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A READING OF EVERYBODY IN ATTENDANCE, PLEASE.
COUNCIL MEMBER SANDOVAL HERE, CHAIR, COURAGE PRESENT, SIR, WE HAVE A QUORUM.
WE DO HAVE, EXCUSE ME, WE DO HAVE, UH, WHAT APPEARS TO BE A RATHER LENGTHY, UH, AGENDA.
I THINK WE'VE GOT SEVEN ITEMS, BUT I THINK A FEW OF 'EM WILL GO BY PRETTY QUICKLY.
AND AS I MENTIONED, UH, A FEW MINUTES AGO, I'M GONNA ASK EVERYBODY TO TRY AND CONDENSE YOUR PRESENTATION TO WITHIN 10 MINUTES OR SO.
UH, AND I UNDERSTAND, UH, THAT MAY MEAN THERE ARE A FEW THINGS THAT YOU THINK YOU MAY NEED TO LEAVE OFF, BUT AS ALWAYS, WE ASK YOU TO SEND THAT INFORMATION TO US SO THAT WE CAN GO AHEAD AND REVIEW IT AT A LATER TIME.
SO THE FIRST ITEM ON OUR AGENDA IS APPROVAL OF
[Approval of Minutes ]
THE MINUTES OF THE COMMITTEE FROM JANUARY, JANUARY 25TH.AND I WOULD ENTERTAIN A MOTION TO APPROVE THOSE MINUTES.
MOTIONS HAVE BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 25TH.
ALL THOSE IN FAVOR? UH, PLEASE VOTE.
SECOND ITEM ON OUR AGENDA TODAY IS A BRIEFING
[Briefing and Possible Action on the following items ]
AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. UH, A BRIEFING BY C P S ENERGY AND SAWS ON CUSTOMER ACCOUNTS AT RISK OF DISCONNECTION AND THE USE OF THE AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT FUNDING.UH, AND USUALLY WE HAVE BEN HERE WHO KIND OF DOES A LITTLE RUN THROUGH ON THAT, BUT I THINK THAT WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND MOVE RIGHT INTO ASKING, UH, FIRST C P S AND THEN SAWS TO MAKE THEIR PRESENTATION ON THIS.
SO I'M DEANNA HARDWICK, THE INTERIM E V P FOR CUSTOMER STRATEGY.
AND I'LL TALK ABOUT HOW WE'VE BEEN ENGAGING WITH OUR COMMUNITY AS WELL AS WHAT WE'RE SEEING FOR ARPA, AS WELL AS OUR ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLES.
AND, UH, DUE TO COVID, I WANNA LET YOU KNOW THAT WE DID HAVE TO HAVE TO SLOW DOWN ON OUR EVENTS, BUT AS OF THIS MONTH, WE ARE BACK IN THE COMMUNITY.
WE ARE, UH, OUT AND ABOUT, AND I'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT MORE IN DETAIL LATER.
UH, BUT ONE THING I REALLY DID WANNA POINT OUT IS THAT THROUGH ALL OF THE OUTREACH WE'RE DOING, WE ARE SEEING CUSTOMERS CONTINUE TO SIGN UP FOR MORE OF THE ASSISTANCE, MORE OF THE PROGRAMS THAT WE HAVE AVAILABLE.
WE DO HAVE OVER 105,000 CUSTOMERS SIGNED UP ON SOME SORT OF ASSISTANCE PROGRAM.
UH, AND THAT INCLUDES SENIOR CITIZEN CRITICAL CARE INCOME QUALIFIED.
SO WE REALLY ARE DOING EVERYTHING WE CAN TO ENGAGE WITH THE MOST VULNERABLE IN THE COMMUNITY.
ON TOP OF THAT, WE'RE SEEING A BIG INCREASE IN ARRANGEMENTS, INCLUDING INSTALLMENT PLANS AND, UM, UH, CUSTOMERS REQUESTING, UH, A DUE DATE, UH, EXTENSION.
AND BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU'LL SEE HERE THAT WE ACTUALLY HAVE LESS CUSTOMERS WITH ACCOUNTS THAT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCONNECTION.
WE'RE DOWN UNDER 55,000, UH, ACCOUNTS THAT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCONNECTION.
THAT MAKES UP ABOUT 6% OF OUR TOTAL CUSTOMER BASE.
THAT'S DOWN FROM ABOUT 10% LAST, UH, THIS TIME LAST YEAR.
SO BECAUSE CUSTOMERS ARE WORKING WITH US, WE'RE HELPING THEM FIND THE RIGHT, UH, OPTION FOR THEM.
WE ARE SEEING LESS CUSTOMERS ELIGIBLE, UH, FOR DISCONNECTION OF THEIR SERVICES.
HERE'S HOW IT BREAKS OUT BETWEEN RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS.
AND, UH, WITH THAT, YOU CAN SEE THAT, UH, ON BOTH SIDES, BOTH ON THE RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL, THAT THE ACCOUNTS THAT ARE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCONNECTION ARE, ARE BOTH DOWN.
WE HAVE RESUMED DISCONNECTIONS THIS MONTH.
THE MAJORITY OF THE DISCONNECT, OR ACTUALLY ALL OF THE DISCONNECTIONS THAT WE'VE SEEN SO FAR HAVE BEEN ON THE COMMERCIAL SIDE.
UH, WE'VE HAD A TOTAL OF 14 DISCONNECTIONS THIS MONTH, 11 OF WHICH RECONNECTED.
UH, AND THE OTHER THREE WERE ALL VACANT PROPERTIES.
SO AS WE CONTINUE, WE'LL BE SURE TO MONITOR THAT AND REPORT BACK WHAT WE SEE BOTH ON COMMERCIAL AND RESIDENTIAL SIDE.
BUT AS WE'VE CONTINUED TO SHOW YOU OVER THE LAST FEW MONTHS THAT WHILE THE AVERAGE PAST DUE IS CONTINUING TO GROW, IT'S STILL STAYING CLOSE TO ABOUT THE $700 MARK.
AND SO IT IS MORE OF A, OF A PLATEAU PERSPECTIVE, BUT WE KNOW THAT THAT'S A LOT OF MONEY.
SO IT'S SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO GET OUT AND CONNECT WITH OUR CUSTOMERS.
SO PRIOR TO, UM, THE, UH, THE COVID SLOWDOWN, WE DID MAKE SURE THAT WE WERE OUT IN THE COMMUNITY TRYING TO TOUCH WITH, INTERACT WITH AS MANY CUSTOMERS AS WE POSSIBLY CAN COULD.
SO WE HAD NINE NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WE WERE OUT IN.
WE DROPPED, UH, OVER 4,000 DOOR HANGERS IN THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS, AND WE KNOCKED ON OVER 500 HOUSEHOLDS THAT WE WERE INTERACT ABLE TO INTERACT WITH THOSE FAMILIES AND SEE WHAT TYPE OF SUPPORT
[00:05:01]
THAT WE COULD SIGN THEM UP FOR, AS WELL AS SUBMIT AN ARPA APPLICATION ON THEIR BEHALF.AND WE DO HAVE MORE OF THESE PLANNED NOW THAT, UH, THE COVID NUMBERS ARE LOOKING BETTER.
SO THERE'S 11 NEW NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WE'RE GOING TO BE OUT IN.
UH, WE HAVE ABOUT, UH, 6,000 DOOR HANGERS THAT WE PLAN ON HANGING IN THOSE NEIGHBORHOODS, AS WELL AS 600 HOUSEHOLDS THAT WE'RE GONNA BE KNOCKING ON THE DOORS.
IN ADDITION TO THAT, FOR CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE PROVIDED US WITH CONTACT INFORMATION VIA PHONE, EMAIL, OR UM, TEXT, WE WILL BE LETTING THEM KNOW THAT THEIR, THAT THEIR ACCOUNTS APPEAR TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCONNECTION AND I MEAN, SORRY, AND FOR, UM, ARPA FUNDS AS WELL AS SENDING DIRECT MAIL TO THOSE CUSTOMERS.
SO WE'RE REALLY USING EVERY CHANNEL WE CAN TO CONNECT WITH THOSE CUSTOMERS.
AND BECAUSE OF THAT OUTREACH, REALLY WHAT WE'RE SEEING IS, UH, AS OF THE END OF JANUARY, WE HAD OVER 7,600 APPLICATIONS THAT WE HAD RECEIVED.
AND THIS IS A, A MAP OF REALLY ALL OF THOSE LOCATIONS.
YOU CAN SEE IT AS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ENTIRE CITY.
UH, BUT AS PART OF THAT, UH, WE, WE ARE CONTINUING TO SEE HOW WE CAN HELP GET MORE CUSTOMERS SIGNED UP AND GET THEM THE MOST AMOUNT OF, OF, UH, SUPPORT.
WE'VE IDENTIFIED PROBABLY ABOUT $200,000 SO FAR THAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO APPLY OR WE'LL BE APPLYING IN CREDITS AS WE CONTINUE TO PROCESS.
WE'LL BE SURE TO KEEP YOU UP TO DATE.
UH, BUT WE ARE LOOKING FOR WAYS TO IMPROVE THE PROCESS AND SEE HOW WE CAN HELP.
AND REALLY, UH, TWO WAYS THAT WE'RE DOING THAT.
ONE IS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SAWS.
WE'RE TRYING TO SEE HOW WE CAN COLLABORATE AND STREAMLINE THE PROCESS.
RIGHT NOW, CUSTOMERS HAVE TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR BOTH, UH, SAWS AND FOR C P S FOR ARPA FUNDS.
SO, UH, MARY BAILEY AND I HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING WHAT WE CAN DO TO, UM, BOTH BE PRESENT AT DIFFERENT EVENTS.
SO WHEN WE HAVE AN EVENT, WE'LL MAKE SURE THAT WE LET HER KNOW AND HER TEAM CAN, UH, CAN COME OUT.
AS WELL AS MAKING SURE THAT JUST THE LINKS TO OUR APPLICATIONS ON OUR WEBSITE ARE BOTH, UH, THERE.
SO AFTER SOMEONE FILLS OUT AN APPLICATION ON C P SS, IT'LL TAKE, THEY CAN GO OVER TO SAWS IF THEY'D LIKE ANY CUSTOMER THAT WE INTERACT WITH OR SPEAK WITH.
WE'LL ALSO BE OFFERING TO TAKE AN APPLICATION FOR SAWS SO WE CAN SEE HOW WE CAN GET CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE, UH, PAST DUE BALANCES THAT, THAT BOTH OF US ARE TRYING TO FIND WAYS TO ASSIST THAT WE'RE OFFERING AS MUCH SUPPORT AS, AS WE CAN.
SO WE'LL CONTINUE TO PARTNER, AND I'M SURE MARY WILL TALK ABOUT THAT.
THE OTHER THING THAT WE'LL BE TALKING WITH THE CITY ABOUT IS SEEING IF THERE'S A WAY WE CAN EXTEND THE COVERAGE PERIOD RIGHT NOW, ELIGIBLE PAST DUE BALANCES, UM, THAT CAN RECEIVE ARPA FUNDS.
IT HAS TO BE, HAVE BEEN INCURRED THROUGH THE END OF SEPTEMBER OF 2021.
AND WE'RE GONNA SEE IF WE CAN EXTEND THAT COVERAGE PERIOD THROUGH THE END OF DECEMBER, SINCE WE DID SEE COVID NUMBERS BACK UP, START COMING BACK UP.
SO WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND, AND SEE WHAT WE CAN DO WITH THE CITY CONVERSATIONS AND WITH SAWS TO SEE IF THERE'S A WAY WE CAN EXTEND SOME OF THAT, UH, PAST DUE BALANCE COVERAGE.
ONE OF THE OTHER COMMITMENTS THAT WE MADE WAS TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS THAT WE HAD AS PART OF OUR AFFORDABILITY DISCOUNT PROGRAM.
THAT IS ONE OF THE REQUIREMENTS AND PART OF THE ARPA APPLICATION SUPPORT, BUT IT WAS ALSO ONE OF OUR COMMITMENTS THAT WE MADE TO EACH OF YOU THROUGH THE, THE RATE INCREASE CONVERSATION.
SO SINCE, SINCE THAT TIME, WE WERE ABOUT 52,000 CUSTOMERS THAT HAD ACCOUNTS THAT WERE REGISTERED AS PART OF OUR AFFORDABILITY DISCOUNT PROGRAM.
AND WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO ENROLL IN THE PAST MONTH OVER 5,000 ADDITIONAL ACCOUNTS TO GET THAT, THAT DISCOUNT AS WELL AS SEE WHAT A DIFFERENT ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE THAT WE CAN HAVE.
BUT WE CONTINUE TO WORK AS MUCH AS WE CAN THROUGH DIFFERENT PARTNERSHIPS WITH SAHA CARELINK, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES, AND REALLY WHO, WHOEVER ELSE WE CAN TO GET AS MANY ENROLLED.
AND, AND OUR GOAL IS TO HAVE THAT 65,000 OVER THE SUMMER.
AND ONE OF THE KEY PARTNERSHIPS THAT WE WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT IS, IS SAHA.
WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH SAHA TO HAVE JOINT EVENTS WITH THEM.
UH, BUT WE KNOW BASED ON OUR CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM, THESE ARE SOME OF OUR MOST VULNERABLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO INCOME.
AND SO WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO AUTO-ENROLL ANY OF THEIR RESIDENTS, UH, IN, UH, AUTO-ENROLL THEM IN OUR AFFORDABILITY DISCOUNT PROGRAM.
WE'RE ALSO SEEING WHAT WE CAN DO FOR ARPA SUPPORT FOR THESE ACCOUNTS, AND JUST SEEING WHAT WE CAN DO TO, TO HELP PARTNER.
WE'RE GONNA HAVE SOME, UH, SOME JOINT EFFORTS.
OUR CEOS ARE GONNA PARTNER TO DO SOME, UH, COLLABORATION AND, AND AWARENESS WHEREVER WE CAN GET IN AND HELP THESE CUSTOMERS.
UH, WE'RE REALLY PARTNERING TO CONTINUE AND COMMITTED TO SEE WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP THEM.
AND THEN JUST AS A FOLLOW UP TO THE, THAT WE RECEIVED FROM Y'ALL IS, UH, TO HAVE A, AN AUTO ENROLLMENT PROGRAM.
SO STARTING MARCH FOR CUSTOMERS WHO, UH, HAVEN'T SIGNED UP FOR A PAYMENT PLAN, OR MAYBE THEY'VE ALREADY BROKEN A, A PAYMENT PLAN SO FAR FOR ANYBODY THAT'S ENROLLED IN ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OR THAT WILL RESIDE IN A QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACK, WE WILL PUT THEM ON A 12, I'M SORRY, A 24 MONTH PAYMENT, UH, INSTALLMENT PLAN AND AVERAGE.
THEN IT'S GONNA BE A LITTLE LESS THAN $16 A MONTH TO HELP GET THEM CAUGHT UP.
[00:10:01]
BUT AGAIN, OUR OVERALL COMMITMENT IS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE, UH, WORK WITH EACH CUSTOMER, NO CUSTOMER'S ACCOUNT HAS TO BE DISCONNECTED.IF WE CAN CONNECT WITH THOSE CUSTOMERS, WE WILL FIND A SOLUTION TO BEST FIT THEIR NEEDS.
UH, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE REQUESTED, UH, AT, UH, THE LAST MEETING, I BELIEVE WAS, UH, A, A DISCONNECT BY COUNCIL DISTRICT.
SO WHEN CAN WE GET THAT, UH, WHY HAVEN'T WE BEEN ABLE TO GET THAT AT THIS TIME? WE, WE CAN ACT ABSOLUTELY PROVIDE YOU THE NUMBERS.
UH, WE CAN, IT'S REALLY THE NUMBERS BY ZIP CODE, SO WE HAVE THAT INFORMATION.
WE CAN SEND THAT TO YOU RIGHT AWAY.
WELL, ZIP CODE WOULD PROBABLY BE PRETTY HELPFUL, AND THAT'LL GIVE US A GOOD IDEA OF HOW TO WORK ON THAT.
SO YES, LET'S PLEASE GET THAT OUT FROM BOTH AGENCIES AS SOON AS WE CAN.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FROM ANY OF THE OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS? OKAY.
AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS.
ONE OTHER REQUEST I MIGHT HAVE IS, I'D, I'D LIKE TO HEAR HOW WELL THE, UM, THE SIGNUPS, UH, ASKING OR AUTOMATICALLY SIGNING UP PEOPLE AND TELLING THEM THEY NEED TO CONTINUE THEIR PAYMENTS NOW AND THEY NEED TO PAY OFF A LITTLE BIT AT A TIME, WHAT THEY OWE.
HOW WELL IS THAT WORKING OUT? HOW MANY PEOPLE WHO'VE SAID, OH, YES, I'LL DO THAT.
IT'S A LITTLE LESS THAN 50% THAT, UH, MAINTAIN A SUCCESS RATE.
UH, SO WE DO SEE CUSTOMERS, UH, ACCOUNTS THAT THEY AREN'T ABLE TO MAINTAIN THAT INSTALLMENT PLAN THAT THEY HAD COMMITTED TO.
SO USUALLY THEY, AS SOON AS THEY DO, THEN THEY'LL, THEY'LL USUALLY CONTACT US AND SIGN UP FOR A NEW INSTALLMENT PLAN.
BUT IT'S, IT'S BETWEEN 45 TO 50%.
I HOPE THAT WE CAN GET THROUGH THAT.
AND, AND I KNOW C P S AND SAWS BOTH HAVE BEEN RELUCTANT TO TURN OFF A LOT OF RESIDENTIAL ENERGY AND WATER RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THE WINTER.
WE'RE STARTING TO GET INTO, I HOPE, NEXT MONTH, MONTH AFTER MORE LIVABLE NORMAL WEATHER PATTERNS TO WHERE MAYBE THAT'S THE ONLY THING WE CAN DO IS, YOU KNOW, CUT OFF WATER, CUT OFF ENERGY, UH, AND, AND LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY REALLY NEED TO MAKE A SINCERE EFFORT TO GO AHEAD AND, AND CATCH UP.
I MEAN, I, I HATE TO SEE ANYBODY WHO'S DESPERATE GO WITHOUT ENERGY OR WATER.
UH, AND, BUT WE HAVE PROGRAMS TO HELP THOSE PEOPLE AND, UH, I JUST WANT TO ENCOURAGE MORE PEOPLE TO GET INVOLVED BEFORE THEY START GETTING TURNED OFF.
MA'AM, IS IT POSSIBLE TO PROVIDE JUST KIND OF A ONE PAGER FOR, UM, FOR OUR COUNCIL OFFICES TO DISTRIBUTE REGARDING WHAT AFFORDABLE PROGRAMS YOU HAVE TO OFFER? YES, MA'AM.
AND I JUST ONE MORE QUESTION, UM, UH, OF THE CUSTOMERS THAT ARE PAST DUE AND AT RISK FOR DISCONNECTION, UM, CAN YOU TELL US HOW MANY YOU HAVE OR A PERCENTAGE OF HOW MANY YOU'VE SUCCESSFULLY MADE CONTACT WITH? UH, YES, I HAVE THAT AND HAVE ENROLLED INTO A PROGRAM, I GUESS.
SO WE'VE, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO, WELL, FOR SPECIFIC FOR INSTALLMENT PLAN OR, UH, EXTENSIONS, WE, WE HAVE A LITTLE ABOUT ABOUT 50,000 CUSTOMERS THAT ARE ON EITHER SOME SORT OF, UH, PAYMENT PLAN.
WE ALSO HAVE, UH, A LITTLE OVER 30,000 THAT ARE ON SOME BUDGET PAYMENT PLAN, WHICH IS AN AVERAGE BILLING PROGRAM THAT WE HAVE.
AND THEN IT'S OVER 105,000 CUSTOMERS THAT ARE ON THE DIFFERENT, UH, LIKE SENIOR CITIZEN PROGRAM, A D P AND, AND THOSE SORTS OF THINGS.
BUT WE CAN GET THAT BREAKOUT FOR YOU.
UH, AND I'M CURIOUS ABOUT PERCENTAGE OF THE, OF THE WHOLE, ALTHOUGH THAT A HUNDRED AND UH, OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND IS A GOOD, UM, I'D LIKE TO HEAR THAT.
I MEAN, THAT'S A HUNDRED THOUSAND HOUSEHOLDS THAT ARE, UM, BEING HELPED, BUT I'M JUST CURIOUS ABOUT WHAT PERCENTAGE WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE ENROLL INTO A PROGRAM VERSUS HOW MANY WE HAVEN'T.
THAT WE'VE CALLED, THAT WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO SET UP FOR ON A PROGRAM.
I, I LIKE TO CONTINUE TO WORK WITH YOU ON THE, UM, THE OTHER 25% MA'AM, BUT 75 IS A, IS A, IS A GOOD NUMBER.
ANY, ANY RECOMMENDATIONS YOU HAVE, WE'LL BE HAPPY TO TAKE.
UH, THANK YOU C P S ENERGY, AND NOW WE'LL HEAR FROM SAS.
I'M GONNA QUICKLY TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE STATUS OF OUR CUSTOMER DELINQUENCIES.
GINO RAMOS WILL COME UP AND TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR OUTREACH EFFORTS, AND IF THERE'S TIME, UM, I'D LIKE TO TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT PERHAPS SOME OPPORTUNITY TO STREAMLINE THE ARPA PROCESS, UH, TO PERHAPS GET ASSISTANCE OUT TO FOLKS A LITTLE BIT MORE QUICKLY.
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YOU KNOW, I, I'VE COME UP HERE A NUMBER OF TIMES AND INDICATED THAT BACK IN SEPTEMBER, WE HAD ABOUT 65,000 CUSTOMERS THAT WERE MORE THAN 60 DAYS PAST DUE.I'M, I'M GLAD TO, UH, SAY TODAY THAT THAT NUMBER HAS DROPPED TO ABOUT 58,000, UM, OF CUSTOMERS THAT ARE AT THAT 60 DAY PAST DUE KIND OF MARK WHEN YOU LOOK AT, AND THEIR BALANCES HAVE DROPPED FROM WHAT WAS ABOUT $54 MILLION BACK IN SEPTEMBER TO $45 MILLION, UM, AS OF LAST WEEK.
SO WE'RE, UH, DEFINITELY HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, BUT IT'S TAKING A WHILE TO GET THERE.
UM, I'VE PROVIDED A LITTLE BIT MORE BREAKOUT HERE TO SHOW YOU HOW MANY OF THOSE CUSTOMERS ARE IN OUR AFFORDABILITY DISCOUNT PROGRAM, THAT'S THE A D P PROGRAM AND THOSE THAT ARE NOT.
AND THEN HOW MANY OF THOSE ARE IN PAYMENT PLANS, WHICH, AGAIN, PAYMENT PLAN IS WHAT PROTECTS PEOPLE FROM BEING DISCONNECTED.
AND YOU CAN SEE THERE THAT FOR OUR RESIDENTIAL A D P CUSTOMERS, ABOUT 55% OF THEM ARE IN A, UM, A PAYMENT PLAN.
AND, UH, FOR THE NON A D P, ABOUT 42%, SO RESIDENTIAL OVERALL, ABOUT 44% ARE COVERED.
THERE'S ALSO SOME INFORMATION THERE ABOUT NON-RESIDENTIAL, UH, THAT THOSE NUMBERS ARE DROPPING AS WELL.
HOWEVER, MUCH FEWER COMMERCIAL TYPE CUSTOMERS ARE IN PAYMENT PLANS.
UM, THERE WAS SOME QUESTIONS, UH, I THINK, UH, COUNCILMAN COURAGE ABOUT, YOU KNOW, HOW MANY ARE ADHERING TO THEIR PAYMENT PLANS.
AND THIS PIE CHART GIVES YOU AN IDEA.
SO WE AUTO-ENROLLED, UM, ABOUT 75% OF OUR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS BACK IN SEPTEMBER INTO A PAYMENT PLAN.
OF THOSE PAYMENT PLANS, ONLY 20% OF THOSE ARE STILL ACTIVE TODAY.
UM, THEN YOU CAN SEE I'M SHOWING EACH MONTH WHEN A NEW PAYMENT PLAN WAS CREATED FOR DIFFERENT CUSTOMERS.
IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARD TO TELL EXACTLY HOW MANY PAYMENT PLANS PER ONE CUSTOMER, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT THE, YOU KNOW, THE VAST MAJORITY, ALMOST 50% HAVE JUST BEEN CREATED BY THOSE CUSTOMERS THIS YEAR IN 2022.
SO THEY WERE IN ONE IN SEPTEMBER, THEY BROKE AT SOME POINT AND HAVE NOW PUT IN, YOU KNOW, HAVE SIGNED UP FOR, UH, A NEW PAYMENT PLAN.
WE'RE CERTAINLY ALWAYS WILLING TO WORK WITH OUR CUSTOMERS WHEN THEY, WHEN THEY DO BREAK THEIR PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT TO GET THEM INTO A PAYMENT PLAN, UM, SO THAT THEY HOPEFULLY CAN BE SUCCESSFUL, UM, IN, IN, UH, REDUCING THAT PAST DUE BALANCE.
SO I WANNA GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT OF INFORMATION ABOUT OUR ARPA, UH, APPLICATIONS.
UH, THIS SHOWS SOME DATA AS OF FEBRUARY 14TH, AND I CAN GIVE YOU A LITTLE BIT MORE UPDATE AS OF, UH, TODAY AFTER I WALK THROUGH THIS VERY QUICKLY.
WE HAD RECEIVED AT THAT POINT ABOUT 3,400 APPLICATIONS OF WHICH WE HAD PROCESSED A LITTLE OVER 2000, BUT ONLY 13.
A LITTLE OVER 1300 OF THOSE ACTUALLY QUALIFIED FOR ANY FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
THE ONES THAT DIDN'T A LITTLE MORE THAN, UH, 800 WERE EITHER OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS, UM, AND, OR PERHAPS THEY HAD NO ELIGIBLE BALANCE, OR PERHAPS THEY INDICATED THAT THEY DIDN'T HAVE A COVID RELATED HARDSHIP.
SO ABOUT 60% OF THE APPLICATIONS THAT WE HAD GOTTEN THROUGH AT THAT TIME, UH, ACTUALLY QUALIFIED FOR ASSISTANCE.
AND WE HAD PROVIDED, UH, ASSISTANCE TO THE TUNE OF 700 AND, AND $95,000 TO THOSE 13, UM, THOSE OVER 1300 CUSTOMERS.
UH, AS OF YESTERDAY, WE APPLIED ASSISTANCE TO ANOTHER, UM, UH, I BELIEVE IT'S TWO 400, UH, CUSTOMERS.
SO WE'RE NOW UP TO OVER 1800 CUSTOMERS.
AND, UM, THEY, UH, TOTAL ASSISTANCE PROVIDED IS, UH, ALMOST 1.1 MILLION.
SO THAT'S AS OF LAST NIGHT, OUR OVERALL APPLICATIONS HAVE INCREASED TO ABOUT 3,900.
UM, SO THEY'RE DEFINITELY KINDA SLOWING DOWN.
UH, I WANNA TURN IT OVER TO GINO AND HE'S GONNA TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE OUTREACH EFFORTS THAT WE'RE MAKING TO TRY TO KIND OF GET MORE APPLICATIONS IN.
WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO IS COVER THESE EIGHT DIFFERENT OUTREACH METHODS, BUT IN ACTUALITY, WE'VE, UH, INITIATED 10.
SO, AS YOU'LL SEE, THIS WHOLE CAMPAIGN WE'RE DOING IS GONNA BE VERY MUCH GRASSROOTS ORIENTED AS WELL AS UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY.
AND IT'S GONNA BE ALL DONE IN BY, IT'S GONNA BE ALL DONE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH.
SO WE'RE MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE SPEAKING TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN THE LANGUAGE THEY'RE MOST COMFORTABLE IN, SO THAT THEY UNDERSTAND EXACTLY WHAT'S GOING ON AND HOW WE CAN BETTER SERVE THEM.
UH, WE, AT THE ONSET OF THIS, UH, ISSUE OF THE DISCUSSION OF, UH, ARPA FUNDS, WE ISSUED OVER 8,000 POSTCARDS DIRECTLY TO OUR CUSTOMERS IN OUR UPLIFT PROGRAM.
SO WHAT WE DID WAS IDENTIFIED THESE 8,000 FAMILIES THAT WERE ELIGIBLE FOR ARPA FUNDS AND SENT THEM THIS BILINGUAL POSTCARD IMMEDIATELY SO THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS IN FRONT OF 'EM.
IT HAD A PHONE NUMBER FOR THEM TO CALL US, AS WELL AS A WEBSITE.
THEY CAN GET ONLINE AND FULFILL THE APPLICATION AS WELL AS THE QR CODE.
SO FOR FOLKS WITH A SMARTPHONE, THEY CAN HIT IT AND THEN THEY CAN GET STRAIGHT TO THE, UH, APPLICATION.
WE'VE ALSO CREATED DOOR HANGERS.
WE'RE HOPING TO HAVE THE DOOR HANGERS OUT IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS.
AND ONCE AGAIN, THIS IS GONNA BE FOR THE, FOR THOSE THAT QUALIFY NOT ONLY IN OUR UPLIFT PROGRAM, BUT THAT QUALIFY FOR ARPA FUNDS.
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POSTCARDS, AND HERE WE'RE DOING JUST ABOUT 12,000 DOOR HANGERS.SO WE'RE WORKING, UH, RIGHT NOW TO SET THOSE DAYS UP, AND THEN WE'LL GO OUT.
AND ONCE AGAIN, THEY'RE ALL ENGLISH SPANISH.
ONE OF THE OTHER OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE'VE, UH, UNDERTAKEN IS AS PEOPLE GET ONLINE AND FULFILL AN APPLICATION FOR OUR UPLIFT PROGRAM, ONCE THAT'S COMPLETE, A POP-UP WINDOW POPS UP FOR THOSE THAT ARE ELIGIBLE.
AND IT LETS 'EM KNOW YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR ARPA FUNDS, AND THEY CAN APPLY AT THAT POINT.
AND IN TALKING TO MARY, WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT DOING NOW IS THERE'D BE ANOTHER LINK WHERE THAT IT WOULD PUSH 'EM TO C P SS AS WELL.
SO AS WE CONTINUE TO WORK HAND IN HAND IN SOMETHING LIKE THIS, EVERY OPPORTUNITY WE HAVE, WE'RE GONNA SHARE THE C P SS INFORMATION.
AND ESPECIALLY FOR THE DIGITAL STUFF, IT'S, IT'S JUST EASY TO ADD A LINK THAT TAKES 'EM DIRECTLY TO THE C P S WEBSITE.
WE ALSO UNDERSTAND THAT NOT EVERYBODY HAS WIFI OR INTERNET ACCESS.
SO WE'RE INSTITUTING A ROBO DIAL, AND IT'S GONNA BE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH.
AND THIS WILL COINCIDE WITH, UH, THE DOOR HANGERS AS WELL AS THE POSTCARDS.
SO WE'RE TRYING TO MAKE SURE WE HIT EVERY CUSTOMER AT THE VERY LEAST THREE TIMES THAT ARE ELIGIBLE SO THAT THEY SEE IT, THEY GET IT MAILED, AND HOPEFULLY THEY'LL GET A DOOR HANGER SO THAT THE MORE TIMES WE CAN GET IN FRONT OF 'EM, THE BETTER.
UM, WE'VE ALSO UNDERTAKEN THIS EMAIL CAMPAIGN, SO FOR THOSE EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT WE HAVE, AND IT'S BEEN A CHALLENGE GETTING ALL OUR CUSTOMERS TO UPDATE THEIR INFORMATION WITH THEIR MOBILE PHONES AS WELL AS THEIR EMAIL ADDRESSES.
BUT FOR THOSE EMAIL ADDRESSES THAT WE DO HAVE, WE'LL BE SENDING THEM, UH, A NOTIFICATION WITH, UH, A LINK SO THAT THEY CAN THEN GET TO THE APPLICATION.
SO AS THIS SLIDE SAYS, IT'LL BE DONE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE BU DIAL.
SO WE'RE GONNA BE TRYING TO GET IN FRONT OF FOLKS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
UM, THIS YEAR IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I'M MOST EXCITED ABOUT BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE MANPOWER TO GO OUT AND PHYSICALLY KNOCK ON EVERYBODY'S DOOR OR CALL EVERYBODY.
AND SO WE'RE PARTNERING WITH OUR AGENCIES.
SO WE'VE BEEN VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE GREAT PARTNERS AT, WITH OUR UPLIFT PROGRAM FROM, YOU KNOW, THE FOOD BANK, ST.
VINCENT DEPAUL TO CATHOLIC CHARITIES.
SO WHAT WE'RE DOING IS STARTING TOMORROW, UH, ONE OF OUR DIRECTORS IN CUSTOMER SERVICE IS GONNA BE HOSTING A WEBEX TO TALK ABOUT THE DIFFERENT WAYS PEOPLE THEIR CUSTOMERS CAN APPLY FOR, UH, ARPA FUNDS.
AND SO WE'VE INVITED THE COUNCIL OFFICES, AND I THINK JUST ABOUT EVERY COUNCIL OFFICE IS REPRESENTED ON THE CALL EITHER TOMORROW OR ON THE SECOND.
AND SO WHAT WE TRY TO DO IS WE'VE DELIVERED, I BELIEVE, POSTCARDS TO YOUR OFFICES AS WELL.
AND THEN, UH, POSTERS THAT WE'VE DONE, WE'VE DELIVERED TO Y'ALL'S OFFICES AS WELL.
AND I THINK WE'RE WORKING ON, UH, WELL, NO, WE ARE WORKING ON ARTICLES THAT WE'RE GONNA PROVIDE YOU ALL SO THAT YOU CAN PUT INTO YOUR NEWSLETTERS.
SO WE KNOW YOUR REACH IS GONNA BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM OURS.
AND SO THE MORE FOLKS THAT WE HIT THROUGH OUR AVENUES OR THROUGH YOUR AVENUES, IT'S GONNA BENEFIT, YOU KNOW, OUR COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE.
UH, THESE ARE THE POSTERS THAT WE HAVE UP AT OUR, UH, PAYMENT CENTERS, AND THESE WERE SOME OF THE POSTERS THAT WE'VE HAD DELIVERED TO Y'ALL'S OFFICES.
AND THEN OF COURSE, WE'RE, WE ARE SOCIAL MEDIA.
WE'RE VERY PROUD OF, WE'VE BEEN RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY, AND SO WE'VE BEEN POSTING DIFFERENT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS AND HOW THEY CAN GO ABOUT DOING IT.
SO NOT ONLY ARE WE TRYING TO GET IN FRONT OF 'EM FROM A TECHNOLOGY STANDPOINT, WE'RE TRYING TO GET IN FRONT OF 'EM FROM A GRASSROOTS STANDPOINT, DIRECT MAILS AND DOOR HANGERS.
SO WE'RE TRYING TO LEAVE ALL STONES UNTURNED SO THAT WE CAN KIND OF PROVIDE THIS INFORMATION AS WE NEED TO.
AND IF YOU GUYS CAN THINK OF OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FOR US, IF THERE'S MEETINGS YOU HAVE THAT YOU FEEL THAT WE NEED TO HAVE PEOPLE AT, PLEASE LET US KNOW.
WE'VE MADE OURSELVES AVAILABLE.
UH, I KNOW BYRON CECILIA ARE ALWAYS AT Y'ALL'S OFFICES, AND I THINK WE'VE SET UP TIME AT EVERY OFFICE, AND THEN SOME HAVE BEEN PUSHED BACK BECAUSE OF COVID RESTRICTIONS, BUT THERE'S OPPORTUNITIES WHERE WE'VE HAD SOME OF OUR UPLIFT TEAM MEMBERS ATTEND Y'ALL'S OFFICE HOURS AND VISIT WITH YOUR CONSTITUENTS.
AND SO THE MORE OPPORTUNITIES WE HAVE LIKE THAT WHERE WE CAN GET OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY, IT BEHOOVES EVERYBODY.
I THINK WE NEED TO GO WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE AT.
WE CAN'T TRY TO FORCE 'EM TO COME TO US.
AND I THINK BY USING THESE DIFFERENT STEPS AS WELL AS WORKING WITH YOU ALL, I THINK THAT HELPS US KIND OF GET TO WHERE WE HOPE TO BE.
GINA, I'M JUST GONNA MENTION, WE, WE GOT, UH, THOSE CARDS AT OUR OFFICE.
AND, AND WE NOTICED THAT, YOU KNOW, THE MEETINGS WERE FOR STAKEHOLDERS, BASICALLY, UH, TO GET THEM TO PARTNER IN REACHING OUT TO PEOPLE, BUT WE DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING.
WE HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING ABOUT PUBLIC MEETINGS, UH, THAT EITHER UTILITY IS HOLDING RIGHT NOW IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF TOWN.
I HEAR YOU SAYING IF A COUNCIL DISTRICT'S DOING SOMETHING, YOU WANNA PARTNER WITH US.
UH, BUT I'M JUST WONDERING, ARE ARE THE ORGANIZATIONS THEMSELVES SETTING UP PUBLIC MEETINGS IN SOME OF THE KEY AREAS? WE HEARD A ZIP CODE? WELL, IF THERE ARE CERTAIN ZIP CODES THAT WE KNOW, THERE STILL ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE THAT NEED TO BE EDUCATED AND BROUGHT INTO THE SYSTEM, I WOULD THINK THAT THE UTILITIES WOULD BE HAVING PUBLIC MEETINGS IN THOSE ZIP CODES TO TRY AND GET THE WORD OUT THEMSELVES.
I CAN'T ANSWER FOR C P SS, BUT WHAT I CAN TELL YOU FIRSTHAND,
[00:25:01]
WHEN WE'VE HELD MEETINGS LIKE THAT ON OUR OWN, WE'VE HAD VERY POOR ATTENDANCE.AND SO WE, I GO BACK TO BE IT RATES OR RATE STRUCTURE OR WHATEVER THE ISSUE IS.
AND SO WHAT WE FOUND THAT REALLY WORKS IS GOING TO MEETINGS THAT ARE ALREADY SET UP SO THAT THAT WAY WE CAN, WE HAVE A BUILT-IN AUDIENCE, BUT NO, WE COULD LOOK INTO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AS WELL.
AS LONG AS AS WE CONTINUE TO MOVE FORWARD THROUGH THIS, WE CAN LOOK TO SET 'EM UP.
AND ESPECIALLY RIGHT NOW WITH, UH, WEBEX MEETINGS, PEOPLE ARE MORE WILLING TO JUMP ONTO A MEETING FROM THE LIVING ROOM OR FROM THEIR KITCHEN THAN THEY ARE TO HAVE TO TRAVEL SOMEWHERE.
AND SO WE COULD DEFINITELY LOOK AT SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
WELL, I WOULD THINK THAT IF YOU SEND 'EM A NOTE SAYING, YOU, YOU'RE, YOU'RE LIKELY TO HAVE YOUR WATER TURNED OFF IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS, BUT WE'RE HAVING A MEETING ON THIS DAY IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, WE, UH, ASK YOU TO COME.
IT'S A LOT DIFFERENT THAN IF YOU SAY, WELL, WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT A RATE INCREASE, OR WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT SERVICE IMPROVEMENT.
SO, YOU KNOW, I, I'D JUST ENCOURAGE BOTH OF YOU TO TRY AND DO MORE DIRECT, UH, ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO SHOW UP.
AND LIKE, LIKE YOU SAID, YOU KNOW, THOSE TARGET NEIGHBORHOODS THAT ARE MOST EFFECTIVE, UH, THAT YOU CAN BE MORE EFFECTIVE IN.
ANYWAY, THANK YOU THOUGH FOR SHARING THE REST OF THE INFORMATION.
I THINK NEVER HAS THE FINAL COUPLE SLIDES, MARY.
SO JUST REAL QUICK, I KNOW WE'VE TALKED ABOUT IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR THESE CUSTOMERS? AND, UM, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED TALKING TO THE CITY BACK IN, OH, LATE, LATE SUMMER, EARLY FALL ABOUT THESE ARPA FUNDS AND HOW WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO DISTRIBUTE, THERE WAS A CONCEPT OF, OF USING QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS, UM, TO MAYBE AUTO QUALIFY CUSTOMERS.
AND, AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE DEFINITION, UM, OF THE, BY THE I R S OF A QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACK, IT'S, IT'S ANY CENSUS TRACK IN WHICH AT LEAST 50% OF THE HOUSEHOLDS HAVE AN INCOME UP LESS THAN 60% OF AREA MEETING GROSS INCOME, OR WHICH THE POVERTY RATE IS AT LEAST 25%.
SO YEAH, THESE ARE DEFINITELY AREAS OF TOWN THAT ARE CONCENTRATED WHERE CON POVERTY IS CONCENTRATED.
AND, UH, I, I'VE PROVIDED SOME NUMBERS, BUT I WANTED TO JUST SHOW YOU THE MAP.
SO WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE MAP OF WHERE THESE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS ARE, THAT'S THE KIND OF DARKER PEACHY COLOR THERE FOR ALL OF THOSE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACK, BASICALLY ALL WITHIN, UH, INSIDE LOOP FOUR 10, YOU'LL SEE A FEW LITTLE POCKETS THAT ARE OUTSIDE OF THAT, BUT IT IS A SIGNIFICANT COVERAGE OF, OF THE CORE PART OF SAN ANTONIO.
WHEN YOU LOOK AT OUR NUMBERS, UM, AS TO WHICH CUSTOMERS ARE IN QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS, UM, INSIDE THE CITY LIMITS, INSIDE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS ABOUT, UH, 4,600 OF OUR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS ARE, UM, IN OUR A D P PROGRAM, ARE WITHIN THOSE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS.
THERE ARE ANOTHER 13,000 THAT ARE NOT IN OUR A D P PROGRAM, BUT ARE, BUT ALSO LIVE IN THOSE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS.
AND JUST BECAUSE A CUSTOMER ISN'T IN OUR A D P PROGRAM, DOESN'T MEAN THEY DON'T HAVE INCOME.
MAYBE THEY WOULD QUALIFY, THEY JUST HAVEN'T APPLIED RIGHT FOR OUR, OUR A D P PROGRAM.
SO, UM, THAT IT'S, WE COULD REACH A SUBSTANTIAL NUMBER OF, UH, OF CUSTOMERS THAT ARE AT LEAST 60 DAYS PAST DUE IF WE WERE TO, TO, TO CONSIDER THIS AS POTENTIALLY A, UM, AN AUTOMATIC QUALIFICATION.
ON THIS SLIDE, I'VE SHOWN A COUPLE OF OTHER OPTIONS.
UH, DEANNA MENTIONED THAT RIGHT NOW, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO HAVE CHARGES PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER OF 2021.
BASICALLY IT'S FROM MARCH, 2020 TO SEPTEMBER OF 2021.
THE MORE TIME THAT GOES BY, THE MORE THE BALANCE IS OUTSIDE OF THAT PERIOD.
AND SO IF THERE WOULD BE A WAY TO EXTEND THAT ELIGIBLE TIME PERIOD TO SAY THE END OF 2022, WE COULD CERTAINLY HELP A LOT MORE FOLKS.
UM, BUT, AND THEN IF WE COULD STREAMLINE IT, WE COULD REALLY HELP QUITE A FEW FOLKS.
IF YOU LOOK HERE, IF YOU LOOK AT THE 60 DAY PAST DUE, AND AGAIN, 60 DAYS PAST DUE MEANS THAT, UM, THEY PROBABLY HAVEN'T PAID THEIR, UM, DECEMBER BILL, UH, AND THEIR JANUARY BILL, MAYBE THEIR FEBRUARY BILL, BUT MOST OF OUR CUSTOMERS ARE WAY MORE THAN 60 DAYS PAST DUE.
SO IF WE WERE TO, TO DRAW THE LINE AT 60 DAYS PAST DUE, UM, DECEMBER 31ST, WE COULD PROBABLY HELP CLOSE TO 18,000 CUSTOMERS WITH AUTOMATICALLY QUALIFYING THEM.
UH, THE AVERAGE ASSISTANCE WOULD BE ABOUT $330.
THE OVERALL AUTOMATIC WOULD BE ALMOST 6 MILLION.
JUST TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE'VE APPLIED A MILLION DOLLARS ALREADY.
WE HAVE A $10 MILLION ALLOCATION FROM THE CITY.
THIS CERTAINLY WOULD BE, UH, A WAY TO, TO HIT THOSE CUSTOMERS EASE QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY.
UM, AND, UH, SO I DO HOPE THAT THAT'S A CONVERSATION THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO HAVE.
UM, IT IS, UH, YOU KNOW, AS I SAID, THE, THE, IT'S A LAW OF DIMINISHING RETURNS.
WE'RE SEEING LESS AND LESS FOLKS APPLY, BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN THAT WE DON'T HAVE A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT HAVE THE NEED AND, UM, AND TO, TO ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY GET THEM TO GO ONLINE OR TO COME INTO THE OFFICE AND APPLY, AND THEN TO GET THE MOST BENEFIT, WHICH WOULD BE, UM, THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO PROVIDE INCOME DOCUMENTATION.
THIS IS NOT AN, UM, AN AN UNCOMMON, UH, QUALIFICATION.
[00:30:01]
I'VE LOOKED ON THE INTERNET.THERE WERE SOME OTHER, UH, UH, STATES AND CITIES THAT HAVE LOOKED AT THIS QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACK, AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ITSELF HAS INDICATED THAT THERE IS A PRESUMPTION OF, UM, OF, UH, UH, IMPACT FOR THESE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS FROM THE, FROM THE COVID PANDEMIC.
SO, WITH THAT, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? I'M HAPPY TO ANSWER.
WELL, I THINK, MARY, YOU BRING UP A GOOD POINT, AND I WOULD RECOMMEND THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, SAWS COME TO US WITH THAT REQUEST AT THE COUNCIL SO THAT WE COULD GO AHEAD AND, AND ENACT THAT KIND OF AN EXTENSION TO THE PROGRAM THAT WE'VE OFFERED FOR YOU TO USE.
AND THE SAME THING WITH, UH, C P S ENERGY, SO THAT WE, WE WANT THAT MONEY TO GET OUT THERE, AND WE WANT IT TO GET OUT AND DO THE MOST GOOD AS QUICKLY AS WE CAN, OBVIOUSLY.
UH, AND THERE MAY BE SOME PEOPLE MORE LONG TERM THAT IT MAY BE MORE DIFFICULT TO GET THEM HELP, BUT, YOU KNOW, IF WE CAN HELP EVEN PEOPLE WHO ARE SHORTER TERM, 30, 60, 90, UH, 90 DAYS MM-HMM.
WE WANNA HELP PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED HELP.
AND I THINK YOU'RE SUGGESTING A, A GOOD WAY FOR US TO CONSIDER THAT.
ANY OTHER COMMENTS? YES, COUNCILMAN.
UM, I'M CURIOUS IF SAWS AND C P SS COULD PARTNER ON SOME OF THESE EVENTS? I KNOW C P S HAD VERY SUCCESSFUL EVENTS IN DISTRICT SIX, WHERE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE SHOWED UP TO, UM, TO GET SIGNED UP FOR, FOR PAYMENT PLANS AND THE DIFFERENT AFFORDABILITY PROGRAMS. BUT REGARDING AR ARPA, IF THERE'S A WAY THAT, UH, MAYBE SAWS AND C P SS COULD PARTNER EVEN IN WITH FLYERS, UM, RIGHT.
I RECALL AT THOSE, SOME OF THOSE EVENTS.
I THINK SAWS MAY HAVE BEEN, UH, PRESENT.
UH, MAYBE YOU, I THINK WE HAVE, REMIND ME, BEEN IN A COUPLE OF THE EVENTS, BUT MM-HMM.
OH, ONE MORE QUESTION, COUNCILMAN.
UM, IS IT POSSIBLE, I MEAN, I, I, I LIKE THE CENSUS TRACKED APPROACH JUST BECAUSE IT, IT, UH, GETS MORE, I MEAN, THERE'S SOME ASSUMPTIONS IN THERE, BUT IT GETS MORE MONEY OUT TO PEOPLE IN NEED QUICK, FASTER, AND IT SEEMS LIKE THERE'S LESS PAPERWORK.
IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S LESS BURDENSOME.
BUT I'M WONDERING IF THERE COULD BE A HYBRID MODEL WHERE MAYBE 75 OR 80% IS DONE IS, IS DISTRIBUTED THAT WAY, AND THEN YOU LEAVE A SMALL POT POT FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO APPLY.
UM, BECAUSE THERE MAY BE PEOPLE OUTSIDE OF THOSE CENSUS TRACKS THAT, THAT DO QUALIFY, AND THAT WAY THEY'RE NOT BEING, IF THEY ARE APPLYING, THEY'RE NOT BEING LEFT BEHIND.
SO, UH, AND I DON'T KNOW IF YOU CAN PULL UP THAT, THAT SLIDE YOU HAVE THERE.
THAT ONE RIGHT THERE, THAT'S ON YOUR LAPTOP.
UM, SO UNDER THAT OPTION A, WE WOULD USE ABOUT 6 MILLION OF THE 10 MILLION THAT'S BEEN ALLOCATED TO SAS.
WE'VE ALREADY USED A MILLION, SO THAT STILL LEAVES ABOUT $3 MILLION THAT COULD BE AVAILABLE FOR FOLKS THAT WANTED TO APPLY THAT WERE OUTSIDE THE CENSUS TRACKS, THE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS.
UM, AND SO I THINK THAT THAT COULD PROBABLY BE, UH, UM, A, A REASONABLE AMOUNT FOR THOSE FOLKS.
UH, THAT INCLUDES, UH, CONCLUDES ITEM TWO.
I WANTED TO PROVIDE A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE UTILIZATION OF THE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS AS WE HAVE, UH, DEVELOPED AND ROLLED OUT PROGRAMS TO ASSIST OUR COMMUNITY, LIKE THE EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE, LIKE THE UTILITY ASSISTANCE THAT WE DID PRIOR TO THE $30 MILLION THAT WAS ALLOCATED TO BOTH, UH, SAUCE AND C P S.
WE HAVE FOCUS ON THOSE INDIVIDUALS THAT WERE IMPACTED BY C OVID 19 IN ORDER TO MAXIMIZE THE DOLLARS AVAILABLE AND TO HAVE THAT TARGETED APPROACH TO HELP THOSE THAT NEEDED THE MOST.
UM, SO THAT IS THE REASON WHY WE, UH, CONTINUE TO PROPOSE THAT APPROACH AS WE ENTER INTO THOSE CONTRACTS WITH SAUCE AND C P SS TO CONTINUE TO DEMONSTRATE THE IMPACT OF C OVID 19 AGAIN, TO MAXIMIZE THE, THE, THE DOLLARS THAT ARE AVAILABLE WITHIN THOSE QUALIFIED CENSUS TRACKS.
ALTHOUGH, AS STATED BY MARY, UM, HIGH PERCENTAGE ARE INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE IN THE POVERTY LINE, THEY'RE ALSO INDIVIDUALS THAT ARE NOT, AND THAT COULD AFFORD TO PAY FOR, FOR THOSE AT DELINQUENT BILLS IF THEY HAVE ANY.
SO I JUST WANTED TO PROVIDE SOME CONTEXT TO THE COUNCIL AS TO WHY WE, WE HAVE THAT TARGETED APPROACH TO QUALIFY INDIVIDUALS THAT DEMONSTRATE AN IMPACT DUE TO C OVID 19.
OKAY, NOW WE'RE GONNA MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER THREE.
[00:35:01]
THAT'S A BRIEFING BY C P S ENERGY AND SAWS ON THE WATER ACT, UH, ON THE AFTER ACTION REPORT FROM THE 2022 FEBRUARY COLD WEATHER TO INCLUDE ANY GUIDANCE FROM THE UTILITIES TO CITY STAFF TO NAVIGATE OUTAGE REPORTING SYSTEMS, COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR ADDRESSING RESIDENTS CONCERNS, UH, ET CETERA.WE UNDERSTAND THAT A LOT HAS BEEN DONE TO ACHIEVE A LOT OF, UH, THE ITEMS THAT CAME IN THE EMERGENCY, UH, REPORT.
WE JUST WANT TO GET AN UPDATE IF THERE'S A FEW, FEW MORE BEING WORKED ON AND HOW FAR THAT'S GOING.
SO WE HAVE A REPRESENTATIVE FROM C P S ENERGY, C P SS FIRST, AND, AND YOU'RE NEW TO THIS COMMITTEE, CORRECT? SO DID YOU TAKE PAUL'S JOB? I SURE DID.
INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND WELCOME ABOARD.
UH, MY NAME IS RICHARD MEDINA.
I'M THE INTERIM E V P OF ENERGY DELIVERY SERVICES.
SO TODAY'S, UH, FEBRUARY WEATHER ACTION REPORT WILL BE IN THREE PARTS.
UM, I'LL BE COVERING THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AND OUTAGE RESTORATION.
DEANNA HARDWARE WILL BE COVERING COMMUNICATION AND CUSTOMER OUTREACH.
AND THEN MAR MELISSA OLA, OUR VP OF CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING WILL BE COVERING COMMUNICATION TOOLS AND CHANNELS UTILIZED AND THE JOINT MEDIA BRIEFINGS DURING THE WINTER STORM, DURING THE STORM.
SO, UM, AS WE GET STARTED HERE, THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF POWER OUTAGES IS WEATHER, OF COURSE, ICE, SNOW, RAIN, LIGHTNING, AND FOLLOWED BY THAT IS VEGETATION AND, AND EQUIPMENT FAILURES.
SO OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS, WE AVERAGE AROUND 30% OF OUR OUTAGES ARE TREE RELATED OUTAGES, AND WE SPEND ABOUT $7 MILLION ON OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS. SO DURING THE, THE FEBRUARY 3RD EVENT, UH, YOU CAN SEE A PICTURE THERE ON THE LEFT, UM, THERE'S A TREE CREW, A GUY CLIMBING THE TREE THERE TO TRIM TREES.
SO DURING THE EVENT, A LOT OF ICE ACCUMULATES ON THE TREE BRANCHES, AND IT COULD, UH, WEIGH THE BRANCHES DOWN BY 30 TIMES.
AND, UM, DURING THE EVENT, WE SAW TREES COMING, LEANING OVER THE I ABOUT 10 FEET OVER INTO OUR POWER LINES THAT NORMALLY WOULDN'T BE IN THE, IN THE POWER LINES.
SO OUR RESTORATION PROCESS, UM, WHAT WE DO IS WE SEND CREWS OUT, UH, THEY'LL CLEAR THE WHAT, OH, SORRY.
UM, WE SEND CREWS OUT AND THEY'LL CLEAR THE TREES AND WORK SAFELY.
OUR RESTORATION PROCESS IS REALLY LOOKING AT THE, THE LARGER CIRCUITS, AND WE PRIORITIZE OUR, OUR OUTAGES BASED ON THE, THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE THAT ARE OUT.
SO, UH, WE DID HAVE FOUR AREAS THAT WE HAD ISSUES WITH.
UM, THERE WAS MULTIPLE TREE OUTAGES OR TREE, UH, IN INSIDE OUR LINES.
AND SO THEY'RE THE FOUR AREAS.
AND WHAT WE'RE DOING IS, UH, LESSONS LEARNED ON THESE FOUR AREAS.
UM, DURING THE EVENT, WE HAD ABOUT 94 CREWS WORKING 16 HOUR SHIFTS, UM, AND ALSO 20 VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CREWS.
SO, UH, FIRST OF ALL, I'D LIKE TO THANK Y'ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
UM, WE WERE ABLE TO INCREASE OUR TREE BUDGET BY 70%, ADDING ADDITIONAL $5 MILLION.
UM, OUR RELIABILITY PROGRAM IS, IS DRIVEN BY THE, UM, POOR PERFORMING CIRCUITS.
SO WHAT WE'LL DO IS WE LOOK AT OUR CIRCUITS, WE LOOK AT, YOU KNOW, WHERE ALL OUR OUTAGES ARE, AND WE PRIORITIZE THOSE CIRCUITS WITH, UH, OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
SO GOING FORWARD, UH, WE WANT TO COLLABORATE.
WE'RE COLLABORATING WITH HOAS AND SUBURBAN CITIES.
UM, WE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS WORKING WITH OUR SMALLER SUBURBAN CITIES, WORKING WITH THEM TO GET MESSAGING OUT AS WE'RE TRIMMING TREES.
UM, WE ALL STILL ARE LOOKING AT HOW WE CAN PARTNER FOR BRUSH PICKUPS SO WE CAN NOTIFY CUSTOMERS THAT THEY NEED TO TRIM THEIR SERVICES FROM THE TRANSFORMER TO THE HOUSE.
AND THEN WE ALSO, UM, IMPLEMENTED A NEW LIDAR PROGRAM.
AND WHAT THAT IS, IT'S, UH, A LASER DETECTION WHERE A A AN AIRPLANE FLIES OVER THE CITY.
WE FLEW OVER THE ENTIRE CITY DURING, UH, DECEMBER AND JANUARY.
AND SO THAT TOOL WILL ACTUALLY GIVE US PINPOINT ACCURACY ON HOW CLOSE ALL THE TREES ARE TO THE LINES, AND WE'RE GONNA USE THAT TO HELP BEEF UP OUR MAN, OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
AND THE INTERESTING FACT, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, THE, ALL THE DATA THAT WAS COLLECTED FROM THOSE FLIGHTS, UM, IT'S GONNA TAKE EIGHT SERVERS 24 HOURS A DAY FOR SIX WEEKS JUST TO CRUNCH THE DATA.
THAT'S OVER 10 TRILLION DATA POINTS.
AND SO GOING FORWARD, UM, YOU KNOW, OF COURSE WE'RE INCREASING OUR BUDGET, THAT'S GONNA HELP IMPROVE RELIABILITY.
AND THEN WE WANNA ENHANCE OUR COMMUNICATION PROGRAMS WITH OUR CUSTOMERS, AND WE ARE EXPLORING ADDITIONAL OPTIONS TO GET ADDITIONAL TREE CREWS IN OUR SERVICE TERRITORY.
[00:40:01]
SO NEXT I'LL TURN IT OVER TO DEANNA HARDWICK.AFTER WINTER STORM URI, WE UNDERSTOOD THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING SURE THAT WE WERE CONNECTING WITH OUR CUSTOMERS DURING ANY WEATHER EVENTS, ESPECIALLY A BIG ONE, LIKE, UH, WHAT WE SAW WITH THIS WINTER STORM.
SO, UH, AS PART OF THAT, WHEN WE ENGAGED OUR COMMUNITY, WE WERE ABLE TO SEND, UH, REALLY ABOUT 2.3 MILLION MESSAGES OUT TO THE COMMUNITY.
AND, UH, ON, ON WEDNESDAY, AS PART OF OUR AUTOMATED, UH, MESSAGING, WE FOCUSED ON WHAT PRE-STORM AND PREP SHOULD BE.
SO WHAT SOME THINGS THAT PEOPLE CAN DO TO HELP MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE A FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN FOR THEMSELVES.
UM, AND THEN, UH, WE ALSO MADE SURE THAT WE REACHED OUT TO OUR COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS AND LET THEM KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE TRYING TO WORK WITH ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS.
UH, WE DO, UH, HAVE A SYSTEM THAT WHENEVER A CUSTOMER CAN SH CAN SIGN UP FOR TO GET EITHER VOICE, EMAIL, OR TEXT ALERTS WHEN YOUR POWER GOES OUT, WHEN YOUR POWER IS EXPECTED TO COME BACK ON, AND ALSO WHEN YOUR POWER HAS BEEN RESTORED.
SO THOSE WERE, UH, WERE GOING OUT AS PART OF THIS, THIS WINTER STORM.
UH, ON TOP OF THAT, UH, WE ALSO MAKE SURE FOR CUSTOMERS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SOME SORT OF, UM, EXTENDED OUTAGE, SO IF THERE, IF THEIR POWER IS GONNA BE OUT FOR EIGHT HOURS OR LONGER, WE WILL DO TARGETED MESSAGE TO THEM BASED ON THE SAME COMMUNICATION METHODS THAT THEY'VE TOLD US THAT THEY PREFER FOR US TO CALL.
UH, BUT WE ALSO KNOW THAT IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US, US TO BE PRESENT.
WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT EVERYBODY HAS A PHONE, UH, OR IS ABLE TO GET UPDATES.
SO YOU CAN SEE PICTURES ON THIS WEBSITE.
I MEAN, ON THIS SLIDE, WE WERE ACTUALLY OUT IN EIGHT DIFFERENT NEIGHBORHOODS FOR THE ONES THAT, UH, RICHARD HAD MENTIONED.
UH, AND WE ALSO MAKE SURE THAT CUSTOMERS THAT ARE ENROLLED IN OUR CRITICAL CARE PROGRAM, THAT WE REACH OUT TO THEM, THAT WE TELL THEM WHAT'S GOING ON IN NOT EVERY EVENT.
WHEN WE KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN TERMS OF, UH, WHEN THE POWER WILL BE RESTORED, UH, BASED ON WHAT THE CREWS HAVE SEEN, THEN WE'LL GIVE THEM THAT, THAT ESTIMATED TIME.
HOWEVER, THERE ARE SITUATIONS WHEN, BASED ON THE MAGNITUDE OF THE STORM OR THE EVENT WHERE THE CREWS EITHER AREN'T ABLE TO SAFELY GET THERE TO IDENTIFY OR THEY'RE NOT ABLE TO SEE ALL THE COMPLEXITIES THAT THEY HAVE.
SO IN THOSE CASES, WE WILL CONTINUE TO OUTREACH TO CUSTOMERS, EITHER ON OUR CRITICAL CARE OR THROUGH THE EXTENDED OUTAGES TO PROVIDE THEM INFORMATION ON WHAT WE HAVE, WHAT WE'RE EXPECTING.
AND WE KNOW THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO REFINE THAT.
SO RICHARD AND I ARE PARTNERING ON WAYS THAT WE, THE MORE INFORMATION WE HAVE THAT WE CAN PROVIDE TO THOSE IMPACTED CUSTOMERS.
ON TOP OF THAT, DURING THAT TIME, WE DID RECEIVE OVER 58,000, UH, CALLS FROM CUSTOMERS AND THOSE CUSTOMER, THOSE CALLS WE ANSWERED WITHIN, UH, ON AVERAGE, I THINK THE LONGEST WAIT TIME IS PROBABLY TWO MINUTES.
BUT, UM, WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHAT WE HAVE IN TERMS OF OUTAGE SUPPORT, AND, UH, WE'LL HAVE A HANDOUT FOR YOU ON THIS WHERE, UH, CUSTOMERS CAN GO TO GET INFORMATION.
SO WE HAVE ONLINE, WE HAVE AN OUTAGE REPORTING SYSTEM THAT YOU CAN GO TO CPS ENERGY.COM, THE LINKS ON HERE.
YOU CAN ALSO SEE THE OUTAGES ON OUR OUTAGE MAP.
IF WE HAVE INFORMATION IN TERMS OF THE CAUSE OR, UH, WHEN WE EXPECT THE POWER TO BE BACK ON THAT INFORMATION IS INCLUDED WHENEVER YOU CLICK ON THE, THE AREA THAT YOU, YOU WANT INFORMATION ON.
WE ALSO HAVE OUTAGE TIPS AND SAFETY AWARENESS INFORMATION THAT WE, THAT WE HAVE, UH, ONLINE AT THE SAME TIME FOR PEOPLE THAT DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO, UH, THE, THE INTERNET, UH, AT THE TIME THEY CAN CALL US.
WE HAVE TWO FIVE TWO ONE ZERO THREE FIVE THREE HELP NUMBER.
UH, AND, UH, WHENEVER YOU CALL US THERE, WE STARTED PUTTING UP NEW MESSAGES.
SO ANY GENERAL MESSAGING WE HAVE ABOUT THE, THE STORM UPDATES CREWS, WE'LL MAKE SURE THAT WE PROVIDE THAT EITHER GOING THROUGH OUR AUTOMATED SYSTEM OR SPEAKING TO ONE OF OUR ENERGY ADVISORS.
YOU'LL ALSO BE ABLE TO GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE ON OUR WEBSITE IN TERMS OF THE CAUSE IF WE, IF WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO IDENTIFY IT, OR, UH, IF, IF WE HAVE AN ESTIMATED TIME OF WHEN THE POWER WILL BE RESTORED, WHEN THAT WILL BE.
FOR CRITICAL CARE CUSTOMERS, I, I MENTIONED THAT BEFORE.
REALLY IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO TOUCH BASE WITH THOSE CUSTOMERS AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THEY KNOW IF THEY'RE HAVING AN EMERGENCY, A MEDICAL EMERGENCY, THAT THEY NEED TO CALL 9 1 1.
ALSO, UH, WE ARE CONTINUING TO WORK WITH VIA TO SEE IF WE CAN HELP A WAY TO RELOCATE THEM IF THEY NEED TRANSPORTATION, BUT IN THE MEANTIME, WE'LL WORK WITH THEM TO CALL 3 1 1 TO HELP GET TRANSPORTATION TO A COOLING CENTER OR A WARMING CENTER CENTER DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER EVENT.
UM, SO FROM A A PARTNERSHIP STANDPOINT, ONE THING THAT WE WOULD REALLY, UH, LIKE FOR SOME ASSISTANCE ON, AND WE'RE GONNA PROVIDE SOME INFORMATION TO YOU, IS THE MORE CUSTOMERS THAT YOU KNOW THAT, UH, HAVE, UH, ARE, ARE DEPENDENT ON ELECTRICALLY OPERATED MACHINERY IN THEIR HOME FOR HEALTH REASONS, WE ONLY HAVE ABOUT 3000 CUSTOMERS RIGHT NOW SIGNED UP ON CRITICAL CARE.
SO THE MORE CUSTOMERS WE CAN ENROLL, WE WOULD, WE DEFINITELY WANNA SIGN UP.
WE ALSO NEED EMERGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION.
[00:45:01]
WOULD LIKE US TO CONTACT THEM, EMAIL, PHONE, UH, TEXT, WHATEVER THEIR PREFERENCE IS, GO ONLINE OR CALL US AND WE CAN SET THAT UP.AND WE ALSO CAN SET UP THE PREFERENCE OF GETTING THE COMMUNICATION IN, IN EITHER ENGLISH OR IN SPANISH.
WE'LL ALSO BE PROVIDING, UH, FOR YOU IN YOUR OFFICES TO BE ABLE TO SHARE WITH CUSTOMERS.
AND SO ALSO TO HELP WITH QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT RECEIVE.
UH, AND AS RICHARD MENTIONED, WE HAVE, UM, SOME TREE TRIMMING OPPORTUNITIES.
WE WANNA GET THAT MESSAGE OUT ON WHAT WE CAN ASSIST AND WHAT ALSO WHAT HOMEOWNERS AND RESIDENTS CAN DO ON THEIR OWN.
SO WE'LL BE SURE TO, TO SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH YOU.
UH, YOU KNOW, ANOTHER THING THAT WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE DOING IS ANY OPPORTUNITIES THAT YOU SEE THAT WE CAN BE BETTER, MORE VISIBLE OUT IN OUR COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY DURING THESE EVENTS.
IF IT'S SAFE FOR US TO BE OUT THERE LIKE IT WAS, UH, IN THOSE EIGHT COMMUNITIES, WE ABSOLUTELY WILL.
WE'LL, WE HAVE OUR, OUR MOBILE, UM, SUPPORT CENTER, OUR BUS.
WE ALSO HAVE A SPRINTER THAT WE'LL TAKE OUT TO COMMUNITIES.
WE'VE, WHAT WE DID FOR, UH, THESE EIGHT COMMUNITIES AS WE DROVE AROUND, WE KNOCKED ON DOORS, WE TALKED TO PEOPLE, WE GAVE THEM THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAVE, BUT THE MORE WE CAN, UH, IDENTIFY HOW WE CAN BE PRESENT AND HELP, UH, PARTNER WITH YOU WE'RE, WE'RE WELCOME.
WE WELCOME ANY RECOMMENDATIONS.
SO WITH THAT, I'LL HAND IT OVER TO MELISSA.
UM, AS DEANNA MENTIONED, AND RICHARD AS WELL, WHERE WE ALL WORK REALLY CLOSELY TOGETHER TO UPDATE OUR COMMUNITY ON OUTAGES, AND I THINK EVERYONE HAS SEEN THAT WE'VE TAKEN A VERY PROACTIVE APPROACH POST WARN STORM URI TO HELP PREPARE OUR CUSTOMERS.
AND WE SAW THAT LAST WEEK AT THE, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE MONTH IN FEBRUARY WITH THE ENERGY ALERTS AND THE STAKEHOLDER MESSAGING THAT DEANNA, THAT DEANNA REFERENCED.
UM, AND OUR MESSAGING AT THE BEGINNING OF THESE EVENTS REALLY DOES FOCUS ON PREPARATION.
AND WE DID HAVE, THROUGHOUT THIS PROCESS, UH, DEVELOPED TWO NEW WEBSITES FOR CUSTOMERS IN THE COMMUNITY.
IT IS THE PREPARE HASHTAG AND THEN ALSO THE
SO ALL THE MATERIALS ARE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH.
THERE ARE SOME INFORMATIONAL VIDEOS ON THERE THAT ALSO PROVIDE UPDATES AND TIPS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUTAGES.
GENERATOR SAFETY, WHICH IS ANOTHER ONGOING MESSAGE THAT WE SHARE DURING THESE EVENTS.
AND THEN ALSO LOAD SHED PROCESS JUST AS PART OF INFORMATION.
WE ALSO SENT, UH, TOOL DIGITAL TOOLKITS, COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKITS TO ALL OF OUR PARTNERS.
I BELIEVE YOUR OFFICES RECEIVED THOSE AS WELL.
VERY SIMILAR TO WHAT WE SENT OUT IN EARLY DECEMBER.
DEANNA MENTIONED WE DO NEED PEOPLE TO UPDATE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION WITH US SO THAT WE'RE COMMUNICATING TO THEM IN THE, THEIR PREFERRED METHOD.
SO, AND I ALSO WANT TO THANK, UH, REVEREND ANNE HELMKE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.
SHE SENT THAT OUT THROUGH HER EMAIL, UH, EMAIL BLAST AS WELL.
SO WE WANNA THANK HER FOR THAT PARTNERSHIP.
PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IS ANOTHER KEY POINT FOR US.
AND THAT WAS A WONDERFUL LESSON LEARNED FROM, UH, WINTER STORM ION THAT WE TOOK IT TO, TO ACTION FOR THIS EVENT.
WE DID PARTICIPATE WITH THE CITY, WITH THE COUNTY, WITH SAWS AND VIA ON ALL THE JOINT PRESS RELEASES, ALL THE JOINT MEDIA BRIEFINGS.
UM, MY TEAM AND I DID WORK OUT OF THE E O C THAT THURSDAY OF, OF THIS WINTER STORM LANDED.
AND THEN ALSO JUST BECAUSE OF THE TIMING WAS RIGHT, UH, WE DID TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO INVITE MEDIA OUT TO OUR BROING PLANT THAT WEEK OF, TO SHOW THEM THE PREPARATION EFFORTS THAT WE'VE BEEN TAKING, UH, TO BE PREPARED FOR OUR GENERATION UNITS TO BE PREPARED.
SO I THOUGHT IT WAS VERY INFORMATIONAL AND MEDIA APPRECIATED THAT THAT POINT AS WELL.
UH, ALSO DURING THESE, UH, THE COUPLE THREE DAYS OF STORMS, WE DID INCREASE OUR ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
UH, YOU KNOW, RICHARD AND DEANNA MENTIONED TALKING ABOUT TARGETING, UH, CUSTOMERS THAT DO HAVE EXTENDED OUTAGES.
SO WE DID USE NEXTDOOR AS A TOOL FOR THOSE OUTAGES THAT DID SEE, UM, EXTENDED TIME OUT, UH, IN LUCKY RANCH, STEWING RANCH, ELM CREEK, AND UNIVERSAL CITY.
I THINK AS A LESSONS LEARNED FROM THIS LAST STORM TOO, THERE IS MORE THAT WE CAN DO.
SO WE ARE GONNA CONTINUE TO WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR TEAMS TO TARGET AND PINPOINT THESE AREAS THAT ARE SEEING EXTENDED OUTAGES, UM, THROUGH SOCIAL AND THEN SUPPORTING DEANNA AND HER TEAM, OF COURSE, IN, IN GETTING THE WORD OUT IN YOUR OFFICES AS WELL.
UH, THIS COLLABORATION'S GOING TO BE ONGOING.
UH, YOU'LL SEE HERE TO THE RIGHT AND PART OF OUR STRATEGY TO PREPARE CUSTOMERS.
WE DID WORK WITH THE CITY, THE COUNTY SAWS, UH, ON THIS FLYER, UH, UH, TO BE PREPARED FOR WINTER.
AND THAT IS A BILL INSERT THAT IS IN ALL OF, UH, CUSTOMER BILLS THROUGH THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY.
SO EVERYONE'S GONNA RECEIVE THAT EITHER PAPER OR ELECTRONICALLY.
AND WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO DO THESE THINGS, UM, THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, COLLABORATIVELY WITH THEM.
UM, WE KNOW THERE'S A, A HEAT PREPAREDNESS CALL THIS WEEK THROUGH THE E A O C THAT WE'RE GONNA PARTICIPATE IN.
MY TEAM DID TAKE PART IN A, A CALL EARLIER TODAY TOO ABOUT WE, THE WEATHER THAT WE SEE COMING IN.
UH, RICHARD MENTIONED TREES TRIMMING SAFETY, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE'RE GONNA FOCUS ON HERE IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS AS WELL, AND LOOK FORWARD TO THAT COLLABORATIVE WORK THAT WE DO
[00:50:01]
WITH PUBLIC WORKS.AND THEN BEFORE WE KNOW IT, SUMMER'S GONNA BE HERE, SO EVERYTHING WE'VE DONE FOR WINTER, WE'RE GOING TO REVAMP FOR SUMMER AS WELL TO HELP CUSTOMERS BE PREPARED FOR THE SUMMER MONTHS.
WE DO HAVE SOME ONGOING BILINGUAL EFFORTS, UM, ENCOURAGING CUSTOMERS TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENERGY ALERTS AND TO UPDATE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION WITH US.
AND ONE OF THE THINGS WE KNOW TOO, RIGHT? IT CAN'T ALL BE DIGITAL, SO YOU'LL SEE THESE PICTURES TO THE BOTTOM.
WE CURRENTLY HAVE BUS CARDS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH IN ALMOST 500 VIA BUSES, ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO UPDATE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION WITH US.
UH, WE HAD RADIO RUN STARTING FROM FEBRUARY 14TH THROUGH THE 21ST, AND THERE WERE VERY SHORT, UM, INFORMATIONAL, UH, SPOTS, ALSO ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO SIGN UP AND, AND, UH, UPDATE THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION.
AND THEN WE HAVE SOME PRINT ADS AS WELL.
YOU DID MENTION CONSTITUENT GUIDANCE, AND THERE IS A TOOLKIT IN YOUR, THERE IS A CALL TREE IN YOUR PACKETS.
AND I'M GONNA INVITE YVONNE PAL, WHO'S OUR SENIOR DIRECTOR OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT RELATIONS TO GO OVER THOSE MATERIALS.
RATHER THAN TO GO OVER IT ANY FURTHER.
AND, UH, I WANTED TO OPEN IT UP FOR ANY QUESTIONS THAT ANY OF THE, UH, COMMITTEE MEMBERS MAY HAVE ON WHAT WE'VE HEARD SO FAR.
UH, I WANT TO FIRST THANKS BOTH, UH, THANK BOTH C P S AND SAS, AS WELL AS OUR CITY'S EMERGE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.
Y'ALL KNOW, THAT'S BEEN ONE OF MY RALLYING CRIES FOR, YOU KNOW, SINCE URI, UM, IS, IS, UM, NOT REALLY FEELING LIKE I HAVE.
I WAS GETTING COMMUNICATION FROM UTILITIES AND, AND ABLE TO GIVE THAT OUT, OF COURSE TO MY CONSTITUENTS.
BUT I DID APPRECIATE FROM HEARING CONSTITUENTS ABOUT THE FACEBOOK LIVES, UM, PRESS CONFERENCES, MEDIA COVERAGE.
YOU HAD THAT GRID OF, UM, THE, UH, THE PRESS, UH, EVENT OR WHAT, WHAT IS IT CALLED? THE MEDIA BRIEFING.
UH, MY FAMILY WAS WATCHING IT, AND I CAME IN THE ROOM AND I WAS LIKE, THAT'S AMAZING.
YOU KNOW, THAT'S, THAT'S COMMUNICATION.
NOT EVERYBODY DID, BUT I THINK YOU ARE COVERING THE BASES.
I THINK WE'VE MOVED, UM, WE'VE MOVED A LOT FORWARD.
I KNOW AS FAR AS COMMUNICATION, I, I DO APPRECIATE IT.
I DID GET SOME CALLS FROM CONSTITUENTS.
UM, I THINK IT WAS SORT OF A TEST RUN.
I'M GRATEFUL THAT THE TWO DAYS OF, OF SIGNIFICANT COLD IN OUR CITY WASN'T, YOU KNOW, ANOTHER YURI.
BUT, UM, IT WAS A GOOD TEST RUN.
AND I THINK, UH, WE SAW, I SAW HOW FAR ALONG WE'VE ALL COME SINCE, UH, AND LEARNING LESSONS AND APPLYING THOSE LESSONS SINCE THE STORM.
UM, SOME OF THE, THE CALLS I GOT FROM CONSTITUENTS WERE, UM, NOT SO MUCH.
I MEAN, THEY UNDERSTOOD WHY THEY WERE OUT OF POWER.
AND ACTUALLY TODAY I EVEN LEARNED ABOUT THE, THE ICE IN THE TREES.
I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT THAT WAS SUCH A BIG SOURCE OF, UM, THE POWER BEING OUT, BUT, UH, KIND OF THE LENGTH OF TIME PEOPLE WERE, WERE GETTING ANXIOUS.
I THINK WE'RE ALL A LITTLE TRAUMATIZED.
WE START TO GET WORRIED THAT IT'S GONNA BE OUT FOR A FEW DAYS.
AND, UM, SO HOW, WHEN THERE'S KIND OF AN EXTENDED AMOUNT OF TIME, HOW ARE YOU GETTING OUT TO RESIDENTS? IS THAT ROBOCALL OR, I'M GONNA PHONE TO FRIEND TOO.
AND THEN ALSO, HOW OFTEN ARE THEY GIVEN UPDATES WHEN IT'S AN EXTENDED AMOUNT OF TIME.
SO WE'RE STILL WORKING ON REFINING THAT PROCESS.
BUT FOR OUR CRITICAL CARE CUSTOMERS, ANYBODY THAT THAT'S REGISTERED ON THAT CRITICAL CARE, WE WILL CALL THEM IF THEIR OUTAGE IS FOUR HOURS OR LONGER, AND ANY UPDATES THAT WE GET.
SO AT THAT POINT, THAT'S WHEN WE'LL LET THEM KNOW HOW MANY CREWS WE HAVE ON SITE AND WHAT WE DO KNOW AT THAT TIME.
IF WE AREN'T ABLE TO IDENTIFY WHEN THE RESTORATION TIME OR WHEN THEIR POWER'S GONNA COME BACK ON.
UH, AND FOR ALL OTHER CUSTOMERS, IT'S, IT'S USUALLY AROUND THE EIGHT HOUR MARK THAT WE'RE REACHING OUT TO THOSE CUSTOMERS.
FOR THIS EVENT, FOR EXAMPLE, UH, WE, I BELIEVE WE REACHED OUT TO THOSE CUSTOMERS, UH, THREE TIMES.
SO ONCE WAS, WHENEVER WE HIT THAT EIGHT HOUR MARK, THE SECOND TIME WAS TO GIVE THEM AN UPDATE THAT WE WERE STILL WORKING THROUGH.
AND THE THIRD TIME WAS TO LET CUSTOMERS KNOW THAT WE ANTICIPATED THAT WE POTENTIALLY WOULD BE OUT THROUGH THE EVENING.
UH, THAT, UH, THEY SHOULD ENACT THEIR, THEIR FAMILY PLAN AND MAKE SURE THAT, UH, IF THEY NEEDED SOME, UH, TRANSPORTATION TO A DIFFERENT CENTER TO LET US KNOW, OR TO LOCATION TO LET US KNOW.
BUT WE'RE CONTINUING TO, TO REFINE THAT WE WORK VERY CLOSELY WITH, UH, THE, THE RICHARDS TEAM AND MAKE SURE THAT WE, AS WE GET THAT INFORMATION TO UPDATE THAT.
WELL, I MEAN, I, I THINK WE HAVE MADE GREAT STRIDES, BUT I'M GLAD TO HEAR YOU SAY WE STILL HAVE A WAYS TO GO.
I THINK THERE IS, WE CAN ALWAYS IMPROVE.
AND SO I, I APPRECIATE THE, THE EFFORT THOUGH, AND I SEE IT.
COUNCILMAN COUNCILWOMAN SANDOVAL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BOTH OF YOUR PRESENTATIONS.
UM, I JUST HAD A, A QUICK QUESTION ABOUT, UH, THE C P SS AND THE LINES AND THE ICE, AND IT'S, IT'S NOT JUST THE ICE, BUT ALSO THE WIND.
RIGHT? THAT, UM, HI, RUDY, I JUST SAW YOU, YOU'VE BEEN BEHIND THE SPEAKER THIS WHOLE TIME.
[00:55:02]
THE WIND AS WELL.SO I GUESS I'D LIKE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT LONG-TERM MAINTENANCE PLAN WOULD LOOK LIKE.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, I'LL TALK ABOUT THE RACK LATER THIS MORNING, BUT MAYBE HOW THAT MIGHT AFFECT ALSO, UM, COST ALLOCATION FOR, FOR DIFFERENT TYPES OF CUSTOMERS.
UM, AND THEN I DON'T KNOW IF YOU'VE, UH, IF C P S HAS DONE ANY KIND OF COST COMPARISON COMPARING THE COST FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THOSE TREES AND THE LINES VERSUS, YOU KNOW, THE HUGE CAPITAL INVESTMENT OF, OF BURYING THEM.
AND WHEN, WHEN DOES IT PAY OFF AND WHEN DOES IT NOT PAY OFF? YES.
AND WE ARE LOOKING AT EVERY STORM.
WE KIND OF DO LESSONS LEARNED AND WE'LL LOOK AT WHEN THERE'S WIND EVENTS, YOU KNOW, THERE'S POCKETS AND WE'LL GO OUT THERE AND TRIM TREES AND MAKE SURE THAT WE CLEAR THOSE LINES.
UM, DURING THIS EVENT, IT WAS INTERESTING BECAUSE THE, THE EVENT STARTED ON THE SECOND, THAT EVENING, MIDNIGHT, AND THEN WE HAD A LOT OF RAIN AND WIND AND IT, IT WAS, WE HARDLY HAD ANY OUTAGES UNTIL 6:00 AM IN THE MORNING WHEN EVERYTHING STARTED FREEZING UP.
AND, AND SO WE HAVE THESE POCKETS NOW THAT WE WANT TO GO AND, AND TARGET, AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW.
SO WE'RE ABOUT 50% COMPLETE ON THE FIRST ONE, AND WE'RE JUST GONNA WORK OUR WAY DOWN.
UM, WE DO HAVE ABOUT, I THINK, $10 MILLION BUDGETED FOR TARGETED UNDERGROUNDING.
AND SO WE DO LOOK AT SOME OF THESE AREAS AND WE'LL GO TARGET THOSE AREAS IF THEY'RE HARD TO GET TO, AND THERE'S A LOT OF TREES, AND WE'LL DETERMINE, UM, HOW WE CAN UNDERGROUND THOSE AREAS.
BUT JUST TO LET YOU KNOW, THERE ARE SOME AREAS THAT WE TARGETED BEFORE AND THE RESIDENTS REFUSE TO PUT
AND SO WE JUST MOVE TO DIFFERENT AREAS.
AND THEN MY, MY OTHER, UH, COMMENT REALLY IT'S ABOUT THE NOTIFICATIONS COMING OUT FROM, FROM, YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY THERE, OR, I MEAN, YOU CAN IF YOU WANT, BUT I WAS, I WAS LOOKING TO SEE IF NOTIFICATIONS, FIRST OF ALL, I WANNA SAY THANK YOU VERY MUCH BECAUSE THAT IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WE HARPED ON.
UH, AS MEMBERS OF THE REVIEW COMMITTEE, THE, THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMITTEE WITH, WITH CHAIR WILLIAMS, UH, WERE LIKE, THE, THE PROBLEM WAS THAT PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW AND THEY WEREN'T ABLE TO PREPARE.
UH, SO I THINK YOU'VE BEEN EXTREMELY RESPONSIVE TO THAT AND, AND GIVING PEOPLE A HEADS UP.
LIKE THE COUNCILWOMAN SAID IT WAS A GOOD TRIAL RUN.
IT WAS SO GOOD THAT NOW I'M GETTING COMMENTS IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.
SO, UM, I, I GUESS I'M, UH, IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY, AND, AND MAYBE YOU HAVE, IS IT POSSIBLE TO PULL TOGETHER SOME FOCUS GROUPS ABOUT REALLY WHAT, WHAT WORKS? I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ANSWER IS EITHER.
UM, BUT I IMAGINE, UH, YOU, YOU CAN PULL THAT FROM MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC IF YOU HAVE SOME CONVERSATIONS ABOUT IT.
WE'RE WORKING WITH BRIAN'S TEAM TO GET GO COUNCILWOMAN.
UH, I, MELISSA AND I HAVE ACTUALLY SPOKEN ABOUT THE NEED TO GET SOME ADDITIONAL FOCUS, FOCUS GROUPS TOGETHER, FOCUS GROUPS AHEAD OF THE, UH, UH, SUMMER RUN SEASON.
YOU KNOW, UH, YOU KNOW, WE HAD A LITTLE SNAFU LAST WEEK.
I'LL JUST, YOU KNOW, OUT MYSELF HERE ABOUT, UH, WE HAD A COUPLE OF, UH, THE SYSTEM DIDN'T STOP CALLS AT EIGHT O'CLOCK WHEN IT'S SUPPOSED TO.
IT ALLOWED SOME CALLS TO GET BEYOND THAT.
SO WE WERE GETTING COMPLAINTS THAT CUSTOMERS WERE GETTING CALLS AT 1230 IN THE, IN THE MORNING, WHICH SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN.
AND, AND WE APOLOGIZED, YOU KNOW, INDIVIDUALLY TO ALL THOSE CUSTOMERS.
AND WE'RE GONNA ABOUT TO DO ANOTHER ROUND OF CALLS WEDNESDAY, BECAUSE WE'RE EXPECTING SOME COLD WEATHER COMING IN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY.
I MEAN, I HAVE HAD, EVEN FOR CUSTOMERS WHO GOT A CALL AT 1230 AT NIGHT, YOU KNOW, THEY STILL APPRECIATED THE FACT THAT WE WERE TRYING
AND WE JUST GOTTA GET, WE JUST GOTTA GET IT RIGHT.
SO, WE'LL, WE'LL DO SOME FOCUS GROUPS.
UM, FOR C P S ENERGY, I, I WANTED TO ASK, UM, YOU TALKED ABOUT TRIMMING TREES AROUND THE UTILITY POLES, AND I KNOW IN YOUR INDUSTRY YOU CALL 'EM UTILITY POLES, BUT THE, YOU KNOW, AVERAGE PEOPLE ON THE STREET, THEY CALL 'EM TELEPHONE POLES BECAUSE JUST BEFORE YOUR, BELOW YOUR POWER LINES, THERE ARE TELEPHONE LINES, THERE ARE CABLE LINES, THERE ARE INTERNET LINES.
AND SO I'M WONDERING, DOES MAINTENANCE OF THOSE POLES FALL ENTIRELY OR THE TREES AROUND THEIR FALL ENTIRELY ON YOU? IS THERE ANY COST SHARING? DO DO, DOES AT AND T OR SPECTRUM EVER COME OUT AND TRIM ANY OF THOSE TREES?
UM, TYPICALLY, YOU KNOW, THE, THE DANGER IS THE POWER LINES.
SO WHEN EVERY, ANYTIME ANYBODY CALLS THAT THERE'S A DOWN WIRE, OUR CREWS WILL GO INSPECT TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S, IT'S, IT'S SAFE.
AND A LOT OF TIMES, SOMETIMES IT'S THE, THE CABLE COMPANIES LIKE YOU MENTIONED, BUT, UM, WE DO CHARGE THE CABLE COMPANIES FOR BEING ON OUR POLES.
SO THEY DO PAY RENT, AND THE TREE TRIMMING IS ALLOCATED THROUGH SOME PORTIONS OF THE MAINTENANCE OF LINES.
SO THEY ARE PAYING A PORTION OF THE RENT THROUGH GOT
[01:00:01]
IT.AND I, I'M ALSO INTERESTED IN, IN WHAT THE PROTOCOL IS, I GUESS, UM, ONE OF MY CONSTITUENTS CONTACTED ME AFTER THE FEBRUARY 3RD STORM.
AND, UH, THE POWER LINE, I DON'T KNOW, THERE WAS INTERFERENCE BETWEEN THEIR TREE AND THE POWER LINE MM-HMM.
AND I THINK THE, THE FIREFIGHTERS CAME OUT AND THEY SAID, WELL, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING UNTIL C P S ENERGY ARRIVES.
AND IT WAS HOURS BEFORE C P S ENERGY ARRIVED.
AND I, I JUST HAD TO SPECULATE THAT, YOU KNOW, IF YOU HAVE A NEIGHBORHOOD, IF YOU HAVE, YOU KNOW, THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE POWER OUT, THEY'RE NOT GONNA GO ADDRESS IT.
YOU'RE PROBABLY NOT GONNA GO ADDRESS A TREE.
YOU'RE GONNA TRY AND RESTORE POWER TO THOSE THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND MAKE SURE THEY DON'T FREEZE.
AND, BUT THAT WAS ALL SPECULATION.
I'M JUST, I'D LIKE TO KNOW SOME ABOUT YOUR PROTOCOL FOR WHICH, YOU KNOW, HOW YOU, UM, DECIDE WHICH, UM, ISSUES TO ADDRESS FIRST SO I CAN, SO WE CAN RESPOND TO OUR CONSTITUENTS WHEN THEY ASK ABOUT THAT.
UM, SO A LOT OF THE EMERGENCY CALLS, IF THEY'RE COMING IN THROUGH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, WE'LL GO STRAIGHT TO OUR EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTER, AND THEN WE'LL TRY AND DISPATCH, UM, DURING THE EVENT, THERE WAS A LOT OF WIRES DOWN, SO SOME OF THEM COULD BE ENERGIZED.
SO WE'RE ROLLING CREWS AS FAST AS WE COULD DURING THAT EVENT.
AND, AND SO WHEN, WHEN IT'S NORMAL DAYS AND THERE'S A DANGER, WE ROLL TRUCKS AND THEY'RE THERE WITHIN 20 MINUTES.
SO I, IT'D HELP IF WE JUST KNEW WHAT, WHAT THE PROTOCOL IS OR WHAT THE PRIORITY ORDER IS AND HOW YOU DETERMINE WHAT, WHERE TO ROLL THE TRUCKS TO.
UH, IF YOU COULD SHARE THAT WITH US AT A LATER DATE.
UM, AND THEN, UH, YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I GUESS TREE INTERFERENCE WITH POWER LINES, THAT'S, THAT'S JUST ONE ISSUE WHEN IT COMES TO RE RELIABILITY AND RESILIENCY.
AND I'M JUST CURIOUS ABOUT, ON A BROADER SCALE, WHAT EL WHAT ELSE IS BEING DONE? UH, I HAVE CONSTITUENTS ASK ME FREQUENTLY ABOUT BEARING POWER LINES, AND I KNOW IT'S MORE EXPENSIVE, BUT I'M JUST WONDERING WHERE, WHERE AND WHEN.
DOES IT MAKE SENSE TO DO THAT? YEAH, WE, WE'LL CONTINUE TO LOOK AT THOSE PROGRAMS, YOU KNOW, JUST BALLPARK.
WE HAVE ABOUT, UH, 8,500 MILES OF OVERHEAD LINES AND BALLPARK ESTIMATES ARE, YOU KNOW, A MILLION DOLLARS PER MILE.
SO TO BURY THE WHOLE SYSTEMS A LOT.
UM, BUT WE ARE DOING THE TARGETED PROGRAMMING FOR WHERE WE LOOK AT OUR STRATEGIC UNDERGROUNDING PLAN AND WE LOOK AT THE RELIABILITY IN THOSE AREAS, AND WE'LL DESIGNATE THE MONEY TOWARDS THAT.
WE HAVE $10 MILLION BUDGETED FOR THAT.
UH, I HAVE TO SAY, YOU KNOW, I NEGLECTED TO RECOGNIZE, AND I WANT TO, AT THIS TIME THAT WE HAVE BOTH, UH, ROBERT PUENTE AND RUDY GARZA, THE CEOS OF BOTH OF THESE UTILITIES HERE TODAY.
ALSO, UH, ONE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS FROM C P SS JANIE GONZALEZ IS WITH US TODAY.
UH, YOU'RE CERTAINLY, UH, SHOWING THAT YOUR CONCERN, UH, FOR THE RELATIONSHIP THAT WE HAVE BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE UTILITIES.
UH, NEXT IS, UH, SAS PRESENTATION.
AGAIN, SIMILAR TO, UH, HOW THEY'VE BEEN HANDLING THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS COMMITTEE AND, UH, HOW THEY'RE LOOKING AT, UH, THIS PAST STORM AND HOW IT MAY HAVE AFFECTED SOME OF THEIR SERVICE.
SO ROBERT, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE.
THANK YOU, UH, COUNCIL MEMBERS, UH, NICE TO BE WITH YOU HERE THIS MORNING.
UH, WHAT I WANNA TALK TO YOU ABOUT IS ON YOUR AGENDA AS TO WHAT HAPPENED DURING THIS LAST PARTICULAR CODE SNAP.
UH, THERE WAS A FEW MINOR ELECTRICAL OUTAGES, UH, 'CAUSE OBVIOUSLY WE'RE PART OF THE CPSS, UH, CUSTOMER BASE.
BUT NO, UH, SERVICE, UH, DELIVERY WAS IMPACTED.
UH, WE HAD STAFF AT THE COSA, E O C CENTER.
UH, ALL OF OUR PRE-STORM COMMUNICATIONS WERE EFFECTIVE.
UH, IF WE HAD ANY CALLS, THEY WERE, THEY USUALLY WERE FROM PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS WHOSE THEIR OWN PARTICULAR PLUMBING WAS FROZEN.
THEY TURNED ON THE FAUCET, NOTHING CAME OUT.
THEY ASSUMED IT WAS SOMETHING SAW RELATED, BUT SINCE IT WAS ONLY THEIR PARTICULAR HOME, UH, IT WAS THEIR PARTICULAR SITUATION.
AND SO ONCE THEY THAWED OUT, UH, EITHER THEY GOT WATER, UNFORTUNATELY, SOMETIMES THE, THE LINE BREAKS AND THEY HAVE TO CALL A PRIVATE PLUMBER.
UM, DURING THIS, UH, RECENT COLD SNAP, WE, WE, WE WERE ABLE TO PUT OUR, UH, OUTAGE MAP ONLINE.
UH, IT WAS LAUNCHED DURING THIS TIME.
IF YOU GO TO OUR WEBSITE, YOU WILL SEE IT THERE.
WE MAKE IT MORE PROMINENT DURING AN EMERGING SITUATION SO THAT IT'S RIGHT THERE, VERY, UM, VISIBLE.
IF YOU, UH, CLICK, IT'S VERY INTERACTIVE.
YOU CAN, UH, IMMEDIATELY SEE WHERE THERE, WHERE THERE ARE OUTAGES, HOW MANY CUSTOMERS WE HAVE, AND HOW MANY PARTICULAR CUSTOMERS ARE OUT.
UH, IF YOU LOOK VERY CLOSELY, YOU'LL SEE SOME TRIANGLES THERE.
IF YOU CLICK ON THE TRIANGLE, YOU'LL SEE A PARTICULAR SITUATION OF, UH, WHAT IS, WHAT IS OUT FOR WHATEVER REASON.
[01:05:01]
UM, SITUATION, UH, UH, ERIC, UH, WALSH HAS BEEN VERY GOOD ABOUT GETTING RUDY AND I TOGETHER, UM, UH, NOT ONLY FOR A PRESS CONFERENCE LIKE WE HAD RECENTLY, BUT ALSO GETTING IN FRONT OF AS, UH, A COUNCILWOMAN HOWARD R MENTIONED IN, IN FRONT OF THE MEDIA, MEDIA AVAILABILITY TO TALK ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON.NOT ONLY US, BUT ANY KIND OF PUBLIC AGENCY, WHETHER IT WAS VIA THE STATE, ALSO INVOLVED TO TALK ABOUT THE COORDINATION THAT EVERYBODY'S, UH, WORKING WITH TO MAKE SURE THAT SOMETHING LIKE YOUR, UM, WINTER STORM URI DOES NOT HAPPEN AGAIN, IN PARTICULAR TO PREPARE OUR CUSTOMERS FOR THAT.
WE HAVE BEEN VERY ACTIVE IN GETTING INFORMATION OUT THERE TO THEM TO BE READY FOR THE UNEXPECTED.
UH, WHETHER IT'S ON BUSES THEMSELVES, ON BUS ADS, PARTICULAR ABOUT BUS ADS, YOU HAVE, UH, VEHICLES DRIVING BY.
SO IT'S A VERY GOOD MEDIUM FOR, UH, THE PUBLIC TO SEE.
AND WE'VE DONE A LOT OF OUTREACH IN PARTICULAR, A LOT OF OUTREACH WITH, UH, GAVIN, NO RAMOS HAS REACHED OUT TO YOUR STAFFS AND REALLY EDUCATED THEM ON HOW TO GET MORE INTERACTIVE WITH US AS FAR AS GETTING INFORMATION, UH, TO THEM.
AND PARTICULARLY THEN TO YOU PARTIC, UH, SPECIFICALLY, AND THEN YOUR CUSTOMERS, EXCUSE ME, YOUR CONSTITUENTS THAT NEED THIS TYPE OF INFORMATION.
SO ALL IN ALL, UM, CHAIRMAN AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOR SAWS, IT WAS NOT AS AN EVENTFUL SITUATION AS IT WAS FOR C P S.
OBVIOUSLY OUR INFRASTRUCTURE'S VERY DIFFERENT.
OURS IS INSULATED BY MOTHER EARTH.
UH, THERE'S IS THEIRS IS OUT THERE, UH, SUBJECT TO A LOT OF EL ELEMENTS.
WITH THAT, ANY QUESTIONS Y'ALL HAVE, I WOULD LOVE TO ANSWER THEM.
UH, NOW I THINK AT THE LAST PRESENTATION WE HAD ON THE EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SAW, HAD COMPLETED LIKE 33 OUT OF 66 RECOMMENDATIONS, AND WE'RE STILL WORKING ON A FEW OTHERS.
I THINK IT'D BE USEFUL FOR US TO MAYBE GET AN UPDATE, NOT NECESSARILY RIGHT NOW, BUT MAYBE IN WRITING, UH, BEFORE THE NEXT MEETING SO THAT WE CAN SEE IF THERE'S ANY OTHER QUESTIONS WE MAY HAVE ABOUT THE, AND ALSO, UH, MAYBE AN UPDATE ON FEMA'S REIMBURSEMENT FOR, FOR WATER, UH, DURING YURI.
I KNOW THAT YOU HAD ASKED, UH, BECAUSE Y'ALL EXPENDED A PRETTY GOOD AMOUNT OF WATER, UH, MONEY TO SUPPLY WATER DURING THAT.
SO BE INTERESTED TO HEAR HOW THOSE HAVE, UH, TURNED OUT.
WE WILL PUT THAT IN WRITING AND SEND IT TO YOUR RESPECTIVE OFFICES.
UH, ANY OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? OKAY.
I WANNA MAKE A COMMENT OR TWO, AND IT, IT SOMEWHAT RELATES TO BOTH SINCE ROBERT JUST SHOWED THE MAP FOR, UH, SAWS.
AND WE KNOW THERE'S A MAP FOR C P SS ENERGY.
UH, SO THESE MAPS ARE SUPPOSED TO SHOW US A LOT OF DETAILS ABOUT WHAT'S GOING ON, WHERE, WHERE THE PROBLEM IS, WHETHER IT'S WATER OR ELECTRICITY, UH, AND THAT IF THERE'S A CREW OUT THERE WORKING ON IT, AND HOW LONG THE ESTIMATE IS TO GO AHEAD AND FIX THAT.
UH, AND I THINK THAT'S ALL USEFUL INFORMATION.
UH, BUT SOME, I WONDER IF THAT INFORMATION IS UPDATED PRETTY REGULARLY.
AND THAT'S THE ONE THING THAT WE HEARD SOME PEOPLE WHO SAID, WELL, I, I LOOKED AT THE MAP, THIS WAS DURING THE LAST STORM, AND IT HASN'T CHANGED IN TWO HOURS.
SO I DON'T KNOW IF, IF THEY'RE GETTING IT DONE SOONER OR IF IT'S GONNA TAKE LONGER OR IF THE CREW IS STILL OUT THERE.
SO I'M JUST WONDERING HOW OFTEN THOSE MAPS WILL BE UPDATED WITH CURRENT INFORMATION TO HELP, YOU KNOW, ALLEVIATE PEOPLE'S CONCERNS ABOUT HOW MUCH PROGRESS MAY BE BEING MADE ON THOSE THINGS.
UH, COUNCILMAN THAT, I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S GONNA BE AN ONGOING WORK IN PROGRESS AS IT RELATES TO KIND OF FUTURE ITERATIONS OF OUR OUTAGE MAP.
I, I'D LOVE TO GET TO THE POINT WHERE WHEN, YOU KNOW, TODAY, YOU'LL SEE A LITTLE HARDHAT POP UP WHEN THERE'S A TROUBLE MAN ON SITE AT THAT PARTICULAR LOCATION.
AND, AND YOU KNOW, WHEN FOLKS CALL ME, FOR INSTANCE, THAT THEY'RE OUT, I CAN'T REALLY TELL 'EM ANYTHING UNTIL I HAVE A CREW ON SITE THAT TELLS ME, HEY, IT'S A POLE THAT'S GONE BAD, OR YOU GOT SOME ISSUE OUT THERE.
THAT'S THE, THE, THE, WE WE'RE NOT THERE YET, RIGHT? WE CAN GET THE INFORMATION AND PROACTIVELY REACH OUT TO CUSTOMERS.
UM, BUT IT'S ALL JUST, YOU KNOW, THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS INTERNALLY, THE, THE, THE FUTURE STATE OF WHERE WE WANNA GO IS FOR CUSTOMERS TO BE ABLE TO CLICK ON THAT, UH, ON THEIR OUTAGE AND SAY, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT A CREW ON SITE, THEY'RE ESTIMATE THERE'S A TRANSFORMER PROBLEM AND IT'S GONNA BE FOUR HOURS.
RIGHT? THAT IS WHERE WE NEED TO BE.
UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, BUT, AND, AND SO A LOT OF CUSTOMERS WHO GET FRUSTRATED, AND, AND RICHARD MENTIONED REALLY, WE HAD FOUR STUBBORN NEIGHBORHOODS, UH, THAT THIS LAST GO ROUND BECAUSE OF THE INACCESSIBILITY, UH, OF OUR CREWS, WE COULDN'T GET TRUCKS TO THE TREES THAT WERE GIVING US PROBLEMS. AND IT WAS NIGHTTIME IN SOME INSTANCES.
SO WE WERE, WE'D FIX ONE SPOT AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE, MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE, KEEP TRYING IT UNTIL WE GOT 'EM ALL
[01:10:01]
TAKEN CARE OF.UM, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT'S WHY WE'RE ADDING ANOTHER $5 MILLION OF TREE TRIMMING.
BECAUSE THE ONLY WAY TO REALLY DEAL WITH THAT IS, IS TO FOCUS ON THE INACCESSIBLE AREAS.
I CAN GET SOMEBODY BACK ON PRETTY QUICK IF I CAN GET A TRUCK TO IT.
IF I GOTTA WALK AROUND AND LOOK FOR STUFF.
IT'S A MUCH, MUCH DIFFERENT, YOU KNOW, SITUATION.
AND, AND THAT'S WHY IT'S SO IMPORTANT THAT RICHARD AND DEANNA WORK TOGETHER.
'CAUSE DEANNA HAS THE CAPABILITY TO CALL THE CUSTOMER AND SAY, HEY, YOU'RE GONNA BE OUT FOR EIGHT HOURS, YOU KNOW, FROM NOW YOU PROBABLY MIGHT WANNA GO STAY WITH A FAMILY MEMBER OR GET A HOTEL OR DO SOMETHING.
THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO DO WITH OUR, OUR INFORMATION SHARING.
AND EVENTUALLY WE'RE NOT THERE YET.
BUT EVENTUALLY ALL OF THAT WILL BE LOCATED RIGHT ON OUR, UM, ON OUR OUTAGE MAP.
THE REALLY GREAT THING NOW WHEN A STORM IS COMING THROUGH AND OUTAGES ARE HAPPENING IS CUSTOMERS ARE GOING TO THE OUTAGE MAP AND THEY SEE THE WEATHER ACTUALLY COMING, GOING THROUGH TOWN, AND THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHY THEY'RE OUT BECAUSE THERE'S, YOU KNOW, A, A RAIN CLOUD OVER 'EM.
SO, SO I THINK WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, IT, COUNCILWOMAN HDA HAS SAID FROM THE GET GO, AND EVEN IN, IN THE CURRENT EXPERIENCE FROM THE LAST EVENT, COMMUNICATION WILL ALWAYS BE AN ONGOING EFFORT.
IT WILL ALWAYS, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE WHAT BETTER WAYS TO COMMUNICATE.
UH, AND SO WE'RE, WE'RE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'LL GET THERE, BUT AGAIN, IT'S STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS.
WE'RE GONNA NOW MOVE ON TO, UH, WE'RE GONNA MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER FIVE.
UH, WE'RE KIND OF SKIPPING FOR, FOR A MOMENT 'CAUSE COUNCILWOMAN HAS ANOTHER, UH, MEETING SHE NEEDS TO ATTEND.
AND, UH, NUMBER FIVE IS A BRIEFING BY OUR C P S RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE LIAISON, WHICH IS COUNCILMAN OR COUNCILWOMAN SANDOVAL.
AND SO SHE'S GONNA GO AHEAD AND, UH, GIVE US A LITTLE INFORMATION.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH, CHAIR FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PROVIDE AN UPDATE TO THE MUNICIPAL UTILITIES COMMITTEE.
I JUST WANNA DOUBLE CHECK THAT I'M POINTING THIS AT THE RIGHT DIRECTION, WHERE YOU, OKAY.
UH, OVER THE PAST WEEKS, I'VE HAD ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS WITH JUST ABOUT ALL OF OUR COUNCIL MEMBERS TO DISCUSS THE C P S RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
TODAY, I WILL SHARE WITH YOU SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF WHAT I'VE HEARD SO FAR, AND I WILL ALSO TAKE ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM THIS BODY.
I WILL ALSO PROVIDE SOME BRIEF UPDATES ON THE RACK.
BUT BEFORE I DO THAT, UH, LET ME PROVIDE JUST A BRIEF REMINDER OF WHAT THE RACK IS.
IT IS A BODY OF 21 INDIVIDUALS APPOINTED BY THE C P S OOPS, BY THE C P SS ENERGY BOARD.
10 OF THESE MEMBERS ARE NOMINATED BY THE RESPECTIVE CITY COUNCIL MEMBER.
11 MEMBERS WERE PUT FORTH BY THE C P S BOARD AND THE MAYOR, THE C P SS CHAIR AND VICE CHAIR ARE APPOINTED OR SELECTED BY THE C P SS BOARD, BOTH THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE C P SS BOARD HAVE A LIAISON TO THE RAC.
UH, I AM, OF COURSE, THE COUNCIL LIAISON TO THE RACK.
AND THIS BODY WAS CREATED BY C P S BOARD ACTION LAST YEAR IN APRIL.
AND THE C P S BOARD ALSO ESTABLISHED THE BYLAWS FOR THIS BODY.
WHAT IS THE CHARGE OF THE C P SS ENERGY RATE ADVISORY COMMITTEE? UH, THIS IS DIRECTLY PULLED FROM THE BYLAWS APPROVED, UH, BY THE C P SS BOARD.
UH, REALLY, THEY, THEY WILL FOCUS ON RATE STRUCTURE, RATE DESIGN, PROPOSED RATE INCREASES, AND GENERATION PLANNING ISSUES.
THEY'RE NOT A DECISION MAKING BODY.
HOWEVER, YOU CAN SEE THAT, EVEN THOUGH IT SOUNDS SPECIFIC, THESE ARE ACTUALLY VERY, VERY BROAD CHARGES.
A QUICK UPDATE ON THE STATUS OF THE RACK.
FIRST OF ALL, I WANNA THANK TRUSTEE GONZALEZ, WHO IS HERE WITH US TODAY.
THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR WORK IN ASSEMBLING THE RACK.
YOU DID A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF HEAVY LIFTING AT THE BEGINNING AND MADE SURE THAT WE GOT OUR APPLICATIONS IN THAT IT WAS A GOOD APPLICATION PROCESS THAT THEY WENT THROUGH.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, UH, TRUSTEE GONZALEZ.
AND, UH, SHE WILL BE HANDING THIS MANTLE OVER TO OUR NEW TRUSTEE ROMERO.
SO I ALSO WANT TO THANK HER FOR REALLY TAKING THIS ON.
UM, AS WE GO FORWARD, THERE ARE CURRENTLY TWO VACANCIES ON THE BODY, UH, DISTRICTS THREE AND DISTRICT SEVEN.
UH, WE HAD TWO RESIGNATIONS, WHICH THE C P SS BOARD PLANS TO FILL AT THEIR NEXT BOARD MEETING.
I BELIEVE IT'S SCHEDULED FOR THIS COMING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28TH.
UH, DISTRICT THREE WILL IS PUTTING FORTH THE NAME OF COUNCILWOMAN, UH, PHYLLIS VRAN AND I FOR DISTRICT 7:00 AM PUTTING
[01:15:01]
FORWARD THE NAME OF DR.THE BOARD WILL ALSO BE, UH, CONSIDERING UPDATES TO THE BYLAWS THAT ALLOW FOR MORE COUNCIL APPOINTMENT FLEXIBILITY OR COUNCIL NOMINATION FLEXIBILITY.
UH, THE LAST MEETING OF THE RACK WAS ON THE 17TH, AND AT THAT MEETING, MEMBERS WERE INVITED TO SHARE WHAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE UPCOMING RATE REVIEW AND GENERATION PLANNING PROCESS.
UM, AND WHILE THE BYLAWS STATE THAT THE GROUP MEET NO LESS THAN ONCE A QUARTER, CURRENTLY THE RAC IS SCHEDULED TO MEET ONCE A MONTH ON THE THIRD THURSDAY OF THE MONTH.
GOING FORWARD, THE MEETINGS WILL BE IN PERSON AND NO LONGER VIRTUAL OR HYBRID, WHICH I THINK WILL BE GREAT FOR, FOR INTERACTION.
AND UNLESS THERE IS, UH, ANOTHER COVID, UH, SURGE, C P S HAS, UH, VERY, UH, HEALTHY AND STRICT PROTOCOLS ABOUT PROTECTING PEOPLE'S HEALTH, UH, FROM COVID.
UM, SO I, NOW, I WILL GO INTO WHAT I HAVE HEARD SO FAR FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS.
UH, I ASK COUNCIL MEMBERS THREE QUESTIONS.
UH, COULD I HAVE YOUR THOUGHTS ON HOW THE RAC OPERATES, HOW IT WILL TACKLE RATE, REVIEW AND DESIGN, AND HOW IT WILL TACKLE GENERATION PLANNING? I WILL SHARE HIGHLIGHTS WITH YOU TODAY.
OTHERWISE, WE WOULD BE HERE FOR QUITE A LONG TIME.
UM, BUT I'M GLAD TO GIVE YOU MORE DETAILS OFF OFFLINE.
UM, I WILL TELL YOU THAT I WAS VERY GLAD TO SEE HOW ENGAGED OUR COLLEAGUES ARE IN THIS PROCESS.
THEY TRULY HAVE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF RESPECT FOR A PUBLIC AND CITIZEN LED PROCESS.
THEY HAVE RESPECT FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE IRAQ, AND THEY ALSO HAVE HIGH HOPES AND EXPECTATIONS FOR THE WORK OF THIS BODY.
NUMBER ONE, IN TERMS OF IRAQ OPERATIONS, UH, THESE ARE SOME OF THE THEMES THAT I'VE HEARD.
UH, THEY DEFINITELY WANT TO ENSURE THAT THE COMMUNITY HAS A VOICE IN THIS PROCESS.
THAT THE CITIZENS WHO ARE PART OF THIS PROCESS, UH, THAT THEIR INPUT IS TAKEN SERIOUSLY.
AND THAT IS, AS OPPOSED TO MAYBE US AS COUNCIL MEMBERS DRIVING THE PROCESS, OR, UH, JUST STAFF DRIVING THE PROCESS, THEY WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THERE'S A ROLE FOR CITIZENS.
UH, THE COUNCIL MEMBERS WANT TO STAY ENGAGED.
UH, THEY WANNA KE, UH, BE KEPT UP TO SPEED.
UH, THEY KNOW THAT THE WORK OF THIS BODY IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
SO THEY, THEY WANNA BE KEPT UP TO SPEED.
I'VE ALSO HEARD HOW APPRECIATIVE THEY ARE AND HOW APPROPRIATE IT IS FOR THESE CONVERSATIONS TO BE HAPPENING IN PUBLIC AND WITH CITIZENS AT THE TABLE.
UH, BEFORE I JUMP INTO THE INPUT THAT I HEARD ON THE RATE REVIEW PROCESS, I JUST WANNA EXPLAIN IN A VERY, VERY BASIC WAY WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WITH RATE REVIEW.
NOW, JUST ABOUT EVERYBODY SITTING OVER THERE CAN EXPLAIN THIS FAR BETTER THAN, THAN I CAN, BUT, UM, PLEASE, UH, ALLOW ME JUST TO SET THE CONTEXT AS BEST I CAN.
UM, WHEN WE TALK ABOUT RATE REVIEW, UH, WE DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, CHANGING THE NUMBERS ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO PAY, BUT THERE IS A THOROUGH REVIEW OF WHAT THE COSTS ARE, WHO IS BENEFITING FROM THOSE COSTS, AND SEEING IF THOSE WHO ARE BENEFITING FROM THOSE EXPENSES ARE PAYING BASIC OR ADEQUATELY PAYING FOR THEM.
AND THEN YOU CAN JUMP INTO, YOU KNOW, DO WE INCENTIVIZE THIS? DO WE CHANGE THIS? DO WE CHANGE THAT? BUT, UH, JUST SO YOU KNOW, C P S IS DOING A VERY THOROUGH COST STUDY, UH, THAT THE, THAT THE RAC WILL HAVE ACCESS TO.
SO IN TERMS OF THE THEMES THAT WE HEARD FROM, THAT I HEARD FROM COUNCIL MEMBERS IS, UH, THEY DO WANT A TIMELINE AND A PLAN FOR HOW LONG THIS WILL TAKE AND WHAT THE STEPS WILL BE.
UH, HOW WILL COVID BE CONSIDERED, UH, IN THIS? UH, THEY CERTAINLY WANT THE RAC MEMBERS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE COSTS ARE AND TO ACQUIRE A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT RATE STRUCTURE.
THEY ALSO WANNA TOUCH ON THE SPECIAL RATE CASES, UH, WHEN WE MIGHT HAVE A BIG COMPANY COMING IN FROM OUT OF TOWN AND UNDERSTAND REALLY WHAT IS THAT POLICY, UH, SO THAT, UH, THEY CAN EXPLAIN IT TO THE PUBLIC IF THEY ARE ASKED.
UM, THERE WAS ALSO SOME CONCERN ABOUT DOING THIS EVERY TWO YEARS.
WE KNOW THAT THAT WAS PRESENTED WHEN THE, WHEN THE CURRENT, UH, WHEN THE LAST RATE INCREASE WAS APPROVED.
BUT, UH, THEY DO WANT EACH RATE INCREASE TO STAND ON ITS OWN MERIT AND NOT NECESSARILY BE AN AUTOMATIC.
UM, AND SOME OF THESE COMMENTS YOU'VE, YOU'VE CERTAINLY HEARD FROM US AT THE DAAS, CONSIDERING AN EQUITABLE RATE STRUCTURE, A POSSIBLY NEW CUSTOMER CLASSES, TIERED STRUCTURES BY USE, BY USE, AND, UH, THE PROPOSED RATE FREEZE THAT WAS PROPOSED IN A COUNCIL CONSIDERATION REQUEST BY DISTRICT TWO.
THERE'S ALSO SUGGESTIONS ABOUT BRINGING IN OUTSIDE EXPERTS TO DISCUSS POTENTIAL RATE STRUCTURES THAT MIGHT INCENTIVIZE ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND USE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY.
[01:20:02]
ALRIGHT, NOW WE'LL MOVE ON TO GENERATION PLANNING.AND AGAIN, TO SET THE CONTEXT, SET THE CONTEXT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT GENERATION PLANNING, EVERYBODY THERE ALREADY KNOWS WHAT IT IS.
UH, FOR THOSE WHO MAY NOT, WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT IS HOW MUCH ENERGY, UH, WHEN WILL IT COME, WHERE IS IT COMING FROM, WHAT KIND OF ENERGY IT IS, IS IT, SO BASICALLY IT'S THE WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, HOW OF PRODUCING ENERGY.
AND HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF ENERGY GENERATION BY FUEL SOURCE, UH, THAT C P S HAS CURRENTLY ONLINE.
SO HERE ARE SOME OF THE THEMES I HEARD WHEN IT CAME TO GENERATION PLANNING.
UM, A TIMELINE AND A PLAN FOR, OH, THANK YOU
UM, THERE IS INTEREST IN HEARING BOTH ABOUT THE SHORT TERM AND THE LONG TERM.
UH, THEY COUNCIL MEMBERS CERTAINLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT CAN WE DO RIGHT NOW, BUT THEY ALSO WANT SOME DIRECTION FOR THE FUTURE.
UM, AGAIN, BRINGING IN SOME OUTSIDE EXPERTS, UH, LINKING TO THE WORK OF THE CLIMATE PLAN THAT WAS ADOPTED BY THE CITY AND ENDORSED BY, UH, BY THE C P SS BOARD.
UM, THERE IS CERTAINLY A LOT OF INTEREST IN MAPPING OUT THE ELIMINATION OF COAL OR THE SPRUCE POWER PLANT.
UM, THEY WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE TIMELINE FOR THAT, THE, AND THE COSTS THAT MIGHT BE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT, OR THE COST SAVINGS THAT WOULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
UM, I ALSO HEARD ABOUT, UH, DIFFERENT SCENARIOS THAT THEY WOULD LIKE THE RACK TO CONSIDER, UH, INCLUDING AN ALL RENEWABLE SCENARIO OR AN ALTERNATE SCENARIO WITH SPRUCE.
UM, IN TERMS OF THE VALUES THAT SOME OF THESE COUNCIL MEMBERS WANT TO SEE PRIORITIZED ARE, UM, EFFICIENCY IN TERMS OF REDUCTION PER GREENHOUSE, GAS, YOU KNOW, UNIT AS WELL AS RELIABILITY.
UM, AND THEY CERTAINLY WANT THE RACK TO BE UP TO SPEED ON THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY, WHETHER THAT'S FROM SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE, ELON MUSK, UH, WHATEVER IS HAPPENING OUT THERE, THEY, THEY WANT THAT TO BE CONSIDERED IN SOME OF THIS LONG-TERM, UH, GENERATION PLANNING.
I WILL TELL MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUES RIGHT NOW THAT I CANNOT PROMISE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE SUGGESTIONS WILL BE INTEGRATED, UM, BECAUSE IN MY NEXT STEPS, UM, WELL FIRST I NEED TO FINISH COLLECTING INPUT FROM YOU TODAY.
BUT ALSO I WILL BE SHARING THIS INPUT WITH THE RAC CHAIR AND THE C P S BOARD LIAISON AND FINDING A WAY TO BASICALLY MERGE, UH, THAT INPUT THAT SHE BRINGS AND THAT THE RAC MEMBERSHIP SHARED, UH, AT THEIR LAST MEETING.
AND AFTER THAT, I WILL BE REPORTING BACK TO THE THIS COMMITTEE, UH, COUNCIL MEMBERS AS WELL AS THE MAYOR.
I DON'T BELIEVE MY FUTURE REPORTS WILL BE AS LONG AS THIS ONE.
IT WAS JUST AN INTRODUCTION FOR TODAY.
BUT, UM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, CHAIR.
I'M AT YOUR DISPOSAL TO TAKE ADDITIONAL INPUT.
DO EITHER THE, UH, COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS THEY WANT TO ADD TO THIS? OKAY.
I'LL JUST SAY, I, I THINK YOU'VE DONE A SUPERB JOB OF INCORPORATING, UH, THE, THE WILL OR THE DESIRE FOR AN UNDERSTANDING BY THE COUNCIL ON, ON WHERE THIS EFFORT WOULD GO.
AND I, I'LL JUST TAKE IT ON MYSELF TO SAY THAT PROBABLY 90% OF WHAT YOU'VE MENTIONED HERE IS OUR EXPECTATION WITH THE, THE RACK FOR SAWS TOO.
NOW WE'RE TALKING ABOUT WATER AS OPPOSED TO ENERGY.
BUT I THINK A LOT OF THE SAME UNDERSTANDINGS THAT THE COUNCIL WOULD LIKE TO HAVE ABOUT WHAT GOES ON WITH THE RACK AT AT C P S, UH, WILL FALL INTO WHAT WE HOPE TO HEAR FROM THE RACK AT, AT SAS AS WE MOVE FORWARD TOO.
SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PUTTING US TOGETHER.
UH, AND, UH, ONE THING I'LL MENTION, YOU KNOW, WE, WE HAVEN'T HAD, UH, A LOT OF TIME TO STUDY THESE YET.
AND SO I'M SURE MANY OF US MAY DEVELOP SOME MORE QUESTIONS.
UH, AND, AND WHAT IT BRINGS TO MIND IS, UH, I'LL, I'LL TALK TO BEN GELLE ABOUT THIS.
ONE THING WE SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF FORMULATING THIS COMMITTEE WAS THAT WE WERE ASKING THAT ALL THE INFORMATION THAT WE GET BE SENT TO US AT LEAST 72 HOURS IN ADVANCE SO THAT WE HAVE TIME TO READ IT AND TO GO AHEAD AND ACT ON IT TO DEVELOP OUR QUESTIONS.
AND WE REALLY HAVEN'T HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO DO THAT.
I HAD A LOT OF THINGS HANDED TO ME TODAY THAT I NEED TO LOOK OVER, AND I THINK ALL OF US DO.
UH, WE DID HAVE ONE CITIZEN SIGNED UP TO SPEAK ON THIS ISSUE.
AND SO I'LL CALL THAT CITIZEN UP TO SPEAK.
[01:25:03]
THANK YOU, DR.I'M GOING TO TRY TO MAKE MY, UH, COMMENTS MYSELF, BUT IF I'M NOT FEELING WELL ENOUGH, I'D LIKE MY HUSBAND TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE MY STATEMENT.
AS YOU KNOW, I'VE BEEN VERY CONCERNED ABOUT THE RATES OF BOTH UTILITIES, NOT ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BURDEN ON LOW INCOME HOUSEHOLDS, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY BECAUSE SAWS AND C P S, UM, I'M SORRY, I'VE LOST MY PLACE ALREADY, UH, ARE MAKING COSTLY DECISIONS THAT BENEFIT THE LARGEST USERS.
UH, BUT PUTTING, UH, MOST OF THE COST BURDEN ON THE RESIDENTIAL RATE PAYERS.
I'M FOCUSING TODAY ON SAWS, WHICH INVESTED IN THE EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE VISTA PIPELINE, EVEN THOUGH IT KNEW FULL WILL THAT IT WAS NOT NEEDED.
I AM DISTURBED BY THE FACT THAT SOME GENERAL CLASS CUSTOMERS ARE USING SO MUCH AS MUCH WATER EACH DAY, UH, THAT THEY USE ABOUT ONE NINTH OF THE WATER COMING FROM, UH, THE, UH, VISTA RIDGE PIPELINE.
UM, SAWS IS IN THE BEGINNING OF A NEW RACK PROCESS, WHICH IS PURELY ADVISORY, BUT THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE MAYOR HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE DECISION.
THAT'S WHY I AM APPEALING TO YOU NOW TO REQUIRE SAUCE TO CHANGE HOW THIS RACK WILL BE RUN.
I URGE YOU TO GET FAR MORE ENGAGED IN THE PROCESS SO YOU WILL HAVE MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING ABOUT WHAT'S, UH, AT STAKE WHEN THE RATES ARE APPROVED.
TWO CHANGES THAT MUST BE MADE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
NUMBER ONE, THE CONTRACTOR THAT HAS PROVIDED THE COST OF SERVICE ANALYSIS, UH, WHICH IS THE BASIS FOR SETTING THE ALLOCATION OF COSTS AMONG SO-CALLED CLASSES.
UM, THE SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE RAC ARE CONCERNED THAT COMPARED TO THE COST OF SERVICE ANALYSIS DONE BY THE PREVIOUS CONTRACTOR, RALPH TEIS, UH, THIS ONE HAS EXAGGERATED THE COST THAT RESIDENTIAL RATE PAYERS WOULD HAVE TO PAY.
PLEASE INSIST THAT THE 2019 COST OF SERVICE ANALYSIS BE USED INSTEAD OF THIS MORE RECENT, UH, PART.
UH, SECONDLY, UH, THERE IS ANOTHER APPROACH TO RATE SETTING OTHER THAN COST OF SERVICE ANALYSIS THAT, UH, THE REF TEIS CONSULT CONSULTANT, MR. GANO GIARDINO, I CAN'T REMEMBER EXACTLY HOW, WHAT HIS NAME IS, UH, FROM REF TEIS.
HE'S HIGHLY QUALIFIED TO EXPLAIN AND HELP IMPLEMENT THE, THE, UM, THE OTHER ALTERNATIVE, THE CRITICAL MEMBERS, UH, AND SEVERAL OF US OBSERVERS ARE FED UP WITH THE INAPPROPRIATE WAYS.
UM, SAWS CONTINUES TO USE THE SO-CALLED CLASSES.
THERE ARE MORE DIFFERENCES IN THE USAGE OF WATER WITHIN THE GENERAL CLASS THAN BETWEEN THE RESIDENTIAL RATE PAYERS AND THE, UH, AND GENERAL CLASS.
SO WE HAVE TO GET RID OF THIS, UH, AND MR. GIORDANO CAN EXPLAIN, UH, HOW IT INVOLVES UNBUNDLING THE COSTS AND APPLYING THEM TO THE CUSTOMERS THAT INCUR THEM.
THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK.
UH, WE ARE NOW GOING TO GO BACK TO ITEM NUMBER FOUR, WHICH I, UH, WHICH I SKIPPED OVER.
AND THAT IS A BRIEFING BY C P S ENERGY ON THE TIMELINE AND DELIVERABLES REGARDING THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, UH, FOR AN INDEPENDENT STUDY OF C P S ENERGY'S OPERATIONS, MANAGEMENT, AND FINANCES.
UH, AND SO WHAT WE'D LIKE TO HEAR IS HOW THAT'S PROGRESSING AND WHERE WE BELIEVE THAT MAY BE HEADED.
NOW, HOW'S EVERYONE DOING THIS AFTERNOON? NOT QUITE WELL FOR ME.
HOW ABOUT THAT? I'VE BEEN UP SINCERELY.
SO AGAIN, UH, IT'S AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE HERE AGAIN, HAPPY TO BE HERE WITH YOU THIS AFTERNOON.
AND SO MY JOB TODAY IS TO KIND OF, AGAIN, JUST REITERATE THE KEY POINTS OF THE R F P PROCESS.
FIRST OF ALL, I HAD THE PLEASURE OF GETTING PUBLIC INPUT FROM EACH OF ONE OF YOU, AND SO THANK YOU FOR THAT.
WE'RE ABLE TO DO THAT TIMELY AND EFFICIENTLY.
SO BASED ON THAT, UH, TIMELY FEEDBACK, WE'RE ABLE TO TURN AROUND AND IMMEDIATELY, UH, DRAFT IN OUR, AN OFFICIAL R F P THAT WAS ISSUED AND POSTED ON FEBRUARY THE 11TH.
I'M SO USED TO SOMEONE SAY, NEXT SLIDE.
AND SO, THE SCOPE OF THE SERVICES I WANNA REMIND EVERYONE IS FIVE SPECIFIC AREAS FOR INDEPENDENT REVIEW.
[01:30:01]
ONE, FINANCIAL HEALTH.NUMBER TWO, OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE.
NUMBER THREE, CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT, USER EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE DESIGN.
NUMBER FOUR, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.
AND NUMBER FIVE, ECONOMIC VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY.
AND SO THE SCOPE OF WORK, AGAIN, FOR THE R F P THAT WAS ISSUED IS TO ADDRESS THESE FIVE POINTS OF THE C P S ENERGY ORGANIZATION.
AND SO, AGAIN, I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CLEARLY UNDERSTAND THAT THE R F P AGAIN WAS ISSUED ON FEBRUARY THE 11TH.
AND THESE IS THE STATEMENT OF WORK, THE FIVE AREAS THAT THEY WILL FOCUS ON.
THE 11TH, UH, PROPOSALS ARE DUE 3:00 PM THURSDAY, MARCH 10TH.
THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES WILL SELECT VENDORS TO PERFORM THE WORK ENGAGEMENTS WILL BE AWARDED FOR FIVE SECTIONS BY JULY THE FIRST 2022.
EACH SECTION REPORT IS DUE DIRECTLY TO THE TRUSTEES 120 DAYS FROM THE AWARD OF THE CONTRACT.
AND JUST TO BE CLEAR, THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESULTS OF THE R F P WILL NOT, IS NOT PART OF THE SCOPE OF SERVICE.
AND SO THAT PRETTY MUCH HIGHLIGHTS, UH, THE PLAN TIMELINE.
AND SO, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR ME? WELL, THAT IS WHAT WE HOPE TO DO IS TO GO AHEAD AND, AND HEAR THIS PRESENTATION AND, UH, JUST SEE IF ANY OF THE OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE, UH, OR COMMITTEE MEMBERS HAVE WHAT YOU THINK ARE THE EXPECTATIONS WE HOPE TO RECEIVE FROM THIS REPORT AS A COUNCIL.
UH, ANYTHING BEYOND WHAT WAS JUST PRESENTED.
AND, AND LET ME JUST REITERATE, SINCE WE'RE JUST SEEING THIS NOW, WE HAVEN'T HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT SURE.
TO MAYBE FORMULATE OUR QUESTIONS.
UH, BUT IF ANY OF THE COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR EXPECTATIONS, UH, FROM WHAT WE THINK WE'D LIKE TO SEE FROM THIS, SURE.
THIS IS A GOOD TIME TO BRING 'EM FORWARD.
UH, I JUST WANNA FIRST OF COURSE, THANK, UH, C P S FOR COOPERATING WITH THE PROCESS AND, AND, UM, ADHERING, YOU KNOW, ANSWERING THE CALL, UM, TO GO THROUGH THIS, UH, THIRD PARTY PRIVATE AUDIT.
UM, I GUESS MY QUESTIONS RIGHT NOW ARE MORE IN LINE WITH, UH, THE REPORTING AND THE TIMING AS WE GO ALONG.
SO, UM, THE, THE R F P HAS BEEN ISSUED, YOU SAID FEBRUARY 11TH.
UH, CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT THE CRITERIA, UM, THE BOARD IS GOING TO HAVE WHEN THEY, THEY'RE LOOKING AT THE, THE BIDS THAT THAT C P S RECEIVES? SURE.
I, I THINK LIKE ALL VENDORS, THEY MUST BE, FIRST OF ALL QUALIFIED, RIGHT? MM-HMM.
AND SO WE ARE GONNA LOOK FOR A DIVERSE SET OF, UH, QUALIFIED VENDORS.
AND OF COURSE, EVERYTHING WILL BOIL DOWN TO CREDIBILITY, HOW LONG THEY'VE BEEN IN BUSINESS, DO THEY HAVE ANY SMALL BUSINESS CERTIFICATIONS, UH, WHICH PART, REMEMBER, EACH VENDOR WILL BE ALLOWED EITHER A, TO BID ON ALL SECTIONS THAT WE JUST OUTLINED, WHICH ARE FIVE, OR THEY HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO JUST BID ON ONE SPECIFIC SECTION.
SO OBVIOUSLY THE CRITERIA, AGAIN, WOULD FALL BACK TO YEARS OF EXPERIENCE THAT VENDOR HAS, SPECIFIC TO THAT STATEMENT, THE SCOPE OF WORK.
AND THEN OF COURSE, IF THERE'S ANY SMALL BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS AS WELL.
SO THAT WOULD BE THEIR TYPICAL CRITERIA FOR SELECTING VENDORS.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO BRING UP THE SLIDE WHERE YOU WENT OVER THE FIVE CRITERIA? SURE.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY, LET ME SEE IF I COULD DO THIS REAL QUICK.
UM, THE REASON IT, WELL, UM, HERE IT IS.
SO, UM, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTOOD YOU CORRECTLY.
DID YOU SAY THAT NOT ONE, UM, ENTITY IS GOING TO GET ALL, ALL FIVE OF THESE? RIGHT.
THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF THAT WAS DIVERSITY AND THOUGHT.
AND AS YOU KNOW, ONE OF OUR, UH, TOP PRIORITIES AT C P S IS TO DEB BUNDLE LARGE OPPORTUNITIES, UH, AND ATTRACT SMALL BUSINESS AND LARGE ORGANIZATIONS.
AND SO ONE OF, ONE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES WITH THIS R F P EFFORT IS ALSO, AGAIN, UH, TO GET DIVERSE INPUT FROM LARGE AND SMALL ORGANIZATIONS.
I THINK IT'S VERY VALUABLE ALWAYS TO GET AN ARRAY OF DIFFERENT INPUTS, ESPECIALLY FOR SOMETHING WITH SUCH HIGH PROFILE.
SO WE THINK IT'S VALUABLE TO, TO GET MORE, MORE THAN ONE VENDOR.
AND THESE FIVE E EVERY ONE OF THESE, UH, POINTS IS, IS IMPORTANT AND VALID.
I'M, I'M MAINLY INTERESTED IN NUMBER ONE AND NUMBER FOUR, I THINK IT WAS FINANCIAL HEALTH AND, UM, ORGANIZATIONAL HEALTH DEVELOPMENT DEVELOPMENT.
I THINK, AGAIN, YOU, ALL OF YOU PROVIDED, MOST OF YOU PROVIDED PUBLIC INPUT IN SOME FORM OR FASHION.
AND, AND AGAIN, THIS, THIS INPUT IS ALSO ALSO FROM CITIZENS AND JUST BEING AROUND FOR ALMOST THREE YEARS AS A TRUSTEE, SOME OF THIS INTEREST IS NOT JUST FROM COUNCIL, BUT ALSO PUBLIC INPUT AS WELL.
SO WE'RE VERY HAPPY TO PUT THIS TOGETHER AND MOVING FORWARD TO GETTING THE, UH, GETTING THE FEEDBACK.
A LOT OF THE DATA IS ALREADY OUT THERE.
I THINK ALSO THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF CONCERN FOR THE 120 DAYS COMPLETION OF THE FEEDBACK FROM THE SELECTIVE VENDOR.
WE DO BELIEVE THERE'S A LOT OF GOOD INFORMATION ALREADY OUT THERE THAT THEY CAN TAKE AND THEN BE ABLE TO, UM, USE THEIR PROPRIETARY PROCESS TO BE ABLE TO DETERMINE WHAT IS NEEDED FOR EACH OF THOSE SCOPE OF SERVICES.
BACK TO TIMING, HOW OFTEN ARE YOU GOING TO COME BACK TO
[01:35:01]
REPORT HOW THE PROCESS IS GOING? AND THEN I, I WOULD LOVE, I, I GUESS WE COULD JUST USE THIS PROCESS THROUGH HERE.SO THE M U C, SO IF YOU LOOK AT THE DEADLINE, WE, IT WAS POSTED IN FEBRUARY, UH, PROPOSALS ARE DURING MARCH.
I CAN PRETTY MUCH COME BACK, UH, AT THE NEXT MEETING AND LET YOU KNOW HOW MANY RFPS WE'VE RECEIVED, AND THEN I CAN CONTINUE TO USE THIS FORUM TO PROVIDE, UH, INDIVIDUAL OR, UH, COLLECTIVE FEEDBACK TO EACH OF YOU.
AS MUCH AS WE CAN MIRROR THE CITY PROCESS, THE CITY PROCESS WITH, WHEN IT COMES TO RFPS THAT PRESENT BEFORE COUNCIL, THAT'S VERY, UM, THERE'S A SET TIMELINE AND THAT'S, THAT KEEPS US INFORMED.
AND OF COURSE, OUR CONSTITUENTS INFORMED, RIGHT.
I'LL BE, OBVIOUSLY THE PROCESS FOR US IS TO COMMUNICATE YOUR TRUSTEES AND THEN BE ABLE TO BE HERE IN PERSON FOR YES, MA'AM.
UM, AND JUST, YOU KNOW, FINALLY, I WANNA APPLAUD AGAINST C P S FOR, UH, THEIR PROMPT RESPONSE TO, TO MY LETTER, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, FOR THE DILIGENCE AND COOPERATION MM-HMM.
THAT WE'RE SEEING, UH, THROUGH THIS PROCESS.
WE'RE GONNA, IT'S, IT'S IN SOME WAYS THE BEGINNING OF THE PROCESS, BUT I'M, I, I THINK YOU, YOU MENTIONED THAT VERY INTERESTED TO SEE THE OUTPUT.
I MEAN, THAT'S WHAT THE WHOLE POINT IS TO MAKE IT TRANSPARENT TO OUR COMMUNITY.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE OUTPUT AND THEN, UH, BEING ABLE TO PUT IT TO GOOD USE.
ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? COUNCILMAN? BRAVO.
MARIO? I GOT THREE MINUTES AND 24 SECONDS.
UM, SO FIRST OF ALL, I WANNA SAY THAT, UM, SOME PEOPLE, UH, WERE QUICK TO CRITICIZE ME FOR APPROVING THE RATE INCREASE WITHOUT YOU HAVING DONE THIS.
UH, BUT I SPOKE WITH YOU, RUDY, I SPOKE WITH YOU, JANIE, AND, AND ALL THE OTHER BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEMBERS, AND YOU ALL COMMITTED TO THIS.
AND, UH, RUDY, YOU ALSO COMMITTED TO GET IT OUT, GET THE R F P OUT BY FEBRUARY 11TH, AND YOU'VE DONE THAT.
SO THANK YOU FOR HONORING THAT COMMITMENT.
UM, YOU ALSO SAID THAT YOU'RE GONNA TRY AND GET THIS GOING QUICKLY.
AND, UH, YOU PUT THIS R YOU, YOU'VE ASKED, UM, THE VENDORS TO RESPOND TO THIS R F P WITHIN 30 DAYS.
AND SO THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT AS WELL.
UM, TH THAT IS WHAT THE EXPECTATION WAS, AND YOU ARE MEETING THE EXPECTATIONS, SO THANK YOU.
OUR GOAL IS TO EXCEED THOSE EXPECTATIONS, BUT THANK YOU FOR US MEETING IT.
UH, I ALSO, UM, APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT YOU ALL SOUGHT OUR INPUT AND CAME TO US AND, AND LET US SEE WHAT YOUR FIRST DRAFT OF THE R F P AND GIVE INPUT ON, YOU KNOW, HOW, HOW ELSE YOU COULD, UH, CHANGE SOME OF THOSE DETAILS TO MAKE SURE THAT IT CAPTURED EVERYTHING THAT WE WANTED.
AND, UH, YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S, THAT'S A, A BIG CHANGE IN THE APPROACH THAT C P S ENERGY HAS HAD.
IT'S VERY REFRESHING TO SEE THAT.
UM, I APPRECIATE THE FACT THAT YOU MADE THIS VERY OPEN-ENDED SO THAT IT COULD BE UP TO FIVE DIFFERENT VENDORS IF THEY HAVE DI EXPERTISE IN DIFFERENT AREAS.
SO WE CAN GET THE VERY BEST PEOPLE FOR THE JOB TO, TO REVIEW EACH DIFFERENT TOPIC AREA, UM, ON UNDER FINANCIAL POLICIES.
YOU KNOW, UH, SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE FOR YOU ALL TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU, YOU LOOK AT IS, UM, NOT JUST LOOKING AT HOW WELL YOU WOULD, UM, I GUESS PEOPLE ARE ADHERING TO FINANCIAL POLICY.
SO NOT JUST MAKING SURE THAT SOMEBODY DIDN'T ABUSE AN EXPENSE ACCOUNT, BUT LIKE, WHAT DO THE POLICIES THAT YOU HAVE IN PLACE ARE, DO THOSE MEET BEST PRACTICES? AND SO THAT'S SOMETHING I'D LIKE FOR YOU ALL TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO.
I BELIEVE WE WERE FOCUSED ON CODE OF ETHICS.
AND THEN, UM, ON ANOTHER THING THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME IS A CULTURE THAT, BECAUSE YOU, YOU'RE LOOKING AT, AT CULTURE HERE, BUT I WANT TO MAKE SURE, SPECIFICALLY LOOKING AT A CULTURE THAT SUPPORTS INNOVATION SO THAT C P S ENERGY CAN STAY AT THE VERY LEADING EDGE OF THIS EVOLVING UTILITY BUSINESS MODEL.
SO THAT ONE'S IMPORTANT TO ME.
AND THEN EXPECTATIONS, I MEAN, CHAIR, MY EXPECTATIONS ARE THAT THIS IS GONNA BE A ROADMAP TO SUCCESS SO THAT WE CAN MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE THE BEST PUBLIC UTILITY IN THE NATION.
AND I'M GLAD THAT YOU HIGHLIGHTED THAT.
I MEAN, AT THE END OF THE DAY, THE OUTCOME IS TO, IS FOR A ROADMAP, RIGHT? MM-HMM.
AND SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED TO, TO GET THE FEEDBACK, TO GET THIS ROLLING AND TO CONTINUE TO WORK WITH YOU IN THIS COLLABORATIVE MANNER.
AND I'LL JUST ADD, YOU KNOW, ITEM NUMBER FIVE IS, UH, IMPORTANT IN MY WAY OF THINKING.
YOU KNOW, I'VE HAD PEOPLE SAY TO ME, WELL, WHY DON'T WE JUST SELL C P S AND, YOU KNOW, NOT WORRY ABOUT IT ANYMORE.
UH, AND SO WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE ECONOMIC VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY, I THINK WE NEED TO LOOK AT IT IN A LOT OF WAYS, WHAT TRULY IS THE VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY, TO THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO AS A MUNICIPALLY OWNED UTILITY, BUT ALSO WHAT IS THE VALUE OF ALL OF THE ASSETS IT HAS? AND IF WE'RE GOING TO MAKE SOME CHANGES IN THE ENERGY MIX ALONG THE WAY, HOW DOES THAT AFFECT, UH, THE COST OF SERVICE, UH, THE LONG-TERM DEBT? SO WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE ECONOMIC VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY, I THINK THERE'S A LOT OF ASPECTS OF THAT
[01:40:01]
THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE WELL EXPLORED SO THAT WE CAN HELP THE PUBLIC REALLY UNDERSTAND IF WE DO X IT MAY COST US Y OR IF WE DO X AND Y, WE MAY GAIN, YOU KNOW, C SO HOPEFULLY THERE'LL BE A, A LOT OF, UH, VERY INFORMATIVE INFORMATION COMING OUT OF THIS.SO THANK YOU FOR, THAT WAS FEEDBACK FROM THAT WAS PUBLIC FEEDBACK FROM, UH, COUNCILMAN CLAYTON PERRY.
GOOD, WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING MORE FROM YOU ABOUT.
THE ONLY THING I WANTED TO BRING OUT EARLIER, YOU, YOU, YOU TALKED ABOUT THE AUDIT MAPS, AND SO RUDY DID ADDRESS IT.
SO JUST KNOW THAT EACH MAP HAS A LAG TIME, THAT MEANS THAT THERE'S A PERIOD THAT YOU REFRESH INFORMATION TAKES ABOUT 15 MINUTES.
BUT THE OTHER THING THAT WHERE YOU CAN HELP US, EACH OF YOU CAN HELP US, IS THAT OFTENTIMES WHAT WE SAW THIS LAST TIME IS THAT PEOPLE WERE PULLING OUT THE OUTAGE MAP FOR SAN ANTONIO AND PUTTING UP, PUTTING UP THE OUTAGE MATCH FOR AUSTIN.
AND SO THERE WAS A LOT OF MISINFORMATION OH REALLY? THAT WAS GOING ON ON SOCIAL MEDIA OUTLETS SUCH AS FACEBOOK.
SO AS YOU'RE OUT THERE, AS YOU GET INFORMATION, JUST BE AWARE THAT AS POWERFUL AS THAT INFORMATION IS TO IT IS AVAILABLE, OFTENTIMES IT COULD BE, UH, TAKEN, INTERPRETED AND THEN ABUSED, MISINTERPRETED.
AND SO JUST HELP US OUT ON THAT END AS WELL.
AND YOU KNOW, THERE'S ONE THING YOU BROUGHT UP THAT I DIDN'T MENTION EARLIER.
WE HAVE REQUESTED SOME GUIDANCE ON COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR THE COUNCIL OFFICES.
I THINK WE'VE GOTTEN SOME FROM SAAS, BUT I DON'T THINK REALLY GOTTEN ANYTHING, UH, SIGNIFICANT YET.
MAYBE IT WAS SUBMITTED TODAY WITH EVERYTHING ELSE YOU GOT TODAY.
YOU'LL GET OUR STUFF WITH 72 HOURS.
YEAH, WE HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO LOOK AT IT AGAIN, TRY AND GET IT TO THIS AHEAD OF THE MEETINGS.
OKAY, WE HAVE TWO ITEMS REMAINING ITEM SIX AND SEVEN.
AND, UH, I'M GONNA GO AHEAD AND, AND ADDRESS ITEM SEVEN FIRST.
AND, UH, IT'S SIMPLY ASKING, UM, HOW WE MIGHT BE LOOKING AT FUTURE MEETINGS AND ANY ITEMS THAT EITHER UTILITY MAY WANT TO PRESENT IN ORDER TO INFORM THE COUNCIL OF OTHER ACTIONS TAKING PLACE THAT WE DON'T NECESSARILY ANTICIPATE OR ASK ABOUT.
AND SO REALLY IT'S, IT'S JUST A MATTER OF SAYING TO BOTH C P S AND ENERGY IN FUTURE MEETINGS.
UH, WE WOULD WELCOME YOU SUBMITTING TOPICS TO THIS COMMITTEE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A PRESENTATION ON.
UH, YOU KNOW, AND IT COULD BE IN THREE MONTHS OR SIX MONTHS OR IN ONE MONTH THAT YOU THINK ARE IMPORTANT THAT WE SHOULD BE HEARING ABOUT.
AND I WOULD JUST SURE, COME ON UP.
I WOULD JUST SAY LETTING US KNOW IN ADVANCE AND LETTING US THEN TO START TO SCHEDULE THOSE WILL, WILL HELP US BECOME EVEN MORE INFORMED.
ROBERT, I SEE YOU'RE PRESENTING US A A SUGGESTED LIST OF THINGS THAT YOU'D LIKE TO PRESENT TO US IN FUTURE MEETINGS.
COUNCILMAN, THIS IS, UH, SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD BE GIDDY TO GET IN FRONT OF YOU TO TALK ABOUT.
IT'S REALLY THE MEAT AND POTATOES OF WHAT WE DO.
AND JUST TO GIVE AN EXAMPLE, WATER CONSERVATION.
WATER CONSERVATION FOR A LOT OF PEOPLE IS THIS GREEN FEEL GOOD KIND OF THING.
BUT FOR US IT'S A BUSINESS MODEL.
IT'S ACTUALLY A WAY TO SAVE OUR RATE PAYERS MONEY AND NOT HAVING TO GET WA ADDITIONAL WATER SUPPLIES AND NOT HAVING TO TREAT WATER, NOT HAVING TO BUILD ANOTHER WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT.
SO ANY ONE OF THESE TOPICS WE WOULD LOVE TO GET IN FRONT OF YOU AND DISCUSS IN MORE DETAIL.
WELL, I APPRECIATE YOU GIVING THIS TO US AND I'LL ASK THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS TO KINDA LOOK IT OVER AND SEE IF WE HAVE SOME PRIORITIES OF WHAT WE WANNA INVITE YOU TO PRESENT GOING FORWARD.
AND THE SAME FROM C P S ENERGY AS WE MOVE FORWARD.
UH, THEN I'M GONNA GO BACK TO ITEM NUMBER SIX, WHICH WAS A BRIEFING ON COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS AND THAT'S RECOMMENDATIONS, UH, ON THE TRACKING DASHBOARD FROM THE CITY.
AND, UH, WE HADN'T SEEN IT ONLINE YET AND I DON'T KNOW IF WE'RE GONNA BE ABLE TO SEE THAT AT THIS TIME, BUT, UH, WE'RE READY FOR THAT PRESENTATION.
AND WE ARE GONNA HAVE, UH, KEVIN ORTON, HE'S, UH, THE MANAGEMENT ANALYST FOR, UH, BEN GO AND MYSELF TO PROVIDE THAT PRESENTATION AND ANSWER QUESTIONS THAT YOU MAY HAVE ON THAT DASHBOARD, KEVIN.
WE'LL, WE'LL BE ABLE TO SHOW THE DASHBOARD.
SO, UM, BEFORE WE SHOW THE DASHBOARD, I WANTED TO GIVE A QUICK UPDATE ON THE WEBSITE.
SO, UM, JUST A REMINDER THAT, UH, WHERE'S THE CLICKER? SO JUST AS A REMINDER, DURING THE NOVEMBER PRESENTATION, THE COMMITTEE ASKED STAFF FOR, UH, DURING, DURING THE FIRST MUNICIPAL UTILITIES COMMITTEE MEETING, THE COMMITTEE ASKED STAFF FOR TO CREATE A WEBSITE TO HELP THE PUBLIC VIEW COMMITTEE DOCUMENTS, AGENDAS, AND OTHER INFORMATION RELATED TO THE COMMITTEE.
AT THE NOVEMBER, 2021 COMMITTEE MEETING, CRAIG HOPKINS, THE CITY'S CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER PRESENTED
[01:45:01]
THE WEBSITE CONCEPT TO THE COMMITTEE.AND DURING THAT PRESENTATION, HE INFORMED THE COMMITTEE THAT I T S D WAS CURRENTLY WORKING ON A WEBSITE FOR EACH CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE AS PART OF THE ESSAY SPEAKUP EFFORT TO BE COMPLETED IN EARLY 20, UH, EARLY 2022, HE OFFERED TO CREATE AN INTERIM WEBSITE FOR THE MUNICIPAL UTILITIES COMMITTEE BEFORE THIS NEW WEBSITE WOULD BE READY.
THE COMMITTEE AGREED TO THIS RECOMMENDATION AND THE INTERIM WEBSITE WAS LAUNCHED IN DECEMBER OF 2021.
WE NOW ANTICIPATE THAT THE NEW WEBSITE WILL GO LIVE IN MARCH OF 2022.
UH, AND THE WEBSITE ADDRESS IS WWW.SANANTONIO.GOV/MUNICIPAL UTILITIES.
ALSO, DURING THAT PRESENTATION, THE COMMITTEE ASKS FOR A DASHBOARD, WHICH I'LL SHOW YOU HERE TO BE CREATED.
THIS IS TO SHOW THE PROGRESS OF EACH ORGANIZATION IS MAKING TO THE COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY PREPARE THE PROGRESS THEY'RE MAKING ON THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE COMMUNITY ON, ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.
UM, THIS DASHBOARD IS THE FIRST ITERATION OF THE DASHBOARD THAT WILL BE UPLOADING AFTER THIS MEETING.
WE WANTED TO SHOW THE COMMITTEE FIRST BEFORE WE UPLOADED IT, AND IT'LL BE UPDATED AS THE COMMITTEE IS UPDATED.
SO WHEN AN ORGANIZATION PRESENTS TO THIS COMMITTEE, WE'LL THEN UPDATE THE DASHBOARD AFTER.
UM, AS SO RIGHT NOW THE INFORMATION THAT IT'S GONNA BE ON, IT WILL BE AS OF JANUARY 25TH, 2022, WHICH IS WHEN THE, THE COMMITTEE WAS LAST UPDATED.
UM, INCLUDED WITH THIS DASHBOARD WILL BE A DETAIL OF EACH RECOMMENDATION, WHICH I'LL SHOW HERE IN A MINUTE.
AND AS I SAID, THIS IS THE FIRST ITERATION OF THE DASHBOARD.
AND SO ONCE THE NEW WEBSITE GOES LIVE, WE'RE GONNA LOOK AT OPTIONS OF CREATING A INTERACTIVE DASHBOARD.
UM, CLIFF, CAN YOU PULL UP THE P D F? SO I'M GONNA SHOW YOU ALL THE DASHBOARD RIGHT NOW.
UM, IT'S NOT, IT'S SHOWING THE POWERPOINT STILL.
SO THIS IS WHAT THE DASHBOARD LOOKS LIKE.
SO AS YOU CAN SEE WHAT IT, IT'S A, IT'S A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE TOTAL RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE COMMUNITY, EMER COMMUNITY ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS, WHICH IS 49 OF THOSE.
EACH ORGANIZATION HAS PRESENTED THAT 34 HAVE BEEN COMPLETE AND 15 ARE IN PROGRESS.
WE THEN FURTHER BREAK IT DOWN BY ORGANIZATION.
FIRST WE HAVE THE CITY C P S ENERGY AND SAWS.
WE'VE ALSO INCLUDED A LINK, IT'S A LITTLE HARD TO SEE HERE 'CAUSE IT'S REALLY SMALL, BUT WITHIN ON, UM, IN YOUR, IN THE, ON YOUR TABLETS, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE A BIGGER PICTURE.
UH, WE HAVE A LINK TO THE REPORT, UM, FROM THE COMMUNITY COMMITTEE ON EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND THAT WAY THE PUBLIC CAN GET MORE CONTEXT.
IF YOU GO TO THE NEXT PAGE OF THIS P D F, AGAIN, A LITTLE HARD TO READ IN THE PRESENTATION, BUT YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE THIS ONLINE.
WE'VE LISTED OUT EACH RECOMMENDATION AND WE'VE INCLUDED THE RECOMMENDATION, THE STATUS, THE ANTICIPATED COMPLETION DATE, IF NOT COMPLETED, THE ESTIMATED COST, AND THEN THE DETAIL.
THIS WILL ALLOW THE PUBLIC TO SEE AFTER THE PRESENTATIONS TO THIS COMMITTEE, EACH STATUS UPDATE ON WHERE EACH ORGANIZATION IS.
AND SO, AGAIN, WE'LL UPLOAD THIS, UM, AFTER THE MEETING, UM, CAN YOU SWITCH BACK TO THE POWERPOINT AND I'LL SHOW YOU WHERE WE'LL PUT IT.
SO WE'RE GONNA PUT IT HERE IN THE DOCUMENT SECTION.
AND THAT'S ALSO WHERE WE PUT THE COMMITTEE ON AN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS REPORT.
AND IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, UM, I CAN ANSWER THOSE.
THIS IS, UH, AN INITIAL DASHBOARD REGARDING EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.
HOWEVER, THERE MAY BE OTHER ISSUES THAT COME UP BEFORE THIS COMMITTEE.
FOR EXAMPLE, WE JUST HEARD PRESENTATION ABOUT CPSS, UH, RESEARCH AND, AND THE CONSULTANTS THEY'RE HAVING.
UH, AND THERE'S A TIMELINE THAT THAT MAY BE UNDERGOING, UH, AND WE MAY WANT TO HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT PUT ON THERE.
SO IT'LL BE A GROWING DOCUMENT AND NOT JUST LIMITED TO THESE THINGS.
UH, AND WILL IT ALSO, UH, AS A WEBSITE INCLUDE MINUTES AND AGENDAS FROM PRIOR MEETINGS? YEAH, SO ON THE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW, WE'RE LINKING, SO THIS IS PART OF THE GREATER ESSAY SPEAKUP EFFORT.
AND RIGHT NOW ON THE INTERIM WEBSITE, WE'RE LINKING DIRECTLY TO ESSAY SPEAKUP.
SO ANYONE CAN GO ON THERE AND THEY CAN SEE ALL THE MINUTES, THE AGENDAS, AND ALL THE ATTACHMENTS.
ANY QUESTIONS FROM THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS?
HEARING NONE, I BELIEVE WE'VE GOTTEN THROUGH ALL SEVEN ITEMS AND, UH, IN TWO HOURS, WHICH IS A LITTLE FASTER THAN THE LAST COUPLE OF MEETINGS.
SO AT THIS TIME, UH, I'LL GO AHEAD AND ADJOURN THE MEETING AND THANK MY FELLOW COMMITTEE MEMBERS FOR BEING HERE.
THANK YOU C P SS SAWS, AND EVERYONE ELSE FROM BEING HERE TODAY.