Utility Advisory Committee

City Hall Meeting Minutes 601 4th Avenue E Olympia, WA 98501 Utility Advisory Committee Contact: Andy Haub 360.753.8475 Thursday, February 1, 2018 5:40 PM City Hall, Room 207 1. CALL TO ORDER (5:40 pm) The meeting was called to order. 1.A ROLL CALL (5:40 - 5:41 pm) Present: 7 - Chair Roger Wilson, Vice Chair Dever Haffner-Ratliffe, Committee member Luke Bowerman, Committee member Mike Buffo, Committee member Steve Fossum, Committee member Arland Schneider and Committee member Jeremy Twitchell Absent: 1 - Committee member Austin Hildreth 2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA (5:41 - 5:42 pm) The agenda was approved. 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (5:42 - 5:45 pm) 18-0102 Approval of January 4, 2018 UAC Meeting Minutes The minutes were approved. 4. PUBLIC COMMENT (5:45 - 5:50 pm) Ron Freeman notified the UAC of an upcoming meeting of the Science Cafe of Olympia. The meeting will discuss climate change and air quality in Thurston County on Wednesday, February 14 at 7:00 p.m. at the Lacey Timberland Library. 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM UAC AND STAFF (5:50 - 6:00 pm) The UAC finalized their letter of support for the City's draft Storm and Surface Water Plan. Chair Wilson will sign the letter and staff will include it with their staff report to the City Council. Staff noted the State of Washington capital budget was approved. This is good news for the City's participation in the State Revolving Fund loan program that helps financially with current drinking water projects (Log Cabin Reservoir, the Corrosion Control Facility and the Fones Road booster station) and two stormwater water quality grant-funded projects. City of Olympia Page 1 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 1, 2018 Chair Wilson mentioned the previous UAC materials on stormwater low impact development (LID). He said if any UAC member was interested, they could borrow the materials to review. On a similar note, the City was given a green star from a regional group called "Natures Scorecard" for the work to implement LID into City code. 6. BUSINESS ITEMS 18-0103 Utility Master Plan Status and Implementation Water Resources Engineering & Planning Manager Eric Christensen and Waste ReSources Senior Program Specialist Ron Jones provided a briefing on the master plans for the four utilities. Water Resources Mr. Christensen gave an overview of the following utilities: · Drinking Water · Wastewater · Storm and Surface Water Mr. Christensen reviewed the goals and challenges of each utility. He discussed the regulatory requirements of each plan (if any). The 2015-2020 Water System Plan was updated and adopted recently. Staff is in the process of updating the Storm and Surface Water Plan, with adoption expected this spring. Staff will begin an update to the Wastewater Plan in 2018. Mr. Christensen also gave an update on the status of some utility projects Waste ReSources Mr. Jones provided an overview of Olympia's 2015-2020 Waste Management Plan. He explained the plan is not required by regulation but is a requirement of the City's Comprehensive Plan. He explained that Thurston County is required to have a solid waste plan. The City and the other jurisdictions collaborate with the County to help implement their plan. Mr. Jones briefed the UAC on the mission, goals and strategies of the utility. Ron provided an update on recent accomplishments of the Waste ReSources utility. The UAC thanked staff for the update. The information was received. 18-0104 Sea Level Rise Update Mr. Haub briefed the UAC on the status of the sea level rise response planning process. He reminded UAC members the sea level rise response plan is a key UAC work plan item for 2018. The project is in collaboration between the City, the Port of Olympia and LOTT Clean Water Alliance. City of Olympia Page 2 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 1, 2018 In preparation for moving into the development of potential response strategies this spring, staff provided the UAC with a summary of comments and perspectives received during the recent community workshop on January 18, 2018 and the elected officials meeting on January 31. He also shared the responses received from the online sea rise survey. Mr. Haub discussed the next steps in the planning process. Discussions are happening regarding the financing of the plan. On the governance side, the discussion of a flood protection district occurred with the elected officials. There are plans to have another joint officials meet in April 2018. Two more community workshops are planned as well. The UAC asked some clarifying questions and thanked staff for the briefing. The information was received. 18-0105 Discussion of Downtown Toilet Funding In 2017, the Wastewater Utility helped fund the toilet at the Artesian Commons Park, which was considered a pilot project. The City Council also allocated Wastewater Utility fund balance money towards another toilet downtown. Chair Wilson requested a meeting with Councilmember Cooper. However, the Council re-determined the advisory committee assignments and Councilmember Bateman is now the UAC Council Liaison. Chair Wilson and Councilmember Bateman plan to meet in late February to discuss the funding of downtown toilets. He will provide an update to the UAC. The UAC wrote a letter in March 2017 to the City Council regarding the downtown toilet pilot project. One of the items the UAC requested in the letter is data on the toilet pilot project. The UAC wants to continue to be involved in the discussions, especially if Wastewater Utility funds are utilized. Also as a part of this business item, the UAC reviewed the draft Downtown Sanitation Plan. The City's Community Planning and Development Department is working with a consultant on this project. Publicly accessible toilets are included in the plan. If the UAC has any comments on the Draft Downtown Sanitation Plan, they can send those to Mr. Haub and he will pass them along to City staff, Amy Buckler. The report was received. 18-0106 Continuing Discussion of Utility Advisory Committee 2018-2019 Work Plan and Officer Elections Based on feedback from UAC members during the January 4 meeting, Mr. Haub noted the work plan provided in the meeting packet incorporated UAC comments and feedback. City of Olympia Page 3 Utility Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes February 1, 2018 The Council Finance Committee has asked the UAC to review the utility customer lifeline rates and the possibility of lowering the thresholds. Mr. Haub said the UAC will review this as a part of the rate and budget discussion this year. The UAC discussed to the idea of a tour of utility facilities in either July or August. The UAC does not have a regular meeting during these months. UAC Member Work Plan Requests · Update on the customer experience of viewing utility bill usage data and online bill payment. Mr. Haub will check on the status of upgrading the City's utility bill system. He said it is more a long-term business item. · Impact and development fees and how high fees effect urban sprawl. Mr. Haub will follow up with Leonard Bauer (Community Planning & Development) on this item. Staff and UAC will discuss at March UAC meeting on how to fit this item into the work plan. · How utility rates relate to poverty and overall household expenses and how the utilities support public health. Mr. Haub will include this topic in the lifeline rate discussion. · Sea level rise and how it relates to the work of the Thurston Climate Action Team's green house gas inventory, sea level rise concerns and how the City's utility programs, treatment and by-products contribute to GHG emissions. Mr. Haub suggested to include this item within the November 2018 climate action plan update. Mr. Haub will revise the work plan based on feedback from the meeting. The UAC will review the draft work plan and finalize it at the March 1 meeting. The UAC moved to postpone the adoption of the 2018-2019 UAC Work Plan to the March 1st UAC meeting. By secret ballot, the UAC elected Dever Hafner-Ratliffe as Chair and Mike Buffo as Vice-Chair, with an effective date of April 1. 7. ADJOURNMENT Chair Wilson adjourned the meeting. City of Olympia Page 4