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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJoint CC & W & WW Rate Advisory Committe Worksession Minutes-10-18-2016 City of Colleyville Page 1 Joint City Council and Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee Worksession Agenda City Hall 100 Main Street Colleyville, Texas 76034 817.503.1000 www.colleyville.com Tuesday, October 18, 2016 5:00 p.m. Executive Conference Room Third Floor – City Hall CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 12, 2016 2. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION 2a Presentation of the Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee Recommendations 3. ADJOURNMENT I hereby certify this agenda was posted on City Hall bulletin boards Friday, October 14, 2016 by 5:00 p.m. Amy Shelley, TRMC City Secretary A quorum of the City Council or any Colleyville Board, Commission, or Committee may be in attendance at this meeting. Any matter on this agenda may, at the discretion of the governing body, be opened for public comment and discussion. If you plan to attend this public meeting and have a disability that requires special accommodations, please advise the City Secretary at least 48 hours in advance at 817.503.1130, and reasonable accommodations will be made to assist you. City of Colleyville Page 1 City of Colleyville Joint City Council and Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee Worksession Minutes City Hall 100 Main Street Colleyville, Texas 76034 817. 503.1000 www.colleyville.com Tuesday, October 18, 2016 5:00 p.m. Executive Conference Room Third Floor – City Hall Mayor Richard Newton called the Joint City Council and Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee Worksession to order on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 5:01 p.m. ROLL CALL: Mayor Richard Newton, Mayor Pro Tem Chris Putnam, and Councilmembers Bobby Lindamood, Jody Short, Nancy Coplen and Mike Taylor. Water and Wastewater Rate Committee Chair Susan Mathisen, Vice Chair Gerald Gibson, and Committee members Raymond Allee, George Dodson, James Dove, Jeff Gilstrap, Joe Moore, Tim Raine, and Samuel van Bever Absent: Councilmember Tammy Nakamura, Committee member Thomas Bauch and Jeff Pistor City Manager Jennifer Fadden, Deputy City Manager Chris Fuller, Fire Chief Brian Riley, Police Services Lieutenant Hillary Wreay, Chief Financial Officer Brian Hogan, Human Resources Director Rachel Huitt, Public Works Director Jeremy Hutt, City Engineer Cheryl Taylor, Community Development Director Ben Bryner, Recreation and Library Director Mary Rodne, Accounting Manager Karen Hines, Parks Manager Heather Dowell, Information Systems Manager Chris Pena, and City Secretary Amy Shelley were also present. 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 12, 2016 Committee member Moore made a motion to approve the October 12, 2106 Water and Wastewater Advisory Committee minutes. Committee member Dodson seconded the motion. The motion to approve carried by the following vote: Aye: 9 – Chair Mathisen, Vice Chair Gibson, Committee members Allee, Dodson, Dove, Gilstrap, Moore, Raine, and van Bever Absent: 2 – Committee members Bauch and Pistor 2. PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION Joint City Council and W-WW Advisory Committee Worksession Minutes October 18, 2016 City of Colleyville Page 2 2a Presentation of the Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee Recommendations Committee member Jeff Pistor was present for this portion of the worksession. Chair Susan Mathisen presented the recommendations of the Water and Wastewater Rate Advisory Committee to the City Council and answered questions. Mayor Newton expressed his appreciation to the members for their work and service on this committee. Councilmember Coplen asked the committee about why they are not recommending incurring the costs for capital improvements at a small rate now versus four years from now. Vice Chair Gibson replied looking at the capital improvement costs and budget was not their charge nor to recommend a rate which could change City policy. Committee member Raine added the discussion did evolve into the charge of the committee, but it was not to determine the appropriateness and accuracy estimates of the ongoing capital improvement projects; however, City Council can add those back in, if they deem it necessary. Committee member Dodson added the model can be easily modified now, but it was not for the committee to decide policy. Committee member Raine also added the committee could not evaluate those projects, nor determine how much money should accumulate based on the schedule. Committee member Pistor added the committee realized there was a fund there to do capital improvements projects, but to cover the base costs for transparency was the priority. He stated right now there is an opportunity to use a part the excess Utility Reserves (Fund Balance), over time. He stated the committee did discuss leaving something in there, but right now it would be funding something that is an unknown. He stated using the excess reserves now, and the estimate was about $2 million a year or so, and with ongoing maintenance pieces, but the mechanism is in place to budget for those capital projects. Committee member Allee added it would be easy to add the capital improvement fund on the water bill. He stated you may want to spend down the reserve fund, then in 2019 add to the budget a line item, maybe a certain percent per gallon or thousand gallons, but it could be structured many different ways, you can add the line item that is transparent, while not varying in the water volumetric/usage rate or the base rate. Joint City Council and W-WW Advisory Committee Worksession Minutes October 18, 2016 City of Colleyville Page 3 Chair Mathisen stated there are investments in the Utility Fund and a part of them are to be set aside for impact fee related projects, but that represents only about half of the investment account, the rest is available for any use within the Utility Fund. She stated there is $7.6 million in this investment account. Some of these investments come from impact fees received and the rest is from excess utility revenues. These funds are all available for capital improvement projects. She stated that it is up to City Council to modify the rates as necessary. Chair Mathisen stated it would be a good discussion by City Council as a whole as to what that Utility Reserve balance should be, in addition to the reserve. She stated the committee did not have a parameter for that fund, only what the base and volumetric charges should be to achieve full cost recovery. Mayor Pro Tem Putnam stated he was trying to map the $11.2 million back to the original budget discussion but still does not understand which fund it sits in. Mayor Newton stated it is on the balance sheet. Chair Mathisen stated she attempted to reconcile this but there are a couple of pieces she did not have. She stated she looked at the full fund balance as reported on the financial statements and tried to reconcile it to that on the budget and could not reconcile it. Maybe it was because she did not know what the impact fees and expenditures were historically and then for 2016. She stated it will be important for someone to try to figure out what the fund balance is. Councilmember Taylor asked Chair Mathisen if she contacted staff with her questions. Chair Mathisen replied yes, her issue was that she did not know all the questions to ask initially. Answers provided led to more questions. It was unclear what was being included in the fund balance. She stated she has not had a chance to look at the impact fees to get through her reconciliation process. Discussion ensued about City Council’s responsibility to look at the model, in the future, and determine whether or not rates will need to be adjusted to meet capital improvement projects. Vice Chair Gibson stated this plan is much simpler to explain to the general public, and that this meets the objectives of the committee. Mayor Newton also expressed his appreciation to staff and their support provided to the committee. Councilmember Taylor asked staff if the line items will work on the utility bill. Chief Financial Officer Brian Hogan replied staff will work with the programmer to make sure the items are clear on the bill. Joint City Council and W-WW Advisory Committee Worksession Minutes October 18, 2016 City of Colleyville Page 4 Councilmember Short stated the reserve balance conversation needs to happen sooner rather than later. Mayor Pro Tem Putnam asked Mayor Newton if it is the policy to spend down the existing budget. Mayor Newton replied he calls it policy, but that has been the practice, and there has been no discussion to change it. Councilmember Short asked the committee about recommendation number 5 and why conservation measures were not recommended by the consultant. Committee member Raine stated conservation was discussed and it was explained that even as it was structured with the tiered rates, there was no change in the volumetric use. Committee member Allee stated looking at a conservation plan is a bigger picture to study, which was outside the scope of the committee, but there was a discussion about it and how it could be done. Committee member Moore stated it is an educational component, conservation does work, and to set that rate to the elasticity of the rate is there; however, the committee just could not get to it. Councilmember Short stated the watering restrictions were in place for a long period of time, and when the watering restrictions were lifted, it had stopped raining. He stated he began to water more and with that, his water bill went up. He stated he then changed his habits to control the increase in his bill. Councilmember Taylor stated he believed it could be line itemed on the bill similar to the tiered rates. Mayor Pro Tem Putnam stated this is great in terms of solving the Colleyville end of it, but he stated he still refuses to accept that accepting rate increases from TRA on an annual basis is an acceptable answer, that we cannot sustain. He stated we should pursue other forms of water resources. He asked Mayor Newton if a committee could be formed to and be tasked with looking at other options. Mayor Newton replied there are options and if we can reduce Colleyville’s percentage of water usage, then we can reduce Colleyville’s portion of the TRA debt. Councilmember Taylor asked Chair Mathisen about the recommendation of the City to begin paying for water and wastewater through the General Fund. Chair Mathisen replied there are meters that the City uses for parks and City facilities etc., about 79 meters. She stated that water usage is tracked and monitored but not being billed. If the usage was billed, about $188,000, would be due to the Utility Fund from the General Fund. She stated the Utility Fund is an enterprise Joint City Council and W-WW Advisory Committee Worksession Minutes October 18, 2016 City of Colleyville Page 5 fund. All of the income and expenses of an enterprise fund should be reflected within itself. That is currently not happening. She stated there are shared services and those expenses should be allocated proportionally through the Utility Fund in order to promote true transparency. Mayor Newton stated for this year it is virtually a wash, but for next year, the budget will reflect those shared services and expenses being used in both the General Fund and the Utility Fund. 3. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the City Council and committee the worksession was adjourned at 6:28 p.m. APPROVED BY A VOTE OF 5 AYES, 0 NAYS, AND 0 ABSTENTIONS ON THIS THE 1ST DAY OF NOVEMBER 2016. Minutes taken and prepared by: Amy Shelley, TRMC City Secretary