[0:00] It

[0:07] is 6.31 PM, and I call the September 3rd, 2026, environmental services commission meeting to order. Next, I will do a roll call.

[0:21] Commissioner Margolis, Commissioner Highnosh.

[0:25] Here. Commissioner Tyson.

[0:28] Present. Commissioner de Pertis.

[0:31] Present. And commissioners, one, and

[0:34] Laxon are excused as evening.

[0:37] Good evening and welcome to the September 3rd

[0:40] Environmental Services Commission meeting.

[0:43] At this point I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda.

[0:48] I have motion to approve.

[0:52] I second.

[0:54] Hearing no objections.

[0:55] the agenda is approved as motioned.

[1:02] First item on the agenda is oral and written communications are now open.

[1:08] Remember there is a three-minute time limit per person and 30 minutes total per meeting.

[1:14] Public comment shall be limited to matters relating to the city of Bellevue Government and

[1:19] to subject matters encompassed within the powers and duties of this commission.

[1:23] Persons participating in commission meetings must not engage in speech or conduct that disrupts

[1:29] disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of any meeting.

[1:34] Disruptions may include, but are not limited to, failure of a speaker to comply with the commission bylaws,

[1:41] concerning public combat.

[1:43] Joe, do we have anyone registered for oral communications?

[1:46] I see we do.

[1:47] I have the list. And on there I see, make sure I get the correct one.

[1:59] Okay, the Mr. Zimmerman.

[2:01] You're up, you're up. If you'd like to make a comments. Yes.

[2:05] Yeah, guys. That's a pure discriminatory and harassment because it's shared different from your chair.

[2:12] So this week we can get you a nice chair. There we go.

[2:16] Yes. That was easy to do.

[2:17] The last as is all equal.

[2:25] I love you guys.

[2:26] For you, you'll create a bunch of videos.

[2:31] I'm sorry.

[2:32] Yeah.

[2:37] My name is Alexander.

[2:38] I'm president of Sanda Paterica.

[2:41] Guys, you look to me like,

[2:43] what is this?

[2:44] Yeah.

[2:49] What is civilized war, I need to come to you, you.

[2:52] I like one detail.

[2:55] I think I like one detail.

[2:56] about an environment, what does it mean?

[3:01] Consul Tugaservit Union, what is min acting like a bunch of fascists in a human brain?

[3:07] Bell of YouTube, total collapse.

[3:10] In environment, what does your environment you're talking?

[3:13] Look what is happening around.

[3:16] Building, building, building, building.

[3:19] People, people, people.

[3:22] Transportation.

[3:23] It's a nightmare. What is talking about the environment? Right now, Beloved, you have so many

[3:33] gas from car, you know what is mean? Because traffic huge.

[3:41] People stay in for hours.

[3:46] It's a nightmare,

[3:47] But as I cannot understand who this is, or you did this, absolutely, because I talking about this for many years.

[3:56] You need something fix it, how we can fix it, this is only one.

[4:00] Sounds for fix it clean all.

[4:02] Consum, together with you, because by definition you are a killer, a bad jitter.

[4:09] I remember Bella, before a year or a year or a year, I remember Bella, a nice beautiful place.

[4:14] air, clean, not traffic. But this go worse, they don't go better, and I never see one

[4:21] board from you. You know what is mean? No, from console, cow, we can stop and this.

[4:26] No, one. It's a nightmare, you know what is mean? You know, care about people. You don't

[4:32] understand this? We have right now traffic, what is probably, don't have a knowledge, you

[4:37] small city like Blackbell with 450,000 people. Why you do this? Is a cutting cut speed,

[4:45] cutting cut speed, cutting cut speed, each time but as you cut speed for five miles,

[4:50] and then working 25% of the work.

[4:54] You understand by a token?

[4:56] You know, it's a way to do this.

[4:59] Yeah? Oh, maybe...

[5:00] If you mentally sick, or there's a problem, yeah, absolutely. You post to be, maybe, you'd go to mental institution, yeah, and doctor will be helping you. Little bit may situation better.

[5:15] We were Trump. We were New American Revolution. Stand up, slave and happy cow. Guys, it's cannot be forever. It's possible to be stopped and stopped and destroyed.

[5:25] Bell of Youth Fundamentally on Nazi dirty pig, Viva America.

[5:33] Thank you for my ask from my ask.

[5:45] Okay.

[5:45] I see no other names on the sign-up list for the oral communications or their others, members

[5:51] of the audience that would like to make three-minute oral communications at this point.

[5:58] Joe, do we have any written communications?

[6:04] No written communications outside of the public here in this time.

[6:09] Okay, thank you.

[6:14] Right, and then we'll move on to staff reports, do we?

[6:19] I do have a short staff report. I'm just one of touch-based, you recall of Dave Baish,

[6:25] our engineering assistant director, Dave took a position with North Shore Utility District

[6:29] to be their engineering manager. I don't know if we, I don't think we covered that back in these,

[6:35] it just was announced in July. So he left in late July early August and he's starting up over there.

[6:41] Very happy to be closer to home. Well, miss him. Thank you. That's it. All right.

[6:50] Then the next item on the agenda is approval of the minutes, the first being the June 18th

[6:56] minute.

[7:00] Motion to approve those minutes.

[7:05] Hi, second. Any discussion or corrections?

[7:12] Hearing none, those minutes are approved.

[7:14] Next, we'll look at the July second meeting minutes.

[7:19] I

[7:24] moved to approve the July second meeting minutes.

[7:29] Hi, second. Any discussion, corrections, alterations, additions, elaborations.

[7:37] Hearing none, the July 2nd meeting minutes are approved.

[7:45] Unfinished business, there is none at this point.

[7:51] So new business, we will have a presentation on the 27 and 28 utilities budgets and

[7:59] an update and then launch into a public hearing after that.

[8:13] Good evening commissioners.

[8:15] With me tonight, as you know, as Matt Hobbson, our fiscal manager, and we're here tonight

[8:19] to continue the Commission's review of utilities proposed budget and rates for the next

[8:23] biannium moment,

[8:42] just a quick preview.

[8:46] So the action for tonight, as you can see, the Commission will hold a public hearing

[8:49] on the utilities department proposed 2027 and 2028 operating budget, the 2027 to 2032 capital

[8:56] budget, and the rates needed for the next two years to fund the proposed budgets.

[9:03] Looking at the agenda for this evening, since we last presented to you, we've made a handful

[9:09] of minor updates to the proposed budget and the rates to share with you and the updates

[9:13] come in two essential flavors here.

[9:15] First, there were a series of technical adjustments made to citywide expenses like medical

[9:20] benefits, general insurance and indirect costs.

[10:00] Our capital renewal and replacement or RNR fund. This funding strategy preserves the long-term asset management

[10:07] strategy for the water utility, while also creating some near-term rate relief for customers. Following

[10:13] the recap, we will segue to the public hearing, and that will include a brief overview of the proposed budget

[10:19] and rates. Next, I'll turn it over to Matt to actually highlight the updates to utilities proposed budget and rates ahead of the public hearing.

[10:30] So the proposed rate increases for 2027 and 2028 as well as the projected rate increases for the following four years are shown on screen.

[10:45] These rates have been revised downward since July 2 commission meeting.

[10:52] The revision is due primarily to the Commission's direction to redirect the

[10:57] portion of the Water Utility Transfer from the R&R program.

[11:01] Generally, the rating crisis has been adjusted downward each year of the financial

[11:06] forecast by about 2-10s to 3-10s of 1%.

[11:11] I want to just pause here for context.

[11:15] So the figures on this slide represents the overall rate revenue increases required to support

[11:22] each utility.

[11:24] Due to the sewer rate equity adjustments, the actual bill impacts to single family residential

[11:31] and non-residential customer impacts will be slightly higher than shown here.

[11:36] And conversely, the rate increases for multi-family residential rate increase will be slightly

[11:41] lower than these estimates.

[11:43] more than these, these staff percentages.

[11:49] I'm now going to turn over to the vice chair to start the public hearing.

[11:54] Okay.

[11:59] Then we will start into the public hearing. The purpose of this hearing is to allow public comment on the 27 and 28 utilities proposed budget and rates.

[12:11] I want to remind all those who wish to speak at the public hearing to please sign up on the sheet.

[12:16] If you haven't already registered and I have that sheet.

[12:21] I want to remind the audience members that you don't need to sign to speak.

[12:25] However, those who sign in on the sheet will get to go first.

[12:29] The Commission's role is to consider the requested budget in rates, as well as the comments received,

[12:35] and provide a recommendation to City Council for their consideration.

[12:40] A summary of the public comments and the Commission's recommendation will be provided to City Council.

[12:45] This is tentatively scheduled for the Council's October 13th meeting.

[12:51] Scott Edwards, Utilities Deputy Director, who just moved closer.

[12:57] Okay, and Matt Hobbs and Fiscal Manager are here to present a high level overview of

[13:01] for the requested budget, which they just did.

[13:06] Thank you.

[13:07] Do I have a motion to open the public hearing?

[13:10] I move that we open the public hearing.

[13:13] and the second. The date is September 3rd. The time is 644 PM and the public

[13:24] meeting is now open. We will start with the testimony here of the signing

[13:29] sheet, Mr. Zimmerman. You are up first. You're ready for the day to day to day to

[13:35] Yes, I'm very happy. In my ass, I'm very happy.

[13:40] To people in my face.

[13:50] Oh, yeah.

[13:52] Yeah, my name Alex Abram, President of Stentabarka.

[13:55] Guys, what does she go racism?

[13:58] I'm spending school, Tvone, plus here, I cannot understand.

[14:02] I prefer cash, but it's cash, you can show me cash, I don't show me cash.

[14:13] Because this figure is this percentage, it's confused me.

[14:17] Are you idiot? Why don't show cash?

[14:21] Make this idiot look better?

[14:25] Because this room in a forest here at Bellevue, 150,000 idiot,

[14:30] Where is cash?

[14:33] Show me cash.

[14:34] You don't want to show cash, I will show cash now.

[14:37] So last week, two weeks ago, proximity, I am budget hearing here.

[14:42] So situation is so unique.

[14:44] So idiotic.

[14:45] Only pure, the generative, the idiotic can do it.

[14:49] With Bellevue, what is happen?

[14:51] So Bellevue budget, one point you billion dollars.

[14:56] So people from room ask.

[15:00] Budget director, you know what is mean? What's going on in city? He told me, yes, we don't have enough money.

[15:08] I am totally interested. So I'm stupid, you know what is mean, and I prefer cash.

[15:15] So a little bit come to my head and I think in my gosh GDP in bill 350, $150 billion.

[15:24] And, see, you barged $1 billion. So you freaking degenerative in the EU, what?

[15:31] And, when did you criminal, you know what I mean? Don't understand different between $150 billion and $1 billion.

[15:40] Who have the 100th floor, you nine billion dollars, where is the money go?

[15:46] You don't understand?

[15:48] Belawicitation absolutely idiotic, console pure critiquin' a bandita.

[15:54] Kill people, kill city, do you never seen?

[15:56] 150 billion dollars, GDP, one billion dollars, bail will be budget.

[16:01] But, that's what it's here.

[16:03] Cash, cash, cash, cash, all of me.

[16:05] Exactly. Why are you doing this? Can you explain to me?

[16:10] Amazon, Microsoft, this country,

[16:12] 20,000, Slav, Hobartin, for them,

[16:15] make a ton of money.

[16:16] If we have people or dinner, people like Mikho,

[16:19] Livin Belly, for four years, low income,

[16:21] senior citizen, you know what is mean?

[16:23] How only one billion dollars?

[16:25] My question to you, you freakin' creatina.

[16:28] What is different between 150 billion dollars?

[16:31] You know, it's a dual something, you know what is mean?

[16:35] Maybe, you don't know the other.

[16:37] Tvoni Bax, you don't know the other.

[16:40] Tvoni Millions, you don't know the other.

[16:42] Tvoni Millions, you know the other.

[16:43] Tvoni Millions, you know the other.

[16:45] You understand?

[16:46] Viva Trump, you know American Revolution.

[16:48] Stand up, Slevin.

[16:49] Happy cow.

[16:50] Stop it, steal us money.

[16:53] Thank you very much.

[16:54] Have a nice day.

[16:58] Bye.

[16:59] Bye.

[17:04] Bye.

[17:16] the second name on the list and I forgive me if I mispronounce this Al-Deaderman.

[17:31] I have exchanged emails concerning the low income utility rate assistance program.

[17:41] As you all know, a major driver for rate increases is cascaded in King County wastewater

[17:49] rate increases.

[17:53] Well, both of those agencies have shown a lot of sympathy for a little income customers.

[17:58] I don't believe either one of them is stepped up to the plate in terms of trying to provide

[18:03] some assistance.

[18:06] Many low-income customers have problems that they can't really solve.

[18:12] Leaks both in the service lines and indoor polling fixtures. There's really no helpful

[18:20] assistance that they can obtain that's going to help lower their costs and what's the

[18:33] as well as the city step up and offer some kind of assistance and I think that program would

[18:40] be best driven through the contributory rate assistance program where there's other two

[18:48] wholesale utilities in the city could contribute funds and practices and could also contribute

[18:54] funds to assist, well, I come customers to get plumbers or to get, we play our fixed

[19:02] broken fixtures, toilets, appliances, so that they get on track to reduce their consumption.

[19:09] And my suggestion was that you look at the high consumption customers that are already on

[19:15] rate of assistance. Those are the folks that really could use the help. Maybe that's some kind

[19:21] threshold target those folks and offer them some type of additional financial

[19:29] assistance not not that you know some kind of subsidy is not appropriate for them I

[19:38] think it is but I think they need to help in hand more than just a handout and I

[19:45] really like the city to consider offering a program like that do there will

[19:50] to come customers, particularly the high consumption.

[19:53] We'll come customers.

[19:55] Thank you.

[19:56] All right. Thank you for your comments.

[20:04] There are no other names on the list. Are there members of the public in attendance that would like to comment?

[20:14] All right, seeing none.

[20:35] Go at this point, we'll provide a high level overview of the 2,027-2,028 operating budget for the utilities department, as well as the 2,027-2,032 six-year capital improvement program.

[20:53] And then finally, in overview of the 2027 and 2028 utility rates, the slide up on screen shows the proposed to your operating budget for the four lines of business provided by the utilities department.

[21:10] It would be for water for sewer, storm water and for solid waste.

[21:15] In total, the two-year operating budget is about $588 million, and once again, that represents

[21:22] the funding necessary for the next two years to pay for our operating and our capital support

[21:28] needs.

[21:30] The commission has seen this pie chapter four, but just as an overview, starting at 12 o'clock,

[21:34] and moving clockwise, wholesale costs, which are in the red slice, total $175 million, or about

[21:42] one-third of the total biennial budget.

[21:46] Local and state taxes total $48.8 million, and support services total $34 million.

[21:56] Together, the wholesale services, the taxes, and support services,

[22:01] the comprised just over half of the total operating budget for the Utilities Department.

[22:07] The next PISLICE Intel is CIP support that's capital improvement program support and totals

[22:15] 176.7 million dollars, which is about a third of our operating budget, and then finally

[22:21] in the light blue PISLICE is the local operating costs, which total $74 million or about 15%

[22:28] of the operating budget.

[22:34] The next PISLICE is now moving into the capital improvement program

[22:38] Over the next six years, and this pie organizes the capital improvement program into areas of investment which align with city council strategic target areas.

[22:50] The primary funding source for the capital improvement program over the next six years is the annual transfer from the operating fund, which makes up about 90% of total funding.

[23:02] It is also funded by interest earnings on fund balances, grants, and in limited cases connection

[23:09] charts revenue.

[23:11] Due to the city's strong financial policies which proactively plan for the replacement

[23:15] of utility infrastructure, no new debt is required to fund these capital projects.

[23:22] The utility continues to invest over 75% of the CIP dollars for renewal and replacement

[23:27] of aging infrastructure which is shown in the blue slices and they're broken down by each of the three

[23:33] pipe utilities. In addition, the proposed capital improvement plan includes $66 million in the capacity

[23:40] for growth category. That's the orange slice and this is to fund the new reservoir, serving the

[23:46] downtown area and associated infrastructure needed to provide drinking water storage for downtown

[23:51] Bel-Red and Wilburton areas.

[23:54] And then the proposed CIP also expands investment in environmental preservation.

[23:59] The budget focuses on flood reduction and water quality improvement programs, while continuing

[24:05] to find fish-passage and stream improvement projects to preserve and protect our natural resources.

[24:11] And finally, some of the smaller slices, we have proposed to renovate E-Scape Yard as well

[24:21] north-end operation and maintenance facility. We would also continue funding projects that

[24:27] rehabilitate and improve existing groundwater wells and associate infrastructure for emergency

[24:32] supply which is shown in green.

[24:38] Annual rate increases are proposed as a support of the operating

[24:40] capital budgets from the previous two slides. Once again this is a recap of a previous slide in

[24:45] this presentation. You're being shown the overall rate revenue increases as proposed for the next

[24:51] two years by utility. In addition to that, a four-year projection from

[24:56] 2023-92,000, 32.

[25:01] The bill impacts associated with these proposed rate increases will vary by customer type, as well as by the level of water use, level of sewer flow, and the drainage intensity for each customer.

[25:14] To give you an idea of a typical bill impact, we have two slides, one for single-family residential and one for multi-family residential.

[25:20] So we look at the top left corner of the screen there, if these rate adjustments are approved

[25:26] by city council in November, the typical single-family residential monthly bill would increase

[25:32] $21.51 per month next year, from $229.52 to $251.3.

[25:42] A little less than half of that increase is to support pass-through cost increases for water supply

[25:48] and waste water treatment services from our wholesale partners.

[25:52] Expanding the City's Utility Bill Assistance Program would increase the monthly bill by about $1.93.

[25:59] All other local rate drivers, which include utility operations, capital program funding, taxes,

[26:08] and city support services would add $6.23 per month.

[26:14] To preserve fairness and utility rates, the typical single-family residential bill would increase

[26:19] $2.84 next year.

[26:22] This increases part of a five-year plan to sustain fair sewer rates for each of the different

[26:28] sewer utility customers' groups.

[26:31] And then finally, beginning next year, this would expand its utility assistance program to be

[26:36] available to approximately 10,000 more households.

[26:39] These customers would be eligible for a 35% discount on basic utility services, low-income

[26:48] seniors who are currently enrolled or who are currently eligible for the existing assistance

[26:53] program would continue to receive a 70% discount.

[26:57] And then if you move your eyes the right of the column there in 2028 using the same layout

[27:02] the typical single-family residential bill is projected to increase about $23.55, you can see

[27:08] middle of that right column. And then just to clarify those are monthly amounts rather than

[27:16] bi-monthly bills. Correct. The city does bill in a bi-monthly basis.

[27:23] Similarly out, I'm just

[27:24] for the other half of our customers, or households in Bellevue live in multifamily complexes,

[27:30] and so for a multifamily residential household, the typical bill impacts from these proposed

[27:35] rate increases will depend largely on how the property passes through these costs of utilities to its

[27:41] So these figures are on screen are more for illustrative purposes.

[27:47] Looking at the left side of the screen again,

[27:49] if these red adjustments are approved by Council November,

[27:52] the typical multi-family residential monthly bill would increase

[27:55] $10.15 per month.

[27:58] Generally, the rate drivers are proportionally similar

[28:01] to those shown in the previous slide with exception to two key differences.

[28:06] First, there is a downward adjustment of 95 cents per month

[28:10] sustain fairness and sewer rates. And even though many multi-family households do not receive

[28:16] bills from the city of Bellevue, they are still eligible for a rebate from the city if they

[28:20] qualify for low-income assistance. The eligibility and percent discount levels for this rebate

[28:26] are the same for our single-family residential customers.

[28:33] The next steps in this process are

[28:36] later on this month on September 17, the commission will be asked to consider the information presented

[28:42] today as well as the public feedback received to develop a recommendation to city council on utilities

[28:49] budget and on the rates. Then on October 13, the commission chair would present that recommendation

[28:57] to city council and council would then review and pose budget and rates and then we are anticipating

[29:03] action by city council on the overall budget that citywide plus in addition to the utilities department

[29:10] on November 17th. And just as a point of reference here, we also anticipate at that time that the

[29:16] sea council will consider the adoption of municipal code changes that would support expanding the

[29:22] bill assistance program, as well as the improvements to the utility connection charges that the

[29:27] commission reviewed earlier this year.

[29:31] With that said, I that concludes the brief summary of the

[29:40] I don't know.

[29:42] Chair, just before we conclude the public hearing, I did want to acknowledge the comments.

[29:46] Written comments that we included in your desk packet that will be included in the official record.

[29:53] With that, I think we can close the public hearing when we're in.

[30:00] All right, I will entertain a motion to close the public hearing, moved to close the public hearing.

[30:11] Second hearing, no dissent. The public meeting is closed at 7.01 pm.

[30:20] All right. Thank you. Scott and Matt and our next order of business

[30:28] is on the wastewater remote sensor monitoring program.

[31:02] All right, good evening, commissioners. I'm Chad Beck, the assistant director for operations and maintenance. I'm here today to share an exciting new maintenance operations program in our wastewater utility that has provided valuable insights prevented damaging overflows and reduced maintenance costs.

[31:18] Here with me today is Richard Peckler, a senior engineering technician in our wastewater maintenance section.

[31:23] He's been with the city of Bellevue for 25 years starting as a maintenance worker and promoting through the ranks to become one of our most knowledgeable subject matter experts on the city's ways for you to

[32:40] All right. Okay, so we'll write here. Yep. All right. Thanks for bearing with us. All right. Next. Next slide.

[32:52] This presentation is informational only the purpose of the presentation is to provide the Environmental Services Commission.

[32:58] With an overview of Bellevue's wastewater collection system maintenance program,

[33:01] explain how the level monitoring technology works and how the pilot was implemented.

[33:05] And highlight the operational, financial, and asset management benefits observed to date.

[33:17] All right, so the wastewater preventive maintenance program is one of three maintenance programs along with our condition assessment and corrective maintenance programs.

[33:27] So the wastewater maintenance section is broken up into three teams that align into those three programs.

[33:34] The preventive maintenance program is comprised of a team that goes around the city and basically

[33:40] jets the lines with high pressure water to remove blockages that could be caused by a number

[33:45] of things including roots, what we call fog or fatso oils and grease, and other things that get flushed

[33:53] down the toilet like rags,

[33:58] sanitary wipes, all kinds of different objects, wedding rings,

[34:02] Anything can be flushed if it can fit through the pipe.

[34:06] So they'll bulge up those lines to remove those blockages

[34:09] and ensure that the lines the flow is as designed.

[34:13] Our goal in general is to try to eject those lines every 10 years.

[34:17] So every line in the city, and we have over 600 miles of wastewater pipe,

[34:23] is the goal to eject those every 10 years.

[34:26] However, there are some lines that need that maintenance more often.

[34:32] And we do those either on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annual basis.

[34:39] In addition to jetting, we also use either specialty saws or in some cases a foam solution

[34:46] to clear roots in particular.

[34:49] So they'll send it's like a circular saw that goes through the pipe

[34:54] and actually clear the roots and then push them down to the next manhole or where we'll.

[35:00] The recurring maintenance of specific serial lines with based on limited data, routes and intervals were created as reactions to open flows or observations of the manhood.

[35:10] So basically, if they had a line and they were before this technology, if it was blocked by a root safe, then they'd watch it.

[35:17] If it did it again, in six months, they just put on a list and every six months, they just go out and clean it and get it, because they didn't have the technology available that we have today.

[35:25] So that's all these lines, these maintenance lists were done.

[35:28] Are they see this, that's coming, the roots coming through the manhole,

[35:31] why they were jetting, and then it's okay, we got an issue here.

[35:35] Historically, there wasn't any records kept why these lines were added

[35:41] to these maintenance lists, and these maintenance lists grew over time.

[35:46] As a result of maintenance frequencies were largely inherited

[35:51] from previous generations.

[35:52] So, you know, when I started here, there was a gentleman at work first named Mike Burbridge,

[35:59] and he grew up here with the restructory fields.

[36:02] So, he's seen all this change and, you know, he's to tell me about the stuff that they found

[36:06] in the house and it was literally observation, okay?

[36:11] In 2012, one, we began evolution of technology,

[36:14] you gather, evaluate your technology, gather, system data,

[36:20] as time has passed, the data that

[36:23] has become available and the sensors that have been come available for us to monitor our

[36:29] system. These are the sensors that we're using now. They're used so in our, it's like a submarine.

[36:39] This is the unit here. This is the one that we're using right now. They're mounted below the

[36:45] So I can mount this in a road wave manhole, a sidewalk manhole, any pedestrian path.

[36:51] They're never going to be in a figure with this and it's not ever going to be a hazard

[36:54] for them to worry about.

[36:55] They'll never even know it's in there.

[36:57] So you can measure the depth and what it does is when I program it, I program it to the bottom

[37:04] of the channel is and then the sonar bounces off the water and tells us the depths and it will

[37:10] to give us live data, as it goes through.

[37:14] And it's all done via 5G cellular for this antenna.

[37:17] They've actually improved these antennas

[37:18] and these newer ones that we have now,

[37:20] this is an actual better antenna.

[37:23] The software that comes with these things

[37:25] that we can run a dashboard allows us to define

[37:31] our own parameters on our end.

[37:34] We don't have to interject with anybody else.

[37:39] We do it ourselves.

[37:40] So I do it right here on the computer, I'm going to put it in the head back there.

[37:44] The software, which here's an example of our page, that right there, I can program that

[37:55] so that it sends out an email, there's three people on the email, there's a supervisor

[38:01] the crew leader of myself, and it also sends out one to our wastewater standby personnel,

[38:07] And it sends them a text message saying they need to check the system.

[38:12] So it's 24-7 live monitoring.

[38:15] The one you're looking at here is actually one that will never move.

[38:19] It is on the lakeline down at Burroughs Landing.

[38:23] And what you're seeing there is actually at night when they flush that line.

[38:27] That's the flush cycle coming through right there.

[38:30] And in fact that little bump is when I asked them to test it to make sure everything was working right

[38:36] because it was a little bit of a problem,

[38:38] and it caught that bump.

[38:39] Those two lines up there,

[38:40] those are the threshold lines.

[38:42] The yellow one is the early morning one, early warning,

[38:45] and the red one is, you've got an issue,

[38:47] come on, get out here.

[38:49] So that one, that one is, it's just a series of,

[38:53] you've got something going, hey, it's moving forward,

[38:56] you need to react, not just monitor it, okay?

[38:58] And like I said, all this is programable.

[39:04] Okay, so the implementation,

[39:08] We initially purchased 10 sensors, and the sensors were deployed on the means that we had the most cleaning on it, which was the monthly ones, where we would go out monthly and cleaning these lines.

[39:21] Again, those were being cleaned with high velocity pressure. So there's 3,000 PSI at the pump.

[39:28] It's one foot drop per foot of hose, we have 800 foot of hose, so that's 22 psi, so anybody

[39:35] is familiar with using a pressure washer, that's what we're doing in the inside of pipe.

[39:40] Where that becomes really important is the degradation to the pipe.

[39:43] I'm sure that you've all seen old curves that got the rocks on them and the smoothness is gone,

[39:47] well that's what happens inside of a concrete pipe. That smoothness goes away and then the pebble

[39:51] shell, once that does it reduces the volume that can flow through there, and that's caused by

[39:56] overgating. And that's one of the reasons this program was implemented.

[40:00] Okay? To slow that degradation down. Okay?

[40:05] The maintenance activities. Once you've put in, the maintenance activities were deferred. So they put one in a monthly. They didn't touch it. They've monitored for a prescribed amount of time. When they decided, you know what we don't need to do this monthly and more, they put it on a different rotation. Because it still needs to be done, but not as frequently as monthsly. Okay?

[40:24] The staff monitors the sensor and the data and analyze pipe flow behavior.

[40:29] There's three of us that have the ability to look at this.

[40:31] One of the things that came up is there's a one up there on the top of that screen.

[40:34] That map way up top right across the redmond technology center.

[40:39] That one we found.

[40:40] I found that every once in a while there's a blip at night where there's a high flow spike.

[40:43] And it goes away.

[40:44] There's no longer the manual.

[40:45] I think there's dumping something.

[40:46] But it's data that we didn't know it was happening before.

[40:48] Now, we know what's happening.

[40:52] So, when the sensors go off, the manhole levels indicate a pipe lock, and trigger cleaning.

[41:00] So, what happens is we're watching them and if it says, hey, it's getting up at this level,

[41:04] go clean it.

[41:04] Well, that's the frequency that we'll start cleaning it now.

[41:06] So, some of them might sit for a year before we have to do anything.

[41:09] But then, we got to, hey, now, is the real time frame.

[41:12] Some may come off at least completely.

[41:14] That's the ideal to reduce the overall maintenance by implementing the way we did.

[41:17] Once the data identifies optimal clean and frequency sensor is usually moved to a new location,

[41:23] that is true with acceptance of three locations so far.

[41:26] There's one front of overly hospital.

[41:29] We have problems with some of this stuff that comes out of the hospital.

[41:32] You got a lot of people working there.

[41:34] They don't know all of the rules.

[41:35] They're going to flush something eventually.

[41:37] So that's the critical site, right?

[41:38] So 116th, we don't want that one over full.

[41:40] In fact, we had a response to that this last week.

[41:43] We got an alarm.

[41:44] Our crew was able to go out there and take care of the issue.

[41:46] and it never even hit the street.

[41:49] They were able to clear the manhole and move on

[41:52] and not cause any environmental issues

[41:54] and we didn't have to go out there previously,

[41:58] just to get it just because, okay?

[42:00] So these frequencies are slowly coming down

[42:03] to a more manageable level.

[42:06] So again, once they're identified,

[42:08] they'll sit there a long time, then we can move them.

[42:11] But it's a long process.

[42:13] But some of these clean amounts are annually, okay?

[42:16] like the ones down in it, in fact,

[42:17] or you're all they're quarterly,

[42:18] so they're gonna sit there a while.

[42:20] And then we'll be able to move them.

[42:21] One thing to add to it's nice is that

[42:23] when they, on a lot of cases,

[42:25] when these were put on those different maintenance

[42:28] frequency lists, it was the results of some incident

[42:31] that happened.

[42:32] It could have been a blockage,

[42:33] but it was probably a blockage

[42:34] that resulted in an overflow.

[42:36] And in some cases, maybe it was an overflow

[42:38] that hadn't associated claim.

[42:40] And so we would put it on a list in order to try,

[42:43] not just obviously to maintain the system better,

[42:45] but also to avoid having to pay out a claim of a similar nature.

[42:49] But what you don't always know is what caused that

[42:53] and how often do we actually need to go out.

[42:56] So as Richard said, we're able to reduce the maintenance frequency,

[43:00] which then allows us to redirect that labor hour toward something else.

[43:06] But also importantly, it's defensible from a risk perspective.

[43:10] So we can actually point to the the updated frequency and it's not just because we haven't had any issues

[43:18] it's because we can show the actual data and say we're you know we're basing this cleaning frequency

[43:23] on the historical data that we've seen from that manhole. So it's not just the maintenance benefits

[43:30] it's also you know the risk and financial benefits that come or the risk of avoidance I should say.

[43:44] So some of the benefits that we've already realized since we implemented this, I know that we previously came to the ESC back and I want to say 2022 when we were first

[43:56] Really initializing this project or this pilot project with with the sensors that we had initially selected and we've actually updated our technology over time

[44:08] and try different vendors just to get a sense for what the different capabilities are and the different

[44:14] cost models associated with different services. But regardless of the vendor, we have been able

[44:21] to make significant changes to those frequencies. So almost all of our monthlys were moved

[44:26] into either quarterly, semi-annually or annually. And now we're at the point where we're rotating

[44:32] amongst the different, or sorry, quarterly sites to better evaluate those, right?

[44:38] So we were able to put all of the monthlys on a six-month sort of test pit phase and

[44:43] see how often we had to clean and now we've moved on to those quarterlys.

[44:49] The other, so as Richard said, one of the main benefits in addition to reduce maintenance

[44:53] is we're extending the life of the pipe, right?

[44:56] Every time you scour it, as he said, you're removing some of that.

[45:02] So we're sending the life of the pipe, we're also improving the performance over the life of it, because, again, we're not making the pipe rougher. So it's going to stay smooth, which is going to improve flow.

[45:13] We've been able to redirect the staff who would have been doing that monthly cleaning to other activities. So we are progressing from what our goal used to be of about 80 repairs per year to defects that were found through our CCTV program.

[45:29] We're migrating towards what we think is an eventual goal of something close to maybe like a hundred repairs per year and that will definitely help with working through our backlog of repairs or sorry of defects that we have found through the CCTV program many of which are just sitting waiting to be repaired but we just don't have the staff capacity to address them you know all at once right we have to work through them over time.

[45:54] We are importantly avoiding overflows, so Richard brought up a great example.

[46:01] If you've ever been to Burroughs Landing, which is a really small, it's actually maintained

[46:05] by parts department, but it's really just more like a small water excess within a neighborhood.

[46:09] It's just south of Chis and Beach Park, but the manhole that is there is, I don't know,

[46:16] five feet from the water line, and it's where the lakeline comes in to the shore.

[46:22] And if there was a blockage downstream of that in the lake line, that would cause an overflow from that manhole, there is no way that we would, by the time anybody sees it, by the time we get there, we've already put water in the lake.

[46:39] So having, this is one location that we talked about where we will always have this sensor, because it allows us to see that overflow or the potential for an overflow before it actually occurs.

[46:50] we can set the level so that by the time it's starting the line is starting to search

[46:55] charge, we can already dispatch a crew or our standby person can and we can be

[47:01] unseen to mitigate that overflow hopefully or at least find out what the cause is

[47:05] and greatly reduce the chances of an overflow. So it's not just the maintenance

[47:10] improvement, it's also protecting the city from a list of discharge.

[47:15] And then finally, it's, we are, we have not just the initial 10 that we talked about in our deployment, we have now doubled that.

[47:24] So now we now have 20 sensors throughout the city, which is important because we want to continue to rotate them through different sites to better learn what's happening in those areas,

[47:33] but we want to still keep them at those critical locations.

[47:37] One of the things that was important to us is that we were able to justify the costs during this pilot phase

[47:42] with some sort of ROI, and the ROI we use was the deferred or the maintenance that we were able to avoid, right?

[47:49] So, but with those ones that are left in place, that ROI kind of goes away.

[47:54] In that case, you're really just paying for it with risk avoidance instead of deferred maintenance.

[48:00] So, there's a balance there where we have to decide, okay, which ones are going to be for learning,

[48:05] and which ones are going to be for preventive preventive overflows.

[48:15] So, what are we looking at for the future?

[48:18] We are planning to install additional sensors in the coming years.

[48:23] Our hope is in the 2728.

[48:25] We've budgeted assuming, you know, it's always hard to know how the vendors costs will

[48:29] go up.

[48:30] But assuming that they progress what we think we are, we're hoping to double again the number

[48:37] of sensors that we have in the system.

[48:39] That is our goal.

[48:41] And we've budgeted for that.

[48:42] In addition, we're also looking at other places within the utility that we can employ

[48:47] these sensors.

[48:48] The most logical one is actually the storm and surface water system.

[48:52] It's a little different.

[48:53] We don't have the same type of preventive maintenance, like rigid preventive maintenance

[48:59] schedule for the storm water system that we do in sewer, so the ROI would be different.

[49:04] But from a risk avoidance, there's a lot of really good use cases.

[49:08] The example you see here is in the downtown area.

[49:13] There are some pipes because of the development that we've had downtown.

[49:16] There are some parts of our storm system

[49:18] that when we have these large rain events that are unfortunately more common,

[49:24] you see the system search,

[49:26] charge, and you see localized flooding.

[49:29] And so at least having earlier indicators,

[49:33] there's probably some things that we could do to

[49:35] to help mitigate those search charges and then also it provides really valuable information

[49:42] for engineering team as they try to do system modeling and I and I. And then lastly, we're

[49:49] also, I would say one of the cool things is that this has also in a sense kind of changed the

[49:55] culture within our wastewater utility.

[49:58] Our maintenance staff

[50:00] We saw the benefits that the censors had, and they're now looking for other things that they can bring in.

[50:05] And one of the cool things is we've, instead of sending like the superintendents or the managers to the trade shows, we've been sending the field staff.

[50:16] And they come back and they, instead of the manager trying to sell the guys or girls in the section on this cool new thing, they saw the conference, they're coming back and telling their boss, hey, I really think this could help us.

[50:27] And that helps with implementation because they're buying off on it.

[50:30] And so two really cool examples would be that I hope to come back maybe in a year to

[50:35] and tell you about our implementation of is the first is a UV cure balloon.

[50:40] So when we slip line a pipe, which means when we put a fiberglass sock kind of in,

[50:49] and then inflate it, we usually put in a catalyst to cure that epoxy that has to sit

[50:54] maybe an hour with that balloon inflated pushing against the pipe to repair like a crack or a break of some sort.

[51:02] But there's a new system where they actually have inside the balloon a UV light that will cure it almost instantly.

[51:09] So instead of our crews having to sit there for an hour and wait for this thing to cure,

[51:13] they can put it in and inflate it, turn the light on, turn the light off, pull the balloon, move on.

[51:19] Right? So imagine how much faster you can work. The other piece of technology that we're buying is something that's called the reinstatement tool.

[51:27] So when we use that slip line, in any sections where there might be a T that goes to a with a stub to a house, that would be an area where if there was a defects there, we couldn't slip line that because we don't want to cover the T going to the house, right?

[51:41] So in those cases, we would actually have to dig that section up and replace it with a whole new whole new T.

[51:46] But now they've made a tool that allows us to find exactly the center of where that covered

[51:52] area is and then drill through it with a perfectly sized hole and basically reinstate that connection.

[52:01] And so not only does that make the repair faster, but now we don't have to dig up either the street,

[52:06] or the person's yard to do that repair.

[52:09] So, both of those were brought to us by members of our crew who went to these trade shows,

[52:16] found these things, and are excited to be implementing new tools or technology, however you want to look at it.

[52:24] So, it really is a great attitude that we have right now in that section of just looking for ways to improve.

[52:32] Do you want to add?

[52:33] You know, I honestly, I say this is one of the things that I do most excited about lately.

[52:40] My job is gotten kind of boring because I've been doing it so long.

[52:43] So, it's literally I can do it so easy that I just do it.

[52:46] I don't even have to think about it.

[52:47] But that's fine with me.

[52:49] But this kind of stuff coming into the evening tree.

[52:51] It helps us so much.

[52:52] This technology.

[52:53] One of the things I didn't show you earlier is when this is mounted in the manhole.

[52:59] This stays in the manhole.

[53:00] If this unit goes bad, I can take one from not another critical area, bring it over, drop it back into the clip,

[53:11] put my computer next to it on the truck, connect to it by Bluetooth or satellite and reprogramment for that spot.

[53:19] That's one of the greatest values of this. It's completely hidden from the public. It's not a hazard, it's movable. It's easily to put it in another spot.

[53:30] I'm excited about this stuff. In fact, I've been pushing their system pretty hard and they've had to make some changes to it.

[53:36] So they're actually quite pleased because I'm using it differently. We, the city, are using it differently than they envisioned.

[53:45] Yeah, so there's actually did a paper on it.

[53:48] Case study on it and put it out for the water waste water world as bringing new technology in.

[53:54] Also, highlight Richard was recently invited to present at the smart water conference down in Portland this year, in combination with Caliper, the vendor, and so it's not just that we're excited about it.

[54:09] The industry is as well.

[54:12] Congratulations. It is really exciting.

[54:15] It's infectious to hear your, you tell the story and we're excited just before hearing all the details really,

[54:22] like a great success story. So thanks for sharing.

[54:25] So really great. I've had that adaptation of technology for our work. And that's what

[55:00] With fresh water coming to your faucet and you can live with sewage not going works both to be. It's not the most pleasant, but you can't live without good water.

[55:07] But so as water quality and all this stuff in regulation to come in, more people are paying attention to what we're doing.

[55:14] And this technology is rapidly being applied to our industry and it's wonderful and it's exciting.

[55:19] These things I'm really excited about these things because we're going to be able to change our business on it.

[55:23] A lot better efficiency.

[55:29] So, yeah, echo what Commissioner Thieson said it is really exciting to hear about this new technology and I'm really excited because I focus on work force transitions and our work force in the water industry is really

[55:43] we're struggling to keep people interested in water and wastewater and so when we have these kinds of tools or toys, right?

[55:52] I think the younger generation is going to go, yeah, that's really cool.

[55:56] I want to do this, right, and so your remarks about the culture and everything, I really

[56:01] appreciate that, and I hope to see more.

[56:06] One question I did have, you sort of already addressed that I was wondering about laterals and

[56:11] the direct customer impacts of technology and what are we going to see?

[56:16] you know, and I wasn't sure if this particular tool was helping, you know, from a customer

[56:22] standpoint, but it sounds like you've got other things that you're going to be deploying

[56:26] to really help customers figure out when they're, whatever, six-year-old lateral is going

[56:32] to fail. I'm a neighbor who had to replace their lateral, and then they had to dig up the street

[56:38] as you, and wow, was that expensive? Right.

[56:44] Do you want to address the laterals?

[56:46] I mean, as far as with this.

[56:48] Well, as far as the lottoes themselves as an individual,

[56:51] we don't have to wait them on until those yet.

[56:53] There's no way to monitor a lot, or yeah,

[56:54] that's something the homeowner would have to do.

[56:57] However, with this, there's a backup in the main,

[56:59] just going to fit multiple people.

[57:01] You know, we can get ahead of it before it actually happens.

[57:04] There's one, the sensor that's behind,

[57:07] like a Samaritan high school on the trail that runs behind it.

[57:11] And our standby guy got pinged by that one

[57:13] was able to get out there and get response to it before it became a real issue. Because that's

[57:19] back there on the trail, right? Who's going to see it? Right? It's just like Burrell's landing.

[57:24] If it's overflowing in the winter, no one's down there. I've only seen two people down there all

[57:28] the time they went down there. Neither one of them lived in Bellevue. They were here visiting.

[57:32] And so, yeah, it's it's exciting for this data driven. It's for data driven responses to stuff.

[57:39] So yeah, I like it.

[57:41] I would say the one thing that the other tool I talked about was probably more likely to

[57:46] benefit the homeowner with respect to their lateral, just because instead of those T's and

[57:53] maybe the problems that are up from those T's within the stuff being avoided because we don't want

[57:59] to do a major digging repair project for a T. Now we can slip on it, we'll do the reinstatement

[58:06] And then with that, we're more likely to see problems that might be within the

[58:10] stub as we, you know, video and reinstate that that's connection.

[58:19] This is a super cool. I remember, I think it was probably when I first joined the commission here.

[58:22] Yeah.

[58:23] Cool toys.

[58:26] So very cool that you're doing it.

[58:29] I'm just curious kind of the business arrangement with the vendor.

[58:33] So obviously you're buying the hardware from them.

[58:36] So you didn't depend on them for all the software or how much

[58:40] What's the relationship, which parts do we take over to be on?

[58:43] She just explained that briefly.

[58:45] Yeah, so the initial cost for the unit, there's a hardware purchase cost.

[58:52] And then with that, there is a small SaaS fee.

[58:57] But it's nominal compared to actually the purchase cost of the hardware.

[59:02] And they kind of put you into tears.

[59:04] So if you have like zero to, you know, 10 devices and then 10 to 100, you know, and it kind of goes from there. So obviously as we deploy more, they will probably, we may, we may go into different tiers and then have to reevaluate. And, and as we've shown, we're also not afraid to look at different vendors. You know, this is our second vendor, but we've evaluated a number of them and, and we're always going to be looking for what the best deal is from a stewardship standpoint.

[59:34] I will say to if Richard keeps pushing them to add new functionality, we might see our cost

[59:39] club as well.

[59:41] I wanted to let you know that we don't have to worry about software because it lives on

[59:45] the cloud.

[59:45] So we never have to update our software, it's on their end.

[59:49] We just access their cloud, there's no software that actually lives on ours on our system

[59:53] at all.

[59:54] It's just a web accident.

[59:56] It sounds like it's their software that we're using.

[59:58] it's that we haven't more not

[1:00:01] The reason Richard highlights that is because our video trucks have the software that we use to collect the CCTV footage that is on within those trucks, and then, like any system, you've got to update them, it can be painful at times to keep those things up to date. So it's a big deal to them to have a cloud-based system because it's such a breath of fresh air compared to what they deal with on the video trucks.

[1:00:31] that.

[1:00:35] And not having to clear blockages reactively when you can

[1:00:39] proactively get it just in time. The crews are a lot of happy. I've seen

[1:00:44] Richard smile like this a lot. So so it's it's it's it's very valuable. A lot

[1:00:50] of levels. I do think like I'm the condition assessment of the video

[1:00:54] inspection will be coming back probably in five or ten years talking about AI

[1:00:57] and some of the things and how that can help our our inspection processes as

[1:01:02] Well, we're just going to be careful here.

[1:01:06] I'll be getting into contract negotiations with staff because you're all in the same

[1:01:09] other time.

[1:01:10] It won't replace anybody.

[1:01:11] This stuff needs to happen.

[1:01:12] We need to get out there and make sure we're looking at our infrastructure, making sure

[1:01:15] it's maintained properly.

[1:01:17] But doing stuff proactively in all the field sections is always preferred if we can do that.

[1:01:24] One of the phrases that you use the resonates is reduced risk and that can be a tough

[1:01:31] So, I support investing in reduced risk.

[1:01:38] Just to piggyback on what Mr. Harvard just said

[1:01:40] about personal and contractual stuff out,

[1:01:42] we have so much work to do.

[1:01:44] There's still system like cleaning.

[1:01:46] It has to be done.

[1:01:46] They have to go through the whole system

[1:01:47] every 10 years no matter what we do with this.

[1:01:50] There's so much work for these guys to do.

[1:01:51] We're not taking anything away from anybody.

[1:01:54] We're just making it so they can focus their efforts

[1:01:56] in a more strategic manner.

[1:01:58] Maybe we get one or two more repairs a year, something like that, and maybe we can not have so much

[1:02:04] staff out on the jetting program and they can do other things that are just as important.

[1:02:09] And I think what might be really interesting is taking the analysis that you do and then tying that back to the budgets that we, that we see.

[1:02:19] And it could be that there is a blind spot in the budget where you actually are going to come back, not with the cost savings, but with an investment that we need to make.

[1:02:28] I'm open to that. But don't be afraid of that scenario as a as a department. You may you may find that we've

[1:02:36] under invested in certain places and that's valid.

[1:02:44] All right. No further questions. Thank you for your presentation.

[1:02:47] Thank you.

[1:02:48] That was fun.

[1:02:53] It's not that I just like my god.

[1:02:55] But I've only got two lines to go.

[1:02:57] Wow.

[1:03:17] All right, next item on the agenda, Joe, we want to review calendars, or okay, that we will take that.

[1:03:26] your back? Well, let's try. So in early October, we had an ESC meeting schedule, and it was going

[1:03:35] to be covering the stormwater system plan update and another session on budget. We don't believe

[1:03:42] we need to come back. We will be looking for your recommendation in two weeks. And so what my plan

[1:03:48] is, what our plan is, is to post cancel the October meeting for the ESC. The chair will

[1:03:56] still be going to Council, I believe it's on October, I don't have it for me 13th. It's a Tuesday, obviously,

[1:04:04] on behalf of the ESC and making that recommendation to Council.

[1:04:09] And so with all the double meetings you've had this year, we do want to offer that up

[1:04:15] as October would be canceled. We'll move into November with the ESC hitting on the stormwater

[1:04:21] system plan and the water system plan update and then in December, we would be having our

[1:04:30] annual planning retreat to recap on 2026 and plan for 2027. Council, we have some normal

[1:04:41] types of consent items going and then I think it's again October 13 where Commissioner

[1:04:47] one would be going to council it touch on the recommendation from the ESC on budget and rates.

[1:04:54] With that, I'm just going to say that's what I got off the top of my head. I hope that works for you.

[1:05:00] Thank you. That means no further opportunity for input into the budget. Correct. Well, into weeks. Meeting in two weeks to provide the official recommendation to council. So that is another opportunity.

City Council Meetings — ESC 2026-09-03 Video

Agenda

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