02/28/2013 - Minutes • PI i3- 6
RECEIVED
APR 1 9 2013
Salt Lake City
Public Utilities Advisory Committee CITY RECORDER
Minutes
February 28, 2013
The Public Utilities Advisory Committee meeting was held at 7:00 a.m. February 28, 2013 at
1530 South West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. Committee members present were Dwight
Butler, Larry Myers, Dixie Huefner, Allen Orr, Roger Player, Kent Moore and Christy Cushing.
Salt Lake City Public Utilities employees present were Jeff Niermeyer, Tom Ward, Jim Lewis,
Florence Reynolds, Chuck Call, Bob Sperling, and Zee Smith. Also in attendance were Rusty
Vetter, SLC Attorney's Office; Mike Wilson, MWDSLS; Mike Collins and Keith Larson,
Bowen Collins & Associates; Jeff Masters, Millcreek Eng; Star Postum, MWH; Alan
Domonoske, Carollo Engrs; Jim Goodley, JUB Eng.; Tim Bardsely, Western Water
Assessment; Lehua Weaver, Salt Lake City Council Office; Alan Taylor, Forsgren Associate;
Holly Hilton, Salt Lake City Mayors' Office; Jeff McCompas, SLC Comm. Real Estate; Corbin
Bennion, Dominion Eng.; Grant Kesler; Michael Hughes, and Chris Weesner, Salt Lake Garfield
& Western Railroad; and Alan Mark.
Approve Minutes of December 6, 2012 Meeting
Committee member Dixie Huefner moved and committee member Roger Player seconded the
motion to approve the minutes of the December 6, 2012, meeting as amended. All other
members present voted aye.
Elect Chairman and Vice-Chairman for 2013
Committee member Alan Orr nominated Dixie Huefner for Chairman and Dwight Butler for
Vice-Chairman of the Public Utilities Advisory Committee. Committee member Christy Cushing
seconded the motion, with all members present voting aye.
Service Line Break Issue—Alan Mark
Mr. Alan Mark is a customer who resides at 8076 S. Danish Road, Cottonwood Heights UT. Mr.
Mark was out of town for a couple of weeks, and while he was away from his house there was a
break in a joint of his sprinkling system and he incurred a bill for water usage of$952.00. The
Department of Public Utilities made an adjustment of$458.32 dollars for him.
Mr. Mark wanted to inform the committee that he has done some research and found a wireless c—I
monitoring device for $39.00 that could send a signal to a customer's cell phone or their e-mail t
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Proposed Budget Presentation for 2013/14—Jim Lewis
Mr. Jim Lewis briefed the Committee on the budget request for next year, 2013-2014. He stated
that the Finance Sub-committee met and reviewed the budget on February 4, 2013, and made
some suggested changes. He stated that the major budget issues for next year are:
Summarization of the current budget proposal:
• Department Budget Totals for O&M Budget is $70,517,430. Capital budget
$43,315,716 the budgeted Debt servicing is $8,439,000 —grand total of $122,272,146.
This is a 5% decrease, or $4.4 million below last year. Capital decreased $10.1 million
with a $4.7 million increase in operations or 6.8%, and debt service increased $1
million.
• Proposed Rate Increases are forecasted for both Water and Sewer over the next eight
years. Currently the Stormwater Utility has adequate funding to cover their capital
needs. Forecasted rate increases are as follows:
Years Water Sewer Storm water Street Lights
2013-14 4% 6% 0% 0%
2014-15 4% 6% 0% 0%
2015-16 4% 6% 0% 0%
2016-17 4% 8% 0% 0%
2017-18 4% 8% 0% 0%
2018-19 4% 20% 4% 0%
2019-20 4% 20% 0% 0%
2020-21 4% 20% 0% 0%
Average Water resident bill will increase$18 a year or$1.50 per month.
Average Sewer resident's bill would increase$8.64 a year or.72 cents a month.
Larger Sewer organizations will see an increase of 6%over previous years.
• Future Bond Issues will be needed to continue a strong capital improvement program.
Forecasted future bond issues are as follows:
Years Water Sewer Storm Street Lights
2014-15
2015-16 $9.6 million $6 million
2016-17 $10 million
2017-18 $15 million
• Personnel Changes remain small considering a Department of nearly 400 employees.
The entire Department is asking for 2.9 FTEs and most are in the category of seasonal
help.
a. Water is asking for a special projects corrdinator to address the increasing issues on
watershed, and water regulator issues.
b. Sewer is asking for 0.5 seasonal person to assist with landscaping in the warmer M
months around our many facilities and assist with special Demonstration Gardens. �o
pump station upgrades and deep pump wells, and $1.3 million for reservoirs. Sewer
plant upgrades continue at $3.6 million and phase II of the Waste Activated Sludge
Thickening Project is another$3.1 million. Riparian stream bed projects for Storm
water are planned at$725 thousand. The Oil Drain Remediation (an EPA and oil
refinery cleanup) continues at $4.5 million that is reimbursed 2/3 by local oil
companies. Street Lighting includes $1.3 million for energy efficiency upgrades and
improvements.
The committee then reviewed water and sewer increase proposals.
Water Service Fee Proposal
Meter Size City Existing City Proposed County Existing County Proposed
3/4 & 1 Inch $8.79 $9.14 $11.60 $12.06
1 '/2 10.38 10.80 13.63 14.18
2 11.27 11.72 14.84 15.43
3 18.91 19.67 25.16 26.17
4 20.25 21.06 25.97 28.04
6 29.23 30.40 39.09 40.65
8 52.55 54.65 70.59 73.41
Water Rate Proposal
Description City Existing City Proposed County Existing County Proposed
Block 1 - $0.97 $1.01 $1.31 $1.36
1-10 ccf
Block 2 1.49 1.55 2.01 2.09
11-30 ccf
Block 3 2.06 2.14 2.78 2.89
31 -70ccf
Block 4> 2.16 2.25 2.91 3.03
71 ccf
Sewer Rate Proposal
Account Type Average Winter Current Rates Proposed 6%
Water Usage (ccf) $144 ccf Rate Increase Difference
$1.53 ccf $0.09 ccf
Small Residential 4 $69.12 $73.44 $4.32
Average 8 $138.24 $146.88 $8.64
Residential
Commercial Based on BOD $688.59 $729.91 $41.32
and TSS
Mr. Lewis stated that all three funds are proposing a strong capital improvement program for
next year. The water utility is proposing over $17.1 million, sewer at$19.5 million, storm at If)
$5.3 million and street lighting at $1.3 million. v
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• We acknowledge the existence of an artesian well on the Salt Lake City property. We
understand it is warm (72 degrees) and salty.
• We understand that at the time of development or before there will be, on the property
acquired, both a navigation easement and an odor easement as a result of being in the
domain of the airport authority and in view of the proposed future plans by Salt Lake City
to build a waste water treatment facility.
Please let us know what formalities are necessary to initiate the process of approval for this
trade. This ended Mr. Keslers' presentation.
Comment: Chris Weesner, from Salt Lake Garfield& Western Railroad. He spoke in favor of the
property exchange.
Committee member Kent Moore made a motion to continue the evaluation and analysis of the
property exchange between Salt Lake City and Grant Kesler. Committee member Larry Myers
seconded the motion with all members present voting aye.
Motion to go out of PUBLIC HEARING
Committee member Christy Cushing made a motion and Committee member Roger Player
seconded the motion to go out of the PUBIC HEARING with all members present voting aye.
Open Meeting Training—Rusty Vetter
Utah Open and Public Meetings Act Requirements for the PUAC
Statutory Obligation to Train
The "presiding officer of the public body shall ensure that all members of the public body are
provided with annual training on the requirements" of the Open and Public Meetings Act(the
"Act").
Basic Principle (Section 52-4-201(1))A"meeting" of a public body must be open to the public,
unless an exception is available under the Act allowing the meeting to be closed.
B. Definitions (Section 52-4-103)
1. "Public Body"The PUAC (the "Board") is a public body for purposes of the Act.
2. "Meeting"
A meeting is the convening of at least a quorum of a public body for the purpose of(a)
discussing, (b) receiving comments from the public about, or (c) acting upon a matter over which
the body has jurisdiction or advisory power.
Chance and social "meetings" are not subject to the open meeting law. However, they may not
be used to circumvent the Act. (Section 52-4-208)
Electronic meetings may be held subject to the Act and as described below.
3. "Convening"
The calling of a meeting of a public body by a person authorized to do so for the express purpose
of discussing or acting upon a subject over which that public body has jurisdiction or advisory
power.
C. Notice of Meetings (Section 52-4-202 N
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The Committee must give not less than 24 hours public notice of each meeting. The notice mustas
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a. Discussion of the character,professional competence, or physical or mental health of an
individual;
b. Strategy sessions to discuss collective bargaining;
c. Strategy sessions to discuss pending or reasonably imminent litigation;
d. Strategy sessions to discuss the purchase, exchange, or lease of real property, including any
form of water right or water shares, if public discussion of the transaction would:
(i) disclose the appraisal or estimated value of the property under consideration; or
(ii)prevent the City from completing the transaction on the best possible terms;
e. Strategy sessions to discuss the sale of real property if:
(i) public discussion of the transaction would:
(A) disclose the appraisal or estimated value of the property under consideration; or
(B)prevent the City from completing the transaction on the best possible terms;
(ii)the Committee previously gave public notice that the property would be offered for sale;
(iii)the terms of the sale are publicly disclosed before the Committee approves the sale;
f. Discussion regarding deployment of security personnel, devices, or systems; and
g. Investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal misconduct.
2. Procedure for Closing Meetings (Section 52-4-204)
a. A quorum must be present.
b. Two-thirds of the PUAC members present must vote to approve closing the meeting.
c. The meeting may be closed only to discuss a matter listed in § 52-4-205.
d. The following information must be publicly announced and entered on the minutes:
(i) the reason or reasons for closing the meeting
(ii) the location of the closed meeting
(iii) the vote, by name, of each Committee member, either for or against the motion to close
the meeting.
G. Record of Meetings (Sections 52-4-203, 206)
1. Open Meetings (Section 52-4-203)
Both written minutes and a recording (i.e., an audio or an audio and video record) must be kept
of all open meetings.
However, either written minutes or a recording is adequate if the meeting is a site visit or a
traveling tour, if no vote or action is taken.
The recording and minutes must include: (a)the date,time, and place of the meeting; (b) the
names of the Committee members present and absent; (c)the substance of all matters proposed,
discussed, or decided by the Committee which may include a summary of comments made by
members; (d) a record, by individual Committee members, of each vote taken by the Board; (e)
the name of each person who is not a member of the Committee and who, upon recognition by
the presiding member of the Committee, provided testimony or comments to the Board; (f) the
substance, in brief, of the testimony or comments provided by the public under(e); and(g) any
other information that any Committee member requests be entered in the minutes or recording.
The recording must be a complete and unedited record of all open portions of the entire meeting
and be properly labeled or identified with the date, time, and place of the meeting.
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The written minutes (not the recording) are the official record of action taken at the meeting. tap
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2. Notice
The Committee must:
a. Give public notice of the meeting in the usual way; and
b. Post written notice at the anchor location;
c. In addition to giving such public notice, provide:
(i) Notice of the electronic meeting to the Committee at least 24 hours before the
meeting so that they may participate in and be counted as present for all
purposes, including the determination that a quorum is present; and
(ii) A description of how the Committee members will be connected to the
electronic meeting.
3.Anchor Locations
The Committee must establish one or more anchor locations for the meeting, at least one of
which is in the Public Utilities Building. The Committee must provide space and facilities at the
anchor locations so the interested persons and the public may attend and monitor the open
portions of the meeting.
I. Disruption of Meetings (Section 52-4-301)
The Act does not prohibit the removal of any person from a meeting if the person willfully
disrupts the meeting to the extent that orderly conduct is seriously compromised.
J. Consequences of Violating the Act(Sections 52-4-302 to 52-4-305)
Any final action taken in violation of the Act is voidable by a court. The suit must be commenced
within 90 days (or 30 days in the issuance of bonds, notes, or other evidence of indebtedness). A
court may not void final action for failure to post notice on the Utah Public Notice Website if the
failure was the result of unforeseen Internet hosting or communication technology failure and the
Committee otherwise complied with the public notice requirements.
The Attorney General and County Attorneys shall enforce the Act. At least annually, the
Attorney General's Office must give notice to the Committee of any material changes to the
requirements for the conduct of meetings.
A person denied a right under the Act may sue to compel compliance with or to enjoin violation
of the Act, or to determine the Act's applicability to discussions or decisions of the Board.
A Committee member who knowingly and intentionally violates or who knowingly or
intentionally abets or advises a violation of the closed meeting provisions of the Act is guilty of a
class B misdemeanor. There was no relevant legislative change in 2012
Suggestions & Comments
Committee member Larry Myers suggested it would be helpful if the minutes reflect the
comments and suggestions that the board members are making. Dixie Huefner also suggested
that it helps them remember the issues that they are dealing with. Mr. Niermeyer reminded the
committee the minutes are in draft form until the committee approves them and then they are the
official minutes.
Meeting Adjourned 8:45 1 -1
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