[0:00] Sewer Authority board of directors
[0:01] meeting this Thursday September 12th
[0:05] 2024 we have six
[0:07] announcements first is a question uh
[0:10] does any board member know of a conflict
[0:12] of interest or potential conflict of
[0:14] interest with respect to any item on the
[0:16] agenda
[0:18] tonight looks like the answer is
[0:20] no um the next announcement is welcoming
[0:23] our new board member Michael Hughes um
[0:25] Michael is an Orange County appointee
[0:27] and took his oath of office on July 3D
[0:30] welcome Michael thank you it's good to
[0:33] have you here um and on June 17th the
[0:36] chapel Hilltown Council reappointed Todd
[0:39] to the aasa board of directors for his
[0:41] second three-year
[0:44] term nice job
[0:47] Todd and we have uh two meeting
[0:51] updates the first is that over the
[0:53] summer aasa hosted two Community Chats
[0:56] on the topic of pest on June 27th the
[0:59] community chat focused on paying for p
[1:01] mitigation which was held at the Chapo
[1:04] public library and on July 30th another
[1:07] chat was held at lza Cafe in carboro
[1:10] both events were well attended with
[1:12] about 20 to 25 members of the public at
[1:14] each and fostered informed and engaged
[1:17] discussion staff are working on plans
[1:19] for two additional Community chats this
[1:21] fall and then in August aasa hosted a
[1:25] briefing on aasa's P action plan for
[1:28] state senator Greg Meer state
[1:30] representatives Alan boy Renee price and
[1:33] a representative from US Representative
[1:36] Valerie fi's office um in addition we
[1:39] had a really good showing from local
[1:40] elected officials local government staff
[1:42] and the Press uh staff and our
[1:45] consultant walked attendees through the
[1:47] details and challenges of dealing with
[1:49] pasas including a really well attended
[1:51] tour of the pasas treatment pilot
[1:54] project at the water treatment plan we
[1:56] had an enlightening conversation about
[1:58] ideas for pursuing federal and state
[1:59] funding and staff for following up on
[2:02] some of the leads that they provided
[2:04] would anybody else like to provide any
[2:06] additional Reflections or takeaways on
[2:07] the
[2:10] briefing okay and now this is an
[2:14] exciting announcement um Monica Dodson
[2:17] has been named aasa's new Deputy
[2:18] executive director and Todd Taylor will
[2:21] provide the
[2:26] introduction yes it's my distinct
[2:28] pleasure to interv Monica doson as our
[2:32] new Deputy executive director um we had
[2:36] a very competitive Nationwide search for
[2:39] this position and uh got to interview a
[2:42] lot of interesting candidates but uh
[2:45] Monica bested them all as our homegrown
[2:49] uh candidate here and uh you know her 20
[2:53] years of experience here at aasa leading
[2:56] both our water resources and waste
[2:59] management teams are going to serve her
[3:01] very well uh in this position not to
[3:05] mention her leadership style her
[3:08] commitment to continuous Improvement and
[3:10] her unwavering support for the aasa
[3:13] staff will all pay dividends to us uh
[3:16] down the road as she uh transitions into
[3:19] this new role so please join me and
[3:22] congratulating Monica on this promotion
[3:24] and we very much look forward to working
[3:26] with her
[3:31] [Applause]
[3:33] thank y'all um I've had a very exciting
[3:35] career at AA so far um and I'm honored
[3:39] to be able to uh continue to serve this
[3:41] community can serve um the organization
[3:44] and our employees you know when I
[3:46] started a Wasa 20 years ago I was a
[3:48] young woman less than a year out of
[3:50] college and still very much trying to
[3:52] figure out what I wanted to do what my
[3:54] place was and so I feel very blessed to
[3:57] have found a Wasa um I learned early on
[4:00] that this was a place where I knew I
[4:01] could learn and grow and one where I
[4:03] could have a positive impact not only on
[4:04] the organization and the community but
[4:06] also the employees um aasa is full of
[4:09] talented hardworking dedicated employees
[4:12] and um they are certainly a source of
[4:15] motivation and inspiration for me and so
[4:17] I'm excited to continue to support them
[4:19] um to advance the organization and
[4:22] ensure our community our our our success
[4:25] um within the community especially with
[4:26] all the important work that we have
[4:28] ahead of us so o want to say thank you
[4:30] all um if it wasn't for your support we
[4:32] wouldn't be able to do what we do so
[4:34] thank
[4:34] you thank you
[4:39] very thank you Monica we're looking
[4:42] forward to working with you in your new
[4:43] role um and now our final announcement
[4:47] uh Mo Rashid PE has been named aa's new
[4:50] utilities engineer and Alison Spinelli
[4:52] will provide an
[4:56] introduction thank you I'm excited to
[4:58] introduce MO mois rased he prefers to go
[5:01] by Mo so Mo has nine years in the water
[5:04] and wastewater industry he has a
[5:06] background in both uh variety of
[5:08] Consulting as well as technology vendors
[5:11] most recently um Mo comes to us from a
[5:14] consulting firm called with's Ravenel um
[5:17] where he was doing a lot of facility
[5:19] type projects um he has a bachelor's
[5:21] degree from NC State and is a licensed
[5:24] PE here in North Carolina uh interesting
[5:27] enough he is a native of Chapel Hill so
[5:29] it's kind of fun to bring somebody back
[5:31] into the fold here with us um Mo joined
[5:34] us at the beginning of August and it's
[5:36] been a really great and seam list from
[5:39] that point on and so we're really
[5:40] excited that Mo's here and joins the
[5:42] Capital Improvements team and just want
[5:44] to welcome Mo as part of our our new
[5:46] engineering team as one of our newest
[5:48] utility Engineers
[5:56] Mo thank you for that very generous
[5:58] introduction um yeah I'm excited to be
[6:00] here I look forward to serving the
[6:02] community and my dad is already asking
[6:03] me a whole bunch of questions
[6:06] about but thank
[6:13] you thank you we're looking forward to
[6:15] working with you too and my parents also
[6:17] ask me a lot of
[6:19] questions um are there any other
[6:21] announcements by board
[6:23] members are there any other
[6:24] announcements by staff
[6:28] no um we're moving on to petitions and
[6:31] requests are there any petitions and
[6:32] requests from the
[6:36] public um are there any petitions and
[6:38] requests from board members I know of
[6:40] two Bruce and myself are there any
[6:43] more okay start with
[6:46] Bruce okay I have a
[6:50] um proposal that I'd like the board to
[6:54] uh consider uh uh discussing uh
[6:58] regarding how the uh budget alternatives
[7:03] are presented to us uh each year when we
[7:06] go through the budget cycle um and I
[7:09] bring it up uh now so that we can
[7:13] discuss uh if this is something we want
[7:15] to take seriously and perhaps at the
[7:17] next board meeting we can go into some
[7:19] details on on uh uh what the proposal
[7:23] should should look like unless board
[7:25] members want to just um discuss it now
[7:27] and make a decision at this point
[7:30] um the um typically what happens is in
[7:35] December uh we start the budget cycle at
[7:38] least as far as the board is concerned
[7:40] and Stephen presents uh What uh the
[7:43] schedule will look like and what we'll
[7:45] be doing at each each board meeting uh
[7:48] and then in the spring we get uh
[7:51] typically a a uh base proposal and then
[7:54] one or two
[7:56] Alternatives uh uh that uh would allow
[8:00] for lower uh rates um
[8:03] and those uh alternatives are pretty
[8:07] detailed in terms of the cost savings
[8:10] but my frustration has been that they're
[8:13] not detailed at all in terms of the
[8:15] additional risk that we're taking on by
[8:17] pushing projects out or not doing
[8:20] projects uh um and
[8:24] um uh so what I would like to do is uh
[8:28] see if the Bo is in uh agreement at
[8:32] least in part uh with respect to that
[8:35] frustration and if so uh requests that
[8:39] uh management produce board altern or
[8:42] budget Alternatives uh that include some
[8:45] assessment in a quantitative sense of
[8:48] what the the risks are that we're taking
[8:49] on in those Alternatives uh I understand
[8:53] that it will probably take a couple of
[8:56] Cycles to get to that point uh uh um
[9:01] because we will be asking management to
[9:05] to uh um project out unknowns and and
[9:10] and try to quantify some some unknowns
[9:12] but I think we can get there and and
[9:14] there will be some uh projects where
[9:16] we'll just have to say we we we don't
[9:18] know what it is it's it's just too too
[9:20] unclear um I I brought this up uh just
[9:26] before this this topic up just before
[9:29] the
[9:30] pandemic uh we did a little bit of work
[9:32] on it Stephen in particular did did work
[9:35] on it pandemic came and we made a
[9:37] decision to keep rates fixed for a
[9:39] couple of years uh so that essentially
[9:42] forced our hand in terms of what the
[9:44] Alternatives would be and uh never
[9:46] really restarted it but I think it's it
[9:48] it would I think it's an important
[9:50] Initiative for us to look at seriously
[9:53] um so anyway uh i' be curious to hear if
[9:58] other folks share that
[10:00] frustration uh and if so uh if if we
[10:03] should move forward with a discussion on
[10:06] what uh uh what a proposal would look
[10:12] like uh yes I think it would be nice if
[10:16] we have that proposal in in that or that
[10:20] presentation in that manner because that
[10:23] way it will be easier for us to assess
[10:26] and make a decision at the end so I
[10:29] think it's a it's to toward the benefit
[10:32] of the board and Wasa
[10:38] so would anybody else like to
[10:43] weigh I have a question for Stephen oh
[10:46] go ahead somebody over sure I'll say an
[10:49] additional benefit is that it would help
[10:52] um provides communicative value to the
[10:55] elected officials and and the general
[10:57] public um as well just like it does for
[11:03] us I mean it seems totally reasonable to
[11:06] me I my question for Stephen is is that
[11:08] feasible is there anything that you
[11:11] would need is that something that you
[11:12] can work
[11:14] in um so the last time we tried this
[11:19] this may have been
[11:21] staff's picking the wrong thing to start
[11:23] with we tried with in the operations
[11:26] department so we looked at the
[11:28] collection system and were trying to say
[11:30] trying to determine well if we spend
[11:32] money doing these things or don't spend
[11:34] money doing these things you know how
[11:35] will that impact the performance of the
[11:37] collection system and it was not a very
[11:40] satisfying uh exercise for us and I
[11:43] don't think for the board either um but
[11:46] when I uh Bruce gave us a little bit of
[11:49] heads up that he was going to bring this
[11:50] up tonight when I read your comment in
[11:51] your email for some reason hit me
[11:54] differently and um if we were to if you
[11:57] intended and and I would advocate this
[12:00] to focus on CIP projects as opposed to
[12:03] the operating group I think we could
[12:05] come closer to uh to something like that
[12:08] and as you know we've we've we've done
[12:10] that kind of at a not a very detailed
[12:13] level the last couple of budgets um I'm
[12:17] a little uh heartened by the fact you
[12:19] say it's going to take more than one
[12:20] budget cycle uh Todd and I were talking
[12:23] a little bit briefly this afternoon and
[12:25] our asset management
[12:27] program uh is is making some Headway but
[12:30] it's a long-term project that's going to
[12:32] take
[12:33] another two years give mind plus or
[12:37] minus a year um and I think that it will
[12:40] be able to to help us answer those types
[12:42] of questions not only um you know if we
[12:46] don't do this project kind of what are
[12:48] the what are the risk associated to but
[12:50] what what will we have to spend in
[12:52] maintenance as because we didn't fix it
[12:54] and that sort of thing so um I think we
[12:56] could make some to answer your question
[12:59] M I think we can make some steps um this
[13:02] year and and hopefully bigger steps as
[13:04] we as we go
[13:07] along with
[13:09] you I I think on the CIP projects
[13:13] projects I think that's basically where
[13:16] I'm um I like to have more info on that
[13:20] so and and as we talked before um we C
[13:25] staff certainly feels we have more
[13:26] flexibility in the CIP program as a as
[13:29] opposed to the you know the operating
[13:34] expenses I I think it's a good idea for
[13:36] us to as a board to understand the
[13:40] budget all of it not just the CIP but
[13:43] the operating Basics well yeah
[13:46] discussion we have at least a session
[13:48] that we had talked about a little bit
[13:50] before of having a session so that
[13:52] everybody gets on the same page and
[13:55] understand where we are and why we are
[13:57] where we are would be helpful
[14:00] just to bring the new people up and the
[14:02] old people to where we are and why we
[14:05] are where we are especially since there
[14:08] were things or I would say um
[14:12] circumstances that got us here from
[14:13] previous board
[14:15] activity or board decisions that pushed
[14:18] us
[14:19] to this outrageous percentage Inc that's
[14:24] my opinion and I've been is that
[14:26] different than what Bruce is suggesting
[14:27] are you suggesting no it's not I'm I'm
[14:30] supporting what he's saying okay but are
[14:31] you asking for something additional as
[14:32] well just want to be all inclusive okay
[14:36] yeah and and my my only point is
[14:40] um the risk assessment will be um I
[14:45] think more meaningful on the CIP side
[14:46] but I I take your point Didn't mean to
[14:49] apply we wouldn't we would just ignore
[14:51] that
[14:54] part anybody else have a does that seem
[14:57] good with that sounds reasonable I mean
[15:00] I I agree also that long term we should
[15:04] cover operations as well and and I I do
[15:07] see a a path to getting to operations
[15:10] but uh walk before we run yeah um so
[15:14] does it make sense then for
[15:16] maybe uh Stephen and I or Steph and I
[15:19] and Todd I'm not sure who the group
[15:21] would be to get together and and put
[15:23] together a proposal we can talk about at
[15:25] the next board meeting is that
[15:28] reasonable yeah that seems okay that
[15:31] seem to with you time yeah I think
[15:33] that's fine I just want to make sure
[15:35] we're getting it the expectations set
[15:38] out so that we don't go off and come
[15:41] back again with no I think it should be
[15:43] very narrowly scoped initially just so
[15:45] that we can respond I think as I Echo
[15:47] Steven's comments if we can focus on the
[15:49] CIP that makes sense maybe we you know
[15:52] we can discuss this maybe we even focus
[15:54] on a part of our overall C like we're
[15:58] focusing on the distribution system or
[16:00] something like that maybe run that out
[16:02] kind of see if are we getting before we
[16:04] do a whole lot of work and then yeah
[16:06] that makes complete tense just to kind
[16:08] of scope it so I think our Our intention
[16:11] would be that next meeting is kind of a
[16:12] conversation I think it's great that
[16:14] maybe we could get together kind of come
[16:17] up with a framework and then maybe
[16:20] discuss it see if we're hitting all the
[16:22] points of the next me that works okay
[16:25] cool you good with that yeah great all
[16:27] right um and then I also have a um
[16:30] request and this is to the board um for
[16:33] whether this is something we're
[16:34] interested in having aasa look into or
[16:38] investigate for its impacts to aasa um
[16:41] and so I'm just going to read from
[16:43] something that Kirk Ross who's a local
[16:44] journalist wrote uh earlier today um so
[16:48] on July 31st UNCC Chapel Hill filed for
[16:50] a permit modification for its Cameron
[16:52] Avenue co- generation plan that would
[16:55] allow it to um conduct a year-long test
[16:57] of replacing coal with pellets made from
[16:59] a mix of wood paper and plastic scraps
[17:02] if successful the change to the new fuel
[17:05] conversion would become permanent and
[17:06] the vendor making pellets would likely
[17:08] build a facility to gather and process
[17:11] manufacturing scraps to supply it likely
[17:13] by rail um testing provided by the
[17:16] vendor said that the percentage of
[17:17] plastic in the pellets runs from 15 to
[17:19] 40% an additional appendix included with
[17:22] the application shows that the pellets
[17:24] also include varying amounts of P
[17:27] compounds um so far um the North
[17:30] Carolina Department of Environmental
[17:31] Quality shows that a public hearing and
[17:33] public comment period has has not been
[17:35] scheduled aside from a UNCC press
[17:38] release two weeks after the permit
[17:40] modification uh public discussion has
[17:42] been minimal um there are lots of
[17:45] reasons to discuss this and the reason
[17:47] that I think that our board would be
[17:49] interested in this um is that um there
[17:53] is both
[17:56] um um most studies that they have shown
[17:59] and that were in this report that they
[18:01] released looked at groundwater and
[18:03] waterways um but there's also the issue
[18:06] of potential um contamination of Wells
[18:09] crops and lakes downwind of the plant
[18:11] and our water source University Lake um
[18:13] could potentially be affected by these
[18:15] plastic pellets being burned at the
[18:17] co-generation plan um and
[18:20] so um the university says that it will
[18:23] monitor the pasas to make sure that
[18:25] levels are acceptable um but experience
[18:28] tells that they should also have to
[18:30] monitor emissions which they have not
[18:31] said that they would do yet um and so
[18:35] this would be introducing pasas into a
[18:37] process that would be being burned at a
[18:40] downtown facility um surrounded with by
[18:43] schools hospitals and our nearby local
[18:45] water supply so it does seem like
[18:47] something that we as a board should be
[18:49] aware of and potentially ask aasa to
[18:52] investigate so um when I first read
[18:55] about this it was uh buried on the UNCC
[18:57] website um and journalists brought this
[19:00] to the attention of the public and so
[19:02] this is more of a conversation for the
[19:04] board on whether we are interested in
[19:06] having a Wasa look at this or to ask for
[19:09] more information from UNCC so that we
[19:11] can be better informed about the test
[19:13] that UNCC plans to
[19:19] conduct go
[19:21] ahead the question I have is about the
[19:23] remediation or the cost of cleaning up
[19:27] the psp4 when it hits to water is there
[19:30] a cost attached to the contaminant
[19:34] Organization no there's no process not
[19:37] not in the report that has been released
[19:39] so far so being part of the discussion
[19:41] that we had with the legislators and
[19:43] people like that would lend one to think
[19:46] that going forward there might be a
[19:49] process where you can actually have the
[19:50] people that are contaminating the water
[19:52] pay for it's clean up at some point yeah
[19:55] that that is not on the UNCC website and
[19:57] that has that topic is not included
[20:02] not so my question is who will oversee
[20:06] besides
[20:07] UNC as far as how much pasas is been
[20:13] released because I know if UNCC has
[20:16] interest in it who else would be
[20:21] overseeing you do we know I we don't
[20:24] know but that is something that we could
[20:25] ask aasa to have a conversation with UNC
[20:29] we could ask aasa if there's going to be
[20:30] a public hearing on this topic um this
[20:33] is this is a board discussion is this
[20:35] topic like something that we are
[20:36] interested in asking aasa to investigate
[20:39] further so that we as a board can learn
[20:40] more about this planned um pilot study
[20:45] and what it might do to our
[20:48] community Kim yes I think so
[20:53] um I'm shocked that anybody's even
[20:55] talking about burning Plastics at any
[20:57] level anywhere
[20:59] yeah and
[21:02] um yeah it should be investigated okay
[21:06] other people I I think the dialogue
[21:09] would be useful um I think to answer
[21:12] your question this is DQ that manages
[21:16] this whole thing oh yeah my
[21:17] understanding is Department of
[21:18] Environmental Policy yeah and my
[21:20] understanding is that the
[21:22] um uh they're also the ones that like
[21:25] manage public hearings associated with
[21:27] that so
[21:29] um but this is in theory to increase you
[21:32] know air quality so I think it's good to
[21:35] have the dialogue yeah would anybody
[21:38] else like to I mean I I think that it
[21:40] would be useful to have the dialogue and
[21:41] for aasa to enter this conversation um
[21:44] because um just from doing you know the
[21:47] reading and talking to reporters who
[21:48] have been looking into this um my fear
[21:51] is that it would affect University
[21:55] lake so I I I agree with the dialogue I
[21:58] would like to add dialogue with a
[22:00] purpose yeah what is the expectation
[22:03] from this
[22:04] dialogue yeah
[22:08] um my thought would be that uh we would
[22:11] reach staff reach out to UNC just to
[22:15] learn more about potential impacts to
[22:18] aasa as far as the water and wastewater
[22:21] are concerned and then report back to
[22:24] the board on what we have learned and
[22:28] that be the first step and then we can
[22:31] take take it from there as to how we
[22:34] want to proceed once we know a little
[22:36] bit more this is kind of hot off the
[22:38] presses we we haven't had a lot of time
[22:41] to talk to anyone about it or plans are
[22:45] so I would say give us if if the board's
[22:48] interested refer it to staff give us the
[22:50] opportunity and we'll report back on on
[22:53] what we find it is there
[22:56] um an an industry in existence now that
[22:59] does this are there um it's small and
[23:02] it's in um very specific places in the
[23:05] United States as far as I'm aware
[23:06] they're not usually in population
[23:08] centers the way that our Coen plant is
[23:09] on in the middle of a neighborhood
[23:13] okay um my reason for asking was uh less
[23:17] about sort of the sighting but more um
[23:20] are there other places where we can get
[23:21] information on what the emissions are so
[23:23] if the inity already exists we the
[23:26] University of Missouri is doing this
[23:28] okay so may may make sense also Todd to
[23:31] do at least a little bit of research and
[23:33] see if we can get some information from
[23:35] ex you know existing
[23:37] operators that's a good point yeah did
[23:40] the excuse me did the article say if
[23:42] this is in Li of switching to natural
[23:44] gas because for a time they were going
[23:45] to switch to natural gas it seems like
[23:48] this is the pilot that is going forward
[23:50] this mixture of wood plastic and paper
[23:52] they can't switch entirely to natural
[23:54] gas because you'd actually have to crank
[23:56] up the size of the pipeline okay
[23:59] Mill did they give any indication on the
[24:01] percentages of each of those components
[24:03] they did and there's a really detailed
[24:04] report that I can send everybody and you
[24:07] know if you're interested in this I
[24:08] don't know off the top of my head but
[24:10] yes there is a percentage of each one
[24:11] yeah that'd be great if we could have
[24:13] yeah I'm happy to share that and uh with
[24:15] respect to Bruce's comment about
[24:17] emissions I'd be surprised if there
[24:20] weren't data on emissions and my
[24:22] goodness I can't imagine getting that
[24:25] permitted without an understanding what
[24:27] the permissions are
[24:29] yeah I mean they they they do have
[24:31] everything listed out are are the
[24:33] concern of the reporters is that it's
[24:34] been disaggregated and the way that they
[24:36] burn these products is not
[24:38] disaggregated so so um I think getting
[24:42] more information is a really good first
[24:44] step and I appreciate staff looking into
[24:50] this does anybody else want to say
[24:52] anything on that topic mam chair for as
[24:55] a matter of History the University
[25:00] uh
[25:02] emissions have ended up on top of within
[25:07] the resources of and
[25:11] um without question have adversely
[25:14] impacted the community during all the
[25:17] years since I've been in Chapel Hill
[25:18] since
[25:19] 1963 you know if the things that PO to
[25:23] mind immediately are the collash under
[25:26] what used to be the police station still
[25:28] is but um it's it's always been amazing
[25:32] to me that conversation about that
[25:34] collash has not included the University
[25:37] where it came from agree if you go to
[25:40] the other end of the pipe to the steam
[25:42] generating plant that has deposited Ash
[25:46] on the houses of the people who lived
[25:49] around that plant ever since I've been
[25:51] in the community and long before
[25:54] that uh I can't imagine
[25:59] that the university would even apply for
[26:02] such a permit without a widespread
[26:05] Community conversation about this
[26:08] because what it does is that Coen
[26:11] plan has impacted the community in an
[26:15] adverse way for so many years promises
[26:18] have been made over and over again and
[26:20] broken over and over again by the
[26:23] university to switch to fuel sources
[26:26] that were less harmful to the community
[26:29] uh and it's it's astonishing to
[26:32] me that
[26:35] uh the community would have
[26:37] learned about this
[26:40] proposal only by reason of the diligence
[26:44] of reporters who don't have a newspaper
[26:45] to write anything in the traditional
[26:49] sense the process for getting the
[26:53] permit uh is managed by
[26:56] DEQ under rules that are in place those
[27:00] rules permit the public to request
[27:03] public
[27:04] hearings before the permit is issue and
[27:07] I would think at the very least
[27:10] University ought to be advised that the
[27:14] community community is going to insist
[27:16] on uh public
[27:18] hearings where information can be
[27:20] developed analyzed considered and where
[27:23] the community can come to a consensus
[27:26] about whether or not you want another
[27:28] impact like the CO as impact or like the
[27:31] impact of the Coen plant for all the
[27:34] years uh I see my friend braxon sitting
[27:38] here braxon uh fushi has led a community
[27:42] effort for many years to try to get
[27:45] folks who lived around that plant for so
[27:47] many years relief from what the
[27:49] University was doing to them we're in a
[27:52] different era now yeah but we're
[27:55] still I mean I can't imagine that there
[27:58] that they're considering doing this
[28:00] without a fullsome community involvement
[28:03] so that's my herang about it me for
[28:06] jumping in but I think please don't
[28:08] apologize I appreciate the historical
[28:10] context and I agree with you I mean I I
[28:13] think that this is something that as far
[28:15] as I'm aware it has not come up before a
[28:18] public board prior to tonight and um I
[28:22] would encourage the people here to both
[28:24] contact the two town councils and see
[28:27] what we can do to um encourage the
[28:30] university to have a very full community
[28:32] conversation about
[28:34] this and now you said you'd be sending
[28:37] us that article yeah I'm happy to send
[28:38] you the three articles that have been
[28:40] written by journalists as well as the
[28:42] report that UNCC has put out um and I
[28:45] will send that to you as
[28:46] well um okay does anybody else want to
[28:49] say anything on that topic and thank you
[28:51] for taking the time on that I appreciate
[28:52] it I do have a question who issues the
[28:56] uh permit the town of
[28:58] no the DQ the the Department of
[29:01] Environmental environment quality yeah
[29:04] so it's it's a state level
[29:06] decision so um just wanted to make
[29:09] people aware and um happy to work with
[29:12] you on next steps um we will now move on
[29:16] to the consent agenda there it's a
[29:17] really really big consent agenda so bear
[29:19] with me and let me know if you'd like to
[29:22] pull something from the consent agenda
[29:24] there's 13 items um I'll just read all
[29:27] of them and if you want to pull it tell
[29:29] me um afterwards uh one is a report for
[29:33] material procurement for the Clark Lake
[29:35] Road water main replacement project two
[29:38] is a report for chemical procurement for
[29:40] water and wastewater treatment
[29:42] processes three is an annual report on
[29:45] disposal of surplus personal property
[29:48] four is um the update from the diversity
[29:52] Equity inclusion and belonging program
[29:54] and equal employment opportunity for
[29:56] fiscal year 2024
[29:59] five is the Capital Improvements program
[30:01] semi annual
[30:02] report six is the pre preliminary
[30:05] financial report for the 12-month period
[30:07] ending uh June 30th
[30:10] 2024 seven is the quarterly report on
[30:12] attendance at board meetings eight is
[30:15] the fiscal year 2024 budget
[30:17] amendment nine is the review proposed
[30:20] work plan for aasa's executive
[30:23] director 10 is the resolution accepting
[30:26] lead and copper rule revision
[30:28] funding 11 is the resolution accepting
[30:31] an increase in state revolving Loan Fund
[30:34] for the West Cameron water main project
[30:37] 12 are the minutes of the June 13 2024
[30:40] meeting of the board of directors and 13
[30:43] are the minutes of the June 13 2024 Clos
[30:46] session of the board of directors are
[30:48] there any public comments on any of
[30:49] these
[30:50] items okay um are there any questions
[30:53] comments or would a board member like to
[30:55] pull an item from the consent agenda
[30:59] number four number four number four is
[31:01] the diversity Equity inclusion and
[31:03] belonging program update and equal
[31:05] employment opportunity for fiscal year
[31:07] 2024 would anybody else like to pull
[31:10] number five number five from Michael
[31:13] that is the Capital Improvements program
[31:14] semiannual report um anybody else should
[31:19] we um have a motion for the remaining
[31:21] items and then we can pull those opers
[31:24] so I have a couple of questions and
[31:27] comments comments that
[31:29] are uh that don't rise to the level of
[31:33] pulling the items which items do you
[31:36] want to question or
[31:38] comment um and
[31:40] I item two I have a comment
[31:44] on uh that one is going to be
[31:47] pulled um why don't we pull them so we
[31:50] can um motion the rest and then we can
[31:54] okay okay and what are the other ones uh
[31:57] this one is the no that one's already
[32:00] been pulled uh that one's been
[32:04] pulled uh
[32:06] the financial six month Financial I have
[32:10] a question on what number is that
[32:16] um is it the preliminary six okay okay
[32:20] and then this one is number nine number
[32:26] nine okay so here's what I'd like to do
[32:29] I'd like to make um a motion in a second
[32:32] to approve
[32:35] 1378 10 11 12 and
[32:38] 13 and then I would like to pull 2 4
[32:43] five six and
[32:45] nine for discussion did I do that
[32:48] correctly uh it would be more
[32:49] appropriate for another uh member to
[32:53] make the motion okay and a second from a
[32:55] board member okay then I will just date
[32:58] them and I will ask for a motion thank
[33:00] you may I please have a motion all right
[33:04] Todd makes the motion may have Myra
[33:07] second all right um all those in favor
[33:10] say I for the list that I
[33:13] just I okay those opposed say
[33:17] nay okay great the motion passes for the
[33:21] items that I just outlined let's do
[33:24] these in numerical order to make it easy
[33:26] so we're going to start with two which
[33:28] is the report for chemical procurement
[33:30] for water and wastewater treatment
[33:32] processes and Bruce has a question okay
[33:35] it should be pretty simple um the uh
[33:39] aluminum sulfate is this a
[33:41] commodity is that a commodity
[33:45] chemical I want
[33:49] to I'm Kelly safield Director of Finance
[33:52] Monica
[34:00] I'm uh Monica doson Deputy executive
[34:03] director I'm not sure what you mean by
[34:04] commodity um okay here's my my concern
[34:07] there's a pretty wide range of prices
[34:10] here and you normally wouldn't expect
[34:13] that for a commodity they'd be really
[34:15] tightly um grouped together um which
[34:18] leads me to
[34:20] believe uh is something funny going on
[34:23] like for example the product we'll get
[34:27] from
[34:28] usco is not of the same quality as the
[34:31] others it just looks funny those numbers
[34:34] so the the winning bid was actually the
[34:36] current product we've been using um for
[34:39] several years so certainly don't have
[34:40] any concerns with um with the quality of
[34:43] it maybe it's because we had an existing
[34:47] relationship and yeah that's fine that
[34:49] answers it okay that's
[34:52] fine just recognize a lot of these
[34:54] chemicals that we use are specific that
[34:57] you can put it into water drinking water
[35:00] so they are not like you know you just
[35:03] couldn't go buy a raw aluminum sulfate
[35:05] somewhere it actually had you know okay
[35:08] standards there that other things aren't
[35:10] in it okay that could contaminate the
[35:12] water so okay but presumably that the
[35:15] chemical from all four of these
[35:17] suppliers are those requirement um but
[35:22] if if it's working for us and it's the
[35:24] same stuff then that answers the
[35:26] question okay question on process would
[35:28] it be appropriate to list that fact like
[35:33] this is a current supplier in the future
[35:36] I think that would be useful think so
[35:44] that yeah all right let's move on to
[35:47] number four which is the diversity
[35:49] Equity inclusion and belonging program
[35:51] update an equal employment opportunity
[35:53] for fiscal year 2024 Al my okay
[36:05] a couple of questions here with regard
[36:07] to when did the position become vacant
[36:10] exactly because you said you're in the
[36:12] process of um you filling it October
[36:16] November yes that was in July I believe
[36:19] okay so what's the process I mean I read
[36:22] what you said you were doing did you
[36:24] have an exit interview with the person
[36:25] that left we did
[36:28] and other than he left for more money is
[36:30] that that's the story at a higher level
[36:32] position yes a higher level position
[36:34] then our position is titled diversity
[36:37] equ Equity inclusion and belonging
[36:39] Specialists and he took a director level
[36:42] position so what what kind of of um
[36:46] promotional opportunities there are none
[36:48] for existing positions since this was
[36:51] the first time you had a had a DB person
[36:55] and so there's no growth within that
[36:57] road as far as promotions or counter
[36:59] offers or anything like that um
[37:01] specifically the person if they're
[37:03] interested in the Director of Human
[37:04] Resources position that would be an
[37:06] Avenue for them um to to be promoted oh
[37:12] I mean I'm just mean in in position in
[37:14] title there's no growth opportunity
[37:16] within a position if a person if you
[37:19] wanted to keep a person that was already
[37:21] here without giving them somebody else's
[37:24] title you don't have any professional
[37:26] development built and that's not just
[37:28] for that position but for any position
[37:30] for growth we do have professional
[37:33] development opportunities with entitle
[37:36] yes but that wasn't for this for the de
[37:39] position well I would say that every
[37:41] position has professional development
[37:43] opportunities the person that we're
[37:45] speaking of um took a the E Cornell
[37:48] diversity Equity inclusion certification
[37:51] program while they were
[37:52] here I think specifically El Mar you're
[37:56] talking about is there like a one two or
[37:58] three or a an opportunity for that well
[38:01] you counter offer people to keep them if
[38:04] they're doing a good job sure without
[38:07] without them having to leave to go get
[38:09] something else I I know the E Cornell
[38:11] stuff well yeah unfortunately we we we
[38:14] don't have that for this much for this
[38:16] position as far as you know TI other
[38:20] titles or things like that we can offer
[38:22] so what about can you explain the
[38:25] belonging portion of your de I and
[38:28] what's actually happening here with the
[38:30] B part sure um we just want to cultivate
[38:34] um a sense of fulfillment for people a
[38:37] sense of um being included and being
[38:40] engaged being um invited to um
[38:45] participate in things that maybe are not
[38:47] on their job descriptions whether it's
[38:49] serving on one of our committees on
[38:52] interview panels attending training and
[38:55] things that um would be out there for
[38:59] them that maybe are not specific to
[39:00] their role so if they're say a treatment
[39:02] plan operator it may not have anything
[39:05] treating water but they would be able to
[39:07] uh to gain experience now for employees
[39:10] we are we have a program um it's a bonus
[39:14] pay program for additional
[39:16] certifications that are above what's
[39:18] required for your position and sometimes
[39:21] they very much align with the job
[39:23] description and sometimes they're um I
[39:26] would say valid or or accurate for
[39:29] another position or maybe other skills
[39:32] project management that sort of thing so
[39:35] for the current opening that you have
[39:37] for the deib person and you're going to
[39:40] hire in October November so you have
[39:42] candidates that you're bringing in now
[39:44] absolutely we uh got a great response to
[39:47] our recruitment we're currently um
[39:50] screening we're doing telephone
[39:52] interviews with 15 individuals and are
[39:55] going to narrow that down
[39:58] um and do inperson panel interviews
[40:02] those are scheduled for the first week
[40:03] of October okay it may bleed into the
[40:06] second week of October
[40:09] too one other question what may one
[40:11] other question that I have with regard
[40:14] to the the chart that's on page nine
[40:16] that list the note at the bottom says
[40:19] you know decline people declined the
[40:22] offer or you failed the post offer
[40:24] process what's the post offer process um
[40:26] so all of our positions require a
[40:29] physical as well as a drug screen as
[40:31] well as background
[40:35] checks verifying their education that
[40:37] they put on their resume that sort of
[40:39] thing oh
[40:41] okay and back background checks I'm just
[40:44] interested what would keep a person from
[40:45] getting a job here if they fail a drug
[40:48] screen if they um say they got a degree
[40:52] somewhere and they
[40:55] didn't it doesen it does
[40:59] okay I I was just interested in in
[41:01] knowing what that was have you ever had
[41:03] a board member participate in any of the
[41:05] interview
[41:07] processes I don't think that's ever
[41:09] taken place to my
[41:11] knowledge that has not not ever been
[41:14] suggested forly in a board meeting there
[41:17] have been occasions where
[41:21] conversations there have been occasions
[41:23] where conversations about that have
[41:25] taken place and we've always
[41:28] um uh made sure that we reminded the
[41:32] board to remind its relationship with
[41:35] the executive director Personnel matters
[41:38] are matters that are generally within
[41:40] the authority of the executive director
[41:43] and uh the extent to which a board
[41:46] member might be interested in
[41:49] participating uh would suggest a
[41:53] dilution of the uh executive director's
[41:57] auor authority over hiring U and firing
[42:00] so for that reason our advice has always
[42:02] been it would be inappropriate to have
[42:06] member okay I was just interested to
[42:08] know how how brought diversity into the
[42:11] process because I don't see a whole lot
[42:12] of diversity in staff sure so we always
[42:16] make sure we have you generally have a
[42:18] four sometimes five but mostly four um
[42:22] member panel for each Recruitment and um
[42:26] there has to be
[42:27] um minority representation as well as
[42:30] representation from outside the
[42:31] department okay what about
[42:34] Community
[42:36] people we've done that at times where if
[42:40] we've had a position um one comes to
[42:43] mind um it was our director of
[42:47] Information Technology and we used a
[42:50] member of the another municipality
[42:53] another local entity um that had um
[42:57] extensive Information Technology um
[43:01] experience and understanding and they
[43:03] were on the panel so we've other used
[43:04] other municipalities that sort of thing
[43:07] okay CU I was just thinking about people
[43:08] that have knowledge of the community and
[43:10] the diverse nature of the clientele that
[43:12] the board serves as not a board member
[43:15] that could participate in helping in the
[43:17] process whether or not
[43:19] that's outside of any rules or prohib is
[43:24] prohibited I don't know if any law La
[43:27] that prohibits it but some of the same
[43:30] um concerns that were expressed about
[43:33] board members about the delici of the
[43:35] executive director's Authority okay we
[43:38] tried very hard to maintain a pretty
[43:41] bright line uh between U board member
[43:47] conduct and Community conduct and the
[43:50] executive director's authority over the
[43:52] staff
[43:57] okay I truly appreciate your interest in
[44:00] questions thank you wait wait there one
[44:01] oh I'm
[44:02] sorry how are you no wor is good uh
[44:06] silly question I was looking at your
[44:08] graphs on page S8 kind of sort of and I
[44:12] was wondering if all the interviews for
[44:14] your positions are done in
[44:16] person we try very hard for that um but
[44:20] if there are people you know throughout
[44:22] the the country and Beyond um sometimes
[44:26] they are um virtual
[44:29] interviews
[44:30] okay on page nine I couldn't help but
[44:35] notice and I don't know if this warrants
[44:39] much analysis but when you look at the
[44:42] hired percentages distribution across
[44:45] the
[44:46] categories they're very disproportionate
[44:49] with the percentage of applicants in the
[44:52] categories I'm sorry say that again I
[44:54] just got to the right page sorry page
[44:56] page nine sure
[44:59] if you look at that last row on the
[45:01] hired percentages by the categories
[45:05] they're just they're disproportionate
[45:07] with respect to the pool of applicants
[45:09] in each of the categories sure we've
[45:11] discussed that before and there's
[45:13] probably a lot of reasons for that but I
[45:15] just want you know paid attention thank
[45:18] you on page
[45:20] 10 um could you help me understand what
[45:24] a protective service worker is and what
[45:27] they do the definitions of the EO
[45:30] categories of a protective service
[45:33] worker yes I don't have that that
[45:36] information in front of me I can let you
[45:38] know um there are definitions that that
[45:42] the eeo puts out for each classification
[45:45] and I know in years past I have emailed
[45:47] those to the board and I can do that
[45:49] this time just curious sure thanks
[45:53] that's all I
[45:54] got thank you yes
[45:57] yeah not yet
[45:59] uh the uh Apprentice program that was
[46:03] started in 2023 that's fantastic that we
[46:05] got three folks as permanent absolutely
[46:08] that's wonderful um
[46:11] the uh on retention that would be on
[46:14] page 10 of the package or page five of
[46:17] the report
[46:20] um uh do you have
[46:24] um sort of historical retention number
[46:27] maybe that you could send
[46:28] around last five years seven years
[46:31] something like that
[46:33] um uh I
[46:36] know the last few years we've had some
[46:38] some difficulty
[46:41] recruiting uh I don't know what why if
[46:44] that's if there's been a retention
[46:46] problem as well but that'd be useful to
[46:48] to send around and and maybe include in
[46:51] in you know future reports like this
[46:53] sure uh do you have something specific
[46:56] in mind or no just you know is is there
[47:00] a pattern there uh are certain position
[47:03] are we losing people in certain
[47:05] positions uh more than others or uh
[47:11] certain age age ranges were losing or I
[47:14] you I don't know just it'd be
[47:16] interesting from a pattern recognition
[47:18] Point sure so I think I'd have to get to
[47:21] the right page um we did spell out
[47:25] information on the 20 people that we
[47:28] left in this reporting period is that
[47:30] the type of information that you're
[47:32] looking for ex but but historic maybe
[47:34] that's a normal those numbers are normal
[47:36] but if they're uh abnormal relative to
[47:39] history then that's a signal there's
[47:40] something going absolutely yeah we can
[47:42] certainly speaks to to the belonging
[47:45] piece if your largest on on that
[47:49] particular chart on page 10 if the
[47:52] majority of your people that are leaving
[47:56] everybody it's percentages and stuff
[47:59] people that the retention number is
[48:00] extremely high white and it's extremely
[48:03] low for everybody
[48:06] else so the belonging program could
[48:09] probably use
[48:13] some oh I think our work will never be
[48:17] done and and the last one on uh page 11
[48:21] of the report 16 of the package so
[48:24] there's a drop off in women in the last
[48:27] three years or so uh is is that
[48:32] consistent with numbers that other
[48:35] Municipal municipalities have or other
[48:38] organizations in the state or the region
[48:41] any sure any color you can shine on that
[48:44] I can look into that I I don't have that
[48:46] information with me um the one thing
[48:49] that um with this report it's one day
[48:53] out of the year it's June 30th and we
[48:56] look at the data on June 30th and that's
[48:58] what we report to the board and so we
[49:01] fluctuate so much throughout the year
[49:03] but if we had um two three people leave
[49:08] in the prior month it you know and then
[49:11] we increase it the next month once we
[49:13] recruit it just it's whatever it is on
[49:15] that June 30th date and that's always
[49:17] kind of yeah you know okay hurt my bell
[49:20] a little
[49:22] bit I have I have one question um it it
[49:25] seems like you got a lot more
[49:26] applications I'm just curious what you
[49:28] did what did you do that Chang that well
[49:30] I think it's it's in the report we went
[49:32] to a lot of different um um events and
[49:36] things like that I think you know we
[49:39] attended the minority participation
[49:40] program and learned a whole lot more
[49:43] about how we can can recruit women we
[49:46] went to the veterans and water Workforce
[49:48] um the Central Carolina women and
[49:50] business career focused event um I
[49:53] personally went to several of these and
[49:56] I attended the triangle Dei event one of
[49:59] the best things I've ever attended in my
[50:01] life and career on how to support
[50:03] re-entry and re-engagement into the
[50:05] workforce for those leaving
[50:07] incarceration um they started it off
[50:10] with a
[50:11] 2hour um exercise where we played the
[50:16] role of trying to get our social
[50:17] security card and catch the bus to go
[50:20] get all the documentation that we needed
[50:22] and then try and get an interview and
[50:24] how do we get to the interview if we
[50:25] don't have any money and it it was one
[50:27] of the best things I've ever attended so
[50:30] all sorts of things and at those things
[50:31] you make um networking opportunities and
[50:35] and find out about all sorts of things
[50:36] so we've got our new deib plan in place
[50:40] and we're looking forward to to grow in
[50:43] it even more um in the next
[50:46] months thank you very much does anybody
[50:48] else have any okay great thank you thank
[50:51] you so much I appreciate the interest
[50:53] okay and now we will move on to we have
[50:56] three more excuse me the Capital
[50:59] Improvements program semiannual report
[51:02] um Allison and
[51:04] Michael hey Elison hey Michael question
[51:08] what do we use permanganate for at
[51:11] University Lake we permanganate could
[51:13] too control iron and
[51:15] manganese so there's iron and manganese
[51:17] in the reservoirs and when they reach
[51:19] certain levels they can cause
[51:22] um coloration of the water or taste and
[51:25] odor issues and so we treat at the lake
[51:27] and so that helps to allow enough
[51:30] contact time for the iron and maganese
[51:32] to interact with the oxidant to bring
[51:34] that out of solution and then we remove
[51:35] it during filtration great answer do we
[51:37] have like a sump or something that we
[51:40] add the chemicals to and then pump them
[51:43] up here I mean what's the
[51:45] process are you referring to the process
[51:48] at Cane Creek or the process at
[51:49] University Lake University Lake okay
[51:51] perfect so at University Lake we have a
[51:54] bulk tank of permanganate a sodium
[51:57] permanganate Solution that's um now
[52:00] housed in a a new building we used to
[52:03] feed it out of chemical totes within the
[52:05] existing Pump Station okay um but we've
[52:07] now created a more reliable sustainable
[52:10] solution that has it fully inclosed away
[52:13] from the public all of that and so we
[52:16] meter in the sodium permanganate into
[52:20] the actual raw water line that comes out
[52:22] of the pump station and that mixing that
[52:25] happens from the pump station where it's
[52:27] in injected into that raw water line it
[52:30] it travels and mixes that whole way down
[52:32] jonesberry road back to the water
[52:33] treatment plant and then it enters into
[52:36] the rest of the treatment facility and
[52:39] there it it oxidizes out iron and
[52:41] manganese and then that's captured
[52:43] through the rest of the process like
[52:45] infiltration cool thank you um might
[52:48] have another question
[52:54] sure um yeah so this is about on
[52:59] page well it says two at the top but
[53:02] this is kind of directed to the
[53:04] engineering group I
[53:06] think
[53:08] that you know we say a conservable
[53:10] amount of CIP work was accomplished
[53:11] despite Staffing challenges which
[53:13] continue through the year and to combat
[53:16] this temporary project management
[53:18] support from Jacobs um was provided I'm
[53:20] just curious what what they did for us
[53:24] they served as an acting project manager
[53:26] so they sat here in our office at least
[53:29] one day a week and then did ancillary
[53:31] work um either at their home office or
[53:34] um in the field doing Project work as if
[53:38] they were assigned as a team member on
[53:39] my team okay how many staff did you have
[53:43] from Jacobs just one uhuh one
[53:46] part-time cool daffer all right and kind
[53:50] of one last request sure table
[53:53] one I'm wondering if you all could
[53:57] provide that spreadsheet form or some
[54:00] other way that you know it's legible
[54:03] when either we print it out or we want
[54:05] to study it sure we were so effective
[54:09] and productive there's so many on this
[54:11] list this year so yeah we can definitely
[54:13] do that so I I printed it out on tablet
[54:16] paper so I can read it but I can't and
[54:19] uh you know it'd be well suited to um
[54:21] you know if I could get it into Excel
[54:23] and split the screen and you know keep
[54:25] column and Rose where I could have a
[54:29] hard look at it' be great sure that's
[54:30] how I produce it so it's easy enough for
[54:32] us to share it thank you yeah no problem
[54:35] thank you thanks okay two more um and
[54:40] these are both Bruce so the first one is
[54:42] number six the preliminary financial
[54:44] report for the 12-month period ending on
[54:47] June 30th
[54:49] 2024 okay um s excuse uh so on the
[54:53] system development fees dollars are not
[54:57] large but there's a huge variance uh the
[55:00] the actual is 2.7 million the budget was
[55:03] 1.0 I may show my ignorance here but it
[55:07] would seem to me that we have pretty
[55:09] good visibility into um the the system
[55:14] development projects we're going to do
[55:17] uh so why is it off so much is there
[55:21] something else going on or it's uh I may
[55:25] not be the best person that answer this
[55:26] and I'm looking around and I think the
[55:27] person that is might not be here no he's
[55:30] he's oh sorry on the wrong side of the
[55:35] room uh fish nuk and gather director of
[55:38] engineering so system development
[55:40] projects we do track them and try to
[55:42] provide as good you know as good of a
[55:44] forecast as we can um just like our own
[55:47] CIP projects they're so many of them are
[55:50] subject to you know changes and delays
[55:53] accelerations and I think this there was
[55:56] one project in particular that was
[55:58] accelerated if I'm okay if I'm
[56:01] remembering correctly so we actually
[56:03] don't have very good visibility into
[56:05] what's going to happen okay that's fine
[56:07] that's fine okay I I you know I'm a
[56:12] pattern matcher type of person and when
[56:15] I see big variances that I always wonder
[56:17] if there's something hidden behind it
[56:18] but that okay that's
[56:20] great anybody else have anything on that
[56:23] one and then this our last one um number
[56:26] nine the review proposed work plan for
[56:29] aasa's executive director okay and Todd
[56:32] this one on on uh item number two for
[56:36] you Financial Management number B says
[56:39] monitor financial and fraud management
[56:41] as well as customer building monitor
[56:44] sounds too weak to me I sure would like
[56:46] to have something like you know ensure
[56:49] that we have the proper controls in
[56:52] place rather than just monitoring what's
[56:54] going on does that make sense absolutely
[56:59] okay is that
[57:03] so I wrote ensure that proper controls
[57:07] are in place for financial and fraud
[57:10] management as well as customer billing
[57:14] performance it's on page 42 of the
[57:16] package can I can I ask one question
[57:18] from page 43 um do you know when we'll
[57:20] get an update on care to share and in
[57:23] coming in house I think we're planning
[57:27] on if I'm correct yeah it's like January
[57:31] February time
[57:33] great about that all right so here's
[57:37] what we're going to do now we pulled
[57:39] items two four five six and nine and if
[57:44] there are no additional questions or
[57:45] comments may I have a motion and second
[57:48] to approve 24 five six nine I'll make a
[57:52] motion great thank you
[57:54] Michael Bruce all right we have a motion
[57:58] by Michael and a second by Bruce all
[57:59] those in favor please say I I I I okay
[58:03] the motion for those items on the
[58:06] consent agenda um passes
[58:10] unanimously we will now move on to the
[58:13] regular
[58:14] agenda and this first item is
[58:18] exciting um it is a resolution honoring
[58:21] the service of Mary Dar to the Chapel to
[58:24] the carboro Chapel Hill Orange County
[58:27] Community um so I'm going to read this
[58:30] out loud would you like to come to the
[58:33] podium
[58:36] love okay so I'm going to read from here
[58:39] and then I will come to the podium
[58:42] whereas after working more than 30 years
[58:45] as an aasa professional engineer Mary
[58:48] Dar will retire on November 1st 2024
[58:51] from her present position as Deputy
[58:53] executive director and the board of
[58:56] directors wishes to thank her for her
[58:58] work as an essential Public Employee in
[59:01] service to our community and whereas
[59:04] Mary began work for aasa in
[59:07] 1994 as a utilities engineer where she
[59:10] soon became known for her willingness to
[59:12] undertake and complete the difficult and
[59:14] often complicated projects necessary to
[59:17] guide the operation and support the
[59:18] replacement and new construction of
[59:20] water and sewage infrastructure vital to
[59:23] the life of our community she was
[59:25] promoted to serve as operations engineer
[59:28] director of engineering and planning and
[59:30] then as general manager of operations
[59:32] and she will retire having most recently
[59:34] served as Deputy executive director of
[59:36] aasa and whereas Mary well and
[59:39] Faithfully performed her
[59:41] responsibilities including management of
[59:43] aasa's water supply water distribution
[59:46] and Wastewater collection systems its
[59:48] water and wastewater treatment plants
[59:51] its reclaimed water system along with
[59:53] its Laboratories and maintenance
[59:55] operations she will be remembered by her
[59:57] colleagues for her warm smile and
[59:59] enthusiasm in service with all of them
[1:00:01] and her willingness to notice and then
[1:00:03] to help those who needed a lift or a
[1:00:04] hand up or some thoughtful suggestion to
[1:00:06] help them through their day indeed it is
[1:00:10] remarkable that even with so many
[1:00:12] responsibilities Mary always found time
[1:00:14] to help whoever needed her encouragement
[1:00:17] and whereas throughout her career she
[1:00:20] was instrumental in planning and
[1:00:22] executing projects such as the
[1:00:24] preparation of aasa's sewage use
[1:00:26] ordinance which today protects aasa's
[1:00:29] sewage sewer infrastructure from
[1:00:31] dangerous and damaging inflows she was
[1:00:33] in charge of various award-winning
[1:00:35] projects that brought National and
[1:00:37] international recognition to aasa
[1:00:39] including the 2005 partnership for Safe
[1:00:42] Water directors award and the 2011
[1:00:45] excellence in water treatment award she
[1:00:48] was also project manager for the
[1:00:49] construction of the operations center a
[1:00:52] building intended to build relationships
[1:00:54] between the engineering and operations
[1:00:56] staff and whereas Mary Dar has earned
[1:01:00] the admiration and respect of co-workers
[1:01:02] at aasa our local governments the
[1:01:04] University of North Carolina at Chapel
[1:01:06] Hill and other professionals within the
[1:01:08] National Water and Sewer industry her
[1:01:10] character and her work will now serve as
[1:01:12] her Legacy to aasa and our
[1:01:15] community now therefore be it resolved
[1:01:18] that the board of directors of the
[1:01:20] orange water and sewage Authority hereby
[1:01:23] honors and expresses its sincere
[1:01:24] appreciation for the distinguished
[1:01:27] Public Service of Mary Dar PE to aasa
[1:01:30] and the people of carboro Chapel Hill
[1:01:32] and Orange County and the Border
[1:01:33] directors extends our best wishes to
[1:01:35] Mary for good health and happiness in
[1:01:37] your retirement may I have a motion and
[1:01:40] second to approve the
[1:01:42] resolution P
[1:01:45] Pedro
[1:01:46] Bruce okay we have a motion by Pedro and
[1:01:49] a second by Bruce I'm getting teary all
[1:01:51] those in
[1:01:54] favor all those in favor please say
[1:01:57] I the motion passes unanimously and the
[1:02:00] resolution is approved congratulations
[1:02:02] thank
[1:02:20] you that was
[1:02:29] [Music]
[1:02:30] [Laughter]
[1:02:47] are there any public
[1:02:49] comments there is
[1:02:54] one I'm going to get my
[1:02:57] water okay yes so um Ed Kerwin really
[1:03:02] wanted to be here tonight he was a
[1:03:03] wasa's executive director from 1996 to
[1:03:07] 2020 um and again he very much wanted to
[1:03:10] deliver his remarks about Mary Dar in
[1:03:13] person at tonight's meeting but he's
[1:03:15] under the weather and asked me to read
[1:03:18] his um comments on his behalf so I'm
[1:03:22] doing this all for Ed so it sounds like
[1:03:24] he's right here
[1:03:26] you're welcome all right I join the aasa
[1:03:30] board of directors general counsel and
[1:03:33] staff in acknowledging and thanking Mary
[1:03:36] Dar for her 30 years of progressively
[1:03:39] responsible and truly impactful Public
[1:03:42] Service Mary has always worked very
[1:03:45] effect effectively with others
[1:03:47] throughout the organization and
[1:03:49] Community to ensure aasa successfully
[1:03:52] fulfills its critically important resp
[1:03:55] responsibilities to provide Chapel Hill
[1:03:59] carboro the university and Southern
[1:04:01] Orange County with high quality and
[1:04:04] reliable water services around the clock
[1:04:07] in doing so Mary always displayed
[1:04:09] genuine caring for others she's a true
[1:04:12] team player Mary's very knowledgeable
[1:04:15] and experienced in nearly all aspects of
[1:04:17] aasa's operation and she has freely
[1:04:20] shared her knowledge support and
[1:04:22] guidance with others
[1:04:27] if I
[1:04:29] had if I had to pick and highlight just
[1:04:32] one of Mary's many accomplishments that
[1:04:34] would that will continue to benefit our
[1:04:37] community in the years ahead it is the
[1:04:40] inspired leadership role she had guiding
[1:04:42] our team to further improve our drinking
[1:04:44] water quality this resulted in aasa
[1:04:47] becoming the only becoming only the
[1:04:50] ninth water treatment plant in the
[1:04:52] country and the first in North Carolina
[1:04:55] to be awarded the Excellence in water
[1:04:57] treatment award by the partnership for
[1:04:59] safe water in 2011 the partnership for
[1:05:03] Safe Water comprises six organizations
[1:05:05] including the EA and the American
[1:05:08] Waterworks
[1:05:09] Association this award acknowledged that
[1:05:11] a the aasa team was operating a fully
[1:05:14] optimized water treatment process the
[1:05:17] aasa team has suain sustained this level
[1:05:20] of drinking water and treatment
[1:05:21] optimization for over 10 years Mary
[1:05:24] would be the first
[1:05:26] to give full credit to all her
[1:05:28] co-workers for this
[1:05:30] accomplishment please know that Mary
[1:05:32] effectively LED our very inclusive
[1:05:34] process with Frontline staff and many
[1:05:37] others throughout aasa this initiative
[1:05:40] was an important part of our overall
[1:05:42] work building a culture of teamwork
[1:05:45] continuous Improvement and performance
[1:05:48] Excellence I'm so proud of how this
[1:05:50] initiative has been successfully
[1:05:52] expanded by the aasa team and Water
[1:05:55] District distribution Wastewater
[1:05:57] collection treatment and reuse Mary
[1:06:00] would also be quick to give credit to
[1:06:02] the board for providing employees with
[1:06:05] competitive pay benefits and for
[1:06:08] supporting policies and funding to keep
[1:06:10] the organization sustainable I work
[1:06:13] closely with Mary and I could always
[1:06:15] count on her to share her ideas and how
[1:06:17] we can improve especially when there
[1:06:20] were they were different than
[1:06:22] mine which which makes for a healthy
[1:06:25] work envir ironment Mary it was a true
[1:06:28] pleasure and privilege working with you
[1:06:31] and I thank you so very much for your
[1:06:32] dedicated service wishing you all the
[1:06:35] best and good health and retirement Ed K
[1:06:39] and
[1:06:47] Andy thank you
[1:06:52] Ed my turn yeah wow
[1:06:57] okay um anyways I just want to thank you
[1:07:01] Mel for the resolution that was lovely
[1:07:04] um I just want to thank the board this
[1:07:06] board and the previous boards for the
[1:07:08] last 30
[1:07:10] years I'm not gonna make it through
[1:07:14] retirement um for all the support I want
[1:07:17] to thank Bob Todd Ed K Andy and all the
[1:07:21] staff um for the support through all the
[1:07:24] years um um AAS has been a great place
[1:07:27] to work staff supports one another we've
[1:07:30] heard that over and over again tonight
[1:07:32] um and the board support staff and
[1:07:34] that's really important so thank
[1:07:41] you Bob say
[1:07:44] something anyways I really do truly
[1:07:47] appreciate all the opportunities I've
[1:07:49] had um and I also appreciate um that the
[1:07:53] board's allowed me and AAS has allowed
[1:07:55] me to give back to the professional
[1:07:57] organizations and the industry um
[1:07:59] through volunteer work and uh presenting
[1:08:02] at conferences and all the Innovative
[1:08:04] stuff that aasa does so thank you very
[1:08:19] much that was great
[1:08:25] so the board will now move on to
[1:08:27] information and reports thank you Mary
[1:08:30] um we will get a update on the service
[1:08:32] line inventory and replacement program
[1:08:35] Mary tiger the director of community
[1:08:37] relations and Jesse duclaw the director
[1:08:39] of distribution and collection we'll
[1:08:41] provide a 15minute uh
[1:08:44] presentation all right that was a very
[1:08:47] inspiring presentation to follow up on
[1:08:50] so um I just want to start this
[1:08:53] presentation tonight by acknowledging
[1:08:56] the massive team effort that this whole
[1:09:00] program is and preparing for uh the
[1:09:03] compliance with the lead and copper rule
[1:09:04] has been um I stand here as one person
[1:09:07] why the director of community relations
[1:09:09] is talking about it is that this whole
[1:09:11] program is getting ready to take a turn
[1:09:13] for a very public facing phase um and so
[1:09:17] we want to make sure that the board is
[1:09:20] up to date on the what and the wise of
[1:09:22] what we're talking about when we talk
[1:09:23] about the service line inventory and
[1:09:25] this pending replacement
[1:09:28] program I also want to acknowledge that
[1:09:30] massive team effort it's led by aliceon
[1:09:33] Spinelli um our engineering manager for
[1:09:36] capital
[1:09:38] projects so before we jump into the
[1:09:41] details of this program I do want to
[1:09:43] assure the board and the public that's
[1:09:45] watching we're not talking about this
[1:09:47] because aasa has a problem with lead um
[1:09:50] this is a national requirement for all
[1:09:52] Water Systems um that is above and beond
[1:09:55] beyond the existing lead and copper rule
[1:09:58] which aasa is in full compliance with um
[1:10:02] that original rule was passed in um
[1:10:05] 1991 so the water leaving our water
[1:10:07] treatment plant has no lead in it and we
[1:10:10] have no known lead pipes in our
[1:10:12] distribution system that being said lead
[1:10:15] can enter drinking water through
[1:10:18] Plumbing um this diagram here on the
[1:10:20] screen is a one that's put out by EPA
[1:10:23] that shows how lead can enter drink
[1:10:25] drinking water through private Plumbing
[1:10:28] we add um Ortho and polyphosphate to our
[1:10:31] water to prevent the corrosion of pipes
[1:10:33] and plumbing fixtures um kind of coats
[1:10:36] the pipes um this is a consistent
[1:10:38] practice with um state and federal
[1:10:41] guidelines additionally every three
[1:10:43] years we collect 30 samples from homes
[1:10:46] with copper pipes and Lead solder and
[1:10:49] since 2008 we have only detected lead in
[1:10:53] six of these sample sites and only one
[1:10:55] of those was above the um Action level
[1:10:58] and then for that one particular site
[1:11:01] that home had no other um lead detects
[1:11:04] and it was cleaned out once they cleaned
[1:11:07] out their air Rader um so again we're
[1:11:10] not talking about this because we have
[1:11:12] an issue it's a it's a national
[1:11:15] requirement in December of 2021 the EPA
[1:11:18] finalized the revised lead and copper
[1:11:21] rule which enhanced the existing
[1:11:23] regulation in a number of ways
[1:11:25] so for the purposes of our discussion
[1:11:27] tonight we're really going to focus on
[1:11:28] three major aspects of this regulation
[1:11:31] and that is the lead service line
[1:11:33] inventory public education and Outreach
[1:11:36] and the lead service line
[1:11:39] replacement and a big driver of this
[1:11:42] kind of Latter um topic the lead service
[1:11:45] line replacement program is the lead and
[1:11:49] copper rule improvements or what we call
[1:11:51] the
[1:11:52] LC so this is a proposed revision to the
[1:11:56] revised rule that is currently in draft
[1:11:59] form so it is not finalized yet we
[1:12:02] expect this rule to be finalized anytime
[1:12:06] now um but it impr it enhances or
[1:12:10] improves the the new rule and so it's a
[1:12:13] it's a bit speculative in nature but
[1:12:16] most in the industry are expecting it to
[1:12:18] be passed as drafted again later this
[1:12:22] year so we have folded in the
[1:12:24] requirements
[1:12:25] of that proposed rule into our
[1:12:28] preparation for the
[1:12:31] LCR and the when we talk about the
[1:12:34] replacement program the LC is actually
[1:12:38] requiring replacement of any lead or
[1:12:41] galvanized lines that are requiring
[1:12:43] replacement within 10 years of going
[1:12:45] into effect so it kind of enhances that
[1:12:48] replacement requirement um on top of the
[1:12:53] LCR so just to pause and Define what
[1:12:57] what is a service line when we talk
[1:12:58] about service line inventory service
[1:13:00] line replacement so a service line is
[1:13:03] the extend of pipe that connects the
[1:13:05] water m to the building Plumbing the
[1:13:08] portion of that line that between the
[1:13:11] water man in the meter is a wasasa it's
[1:13:13] owned by aasa we put it in the ground
[1:13:16] the portion of the pipe that's between
[1:13:19] the meter in the home is the
[1:13:20] responsibility and under the ownership
[1:13:22] of the property owner um so up until the
[1:13:25] LCR Water Systems really had no no
[1:13:29] knowledge of the private side of the
[1:13:31] service line or responsibility for
[1:13:34] it the lead and copper rule revisions of
[1:13:37] the LCR requires Water Systems to take
[1:13:40] inventory of all the service lines in
[1:13:42] their service area there's really four
[1:13:44] buckets that we want to put those
[1:13:47] service lines into in this inventory
[1:13:50] first bucket is lead status unknown this
[1:13:53] is a completely valid category for the
[1:13:56] initial inventory that's due next month
[1:13:59] that we just don't know the second
[1:14:02] category is pretty self-explanatory lead
[1:14:04] service line so a portion of the pipe is
[1:14:07] made out of
[1:14:08] lead the third category is a galvanized
[1:14:11] service line now galvanized service
[1:14:13] lines in and of themselves are not an
[1:14:15] issue but if they were ever Downstream
[1:14:18] of lead pipe they could have collected
[1:14:20] lead particles which could be freed up
[1:14:23] if there's a disruption in the
[1:14:26] distribution system so if there is a
[1:14:28] loss of pressure uh a meter is changed
[1:14:31] out service is cut on or off um if a
[1:14:34] galvanized line was ever Downstream of
[1:14:37] lead pipe it could have collected
[1:14:39] that if the utility if aasa cannot prove
[1:14:44] that a galvanized line was never
[1:14:46] Downstream of a lead pipe we have to
[1:14:48] assume that it some point it was so it's
[1:14:50] a out of an abundance of caution that we
[1:14:53] are considering galvanized service lines
[1:14:55] as galvanized requiring
[1:14:58] replacement and then this final category
[1:15:02] non-led um non-led could be any number
[1:15:04] of materials U most commonly copper or
[1:15:07] plastic and ultimately the goal of all
[1:15:11] of this all of the regulation and aasa
[1:15:13] efforts are to get all of the service
[1:15:15] lines into that last category that's the
[1:15:18] that's the goal um so how are we doing
[1:15:21] with this incredible really really in
[1:15:25] incredible um aasa's efforts to to
[1:15:28] bucket the utility or the the service
[1:15:30] lines so a little bit about how our
[1:15:33] process went of how we went about doing
[1:15:34] that we first looked at um historical
[1:15:38] work orders and Records to identify the
[1:15:40] service line
[1:15:41] materials then we looked at the size of
[1:15:44] the line and the date of the
[1:15:46] installation so service lines that are
[1:15:48] greater than three in are non-led we
[1:15:50] know that categorically so and any
[1:15:53] service line that was installed after
[1:15:55] March of 1987 we can categorically rule
[1:15:58] out as as not L because a ban went into
[1:16:00] place at that time so once we have this
[1:16:03] historical a after we had this
[1:16:05] historical information we begin an
[1:16:07] iterative process of doing field
[1:16:10] verification and machine learning so
[1:16:12] doing statistical analysis using those
[1:16:15] field verifications to draw conclusions
[1:16:18] about what the service line material is
[1:16:20] and this is a practice that's accepted
[1:16:22] in the state we've turned over our
[1:16:23] methodology to the State and they have
[1:16:25] approved our statistical um verification
[1:16:29] method so to date um over 6,000 customer
[1:16:33] side services and all of the 78 unknown
[1:16:36] aasa side Services have been inspected
[1:16:39] and in fact aasa was awarded a $1
[1:16:42] million no interest interest loan from
[1:16:44] the bipartisan infrastructure law
[1:16:46] drinking water State revolving fund Leed
[1:16:48] service line replacement funds to fund
[1:16:51] our inventory work um and effectively
[1:16:53] reimburse aasa for this work you guys
[1:16:56] actually um approved the acceptance of
[1:16:58] those funds um in the consent
[1:17:00] agenda so if this sounds easy it
[1:17:03] absolutely was not and so I'm going to
[1:17:05] invite our director of distribution and
[1:17:07] collection Jesse duclaw to acknowledge
[1:17:10] the team that put in the work that got
[1:17:12] us to this incredible
[1:17:15] place thank you Mary I'm Jesse duclaw
[1:17:17] distrib director of distribution and
[1:17:19] collection I want to start by saying in
[1:17:22] my February March budget present a about
[1:17:25] some of the challenges this is one of
[1:17:26] the challenges we talked about and how
[1:17:28] big of a task this is and how big of a
[1:17:30] challenge it is um it would not be
[1:17:32] successful without the team that I have
[1:17:34] as well as Alison spelli as the champion
[1:17:37] of the whole Le copper rule um
[1:17:39] addressing as well as uh Communications
[1:17:41] and Community rations department and
[1:17:43] what they've done but specifically I
[1:17:45] want to say Marcus Fuller if you stand
[1:17:48] up Marcus is our crew Supervisor over
[1:17:51] valve maintenance and him and his team
[1:17:52] have went under more than
[1:17:55] 5,000 um as you see Josh patzer in this
[1:17:58] uh in this picture right here under
[1:18:00] 5,000 crawl spaces in identified this so
[1:18:03] they have the leg work behind all this
[1:18:05] but also Nick Rogers if you would stand
[1:18:07] up he is uh the orc of our distribution
[1:18:10] system and he's been working with the
[1:18:11] teams to uh you know put this to the
[1:18:14] front of our goal and in front of our
[1:18:15] list to get it tackled in time so I want
[1:18:18] to say thank you
[1:18:27] thank you Marcus thank you
[1:18:29] Jesse so where do we go from here so the
[1:18:32] initial inventory is due to the state by
[1:18:35] October 16th um and it must be available
[1:18:38] for all customers so we will be posting
[1:18:41] this inventory on our website and then
[1:18:43] within 30 days of posting that we will
[1:18:45] be sending um direct notification to all
[1:18:49] of our customers that have the
[1:18:50] galvinized requiring replacement lines
[1:18:53] which didn't actually talk about so we
[1:18:54] have
[1:18:55] 110 um lines that that we estimate and
[1:18:59] we determine to be galvanized requiring
[1:19:01] Replacements the rest are non-led um so
[1:19:05] our um because of the work of Marcus and
[1:19:08] his crew um at narrowing that down we
[1:19:11] really are focused only on these 110
[1:19:14] galvanized requiring replacement lines
[1:19:16] and
[1:19:18] customers so we'll be sending Outreach
[1:19:20] to them about what it means to have a
[1:19:23] galvanized requiring replacement line um
[1:19:26] and and where we're going from here um
[1:19:30] this is a sneak peek at what the what
[1:19:34] the inventory is going to look like
[1:19:36] that's posted on our website um so
[1:19:40] customers will be able to enter their
[1:19:42] address and zero in but they'll see from
[1:19:44] a a broad scale all of the service lines
[1:19:48] in the community um and then colorcoded
[1:19:50] based on is it lead status unknown
[1:19:53] non-led Le or galvanized requiring
[1:19:55] replacement and it's amazing that we can
[1:19:58] pull up a map that says you know as many
[1:20:01] non-ls um as we do if somebody types in
[1:20:04] their address they'll zero in um and be
[1:20:07] able to see a DOT at their property um
[1:20:11] and it will show there's two sides of
[1:20:13] the circle one is the Utility side one
[1:20:16] is the private side um and it'll say
[1:20:18] what we what the material is of both
[1:20:21] sides and how we got that information so
[1:20:23] this particular address the Utility side
[1:20:26] material is copper the private side
[1:20:28] material is unknown but we determined it
[1:20:30] to be not Le um the source of the
[1:20:34] Utility side how we got that information
[1:20:36] is through historical records and then
[1:20:39] how we um determine the private side is
[1:20:41] through that predictive modeling so we
[1:20:44] will also have information on our
[1:20:45] website about what is predictive
[1:20:46] modeling and how did we get there how
[1:20:48] did we get to
[1:20:50] that this one which on that screen is
[1:20:53] worse than on this screen
[1:20:55] so is what the dot will look like for
[1:20:58] one of the 110 households that has a
[1:21:01] galvanized requiring replacement so
[1:21:03] they'll zero in on their property and be
[1:21:05] able to see that and then we will have
[1:21:08] information for those customers about
[1:21:10] again what exactly does that mean what
[1:21:12] is the risk of having a galvanized
[1:21:14] requiring replacement what can they do
[1:21:17] um as a property owner or a tenant to
[1:21:19] reduce that risk and then what are our
[1:21:21] plans moving forward on the replacement
[1:21:23] program what we know now and then how we
[1:21:26] will communicate about what we know in
[1:21:27] the
[1:21:29] future I see some yeah I I was gonna say
[1:21:32] can you just tell us briefly what the
[1:21:35] plan would be going forward for those
[1:21:37] 110 folks I will get there yes yeah are
[1:21:41] they clustered in a certain geographic
[1:21:42] area are they kind of spread out they
[1:21:45] are so more so in the downtown area
[1:21:49] because they're the older homes like we
[1:21:51] can there is but there's no kind of
[1:21:54] pattern Trend actually turn it to
[1:21:56] Allison who's been looking a lot more at
[1:21:58] the the data the prevalence because this
[1:22:00] is a sneak peek I say because we really
[1:22:03] are like doing this machine learning um
[1:22:06] kind of hot off the
[1:22:07] presses did I
[1:22:11] answer um Mary answered it appropriately
[1:22:14] a lot of it is clustered very closely to
[1:22:16] where we have older sections of town and
[1:22:18] maybe areas that haven't been
[1:22:19] revitalized or redeveloped where um the
[1:22:22] service lines would have been renewed
[1:22:23] for another reason so it's a lot of
[1:22:25] older homes or um just areas that have
[1:22:28] an experience for
[1:22:30] development both both I'm curious uh
[1:22:35] using a predictive model uh you'd have
[1:22:38] to train that on positives so if there's
[1:22:42] so we would never predict lead in our
[1:22:45] predictive model because we will never
[1:22:47] find lead because we have no known lead
[1:22:49] sources of any pipe in our distribution
[1:22:52] system now we have found through all of
[1:22:55] the work that Marcus's team with Jesse
[1:22:57] and Nick have done over 78 um service
[1:23:00] lines on the private side that have been
[1:23:02] galvanized which is training the model
[1:23:04] in those certain areas that we may be
[1:23:07] more likely to see galvanized we also
[1:23:09] did have some galvanized showing up in
[1:23:10] some of our original records so that's
[1:23:12] also been training the model too um one
[1:23:15] of the slides Mary showed earlier was
[1:23:18] there was the bar graph that showed from
[1:23:21] last June till now thank thank you um
[1:23:25] that there was an initial goal of 2,000
[1:23:27] that was the initial training set that
[1:23:29] we used so we needed to get 2,000
[1:23:32] physical inspections done on service
[1:23:35] lines in order to have enough data to
[1:23:37] run the model for the first time and
[1:23:40] then based on that model it gave us the
[1:23:43] next sets of data that we needed to try
[1:23:46] and find to fill the gaps where we
[1:23:47] didn't feel like we had the right level
[1:23:49] of um accuracy in terms of predictions
[1:23:57] a question on the model that sort of
[1:23:59] feeds it to how we communicate this to
[1:24:01] people is was the
[1:24:03] model like a traditional statistical
[1:24:06] model where you have parameters that are
[1:24:07] variables that have coefficients that
[1:24:09] are predicting something some number or
[1:24:11] it was it more of a neural network and
[1:24:12] you don't really
[1:24:15] know what the what led to a particular
[1:24:17] house being
[1:24:20] flagged it is more of a neural network
[1:24:22] if I understand um so we using a
[1:24:24] software called lead cast and a lot of
[1:24:26] it is being done by their data analytics
[1:24:28] we are feeding the model through our
[1:24:31] work but I am not as familiar as some of
[1:24:34] the background data that might be in
[1:24:37] there
[1:24:43] okay one of the positives and bit on it
[1:24:46] that we do have in the model or the
[1:24:48] galvaniz requiring replacement as she
[1:24:51] said we don't anticipate any lead but
[1:24:54] that would be the positive in the
[1:24:56] model are you still do you still have
[1:24:58] slides uh okay why don't we hold
[1:25:02] questions until the
[1:25:07] end
[1:25:09] sorry so a little bit about the kind of
[1:25:11] communication that we do with these 110
[1:25:14] customers so I mentioned that we'll send
[1:25:16] a letter within 30 days of publishing
[1:25:17] the inventory and then we will send
[1:25:21] those customers a letter annually
[1:25:24] reminding them about their service line
[1:25:25] we also will send any new customer that
[1:25:27] moves into that um household information
[1:25:31] about that once as we figured out out
[1:25:34] the replacement program we'll be
[1:25:35] communicating directly with those
[1:25:37] customers as well um and then also if
[1:25:39] post disturbance so if we have a water
[1:25:41] line break if we do a disconnection or
[1:25:45] um any sort of um instances that could
[1:25:49] free up potential lead in those lines
[1:25:51] we'll be communicating with those
[1:25:53] customers um about steps that they can
[1:25:55] take to minimize their risk and in some
[1:25:58] cases when there's a major disturbance
[1:26:00] we will be providing them with uh
[1:26:02] pictures picture filters um and six
[1:26:05] months of
[1:26:06] filters so I want to point out here that
[1:26:09] the Outreach for customers with unknown
[1:26:12] service lines this would be the
[1:26:14] requirement for our communication with
[1:26:15] customers so in with a Wasa setting a
[1:26:18] goal of having no unknowns it really
[1:26:21] minimizes a lot of necessary
[1:26:25] communication and kind of red flag
[1:26:27] raising for our community so it's a
[1:26:30] really important thing that aasa did and
[1:26:33] um having zero
[1:26:39] unknowns so beyond this where do we go
[1:26:42] so when we think about the lead and
[1:26:44] copper rule improvements so the
[1:26:47] requirements around that in the
[1:26:49] replacement program so that rule is
[1:26:52] going to require that you utility submit
[1:26:55] a baseline inventory to the state we're
[1:26:57] estimating around October
[1:27:00] 2027 and that Baseline will set the 10%
[1:27:03] replacement rate that's required over
[1:27:05] the next 10 years so from that point
[1:27:07] forward every year utilities will be
[1:27:09] required 10% to replace 10% of their
[1:27:12] Leed galvanized requiring replacement or
[1:27:15] unknown service lines um and so that
[1:27:19] sets the um sets the Baseline of how
[1:27:24] having any unknown um and then so then
[1:27:27] 10 years later than that all known lead
[1:27:30] and galvanized requiring service lines
[1:27:32] must be replaced um with
[1:27:35] non-led is that the private service line
[1:27:38] or public service private service line
[1:27:40] are going to be required to be
[1:27:42] replaced and aasa absorbs the cost of
[1:27:46] that it is not required in the
[1:27:48] regulation that the utility pay for the
[1:27:51] replacement of the service line we do
[1:27:54] have we'll go to the next slide so our
[1:27:56] five-year CIP a budget to replace those
[1:28:00] service lines and at that point time we
[1:28:02] were estimating that we had more than we
[1:28:05] had over we were estimating that we
[1:28:06] would have over 300 lines and so that
[1:28:09] 3.2 million and the 5year CIP was for
[1:28:12] that um we do estimate that it's about
[1:28:15] $110,000 per service line to replace
[1:28:18] that service line one of the reasons why
[1:28:21] we're making the recommendation to move
[1:28:24] move forward with aasa paying for the
[1:28:27] service line replacement one is that
[1:28:30] it's compliance with regulations we will
[1:28:31] be held to that 10% replacement rate um
[1:28:35] and so it's incredibly important that we
[1:28:38] comply with that regulation one is it
[1:28:40] helps to ensure that it's Equitable in
[1:28:43] terms of when the service lines are
[1:28:45] replaced um if you can pay for a
[1:28:48] replacing a service line you're going to
[1:28:49] do it early if aasa can pay for it we
[1:28:52] can ensure that it happens um in a in a
[1:28:55] fast Manner and that it's done in an
[1:28:57] equitable way um and further it reduces
[1:29:00] the operational and contractual
[1:29:02] challenges so if we were to drag it out
[1:29:05] we are looking for a timeline of between
[1:29:07] 2025 and 2027 of replacing all those 110
[1:29:12] service lines um and we want to do it in
[1:29:15] that tight time frame because we
[1:29:16] anticipate that contractually that will
[1:29:19] be more attractive to anybody bidding on
[1:29:21] on this project um and then further it's
[1:29:24] going to reduce you know operational
[1:29:26] challenges when we talk about
[1:29:28] communicating with customers time and
[1:29:30] time again about having these galvanized
[1:29:32] lines um if we can knock those out and
[1:29:35] we can turn in that Baseline inventory
[1:29:38] in 2027 then we can kind of put this
[1:29:41] behind us and and move forward um so
[1:29:44] right now our estimated program costs
[1:29:46] based on the 110 galvaniz requiring
[1:29:48] lines that we um estimate to have is
[1:29:51] about $1.3 million
[1:29:54] we have some things to figure out this
[1:29:56] is a atypical project for us right
[1:29:58] that's on private property um we do know
[1:30:01] that we are going to need ride of entry
[1:30:03] from the customers we're going to need
[1:30:05] their permission to um come and replace
[1:30:07] their service line we anticipate that
[1:30:10] we're going to do this work through a
[1:30:11] general contractor that will work with
[1:30:13] licensed plumbers in the region we're
[1:30:16] going to have an open house on October
[1:30:18] 11th here in the community room to talk
[1:30:21] with local General Contractors local
[1:30:23] plumbers local plumbing supply houses
[1:30:26] about the program and get some of their
[1:30:28] feedback um that will be considered in
[1:30:31] the bid package so we can put something
[1:30:33] attractive out that will actually get
[1:30:35] bid on um but we know we have a lot of
[1:30:38] important things to consider to in
[1:30:40] setting up this replacement program the
[1:30:42] order of replacement although we want to
[1:30:44] do it in a pretty timely manner someone
[1:30:47] has to go first we can't replace 110
[1:30:50] service lines in one day so there there
[1:30:52] will be an order and and how that is
[1:30:54] ordered um we've got to consider how to
[1:30:56] handle customers that don't want to work
[1:30:58] with an aasa contractor but are still
[1:31:00] going to be part of that you know
[1:31:02] requirement and then how how to handle
[1:31:05] customers that maybe recently replaced
[1:31:07] their galvanized service line and now
[1:31:10] you know they footed the bill and and
[1:31:12] now a Wasa is paying so there's and
[1:31:14] there's a list of other considerations
[1:31:17] that we need to think through as we
[1:31:19] design this program luckily we're not
[1:31:22] first um a lot of Utilities in the
[1:31:25] Northeast um and Out West have already
[1:31:27] gotten started on similar programs
[1:31:30] Raleigh down the road has gotten started
[1:31:32] on their replacement program so we have
[1:31:34] some peers that we can look to for some
[1:31:36] lessons learned
[1:31:40] um so um with that you know we will
[1:31:44] certainly be informing the board as we
[1:31:46] figure out those details of the
[1:31:48] replacement program and no action is
[1:31:52] asked of you all tonight but again it is
[1:31:54] a very public facing we're moving into
[1:31:57] this public facing phase and wanted to
[1:31:58] make sure that you all had the
[1:32:00] opportunity to ask questions and really
[1:32:02] understand um what is going on so I'll
[1:32:05] turn it back over to Mel and yeah team
[1:32:08] is happy to answer questions thank you
[1:32:11] all three of you for that great
[1:32:13] presentation
[1:32:14] um what what questions do we
[1:32:19] have Kyle and then Pedro yes amyra Kim
[1:32:25] um two questions uh one probably minor
[1:32:29] is this document says there were 180 at
[1:32:33] most and now here's 110 does that mean
[1:32:35] like they were flagged you check them
[1:32:36] and
[1:32:38] 70 at the time of writing the memo that
[1:32:41] was the estimate and as the machine
[1:32:43] learning the last iteration of the
[1:32:45] machine learning has come through that's
[1:32:47] um been able to be tighten down a little
[1:32:49] bit gotcha and then um
[1:32:54] maybe it's not I'm guess I'm just
[1:32:57] curious like if I were to go to this map
[1:33:00] I like and I see unknown notled if I'm a
[1:33:04] cautious person I might be
[1:33:06] like so like is is the map going to be
[1:33:08] behind a wall that explains the
[1:33:11] categories first or can there be like a
[1:33:12] tool tip on on that one that explains
[1:33:15] like if it's three inches of 1987 and
[1:33:18] why I should trust
[1:33:20] those things we will be providing
[1:33:23] information about the categories and how
[1:33:24] we arrived at the information
[1:33:28] yes my question I'm sorry I lost a
[1:33:31] little bit of the presentation as I went
[1:33:33] to the bathroom and apologize for that
[1:33:36] um I need to
[1:33:39] go anyway uh my question is on on regard
[1:33:44] of the uh service line is that after the
[1:33:48] uh
[1:33:49] meter the piece of service line that we
[1:33:52] are going to replace
[1:33:54] which is considered private is that what
[1:33:57] we're talking about yes that's what
[1:33:59] we're talking about we have um no known
[1:34:01] galvanized requiring replacement on the
[1:34:03] on our side of the meter and so we're
[1:34:06] really going to be looking at that the
[1:34:08] property owned side service line thank
[1:34:13] you okay thank you regarding the
[1:34:17] selection of the contractors that's
[1:34:18] going to replace that portion of the
[1:34:20] line that was is going to pay for is
[1:34:23] there a bid
[1:34:26] process that you use to select the
[1:34:29] people the different contractors that's
[1:34:31] going to come go out and um make these
[1:34:35] changes thanks alar that's a good
[1:34:37] question so we are going to use a
[1:34:39] typical bidding process that we would
[1:34:41] for any other construction project it
[1:34:43] will be based off of a set of
[1:34:45] specifications the contractors will be
[1:34:47] given the different 110 locations with
[1:34:50] the requirements for each location and
[1:34:53] based off of that they will provide I'm
[1:34:56] not 100% sure it'll be a single lump sum
[1:34:58] or if it'll be like unit price bidding
[1:35:00] but they'll provide a number and low bid
[1:35:02] will be inspected to see if they're
[1:35:04] responsive responsible safe kind of our
[1:35:07] normal procedure so you expect to have
[1:35:08] one company do all of it or can you have
[1:35:12] multiple companies it would be our
[1:35:14] preference from a Contracting standpoint
[1:35:16] to do one contract um with a general
[1:35:19] contractor who then could choose to have
[1:35:22] several different
[1:35:25] plumbers yeah there there are some
[1:35:28] complicating factors we've looked we've
[1:35:29] looked into that as well of areas where
[1:35:32] we can um invite um underutilized
[1:35:36] businesses minority businesses
[1:35:37] women-owned businesses um there will be
[1:35:40] some specific State revolving fund
[1:35:42] requirement loan requirements
[1:35:45] potentially so we're just going to make
[1:35:47] that very clear when we have the
[1:35:48] contractor openhouse so anybody who can
[1:35:50] meet those requirements of um certified
[1:35:54] um payroll living wage Davis bacon able
[1:35:57] to there there's a a few things that we
[1:36:00] want to make sure that we consider if we
[1:36:02] go down that path but we would be
[1:36:04] welcoming to any small business to be
[1:36:07] supporting that process well I'm just
[1:36:10] thinking of the diversity equity and
[1:36:12] inclusion part of bidding on contracts
[1:36:17] when you have small businesses that are
[1:36:18] in the area uh plumbers Etc that can do
[1:36:21] this kind of work but don't have the
[1:36:23] magnitude of a big contractor to be able
[1:36:26] to bid on 110 different projects but my
[1:36:29] other question is the rates the is the
[1:36:34] payment for these Services part of the
[1:36:37] rates that we are going to be
[1:36:38] paying yes it's currently included in
[1:36:41] our budget um and just one more thing
[1:36:44] with the open house scheduled for the
[1:36:46] October 11th we are including every
[1:36:48] local plumber that we can get a contact
[1:36:51] for so we're trying to connect General
[1:36:54] Contractors with those plumbers so that
[1:36:55] they can build those relationships and
[1:36:57] have have those as subcontracting
[1:36:59] opportunities okay so the small business
[1:37:03] person or Plumbing would have to work
[1:37:06] under a general contractor which is what
[1:37:08] your preference is for awarding the
[1:37:09] contract correct and we're we're open to
[1:37:13] different teaming opportunities so if a
[1:37:15] general contractor wants to have five
[1:37:17] different local plumbers working for him
[1:37:19] or if he wants to have one that's going
[1:37:21] to be up to them for how they want to
[1:37:22] manage what what their bid looks like
[1:37:24] but we're looking into having a pretty
[1:37:28] open dialogue with those contractors and
[1:37:30] plumbers when they come here for a visit
[1:37:32] so we can learn what type of solution
[1:37:35] works
[1:37:36] best please consider expanding what you
[1:37:39] require them to do so that they can
[1:37:41] actually work with some small business
[1:37:43] people in the community absolutely yeah
[1:37:45] or use some of the small business people
[1:37:47] I would say as a previously working in
[1:37:49] the contractor world there's a a
[1:37:50] requirement that aasa has for soliciting
[1:37:53] and reaching out to local underutilized
[1:37:55] businesses minority companies and it's
[1:37:57] not a it's a goal but it's also a
[1:37:59] requirement to show where they did reach
[1:38:01] out where they have solicited for
[1:38:03] assistance on these projects well
[1:38:05] whether they use them or not you can ask
[1:38:07] but you still don't have to select a
[1:38:09] requirement or something that they
[1:38:10] actually have participation and the
[1:38:12] state has verbiage in there that
[1:38:14] requires that you to not like the very
[1:38:16] first one is you can't dismiss somebody
[1:38:19] because of you know any reason and why
[1:38:21] you chose them and why you didn't chose
[1:38:23] them so it's a it's a pretty robust
[1:38:25] program that the state runs that aasa
[1:38:27] aderes to okay thank
[1:38:29] you
[1:38:32] Kim I'm just wondering I don't know who
[1:38:36] to ask or who would even know but if
[1:38:38] there's any evidence on the flip side of
[1:38:41] this issue are there doctors in the area
[1:38:44] finding kids that seem to have lead
[1:38:47] poisoning is that just a non-issue in
[1:38:50] our area or if it was a non-issue if it
[1:38:52] was an issue would we
[1:38:56] know not specifically related exactly to
[1:39:00] that question but one of the slides that
[1:39:02] Mary had showed earlier was the whole
[1:39:04] breadth of what the letting copper rule
[1:39:06] revisions is trying to do and part of
[1:39:07] that is school sampling and so that's
[1:39:10] another piece of this that um could play
[1:39:13] into that but we might not be privy to
[1:39:17] all of those results at this
[1:39:19] moment to Kim were you done
[1:39:24] okay Todd so what is what is the legal
[1:39:27] enforcement mechanism for the state on
[1:39:32] aasa to have private lines like what if
[1:39:36] people just don't or what if we like
[1:39:39] oasa didn't pay for this we would be in
[1:39:42] non-compliance with a regulatory
[1:39:44] requirement so there could be fines or
[1:39:46] there could be a notice of violations
[1:39:49] fin because of private inaction
[1:39:53] the state has not released guidance yet
[1:39:55] on so I I I asked this because exactly
[1:39:59] because I mean from my perspective aasa
[1:40:01] has taken a hard stance against
[1:40:05] connecting people to Wastewater even
[1:40:07] though there are lots of people not
[1:40:09] connected to Wastewater within the
[1:40:11] service area and that has potentially
[1:40:14] horrible impacts on the community and
[1:40:16] like our water quality but for 110
[1:40:20] houses some of which may be incredibly
[1:40:22] wealthy in able to pay themselves we're
[1:40:26] gonna shell out like $1.3 million after
[1:40:29] raising rates like three years in a row
[1:40:32] so I think this this could be a very bad
[1:40:34] look honestly down the road um if you
[1:40:38] know especially now that like if word is
[1:40:41] out hey aasa is going to pay for this
[1:40:43] like none of these people are going to
[1:40:44] pay for their
[1:40:46] own to put some context in it we've been
[1:40:50] having conversations with our neighbors
[1:40:52] so Raleigh is paying for it Carrie is
[1:40:54] paying for it uh General consensus this
[1:40:56] is the only way that we will reach
[1:40:58] compliance well you could turn them
[1:41:01] off I mean I I just I I I can't imagine
[1:41:07] how you
[1:41:09] know how Utilities in Western Carolina
[1:41:14] that have 80% leakage and are barely
[1:41:18] able to you know be solvent are going to
[1:41:21] do this
[1:41:24] I guess I don't know there I don't know
[1:41:26] if there's any insight into like the
[1:41:28] [Laughter]
[1:41:31] actual and I I spoke with some other
[1:41:33] local Utilities in the area that are
[1:41:35] they've had some of the conversations as
[1:41:37] well like you just said what if we don't
[1:41:39] and the states saying there will be
[1:41:41] fines I don't think they've detailed
[1:41:42] what they'll be right now but they're
[1:41:44] going to Levy but there's also an
[1:41:45] operational impact if people don't
[1:41:48] comply with the work that happens when
[1:41:50] there is a disturbance and um one more
[1:41:52] question so I'm wondering like uh is
[1:41:57] there notification like are any of these
[1:41:59] rentals like is there notification given
[1:42:02] to the renters rather than the owners
[1:42:04] yes so we'll be communicating with the
[1:42:06] property owners as well as the the
[1:42:10] customer um so we'll you the person will
[1:42:13] communicate with the billing address as
[1:42:14] well as the service
[1:42:18] address um Susanna and then Bruce and me
[1:42:21] then I think we've got everybody
[1:42:23] we done you will have hit all of us um
[1:42:27] the uh I'm curious the machine learning
[1:42:29] component of it that what happens when
[1:42:31] you get to one of these that have been
[1:42:33] identified as having uh the galvanized
[1:42:38] pipes and then you discover that they
[1:42:40] don't and is that how does that
[1:42:42] information feedback loop take place so
[1:42:46] part of the State's acceptance of our
[1:42:48] machine learning methodology as well as
[1:42:50] any other utilities machine learning
[1:42:52] methodology is that after you have your
[1:42:55] inventory and it's it's been accepted in
[1:42:58] October when we submit it there'll be a
[1:43:00] requirement to go and spot check um it's
[1:43:02] based on the number of services in your
[1:43:05] inventory so for us with 22,000 Services
[1:43:09] the equivalent statistical number that
[1:43:11] they're wanting us to spot check is
[1:43:12] around that 300 mark so we're going to
[1:43:14] have to go and spot check 300 areas that
[1:43:17] were identified as
[1:43:19] being either yes or no based on
[1:43:23] predictive modeling and confirm that the
[1:43:25] predictive modeling matches what we're
[1:43:27] seeing in the field I will say there has
[1:43:30] been no guidance yet supported from the
[1:43:32] state about what happens if they don't
[1:43:34] match so we are not sure what would
[1:43:36] happen if that's the case because the
[1:43:38] models 98% accurate based on the
[1:43:42] statistical modeling that we've seen to
[1:43:44] date so we're not sure what happens with
[1:43:46] that 2% that might not be accurate right
[1:43:48] the false positives and the false
[1:43:50] negatives and exactly yep thank
[1:43:54] you so we have um we have to start by
[1:43:59] 2027 and we have to be done by 2037
[1:44:03] right if I recall that's the that's what
[1:44:07] we estimate to be the Timeline under the
[1:44:09] yeah the draft Rule and we have a ton of
[1:44:12] stuff that we're doing over the next
[1:44:15] three or four years with the past
[1:44:18] filtration and the clear well and the
[1:44:21] electrical distribution and then all the
[1:44:23] regular CIP stuff and
[1:44:27] um
[1:44:29] all uh and I worry that we're taking on
[1:44:32] too much too fast uh and not being
[1:44:37] required to do it this quickly I
[1:44:39] understand that there's operational
[1:44:41] benefit to getting it done
[1:44:44] quickly understand that but uh I just
[1:44:47] worry that we we're taking on too much
[1:44:50] stuff and there's a lot of unknowns that
[1:44:53] will appear over time as we get into
[1:44:55] these projects so is it is it wise to
[1:44:59] commit to getting this done between 2025
[1:45:02] and 2027 rather than leaving it a little
[1:45:05] further
[1:45:07] open I think I want to respond to that
[1:45:09] and a bit of what Todd you know the
[1:45:12] concern about paying for these ourselves
[1:45:16] and that yeah I think we have to take a
[1:45:19] step back from this and think you know
[1:45:21] what if there are what if there is
[1:45:23] Led in these lines
[1:45:28] y that is not healthy for those folks
[1:45:31] that live in that house that's not the
[1:45:33] level of service that aasa is expected
[1:45:37] to provide um so there's a public health
[1:45:40] concern there there's also now we've got
[1:45:43] that line that's out there that's got
[1:45:45] LED in it that's in service if there
[1:45:48] were some kind of backflow event well
[1:45:51] then the rest of the distribution
[1:45:53] system get LED back in I think if you if
[1:45:57] we look at it through that
[1:45:59] lens these need need the these need to
[1:46:01] come out of the ground okay that's the
[1:46:03] effort that's across you know this this
[1:46:05] all came out of the Flint Michigan U the
[1:46:08] ble and that's the goal of this program
[1:46:12] is you know we're very fortunate that we
[1:46:14] only have 110 of these galvanized lines
[1:46:17] that need to come out but there are
[1:46:18] communities where maybe 50% of these are
[1:46:23] are actually LED so I think if we if we
[1:46:25] look at that through that lens then we
[1:46:29] we need to as soon as possible address
[1:46:31] this uh risk that's out there to uh
[1:46:34] public health so I think if we look at
[1:46:37] that and and we go address these right
[1:46:40] away I think it's a sense of comfort for
[1:46:43] the community we're maintaining the high
[1:46:46] level of service that our customers are
[1:46:48] used to and um you know we're we're U
[1:46:52] ahead of the game so to speak with
[1:46:55] you're not worried that we're taking on
[1:46:56] too many projects at at once this
[1:46:59] is when I look at it this is how I've
[1:47:02] gotten comfortable with it when I look
[1:47:04] at it from that perspective it jumps up
[1:47:06] on priority okay so other things may get
[1:47:09] delayed now yeah it's it's like I would
[1:47:11] I would delay something else and do this
[1:47:14] instead because at it it's it's that
[1:47:16] that important okay it's also important
[1:47:20] to understand this is not a program
[1:47:23] was is undertaking
[1:47:25] voluntarily not our idea hey why don't
[1:47:27] we go out and check and see what which
[1:47:30] of these we can find right the federal
[1:47:32] government has said you will do this
[1:47:34] right and you will do it on this
[1:47:36] timeline those and the timelines that
[1:47:38] were set out on the on the slides 27 and
[1:47:42] 37 or 25 and 3 uh so these are federal
[1:47:46] regulations that must be
[1:47:51] met I thought somebody would ask so what
[1:47:53] happens if you go to Joe Smith's house
[1:47:56] and Joe Smith says get the hell off my
[1:47:58] property well I have a Ser
[1:48:02] questions yeah I I I would imagine that
[1:48:05] that would be true for the public side
[1:48:07] of for the Utility side but I can't
[1:48:11] imagine there would be a federal that's
[1:48:15] well how would that even be legally I
[1:48:17] don't require you to imagine it but I do
[1:48:19] require you to believe it because it is
[1:48:21] true I mean the Federal government has
[1:48:23] now mandated that a was make sure that
[1:48:26] both sides of that service line both the
[1:48:28] was side and the privately owned side
[1:48:31] have no lid well it sounds then like
[1:48:33] elmyra's solution is the one that gets
[1:48:35] used at that point it's like if you're
[1:48:37] not going to let us replace it and we're
[1:48:38] shutting off your water well I I would I
[1:48:42] think it's
[1:48:43] premature uh to try to make that kind of
[1:48:45] a determination today on the other hand
[1:48:48] there may be other solutions that that
[1:48:52] I will add one little piece to the
[1:48:54] conversation
[1:48:56] so the ru makers did have some foresight
[1:48:59] into thinking that some people might
[1:49:00] either not be responsive or not um
[1:49:05] want yeah yeah exactly once someone
[1:49:08] coming onto their property so the rule
[1:49:11] has been written that you have to make
[1:49:12] four attempts to communicate with each
[1:49:15] customer that you're coming to do the
[1:49:17] private side service replacement on they
[1:49:19] have to be different types of
[1:49:21] Communication phone email mailer
[1:49:25] postcard whatever they have to meet a
[1:49:27] certain criteria for the communication
[1:49:29] to be listed as one of the four attempts
[1:49:32] if after that they choose to still not
[1:49:34] be responsive you would list them as
[1:49:35] non-responsive but you would still have
[1:49:37] to
[1:49:38] notify uh we would still have to submit
[1:49:41] an inventory with that being listed as
[1:49:42] galvanized requirement replacement every
[1:49:44] year in perpetuity and we would have to
[1:49:46] comply with the regulations for any
[1:49:47] disturbance notices going to that
[1:49:49] particular resident if they chose not to
[1:49:52] change their service line um in
[1:49:55] perpetuity which can lead to operational
[1:49:58] challenges I can imagine if a customer
[1:50:02] had to pay for the uh construction on
[1:50:06] their side of the
[1:50:07] line they would be more inclined to say
[1:50:10] stay off my property but one of the
[1:50:12] reasons that uh aasa's undertaking the
[1:50:16] cost to both sides of that line is to
[1:50:19] make sure that that uh incentive is not
[1:50:22] there that is why on Earth would
[1:50:24] somebody say no i' even though you're
[1:50:25] willing to fix it and pay it have it
[1:50:28] fixed I'd rather have LD in my
[1:50:31] children's drinking water you I just
[1:50:33] don't think that's going to happen with
[1:50:36] the sore frequency that we would be
[1:50:38] concerned about and I'll tell you Marcus
[1:50:41] will tell you there is quite a few
[1:50:43] people in our community that don't want
[1:50:44] you on their property and don't want you
[1:50:46] to even inspect so that will be an issue
[1:50:49] I'm
[1:50:50] sure I I have uh three
[1:50:53] questions um the first is uh we talked
[1:50:57] about housing and it just the EP this
[1:50:59] rule just might be houses but my kids go
[1:51:01] to carbo Elementary which was built you
[1:51:04] know in the 50s are we doing anything
[1:51:06] about
[1:51:10] schools are schools part of
[1:51:13] this so schools is part of a later phase
[1:51:17] in the Le copper Rule and and Provisions
[1:51:23] be but there are there are current state
[1:51:26] efforts that are testing school system
[1:51:29] which actually is going to fulfill the
[1:51:31] part of this rule requirement and we
[1:51:34] like will my kids be in elementary
[1:51:36] school or High
[1:51:38] School service lines the service lines
[1:51:41] to the school are part of this process
[1:51:43] they're not excluded from that so
[1:51:45] they're inspected and okay A lot of
[1:51:47] times size takes place or you know is
[1:51:50] are they prioritized because they have
[1:51:53] kids in there the service line
[1:51:56] Replacements yeah I mean that would be
[1:51:59] part of the the process that we'll use
[1:52:00] to prioritize this system yeah okay and
[1:52:02] I will say that in Chapel Hill in carbo
[1:52:06] we have done previous efforts of um
[1:52:09] significant School sampling for lead
[1:52:11] okay so that was my first question my
[1:52:14] SEC second question was I think the map
[1:52:16] that we showed is the existing service
[1:52:18] area what about the potential extension
[1:52:21] of the service area
[1:52:23] um with the Wasa agreement and the
[1:52:27] houses that are would be in that
[1:52:30] area they well anything new we know will
[1:52:33] be categorically non-led um but these
[1:52:37] are like old houses
[1:52:38] like if it if they're
[1:52:41] as yeah those those houses that would be
[1:52:45] added wouldn't have service lines right
[1:52:46] now they'd be on whales and would have
[1:52:48] to connect so they'd be they would use
[1:52:50] up toate um new um infrastructure new
[1:52:53] pipe they to their houses and they'd
[1:52:55] have to connect that with today's
[1:52:56] standards okay cool uh and then Bob
[1:52:59] asked my third question so my fourth
[1:53:01] question which is my last question and
[1:53:03] hopefully the last question for the
[1:53:04] group could we go back to the service
[1:53:06] line slide of the picture yeah this that
[1:53:08] one the one that yeah I I thought I was
[1:53:12] operating under the assumption that
[1:53:13] property owners were responsible from
[1:53:15] the line from the house to the main no
[1:53:17] so that's in the sewer service so oh oh
[1:53:21] okay so actually in ours I don't know if
[1:53:23] this has a pointer or not but um aasa
[1:53:26] aasa stops at this part where it leaves
[1:53:29] the meter Setter as our last goes from
[1:53:31] here but on the sewer line it's from the
[1:53:33] main to the house just wanted to clarify
[1:53:35] that um thank
[1:53:37] you anybody else or I I do for on those
[1:53:41] service lines if we take the schools for
[1:53:45] example to change those have you thought
[1:53:48] or analyzed that the cost might be
[1:53:50] higher on those cases
[1:53:53] than a house cost uh have you taken
[1:53:58] account into that yeah but and I just
[1:54:01] explained a little bit about the school
[1:54:02] a lot of the school's infrastructure is
[1:54:04] because it's such a large water usage is
[1:54:06] larger and those aren't typically pipes
[1:54:08] that would be galvanized requiring
[1:54:10] replacement or potentially LED in that
[1:54:12] so that the cost would be higher and if
[1:54:15] there is a university property or
[1:54:17] something that is a 2 in it would be
[1:54:19] more but I think that's averaged into
[1:54:21] the um estimated cost of all of them now
[1:54:24] a second question on this what happens
[1:54:28] with private uh businesses are we going
[1:54:31] to take care of them too or up to what
[1:54:35] at what point we are going to say this
[1:54:38] is you this is not no more of Wasa at
[1:54:42] the expense of Wasa when do we have a
[1:54:45] stopping point and correct me if I'm
[1:54:48] wrong Alison but right now a customer is
[1:54:49] a customer whether it's a commercial or
[1:54:51] a residence
[1:54:52] does UNC have a is you is UNCC part of
[1:54:56] this
[1:54:58] yes we talk a little bit about UNC and
[1:55:01] how much they might be there are a
[1:55:03] handful of galvaniz requiring
[1:55:05] Replacements that are either on or
[1:55:07] adjacent to UNCC properties so we have a
[1:55:10] meeting coming up later this month to
[1:55:11] talk with um UNC both their facilities
[1:55:15] folks their Plumbing staff their right
[1:55:18] of Entry team because we'll need to get
[1:55:20] a right of Entry to to UNCC property in
[1:55:23] the same way that we get right of Entry
[1:55:25] to private property um and in addition
[1:55:28] to UNCC as a stakeholder we're also
[1:55:29] having conversations with um both towns
[1:55:33] because we don't do plumbing inspections
[1:55:34] but now we're going to have plumbing
[1:55:36] inspections and permitting required as
[1:55:38] part of that so we're trying to wrap our
[1:55:40] arms around what the towns and the
[1:55:42] university are all going to require in
[1:55:44] terms of um planning permitting fees
[1:55:48] inspection close out documentation all
[1:55:51] these types of things and sometimes when
[1:55:54] you do this kind of work it's much
[1:55:56] harder than anticipated or you you
[1:55:59] discover things that are you know you
[1:56:01] didn't know and it it could become much
[1:56:04] larger we are actively working on
[1:56:07] talking to the utilities that have
[1:56:09] already started their galvanized
[1:56:10] requirement replacement or their lead
[1:56:11] replacement plan to see what lessons
[1:56:13] learned that they have and the
[1:56:15] consultant that we're working with has
[1:56:16] done this in a lot of of the
[1:56:18] northeastern locations which granted
[1:56:20] have a slightly different
[1:56:23] um situation than we do you know homes
[1:56:25] are built differently The Meters might
[1:56:27] be in basements whereas meters here are
[1:56:29] out on by the sidewalk typically so
[1:56:31] we're trying to capitalize on all the
[1:56:32] lessons learned that we possibly can and
[1:56:34] make sure
[1:56:35] that we keep our arms around what we can
[1:56:38] actually do with compliance for this
[1:56:41] okay great thank you all right I think
[1:56:44] we're gonna WRA just okay go for a
[1:56:48] concern when we get into the replacing
[1:56:51] this service line
[1:56:52] I'm just afraid that we might get into
[1:56:54] an expense equal to the pasas once we
[1:56:59] keep adding you know more more to change
[1:57:03] and and if we go to the university and
[1:57:06] if there is a lot to be changed at the
[1:57:09] University those $10,000 we think for
[1:57:13] unit or per
[1:57:15] unit it's not going to be nothing
[1:57:19] compared to the cost that he can be I
[1:57:22] I'm just concerned of the amount of
[1:57:25] money that it can be spent if we don't
[1:57:28] be
[1:57:31] careful I think we share some of those
[1:57:33] concerns about what what we don't know
[1:57:37] that that might exist out there and
[1:57:39] that's unfortunately that that happens
[1:57:42] with every project we do there's only so
[1:57:44] much that can be determined in planning
[1:57:48] and so usually we build in contingencies
[1:57:50] and things like that to for those
[1:57:52] unknowns um hopefully with the scale of
[1:57:56] this being fairly small and working with
[1:57:59] some experience folks and like Allison
[1:58:02] said learning from uh others that have
[1:58:06] done this we can avoid some of the the
[1:58:09] you know bigger surprises that are out
[1:58:12] there thank
[1:58:14] you um thank you very much for answering
[1:58:19] all of those questions um and for that
[1:58:22] presentation and I'm looking forward to
[1:58:24] the communication to the community and
[1:58:25] if there are things that we can do um to
[1:58:27] help please please let us know um it's
[1:58:30] now time to review the board work
[1:58:32] schedule are there any public
[1:58:36] comments um are there any requests from
[1:58:39] board members General Counsel or
[1:58:41] staff no thanks okay um over to Todd to
[1:58:45] review the rest of the
[1:58:47] item yes um at the next at the October
[1:58:51] meeting Mee we will be having our annual
[1:58:53] meeting so Mar starn and Associates will
[1:58:55] be here to go over the audit with you
[1:58:58] all um we'll also be talking about the
[1:59:01] scope of work for the rate study um
[1:59:04] coming up then we added an item tonight
[1:59:07] to that to kind of discuss this CIP risk
[1:59:11] U impact as far as budgeting is
[1:59:14] concerned um you also find the 12-month
[1:59:18] calendar in your agendas our uh pending
[1:59:21] St staff action items and the recurring
[1:59:24] items for the next three to five years
[1:59:26] I'd be happy to answer any questions
[1:59:27] anybody has about
[1:59:30] that does anybody have any
[1:59:34] questions good on that um thank you very
[1:59:38] much I'd be happy to summarize the items
[1:59:41] I have you summarize tonight's meeting
[1:59:44] um as I mentioned we will uh add the uh
[1:59:47] CIP risk impact discussion to the
[1:59:50] October board meeting agenda
[1:59:52] at Bruce's suggestion we'll investigate
[1:59:55] potential impacts to aasa from uncc's
[1:59:58] proposed changes to the Coen Fuel and
[2:00:02] get back to the board at at some some
[2:00:04] future date uh we'll provide uh some
[2:00:07] followup to the comments that were made
[2:00:10] on the
[2:00:11] de report uh I had protective service
[2:00:14] worker definition we'll get you that
[2:00:16] Michael um historical retention numbers
[2:00:20] um and then we'll look at the uh kind of
[2:00:23] the comps for gender diversity in the
[2:00:26] our you know our known entities that we
[2:00:29] can reach out to and find out about that
[2:00:31] and then the last thing I had was I'll
[2:00:33] update my work plan to reflect the
[2:00:36] suggestions from
[2:00:39] Bruce um I think that just about wraps
[2:00:43] everything up so
[2:00:46] uh Bob the meeting a journ thank you
[2:00:53] all
[2:00:55] right wanted to
[2:01:03] check so the Republican
[2:01:15] National is really bad
[2:01:22] I