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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN 08.11.2009 CC-WMinutes of the Meeting of the Governing Bod of the City of Georgetown, Texas Tuesday, August2009 The City Council of the City of Georgetown, Texas, met in Regular Session on the above date with Mayor George Garver presiding. Council Presento Council Absent: Keith Brainard, Gabe Sansing, Dale Ross, Ben All Council Present Oliver, Pat Berryman, Bill Sattler, Patty Eason jG Staff Present: Paul E. Brandenburg, City Manager; Patricia E. Carls, City Attorney; Jessica Hamilton, City Secretary; Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations; Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer; Kathy Ragsdale, Utility Office Manager; Keith Hutchinson, Public Information Officer; Tom Benz, System Engineering Manager; ! Minutes 111111 11 jil Jill Jill 11111111ill III N11111 A Discussion and possible action regarding changes to the Water Conservation Plan including the Drought Contingency Plan and Water Conservation Block Rates - Jim Briggs, Assistant City Manager for Utility Operations and Micki Rundell, Chief Financial Officer Mayor reviewed the item. Briggs said staff is asking for direction to go and create related Ordinances in order to bring them back in September for final action. Brandenburg said the item will go into more detail about water usage, user groups, rates and related recommendations from staff. With a Powerpoint presentation, Briggs presented to Council a Water Conservation Plan Update as well as an update on the drought contingency plan. He said the drought has gotten very severe. He said the City has been able to see positive feedback and response to educating the community on water conservation. He reviewed the water logistics equation by speaking about the relationship between supply, treatment and demand. He said the City's total water supply is 36,668 acre feet of water between Lake Georgetown, Stilihouse water, as well as other sources. He said this is a function of weather. He said the treatment capacity is about 27.5 million gallons per day. He said this is a function of capital funds. He said the peak customer demand has been as high as 26.4 million gallons a day in 2008. He said, right now, the City is operating at about 25.5 million gallons per day. Brainard asked about the relationship between an acre feet of water and million of gallons per day. Briggs said an acre foot of water is about 326,000 gallons of water. Brainard said and Briggs agreed the problem is not the water supply, but the ability to treat it. Briggs reviewed the current water supply. He spoke about the surface water supply from Lake Georgetown, Lake Stillhouse, and Lake Belton as well as the supply from the Edwards Aquifer. Brainard asked and Briggs said the City's policy for the past 18-20 has been to not develop any more ground water other than what the City already has and run the ground number at the current figure as a frozen amount. Brainard asked and Briggs said the aquifer is the Northern Edwards which is in a smaller recharge area than the Southern Edwards Aquifer. Brainard asked and Briggs said Chisolm Trail, Jonah Water Supply, and City of Round Rock all pull from the Aquifer as well. There was much discussion. Briggs summarized the City's water conservation metrics, including per capita usage and water use. He said the actual per capita usage is 200 gallons per day. He noted the goal is to reduce these numbers to around 180 City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 1 of 3 Pages gaillons a day. He said any type of conservation plan needs to be tailored to a customer base. He spoke about the Sun City Water Conservation Pilot and said that Sun City tends to be a unique situation where the neighborhood works with its citizens to gather data. He said the purpose of the pilot was to study the feasability of a twice per week watering schedule, as well as to study the effect of feedback on water demand. He said the information from the pilot was used to revise the Water Conservation Plan, Drought Contingency Plan and Conservation Rate Structure. Briggs spoke about the geography of Georgetown and how much water it can retain in both the East and West areas of the City. He said there is a thicker soil profile in the East and, therefore, it can retain more water. A resident would have to water more frequently on the West side of town. He said a two day schedule is a difficult schedule for effective watering to the West of the Interstate. Ross asked and Briggs said Sun City has recently decreased its total usage as well as their intensity of usage. He said this has made dramatic differences. Briggs said there is a more stable operation in that area of town right now. He said, on average, there have been positive results out of the City's communication with Sun City. Ross asked and Briggs said the actual usage is down to 22 or 23 million gallons per day from 24 or 24.8 mgd. Ross said and Briggs agreed educating the public on this issue is very important. Briggs reviewed the history of the Drought of 2009. He said it started in October of 2007 and has sustained period of high temperatures as well as a sustained period of limited rainfall. He said the neighboring utilities have implemented advanced stages of their drought contingency plans. He said the City of Georgetown implemented Phase I of its Drought Contigency Plan. He noted this Phase is voluntary. He noted the Aquifer levels are at the lowest the City has on record. He spoke about the monthly demand pattern in 2008 and noted it is no different from the usage in 2009. He reviewed the yearly water demand. Sattler asked and Briggs said the average amount for indoor usage demand in a month would be about 4,500- 5,000 gallons. He noted the average Georgetown user has between 18,000-21,000 total gallons worth of usage. He said that total includes both indoor and irrigation usage. Brainard asked and Briggs said the City is able to measure indoor water usage because that water comes to the water treatment plants. Briggs reviewed the feedback received from the pilot. He said the customers listed recommendations including implement customer usage feedback, revise rate structure, implement watering restrictions and expand treatment facilities to accommodate demand. He said communication has resulted in a change in usage and demand. He noted customers are more likely to conserve on a two day schedule, but conservation can also be achieved on a three day schedule. He reviewed the actions taken to date on this issue. He said the additional actions recommended are to revise the water conservation plan, revise the drought contingency plan and revise the current conservation rate structure. Briggs said the automated feedback system and full implementation will be available to all Georgetown Utility System water customers where automated/daily meter readings are available. He said the database modifications are in progress. He said staff is giving the customer the opportunity to select a usage threshold at which they are notified. He said the automated notification can be done by e-mail. He spoke about the water conservation specialist as well as the current project coordinator position. He said the goal is to amend the Water Conservation Plan to include the goal of 180 gallons per capita over the next 10 years. He spoke about the Drought Contingency Plan and said the City is now moving into Phase I Water Management and he described that phase and its effects on the water usage in the community. He compared voluntary versus mandatory regulations and the effect of both on customer response. Mayor asked and Briggs said Phase I could be made mandatory. Briggs noted any Phase can be made mandatory. Mayor said the Phase I schedule would be workable as long as there is greater compliance. He said it may be a good idea to make the schedule mandatory before moving to Phase II. There were many comments regarding the Drought Contingency phases. Briggs spoke about the Water Conservation Rate update and gave an idea of what is being proposed by staff. He compared the current rate blocks with the newly proposed blocks. He said the changes reflect the actual onset of irrigation use. He said the rate blocks will go into effect consistent with other utility services. He said the rate blocks will now apply to Small Commercial users and added the staff is also proposing that the commercial potable irrigation rate be set at $3.00 per 1,000 gallons for small commercial. Ross asked and Briggs explained the difference in irrigation rates between the commercial and residential users. Briggs said small commercial users do not fall within residential usage rates. Sattler asked and Briggs spoke about examples of increased water rates if this update were to be approved. There was much discussion. Brainard asked and Briggs said the estimated additional revenue if these new rate blocks are approved would be $700,000 a year. Brainard asked and Briggs said the primary purpose of these new rate blocks is to create a disincentive to use as much water as is currently being used. He said another purpose is to generate revenue for additional capital improvements. Briggs showed Council statistices of water consumption by group. He said 42% of the meters use 0-9,000 gallons per month. He noted 49% use 10,000- 30,000 gallons per month. Berryman asked and Briggs said these are only residential customers. He continued to review water consumption by group. He also showed Council consumption by volume. Brainard said the City should not be charging higher rates for people who are using less than 20,000 gallons per month. Briggs agreed but said that, once a person goes over 9,000 gallons per month they are, by industry standards, peaking the system. Mayor asked and Briggs said any usage above 9,000 gallons requires additional pumping capacity. City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 2 of 3 Pages Brainard said the City is punishing people with small modest lawns by increasing rates above 9,000. Brainard said it would be better to raise rates above 20,000 gallons per month. Berryman, Sattler and Eason said they would like for Brainard's idea to be explored more fully. Ross said he agrees with Brainard's opinion and noted he would not be in favor of raising the rates for small businesses. Briggs said staff could look at the 15,000 and 20,000 limit for raising rates. Sansing said he is not sure that 20,000 is a good breaking point. He said he likes the City's existing rate blocks and noted, for commercial users, water usage can grow pretty rapidly. Briggs said this applies to irrigation only and not indoor water usage. Briggs spoke about the list of proposed projects for next summer. Meeting moved to Closed Session under Sections 551.071 and 551.074 -- 5:10pm Ad6ournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:30 PM. Mayor Geoe Garver City Council Meeting Minutes/August 10, 2009 Page 3 of 3 Pages Attest: