Utility Advisory Committee

City Hall Meeting Minutes 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Utility Advisory Committee Contact: Andy Haub 360.570.3795 Thursday, June 5, 2014 5:40 PM City Hall, Room 207 1. Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Chair Thad Curtz. 2. Roll Call Councilmember Cheryl Selby attended the UAC meeting. Councilmember Selby is the Council liaison to the UAC. Present: 6 - Chair Thad Curtz, Committee Member Margaret Drennan, Committee Member David Dunn, Committee Member Loralei Walker, Committee Member Dever Kuni, and Committee Member Carole Richmond Absent: 5 - Vice Chair Barbara Day, Committee Member Steve Fossum, Committee Member Carol Law, Committee Member Jennifer Sievert, and Committee Member Chris Ward 3. Approval of Agenda The agenda was approved. 4. Approval of Minutes 14-0550 Approval of May 1, 2014 UAC Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 5. Public Comment No public comment. 6. Announcements from UAC and Staff UAC members are interested in doing tours of McAllister Springs and Yauger Park stormwater facility and other utility facilities. This would be for new and interested UAC members this summer. Public Works Water Resources Director Andy Haub will look into this and will get back to UAC members. Chair Curtz heard that there was interest in “daylighting” Moxlie Creek. Chair Curtz is City of Olympia Page 1 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 5, 2014 interested in a tour (walking the path of the creek) and also learning more about how deep it is and how much water moves through it. Mr. Haub explained that the pipe that carries the creek under downtown is 20 feet deep and outlets to Budd Inlet. Mr. Haub will follow up on this request. Chair Curtz is involved in a Sustainability Fair in the South Capitol Neighborhood on Saturday, June 7 from 10:00 - 3:00 at Lincoln Elementary School. The fair will include presentations from different vendors (including South Sound Solar), tours of homes that have completed upgrades, and an electric car show (looking for a Chevy Volt). The Lincoln garden plant sale is also open during this time. Chair Curtz announced that he will contact certain UAC members regarding their attendance. At times the UAC has difficulty with achieving a quorum. Vice Chair Barb Day plans to resign from the committee. Chair Curtz and staff will work on this over the summer. The UAC will meet again the first Thursday in September. City Attorney Tom Morrill will attend the September UAC meeting to discuss the revisions to the Open Public Meeting Act. A video of the June 4 Open Government training will be available soon and staff will send a link to its location. Mr. Haub distributed the City’s revised committee rules of procedure. On June 3, Staff presented a Stormwater Update to Council during a study session. Staff spoke to Council about three items: 1) The update to the Storm and Surface Water Management Plan 2) The Land Acquisition and Stewardship strategy 3) The City’s efforts on low impact development (LID) Council supported all three initiatives that were presented during the study session. Staff was also authorized by Council and the City Manager to hire two staff to assist with the implementation of the land acquisition and habitat strategy. Funding for the positions will come from the capital facilities budget. The meeting was recorded and the video is available on the City’s website. In follow-up to the April 3 UAC meeting, the UAC will write a letter supporting the proposed changes to the Olympia Municipal Code (OMC) with regards to onsite septic systems. The letter will be included in the packet when staff presents to the Council Land Use and Environment Committee (LUEC) on June 19. 6.A. Planning Commission Update Olympia Planning Commission liaison Carole Richmond updated the UAC on the OPC’s recent activities. OPC met on May 19 and discussed a staff proposal to consolidate about 30 zoning districts. The proposal would reduce the number by half. The OPC is still working to understand the ramifications of downsizing the zoning districts. City of Olympia Page 2 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 5, 2014 A proposal was brought to the OPC that would change how re-zone requests are processed. Currently zoning requests related to the Comprehensive Plan implementation go to Hearings Examiner. The new proposal would have the requests reviewed and approved/denied by the OPC instead of the Hearings Examiner. More deliberations will occur on this request. Chair Curtz asked how would the appeal process work. Ms. Richmond said she will get back to the UAC regarding this question. The OPC heard public comment/concerns regarding urban corridors. The OPC retreat is scheduled for June 21 from 10-2:30 at the LOTT building. The retreat is open to the public. The OPC will discuss subarea planning, how to handle communications, and other topics. 7. Business of the Evening 14-0551 LOTT Capacity Planning Process Capital Planning Manager for LOTT Clean Water Alliance Tyle Zuchloski, presented information to the UAC on LOTT’s capacity planning process. The UAC deliverable was to review and provide input. Mr. Zuchloski explained that the process provides necessary input for capital facility planning and associated financing. The capacity planning process results were updated in December 2013. The UAC thanked LOTT staff for presenting the information. The information was received. 14-0552 2015-2020 Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) Public Works Water Resources Director Andy Haub presented the draft CFP for the Water, Wastewater, and Storm and Surface Water utilities as a part of the UAC’s annual review of the process. The UAC deliverable was to provide a recommendation to the Olympia Planning Commission and the City Council. Mr. Haub gave an overview of the planning process and how utility master plans tie into the capital planning process. He explained the process for evaluating and choosing capital projects, and also discussed taking a more strategic and long-term approach to pursue grants and loans to fund capital projects, especially with the drinking water utility. The UAC gave the following feedback on the draft CFP: Drinking Water: · The SE Olympia reservoir project is necessary for fire flow needs and redundancy in the water system. UAC members suggested that public outreach/communication should be carefully considered with a proposed rate increase of 7.5% for 2015. The City is also looking into energy efficiencies for City of Olympia Page 3 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes June 5, 2014 the new reservoir and other utility facilities. · A UAC member heard about fire trucks that use compressed air foam method and asked if this would put less strain on the need for a reservoir in SE Olympia. Mr. Haub said that this would not help with redundancy in the water system. Wastewater: · No specific comments. UAC is supportive of the wastewater utility CFP. Storm and Surface Water: · A UAC member asked what happens to the storm and surface water projects if the grant funding falls through. Mr. Haub explained that this is not an issue for 2015. · UAC is supportive of the storm and surface water utility CFP. The recommendation was approved for the Wastewater, and Storm and Surface Water CFPs. The UAC decided to wait on a recommendation for Drinking Water until they are presented with the rate information/impacts from the City’s financial consultant. Staff plan to come back to the UAC with several scenarios to move forward with projects and the rate impacts. A motion was made and passed to defer the actual decision until September/October and write a letter of recommendation then. 8. Adjournment Chair Thad Curtz adjourned the meeting at 7:50 p.m. City of Olympia Page 4