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03-F Water/Sewer (5/15/03)MINUTES OF THE CITY COUNCIL WATER & SEWER SUBCOMMITTEE MAY 15, 2003 The City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee met in special session, Thursday May 15, 2003, at 4:00 P. M., Paris Junior College Applied Technology Building, Room 1211, 2400 Clarksville Street, Paris, Texas. Chairman Benny Plata called the meeting to order with the following members present: Councilwoman Francine Neeley and Councilman Willie Weekly, Sr. Also present were City Manager Michael E. Malone, City Attorney Larry Schenk, Director of Finance Gene Anderson, City Engineer Shawn Napier, and Director of Utilities Herb Campbell. Invocation was given by Councilman Weekly. Chairman Plata said the first order of business was a report by the committee members regarding water and sewer related matters, but went to the next item on the agenda, and called for reports from city staff regarding water and sewer related matters. Mr. Campbell advised that Chairman Plata had given written recommendations previously to Council and advised that City Manager Malone is prepared to address those issues. City Manager Malone passed out a memorandum regarding Councilman Plata' s Recommendation Number One: '~ Eliminate $18,000.00 budgeted for a new truck when the old one is still operable".'~ City Manager Malone stated that the committee is making every effort to gather information to try to find ways to decrease the impact of a rate increase on the citizens and industries. The City Manager said everyone is looking for ways to share in that task of holding costs down. He said they had spent a lot of time in previous workshops in the past few years and had lean budgets and the water and wastewater budgets have been very static for a number of years. The employment level has remained the same for the past ten years even while the city has had tremendous increases in tasks for our employees to perform due City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 2 to regulatory requirements. There have been expansions to the plant due to mandates that required certain facilities to be built and this has increased the amount of equipment that has to be operated and maintained. Even though the city has given the employees more to do, the city has not increased the employment in those facilities. The City Manager advised that the city has to train all of the employees in the water and wastewater plants. Most of the employees come to the city and the city provides all the training to bring them up to speed so that we can have an environment that is safe for the citizens along with the employees. City Manager Malone passed out a memorandum regarding Recommendation Number One by Chairman Plata which was to eliminate $18,000.00 budgeted for a new truck when the old one is still operable. He said that he and city staff had done research on this matter. City Manager Malone said that page 3, fourth paragraph, of the minutes of a Special City Council Meeting on September 19, 2002, reads as follows: ~Councilman Plata questioned the motor vehicle account orS 18,000.00. Mr. Campbell said that is a replacement vehicle for Unit 217. He explained that this vehicle was being driven by the Water Plant Superintendent when he went to work for the city, and it is still being used by maintenance at this time. He said the vehicle has 102,000 miles on it and it has already rolled over one time. The Council discussed using a mid-size pickup instead ora larger vehicle. It was the consensus of the City Council to cut $5,000.00 from the budget for motor vehicles", and this was done leaving $13,000.00 for the purchase of a smaller vehicle. City Manager Malone said that on page 213 of the printed budget, line item 10- 0901-82-98 - Buildings was shown as $13,000.00 and line item 10-1004-82-99 - Motor Vehicles was shown as $18,000.00. These numbers were reversed by mistake and should be corrected to reflect the amounts shown in the capital detail on page 214 following. The actual amount budgeted by Council for the purchase of the vehicle is $13,000.00. The City Manager said at the time the budget was being prepared, Mr. Campbell prudently included funding for a replacement pickup since the City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 3 availability of a substitute from another city department was unknown. The City Manager pointed out from an attachment of a memorandum from Mr. Campbell dated April 23, 2003, which explains that the vehicle to be replaced was towed to the city shop on November 22, 2002, in an inoperable condition. Documentation is also attached concerning the condition of that vehicle and the recommendation of the shop that the vehicle be disposed of rather than being repaired. Mr. Campbell's memorandum also explains that on January 7, 2003, Public Works was able to transfer a vehicle to the Utilities Department to replace Unit 217, which subsequently has been placed in the city surplus auction, thus the one-time cost of $13,000.00 has already been achieved. The replacement vehicle was a 1990 GMC S- 15 pickup, which had been previously used by Animal Control and by Maria Pope who did work for Public Works. This vehicle is in fair condition and has 114,792 miles on it. Also attached to City Manager Malone's memorandum is a repair estimate made by James Walker, Shop Supervisor, stating that the vehicle would not start, the engine would have to be rebuilt at a cost of $3,095.22, and recommending disposal of the vehicle, and the transfer document moving the 1990 GMC Pickup to the Water Treatment Division. City Manager Malone passed out a memorandum for Councilman Plata's Recommendation Number Two: ~ Eliminate $40,000.00 budgeted for equipment to remove sludge when conventional methods have worked for years". City Manager Malone said on pages four and five of the minutes of the Special City Council Meeting of September 19, 2002, attached to this memorandum, beginning with the fourth paragraph, Councilman Plata questioned the proposed expenditures of $40,000.00 in line item 10-0414-82-00, Other, sludge removal. These minutes were from a budget workshop last year, prior to the passage of the budget as follows: ~Mr. Campbell explained that the water treatment plant sludge is collected into two settlement basins from what was the Maxey Water Treatment Plant. He said that we cannot get the sludge out of these basins fast enough and that funds from this line item were budgeted to install automatic sludge handling equipment in the bottom of these two basins. City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 4 The purpose is to scrape the sludge and keep it mixed up so it can be sprayed on the field. We are recycling approximately 800,000 gallons of water per day that otherwise would be pumped to the creek and would have to be replaced by pumping additional water from Pat Mayse Lake at additional cost. The recycling of this water saves approximately $66,500.00 per year. We make beneficial use of this sludge by spraying it on a field adjacent to this plant." City Manager Malone said there is a new mandate that we refer to as the backwash recycle rule. The rule was implemented on January 1st and its purpose is to prevent the contamination of our drinking water with recycled backwash water with too high a concentration of Giardia and Cryptosporidium, both of which cause serious health problems to some people. There are rules that limit disposing of sludge by sending it down the creek. We have a permit to apply the sludge to the land adjoining the plant which is an efficient and cost effective means of disposal. We have never had an effective way to keep the sludge in suspension in the basin that we are pumping to the spray field, so that the solids settle into the bottom of the basin. As these solids build up in the basin, the contaminants are concentrated and there is more chance of spillage over into our water treatment process as we draw the recycled water off the top to return to the water treatment process. We are returning the recycled water from the sludge basins to save money. The new mandate is more strict about the quality of the recycled water that we are reusing and the funds budgeted are to be used this summer to address this problem. City Manager Malone advised that Mr. Campbell budgeted $40,000.00 to cover the contingency of purchasing commercial sludge handling equipment designed for this purpose. Again, illustrating the conservative use of city resources, Mr. Campbell began experimenting with a cheaper alternative this past fall. He said that Mr. Campbell previously bought for salvage value some surplus floating mixer/aerators from John Kraft Sesaco Company in Paris, which we have been using in these basins for several years without achieving the desired effect needed to meet this new mandate. Mr. Campbell has designed some modifications to these floating mixer/aerators and has had a prototype fabricated. We have been testing the modified mixer/aerators and believe that City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 5 the modified version will achieve the desired results. It appears that to fully implement the modification, less than half of the budgeted $40,000.00 will be needed. City Manager Malone said the %onventional methods (that) have worked for years" referred to by Councilman Plata will no longer suffice due to the new rule that has been implemented. An expenditure is necessary to meet the new rule in effect to avoid a situation where we would be fined and to protect the health of the citizens we serve, which is the purpose of the new rule. Councilman Plata's projected saving of $40,000.00 cannot be reasonably achieved and meet the rule in an adequate and responsible manner. However, it appears that city staff will save as much as $20,000.00 or more through their innovation. City Manager Malone advised that attached to his memorandum are minutes ora budget workshop of September 19, 2002, where they discussed this project which was placed in the budget at $40,000.00 for this project and any other maintenance that is needed in that facility. He said that also attached are two photographs, one showing what the mixer/aerator looks like floating in the basin and the second one shows what personnel have to do to clean the sludge out of the basin when it becomes overloaded. In the background, there is a extension tube, which is retractable. Mr. Campbell explained that the top half of the tube is fixed in place and the bottom half slips over it and as the aerator flows, depending on the depth of the water, it extends itself all the way out almost to the bottom of the basin where it picks up the sludge and brings it back to the surface and mixes it. Councilman Plata wanted to know how often these basins are cleaned. Mr. Campbell advised that they do this about every two to two and one-half years. Mr. Plata stated that is not the information that he received. Mr. Campbell said he could research this matter. Chairman Plata said they told him it had not been cleaned in the last seven years. Mr. Campbell asked David Wims to look that information up. Mr. Wims said the last time it was cleaned was in August City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 6 of 2000, but he would check the records. City Manager Malone wanted to know who gave Chairman Plata this information. Chairman Plata said he was there the other morning just looking and he asked what was going on and the person said that all ora sudden Mr. Campbell wanted this cleaned and said they had not cleaned this in seven years. Mr. Campbell advised that this person has been working for the city for about six months and he did not know how he would have that type information. Chairman Plata questioned the information regarding the mandate to prevent the contamination of the drinking water, saying that this mandate does not really apply, and that staff is saying that it might happen. If you do not have the sludge equipment looked at, you are saying it is a possibility that contamination might get in our drinking water. Mr. Campbell said sure, it might get in when they repair a water leak. Chairman Plata said the mandate does not specifically point out that you have to get equipment and clean this out. Mr. Campbell stated that they do not tell the city how to do the mandates, they just want you to meet their requirements and you have to figure it out on your on. Chairman Plata stated that all he gets out of it is that you need to prevent the contamination of the drinking water where recycled backwash water is involved. Councilwoman Neeley wanted to know if the backwash water is the water that is being recycled. Mr. Campbell said that it was, along with the dump from the basin and all of the wastewater in the plant. She asked whether when the sludge was being sprayed on the fields had this ever come close to happening. Mr. Campbell said it sure had and when the turbidity gets out they will shut it down. He said that you can talked to some of the people that are here today, because they are the ones who does the work, and that was before the new rule came into effect. Mr. Campbell stressed that the city can not afford to let it get as deep as it has been getting because of the new rule. They did not have a backwash recycle rule in place until this year, but the city has been doing this for seven to eight years and it saves money. He quoted $66,000.00 and actually saved about twice as much when they used the new figures that Mr. Anderson provided. City Manager Malone said it goes without saying that the City of Paris has not City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 7 had a boil water notice during the time that Mr. Campbell and his employees have been operating this plant. That is not saying that it might not happen, but there are a lot of circumstances that can cause a city to issue a boil water notice, and it behooves them to protect the public health and safety. Other plants have methods of handling sludge and other cities do things differently, but those who have this type system usually have a mechanical mixer, which the city does not have. He stated that since this rule has been implemented, it has become even more stringent and more important for this to happen. He said that we do not need to put the burden of issuing a boil water notice on our citizens and our industry because it will be in the newspaper and it is a really big deal. Chairman Plata said that staff was just saying that this could happen and are making it a reality; but in reality, what staff is saying is that the city has never come close to having a boil water notice. City Manager Malone said that was not true, saying we have not said that we have never come close to having a boil water notice. He said that we have come close several times. Mr. Campbell pointed out that Chairman Plata came out and looked at that last water leak and the city came close to having a boil water notice on that occasion and there are different ways that a city can have a boil water notice. Mr. Campbell stressed again that if that sludge builds up in there and it gets carried over into the basins, they can not treat that out of there, and then we could have a boil water notice. Councilwoman Neeley wanted to know if the money was in the budget to purchase mechanical mixers. City Manager Malone stated that as he said in the memo, Mr. Campbell budgeted those funds in that account to purchase mechanical mixing equipment. He said that during budget time, the city is six months ahead of the beginning of the fiscal year and you are trying to plan for your needs, so you try to over estimate what you are going to expend and under estimate the revenue to make your budget balance. Mr. Campbell advised that both the mechanical mixer and the scrapers they are talking about are used at the Wastewater Treatment Plant on its sludge. City Manager Malone said the city could expend the entire amount of money and purchase some for that amount of money for that purpose, or the city can spend less than one-half the City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 8 money if this innovation appears to be working. Chairman Plata stated that you could leave it like it is. City Manager Malone advised that the city has engineers who have training and expertise to make these recommendations and he felt that if the City Council wanted to make a different recommendation, it would behoove each member of the committee or the City Council to actually visit some of the facilities that the city has and become familiar with the operations of these plants. City Manager Malone passed out a memorandum on Councilman Plata's Recommendation Number Three: ~'Eliminate $100,000.00 budgeted for new valves to be installed while old ones could be rebuilt at the (sic) fraction of the cost". City Manager Malone said that on page four of the minutes of the Special City Council Meeting of September 19, 2002, beginning with the second paragraph, Councilman Plata questioned the proposed expenditure of $85,000.00 in line item 10-0403-82-00, Filter beds and valves. The account was and is budgeted for an $85,000.00 expenditure and is a maintenance account, not capital. Mr. Campbell explained at the meeting in September that part of the funds in this account were to be used to replace the effluent valve controller (not valves) on ten valves on the filters. Mr. Campbell explained that the new rules and regulations require that all of the filters be monitored continuously for the quality of the water output. This water quality is charted continuously and is kept as a record. Mr. Campbell explained that, if you surge the filters, then the turbidity of the water will go up and will show up as a spike on our graphs. The magnitude and duration of the spike is now regulated by TCEQ, and if we have a spike ora certain magnitude and duration, we will be subject to public notification and possible publication of a %oil water notice". These controls were put on there eight years ago when the plant was modified and they are wearing out. The new filter effluent controllers are more precise and will allow the valves to be controlled more carefully, avoiding the violation of water quality standards that are newly mandated. City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 9 City Manager Malone said that at this time, four of the new controllers have been installed and the other effluent valve controllers have already been purchased and are awaiting installation. A large proportion of this maintenance account is budgeted for the replacement of filter media which is gradually washed out over time. He said that he had attached Exhibit II which is a list of all of the items which might at one time or another have to be purchased from this maintenance account. City Manager Malone said we are budgeting a modest amount relative to the value of all items that would be purchased from this account if you purchased them all at once. Of course, we don't expect to have to purchase them all at once, we only budget a modest amount to take care of known maintenance and to allow for other contingencies that might occur at any time. He said that there was no planned expenditure for ~valves" being budgeted. City Manager Malone said that at this point in the fiscal year, they are projecting a total expenditure of approximately $65,000.00 of the $85,000.00 budgeted for a possible savings of $20,000.00. He surmised that the other $15,000.00 in Councilman Plata' s estimated savings by not purchasing ~valves" could refer to account number 10-0413-81-00 - Hydrants and Valves, although only $12,000.00 is budgeted in this line item for the contingency of the need to repair or replace other valves or hydrants used at the water treatment plant. At this point, no funds have been needed. If no valves or hydrants are needed this fiscal year, then it is likely that these funds will not be used resulting in a saving of $20,000.00. City Manager Malone said between these two accounts, an estimated $32,000.00 may be saved at the end of the year. He said that it will not be possible to save the $100,000.00 projected by Councilman Plata. City Manager Malone said he had attached to his memorandum concerning Councilman Plata's Recommendation Number Three a copy of the minutes from the budget workshop last year when this account was discussed. He also included Exhibit I! showing a list of repair/replacement items that would be City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 10 included in the Filter Beds and Valves Account. He said this is the total for all ten filters and gives the number of units that potentially would be replaced and the costs were given. The total would be $749,591.38; of course, they do not expect to replace everything out there during any given fiscal year. Funds were included in this account to provide new controllers for the effluent valves so that they could be more carefully controlled and the plant operate within the new specifications. City Manager Malone explained a graph that Mr. Campbell passed around basically showing the difference in the operation of the valves before and after the installation of the new controllers. Chairman Plata asked Mr. Campbell if he had already spent the money to buy these controllers for the valves. Mr. Campbell said he had purchased and installed four controllers. Councilman Weekly wanted to know if there was any place where the city could purchase valves cheaper. Mr. Campbell said they were not talking about valves; they were talking about controllers. Chairman Plata said they were the same thing. Mr. Campbell disagreed with Chairman Plata. Mr. Campbell pointed out how smooth the green is on the graph. Chairman Plata said he did not see how the city was operating before and wanted to know if there was a problem with the turbidity before. City Manager Malone said the rule was not in place before, but the city is now trying to meet the requirements of the new rule. Mr. Campbell said maybe he had his job wrong, but he feels he is supposed to anticipate these things and they are not supposed to violate those rules and are to do the things necessary to not violate the rules. Councilwoman Neeley asked for an explanation of the word valve since Chairman Plata used valve and Mr. Campbell uses the word controller and she does not know what they are talking about. City Manager Malone suggested that the committee tour the water treatment plant and have these items explained first hand because several members of the committee have not seen the facilities first hand. Mr. Campbell pointed out that on the list attached to the City Manager's memorandum there are filter control valves and valve actuators. He said that City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 11 there are 51 valves, and attached to each valve is an actuator that makes the valve work. Mr. Campbell said that ten, out of the fifty one, are control valves that modulate the flow coming out of the filter. That flow is based on computer signals that are sent to the modulating valve actuator to make sure that the water coming out of the filters is maintained at a proper flow rate. Mr. Campbell said the old ones were piston actuated and would hang and stick. He said that actually, there were two kinds, there are valve actuators that just open and shut a valve, but this one actually throttles the valve and maintains a certain fixed, or semi-fixed position. He said that the new ones are a different kind and they are much more capable of controlling the effluent flow and this is what we are putting on. He said the city is actually buying controllers instead of valves. Mr. Campbell said that they are using the old valves and he anticipated that they might have to replace a valve or two; but so far they have not had to do that. He said some of these valves are 35 to 40 years old. City Manager Malone passed out a memorandum regarding Councilman Plata' s Recommendation Number Four: ~Cut operators manning the water production plant from 2 people per shift to 1 person per shift". The City Manager stated that the mission of the Water Treatment Division of the Utilities Department is to produce potable drinking water while protecting the health of the people we serve by treating the drinking water properly while meeting exacting state and federal standards as encompassed in the Safe Drinking Water Act and other regulations, to ensure the protection of the health and safety of our employees, and to perform this task as economically as possible. City Manager Malone said the size and complexity and operating conditions for the water treatment plant in Paris, Texas, at Lake Crook are considerably different than those of the facilities in cities that have been furnished by Councilman Plata for comparison purposes. He noted that the representatives of OMI, in making their presentation, advised that each city's operation was different. City Manager Malone stated that there are very good reasons why the Utilities Department is staffed as it is. He said that staff size has developed over many City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 12 years to meet increasing regulatory responsibilities and to operate a greatly expanded operation with more equipment and more tasks to be performed. He said that, while the duties have greatly expanded in the past ten years, no additional personnel have been added. City Manager Malone advised that the number one reason for having a minimum of two people manning the water production plant each shift is for the health and safety of the public who consumes the water produced and, equally important, to maintain the health and safety of our employees. A secondary reason would be to provide an extra measure of protection for the assets of the water treatment plant to prevent damage to the facility. City Manager Malone advised that on one occasion, when he served on the City Council, the only operator at the water plant fell asleep one night and failed to turn off pumps which compounded the error of leaving the bonnet off of one of the high service pumps being repaired. He said that this flooded the water plant and put the plant out of production for several days. City Manager Malone noted that the electric motors had to be pulled from the pumps and shipped to Fort Worth, Texas, to be dried out at a cost of approximately half a million dollars. He said that fortunately, at the time, the old Camp Maxey water treatment plant could produce some water for the citizens, but industry was curtailed and the situation was expensive for all concerned. There was a lot of lost production in Paris and great danger to the public safety because of this simple error. City Manager Malone said on another occasion, the only operator on duty slipped and fell approximately ten feet off the end of the filter deck and lay unattended for some unknown time before he recovered and resumed his duties. These two actual occurrences, he believed, effectively demonstrate the need for two persons to be on duty at both plants during each shift. City Manager Malone attached additional information to his memorandum. He said that Mr. Campbell is present to discuss in detail why major staff reductions are not advisable. City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 13 City Manager Malone read Exhibit I to his memorandum pertaining to two personnel on shift after hours and weekends as follows: THE TREATMENT PLANT MUST BE MANNED ANY TIME WATER IS BEING TREATED BY A ~C" CERTIFIED OPERATOR OR GREATER. AT PRESENT, THE PARIS PLANT MUST BE IN OPERATION 24 HOURS A DAY, 365 DAYS A YEAR, IN ORDER TO MEET DEMAND OR INSURE ADEQUATE STORAGE. IT TAKES ONE YEAR OF HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE AND ADDITIONAL TRAINING AND PASSING A STATE TEST TO BECOME A ~C" CERTIFIED OPERATOR. THE LAW ALSO SAYS THE PARIS PLANT MUST ALSO EMPLOY AT LEAST ONE ~B" CERTIFIED OPERATOR. IN THE PAST EIGHTEEN YEARS THE CITY OF PARIS HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO ATTRACT OR RECRUIT ANY ~B" CERTIFIED OR HIGHER CERTIFIED OPERATORS TO THE WATER TREATMENT PLANT. ALL HAVE BEEN TRAINED HERE ON SITE. IN ORDER TO INSURE THAT ALL WATER QUALITY STATE MANDATES ARE MAINTAINED, OPERATORS COLLECT OVER 167,000 SAMPLES FOR ANALYSIS AND RUN MORE THAN 250,000 ANALYSES PER YEAR. EVERY HOUR OPERATORS COLLECT A SERIES OF SAMPLES FROM VARIOUS PARTS OF THE PLANT AND SOME SAMPLES MUST BE COLLECTED OFF-SITE DAILY. WE HAVE NOT HAD ANY PUBLIC NOTIFICATION OF NON-COMPLIANCE OR FINES TO THIS DATE. FOR EXAMPLE, ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2002, A 20" WATER MAIN RUPTURED. HAD THERE NOT BEEN TWO CERTIFIED WATER PLANT OPERATORS ON SHIFT DURING THAT TIME, THE CITY OF PARIS WATER TREATMENT PLANT WOULD HAVE BEEN FORCED TO ANNOUNCE A PUBLIC NOTIFICATION TO BOIL WATER DUE TO LOW DISTRIBUTION PRESSURE. WATER PLANT PERSONNEL ALSO RECEIVED ALL CALLS FROM THE RACO SCADA SYSTEM WHICH SERVE PRIMARILY WASTEWATER LIFT STATIONS. THE OPERATOR MUST READ THE CALL, WHICH IS 20 LINES OF INFORMATION, AND INTERPRET WHAT ACTION MUST City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 14 BE TAKEN, IF ANY. ALARM CALLS REQUIRE THE DISPATCHING OF LIFT STATION PERSONNEL. WHEN ANY CONDITION CHANGES AT THE LIFT STATION, THE OPERATOR MUST AGAIN CONTACT LIFT STATION PERSONNEL AND HAVE THEM CONFIRM THIS SITUATION. THE WATER PLANT OPERATOR MUST CONTACT THE POWER PROVIDER AND ARRANGE FOR REPAIRS. FREQUENTLY, LOSS OF POWER AFFECTING THE LIFT STATIONS CREATES A POWER OUTAGE OVER A LARGE AREA OF THE POWER GRID AND RESULTS IN A LOSS OF POWER AT GROUND STORAGE, PAT MAYSE PUMP STATION, AND/OR THE TREATMENT PLANT. THE OPERATORS MUST CONTEND WITH THESE PROBLEMS IN ADDITION TO DISPATCHING FOR THE LIFT STATIONS. THE OPERATORS MUST IMPLEMENT A DETAILED WRITTEN PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING POWER OUTAGE ANY TIME THOSE OCCUR AND THIS ALSO INVOLVES DEPLOYING EMERGENCY LIGHTS, STARTING THE GENERATOR, RECORDING STORAGE LEVELS, AND SHUT DOWN OF SOME EQUIPMENT AND OTHER DUTIES SPECIFIC TO AREAS AFFECTED BY AN OUTAGE. IF IT WASN'T FOR THE RESPONSE TIME THAT IS ACHIEVED FOR HAVING TWO PERSONNEL ON SHIFT, THE CITY OF PARIS WOULD MOST PROBABLY STILL BE UNDER CERTAIN ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS FROM THE STATE FOR WASTEWATER OVERFLOWS AND BYPASSES. THERE WERE MORE THAN 2,600 ALARM CALLS LAST YEAR. FOR EVERY ALARM CONDITION THERE MUST BE A RETURN-TO- NORMAL CALL AND LIFT STATION PERSONNEL AGAIN MUST BE CONTACTED. SOME ALARMS ARE FOR LOW PRESSURE AT THOSE LIFT STATIONS WITH PRESSURE MONITORS AND OFTEN PUBLIC WORKS MUST BE CONTACTED TO CHECK FOR A WATER LEAK IN THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN THE AREA OF THE ALARM. THERE ARE POLL CALLS 3 TIMES A DAY OF ALL EIGHTEEN RACE UNITS TO VERIFY WORKING CONDITIONS, OR 1,095 PER YEAR. THERE ARE ALSO 4 AUTO CALLS PER DAY TO ALSO VERIFY THE WORKING CONDITION OF UNITS, OR 1460 CALLS PER YEAR. OPERATORS ARE City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 15 THEREFORE READING OVER A HALF MILLION LINES OF DATA PER YEAR FOR THE RACE SYSTEM. WATER PLANT OPERATORS ALSO RECEIVE ALL CALLS FOR SERVICE FOR THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ON WEEKENDS AND AFTER HOURS AND DISPATCH PERSONNEL LOGS OF ALL ACTIONS MUST BE RECORDED, WITH OVER 800 REQUESTS LAST YEAR. THIS INCLUDES NOTIFYING DIG TEST OF LOCATIONS WHERE PUBLIC WORKS PERSONNEL NEED TO DIG TO REPAIR WATER LINES. IT IS NOT FEASIBLE FOR LESS THAN TWO PERSONS PER SHIFT TO CONSISTENTLY INSURE A SAFE AND ADEQUATE WATER SUPPLY FOR THE PUBLIC AT ALL TIMES AND UNDER ALL CONDITIONS. A SINGLE PERSON ON DUTY COULD POSE A RISK TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY OR FAILURE TO MEET STATE AND FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS UNDER SOME CIRCUMSTANCES. WE MUST ADEQUATELY STAFF THE TREATMENT PLANT AT ALL TIMES TO INSURE THE PUBLIC IS NEVER EVEN POTENTIALLY PLACED IN JEOPARDY. City Manager Malone said that many comments made in those documents also relate to the manning of the wastewater treatment plant and recommendation number 5 by Councilman Plata was to cut operators manning the wastewater treatment plant from 2 people per shift to 1 person per shift. The City Manager said that some of the plants in some of the other cities are being compared to our plants, even though we have not been to see them, are not the same type plants. He said that they are not of the same complexity and they do not require the same vigilance and operation as the city's. City Manager Malone explained that the operations of these systems are complex. He said that these comparisons cannot be made in such a simplified manner without spending money on consultants to do a real comparison in detail. He stated that there are some differences between Paris and the cities that the City City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 16 of Paris has been compared with by Mr. Plata. He said it is a very serious business to treat water and it has the most potential of anything that the city does to effect the public health and safety of citizens. He stated that it is the most potentially dangerous activity that we participate in. Mr. Malone said ours is a complex system and does not lend itself to simplistic comparatives. City Manager Malone pointed out, as the OMI people pointed out, all of these systems are different. He said that they are not going to come in and give you a standard contract and price. Mr. Malone said that they are going to come in and have you research for six months and tell them everything that you do and every kind of system that you have and spell out all of the parameters of what they are expected to do and then they are going to give you a cost plus price with an annualized CP! adjustment. He said in order to make critical recommendations other than incremental type suggestions that we take part in at budget workshops, he felt that if the city's committee and council is going to make recommendations without consulting with an engineering firm, then they actually need to visit these facilities and get hands on experience and explanations from the personnel that operate these systems. City Manager Malone recalled that when he took office as City Manager, Paris had a history of borrowing money, spending the money to build a facility like a water plant or a wastewater plant, and then totally ignoring the maintenance. He said that there were years when they did not spend money on maintenance and the water and wastewater plants were just rotting down. He said that when they rotted down, another study would be done and the plant would completely be rebuilt and that is very costly. Mr. Malone discussed a situation where our people were endangered in their work environment and said that there were no safety features. City Manager Malone recalled that at the wastewater plant, they had to climb down a wet board over the channels to lubricate bearings, and all that has been corrected. He said that more than ten years ago, they did increase personnel for safety purposes and to be able to perform the routine preventative maintenance, which is saving the citizens money. He said that it is saving our rate payers money to do this maintenance and this was not done before. Mr. Malone said that preventive maintenance will make the plants last a lot longer and, when you have to start all over, that is a big ticket item. City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 17 City Manager Malone said it is not wise to cut personnel. He said there are a couple of recommendations to cut personnel from both of these plants. He said that Mr. Plata's Recommendation No. 8 is to eliminate personnel from lift stations. He said that Mr. Campbell has got very detailed information to account for all of the man hours involved in the operation of the lift stations system. He said it is not feasible at all to eliminate the lift station crews and depend on the other maintenance personnel at the water and wastewater plant to take over those duties. He said it is not practical and it is not reasonable. Mr. Malone said cutting those personnel would result in a very critical situation where we have been threatened with penalties in the past. The city has had penalties in the past and at this time the city has that situation under control and those lift stations are being maintained. City Manager Malone said that Mr. Plata was comparing Paris to some of these other cities who also have personnel manning their lift stations and have other ways of addressing that maintenance, and that some of those cities do not have lift stations the size of the ones that Paris has. He said that Paris has tremendous facilities that move a lot of wastewater, and if you make a mistake, it can be costly. He said that those employees that the city has on the lift station crew are doing a great job. He said that they have been maintaining the system in such a way that all they really have to worry about is lightning storms and pieces of trash getting in there and stopping up the pumps. He said we have a high degree of competence and a high degree of maintenance. He said that our lift station crew know the pumps and they know the parameters. He said that they know when the pumps are pumping, and what they should be doing. They know how the maintenance is supposed to be done, and they know when the equipment is performing correctly. He said that these employees know how to work on them along with knowing what type equipment is needed to work on them. Mr. Campbell passed out a spread sheet where the first three pages are for those lift stations at the locations across the top and went over it with the committee. He discussed the FEB as an example where they spent 121 man hours doing pump repairs and preventive maintenance. He said the 11.2% on the spreadsheet is the amount of time at that particular station where the pump repairs were performed and preventive maintenance, and if you read down the City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 18 column, you can tell how much time at that station they spent doing each one of those increments. City Manager Malone advised that the forms that Mr. Campbell uses to collect this information is similar to what the consultants at OMI use. He said that the city already has all these things. Mr. Campbell stated that none of these were in place when he came to the city. He said the first thing they did was fill out a daily time sheet. The second thing that was created was a service request and completion report. Anytime an employee is in a vehicle, a vehicle use log is used. He said that this tells the mileage from the start, who was with the employee in that vehicle, the total mileage, and what work was done. He explained another form that is a request for adjustment to pay or time off. Mr. Campbell said using those four forms, they went back and looked at our data and this spread sheet was created from that data. David Wims informed the committee that before Mr. Campbell came to Paris, the way they kept their time was they would receive a telephone call from Public Works and asked if anyone was missing that day. He said that there were no recordings of what activities were going on at all; now they know what everyone is doing. He said there has been a tremendous change since the 1986 expansion. He said there were blood weeds 8 or 9 feet tall around the plants. He recalled that the basement at the water treatment plant was filled with lime three feet deep. Chairman Plata stated that the first lift station breakdown Mr. Campbell had given him prior to this meeting for the 2002 repairs is not the same as this spreadsheet. Mr. Campbell advised that those were repairs made that required a part to be used. Mr. Campbell said he did not realize that Chairman Plata wanted so much detail, so he went back and made this one. Chairman Plata stated that the Lift Station budget has four personnel. City Manager Malone said that was correct and the city is a training ground. Sometimes there is an open position and, in the past few years, he has kept a position in the lift station division, water production division, and one at the wastewater treatment plant. He said sometimes the city fills that position, there might be someone training, or some drops off, but most of the time the city is City Council W~er & Sewer Subcommi~ee May15,2003 Page 19 saving that money. City Manager Malone said what he would like to recommend to the committee is that they take some time and visit these facilities and actually see in person what the facilities are, how complex they are, get demonstrations on how the system works and actually understand how these processes work in treating water and treating wastewater and what a lift station does, how large it is, and where it is located, and get some sense of what type business the city is running. He said it is difficult to envision that some major changes could be made in our operation based on data that is really not relevant to what it is that we are trying to do because this is a very serious matter that affects the public health along with the economy of our town. He said they are committed to work in ways that are reasonable and in ways where the city could cut back. City Manager Malone said the proposed budgets are coming in from the department heads and he will be working on those this next week. He stated that one area of concern is the Campbell Soup rate and it is on all of our minds. City Manager Malone said the wastewater does not have a serious impact on that, and they will be looking at all the things for the next year and see if we can find ways to hold it down and level it out and recoup. City Manager Malone said the city is in the red and is approaching the situation of violating our bond covenants. He said there is a water production study going on and when that is completed, the city will know what our plant capacity is and what the plant actually treats along with what we have available for sale. The City Manager said we have been discussing our water treatment plant capacity as being 36 million gallons a day and that is the designed production of that plant at a .5 turbidity unit, and that has changed. He said that the regulations have gone down to a .3 turbidity unit and this is going to change the capacity of our plant. He explained another limitation on the plants production as we have a contract with Lamar Power Partners to provide up to 8 million gallons per day of raw water. He said that, presently, the city can receive 28 million gallons a day of raw water from Pat Mayse with the facilities that we have. The City Manager said they were doing a study to see how much silt that is in Lake Crook, but they have the possibility of delivering 8 million gallons a day for Lake Crook, so that bring us up to 28 million gallons a day. He explained that, due to these factors, at this time, under no City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 20 circumstance would the city be able to actually run 36 million gallons a day through that plant because the city does not have the available water to do it. He said that there are many variables in this and the time of the year is going to make a difference. He said before we sit down with our contract customers like Lamar County Water Supply or anyone else who might wish to have the availability of more water, we had to have the production study completed. He said that before the city can negotiate that contract or any contract, the city needs the results of that study to know what capacity is available because the city does not know. Chairman Plata gave a handout and advised that this is a schedule that Mr. Campbell gave him for Water Production. He has been looking at this and, if he is reading it correctly, the number two' s are day personnel; they work in the daytime. Mr. Campbell said that is correct. Chairman Plata said the number three's works on the shift, 4:00 P.M. to midnight. The number one's work nights, midnight to 8:00 A.M. Chairman Plata said he looked at this and the city has three operators on Tuesday and has two operators on days, Wednesday the city has four operators, Thursday the city has three operators, and on Friday the city has three operators. He said that, on the weekends the city is back to two operators, and another thing, the city has one operator on nights along with one maintenance worker, which makes sense to him, and on second shift the city has two operators. He asked, ~Where is the maintenance worker?" He said there is an overlapping taking place and it appears excessive to him. Chairman Plata pointed out that with him being in maintenance and taking care of equipment, he did not understand the feasability of the city not having a maintenance worker on second shift with these operators. Mr. Campbell went back and explained that the first shift is from midnight to 8:00 A.M., the second shift goes from 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. and the third shift is from 4:00 P.M. to midnight. Councilwoman Neeley said that anything that is a two is from 8:00A.M. to 4:00 P.M. She said she sees what Chairman Plata is saying, all these maintenance workers are designated as two's, which is the 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. shift, except for two which are on the night shift, and she wanted to know what happens on that night shift. Mr. Campbell advised that they do not do maintenance on that shift. He said that they do not need to do City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 21 maintenance and the midnight shift, when there is no one out there, this maintenance person cleans up, sweeps the floors, mops, paints, and does all the janitorial type things. Chairman Plata asked if on second shift there was a pump problem, would a maintenance man be called in. Mr. Campbell said that, yes, they would call a maintenance man in. Mr. Campbell went back to the list of operators and asked the committee to look at the last three employees, Kendall Esch, Jerry Rico, and Brandon Lewis. He said that those are all relatively new operators, so they are still in training, and they do not just stick them on the midnight shift. He said that the training is why they are on the daytime shift. Mr. Campbell said they will be working around all of the shifts because, later on, the midnight shift is probably the easiest shift. Gene Anderson, Director of Finance, asked Mr. Campbell if the demands on the system make a difference on how you schedule the employees. Mr. Campbell stated that it really did not make a difference. He said it is the extra curricular things that the employees have to do that has the effect on the scheduling. He gave an example of cutoff day, when the ones that come on at 4:00 P. M. spend two hours just answering the telephone because the people in the Finance Department have gone home at 5:00 P.M. after cutting off unpaid accounts. Chairman Plata said the wastewater treatment plant is about the same as the water treatment plant. Mr. Campbell replied that most of the maintenance is done in the daytime. Chairman Plata said that by checking the budget, that department increased by two employees this year. Mr. Anderson advised that it could be a typo and he would check. Mr. Anderson said that, to the best of his knowledge, there had not been an increase in the number of employees in the wastewater treatment plant. Chairman Plata stated that after looking at the schedule, at the time he started checking he was not out to cut anybody's j ob or anything, but then he started checking people. Chairman Plata said Mr. Campbell said his numbers were wrong and he called City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 22 Greenville back and talked to Larry Olson who is their Water Superintendent. Chairman Plata said Mr. Olson told him that he does not have maintenance in water production. Mr. Olson said that there are four employees that stay in sewer maintenance and they provide maintenance for the water production and sewer maintenance by splitting their time. Mr. Campbell said he had talked to Mr. Olson several times, but he did not have that information. Chairman Plata asked Mr. Campbell if Mr. Olsen had told him, as far as the lift stations, about the SSIP. Mr. Campbell said he did. Chairman Plata said that is a Sewer System Improvement Project and they are in trouble like Paris was about the manholes overflowing. He said what they are doing is a capital project and they have 7 people placed in this division and they work manholes, sewer and any breaks in the sewer system, but they also gave them the lift stations. Mr. Campbell said there are two people out of that SSIP Program that take care of the lift stations. He said that those 2 people are dedicated to the lift stations and also work on other things, but they mainly do work on the lift stations. Mr. Campbell said Greenville has 13 lift stations where the City of Paris has 18 lift stations and Greenville's largest pump at the lift station is about a 35 HP, and the City of Paris's largest pump is 148 HP. Mr. Campbell also added that on the SSIP Program they have been charging $0.90 per 1,000 gallons extra on their sewer charge for the last five years and they are getting ready to sell 10 million dollars of Water and Sewer Revenue Bonds so they can finish up that SSIP Project. He said that is going to affect Greenville's water and sewer rate the same way that debt affects the rate for the City of Paris. Mr. Plata said that people have told him that he has been had because Mr. Campbell says his numbers are not correct; but he did not think so. He said he is getting his input by talking to all of the other cities. He said that the more he talks to people the more he has seen that improvements can be made in the operation of the water production and the wastewater treatment plants. City Manager Malone asked Chairman Plata if he had seen Greenville's plant and he said no. City Manager Malone said the two plants are completely different. Mr. Campbell said he has a lot of information on Greenville because he has a copy of their budget. Chairman Plata said Greenville is having to cut City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 23 down on the amount of employees they have in the wastewater and water plants because their City Council was ready to privatize. City Manager Malone advised, that just a couple of weeks ago, the City Manager of Greenville told him that Greenville only reduced their staffing by two. He also said that the privatization discussion happened 7 or 8 years ago and that EPA had recommended against privatization. He said that the Council in Greenville talked about it and turned it down completely. Greenville did not reduce a vast number of employees like we have been discussing here. They eliminated two positions according to the City Manager. He said we have already been talking about three positions that we typically do not keep filled anyway because he has been holding the cost back because we have been having a flat budget. He has been trying to make it with these low budgets. Chairman Plata said he did not understand why you include people that are not in the budget because it goes against the cost of everything. City Manager Malone explained that there are a lot of things that happen. The city has just had a major problem at the water treatment plant, and he does not know how much it cost, but $10,000.00 of that was not budgeted. He said these line items move around, you might budget $85,000.00 and wind up at the end of the year saving $30,000.00 of it because you have made a different decision or found another way to solve a problem; but you have to have some type of money in your budget for the contingency. He said that you cannot always count on lucking out or coming up with something to cut a corner. He added that you have to have some type of money in the budget and it is going to change from year to year. Chairman Plata said you are going to do this with empty spots for people in the budget. City Manager Malone said no they are not going to be empty spots because they believe those positions are necessary they provide those positions to use for training because the city cannot hire anyone here for what we paid to start someone out that has that kind of license. He said that the city has to train them and work them up to the positions. He stated that he is not saying that we are not looking at reducing those three positions. He is saying that he has held those position back because Mr. Campbell is always telling him he needs those positions and get them trained because we may have two positions open at one time and we may have to let City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 24 someone go. City Manager Malone stated that he was not being disrespectful to people who are just learning. Councilwoman Neeley asked whether when Mr. Plata called back to Greenville and they talked employee numbers, did Greenville have people doing work in the water and sewer that are not in the water and sewer budget, but located somewhere else. Chairman Plata stated that they are in the water and sewer budget but they are in another division off of water and sewer. City Manager Malone said that further illustrates what we have been saying. You cannot make simplistic comparisons with Greenville or any other city because they have a different treatment process. City Manager Malone said he is willing to look at anything, be conservative, cut back, and he felt that they have been doing that, but we are always looking at ways to help the City of Paris. City Manager Malone pointed out that this is an on going process. He said that if they find a way to save money or solve a problem where they do not have to go buy something off the shelf, they are going to do it. He said he has seen people at the plants innovate things that are just unbelievable. City Manager Malone said he went out there one time when he was on the City Council, and a man had fallen off into the sewer channel and scratched himself because he was laying down on a 2" x 12" board that was molded and wet and he could have drowned if he hit on his head with no one out there. He said that has been corrected. He explained that there are now safety rails, cat walks, automatic greasers and they cleaned that place up and they have the proper people to do the maintenance and training for the people and proper supervision. He said that this also applies to the water treatment plant. He said he was proud of the things these people have done and he did not think this should be taken lightly that we just make a simplistic comparison and say that we are not doing a good job. He felt that the Committee and the City Council, as a whole, they need workshops and they needed to go out and look that what they are talking about. City Manager Malone said there is a water and sewer rate increase before he city, and these suggestions are not going to solve that problem. What is driving that water and sewer rate increase is the mandates and the debt and there is very little impact that any tweaking or major whacking on these City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 25 employers is going to have on this water and sewer rate. City Manager Malone said they are going to try to figure out a way to work with the committee and try to find ways to be innovative and to do the best that they could do. He said they are going to take a close look at it and that staff was talking with Campbell Soup and felt that they can come up with a rate for them that is a little more palatable. Mr. Campbell asked Chairman Plata if Mr. Olson told him how much it cost to produce a thousand gallons of water? Chairman Plata said he got the charge for how much they charge for water. Mr. Campbell said the City of Paris produces water for $0.56 per thousand gallons; Greenville produces the same amount of water for $0.79 per thousand gallons; Corsicana produces it for $0.62 per thousand gallons; Mt. Pleasant produces for $0.55 per thousand gallons; Denison produces for $0.48 per thousand gallons, but 25% of their water comes from water wells and it is going to be lower. The person he spoke to in Sherman was the Director of Engineering in Utilities and he said to have Mr. Plata call him so he could explain it to him because it is too complicated to talk about on the telephone and to get it second hand because they have a lot of different cost areas that goes into their water production rate. He said, for example, Sherman has wells which furnish only part of the city with water and they have a plant which furnishes the other part of the city and on the tail end of that plant, they have a another system that takes salt and other chemicals out of the water because they get their water from Lake Texoma, which has salt in it. Mr. Campbell said, not knowing their cost, but take Greenville for instance, they have fewer people, but it cost more money to produce their water. Relating it to people does not have a lot to do with it as far as that goes; that part of it, but it is not all of it by any means. Chairman Plata said the way he sees it putting maintenance on instead of operators will only benefit the city. Mr. Campbell said it depends on what they are doing. Mr. Campbell asked if Chairman Plata has a problem with them doing maintenance during day light hours, he said he did not understand what the problem is. Chairman Plata said he had a problem with all of the people on maintenance out there being on day light hours because there cannot be that much work to keep all those maintenance people busy. City Manager Malone said he had been dealing with City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 26 the water treatment plant from more than 20 years and he does not feel qualified to make these types of recommendations without getting the input of qualified engineers and qualified operators. He said he was comfortable with the operation and he could see results. He said he knew what the operation was, and he knows what it is now. Chairman Plata said he knew maintenance and he knows for a fact that he has dealt with heavy equipment the type that is used at the water treatment plant, the pumps and valves. Chairman Plata said that cannot take that long. Mr. Campbell said these maintenance workers go out under the spray field where the city deposes of the sludge. He said that Greenville landfills their sludge and wanted to know how long the EPA is going to let them keep land filling their sludge. He answered the question by saying not very long. He said that their permit in Greenville is up for renewal. Chairman Plata said at the water treatment plant you have one supervisor, an operator IV, two operator III's and five operator II's for a total of eight employees. What he is suggesting is the city go with shifts with one operator on each shift for a total of four shifts. You will have one straight day operator and one supervisor, you will have one Maintenance IV, one II! level maintenance, two level II maintenance, and one level I maintenance for a total of seven. If you put these employees on shifts along with the operators, then you will have two people on a shift all the time around the clock. Mr. Campbell said they did not need maintenance workers on all shifts. Chairman Plata said that at the Sewer Treatment Plant you have one supervisor, you have three level IV operators, four level III operators, four level II operators, and one level I operator for a total of nine employees. Chairman Plata said he was proposing the same thing: one shift operator, and on maintenance you have one level II maintenance worker, you have three II level maintenance workers, you have three level II maintenance workers, and you have six level ! maintenance workers and you go to four shifts, one worker per shift. He said that way you will have two people out there around the clock and two straight maintenance workers in the daytime. He said you will have a total of 6 maintenance personnel and they will work at both places especially when there is work to do. He said you could let one be at the water treatment City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 27 and one be at the wastewater treatment. Councilman Plata said that there will be a total of 6 people at the water production plant Monday through Friday; there will be one supervisor, two operators, and three maintenance workers. He said that there will be a total of five people at the sewer treatment plant Monday through Friday; one supervisor, one operator, and three maintenance workers. He said that these employees will have to work 12 hours shifts and not over- lap. Chairman Plata said he has some demonstrations of 12 hour shifts and gave the committee a copy of his proposed schedule of shifts. Chairman Plata said that he even went to Police Chief Louis who has just changed to the 12 hour shifts. He said when you go to 12 hour shifts, you work three days and get three days off. He said that the city can try this, and the people might even like it. He said that the city can keep them straight shifts and that the city wouldn't have to rotate them back from night to days and they will have two weekends off a month. Mr. Anderson asked Chairman Plata how many hours a week will that be. Chairman Plata said that if you work them straight it would be 42 hours a week and total 84 hours every two weeks. Chairman Plata said in the Police Department they have one person come in for eight hours and they are able to keep the hours at 80, and they say it is working out real well. Mr. Anderson asked if they work 4 days at 12 hours? Chairman Plata said they were working three days one week and four days the next week. Mr. Campbell asked if Chairman Plata was telling him that you are comparing the work in the Police Department with the work at the wastewater treatment plant. Chairman Plata said he was not comparing the work, but he was tell him the coverage is more economical to cover this with 12 hour shifts than it is 8 hour shifts. Mr. Campbell said he was talking about the work involved and the people involved. Becky Weems asked about the vacation and sick time. Chairman Plata said those are covered by people who are off. He said that they have to come in and work in the place of the person who is going to be off. Anna Wims questioned the accidents that happen in your plant because she City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 28 worked for Earth Grains for a while and she worked those long shifts and there were a lot of accidents. She said that in the water and wastewater plants we do not have a lot of accidents because we do not have those long 12 hours shifts. Chairman Plata said the night shifts you get tired and he thought that there has been one accident occurred and it happened on days, but the normal is muscle strains or pulled backs or things of that nature. David Wims advised that for the most part, the people who work at the water plant are not people who are geared for 12 hour shifts. He said that they feel pretty well brutalized at the end of eight hours. Mr. Anderson stated that the other issue is the week they work four days, that is 8 hours overtime. He said it does not work that way with the Police Department because they fall under a different law. He said that if they were called in to work a shift for someone that did not come in, all of those hours will be overtime. Chairman Plata said that anything over 40 hours is what Kimberly Clark did, you do not get paid hours over eight. Mr. Anderson pointed out that would be 48 hours and the city would have to pay for 8 hours overtime plus if someone is out and you called them back, that would be all overtime. City Attorney Schenk advised that the Police Department is under Civil Service law and they had to elect to change their schedule. At 5:56 P.M., Chairman Plata announced that the committee would take a short break. At 6:08, Chairman Plata reconvened the meeting. Chairman Plata said that the schedule that he had given out is a Kimberly Clark schedule. Skipper Steely said, as a citizen, he is probably the only one who remembered Bill King and the way it went before Mr. Campbell took over the Utilities, and also the only citizen in here that has studied all these budgets from all these towns, that you have mentioned. Mr. Steely said he could not find a comparable way to ever compare any town in any category with Paris. He said that Paris is unique, different, but he has seen this plant from the time where City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 29 you would not put a foot in that creek to a few years later where you wanted to drink the water coming out of that creek. He said that it smelled good. Mr. Steely said he watched the whole thing evolve from just a piece of junk to an efficiently run, pretty nice plant that he would trust completely. Mr. Steely stated that he disagreed with Mr. Malone a lot. He said that he has been informed all these years and watched every budget since 1968. He also watched the water plant be created in Commerce and he knows a little bit about the creation of the plant. One of the things he agrees completely with Mr. Malone is he hires people that are good. There is not one manager in this whole group that he has hired that he wouldn't trust. Mr. Steely stated that he did not believe that a City Council should micro-manage nor a School Board. He said that when you get into micro-managing then you might as well fire the guy. He said that Mr. Plata was trying to be a more of an expert than the guy you hired and if he disappoints you that much, then you get to the point where you budget strictly and then he operates off that budget. He said that to get into micro-managing and start talking about shifts and people and how many categories to work together is not what the City Council is designed to do. He said it is designed to set policy and then you have the option of removing the Manager if you do not like the way the policy is done. The City Manager has the option of removing the Water Superintendent if he does not like they way it is done. Mr. Steely said he watched it happen one day. He said that for weeks and months, Mr. Campbell had a good time just messing around and enjoying life and Mr. Malone walked up and took him away, but we have had one heck ora nice operation and that he would bet on that Mr. Campbell needs what he says needs. Mr. Steely said, to get into micro-management, he has worked 12 hour shifts at Kimberly Clark and he has watched 6 people operate a machine that should have had four on it. He watched the engineers streamline the machine to where there is only four and eliminate those one or two as you go down the line looking at the machine. Mr. Steely said he watched people sleep at night on 12 hour shift and he had watched people get hurt. He said that 12 hour shifts are terrible to him and in talking to J. Mac Janes, who works and Kimberly Clark, there was not a guy on the floor over 50 years old. He said that those shifts are not made for the normal work that takes some decision making. He said the K/C machines are made to run like a City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 30 printing press; once you get them set and going, you can let them run. Mr. Steely stated that he did not think you can run a water plant that way. Mr. Steely stated that it would take a lot more studying and planning before he would ever change any of our system here, but the best way is through the budgeting process. Chairman Plata stated that he was tired of seeing taxes going up and the rates going up and that is about all they seem to do. He said that staff do not know how to budget and they do not know how to cut costs, or they do not want to. He said he has seen an opportunity here and that he wasn't one to do this. He wanted to check with other cities and make sure everything comes back because he always gets hammered because the water rates are going up and that is what people are already griping about. Mr. Steely said that when someone tells you what their water bill is and when they say $70.00, Mr. Steely told Chairman Plata to ask them what portion of that is for water. Chairman Plata said it does not matter; that when people look at their water bill they look at the total bill. Mr. Steely said it does matter. He said that customers need to be educated on what the water bill is because those other things on the bill are nice amenities that city has to take care of for the city that can be clean and there are things that each Council has voted on down through the last thirty years to be place on the water bill. Mr. Steely said the water bills are not that high, his water cost him $6.75 and the sewer is about the same and he did not use water on those three months they tell me not to use it in the winter so he can water his lawn in the summer and fall. Mr. Steely asked Mr. Plata to jump on the county contract. Chairman Plata said he realized about the county contract and that is another issue and he asked the water consultant about that. Mr. Steely stated that Mr. Campbell figured out a way to make his departments more efficient, and that is fine. Chairman Plata said he was concerned about the citizens and the people that are retired and on fixed incomes. Mr. Steely stated that they make more than he does, and he understands and he does not want to try to raise that money. He said that he wanted them to water their lawns and make this town beautiful. Mr. Steely again stated that the City Council is here to set policy; not to manage what City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 31 these managers were hired to do to do. He said that is not the way it is set up. He said that the city will not run properly, if you want to do that; you will lose your good managers. He said that it is the City Manager's job to do this. He told Mr. Plata that it is his job is to set the budget and tell the manager how you want it run and make sure the city doesn't get in trouble and that is basically it. Chairman Plata said that the city would be better situated to put the lift station employees in the sewer maintenance department of Public Works and sewer maintenance could help them and that would take a big relief for some of them. Anna Wims explained that this crew is essential. She said that you have to have them, depending on whether they can break away from the wastewater treatment plant. She said that you are going to have sewage cut off at houses and you will have upset citizens. Ms. Wims said you would not want that to happen at your plant because it will stop production. Chairman Plata said they were still leaving two people dedicated to lift stations, but they are working out of the sewer maintenance. He said he did not believe that they are that busy. Ms. Wims said that these men work hard. She said she works with these men and they are necessary. She said Chairman Plata needs to come out and see the facilities, because he did not understand it. She said he was talking about eliminating things from the budget, and he was talking about peoples' health. There are things in the water such as Cryptosporidium, this can kill people, and we are suppose to be preventing that from happening. She said that the biggest priority is safe drinking water. Ms. Wims said that if you do not understand the need for things that you want removed from the budget, you can potentially kill people in this town. Councilwoman Neeley said that she did not think that any of the committee or the people who voted to create this Ad Hoc Committee and have them serve on it meant in any way, shape, or form for the committee to be micro-managing what goes on at the water and sewer plants. She said that, as City Manager Malone indicated earlier, she was as much a water person as anybody else due to living with Charlie Neeley for all those years. She said they were elected by City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 32 the people to look at how the city' s money is spent how the budget is prepared and, whatever comes out of this, she felt it is a very valuable thing because they have gotten a lot public awareness of the problems that Mr. Campbell faces every day in his departments, and what Mr. Malone faces trying to make a budget and what the City Council faces trying to give people a Cadillac city on a Ford Escort budget. She said that no one is mad at anyone no one is trying to cause anyone to lose a job. She said that they are just trying to find a way to stretch this rubber band that has stretch ed about as far as it can go and not break it. Councilwoman Neeley stated that Councilman Plata has done all the work and spent his time doing all the calling to gathering the information that he has presented. She said that the City Council has got to also find a way so that we do not run people out of town because we are careless with the city funds. Chairman Plata said they are not trying to micro-manage they are trying to eliminate some of the budget. Mr. Campbell stated that he agreed with what Councilwoman Neeley said and they try to do that to. So we are not here just to go out and spend all this money, we want to get something for our money. Mr. Campbell stated that he wanted to explain that the controllers on these valves have to precisely control the water. He said it is no different in Kimberly Clark controlling the tension on a sheet of plastic by the speed of spline. It has to be done; otherwise, you are going to lose a lot of money. Chairman Plata said that is correct. Councilwoman Neeley want to know if the new controllers that were purchased can be maintained and kept in operation like they have done everything else at the water treatment plant. Mr. Campbell explained that the new ones are of a much higher quality than those being replaced. The new ones will last a lot longer by just the nature of being because they only have two moving parts where the old ones have nine moving parts. Mr. Campbell advised that the pieces they have removed can be used on these other valves that simply open and close. Mr. Wims advised that some of those pistons were put in in1965. Mr. Campbell said they have been rebuilt City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 33 over and over and now the city can buy a new controller for $2,500.00. In order to rebuild just the piston alone that you are controlling will cost $1,800.00 to $1,900.00. Chairman Plata questioned the cost for the 10 he was replacing at a cost of $85,000.00. City Manager Malone indicated that was incorrect. Mr. Campbell said the controllers were on the list that was furnished and they cost about $3,000.00 each. City Manager Malone advised that this is a budget account included filter media and others things. He said that it is a maintenance budget and the minutes do not reflect that. Councilman Plata said regarding his handout he was suggesting that with the cut of 13 employees from the water production and sewer treatment plants, and two from the lift stations, (he figured the salaries of 15 employees on an annual average of $25,000.00) for a total of $375,000.00. He added 20% for benefits for a total of $75,000.00. Chairman Plata said you could forget the $100,000.00 for valves eliminated from the budget and remove the sludge removal equipment eliminated from the budget of $40,000.00, but you say can cut as much as $20,000.00. He said that the $18,000.00 for a new vehicle can be eliminated. Chairman Plata said the new manpower schedule he has outlined will give the water production plant and the water treatment plant coverage around the clock. He said it will put maintenance personnel on shift along with a production operator. Councilman Plata said that the personnel will go to a rotating shift, which is a more economical method of manning plants around the clock. Also, he said, this schedule would give three maintenance people along with two production operators and a supervisor on days for any major breakdowns. He said, looking at the maintenance breakdown sheets that were provided by Mr. Campbell, the manpower that will be allocated to the plant should be sufficient to handle any problems. He said, along with these cuts, all of the tractors and mowing equipment can be taken to the parks department. He explained that one riding mower, one push mower and one weed eater can be left at the water production plant and at the sewer treatment plant so the yards around the buildings and roads can be maintained. The parks department could be grown by 4 to 6 people so to be responsible for mowing the outlying fields at the City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 34 water production plant, sewer treatment plant, and the lift stations. Chairman Plata said there is a big piece of property on Center Street that was donated to the city for recreational purposes. He said that now is the time for a backstop to be put up and maybe a couple of soccer goals so teams can have places to practice. He said that, also, when the sports complex and the new police station come on line, the personnel will hopefully be in place to provide upkeep on the grounds. Chairman Plata said he had said before that he does not enjoy proposing job cuts, but he felt that serious cuts are needed to avoid raising rates too much. He said that also, there is a more economical way to manage the water and sewer plants and we should be striving to reach those goals. Mr. Campbell stated that they strive everyday to manage as best as they can. Mr. Campbell advised that he has two problems with these two proposals. One problem, he said, is he does not need a maintenance man on every shift; he needs those maintenance men out there during daylight hours doing the major part of the maintenance and he would rather do anything else. He said that if he could get rid of the mowing, that would be the most wonderful thing in the world, but that man mowing the grass can't fix a pump, but the man mowing the grass at the water treatment plant can come and help fix that pump, and that is the big difference. Mr. Campbell said that the man not only works on pumps here, he mows grass too. Mr. Campbell also stated that they work outside and they do not work inside all the time. Mr. Plata said that is enough said, and he understands what he is saying, but Mr. Campbell has not convinced him that it takes that much personnel to do everything, so, that is what he is going to be recommending if these other Council Members go along with the recommendations. Mr. Campbell stated that in 1987 when he came to Paris and took over this department he had 15 less employees. He said that he is not going to manage a department that goes back to those years because we will not be City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 35 accomplishing the things we are doing. He stated that the city had not added anyone in 10 years and they have tremendous additional burdens that have been applied to the city by the EPA and the TECQ. Mr. Campbell said no one has given a thought to that. He said he is not talking about in Greenville or Mt. Pleasant, he is talking about here in Paris, Texas. City Manager Malone said that city staff will take this and explore these suggestions about the shifts changes that are proposed and analyze this information. He said they will continue to talk with the Campbell Soup Company. He advised that they are in the budget process and are receiving departmental budgets this week and they will see what staff is able to recommend that they think is reasonable to solve all these problems to some extent. The City Manager said he is not going to say they will be able to lower this rate increase. He said that, in talking about the present budget, that is not going to have any effect on the rate, it is the next budget and it's the budget year after year. He explained that you can defer maintenance for a year or two, three or four, but it catches up to you. Mr. Malone said that the city does have to keep an even keel when you are making budgets and making rates. City Manager Malone advised that he knows that Campbell Soup is concerned about the rates, but there is a reason that the rate developed like it did. He said that part of that reason is they were doing a study and waiting three years to make an adjustment. He said that, in the mean time, the cost allocated to Campbell Soup actually dropped over the three year period, but in the mean time, they used less water for a variety of reasons. He said that makes the rates go up when you are buying water on the volume basis. Mr. Malone said that you get a great deal because you are purchasing so much volume but when you reduce your volume, your rate goes up. He advised that the city is going to have to figure out a way to work with our soup company and work with other systems to be fair with everyone and try to find a way to make this thing work. He did not think that doing something drastic is going to be the solution. Chairman Plata asked the City Manager if he wanted to have another meeting and come back next week. City Manager Malone said he did not know about City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 36 next week as there were so many things going on, and explained all the things that he and the city staff are working on. Councilwoman Neeley stated that, as a committee, they have done about all they can do and the Mayor is looking at scheduling a meeting the last week of the month. City Manager Malone said that he could forward all of this to all of the Council Members. Councilwoman Neeley said the three Committee Members cannot decide anything. Chairman Plata asked if they wanted to take a vote to the council or try to come back with something else to take to the City Council. City Manager Malone advised that they can do an analysis of what was presented and look at the whole idea of the shifts and what that means, how it would work with the laws in place, and what that would accomplish. He stated that there are things that jump out at him such as some of these employees going into the General Fund. He said that there is no money in the General fund to pay them and those jobs will be lost. He said that the city will not be able to add people in the parks departments and they will not be in the position to mow. Mr. Malone said that there is no money for that; it would have to come from a totally separate thing. He said that the property taxes would have to be raised to do that. Councilwoman Neeley stated the question is do you want this committee to meet again or do you want it the way we have it right now with your answers to go to the whole Council and have a meeting. City Manager Malone said it was subject to the recommendation, whatever the committee decided how you want to handle it. He was just saying that they are going to need a little time to analyze this and get some answers and they need some time to come up with what we are planning to offer the City Council in the budget. He advised that they were working to get the budget out early as was mentioned. The City Manager said since we are talking about water and sewer rates, they are going to concentrate on the water and sewer departments first. So, anything they can do and when we figure out what they can do and consult with the rate consultant and talk about our debt service and every other thing that enters into City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 37 it. He said this is not a simple thing it is pretty complex. The City Manager stated that they may have a recommendation and whatever they recommend, they will recommend something that they think is reasonable and responsible. He said that it may not make everyone happy. Mr. Malone said that there is no way to avoid a rate increase because of the debt that was issued several years ago and they did not raise the rates at the time it was issued. He said that the city issued the debt to meet an EPA mandate, and met that, and, in the process, they saved the tax payers 7 million dollars. He said he had a list of dirty water complaints along with sewer and point repairs that they are doing daily. City Manager Malone said they are getting the overhead tank constructed, which will help Campbell Soup, along with fire protection. Chairman Plata said two people called him about the dirty water and they say it is reoccurring ever three of four months. The City Engineer is working on it. City Engineer Napier reported that this is an on going; it was being done when he was hired and they have continued these projects. He said that he is getting replacement schedules together to replace a lot of those lines causing rusty water problems. The way he is handling it is if he gets 10 calls on one street, and one call on another street, he is going to repair the line where the 10 calls first. The City Engineer said there are contractors doing it along with Public Works, which also has a crew that does some water and sewer repairs. Mr. Napier said that they have their hands full repairing leaks and unstopping sewer lines. Chairman Plata said one private contractor does water, one does sewer, and one does manholes, and if these people are having problems reoccurring every 3 or 4 months, couldn't the city get someone else to come in and replace these lines. City Manager Malone said they were open to other contractors and that is something that we can consider doing. He said the city only has so many inspectors available. We don't want to increase and hire dedicated personnel and increase the budget in that respect because you have to have someone supervising the work and we are doing work by the day and it is our paid employees making sure that we get what we are paying for and making sure the pipe is being installed properly. City Manager Malone also said the work by City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 38 the day had saved the city a lot of money. Charles Waldrum, Attorney for Tenaska, said that one thing that they did not get to on the agenda was discussion of the privatization of the operation of the water and sewer system. He said the only thing he wanted to say about that was the Committee and Council needs to keep in mind that there are contracts between the City of Paris and Tenaska along with several other entities, and any sort of privatization needs to take into account the language in those different contracts because they may not be compatible without some sort of analysis. Chairman Plata said what he wanted to say on the privatization, if Councilwoman Neeley, and Councilman Weekly would go along with this, he just today got the cities that did not renew the contract with this company and he has contacted one city and it was not good. He stated that he really did not want to take the position of recommending the privatization because he has not talked to enough cities. Councilwoman Neeley said she thought they had sort of moved that on to the whole City Council by having them make their presentation to the Council this week. She said that the issue has moved passed the committee on what they were going to recommend on that and should be left to the whole Council. Chairman Plata said that would be left to the whole Council, but they asked him if they were going to recommend it. He said he did not know one way or the other at this point. Mr. Campbell asked Chairman Plata if he had asked any citizens about that and what they think about privatization. Kelly Sanders with A-1 Sanitation, was present stating that they had been in business since 1961 and have a good working relationship with the City of Paris. He asked that someone talk to someone with TCEQ and gave the committee a handout regarding privatization. Mr. Sanders said he talked to a Mark Dixon at TCEQ this morning and he is one of the people that the wastewater plant has to answer to when they get out of compliance. Mr. Sanders said that he did not know how to run a water or wastewater plant but Mr. Dixon does, and he is the one that issues the fines when they do get out of City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 39 compliance. Mr. Sanders said that Mr. Dixon states that the other plants that he goes to that get out of compliance that are on privatization are out of compliance constantly. He said that the reason is that the company that comes in and runs the plant is not held responsible for being out of compliance because they do not own the plant. TCEQ is going to come down on the city, not that private operator because the owner of that plant is the City of Paris. Mr. Sanders recommended to the committee that they should talk with Mr. Dixon. Chairman Plata stated that you have to place that feature in the contract to make them be responsible. Mr. Sanders said that was true, and they can save the city money the first year on cut back and other things, but after that, you will start having maintenance expenses that are astronomical because they are not keeping up the equipment. Mr. Sanders told the committee that he did not recommend privatization to any city that is not having problem with compliance, he also said the City of Paris is not having that problem. Mr. Campbell stated that the city has never violated a water treatment rule and the city has been fined $5,000.00 at the wastewater plant because some sludge got out of the spray zoning and got into the buffer zone about 16 years ago. The only time the city has been in noncompliance is in the collection system. Chairman Plata stated that he wanted everyone to understand that he has never said and will not say that the water production plant is not run properly. The only thing that he is saying is that it can be done a little more efficiently. Mr. Plata assured everyone that he will go out and look at the water treatment plant and the wastewater treatment plant and said he would get with Mr. Wims on Monday. City Manager Malone advised that the tour should be scheduled through his office. Chairman Plata said this is going to the City Council unless Councilwoman City Council Water & Sewer Subcommittee May 15, 2003 Page 40 Neeley and Councilman Weekly get back with him before the last week in May, and see if Mayor Fendley wants to set a special meeting. Mr. Campbell wanted to know if they are going to a try to adopt the water rates by June 1 st. City Manager Malone advised that they were unsure because they are still in the process of talking with Campbell Soup and these issues must be worked through. Chairman Plata stated that by the end of May they needed to be finished. Councilwoman Neeley suggested that the issue be taken to the City Council on the last week in May and then, if the City Council is not satisfied, the Mayor can provide another direction. Chairman Plata told Mr. Anderson that, regarding the shifts he had recommended that there is a problem with the overtime, and said he would get with Mr. Gill at Kimberly-Clark and see how they handle the four day shift. Ms. Wims pointed out that wages are considerably higher at Kimberly-Clark than at the City of Paris and you have to keep that in mind. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. BENNY PLATA, CHAIRMAN ATTEST: MATTIE CUNNINGHAM, CITY CLERK