CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS COMMITTEE ALD. ROBERT BAUMAN, CHAIR Ald. Milele Coggs, Ald. Mark Borkowski, Ghassan Korban, Jeff Mantes, Martin Matson, and Dennis Yaccarino Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, 286-2231 Fax: 286-3456, lelmer@milwaukee.gov Fiscal Planning Specialist: Kathleen Brengosz, 286-3926, kbreng@milwaukee.gov Friday, September 29, 2017 9:00 AM City Hall, Room 301-B Meeting convened: 9:04 A.M. Member excused: Ald. Coggs Bill Christianson present for Dennis Yaccarino 1. Presentation of the Fleet Condition Report. Mr. Jeff Tews discussed the condition of the City’s vehicle fleet. He stated the department’s mission, which is to provide responsive, flexible, efficient and comprehensive fleet services and dispatch operations to support the delivery of public program and services for the City of Milwaukee. The department maintains vehicles for all departments except the Fire department The department maintains 123 different types of equipment. There are 2,917 pieces of Fleet Services equipment and 1,953 pieces of non-Fleet Services equipment. The total replacement value of the fleet is $262.6 million. There are 872 units of capital equipment worth $153.4 million. The average cost of capital equipment is $175,923 per unit. There are 2,045 units of O&M equipment with a replacement value of $36.3 million. The average unit cost for O&M Equipment is $17,739. Mr. Tews discussed the assignment of vehicles saying that the 236 units used for snow and ice control in the winter are reassigned to other areas in the summer. He discussed recent additions to the City’s fleet, including a backhoe, an endloader, a road patcher, and street sweepers. The committee discussed roadway patching and pothole repair. Mr. Tews said that repairs done with the patcher are efficient , generally high in quality and can be driven on immediately following placement. Mr. Korban added that it also improves worker safety because it can be operated from the cab, not the roadway. Mr. Tews said the new patcher was a replacement for one of two older vehicles. Ald. Bauman asked how often the patcher was idle. Mr. Tews said that the patcher is used for one shift per day for approximately 10 months of the year. Mr. Korban said that the patcher could be used for additional hours, but as a practical matter, it should only be used during daylight hours. Ald. Bauman requested a demonstration of the patcher. He also suggested that pothole patching could be used as a job creation tool. Mr. Korban said the current manual patching procedure is to clean the hole, use tack coat and compact patch with a roller. He said the department continues to use “super crews”. Mr. Tews discussed automated packers. He said there is generally good compliance with cart set out. Automated packers have been used for 5 years. City of Milwaukee Page 1 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes September 29, 2017 COMMITTEE Mr. Tews discussed snow and ice control equipment. He said the average cost of a new vehicle is $189,853 including the truck, plow, underbody plow and the salt hopper. He said new equipment will have less granular salt capability, more liquid capability and a spray bar for direct anti-icing. Ald. Borkowski asked if plow blades could be altered to reduce roadway damage. Mr. Tews said rubber edges were available but would need to be replaced after each plowing operation. The number of plows in the fleet makes this expensive and impractical. Mr. Tews said a standard plow blade is 10 feet wide and when fully angled it plows a 9 foot path. He said there are 9 trucks fitted with 8.5 foot blades. The department also uses sidewalk tractors with a 7 foot blade. Mr. Tews discussed the equipment purchase plan for 2018. He said the department would be able to do less maintenance if equipment was newer but that staff is able to maintain a 90% availability rate, which is an industry best practice. 2. Presentation of the Water Condition Report. Ms. Jennifer Gonda discussed the condition and the condition assessment process of the Water Works facilities. She said that the gross book value of the utility’s assets is about $660 million. After depreciation the value is about $440 million this year. She said in addition to the internal condition assessment, the department has hired AECOM to perform a water main replacement study as ordered by the PSC, the department is also participating in the Partnership for Safe Water. Ms. Gonda presented the following condition ratings. The committee discussed backup power generation for the system. Ms. Gonda said the project is complete. Ald. Bauman asked if a cost benefit analysis had been done to determine if it was cheaper to run the system on generators or purchased electricity. Mr. Dan Wilke said the backup power generation system was designed to provide treatment and pumping capability under the majority of scenarios the City may encounter. It was not designed to provide for long term, full scale operation. The committee discussed the inspection of the tunnel from Linnwood to North Point. The poured in place tunnel is 9 feet in diameter and 150 feet below the surface. She said the DNR is ordering the inspection of both the North Point and Riverside tunnels every ten years. She said the tunnels had not been inspected for at least 60 years. The $2 million cost estimate will cover the inspection and minor rehabilitation work. Ms. Gonda offered a tour of the tunnel to committee members who had confined space training. Ms. Gonda discussed the distribution system. She said there are 1,824 miles of distribution mains (6” dia. to 16” dia.) and 138 miles of feeder mains (20” dia to 60” dia). There are 19,862 hydrants. In 2017, 7,065 hydrants were inspected and serviced and 6,784 were flushed. The system has 49,859 valves and 169,815 services The committee discussed water main breaks. Ms. Gonda said that there have been 34,927 main breaks. The first recorded main break was on November 16, 1883. There have been 14,435 breaks on mains that remain in service and 20,492 breaks on mains which have been replaced. She said the number of main breaks has been trending downward and the utility has been operating near the industry average of 25 breaks per 100 miles of main. She said the department’s goal was to reduce annual main breaks to 15 per 100 miles of main. She said that mains constructed between 1873 and 1930, have a failure rate of 9 per 100 miles of main. Mains constructed between 1945 and 1958 have a failure rate of 52 breaks per 100 miles. Mr. Pat Pauly said the there are multiple reasons for the higher failure rate. He said older pipe has thicker walls and was hand packed in clay which isolated it from corrosive elements in the environment. He said the cast iron pipe with the highest failure rate has thinner walls and was backfilled with gravel which is open to infiltration from water and salts. He said newer pipe has interior corrosion protection and is wrapped in polyethylene to City of Milwaukee Page 2 CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS Meeting Minutes September 29, 2017 COMMITTEE protect the exterior from water infiltration. The committee discussed the water main replacement program. Ms. Gonda said the department plans to replace 18 miles of main in 2018 in compliance with the PSC order. She said that the combination of the utility’s rate of return and depreciation costs, are not enough to pay for the main replacement that has been ordered by the PSC. She said the utility can borrow, but that there are limits on that as well. She said the utility currently has a very low debt to equity ratio. She said the department is aiming for 3% annual rate increase. Mr. Korban said that as long as the utility makes consistent investments in water main replacements, the goal of 15 breaks per 100 miles is attainable. Ms. Gonda said she will discuss a performance based standard with the PSC. The committee discussed lead service lines. The Common Council directed the Water Works to determine the material on the private side of 33,000 lead services that were put in between 1951 and 1962. Ms. Gonda said the department developed a mailer that will be sent to affected properties asking them to self-identify and report. In addition, Water Works staff and DNS inspectors will evaluate the service line material when they enter homes for meter repair or other inspections. Ms. Gonda said she is hoping to avoid a door to door effort. She said that it has been a challenge to get the lateral replacement program up and running. She said she may be suggesting some changes to the ordinance so that it will more closely reflect the actual scenarios they have encountered. Ald. Bauman asked if the Water Works was confident in the legal position that the City does not have the right or obligation to replace the private side of a water service line. Ms. Gonda said yes. Ms. Gonda provided the following information regarding the number of lead service lines. Active Services with Lead Laterals • 74,141 currently turned on • 3,460 currently turned off Lead Service Line Replacements - as of 9-27-17 • 410 completed • 149 pending • 59 done outside MWW program (privately) Meeting adjourned: 10:17 A.M. Linda M. Elmer Staff Assistant This meeting can be viewed in its entirety through the City's Legislative Research Center at http://milwaukee.legistar.com/calendar. City of Milwaukee Page 3