Board of Water Commissioners, Committee Meetings

Detroit Water and Sewerage Department

Utilities

Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024
1:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m. EDT

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Five consecutive committee meetings — same Zoom link

To attend online: https://cityofdetroit.zoom.us/j/81572635118

Agendas and times listed on the Legistar page:
https://dwsd.legistar.com/

Check the source website for additional information

Reporting

Edited and summarized by the Detroit - MI Documenters Team

Note-taking by Shannon Mackie

The Lifeline program had 26,721 households enrolled at the end of September, and many struggled to navigate the recertification process. CFO Istakur Rahman said the water department is "bleeding cash" over the forgiveness of arrears to participants in the Lifeline Plan.

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Live reporting by Meghan Rutigliano

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8

Hi Detroit! I’ll be live-tweeting the 5 Detroit Board of Water Commissioners’ Committee Meetings on behalf of #DETdocumenters. @DetDocumenters media partners: @BridgeDet313 @chalkbeatDET @freep @metrotimes @michigan_public @media_outlier @PlanetDetroit @wdet @wxyzdetroit

11:59 AM Oct 2, 2024 CDT

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Here is the stated order of meetings: Legal & Government Affairs, Capital Improvements, Customer Service, HR & Org Dev and Finance.

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The public is invited to join virtually. The link and phone number is the same for all 5 meetings and can be found here: dwsd.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

dwsd.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 4/76

IMPORTANT: If you believe anything in the coverage today is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@outliermedia.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.

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I will post the agenda for each meeting sequentially. To view all of them, go here: dwsd.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

dwsd.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

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There will be time in each meeting allotted for public comment.

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Legal & Government Affairs Meeting started at 1pm.

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Public comment.

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No public comment. All items approved. No new business. No announcements for calendar to announce.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 10/76

They are introducing Scott MacGriff. He's now talking. Happy to be joining meeting. Was in charge of AARP funding, migrated from City. Was at Department of Justice, is a lawyer.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 11/76

Next meeting is November 6th.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 12/76

Legal & Government Affairs Meeting adjourned at 1:07pm.

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Next meeting starts at 1:30pm.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 14/76

Agenda for Capital Improvements is:

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Capital Improvement Program and Ops Committee started 1:30pm sharp! Quorum reached. Agenda approved. Public comment...

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wait...meeting minutes approved. Now, public comment.......

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 17/76

Here we go! CEO, Hydrate Detroit speaking: no notifications from recent rain events. We need to be sending out tips and notifications to ppl who are having issues with flooding. ppl need to call water department if ANY flooding occurs. Wants them to do better job communicating

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Public comment closed.

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New business: 2 initiatives designed to increase resiliency of the neighborhood. Seeking funding. Meet strategic priorities.

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Speaker is Sam Smalley, DWSD. They put a hold on the parcels of land until they could refine their infrastructure improvement approach.

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Conducted input meetings. Built a coalition of partners. Have an advisory council. Residents can have an impact on the designs. Will make final design based on community input.

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Next item: New Business 20-24-298 Review of Meter Operations. Presenting: Shirletta Flake. She has good vibes and awesome glasses!

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Trying to update the meter equipment. Goal is to install 12k meters. 63 dedicated employees.

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Istakur Rahman who works in Finance is presenting now on Capital Improvement budgeting.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 28/76

Motion to approve budget amendment which includes using a bond. Not ready. Lead service line is not going to have funding avail for 2025. I was impressed with Rahman last time I covered this meeting. He still rocks.

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They have an urgent need to purchase properties for the Brightmoore/Fenkell project shown earlier. They also have to purchase machines.

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He's walking them through the high level changes. Wants approval to move forward the proposal to the full board.

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Motion to approve the amended budget. 5 year capital improvement program. Authorize director and CFO to move it forward. Supported. Proposal approved.

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Previous was item D. Now they are on E. Motion to approve. Supported. This is a companion motion. Call for vote. Approved.

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Next item: Review of Maintenance and Repair. Sam is saying they are moving it to next month. Next item: other matters. Next meeting: Nov 6, 2024. Capital Improvements meeting Adjourned at 2:11pm. Next meeting is at 2:30.

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Customer Service Committee started 2:30pm.

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Roll call.

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Agenda is:

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Agenda and minutes approved. Public participation....

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Female commenter shouting out that @PlanetDetroit 's guide to restoring water lines was particularly Fabulous!

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@PlanetDetroit She just wanted the Customer Service group to be aware that Planet Detroit had developed that resource.

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@PlanetDetroit Male commenter is sharing that a recent improvement project was NOT going well in his neighborhood. (Sheridan block club? ). He's saying that he provided pictures to ensure that appropriate improvement are made. Sam Smalley saying that he's in touch with inspector. Will report bk

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@PlanetDetroit Male Commenter: Lifeline. October 2nd. How many people have re-certified or rejoined since the mailer went out.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 43/76

@PlanetDetroit Female commenter asking about the Planet Detroit guide, wants it to be distributed further. planetdetroit.org/2024/09/utilit…

planetdetroit.org/2024/09/utilit…

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@PlanetDetroit They are talking about re-certification and their efforts to ensure customers know HOW to go about the process. Back to Public Comment.

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@PlanetDetroit New business....Customer Service presentation!

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@PlanetDetroit Presenter is Matthew Phillips.

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@PlanetDetroit

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 48/76

@PlanetDetroit They're recessing to call the next to order. It's 3:02pm. HR & Org Dev started 3:02pm. Quorum reached. Recessed to the Customer Service meeting. Customer Service meeting re-convened at 3:03pm.

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@PlanetDetroit Lifeline affordability and easy pay program. Phillips presenting. Talking about their offsetting of customer balances.

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit Director Gary Brown: We have kept rates below 3% each year for 9 years. We are building the budget on a 90% collection rate.

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@PlanetDetroit Now they are on this item. The presenter is actually Bryan Peckinpaugh.

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@PlanetDetroit Expanded outreach through partnerships!

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@PlanetDetroit He's talking about how they've improved their Comms strategy.

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@PlanetDetroit Customer Service adjourned at 3:27pm. They're now back to the HR & Org Dev meeting. reconvened at 3:27pm. Public participation.....

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@PlanetDetroit Recessed at 3:32pm. Finance Committee started at 3:32pm. Quorum. Reconvening the HR Committee.

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@PlanetDetroit HR Committee reconvened at 3:33pm. Presentation starting by Patricia Thornhill. They will have 700 ppl by end of October 2024 (currently there are 23 open roles to be filled by end of the month).

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@PlanetDetroit Next meeting: Nov 6th. Meeting adjourned 3:44pm. Resuming Finance Committee at 3:44pm. Agenda is approved.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 59/76

@PlanetDetroit Minutes from Sept 4 approved. Public Participation. Here is the Agenda for Finance Committee.

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@PlanetDetroit -Item A motion passed will next be reviewed by the Board of Water Commissioners. -Item B motion approved. Result of RFP. Goes to lowest bidder. -Item C Committee recommends the approval of the contract. Authorize director to act appropriately. $265, 500. Motion approved.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 61/76

@PlanetDetroit Rahman's back with a presentation to the Finance Committee. Yay! He's my fave Finance guy in the city meetings I cover. Audit should be done by end of the year.

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit

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@PlanetDetroit They are short on revenue by 3.2%. Shortfall is owing to additional credits being given. That is why there's a change to BVA=Budget versus Actuals.

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@PlanetDetroit Lifeline Plan Highlights from Q4 (for them) which is June 30, 2024. Wrote off $8.7M. The State told them they had to "eat" the debt as it could not be replenished from other funds.

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@PlanetDetroit Debra Pospiech is an advisor to Chairman Gary Brown. She's called Rahman's Lifeline report "sobering" in reference to what it truly costs the department.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 70/76

@PlanetDetroit New program benefit:

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@PlanetDetroit household OCCUPANTS not just the OWNER can help contribute to the arrearages. These are called PROGRAM ARREARAGES.

MotorCityMegs @MotorCityMegs8 72/76

@PlanetDetroit Pospeich is seeking approval for this Program Arrearages addition to move this recommendation to the full board. The burden will be on the households to be aware of the timelines that affect their water. Move to recommend to board. Approve the amendments.

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@PlanetDetroit This action has been taken.

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@PlanetDetroit The next meeting is November 6. The meeting is adjourned at 4:36pm.

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@PlanetDetroit This concludes my coverage of the Detroit Board of Water Commissioners’ Committee meetings today.

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@PlanetDetroit For more meeting coverage check out . Sign up for the Detroit Documenters newsletter! documenters.org

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Agency Information

Detroit Water and Sewerage Department

dwsd.legistar.com

See Documenters reporting

Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) is one of the largest water and sewer utilities in the United States, serving more than 200,000 Detroit residential and commercial accounts that includes a city population of nearly 680,000. DWSD’s water network consists of more than 2,700 miles of transmission and distribution mains and nearly 3,000 miles of sewer collection piping.

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