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06/26/2014 - Minutes n ..NNN. Minute s ,.•••� ,� is DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES i i �1 __�.• ADMINISTRATION Salt Lake City RECEIVED Public Utilities Advisory Committee Minutes SEP 1 8 2014 June 26, 2014 CITY RECORDER The Public Utilities Advisory Committee meeting was held at 7:oo a.m. June 26, 2014 at 153o South West Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah. Committee members present: Dwight Butler, Larry Myers, Allen Orr, Roger Player, Kent Moore and Jani Iwamoto. Committee member Dixie Huefner was absent. Salt Lake City Public Utilities employees present were Jeff Niermeyer, Tom Ward, Jim Lewis, Jesse Stewart, Chuck Call, Jason Brown, Laura Briefer, Brad Stewart, Carly Castle, Stephanie Duer, Karryn Greenleaf and Zee Smith. Also in attendance were Rusty Vetter, SLC Attorney's Office; Mike Wilson, MWDSLS; Mike Collins and Keith Larson, Bowen Collins & Associates; Brock Emerson, CH2MHILL; Mark Haik; Kirk Schnader, Nate Wade Subaru; Ryan Humes, Commerce Res. Approve Minutes of May 22, 2014 Meeting Committee member Larry Myers moved and committee member Dwight Butler seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the May 22, 2014 meeting as amended. All members present voted aye. Financial Report —Jim Lewis Mr. Jim Lewis briefed the Committee on the financial report for the period ending May 31, 2014. Mr. Lewis stated that all four funds are in good financial condition. He stated that in spite of one of the hottest summers on record for 2013 our water sales are below the previous year by 4.5% but water sales have improved and are no longer 6.9%behind last year as reported in April. The improvement is based on the hotter dryer spring period. Currently water sales are looking up as we have had some hotter and dryer days with a warm forecast for next month. He stated that during the spring period water sales can change drastically from one year to the next based on weather conditions. He then presented a chart showing water consumption monthly for the past six years. He stated that you can see the volatility in water sales based on weather conditions in each of the May and June periods. Mr. Lewis is hoping for a very dry and hot spring season to bring our water sales up to last year's. The next slide presented was a comparison of revenue for all four funds versus budget. Mr. Lewis stated that revenues for the Sewer Utility are higher than last year due to the 6% sewer rate increase effective July 1st of this past year. The Water Utility revenues are below last year by approximately $2.7 million due to the wetter than normal spring season. It is anticipated that sales will improve over the next couple of weeks and bring the total water sales closer to last year. The Stormwater Utility and Street Lighting are slightly below our expected levels for this time of year. It is expected that Street Lighting will be under revenue estimates at the end of this year by as much as $400,00o due to overestimating the new revenue potential of the new fund. The next slide presented was a comparison of operating costs, comparing last year with the current budget amounts. Mr. Lewis stated that operating costs for the Water Utility are lower May 22,2014 PUAC MEETING MINUTES than last year by Si million, which relates to a decrease in water purchases from MWDSLS over the previous year, offsetting the decrease in revenues. The Sewer costs are higher than last year by $757,00o as legal and professional consulting fees are higher than last year. The Stormwater costs are almost even with last year. Mr. Lewis stated that overall the Department has been doing a very good job of controlling expenditures over the last couple of years. The last slide presented listed the capital improvements for each of the funds as compared to budget. The chart was revised at the request of the Committee to show the anticipated capital projects to be compared to the total budget amount. This will help show projects that are multi- year projects and the related budget amounts. The Water Utility has expended $11.5 million in capital improvements with $5.6 million encumbered at the end of May. The Sewer Utility has expended $6.9 million with $13.2 million encumbered. The Stormwater has expended $2.7 million with $3.7 million encumbered. The Street Lighting Utility is just starting to upgrade some of the lights to energy efficiency lights in the amount of$706,000. Total for all four funds equals $21.8 million expended and $22.5 million encumbered for a total of $44.3 million encumbered or expended as of May 31, 2014. Mr. Lewis informed the Committee that there have been about 6,000 sewer and water warranty policies purchased.Also the second letter went out to County Customers last week.The only real concern seems to be is that customers have questioned why does the City promote and recommend this program. Water Wise Landscape Web Site - Stephanie Duer Stephanie Duer gave a presentation on a recently completed website SLC Garden/Wise, an interactive and virtual water conservation landscaping tool. This website was designed in conjunction with Garden Soft, a California-based software company. It was funded through grants from the Bureau of Reclamation/Field Services Programs. The website took three years to construct. Pictures of gardens included in the website were selected and photographed over a period of two summers, and all pictures were taken within the Salt Lake City Public Utilities service areas. The pictures include residential, commercial and public landscape pictures. Visitors to the website can view singular gardens through a virtual tour. The virtual tour will also show examples of particular garden "issues" such as park strips or side yards. Also you can preview an extensive page of pictures regarding a plant database, visit the pages on weeds, and learn about water-wise gardening techniques in the resource pages. The website also provides tools to build a personalized plant database and shows some irrigation designs and scheduling information. You can visit the website at www.slcgardenwise.com. A link to the site will also be available at www.slcgov.com/waterconservation when the site is officially bunched, which will be sometime in July 2o14. Renewable Energy Project — Carly Castle Carly Castle gave a presentation regarding the City's Renewable Energy Project. Carly stated that energy is one of the biggest economic and environmental costs of delivering water to taps and treating wastewater. N In support of the City's Greenhouse gas reduction goals and renewable energy production goals which are outlined in Sustainable Salt Lake — Plan 2015 —the Department has decided to pursue a. SALT LAKE CITY DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES 1530 SOUTH WEST TEMPLE STREET VWVVV SLCGOV COM SALT LAKE CITY UTAH 84115 2 of 5 TEL 801-483-6770 psi May 22,2014 PUAC MEETING MINUTES this Renewable Energy Study. The goal is to conduct a comprehensive inventory of our renewable energy production potential, and develop a plan to realize that potential. That way we'll be equipped to diversify our energy portfolio and reduce our reliance on coal and fossil fuels. To achieve this objective, the Department selected a consultant team in May of this year to develop a utility-wide Renewable Energy Plan. The Plan will be a high-level framework that identifies the Department's opportunities for renewable energy projects; evaluates their technical, economic, and regulatory feasibility; and provides strategies and recommendations for their implementation. The renewable energy technologies to be examined are solar power, hydroelectric, cogeneration and biosolids, waste water heat recovery, and wind power. The consultant team selected in May is comprised of Energy Strategies, Sunrise Engineering, and Utah Clean Energy. Energy Strategies is responsible for the overall project management and conducting the Economic and Financial Decision Analysis. Sunrise Engineering leads the Technical and Engineering Assessment. And Utah Clean Energy will be conducting the Regulatory, Legal, and Policy Analysis. The project is divided into three phases and will last approximately six months. Our consultant team just presented the Phase I Technical Memorandum to the Department yesterday. So we are closing Phase I and beginning Phase II. Phase I consists of a Preliminary Scoping Evaluation, which is a high-level technical overview of approximately 150 Department properties and facilities. This overview determines which sites meet certain technical criteria indicating whether they merit further study as potential renewable energy producers. The criteria considered included power generation potential, site suitability and proximity to loads to serve. The team filtered the 150 sites down to approximately 40. At this point, about a dozen of those 4o sites are classified as having high renewable energy development potential and they will all be studied further in Phase II. In Phase II, we will be conducting more detailed assessments of site characteristics and generation potential. Phase II will produce a detailed comparative analysis of renewable energy projects, ranked on the basis of technical and regulatory feasibility; economic and financial viability; and environmental, social and other performance metrics. As described earlier, the final deliverable will be a formal Renewable Energy Plan for the Department. The Plan will provide a list of recommended renewable energy projects, cost projections, potential funding options and an implementation schedule and strategy. Property Exchange — Brad Stewart The owner of Nate Wade Subaru would like to make a land swap that affects Salt Lake City's C west detention basin located at 1700 south and 500 west. The owner of the Subaru Companyas Pao owns the property to the west of the City's parcel. The two owners share a diagonal property a SALT LAKE CITY DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES 1530 SOUTH WEST TEMPLE STREET WWWSLCGOVCOM SALT LAKE CITY UTAH 94115 3 of 5 TEL 801-483-6770 2 May 22,2014 PUAC MEETING MINUTES line. The proposal is to square off both properties by trading a o.3 acre triangular section in a way that doesn't result in a net increase or loss to either property. The volume and hydraulics of the detention basin will remain the same. There will need to be some storm pipe reconfiguration and the developer will install a new public sewer line under one of the berms which will service the property in the future. The Department of Public Utilities would like to make a proposal to accept and allow the property swap. PUBLIC HEARING for June 26, 2o14 @ 8:0o a.m. concerning property exchange at 1714 South 50o West. The purpose of the public hearing is to accept public comments to consider a request for a trade of private property located at 551 West 1700 South with City owned property located at the above noted address. The requestor is the owner of property located adjacent to the City owned property and is requesting that Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities consider a proposed exchange for an adjacent parcel. It is the intention that the exchange of property will be of equal value, as the parcels will be of equivalent size. Given the similarities between the properties, the parties do not believe that appraisals of the parcels would be necessary in order to close the proposed transaction. The City property is currently being used for a storm water detention basin. As part of this transaction the detention basin will be reconfigured to maintain the volume and functionality with all cost to be borne by the requestor. The purpose of the hearing is for the Public Utilities Advisory Committee to hear public comments regarding the property transaction. Public Comments: Mr. Ryan Humes, Property Manager for the property located at 175o South 50o West, which is located adjacent to the proposed property exchange has concerns and is wondering if this property exchange would have any impact on his business? He wanted to know if his employee parking would be impacted or if the construction would still allow his business to continue its day to day operations without any interruptions. Mr. Brad Stewart assured him that this exchange would have no impact or interruptions to his business. Also Mr. Kirk Schneder owner of the Nate Wade Subaru property reassured Mr. Humes that there would not be any negative impact or interruptions to his business.The Department will proceed with the property exchange. Committee member Larry Myers made a motion to close the public hearing. Committee member Allen Orr seconded the motion,with all member present voting aye. Mountain Accord Update —Laura Briefer Laura Briefer provided an update of the Mountain Accord process. She reported on the work of each of the Mountain Accord system groups (Environment, Economy, Recreation, and Transportation) this also included summarizing the draft vision, goals and metrics for each system group. These updates can also be found at www.mountainaccord.com. Salt Lake City has assigned appropriate staff to each system group to help in formulating goals. Public Utilities have staff involved in the Environment system group, since that is the system in which water is considered. a) Adjourn 8:27 a.m. a SALT LAKE CITY DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES 1530 SOUTH WEST TEMPLE STREET WWW SLCGOV COM SALT LAKE CITY,UTAH 84115 4 of 5 TEL 801-483-6770 �.i