Board of Water Commissioners — Committee Meetings, 6/4/2025

    6:37PM Jun 4, 2025

    Speakers:

    Keywords:

    Payment plan

    easy pay

    customer service

    water shut offs

    lifeline program

    digital divide

    hiring freeze

    customer satisfaction

    arrearages

    Detroit residents

    recruitment efforts

    data classification

    artificial intelligence

    machine learning

    IT policies.

    Madam Chair, it's One o'clock. I'm

    okay, I show it's one o'clock.

    Are we ready to start? It looks like we are. We'll go ahead and call to order the Finance Committee of the Detroit water and sewer department for Wednesday, June 4, may we have a roll call please. Chairperson forte, present, Commissioner Coleman, present. Commissioner einhauser is absent. Madam Chair,

    we have a quorum.

    Thank you. First item, approve, approval of the agenda. Is there a motion? So moved Madam Chair, thank you. I support that. All in favor. Signify by saying aye, aye, that motion is approved. Can we get a motion to approve the meeting minutes of May 7? So

    moved Madam Chair, as presented from May 7, 2025

    Thank you, and I support that All in favor, signify by saying, aye, aye, aye, that motion is approved, we'll now move into public participation.

    Madam Chair, this is Brian PA, public affairs director and I will give the public comment instructions to make a comment, please raise your hand by using the raise hand icon on your desktop or mobile device using the zoom app. If you are calling into the meeting by phone, press star nine to raise your hand during public comment. After your name is called, you will be given 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 on the Zoom app or star six if you are calling in at the beginning of your comment. Starting today, we are asking if you please share your full name and the community or the neighborhood you live work in or are representing. The timer will start after your introduction. You will have a limit of three minutes to make your comment. If you make a comment, and in order for DWSD staff to follow up with you, we kindly request you complete the comment card link located with the Board of Water commissioners meeting event posted on the DWSD website, which is at Detroit mi.gov forward slash DWSD, you will only be called upon once. 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 committee meeting. And Madam Chair, we do have Mr. Miko Williams, hands raised,

    thank you, Mr. Willis, Mr. Williams, you have the floor. You

    Mr. Williams, can you hear me? You have, we have you up and up next, and you have the floor. You

    Mr. Williams, if you're speaking, you may be on mute. If you could unmute, we'll be able to hear you, but at this

    well, you know, we'll go on and then we'll come back to Mr. Williams.

    Thank you, Madam Chair. He is the only person with a hand raised

    Okay, when he comes in is able to join us. We will come back to him. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on down the agenda and the next item on the agenda, I believe, is communications, if we can have an agenda reflected back. Thank you. That's item, 2520 25 110, and we have some correspondence that if there's a motion to receive and file, we can take action, sir motion.

    Is there a motion to receive and file a correspondence?

    Madam Chair, my apologies. I'd like to make a motion to receive receipt of correspondence of 2025, tac, 110,

    thank you. And I support the motion. All in favor. Signify by saying, aye, Aye. Any

    opposed, that motion is approved.

    Item Seven is unfinished business. We have none. We'll move directly to Item eight. New Business, and the first item we have is item 2025. Dash 111

    Madam Chair, yes. Commissioner Coleman,

    I'd like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department to authorize directors to approve amendment number three for DSW, same source warranty replacement program, open way Riva AMI implementation by adding $2 million in funding for a total amended contract, amount not to exceed $20,762,500 no change to the scope of work or terms and conditions of this contract, they also authorized directors to take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this loan.

    Thank you. I support that, and I'd like to ask Miss Welch to provide us with some context.

    Good afternoon order, water commissioners. This is a $2 million amendment just to add additional equipment and hardware to support the Itron meter replacement program. This amendment will assure that there are no interruptions in the maintenance provided by our meter Operations Group. The 2 million is based on a forecast span for the next four years out of the CIP funding and procurement is recommending to the board or finance at This time for approval and movement to full board. You

    maybe the chair had to sign off for a minute. Okay, unfortunately, we can't. I can't vote on it until she, oh, there she,

    thank you. I did hear you. So

    we will go ahead, and

    if there are no additional questions, is there all those in favor? Signify by saying, aye, aye, Aye. Any opposed, the motion is approved. We'll go on to 2025, dash, one, 112, I'll give your voice a rest Commissioner. Coleman, I'll take this one. The Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewerage department authorizes, I move that the Board of Water commissioners recommend to the board, full board to authorize the director to approve amendment number two to DWSD contract 60043, 88 with Johnson Controls Inc to continue providing HVAC equipment, parts, repairs and preventative maintenance services utilizing a source well in JPA cooperative agreement number 07012 1j, HN, by adding a million dollars for an amended total contract, amount not to exceed $5,961,508 and extending the term for an additional 13 months And 12 days for a new term ending 812, 26,

    support. Moved and supported. Miss Welch,

    you're on mute. Miss Welch,

    this My apologies. This contract amendment is to add time and funding to align with the current source world cooperative agreement that DWSD currently has in place. This contract supports our facilities group with daily maintenance of all of our HVAC equipment within all five DWSD locations. CSF alone has about 160 units, and many are more than 35 years old. And so this contract allows us to continue to provide routine maintenance and services on a daily basis to keep that equipment operational and functioning in a safety healthy manner. DWSD procurement is recommending to the Finance Committee to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you. Questions or comments,

    hearing none all in favor. Signify by saying, aye. Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved. We'll move to 2025. Dash 113,

    Madam Chair,

    Commissioner Coleman,

    I'd like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorized directors to approve amendment for an as needed Accounts Payable support service. NO EXCUSE ME approve amendment number two for DWSD contract number 6006449, PS type 1785, with Mildred Morris for as needed, accounts payable, support service by adding $10,000 for a new total amount of the contract, not to exceed $60,000 by adding four months for a new expiration date of 1031, 25 this also authorizes directors to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,

    I support that motion. Miss Welch, yes,

    this is a contract amendment. This contract supports our finance group. It is a personal service contract which the threshold for the internal department is 50,000 and because they're amending it to ensure that all invoices can be paid through the duration of it. It is coming before the board for your approval. There is no change to the scope of work or contract, but this individual will be working, I believe, through August of September of this year, and they want to make sure that all of the invoices are able to be submitted and paid out for the term. So the contract before you is just to amend it by adding 10,000 to the current contract in an additional four months for a new expiration date.

    Thank you. Are there any questions?

    Hearing? None. All in favor. Signify by saying, aye, aye,

    Aye. Any opposed, that motion is approved. We'll move to item D, 2025, dash, 114,

    and I would make a motion that the

    that the Finance Committee recommend to the entire Board of Water commissioners for City of Detroit water and sewage department to authorize the director to approve a contract. 6007192, with city insight LLC for hardware, software development, configuration up and upgrade to software as a service. SAS, for the customer portal. CS, 1999 for total contract amount not to exceed $820,000

    and a term of three years.

    Support been moved and supported ms Welsh,

    yes, this is a single, sole source contract for hardware, software development and configuration upgrades to DWSD SAS Customer Portal. This new contract was negotiated to provide a cost savings to DWSD, opposed to doing a contract amendment, the new upgrades will allow DW SDS customers to communicate and collaborate within the organization and access applicable information. In one view, these services will not replace the current channels like email, chat or phone but it will reduce some of the influx of calls that come into our customer services department. It will allow them to chat, have real pull down real time reports, auto pay options and other features with the upgrade again, this contract is a sole source city insight is dw, SDS, customer engagement solution that is critical, a critical Avenue to the increase of revenue and improve the operations and customer service numbers and so DWSD procurement is presenting it to the Finance Committee to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you. Are there any questions?

    Hearing none all in favor of the motion. Signify by saying Aye, Aye.

    Any opposed that motion is approved.

    Okay, we're moving to item E, 2025,

    Dash 115,

    Madam Chair, thank you, Mr. Coleman. Commissioner Coleman,

    I'd like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorizes the directors to approve dw, SD, contract number 6007141, with LGC global, Incorporated for Sewer Cleaning, investigation and inspection and maintenance services, or total contract amount not to exceed $4.5 million in a term of three years. This also authorizes directors to take such as the actions that may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,

    I support the motion. Miss Welch, yes, yes, this contract is for sewer cleaning and maintenance services. It the contract will support our Field Operations Group. This contract is necessary to supplement DWS, ds internal resources with qualified and licensed contractors who will provide specialized Sewer Cleaning and inspection services on an as needed basis. DW SD has a goal to clean approximately 600 miles of sewer piping, and this contract provides both people and equipment that assists DW SD in reaching that goal. Bids were advertised for this contract for 32 days. We did receive two bids, and of the two bids, LGC was the lowest bidder. So we're recommending the contract to award to the Finance Committee and movement to full board. Uh, LGC is a Detroit certified business and as well as a Detroit headquarter business, and so we procurement and the Department of operations is recommending to the Finance Committee today.

    Uh, thank you, Miss Welch for that report. Are there any other questions on this particular contract? Hearing? None. All in favor. Signify by saying, aye, aye, Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved, and we'll move on to item 2025. 1162, one, six, and I will move that the Finance Committee recommend to the entire Board of Water commissioners for City of Detroit water and sewerage department to authorize the director to approve contract DWSD, contract 600, 7147 with universal contracting services for as needed, traffic control services for total contract amount not to exceed $1.8 million and a term of two years. This also authorizes director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote. Support for the motion, support. Thank you. It's been moved and supported. Miss Welch,

    yes. This contract also supports our field operations group with traffic control services during construction projects that intersect with public roadways and pedestrian pathways. Some objectives for this project include compliance with local and state guidelines safety of pedestrian and vehicles, and coordinating with other authorities such as MDOT Wayne, county and city of Detroit for ground repairs. These were published on MIT. And for 24 days, we received two bids, and universal contracting was the lowest equalized bidder. Universal contractors also Creole certified. They hold a certification as a Detroit headquarter business as well as a Detroit based business and procurement is recommending to the Finance Committee at this time to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you. Questions or comments,

    hearing, none all in favor of the motion. Signify by saying, aye, aye. Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved, and we'll move on to item g20, 25 dash, 118,

    Madam Chair Commissioner, I'd

    like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department, authorizing directors to approve DWSD contract number 6007182, with Bob Maxey Lincoln and DWSD contract number 6007183, with dealer auto parts sales or Ford slash motor crab parts for a total combined contract amount not to exceed $144,091.05 for a term of two years. This also authorized directors to take other act, other actions, as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,

    I support the motion.

    Miss. Welch, yeah, this is just a warehouse. One of the many warehouse replenishment contracts. This one supports our automotive fleet garage. It provides Motorcraft parts and four parts on an as needed basis when vehicle repairs are being done in the automotive garage. We did advertise bids for 21 days. We received three bids, and we are recommending awarding to the two lowest bidders per line item to ensure that there is no shortage of parts when they're being requested. So DWSD procurement is recommended to finance to move forward.

    Thank you, questions or comments, hearing none all in favor. Signify by saying, aye, aye. Aye. Any opposed, a motion is approved, and we'll move on to Item H, 2525 dash 119, and on behalf of the finance committee, I would move to move forward to the full Board of Water commissioners, a motion to approve the director to approve DWSD contract, 6007197, with human filers LLC to deliver service interruption notices, door hangers and provide services to support survey programs for DW st customers, or total contract amount not to exceed $400,000 and a term of three years. This also authorizes director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote support been moved and supported Miss Welsh, yes,

    this contract supports dw, SDS collections and revenue protection divisions by providing service interruption door hangers directly to the property or various site locations. They also provide updates for homes that are vacant, occupied and or abandoned for the purpose of assisting DWSD in updating data and collection efforts. Our revenue protection team reports have shown that 41% of customers with delinquent accounts resolve their balances and avoid interruptions as a result of these door hangers that go out. This contract was advertised for 21 days, we received six responses, and human flyers was the lowest equalized bidder. So today, procurement is recommending this contract to the Finance Committee, with the recommendation to the full board.

    Thank you. Questions or comments, hearing none all in favor. Signify by saying, aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved. We'll move on to item 2025, 120,

    Madam Chair Commissioner, I'd

    like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorized directors to approve DWSD contract. 6007199, with corn main LP for 20 foot ductile iron pipe of various sizes for a total contract amount not to exceed 213 1000s, $348 in a term of one year. Board of Water Commissioner also authorizes directors to take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.

    Thank you. I support that motion. Miss Welch, yes,

    this is another warehouse replenishment item used to support the Field Operations Division for as needed repairs that require ductile piping frequently. It is used to repair water main breaks and or when replacing old piping. Would be a published bids. For 21 days, we received three responses, and poor Maine was the lowest responsive bidder. Procurement is recommending at this time for full award.

    Thank you. Any questions,

    hearing, none all in favor of the motion. Signify by saying, aye, Aye. Any opposed, that motion is approved. And we'll move on to item 2025, Dash 121, and I will move that the Board of water that the Finance Committee recommend to the Board of Water commissioners for City of Detroit water and sewage department authorized director to approve DWSD contract 6007206, with true pant in the penny Inc For Brita Tahoe, Pacifica water pitchers and Britta elite filters our total amount not to exceed $257,600

    and a term of two years.

    The Board of Water Commissioner also authorized director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote. Important. Removed and supported. Miss Welch,

    good afternoon again. This is another warehouse replenishment item. It provides, as needed, supply of water pitchers and filters. DWSD does provide those pictures and filters to residents whose water lines are being repaired, replaced or serviced in an emergency to ensure that customers have access to contaminant free water. DWSD procurement advertised bids for 21 days. We received three bids, and true panty Inc was the lowest responsive bidder, and we're recommending to the Finance Committee today for approval and moving into full board. There's, there was not a preference here, but they did have to meet certain specifications to make sure that they were safe.

    Thank you. Thank you for addressing the question we had from Commissioner Blackman, okay, um, any other questions. Hearing none all in favor. Signify by saying, aye, aye. Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved. I will move on to item K, 2025 dash 122,

    Madam Chair, Commissioner Coleman, I'd like to

    make a recommendation to the board. Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorized directors to approve DWSD contract number 6007207, with sahe Computer Products Incorporated to piggyback off the city of Detroit contract number 6006128, for the purchase of computer printers, auxiliary and auxiliary equipment, with total contract amount not to exceed $120,000 and a term of one year. This also authorizes directors to take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,

    I support the motion.

    Miss Welch this

    contract supports dw, SDS. It division with providing new replacement printers throughout the department. This is contract is being requested for all of our age. It hardware where parts and services have become obsolete. This is a piggyback contract from the city of Detroit, which was advertised for proposals. It was approved by city council on May 21 2024 we did contact the vendor, and the vendor agree that the services that they will provide for us will not impact the services they currently provide for the city of Detroit. They've also agreed to all of the pricing and terms and conditions of the City of Detroit's contract. They were the highest ranked of seven proposals and procurement is recommended to the Finance Committee today to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you. Miss Welch. Any questions or comments Hearing none all in favor of the motion. Signify by saying, aye, Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved, and we'll now move on to item 2025, dash, 123, and I move that the Finance Committee recommend to the full Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewerage department to authorize the Director to approve DWSD contract. 6007210, with special multi Services, Inc, to provide community outreach and canvassing services for a total contract amount not to exceed $650,000 and a term of three years plus one year renewal option. This also authorizes director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.

    There's support for the motion support. Thank you. It's been moved and supported. Miss Welch,

    yes, this contract will support our public affairs team with various outreach and canvassing services staff provided under this contract, aid and door to door canvassing and advanced outreach notifications which inform and educate the city of Detroit residents of new programs and projects, for example, when we're out in the areas doing lead service line replacements, or when the I try replacement program reaches that community. This contract was advertised for bid for 21 days, we received five responses and special multi services. Inc was the lowest bidder. They are a Detroit headquarter, Detroit based in a Detroit small business who also hold a minority business enterprise certification as well. DWSD procurement is recommended to the Finance Committee today to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you. Other questions or comments,

    hearing none all in favor of the motion. Signify by saying, aye, aye, Aye. Any opposed that motion is approved. So we'll move on now to item 2025, Dash 124,

    Madam Chair Commissioner Coleman,

    I'd like to make a recommendation to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit. Water and sewer department authorized directors to approve DWSD contract 60072126007212,

    for Project ws tax, 740, with major contracting group and guyan company, a joint venture for water systems improvement for a total contract amount not to exceed $26,974,000 on a term of two years. This also authorizes directors to take such an action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,

    I support the motion and Miss Welch, yes,

    this is one of the wsds contracts which provides water system improvements. This particular work will service the East Jefferson Avenue area from Water Works park all the way down to Archer road and a few other select locations. The work that will be performed under this contract is the replacement or rehabilitation of approximately 29,000 linear, linear feet of water main and approximately 328 list service lines. This is one of the continuing series of contracts that replaces old water mains that have had an extensive history of breaks and leaks. DWSD procurement did advertise for beers for 35 days. We received two bids. No bid statements were sent. We received one response from a vendor indicating that they did not bid because they felt more comfortable with projects that were in the range of five to $12 million both bids received from major contracting and LGC were as joint ventures, and major in Gallego was the lowest equalized bidder. Both hold Detroit based and Detroit headquarter business certifications. And in addition, guyaga is also a small business, small certified Detroit business, and a Detroit resident based business procurement at this time is recommending to the full to finance to move to full board for approval.

    Thank you very much. Questions or comments,

    hearing none all in favor of this motion, signify by saying aye and aye, any opposed that motion is approved, and thank you, Commissioner Blackman For your comment regarding the helpfulness of this explanation.

    Okay, we'll move on to item 2025

    which is the review of the march 2025

    monthly statements. And I'm going to turn it over to our CFO. Mr. Rahman,

    yeah. Thank you. Madam Chair, good afternoon. Commissioners, good afternoon. Madam Chair, again, is to go around CFO, DWSD, today I'll be presenting the financial highlights for the month of March 2025, since this is a quarter ending, this is the third quarter ending as of March 31 it will include certain additional slides compared to our normal presentation, monthly presentation. So the first slide here is on our cash and investment position. We would start with that for the month ending March 31 we continue to maintain gas reserves to support our operating as well as our capital needs on a system wide basis. As of March 31 cash and investments in the operating fund, the improvement and extension fund that we call ine, the trust accounts with GL, W, A and the construction accounts funded by bonds amounted to $282.8

    million 123.9

    of that 280 2.8 is in our water fund, and $158.9 million in the sewer fund. On an overall basis, this represents a decrease of $6.1 million when we compare it to our February balance. Decrease is mainly due to decrease in any cash of a million dollars. There was a decrease of two and a half million dollars in the construction fund and two and a half million dollars in trust accounts. I'll go through those little later. Water operating cash stood at $11.6 million slight decrease from the previous month. However, this balance represents our three months working capital needs for operating expenses, which is approximately $4 million a month in the sewer fund, we had $25.9 million again, a very slight increase from February's balance. This balance exceeds our three months working capital needs. Three per monthly capital needs. I'm sorry, per monthly operating needs is $5 million so this is in excess of that requirement. Since June is June, year end is coming, we are going to do a reconciliation of all our cash accounts and then determine what balance we want to keep in these accounts, starting with the new fiscal year. The next slide is just summarizing our position in their improvement and extension fund. Again, we use our improvement and extension fund to fund our pay as you go. Capital needs water, I need cash. Had 18 and a half million dollars as of March end, a decrease of $1.6 million the variance is because of disbursements we make for our capital projects, and it's net of reimbursements we receive from the funding sources. And also it has a little component of investment income. The sewer balance was $47.7 million

    an increase of 600,000

    this variance is again net of disbursements for capital projects, as well as reimbursements from the funding sources and a very small component of investment income.

    The next slide is construction cash. We had 64 and a half, almost 64 and a half million dollars in the water construction fund. It's represents a decrease of $2.2 million from February, and it's all because of disbursements we make for capital projects. Same story with the sewer construction, a decrease of roughly 300,000 to 1000, with the balance at $43.9 million again due to disbursements for various capital projects. In our cash held in trust, the account that GL, W, a holds for us in trust, we had $29.5 million in the water fund, representing a decrease of $1.3 million the decrease kind of coincides with the shortage that we had for the month of March. We collected $8.9 million we should technically be collecting $10.2 million that's our target to cover our operating expenses. So we were $1.3 million short in the water fund, in the sewer fund, we had $41.4 million and the collection for the month of March, even in sewer, fell short by $1.2 million over the over the February balance, we had $23.9 million collected. In March, and our target collection for on a monthly basis is 25 point

    moving on

    to the next slide. This is a quarterly slide, and it just informational in the sense like we present to you every quarter a summary of our gas position by Fund and by quarter. All of these numbers will agree with the individual fund accounts. The next slide is also a quarterly report, and this is by financial institutions. These are the financial institution on your left, and these are the balances over different quarters, as you can see when you look at the investments, so more than 70% of our cash and investments are in government. This is because it's a slightly longer investment vehicle compared to just cash and bank. The reason we have such a high percentage in government is because of it yields a higher return, but at the same time it offers liquidity. So in case there's a business need, we can break that and we can convert that into cash in hand at any point in time. That certainly gives us a higher yield compared to just

    plain cash in hand balance in the bank.

    The next slide here is just a graphical representation of our cash and cash investments and inter fund balances over the last 12 months. This is again a quarterly report to you, just summarizing how we are trending in terms of our overall cash and interfund balances, generally showing a positive trend, starting with the fiscal year 2025 reflecting positive budgetary results. The red line here on top is just holding steady over the last several months, especially with the beginning of fiscal year 2025 at the end of March, we had $42.2 million it represents a $5.6 million decrease compared to March of 24 then the decrease is mainly due to payment we made to the city of Detroit in June 24 for an inventory module that we acquired through the city of Detroit. And then it's also offset by some money we received for on tax roll. So $8 million we paid to the city for this inventory module was slightly offset by $1.5 million we collected for tax roll

    in the water. Excuse

    me, could you refresh my memory on the inventory module? What? What is that?

    So it's a new module. We used to have an all outdated module before, which was very cumbersome and wasn't giving us the reports that we needed. It was very complicated, so we decided to upgrade it to a newer model that gives us, you know, up to point, up to date information as we go through our inventory, ins and outs. Thank you. Upgrade was due for a while, but we had a contract or an arrangement with GL W way we couldn't get out of it sooner, but as soon as we got a chance, we took it and upgraded Thank you. The next slide is similar to the water fund, but this is for the sewer fund. Again, a quarterly report on cash and interfund balances. As you see the line the red line is holding very steady, starting with July of 2024 so a positive trend for fiscal year 2025 reflecting some positive budgetary results. On a year to date basis, for the whole year, we had $66.3 million represents an increase of $8.9 million over past year. The increase is solely due to our collection on tax roll, we collected more than $10 million

    at that point in time,

    which was July of

    24 then we move

    on to our accounts receivable, we had a sale of $40.7 million a slight increase of 1.2% when you compare it to February sales receivables, though, of $320.6 million for all active accounts, meaning for All customer classes, increased by $8 million which represents 2.6% increase over February. More than 50% of this increase can be attributed to active residential accounts, which, by itself, increased by 4.4% roughly 2% over February's balance. In March, we collected $33.3 million on an overall basis, which was kind of consistent with the February collection of almost $33 million allowance for doubtful accounts, again, stood at 76% of our total accounts receivable balance, which includes our tax roll transfers. This percentage is consistent with February is balance and over several months in the past, extreme, if we exclude the tax roll, our allowance accounts for 80% for total receivable balance. We continue to monitor our receivables very closely and keep making allowances for anything that we have we consider doubtful of collection. We will make major adjustments to our allowance at June and again, taking the whole picture into account, we probably will

    adjust our allowance accordingly.

    Next slide is, once again, a core a slide that we present to you on a quarterly basis. This is breaking down our receivables by age, but starting with zero to 30 days and all the way over one year, 156 or 150 7 million, which represents 48.8% of our total active receivable balance is over one year past due, representing a 77% of this increase in only relates to residential accounts, but If you consider the subset of residents in class alone, more than 54% of active receivables are one year past due. This percentage was 52% last year, so slight increase when you compare it to the last quarter. Generally speaking, uncollected accounts receivable are carried for five years until the statutory lien expires. Again, we will take a very close look at our agent of receivables, and we make appropriate write offs or allowances as we approach the year end. And the final slide on receivable is this is a collection history over three months. It's a three month moving average for collection trend. If you look at residential collection rate for the last three months have averaged 78.9% which is an improvement from February, which withstood at 77.5% March alone, our collection stood at 77.5%

    a slight increase compared to February, 73.4%

    but was down about from 86.1% in January. For commercial and industrial we continue to do well our commercial three month rolling average of 80 89.9% which kind of reflects an increase from 86.6%

    in February.

    When you take it on a three month average basis, once again, Marx's collection stood at 90.6% certainly a big improvement from our February collection of 81% but when you compare it to January, it's slightly down from 98

    industrial averages about 107%

    slightly down from one of 8.1% in February, but strictly marches collection stood at 95 7% which is extremely positive news when it comes to the industrial collection drainage, only the three month average stood at 77.8% an increase from 72.6% in February, March. We had a good collection month for drainage only at 86.1%

    this improvement over February 73.9%

    the increase in percentages, mainly because we had a good collection a month for March and drainage accounts. Specifically, especially, we had a 400,000 collected from one client in March alone, residential and drainage on an overall basis, continue to be a concern. We are trying our level best to increase the collection rate on those two components of receivables. We do expect the rate to be in the mid to high 80s for both these classes of receivables, March's combined collection rate, when you take all the customer classes together, it's 82.7% for all our active accounts down was lower than February's combined collection rate of 86.7 on a three month basis, though it's very steady, we have 86% in February. We stayed at 85.5

    in March,

    switching gears to our matrix and revenues. As you can see in the graphs, we have shown positive results when we compare our actual volume as well as our revenues when compared to the budget, the gray bar is the budget and the blue bar is the actual performance. For some reason, March seems to be a high volume month. Even in March 2024

    our volume exceeded budget by 12.9%

    this year, it exceeded by 11.7%

    although marches volume was high on a year to date basis, actual water volume was 0.3% over seasonally adjust over seasonally adjusted budget. Same thing for the revenue side. March seems to be a high revenue generation month.

    We exceeded the budget by 14.2%

    when we look back at March of 2024 even then, the March somehow had a higher revenue month compared to the budget. In 24 we get 16.2% increase over budget on a year to date basis. Although March revenues were high, actual commodity revenues was kind of within very reasonable range, 2.3% above the budget. Next slide is on our survey charge matrix and revenue. Look at the graphs, you'll see it's very consistent with what our projections were on a year to date basis, even both for meter equivalents as well as for Water Survey charges, we are just over 3.3 around 3% over budget, which is kind of very consistent.

    Moving on to the sewer side,

    very similar story. The water March

    volume as well as revenue, seems to be higher than the other months, and it's certainly higher than the projection we made at the beginning of the fiscal year. We went back and looked at March's volume and revenues of 2024 and it's very consistent. Seems like March is a month where we have exceeded budget by double digits, both in 24 as well as 25 and that's true for both the volume as well as the revenue side. On a year to date basis, again, although March is high year to date, we stood around 2% for the volume under budget and then 1.5%

    under budget for the revenues.

    So our matrix survey charts, matrix and revenues for the sewer consistent, again, all of these charts are showing positive volume variance as well as revenue variance, we stood around 4% in excess of the budget, both for the sewer meter counts as well as for the sewer survey charge revenues. So that's positive trend. We'd like to continue that trend for the rest of the fiscal year,

    for the drainage charges,

    our BIA, which is the bill of billable impervious acres, exceeded the budget by 0.3% is point 1% higher than February, and kind of consistently that way over the last few months. On a year to date basis, our BIA was negligibly higher over the budget, 0.1% in terms of the charge revenues. We fell short of the budget for the month, point 7% on a year to date basis, we have 4% under budget, and this is mainly due to drop in BIA, which is the impervious acres count over time, as well as additional residential and green credits that we offer our customers. So again, my hope is that number would equate or approximate the budget as we approach the fiscal year end, few additional slides here for the quarter ending. And I This is a summary of our lifeline plan as of March 31 every quarter I give you an update on the lifeline financials. This is as of March 31 2025, if you look at the chart here, we have forgiven $48 million to our customers who qualified to be to be participating in the lifeline plan. Against that $48 million we've collected 18 and a half million dollars from various governmental programs like live walk. We also made some adjustments for for certain accounts which were ineligible for reimbursement by the Federal and State granting authorities. That left us about $20.8 million outstanding for the for the receivables that we have forgiven. The second part is the gap areas, which means the difference between what the customer owes based on normal billing versus the lifeline thresholds of $18 and the three different $18 $43.50 $6 so this is the gap that we hoped and expected to collect from either rap dollars or from other funding sources. Rap covered about $4.8 million out of the $25 million so we were left with $20.6 million on an overall basis for this program or this plan. As of March 31, 2025, we are 41 point 4 million, $5 million in the red. We have not this is the amount outstanding, although we are still working out on a reconciliation with Wayne Metro, that number might come down as we receive some additional funding. And we have, in fact, received additional funding subsequent on March 31 so that number will change as I present to you the next quarter, hopefully it'll have a more positive visual. The bottom part of that is number of outstanding accounts for the lifelines customers. We had 7400 customer accounts that owed us $1.9 million out of that 2500 customers are over 60 days old, and they owe us little over $1 million so we had 8000 135 participants as of March. It's kind of way lower than what we started off in the beginning of the fiscal year. Just a summary here. Our total cost is $73.5 million we collected 23.3

    leaving us that exposure

    as of now. So the $73.5 million is made out of the 48 million in arrears and and then the rest in gap. We collected 18.5 in arrears and 4.8 and gap.

    And here's just a summary. This is, this is a new slide, again. I probably will be presenting this to you on a quarterly basis. This is our new easy Pay Plan. This is the status as of March 31 2025, total number of participants in this easy pay we have 24,645

    participants. There

    are 10,400 participants, 450 participants who broke the plan, meaning they either didn't pay and didn't honor the promise or the agreement. 2223

    participants paid off the balances in full,

    and people who stayed enrolled in the program of 11,009 72 from $1 perspective, total collection since inception, which was August of 2024 we collected more than $20 million this represents both collection towards barriers as well as the current bills. If you look at the collection towards areas alone, we collected $5.2 million just keep in mind, this is as of March 31 2025 we have come, we have leap forward. And our total collection towards careers as of May is over $7 million we also had as of May and just FYI, more than 30,000 participants, which exceeded our goal. We had set our goal for this fiscal year to have 30,000 participants in the easy pay we exceeded that goal by the end of May, which means we have more than 30,000 customers in the easy pay plan. And also we collected more than $7,000,000.60 7% of the folks who are in that plane are still in there, so they are active making payments on both areas, as well as current bill

    and

    last run. Here talk about the Budget to Actual once again, quarterly report. Year to date, commodity revenues were 3.6 million or 4.6% over budget on a seasonally adjusted basis. If you look at slide, 13 revenues were 2.3% over budget. The variance, again, is due to seasonality. The bottom part is the sewer here, drainage charge revenue fell short of the budget. As I mentioned before, it's mainly because of residential and green credits. Other GL, W, a reimbursements fell short of the budget due to actually required contributions, as determined by the actuarial firm, were lower than what we anticipated at the time we set the budget. Please keep in mind we are only explaining variances here in excess of a million dollars.

    The next slide

    is on comparison of our expenses Budget to Actual you'll note here that there's some savings in salaries and wages 13.8% below budget, because we had 63 vacancies at that point in time. Similarly associated employee benefits at 14.9% under budget. Now I want to remind you that the variances will continue because because of the flooding in the southwest part of Detroit, we immediately put a hiring freeze in February, so all of the 63 vacancies that we had at that point in time were put on hold. So all the savings that you see here are not really savings, because we're going to have to work on our on our Southwest Detroit flooding expense summary that the team is working on reconciling, and all of these savings will be used towards paying the paying the Southwest Detroit expenses. Moving on, finally, to the last slide. Here is again, differences between Budget to Actual in terms of expenditures. This is just broken down by appropriation rather than natural classification of expenses. Same story here. We had other variances here, but mostly related to vacancies and personnel and employee benefits associated with those vacancies, and I wouldn't call them savings yet, because although we had hiring freeze, all that money on the funds will be utilized towards funding our expenses for the for the unexpected flooding event that happened in southwest Detroit in February.

    That kind of completes my presentation.

    I can happy to answer any questions.

    Thank you so much. Very comprehensive presentation. Are there questions? No, okay, hearing none. I'll ask Mr. Kerr about the planning calendar. We're on track.

    We're on track. No changes. Madam Chair, Okay,

    wonderful. Well, I will advise that our next meeting is scheduled for July. Well, first of all, are there any other matters to come before this committee?

    Madam Chair, we said we would circle back up public comment.

    Yes,

    we apologize there was an IT issue earlier. So Mr. Damico Williams, Madam

    Chair, excuse me, we

    have to recess and open up the CIPO meeting first. Okay,

    like to recess the meeting to the call the chair.

    Time now is 201, I'd like to call capital improvement program and Operations Committee to order please

    chair person Coleman, present,

    Commissioner Davis, present Detroit, Michigan

    Commissioner Kinloch,

    President Detroit, Michigan.

    Mister Chair, we have a quorum. Thank

    you. At this time, I'd like to ask for a motion to approve the agenda as presented.

    Mister Chair, we have to recess and go back to the finance meeting first. Okay.

    At this time, I'd like to call for a recess and refer back to Madam Chair of the Finance Committee, Commissioner for today, thank you.

    Thank you. And we had a public comment that we're going to take because we had an IT issue. Thanks, Brian.

    Thank you, Madam Chair, Mr. Damico Williams,

    Mr. Williams, you have the floor.

    There we are. Hi. Good afternoon. Commissioners. Damico Williams, Chief Executive Director hydrate Detroit, we provide help to city of Detroit residents with advocacy on their water bills and to prevent water shut offs and illegal disconnections. So I had a question for this committee in regards to the raising of the drainage fee. Again, why do we even have a drainage fee when other communities do not other communities do not have a drainage fee sub charge. Detroit is the only one that has instituted a drainage fee, sub charge, and it is costing residents a lot of money that we can't afford on our water bills. And I just want a valid answer as to why Detroit has a drainage fee, and other communities within the GL, W, a do not have a drainage fee. Is the drainage fee instituted on other communities water bills. This is crazy, because we don't have the money, you know, to pay, and it's causing people's water bills to go up exponentially since 2015 Are you going to tell me about that Stantec study? I read that study, that study does not justify about drainage fees, you know. And I also had another concern after listening to this meeting in regards to the contracts the human flyers have not given a presentation or justification of why they should be a provider. We have not seen their work. I know the other organization we, the people of Detroit, have inquired about the months ago, who were the other bidders of that contract to do public relations for the Detroit water and sewage department to deliver the service interruption collections, we need to see them do a presentation or submit a slide. And also, you know, the outreach of the easy pay program is not getting to the residents. Hopefully we can get that fixed.

    I had other comments in regards to the

    guards to Mr. Robin's budget presentation. I will have to come back with this at another time, especially around the easy pay, because I am very disappointed at what I just heard, and again, this is the responsibility of the Detroit water and sewers department to ensure that we had good numbers. I mean, this is the this is great to have numbers, but it's not great to hear disappointing news that people still owe $20 million as Trump for the money. Thank you for taking my comment. Have a great day. Madam Chair,

    yes, just two quick points. First, regarding easy pay and thank Thank you, Mr. Williams, for always. You know, being a friend to dw and advocating for for Detroiters, but just two quick points. One, we have 30,000 households in easy pay. That's just less than 100,000 Detroit residents. In those 30,000 households, we only have 600,000 people in the city of Detroit, so the 30,000 people in easy pay are protected from shut off and have a an affordable way to get caught up on their bills. So that program, as you will hear from customer service, is extremely successful. It's not perfect, but it's extremely successful. Number two, DWSD has always had a drainage charge. Always it was rolled into the sewage bill. Being transparent. We separated water, sewer and drainage so people see it separated on their bill. But there was always a drainage charge. Every sewer utility in this country pays for drainage in some form. Either they increase property taxes, either they charge property owners a separate charge, like we do for garbage, or they roll it into the water, sewer and drainage charge. But everyone has to find have a way of paying for drainage. So I don't want anyone to believe that the other utilities around us don't have a drainage charge. They do charge for drainage. A lot of them roll it right into property taxes. We already have one of the highest property taxes in the country. So I'm not sure I would ever advise that we roll the drainage charge into property, but I just wanted to, you know, make those two points. Thank you. Oh,

    Mr. Director, thank you so much for sharing that information with us. I think it enlightens us on the and I know that this topic will also customer service, there will be some additions. And I just want to point out, I to sit on the finance committee consider the easy pay program a success when you're talking about seven and a half million dollars of collections or arrears, the amount of people who don't have to face water, shut up and I'm talking that's just household so that, as you said, expands to people. That's 100,000 so I think that's protective to our community.

    Okay, are there

    other matters? Thank you, Brian for bringing to our attention. To come back to public comment. Our next Our next meeting is July the second, 2025, and I'll ask for a motion to adjourn,

    and I see so moved, Madam Chair. Thank

    you. It's been moved, and I support. We are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.

    So I'd like to reconvene the

    CIP committee at this time. Can we have a

    motion to approve the agenda as presented, please.

    So move Mr. Chair Ken lot support.

    It has been moved by Commissioner Kinloch and supported by Miss Henry. So all in favor. Please signify by saying aye, aye.

    Any abstentions,

    hearing, none the motion passes. How about a motion to approve the minutes from May 7, 2025,

    as presented. So move Mr.

    Chair. Thank you. Support. Moved

    and supported. All in favor. Please signify by saying, aye, aye. Aye. Any abstentions, any negatives hearing, none the minutes have been approved. At this time, I'd like to call for public participation. Is there anyone?

    Mr. Chair, Brian Peckinpah, Public Affairs Director here again, we just want to remind folks today that we did have one request of them to please share their full name if we don't already see your full name and the community or neighborhood you live or are representing, so that we can understand your context and make contact with you after the meeting. And we also ask that you through the chair, through Mister Chair, and that at this time, as we open public comment, that any one that wants to do public comment raise their hand now, so that we don't miss anybody, because we notice that some people raise their hand at the very end, and we do want to make sure we acknowledge everybody. So Mr. Chair, we do have Damico Williams next or first.

    Mr. Williams, how are you?

    Oh, hello. Hi. Good afternoon. D'Amico Williams, Chief Executive Director hydrate Detroit, for this committee, I want to pray among the commissioners that you all come back to the community. We miss you all. We would hope that you all would bring your formal meetings back to the community and you all can have a town hall listening tour. I think that'd be a great idea for you guys to get back in the community and to reach out in certain districts and neighborhoods that would like to come and meet with you. Not everybody has the money to come down to 735, Randolph and park, and especially with the construction happening around Greektown and around on Randolph. So please consider commissioners to do a listening town hall meeting so that residents can connect with you. For this subcommittee meeting, I want to bring about the rain, the rain. We've all seen the rain lately, and they're flooding Detroit streets, some catch basins and sewer drains have been, have not, have not been cleaned. And I need to know the schedule of when the vacuum hose cleaner truck is supposed to come around and clean out some of the catch basins and sewers so that we can have adequate drainage of the water that is building in our streets. We pay for that water, I'm pretty sure, as part of drainage charges. So there should be, I did say, and I keep saying that I'm going to do this, but I never have the time. The next time it rains, I'm going to go around different areas, and I'm going to record and I'm going to take pictures and send them to DWSD for work to be done. There's puddles, large puddles, on our streets, some of our surfaces. I can give you a few names at second, I'm sorry, uh, Cass and Hancock, it's a big puddle every time it rains. Never goes down. Um, I saw workers on the corner of Lafayette and Shane. Big puddle there. Also, there was a big puddle that's on I called in front of a neighbor's house and I reported that months ago. Didn't know if anybody got back to me on that one, and I will give the locations in an email to Sam Smalley to get those fixed, because I don't think that residents should be encountering going through big puddles of water, driving their cars or walking. Can you imagine being splashed waiting on the bus? That issue has to be fixed. Thank you so much for taking my comment. Have a great day.

    Thank you appreciate your comment, as always. Mr. Williams, is

    there anyone else? Mr. Chair, next we have Cecily McClellan,

    welcome. Thank

    you very much for taking our call. I'm director of water works with we the people of Detroit, and we advocate for clean, safe and affordable water. I would like to make a comment first on the drainage fee. I'm not sure whether it was calculated inside of the sewage fee before, but what I do know is that there was not a charge for vacant lots as well as unoccupied homes that did not have meters. And how it's being charged right now, in terms of surface, proper surface, or nuns proper surface, appears to have caused a dynamic increase in what is charged in terms of drainage fee. I have a few questions in terms of the April CIP report, and it indicates that 152 million would be allocated or spent on the replacement of lead lines. And for this fiscal year, 2425 26 39,026 2758 I mean 58 million. I meant to say 39 million. And for 2728 51 million, respectively, how many lead lines will be replaced during those years? And for the five year period that this report covers, it's a it's been projected that we got approximately 80,000 lines of this in this five year period. How many will be replaced, additionally, the American resource company that has been recommended by DWSD, that covers the water line coming in, as well as the sewer line going out

    that customers have

    have been rolled in. How will the lines that water lines being replaced, lead lines being replaced, be protected in terms of warranties by the city, and how will that impact on the contract that many Detroiters have with this particular American resource company? Thank you very much for your time, please. And I appreciate a response. Thank you. Thank you.

    Mr. Chair. I can comment on Mr. Mrs. McClellan's question regarding lead service lines in the American Water Resources warranty. Excuse, when we replace one

    moment, Brian, because we have to recess and open up the customer service meeting.

    Mr. Chair, we do Okay,

    please, this time I'd like to recess and yield the floor to customer service.

    Thank you very much. I'd like to call the customer service meeting to order at can't see the time right now, but close to 215

    Madam Chair, please call the roll. Chairperson, Blackman, President Detroit, Commissioner Garcia present. Commissioner forte, she is absent for this meeting. Miss Madam Chair, we do have a quorum. Thank

    you. We'll recess this meeting to the College of Chair, thank you.

    Please resume. Brian. Thank you, Mr. Chair, the American Water Resources Program, the warranty program, if we replace or when we replace a lead service line at a house and they're on their warranty program. We actually send them information to encourage them to not warranty their water service line, only their sewer line for one year, because DWSD is providing a one year warranty for lead service line replacement of the new copper line. So we do encourage folks to take that part out there expenses for the year, so we let them know that that's an option. Thank you, sir. And the next person is Narelle Hemphill, you

    I'm sorry. May I be hurt? Yes,

    yes, good afternoon. Good

    afternoon. My name is Norell Hemphill. I'm the Legal and Policy Manager at We the people of Detroit. And I just had a quick question regarding the water main break in southwest Detroit. I'm glad that we were able to take care of those residents so quickly. And I just had a question about the the source of those funds. Is there a special account, an emergency account that can be accessed when there is emergencies, such as the those, if not, where do those funds come from? And how are those funds usually utilized if there is an account, thank you. Thank you.

    Is there anyone? Yeah, Mr. Chair, the last person is phone number ending and 027, if you could identify yourself when you speak, that'd be helpful. Thank you.

    Yes,

    Miss Amina Harris.

    Well, hello, yes, we can hear you. Well, hello,

    yes, hello, everyone. Okay, I mean Harris, I'm calling concerning 4175, Nottingham.

    Can you hear me? Yes, we can hear you.

    Okay. Now I was it was young lady was down on her look, so I let her move into place. But, you know, she eventually got on her feet. But I want to know why the water company let her water bill get up to $17,000

    within three years.

    So, you know, I made a little lease for her when she did get on her feet. But my God, that water bill is $17,000 so when I evicted her in 2019 now it's on me, so I'm like it say resident. And I had the lease with her paying the water bill. So the young lady said, well, we might could do something about it. So I didn't understand, why would they let her,

    you know, get that bill up that high. And

    then when I called about it, they said, Well, who are you? I said, I'm the owner. Then that extent they say, Well, your name now, I said, Oh, no, so I'm trying to see what the water companies do to help me with this big old,

    okay,

    Mr. Chair, she dropped off. Yeah.

    Mr. Chair, if she if she's still listening, if she would put her information in the chat, we'll make sure that customer service gets her call back and see what we can do.

    Thank you, Director Brown,

    Mr. Chair, she was the final person.

    Okay, thank you. I appreciate it. That ends our public participation. Next line item is communications. I see we have none. Next number seven is unfinished business. I see we have none. Number eight is new business. Line item, a, 2025, check 126, CPI, quarterly update, review, third quarter. FYI, 2025, yep.

    Good afternoon. Commissioners, good afternoon. Mr. Chair,

    good afternoon. How are you? I'm good. How are you? Excellent, great.

    Mr. Karaman, again, dw, sdcfo.

    This is a Budget to Actual expenditure comparison. This is required to be presented to you on a quarterly basis. These are the projects for our in our CIP plan, and we do a comparison of actual expenditures, but what was approved by you in the budget? Again, as I said, this is the third quarter ending March, 31 2025, I have one slide that summarizes all the variance analysis for the third quarter, all projects for your all project expenditures are within the approved contract amounts, except for one that I'll explain, the one contract which is highlighted in green in the two slides that follow this slide, we have summarized all the water projects as well as the sewer projects and the one that's highlighted in green in the slide following this slide in the water project, which is project number CS 1921 exceeded the budget amount by $117,376 however, the shortfall is being covered by funds that are available in the in its counterpart, in the sewer fund. In the sewer fund, we don't need their excess of excess money compared to budget, compared to the anticipated expenses. So the excess money is being transferred here cover the shortfall. So not really a concern. We just did a swap of funds from the sewer to the water. There are five contracts which are highlighted in red in the in the slides following for Ws, 730, 787, 37 b7, 39 a, 730 9b and PC 803, B, where the projects are completed and will be closed down. So none of this project exceeded their respective budgets. One contract, which is highlighted in blue, again in the water project list, where certain payments are in dispute, especially regarding mobilization claims, these issues are being referred to the legal department, and it's in the process of being reviewed and resolved. In the sewer project list and the list that follows, there are two contracts which are highlighted in red, 908 and PC 803 B, where the projects are completed and will be closed out again. These projects were completed within budgeted there are four contracts which are all highlighted in blue in the sewer list, especially DWS, 916, 917, 918, and 920, all of these contracts will are subject to de scoping of the contract due to less than desired performance by the contractor. It's again in discussion with the with the engineering department, as well as legal. We'll have some resolutions soon, but these projects are being put on hold at this point till the disputes are resolved, but the intent is to close them out soon. There's one contract which is highlighted in green in the sewer fund where the payments have been paused. This is DWS 938, this also relates to the same contractor that I just mentioned in the point before. There are some disputes regarding performance and payments again, being resolved with the engineering department as well as our legal department. Other than these, all of the projects are currently active, and the amounts remaining are expected to be spent during the course of the contracts. All of these projects are highlighted. We follow the next two slides. The next slide is, this is the sewer projects, and the one before then is the water, sorry, this is the water project fund. Was laid out by the contract number, the period, as well as the amount approved by you as a board, as well as the amount expense so far, and the variance in the final column explains the reason for the variances. I will not go line by line, but I have summarized all of these for you in the first slide, and

    that's it for third quarter.

    Any questions. Thank you.

    I just like to point out, Mr. Chair, there was a question by a lady here regarding the flooding southwest Detroit flooding, and if she's still listening, I think I've mentioned this before in the previous meeting in, you know, previous finance committee meeting last month, the Southwest Detroit flooding is being funded out of the savings we are accumulating due to hiring freeze. So there is no emergency funding for these kind of events. We cannot put it in the budget, because that'll have impact on the rates and charges, which will increase the rates for our customers. So no emergency funding provision in the budget. But for this flooding in southwest Detroit, we are utilizing

    the hiring freeze down on the project,

    just to clear that question that she had

    appreciated. Okay,

    the planning calendar.

    No, no changes in the planning calendar. Mr. Chair.

    Okay, excellent. Are there any other matters to be brought before the body at this time, seeing none. Our next meeting is scheduled for July, 2, 2025, I'd like a motion for adjournment. Please

    move. Mr. Chair, support has

    been moved and seconded this move. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Thank you.

    Good afternoon. I would like to visit the meeting of the Customer Service Committee. I would now ask for approval agenda.

    Did I have a motion to approve the agenda? Hello,

    and I will support any discussion on the agenda. Hearing, none. All those in favor please say aye, aye, aye. Our next item is Approval of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minimum moved by Commissioner forte? And I will second that any discussion on the minutes? Hearing, none. All those in favor of approving the minutes to say, aye, aye. Aye Opposed nay motion carried public participation. Is there anyone who's expressed a desire to speak before this committee?

    Madam Chair, we do have hands raised and we Madam Chair, we just remind folks that please raise your hand now as a public comment opens so that we can acknowledge you during this time period. And the first person we have is sesaway McClellan,

    thank you very much. Miss McClellan, welcome and let us hear your comments, please. Yes.

    Cecily McClellan,

    I'm sorry, excuse me. One moment, madam, um, Madam Chair, we need to recess and open up the HR meeting first, and then we can resume back to customer service.

    Ms McClellan, you'll just hold on. I would like to recess this committee meeting and to the call of the chair.

    All right, we will now convene the human resources and Organizational Development Committee. Madam Secretary, could we have a roll call please. Chairperson. Davis, present Detroit, Michigan

    Commissioner Garcia present, Detroit. Commissioner black, present, Detroit, Mr. Chair,

    we have a quorum. Thank

    you very kindly, and we'll now recess to the call of the chair.

    Will resume the committee meeting at this time, and we are at we have Mr. Phil and I believe,

    yes. Leslie McClellan, Director of water works, we the people of Detroit. We advocate for clean, safe and affordable water. I'm concerned about the number of enrollees in the Detroit Lifeline program, it indicates slightly over 8000 is our understanding that the funding available has the capacity to service about 11,000 so I would like to know whether the easy pay program will be opening again to allow additional residents to enroll in that program. Also, Mister indicated that the average success rate, I believe, for the easy pay program, is about 67%

    so that suggests that there's about 33%

    persons that don't successfully complete that program. What is the status of those residents? Are they in shut off? So I would like to give some information on what is going on with Detroit lifeline, as well as easy pay when those residents are not successful in completing or paying the payment plan. Thank you very much.

    Madam Chair, the next person is Damico Williams. Williams,

    Oh, hello. Damico Williams, Chief Director hydrate Detroit, I represent the whole entire city. Anybody that calls my phone at 313-279-0608, extension one that calls me with the water issue and they get qualified advice and consultation. We were dubbed the unofficial customer service of the Detroit water sewage department. I'd like to thank Mr. Brown for acknowledging our relationship, and we would love to keep this partnership with the Detroit water sewage department going share water. Season is upon us. Hydrate Detroit. We will be raising funds to help people with their water bills in light of what's going on, share water will be held on August the ninth at the Moore community park located on Oakland and Philadelphia on the city's north end, and we would invite the public to come out and support us. We are our best keeper. We support each other. You know, I'm not looking to any state, federal or anyone to come save us. We have to save each other, and that means we got to raise money, pay on our own water bills and such, and to keep out of shut off. Then that's what's going to have to happen. I want to respond to easy pay. First of all, I endorse easy pay. I still believe in easy pay, and I'll do whatever I can to work to make sure easy pay is successful. I'm glad to hear these numbers, but I'm not glad to hear that 10,450 people broke the payment plan. Okay, how did they break let's can you be so specific, how did they break the payment plan? How long have they broken the payment plan? Did they just get on and pay one time and then they fall off? Or were they paying for two, three months and something happened? Okay, that needs to be explained. 2227 people paid off. How did they pay it off? How long have they paid it off? You know, did they get into easy pay and pay off the balance over time, or did they cash out? I like to hear those numbers. And 11,972 enrolled. This is great, but out of 30,000 households, still, we're wondering, okay, what happened to the people from the 10 3050 program? Are they offered an opportunity to get on the easy pay? I'm talking about people from the past, people that were unwrapped and failed and failed and they could not get any reprieve. Where is Wayne Metro's numbers? How are they being comprehended? To this not just for lifeline, excuse me, but also it should be for easy pay. How are you going after those 10,000 people that broke the plan? Are you giving them another opportunity? Or you going to say, oh, you can't have water, have a nice day. We need to know what opportunities there is to get these 10,000 people back in the plan and back paying so that we can have a zero balance.

    Madam Chair, the next hand raises Miss Harris, which is number ending at 027,

    just going to take Mr. Williams. We will be getting back to him on the issues that he raised.

    Okay, thank you. Ma'am.

    Hello. Hello, board,

    hello, staff.

    Can you hear

    me? Miss Harris, we can hear okay, speak.

    I was speaking about my property at four months, seven, 590 pounds, yeah. Can you want me started, yeah, yep. I was wondering how the water company let the girl bill get up to 17,000 then I called to see about it, and they say, Well, who are you, the owner? And I say, yes. They asked me my name, and they said, well, it's your bill. Now I'm like, what? So it's in my lease that she gonna pay for the water bill

    and

    her own utilities. So I'm talking to some lady I don't know which I should have. And she said, we might can.

    What is this?

    Commissioner? Commissioner Blackman, I think we're having a little bit of technical difficulty in hearing you clearly. But I think what you were trying to communicate or convey to miss Harris. Miss Harris, if you could leave in the chat your your contact information, your telephone number, someone from the customer service team will get back to you within the next 24 hours and see what we can do about resolving your concerns.

    Yes, now, how would I lead a chat my number?

    She doesn't know how far Miss Harris you may go to the city of Detroit website, the water page, DWSD page, and under the event for today for the Board of Water commissioners meeting, there is a link to share your information, your contact information. So if you go to the meeting for June 4, 2025 you can share your contact information there.

    Okay, so the website is WDs,

    SD, it's Detroit mi.gov forward slash, DWSD,

    Detroit, Detroit mi.gov

    Okay, the whole world, Detroit,

    yeah, detroit.go

    dot c, your detroit.mr

    Peckinpah, would you give it again?

    Yes, I will. Thank you. Am I Detroit mi as a Michigan DOT? G, O, V, slash,

    D, W s d, d, W

    S v s d,

    Clay water, sewage department, D, W S v d, correct. After the flash, that's all, yes, ma'am, v, w s d, okay. After this? Okay, so leave my information there. Yes, let's go to the meeting for today. Okay, the

    meeting for today and leave your information that's correct.

    Thank you so much. All right.

    Is there anyone else? Mr. Pickenpoo,

    we have the last person is Narelle Hemphill,

    okay. Thank you. Welcome, miss Hemphill.

    Miss Hemphill, can you hear

    me? I I can't hear

    you're live.

    She's unmuted. She's unmuted. I can hear background noise coming from her phone, but

    I think she possibly has a bad connection.

    Don't know. Now, yes,

    okay, thank you so much. My apologies Tony Norell Hemphill, I'm the Legal and Policy Manager at We the people of Detroit. I just had a couple of questions regarding shut offs and the customer service, the access that residents have to customer service. I know that these are we're in now the summer months, and it is very hot outside, which means that citizens in Detroit need access to water, not only for human dignity and to clean themselves, but also to drink. So I'm concerned at how many people are currently shut off? Those numbers, I haven't seen those numbers in a while. So how many households do we have currently shut off? And then also, I'm concerned about the high volume of calls to DWSD. I know that since the moratorium on water shut offs expired and water was the shut off. The practice of water shut off was reinstituted. We saw a high, a spike in the calls to customer service, which, as it has been stated in previous meetings, wait times can be up to 30 minutes and sometimes longer. Are there other touch points that residents have? I see on your slide for the customer service presentation, it seems like there's a lot of digital ways to contact DWSD through the portal, via email, and also through the kiosks that are in different locations. However, are there more physical touch points where people can actually go in talk about their bill? I do want to raise that we still do have a large digital divide in Detroit, where even in 2025 it may seem like everyone has access to the internet, but that is not the case. We have slow broadband in some places, and in some places people have no devices. That's zero devices. Still, that is a reality for many. So again, I would like to know how can those people get access to customer service

    and to the

    employees of DWSD? Thank

    you. Thank you very much. Miss

    we will try to cover those concerns in our Customer Service report,

    there anyone else who would like to address the committee?

    Madam Chair. She was the final person. Thank you

    very much. And we will conclude our public participation and move on to communications. There is entertain a motion for 2025, 133, receipt of correspondence.

    Is there a motion?

    Do I have any committee members still with me? I

    I do not hear any of my committee,

    Madam Chair, are we having a presentation now?

    No, we were under receipt of correspondence. I know

    what had. I'm sorry.

    We were under receipt of correspondence. We needed a motion. Okay? And I'm waiting to see where my committee members are. Since I hear no one, we will move on to the next item. Then,

    Madam Chair,

    is you and Commissioner Garcia are the only members present for this meeting. I don't

    hear Commissioner Garcia. That's who was just speaking. Was that? Commissioner Garcia? Yes, Commissioner Garcia, would you like to make a motion regarding receipt

    of correspondence? Yes. Tomo,

    so we're receiving 2025, 133, Eugene Lewis, Gaston, Nash the third and Steven Steele, any discussion all those in favor of receipt of correspondence, please say aye. Aye Opposed, nay. Motion carried. We have no unfinished business. Our new business is now our customer service presentation,

    Madam Chair, before we move forward, we need to recess and open up the legal committee.

    All right. Thank you very much. You're welcome. We will not receive recess this committee To the College of chair,

    Commissioner Kinloch, available?

    You see Commissioner kennock, online, Madam Secretary.

    I don't see him, but he said he was going to be here. I

    Well, since he's not available, let us resume customer service.

    Madam Chair, I can give him a call and see if we can get him all

    All right, he's Jumping on right now. You

    Okay, thank you.

    Yes, they Yes. Thank you. The Detroit Board of Water commissioners, Committee on legal and Government Affairs, will now come to order. Would you please call the roll?

    Chairperson Kim law present. Commissioner Blackman present. Detroit Commissioner einhauser is absent. Mr. Chair, we have a forum.

    Thank you. The meeting will recess to the call of the chair.

    Thank you very much. We will now go back to where we were with the customer service presentation. Mr. Phillips,

    Madam Chair, thank you very much. I'm actually going to share my screen here and Miss Crowell, our customer service manager is going to do the President is complete the presentation today.

    Thank you so well, welcome.

    Good afternoon, commissioners. How are you this afternoon? We're well. I hope you are as well. Yes, I am trying to get my light to come on. But okay. Okay again. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Kimberly Crowell, customer service manager. During the month of May, we received over 51,000 customer calls, and we responded to more than 6400 emails, which is nearly 58,000 direct contacts. We averaged about 2700 customer interactions per day, which is almost double what we planned for with our customer service, calls, emails and online service, we had over 143,000 total interactions for the month. That's an increase. That's a 96% increase over our expected daily volume. And because of this spike, only 11% of our calls were answered in under two minutes, and we also received nearly 600 calls about the southwest, 54 inch water main break issue. On average, it took us under 10 minutes to answer emergency calls, and about 33 minutes for non emergency calls. Even with our high volumes, our customer satisfaction remains strong at 82% and we were able to fully resolve customers issues on the first call 73% of the time. I would like to highlight and state that we've now exceeded our satisfaction target goal for 21 months in a row, which is a clear sign that customers continue to value the service that they're receiving.

    Well, let me jump in here before you go any further. Did you hear the comments from our public regarding the concern for the amount of time customers still have to wait and that many of our customers only don't have the other accesses available to them other than their phone.

    Yes, Madam Chair,

    we we have.

    We heard those comments and questions loud and clear. Again. I just like to state, as our CFO is to Karaman has stated, due to the southwest water main break. Since February, when that occurred, we have been under a hiring freeze. I believe there's nearly 70 to 80 individuals that have not been hired because of that water main break, and US saving the revenue or the funds or the expenditures to pay for that. And so in customer service, specifically, that's 11 individuals that we are short staffed with. So that contributes

    customer our customers and residents are still able. I'm sorry. Mary,

    Madam Chair,

    can you hear me? I hear you. I don't know who's speaking right now. Yeah. Commissioner Garcia,

    yes. I just wanted to make sure, sir, is that with the water main, and I know we're still dealing with some of the issues here at this agency, but I just wanted to know, pretty much the deadline has come and gone. We understand that's what we're telling people that come in, but I just wanted to make sure that are you still getting a very large amount of volume calls related to the to the break?

    No, and in comparison to our total overall call volume, no, we reported 593 calls that came in about the Southwest water main break during the month of May. Okay.

    Thank you. Yep

    and Commissioner Blackman. As far as seeing someone face to face, our residents have the ability to see one of our customer service reps at the main office building at 735, Randolph Street. They can make an appointment at any time to come in and see one of our representatives. We do have very limited number of individuals that do come down. It is much more convenient, I believe, for all of our residents not to drive, pay for transportation, gas and whatnot, to come and see someone, and they can do all business, not only with all the digital channels that Miss Hemphill spoke about, but they can also do it over the phone, whether that's speaking to a representative or doing it in our automated system. But to address the concerns of seeing someone face to face and the notion that that does not exist, that is not true, you can make an appointment with the customer service representative. Thank you. How do we make an appointment?

    How? Matthew, how do again? How do we make an appointment? Madam Chair, I'm sorry,

    you can call 313-267-8000,

    and speak to one of our customer service reps, and you can make an appointment.

    Okay, so you have to call the one 800 or, I'm sorry, what is it? 313313, 267-267-8000,

    that is our customer service

    line, and that's where we make an appointment. Yes, ma'am, thank you. You're welcome.

    Okay? Thank you. I will go ahead and proceed with this slide here. This slide gives us a look at our performance over the last six months. We were 127% over our forecast. Volume during this time, we were also short, as Matthews Phillips stated, 11 full time staff members, which added even more pressure on the team, and despite these challenges, we continue to deliver consistent service and improved our first car resolution and continue to exceed our customer satisfaction score.

    Any questions on this slide?

    Okay, or any of the any of the information that was presented with the metrics.

    Thank you very much. Mr.

    Well, thank you. I'll now turn it over to Matthew Phillips.

    Madam Chair, not to take over your responsibilities of looking at the agenda, but to save us from skipping to the agenda, the next item is the planning calendar. May I have your permission to proceed with the customer service metrics? Thank you. All right. So looking at the lifeline benefit, we have 8134 individuals that are currently receiving the lifeline benefit the Detroit water and sewage department has provided to those residents $3.4 million in gap assistance. That $3.4 million represents the difference between the lifeline monthly amount 1843 or $56 and the full the entire bill balance that's due every month, which averages about $90 per month per individual. And then we've also erased a little over $1 million dollars in arrearages to those 8134 individual accounts or households that have come into the Lifeline program.

    Madam Chair, please question this year.

    Matt, I have a question. Is that, and I know we had some customers, I think I asked before if they they can't qualify. If they're just residents giving the bill, they really need to put their name on it, right?

    That is one of the policy one of the policy states for Lifeline is that we need to know the individual that's responsible for the bill. So it cannot be a resident's name, and it can't be in somebody else. It has to be the individual.

    Some of the people that come in here. You know, they've been here a long time, and they they still get their bill in residence. So they, I keep telling them, they need to, please let us know and we'll find a way to put their names on the bill. Because I concerned that if they had to go for this reduced water bill, I didn't think you all could do it for a

    resident. Nope, we have to know the individual's name. That's a requirement from the state of Michigan, okay, thank you. Yep, you're welcome. Any other questions about the Lifeline program? I know there was a question from

    still, is there still availability, sir?

    No, no, there is not. As of the 31st of March Wayne Metro, the funds that are available for lifeline were completely exhausted. We did anticipate somewhere between 10 and 11,000 people would be our residents would be eligible or able to get into the Lifeline program based on the funding that was available. But on the 31st that funding was exhausted, and that's based on the amount of arrearages we estimate ahead of time, the average arrearage of those individuals coming in, as well as what the monthly gap payment will be. And unfortunately, that money ran out a little bit quicker than we estimated six months ago. But as of the 31st of March, the program is closed for any new individuals coming into the program due to the fact that the funding that is available from the state of Michigan and the federal government has either been exhausted or discontinued. I think we've had that conversation several times over the past few months describing that.

    I guess the question would be that people that are on it right now, they're not, they're not opening it up for new people, but people that are on it will not be cut off. That

    is absolutely correct. Madam Chair, no one will be removed from the program

    based anyone that's on the lifeline right now, which is 1134 households will not be terminated as a what as a today or the rest of the year, whatever it is, until they re qualify next

    year, until September 30 of 2025, that is the program that's based on the grant year for the funds that are available run run through September of 2025 and we've estimated those that budget out to that point that the 8134 as long as they Make their monthly payment, their monthly lifeline payment, will remain in the program. So as long as they remain compliant with the rules and regulations of lifeline, they will remain in the program.

    I guess the question is that, Matt, do you believe that after September 30, this program will continue?

    Yes, ma'am, I do have confidence. I don't know what that size looks like, but right now I know that the federal funding through lihwap has been terminated, and the entire staff at DHS has been dismissed. So I don't anticipate any funding coming from the federal side at that time. That's just what I know today, and then from the state side, I believe that the funding will be very limited. We're still working on that, and we're still working to address that. We do have a team of individuals that is working with several of our legislators in the state of Michigan to pass legislation to have additional funding available moving into October 1.

    Okay, I just wanted to make sure that I wanted to make sure that they wanted I guess I was concerned about all the cuts that are happening. But also, the next question is that the 808,134 customer households, they pretty much have stayed consistently paying their bill. Am I correct? Yes, ma'am. So we say 80% 90% because no one's been kicked off, right? So

    I don't have that exact percentage for you at the moment. We can certainly bring that at the next meeting.

    You know, the problem is that I know things are really rough for people Beth, so if there's any way that we can help the customer, like, say, is there a process that, if you're behind two months, they get off the lifeline? Is there a process right now that we don't that we know about

    to I mean, there are other process there are other assistance programs available, like, you know, the SCR, I'm sorry, State Emergency Relief payments that are available through DHS. There's TANF dollars, you know, there are other resources that might be available at other, you know, community action agencies or nonprofits to assist individuals. And we will certainly, you know, we're

    one of the nonprofits at last, said that help out, but, but the question is, basically, is that if they get behind one month or two months, when would they be kicked off the lifeline?

    60 days, it's two missed monthly payments. Yes,

    remember that, so we put that Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Yes, ma'am, thank you, Madam

    Chair, thank you for your questions.

    All right, Madam Chair, though, the last slide that I have to present today is just on the easy program, easy pay program. I think we've heard not only director Brown, but also Mr. Rahman, but we have 30,221 individuals that are that have signed up for the easy pay program, $7.5 million in payments, just the arrearage payments have been received through that program. I just want to note and I there were several questions around the exposure and whatnot of the easy pay program. But just I want to give it just a slight history lesson, really quick, if we look at the prior easy pay program, which was called 10, 3050, I think most of us are familiar with that. That program had a 10% success rate after 90 days. So after someone being enrolled in 10 3050, only 10% of the individuals that enrolled were still successful and on the program in 10 3050, and I'm very proud to say that the easy pay program has seen a 66% success rate. That means after 90 days, 66% of the individual individuals are still compliant and participating within the easy pay program. If we look at the total number of individuals on 10, 3050, it averaged about 5000 individuals per year. Within 10 months, 11 months, we have over 30,000 individuals participating in easy pay. I think that spreading out the payments over 36 months was extremely successful and very inviting and enticing to our residents. That 30,000 households represents approximately 100,000 residents that while they're on the program, are protected from shut off again. The success rate is 66% it's also good for DWSD this, the funds that we received from this, these arrearage payments, are helping keep our infrastructure alive and well, and that $7.5 million that's been collected so far is contributing towards that $35 million in total have been collected between the normal monthly payment and the easy pay payment. 17,380 individuals are active. 2681 have paid off their balance. That was another question. That means that they got onto the program, they had an arrearage when they first enrolled. And that means 2681 have paid off that balance, whether that was $1 or whether that was $10,000 they've successfully competed the completed the program and paid their balance to zero. So congratulations to those 2681

    residents that have paid off their balances. Congratulations,

    Madam Chair. I like that.

    My My congratulations to all of you. I mean, think about where we're at today. You got you're not running in a deficit with people not paying their bills. I'm sure there's still people out there that we need to reach, but this is really a great number. Madam Chair, I think everybody needs to be committed for at least congratulated for making sure that the people, there's got to be a lot of people that know about the programs, and obviously taking advantage of it. Matt, you know, I really am so happy about this guy. You know, they can't be complaining that we have shut offs because there is alternative programs that are working. And so we are very grateful to that.

    Know that Madam Chair for the record

    Commissioner, Garcia, thank you so much for for that. That is a very wonderful way to put it. I mean, that's 30,000 individuals that are protected from shut off because they now have a low monthly payment. And I think that's absolutely wonderful. And I would say that with 30,000 people on easy pay, compared to 5000 on average on 10, 3050, apparently, we are getting the message out, and people are listening to what we have to offer as a benefit. So for those that say we're not doing enough, I'd say we've done quite a bit. In fact, Director brown gave us a stretch goal last July 30, when we presented the easy pay program in front of city council, he said, I'm giving my team a stretch goal to get 30,000 people in this program within 12 months. And I thought to myself, that's probably that's a big number to get to, and here we are less than less than 12 months into it, when we've reached that goal. So I think people are definitely hearing the message loud and clear,

    Madam Chair, I also would recommend that we share this news with the city council people so they can continue to advocate for the state, so that we can continue to to make sure that our people never have a shut off, that they have alternatives. I think we need to share this information with the City Council and probably our legislators.

    I think we're doing that Commissioner, but that's certainly a good reminder, but I think we are already doing that because of our communication with city council. I don't know to what extent we are doing with state legislators, but I do know that there's communication with legislators regarding what we're doing to help help our customers keep their water on and pay at a reasonable rate. So thank you very much for your comments. The one question I would ask Mr. Phillips is, if customers are late with their easy pay payment, what is the resolution?

    Absolutely, we do have a policy on that. So I'm not going to get into too much detail, because I don't want to be quoted later. But you you can miss up to two payments, so 60 days past due and still be remaining on the program. So we do give a grace period of 60 days to get back on the program. If you do not make that payment within or those payments within that 60 day period, there is the ability to get back onto the program. You do have to make up your your easy pay payments, and then you can get back onto the program. And we'll use a non technical or financial term, but we'll roll whatever previous balance or arrearage you had back into the program and recalculate your 36 months over again. So again, I think a very generous program offering to get back in I don't think that there's any other credit card companies or any other utility companies that are giving anybody that type of thing, and then there is a third chance to get back onto the program as well. So So technically, it's a three strikes, and you're out type of type of policy, but just to make it simple, but yes, we do allow individuals to get back on their feet, and things do happen in life. We do know that that medical expenses and other things happen in people's lives, and we do, we do account for that. I think we're very generous when it comes to that standpoint.

    Generous, I think very compassionate. I think it goes beyond generosity. But we are showing compassion to our customers. Are you about to say something else, Commissioner,

    I heard you in the background. Okay,

    then please continue. That concludes my presentation for today. I appreciate everybody's comments.

    Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments to those questions that were raised. Mr. Phillips is very helpful. Moving on, on the agenda

    right now. Okay.

    Are there any other matters we've done? The planning, calendar information, I believe

    other matters to come before this committee.

    Awesome hearing, none Our next meeting is all of the other committees. July, the second care will entertain a motion for adjournment. So moved and supported this meeting stands adjourned. Thank you.

    Thank you.

    All right. Thank you. We will now reconvene the Human Resources Committee. Is there a motion to approve the agenda? So moved, Sir,

    is there a second?

    Well, I believe I can second it.

    That motion is made and properly seconded. All in favor signify by the sign of Aye, Aye. All opposed. That motion is carried. Is there a motion for approval of the minutes of May 7. Mr. Chair,

    yes, cannot hear

    me. I hear you. I hear you. Now

    I will move approval minutes of May 7

    is there? Is there a second support? Motion has been made and properly supported. All in favor. Signify by the sign of i, i All opposed, and that motion is carried as well. We'll now open up public participation. Mr. Peckinpah, do we have any

    ads? Yes, we do. Mr. Chair, we have Mr. Damika Williams,

    all right, Mr. Williams, welcome,

    Hi, can you hear me?

    You can barely hear you, sir. Oh, can you hear me now, I'm sorry, yes sir. Okay, good. Damico Williams, Executive Director hydrate Detroit, just want to respond to what I heard in the Customer Service meeting. First of all, I just want to give shout out and thank yous to Matt Phillips for all the hard work that he does, including Kim Crowell in the customer service team, the men and women of the customer service team of the Detroit water and sewage department. It's not an easy feat to get on those phones and to deal with consumers. You know, it's very, very rewarding to do the hard work, and also shout out to the whole entire team for doing that hard work, you know, to look back at history and uh. Chairwoman Blackman already knows I've been screaming about 10, 3050, for a very long time that it should have never been implemented day one. It should have been done that first year in 2015, 2016, it should never went on for so long. It took you 10 actual years to come up to revise this plan, and you would have a better success rate. If it was 10,000 people that were paying and were current, you would have had a better success rate. If easy pay was on everyone's phones, on everyone's devices, including YouTube and the social media street, you would have better success it wouldn't have to if you had Wayne Metro representatives actually doing their job that you pay them for, and you would have much we wouldn't have no concern over people paying their bills if you had not shut off or Institute unpaid water charges the scum Lord homes with tenants living in them. I was dealing with a tenant that's living in a scum Lord home that the persons won't even talk to her, and have $10,000 on the house, and she can't call down there because she's not listed on the deed or the lease. But she signed the lease with the tenant, with the with the landlord that's in jail, and the wife won't even talk to her to get this settled. So the water is off. How do you get around situations of that nature? Again, I'm gonna go further. You know, for 30,000 households, and you got 24 to have 24,000 people, it's something going on. What are the collection methods? How do you have people pay? Hey, you missed a payment. Can you pay now we need promise pay that should be promoted. Okay, I promote easy pay when I go to city council meetings, when I go to other meetings, I talk to residents the best I know how. But the water department has the money and the opportunity to have great more reach. I understand you can't get on TV. Gary Brown can go on Mildred Gaddis. He could go on the talk shows of Detroit and further and talk about how easy pay helps the customer and relieve the fear that water shut offs are over and stop the intimidation. Thank you.

    Alright, Mr. Peckinpah, do we have any other hands?

    Mr. Chair, we do not have any other hands raised.

    All right, we'll now close public participation. Then that brings us to communications. There are none, and there is no unfinished business. Our new business will be HR metrics, and that'll be Miss

    Jones. Good afternoon commissioners. Tiffany Jones and I will be presenting the Human Resources presentation for the month. Do you have the presentation? Sheena, I'm sorry.

    Next slide, please.

    Awesome. Thank you. Currently, we have 651

    employees. This slide shows the breakdown of our employee demographics for the month of May, our recruiting team will continue to develop outreach plans, which include events and job fairs that engages the city of Detroit and surrounding communities. As you can see, we have about 82% black, 11% white, 2% Hispanic and 2% non specified and the others are located on the slide. Are there any questions?

    Do we have any positions? Madam Chair, Mr. Chair,

    Mr. Garcia, yes.

    The total number of employees totally is at 651,

    that's correct. Commissioner, okay, so is, there's no positions open at the time?

    Yes, I will get to that in the upcoming slides. So are we at 100%

    are we at 100% or not yet? Not yet. Okay, so where are what is the percentage that we're at? Matt

    Jones, if you allow me to go through the presentation. I'm sure I can answer those in the upcoming slides.

    I did not see any. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe we have a way to answer it. But with the Chaldean and the Arabic speaking individuals, do we have someone that would translate for that in the bilingual aspects

    of it at the Career Fairs Is that what you're speaking of,

    No, I'm talking about when I look at your your breakdown, I don't see anybody that speaks Arabic or even Hmong. I just see I see a Hispanic and I see Asian. But I guess the question is that, when you have people that call in, unless there's other organizations that are calling in for them, Arabic speaking or,

    or, you know, yes, that

    that's handled through our customer service. And we do have a translation service that provides several languages. So they

    have one, we have one company that does it, or several, in case you need them. Is that it

    that is correct? We, we use the service that the city of Detroit uses. Okay? Thank you. My pleasure. Next slide, this slide indicates our Detroit residents and new hires. So for the month of May, we have had three we have 355 Detroit residents. That's 55% of the total employees, and 296 non Detroit residents. Last month we had one new hire. There

    any questions just to come? And I'm glad to see that we're improving with a number of Detroit residents,

    over half. Commissioner, next slide please. This slide indicates our total employee head count year over year. As you can see, with 651 employees, we are currently at the highest number of employees since the past five years,

    and growing.

    Next slide please.

    Currently we have 112 employees that are eligible for retirement. That's about 17% of our employees. This chart on the right indicates the criteria for the retirement for the month of May. We had one retirement. So now I would like to acknowledge romela Schaefer. She has had DWSD service for 34 years and 10 months, and she works with the field engineering team. I do not believe that she's on, but we definitely send our congratulations,

    as do we Mr. Chair,

    are there any questions for this slide?

    Well, yes, Madam, Mr. Chair, Commissioner Garcia,

    is 30 years or 25 years, depending on, I guess, is it to retire? Would it be age and years of service? Or it doesn't matter,

    it's both. So you have to have it's both. Yes, as the chart indicates you, the years determines how old you have to be as well. So the

    30 the 30 people, the 30,000 I mean the 30 years that they have. 44 are eligible, technically, but maybe not of age. So what is the age? Is it 62 and years of age, or 56

    Well, if you have 30 years, you can retire at any age. Sorry. Okay, so

    you can retire at any age. If you have 30 years, if you have 30 you pick up. But can you, can you collect your your pension, even if you're not old enough?

    Um, that. Let me figure that out and get and and respond next month, if that's okay, I'm not for sure, um, to answer that question,

    yeah, because I know that with the federal government, you have to be 56 years of age, and you can be 30 years and retire. That would make you 80 something. I guess they added years and retirement together. And I just wanted to know what would be eligible for the 30 years. Could you be 56 or you have to be 62 I guess that's what I was asking. I wasn't sure. Commissioner,

    thank you. Appreciate it. My pleasure.

    Next slide

    in terms of recruiting, talent and acquisition, we have 14 open requisitions, that equates to 43 open positions. So to answer your question, Commissioner Garcia, we do have open positions available. And as our CFO indicated in his presentation, in light of the 54 water main break in southwest Detroit, we initiated a hiring freeze as part of cost cutting measure, so there are approximately 43 other positions that are on hold to be filled as we ask assess our budgeting needs. The positions that we are back filling now are due to retirements, terminations and resignations. So in total, we have 86 total positions, but we are hiring currently for 4343

    Uh huh. Okay, thank you.

    If you look at the chart, the red asterisk indicates the positions that are currently on hold, and we do have a continuation of the positions on the next slide, so if there are no other questions, we can proceed to the next slide, and that is the end of the chart, and I'll pause for questions. I

    you. Okay. Next slide

    for the month of May, we had three recruitment efforts. The first two were targeted just to students, while the fair on May 21 provided a great pool, and the team was able to create a callback sheet for our open FST positions. We did attend two additional events the last week of May. They are not included, but they will be included in next month's chart.

    Excuse me, Mr. Chair,

    Commissioner Blackman, two additional

    ones in the city of Detroit.

    Yes, thank you.

    My pleasure.

    Next slide please.

    We are happy to participate again in the City of Detroit's grow Detroit's young talent. From July 7 through August 15, DWSD will host five students. That's an update that we have from the slide that you see before you. One of the students found employment elsewhere. So we will have five, not six, students participating. We have created a great summer program for them, which includes a two day orientation. On the first day they will meet at CSF, they will hear about all of the entry level positions, and they will be given a tour of CSF. On the second day, they will hear from all other DWSD divisions, and throughout the summer, they will also attend two field trips, which will be the water treatment plant and an actual DWSD worksite. So we're excited again about the opportunity to host our young youth. Are there any questions.

    Mr. Chair, can you hear me?

    Hello, Commissioner. Commissioner Blackman,

    so are we? Are we participating with middle school students as well as high school students? They

    are high school and college students. It's a mixture. And I think all of our five students are college students, if I'm not mistaken, no,

    I'm trying to this is where we go out. Or these are people we're talking to about employment. Or how are we going and making middle school students aware of careers in our in the water industry,

    yes, we are going to events such as the previous two in the month of May. Those were targeted just to high school students. So we are expanding our outreach to attend high school fairs, and bringing the DWSD jobs to high school students specifically,

    okay, I'm, I'm offering a suggestion, absolutely speaking of careers that maybe we need to start in middle school. Just a, just a thought.

    Absolutely.

    Thank you. Duly noted. Next

    slide, please,

    for the month of May, we have four accidents, bringing the total to 30 for the year. This slide represents a breakdown for those that were that if we were at fault, not at fault or still under review. So this month we had four which was the lowest for the year.

    Commendable.

    Thank you. Any other questions

    or comments?

    Awesome. Thank you. This is our planning calendar, and we have no updates. We did report out on the retired eligibility, and next month, we'll present on labor relations. That concludes my report,

    and I'm open to questions.

    All right. Thank you very much. Miss Jones, colleagues, are there any questions? I Commissioner

    Blackman, additional questions, Mr. Chair,

    all right. Thank you very much. Miss Jones, you did a great job. We'll move on to other matters. If there are none. Our next meeting is July 2, and chair will entertain a motion to adjourn.

    Move adjournment, Mr.

    Chair. Thank you. Thank you very much. We stand adjourned.

    Thank you.

    The legal and Government Affairs Committee will now reconvene. We'll go to the first item on the agenda. One moment. First item on the agenda is, I mean, next item on the agenda is the approval agenda. Motion is in order Move approval, Mr. Chair, it's been moved. Is there support? I can support this. Okay, all those in favor, signify by saying aye, aye, aye. Those opposed. This item stands approved. Next item on agenda is the approval of the May 7 meeting minutes. A motion is in order,

    approval, Mr. Chair and I support

    Okay. At this time, all those in favor, signify by saying, aye, aye, those opposed this action stands approved. Next item on the agenda is public participation at this time, Mr. Pick and Paul, is there anyone who has indicated online that they would like to address this committee at this time?

    Mr. Chair, we do have one hand raised, and I would like to ask those that would like to do public comment during this period to make sure to raise their hand before we end with our first speaker, which is Mr. Damico Williams,

    okay, before so at this time you read the instructions. Thank you. Applause.

    Hi, good afternoon. Commissioner

    Kinloch, how are you today? Good afternoon. Thank you.

    D'Amico Williams, Chief Executive Director hydrate, Detroit, hey, commissioners, I just want to say thank you all for the hard work that you do know it's not easy, and I just want to know that. Want you all to know that, you know I'm going to continue to try my best to work with you. You know, I know some of you all may not like my comments, some of you all may not like my candor, but I come in love. I come in peace, and I also come representing those unheard voices that are frustrated or, you know, literally don't want to have anything to do with this. But basically, I just want to come and say, in regards to what we've been talking about the past few months, is how to better communicate with residents, and also how to be more efficient. You know, when it comes down to easy pay lifeline, you know, water issue, we should be doing what we can to serve the customers. Yes, thank you all for you know, taking our suggestions and doing what you can. But you know you can. You have improvement to do more. You have improvement to be better. You have improvement to recommend. Take recommendations that makes you better. You know, we want to see the water department win. We want to see it rebuild trust. We want to we want to see it rebuild the dignity that customers could come down that they're having problems and that they should be serviced. It should be a pleasant experience. No one should leave frustrated, angry or slam the phone in frustration that they can't get their answers heard. We do. Thank the director, Mr. Gary Brown, for everything he does in trying to, you know, but it took a long time. I'm faced with history that I can't get over, trauma that I cannot remove, and no therapist only Jesus can help that trauma be removed. But I'm trying the best I know how, because there could have been times I could have given up, I could have stopped I could have thrown wave the white towel, but due to this organization and to the grace of God that we're still here to help residents and to help the community, we want to be a light, I have way more opportunity and forever To get around then Wayne Metro does. So you can collect millions of dollars, but what have you done to make the millions of dollars work instead of squandering it? That's what I felt all these years, and hopefully in my 10 year review that I'm putting together, it's not looking we've been through leaps and bounds and hurdles, because I remember we didn't have a customer service line, or we didn't have any communication. I'm thankful for where we came from all these years and where we are today. We could do a lot more better with that being said, thank you for taking my comments and have a great, wonderful

    day. Thank you, and thank you for your comments, and thank you for all the work that you do on behalf of the residents and customers in its in the city of Detroit, and I will now ask Mr. Pickenpot, is there anyone else who was asked to be recognized by zoom or telephone to address this committee?

    Yes, so there is one more hand raised, Mr. Chair, and it is Norell and pill.

    Thank you. You may proceed. Miss empell,

    good afternoon. I just have a quick question.

    Can you give us

    the reporting requirement for different metrics, as far as like shut off and restoration. I know that we used to get that in our bills, but that's not in the bills anymore. And how can we get that information to know how many households are currently shut off, how many households have been restored, how long the average shot period is, as Commissioner forte, excuse me, as Commissioner Garcia mentioned, there are a lot of people who are having hardship, various hardships, at this point right now, and it would be helpful to know how we can prepare to help residents of Detroit. Thank

    Miss. Thank you. There are no other hands raised.

    Okay, okay. Thank you. Okay at this time, public participant, public participation. Public comment is closed, okay? We will now go to communications. Under communications, we have the FOIA Report for the month of May. Is there a motion to receive and file this report

    here? I will move that we receive and file the FOIA report for May 2025,

    and I support that at this time, all those in favor signify by saying, aye, aye. Those opposed. This item stands approved. Next item is item b2, 025, dash, 130 receipt of the litigation report, before I ask for a motion on this, I'd just like to let the Office of General Counsel, or the person who's standing in today to recognize I would like to schedule at our next meeting, basically a closed session, If that is appropriate, to discuss a litigation strategy associated with some items I saw listed in that in that report,

    Mr. Chair, this is Scott McGriff, DWSD, General, I didn't know you were on that's no problem. Happy to schedule a closed session. And if you if we can connect between now and the next committee meeting, and for the specific items, I can make sure that I we have all the information that you would like to discuss, ready and

    available. Okay, thank you. There's no specific item listed. It's just general since as really how we're addressing those, some of those items, Yep, thank

    you. Happy to happy to talk, happy to discuss.

    Thank you. Okay, a motion is in order to receive and file the litigation report.

    Chair I would move that we receive and file the report.

    Okay, support. I support it. All those in favor, signify by saying aye, aye. Those opposed, this item stands approved. Next item on the agenda is on finished business. I know of none. Then the next item on agenda is Item a new business. And under new business, we have item a 2025, on the board of water commissioner for the city of Detroit water and sewage department to approve the following information technology policy. This is an artificial intelligence and machine learning acceptable use. And at this time, I'd like to ask, first, I'll ask for, well, I'll ask for a motion first,

    Mr. Chair,

    and I support it. And at this time, I'd like to ask who's presenting for this item.

    Mr. Chair. I believe that Deputy General Counsel, Nikita branch Benson, is online and will present on this item and on Item b,

    okay, at this time, before we proceed, I'd like to ask for a motion to be read, be read, be made as relates to the second item. Go back to the agenda, please. Thank you

    coming up for me. Okay, so

    the agenda would like a motion to be made on that second item as

    well. Yeah, now I have it. Okay.

    Okay, so motion is in order to

    in order for Item b, a and b will be considered jointly. And can you read that in for the record, Commissioner Blackman Oh, that the Board of

    Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department approves the following information technology policy, artificial intelligence and machine learning, acceptable use, and that we approve the policy for data usage and classification policy.

    I support that,

    Mr. Chair. I would like to also note that in addition to Deputy General Counsel, we also have Neil go sign available online to also present on these items.

    Thank you. This is something new for us, so let's get into it.

    So thank you, Mr. Chair Nakia branch Vincent, Deputy General Counsel for Detroit water and sewage department. Just by way of background, we are in the process of updating and reviewing policies. So there will be several policies that we will bring before this committee in the couple coming months. Starting out, we do have, as you stated, the artificial intelligence and machine use, I'm sorry, a machine learning acceptable use policy as well as a data usage and classification policy. And these are both policies in the Information Technology Division of DWSD. And with us is a Neil Goldstein, Chief planning officer, who will be able to provide some specifics relating to those IT policies, and, of course, answer any questions that you may have.

    Yes. Commissioner Blackman, I have not been

    able to pull up the

    attachments and read them. I cannot read there's maybe I'm doing something wrong, but they're so small I can't read them. So I am not able to really comment on the acceptable use of artificial intelligence or the data usage and classification policy. I wasn't able to make them large. Okay,

    Mr. Mr. McGriff, can I ask you something? Yes, sir. Okay, how urgent is these policies to be actually voted on today? Can we push them off to next month?

    What? What I would suggest is allow Mr. Go sign to make the presentation so that you can hear the presentation that will give both you and commission and Commissioner Blackman time to read and we can separately email you these policies and then vote on them again next month, if you'd like to do that. Yes,

    I've had an opportunity to review them, but I just want to make sure she was as well. But we guess I agree with you. We can proceed with the presentations today. Agree.

    Okay, okay, you can start

    Anil, are you on it?

    So just making sure everybody can see the presentation,

    yes. All right, yeah. Good

    afternoon. Commissioners, committee chair, another go sign, Chief Strategy and Planning Officer. There are two policies that we're talking about. The first one is going to be about the AI machine learning. So

    just to give you a brief overview before I hit the slides, the AI policy for DWSD aims to establish guidelines for the ethical, responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence within our operations. This policy helps to ensure that AI is used to improve utility operations, enhance customer service and optimize resource allocation while addressing potential risks and ethical concerns. The policy establishes clear guidelines for AI decision making, ensuring transparency and accountability for the outcomes of AI systems with DWSD and its vendors, this policy aims to guide the development, implementation and monitoring of AI systems to maximize their benefits while mitigating potential risks, including those related to safety, accuracy, fairness and transparency. The just as we have been doing with cybersecurity, we will be rolling out training plans with employees, as well as guidance, direct guidelines for DWC staff on the use of AI policy, as well as working with vendors before any of those are implemented. Do there are going to be prohibited uses where AI is going to be utilized, the emotional analysis, performance evaluations, social scoring and manipulating cognitive behavior are going to be definitely some of the ones that we prevent before I go on to data usage and classification, any questions on that part of it?

    Yes, I was just, I was just typing something into, okay, I'm

    wondering why this is legal. Rather, do you appreciate

    that question? I didn't hear you. Commissioner Blackman,

    question is, why is this issue rather than HR issue?

    So most of the H, most of the AI technology, is within most of the platforms that dw have. So we have been in discussions with a lot of the vendors. A lot of them are adding AI tools or machine learning into what their platform offers. So just around what machine learning and the coding is is something that we're looking at and also trying to make sure that we understand how they're applied in many of the platforms utilized by customer service operations or anybody else. So HR is involved as well as operations and legal around, how do we monitor this, as well as how we would utilize any of the data applications associated with artificial intelligence?

    I agree with legal leading this as relates to because there's a lot of implement implications, should anything go awry associated with the use of this new technology. So I think that's a good judgment call on the directors part, to have legal take be the lead on this particular implementation and roll out of this technology.

    I agree that, but it just seems broader to me, so I'll wait to see how it how it unfolds.

    Well, we are at once we have the policy. We will be working with vendors around guidelines and processes around how it's actually implement implemented. Thank you. All right, so I'll move on to the second policy, data usage and classification. This data classification policies primary purpose is within the records management program at DWSD to establish a structured way to categorize and protect information based on a sensitivity and risk level. This policy helps DWC manage our data more effectively, ensure compliance with regulations, protect confidential and sensitive data and maintain security data classification, establishes clear retention policies and procedures, facilitating efficiency, efficient record management for legal and compliance purposes. This policy is also aligned to the City of Detroit's Executive Order, 2019, 01, that established a records management policy addressing the retention and disposal of City of Detroit records. And as this slide says, we have four categories critical, restricted, internal and public. As DWSD recategorizes all of its documents within our current document management system, this is how they're going to be tagged within the system for retention purposes, deletion purposes, and classifications to be shared, as we have been started since last year. There's been ongoing training with DW staff on records management practices.

    And with that, I'll take any questions.

    Let me ask Commissioner Blackman, do you have any questions associated with the presentation that was just made?

    Raise the the questions that i i that I think are what we're more detailed information that I need. I appreciate the process we're going through, but I think it's, it's more detailed than the overview, so to speak, that I'm seeing. But I'm certainly happy that legal is engaged to make sure that we're covering all of

    our bases, right? Yeah, that's why I meant, I meant to say the General Counsel is leading this, because this is, like you mentioned, there's a lot of questions as we're rolling out this on this policy and whatnot, and I guess this technology, but I have been reading, once you get the full policy, I think it may speak to some of the concerns that you're that you're they have, and so,

    Mr. McGriff,

    yeah, Mr. Chairman, let me say that first of all, we we present the policy, because all of the policies come through legal, but it's really Mr. Go sign. That is the is the brains behind this and the effort behind this, and and I want to also stress your point. And Mary Commissioner blackens point, which is this is a whole of organization effort we're putting in the we're helping to put in place the policy, the policy right, but not implementation right. And Mr. Go sign is going to help us lead the the training and and implementation of what we're going to do, but it's a whole of organization type of effort, and so it's going to impact HR, it's going to impact operations, it's going to impact procurement, it's going to impact our vendors. It's going to impact our IT staff. It impacts everybody and and we always run the policies through legal to ensure compliance with a lot of the different things that we have to do. But you both are correct when you point out the broad nature of this policy and the broad reach and Commissioner Blackman, I'll also say that by allowing the presentations to proceed today and voting in the next committee meeting. It will give give you time to go through the details, and you may have more questions, and there'll be an opportunity to ask those questions next time

    as well. I just was not able to access the attachments.

    That's, that's, that's fine, that's not a problem. We're happy to we're happy to accommodate that. Thank you.

    Thank you. Okay, so we'll be prepared to take action and receive any further comments at the next meeting.

    Okay? Chair, yes. So just for the record, should we are we tabling these two items to the next meeting?

    We'll take a motion to pass for the day, I'll entertain a motion to pass for the day in which they will just automatically show up as at the next on the next agenda,

    a motion to pass

    for the day. Yep.

    Go ahead. Commissioner

    black, I just, I just saying I was not familiar with

    emotion to pass, right? That's my Exactly, okay,

    because we're waiting for further discussion.

    Okay, so, so then what it would appear? Okay, so without any action, so we're discussing this, and we're not take action. So it would be considered old business or unfinished business at the at the next meeting, so it can it appear on it on the next agenda is old business, yeah, okay, unfinished. Okay, I'll put under unfinished, unfinished business. I'm sorry, I'm finished business. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Okay, so the next item on the agenda is the paling planning calendar. And at some point in this, in this dispensation, we will Mr. McGriff and I will get together and work out a planning calendar, and I'll touch bases with them between this meeting, between the next meeting, and so the next meeting, next item on the agenda is other business, no, if none, and the next item is Next meeting, and that's scheduled for July, the second, 2025, and at this time, a motion to adjourn is in order. Mr. Chair support all those in favor signify by saying, aye. Aye. Those opposed. The meeting stands adjourned. Thank you

    very much. Thank you, everyone. You