22.498 --> 01:08:31.294 - They were asked to replace the lining on two alum tanks at the Monroe plant. This included a custom 01:08:31.294 --> 01:08:40.091 - fabrication of the liner, installation, and some welding at the bottom of the tanks. This needed to 01:08:40.091 --> 01:08:48.887 - be done in order to maintain a treatment process, which is very important, and to maintain reliable 01:08:48.887 --> 01:08:52.318 - chemical storage, as required by IDEM. 01:08:52.514 --> 01:09:05.712 - They are asking $165,000 for this. It's a reasonable cost, similar to costs we did last year. I'm open 01:09:05.712 --> 01:09:19.806 - for questions, if you have it, to vote on it. So this is an emergency agreement. So you didn't have the usual 01:09:20.514 --> 01:09:28.594 - hunt out other suppliers process, right? It was the sole source with the company and the reason why 01:09:28.594 --> 01:09:36.673 - we chose this company because we use them recently and they did a great job for us and the cost for 01:09:36.673 --> 01:09:46.046 - the bid that we did earlier was very similar to this so it was compared. Good. Any discussion or questions for Dan? 01:09:48.418 --> 01:09:56.814 - Emergency service agreement with Wynn Industries. Second. So moving a second all in favor say aye. Aye. 01:09:56.814 --> 01:10:04.967 - Opposed? All right motion carries. By the way this is already done I have invoices. It was it was an 01:10:04.967 --> 01:10:12.798 - emergency so we understand. Yeah okay. We need the alum so yes we're all good. Absolutely. Okay. 01:10:13.730 --> 01:10:22.365 - Next is requesting approval of the change order number four with Cocosing. Dan. This is the Cocosing 01:10:22.365 --> 01:10:31.427 - project at Dillman wastewater treatment plant for the site safety and process improvement project. Change 01:10:31.427 --> 01:10:39.806 - order number four which includes four different field change orders. Most of them have to do with 01:10:40.098 --> 01:10:52.159 - repair of leaks in the discharge piping of the compressor and also some heat wrapping and painting of 01:10:52.159 --> 01:11:04.575 - the pipe. I think there is one that we get some money back on for disposal of some lead tainted material 01:11:04.575 --> 01:11:10.014 - that we had. They're asking $65,335 for a new 01:11:10.242 --> 01:11:20.398 - Total contract amount of $5,214,109. OK. Any questions? Discussion for Dan? I'd like to bring up this 01:11:20.398 --> 01:11:30.553 - is the end of the project, and I don't expect any more change orders. This should be it for this job. 01:11:30.553 --> 01:11:39.614 - Doing a big job. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. All right. Any other questions or discussion? 01:11:47.618 --> 01:11:55.382 - Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion 01:11:55.382 --> 01:12:03.146 - carries. And finally, in the request, so we have approval of the service agreement with Wessler. Dan's 01:12:03.146 --> 01:12:11.136 - here with that. Yeah, this is a construction administration project, I mean a contract, and it's actually 01:12:11.136 --> 01:12:16.638 - for two projects. One is for the replacement of the filter media and the 01:12:16.994 --> 01:12:26.748 - the filter control upgrade project. So what the work would include would be a review of shop drawings 01:12:26.748 --> 01:12:37.268 - and approval of shop drawings, field observation, coordination with the contractor, startup and commissioning 01:12:37.268 --> 01:12:43.006 - assistance, project closeout help. And that's for $304,000. 01:12:47.970 --> 01:12:56.218 - Dan's asking for a lot of money tonight. Yeah, I am, yes. Well, this project is actually at a good price 01:12:56.218 --> 01:13:04.780 - considering it's two projects combined. It's all good progress. I move that we approve the service agreement 01:13:04.780 --> 01:13:12.870 - with Westler Engineering. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Do all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? 01:13:12.870 --> 01:13:16.798 - All right, motion carries. Thanks, Dan. We don't. 01:13:17.090 --> 01:13:26.016 - I do apologize, but I have to leave. So thank you. OK. Well, I just want to get up without saying anything. 01:13:26.016 --> 01:13:34.198 - Yeah. We know that you're not mad at us, right? Well, we still have a quorum, so we will drive on. 01:13:34.198 --> 01:13:43.124 - Thank you. Thank you, Megan. All right. Next is old business. Any old business from staff? Any old business 01:13:43.124 --> 01:13:44.446 - from the board? 01:13:46.082 --> 01:13:54.273 - OK, new business from staff, new business from the board. I just want to remind everybody out in the 01:13:54.273 --> 01:14:02.789 - public that this is a very busy time for our community, which also includes our CBU team, as they change 01:14:02.789 --> 01:14:10.980 - over hundreds and hundreds of apartments and houses. So kudos to everybody, and hang in there. We'll 01:14:10.980 --> 01:14:12.926 - get through this month. 01:14:14.274 --> 01:14:21.282 - Well said, Amanda. We appreciate all the good work of our customer service team to help orient a whole 01:14:21.282 --> 01:14:28.154 - bunch of people who've never had utility bills before. Exactly. Yeah. It costs to do that. Yeah. And 01:14:28.154 --> 01:14:35.162 - I'll use it as one other plug and I'll do it again at the next meeting to make sure that when you sign 01:14:35.162 --> 01:14:42.782 - up for your service, please be sure to sign up for the meter watching system that we have in the event that you 01:14:43.074 --> 01:14:51.771 - Leave a toilet running or a sink running. It will save you dollars. It works. It does. We haven't had 01:14:51.771 --> 01:15:00.723 - any subcommittees since our last meeting. Staff reports. Yes. First, we'd like to welcome Ariel Simmons, 01:15:00.723 --> 01:15:09.249 - the new temporary part-time stormwater inspector. And we'd like to congratulate Liz Carter, our MS4 01:15:09.249 --> 01:15:12.574 - coordinator in environmental programs. 01:15:12.674 --> 01:15:21.987 - who earned her Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control, or CPESC, and Colton Harden, 01:15:21.987 --> 01:15:31.673 - who received his CDLB. Congrats and welcome. Very good, thank you. Any petitions or communications from 01:15:31.673 --> 01:15:37.726 - the public? All right, seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you.