Yes, there are four of us here in person, we have a quorum. So let's move to the approval of the agenda. There's one change to the agenda as presented. If you look at new business on page three, we're going to move item b up to Item A, we have a presentation with some guests and as a courtesy to them, we're going to put them on first under new business. So with that change, is there a motion to approve the agenda?
The agenda as amended was chair
supported Mr. Chair? Yes. Commissioner Davis.
Any other suggestions or corrections to the agenda? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, and the agenda is adopted as amended. We now have before us the approval of the minutes of August the 17th 2022. Commissioners Move approval, Commissioner forte, and then Commissioner Blackmon any corrections or additions to the minutes as presented? Hearing none all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, and those are adopted. Next public comments. If there is any member of the public that would like to address the board. They have two minutes to do so. Before we make the customary announcement. Do we have anybody who wants to address the board?
So nobody hears once? Yes, she went Oh, all right. Well, then let's let's have our custom announcement.
Mr. Chair, I'll make that announcement. Thank you, Miss Jones. To make a comment. If you are in person, please sign the sign in sheet. Your name will be called and you can proceed to the microphone. If you are online. Please raise your hand at this time by using the raise hand icon on your desktop or mobile device. If you are calling into the meeting by phone, press star nine to raise your hand if you are online or on the phone. After your name is called. It will give you permission to unmute in order to begin speaking you will have to unmute yourself. To do so. Press the unmute button which is the microphone icon. If you're online or star six, if you're calling in. As a reminder, you will have a limit of three minutes and point of clarification Mr. Chair, you'd set two minutes is it two minutes or three minutes? It is three minutes, three minutes. Thank you. To make you have three minutes to make your comment there will be a timer indicating your time on the screen. That will indicate your remaining time. If you're online and you make a comment we kindly request that you fill out the comment card that will be located in the chat. By filling out this card we will have your contact information to follow up appropriately. If you are unable to click the link please let us know and a phone number will be provided for you. You will only be called upon once during each opportunity. And once the chair closes public comment there will be no other comments from the public and all attendees will remain muted for the duration of the meeting. That is the announcement. Mr. Chair.
All right, Mr. Posh. Good afternoon. Can you tell us your name and where you live?
I'm a resident
whereabouts in Detroit.
Northwest on Okay.
Welcome. You have the floor.
I get everything in within the three minute range. So I did if you don't mind. I'm going to read it and speak to you through my letter. First I would like to say thank you, Commissioners for allowing me to speak today. I'm here to speak for those who are not part of the one sided lifeline slash affordability plan that was developed by the mayor and the Detroit water and sewage company. My question is, where's our lifeline plan? Where's our affordability plan? I am a retiree on a fixed income last year I received an increase of $14 from Social Security, which was taken back to pay for the increase and Medicare costs. Where's our affordability plan? I was working a part time job but now I work full time to pay for my utilities. Where's our lifeline plan? This past July, drainage be increased based on a request hike by the Water Board commissioners and approved by the Great Lakes Water Authority. Where is our lifeline plan? I am paying over $100 and drainage and sewage charges all because I have a driveway we are encouraged to create rain gardens and sewage for our sewage that's going down into the storm system. But it has to be built by a professional. This cost includes a $2,500 review fee by the Detroit water and sewage department plus annual inspections. Where is our lifeline plan? I scrape and I save money to pay my city income taxes and property taxes on time. without penalty. Where is our lifeline plan? Since receiving a notice that the water rates were going up, I made the following changes to help reduce my CCF usage. These changes included I no longer water, my grass, or my flowers. I wash dishes once a week. I flush my toilet seriously. Twice a day. I limit my showers to no more than four minutes. I wash only two loads a week. And I run up and down my stairs to monitor my water meter to check my daily usage. This is all I can do in my power. I cannot control the rainfall nor the snowfall but DS I'm sorry DWSD. And now others decided to in their infinite wisdom to put the responsibility on the people they serve. And we struggled to pay these exorbitant drainage fees and summary I asked again. Where's our lifeline plan?
Thank you very much ma'am.
Mr. Chair. Yes, Mr. Gray just as your ma'am did have you applied and were you denied so
I may I'm over the income. I'm over the income amount. So I'd even go down there to apply because I'm over the income. I'm working. I get Social Security benefits. And also I have as I mentioned a full time job so that yeah, I'm not I pay my bills.
Okay. And I'm sorry, you're having this problem. But we would at least like to do an audit of your account to make sure that the acreage that you're being charged for for drainage is accurate. And see if there's some relief there. So if if Brian who was standing behind, you could could get the address. We'd like to make arrangements or at least do an audit.
And I appreciate that. Are there any other options?
Once we we can't? We can't settle it here at the table. But certainly if we can meet with you, we can explain to you what the other options are.
Okay, other than what I read on the Detroit Michigan City website, because all I saw outside of that again, what's the rain gardens and that's, I can't afford that. And
there are certainly other options. I mean, there were there were several things that you stated that just was not correct. One is that the Great Lakes Water Authority does not approve the drainage rates. That's not a true statement. And there are other things that we can suggest. Once we know the full circumstances of your account in your situation. We might
I apologize. I got that information. I thought off the website or I got it from my bill. I'm not sure Okay, so who I'm sorry who approves the rate hikes this boy you do? You request it and you approve it?
I as the director requests from the board that I work for an increase and they either approve or deny. But the Great Lakes Water Authority has no authority over Detroit rates.
But ma'am, we're
okay. Yeah, that sounded a bit confusing for
it. We'll we will sit down with you and see if anything can be done and I appreciate it is right behind you.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, ma'am.
Is there anyone else that would like to address the board anyone else someone coming to the front? Yes, sir. Can you tell us your name?
How you doing? My name is Jermaine paints. I'm sorry. My name is Jermaine pounds. I'm back here in front of the board because it's been a while since I've been here. Thank you, Gary Brown. For attempting to put together a lifeline plan for these people who have gotten water problems and they can't afford it. The affordability plan was implemented and I think it's helped a lot of people. I appreciate that. Commissioners I appreciate you guys giving me the opportunity to speak today. As you know I've been in the front of this board numerous times about waterline issues. They still have a water line issue. And there's other people in my situation who have bought land bank houses don't have water line issues. For me water lines connected today house so I was wondering if this board can reconsider this conversation again, because there's a lot of money coming in from numerous resources. Now Gary talked about it in February of this year that he was going to take $2 million and set it aside to help people like my situation. I can't fix my house without water. It's just something that just can't be done. I try. I've been working on my house and now I'm at a standstill. I can't move forward with the things I need to get done in my house. Far as painting mudding sanding, wall, radiation, all types of things I need to powerwash my basement because as you know, my basement was flooded with sewage. So there's all types of issues with my land bank house and I'm asking the Board to please help me. I have got children that I'm trying to bring home to my provide to my family and I've exhausted all my resources from all the way from the mayor's office on down to my neighborhood and neighborhood district manager. I've also got a letter from the attorney from the water the board, but it didn't exclusively say how you guys can assist me. It was basically saying I'm responsible and I'm telling you I don't have $10,000 to fix it. So I'm accent that's all on my accent is a request. And I appreciate you guys taking the time to listen to him. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Payne. Good luck.
Yes. Just one question. Mr. Brown. Is there any resources you know, because there's a lot of folks in his situation that can't actually afford to actually, you know, make the connection. Are there any especially in a space of ARPA rd or any places that the department can refer in situations like this?
Yeah, there are no, I mean, I don't have any control over the arbor Dallas. They're controlled by various entity right the City Council council and the mayor and they haven't allocated any ARPA dollars for this for this issue. My I think this possibly sent the last letter. I'm just not remembering exactly what the final letter said would what was the letter that went out to
all right, is there anyone else who would like to address the board? Anyone in the audience? Anyone online?
Yes. Next on line is cookie Moore. Hello. Oh, Miss
Moore. How are you?
I'm wonderful.
How are you are?
Fine. Thank you. You have a floor, ma'am.
Okay, thank you so much. Yes, I'm Carlene Well, I want to talk about the lifeline affordability plan. And the American water rescue plan. Resources plan. I understand that American Water Resources people are supposed to representative is supposed to be there at least I hope they are so I can get a better understanding of it. What I want to know is if I have one do I have to have the other I guess I really don't know what each plan is detailed about. And also I would like to say I think we should have a separate virtual meeting about the different plans for the community. Because I know it's a lot of people really don't understand these both of these plants. I also want to give thanks to the guys that came out to my home and repaired the drop box that was in front of my home. I guess they just came yesterday and they were wonderful and kind and very professional. And I want to give thanks to them. That's all I want to say right now.
Well, thank you very much ma'am. And is there anyone else?
Next is Miko Williams.
Miss work, Mr. Williams?
Hi, good afternoon, commissioners. Greetings to you all how you doing? Yes, my name is Tamika Williams. I'm the chief director of Patrick Detroit. We help people restore their water service. We also pay water bills for residents that are still in need of help or trying to get their water situations fixed. And we're also signing up people helping people sign up for the Detroit water and sewage department lifeline plan. Things have been going good. I know there's still a lot of questions that have to be addressed especially from residents for their own understanding and it is good that the the water department is making an effort to get that communication in line. I want to speak about those water lines. I see Mr. Payne in the audience. Commissioners, you were supposed to have the land bank summoned to the water meeting back in April and they have not shown up since we have not what what was the what was the result? The result is you drop the ball. You have not done anything to resolve this issue of people having their water lines by the land bank. They're not being told when to get these houses or people trying to fix their water lines and areas in it and the water department. It seems like you all have lost your power or you lost your grip and you need to get it back. Please some in the land bank at the next meeting to show themselves and to explain this situation of why water lines aren't being installed in people's homes. The next thing is is that Mr. Payne, Miss Kimberly Wylie and other residents are still waiting for an answer of what to do. They don't have any money. I see American Water Resources we had a meeting recently it worked out well from my own understanding and hopefully that that communication gets to but what about the lit people with the without law water lines that are waiting to get water like Mr. Payne's case, please consider that and then the last thing I want to say is that the water summit for hydrate Detroit. We are going to have it in October. We're working with the city council members. We're working with some of the State House and Senate members so that we can get a block clubs community organizations, we will send the invitation to DWSD if you want to restore trust, if you want to restore integrity and if you want to really clean the slate with Detroit residents you harmed over the past seven to 10 years for not giving them water, denying them water and taking their payments and leaving them out in the cold. Now is your chance to redeem and repeat yourself and never speech don't respond to me. I also want the board to know that Mizpah speech is a general counsel. She's a lawyer. She's not a board member, so she needs to stay in her lane. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak
Miko. If you extend an invitation to us several of us will attend.
This chair can I mean there are several inaccuracies in in the statement that I just feel compelled to. To address. Number one, we did have the land bank. Come in, sit down at this table and have a discussion regarding the the lines that people have been looking to have replaced so that did in fact, happen at this table. DWSD did commit to put a million dollar contract in place to replace service lines that the land bank identified homes that we needed to replace those lines and in fact, we're doing that right now. Replacing lines in land bank properties that the land bank identified as one of the lines that should be replaced. Unfortunately, they did not identify Mr. Payne's line. And so I don't I don't want people to go away thinking that we dropped the ball on our commitment. We put the contract in place. The contractors are working on the list of land bank homes in which the land bank provided and stated to DWSD that they needed to replace those lines. And so that's those are just a few of the inaccuracies that were made. I do appreciate that you took the time to have a meeting with American resorts so that you can have a better understanding of the program. And we're certainly willing to make any information available for people that want to participate in that program. Thank you. All right.
Is there anyone else who would like to address the board Miss Walker, are you here? She
She raised her hand out there. She goes Miss Walker.
Hi everyone. Good afternoon. Can you hear me? Yes,
we can hear you. Good afternoon.
Hi Anna robot Detroit. Walker. I am from Nigeria Detroit. I was calling in for two things I encourage residents to apply for the BWS DWSD. Lifeline plan. The moratorium is set to expire at the end of this year. Director Brown and along with other Ward advocates, state lawmakers CTE federal and local has advocated for the moratorium to be extended however, they were not successful. So hydrate Detroit you'll walk chief coordinator is asked to teach our residents to please enroll in DWSD lifeline plan second, I just want to let everyone know that my own mother is enrolled in this plan and her water bill has reduced drastically. I just want anybody to know if they have any questions or any concerns. Reach out to hydrate betrayed, we can advocate for you to get into DWSD lifeline Claire as long as you are under 200% under the poverty level. I want to say lunar lunar light and love to just direct the brown to keep doing what he's doing and working with the public and you all have a wonderful day.
Thank you very kindly
Mr. Chair, the next speaker is Deborah Taylor.
Miss Taylor. Yes,
good afternoon.
Good afternoon, ma'am.
Good afternoon. Yes, I'd like to address the Detroit Board of Water commissioners as well as director Gary Brown. And Deborah P. Since I have difficulty with pronouncing the last name. Just want to say that we still are striving and we the people of Detroit to get the best out or affordability plan possible. And we feel though we're on the right track and there's still much room to go in terms of getting a permanent water affordability plan that is based upon income. What we have now as we know is a patchwork of water assistance. And what we need is something that's sustainable regardless of the the funds that are out there, federally or otherwise. This based on income, I do understand that there are operating costs to process and deliver the water. So we continue to strive for a permanent water affordability plan and appreciate what is happening. It's been a long road to get to this point, and we're grateful that we're on the right path and still quite a ways to go. Thank you for your time and efforts.
Thank you very much Miss Taylor.
Chair. Can I just I just want to thank We the People Detroit for making themselves available for a very healthy and robust debate about the Lifeline program for more than more than two hours and we've committed to sit down at a at a future meeting and go through some of the concerns that weren't addressed in this meeting. And I just want to I appreciate the the effort that they're making, to meet with us and and I learned a lot out of that meeting. And we have we have one thing in common. We just want to make the best program in the country. And we're working towards that. So I appreciate the effort that was made a couple of days ago when we met for more than two hours and and we certainly couldn't resolve all the issues in two hours but we've agreed to to work at it until they are resolved. At least that's my commitment. Thank you.
Very good.
No other speakers, Mr. Chair.
All right. Are there is there anyone else that would like to address the board? Hearing none, then we will close out the public comment section of our meeting and move on to item six. Are there any items from the commissioners? Hearing none. Let's move on to item seven communications and we have item a receipt of correspondence and our monthly FOIA request reports needs to receive a file Commissioner Kinloch moves to receive and file is their support. There is support any discussion questions about any of the individual items or FOIA request? Hearing none, all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Those opposed, and that motion is adopted. Let's unfinished business. There's none. Item eight is the approval of the consent agenda. And that agenda consists of items A through D. And in that process of formulating the consent agenda, I would ask commissioners Is there anyone who would like any individual item removed from this motion and considered separately? Mr. Chair, Yes, Commissioner
minute approval of the consent agenda as presented.
All right. It's been moved. Is there support support? And most of these items come from the finance committee and Commissioner forte. It comes with your committee's recommendation. Mr. Chair does All right. Any other discussion regarding the items on the Consent Agenda? Hearing none, then all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Those opposed and that is adopted. Now let's move to new business. And we're going to first move to 22 09 to eight American Water Resources presentation Mr. Brown you want to introduce this
point of order? Yeah. Approved,
the agenda was approved.
We'll go back to that.
Yep. Thank you. And please turn on your microphone. Yeah.
Commissioner Garcia has joined us via telephone.
Back. Thank you Mr. Chair, and we know that they've been patiently waiting, I'm gonna let them introduce themselves. And this, you know this hopefully, this is a form of communication to the public that we want to get this information out about the program and I'm going to let them take the microphone and and give you an update on what's going on since they were here last. Okay.
Good afternoon, commissioners, Mr. Chair, members of the public. My name is Benjamin Brockman with American Water Resources director of strategic partnerships and the director in charge of our relationship with DWSD
Hello, good afternoon. My name is Luis donor. I am the partner liaison for the DWSD relationship.
And if we can move on to the next slide, please. So we came here a couple of months ago after we raised as we were launching our partnership with DWSD for our sewer water and combo line package. I wanted to come by today to continue our effort to communicate to you and your residents both what the program is and isn't and also provide an update and how we're doing so far.
Next slide.
Just as some background we're part of a company that also includes pivotal home solutions. We have 3 million customer contracts serviced across 43 different states. This is a large part of the reason why we were chosen in the open RFP process to partner with DWSD was our experience not just in various areas but with various products. And next slide. Just some more background on us if things look a little sharper. That is because we've been putting a lot of time and effort into making sure that we've refined our message again, not just for members of this board but for the general public as well. What distinguishes us from many other of our competitors is the affordable protection plans that we provide for in this case primarily a water and sewer. And next slide. Again, just building on kind of who we are the experience we have hiring contractors in a lot of different areas and a lot of different markets, especially new ones, which was still considered DWSD to be we have a lot of products and services offered across a wide range of areas. And generally, you know, have the experience to know what we're doing.
And next slide.
So as part of this, just as a recap as to where we are DWSD identified a need to provide better home protection for Detroit homeowners. The RFP was issued we were selected amongst several companies. We then negotiated with DWSD to establish the partnership and a big part of why we were selected as I mentioned, was our affordable pricing and our large longer warranty on repairs. And we had watched this partnership just May of this year. Next slide with our water and sewer lines, these cover the outside lines and we have included this diagram or one very similar to IT and marketing materials that we have distributed in the DWSD footprint and all of those materials that use the DWSD logo name or showing any type of affiliation are sent to the DWSD for their approval. But what we what we're here to talk about and what we protect, are those private, you know those the homeowners sewer line and water line, which start at the property boundary and and at the foundation of the house, and we'll cover a little bit more about what these cover here in a moment. But generally, again, as a reminder, what we cover who we are with our warranty programs, and we're going to stress repeatedly that we are warranty not Insurance insurance covers unexpected, unexpected instances, warranties cover, regular wear and tear.
And next slide. Sir,
we go back one slide. Michelle can thank you. We want to make sure we touch a little bit more on this is Brian Peckinpah public affairs director to ensure that the community understands that the water service line the private portion, when the water service sign is currently existing from the water main, the private portion that's from the stop box to inside the house, around the sewer side. Most homes that goes out the back of your house from the basement to the alley. You are responsible for the sewer line all the way from the house to where it connects to the public sewer, including the tap to the public sewer. We want to make sure people are clearly aware of that. That even if it's the sewer line behind your house, even if it's past the property line, you are responsible privately for the entire line all the way to the public sewer. Thank you
with our water line protection plan, again, warranties covered general you know, everyday wear and tear, not the unexpected. So everyday wear and tear is things generally the age of the line leaks that accumulate over time, roots growing into the line. And for our waterline protection plan, what we've brought forward to DWSD and what has been utilized by residents today. There's an unlimited protection for covered repairs. That's us paint repair, leaking a broken water line and that normal wear and tear. And that coverage, as we said starts from the water meter or main shutoff valve inside the home to the point where it connects to the utility.
Next slide please.
The sewer line very similar. A little bit of nuance there. Obviously sewer and water lines are different. But there is still an unlimited program limit for the covered repairs. That's paying to repair the clogs blockages or breaks as a result of that regular wear and tear. And that coverage does start at the external wall the home up to the point where it connects to the main sewer line.
And next slide.
We have very good products we stand by our products. This is an optional program that residents can choose into and to date we've had over 12,000 Detroit Detroit customers sign up for our program and services. However, those terms and conditions don't always work for everybody and we can't stress enough people really need to take a look at those to understand what is and is not covered and make the determination if that is right for them.
Is that 12,000 within your expectations?
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Actually our first marketing campaign I want to say we had budgeted 9000 enrollees and we came in just under that at about 98% of our target. So we've we've hit our numbers on that end, and Louis will cover in a moment some of the operational things we're doing to make sure that the service is there for all of those those customers.
Thank you,
Commissioner Blackmun.
I have a couple of questions as it relates to what it does not cover. Anything caused by I would perhaps if you could give an example of what is you might mean by these two, anything caused by a homeowner or third party and preventative maintenance.
So anything caused by a homeowner or a third party that would be somebody has our program and attempts at DIY repair. You know they've gone in they've moved things around, they've tried to flush it themselves. Something that we stressed with all of our contractors and that we're constantly working on is our training to make sure that contractors go out and they actually take the time to look at a customer's line. Things aren't always obvious there. And I don't have a good example of something that's come to my attention that was caused by a homeowner or a third party. But again, it tends to be a lot of people attempt to fix it themselves, even though they might have our service. Or a lot of times we'll try to fix it themselves. Break it, sign up for our service, wait for 30 days and try to you know, have us fix it themselves. Again, I don't have a good example for you on what that's looked like just from the conversations I've had with some of our operations team and contractors. It's one of those things when you see it, you tend to know somebody tried to put a little bit of duct tape on the sewer line and didn't go well.
What about upgrades to meet the code? I'm sorry, about
upgrades to meet code with the code
for a lot of times, for a lot of our service areas. We also have a partnership with the City of New York and Philadelphia amongst others. A lot of these homes in areas are 100 years old. Their old structures are old water lines, sewer lines, what was installed when those homes were built might have been code back then but it's not to code today. And given the nature of us being a warranty program, you know if those if those previously not to code lines, do you have leaks? We will fix them and they will be fixed to code. However a customer cannot call us and make a claim based off of based off of their line not being code to today's standards. Okay,
I'm not sure the customer will understand that very, very well. But nevertheless, I understand what you're saying is I'm sorry, I'm a Commissioner cannot
yes with since you began rolling on Detroit customers. How many claims have actually been denied? You know, and I know this is May but is there a count on how many claims have been denied?
We don't say deny we say claims that meeting the terms and conditions. Okay. This is an agreement. It's a technicality, but it's part of the warranty and insurance thing. It's my legal department hammering into me things I have to say to date we only we have 14 claims that have not met Terms and Conditions.
How many of claims have been filed so far?
We have a total of 338 Cream claims created 118 approved three cancelled by a customer five that were duplicate 33 that are in the process of being rescheduled and the remainder are in process. And with that in process because of how our system works with a back and forth between us and our contractors. We know a lot of those claims that are out there are approved and being done. They just haven't shown up as approved and done in our system
yet. So straight up not meeting your requirements or or the jargon for denial. Were 14 Correct.
That's a good. That's
just just that quick. Follow up question.
Yes. Commissioner 14.
So currently the claims that don't meet your terms and condition about 14 That's about 5% little under, is that what you think would hold in terms of if you looked out and predicted the number of claims that may come through that it would be a 5% of those claims that did not meet terms and conditions.
This is meeting our expectations right now generally the highest amount, the highest number of terms that don't meet term claims that don't meet terms and conditions come in the first several months because the program is new. You do have a lot of residents that will apply with a pre existing condition. Now some of those, it's not crystal clear. You can look at it and think it might be but it means the terms and conditions are contractors are instructed to fix it and approve the claim. If it's things like you know if there is a line that has caved in, it's dry it's been very visibly caved in for a while. That tends to be the type of claims that haven't met our Terms and Conditions early on. I don't know the specifics in each one of those 14 I can find out what they were and get that breakdown. But it's generally things that are again, very obvious along those lines or if it's not obvious, there's something else there. But part of our process that we've done due to some of our contractors was we've gone back and we've spent a lot of time reviewing claims to make sure that anyone who was previously that all those not meeting Terms and Conditions really don't meet the terms and conditions. And that's part of our quality control. And our quality assurance is taking the time if a contractor is not doing what they should, which in one particular instance was there were homes that were listed on the land bank website. The contractor said well, they were on the land bank website, so I know that they're not meeting the standards of of the program. Somebody bought that house, somebody might have made improvements. We don't know that. So it's the contractors responsibility and our responsibility to assume that the homeowner has done everything in their power to make sure it is up to our standards for being for being falling under the program. going out and looking at it and then at that point, if they haven't met it, then it is denied but it's not. You know, but those 14 We're fine, right where we need to be again, generally it's pre existing conditions that when you're looking at it, it's okay this is this is not something that just happened yesterday.
I think I heard you say the number currently meet your general expectations. Yes, ma'am. And I don't know if I really heard you say that that number or percentage or proportion is predictive of what might be in the future in terms of claims,
futures hard in the future. It's hard to tell just because, you know, as we get more claims, and we have more people enroll, we get a better sense of different areas of the city will tend to use that data and work with our contractors to get a sense of what it could be. But being that Detroit still a new market to us. It's really hard to make those predictions and that's not something that I'm uncomfortable saying today.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes.
Well, let's step back about the question regarding anything caused by a homeowner or a third party. That could also be if someone put a toy in the sewer line and cracked it or other debris that came from the property owner that caused damage to the sewer line the warranty program would not cover that.
So I mean, typically what does when ordinary wear and tear consists of what would be the most common causes of a payable claim?
Favorites, Favorites plant roots, you know something's been there when you moved in whenever you moved in. plant that a nice oak tree or some kind of big plant that was 1520 feet away. wasn't anywhere near the sewer line when you planted it 5060 years later, big root structure gets there. Other times, you know, things do Shift. Ground does shift some of that is covered. Not all of that, but a lot of that is and that's part of why we stress that we're looking at these claims. On a regular basis as well to make sure that there is that quality assurance and that quality control. But generally it's just ah, Spring Lake. You know, we like to think infrastructure lasts forever. But as folks in this room know, waters generally out of sight out of mind you don't think about it until it's a problem. You know, one thing we have asked our team to do is start to put up what some of the together what the savings look like from this program so far. You know, rough math is 118 claims have been approved average five to $10,000 repair. That's a lot of savings. But you know what those individual circumstances were and what the wear and tear was. That's generally not something that I think we keep track of, but it's something that's you know, it definitely comes up Yes.
You mentioned shifts. Cover some some you don't can can you explain that to
me, please? Yeah, just things settle overtime lines move around. That causes some of the breaks and that causes some of the leaks.
So how do you guys decide what you're covering and what you know, I would think those will be covered.
A lot of times there are there are depending on how the line was previously installed. Because there are some times where the lines are installed incorrectly. Those are not covered by the T's and C's. I'm sorry. No, it's It's more generally. Sorry, sir. Go ahead. Okay,
I'm saying no matter who I know, you had mentioned if the homeowner went in and made certain repairs that were defective, but I'm talking about from the original construction if if they shift or those deficiencies were calls at the time of construction, not subsequent to the homeowner gaining, you know, possession of
the property. Gotcha. Yeah, those, you know, most of the partners I work with, including Detroit are older systems. So I don't have the luxury of having a lot of new ones that I can blame the contractor or the homebuilder but a lot of times what it is you'll have the you know, the sewer line goes up and that's not that's not correct installation. That's not how it's supposed to be. But we also don't do a pre screening on these, which is why we stress to our contractors. When you get the phone call. We have to go out you have to look. Skip the line. Make sure you understand every circumstance for that claim. Before you make make that decision on if it's a claim that should be submitted to us for approval, or one that doesn't meet our terms and conditions.
Mr. Chair, can I can I just add I mean we see a lot. A homeowner will get an unlicensed plumber that will not get a permit, which means we don't go out and inspect the work, which means that it's done incorrectly. And instead of using the right connections, they just drill into a sewer and stick a pipe in there and that's it's pretty obvious that that what was done without a permit. That's the value of having a permit before the whole gets closed up. DWSD has an inspector on site. This is going to view the work that was done to make sure that it's by code and it protects the homeowner against this this guy does kind of damage so but we see it quite a bit where permits are not obtained. Inspections are not done, and then that hole gets closed up and it's a problem. Three routes are the number one problem as was indicated. And when you think about it, this is a closed system the pipe from all the way from the house that gets into the sewer is closed. If there are tree roots in there is an opening somewhere in order to allow the roots to get in they're not getting in from our main they're getting in from the out from somewhere so somewhere the line has been compromised to allow the tree roots to enter and we see them go all the way into our main when we put a camera in the line we can see the tree roots coming out of the customer's private line. And we know that somewhere along that line is an opening in order for those treatments to get in. So the line has been compromised at some point may take years for that to show up as a problem but it exists we see it every day.
All right. Yes. Commissioner 14
Yeah, I'm just curious. Is there I'm really don't know but that particular line that is covered under this insured program. Are there different materials used? I mean are there a variety of different materials that might be used for these lines?
Historically, you'll find a mix of lead and galvanized, particularly in older areas like Detroit, our policy, our terms and conditions for DWSD footprint is when we find leaks in those lines. We replace those outright. Other times you'll still find some cast iron lines. If you're lucky, maybe you've got you know some more modern material there. But a lot of the older materials to the credit of the people that designed and installed them they last a long time. But that's also part of why you know our programs exist is because when those those do break and it's a when you know not if they can be very expensive because of how far down they are and everything else. But generally again, in a city like this, we're gonna see cast iron, some galvanized some lead and for those last two, our policy is to replace those.
Thank you, commissioners.
Next slide. I'm gonna turn it over to Luis to talk a little bit about our footprint here.
All right. Thank you, Ben. So, for the city of Detroit here we have committed to hiring call center agents directly from the local community. We're looking to hire a minimum of four and we are starting training beginning in October. These representatives are going to handle the DWSD market as well as other American Water Resources and homeowners services territories and B work from home employees. For our contractor side, we have committed to hiring 100% minority owned and 100% Detroit based contractors. We are focusing on training these contractors as we ramp up with our number of Detroit customers here in our network. And part of the training is gonna be focused on communications with the customers from the contractors
themselves. Next slide, please.
So in regards to hiring these contractors, we have a very selective process for doing so. We require contractors to maintain up to date licenses and insurance and we make sure that these contractors comply with all local, state and federal codes. This includes repairs as well all repairs will comply with state and local codes. Partner input is always welcome in contractor recruitment and selection. We always want to work with contractors that represent our partners. And if there are any recommendations for contractors, we will always accept those.
Question. Yes.
Question, Mr. Chairman. I question on the employment they're going to be using our local community agencies did he say or did he say contractors I couldn't understand what he said as far as employment.
So we are hiring local Detroit based call center agents. However, those positions are hired and training is starting in October. As this customer base continues to expand. We will look to potentially expand the number of call center agents that we hire here in Detroit. These are working I guess, I
guess the question is where are you going to be hiring at I mean, is it going to be like with the like Sir, Metro Detroit, the Urban League or the NAACP? I mean, if there is, you said partners, I didn't know who the partners were.
Commissioner, we're happy to work with you. If there are places we should look for those after our call center would would appreciate that help. I know when we were hiring contractors we did work with Director brown staff about some of the contractors that had also been recruited and shown an interest in the bait basement backup program. So if it's Urban League, if it's NAACP if there's somebody else locally that you know has access to a workforce that's willing to go into that we absolutely want to know who they are. It's very important to us that our workflows force represents the communities we serve. And especially in this instance, with our commitment to the city of Detroit to the DWSD footprint. We want to do everything we can to make sure we're hiring those folks.
Thank you. Appreciate it. I will make a list if that's okay, Mr. Director, we can give them some of the lists that we have in our community like fair Metro Detroit, the Urban League, and the NAACP along with family, the family directions, I think it'd be good just to make sure that we have it out there for people to have access.
Will do. Thank you.
Great. Thank you and just one point of clarification, this is not a contract position. These are full time employees with American Water Resources.
Great. Okay. Thank you. Next slide, please. So some key criteria
that we look for in hiring our contractors here so first is experience we want to see that contractors have years of conducting business that they don't competent work on residential water and wastewater so blind. We do background checks on all of our contractors. We want to make sure that they are geographically located in the Detroit partner footprint. We also want to see how big is their business? Can they handle the number of claims that are going to be coming in. We also want to make sure that they have the necessary equipment to do the job right. These contractors must have all licensing necessary when required, they must also have proof of insurance when required, and they must have good records on complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Consumer
Affairs back then.
So as part of our services, I got to
go back one slide. Oh, did you know that so that when I was living proof of insurance that American Water required levels. What does that mean?
With our previous parent company, which was American Water Company, that's an investor owned water utility, our insurance standards because they were utility were very high. We do maintain and have maintained those fairly high insurance levels. This comes down to a couple of things. Number one safety. We are working on people's water and sewer line safety is the utmost important. Number two, you know, as we ramp up in areas, there's more work that goes to contractors. We want to make sure that those contractors are invested in a number of ways not just in their commitment to customer service, but also in their commitment to safety, insurance and other things. So I don't know the specific numbers, but it can be a little bit higher. That does prove a challenge sometimes when we're hiring and looking to hire contractors. We're up to four contractors here now with a couple more that we're in final negotiations with so you know for the Detroit area, our standards, our insurance levels seem to be about the right spot for us to be hiring, the quality we want. But it is something that we do assess overtime in various areas, and do occasionally we'll occasionally adjust as required, you know, for whatever reasons
before they apply. We're gonna contract you're going to see what requirements you are asking for under this proof of insurance before they make their formal application.
That's an area that we're looking to improve on. We're in the middle of a rebranding and a website rebuild and part of that we would like to be to have some of those contractor standards out there to get people on board. The best thing right now is they can reach out to us directly and we'll connect them with our contractor team. They're happy to spend some time talking with folks to walk them through. We don't want to leave good good contractors by the wayside. We want to bring good contractors in and have them grow with us. And that's probably the quickest, most efficient way right now.
Are there any specific organizations that are not the ones that that Commissioner Garcia mentioned? But in terms of those who have contacts with contractors and who represent contractors? I've forgotten there several of them. Are you have you established a relationship with any of them yet?
I'd have to ask our contracting team our contracting. Our contracting team did come out and was out here for about a month on the ground talking with contractors. I would I don't want to assume that they were able to connect with those groups but their you know, their engagement and our experience in other areas. They're generally pretty good and efficient at finding who those organizations are and making sure they're connecting with them early and often.
Folk know the names of the organizations like minority contractors, associations, kinds of things. Yeah,
the alphabet soup I follow.
Okay, thank you.
We can go forward.
This was the numbers accurate as of the 18th. I did get an updated customer account today we are at just over 12,000 customers in the DWSD footprint. The completed claims like I said that is actually 118 have been approved out of 338 claims submitted. 14 claims did not meet the terms and conditions. Three cancelled by customers. Five are duplicates 33 are wheat being rescheduled and the remainder are in process at varying stages of the approval. The total customer calls handled those are our care calls only. So if somebody calls in and is interested in signing up for the line, that's a different metric. That's a different call. These are the folks that have called in the customer calls handle those calls that are answered very quickly. That's at 92%. That's very high and then the CSAT score. CSAT score is based off of the response of customers after work has been completed. So we're sitting at 100% right now. Like I said, we are aware that there were some issues with one of our contractors, or we have since hired three more contractors to help with that. So if you hear or have read, I know there were a couple of news stories out there about customer satisfaction. If work is done or you know, somebody's had their their stuff completed and they don't take the satisfaction survey. We can't track that. It's something that you know, we've we like a lot of other service companies. We're always looking at improving how we do that. But it's just always a challenge to get that it just comes down to it. We really encourage folks to call in. Not because we want to pad our numbers and have that number stay high although we're competent in it. It's primarily because if there are contractors that aren't meeting our standards that's the quickest way for those contractors to come to light and for us to make training adjustments or other adjustments as necessary to make sure that the customers are getting the experience that they signed up for on our behalf which is ultimately on your behalf because this is a partnership and that's very important to us
this next one is informational for all of you. This just shows our marketing timeline. In fact, Louis asked you to talk a little bit about this one as well.
For a marketing timeline here, you'll see for our aquas thank you for our acquisition direct mail campaigns. We do not do direct mail every single month here. So we had our September campaign. Ben had alluded to a difference in the numbers presented for customers as now that is going to be from our September campaign hitting. So our increase in customer count from there. November there will be an additional campaign and then for 2023 We will have January, April and June and then it will go back into September again for 2020 threes acquisition campaigns for our digital there. We do use Google Ads search as well as you can see social media ads for us. So if someone was to search something along the lines of waterline warranty, waterline repair, we will pop up for for that person. So you'll see some digital ads as well as media ads. So we will have some media ads. We've partnered with a loop so if you watch some TV shows on Hulu in this area, you may have seen an ad of ours pop up as well.
And one thing I will add is as part of the onboarding process, all customers are sent the terms and conditions that a welcome packet. We have been made aware of that folks, that an email so we are working with our call center team to make sure the option to have those mailed to customers is more visible in that process so that folks can take the time to review what they've signed up for have those right materials and have all the information they need to be able to utilize our services if they need to.
All right, commissioners. Any questions or comments Commissioner Kinloch?
Just the comment. This is something that I know all of us. Can you consistently have been hearing people come prior to this being offered? complaints about the exposure that this call for them and I can just tell you as I'm going around community meetings, people are talking about the benefits of it and are happy that it is always good to hear something pleasant regarding indeed VSD you know, when you go around to the community and they really happy that this is available for them.
Yep. Very good. Mr. Chair. Yes.
You know, this board will have the opportunity in the near future to evaluate the program and make a determination on whether or not they want DWSD to be able to allow customers to pay this cost on their water bill. We've upgraded our inquest billing system to be able to allow that to happen. Certainly. That would probably in my is my anecdotal estimates double the amount of people that would be willing to participate if in fact, it's it's being billed through DWSD. And so this is this is sort of a probationary period for American resource. We want to make sure that this program is being managed well, that our customers are happy. And all of the things that you've asked today, those concerns are, are relieved and then at some point in the near future, we might be able to have a discussion at this table and entertain, I think for $7 And I think 98 cents, that this is a great value for customers since our system is aging, and the more people that we can get engaged in it, the better they'll be protected, but once again, it's going to be how well. Read it
it really did highlight that DWSD endorsed this particular insurance so a commendation on the communication their question because this experience is customer experience is linked to the reputation of DWSD have we received directing this question to Director Brown? Have we received any customer comment regarding the program so far? Directly?
i I see people almost daily I think it's because the letter might have my name on it and our our asked me about it and in all of the conversation it's been favorable about the program so far. So I had an earlier conversation with American resources before we started and it's favorable and we look forward to it continuing to be that way.
All right, Commissioner
blank. One last question. I'm assuming we've had people already start to sign up for the program. 10,000 And then how many claims have we had
the claims was 338 with 118 approved and the rest in varying stages of of the process, and 14 terms 14 that have been denied or not made in terms of conditions.
Now just choose the ones that were denied and that was a situation where something wasn't done correctly to begin with.
There was a yes there was a contractor it was our only contractor for the first probably month and a half two months of the program where they were not fulfilling their obligations and going out and viewing homes, particularly those that were Landbank homes. We have since talked with the contractor and reiterated and really stressed and then most business like ways that this is not who we are as a company. That is not who DWSD is as a partner, and that they can't rely on a website to know what situation a home and a homeowner is currently in
and what type of warranty to you provide after the work is done to the homeowner.
We have a we have a we have a guarantee on that if there's an issue and we come out along as
contract so we have a one year term with the customer as long as they're a customer. Yeah, so all of the contracts for the warranty are for a one year term, so that the customer is eligible and they are still in their you know term period. And we will honor that.
And along those lines Commissioner if there is a line and we have to go back three times because of an issue we will replace the line at that point in time. So there there's you know, we're not here to just do spot repairs. We we are a business and you know our reliability of our products and our services is very important to us and to our partners. We don't want folks saying hey, they had to come back and an example we gave earlier was picking up grandma's rose bushes. We don't want them picking up the flower garden multiple times. We want to make sure we addressed the problem the first time in a way that is satisfactory to the customer. All right,
this year. Oh, Commissioner Blackmon
a couple of questions that I am thinking Do it Do I recall that we were discussing some way of helping our Lifeline customers be able to afford this something that we were going to do that maybe made it more easy for them to be participate?
Yes. As you know DWSD receives a a portion of the funds generated from this account. And I will be bringing back to this board a recommendation on how the money could be spent, how it could be leveraged and we know that we have customers even though they're in the lifeline plan and their bill is only $18 there will be customers that have trouble paying that bill. And so certainly the dollars received through this program could be used to help benefit those customers and and certainly that's just this one opportunity. I think there'll be we'll make recommendations on three or four different ways in which we can help our low income customers with the dollars that we received from this program.
My other question was, and I'm not sure this may have been covered, and I just don't recall it. Is there a guarantee of a period of time before the rates might increase? That
yeah, that's that's a that's a question that they'd have to answer.
Yeah, I have to double check but I believe our I believe the contract we signed dictates what that looks like. But I want to make sure I get you the right answer on that. We do not have the ability to just raise rates whenever we want. It is part of the partnership.
Okay, we'll get a copy. Thank you. Okay.
So when will the Detroit Customer Service Office have the open and or what do you estimate that and if you know, is there a Detroit representative currently this handling any issues?
So the way so when we hire those folks, they will be remote. We're not going to have an office here. And right now our call center is looking at hiring at least the for as promised but they've already indicated they want to hire more in the Detroit area. And those call center representatives will handle not just Detroit calls, but other similar partners. So they'll be trained to you did mention it earlier. Yeah. They'll be trained across a variety of things. In terms of, you know, Detroit specific itself. The process that we've discussed with DWSD is that there are escalations and we do a lot of good but there are escalations that do happen. We've asked folks here to please reach out to Brian back and PA and he'll reach out to us that way. We're all on the same page in terms of when those happen in terms of you know, a we still do need to hire a field supervisor for the area. So that is something we are working on. We have discussed that with DWSD. When that person is hired, they'll be our primary person on the ground for a lot of those issues. But we'll still be here engaged part of the process to make sure that you're getting all the information you need all the answers you need, and that you always know who to come to anything. Now I
do recall getting some mail, some direct mail. But there are a lot of folks as you moving around the community that refer to this as an insurance. And I think that because I can't recall the literature, if we highlight the fact that it's not insurance, but warranty because you just explained to me the simple difference between the two. Yeah,
it's a challenge. It's a challenge for every one of our 3 million customers. It doesn't matter where we are. It's always a challenge and that's where that's where sharing marketing materials with DWSD staff prior making sure we're sharing our marketing schedule. That way folks know what's coming down. So people here are prepared to answer those questions and help clarify that.
Okay. Commissioners, any other comments or questions? Gentlemen, thank you very much. It occurs to me to the extent that the revenue share we're going to put into making the program available to people in the we'll get a revenue share from that. It's the gift that keeps giving
miss the director is there any is do they have? I guess information? Do we have information when I send a PDF form? Oh, absolutely. Okay, if
you can get that tomorrow. I can get that to you. Yeah, bring it
out. Thank you very much. We're now going to move to what was item A under new business. And that deals with approval of the storm water connection agreement with the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Commissioners, what is your pleasure? Commissioner kindelan.
Okay, Mr. Chair, I move that upon the request of Chief Operating Officer, officer Samuel Smout. Smiley, the Board of Water commissioners for the city's reward and sewage department authorize the director to approve the stormwater connection agreement for the Gordie Howe International Bridge project and also authorize the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
And is there support for all right discussion? It has moved and it's been supported. Mr. Smalley or who would like to present on this matter.
It will be our chief operating officer Sam Smalley.
Okay. Good afternoon commissioners and audience Sam Smalley Chief Operating Officer at a very high level. The Gordie Howe bridge plaza will be discharging its stormwater to the Detroit River in lieu of adding that stormwater or rainwater to the combined sewer system. This agreement will lessen the amount of load or stress put on the combined sewer system during rain events. They are going to be connecting downstream of the regulators or outfalls. So that stormwater will not combine with sewage and it will go out to the Detroit River. So this has been a very long and drawn out process. When the Gordie Howe bridge project started. They had intended to simply just connect to the sewer system. But cooler heads prevailed and we were able to negotiate a win win with MDOT and all the other parties. Happy to answer any more detailed questions you may have.
Yeah, hang on again. Commissioner Kinloch
up there was Yes. My question is Gordie Howe bridge were able to negotiate this, this agreement. Was there anything different that was allowed for them because of the uniqueness of this authority? That to be able to do the direct discharge into the Detroit River is there, you know, can any other business just go into an agreement with us that happened to be along the Detroit River to be able to Dysport discharge its stormwater directly into the Detroit River or was there some exceptions because it is a state created authority?
We not only expect and require any business is south of Jefferson that that's being built to not connect to our sewer system by our by our ordinance. And so this was a this was a project that was put in place after the ordinance this body put the ordinance in place. And I can't tell you how big this is. You're talking about hundreds of millions of gallons of stormwater that would have come off the bridge but more importantly the the area around the bridge, the footprint, the ramping up to the bridge, hundreds of millions of gallons of stormwater that is now not going to go into a pipe to go to the wastewater treatment plant to be treated. It's going to get some secondary treatment and then be pushed right out into the river which is the environmental friendly way to do it
so so the so what I'm saying is is though they they you're we're encouraging by ordinance yes you know, when the storm water come in, just directly into
remember you have a $670 an acre chart,
that's what I'm saying. Right.
So the businesses are incentivized if they're south of Jefferson or close enough to the river to be able to push into the river as opposed to that's that's $760 for drainage charges a month per acre. That's a tremendous amount of savings over a 30 year period. So they're incentivized to do what we want them to do it. And the team should be applauded for negotiating this because it wasn't in the original plan when the Gordie Howe bridge was being designed. We had that change and, and Sam can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we were also able to take some of the stormwater that's on the freeway that the ramp leads off to the Gordie Howe bridge also is contributing directly to the river so it was it was a great a great deal for all of us.
Yes. In addition to a director Brown, mention one of the key partners in this is Eagle themselves the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and energy they actually came up with the recommendation. So that was the icebreaker. I broke the logjam in these negotiations with MDOT bridging North America and all the other players associated with this project. And yes, that option is available to other developments. Along the Detroit River. We are also looking at that feasibility for the 375 project that MDOT is planning on constructing so that'll be further reduction and on the load of our sewer system.
Okay, the reason why I was thinking is that you know, a lot of folks believe that the water should be treated before it goes into the Detroit River and some
secondary treatment that takes place before it gets actually to the real goal. Okay.
Commissioner Garcia. Yes,
with everything that's happening, and people don't know that but we live in this area. There's always confusion and a lot of lot of trouble with the traffic there. Are you sure whatever's going to happen? Is it going to impact at all on the residents in that area?
Yes, all the improvements for the drainage and sewer system are underground. While there are surely impacts to traffic and to residents and businesses during the construction project. Once the project is over, there are no negative impacts to the traveling public with this,
and this, I think more importantly, to Commissioner Garcia's point, had the water gone into the sewer system. It would have had to have traveled through those neighborhoods and could contribute to flooding because the pipes would be filled with hundreds of millions of gallons that has now being taken out of the system. So this is a direct benefit to the community. To the residents around the bridge. Thank you.
Anything positive I've heard Thank you.
All right, the motion is before us any other questions or comments? Hearing none, then all those in favor of the motion please say aye. Aye Opposed, and that is adopted. Next we move to the directors metrics.
you Mr. Chair. I just would just like to point out some statistics about the Detroit land bank homes that are expecting to get new service lines. And so as I indicated earlier, we put a contract in place that's a million dollars the land bank submits the home addresses to us and we give them to our contractor and get the work done. So far. 56 houses have been completed. We've put new lines in 56 homes that the land bank sold. There's another 10 houses that no longer need water service meaning that either the customer had already done it themselves or there's not in the house is no longer there. Director with I'm sorry, Commissioner Garcia Yes, sir.
And you know why they would deny someone like Mr. Payne who's keeps going back and forth. Is there a reasoning why they would deny one customer or one residence over another?
Yeah, I can get to that in just in. Okay. So 56 houses have been completed. 10 houses no longer need water. One house there was no answer, and we just can't find the owner of that house. Five houses are scheduled and in process to be completed on top of the 56. Two houses were deemed to be unsafe to go into. So the contractor simply connected from the watermain to the stop box and couldn't go any further because there's probably nothing to connect to in that particular home. And then there are there are several other houses that have issues that we're trying to resolve. So the contractor is asking for more homes. The land bank says that they have a total of 200 We asked for them all so that we could get them into the queue and get them fixed. I don't have a good answer. For why the land bank would deny one customer over another. Although I do believe that the land bank believes Mr. Payne was well aware that he bought the house as is and that at one point there was really nothing to connect to because the house was still boarded up in the conditions that he had purchased it in. And I know that he's he's attempting to to make some repairs now. But we have to get the authorization from the land bank. It's their decision. They sold the homes as to which ones we're going to fix it not DWSD is not making a decision on which house to do or not do. We're being guided by the people that sold the homes, the land bank as we committed to. And so I just want to leave you with those statistics to show that I mean there is work being done. I don't want anybody to think that we we I know it took a long time to get the contract in place and to get things rolling. But we'll have those couple of 100 homes done. I would suspect in the next 30 days. The contractor is eager He's calling us saying give me more and so that's that's a that's a good they have the capacity to do more. We'll get them to the rest of the 200 homes on the list and continue to, you know, honor our commitment to installing service lines and land bank homes that are identified by the landing.
All right Commissioner Blackman.
Mr. Director, what wasn't? Well, weren't customers who purchased homes from the land bank. What were the instructions the same? Did they all within at all notify that their lines were not connected?
No, they weren't all the same. There. Were a number of homes. It looks like about 200 in which customers were not told that the line was disconnected. They were given either not told or given bad information. The land bank identified those homes and from that point on, they made it a point to go over the top in notifying the buyer that they did not know the condition of the line and it was the buyers responsibility to fix their own line from that point on. And it's it's my understanding that the land bank has documentation that shows the home that was in question earlier today was one of the homes that when they purchased it, it's in writing that they're responsible for their line. But again, that's really something to be taken up with the customer in the land bank. We can only go by the number the houses that they gave us, and we do know that they did sell 200 homes that they gave out that information. But once they found out they were given out bad information, they changed their processes and notified the new buyers of what their obligation would be in. Those are the rules that I believe they're following. All right. Thank you.
Anything else, Gary?
No, that's it. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I indicated earlier that we did have a two hour meeting with we the people of Detroit. We've agreed to continue meeting, I think was very productive on both sides. I learned a lot and we're going to act on a lot of the things that we learned and hopefully when we're when we're done we're all be standing together. Going out in and searching for permanent funding for this program. Thank you.
If I might comment on that. I would agree that it was a very productive meeting. I thought it was handled very well. Their input was valuable and done in a in a collegial manner. So I want to express appreciation to them for how they presented their concerns. Very good.
I think people sit down and talk can make a difference it can make a difference. All right, then the next item on our agenda is our comments from the commissioners. Any commissioners chairman to make any comments? Yes. Commissioner Garcia
Chairman, can I ask what is the turnaround and how many people have been already approved by the lifeline because I you know, we get some calls. I know they applied and I know they were supposed to take the application by September 1. But some people have already been put on but what is the turnaround do we know?
We absolutely know that. 10,200 customers have applied we know that Wayne metros receiving 500 calls a day. We know that approximately 4000 Just under 4000 have been accepted into the program and their bills. As of September no longer no later than October will indicate the new $18 rate. We know that Wayne Metro has 150 people working on the project and that they're working six days a week, Monday through Saturday on the program. I can also tell you that if we haven't begun i know Brian knows the exact date. We're going out and knocking on 49,000 homes where we know we have low income customers and we'll have tablets and we'll be trying to get them their application into the system on the spot. And so I'm confident that we will have 20,000 of our Detroit customers in the program by October first. And I'm also making it very clear that we have enough money for a year and a half, two years with 20,000 customers in the program. And we need to find permanent funding in order to continue to program so so it's going Thank you. Well.
Thank you so much.
All right. comments from any of the other Commissioners? Hearing none comments from the chair. I have none. Are there any other matters?
Yes, Mr. Chair, Patricia Thornhill, our human resources organizational development director just wants to give an update to the board. All right,
Mr. Heyman.
Contract. Is Thornhill you are muted, ma'am. You hear us. We can't hear you. Oh, boy.
We have to do it next. The next meeting Mr. Chair. Yes. Speak today Sauron. Hear me now commissioners. You're fine. Now. Patricia.
All right. I think we can hear you now. Miss Thornhill. Go ahead.
You can hear me? Yes. Oh, great. Thank you.
Good afternoon, commissioners. I just wanted to verify that there weren't any additional questions pertaining to the Utility Workers Union of America's contract that we presented to you on
September 7.
And the reason she's bringing it up is it has it goes automatically into effect 30 days from the date you approved it unless something comes up in the interim that you want to make a change. So she's just doing one last confirmation with the board.
I have no issues.
I would look to our leadership to Yeah, we know if there's anything we should be concerned about. I think
Miss Tonio has done an outstanding job negotiating with the union and when they're not happy, they you know, they know how to make their voices heard. And you would have heard from them if they weren't and so I think all parties are happy with the contract, and I'm hoping that it goes into effect.
All right, thank you very much, Mr. Lauryn Hill. Thank you. Van. Let's move on to our closed session.
We have Mr. Chair there to close sessions. There under different sections of the Open Meetings Act. So we will need to have each resolution read separately. And for the public at large everyone on the meeting. There are no action items after these closed sessions, or we will not be coming back and come back just to adjourn, but nothing to vote on
right now. And let's begin with closed session a 22 09 to six commissioners. May I hear a motion
Mr. Chair upon request of Chief General Counsel Deborah posh beach, the Board of Water moved that the Board of Water commissioners for water and sewage department by a formative affirmative roll call vote of two thirds of the board members appointed in serving hereby resolved to meet in closed session pursuant to section eight A of the Michigan Open Meetings Act and pursuant to requests for closed session from the individuals involved.
All right, is there support support? All right. Let's have a roll call.
Sir, yes, Vice Chair black Yes. Commissioner Coleman.
Yes.
Commissioner Davis? Yes.
Mr. Davis? Yes, yes, yes.
Commissioner Garcia. Yes. Mission a Cadillac? Yes. Commissioner 14 Yes.
All right. That is approved. Next. Can we get a motion on Item B? 22 0927927. Mr. Chair? Yes, Commissioner can line
Yes, I move that upon the request of Chief General Counsel Deborah possibilies, Esquire. That the Board of Water Commission for the city Detroit water and sewage department by an affirmative roll call vote of two thirds of the board members appointed in serving hereby resolves to meet in closed session pursuant to section eight, eight H of the Michigan Open Meetings Act and sections 13 Why have the Freedom of Information Act to hear information of measures this is designed to protect the security and safety of persons?
All right, is there support but and may we have a roll call?
Chairman Houser. Yes. Vice Chair black Yes. Commissioner Coleman. Yes.
All right. May we thank and excuse people who are not part of the closed meeting and as was indicated before, there'll be no other public business for the commission when we come out other than the move to adjourn.
Thank you. This is it. Please give us a few moments. If you are an attendee in attendance, Please exit the meeting. We will manually remove you. If you are a panelist and you are not a part of the closed session. Please remove yourself from meeting in the meeting. One moment
it Jacob and Nikki can stay in the meeting and Esther curry is going to come down in person
getting severe was sick Are you still
you're still logged on?
Oh yeah. Okay. Nobody
Which one do you want to handle first? Are we ready? I want Gary to be here. I'm sure he's
