We are ready to call our September 21st Regular Utility Service Board meeting to order. And we'll do
that now. Our first order of business is to explain that our mission, the City of Bloomington Utility's
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 just a reminder for conflicts
of interest, if any board member has any personal or financial conflict with any of the issues or individuals
on our agenda this evening, then they should please recuse yourself from those portions of the agenda.
And we'll get started tonight with petitions and communications
This is our period of time at the beginning of the meeting. We have another period at the end of the
meeting for any public comment limited to five minutes per speaker.
We can, Eric. We'll try to turn your volume up just a little bit. Eric, could you hold just a moment?
We're still trying to adjust the volume a bit. You're coming in, but.
Try that again, Eric. All set now? Oh, yeah. You're coming in loud and clear. Over. All right. I apologize
I couldn't be there in person tonight, and I can assure you I won't take anywhere near five minutes
with my comments, but good evening, President White and Utility Service Board members. My name is Eric
Spoonwar, President of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, and I'm speaking on behalf
of the chamber tonight regarding the appeal filed by Habitat for Humanity in Monroe County concerning
the withholding of water meters for homes under construction in phase two of the Osage Place neighborhood.
And I understand the board will consider this matter later in tonight's agenda, but I wanted to offer
the chamber's perspective during the public comment portion of the meeting.
The Chamber's interest in this issue is pretty straightforward. A healthy community depends on clear
rules, consistent processes, adequate housing supply, and constructive partnerships between public agencies
and organizations that invest in Bloomington's future. Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County is one
of our community's most important housing providers.
and through Osage Place Habitats, creating home ownership opportunities for working families who otherwise
they never have had the chance to purchase a home. Phase two includes 39 homes that are part of that
effort. The chamber isn't here to offer an engineering opinion on the drainage swale issue, and we're
not suggesting that utility standards or stormwater requirements should be disregarded, but what concerns us
is the apparent connection between an unresolved issue in phase one and the withholding of water service
for homes in phase two, which are separately permitted and bonded projects. So from the Chamber's
perspective, businesses, nonprofits, and community organizations all benefit when regulatory decisions
are transparent, clearly communicated, and tied to a defined process.
The appeal raises questions regarding notice, due process, and whether withholding water service is
an appropriate remedy under these circumstances. Those are matters that I think deserve thoughtful
consideration as the board reviews the appeals. Most importantly, the practical impact of delaying water
service falls on future homeowners and families waiting for affordable housing opportunities.
at a time when housing affordability remains one of Bloomington's most significant challenges. We believe
it's important to seek solutions that address any outstanding concerns while allowing homes that are
otherwise ready for occupancy to move forward. And accordingly, when the board does consider this matter
later this evening, I and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce would respectfully encourage you
to grant habitats appeal and allow water service to proceed
while any of the remaining issues are addressed through the appropriate process. So thanks for your
time and consideration. I appreciate it. Thank you, Mr. Spoonmore. We appreciate your comments on behalf
of the Chamber of Commerce. Thank you for joining us this evening. Are there any other petitions or
communications from the public here at the beginning of our meeting? All right.
Then we'll move along with item three, approval of the minutes of our previous meeting on September
the 8th. Anyone had a chance to review the minutes? Any corrections or edits? If not, we'll take a motion
to approve. I move that we approve the meeting minutes. Second. All right, let's move to second and
approve the minutes. All in favor say aye.
All right. Motion carries. Minutes are approved. Next is the approval of our standard invoices for this
evening. If you have a chance to take a look at those. Any questions for staff on any of these expenditures?
I move that we approve the standard invoices. Second.
All right, standard invoices have been moved and seconded to approve standard invoices. Any other discussion?
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, invoices are approved. Next is utility bills for September the 10th.
Discussion on utility bills? I move that we approve the utility bills. Second. It's been moved and seconded
to approve the utility bills for September the 10th. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right.
Next are utility bills for September the 17th.
that we approve the utility bills for September 17th. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded
to approve the utility bills for September the 17th. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
All right, utility bills are approved. Next are wire transfers.
September, totaling $581,217. I move that we approve the wire transfers. Second. All right, it's been
moved and seconded to approve the wire transfers. All in favor say aye. Aye. All right, opposed?
All right, motion carries. Next are customer refunds and today we're
Looking to approve $2,949.07 customer refunds. Most of these are inactive accounts. Any discussion on
the refunds? I move that we approve the customer refunds. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded
and approved the customer refunds. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
customer refunds are approved and next we have a special check run for September 16th totaling $12,070.68.
Any questions on those expenditures? I move that we approve the special check run.
All right, it's been moved and seconded to approve this special check run. All in favor say aye. Aye.
Aye. All right. Opposed? All right. Motion carries. And check run is approved. Next is the consent agenda.
Good evening. I'm Catherine Sager, utilities director. I'm presenting tonight's consent agenda totaling
$39,587.09.
First contract is with Bruce's welding and fabrication LLC for 19,500 and install access structures
for the pipe gallery at Monroe water treatment plant. Next is with Brie Hub Corporation for $6,115 and
nine cents for the replacement of the VFD for the solids feed pump at Dilman wastewater treatment plant.
Next is with Troy risk for $9,850.
for the Clear Creek Corridor Environmental Assessment. Next is for the Substation Electrical Testing
Company, or SETCO, for $4,122 to install fuses and transformer for the high voltage grounding resistor
at Monroe Water Treatment Plant. Is there any member who wishes to consider one or more of these items
individually?
Hearing none, if there's no opposition, these items will be approved as recommended by staff. Hearing
no opposition, the consent agenda is approved. Thank you, Director Zegar. Appreciate bringing those
to us, getting those approved. Then number six on our agenda is the appeal from Habitat, oops, I'm sorry.
Right here. Yes. Just for the records, I believe you said the total was 39,000
What did you say that total was on the consent agenda? It's an amended total. The amended total is the
39,587. OK, thank you. Which is different from what we initially received. OK, thank you. That was a
late adjustment this afternoon. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that gets corrected when we do
the minutes. Thank you. Sometimes we let those slip, don't we? Thank you. OK, thanks.
Next is the appeal from Habitat for Humanity, and I believe we have a speaker here that would like to
talk to us about this. Would you have some background material in our packet? Do I need to turn this
on or is it on? No, that microphone is just for public access. Your voice carries in the room.
All right, thank you for letting me know. I'm Cari Bennett. I'm the Operations Director for Habitat
for Humanity of Monroe County. Pursuant to Bloomington Municipal Code, Habitat for Humanity of Monroe
County is appealing the City of Bloomington Utility's administrative determination to withhold water
service from homes Habitat is building in phase two of Osage Place, which is our neighborhood on the
southwest side of town.
I have a procedural question for the board members. Were you given the exhibits that were identified
in our appeal letter? In addition to the four pages of the appeal letter, we also submitted a series
of exhibits. I just wanted to make sure that everybody got them. All right. They were not posted online,
so I just wanted to clarify that you did receive them. Those were the maps? There were maps and some emails.
communications. I think the pictures were submitted by CBU. I want to explain why Habitat is bringing
this appeal to you this evening. First, process matters, especially when a governmental entity denies
essential services. CBU has failed to give proper notice to Habitat. As a result, Habitat was not afforded
an opportunity to address CBU's
denial of water service until we attempted to obtain water service seven months after the apparent
determination. That is seven months that Habitat lost to resolve this issue before it became critical
to have water service available in homes that we are building for low income residents of our community.
While Habitat still does not know when CBU made the determination to withhold water service, it appears the
dates back to at least December 28th, 2025. That's when Assistant Director Peden sent an electronic
message to Katie Stein of Smith Design Group. That's Habitat's engineering firm. Nearly six months passed
before CBU verbally notified Habitat at a June 17th, 2026 meeting. At that time, Habitat requested a
written determination in writing
which was, that request was renewed again in an August 28th, 2026 electronic message from me to Director
Zager and Assistant Director Peden. On September 2nd, 2026, Director Zager responded to my electronic
message and attached the December 28th, 2025 message. That message states,
I know this is a thorn in your side, but I wanted to let you know that we will be withholding water
service applications in phase two, parentheses, meters, until the phase one swale is rectified. That
was the extent of the message. Second, notice matters, especially since the Bloomington Municipal Code
specifies required notice procedures. Director Zager's September 2nd, 2026 electronic message states,
Regarding the requested documentation for CBU withholding meters until the phase one swale was rectified,
we typically have these discussions with the engineer. Yet Bloomington Municipal Code specifies a clear
process for CBU to provide notice and an opportunity to appeal its determinations. That includes written
notice delivered to the property owner, in this case Habitat, in person or by first class mail.
The notice must provide 10 items of information, including the nature of the violation and what may
be appealed to the Utilities Service Board. I want to address two documents referenced in the memo provided
by Christopher Wheeler. First, there is a CBU walkthrough inspection letter dated April 16, 2024.
This document is clearly labeled as a notice of violation and specifically states that water meter requests
for phase two are being withheld until the noted deficiencies are corrected. However, that document
contains absolutely no issues related to the western drainage as well. Also, all of the deficiencies
that were identified in that notice of violation have since been corrected.
The second document is the pre-construction meeting packet for phase two of Osage Place, dated September
17th, 2024. Item four and page five of the document contains a note stating, water services and or meters
may be held for any outstanding items noted below. However, none of the outstanding items noted below
concern the western drainage swale or any other items in phase one.
In the questions and comments section starting on page 12, there is a discussion of ditch line issues.
But it says nothing about withholding water service in phase two. Mr. Wheeler's memo states that CBU
has used normal protocol and has not deviated from normal practices. Whether or not that is true is
immaterial
to this appeal. Normal protocol and practices does not equal a legal and fair process as specified by
the Bloomington Municipal Code. CBU's normal protocol and practices are arbitrary and capricious and
did not afford habitat due process of law to contest denial of water service, which is an essential
necessity for home occupation.
I urge the members of this board to carefully review those documents with an eye toward what they say
and what they don't say. Third, evidence matters. To date, CBU has produced no evidence to support its
apparent determination that the western drainage swale is undersized. In fact, it was Habitat that pursued
approval of a redesign of the western drainage swale, not on the basis that it was
undersized, but to establish a drainage design in which vegetation would not wash away during intense
rain events and to provide a backyard environment that homeowners can safely maintain. CBU also has
not provided habitat with notice or evidence of other deficiencies. As a result, we've been given no
opportunity to understand the nature and legitimacy of this accusation. There's just no way for us to
correct or contest
this determination. Fourth, remedies matter. It is improper for CBU to withhold water service for homes
habitat is building in phase two of Osage Place based on CBU's unsupported claims about the status of
a storm water conveyance feature in phase one of Osage Place. These two phases of the neighborhood are
permitted and bonded as separate projects. Finally,
Fiduciary responsibility matters. Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County owes duty to its owners to spend
their funding wisely. This obligation is similar to the duty CBU owes to its ratepayers to prudently
spend their funds to maintain the water, sewer, and stormwater systems. Habitat is compelled to undertake
this appeal because CBU has failed to
Exercise a lawful and fair process with regard to its determination to withhold water service Bloomington
municipal code authorizes a stay of cbu's determination Habitat requests an immediate stay of cbu's
determination to withhold water service from homes habitat is building in phase two of osage place That's
the end of my prepared comments if it's appropriate for question
For questions. I'm happy to take them Yes Thank you for your comments and and let's see if we have questions
from the board at this stage any questions or observations All right, we may later so Thank you for
being with us We'll ask
Mr. Wheeler, our counsel, to provide some additional comments and background. Thank you. Chris Wheeler,
City Legal. What we're looking at is the process by which
CBU works with the developers to install the critical utility infrastructure during their development
process. So we had wastewater and storm infrastructure being placed in phase one and phase two. And
the documents that are being shared with the board are the procedural documents
that CBU uses with regards to its plan review, its process of overseeing the installation and ultimate
approval of the installation of critical infrastructure that's just been mentioned. In this particular
situation, with regards to the habitat development at Osage, plans were submitted that showed what the
storm infrastructure would look like. CBU reviewed those plans, I think,
If you look at the timeline that was submitted to the board, these plans would have been reviewed as
far back in time as 20 and 21. The plans that were submitted were reviewed and accepted by CBU. It wasn't
until later that CBU realized that the particular storm swell that we're talking about
was not built according to the plans that they had submitted. Habitat had submitted through their engineers
to CBU. So CBU needs to take the measures and the steps to notify them of the fact that they did not
follow their own plans that were submitted and approved to CBU and that they needed to correct that
storm swale to make it compliant with what they had said they would install.
and that became the crux of the issue between them with regards to this storm swale. Fast forward to
today and Habitat is still trying to figure out how to correct that storm swale because in the meantime
they went ahead and built around the area where that storm swale exists such that the original plans
that called for this storm swale no longer
they can no longer put in the storm swale they said they would put in because there are homes fixed
on either side of this storm swale. They can't be moved. They can't be raised or lowered. You can't
get the same kind of drop in the storm swale that would be necessary to effectively carry the water
through the neighborhood effectively. That becomes a problem. And so habitat
and CBU have been working together to try and correct this problem, but it has taken years for us to
get there. Habitat has presented several different plans as a proposal to correct what they had installed.
The most recent until last Friday was a set of a hybrid that would do some sort of grading as well as
putting in an underground pipe to try and
help to usher storm water through the neighborhood. CBU agreed to that plan, but would like, but still
needed to address a few encroachment issues with regards to this storm swell where owners of the properties
who are now living there were putting their sheds out into the encroachments. That's more between CBU
and the owners now, but they were hoping to try and correct that with habitat and said, Hey, this,
Plans look good, but we need to figure out what to do with these encroachments. In the meantime, however,
Habitat changed their mind and didn't want to do the hybrid approach. They now want to do solely an
underground pipe. That plan was submitted on Friday of last week. I'm sorry, that plan was submitted
and on Friday of last week, CBU was going to release or review and release its determinations on that plan.
determination with CBU on that plan was released as far as their comments today. And there are still
a few issues with the concept of putting that underground pipe in with regards to the potential for
clogging and creating flooding upstream of the swale. So there are still some issues that the parties
are trying to work out to try and make whatever alterations Habitat needs to do
to effectively allow proper stormwater management through the neighborhood. This is all just an ongoing
negotiation and a process between CBU and the developer. These are natural processes. And when you look
at the documentation that has been submitted, you can see in some of the documentation where we have
standard language that talks about the fact that if you have deficiencies, we may withhold the release
of your water meters. That's one of the things that as the
as the design and oversight and acceptance of installation of necessary critical utility infrastructure.
That is one of the things that the engineering department can utilize to try and make sure that deficiencies
get corrected is to withhold the issuance of water meters. This is not an unusual and new thing. It
is the same
an ordinary thing that CBU has always had in its protocols and procedures with regards to how it works
with developers. We haven't reached a point where we need to issue a notice of violation in this matter
because the parties have still been trying to amicably resolve this issue, and so we have not
issued a notice of violation because we don't see a violation right now. We see a deficiency in the
plans that they submitted versus what they've installed. And we're trying to reach a resolution there.
If Habitat turns around and tells us we're not going to put the storm swale in the way we said we would,
then we would be in a position where we might be forced to issue a notice of violation. And if we were
going to do that, we would follow the procedures that are in place
to issue a notice of violation and provide the notice with all of the bells and whistles that go along
with it. But we're not there yet. So I feel like this appeal is premature. However, here we are today.
We hope to have the opportunity to continue to work with Habitat to resolve, finally, the issue with
the storm swale so that all of the development can continue as expected
and the meters that are being applied for can be issued. Doesn't seem like a heavy lift, but it's taken
years to get there. And it's mostly because Habitat at the very beginning failed to put the infrastructure
in that they said they would. So here we are today. I ask that you deny the appeal and allow us to continue
to work with Habitat to try and resolve the storm swell issue and allow them to move on with OSH phase
two. I am happy to answer questions if I can.
Questions for Mr. Wheeler? Chris, I think we've got some options here. One would be an outright denial
this evening. We could table, not take action on it tonight, while things are continuing to get worked
out. Is that an option? Come back in a couple of weeks? OK.
So to do that, I mean, because what we want to do here, I think, is come to the best resolution for
all the parties involved. We represent the big picture in storm drainage, long term for the community.
But at the same time, we're committed to doing our best to help our
bring folks into our water and wastewater system. So as a board, I think where we should be headed is
a way for us to hopefully work these things out over the next couple weeks before our next meeting so
that we might come back with a resolution. Is that a direction we get ahead?
You can table this matter for two weeks, but I'm sure that Habitat wants to know the answer sooner rather
than later. I don't wish to speak for Habitat, but I suspect they would like to have an answer. Yeah.
Jim, did you have a comment? I wanted to ask a question of Habitat. Yeah, come on up. Yeah.
So thank you. I was wondering.
whether the underground pipe solution seems a reasonable one to habitat. Habitat is the entity that
requested to put in the underground pipe. So the answer to that question is yes. This appeal is not
about the underground pipe or the drainage swale.
This appeal is about withholding water meters. I understand. Chris? Am I able? Oh, you have a question
for him. I wanted to respond to, or maybe ask a question about what you do next. Okay. Chris, does the
underground pipe solution seem a reasonable one to you and to
I haven't seen the comments from CBU engineering as to the latest proposal. And when will that be available?
I think they went out today. So Ginger's here who might be able to speak on that. Hi, Ginger Davis,
utility engineer. Yes, we submitted, to answer your question, we did submit some revisions to the plans.
Um, our concern is that the inlets within this pipe that they propose are, um, in between houses, which
often get clogged. So our question back to the engineer or not, I'm sorry, not our question back to
the engineer, but our consideration for the engineer is what happens when these inlets do get clogged?
How will water flow? We did notice that some finished floor elevations were below the level of the swale.
adjacent. So if it does get clogged, water would move out of this whale and into these people's homes.
So our concern is for the homeowners along this whale to ensure that they don't get excess water during
flooding conditions. Is this a fixable problem? We have proposed to them a couple solutions of lowering
some inlets and regrading some things. There also is a velocity concern within the pipe that the pipe at this
current slope will cause water to come out above our standards. So we've asked for some redesign of
the pipe to meet our standards. But I do believe it is a fixable solution. And would that pipe with
the fixable solution have to be complete before water would be available, water meters would be available?
At what point
Would the city, would CBU be willing to okay the water meters? Chris? Yeah. Is there a point at which...
I can take a stab at this, but... Take a stab? Okay.
Our documents have clearly stated from the beginning in our pre-con notes, and this goes to any developer
in the community, that we do not release meters until all deficiencies are met. So as soon as these
deficiencies are met and the designer is out there designing to the plan as drawn, then we can start
to release some meters. But we have to have inspectors to verify that deficiencies
have been met, and so far our inspectors have not seen those deficiencies. So this is likely to take
a long time. Well, they have to install the pipes, they have to meet your inspection, so this is not
something that is done within a week or a month or... Okay, thank you.
wasn't sure when when you were talking with Mr. Wheeler what you were recommending could happen over
the next two weeks could I ask for some clarification on what what that would entail you've got a really
good question because our job but what's been brought before us is an appeal and that's really a process
question I think whether we
your appeal is questioning whether CBU followed its procedures or not. Correct. And I was thinking in
terms of how do we get the quickest resolution here so that we can get water meters to you, which is
a little different than just saying yes or no to an appeal, I think. But we may be in a spot where that's
what we have to do.
We thought very carefully about whether to appeal and what we were appealing. And we are appealing the
procedural issues related to the determination to withhold water meters. Okay. Just to be clear about
that. My feeling is that you've laid out a good case on your behalf.
and I'm gonna take input from the rest of our board, but I think what we need to do is dive deeper into
our own procedures because I don't feel like we have enough information tonight to be able to make a
good determination on this. Is that, yeah. What is it you want to ask?
I need to know specifically what are we asking that we would have in two weeks? Jim, I think our role
is to make sure that our staff, that the utilities department has followed its procedures according
to the municipal code that's been cited in the appeal. I don't have enough information on that tonight.
to be able to say yes or no? Well, I haven't heard from Chris any response to the procedural issues.
He talked about how they failed to meet the SWAIL requirements and didn't build it, but I didn't hear
any response to the failure to follow procedural issues. Good question.
I guess I thought that I had made a response to that, Mr. Sherman. My point was to say that Habitat's
complaining because we didn't follow a process or procedure with regards to notice of violation. We
did not issue a notice of violation because there isn't one right now. There is a deficiency in the
design plan that needs to get corrected. We have not
identified a violation, we're simply working with Habitat to correct a deficiency. Part of the process
of design and review and acceptance of installed utility infrastructure is to withhold water meters
if there are deficiencies in the installation of the utility itself. So when it comes to a notice of
violation,
I would agree with Kari Bennett that we haven't provided notice and all of the bells and whistles that
go with a notice of violation notice to Habitat. We haven't issued a notice of violation. We're simply
trying to amicably resolve an issue with regards to deficiency in the installation of infrastructure.
I understand now. However, whether you call it a deficiency or a violation,
the outcome is the same. There's no water meter. And with a deficiency, you don't have to provide
notification. So the outcome is absolutely the same. I mean, it seems to me if there's a deficiency
that needs to be corrected, there needs to be notification. I mean, maybe not by the law, but, you know,
the outcome is the same as if you had declared
a violation. It would have been better for Habitat had you declared a violation. Because then they would
have been notified. In the history of negotiating with Habitat, there have been meetings as you look
through the timeline. There have been meetings and there have been walk-throughs. There's been plan
review and design review. And along the way, there has been discussion about the fact that the storm
swale was not properly installed.
nature of it of that the work between CBU and the developer with regards to making sure that what get
what they say they're going to install actually gets installed at some point if they don't do it we
have to we get pushed to a point where we do need to issue a notice of violation but we've been trying
to work with habitat and we've never gotten to the point where a notice actually got issued I understand
thank you a notice of violation ever got issued okay then Chris
What are some options here at this stage in the game? Well, I believe that there's been a request for
this board to decide whether we follow process. If the board feels like it needs more information in
order to make that determination, then I suppose we're going to have to come back with more information
for you, unless you'd rather have a decision today, in which case the board's going to be required to
come up with a decision today.
Or at least to do as we discussed initially before the meeting started. Cara Bennett and I discussed
with you the idea that we would submit to the board the proposed findings for the board to consider
and then in two weeks come back with its decision in writing. That sounds like a pretty good option
to me if if if everyone agrees on that and come back in a couple of weeks with
some proposed solutions to the appeal. Proposed findings. Findings, yes. Proper term. Does two weeks
give staff and city legal and have it had enough time to mitigate this or should we be looking at a month?
I know there's a lot on staff's plate right now. The two weeks is to give both parties the opportunity
to submit to the board its proposal as to what the findings should be of this board and then also for
the board to review those proposals and come back in the two weeks and give its decision. It's not two
weeks for us to mitigate. Now, during the two weeks, it's very likely that we're going to be having
communications and maybe there is some
solution that occurs in the two weeks that renders moot the need for the appeals for this board to make
a decision on the appeal. But the two weeks that I'm talking about isn't for that necessarily for this
board. It's just to allow an opportunity for the two parties to present their findings and recommended
decision by the board. OK? That makes sense to me, because we need those sets of findings.
Habitat is okay with preparing our proposed findings and submitting them to the utility service board
so that you have them in front of you in your meeting in two weeks. We would not be supportive of delaying
a decision beyond that next meeting.
because we need some certainty to move forward. As I mentioned, we are not able to get water meters
right now. That is a critical issue for us. Of course. Thank you. We didn't talk about this. And so
if Habitat is okay with this proposal, I think it makes sense for us to be asked to submit our findings
and recommendation for conclusions within seven days.
so that you have another seven days to review those and come back at the next meeting to actually render
your decision. Does that sound reasonable? Yeah, Chris, tell me if this is wrong. It seems to me that
whether the city followed proper procedure or not is a legal issue rather than anything else. I don't
know how the board can decide that.
I know Habitat feels one way and you feel another way, but to me that sounds like a legal issue. I'm
not a lawyer and when I hear both sides, I'm not sure I could make a proper decision. It is a legal
decision, but you have to put your hat on and make a decision based upon what it is we've presented
to you and what
Kari and I are going, I'm sorry, I've known you too long. Ms. Bennett, what we would present to you,
you'll have to review that and make your decision based upon what you've heard today and what we present
to you in writing. If we grant the appeal, does that, that doesn't negate the fact that they still have
to meet all the requirements in order to get the water meters, right? They're requesting
They're appealing our decision, CBU's decision to not issue the water meters. If you grant the appeal,
correct me if I'm wrong, but if you grant the appeal, we would be compelled then to issue the water
meters. We would have to divorce the issuance of the water meters from the concerns that we have with
the existing storm swale the way it is. Is that fairly stated? I believe that is fairly stated. It would
separate the two issues.
If we were to be granted the appeal, we would be able to get water meters. We would still be working
with CBU on the Western Drainage Swale, which we are committed to do. And Chris, one more question.
What is the downside of issuing the water meters? Is there something disastrous that could happen? Or
is it just withholding it because they didn't agree to certain plans
but that's independent of any negative effects of installing water meters. I have not been involved
in all of the conversations that have happened over the years between CBU and Habitat that gets us to
the point we are today. I don't know how many different ways the parties have discussed trying to resolve
this storm swale issue. I just think that it's reached a point where CBU
really would like them to pay attention and get that done so that we can all move forward with OSH2
and not have to worry anymore about this lingering concern. But I'm not jumping into a speculation right
now. I'm asking the question about any possible negative effects of issuing. No, I don't think there's
a negative effect that the CBU would
would experience if it issues the meters. Except for the fact that we don't have the, we don't have
a storm swale that's properly installed at the moment. And then it would be based simply on the trust
of habitat to follow through and do it. We're gonna have to wait and see what happens, right? Based
on what Ginger said, it sounds like there are potential issues for the homeowners if those things are
not corrected. There are potential issues for the homeowners with regards to the storm swale, but that's got
nothing to do with whether water meters get issued. But if there's no water flowing, then they wouldn't
have an issue. Well, so the water meters are for the water pipes. The storm soils are for storm water
issuance. Would the issuance of water meters be done when you agreed on a solution or when that solution
is actually
actualized what I heard ginger say is that once the storm swale with the current with the current new
plans that have been proposed with the underground pipe if you can do the couple of things that cbu
has recommended to alter that their current plans cbu will accept those plans and then they will expect
the installation of that underground pipe with those inlets before they would issue the water meters
is what I heard
Ginger say. Whether CBU would change their minds and issue the water meters upon acceptance of the plans,
I don't know. But that doesn't sound like what CBU generally does. I understand. But would a possible
solution be that if both parties agreed on the plan, then we could... I would have to leave that up
to CBU and Habitat to determine. So we might have that as an option?
I would like to clearly state Habitat is appealing the procedures or lack thereof related to with CPUs
withholding of water service in phase two. We are not asking this board to help negotiate
what the Western drainage swale should look like or how that process should work. We are requesting
your review and decision on the process that was used to make the determination that CBU would not give
us water service. That's it. Fair enough. Can you explain to us why the project
We have never been given any evidence from CBU to support that claim. That was covered in the appeal
document that we wrote and that is part of the process that we are appealing now. It is fine for somebody
to say we think this is undersized, but there needs to be evidence presented to support that.
We still are looking for that evidence. Understand. I think we need to table. I do have one more question.
Aside from the water, are these two homes where the water has been withheld? Are they ready for occupancy
aside from water? They are not, but they will be in about two weeks. OK. Thank you. We've got some homework
to do, I think.
So I think it would be good to entertain a motion to table until our next meeting. If we are going to
be expected to review this, I would like to see from staff's perspective the outline of the timeline
and conversations that have happened. We have seen exhibits provided by Habitat, which
Again, not to say that anything is wrong or whatnot. It's just we've seen the one side of the communications.
I don't know that we have fully seen. I appreciate what Mr. Weaver has shared, but I just want to make
sure that we are truly hearing both sides. That's right. And that's what we'll need in our homework
session between now and our next meeting.
And now I will move to table, if I'm doing the correct thing, have I moved to table this appeal to a
future meeting? Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded to table this appeal. Any other discussion?
It just doesn't need to specify the next CBU meeting on the 5th. We can do that. Is that the date?
October 5th. Fifth or sixth? Fifth. Fifth? Okay. Friendly amendment? Friendly amendment. All right.
Specify the date to be October 5th, 2026 at the next CBU meeting. Second. All right. Moved and seconded
to table two, October 5th. Any other discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. We'll
get some work done on that.
Thank you everyone who attended and we appreciate you bringing those issues to our attention.
Thank you. Our next item is item seven requesting approval of resolution 26-16 for the salaries of appointed
officers non-union and ask me employees for CBU for 2027. Is Audrey here or is Chris going to do that?
Or you are on. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, we yes salaries. So this is. I believe that Audrey was here last
year to discuss this. She had an issue that prevented her personal issue that prevents her from being
here tonight. But basically this is a statutory requirement that
The state in statute and I believe Audrey provided her memorandum that shows the statute that we're
talking about requires that this board review and approve the salaries before they go up to council
for final adoption. And so Audrey Brittingham has presented the information to the board with regards
to salaries of appointed officers, non union and AFSCME employees for 2027 for CBU.
and would like this board to approve that resolution that's been presented so that then the city can
take this matter up to council for final approval. Okay. I believe somebody from HR is present online
if there are questions that you have that I can't answer and maybe they can help out.
Questions for Mr. Wheeler or City HR? I guess I assume folks in these positions feel like they are renamed
appropriately or reclassified appropriately. They're not new positions. They're just changes, correct?
I can't speak to that. I'm sorry. I don't know. OK.
Thank you. Yes. There are some adjustments that we made. Most of these adjustments were to align our
current practices. We aligned our current org chart to the salary ordinance. We've been working to clean that up.
over the last couple salary ordinances. Maybe at a future meeting, could you share with us your updated
ORC chart, please? Oh, yeah. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. These are really, I think this was part of
the classification review, routine classification review that occurs periodically.
organizations. I'm glad that we do this in the city to review the complexity of the jobs and decide
whether classifications are appropriate. And then this then it's agreed upon between the the ASME employees
and our others. And HR then does the part for the non union employees as well. So we're just codifying
those right? That's right. Okay.
any other discussion on resolution 26 16 motion to approve all right it's been moved and seconded all
in favor say aye opposed all right motion carries thank you thank you and next item is
is item eight, approval of the easement for the Duke Energy Incorporated at the Winston Thomas site
for the National Guard Armory property. Yeah, hi Chris Wheeler, City Legal again. We see these easements
come about fairly regularly lately. This one reads the same as two previous easements we've reviewed
and approved with Duke.
Traditionally what they do is give us their standard boilerplate form and we ask them to make a couple
of changes with regards to staying within the easement and not being able to just change the location
of the easement because they wish to. So we lock them into knowing where the easement should be and
staying within that easement with their infrastructure. This is a situation where in order for Duke
to supply service
to the National Guard Armory for a couple of electric car charging ports, they have to cross a little
spit of land that we own. So there's a heavy box in the diagram that shows where the easement is actually
going to be located, and that crosses that tiny little spit of land that we own. We recommend approval,
as we've done in the past with Duke, and I'm happy to try and answer any questions you have.
Okay. Any questions for Mr. Wheeler? This easement grant. All right. Ready for motion to approve? I
move that we approve the easement with Duke. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded to approve
the easement to Duke Energy at Winston Thomas. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
All right, motion carries, it is approved. Item nine then is requesting approval of change order number
one with Cocosing Industrial. And Kevin White's here. Kevin White, Capital Projects Coordinator. This
change order is with Cocosing Industrial related to the guaranteed savings contract for the lift station
improvement project that's been ongoing. That original project we basically rehabbed roughly 10 lift
stations. As part of the guaranteed savings there was some
some money left over for the project where they were Kikosin came in under budget. We're going to utilize
part of that savings and pair it with the change order increase amount of $1,300,200 for a new not to
exceed total of $7,807,437.
And the change order will allow CBU to completely rebuild the Westwood lift station, which is on Glen
Oaks Drive off of Curry Pike. So one of our top five largest flow lift stations.
And when it does go down or we have issues with the backup power there, it's very hard for our crews
to maintain with the VAC trucks. So this upgrade will include brand new pumps, brand new control panel,
an increase in the diameter of the incoming sanitary sewer pipe, and a new generator for the site. So
I'm happy to answer any questions.
either the install or upgrade here, you know, it Westwood. Yeah, it's been quite a while. I don't have
that 10 years 20 years. I'd say every bit of 20. James, I'd say every bit of 20. Okay. Thank you. Any
questions for Kevin White? Yeah, curiosity how much under budget, like some of this additional is
sure money right yes correct the one three is new so we had it was really closer to
one and a half million that they came in under budget. We've, uh, we added a couple of generators to
other sites, also purchased a mobile generator that we can use at Lyft stations. And then after those
purchases, we had 700,000, we liked the work that Cacosing was doing, approached the Lyft station crew
to see which Lyft stations they would suggest. Uh, rehabbing Westwood was at the top of the Lyft station.
And since we know that Cacosing does,
does good work. That's kind of the joy of the of the GSE contracts. And this contract delivery method
is that we can then proceed with Cokosing to do this work without having to go back out to bid. And
I appreciate the project. You know, we had a projects meeting over a year ago and you guys gave me the
gave us the full inventory of generators and where we had vulnerabilities. And we all agreed that that
was a place we needed to invest.
And so this looks like, you know, making this a priority because it's high volume. It's a good thing.
Absolutely. All right. Any other questions for Kevin or discussion? Ready for a motion? I move that
we approve change of order number one with Cocosine. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor
say aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay.
Go to work. Thank you. All right. Next on the agenda then is item 10 requesting approval of the on-call
agreement with Woods Electrical Contractors. Matt, you're going to present this one. Yeah, this is just
another electrical option that we would like to have an on-call contract with that we can use when we
need to. So this is for on-call services. Total contract amount of twenty thousand dollars a year.
two additional one-year renewal periods. Got it. And they would provide on-call electrical telecom data
cabling services. Okay. All right. Any other questions or discussion? That we approve the contract with
Woods Electrical. Second. It's been moved and seconded to approve this on-call agreement with Woods
Electrical contractors.
All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, motion carries. Next item is item 12 or 11, excuse me,
requesting approval of the service agreement with TY Lynn International. Dan Hudson's here. Hi, I'm
Dan Hudson, Capital Projects Manager for City Bloomington Utilities. The recently upgraded sewage hauling
rate structure emphasizes, and this was updated by the full use city board that did this recently, emphasize
an accurate measuring of the quantity of septics delivered to the Dillman wastewater treatment plan.
According to CBU regulations, haulers must
report the volume of the septics, and pay a fee based on an applicable structure. The proposed design
that TY Lynn is offering us is for a receiving station and a weighing station. That would give us accurate
billing and a revised rate. What was going on in the past is that we would
charge a company based on a tank, tanker, because we didn't know, we didn't have a way to measure how
much septic was being received. With this, we can do it based on weight. So that's what TY Lin is offering
a design for us to do.
Their cost for this design, excuse me, my throat is giving out, cost for this design is $114,940. I
ask the board to consider this proposal. Thank you. Dan, I guess my first question is, we had this system
in place we all talked about, though we thought it was fair or not.
Yes. Because you could have a 30,000 gallon tank and only have it with 10,000 gallons in it and we'd
still charge you for 30. Yes. What's the ROI on this? Do we feel like this is a good investment?
We have, as a group, we went to Kentucky to visit a site that had this facility that we were looking
at. And I asked him that question.
And they said it was about one year, which I'm struggling with that. I think it's going to take more
than a year to pay it off. But if it's two years, three years, that's really a pretty short return on
investment at that point. OK. Thank you. With the design and build, because that was also my question.
No, no. It's just the design, the build. I don't have a cost for that yet.
Yeah, that's good. I mean, right there. Obviously, the cost of the build would come but yes. Okay. Yeah.
Any other questions for Dan? Discussion? All right, we're ready for a motion. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. I move that we approve the contract with T.Y. Lin. Second. I move and second to approve the
service agreement with T.Y. Lin International. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right.
Motion carries, thank you. Item 12 on the agenda is requesting approval of the amendment number one with T.I.
Linn International. And Dan's still here. Still here, yeah. That's a current project that we have that T.Y.
Linn is looking at the capital plan for Dillman, the five-year and the 10-year, and they're updating
all the cost on it.
They're just asking for a little more time. So we're saying to the end of November. There's no additional
cost in that. OK. Very good. Any discussion, questions? Ready for motion. I move that we approve the
contract with TY Lynn. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded.
to approve the Amendment 1 with TY Lin. All in favor say aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you.
All right. I think that's all on our line items. Yeah, it looks like one got added and I didn't print
that one. Okay, this one
Is it still on the agenda? Troy risk. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's why it's that's why we're thinking it's
still there. Okay. And I think that's all of our action items in my tracking. Okay. All right. Then
next on our agenda is old business. Any old business from the board? Old business from staff.
a new business from the board. Business, the board, new business from staff. We thought there's been
this weekend. Yes, we've had a weekend. It's been a ride. So on Friday, September 18th,
The storm that came through very briefly caused a power outage at Monroe Water Treatment Plant approximately
around 6 p.m. We have a backup generator that's capable of running the plant at 50% capacity.
It was working, but there were some additional electrical issues at the intake tower that prevented
the plant from being able to treat and pump water for 10 and a half hours.
a very long time to not be treating water for our plant. One of the pumps that delivered, so in that
time, we worked to get the intake tower in a place where it was pumping water again. It was not pumping
at full capacity. I believe we were drawing maximum 18 MGD. Great.
And when we were able to draw water from the intake tower, one of the pumps that boosts our alum, which
helps the flock, which grabs the sediment, that was essentially burnt up by a power surge when it came
back on. So the
That was burnt up it. Um, actually we, um, replaced it and then it was burnt again. And then we were
able to have a, um, backup solution. So we now, so we have a temporary alum feeding solution. Um, I
want to give a lot of kudos to our staff, our operators and our maintenance staff who are on site who
are incredible, quick thinking, calm,
problem solvers who were able to get it done very quickly. So we had, due to this, we had a brief spike
in the turbidity at the plant. That brief spike in turbidity caused the turbidity readings to be over
one NTU, which is cause for the county-wide boil water advisory.
that was in combination with the low tank levels, which as you get lower, there's a chance of more sediment
in the water as well. So we went ahead and issued the county wide boil water advisory and began to collect
samples throughout the distribution system so that we could see what it was looking like there. And
those take,
24, but we'd like to be conservative with our time. So 26 hours to run. Um, and so we took those samples,
the samples came back clear and we were able to lift it that lift the boil water order this morning.
We continue to have some issues with our water pressure throughout the system as our system is recovering.
Many of the tanks during that extended outage got critically low. And so we are currently refilling
the tanks. We now are pumping back up at a normal capacity. So we were able to restore other pumps,
so we're pumping at that higher capacity. I think we're still at 21, I think.
So now we're, and that is a very high, higher end amount. And so yeah, we are, the pumps are back up
and running. We're slowly filling the tanks and we have pressure in the system and the boil water order
has been lifted. So hopefully I didn't leave anything out. I'm happy to take questions.
board or further discussion. Also, for any technical details, we do have Hector here, our Assistant
Director of Operations who could potentially answer those more technical details. All right. Comments
from the board? Want to start on this end? Are you looking at me? No. Whichever. Who wants to go first?
Sure. OK. Number one, thank you to our team who is out there.
all night, all day, working on it 24-7 until we're able to lift the boil order. So thank you very much.
So a few questions. Number one, and this is kind of just like an explaining it to me because I'm just
the everyday person here. So when we lifted the boil order, then how do we know, because our water takes
time to get through the distribution line, so how do we know that people further down the line, that
in between time, how does that work, please?
So the readings at the and I might ask for a little backup on this, but the readings that we took to
issue the boil water were at the plant. Those quickly came back down. I think they were back down by
six PM. Yeah, they came up at five PM on Saturday and they were back down by six PM.
And so that went out into the system. We took our samples that next morning. So it was out in the system
just to confirm. And so that is the best way to tell that we could lift the boil water was that when
we took the samples, it was out in different points of the distribution system. Great. Thank you. My
other question is about our generators. And I know we've talked about this with like,
with our water rate case that has recently passed and starting to be implemented, how are generators
in that plan? Because power outages happen often, and especially out in a more rural area, like our
water treatment plant is located. And then also with the alum you mentioned that we burned up two, what's
to say that another power outage wouldn't burn up a third one? Because obviously there's some
trigger in that system there for that. So I'd be interested to hear more. Thank you. Heteroactive operations.
To your question, that was something that we learned in this storm. Usually our
Power generators, they have an automated transfer switch in most, you know, wastewater, other stations.
Unfortunately, in Monroe, it need to be manual controlled. We have SCADA and we have manually. It took,
the reason because it took too long, trying to trouble to where was the problem
And we found that the battery bank or battery backup was run out. And because of that, it's safe. The
last reading that we had, it was in the system. So we needed to power that backup. And like I say, as
a learning,
for next in the future, because that's how the system was designed, and that's how the system is built.
Our first, if we run out of battery now, we know what to do, or what to check. It just, that's how the
system was made, and at least we were able to identify it during this tour. That answer your question or?
Partially. Partially. Thank you. And I feel like this storm just popped up out of nowhere, too. So it's
not something where you're probably like, we know this is weather happening, and we can anticipate that,
which you know also contributed to that, probably. We didn't know that was a problem. I don't know if
that explained better. Because when we got the utilities,
the last reading that skater have in the system is like with the power generator is running and then
you run out. So then you can not have to feed to power feed at the same time. So that's why we were
not able to put utilities while we were having utilities or the power generator wasn't working because
it was the last reading was the power generator was running but now the power generator is
Receiving the same signal that the utilities is there. Yeah So it was I don't know. It's a little bit
complicated But I hope that answer and then the second part would be what what is our water rate? So
as far as like future funding for
Backup generators and also I think I'm going to touch on improvements to our electrical systems. So
that is a huge part of what we submitted as part of our rate case. Understanding that a lot of the electrical
equipment is aging and these are things that absolutely need to be replaced. We've identified this as
an ongoing issue at Monroe. We've had several power outages at Monroe and
we know that these are things that we need to invest money in. And so in our drinking water rate increase,
we have upcoming CIP projects that are specific to, and I have them pulled up. So we have four, looks
like four projects specific to the electrical and control panels. We have electrical upgrades and it'll
be in like parts one and two,
And then we also have planned full upgrades for all of our SCADA. And so that'll modernize all that
equipment. Some of the issues Hector was talking about, it was reading that it was getting energy from
utilities and from the generator at the same time, and that was causing the tripping and the issues.
Those are the kinds of things that these upgrades would resolve. We also, I wanted to highlight that
We were awarded the $2.3 million grant from the EPA specifically for backup generation and control system
improvements at the plant in addition to the money that we are planning on spending through our rate
case. So yeah, does that help answer? Thank you very much. Yes. We are planning on some large investments.
our electrical systems and backup generation. Thanks, Kat. I've got to depart in a few minutes to get
to campus or 48 faces are going to be looking at me wondering why I'm not there teaching. A couple of
comments. We had a close call in June of 23 where we dodged a bullet three years ago. We had a power
outage that happened because of the storm.
We did some after action review on that. I realize a lot of people have changed since then, but we really
did dodge one on that one because we were without power for a long time. Systems were working, but we
realized we just simply can't have enough generator power to run that plant full speed. We've got to
get Duke power back up in time
or we get into serious problems in a hurry unless we want to spend millions on a generator farm. And
our utility, Duke Energy, should be able to get us back online within 10 hours. That is a reasonable
expectation. And if we were, were we out for 10 and a half hours? How long? For about four hours without
Duke, without utilities. The other six was to figure out our troubleshooting the system.
OK, so what I think we need to think about is we just need to face this as it's a failure. It's a failure
of systems. It's not just one person or one piece, but it's the system. It's the intake with Duke. It's
our electrical systems, our generator systems, our SCADA systems, our electronic controlling systems.
That's what failed in 23, if I remember right.
There's a lot of pieces, as you say, it's very complicated systems and there's not everybody knows how
all the intricacies and we've got to call in people from outside that that have sold all this stuff
to us. And if they're not available just like that, it causes even more trouble. Yes. So what I'm saying
is we face this that smart organizations to get into trouble like this do do.
comprehensive after action reviews and figure out where the points of failure are. We document those
and we get them back into us into where we can exercise these things happening because we know now this
wasn't something we had to deal with years ago. We had pretty consistent electrical power but we don't
anymore and we can't take the risk of not knowing how to fix these things within the set amount of times
we have because
We all know there's 10 to 12 hours worth of water in the tanks, and once we get past that, we get into
trouble like this, and heaven forbid we have a fire during a system, a problem like that. So my point,
and the other piece that I wanted to mention was our communications plan in this, and I'm not gonna
diss anybody, but what I saw with the public was we told them there's a boil,
Water or they're not. When was the last time we had a countywide boil order water? I don't remember.
24. 24. Was it countywide? Yeah. OK. Yeah. It was a turbidity issue as well. It was about a three day,
two or three day deal. We told folks we had issues, but we didn't explain to them
what they needed to do, how complicated this is. I saw some stuff, I think the health department put
out, but maybe we ought to have that stuff in the can. Is that where it came from? I saw that. We did
put out guidance. We did? Yeah. And the graphic stuff? The graphic I saw was from the health department.
It was like a shared post from January or something is the one that I repeatedly saw about how to boil
your water.
Yeah, I mean, that part from the CDU. There's that. But I think when you have an emergency, it's an
emergency like this when we've run out, we're not generating water. And that calls for a little more
aggressive communication with our customers. And we should have that stuff in the can. Here's what you
can do. So I think what I'm saying is, and I hope the board supports this,
We work with the staff to do a comprehensive after action review so that we can get our own standard
operating procedures in place when we have contingencies that happen like this because it just keeps
happening. And we owe that to our rate payers. And I wish I could stay, but I've got to get going. I'm
sorry for that. I will move the gavel to our vice president. Thank you. Thank you, Hector. Yep.
I'm just gonna jump on the communication line, just a question. Like how are people notified? I receive,
I'm assigned up for like Monroe County alerts. I think I received that text and then I got alert from
CBU all very timely like right on together. But say like a family member did not get notification who
is also a CBU water customer. So people who were not notified, what do they need to do so they can be
notified if there's a future need
for anything they need to know about their water or wastewater? Yeah, absolutely. So the way that we
notified customers this time, having taken some lessons from the fall of 24, the way we notified customers
this time was through the Everbridge system where we used all of our customer contact information. So
if the contact information for our customers was up to date,
Then they received the message. Um, we did quickly realize that there were, um, many customers who either
their information was incorrect or they're just not registered as a customer. So we then put the notice
out through the emergency management system as well. Um, which explains why there was the delay between
the notifications. Um, but the initial one was through our Everbridge system, which had all of our customer data.
So maybe in our next paper bills, because probably anybody that gets an electronic billing statement
is notified somehow. But it's probably customers who still get like a paper bill. So maybe we could
put a slip in there that says, did you receive notification during our most recent water boil? If not,
then maybe there's a QR code or a link or a phone number that they can visit to update that with us.
Because a lot of people still want a paper statement. They're not going to update.
but maybe are on like Aqua pay, maybe they auto pay, but they want a paper statement. So that might
be an opportunity also with communication. We've also been when we have received, um, cause we have,
um, received lots of responses from the public. And so when we receive these responses, especially responses
regarding communication, we are really trying to push and direct people towards where they can update
their information so that, um, in the, you know, event of,
Even just a boil water advisory that is, um, isolated to a neighborhood due to a main break, they'll
receive that notification. Thank you. Sorry, Amanda. Thank you. Well, actually I was going to also jump
on that too, just because I did think it was very effective if they were in, and it is up to our customers
to keep their information up to date. Now it did wake me up at 12 at midnight or 1240.
after the IU football win. But I do appreciate that that came through. And I thought that the follow-up
that was done with the press releases, there was multiple communications about it. And I think you guys
followed a very good protocol with it. So to all those people that are saying I didn't know or how did I know,
You could be in the know if you get in the know. Also, I wanted to kind of piggyback a little bit on
what Kirk was saying. And I do believe that we have made, we've gone through this because we have learned
in terms of what are we doing in emergency processes? What's the phone call train? What's this? Who
gets notified here? How do we move forward?
You can train and train and practice and do all of that. But when it happens, inevitably something that
you don't expect is going to happen. And that's what I think people have to understand is that we had
things under control, then we didn't have something under control because of another failure. You can't
anticipate every single thing that will go wrong in a situation.
And so I commend you guys and gals for getting it through, getting it through faster than anticipated
from the press releases. And we'll learn you, you continually learn from these experiences. And I think
we just have to continue to put our best foot forward and making the changes that we know need to happen
at the plants, making the upgrades that we know need to happen and continually training individuals and
who are who are fast. And one thing that we've always said about our folks here, they're fast on their
feet. They're collaborative and trying to come to a solution and, you know, that you guys work together.
And I think that's absolutely amazing. So thank you to everybody from the customer service people that
were taking phone calls to you guys that were down at the plant dealing with everything. I mean, it's
it's truly
You know, I think everybody in this organization is affected when this when this happens. So, you know,
keep up the good work. You know, I just if there are no other questions or comments from the board,
I just want to close with like kind of echoing what Amanda has said that, you know, we're I'm just so
grateful for this team
Um, every single team member jumped on what they knew they could do, how they could help, um, kept calm
during the whole thing. Um, you know, provided resources and just communicated so well. Um, some folks
who I just, I, you know, I, I think are our plant operators, our plant superintendent. Um, I just want
to give a shout out to a few people who really
were just did a lot. So, Shane Ira at the plant, our superintendent, just great problem solver and just
very quick thinker and just very, very glad that he was in that role. And also, just a big shout out to Frank
Frank's our communications manager and was all over it, was up late, making sure everything that we
said really conveyed the right information, that we were being clear as we could while also being timely.
Yeah, and all of our maintenance staff, Tony, Tony was out there, Tony Eads, gosh,
I hesitated to say names because there's so many names. All of our assistant directors, there was a,
I think a group chat of like eight of us, eight, nine of us where we were just constantly updates. How
is this going? Where's that at? What's the samples? And it just, you know, just very grateful for such
a strong and communicative team. So thanks.
more new business I hate to ask this but how are the manganese levels not bad okay just since I I think
I've still noticed them with that so I just wanted to see however status of them okay sorry thank you
when customer have brown water it because labels they are between 1.4 to 1.8 something like that just
to give you an example that a few they has been hanging around one so 0.7 0.8 go up go down but average
around one so you are talking they're almost they have less so we are able now they're up yes raw water
water raw water yeah coming from the lake okay good thank you so we expect that
Now that we're getting some more rain and cooler temperatures, that we shouldn't have any additional
issues. I don't know. I can't see the future. It's looking promising. Good. OK, things are trending
in the right direction. How about that? OK, thank you. Thank you. OK. Now, Molly. Sorry. All right.
No subcommittees today, so staff reports next.
So I just want to recognize Curtis Richardson, who's moved to an internal movement to engineering field
tech locator. And also, James White got their wastewater class four. Madison Abel also got her wastewater
class four. And then Adam Hutzler also got his wastewater class four. Congratulations.
Any more petitions and communications? Yes. Hi, guys. Hi. I'm Julie Roberts, member of the public and
a former utility service board member of 16 years. And I didn't think this was going to be the night
that I came back in to see you all, but it's really nice to see you all. And wow, what a week.
Holy cow, I don't think we ever had our hair on fire like that in the whole 16 years I was here. So
congratulations on getting through it. I just had a couple of suggestions that I think might help the
public. I am one of those paper bill people. I like to see the little charts and I like to get the inserts
because I feel like I get more information that way. My email inbox is so full that I just like blah.
So I like the piece of paper even though I'm a tree lover. I still got the phone call at midnight.
which didn't wake me up because I was scrolling and I saw it come in. But I didn't get the text message
until 9.19 in the morning and I was already at target.
And nobody in the Target staff, floor staff, they're all college kids. None of them had heard yet. They
found out because their boss told them. People didn't know that Starbucks was closed because they couldn't
boil their water, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I was thinking back to, was it earlier this year?
Was it last year when we got that alert from the county and it like broke through my phone on silence
and basically said, killer tornado, dive under something right now.
I'd never seen it do that before. It broke through everything. I don't know if we could have some better
coordination with the county just depending on what kind of, because what we might have to do if something
like this happens is, if we only got 10 or 12 hours of water in the tanks, is to let the public know
to please start conserving. Don't wash your dishes, don't run the washing machine, don't wash your car,
don't water the plants to try to make it last longer.
and anything else that we can think of. And I think it's really important for people to get the action,
whatever Kirk called it, post-mortem is what we used to call it, where I used to work. So just explain
the fact that you did take samples all throughout the system. You didn't just arbitrarily, when it was
coming out of the lake and looking at it right here, go, oh, it's okay. Put out a press release tomorrow
so that people understand just how thoroughly this was investigated,
confident you were in the results. I didn't see any of the things that Kirk was talking about from the
health department. All I had was my text messages. I don't do social media, it makes me bananas. So
I would suggest exactly what he said, get some graphics going, make it super simple like third grade
level language. The only thing I saw in the links I followed through the text I got from you guys and
the press release had said things like oral hygiene and I'm like,
Brushing your teeth needs to be what's there instead of oral hygiene. There's a lot of people that don't
read that carefully, and there are people that can't read that carefully. So those are just some things
that I would suggest, like real tight coordination with the county so the minute something like this
is happening, everybody gets something. It doesn't have to be the killer tornado alert that wakes everybody
up. But I don't necessarily think that's a bad idea, because when you wake up in the morning and you've
got 75 text messages, half of them from
candidates asking you for money, you're not gonna check them all before you get up and brush your teeth.
So I think it's perfectly legitimate in the future if you had a situation like this to go to that level
of alert if you think there's any chance of waterborne disease. I mean, people don't understand. When
I was in Citizens Academy a million years ago, one of the things that they've emphasized when we came
to CBU was this is the bedrock upon which all other public safety stands.
Clean water is what gets you through a disaster. When the electricity is out, when everything else is
going on, you can still turn on your tap and get clean water. When you can't, that's when deaths start
to mount up in a natural disaster. And I understand generator power is super expensive. Sounds like
you already have plans in place to try to get that going. So I just wanted to come in and commend everybody.
And I was really fascinated to hear what had happened because I know how
well, we usually operate. And so it was very reassuring to hear that it was just a whole big kerfuffle,
and it'll have to be figured out later. So thanks, everybody. Good to see you. Nice to see you. Any
other petitions in communication?