[0:02] >> Good morning. Good morning,

[0:03] everyone, and welcome

[0:05] to this regular meeting of

[0:07] Tampa Bay Water for Monday,

[0:10] July 21. This meeting was

[0:12] noticed in the Florida

[0:13] Administrative Register and

[0:15] on the Tampa Bay Water website.

[0:17] The meeting is available

[0:18] for viewing through live

[0:19] streaming and a recording

[0:21] of the meeting will be posted

[0:23] on the agency's website. This

[0:24] time I would like to ask Vice

[0:26] Chair Hanewicz to lead us

[0:27] in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[0:33] >> I pledge allegiance

[0:34] to the flag of the United

[0:36] States of America and

[0:37] to the republic

[0:39] for which it stands, one

[0:40] nation, under God, indivisible,

[0:42] with liberty and justice

[0:44] for all.

[0:51] >> Commissioner Oakley,

[0:53] Commissioner Peters and Mayor

[0:55] Davis will not be

[0:56] in attendance

[0:58] for this meeting. Kathleen?

[0:59] At this time,

[1:00] could we please have a roll

[1:01] call to determine if there is a

[1:02] quorum?

[1:04] [ CALLING ROLL ]

[1:20] >> Mr. Chair, we have a quorum.

[1:23] >> Thank you very much.

[1:25] At this time, we are going to

[1:26] open the regular meeting and

[1:28] ask if there are any changes

[1:29] to the agenda. And seeing none,

[1:33] we will go to public comment.

[1:34] Public comment is three minutes

[1:37] per speaker. We have two people

[1:38] who have signed up this

[1:40] morning. The first is Mark

[1:42] Clutho. Good morning. Ah, he's

[1:46] walking in. Mr. Clutho, good

[1:50] morning.

[2:07] >> Mark Lutho, Largo. Oh, A5.

[2:12] Yeah. You're talking here

[2:17] about environmental conditions.

[2:20] Yeah. Well, all you do is

[2:23] degrade the environmental

[2:26] conditions and your water wise.

[2:33] Update A7. Well, how wise

[2:37] is it that all these plants

[2:40] that you have

[2:42] around this building you have

[2:46] to mutilate because there isn't

[2:49] room for them to grow? That's

[2:54] completely asinine. And again

[3:00] today we're going

[3:04] to have a heat index over 100

[3:09] degrees. And all the fools are

[3:13] wearing coats so we'll buy more

[3:18] air conditioning so everybody's

[3:22] comfortable. So what happens?

[3:26] We have these headlines. We're

[3:29] heading

[3:31] into hurricane season.

[3:33] Unprepared storms like Milton

[3:36] will strike. Will we see them

[3:39] coming? The flooding in Texas

[3:42] is the future. We need

[3:44] to prepare. What caused extreme

[3:48] rainfall flooding in Texas

[3:53] Hill country? Well, you're

[3:56] complicit. The waters

[4:00] in the gulf are often 3, 4, 5

[4:03] degrees warmer than normal.

[4:06] At one point this year,

[4:08] sea surface temperatures

[4:10] in the gulf of Texas and

[4:11] Louisiana were more than 8

[4:13] degrees above normal. As has

[4:16] been shown time and time again,

[4:18] event after event,

[4:20] climate change is heading

[4:22] to wetter. More extreme

[4:24] precipitation events. Well, you

[4:26] are doing your part ignoring

[4:35] science. I mean, I just don't

[4:44] see how you can be more stupid.

[4:50] Get rid of the stupid coats.

[4:56] Now. Maybe you need

[5:00] to see a doctor. There's just

[5:05] something wrong

[5:07] with you idiots.

[5:11] >> David Ballard Geddes, Jr.

[5:12] Good morning.

[5:16] >> Hi. Thank you, sir. David

[5:18] Ballard Geddes, Jr. I live on

[5:19] Georgia Avenue in Palm

[5:21] Harbor. Thomas Jefferson's

[5:23] Louisiana land purchase was

[5:26] negotiated by three people.

[5:29] Thomas Jefferson, Robert

[5:31] Livingston and James Monroe.

[5:34] Jefferson is accredited

[5:36] with writing both the

[5:37] Religious Freedom act,

[5:39] where he juxtapositions

[5:41] Almighty God in an attempt

[5:43] at confusing us

[5:45] with his deceptive dialogue,

[5:47] coupled with the Declaration

[5:49] of Independence, which

[5:50] in perpetuity serves as

[5:52] preamble to a second

[5:54] Constitution. Evil

[5:56] in its nature. Jefferson was a

[5:58] sacrilegious scallywag and a

[6:00] total fraud. Now, Robert

[6:03] Livingston, he comes

[6:04] from a family that profited

[6:06] from the slave trade. He was

[6:08] given the nickname of the

[6:10] Chancellor

[6:11] for his legal tenure in New

[6:13] York. He was one of the

[6:14] Committee of Five

[6:16] in the framing of the

[6:18] Declaration of Independence,

[6:20] yet he never signed the

[6:21] Declaration. Livingston

[6:23] administered the oath

[6:24] of office to George

[6:26] Washington. Livingston was the

[6:27] Grand Master of the

[6:29] Freemasons, belonging to the

[6:31] Society of the Cincinnati 13.

[6:35] Livingston was a real fly

[6:37] by night shady character. Then

[6:40] there's James Monroe. He was

[6:41] our fifth president. And oddly,

[6:44] most of all,

[6:45] he opposed ratifying the US

[6:48] Constitution. Why would he do

[6:50] that? As negotiated

[6:52] by these three conflicted men,

[6:54] the Louisiana land purchase,

[6:57] in reality is the western half

[7:00] of the Mississippi watershed

[7:03] region. Irrespective

[7:06] of the nation's borders, the

[7:07] watershed region goes all the

[7:10] way up into Canada. The

[7:12] Louisiana watershed purchase

[7:14] does not recognize the

[7:16] arbitrary boundaries

[7:19] between countries, states,

[7:21] counties, cities or municipal

[7:24] governments. You're not living

[7:26] in Kansas anymore. You never

[7:28] were. That was created as an

[7:30] illusion. The western half

[7:33] of the Mississippi watershed

[7:35] region was sold by an entity

[7:37] that did not have rightful

[7:40] ownership

[7:42] of the land or the water.

[7:43] Thereby, the sale of such

[7:45] stolen territory is null and

[7:47] void. Thomas Jefferson's

[7:48] assumption

[7:50] in constitutionally doubling

[7:52] down and furthering

[7:54] in his piracy of both land and

[7:56] water is invalid.

[7:59] In its possession, the

[8:01] territory as stolen must resort

[8:03] back to the indigenous Indians

[8:06] that first inhabited this land.

[8:09] They need to be given a

[8:11] justifiable and rightful say so

[8:13] in the pursuings

[8:16] of this government. Thank you.

[8:20] >> All right. And that is our

[8:22] public comment

[8:23] for this morning.

[8:25] At this time, we are going

[8:26] to move on

[8:28] to the consent agenda. Is there

[8:29] anyone pulling anything

[8:31] off consent before we go ahead

[8:33] with a motion? I don't see any.

[8:35] >> Move approval.

[8:37] >> Second.

[8:38] >> Okay. We have a motion

[8:39] from Councilman Miranda,

[8:40] seconded by Councilwoman

[8:42] Hanewicz. Please record your

[8:47] vote.

[8:52] >> Mr. Chair, the motion passed

[8:53] unanimously.

[8:55] >> We are going to move now

[8:56] to the regular agenda. And our

[8:58] first item is item number B1.

[9:00] And that is the General Manager

[9:02] and General Counsel's report.

[9:04] Mr. Carden, good morning.

[9:06] >> Thank you, Mr. Chair, members

[9:07] of the board, it's good

[9:08] to see all of you. We had a

[9:09] short break there and so now

[9:11] we're back

[9:13] to business. The first item or

[9:15] the first slide I want to show

[9:18] you is where we are using all

[9:20] the sources and our targets.

[9:21] And if you can go to the July

[9:23] on the very far right,

[9:24] you can see we're right

[9:25] on target

[9:28] with our projections. And you

[9:29] can see the different various

[9:30] sources with yellow,

[9:32] which is the Desal plant. So,

[9:35] it's been running and doing

[9:36] well. Through June 30th, we

[9:39] delivered an average

[9:40] about just a little bit over

[9:42] 200 million gallons a day. And

[9:43] that is less than the same

[9:46] water delivery

[9:49] for the same period last year.

[9:50] It's about 1.5% lower. We did

[9:53] receive about 7.42 inches. And

[9:57] that is

[9:59] about a half an inch shy

[10:01] of the average,

[10:03] but pretty close. Doing fine.

[10:04] So, we are moving

[10:08] through the next slide,

[10:11] please. I'm going to talk

[10:13] about the well fields. That is

[10:15] the consolidated well field

[10:16] slide. And as you can see,

[10:19] the black line's the 90 million

[10:22] gallon a day permit limit. And

[10:23] it's taken an anomaly where

[10:25] it's dropped down and there's

[10:27] quite a cushion there

[10:28] from that. We're about 75.93

[10:31] million gallons a day. And that

[10:34] was done on purpose. We ran the

[10:36] surface water harder in May and

[10:38] June than we normally would.

[10:41] And that was anticipation

[10:42] of doing some work at the

[10:44] surface water treatment plant

[10:46] which is going on right now.

[10:48] So, we're running the surface

[10:49] water a little bit lower than

[10:51] we would at this time,

[10:52] but they will balance out.

[10:53] So, we just kind of flip

[10:55] flopped our running scenarios.

[10:56] The next slide shows you the

[10:59] south-central Hillsborough

[11:00] regional well field permit.

[11:02] Again, the black line is the

[11:04] limit of 24.95 and we are at

[11:07] 24.96. And it will. It'll

[11:11] bounce around the black line

[11:12] for a little bit. We do

[11:15] anticipate the permit being

[11:16] raised to 26.9 in October

[11:18] of this year. So that should be.

[11:21] The black line will go up. See

[11:23] that coming soon. This is a

[11:27] graph of how are we doing

[11:29] with the reservoir. The blue,

[11:30] all the blue is the actual

[11:32] water that we anticipate. It

[11:34] says 9.5 billion. That is what

[11:37] we anticipate by the end

[11:38] of this month to be in there.

[11:40] And that is ahead of target

[11:42] by quite a sum. Again, last

[11:45] year at this time we were

[11:47] hovering a little over 2

[11:49] billion gallons

[11:51] in the reservoir. So, it's

[11:53] quite a different story. This

[11:54] is generally the average year.

[11:56] Last year was not and hopefully

[11:58] we'll never see another year

[11:59] like that. Here's some things

[12:02] I'm going to chat with you

[12:04] down the line. We'll start

[12:05] with the Legislative

[12:06] Appropriations update. As you

[12:08] know, the session just ended

[12:09] in June and the governor signed

[12:11] the budget on June 30th. And we

[12:15] did receive two awards. One for

[12:17] the surface water treatment

[12:18] plant, that's $650,000. And

[12:20] then another project was

[12:22] awarded a million dollars

[12:24] for our SCADA Secure Ops

[12:26] project. The bond refinancing.

[12:30] We asked the board and the

[12:32] board approved in May to

[12:33] refinance the 2015A bonds and

[12:37] we went to market. They closed

[12:39] on July 3rd, I believe, and we

[12:41] achieved a 4% savings which

[12:43] equates to about $680,000 a

[12:46] year and that is very close

[12:49] to one penny off of our rate.

[12:51] So that was very good news.

[12:54] On water quality, we are still

[12:55] watching closely the EPA and

[12:59] the rulemaking that's going on.

[13:00] They did make an announcement

[13:02] early this spring that they

[13:04] would increase the time

[13:05] for being in compliance

[13:07] with PFAS from the year 2029

[13:09] to the year 2031. And they

[13:12] dropped some or they raised

[13:15] some of the parts per trillion

[13:17] for the PFAS from 4 to 10

[13:19] on certain PFAS elements

[13:21] but not on there was two

[13:23] of them that are the main ones.

[13:25] They're still at 4 parts per

[13:26] trillion. I do understand that

[13:28] the litigation is ongoing

[13:29] against them. American

[13:31] Waterworks association and

[13:32] others have filed litigation

[13:34] and that is ongoing. So we're

[13:36] keeping a close eye on that.

[13:38] We are working

[13:39] on our water quality study

[13:41] with Corolla engineers that

[13:44] recently got all comments

[13:47] from all of the members. We are

[13:50] compiling those and we will

[13:52] have a meeting with all staff

[13:54] and then we will be bringing

[13:55] forth some recommendations

[13:57] to the board

[13:59] in the next few months.

[14:03] Hurricane resiliency, we are

[14:05] in the middle of the hurricane

[14:06] and I read somewhere today that

[14:08] we are starting the peak season

[14:10] and as we know, late August and

[14:11] September is when a lot

[14:13] of it starts.

[14:16] After last year we went

[14:18] through a variety

[14:19] of meetings,

[14:21] lessons learned and after

[14:23] action plans and we've been

[14:25] working hard to implement these

[14:27] short and long term fixes. We

[14:30] met with all the member

[14:31] governments, all

[14:33] of their utility, their

[14:34] communications and their

[14:36] emergency management staff and

[14:37] we talked about improving our

[14:39] coordination and communication.

[14:40] We have implemented some

[14:42] of the generator

[14:45] Withlacoochee River Electric,

[14:48] help us maintain and operate

[14:50] the generators that run the

[14:52] crossbar and the Cypress Creek

[14:54] facilities. We've also updated

[14:55] our fuel contracts

[14:59] to stage a fuel tanker

[15:01] at our regional site

[15:02] to allow better access

[15:04] for our workers in a more

[15:06] central located place. And we

[15:09] are working with Hillsborough

[15:10] County and Pasco County

[15:12] to come up with an MOU

[15:14] to get some fuel as we need to

[15:16] from them. We've done a lot of

[15:18] tree trimming and we applied

[15:20] sealants to most of all of our

[15:22] buildings that experienced some

[15:25] type of water damage last year.

[15:27] We also hired a new emergency

[15:30] management program manager. So

[15:31] he started about two weeks ago

[15:34] and we've been doing a lot

[15:36] of training

[15:38] for the last several months.

[15:40] Lastly, we're going

[15:42] to be establishing a schedule

[15:43] to have a quarterly member

[15:45] government meeting. It'll help

[15:48] us enhance our communications

[15:49] and prepare better

[15:51] for the storms. And we'll be

[15:53] meeting quarterly

[15:54] during the hurricane season.

[15:56] And I want

[15:58] to mention purchasing. Our

[15:59] purchasing department received

[16:01] the Achievement of Excellence

[16:02] in Procurement from the

[16:04] National Institute of

[16:05] Procurement. And that was the

[16:07] first time they received that.

[16:09] They're doing a great job.

[16:11] Strong performance,

[16:13] accountability, and they're

[16:14] adding terrific strategic value

[16:17] in our procurement here

[16:18] at the agents. Next slide,

[16:24] please. I want

[16:26] to show you some

[16:27] of the things we've been doing

[16:28] out in the community. This is

[16:29] the Girl Scouts of West

[16:31] Central Florida's Water

[16:32] Conservation Academy Camp. And

[16:34] one of our staff members,

[16:36] Aaron Hayes, was there and

[16:37] helped the Girl Scouts

[16:39] with some activities, learning

[16:40] more about our aquifer.

[16:42] >> They're all

[16:43] drinking Sprite. They should be

[16:45] drinking water.

[16:47] >> They're making

[16:48] an edible Aquifer. Needs

[16:51] Sprite for a little kick. The

[16:55] next slide shows three

[16:57] of our purchasing team members.

[16:59] They were

[17:01] at a reverse trade show. And

[17:03] then our chief operating

[17:04] officer, Paul Stanek, helped

[17:06] keep Pinellas beautiful. They

[17:09] were evaluating environmental

[17:10] action plans developed

[17:12] by high school students during

[17:14] a summer environmental

[17:16] leadership workshop. And

[17:19] Danielle Kersey, she is our

[17:21] senior project manager. She

[17:23] presented at the American

[17:24] Waterworks Conference. She was

[17:28] on a panel and she also did a

[17:31] presentation. And lastly,

[17:35] I will mention Pasco County

[17:38] hired a new utility director,

[17:40] Joseph Omoa. He's sitting

[17:42] straight across

[17:44] from me and welcome aboard,

[17:47] Joseph. And that's my report.

[17:55] >> Any questions

[17:57] from board members?

[17:59] Commissioner Mariano.

[18:00] >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[18:01] You know,

[18:02] a while ago we talked

[18:03] about the Four Rivers

[18:04] Project, about a reservoir

[18:05] project that the Army Corps had

[18:07] designed for years ago. And I

[18:08] mentioned out in Dade City

[18:09] where they have all sorts

[18:10] of flooding going

[18:12] on this past year because of

[18:14] water that just can't drain and

[18:15] it abuts right up to the

[18:16] Green Swamp

[18:18] in certain areas. I asked

[18:19] Tampa Bay Water staff

[18:21] to go work

[18:22] with our county and talking

[18:23] to Jason Mickle, who was

[18:24] Joseph's boss. Even this

[18:26] morning they haven't had a

[18:27] conversation yet. So, I don't

[18:29] know where we are going

[18:30] with that, but I would love

[18:31] to see it happen. And maybe

[18:32] before Joe leaves, you can

[18:34] actually start the conversation

[18:35] because the reservoir is great

[18:36] for water itself,

[18:37] but it's also great

[18:39] for stormwater. And you maybe

[18:40] have the dialogue today

[18:41] to get it rolling.

[18:42] >> Yes, I'll ask Warren too.

[18:43] He's been our lead on that --.

[18:45] I have talked with Pasco staff

[18:49] on a couple of occasions

[18:50] to coordinate. They have asked

[18:53] that we stand by

[18:55] for future meetings with the

[18:56] Army Corps in the district in

[18:58] Pasco County. Your staff wanted

[18:59] to take the lead so that we

[19:02] didn't jump in and things

[19:04] become a little jumbled

[19:05] with multiple meetings. So, I'm

[19:06] waiting to hear back from your

[19:07] staff. I will follow up

[19:09] with them this week

[19:10] to see how we can engage

[19:11] with them

[19:13] in those studies.

[19:14] >> So, what staff person did

[19:15] you talk to?

[19:18] >> My notes are upstairs.

[19:23] Dr, the name eludes me,

[19:25] but I will reach out

[19:26] to them this week.

[19:27] >> And Joseph is coming right

[19:29] from that department. So, I

[19:30] that they're going to start

[19:31] the conversation a little bit

[19:33] more intensely, but something

[19:38] we're should be looking at and

[19:40] should have been done months

[19:41] ago. Thank you.

[19:43] >> All right, we are going

[19:45] to move on now to the PFAS

[19:46] litigation settlement update.

[19:47] Ms. Fernandez.

[19:49] >> Thank you. I'd like

[19:51] to introduce Augie Ribeiro. He

[19:52] is with Ventura Law and he's

[19:54] one of the attorneys that has

[19:55] been aptly handling Tampa Bay

[19:57] Water's involvement

[19:59] in the PFAS litigation. He's

[20:01] here today to provide you

[20:02] with a brief history of Tampa

[20:03] Bay Water's involvement and

[20:05] also an update on where we are

[20:07] at with the settlements.

[20:10] >> Thank you. Morning, Mr.

[20:11] Ribeiro.

[20:12] >> Thank you. Good morning,

[20:14] Mr. Chairman. And I just like

[20:17] to say that I know you get

[20:19] heaped

[20:21] with praise often as a board

[20:22] for all your decisions and

[20:24] sometimes it's probably merited

[20:25] because I stood

[20:28] before you or came

[20:30] before you. This is my fifth

[20:32] meeting

[20:33] before the board and some

[20:34] of the new members may not

[20:36] recall, but going back to

[20:37] 2019, we decided to review and

[20:39] discuss the potential of a

[20:42] litigation involving bringing

[20:43] an action against the component

[20:45] manufacturers

[20:48] of PFAs and PFOA. And this

[20:50] board, this board,

[20:53] through legal counsel and

[20:54] through the five subsequent

[20:56] meetings that I presented,

[20:57] made a great decision. In

[21:00] 2020, you allowed our law firm,

[21:03] you retained us and you allowed

[21:05] us to bring a lawsuit

[21:07] against 3M Dupont and a number

[21:10] of defendants who were the

[21:12] component manufacturers

[21:14] of PFAS and PFOA. And because

[21:16] of that decision, we were one

[21:18] of the leaders

[21:20] in this litigation that brought

[21:21] about almost a $13 billion

[21:24] settlement

[21:25] about a year and a half ago

[21:27] for cities and water suppliers

[21:29] across the country. But because

[21:31] this board gave us authority

[21:33] in 2020, the amount that we

[21:35] settled for Tampa Bay water was

[21:37] a 25% increase. And I want

[21:40] to point that out. That is an

[21:42] extraordinary great decision

[21:45] by this board. So, I'm here

[21:49] to announce that on a gross

[21:52] settlement basis that we're

[21:53] proud

[21:55] to report that we have settled

[21:57] for Tampa Bay Water, an amount

[21:59] that will be, in the end,

[22:01] about 23 to 24 million dollars

[22:04] as a gross award,

[22:06] and net somewhere between 17

[22:08] and 18 million dollars. 90%

[22:10] of that comes from the company

[22:12] of 3M. 10% comes from Dupont

[22:15] and other defendants that we

[22:18] have brought litigation

[22:20] against. That last 10% has not

[22:22] been resolved,

[22:23] but the first 90% has,

[22:25] and that amount is estimated

[22:28] at $21.7 million. And then we

[22:33] anticipate another 10% against

[22:35] the remaining defendants. And

[22:36] that's why our estimates are

[22:38] somewhere between 23 and $24

[22:41] million as a gross award.

[22:42] We're proud

[22:44] to have represented Tampa Bay

[22:46] Water. I'm just by way

[22:49] of history, I was here almost

[22:51] 10 years ago. I had the

[22:53] privilege of representing

[22:55] Tampa Bay Water again as a

[22:56] resident of Pinellas County

[22:58] for the BP oil disaster. And I

[23:01] was proud to present an award

[23:03] at that time. I know

[23:06] oftentimes, as board members,

[23:07] you're criticized. Then your

[23:09] team, your staff, the

[23:11] engineers, the people

[23:12] on the field that had

[23:13] to cooperate with us throughout

[23:15] the many years, we also went

[23:17] through Covid. So the decision

[23:18] to allow us

[23:20] to bring the suit and

[23:22] to cooperate with us

[23:24] to allow us

[23:26] to get litigation testing,

[23:28] we did our own testing,

[23:29] which supplemented our efforts

[23:31] in this case. And I want

[23:33] to point out to you,

[23:35] because many of the general

[23:36] public don't understand this,

[23:38] that many cities,

[23:40] many cities that we presented

[23:41] to

[23:43] over the last six years refused

[23:44] to get involved

[23:47] in this action. Refused

[23:48] for one reason or another.

[23:50] They didn't want to bring light

[23:52] that there might be a problem.

[23:53] Many cities and water suppliers

[23:55] failed to receive any monies

[23:58] from this settlement because

[24:00] they didn't file timely. And

[24:03] so, I think it's time that we

[24:05] say thank you and hats off

[24:07] to this board for making great

[24:10] decision and funds will be

[24:12] forthcoming. And I've supplied

[24:14] a memo to that effect. And I

[24:16] thank you for the privilege

[24:18] of allowing me

[24:19] to represent you

[24:20] over these years. Thank you

[24:21] very much. Any questions?

[24:23] >> Well, Mr. Ribeiro, thank you

[24:25] and thank you

[24:26] for that wonderful report, you

[24:28] know, Councilman Miranda and I,

[24:30] when we were on Tampa City

[24:31] Council, the Tampa recovered

[24:33] money in the BP litigation.

[24:35] And that at the time, a lot

[24:36] of that money was used

[24:38] to build, to rebuild Julian

[24:40] B. Lane Park, which is a

[24:42] tremendous park on the

[24:43] Hillsborough River. And the

[24:45] reason I mention that is

[24:46] because these, these types

[24:48] of verdicts,

[24:50] the money that comes from them

[24:52] can be transformative.

[24:55] This is a huge amount

[24:57] of money that is coming

[24:59] into our hands in this case. I

[25:00] know this board's going to act

[25:02] very wisely and use the money

[25:03] to make our water as clean as

[25:06] possible. That's our top

[25:07] priority. But, you know,

[25:09] having the foresight

[25:10] to follow this litigation

[25:12] through to,

[25:14] to have the courage to file it

[25:16] to begin with and, and to. To

[25:17] take the time and effort ne

[25:19] really was very, very important

[25:20] and will have a very meaningful

[25:22] impact on this agency and

[25:24] on the public that we serve.

[25:28] So thank you. Is there any

[25:29] other board members that would

[25:31] like to. Councilwoman

[25:33] Hanewicz.

[25:35] >> Thank you. Chair, I just.

[25:36] First of all, Augie, great

[25:37] work. Thank you. Obviously,

[25:40] five years is a long road,

[25:42] and we had many meetings

[25:43] on this, and it's come

[25:45] to a good conclusion. My

[25:46] question is in terms of when we

[25:48] expect the money and then how

[25:50] are we going to,

[25:52] where are we going

[25:53] to put the money in terms

[25:56] of invest the money or put it

[25:57] in a place where it earns what

[25:59] it should earn

[26:00] until we decide what happens

[26:02] with it and what's going to.

[26:04] What's going to,

[26:06] you know what. Are there any

[26:07] limitations in terms of how we

[26:09] can use this money and what we

[26:10] should use it for? So, I just.

[26:12] There are a couple

[26:13] of questions

[26:14] in there that I would like,

[26:16] and I don't know if Christina

[26:17] can help

[26:18] on the financial part. Sorry,

[26:19] Christina, if I'm, like,

[26:20] throwing you out there or

[26:22] Augie, if you can help out.

[26:23] >> The only thing I can say is

[26:25] that, number one,

[26:26] we've made a payment. One

[26:27] payment was made last month,

[26:29] and I have another check here

[26:31] today to drop off. Okay. Which

[26:33] is the second payment. And then

[26:34] by the end of the year, we

[26:36] expect another larger payment.

[26:37] And so, we expect by the end of

[26:39] this year that you will be

[26:41] receiving 65% of this amount of

[26:43] money that you're entitled to.

[26:45] And then the next payments,

[26:47] the next 35%, will be paid out

[26:48] over the next four

[26:50] to five years. That's our

[26:52] estimates. So, by the end

[26:53] of the year, you should have

[26:55] about 65% of this award, and

[26:56] there are no restrictions.

[26:58] >> Okay, great. So, I would

[27:01] just like to see if wherever

[27:02] we're putting our money or

[27:04] holding our money,

[27:05] because it's going

[27:06] to take a while anyhow, to make

[27:08] sure we're earning the best

[27:09] interest rates while it's there

[27:11] until a decision is made,

[27:13] I would assume in the future,

[27:15] sometime.

[27:16] >> So, we are setting up a

[27:17] separate fund that we will be

[27:19] able to track the money, and

[27:20] then any interest that it earns

[27:22] will stay with that fund. And

[27:24] then once the board makes the

[27:25] decision what

[27:27] to spend those funds on,

[27:28] then we will track it as well,

[27:29] just like we do with any bond

[27:31] proceeds we receive. We track

[27:32] those separately, maintaining

[27:34] the interest and where all the

[27:35] money is spent. So, we'll do

[27:36] the same thing

[27:37] with these funds. We're

[27:39] creating a separate fund

[27:41] to do that with.

[27:43] >> Okay, well, thank you very

[27:44] much, and thank you, Augie,

[27:46] for all you've done.

[27:47] >> Any other comments,

[27:49] Commissioner Eggers?

[27:50] >> Yeah, just real quickly,

[27:51] I wanted to second some

[27:52] of the comments. You know,

[27:53] these kinds of efforts are

[27:54] like five years, sometimes

[27:56] in the making,

[27:58] sometimes longer. And the

[28:00] attitudes can be, why bother?

[28:01] But we do have an incredible

[28:03] staff that brought it to, you

[28:05] know, to a point where I think

[28:07] everybody was pretty clear on

[28:08] what could happen and why we

[28:10] were doing it. So I just, you

[28:11] know, the residents of Tampa

[28:13] Bay region and why this board

[28:15] was created some 25 years ago

[28:17] couldn't be more apparent.

[28:20] So, I'm really just proud

[28:23] of the effort by staff. They

[28:25] really are the folks that made

[28:26] this happen. And thank you for

[28:28] your efforts as well and past

[28:29] board members that were up here

[28:31] when we did all this work.

[28:33] So, thank you again.

[28:35] >> Thank you. It's so much

[28:37] easier to not do anything,

[28:38] especially

[28:39] with a difficult decision.

[28:40] >> There was a lot of talk

[28:42] about it when we were

[28:43] considering.

[28:44] >> So thank you again.

[28:46] >> Yes, I just want

[28:47] to thank you. You know,

[28:48] there's something to say. Why

[28:49] not do it? Can you imagine if

[28:52] it wasn't done from this agency

[28:54] or any other agency where we

[28:55] would be in 10 years?

[28:57] >> Yes, sir.

[28:59] >> So, money isn't everything.

[29:01] It's a cutting

[29:02] off a period where all

[29:04] of society would have been in

[29:05] deep trouble if these things

[29:06] keep on perpetuating itself

[29:08] for many years to come. So,

[29:09] for that, money comes

[29:11] in common goals. But people

[29:12] lives mean more than money.

[29:13] So, thank you and everybody

[29:15] in the staff who voted

[29:16] for all this and thank

[29:17] everybody in the audience who

[29:18] participated. Thank you very

[29:19] much.

[29:21] >> Thank you, Councilman

[29:22] Miranda.

[29:23] >> Commissioner Mariano.

[29:24] >> I just want to thank you for

[29:25] bringing it forward and thanks

[29:26] for your great work on it.

[29:28] Thank you.

[29:29] >> Thank you.

[29:30] >> Thank you. All right,

[29:31] great. Thank you. All right,

[29:33] let's see where we are here.

[29:36] Thanks. Oh, we probably ought

[29:39] to do that a little more

[29:41] ceremonially the next time.

[29:42] >> I will keep it. I promise.

[29:45] I'll make sure it gets to

[29:46] Christina.

[29:47] >> At this time, we are going

[29:48] to move on

[29:49] to our action items. We have

[29:51] two this morning. The first

[29:52] will be presented by Maribel

[29:54] Medina, Planning and Projects

[29:55] Director, and that is

[29:57] in relation to the South

[29:59] Hillsborough Pipeline Segment

[30:02] A. Good morning.

[30:03] >> Well, Good morning, Mr.

[30:04] Chairman and members of the

[30:05] Board. Today I will request

[30:07] your approval

[30:08] for agenda items C1, C2 and C3,

[30:09] which are closely related and

[30:11] pertain

[30:13] to the construction phase

[30:15] of the South Hillsborough

[30:17] pipeline project. With a

[30:18] clearly defined construction

[30:20] strategy now in place,

[30:21] we have negotiated a schedule,

[30:23] scopes and fees with the

[30:25] respective engineering teams

[30:27] that are helping us

[30:28] with this project

[30:29] to support the phase that align

[30:31] with that strategy.

[30:32] Specifically, I will be

[30:34] presenting and requesting

[30:36] approval for the following: the

[30:37] third amendment

[30:38] to contract 2021-024 with

[30:41] WestRim Inc., the second

[30:44] amendment to contract 2021-025

[30:45] with Stantec Consulting

[30:48] Services, and work assignment

[30:50] number three amendment

[30:51] under contract 2022-001 with

[30:56] Black & Veatch. But

[30:58] before diving into the details

[30:59] of these amendments,

[31:00] I will begin

[31:02] with a brief project update.

[31:04] And as a reminder,

[31:06] this pipeline will span about

[31:07] 26 miles and will have a

[31:09] diameter of up to 60 inches.

[31:11] It is assigned to deliver up

[31:13] to 65 million gallons per day

[31:15] to South Hillsborough County

[31:17] and this map illustrates the

[31:19] pipeline route. To date we have

[31:21] completed several milestones

[31:25] and have reached the 90% design

[31:27] for the pipeline while we

[31:30] continue property and permit

[31:31] acquisition design

[31:33] of the points of connection and

[31:35] continue our public outreach

[31:37] efforts.

[31:39] On the public outreach. We have

[31:41] just completed a public

[31:43] engagement activity that was

[31:45] required by Hillsborough

[31:46] County. The County's Board

[31:48] Policy 09010101 requires BOCC

[31:52] approval

[31:54] of temporary road closures

[31:55] by a public entity that exceed

[31:57] 30 days in duration. This

[32:00] policy also requires public

[32:02] engagement at least 14 days

[32:04] prior to the BOCC meeting at

[32:07] which this item will be

[32:08] considered. At the direction

[32:10] of Hillsborough county staff,

[32:12] we had an online engagement

[32:14] from June 20th through July

[32:15] 18th, and we had

[32:18] in person meetings last week,

[32:20] July 15th through the 17th, and

[32:22] this engagement opportunity was

[32:24] extensively noticed

[32:26] with direct mail postcards,

[32:28] emails

[32:29] to our email subscriber list,

[32:32] Facebook ads, Facebook posts

[32:33] that were shared and pick up

[32:36] by the community,

[32:38] and news articles and more.

[32:40] The project requires a total

[32:42] of 29 permits. Today we have

[32:44] submitted nine permit

[32:46] applications, including the two

[32:48] major environmental permits.

[32:50] So far we have received one

[32:52] permit and the remaining eight

[32:54] applications are currently

[32:56] under review

[32:58] by the regulatory agencies.

[33:00] Now that we have reached the

[33:02] 90% design, the engineering

[33:04] team is preparing 10 additional

[33:06] permit applications and as we

[33:08] approach the construction

[33:10] phase, Garney, our construction

[33:13] manager at risk,

[33:15] will be responsible for

[33:17] applying and obtaining the

[33:19] final term permits needed

[33:20] for construction. We remain

[33:23] on schedule to obtain all the

[33:24] critical path permits prior

[33:26] to the start

[33:28] of the construction activities.

[33:29] In addition to that,

[33:32] the project requires a total

[33:33] of 218 temporary and permanent

[33:35] utility easements. The left pie

[33:37] chart shows the current status

[33:39] of easements acquisition. We

[33:42] have obtained 89 easements

[33:43] which represent 41%

[33:46] of the total easements needed.

[33:48] 112 easements have been

[33:50] included in the eminent domain

[33:54] resolutions that have been

[33:55] approved by this board and as

[33:57] of today, three

[33:59] of those parcels have been

[34:00] filed in court while we

[34:02] continue negotiations

[34:03] with the property owners. The

[34:05] remaining 17 parcels are owned

[34:07] by Hillsborough County, ELAP,

[34:10] the Fish and Wildlife and TECO,

[34:12] and the right chart displays

[34:14] the expenditures today and the

[34:16] remaining budget

[34:17] for easement acquisition.

[34:19] We're on schedule and

[34:21] within budget to get all the

[34:23] parcels and easements by the

[34:24] time that we begin construction

[34:26] activities and

[34:27] to date we have spent 15% of

[34:29] our property acquisition budget

[34:30] on that 41%

[34:32] of the closed easements. This

[34:35] slide shows the project overall

[34:40] schedule. Construction is

[34:42] tentatively scheduled to begin

[34:43] as early as this fall pending

[34:44] the final design,

[34:46] property acquisition and

[34:48] permitting,

[34:50] and we're expecting

[34:51] to have this pipeline

[34:52] in service in late 2028. This

[34:53] is a detailed schedule for

[34:57] construction phase pending

[34:59] obtaining those necessary

[35:00] permits. We will begin with

[35:02] trenchless or tunneling

[35:04] crossing operations

[35:06] for segment A this fall,

[35:07] followed by segment B

[35:10] in the summer of 2026. Open cut

[35:13] pipe installation is scheduled

[35:15] to begin in the spring of 2026

[35:17] and in general we will be

[35:19] completing restoration

[35:21] activities as we follow the

[35:23] pipe installation. These

[35:26] activities include surface

[35:27] restoration and addressing any

[35:29] immediate impacts. The points

[35:31] of connections which we have

[35:34] three of them and associated

[35:36] construction activities will

[35:38] also begin in the summer of

[35:39] 2026 and then we will be

[35:41] completing pipeline flushing,

[35:43] disinfection and commissioning

[35:45] which is planned to be

[35:47] in the fall of 2028. The final

[35:49] restoration and construction

[35:50] closeout phase will continue

[35:52] from the fall of 2028

[35:54] through the summer of 2029. In

[35:56] this slide we can see the

[35:59] complexity involved in

[36:04] constructing the 26-mile

[36:06] pipeline over a period

[36:08] of more than 36 months. The

[36:11] construction effort will

[36:12] involve a team of over 130

[36:14] personnel with up to nine crews

[36:16] working simultaneously

[36:19] across different locations

[36:21] at any given time. Segment A

[36:23] will be the most resource

[36:25] intensive with four tunneling

[36:27] crews and four open cut crews.

[36:29] We will also have front end and

[36:33] back end teams handling the

[36:35] preparation and restoration

[36:37] work. And we have in this

[36:39] segment significant maintenance

[36:41] of traffic. Coordination due

[36:43] to its location and impacts

[36:44] on the roadways. In Segment B,

[36:46] while less intensive, will

[36:50] still require two trenchless

[36:54] tunneling crews and one open

[36:56] cut crew support from front end

[36:58] and back end teams and increase

[36:59] attention to environmental

[37:03] considerations throughout the

[37:05] construction process. This

[37:07] level of coordination

[37:09] highlights the scale and

[37:11] complexity of this project,

[37:12] requiring careful planning,

[37:14] sequencing,

[37:16] management and communication

[37:18] across all teams. I would like

[37:20] to pause now and give you an

[37:22] opportunity

[37:23] to ask me any questions

[37:25] before I move on

[37:26] to the action items.

[37:28] >> Commissioner Eggers.

[37:29] >> Yeah. Thank you

[37:30] for that summary. That's good

[37:31] to kind of always go back and

[37:33] visit and kind

[37:34] of get some updates. One of the

[37:35] most important things that we

[37:37] do at Tampa Bay Water is manage

[37:39] projects. So, we assign

[37:41] experienced project managers

[37:43] to this. And my understanding

[37:45] is that we have perhaps gotten

[37:46] a little thin in that area and

[37:48] that we are using Black and

[37:52] Veatch even more. So maybe you

[37:54] could speak to that,

[37:56] to the thought process behind

[37:58] when we do that versus using

[38:00] our own folks. And is there a

[38:04] possibility of kind

[38:07] of switching back

[38:09] to our own personnel? So, thank

[38:10] you.

[38:11] >> Sure. Yes. That's one

[38:13] of the key mandates of my

[38:14] department and my division.

[38:16] So, when we select project

[38:18] managers, they're based

[38:19] on the risk complexity

[38:21] of each one

[38:23] of these projects. We determine

[38:24] that for this particular

[38:27] project we need a really

[38:29] seasoned and experienced

[38:31] project manager that is able

[38:33] to handle a half. This is half

[38:36] a billion dollar project when

[38:37] you account for all the cost,

[38:40] including property acquisition

[38:42] and design and construction

[38:44] services. We have a multiple

[38:46] consultants working

[38:48] in this project. We have two

[38:49] engineering firms. We have a

[38:51] construction manager at risk

[38:54] with multiple construction or

[38:56] guarantee maximum packages

[38:58] involved. And we have a complex

[39:00] permitting strategy and

[39:03] property acquisition. So, we

[39:05] determined that we needed a

[39:07] good and experienced candidate.

[39:09] Although we do have really

[39:11] talented team members

[39:15] in my department.

[39:17] >> How many? I'm sorry.

[39:18] >> We have four project

[39:20] managers. Well, sorry,

[39:21] three project managers in my

[39:23] team and we have two

[39:25] construction managers

[39:27] in my division.

[39:28] >> And that's fully staffed

[39:29] right now?

[39:30] >> Fully staffed. I'm missing

[39:32] one project manager.

[39:33] >> Okay.

[39:34] >> But we have a lot of capital

[39:36] projects that are ongoing.

[39:37] We're managing about 30

[39:39] projects in addition

[39:40] to the pipeline project. And we

[39:42] needed somebody

[39:43] with that capability

[39:45] of handling this large,

[39:46] complex project. That

[39:48] individual from Black and

[39:49] Veatch has been selected to

[39:50] help me and the agency manage

[39:53] these projects

[39:55] through the closeout phase. We

[39:56] did have one staff person a

[39:58] year ago that left the agency

[40:00] and had the experience

[40:01] to manage this project. He

[40:03] returned back home

[40:04] in another state. And

[40:06] unfortunately we have not been

[40:08] able to find, to find a fit

[40:10] that have that experience.

[40:13] >> Okay. All right,

[40:15] I appreciate that. And is

[40:16] there, the added cost

[40:19] to doing that included

[40:21] in the original approval?

[40:24] >> Absolutely. The project

[40:26] includes, our budget is half a

[40:27] billion dollars.

[40:29] For the entire project we made,

[40:30] we had budget line items for

[40:33] program management and project

[40:34] management and construction

[40:36] management, support services.

[40:38] And to date, we are forecasting

[40:40] that we will spend less than 1%

[40:42] for that role. That will be

[40:45] supporting Tampa Bay water,

[40:46] actually 0.67%.

[40:49] >> Okay, so no additional funds

[40:50] requested?

[40:51] >> No. Not at this point.

[40:55] >> Thank you. Appreciate the

[40:56] detailed summary. Thanks.

[40:58] Thank you.

[41:01] >> Okay, Commissioner

[41:02] Mariano.

[41:03] >> So, looking at the easement

[41:04] acquisition status with 85%

[41:06] of the budget remaining,

[41:07] is that just way ahead of what

[41:09] you thought and it's gone much

[41:10] better than you expected?

[41:11] >> Well, as we. It's a good

[41:13] observation that as we are

[41:14] entering into the eminent

[41:15] domain process,

[41:16] we're expecting that we're

[41:18] going to be burning that money

[41:19] at a higher rate

[41:21] for the remaining parcels. So

[41:22] we still think that the budget

[41:24] is sufficient to cover those

[41:26] additional easements that will,

[41:27] we'll be negotiating

[41:29] with attorneys and

[41:30] in court.

[41:32] >> Okay, so you're not

[41:33] optimistic that you'll have a

[41:34] huge surplus there?

[41:35] >> I'm going

[41:37] to keep my fingers crossed,

[41:38] yes.

[41:39] >> All right. And I think, I

[41:41] think your next slide's coming

[41:42] up. You're going to show

[41:44] construction costs are actually

[41:45] higher than we expected,

[41:46] so.

[41:47] >> Well, so far we have

[41:48] received two guarantee. We do

[41:50] have approved two guarantee

[41:51] maximum packages. GMP number

[41:52] one was where we saw

[41:54] significant savings when we

[41:55] purchased the pipeline

[41:56] materials almost a year ago.

[41:59] And then the second GMP,

[42:01] which was taken,

[42:03] I believe earlier this year as

[42:04] well, was for the tunneling and

[42:05] trenchless operations that we

[42:07] are planning to be beginning

[42:09] October. We are currently

[42:10] in the phase of advertise for

[42:11] the third guarantee maximum

[42:14] package, which is

[42:16] for the open cut installation.

[42:18] We will be back in October and

[42:20] hopefully we are still

[42:22] within budget. We have three

[42:24] prospective bidders that will

[42:26] be providing bids and we hope

[42:27] to be within budget.

[42:30] >> Thank you.

[42:32] >> Okay, so this is C1. Why

[42:33] don't we go ahead and have a

[42:36] vote

[42:38] on this and then we'll move on

[42:40] to the next.

[42:41] >> Sure. We're going

[42:42] to brief two slides on C1.

[42:44] So, C1 is

[42:45] for the third amendment for

[42:47] construction phase and design

[42:48] services

[42:49] to Wade Trim and Wade Trim

[42:51] is the engineer of record

[42:53] for segment A. And their scope

[42:55] during the construction phase

[42:57] includes the key service areas

[43:00] shown in the slide. They will

[43:02] provide construction oversight

[43:03] services

[43:04] for segment A activities.

[43:06] They will provide engineering

[43:08] services and inspection

[43:09] services,

[43:11] environmental support and

[43:12] public involvement,

[43:14] and will support the cathodic

[43:15] protection, construction,

[43:18] engineering services and

[43:19] inspection of those corrosion

[43:20] protection systems. And

[43:22] in addition to that, we'll

[43:23] support the project pipeline

[43:25] portion of it

[43:27] through the closed

[43:28] out phase and verification

[43:30] of any as built drawings. The

[43:32] scope

[43:34] of this segment is funded by

[43:35] Tampa Bay Water. And we will

[43:37] plan to request reimbursements

[43:38] from the Southwest Florida

[43:40] Water Management District. And

[43:41] also we negotiated as part of

[43:44] our amended joint project

[43:46] agreement with Hillsborough

[43:48] County, a scope of work to

[43:50] design the jard piping

[43:53] modifications that

[43:55] Hillsborough County's Lithia

[43:57] Water Treatment Plant will need

[43:59] to receive the water from

[44:00] pipeline segment A Wade Trim

[44:03] will be providing the

[44:05] engineering services

[44:06] for design. And the scope is

[44:08] highlighted on the slide. And

[44:10] this is totally funded by

[44:12] Hillsborough County. And

[44:15] at this point, I'm ready

[44:16] to request your approval

[44:17] for C1.

[44:20] >> Anything else

[44:21] before we move forward?

[44:23] >> Move approval.

[44:25] >> Second.

[44:26] >> We have a motion from

[44:27] Commissioner Wostal seconded

[44:30] by Councilwoman Hanewicz.

[44:32] Please record your vote.

[44:41] >> Mr. Chair, the motion passed

[44:42] unanimously.

[44:44] >> Okay, thank you very much.

[44:45] We will move on now

[44:46] to item C2.

[44:48] >> All right, so agenda item C2

[44:51] is for the corresponding scope

[44:53] of work

[44:55] for engineering services

[44:56] for construction

[44:57] for segment B, which is going

[44:59] to be provided by the engineer

[45:01] of record, Stantec. And this

[45:03] scope is very similar to the

[45:05] scope that I highlighted

[45:07] earlier today

[45:08] for Wade Trim. And this scope

[45:10] will be totally funded by

[45:11] Hillsborough County. And

[45:12] with that,

[45:14] staff requests approval

[45:15] for the Second Amendment of

[45:16] Stantec in the amount of $6.9

[45:18] million.

[45:21] >> Move approval.

[45:22] >> Second.

[45:23] >> We have a motion from

[45:24] Commissioner Mariano, seconded

[45:26] by Commissioner Wostal.

[45:28] >> It was me.

[45:30] >> Oh, excuse me. It was

[45:31] Commissioner Eggers. I'm sorry.

[45:33] >> We sound alike. --

[45:38] >> I'm honored that you all

[45:40] want to support for my

[45:43] >> There we go. There we go. All

[45:44] right,

[45:45] please record your vote.

[45:48] >> Mr. Chair. And the motion

[45:49] passed unanimously.

[45:50] >> All righty. And item number

[45:51] C3.

[45:52] >> Okay, so the final agenda,

[45:53] item C3 is

[45:55] for the third amendment

[45:56] of work assignment number three

[45:58] for both program and project

[46:00] management services to Black

[46:01] and Veatch. And as I briefly

[46:03] touched on earlier today,

[46:05] Black and Veatch has been

[46:07] supporting the Tampa Bay water

[46:08] team through their integrated

[46:10] program management contract.

[46:12] Their services continue

[46:13] to be a key to the success

[46:15] of this pipeline project. The

[46:16] additional scope includes

[46:18] program management and

[46:20] coordination. Black and Veatch

[46:22] would also continue to serve as

[46:23] our owner's advisor. And they

[46:25] will also provide staff

[46:27] augmentation services to cover

[46:28] construction management and

[46:30] project management

[46:31] for this project. This

[46:33] amendment is only

[46:34] for the first 12 months

[46:36] starting this August. And we

[46:38] anticipate, as we burn out the

[46:40] money and see how things go,

[46:41] to come back for future

[46:43] amendments and request

[46:44] additional funds as needed.

[46:47] The scope of work for this

[46:48] particular work scope is being

[46:51] funded by both Tampa Bay Water

[46:54] and Hillsborough County and any

[46:56] reimbursements that we receive

[46:57] from the Southwest Florida

[46:59] Water Management District. And

[47:00] with that,

[47:02] staff requests approval

[47:03] for this Third Amendment

[47:05] to work assignment number three

[47:07] with Black and Veatch.

[47:08] >> Okay, thank you,

[47:10] Commissioner Eggers.

[47:11] >> One clarifying question back

[47:13] on the project manager. Be

[47:14] quick. So, the staff that we

[47:16] have,

[47:17] the one that we're looking

[47:18] to replace, one of those

[47:20] positions would give us that

[47:21] ability to do projects

[47:23] like this normally.

[47:24] >> Correct.

[47:26] >> But because we had one

[47:27] person leave,

[47:29] we didn't have the level

[47:30] of expertise

[47:32] for a project this size.

[47:33] >> Correct. And it's very

[47:34] difficult to find a project

[47:35] person that have that level

[47:37] of experience as well.

[47:38] >> Yeah. Perfect. Thank you.

[47:40] Appreciate it.

[47:42] >> Move approval.

[47:43] >> Second.

[47:45] >> Okay. We have a motion

[47:46] from Commissioner Wostal.

[47:48] Commissioner Mariano, is that

[47:49] you seconding it?

[47:50] >> No, it was. It was you,

[47:52] Commissioner Eggers.

[47:54] >> You know, sorry. We're going

[47:56] to let you do the next one,

[47:58] so mess them up. All right.

[48:00] Please record your vote.

[48:05] >> Mr. Chair, the motion passed

[48:06] unanimously.

[48:07] >> All right,

[48:08] thank you very much. We are

[48:09] going to move on now to Item C4

[48:10] and Michelle Stum.

[48:19] >> Good morning, Mr. Chair.

[48:21] Members of the board, I'm

[48:22] Michelle Stum, your chief of

[48:23] staff and chief strategy

[48:25] officer. Item C4 is a request

[48:26] for approval for the firm

[48:27] to perform the agency's 2025

[48:29] performance audit and

[48:31] management study. The

[48:34] interlocal agreement requires

[48:35] that the agency conduct a

[48:37] performance audit and

[48:38] management study every five

[48:39] years. This is an important

[48:41] project because it gives the

[48:42] agency the opportunity

[48:44] to have a national firm look at

[48:45] our programs and our governance

[48:47] and offer us recommendations,

[48:50] let us know what we're doing

[48:52] well and what maybe we could do

[48:54] better. The last performance

[48:55] audit was completed in 2020.

[48:56] The recommendations for that

[48:59] audit have been reported

[49:01] to the board as task updates on

[49:02] the consent agenda regularly

[49:04] and

[49:06] through the annual presentation

[49:07] on strategic plan progress.

[49:09] In March, the agency advertised

[49:11] a request for proposals

[49:12] for firms

[49:14] to perform the audit and study.

[49:15] We received nine submissions,

[49:17] and a selection committee

[49:18] comprised of agency staff

[49:20] scored and selected Baker

[49:22] Tilly Advisory Group LP as the

[49:23] top ranked firm

[49:25] to perform the audit. Staff

[49:27] subsequently negotiated a final

[49:29] scope and fee,

[49:30] which is attached

[49:31] to your agenda item. I'd now

[49:33] like to introduce Caitlin

[49:34] Humrickhouse, a principal

[49:36] with Baker Tilly, to provide

[49:37] some additional details

[49:39] on the firm and its approach

[49:40] to this project.

[49:46] >> Good morning, Mr.

[49:47] Chairman. Members

[49:49] of the board. So, Baker Tilly

[49:50] is a national professional

[49:52] services firm. We have about

[49:53] 11,000 employees nationwide and

[49:55] my team in particular works

[49:57] in the public sector. So,

[49:59] at any given time we have

[50:01] about 2,500 Utility Special

[50:02] District Energy clients and

[50:04] another 3,000 city county

[50:06] government clients. We

[50:09] specialize

[50:10] in management consulting. So,

[50:11] process improvement,

[50:13] organizational design,

[50:14] strategy, projects like Just

[50:16] like this. We've done a number

[50:17] of management studies

[50:18] across the country for those

[50:21] in the water industry. So, I'll

[50:22] go a little bit into the scope

[50:24] of what we plan to do. We are

[50:26] going to couch our analysis in

[50:27] the EPA's effective utility

[50:30] management framework as updated

[50:32] in 2024. So, it looks at 10 key

[50:34] areas of operations and then

[50:36] five overarching principles

[50:38] related to leadership,

[50:41] continuous improvement. And so,

[50:43] as we go

[50:45] through our analysis,

[50:46] we'll be using different types

[50:47] of benchmarks,

[50:49] metrics associated with that

[50:50] framework as applicable

[50:52] to your organization. So, I

[50:53] won't go through these, but

[50:55] this is a little bit more

[50:56] detail of each of those

[50:57] different areas that we will be

[50:59] looking at. Our project

[51:00] approach goes through six key

[51:02] activities which I'll go

[51:03] through in detail

[51:05] on the next slide.

[51:06] But you know, we really sort

[51:07] of start with some in depth

[51:08] project management all the way

[51:10] through reporting and lots

[51:12] of feedback in between. So, our

[51:13] first activity is to assemble

[51:15] the project steering committee.

[51:17] We plan to include individuals

[51:18] from multiple levels

[51:21] of the organization. We feel

[51:22] like we get really rich

[51:24] feedback on our deliverables

[51:25] from your team when we do that.

[51:27] And it also gives people a

[51:30] chance to step up

[51:31] in an important project

[51:32] like this

[51:34] into a leadership capacity.

[51:35] We'll be finalizing our work

[51:37] plan and schedule and issuing,

[51:38] asking the staff

[51:40] for information in order

[51:41] to complete our study. So, any

[51:42] types

[51:44] of plans or reports you have,

[51:45] data that you have in place and

[51:46] we'll establish a regular

[51:48] status reporting schedule.

[51:50] Then we go into sort

[51:52] of the meat of the project

[51:53] which is really looking

[51:55] at that data, obtaining input.

[51:56] So, we'll be doing lots

[51:58] of data analysis. We'll issue

[51:59] an employee survey

[52:01] to get feedback. We'll also be

[52:02] doing in person interviews and

[52:04] focus groups,

[52:05] including interviews

[52:07] with members

[52:08] of the board and members

[52:09] of your member government,

[52:11] representatives

[52:12] from your member governments.

[52:14] And then what we do is we

[52:15] document our initial

[52:16] observations. So, sort

[52:18] of our first take

[52:19] at what are we seeing

[52:20] in the data,

[52:22] what are we hearing

[52:23] from our interviews and sort

[52:24] of giving the opportunity

[52:25] for the steering committee

[52:26] to give us feedback on those.

[52:28] Then we go into peer

[52:29] benchmarking and best practices

[52:30] research. So we will establish

[52:31] a group

[52:32] of benchmark agencies. We

[52:34] like that to be a mix of best

[52:35] in class and then people that

[52:38] are, you know, organizations

[52:39] that are comparable

[52:40] to you. I always like to say,

[52:42] just because someone looks

[52:43] like you on paper doesn't mean

[52:44] they're doing things the right

[52:45] way necessarily. So, we like to

[52:47] make sure we're including the

[52:49] best of the best

[52:50] around the country. And then we

[52:52] do a lot of industry analysis

[52:53] and best practice research

[52:54] pulling in from AWWA and other

[52:56] industry associations. Then we

[52:58] get into, you can think

[53:00] of this as a gap analysis.

[53:01] So, we understand, we have a

[53:03] really good understanding

[53:04] of your current operations,

[53:05] we have a great understanding

[53:07] of the industry and the peers.

[53:08] And then we're saying, where

[53:09] are the gaps that we're seeing?

[53:10] Either where you're ahead

[53:11] of that gap,

[53:13] you're doing something best

[53:14] in class, or there's an area

[53:15] for you to improve. We couch

[53:17] all of that

[53:18] in as much data as we can,

[53:19] as much feedback as we can,

[53:21] and we're looking here

[53:22] at things

[53:23] like what is the effectiveness

[53:24] of your processes? Where are

[53:26] you using technology

[53:27] appropriately

[53:28] to support your operations? Do

[53:30] you have any challenges with

[53:31] succession and workforce

[53:33] planning? What is the risk?

[53:34] What are certain risks to the

[53:36] organization that you should be

[53:37] aware of? Again, we're getting

[53:39] feedback throughout

[53:40] from the steering committee

[53:42] on that. And then we go

[53:44] into preparing a draft report.

[53:45] So that's, you know,

[53:47] including everything we've done

[53:49] for the project. We'll get

[53:50] feedback

[53:51] on that and then we'll go into

[53:52] presenting the final report.

[53:54] And I imagine that final report

[53:56] will be presented

[53:57] to this group as well.

[53:59] After that, we prepare what we

[54:00] call an implementation action

[54:01] plan. So that is basically a,

[54:03] to implement these

[54:05] recommendations. Here's the

[54:06] step by step,

[54:07] here's who's accountable. We

[54:08] want these to be implemented

[54:10] after we leave and our project

[54:11] is done so that you can

[54:13] implement the change you need

[54:15] in your organization. We

[54:16] anticipate starting this month

[54:19] if the project is approved with

[54:21] a kickoff call and then going

[54:23] through February. So you would

[54:26] have that implementation action

[54:28] plan and final report in

[54:29] February. And that is it

[54:31] for me.

[54:36] >> Okay, thank you, Caitlin.

[54:38] With that staff recommends

[54:39] approval of the contract with

[54:40] Baker Tilly Advisory Group

[54:42] in a not to exceed amount of

[54:44] 125,000 to perform the 2025

[54:46] performance audit and

[54:49] management study.

[54:50] >> Commissioner Mariano?

[54:52] >> Yeah. When I first was

[54:53] reading this,

[54:55] I was a little suspect to it,

[54:56] but actually I

[54:57] like the fact that we want

[54:58] to take a look at ourselves,

[55:00] go see what we're doing

[55:01] in there. You know,

[55:02] the question we talk about,

[55:03] are we contracting, setting up?

[55:04] I think it's a good idea.

[55:06] >> You know, I agree with you.

[55:07] I think it's a really smart

[55:09] thing to always be evaluating

[55:10] ourselves and making sure that

[55:12] our processes are up

[55:13] to snuff.

[55:17] >> So move.

[55:18] >> Second.

[55:19] >> Okay, who else? Anyone else

[55:21] want to talk before

[55:24] >> I do.

[55:25] >> Yes, Commissioner Eggers.

[55:26] >> It wasn't,

[55:27] I don't think he said.

[55:29] >> Oh, okay. I haven't said who

[55:30] yet.

[55:31] >> I haven't said who yet.

[55:32] >> Yeah, well, yeah, you have.

[55:34] >> I don't even know. I just

[55:35] anticipate.

[55:37] >> I think this is extremely

[55:39] important project. And when I

[55:40] came on board in 2015, an audit

[55:42] had been finished. And

[55:44] subsequent

[55:45] to that we had a lot

[55:46] of issues,

[55:47] not only that were brought

[55:49] forward,

[55:50] but that weren't being

[55:51] addressed in a timely manner.

[55:52] And that was more

[55:54] about the top leadership

[55:55] at the time. And then

[55:57] subsequently

[55:59] to that the projects got done.

[56:01] The communication was perfect.

[56:03] So, I really commend staff for

[56:04] all the work that they did and

[56:06] I want

[56:08] to separate those comments out.

[56:09] But this is extremely important

[56:11] and it is. It is important

[56:13] to be timely, it's important

[56:14] to be critical. It's important

[56:16] for us to take that criticism

[56:18] and improve on it. And was your

[56:21] organization been a part of the

[56:23] last bidding process or not?

[56:25] Okay, well, good to have you

[56:27] on board. Look forward

[56:29] to that. Have you had a chance

[56:30] to look

[56:32] at the last audit yet? Okay.

[56:34] Any general comments

[56:35] on that or are you going

[56:37] to reserve that? I mean, I'd

[56:39] like to just hear your

[56:40] thoughts.

[56:41] >> I thought it was very

[56:42] thorough. I think what you'll

[56:45] find in ours is you might see a

[56:46] little bit more data and

[56:48] advisory components. So, we

[56:50] tend to be a little bit more

[56:53] forward looking of.

[56:54] For example, we'll do a five

[56:56] year retirement analysis

[56:57] to let you know what percentage

[56:58] of your workforce is eligible

[57:00] to retire

[57:01] in the next five years.

[57:02] >> None. Well, kidding.

[57:05] >> Yeah, well, that would be

[57:06] wonderful if that was the case,

[57:08] you know. So, we'll do a little

[57:09] bit more forward thinking

[57:10] things like that. I think

[57:11] you'll see that come through

[57:13] in our report.

[57:14] But I thought it was well done.

[57:15] And I think the part as I was

[57:16] actually preparing to bid

[57:18] on this project, I went through

[57:19] and I did. I could see very

[57:21] clearly where your team had

[57:22] addressed some of the findings

[57:24] in that report,

[57:25] where staff had addressed them.

[57:27] And I was very impressed

[57:28] at the level of transparency

[57:30] there because you don't always

[57:32] see that. So, I thought that

[57:34] really stuck out to me about

[57:36] you as an organization.

[57:38] >> Well, the baton is yours now

[57:39] and that transparency is

[57:40] because

[57:42] of the leader that we have down

[57:43] here and the staff that we

[57:44] have. So, I really appreciate

[57:46] that. Look forward

[57:47] to your work.

[57:48] >> Thank you.

[57:49] >> Chair.

[57:50] >> Yes, Ms. Hanewicz.

[57:51] >> I just was going to say,

[57:52] you know,

[57:53] sometimes when you have these

[57:54] studies, some employees get

[57:56] very apprehensive about it.

[57:57] And look, we do it in the city

[57:59] of St. Petersburg. City

[58:00] Council can actually pick

[58:01] different departments to act

[58:03] to decide. Okay, we need

[58:04] to do a management study. And

[58:06] it's always a great thing.

[58:07] Good things always come

[58:10] from the management studies

[58:12] in terms of resources that are

[58:13] maybe necessary changes that

[58:15] may be needed. And it's really

[58:17] for the best with everyone.

[58:18] So, I just wanted

[58:20] to throw that out there,

[58:21] that I agree

[58:23] with everyone else. These are

[58:24] always good. And so,

[58:25] I'm very excited

[58:27] to see what the results are.

[58:28] Thank you, Chair.

[58:29] >> Okay, now I believe the

[58:30] motion was from Councilman

[58:31] Miranda, who was the second?

[58:34] >> Me. Oh, no.

[58:37] >> Commissioner Mariano is the

[58:38] second.

[58:40] >> I don't think I can do a

[58:43] third on this.

[58:47] >> She can have it. Sorry.

[58:48] >> All right,

[58:50] please record your vote.

[58:55] >> Mr. Chair, the motion passed

[58:56] unanimously.

[58:57] >> Thank you very much. We have

[58:59] two presentations this morning.

[59:00] The first is going

[59:02] to be our rotation

[59:05] of utility departments. And

[59:07] today the city of Tampa is here

[59:09] and Rory Jones from the water

[59:11] department will give the

[59:13] presentation. Good morning.

[59:16] >> Good morning. I'm Rory

[59:17] Jones with the city of Tampa

[59:19] Water Department. Always

[59:21] appreciate the chance

[59:22] to share what we've got going

[59:23] on over in Tampa. We have some

[59:25] exciting projects we'd like

[59:26] to highlight along

[59:27] with a short video. And

[59:29] like many of you,

[59:31] we're juggling pipes, progress

[59:33] and public expectations all

[59:36] along the way. So, I'll try

[59:37] to keep this brief and real.

[59:40] You know, we have a large

[59:44] footprint, 220 square miles and

[59:46] a service population greater

[59:49] than 725,000 people that rely

[59:50] on us daily. We manage over

[59:52] 2,200 miles of pipe that range

[59:54] in size from 2 to 54 inch. And

[59:56] we're working hard to maintain

[59:59] an ageing system that requires

[1:00:02] proactive investments, pipes,

[1:00:04] funding and bonds,

[1:00:07] and long-term planning. We have

[1:00:10] a one central treatment plant,

[1:00:13] the David L. Water Treatment

[1:00:19] Facility. It has recently or

[1:00:20] getting ready

[1:00:22] to hit the 100-year mark. And

[1:00:23] believe it or not,

[1:00:25] we have some

[1:00:26] of those components still

[1:00:28] in play today. Originally, this

[1:00:29] was designed for a $7.6

[1:00:31] million, 7.6 million gallons

[1:00:33] per day facility. Although our

[1:00:35] source water hasn't changed,

[1:00:39] this campus has drastically

[1:00:40] changed

[1:00:41] over the last hundred years.

[1:00:43] Today we draw 82 million

[1:00:44] gallons per day on average.

[1:00:50] And

[1:00:52] with the regional partnership

[1:00:53] of Tampa Bay Water, along with

[1:00:54] our aquifer storage recovery

[1:00:55] system, we're serving. Well,

[1:00:57] more than that. Our

[1:00:58] distribution is a mix of

[1:01:01] elevated and ground storage

[1:01:03] tanks and strategic locations.

[1:01:04] You know, we have four ground

[1:01:06] storage tanks and three

[1:01:08] different pumping stations and

[1:01:09] a couple

[1:01:10] of elevated storage tanks.

[1:01:12] Also, we have two interconnects

[1:01:14] with Tampa Bay water and we're

[1:01:16] grateful to have that

[1:01:17] flexibility and resiliency

[1:01:18] you've built

[1:01:20] into our toolbox here. One of

[1:01:22] our most recent projects is

[1:01:23] wanted to highlight. Here is

[1:01:26] our high surface pump station

[1:01:27] project. We've added eight new

[1:01:29] pumps, 140 million gallons per

[1:01:30] day capacity and it now

[1:01:32] includes a new chlorine contact

[1:01:35] chamber. And we were able to

[1:01:38] completely rehabilitate all our

[1:01:40] clear wells. This was a

[1:01:42] critical step for us in

[1:01:44] improving our reliability and

[1:01:46] resiliency. We've got a quick

[1:01:48] video to show you here that

[1:01:50] highlights the order of

[1:01:51] magnitude and really the scale

[1:01:54] does a good job

[1:01:56] of humanizing these projects.

[1:01:58] This was a project that was

[1:02:00] just over $100 million. And

[1:02:02] we're very pleased

[1:02:03] with the product that Jacob's

[1:02:05] design build team delivered

[1:02:07] for us. There is some audio

[1:02:09] with this if you wouldn't

[1:02:19] mins. Someone's controlling

[1:02:20] behind the scenes. Give me a

[1:02:21] second here.

[1:02:28] [VIDEO PLAYING]

[1:05:29] >> We've got a

[1:05:30] couple other projects we want

[1:05:32] to highlight. We have our

[1:05:33] chemical system improvements

[1:05:34] project where we are

[1:05:36] implementing hypochlorite

[1:05:37] generators on site.

[1:05:38] Essentially this is a low

[1:05:40] strength bleach, a little less

[1:05:42] than what you can buy at

[1:05:43] Publix. This is going to give

[1:05:45] us a safer facility and we're

[1:05:46] going to rely less

[1:05:48] on chemical deliveries

[1:05:49] to continue delivering water.

[1:05:52] Another is our filter

[1:05:53] improvements. We're adding

[1:05:55] additional 20 mgd

[1:05:57] of capacity. These upgrades

[1:05:58] will provide critical

[1:06:01] redundancy and are part of our

[1:06:02] long-term capacity planning.

[1:06:04] Construction started this year

[1:06:07] and is expected

[1:06:08] to be completed in 2027. We do

[1:06:13] have some challenges though,

[1:06:15] and I think this is common

[1:06:16] across all our work here. We,

[1:06:18] like many others, are

[1:06:20] experiencing significant

[1:06:22] increases

[1:06:23] in construction costs, in many

[1:06:25] cases more than doubling,

[1:06:27] especially with our pipeline.

[1:06:28] These cost pressures are real

[1:06:30] and force us

[1:06:31] to rethink schedules,

[1:06:32] scopes and delivery methods.

[1:06:34] So, a couple years ago,

[1:06:36] to help offset some

[1:06:38] of these costs, we developed a

[1:06:40] conservative business case

[1:06:42] for our own construction crew.

[1:06:44] The team structure equipment,

[1:06:46] compared actual numbers to

[1:06:49] projected rates and ultimately

[1:06:51] received approvals

[1:06:53] from our leadership and

[1:06:54] from our council. So we started

[1:06:57] first by hiring a great team.

[1:06:59] It starts with that we ordered

[1:07:01] equipment built, temporary

[1:07:04] construction yards and

[1:07:06] construction trailers and we

[1:07:08] got to work. And their results

[1:07:11] are impressive. You know, the

[1:07:14] projects are completed faster

[1:07:19] and significantly lower cost.

[1:07:21] Matter of fact, we are seeing

[1:07:23] roughly 70% savings compared

[1:07:25] to a more traditional approach.

[1:07:27] And today we've saved over

[1:07:30] $1.4 million. And there's

[1:07:33] opportunities to expand this

[1:07:35] further and each this continues

[1:07:36] to rise. So what's next

[1:07:39] for us? We've got some major

[1:07:41] capital work underway.

[1:07:43] Suspended ion exchange is

[1:07:45] going. We're going to start the

[1:07:47] design this year and we're

[1:07:49] going to shoehorn that

[1:07:51] into our campus there. Now, we

[1:07:52] are currently negotiating GMP

[1:07:55] for a new raw water intake and

[1:07:57] a new and rehabilitated ozone

[1:07:58] system as well as site wide

[1:08:02] electrical improvements where

[1:08:04] we're going to modernize our

[1:08:07] electrical delivery system and

[1:08:09] add some, some generators. We

[1:08:10] have some master plan updates

[1:08:12] across distribution,

[1:08:15] treatment and

[1:08:16] in our resource planning. And

[1:08:17] with that I will wrap it up.

[1:08:20] You know, we're grateful for

[1:08:21] the support and partnership

[1:08:24] that we have with Tampa Bay

[1:08:25] Water and each

[1:08:27] of the member governments. We

[1:08:28] recognize our unique position

[1:08:29] and remain committed

[1:08:31] to a regional collaboration.

[1:08:32] We appreciate the relationship

[1:08:34] we built with the team. Thank

[1:08:35] you.

[1:08:37] >> Thank you. Any questions or

[1:08:40] comments? Commissioner

[1:08:41] Eggers.

[1:08:43] >> First of all, I just want

[1:08:44] to say congratulations on that

[1:08:45] commitment a few years back to

[1:08:47] doing what you're doing today

[1:08:48] and

[1:08:49] for your continuing commitment

[1:08:52] to Tampa Bay Water. I know when

[1:08:53] I first got on the board there

[1:08:55] was a little more acrimony

[1:08:57] between some of the partners.

[1:08:58] And I can't thank the city and

[1:09:00] the staff and the leadership

[1:09:02] for that continued commitment.

[1:09:06] It's really, really important

[1:09:07] that we all work together at

[1:09:09] Tampa Bay Water. Really commend

[1:09:11] you for that work. And I know

[1:09:12] that distribution challenge is

[1:09:14] just over the top when you get

[1:09:16] that old of a system. So

[1:09:17] anyway, good work. Appreciate

[1:09:19] your presentation today. Thank

[1:09:21] you.

[1:09:22] >> Commissioner Mariano.

[1:09:24] >> What a great project. Great

[1:09:25] engineering. Question

[1:09:26] for you, the Howard Curren

[1:09:28] plant, is that with the City

[1:09:29] of Tampa?

[1:09:30] >> It is with the City of

[1:09:31] Tampa. That's our wastewater

[1:09:32] department.

[1:09:33] >> Okay. Later on

[1:09:35] in committee reports, I want

[1:09:36] to talk a little bit more

[1:09:37] about the Howard Curren plant,

[1:09:39] Oldsmar Largo, and what's going

[1:09:40] on in old Tampa Bay. I've got

[1:09:42] some ideas. I think there's

[1:09:43] something we can look at,

[1:09:44] especially hearing what we

[1:09:46] heard from our attorney,

[1:09:47] talking about how we went

[1:09:48] after something to make

[1:09:50] something better. I won't hold

[1:09:51] you up for that one.

[1:09:52] >> Thank you, guys.

[1:09:54] >> Councilman Miranda.

[1:09:56] >> Thank you, Mr. Cohen,

[1:09:57] Chairman. I just want

[1:09:58] to thank the whole City Tampa

[1:10:00] government, the mayor,

[1:10:01] the city council, and Brad

[1:10:02] Baer, your super department

[1:10:03] head, yourself, for thinking

[1:10:05] outside the box and doing

[1:10:06] things today that were really

[1:10:07] needed yesterday and taking the

[1:10:09] step forward to make sure

[1:10:10] everything is done right

[1:10:11] at a lesser cost

[1:10:12] by doing it yourself. Thank you

[1:10:13] very much.

[1:10:15] >> Thank you, Councilwoman

[1:10:16] Hanewicz.

[1:10:17] >> Thank you, Chair. And thank

[1:10:18] you for all the work. Look,

[1:10:19] in the city of St.

[1:10:21] Petersburg, just like we all,

[1:10:22] we all have the investments

[1:10:23] that we need

[1:10:25] in our wastewater systems. And

[1:10:26] our water systems and all the

[1:10:28] infrastructure. And a lot

[1:10:30] of times I feel for you all

[1:10:32] because it's never enough money

[1:10:33] and you really do a great job

[1:10:35] with trying

[1:10:38] to maximize what you do with

[1:10:40] the money that you have. I see,

[1:10:42] when I look at the challenges

[1:10:45] and I see the cost per mile

[1:10:47] of pipe installed doubled in

[1:10:49] 2022 and then

[1:10:52] >> Just continue to rise.

[1:10:53] >> It's continuing to rise and

[1:10:55] that is a huge challenge

[1:10:57] because when you did a plan

[1:10:59] which was back in 2019 or

[1:11:01] whatever, and there was a plan

[1:11:02] to pay for all, you know, all

[1:11:04] these costs and infrastructure

[1:11:05] and then this comes

[1:11:07] in and it doubles. And so I

[1:11:09] just want to put out there.

[1:11:11] It's always very challenging

[1:11:12] when it comes to making sure

[1:11:14] that we upgrade our

[1:11:16] infrastructure, but that you

[1:11:18] all are really doing a great

[1:11:20] job and trying

[1:11:21] to do the best you can with

[1:11:22] what you have and the resources

[1:11:24] you have to give the level of

[1:11:25] service that your constituents

[1:11:27] are looking for.

[1:11:29] >> Thank you.

[1:11:31] >> Well, I just want to thank

[1:11:32] you and I know that you owe

[1:11:34] everything to past Tampa city

[1:11:35] councils,

[1:11:38] that that made it all possible.

[1:11:40] So. But again, no,

[1:11:42] in all seriousness,

[1:11:43] congratulations because this,

[1:11:45] this represents an awful lot

[1:11:47] of hard work.

[1:11:48] >> None of these could happened

[1:11:49] without that proactive

[1:11:51] investment. Thank you.

[1:11:56] >> Kidding. Kidding.

[1:11:57] >> Of course you are.

[1:11:59] >> South Hillsborough County

[1:12:00] Program update.

[1:12:06] >> Okay. Agenda item D2 the

[1:12:07] South Hills is for our South

[1:12:09] Hillsborough County program and

[1:12:11] is a status report. This agenda

[1:12:13] item is for informational

[1:12:14] purposes only and no action

[1:12:16] will be requested today. As a

[1:12:17] reminder, the South

[1:12:20] Hillsborough County program is

[1:12:22] a multi-approach initiative

[1:12:24] designed to meet the demands

[1:12:26] of South Hillsborough county

[1:12:27] and the program includes three

[1:12:29] major areas. The first one is

[1:12:31] water supply management, water

[1:12:32] conservation and infrastructure

[1:12:34] projects. We have worked to

[1:12:38] maximize our existing

[1:12:39] infrastructure

[1:12:41] by increasing the south-central

[1:12:43] Hillsborough regional well

[1:12:44] field permit limit. The permit

[1:12:46] limit was increased by 850,000

[1:12:48] gallons per day back in July

[1:12:49] 2022 and as the general manager

[1:12:52] indicated earlier today,

[1:12:55] it will be increased to 26.92

[1:12:57] million per day by October this

[1:13:01] year. Staff continues

[1:13:03] to work closely with

[1:13:05] Hillsborough County staff

[1:13:07] on demand management actions

[1:13:09] to educate the public and how

[1:13:12] to use water responsibly. The

[1:13:13] county helps to promote our

[1:13:15] Tampa Bay water wise rebate

[1:13:16] program and educate their

[1:13:19] customers on water restrictions

[1:13:20] and best landscape and

[1:13:22] irrigation practices. And the

[1:13:24] water management district issue

[1:13:26] outdoor activities restrictions

[1:13:29] last year to help us get

[1:13:31] through a very dry time and

[1:13:34] demands back then were greatly

[1:13:36] reduced with their help.

[1:13:38] Infrastructure projects are the

[1:13:41] major component

[1:13:42] of this program. The stars on

[1:13:44] this map shows the general

[1:13:45] location of the projects. Under

[1:13:47] this program we have completed

[1:13:50] three projects all of which

[1:13:52] have increased the delivery

[1:13:54] capacity in the in this area of

[1:13:55] the county and as presented

[1:13:57] earlier today

[1:13:59] with agenda items C1

[1:14:00] through C3, we continue

[1:14:02] to work on the South Hills

[1:14:03] Water Pipeline Project and

[1:14:05] staff has been working

[1:14:06] on getting ready

[1:14:08] to request your approval

[1:14:09] in a future Board meeting

[1:14:11] to move forward with the

[1:14:12] South Hillsborough well field

[1:14:14] project. The South Hillsborough

[1:14:16] well field is a new water

[1:14:18] supply project that was

[1:14:19] shortlisted in both the 2018

[1:14:23] and the 2023 Master Water Plan

[1:14:26] updates. The feasibility study

[1:14:28] for this project was completed

[1:14:30] back in 2021 and this new well

[1:14:32] field will include eight

[1:14:34] production wells and could

[1:14:36] yield between 6 to 12 million

[1:14:39] gallons per day as early as

[1:14:41] 2030. The project will require

[1:14:44] ozone treatment

[1:14:46] for the removal

[1:14:47] of hydrogen sulfide, about 4

[1:14:49] miles of collection mains,

[1:14:51] a new point of connection

[1:14:53] with Hillsborough County and we

[1:14:56] are estimating capital costs

[1:14:58] for these projects to be

[1:15:00] about 126 to 160 million

[1:15:02] dollars. Part

[1:15:04] of the quantities

[1:15:05] of this well field will come up

[1:15:07] from our acquisition

[1:15:09] of water use permits. The

[1:15:10] Board may recall that it

[1:15:12] previously approved staff to

[1:15:14] acquire five water use permits

[1:15:15] from five parcels owned by

[1:15:17] Land Reserve and Farmland

[1:15:19] Preserve. The capacity is

[1:15:21] estimated to be 3.9 to 5.9

[1:15:25] million gallons per day and we

[1:15:27] are currently working

[1:15:28] on a permit application

[1:15:30] to transfer these quantities

[1:15:33] to this location just like the

[1:15:36] other permits we have purchased

[1:15:37] and transferred. 10%

[1:15:39] of the impacts from the donor

[1:15:40] permit will go back

[1:15:42] to the environment as part of

[1:15:43] the transfer and those permits

[1:15:45] plus the aquifer credits we

[1:15:47] hope to acquire from

[1:15:49] Hillsborough County will be

[1:15:51] used for the South

[1:15:52] Hillsborough well field if

[1:15:54] approved by the Board

[1:15:55] in the upcoming months. The

[1:15:57] proposed well field will be

[1:15:58] located at the ACMAR property

[1:16:00] in the Balm area of South

[1:16:02] Hillsborough County. This map

[1:16:04] shows the proposed well field

[1:16:06] layout. The western portion

[1:16:08] of the ACMAR parcel is owned

[1:16:10] by the Environmental Lands

[1:16:12] Acquisition and Protection

[1:16:13] Program of Hillsborough County

[1:16:15] and the parcel is now known as

[1:16:17] the Stacy R. White Nature

[1:16:20] Preserve and wells 1 through 4

[1:16:22] will be located in this area.

[1:16:24] Well number five is our test

[1:16:27] well which is shown

[1:16:29] in the upper left corner

[1:16:32] of this graphic and Wells 6

[1:16:34] through 8 and the associated

[1:16:36] water treatment facility will

[1:16:37] be located

[1:16:39] in the eastern portion

[1:16:42] of the parcel. This well and

[1:16:44] water treatment plant will be

[1:16:46] co located with Hillsborough

[1:16:48] County South Drinking Water

[1:16:50] Facility and next

[1:16:52] to the new BOEM point

[1:16:53] of connection associated

[1:16:55] with the South Hillsborough

[1:16:56] Pipeline project. At the

[1:16:58] April Board meeting I provided

[1:17:00] an outline

[1:17:01] of the upcoming war actions

[1:17:03] for the potential new South

[1:17:05] Hills Water well field and

[1:17:06] these include approval

[1:17:08] of an agreement with ELAP and

[1:17:10] Hillsborough County Water

[1:17:12] Resources Department to acquire

[1:17:13] well sites and easements

[1:17:15] on the ELAP owned part

[1:17:17] of the ACMAR property

[1:17:19] in exchange

[1:17:20] for water development rights

[1:17:22] on the former Cone Ranch well

[1:17:24] field. This agreement will

[1:17:25] include the four well sites,

[1:17:27] associated collection main

[1:17:30] easements and access. And

[1:17:31] to date the county Department

[1:17:33] of Real Estate has developed

[1:17:36] the draft documents which are

[1:17:37] undergoing their internal

[1:17:39] review and soon will be shared

[1:17:41] with our team

[1:17:43] for our own review. Also, we

[1:17:44] will work on the acquisition

[1:17:46] of property from the Water

[1:17:48] Resources Department

[1:17:50] for the construction of the

[1:17:51] three well sites and the water

[1:17:53] treatment facility. And we

[1:17:54] continue to work

[1:17:56] with county staff

[1:17:57] on a long-term agreement

[1:17:59] for aquifer recharge

[1:18:01] along the coast

[1:18:02] to support the issuance

[1:18:04] of a freshwater use permit

[1:18:06] at this well field location. To

[1:18:07] date we have drafted a term

[1:18:09] sheet and county staff is

[1:18:11] currently reviewing it. We have

[1:18:14] a public meeting coming up on

[1:18:16] August 5th at the South Shore

[1:18:18] Regional Library and we

[1:18:20] anticipate returning back

[1:18:22] to this board

[1:18:24] to request approval for early

[1:18:26] implementation later this year.

[1:18:27] And finally, we will proceed to

[1:18:29] negotiate a joint project

[1:18:31] agreement with Hillsborough

[1:18:33] County where the county will

[1:18:34] construct some

[1:18:36] of the components

[1:18:37] of this project. This is the

[1:18:39] timeline for these upcoming

[1:18:41] board actions. We will be back

[1:18:42] late this summer

[1:18:44] to request your approval

[1:18:45] for the Cone Run exchange for

[1:18:47] the ELAB own parcel easement's

[1:18:49] rights. In late 2025 or early

[1:18:50] 2026, we will be requesting

[1:18:54] approval

[1:18:56] for a long-term agreement for

[1:18:57] the reclaimed water recharge

[1:18:59] and a joint project agreement

[1:19:02] with the county. And finally,

[1:19:04] we will return back

[1:19:05] to request approval

[1:19:07] for the acquisition

[1:19:08] of the property

[1:19:10] in the water resources parcel.

[1:19:11] And this concludes my brief

[1:19:13] presentation. I will be happy

[1:19:14] to take any questions.

[1:19:16] >> Any questions.

[1:19:17] Commissioner Mariano.

[1:19:18] >> Could you explain exactly

[1:19:19] what the reclaim water credits

[1:19:21] are and how that works?

[1:19:23] >> Yes. So, you may not

[1:19:24] remember, but I will try

[1:19:27] to explain it back in when we

[1:19:29] conducted the feasibility study

[1:19:31] for this potential well field,

[1:19:33] we contemplating needing a

[1:19:35] water use permit

[1:19:38] in the southern portion of

[1:19:41] Hillsborough County relying

[1:19:43] on the injection

[1:19:44] of reclaimed water

[1:19:46] in the county's south

[1:19:49] Hillsborough County recharge

[1:19:51] program. Basically, the

[1:19:52] injection of reclaimed water

[1:19:54] by the county five miles

[1:19:55] along the coast in

[1:19:57] Hillsborough County will

[1:19:59] provide a net benefit for us

[1:20:01] to pull water, fresh water

[1:20:03] in this location in

[1:20:04] Hillsborough County and obtain

[1:20:07] up to 6 million gallons

[1:20:09] of fresh water from their

[1:20:11] reclaimed water injection,

[1:20:14] which could be 10 million

[1:20:16] gallons per day

[1:20:18] of reclaimed water injected

[1:20:19] in the aquifer.

[1:20:20] >> Right. And if you,

[1:20:21] if that did come up for,

[1:20:22] I would have voted

[1:20:23] against that. So not a fan

[1:20:25] of that, but I just wanted

[1:20:27] to understand the credits.

[1:20:28] >> Okay.

[1:20:29] >> So, that explains that.

[1:20:30] Thank you.

[1:20:32] >> Okay.

[1:20:33] >> Anyone else? Commissioner

[1:20:34] Eggers.

[1:20:36] >> I think as we go forward,

[1:20:38] that whole idea of injecting

[1:20:40] reclaimed water just anywhere

[1:20:41] is different than what we're

[1:20:43] talking about here. I mean,

[1:20:45] this is along the coastline.

[1:20:46] It helps keep the saltwater

[1:20:48] intrusion and there's a lot

[1:20:50] of benefits

[1:20:52] to that and benefits of

[1:20:53] utilizing excessive reclaimed

[1:20:56] water that would otherwise go

[1:20:59] into the bay at this point.

[1:21:00] So, I think it's a great

[1:21:02] project. What I, you know,

[1:21:04] continue to. Since

[1:21:06] Hillsborough has all the

[1:21:08] growth, it's easy for somebody

[1:21:09] from Pinellas to ask, you know,

[1:21:11] the critical challenges, but I

[1:21:12] really hope that we're able to

[1:21:14] work that reasonable agreement

[1:21:16] on those credits, the costs of

[1:21:19] that system so that we can do

[1:21:22] this project. I think this is

[1:21:24] an exciting project, has real

[1:21:26] potential, less capital cost

[1:21:28] than others might. So, I mean,

[1:21:33] I know we've got capital costs.

[1:21:35] I'm not saying that, but I

[1:21:36] think this is a really great

[1:21:38] opportunity and really

[1:21:39] appreciate the work and the

[1:21:41] summary. But I think

[1:21:42] along the way, if we can have

[1:21:44] maybe some little tutorials

[1:21:45] for all of us, reminders about

[1:21:48] the different technologies that

[1:21:49] we're talking about,

[1:21:51] I think it helps put things

[1:21:53] in perspective, or not,

[1:21:54] depending. But thank you.

[1:21:56] Appreciate all the work.

[1:22:01] >> Thank you very much. And I

[1:22:02] agree about this is very much a

[1:22:03] saltwater intrusion program.

[1:22:05] So perhaps we could,

[1:22:07] we could talk about that again

[1:22:09] at some point.

[1:22:11] At this point we are going

[1:22:13] to move on to other

[1:22:14] administrative matters, old

[1:22:16] business and any new business.

[1:22:18] If there's anyone that has

[1:22:20] anything before we move on

[1:22:22] to receive and file.

[1:22:23] Commissioner Mariano.

[1:22:25] >> So, I've got several points,

[1:22:26] so bear with me,

[1:22:27] but it's something I want

[1:22:29] to talk about a big,

[1:22:30] big thought

[1:22:31] about the whole region

[1:22:32] from a high level. First

[1:22:34] question I have is, we asked

[1:22:35] like we have a lot of wells

[1:22:37] in Pasco county

[1:22:38] along the coast that we've

[1:22:40] like capped, taken

[1:22:41] over and have it used. I asked

[1:22:42] Chuck to go

[1:22:44] through and he was going

[1:22:45] to look at, not only that,

[1:22:46] but then he was going to look

[1:22:49] at other wells up and down the

[1:22:50] coast as well. I wonder if we

[1:22:52] get any update on that.

[1:22:53] Chuck.

[1:22:54] >> Yes, again, Warren's taking

[1:22:55] the lead. He's met with them

[1:22:57] and we're currently compiling a

[1:22:58] list

[1:23:00] of the inventory that you have,

[1:23:03] and I believe you've enlisted a

[1:23:05] consultant to help and if you

[1:23:07] have anything,

[1:23:09] you can color it.

[1:23:11] >> We're looking

[1:23:13] at comprehensively

[1:23:15] across the county at permits

[1:23:17] and wells that are owned

[1:23:19] by the county for public supply

[1:23:20] as well as other entities other

[1:23:21] than the county. When we do

[1:23:24] that, we'll find out the water

[1:23:25] used the permit quantities and

[1:23:27] compile that database. Sit and

[1:23:29] meet with your staff to find

[1:23:31] out where those systems are

[1:23:34] with respect

[1:23:36] to your and our systems. And

[1:23:38] for those that are logical,

[1:23:39] we would work

[1:23:40] on acquisition agreements

[1:23:41] to bring back. There's a real

[1:23:43] potential that we could harvest

[1:23:45] some of those quantities. Some

[1:23:47] may be unused quantities

[1:23:49] for consolidation

[1:23:51] in our current, current permits

[1:23:53] and use our existing

[1:23:54] infrastructure and pipeline

[1:23:57] system to bring a cost benefit

[1:23:59] for the region.

[1:24:01] >> Okay, so again, waiting

[1:24:02] for that, but should go on.

[1:24:03] All right. You know, years ago

[1:24:05] we had the BP's consortium

[1:24:06] settlement where Florida was

[1:24:09] very smart about having 23

[1:24:11] counties take over it. So, a

[1:24:13] lot of the money went back

[1:24:15] locally directly

[1:24:16] to the state,

[1:24:17] to the counties, at least on

[1:24:18] the part one money and state

[1:24:20] expenditure plan. We had

[1:24:21] control over that, too, with

[1:24:22] putting a plan together where

[1:24:24] the county got the money direct

[1:24:25] instead of going

[1:24:26] through the state.

[1:24:28] But there's a giant pot that's

[1:24:29] out there called pot 2 that's

[1:24:30] out there currently,

[1:24:32] if you look at it

[1:24:34] from what I'm hearing

[1:24:36] from just coming

[1:24:37] from a NACO conference,

[1:24:38] that a lot

[1:24:40] of the money that's being spent

[1:24:41] along the coast,

[1:24:42] it should be the big coastal

[1:24:43] areas, Texas, Louisiana and

[1:24:45] Florida. And being that we have

[1:24:46] that,

[1:24:47] we should be looking heavily

[1:24:49] to go after that money. You

[1:24:50] know, beaches, fishing, number

[1:24:53] one,

[1:24:55] tourist development things in

[1:24:56] Florida. I don't know if you

[1:24:57] guys know, but in Okaloosa

[1:24:59] County, we had a consortium

[1:25:00] meeting up there in August and

[1:25:02] July. They have the largest

[1:25:03] tourist development numbers

[1:25:05] because of that. And I know as

[1:25:06] we check our coast,

[1:25:07] especially Pinellas County, the

[1:25:09] beaches are critical

[1:25:10] to what's going to go on. The

[1:25:12] image that's out there. There

[1:25:13] was a presentation from

[1:25:15] Governor DeSantis coming down

[1:25:17] to the environmental conference

[1:25:20] that was just down on Marco

[1:25:21] Island. And that conference was

[1:25:23] all

[1:25:24] about how much they're spending

[1:25:26] in South Florida

[1:25:27] to protect local Okeechobee,

[1:25:29] the Everglades, like $500

[1:25:30] million a year

[1:25:32] with different projects. Part

[1:25:33] of it is to take the

[1:25:35] Kissimmee River and do

[1:25:37] treatment there. Part of it's

[1:25:38] to take the two side rows going

[1:25:39] east west that go out that,

[1:25:41] you know, we cause a lot

[1:25:43] of algae bloom down

[1:25:44] to the south. So, if they're

[1:25:47] going to spend,

[1:25:48] and this is federally backed as

[1:25:50] well,

[1:25:51] it was a big accomplishment

[1:25:52] to get it funded with the

[1:25:54] Trump administration. Make it

[1:25:55] happen. And having that happen

[1:25:57] is kind of eye opening. How

[1:25:58] much money is out there that I

[1:26:00] think we should be looking

[1:26:01] at a big project? Now, the

[1:26:03] project that was just mentioned

[1:26:04] here, we talked about looking

[1:26:06] at probably reclaimed water

[1:26:08] lines running out there. And

[1:26:09] when we've got the old Tampa

[1:26:11] Bay that was doing great

[1:26:13] replenishing seagrass

[1:26:14] for a while,

[1:26:16] we should really look

[1:26:17] at a project to take. There's

[1:26:19] at least two cities in the

[1:26:20] Howard Curren plant that are

[1:26:22] putting money into that bay.

[1:26:24] So, it's not just one thing.

[1:26:26] And there may be more. And I

[1:26:27] sit in the estuary project,

[1:26:28] the estuary program,

[1:26:30] actually chair

[1:26:31] of it this year, even though

[1:26:32] Pasco County's probably got the

[1:26:34] least impact to the estuary.

[1:26:37] But I think we should work

[1:26:39] with the estuary. Let's go

[1:26:40] study the issue and find out

[1:26:41] how we can take those reclaimed

[1:26:43] water things. And whether it be

[1:26:44] from the BP pot money too, or

[1:26:45] from the feds to say Tampa Bay

[1:26:47] is very important,

[1:26:48] that we want

[1:26:50] to protect our bay,

[1:26:51] and here's the way we need help

[1:26:52] to get it done, I don't think.

[1:26:54] I think it's just as important.

[1:26:55] It is for, let's say Miami is

[1:26:56] for this region to have Tampa

[1:26:58] Bay thriving,

[1:26:59] because as water goes out,

[1:27:00] the cleaner it is, it's going

[1:27:01] to keep algae bloom down and

[1:27:03] keep our beaches clean. We

[1:27:05] don't have to worry about. Do

[1:27:06] we have a notice coming up. So

[1:27:07] I'd like to see Tampa Bay water

[1:27:09] work

[1:27:10] with the estuary directly,

[1:27:12] with Swift Mud and the Army

[1:27:13] Corps as well, to kind of find

[1:27:15] out what can we go do

[1:27:16] to make it. And as

[1:27:18] Hillsborough is expanding down

[1:27:20] to the south with all that, the

[1:27:21] more reclaimed water you guys

[1:27:23] can put in lines, the better

[1:27:24] off you'll be as far as being

[1:27:26] able to move that water less

[1:27:28] expensively than going, let's

[1:27:29] say, up to Pasco, where I think

[1:27:31] we could probably take a huge

[1:27:32] chunk

[1:27:34] of reclaimed water up there.

[1:27:35] We had a gas plant that we put

[1:27:37] up in an area that actually

[1:27:38] used a lot

[1:27:40] of our reclaimed water,

[1:27:41] which we didn't anticipate.

[1:27:43] So, we've really got

[1:27:44] overcapacity

[1:27:45] of pipes up there.

[1:27:46] But I think it'd be great

[1:27:47] to take a look

[1:27:48] at all that that's out there.

[1:27:49] There's a federal impetus

[1:27:51] about water, and especially

[1:27:52] in Florida, I think it's a good

[1:27:53] opportunity for us

[1:27:54] to start a conversation.

[1:27:57] >> Commissioner Wostal.

[1:27:59] >> I think that that's a great

[1:28:00] segue for me to say that.

[1:28:02] >> I would support any future

[1:28:04] item to use tourism dollars to

[1:28:06] protect our water rather than

[1:28:07] subsidize rich people

[1:28:09] in their expensive stadiums.

[1:28:10] Thank you.

[1:28:16] >> I want to supply my water,

[1:28:17] but I'm going

[1:28:18] to protect it also

[1:28:20] from everyone,

[1:28:22] including reclaim.

[1:28:25] >> Okay, is there any other

[1:28:28] business

[1:28:30] before we entertain a motion

[1:28:31] to receive and file?

[1:28:33] >> Yes.

[1:28:34] >> No. Just move approval

[1:28:36] of receiving file.

[1:28:37] >> We have a motion from

[1:28:39] Councilwoman Hanewicz.

[1:28:40] Seconded by Commissioner

[1:28:41] Eggers, I believe. Please

[1:28:43] record your vote.

[1:28:54] >> Motion passed unanimously.

[1:28:56] >> All righty,

[1:28:57] our next meeting will be

[1:29:00] Monday, Aug. 18, at 9:30am and

[1:29:03] until then, have a good rest

[1:29:04] of the summer.

Board of Directors

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