 Welcome to the back story on water in Longmont one of the one of the topics and issues near and dear to every Longmont resident. This is your opportunity as a listener to the back story to learn what you might not otherwise have a chance to learn by reading the local newspaper or just listening to city council meetings. What's coming on potentially on the on the November ballot. That is part of the city of Longmont's long term plan to ensure high quality and high reliability in terms of our water resources. So what does that mean. What it means is this every time you turn on a faucet or a spigot. If you count 100% of the time you're going to get high quality fresh drinking water out of that faucet or spigot and the three people who are in this program with me today are the people who bring that reliability and quality to the citizens of Longmont. So I'm joined in this program by three of the city's experts. Dale Rattamaker, who is our deputy city manager now with oversight for public works and natural resources. Longmont public communications and next slide. Bob Allen, who's director of operations in our Department of Public Works and Natural Resources with responsibility for oversight of all of our. facilities having to do with water treatment and delivery. And all the infrastructure that goes along with that Becky Doyle is assistant director for business services and public work to natural resources so thanks to the three of you for joining me in this program. Before we before we get into the, the substance of what we're going to talk about today. It would be good to learn a little bit more about the three of you. And given the three old men in this, Becky, I'm going to ask you to start. Tell us a little bit more about you, right, your background and a little more detail of what you do for the city than just the title I just read. That's not extremely clear. I've worked for the city for almost eight years now. And before coming to the city I worked in the software industry in pricing and in finance and my educational background is in economics so I was very intrigued with the idea that I could work for a government and really have access to a lot of excellent data. And do some analysis that would be helpful for the community. So in my role now. You know I spent several years as an analyst really digging into that cost of service component for all the services that we provide out of our public works and natural resources department, which include water sewer storm drainage streets, waste services and parks and open space. And primarily on the budgeting capital planning and rate setting for those services. And now in my role as the director of business services. I received that financial aspect as well as our technology and customer service components. Well congratulations on a promotion. And, and I've said in these programs, a number of occasions. I do this as a volunteer for a long month public media city of Longmont public access television service provider. But from time to time I also acknowledge that I wear city council hat once in a while. And, and I will say with my city council hat on, everybody knows if they have a hard question to ask to which they want to really clear answer, when it comes to data or financial analyses they know the aspect. So, thanks for being here Bob Allen, tell us about you. Tim thanks for having us. I am Bob Allen I'm director of operations. As you mentioned, I have oversight responsibility for the portable water system, the day to day operations of that system are wastewater treatment and collection systems transportation and trash. I have been in the water utility business dating back to 1980 and have worked in various roles over the years from consulting to research to different utilities and water districts and here at Longmont now for 17 years. My, my job is my passion, which is really making sure that we're delivering daily, really good services right to the homes of our residents. After all these years I am still fired up by that. DL Radamaker, pick it up from there, tell us about you. Well thanks Tim. First of all, for me I think I have one of the easiest jobs in the city because I've got great people like Becky and Bob to work with every day. So Dale he's he's been here at the city for about going on 38 years. Resident of Longmont, or I should say a native of Longmont not a resident today but a native and really sort of had an incredibly fortunate career to have been able to work in my hometown all these years and and much like Bob be able to do work that passionate about that's important to us every day and and really doing everything we can to improve people's lives on a very basic level. You know we're not that we're not the sexiest department in the city but I've always said if something goes wrong here people are going to know it pretty quick and it does take really excellent staff and dedicated staff along with really sound infrastructure in order to be able to sort of ensure that that day in and day out delivery of high quality service. And certainly that's the case in our in our water utility. You know it's interesting Dale and I'm and I'm going to that kind of sets up where we want to get into the substance of this but just reflecting on your comments about if something goes wrong today in any in any of the things of the functions or services for which public works and natural resources is responsible or LPC or next slide. You hear about it pretty quickly. So that those day to day services and routines become critically important. But today we're going to talk about not just the day to day stuff and what could go on. Certainly, if we don't get it right, what we're going to talk about could go wrong and we all know about it. But you also have fairly significant responsibilities not just for day to day but for visioning and anticipating what comes down the road. And that's really what we're going to get into. Right. So, I want to we're going to share the backstory on a ballot initiative that's on the November election ballot that that's asking voters to approve the sale of bonds to spend a fair amount of money we're going to get into the amount of money but to create to update facilities to replace infrastructure and I'm certain to create some new structures or infrastructure or services to go along with this but before we get into what it's going to cost and and what it will pay for it would be useful to have kind of the big picture on on where what what's important here in terms of water rights, storage access, what it means to a place to a municipality like Longmont, where we will find ourselves in relationship to other municipalities in the range because so much of what you're going to bring to the public is is part of a bigger picture every every municipality is scrambling for more water more storage more water rights to ensure the future of these municipalities Longmont's in a pretty good position. We got to know what that big pictures of why we are positioned where we are. Well, Tim I think, first of all, and most important is that we're all the stewards of the system in this water. We're really here to continue the, the work of the folks that came before us. And Longmont is very fortunate to have had many visionary leaders in the past dating all the way back to the mid 1960s. Longmont Water Board was formed. It really was a foundational time for Longmont. Some of the early work that that folks did decades ago were completion of things like Ralph Price Reservoir and Button Rock Dam. It was a monumental task for a city the size of Longmont in the late 1960s to undertake the construction of a reservoir that is still to this day, our primary water supply for a city that now is approaching 100,000 people. And so really throughout the entire history of Longmont, you know, certainly in the 1960s it was important and going forward, but you can really look all the way back to the 1880s. You know, the water department was one of the first departments of the city, formed back in 1882, following a catastrophic fire on Main Street. And, you know, those the founders of the town back then realized the value of the importance of having a sound water system. And so thereafter, they started construction of things like the South, the pipeline coming out of the South St. Brain. So, it's really, you know, approaching 140 years of history of this community, diligently working and planning for the future. And that's not simply looking at today, as you mentioned, but really looking into the future. The reason that's so important is that you cannot wake up one day and decide, you know what, I think we need a new, we need a new reservoir. We need that in about a month. And on top of that, we may need to expand our water plan. We're probably going to need that about two months. It doesn't work that way. And so it really does take extensive and focus planning. The planning that we do, though, is in support of the Longmont Comprehensive Plan, which is really that larger vision of what the folks of Longmont want for their community going forward. And so, every plan that we do in the public works and natural resources sector is in support of that. And in the water utility, we do everything from long term master plans that again look all the way to the future, the future build out the condition of the city. And we look at it in all the different sectors. So we look at it from the treatment perspective, we look at it from the water supply perspective, we look at it from the distribution perspective. We look at it for the long term planning, and that plan effort is not a one time shot either. You have to continually look at it and update it as you go forward using better technology using better information than what you know the folks before us had. I think you also have to couple that together now though, with very strong asset management plans. And because it's critical that we maintain the, the infrastructure which is extensive to provide the water day in and day out. We can't simply focus on building the next new element. We have to do it collectively and comprehensively in the context of the overall system. And, you know, folks like Bob Alan are really experts at that kind of work. And we, we have really advanced I think as a utility. I think it's that I dare say, not every utility is where long one is with regards to our ability to maintain the assets and understand the value of doing that. I'm going to switch right to Bob issues of water rights, you know, big picture, but storage access delivery. I've been a lot in the, in the public discourse, local news in front of city council in the last few years. Why is it such a recurring topic. And what is it long modders should know that they might not, you know, otherwise read the newspaper or during a council meeting about about why this becomes so important. Where we store how we store, how we treat how we deliver and what we deliver. That's a, that's a good question, Tim. And I know it is one that's on everyone's mind long month. Dale talked about planning talked about planning and the discipline it takes to run a good utility organization. The one thing we've learned in the past years is that the future is a lot less predictable than what we thought it was going to be certainly when I entered this industry. And that requires a different level of planning and different thoughts about how we create a resilient utility resilient infrastructure, you know, a resilient source, and a resilient operation of all that, or all those assets to deliver clean, safe, potable water to residents. And that has become a lot more complicated. And I think that the, the analysis of how we used to develop, you know, water rights, water storage, the resource side of it has changed a lot over the years. And climate change has certainly driven a lot of our thinking on that. How are we going to be resilient in the future. And I think today, the question really centers around not just having a good water supply and the proper rights but, but the ability to retrieve those and under very different circumstances than in the past and for different types of demands than what we have originally anticipated. So the games changed a lot and, and none of us are experts on on the future so a lot of what we're looking at is looking at different scenarios and different outcomes, some which could be more dire than others and and we really have no choice to do that if you want to sustain a viable community like Longmont. Becky, a lot of the discussion in the last few years has been about water rates. What, what consumers are paying with the city of Longmont is charging. So, the question comes up from time to time. What, what, how do our rates compare. Are there how elastic is the, is the economy or, you know, the ability of, of individuals to pay. How do we compare to other other front range municipalities when it comes to the cost of fresh clean, safe water. Definitely like to say that we provide a good value with that, you know, clean, safe and reliable water, but also just on a straight basis where our costs are low. There have been significant rate increases in the past, you know, five to six years that have brought us from lowest among the cohort of you know northern front range municipalities to somewhere, you know, in the, in the low of those and but you know that's something that we keep track of not only where the water rates fall in that continuum but also the utility bills in total and those remain competitive with comparable cities. I'm going to say that we maintained a Longmont, maintained a position of lowest among or one of the lowest among the front range. At times when, when decision makers might have been gradually increasing rates to avoid the kind of decisions or rate increases that have had to occur in the last couple of years. I suppose you could say that I mean it's hard to have that kind of analysis. Yes, but you know if if we had raised rates a little more and then you know instead of the bottom of that pack. Again, still more in the middle then price increases might have been might have been less drastic but you know there are a lot of factors that they go into rates. So we're going to, we're going to get into the specifics of what a bond at the sale bonds and get into but I think before we do that, it'll be useful to talk to talk a little bit or learn about the planning project. Dale you mentioned vision Longmont. Bob you mentioned, you know, the future is not quite as predictable as it might have once been. You're bringing to the public. A request to approve the sale bonds. When did you start considering bringing this question or the work that would be for which the sale bonds with fun. If this is approved by the voters what what does that look like. Where does it start it come it culminates in a question what's behind the question. I'll take a stab at that I honestly the work started at some level decades ago. In the master planning and utility rates analysis analysis work that we do on an ongoing basis. Recently, it was our integrated tree of water master plan that identified again the the long term needs for this community, all the way through what we anticipate to be the build out population of the city. That process was, it seems to me that was in four or five years ago of sort of detailed work that then gets further analyzed to look at all the different scenarios, because what a what a treated water plan comes forward with is any number of options. So you have to analyze each of those options and understand the pros and cons and the consequences of each of them to arrive at what you believe to be the optimum approach to recommend and move forward. So that work has been done both on an engineering side, as well as on a rate and financial analysis side. The city works. We work with several different consultants over the years. We work with a rate analyst experts and of course Becky ranks right up there with with the best of them in my opinion. And we also work with our bond council. And so it is a package effort of work in order to bring forward the the overall plan to move forward with on issuing debt, which you know in Longmont as in any other city. That's always a can be a difficult issue. Frankly, most people don't like going into debt. Most people like to be able to pay every bill on the day that it's due. Unfortunately, that's that's really not realistic. It's not realistic for me and and buying my home as I recall. I wish I could. But, you know, really coming forward with a well thought out well prepared plan is really what the people deserve. It's our job to do that and and to not do that in my estimation would be failing would not be delivering the type of quality work that frankly people in Longmont have come to expect and rightly so. And we have been incredibly fortunate in Longmont to have maintained the trust of our community. Throughout the years. I don't believe we have ever had a, you know, a bond issue, not be favorably voted on and seen by the overall public. That's a that's a that's a great track record. It's also one that we hope to continue. But you know you continue it by doing good work. So by using your head and bring fruit and not spending money where you don't need to, but spending it where you need to, and when you need to do it. And so, I think that all goes into the package. You didn't wake up on a Monday morning and say, gosh, you need to get a bond issue. Question in the ballot. You woke up on a Monday morning, a couple of decades ago. All right. But if the voters approve this, this question that will be on the November 3rd ballot. What are they going to get for their money we'll talk in a minute about how much, but what's it going to pay for. What are they going to buy. Well, it's going to pay for a lot of really important and boring stuff, Tim. It's by and large going to expand a an existing water treatment plant to replace a failing water treatment plant one that really won't operate effectively and meet the standards that we need to meet in treatment in the future years. That one was an easy one. That was standing there before us and we knew that was coming and our master plan gave us good dates and estimates for that. But we have another part of the system that most people don't see and that's the buried part of the system, the pipes that run through the streets and the tanks that sit up on hillside they often don't see. And unfortunately, those age as well and they sit there for a long time kind of out of sight and out of mind and and not out of our site and out of our mind because we we know when they need to be replaced and we have a lot of that do now and in particular storage tanks that need replacement here in the near future. So those are the really important but boring assets and I should say just to add to the conversation about rates. You don't want to be the lowest, you know, rate in your local region, usually the low ones are the ones who are not replacing those assets. In this business, we call that mining capital from those buried assets just ignoring them until they really start to fail and Longmont has been very good about since I've been here paying attention to those and Becky has been very good about working with me to develop, you know, 10 and 20 year funding plans instead of the, you know, the one to five year plans that Council typically sees and proves to make sure that we had, you know, the savings for these projects and the rate structures that we needed in place. So did we be specific now we're going to talk about spending $80 million. Right. To do the kinds of things described. Thank you. That's a lot of money. Where does it come from comes from a variety of sources. So Dale talked about, you know, the master plan that we put into place several years ago, I'm going to say was 2013 maybe when we presented that to Council and that contemplated about $200 million worth of capital work. You know, when we put together a long term financial plan to support that it included it included rates included development fees. So when when new connections come into the system. It includes cash and loo of water rights. So, again, when a raw water requirement sometimes has payments of cash and loo. That's another funding source. And that's as well as the proceeds from bonds and when we put together the plan in 2013 2014 we contemplated of that 200 million, maybe about 100 million when at some level need to be debt financed. And we're pretty much in line with that between the windy gap bonds that have been approved and then this, this new ask of 80 million. Between all of those sources coming together, you know, we have, we have different funding sources that pay for specific types of improvements or replacements in the city. So those, you know, development fees can only be used for expanding capacity or meeting new regulatory requirements, for example. And the rates and bond proceeds are more flexible and can be used for different parts of the infrastructure. Obviously, over time rate revenue will also have to pay back those bonds and the interest on the bonds. So there's there's that component to take into account. And the other thing that I wanted to say about that was we have, because we had this long term plan we've also built up fund balances over the last several years. And we have significant fund balances in both our operating fund, which is funded by rates and our construction fund, which is funded from development fees. And we will spend all of those fund balances in the course of making these infrastructure improvements. So what I did not hear you say is how much taxes are going to go up. So how much are taxes going to go up to service the debt on that $80 million with the bonds. So the water utility is an enterprise under Tabor, which means that it's completely funded by rates and fees that are associated with providing that service. So there is no tax increase associated with this or any other water utility bond. So this is a, this is a question that goes on about asking for authorization, the cell bonds and create the debt with no tax increase associated with it. That's right. And that's a little bit unique for for Longmont because most municipalities their water utility enterprises can issue debt under Tabor without going to the public because there is no tax implication. Longmont asks the public for any time we issue debt and that's that's a requirement of our charter that does not indicate that there's a tax associated with that. So I think that's a pretty significant distinction to make. Number one, what the charter requires and what it empowered empowers Longmonters, unlike other municipalities. But the other part is that you're able to pull this off without a tax increase, which is the other part that Longmonters ought to be understanding. Now this is for any one of you. I, as, as Dale mentioned earlier, we'd all like to pay as we go cash and care. Right. Going into debt is not there's some discomfort that goes on with that. What's the rationale for doing this with debt financing as opposed to pay as you go. Who wants to Becky is that your question or would that be a deal. I don't have any answers to that, but I'll let someone else talk first. So I'll start first, but I'm sure Becky will have a far more eloquent answer. You know, I also want to add on that issue of how we're going to pay for the, the debt service. So I think that's one of the things that's been calculated into the, the rate structure that the city council has adopted last year. That does anticipate rate increases for the next several years, but it does not require any rate increases greater than what the council has already approved. And so the council won't be asked. I think that's one of the things that's been really approved. And then with regards to, you know, why do it with a debt service option as opposed to pay as you go. Well, pay as you sound go sounds good. And until you start to realize that you have to accumulate all those funds before you can start the project. And then you have to pay for contract at the city of Longmont until we have all the funds in hands to do the work. And so what that ends up with is that you end up delaying the construction and bringing online of these critical facilities, whether it's a treatment plant or a storage tank. It has to be the cascade or has the potential to cascade directly to the customer directly to the user in the form of increased outages, less reliable service, both in quality and then in time and delivery. And I don't believe most people want that. I believe most people like to get up in the morning and not have to really think too hard about whether or not the shower is going to come on, and whether or not they're going to be able to get their coffee and water going and so I think that's a reasonable expectation and we like to be sort of out of sight now the mind so that people can go about their day to day life and do what they need to. And so that's why it's important to do it with a debt service that you bring these facilities online when you need them. It also importantly allows for these facilities to be paid not just by today's customers but also by the new customers as they come on and join our community in the coming years. Everyone then has a share of that responsibility to buy into and be part of the larger community and certainly it's water utility but Becky you can probably expand on that in a more technical way. That is one of my favorite features is intergenerational equity. Those are all really good reasons why we use debt finance. Some others include that, you know, with along with the timing aspect of making sure that we can undertake a project when it's required. The other thing to know is that if we were to cash finance all of those things you know $50 million for the plant here and then $30 million for this year. You know that starts to look kind of spiky and that's not something that you want to do with your rates. You want to make sure that rates are predictable and that people understand you know how how they're going to increase over time. And using debt as a tool helps us do that by having those predictable payments over you know a 20 or 30 year time period. So I think that's that's another important thing. It all makes sense, having spent a part of my career in the business of schooling. That was the rationale for but for debt funded construction of schools right that generations get a chance to use them and do their share. So, Bob $80 million is a lot of money. And it begs the question, if we decide not to spend that money, if the public were to say, not we want to do that. What would you anticipate costs, long term to the community for not spending the money we need to spend today to upgrade our infrastructure and in update or replace a water treatment. That's a, that's an important point in asset management and that is that you renew assets in time, and before they fail. And the cost of the failure down the road can be to community like ours, it could be catastrophic you're talking about the possibly not being able to fight a fire or, you know, provide water to a new business that wants to come into the community or even to households have have significant outages. Of course, you want to avoid that. They're usually two reasons, you know that assets fail one is they fail physically they get old like when your car gets old and this reliable and that's really painful to break down the roadside. The reason is that they fail to perform the functions they intended to perform and, and in this case, they have to meet regulatory standards that they may no longer meet. And that means that the water is not safe for the community as it once was. So, and then we're shut down from providing that we see that all the time. An example of that is, is it you know an old playground in your community may have been safe when it was built but now it may have all kinds of pinch hazards or fall hazards or things like that we just don't accept anymore and for those reasons we renew assets of all types as a they fail to perform the functions we expected them in society. You know a lot of money. You only think that might cost more is to not do what you're asking the public authorize you. We absolutely. Yeah, absolutely in a catastrophic sense that would cost a lot more consequence of failure. Even to a single business. You know, loss of production for a day for a week for any sort of time period can be substantial. And, you know, we are always focused on on on our residents and we're also focused on our business community. The reliable high quality water utility is really an essential element for the, the financial prosperity of community, and to be able to attract great employers into our community thanks like our recent success with the smugglers plant. And I certainly know when years ago when Xilinx and Seagate and Amgen we're all coming into Longmont. A lot of the reason that they were coming here was because we had a reliable water supply here in the West and predictability and reliability are essential to any business in their planning, and they rely on that. So, the other thing I'll say is a public utility is also one that is accessible to everybody in the community. It's sort of like your parks. You know the, the difficulty is, of course, there's a cost associated with it. There are programs though that we would be remiss if we didn't talk about the Longmont carers program and other programs and we have to try to assist those in our community who are struggling financially and and who need assistance and to encourage anybody who's who finds themselves in those kinds of situations to please give us a call, call your councilman or certainly call your city staff, and we'll be more than happy to, to try to get you connected with the services that can help you. You know, we're, we are recording this backstory in the, in the context of a pandemic. By the time viewers have a chance to watch this, unlikely, we're going to be in the post pandemic world will be still in the middle of a pandemic. So, folks might wonder, you know, why is this the right time and I think you've all answered that question, even with the uncertainties associated with this pandemic and the economic consequences or fallout that you could wait a year or you know, you could wait till sometime in the future, but the longer you wait, the greater the risk of catastrophic failure and in systems that require high reliability. Any failure is catastrophic. We know that and there's any aspects of this project that are more nuanced than we touch on that you'd like to include as part of this backstory. I would go ahead Becky. I would just also add about, you know, is the time right, you know, knowing what we know about municipal bond markets, the cost of capital right now for this kind of project is as low as it's ever been. And we think that it's, you know, the fiscally responsible thing to do to take advantage of market conditions. And I think to add to that, whenever there is an economic downturn in the economy, we also are very fortunate to receive incredibly competitive bids for public infrastructure and for construction work to happen. You know, the other thing I'll say, even though we are certainly in the middle of a pandemic. As I look back, again, to those that came before us, when we stop and think about when the South Water Treatment Plant was built, which frankly when we retired it back in 2005, it was one of the oldest treatment plants on the range. It was built and brought online in 1934 in the middle of the depression. And so, you know, communities come together at times when it's challenging. And I think this is our time. Well, that's been long months history and part of one month story is coming together key times. Any, any final thoughts any of you want to share before we wrap this up. I just like to thank you, Tim, for the opportunity. And I hope people take the time to listen to this, this backstory, I think it provides important information of course if it, if it brings more questions folks, you know, feel free to give us a call. If you want to talk to us, ask us questions. And that's really why we're here to respond. And they can connect with you, any one of you through the city website. Absolutely. All right, long monitors. That is your backstory on the water bond question that's going to be on your November ballot. And I think that's three very competent, highly trained and experienced city staff members to help share that story. Thanks to each of you. Stay safe and healthy. And the best to you and to the city with the outcome of this election. Thanks. Thank you, Tim.