 Good afternoon. I'd like to call the meeting of the Board of Public Utilities for the city of Santa Rosa to order May we have a roll call, please? Please? Yes, thank you chair Board member right here Board member Watts board member Walsh here Board member Grable here Board member Baden-Fort Vice chair Arnone here Chair Galvin here let the record show that all board members are present with the exception of board members Watts and Baden-Fort Thank you. Good afternoon everyone Just a reminder to please mute your phones and microphones when you're not speaking and please put away your cell phones and personal computers At this point, we will move to item number two any statements of abstention by board members Okay, we'll move to we have no study session Next item is item 4.1 the minutes for the July 21st 2022 meeting will now take a public comment on the minutes approval if you wish to make a comment via zoom Please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star 9 for raising your hand Secretary Manus Sure, there are no hands being raised in zoom and no members of the public wishing to make a public comment in person Thank you. The minutes will be approved and entered. We'll now move to item 5.1 Which is our staff briefing on water and recycled water? Director Burke Thank You chair Galvin and members of the board Our staff briefing as mentioned is our water and recycle water supply update making the presentation will be Peter Martin Deputy director water resources and Mike Prince deputy director regional operations And for that introduction good afternoon chair Galvin and members of the board Happy to my pleasure to be here with the water supply update for you today. Let's go to the next slide, please We'll start with and provide some storage statistics in Lake Pillsbury as of today The storage in Lake Pillsbury is about forty one thousand five hundred acre feet You know and just in general starting to see that black curve starting to flatten off You'll recall with the last update The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did allow PG&E to reduce their minimum flows into the upper Russian River effective July 27th This allowed them to reduce releases to an absolute minimum of five cubic feet per second and My understanding is they followed that minimum pretty closely. So you starting to see storage level off in that reservoir Compared to where they were last year and so You know the order is expected at this point to last at least through mid-October Obviously PG&E is doing their best to manage their supplies like Pillsbury But obviously that comes at a cost to the upper Russian River in the meantime Next slide so in terms of storage in Lake Mendocino current storage is about forty seven thousand three hundred acre feet In terms of storage comparison the last year, that's about twenty five thousand acre feet higher Than it was this time last year So that that storage is about sixty three percent of their target water supply storage And leases are added about 92 cubic feet per second I think Sonoma is seeing about a thousand acre foot Loss per week right now. So, you know, the supplies are going down But in terms of comparison the last year, they're in much better shape in the upper watershed than they were last year I did reference PG&E's The order issued to PG&E by FERC for their minimum releases You know after that occurred on the 27th There were curtailments for a lot of the junior water right holders in the upper watershed That were a result of those reduced releases by PG&E Obviously without that additional contribution to the flows in the upper Russian River Those junior water right holders don't have water supply available anymore so You know some water did tell us recently that they will be monitoring Those curtailments in addition to obviously monitoring channel losses To make sure that they're meeting their minimum and stream flows under their existing water from the state water resource control board Just remember the state board does have enforcement authority over those upper Russian River water right holders. So You know continue to see How that plays out over the next few months, but definitely a different story this year than last year But it's still very critical in terms of water supply throughout the watershed Next slide Lake Sonoma again, just continues to track very closely with what we were last year Current storage is about 120,400 acre feet as of today. This represents a little less than 49% of the water supply pool in Lake Sonoma in general week to week it's about 1,500 acre feet in terms of losses per week. So seeing that trend Very much closely aligned with the trends over the last few years And it's for looking very much like the projection by Sonoma water that they will have more than a hundred thousand acre feet in the reservoir by the end of the water year remains You know the expectation today, so The outflow from that reservoir is at about a hundred cubic feet per second as of today Go to the next slide So in terms of continuing to monitor compliance with the state water resource control boards, temperature change order Since July, Sonoma water has been tracking the differences in the diversions compared to 2020 As you know the change order does have a requirement of a 20% reduction in diversions by Sonoma water compared to 2020 And as of today or actually yesterday, excuse me, it is about 31.4% compared to 2020 so very much meeting that target and obviously that as a direct result of all the contractors doing their best to conserve water supplies and also utilize local supplies In addition to maximizing groundwater use and other uses as well Next slide in terms of Tracking our own metrics here at the City of Santa Rosa Good news last month Santa Rosa residents to reduce their water use by 25% compared to 2020 That you know obviously tracks better than our mandatory 20% Compliance measure that we have in stage three. So we're definitely meeting our targets at this point Overall water use has been reduced By 18% since those stage three went into effect last year And we're continuing to see Very much the community is responding the way that they should so Next slide So, you know, it's halfway through the year Just thought it'd be a good time to check in on some of the metrics related to You know the community response and our water use efficiency team You know, as I mentioned before last month, we had 25 target Continuing to see a long-term trend close to the 20 target that we have for the city but What we're seeing is Remaining interest by the public in a lot of the drought response measures and also The rebates and other programs we have available We're seeing pretty much the same level of interest that we saw the entirety of last year So I can you know adequately say that interest has not waned Since we began that drought declaration As of today so far this calendar year beginning in january Our staff have responded to over 220 water waste reports distributed 4300 devices And we're seeing a renewed interest in cash for grass rebates actually quite a few pre inspections and to date Over a hundred thousand square feet of turf has been removed under our cash for grass rebate program staff are out Doing quite a bit of individual water smart checkups and audits of homes and businesses We have three new student interns within last month that are Out there helping out in the public with that too as well and teaming up with our team members and getting out and Talking to the public as well and then gray water rebates, you know, we've been hosting workshops in hopes that we'll get more interest but you know, that is a bit of an investment and You know, I think though that as time goes on We have seen folks that are more curious about how to implement gray water systems And then rainwater harvesting too remains of interest to folks again starting to see an uptick In people implementing water use efficiency measures in their homes. So some good news there Next slide Just want to remind everyone that This weekend there would be a region wide Summer pop-up event We'll have be handing out devices and buckets at Six different locations throughout snowmen marine counties Santa Rosa water will be at Friedman's home improvement from 10 to 2 It's been quite a bit of advertising and media about this. I think a press release went out yesterday So we're hopeful The community will come out and participate and we're very grateful To be able to team up with Friedman's again On a drought event. So Next slide I think I think I've mentioned to this board in the past that We've had a really good opportunity to partner up with daily acts with very very small contract, but The city and other partnership Entities have been utilizing daily acts to host workshops and community engagement There will be a gray water tour in person at the city of pedaluma Next weekend. I did check today It is limited in terms of space. There are two spots left as of today. So If you want to sign up Should do so soon But you know again, uh, they'll be out touring some Homes that have gray water systems installed and directing folks to how they can implement those and rebates that are available and then In the beginning of september We'll be hosting a webinar Again with the long gone and cheap mulching webinar really just focusing on how folks can swap out turf and institute low water use gardens as well, so You know definitely When we have these workshops, it's a great opportunity to start these conversations About resources that are available some of the design elements to become Very efficient outdoors So next slide That concludes my portion of this presentation. I'll have to hand it over to deputy director prince Good afternoon chair gallin members of the board Mike prince deputy director of regional operations. Just giving you a quick sort of in summer update on recycled water supply status next slide This is a curve you've seen different versions of this in the past It's a smoothed curve showing our recycled water production Shows our average in gray and current production in black and last year's production in blue Slightly higher production at this point in time relative to last year And you can see on the left hand side a pretty high spike At the end of last calendar year a lot of that is associated with The big storm in october and some subsequent rain But things have dropped off considerably Slight rebound and now are slightly above last year in terms of daily production next slide This is a chart that I I don't know if it's ever been shown to the board before but I Stumbled upon it recently and I thought it would be interesting to show the board going back really 20 years to show the general relationship between rainfall And recycle water production or influence flow effluent flows essentially the same From the plant and show Generally speaking, there's a pretty good correlation between rainfall and recycle water production This hasn't been updated yet for this year. It will be updated at the end of the water year But I suspect it's going to show a relatively low production because of the low rainfall I think it's just an interesting chart to to show we do track this and there is a pretty direct correlation between rainfall And recycle water production Next slide This is our current uh, water supply storage curve It's kind of a busy chart want to steer your attention to the red line That's the storage trend for this current water year There are a number of other lines on this chart the horizontal line at the top the red Horizontal line is our maximum storage We actually would never want to get there and we would be discharging prior to getting to that point at any point in time There is a gray line sort of central in the chart area. That's our average and then there are light blue lines that show our historical maximums and historical minimums And then the black line is last year. So you can kind of see two years current storage um At a time here Right now we're a little bit higher than the average We are uh as of the writing of this presentation We weren't considering really any adjustments However, we are getting to the time of year where we want to start targeting Where we want to wind up at the end of the year and we really want to wind up somewhere in the 250 to 300 million gallon range So uh as of the preparation of this presentation We weren't anticipating operational adjustments But we are starting to consider whether or not we want to make any For the balance of the year to get our storage levels really where we want them to be to get ready for wet weather Um, but anyway, uh, this is a pretty standard chart I'll also mention that there are two other lines kind of uh straight And angular lines the orange line shows sort of the upper limit of our operating envelope And then the yellow line shows the the lower limit of our normal operating envelope. Um, those are just target zones Ultimately, we're looking at the historical maximums and minimums as as good guides to measure where we are in general Next slide This is a chart that uh shows the distribution of storage between our ponds In my last recycle our storage update I showed you the chart on the left And the the large gray portion of the pie chart is essentially empty volume And you can see how when you look at the current state on the right the um Light gray portion has decreased substantially. That's because water has been delivered Um to agricultural customers our urban customers and calpine And then you'll also notice a big change in the orange portion of the pie chart And that's because we are emptying delta pond. It's essentially empty right now um The majority of the emptying or redistribution of volume is to get ready for the start of the geysers delta connection project And just general consumption throughout the summer Um, and I thought there would be some value in showing you um sort of a snapshot of today's storage distribution versus My last recycle water storage update. So next slide Um, here are a couple of statistics related to our agricultural allotments Um, we started out with a 900 million gallon allotment in january, which is about 53 percent of normal We increased an additional 50 million gallons in april and then a whole 200 million gallons in july So the total allotment for 2023 is looking to be 1.15 billion gallons Um, we're not anticipating any increases at this late stage Increases at this late stage in the summer. Um, or the season I should say Doesn't necessarily help a lot if people have been as conservative with their allotments as has been the case so far But as I mentioned as of the writing of this powerpoint, we weren't anticipating changes in operational Flow rates essentially, but we are starting a conversation about that So I suspect my next recycle water update will reflect Any changes that we may decide to make over the next month or so next slide That's really it happy to entertain any questions if you have any about uh recycle water storage And I'm sure deputy director martin will be happy to entertain questions about water supply Thank you to both the deputy directors for your reports. I'll open it up now for any board member questions or comments Vice chair arononi I just wanted to say concerning the chart showing the correlation between rainfall and Recycled water availability. I think that's a very helpful chart in explaining why sometimes we don't have as much recycled water as people might wish Seeing that direct correlation shows how little is actually under our control in terms of how much Recycled water we can produce so I I'm glad to see that chart in the deck and I think it's helpful as we go forward Thank you, and I want to highlight that that really underscores the weather dependency of this operation in general right Other board member questions or comments I just had one question for deputy director, um martin the 109 Square feet of turf. Is that just this year that's been removed? Yeah, that's that's accurate. That's just this year We saw I believe somewhere around 150 50,000 square feet last year too. So um, definitely uh substantially higher than we've seen in the past few years, so You know, obviously we increased the rebate amount. So that that drove some traffic there, but uh, We've been really pushing hard. Um and furthermore, um, if you'll recall Uh, there was the uh state requirement For the non-functional turf irrigation bin When we did do outreach to those irrigation customers We reminded them that we had programs available and we've seen some commercial and landscapes Contact us recently about some large landscape conversions Great. Thank you. Uh, any other board member questions or comments board member battenfort Uh, thank you both a quick question for deputy director Martin um one. Thank you for the, um the outlay of the drought response metrics. It's really helpful. Um Generally, of course not asking for, um exact comparisons Does it represent a Noticeable increase in the grass turf the checkups and rebates noticeably higher this year um than in previous years and If so, is anything needed to ensure that that's available for the remainder of the year? Yeah, um Gosh, I wish I had I presented a pretty in-depth evaluation of the past few years to the climate actions of committee um Recently, uh, just more on metrics related to the climate action plans But it included a lot of these kind of year-to-year Graphics I could come back with that same graphics if it's helpful so that this board could really see That increase over the past few years. Um, I don't know that I have those numbers readily available to compare Gosh, I wish I'd printed it out ahead of time. So, um if director Burke uh could You know, I could bring it back If that would be helpful too I'm certainly not not asking for a whole analysis. I was just asking generally in that Um, and that if so, is there anything that's needed from this board to consider? um Stabilizing and fortifying that Um throughout the rest of the year. Thank you. I get the question. Yeah. Thank you. So yeah, um, obviously we do have a capital outlay that kind of, you know, um, obviously is dedicated to making sure that There's funding for these rebates We're always obviously of course looking for grants too as well There's a lot out there right now and we're hoping to secure some of those but right now There is plenty of funding to continue to support those programs In the meantime, uh, you know, of course, we'll look and forecast ahead For the next fiscal year Which I understand will be starting to look at budgets very early this year. So we're definitely tracking that so Fantastic. Thank you Okay, any other board member questions or comments? If not, we will open it up for public comment on item 5.1 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand secretary manis Chair galvin, there are no hands being raised in zoom and No public comments being provided from council chamber Very good. Thank you. Thanks for the again for the presentation We'll now move to uh, the consent calendar. We have two matters on the consent calendar item 6.1 And item 6.2 I'll move adoption of the consent calendar second Okay, we have a motion by vice chair Arnone and a second by board member battenfort to approve the consent calendar Are there any board member questions or comments at this point? Very well. We'll now take public comments on item 6.1 and 6.2 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand secretary manis There are no hands being raised via zoom and no one in the council chamber wishing to make a In-person comment. Thank you. May we have a roll call vote, please? Thank you board member right Uh, yes, aye Board member walsh Board member grable Aye Board member battenfort, aye Vice chair Arnone, aye And chair galvin, aye Let the record show that this consent calendar passed with six affirmative votes Thank you. That'll take care of the consent calendar. We'll move to item 7.1 director Burke Thank you chair galvin and members of the board item 7.1 is a report item authority to issue design build request For proposals for the lano trunk rehabilitation phase one And making the presentation will be uh, rachela mayeda who's our associate civil engineer on the capital projects team Thank you. Director burt. Good afternoon. Chair galvin and members of the board as director burt mentioned My name is rachela mayeda and i'm an engineer for the public works department Today i am seeking authorization to issue a design build request for proposals for the lano trunk rehabilitation phase one I also want to note that in attendance today is mark kindhouse with skanska and skanska has been the city's Advisor as we navigate through several projects using design build So if there are any questions after the project specific about design build that i cannot answer he will be available to weigh in Next slide, please I'll start off with a little bit of project background I'll give some background on how design build works And then i'll discuss considerations for using design build procurement method for this project and then i will end with the recommendation Next slide, please As part of the 2021 sanitary sewer master plan update An engineering firm inspected and assessed approximately 13 miles of large diameter trunk sewers throughout the city's collection system And the assessment provided the city with rehabilitation priorities for its trunk sewers, which are shown here So all of those colorful segments indicate trunk sewers that were assessed as part of that effort And so the the red lines represent trunk sewers that are high priority for being rehabilitated And then orange represent Being slated for rehab in the near term yellow in the mid term green in the long term And then those blue segments represent current lining or rehabilitation projects If you look towards the bottom of your screen near that blue pentagon that represents where the laguna treatment plant is And so lano road just to the north of that You can see a high density of red and orange segments meaning that there's a high need for rehabilitation in that area Next slide, please zooming into that area This looking at the graphic on the right is the project extents for the lano trunk rehabilitation phase one shown in green And again towards the bottom of your screen. You can see the treatment plant and towards the top top road runs east west The project will include trenchless technology for lining approximately 7500 linear feet of 66 inch reinforced concrete pipe and then also rehabilitate rehabilitating 12 manhole structures Options for lining or rehabbing this section of pipe include cured in place pipe lining and spiral wound lining For the manholes rehab will vary from whole hydrogen sulfide protection to structural trenchless lining Plant staff estimate that the peak dry weather flow for this trunk line is approximately 16 million gallons a day So this is a flow that would need to be bypassed while the line is being rehabilitated I also want to point out that the lano trunk line here conveys approximately two thirds of the city's wastewater flow So while the bypass is in operation, it would need to be monitored 24 seven We do anticipate needing county permits for the bypass which will cross toad and lano roads And since we are in california tiger salamander territory We will we do anticipate needing a permit through the california department of fishing wildlife Um, we may need an additional permit through them and then also the water board Depending on how the bypass system passes and or crosses colgan creek Which is located just to the north of the treatment plant Next slide, please Here you can see the team organization for the traditional design bid build on the left and then design build on the right So under design bid build the city has two separate contracts one with the designer and one with the builder and each of them has their own consultants and subcontractors Under design build the city would have a single contract with a design builder who then has their own team of consultants subs and designers And then an important element that's not shown here is is the element of time And so with design bid build the city first contracts with the designer who then develops the construction documents And then after that the city contracts with the builder and the project is constructed With design build on the other hand from project initiation The city would be under contract with the design builder So we would have the designer and the builder under contract from the start of the project Next slide, please in 2014 city council adopted ordinance 4 0 2 1 which outlined regulations for the award use and evaluation of design build contracts And per that ordinance prior to issuing a design build request for proposals for a major contract A department must obtain approval from either city council or the board of public utilities To determine that the use of design build procurement is in the best interest of the city As part of the design build process We would have a selection committee to evaluate the design builders who propose on the job And this would be a two-step selection process So first the city would release a request for qualifications to pre-qualify design builders And the select the selection committee would then use pre-qualification criteria that are outlined in that ordinance And then also any other project specific criteria to review and range design builders Next only the top ranked design builders would receive a request for proposals And again the selection committee would review and rank those proposals based on predetermined performance criteria Once the selection committee makes a selects a design builder We would then seek approval from the board to award the contract As I mentioned before the city would have a contract with the designer and the builder from the start of the project And so this setup really allows for more upfront collaboration between all parties which can help reduce project unknowns early on And then also result in a more buildable project So for example for large lining projects like this one the bypass system has been a challenging component of construction in the past And it could be more than the actual cost of lining or rehabilitation itself So by using design build for this contract We can openly discuss with the builder how the bypass system will be configured in the early stages of design Rather than figuring out those details during construction where we could run into large design changes And then instead of a designer focusing on developing buildable documents They can work with the builder to develop a more buildable and innovative project that meets the city's needs Next slide please It was recommended by the transportation and the public works department and the water department that the board by motion Authorize issuance of a request for proposals for the design build procurement method for the lano trunk rehabilitation phase one Thank you for your time, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have Thank you, miss maida. I'll open it now for any questions or comments by the board board member right Uh two questions one question is uh, do we have a schedule that you know an attentive schedule? Uh, and then the second question is So you have this pre-qualifications period where you interview and do all this kind of stuff At the end of the day the award is based on a proposal or is it based on an actual bed of pre-qualified folks that Those are my question. Thanks Yeah, thank you for your questions. Um, we do have a tentative schedule And if you'd like I can get that email to you as of now, I know that construction isn't slated until about summer of 2024 Um, and then as far as the proposals go It'll be when we when we put out the request for qualifications. They will submit You know the team that will be working on it in any prior experience with similar projects And then also with design build projects and then their proposals will actually consist of almost Um preliminary design for the project and what they think will meet the city's needs as far as how the project needs to be constructed And as part of that review process Um with design builds you can actually have these one-on-one conversations with the proposal the design builders that are proposing and discuss with them What kind of design elements would help? You know help meet the project's needs as far as um, you know bypassing and any environmental needs Does that answer your questions we can also ask mark kindhouse to weigh in a little bit more if you'd like So when they do their proposal, obviously they have a cost in there. So it does It is in the uh, I mean, you know the cost so you're not choosing it blindly Yes, sorry. I forgot to address the cost that is correct. The cost is included in their proposal It's just that with design build the cost is not the only deciding factor um So we would establish performance criteria ahead of time and the cost would probably would be one of those things that we consider oops Board member mulch Thank you, mr. Chairman. Um, I just wanted to point out that I really appreciate the collaboration up front And how that may reduce surprises And for the builder and get the builder a chance to have communication for the designer and the And staff the project managers for this. Um, so thank you very much Um, also, uh, there's good presentation. I appreciate that And the one question is does the design build process does it reduce the number? of Of uh participants that are able to bid on designing it and then bid on building it Um, and if so, how might that impact the project in this case? Yeah, thank you for the question. Um In the beginning phases It does not limit how many people can bid on the project when we release the request for qualifications anybody that is a design builder Can submit their statement of qualifications to us And then where it would be limited potentially is after we receive those statements of qualification Then we shortlist a handful maybe three to five of those design builders And those are the the teams then that receive a request for proposals I see um I'm doing a little more specific So are there are the potential builders that would not be able to participate in the project overall because they don't both design and build E Yes, yeah, that that would be the case. So if a builder A builder would need to team up with a designer to be able to to be on this project. Yeah I say great. So as long as they're okay with the process and they've done this type of process before they should be okay Correct. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate that Any other board member questions or comments? Vice chair Arnone I just want to say as as somebody who served on the charter review committee in 2012 um And leading to the adoption of the ordinance authorizing design build in 2014 I'm glad that in 2022. We're seeing a project come to uh, this Board to to actually use the tool that was provided low those many years ago. So I'm just glad we've made this much progress Thank you for a comment Any other board member questions or comments? All right, I will entertain a motion I will move that the board authorized the issuance of a request for proposals For the design build procurement method for the yano trunk rehabilitation phase one I will second that motion Thank you. We have a motion by a board member right seconded by board member walsh We'll now open it up for public comments on item 7.1 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary manis Chair galvin, I see no hands being raised in zoom and no one in council chamber wishing to make a public comment in person Thank you. Maybe we have a roll call, please Thank you board member right Uh, hi Board member walsh walsh Hi Board member grable Hi Board member badden fort Hi Vice chair anoni Hi And chair galvin Hi At the record show that this motion passes with six affirmative votes with board member walsh absent Very good. Thank you very much. That takes care of our report items 7.1 We'll now move to item eight, which is public comments on On non-agenda matters if you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand If you're dialing in via telephone, please dial star nine to raise your hand secretary manis There are no public comment hands via zoom and no one in council chamber wishing to make a in-person public comment Thank you. Uh, we have no referrals. We have no written communications We have not had any subcommittee meetings. So I don't believe there's any subcommittee reports We'll move to board member report vice chair anoni Thank you, mr. Chair. I just wanted to say I was lucky enough to attend The celebration on wednesday july 27th in which all the many participants Celebrated the successful conclusion of the north sewer trunk relocation project at the deterrent brown barn It was a lovely venue and a lot of congratulations were well deserved and A project that has now been completed in a very efficient manner with Really good communications that were Carried out between the cities and the neighbors and So I think it went very smoothly for a project of that significance That could have had that much potential to to disrupt neighborhoods So it was just a nice conclusion to a big project and I was pleased to be able to attend on behalf of the bpu I appreciate you being there since I was out of town. So thank you for making the effort Any board member questions or comments regarding the report from vice chair anoni All right, we will open up for public comments on item number 12 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary manis There are no hands being raised via zoom and no one in council chamber wishing to make a public comment Thank you. We'll now move to the director's report director berk Thank you chair galvin and members of the board. I have a couple items to report on to the board today Um first, um as the board may recall in addition to the funding we have Previously applied for and received From the state to assist our customers who were dealing with Uh, rearages in their water and sewer bill We have uh successfully enrolled in the low income housing assistance program So that's a new program that's being offered by the state And that program has opened and they are now accepting applications And to date we have received a little under $9,000 in funding that has been applied to seven accounts Customers must meet certain income requirements And then they need to submit their application to the north coast energy services ink That is the um organization that has been hired by the state to run this program Once processed the funds are sent directly to the city to be applied to the customer account Each qualifying customer can receive a maximum of $2,000 towards overdue bills And then we will make sure that that money is applied to either their Past due account as the board may recall what we decided to do was Basically give everyone a fresh start. So we have these Their past due amount in a separate account and we will apply that towards that past due amount first And if there's anything left over then we will apply that to their current bills So I wanted to let the board know that that is now another opportunity available for our customers I also wanted to give the board an update You may recall that a couple board meetings ago you approved an agreement with verily That is a company that is analyzing our sewage looking for various Different strains of disease and and they are actually paying us. They're compensating the city $200 per sample um, so we have uh executed that agreement and we have submitted our first samples And we did receive um our initial first data Verily is testing for uh, not only for covet and various variants of covet but also for monkeypox and um Like I said, we're very new to the program. So we have one result so far We did find that there is some monkeypox in this region But too early to have any statistical data or more information because it's literally one data point at this point If you're interested in seeing the information Our data is now up on their website and that's public health dot verily and that's spelled v As in victor e l y Dot com again, that's public health dot verily dot com And we continue to share this information with our local public health officer in office So they can track the data as well And then last um, I have uh some very sad news to share Um, it's with a very heavy heart that I let you know that one of our team members Passed away Tony Gonzalez was a utility systems operator to He was a beloved 23-year employee with the water department A couple weeks ago. He went home and passed away at his home over the weekend Tony is a piner high school alumnus. He was a huge rater fan um And he was just such an integral part of our local field operations Tony was always quick with a smile He was eager to help out always willing to share his knowledge and experience with newer employees And he really was one of our go-to experts of the crew Um, there was a lovely celebration of life held for tony on august 13th A number of water department employees attended as well as our assistant city manager Was very nice to meet his mom and his aunt and his daughter And we are just very saddened by the loss of tony and we send our best to his family Gone too soon, but won't be forgotten and um, thank you for letting me share that information with you Thank you, uh, we'll open it up for any board member questions or comments regarding the director's report All right seeing none. We will open it up for public comments on item number 13 If you wish to make a comment via zoom, please raise your hand if you're dialing in via telephone Please dial star nine to raise your hand Secretary manas There are no hands being raised in zoom and no one in council chamber for public comment in person Thank you that concludes our agenda for today's meeting So i'd like to adjourn the meeting in memory of tony gonzalez and send our prayers and condolences to his family We are now adjourned