Good morning, the time
is 10:02 and the commission is called
to order. I am chair mark smith residing
over this meeting.
vice chair jonathan powell and commissioners
williams, eloise foster, jeffrey seltzer
and
regina foster. We are joined by our
corporate sector and general manager
and ceo
keisha powell. I will start by
asking commissioner foster to lead
the pledge of allegiance. If you would
read the
division statement
I will ask commissioner seltzer to
read the mission statement and finally
general manager and
ceo
keisha powell.
>> thank you
commissioner foster. Commissioner
speed boss.
>> in
every home and every business, we make
everything possible. By ensuring access
to dependable and safe water for
everyday life.
>> wssc water in
choose
all
communities thrive by developing safe,
sustainable water through wastewater
services.
>> our promise is to continue
the
legacy of our water customers and
employees through
dedicated service returned in future
generations.
>>
thank you. Do I have
a motion to approve
the agenda?
>> I hereby move that the commission
adopt its
public agenda february 18th, 2026
as
drafted.
>> thank you vice chair powell. Is
there
a second?
>> I
second.
>>
any discussion? All those in favor
signify by saying
aye. Any nays?
hearing none, the motion carried unanimously
and the agenda is
approved weird.
>>
commissioner lynn.
>> mr. Chair, I would like to request
the floor to announce recusal from
agenda
items 10 a on contract
76596 on
925-77 19 and
hb 1022 228 object
of interest.
>> thank you commissioner
espy-williams. There are two sets
of minutes for
approval, both of the january 21
2026 regular commission meeting and
the minutes of january 28 special
commission meeting. They
were both in advance. Are there
any corrections? The minutes stand
is approved. I
now recognize retirement division
manager to present the wssc retirees
for
this month.
>> thank you.
good morning. Recognize the
following honorees. David
alford started october 1st, 1990 and
retires as
a supervisor in the leader services
division with 35 years of service.
come
on down.
we have another one
in attendance. Next we have terry
hartl started employee
january 25th, 2010
and retires as a utility technician
to
with 16 years and one
month service.
looks as though he couldn't
make it. Otis walker
started appointment 1990.
he retires as a
materials engineer in the materials
management division with 35 years
and nine months
of service.
we thank them for their years of dedicated service
and wish them
the very best in their retirement.
>> thank you
mr. Baker. Before
we begin commissioner comments, if
any members
of the public intends to give comments,
please do so now. Your
call will remain in the lobby until
after the in
person,. The secretary will admit
you from the lobby following the in
person comments. First, do we have
any
commissioner comments? Seeing
none. We will now receive
public comments. Members of the public
wishing to speak may
do so in person
or virtually. We will now receive
public comments, the commission is
not required to respond
to public comments during the meeting
and the public is reminded this is
not
an opportunity for dialogue or questions
and answers.
if you wish to submit longer comments
please do so through the
corporate secretary. Are there any
members of
the public in the auditorium?
>> yes.
we have one person in the auditorium
signed up to speak and we also have
someone on teams. We will start with
the auditorium.
mr. Edwin. You
can him up to this seat next to me.
make sure
you push the red button to turn
on the phone and if you could please
start with
your name and county and you have
three minutes.
>> hi, my name
is edwin,
montgomery county.
thank you for allowing me this time
to speak. I apologize if this is
the wrong form. I represent a local
volunteer organization, we do cleanups
for areas of
interest to the rockclimbing community.
I was hoping
to speak or find someone to speak
with about the possibility of expanding
your
allowable recreation particularly
in the area
for rockclimbing. We had begun a
conversation with a former watershed
manager but since his departure we
had a
real struggle starting those
conversations so I just came here
with the
hope of finding a way
to reserve those conversations with
someone with the wssc.
thank you.
>>
in queue.
I was just going to recommend that.
I
think we resolved it. Thank
you sir. Absolutely. And madame
corporate secretary do we have our
caller on the line
as well?
>> yes, letting them into
teams now so
I'm going to give them a second. The
caller on teams if
you could
make sure that the volume is turned
down so we don't have background noise
and the caller ending
in 7016 if you could please start
with your
name and county and you have
three minutes.
again, that's
the caller ending
in 7016.
>> hello,
montgomery county. Can you hear me?
>>
yes ma'am.
go ahead. You have three minutes.
>> okay thank you.
the wssc decision
to launch a smart meter program pilot
program
without fully informing customers
of
the health and safety information
gathered by wssc on its own
record is reckless. As a
public
utility wssc has a duty of full transparency
when asking customers to
participate in a program that may
affect
their health especially who
absorb more of this radiation from
smart meters. And more
vulnerable. Without material
information the public does not
have the facts in order
to make an informed decision and this
raises serious governance concerns.
the
wssc smart meter website
have misleading statements. They say
that smart meters are
not harmful. As I detailed in
my publication frontiers of public
health entitled u.s. Policy on wireless
technologies
and public health protection
regulatory gaps in proposed reforms
I show that despite scientific research
documenting evidence for
health risk there has been no review
of the totality of
the evidence by any
federal agency. Certainly not the
smart meters which
emit short intense pulsed rf radiation
in thousands
of intense pulses
a day. Compliance with limits does
not
ensure safety as these limits are
outdated,
indefensible and only protect against
short-term exposure. Not the
long-term exposures.
even misleading post references on
its webpage to the national cancer
institute and
american cancer
society. Neither of which have scientifically
reviewed the signs to make a safety
determination. Nor the
data on smart
meters. I used that information showing
letters
from them in our lawsuit against
the fcc in which
we had a favorable ruling. Just a
few
years ago, dr. David carpenter director
of the institute for
health and environment at the university
all of
albany testified that there are significant
health I associated
with emitted by
smart meters.
read about the ever growing scientific
evidence showing
biological effects from cancer,
cellular stress, increase in harmful
free radicals,
genetic damage, structural damages
to
the reproductive system, learning
and memory deficits and
neurological disorders. Further
scientific research shows effects to
plant and animal life especially bees
and other insect
pollinators. Wssc is failing to warn
consumers in the
private program about these
health issues. They are failing to
inform consumers
about information on their own record
and
that this radiation is
not safe. And my published paper I
also documented how
the wireless industry has followed
the big
tobacco playbook.
>> you have hit
your three minutes. If you could please
conclude.
>> sure. I built upon that
in a harvard
press book and I
recommend everyone recommend that
to understand what is going on. Wssc
consumers deserve all
the facts. Thank you so
much.
>> thank you ma'am. And
chair
smith, we do not have any other colors
on the line at this time.
>> thank
you. And I want to thank all of our
public speakers for their comments.
I now recognize
the general inspector general to present
the monthly
activity report.
>> thank you and
good morning. Good morning chair,
vice chair, commissioners, corporate
secretary and stakeholders. For the
record, I
am an inspector general,
to help wssc water meet
its
objectives in a fiscally transparent,
sustainable and ethically
responsible manner by conducting
independent audits, evaluation and
investigations.
into the
effect and making evidence-based recommendations
to promote efficiency
and effectiveness. I am joined today by
deputy assistant inspector general
for audit, our pleasure to present
the summary of activities
for the office of inspector general
for the month of
january, 2026. I
will focus on the
oig audit activities
in this slide, management action plans,
system development
charge status, waste, fraud and
abuse training. In addition I
will discuss professional development and
peer
review
results. The oig activities dashboard
highlights how
the oig aligns
with wssc's strategic priorities of
affordability and
financial viability
and optimizing.
we conduct our audits in three phases.
planning phase in which
we gain an understanding of the area
which we
will audit. We will plan in a more
detailed steps
to it take
to achieve our audit objective. And
the fieldwork phase
we conduct testing,
verify compliance with policies and
procedures, and
identify exceptions.
observations findings and exceptions
are
communicated to the oddity throughout
the engagement to ensure that we have
all the details and
information and
is correct. The final phase is
reporting where the auditor drafts
a report with any observations or
any issues
identified. The discussion draft goes
to referral review before submitted
to wssc management for review and
discussion. There
is also always some overlap in
these steps. This
slide presents the current standard
of
our audit projects. There are three
projects in the
blue box,
seven in the green box and fieldwork phase
and one project in the yellow box
reporting face.
audit findings
are rated as either high, medium or
low risk. Critical control weaknesses
such as exceptions
to regulations, policies, procedures
or
rules. Medium are
control deficiencies which impair
the commission's ability to
initiate, authorize, record, process
or
report data. Low risk findings
are less certificate efficiency and
effectiveness control
enhancement matters. These categories
are used
as guidelines for auditors when
determining risk.
all of risk identified are based on
the
professional judgment. This slide
illustrates the ratings
of management open action plans
for risk identified during
our engagements. Management responsibility
is
to ensure that action
plans mitigate and report
risk, establish
reasonable implementation and manage
open or delinquent
action plans. In total there are two
action
plans that are open,
customer service and utility
services department. The customer
service action plan is due on
february 28th and utility services
action plan is due on
august 31st. Both action plans have
a medium
risk rating. The oig verified
and closed six action plans in january
as illustrated in the green pie
chart. Four action
plans remain
to be implanted.
pending further oig
verification. No
action plans were implemented at
this point. The next is system
development charges. And system development
charge status. In accordance with
maryland law the oig reviews and approves
actual cost
be reimbursed for system
development charges. We have one audit
in progress,
called retreat
audit and there are two interactive
audits remaining. And activist attributed
to a lack of
developer response after a
full fiscal year of
quarterly requests.
this next
slide is highlights wssc strategic priority
of workforce development.
and concerns waste, fraud and abuse
trading. The oig conducts training
to ensure that all employees are aware
of
how to report incidents of fraud,
waste and abuse.
the oig provided training to 19
new employees
during orientation on january 5th
and
january 20th. Oig
professional development.
the auditor recently became a certified
fraud
examiner. And we
congratulate her.
and my final
slide I just want to report the commission
and public
our successful completion
of the triangle
peer review and the last couple weeks
and the
peer review covered the periods of
2023
to 2025. And happy to answer
any questions.
>> congratulations
on passing your peer
review. Any additional questions for
the oig?
>>
thank you. I just had a
quick question on I can't river
what slide, but you were talking
about a lack of developer
response and that was inactive. Can
you give some
context to that? What will be the
reason
for the lack of response and why that
would occur?
>> may be that
it's not, there may not be enough
economic value to the developer. It
may
be that a variety
of things, they are
not responding so we really can't
complete an audit. And we do
keep those. It's not as if we walk
away from them and they
become inactive. They
are kept and subject to be reopened
for up to
20 years. Plenty of time for
developer to respond
and reopen an audit if
they wish.
>>
commissioner foster.
>> do we reach
out to them periodically?
>> yes
we do. Requesting
additional information.
and typically we get
no response.
>> so we are following
up.
>> yes. >> I think it
might be or inspector general, it
might be helpful for me and
fellow commissioners, I'm sure they
have been on there for a couple years.
if maybe
we add
the length of
an activity. One year, two years,
five years. What
have you.
>> that's a good suggestion.
thank
you.
>> I always go back
to this to make sure I am
understanding them. The management
action plan. I
am just trying to make sure I
understand it. Action plans by department
and rating. How do those fit into
the
larger pie
chart?
>> the two on
the right. Action plans by department
and
rating.
>> good
morning everyone. For the record,
dana wyatt. Deputy assistant
inspector general for
audit. They are two separate items.
the chart on
the right
on open items in the chart on the
left are the closed and implemented
pending audit items. So
the chart on
the left we have verified
those items.
and validating that
implementation. The other for the
customer service
one and resources are still pending.
the chart on the right,
management has not implemented
or indicated that they have implemented
those
items as of january 31st. So it
remains open until
they do.
no
correlation.
>> I did
miss the last meeting but two meetings
ago when we
reported you had a different
chart. So.
>> to
open items.
>> all right mr. Wyatt.
>> bear with me. >>
visuals are good. I just
want to make sure I am understanding
what they represent.
>> I try my best.
hopefully next month we will have,
we are wrapping up a few items so
there should be a
lot more open
action items.
>> not a problem. I
appreciate
the information.
>> thank you commissioner
speed-bost. Any additional questions?
thank you.
>>
thank you.
now we will have the
corporate secretary
monthly report.
>> I don't have anything
to
add to my written report unless there
are
any questions.
>> any
questions for the corporate secretary
monthly report that
was submitted in the
advanced materials? Hearing done,
we will move to the
next item on the agenda. The
ethics report. Are there any commissioner
questions for the
ethics officer on the monthly report
submitted also in the advance
written materials? Hearing done, we
will move to
the next item on the agenda. I now
recognize general
manager and ceo keisha powell to present
her
monthly report.
>> thank you mr. Chair
and good
morning commissioners, madame corporate
secretary, mr. Inspector
general, to our customers
and team h2o. I'm excited to
give this report today, it's
a little bit different, a little bit
storytelling about this
winter event that we just
contended with. But this is february
and
it is black history month and this
is a
time to reflect on, learn from and
engage with a
history, contributions and lived experiences
of black
people including those like
jesse jackson. And I want to remember
the contributions that he
made to this country, so many before
him, so
many after him and so many on team
h2 o that are
making history. As an organization
grounded in our values
to
be just, caring, community focused,
excellent and trustworthy, we
know that different backgrounds and
lived experiences
make a stronger, more innovative and
better able
to care for our customers and communities.
in recognition of
this month we held a virtual lunch
and learn on february
4th with the emmy award-winning host
of national geographic extraordinary
bird
and the new york times best-selling
author of
better living through birding. I'm
told
it was a inspirational and
educational event. Hosted by a gyro
argument
resource officers jasmine cooper.
thank
you
to jasmine
for
always thinking outside the box for
content to give us inspiration
and education. We all know
this is been a season of competitions
so I'd like to turn your attention
to
the pictures on this slide as I tell
you the story of team h2 osha
pickup like champions during the recent
stretch of
winter weather. This was
an all hands on deck effort
across
every department all unified in service
to our customers. This wasn't your
typical winter storm. As many will
attest to. I like to think of it as
our
super bowl
and nba all-star game
and our winter olympics all in
one. High-stakes, nonstop action and a
team of professionals performing under
pressure when it
mattered most. Just like elite athletes
preparing for the biggest stage our
teams trained, planned, prepared and
executed with precision
to keep essential services running.
from front-line breathing several
inches
of snow and dangerously
cold temperatures to support staff
working around the clock behind
the scenes, every part of our organization
moved as one team.
these photos and the pictures on
the following slides capture more
than hard work.
they capture collaboration,
resilience and unwavering commission
that defines
team h2o. Well this prolonged
weather event tested our systems it
also showcased
our strength. Our greatest strength,
which is our
people. And extreme conditions when
our customers needed
us most. Team h2o delivered
literally delivered. Safely, professionally
and
with pride. This is
a powerful reminder that behind every
drop
of water is a dedicated
team willing to go above and beyond
no matter what
the condition
spring. So you
will see knowing that a major winter
storm was approaching teams across
the
organization took early proactive
steps to
get ready, focusing on
system preparedness before the first
flakes fell. Our
meter readers were in a great position.
they were as close
to on time as
possible going into the storm. Our
utility technician went into overdrive
long before the
snow hit, worked around the clock ahead of
the
storm to repair as
many known water main breaks and leaks
as possible. A heavy lift during an
already demanding time of
year. In the week leading up to
the storm cruise
repaired 84 breaks and
leaks, given the work I had already
accomplished
this winter. November through february
is our busiest time of year four breaks
and leaks. They had already responded
to
approximately 900 before the storm
started
late saturday, january
24th. Trucks
to clear and treat our critical sites
were also at the ready. So operations
could continue without delay. We activated
our image
the
operation center and a few
hours before conditions started
to deteriorate. From a fourth floor
conference
room in the support
center directors and managers from
across the organization were in gauged
and connected in regular
briefings, conditions and organizing
responses
in real-time including coordination
with other utilities and the county
and state emergency management teams.
an
incident command structure to court
date all aspects of
our response. Our team at
the warehouse was also ready ahead
of
the storm. Critical cold-weather gear
was
stocked and ensure team h2o was as
warm and safe as possible
on the job. From
snow cleats, vests
and gloves to body warmers we were
focused on employee safety
from the start. And I want to thank
the general service team for
adding critical ppe to
our
uniform site for employees to get
those
warming best
vest. Well in advance. Just
thinking ahead. This is where the
story
gets good. When a
critical shipment didn't arrive as
planned corey material section manager
stepped up, literally going the extra
mile for
the team. Corey hopped into
his vehicle just hours before
the storm, nobody told him to, and
traveled 320
miles round-trip to
the granger distribution center in
new jersey to
secure
nearly 300
,
my nose is running. Secure
nearly 300 of these much-needed
snow cleats. So you all better
wear them. Even when it's
not snowing. If not safe. And he didn't
stop there. Corey delivered cleats
right
to the gaithersburg depots on his
way home after dropping off the shipment
when he
got
back to anacostia. Is corey
here?
please stand.
and corey is
typically quiet. But he spoke loudly
that day. And in fact when we were
in
the eoc director pulled
up the gps and
tracked him coming
back from jersey. He's back in
maryland now. We tried to make sure
he
got back before it got. Oh
my gosh. Now,
getting the right gear to the right
people is critical and so is having
a fleet that is ready from the start.
hats off
to our nationally recognized fleet
services team. They made sure our
equipment was
gassed up
and ready to go. I will have more
on their preventative
efforts later in my presentation but
suffice it to
say garage staff was ready to handle
the repairs.
they were digging out vehicles after
they were stuck in the
snow to get them into the shop. They
slept at
the garage so we were staffed around
the
clock and helped with plowing at
the depots. Truly a
team effort. Anyone from general services
here
please stand.
thank you. Snow
was no problem.
literally snow problem at all. Because
general services was on it as the
flakes turned
into snow, works
to ensure our facilities were plowed
and maintained to keep employees moving
out safely. And of course we are always
here
to help customer advocates who are
always willing to meet our customers
when
they need it most. Literally got into
the neighborhoods when snow packed
streets made driving impossible,
they walked. That is customer advocate
walter guzman on the
bottom left, the hill on the street
was
so snowpacked the van couldn't make
it up so walter and david
wilkins walked the street, walked
to
the hill to assist
our customers.
being there for the communities we
serve no matter what the conditions
are. And I'm
not sure if our customer advocates
are here. They are probably walking
water to
customers
right now. While our advocates and
other
team members were out in the elements,
plenty of other team numbers of
team h2o were behind-the-scenes
working diligently. Always on the
frontline of
our communications 24 seven from january
25th to
february 8th. The staff answered nearly
10,000 calls always
remaining responsive and customer
focused.
next door is our control
center and our mission-critical operations.
they never
wavered. 24/7. While
many people were sleeping, that team
was vigilant
watching every tank, monitoring water
production, pressure zones and keeping
our entire
water system operational.
and
connected. With the potomac river
as the
source water for the vast majority
of our customers all
eyes were on the intake at our potomac
water plant. To say we were constantly
monitoring water production and
demand is an understatement.
the temperature continued to drop
and we were entering into the next
phase of
the storm. Extreme cold. We
know that an
increase in water main breaks and
beaks and we continue to share that
with customers
and stakeholders. For that reason
the
predicted increase we issued an essential water
use only request for
all customers on
tuesday at
11:15 a.m. Water
demand was increasing at that affect
our ability to keep storage tanks
full and maintain
required system pressure for customers
and
fire protection. Our customers
responded with excellent conservation
efforts helping to maintain
system
pressure and avoid a boil water advisory.
so I
wanted to recognize the production
team including
system control. Are any of
you here? They are in
the center so from snow
to ice, take a look at
these
side-by-side photos. This is a look
at the potomac
intake plant. In the photo
on the left you can see with intake
like
last winter. Frozen
solid ice. Obviously posing a challenge
for our team. Now
fast-forward this
winter and the intake is where we
pull water in from
the river. We have to pull into the
plant before we can
treat it. This winter was a totally
different story. If you look at the
picture on
the right it's not frozen, it's bubbling.
and thanks
to james. When we talk about innovation
and
invention we are often talking
about james. Two patents under his
belt, a third pending and more
projects in
his pipeline james took one look at
that ice last winter
and went to work designing a bubbler
system
specifically for the potomac intake.
sits
at the bottom of the intake and keeps
water moving to prevent ice from forming
below the surface and at the surface.
no ice
at the surface is key because that
allows
our to stay in place clearing debris
like sticks
and logs. Previously explored
a design solution to address ice at
the intake with a price tag
in the neighborhood of $1
million. James
system cost saving
about $15,000. Thank
you james. And what's
even better is james worked directly
with
plant staff to tailor the system to
their
operational needs. Their input throughout
the process
was invaluable. This smart
water solution was all internal, all
team
h2o from design
to build
to implementation. Huge props to our
facility services team who
helped
bring james's innovative ideal
to life. We have the facility services
team. Are
they
here? Anyone? They keep us fueled
through the cold so
they are out working too. Most of
the folks are
working but please join me in recognizing
james. Is he
here? Yes. I
can't see what you have next but he
has invented
the fire hydrant tool, the valve monitoring
device and the
patent pending
magic toilet. And now the creative
force behind the
bubbler system. So thanks again
to james. As I mentioned in the
beginning, utility services was
on it. In the week leading up a storm
they repaired 84
water main breaks and leaks. Once
the snow and ice
stopped and it was safe to head out
he worked tirelessly day
and night restoring service for
our customers. Temperatures stayed
below normal
for about 10 days
straight. Breaks were fast, about
30 to 40 new brakes and leaks
were being reported daily. And while
customers did their part
by following the essential water use
only request
utility services crews matched that
effort, working quickly
and relentlessly to repair brakes.
a combination that
was critical to preserving system
pressure and continuing to meet the
demand. The numbers truly tell the
tale from sunday, january 25th through
yesterday they have
responded to 471
breaks and leaks. That is a
23 day
and responding to 471 breaks
and leaks. Many of those in extreme
cold temperatures. And one of the
team
members told me that it was so cold
when their
overalls got wet they
would literally stand up by themselves
because
they would immediately ice. I
cannot imagine. It has been a
herculean task without a doubt and
a
true effort. In addition to our
crews
our contract managers and utility
services also worked around
the clock ensuring that our emergency
contractors move from rake
to break. We also
had tremendous support from engineering
and construction,
we leveraged their partners to provide
additional crews and accelerate
report repairs when help
was needed. All of this was performed
in challenging and often
treacherous conditions. I also have
to
shout out our safety specialist through
this
entire emergency ensuring that safety
is always
mission critical. And last but certainly
not least,
I want to thank our 1.9 million customers
who weathered this
bitter storm with us. Thank you for
heeding the essential water
use
only request, thank my mom for being
very aware we were in
essential water use
only. And I'm glad I remembered to
remind her when it
was lifted. So thank you to all of
our customers.
in our emergency water main break
response. As you can see from this
slide, it truly takes
a village. Behind
this list of departments are several
hundred dedicated team h2o members
working together to serve our value
customers.
and because we
didn't have them in places in the
story I do want to
recognize utility services, communication,
strategic partnerships and community
impact, our
governmental relations
office, customer service department,
engineering and construction, operational
reliability
and resilience, production and
human resources, office of
occupational safety and health,
general services, finance, information
technology, police
and homeland security, procurement
and general manager's office as
well. Thank you to all of you that
helped in
this response. I want
to thank every single employee that
stepped up and met the challenges
head-on
and continued delivering critical
services
to our customers despite the extreme
winter weather. And without further ado
I want
to recognize all the members of team
h2o that are here,
many of our team members came in,
they took a break from the cold even
though it's
a little warmer today, we were able
to
get you inside so if you could just
step forward, raise your hand and
be recognized. These are
real heroes. Go on
and stand. All of our team
members.
>>
let's have them come down and take
a picture.
>> could you all
come forward and take a picture?
team h2o. Don't
be shy.
one
one department that I missed was general
manager office of performance and
accountability as well.
thank you.
we've got
some folks
from production.
right about now is when the auditorium
really
clears out.
I will just
wait
for them. Really
a
great team. That is just
a representation of our over
1800 employees. This
is amazing. So appreciative
of them. But we are not out of the
woods yet.
according to punxsutawney
phil we have several more weeks of
winter weather so
I will want to
again thank our customers and let
them know we remain ready, we
are still in the busiest four months
of
repair season and I
want to thank our customers for their
ongoing patience and grace with our
crews
as they continue work on
the clock. And the many folks that
reached
out
and expressed
their appreciation for the team. We
had mayors
reach out, members
of counties, the county
executive offices, state legislators
as we
have been talking with them the past
couple weeks. Everyone has commented
how well
the team has performed and so again,
they certainly deserve
kudos. We
know that our customers are appreciating
us.
the social
media post I think everybody in our
service area knows our customer advocate
by name. Certainly
brandon stewart delivering water in
the frigid temperatures. Carrying
a case of water on
his shoulders.
james painter who was hard at work
pinpointing where and his dedication
didn't
go unnoticed. He too received lots of
love
and thanks. The little free library
of
twin brook said your work is
twin brook said your work is so hard
but we are most appreciative of you
are
helping everyone out. The same
for
utility technician. Lots of positive
feedback from our customers. The comments
that
you
see, too
many to name but I just want to thank
folks
who took the time to go on social
media and make
those comments. From one mayor
I received, I was copied on an email
and he
said you all received so much press
or response when things
go wrong and I just want to make sure
that you are being recognized when
things go
well. So thanks for
that and supporting one another and
I want to thank the human
resources team for making sure that
those
working in the frigid
temperatures had along with their
leadership had hot soup and
hot drinks to eat as
well. So that concludes the long
extended winter story.
I'm going to move on to other things
here.
try to get through the rest of this
quickly. I do want
to give a
leadership update. I'm pleased to
announce two important updates
announce two important updates to
our senior leadership team.
nina hixson who has been pulling double
duty as general counsel
and chief of staff will continue serving
as
our general counsel. Nina is focused
on enhancing the
general counsel office and supporting
internal policy and compliance
improvement initiatives. Nina joined
wssc
water in 2024 and has an extensive
background
in law and public service. Having
served as the
city attorney and ethics officer for
the
city of atlanta vice president and
general counsel and interim city manager
of eastpointe, georgia. Very
thankful for the time she has spent
supporting me and our team as
chief of staff and her willingness
to serve in both capacities since
last
year. Nina was also
just appointed
to the
international board,
international municipal lawyers association
board
of directors. So that
is huge. A huge
a compliment. Thank you.
and justin
devantier who joined us last summer
as deputy chief of staff is joining
us full-time now as wssc water chief
of
staff. Justin has and
will continue to support enterprise
strategic initiatives, execution coordination
and cross
functional efforts critical to wssc
water
mission among other duties of the
chief
of staff including providing oversight
of our general
manager office of performance
and accountability. And the human
resources department. Prior to
joining us, justin
held senior leadership roles across
the public and private sectors including
at nasa's space
flight center and within the u.s.
department
of defense. Nina and justin have been
vital to our works in a joint and
I'm excited to continue working alongside
of
them in their
roles. Yes.
now I'd like to turn it over to chief
human resources officer
valerie to provide an update of
workforce development plans and an
overview of a new
program called turn
the tide, turning citizens workforce
initiatives. Valerie?
>>
good morning. Chief human resources
officer here at wssc.
and I want to talk about our workforce
initiative plan. Workforce development
plan.
internally, we have a huge
workforce development
initiative. One which is really important
is
programs to launch to
address leadership, technical
skill gaps and external training
partners identified
and engaged. Career pathways and
succession planning. Our
external workforce includes turning
the tide returning
citizens workforce initiative,
the expansion of
mission-critical training and
enhance career outreach with
prince george's county and montgomery
county
school systems. I
want to give you more information
about the turning the tide returning
citizens
workforce initiative. Across
the nation public utilities and
government agencies are recognizing
the critical role they can
play in supporting individuals returning
from incarceration. Stable employment
is
one of the strongest predictors of
successful re-entry,
reduced recidivism and long-term community
well-being.
as a regional leader and
anchor institution wssc water is committed
to leveraging its workforce capacity
,
training infrastructure and community
partnerships to
expand opportunities for
returning citizens. In our hr mission
to ethically cultivate
a high performing paper
sent to--
people centered organization we focus
on
developing initiatives and growth
partnerships. Turning the tide returning
citizens workforce initiative is designed
to provide meaningful
employment
pathways must and
long-term community opportunities
for individual seeking a
second chance. This
represents a forward thinking approach
to workforce development.
this initiative is more than a pilot.
it is a
commitment to equity, opportunity
and the belief that everyone deserves
a second
chance to contribute, grow
and thrive. At wssc water we
have four primary goals as it relates
to
this program. To provide structure
employment pathways, foster
partnerships, address systemic barriers
to employment
and promote economic stability
and growth. The way
that that pilot is structured as
we have pledged to hire a minimum
of
five returning citizens and coordinating
currently with prince
george's county returning citizens
affairs division. We are going
to have a kickoff starting
february 23rd which is really an information
session to share with
those individuals who have gone through
a six week training
information about wssc as well
as the opportunities that we have
here
to gain their interest
and employment and find careers here
at wssc . We
are working closely with production
and
utility services entry-level positions,
we will
soon be
expanding to community services and
general services as
other options for our
returning citizens and also working
with montgomery county
source to expand the program so
that we cover
our
territory. But with the initiative
there will be job
training, participants will
be employees will come on as temporary
and once they
are hired they
have the opportunity to be hired in
a permanent status so that they can
then have the resources such as full
benefits, retirement and everything
that they need to
sustain and be back into
the community. And helping to lead
to success. We will be
working with counties to ensure there
is
job coaches, resources needed such
as
legal resources, transportation,
there's housing concerns, as they
get back
on their feet we have a partner
to be able to provide those services.
so that is just one
of the initiatives that we have that
we are
very proud of and we look forward
to extending here at
wssc. The first cohort
we expect to hire
in april which is
national second chance month. So we
will definitely
make sure you are aware of when that
first cohort comes in and if
you're interested in meeting the group
we
will extend that invitation. Thank
you.
>>
thank you valerie. Next
up is limited you have
any questions?
>> just to say that
I would
be very, I'm sure my fellow commissioners
would be very interested in
attending any welcome ceremony that
you
have.
>> I just wanted
to follow-up. How will you select
the five?
>> we are working closely
with returning citizens
affairs division with prince george's
county
and individuals
will be they have to meet the qualifications
of
the positions, they have to have completed
career
development training provided through
one of their
partner organizations and then they
will apply
for
a position. We want to give them the
experience they need in order to
compete for
employment but the jobs will be just
for
those individuals who have completed
or successfully
completed
those requirements. We are not sure
how many will
be interested. The
information session will give
us a gauge of how many people might
be interested in the positions made
available. But they will be selected
through an interview process
just like every other candidate.
>>
thank you. Sounds like an excellent
opportunity.
>>
thank
you.
>> thank you mr. German. I would
also be
interested in
whatever that initial kickoff participating
in
that. And then also I'd like to touch
base separately about the
connection with prince george's
county liaison
returning citizens.
>> thinking. >>
thank
you
so much. I'm going to turn to customer
engagement and
partnership. We had more
good news, we received a letter from
one of our customers, mr.
goldberg who sent us a nice
message about the service that
he received where he had
an issue. Brandon stewart
is there, also
michelle rodriguez who is a contractor
in our pipeline
construction division.
michelle, if you could
stand and be
recognized michelle. And she has
a tremendous
story. She has been wanting to work
with wssc water
and was just so thankful that she
was recognized in this way
and so I just wanted to make sure
that we highlighted her in the work
that she is doing.
very committed and dedicated to wssc
water.
again,
our values are extending
beyond just our direct team
members but everybody on our team.
you may
remember commissioners late last year
I shared that we would
be launching an initiative to transform
our
service delivery. I
talked about sustained and transformative
change and that doesn't happen
without real elbow grease.
and so just last week we kicked
off our what
we are calling operation
true north. For sustained and
transformative change. But this is
a real initiative.
we had several individuals
from across the commission, different
departments across the commission
come together to start
working on the framework for
true north. The focus is going
to start with our external
facing customer
service groups, not only customer
service division but we
are starting with the customer service
department
and then we will continue with all
of
the groups that have customer facing
responsibilities. But the goal is
to understand from the employees what
would improve the employee experience
but
most importantly what will improve
the customer experience. In a
sustainable
way. We want to make sure that we
are meeting service level targets,
that
we are really responsive to the
feedback we have
received and we are building on the
change
management model.
first really promoting awareness of
this
initiative internally, we will do
the
same externally.
creating a desire within our
team to make the changes that we need
to
make. And building our knowledge
base internally, closing any gaps
so that we can provide
the best service possible, making
sure that
our team members have the ability
and are equipped
to serve. And reinforcing what we
are learning. Last week I had an opportunity
to spend some time and our customer
service center call center answering
calls and I was assistant to
answer those calls. And we were able
to
identify some immediate things that
we can
do to provide better service to
our customers. But also make it
easier for our team members to provide
the service
that we are looking for, that our
customers are
expecting and
we are going to spend some time with
them. Part of
this initiative is to close so that
we can have dedicated
service training and we
will provide specifics
around that, we are targeting getting
this done
before april. So we will provide some
specifics around
the framework , the closure of the
call
center and customer service so that
we can really truly focus. A few years
ago when starbucks had some challenges,
they
closed for a day or two. They
had some service training with the
thought that
when they reopened there would be
a
difference visible difference from
the customer perspective
in the service they were providing.
and that's
what we are attempting
to do. So I think everyone is
on board. We went to really understand
from our team members this is an
opportunity for them to
be heard. They
have the lived experience, they are
closest to the work and it's
very difficult when they can't get
away
from phones and taking
payments and such, it's very difficult
for them
to provide meaningful feedback and
really get the information in a
way that is most helpful to them.
two
again improve the customer service.
we will keep you
posted on true north.
I
have shared and you shared during
our budget
hearings that confirmation of our
aaa rating
for the 25th year in a row. This is
part
of the 379 point
$4
million bond sale that is closing
this week. The offering includes 20.5
million in green
months that
will support environmentally beneficial
water and
wastewater
projects.
and also noted the rating outlook
continues to be
stable. And quoting from s&p
rating overview wssc water
credit quality anchored by the
extremely strong management team that
has historically demonstrated
an ability and
willingness to reduce expenditures
and increase rates to maintain sufficient
coverage and liquidity.
we also received
similar comments from the other rating
agencies and this is why we are in
the
midst of ramping up an ambitious capital
improvement program replacing
aging infrastructure, strengthening
reliability and resilience. So the
need to maintain our aaa
rating and highest
credit rating that allows us to borrow
at lower
interest rate which reduces financing
cost
and helps keep rates more affordable
in the end for
the communities that we serve.
so this is a clear validation of our
financial
discipline and financial
strategy that you have put in place
and
supported commissioners.
continuing the good news on the finance
front, the recently
passed
fiscal year 2026 appropriations bill
includes nearly 2.2 million
in federal funding to support two
critical
infrastructure projects. One in prince
georges county and one in montgomery
county. Which will
help modernize aging systems
to protect public health and safeguard
local waterways. In montgomery county
we
have approximately 1.1 million which
will
support sewer improvement along the
northwest branch
of the river and
silver spring where existing sewer
mains are more than 75
years old. Construction is expected
to begin in september
of 2026 and be completed in
october of 2027. Prince georges
county we
have approximately 1.1 million which
is allocated to improve
deteriorating sewer mains in
hillcrest heights where some are more
than 75
years old. The project includes rehabilitation
and replacement of just under a mile
of
sewer main and upgrade to 19 manholes.
construction is estimated
to begin in the fall of 2026 and be
completed in the
fall
of 2027. On behalf of wssc water I
want to think
u.s. Senators chris van hollen
and angela brooks as well as
representatives glenn ivey and jamie
raskin
for securing this federal funding.
and
special thanks also go to
state, county and local leaders for
their support of this
congressional directed spending request
and
just a point of personal privilege
I'd like to think
representative raskin for his call
to deliver the good
news personally.
continuing with updates from
the hill. The fiscal year 2026 appropriations
bill passed, the fiscal year 27 appropriations
process
has began.
epa program reauthorization bill is
on deck and they're looking
to authorize the
expiring provisions of the infrastructure
investment and
jobs act. We continue to stay close
to that. And the water resources development
act is underway. Congress
will work to pass
the biannual w rda
this week this year
and we did some request for the bill
to make sure that
we have funding authorized and
appropriated
that measure. Under
asset management I shared that I would
touch on general
services fleet
division again. They are definitely
full speed ahead. I
don't
know how we lucked up getting such
a
great department, the best in the
country but
we
do. And I'm glad we
have them. In december of 2022 there
were 326 overdue preventative
maintenance items. But by december
2023 they had
been decreased to 96.
in december of 2024 they were down
to
51 and december
of 2025 they closed the year with
zero overdue
preventative maintenance.
thanks again to the
fleet management team. Now I will
turn to
optimizing operations. Will share
where
we are with our
biosolids marketing.
>> thank
you general manager powell and good
morning
mr. Chair, commissioners.
madam corporate secretary
and madam general manager. Team h2o
and customers. I am
deputy general manager for
operation and before
I get into
class a marketing,
let me begin with a clear
value statement regarding class
a biosolids. As we on the
they are
nutrient rich organic materials that
provide significant value
both as a fertilizer and
soil. Because they make strict federal
and state pathogen
reduction standards
with pathogen indicators
below limits
they can be distributed to the general
public without
restrictions. Reducing reliance on
commercial synthetic fertilizers.
so this value translates to
economic value. When
properly marketed and creating
opportunities for the commission
to achieve cost recovery as
well as
potential revenue. Wssc water has
the potential
to market
approximately 65,000 tons
a year. Of class a
biosolids produced at
the piscataway facility as
well as its share of class
a biosolids planes
about 60,000 tons
a year or 42% of
the 144,000 generated
annually. However, realizing this
benefit requires three
major items. First, obtaining
the required state certification
and permits such as the maryland
department of
the environment that certifies class
a quality and safety through
an approved control and monitoring
plan.
and maryland department of agriculture
product
registration to market
the material as a fertilizer and
soil amendment. We
have submitted a
utilization permit
application to maryland department
of the environment in
november 2025. With a revised package
that was submitted in january of
this year.
feedback received. Second,
it requires
developing
products tailored to specific market
needs.
such as bulk fertilizers and
soil amendments
for agriculture. Landscaping
et cetera.
it requires marketing strategy
with targeted outreach
to educate potential users. And
build networks
and partnership such as farmers
and landscapers. However, there
are
challenges. Primarily the evolving
regulatory
landscape including regulations related
to
p fas. This can be addressed
through solutions such as
source control and treatment
option to reduce p fas in the
final
product. They also require
active engagement with the
regulators. And partnership across
the region.
this
will lead to
this slide on partnership for
sustainable management. And as you
all know solving
emerging biosolids challenges requires
strategic
regional partnership that can pull
resources and expertise from
the region. So
the vision and purpose of this partnership
is to reduce regional silos.
enhance alignment. Build trust
and relationships with partners and
as the
largest utility in the region, position
as
an anchor to such
a partnership. The scope of the partnership
is to advocate
for science-based policies.
share technical expertise
and resources, advanced research and
development, manage
emerging contaminants such as p fas
and advance beneficial reuse of this
valuable product. The who or
the participants include a coalition
of water utilities, municipalities,
regulators and
research institutes
such as universities, agriculture
partners and private entities who
can have funds that
can invest in such partnership.
among others.
the how to start this partnership
is through
a deliberate listen first engagement
model. That uses
phased
to define shared priorities and document
solutions. This is
all about coming
to solutions. There are other entities
like associations there but this is
primarily
solutions to issues
that opportunities we have in
the region. Pertaining to biosolids
management. We have a workshop scheduled
with
this objective that will be held at
wssc water on march 6th.
to discuss on this partnership as
well as to focus during
this workshop on the
treatment authority that will be
useful to enhance
source control.
an update on
the potomac
interceptor. A high level overview
of the
potomac interceptor collapse.
d.c. Water owns, operates and maintains
the potomac interceptor. 54
mile sanatorium--
sanitary system built in the 1960s
pursuant to an act
of congress. The
interceptor ranges in diameter and
serves
approximately 376 square miles and
conveys flows from fairfax and
loudoun
county, town of vienna, dulles airport
in
virginia and portions of montgomery
county,
maryland to d.c. Water for the
treatment plant. On average it
carries between 40 to
60 million gallons per
day from a regulatory
standpoint d.c. Water is primarily
overseen by
the u.s. Environment rejection agency.
which enforces
federal drinking water and
wastewater standards.
a section
collapsed on monday, january 19th
2026
along
the parkway and the 495 interchange
in montgomery
county. Causing a
signatory overflow
in the national canal
historic park that enters the
potomac river. The reinforced concrete
pipe is
72 inches in diameter at the location
of
the break. To contain
the overflow, a plan was developed
by d.c. Water and d.c.
water mobilized a bypass pumping system
that
was activated on january 24th. During
the first
five days before
the bypass activated 194 million gallons
of overflow and there
have been approximately 243
million gallons that overflow since
the incident. D.c. Water
bypass system is up and running and
is being
monitored 24/7. The capacity
is now 60 but d.c. Water plans to
increase
this to 100 by constructing
a
third chamber.
work is ongoing to construct
the bulkhead to isolate the section
of the pipe where the break is
located. To access the pipe and remove
large boulders at the bottom of
the pipe. D.c. Water estimates it
will take another
four to six weeks
to excavate, clear the
pipe luggage and install additional
file past chambers. And another
nine months for permanent
repairs using construction method.
according to
d.c. Water they are developing a
restoration
plan in conjunction with federal state
and local regulators
and also conducting daily water quality
sampling. They
also have a dedicated
webpage established for information
on the potomac
interceptor collapse.
in terms
of messaging to customers we will
continue to clearly
and consistently maintain
the potomac water filtration plant
intake
is located upstream of the sewer
break and water quality has not been
impacted. And that drinking water
remains safe. We have
a clip that shows the location
of the potomac water filtration
plant upstream of the
break location
that's
the potomac water filtration plant.
and in relation to the break location.
which
is downstream. We
are
also posting paid messaging
to targeted montgomery county
with flows
to the potomac interceptor to enhance
outreach
related to encouraging residents
to avoid
flushing wipes and may
impact the stations they have installed.
on friday february 13th there was
a briefing on this issue
before the maryland general
assembly and where d.c.
water
presented updates that can be provided
to you for
your review. With that I completed
my presentation.
>>
thank you. I will end on
this slide. This
is a snapshot of the business of the
day.
we have four new awards. One
change order and a two option terms
totaling more than 35
million. We also
have six information only presentations
from the team which we
will get through in
their time based on other things that
are happening. And
my last point, I wanted
to just
make sure I recognize all of
the team. This is what happens when
you start
naming names. General counsel office
and
supplier and the office of supplier
and diversity. And again,
the general manager office of performance
and
accountability were also part of our
response and very, very
important part of
team h2o. So I want to make sure they
are recognized as
well. And happy birthday to all the
february
birthday
hammers including.
and commissioner
speed-bost. And vice chair powell.
happy birthday
to you
.
>> I had a question for
the commissioner. The
potomac interceptor. Joint
use facility and just wondering if
you know if that
is attributed to wssc for our portion
of
the flows.
>> that's
a great question. Depending on
the location through
the jurisdictions depending on location
of
the pi. At this location I think
our share of cost
is
approximately 30%.
>> I also
understand that repairs have
been planned and underway for quite
a while. Do you think these are going
to
lead to significant increase cost
to
wssc beyond
already planned? Maybe
that is for later in the discussion.
>> that's to
be determined. It depends on their
assessment as well
as the plan. Currently they do have
a plan
that was done prior to this incident.
they
had
a plan that would cost higher than
600
million but depending on the findings
and what needs to be
done moving forward. So we will give
you updates as we learn more
about that.
>>
thank you.
>> any
additional questions? Thank you gm.
>>
thank you.
heard the
recusal statement at this time we
want to
allow commissioner
espy-williams the opportunity to exit
as we prepare to be
briefed on the first contract item.
we will now move through the contract
approvals
by department, commissioners would
like to clarify that
the absence of questions is not due
to a lack of review but rather
indication that we are satisfied with
the
contact and directors presenting
contract items may now proceed to
the table in preparation for
the presentations. Our goal is to
review and approve all contracts
at one time. We will begin with
engineering and construction and I
will recognize
chief engineer
to present the first three items.
>> good morning chair smith. Vice
chair powell.
commissioners. Corporate secretary.
and general manager powell. My
name is alan wong,
chief engineer. This first
commission package requests approval
to award a contract
number 76596 729-6822. Parkway
water resource facility
electrical operations. Progressive
design built. In the amount of
14 million
$305,504. This authorizes the
preliminary stage where under
the
progression including study and report
services, development of preliminary
technical
documents,
construction planning including preparation
of
a compose stage and early
procurement of long lead electrical
equipment including the purchase of
transformers
and generator for preliminary stage
term of 360
working days. At the conclusion of
the
pulmonary states engineering and construction
will return to
the commission to
request approval of a binding completion
stage price and associated
contract modification. Which includes
final design construction, startup,
testing services,
a separate subcontracting will apply
to the completion stage and will
be committed
to the commission
as part of the review and approval.
this object will
modernize the upgrade of
key infrastructure to improve reliability,
resilience and
operational performance. The planned
upgrades include improvements to the
facilities electrical
power
generation, systems, mechanical process
equipment and supporting
planned infrastructure. Under the
progressive
design build
approach, construction will validate
existing
conditions and develop the detailed
technical reports, construction documents
and specifications for wssc review
and approval. For structures at the
facility
where work will be performed. The
design builder will procure deliverables
across multiple disciplines including
electrical, civil, structural,
heating and ventilating,
fire protection and digital process
control
systems
in addition will coordinate shutdowns
with plant operations staff
and provide temporary power as needed
to maintain
critical operation.
this project is necessary to improve
the reliability, resiliency and
operational performance
of the parkway water resource recovery
facility by addressing critical infrastructure
needs
that have resulted from
aging equipment, evolving operational
demand and increased vulnerability
to
flood
events. Are there
any questions?
>>
seeing none. For contract 76596 do
I have a motion.
>>
I hereby move that
the
committee approve parkway water resource
recovery facility
design
build in the amount of
14 million for a
preliminary stage as
recommended by committee.
>>
is there a second?
any discussion? All those in favor
signify by saying aye.
any nays? The motion
carried unanimously. With
one recusal and the contract is approved.
we
will hold for commissioner
espy-williams .
>> thank you
chair smith.
you may
now proceed.
>>
thank you. This commission package
requests approval to award a contract
number 82587
tilden lane large
valve replacement to ross contracting
in the amount
of 2,208,000 four a contract term
of 675
calendar
days. This consists of the installation
of approximately
190 of water main, a 48 inch vertical
gate valve
and a new valve involved in tilden
lane in north
bethesda montgomery
county, maryland. You can
refer to. The work will replace the
existing valves
and associated valves that
have reached the end of their useful
life. As part of the public outreach
efforts
the fact sheets were mailed on
june 6th, 2025 to affected customers
and the honorable councilmember
kate
stewart. The community outreach will
be conducted approximately
four to six weeks prior to the start
of
construction
with cards mailed to impacted customers
and councilmember stuart. During these
meetings we
will stress that tilden lane is a
localized project with minimal
traffic
impact. One lane will be closed on
tilden lane allowing travel
under
the direction.
the existing
valve is one of the mainline valves
along a
transmission main. That conveys water
from
the potomac water
filtration plant. In 2021 the valve
was evaluated by systems control and
recommended
for replacement due to ongoing operational
deficiency. The evaluations
showed that the valve was experienced
leakage, does not fully seat and does
not divide a
reliable shut off.
in addition the valve is currently
broken and has required
multiple repairs. Continued operation
of
this valve represents
a risk to system reliability and
could impact wssc's ability to maintain
service levels
including the ability to supply water
to
critical facilities such as the
standpipe and customers throughout
montgomery and prince
george's county. Are there
any questions?
>> thank
you chief engineer. Vice chair powell.
>> just
curious why is the
contract term
so long?
>> the question from vice chair powell
is why is the contract term
so long.
>> correct.
>> we have the staging of
the project. The map on
the
facility. And that planning has to
take place before any
construction work. There's
going to be procurement of
the valve systems and equipment that
need
to be provided. And so there is some
construction
time, vice chair powell, that proceeds
the
construction activity and then there
is the
issue of when the construction
can start after the community involvement
and the understanding of
the
traffic flow.
>> inks for
the clarification. Any
additional questions? Do I have
a motion?
>> I move that the commission
approved construction
contract 82587 two replacement to
ross contracting
inc. In the amount
of 2,208,000 four a contract term
of 675 days as recommended
by management.
>> thank you commissioner
espy-williams.
>> mr. Chair I second.
>>
any discussion? All
those in favor signify by saying aye.
any
nays ? The motion carried unanimously
by a
vote of six to zero and the contract
is approved. Chief engineer you
may now proceed to your final contract
for
85 51 capitol heights
sewer rehabilitation.
>>
in queue. The commission package requests
approval
to award contract number 48551
capitol heights sewer
rehabilitation to rivers construction
group limited in the
amount
of 5,299,000 four contract term of
290
calendar days. This provides
for the repair,
rehabilitation and replacement
of approximately 2.25 miles of deficient
sanitary mains and
laterals within the basin of prince
georges county.
there's a map on the screen that you
can refer to. The work
will be performed using multiple construction
methods including the installation
of 6644 linear
feet of
pipe. Lining. The replacement
of approximately 5233
linear feet of sanitary sewer main
utilizing
open cut construction
methods and rehabilitation of
approximately 2274.
approximately 2274
linear feet of defective
sanitary laterals. The project also
includes repair and replacement of
approximately 60 manholes
requiring
corrective action. As part of the
public outreach and stakeholder engagement
process information fact sheets will
be mailed to
affected customers,
community outreach will be held a
proximally four to six weeks prior
to the start
of construction and an invitation
to participate will be extended to
the
honorable edward burrows the third
is george's county
district 8. As part of
this particular community outreach
activity we
will stress to the
community that half of the capital
heights project is planned
to be
done through lining which is directional
work. And have a smaller
footprint and less impact to the traffic
compared to open
cut project.
during design the designer will look
for opportunities to
utilize lining methods as much
as possible. For the
open cut portion there will be
one traveling for all open
cut work. There
will be flags required to direct pedestrians
in and out
of the area. For the manholes some
will be located
in the
right-of-way and some will be located
in the street. So these
are the
community impact discussions that
we will have
and make sure that the community is
aware of
these conditions. And they
will be kept closely
informed as the various stages of
the
project proceed.
the project
is required because the facilities
have been installed starting
in 1924 1969 and they
have exceeded their intended
service life.
assessments have identified numerous
deficiencies. Including root intrusion,
groundwater infiltration,
structural defects. This rehabilitation
project is
essential to restoring system
integrity, improving reliability,
mitigating risks associated with
aging infrastructure. The project
is also
funded through the maryland department
of environment through a
loan with obligates
the commission to complete the work
in accordance with the
approved schedule and funding apartments.
approval of this board
supports wssc waters long-term infrastructure
renewal objectives. Are there any
questions
on this?
>> any questions?
seeing none. Chief engineer, I just
want to thank
you for the extra effort
of understanding the
area and those of us
that are traversed that road
every day as I'm
sure 1 million other cars twice
in and out of the
washington, d.c. Area, I appreciate
all the work you
and your team are doing to minimize
traffic impact and facilitate ease
through
this major in
and out.
>> thank you chair
smith.
>> do I have a
motion?
>> mr. Chairman, I hereby
move that the commission
approved contract
for 8551-125 capitol heights sewer
rehabilitation to ross construction
group limited
in the amount
of 5,299,000 four a contract
term of 290 calendar days recommended
by management.
>> thank you commissioner
speed-bost. Is there
a
second?
>> I second. >> all those
in favor signify by saying aye.
any nays or
abstentions? Hearing on the motion
carried unanimously and the contract
is approved.
>> thank you chair smith.
>> thank you
to you and your team. We will now
recognize director of general services
allison wilson to present contract
86589
temple hills
garage construction.
>> good morning
chair smith. The mission is, corporate
secretary, gm powell,
wssc water stakeholders, team h2o
and
the public. For the record, I am
allison wilson, director of general
services.
in this commission package requests
the
approval to award contract
number 86589 based
in landover,
maryland
for 2,135,000 with a contract term
of
355 days. The construction of this
garage is needed
to protect trucks
and closed-circuit inspection
equipment from winter freezing
conditions improving reliability and
reducing
maintenance by sustaining temperatures
above
50
degrees. This contract covers
the construction of a 5500 square
foot pre-engineered metal
garage with six jet
truck base, hvac, lighting and
electrical and mechanical systems
and outdoor parking spaces and associated
site work
at 8444 temple
hills
road. B jet truck garage is needed
to support utility services divisions
cc tv and jet
truck operations. During
the months jet trucks
have experienced significant operation
and maintenance issues caused
by freezing temperatures including
ice in
the system and
damaged palms. Freezing conditions
have also
negatively affected electronic equipment
used
in the trucks for sewer
inspection. The construction of this
garage will
allow the vehicles to be stored in
a temperature
controlled environment during the
winter months
preventing damage, improving
operational reliability and reducing
future maintenance
and downtime. I'm pleased
to answer any questions you may have
as it relates to this contract and
respectfully request the commission
approved contract temple hills
jet truck garage at
this time.
>>
thank you director wilson. Any questions?
I just have a
very quick question. Just for the
record. Just want to make sure
that
everyone knows 8444 temple hills road
is
which facility?
>> the temple hills
jet
truck garage.
>> on existing
wssc property.
>>
yes sir.
>> the depot. >>
thank you. Do I have a
motion?
>>
I hereby move that the commission
approved construction
contract 86589 temple hills jet truck
garage construction in the amount
of 2,135,000 for a
contract of 365 days as recommended
by management.
>> thank you commissioner
seltzer.
is there a second?
>> I second mr.
chair.
>> all those
in favor signify by saying aye. Any
nays or
abstentions? The motion carried unanimously.
the
contract is
approved. Ms. Wilson, you may now
continue to option
term one on the
contract 77570 regular cab
and chassis.
>> requesting approval to exercise
the first option term to beltway
international trucks llc for a contract
in
the amount of $10 million to purchase
international
regular cab and
chassis vehicles for wssc water
fleet. This contract aims to add additional
capacity
to replace aging vehicles,
support essential water and
wastewater operations.
with full factory warranties, delivery
readiness
for service are also included in
the scope. Our heavy fleet plays a
critical role in supporting the daily
operations
of water and wastewater maintenance,
repairs and
emergency response.
a significant portion of the fleet
is approaching and
has exceeded its expected
service life. Reduced reliability
and risk of operational delays due
to
the downtime. This is aligned with
our fleet services
replacement plan. And this contract
will
provide additional purchasing capacity
for
factory warranty cab
and chassis. Timely replacement of
aging fleet. This also
proves
additional access to repair maintenance
parts and services increasing
this capacity for faster
response times and
quicker return of fleet vehicles to
service strengthening our
overall readiness. It further ensures
access to the most cost advantageous
repair parts
and services promoting efficiency
and
fiscal responsibility . Our strategic
focus on fleet
asset improvement wssc
water will continue to evaluate additional
pathways to ensure
ongoing access to
most competitive and high-value
services available. Pleased to answer any questions
as
it relates to this contract and request
commission
approval for contract 77570 at
this time.
>> thank you
director wilson. Commissioner comments
or questions? We will
have
a motion.
>> mr. Chairman, I hereby
move the commission
approve option term one for goods and
services
contract 77570 regular cab
and chassis to beltway international
trucks llc and not to exceed
amount of $10 million for an option
term of
one year as recommended
by management.
>> thank you commissioner
speed-bost.
>> I second. >> thank
you commissioner foster.
any discussion? Hearing none, all
those
in favor signify by saying aye. Any
nays or
abstentions? The motion carried unanimously
by a vote
of six to zero. Option
turn one is approved. Inky
ms. Wilson. We will now hear from
director of
utility services mr. Glenn
diaz to present option term one on
contract 29447 metallic main
condition assessment.
>>
good morning chair smith, vice chair
powell, commissioners, madam corporate
secretary, team
h2o and our valued customers.
for the record, my name is glenn diaz,
director of
utility services. Request approval
to exercise option term one for contract
number 29447. Metallic main
condition assessment basic
agreement with the amount of
$1 million for one year
term. Exercising this option will
provide can get funding to support
ongoing metallic water main
inspection prioritization and condition
assessment services
throughout
water service. On this contract the
contractor
performs inspections prioritization
and assessment of metallic
water mains
as needed. These include evaluation
of
pipe condition and recommendations
for
appropriate assessment technologies
related
to identification, structural
integrity and surrounding soil and
material conditions. In addition it
evaluates and
provides recommendations on new
and emerging technologies to enhance
water main abilities
and support data-driven
asset management and long-term system
reliability planning. These are critical
to
water proactive infrastructure management
strategy. The ability to assess metallic
water main
condition before
failures occur allows us to better
prioritize
replacement projects. Reduce service
disruptions, minimize emergent
and ensure efficient deployment of
resources
across
the system. Staff recommends approval
to exercise option term one of
contract 29447 in
the amount of
$1 million. And I am here to answer
any questions you may
have.
>> any commission or questions?
seeing none,
do I have a motion.
>>
mr. Chair, I hereby move that the
commission approve option term one
on architecture and engineering
contract 29447 metallic main
condition assessment basic ordering
agreement
to cover low engineers incorporated
in the amount of
$1 million for a term of one year
as recommended by management.
>> thank
you vice chair powell. Is there
a second?
>> I second. >> thank you
commissioner speed-bost. All
those in favor signify by aye. Any
nays or abstentions? The motion carries
by a vote
of 6-0 and option term one
is approved.
>> thank you again, chief engineer
and to the team.
>> good
afternoon, chair smith. Vice
chair powell. Commissioners. Madam
corporate
secretary. Madam
general managers. Team h2o and valued
customers. For the record I
am james with the general counsel's
office. This
item concerns a request from pipeline
design division for authority for
gso to
file a condemnation proceeding to acquire
temporary easement interests and access
rights to property owned by
south stone gate homeowner's
association inc. As described in exhibit
7 and the
information packet provided
to the
commission. Temporary construction
easement is
ensure wssc water has the necessary
property
rights to move forward with
the plan north sherwood forest
esa project. 2.9 miles of sewer main inclusive
of
the
sewer lines. The property at issue
is subject to a variable with
wssc water, sewer easement that existed since
the
time this property was transferred
to
the
south stonegate hoa. Temporary construction
easement would
allow wssc water the right to access
and
stage material and equipment in
certain areas immediately adjacent
to wssc water's
existing easement and conduct the
necessary work within the
easement itself. Wssc water has
secured all other right of entry agreements
needed to proceed
with this project and acquiring this
particular -- these particular
access rights around novacourt would
satisfy all
land right requirements necessary
for
this project. Wssc water has attempted
to reach south stonegate homeowner's
association inc. Several times and
to date there have been no responses
to those outreach efforts. South
stonegate hoa status is forfeited
according
to the maryland state
department of assessment and taxation. And
the corporate entity appears to be
defunct. At this
stage of the process the only option
to secure
the necessary property rights is through
filing
a condemnation proceeding
in montgomery county circuit court. If
you have questions I'm prepared to
answer them
at this time. Thank you.
>>
thank you. Any questions? Seeing none,
do
I
have
a motion?
>> mr. Chairman, I hereby move that
the
commission adopt resolution 2026-24
--let me start
over. I move that the commission
adopt resolution 2026-2415 authorizing the institution
of eminent domain
by condemnation proceedings for the
temporary construction
easement as recommended by management.
>>
thank you, commissioner foster. Is
there a second?
>> I second, mr.
chair.
>> thank you,
commissioner espy-williams. Any discussion? All
those in favor signify
by saying aye. Any
nays or abstentions? The vote carries
by a
vote of 6-0. Resolution 2026-2415
is approved. Thank you. Again, thank you
mr.
gregor. We will now hear from director of
production ben
thompson to present
resolution 2026-2421. Mr. Thompson.
>>
good afternoon, chair smith. Vice
chair powell. Commissioners. Madam
corporate secretary. General manager
powell and team. For the record my
name
is ben thompson. I'm here
to request
approval of 2026-2421 which authorize
as
$50 one time water bill credit for customers
who participate
in our 2026 lead and copper
rule sampling program. As required
by the
epa's lead and copper rule safe
drinking water, wssc water must collect samples
from homes
every three years. During the upcoming
monitoring period of june 1st through
september 30th ,
we are required to obtain at least
50 completed samples. Failure to do
so would result in regulatory
monitoring violation. In prior cycles,
wssc
has offered bill credits of
$10 and 20. Despite those incentives
has been extremely challenging. To
improve participation and to account
for
inflation we're proposing a $50 credit
per completed sample. We are also
working with communications
to enhance all outreach materials
and
encourage greater customer participation and
this year we will
introduce a new online response option making it
quick and
easy for customers to indicate their willingness
to participate. The total
cost of the
program is expected to range
between $2500 and $5000. Would not
exceed
100 samples. This is
a modest
investment
to ensure compliance. I respectfully
request the commissioner's approval
and I'm here
to answer any questions you may have.
>>
thank
you, director thompson. Any questions
from commissioners? Hearing none,
do I
have a motion?
>> mr. Chairman, I
hereby
move that the
commission adopt resolution 2026-2421
authorizing a one time $50 lead
and copper rule water sampling credit
as recommended by
management.
>> thank you,
commissioner speed-bost. Is there a
second?
>> I'll
second. Any discussion? Hearing none,
all those in favor signify
by saying aye. Aye. Any
nays or abstentions? The motion carries by
a vote of 6-0
and resolution
2026-2421 is approved.
>> thank you. >>
thank you,
mr. Thompson. We will now hear from
the chief financial officer to present
a series of items for vote
and
one item for information. You may
begin with the
mid cycle update.
>> good afternoon,
chair smith. Vice
chair powell. Commissioners. General
manager. Madam
corporate secretary. The
first item that we
would like to request is
a transaction to amend
the proposed fy 2027 to 32
capital improvements program. There
is a total
increase of $19.23 million in year
one
which is fiscal year 2027
across five programs. Four programs
are blue plains waste water
treatment plants. And the revision
is a result from
us receiving updated expenditure schedules
from
dc water that pulled forward programmed
expenses
and
this was a
28.64
million increase.
based on actual
year end costs versus budgeted costs
that were presented which is earlier
on in the year. And this
resulted in the $9.41 million decrease. This
change is
within the fy 2027 recommended
rate revenue enhancement and it does
not impact our
metrics. I request the commissioners approve
this mid cycle update and I'm
available for any questions.
>>
thank you. Any
questions?
>> hearing none, do I have
a motion?
>> mr. Chair, I hereby move
that the commission
approve for transmittal to the county executives
of prince george's and montgomery
counties the proposed
mid cycle
amendments for fiscal years 2027 through 2032
capital improvements program as recommended
by management.
>> thank you, vice
chair powell. Second?
>> I second. >>
any discussion? Hearing none, all
those in favor signify by
saying aye. Any nays or abstentions? Hearing
none
the motion carries unanimously by
a vote
of 6-0. The transmittal of the amendments
is approved. Mr. Musara you may
proceed to fiscal year 2027
operating and capital budget for transmittal to
the counties.
>> next
we are requesting approval to
transmit the fy 2027 proposed budget
to the montgomery and prince george's county
executives. The
budget consists of $1.97 billion and
is supported by an overall
6% revenue enhancement comprised of
a 5% average
water and sewer
volume metric and fixed fee rate supplemented
by
1% in one time revenue from interest
income and the
temporary rate stabilization fund. The
rate increase
will add approximately $4.92
per month. $14.75
per quarter. Or $59 per year to the
bill
of a customer using
145-gallons per day. The operating
budget of $1.2 billion
is an increase of 63.5 million
over fy 2026. And the capital budget
is $770 million
an increase of $73.4 million over
fy
2026. One note for the commissioners is
we
received updated projections related
to
the commission share of waste water treatment
costs
for regional sewage disposal at blue
plains and this
went up by $2.2 million and we're
going
to absorb that amount in the existing
budget. With that I
ask for your approval to transmit
the
fy 2027 proposed budget and I'm available
for any
questions.
>> thank you,
chief financial officer munetsi
musara. I want to comment for you
and the entire team,
your hard work and diligence do
keep our rates as low as possible. And
the impact of $4.92
per month I know that was the target
--or that
was an intentional goal. So I
think that's
a very reasonable reflection of the great
work you've
done. Any other questions? Do I have a
motion?
>> mr. Chair, I
move that the commission approval
for transmittal to the
county executives of prince george's and
montgomery counties wssc's water proposed fiscal
year 2027 operating and capital budget
as recommended by
management.
>> thank you,
commissioner seltzer. Is there a second?
>>
ask I second.
>> thank
you, commissioner speed-bost. Any
discussion? All those in favor
signify by saying aye. Aye. Any nays
or abstentions? Hearing none the motion
carries unanimously by a
vote of 6-0 and the transmittal of
the proposed fiscal year 2027 operating
and capital
budgets is approved. Mr. Musara, you
may now proceed to the front foot
benefit charge appeals
hearing date and hearing officer
selections.
>> thank you, chair smith. In
early
spring customers will receive notification
of
front foot benefit assessments based on
last calendar
year's activity and this will include
a date and time
for an assessment appeal hearing with
the
wssc water commissioner if they have
any concerns that
remain from their followup with the
property assessments team. We are
requesting
the commission set thursday, may
21st, 2026 at 3:30 p.m. As the date
and time for the 2026 front
foot benefit assessment appeal hearing. And
that one commissioner be selected
to
serve as the hearing officer. And
that the
hearing be conducted via teams. I'm available
for
any questions and thank you.
>> thank
you, sir. Any questions? Hearing none,
do I
have a motion?
>>
mr. Chair, I hereby move that the
commission set
the 2026 front foot benefit assessment appeal
hearing on thursday, may
21st , 2026 at 3:30
p.m. Conducted virtually via
teams platform with
commissioner seltzer serving as hearing
officer.
>> thank you. Is there a
second?
>>
second.
>> thank you, commissioner espy-williams. All those
in favor signify
by saying aye. Aye. Any nays
or abstentions? Hearing none the motion
carries unanimously. The hearing
date and hearing officer are
approved. Thank you, commissioner
seltzer for serving
adds hearing officer. Mr. Musara,
you may proceed to your
final item. The financial report for
q 2 fy 2026.
>> thank you,
chair smith. Providing our informational update
for the
q2
financial status report. For q2
fy2026 we had a targeted 50% spend
which are represented by
the
green bars. And for capital actual
spend
is 34% and for operating it's at 44%
shown by the blue bars. I just want
to provide a clarification
as it relates to the capital
budget. In these numbers here I'm
simply presenting
the high level aggregate information
on the capital budget
and details on the program activity
and
the break out of its various categories
including wssc water control projects
versus
projects driven by other parties will
be discussed
in the quarterly capital report that
is
being presented by our chief engineer later
in
today's commission meeting. In the
operating budget, tracking the budget
versus actual
by major expense category, we see
that salaries and wages, heat, light
and power. Regional sewage disposal
and debt service are within
the expected range. The activity and
the
all other category is lagging but
we expect this to pick up as
the fiscal year progresses. Here
we present the dollar comparison by
major expense category for both
operating and capital. Q2
25 compared to 26. Operating
gross expenses
at $501 million. And again we
expect to see an uptick in
expenditure activity and all other
categories for operating and capital,
as well as
contract work and consulting engineers
in the
capital budget over the next
two quarters. The monthly revenues
from q2
are tracking along with the budget. The
december
revenues were strong and the concern
we had from revenue
collections coming out of october
government shutdown has become
less of an issue as we are slightly
behind our
linear trend
right now. Just for reference, revenues collected
in
november related to october were $70.5
million. And revenues
collected in december were $88.5 million. Which
is
about the linear trend we expect
for revenues. Q2 operating
expenses are trending under the linear
target and as noted earlier, in the presentation
we are
at 44%. Versus the targeted 50%. So
activity
is expected to pick up other the remainder
of the fiscal year. This last slide
is the updated five year trend for
operating and capital budgets. And
as mentioned we are
in range for operating but
the capital budget will be
provided by the chief engineer. With
that I'm available for
any questions.
>> thank you, chief
engineer. Sorry, thank
you chief financial officer. Any
questions
from the commission? Hearing none,
thank you, mr. Musara.
>> thank
you.
>> we'll now
recognize john curry to present the
monthly customer
service indicators.
>> good afternoon,
chair, vice chair, corporate
secretary, gm customers and
team h2o. My name is john curry. Director
of customer
service. And I was going to be joined
by chuck. He may
pop in. If not I'll cover
his slides. We're presenting the performance indicators
for the
customer service department. He's
made it. And this
presentation
is
for informational purposes only. All
right. Moving to the agenda here. In
addition to the metrics we have
an update on the successful get
current program that ended at the
end of
january and we've also snuck in a
bill format you probably know we updated
the bill
that went live in january. So some
of you may
have
already received it. Looking at the
call center metrics for the
month of january, we can see a
21% increase in calls
from $1,263 calls
per day to 1,537. We
resumed
the collections outreach. The storm fern
kind of dues that average because
call volume was higher before
fern and was real lively
low during fern. Fern will also impact
the customer service department
for a few months as we
work through any estimated bills or
high bills that may
have occurred during that period. Just
want to thank
the utility services department, especially meter
readers who
have done an excellent job of getting
us reads
in these difficult conditions. However,
some of them
were just not accessible or
unsafe
to access. We remained focused on
assisting customers
with understanding bills and
financial stance. Through
the resumption of turn ons through
the next few months as well
as any questions with fern. Our average speed
of answer
was approximately 9 minutes and the average
handle time
was approximately 9 minutes leaving us
with a call
answer rate of 90 percent. Moving
to the next
slide here, we have our customer
e-mails and start stops. We maintained
a
relatively low number here
as 861 items open an average
of three days. Fern did create those
hazardous conditions
which also impacted any rereading
or
changing of meters that would
also impact our start-stop processing
and we're working
with utility services to make sure
that we've addressed any
items that were open from them. And
making sure
that team h2o was
safe. Over to payments here. The payments are
in line
with the previous month and
we're continuing our outreach on the resumption
of turn
offs here that will happen in march
and april. There is a
three month cycle so that's going
to
cover our quarterly bills. It'll take
a little longer to get through
the whole account base. Fern's also
impacted the estimated bills. They're now
at
29,000 accounts. And that will
impact delinquencies and payments
other the next few
weeks and months as those estimated
bills
get
cured and rebilled. So with our delinquent
accounts here they've risen
slightly month over month. They really
do vary every
day. I get excited when they
dip down below $70 million. And get
a little depressed
when they go over 70 million. That's
just part
of our
normal ebb and flow. Holidays
and weekends and meter reading do
drive a lot
of that cycle there. Next slide will
highlight what's going on with
that residential accounts being the
70%
of the dollars and 95% of
the total accounts. So our outreach
occurs by robocalls and letters, in addition
to text messages from promise
our partner for payment plans. For
the commercial
and multifamily accounts and other types
of accounts,
we review large balances and contact customers
to
assist with any issues they may have
in terms of the understanding the
bill or needing
a payment plan. On the next slide
you
can see the distribution of delinquencies
as we resume turnoffs in march
and april. We'll prioritize the largest accounts
and
we'll have worked through the engagement
of those customers
to avoid a turn off which can be done
either through paying the balance
or getting into a payment plan
which is relative will
I affordable. The next slide
highlights that we have not had
any turnoffs during the get current
period. As
we engage customers there are about
11,000 customers
that are at risk of turn off for
owing at least $500 and not being
in a payment
plan. So the new bill here you can
see the front
and the back. There are about nine
key changes we've
made to it to make it
more understandable to customers. We
took
input from customers. Customer service
advisors
and various other stake holders. We
are
listening to the feedback as it comes
in with
the new bill format and are ready
to
make any more updates or
explanations as needed. There's summaries
of
the nine key
areas there. So switching to get current here. We
have wound down the program for new
enrollments. But
it is still very
much something that customer service and
I.t. And
our partners are working through on
a daily basis. The
payment plans for the most recent
iteration go
out 12 months. And there are
still active payment plans. A total
of about 3,181
payment plans
were started. There were 10,381
time payers. 13,561 customers
took advantage of the program. And
we've collected almost 5.5 million
through the program. An additional
867,000
in revenue to be collected. That means
we've given almost 5 million-dollars
in assistance to our customers as many
of those
collections were matched
dollar for dollar. Chuck
will give you the update on the outreach.
>>
for the record, chuck brown. Funny
story, I
was downstairs in line for the bake
sale
where the proceeds are benefiting
the water
fund. Huge hit. So hopefully you guys
would be able to make
it down there. But then somebody said
you're up next, you better get upstairs very
quickly. You
guys are running really ahead of schedule. I
got out of line
for the buntinis to make it up
here on time. I'm told somebody got
mine for me. Proceeds go to the water
fund. This will be my last update. Get
current
officially has ended. So I just wanted
to share with you
some really
good, really great
numbers actually. Targeting those
zip codes which have
the highest rearages through a variety
of tactics. Streaming impressions
passed over a
million up from
918,000 over last
month. Web display
impressions, 1.5 million. Community
events, 123
up from 111 last month. This is
all driving customers or did drive
customers to
our get current web page
making it the second most visited
web
page
on our website. So it's been really
an
honor to market this and to promote
this and to work with
john and his team to ensure
our customers were aware from get
current. Our message did get out. Obviously,
but based
on these metrics. But we actually
heard back from one of
our customers. I wanted to
share
a video. Then hit play.
>> okay, so time to drop something
that could be
a little bit helpful. Washington
--wssc the water company, they have
this promotion going
on right now. They honestly have a
lot of hardship financial
programs or just programs you can
apply
for to lower your bill. This is the
one of
the month. January 31st is in a few
days so if you
have any kind of balance on their
page,
go to this program. So me being a
homeowner or just a
person who is trying to cut any costs
and
especially like you tillties, I did
this and it did
work for me. So just wanted to
share on this beautiful thursday just
in case it can apply and
work for you.
>> so, again, we get these
from time to time. I wanted to share this
last one with you
as we close
out and conclude get current. We are
going to
be sending her a nice gift basket
for
promoting this to all of her
followers and thanking her for her participation
in get current. And finally, my last
slide here is we're continuing
to work with john's team to
inform our customers on the
collection's outreach. Using a variety
of tactics
from paid broadcast outreach. Paid and
free
social media. A lot of stuff out through
all of our
channels. With march coming
up with commercial collections resuming and
april
for residential, we want to ensure
our customers are aware
this is starting and it's not
a surprise.
with that we
can take questions. Any questions? Seeing none. Thank
you.
>> mr.
chair.
>> I'm sorry. >> I
have a comment and then something. I
never thought I would see
the day when a
social media influencer would be promoting our
customer
assistance programs but I do want to
say thank you. I want
to sign the
card personally when we
send the wssc water
swag. We should probably look at getting
more influencers
to promote all of our
offerings and programs. I want
to thank customers for being focused
on paying
the bill. It occurred to me while
we were in the call
center
last weekend.
it
occurred to me that customers calling
to enroll their bill into promise
pay, so
they can have a
monthly bill to pay that are
in effect becoming delinquent because
they're not paying their whole
bill on time. They're paying over
the course of a couple months because
they want to
pay a
monthly bill. So I think one of the
things we'll try to achieve in this next
month is to
look at the impact of the
promise pay payment plans on
the delinquency numbers. I think
that is incorporated in that and then
try to figure
out what's happening with those customers that
are more than 365 days overdue. Thank
you to the
customers for signing up for
promise pay. Calling to pay your bill. Wanting
to
pay your bill. But we can look at
the
influence of that on those
numbers as well. I think there may
be
something positive to
share.
>> thank you. >> next we'll
hear
from
chief engineer. To present the quarterly
capital improvements
program
cip update.
>> thank you,
chair smith. Commissioners. Corporate
secretary
and
general manager powell. We're pleased to
present a quarterly update
of
the capital improvement program. The
agenda is on
the next slide. And this is the
order we're going to take today. Review
the spending to
date. Look at
the reconstruction program's mileage
kpi
that we're striving to meet. Going
to next go
to project highlights by program
areas. And then we're going to
go into the procurement
and contracts status. Then vendor
outreach. Then entertain any
questions
you may have. This first slide
summaries the fy 2025 and fy
2026 spending to date. The blue line
below represents the spending for
2025
and the red
line above represents 2026 which if
you do the
numbers at the end of these curves
2026 is a 30% increase. So this is
just a summary
of our spending in our
scale
of spending. This next slide summarizes
the year to
date
actuals through december of 2025. So
we
see for fy 26
the approved budget
was 715,000,529. It includes not only
the
cip projects that engineering
and construction is responsible to deliver,
but also includes growth
and interjurisdictional agreement
projects. That
total of
$715 million includes all three. If
you look
at the
cip
budget alone,
that's $
592,046,000. Which is about 83% of
the total. The approved expenditures
so
far have been
$235,532,000. Which is about 40%
of the budget. And then
the expenditures for wssc water
programs and projects to date compared
to
the budget, budgeted
amount
is $195,666, 476. Which, again,
is close to 83% of the
budgeted
expenditures through december. If
you calculate the average burn rate
just for
ease of analysis as we go through
the next
series of slides. It's 32 million per
month is
the average monthly burn rate. Go
to the next
slide. This shows
the monthly expenditures. Minus
the interjurisdictional agreements projects. The
32 million line. The red
line is the average monthly burn
rate. You can see some
variation but the since september
we've been steady. We had a
nice uptick in
august. So the next two slides please bear
with me,
we'll do a
deeper dive to analysis the health of our
fy 26 cip budget. In order to do that
deep
dive, we wanted
to identify some of the budgets that
were originally in our budget. For
various
reasons we've not been able to
spend that budget. So one example is
at
the
very top. The orange highlighted row. We
see
for
the I-495
495/270 traffic
that was canceled. The
variance in spending is all that amount
because that project was canceled. So
what we wanted to
do with this
deep dive is show a little more
clarity in terms of how we're doing
on the projects that we can
control the spending
on. Next two blue rows
show the
blue plains waste water treatment plant
budgets that we are provided
by blue
plains through our interjurisdictional agreement. You
can see
the approved budget for the liquid
treatment train is
13 million. And
for the management is
almost 6 million. Historically we've
found there dc
blue plains is pretty liberal in their
budgets
and they generally end up
only spending maybe 50, maybe 60%
max in terms of what they're
budgeting. So what we're doing is
taking a little bit
of a haircut in terms of their
budget. So that's not held against
us because that money
is
not being spent. Below the blue lines are
some of the projects that
we do have control. Yes. Yes, chair
smith.
>> sorry to interrupt you,
chief engineer. I don't want
us to lose this. You're going quite
in detail. Mr. Musara, could
you please explain the impact when
we receive
a request and
put into our budget 13.5 million and
then as it trues
up it's
closer
to 8.1.
>> thanks, chair smith. Munetsi
musara. If we are under
budget because capital funding is
multiyear, when we receive
the debt for that particular year
if the project
isn't in place and the spending doesn't happen
and it's delayed the
funds that we don't spend carry over
so they're available in
the next year. What also happens is
that between
projects since there's so many of
them
you have projects that
overspend, underspend, we can reallocate the resources. We
want to be as close to the budget
that way we're
not overborrowing and having that additional
debt service. From
a budget perspective so long as there's
availability we can reallocate based
on what engineering and
construction delays they can overcome
versus what they
have in place.
>> thank you, mr. Musara. Any
additional questions? My apologies. I just
thought it was
important to cover that point. Please
proceed.
>> thank
you, chair smith. So if we go down the
rest
of the list and the first
page, the green, the green
are projects that we recognize are
behind the spending that we, schedule
that we budgeted. For various
reasons they're behind. We're documenting
what
those reasons are so we can
implement any possible changes to
the delivery
of that project to expedite
the spending. These are basically
projects on alert that we're watching
very closely to
see if we can find ways to
expedite them. The next page also
has some green projects. There's a
couple
more blue ones. The next blue one
is
the master planning. Facilities
planning program. And
that was
liberally budgeted by wssc. We've
recognized after the first year as
well as looking at the scope going
forward doesn't appear we're
going to need to expend all those
funds that were budgeted
for the master plan. So we're
taking
that into account. Finally the other
blue program is a lead reduction program. And
the
fact that we're underspending is good
news. Because what
that means is we're not
finding as
many lead services that were in the database. So
that
means there's less construction work
needed and construction dollars that
will be
spent on this program. We're watching
that closely. We
are going to moderate our budgets
going forward to
reflect this type of information. I
want to go to the
next slide. Next slide kind of summarizes where
we are
in
this analysis. This
is a summary of
our budget health for fy 26. We started
on the left hand column with the original
12 month budget. We've
reduced or
subtracted the approved
budgets for interjurisdictional agreements and
growth
projects. We were subtracting the
123. We're also subtracting the excessive
or excess
budget that we've identified in
those projects I describe which is 65
million. So we have an adjusted budget
in the fourth
column of 526. For the
year. And then if you reduce it
by 50% you
get 263. For a six month budget you compare
that to
our spend for just our projects
that we control. 195. We get a
percentage of 74%. Now where we
need to go is towards
90. That's the metric that engineering
and
construction has been provided. So
we will continue
to monitor this kpi and
strive
towards increasing the 74%. Are there
any
questions
on this table?
>> commissioner
speed-bost.
>> I was going to ask
it relates also to slide
--your slide three. Remind
me again, I think I understand
why we back
out the interjurisdictional agreement amounts. Why
do we back
out growth projects?
>> the growth
projects are dictated
by the developer projects that
we are supporting. So initially they
provide of course a projection in
terms of what
they're going to need in terms of
our services. And when. But we
don't have actual control, commissioner speed-bost,
of the
developer's schedule. And budget. But
especially schedule. So what's probably
going to happen in those projects, commissioner
speed-bost,
is that those funds that have
not been spent to date could be pushed into
the
next fiscal year. But for
analyzing our kpis for this fiscal
year that's the reason why we're not
counting those unspent funds.
>> and
so our
budget,
we create the budget or the developer?
>>
they create the
schedule and their needs and then
we together estimate the cost of the
water or sewer service or
other work that we have to do
to support their
project.
>> is there any --this
is the estimate for
our capital expenditures
associated with development projects.
this doesn't go
to the developer's
portion.
>> that's correct. Totally
separate. It's on our side of the
ledger.
>>
thank you. That helps.
>> you're
welcome, commissioner.
>> if I may go
to
the next slide. This is
one of our favorite slides. It took
us a
while to come up with the packing
so
much information into one chart. But
I'll, I'll
walk
you through it. We have
at chair
smith's
request analyzed our fy 23 through
fy
26 spending on our
approved capital projects. Just looking
at the big
chunks you can see a
significant ramp up from 23 to
26 from 136
million,
14
projects. Fy 26. 239, 49 projects. We've
provided two bars
for each fiscal year. The first bar is
a schedule bar. The
second bar is a cost
bar. And what the
color coding legend is, let me just
review that quickly. Anything
in blue the schedule or the schedule
is
on time. Or if it's
a cost bar, the budget is on
budget. The project budget
is on budget. If we see
black for schedule, that represents
a
project that is between 1 to
15 days behind schedule. And
then on the
cost bar, black denotes 5%
above budget. So these are
warnings that we have. Developing
for every single project in
our cip budget. Anything
in
orange is worse. For schedule it's
60 days behind. More
than 60 days behind. And for
cost more than
5%
above budget. So deputy chief engineer
cavill is
sitting next to me and
she has all the information by every project
in terms
of their coding. So if you have any desire
to ask any questions
about specific projects, she's available
to answer
them today.
>> any questions? You may
proceed.
>> okay. Thank
you, chair smith. This next slide
was
generated from a question you posed
a meeting
ago. The question was how do
we prioritize
our
cip
projects? So we're using a way
of prioritizing our projects. We have
a process where
we can adjust the math and
adjust the prior cityization. This
is the
current prioritization
scheme we have. Regulatory driven
projects get a 30% score, if you will. Health
and safety, another 30%. That's
a
total of 60. Level of
service, 15. Reliability and resilience. Maintaining
good
repair is ten. That is connected
to asset management program which
we have many years of work
developing that program. Then
we have 5% score for
what we
call innovation,
initiatives plans, policies. We're looking
ahead in
terms
of emerging regulations. We're looking
ahead
at emerging economic shifts
like
data centers. So we want to give
projects a score. To
account for
that type of value
to the cip. Chair smith, if
you would like some additional more
detail on how we prioritize we'd be
happy to provide
that.
>> questions? >> can you
differentiate for me between
the health and
safety attribute or assessment and
the reliability and resilience and how
those
are distinguished?
>> so the question
is how
do we distinguish between the health and
safety metric
and the reliability metric?
>>
yes.
>> commissioner speed-bost. Starting
with health and safety. Again, that's
also
tied to regulations. But for
example the pfas regulations that
are
pending and that could impact what
we need to
do down the road in terms
of treatment at our
water
treatment plants. Or biosolids
management. If it was a water treatment project
or a biosolids project it would get
a high score
in it terms of health and safety. It
also would get
credit for reliability. All of our
upgrades we
do
at our facilities they are rarely the entire
system
of the plant or the linear system. It's
a
component of it. So if there's
a failure in part of the system then
we
have to fix it and may not be expending all
the funds that we would have to to
replace the
system but it would get scored
for reliability as well
as
health and safety.
>> can I add something? >>
please.
>> I'll just add to
help clarity for distinguishing between
the two. For the
reliability and resilience component that
is for example if it
we're adding redundancy to our network. So if
we see
that we have
an area that is
a major only being served by one major
pipeline and adding a
secondary pipeline. So if
that major popline large area isn't
without
service for very long. That is an
example of
the resilience and reliability
side of
the scoring.
>> I'm still
not sure I'm there yet, but I don't
have
a specific question so I'll think
about it some
more maybe ask in a follow up meeting.
>>
this is
a truncated version of the scoring
within each of these
there are subcategories. So maybe
if we provide
you with the more
detailed chart it
will help the thinking process between
how we're assigning the scores. Would
that be helpful?
>> that
may
be helpful.
>>
thank you. You may proceed.
>> I'll
just
add, commissioner speed-bost, it's
important
to have a method
that every
project is scored by. So these --
this
scoring system is something that we've developed
over the course
of the years. As
our system needs evolve,
this type of prioritization, these scoring
systems
will
be adjusted.
>> thank you for that. To
be
clear, I'm supportive of a ranking,
if you will, of a process that can
be applied across all
of
the projects. So we know we have a
systematic way of approaching the work. Maybe
I should have
used the word definitions or something. I
think the additional detail might
help
get me a better understanding of how each
of the categories work so
I have a better framework. I appreciate
that.
>> thank
you,
commissioner. We'll
provide that. This
next slide we wanted to summarize. In
this table
if you look at the top of the table
and
the two green areas, the design
of sewer reconstruction projects and construction
of sewer reconstruction projects
left to right. You can see we have
mileage goals. I
know the commissioners are aware of
this. So we
have mileage goals
that we track. These
are actual mileage of infrastructure
in the
ground. This is based on what's
happened in the field. So
on the sewer construction program
we see we're
doing well. We've exceeded the
design miles completed compared to
the design mileage goals. For the
sewer reconstruction program. For
the large chunk sewer program
we are about where we should be since
we're
about halfway through the
year. We're over the
4.5 versus the 9 for
the sewer program. Design wise
we're in good shape. On the
construction side, on the right you
can
see we've completed
6.6 miles. Compared to the goal
we have. I'm going to provide
some insight into that. On the sewer
side we've completed two
miles versus 16. The background
here is that
we have
identified a procurement process that
definitely expedites the number of
projects that get
through our procurement system faster
and gives
us the ability to
award
contracts faster. That is the prequalification contracting
approach
where we advertise and we
get maybe 20, 30 firms. Maybe 40
firms that respond. And then from
that list of 30 or 40 we reduce it
down
to maybe half. Maybe 20 that
are
all prequalified. To do this construction
work on our
sewer pipelines. And then when we
have these designs completed and
we need a contractor on board to do
the work we go to that prequalified 20
list and say firm a
we have this project, submit a proposal to
do this project. There's no more proposals,
if you will. It's
basically pricing. There's no advertise. Not
a
lot of time lost in terms of
securing that contractor. So that
process has
been in place for maybe 6 months
or maybe a
bit more. We know it is
increasing our ability to have more
projects in construction. I think
the numbers
if I'm not mistaken deputy
chief is it 30? 32
or 36 projects
were awarded in the first half of
the
year? Yeah. Yeah.
>> around 30. >>
right. So we hope to
pick up the pace. Same thing
on
the sewer reconstruction program. On
the water
programs we are looking well,
in
good shape. Again, the 15.95 miles completed versus
18 and the
4.17 versus 4, that's going
well. We're not going to change anything
we're doing on the water side in it
terms of the procurement and
awarding of those contracts. Securing
contractors. Things are
going well. So our focus is mainly
on
the sewer side. Likewise on the
construction, we are for the
distribution system we're doing well
at 16.31 versus 27. We need to pick
up on the transmission
water construction program. We're
.71
versus 5. And again, that has to do
with the size
of those
reconstruction transmission
water programs. And the
construction scopes generally require a
very
--a larger prime contractor. That's what
we --that's
the only thing we're trying to do
is attract more. But
I think we'll be able to pick up the
pace
on
that program also. Chair
smith.
>> yes, sir. I think you're
probably going to want to
call a friend
on this one. I understand and appreciate
the expedited process allowing us
to catch up with 6.62 versus
46. Even if using
your previous methodologies. You know
of 50%. That would mean we
should be somewhere
around 23. My question is and I'm very happy
we're
going to accelerate. However, if
we have preapproved contractors, is
there any adverse impact on additional contractors
getting access to those.
>> I'll start
with that answer. I believe we can
also get some supportive information
too.
>> the
friend is coming to
the mic.
>> yes. We
actually did add more prequalified
contractors once we found out
this was working. Do you remember the
numbers?
>> we had roughly 8 contractors initially
and then we actually did an amendment
so
that we could increase that
sooner than the original contract
allowed. So
now we're up to I believe
12 or 13 contractors. And we have
a cadence
in which we're opening the pool
again so that additional contractors
who qualify
based on the requirements can add
their
name to the list. So they're not excluded. We
thought
about that. We wanted this pool to
be, you know, as large
as possible so we had enough resources
to do
the amount of work
we have done.
>> they didn't need
me.
>> no,
we need you.
>>
chief procurement officer. And to
the point just
made, it's on a rolling basis. Annually
we will
open it up so that the vendor
community who did not participate
initially have
an opportunity to propose and of course
there are some minimum qualifications
and qualifications associated with that
program. It certainly gives new vendors an
opportunity to participate. There
will be a
rolling admissions in the fall.
>>
thank you very
much. Thank you. Thanks.
>> thank
you. So if
there aren't any more questions on
that table. I'm just going to do
a real quick dive through some of
these projects that we'd
like to high light for this quarter. So
I'm
not going to go over every one in
your slide deck. If it we can go
to the anacostia one. We do
expect a completion in november
of 2026. And this is another example
of some of the
upgrades for operational resiliency
that we've talked about
for our facilities. Next one I'd like
to
go
to is the
anacostia depot reconfiguration. The
need for
providing the work space as we
are upskilling our workforce. We need
to provide
them better and more capable work
space and facilities. So
this project is
98% complete. And we're going to
really enjoy this expanded facility because it's
going to be able
to support a
lot more productivity.
one of 64
hour water
storage tanks. These projects touch a lot
of the community, because
they are spread out and they are visible.
and in some cases they are
very proximate to
the residence. So the work we are
doing on
these is very important. The work
has been
deferred and
it's hard but
straightforward work. Some demolition,
rehabilitation
and obviously an upgrade
painting and so forth of
the facility. The last one, not
the last one but the one I
will go to next is the
potomac water filtration plant
consent decree. In previous sessions
we
have remarked that this consent decree
is near completion and this is an
example. This particular project
is 92% complete and you can see
the size and extent of the project
and this will allow
us to put this consent decree behind
us
and then the monies that
we've been spending on this consent
decree can be
used for other
future needs. In the last are
for
context in his situational awareness.
the master
plan project is going
to generate a master plan and a number
of facility plans that
will then feed into
the future capital improvement program
so as we
said before, we are looking ahead.
we don't want to
be
caught. And surprised about some of
the needs that
we have for our system.
so this is going to generate a good
deal of insight
into what our future requirement is
going to be. We are about a year
into this. And then the last one I
wanted to mention is the
lead reduction program. We are finding a lot
less led in the
system, thank god.
so we are going to have reductions
in this program but we
are
being vigilant in terms of adhering
to the federal requirements
for the programs and so we don't want
this to get into a
situation where we are struggling
because there's
too much lead in
the communities. And finally, I want
to go to vendor
outreach. This is something that chief
procurement officer has
been very supportive in
terms of helping engineering and construction
with getting our
products not only on the street
but attracting qualified
service vendors. The last four that
we had on this list, I
will just mention that the first
one, the capital improvement team
were due
to get their
final proposals
in march. So that's
coming up. And then the last one on
the list the
water
quality p fas treatment pilot is to
implement a very innovative
design, build, operate and
maintain project
for a innovative pilot plant that
will evaluate
p fas treatment facilities as well
as
other waller water quality treatment
in
the future.
wraps up the procurement and contract
award and you can
see that so far there's been
70 awards and that is quite an achievement
in terms
of the procurement program.
and the size of
the contract. I'd be happy to answer
any questions.
>> thank you chief
engineer. Seeing
none. You may proceed.
>> I did
want to go
back to commissioner speed-bost's
question while we are still on this
question
to make sure we understood the question.
we will follow up with
the detailed as the
team said. We may have shown
this before I'm not sure but I understood
your question
to be what is the difference between
the
health and safety metric and the
reliability and
resilience metric. So under health
and
safety which also includes business
risk
exposure scores we
have anything, the
team is scoring based on business
risk exposure. We can
do a deep dive on that when we
show the detail graphic next month,
I'll
include that in
the presentation. But it also addresses
enterprise
risk and anything, any project that
addresses
physical
security
needs, the health and safety of
the public.
so it's typically related to
treatment. Where we are making sure
we
are providing water treatment that
will
be protective of public health and
anything
related to safety measures.
any projects related to safety measures
we
sometimes
have facilities or at our facilities
where there may
be some deterioration of equipment
or platforms or whatever. Those are
included
in the health and
safety bucket as well. And then under
reliability
and resilience
it really is closing
gaps on vulnerabilities we
have identified with
our infrastructure. That would also
include making sure we have redundant
infrastructure, it
also includes addressing climate change
or instability, greenhouse gas emissions
so that
would be some of the projects
in our energy portfolio as
well. And anything related to emergency
response
but typically maintaining our infrastructure
in a
state of good repair. So
we have many projects like the potomac
work
that is driven by
consent decrees but we are more often
than not really just trying to maintain
our infrastructure in a state of
good repair where it is
functioning, meeting the level of
service that we need to provide service
to
the customers, it addresses
asset management
risks that have been
identified, any thing that
is identified by the teams, the
operation teams that is impacting
operation and maintenance as
well. So making sure essentially that
our
infrastructure is reliable in terms
of service and
then addressing resilience including
making
sure that we can
continue to serve or get things back
online having the redundancies that
are
necessary. And the last point is reducing,
does the
project reduce the amount of
time that we have outages for instance?
some
of the installations that
you see, we have a number in
the system that may not
be operating when the team goes
to do a shut off for instance, they
may
have to back up and shut off a larger
area because we have an
inoperable valve. By replacing those
valves, we
are able to tighten up the area and
potentially keep those customers,
put less customers out of service
but also lessen the impact to the
customers that have been
placed on service. Hopefully that
helps explain in
the interim, we will provide more
detail in the follow-up
as well.
>> thank
you gm and I applaud you and your
team for
real-time updates. Chief engineer
and deputy chief engineer I look forward
to your next
quarterly update
in particular
slide 22 very informative.
so look forward to all of your updates.
>> thank you
chair smith.
>> we will now
hear from water resources protection
division
manager to present the regional water
supply program
followed by u.s.
army corps of engineers baltimore
study
manager and lead planner to present
the secondary
water source feasibility
study update. And I apologize if
I mispronounced.
>>
good afternoon.
corporate
secretary. Customers, team h2o and
those on
the lifestream. My name is katie foreman
for the record. Division manager of
the
water resources protection division
here at
wssc water. I appreciate the
opportunity to talk to you today about
key water supply efforts and want
to
take an opportunity to introduce those
who
have joined. The director of
the department of reliability
and resilience where my division sits
as
well as tom hilton with the
planning division as manager. I'd
also like
to introduce jackie who has joined
us
from the u.s. Army corps
of engineers and baltimore district
planning division who will be presenting
after
I provide some opening context and
introduction remarks. And I
also want to
note that what jackie will be talking
about is a very
large regional effort and giving an
update on
the secondary water source feasibility
study that the u.s. Army corps
of engineers. This is
a large, bless you,
regional effort and I just want to
note that within the
audience today are the nonfederal
local sponsors of this study through
the federal
funding with the metropolitan washington
council government. I just want to
thank those who have joined
us to talk about these really important
efforts that
are ongoing.
and this doesn't represent the full
team. There is a really large
regional team of folks working
on this topic and I want to extend
a thank you to
those as well who are here today.
so with that I'm going to start
by saying we are talking about water
supply, it seems like there is water
everywhere. Between the icemelt and
all of the
snow that we've had recently. But
we are in a
very dry time and we have
been for a couple of years. So we
are hoping this helps, we are about
an eight
inch deficit in the potomac river
since august for rainfall and we would
normally
have. So there is rain in the forecast,
I keep crossing
my fingers but we are in a drought
condition
for a couple of years. We
had saved here and there with rainfall
but generally speaking pretty
dry. Many of the areas draining our
water
supply are have been declared
either extreme drought conditions
or moderate
drought conditions. Hoping that turns
around but just to
provide the context it's a really
timely conversation to be talking
about water
supply today. So shifting a
little bit from what's happening today
to forecast in
the future. I'm summarizing the interstate
commission study on water
supply and
resource availability. They released
this report every five
years. This is for the potomac river
in
particular and the findings were released
late
last year. What was found within the
study
is that the river
is at higher risk of drought to climate
pressures and
expanded uses.
in particular as something that is
new from
the study findings from other
findings is our regional water supply
was shown
to be at risk of shortage in the immediate
term during extreme drought conditions.
so this is sooner than
we thought and again, a lot of caveats.
we are
at risk but nonetheless an
important finding to
build the context around what we are
talking
about today. So moving in a
little bit to our general vulnerability
from our
water supply, zooming in
a little bit, I talked about the potomac
river basin. Obviously we also rely
on
the river for water supply. We largely
rely on
the potomac river but both water supplies
have
vulnerabilities. Including in terms
of the water quantity issues so
we are
talking about increased demand,
drought, our capacity to store within
our reservoirs. But
also
very up-front the risk around
acute and chronic water
quality issues. Spills, sanitary sewer
overflows,
extreme weather events, contaminants,
persistent algal blooms for instance.
those are
some of the many things that we think
when we
think about the vulnerability of our
water supply. This wouldn't be as
big of an issue if we
didn't have limited water supply within
our systems. In
the case that one
of these supplies needs to
be supplemented. So to talk
about the vulnerabilities is hard.
I'm going to shift to solutions because
those
are really important. A lot of these
solutions
are required and diverse array of
approaches. In the shorter term, longer
term, with
regional support, this is the way
we are going to mitigate
risks within our supply. So today,
the
focus is really on these regional
solutions that we are focused
in on.
cooperative water management agreement
in the washington
metropolitan area that is the reason
why we have
the can additional storage upstream
and water
supply coordination agreement that
was signed in 1982 setting up the
cooperative water supply operations
which have been very successful
and the reason we are here today talking
about these
things. So large-scale secondary storage
additional storage has been identified
as critical to our water
resiliency into
the future. That is something that
has been noted for many years. I also
want
to focus on the quarry in
montgomery county
identified as a regional storage solution
time and time
again. So several studies conducted
since the early
2000 support this
conclusion. And within these studies
we
find there is urgency as well.
we have about 10 years between planning,
design, construction, that
means that time is ticking. So the
sooner
the better on secondary
storage. It doesn't come without a
great cost. About $800 million was
the price tag put
on the quarry which
is why
shifting into what jackie will be
talking about is the water
resource
development act has been used to help
us fund the feasibility study
given this big
price tag. And back in 2024 the
u.s. Army corps of engineers started
this feasibility study and
begin
it and additional appropriations
were needed. So last year
we had a great update
from the army corps showing a
couple small and large scale alternatives
that have been
whittled down for further study. However, the
study was delayed due to lapse
in appropriations in mid-2025. The
great news is that it is up and
running again and that it is beginning
as we
speak.
however, there have been additional
guidance from the u.s. Army corps
of
engineers on
a particularly w rda and how it is
being implement it including
restrictions on the cost
being 3 million, the study being
completed within four years and that
it must complete 35% of the design
commensurate with the cost estimate.
some of these
larger scale projects that were
identified are not going to fit
within the guidance. Those include
the quarry as I mentioned before is
one of the solutions we identified
as
well as larger scale water reuse projects
and
additional reservoirs in virginia.
I'm not
going to go over this in a lot of
detail, but just to
mention
that it's time for us to recalibrate
and think about going forward
how these larger scale projects are
going to
be continued beyond
this effort. The
next summarizes the alternatives in
2025 versus
the new what is moving forward today.
I'm
not going to talk a lot
about this but to have
it in one slide for
reference later. Solutions we've identified
such will require additional regional
partnership and we expect that going
forward, it's
been a great working relationship.
so just to sort of wrap up to
talk more broadly about
wssc water general strategy before
I hand it over
to jackie. Talking about
a regional solution for additional
storage is one part of it.
it is requires a
multifaceted approach. So those
other things that we are
working toward our near-term and longer-term
activities including potential investment
that might be in
the future. Related to things such
as
operational optimization. So drought
preparedness
and response, management, optimization
of our
existing storage, enhancing existing
water
storage and sources. These are all
really good
opportunities for us to build more
resiliency in
our system. Also
we are working
on demand reduction including thinking
about the technology for reducing
water loss and the opportunities long-term
for conservation
efforts and
non-potable reuse. And
then finally contaminant
risk reduction. Source water protection
which is how you protect at the source
and then
also how the best way to mitigate
risks related
to spills and other things
that we can't necessarily predict.
so just wanted to provide the larger
scale view and
really appreciate
your time. I can take any questions
before
jackie talks specifically about the
feasibility study
and details.
>> commissioner questions.
just
a quick question, ms. Foreman.
I've been
reading and studying from afar the
challenges with the colorado river
and those states not being able to
come
to grips on how they manage going
forward. If you could just
provide context I know that is a much
more severe situation
but where would you say in relationship
to that we
are currently?
>> we are not
in the western states, where
there is limited
water and every year you are talking
about
where is your water going to come
from. We have generally been in
a resource rich and
water rich area. The last couple years
have
been dry but we do have years that
are not and we can think of
those flooding years
as well. Into context it is imperative
that we think toward
the future where we are looking at
dryer conditions but we are not yet
at
that dire state of the situation where
year-to-year
you're trying to figure out how do
you
conserve water.
I think looking to our western states
to learn
is something what can we learn from
what they
are doing. Certainly we are
trending dryer.
>> thank you
very much. I appreciate the context.
no further questions. You
may proceed.
>> thank you. Thank you
for having
me here. My name is jackie with the
army corps of engineers based
out of baltimore district in their
planning division. I am the lead planner
for this feasibility
study. This feasibility study as katie
mentioned
began in
2024 september. This is a study with
the purpose to enable water
suppliers to be able to provide their
customers with water in the case that
the potomac is not
usable. So she talked about vulnerabilities
that affect the potomac river, issues
of contamination and
drought primarily. And then also
mentioned the recent
study which
forecasted conditions in the future
and projected that at some point
water supply will become
more scarce. So to address
these vulnerabilities in the water
resource development act of 2022 there
was
a
steady authority
included, quite a broad authority
and included identification of a secondary
water
source and additional
steerage capability
and included a broad geographic area.
as
well as maryland
and virginia. Feasibility cost sharing
agreement
starts
the study between the core and
nonfederal sponsor that was signed
in september 30th, 2024.
since then we've been working on a
study. We did have a complicating
factor which
was
that 2024 changed the cost share for
the study. Typically
these are cost shared
50% federal, 50% nonfederal
but that changed the cost share to
be 90% federal
10% nonfederal. We did not have the
federal funds
to support that change in
the share. So it did result in a little
bit of a delay related
to that.
I think everyone recognizes the federal
interest in the d.c.
water supply. Obviously millions of
people
work and live ndc, we have a
lot of national security assets and
critical
infrastructure within
the area. And related to the
army corps we own and operate the
washington aqueduct,
the only federally owned
and operated water supply in
the
country. So I think you've had briefings
on
this so I will limit the background
to that but happy to take questions
on it. I wanted to move to the phase
of study so where we've been a little
bit with the study and
you guidance related to
the study. This is a diagram that
shows our
planning process. We have been in
the scoping
face so at that timeline at the top
left. That means that
we
were looking at what existing conditions
we have in the study
area, what solutions have been
presented and trying to come
up with a set of alternatives that
we presented at a milestone meeting
to our higher
authorities in
june 2025. We have a couple different
decision
checkpoints we have to go to through
in
the process. That allowed us
to continue
proceeding forward
we are currently in this alternative
formulation and analysis
phase so taking that array of
alternative and doing some comprehensive
evaluation of the benefits and costs
related to those and then selecting
the one that should be the agency
recommendation plan.
we are getting
quite a lot of new guidance at this
time so it looks like this process
will change a little bit but still
have basically the same decision checkpoints
along
the way.
and then highlight that the study
is scheduled
to end september
30th, 2028. So
I won't talk about this much but this
is the
alternative process. There have
been a lot of studies done on this
in
the past.
army corps had a value planning study
done a few
years ago so all of this was looked
at in coordination with
all the different alternatives presented.
at that time. Primarily with the
goal to find
a regional solution that can aid all
of the
water suppliers. We went through a
number of different
screening steps, alternatives and
had different decision criteria and
then whittled
these down to our array
of alternatives that was presented
at the
milestone meeting.
this just gives
you an idea of some of the different
strategies that we've looked at. Quite
a wide
range of strategies,
building new reservoirs, desalination,
groundwater use, wastewater reuse,
a
wide variety
of things. Some of them were technically
infeasible or
had other
constraints so were screened in coordination
with utilities. So
the focused array of alternatives
that we resented to
our management when we received
the approval to move forward is shown
here.
primarily quarry alternatives,
and then luck
stone quarry, blue planes was an option.
and then the
reservoir expansion which was always
intended just to be
an add-on
to one of these other alternatives
given that the quarry
alternative would have met the regional
need much better than
something
like that. So that's kind of where
we
have
been and as katie mentioned we have
now received
new guidance. From our headquarters
as well as
the assistant secretary of the army
for civil
works and that's what
is guiding our
direction today. What we've heard
from them is we need to stay within
the
confines of the three by three role.
something
that
was enacted in 2014 basically
that the court needs to
complete visibility studies within
three years and within
a $3 million budget. We had originally
scoped this study to be a $13
million study and take over six years
when we were looking at a
regional solution. So having to constrain
the
study within three years and $3 million
is quite
a big difference. But
that's where we are today. They did
allow
us to complete the
study within four years given the
delays that we've had
in funding related to the cost share
and then just
not receiving appropriations in a
timely
manner. So we are looking at
completing the study for 3 million
by
september 2028.
the other new requirement is that
we
need to by the end of the feasibility
study complete a 35%
engineering design. This also limits
the
options that we can look
at because things that
have miles of pipeline for
35% design we will have two boreholes
along that length and
it really increases the
cost. So unfortunately with these
new studies
limitations we are now focusing on
much smaller
scale alternatives. We are looking
at things that could be
implanted
more quickly.
things that have synergy with
longer-term solutions. One of the
key takeaways of this is
that this is a small component
or increment of a larger
solution and also going to require
significant efforts
by others. It could be in the future the core
will be able to address this or completely,
study authority remains so we could
work
on it at a regional solution in the
future
or others in the interim could do
their
own studies. So
the internal project delivery team
has
now been looking at
these smaller scale alternatives that
perhaps
overlooked initially looking at a
regional solution. So we've gone back
through some of the previous
studies and options that are out there
for some of the smaller
scale things on this
slide. So still an option,
there have been other ideas for reservoirs
at
different locations and a different
scale.
modifying
some reservoirs were looking at things
like connections that
could provide increased resilience
to the
water supply. Through
that review and also pending discussions
with utilities, we have a meeting
coming up on march 10th to
discuss this. At
this point, dalecarlia reservoir expansion
appears to be the most
beneficial and
feasible alternative. The expansion
of dalecarlia reservoir
might double the size of the reservoir,
it would
provide additional 12 hours of
water supply to the washington aqueduct.
this is a
small contribution to the overall
problem and we
certainly recognize that. But it's
an increment that
could still
be meaningful. 12 hours is
time in case of an emergency where
you could make notifications, you
could prepare and mobilize resources.
we do
see this as being a meaningful but
small contribution
to the overall and larger
problem. If we do go with
dalecarlia there
are considerations. Obviously
engineering considerations. We have
to pass various policy hurdles
including doing a
cost-benefit calculation for policy
and of course there is
potential environmental and cultural
resource impacts. So needing to do
a lot of stakeholder and public involvement
engagement along
those lines.
related to schedule
and funding we
are trying to work within these new
constraints but said he
will
end in september 2028. We are
still waiting for funding
and we expect that in march,
maybe april. The federal funding we
have received
about $500,000 of federal funding,
we are awaiting an additional $1.8
million, we've
also received
the nonfederal contribution and
additional nonfederal funds once we
receive our additional
federal money. There is a balance
of a few
hundred
thousand that will make up the $3
million that we
will request that's all I have. Happy
to
take questions.
>>
thank you. Commissioner
seltzer.
>> thank you for being here.
really generous of the army
corps to brief us. This
is all I hadn't heard about
these changes in the guidelines. It's
very alarming and
incredibly disappointing. It
seems these
small practices to make additional
12 hours I think that
is just in the district of columbia
that wouldn't support wssc at all.
so it seems like we are not on any
type of path at
all to maybe addressing the serious
and
ongoing concern. I don't
know how we get back on that path
if there is any opportunities
to engage or restart
conversations. But it's incredibly
disappointing
and alarming.
>> there has
been a lot of congressional interest
so we are
keep an eye on that and what comes
from that. We have also been speaking
with utilities and we will do more
at this meeting
we have in march about a way that
the utilities themselves could
conduct these studies under the section
203 authority and send you more information
on that which
is an authority that allows nonfederal
entities to conduct a
study with army
corps assistance. And that results
in
a chief report which is the same as
what the study would result in.
the difference being the nonfederal
entity is paying for that study
with potential reimbursement at the
end. There
are ways that others
could conduct this work and we
could support the absence of
not being able to do that ourselves
and we can provide more information
on that.
>> I'd be interested. I
imagine my commissioners would be
as well. That secondary path where
we potentially do
their own
visibility studies. It is
called a
chief report. The end of the feasibility
study process to congress for recommendation
and then would
get authorization and
appropriations.
>> that could open
the door for
federal funding.
thank you.
>> any
additional questions?
>> mr. Chair
if
I may. I just wanted to provide a
bit
more perspective as well. And thank
the
army corps of engineers and I do want
to
say that the feedback that I've
received from the corps including
the
kernel is that the corps is
very much supportive of finding
a solution, focusing on a solution
for
the
region. Just maybe in different roles
and responsibilities in
this process.
just to provide some perspective how
we got to
this point we made a decision as a
region
to get
this into for funding for the study
first and
then hopefully the funding
for
the construction. That required us
to
go back and do a feasibility study.
because we had to go through
that process in order to
access funds. We have
a lot of information at our disposal
that basically we had to rework to
use this source of
funding. So
I don't think we are
necessarily behind. The region is
still working
together to look at how we advance
and now shift essentially back to
the
approach before. We would
still like to have external funds
but biggest
concern is having the funding for
construction and building
the solution. I
think we have been having some
recent discussions as late as late
last week to talk about how
we would advance to get through design
which is more
manageable and
getting
things to a chiefs report
that could then be eligible for
construction funding. So we are
still working together
just may be in different
ways. And from a water
quantity standpoint as well as water
quality
standpoint. And the recent events
underscores the need to make
sure that if there are any impacts
to the river
that we have the
ability to have a source that
is protected. So we will
continue
that focus.
>> thank you for the
additional context.
>>
chair
smith. That was louder than I expected.
I received a question, not sure who
it came from so I wanted to
address it. The question was
what are wssc waters current secondary
storage ? This would be an additional
secondary storage, we currently do
have our existing water resources
on a day-to-day
basis, the potomac river and
reservoirs and two backup storage
reservoirs,
randolph and
little seneca in place if
it were not to rain, if the river were
to dry up those could provide
over a month of regional water supply
and managed regionally that speaks
to the
strength of the history of regional
cooperation in the water
supply. So if you have any other questions
I'm happy to answer.
>> thank you.
any additional questions? Commissioner
seltzer.
>> is there any ongoing cooperation
with some
of the d.c. Water on
water reuse?
>>
absolutely. You can add to this. I
don't think
I introduced myself. Priscilla, director
of
operational reliability for
the record. We have been tracking the
initiative by d.c. Water
related to water reuse
and so they are studying the
opportunities to use a water resource
that they have
at the planes advanced water treatment
plant
and apply that to water reuse. This
is a
pattern that you would see across
the nation in water
scarce areas is to move toward using
the
water you have
already and treating it
for more , reusing that
water. So we are
continuing to track that initiative and we are
in conversation with d.c.
water to work
toward understanding what they are
working on and the placement in the
regional solution. At the same time
the secondary
source solution for the region continues
to be
very
reliable and a good solution for
the region. That is because it
provides storage, provides protection
from drought as well
as contamination and its placement
is very in proximity to where the
facilities are
to be able to distribute drinking
water.
it also water reuse at
the scale being discussed is a
very
expensive project. And requires a
great deal of infrastructure and
time
to understand. So because the water
supply shortage
being forecasted is nearer than
we expected having a solution that
is more implemented in the near term
would
be advantageous.
>>
thanks. Stating the obvious but also
prioritizing a
solution that is regional and
broader community that pulls
reports this--resources.
appreciate that and find a way
to collaborate.
thank you.
>> any additional
questions? Thank you ms.
foreman. And just a quick point of
personal privilege having so much
of the great work that the army corps
of engineers
is doing all over the country in particular
in new orleans and st. Bernard
parish and seeing the emblem
and now connecting it with the washington
aqueduct gatehouse. Is that too far
a leap to see that is exactly
what
I'm seeing? I can't wait to be able
to boast of what this is to some of
my colleagues. So I
think you for that. Thank you everyone.
>> more than happy to
give a tour and the headquarters building
is
in bethesda so they drink
more water there.
>> excellent. We
will now turn to the office of intergovernmental
relations. I will
first recognize commissioner espy-williams
for a brief slate of
committee update.
>> thank you
mr. Chair. The legislative committee
met with staff on
february 11th and during that meeting
staff
provided the updates resented to
you
shortly. Prior to doing that I'd like
to extend my appreciation as
I understand from so many wonderful
things about the
legislative luncheon but we want to
thank the
staff for organizing such a successful
event. The event was well attended
by
elected officials and provided
a value opportunity to engage directly
on
matters important to wssc water.
I am confident the time invested will
meaningfully support the advancement
of
the commission legislative priorities
this season. I will turn the presentation
over to
director monica who
will brief the commission on the amendments
to the bill
and provide updates on other legislation
we
are tracking.
>> thank you commissioner
espy-williams.
good afternoon chair smith, vice
chair apparel, commissioners, general
manager powell, team h2o and our
valued customers. I am director of
government affairs at the
intergovernmental office at wssc
water. Staff will be providing a review
of legislative
issues shaping this session, provide
an update
on legislation
previously introduced to the commission,
present on
key legislation staff recommends
the commission takes a position. The
first month of
the session lawmakers focused on addressing
high-priority legislation. Curbing
energy cost and improving stability
is at
the forefront with governor moore
introducing his major
policy initiative. The act
proposes using $200 million from
maryland strategic energy investment
fund to provide $100 million in direct
utility bill rebates
and invest in modernization.
it also requires utilities to adopt
advanced technologies and support
modernization plans to improve reliability
and support
clean energy. Also a focus with both
chambers recently passing emergency
legislation
preventing law enforcement from entering
or maintaining agreements which are
immigration and
customs enforcement partnership
program that allows local police to
enforce
immigration law. And swiftly approved
house bill 488
which withdraws congressional districts and
of the 2026 midterm
elections. However, senate leaders
do not seem
amenable to made a
decade redistricting.
a range of other bills
currently
tracking. Continues to monitor law
enforcement conduct
and procedurals.
including
electricity, gas, water or
internet services. Staff will continue
to monitor
and evaluate
this legislation and others as they
continue to introduce and move through
the process. Now shifting to our
proposed legislation. Washington suburban
sanitary commission. Which makes targeted
enhancements
to the divisions and
public utilities. Staff received the
amended version of the bill
and now awaits
additional review by the metro
washington committee. Following that
review
it would had to the full montgomery
county delegation. Would then move
over to prince georges county house
delegation for their
review and a vote before heading to
the
environmental committee. Staff has
begun following up with legislators
to outline and explain
the amendments and is working
with stakeholders and associations
to secure letters of support ahead
of
its hearing. I will now pause for
any questions
on 102-26.
>> commissioner questions.
seeing none.
please proceed.
>> thank you. I will
provide
a update on 104-26
washington suburban sanitary commission
personal management
disciplinary actions. Staff continues
to work
with bill sponsor as well as
the proponents to address areas
of the bill that could potentially
resolve short
of legislation. Staff anticipates
the bill will be revisited
for review at the upcoming committee
work session. I will now turn it
over to mr. Simons to present on key
pieces of legislation
staff has identified in recommended
positions for commissioner
vote
today.
>>
thank you. Good afternoon chair smith,
vice chair paul,
commissioners,
madam secretary, general manager powell,
team h2o and
valued customers. I am kenneth simons,
government affairs
manager here at wssc water.
today I
will review four pieces of
legislation staff has determined should
be brought to the commission attention
three of which staff
has provided recommendations of support
or support
with amendments and one for informational
purposes.
the first is
house bill 721 and senate
bill 243 titled
the uniformed
services spouses
act which amend several sections of
maryland law to
expand benefits and preferences
previously reserved for veterans and
active servicemembers to also
include their
spouses. Specifically 721 and
sb 243 requires public colleges and
universities to offer priority
course registration to spouses
of servicemembers and veterans for
up to four
academic years within 15 years of
the servicemember last active
duty service and provide support to
both veterans and
their
spouses. Also allows spouses of active
servicemembers to receive
delicate scholarships in maryland.
able
to expand references in both public
and private sectors to spouses
of active
servicemembers,
and surviving spouses of eligible
veterans. Lastly, the
legislation updates and
standardizes definitions of
servicemembers, veterans and spouses
across
state law. Senator sponsor
of sb 243 requested support of
the bill. Staff has reviewed the bill
and determined that portions
would apply that there would be
no operation of local or financial
impact
from compliance.
the build requirements can be
handled with existing
budget resources and no effect
on revenues. With no conflict
or concern staff respectfully requests
the commission
vote to support
hb
721/sb 243. I will pause for
any questions.
>> thank you
mr. Simons. Any further questions
on the request to support
this bill? Hearing none.
>> mr.
chair. Just wanted to make
a note. As
we review all legislation including
ours we
try to understand what
the fiscal impact may be.
for this legislation and the
others there is also always a
fiscal note. There appears
to be no
impact and certainly not to the
commission. But we don't yet have
any
specific detail one way or the other
what the
impact may be related to
the scholarship. But this would present
or provide benefits to
our team that
our veterans. We believe those
benefits outweigh what might
potentially be impacts related to
the
scholarships. I just wanted to provide
that
context.
because there are sensitivities related
to budget items at the
state level.
>> thank you for the
additional context. Any
additional questions?
>> I hereby
move that the commission support house
bill 721 and
senate bill 243
uniformed services act as recommended
by management.
>>
any discussion? Seeing none, all those
in favor will signify by saying aye.
any nays or
abstention? Hearing none, the motion
carried unanimously. And the bill
is supported. Director
you may proceed to your
next items.
>> thank you chair smith.
once back. One
second. Okay.
>>
thank you. The next bill I
will discuss is also house bill 1022 and senate
bill 686
pfas chemicals product phaseouts
and requirements. Which phases
out the sale of many consumer products
containing intentionally added
pfas chemicals in maryland establishes
mandatory project exposure and creates
a dedicated.
>> I'm sorry to cut you
off. I have it on the agenda in the
opposite order. I have the
sludge first and
then the phaseouts although materials
are in that
order.
>>
>> the next bill I will discuss is
house bill 925 and senate bill 719
sewage sludge substances regulation.
which would
establish new statewide regulations
to reduce the
presence of
pfas also referred to as fervor chemicals
in sewage sludge and to control how
sludge
containing pfas can be used and managed.
it seeks to protect public health,
soil quality
and water by limiting pfas
exposure. The bill has several key
provisions including restrictions
on
land application and temporary blending
allowance, monitoring
and testing requirements, industrial
standards,
local authority for rates and
fees, source reduction encouragement
and
an overall
management framework. Staff has reviewed
the
bill and proposes several amendments.
for discussion on this I will turn
to
dr. Priscilla.
>> operational
reliability director. I believe you
have a memo with more details but
I will go
through our rationale for support
and
amendments.
so firstly wssc water is broadly
supportive of some of the elements
of the bill. The language affirming
source tracking
and treatment authority for pfas
reduction , clear standards to guide
decision-making
and justify significant investments
as well as some of the measures to
enhance analytical confidence
in samples. As
for impacts there are fiscal impacts
to the bill
as introduced. And
I want to go through
that. Our pfas
concentration the sum of them is what
is being assessed in the bill and
our
levels would be above 25 parts per
billion which
would mean on the date effective we
would be begin to need
to adopt alternative management practices
for
biosolids management. At the same time
we would be building on our current
source tracking and mitigation and
we would expect that
levels could fall below that threshold
of 25 parts per billion
in approximately five to seven years.
as such
when the threshold goes into effect
our fiscal
impact would
include using reduced land application
rates at
an additional cost of about 7.5 million
per year. For the permitted time of
one year. Followed
by landfilling for approximately six
years and additional cost
of 8.2 million per year. And
as we are implementing industrial
treatment and
source reduction if that were not
adequate to bring us below
the 25 parts per billion
threshold then wssc water may
opt in treatment systems which could be
at an estimated cost
of 200 million in capital. Although we are
currently working
to research and develop technologies that
could reduce this capital cost
as well as to
identify sources to prevent or downsize
the need for
that treatment. Our amendments that
we
proposed our revolve around feasible
in fermentation
to preserve the critical
community need and continuity
in large-scale wastewater management. So
we would
be proposing amendments related to
extending the
time before application restrictions
enter effect by one year to
provide sufficient time to solicit
and procure necessary contracts
to meet the alternative
management measure. To extend
the deadline for the alternative
management measures particularly blending
and reduced land
application rates for a longer. Of time and
the reason is to provide flexibility
and availability of
management options. This is critical
because that mitigates the risk of
cutting
off options on the
viability of continuous wastewater
management. It would recognize that
if we were
to take
blending operations that
would require private
partners and they would need a period
of longer than
two years. To recognize that more
time
is required to implement and see source
reductions whether through
industrial treatment or
product phaseouts. And to
recognize that facility upgrades are
the most
costly reduction. And more time is
needed to judge
the effectiveness before taking these
large
financial commitments. Finally, that
time extension
is requested as an
amendment because large-scale
system technology could take five
to seven years to plan, permit
and design build. We
are also suggesting introducing a
deadline
to complete the source tracking plan which
is
currently not in the bill
to demonstrate our commitment to sustainable
and
cost-effective solutions. We would
like to
recommend revising the timeframe to
allow for the
time needed in case of
system upgrades as
well as
permission for granted time extensions
on alternative management
measures and mitigation
plan implementation for those utilities
that
are implementing control and
mitigation. Finally to clarify
the requirements outside
of the state of
maryland. In addition there are several
specific amendments we are
suggesting and more detail on
those provided. In
closing, we believe supporting this
legislation with amendments for realistic
and
feasible implementation are an opportunity
for maryland to set an example on
how prioritizing source control is
a cost-effective
and sustainable model for pfas reduction
in
our environment. I can
take any questions if there are any.
>> thank you doctor.
any questions? You may
proceed.
>> in queue chair smith.
for the
reasons detailed by
staff respectfully requests commissioners
vote to support
amendments hb 95 and senate
bill 719.
>>
are there any final questions? Do
I have
a motion?
>> I hereby
move that the commission support with
amendments house bill 925 and
senate bill
719 titled
sewage sludge regulation as recommended
by management.
>> is there
a second?
>>
second.
>> thank you vice chair powell.
any discussion? Seeing none, all those
in favor signify by saying aye. Any
nays
or extensions. The motion
carried unanimously by a vote of five
to zero with one recusal
and the bill is supported
with amendments.
>> the next bill I will
discuss is also cross filed house
bill 1022 and senate
bill 686 pfas chemicals product phaseouts
and requirements.
which faces out the sale of many consumer
products
containing intentionally added pfas
chemicals
in maryland establishes mandatory
product registration
and disclosure creates a
dedicated fund for assessment
and remediation and implements
strong enforcement and funding mechanisms
to protect
public health and
the environment. The lead sponsor
of hb 122 and senator love from montgomery
county is the lead sponsor of
sb 686. This prohibits the
manufacture, sale and distribution
of certain products containing intentionally
added
chemicals with phased implement
patient effective
january 1st staggered through january
1st 2029. Phaseouts begin with products
such as
cleaning products, footwear, cosmetics,
personal
care phonics, feminine
hygiene products, packaging,
and later includes fabric
treatment, textiles,
furnishings, upholstery
and paint. Exemptions are provided
for products governed by federal law
used or recycled products and
those that determined by
the department of environment as having
a
currently unavoidable use essential
for health, safety and
societal function for which
alternatives are not
currently available. The bill
also mandates registration and disclosure from
manufacturers that intentionally add
pfas
with the department of the
environment which is empowered to
conduct compliance testing and
administer penalties. Additionally
the bill
creates the maryland
pfas chemicals protection
and remediation fund administered
by the department of environment.
the fund is
financed through registration fees,
penalties
and other sources including state
appropriations. The purpose is
to assess, prevent and remediate contamination
across maryland,
support activities such as monitoring,
emergency relief, research and innovation
and detection and
remediation as well as
enforcement action. Lastly, amends
and expands
several sections of the maryland environmental
articles
notably repealing previous
provisions of disposal, updating definitions
and inserting
the requirements. Staff has reviewed
the bill and determined it could have
a positive impact on reducing domestic
contributions into
our wastewater in the
long run.
this level of control could potentially
avert the need for large-scale
treatment investments to comply with
expected limits. Though will take
time to
see domestic contributions decreased
due to the bills
set timelines for
product phaseouts
of the bill will positively
impact the environment and the commission.
and therefore staff respectfully requests
that commissioners vote to
support house bill 1022 and senate
bill 686. I will pause here for
any questions.
>> any
commissioner questions? Do I have
a
motion?
>> I hereby move that the
commission support house
bill 1022 and senate bill
six 86 product phaseouts
and registration requirements as recommended
by management.
>> do I have
a second?
>> I second. >>
any discussion? All those in favor
signify by saying aye. Any nays or
abstentions? The motion carried unanimously
by
a vote of five to
zero with one recusal and the bill
is supported. Thank
you director and mr. Simons. And dr.
thank you.
>> thank
you all.
>> there is one committee report.
I
recognize vice chair powell to report
on the february 2026 audit
committee meeting.
>> the audit committee
met on
february 5th. The office of the
inspector general recorded study
audit activity
and authorization of
large billing adjustment. Agreed to
implement stronger
controls by the end of february. The
committee received a briefing
on
the updated enterprise risk management
program, included information on risks
covered by
the program. The next committee
meeting is thursday, may 7th.
>>
thank you vice
chair powell. The open session business
has now concluded. I have reviewed
and approved the closing
statement. Do I have a motion to end
open session and go
into closed?
>> I hereby
move that the commission go
into closed session pursuant to maryland
code annotated general provisions
article title three
open meetings act. Closed sessions
section 3
to approve the january 21st, 2026
closed
session minutes.
section 3-305
to receive legal advice on a specific
matter
and to consider matters that relate
to collective
bargaining negotiations.
>> is there
a second?
any discussion? Hearing none, all
those in favor signify by saying
aye. Any nays or
abstentions? Hearing none, the motion
passes unanimously and it
is now 2:10. The commission will
now recess and reconvene in
closed session. This concludes the
open session
of the february commission meeting.