- We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order July 27th of the Utilities Services Board meeting for the
- City of Bloomington. And just a reminder that our mission is to enhance the quality of life in our community
- by providing safe, sustainable, and high-quality drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater services
- in a cost-effective manner, promoting public health, economic vitality, and environmental stewardship,
- And our vision is that CBU will be the leading municipal water utility organization in Indiana.
- All right. First on our agenda is petitions and communications. Do we have any petitions or communications
- from the public? Seeing none, we'll go to approval of the minutes of the previous meeting and that would
- be July 13th, 2026.
- Okay, it's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right.
- Minutes are approved. Next is standard invoices and the amount of $1,921,561.09. Any discussion or questions
- from the board on standard invoices?
- the standard claims. Second. All right moved in second to approve standard invoices. All in favor say
- aye. Aye. Opposed? All right invoices are approved. Next is utility bills for July 16th in the amount
- of $49,026.37.
- questions or discussion on utility bills for July 16th. I move that we approve the utility bills for
- July 16th. All right it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right and next is
- utility bills for July 23rd and the amount of
- $4,758.67. I move that we approve the utility bills for July 23rd. Second. All right, moved and seconded
- without any other discussion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, utility bills for the 23rd
- are approved. Next is wire transfers in the amount of $577,000.
- $690.48. Any discussion on the wire transfers? Just for the record, I think it's $577,670.48. Great.
- Thank you. I stand corrected in my speech there. Thank you. Any discussion on those? I move that we
- approve the wire transfer. Second. All right. I move and second. All in favor say aye.
- Opposed? All right, wire transfers are approved. Next is customer refunds in the amount of $3,409.57.
- Questions on the refunds? I move that we approve the customer refunds. Second. It's been moved and seconded.
- All in favor say aye. Aye.
- Okay, refunds are approved. Then we have a special check run of $7,230.42. Any questions on
- those expenditures? Discussion? Bless you. I move that we approve the special check run. Second. Okay,
- special check run's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, those are approved.
- I failed to mention that we have a new ex-officio member with us this evening. Lynn Coyne is joining
- us as the new Director of Planning. Is it interim? Director of Planning and Transportation. Director
- of Planning and Transportation of the City of Bloomington. We're glad to have you, Lynn, and thank you
- for joining us. We look forward to having you at all of our meetings. And we'll ask questions, and you
- can ask questions too, and we'll keep it all coordinated.
- Oh, no. Well, thank you. It's great to be here. It's great to work with the capital. Thank you, Glenn.
- Good to have you. All right. Next is approval of item or item five is approval of the consent agenda
- in the amount of $28,989 and 84 cents. Director Zeiger will let us know about that. Good evening. I'm
- Catherine Zeiger, utilities director.
- I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling $28,989.84. The first contract is with Shambaugh and
- Sons LP DBA Precision Controls of Indy for $12,361.98. It's an extension of the expiration date for
- HVAC work at the Utility Service Center. Next is with VET Environmental Engineering, LLC, for $11,441.95.
- For water main relocation site investigation at West Jed and West Joy streets. Next is with McAllister
- machinery company incorporated for $5,185 and 91 cents to replace the control panel on a switch gear
- for jet for generator at Blucher pool wastewater 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, Kat. I appreciate that. Next item is item
- six, requesting approval of the 2024 interdepartmental agreement between the city of Bloomington and
- CBU. Matt Havy and Jeff McKim are here. I'll take the lead on it. Give that summary we can show.
- So my plan here is to take everybody through a summary of where we were in 2023 and then tell you or
- communicate to you what we came up with as a process going forward for 2024 and 2025. Utilities, the
- Office of the Mayor, the Office of the Controller, Public Works have all been involved in this conversation.
- So I feel pretty confident that we have a pretty good process going forward. So my plan is just to take
- you through the percentages
- and then kind of give you an idea of how they were brought up or how they were calculated. And so if
- you look at the, is that the clerk up there first? Your controller, I can't read it from here. Clerk,
- so back in 2023, our allocation to the clerk was 1% after discussions with the team, we decided that
- the utilities really doesn't need to fund the clerk's office.
- So we changed that to zero going forward. Carbon Council, in 2023, we were paying 7.2%. Again, the team
- decided that the utilities didn't need to fund that. Same with ESD. Engineering, we kept the same. And
- the work that they do for us is they waive right away fees. There's a $100 flat permit fee. And they
- streamlines the processes for the utility. So we felt that it was,
- to keep some money in for engineering. Fire, again, was reduced to zero. Human resources was changed
- to a percentage of headcount. So that's the HR budget based on each department's headcount going forward.
- So hopefully that leads every... ITS is based on the people in the hardware that we have for the utilities.
- So there is a detailed summary behind
- the numbers and assumptions we're using for IT. Planning, we went down to zero. Again, with the police
- it's the same. We decided that utilities really didn't need to be funding those two divisions or departments.
- Risk management was based on how much time the risk team spent with automobile accident claims and general
- liability claims. So that's based on
- the size and breadth of the claims and how many there were for 2024, it was deemed to be about 12% of
- their time. And for 2025 was deemed to be about 20% of their time. For the work with comp, that is calculated
- as you either use the lower of the payroll exposure or the three year rolling average. So we do have
- a process in place for that. So that percentage will change based on, you know,
- what numbers the rolling average come out to or the payroll comes out to. Control, there's a typo there
- on my part. D14 should be minus 40. And the reason it went from minus 100 is because in 2023, we were
- using 100% of a number that was just given. And now we have a formula and assumptions behind it to get
- to 100% and we're allocating 40% to Public Works.
- So that's just a show in our math more. Um, and then I don't think I'm following on the minus percentages,
- which I know we're going to get to at line 15 as well. So the minus percentages are items that CBU charges
- the civil city for. Yep. So we have the control office over here. Um, and so, uh, public works picks
- up, is going to pick up 40% of that going forward. Okay. And then we do the billing for state notation.
- And so that, that, um, that calculation stayed the same.
- So back to Line 14 Control 24-7. Yep. In 2023, the city picked up 100% of that. But in 2024, and then
- you said corrected in 2025, they will cover 40% of that, correct? In 2023, they were paying 50%. But
- the way the files were set up, we didn't sum everything together and then allocate 50%. OK.
- that we just put in one number saying this was 50%. And so they were paying 100% of the 50%, right?
- So they were paying 100% of 50%, and now they're going to be paying 40% of the actual total. Of the
- total amount. Yes. OK. But then what about, so then it goes back up for 20.5? That's the typo that I
- had in there. That's supposed to be 40. That's supposed to be 40? Yep. OK. OK, so CDU is covering 40%.
- 60. Or 60. 60, yeah.
- Public Works takes four. OK. Thank you. And that's based on calls and whatnot, I assume, just like all
- the other categories that you worked through. Pretty much. I mean, we don't really track the calls,
- but we had a conversation with Public Works, and we decided that 40% made more sense going forward.
- OK. And then for sanitation billing, we have a department for that, so we just sum that up and charge
- them for all that. And that's our labor and the printing costs, postage, and all that stuff.
- So those are the assumptions that we have banked in going forward for 2020. Well, I know we're going
- past, but going forward from 2023. So I'm happy to field any. Oh, and there's a couple of things over
- to the right as well. So the controller's office went through each person in the controller's department,
- opposite the controller, and they made an estimate of how much time each person or each role spends
- on utilities work, spends on utilities work. So that's where that came from. The legal assumption is
- one full-time attorney.
- in 10% of a paralegal, I think is what the term is. And the mayor's office is just a proportion of the
- mayor, deputy mayor, and the communication manager's salaries. Can I just? Yeah, absolutely. Sorry.
- Jeff McKim, city controller. And thanks, Matt, for the detailed description. Particularly for the, there
- are several numbers that you'll see
- that may have gone up for 2025, including the mayor's office. And that was because of the union negotiations.
- So we would expect it to go probably back down to the 2024 level in the future. But we actually did
- a kind of detailed discussion with the relevant staff and did our best to kind of estimate the amount
- of costs that were actually spent on CBU issues.
- So if you want to scroll down, there's a little summary for the actual dollar amounts. So you can see
- what those changes percentages yielded for a new rate for each of the departments. So if you take 2023,
- compare that to 2024,
- Based on these expenses, we reduced the interdepartmental that the utilities owes by about $840,000
- in 2024 and 2025 compared to 2023, it's about $661,000. A few comments. So number one, thank you for
- providing these detailed numbers, really looking at this.
- Together with the teams This is what we've been looking for for years Especially like I think HR is
- the easiest one What's our headcount for the city and like so it's awesome to like have these numbers
- in front of us So thank you for your time with this And we're looking at the dollars We talk about we
- pay the inner department interdepartmental agreement When we're looking at the the
- the control 24 seven and the sanitation and that's subtracted off of our bill, then so it's not like
- we say, okay, well here was the, this is what we sent in paper and postage and we send sanitation to
- bill and they send us a check. Correct. That's not what happens. No, no. So when we're looking ahead,
- we know we're keeping track in 2026. So we know when we have this conversation next year, this is exactly
- what was spent on
- postage and everything, and that's what we'll get back. Correct. OK. Yeah. OK. Thank you. All right.
- Yeah, Amanda. So I echo again what Megan said. Thank you both for really drilling into this and for
- all the other team members that were involved. So we've asked for this for a long time. So the fact
- that you've kind of gone through and done all the nitty gritty on it
- Thank you. No problem. You know what I'm going to ask, probably. Can you guess? I got one guess, but.
- Fleet? I'll keep it to myself, yeah. OK, so in the memo, it outlines some other costs that are not reflective
- in this spreadsheet here. But some are. So I'm kind of like going back and forth here. I understand
- the health care trust.
- I'm just very grateful that we have insurance for our employees. That's fantastic. Maintenance. So the
- fleet maintenance cost is in addition to all of this, another $850,000. That's correct. That is not
- reflective here. My last notes on fleet are from our April 6th meeting of this year that you guys were
- going to look at the numbers,
- And like, like, is this the result of the negotiation or is there with with fleet or is there still
- stuff going on? This is the negotiation would be going forward. These years are already done. So these
- have all been agreed upon and fleet has been paid. OK, so thank you for the reminder. So these are still
- the old these are the old numbers. Yes. Well, from twenty twenty four.
- But we haven't changed the way we do fleet yet. So the process is still the same. OK. Yeah. And when,
- like, I mean, I think we brought this to the board as early as I can remember is February of 2025. Now
- we are at, where are we? June 2026. How are we getting any closer to that negotiation,
- Those numbers? We've had conversations, but we haven't actually bottomed out how we want to carry forward
- with how we handle the fleet charges. OK. Better update than that, Kat. I don't know. But there are
- ongoing conversations. OK. But I guess, at what point do we expect to have answers on this? That I'm
- not sure of. OK. May I just say that?
- The first time that it would really even be possible would be for the 2027 budget. Because, yeah,
- I mean, the fleet set rate is already set for 2026. And it's basically the total costs divided by the
- vehicles. Which is that's in the budget that we're approving today. That's in the budget already. So
- we're going to be going really even before that, 2024. I have written down 2025.
- I know that wasn't the first time we talked about it. So we've gone 2024, 2025, 2026. We're going to
- approve 2027 today. And we're still going to be in conversations. And we're still in conversations.
- We're coming on four and five years that I guess I don't understand why we can't get solid answers on
- this. So I mean, I'll approve this today because I know it's
- pass paid, but we're five years without an answer. And I just don't think that's acceptable. Understood.
- That's all I have. Good points. Other questions about our interdepartmentals for 24 and 25? Well, we're
- still at 24, because we've got to approve each one. Yeah, but just the presentations for both. Correct.
- I got you.
- And you know, man, I was thinking about what we're going to do when we get to 27. And to your point,
- we're going to be approving a number for 27 in fleet, but it could always still be adjusted according
- to how staff comes back with actual costs. If we get to that point, you know, we've, we've still got
- to approve a number, but the, you know, ongoing discussion with fleet between fleet and
- and us and the controller's office, that can all come together still in 27. For the 2028 budget. Well,
- you know, we're going to we're going to approve a number for 27. Sure. But if there's a better formula,
- we could adjust up or down. Even down. These are the same conversations we were having three years ago,
- respectfully.
- It's a difficult, you know, as we know, this is a complicated question. But we still are interested
- in making sure, the whole idea is making sure that we're getting the best results in service for the
- right cost for our rate payers. But you know, I think we've taken a big step forward here
- in that kind of accountability with this interdepartmental allocation process that we're seeing this
- evening. It's a good thing. Headed in the right direction. All right. I move that we approve the 2024
- interdepartmental agreement between the City of Bloomington and CBU. Second. I then move and second
- to approve the 2024 interdepartmental agreement.
- All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carries. Next is requesting approval of the 2025
- Interdepartmental Agreement between the City of Bloomington and CBU. We've had our staff presentation.
- Any further questions or discussion? I move that we approve the 2025 Interdepartmental Agreement between
- the City of Bloomington and CBU.
- All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. All right.
- Next item eight, requesting approval of the conflict of interest disclosure. And I need to make a statement
- that I'll be recusing myself from discussion and vote on this issue. Our vice president isn't here.
- I can still call for votes though.
- I can't die or should I pass that gavel to someone? I should pass the gavel to someone. Here we go.
- Immediate past president. Okay. Audrey Brittingham will be presenting the information on the approval
- of the conflict of interest.
- I am here to present and request approval for the conflict of interest form that Kirk White has completed.
- So Kirk is entering into a contract with the office of the mayor for certain services unrelated to his
- work with the utility service board whenever a public servant
- contracts with the entity in which they also serve on a board or are employed and are employed to work
- for, then they can only enter into a contract with that entity under specific circumstances. One of
- the circumstances are basically if the work is entirely unrelated to what they do as a public servant and as if
- when they've made certain disclosures and public disclosures and filed that disclosure with the state
- of Indiana and with Monroe County. So essentially what this is is Mr. Kirk has completed the required
- state conflict of interest disclosure statement. That is what's in your packet here.
- It lays out the required information that the state asks for in order to essentially sort of waive or
- allow the contract to move forward. And then part of the requirements is that the conflict of interest
- be signed by a public body and presented to and signed and approved by a public body.
- And so we are here asking for the USB's approval and signature of the conflict of interest disclosure
- statement. I'm happy to answer questions that you have about this. Thank you, Audrey. Any questions
- or comments from the board? Hearing none, do we have a motion for approval? I move approval. Go ahead.
- I move to approve.
- Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay.
- All right. Thanks again, Audrey. Thank you. Motion passed. All right. Thank you, Seth, for taking over
- there. All right. Item nine is requesting approval of the 2027 budget recommendations.
- and we're in that stage of where we heard proposals at our last meeting, kind of a draft, and our director
- is here this evening to take us through the presentation for 2027. Catherine Zager, utilities director.
- I'm presenting tonight our 2027 budget for City of Bloomington utilities. I'd like to note with this
- presentation that
- This is the first of two opportunities that the USB has to see this budget. So I'm welcoming any and
- all suggestions. And if you do not have them tonight, feel free to send them via email. If, perchance,
- you want to vote on it tonight, you're also able to do that. So I just want to let you know.
- All right. Well, with that, okay. Uh, the city of Bloomington utilities mission is to enhance the quality
- of life in our community by providing safe, sustainable and high quality drinking water, wastewater
- and stormwater services in a cost effective manner, promoting public health, economic vitality
- and environmental stewardship. City Bloomington utilities is currently staffed with 191 full time staff
- and four permanent part time staff.
- Our budget change from the 2026 budget is an addition of $7,560,000. And our key budget topics for 2027
- center around the implementation of our water rate case beginning September 2026, continued investment
- in Monroe Water Treatment Plant modernization, and distribution system improvements, including strategic
- water main replacement and booster station upgrades.
- Now I'll take you through some 2026 highlights. In water, some of our highlights were that we rehabilitated
- our fluoride system and returned consistent fluoride to our drinking water. We rehabilitated our low
- service pump number four. We installed a secondary backwash pump.
- And we are undergoing currently our chemical feed line project that will put new chemical feed lines
- at the plant to increase our resiliency. In wastewater in 2026, we had the rehabilitation of the non-potable
- water pumps at Blucher Pool. The replacement of VFDs at Blucher Pool.
- replacement of suction lines in the pump station at Dilman, and then the installation of a fifth blower
- to increase the plant flow rate at Dilman. In stormwater, the Clear Creek Renewal Feasibility Study,
- RFQ, was released and the firm was selected to conduct the feasibility study.
- We completed the Winslow Rain Garden as part of our continued commitment to partnering with City of
- Bloomington Engineering for the installation of green infrastructure and right-of-way projects where
- possible. We also had our O'Neill, our SPIA O'Neill fellow delivered a report on the E. coli sampling
- project in Clear Creek and its tributaries. This report included recommendations and identified where
- higher concentrations were found to guide illicit discharge elimination programs.
- I also want to give a brief update on our assistance program. I think it's truly worth highlighting.
- In 2025, CBU budgeted $100,000 each year for the program, but our participation levels did not fully
- utilize the available funding. This prompted some program updates that include two major
- categories of updates. One is consecutive assistance. Previously, customers receiving direct payment
- assistance were required to pay two bills after every three months of support. Under our updated program,
- customers may receive assistance consecutively, provided that they reapply and continue to meet the
- eligibility requirements. We also increased our program flexibility. So customers were previously required
- to apply for assistance before being shut off.
- That requirement has been removed, allowing eligible customers to apply even after their service has
- been disconnected, as long as they continue to meet the program requirements to have it restored. We
- again budgeted $100,000 for this program in 2026. As you can see in this graph, we are much closer to
- being on track having spent
- 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
- in this program. Okay. Now we'll move on to 2027 priorities and goals for our budget. So, uh, our 2027
- budget prioritizes maintaining or enhancing our existing assets with a focus on reliability and climate
- resiliency.
- Our priorities are as follows, distribution system improvements, electrical and control upgrades at
- Monroe Water Treatment Plant, Blucher Pool Wastewater Plant upgrades, Dillman Wastewater Plant Phase
- 2 electrical upgrades, Dillman Collection System Relief Sewer, our Lower Cascades Stormwater Culvert,
- Clear Creek Renewal Project, the Winslow Sports Complex Detention,
- and then Utilities Service Center at Winston Thomas. Go through these individually now. For our distribution
- system improvements, CBU will be updating and replacing equipment at the south central and west booster
- stations which have met or exceeding their life expectancy. This project will fully modernize both stations
- with new pumps, valves, controls, electrical system, SCADA and telemetry.
- We also plan on completing several large water main replacement projects with full neighborhood replacement.
- The design for these will be in 2026 to 27, with construction beginning in 27 and 28. The estimated
- total cost for combined design and construction is $11,150,000. That picture is also what I would consider
- the world's worst hot tub party.
- Our next priority is the electrical and control upgrades at Monroe Water Treatment Plant. These critical
- electrical upgrades will be made to the water plant's transformer and switch gears, emergency generators,
- variable frequency drives or VFDs, and associated conduits and duct banks. These electrical upgrades
- will be accompanied
- accompanied by improvements to our SCADA system, including replacement of our programmable logic controllers
- and conversion of our system to a more modern platform. This will increase reliability and cybersecurity
- at the water plant for an estimated total cost of $10 million. Next, we have Blue True Pool wastewater
- plant upgrades. We will be improving the dewatering and solids handling systems.
- This will include the replacement of our belt press system with a new screw press system, improving
- the efficiency of our treatment process and reducing cost of waste disposal. Design will be in 26 and
- 27, with bidding for construction occurring in 27. The estimated total cost is $2.3 million for design.
- Next, we have our Dillman wastewater plant phase two electrical upgrades.
- This second phase of our whole plant electrical upgrades will begin next year. This project will include
- the replacement of medium voltage switch gears, the main substation for the plant and the addition of
- a plant wide emergency generator. Design is slated for 26 and 27 with bidding for construction in 27.
- The estimated total cost is 500K for design.
- stormwater, we have our lower Cascades stormwater culvert. The goal of this project is to connect the
- North Walnut box culvert and the old State Road 37 or lower Cascades box culvert. This will eliminate
- erosion, improve flow and capacity and protect our sanitary sewer in the area. Our estimated total cost
- is $750,000. Next is our Clear Creek renewal project.
- Our goal is to convert the hundred-year-old limestone block open channel that confines Clear Creek south
- of West First Street into a more naturalized urban stream channel with water quality treatment amenities.
- The study phase is underway and will run into 2027 with design to follow in 27 and 28.
- The study phase will include the development of no fewer than three technically feasible alternatives
- that aim to reduce the regulatory floodplain for potential redevelopment within the corridor and will
- provide innovative stormwater treatment technologies. The estimated total cost for the study phase is $500,000.
- Next, I'd like to highlight our Winslow Sports Complex detention plans. CBU will be partnering with
- the Parks Department to improve the detention of stormwater runoff from the facility. We will be combining
- innovative water quality treatment techniques to improve the quality of the runoff. We will also be
- incorporating stormwater detention to lessen the impacts that large storms have on our downstream neighbors.
- This will further enhance our community's resilience to climate change. The estimated total cost is
- $75,000 for design.
- Finally, for our priorities, we have our utility service center at Winston Thomas. With implementation
- of the water rate increase, CBU will be resuming the design and moving forward with plans for the Winston
- Thomas Service Center. Plans are currently at 50% with design work being renewed this fall. A purpose-built
- service center improves logistics for field crews, allowing faster deployment and better emergency response.
- It also allows for stronger protection of capital assets, such as specialized service vehicles and supplies,
- which are currently being stored in the elements. Building a service center that meets utilities needs
- moving forward is an investment that will save resources over time. Our estimated total cost is 2.5
- million for design and 2.3 for construction management. That's in 2027.
- Now I just wanted to highlight in our challenges and opportunities section, primarily some opportunities.
- Our first is that I'm proud to say that we've secured a $5 million state revolving fund loan. It's a
- low interest and partially forgivable from the Indiana Finance Authority to replace lead service lines
- and aging water main infrastructure.
- We also received $2.5 million in congressional funds for our booster stations and another potential
- 700,000 for our Dilman relief sewer project. Uh, finally, um, our clear Creek project, along with our
- other CBU climate mitigation projects were added to the county's multi-hazard mitigation plan, which
- puts us in a position to access additional funding sources like FEMA's, um, building resilient infrastructure
- and communities funds.
- which we are currently pursuing for our Clear Creek renewal project. Next, I'll do a quick review of
- our 2027 revenue budget summary. In our water, we have a 25% increase due to new water rate implementation,
- August 1st, 2026, which customers will expect to see in their September bill.
- Our sewer revenue has a slight increase. This is because we're anticipating a possible rate increase
- in 27, but because we do not have the timing certain, we're keeping that as a conservative increase.
- Same is true with our stormwater revenue. For water, so now we're just gonna look at the departmental
- budget for each utility.
- For water, we no additional staff, and then we just have a slight increase that reflects our COLA adjustment
- and then some increases for updated union wages. And supplies, we had a slight increase due to annual
- price increases. And then our category three, which combines other services and then extensions and
- replacement, there's a large increase.
- in extensions and replacement, which reflects our ability now to fund portions of our capital projects
- through cash funds after the implementation of our rate increase. And then our other services had a
- moderate decrease, which was due to the collaborative reevaluation that we had of our interdepartmental,
- resulting in lower costs to the utility. And then our category four had a slight increase
- Due to fluctuation fluctuations and interest rates and then bond term variability. Next and wastewater
- again personnel did not change significantly with increases reflecting regular coal adjustment and increase
- for updated union wages. Supplies and wastewater had increases due to annual price increases increases
- in the cost of chemicals.
- And our supplies line item increased based on our run rate from last year, which reflected the actual
- cost of supplies that were used for projects that we were doing last year that we were able to do in
- addition to what we expected. So this increase anticipates that we will continue to complete work at
- that same pace.
- In category three, we have a net decrease, but this is the combination of an increase in extensions
- and replacements to support expanded project capacity. This is then combined with an overall decrease
- in other services, which had the moderate decrease due to the interdepartmental.
- And then a moderate increase in professional services due to the fact that we are doing more projects
- in sewer now. So overall, all of that came to a net decrease of 3.3%. And then again, in category four,
- there was a slight increase with fluctuations in interest rates and bond term variability. And then
- in stormwater, again,
- Category one is the same as water and wastewater. The increase in supplies reflects the completion of
- additional work on the system, and we anticipate that this work will continue at that pace. And then
- the line item three is a combination of other services in E&R.
- Other services had an increase reflective of the historic actual costs of our projects and the addition
- of professional services anticipated to support the design of those projects. And then extensions and
- replacements had a decrease, which just reflects the changes in our anticipated capital project spending.
- Again, it's worth noting in stormwater that the percentages are larger just in general because small
- changes on small
- Um, smaller totals results in larger, um, percent changes. And then in conclusion, the 2027 budget requests
- from the city of Bloomington utilities allows us to provide safe, sustainable and high quality drinking
- water, wastewater and stormwater services in a cost effective manner, promoting public health, economic
- vitality and environmental stewardship. Thank you for your consideration. Happy to take questions,
- suggestions, comments.
- So thank you, Kat. It's been a while since the board has really discussed Winston Thomas, and my memory,
- which may be faulty, is that in the past we okayed one thing at a time, the assessment of this building,
- the okay for this, with always the idea that there was an off-ramp because we were never
- committed to the whole project. Well, at what point are we going to decide to either commit to the project
- or not, and on what basis will that decision be made? We keep spending a little bit of money, a little
- bit of money, and a little bit of money, and pretty soon that becomes a lot of money. So. That's a good
- point, Jim.
- what we've done up to this point is things we needed to do to make a good decision. First, we needed
- to clean the site, which we needed to do anyway. We got that done. And we needed to see what a new service
- center would look like and what we really needed in a service center. So we did the space studies and
- we've had architectural proposals, but not in detail. So,
- 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
- paying for architects to design a building and so that this is where we're about to the off-ramp or
- 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
- not approved
- the building of a center. One of the other things that has also been part of the discussion is that
- money has been set aside and that money would be coming from the water increase. Again, we were going
- to have the funds to do that. But I'm now seeing a number of $2.5 million for design, and I believe
- we've spent
- 800, 900,000 in design already. That is included in that number. That is included. Yeah. That's the
- total cost. So we're about, I thought we had spent more, but we're about 50% into the design, right?
- Yes. We absolutely have 50% design. And so the idea is to move closer to 75% in the fall when we restart
- this, correct?
- And that's the off ramp that we're talking about. Once we get that deep, you guys, we feel like. I feel
- like we've been paused on the ramp for two years waiting on this rate case. And then now seeing it in
- this budget is our first hearing about it. So I wrote that down, too. This is our first time hearing
- about it. So I think before we would approve the budget, we would vote and say, we want to move forward
- with a side at Winston Thomas. Let's also remember, too, that the city has come to us with asking for
- The mayor came to us, I forget the date, asking us to consider property for the fire. Not for the fire.
- That one's done for public works. We've heard nothing on that. So I personally feel like this is now
- here right in front of us, and we haven't
- really finalized any plans. The beginning of these conversations and the spending of monies began quite
- a bit before you came on as director, and that's a lot of years. The longer this takes, the costs of
- building a new building are going up, up, up, up, up.
- I mean, at some point we just have to decide, are we doing it or not? And I think spreading this out
- over five, it must be five years now. And I guess does the city need our approval to even do this?
- I mean, are they going to do it no matter what? I don't think so because we need to spend the money.
- I was just going to interject on the existing contracts that are in place for Winston Thomas, the design
- and the construction management. Those are already pre-approved contracts.
- And as Kat mentioned, we've already spent some towards the 50%. So we had to stop because we didn't
- have the money until we got the estimates so that we could put it in the rate case. And of course, yes,
- that did take quite a while. Now we're preparing to move back forward with those contracts. And in doing
- so, we're going to have both the architect
- The construction management agent, Weddle Brothers, come back forward with amendments to those contracts
- just to update their costs there, because their hourly rates have changed over the last two years. So
- it's minor to the adjustment, but those will come back to the board. You'll approve any contract, just
- as you did with the 2.5 and 2.3 million contracts previously. Those are already in place.
- As we said, the sewer was already approved in 21 in that rate case to bond for the Winston Thomas. And
- then we were just waiting on water. Now we've got water approved through this rate case. So we've completed
- a lot of those steps. And then the next step will be completing design and bid for next year with the
- board's approval.
- trying to follow here. So the amount that is in the budget, are you saying it's already been approved?
- Yeah, those were contracts already in place with the Champlain Architects and Weddle Brothers. The 50%
- design though, right? No, the full amount was
- the full amount was approved. Now they had clauses in there where we could terminate the contract at
- 50%. They did have clauses in there and those had cost if you terminate early that we incur if we chose
- not to move forward. Where I'm confused, Phil, is if we're approving in the 27 budget an amount, because
- it looks like it's in the, it's a budget request, right?
- The costs that are in this budget presentation are total costs of the project. Not all of that cost
- is in the 27 budget. This is more of a presentation of the total costs of these projects that we will
- be working on in 27. Does that make sense? She prefaced it with saying this is a priority that, and
- I took it as saying, like, we have been working on this and we're revisiting this coming this fall,
- but leading into 27. Yeah.
- It was presented more as a goal and priority for the utility overall. The actual budget costs are what
- was kind of in those charts and then in the budget memo. Kat and I met earlier this week and she recalled
- previous budget hearings where, you know, what's the update on the new service center? So she wanted
- to provide in her budget statement, just an update to the board about the, you know, where it stands.
- There's not a lot of new monies in 2027 that's going into this. Most of this has been pre-approved and
- done. So we don't have any new monies going in. So nothing new is being done. Hold on. It seems like
- there is some monies. With the presentation that Matt made a couple weeks ago, was there anything in
- that I can't recall? I know. I don't think so. No? No. It just had numbers. It wasn't detailed.
- So to clarify a little bit, we paused on almost all water expenditures because we were low on money.
- And that included the new service center. So that money was approved by the board, but we paused so
- we didn't have to borrow from sewer. And so now we're going to have the new revenue coming in and the
- bond that can pay for the previously approved contract. There's going to be small adjustments,
- maybe $60,000 on a $2.3 million contract to adjust to those hourly wages.
- in the coming month. We'll bring that back to the board. Maybe I watch a little too much HGTV, but I
- see what those people do to existing structures. I think I could take this building and turn it over
- to some HGTV people and they'd make it into a wonderful thing without
- This way, we're spending a million here, a million here, two million here. With that much money, I mean,
- that's why I say we have not made a decision whether to go forward. And we keep spending more and more
- and more monies. And I guess I'd like to see what the cost of turning this building into something that
- would really be usable, better,
- And we've not done that. Well, I think a lot of that discussion's been that this isn't big enough for
- not necessarily the building. But for me, the discussion tilted towards how much yard space and storage
- space that were kind of landlocked here unless we wanted to go outside our current boundaries.
- committed that we have to move somewhere. This does seem to be the best place. Why don't we budget for
- it and do it? So where we are is getting us back on track as we've approved design contracts. What we
- haven't done is approved construction because design contracts would give us what it's going to cost
- to do this.
- I thought Whitehall Brothers told us that, like, in November of 24, it was like $52 million or something.
- So I feel like we kind of got to a stopping point there, and then we were waiting on the rate case.
- So at some point, either before the budget goes to council and we have a vote next month that say, we
- want to move forward with the service center, yes, no, or
- we move forward with it as you have it presented, and you say pending utility service board approval
- or something. I mean, I felt like we were always waiting to approve the next step. I agree like the
- expenses have skyrocketed, I'm sure, since just November of 24. But I didn't feel like we ever gave
- it the green light to like, we're going to do this.
- I seem to recall flowchart that was provided to us by Vic that was here were all the points that we
- were going as a board that we were going to make a decision that we were going to have to make a decision.
- And nowhere to my knowledge have we approved going for like full 100 percent going forward. No we haven't.
- And we've got our clauses if we wanted to stop. Right. And again, this is not like, I don't mean to
- make it sound like it's an accusation. I think we all know we're where we are in this process. But we
- have not put the final approval that this is what we're going to do. And there are still things.
- that are up in the air with the office of the mayor, that they proposed to us, that I think play a part
- in us making this decision. They presented to us, again, I can't even, I'd have to go look, I feel like
- a year ago, with a proposed idea, and we've heard down nothing. Or maybe there has been talks going
- on with staff, but,
- they may be waiting on us. Because the discussion was what would we sell this building for? And if we
- would also give property to public works so that they could build on the Winston Thomas site. So it
- was kind of twofold. And I believe that I
- I believe the idea was that they were going to use this area for housing projects. That was one of the
- options. Can I make a suggestion? Sure. Just a couple. So one, I'd like to be able to highlight Winston
- Thomas in the budget. I think we've put a lot of work and money into it. I could change the language to
- represent where we are with design and be more specific that we've approved design. That's where we're
- picking back up design and don't make mention of construction because we have not approved construction.
- Because that seems to me where we're at as far as incremental approvals along the way. We've approved
- the contract for construction, and again,
- When we bring those updates to the contract, this board can approve the cancellation of the contract.
- This board can approve the amendments to the contract. But sorry, where was I going with that? Yeah.
- Sorry. It's been a long day.
- Yeah, so I can change the language. I can remove it entirely. I just really wanted to highlight what
- we've done. Oh, we've made incremental approvals. I think it's important to think about our conversations
- around the water rate case and how we did have conversations as to whether or not to include the financing
- for Winston Thomas in the rate case. It doesn't mean you've approved to build it.
- But I think that is also an incremental step that this board has approved is that we said, yes, we will
- include this in our rate case, which is kind of a big thing to include in the rate case in a serious
- step. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. I want you to suggest it. Because the council needs to
- know where we're headed, where we are in all this, too, when you make that presentation.
- And I think it'd probably be a good idea for us to get an update and revisit the whole topic
- in a subcommittee meeting so we can dive into this a bit. And one other thing just to consider, again,
- when we had the original designs put forth, I know many of you guys were here in some roller capacity.
- But I know we were under different leadership. Is the vision in these designs indeed what this leadership
- team sees? If that makes sense. I mean, I know we're 50% there, but are we 50% there with what's happened
- in two years? Yeah.
- you know, a vision of one leader can be different than another. So I, you know, I wanna support, I wanna
- support that whatever we're doing is not just for the here and now, but for the next, you know, what
- do we think, 25, 50 years. Yeah. I mean, I will say that the initial work that Champlain did with us
- was very collaborative, not just with the existing leadership at the time, with some of us who are in
- different roles, but also with the staff who are here.
- a lot of the staff who would be impacted by the design changes, folks working in supply, folks who are
- working out in the yard. One more question. Yeah, so this is the budget for 2027. Do we anticipate that
- there will be a large amount of money available
- for a 2028 budget that would move Winston Thomas forward by increments? So in the budget, so we have
- now both in water and wastewater adequate rates to fund payments on bonds for
- bond for Winston-Thomas. And so that's in the, so if you look to the 2028 budget, how would we be moving
- forward with Winston-Thomas? It'd be securing that bond. It would be making those bond payments. Correct.
- Yep. Okay. Our plan is to have a separate bond that covers the Winston-Thomas project itself. Okay.
- Thank you. So I think
- I think we ought to plan a property planning subcommittee meeting to dive into the latest details and
- have some discussion about so we can spend some time with this. A lot of good discussion tonight and
- some good clarification. I appreciate all that. Well, we have a couple of options here, I think,
- in requesting approval of the budget recommendation, we can vote to approve this tonight, or as Kat
- mentioned, we can deliberate some more over the next couple of weeks and approve it in two weeks. So
- if we need more discussion, we can wait, or we can move forward this evening. It's good either way, right?
- Very much so. What's your pleasure? I'm not sure much is to be gained by waiting, I think. You know,
- if Cat feels there's the best way to present it to the council, that's fine. We're committed to the
- monies, and that won't change. So I'm prepared to vote right now. OK. I see heads nodding.
- OK, I think with the clarification, if you kind of fix that statement number nine based on what we're
- proposing here, I could live with everything else. So except for one thing, it's not cola adjustment,
- it's cola. Because it's like saying cost of living adjustment, adjustment. So it's like when people
- say RSVP, please, it makes me like.
- for saying ours, please respond, please. But it's, yeah, COLA's, there's no COLA adjustment. It's just
- COLA. I move that we approve the 2027 budget recommendation. Second. It's been moved and seconded to
- approve the budget recommendation for 27. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
- All right. There we go. Next item is
- The item 10, requesting approval for the service agreement with Ingersoll Rand, and Hector will give
- us an update on that. Well, I hope mine is easier than the budget, so. This request or this contract,
- if for $46,237,
- dollar with $0.52 with Ingersund run industrial. This is to maintain the three compressors, do preventative
- maintenance in the three compressor at the wastewater plant that they are vital for the operation. So
- happy to answer any questions. Is that at both plants, both wastewater plants? Not only Monroe drinking
- water plant, my friend.
- Oh, OK. Monroe. Monroe only, OK. Yes. All right. Any discussion on the service agreement? Move that
- we approve the service agreement with Endersoll Rand. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor
- say aye. Aye. Opposed? OK, motion carries. Thank you. Thank you.
- Next is requesting approval of the Emergency Service Agreement with Wynn Industries, and Dan Hudson
- is here to discuss this replacement project.
- Dan Hudson, the capital projects manager for the city of Blooming utilities and I want to thank the
- board for your lively participation in the budget and also thank Matt and Kat for their presentation.
- I thought it was great but I need to turn to something more immediate, an emergency service agreement
- with Wynn Industries.
- They were asked to replace the lining on two alum tanks at the Monroe plant. This included a custom
- fabrication of the liner, installation, and some welding at the bottom of the tanks. This needed to
- be done in order to maintain a treatment process, which is very important, and to maintain reliable
- chemical storage, as required by IDEM.
- They are asking $165,000 for this. It's a reasonable cost, similar to costs we did last year. I'm open
- for questions, if you have it, to vote on it. So this is an emergency agreement. So you didn't have the usual
- hunt out other suppliers process, right? It was the sole source with the company and the reason why
- we chose this company because we use them recently and they did a great job for us and the cost for
- the bid that we did earlier was very similar to this so it was compared. Good. Any discussion or questions for Dan?
- Emergency service agreement with Wynn Industries. Second. So moving a second all in favor say aye. Aye.
- Opposed? All right motion carries. By the way this is already done I have invoices. It was it was an
- emergency so we understand. Yeah okay. We need the alum so yes we're all good. Absolutely. Okay.
- Next is requesting approval of the change order number four with Cocosing. Dan. This is the Cocosing
- project at Dillman wastewater treatment plant for the site safety and process improvement project. Change
- order number four which includes four different field change orders. Most of them have to do with
- repair of leaks in the discharge piping of the compressor and also some heat wrapping and painting of
- the pipe. I think there is one that we get some money back on for disposal of some lead tainted material
- that we had. They're asking $65,335 for a new
- Total contract amount of $5,214,109. OK. Any questions? Discussion for Dan? I'd like to bring up this
- is the end of the project, and I don't expect any more change orders. This should be it for this job.
- Doing a big job. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. All right. Any other questions or discussion?
- Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion
- carries. And finally, in the request, so we have approval of the service agreement with Wessler. Dan's
- here with that. Yeah, this is a construction administration project, I mean a contract, and it's actually
- for two projects. One is for the replacement of the filter media and the
- the filter control upgrade project. So what the work would include would be a review of shop drawings
- and approval of shop drawings, field observation, coordination with the contractor, startup and commissioning
- assistance, project closeout help. And that's for $304,000.
- Dan's asking for a lot of money tonight. Yeah, I am, yes. Well, this project is actually at a good price
- considering it's two projects combined. It's all good progress. I move that we approve the service agreement
- with Westler Engineering. Second. It's been moved and seconded. Do all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
- All right, motion carries. Thanks, Dan. We don't.
- I do apologize, but I have to leave. So thank you. OK. Well, I just want to get up without saying anything.
- Yeah. We know that you're not mad at us, right? Well, we still have a quorum, so we will drive on.
- Thank you. Thank you, Megan. All right. Next is old business. Any old business from staff? Any old business
- from the board?
- OK, new business from staff, new business from the board. I just want to remind everybody out in the
- public that this is a very busy time for our community, which also includes our CBU team, as they change
- over hundreds and hundreds of apartments and houses. So kudos to everybody, and hang in there. We'll
- get through this month.
- Well said, Amanda. We appreciate all the good work of our customer service team to help orient a whole
- bunch of people who've never had utility bills before. Exactly. Yeah. It costs to do that. Yeah. And
- 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
- up for your service, please be sure to sign up for the meter watching system that we have in the event that you
- Leave a toilet running or a sink running. It will save you dollars. It works. It does. We haven't had
- any subcommittees since our last meeting. Staff reports. Yes. First, we'd like to welcome Ariel Simmons,
- the new temporary part-time stormwater inspector. And we'd like to congratulate Liz Carter, our MS4
- coordinator in environmental programs.
- who earned her Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control, or CPESC, and Colton Harden,
- who received his CDLB. Congrats and welcome. Very good, thank you. Any petitions or communications from
- the public? All right, seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you.