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Home My WebLink About09/23/2021 - Meeting Minutes 00. Minutes DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES -(Z-j ADMINISTRATION "••.,�' j To•�,`, September 23, 2021 The Public Utilities Advisory Committee meeting was held at 8:00 a.m. on September 23,2021 via online meeting platform due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Committee members present were Kent Moore, Roger Player, Ted Boyer, Dani Cepernich and Tom Godfrey. Salt Lake City Public Utilities employees present were Laura Briefer, Tamara Prue, Holly Lopez, Brad Stewart, Tamara Wambeam, Marian Rice, Michelle Barry, Dawn Wagner, Lisa Tarufelli, Sharon Turner, Mike Guymon, Karryn Greenleaf, Jason Brown, and Janine Calfo. Also in attendance were Rusty Vetter, Salt Lake City Attorney's Office; Sam Owen, Salt Lake City Council Office; Drew Quinn, Holladay City Councilmember; Tim Cosgrove, Salt Lake City Mayor's Office; Cheri Jackson, Millcreek City Councilmember; Mike DeVries, Metropolitan Water District of Salt Lake and Sandy; William Peterson,AECOM; Katrina Payne, Carollo Engineering and Don DeWolf, Jacobs Engineering. Welcome and Introductions Committee Vice Chair Roger Player and Public Utilities Director Laura Briefer welcomed the attendees. Approve Minutes of June 24, 2021 Meeting Committee member Tom Godfrey made a motion and committee member Kent Moore seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the June 24, 2021. All members voted to approve. Monthly Financial Report—Lisa Tarufelli Public Utilities Finance Administrator Lisa Tarufelli gave a presentation of the financial report as of the end of July 2021. A copy of that presentation is attached. Budget items that had the greatest impact were rates, pay increases and water conservation. The year-end audit is currently in progress and additional funding opportunities are being explored. The State received some fund through the Federal ARPA program to help with the Water Assist Program. Priority will be given to households where water has already been shut off. Tom Godfrey asked for a status of the purchase of watershed fund and wetland acquisition that used to be billed in monthly customer bills. Lisa Tarufelli responded that those funds are billed annually and not shown separately. Lisa will give an update at the next meeting. Kent Moore asked about the City Council delay in passing the rate increase and if there is something that can be done to stop that process in the future. Lisa Tarufelli responded that the current billing software did not have the capability to delay the rate increase (that shortcoming is being reviewed by IMS). There was a miscommunication in the information that was presented to the City Council. September 23,2021 PUAC MEETING MINUTES Review of new Policies related to Open Meeting Issues For approval at October Meeting Rusty Vetter—City Attorney Rusty Vetter gave a presentation to explain the action that needs to be taken next month. The State Legislature recognizes that there are many bodies that need to conduct meetings virtually. There was legislation signed into law changes to the Open Meetings Act to address virtual meetings. Summer Update Laura Briefer Laura Briefer discussed the effort to manage the extreme drought during the summer. Public Utilities had to manage conservation and on March 241h, the department recommended a Stage 1 water shortage contingency response. Stage II was announced on May 27th and resulted in increased communications to the public. The City has weathered the drought very well over the year. At the time of this PUAC meeting, 1.8 billion gallons of water were saved over the summer. This will improve the carry over water that will be available next year in Deer Creek Reservoir. There were a two monsoon rain events that caused localized flooding. These events are becoming more unpredictable and intense. August 1st was a larger event that contributed to localized for basement flooding. There have been fact sheets made available to homeowners with respect to flooded basements and operation of the drainage system. There was an environmental event at Fairmont Park Pond that started with a sheen that was observed on the surface of the pond. Public Utilities responded with its contractor Envirocare to collect the sheen for testing. Initial testing came back high in Mercury. EPA sent a response team for a few days to conduct a thorough investigation and did not find any Mercury in the pond or sediments.There was a transformer leaking mineral oil that was damaged by demolition at a nearby building that was the cause for alarm. Laura gave an update on the interim work on the Utah Lake Authority Legislation. Public Utilities office are still closed to the public due to COVID. Capital Improvement Update Jesse Stewart,Deputy Director Jesse Stewart gave a presentation on the current Capital Projects Update. A copy of that presentation is attached. N a� aA �a a SALT LAKE CITY DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES 1530 SOUTH WEST TEMPLE STREET WWW.SLCGOV.COM SALT LAKE CITY,UTAH 84115 2 of 3 TEL 801-483-6770 September 23,2021 PUAC MEETING MINUTES Public Utilities applied to for American Recue Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the Granary District Flood Plain Mitigation and Re-Mapping plan for $11.45 million. The Water Reclamation Facility also applied for $10 million in ARPA funds for the Influent Pump Station and Force Mains. There is aging infrastructure throughout all utilities.These are generational as well as local projects that will be coming up over the next decade and further. Supply chain costs are increasing. New funding sources are being investigated. The number of projects that have been contracted has almost doubled from the previous year. Some of these projects were due to emergent and emergency events. Jesse highlighted some of the larger projects that were started or completed over the fiscal year and new projects that will be proposed in the future. Roger Player expressed gratitude to the engineering and maintenance staff for all of the work that they do. Other Business Roger Player mentioned if there is status for a brief tour to the Water Reclamation Plant. Tom Godfrey mentioned that there are uncertainties due to COVID and offices being closed and that he is not too anxious to do a tour. Kent Moore seconded that he is willing to put a hold on the tour. Laura Briefer mentioned the Holiday Luncheon and that there is some hesitation to hold that event in December. Laura is open to moving the luncheon to a later date. Millcreek City Councilmember Cheri Jackson and Holladay City Councilmember Drew Quinn asked when the new service district maps will be approved. Laura responded that there needs to be an ordinance amended by the Salt Lake City Council before approval. The map that is currently available on the Public Utilities website will be the same that will be submitted to the City Council. Laura Briefer emailed to the PUAC a Land Use Ordinance that is being proposed by the Planning Commission that would prohibit large volume water uses who use 300,000 gallons per day for more within the City.There are no users currently that would break that threshold outside of Tesoro and the University of Utah.Public Utilities notes that there are quite a few entities in the Northwest Quadrant who are very interested siting very water intensive industry in the City. Tom Godfrey asked if the ordinance would apply to the Inland Port. Laura responded that the land use ordinance would not apply to landowners in the Inland Port that are part of a 2018 development agreement with the City. Meeting adjourned at 9:26 am. Next Meeting will be held on October 2811 at 8:00 am. M a SALT LAKE CITY DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC UTILITIES 1530 SOUTH WEST TEMPLE STREET WWW.SLCGOV.COM SALT LAKE CITY,UTAH 84115 3 of 3 TEL 801-483-6770