* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [Service Delivery Committee on April 24, 2024. ] [00:00:22] OKAY, GOOD EVENING. IT IS WEDNESDAY, APRIL THE 24TH. 2024 AT, AND THE TIME IS 2:01 PM I AM COUNCIL MEMBER TARSHA JACKSON, CHAIR OF THE SERVICE D DELIVERY COMMITTEE. AND I CALL THIS MEETING TO ORDER. SO, WELCOME, UM, TO THE INAUGURAL SERVICE, UM, SERVICE DELIVERY COMMITTEE MEETING OF OUR FIRST MEETING. UM, TODAY WE'LL BE, WE ARE JOINED BY COUNCIL MEMBERS IN THE CHAMBER. OUR CHAIR, WE GOT COUNCIL MEMBER, WHAT'S THE NOTES, PLEASE? COUNCIL MEMBER. OKAY. WHO ELSE SIGNED IN? OKAY, WE GOT OUR CHAIR. COUNCIL MEMBER RAMIREZ. UM, WE GOT STAFF FROM COUNCIL MEMBER, UM, HUFFMAN'S OFFICE. WE HAVE STAFF. OH, WE GOT, UM, VICE MAYOR PRO TIM, UM, AMY PECK. WE HAVE STAFF FROM COUNCIL MEMBER CARTER'S OFFICE, AND WE HAVE STAFF FROM COUNCIL MEMBER CASTILLO'S OFFICE. DID I MISS ANYBODY? DO WE HAVE ANYBODY ONLINE? UH, E WE HAVE STAFF B. OKAY. WE HAVE STAFF FROM, UM, DISTRICT E. MM-HMM . AND, UH, AT LARGE. OKAY. AND WE HAVE STAFF FROM AT LARGE. SO, OKAY. THIS MEETING IS BEING HELD IN A HYBRID MODE IN PERSON AND VIRTUALLY, AND IT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. THE CHAIR, AS PRESIDING OFFICER OF THE COMMITTEE, IS PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN THE CHAMBERS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROVISIONS OF SECTION 5 5, 1 1 2 7 OF THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT CODE APPLICABLE TO A GOVERNMENTAL BODY THAT EXTENDS INTO THREE OR MORE COUNTIES. ALL OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE THE OPTION TO PARTICIPATE IN PERSON OR VIRTUALLY VIA M MICROSOFT TEAMS. UM, AND LEMME JUST SAY, I'M VERY EXCITED ABOUT PRESIDING OVER THIS COMMITTEE WHERE WE EXAMINE THE DELIVERY OF SERVICES, UM, TO THE RESIDENTS, UM, THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF HOUSTON, PARTICULARLY MY DISTRICT, DISTRICT B, UM, WHO HAS A LOT OF ISSUES. AND SO, UM, TODAY WE'RE, OUR MEETING IS IN THE CHAMBER, BUT MOVING FORWARD, WE ARE GONNA MOVE THE MEETINGS INTO THE GENERAL COMMUNITY. AND SO THEY WILL BE HELD, UM, IN THE EVENING AT 6:00 PM UM, AT MULTI SERVICE CENTERS SO THAT WE CAN REALLY ENGAGE, UM, COMMUNITY THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF HOUSTON. AND SO RIGHT NOW WE'RE BEING, UM, JOINED BY COUNCIL MEMBER SALLY ALCORN AND A, UM, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM COUNCIL MEMBER, VICE MAYOR, PRO TEM MARTHA CAST'S OFFICE. AND WHO ELSE ARE WE MISSING? ANYBODY. AND SO, UM, BEFORE WE BEGIN, I WANT TO GIVE OUR CHAIR AN OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE SOME OPEN VICE CHAIR, I'M SORRY, VICE CHAIR, UM, SOME OPEN OPENING REMARKS. UM, YOU HAVE THE FLOOR. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. AND, UH, COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, JACKSON. I'M, UH, PLEASED TO BE HERE IN THE VICE CHAIR CAPACITY SUPPORTING YOU. I, I WANT TO, UM, THANK YOU FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP IN BRINGING THIS MEETING TOGETHER AND PUTTING THIS IMPORTANT AGENDA, UH, TOGETHER FOR ALL OF US AND FOR THE PUBLIC. I THINK THIS SERVICE DELIVERY COMMITTEE, WHICH, UH, MAYOR WHITMEYER HAS CREATED, UH, GOES TO THE HEART OF WHAT WE DO HERE FOR THE CITY OF HOUSTON IN, IN CITY GOVERNMENT. AND I'M EXCITED ABOUT THE TOPICS WE'LL BE COVERING, UH, ESPECIALLY TODAY. IF YOU LOOK AT OUR AGENDA, THESE ARE SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT MOST PEOPLE CARE ABOUT IN OUR CITY. AND SO THEY'RE OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE. I'M HAPPY TO BE A PART OF THIS. AND SO I SAY THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP. THANK YOU. OKAY. AND I ALSO WANT TO HAVE OUR, UM, COMMITTEE MEMBERS, YOU KNOW, IF YOU GUYS WANT TO, YOU KNOW, SAY SOMETHING, SAY, HEY, WE'RE SO HAPPY FOR YOU. . I KNOW THIS'S MY FIRST TIME. I'M CHAIRING THE COMMITTEE, SO WITH ME, BUT, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A QUORUM OF, OF, YEAH. FOUR MEMBERS, SO, OKAY. THERE YOU GO. ALRIGHT, COOL. AND FROM THERE, UM, SO TODAY WE WILL GET UPDATES ON THREE CRITICAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY PUBLIC WORKS. UM, WATER BILLS, YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN HAVING SOME ISSUES WITH THE HIGH WATER BILLS, RECENT NEW POLICIES WAS PUT IN PLACE, AND SO THEY WILL BE GIVING US SOME UPDATES ON THAT. UM, WATER LEAKS AND THE DITCH MAINTENANCE PROGRAM. UM, COUNCIL MEMBERS AND STAFF, PLEASE HOLD YOUR QUESTIONS UNTIL THE END OF THE PRESENTATIONS, IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ASK QUESTIONS AND ARE PRESENT IN THE CHAMBERS REQUEST TO SPEAK, OR IF YOU'RE ADJOURN JOINING VIRTUALLY TYPE REQUEST TO SPEAK. AND, UM, WE WILL RECOGNIZE YOU WHEN YOU ARE RECOGNIZED. PLEASE UNMUTE YOUR MICROPHONE AND ENSURE YOUR CAMERA IS ON. YOU WILL BE ADVISED WITH WHEN [00:05:01] THE TWO MINUTE, UM, MARK HAS EXPIRED. SO EVERYONE WILL HAVE TWO MINUTES, UM, TO SPEAK. AND SO WITH THAT BEING SAID, WE WILL GET THIS MEETING STARTED WITH AN UPDATE ON THE CHANGES MADE IT TO THE DELIVERY OF OUR WATER BILLS. UM, HERE WE GO. MADAM CHAIR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO, TO PRESENT, UH, THE HOUSTON WATER BILL IMPROVEMENT PLAN. THIS IS THE PLAN THAT, OF COURSE, WAS ROLLED OUT BY MAYOR WHITMEYER JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO, UH, VERY PUBLICLY. BUT THIS IS AN EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY TO BE ABLE TO BRING IT BEFORE THE COUNCIL BODY IN THIS COMMITTEE TO, UH, BOTH PROVIDE AN UPDATE ON WHERE WE STAND SO FAR NOW, THREE WEEKS INTO IT, AS WELL AS ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE. UM, I THINK THERE'S GONNA BE A, I'M, I'M PRETTY SURE THERE'S SLIDES. I HOPE THERE IS SLIDES, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW I'M GONNA CHEAT ON WHAT I'M GONNA SAY. YEAH. AND THEN COUNCIL MEMBERS, YOU SHOULD HAVE YOUR SLIDES IN FRONT OF YOU. MM-HMM . AM I GONNA SEE IT HERE? UH, OKAY. WINGMAN, NEXT SLIDE. SO, OVERALL, UM, PUBLIC WORKS ALONG WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, UH, IMMEDIATELY AFTER MAYOR WHITMEYER TOOK OFFICE, SPENT A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF TIME TOGETHER AS WE REVIEWED WHERE WE STOOD, WHAT THE PROBLEMS WERE, HOW WE GOT TO THE POINT THAT WE WERE AT, UH, THE BIG THINGS THAT WE WERE TRYING TO DO WAS IDENTIFY EXACTLY WHAT THE ISSUE IS. UH, THERE'S BEEN SO MUCH TALK AND COMMENTARY THROUGHOUT THE LAST, IN FACT, NUMBER OF YEARS ABOUT HIGH WATER BILLS. THERE HAVE BEEN SOME STEPS AND SOME ACTIONS THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN IN AN EFFORT TO PERHAPS RESOLVE SOME OF THOSE HIGH WATER BILLS. BUT REALLY WHAT WE NEEDED TO DO IS WE NEEDED TO TAKE A MORE HOLISTIC LOOK AT WHAT GOT US HERE AND WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE ACTUAL SOLUTION TO PREVENTING BILLS FROM HAPPENING, RATHER THAN PUTTING OURSELVES IN A REACTIVE MODE, WHICH IS WHERE WE HAD BEEN IN JUST ADDRESSING THOSE BILLS. SO TOGETHER, WE, WE WORKED TO DEVELOP THAT PLAN. THE FRAMEWORK WAS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE WERE GONNA CORRECT THE ACTUAL BILLING CONSISTENCY AND ITS ACCURACY. SO, IN OTHER WORDS, THE BILLS GOING OUT WOULD BE ACCURATE TO BEGIN WITH, RATHER THAN HAVING TO FIX IT ON THE OTHER SIDE, WE NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE IMPLEMENTED SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENHANCEMENTS, UM, WE'LL TALK ABOUT IN A SECOND. BUT ONE OF THE ROOT CAUSES, AND IN FACT, THE, THE PREDOMINANT ROOT CAUSE OF WHY WE'RE IN THE SITUATION WE ARE IS ONE OF INFRASTRUCTURE. AND THEN WE ALSO RECOGNIZE VERY CLEARLY THAT, UH, WE NEEDED TO MAKE SOME CUSTOMER SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS. THOUGH OVERALL THEME THAT WE HEAR FROM RESIDENTS ALL OVER HOUSTON IS THAT THEY DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THEIR VOICES WERE BEING HEARD. AND WHEN THEY HAD QUESTIONS OR THEY HAD A LACK OF TRUST IN WHAT THEIR BILL SAID, THEY, THEY DIDN'T FEEL LIKE THEY WERE GETTING THE SERVICE THEY NEEDED. SO WE NEEDED TO CORRECT THAT. SO THE PROBLEM AS WE SPENT TIME REVIEWING IT, COMES DOWN TO REALLY AN ISSUE OF ESTIMATION. WHAT WE DISCOVERED AND WHAT WE UNDERSTOOD WAS THAT WE KNEW THAT THERE WAS PERIODS OF TIME THAT FOR SEVERAL MONTHS, MANY RESIDENTS WOULD HAVE AN ESTIMATED, OR THEY WOULD RECEIVE A WATER BILL THAT WAS BASED ON AN ESTIMATED USAGE. IN OTHER WORDS, THAT USAGE WAS NOT BASED ON THE ACTUAL USAGE THAT THEY HAD, BUT AT SOME POINT, EITHER BY COMPUTER ALGORITHM OR BY A PERSON IN THE FIELD ENTERING IN A NUMBER, THE CUSTOMER WOULD RECEIVE AN ESTIMATE FOR WHAT THAT THAT USAGE WAS. AT A CERTAIN POINT, WE WOULD THEN FIND OUT WHAT THE ACTUAL USAGE HAD BEEN, AND IF THE PERIOD OF TIME FOR ESTIMATES HAD GONE OVER A NUMBER OF MONTHS, THEN WE WOULD SEE THAT THERE WAS MAYBE A BIGGER GAP BECAUSE WE HAD BEEN UNDERESTIMATING. AS A RESULT, HIGH BILLS WENT OUT FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE. THE OTHER PROBLEM IS THAT THIS CREATED A SIGNIFICANT INCONSISTENCY IN BILLING, BOTH IN THE BILLING CYCLES THEMSELVES, SO WHEN CUSTOMERS WOULD RECEIVE THEIR BILL, BUT ALSO THERE WASN'T A PREDICTABILITY ON EXACTLY HOW MUCH WATER THEY WERE USING. UM, FOR THAT REASON, WE UNDERSTOOD THAT THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT LACK OF TRUST IN WHAT THEY GOT. AT [00:10:01] THE END OF LAST YEAR. A NUMBER OF ORDINANCE CHANGES WERE IMPLEMENTED IN AN EFFORT TO ADDRESS HIGH WATER BILLS. BUT REALLY, THOSE CHANGES ALLOWED US TO ADDRESS THOSE BILLS AFTER THE FACT. THEY PROVIDED TOOLS TO OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS FOR RESOLVING SOMEONE'S HIGH BILL, BUT IT DIDN'T STOP THEM FROM GOING OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE. SO THE WATER BILL IMPROVEMENT PLAN FOCUSED ON THE FACT THAT WE HAVE A MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROBLEM, AND THAT IS THAT REMOTE READING DEVICES, THE DEVICE THAT ACTUALLY SITS ON TOP OF A WATER METER AND TRANSMITS THE WATER USAGE BACK TO US, HAD BEEN FAILING AT, FRANKLY, A CATASTROPHIC RATE. UM, OUR ABILITY TO REPLACE THOSE REMOTE READ DEVICES BECAUSE OF HOW FAST THEY WERE FAILING GREATLY OUTPACED OUR ABILITY TO GO AND ACHIEVE MANUAL READS. UH, AS IT STANDS, WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO READ ROUGHLY 40,000 METERS BY HAND EACH MONTH, UH, IN TERMS OF PERSONNEL ON THE GROUND. THE PROBLEM IS, IS THAT WE HAVE NOW OVER 125,000 FAILED REMOTE READ DEVICES. SO REALLY EASILY YOU SEE THAT THE MATH JUST DOESN'T COME TOGETHER FOR US IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE AVOIDING THE NUMBER OF ESTIMATES. SO LET'S TALK FOR JUST A SECOND ABOUT THAT REMOTE READ DEVICE, BECAUSE THIS IS AN IMPORTANT THING FOR PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND. OFTENTIMES, THE NARRATIVE HAS BEEN ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH THE WATER METER, UM, BUT I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CORRECT THAT ON THE RECORD. THE ACTUAL ISSUE IS NOT THE METER, IT IS THE REMOTE READ DEVICE. AND IN VERY SIMPLE TERMS, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, THIS IS A DEVICE, BASICALLY LIKE A CELL PHONE THAT JUST SITS ON TOP OF THE METER. IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY COUNT ANYTHING. IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING IN TERMS OF WHAT THE WATER IS GOING THROUGH THE METER ITSELF. IT JUST TRANSMITS THE NUMBER OFF OF THAT REGISTER. THE METERS REALLY DON'T FAIL VERY OFTEN. AND INTERESTINGLY, WHEN THEY DO FAIL, IT'S ACTUALLY TO THE PUBLIC'S BENEFIT, BECAUSE WHEN THEY START TO BREAK DOWN, THEY START TO UNDER COUNT. SO IN OTHER WORDS, A CUSTOMER WOULD BE USING MORE WATER THAN ACTUALLY THEY'RE GETTING CREDIT FOR. AS THAT REGISTER KIND OF TICKS OVER, THE REMOTE REEV DEVICE TAKES THE NUMBER THAT GOES INTO THE REGISTER AND THEN TRANSMITS IT TO OUR DATA CENTERS, WHERE THE COMPUTER IS ABLE TO THEN GENERATE A BILL FOR THEM. MORE THAN 73% OF THE METERS THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF HOUSTON AT THIS POINT, TRANSMIT THROUGH A REMOTE READ DEVICE. UM, ULTIMATELY OUR GOAL IS THAT A HUNDRED PERCENT OF METERS WILL DO THAT, BUT THAT'S WHERE WE STAND AT THIS POINT. SO, AS I MENTIONED, WE HAVE MORE THAN 125,000 FAILURES ACROSS THE CITY. NOW, THAT COVERS THE ENTIRE SCOPE OF EVERYTHING THAT WE DO. THAT SINGLE FAMILY, RESIDENTIAL, MULTIFAMILY, COMMERCIAL, INDUSTRIAL, IT COVERS THE WHOLE SWATH. THE BULK OF THOSE, THOUGH, MORE THAN 110,000 OF THOSE 125,000 WE'RE FOCUSED IN SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL, UH, HOMES. AND AGAIN, REMEMBER, WE WERE ONLY ABLE TO READ OURSELVES 40,000 A MONTH. SO THE PLAN MOVING FORWARD AS WE WORKED WITH THE ADMINISTRATION IS THIS, WE KNEW WE NEEDED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO HAVE THE BREATHING ROOM NECESSARY TO MAKE THE MASSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES THAT NEEDED TO TAKE PLACE. IN FACT, DIRECTOR HADDOCK APPEARED BEFORE THIS COUNCIL LAST YEAR AND TALKED ABOUT WHAT OUR PLAN WAS AT THAT TIME, WHICH WAS A MULTI-YEAR PLAN TO GO OUT AND REPLACE REMOTE READ DEVICES. THAT PLAN ACTUALLY HAD STARTED PRE COVID. UM, THOSE OF YOU THAT WERE HERE, REMEMBER THAT THE DISCUSSION WAS, HEY, WEREN'T WE GONNA DO THIS BACK IN 20 17, 20 18? THE ANSWER WAS YES. AND BY THE TIME COVID CAME, THE SUPPLY CHAIN WAS DRAMATICALLY DISRUPTED. THE SAME SORT OF, UH, SEMICONDUCTORS USED TO MAKE MICROCHIPS THAT GO INTO AUTOMOBILES WITH THE EXACT SAME ONES THAT GO INTO MAKING REMOTE READ DEVICES. AND SO WE'VE DEALT FOR A SIGNIFICANT PERIOD OF TIME THAT SUPPLY CHAIN INTERRUPTION. AND, AND THAT'S REALLY ONE OF THE REASONS, ONE OF THEM, NOT THE ONLY ONE, BUT WHY WE FIND OURSELVES SO FAR BEHIND. SO WE NEEDED TO GET ON TRACK. WE NEEDED TO MOVE THIS FORWARD AT A REALLY RAPID PACE. UM, SO WE HAVE SET UP A SINGLE SET USAGE FOR SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS FOR A PERIOD OF TIME THAT'S ALREADY STARTED NOW. IT STARTED ON APRIL 1ST. MOVING FORWARD, WHILE WE'RE IN THIS MODE, AND WE'VE KIND OF PUT THIS TOWARDS HAVING SOME PREDICTABLE BILLING FOR ALL CUSTOMERS, WE'RE ACCELERATING THE REPLACEMENT OF THOSE REMOTE READ DEVICES. WE, THE GOAL OF BEING COMPLETED WITH THE 125,000 THAT HAVE FAILED BY THE END OF THE YEAR, AND WE'RE ALSO IMPLEMENTING SOME SIGNIFICANT CUSTOMER SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS AS WE MOVE ALONG. THE WAY THE PLAN WORKS IS THIS, CUSTOMERS HAVE STARTED TO RECEIVE AND WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE RIGHT NOW A NOTIFICATION OF WHAT THEIR SET USAGE IS. THE SET USAGE IS BASED OFF OF THEIR HISTORICAL AVERAGES. WE TAKE INTO ACCOUNT BASICALLY WHAT WE SEE FROM THE DATA OVER A 36 MONTH PERIOD. WE'VE REMOVED TIMES OF DROUGHT, WE'VE REMOVED TIMES OF FREEZE, WE'VE REMOVED TIMES OF WATER LEAKS. UH, WE ACTUALLY RETAINED THE EXPERTISE OF OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS [00:15:01] TO HELP US IN THE MODELING OF THIS TO ENSURE THAT WE WERE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT AS MANY VARIABLES AS WE COULD SO THAT THE SET USAGE THAT A CUSTOMER RECEIVES MOST ACCURATELY REFLECTS WHAT WE THINK THAT THEY WOULD BE USING AND WHAT THEY OUGHT TO BE USING AT A PERIOD OF TIME. LIKE I SAID, THAT STARTED ON APRIL 1ST, WHICH MEANS THAT CUSTOMERS WILL RECEIVE THEIR FIRST SET USAGE BILLS IN MAY BECAUSE WE BILL IN ARREARS. WHILE WE'RE DOING THIS, WE HAVE EXPANDED IN-PERSON CUSTOMER SERVICE APPOINTMENTS. UH, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT A FEW YEARS AGO WENT AWAY. WE HAVE NOW OPENED THAT BACK UP TO HAVE IN-PERSON CUSTOMER SERVICE APPOINTMENTS AT THE WATER SERVICE CENTER. WE'RE ALSO HAVING AND HOSTING VIRTUAL APPOINTMENTS FOR CUSTOMERS WHO WANT TO HAVE FACE TIME TO BE ABLE TO MEET WITH AGENTS AND TALK THROUGH ISSUES THAT THEY HAVE FACE-TO-FACE. AND WE'RE GOING TO, AS WE CONTINUE TO DEVELOP WHAT THAT MORE HOLISTIC PLAN LOOKS LIKE TO HAVE THESE MEETINGS ALSO AVAILABLE OUT IN THE PUBLIC, PERHAPS AT MULTI-SERVICE CENTERS AND OTHER AREAS WHERE IT BECOMES MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR FOLKS THAT MAY HAVE CONSTRAINTS AND LIMITATIONS ON THEIR ABILITY TO COME TO US DURING THIS ENTIRE PROCESS. AS I MENTIONED, WE ARE ACCELERATING THE DEPLOYMENT, THE INSTALLATION OF THESE REMOTE READING DEVICES. ONCE A CUSTOMER HAS A WORKING REMOTE READ DEVICE, WE WILL FOR 30 DAYS MONITOR THE DATA TO ENSURE THAT THE DATA WE'RE RECEIVING IS GOOD AND ACCURATE, THAT THE DEVICE IS FULLY FUNCTIONING. AND ONCE WE HAVE CONFIRMED THAT CUSTOMERS THEN GET A NOTICE THAT PUT, PUTS 'EM ON A CLOCK FOR 60 DAYS, AND DURING THAT 60 DAY PERIOD, THEY RECEIVE A NOTICE AND A SERIES OF ADDITIONAL FOLLOW UPS OF THIS IS WHAT WE SEE YOU'RE USING, THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT YOUR BILL TO BE IN THE FUTURE. AND THIS IS IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DON'T CATCH PEOPLE UNAWARES. UM, IT'S VERY POSSIBLE THAT THE SET USAGE THAT WE HAVE PUT FOR SOMEONE COULD BE LOWER THAN WHAT THEIR ACTUAL USAGE IS. IT'S POSSIBLE THERE SOMETIMES ARE CHANGES IN HOUSEHOLD AND LIFESTYLE AND WHATEVER THEY MAY BE DOING. UM, THIS NOW LETS THEM KNOW AND PUTS THEM ON NOTICE THAT THIS IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT MOVING FORWARD BECAUSE YOU HAVE GOOD FUNCTIONING EQUIPMENT IN THE GROUND AND YOU MAY NEED TO MAKE SOME ADDITIONAL CHO CHANGES IN YOUR LIFESTYLE IF YOU THINK THAT'S A LITTLE BIT TOO HIGH. IT ALSO GIVES THEM AN OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK WITH US AND TALK ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON. UM, AND THEN AT THE SAME TIME, CUSTOMERS NOW HAVE A RELIABLE WATER BILL MOVING FORWARD BECAUSE THAT EXPECTATION, WHICH IS A BIG PART OF WHAT WE NEED TO DO FROM A CUSTOMER SERVICE PERSPECTIVE, CAN BE SET AND MANAGED MORE EASILY. UM, SET USAGE BILLING, UM, WORKS BASICALLY IN ONE OF TWO WAYS. I REALLY KIND OF DESCRIBED THE BIG ONE, WHICH IS WE'RE LOOKING 36 MONTHS BACK FOR PEOPLE TO SEE WHAT THEIR ACTUAL USAGE HISTORICALLY HAS BEEN ON AN AVERAGE, BUT SOME PEOPLE DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH HISTORY AVAILABLE. SO FOR ACCOUNTS THAT ARE LESS THAN A YEAR OLD OR HAVE LESS THAN THE REQUIRED NUMBER OF DATA POINTS FOR US, WE'VE ACTUALLY SET THEIR USAGE TO A STANDARD 3000 GALLONS, WHICH IS ABOUT WHAT WE SEE NORMALLY FOR A SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL HOME HERE IN THE HOUSTON AREA. NOW THAT THAT USAGE IS ACTUALLY LOWER THAN WHAT YOU'D FIND ON THE NATIONAL AVERAGE. WE ACTUALLY USE LESS WATER HERE IN HOUSTON BECAUSE OF THE GREAT CLIMATE IN WHICH WE LIVE, LESS RELIANCE IN THE OFF SEASON FOR WATERING LAWNS AND SO FORTH. SO 3000 IS WHAT WE'VE SET THAT AT. UM, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT CUSTOMERS ALSO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE ACCURATE IN THAT. AND SO, ALTHOUGH WE MAY HAVE SET IT THAT WAY, CUSTOMERS HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY ONCE THEY RECEIVE NOTICE OF THAT TO SAY, WAIT, 3000 MAY BE TOO HIGH FOR ME. IT'S JUST ME. I'M SINGLE. I LIVE ALONE, I'M ELDERLY. AND AT WHICH POINT, BY MAKING CONTACT WITH CUSTOMER ACCOUNT SERVICES, WE MAKE THAT ADJUSTMENT AUTOMATICALLY WITH NO QUESTIONS ASKED. ONE OF THE QUESTIONS THAT MANY PEOPLE HAVE HAD IS, HOW LONG WILL THIS GO ON? AND THE REALITY IS, THIS IS GOING TO GO ON FOR ANY CUSTOMER ON THE SET USAGE FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES TO GET AN ACTUAL WORKING REMOTE READ DEVICE INSTALLED. MANY CUSTOMERS ALREADY HAVE THIS. AND FOR THOSE CUSTOMERS, WE'VE STARTED THE 30 DAY INITIAL VERIFICATION WINDOW ALREADY, SO THAT WE KNOW THAT ESSENTIALLY FROM MAY 1ST TO, OR FROM APRIL 1ST TO MAY 1ST, IF YOU ALREADY HAD A GOOD WORKING ONE, WE'RE RUNNING THE DATA, WE'RE RUNNING THE METRICS, WE'RE MAKING SURE IT WORKS. AND THEN WE WOULD EXPECT THAT THE MAJORITY OF THOSE PEOPLE BY MAY 1ST WILL RECEIVE THEIR 60 DAY NOTIFICATION WINDOW OF THIS IS WHAT WE SEE YOUR ACTUAL USAGE TO BE. BUT FOR OTHER CUSTOMERS, AS WE TAKE THE REST OF THE YEAR TO REPLACE THE REMOTE READ DEVICES, THEY WILL COME ON CYCLICALLY AS IT'S COMPLETED. UM, THERE'S NOT A STANDARD WE'RE TAKING GROUPS OR CHUNKS OF PEOPLE. WE'RE DOING THIS AS IT GOES ALONG THE WAY. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'VE DONE SO FAR. UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE INCLUDED FOR YOU IN THE PACKET IS A DEPLOYMENT PLAN FOR REPLACING THE REMOTE READ DEVICES BY THE END OF THE YEAR. IN THESE FIRST FEW WEEKS, WE KIND OF CALL THIS A LITTLE BIT OF A RAMP UP PERIOD. WE HAD SUFFICIENT INVENTORY ALREADY IN STOCK OF REMOTE [00:20:01] REVIEW DEVICES THAT ALLOWED US TO BEGIN BEFORE WE EVEN NEED NEEDED TO. SO ACTUALLY WE STARTED THIS PRIOR TO APRIL 1ST IN TRYING TO ACCELERATE THE DEPLOYMENT OF THE REMOTE READ DEVICES. BUT AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, WE ARE TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WE GET AHEAD OF THIS AND WE WANT TO BE DONE LONG BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. SO FAR TO DATE, IN JUST THE FIRST THREE WEEKS, WE'VE REPLACED ALREADY MORE THAN 8,700 REMOTE DEBRIS DEVICES ACROSS THE CITY. UH, OUR GOAL DURING THAT PERIOD WAS 7,400. SO WE'RE, WE'RE PACING AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, BUT WE ALSO KNOW THAT WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE SOME WEEKS WHERE WE'RE AHEAD OF SCHEDULE BECAUSE, UH, SUMMER WEATHER CAN BE UNPREDICTABLE, PARTICULARLY AS WE GET INTO HURRICANE SEASON. SO WE'RE TRYING TO BE AS EXPEDITIOUS AS WE POSSIBLY CAN. THE GOAL, OF COURSE, IS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE GET TO A SPOT WHERE AT THE VERY LEAST WE'RE ABLE TO MATCH THE NUMBER OF MANUAL READS THAT WOULD BE NECESSARY. ONE OF THE QUESTIONS THAT HAS COME TO US IS, WHY DID WE FOCUS ON SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL? THE REA THE ANSWER FOR THAT IS VERY SIMPLE. THAT'S THE LARGEST NUMBER THAT WE NEED TO REPLACE, AND WE HAVE CAPACITY THEN TO MEASURE ALL OF THE OTHER ONES. SO BETWEEN THE TWO, WE ARE ABLE TO COVER ALL BASES RIGHT NOW. ALSO, UH, OUTSIDE OF SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL, WE FIND THAT THERE'S LESS PREDICTABILITY IN WHAT THAT USAGE IS. AND SO WE'RE ABLE TO MORE EASILY SET THIS TO SOMETHING THAT MAKES SENSE ACROSS THE BOARD. AS FAR AS CUSTOMER SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS ARE CONCERNED. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE DID IS WE LAUNCHED THE WEBSITE, IMPROVE WATER BILLS.ORG AND IMPROVE WATER BILLS.ORG NOT ONLY CONTAINS INFORMATION AND LINKS TO WHAT THE PLAN IS AND HOW IT'S GOING, IT ALSO INCLUDES A LINK TO THE DASHBOARD. AND THIS IS A PUBLIC FACING DASHBOARD THAT SHOWS OUR PROGRESS, AND IT SHOWS WHAT THE DEPLOYMENT PLAN LOOKS LIKE MOVING FORWARD. YOU'RE ABLE TO LOOK AT THE DATA AND FILTER IT OUT. THIS FOCUS, THE DASHBOARD FOCUSES ON SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL, BY THE WAY, BUT YOU'RE ABLE TO EVEN FOCUS IN AND ZOOM IN TO SEE WHAT'S GOING ON IN SPECIFIC COUNCIL DISTRICTS. FOR ALL CUSTOMERS, THOUGH, UH, WE HAVE MADE THE IMMEDIATE CHANGES TO THE CUSTOMER REQUEST FORM, UH, IT'S BEEN A POINT OF PAIN. WE RECOGNIZE, AND I'VE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH SOME OF YOU BEFORE, HOW DIFFICULT IT IS FOR A CUSTOMER TO SAY, I'VE GOT A PROBLEM. UM, AND THE PREVIOUS PRACTICE WAS REALLY TO FORCE THEM TO ADAPT TO WHAT OUR PROCESS IS IN UNDERSTANDING WHAT THEIR PROBLEM WAS. WE'VE INSTEAD MOVED TO A SINGLE UNIVERSAL FORM THAT SAYS, I HAVE A PROBLEM AND I NEED HELP. AND NOW IT'S OUR JOB TO MAKE SURE THAT WE UNDERSTAND HOW TO FIX IT, HOW TO ADDRESS IT, REMOVE AS MUCH OF THE BURDEN ON THE CUSTOMER AS POSSIBLE SO THAT WE CAN FIND AN EXPEDITIOUS RESOLUTION. WE'RE IMPROVING THE FORMAT OF THE WATER BILLS. UM, THE ONE THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE, FRANKLY LACKS ENOUGH CLARITY AND DATA FOR PEOPLE. IT'S NOT EASY TO READ, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH. AS I'VE LOOKED AT IT MANY TIMES, I CAN'T QUITE FIGURE OUT HOW THE NUMBERS THAT ARE PRINTED ON IT ACTUALLY ADD UP TO THE AMOUNT BEING CHARGED. WE'RE CORRECTING THAT AND WE'RE GONNA FIX THAT. WE'RE GONNA MAKE THIS SOMETHING THAT'S VERY EASY, VERY, UH, SIMPLE FOR CUSTOMERS TO FOLLOW, ABLE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE MATH WORKS SO THAT THEY CAN HAVE THAT TRUST IN WHAT'S COMING TO THEM. WE'RE IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER RESOLUTION PROCESS JUST AS EASY IT IS TO FIX A FORM. IT'S ALSO PRETTY EASY TO MAKE SURE THAT WHEN COMP, WHEN CUSTOMERS CALL IN AND SAY THEY'VE GOT A PROBLEM, THAT WE COLLECT JUST THE NECESSARY DATA TO BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD AND FIND A RESOLUTION VERY QUICKLY. AND THEN FINALLY, ONE OF THE THINGS, AND WE THANK COUNSEL FOR DOING THIS PREVIOUSLY, BUT WE REPEALED AN ORDINANCE, WHICH WAS, UH, ORDINANCE 47 DASH 72. I CALL IT THE YOUR FIRED ORDINANCE. UM, THE REALITY WAS THIS ORDINANCE WAS SORT OF A PSYCHOLOGICAL STUMBLING BLOCK FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. WHEN AN AGENT WOULD HAVE A CUSTOMER ON THE PHONE AND THEY'D SAY, I NEED HELP. IT DOESN'T HELP WHEN WE HAVE SOMETHING IN THERE THAT SAYS, NOT ONLY YOU'RE GONNA BE FIRED, BUT WE'RE GONNA FIND YOU PERSONALLY LIABLE FOR SOMETHING THAT YOU WOULD'VE DONE. IT WAS JUST A NO UNNECESSARY OVERSTEP. AND WE THANK COUNSEL FOR THE REPEAL OF THAT ORDINANCE. AS FAR AS IN-PERSON AND, AND VIRTUAL CUSTOMER SERVICE APPOINTMENTS ARE AVAILABLE, YOU CAN CALL INTO THE TO CUSTOMER ACCOUNT SERVICES 7 1 3 3 7 1 1400. YOU'RE ALSO ABLE TO MAKE APPOINTMENTS ONLINE@HOUSTONWATERBILLS.ORG. UM, AND IN FACT, EVEN IN THE PACKET, YOU'VE GOT A QR CODE IF YOU WANT TO TEST THAT OUT AT SOME POINT TO TAKE YOU THERE TO, TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT. WE'VE RECEIVED MANY PEOPLE SO FAR, UM, ALREADY WE'VE HOSTED A NUMBER OF VIRTUAL, UM, SESSIONS WITH CUSTOMERS AS WELL TO ADDRESS THEIR PROBLEMS. IT'S GONE VERY, VERY WELL, AND THE FEEDBACK HAS BEEN WELL RECEIVED. AND WITH THAT, THAT'S IT. I'M OPEN TO QUESTIONS. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. RANDY. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR, UM, THE PRESENTATION AND, UM, DIRECTOR HADDOCK FOR ALL THE WORK THAT YOU GUYS ARE DOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS ORDINANCE IS BEING IMPLEMENTED. UM, THANK ADMINISTRATION FOR THEIR PROMPT RESPONSE. YOU KNOW, WE'RE [00:25:01] GETTING A LOT OF CALLS AND CONSTITUENTS COMING IN THROUGH TO PUBLIC COMMENT ABOUT THESE HIGH BILLS, AND SO IT'S JUST EXCITED TO SEE THAT WE'RE MOVING FORWARD. UM, BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO QUESTIONS, UM, FROM THE COUNCIL MEMBERS, I JUST WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE WE HAVE COUNCIL MEMBER MARIO COSTELLO JUST, JUST CAME IN. THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. UM, WE ALSO HAVE, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER CAYMAN HAS A REPRESENTATIVE HERE IN CHAMBERS AND ONLINE WE HAVE, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER FLICKINGER, COUNCIL MEMBER PLUMMER, COUNCIL MEMBER EVAN CHAVA, COUNCIL MEMBER PLUMMER AND COUNCIL MEMBER DAVIS, UM, ARE JOINING US ONLINE. SO THANK YOU ALL FOR, UM, YOUR PARTICIPATION TODAY. UM, I DO WANNA POINT OUT, UM, WHEN I DID MEET WITH YOU GUYS, YOU MENTIONED THAT THE BILL, YOU KNOW, FOR SOME CONSTITUENTS, THEY DON'T KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, THIS PROCESS IS HAPPENING. UH, FOR SOME REASON PEOPLE JUST DON'T KNOW. UM, BUT YOU CHANGED THE COLOR OF THE BILL. YES. SO THAT CONSTITUENTS TO KNOW THAT THEY'RE IN A, UM, THIS, THAT THEY'RE IN A REFORM PROCESS. IS THAT TRUE? YEAH. YOU KNOW, IT MIGHT SEEM, IT MIGHT SEEM ALMOST SILLY, BUT WE'RE SENDING BLUE WATER BILLS OUT RIGHT NOW MM-HMM . AND, AND THAT BLUE BILL IS JUST SIMPLY TO HELP PEOPLE SEE, HEY, SOMETHING'S DIFFERENT HERE. MAYBE EXTRA SCRUTINY. THERE'S ADDITIONAL VERBIAGE ON THE BILL ITSELF, LETTING YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, DIRECTING YOU TO THE WEBSITE, TO THE PHONE NUMBER, TO, TO GIVE US A CALL. BUT WE'RE HOPING THAT THAT'S PART OF THAT, WHAT CATCHES ATTENTION. WE'RE ALSO INCLUDING IN, IN THE BILLS THEMSELVES, UH, INFORMATIONAL INSERTS FROM TIME TO TIME TO HELP EDUCATE FOLKS ON HERE'S RESOURCES THAT ARE AVAILABLE. MM-HMM . UM, THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN GET QUESTIONS ASKED, ANSWERED, BUT THANK YOU. OKAY. WELL, THANK YOU. OKAY. SO WE'RE GONNA TURN IT OVER TO COUNCIL MEMBER ALCORN. THANK YOU CHAIR, AND THANK YOU, RANDY. GREAT PRESENTATION. UM, I, I SPOKE ON THIS TO A COUPLE GROUPS AND I'M GLAD YOU CLEARED UP A COUPLE THINGS. UH, THESE ARE, ARE EVERYBODY'S GONNA GET THE ESTIMATED BILLS RE REGARDLESS IF YOU HAVE A WORKING METER OR NOT. EVERY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL OKAY. GOES INTO THE, THE, WE'RE CALLING IT SET USAGE. RIGHT? WHAT'S THE UNIVERSE OF THAT? WHAT, I KNOW IT'S 73% OF OUR TOTAL, BUT WHAT, HOW MANY? IT'S ABOUT, IT'S A LITTLE NORTH OF 350,000. THREE 50,000. OKAY. AND THEN, BUT THE ONES THAT DO HAVE A WORKING READER ARE RIGHT NOW STARTING THAT THIRD 60 DAY DEAL WHEN WE'RE GONNA GIVE YOU A REAL, A REAL BILL. WE'RE IN THE, WE'RE IN THE FIRST 30 DAYS BEFORE THE 60 DAYS. SO ALTOGETHER IT'S TRULY 90 DAYS. 30 DAYS IS FOR US. OKAY. SO THE ONES WITH THE WORKING READER, 90 DAYS, THEY SHOULD BE GOOD. CORRECT. UM, AND HOW DO THEY, HOW DO PEOPLE KNOW IF THEY HAVE A WORKING READER OR NOT? SO THERE'S A COUPLE OF WAYS. ONE, UH, YOU'RE GONNA GET A NOTIFICATION FROM US BY MAIL, BUT SECOND, BUT IN MAY, I MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW THAT YET, RIGHT? YEAH. SO THAT YOU GET THAT NOTIFICATION IN MAY, THAT'S 60 DAY NOTICE IS WHEN YOU WOULD FIRST GET THAT. SO, WE'LL, WE INSTALL IT, WE SEND, WE SPEND 30 DAYS MAKING SURE THAT IT'S WORKING. AND ONCE WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT IT'S WORKING, AT THE END OF THOSE FIRST 30 DAYS, YOU'LL GET THAT 60 DAY NOTICE. IT SAYS YOUR DEVICE HAS BEEN REPLACED OR YOUR DEVICE IS WORKING, AND THIS IS WHAT YOUR USAGE LOOKS LIKE. YOU ALSO CAN GO TO THE DASHBOARD ON IMPROVE WATER BILLS.ORG, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY PUT IN YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION THERE, AND IT WILL TELL YOU WHETHER YOU'VE GOT A WORKING DEVICE OR WHAT THE EXPECTED RIGHT NOW. RIGHT NOW. LIKE, YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT AND FIGURE IT OUT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT. YOU CAN GO ON IMPROVE WATER BILLS RIGHT. DOT ORG AND GET THAT CORRECT. FIGURE OUT IF YOU'RE WORKING OR NOT, AND IF YOU'RE, BUT, BUT REGARDLESS, WORKING, NOT WORKING. EVERYBODY'S GETTING AN ESTIMATED BILL WHEN THE, WHEN THE BILLS WERE ESTIMATED PREVIOUSLY YOU SAID BY AN ALGORITHM OR BY SOMEBODY JUST GOING OUT AND KIND OF, YOU KNOW. YEAH. I GUESS LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS AND FIGURING IT OUT. UM, I KNOW WAS IT JUST, WAS IT BASED ON PAST USAGE? I MEAN, THE ALGORITHM, I MEAN, WHAT, WHY WERE THOSE ESTIMATES SO OFF? UH, I MEAN, AND MANY TIMES, I'M GONNA HAVE TO GO BACK A THOUSAND TIMES. MEMBER PECK, THANK YOU CHAIR. UM, AND THANK YOU FOR THIS PRESENTATION. AND, UH, THIS IS GREAT. I THINK THAT THE REMOTE RED DEVICES, I MEAN, THAT'S GONNA REALLY FIX THE ISSUE FOR EVERYONE. UM, MY QUESTION IS, SO WE HAVE THE 125 DEVICES THAT HAVE FAILED, AND THEN WE HAVE THE WORKING THE METERS OF THE WORKING DEVICES. WHAT ABOUT THE DEVICES THAT JUST DON'T HAVE IT INSTALLED? YEAH. SO IT'S NOT THAT THEY'RE NOT WORKING OR IT, THERE'S JUST, THERE'S NO CAPABILITY FOR THAT. HOW MANY METERS IS THAT? I DON'T KNOW THE SPECIFIC NUMBER OF THOSE. AND I'LL, I'LL, I'LL BE HONEST, THAT'S, THAT'S A NUMBER WE'RE STILL WORKING ON. UM, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT A NUMBER OF TIMES AT THIS COUNCIL. SOMETIMES THE, THE INFORMATION WE HAVE ABOUT THE SIZE OF OUR SYSTEM AND THE SCOPE OF IT FROM TIME TO TIME, IT'S NOT AS ACCURATE AS WE'D LIKE IT TO BE. THAT IS PART OF THIS PROCESS AS WELL, IS TRYING TO UNDERSTAND HOW BIG THAT UNIVERSE REALLY IS. AT THE END OF THE DAY THOUGH, THEY'RE ALL GOING TO GET IT. AND ONCE WE FINISH THE 125, WE'RE GONNA BE IN A REGULAR CYCLE OF MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE UPGRADING AND WE'RE FIXING ALL OF THE REST OF 'EM TOO. SOME THAT DO HAVE A WORKING DEVICE, HAVE AN OLDER WORKING DEVICE THAT MAYBE ISN'T AS TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED AS WHAT WE'RE PUTTING IN THE GROUND NOW. UM, THE ONES THAT ARE GOING IN THE GROUND NOW ARE GONNA ALLOW CUSTOMERS TO SEE WHAT THEIR USAGE IS BY THE HOUR. FOR INSTANCE, SOME OF THE [00:30:01] OLDER REMOTE READ DEVICES THAT WE HAVE ONLY ALLOW YOU TO SEE IT BASICALLY BY THE WEEK OR BY THE MONTH. SO WE'RE GOING TO UPGRADE EVERYBODY ALONG THE WAY AT A CERTAIN POINT, BUT IT'S GONNA BE MORE SYSTEMATIC ONCE WE CAN GET THE BROKEN STUFF IN THE GROUND FIXED FIRST. SO WHAT'S THE TIMELINE FOR THE METERS THAT, UM, JUST DON'T HAVE THAT CAPABILITY? OUR HOPE IS THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE ALL OF THIS DONE BY THE END OF THE YEAR. OKAY. SO EVEN THE ONES THAT, EVEN THE ONES THAT WE DON'T KNOW HAVE HAD THIS STUFF? CORRECT. OKAY. AND SO FOR THE ONES THAT DON'T HAVE IT ALL, ARE THEY ALSO GOING TO GET THE SET USAGE BILL? THIS IS FOR EVERY SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL METER. ALL SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL RECEIVE A SET USAGE BILL. OKAY. REGARDLESS OF PRESENT, BROKEN OR WORKING. OKAY. AND THEN MY LAST QUESTION, SO ANY NEW METER, SO LET'S SAY IT'S A NEW HOME AND THEY'RE GETTING A NEW WATER METER. ARE THOSE ALL GOING TO HAVE THAT CAPABILITY? YES. OKAY, GREAT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. VICE MAYOR, PRO TEM , UM, COUNCIL MEMBER ALCORN, YOU'RE BACK IN QUEUE. OKAY. I THINK I, I ENDED ON THE, THE ESTIMATES PRIOR TO HOWARD. WHAT, HOW ARE WE DOING 'EM BEFORE OPPOSED TO NOW? YEAH. TWO WAYS. ONE, THERE WAS A, UH, I'LL CALL IT A COMPLEX ALGORITHM, BUT IT, IT WAS, IT WAS SERIOUSLY FLAWED. OKAY. AND, AND HOW IT LOOKED BACK AT OVERALL DATA. AND, AND HERE'S A BIG PART OF THAT PROBLEM, IS IT DIDN'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHEN YOU HAD MULTIPLE ANOMALIES IN THE SYSTEM. OKAY. SO, FOR INSTANCE, WHEN WE HAD A HIGH BILL HERE AND THEN A HIGH BILL HERE AND A HIGH BILL THERE, IT MIGHT'VE THROWN OUT THE ONE HIGH, BUT MAYBE NOT THE OTHERS, FOR INSTANCE. IT JUST WAS SOMETHING THAT NEEDED SOME REFINING. THE OTHER SIDE OF IT THOUGH, IS WE, WE HAVE METER READERS THAT WOULD GO OUT AND FROM TIME TO TIME, WE'RE UNABLE TO LOCATE A METER, FOR INSTANCE. UH, IT'S NOT UNCOMMON THAT METERS ARE PAVED OVER IN DRIVEWAYS AND, AND YOU JUST CAN'T GET THERE TO LOOK AT IT. AND SO AT THAT POINT, SOMEONE'S GOTTA PUT A NUMBER IN AND IT'S REALLY JUST A GUESS. OKAY. UM, ARE WE DOING THESE IN-HOUSE, UM, INSTALLING THE READERS? I KNOW SOME OF IT'S IN-HOUSE AND PROBABLY SOME THIRD PARTY CONTRACTORS, OR IS IT ALL IN-HOUSE OR BOTH? IT'S A COMBINATION OF BOTH. COMBINATION OF BOTH. OKAY. AND, UM, I'VE BEEN, UH, I, I THINK I HAD ONE ON MINE AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE HAVE, UH, CALLED ME ABOUT, UM, AN ACTUAL CREDIT. IT'S LIKE, WOW. A SEWAGE CREDIT. CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THAT? YEAH. SO, UH, WHEN WE HAD THE, WHEN WE EXPERIENCED THE FREEZE AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS YEAR, MAYOR WHITMEYER DIRECTED PUBLIC WORKS TO IMPLEMENT A PROGRAM THAT WOULD FOR THE MONTHS OF JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH BILL CUSTOMERS AT THE LOWER OF THEIR DECEMBER OR THEIR 12 MONTH PREVIOUS AVERAGE. THIS WAS TO ACCOUNT FOR POTENTIAL WATER LEAKS THAT CAME ABOUT AS A RESULT OF THE FREEZE. UM, THE WAY THAT PROGRAM WORKED WAS CUSTOMERS WERE BILLED AND AT THE END OF THAT PERIOD, THEY RECEIVED A CREDIT ON THE BACKSIDE IF THEIR USAGE WAS HIGHER THAN WHAT THAT AVERAGE WAS. AND WHAT WAS IT AVERAGE OF DECEMBER. SO IT WAS EITHER BASICALLY YOUR DECEMBER BILL OR YOUR 12 MONTH AVERAGE. PRIOR TO THAT, WHICHEVER WAS LOWER. OKAY. AND THIS ALL STARTED APRIL 1ST. BUT NOBODY'S BILL, I MEAN, WILL YOU GET SOMETHING THAT, LIKE THIS IS YOUR ESTIMATE, THIS IS, THIS IS YOUR ES SET USAGE ESTIMATE ON THE MAY BILL. UM, THAT'S WHERE YOU LOOK FOR IT. CORRECT. AND THEN, AND THEN THAT'S WHEN YOU CAN GO FROM THERE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. UM, COUNCIL MEMBER AND RANDY, SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BILLS, UM, DO YOU HAVE A ESTIMATE NUMBER OF, I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE HAD HIGHLIGHT HIGH WATER BILLS. MM-HMM . WHAT WAS THAT NUMBER AND WHERE ARE WE AT RIGHT NOW ON THE NUMBER OF WATER BILLS THAT ARE OUT OF CONTROL? IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT, IT'S A, LET ME, LEMME SAY THAT'S A, IT'S A LOADED QUESTION, COUNCIL MEMBER, BECAUSE ONE OF THE ISSUES IS, UH, HIGH BILL IS RELATIVE TO EVERYBODY. MM-HMM . UM, FOR, FOR A SENIOR CITIZEN WHO LIVES ALONE, UM, $150 BILL, MAYBE REALLY HIGH TO THEM, THE NUMBER OF BILLS THAT WE HAD THAT, THAT WERE THE OUTRAGEOUS, OUTRAGEOUS AMOUNTS YOU TENDED TO SEE ON THE NEWS WERE NOT A HUGE NUMBER. WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE WHOLE SPECTRUM OF 500 OR SO THOUSAND CUSTOMERS, UM, YOU KNOW, IT'S A FEW THOUSAND. NOW PUT THAT IN PERSPECTIVE, THAT'S STILL TOO MANY. RIGHT. SO I DON'T WANT TO, I DON'T WANT TO DIMINISH THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT, BUT REALLY WHEN WE TALK ABOUT HIGH BILLS, IT'S BEEN A, IT'S BEEN A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE BECAUSE IF WE ARE CHARGING SOMEONE TWO OR THREE TIMES WHAT THEY EXPECTED AND THEY LIVE ON A FIXED INCOME, THAT MAY BE TOO MUCH. AND THIS IS A LITTLE BIT TOO, WHERE I GO AND COUNCIL MEMBER ALCO AND I GO BACK TO THE ALGORITHM. THE ALGORITHM WOULD ALLOW US TO SOMETIMES CATCH THESE THINGS IF PERHAPS YOUR USAGE WAS SIX OR EIGHT TIMES TOO HIGH. BUT, BUT THAT DOESN'T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE REALITY OF EVERYONE WHO LIVES ACROSS THE CITY. AND IT'S HARD TO DRAW THOSE LINES IN THE SAND AND SAY, HEY, WE'VE GOT A FAIR SYSTEM OR A FAIR PROGRAM IN PLACE WHEN WE'RE NOT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE VARIOUS SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS OF EVERYONE ACROSS THE CITY. OKAY. THANK YOU. BUT I WILL WORK TO GET YOU A NUMBER. YEAH, THOSE, THAT'D [00:35:01] BE GOOD TO KNOW. UM, VICE MAYOR PRO, TIM PECK. THANK YOU, CHAIR. UM, ANOTHER QUESTION, UM, FOR THE LEAK ALERTS, UM, FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE GETTING THE ELECTRONIC WATER BILLS, ARE THEY AUTOMATICALLY GOING TO BE ENTERED INTO THE LEAK ALERT? YES. OR IS THAT SOMETHING THAT THEY WOULD STILL HAVE TO SIGN UP FOR? YES, THERE'S GONNA BE AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATIONS THAT GO ALONG WITH THE LEAK ALERT SYSTEM. OKAY. SO THEY DON'T, SO PEOPLE DON'T HAVE TO REGISTER FOR THAT LEGAL ALERT. IT'S JUST AUTOMATICALLY GOING TO BE, THAT'S ACTUALLY A, THAT'S ACTUALLY AN INTERNAL SYSTEM ON OUR SIDE. THERE WILL BE ADDITIONAL ALERTS, PEOPLE CAN SIGN UP FOR THEMSELVES. BUT PART OF OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS INCLUDE OUR ABILITY TO NOW PROACTIVELY NOTIFY CUSTOMERS WHEN WE SEE SOMETHING ANOMALOUS ON OUR SIDE. THE NEW REMOTE READ DEVICES THAT ARE GOING INTO THE GROUND ACTUALLY ALLOW US TO MORE CLOSELY MONITOR WHAT THESE USAGE IS. AND SO IF WE SEE THAT THERE'S A CONTINUOUS FLOW OF WATER THROUGH A METER FOR A 24 HOUR PERIOD, THERE'S A PRETTY GOOD CHANCE THAT THERE'S A LEAK SOMEWHERE. IT COULD BE AS SIMPLE AS A, AS A BROKEN FLAPPER ON A COMMODE, IT COULD BE A SPRINKLER HEAD, IT COULD BE ALL SORTS OF THINGS. BUT AT THAT POINT, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE CONTACTING THE CUSTOMER, SAYING, YOU, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM. AND WE'RE GONNA DO THAT IN EVERY WAY WE POSSIBLY CAN BY PHONE, BY MAIL, UM, IF WE NEED TO SEND TECHNICIANS OUT ON SITE TO DO SO. BUT WE ARE SHIFTING OUR MINDSET FROM BEING REACTIVE IN FIXING PROBLEMS THAT WENT OUT TO, WE WANT TO STOP PROBLEMS FROM HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE. MM-HMM . OKAY. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER RAMIREZ. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. UH, RANDY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VERY EXCELLENT PRESENTATION. VERY IMPRESSIVE. AND I'M GOING TO DO WHAT I CAN TO GET THIS OUT TO, UM, MY CONSTITUENTS, AND I'M SURE EVERYBODY ELSE IS, BUT THANK YOU FOR THIS. A COUPLE QUESTIONS. UM, SO I KNOW WE HAVEN'T HAD THIS PLAN FOR VERY LONG, BUT CAN YOU SPEAK TO HOW IT'S COMING ALONG AS FAR AS REPLACING THE FAULTY WATER METERS OR THE METER READERS, I SHOULD SAY? YEAH. SO, SO FAR, YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAVE THREE WEEKS. WE BASICALLY COMPUTE ALL OF OUR DATA AT THE END OF THREE WEEKS. SO AT THE END, BY THE END OF LAST WEEK, WE HAD REPLACED 8,758, UH, JUST SO FAR THIS MONTH. SO FROM APRIL 1ST TO APRIL 19TH, 8,000 7 58, OUR TARGET WAS 7,450. OKAY. WELL, CONGRATULATIONS. UH, YOU, YOU'D SET A TARGET THAT WOULD ALLOW US TO REPLACE ALL OF THEM BY THE END OF THE YEAR. IS THAT CORRECT? THAT'S CORRECT. SO IN THE SHORT PERIOD THAT, THAT WE'VE BEEN DOING THIS, WE'RE A LITTLE BIT AHEAD OF SCHEDULE, IS FAIR TO SAY? THAT'S RIGHT. OKAY, WONDERFUL. NOW, UM, OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF FOLKS HAVE BEEN OVERBUILD, UH, BY, BY A, A BIG MARGIN. UH, CAN YOU SPEAK TO WHETHER OR NOT, UM, ONCE WE GO TO THIS, UH, AVERAGE BILLING, WE'LL BE ABLE TO, TO, UM, RECEIVE THE, THE REVENUE THAT WE'RE EXPECTED TO RECEIVE GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF WATER THAT THAT PEOPLE CONSUME? OR, OR WILL IT BE LESS OR MORE? YEAH, AND HELP ME, I WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND. YOUR QUESTION IS, IS YOUR QUESTION, WILL WE TRY AND CATCH UP IF FOR SOME REASON SOMEONE USED MORE WATER THAN WHAT WE WERE BILLING THEM FOR? NO, I, I GUESS LOOKING, LOOKING GLOBALLY AT THE, AT THE WHOLE PICTURE. SURE. UM, I, I, CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT IT, THE DEPARTMENT IS DESIGNED TO BILL ONLY, ONLY, UH, THE AMOUNT, UH, OF WATER THAT'S USED, RIGHT? CORRECT. SO ARE WE GONNA BE ABLE TO, TO DO THAT? OR WILL WE BE LOSING MONEY? UM, WHEN ALL THIS IS SAID AND DONE, THERE IS WITHOUT A DOUBT A INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT THAT'S GOING INTO PLACE RIGHT NOW. UM, I CAN FINISH RIGHT? YOU GO AHEAD. YEAH. THE BELL SCARES ME. SO, UM, THERE'S, THERE'S WITHOUT A DOUBT AN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT THAT'S GOING INTO PLACE RIGHT NOW. THERE MAY BE SOME SHORT TERM REVENUE LOSS WHILE WE GO INTO THIS AVERAGE BILLING PERIOD, BUT MOVING FORWARD, THEN WE'RE GONNA BE BILLING PEOPLE FOR EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS, WATER IN, WATER OUT. THAT'S WHAT YOUR BILL IS GOING TO BE. UM, WE ARE NOT GOING TO CATCH UP THOUGH. SO FOR INSTANCE, WE'VE SET SOMEONE ON AN AVERAGE HERE. WE SAID, THIS IS WHAT IT IS. PART OF THAT IS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE THIS PREDICTABILITY, THIS STABILITY, WHILE WE'RE GOING THROUGH THE INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES. WE'RE NOT GONNA COME BACK IF WE FIND OUT THAT SOMEONE USED MORE AND, AND, AND TRY AND, AND PLAY CATCH UP, BECAUSE FRANKLY, THAT'S THE EXACT SCENARIO THAT GOT US TO THIS SPOT IN THE FIRST PLACE. OKAY. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER COSTELLO. THANK YOU CHAIR. AND THANK YOU, RANDY, FOR THE DETAILED PRESENTATION. I APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT SHIFTING TO A MORE PROACTIVE, UM, POSTURE. CAN YOU SPEAK MORE TO, YOU KNOW, WHEN YOU ARE ALERTED THAT THERE'S A POTENTIAL LEAK, HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO REACH OUT TO THE CUSTOMER? IS THERE A DESIGNATED AMOUNT OF TIME BEFORE THAT'S DONE, OR HOW DOES THAT WORK? OUR GOAL IS GONNA BE TO DO THIS WITHIN A BUSINESS DAY PERIOD. RIGHT. IF WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO SEE THAT THERE'S A PROBLEM, THEN WE NEED TO BE IN A POSITION TO MAKE THAT FIRST ALERT HOWEVER IT GOES. [00:40:01] UM, NOW OUR SUCCESS IN GETTING SOMEONE ON THE PHONE, FRANKLY, IS PROBABLY GONNA BE RELATIVELY LOW. RIGHT? MOST PEOPLE SCREEN THEIR CALLS, UM, I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S GOING TO SAY WHEN IT POPS UP ON THE CALLER ID, BUT, BUT CHANCES OF GETTING THROUGH TO SOMEONE RIGHT AWAY COULD BE, COULD BE RELATIVELY LOW. THAT'S WHY WE ALSO HAVE AN OMNICHANNEL SORT OF APPROACH TO THIS. LET'S SEND OUT A, A LETTER TO THEM, MAKE SURE THAT THEY GET THAT JUST THE SAME WAY THEY GET THEIR WATER BILLS. LET'S MAKE SURE IF WE HAVE A VALID EMAIL ADDRESS ON FILE, WE CAN DO THAT. CUSTOMERS WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO OPT INTO A TEXT ALERT. OH, GREAT. SO WE'LL BE ABLE TO TEXT THEM AS WELL AND FIND THAT OUT. UM, BUT WE WANT TO TAKE ALL APPROACHES THAT WE POSSIBLY CAN TO BE PROACTIVE. AND THEN WHEN YOU COUPLE THIS WITH THE CHANGES THAT WE PUT INTO PLACE LAST DECEMBER, UM, CUSTOMERS WHO ARE THEN PROACTIVE IN REPAIRING THEIR, THEIR DAMAGED INFRASTRUCTURE, WHATEVER IT'S GONNA BE, WILL BE ABLE TO RECEIVE THE APPROPRIATE CREDIT FOR THE REPAIR DONE IN A TIMELY FASHION. SO IT'S REALLY A WIN-WIN ON BOTH SIDES. THAT'S GREAT TO HEAR. AND I'M, I'M GLAD TEXTING IS A PART OF THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, OPTIONS OF REACHING OUT TO FOLKS, BECAUSE THAT'S PROBABLY HOW YOU'RE GONNA GET MOST OF YOUR CUSTOMERS IS THROUGH A TEXT MESSAGE. SO, GOOD TO HEAR, AND THANK YOU. YEP. COUNCIL MEMBER AL COHEN. THANK YOU, CHAIR. FOLLOWING UP ON COUNCIL MEMBER RAMIREZ'S LINE OF QUESTIONING, AND I DID ASK THAT DURING THE BRIEFING ABOUT OUR EXPECTED KIND OF LOSS THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE ON, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE, UM, DO UNDERESTIMATE, AND I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT, BUT DO YOU HAVE A RANGE OF DOLLAR FIGURE OF ESTIMATE OF WHAT I KNOW I GOT, I I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THE NUMBER WAS IN THE BRIEFING, BUT, UM, WHAT WE EXPECT THAT HIT TO BE ON THE CUS? IT, IT COULD, IT COULD BE AS HIGH AS $36 MILLION YEAH. IN THE QUARTER. UM, YEAH, NOW I REMEMBER IT WAS A BIG NUMBER. YEAH. IT, IT IS A BIG NUMBER ON THE REVENUE SIDE. UH, PUT IN PERSPECTIVE, PERHAPS NOT AS BIG A NUMBER WHEN YOU TAKE IN THE ENTIRE COMBINED UTILITY SYSTEM AND, AND, AND THE OVERALL REVENUE. BUT I'D ALSO SAY, INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH, WHEN WE FORECAST OUR REVENUE MODELS, WE REALLY FORECAST WHAT THAT REVENUE'S GONNA BE BASED OFF OF AVERAGE USAGE. SO NOW WE'RE GONNA BE BILLING PEOPLE ON AVERAGE USAGE, AND WE FEEL LIKE IT'S PROBABLY GONNA BE LESS SIGNIFICANT THAN THAT. BUT IN A WORST CASE SCENARIO, THAT'S WHAT WE THINK. OKAY. THANK YOU. THAT'S HELPFUL. MM-HMM . I I SPOKE AT A SUPER NEIGHBORHOOD THE OTHER NIGHT AND THEY HAD SEVERAL QUESTIONS. UM, I WAS REMINDED, I I THINK YOU COVERED A LOT OF IT, BUT ONE, UM, YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW, IF IT'S ESTIMATED AND YOU KNOW IF IT'S ACCURATE, THAT'S WRITTEN ON YOUR BILL, THAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN ON YOUR BILL. THAT'S CORRECT. THAT'S ALWAYS DONE. UM, SOMEBODY ASKED, WHAT IF YOU HAD WRONG READINGS FOR MORE THAN 36 MONTHS BACK? I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY THAT'LL BE BORNE OUT WHEN THE NEW READS CORRECT. COME IN, UM, AND THEY'LL MAKE IT UP FROM THEN. UM, BUT WHAT ABOUT IS, DO YOU HAVE ONE ELECTRONIC DEVICE FOR BOTH IRRIGATION AND DOMESTIC METERS, OR IS IT STILL ONE ESTIMATED READ? HOW DOES THE IRRIGATION IMPACT E EACH METER IS GONNA REQUIRE ITS OWN REMOTE READ DEVICE. OKAY. SO YOU'LL HAVE SEPARATE ONE CORRECT. FOR IRRIGATION. UM, AND THEN OTHER CITIES CALL IN METER READ, LIKE, LIKE PEOPLE, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS, BUT LIKE THE RESIDENT JUST SAY, HEY, MY WATER BILL, MY USAGE IS THIS. I MEAN, I NEVER, I MEAN, DO WE, I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY WE DON'T DO THAT. DO WE TRUST EVERYBODY TO CALL IN THE RIGHT NUMBER? I MEAN, DO WE HAVE ANY PLANS FOR THAT OR ANY, WE, WE, WHEN, WHEN A CUSTOMER CALLS IN, THEY SAID, HEY, I'VE GOT, I'M LOOKING AT MY METER AND IT DOESN'T MATCH WHAT YOU PUT ON THE BILL. WE'RE GONNA SEND SOMEONE OUT THERE TO MAKE A VERIFICATION OF THAT. SURE. NO, WE'RE NOT GONNA ACCEPT, YOU'RE NOT GONNA ACCEPT JUST, UM, SOME CITIES DO APPARENTLY OUT THERE. I'VE GOT SOME MORE, BUT IF THERE'S OTHER PEOPLE, JUST A COUPLE MORE. UM, WE CAN PUT CONFIRM. YEAH, YOU CAN GO BACK. KEEP GOING. UH, HOW DO OUR RATES COMPARE TO OTHER CITIES? AND, AND WE DID THIS WHEN WE RAISED THE WATER RATES. I HAVE THAT INFORMATION, BUT JUST OFF THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD, I'M ASSUMING WE'RE A LITTLE HIGHER BECAUSE OF THE CONSENT DECREE. UM, BUT CAN YOU SPEAK TO THAT? THE REALITY IS, COUNCIL MEMBER, WE'RE ACTUALLY STILL A LITTLE BIT LOWER THAN MOST PEOPLE. OKAY. OKAY. UM, AND THAT'S FRANKLY WHY WE'RE IN THE CONSENT DECREE PROBLEM THAT WE'RE IN, IS WE HAVE HISTORICALLY BEEN A LOW WATER RATE CITY. UM, NOW THAT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S NOT PAINFUL WHEN WE HAVE THE INCREASES. AND I, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT BECAUSE THAT'S SOMETHING THAT CHANGES. BUT, UM, THE AMOUNT OF IN, UH, INVESTMENT IN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE THAT WE NEED TO MAKE DOES NOT MATCH THE AMOUNT OF REVENUE WE HAVE COMING IN. THAT'S GONNA CONTINUE TO BE A PROBLEM FOR US. RIGHT. DO YOU HAVE A CHART THAT KIND OF LAYS OUT, CAN OTHER CITIES? I, WE DO. I I CAN GET THAT TO YOU. OKAY, GREAT. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, RANDY. THANK YOU. GREAT PRESENTATION. UM, APPRECIATE EVERYTHING AGAIN, WHAT, UM, SOLID, UM, PUBLIC WORKS IS DOING TO ADDRESS THIS PRESSING ISSUE. UM, SO WE'RE GONNA MOVE ON TO OUR NEXT PRESENTATION. OH, YOU HAVE SOME, WHICH IS OKAY. WHICH IS ANOTHER PRESSING ISSUE. BUSTED PIPES. UM, SO WE'RE GONNA HAVE GREG ILEY, DIRECTOR OF HOUSTON WATER, AND GABRIEL CIO, SENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DRINKING WATER OPERATIONS, [00:45:01] GONNA ASK YOU TO COME ON UP TO THE PODIUM. WELCOME. THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE. WE'RE TRYING TO GET THIS PRESENTATION UP AND GOING. GIVE US A SEC. THANK YOU. [00:52:01] WE CAN GO AHEAD AND, UM, GET STARTED AND JUST GO AHEAD AND, UM, USE THE PRESENTATIONS IN FRONT OF US. OKAY. OKAY. WE, WE ACTUALLY PULLED THE PRESENTATION UP ON OUR CELL PHONE HERE. OKAY. SO, AND WE HAVE SOME COPIES IF YOU NEED A HARD COPY. OKAY. WE'LL GO AHEAD AND GET STARTED. MY NAME IS, UH, GOOD, GOOD AFTERNOON, MADAM CHAIR, COUNCIL MEMBERS AND STAFF. MY NAME IS GREG LEY. I AM THE DIRECTOR OF HOUSTON WATER. AND MY NAME IS GABRIEL CIA. I'M THE SENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF DRINKING WATER OPERATIONS, AND WE ARE GOING TO PRESENT ON OUR LEAK REPAIR PROGRAM. AND, UH, I'M GONNA PRESENT ON, UH, A KIND OF BROADER TOPICS RELATED, UH, TO HOUSTON WATER AND WHERE LEAKS FIT IN THAT. AND I'LL, I'LL TALK ABOUT FIXING OR FIX, UH, FIXING THE LEAK PROBLEM LONG TERM. AND, UH, GABRIEL WILL FOCUS ON WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW TO FIX LEAKS. SO, WITH THAT, UM, WE'LL JUST MOVE THROUGH OUR PRESENTATION. UH, WATER UTILITIES IN, UH, TEXAS ARE UNIQUE. UH, TEXAS ITSELF IS UNIQUE. UH, WE ONLY HAVE ONE NATURAL LAKE IN THE ENTIRE STATE. UH, WE HAVE NEARLY 7,000, UH, RESERVOIRS, 6,976 TO BE EXACT. THE DAMS ON THOSE RESERVOIRS. UH, PRIMARY FUNCTION IS TO HOLD WATER FOR DRINKING WATER USE, UH, NOT FOR FLOOD CONTROL. UH, IN 2023, UH, TEXAS, UH, CONTINUES TO HAVE A RAPID, UH, GROWTH WEIGHT RATE O OVER DOUBLE OF WHAT, UH, OTHER, THE NATIONAL AVERAGES. AND WE'VE HAD NEARLY 500,000 PEOPLE MOVE TO THE STATE. AND THOUGH HOUSTON IS NOT THE FASTEST GROWING CITY AS A PERCENTAGE, UH, WE STILL HAVE THE MOST PEOPLE MOVE TO OUR CITY. UM, AND NOT ONE OF THE FOLKS THAT DID MOVE TO TEXAS, UH, THEY DIDN'T BRING ANY WATER WITH THEM. UH, SO, UH, SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND HOUSTON AS A CITY RELATIVE TO OTHER CITIES IN THE STATE AND OTHER REGIONS OF THE STATE WITH RESPECT TO WATER IS IN A STRONGER POSITION. UH, WE HAVE BETTER ACCESS TO WATER BASED ON OUR PROXIMITY, AND A LOT OF WATER JUST FLOWS FROM NORTH TO SOUTH IN, UH, OUR AREA, HOUSTON WATER AS A UTILITY. UH, WE GET, UH, OUR SOURCE WATER, UH, FROM TWO MAIN SUPPLIES, UH, THE SAN JACINTO RIVER AND THE TRINITY RIVER. THOSE RIVERS, UH, SUPPLY, UH, OUR LAKES, UH, THEY, THEY SUPPLY, UH, LAKE CONROE, WHERE WE HAVE A MAJORITY OF THE WATER RIGHTS LAKE LEVINSTEIN, THE SAME SITUATION THERE. AND THAT FLOWS INTO LAKE HOUSTON, WHICH IS OUR PRIMARY SOURCE, UH, FOR SOURCE WATER. AND WE ALSO DRAW, DRAW A PORTION OF OUR WATER FROM AQUIFERS. UH, WE HAVE OUR PURIFICATION PROCESS, UH, THE NEW, THE NORTHEAST PLANT, [00:55:01] WHICH, YOU KNOW, HAS BEEN IN THE MEDIA QUITE A BIT. IT'S EXPANDED TO 80, UH, MILLION GALLONS PER DAY. UH, HOWEVER, WE ONLY DRAW A SMALL PORTION OF THAT WATER, SO ABOUT 20% OF THAT WATER COMES TO HOUSTON. UM, OUR MAIN WATER SUPPLY IS COMING FROM THE EAST PLANT, SO ABOUT 300 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY COMES FROM OUR EAST PLANT. AND SO THAT PLANT IS DEDICATED TO HOUSTON, UH, WITH SOME INDUSTRIAL CUSTOMERS. UH, THE SOUTH, UH, EAST PLANT, UH, PRODUCES ABOUT 200 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY, AND WE DRAW ABOUT 40% OF THAT WATER. AND, UH, WE HAVE 69, UH, GROUND WATER FACILITIES. AND GABRIEL, WHAT, WHAT IS OUR TOTAL THAT COMES OUT OF THE GROUNDWATER FACILITIES? UH, DURING PEAK SUMMER DEMANDS ABOUT 200 MILLION GALLONS A DAY OUTTA THE GROUNDWATER WELLS. SO WE'RE THROWING A LOT OF BIG NUMBERS UP HERE. UH, WHEN YOU ADD ALL THOSE NUMBERS UP, IT, IT'S, UH, REACH IS CLOSE TO 1 BILLION GALLONS PER DAY. UH, WE ALSO HAVE 7,000 MILES OF, UH, TRANSMISSION, UH, LINES AND PIPE. AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT TODAY. UM, CHALLENGES THAT WE HAVE, UM, WE HAVE CHALLENGES WITH OUR SOURCE WATER. I MENTIONED BEFORE ALL THE PEOPLE MOVING HERE. UH, WE ARE IN GOOD POSITION FOR WATER RIGHTS, BUT WE ONLY HAVE A LIMITED AMOUNT OF WATER. UH, ALSO OUR TRANSMISSION FROM OUR RESERVOIRS TO OUR TREATMENT PLANTS. THOSE WERE, SOME OF OUR CHALLENGES ARE, UM, WE'LL TALK ABOUT 50 YEARS AND, AND WHAT OUR CHALLENGES ARE HERE IN JUST A MOMENT. UH, BUT WE ALSO HAVE A CANAL AS WELL THAT FEEDS AS A REDUNDANT WATER SUPPLY TO OUR PLANTS. UH, PURIFICATION, I MENTIONED THE THREE PLANTS. UH, THE EAST PLANT IN PARTICULAR, UH, PLANTS ONE AND TWO OF THE EAST PLANT. IT'S MADE UP OF THREE PLANTS. IT PLANTS ONE AND TWO ARE END AT THE END OF THEIR ASSET LIFE. THOSE PLANTS NEED TO BE REPLACED. AND THEN IN DISTRIBUTION, AS WE KNOW, UH, PORTIONS OF OUR DIS DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IS IN NEED OF LONG-TERM REPLACEMENT, AND THAT IS WHY WE'RE SEEING A LOT OF LEAKS. UH, THE NEXT SLIDE IS THE AGE OF WATER LINES AND U THE UTILITY. AS YOU CAN SEE, WE HAVE WATER LINES THAT ARE OVER A HUNDRED YEARS OLD. AND, UH, THE MAJORITY OF OUR LINES, UH, ARE NEWER. UM, WE LIKE TO USE 50 YEARS AS, UH, A NUMBER FOR AS FAR AS WE WANNA PUSH THE ASSET LIFE FOR PIPE. NOW, THE PIPE MATERIAL, HOW IT WAS CONSTRUCTED, UM, THOSE ALL PLAY FACTORS INTO HOW LONG WATER PIPE, UH, LAST. SO REMEMBER THE 50 YEARS AGAIN, ADDRESSING HOUSTON WATER'S CHALLENGES, UH, LONG TERM IS, UH, WE NEED A PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM WHERE WE'RE REPLACING TWO TO 3% OF OUR PIPE ON A ANNUAL BASIS. WHAT THAT REPRESENTS IS ABOUT $80 MILLION PER PERCENT. SO THAT WOULD BE AN INVESTMENT OF 160 MILLION TO $240 MILLION OF PIPE REPLACEMENT IN THE NEXT 30 TO 50 YEARS, DEPENDING ON HOW, HOW QUICKLY WE NEED TO REPLACE OUR PIPE, WHICH IS AS QUICK AS WE CAN. UH, WE NEED TO REHABILITATE AND EXPAND OUR EAST PLANT. UH, WE NEED TO REHABIL CONTINUE TO INVEST AND REHABILITATE OUR SOUTHEAST PLANT, AND, UH, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANY EXPANSION OPPORTUNITIES. THERES, AND WE NEED BOTH REDUNDANCY AND REPLACEMENT OF OUR RAW WATER LINES. REMEMBER, I USED 50 YEARS AS A STANDARD. OUR RAW WATER LINE CALLED THE SIWA BEELINE COASTAL WATER AUTHORITY BEELINE WAS INSTALLED IN 1974. THAT IS OUR MAIN, UH, SUPPLY TO OUR EAST PLANT THAT IS 50 YEARS OLD. THAT LINE, WE DON'T KNOW THE CONDITION OF IT BECAUSE WE CAN'T TAKE IT OFFLINE. AND THAT, UH, LINE NEEDS, UH, REDUNDANCY. SO WE NEED TO INSTALL A SECOND LINE. WE DO HAVE A PROJECT COMING UP THAT WE WILL BE TALKING ABOUT IN THE FUTURE. IT'S A $300 MILLION PROJECT TO INSTALL A, AN ADDITIONAL LINE, AND THEN WE CAN TAKE THAT LINE DOWN, INSPECT AND REHAB THAT LINE, UH, RE UH, RECRUITING AND, UH, PREPARING OUR WORKFORCE TO WORK, RETRAINING OUR WORKFORCE. WE HAVE 330 OPEN POSITIONS IN HOUSTON WATER, UH, THAT IS VERY PROBLEMATIC IN MANY WAYS. IT SLOWS DOWN OUR DELIVERY OF SERVICE, OUR RESPONSE TIMES. WE ALSO HAVE TO CONTRACT OUT MORE WORK, UH, TO OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS AT A HIGHER EXPENSE. WE ALSO BRING IN STAFF AUGMENTATION FOR ENGINEERING POSITIONS, AND THAT IS ALSO AT A HIGHER EXPENSE. SO WE NEED TO, UH, RESOLVE THE GAP WITH OUR HUMAN RESOURCES. PRESENTLY, WE NEED TO LEVERAGE, UH, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, WHICH WE ALREADY ARE DOING THAT. AND DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGIES THAT [01:00:01] WILL HELP US NOT ONLY SPEED UP OUR DECISIONS IN MAKING, UH, ACCURATE DECISIONS WITH MODELING. IT WILL HELP US, UH, FILL SOME OF THOSE HUMAN RESOURCE GAPS. WE ARE ALREADY DOING THAT ON THE WASTEWATER SIDE, WHERE WE'VE SAVED OVER 30,000 STAFF HOURS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS. SO HOW MUCH DOES, UH, HOUSTON WATER COST? UH, HERE'S SOME RELATIVE VALUES OF HOUSTON WATER. UH, A COSTCO PACK OF 40 PACK OF WATER COST $7 AND 49 CENTS. IF YOU WERE TO TAKE THAT $7 AND 49 CENTS WORTH OF WATER OUT OF YOUR TAP, UH, OF HOUSTON WATER, YOU'D BE ABLE TO FILL 9,987 BOTTLES OF WATER. UM, AND HOUSTON WATER WAS VOTED THE BEST TASTING WATER IN TEXAS IN 2023. UH, THE AVERAGE COST OF A CELL PHONE PLAN RANGES FROM $62 TO $166, DEPENDING ON WHETHER YOUR PHONE IS PAID FOR OR NOT. I JUST GOT A TEXT MESSAGE THAT I OWE MY $98 67 CENTS, UH, PHONE BILL. THE AVERAGE, UH, HOUSTON WATER BILL, UH, NOT TALKING ABOUT THESE BILLING ISSUES, BUT THE AVERAGE, UH, HOUSTON WATER BILL FALLS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 40, UH, $8 AND $120 IN MOST CASES. SO THAT'S HOW MUCH WATER DOES COST. WITH THAT, GABE, LET'S TALK ABOUT LEAK PROGRAM. SURE. THANK YOU. SO, UH, I'M GONNA TALK ABOUT WHAT WE'RE DOING TO TRY TO OPTIMIZE OUR LEAK REP, LEAK REPAIR PROGRAM AND, UM, THE CREWS THAT ARE OUT THERE DOING THAT WORK. SO, UH, ONE, ONE OF THE WAYS THAT WE'RE DOING THAT IS ALL OF OUR WORK IS PERFORMED, UM, AND MANAGED OUT OF A WORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM CALLED M FOUR PUBLIC SECTOR. AND THERE'S A LOT OF GREAT DATA IN THERE, BUT HISTORICALLY SPEAKING, WE NEVER REALLY DID A WHOLE LOT WITH THAT DATA. SO WE'RE STARTING TO PLUG THAT INTO, UM, OUR, OUR POWER BI BUSINESS ANALYTICS SOFTWARE AND, UH, CREATING DASHBOARDS THAT GIVE US A BETTER IDEA OF, OF HOW MANY CREWS WE HAVE OUT THERE, HOW MANY REPAIRS ARE DOING A DAY. UH, AND THAT WAY WE CAN, WE CAN IDENTIFY THE BOTTLENECKS AND DETERMINE WHAT WE NEED TO DO IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THAT SYSTEM. UH, THE, THE DASHBOARD THAT YOU SEE HERE SHOWS A LOT OF GREAT DATA. UM, AT ANY GIVEN TIME, WE HAVE ABOUT 18 TO 19 INTERNAL REPAIR CREWS. RIGHT NOW WE HAVE ABOUT EIGHT TO 10, UM, CONTRACTOR REPAIR CREWS. THIS IS ON A WEEKDAY, UM, CONTRACTOR REPAIR CREWS. WE'RE TRYING TO BRING 'EM UP, BUT AS MANY OF Y'ALL ARE AWARE, IN THIS PAST FALL, WE HAD A SITUATION OCCUR THAT, UH, HAD IMPACTED OUR CAPA CONTRACTUAL CAPACITIES. UM, NEXT SLIDE ON THE, THE, OH, SO ON THE SHEET OF PAPER. I DON'T KNOW. I THINK, UH, UH, CAN WE HIT NEXT SLIDE? I'M SORRY. YEAH. THERE YOU GO. THERE YOU GO. OKAY. UH, SO THIS DASHBOARD IS ONE THAT WE'RE HOPING TO PUBLISH TO THE PUBLIC THAT WOULD SHOW OUR BACKLOG OF LEAKS. IT WOULD SHOW IT TO, IT WOULD BREAK IT DOWN. UM, WE'RE LOOKING TO BREAK IT DOWN BY, UH, UM, YOU KNOW, ALL WEEKS AND EVERY DAY THEY CAN SEE HOW MANY REPAIRS ARE COMING IN OR HOW MANY LEAKS ARE COMING IN, AND THEN HOW MANY REPAIRS WE'RE PERFORMING. SO RIGHT NOW WE WE'RE AT A BACKLOG OF 1,144, UH, OPEN REPAIR WORK ORDERS. UH, THAT'S COMING DOWN FROM 1000, A LITTLE OVER 1,500, UH, BACK IN FEBRUARY. AND, UH, UNFORTUNATELY RIGHT NOW WE COUNT LEAKS AS OUR OPEN REPAIR WORK ORDERS. UH, BUT ROUGHLY LIKE 85% OF THOSE ARE ACTUALLY LEAKING ASSETS. THE REST OF THEM ARE USUALLY, UH, WORK GENERATED BY INTERNAL CREWS OR, OR, YOU KNOW, SOMEBODY CALLING IN THAT, YOU KNOW, A CAR HIT A HYDRANT. UH, IT'S NOT REALLY LEAKING 'CAUSE THE, THE, THE FLANGE, YOU KNOW, STOPPED THE LEAK FROM OCCURRING. BUT IT'S, IT'S A HYDRANT WE NOW HAVE TO REPAIR. SO WE ARE WORKING ON OPTIMIZING THAT SO THAT THERE ARE EITHER RADIO BUTTONS OR SOME KIND OF, YOU KNOW, LITTLE, LITTLE DROPDOWN THAT THEY CAN SELECT TO SAY THIS IS A LEAKING ACID. SO HISTORICALLY WE HAD NOT BEEN, UH, UH, TRACKING THAT FOR THE OPEN REPAIR WORK ORDERS. SO WHEN WE SAY HOW MANY LEAKS WE HAVE, IT'S BASED ON HOW MANY OPEN REPAIR WORK ORDERS WE HAVE, AND WE'RE, LOOK, WE'RE WORKING TO IMPROVE THAT, THAT, UH, UM, TELL 'EM NEXT SLIDE. YEAH, NEXT SLIDE. I'M SORRY. YEAH. SO WHAT ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE DOING? WELL, THE FIRST ONE, UH, TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS, THE FIRST ONE IS WE'RE IMPROVING OUR CONTRACT MANAGEMENT FOR OUR, OUR CON CONTRACTORS THAT DO OUR REPAIRS. UM, AS Y'ALL ARE AWARE, BECAUSE OF WHAT HAPPENED, UH, RECENTLY IN THE FALL, UH, WE ARE, UM, OUR, OUR, BASICALLY, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO ASCERTAIN WHAT WAS GOING ON, UH, WAS BECAUSE A LOT OF THE PROCESSES WERE PAPER, YOU KNOW, THE, THE PAPER PROCESSES AND WHATEVER DIGITAL PROCESSES THERE WERE, IT WAS LIKE SINGLE SPREADSHEETS WITH ONE, YOU KNOW, AMONG DIFFERENT INSPECTORS OR PROJECT MANAGERS. YEAH. GABER, CAN YOU JUST ELABORATE ON WHAT HAPPENED THIS FALL? 'CAUSE EVERYBODY DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THIS FALL. OKAY. I'M SORRY ABOUT THAT. SURE. SO, UNFORTUNATELY, UH, HOUSTON WATER WOUND UP ON THE, THE NEWS, LOCAL NEWS, UH, BECAUSE OF MISMANAGEMENT OF EMERGENCY [01:05:01] PURCHASE ORDERS TO PERFORM REPAIRS, UH, TO ADDRESS LEAKS. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, UH, A A LOT HAD TO CHANGE, UH, PRETTY QUICKLY. AND, UH, AND ONE OF THOSE WAS WE HAD TO STOP WORK WITH NUMEROUS CONTRACTORS THAT, THAT WE WERE, UM, UM, DEALING WITH. AND, UH, WE HAD TO CHANGE OUR PROCESSES SO THAT WE DON'T WIND UP IN THE SAME SITUATION AGAIN. AND THAT'S GONNA BE PART OF WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. YEAH. HERE. SURE. THANK YOU. UM, AND, UH, ANOTHER IMPROVEMENT WE'RE IMPLEMENTING IS IMPROVED REPORTING. SO, LIKE I MENTIONED EARLIER, UH, THERE WAS NO REAL WAY TO DETERMINE WHAT OPEN REPAIR WORK ORDER WAS ASSIGNED TO A LEAK. UH, THERE, THERE IS A WAY THE SERVICE, THERE IS A DATA POINT, BUT IT'S NOT VERY EASY TO USE. SO WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING TO FIND ALTERNATIVES THAT MAKE IT EASY FOR THE CREWS OUT IN THE FIELD TO MARK A WORK ORDER. AND THAT WAY WE KNOW RIGHT AWAY, OKAY, THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT WE'RE DEALING WITH. UM, AND THEN OF COURSE, THE USE OF DATA ANALYTICS. SO YOU SEE THE TWO DASHBOARDS, YOU KNOW, THOSE ARE HELPING US, UH, UH, IDENTIFY OUR BOTTLENECKS AND TRY TO IMPROVE UPON THEM. WE WERE NOT DOING THAT BEFORE. UM, SO ADDITIONAL, UM, OH, NEXT SLIDE. SORRY. THANK YOU. SO WE'RE ALSO IN THE PROCESS OF PROCURING SEVEN WATERLINE CONTRACTS. UH, THEY'RE TOTALING ABOUT $35 MILLION, AND THEY WE'RE EXPECTING THEM TO BE AWARDED SOMETIME AROUND SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER, 2024. UH, TIMELINE, UH, WE'RE, WE'RE WE, THIS, THESE ARE GONNA BE A MIX OF COMPETITIVE AND LOW BID. TRADITIONALLY, WE'VE ALWAYS DONE LOW BID IN THE PAST, UH, BUT THAT HAS ITS OWN CHALLENGES. SO WE, WE, WE WENT, WE WENT AHEAD AND STARTED USING LOW BID BECAUSE IT OVERALL IMPROVES CONTRACTOR AVAILABILITY AND COMPETITION IN THE HOUSTON MARKET. UM, WE ALSO ADDED ADDITIONAL PROCUREMENT CONTROLS. SO AGAIN, BECAUSE OF THE, UH, SITUATION THAT WE FOUND OURSELVES IN IN THE FALL, UH, WE HAVE GROUPS OUTSIDE OF DRINKING WATER AND EVEN HOUSTON WATER WHO ARE ASSISTING US WITH PROCURING THESE CONTRACTS AND MONITORING THE, UH, PROCUREMENT PROCESS TO MAKE SURE WE DON'T WIND UP IN A SIMILAR SITUATION. UM, AND THEN WE'VE ALSO IMPROVED THE CONTRACT LANGUAGE SO THAT WE CAN HAVE CONTRACTS MORE READILY AVAILABLE. UH, CONTRACTORS ARE MORE READILY AVAILABLE ON WEEKENDS AND AT NIGHT AND, UH, YOU KNOW, BE ABLE TO RESPOND, UH, BETTER RESPONSE TIMES, INCLUDING A CONTRACT SPECIALIZED FOR THE GREATER NORTHEAST, UH, HOUSTON SERVICE AREA, WHICH HAS HISTORICALLY BEEN, UH, AN AREA THAT IS DIFFICULT TO GET TO BECAUSE IT'S, IT'S GENERALLY FAR FROM CENTRAL HOUSTON. AND AS WE ALL KNOW, WE PARTED WAYS WITH INFRA MARK WHO WAS THE OPERATOR IN THAT AREA. UH, AND IT HAS BEEN CHALLENGING TO, TO BRING ON BOARD THE, THE, THE, THE RESOURCES IN A WAY THAT WE CAN IMPROVE OUR RESPONSE TIME. SO WE BELIEVE THIS WOULD HELP. UM, AND, UH, AND WHEN ON, UH, ONE MORE NOTE BEFORE I PASS IT OFF TO GREG, IS THAT, UH, UH, UM, YEAH, YOU KNOW, LIKE GREG WAS TALKING ABOUT, UH, ONE OF THE, THE, THE LARGE ISSUES THAT WE HAVE INTERNALLY IS WITH OUR INTERNAL REPAIR, HIRING AND RETAINING, UH, EQUIPMENT OPERATORS, THE FOLKS THAT, YOU KNOW, ACTUALLY USE THE BACK HOSE AND DO THE EXCAVATIONS HAS BEEN VERY DIFFICULT. AND SO THAT'S WHY YOU'LL SEE ON THAT DASHBOARD, FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU LOOK AT THE FIRST ONE THAT I SENT YOU, THAT THE, UH, REPAIR RATES HAVE REMAINED RELATIVELY CONSISTENT, UM, AND WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO GET THEM UP AS MUCH AS WE'D LIKE, PARTLY FOR THAT REASON. SO JUST WANTED TO KIND OF SHINE LIGHT ON THAT. AND GREG HAD MENTIONED EARLIER, WE'RE WORKING ON WAYS TO SEE HOW WE CAN IMPROVE THAT. SO I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO GREG. YEAH. COULD I GET THE FINAL SLIDE? UM, SO I JUST WANNA RECAP, YOU KNOW, TODAY WE'RE HERE TO TALK ABOUT OPTIMIZING REPAIRS. AND YOU CAN SEE ON THE CONTINUUM OF OUR CRITICAL PATH FORWARD FOR HOUSTON WATER, YOU KNOW, WHERE THAT LIES. UM, THAT'S A LITTLE BIT LIKE STOPPING THE BLEEDING. UM, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO THROUGH THE OPTIMIZATION OF OUR REPAIR PROGRAM. BUT I WANNA GO BACK THROUGH THE CRITICAL PATH FOR HOUSTON WATER. THAT IS TO, UH, SHORE UP OUR SOURCE WATER SUPPLY AND THE DELIVERY OF THAT SOURCE RAW WATER TO OUR TREATMENT PLANTS. THOSE ASSETS ARE OLD, NEED TO BE REPLACED, AND WE ALSO NEED MORE REDUNDANCY IN OUR SOURCE WATER. IT ALSO MEANS WE NEED TO REHAB AND EXPAND OUR EAST PLANT. AND, UH, THAT FIRST STEPS FOR THAT ARE UNDERWAY, UH, WITH A TECHNICAL STUDY, UH, THROUGH COROLLO, WE NEED TO HAVE A PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM THAT RUNS BETWEEN TWO TO 3%. UM, HERE'S A FASCINATING FIGURE. 5% OF OUR PIPE, IT ACCOUNTS FOR 67% OF OUR LEAKS. THAT'S WHAT OUR PRELIMINARY MODELING SUGGESTS. UH, AS WE GET MORE INFORMATION, THAT NUMBER WILL CHANGE SOMEWHAT, BUT THAT'S REPRESENTS ABOUT $400 MILLION. SO 67% OF OUR LEAKS ARE CAUSED BY APPROXIMATELY 5% OF OUR PIPE. UH, THAT WILL REDUCE LEAKS, UH, THAT WILL HELP US OPTIMIZE OUR PAYER, GET US LESS DEPENDENT ON OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS, AND, UH, HELP US, UM, LONG-TERM LOWER EXPENSES, UH, FOR DELIVERY OF WATER. UH, THOUGH, IN ORDER TO GET THERE, WE UH, [01:10:01] HAVE TO HAVE A MECHANISM TO RAISE THE CAPITAL TO MAKE ALL THOSE INVESTMENTS LONG TERM. THAT'S GONNA CAUSE UH, WE THINK OVERALL IMPROVED SERVICE FOR HOUSTONIANS. THANK YOU. THANK YOU FOR THAT. UM, PRESENTATION, GREG AND GABRIEL, I HAVE ONE QUESTION ABOUT LIKE THE TRACKING, UM, YOU KNOW, HOUSTON LINES NEIGHBORHOOD, SOMETIME YOU'RE IN THE COUNTY, SOMETIME YOU'RE IN THE CITY. UM, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE ONE STREET CITY, ONE STREET, BUT THERE'S A PIPE THAT'S BUSTED WITHIN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD. SO HOW ARE YOU COLLABORATING WITH THE COUNTY TO, UM, TACKLE SOME OF THESE, UM, BUSTED PIPES? THE OTHER, UM, PERSON I HAD, YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW THE CONDITIONS OF SOME OF THESE PIPES, CORRECT. BUT WE KNOW THAT, UM, THE HEAT AND THE DROUGHT IS WHAT'S CAUSING A LOT OF THESE PIPES, UM, TO BUST. FOR EXAMPLE, UM, THE PLEASANTVILLE WE HAD, UM, THE NEIGHBORHOOD WAS PIPES WERE BUSING, YOU CAME OUT AND YOU FIXED THEM. AND THEN, YOU KNOW, A COUPLE OF WEEKS LATER THEY WERE BACK, UM, BUSING. SO HOW IS THE HEAT IMPACTING, UM, THE PIPES BUSTING? THOSE ARE THE TWO QUESTIONS I HAVE, AND THEN I'LL TURN IT OVER TO COUNCIL MEMBERS. SURE. SO THE, THE, THE QUESTION REGARDING, SO WHEN WE HAVE TO REPAIR A WATER LINE THAT HAPPENS TO BE, SAY, ON A COUNTY STREET, WE USUALLY JUST COORDINATE WITH THE COUNTY, YOU KNOW, LET THEM KNOW, HEY, THIS IS, WE'RE GONNA, WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO BE DOING THE REPAIR. UM, AND IT'S, IT'S, IT'S A, A PRETTY, I DON'T HAVE THE DETAILS ON THAT PROCESS, BUT IT JUST INVOLVES A LITTLE BIT OF EXTRA COORDINATION. WE CAN USUALLY GET THAT OUT IN A, IN A, IN RELATIVELY TIMELY MANNER BEFORE, YOU KNOW, THE, THE HUGE BACKLOG OF LEAKS THAT WE GOT BECAUSE OF THE DROUGHT. NOW, IN REGARDS TO THE DROUGHT, YOU KNOW, THE MAIN REASON FOR THAT IS BECAUSE, UH, UH, IN HOUSTON, YOU KNOW, AS LONG AS WE GET CONSISTENT RAINFALLS, YOU KNOW, OUR SOIL SATURATION STAYS RELATIVELY THE SAME THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. AND WHAT WINDS UP HAPPENING IS THAT, UH, THE HOUSTON SOILS ARE, ARE, ARE, UH, AN EXPANDING CLAY. SO WHEN WE GO THROUGH A PROLONGED DROUGHT AND THEY DRY UP SIGNIFICANTLY, THEY START TO SHRINK. AND THEN ONCE YOU START GETTING SOME RAINFALL, THEY START TO EXPAND. AND BECAUSE THE SOIL MOISTURE CONTENT WAS NOT CONSISTENT, YOU START TO SEE, UH, BRITTLE PIPE, WHICH IS OUR ASBESTOS CONCRETE, OLD CAST IRON. IT JUST FALLS APART. AND SO, UH, UNFORTUNATELY IT, IT, IT ALSO MEANS THAT WE WIND UP DOING SOMETHING CALLED CHASING PIPE WHERE YOU'LL HAVE A LEAK IN ONE PLACE, YOU'LL REPAIR IT, AND THEN YOU'LL WIND UP GETTING THE SAME LEAK, UH, NOT THAT FAR AWAY. WE EVEN HAVE A PICTURE WHERE WE DID A REPAIR, AND WITHIN, UH, WHEN THEY DID THE EXCAVATION TO DO ANOTHER LEAK THAT WAS ADJACENT TO IT, YOU COULD SEE WHERE WE HAD PREVIOUSLY REPAIRED THAT PIPE. SO OBVIOUSLY WE PUT THOSE INTO OUR PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM. SO IT'S NOT LIKE WE WANT TO KEEP DEALING WITH THAT, YOU KNOW. BUT, UH, THAT IS THE, THE PRETTY MUCH THE REASON WHY WE HAVE THAT SITUATION OCCUR. THANK YOU. UM, COUNCIL MEMBER ALCORN, THANK YOU CHAIR, AND UM, GREG, THANKS. AND BOTH OF YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PRESENTATION. UH, YOU SAID TWO TO 3% WE SHOULD BE REPLACING PER YEAR? CORRECT. HOW ARE WE DOING? WHERE ARE WE? I MEAN, ARE WE REPLACING IN THAT MUCH? THAT WAS WEST 0.7. IT'S ABOUT 0.7. YEAH. SEVEN. YEAH, WE'VE BEEN WELL BELOW EVEN 2%. WE'VE BEEN BELOW 1%. UH, OKAY. SO AS COUNCIL MEMBERS, WHAT DO WE, WHAT DO WE NEED TO BE DOING UP HERE TO, TO MAKE SURE WE'RE GETTING TO THAT TWO TO 3% SO WE CAN, I MEAN, ULTIMATELY ALL THIS IS ABOUT IS THE NEED FOR INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT. MM-HMM . RIGHT? I MEAN, WE NEED OF COURSE, BONDS, CAPITAL EXPENDITURES, AND, UH, BUT WHAT, WHAT DO YOU, WHAT DO WE DO? YEAH, WHAT DO YOU NEED? SO, WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA BE COMING FORWARD WITH, UH, YOU KNOW, A NEW RATE STUDY SOON. UH, ALSO A WATER MASTER PLAN. AND WE'VE JUST FINISHED, UH, LOOKING AT, UH, RE COSTING THE CONSENT DECREE AS WELL. UM, 'CAUSE THE, THE COST TO DELIVER THE CONSENT DECREE HAS CHANGED DRAMATICALLY SINCE WE SIGNED IT. SO THAT 2 BILLION OVER 15 YEARS IS WHAT NOW? UH, CONSTRUCTION COSTS AND DELIVERY OF CAPITAL SINCE, UH, 2019 HAS CHANGED, UH, THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, ABOUT 40%. WOW. OVERALL, AND, AND THEN PROJECT DELIVERY SCHEDULE HAS, UH, SLOWED DOWN SIGNIFICANTLY. SO PROJECTS TAKE LONGER AND THEY COST MORE. UH, SO THAT WILL NEED TO BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION. UH, ALSO, WE, WE, WHEN WE FINISH THE WATER, UH, MASTER PLAN WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE A BETTER ROADMAP, UH, AND INFORMATION THAT WILL GO INTO OUR NEW RATE STUDY. OKAY. AND THEN WHEN WE BRING FORTH THAT NEW RATE STUDY, IT WILL HAVE BUILT INTO A MORE AGGRESSIVE PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM, AS WELL AS FORECASTING, YOU KNOW, THE NEED FOR CAPITAL REPLACEMENT, NOT ONLY AT THE EAST PLANT, BUT YOU KNOW, THERE'S OTHER THINGS OUT THERE LIKE OUR RE PUMP STATIONS, ALL THOSE GROUNDWATER PLANTS, THEY ALL NEED, UH, INVESTMENT. SO, YOU KNOW, WE WILL BRING IN THOSE OPTIONS FORWARD, UH, TO COUNCIL TO LOOK AT PART OF WHAT'S THE [01:15:01] TIMELINE ON THAT MASTER PLAN? 20? UH, WELL, 2026 IS, UH, WHEN, UH, WE WILL BE IN THE TH THROWS OF THAT. SO WE'RE JUST GONNA KIND OF LI LIMP ALONG TOWARD TILL THEN, OR, UH, WE, UH, WELL THIS YEAR IS THE FIRST YEAR WE ACTUALLY PUT MONEY IN THE BUDGET, UH, FOR, WE PUT $25 MILLION IN THE BUDGET TO REPAIR LEAKS, UH, TO, UH, LESSEN THE, UH, THE NEED FOR EPOS. UH, RIGHT NOW OUR BUDGET IS NOT SET UP, UH, TO TAKE ON A TWO TO 3% PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM. RIGHT. BUT WE CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THAT, UH, IN OUR NEXT THREE TO FIVE YEAR CIP TO, TO SEE WHERE WE CAN TIME THAT WITH THE CONSENT DECREE. AND THEN LONG TERM, WE'LL BE LOOKING AT THE CONSENT DECREE AS WELL. UM, MANY OTHER CITIES, UH, BECAUSE AFFORDABILITY REALLY BECOMES AN ISSUE. MANY OTHER CITIES IN A CONSENT DECREE, UH, SIMILAR TO OURS, UH, THOUGH FROM A SCOPE STANDPOINT, THEY DON'T MATCH OURS. UM, THEY HAVE GONE BACK AND WORKED WITH THE EPA TO RENEGOTIATE, UH, THE TERMS OF THE CONSENT DECREE. YEAH. UM, NOTHING REALLY CHANGES. WE STILL, UH, HAVE ALL OUR OBLIGATIONS. WE GOTTA FIX ALL THE STUFF WE SAID WE WOULD FIX, BUT IT'S LIKE REFINANCING A HOUSE. GOT IT. YEAH. YEAH. SO, RIGHT. AND THEN ON THAT REDUNDANT LINE, WHAT WERE YOU SAYING TO THE EAST PLANT OR MM-HMM. WHAT'S THE REALLY OLD ONES IN THE SEVENTIES? BUILT IN THE SEVENTIES? THE EAST PLANT. THE EAST PLANT. THAT LINE, WHAT'D YOU CALL IT? A BEELINE? THE BEELINE. IT'S CALLED THE, YEAH, THE, UM, DO WE HAVE THE MONEY FOR THAT? IS THAT, ARE WE DOING REDUNDANCY ON THAT NOW? THAT SOUNDS PRETTY CRITICAL. WE PROGRAM THAT IN. OKAY. WE ARE PROGRAMMING IT THIS YEAR, UH, NOT FOR THIS YEAR, BUT WE PUT IT INTO THE CIP, WE BROUGHT IT FORWARD TO 300 MILLION TO, TO FINANCE AND SAYING, HEY, WE GOTTA, WE GOTTA PUT THIS IN THE MIX. OKAY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I COUNCILOR HUFFMAN OFTEN FOR ALSO, THANK YOU CHAIR. THANK YOU DIRECTORS. UM, MY QUESTION IS MORE RELATED TO WHAT WE DO AFTER THE LEAKS. WHAT IS THE TARGET, UM, RANGE FOR A SITE RESTORATIONS FOLLOW, FOLLOWING A, A LEAK REPAIR? 'CAUSE I KNOW EVERY SITUATION IS DIFFERENT, BUT AT LEAST IN MY OFFICE, WE'RE, WE'RE HEARING, UM, YOU KNOW, A WIDE SPECTRUM OF, UH, YOU KNOW, SOMETIMES IT TAKES A COUPLE OF WEEKS, SOMETIMES IT'S MONTHS TO GET A, A, A SITE RESTORED FOLLOWING A REPAIR. SO WHAT ARE WE AIMING FOR AND WHAT SHOULD WE BE SETTING THE EXPECTATIONS OF CONSTITUENTS? I CAN ANSWER BOTH. YEAH, WE CAN BOTH ANSWER IT. IT'S . SO WE, WE, RIGHT NOW, BECAUSE OF THE LARGE BACKLOG OF LEAKS, IT HAS BEEN HARD TO STICK TO WHAT WE TRY TO DO IN OUR CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS. MEANING OUR CON, WHEN WHEN OUR CONTRACTORS PERFORM A REPAIR, THEY'RE REQUIRED TO DO THE SITE RESTORATION IN THAT CONTRACT LANGUAGE. I NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK IT, BUT I BELIEVE IT'S 14 DAYS TO COMPLETE THE SITE. IT'S EITHER SEVEN OR 14 DAYS TO COMPLETE THE SITE RESTORATION. UH, WHEN OUR INTERNAL REPAIR TEAMS CONDUCT THE REPAIR, THERE IS A SEPARATE TEAM THAT DOES THE, THE SITE RESTORATIONS FOR THOSE REPAIRS, UH, THAT A SEPARATE TEAM FROM DRINKING WATER OPERATIONS, BUT WITHIN HOUSTON WATER. AND I BELIEVE THEY TRY TO DO IT IN 14 DAYS, CORRECT? YEAH, THAT IS CORRECT. AND THEN ON THE CONTRACTUAL SIDE, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS 14 DAYS FOR OUR OUTSIDE CONTRACTORS, UH, WE WERE NOT HOLDING THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO THAT. SO THAT'S ANOTHER CHANGE. BUT AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, THAT'S, THAT'S THE DIFFICULTY RIGHT NOW WITH THE BACKLOG HAS BEEN ALSO RAMPING UP THE SITE RESTORATION. 'CAUSE THERE'S, IT'S JUST DEPENDING ON THE SITE RESTORATION, IF IT'S BACK A CURB, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REPLACE SOD. THAT SHOULD BE RELATIVELY EASY. WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO RESPOND QUICK. UM, HOWEVER, IF IT REQUIRES PAVEMENT, YOU KNOW, CONCRETE RESTORATION, THINGS LIKE THAT, IT CAN BE, ESPECIALLY IF THAT CONCRETE WAS NEWER, YOU KNOW, UH, UH, OR THERE WAS SOME NEW STREET SCAPING INVOLVED, IT CAN GET MORE CHALLENGING, MORE COMPLEX. THANK YOU. VICE CHAIR RAMEZ. THANK YOU MADAM CHAIR. AND THANK YOU GREG AND GABRIEL FOR THIS, UH, GREAT PRESENTATION. UH, QUESTION ABOUT SLIDE THREE. ONE OF THE BULLET POINTS ON SLIDE THREE, IF WE COULD GO THERE. UH, NOW THIS IS TALKING ABOUT WATER UTILITIES IN TEXAS. IN SOME OF THE GROWTH WE'VE SEEN, UH, THE BULLET POINT, UH, NUMBER FOUR SAYS, HOUSTON 92,562 PEOPLE. WHAT, WHAT DO YOU, WHAT'S MEANT BY THAT? UH, THAT'S THE NUMBER OF, UH, PEOPLE THAT MOVED TO HOUSTON IN IN 2023. 2023. WHAT, WHAT'S THE SOURCE OF THAT INFORMATION? THAT SOUNDS REALLY, REALLY HIGH TO ME. MM-HMM . YEAH'S, THE, THE CENSUS BUREAU INFORMATION THAT I PULLED, IT HAD ALL OF THAT LAID OUT. IT, IT, IT DOES, IT DOESN'T, UH, I DON'T KNOW THAT IT ACCOUNTS FOR PEOPLE THAT MOVED OUTTA HOUSTON. ARE YOU SAYING THIS IS STRICTLY HOUSTON CITY LIMITS OR HOUSTON AREA, OR, OR, I'D HAVE TO COME BACK TO YOU. OKAY. UH, WITH THAT INFORMATION. [01:20:01] ALRIGHT. 'CAUSE I, I QUESTION WHETHER WE'RE ACTUALLY SEEING POPULATION GROWTH IN THE CITY WITHIN THE LAST FEW YEARS. UH, LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT COMMENT, UH, THAT YOU MADE REGARDING THESE, UH, REPAIR PROJECTS. YOU, YOU SAY THAT NOW THEY, THEY TAKE LONGER. CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO US WHY THESE REPAIR PROJECTS TAKE LONGER? THAT I SAID YES, THE PROJECTS TAKE LONGER NOW AND THEY'RE MORE EXPENSIVE. OH, OH YES. SO NOT REPAIR PROJECTS, BUT CAPITAL PROJECTS. OKAY. LARGE CAPITAL PROJECTS ARE TAKING LONGER. YEAH. THERE, THERE WAS A STUDY THAT WAS DONE BY, UH, SEATTLE PUBLIC UTILITIES AND, UH, THEY AND, AND, AND C OR JACOBS ENGINEERING, AND THEY CAME BACK AND, UH, THEY CAME BACK WITH THAT INFORMATION. WE'VE ACTUALLY USED THAT INFORMATION IN, UH, OUR DISCUSSIONS WITH EPA AND OUR CONSENT DECREE. WHY ARE PROJECTS TAKING LONGER, UH, SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES? UH, ENGINEERING FIRMS AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES ARE SUFFERING FROM A LOT OF THE SAME ISSUES WITH FINDING PEOPLE TO HIRE. AND SO, UH, STAFF SHORTAGES AND, AND SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES ARE THE REASONS. DO, DO YOU THINK THAT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH OUR PERMITTING PROCESS? UH, NOT LOCALLY, NO. I DON'T THINK THAT'S A MAJOR DRIVER. ALRIGHT. AND REGARDING THE, THE LEAK REPAIR, I, I KNOW EVERY, EVERY PROJECT IS DIFFERENT, BUT IN LOOKING AT, UH, THE WHOLE SCENARIO, IS THERE AN AVERAGE COST ON EACH OF THESE, UH, LEAK REPAIRS THAT YOU'RE ABLE TO GIVE US? WE CAN COME BACK TO THAT. YOU KNOW IT TOP OF MY HEAD. YEAH. OKAY. SO IF THE AVERAGE, IF THE REPAIR IS BEING PERFORMED BY OUR INTERNAL REPAIR TEAMS, THE AVERAGE COST IS ROUGHLY LIKE 3,500, UH, DOLLARS PER REPAIR. UM, IF THE, IF THE REPAIR IS BEING PERFORMED BY OUR CONTRACTORS, IT'S ABOUT 5,005 TO $6,000. OKAY. UM, LAST TOPIC HERE FOR NOW. THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE REPORTED A WHILE BACK THAT IN 2022, THE CITY LOST ABOUT 30 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER, UH, FROM THESE LEAKS. AND THAT ARTICLE ALSO STATED THAT, UH, WE LOST ANOTHER 9 BILLION GALLONS OF WATER FROM JANUARY TO APRIL, 2023. TO YOUR KNOWLEDGE, IS THAT INFORMATION ACCURATE? YES. ALRIGHT. HAS THAT CHANGED AT ALL? UH, NOT SIGNIFICANTLY, NO. UH, IT, IT GETS BETTER AS WE REDUCE THE NUMBER OF LEAKS. UH, SO NO, IT HAS NOT CHANGED DRAMATICALLY SINCE THEN. OKAY. SO I GOT TO ATTEND THE EARTH DAY, UH, EVENTS AT DISCOVERY GREEN THIS PAST SATURDAY. AND IT WAS, IT WAS POINTED OUT THAT WATER IS NOT A RENEWABLE RESOURCE, AND SO THIS, THIS WATER IS GONE, RIGHT? MM-HMM . UH, AND SO IT JUST POINTS TO THE CRITICAL NEED FOR A PLAN MM-HMM . UH, AND FOR EXPANDED FUNDING FOR, TO REPAIR THESE WATER LEAKS. MM-HMM . SO THANK YOU. THANK YOU. VICE CHAIR. UM, GREG, YOU, YOU MENTIONED THAT IT TAKES 14 DAYS TO RESTORE. WHEN YOU RESTORE A SITE, DOES THAT INCLUDE THE REPAIRING OF THE PIPES, OR IS THAT YEAH, THAT'S AFTER COMPLETING THE PIPE REPAIR. OKAY. AND SO WHAT IS THE TIMEFRAME WHEN A CONSTITUENT CALLED 3 1 1 MM-HMM . SAY, HEY, WE GOT A BUSTED PIPE. WHAT IS THE TIMEFRAME IT TAKES TO GET THAT REPAIR? I KNOW IT GOES THROUGH 3 1 1, EVENTUALLY THEY'RE GONNA CLOSE THE CASE, SO I NEED PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THAT WORKS. NO, THAT'S A GREAT QUESTION. SO, UM, AS SOON AS A CUSTOMER CALLS 3 1 1, IT GENERATES A SERVICE REQUEST TO SEND ONE OF OUR INSPECTORS OUT TO THE SITE AND INVESTIGATE THE LEAK. AND WHEN THEY INVESTIGATE THE LEAK, THEY LOOK AT, IS THE LEAK A PRIVATE LEAK OR, OR A PUBLIC LEAK? AND IF IT IS A PUBLIC LEAK, YOU KNOW, ESSENTIALLY WHERE, WHERE IS IT? AND SO A LOT OF THE ISSUES WITH, UH, WITH LEAKS IS THAT THEY TEND TO COME OUT OF THE GROUND NOT TO DIRECTLY ABOVE WHERE, WHERE THEY'RE ACTUALLY LEAKING OUT OF THE PIPE. MM-HMM . UM, A GOOD EXAMPLE IS ABOUT A WEEK AGO WE HAD ONE THAT WAS TRAVELING 500 FEET DOWN A CONDUIT THAT HAD A, A POWER LINE, A POWER LINE RUNNING THROUGH IT THAT FED A STREET LAMP. AND SO THAT, THAT CAN BE TRICKY TO GET TO, AND IT MEANS YOU HAVE TO DEPLOY MORE RESOURCES LIKE LEAK DETECTION TEAMS THAT USE ACOUSTIC TECHNOLOGIES TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THAT LEAK IS COMING FROM. MM-HMM . SO WE TRY TO AIM FOR SCHEDULING, YOU KNOW, IF IT'S NOT WHAT WE CALL A NEED TO GO, MEANING THAT IT'S, IT, YOU KNOW, NEED TO GOS TO US. BY THE WAY, I KNOW I'M GOING A LITTLE BIT OFF ON A TANGENT. HOSPITALS, YOU KNOW, DI UH, UH, CLINICS, UH, SCHOOLS, PEOPLE WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY OUTTA WATER, THOSE ARE WHAT WE CONSIDER TO BE, OR IT'S, UH, CAUSING A PUBLIC SAFETY ISSUE. [01:25:01] LIKE IT'S FLOODING A STREET PRETTY BAD. IT'S GONNA CAUSE SOME, YOU KNOW, BAD ISSUES OUT THERE. MOBILITY ISSUES OUT THERE, GEORGIA, UH, YEAH, GEORGE R. BROWN RECENTLY. UM, THOSE ARE OUR NEED TO GOS. AND SO, UM, AS, AS WE PRIORITIZE, YOU KNOW, BASED ON OUR NEED TO GOS YOU, YOU, YOU, SO WELL, FIRST AND FOREMOST, UM, OUR HOPE, IF WE DIDN'T HAVE THIS SITUATION WHERE WE HAD A HUGE BACKLOG OF LEAKS, YOU KNOW, OUR HOPE IS THAT WITHIN SEVEN DAYS, WE'D BE ABLE TO REPAIR THE LEAK WHEN IT'S CALLED INTO US. AND THEN FROM THERE, YOU'D HAVE UP TO 14 DAYS BEFORE THE SITE WAS RESTORED. MM-HMM . UH, HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION THAT WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW, AND BECAUSE WE'RE ADDRESSING OUR NEED TO GOS FIRST AND FOREMOST, YOU, YOU, YOU'RE SEEING THIS SITUATION WHERE SOME PEOPLE ARE SAYING, HEY, I'VE BEEN SEEING THIS LEAK FOR MONTHS NOW WHAT'S GOING ON? AND IT'S BECAUSE OUR TEAMS, YOU KNOW, WE ONLY HAVE SO MANY, AND THERE'S ONLY SO MANY, UH, REPAIRS THEY CAN MAKE, AND THEY'RE PRIORITIZING THOSE NEED TO-GO. AND EVENTUALLY THAT INDIVIDUAL IS JUST FALLING FURTHER, FURTHER BEHIND ON THAT LIST. AND SO WE'RE DOING OUR BEST TO ADDRESS THAT. UH, BUT THAT, THAT, I JUST WANTED TO LET Y'ALL KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S BASICALLY THE, THE GIST OF ITS IDEALLY AN IDEAL WORLD. IT'D BE SEVEN DAYS FROM THE MOMENT THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED THE LEAK, UH, TO REPAIRING THE LEAK, AND THEN 14 DAYS TO RESTORE THE LEAK. AND, AND ONE LAST THING, THERE'S ANOTHER, UH, SITUATION, WHICH IS WHEN WE DO IDENTIFY THE LEAK, WE HAVE TO BE ABLE TO ISOLATE IT. WE CAN'T PERFORM THE REPAIR WHEN THE WATER'S, YOU KNOW, BLOWING OUT OF THE HOLE. AND SO WE DO WHAT'S CALLED A TEST CUT. SO THAT'S WHERE OUR, OUR CREWS GO OUT THERE AND THEY TURN SOME VALVES AND THEY TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TURNS OFF THE WATER. AND SO UNFORTUNATELY, AS YOU SAW, WE HAVE AN AGING INFRASTRUCTURE, THAT MEANS WE HAVE AGING VALVES, AND THOSE VALVES, UH, MAY OR MAY NOT BE WORKING. AND IF A VALVE IS NOT WORKING, THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO AND FIND OTHER VALVES TO TURN OFF. AND THAT ACTUALLY INCREASES THE WATER OUTAGE AREA THAT WE'LL HAVE TO UNDERTAKE. AND SO ALL OF THAT PLAYS INTO PRETTY COMPLEX SITUATION OF TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW DO WE TURN THE WATER, WHERE THE LEAK IS COMING FROM, HOW DO WE TURN THE WATER OFF, AND WHEN DO WE SCHEDULE IT IN A WAY THAT DOESN'T IMPACT OUR CUSTOMERS A LOT, IN ADDITION TO HAVING TO PRIORITIZE A NEED TO GO. SO THAT'S WHY IT'S KIND OF A ROUGH ANSWER, YOU KNOW, UH, IT, IT, IT VARIES WILDLY, BUT AGAIN, WE WILL, IN AN IDEAL SITUATION, WE AIM FOR SEVEN DAYS AND THE RESTORATION 14 DAYS AFTER THAT. AND GIVEN THAT WE KNOW THAT IT'S GONNA TAKE, SOMETIME IT'S NOT, WE'RE NOT ON, ON THE NORMAL SCHEDULE. WHAT, WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING TO ENSURE THAT WHOEVER CALLS 3 1 1 TO MAKE THIS REPORT, THAT WE'RE FOLLOWING UP WITH THEM TO LET THEM KNOW THAT WE ARE WORKING ON IT VERSUS, YOU KNOW, THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. YOU KNOW? SO IS THERE A PROCESS IN PLACE TO, YOU KNOW, KEEP THEM UPDATED ON THE PROGRESS OF, UM, COMPLETING THAT PIPE? THERE IS, YES. OKAY. SO THERE, THERE, THERE, THERE IS A, UH, PROCESS BY WHICH OUR INTERNAL, UM, DISPATCH TEAM ESSENTIALLY UPDATES, YOU KNOW, THE SERVICE REQUEST INFORMATION, UH, SO THAT EVENTUALLY IT GETS TO THE, THE, THE CUSTOMER. BUT, UH, I, I, I WILL NEED TO DOUBLE CHECK WHETHER OR NOT THAT MEANS THEY ACTUALLY CALL THE CUSTOMER. I THINK THEY JUST UPDATE THE THREE ONE ONE CALL CENTER, AND THEN THE CUSTOMER CALLS 3 1 1, UNFORTUNATELY TO GET THAT INFORMATION. AND SO, UM, WE'LL PROBABLY HAVE TO BE LOOKING AT AND UPDATING THOSE PROCESSES. YEAH. THE CUSTOMER WILL CALL 3 1 1 BACK AND THE CASE WILL BE CLOSED. CORRECT. AND SO THAT'S WHEN WE START GETTING THE CALL. SO I JUST THINK IF WE CAN CREATE A PROCESS TO WHERE WE'RE KEEPING THE INDIVIDUAL WHO MAKE THE REPORT, KEEP THEM UPDATED ON THE PROGRESS, SINCE IT IS A SLOW PROCESS MM-HMM . PEOPLE JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. YEAH. BUT IF THEY DON'T SEE ANYTHING HAPPENING THAT NO ONE HAS SPOKEN TO THEM, THEN THAT'S WHEN IT BECOMES A ISSUE. THAT'S A GREAT POINT. AND WE WILL, WE'LL LOOK INTO THAT. YEAH. OKAY. UM, COUNCIL MEMBER MARTINEZ, THANK YOU CHAIR. UM, ONCE A LEAK REPAIR IS SCHEDULED, HOW SOON IS A NOTICE GOING OUT TO THE CUSTOMER? YOU MEAN, UH, OH, TO A NOTICE TO TURN OFF THE WATER OR NOTICE THAT WE'RE GONNA LEAK TO REPAIR, TO PERFORM THE REPAIR? SO THE, THAT SITUATION DEPENDS ON THE SITUATION, THE LEAK. SO FOR EXAMPLE, IF WE CAN SCHEDULE A LEAK WITH OUR CONTRACTORS, OUR CONTRACTORS IN THEIR CONTRACT ARE REQUIRED TO NOTIFY, UH, THE CUSTOMER AHEAD OF TIME. AND THERE IS A DURATION IN THERE ON, ON HOW QUICK THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO THAT. IT'S, IT'S, I BELIEVE, 48 HOURS, WE'LL HAVE TO DOUBLE CHECK ON THAT. IF IT'S OUR INTERNAL TEAMS, IT'S A LITTLE BIT DIFFICULT. WE TRY TO NOTIFY, AT THE VERY LEAST, LET PEOPLE KNOW, HEY, THE WATER'S ABOUT TO BE OFF FOR A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME. BUT IF YOU RECALL, WE'RE IN THE SITUATION WHERE WE HAVE A LARGE BACKLOG AND WE'RE ALWAYS REPRIORITIZING LEAKS. AND SO THE SITUATION THAT WE FIND OURSELVES IN RIGHT NOW IS THAT WE MAY BE ABLE TO SCHEDULE OUT 2, 3, 4, 5 DAYS IN ADVANCE, BUT THEN OUR TIMELINE GETS MESSED UP BECAUSE ON THAT DAY, WE'LL GET A CALL, SAY FROM GEORGE R. BROWN RECENTLY, AND NOW WE HAVE TO GO AND PULL ALL OUR RESOURCES TO ADDRESS THAT. SO WE DON'T HAVE THE INTERNAL RESOURCES RIGHT NOW TO BE ABLE TO, WITH OUR INTERNAL CREWS, NOTIFY THE CUSTOMER, UH, UH, UH, BECAUSE WHAT'LL HAPPEN IS WE MAY NOT ACTUALLY GET TO THAT REPAIR ON TIME, AND THEN WE'LL BE IN A SITUATION WHERE WE'RE JUST CONSTANTLY TELLING 'EM, HEY, WE'RE ABOUT TO COME OUT IN A COUPLE OF DAYS, AND THEN WE DON'T BECAUSE [01:30:01] SOMETHING ELSE TOOK PRIORITY. AND YOU MENTIONED EARLIER, UM, OR TO TURN OFF WATER. SO WHAT, WHAT DOES THAT TIMELINE LOOK LIKE? WHEN DOES THAT NOTICE GO OUT FOR THE WATER? AND IT WAS BASED OFF OF THAT? YEAH, SO IT, IT, I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE WATER SHUTOFFS, I'M SORRY. FOR THE REPAIRS, WE DON'T NECESSARILY, WE JUST NOTIFY PEOPLE THAT THEIR WATER'S GONNA GO OFF AND THAT TELLS 'EM WE'RE ABOUT TO PERFORM THE REPAIR. OKAY. SO THEY KIND OF GO HAND IN HAND. SECOND QUESTION, ARE WE LOOKING FOR OTHER FUNDING SOURCES, STATE, FEDERAL BEFORE WE CONSIDER INCREASING RATES? THE ONE THAT I DO KNOW OF IS WE, WE HAVE BEEN APPLYING FOR OTHER, UH, FUNDING OPTIONS WITH THE STATE REVOLVING FUND FOR, FOR, FOR DOING THIS KIND OF WORK. UH, I DON'T KNOW THE PROGRESS OF THAT. IT'S A SEPARATE TEAM THAT, THAT HELPS US WITH GRANTS AND THINGS LIKE THAT FOLLOW UP. THANK YOU. SURE. THANK YOU FOR THE PRESENTATION. UM, AND I'M JUST GONNA END ON THIS NOTE. I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT WE, YOU KNOW, AS CUSTOMERS MAKE THE COMPLAINT OR, YOU KNOW, FILE THE COMPLAINT ABOUT THE, THE LEAK THAT WE ARE FINDING A WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM. UM, I KNOW WE HAVE A LIAISON, THE COUNCIL OFFICE TO DO MAYBE, YOU KNOW, WE CAN SEND NOTES TO THE COUNCILMEN TO LET THEM KNOW, HEY, YOU KNOW, THIS CUSTOMER IS, THAT'S A FILED A COMPLAINT, LET'S JUST FOLLOW UP AND MAKE SURE THAT THEY KNOW THAT IT'S GONNA TAKE A MINUTE TO FIX THIS PIPE. BECAUSE THAT'S WHEN YOU SEE 'EM ON THE NEWS WHEN THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT. MM-HMM . SO LET'S JUST TRY TO, YOU KNOW, IMPROVE OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE IN REGARDS TO BUSTED PIPES. THANK YOU. WILL DO. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. I KNOW WE GOT A PACKED AGENDA, OUR FINAL PRESENTATION, UM, ROADSIDE DITCH ESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM. UM, MS. CLARK, THANK YOU FOR JOINING US. GOOD AFTERNOON. UM, MADAM CHAIR, COUNCIL MEMBERS AND STAFF MEMBERS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HAVING ME TODAY. UM, MY NAME IS JOANNA CLARK. I'M A SENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WITH HOUSTON PUBLIC WORKS, UM, OUR TRANSPORTATION AND DRAINAGE OPERATIONS. UH, IT'S MY PLEASURE TO BE HERE TODAY TO PROVIDE YOU AN UPDATE ON THE ROADSIDE DISH REESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM. UH, I HOPE MOST OF YOU REMEMBER WE WERE HERE BACK IN AUGUST LAST YEAR, UM, TO SHARE ABOUT THE DETAIL OF THIS PROACTIVE APPROACH THAT WE ARE CONFIDENT, AND IT'S ALREADY GIVEN SOME GOOD RESULTS, UH, FOR WHAT WE PRESENTED TO YOU LAST YEAR. UM, AND WE FOLLOW OUR PRINCIPLES WITH HOUSTON POLY WORKS AND COMMUNICATIONS INTEGRITY. ALL THESE VALUES THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE REALLY REFLECT WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE TODAY, WHICH IS LETTING YOU KNOW WHERE WE ARE AND, AND, AND ALSO REALLY TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT ON THE PROGRAM BECAUSE THESE UPDATES ARE BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR, AND YOUR SUPPORT. UM, NEXT SLIDE. MY FIRST SLIDES ARE GONNA BE A LITTLE RECAP OF WHAT WE PRESENTED LAST YEAR, AND IT'S JUST A REFRESHMENT OF HOW THE PROGRAM BECAME TO BE, WHY WE ARE WHERE WE ARE TODAY. UM, JUST A REMINDER, HOUSTON PUBLIC WORKS MAINTAINS MASSIVE INFRASTRUCTURE WITHIN THE CITY, INCLUDING OVER 2,500 MILES OF ROADSIDE DITCHES. UH, AGAIN, THESE ARE DITCHES, OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEMS THAT ARE RIGHT IN FRONT OF PROPERTIES OR PARCELS, UM, THAT REQUIRE THAT ATTENTION. UH, NEXT SLIDE. UM, WHY WE NEEDED TO GET TO A PROGRAM, UM, LIKE THIS, AND THE REASON WHY IS BECAUSE THERE ARE VARIOUS, UM, CONCEPTS ABOUT HOW WE MAINTAIN THESE DITCHES. SO WE NEEDED TO HAVE THE DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN WHAT IS MAINTENANCE AND WHAT IS REESTABLISHMENT. UM, MAINTENANCE. IT REFERS TO PREVENTING ANY UNEXPECTED FAILURE OF THE DITCH ITSELF. AND FOR THAT, WE RELY ON ABUD PROPERTY OWNERS, WHICH HELP US KEEP THE OVERGROWN VEGETATION CONTROL ANY SMALL LEADER AND TRASH THAT IS ON THE DITCHES. WE RELIED ON OUR RESIDENTS TO HELP US, UH, AGAIN, WITH THE 2,500 MILES OF DITCHES. THE CITY OF HOUSTON DOES NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO, TO CONDUCT THESE BASIC ACTIVITIES. UM, HOWEVER, THERE IS NEED AND WE HAVE IN CONDUCTING THESE EFFORTS, UH, BUT IN A VERY REACTIVE MANNER. AND THAT IS WHEN WE USE THE TERM DISH REESTABLISHMENT. UM, AND THIS IS WHEN WE RESTATE, RESTATE THE DISH FUNCTIONALITY, HOW A DISH OPERATES, BEING SURE THAT IT CARRIES THE WATER TO POINT FROM POINT A TO POINT B, AND THAT INVOLVES HEAVY MACHINERY, SPECIALIZED PERSONNEL TO REGRADE THE DITCHES TO CLEAR AND WEAR UP. UM, TO BE SURE AGAIN, THAT THE FLOW LINE HAS POSITIVE FLOW, AGAIN, THAT WHEN RAINS, THERE IS SOME TYPE OF MOVEMENT OF WATER, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING OUR VERY FLAT TOPOGRAPHY IN HOUSTON, WHICH IS A VERY, VERY BIG CHALLENGE. UM, SO THAT'S WHAT, AGAIN, REESTABLISHMENT [01:35:01] REFERS TO HEAVY MACHINERY, SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT, AND REMOVAL OF HEAVY DEBRIS AND OBSTRUCTIONS THAT WE SEE IN A LOT OF THESE DITCHES. UH, NEXT SLIDE. SO, HOW WE GOT TO ESTABLISH THIS PROGRAM, AND I, AGAIN, I, I WANNA APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT AND THE COMMUNITY. MANY COMMUNITY GROUPS HAVE BEEN WORKING HAND ON HAND WITH US TO GET TO THIS POINT. UM, JUST A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY. BEFORE 2001, WE WERE USED TO HAVE A PROGRAM CALLED NEIGHBORHOOD TWO STANDARDS, AND THAT INCLUDED BRINGING DRAINAGE ASSETS, STREET ASSETS, MANY OF THESE ELEMENTS OF INFRASTRUCTURE TO THE, TO, TO A GOOD OPERATING CONDITION. UM, WHEN 2001 HAPPENED, WE, WE, WE, UM, WE CREATED THE 3 0 1 HELPLINE, WHICH IS AMAZINGLY USEFUL, IS NECESSARY. IT WILL NOT ABSOLUTELY GO AWAY BECAUSE WE, IT'S A GOOD MECHANISM TO GET INPUT FROM THE COMMUNITY. HOWEVER, AS WE HAD THESE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS TO MEET AT DEADLINES, WE TRANSFORMED WHAT WAS PROACTIVE INTO A VIA FULLY REACTIVE APPROACH. UM, SO MANY OF THE ELEMENTS THAT YOU CAN SEE HERE ON MY SLIDE THAT REQUIRE A LITTLE MORE DETAILED SURVEY AND INVESTIGATION WENT AWAY. WE, WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO, UM, AGAIN, MEET THESE NUMBERS. WE, WE HISTORICALLY, FOR THE LAST EIGHT TO 10 YEARS HAVE BEEN REESTABLISHING, MAINTAINING OVER 200 MILES OF DITCHES, BUT MOST OF THESE HAVE BEEN RESULT OF COMMUNITY REPORTING THOSE ISSUES TO US. SO, UH, WE, GOING BACK TO THE 2,500 MILES OF DITCHES WE HAVE IN THE CITY. WITH THIS TYPE OF RESPONSE, WE WERE IN APPROXIMATELY A 12 YEAR SERVICE CYCLE. WE WERE TO CONTINUE FOLLOWING THIS REACTIVE MECHANISM. SO THAT'S WHY WE DEVELOPED THIS PROGRAM THAT WE ARE CALLING ROADSIDE DISH REESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM. AND AGAIN, IT'S A PROACTIVE APPROACH, APPROACH THAT IS BASED PRIMARILY IN CONDUCTING INSPECTION AND REESTABLISHMENT OF OVERALL 500 MILES OF DITCHES EVERY YEAR. AND WHY 500 MILES? WE HISTORICALLY HAVE SEEN THE RESULTS OF OUR REHABILITATION EFFORTS, AND WE CONSIDER THAT A FIVE YEAR IS A GOOD ACCEPTABLE PERIOD OF TIME FOR US TO RETURN TO THE SAME DITCH SEGMENT AGAIN WITH HEAVY MACHINERY TO RESTORE OUR FLOW LINES. UM, AGAIN, THIS IS A BEST VALUE APPROACH THAT RELIES ON NOT JUST ONLY REESTABLISHING THE FLOW LINE, BUT ALSO REPAIRING AND FLUSHING OUR CULVERTS, THESE CULVERTS. SO THOSE ARE THESE PIPES THAT YOU SEE UNDER THE DRIVEWAYS THAT WE SEE CROSSING INTERSECTIONS. THERE'S A LOT OF CHALLENGES WITH THOSE. SO THE PROGRAM ALSO EXPANDS A SCOPE TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE CULVERTS. UM, THE UPDATES TODAY ARE REFERRING TO THE SPECIFIC TIMELINE THAT WE PROVIDED TO YOU LAST YEAR FOR THE PROGRAM. UH, WE GO BACK ONE SLIDE PLEASE, WHERE YOU CAN SEE THE TIMELINE. SO TO BE ABLE TO GET TO THIS FIVE YEAR, UH, CYCLE SERVICE CYCLE, WE HAD, UH, PROPOSED A FOUR TO FIVE YEAR TRANSITION PERIOD THAT IS STARTED THIS CURRENT FISCAL YEAR 24. AND WE ARE HOPEFUL BY FISCAL YEAR 28, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA BE MOVING INTO A CITYWIDE, AGAIN, FIVE YEAR INSPECTION AND, UM, REESTABLISHMENT, UH, TYPE OF SERVICE. SO HOW WE END UP PRIORITIZING COMMUNITIES. UM, WE IDENTIFY THAT THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT OF THE CITY, ALONG WITH OTHER COMPLETE COMMUNITIES, ARE THE AREAS IN THE CITY THAT HAVE MOST OF OUR, OUR OPEN DRAINAGE SYSTEMS, ROADSIDE DITCHES. UM, AND THIS FIVE YEAR TRANSITION GIVES PRIORITY TO THOSE AREAS. SO FOR THAT, NUMBER ONE, WE HAD TO WORK WITH THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION AND U COUNCIL MEMBERS ON BEING VERY SPECIFIC OF WHAT RESOURCES ARE NEEDED TO BE ABLE TO MEET THESE, UM, OVERALL AGGRESSIVE SCHEDULE, BUT REALISTIC BASED ON WHAT OUR DRAINAGE NEEDS ARE IN HOUSTON. UH, LAST YEAR WE WERE ABLE, LAST CALENDAR YEAR, WE WERE VERY FORTUNATELY TO GET, AGAIN, APPROVAL FOR OUR RESOURCES, INCLUDING EQUIPMENT, UM, PROCUREMENT OF CONTRACTS. ALL THESE PROGRAM IS GONNA BE, I JUST WANNA CLARIFY A COMBINATION OF IN-HOUSE RESOURCES. SO CREWS THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE WITH EXPANDED PERSONNEL, EXPANDED EQUIPMENT ALONG WITH CONTRACTING SERVICES, THAT THOSE ARE VERY, VERY CRITICAL FOR US TO BE ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH. AGAIN, THIS, THIS AGGRESSIVE, UM, UM, GOAL THAT IS 500 MILES, UH, OF DITCHES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. SO HAVING, UM, REFRESH, REFRESH YOUR MEMORY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE PROGRAM, I WANNA CONCENTRATE TODAY ON UPDATE YOU ON THE SPECIFIC GOALS AND COMMITMENTS THAT WE HAD FOR THIS FISCAL YEAR 24. AND YOU CAN SEE ON THIS SLIDE WHERE I HIGHLIGHTED OUR FIRST COMMITMENT WAS TO, IS TO INSPECT 1500 MILES OF ROADSIDE DITCHES, UH, PARTICULARLY ON THE NORTHEAST AND COMPLETE COMMUNITIES. UH, THIS INSPECTION, AND I DON'T HAVE THE SLIDE AS WE PRESENTED THIS LAST YEAR, IS BASED ON A VERY [01:40:01] DETAILED CRITERIA THAT MY TEAM AND I DEVELOPED TO BE SURE THAT WE ARE EVALUATING DITCHES, NOT JUST, UM, I MEAN BASED ON, ON, ON, ON REALLY JUSTIFIED ASPECTS INCLUDING VEGETATION EROSION, HOW THE FLOWING LINE IS A SLOPE TO BE SURE AGAIN, THAT THE WATER IS FLOWING. AND ALSO A STRUCTURE, THE CONDITION OF A STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS LIKE THE CULVERS THAT I WAS TALKING TO YOU ABOUT. UH, THE SECOND COMMITMENT WE HAD FOR THIS YEAR IS THE PROCUREMENT INITIATE THE PROCUREMENT OF EQUIPMENT, A SPECIFICALLY 15 MILLION, $15 MILLION THAT WERE APPROVED LAST YEAR. UM, AND THERE IS THE PROCUREMENT OF $25 MILLION IN CONTRACT SERVICES FOR REESTABLISHMENT OF THE DITCHES. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. SO LET'S START WITH THE INSPECTIONS AND MAPPING. UM, I AM VERY HAPPY TO REPORT THAT OUR TEAM HAS WORKED VERY HARD LAST SIX MONTHS ON CONSOLIDATING OUR INSPECTORS, UM, INTO A ONE UNIQUE STONEWATER OPERATIONS INSPECTION TEAM. UH, WE HAVE CONDUCTED VERY DETAILED, UH, TRAINING WITH THIS PERSONNEL AND DIGITIZE A LOT OF THE DATA THAT WE DID NOT HAVE IN OUR HANDS BEFORE. UH, I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT BASED ON DATA FROM LAST, UH, BEGINNING OF THIS WEEK, WE HAVE INSPECTED 1,380 MILES OF ROADSIDE DITCHES ALREADY. SO WE ARE IN TARGET, UH, WE ARE IN TREND TO, WE ARE GONNA MEET THE GOAL THAT WE COMMITTED TO BEFORE THE END OF THE FISCAL YEAR TO HAVE THE INSPECTION OF THE 1500 MILES THAT WE, THAT WE HAD ESTABLISHED. UM, ALSO, UM, TALKING ABOUT MAPPING TRANSPARENCY IS ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT COMMITMENTS THROUGH THIS PROGRAM. UM, FOR YOU COUNCIL MEMBERS, FOR THE ADMINISTRATION, FOR THE COMMUNITY PRIMARILY TO BE SURE THAT THEY ARE ABLE TO SEE WHERE WE ARE, WHAT WE'RE DOING, WHAT ARE WE INSPECTING, WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE, WHAT IS BEING DONE. SO FOR THAT, OF COURSE, TECHNOLOGY IS VERY KEY. UM, AND ALSO WE HAD OVERALL A GOOD AMOUNT OF DATA IN OUR HANDS. UM, I CAN SHARE WITH YOU THE LAST SIX, EIGHT MONTHS, HAVING VERY, VERY, UM, UM, HARDWORKING, DEDICATED AND PERSONNEL WORKING ON DIGITIZING EVERY SINGLE ROADSIDE DISH SEGMENT THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY. WE DON'T HAVE ALL THESE ASSETS PERFECTLY MAPPED DATA FROM OUR FIELD PERSONNEL COLLECTING INSPECTION RESULTS WE'LL GET WHETHER LOST, CONFUSED, OR MIXED UP WITH SOMETHING ELSE. SO FOR US, IT'S VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO HAVE THIS MAP READY. AND I CAN SHARE WITH OUR THAT, UH, OUR GIS AND ASSET MANAGEMENT TEAM HAS WORKED VERY HARD ON BEING SURE THAT THIS MAP IS, IS CLOSE TO BE A HUNDRED PERCENT ACCURATE. UM, AND THERE AND ABSOLUTELY RELATED WITH THIS LAST POINT, WE HAVE COMMITTED TO DEVELOP A MAP AND A DASHBOARD, UH, OF WHICH I'M SHOWING YOU A SCREENSHOT TODAY. HOPEFULLY MY NEXT UPDATE WILL BE THE LIVE DASHBOARD. UM, AS YOU CAN SEE ON THIS SCREENSHOT, THE MAP IS GONNA HAVE COLOR CODES, INCLUDING THOSE, UH, DITCHES THAT ARE, HAVE BEEN RATED, UH, IN GOOD CONDITION, THOSE THAT ARE RATED IN MODERATE CONDITION AND THOSE THAT ARE POOR BASED ON THE INSPECTION CRITERIA THAT WE PRESENTED TO YOU LAST YEAR. UM, ASIDE FROM THAT, YOU'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO SEE HOW THE CONTRACTORS AND OUR IN-HOUSE RESOURCES ARE BEING SCHEDULED TO ADDRESS CLEARLY THE ONES THAT ARE BEING CLASSIFIED AS IN POOR CONDITION. SO WE ARE EXPECTING THIS DASHBOARD AND FINAL MAP TO BE READY BY THE END OF MAY, AND I'LL BE VERY, VERY HAPPY TO SHARE WITH ALL OF YOUR OFFICES OUR LINK. THIS WILL BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, UM, SO ANYBODY CAN, WHETHER TYPE THEIR ADDRESS, ZOOM IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD AND SEE WHERE IS MY, WHERE ARE MY INSPECTION RESULTS, WHAT SCHEDULE WE HAVE, AND HOW WE ARE PROGRAMMING THE, THE NEXT STEP, WHICH IS REESTABLISHING THOSE DITCHES. NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. UM, SECOND UPDATE REGARDING EQUIPMENT. UM, THAT IS A VERY COMPLEX AND TOUGH PROCESS, BUT I WANNA, UM, AGAIN, REEMPHASIZE MY APPRECIATION FOR YOU COUNCIL MEMBERS APPROVING, UM, SOME OF THESE REQUESTS THAT CAME TO YOU LAST FEW MONTHS, AS WELL AS OUR PROCUREMENT TEAM THAT HAS ACCOMPLISHED WHAT WAS IMAGINABLE. WE HAVE, THIS IS THE EQUIPMENT THAT WE REQUESTED AND WE ESTIMATED TO HAVE FOR IN-HOUSE RESOURCES, INCLUDING 12 GRADE OLDS, 36 DUMP TRUCKS AND TWO CLEANING UNITS TO ADDRESS OUR CULVERTS. UM, TOTALING WE HAD EXPECTED, UM, OR ESTIMATED $15 MILLION, UH, WITH THE, UM, INCREASE ON EQUIPMENT AND, AND ALL THESE CALLS, WE ARE UP TO $17 MILLION, BUT I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT. UH, WE RECEIVED LAST MONTH SIX UNITS, SIX GRADE GOALS, WHICH AGAIN, WITHIN LESS THAN TWO, THE TRADITIONAL TWO TO THREE YEARS. THIS IS, THIS IS [01:45:01] AMAZING FOR US. AND, YOU KNOW, WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT. UH, WE EXPECT SIX MORE UNITS, HOPEFULLY BY THE END OF AUGUST, CROSSING FINGERS THAT, UM, OUR MANUFACTURERS ARE MEETING THOSE DEADLINES AND CHALLENGES THAT WE HAVE PRESENTED TO THEM, UM, FOR THE DUMP TRUCKS AND THE CLEANING UNITS. OUR PROCUREMENT TEAMS ARE STILL PROCESSING THOSE AND WE ARE HOPING, HOPEFULLY BY THE END OF THE CALENDAR YEAR TO HAVE THEM IN PLACE, UM, WITH US. SO AGAIN, THIS IS EXTRAORDINARY BECAUSE THIS IS GONNA GIVE US THE CAPACITY THAT WE NEED IN HOUSE TO MEET THESE GOALS THAT WE HAVE COMMITTED TO. NEXT SLIDE. AND OUR THIRD UPDATE IS RELATED TO CONTRACTS. THE FIRST RUN OF $25 MILLION THAT WERE APPROVED LAST CALENDAR YEAR. WE HAVE PUT THESE DOLLARS TO WORK ALREADY, UM, AND WE HAVE ALREADY FIVE CONTRACTS, AS YOU CAN SEE, AND YOU HAVE SEEN THEM THROUGH YOUR AGENDA. AND AGAIN, APPRECIATE THE APPROVAL FOR THOSE CONTRACTS ONE THROUGH FIVE WITH VARIOUS CONTRACTS AMOUNTS. SO I WANTED TO SHOW YOU WHO THE CONTRACTORS ARE AND THE PRO, UH, CURRENT STATUS. SO THREE OUT OF THE FIVE HAD ALREADY PASSED AND WE ARE ALREADY PUT INTO WORK. THE FIRST TWO, UM, THE LAST TWO CONTRACTS, NUMBER FOUR AND FIVE ARE CURRENTLY UNDER OUR PROJECT SUPPORT SERVICES AND THE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS OFFICE FOR FINAL APPROVAL TO GET TO YOUR HANDS. UM, HOPEFULLY FOR, TO PASS IT ON VERY QUICKLY. UM, I CAN SHARE WITH YOU THAT ALONG WITH THESE FIRST CONTRACTS THAT WE ALREADY PASSED AND USING SOME OF OUR EXISTING CONTRACTS ON THE LOCAL DRAINAGE PROGRAM KNOWN AS LDP, UM, WE DECIDED, UH, LAST SIX MONTHS TO GO AHEAD AND PERFORM WHAT WE CALL PILOT PROJECTS. SO, UM, WHAT WE DID, WE USED THESE CONTRACTS TO REESTABLISH CLOSE TO 20 MILES OF ROADSIDE DITCHES ON THE NORTHEAST COMMUNITY. AND THE REASON WHY WAS FOR US TO UNDERSTAND HOW FAST, HOW ACCURATE OUR CONTRACTORS CAN GO SO WE CAN BE IN A, IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE 500 MILES THAT WE'RE COMMITTED TO A YEAR, UM, SUCCESSFULLY. WE HAVE, UH, REALLY WORKED WITH VERY, VERY GOOD CONTRACTORS THAT HAVE BEEN DELIVERED THE MILES THAT WE ESTIMATED. SO WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT WITH FIVE, WITH FIVE CONTRACTS OF THIS NATURE A YEAR, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MEET THOSE GOALS YEAR AFTER YEAR. UH, NEXT SLIDE. SO WHAT IS NEXT? OBVIOUSLY WE ARE GONNA CONTINUE VERY AGGRESSIVELY TO MEET OUR 1500 MILES OF INSPECTIONS THAT WE COMMITTED BY THE END OF JUNE. UH, I'M CONFIDENT WE WILL ABLE TO REACH THAT. WITH THAT WE'RE COMING BACK TO OUR MAP AND DASHBOARD THAT AGAIN, WE HOPE TO HAVE LIVE BY THE END OF MAY. UM, AND OF COURSE, REASSESSING THE PROGRAM TIMELINES. THIS PROGRAM WAS ESTABLISHED IN A VERY CONSERVATIVE MANNER, ESTIMATED FIVE YEARS OF TRANSITION. UM, HOWEVER, I'M PRELIMINARILY SHARING WITH YOU THAT A LOT OF THE DITCHES THAT WE ARE INVESTIGATING AND INSPECTING, WE'RE SEEING THAT OUR WORK FOR THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE NOT GONE IN VAIN, ALTHOUGH WE WERE AND ABOUT 200 MILES A YEAR. SWAT, LDP AND INTERNAL MAINTENANCE, UH, ALL THESE REHABILITATION INITIATIVES HAVE ACCOMPLISHED A LOT. UM, AND WE WANNA BE SURE THAT WE HAVE THE 500 MILES CAPACITY A YEAR, BUT WE ESTIMATED YEAR AFTER YEAR THE CONDITION OF THIS DITCHES SHOULD, SHOULD IMPROVE, ESPECIALLY, UH, AGAIN AS WE CONTINUE, UM, PROCURING THESE RESOURCES IN A CONSISTENT MANNER. UM, THE LAST POINT THAT I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT WAS THE BUDGET FOR FY 25 FOR NEXT FISCAL YEAR FOR US. UM, THESE WERE A COUPLE OF REQUESTS THAT WERE INCLUDED ON THE PROGRAM PROPOSAL LAST YEAR, BUT THAT THEY WERE NOT NECESSARILY APPROVED RIGHT AWAY, BUT MOVE ON TO THE NEXT FISCAL YEAR, WHICH IS THE COMING 25. UM, AND IT'S VERY CRITICAL FOR US, THESE TWO ASPECTS. NUMBER ONE, THE IN-HOUSE PERSONNEL, THE EQUIPMENT THAT WE'RE GETTING IS GONNA REQUIRE PEOPLE TO OPERATE. UM, AND ALTHOUGH WE DO HAVE SOME VACANCIES AS OUR COLLEAGUES FROM HOUSTON WATER SHARE HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO RECRUIT A SPECIALIZED FIELD PERSONNEL THAT HAS THE KNOWLEDGE TO OPERATE LESS MACHINERY, WE HAVE A VERY QUICK TURNAROUND. SO BETWEEN THE COMBINATION OF OUR VACANCIES AND THE ADDITIONAL POSITIONS THAT YOU'LL BE SEEING ON OUR FISCAL YEAR 25 BUDGET REQUEST, THAT IS WHAT THESE ARE COMING FROM, UH, PERSONNEL THAT WILL BE, WE WILL BE REQUIRING TO OPERATE THIS NEW EQUIPMENT. UM, AND NUMBER TWO, OBVIOUSLY HAVING CONTRACTS REQUIRE ALSO RESOURCES TO MANAGE THEM, ALSO TO INSPECT THEM AND BE SURE THAT THESE CONTRACTS ARE DONE, UM, FAIRLY HONESTLY AND TRANSPARENTLY AND THEY ACCOMPLISH ACCURATELY ALL THE GOALS THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE. SO AGAIN, IN-HOUSE PERSONNEL WILL BE, YOU'LL SEE SOME OF THAT ON OUR BUDGET REQUEST. UM, AND ALSO CONTRACT FUNDING. AGAIN, AS YOU CAN SEE, THE 21ST ROUND OF 25 MILLIONS ARE BEING PUT TO WORK. AND WE'LL BE VERY HAPPY TO START SHARING AS FISCAL YEAR 25 STARS [01:50:01] HOW THESE CONTRACTORS ARE GONNA BE ALL SIMULTANEOUSLY WORKING ON MANY AREAS IN THE CITY. UM, AND THE RESULTS ARE GONNA BE STARTING AND DISPLAYED ON THIS MAP AND DASHBOARD AND, AND WE'LL BE GETTING VERY, VERY EXCITED TO SHARE WITH YOU, BUT THAT'S THE FIRST 25 MILLION ROUND. EVENTUALLY WE'RE GONNA NEED TO HAVE PERMANENT FUNDING TO HAVE THIS CONTRACTING RESOURCES IN OUR HANDS TO BE ABLE TO SUPPLEMENT THE HAND RESOURCES THAT COME, UM, WITH BENEFITS. OBVIOUSLY THE COST TO DOING HOUSEWORK IS LOWER THAN CONTRACTING SERVICES. HOWEVER, WE HAVE CHALLENGES AS, UM, I'VE SHARED BEFORE RELATED TO THE MAINTENANCE OF SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT TO PERSONAL RETENTION ALONG WITH THE OTHER LOGISTICS THAT COME IN WITH HAVING SUCH MASSIVE AMOUNT OF RESOURCES IN HOUSE. UM, WITH THAT, I WANNA THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND AGAIN, THANK, THANK YOU SINCERELY FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE PROGRAM AND WE'LL BE HAPPY TO BE HERE IN A FEW MONTHS SHARING WITH YOU MORE UPDATES AND SOME MORE MM-HMM . TANGIBLE NUMBERS. YEAH. THANK YOU MS. CLARK. AND, UM, FOR THE PRESENTATION, UM, I KNOW MANY FOLKS IN MY DISTRICT IS REALLY EXCITED ABOUT, YOU KNOW, JUST THE PROGRESS THAT WE'RE MAKING. UM, IT WAS, UM, YOU KNOW, WE GOT SOME OF, UM, THE CONSTITUENTS IN THE AUDIENCE, NA WHO IS, UM, GONNA BE OFFERING, UM, COMMENT TODAY. UM, THIS IS LIKE A HUGE, YOU KNOW, PUSH FIGHT, UM, TO GET THIS, UM, REESTABLISHMENT DITCH MAINTENANCE, UM, PROGRAM BACK ON, YOU KNOW, BACK ON ON THE BOOKS, YOU KNOW, UM, IT'S GONE FOR QUITE SOME TIME, TWO DECADES. AND SO, UM, IT'S CRITICAL TO MITIGATE FLOODING WITHIN OUR DISTRICT. MAKE SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, THESE, THESE DITCHES ARE CLEAN, UM, SO THAT THE WATER CAN FLOW, UM, WHERE THEY NEED THE FLOW. AND THAT'S IN THE BIO. UM, I HAVE ONE QUESTION. SO AS FAR AS LIKE THE FUNDING, I KNOW LAST, YOU KNOW, BUDGET CYCLE, WE, UM, BUDGETED $20 MILLION. UM, THAT MONEY WAS SUPPOSED TO, IT CAME FROM LDP AND IT WAS TO START THIS PROGRAM. AND SO THAT MONEY WAS USED TO PURCHASE THE EQUIPMENT. SO WE GOT TO SOURCES OF BUDGET, UM, NUMBER ONE, THE $50 MILLION FOR EQUIPMENT THAT, UM, WE HAD TO SUPPLEMENT EXTRA 2 MILLION TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD THE GREAT OILS DOWN TRUCKS AND, UM, AND CULVER FLUSHING UNITS. MM-HMM . BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THERE WERE TWO ROUNDS OF BUDGET. NUMBER ONE, THE EQUIPMENT AND NUMBER TWO, THE $25 MILLION FOR CONTRACT THOUGH FOR CONTRACT. UM, HOWEVER, I, I CAN GIVE YOU MORE FINANCIAL DETAILS BECAUSE I KNOW THAT THERE WERE VERY, VERY MUCH A LOT OF TRANSFERS GOING ON BETWEEN, UM, I BELIEVE THE GENERAL FUND. MM-HMM . THERE WAS SOME FUNDING THAT CAME FROM IT. UM, I KNOW I WAS INFORMED OUT OF THE 25 MILLION FOR CONTRACTS, THERE WERE $5 MILLION THAT WERE ON OUR STORMWATER FUND AND 20 MILLION THAT CAME FROM THE, UH, CAPITAL SIDE. SO I'LL BE HAPPY TO GIVE YOU SOME MORE DETAILS ABOUT IT. 'CAUSE IT, IT IS QUITE COMPLEX. UM, UNFORTUNATELY I SHOULD HAVE MY FINANCE PERSON WITH ME TODAY TO ANSWER THIS TYPE OF QUESTIONS. SO WHAT DO YOU SUSPECT IS GONNA COST TO KEEP THIS PROGRAM MOVING EVERY YEAR? SO THE PERSONNEL IS A ONE-TIME EXPENSE. SO THE BUYER REQUEST YOU WILL SEE FOR IN-HOUSE PERSONNEL FOR FY 25 IS CLOSE TO $6 MILLION. UM, OBVIOUSLY YOU WILL HAVE TO BE PERMANENTLY ON THE BUDGET TO FUND THESE POSITIONS. UM, THE EQUIPMENT IS A ONE-TIME EXPENSE, THE $17 MILLION THAT WE ARE PROCURING RIGHT NOW. SO THOSE TWO PERMANENT ONE TIME. UM, HOWEVER, FOR THE CONTRACTS THAT'S GONNA BE, WE ESTIMATED $25 MILLION TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER THE 500 MILES A YEAR. SO $25 MILLION ANNUALLY. ANNUALLY. MM-HMM . OKAY. UM, WE GOT COUNCIL MEMBER CAYMAN IN Q. HI STAFF. UM, I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS IS REALLY EXCITING TO SEE AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR ALL OF YOUR WORK ON IT CHAIR. UM, MY QUESTION IS, I KNOW CURRENTLY WE ARE FOCUSING IN, UM, SPECIFIC NEIGHBORHOODS AND, UM, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR INCLUDING THE TIMELINE. IT'S REALLY HELPFUL. DISTRICT C UM, IS HAS A LOT OF COMMUNITIES WITH OPEN DITCHES AS WELL. WE FUND A DISTRICT C DITCH TEAM TO GO OUT AND REGRADE OR PROVIDE BASIC NA UM, MAINTENANCE BASED OFF WHAT'S NEEDED. ARE THERE ANY PLANS OR WAYS THAT OUR OFFICE CAN SUBMIT AREAS FOR ASSESSMENT TO BE LOOKED AT EITHER FOR THIS PROGRAM OR SIMILAR PROGRAMS? PUBLIC WORKS HAS, ABSOLUTELY. SO I WANNA CLARIFY THAT THE PROGRAM, AND THAT'S WHY WE NEEDED THIS FOUR TO FIVE YEAR TRANSITION TO BE MOVED, UH, FULLY TO A PROACTIVE APPROACH. OUR GOAL IS BY FY 28 TO HAVE THE CITY OF HOUSTON DIVIDED INTO AT LEAST FIVE DRAINAGE ZONES WHERE WE'RE GONNA BE PROGRAMMING THE INSPECTION AND REESTABLISHMENT OF ALL THE DITCHES WITHIN THAT AREA. HOWEVER, DURING THE TRANSITION, WE STILL OBVIOUSLY ARE CLEARLY RECEIVING ANY TYPE OF REQUEST FOR MAINTENANCE FOR INVESTIGATION ON ANY CONDITION ON THE DITCHES THAT YOU SEE THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED [01:55:01] TO PLEASE REPORT IT TO US VIA 3 0 1. WE'RE STILL ABSOLUTELY RESPONDING THAT WAY. IT'S ACTUALLY ONE OF THE INTERESTING, BEAUTIFUL CHALLENGES, THE PROGRAM OF HOW WE TRANSITION INTO STILL GETTING THIS INPUT FROM THE COMMUNITY WHILE ADDRESSING THE PROACTIVE, UH, METHODOLOGY THAT WE HAVE IN PLACE. SO, UM, NO, ABSOLUTELY. PLEASE LET US KNOW, AGAIN, COMMUNICATE WITH DIRECTLY THROUGH MY OFFICE OR THE THREE ON ONE SERVICE LINE, UM, WHAT AREAS YOU'RE SEEING CONCERN. WE HAVE, WE ARE BEING VERY DELICATE OR NOT SHIFTING ALL RESOURCES NECESSARILY TO THE PROGRAM, WHICH BY THE WAY, WE'RE IN INSPECTION MODE STILL, BUT WE DO HAVE OUR, UM, CREWS THAT ARE STILL DEDICATED TO THE REGRADING, THE SEALING REESTABLISHMENT OF THE DITCHES. SO ALL OF THAT IS GONNA BALANCE ITSELF AS THE MORE WE DO, THE MORE STABILITY WE'RE GONNA FIND IN THE PROGRAM TO GET TO THAT, TO THAT GOAL. THANK YOU SO MUCH. MM-HMM . THANK YOU MS. CLARK. AND WE HAVE A FEW, UM, AGAIN, UM, CONSTITUENTS THAT WANT TO ASK SOME QUESTIONS. AND SO CAN YOU STAY AROUND AND YEAH, OF COURSE. JUST, YEAH, BECAUSE I WANT TO BE ABLE TO GET WHATEVER THEY, THE QUESTIONS ASK RIGHT HERE ON THE SPOT. UM, SO I'M GONNA CALL THE FIRST SPEAKER UP. UM, WE HAVE MR. FELIX KAPO AND IF YOU DON'T MIND ME MAKING ONE LAST COMMENT, ONE I WANNA APPRECIATE THE NORTH ACTION COLLECTIVE. THEIR ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN OUTSTANDING AND WE HAVE BEEN MEETING FOR THE LAST YEAR WITH UPDATES ABOUT DISH MAINTENANCE. UM, WE HAD INTERESTING FIELD VISITS TRYING TO SHOW THE COMMUNITY HOW DITCHES WORK, WHAT WE'RE DOING. AND I REALLY WANNA SINCERELY APPRECIATE, 'CAUSE THEIR SUPPORT HAS BEEN ALSO VERY KEY FOR US TO DEVELOP THE PROGRAM AND GET TO THIS POINT. MM-HMM . AND THANK YOU FOR JUST COLLABORATION, YOU KNOW, UM, THAT SAYS A LOT ABOUT, UM, THE CITY AND THE STAFF THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITY AND MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE ENGAGING, UM, THE COMMUNITY IN THE PROCESS. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT. SO, FELIX, THANK YOU COUNCILWOMAN. UM, HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE? TWO MINUTES. TWO MINUTES? OKAY. UM, COUNCIL MEMBERS, HELLO. UM, COUNCIL MEMBER STAFF, JOANNA. HI, UH, WANNA THANK, UM, PUBLIC WORKS, FIRST OF ALL FOR THEIR OPENNESS. AND THEY'VE ACTUALLY BEEN MEETING WITH US FOR ABOUT TWO YEARS AND HELPING, TRYING TO, UH, HEAR SOME OF OUR DEMANDS OF THE CONSTITUENTS IN NORTHEAST HOUSTON AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, WHICH IS A VOICE FOR ALL OF THE HOUSTON. FOR ALL OF HOUSTON. AS SHE SAID, THIS PROGRAM IS FOR THE WHOLE CITY. THERE'S, I THINK, A COMMON MISCONCEPTION HERE THAT THE PROGRAM ONLY TOUCHES DISTRICT B, YOU KNOW, BY FISCAL YEAR 2028, I THINK YOU SAID IT SHOULD COVER THE WHOLE CITY. UM, I HOPE FROM THE MESSAGES FROM OTHER PARTS OF PUBLIC WORKS. AND FROM HERE Y'ALL REALIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS DEMAND, WHICH IS WHY WE'VE BEEN TRYING TO MEET WITH YOUR OFFICES, UM, TO REALLY, REALLY PUSH THAT THIS IS A WAY TO BUILD TRUST WITH COMMUNITIES THAT HAVE BEEN LEFT BEHIND FOR AGES. UM, SHE SAID BASICALLY SINCE 2001, THE CITY HAS JUST LEFT IT UP TO WHOEVER CAN MAKE THE MOST THREE ONE ONE PHONE CALLS, AND THAT'S REALLY NOT EQUITY. UM, I DID HAVE A COUPLE OF CLARIFYING QUESTIONS FOR YOU, JOANNA. HOW MUCH THEN IS THE PRO, YOU HAD MENTIONED SOME NUMBERS OF LIKE 6 MILLION FOR, UH, PERSONNEL AND THEN 17 MILLION FOR EQUIPMENT. WAS THAT WHAT, AND THEN 25 FOR CONTRACTORS? IS THAT FOR THIS UPCOMING YEAR. UM, SO THE PERSONNEL IS GONNA COME IN ON THE BUDGET REQUEST FOR FISCAL YEAR 25, WHICH IS STARTS JULY 1ST. OKAY. SO THIS COMING JULY 1ST IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CITY'S FISCAL YEAR. OKAY. AND THAT'S WHERE, AGAIN, THAT FUNDING HAS NOT BEEN GUARANTEE. UM, SO CURRENTLY THE CITY WORKS ON BUDGET FOR THE SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO THAT JULY 1ST START. MM-HMM . UM, SO IT WILL BE INCLUDED ON OUR REQUEST, UM, TO BE APPROVED BY THE MAYOR'S OFFICE. OKAY. SO 6 MILLION FOR PERSONNEL, AND THEN 25 MILLION FOR CONTRACTS. YEAH. SO THIS IS AN INTERESTING YEAR BECAUSE THIS THE FIRST 25 MILLION THAT WERE APPROVED LAST YEAR. UM, WE, WE DO HAVE A PROCUREMENT PROCESS WITHIN THE CITY WHERE WE'RE ABOUT TO SIX TO NINE MONTHS OFF. SO EVEN IF YOU GET APPROVED 25 MILLIONS TODAY, IT TAKES US ABOUT SIX TO NINE MONTHS TO ACTUALLY ESTABLISH CONTRACTS. SO THAT'S WHY THIS FIRST ROUND OF $25 MILLION, WE ARE JUST STARTING TO USE THE CONTRACTS NOW. SO WE ARE FORESEEING OR ESTIMATING THAT THESE 25 MILLION ARE GONNA GET SOME WORK DONE TOWARDS THE FIRST HALF OF, I MEAN, THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF FISCAL YEAR 25. SO TOWARDS THE END OF THE CALENDAR YEAR, HOPEFULLY I'M NOT CONFUSING ANYMORE. UM, BUT ONCE THOSE 25 MILLION GETS GET EXHAUSTED, WE'RE GONNA REQUIRE 25 MILLION MORE FOR FISCAL YEAR 26, UM, TO BE ABLE TO CONTINUE THE BALL ROLLING. AND WE WANNA HAVE THAT OVERLAP. SO WHILE WE'RE HAVING CONTRACTS IN THE WORKS ALREADY PRODUCING RESULTS, WE'RE WORKING ON ESTABLISHING THE NEXT ROUND OF CONTRACTS. SO THERE'S NO GAP IN BETWEEN OF NOT WORK DONE. OKAY? MM-HMM . SO FISCAL [02:00:01] YEAR 2025 FOR THE PERSONNEL, UH, THERE WILL BE SOME AMOUNT THERE FOR CONTRACTS. UM, AND THEN FISCAL YEAR 26, YOU WILL REQUIRE ANOTHER ROUND OF 25. AGAIN, THAT'S JUST ESTIMATED. HOPEFULLY PRICES DON'T ESCALATING, BUT THAT'S OUR ESTIMATE. GREAT. UM, THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFICATION. AND I THINK THE LAST THING I WANNA SAY IS I'M, I'M AT COMMUNITY MEETINGS. I'M IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, I'M IN HOUSES DAMAGED BY FLOODING, UH, WEATHER EVENTS. I GET CALLS EVERY SINGLE DAY ASKING FOR HOME REPAIRS. UM, I, WE'VE TALKED TO A LOT OF CITY OFFICIALS AND DEPARTMENTS, UH, FOR LACK OF A BETTER WAY OF SAYING IT, PUBLIC WORKS WORKS AND JOANNA'S ALREADY HAD, SHE ALREADY HAS A MAP, UM, THAT'S GONNA HOPEFULLY LAUNCH BY MAY, JUNE, SUMMER, WE'LL SAY SUMMER. UH, THAT'S GONNA ALLOW PEOPLE TO REALLY SEE IN REAL TIME, UM, THE CONDITION OF THEIR DITCH BASED ON HOW, UH, PUBLIC OFFICIALS AS WELL AS PROFESSIONALS ARE RATING IT. SO, UM, I REALLY HOPE Y'ALL PUT YOUR SUPPORT TOWARDS THIS BECAUSE A LOT OF COMMUNITIES DON'T KNOW THIS EXISTS AND DON'T KNOW IT'S COMING TO THEIR COMMUNITY. AND WHEN THEY HEAR ABOUT IT, THEIR EYES LIGHT UP. UM, THAT'S IT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MS. COURTNEY REBELS. AND IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO HAVE CONSTITUENTS LIKE HIGHLIGHT HOW THE PARTNERSHIP, YOU KNOW, TO SEE HOW PUBLIC WORKS IS WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE PARTNERSHIP. SO THANK YOU FOR THE, UM, POSITIVE COMMENTS, FELIX. HEY EVERYBODY. THANK YOU FOR HAVING US. UM, SO I DID HAVE, I, I DID TOO HAVE A CLARIFYING QUESTION. IT WAS ABOUT THE 17 MILLION. WAS THAT FOR THE EQUIPMENT LAST YEAR, OR WILL THAT BE SO, UM, UH, THE 17 MILLIONS WERE, THEY WERE APPROVED LAST CALENDAR YEAR, BUT WERE STILL WITHIN FISCAL YEAR 24. SO THE DOLLARS WERE IMMEDIATELY ALLOCATED TO START PURCHASING THE EQUIPMENT. OKAY. SO WE ARE, WE'RE ALREADY PAYING FOR THOSE WHO ARE JUST REALLY WORKING WITH MANUFACTURERS TO GET QUICKLY AND GET THOSE, THOSE MACHINES ASSEMBLED AND DELIVERED TO US AGAIN, SIX OUT OF THE 12 GRID HOLES IN LESS THAN SIX MONTHS. THAT'S AN OUTSTANDING, UH, DELIVERY TIMELINE FOR US, SO IT'S EASIER. OKAY. SO I DID WANNA, UH, SO ONE OF THE THINGS WE WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT WAS HOW WELL THE LOCAL DRAINAGE PROJECTS HAVE BEEN WORKING IN OUR COMMUNITY. UH, ONE OF MY BIG COMPLAINTS WAS ABOUT THE DITCH IN FRONT OF MY DAUGHTER'S SCHOOL, AND WE WERE ABLE TO GET A LOCAL, UH, DRAINAGE PROJECT TO, TO, TO FIX THAT. SO WE'RE ASKING FOR A 20 MILLION INCREASE IN THAT PARTICULAR DEPARTMENT BECAUSE WE SEE THAT THOSE PROJECTS ARE, UM, THEY'RE JUST WORKING BEST IN OUR COMMUNITY. UM, THEY DO THE MOST AND THEY'RE, THEY'RE, THEY, THEY'RE MORE THAN THE DRE ESTABLISHMENT, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO WAIT AS LONG AS THE CIP. RIGHT. AND THEN, UM, I KIND OF WANTED TO CLARIFY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE CONSENT DECREE. UM, IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT LEAKS THAT CAN BE ADDRESSED BY THE CONSENT DECREE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WASTEWATER. UM, AND THAT'S NOT THE SAME AS THE WATER AT THOSE TREATMENT PLANTS THAT WE WOULD DRINK AND STUFF. SO JUST MAKING THAT CLARIFICATION, LIKE IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT LIKE LEAKS, ESPECIALLY ON LIKE A COMMUNITY MEMBER'S, A COMMUNITY MEMBER'S PROPERTY, WE HAVE TO MAKE THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN IF IT'S A WATER LEAK, WHICH OF COURSE THE CITY CAN ADDRESS IN 14 DAYS VERSUS IT BEING A SANITARY SEWER OVERFLOW, WHICH IS WHAT THE CONSENT DECREE IS DESIGNED TO ADDRESS. SO I JUST WANTED TO MAKE THAT DISTINCTION BECAUSE WE ARE MAKING ASKS OF THAT. AND WE DON'T WANT THE DIFFERENT LEAKS TO BE CONFUSED. WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR SHOWER WATER OR A LEAK AT YOUR HOME. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT POO IN YOUR YARD THAT GOES TO THE DITCH THAT WE WANT TO GET REESTABLISHED AND HAVE THE LOCAL DRAINAGE PROJECTS FIXED. SO IT'S ALSO THE HEALTH OF YOUR, UM, CONTRACT WORKERS THAT ARE AT STAKE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. MS. REBELS, MS. ALICE LU LOU. HI EVERYONE. UM, I JUST WANTED TO ADDRESS YOU DIRECTLY, UH, JOANNA, AND JUST SAY THAT WE'VE BEEN MEETING WITH YOU FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW AND WE WANTED TO THANK YOUR DEPARTMENT FOR YOUR RESPONSIVENESS AND YOU'RE WILLING TO MEET WITH US. WE MEET SEVERAL TIMES A YEAR. UM, YOU KNOW, LAST YEAR THE DEPARTMENT OF DRAINAGE IDENTIFIED TO THE NORTHEAST ACTION COLLECTIVE A SHORTAGE IN BOTH EQUIPMENT AND PERSONNEL. UM, AND WE'RE SO HAPPY TO SEE THAT THE DITCH REESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM IS PROVIDING FUNDING, NOT JUST FOR CONTRACTS, BUT ACTUALLY TO BUILD OUT THAT CAPACITY LONG TERM AND FILL IN THOSE GAPS. UM, NOT JUST IN NORTHEAST HOUSTON, BUT TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER SERVICES ACROSS THE CITY WHEREVER OPEN THAT JUST MAY BE FOUND. UM, SO WE'RE HERE TODAY TO ABSOLUTELY EXPRESS OUR WHOLEHEARTED SUPPORT FOR FULLY FUNDING [02:05:01] THIS PROGRAM. UM, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE ADDITIONAL $90 MILLION THAT HAS JUST BEEN RULED BY A COURT THAT HAS TO GO TOWARDS DRAINAGE. UH, WE HOPE THERE'S, UM, YOU KNOW, WE BASICALLY DON'T WANNA HEAR ANY MORE EXCUSES OF NOT HAVING ENOUGH MONEY FOR DRAINAGE. UM, WE ALSO WANTED TO BRING ATTENTION TO ANOTHER PROGRAM, THE LOCAL DRAINAGE PROJECTS PROGRAM. SO BEYOND THE REESTABLISHMENT, JUST TO BE CLEAR, WHAT LDP DOES IS IT ALLOWS FOR REHABILITATION, WHICH MEANS EXPANDING EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE OR EVEN CREATING NEW INFRASTRUCTURE WHERE NONE EXISTS CURRENTLY. UM, AS MY COWORKER COURTNEY SAID, THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST TARGETED APPROACHES OF THE DEPARTMENT WHERE ENGINEERS ARE ABLE TO DETERMINE THE AREAS OF MOST NEED AND HIGHEST IMPACT. UM, AND BECAUSE THE DISTRICT ADOPTION PROGRAM IS THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES THAT THE CITY HAS HAD A COMPREHENSIVE INSPECTION OF NEED, THERE WILL INEVITABLY BE A HIGH LEVEL OF NEED, UM, DITCHES THAT ARE RATED AS POOR THROUGH THEIR ASSESSMENT, UM, THAT IS IDENTIFIED AND THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED, BUT CAN'T BE ADDRESSED THROUGH DITCH REESTABLISHMENT. SO WE'RE PROPOSING LDP AS A REALLY IMPORTANT, UM, LEVEL OF, UH, PROJECT THAT IS ABLE TO ACTUALLY ADDRESS NEEDS THAT COME UP THROUGH THOSE REESTABLISHMENT INSPECTIONS. UM, YOU KNOW, WE'VE SEEN A LONG LIST OF LDP PROJECTS THAT ARE IN THE PLANNING PHASE OR WAITING FOR FUNDING, AND WE KNOW THAT RIGHT NOW THE $12 MILLION ANNUALLY IS ABSOLUTELY NOT GOING TO CUT IT. UM, I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS. CAN I ASK THEM ? UM, OKAY. SO I GUESS MY FIRST QUESTION IS, WHAT IS THE PLAN FOR PROJECTS THAT ARE IDENTIFIED TO NEED WORK BEYOND REESTABLISHMENT? UM, UH, YOU KNOW, IS THERE A, AN IDEA OF REFERRING THOSE TO OTHER PROGRAMS WITH THE CIP AND IS THERE CURRENTLY ENOUGH FUNDING IN THE LVP TO ADDRESS THAT NEED? NO, YOU, YOU CAN GO AHEAD. CAN I GO? YEAH. UM, YES, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT IS A VERY GOOD POINT BECAUSE THROUGH THE INSPECTIONS THAT WE'RE DOING ON THE ROADSIDE DITCHES, THEY WILL BE, AND WE ARE SEEING SOME DITCHES THAT ARE NOT GONNA BE, THE WORK THAT IS REQUIRED IS NOT GONNA BE SUFFICIENT WITH SIMPLY REGRADE AND EXCAVATE. UM, THOSE, THEY'RE GONNA REQUIRE SOME SURVEYING, EVEN SOME ENGINEERING, TO BE ABLE TO RESTORE THAT POSITIVE FLOW THAT I WAS DESCRIBING EARLY. SO FOR THOSE, WE WILL HAVE TO USE SOME OF OUR REHABILITATION PROGRAMS, INCLUDING SWAT, THE STORMWATER ACTION TEAM AND THE LDP PROGRAM THAT IS THE LOCAL, UM, DRAINAGE PROGRAM THAT ARE FUNDED THROUGH OUR CIP. SO, UM, YES, THAT'S, THAT'S, THAT'S VERY TRUE. WE'RE GONNA BE SOME DITCHES. HOPEFULLY MOST OF THEM GET TO BE TAKEN CARE THROUGH THE PROGRAM, BUT THERE ARE GONNA BE SOME THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO REROUTE TO THE NEXT LEVEL OF APPROACH. AND I JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER JACKSON'S AMENDMENT LAST YEAR, WHICH PASSED UNANIMOUSLY, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO INCREASE LDP FUNDING BY 20 MILLION, AND YOUR DEPARTMENT IS STILL WAITING ON THAT TRANSFER. IT HASN'T HAPPENED YET, IS THAT CORRECT? UH, I DON'T HAVE THE INFORMATION FOR FISCAL YEAR 25, YES. YET. OKAY. UM, I KNOW THAT THIS YEAR, THAT PROGRAM TYPICALLY IS ABOUT $12 MILLION. THIS YEAR WE HAD A TOTAL OF 16 MILLION MM-HMM . SO THERE WAS A SLIGHT INCREASE. UM, BUT I CANNOT SPEAK FOR FISCAL YEAR 25 JUST YET, SINCE THAT BODY HAS NOT BEEN APPROVED. OKAY. THANK YOU. UM, YEAH, WE'RE TRYING TO GET CLARIFICATION FOR ANYONE WHO HAS INFORMATION ABOUT THAT. AND SORRY, MY LAST QUESTION IS, UM, SO FIRST YEAR YOU SAID THAT CONTRACTORS HAVE REESTABLISHED ABOUT 20 MILES OF DITCHES, IS THAT CORRECT? UH, APPROXIMATELY. IT'S CLOSE TO THAT. OKAY. UM, MM-HMM . COOL. SO NEXT YEAR, UM, TO STAY ON SCHEDULE, YOUR GOAL IS TO REESTABLISH 450 MILES. AND I JUST WANTED TO FLAG, UM, YOU KNOW, GIVEN THAT THE LEVEL OF FUNDING THAT YOU'VE REQUESTED FOR THIS YEAR'S BUDGET IS ACTUALLY LESS THAN LAST YEAR'S, UH, INITIAL LEVEL OF FUNDING, YOU KNOW, HOW DO YOU EXPECT THAT LEVEL OF FUNDING TO ACTUALLY COVER, UM, INCREASING THE REESTABLISHMENT OF DITCHES BY ALMOST 20 TIMES? SO, UM, THE PROGRAM IS BASED ON BOTH RESOURCES IN HOUSE AND CONTRACTING. MM-HMM . SO BASED THE 14, UH, THE CLOSE TO 20 MILES THAT I MENTIONED WAS AN, AN APPROACH FOR US TO, TO UNDERSTAND AGAIN AND TEST, OKAY, HOW FAST CONTRACTORS CAN GO, HOW MANY MILES THEY CAN ACTUALLY DO A WEEK, A MONTH. SO WE COULD HAVE AN IDEA HOW MANY CONTRACTS WE NEED. AND THAT'S WHAT WE CONCLUDED BASED ON THEIR, THE, THE SPEED AND THE, THE TYPE OF WHERE THEY WERE DOING THAT. FIVE CONTRACTS WITH THE 25 MILLION, UH, TOTAL WILL BE SUFFICIENT FOR US TO DELIVER. AND WE'RE EXPECTING, UM, CLOSE TO THE 200 MILES VIA CONTRACTORS. UM, AND REMEMBER, WE ALREADY HAVE IN-HOUSE AND CONTRACT CAPACITY THROUGH CRUISE AND EQUIPMENT THAT ALREADY EXISTS THROUGH OUR SWEAT PROGRAM, THROUGH PROGRAM. WE ARE ALREADY DELIVERING 200 MILES A YEAR. SO YOU THINK ABOUT IT, WE ARE LOOKING INTO ADDITIONAL 300 MILES CAPACITY. SO WE ARE EXPECTING ABOUT 200 MILES TO BE DELIVERED THROUGH CONTRACTORS AND PROBABLY ABOUT A HUNDRED MILES THROUGH THE [02:10:01] NEW, UM, PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT THAT WE WILL BE HOUSING, UH, INTERNALLY. SO IT'S, IT'S GONNA BE A SPLIT THERE, BUT IT'S NOT A BRAND NEW 500. WE'RE ALREADY DELIVERING ALMOST HALF OF THAT. THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, WELL THANK YOU MS. CLARK, UM, FOR JUST STAYING AROUND AND, AND ANSWERING SOME QUESTIONS. REALLY APPRECIATE YOU ENGAGING WITH US. UM, DO WE HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS? NO. WITH THAT BEING SAID, SINCE WE HAVE NO MORE QUESTIONS, I WANNA REMIND OUR AUDIENCE THAT THIS COMMITTEE IS FOR YOU. AND SO PLEASE HELP US, UM, SET THE AGENDA, THE FU AND FOR FUTURE MEETINGS. IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ON, YOU KNOW, WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO, UM, THIS COMMITTEE TO, UM, LOOK INTO, CALL MY OFFICE (832) 393-3009, OR YOU CAN TEXT US AT THE SAME NUMBER. OUR EMAIL ADDRESS IS DISTRICT B@HOUSTONTX.GOV. UM, BEFORE WE ADJOURN, I WANNA REMIND YOU EVERYONE, OUR NEXT SERVICE DELIVERY COMMITTEE MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY THE 29TH AT 6:00 PM UM, IT'S GONNA BE AT THE NORTHEAST MULTI-SERVICE CENTER. ALSO, IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN RE RECEIVING MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT OUR OFFICE AGAIN, DISTRICT B@HOUSTONTX.COM GOV. THE TIME IS 4:11 PM AND WE ARE ADJOURNED. AH, SORRY. HAVE A GREAT DAY. CAN I JUST SAY, UM, UH, SO BY, UH, COMRAD BEN BENJAMIN BROADWAY, UM, SIGNED UP TO SPEAK AND HAS BEEN WAITING FOR HOURS. I KNOW IT'S OFFICIALLY ADJOURNED, BUT I WAS WONDERING IF HE COULD STILL GIVE HIS COMMENT. IT SEEMS LIKE HIS NAME HAS FALLEN THROUGH. YEAH, WE HAD TO SIGN IN FORM ON THE TABLE, BUT MR. BENJAMIN, I'LL OPEN IT UP FOR YOU. I GUESS I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE RULES ARE, UM, IN REGARDS TO ONCE WE ADJOURNED, IF THAT'S ON RECORD. CAN NO, LETS JUST DO IT. GO AHEAD. COME ON, MR. BENJAMIN. THANK YOU SO MUCH. THANK YOU. SINCE YOU'RE A FRIEND, WE HAD SIGNED ONLINE YESTERDAY. I THINK MOST OF US DID. WE DIDN'T GET. OKAY. WE'LL LET HIM, WE'LL LET HIM TRY. OKAY. IT IS 4:12 PM AND WE ARE ABOUT TO LET MR. BENJAMIN SPEAK. WE GOING BACK IN QUEUE. GO AHEAD. OKAY. UH, YES, I'D LIKE TO THANK, UH, THE COUNCIL MEMBERS THAT ARE HERE IN DITTO, UM, GIVE US THIS OPPORTUNITY. UM, AND I'D LIKE TO THANK PUBLIC WORKS FOR MEETING WITH US EVERY YEAR WITH THE NORTHEAST ACTION COLLECTIVE. UM, I'D LIKE TO, UH, AGAIN, UH, SAY THAT THE DITCH ESTABLISHMENT PROGRAM, HA MA IT CAN WORK. BUT THERE'S SOME OTHER THINGS THAT WE NEED TO DO, MAN. UH, WE NEED THE ADDITIONAL 20 MILLION FOR MORE STAFF AND MORE EMPLOYEES. THERE WAS AN IDEA THAT I GOT FROM WISCONSIN ABOUT GOING TO THE HCCS AND GRANTING COMMUNITY MEMBERS GRANTS TO BE TRAINED IN HEAVY EQUIPMENT AND PLUMBING AND CARPENTRY AND WELDING AND ALL THE THINGS THAT PUBLIC WORKS NEEDS TODAY, RIGHT NOW TO WORK IN ALL OF THE DISTRICTS. THAT IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN DO STARTING WITH THE NORTH FOREST COLLEGE CAMPUS. START IT THERE. TRAIN YOUR PEOPLE. YOU CAN PICK OUT OTHER COLLEGES, WELL, UH, OTHER HCC CAMPUSES THROUGHOUT YOUR DISTRICTS TO TRAIN THESE PEOPLE, TO GET 'EM FILLED IN TO WHERE IT'S NOT SO FAR LAGGING. WE HAVE THE MONEY NOW, WE JUST DON'T HAVE THE EMPLOYEES. THAT'S WHAT WE NEED TO DO. AND WE HAVE PLENTY OF PEOPLE HERE IN THE CITY OF HOUSTON THAT CAN REDUCE OUR UNEMPLOYMENT RATE. AND I'M QUITE SURE THAT MS. JACKSON HAS A PROGRAM, I CAN'T QUITE REMEMBER THE NAME OF IT RIGHT NOW. BE SUCCESSFUL. YES, MA'AM. THE BE SUCCESSFUL PLAN, BUT IMPLEMENT THAT WITH PUBLIC WORKS AS WELL, BECAUSE WE ARE SO FAR BEHIND, WE'RE FACING THE BARREL OF ANOTHER HURRICANE SEASON. SO THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT. I HAVE ONE MORE THING TO ADD. IF SOMEONE COULD PLEASE TALK TO MR. ANGEL OR THE MAYOR BECAUSE THIS BUILDING IS NOT A DA COMPLIANT. I CAUGHT PLENTY OF TROUBLE TRYING TO GET IN HERE AND, UM, I WANNA SAY COUN UH, COUNCIL MEMBER ALCORN MAY, MAY HAVE SAW ME TRYING TO GET IN THROUGH THE DOORS AND I CAN'T. SO IF SOMEONE COULD RELAY THAT MESSAGE TO THE MAYOR OR SPEAK WITH MR. ANGEL, [02:15:01] THAT WOULD BE GREAT BECAUSE THEN WE CAN HAVE MORE CONSTITUENTS THAT ACTUALLY COME IN HERE THAT ARE WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE OR SCOOTER ACCESSIBLE TO COME AND SPEAK. THANK YOU. THANK YOU MR. BENJAMIN. AND THANK YOU FOR BRINGING THAT, UM, TO OUR ATTENTION. WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE INCLUDING EVERYONE. SO A DAE IS, IT'S VERY IMPORTANT. SO THANK YOU FOR HIGHLIGHTING THAT. WITH THAT BEING SAID, IT'S FOUR 15 AND WE ARE NOW ADJOURNED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR JOINING US. SEE YOU NEXT MONTH. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.