* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [00:00:03] SORRY. [CALL TO ORDER] GOOD MORNING EVERYONE. UH, IT'S UH, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20TH. UH, WELCOME TO OUR MEETING. UH, THIS MEETING'S CALLED THE ORDER I'D LIKE TO CALL ON LISA GUTIERREZ [PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE] TO LEAD US IN THE PLEDGE. I PLEDGE THE UNITED STATES OF THE REPUBLIC JUSTICE. THANK YOU. [ROLL CALL] AND CALL ON DINA FOR ROLL CALL, PLEASE. PRESIDENT SCOTT. HERE. VICE PRESIDENT CORDERO. HERE. SECRETARY PARKIN HERE. COMMISSIONER MCGUIRE HERE. AND COMMISSIONER AUSTIN. WE HAVE A QUORUM. THANK YOU. [CONSENT CALENDAR] UH, SO INTRODUCING THE CONSENT CALENDAR. UH, DO I HAVE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEMS ONE THROUGH FOUR, PLEASE. I SO MOVE. THANK YOU. AND A SECOND. COMMISSIONER AUSTIN. UH, THANK YOU. ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? ALRIGHT, THANK YOU. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? THANK YOU. THE MOTION PASSES ON THE CONSENT [5. 25-57022 Recommendation to authorize the General Manager to execute any and all documents necessary to amend Lease No. WDL-210 with Don Temple Storage, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company, to extend the lease of Los Angeles County Assessor Parcel 10 and a portion of Parcel 7, through September 30, 2030, with one five-year extension, and to incrementally increase the monthly rent.       Suggested Action: Approve recommendation. ] CALENDAR. ITEM NUMBER FIVE, AUTHORIZED GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY TO AMEND LEASE NUMBER W DL TWO 10 WITH DON TEMPLE STORAGE LLC. DO I HAVE A MOTION PLEASE? THANK YOU COMMISSIONER PARKIN. AND A SECOND. DID I HEAR A SECOND? SECOND. COMMISSIONER AUSTIN. THANK YOU. AND DO WE HAVE A PRESENTATION? YES. FERNANDO GELSON WILL BE GIVING THE PRESENTATION. THANK YOU, FERNANDO, I APOLOGIZE I DON'T HAVE YOU ON MY NOTES. WELCOME. IT'S OKAY. GOOD MORNING, PRESIDENT SCOTT. AND GOOD MORNING COMMISSIONERS. GOOD MORNING. COULD YOU SPEAK CLOSER TO THE MIC, PLEASE? SURE WILL. THIS IS, AS WAS SAID, I WAS, I'M PRESENTING FOR THE AMENDMENT TO THE CURRENT LEASE FOR THE DON TEMPLE STORAGE, UH, WDL TWO 10. AND THIS IS FOR A RENT INCREASE. I'M PRETTY SURE MOST OF US ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE LOCATION. IT'S, UH, OFF SPRING STREET, JUST EAST OF THE TREATMENT PLANT AND JUST SOUTH OF THE AIRPORT. UM, IT'S, UH, IT'S UH, LOCATED ON PARCELS, UH, 10 AND SEVEN OF THE COUNTY ASSESSORS, UH, MAP. LITTLE BACKGROUND, THE BOARD ENTERED INTO THESE WEL UH, TWO 10 WITH DON TEMPLE STORAGE FOR PARCELS 10 AND SEVEN AND I SHOULD SAY A PORTION OF PARCEL, PARCEL, UH, SEVEN. THIS LEASE WAS SUPERSEDED LISA WDL 96 AND, AND ONE 12. THE TERM THIS WOULD BE FOR, IT SAYS 10 YEARS, BUT IT IT'S, IT WAS 10 YEARS IN 2014. SO WE'RE OPERATING ON ONE OF THE TWO OPTIONAL FIVE YEAR EXTENSIONS, 2024 TO PRESENT. UM, THE APPRAISAL WAS DONE ON THIS PROPERTY BY ITS RP LA RP LORRAINE AND ASSOCIATES. AND THEY VALUED THE PROPERTY AT 16.57 MILLION AND RECOMMENDED A JUST ABOVE 69,000 PER MONTH FOR THE RENT. AFTER THAT, THE UTILITY IS ENTERED INTO NEGOTIATION WITH DON TIPPLE STORAGE TO EXTEND THE LEASE TERM AND TO PHASE IN THOSE RENT INCREASES. AND AS YOU CAN SEE, THE USES FOR THE PROPERTY, THEY'RE WELL KNOWN FOR THEIR VEHICLE RENTAL, UH, UH, VEHICLE STORAGE AS WELL AS, UH, WITH RVS. THEY ALSO HAVE BOATS THERE AS WELL AS OTHER VEHICLES. AND THEY ALL OVER TO THE LEFT, THEY HAVE SELF STORAGE UNITS AS WELL. THEY'VE BEEN INTERESTING THING TO NOTE FOR THIS. THEY'VE BEEN DOING IT SINCE 1968 AND THEY WERE THE FIRST, UM, LOCATION THAT HAD SELF STORAGE IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. CONTINUE WITH THE TERM. THIS IS TO EXTEND IT THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30TH TO 2030 WITH THE OPTION FOR, UH, IT SAYS THREE, BUT IT'S SHOULD BE TWO OTHER FIVE YEAR EXTENSION, UH, WHICH SHALL ONLY BE ONE MORE EXTENSION AFTER THIS. NOW THIS, WE HAD NEGOTIATED THE RENTAL INCREASE 'CAUSE THEY'RE CURRENTLY PAYING 30,400 TO $28 AND 50 58 5 CENTS. BUT THEY DID THEIR OWN VALUATION OF THE PROPERTY AND IT CAME OUT TO BE, UH, 49,752 [00:05:01] AND 15 CENTS MONTHLY. SO WE AGREED TO START THAT. UM, IF THIS IS APPROVED AND AFTER TWO YEARS, IT WOULD GO TO 60,000 A MONTH, AND THAT WOULD BE EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1ST, 2027. AND IN THAT FINAL YEAR, THE FIFTH YEAR WOULD BE 7,070,000 A MONTH. AND AFTER WHICH THE RENT WOULD BE, UM, CONTINUED WITH A CPI INCREASE UNTIL THE NEXT NEGOTIATION. AND THIS WOULD BE AN 80 20 SPLIT, UH, 80 GOING TO UTILITIES AND 20 TO THE CITY UNDER ITS AIRPORT DEPARTMENT. WITH THAT, WE ARE RECOMMENDING THAT THE, THE BOARD AUTHORIZE THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE ANY AND ALL DOCUMENTS NECESSARY TO AMEND LEASE WDL TWO 10 WITH DON TEMPLE STORAGE. THAT'S A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. AND TO EXTEND THE LEASE, UH, ON THIS, UH, LOS ANGELES COUNTY ASSESSOR PARCEL 10 AND PORTION OF PARCEL SEVEN THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30TH, 2030, WITH ONE MORE FIVE YEAR EXTENSION AND TO INCREMENTALLY INCREASE THE MONTHLY RENT. WITH THAT, I CAN TAKE ANY QUESTIONS IF YOU HAVE ANY. THANK YOU SO MUCH. UH, BEFORE QUESTIONS, ARE THERE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS AND DO WE HAVE ANY COMMISSIONER COMMENTS? I HAVE A QUESTION. UM, SO IF, IF UTILITIES WOULD NEED THIS PROPERTY IN THE FUTURE, WITHIN THE TERM OF THIS LEASE, WHAT ARE THE TERMS FOR CANCELLATION? IT'S A SIX MONTH NOTICE. NOTICE YOU WOULD NEED HUNDRED 80 DAYS. UM, THEY WERE MADE AWARE THAT WE MIGHT NEED THAT PROPERTY IN 2014. SO THE, AND, AND SHE STILL REMEMBERS. OKAY, THAT'S GOOD. THANK YOU. YOU'RE WELCOME. SORRY. THANK YOU. UM, COULD YOU GO BACK TO THE MAP FOR ME? THERE WE GO. SO THE APPRAISAL THAT CAME IN AT $16.5 MILLION, DOES IT, DOES THAT VALUE ONLY INCLUDE PARCEL 10 AND THEN A PORTION OF PARCEL SEVEN? THEY ACTUALLY, UM, THEY, THEY DID AN APPRAISAL ON THE PROPERTY, UH, PARCEL 10 COMPLETELY IN THAT, IN THE ENTIRETY OF PARCEL SEVEN AND, BUT NOT PARCEL NINE. WE DID, WE DID PARCEL NINE, BUT IT WASN'T INCLUDED IN THIS PRESENTATION. PARCEL NINE WAS INCLUDED IN THE APPRAISAL. SO, SO WE DO HAVE AN APPRAISAL ON THE ENTIRE SEVEN, NINE, AND 10 I BELIEVE SO. OKAY. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, AND THIS MIGHT BE A DUMB QUESTION, BUT IS THE APPRAISAL BASED ON THE HIGHEST AND BEST USED FOR THOSE THAT TOTAL ACREAGE, WHATEVER THAT IS? THEY DID AN APPRAISAL ON 10 SIMILAR PROPERTIES THAT WERE SOLD RECENTLY AND THEY DID IT FOR, UM, LESSER PROPERTIES AND SOME THAT WERE SUPERIOR. AND THAT'S HOW THEY CAME UP WITH THIS, THIS, UM, THIS APPRAISAL. SO I, SO I GUESS MY QUESTION IS, IF, IF WE WERE LOOKING AT THIS IN THE FUTURE AND WE COULD USE THAT APPRAISAL OR WE WOULD HAVE TO REVISE THAT APPRAISAL BASICALLY ON HOW OLD IT IS, BUT IT, YOU COULD BUILD A OFFICE BUILDING THERE OR YOU COULD BUILD WHATEVER WAS ALLOWED UNDER THE CURRENT ZONING IS HOW THEY APPRAISED IT, I IMAGINE. THAT'S CORRECT. OKAY. ALRIGHT. AND, AND WHAT IS CURRENTLY ON NINE AND SEVEN, ARE THOSE PICTURES CURRENT OR IS THERE ANY KIND OF USE OR THEY'RE SEMI CURRENT? THE, UM, UH, FLEET ALONG WITH PD ARE USING IT FOR VEHICLE STORAGE AS WELL. ARE THEY PAYING THE UTILITIES RENT? I HAVE NO COMMENT. NO ? THEY DO. THANK YOU. NO, NO QUESTIONS. THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, YOU'RE WELCOME. UH, COMMISSIONER AUSTIN? YES, THANK YOU. UM, AND FORGIVE ME, I, I'M, UH, RELATIVELY NEW HERE. HOW OFTEN DO THE, DOES THE LEASE AGREEMENT COME UP FOR REVIEW OR OR TERMS NEGOTIATED? IT DEPENDS ON THE TERMS OF THE LEASE. USUALLY IT'S WITHIN TIME, UH, 10 TO FIVE YEARS BEFORE THERE'S SOME KIND OF CHANGE IN THE, UH, OR A TRIGGER FOR APPRAISAL OR A NEXT NEGOTIATION, A TERM OF EXTENSION. THERE'S SO MANY DIFFERENT AMENDMENTS. IT, IT, IT VARIES PER LEASE, REALLY. SO I NOTICED THERE'S A, JUST THE, THE INCREASES NEGOTIATED, UM, ARE PRETTY SIGNIFICANT OVER TWO YEARS. WE'LL SEE A ALMOST A HUNDRED PERCENT INCREASE IN, IN THE, UM, LEASE. YEAH. UM, AMOUNT. UM, WHY IS THAT? AND UM, CAN YOU, CAN YOU EXPLAIN THAT? IS THAT JUST BASED ON THE PRAISE VALUE OR, WHAT WE DID WAS WE PRESENTED THE APPRAISED VALUE TO DON TEMPLE STORAGE. ONCE THEY RECEIVED THAT, THEY DID THEIR OWN, IT WASN'T AS [00:10:01] DETAILED AS OUR APPRAISAL, UH, CONSULTANT, BUT THEY DID DO THEIR OWN, UH, VALUE FOR THE PROPERTY. WE THEN STARTED TALKING TO THEM AND MET IN THE MIDDLE BASICALLY. AND THAT'S WHY IT'S INCREMENTALLY INCREASED INSTEAD OF JUST DROPPING THE 69,000 ON THEM. AND NOW I MIGHT HAVE MISSED IT ON THE SLIDE. WHEN WAS THE, PRIOR TO THIS NEGOTIATION, WHEN WAS THE LEASE LAST AGREED UPON? WHEN WAS IT, SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME. I'M SORRY, WHAT, WHAT WAS THE LAST LEASE AGREEMENT? UH, WHAT YEAR WAS THAT? WELL, IT STARTED IN 2014 FOR THIS LEASE. OKAY. 2014. AND THEN, SO THIS HAS BEEN MAYBE A 10 YEAR, 11 YEAR LEASE? YEAH, IT WAS A 10 YEAR LEASE AND THEN THE, IT, IT WAS UP FOR EXTENSION. GOT IT. THANK YOU. I I JUST, UH, YOU KNOW, INFLATION, I'M JUST, JUST REMARKING ON THAT. THAT'S, THAT'S OKAY. THAT'S WHY I'M HERE. , DO YOU HAVE ANOTHER COMMENT? HAVE A QUICK COMMISSIONER CORDERO. JUST A THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT REPORT. DO I HAVE A QUICK QUESTION? JUST UNDER, UM, THE RENT COLLECTED UNDER THE LEASE DISTRIBUTED BETWEEN THE AIRPORT AND, UH, FOR UTILITY? YES. HOW DOES THAT WORK IN TERMS OF A LEASE AGREEMENT? IS THE AIRPORT A PARTY TO THAT AS WELL? THEY ARE, UM, WE ARE JUST MANAGING THEIR PORTION. THAT SMALL PORTION YOU SAW THERE AT, UH, RUSSELL SEVEN, THEY DO RECEIVE THAT 20% MONTHLY. MONTHLY. OKAY. SO THEY DO THEY GET APPROVAL ON THIS LEASE TOO? THEY APPROVE THE LEASE. THEY'RE, THEY'RE TRUSTING US. THEY DO. OKAY. OKAY. THANK YOU. ALRIGHT, YOU'RE WELCOME. GENERAL MANAGER. GAN, I THINK, YOU KNOW, I, AS I LISTENED TO THE DISCUSSION AND LISTENING TO THE GUIDANCE, YOU'VE GIVEN PRESIDENT SCOTT TO HAVE COMMITTEE MEETINGS. IT'S PERHAPS INSTRUCTIVE AS I SAW THIS CONVERSATION GO FORWARD, THAT AT ONE OF THE APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES WE HAVE A DISCUSSION OF GENERAL LAND MANAGEMENT, OUR GENERAL APPROACHES. TRADITIONALLY, THE APPROACHES FOR LEASES HAVE BEEN TRADITIONALLY THIS ASPECT OF LIMITED TERMS WITH OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXTENSION BASED ON APPRAISAL AND APPRAISED VALUE WITH AUTOMATIC CHANGES IN THE LEASE, UM, RATE ONCE THE APPRAISAL IS CONCLUDED. SO AN AUTOMATIC JUMP TO WHATEVER THAT IS, AGREEMENTS TO CPI INCREASES IN BETWEEN AND INTERVENING YEARS. AND THEN A METHODOLOGY AS ALWAYS BETWEEN LANDLORD AND TENANT. IF THERE IS A DISAGREEMENT IN THE APPRAISAL, THEN THERE IS A WAY TO STEP THROUGH HOW TO RESOLVE THAT DISAGREEMENT AND PERHAPS HAVE A APPRAISER IN COMMON. AND THAT APPRAISER CAN MAKE THEN THE DECISION AS TO WHAT THE APPRAISED VALUE IS. THE APPRAISED VALUE TO COMMISSIONER PARKIN'S COMMENT TRADITIONALLY HAS BEEN APPRAISALS DONE SPECIFICALLY FOR THE USE AT HAND. SO IF THE IS AN APPRAISAL SPECIFICALLY TO A LEASE RATE, IT IS AN APPRAISAL FOR APPRAISED VALUE FOR LEASE, NOT NECESSARILY APPRAISED VALUE FOR THE DOLLAR VALUE OF THE LAND TO BE SOLD, THAT WOULD BE A DIFFERENT APPRAISAL. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THAT WITH ALL OF THESE DETAILS, INCLUDING COMMISSIONER MCGUIRE'S COMMENT, THAT NOT ONLY DO THEY HAVE TO VACATE THE PROPERTY AT SIX MONTHS, BUT THEY HAVE ACTUAL RESTORATION CLAUSES IN THE LAND ASSOCIATED WITH THEM VACATING AT SIX MONTHS. IT BEHOOVES US TO BRING TO A COMMITTEE JUST A GENERAL DISCUSSION OF WHAT IS THE STATUS OF OUR LEASES, HOW ARE THEY STRUCTURED AND ORGANIZED, AND HOW DO WE MANAGE THEM? THANK YOU FOR THAT. I AGREE. AND THANK YOU FOR THE BACKGROUND. UH, SEEING NO OTHER COMMISSIONER COMMENTS, CALL FOR THE VOTE. ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? ALRIGHT. MOTION PASSES. UH, ITEM NUMBER SIX, ADOPT RESOLUTION NUMBER UT 1 5 4 4 AUTHORIZING THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT AND ANY NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING ANY NECESSARY SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS WITH PARTNERS FOR PUBLIC. GOOD. MAY [6. 25-57023 Recommendation to adopt Resolution No. UT-1544 authorizing the General Manager to execute a contract and any necessary documents, including any necessary subsequent amendments, with Partners for Public Good, for technical assistance in improving procurement processes in the total amount not to exceed $75,000, for a period of one year.       Suggested Action: Approve recommendation. ] I PLEASE HAVE A MOTION? MOTION TO APPROVE. THANK YOU. AND SECOND, COMMISSIONER AUSTIN. UH, CALL ON GENERAL MANAGER. GAN PLEASE. THANK YOU. UH, NEXT SLIDE PLEASE. THERE WE GO. SO IN 2020, THE CITY'S FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PROCUREMENT DIVISION, THEY PARTNERED WITH AN ENTITY OUT OF THE KENNEDY SCHOOL. UM, THEN IT WAS CALLED PERFORMANCE LAB, GPL, AND THEY HAD A PROCUREMENT MAKEOVER. IT WAS A FAIRLY SUCCESSFUL EFFORT. IN FACT, UM, THE CITY'S EFFORT, ALONG WITH THE CONSULTANT, RECEIVED AN AWARD FOR THE REFINEMENT OF PROCUREMENT PROCESSES AND THE NEW PROCUREMENT PROCESSES ESTABLISHED AT THE CITY. SUFFICE IT TO SAY THEN THAT THAT QUALIFIES THEM AS SOMEBODY REPUTABLE. AND ALSO HAVING WORKED IN, BEING FAMILIAR WITH [00:15:01] THE CITY PROCESSES THEMSELVES, THOSE MEMBERS THAT WERE INSTRUMENTAL WITH THAT HAVE HELPED LAUNCH NOW PARTNERS FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD. AND THEY ARE NOW HELPING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS HARNESS CORE OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS WITH REGARDS TO PROCUREMENT. NEXT SLIDE. SO THEN THAT BRINGS FORWARD THIS ASPECT OF THE CONSULTANT THAT WE'RE ASKING FOR CONTRACT TODAY. SO YPPG. SO IN THAT TIMEFRAME, THEY'VE IMPLEMENTED 200 DIFFERENT HANDS-ON PROJECTS WITH OVER 80 DIFFERENT GOVERNMENTS. THIS IS A SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CITY PROCUREMENT, AS I SAID, AND THEIR FAMILIARITY WITH OUR ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PROCUREMENT SYSTEMS. IT BRINGS TO OUR UTILITY DEPARTMENT PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES INTO ALIGNMENT WITH CITY PRACTICES WHILE PRESERVING THE FLEXIBILITY REQUIRED FOR UTILITY OPERATIONS. AND IT IS OUR ASSESSMENT THAT INDEED, AS A UTILITY OPERATIONS, THERE DOES NEED TO BE THAT FLEXIBILITY WHILE AT THE SAME TIME TRYING TO ADHERE TO CITY PRACTICES. THEIR ABILITY TO DO THAT IS THE REASON WHY WE'RE BRINGING THIS ITEM BEFORE YOU TODAY. NEXT SLIDE. SO CLICK ONE MORE TIME. GOOD. I WAS WONDERING WHAT THE SPACE WAS FOR. UM, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO REVAMP THE PROCUREMENT PROCESS ALSO BRINGS US TO BUSINESS PLAN ALIGNMENT THAT SUPPORTS OUR FINANCIAL AND INTERNAL OBJECTIVES, PROMOTING PROACTIVE AND INNOVATIVE PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES, REFLECTIVE OF OUR UTILITY OPERATIONS AND OUR NEEDS. IT ENHANCES SUSTAINABLE FINANCES AND COST OF SERVICE EFFICIENCY BY VIRTUE OF THE FACT OF HAVING MORE EFFICIENT OPERATIONS. WITH REGARDS TO PROCUREMENT ITSELF AND THE CONTRACTS THAT WE SOLICIT, IT STRENGTHENS OUR ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE IN THE LONG TERM AS WELL. NEXT SLIDE. OVER AND ABOVE, I WOULD SAY THE KEY FEATURE OF WHAT WE'RE ASKING PPG TO DO WITH US IS THE KEY WORD HARMONIZE. SO WE'RE ASKING THEM TO HARMONIZE AND MODERNIZE OUR PROCUREMENT AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. THEY WILL JOIN US IN DOING THAT AND THEY'LL CONDUCT A COMPREHENSIVE STAKEHOLDER INFORMED ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT POLICIES, PROCESSES, AND PRACTICES. SO THIS ASPECT OF GOING TO THE INTERESTED PARTIES ALL ASSOCIATED WITH PROCUREMENT AND ASKING THEM THEIR VIEWS AND THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF THESE POLICIES, PRO PROCESSES AND PRACTICES IS A WAY THAT WE ASSEMBLE ALL THAT INFORMATION AND TRY TO FIND A, A DIFFERENT WAY FORWARD WHEN IT COMES TO PROCUREMENT, THAT IS THE HOPE AND THE GOAL THAT IT'D BE A PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR LONG-TERM IMPROVEMENTS AND THAT IT'D BE DONE IN CLOSE COLLABORATION WITH DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP AND STAFF. AND THEN IN THE END, LIKE I HIGHLIGHTED TO YOU IN THE PREVIOUS SLIDE, THE GOAL IS TO SAVE STAFF TIME, STREAMLINE VENDOR INTERACTIONS AND MAXIMIZE VALUE FOR MONEY. STAFF TIME IS MONEY AND OUR ABILITY TO APPLY THAT TIME TO OTHER PRACTICES ULTIMATELY, TOO, IF WE DO IT RIGHT AND DO IT WELL WITH CITI, WE'RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO DEMONSTRATE TO YOU THAT WE CONTINUE TO EXPAND OPPORTUNITIES FOR SMALL AND DIVERSE LOCAL BUSINESSES AS WELL. SLIDE. SO THAT IS THE ITEM BEFORE YOU TODAY. IT'S THE RECOMMENDATION TO ADOPT RESOLUTION UT 1544 AUTHORIZING THE GENERAL MANAGER TO EXECUTE A CONTRACT AND ANY NECESSARY DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING ANY NECESSARY SUBSEQUENT AMENDMENTS WITH THE PARTNERS FOR PUBLIC GOOD, FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE IN IMPROVING PROCUREMENT PROCESSES, THE TOTAL AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $75,000 FOR A PERIOD OF ONE YEAR. AND I'LL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU FOR THAT PRESENTATION. UH, ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? NO PUBLIC COMMENTS. ANY COMMISSIONER COMMENTS? COMMISSIONER AUSTIN? LIKE TO SAY I, I'D LOVE WHERE THIS IS GOING, UH, IN TERMS OF JUST IMPROVING, UM, PROCESSES. UM, AND SO THE PARTNERS FOR PUBLIC GOOD IS THAT, THAT'S THE CONSULTANT. THAT IS OKAY. THAT IS, SIR. OKAY. SO, YOU KNOW, I I'M I'M THINKING ABOUT PUBLIC PARTNERS FOR PUBLIC GOOD AS WELL, UM, IN TERMS OF HOW WE DO PROCUREMENT AND ENSURING THAT, YOU KNOW, LOCAL BUSINESSES ARE BENEFITING. AND, UM, CAN YOU EXPLAIN OR CAN YOU SPEAK TO, TO THAT AND HOW THEY MAY HELP, UM, HELP WITH THOSE, THOSE INITIATIVES? ENSURING THAT, THAT WE WE'RE, UH, REACHING OUT TO MINORITY CONTRACTORS, UH, UH, LOCAL, SMALL BUSINESSES, UM, AND, AND, AND, AND KEEPING RESOURCES LOCAL IS POSSIBLE. INDEED, THAT'S ONE OF THE KEY ELEMENTS OF PROCUREMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR TODAY IS IN ORDER TO, ON THE ONE HAND, SEEK OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES THAT WE KNOW ARE IMPORTANT FOR LOCAL BUSINESSES AND DIVERSE BUSINESSES, AND AT THE SAME TIME, ADHERING TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF STATE LAW AND THE ASPECTS OF MANAGING THOSE ASPECTS AND NOT SHOWING, YOU KNOW, BIAS AS THE WAY THE STATE LAW QUALIFIES IT. SO AS WE BALANCE THOSE [00:20:01] INTERESTS, ULTIMATELY AS WE ALIGN WITH THE CITY, THE GOAL IS OUTREACH. THE GOAL IS COMMUNICATION. THE GOAL IS GATHERING INFORMATION, UH, JUST TO BE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND AWARE OF HOW OUR PROCUREMENT PRACTICES ALIGN WITH THE OUTCOMES THAT WE ULTIMATELY GET. THE CONTRACTS THAT WE'RE TAKING IN, DO THEY MEET SOME PERSPECTIVE OR OBJECTIVE THAT WE'RE TRYING TO, TO, UH, TO GATHER? I WOULD SAY THAT WHEN IT COMES TO OUTREACH, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT STANDS OUT FOR US AGAIN, IS THIS ASPECT OF BEING A UTILITY AND BEING SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT THAN THE CITY PROCUREMENT SERVICES. SO MANY TIMES WHAT I SEE AS A FUTURE FOR US IS OUTREACH THAT CONSTITUTES PERHAPS A FOCUSED AND DIFFERENT APPROACH TO OUTREACH THAN HOW THE CITY DOES IT. MAYBE IN DIFFERENT FORUMS, MAYBE IN DIFFERENT PARTNERSHIPS, BUT ULTIMATELY THE GOAL IS THE MORE CLEAR AND TRANSPARENT WE ARE ON THE OPPORTUNITIES WE HAVE FOR VENDORS TO SEEK CONTRACTS WITH US, THEN OVERALL IS THE BETTER THE RESULT. UH, COMMISSIONER PARKIN ANATOL. THANK YOU. UH, DO YOU ENVISION THE, THE REPORT AT THE END OF THIS YEAR? WE WOULD GET, I, I KIND OF ENVISION IT LIKE AN AUDIT, BUT IT WOULD BE A, SOME SORT OF SPREADSHEET AND SAY, WE CURRENTLY USE THIS PROCESS, WE RECOMMEND YOU GO TO X, WHATEVER IS CHANGING IT IN SOME MANNER. AND THEN DOES IT ALSO LOOK AT SINCE WE'RE RECENTLY CONSOLIDATED WITH THE DEPARTMENT'S INTERNAL PROCESSES ALSO? IS THAT RIGHT? YES, CORRECT. RIGHT ON POINT. EXACTLY. SO, UH, THAT'S WHY IN THE PRESENTATION I USED, UH, WHICH IS THEIR WORD ACTUALLY, I REALLY LIKE THAT WORD, UM, TO HARMONIZE AND MODERNIZE, HARMONIZE BECAUSE INDEED THE VERY NATURE OF THE UTILITY THAT YOU GOVERN AS A BOARD IS DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS THAT CAME TOGETHER INHERENTLY. THEY BROUGHT DIFFERENT PRACTICES, DIFFERENT APPROACHES. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MUCH YOU WRITE A PROCEDURE, ULTIMATELY YOU GET PRACTICES ASSOCIATED WITH IT. SO THE EFFORT HERE IS TO DISCOVER ALL THAT, GIVE IT SOME CLARITY, REFLECT BACK ON CERTAIN CITY MANDATES. WE ARE A CITY DEPARTMENT AFTER ALL. AND SO WE DO HAVE TO FOLLOW SOME OF THOSE GUIDELINES. AND AGAIN, THE WORD HARMONIZE, PUT THAT ALL TOGETHER IN A STRUCTURE THAT MAKES SENSE GOING FORWARD. ONE IS THAT IS CLEAR TO YOU AND THAT IN SETTING THAT DIRECTION, THERE'S ACTUALLY A STEPWISE ABILITY TO WALK OUR WAY THROUGH IT. THAT YOU HAVE A SENSE OF DIRECTION AND ACCOMPLISHMENT THAT WE'RE WALKING OURSELVES THROUGH, AND THAT WE ALSO SEE THE RESULTS OF THAT. WHAT DOES THE WORD HARMONIZE MEAN? I'LL GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE. SO TO ME, HARMONIZATION IS THE ACTUAL ABILITY TO HARMONIZE ACROSS THE ENTIRE UTILITY. THE SECURING AND PROCUREMENT OF BOTH, WHETHER THEY ARE TANGIBLE MATERIAL ITEMS OR WHETHER THEY ARE SERVICES AND IF THEY'RE MATERIAL ITEMS AND IF THEY ARE SERVICES, SOMETIMES THERE'S NUANCES EVEN EMBEDDED WITHIN THAT. IF THERE WAS CLEAR AND TRANSPARENCY IN DISTINCT FORMS AND APPROACHES TO USE IN DISTINCT AND CLEAR PROCEDURES OFF OF WHICH TO BRING YOU AREAS WITHIN YOUR SCOPE OF APPROVAL IN AREAS THAT ARE RESERVED TO THE GENERAL MANAGER, BE THAT FINANCIAL THRESHOLDS, BE THAT IN ACTUAL CONTRACT STRUCTURE THRESHOLDS, THAT THAT IN ESSENCE, IF I CAN DO MY BEST TO SUMMARIZE IN 20 SECONDS, THAT IS THE BODY OF WORK THAT LIES AHEAD FOR ALL OF US COLLECTIVELY AS STAFF, AS WELL AS THE CONSULTANT. IT'S IN THAT EFFORT THAT WE BRING BACK THAT INFORMATION TO YOU AND LET YOU KNOW HOW IT'S GOING. PERFECT. I I TOTALLY SUPPORT THIS. I, I JUST HOPE, I MEAN, IT'S NICE TO HAVE ANOTHER SET OF EYES LOOK AT OUR PROCESSES AND, AND SEE WHERE WE CAN IMPROVE, BUT I HOPE AT THE END OF THE DAY IT MAKES IT SIMPLER AND, AND MORE TRANSPARENT AND EASIER FOR STAFF AND EASIER FOR THE GENERAL MANAGER AND EVERYBODY THAT, THAT WE'RE MORE EFFICIENT IN THAT WAY, RIGHT? WE'RE NOT CREATING ADDITIONAL BUREAUCRACY, WE'RE WE'RE TRYING TO ELIMINATE IT WHERE WE CAN AND MAKE IT, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTANDABLE AND MAYBE UNI UNIVERSAL ACROSS EVERYBODY. BUT I THINK IT'S A GREAT IDEA AND THANK YOU FOR BRINGING IT FORWARD. THANK YOU. ANY OTHER COMMISSIONER COMMENTS? YES, I JUST HAVE A QUESTION. ANNA TOLD IT'S NOT A BIG ONE HERE. UM, SO INITIALLY THE CITY CONTRACTED WITH THE HARVARD SCHOOL FOR THE NAME UNDER THE NA, THE FIRST NAME GPL, CORRECT. AND THEN A SMALL GROUP WENT OUT AND NOW CREATED A NONPROFIT THAT'S CALLED PARTNERSHIP PUBLIC GOOD, CORRECT. THERE STILL A GPL THAT'S WORKING WITH THE CITY, OR ARE THEY NOW WORKING, OR, I DON'T UNDERSTAND IS THAT THEY'RE NO LONGER WORKING WITH THE CITY. SO NOW IT'S PPL ON BOTH. YES. IF THERE WAS ANY FURTHER WORK, IT WOULD BE THROUGH PPG? YES. OKAY, THANK YOU. ANY OTHER COMMENTS? UH, I WOULD JUST LIKE TO COMMEND OUR GENERAL MANAGER AND STAFF ON THE, UH, THE FORM OF THIS PARTICULAR ITEM AND OTHERS THAT WE'RE, WE'VE SEEN TODAY. UH, AND I'M, I'M JUST GONNA READ THIS PARAGRAPH OUT OF THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. UH, THE [00:25:01] INITIATIVE DIRECTLY ALIGNS WITH THE DEPARTMENT'S FISCAL YEAR BUSINESS PLAN, UH, SPEC FISCAL YEAR 26 BUSINESS PLAN SPECIFICALLY WITHIN THE FINANCIAL AND INTERNAL CATEGORIES BY PROMOTING PROACTIVE AND INNOVATIVE POLICIES THAT SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE FINANCES, COST OF SERVICE, EFFICIENCY, AND LONG-TERM ORGANIZATIONAL RESILIENCE. THIS IS, UH, EXACTLY THE TYPE OF STATEMENT THAT THAT HELPS ALL OF US TO REMAIN FOCUSED ON THE BUSINESS PLAN AND, AND SEE IN REAL TIME HOW THE BUSINESS PLAN IS AFFECTING AGENDA ITEMS THAT COME BEFORE THIS COMMISSION. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT. THANK YOU. UH, SEEING OTHER, SEEING NO OTHER COMMISSIONER COMMENTS, CALL FOR A ROLL CALL. VOTE PLEASE. DINA, VICE PRESIDENT CORDERO. YES. SECRETARY PARKIN. YES. COMMISSIONER MCGUIRE? YES. COMMISSIONER AUSTIN. PRESIDENT SCOTT. AYE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. UH, AGENDA ITEM NUMBER SEVEN, RECEIVE AND FILE A PRESENTATION ON THE 10 YEAR PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER PRESIDENT AWARD. MAY I PLEASE HAVE A SECOND TO HEAR THE PRESENTATION? OR FIRST, I'M SORRY. MOTION. THANK MOTION AND SECOND BY COMMISSIONER PARKIN. UH, CALL ON TY SANG FOR THE PRESENTATION, PLEASE. GOOD MORNING, PRESIDENT SCOTT AND COMMISSIONERS, IT IS MY PLEASURE TO SHARE WITH THE BOARD, UM, OUR RECOGNITION BY THE AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION FOR OUR 10 YEAR PRESIDENT'S AWARD. UM, TO START, I'LL JUST KIND OF READ A STATEMENT THAT'S IN THE PLAQUE, WHICH I'LL PASS AROUND A LITTLE LATER. UM, THE AWARD IS FOR IN HONOR OF THE UTILITIES ENDURING COMMITMENT TO OPTIMIZATION BY MAINTAINING THE PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER'S PRESIDENT AWARD FOR WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATIONS LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE FOR 10 CONSECUTIVE YEARS. SO, UM, WITH THIS AWARD, I, I WANT TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE BACKGROUND AS TO HOW THE PARTNERSHIP SAFE WATER FIRST CAME ABOUT. SO I'M GONNA DO A LITTLE STORYTELLING AND THEN I'M GONNA TRANSFER IT TO HARD WORK TO THE REAL GENIUSES IN THE DEPARTMENT, . OKAY. SO LITTLE STORY. IN 1993, UM, THE INDUSTRY, THE, THE UNITED STATES EXPERIENCED THE LARGEST WATERBORNE DISEASE OUTBREAK IN ITS HISTORY. UM, THIS WAS IN MILWAUKEE AND WE LEARNED LOTS OF LESSONS THAT REALLY CHANGED HOW THE INDUSTRY OPERATES. SO IN LATE MARCH OF 1993, RESIDENTS STARTED TO REPORT CLOUDY WATER AND WIDESPREAD STOMACH ILLNESSES. [7. 25-56905 Recommendation to receive and file a presentation on the 10-year Partnership for Safe Water President Award.       Suggested Action: Approve recommendation. ] UM, INITIALLY THEY THOUGHT IT WAS THE FLU, HOWEVER, BY EARLY APRIL, HOSPITALS WERE OVERWHELMED. THOUSANDS WERE SICK WITHIN DAYS, AND IT WAS LINKED TO THE HOWARD AVENUE WATER TREATMENT PLANT. ON APRIL 7TH, THE CITY ISSUED A BOY WATER NOTICE AND THEN TESTING CONFIRMED THAT CRYPTOSPORIDIUM, A CHLORINE RESISTANT PARASITE WAS THE CAUSE. SO HERE'S A LITTLE IMAGE OF A CRYPTOSPORIDIUM OO CYST, AND THEN THEY HATCH AND THEY KIND OF LOOK LIKE THIS. UM, THE OST IS ROUGHLY FIVE MICROMETERS IN SIZE, AND IF I HAD HAIR, SINGLE STRAND OF MY HAIR WOULD BE ABOUT 75 MICROMETERS. AND SO THIS WILL GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF THE SIZE OF THESE, UM, OSIS AND THE PARASITES THAT EXIST. SO THE OVERALL IMPACT WAS OVER 400,000 PEOPLE GOT SICK AND THERE WERE UNFORTUNATELY 69 DEATHS DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED TO THIS OUTBREAK. SO AGAIN, THIS WAS THE LARGEST WATERBORNE OUTBREAK IN US HISTORY. THE AFTERMATH IS WHAT WE LEARNED WAS AT THE TIME THE PLANT, THE HOWARD AVENUE WATER TREATMENT PLANT MET ALL DRINKING WATER STANDARDS. THIS LED THEN CONGRESS THEN TO REAUTHORIZED THE SAFE DRINKING WATER ACT, AND THEN THE INDUSTRY THEN CREATED THE PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER TO HELP UTILITIES GO, GO ABOVE AND BEYOND COMPLIANCE. SO TURNING THESE LESSONS INTO ACTION. SO IN 1995, WORK PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AMERICAN WATERWORKS ASSOCIATION EPA AND A BUNCH OF UTILITY PARTNERS CAME TOGETHER AND CREATED THE PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER. THE GOAL WAS TO HELP WATER SYSTEMS OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE BEYOND THE REGULATION. THE PROGRAM FIRST STARTED WITH SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT, WHICH IS IN 1995. SO THAT'S THE HOWARD AVENUE TREE IMPLANT, UM, WHICH KIND OF WHERE IT ALL STARTED. AND THEN THE PROGRAM HAS EVOLVED. AND THEN IN 2011 IT TRANSITIONED TO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM OPERATIONS TO INCLUDE WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS. AND THEN IN 2015, THEY ADDED GROUNDWATER, HUMAN PLANT OPTIMIZATION AS PART OF THE PARTNERSHIP. SO BECAUSE LONG BEACH UTILITIES DOES NOT OPERATE A SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT, WE DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF [00:30:01] THE PARTNERSHIP WITH SAFE WATER. HOWEVER, IN 19 OR 2011, UM, WHEN THEY CAME OUT WITH THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM PROGRAM, LONG BEACH BECAME ONE OF THE INAUGURAL, UM, AGENCIES THAT THAT ENTERED INTO THIS, UH, THIS PROGRAM. SO THAT BEGAN LONG BEACH'S PSW JOURNEY. AND SO AT THIS POINT, I AM GOING TO TRANSITION TO YEN, UM, WHO WILL TALK ABOUT OUR JOURNEY, THE HARD WORK THAT THE TEAM PUT IN. UM, BUT BEFORE WE DO THAT, I'M GONNA GONNA ASK HER TO, TO INTRODUCE HERSELF AGAIN TO THE BOARD AND TRY NOT TO BE SO MODEST. PLEASE DON'T BE MODEST. UM, AND TALK ABOUT YOURSELF. HI, THE POINTERS. THE POINTERS . YEAH, CONTINUE. YEAH. THANK YOU. SO, LIKE TY SAID, SINCE THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I PRESENT IN FRONT OF A COMMISSIONER AUSTIN, I LIKE TO DO AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT MYSELF. UM, I'M CURRENTLY THE SENIOR DIRECTOR OF WATER QUALITY AND THE PROCESS, I OVERSEE THE OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF OUR, UM, FACILITIES FOR WATER AND SEWER SYSTEMS AND ALSO THE WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM. AND OUTSIDE OF WORK, I'M CURRENTLY THE VICE CHAIR FOR THE CALIFORNIA NEVADA SECTION FOR AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION. AND UM, I'M ACTUALLY AN ENGINEER BY TRAINING. I HAVE A CIVIL ENGINEER, PHD FROM VIRGINIA TECH, BUT, UH, I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN OPERATION FOR THE PAST, PAST 15 YEARS WITH THE DEPARTMENT AND, UM, PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER IS ACTUALLY ONE OF MY FIRST PROJECTS. SO I'M VERY GLAD I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO DO THIS PROJECT, WHICH REALLY GAVE ME A CHANCE TO LEARN ABOUT THE DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF THE UTILITY OPERATION. SO ASTY SAID, UM, BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE A SURFACE WATER TREATMENT PLANT, OUR JOURNEY STARTED WITH A DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IZATION. AND SO WE ARE, UM, ONE OF THE FIRST FOUR SYSTEMS TO COMPLETE OUR DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM ASSESSMENT. AND HERE WE HAVE SOME PICTURES. SO IN 2013, WE FINISHED OUR REPORT AND RECEIVED THE DIRECTOR'S AWARD. UM, HERE'S A PICTURE OF THE TEAM MEMBERS WITH THE AWARD AND SOME OF THEM THAT ARE STILL HERE, A COUPLE OF US. AND YOU SEE, UM, MYSELF AND TY AND MIKE AND LISA AND SOME OF THEM ALREADY RETIRED OR MOVED ON TO OTHER ADVENTURES. AND, UM, IN 2015 WE RECEIVED THE PRESIDENT'S AWARD AND HERE'S A PICTURE OF US RECEIVING THE AWARD AT, UH, AMERICAN WATERWORKS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL CONFERENCE. AND THEY ALSO REPORTED IN THEIR REPORT OF US BEING THE FIRST EVER ACHIEVED THE PRESIDENT AWARD. AND THIS YEAR IS OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. WE HAVE A, A STAFF MEMBER ABLE TO GO TO THE CONFERENCE AND RECEIVE THE AWARD FOR THE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. AND THE, FOR, LIKE I MENTIONED, FOR OUR GROUNDWATER TREATMENT PLAN, WE ALSO, WE JOIN THE PROGRAM AS SOON AS, UM, THE PROGRAM BECOME AVAILABLE, WE ARE THE FIRST GROUNDWATER PLAN TO COMPLETE THE SELF-ASSESSMENT. AND THAT WAS IN 2016. SO ACTUALLY NEXT YEAR IS GONNA BE OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR OUR GROUNDWATER TREATMENT PLAN. SO HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK? UM, I BRIEFLY MENTIONED THAT THE GOAL FOR PARTNERSHIP IS REALLY TO HELP UTILITY TO ASSESS AND OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE TO GO BEYOND THE REGULATIONS. SO FOR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, WE HAVE UH, THREE AREAS WE NEED TO LOOK AT. SO WE HAVE WATER QUALITY THAT MAINLY MEASURED BY DISINFECTANT RESIDUAL, AND WE HAVE HYDRAULIC INTEGRITY. WE LOOK AT THE PRESSURE FLUCTUATION AND WE ALSO HAVE PHYSICAL INTEGRITY, UM, MAINLY LOOKING AT THE FREQUENCY OF MAIN BREAKS. AND THE PROGRAM HAS FOUR PHASES. SO PHASE ONE IS BASICALLY FOR SYSTEMS TO COMMIT TO SELF-ASSESSMENT AND OPTIMIZE OUR PERFORMANCE. AND PHASE TWO IS DATA COLLECTION. SO WE NEED TO COLLECT AT LEAST ONE YEAR OF BASELINE DATA BEFORE WE CAN PERFORM THE ASSESSMENT. AND PHASE THREE IS FOR US TO SELF-ASSESS OUR PERFORMANCE AGAINST ALL THE DIFFERENT CRITERIA AND GOALS OF PARTNERSHIP. AND THEN FROM THAT WE DETERMINE WHICH AREAS ARE OPTIMIZED AND WHICH AREAS WE STILL NEED A LOT OF WORK TO DO. AND WE DEVELOP IMPROVEMENT PLANS. AND THEN FROM THAT WE MOVE TOWARDS PHASE FOUR OPTIMIZED [00:35:01] PERFORMANCE. SO BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT THE WORK, UM, JUST SOME UM, BRIEF REVIEW OF OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM. SO YOU ARE PRE PRETTY FAMILIAR WITH THIS MAP. SO WE HAVE OUR DISTRIBUTION, UM, SYSTEM MAP, UM, THE TWO WATER ZONES. WE HAVE MWD ZONE, WHICH IS SUPPLIED BY UM, PURCHASE, UH, WATER FROM MWD. AND WE ALSO HAVE THE BLENDED ZONE. WE RECEIVE WATER FROM BOTH MWD AND ALSO TREATED GROUNDWATER FROM OUR, SO BOTH ZONES ARE SUPPLIED BY THE RESERVOIRS. UH, AT MWD WE HAVE JOHNSON RESERVOIR AND THE BLENDED ZONE WE HAVE THE ELEMENTIS RESERVOIR. SO THE TWO RESERVOIRS SIT AT A HIGH ELEVATION, BASICALLY GRAVITY FED THE SYSTEM AND THIS REALLY ENSURES US TO HAVE A STABLE PRESSURE. AND BETWEEN THE TWO RESERVOIRS, WE HAVE 31 STORAGE TANKS FOR POTABLE WATER AND ABOUT A HUNDRED MILLION GALLONS OF STORAGE CAPACITY. WE DO HAVE A SMALL AREA WE CALL BOOSTED ZONE BECAUSE THIS AREA HAS A HIGHER ELEVATION AND THIS DOES REQUIRE SUPPLEMENTAL PRESSURE FROM THE BOOSTER PUMP STATIONS. AND WE HAVE ABOUT 900 MILES MAINS, 19,000 SERVICE CONNECTIONS AND ABOUT 26,000 VALVES AND THE 7,000 ANTS. SO, UM, HOW DO WE, UH, SELF-ASSESS AND OPTIMIZE OUR SYSTEM? UH, WE USE THE TEAM APPROACH. SO OUR FOCUS IS REALLY HELP US BUILD A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE. AND WE HAVE PARTICIPANTS FROM ALL DIVISIONS, INCLUDING ADMINISTRATION, ENGINEERING, AND MANY DIFFERENT OPERATION DIVISIONS. AND WE HELD, UH, REGULAR MEETINGS, UPDATING OUR PROGRESS AND BRAINSTORM IDEAS FOR IMPROVEMENT. AND THE IMPROVEMENT WORK IS IDENTIFIED BY INDIVIDUAL DIVISION AND ASSIGNED TO INDIVIDUAL DIVISIONS TO HAVE THAT ACCOUNTABILITY. AND WE ALSO HAD MANY FIELD STAFF TRAINING SESSIONS TO GET EVERYONE'S BUY-IN AND MAKE SURE WE HAVE INVOLVEMENT FROM ALL LEVELS. SO JUST TO BRIEFLY GO OVER OUR EFFORT, UM, THE FIRST CRITERIA FROM PARTNERSHIP IS WATER QUALITY, MAINLY MEASURED BY DISINFECTANT RESIDUAL, BUT THERE ARE SO MANY FACTORS AND IMPACT THE DISINFECTANT RESIDUAL AND ARE IMPACTED BY THE DISINFECTANT RESIDUAL AND PARTNERSHIP ACTUALLY HAS, UM, BEST PRACTICES FOR EACH OF THOSE FACTORS AND THE QUANTITATIVE GOALS. SO WE NEED TO LOOK AT OUR PERFORMANCE AGAINST THOSE GOALS AND DETERMINING WHICH AREAS ARE OPTIMIZED, WHICH AREA WE STILL NEED WORK. AND THEN FROM THERE WE UH, DEVELOP IMPROVEMENT PLANS. SO HOW DO WE DO COMPARED TO PARTNERSHIP GOALS? SO THIS GRAPH, I JUST WANT TO SHOW YOU A TYPICAL ANNUAL, UM, WATER QUALITY DATA FOR OUR REPORTS. SO WE HAVE THE TOTAL CHLORINE RESIDUAL AND THE RED LINES ON THE TOP. AND THE BOTTOM HERE SHOWS THE PARTNERSHIP GOAL. SO THE GOAL IS TO MAINTAIN OUR CHLORINE RESIDUAL BETWEEN 0.5 AND FOUR MILLIGRAMS SPLITTER FOR 95% OF THE TIME. AND WE HAVE THOSE THREE LINES SHOWING WHERE WE LAND. SO THE LOWER BOTTOM IS 5% THE LOWEST LEVEL AND THE TOP IS 95%, ALL THE RESIDUAL BELOW THAT LEVEL. AND SO AS YOU CAN SEE, OUR LEVELS ARE BETWEEN UM, ABOUT 1.5 TO 2.5 MILLIGRAMS SPLITTER. SO WE ARE REALLY, UH, OPTIMIZED IN THIS ASPECT 'CAUSE OUR RESIDUAL SITS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GOAL. BUT OF COURSE, UM, BESIDES, UM, BEING OPTIMIZED IN THE RESIDUAL LEVEL, WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE CONTINUE THIS PERFORMANCE AND ALSO CONTINUE TO IMPROVE BEYOND WHERE WE ARE TODAY. AND THAT INVOLVES A LOT WORK FROM MANY DIFFERENT GROUPS. SO DIFFERENT ASPECT AS FAR AS HOW WE TREAT THE WATER AND HOW WE OPERATE THE STORAGE AND OUR WATER QUALITY MONITORING PROGRAM AND OUR ROUTINE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES LIKE FLUSHING AND EXERCISING VALVES AND INSPECTING OUR HYGIENES AND MAKE SURE ALL OUR FACILITIES AND STAY UP TO DATE. AND OF COURSE OUR PLANNING FOR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS. AND ONE OF THE REALLY BIG LESSON WE LEARNED FROM PARTNERSHIP IS WE REALLY NEED TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES FOR A LOT OF OUR ROUTINE WORK. SO WE NEED TO CONSTANTLY DEVELOPING AND UPDATING OUR SOPS [00:40:01] AND MAKING SURE WE HAVE, UM, RESPONSE PROCEDURES FOR EMERGENCIES AND, AND ALSO CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS. AND THE SECOND ONE IS PHYSICAL INTEGRITY, MAINLY REFLECTED BY ITS UM, MAIN BREAK FREQUENCY. SO SIMILAR TO WATER QUALITY, UM, YOU CAN SEE UM, MAIN BREAK IS IMPACTED BY A LOT OF DIFFERENT FACTORS. AGAIN, WE NEED TO LOOK AT ALL THOSE DIFFERENT AREAS AND LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES TO IMPROVE. AND WE DID IMPRO, UH, IMPLEMENT A LOT OF IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITIES. SO SOME OF PICTURES I WANNA SHOW YOU HERE ACTUALLY, LIKE AS PART OF THE PARTNERSHIP EFFORT, WE, I, UM, INCREASE OUR DOCUMENTATION DURING A LOT OF OUR, UH, ROUTINE ACTIVITIES LIKE MAIN BREAK, UH, REPAIR WORK. SO WE STARTED, UH, DOCUMENTING OUR MAIN BREAKS WITH PICTURE AND WE ALSO STARTED, UM, TAKING SOIL SAMPLES SO THAT WE CAN TEST PRODUCTIVITY SO THAT WE CAN UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF CORROSION ON MAIN BREAK. AND THOSE ARE ALL OUR LIKE DATABASE BUILDING UP AS WE GO THROUGH OUR ROUTINE WORK. SO HERE THIS GRAPH, WE WANT TO SHOW YOU THE STATISTICAL OF OUR MAIN BREAK COMPARED TO PARTNERSHIP GOAL. UM, THE RED LINE HERE SHOWS THE PARTNERSHIP GOAL OF UH, LESS THAN 15 BREAKS PER A HUNDRED MILES OF BREAK. AND UH, WE HAVE SHOWN YOU THE DATA FOR THE PAST 25 YEARS AND EACH YEAR SHOWING IN THOSE BLUE COLUMN. AS YOU CAN SEE, OUR BRAKE NUMBERS HAS ALWAYS BEEN BELOW THE, UM, MEET THE PARTNERSHIP GOAL MUCH LESS THAN THE 15 BRAKES PER A HUNDRED MILES. BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY NOT ALWAYS THE CASE. I DIDN'T SHOW THIS UM, EARLIER YEARS. ACTUALLY IN THE EARLY 90 TO MID NINETIES OUR BRAKE NUMBERS WERE ABOVE THE 15 THRESHOLD. AND BECAUSE WE IDENTIFIED THE CUSTOMER IRON MAIN BRAKE MAIN MATERIALS IS THE MAIN REASON CAUSING THE MAIN BRAKES, WE WENT THROUGH A VERY AGGRESSIVE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM. SO FROM THE MID NINETIES TO EARLY 2000, WE REPLACED ABOUT ACTUALLY 200 MILES OF CUSTOM IRON MAIN BREAK. SO THIS REALLY HELPED US REDUCE THE BREAK NUMBERS AND WE CONTINUE TO HAVE A DECLINING TREND AND THE STAYED PRETTY LOW FOR THE PAST DECADE AND SIMILAR TO ONE QUALITY, AGAIN, WE WANT TO CONTINUE WORKING ON REDUCE OUR NUMBER OF BREAKS AND ALSO MINIMIZE OUR, UM, IMPACT OF THE BREAK. AGAIN, ALL THOSE DIFFERENT AREAS WE NEED TO CONTINUE WORKING ON IN OPERATION AND THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS AND AS WELL AS OUR CUSTOMER NOTIFICATION AND COMMUNICATION DURING THE BREAKS. THE LAST ONE IS A HYDRAULIC INTEGRITY. SO WE HAVE, UH, MEASURED BY PRESSURE CONTROL, AGAIN MANY DIFFERENT FACTORS WE LOOKED AT AND WE IMPLEMENTED SOME ADDITIONAL PRESSURE MONITORING AND DIFFERENT WAYS TO, UH, LOOK AT HOW WE CONTROL THE PRESSURE IN THE SYSTEM. AND THIS GRAPH, JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU A GENERAL IDEA HOW THE PRESSURE LOOKS LIKE IN OUR SYSTEM. SO THIS IS FROM A HYDRAULIC MODELING, UH, LOOKING AT OUR PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION IN THE SYSTEM. SO I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT OUR SYSTEM IS MAINLY GRAVITY FAT. SO GENERALLY WE EXPERIENCE PRETTY STABLE PRESSURE. UM, THERE ARE SMALL AREAS THAT WE DO SEE LOWER PRESSURE LESS THAN 40 PSI, BUT WE DO MEET THE GOAL OF ABOVE 20 PSI AT ALL TIMES. AND THE AS A BOOSTED ZONE TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE PRESSURE ABOVE 60 PSI, WE USE A BOOSTER PUMP STATION. AND THIS GRAPH, UH, SHOWS THE PRESSURE RESULTS FROM LAST REPORTING YEAR. UM, WE BASICALLY, WE HAVE THE TWO SETS OF PRESSURE DATA. WE HAVE ONE SET COMING FROM OUR SCADA. SO SCADA MONITORING IS WHAT WE USED BY OPERATORS TO CONTINUOUSLY MONITOR AND CONTROL OUR OPERATIONS. SO GENERALLY FOR SCADA PRESSURE MONITORING, WE INSTALL THOSE PRESSURE SENSORS AT A LOT OF THE CRITICAL CONTROL POINTS LIKE FOR EXAMPLE, OUR INTERCONNECTION WITH METROPOLITAN AND UH, UM, PRESSURE REGULATING VALVES BETWEEN THE TWO ZONES. AND ALSO WE HAVE PRESSURE MONITORING AT QUEENSWAY BRIDGE TO MAKE SURE IF THERE'S A, ANY BREAK OR ACCIDENT ON THE BRIDGE WE CAN, UH, CONTROL THAT MAIN BREAK. AND AS PART OF THE UM, PARTNERSHIP GOAL EFFORT, WE ACTUALLY ADDED A LOT MORE PRESSURE MONITORING IN THE SYSTEM AT THE SPECIFIC HYDRANTS. SO THIS GRAPH WILL SHOW THE DATA FROM THOSE TWO SOURCES. UM, FOR PARTNERSHIP PRESSURE GOAL SYSTEM CAN SET OUR OWN PRESSURE BECAUSE DEPENDING [00:45:01] ON HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS, WHETHER BY GRAVITY OR BY BOOSTER PUMP STATIONS, YOU CAN EXPERIENCE VERY DIFFERENT NORMAL PRESSURE. SO OUR GOAL IS TO MAINTAIN THE PRESSURE GENERALLY BELOW 100 PSI AND THEN THE MINIMUM PRESSURE IS TO BE ABOVE 20 PSI. SO FOR MAXIMUM PRESSURE, UM, FOR BOTH THE SCADA DATA AND THE HYDROGEN DATA, THE PRESSURE IS MAINTAINED AROUND 100 AND BELOW 100 PSI AND FOR MINIMUM PRESSURE FOR SCADA CONTROL BECAUSE AGAIN, THEY ARE MONITORED AT THE CRITICAL POINTS AND THEY ARE CONSTANTLY MAINTAINED ABOVE 40 PSI. AND FOR THE HYDRANTS WE DO SEE A LOT OF VARIATION AND THE SITUATIONS WE SEE PRESSURE BELOW 20 PSI. AND THIS IS ACTUALLY QUITE UNDERSTANDABLE 'CAUSE UH, THE PRESSURE SENSOR IS INSTALLED AT IN HYDRANT AND IT'S REALLY IMPACTED. UH, BUT DEPENDING WHAT HAPPENS TO THAT HYDRANT, SOMETIMES THE HYDRANT IS BEING WORKED ON FOR FIRE FLOW TESTING OR BEING CLOSED. SOMETIMES WE DO HAVE A HYDROGEN CLOSED BY THEFT. SO WHAT HAPPENS IS WITH THOSE PRESSURE SENSORS, WHEN THE PRESSURE DROPS BELOW 20 PSI, WE WOULD RECEIVE ALARMS AND THAT WOULD TRIGGER US TO LOOK INTO THIS MORE. AND A LOT OF TIMES THIS MIGHT BE FALSE ALARM OR THE PRESSURE DIP MIGHT BE VERY TEMPORARY. BUT ONE SITUATION WE DO FIND IS THAT DURING LAST YEAR'S ORANGE MAIN BREAK, AFTER LOOKING AT THE RESULTS, WE CONFIRMED THAT THERE ARE SOME LOCATIONS THAT HAVE PRESSURE THAT DROP BELOW FIVE PSI. SO FIVE PSI IS VERY CRITICAL 'CAUSE BELOW THAT PRESSURE, THAT MEANS THAT THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR CONTAMINANTS TO ENTER INTO OUR SYSTEM AND TO MAKE SURE THE WATER IS SAFE. WE HAVE TO PERFORM WATER QUALITY TESTING, AND FOR WATER QUALITY TESTING, IT TAKES AT LEAST 24 HOURS TO GET THE RESULTS. SO BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH AT ALL TIMES. SO AS WE ARE WAITING FOR WATER QUALITY RESULTS, WE ISSUE THE PRECAUTIONARY BOIL WATER NOTICE. AND FORTUNATELY WE WERE, AFTER THE 24 HOUR RESULTS COME OUT, WE WERE ABLE TO QUICKLY LIFT THAT NOTICE. SO AGAIN, VERY SIMILAR TO, UM, WHAT QUALITY AND THE MAIN BREAK, WE NEED TO CONTINUE WORKING ON ALL THOSE DIFFERENT AREAS TO MAKE SURE WE MAINTAIN AND GO TOWARDS OPTIMIZATION IF WE'RE NOT AT THAT PLACE YET. SO IN CONCLUSION, UM, RECEIVING THE PARTNERSHIP FOR SAFE WATER FOR 10 CONSECUTIVE YEARS, IT'S REALLY MORE THAN JUST ACHIEVEMENT, IT'S REALLY DEMONSTRATION OF OUR DEDICATION TO CONTINUE BUILDING CULTURAL FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND EXCELLENCE. AND IT REALLY ALIGNS WITH OUR BUSINESS PLAN EVEN THOUGH IT WAS, UM, BEFORE THE CREATION OF OUR BUSINESS PLAN. BUT MOSTLY IT ALIGNS WITH OUR BUSINESS PLAN, ESPECIALLY IN THE AREAS OF INTERNAL OPERATION AND WORKPLACE CULTURE. AND THE OPTIMIZATION WORK DOESN'T STOP IT'S ONGOING AND WE NEED TO CONTINUE THE TRAINING WITH EMPLOYEE AND THE COMMUNICATION WITH EMPLOYEE. AND FINALLY, I WOULD LIKE TO ACKNOWLEDGE, UM, BASICALLY 10 YEARS OF MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF HARD WORK FROM MANAGEMENT AND STAFF, FROM ALL DIVISIONS. AND LIKE I MENTIONED, A LOT OF THE ORIGINAL TEAM MEMBERS ARE HERE, MIKE IS HERE, AND LISA, LISA IS NOT HERE ANYMORE. BUT MIKE IS VERY INSTRUMENTAL IN OUR INITIAL ASSESSMENT AND HE IS ACTUALLY THE ONE IN RECENT YEARS LEADING THE SUBMISSION OF OUR ANNUAL REPORT. SO REALLY THANK YOU MIKE. AND THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION. I'LL BE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU, IAN. THANK YOU TY, VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THIS AND AND CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU AND YOUR TEAM AND STAFF AND EVERYONE FOR THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT. REALLY IMPRESSIVE. UH, ARE THERE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? ARE THERE ANY COMMISSIONER COMMENTS? I JUST FEEL LIKE WE NEED APPLAUSE HERE. IT'S JUST . I JUST HAVE, THANK YOU SO MUCH. UM, WE'RE REALLY LUCKY TO HAVE YOU AND THE TEAM WITH YOUR EXTREME KNOWLEDGE ON THIS. IT IT'S VERY HUMBLING TO SIT AND LISTEN TO THIS BECAUSE I KNOW IT'S A LOT, A LOT OF WORK, A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE THAT I KNOW PERSONALLY, I COULD PROBABLY NEVER GRASP ALL OF IT, BUT YOU, YOU'VE DONE A GOOD JOB OF BRINGING IT TO THIS LEVEL WHERE WE CAN UNDERSTAND IT AND, AND THE VALUE OF WHAT YOU ALL BRING TO THIS. I HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT WHAT DOES WATER AGE MEAN UNDERWATER QUALITY? SO WATER AGE BASICALLY MEANS FROM THE TIME WE, AFTER WE TREAT THE WATER AND SEND IT TO THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM UNTIL THE TIMING ACTUALLY REACHES [00:50:01] CUSTOMERS. TAP AND WATER AGE IS BASICALLY THE BIGGEST ENEMY FOR US TO MAINTAIN WATER QUALITY. SO WE HAVE A LOT OF, UH, PRACTICES LIKE WHEN I MENTIONED LIKE HOW DO WE OPERATE OUR STORAGE RESERVOIR? WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CYCLE OUR STORAGE TANKS DAILY SO THAT WE KEEP THE WATER FRESH IN THE TANK. OKAY, THIS IS A THANK YOU. THAT IS A REALLY, MAYBE A DUMB QUESTION, BUT SO WHEN YOU STORE WATER, LIKE WE'RE TOLD TO STORE WATER FOR EMERGENCIES MM-HMM . TELL YOU TO, TO SHIFT IT OUT EVERY YEAR OR TWO, WHATEVER IS IS THAT WATER AGE ALSO? YEAH. SO THAT'S, THAT'S LIKE A CONSTANT BALANCE WE HAVE TO CONSIDER. LIKE I SAID, WE HAVE A HUNDRED MILLION GALLONS OF STORAGE CAPACITY AS A RESERVOIR, BUT IF WE WERE GONNA KEEP ALL THE TANKS IN OPERATION, THEN SOME OF THOSE TANKS WOULD EXPERIENCE A SERIOUS WATER QUALITY CHALLENGES. SO WE HAVE TO BALANCE LIKE HOW MANY TANKS WE KEEPING OPERATION TO MAKE SURE WE HAVE SUFFICIENT STORAGE. BUT ON THE OTHER, UH, HAND WE DON'T, UM, LIKE EX EXPERIENCE WATER QUALITY CHALLENGES. AND ONE THING I GUESS IN THE PAST DECADE, WE FOUND THAT WITH CONSERVATION, WE KNOW THAT WATER AGE WOULD INCREASE. AND WE DID HAVE A SIGNIFICANT WATER QUALITY CHALLENGE A COUPLE YEARS AGO BECAUSE MUCH QUALITY WAS NOT ABLE TO SELL THEM MUCH WATER. SO THE WATER THEY SEND TO US, BY THE TIME IT GETS TO US, THE IT'S ALREADY DEGRADED. SO WE HAVE TO ACT, ACTUALLY CHANGE OUR PRACTICE AT ADDITIONAL TREATMENT CAPACITY SO THAT WE CAN MAINTAIN OUR WATER QUALITY. INTERESTING. OKAY. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THAT. APPRECIATE, JUST THANK YOU. I ECHO WHAT MY COLLEAGUES SAY. IT'S, IT'S SO NICE TO HEAR THIS IN SOMETHING THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND AND, AND IT IS MORE THAN AN ACHIEVEMENT. IT'S IT, WE HAVE A GREAT CULTURE AND WE HAVE GREAT EXPERIENCE AND JUST THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK. APPRECIATE IT. COMMISSIONER HOUSE. YEAH, I'D LIKE TO SUPPORT THOSE, THOSE COMMENTS AS WELL. UM, VERY IMPRESSIVE, UH, PRESENTATION. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE RECOGNITIONS, UH, SHOWS THAT THIS TEAM HERE AT LONG BEACH UTILITIES IS WORKING HARD AND, AND UH, DEDICATED. UH, THE CULTURE I THINK IS EVERYTHING. AND, UM, BUT I DID HAVE A QUESTION BECAUSE, UH, I'M A, I'M A HUGE SUPPORTER OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, UH, CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT. UM, GOING BACK TO THE, TO THE GRAPH RELATED TO PSI. PRESSURE. YEAH, GO. IT WAS THE FIRST ONE. THE PRESSURE. WHICH ONE? PRESSURE, YES. OH, THIS ONE? YEAH, THIS ONE? NO, THAT IT'S, WAS IT A MAP OR WAS IT A GRAPH? NO, IT WAS, IT WAS A BAR. GRAPH. BAR. OH, THE MAIN BREAK. MAIN BREAKS, YES. UM, SO, SO LOOKING AT THE LAST SAY FIVE YEARS, I, I SEE, UM, FLUCTUATION, UM, IT FLUCTUATES THROUGHOUT, BUT UM, LOOKING AT 2025, I WANNA JUST UPLIFT AND LIFT UP AND SAY CONGRATULATIONS. UH, WE LOOK LIKE WE WE'RE GONNA COME IN AT A VERY, ONE OF THE LOWER YEARS. UM, BUT, SO LOOKING AT THIS, SHOULD WE EXPECT TO HAVE MORE BREAKS IN 2026? I THINK RIGHT NOW WE'RE DOING A LOT OF INVESTIGATIVE WORK TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND LIKE WE, IDEALLY WE WOULD WANT TO SEE THIS TREND CONTINUE, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE IT STAYS HERE AND WE MIGHT SEE, UM, MORE BREAKS FOR THE PAST COUPLE YEARS COMPARED TO THIS PERIOD. SO I THINK SOME OF THE HYPOTHESIS MAY FROM STAFF ENGINEERING THE OPERATION THAT WE COULD POSSIBLY SEE A SHIFT OF BRAKES, LIKE WHAT'S BEEN CAUSING THE BRAKE. LIKE IN THE EARLY YEARS, AS I MENTIONED, THE MAJORITY OF THE TIMES THE BRAKE IS CAUSED BY CAST IRON REMAINS AND WE WERE ABLE TO REPLACE MOST OF THE CONS, UH, CAUSE IRON REMAINS AS WE CAN. AND THE RECENT YEARS THERE IS SUSPICION THAT MAYBE WE ARE MOVING TOWARDS BREAKING OTHER MATERIALS, ESPECIALLY IN THE JOINTS. SO AS WE GET MORE DATA AND DOCUMENTING OUR BRAKES FROM BOTH THE, THE LOOKS OF THE BRAKES AND THE MORE IMPORTANTLY STATISTIC WHERE THE BRAKE IS COMING FROM AND LOOKING AT THE TEMPERATURE, LOOKING AT THE PRESSURE, I THINK OVER TIME WE WILL HAVE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING. WELL, I'M ENCOURAGED THAT IT'S TRENDING DOWN. UM, AND AGAIN, 2025 LOOKS LIKE A VERY POSITIVE OUTCOME. WE, SORRY, COMMISSIONER AUSTIN, WE WILL HAVE IN ONE OF THE COMMITTEE PRESENTATIONS COMING UP, WE WILL HAVE A MORE EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT MAIN BREAKS. INVARIABLY THE COMMUNITY'S EXPERIENCE OF A MAIN BREAK IS THE COMMUNITY'S EXPERIENCE OF A MAIN BREAK. STATISTICS ARE STATISTICS, BUT THE EXPERIENCE [00:55:01] IS THE EXPERIENCE AND, AND YOU KNOW VERY WELL, UM, AT THAT TIME YOU WERE A COUNCIL MEMBER AND THE BOARD KNOWS THAT WE EXPERIENCED SEVERE MAIN BREAKS WITH SEVERE CONSEQUENCES. I WANNA HIGHLIGHT TO YOU THIS ADDITIONAL ELEMENT AND CONTAINED IN THE DISCUSSION THAT YOU JUST HAD, THAT THERE'S BOTH THE ANALYSIS OF WHAT'S CAUSING THE MAIN BREAKS AND THEN THERE IS THE POTENTIAL ACTIONS THAT YOU CAN TAKE IN RESPONSE IN TERMS OF WHAT'S CAUSING THE MAIN BREAKS. THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS THAT BEGIN TO INTERPLAY WITH THE FACT THAT WE ARE NOW TAKING LESS WATER. SO IN TAKING LESS WATER, WE HAVE PERHAPS SOMETIMES MORE DRAMATIC SHIFTS IN BALANCING METROPOLITAN SUPPLIES WITH OUR SUPPLIES, MAINTENANCE ROUTINES AND THINGS LIKE THAT CAUSE SHIFTS IN, UH, TEMPERATURE, SO SHIFTS IN TEMPERATURE, AND THEN THE TIME OF THE YEAR THAT THAT SHIFT IN TEMPERATURE OCCURS CAN CAUSE CHANGES IN PIPE MATERIAL RESPONDING TO THOSE VARIATIONS IN TEMPERATURE. THAT'S ONE EXAMPLE. UH, WE ARE DOING ANALYSIS AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND IT'S NOT JUST THE PIPE MATERIAL, SOMETIMES IT'S THE ASPECT OF HOW THE PIPE MATERIAL IS JOINED. PERHAPS THAT IS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY WE'LL CONTINUE TO LOOK AT ALL OF THESE COMPREHENSIVELY. WE HAVE THE MAYOR'S DIRECTIVE TO START USING WHAT IS ATTRIBUTED TO AI, BUT IN ESSENCE IT'S USING TECHNOLOGY AND ANALYSIS TO TRY TO GET BETTER AT THIS. UM, NOTWITHSTANDING WHAT THE STATISTICS SHOW, WHAT THE STATISTICS SHOW IS THAT IN A COMPARISON WITH UTILITIES ACROSS THE ENTIRE NATION AT THE STANDARDS THAT HAVE BEEN SET BY THE INDUSTRY, WE ARE INDEED A WELL COMPLIANCE UTILITY EXCEEDING ANY OF THE NATIONAL STANDARDS IN TERMS OF MAIN BREAKS ACROSS ALL OF THE MAJOR CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES. AND NOW I'LL LET THE QUESTION, I HAD A COUPLE OF COMMENTS AT THE END, BUT I'LL LET THE QUESTIONS CONTINUE WITH WITH THE COMMISSION. ANY OTHER COMMISSIONER COMMENTS? SO THE, THE TEMPERATURE THEN, SO THE EXTREMES OF TEMPERATURE THAT WE'RE EXPERIENCING ARE, ARE WE ANTICIPATING THAT'S GONNA IMPACT THE STRENGTH OF OUR INFRAS, THE PIPE INFRASTRUCTURE PIPES? WHAT WE FOUND OPERATIONALLY, AND I'M QUICKLY EX GETTING BEYOND MY BOUNDARIES OF KNOWLEDGE, IS THAT IT'S NOT THE AIR TEMPERATURE. I MEAN THE AIR TEMPERATURE IS AN INDICATION OF THE SEASON. IT IS THE WATER TEMPERATURE IN THE PIPES IN THE GROUND. THE METROPOLITAN WATER IS AT A DIFFERENT TEMPERATURE, UH, THAN OUR GROUNDWATER AND REACHING OUR TREATMENT PLANT. AND THEN THAT DIFFERENCE OF DEGREES CAN CAUSE MATERIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE MATERIAL OF THE PIPE, MAINLY METALS. AND THAT FLUCTUATION, DEPENDING ON HOW RAPID IT IS, CAN CAUSE MORE SUSCEPTIBILITY. AM I SAYING THAT RIGHT? SO OUR GROUNDWATER ACTUALLY KEEPS PRETTY WARM EVEN IN WINTER TIMES. GROUNDWATER MAINTAINS ABOUT 25, 26, UH, CELS. BUT AT, UH, OUR JOHNSON RESERVOIR WILL RECEIVE METROPOLITAN WATERS. THE TEMPERATURE IN THE COLDEST TIME CAN DROP BELOW TO LIKE BELOW 15 CELS. SO THERE'S A HUGE DIFFERENCE BECAUSE OUR BLEND ZONE, WE CONSTANTLY MANAGE THE BLEND BETWEEN THE TWO SOURCES. SO IF LIKE, UH, ANIMAL MENTIONED, WE HAVE TO DO DRASTIC CHANGES BETWEEN THE BLEND THAT COULD CAUSE A SHIFT OF TEMPERATURE AND THEN CAUSE MORE BREAKS. BUT OVERALL, WHEN WE DID THE ANALYSIS INITIALLY, WE DO SEE, UM, LIKE A VERY CLEAR CORRELATION BETWEEN SUMMERTIME AND THE WINTER TIMES. SO YOU DO SEE A LOT MORE BREAKS IN WINTER TIMES. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. UH, COMMISSIONER, UH, GENERAL MANAGER. GAN Y COULD YOU GO TO SLIDE EIGHT? SO, OH, I WAS WRONG. GO FORWARD. SLIDE NINE. YEAH, HERE. SO ONE, ONE ADDITIONAL INSIGHT TO DRAW FROM THIS IS AN EFFORT THAT I'M UNDERTAKING WITH STAFF WITH REGARDS TO BUDGET AND BUDGET AND RATES AND THAT ELEMENT OF OUR CONNECTION TO THE COMMUNITY WITH SUCH A DIFFICULT SUBJECT, WHICH IS BUDGET AND RATES. AND YOU KNOW, AS A BOARD IN EARLY 2025, WHEN WE WENT INTO THE RETREAT, I GAVE YOU THE PHYSICAL ANALOGY OF THE BOX AND THE DIFFERENT CONSTRAINTS AND HOW THESE ALL PUT PRESSURES ON THE UTILITY. AND ONE OF THOSE WAS REGULATORY, ONE OF THOSE WAS CUSTOMER. AND THE OVERALL ASPECT OF THAT WAS THAT IT LEADS TO A NEED AND A DESIRE ACROSS THE BOARD FOR LESS CONSUMPTION OF WATER. WHAT YEN HAS HIGHLIGHTED FOR YOU HERE IN THE SUB-BULLET POINTS OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT ON WATER QUALITY IS A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT ASPECTS. WHETHER IT'S INSPECTION, FLUSHING, INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT, INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE, OPERATING PROCEDURES, RESPONSES, [01:00:01] ALL OF THOSE REPRESENT AN EFFORT OF THE UTILITY TO PROVIDE SAFE, CLEAN, AND RELIABLE WATER TO THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY. REGARDLESS OF THE AMOUNT OF WATER CONSUMED, THE ACTIVITIES ARE THE ACTIVITIES AND THEY NEED TO GO FORWARD. AND SO WATER QUALITY IS NOT JUST IMAGINARY THE ASPECT OF TREATING AT THE TREATMENT PLANT AND THEN IT'S DONE. IT'S THE ENTIRE OPERATIONS OF THE UTILITY ENGAGED, WHICH MEANS ALL OF THEIR MATERIALS, ALL OF THEIR EQUIPMENT, ALL OF THEIR LABOR, ALL OF THAT GOES INTO PROVIDING SAFE, CLEAN, RELIABLE WATER REGARDLESS OF THE AMOUNT CONSUMED. AND SOMETIMES THAT IS PERHAPS SOME OF THE MORE DIFFICULT ASPECTS TO COMMUNICATE TO THE COMMUNITY, BUT FUNDAMENTALLY IT'S ONE OF THE CRITICAL ASPECTS OF WHAT SHAPES THE BUDGET THAT COMES BEFORE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. SO IT'S AN IMPORTANT INSIGHT, RECOGNIZING THE WORD THAT WE GOT, BUT ALSO INSTRUCTED TO THE COMMUNITY THAT THIS IS YOUR UTILITY WORKING FOR YOU EVERY DAY. AND THAT IS WHAT FORMS THE FOUNDATION OF THE BUDGET. SO WE'LL BE TRYING TO GRAB SOME OF THAT AS WE GO FORWARD IN THE COMMUNITY PRESENTATIONS. GREAT POINT. THANK YOU. UH, SO WE HAVE A FIRST AND A SECOND TO RECEIVE AND FILE. UH, ALL THOSE IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. ANY OPPOSED? ITEM SEVEN PASSES. SORRY. YES. OH, GO AHEAD. SO I WANTED KIND OF ADD TO COMMISSIONER CORDERO'S QUESTION EARLIER. UM, KIND OF FINISH THE STORY. IF, IF YOU LOOK AT THE TIMELINE, IF YOU LOOK AT THE TIMELINE FOR THE MILWAUKEE OUTBREAK, UM, IT WAS ACTUALLY A RAIN EVENT THAT LED TO THIS. SO THERE WAS A RAIN EVENT THAT WASHED A LOT OF THE, UM, SURFACE CONTAMINATION ON INTO LAKE MICHIGAN. AND THEN THIS TREATMENT PLANT PULLED WATER FROM LAKE MICHIGAN THAT WAS IN MID TO LATE MARCH. THE BOIL WATER NOTICE DIDN'T ACTUALLY OCCUR UNTIL APRIL 7TH. AND PART OF IT WAS BECAUSE IT DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND AND THEY WANTED TO BE SURE WHAT WAS HAPPENING. UM, AND WITH WATER AGE OPERATIONS TRY TO MINIMIZE WATER AGE. SO WE WANNA MATCH SUPPLY WITH DEMAND BECAUSE WE DON'T WANT WATER TO LAY AROUND. AND SO WHEN THE PLANT PUSHED THE WATER OUT AND PEOPLE DRANK THE WATER, UM, BY THE TIME THE SYMPTOMS DEVELOP, BECAUSE AFTER THEY INGEST IT, IT TAKES TIME FOR THE PARASITE TO INCUBATE WITHIN THE HUMAN BODY. AND SO WHEN THEY WENT OUT INTO THE SYSTEM TO LOOK FOR IT, THEY ACTUALLY COULDN'T FIND IT. IT WASN'T UNTIL THEY FIGURED OUT AND THEY FOUND A BUNCH OF ICE THAT WAS MADE DURING THE TIME OF THE RAIN EVENT, RAIN EVENT, OR RIGHT AFTER THE RAIN EVENT, THAT'S WHEN THEY FOUND IT. SO THAT WAS THE CLOAK AND DAGGER STORY OF HOW THEY FIGURED IT OUT. UM, BUT IMPORTANTLY IS THE TIMING, RIGHT? AND SO WITH ANTOS THIRD DAY AS GENERAL MANAGER, RIGHT, WE HAD A MAJOR BREAK ON MAIN ON, ON ORANGE, AND YOU SAW THAT ONE PRESSURE DROP. AND SO I, I HAD THE UNFORTUNATE, I GUESS, DUTY OF WALKING UP TO ANALS OFFICE AND SAY, HEY, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. UM, CREDIT TO A**L CREDIT TO THE TEAM WAS, WE CAN'T WAIT TO ANNOUNCE THE BOY WATER NOTICE WE'RE LOOKING, WE NEED TO BE TRANSPARENT WITH OUR CUSTOMERS. AND IT WAS A DIFFICULT DECISION. BUT IF IT WAS A VERY QUICK AND DECISIVE DECISION TO ANNOUNCE A BOY WATER NOTICE, NOW IT TOOK TIME THAT STAFF HAD TO PUT TOGETHER ALL THE, ALL THE STUFF. BUT WE ANNOUNCED IT OUT OF ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION BECAUSE WE DID NOT WANT TO WAIT. UM, AND THAT IS, THAT IS AN EFFORT BY THIS DEPARTMENT THAT I'M VERY PROUD OF. AND THEN SECONDLY, I ASKED JEN TO, TO UH, NOT BE SO MODEST. SO I WILL, I WILL ADD ONE MORE THING TO HER ACCOLADES, UM, AS WE MOVE FORWARD IN THE NEW WATER WORLD AND START TO LOOK AT IPR INDIRECT POTABLE REUSE AND DPR, ONE OF THE CONCERNS BY THE REGULATORS IS THE QUALITY OF THE OPERATOR'S KNOWLEDGE, THEIR, THEIR, THEIR KSAS, THEIR KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES, RIGHT? AND WHETHER OR NOT THEY'RE ABLE TO OPERATE THE ADVANCED PLANTS NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE THE WATER QUALITY NECESSARY TO DEAL WITH REUSE WATER TAKING, UM, RECLAIM WATER AND TURNING IT INTO DRINKING WATER. AND SO ONE OF THE MANDATES REQUIRED BY THE DIVISION OF DRINKING WATER IS THAT THE OPERATORS OF THESE ADVANCED PLANTS MUST POSSESS AT SOME FORM OF ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT OPERATOR CERTIFICATION. SO THE INDUSTRY CAME TOGETHER, PULLED [01:05:01] TOGETHER A BUNCH OF EXPERTS AND ACTUALLY DEVELOPED A PROGRAM 'CAUSE THE STATE DOES NOT CURRENTLY HAVE AN OPERATOR CERTIFICATION FOR ADVANCED WATER TREATMENT OPERATORS. AND SO I WAS PART OF THE COMMITTEE THAT HELPED DEVELOP KSA, BUT ALSO AT THE TIME YEN WAS A BIG PART OF THAT. SHE WAS THE A WA ACCOUNT AWS EDUCATION DIRECTOR. AND SO WITH THAT, THE INDUSTRY DEVELOPED THE ADVANCED TREATMENT WATER CERTIFICATION THAT NOW ALL OPERATORS THAT ARE GONNA OPERATE THESE ADVANCED PLANTS MUST OBTAIN. AND FOR YEN'S EFFORTS IN THE CREATION OF THE A WT CERTIFICATION, UM, YEN ACTUALLY HAS CERTIFICATION NUMBER ONE, UM, FOR THE A WT CERTIFICATION NUMBER. THEY RESERVED THAT FOR HER, FOR HER WORK IN THAT AREA. SO I JUST WANNA ADD THAT TO HER LIST OF THANK YOU, TY, ARE YOU DONE? SORRY. SORRY. PROMISE. SO I'M GONNA DATE MYSELF, BUT, UH, THE LAST TWO INJECTIONS REMIND ME OF THE FAMOUS RADIO PERSONALITY, PAULA HARVEY. IF ANYBODY REMEMBERS THAT, HE, HE ALWAYS HAS THE REST OF THE STORY. AND THAT WAS THE REST OF THE STORY. THANK YOU TY. THANK YOU AGAIN. I JUST HAVE A QUICK COMMENT. HOW DO WE KEEP THE YEN A SECRET? THAT'S MY ONLY CONCERN. ALRIGHT, THANK YOU. UH, MOVING ON, MOVING ON. PUBLIC COMMENT. IS THERE ANYONE WISHING TO SPEAK ON A NON AGENDA ITEM? SEEING NONE PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD IS NOW CLOSED. ANNOUNCEMENTS. ARE THERE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS? UH, CALL ON GENERAL MANAGER FAGAN FOR HIS REPORT. THANK YOU PRESIDENT SCOTT. SO, UM, PUBLICATIONS, YOU RECEIVED THESE IN THE MAIL. UM, YOU HAVE THEM I THOUGHT AS A COURTESY I'D BRING THEM BACK, UH, FOR YOU SO THAT YOU'RE AWARE OF THEM. SO THE ANNUAL CALENDAR WAS RELEASED. UM, AS SO OFTEN WE DESCRIBE, THERE IS A REGULATORY REQUIREMENT THAT IS SATISFIED IN THE PUBLICATION OF THIS CALENDAR ON THE GAS UTILITY IN TERMS OF SAFETY AND, UH, SAFETY PROCEDURES IN THE HOME. UH, BUT IT'S ALSO AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO THEN ALSO COM UH, STAY IN TOUCH WITH THE COMMUNITY IN THAT MANNER AS WELL. SO CREDIT GOES [PUBLIC COMMENT Opportunity to address the Utilities Commission on non-agenda items. Each speaker is limited to three minutes to make their comments unless extended by the Board.] TO PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF, JOE CONTRERAS AND TEAM WITH DIANA'S LEADERSHIP. TO GET THIS OUT YET AGAIN TO THE COMMUNITY. IT [ANNOUNCEMENTS] REPRESENTS AN ELEMENT OF LOCAL OUTREACH. THE SECOND PUBLIC PUBLICATION IS AN ELEMENT OF REGIONAL OUTREACH. OUR MEMBERSHIP IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WATER COALITION ALLOWS US TO WORK TOGETHER WITH THEM, UH, TO HAVE THESE PUBLICATIONS GO OUT. THEY ARE REGIONAL PUBLICATIONS. WE ARE IN THE, UM, SOUTH LA, SOUTH BAY, UH, LONG BEACH AREA. AND SO OUR EFFORTS ARE PROMINENTLY FEATURED IN THERE. I'LL LET YOU GO THROUGH THEM AS WELL AS SOME OF THE OTHER AGENCIES HERE IN THE REGION. IT IS A REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION. THE NUMBER ESCAPES ME, BUT IT'S VERY LARGE AND GIVES ME COMFORT THAT REGIONALLY WE ARE KEEPING OUR VOICE OUT THERE AS WELL. THERE WAS AN EVENT THAT OCCURRED AFTER YOUR PREVIOUS BOARD MEETING, UH, AND IT WAS THE WATER MATTERS EVENT. IT WAS ALSO A PUBLIC PARTICIPATION EVENT. IT WAS VERY WELL RECEIVED AND VERY WELL ATTENDED BY SOME OF YOU AS WELL. I'M GONNA TURN TO DIANA AND ASK DIANA TO GIVE YOU JUST A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THAT AND GIVE YOU OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMMENT ON THAT AS WELL. WELL, THANK YOU ANATOL AND THANK YOU TO, UM, COMMISSIONER AND DIRECTOR CORDERO FOR HOSTING THIS MWD EVENT AT THE PORT OF LONG BEACH IN LONG BEACH TO HIGHLIGHT LONG BEACH UTILITIES AND OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH METROPOLITAN, AS WELL AS, UM, ALLOW FOR A CONVERSATION WITH OUR COMMUNITY ON WHY WATER MATTERS TO LONG BEACH. UM, AND OF COURSE, AT THIS EVENT, UM, THAT WAS MODERATED BY DIRECTOR CORDERO. WE HAD OUR VERY OWN GENERAL MANAGER, ANTO FALCON SPEAK ON A PANEL ALONG WITH ADON ORTEGA, WHO IS CHAIR OF THE METROPOLITAN WATER DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ASSEMBLY MEMBER JOSH LOWENTHAL, WHO BROUGHT, I THINK, A UNIQUE LEGISLATIVE PERSPECTIVE TO WATER ADVOCACY FOR OUR REGION. UM, WE HAD A NICE PLEASANT SURPRISE WITH THE SURPRISE APPEARANCE BY MAYOR REX RICHARDSON, UM, WHO ADDED HIS 2 CENTS TO WHY WATER MATTERS IN LONG BEACH. AND THE ROOM WAS FULL. UM, I WAS REALLY EXCITED TO SEE, AND I THINK IT WAS WELL ATTENDED, UM, BY OUR, OUR PARTNERS IN THE WATER INDUSTRY, UM, PARTNERS IN, UM, KIND OF LABOR AND CONTRACTORS, AS WELL AS SOME OF OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS AS WELL. SO, UM, IF YOU WILL INDULGE ME, I'LL READ, UM, A FACEBOOK POST BY ONE OF OUR ATTENDEES. UM, COLLEEN BENTLEY, MANY OF YOU KNOW HER. SHE USED TO WORK AT THE CHANCELLOR'S OFFICE, HAS DONE PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT A VARIETY OF ORGANIZATIONS AND CURRENTLY SERVES ON A NUMBER OF COMMUNITY BOARDS, INCLUDING THE LONG BEACH LIBRARY FOUNDATION. SHE WROTE, UM, ONE SECOND. SORRY ABOUT THAT. [01:10:01] UM, SHE WROTE, SO, UM, AN OUR PRESENTATION BY THE HEADS OF MWD AND LONG BEACH UTILITIES WITH MODERATION BY GLORIA CORDERO AND AN APPEARANCE BY ASSEMBLY MEMBER JOSH LOWENTHAL. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO GET TO GO TO MANY CONFERENCES, LET ME TELL YOU, I LEARNED MORE IN ONE HOUR THAN I HAVE DURING A TWO DAY PERIOD. AND WE HAD A MODERATOR AND, UM, SPEAKERS WHO ARE VERY WELL, UM, INFORMED ABOUT OBVIOUSLY THE TOPIC AT HAND AND WILLING TO CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY, UM, AND WITH CATERING BY PARENTAL ALCHEMY, WHICH IS A LOCAL OWNED, UM, BUSINESS, AND ALSO A RECOGNIZED CERTIFIED BLUE RESTAURANT, UM, WITH OUR UTILITIES ORGANIZATION. SO THANK YOU A**L AND, UM, COMMISSIONER CORD FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO HOST. THANK YOU. YES, THANK YOU. IT IT WAS A VERY SUCCESSFUL, UM, EVENT AND IT WAS THE FIRST ONE THAT MET, HAS DONE UNDER THE TERM WATER MATTERS. SO WE WERE THE FIRST ONES OUT THE GATE. AND SO, UM, IT, YOU MADE IT LOOK EASY. DIANA, I HAVE TO THANK YOU, ESPECIALLY YOU AND NICK FOR ALL THE WORK YOU DID. IT TOOK SEVERAL, SEVERAL MONTHS WORKING WITH CHARLES GALE AND SEVERAL PEOPLE AT METROPOLITAN, UM, TO MAKE SURE THAT THIS HAPPENED AND HAPPENED IN A, IN A GREAT WAY. AND IT WAS, I'VE HEARD IT HAD A LOT OF ACCOLADES BOTH FOR METROPOLITAN AND ALSO IN THE COMMUNITY. SO AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR YOUR GOOD WORK. THANK YOU. SO MY, MY NEXT ITEM THAT I WANTED TO NOT IS ACTUALLY THE INTRODUCTION. SO THERE'S BEEN QUITE SOME TIME. I'M VERY HAPPY. THE PROCESS CONCLUDED WITH A FANTASTIC OUTCOME, I BELIEVE, AND THAT IS WE HAVE A SENIOR DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING, UH, MR. THOMAS BECKEL, UH, JOINS US. UM, I'M GONNA LET HIM INTRODUCE HIMSELF. UM, THE ONLY THINGS I WOULD RESERVE FOR MYSELF TO INTRODUCE TO YOU IS TO NOTE THAT HE IS A MATADOR. UM, HE HAS A MASTER'S DEGREE IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING FROM CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE, WHICH IS ALSO MY WIFE'S ALMA MATER. SO VERY HAPPY TO SEE THAT YOU'RE A MATADOR. AND THEN, UH, NO REFERENCE TO CIVIL ENGINEERING. HE IS ALSO A GOLDEN GOPHER. SO, UM, HE HAS A BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. UM, THAT WOULD TECHNICALLY MAKE YOU A TUNNELING AND MINING ENGINEER. UM, BUT I'LL LET THOMAS FINISH THE REST OF HIS INTRODUCTION. SO THOMAS, THANK YOU. AN A**L, UH, IT'S, UM, IT'S QUITE AN HONOR TO JOIN, UM, THE, YOU KNOW, LONG BEACH UTILITIES. YOU'VE SEEN THE PRESENTATIONS BY AN AND TAI JUST A FEW MINUTES AGO. YOU COULDN'T HAVE JOINED A BETTER DEPARTMENT. IT'S, UH, IT'S AMAZING. UM, JUST A LITTLE BIT OF A BACKGROUND ON MYSELF AS, UH, ANTO MENTIONED, I HAVE A CIVIL ENGINEERING BACKGROUND, UM, LICENSED ENGINEER, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, UM, MY CAREER, UM, I CAN, YOU CAN SEE IT INTO TWO. I'VE WORKED IN THE PRIVATE SIDE FOR HALF OF MY CAREER AND THEN THE PUBLIC SIDE FOR THE OTHER HALF. UH, WHILE I WAS IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR, I WORKED AS AN ENGINEER, PROJECT MANAGER, PROGRAM MANAGER, INCLUDING, UH, THE BOND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM HERE AT LONG BEACH CITY COLLEGE. I WAS, UH, A PROJECT ENGINEER AT THAT TIME. UM, AND THEN I JOINED THE PUBLIC SECTOR. 'CAUSE AT THAT TIME, MY WIFE TOLD ME, HEY, YOU KNOW, WE WANNA START A FAMILY, SO I WANT YOU TO BE STABLE AT ONE PLACE. I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH CHOICE. UM, I JOINED THE CITY OF ANAHEIM, UM, UH, AS AN, AS AN ENGINEER THERE AND A CONSTRUCTION MANAGER I WORKED FOR IN ANAHEIM FOR, UH, A FEW YEARS. AND THEN, UH, YOU KNOW, STARTED, UH, MY CAREER HERE, VERY CLOSE TO YOU AT THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL. SO FOR THE PAST FIVE YEARS, I WAS AT THE CITY OF SIGNAL HILL, UH, WAS A PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR, CITY ENGINEER, AND WATER DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR. UH, SO A COUPLE OF THINGS THERE. UM, AND I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY OF WORKING WITH MOST OF THE STAFF HERE, INCLUDING TY, MIKE, AND, AND, YOU KNOW, ROB, KEVIN. WE, WE'VE ALL SEEN EACH OTHER OUT IN THE FIELD AT SOME POINT OR ANOTHER. SO I WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO WORK WITH THIS AMAZING GROUP. I WAS EXPOSED TO THEM, UH, WAY IN ADVANCE. SO IT'S BEEN, IT'S BEEN A DREAM OF MINE TO JOIN, UH, LONG BEACH UTILITIES FOR QUITE SOME TIME. UM, REGARDING, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE FUN ASPECTS OF MY PERSONAL LIFE. UM, I HAVE TWO BOYS, UH, OF THE AGE OF THREE AND FIVE. OH, LET, LET ME CORRECT MYSELF AS OF LAST WEEK. THEY'RE ACTUALLY FOUR AND SIX. UM, I SAY AMAZING WITH CAUTION. THEY DRIVE ME NUTS. BUT, UM, TRYING TO WORK THROUGH THAT, THAT'S ONE OF MY TOUGH JOBS RIGHT NOW. UH, BUT THANK YOU VERY MUCH AGAIN, A**L FOR GIVING ME THE, THE OPPORTUNITY AND, UM, THE, UH, PRESIDENT AND COMMISSIONERS FOR WELCOMING ME. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT AND I LOOK FORWARD TO GIVING THE BEST I CAN. . THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THOMAS. THANK YOU, THOMAS. WELCOME. SO THOMAS JOINS A, A GREAT TEAM. HE'LL BE WORKING WITH KEVIN AND WITH ROB. UM, [01:15:01] I THINK ONE OF THE OTHER ELEMENTS THAT WAS STRIKING FOR ME WITH THOMAS IS THAT HE ALSO BRINGS A BACKGROUND FAMILIARITY, I GUESS, UH, WITH DIFFERENT METHODS OF PROJECT DELIVERY. AND AS YOU KNOW NOW AS A BOARD, THERE'S CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD FOR US, WHETHER IT'S CAMPUS REDEVELOPMENT, WHETHER IT'S THE GROUNDWATER RESILIENCY PROGRAM IN A NEW TREATMENT PLANT. INHERENTLY IN THAT AS YOU MAKE DECISIONS, YOU'LL BE FINDING YOURSELVES WITH THESE ELEMENTS OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF PROJECT DELIVERY. AND HE BRINGS A FAMILIARITY, UH, TO THAT, TO US. WITH THAT, UM, LET'S SEE. ON DECEMBER 10TH, UH, WE WILL HAVE YOU JOIN US. THERE'LL BE A, UH, SPECIAL EVENT. IT IS A FORMAL BOARD MEETING. IT IS WHAT I CALL THE END OF THE YEAR AND LOOK AHEAD RETREAT WITH ALL OF THE LONG BEACH UTILITIES MANAGERS. UM, WE'RE GONNA KIND OF TAKE A LOOK BACK, UH, THROUGH THE LENS OF THE BUSINESS PLAN ON FISCAL YEAR 25, MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS. IT'S A CHANCE TO HAVE YOU CONNECT WITH THE MANAGERS. IT'S INTENDED TO BE PRESENTATION AND DIALOGUE, AND AT THE SAME TIME BE A CHANCE FOR ME TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT THE LOOK AHEAD HOLDS IN TERMS OF THE FISCAL YEAR 26 BUSINESS PLAN AS WELL. NOTWITHSTANDING THAT ONCE THAT IS DONE, WE ARE ACTUALLY HAVING AN EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION LUNCHEON THAT IS OCCURRING RIGHT AFTER THAT IN THE VERY SAME VENUE IN THE QUEEN MARY, BUT A DIFFERENT, UH, ROOM. IT WILL BE FROM 12 NOON TO ABOUT 1:30 PM YOU ARE INVITED AND WELCOME TO JOIN US FOR THAT EVENT. THE LAST PIECE OF ITEM THAT I HAVE FOR YOU IS SOMETHING THAT CAME UP DURING THE WATER MATTERS, AND THAT WAS COLORADO RIVER NEGOTIATIONS, WHY SOMETHING SO FAR AWAY COULD MATTER TO US SO SIGNIFICANTLY. AND AT THE TIME WHEN I WAS ASKED THAT QUESTION BY COMMISSIONER CORDERO, DIRECTOR CORDERO, I GAVE THE BACKGROUND ON THAT. AT THE TIME WE WERE TELLING YOU THAT NEGOTIATIONS WERE CONTINUING AND REACHING A CRITICAL MILESTONE OF NOVEMBER 11TH. I'LL DEFER TO DIRECTOR CORDERO TO MAKE SOME ADDITIONAL COMMENTS, BUT THE REALITY OF IT IS THAT AS NOVEMBER 11TH CAME AND WENT, THERE WAS NO FINAL DECISION ON THE RIVER. THESE NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE TO BE IN OFFSITE LOCATIONS WITH INTERESTED PARTIES TRYING TO MAINTAIN A MAXIMUM OF CO OF CONFIDENTIALITY IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE A RESULT THAT IS SATISFACTORY TO EVERYBODY, INCLUDING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. MY UNDERSTANDING IS THAT THOUGH THE DEADLINE CAME AND WENT, THE PARTIES REMAIN COMMITTED TO TRY TO FIND A SOLUTION A WAY FORWARD. INVARIABLY HANGING OVER THEIR HEADS IS THE FACT THAT IF THEY ARE UNABLE TO COME TO A SOLUTION, THE FEDERAL AND GOVERNMENT WILL IMPOSE A SOLUTION, UM, THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHICH ARE FAR, FAR RANGING AND WIDE RANGING. SO I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT IN GENERAL. INVARIABLY, IF THINGS COME FORWARD IN THE MEDIA, YOU'LL KNOW MORE DETAILS AS THEY DO EMERGE, BUT I'LL DEFER TO DIRECTOR CORDERO IF SHE WANTS TO MAKE A COMMENT AS TO WHERE SHE FINDS HERSELF WITH THE COLORADO RIVER BOARD AND METROPOLITAN AT THIS POINT UNTIL JUST VERY BRIEFLY. UM, YEAH, THERE'S, NOVEMBER 11TH CAME AND WENT. THE NEXT DEADLINE THAT THEY'RE LOOKING AT IS FEBRUARY 14TH, WHICH IS KIND OF STRANGE 'CAUSE IT'S A SATURDAY, AND I DON'T KNOW WHY THEY PICKED VALENTINE'S DAY, BUT THEY DID. SO, UM, RIGHT NOW THEY ARE, THE, THE, THE MESSAGE IS WE ARE STILL TRYING TO LOOK FOR A SEVEN, SEVEN STATE, YOU KNOW, THE ALL FULL BASE AND CONSENSUS. UM, SHORT OF THAT, YES, THERE COULD BE A FEDERAL IMPOSITION OF, OF THE ALLOCATIONS AND REDUCTIONS FOR ALL, ALL, YOU KNOW, BASINS, THE WHOLE BASIN. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, LITIGATION IS ALWAYS ON THE TABLE. AND THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE IS TRYING TO AVOID BECAUSE, UM, IT COULD GO ON FOR MANY, MANY YEARS. I THINK SOME OF THE OTHER THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN LITIGATED HAVE GONE ON FOR LIKE 10 YEARS. SO THAT'S THE LAST THING WE NEED. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S IN THE WINGS, WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND I, THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT, THIS IS JUST SOMETHING THAT WAS BROUGHT UP, IS WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL DO. UM, ESPECIALLY NOW WITH CALIFORNIA AT THE FOREFRONT OF A LOT OF DISCUSSIONS WITH OUR ADMINISTRATION, AND IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE GETTING ALONG OUR GOVERNOR. WE'RE, WE'RE A LITTLE CONCERNED ABOUT THAT. SO WE'RE HOPING THAT DOESN'T COME INTO PLAY. UM, SO THEY'RE CONTINUING TO WORK AROUND THE CLOCK AND I MEAN, LITERALLY AROUND THE CLOCK, PART OF WHAT HAPPENED WAS, UM, THE, THE SEVEN NEGOTIATORS WOULD BRING PEOPLE IN WITH THEM. METROPOLITAN WAS AT THE TABLE, UH, BILL HAEN CAMP, AND SHANTE WAS ALWAYS THERE, WERE ALWAYS THERE. AND ALSO DEVIN WOULD COME IN AND OUT, OR NOW SHAJI, BUT AT THE LAST MEETING, THEY ASKED EVERYBODY TO LEAVE AND THEY ONLY HAD THE SEVEN PEOPLE SITTING AROUND THAT TABLE. SO, AND IT'S GOTTEN TO THAT POINT NOW. AND NOW WE'RE HEADING INTO DECEMBER. WE'RE GONNA BE GOING TOA AND, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF DECEMBER WHERE A LOT OF DISCUSSION WILL TAKE PLACE. UH, WE WERE HOPING TO BE ABLE TO MAKE SOME SORT OF ANNOUNCEMENT. WE'RE NOT GONNA BE ABLE TO AT THIS POINT UNLESS SOMETHING HAPPENS BETWEEN NOW AND THEN. THANK YOU. THAT CONCLUDES MY COMMENTS, MR. PRESIDENT. THANK YOU. UH, ANY OTHER COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCEMENTS? [01:20:01] ALL RIGHT, UH, I JUST HAVE ONE FINAL THOUGHT. UH, REMINDER, 10 30 TODAY RESOURCES COMMITTEE WILL HAVE ITS, UH, INAUGURAL MEETING. UH, LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THAT. UH, AND WITH THAT, THIS MEETING IS ADJOURNED. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.