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AFTERNOON, EVERYONE.OH, YEAH, WE'RE MISSING A COUPLE OF PEOPLE, BUT WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND GET STARTED.
SO THANK Y'ALL FOR, FOR JOINING US THIS AFTERNOON.
THIS IS THE THIRD, UH, STORMWATER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING.
AND I'M GONNA GO OVER THE AGENDA REAL QUICK, AND THEN I'LL TURN IT OVER TO PR FOR A VERY BRIEF, UH, OVERVIEW OF THE FUNDING.
BUT AS I MENTIONED IN THE EMAIL, WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO GET INTO TODAY IS THE, THE LEVEL OF SERVICE THAT Y'ALL WOULD RECOMMEND TO US THAT WOULD BE FUNDED, THAT THAT'S THE FIRST ITEM WE WANT TO GET INTO.
AND THEN, ASSUMING WE HAVE SOME TIME FROM THERE, WE CAN GET INTO FUNDING MECHANISMS. THE, THE THIRD ITEM ON THE AGENDA, AND THEN WHAT WE HAD MENTIONED THAT WE WOULD GET INTO LAST TIME WOULD BE THE STORMWATER CREDITS.
BUT REALLY, WE CAN'T MAKE A, A GOOD DECISION ON STORMWATER CREDITS UNTIL WE KNOW HOW MUCH IS GONNA BE FUNDED AND THEN WHAT THAT FUNDING MECHANISM IS GOING TO BE.
SO THAT, THAT WAS THE REASONING WHY FOR THE, THE REARRANGEMENT.
BUT WE, LIKE I SAID, BRAVO'S GONNA GIVE US A, UM, AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT'S BEEN PRESENTED IN THE PAST ON LEVEL OF FUNDING.
AND THEN I'M GONNA, UH, GO DOWN TO THE PODIUM AS WELL AND REALLY GET INTO THE, THE DETAILS OF THE LEVEL OF, LEVEL OF SERVICE.
AND I'M, I'M SURE YOU'LL, YOU'LL HAVE SOME QUESTIONS AND THEN WE CAN JUST HAVE A GOOD DISCUSSION ON THAT UNTIL WE COME OUT WITH A RECOMMENDATION.
AND THEN AGAIN, IF WE GET INTO, UH, CREDITS, THEN WE WILL TALK ABOUT DIFFERENT THINGS THAT, UH, CONSIDERATIONS THAT WE WOULD NEED TO IMPLEMENT THOSE CREDITS, AND THEN SOME CASE STUDIES FOR THOSE CREDITS.
SO WITH THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO PR.
WE DIDN'T, BECAUSE, UH, THE, THE ONLY PRINTOUT YOU HAVE IS FOR THE, THE LEVEL OF FUNDING, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE'RE REALLY GONNA DIVE INTO TODAY.
UM, IF, IF WE, IF IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GOING TO GET INTO THE, THE, THE SEWER, THE, UM, THE CREDIT PROGRAM, WE'LL, WE'LL GET THIS OUT TO EVERYBODY.
THE, UH, THE CLICKER, IT, IT JOE'S THE, UM, THE CLICKER TODAY.
WE, WE DON'T HAVE, WE'VE GOT HALF OF THE CLICKER.
UH, GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYONE, AND PLEASURE TO BE HERE AGAIN, UM, TO CONTINUE OUR DISCUSSION ON THE STORMWATER FUNDING.
UH, THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR TIME, ESPECIALLY BEFORE A LONG WEEKEND.
UH, SO THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE TIME.
SO, UM, WE TALKED ABOUT, JUST TO DO A QUICK RECAP ON OUR SCHEDULE AND THE TOPICS.
AS YOU ALL KNOW, DURING THE FIRST MEETING, UH, THAT WE HAD ON MARCH THE 23RD, WE TALKED ABOUT THE, GIVE YOU AN OVERVIEW OF THE CITY PARISH STORMWATER SYSTEM, WHAT IT CONTAINS.
WE TALKED SPECIFICALLY ABOUT SOME OF THE REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS.
WE TALKED ABOUT THE, UH, COMPONENTS OF THE OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE PROGRAM, WHAT IT REALLY MEANS.
UH, WE TALKED ABOUT THE FOUR DIFFERENT COMPONENTS, THE DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE, THE SOURCE CONTROLS.
WE TALKED ABOUT ENGINEERING AND PLANNING, THE PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.
WE WALKED THROUGH ALL THOSE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENTS IN THE FIRST MEETING.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO EXPLAINED DURING THAT MEETING WHAT WAS COVERED THROUGH ARPA.
UM, DURING THE INTERIM ONE TIME FUNDING AND ARPA WAS AVAILABLE.
SO WE WALKED THROUGH ALL OF THAT.
AND THEN WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT THE CAPITAL PROGRAM, WHERE WE TALKED ABOUT WHAT IS COVERED UNDER THIS CONTEXT OF THE SMALL CAPITAL PROGRAM.
AND THEN THERE'S A MUCH LARGER CAPITAL PROGRAM, WHICH IS NOT UNDER THE PURVIEW OF THIS PARTICULAR, UH, CONSTRUCT OF FUNDING THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
SO WE DID ALL OF THAT ON MARCH 23RD, THEN WE REGROUPED ON APRIL THE 27TH.
WE THEN TALKED ABOUT SPECIFICALLY THE COST FOR THOSE FOUR OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE COMPONENTS.
WE TALKED ABOUT THE COST PROJECTIONS, UH, FOR THE TIME PERIOD OF 25 THROUGH 29.
WE THEN TALKED ABOUT HOW WE BRING IT TOGETHER.
WE FIRST PRESENTED THE UNSCALED COST TO YOU ALL, THEN WE SHOWED YOU HOW WE BRING IT TOGETHER IN TERMS OF A FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, WHAT COUPLE OF STRATEGIES WE HAD IN THE FIVE YEAR FINANCIAL PLAN, UH, IN TERMS OF THE LEVEL OF OPERATING, UH, RESERVES THAT WE ARE GRADUALLY BUILDING UP.
WE TOLD YOU HOW WE ARE GRADUALLY FACING IN THE CAPITAL PROGRAM, HOW WE ARE GONNA CONTINUE TO RELY ON SOME FUNDING FROM THE GENERAL FUND.
ALL THOSE WERE STRATEGIES WE PRESENTED UNDER THE FINANCIAL PLANNING STRATEGIES.
AND THEN ONCE WE TOLD YOU HOW WE CAME
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UP WITH THE REVENUE REQUIREMENTS, THEN WE SHOWED THE NEXT STEP OF HOW DO WE TRANSLATE THAT INTO, UH, A CHARGE.AND THEN WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT CHARGES, ONE FUNDING MECHANISM.
AND WE SAID IN THIS MEETING TODAY, WE WILL TOUCH ON A COUPLE OF OTHER FUNDING MECHANISMS, WHICH IS WHAT WE WILL DO.
UH, AND THEN WE SPECIFICALLY TALKED ABOUT THE RATE STRUCTURE, WHICH IS THE IMPERVIOUS AREA BASED RATE STRUCTURE THAT WE WALKED YOU THROUGH DURING THE LAST MEETING.
AND WE TOLD YOU WHAT THAT RATE LOOKS LIKE FOR, UH, 2025 AND WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE FOR THE 26TH THROUGH 29 TIME PERIOD.
UH, AND THEN WE SHOWED SOME COUPLE OF EXAMPLES OF WHAT THE BILL IMPACT WOULD BE FOR UNDER A USER CHARGE, A USER CHARGE BASIS.
SO TODAY WE ARE GONNA TALK, UH, AS UM, ADAM SAID, WE ARE GONNA TALK ABOUT THE FUNDING OPTIONS.
UH, WE ARE FIRST GONNA TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE PROGRAM, UH, LEVEL OF SERVICE, AND THEN THE FUNDING OPTIONS.
AND THEN THE ORDER IS GONNA BE SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, AS ADAM SAID.
WE'LL TALK ABOUT ABOUT THE PROGRAM, LEVEL OF SERVICE, SOME DECISIONS FROM YOU ALL.
THEN WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE FUNDING OPTIONS, SOME PERSPECTIVES FROM YOU ALL.
AND THEN WE'LL TALK ABOUT THE USER CHARGE, UH, CREDIT PROGRAM.
AND THEN WE'LL TALK ABOUT A COUPLE OF CASE STUDIES TO SHOW WHAT OTHERS HAVE DONE.
SO AS A RECAP, WE STARTED, THIS IS A KIND OF AN ITERATIVE PROCESS, BUT WHERE WE ARE IS THAT WE REALLY STARTED WITH THE PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS THEN THAT THEN THAT DROVE THE PROGRAM NEEDS AND REQUIREMENTS, THEN DRIVE THE COST OF SERVICE, WHICH WE EXPLAINED, WE GAVE YOU AN OVER OVERVIEW OF THAT.
AND THEN FUNDING MECHANISMS. REALLY THE FOUR FUNDING MECHANISMS ARE GENERAL FUND, HAVING A USER CHARGE POTENTIAL FROM SALES TAX KIND OF FUNDING AND PROPERTY TAX KIND OF FUNDING.
WE'LL TALK A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THAT TODAY.
AND THEN ULTIMATELY, THIS IS ALL FOR MEETING NOT ONLY JUST THE UTILITIES OBLIGATIONS, BUT REALLY FOR COMMUNITY BENEFITS.
AND THIS IS A CONTINUOUS CYCLE.
THIS IS NOT A ONE-TIME EFFORT.
AS WE HAVE TALKED IN THE PAST.
THIS IS A CONTINUOUS EFFORT THAT ANY COMMUNITY HAS TO GO THROUGH FOR LONG-TERM RESILIENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF STORM WATER.
SO REGARDLESS OF THE FUNDING MECHANISM, REALLY THE, THE METHODOLOGY WE ARE REALLY TALKING ABOUT IS FIRST HAVING A VERY WELL-DEFINED FINANCIAL PLAN, WHICH IS WHAT WE PRESENTED TO YOU LAST TIME.
THAT BASICALLY TELLS YOU WHAT THE SIZE OF THE PIPE, WHAT'S THE AMOUNT OF MONEY NEEDED TO, TO HAVE THE STORMWATER RESILIENCE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.
THEN THE NEXT QUESTION IS, HOW DO YOU RECOVER THAT MONEY? THAT LEADS US TO THE BASIS OF CHARGE.
LAST TIME WE TALKED ABOUT IMPERVIOUS AREA AS THE BASIS OF CHARGE.
AND THEN ONCE WE KNOW WHAT THE BASIS OF CHARGE IS, THEN THAT TRANSLATES INTO WHAT THE RATE IS FOR THE SYSTEM.
FOR EXAMPLE, FOR 2025, WE SAID THAT RATE IS DOLLAR 10 PER 500 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERIOUS AREA.
SO WE WALK THROUGH THAT PROCESS AND THEN THAT RATE THEN TRANSLATES INTO A CHARGE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY.
SO THAT'S REALLY THE FUNDING APPROACH OVERALL THAT WE DISCUSSED LAST TIME AND WALKED THROUGH AS WELL.
SO THIS WAS THE, UM, KIND OF THE OUTCOME THAT WE PRESENTED IN THE 25 THROUGH 29.
UM, JOE, YOU COULD GO AHEAD AND CLICK.
I THINK THAT MIGHT BE AN ANIMATION.
UM, SO IN 2025, WE SAID, BASED ON THE PROPOSED PLAN THAT WE PRESENTED TO YOU ALL, WE SAID THE RATE IS DOLLAR 10 PER 500 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA, AND THEN IT GOES UP TO DOLLAR 32 BY THE TIME YOU REACHED 2029.
AND THE KEY TAKEAWAY HERE WE PRESENTED WAS THAT TWO THINGS.
ONE, UM, THAT THE CAPITAL PROGRAM, THE SMALL CAPITAL PROGRAM, WHICH WE CALL C I P, WE SAID WE ARE FACING IT IN, DURING THE TIME STARTING AT A VERY MODEST ONE AND A HALF MILLION IN 2025 AND TAKING IT CLOSE TO ABOUT $7 MILLION, 6.9 MILLION BY THE TIME WE COME TO 2029.
AND THE REASON FOR THAT PHASING IN IS THAT IT'S NOT LIKE WE NEED ONLY A MILLION AND A HALF.
WE NEED AT LEAST AT THAT LEVEL OF A 6.9, BUT WE FELT WE COULDN'T LOAD EVERYTHING FRONT END.
SO WE WERE TRYING TO FACE IN AS ONE OF THE MITIGATION STRATEGIES FOR, FOR THE RATE IMPACT.
THE SECOND THING, THE SECOND STRATEGY THAT WE PRESENTED WAS THAT ORANGE SHADED PORTION THAT YOU SEE AT THE BOTTOM.
THAT'S THE LEVEL OF FUNDING THAT WE ASSUMED WILL CONTINUE TO COME FROM THE GENERAL FORM, WHICH WAS IN THE ORDER OF ABOUT 10.4 MILLION IN 2025, GOING ALL THE WAY UP TO ABOUT 11 PLUS MILLION BY THE TIME YOU COME TO 2029.
AND THEN THE REST OF THE MONEY THAT IS NEEDED THAT IS SHOWN IN THE CHART, UH, WAS THE ASSUMPTION WAS IT'LL COME FROM A POTENTIAL STRONG WATER USER CHARGE.
AND IF IT DOES COME FROM A STORMWATER USER CHARGE, THAT'S WHERE THE DOLLAR $10, 2025, THAT THAT GRADUAL RATES, UH, THAT YOU SEE BE PRESENTED LAST TIME.
SO WITH THAT, SO THAT'S KIND OF A RECAP OF WHERE WE STARTED LAST TIME.
AND SO NOW WE WILL TALK ABOUT MORE THE SPECIFIC COST ASPECTS.
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THANK YOU.SO THE LAST COUPLE OF MEETINGS WE HAD, I, I ASKED TO HOLD ALL THE QUESTIONS TILL THE END.
I THINK THIS ONE'S GONNA BE THE OPPOSITE IT, I'M GONNA TOUCH ON SOME HIGH LEVEL THINGS AND THEN, UH, REALLY GET INTO SOME OPEN DISCUSSION WOULD BE THE, THE THOUGHT PROCESS.
SO, UH, A AS I MENTIONED AT THE BEGINNING, IDEALLY WE WILL, UH, COME OUT OF THIS MEETING TODAY WITH THE, WITH THE RECOMMENDATION ON LEVEL OF FUNDING THAT THAT'S OUR GOAL.
BUT I, I'LL GO AHEAD AND GET STARTED.
SO AS SHE MENTIONED, WE, WE DO HAVE SOME, UM, GENERAL FUNDING THAT, AMONG OTHER THINGS, COVERS DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE.
NOW, THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL THESE ITEMS THAT YOU SEE ON THE LIST, PHYSICAL INSPECTION AS NEEDED, CLEANING PIPE REPAIRS, INLET REPAIRS, ROADSIDE DITCHES, NINE ROADSIDE DITCHES, CHANNEL CLEARING, AND THEY'VE ALSO GOT LEVY MAINTENANCE.
THEY'VE GOT BRIDGE MAINTENANCE, THEY'VE GOT LOTS OF OTHER THINGS THAT THEY'VE GOT TO DO WITH THIS 9.5 MILLION.
OKAY? THE OTHER THING THAT'S CURRENTLY FUNDED IS STREET SWEEPING THAT IS COMING CURRENTLY COMING OUT OF THE, THE SOLID WASTE, UH, FUND.
UH, ONE OF THE QUESTIONS WAS, CAN WE, UH, CAN WE TAKE THAT OUT OF THE FEE? AND I, I THINK, YOU KNOW, AFTER GIVING IT SOME THOUGHT, WE ARE PROPOSING TO JUST LEAVE THAT WHERE IT IS, THAT THAT'S CONSISTENT WITH WE'RE GONNA LEAVE THE GENERAL FUNDING WHERE IT IS, WE'RE GONNA LEAVE THIS, THIS COST WHERE IT IS THE ONE TIME FUNDING THAT, THAT'S A COMBINATION OF TWO THINGS.
IT'S SOME, A FUNDING, AND IT'S ALSO SOME ONE TIME GENERAL FUND, UH, MONEY THAT WAS DEDICATED TO THIS EFFORT SO THAT WE COULD CLOSE THE GAP ON SOME THINGS IN AN INTER IN THE INTERIM, THAT WAS, UH, BASED ON A, A SURPLUS THAT HAPPENED AT ONE PARTICULAR TIME.
IT'S, IT'S NOT A, UH, A FUNDING MECHANISM THAT CAN CONTINUE TO HAPPEN.
AND THEN, OF COURSE, THE, THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN DOLLARS, THAT, THAT'S ONE TIME AS WELL.
WE, WE GOT A, A POT OF MONEY FOR THE CITY PARISH.
A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF IT WAS DEDICATED TO DRAINAGE.
AND ONCE THAT MONEY IS, IS GONE, IT, IT'S GONE.
OKAY? SO THAT CURRENTLY WE HAVE RIGHT AROUND 15 MILLION, BUT 5 MILLION OF THAT IS NOT FROM A SUSTAINABLE POT OF MONEY.
OKAY? THEN WE GET INTO THE, UH, THE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF SERVICE.
THE LAST MEETING WE GAVE YOU A, A RECOMMENDED LEVEL OF SERVICE.
THAT'S WHERE, FROM AN O AND M STANDPOINT, THAT'S WHERE WE BELIEVE THAT WE NEED TO BE TO, TO GIVE THE CITIZENS OF THE PARISH THE, THE LEVEL OF SERVICE THAT, THAT THEY, THEY DESERVE FOR THE, THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM THAT'S IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS AND THE PLACES THAT THEY DRIVE, THAT TYPE OF THING.
AND THAT WAS BASED ON A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS.
SO FIRST OF ALL, PHYSICAL INSPECTION, THAT IS, UH, CTV AND DYE TESTING OF THE, THE STORM DRAIN SYSTEM.
BUT THE, THE COSTLY COMPONENT OF THAT IS MOST OF THE TIME YOU HAVE TO CLEAN THE SYSTEM BEFORE YOU GO AND INVESTIGATE IT, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S A, A DRAINAGE SYSTEM THAT HASN'T HAD THE, THE O AND M THAT IT'S NEEDED OVER THE YEARS.
THAT'S WHERE THE COSTLY PART COMES IN.
WE GOTTA GO AHEAD AND, AND CLEAN THOSE LARGE DIAMETER LINES SO WE CAN THEN GO IN AND INVESTIGATE AND FIND OUT WHERE THE ISSUE IS, WHAT THE RECOMMENDED PLAN WAS GONNA DO.
IT WAS BASED ON A BUDGET OF WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT THIS PIPE ON A 15 YEAR INTERVAL.
OKAY? THAT'S WHERE THE SEWER SYSTEM IS RIGHT NOW.
THAT THAT'S THE PLAN THAT WE'RE FOLLOWING ON THE SEWER SYSTEM.
WE'RE ACTUALLY A LITTLE BIT AHEAD OF THAT, BUT THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING.
THERE WAS AN AS NEEDED POT OF MONEY.
AND WHAT THAT ALLOWS US TO DO IS THAT ALLOWS US TO KEEP THE ROUTINE WORK ON THAT SCHEDULE.
IT KEEPS IT ON THAT 15 YEAR SCHEDULE.
OKAY? BUT IF A SERVICE REQUEST COMES IN AND SOMEBODY'S GOT AN ISSUE THAT WE NEED TO INVESTIGATE, WE
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CAN SCHEDULE THAT SEPARATELY, AND WE DON'T HAVE TO PULL A CREW OFF OF THE ROUTINE WORK TO GO PUT OUT THE FIRE OF THE DAY, OKAY.BUT REALLY THEY'RE IN, IN MOST CASES, THEY'RE POINT REPAIRS.
THAT'S WHERE YOU HAVE, YOU HAVE A DEFECT IN THE SYSTEM.
YOU'VE GOT, UH, YOU'VE GOT A SEPARATED JOINT, YOU'VE GOT CORRUGATED METAL PIPE THAT'S FAILED.
ANYTHING THAT, THAT IS CAUSING THE, THE SYSTEM TO NOT OPERATE AS, AS IT'S DESIGNED IN, IN MOST CASES.
THAT'S WHY YOU HAVE A, A CAVE IN OR A SINK HOLE.
SOMETHING HAS STRUCTURALLY FAILED, EITHER WITH THE PIPE ITSELF OR AT A, AT A CONNECTION MIGHT BE AT THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PIPE AND THE MANHOLE, THE PIPE AND THE INLET.
SO WE NEED TO GO IN AND, AND FIX THAT.
THAT'S WHERE THE, THE PIPE REPAIRS AND THE INLET REPAIRS KIND OF GO HAND IN HAND.
MANY TIMES WE HAVE TO SEND IT, IT'S BOTH.
WE GET THAT WORK DONE, AND WE GO AND WE DO THE INLET REPAIR CONCRETE LINE CANALS.
WE, WE DO HAVE A SIGNIFICANT NETWORK OF CONCRETE LINE CANALS.
THE MAJOR POINT OF FAILURE ON THOSE IS YOU'VE GOT THE CONCRETE LINE CANALS ARE MOSTLY IN THE REAR YARDS OF PEOPLE'S HOMES ARE BEHIND BUSINESSES, AND THERE'S A CROSS DRAIN BETWEEN THE STREET AND THE CANAL.
AND IT'S CARRYING THE WATER FROM THE STREET TO THAT CHANNEL WHERE THAT PIPE AND THE, THE CONCRETE LINE CHANNEL MEET.
THERE'S, THERE'S TYPICALLY A, A FAILURE THERE, OR IT'S RIGHT BEHIND IT, IT CAUSES, AND THEN ONCE THAT PIPE FAILS, THEN YOU'VE GOT STORMWATER THAT'S TRYING TO GO FROM THE STREET TO THE, TO THE CHANNEL.
BUT, BUT THEN IT'S GOT A HOLE SOMEWHERE.
SO THEN IT STARTS ERODING BEHIND THE CHANNEL.
AND THEN NEXT THING YOU KNOW, YOU'VE GOT A SIGNIFICANT VOID BEHIND THAT CONCRETE LINE CANAL.
AND WHEN I SAY SIGNIFICANT, LIKE YOU COULD LOSE A CAR IN, IN THESE VOIDS IN MANY CASES.
OKAY? UM, SO THAT'S WHERE WE WERE GONNA PLAN IN SOME, SOME REPAIRS FOR THOSE ON AN ANNUAL BASIS.
ROADSIDE DITCHES, THAT ONE'S A LITTLE MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD.
AND WE'RE JUST, FOR THE MOST PART, WE ARE, WE'RE DIGGING DITCHES.
AND WHAT WE'RE DOING IS IF WE GOT A, WE'RE WE'RE JUST MAKING A CONSISTENT LINE BETWEEN THE UPSTREAM INVERT AND THE DOWNSTREAM INVERT.
OKAY? EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE WE'VE GOTTA GET IN THERE AND WE'VE GOT TO REPLACE A, A DRIVEWAY CULVERT, BUT FOR THE MOST PART, WE'RE JUST REESTABLISHING THAT OPEN DITCH IN SOMEONE'S FRONT YARD, NINE ROADSIDE DITCHES.
THAT'S WHERE, UH, SIMILAR TO THE, THE CONCRETE LINE CANALS IN, IN PEOPLE'S BACKYARDS.
IT'S JUST, AGAIN, IT'S EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS.
NINE ROADSIDE IS EITHER AN OPEN DITCH IN BETWEEN PEOPLE'S HOUSES, BUT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, IT'S IN THE REAR OF PEOPLE'S HOUSES.
THERE'S A LOT OF EROSION THAT ARE, THAT'S ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE THAT, THAT WE NEED TO RESOLVE.
AND THEN WE'VE GOT CHANNEL CLEARING, WHICH THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW WITH THE A R P FUNDS.
AND FOR THE MOST PART, THAT IS TRIMMING THE, THE TREES THAT ARE EITHER ON THE BANK OR WITHIN THE BANK.
AND THEN IF THERE'S DEAD TREES IN THE CANALS AND THAT TYPE OF THING, WE CAN CLEAR THAT OUT OF THE CHANNEL.
WE, WE DON'T GO IN AND CUT TREES AND UPROOT TREES AND THAT TYPE OF THING.
THAT TAKES A, IT, THAT'S A TOTALLY DIFFERENT PROCESS.
SO IT'S REALLY JUST TRIMMING THE TREES TO, TO MAKE SURE THAT CHANNEL STAYS OPEN.
IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE, WHAT, WHAT THAT IS, IS WE'VE GOT THREE INSPECTION FIRMS THAT WORK FOR US THAT THEY MAKE SURE THAT THE CONTRACTOR IS MAKING THE REPAIRS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SPECIFICATIONS SO THAT THAT REPAIR IS, IS DONE PROPERLY.
AND WE DON'T HAVE TO GO BACK OUT THERE.
AND THEN I'LL GET INTO THE, UH, THE OTHERS IN A SECOND.
I, I THINK WE, WE'VE HEARD THAT, HEY, THIS IS THE RECOMMENDED.
SO WHAT WE'VE GOT HERE IS THIS IS A, A MINIMUM LEVEL OF SERVICE, AND, AND THIS IS JUST, THIS IS WHAT I CONSIDER TO BE THE MINIMUM THAT I COULD COMFORTABLY SAY THAT I CAN
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MEET THE, THE PERMIT REQUIREMENTS AND BE ABLE TO RESPOND ON, ON A, JUST ON A REACTIVE BASIS, BUT, BUT DO THE BARE MINIMUM THAT THAT IS NEEDED TO, TO MEET THE PERMIT.OKAY? SO PHYSICAL INSPECTION, INSTEAD OF 6 MILLION, IT'S $3 MILLION.
OKAY? THERE WOULD BE NO ROUTINE SCHEDULE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
UH, IT'S NOT ENOUGH FUNDING TO, TO PUT TOGETHER AN ANY TYPE OF ROUTINE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE.
IT WOULD ALLOW US TO, TO BE REACTIVE AND TO RESPOND TO SERVICE REQUESTS AND TO RESPOND TO COMPLAINTS WHEN THEY CAME IN.
UM, THE OTHER THING AS NEEDED, CLEANING, WELL, THE AS NEEDED, INSTEAD OF HAVING A SEPARATE LINE ITEM FOR AS NEEDED CLEANING, BASICALLY THE, THE 3 MILLION IS, IS GONNA ABSORB THE AS NEEDED CLEANING.
SO THERE WOULD BE NO, IF WE DID HAVE THEM ON SOME TYPE OF SCHEDULE THAT DAY AND SOMETHING ELSE CAME UP AND IT'S LIKE, HEY, THIS IS CAUSING SOME MAJOR ISSUES.
WE GOTTA PULL THEM OFF AND WE GOTTA GO GET THEM TO, TO GO OUT AND, AND RESOLVE THAT COMPLAINT BEFORE THEY CAN GET BACK ON THEIR, THEIR ROUTINE WORK PIPE REPAIRS.
AND THE THOUGHT PROCESS THERE IS, IS LIKE, WELL, IF YOU'RE NOT, UM, GOING OUT LOOKING FOR PROBLEMS AS MUCH, THEN YOU'RE NOT GONNA HAVE AS MUCH TO FIX.
SO WE'RE GONNA REDUCE THAT LEVEL OF, OF FUNDING FOR POINT REPAIRS.
STILL GOT IT UP THERE BECAUSE THOSE NEED TO BE FIXED.
YOU KNOW THAT AT THE END OF THE DAY THAT'S, THAT'S AN OPEN HOLE IN THE PIPE AT SOMEWHERE THAT'S ALLOWING SEDIMENT INTO THE PIPE.
NOT ONLY IS THAT A, A LIABILITY ISSUE, IT'S A PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUE, BUT IT'S, IT'S ALSO ALLOWING SEDIMENT INTO OUR MS FOUR.
SO WE STILL NEED TO TIGHTEN THOSE THINGS UP AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
INLET REPAIRS ARE THE SAME THING.
INLET REPAIRS, WE, WE STILL NEED TO SEAL UP THOSE, THOSE INLETS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
CONCRETE LINE CANALS, WE SAID, WELL, THAT, THAT'S GONNA BE SOMETHING IT, IF THE MINIMAL, UH, LEVEL OF SERVICES IS WHAT WE GO WITH, IF WE DO NEED TO MAKE REPAIRS THERE, THEY WILL BE, THEY WOULD COME OUT OF THAT SPECIAL PROJECTS BUDGET, AND WE WILL HANDLE 'EM ON A, ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS.
AND WE'LL, WE'LL INDIVIDUALLY BID OUT SOME CONCRETE LINE CANAL REPAIRS INSTEAD OF HAVING AN ANNUAL CONTRACT THAT'S DEDICATED TO FIXING JUST THAT, UM, ROADSIDE DITCHES, AND, UH, I SHOULD HAVE SAID IT BEFORE, BUT THE, THE ROADSIDE DITCHES AND THE NINE ROADSIDE DITCHES, THIS WOULD STILL JUST SUPPLEMENT DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE.
THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE WOULD STILL DO THESE ITEMS AS WELL.
SO THIS WOULD JUST, THESE TWO, WE WOULD JUST SUPPLEMENT THEIR SERVICES LESS THAN WHAT WE ARE IN THE, THE RECOMMENDED CASE.
AND THEY WILL HAVE TO, TO DO THAT MUCH MORE WITH THE GENERAL FUNDING, WHICH WILL MEAN THEY WILL AGAIN.
AND EVERYTHING IN HERE IS, IS BASICALLY THE WHAT, WHAT THE RECOMMENDED LEVEL OF SERVICE ALLOWS US TO CATCH UP ON IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE.
THIS WILL JUST FURTHER DEFER TO CONTINUE TO DEFER A LOT OF THOSE ITEMS. AND THEN INSPECTION IS LESS, AGAIN, THESE ARE THE, THE INSPECTORS THAT ARE MAKING SURE THE CONTRACTOR'S INSTALLING IT CORRECTLY, THAT'S LOWER BECAUSE THEY'VE GOT LESS WORK TO, TO INSPECT.
THOSE TWO ARE THE, UM, THAT'S, THAT'S THE BIG DIFFERENCES IN BETWEEN THESE TWO.
AND, AND I'VE GOT A, UM, A CHART HERE.
SO SOURCE CONTROLS AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, WHAT THAT, THAT IS, THAT'S FOR THE MOST PART, THAT'S GONNA BE IN-HOUSE PEOPLE.
THERE'S A POTENTIAL FOR SOME OF THAT TO BE CONTRACTED OUT.
BUT THAT IS THE MS FOUR PERMIT MANAGER.
AND THAT'S THE INSPECTORS THAT ARE, THAT'S A DIFFERENT GROUP OF INSPECTORS.
THOSE ARE INSPECTORS THAT ARE GOING OUT.
THEY'RE GOING OUT TO CONSTRUCTION SITES, PRIVATE CONSTRUCTION SITES, WHETHER IT'S DEVELOPMENTS, UH, HOMES THAT ARE BEING BUILT, UH, EVEN OUR CAPITAL PROJECTS AS WELL.
WE, WE HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR CAPITAL PROJECTS FOLLOW THE SAME GUIDELINES THAT PRIVATE DEVELOPMENTS, UH, HAVE TO FOLLOW AS WELL.
[00:25:01]
BE GOING OUT AND MAINLY CHECKING THE STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLANS AND THOSE TYPES OF THINGS ON THOSE DEVELOPMENTS ON OUR CAPITAL PROJECTS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE IN COMPLIANCE.UH, THERE'S ANOTHER COMPONENT.
WE'VE GOT, UH, MAJOR OUTFALLS THAT NEED TO BE SAMPLED.
SO THAT'S THE, THE ENGINEERING AND THE, THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING THAT GOES ALONG WITH THAT.
AND THEN THE, UH, THE ANALYTICAL SAMPLING AS WELL.
AND THEN THE THIRD COMPONENT OF THAT IS PUBLIC OUTREACH.
PUBLIC OUTREACH IS ONE OF THE, THE MODULES OF THE, THE PERMIT.
SO THAT, THAT'S $200,000 OF THAT AMOUNT IS FOR PUBLIC OUTREACH.
AND THAT'S EDUCATING RESIDENTS, EDUCATING CONTRACTORS IN, IN VARIOUS DIFFERENT WAYS.
WE'VE BEEN, WE'VE, WE PUT BILLBOARDS OUT ON THE INTERSTATE, IF Y'ALL SEEN SOME OF THOSE.
WE'VE GOTTEN A LOT OF GOOD FEEDBACK ON THOSE.
WE'RE GONNA BE DOING THAT AGAIN HERE SHORTLY.
PUT, UH, INSERTS IN THE WATER BILLS AND JUST, WE GO OUT TO SCHOOLS, WE TALK TO, TO KIDS IN THE SCHOOLS.
THAT'S ANOTHER REALLY GOOD WAY THAT WE, WE FIND, CUZ THEY GO HOME AND THEY, THEY TELL THEIR PARENTS ABOUT WHAT IT IS THAT THEY, THEY LEARN THAT DAY.
SO WE GET A LOT OF GOOD REACTION THERE AS WELL.
NEXT ITEM IS, AND SO THOSE TWO, IT'S, AND YOU'LL SEE WITH MOST OF THESE, IT'S THE SAME AMOUNT FOR BOTH BECAUSE THAT'S JUST NOT SOMETHING THAT, THAT WE CAN CHANGE.
THAT, THAT NUMBER'S JUST, IT IS WHAT IT NEEDS TO BE.
WE, WE'VE GOT A LITTLE BIT THAT'S ASSOCIATED WITH IF THERE'S SOME INTERNAL STRUCTURES THAT WE HAVE THAT NEED TO BE EVALUATED.
WE'VE GOT, UH, ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THAT.
WE'VE GOT, UH, PROGRAM MANAGEMENT, WHICH IS THE MANY CASES, ASSIGNING THE WORK ORDERS.
THE, THE LARGEST PART OF THAT IS, IS MANAGING ALL THESE ANNUAL CONTRACTS THAT YOU SEE.
SO FROM PHYSICAL INSPECTION THROUGH INSPECTION, ALL THOSE LINE ITEMS, SOMEBODY'S GOTTA ASSIGN WORK ORDERS TO THOSE FOLKS.
SOMEBODY'S GOTTA MAKE SURE IT'S ALL BEING DONE CORRECTLY.
SO THE, THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PROGRAM MANAGEMENT IS WORKING, UH, ON THOSE O AND M TASKS.
AND THERE'S SOME COMPLIANCE FACTORS OF IT AS WELL.
AND THEN THE, THE THIRD ITEM IS THE HYDRAULIC MODEL.
SO THE HYDRAULIC MODEL WAS CREATED RECENTLY AS PART OF THE STORMWATER MASTER PLAN, BUT WE DO NEED TO MAINTAIN THAT HYDRAULIC MODEL FOR BOTH THE QUALITY ITEMS THAT WE'RE DOING, AND THEN ALSO THE, FOR DRAINAGE IMPACT STUDIES AND THAT TYPE OF THING THAT ARE A PART OF THE, THE MS FOUR PERMIT.
STORMWATER UTILITY, WE'VE GOT, UM, JUST A LITTLE BIT OF COST THERE FOR, UH, WORKING WITH BILLING.
AND THEN IF THERE IS A CREDIT PROGRAM, THERE'S THE ADMINISTERING AND THE, THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CREDIT PROGRAM.
AND THEN THE, UM, THE FINAL ITEM IS THE, THE STORMWATER PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.
I'M SORRY, SECOND TO LAST ITEM.
THE STORMWATER PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION.
THAT IS, SO RIGHT NOW, UH, MY SALARY, SARAH'S SALARY, HANDFUL OF OTHERS, IT'S SEPARATED 80 20, IT'S 80% SEWER, 20%, UH, LANDFILL VALID WASTE.
IF WE ARE GOING TO REALLY START WORKING ON THIS UTILITY AND REALLY GET INTO A MANAGING THE, THE O AND M OF THIS, THEN, THEN OUR SALARIES WOULD GO 60, 20, 20, MEANING 60% SEWER, 20% SOLID WASTE, AND THEN 20% STORMWATER.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S A PORTION OF IT.
WE'VE GOT SOFTWARE COST, WE'VE GOT INDIRECT SUPPORT SERVICES, SO THAT, THAT'S ANOTHER JUST CITY, UH, CITYWIDE COST.
SO WHEN I ASK THE, THE PARISH ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO DO SOMETHING, I ASK TO DO SOMETHING OTHER DEPARTMENTS.
OUR, UH, ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES PAYS FOR THE SERVICES OF OTHER DEPARTMENTS THAT SUPPORT EVERYONE IN THE CITY.
SO THERE'S A, THAT SAME ALLOCATION WOULD GO TO THIS STORMWATER UTILITY.
AND THEN WE'VE GOT A CALL CENTER.
SO THE CALL CENTER IS, WE'VE GOT IT SET UP RIGHT NOW, AND IF SOMEBODY WANTS TO KNOW THE, THE STATUS OF A WORK ORDER THAT'S BEING DONE ON ANY ONE OF THESE A R P PROJECTS, THEY CAN CALL THAT, THAT CALL CENTER.
[00:30:01]
MORE SPECIFIC TO WHERE IS MY WORK ORDER? WHAT IS IT? IT, IT'S, IT'S NOT A THREE 11 FUNCTION.IT'S MORE OF A, A DIRECT ANSWER OF WHERE AM I ON THE SCHEDULE TO GET MY REPAIR DONE.
AND THEN FINALLY, THE, UH, SO THE, THE SPECIAL PROJECTS WE, THERE'S IN THE RECOMMENDED THERE'S $6 MILLION ULTIMATELY FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS.
AND WHAT THAT IS, IS WHETHER IT'S A SMALL CAPITAL PROJECT, IT MIGHT BE SOME OTHER PROJECT THAT WE NEED TO DO THAT'LL, UH, TACKLE SOME DEFERRED MAINTENANCE, COULD BE A, A WATER QUALITY PROJECT.
AND THEN WE'VE GOT 15% FOR ENGINEERING.
WE ARE STARTING IT, YOU'LL SEE 1.5.
WHAT WE DID IN BOTH SCENARIOS IS IT RAMPS.
SO IT STARTS OFF AT 1.5 IN YEAR ONE, AND THEN IT RAMPS UP TO THE 6.9 BY YEAR THREE.
SAME THING WITH, UM, ON THE MINIMUM SIDE, IT STARTS AT 1.5, BUT WE CAPPED IT AT 3 MILLION FOR CONSTRUCTION AND THEN 15% FOR ENGINEERING.
SO IT GOES FROM 1.5 TO 3.45 IN FOR YEAR THREE.
THEN THE OTHER, THE ADDITIONAL PROGRAM COSTS.
THAT'S WHERE WE GET INTO THE COST FOR, FOR BILLING.
AND JUST THE, THE VARIOUS OTHER COSTS THAT ARE, WE, WE'VE GOT 30 DAYS CASH ON HAND.
IF WE'RE GOING TO HAVE ALL THESE O AND M CONTRACTS, WE NEED TO HAVE 30 DAYS CASH ON HAND.
JUST SOME DIFFERENT COSTS THAT ARE, UH, THAT ARE NECESSARY FROM THE FUNDING STANDPOINT FOR A, FOR A UTILITY.
SO WITH THAT, THE NEXT SLIDE, JUST SINCE MOST OF THOSE ONES AT THE BOTTOM ARE, ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME, THE NEXT SLIDE JUST KIND OF SUMMARIZES THE, THE MAIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO.
SO WITH THAT, I ASSUME THERE'S SOME QUESTIONS OR CONVERSATIONS THAT WANT TO BE HAD.
CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT THE BASIS IS FOR THE COSTING THAT YOU GUYS HAVE PUT TOGETHER? IS IT BASED ON HISTORICAL EXPERIENCE WITHIN THE PARISH? IS IT BASED ON MUNICIPAL AVERAGE EXPERIENTIAL DATA THAT WAS PROVIDED BY THE CONSULTANT? OR, OR HOW DID YOU ARRIVE AT THESE NUMBERS? IT, IT'S BASED ON OUR EXPERIENCE.
UM, ADAM, CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME, UM, HAVE YOU ALL HAD MEETINGS WITH SOME OF THE LARGER PROPERTY OWNERS THAT'LL BE PAYING THE LARGER FEES AND LET THEM KNOW AND TALK TO THEM ABOUT WHAT'S COMING? NO, WE HAVE NOT HAD INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS WITH, WITH PROPERTY OWNERS OR INDUSTRY, NO.
IS IT, IT IS YOUR REQUEST, IS IT YOUR ANTICIPATION THAT THE RECURRING FUNDING THAT WE HAVE FOR DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE DRAINAGE BUDGET, WHICH IS 9.5, CONTINUE, CORRECT.
THAT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DEDICAT, THROUGH THE GENERAL FUND? YES.
BUT AGAIN, IT WOULD, WE WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE ON SOME OF THEIR TASKS AND THEN THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO FOCUS THEIR EFFORTS ON, ON OTHER TASKS.
WELL, I GUESS, I GUESS THAT RAISES THE QUESTION OF ARE WE SUPPLANTING THE REVENUE, I MEAN THE EXPENDITURES AND THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE DRAINAGE BUDGET, AND ARE THEY GONNA BE DOING OTHER THINGS OR WOULD THEY, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW THEY DO IT.
SO YES, THAT NUMBER, AND THAT INCLUDES EVERYTHING ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT SOME OF THESE NEW ITEMS THAT WE DO NOT HAVE AT THE PRESENT TIME BECAUSE OF OUR, UM, OUR INABILITY TO COMPLY WITH WHAT THE, THE FEDS WANT US TO DO.
SO WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE DOES IS EVERYTHING, WELL, EVERYTHING FROM PHYSICAL INSPECTION THROUGH INSPECTION, PLUS THEY'VE GOT LEVY MAINTENANCE, THEY'VE GOT BRIDGE MAINTENANCE, THEY'VE GOT, UM, HANDFUL OF OTHER THINGS THAT, I THINK I HAD ONE OTHER ITEM IN HERE.
SO, SO MAYBE I'M NOT ARTICULATING THIS CORRECTLY, BUT IT SEEMS, UM, I THINK THE PUBLIC WOULD WANT THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE TO CONTINUE THE WORK THAT THEY'RE PRESENTLY DOING IT AND NOT SHIFTING IT TO THINGS OTHER THAN WHAT'S
[00:35:01]
ON THIS LIST.I UNDERSTAND THEY HAVE LEVIES, BUT WE LEVY IS NOT A BIG EXPENDITURE THAT I, THAT I'M AWARE OF.
I THINK THE PUBLIC WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT NUMBER BE INCLUDED.
THERE'S ALWAYS AN ISSUE ABOUT SUPPLANTING WHEN WE'RE GONNA HAVE A NEW DEDICATED SOURCE OF FUNDS.
WELL, WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE OTHER FUNDS THAT WERE GOING ON BEFOREHAND? IT GOES BACK TO THE OLD, WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE LOTTERY MONEY? YOU KNOW, THE LEGISLATURE PASSES THE LOTTERY AND THE MONEY WAS SUPPOSED TO GO TO EDUCATION, AND IT GETS SUPPLANTED THAT THE PUBLIC IS GOING TO ASK THAT SPECIFIC QUESTION AS TO WHETHER OR NOT THE ACTIVITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE ARE BEING SUPPLANTED WITH THIS NEW MONEY.
DOES THAT, DOES THAT MAKE SENSE? YOU UNDERSTAND WHERE I'M GOING IN MM-HMM.
I THINK ANOTHER WAY THAT QUESTION IS, IS, IS PRESENTED, AND I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT, IS THE CURRENT, THE FIRST COLUMN, IT GIVES AN IMPRESSION THAT WE'RE NOT DOING ANY PIPE REPAIR.
WE'RE NOT DOING
AND SO MAYBE IF WE LIST WHAT WE'RE CURRENTLY DOING, AND THEN THE LAST COLUMN SHOULD BE THE 39 MILLION SETTING, TWO, 9.5 SHOWING, YOU KNOW, ULTIMATELY THAT YEAH, WE'RE DOING THESE THINGS, BUT WE'RE TAKING IT FROM THE DRAINAGE BUDGET.
IN A PERFECT WORLD, WE WOULD LIKE THAT DRAINAGE BUDGET GO TOWARDS WHAT IT'S SUPPOSED TO GO AND THESE COST GO THAT I I, COREY, YOU'RE RIGHT.
NO, OTHERWISE, I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOUR COLUMNS LINE UP BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE WE'RE NOT GONNA HAVE THAT RECURRING MONEY THAT WOULD BE AVAILABLE FOR YOU TO HAVE.
AND I THINK IF YOU SHOW IT DIFFERENTLY, UM, YOU'RE ACTUALLY AT THE 29 MILLION THAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY ASKING FOR.
BUT I'M SURE, UH, MR. RAYFORD WOULD NOT BE HAPPY TO BE THINKING THAT ALL THAT MONEY'S GOING JUST TO THE, UH, THE ITEMS THAT ARE THERE.
SO I IT'S A, IT'S A WAY IT'S LAID OUT.
AND, AND I, I, UH, I WISH WE COULD HAVE DONE IT THAT WAY.
AND I, AGAIN, UM, UNFORTUNATELY, JUST QUITE FRANKLY, AT, AT THIS POINT, WE CAN'T CLARIFY OR WE CAN'T QUANTIFY WITHIN DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE HOW MUCH THEY'RE SPENDING ON INLET REPAIR, HOW MUCH THEY'RE SPENDING ON PIPE REPAIR.
AND THE REASON WE CAN'T DO THAT IS BECAUSE ONE DAY CREW A IS DIGGING A DITCH, AND THE NEXT DAY CREW, A THE SAME GROUP OF GUYS IS FIXING AN AN INLET.
SO THERE WAS NO WAY FOR ME TO SAY, ALL RIGHT, THE CREW A IS, IS THIS, I'M GONNA TAKE ALL THEIR SALARIES, BENEFITS, AND EQUIPMENT, AND I'M GONNA ASSIGN IT TO THIS.
I'M GONNA TAKE THIS CREW AND I'M GONNA ASSIGN IT TO THAT.
THAT'S BECAUSE THEY, THEY BOUNCE AROUND AND WITH THE, UM, WITH THE PERSONNEL SHORTAGE THAT WE HAVE, THERE'S, THERE'S NO LONGER A DEDICATED CREW FOR CERTAIN ITEMS. BUT I, I, I THINK I HEAR YOU.
AND THAT WAS THE INITIAL INTENT, BUT IT JUST WASN'T, UH, WE WEREN'T ABLE TO DO THAT.
AND I, UM, SO LET ME LEMME SAY IT A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT WAY.
UM, YES, I AGREE WITH ADAM THAT 9.5 WOULD PROBABLY BE SPREAD AMONGST FIVE OR SIX DIFFERENT ONES HERE.
HE KEPT IT AT THE TOP AS A, AS A WHOLE, BECAUSE AGAIN, HE SAID IT WAS HARD FOR HIM JUST TO START GUESSING ON HOW MUCH IT WENT TO EACH.
HE SAID THEY'RE DOING ALL OF THESE THINGS WITH THAT 9.5, THAT 9.5 WILL REMAIN IN MAINTENANCE TO DO EVERYTHING THEY'RE DOING TODAY.
ANYTHING YOU SEE IN ADDITION ON THE, ON THE MINIMUM ADDITION, ON THE MINIMUM 19, I MEAN 19 IN THE MINIMUM IN THE 29, THAT IS EXTRA AND ABOVE WHAT THE 10 IS GOING TO STAY THERE DOING.
SO IT, IT'S NOT SUR IT'S NOT SUPPLANTING.
SO YOU'RE GETTING TO THE 29 MILLION, WHICH IS YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS.
NO, IT'S NOT THE 20, YOU DON'T ADD THE 10 AND THE 19 TO GET TO THE 29.
BOTH THE 19 AND THE 29 ARE OVER AND ABOVE THE TEN TWO DIFFERENT, SO YOUR MINIMUM WOULD BE 29.
YOUR, YOUR RECOMMENDED WOULD BE 39.
IT WOULD TAKE THE 10 AND ADDED TO THE 19 OR 10 AND ADDED TO THE 29.
SO THE, THE TWO COLUMNS HE HAS THERE ON THE END IS THE FUNDING GAP, 19 MILLION FUNDING GAP AND A 29 MILLION FUNDING GAP MINIMUM.
AND RECOMMENDED WITH THE 10, CONTINUING TO DO WHAT IT DOES NOW AND STAYING IN THE GENERAL FUND, BUT STILL DOING IT WITH A WHOLE PROGRAM OF 29 MILLION AND A WHOLE PROGRAM OF 39 MILLION.
IF THAT ANSWERS WELL, WOULD THE DRAINAGE BUDGET BE MOVED TO DS?
[00:40:01]
NO, BECAUSE THEY WOULD STILL BE ACTUALLY DOING IT.THE THE BUDGET IS IN PUBLIC WORKS, SO, BUT IT, YEAH, BUT IT'S NOT THE DEPARTMENT OF IT'S, IT'S NOT IN THE, IT IS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE.
IT'S NOT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF D E S.
BUT HOW CAN I PAY THOSE PEOPLE TO DO THAT FUNDS IF I MOVE THE FUNDS TO ANOTHER DEPARTMENT? WELL, THE QUESTION IS, SHOULD THAT ALL BE DONE UNDER ONE? IT'S MORE THAN MY QUESTION THEN, THEN YOU'RE HIRING DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND YOU'RE, YOU'RE ACTUALLY RAISING THE COST UP.
WE'RE DOING IT WITH THE PEOPLE WE HAVE IN THAT ASPECT.
SO THEY, THE PHYSICAL WORK IS BEING DONE SOMETIMES BY THE MAINTENANCE GUYS.
THE MAINTENANCE GUYS DO EVERYTHING FROM POTHOLE PATCHING TO GRASS CUTTING, TO DITCH DIGGING.
THEY DO EVERYTHING PHYSICALLY, BASICALLY MAINTENANCE DUE AND ON, ON THE ROADSIDE.
AND EVEN THEY GO OFF THE ROADSIDE AND DO THE MAIN DITCHES, THE MAIN DRAINAGE CANALS.
SO WHERE IT SITS IN A BUDGET SHEET, IT'S STILL PART OF THE ACTIVITIES THAT ARE DONE TOWARD D E S.
WELL, THE, THE STORMWATER, AND THIS WOULD BE WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE COUNCIL AND THE MAYOR WILL PROPOSE THE CONTINUATION OF DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE DRAINAGE BUDGET AT 9.5 AND STREET SWEEPING AT 700.
VINCENT, I, I WANNA GET SOME, AND I, OR YOU CAN JUST LOOK, I THINK THIS WAS ITERATION FOUR OF THIS TABLE, AND AT, AT ONE POINT IT WAS, UM, IT WAS SET UP THE WAY Y'ALL ARE ASKING FOR IT.
SO WE'LL, UH, WE'LL FIGURE OUT WHAT ITERATION THAT IS AND WE'LL PUT IT BACK THAT WAY.
ADAM, I, I WANNA GET SOME CLARITY.
THE CURRENT DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE BUDGET IS 9.5.
YOU GUYS HAVE TALKED ABOUT THAT STAYING WITHIN THE, THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE BUDGET.
BUT I, I WANNA ENSURE THAT THE 9.5 STAYS WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE BUDGET, NOT JUST THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE.
SO, SO I'M, AS I UNDERSTAND IT, LIKE LEVY INSPECTION AND BRIDGE INSPECTION ARE FUNCTIONS OF THE ROAD MAINTENANCE BUDGET.
SO, WELL, I'LL, I'LL ANSWER THE FIRST ONE.
THIS IS JUST THE DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE BUDGET WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE IS THE 9.5.
RIGHT? THERE'S OTHER FUNDING WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE ON TOP OF THIS 9.5.
THAT'S JUST THE DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE.
UM, THE SECOND ONE, I, I MET WITH STEVEN YESTERDAY.
BUT I, THAT'S THE WAY I UNDERSTOOD IT WAS THAT ALL OF THOSE ITEMS WERE UNDER DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE AND THAT HE WOULD BE ABLE TO, UH, GET THOSE THINGS DONE UNDER THIS.
IT'S YOUR INTENTION THAT THE DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE BUDGET WILL REMAIN WITH DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE, NOT GO INTO A LARGER DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE BUDGET? THAT THAT'S CORRECT.
I'LL GO AHEAD, ADAM, GO AHEAD.
HOW DOES THE MAINTENANCE AND INSPECTIONS AND REPAIRS OF ALL THESE SYSTEMS, UH, JIVE WITH ALL THE ARPA FUNDING WE JUST SPENT TO CLEAN EVERYTHING UP AND PUT EVERYTHING IN TIP TOP CONDITION? SEEMS LIKE THE MAINTENANCE WOULD GO WAY DOWN AS WE JUST SPENT EVERYTHING, ALL THIS MONEY FIXING EVERYTHING UP.
SO WE'VE PUT A DENT IN THE SERVICE REQUEST WITH THE ARPA FUNDING, BUT WE'VE STILL GOT A SIGNIFICANT BACKLOG.
AND THAT, THAT'S WHERE WE'RE, WE'RE GETTING THESE NUMBERS FROM.
IS THAT TO, TO STAY ON TOP OF IT SO THAT WE DON'T HAVE THAT ISSUE AGAIN WHERE WE'VE GOT SUCH A, A BACKLOG, THESE ARE THE, THIS IS THE FUNDING THAT WE NEED TO, TO KEEP UP WITH IT.
IT SEEMS LIKE AN AWFULLY BIG BUDGET TO FIX SOMETHING THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE BRAND NEW.
WELL, IT'S NOT BRAND NEW THOUGH.
IT, IT'S JUST, IT'S PREPARED TO AS, AS BUILT CONDITIONS IT SHOULD BE.
BUT IN, IN MOST CASES, IT'S JUST A POINT REPAIR.
SO IT'S JUST ONE, ONE ISOLATED SPOT.
ONE, ONE JOINT THAT WE'RE FIXING OR, AND, AND THAT'S IT.
IT IS, IT IS IN NO WAY A A NEW SYSTEM.
WHAT'S THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT WE NEED TO SATISFY THE EPA REQUIREMENTS? LIKE WHAT'S THE NUMBER? IS THERE, IS THERE A NUMBER? IS IT PLUS 19 MILLION? IS IT PLUS 29? IS IT PLUS 25? IS IT, WHAT IS IT FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO COMFORTABLY SAY THAT I CAN MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF, AND IF WE FIND SOMETHING ALONG THE WAY THAT I CAN GO
[00:45:01]
FIX IT TO ENSURE THAT IT'S NOT AN ISSUE FOR ME TO BE ABLE TO COMFORTABLY SAY IT, IT'S 19 MILLION.NOW, IF YOU'RE ASKING WHAT DO WE NEED TO JUST TO HIRE EXTRA PEOPLE AND ADDRESS THE VERY SPECIFIC ITEMS, UH, IN RESPONSE TO THE MCMS AND NOT HAVE AN OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE COMPONENT OF IT, THEN IT'S, I THINK IT'S IN THE 6 MILLION RANGE AND THEN WHATEVER ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS WOULD BE ON TOP OF THAT.
SO IT'S, IT'S IN THAT SIX TO 10 MILLION RANGE.
UM, WANNA TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT, UM, THE BACKLOG OF DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE? SO WHEN THE, UM, WHEN THE ARPA FUNDS WERE PROPOSED AT THAT POINT, WE WERE TOLD THERE WAS ABOUT A SEVEN YEAR BACKLOG OF DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE REQUESTS WITH SOME OF THOSE REQUESTS BEING AS OLD AS, AS 10 YEARS.
I DID HAVE A, LIKE AN EIGHT YEAR OLD ONE IN MY, IN MY DISTRICT.
UM, IF YOU HAD TO QUANTIFY THAT TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE BACKLOG IS? IS IT A YEAR, A TWO YEAR, THREE YEAR, OR HAVE WE, WHERE, WHERE DO YOU THINK WE'VE GOTTEN TO? I, I CAN TELL YOU OVERALL NUMBER.
THE, I'D SAY THE VAST MAJORITY OF 'EM WERE SEVEN YEARS, BUT WE DID HAVE SOME, WE HAD A HANDFUL OF 'EM THAT WENT BACK TO 2012.
AND WHAT WE CONSIDERED A BACKLOG AT THE TIME WAS WE PUT TOGETHER A LIST IN DECEMBER, 2021, AND WE SAID EVERYTHING PRIOR TO JANUARY 1ST, 2022 WAS BACKLOG.
SO WE, SO WE HAD IN SOME PLACES, WE HAD A 10 YEAR BACKLOG, CAINS AND SINK HOLES.
WE HAD A TOTAL OF 1500 OUTSTANDING THAT WE NEEDED TO ADDRESS.
UM, WE'RE PROBABLY 15 MONTHS INTO IT, AND WE'VE FIXED 950 ISH OF THOSE.
BUT WE, WE'VE GOT, UH, THE, THE REMAINDER LEFT.
I THINK I, I WAS ACTUALLY LOOKING AT IT LAST NIGHT WHEN I WAS, UH, PREPARING FOR THE, THE ITEM THAT WAS ON THE COUNCIL AGENDA.
I, I, I WANT TO SAY WE'RE AT 471 IS THE BACKLOG RIGHT NOW.
AND AT THAT, AND AT THAT TIME, I REMEMBER THAT, THAT THE REQUESTS COMING IN EVERY U EVERY MONTH, UM, WERE ABOUT WHAT WE WERE GETTING CLOSED EVERY MONTH.
SO WE WERE KIND OF AT A STATIC LEVEL.
BUT HOW ARE THOSE REQUESTS COMING IN? DO YOU HAVE ANY SENSE OF WHAT THAT RATE IS NOW? I THINK WE ARE AT ABOUT 700 TOTAL WITH JUST UNDER 500 OF 'EM BEING BACKLOG.
BUT WE, AND THAT NOW THAT'S JUST CAVING AND, AND SINK HOLES.
AND WHEN YOU LOOK AT, UM, ROADSIDE DITCH DIGGING AND THAT TYPE, THAT, THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT, UH, THAT I SEE A LOT OF COMING IN, UH, CATCH BASIN CLEANINGS.
THOSE ARE, ARE STARTING TO, TO ADD UP AGAIN BECAUSE AT THIS POINT WE'RE, WE'RE KIND OF, WE'RE ACTUALLY WELL BELOW THIS, THIS MINIMAL LEVEL AT THIS POINT.
THE ONLY THING WE'RE DOING WITH PHYSICAL INSPECTION RIGHT NOW IS WE ARE INVESTIGATING THE CAVE INS AND SINKHOLE SO WE CAN TELL THE CONTRACTOR WHAT TO GO FIX ALL.
SO THOSE ARE, ARE STARTING TO ADD UP AGAIN BECAUSE THE FUNDING THAT WAS DEDICATED TO THAT HAS, HAS SINCE GONE, IT'S BEEN USED UP.
SO, UM, DO YOU THINK THE THE CALL RATE IS ABOUT THE SAME THAT'S COMING IN, OR, OR HAVE WE, OR IS IT LESSENING AT ALL? THE, SO THE OVERALL NUMBER IS ROUGHLY ABOUT THE SAME AS WHAT IT WAS.
SO THE, SO WE HAVE A SENSE OF WHAT THE GENERAL YES.
EACH MONTH IS, IS THAT YES, WE DO.
AND SO, AND THIS, ALL THIS MONEY WOULD INCLUDE, THIS ALL, WOULD ALL INCLUDE THE, WHAT WE NEED FOR THE MS FOUR, WHICH IS WHAT KELLY ASKED.
THAT'S WHAT, WHAT WAS ANOTHER QUESTION? OKAY.
IF WE CAN'T COME TO AGREEMENT ON THIS, WHAT HAPPENS? MORE MEETINGS.
AND THEN WE HAVE MORE MEETINGS.
AND THEN LET'S SAY WE COME TO AGREEMENT, LET'S SAY WE ALL AGREE ON $19,215,000.
THEN IT GOES TO THE METRO COUNCIL.
THEN WHAT HAPPENS? WELL, SO WE START DOING SOME PUBLIC OUTREACH MM-HMM.
AND THEN, THEN IT GOES TO, WELL, I, I WOULD ADD IF THE, IF THE NUMBER IS AGREED UPON, THEN WE TALK ABOUT THE FUNDING MECHANISM.
[00:50:01]
THIS COMMITTEE.IMMEDIATELY AFTER THIS CONVERSATION, YES, WE WOULD TALK ABOUT FUNDING MECHANISM.
AND THEN DEPENDING ON THE DECISION THAT WOULD BE MADE THERE, WE WOULD TALK ABOUT STORMWATER CREDITS.
AND HOW LONG DOES THE PUBLIC OUTREACH PERIOD LAST? SEVERAL MONTHS.
AND THEN, THEN WHAT HAPPENS? THEN HE WOULD GO TO METRO COUNCIL.
METRO COUNCIL PROBABLY IN THE FALL.
IS THAT RIGHT? WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME.
NEXT THAT BE NEXT FALL THAT YOU WOULD BE VOTING ON THIS.
SO WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MEANTIME? NO, I, I'M SORRY.
CLARITY THAT IT WOULD BE NEXT FALL BEFORE YOU COULD PUT IT ON ANY SORT OF A, A BALLOT OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, UH, THAT YOU COULD, A BALLOT OF ASSUMING THAT, ASSUMING THE WAY THAT THE LEGISLATURE SEEMS HEADED WITH THE LEGISLATION, IT WOULD BE NEXT FALL BEFORE YOU COULD GO BEFORE THE VOTERS ARE UTILITIES NOT VOTED ON IT IS UNDER EDMUNDS.
WE'RE, WE'RE, OH, WE'RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THAT.
I'M, YOU KNOW, I'M, I'M TALKING, MAKING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE LEGISLATURE, WHICH IS DANGEROUS.
UM, BUT THAT'S, THAT'S WHERE IT WOULD BE.
OR, OR YOU KNOW, IF IT DOESN'T GO THAT WAY, THEN WE COULD VOTE ON IT PRETTY QUICKLY.
THE FALL ONLY COMES INTO PLAY IF, UH, IT HAS TO GO BEFORE THE VOTERS, CUZ THE NEW TAX HAS TO GO.
OKAY, LET'S ASSUME, LET'S FORGET ABOUT 4 0 9, LET'S SAY THAT DOESN'T PASS.
AND THEN WE STAY WITH 2 28, WHICH IS A ACT RIGHT NOW, WHICH CLAIR STORMWATER UTILITY AND IT IS WHAT IT IS RIGHT NOW.
SO THEN IT GOES TO THE METRO COUNCIL.
I'M TRYING TO GO SOMEWHERE WITH THIS MM-HMM.
AND THEN IT GOES BEFORE Y'ALL IN THE FALL AND Y'ALL VOTE ON IT.
RIGHT? WELL, I, I WOULD TAKE OUT THE FALL OKAY.
ISSUE AGAIN, BUT IT COULD GO BEFORE US AT ANY TIME.
UH, AND THEN THE FEE COULD BE ENACTED AND THEN THE FEE COULD BE ENACTED OR Y'ALL COULD VOTE NO.
AND THEN WHAT HAPPENS IF Y'ALL VOTE? NO MORE MEETINGS.
AT WHAT POINT ARE WE FOR? AND IN OTHER WORDS, AT WHAT POINT ARE WE FORCED TO DO THIS ANYWAY? YEAH.
AT SOME POINT, I, I SUPPOSE WE, AND I WOULD YIELD TO THE PARISH ATTORNEY'S OFFICE TO MAYBE ADVISE ON THIS, BUT WE, WE MIGHT BE FORCED INTO THE CONSENT DECREE OR, OR, UM, AND THEY COULD FORCE US TO DO SOMETHING.
IF YOU WERE TO SPEAK, GO AHEAD.
THE ONLY CLARIFY, SO WE'VE GOT SOME, I THINK YOU ASKED WHAT ABOUT NEXT YEAR? SOMETHING TO THAT EFFECT.
E EVEN IF ALL THAT HAPPENS, IT'S NOT IN PLACE UNTIL CALENDAR YEAR 2025 FOR US TO OPERATE OFF OF MM-HMM.
SO WE'VE GOT TO OPERATE BY OTHER MEANS, WHICH IS THE REMAINDER OF THE FUND, THE ONE TIME FUNDING THAT WAS DEDICATED TO US TO OPERATE FOR NEXT YEAR.
I JUST WANTED TO, TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION.
HOW ARE, ADAM, HOW ARE YOUR LINE ITEMS ON THE SPREADSHEET TIED TO THE MCMS? IN OTHER WORDS, SO THERE'S FIF, UH, EXCUSE ME, 14 MCMS MM-HMM.
WHERE THAT FALLS ON YOUR SPREADSHEET, MCM EIGHT INDUSTRIAL AND HIGH RISK RUNOFF WHERE THAT FALLS ON THE SPREADSHEET.
AND, AND WHERE I'M ULTIMATELY GOING IS IF THE NUMBER'S 19 OR 29, DOES THAT AMOUNT SATISFY EVERY SINGLE M MCM AND THE COMMITMENT WE MAKE ON EACH ONE OF THEM? SO HERBICIDE SPRAYING IS CURRENTLY FUNDED BY OR WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF MAINTENANCE, DRAINAGE MAINTENANCE BUDGET.
I THINK IT'S $655,000 OF THEIR BUDGET GOES TOWARDS HERBICIDE SPREE.
THAT, THAT'S WHERE THAT ONE IS.
UM, WE DON'T HAVE RIGHT NOW A MCM $1, MCM $2, THAT TYPE OF THING.
THAT ARE NOT, BECAUSE AGAIN, IT GOES BACK TO, I FEEL THAT WE
[00:55:01]
NEED A LEVEL OF, OF O AND M TO, TO PROPERLY MAINTAIN THE SYSTEM, DO THE WORK IN THE SYSTEM TO COMFORTABLY BE ABLE TO SAY WE, WE CAN MEET IT.SO I, BUT THE, THE REST OF THEM FALL UNDER THOSE FOR THE MOST PART THAT THE, THE SOURCE CONTROLS AND THEN THE ENGINEERING AND IMPLANTING, UM, A, A CONCERN I HAVE IS IF, IF WE COMMIT TO A NUMBER, UM, AND THEN IN THREE MONTHS, UM, EPA SAYS ACTUALLY CONSTRUCTION SITE RUNOFF IS A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE AND YOU NEED TO BEEF IT UP ANOTHER 50% WITHIN YOUR COMMUNITY.
SO A CONCERN I HAVE IS I DON'T, I'M FAILING TO MAKE A CONNECTION BETWEEN A NUMBER NOW AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE THAT HASN'T BEEN GIVEN TO US.
I SORT OF MAYBE, MAYBE HARD BEFORE THE HORSE IS A BETTER WAY TO STATE IT, BUT I SORT OF FEEL LIKE I DON'T WANT TO COMMIT TO A NUMBER NOW IF IN FOUR MONTHS I'M GONNA BE TOLD, ACTUALLY WE NEED YOU TO DO X, Y, AND Z AND X, Y AND Z ARE GONNA COST YOU $6 MILLION.
AND THEN WE'RE BACK HERE SAYING THE NUMBER'S NOT 19 OR 29, IT'S 35.
FROM MY PAST EXPERIENCE WITH, WITH, WITH SMALL MS FOUR S, NOT A, NOT A BIG ONE.
LIKE PATON ROUGE, MS FOUR IS AN INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
BASICALLY THE CITY PARISH IS DOING MOST OF WHAT IT NEEDS TO DO TO COMPLY WITH E P A AND D E Q.
IT'S A MATTER OF DOCUMENTING IT IN DETAIL SO THAT YOU CAN DO YOUR REPORT AT THE END OF THE YEAR AND CHECK ALL THE BOXES ON THE REPORT THAT ARE REQUIRED FOR D EQ TO SAY, YES, YOU'VE DONE WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO.
WITH THE EXCEPTION OF ABOUT SIX OR SEVEN OF THE MCMS PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IS NOT REQUIRED CUZ YOU'RE ALREADY DOING THAT.
IT'S A MATTER OF DOCUMENTING IT IN DETAIL AND WITH DATES AND AMOUNTS AND, AND WHO DOES WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN.
SO, UH, A LOT OF THE, A LOT OF THE, OF THE COSTS THAT YOU HAVE FOR, UH, FOR ACTUALLY IMPLEMENTING THINGS YOU'RE ALREADY IMPLEMENTING UNDER, UNDER YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM FROM, FROM READING YOUR REPORT TO, UH, D EQ, WHICH IS VOLUMINOUS 900 SOMETHING PAGES, UH, A LOT OF IT HAS TO DO WITH DID WE KEEP GOOD RECORDS OF WHAT WE DID? FOR INSTANCE, THE, UH, YOU, YOU MENTIONED, UH, PESTICIDE, HERBICIDE AND FERTILIZER CONTROLS.
IT DOESN'T REQUIRE YOU TO DO ANYTHING THAT YOU'RE NOT DOING ALREADY.
JUST DOCUMENT WHAT YOU DID THAT YOU FOLLOWED THE RULES.
AND SEVERAL OF THESE, MOST OF 'EM ARE LIKE THIS.
SO IT'S, UH, IT'S A MATTER OF PAPERWORK.
YOU GET ENOUGH GUYS DOING THE RIGHT PAPERWORK AND KEEPING TRACK OF EVERYTHING.
A LARGE PORTION OF THAT IS THE, UM, YES.
BUT AGAIN, I, HOW CAN I SAY, IF, IF WE'VE GOT JOINTS THAT ARE LEAKING, I'VE GOT SILTS THAT ARE BOGGING UP PIPES, I'VE GOT SILTS THAT ARE GETTING INTO OPEN CHANNELS, I'VE GOT DEBRIS THAT'S BUILDING UP.
THAT'S, THAT'S AN ACTIVITY THESE TWO COMPLETED.
WE, WE HAVE TO HAVE THE FUNDING TO ADDRESS THOSE ITEMS. MM-HMM.
UM, COUNCIL, GO TO YOUR POINT.
IT, IT, IT IS A, IT IS A CATCH 22 IN SOME WAYS, BUT WE, AT, AT THE SAME TIME, WE'VE, WE'VE GOTTA BE MOVING TOWARDS A, UM, A FUNDING SOLUTION.
THERE'S, I GUESS THERE, THERE IS A POSSIBILITY THAT THEY COULD COME IN AND, AND SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT MM-HMM.
[01:00:01]
YOU USE THE TERM, THIS IS WHAT WE THINK AND I DON'T, I DON'T, I DON'T WANT TO GO TO THE PUBLIC AND SAY THAT.SO, AND THAT'S NOT ANYTHING AGAINST YOU ADAM.
IT IS ME EXPRESSING, I FEEL LIKE WE'RE BEING ASKED TO MAKE A DECISION WITHOUT FULL DATA AND INFORMATION.
AND IN MY ESTIMATION, WHY DON'T WE SAY, AS A COMMITTEE, LET'S DO THE BARE MINIMUM WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IF THERE'S ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS THAT COME OUT OF THIS CONSENT DECREE, WE CAN REVISIT IT AND WE CAN HAVE A FULLTHROATED DISCUSSION.
THIS COMMITTEE DOESN'T NEED TO GO AWAY.
THE VENUE TO GET THE INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC DOESN'T NEED TO GO AWAY.
WHY DON'T WE MAKE A COMMITMENT TO A VERY MINIMUM AMOUNT WITH AN ADDENDUM THAT IF, IF OUR CONSENT DEGREE HAS SOME THINGS THAT WE'RE NOT DOING WE'LL COME BACK AS A COMMITTEE AND WE'LL VI REVISIT THOSE TOPICS.
I HAVE A QUESTION, UH, OF ROWDY, WHEN YOU SAY, UH, MINIMUM, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT THE REGULATORY ASPECT OF IT? I AM, YES.
I AM AND, AND ADAM THROUGHOUT THE NUMBER BECAUSE HE'S BRAVE ENOUGH TO STAND THERE AT THE PODIUM AT WHICH I'VE DONE BEFORE AND IT'S, IT'S, UH, MIND BLOWING
I DON'T KNOW THAT THAT'S BASED ON, HERE'S THE SCIENTIFIC ANSWER BEHIND THAT.
BUT I THINK WE COULD TIE SOME MINIMUM AMOUNT TO SOMETHING TELL THE PUBLIC THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT IF WE'VE GOT A SIGNIFICANT ISSUE WITH INDUSTRIAL AND HIGH RISK RUNOFF, FOR EXAMPLE, UM, THAT'S GONNA REQUIRE A LOT MORE, THAT WE'VE GOTTA COME BACK AND AMEND WHAT WE DID AND SAY IT'S NOT, IT'S NOT 6 MILLION, IT'S GONNA BE CLOSER TO 15 MILLION.
AND THEN THAT REQUIRES A MECHANISM TO THE PUBLIC.
WE'LL KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT WHAT THE LEGISLATURE'S GONNA DO.
WE'LL KNOW A LOT MORE ABOUT WHERE WE STAND WITH A CONSENT DECREE.
UM, AND I THINK FRANKLY, AS A COMMITTEE WE WOULD FEEL MORE EMPOWERED TO MAKE A DECISION.
RANDY, SINCE YOU BROUGHT UP THE LEGISLATURE AGAIN AND YOU POINTED AT ME, UM, I'LL ASK THE QUESTION I POINTED IN GENERAL.
SO TO OUR COUNCIL FOLKS HERE, THE QUESTION IS TO Y'ALL OR TO ANYBODY THAT WORKS DIRECTLY FOR THE MAYOR, HAVE ANY OF YOU TALKED DIRECTLY TO THE PARISH ATTORNEY TO SEE IF HOUSE BILL 4 0 9, IF IT PASSED, WOULD HAVE ANY IMPACT ON US SINCE WE'RE HOME RULE CHARTER AND YOU WERE ABLE TO ESTABLISH A STORMWATER UTILITY DISTRICT WITH YOU AS THE CHAIR WITHOUT ANY OF THAT LEGISLATION.
YOU COULD HAVE DONE THAT THREE YEARS AGO IF YOU WANTED TO.
SO HAVE Y'ALL TALKED TO THE PARISH ATTORNEY ABOUT THAT? YES.
SO WHAT'S THE ANSWER? I I'LL ANSWER THE QUESTION.
AND IF THE PARISH ATTORNEY OFF ATTORNEY'S OFFICE WANTS TO, ALL RIGHT, COME ON.
UM, THERE HAS BEEN THOSE DISCUSSIONS.
UM, I, I'LL LET THEM TALK ABOUT IT.
SO, UM, I THINK THAT, UM, THERE ARE A COUPLE ISSUES THAT, UM, GO INTO THE WAY THAT THE, UM, ENTITY FOR THE STORMWATER HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT STILL NEED TO BE LOOKED AT.
AND WE STILL, REGARDLESS OF HOW IT WAS SET UP, HAVE TO ADDRESS THE FUNDING ISSUE.
SO, UM, I'M NOT SURE, PLEASE ASK ME AGAIN, WE'RE HOME RULE CHARTER, RIGHT? YES.
SO WE HAVE, BATON ROUGE HAD THE ABILITY LAST YEAR AND THREE YEARS AGO TO ESTABLISH THAT STORMWATER UTILITY DISTRICT, CORRECT? THAT'S CORRECT, MM-HMM.
YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT THE HOUSE BILL THAT'S GOING RIGHT.
LAST YEAR OR LAST YEAR? ABOUT LAST YEAR, YES.
ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT OUR STORMWATER LEGISLATION? YES.
THAT DECLARED STORMWATER UTILITY.
SO I GUESS MY QUESTION IS, IF YOU DIDN'T NEED THAT LEGISLATION TO, TO ESTABLISH THE STORMWATER UTILITY DISTRICT LIKE YOU DID LAST, LAST SEPTEMBER, RIGHT.
WHY WOULD ANYTHING THAT HOUSE BILL 4 0 9 THAT THEY'RE TRYING TO DO, HOW WOULD THAT IMPACT THAT? ARE YOU SAYING YOU WOULD JUST SHIFT IT AND YOU WOULD GO IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION? IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING? OR, I THINK THAT THE, THE WAY THAT THE LEGISLATION THAT WAS PASSED BY THE METRO COUNCIL LAST SEPTEMBER WAS PASSED, HAS TO BE LOOKED AT AGAIN.
UM, SO THAT WE CAN FOLLOW UP ON HOW THE FUNDING MECHANISM HAPPENS.
AND I THINK THERE ARE SEVERAL COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW THE, UH, LEGISLATION WILL MOVE FORWARD, UH, THE PROPOSED LEGISLATION AS OPPOSED TO THE ONE, UH, PREVIOUSLY BEFORE THEY DECIDE ON FUNDING.
AND THEN YET THAT TIME YOU'LL, YOU'LL ANALYZE IT? YES.
THAT'S OR YOU'LL GIVE US A DECISION OR OUR OFFICE WILL.
[01:05:03]
NO, NO, YOU GO AHEAD.JUST, JUST REAL QUICK, UH, UM, YOU SAID THAT THERE'S ANOTHER ITERATION OF THIS CHART FOR, TO LOOK AT KIND OF ACTIVITIES THAT'S BEING DONE ON THE MENU HERE.
THE OTHER THING IS BEING IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE CONVERSATION.
ONE CERTAIN DECISION OBJECTION.
WE TALKED PUBLIC OUTREACH, HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH THE BOARD LOOKING AT PRAIRIE AREAS.
AND THERE'S A COST ASSOCIATED WITH, THAT'S A DIRECT HIGH COST TO, UH, INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION WHO'S ALREADY SADDLED WITH A MYRIAD OF PREFERRED MAINTENANCE FUNDING.
SO THERE'LL BE SOME
THAT'S BECAUSE WHERE SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY IS LOCATED, THAT'S BECAUSE THE AMOUNT OF DRAINAGE THAT GOES TO THE UNIVERSITY, SOME OF THE OTHER PROJECTS THAT WE ARE DOING NOW TO HELP MITIGATE THE FLOW AND HAVE SURE.
THAT CONTINUES, UM, DRAINING, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE NORTH BATON ROUGE AREA.
AND THE, THE OTHER ITERATION OF THIS, UH, THIS TABLE WAS, WHAT IT DID WAS IT, IT SUMMED EVERYTHING UP TO SHOW WHAT'S THE TOTAL COST THAT INCLUDES THE CURRENT FUNDING AND THE REQUESTED FUNDING.
AND THEN IT, IT SHOWED THE, THE FUNDING GAP AND IT, THIS ONE JUST KIND OF SEPARATES THEM IN THE DIFFERENT COLUMNS.
SO IMAGINE, SO IT'S, UH, IS THERE A WORK ORDER TRACKING PROGRAM THAT KIND OF INDICATES WHEN THERE'S WORK BEING DONE ON PIPE REPAIRS OR CHANNELS OR DITCHES THAT CAN KIND OF BREAK IT DOWN A LITTLE BIT? THAT'S JUST, WE'RE HEADING THERE.
I THINK, I THINK YOU'RE REFERRING TO A CMMS, LIKE A CMMS TYPE SYSTEM.
WE DON'T HAVE THAT IN MAINTENANCE RIGHT NOW.
ALL, ALL WE HAVE IS THE, UH, IS THREE 11.
WE HAVE A QR SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS US TO, BUT IT'S, IT'S A COMPLAINT DRIVEN SYSTEM.
IT'S NOT AN ASSET MANAGEMENT OR MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
UM, SO
NUMBER WE'RE FIRST WE'RE GONNA HAVE TRUST MOVE FORWARD.
BUT, BUT HAVING SAID THAT, I, I KNOW WHEN WE ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED THESE MEETINGS, THE IDEA WAS MAYBE FOR THIS TO BE THE LAST MEETING AND THAT WE COULD BRING A RECOMMENDATION JUNE, AND ULTIMATELY IT WAS A SEPTEMBER TIMELINE.
CAN YOU, CAN YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT THE, WHAT THE REAL TIMELINES ARE AND WHY DO WE NEED TO MAKE A DECISION BY FOUR X? AND YOU KNOW, IF WE DON'T MAKE A DECISION BEFORE X, UH, WHAT HAPPENS? UH, THEN I HAVE ONE FOLLOW UP.
WELL THANKS FOR YOUR COMPLIMENT.
UM, THIS WAS INTENDED TO BE THE LAST MEETING.
WE, JUST LOOKING BACK AT THE, THE PAST MEETING, WE, WE FELT LIKE WE WOULD LIKELY NEED A FOURTH MEETING.
SO WE ALREADY WENT AHEAD AND PENCILED THAT ONE IN FOR, UM, A MONTH FROM NOW.
I THINK IT'S THE, THE NEXT THIRD OR FOURTH.
UH, YEAH, JUNE 22ND, THE FOURTH, UH, THURSDAY OF THE MONTH.
UM, THE, THE INITIAL INTENT WHEN THIS WAS, WAS ALL LAID OUT AS I RECALL, WAS WE WERE GONNA HAVE THE, THE THREE MEETINGS WE WERE GOING TO, UH, THEN DO THE, THE PUBLIC OUTREACH AND THEN THERE WOULD BE A, A METRO COUNCIL VOTE ON THE FEE IN THE FALL, I THINK IT WAS SEPTEMBER.
AGAIN, WE, WE TALKED ABOUT I'D RATHER JUST LEAVE THE HOUSE BILL 4 0 9 AND, AND LEAVE THAT TO THE, THE FINAL MEETING.
SO THAT WAY WE KNOW ONE WAY OR NO, NUMBER ONE, AND, AND WE HAVE BEEN TRACKING IT BY THE WAY.
UM, BUT RIGHT NOW THERE, THERE'S STILL CHANGES THAT COULD HAPPEN.
SO WE, WE WANT TO TRY TO KEEP THAT AS SOMETHING THAT WE'LL TALK ABOUT AT THE FOURTH MEETING ONCE WE KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING, WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED WITH IT, AND IF THERE'S AN EFFECT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
BUT THAT THE INITIAL PLAN WAS THAT THE COMMITTEE WOULD MAKE A RECOMMENDATION ON A FEE FOR THE
[01:10:01]
METRO COUNCIL TO VOTE ON IT, I BELIEVE IN SEPTEMBER.AND WHY IS THAT SEPTEMBER DATE? IS THAT JUST AN INTERNAL DEADLINE? IS IT SOME EXTERNAL, I'M SORRY THAT, THAT ALLOWS US TO HAVE THE FUNDING IN PLACE FOR 2025 SO THAT WE CAN HAVE THAT, THAT UTILITY FUNDED LIKE WE'RE REQUESTING FOR 2025 AND IN ORDER FOR THE METRO TO VOTE DOWN THAT IN SEPTEMBER, WE NEED TO MAKE A DECISION BY JUNE BY AUG.
AND THEN, BUT THE OTHER THING WE WANT TO, SO THE, THE CREDITS FOR, WE DON'T WANT TO GET INTO THE CREDITS.
WE DON'T WANT START A NEW TOPIC AND GET INTO THE CREDITS CUZ SO THERE WERE QUESTIONS OF HOW ARE WE GOING ONCE WE GET PAST THIS, IT'S ALL RIGHT.
WHAT'S THE STRUCTURE GONNA BE? IS IT GONNA BE IMPERVIOUS AREA? IS IT GONNA BE FLAT FEES FOR RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL? IS IT GOING TO BE SALES TAX? IS IT GOING TO BE PROPERTY TAX? WELL, DEPENDING ON WHICH STRUCTURE IS PUT IN PLACE, CREDITS COULD BE NOT, THEY COULD BE ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE, YOU KNOW, FOR, FROM A SALES TAX STANDPOINT, THERE'S REALLY NO, UH, WAY THAT WOULD NOT BE AN ADMINISTRATIVE NIGHTMARE TO, TO GIVE SOMEONE CREDITS ON A, ON A SALES TAX.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S THE ISSUE THAT, UH, IT'S CERTAINLY A, A SOURCE OF FUNDING AND OTHER MUNICIPALITIES USE IT.
BUT THAT, THAT'S THE ISSUE WITH THAT ONE.
UM, SO THAT, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE JUST, WE'RE TRYING TO GET DECISIONS ON, ON ONE, SO THEN WE CAN REALLY FOCUS ON THE NEXT ONE WITH THE FIRST ONE BEING SET INSTEAD OF SAYING, WELL IF THIS, THEN THIS AND THEN THIS.
AND THEN, THEN WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CREDITS AND, AND WE'LL, WE'LL GET INTO THE CREDITS A LITTLE BIT WHEN WE GET INTO THE, THE FUNDING MECHANISM.
WE, WE WOULD OF COURSE TELL YOU, HEY, IF THIS IS AN ISSUE WITH THIS PARTICULAR FEAS OR JUST FUNDING MECHANISM WITH THE CREDIT PROGRAM, BUT WE, WE WANT TO JUST START GETTING DECISIONS MADE SO THAT WE CAN START DRILLING DOWN INTO THE NEXT TOPIC.
AND, AND SO, UM, THANKS FOR THAT ANSWER.
I CAN APPRECIATE THE TIMELINE A LITTLE, LITTLE MORE.
UM, AND SO DO WE HAVE ANY INFORMATION ON, ON OUTCOMES OR, OR PAST PERFORMANCE? BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, IT'S MY EXPERIENCE THAT REGARDLESS OF ASKING FOR A DOLLAR PER PERSON OR $2 PER PERSON, ARE WE ABLE TO SAY WHAT THE COMMUNITY HITTING AS A RESULT OF THAT? I DON'T MEAN WE'RE GONNA HAVE CLEAN DITCHES, CONCRETE MASK.
ARE WE ABLE TO SAY IF WE HAVE THIS IN FUNDING, IF WE GET RAINFALL, LIKE WE GOT LAST YEAR, THIS HOUSE THAT FLOODED, NOT GOING TO FLOOD, DO WE HAVE THAT SORT OF EITHER STORY OR DATA THAT SAYS WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET THESE BACKLOGS AND A RESULT OF THAT IT RAINS, LIKE IT RAINED LAST WEEK AND WE HAD 20 HOMES THAT FLOOD, WE WILL, YOU KNOW, HAVE ONLY FIVE HOMES THAT FLOOD.
AND THEN FROM A PAST PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVE, WE ABLE TO SAY SIMILARLY, WHEN WE RECEIVED THIS ONE TIME FUNDING AND WE DID A BUNCH OF WORK, WE WERE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THIS.
MEANING WE WERE ABLE TO REDUCE MONEY, ARE WE ABLE TO CLEAN WATER? WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE, DO WE HAVE ANY OF THAT INFORMATION? BECAUSE I THINK ULTIMATELY AT THE END OF THE DAY, THAT'S GOING TO CARRY THE DAY.
REALLY, I, YOU KNOW, I I I DON'T KNOW IF SAYING WE NEED TO MEET OUR MS 14 PERMIT IS GOING TO BE PERSUASIVE ENOUGH FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC TO SAY, YOU KNOW.
UM, WELL, THAT, THAT'S, THAT'S COMMENTS LAST QUESTION.
SO, AND I GET THAT'S, SO UNFORTUNATELY FOR THE MOST PART, WE WON'T BE ABLE TO RUN OUT AND SAY WE'RE GONNA ADDRESS THE CITY PARISHES FUNDING, UH, FLOODING PROBLEMS WITH, WITH THIS FUNDING.
IT'S JUST, IT'S TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.
UH, FOR THE MOST PART, THIS IS NOT GOING TO ADDRESS CAPACITY ISSUES OTHER THAN WHEN WE CLEAN A PIPE, WE'RE GONNA RETURN IT TO ITS ORIGINAL DESIGN CONDITIONS.
BUT, UM, SO OTHER THAN POTENTIALLY SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING THAT'S HAPPENING BECAUSE A PIPE IS CLOGGED, A DITCH IS CLOGGED, SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
NO, WE CAN'T GO OUT TOUTING THAT THIS IS A, UH, FLOOD REDUCTION PROGRAM.
[01:15:02]
UM, ON, ON THE SECOND ONE, YES, WE CAN, WE CAN PROVIDE SOME STATISTICS.IT GOES, GOES BACK TO COUNCILWOMAN ADAMS QUESTION EARLIER.
WE KNOW HOW MANY SERVICE REQUESTS FOR KNOCKING OUT ON A MONTHLY BASIS.
UM, WITH THAT ONE TIME A R P FUNDING, I, I SEND A REPORT TO, UH, TO, UH, VINCE AND LET HIM KNOW WHAT WE DID THE PRIOR MONTH, HOW MANY SERVICE REQUESTS WE'VE, WE'VE CLEARED, WHAT'S, WHAT'S THE REMAINING BACKLOG ON ON EVERYTHING THAT'S, THAT'S A R P FUNDED.
SO YET WE, WE WOULD BE ABLE TO, TO PROVIDE SOME STATISTICS THERE WITH WHAT WE WERE ABLE TO DO JUST ON A TRULY SERVICE REQUEST BASIS.
THAT'S YOUR HYDRAULIC STUDY, I THINK YOU DID SAID THAT WAS SOMETHING DONE ALONG THOSE LINES.
AS PART OF THE MASTER PLAN, THEY DID A, A HYDRAULIC STUDY.
SO THE, THE STUDY LOOKED AT THE CURRENT TYPE OF CONDITION OR DID HE LOOK AT A FUTURE DESIGN THAT WOULD GIVE YOU OTHER OUTCOMES? I AM, UH, THAT THAT'S GONNA BE SOMETHING THAT FRED'S GONNA HAVE TO ANSWER BECAUSE I WOULD THE ANSWER THE ANSWER YES, YES, YES.
THAT'S WHAT IT, YES, IN TERMS OF THEY WERE ABLE TO YES, IN TERMS IF THEY WERE ABLE TO GO IN AND LOOK, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY WERE LOOKING AT THE SUBSURFACE, AND I'M PROBABLY STEALING YOUR THUNDER HERE, RACHEL, I'M SORRY.
I KNOW THE H AND TB STUDY LOOKED AT THE SYSTEM, CLEANING IT OUT TO WHERE IT WAS SORT OF THE ASBUILT, BUT THEY'VE ALSO GOT, AND SOMEBODY NEEDS TO EXPLAIN THIS, 2.4 BILLION WORTH OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM, CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS EARMARKED FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS TO ADDRESS RESTRICTIONS, CONSTRICTIONS AND IMPROVE THE SYSTEM.
IS THAT, YEAH, IT'S BASICALLY A 20 YEAR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN IS WHAT, WHAT WHAT WAS COME UP WITH.
IT HAS A MULTITUDE OF PROJECTS THAT, YOU KNOW, VARY IN TYPES AND SIZE.
SOME ARE REPLACING DRAINAGE, PIPE UPSIZING, SOME ARE, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO ADDRESS KNOWN BOTTLENECKS, KNOWN PROBLEM AREAS AND ET CETERA.
TRYING TO, YOU KNOW, MAKE THE MOST BENEFIT OF, OF SOME DOLLARS.
YOU KNOW, THERE WAS SOME INITIAL AND PRELIMINARY, UM, YOU KNOW, COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF ALL THOSE PROJECTS.
SO, YOU KNOW, IT STARTED OUT MUCH LARGER THAN WHAT ENDED UP IN THE FINAL REPORT BECAUSE SOME WERE, YOU KNOW, GONE THROUGH WITH, YOU KNOW, SOME OF OUR TOP US YOU KNOW, ENGINEERING AND, YOU KNOW, DRAINAGE FOLKS IN, IN THE PARISH AND KIND OF WEEDED OUT SOME PROJECTS LIKE, HMM, THAT'S NOT REALLY GONNA BE A CONSTRUCTION FEASIBLE PROJECT.
OR, YOU KNOW, I, I DON'T KNOW ABOUT SOME OF THOSE, YOU KNOW, SO, AND KIND OF WHITTLED IT DOWN TO WHAT WE FELT LIKE SOME THINGS THAT WOULD BE REALLY STRONG PROJECTS THAT WOULD MAKE A WHOLE LOT OF BENEFIT.
I WOULD LIKE TO BUILD ON WHAT COREY HAD ASKED EARLIER.
I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT WE DON'T BREAK APART THIS ISSUE OF MS FOUR AND WATER QUALITY AND THE KIND OF STUFF THAT'S ON THE, THE CHARTS HERE FROM THE BIGGER PICTURE OF WATER QUANTITY, WHICH IS ALL PART OF THIS MASTER PLAN.
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE REALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT MS FOUR OUT THERE.
THEY REALLY ARE CONCERNED THAT THEIR HOUSE IS NOT GONNA FLOOD.
AND THE ACTIVITIES AND PROJECTS THAT ARE ON THE, ON THE BOOKS RIGHT NOW TO HELP PREVENT THAT IN THE FUTURE, IF WE DISCONNECT THIS, IF WE DISCONNECT THIS BIG PICTURE THING, IT'S GONNA BE REALLY DIFFICULT TO SELL THIS, THIS COMPONENT OF IT RIGHT NOW.
NOT, NOT ONLY THAT, BUT MCM ONE AND FOUR DEAL DIRECTLY WITH WATER QUANTITY AND, AND CLEANING OUT THE WATERWAYS, MAKING EVERYTHING FLOW CORRECTLY.
ANYTHING WE SPENT ON MCM ONE AND FOUR, WHICH ARE TWO OF THE BIG, UH, TICKET ITEMS HERE, GOES TO CONTROL FLOODING AS WELL.
AND IF WE'RE GONNA SELL THIS TO, TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, WE NEED TO EMPHASIZE THAT IT, IT MEETS MS FOUR AND THE STORMWATER MASTER PLAN, UH, UH, AGENDAS.
AND THAT'LL HELP SELL THIS THING ONCE WE GET OUT TO THE PUBLIC COMMENT.
SORRY, ONE THAT IS TO MAKE THE PUBLIC AWARE.
FOR THE MOST PART, MANY OF OF THE PEOPLE I SERVE DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT MS FOUR.
THEY WON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT YES.
SO, SO THEY REALLY WON'T HAVE AN IDEA WHAT THEY'RE VOTING FOR ARE SAYING YES TO.
I, I GUESS I, I THROW 'EM AROUND CUZ WE'RE, WE, WE TALK ABOUT THIS ALL DAY LONG.
SO, UH, I I I DO NEED TO REMEMBER THAT.
[01:20:01]
SAY, SORRY, I BARELY HAVE, HAVE A VOICE.UM, I THINK THE CHALLENGE IS IF THERE IS A CONSENT DECREE, ULTIMATELY ON MS. FOURTH, IT'S GOING TO BE WATER QUALITY BASED.
IT'S NOT GONNA BE BASED ON FLOODING.
ALTHOUGH THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE UNDERSTAND AND KNOW.
TWO PROGRAMS THAT CAUSE CONCERN FOR WATER QUALITY.
WE HAVE SOMETHING CALLED NON-POINT SOURCE RUNOFF, FARMS, THAT SORT OF THING.
AND MS FOUR, WHEN WE HAVE STONES, WHEN WE HAVE RUNOFF.
SO THE PURPOSE OF THE MS FOUR PROGRAM IS TO HAVE A PROGRAM IN PLACE THAT MANAGES THIS RUNOFF THAT CAUSES WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES TO LACK THE QUALITY TO BE FISHABLE AND SWO NOT EVEN DRINKABLE.
THAT'S A DIFFERENT PART OF THE LAW.
THAT'S A SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT.
RIGHT? THIS IS A SAFE, THIS IS THE CLEAN WATER ACT.
SO NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF PROGRAM YOU HAVE IN PLACE, IF AT THE END OF THE DAY IT DOES NOT PROPERLY IMPACT CAUSE LEASE OF A PROBLEM, THE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES, IT'S NOT WORKING.
AND I THINK THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS, THEY ARE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO APPROVE THAT PROGRAM BECAUSE WHAT THEY'RE GONNA LOOK AT WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE RECEIVING STREAM, THE TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS IN WAYS THEY CAN TELL.
SO AGAIN, I'M NOT IN THE ROOM WITH THE LAWYERS AND WITH THE TECHNICAL PEOPLE THAT WILL WORK OUT THE TERMS OF A CONSENT DECREE, WHICH AS I'VE SAID BEFORE, THEY, THEY CAN'T FORCE ANYBODY TO SIGN A CONSENT DECREE.
IT SAYS BY THE DEFINITION, IT IS A CONSENT DECREE.
MY FELLOW LAWYER HERE, IT'S SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO AGREE TO SIGN.
IF YOU DON'T AGREE TO SIGN IT, THEN YOU CAN END UP IN, IN COURT.
AND IF THERE ARE RECORDS SHOWING THAT THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF VIOLATIONS, YOU DON'T HAVE MUCH TO FIGHT WITH.
SO I JUST WANNA MAKE IT CLEAR TO THE BODY HERE, WHAT AN MS FOUR IS, WHAT BODY OF LAW IT COMES UNDER AND THE PURPOSE OF IT.
NOW FLOODING IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM HERE, BUT I WON'T SAY IT AGAIN.
I DOUBT THAT IN THIS DOCUMENT, HOPEFULLY THAT WE WILL GET TO THAT YOU WILL VOTE ON THAT.
YOU WILL, LIKE, YOU CAN DEAL WITH THE STIPULATED PENALTIES.
YOU HAVE A TIME LIMITATION THAT YOU CAN MEET THOSE REQUIREMENTS, THAT THAT WILL SATISFY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THEN WE CAN ALL GO HOME AND BE HAPPY.
NOW THE FUNDING MECHANISM IS A TRICKY PART OF IT, AND THE TIME LIMITATION THAT YOU'RE GIVEN TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS.
CUZ AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE HAVE TO COME INTO COMPLIANCE WITH THE CLEAN WATER ACT.
I HOPE I DIDN'T BEFUDDLE IN ANYBODY.
TERRY, ONE THING TOO, WE NEED TO CONSIDER THE PURPOSE OF, OF MS FOUR IS NOT TO PUT EVERY STREAM IN THE CATEGORY OF FISHABLE AND SWIMABLE IS TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PRACTICAL TO KEEP STRAINS OFF THE THREE OH 3D LIST.
BUT YOU HAVE TO SHOW YOUR BEST EFFORT POSSIBLE AND DOCUMENT IT TO DQ AND TO EPA THAT YOU TRIED THAT, THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF, OF THE ACT.
OF COURSE YOU HAVE T MDLS YOU HAVE ALL KINDS OF DIFFERENT THINGS THAT THAT CAN AFFECT THAT.
BUT THE OVERARCHING PURPOSE OF CLEAN WATER ACT IS, IS THAT, YEAH.
CAN WE GET SOME CLARIFICATION OF EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE WITH THE DISCUSSIONS WITH THE LAWYERS? CAN SOMEBODY COME AND TELL US? YOU SAID CLARIFICATION AND DISCUSSION WITH LAWYERS IN THE SAME SENTENCE AND I DON'T THINK THOSE TWO GO TOGETHER.
SO
WHAT'S THE ANSWER? OH, HERE SHE GO.
SO I'LL JUST PREFACE THIS BY YOU'RE NOT GONNA LIKE MY ANSWER.
UM, UNFORTUNATELY, UM, WE DON'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO, UM, SHARE, UM, ANY, UM, DETAILS.
ALL I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT WE ARE, ARE TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE IN COMPLIANCE WITH OUR PERMIT.
THAT IS WHAT WE'RE REQUIRED TO DO.
AND AS FAR AS THE FUNDING GOES, BY THE TIME WE, UH, GET TO HAVING A PLAN THAT IS APPROVED, WE HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN FOR FUNDING IT.
I KNOW THAT THAT'S NOT VERY DETAILED, BUT THAT'S THE INFORMATION I HAVE TO SHARE WITH YOU.
BUT THAT'S ONLY AS IT RELATES TO WHAT ROWDY WAS TALKING ABOUT, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REPORTING, AND WE COULD STILL BE IN NON-COMPLIANCE AND STILL HAVE VIOLATIONS.
BUT WILL WE BE SATISFYING WHAT THE FEDS WANT US TO DO INITIALLY? IS MY QUESTION? DOES THAT MAKE I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE SAYING.
UM, AGAIN, THERE'S A LOT OF TECHNICAL, UH, INFORMATION THAT I DON'T KNOW.
[01:25:01]
I KNOW THAT, UM, THE, UH, L D E Q HAS TO INDICATE TO US THAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED OUR PERMIT MM-HMM.AND WHETHER OR NOT WHAT WE PRESENT TO THEM, UH, JUST AS WE DO ON ALL THE PUBLIC INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN ACCESS ON THEIR WEBSITE MEETS THE TERMS OF THEIR PERMIT, IS SOMETHING THAT THEY WILL LET US KNOW.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, WE WILL, WE WILL CORRECT THOSE ACTIONS AS WE NEED TO JUST AS WE DO NOW IN OUR NOTICES OF DEFICIENCY THAT THEY PUBLISH ON THEIR WEBSITE.
I THINK WHAT TYPICALLY HAPPENS, LARRY, IS THE GOVERNMENT UNDERSTANDS YOU CAN'T BE IN COMPLIANCE OVERNIGHT.
YOU'RE GIVEN A TIME PERIOD TO COMPLY.
YOU LIKELY ARE GONNA BE OUT OF COMPLIANCE FOR A WHILE, BUT YOU HAVE TO BE MOVING REASONABLY TOWARD COMPLIANCE MM-HMM.
THAT'S WHEN THE GOVERNMENT WORKS WITH YOU.
TYPICALLY, THE CONCERN THAT I HAVE IS JUST WHAT ED IS TALKING ABOUT.
THERE IS AN OVERALL VIEW OF CLEAN WATER DRAINAGE.
THE PUBLIC HAS NO UNDERSTANDING AND WE'LL, WE WILL, WE CAN DO OUTREACH FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES AND WE WILL NEVER COM WE WILL NEVER GET TO THEM TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IN THESE TECHNICAL TERMS. I AM CONCERNED THAT WOULD POTENTIALLY COULD, SHOULD BE LOOKING AT WHAT RACHEL'S DOING AS A ALTERNATIVE.
BECAUSE IF WE COME AND PROPOSE SOME TYPE OF FUNDING MECHANISM FOR EVEN 6 MILLION OR 19 MILLION AND THEN WE COME BACK WITH RACHEL'S PRO PROGRAM, WHICH IS 2.4 BILLION, THEY'RE GONNA SAY THIS WAS A BAIT AND SWITCH.
THEY'RE GONNA SAY, THEY'RE GONNA SAY, Y'ALL DIDN'T TELL US EVERYTHING.
UH, AM I, AM I MISSING IT IN NO.
SO THAT, THAT IS MY, MY CONCERN.
I'M, I'M CONCERNED THAT WE ARE, UH, TRYING TO DO A, A PIECE MEAL FOR SOME OF THESE SERVICES IN HERE THAT ARE GOOD AND I THINK THE NUMBER IS NOT A BAD NUMBER, BUT WHEN WE LAY IT OUT LIKE THIS, THE PUBLIC IS GONNA BE CONFUSED.
IF THEY'RE ASKING FOR MONEY NOW IN WHATEVER FORM, PROPERTY TAX, SALES TAX OR FEES, AND THEN WE COME BACK WITH WHAT RACHEL'S GOING TO PROPOSE, THEN I THINK WE HAVE A, A HEAVIER, HEAVIER LIFT TO MAKE WHAT, WHAT I WOULD SAY IS, I GUESS NUMBER ONE, I DON'T EVEN THINK THE 29 MILLION FIGURE ADDRESSES RACHEL'S AT ALL.
BUT I WOULD SAY, WHAT I HEAR YOU SAYING IS WE'VE GOT ONE BITE AT THIS APPLE TO GO TO THE PUBLIC.
AND SO IF THAT'S THE DECISION OF THIS COMMITTEE, THEN WE HAVE TO UNWED ANY DISCUSSION TO MS FOUR CUZ WE'RE GOING TO SELL A DRAINAGE PROGRAM TO THIS COMMUNITY, NOT A COMPLIANCE WITH THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, WHAT THEY'RE TELLING US TO DO.
THE, THE, THE PUBLIC WILL UNDERSTAND, OH, YOU WANT TO IMPROVE DRAINAGE AND YOU'RE ASKING ME FOR THIS AMOUNT, GREAT.
BUT IF WE TIE IT TO, BECAUSE WE'VE GOT THIS CONSENT DECREE, THEY'RE GONNA GO, WAIT A SECOND.
I DON'T YOU IT IS TOO, IT'S CONVOLUTED.
SO ISN'T THIS A LITTLE BIT LIKE WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE SEWER SITUATION 30 YEARS AGO? I MEAN, THE PUBLIC DID NOT VOTE ON THAT.
AT SOME POINT WE WILL BE FORCED IN THE SAME WAY THAT WE WERE AND IT WILL SHOW UP ON OUR UTILITY BILL.
SO WE CAN HAVE SOME CONTROL OVER IT NOW OR WE CAN HAVE LESS CONTROL OVER IT ONCE IT BECOMES THE SAME ISSUE AS THE SEWER IS FOR US IN THIS COMMUNITY.
ALL OF THE ABOVE IN STATEMENT.
THE FEES, THE, IT'S A UTILITY.
THE PUBLIC DIDN'T VOTE ON THAT.
THE PUBLIC DOESN'T HAVE ANY SAY OVER WHAT HAPPENS WITH THE SEWER.
I'M, I'M YOUR POINT THERE IN SAYING THAT IS TO ARGUE THAT IT'S A UTILITY OR TO ARGUE THAT WE, WE NEED A FEE PASSED TODAY.
I I DON'T THINK WE'RE READY TO PASS A FEE TODAY.
YOU'RE SAYING WHAT I'M UTILITY IS THE, I'M SAYING IT'S COMING ANYWAY.
I MEAN WE DO NEED TO CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, BUT WE NEED TO BE AWARE THAT DOWN THE ROAD, YES, THIS WILL HAPPEN WHETHER WE WANT IT OR NOT.
IT'S GOING TO BE LI I MEAN THAT'S MY, FROM WHAT WE'VE STUDIED AROUND THE COUNTRY, I MEAN THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN MM-HMM.
IT ALSO, UM, SPREADS IT OUT A LITTLE FURTHER, THE COST, BECAUSE WE HAVE 140,000 RESIDENCES THAT RECEIVE A WATER BILL.
WE HAVE 10,000 COMPANIES THAT RECEIVE A WATER BILL IN THIS COMMUNITY.
SO DO THE MATH, 19 MILLION DIVIDED BY 150,000 IS A LOT EASIER.
PILL TO SWALLOW THAN 19 MILLION DIVIDED BY, I DON'T CURRENTLY KNOW OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD THE NUMBER OF TAX PROPERTY OWNING TAXPAYERS, BUT SOMEBODY IN THIS ROOM DOES.
WHAT'S THE NUMBER? IT'S A UTILITY.
SO ANOTHER THING TO CONSIDER TOO IS THAT
[01:30:01]
MS FOUR AND FLOOD CONTROL ARE, ARE, ARE INEVITABLY TIED TOGETHER.A A LOT OF WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE AFFECTS FLOODING.
IT ALSO AFFECTS WATER QUALITY.
PARTICULARLY SEVERAL OF THESE MCMS LIKE, LIKE ONE AND FOUR, WE'RE SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY INSPECTING ALL THE DISHES, INSPECTING ALL THE DRAINS AND FIXING IT ALL.
THAT'S GONNA IMPROVE FLOODING WHEN WE GET ALL THE SILT OUT OF THE, OUT OF THE WATERWAYS BY ENFORCING OUR CONSTRUCTION CONTROLS THAT KEEPS THE DRAINAGE FROM FILLING UP AND CONSTRICTING AND FLOODING HOUSES.
SO WE'RE STILL, IF WE GO, IF WE SEPARATE THE TWO, WE'RE NOT GONNA PASS ANYTHING.
AND ALSO D DQ IS GONNA LOOK A SKEW AT US AND SAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WE KEEP 'EM TIED TOGETHER, BUT WE EMPHASIZE HOW EACH ONE OF THESE THINGS AFFECTS FLOODING AND EACH ONE OF THEM DOES.
IT ALSO AFFECTS WATER QUALITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE.
THE QUALITY OF THE FLOOD WATER.
BUT I THINK WE NEED TO DO THAT THOUGH, TO GET IT TO PASS THE PUBLIC.
I DON'T THINK IT'LL EVER GET TO THAT POINT.
HONESTLY, STEVE, I HEAR WHAT YOU'RE SAYING, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S GONNA GET TO THAT POINT.
AND YOU, AND, AND TO LARRY'S POINT, IT'S, THEY WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND.
THEY WON'T, THEY WON'T APPROVE THIS CUZ THEY WON'T UNDERSTAND CUZ IT'S SO COMPLICATED.
SO IF WE COULD, THIS IS, NO, THIS IS ALL GOOD DISCUSSION.
WE, WE'VE GOT TWO MEMBERS THAT HAVE TO LEAVE ONE, ONE STEP OUT.
SO IF LET, LET'S TAKE A, UM, 10 MINUTE BREAK OR SO.
WELL IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE'S A LOT OF GOOD CONVERSATION GOING ON DURING THE BREAK, BUT, UH, LET'S GO AHEAD AND, UH, AND GET BACK ON AGAIN.
ANY OTHER ADAM? I, I'LL, UH, JUST MY RECOMMENDATION IS THAT, UH, WHEN WE LEAVE HERE TODAY, MY REQUEST WOULD BE TO THE STAFF TO, TO COME BACK TO THIS COMMITTEE, UM, WITH A, A NUMBER BETWEEN THE SIX TO 9 MILLION, UH, THAT WILL ACHIEVE, UH, MS FOUR COMPLIANCE.
UH, AND THEN GIVE US A BUILDING BLOCK TO START BUILDING A PROGRAM OFF OF.
UH, I THINK THAT DOES A COUPLE OF THINGS.
ONE, IT ADDRESSES THE IMMEDIATE CONCERN OF, YOU KNOW, AN IMPENDING CONSENT DECREE.
UH, BUT IT ALSO ALLOWS US TO BUILD A PROGRAM WITHOUT THIS OVERARCHING THREAT FROM DOJ OR ANYTHING ELSE LIKE THAT, UM, TO REALLY ESTABLISH TO THE COMMUNITY WHAT IS THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF FUNDING TO, TO GET INTO COMPLIANCE, STAY IN COMPLIANCE, UH, AND TO START ADDRESSING SOME OF OUR CONVEYANCE ISSUES AND THE OTHER ISSUES THAT WE HAVE.
SO, UM, THAT'S MY REQUEST TO YOU IS, IS COME BACK TO US WITH A FIRM NUMBER, UH, TO ACHIEVE O AND M, UH, TO, TO ACHIEVE MS FOUR COMPLIANCE WITHOUT O AND M.
UM, AND THEN, UH, MY HOPE IS THAT THIS COMMITTEE WILL TAKE AN UP OR DOWN VOTE ON THAT NUMBER, UH, AT THE NEXT MEETING.
THAT WAS, THAT WAS, THAT WAS ADAM'S GUESS GUESS ON WHAT AN MS FOUR PROGRAM, ADMINISTRATIVE PROGRAM WOULD COST, RIGHT? IT WOULD, IF YOU, IF YOU ADD UP SOURCE CONTROLS AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE, ENGINEERING AND PLANNING, STORMWATER, UTILITY OPERATING COST, STORMWATER PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION, AND THEN THE ADDITIONAL PROGRAM COSTS, THAT'S 9.1 MILLION.
THE SPECIFICALLY THE ADDITIONAL PROGRAM COST, A LOT OF THOSE ARE PERCENTAGES OF THE OPER OVERALL OP OPERATING COST.
SO IF THE OVERALL OPERATING COST GOES DOWN, THEN THAT NUMBER GOES DOWN.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S WHERE THE HIGH END CAME FROM.
THE HIGH END OF ALL, OR THE ADDITION OF THOSE, I THINK FIVE CATEGORIES, SIX CATEGORIES IS 9.1 MILLION OR NO, I'M SORRY.
IT WAS, I WAS DOING MATH IN MY HEAD.
I THINK IT'S JUST UNDER 9 MILLION SOURCE CONTROL AND BELOW EXCEPT FOR SPECIAL PROJECTS.
SO COUNCILMAN THE ONLY, YOU MENTIONED THE, YOU WANT A, A NUMBER.
I GOT THE SOURCE CONTROL THEN YOU MENTIONED A, I THINK I HEARD YOU RECOMMEND A, A RECOMMENDATION TO BUILD UP THE PROGRAM.
THIS IS, WELL, I WANT AN UNDERSTANDING FROM THE COMMITTEE THAT THAT'S THE DIRECTION THAT WE'RE HEADED.
UM, I, I RECOGNIZE THAT THAT MAY NOT COME IN THE FORM OF A, A MOTION OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
UM, THE IMMEDIATE CONCERN IS, IS GETTING INTO MS FOUR COMPLIANCE.
SO THAT, THAT'S WHAT I'M REALLY HOPING YOU'LL, YOU'LL COME BACK TO US WITH.
UM, BUT OVER TIME, I THINK EVERYONE ON THIS COMMITTEE, THE ADMINISTRATION, THE COUNCIL RECOGNIZES THAT, UM, WE NEED TO DO A BETTER JOB OF, OF KEEPING UP WITH O AND M AND, UH, IT, IT'S A GOAL TO, TO STRIVE FOR.
[01:35:01]
OKAY.WELL I GUESS THAT WAS A REQUEST.
SO THERE'S NOTHING, YEAH, I DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S A MOTION, BUT MY ADDITION TO THAT WOULD BE SEND IN THE INTERIM BETWEEN THIS MEETING AND NEXT INFORMATION TO THIS COMMITTEE SO WE CAN CONSUME IT, VET IT, WE CAN ASK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, SPREADSHEET FORMAT IN THE INTERIM AND THEN COME TO THE NEXT MEETING, UM, WITH THE INFORMATION FULLY DIGESTED.
I I, I THINK WITH THIS VERY SPECIFIC REQUEST, THAT WOULD BE, UM, SOMETHING WE CAN DO.
ANOTHER THING THAT COULD ALSO BE OF ASSIST AS PERSON COMMENT BY EVEN UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE DETAIL PROGRAM WOULD CONTAIN IS THERE WOULD BE SOME INFORMATION THAT THAT WOULD BE PROVIDED.
YOU GUYS TALK ABOUT THIS ALL THE TIME EFFECTIVELY, RIGHT? BUT IT'S NOT TO EVERYBODY KIND OF HELP PEOPLE GET ON THE SAME, SAME THANK OKAY.
I JUST WANT TO BUILD ON WHAT, WHAT ED AND LARRY WERE TALKING ABOUT BEFORE THE BREAK.
THAT IF IN THE INTERVENING PERIOD BETWEEN THIS MEETING AND THE NEXT MEETING, YOU CAN, UH, ASK STAFF OR WORK WITH OTHERS TO, TO START TO LOOK AT THE CAPACITY NEEDS THAT $2 BILLION NUMBER AND WE'RE THERE TO BE A JOINT CONCEPT OF A, A NUMBER THAT MOVES US FORWARD IN BOTH CATEGORIES.
WHAT WOULD THAT MINIMUM NUMBER BE? TO GET A DOWN PAYMENT TOWARD, UH, SOME OF THE CAPACITY PROJECTS IN THAT $2 BILLION 20 YEAR NUMBER.
AND THAT IF WE WERE TO RECOMMEND DOING SOMETHING THAT ALLOWS THE PUBLIC TO SEE THIS AS BOTH, YOU KNOW, FLOOD REDUCTION AND QUALITY IMPROVEMENT, THAT THAT MESSAGING COULD BE MERGED, BUT WE WOULD NEED A NUMBER TO BE ABLE TO TALK ABOUT, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.
SO I WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THAT WOULD BE.
ANOTHER THING THAT, UH, I THINK WE NEED TO DISCUSS BEFORE WE GET TO A VOTE ON ANYTHING.
WHAT DO CREDITS LOOK LIKE AND HOW ARE THEY GONNA IMPACT THE FINAL NUMBER? AND ARE, ARE THEY GONNA PUT US DOWN BELOW THE MINIMUM THAT WE NEED TO GET THE PROGRAM GOING? SO WITH JUST THE OPERATING COSTS THAT'S BEING REQUESTED OUTSIDE OF, UM, UH, ADAM NAPS QUESTION, THERE WOULD BE NO CREDITS CUZ IT WOULD, IT WOULD JUST, IT WOULD BE ADMINISTRATION JUST FOR RIGHT.
BASICALLY DOING THE, THE MINIMUM OF THE PROGRAM.
I, I WOULD IMAGINE THERE, THERE WOULDN'T BE A, A CREDIT PROGRAM AT, AT THAT POINT ARE RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS IN WATER, WATER CUSTOMERS IN BATON ROUGE OR BAKER AND ZACHARY, WOULD THEY BE INCLUDED IN THE MIX IN THE NUMBERS OR NO? SO NO.
SO IT'S JUST, THIS IS JUST SO NO, THEY, THEY ARE, UM, COES.
SO THEY, THEY DO NOT FALL IN THIS, IN CENTRAL AS WELL.
I THINK THAT'S THE, WELL, SO THAT'S THE DISCUSSION ON COST OF SERVICE.
WE'VE LANDED ON, Y'ALL COME BACK NEXT MEETING.
DO WE WANT TO DELVE INTO FUNDING MECHANISMS IN THIS MEETING OR DO WE SAVE THAT FOR, OKAY, NOW YOU'VE COME TO THE COMMITTEE WITH HYPOTHETICALLY AN 8 MILLION NUMBER AND THEN THEREFORE FUNDING MECHANISMS COULD LOOK LIKE THIS.
DO WE SAVE THAT DISCUSSION FOR THE NEXT MEETING? I WOULD, I'M NOT POINTING AT YOU.
I THINK IT'D BE A GOOD IDEA TO, TO START THAT PROCESS RIGHT NOW.
UM, IF THERE ARE MECHANISMS AGREE BEYOND IMPERVIOUS PAYMENT, UH, PAVEMENT.
LET'S HAVE THAT DISCUSSION TODAY.
UM, BUT THAT'S UP TO THE COMMITTEE.
SO HOW ABOUT I DO THIS, I WILL GIVE YOU A HIGH LEVEL FROM MY VIEW OF THAT.
AND THEN IF, UM, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DIVE INTO SOME DETAILS, UH, PROBABLY CAN, CAN GO AHEAD AND, AND GIVE THE, THE PRESENTATION.
SO IN THE, IN THE LAST MEETING WE PRESENTED ON IMPERVIOUS AREA.
AND THE REASON FOR THAT IS THAT IS THE, A VERY APPROPRIATE WAY OF HAVING THE FEE BASED ON USAGE, IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT THAT.
AND IT'S, UM, IF, IF YOU LOOK IN, UH, FAIRNESS AND EQUITY, THAT THAT IS THE MOST FAIR AND EQUITABLE WAY TO, TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
BUT AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, THERE ARE, THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO DO IT.
[01:40:01]
THERE CAN BE A FLAT FEE FOR RESIDENTIAL, A FLAT FEE FOR COMMERCIAL.IT CAN BE HANDLED DIFFERENT WAYS WITHIN THAT.
UM, ANOTHER WAY IS SALES TAXES.
THERE ARE SOME PLACES THAT, THAT HAVE SALES TAXES.
UM, A THIS IS DIFFERENT, BUT I JUST WANTED TO POINT IT OUT.
A, A PORTION OF THE SEWER SYSTEM IS FUNDED BY A HALF CENTS SALES TAX.
SO THAT IS, WE HAVE A USER FEE THAT IS BASED ON YOUR WATER USAGE.
AND THEN WE HAVE A A HALF CENT SALES TAX THAT'S, THAT'S IN THE PARISH.
SO WE'VE GOT MULTIPLE FUNDING MECHANISM.
THEN A THIRD WAY OF OF DOING IT IS, IS PROPERTY TAX.
THE ISSUE WITH PROPERTY TAX IS THAT IT'S BASED ON THE VALUE OF YOUR, YOUR HOME, YOUR BUSINESS, WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE.
AND GOING BACK INTO THE LAST ONE, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE, THE IMPERVIOUS AREA IN THE PARISH, THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE IMPERVIOUS AREA OF THE PARISH AS COMMERCIAL, BUT THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PROPERTIES, PERCENTAGE WISE INDIVIDUAL PARCELS IN THE PARISH IS RESIDENTIAL.
THEN AGAIN, IT GOES BACK TO YOUR, YOUR HOME'S VALUE.
MY HOUSE IS THE, THE ASSESSED VALUE IS ABOUT A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS LESS THAN MY NEIGHBOR ACROSS THE STREET.
AND IT'S REALLY A FUNCTION OF, I BOUGHT MY HOUSE 12 YEARS AGO.
MY NEIGHBOR BOUGHT HIS HOUSE A YEAR AGO WITH THE CURRENT PRICES.
SO HE, HIS HOUSE HAS A, A HIGHER ASSESSED VALUE.
I HAVE, JUST BECAUSE OF THE ORIENTATION OF MY HOUSE AND THE LOT AND MY DRIVEWAY, I HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE IMPERVIOUS AREA THAN HE DOES.
SO ON AN IMPERVIOUS AREA STANDPOINT, I WILL PAY MORE THAN HE WILL.
I'LL PAY FOR USAGE PROPERTY TAXES.
HE WILL PAY SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN I WILL BECAUSE HIS HOUSE IS ASSESSED SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN MINE.
JUST, AND IT'S MAINLY A FUNCTION OF WHEN WE, UH, WHEN WE PURCHASED OUR HOUSES, IS OUR, OUR SQUARE FOOTAGE IS ABOUT THE SAME.
SO THAT'S JUST ONE EXAMPLE THAT OF HOW THERE'S, THERE'S PROS AND CONS TO, UH, DIFFERENT WAYS.
BUT WITH THAT, I CAN TURN IT OVER TO THE OH YEAH.
I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY Y'ALL DON'T TALK ABOUT UTILITY BILLS.
CUZ IN OUR RESEARCH WITH THE STORMWATER COALITION IN THE, THE, THE STATES THAT HAVE THE MOST, LIKE FLORIDA HAS 212 COUNTIES THAT HAVE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS THAT ARE PERMANENTLY FUNDED.
THE MAJORITY OF THOSE COUNTIES WORK THROUGH, THEY BILL THROUGH THE UTILITY BILL.
SOMETIMES THERE'S A LITTLE BIT OF A, A SMALL PERCENTAGE THAT'S A MILLAGE THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN FROM MANY YEARS AGO, BUT IT'S, IT'S ON A UTILITY BILL.
WHY DO WE NOT SAY THAT? I NEED TO UNDERSTAND SHE DID SAY THAT.
WHAT, LET'S, LET'S PUT THAT ASIDE FOR A MINUTE CUZ I'M NOT THE, I I CAN, I CAN GIVE YOU THE RESEARCH TO SHOW YOU HOW THEY DO IT, BUT LET'S SAY THEY DO A COMBINATION OF, UM, IMPER, MOST OF THEM ARE IMPERVIOUS SURFACES.
IMPERVIOUS SURFACES IN A TIERED SYSTEM FOR COMMERCIAL.
SO LET'S SAY THAT'S OUR SYSTEM AND WE COME UP WITH $10 MILLION AND WE DIVIDE THE 10 MILLION SLICE AND DICE BY THESE 150,000 PEOPLE THAT ARE GETTING WATER BILLS.
140,000 RESIDENCES, 10,000 BUSINESSES.
IT COMES, IT STARTS TO COME OUT TO BE ABOUT BETWEEN SIX AND $10 A MONTH.
AND I DON'T UNDERSTAND, PLEASE EXPLAIN TO THIS BODY WHY WE CAN'T HAVE THAT CONVERSATION.
SO GIVE ME A FEW MINUTES BECAUSE I HAVE TO MAKE A CERTAIN STATEMENTS BECAUSE SOME OF THE MEMBERS SAW LAST TIME WHAT WE PRESENTED.
SO FIRST OF ALL, IF WE HAVE A UTILITY CHARGE THAT WE PRESENTED LAST TIME BASED ON IMPERVIOUS AREA, THE CHARGE FOR A RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY WILL BE AROUND $5 A MONTH HERE IN BATON ROUGE.
THAT'S WHAT WE SHOWED LAST TIME.
I WANT TO BE VERY CLEAR ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I KNOW TODAY WE'VE MOVED ON TO A DIFFERENT DISCUSSION.
SO JUST TO BE VERY CLEAR, THERE ARE A TOTAL OF HUNDRED AND 69,000 PLUS PARCELS IN THE CITY PARISH.
THE CHARGE THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ALL ALONG WE'VE TALKED ABOUT, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE DOLLAR AMOUNT ULTIMATELY IS GONNA BE SETTLED ON, THAT TOTAL CHARGE IS NOT GOING TO BE DIVIDED SIMPLY BY THE NUMBER OF PARCELS.
I WANNA MAKE IT VERY CLEAR AGAIN, IT'S
[01:45:01]
NOT LIKE WE ARE GONNA JUST TAKE, LET'S SAY FOR EXAMPLE, FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES TO STAY CONSISTENT WITH WHAT WE PRESENTED.LAST TIME WE TALKED ABOUT 29 MILLION NEEDING TO COME FROM A STORMWATER UTILITY BASED ON WHAT WE DISCUSSED LAST TIME, RIGHT? THAT 29 MILLION, THE INTENT WAS NEVER TO JUST DIVIDE IT ACROSS 169,000 FOR SUCCESS.
THAT'S NUMBER ONE RIGHT? WAS SUGGESTION.
SO SECOND THING IS THAT IT IS GOING TO BE BASED ON IMPERVIOUS AREAS WITH WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT.
SO WE SAID THAT RATE WILL BE DOLLAR 10 PER 500 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA.
SO IF THERE IS A RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY, LET'S SAY THAT'S GOING TO HAVE ONLY THOUSAND SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA, THAT RESIDENCE WILL PAY $2 A MONTH.
IF A RESIDENCE HAPPENS TO HAVE 5,000 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA, THAT RESIDENCE WILL PAY $5 A MONTH.
ONE THING I WANNA MAKE CLEAR, THAT RESIDENCE THAT PAYS $2 A MONTH OR $5 A MONTH BASED ON THEIR IMPERVIOUS AREA, THAT AMOUNT WILL NOT CHANGE WHETHER THE BILL, WHETHER THE CHARGE IS BILLED THROUGH A UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM, MEANING A WATER SEWER BILL, WHETHER IT GOES AS A LINE ITEM IN A WATER SEWER BILL OR WHETHER THAT LINE ITEM GOES ON A TAX ASSESSMENT BILL, THE BILLING MECHANISM DOESN'T CHANGE THE CHART.
THE CHARGE WILL STILL BE, UH, $2.
IF THE DOLLAR, IF IT'S THE RATE IS DOLLAR 10 PER 500 SQUARE FEET, THE RATE WILL BE $2 FOR A PROPERTY THAT IS THOUSAND SQUARE FEET OF RESIDENCE.
IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER IT IS A RESIDENCE OR A COMMERCIAL OR AN INDUSTRY, IF IT IS THOUSAND SQUARE FEET, THAT PROPERTY WILL PAY $2.
IF IT IS 5,000 SQUARE FEET, THAT PROPERTY WILL PAY $5,000 A MONTH.
IF IT IS 10,000 SQUARE FEET SMALL BUSINESS, THEY WILL PAY $10 A MONTH REGARDLESS OF THE BILLING MECHANISM.
SO THAT'S SOME, THAT'S, THAT'S THE APPROACH WE PRESENTED LAST TIME.
SO THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT IF IT IS A UTILITY BILL, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IS IT DEPENDS ON THE FREQUENCY OF THE BILLING.
DEPENDING ON, FIRST OF ALL, WHO'S SENDING THE UTILITY BILL.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF BATON ROUGE WATER SERVICE COMPANY IS SENDING THE UTILITY BILL, AND IF THEY'RE SENDING THE UTILITY BILL EVERY MONTH, THEN THE CHARGE WILL SHOW UP.
STORMWATER CHARGE WILL SHOW UP AS A MONTHLY CHARGE.
IF, UH, IF THAT'S NOT THE MECHANISM THAT IS GOING TO BE USED, IF IT IS GOING TO BE A TAX ASSESSMENT MECHANISM, THEN THE CHARGE WILL GO AS AN ANNUAL CHARGE BECAUSE THE TAX OFFICER'S OFFICE WILL SEND AN ANNUAL BILL.
SO THE BILLING MECHANISM BY ITSELF IS NOT GONNA CHANGE THE ACTUAL AMOUNT A PROPERTY WILL PAY UNDER AN IMPERVIOUS AREA CHARGE BASIS BECAUSE ULTIMATELY THE CHARGE IS DETERMINED BASED ON THE IMPERIOUS AREA AND THE REVENUE COLLECTED WILL NOT CHANGE EITHER.
IF WE START WITH A $9 MILLION AS A REVENUE REQUIREMENT, THAT'S WHAT WE WILL BE COLLECTING UNDER AN EMPLOYEE AREA CHARGE.
IF IT IS 19 MILLION, THAT'S WHAT WE WILL BE RECOVERING.
IF IT'S 29 MILLION, THAT'S WHAT WE'LL BE RECOVERING.
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW A LITTLE MORE? NO, I WOULDN'T, BUT I'D LIKE TO SAY SOMETHING.
I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING YOU'RE SAYING AND THAT WAS NOT MY QUESTION,
BUT HERE IN, IN BATON ROUGE AND IN IN LOUISIANA WE ARE, AS A COMMUNITY, AS CITIZENS, WE TEND TO BE AVERSE TO TAXES.
OKAY? AND MILAGE AND A TAX AND A MILAGE SHOULD BE VOTED ON BY PEOPLE.
BUT THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS IS STORM WATER IS A UTILITY, LIKE SEWER.
LIKE LARRY SAID IT WHEN, WHEN, WHEN WE WENT THROUGH THIS 30 YEARS AGO WITH THE SEWER, THE AVERAGE PERSON CANNOT UNDER, I MEAN I, I KNOW I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THIS, BUT THE AVERAGE PERSON I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND BEFORE I STARTED STUDYING IT DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THE COMPLEXITIES OF WHAT IT TAKES TO GO AND TO MANAGE STORM WATER.
SO IT SHOULD BE A UTILITY ON A UTILITY BILL.
IT SHOULD NOT BE VOTED ON AND IT SHOULD NOT.
WE CAN'T, HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THIS TO THE PEOPLE TO, TO, TO VOTE THERE, THERE'S A, FIRST OF ALL, THERE, THERE'S A LOGISTICAL ISSUE WITH, WITH BILLING THROUGH THE WATER.
SO, UM, NUMBER ONE, NOT EVERYBODY IN THE PARISH THAT OWNS LAND IS HAS A WATER BILL.
OKAY? THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT HAVE, OKAY, THERE'S THE ANSWER.
SO THERE'S, THERE'S UNDEVELOPED PROPERTY THAT HAS NO REASON TO HAVE A WATER METER.
THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE THAT, THAT ARE ON PRIVATE WATER WELLS.
OKAY? SO THEY DON'T GET A WATER BILL.
SO WE WOULD HAVE TO SOME KIND OF WAY FIND A WAY TO BUILD THEM SEPARATELY OUTSIDE OF THE WATER COMPANY.
THE, THE, THE REASON SECONDLY, EVERYBODY HAS, EVERYBODY GETS A, A TAX BILL.
WE ARE NOT, JUST BECAUSE WE'RE PUTTING IT ON THE TAX ROLL DOES NOT MEAN IT IS A, A TAX.
WHAT WE ARE SUGGESTING, THE THE METHOD THAT WAS SUGGESTED WAS THAT WE WOULD, IT, IT'S STILL A FEE, IT IS A UTILITY FEE, BUT IT IS ON THE
[01:50:01]
PROPERTY TAX BILL.FOR US, THAT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO COLLECT THE REVENUE WITH THE NUMBER ONE, IT'S THE, UM, WE, WE HAVE THE HIGHEST SUCCESS RATE OF COLLECTING THE MONEY THROUGH THE, THE TAX ROLL.
AND THEN SECONDLY, IT COSTS US THE LEAST AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR THAT BILLING PROCESS.
BUT THAT WAS THE, THAT, THAT WAS THE MAIN REASON BEHIND IT.
IT COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY AND YOU CAN'T GET EVERYBODY TO PAY.
ADAM, WHEN WE SAY EVERYBODY, DO WE, ARE WE TALKING ABOUT GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES, EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS? WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HARRIS.
OH NO, I'M, WELL THAT TO ME IS WHERE THE, THAT'S WHERE THE INCENTIVE PIECE COMES INTO IT.
BECAUSE I MEAN, LOOK, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS OPPORTUNITY AND TALK ABOUT THE GREAT WORK THAT BRICK DOES TO ASSIST WITH OUR STORM WATER RUNOFF ISSUES.
AND THAT'S WHERE AN INCENTIVE TO ME WOULD COME IN AND, AND I AGAIN, SO LET ME, I PROBABLY SHOULD NOT HAVE, I, I MADE A STATEMENT EARLIER WHEN WE TALKED ABOUT CREDITS AND SAID, WELL WE PROBABLY SHOULDN'T, WE, WE PROBABLY DON'T NEED TO GO DOWN THE CREDIT PATH SINCE IT'S JUST THIS, WELL, I GET, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT'S YOUR DECISION.
SO THAT, THAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN CERTAINLY CONSIDER.
UM, SO WE, WE CAN, UH, THAT, THAT'S ON THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT MEETING.
SO YEAH, I THINK FROM SHOULDN'T AGENDA, I KNOW FROM A SOUTHERN UNIVERS STANDPOINT CAMPUS, THERE'S SO MUCH RAIN GOES THROUGH.
WE WOULD DEFINITELY BE LOOKING AT SOME SOURCE OF CREDIT FOR WHAT'S BEING PROVIDED THERE.
PROVIDED THE CORRIDOR LARGE PORTION, CAN WE HEAR WHAT CREDIT PROCESSES ARE BEING USED IN OTHER STATES OR OTHER LOCALES TO KIND OF GET AN IDEA? WE CAN UM, WE CAN CERTAINLY GIVE YOU A, AT LEAST A, UH, A HIGH LEVEL DISCUSSION ON THAT IF WE WANT TO GET OFF OF THE FUNDING MECHANISM.
DID WE, WELL I, DID WE AT LEAST ANSWER THE, THE FUNDING MECHANISM QUESTIONS? I HAVE A, I I HAVE ANOTHER QUESTION AND BECAUSE I, I KEPT COMING BACK TO, I, I DIDN'T KNOW WHY I WAS IN CONFLICT, UM, WITH WHAT WAS BEING SAID ABOUT, I'LL PUT IT ON A UTILITY BILL.
IF A FLAT FEE IS EVALUATED, WOULD THAT BE ABLE TO BE PLACED ON A UTILITY BILL? I'M HEARING HIM SAY NO.
HE'S SAYING IT'S TOO EXPENSIVE AND HE CAN'T, THEY CAN'T SORT IT OUT.
I MEAN, IS IT BECAUSE OF THE BATON ROUGE WATER COMPANY? WHAT'S, IT'S MORE EXPENSIVE.
IT'S 12 BILLS VERSUS ONE BILL.
SO HOW DID THE SEWER FEE GET ON THERE? HOW DID YOU PUT THE BY ORDINANCE? BY BY WHAT? BY ORDINANCE.
IT WAS PLACED ON A OKAY, SO CAN WE MAKE AN ORDINANCE? IT'S BASED AGAIN, BUT IT, BUT IT'S BASED UPON THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT YOU'RE CONSUMING.
SO IF YOU, IF YOU HAVE LESS WATER USAGE, YOU PAY LESS IN SEWER BILL.
AND IT TIES, IT TIES PERFECTLY TO THAT.
THIS DOES NOT, BUT, BUT WHAT HE WAS SAYING IS THAT NOT EVERY PARCEL OF LAND IN THE PARISH GETS A WATER UTILITY BILL.
AND SO YOU'D BE LEAVING OUT A NUMBER OF FOLKS.
AND YOU'RE PAYING 12 TIMES THE REST OF 12 PIPE VERSUS ONCE.
THINK DEALING WITH THE, THE ISSUE WITH DEFINITELY WATER AND OBVIOUSLY IN ASCENSION PARISH WE HAD 'EM ALSO.
AND IT IS MORE COST WHEN YOU'RE GOING THROUGH THE PROCESS.
THE ONE THING THAT WE DID WHEN WE WERE LOOKING AT PROVIDING SEWER, BECAUSE AGAIN, PEOPLE ON WELLS, EVERYBODY DID NOT HAVE A WATER METER.
SO THAT WAS THE FLAT RATE THAT WE KIND OF HAD.
THEY SEE WE USED A FLAT RATE, BUT EVERYBODY HAS AN ADDRESS.
SO WE DID, WE HAD A FLAT RATE AND THEN WE CHARGED THAT SEWER USAGE BASED UPON A FLAT RATE CUZ THEY HAD AN ADDRESS.
BUT I DO AGREE THAT DOING IT WITH BATON ROUGE WATER SYSTEM IS MORE COSTLY.
IT DEFINITELY WOULD RUN UP YOUR COST.
MATTER OF FACT, JUST TO ADD TO THAT, I THINK THIS, THIS IS NOT, THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT BATON ROUGE WATER SERVICE COMPANY.
SO TO YOUR, TO YOUR QUESTION, THERE ARE A LOT OF UTILITIES THAT DO SEND THE STORMWATER CHARGE THROUGH THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM.
PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT, WILMINGTON AND DELAWARE, A LOT OF UTILITIES DO SEND IT THROUGH THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM.
ONE, IT REQUIRES A LOT OF UPFRONT ACTIVITY.
[01:55:01]
FIRST ACTIVITY THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM, THE METER IS THE FUNDAMENTAL RECORD SYSTEM OF RECORD.THEY GO, THEY DO EVERYTHING BY A METER BECAUSE THAT'S HOW THEY YEAH.
AND THE WATER METER IN MANY BILLING SYSTEMS IS NOT AUTOMATICALLY MAPPED TO A PARCEL.
SO THEY, THEY WILL HAVE THE WATER METER AS A PRIMARY IDENTIFIER AND THEY'LL HAVE AN ACCOUNT NUMBER THAT IS TIED TO THAT WATER METER, BUT THEY WOULDN'T NECESSARILY HAVE THE FIELD CALLED PARCEL ID TO SAY, WHERE IS THIS WATER METER ACTUALLY SITTING IN TERMS OF THE PARCEL? NOW THAT HAS TO BE FIRST DONE.
SO WE HAVE DONE THAT IN PLACES.
THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT WE HAD TO DO FOR MULTIPLE LIQUIDITIES.
FIRST ESTABLISH THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WHAT IS CALLED A, IT'S CALLED A MAPPING BETWEEN THE PARCEL ID AND THE ACCOUNT.
THERE ARE SOME PARCELS THAT WILL ALLOW ONLY ONE METER, SOME MAY HAVE MULTIPLE METERS.
THAT'S THE FIRST THING THAT HAS TO BE DONE.
ONCE THAT IS DONE, THEN THE, THAT INFORMATION HAS TO BE LOADED.
SO ONCE THAT PARCEL ID MAPPING IS DONE EXTERNALLY, THEN THAT PARCEL ID HAS TO BE LOADED ONTO THEIR WATER SYSTEM UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM SO THAT ALL THE ACCOUNTS THAT THEY CURRENTLY HAVE WILL HAVE A APPROPRIATE PARCEL ID ATTACHED TO IT.
AND THEN FOR THOSE PARCELS, LIKE THE EMPTY LAND, VACANT LAND PARKING LOT WHERE THERE'S NO WATER METER, TYPICALLY THEY WILL ADD AN ACCOUNT CALLED THE STORM WATER SERVICE ONLY ACCOUNT.
THEY WILL DO THAT IN THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM.
SO THAT ALSO HAS TO BE IDENTIFIED AND LOADED AS A ONE TIME.
ONCE THAT IS DONE, THEN YOU CAN BUILD THE STORMWATER CHARGE THROUGH THE SYSTEM, THROUGH THAT UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM.
SO IF THERE IS ONE METER, IT'LL GET ONE CHARGE.
BUT IF, LET'S SAY SOMEBODY HAS FIVE METERS, THE TOTAL PROPERTY CHARGE WILL BE DIVIDED BY FIVE ACROSS THOSE FIVE METERS AND THAT'S HOW THEY WILL BILL IT.
SO THAT IS THE ONE TIME ACTIVITY THAT HAS TO BE DONE, THE COMPLEX.
SO THAT DOES REQUIRE COST AND EFFORT.
THE SECOND THING IS THAT UNFORTUNATELY THE SECOND COMPLEXITY COMES IN THE ONGOING DATA MANAGEMENT.
WHAT HAPPENS IS METERS GO IN AND OUT OF PROPERTY.
SOMETIMES SOMEBODY WILL HAVE ONE METER, TWO METERS, AND THEN THEY'LL SUDDENLY CHANGE THE METER AND THEY'LL SAY THEY'RE GOING TO ONLY ONE METER.
SOMETIMES THEY'LL ADD AN ADDITIONAL METER.
THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
IT HAPPENS IN COMMERCIAL AND LARGE INDUSTRIAL PROPERTIES.
SO WHEN THAT HAPPENS, THEY HAVE TO KEEP THAT DATA MAPPING CORRECTLY.
AND ALSO THAT IS ON THE METER SIDE.
ON THE PARCEL SIDE, A PARCEL THAT EXISTS TODAY CAN GET SUBDIVIDED.
SO ONE PARCEL THAT WAS SERVING ONE METER, NOW SUDDENLY THAT PARCEL IS SUBDIVIDED.
SO NOW THERE ARE FOUR MORE PARCELS.
THOSE FOUR MORE PARCELS HAVE TO BE ADDED TO THE UTILITY BILLING ACCOUNT AND THAT HAS TO BE ADDRESSED AS WELL.
AND SIMILARLY, SOMETHING THAT WAS FOUR PARCELS CAN BE CONSOLIDATED.
THEN THAT CONSOLIDATION ALSO HAS TO BE ADDRESSED IN THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM.
SO WHAT THIS MEANS IS THE ONGOING DATA MANAGEMENT IS PRETTY COMPLEX.
NOW UTILITIES HANDLE IT, BUT MANY UTILITIES THAT DO, THEY OWN THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM, THEY'RE HANDLING IT INTERNALLY, THEY'RE PUTTING PEOPLE, THEY'RE DOING THIS MAPPING, THEY'RE DOING THAT ALL ALONG.
LIKE WILMINGTON DELIVER HAS HAD A STRONGWATER CHARGE IN THE UTILITY BILLING SYSTEM SINCE 2007.
EVERY MONTH THEY ARE LOOKING AT WHAT PARCELS ARE CHANGING, WHAT HAS CONSOLIDATED, WHAT HAS EXPIRED.
THEY'RE DOING THAT MAPPING CONSTANTLY.
SO THAT IS BEING DONE AS LONG AS THERE IS A RESOURCE CAPACITY AND EVERYTHING TO DO THAT.
SO WITH BA, BATON ROUGE WATER SERVICE COMPANY, NOW THEY ARE AN EXTERNAL ENTITY.
SO THIS WHOLE THING HAS TO BE COORDINATED THROUGH SOME KIND OF A AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY PARISH AND THE BATON ROUGE WATER SERVICE COMPANY.
AND THEY ALSO INDICATED TO US THEY ARE, THEY DON'T HAVE THE, UH, MAIN, THEY HAVE A MAINFRAME SYSTEM RIGHT NOW.
THEY DON'T HAVE THE MODERN WINDOWS BASED OH MY GOSH.
SO AS SUCH, THAT'S A COMPLEXITY IN ITSELF.
AND THEN TO BRING IN THIS AND THEN MANAGE ALL THIS IS MORE COMPLEX.
SO THAT IS WHY AT THAT TIME WHEN WE HAD ALL THE DISCUSSIONS, WE HAD ONE, TWO DISCUSSIONS WITH THEM BASED ON ALL THE DISCUSSION, IT SEEMED MORE COST EFFECTIVE FROM ONE-TIME IMPLEMENTATION STANDPOINT AND FROM ONGOING DATA MANAGEMENT STANDPOINT FOR THE CITY PARISH TO DO IT THROUGH THE TAX SOCIETY SYSTEM.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO EXPLAIN THAT.
JUST TO KIND OF ADD TO THAT, I MEAN, WE'VE BEEN DISCUSSING THE, UH, JUST THE SCALABILITY, UH, BECAUSE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT SIX 9 MILLION RIGHT NOW, AND IN THE FUTURE POSSIBLY GROW ON THAT.
SO IT'LL BE EASIER JUST TO SCALE IT WITH THIS TYPE OF FUNDING MECHANISM.
I DO HAVE A QUESTION THOUGH, REGARDING THE MECHANISM.
SO, UH, FOR ENTITIES WHO DO NOT RECEIVE LIKE A PROPERTY TAX BILL PER SE, I'M THINKING ABOUT MAYBE LIKE A GOVERNMENT ENTITY, JUST FOR MY, MY KNOWLEDGE.
HOW WOULD THEY, HOW WOULD GOVERNMENTS RECEIVE BILLS FOR THE, UH, THE STORM WATER BE? SO IN THE, IF, IF IT IS BILLED THROUGH THE PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENT SYSTEM,
[02:00:01]
AGAIN, IT'LL BE AN INTER ENTITY UNDERSTANDING, AN AGREEMENT THAT HAS TO BE ESTABLISHED AND THEY WILL START RECEIVING BILLS WITH THE STORMWATER CHARGE THAT THEY HAVE TO PAY.SO ONE EXAMPLE IS DELRAY BEACH IN FLORIDA, THEY BUILD THEIR STORMWATER CHARGE THROUGH TAX ASSESSOR'S BILLING SYSTEM.
SO EVERY YEAR BEFORE THE TAX ROLL IS PREPARED, THE STORMWATER TAX ROLL IS PREPARED.
IT IS SENT TO THE ASSESSOR'S OFFICE, AND ALL THE PROPERTIES ARE BUILT THROUGH THE TAX ASSESSOR SYSTEM, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THAT PROPERTY HAS TAX IS TAX EXEMPT OR NOT, BECAUSE THIS IS A UTILITY.
THEY'RE JUST USING THE TAX ASSESSOR SYSTEM AS A BILLING MECHANISM.
THERE IS A, THERE'S A, IT'S NON-EXEMPT ROLE.
THERE'S A LIST OF NON-EXEMPT PROPERTIES.
EVERY PIECE OF PROPERTY THE ASSESSOR HAS.
BUT IT'S ON THE NON-EXEMPT ROLE.
SO ON THE EXEMP ROLE, SO YOU HAVE NON-EXEMPT ROLE IS AN EXEMPLARY, EVERY PARCEL IN THIS IN PARISH HAS A PARCEL NUMBER.
AND YOU CAN GENERATE THAT PARCEL NUMBER FOR NON-GOVERNMENTAL AND GOVERNMENT.
I THINK YOU MENTIONED PHILADELPHIA HAS YES, JUDGE, I, I'VE HEARD, I HAVEN'T RESEARCHED IT, BUT THEY HAVE SOME SORT OF PARTNERSHIP WITH THEIR PARK SYSTEM.
ARE YOU FAMILIAR WITH THAT AT ALL? UH, SO THEY, IT'S NOT FOR THE, WHAT WHAT PHILADELPHIA HAS IS THEY HAVE A STORMWATER CHARGE.
IT, IT'S NOT JUST A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PARKS SYSTEM.
THEY HAVE A GRANT AND A LOAN PROGRAM FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
SO THEY ALL, THEY HAVE A STORMWATER CREDIT PROGRAM.
SO ON TOP OF IT, THEY ACTUALLY GIVE A GRANT PROGRAM THAT THEY'VE ESTABLISHED.
SO THE WAY IT WORKS IS THAT, UH, IT'S NOT JUST DEVELOPERS.
THEY CALL THEM PROPERTY AGGREGATORS.
SO AN AGGREGATOR CAN COME AND SAY, HERE ARE THE FIVE PROPERTIES, NON-RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES WHERE I'M GOING TO DO STORMWATER ONSITE MANAGEMENT.
AND WHEN THEY DO THAT, AND WHEN THEY MEET ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT'S GRANT PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS, THEN PHILADELPHIA GIVES THEM, UH, ONE TIME GRANT FOR THAT PARTICULAR ONSITE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROJECT TO THAT PROPERTY AGGREGATOR.
IT'S CALLED THE GREEN ACRES RETRO PROFIT PROGRAM.
SO THEY DO THAT BECAUSE PHILADELPHIA HAS A COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM, 60% OF THE SERVICE AREAS COMBINED SEWER SYSTEM.
SO THEY HAVE A CONSENT ORDER AGREEMENT, IT'S CALLED COA.
THEY HAVE A CONSENT ORDER AGREEMENT FOR MANAGING THEIR CONSENT, UH, ORDER.
SO THEY HAVE COMMITTED TO MANAGE THE COMBINED OVERALL FLOWS THROUGH INCREASING THE GREEN ACRES, MEANING REDUCING THE IMPERVIOUS AREA.
SO WHEN, THAT IS WHY THEY HAVE THIS GRANT PROGRAM THAT THEY ADMINISTER.
SO FOR THAT GRANT PROGRAM, THEY GIVE THE GRANT, BUT THE OWNERS THE, BUT THE AGGREGATOR ALSO HAS TO DO A MATCH.
IT'S, I THINK IT'S LIKE AN 80 20 KIND OF A MATCH.
SO THEY GIVE THAT GRANT AND THEN THAT THE GRANT THEY GIVE ON THE FRONT END.
AND ONCE THAT ONSITE MANAGEMENT, UH, BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DEPLOYED, THEN THOSE PROPERTY OWNERS CAN COME AND SEEK STORMWATER CREDITS.
AGAIN, ALIGN WITH PHILADELPHIA'S CREDIT PROGRAM.
CAN I ASK A QUESTION ON THE, UH, ON THE FEE STRUCTURE? SO THERE WAS A COMMENT MADE EARLIER THAT THERE ARE EXAMPLES AROUND THE COUNTRY OF COMMERCIAL OWNERS HAVING A TIERED SYSTEM INSTEAD OF AN IMPERVIOUS SYSTEM.
CAN YOU DESCRIBE SOME OF THE EXAMPLES OF HOW THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN APPROACHED DIFFERENTLY IN OTHER COMMUNITIES? YEAH, JUST A COUPLE OF EXAMPLES.
UM, IT, IT IS STILL BASED ON AN IMPERVIOUS AREA SYSTEM.
IT IS JUST THAT RIGHT NOW WHAT WE HAD PROPOSED HERE WAS INDIVIDUALLY CALCULATED FOR EVERY PARCEL, BECAUSE THAT GIVES THE MAXIMUM LEVEL OF EQUITY.
EVERYBODY PAYS FOR THEIR SHARE OF THE IMPERVIOUS AREA.
NOW, SOME, UH, ENTITY, FOR EXAMPLE, THERE'S AN ENTITY IN TEXAS, CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG AND TEXAS.
WHAT THEY HAVE DONE IS INSTEAD OF HAVING THE CHARGE CALCULATED INDIVIDUALLY FOR EACH PROPERTY, THEY HAVE ESTABLISHED LIKE SIX TIER FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
THE TIERED IPOS AREA IS MORE COMMON FOR RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES AMONG MANY UTILITIES.
TIERED IPOS AREA FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL IS VERY UNCOMMON.
BUT CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG HAS THE TIERED IPOS AREA FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL.
THE REASON IT'S MORE COMMON IN THE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES IS BECAUSE TYPICALLY IF YOU TAKE A UTILITY, LIKE EVEN IF YOU TAKE OUR UTILITY HERE, BATON ROUGE, MAJORITY OF THE PROPERTIES ARE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES.
SO THEN HANDLING THE APPEALS REQUEST, OR IF SOMEBODY HAS DATA ERRORS AND EVERYTHING, THERE'S A LOT MORE ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLEXITY IF YOU ARE CHARGING ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS.
SO WHILE IT GIVES THEM MAXIMUM EQUITY, THERE ARE MANY MUNICIPALITIES THAT DESIRE, WE WILL PUT THEM ON TIERS, THEY'LL PUT THEM ON FOUR TIERS OR FIVE TIERS.
SO AS LONG AS YOU FALL WITHIN THE TIER BLOCK, THAT'S A CHARGE YOU WILL PAY.
SO THE THE POSITIVE IS YES, UM, CUSTOMERS,
[02:05:01]
IT'S NOT CALCULATED INDIVIDUALLY FOR THE CUSTOMERS.BUT THE DOWNSIDE IS THAT TYPICALLY WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PUT SOMEBODY FROM ZERO SQUARE FEET OR A HUNDRED SQUARE FEET TO 1500 SQUARE FEET IN ONE BLOCK, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, THE PEOPLE AT THE HIGH END OF THE BLOCK ALWAYS BENEFIT.
THEY'RE PAYING LESS THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE.
AND THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ON THE LOWER END OF THE BLOCK ALWAYS PAY MORE THAN THEIR FAIR SHARE.
AND THE PEOPLE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BLOCK ARE THE ONES WOULD BE PAYING KIND OF THEIR APPROPRIATE CHARGE.
SO WE DID EVALUATE THAT HERE AS WELL.
AND THEN WE FOUND THAT REALLY FROM A, FROM AN EQUITY STANDPOINT, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S MORE EQUITABLE WHEN, WHEN YOU HAVE INDIVIDUALLY CALCULATOR CHARGE, BUT CERTAINLY A TIERED RESIDENTIAL CHARGE CAN BE CONSIDERED.
THE REASON TIERED RE TIERED CHARGES ARE NOT COMMON FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL IS BECAUSE THE DISTRIBUTION IS SIGNIFICANT.
SO FOR EXAMPLE, IN BATON ROUGE, YOU HAVE A SINGLE PROPERTY WITH 36 MILLION SQUARE FEET OF IPOS AREA, AND THEN YOU HAVE A PROPERTY THAT HAS OF COURSE, NON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY THAT, THAT HAS THOUSAND SQUARE FEET OF IPOS AREA.
SO WHEN YOUR DISTRIBUTION GOES FROM THOUSAND SQUARE FEET OF IPO AREA TO 36 MILLION SQUARE FEET OF IPO AREA FOR A SINGLE PARCEL, AS YOU CAN IMAGINE WHEN YOU PUT THEM ON TIERS.
ONE IS HOW MANY TIERS DO WE HAVE, UM, TO ESTABLISH SOME LEVEL OF EQUITY.
ANNA AND I RECENTLY WENT THROUGH THE SAME SITUATION LAST YEAR WITH ANOTHER MUNICIPALITY, UNIFIED GOVERNMENT OF DOT COUNTY, WHICH IS ACTUALLY A CASE STUDY WE HAD TODAY THINKING THAT WE MAY TALK ABOUT IT.
THEY DEBATED THE SAME THING, SHOULD WE GO INDIVIDUAL CALCULATOR? SHOULD WE DO NON-RESIDENTIAL? SO THEN WE PRESENTED 13 TIERS FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL, THE STORMWATER ADVISORY COMMITTEE AND THE COUNCIL LOOKED AT IT AND THEY SAID, THAT STILL DOES NOT GIVE US EQUITY.
SO THEN HOW MANY TIERS WILL YOU HAVE FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL BECAUSE THE DISTRIBUTION IS SIGNIFICANT.
THEY HAD A HUGE RACEWAY SPEEDWAY THAT HAD SIGNIFICANT IMPERVIOUS AREA.
SO WHEN YOU HAVE A, THE TIERED NON-RESIDENTIAL MAKES SENSE.
PROBABLY IT MADE SENSE FOR CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG BECAUSE PROBABLY IT'S A MUCH, FIRST OF ALL, IT'S A MUCH SMALLER COMMUNITY.
THEY MAY NOT HAVE THAT LEVEL OF A SPREAD WITH LOT OF INDUSTRIAL, HUGE INDUSTRIAL.
IN THOSE CASES, WHEN THE SPREAD IN THE IPO AREA IS RELATIVELY REASONABLE, YOU COULD HAVE AN NON-RESIDENTIAL IPO AREA TEARS.
BUT WHEN THE SPREAD IS REALLY SIGNIFICANT FOR A LARGE ENTITY LIKE YOURS, THEN THE IMPROV AREA TIERS ESPECIALLY WOULDN'T MAKE SENSE FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL.
HERE WE HAVE RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES, QUITE A FEW RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES THAT HAVE GREATER THAN 10,000 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA IN BARTON ROAD.
SO WHEN WE LOOKED AT THAT DISTRIBUTION AND THERE ARE LITERALLY PROPERTIES WITH 30,000 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA RESIDENTIAL.
AND THAT IS WHERE WHEN WE REALLY LOOKED AT THE SPREAD, WE FELT IT WAS YOU COULD, IF YOU HAVE A TIERS, YOU COULD HAVE FIVE TIERS.
AND, AND AS LONG AS EVERYBODY IS AWARE THAT THE PEOPLE AT THE TOP END OF THE TIER WILL ALWAYS PAY LESS THAN THE FAIR SHARE, PEOPLE AT THE LOW END OF THE TIER WILL ALWAYS PAY MORE THAN THE FAIR SHARE.
WE COULD CONSIDER A FIVE TIERED STRUCTURE FOR RESIDENTIAL.
UM, IT DEPENDS, PHIL, UM, WILMINGTON, DELAWARE HAS A FOURIER YEAR SINGLE FAMILY, FOUR YEAR RESIDENTIAL AND INDIVIDUALLY CALCULATED NON RESIDENTIAL.
IT GOES THROUGH THEIR WATER SEWER UTILITY BILL.
PUTTING IT THROUGH THE WATER SEWER UTILITY BILL IS MORE COMMON IF THE ENTITY ALSO HAS WATER AND SEWER RESPONSIBILITY.
SO LIKE PHILADELPHIA WATER DEPARTMENT LIKE WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, LIKE NEWARK, UH, IN DELAWARE.
SO THEY PUT IT THROUGH SPRINGFIELD, OHIO.
THEY PUT IT THROUGH THEIR WATER SEWER BILL BECAUSE THE DEPARTMENT IS HOLISTICALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR WATER, SEWER, STORMWATER, EVERYTHING.
SO THEN IT, IT MAKES LOGICAL SENSE BECAUSE IT IS A UTILITY AND MAKES IT EASY FOR CUSTOMERS TO SEE ALL THE LINE ITEMS. BUT IN SITUATIONS LIKE YOURS WHERE THERE IS THIS COMPLEXITY WHERE SOMEBODY ELSE IS PROVIDING THE WATER AND, AND AGAIN, THERE'S DEALING WITH A MAINFRAME SYSTEM, THEN, THEN IT IS AN EVALUATION.
RIGHT NOW WE ARE WORKING ON, AND I ARE WORKING WITH UNIFIED GOVERNMENT OF W COUNTY.
THEIR COUNCIL PASSED AN IPO AREA CHARGE LAST NOVEMBER.
THE IPO AREA CHARGE IS GOING TO GO ONTO THEIR UTILITY BILL STARTING JANUARY OF 2025.
RIGHT NOW WE ARE WORKING TO DEVELOP THIS MAPPING BETWEEN PARCEL ID AND UTILITY ACCOUNT.
AND THE UTILITY BILL IS NOT FROM W COUNTY.
THEY ONLY PROVIDE SEWER AND STORMWATER.
THE WATER IS PROVIDED BY KANSAS CITY BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES, KC B P U.
SO RIGHT NOW WE ARE WORKING WITH KC B P U TO HAVE THIS IMPROV AREA BASED CHARGE GO ONTO THE UTILITY BILL AS A LINE ITEM.
AND YEAH, THAT'S TAKING A LOT OF COORDINATION, A LOT OF EFFORT.
AND, AND, AND ONE OTHER QUESTION I KNOW WAS ASKED BEFORE, WHY SHOULD A DECISION BE MADE BY SEPTEMBER OF THIS YEAR REGARDING A UTILITY CHARGE, ESPECIALLY AN IMPROV AREA
[02:10:01]
BASED UTILITY CHARGE? WHY SHOULD THAT BE MADE NOW, IF THE CHARGE IS REALLY FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2025, REGARDLESS OF THE MECHANISM, THE ANSWER IS YOU NEED ABOUT 10 TO 12 MONTHS OF IMPLEMENTATION TIME TO DO THE IMPLEMENTATION ACTIONS IN TERMS OF THE BILLING, BILLING INTEGRATION, AND THEN REALLY ALL THE OUTREACH TO THE CUSTOMER TARGETED CUSTOMER NOTIFICATION.I THINK THAT WAS A QUESTION WAS ASKED, HAVE YOU STARTED COMMUNICATING INDIVIDUALLY WITH CUSTOMERS? THAT WOULD HAVE TO BE DONE WITH TARGETED CUSTOMER NOTIFICATION AND THEN TRAINING OF THE STAFF INTERNALLY PUTTING THE BUSINESS PROCESSES TOGETHER.
ALL OF THAT TAKES A MINIMUM OF 10 MONTHS EVEN FOR A SMALL UTILITY.
SO THAT'S WHY YOU NEED THAT MUCH OF A LEAD TIME BETWEEN WHEN A DECISION IS MADE AS WHETHER YOU'RE GONNA HAVE A USER CHARGE.
AND WHEN THE ACTUAL CHARGE GOES ON THE BILL, WE NEED A MINIMUM OF 10 MONTH LEAD TIME.
WHEN WE FIRST INTRODUCED THIS IMPERVIOUS SERVICE, I WAS OKAY WITH IT CUZ I'VE, I'VE LIVED THIS BEFORE IN ANOTHER MUNICIPALITY AND IT MAKES SENSE.
YOU PAID BY THE PERCENT YOU CONTRIBUTE.
THAT WAS SORT OF THE LOGIC BEHIND THE REASONING BEHIND WHY THEY DID IT THAT WAY.
ARE WE WORRIED ABOUT THE MECHANISM OF IMPERVIOUS OR WERE WE REACTING TO THE $1 AND 36 CENTS? SO IF IT WOULD'VE BEEN 50 CENTS PER THAT THING, WOULD PEOPLE HAVE HAD LESS OF A CONCERN? I'M TRYING TO, TRYING TO DIFFERENTIATE IS IT THE MULTIPLIER OR IS IT THE, THE ARITHMETIC HERE BECAUSE IMPERVIOUS MAKES A LOT OF SENSE.
I THINK THAT FIRST GO ROUND, THE, SOME OF THE LARGER NUMBERS WERE JUST SO SHOCKING.
I MEAN, WHEN PEOPLE STARTED TO LOOKING AT THEIR CHURCH AND SEEING THAT THEIR CHURCH WAS GONNA BE PAYING, YOU KNOW, A HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS A YEAR OR WHAT HAVE YOU WAS JUST SHOCKING.
WHAT WAS BREAK? DO YOU REMEMBER? I I DIDN'T BELIEVE IT WAS REAL
WELL, AND THAT GOES BACK TO EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION.
THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WHOLE EDUCATION PROGRAM.
AND WHAT WE'VE LEARNED FROM JODY CAHOUN, THE STORMWATER MANAGER FROM TALLAHASSEE, WHO WAS AT OUR STORMWATER HUB SUMMIT AND PRESENTED WITH PR, THANK YOU PR, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU START THIS AND YOU HAVE TO EDUCATE, YOU HAVE TO GO TO THE BIGGEST STAKEHOLDERS FIRST.
NOT LAST, LIKE, WE'RE DOING EVERYTHING BACKWARDS.
NOT NO OFFENSE, NOT THAT YOU'RE DOING EVERYTHING BACKWARDS.
I MEAN, THIS HAS BEEN COMING FOR A LONG TIME AND WE'VE, WE AS A COMMUNITY HAVE IGNORED THIS ISSUE FOR YEARS.
AND MOST OF US DIDN'T KNOW WHAT STORM WATER WAS UNTIL THREE YEARS AGO, HONESTLY.
AND MANY OF US STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS AS A COMMUNITY, RIGHT? SO IT'S NOT YOUTH.
YEAH, ADAM, I UNDERSTAND THE FACT IS, UH, CAPTURING, UH, YOU KNOW, EVERY, EVERY, HOW, HOW DO WE GET TO THE IVIATE? SO IT, WE, WE ARE UPDATING THE, THE GIS RIGHT NOW WITH IMPERVIOUS AREAS.
SO IF YOU REMEMBER LAST YEAR A MAP WAS PUBLISHED THAT WITH THE HUGE NUMBER THAT GOT EVERYBODY EXCITED.
WE'VE SINCE GOTTEN MORE RECENT IMPERVIOUS AREA.
SO WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF PUTTING THAT INFORMATION INTO A, A GIS FORMAT.
I PROMISED IT YESTERDAY ACTUALLY, AND IT ENDED UP BEING JUST MORE, UH, LABOR INTENSIVE OF AN EFFORT THAN WE INITIALLY THOUGHT IT WAS.
BUT IDEALLY WE WILL HAVE A MAP IN THAT IS GIS BASED ON THE STORMWATER UTILITY WEBSITE THAT WILL ALLOW YOU TO GO CLICK ON THE PROPERTY AND SEE WHAT YOUR IMPERVIOUS AREA IS IN COMPARISON TO YOUR OVERALL SQUARE FOOTAGE.
UM, AND THEN ULTIMATELY IF A, A FEE IS DEVELOPED THAT IS BASED ON IMPERVIOUS AREA, THEN WE WOULD UPDATE IT AGAIN WITH THAT, THAT INFORMATION AS WELL.
AND YOU'D BE ABLE TO JUST GO CLICK ON IT AND, AND SEE WHAT THE ANNUAL FEE WOULD BE AS AS IT WAS LAST TIME.
SO WE, SO THAT CURRENT MAP ISN'T LIVE.
IT'S, IT'S NOT A GREAT THAT'S RIGHT.
IT DOES NOT HAVE THE SQUARE FOOTAGE TIED TO IT.
IT'S HIGHLIGHTED IN ORANGE, WHAT THE, WHAT THE PROGRAM IS SHOWING THE SQUARE FOOTAGE TO BE.
BUT YOU CAN'T CLICK ON IT AND SAY, OKAY, I'VE GOT, UH, 7,000 SQUARE FEET OF IMPERVIOUS AREA AT MY HOUSE.
IT JUST, IT, IT, WE HAVE THE INFORMATION IN A DATABASE, WE'RE WORKING TO GET IT INTO THE, THE
[02:15:01]
GIS AND IT JUST, IT WAS MORE THAN WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE.HOW ARE WE PULLING THAT? YEAH.
HOW ARE WE PULLING THAT INFORMATION? YEAH, LET, LET ME TRY EXPLAINING.
AGAIN, WE DIDN'T GO INTO ALL THE TECHNICAL DETAILS, BUT LAST MEETING I EXPLAINED THAT WE GOT FOUR LAYERS OF IMPERVIOUS AREA DATA.
SO FIRST OF ALL, NEAR MAPS IS A VENDOR WHO HAD COLLECTED THE IMAGERY AND THEN PROCESSED IT AND THEY HAD GIVEN IT TO THE CITY PARISH.
THAT WAS ON, THAT WAS IN JANUARY OF 2022.
AFTER THE CITY PARISH RECEIVED IT, THEY HAD TO GO THROUGH IT AND THEY HAD TO REALLY CLEAN IT UP BECAUSE SOMETIMES WHEN YOU DO A FLYOVER AND CAPTURE THE IMAGERY AND PROCESSES, THERE ARE GONNA BE SOME SHADOWS AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND THE DELINEATION WILL NOT BE PERFECT.
SO SOMEBODY HAS TO GO IN MANUALLY LOOK THROUGH ALL OF IT AS A VERY TEDIOUS JOB.
AS ADAM SAID, THE THREE PARISH GIS TEAM DID IT FOR A WHOLE YEAR, FROM JANUARY OF 2022 UNTIL MARCH OF 2023 AND MARCH OF 2023.
THEY GAVE US A BUILDING FOOTPRINT, WHICH IS JUST THE GROUND FLOOR FOOTPRINT.
THEY GAVE US THE FOOTPRINT OF ALL THE PARKING LOTS, PARKING AREA IN THE CITY PAR.
THEY'RE DEVELOPED, THEN THEY'RE DEVELOPED A LAYER CALLED OTHER IMPERVIOUS AREA WHERE PATIOS DECKS, SIDE PATIOS DECKS AND ALL THE OTHER KINDS OF IMPERVIOUS AREA.
LIKE IF YOU HAVE A RETAINING WALL, IF YOU HAVE THINGS LIKE THAT.
AND THEN THERE'S ALSO A THIRD AREA CALLED THE SIDEWAY SIDEWALKS AND DRIVEWAYS, WHICH IS A SEPARATE LAYER.
SO THEY HAVE WORKED THROUGH ALL THE BUILDING FOOTPRINT LAYER FOR A YEAR.
SO THEY'RE PRETTY CONFIDENT ABOUT IT.
THEY HAVE DONE ALL THE OTHER IMPERVIOUS AREA LAYER, THEY'VE DONE ALL THE PARKING LOTS, THEY'RE CONFIDENT ABOUT ALL THE DATA.
THE LAYER THAT THEY'RE CURRENTLY WORKING ON TO FURTHER CLEAN UP IS THE SIDEWALKS AND DRIVEWAYS, WHICH THEY WILL BE FINISHING.
SO THEY GAVE US THESE FOUR LAYERS AND THAT REALLY GAVE THE IMPERVIOUS AREA SQUARE FOOTAGE FOR, SO THEY, THEY GAVE US, GAVE IT US A SPECIAL LAYER, EACH OF THOSE FOUR LAYERS.
WE THEN TOOK ALL OF THOSE FOUR LAYERS, PROCESSED IT TOGETHER TO CREATE ONE COMPREHENSIVE IMPERVIOUS AREA LAYER.
YOU CAN IMAGINE IT LIKE A CANVAS.
THEN ONCE WE GOT THAT ONE SINGLE COMPREHENSIVE IMPERVIOUS AREA LAYER, WE HAD TO THEN TAKE IT AND WE HAD TO PROCESS IT AGAINST THE PARCEL POLYGON, THE PARCEL BOUNDARY.
SO WHEN YOU DO THAT, THEN THE GIS PROCESSING ATTACHES THE MESH, BASICALLY THAT SQUARE FOOTAGE WITHIN THAT PARCEL.
SO THAT'S HOW WE GOT THE IPOS AREA, RELIABLE IPOS AREA FOR EACH PARCEL FOR ALL THE HUNDRED AND 69,000 PARCELS.
NOW THAT, SO AGAIN, TO COME TO THAT SPATIAL IMAGERY THAT EVERYBODY'S ASKING, WE HAVE TO BE CAREFUL HERE.
ONE IS THAT, OKAY, SO THAT GIVES THE BILL, THAT GIVES THE INITIAL IMPERVIOUS AREA.
WE EXPLAINED LAST TIME THERE WERE TWO OTHER POLICY KIND OF DECISIONS WE MADE WHEN WE LOOKED AT THAT.
OF COURSE, IF THE PARCEL HAS IMPERVIOUS AREA, IT'LL, IT'LL SHOW IT.
WHAT ABOUT UNDEVELOPED LAND? THERE ARE A LOT OF UNDEVELOPED LAND IN CITY PARISH THAT, THAT WON'T HAVE ACTUAL IOUS AREA, BUT THEY ALSO CONTRIBUTE STORMWATER RUNOFF AND HEAVY SATURATED CONDITIONS, RIGHT? SO FOR THOSE, WE EXPLAINED TO YOU ALL LAST TIME THAT WE APPLIED AN APPROACH OF WHAT IS CALLED A RUNOFF COEFFICIENT APPROACH, ONLY FOR THOSE PARCELS UNDEVELOPED PARCELS WHERE WE TOOK UP TO THE FIRST HALF ACRE AND THEN ASSIGNED A RUNOFF COEFFICIENT OF 10% AND THEN CALCULATED WHAT WE CALLED EFFECTIVE IMPERVIOUS AREA, WHICH I EXPLAINED LAST TIME.
THAT'S HOW WE CALCULATED THAT EFFECTIVE IMPERVIOUS AREA FOR THOSE UNDEVELOPED LAND.
NOW YOU CAN IMAGINE, HOW DO YOU SPATIALLY SHOW THIS? YOU CAN'T SPATIALLY SHOW THIS IN A MAP.
THIS, THIS POLICY ON UNDEVELOPED PLAN THAT WE DID.
YOU REALLY CAN'T SHOW IT SPATIALLY BECAUSE IT'S NOT AN IMAGERY.
THAT IS SOMETHING WE DID IT IN EXCEL AFTER WE, WE GOT ALL OF THIS DATA.
SO THAT WAS ONE POLICY DECISION THAT WE EXPLAINED LAST TIME.
AND WE EVEN ASKED YOU AS A QUESTION, DO YOU ALL CONCUR WITH THAT HALF ACRE THRESHOLD? THE SECOND, UH, AS ASSUMPTION WE MADE WAS ONCE WE CALCULATED THE IPOS AREA FOR ALL PROPERTIES, INCLUDING THE UNDERDEVELOPED LAND, THERE WERE, THERE WERE A QUITE A FEW PROPERTIES WHERE THE CALCULATED IPOS AREA WAS LESS THAN 500 SQUARE FEET.
SOME OF THEM TURNED OUT TO BE A HUNDRED SQUARE FEET.
SOME OF THEM TURNED OUT TO BE LIKE 120 SQUARE FEET.
IF YOU ARE GONNA SEND A CHARGE TO THEM FOR SMALL PENNIES, IF YOU'RE GONNA SEND A CHARGE, THEN YOU'RE NOT EVEN RECOVERING THE COST OF BILLING COLLECTION AND ALL OF THAT.
SO THAT'S WHY WE SAID ANOTHER POLICY WAS TO AT LEAST ASSIGN A MINIMUM OF 500 SQUARE FEET, WHICH IS ONE BILLING UNIT.
SO WHEN WE PUT ALL THIS TOGETHER, THAT IS WHAT WE CALL BILLABLE IMPERVIOUS AREA.
SO WE STARTED WITH INITIAL IMPERVIOUS AREA, MADE THESE TWO DECISIONS, AND THEN WE HAVE A BILLABLE IPOS AREA.
SO TO BE VERY CLEAR, THAT BILLABLE IPOS AREA WON'T SHOW, ESPECIALLY IN ANY COLOR.
WE CAN SHOW THE BILLABLE AREA THAT THOSE TWO ADDITIONAL PARAMETERS, WE CAN SHOW THE INITIAL IMPERVIOUS AREA SPATIALLY, WHICH IS WHAT THEY HAVE RIGHT
[02:20:01]
NOW.BUT THE BILLABLE IPOS AREA, WHAT WHAT THEY'RE GOING TO DO IS THAT WHEN YOU CLICK ON A POLYGON, THAT SQUARE FOOTAGE WILL SHOW UP AS A VALUE.
SO IT'LL ACTUALLY HAVE A VALUE THAT WILL SAY, THIS IS A TOTAL LAND AREA FOR THIS PARCEL.
THIS IS A TOTAL BILLABLE WASTE AREA FOR THIS PARCEL.
IT'LL TAKE THE BILLABLE WASTE AREA DIVIDED BY 500 SQUARE FEET AND IT'LL SAY, THIS IS A BILLING UNIT FOR A PARCEL.
AND LATER, IF A STORMWATER CHARGE IS TO BE ESTABLISHED, IT CAN ALSO SHOW THE STORMWATER CHARGE.
SO WHEN SOMEBODY CLICKS ON A POLYGON, IT'LL SHOW ALL THOSE AS VALUES.
SO I JUST WANT YOU ALL TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHOWING SOMETHING SPATIALLY IN COLOR MAP VERSUS THE ACTUAL DATA THAT A CUSTOMER CAN SEE.
AND FROM OUR EXPERIENCE DOING THIS, IN MANY PLACES WHERE THEY DO HAVE A WEB PORTAL, CUSTOMERS ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING WHAT MY NUMBERS ARE, WHAT'S MY TOTAL LAND SIZE, WHAT'S MY TOTAL INFO AREA, WHAT'S MY, IF YOU HAVE CREDITS, WHAT'S THE TOTAL CREDIT VALUE AND WHAT'S THE FINAL CHARGE THAT I'M PAYING? THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY CAN UNDERSTAND.
SO AND SO WHEN WILL THE REST HAVE THAT INFORMATION? YOU SAID IT JUST HAS THE COLOR.
YEAH, I'LL, I'LL FOLLOW UP WITH THAT.
UH, ONCE, ONCE WE HAVE, UH, AN ANSWER FROM, FROM I, BUT LET ME SAY THIS, THIS IS, THIS IS WHY PARTLY WHY IMPERVIOUS AREA WAS NOT ACCEPTED BECAUSE IT TOOK A VERY INTELLIGENT PERSON,
AND IN A PUBLIC MEETING, THEY STOP LISTENING AFTER MINUTE ONE AND SAY, LOOK, I'VE GOT A POOL, SO I'M HOLDING WATER.
AND I'VE GOT A LOW POINT ON MY DRIVEWAY THAT HOLDS WATER UNTIL IT EVAPORATES.
AND SO YOUR, YOUR FORMULA STINKS.
AND SO THE ABILITY TO EXPLAIN IT, THE WAYRA DID, I'LL NEVER REPLICATE THAT.
AND SO SOME PEOPLE JUST SHOWED UP AUTOMATICALLY AND SAID, YOU'RE, YOU'RE FLAWED.
AND THAT'S NOT THE WAY TO ASSESS THIS.
WERE THE IMPERVIOUS AREAS DIGITIZED VISUALLY FROM THE MAPS? IS THAT HOW THEY THEY CAME UP WITH EVERYTHING.
DID DID THE CITY CONSIDER, UH, FLYING A LI LOWER COVER WITH AN ALGORITHM TO CALCULATE THAT? SO THAT'S WHAT TYPICALLY IS DONE.
THEY DO A FLYOVER, UM, THEY, THEY DO A FLYOVER, THEY, THEY DO A FLYOVER, USUALLY DEPENDING ON THE COUNTRY.
MOST OF THE TIME THEY DO IT LEAF OFF SO THAT THEY CAN CAPTURE THE IMAGERY OF THE VARIOUS DELINEATIONS OF LAND.
THAT'S WHAT THE CITY ACTUALLY RECEIVED FROM NEAR MAPS.
THEY GOT THE IMAGERY OF THESE VARIOUS IMPERVIOUS SURFACES AND THEN THE THOSE, AND THEN THE CITY GIS TOOK THAT AND THEN THEY WERE ABLE TO HAVE THOSE FOUR LAYERS THAT I TALKED ABOUT.
THOSE ARE ALL BASED ON IMAGERY THROUGH, THROUGH FLYOVERS THAT WAS CAPTURED THERE.
THERE'S VISUAL IMAGERY, RIGHT? CORRECT.
WELL, LIDAR, YOU CAN, YOU CAN, YOU CAN SET THE ALGORITHM TO CALCULATE EXACTLY WHAT THE SUBSURFACE IS EVEN THROUGH LEAF, UH, LEAF ON IMAGERY.
UH, WE'LL HAVE TO CHECK WITH ACTUALLY WHAT NEAR MAP DID WHAT, WHETHER THEY GAVE A LIDAR IMAGERY.
I'LL GET THAT VERY SPECIFIC INFORMATION, UH, TO CONTEST THAT PART OF THAT MINISTRY.
THERE, THERE IS A, UH, THERE IS A SMALL PERCENTAGE IN THERE.
THAT WHERE WE ASSUME WE WOULD HAVE TO MAKE SOME ADJUSTMENTS.
SO WE, I THINK WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 10 MINUTES LEFT.
UM, WELL, SEVEN MINUTES ACTUALLY.
DO WE, DO WE WANT TO MAKE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS TODAY, EVEN IF IT'S ON THE BILLING MECHANISM, IMPERVIOUS AREA, ICO, IMPERVIOUS AREA, OR WE'VE AT LEAST GOT A, WE'VE GOT A REQUEST FROM, FROM COUNCILMAN HUDSON ON SOME, ON A VERY SPECIFIC ITEM IS IS THERE AT LEAST A SOMETHING TO TELL US WHAT, WHAT DIRECTION WE SHOULD GO IN WHEN WE'RE PROVIDING INFORMATION TO YOU? SO, SO STATE THE THINGS THAT WE STILL HAVE TO DO GOING FOR IT.
WE, WHAT, WHAT ARE THOSE? MAYBE THIS, I'M SORRY.
JUST GO AHEAD AND AND RESTATE THE THINGS THAT WE STILL NEED TO DO AND THEN MAYBE WE CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION BETTER.
SO WE STILL NEED TO DO THIS, THIS, THIS, AND THIS.
SO THE, THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO DO IS ESTABLISH THE, THE LEVEL OF FUNDING.
THE, THE SECOND THING WILL BE TO ESTABLISH THE MECHANISM FOR THE FUNDING.
AND THEN THE THIRD THING WILL BE WHETHER THERE WILL BE A CREDIT PROGRAM.
AND IF THERE IS A CREDIT PROGRAM, WHAT WILL BE INCLUDED
[02:25:01]
WITHIN THAT CREDIT PROGRAM.AND WAS THERE ANY ADDITIONAL PRE-READ THAT WE NEEDED TO GET PRIOR TO NEXT MEETING TO HELP US IN DETERMINING THAT ANSWER? I THINK THE ONLY THING, GOING BACK TO THE, THE FUNDING MECHANISMS, DEPENDING IF, IF YOU DON'T GO THE IMPER, LET'S SAY YOU GO THE SALES TAX ROUTE, OKAY? SO IT IS VERY DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO, UM, TO CREATE A CREDIT SYSTEM.
IF THERE IS A, IF THE SALES TAX IS THE ROUTE, THAT'S IF THE, IF THAT'S THE MECHANISM THAT'S CHOSEN.
I THINK WE NEED TO STUDY THIS, WHICH WE WERE JUST PROVIDED, RIGHT? SO WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT? WE'RE STILL LOOKING AT IMPERVIOUS, WE'RE STILL LOOKING AT, UM, FLAT FEES.
THAT'S WHAT THIS OR A HYBRID OF BOTH OF THOSE OR SOMEBODY? A COMBINATION.
ADAM ALSO THE CALL THE, FOR THE
SO YOU'RE GONNA GET US THE, WHAT THE AMOUNT WOULD BE FOR 500 SQUARE FEET BASED UPON THE NEW NUMBER? YEAH.
SINCE BLACK AND VEACH HAS BEEN SO KNOWLEDGEABLE IN THIS, CAN THEY PROVIDE US AN OVERVIEW AS TO WHAT TRAPS ARE OUT THERE BY ADOPTING ANY OF THESE OVERALL? I DON'T NEED IT NOW, BUT I MEAN, WHAT, BY GOING, YOU REALLY NEED TO CONSIDER, THIS IS A PROBLEM WE HAVE SEEN IN THE PAST BY USING THIS METHOD, OR WE HAVE SEEN BETTER SUCCESS USING THIS METHOD.
WHAT YOU HAVE WAY MORE KNOWLEDGE THAN WE COULD EVER HAVE IN UNDERSTANDING KIND OF GOING FORWARD.
AND I THINK IF YOU COULD HELP GUIDE US THROUGH, AND WHEN I SAY TRAPS, I MEAN THE FACT THAT THEY WENT IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION, A GOVERNMENTAL BODY WENT IN A CERTAIN DIRECTION AND IT ENDED UP BLOWING UP, UH, BECAUSE OF SUCH AND SUCH.
IF YOU COULD HELP US KIND OF GET THROUGH THAT ASPECT OF IT, I THINK THAT WOULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR THE COMMITTEE TO HEAR.
I MEAN, WE CAN, WE CAN GIVE A, LIKE A WHITE PAPER BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING ON, FOR EXAMPLE, THE PROS AND CONS OF HAVING AN MOUS AREA CHARGE FUNDING MECHANISM VERSUS A SALES TAX VERSUS A PROPERTY TAX.
WE HAVE SOME OF IT TODAY, BUT WE'LL, WE'LL PUT IT AS A WHITE PAPER.
UM, AND THEN, UM, WE CAN ALSO, WHEN WE DO THAT IN, IN ONE OF THE, WE CAN, WE'LL MAKE IT AS SIMPLE FOR YOU TO READ, NOT A LONG NARRATIVE.
WE'LL PUT IT IN A TABULAR FORMAT SO THAT YOU KNOW WHAT THE BENEFITS ARE, WHAT THE CHALLENGES ARE.
AND THEN IN PROBABLY IN THE LAST COLUMN, WE COULD EVEN SAY, HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF THIS UTILITY DOING A HUNDRED PERCENT OF THEIR COST RECOVERY THROUGH IMPROV CITY CHARGE NOW.
AND WE, WE CAN TAKE FOR EXAMPLE, A UTILITY FROM, WE'LL TAKE A SMALL UTILITY AND A LARGE UTILITY AND WE CAN TELL YOU BOTH ESTABLISHED UTILITIES AND WE CAN SAY, WHAT HAVE THEY REALLY DONE? MEANING, YOU KNOW, THE SIMPLE ANSWER IS THEY'RE ABLE TO SCALE THE PROGRAM AS PROGRAM NEEDS EVOLVE.
WHEN YOU HAVE AN IMPROV AREA CHARGE, THEY'RE ABLE TO SCALE THE SCALE THE PROGRAM, LIKE A WATER SEWER CHARGE.
IF IT IS A SALES TAX, WE'LL TELL YOU, HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF UTILITY THAT IS USING SALES TAX.
BUT WHAT EXACTLY ARE THEY COVERING WITH THE SALES TAX REVENUE AND WHAT THEY'RE NOT ABLE TO COVER WITH A SALES TAX REVENUE AND WHAT SOME OF THE IMPLICATIONS ARE.
ANY OTHER REQUESTS? QUEST? THIS WAS A REALLY GOOD MEETING.
DO I HAVE A MOTION TO ADJOURN? WE'LL MOVE.
I DON'T THINK WE HAVE A QUORUM.