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.