the Detroit Board of Water commissioners order advisory council meeting will now come to order. Would you please call the roll?
Council Chair. Can lot council member present. Council member Coleman,
we will recess until we have A forum. Recess to the Quality chair. I'm sorry. I
I we'll talk
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that Mr. Him,
Mr. Chair.
The meeting of the Water Advisory Council will now reconvene. Let the record reflect that member, Council Member, John Henry Davis has joined us. Next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda. A motion is in order to approve the agenda. Hold on. Take a roll again. Okay, okay, at this time I like to go back to item two. Roll call. Please call the roll.
Okay. I cannot Council Member Davis, Council Member einhauser, Council Member Coleman, Council Member EULA,
yes, yes,
and council members black men. Garcia plans to attend, and forte plans to attend, but as of now, we have a quorum. Thank you.
Next item on the agenda is approval. Agenda. Motion is in order. It's been moved and support those in favor signify by saying aye, aye. Those opposed. This item sends approved. Next item on the agenda is the approval of the meeting minutes from November 15, 2023, a motion is in order of adoption. It's been moved. Is there support? It's been moved in support to
support,
to approve the previous meeting minutes. All those in favor. Signify by saying, aye. Aye Opposed. This item stands approved. Next item on the agenda. Agenda is Item five, public participation. Who will be reading the instructions?
Mr. Chair, Brian Peckham, Paul, Public Affairs, Director for DWSD, I'll read the instructions today to make a comment. If you are in person, please sign the sign in sheet. Your name will be called and you can proceed, proceed to the microphone. If you are online, please raise your hand by using the raise hand icon on your desktop or mobile device. If you are calling into the meeting by phone. Press star nine to raise your hand if you are calling. If you are online using the zoom app or on the phone, after your name is called, you will get permission to unmute. In order to begin speaking, you will have to unmute yourself to do so, press unmute button, which is the microphone icon if you're online or on the app, or star six, if you are calling in, you will have a limit. Excuse me, you will have a limit of two minutes for your public comment. There will be a timer indicating your remaining time. If you're online and make a comment, we kindly request you fill out the comment card link that's located in the chat. By filling out the card, we will have your contact information to follow up appropriately. If you are unable to click the link, please let us know, and the phone number will be provided to you. You will only be called upon once. Once the chair closes public comment. There will be no other comments for the public, and all attendees will remain muted for the duration of the meeting. On site, comments will go first, followed by online and on the phone and Mr. Chair, we have no individuals on site, so they'll be all via zoom, sir. And the first person is Mr. Dmiko Williams,
thank you.
Yes. Hello, commissioners. Good afternoon. Damico Williams, Chief Executive Director of hydrate Detroit, I want to say thank you so much for having our organization and my partner, Beulah Walker, on the committee. This is very awesome, and we are appreciative of the five years of leadership that we've been able to collaborate with the department I call today because I'm very concerned about the recent events surrounding our lead in the water. I was just hoping that someone would say and assure the city of one thing, that we're not going to be another flank, because we've had residents over the weekend freaking out on social media, calling us and asking us questions about this letter. I had no indication or no idea that this letter even went out until I was told about it and was sent a copy. I also want to know what mitigation efforts have you done to assure customers of the system that the water is safe? I've also read the handouts and the information that was provided. Uh, thank you for doing so at least. Thank you for giving us a communication. But it should have been cleared up as to assuring fears, um, that we will not be like Flint, that this will not happen like the people of Flint. Um, most definitely, there should be efforts made to pass out bottled water and filters to homes that are affected by lead. I remember that I asked Samuel Smalley a few years ago, why haven't you reached us to do outreach communication to our citizens and residents and clients that we serve that would sign up for the testing 50 homes is not enough. How are those 50 homes being, uh, engaged, um, and, and also, I, I think my time just ran out. But thank you so much for taking my comment.
Thank you, Mister Williams,
Mr. Chair, Mr. Williams was the only person that had his hand raised.
Thank you. Public comment is public participation is now closed. The next item on the agenda is communications. I know of none next item, unfinished business. There is none. Next item, new business under new business. Item, a Excuse me.
Okay, lead and copper test results Michigan, Department of Environment, Great Lakes and energy. Mr. Smalley,
thank you. Mr. Chair. Sam Smalley, Deputy Director, this is a verbal update on our 2024 lead and copper rule, sampling and testing requirements the Safe Drinking Water Act, both federal and state require us to annually sample 50 houses for leading copper through the months of beginning in June through the end of September. We take 50 samples that are spread out all over the city, so that it's a fair representation of our entire distribution system, including the three water treatment plants operated by Great Lakes Water Authority. The action level for lead is 15 parts per billion, and this year, unofficially, our number is at 12. I say unofficially, because we turn the results in at the end of September, but Egle typically waits until December, sometimes before they officially post our results. For those communities that exceeded the action level, they typically find out within a day or two, directly from Egle. So these are unofficial results, but we feel very confident that we are once again compliant with the Safe Drinking Water Act and the lead and copper rule, and no additional action is required at this time.
Mr. Smalley, you heard the comment that Mr. Williams stated, and then, of course, there was a news report regarding the letters that went out. Can you please for the record, just, you know, explain, you know, one, what the letter was, as well as clear up any confusion that may be out there, to the best of your ability,
Sure, let me take it with any record.
I'm not sure who
at the beginning of the normal meeting when we have all the board members and a larger crowd. I'm going to give a complete explanation that
off to the regular full board meeting. Thank you. Appreciate that. Okay, does that conclude your report? Any additional any additional questions of the report as received and okay, we'll now go to the next item out, Item c2, 024, dash, 245, outreach material, oh, yes,
let it be
okay. Yes, okay, that was that okay? B, I'm sorry. The next one is a recommend item. B2, 024, dash, 244, thought that was going to recommend city of Detroit, border water commissioners approval of the WSD that service line replacement policy. Miss pots beach.
Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Deborah pospich. I'm Senior Advisor to the director on special projects, and I'm here to present dw, SDS official lead line replacement policy to this advisory council. And one of the duties of this advisory council is to review outreach materials to advise and recommend regarding policy decisions of the department, and very specifically, you advise as to the department's course of action when a customer does not allow us into the home to replace their lead service line. So we will talk about that this afternoon. I'm going to share my screen for a PowerPoint that summarizes the policy. Thank
There we go. As I stay stated, this is Detroit's lead service line replacement policy. And up to this point, you all have heard various presentations about lead line removal, about our outreach materials, but to this point, we had never prepared a formal, written policy for the public or for the board to review and approve. So we're going to cover several key topics here. I'm not going to go through the policy paragraph by paragraph. So these are the topics that we will cover today. I first of all is identifying lead lines. Who has a lead line? How do we prepare our inventory? Our official source for the inventory is our GIS mapping system, and we populate that with data from when we replace lead lines out in the field, we update that into the system, results of hydro excavations, demolition records, field maps, engineering records. All this is uploaded into the map, and that map is published online for public review. So here's a snip of what you would see if you went to the map online. And there's a legend showing in bold font which lines were verified as what their content is, copper, lead, galvanized iron. And then the faint colored lines are assumed based on data and predictive modeling and such. So I'm going to, if this works, I'm going to take us to the link.
I have to stop sharing. Reshare. Okay, so
All right, worked. So this, when you first log into the map, you see the whole city, and of course, you have to zero in to find out what's going on in each neighborhood. We couldn't plot the whole map where you see it visually right from the start. So you zoom in, and as you zoom in, you see the neighborhood, the parcels. There's a bit of delay, because I'm sharing screen, but it's slowly coming in. I
Okay, I think you see a couple of green lines here. They're faint green lines. These are assumed to be copper lines. Down here is going a little closer. Here's a red one that's assumed to be lead line, but you can just drag it around and find different areas of the city, or you can address and go right to a specific house.
And this is our building right here that we're in, and right down here, you could see our cop, our assumed copper line, so any member of the public could go in and put an address for a house and see what kind of line they have. I'll go back to my PowerPoint any questions about the map. We've also prepared a tutorial on our website, so you could go in there and get lessons how to use the map before you actually enter into it.
Question, did you say that the map will tell you if you have a copper,
yes, copper or lead, and it will show the public side and the private side. And if you hover over the line, I'm not sure if it'll Yeah, there we go. You can hover over the colored line, and it will give you, in words, what's going on at that at that property. So it has the neighborhood type of line. It says the material assumed is copper, how we were able to confirm the information. It's physical verification, in this instance, the private side material that one's not filled in on this particular property, but what council district it's in. So there's a lot of demographic information in here, and details, if you just hover over the line for that property. So every parcel in the city is in here. I
if you're if the property is unknown, is there a color coding for that?
Oh, the color coding will be a faint color of red, if it's it's assumed copper, I mean assumed lead or assumed galvanized. That's the
point. They haven't been verified. But this is what we assume, that property to be
correct, and everything that's not verified in bold colors, is considered unknown in the eyes of EPA regulations. And you know, as we populate the map, as we do the work, more unknowns will become knowns, and less and less people will receive a letter each year saying unknown because the work and and etc, will confirm what it is, what type of line it is.
So, so this map is really the first iteration. It will evolve. The data would will get better and better as we do more service lines and put eyes on properties. But this is our first attempt to get something on the internet that people can go to their particular home and at least know what we assume that property to be okay. And
if some a member of the public has information, it goes downstairs, for example, and scratches their service line and finds out that it is indeed led, they can upload that photo, that information to us in a smart sheet, and we will use that information to update this GIS mapping. So until we until we personally, get to every home, the public themselves can confirm the materials on the private side of their home, and we will use that information for this map, because what the regulations are looking for is Eyes, eyes on the pipe, physical verification versus the predictive modeling Commissioner forte.
So what percent in today's version of the map would be assumed to be known or assumed and or assumed?
Molly answer, that
we have 120 lines that we know are galvanized. We have 9800 lead lines that we know are LED, and we have about 220,000 that are currently unknown,
likely weekly that those numbers will start to change, you know, tip the scales to more of the knowns.
I think just at this particular point, I just like to add that DWSD is going to do its part. We're going to remove these lines as quickly as the money will allow us to do it. However, the public has a responsibility also, and they we're going to do this at our cost, even though it's a private line, but we need them to self report what material is in their basement if they have the ability to do that, to to help us with additional data that will make this map more accurate to self report by sending us a photo and letting us use that data in our analysis.
Our website teaching people how to do that. Go in your basement, don't
ask that question, shows you how to do it.
One other data point that I forgot to mention, we also have over about 19,000 services that we have verified are not led copper or they are copper or plastic. So there's another 19,000 that we've already physically verified,
and those customers, if I'm correct, did not receive a letter at all, because it's not necessary to notify them of the potential for lead.
Any additional questions. MS, Patrice, does that conclude your report?
I need sharing rights again, please.
It's hard to go live with our internet
side. Whose lines we replace first? How do we prioritize our work? We have two types of projects, planned projects, unplanned projects. The plan projects are based on computerized modeling and certain criteria. How many lead lines have been verified in a certain neighborhood? Is this a vulnerable neighborhood with lot of low income households, kids and seniors? The density of lead lines. Does the neighborhood have two, two lead lines on the block, or 22? The age of the assets and infrastructure in that neighborhood? Can we combine it with a water main project, for example? And we look at neighborhood boundaries so those are carefully planned out ahead of time that we will go to those neighborhoods and replace lead lines along with other work. Then there's our unplanned projects, these. We call these one offs, and we will go to a household if the child tests positive for blood lead levels. Now, in in every case we know of, it's due to lead paint that the child tested positive for lead, but we will, as a precaution, the health department will notify us, and we will go out there and replace the lead service line as well. If there's repairs being done at the home that expose a lead line and disturb it, we will go out there and replace that lead service line. If we're doing some, some sort of water main work, a repair or something, and we uncover a lead service line. We will repair. We will replace that. Or if a house tests high for lead in the water, we will go out there and replace the lead service line.
All right, communicating with our residents very, very important. So at the time of hydro excavation, and this picture here is a picture of what it looks like when we're hydro excavating in the neighborhood, this vector chuckled, suck out the dirt all the way down to the stop box and expose both the private side and the public side, and that's how we verify what kind of line is down there. So once we do that, we will notify the customer with this type of card here, door hanger, what type of material we found, and if we find that there was lead material, we will provide a filter picture and cartridges, six months worth of cartridges, and this is a picture of the box of the cartridges in the filter. So our goal is to replace the lead line as soon as possible, within 30 days, but certainly no more than six months. But we will always make sure that there is enough cartridges and and filters to go well in excess of six months of finally replacing the line. Okay, we also communicate with our residents again before we actually replace the lead service line. So about 45 days prior, we will have a neighborhood meeting. And this is a picture here of Mr. Smalley having a meeting with the neighborhood. We pass out all types of literature, which you all have seen in prior meetings. And our goal is to obtain an agreement from every customer allowing us to enter the home to finish the job at the meter setup, so either the owner or the resident is allowed to sign that agreement, and we make three attempts to advise you of when we will be on your block replacing lead lines because we're turning off the water. So we give you advance notice. So here we are doing the work. We start on the outside. Here's some pictures of what it looks like as we're doing the work. That's the directional bore machine on the right side. And then we have to come inside. And this is a very important slide here. I'm going to slow it down a little bit. Um, um, the resident needs to sign the agreement allowing us to enter and the resident has to make sure it's safe to enter the home. For example, are there stairs down to the basement to even get at the meter set up? So we will make three attempts to to make sure we can get inside that home, get that agreement signed, make sure it's safe if we cannot enter the home. Part of a water main project, we're going to do our work. We're going to replace the water main in the street. We'll replace our side of the service line if it's led. But if you don't send we will not you. We will not connect you up to that new main, and the water will not be restored to your household. Excuse
me, Debbie, we do have to pause this meeting to open up the general meeting.
We'll recess to the call of the chair.
Would like to call to order the November meeting of the Detroit Board of Water commissioners and ask that the row be called
chair price and einhas, Commissioner Davis, Commissioner Coleman, Commissioner Garcia, Commissioner Garcia, Commissioner candlock, Commissioner forte and Vice Chairperson, Blackman is absent today, Mr. Chair. We have a quorum.
Let's recess until the call of the chair.
We reconvene, possibly you may continue. Okay, let the record reflect that we have two council members join us. We have Commissioner Garcia as well as Commissioner forte.
Yes, good afternoon. I guess my question is that the letter went out in the community about the May, maybe
full board, yeah, yep, thank you. No.
Get here today to
continue so we're not going to connect your old bloodline to our brand new main, so you will not have water service when we put in a new main, if we're doing one offs on the street and we're not allowed to enter your home, we will replace the public side if it's led and we're going to kill the line to your home the existing lead line, and you will not have Water service. Why do we do this? It's to protect public health from backflow. We don't want any lead from your existing lead line to back flow into our brand new water main or into your neighbors homes who just received a new copper line. This is for the protection of the public health. So DWSD in this policy reserves the right to obtain a court order to enter your home. And I neglected to mention that this policy was drafted with advice and counsel of water advocates, and specifically people very knowledgeable about lead in water, so they actually recommended that this be included in our policy. This was the policy in Benton Harbor to obtain court orders to enter a home if it presented a public health risk. I don't believe Benton Harbor had to resort to that, but that option is still there. Lastly, you'll see in this bottom picture, here is a meter setup. This is what it looks like. And once we connect the new line to the home and come through the basement wall, we need to connect up to the meter, and you may receive a new meter as well. So our goal is to do that meter setup on the same day we put in your lead service line, but sometimes we don't have a crew available, and they'll have to come back. So if we have to come back, we'll give you three chances, and we may turn off your water if you don't let us come back in. There may be extenuating circumstances, but the meter needs to be put in. That's how we measure your usage and Bill bill you for service. I'm a pause here, since this is such an important slide that you see, if there's any questions,
are there any questions Commissioner Garcia,
I guess my question is, is that the sign agreement allowed to enter the home. I feel that in our community, there's a lot of fear about opening the doors. So that is one of the things that are concerning me. I don't know the letters that agreement went out in different languages, so we can make sure that people understand what they have to comply with. That's number two. And then the issue is very clear that maybe an educational campaign ahead of time may help educating our residents, how the importance about the about the lead lead pipe issues that. And I guess it's, I think the fear is that, you know, is there, is there lead now? And why are they doing this? You know, those are all the questions that came up. So I just wanted to make sure that as we move forward, an educational campaign about the safety of that we are safe, but this is just a precaution, because the city is 300 years old and we may have some issues. So I'm thinking that way more so than anything else.
Thank you.
So I mean if, if you see the picture, Detroit was the first community that we went to, and we go into that community, and we do block club meetings, and the picture is, while Sam is being shown, I'm there, also we bring the city council person in, because we needed someone to be able to speak Spanish, and I can tell you, we haven't had one problem in southwest Detroit. There is one thing that's different about Southwest Detroit is that everybody had a fence, and we had to work around that fence. But other than that, our outreach program of going door to door, of having a block club meeting right out on the street, and talking to the residents, answering all of their questions with regard to exactly what was going to happen. And I am just pleasantly surprised to tell you, we got into every home without any issues. That wasn't necessarily true in northwest Detroit, where we did the same type of outreach, but weren't always allowed in. So I think the one area of the city that that we're cognizant of that we have to pay attention to the community outreach and understand the language barriers and make sure that our information is in Spanish as well as English. And I know that the council person in that district is ecstatic and pleased with our approach to community outreach prior to going in and doing the work.
So if someone did not let us in their home for whatever reason, and contact us later, we will return as quickly as we can. If it was a home where we felt it was unsafe to enter, we may require BC to inspect the home before we come back in. So ensuring safe drinking water while we're doing our work, we always follow the Safe Drinking Water Act. When we put in a new main on the street as part of these lead line replacements, the Old Main stays in service. We till that new main gets in, we flush it, pressure test it, disinfect it, we test for bacteria, and then we put the new main in service, connect all those new service lines and take the old main out of service. We provide residents with flushing instructions in writing, and there's a video, and we always ensure that there's a filter picture and six months supply of filter cartridges to to use after the work's been done. Okay? After we're done with our work, restoring your property, we will provide grass seed. We will repair sidewalks and driveways if they're interrupted, fix the basement wall where we came through with a new pipe, but we're not going to put in new carpeting or tile or drywall, and we're not going to give you new trees or flowers or shrubs if they're disturbed while we've done our work. Customer Service, first of all, we guarantee the work on that service line for one year, and if you have any questions, complaints, concerns, a claim, call customer service. They are well prized of lettuce lead replacement program, and they would be happy to help. So that summarizes our policy, and I will present this again at the full board meeting, in case different members of the public have signed in and to have a complete record, because the full Board of Water commissioners will formally approve the policy. This body's decision is whether to recommend approval of this policy to the full Board of Water commissioners. Thank you.
Any additional questions? Any additional questions at this time, motion is in order, you will find that motion, the complete motion on page six,
Commissioner forte,
yes, I would move that this body, Upon review of a proposed policy in consultation with the city of Detroit water and sewage department, DWSD, the Community Water Advisory Council for the city of Detroit, hereby recommends that the Board of Water commissioners approve the DWSD lead service line replacement policy
Support.
Boarded all those in favor. Signify by saying, aye, aye. Aye opposed this item. This item passes, and this will be forwarded to the full board for its consideration. So the next item on the agenda is Item 8c outreach material, and at this time, recognize Mr. Peckinpah,
Mr. Chair, as you see, saw Miss pop speech is presentation. Most of these outreach materials were in her slides. We're very proactive, and do have our materials in multiple languages prior to going to any area with lead service line replacement. We do provide a packet with door hater packet, because we want to make sure that the resident sees the information. We don't mail it. We rather door hang the houses where we're going to do the future inspections and lead service line replacement, where they exist, and that includes the agreement form that they can look through. And we do this before we have a committee meeting on their block, as you saw in the pictures. And director Brown mentioned our materials. We made them also available to other cities. Several cities in Michigan and across the country have asked to use our materials, and we made those available as well to share what we've learned and lead service line replacement program and our extensive outreach. So those are the materials that you see in your packet, as well as the draft press release once we get verification from Egle on our most recent compliance testing, so you can look through those and answer any questions that you may have about those materials.
Thank you, Mr. Peck and Paul, as he stated, you have the materials in front of you and this, would this presentation be presented at the full board as well.
Director Brown will be presenting about the recent lead service line notifications
be sufficient at the full board. Okay, thank you. Okay, so the next item on the agenda is Item nine other matters, I know of none. Next item is next meeting, and there is none scheduled at this time. Or is there one scheduled,
schedule next year, November, 19,
the record reflect that. And then the next item is a German emotion is on it.
I just thank the community's representative, Ms Beulah Walker, for making herself available. I know that she was working today, and we don't try out I'm working. And I just wanted to personally thank you for taking the time to be a part of this committee. It's a very important committee, and taking the time to to to help shape this policy and be a part of having it approved today. So thank you very much. Thank you.
Welcome. Thank you.
Okay, so the next item is a motion is already to adjourn? Is there support? It's been moved and supported. Adjourned. All those in favor signify saying, aye, aye. Those opposed meeting since adjourned. Thank you. You
Hey, Mike, so right before public comment, if I could address the letter that went out, they put it in it Okay, thank you. I didn't know if they did.
All right, I'd like to recall to order the Board of Water commissioners meeting for November the 20th and ask that The roll be called applause. Commissioner
Cowman,
Commissioner common mercy. See you.
Commissioner came out and Commissioner forte,
the next item is the approval of the agenda, and I'd like to make a change to the agenda as it's presented. Item four is approval of minutes. I would like to insert item four a, director's remarks and item for B, introduction of the new COO for Mayor Duggan. And if there'll be a motion to adopt the agenda with those changes, Mr. Chair Commissioner Coleman,
or friendly amendment to the agenda to include the items you just said,
moved and seconded any other changes or corrections to the agenda as presented? Hearing none all those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted Next, we have the approval of the minutes of October the 16th, 2024, what is your pleasure? Approval
of the previous meeting minutes with any necessary corrections
moved Commissioner Kinloch, is there support? Support Commissioner Davis? Any corrections updates or other changes to the minutes as presented? Hearing? None. All those in favor, please say aye, and that's approved unanimously. All right, next we will go to item four. A excuse me, and that is the director's remarks. Yes, who else got that letter besides me? Okay,
thank you, Mr. Chair. I think 225,000 of our our neighbors and our residents got that letter, so I'd like to try to to address it. So as you know, we're regulated, heavily regulated by EPA as well as the state, Egle dictated that we do two things. By October 16, we were to report to EPA and inventory of all the service lines in the city of Detroit, and we did that 30 days after that, EPA, all utilities that service water service utilities in the country to Send out a letter that had the intent of doing three things. First intent was to notify your customers of what their material was made of that provided water to their homes. And if you didn't know, then you were to say that the material at this time was unknown. Secondly, it was to explain the harm that lead causes in especially children and seniors as well as adults. The third step, the third thing that had to be addressed in that letter were the steps that one could take to reduce the exposure to lead. So those were three requirements, and EPA put out a template letter to be used all over the nation, any city, community water utility that supplies water was to send out that letter with that information. And I reviewed that letter that we crafted, and I that it met all the regulatory requirements, and what got past me was how that letter would be received. Yes, it met the requirements. However, nothing stopped me from creating context around that letter to go out to explain what I'm now forced to, in hindsight, explain, and so on my part, I know better. I should have realized that, and I've apologized to city council, some of my colleagues that are receiving calls. I know that you're receiving calls, and I've done a press conference yesterday that was well received. You may have seen articles in the free press, in the news and on television. I've gone to city council to explain just what I'm explaining to you now, and I've got Brian putting a full court press along. I've asked the mayor's PR team to also get on to social media. It's pretty remarkable that we hadn't heard one thing from any news outlet based on the letter, but social media next door, specifically, Facebook, is filled with angst, rightfully so, from our customers based on that letter. So that's how it happened. So let me be clear about the lead service line program, and you know, you approve a booklet, 25 page booklet that goes out once a year. I have one at my desk that's called the Water Quality Report that thoroughly explains the lead service line program and what people can do to protect themselves. We have, we know that we have approximately 80,000 lead service lines. We also know that we have about 20,000 that are unknown. So the unknowns is if they were led. So that's 100,000 lead service lines. We know that we probably have more than 100,000 copper lines, but we cannot tell our customers that they have a copper line, unless we verify it, and the only way to verify it is to dig up the stock box in their yard and look at 18 inches on the private side and 18 inches on the public side and make A determination. So until we verify that, we said the letter that went out was correct. There are 222,000 businesses, daycare centers, residential households that we cannot verify. They have copper, so they need to treat it as if it's led until it's been verified unless they can verify it themselves. As you know, you've approved the contracts. We've already spent $100 million replacing their service lines. We've replaced more than any other utility in the country. This board has authorized me to put out an additional three contracts, 10 million each, $30 million the contractors will start this week in continuing to remove lead service lines. So that's where we are with the with that program, steps that people can take. And we've said this. We said this in the earlier meeting today, in all of the communications that have gone out my family members, and by the way, I've, I've lived in my house in the city of Detroit for 35 years. I have a one and a half inch lead service line feeding my house a three year old grandson that lives there, and an 89 year old mother in law that lives there, and we are not concerned about the water. It is safe. We have the safest water in America. I ask anyone to verify that our numbers for the last 20 years have been below the actionable level. As a board member at the Great Lakes Water Authority, we've asked them to increase the dosage on orthophosphate, which post is the substance that will coat and protect the line and keep it from leaching lead into the water. We've asked them to increase that dosage, and they've done that. It's in process right now to boost the level of protection that we are providing. So concerned, you should not be concerned about the water. But if you are concerned, there are a list of things that each homeowner can do. First thing that they should do when they get up in the morning because the water has been sitting stagnant in their household plumbing. By the way, many of our households have galvanized plumbing which has lead particles in it. So even if you were to replace the complete lead service line with a copper line that new water is going into a household that has galvanized pipes that could have lead particles. So no matter whether your line is copper, galvanized or lead, you should run your water for three to five minutes prior to drink or using it to cook. Now, what do we do in my house? So every everybody that works for me knows I get up very early, 430 in the morning, and I go for a run, then I take a shower. Nobody's up shower. I'm pulling the water out of my household pipes and out of the lead service line, and I'm feeding fresh water into the system. This morning, I went to reach for a coffee cup. The dishwasher hadn't been turned on, so I pushed start, and guess what happens now you're pulling fresh water through your household as well as
getting it out of the lead pipe. Coffee. I run the water for three to five minutes before I use it, and again, I'm bringing fresh water into my house and flushing my system. Now that that's that's our household routine, but everyone should find a routine to flush their household system, and I would recommend it, unless they've got brand new copper pipes in their home and a new copper line. I would recommend whether the line is galvanized, whether it's lead, whether it's plastic that they routinely flush their system before they drink the water or cook with it. Secondly, use only cold water for drinking and cooking. If I ask everybody in the room to raise their hand, when's the last time you flushed your hot water tank? Because if you did, you'd see a lot of particles, rust particles coming out of that tank. And so hot water will exasperate the problem. It will not kill lead. When we ask you to bore your water, we're asking you to kill bacteria. It will not kill lead. So use cold water for cooking as well as drinking if you really have concerns, use a filter. We give them out when we're doing construction on lead service lines. As a precautionary measure, we want you to use an NS P 53 rated filter that's designed to take lead out. They sell them at Home Depot and at just about every hardware if you have a concern, if you have children, get your kids tested when you take them in for an annual checkup. Have them tested for lead. If you're concerned, have them tested for lead. There has one kid since I've been here that's tested positive for lead in Oakland, Macomb Wayne, or the city of Detroit, and the lead was contributed to the water and in Detroit, if a kid goes to the doctor and tests positive, that doctor's office, that clinic, that hospital, has to report it to the Health Department. Guess what? The City runs the health department. I tell the health department, if you have one kid test positive for lead, we will test their water, just so their family can rule that out and and look for the real cause of that kids lead poisoning, which in this city, is just 100% always hate, not the water, but as a precautionary measure, even if it, even if the test doesn't test above the actionable level, we'll replace the line if it's even a little abnormal. And so we're going out of our way to make sure that our children are tested, our children are protected, and that their parents can be reassured that it's not the water and find out the real cause. You should identify older plumbing fixtures in your home so that you know whether or not you have galvanized you may have copper that was soldered with lead, which is the way copper was installed. And so your internal plumbing have lead, and you need to know that so that you can flush your system prior to cooking or drinking that water.
Finally,
we recommend that you flush your aerators. Those are the screens on your faucets. They're designed to collect particles, and if any of those of those particles are lead, you're running water through your faucet aerator, and you're running it through lead. And so we ask you to flush your aerators. And so I'll close with First of all, dw is d is doing? We're doing our part. We're replacing more lead service lines. That removes the risk, not 100% but certainly from our system. Again, we've replaced more than 10,000 lines this year. We've spent more than $100 million in doing it, and we have $30 million in contracts on the street right now. Sam Smalley has applied to the state SRF fund for another 100 million dollars for next year in the tune of five grants for $20 million each, we have done a remarkable job at building the capacity in this City, the contracted capacity, to get this work done. The only thing stopping us from going faster is the money. Now nobody knows better than this board that I can't pass $100 million on to rate payers without having a negative effect on rates and causing those that are below poverty to not be able to afford the bill. The water not only has to be clean and it is, it has to be safe and it is, but it also has to be affordable.
Finally,
this morning, directed my team to send 100 pictures and filters to the health department, in case anyone is calling there with concerns, they can hand them a picture and filter and I'll wrap it up there and be prepared to answer any questions that you have, I can assure you, and I assure the city council, by Friday, we're going to have a full PR pull together. We're already on social media now I have several people that are monitoring Facebook, all of next door, all of the social media sites. This new one that I found out about today was blue sky. I guess people are getting off of X and shifting over to blue sky. We're going to monitor them all, and we're going to answer every question, and we're going to put out literature that assures our residents that the water is safe and there's been no conspiracy. There's nothing that has happened recently that cause lead to be an issue in Detroit. Thank you,
Mr. Brown, are there? Yes,
the opportunity to have Mr. Marcus von cop come up. He's the new CEO of the city and the water department is within his portfolio. So I asked him to come over and just take a few minutes to introduce himself so that you can put a face with a name that you may see come across.
Welcome. Good afternoon, Mr.
Chairman and members of the board, thank you for letting me come over just to say hello and briefly interrupt your meeting. So I'm relatively new in the role been with the city now just four weeks, I come with 30 years of private sector experience, the last 20 of which was with JP Morgan Chase. So I'm really proud to come and do my part for the Detroit story, which is truly remarkable, and support, you know, this group and Gary and his team in any way I can. So it's my pleasure to serve, and thank you for letting me come say hello to you all.
Thank you very much, and welcome and congratulations.
Well, call me, and I'm here to help and do my part in the important mission that you all have. So I'll let you get back to important business, but thanks for letting me say hello to you. All you
commissioners. Are there any questions or comments with regard to the director's remarks or anything else for that matter? I
hearing none you know, I'll just say this. I got that thing and sat down at the dining room table and read it twice, and in another place and another time, I might have said a lawyer wrote this because it it said, We don't know if you have lead you might. We don't know if you have a lead line, but you might. You could send a sample in to get tested, but it's up to you. It. It sort of raised all the scary stuff without giving the reader any kind of independent information. And when Gary said it came from the EPA and it was required to be sent, I understood it a little bit better, but It's regretful. I mean, maybe it's a blessing in disguise that we're doing a full PR effort with regard to lead lines and reassuring people that the water is absolutely safe. It's just so unfortunate that a federal mandate put us in this awful position. I mean, my my first question to Gary was, who wrote that I was going to look around here? I can't believe anybody here would have written that, because, in the end, the the letter was meaningless. It other than to scare people, which it did. And I got on next door in my neighborhood, up in Green Acres, and people were going crazy about, what is this? What does this mean? So let's look at it as a blessing in disguise, that we can get our story out there and also lessons learned for the future. Okay, any other comments? Then let's return to our agenda, and next We're on Item five public comments. Is there any member of the public that would like to address the board today?
I'm getting the list.
Getting the list, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, would you like to give me an instruction? Says some of the people that weren't at the previous meeting. I'll try to be brief. Briefer. To make a comment. If you are in person, we will call you The chair will call you up. You've already signed the sign in sheet, you know, proceed to the microphone. If you are online, please raise your hand and we'll give you permission to unmute. If you are on calling by the by phone, press star nine to raise your hand, and the Chair will call on you and will unmute. You will have a limit of two minutes to make your comment. There will be a timer indicating your remaining time for both in person and Zoom, zoom comments. If you're online, we'll provide a link for you to make a comment and share your information so we have your contact information to follow up. And once comments are done, we will close public comment and all the participants will remain muted for the duration of the meeting. Mr. Chair, I'll bring the list to you. Thank you. You
we'll call on the people who are in the building first, and we have Jeff and Tracy Herron. You
good ms Herron,
good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for allowing me to speak on this issue concerning my water bill for property I'm buying under a land contract have been purchasing under contract for the last five years, and it's been vacant all that time, no water, no pipes, no nothing, but I do receive a drainage charge, which the building is a flat top with a slope, so everything that comes on the roof from God goes into the yard, back behind the building anyway. I'm not disputing you charging me for water that never hits the drain. I am up here to make a complaint about the charges. So I never paid any drainage charge in the five years I will call the water department about the fee. Here recently, I received two bills stating that they're transferring the unpaid water bill over to the tax row the fee. The first letter was for $1,481.31 $1,481.31 they are transferring that amount, I'm assuming this for five years, because if you take the drainage fee of $27 which was the amount, multiply that by 12, you come up with $331.56 inch multiply that by five years, you come up with $1,812 so after sending that bill, they sent me, oh, I'm sorry. They sent me two bills, one for the 14 101 for the third $331 that they were transferring over to the tax row. You can do the math. All I have is a drainage charge, and I've only owned the building since 2019 so I have, oh, and then they send me a bill for $538 and $38 that is now due. So on top of the 1800 that they say they transferring, they send me a new bill for $538 that is an overage of $629 I'm not certain if this is how you getting that 100 million to pay for that service line. But we the people, you know, we keep the lights on here. We doing our best. I'm doing my best. I keep that property Nice. Am I up in my two minutes? I'm sorry. I just had to make my complaint.
Probably trying we probably sounds like the first thing you'd like done is not to have these arrears sent to the tax assessor that we want to straighten out the amount that you owe, but you want to stop it from going over to the tax rolls. Let me ask you, you bought the property on a land contract, did you pretty transfer affidavit where the city assessor now knows that you own the property, okay? And you do understand that even though you may have been using the property or you didn't own it up to this point, that there are drainage charges that were attached to that, that property,
we closed with a title company, and we had all of that. Yeah,
people that close on a land contract don't have that, so I'm glad you did that. So somebody from my customer service, Kim, my director, is going to get with you right now, and we will work it out before you leave the building. But I might have to get involved, and I'm at the table. I promise you that if it doesn't get worked out today, no later than tomorrow, somebody from my office will call you. We want to make sure that. So we want to, you want to stop it from going to the tax assessor, and then we'll work out a fairly bill. Appreciate it.
Next May we hear from is a Dale handser,
good afternoon, Mr. Nancy,
Mr. Chair, I'm going to read on behalf of him. Okay? I want to say I agree with Gary Brown's perspective on water usage resonates with me, particularly the importance of running water for a few minutes. Our findings indicate a significant rise in sewer main slots due to limited water affordability, housing backups, furthermore reduce water usage correlates with heightened sludge accumulation and sewer fly prevent prevalence and poverty areas.
And then this.
And then the cruise root saw he has a second comment here. The crew's roots cutting efforts demonstrate inexperience and impatience. Deploying a hydraulic Patriot saw motor with a 12 inch saw blade and no guide cage in is inefficient. Covering 475 feet of 8018, inches of line clay takes 25 minutes frequently breaking saw blade and complete results. Industry standards recommend incremental blade sizing. Specialized expertise beyond basic training is required. My expertise completes 300 to 600 feet of problematic roots within five to 14 hours. There is no way they can do that faster. Consultations with global contractors indicate that 10 factor trucks could clean 2000 miles of sewer annually, highlighting inefficiencies the crew. Slow pace and frequent breaks raise concerns about motivation and potential union impacts, reassessing partnerships, prioritizing compensation over quality is advisable. The crew's lack of concern for quality and resilient, reliance on Sam smalley's teachings and low camera inspection rate only 10% this year are troubling and may result in losses due to negligence maintenance of sanitary lines. I'd like to Yeah, one last sentence here, Mister Chair, I'd like to emphasize that basic cleaning methods remove the epidermal layer from root strands, resulting in accelerated growth and thicker roots, which can increase the difficulty of future tasks to cut roots off. Best method is to cut off competing joints and taps prolong life aligned. That's it. Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much. Mr. Hanson, may I call Sheila cherry locket i Ms Lockett. How are you? Ma'am, just
have one problem.
I have a microphone, please.
I just have one problem where I live at it's a big seat hole in my backyard. It's been there over a year. I have a three year old granddaughter who's artistic. She already fell in the hole, and I didn't make 20 calls. And number, number they came out and put up a yellow and white some yellow and white things, but one of somebody knocked down because my my alley is a street. That's how we park in. Everybody goes through the alley. We don't have driveway. Big sinkhole. I need, if they come, put one of them metal things over it, to cover it that I really appreciate it. I mean, because the snow going to come, we might better see it. So I just trying to get that sinkhole taken care of, if any way possible.
Yes, ma'am, we're gonna, we're gonna try to help you with the sinkhole. So the hole is in your backyard. It's
in the alley. I have two car I have a two car garage where you park it, but then I have a two car parking space. We gotta try to come out without going into the hole, because I got a picture. It sits right behind where we come out the driveway at the park spot, and it's been there over a year.
Yes, and tomorrow, you have my assurances that we will make that at
2030 time. Even my neighbors say they be calling. Like I said, everybody use the alley to go in. So you gotta, you know,
you know now, and we're gonna make the property safe so that it's not a safety hazard to you or your kids until we can determine the best course of action on making the repair Like
say, down.
Thank you. Ms, Lockett. Melanie Phillips,
good afternoon. Miss Phillips,
good afternoon. My name is Melanie Phillips and I manage five communities in the city of Detroit, which represent close to 300 residents. We I took over management of these properties in October of 2023, and I've been trying to get access to the water bills. I've been talking to the Detroit water and sewer customer service line since that time. Today, I had a street full of people. Probably about 10 households get their water shut off because I have money to pay. I do not have access to the water bills to pay them also. I thought it was a practice that there's a door knocker put on each home the day or a few days before the water is shut off. I need a resolution today. I don't want 300 tenants not having access to water.
This is easy. We we want nothing more than to have somebody pay those bills. And so before you leave here today, we're going to give you the phone number of the lady that's standing behind you. She's going to try to get you your bills before you leave, but you'll have a direct contact so that if any of your 300 constituents is having a billing issue, you'll have a direct contact to my office to be able to resolve the issue, because we want nothing more than to and I'm so glad that there's a Property Manager involved that's willing to step up and and help get the bills paid. So thank you very much. We will try to get you as much information as we can before you leave. She's right behind you, waiting on you, and we will give you a contact number to this office so that you will never have that problem again.
Appreciate you. Is
there anyone else in the room that would like to address the board? Anyone online that would like to address the
board? Mr.
Chair, the first person is number ending in 299, all right,
is there someone online whose phone number ends in 299, and would like to address the board, please tell us your name and your address and you have the floor.
All right. If this person comes back, we'll let them in. Is there anyone else online?
Mister Chair, the next person is Cecily McClellan,
all right. Ms McClellan, thank you with us. Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon. Ma'am,
good afternoon. Thanks for this opportunity to speak. I am a representative. We the people of Detroit, excuse me, and we have some growing concerns as it relates to potential shut offs, DWSD, probably at the beginning of the October period, reported around 26,000 enrolled recipients receiving lifeline benefits. They also indicated about 15,000 had applied for recertification. That's approximately over 10,000 residents that are have not applied for recertification. And we like to know the status of those residents. Are they facing shut offs? Wayne Metro, on the other hand, has a slightly larger number. They had 16,000 over 16,000 requesting recertification. As of this week, they've completed about little over 3700 there are still 11,284 needing recertification. I am it has been our understanding that you will keep those persons on on the protective status as long as Wayne Metro is attempting to complete their recertification.
Mr. Chair, I can assure this board that no one that's in the Lifeline program, any of the 26,000 of those customers that are awaiting recertification will be shut off. They will not be shut off. Now last week, I don't know if you saw it, but Congress person, Rashida Talib and Debbie Dingell, signed off on a bill in Congress that is asking for $20 billion a year for water affordability I had, I'm not, not quite sure. I'm not quite sure how viable that the chances of that bill passing are, but they've presented it, and we've asked for a meeting with Congress, go and with the intent of asking her to support the state legislation that is pending in Lansing during the lame duck period. It's my understanding that those bills are coming up for a vote in the Senate and the House on November the third, and we should know shortly thereafter how viable that funding is, that's asking for $2 a meter on every meter in the state to be able to fund the program. With all of that said right now, DWSD is sitting on about 10 million to support the Lifeline program, and I can tell you that 30,000 people cannot be served by ten million and so we're desperately and we're asking our advocate associate to help us find additional funding to be as many people as we can, and so we're going to get we're going to get this figured out, as soon as we understand how much money we have to work with. But I'm assuring you that the folks that are in that program will not be shut off. We way to to help them, even if it's not in the Lifeline program, but they will not be shut off until this is resolved. And it doesn't look like it's going to get resolved until at least January. So that's where we are. But I can't come to this board and ask for to support a program that right now we've spent $60 million on, and we have ten million in hand for next year. And so if we don't get additional funding, we're going to have to figure something out. I can't put people into a program that I don't have dollars to support. So that's what we are. They're waiting to be recertified, and we're going to know whether or not there's additional money to support them in early November. Hope, hopefully, and if not, we've got to retool the program to fit the dollars that we have. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Miss McClellan, is there anyone else,
Mr. Chair, we have? Ms, Sonia Brown,
right?
MS, Sonia Brown, are you with us? Yes,
good afternoon. Can you hear me? Ma'am,
good afternoon. My question is, is you said that with the letters that went out, they were false and that there was no concern for the leads that were in the pipes because the chemicals that were using were handling that? My question is, is what chemicals are being used to resolve that situation where there is lead piping. And being that you said it would take over almost 10 years to remove all of the lead piping in the city. What does that look like towards the health of the residents in the city of Detroit, with that you are using to evade that
Mr. Chair through the chair. The chemical is ortho phosphate. It is used by the Great Lakes Water Authority, our wholesaler who cleans our water and also adds that additive to protect the lines. I've said this many times before, that all the lead service lines in the city of Detroit, it would be $1 billion $100 million a year for the next 10 years. And so we are going as fast as we can with the money that's available, and we won't get to some neighborhoods for seven or eight years. And so be assured that the water was safe this year, last year, five years ago, 10 years ago, the city of Detroit in the last 20 years has not exceeded the actionable level that the federal government and the state applies, and so you can be assured that your water is safe. And if you're concerned, the steps that I outlined at the beginning of the meeting should be, should be adhered to. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Miss Brown,
Mr. Chair, we have Norell,
thank you.
I'm sorry it's no
Yes. Miss Hemphill counselor,
good afternoon before I start. Cecily McClelland, still have 40 seconds in her public comment period. Did you all want to circle back and give her the remainder of her time?
Well, you noticed that I don't wield a very heavy gavel. If somebody goes over, we're not going to cut them off unless they No.
She still had 40 seconds let remaining in her time. I think she was cut off before she was finished. All right.
Do you have anything else, Miss Hemphill, oh, I
do, yes, but I didn't know if you wanted to address that and then come back to me,
if that's okay. I'm sorry,
since she still had remaining time, did you want to address that and come back to me?
She was not cut off. She stopped talking. But Miss Hemphill, why don't you tell us what it is you'd like us to hear today? Okay?
My name is Attorney Norell Hemphill. I am the Legal and Policy Manager. We the people of Detroit. My first question is about the time for public comment. We noticed that that had been changed from three minutes to two minutes. We spoke about that in the Customer Service Committee meeting last month, and they said that they would address it for committee meetings and then see if that would be changed at the Board of Water commissioners meeting as well. So I did want to lift that and ask why, though, why the time had been diminished, and if it could be restored to those three minutes for public comment, as we've said before, these the short time does not allow for a lot of discussion, which is why, when we've had larger issues, we've had to have meetings to really tease out issues that are brought up, brought up by residents. So by by reducing that short time even by 1/3 it causes a lot of confusion with residents concern and frustration. So again, if we could put that back to three minutes, I think residents would greatly appreciate that also to echo the comments that Miss Cecil McClellan raised about the Detroit lifeline plan. We've seen the RE certification period go a little slow, and right now it seems like it's going to take, it looks like six to nine months, if you just take the basic number of people who are enrolled and the number of people who have been recertified, to get recertified. So I'm glad that those residents will not be shut off during that time. And I just want to raise that water is a human right, and we need to all work together to do all that we can do to ensure that Detroit residents have adequate access to clean, safe and affordable water. It is a public health concern. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, can I? Can I just say that we're going to, as we have in the past, we're going to work very closely with we, the people of Detroit, on this issue. But it costs $188 per person recertify. That's more than $2 million and it doesn't make sense to sort of recertify people if you won't have the money to keep them in the program after January. Right now we have ten million we know how many people that will serve, and it's not 30,000 people. And so we're going to have to make some tough decisions, if we can't find additional dollars to support this program, but to recertify them all before we know what our budget will be for next year, would not be a wise use of $2 million and so yes, the process is going slow, but I have assured everyone that until this gets worked out, no one in the Lifeline program will see a service interruption. They will not see a service interruption, and will be extremely transparent through these board meetings with where Lifeline is going in the future. Thank you.
Thank you. And is there anyone else,
Mr. Chair, we have Michael Williams to Meco Williams,
Mr. Williams,
Hi, good afternoon. Board. Damico Williams, Executive Director, hydrate Detroit again, I want to thank you for having hydrate Detroit and my partner Beulah Walker on the lead Advisory Council. We work really hard in collaboration and cooperation to make sure that we are providing clean running water to all of our citizens in the city of Detroit. I'm also proud of Beulah for the experience that she has as a certified plumber and also with knowledge of the system. I'm very disappointed to hear Gary Brown not say to the city of Detroit residents that could calm fears, we're not gonna be like Flint. Why is it so hard for you to say that? Next thing is, is that you know this is a serious issue. Yes, you are. I had a pro I had an issue with the mandating of going into homes and using court order and be seed residents don't have the money that there's tenants staying in landlord houses that the landlord supposed to be doing, you need to really think about that and whatever legal issues that can come around it. And then also, in regards to making sure water filters and bottled water it half of the city drinks bottled water anyway. They don't drink from the tap. That's a very bad thing. So who knows if people really know if the water is clean or not, if they drinking bottled water, why should they have to rely on bottled water instead of relying on the tap? We don't have the best drinking water in the country. I refute that. If we did, we wouldn't have a situation like this anyway, and we should be under eight parts per billion. We've been saying this since 2015 and I just won't, don't want to go through with it again, because I made peace that you all are not going to do the right thing and take this as seriously as we do. Then the next thing about lifeline. How many people that still owe on a water bill? How many people that still owe past 90 days? And why haven't they been reached by the human flyers, which the human flyers are supposed to reach out to the
Thank you. Miko, is there anyone else?
Mr. Chair, we have Bobby's iPhone.
Would you say it again? Please?
Bobby's iPhone.
Bobby iPhone. I'm not sure if it's Mr. Bobby's iPhone. Thank you, ma'am, yes. How are you today?
I'm doing good. How are you?
Very good. Thank you.
Okay, my concern is, you sent out this letter to all the people in Detroit. Basically, there was no concern about how people were going to feel. Second of all, if you're talking about you, gave 100 filters to the to the health department, but there's over 80,000 household How are we supposed to be able to get those filters, and especially the shut in the seniors over in Franklin Park? We're not only flooding, we're we're flooding. We have bad water. Our sewages are, are, are bringing out all kind of smell, you know, this water we paid for Great Lakes to come in and take over the water department and give us better water. You're saying that this is the best water in America, but we're getting these, these letters saying that we have led we have some kind of particles in our water. Look at our children. We have children out here, and nobody seems to be caring about these children. We're not going into the schools. We're not going into the daycares and putting in a water system or something, regardless if we do or we don't have leg we need to not have a flint incident in Detroit. I want to know, How can my community, Franklin Park, get some of those water pictures brought to our area so that we can give them out to our residents, and what is going to happen to make sure that there isn't lead and that our children are not affected long term by this water situation that the EPA made Detroit sent out these papers that nobody did any research to find out why you would sit out so oblivious, to make everybody go into a panic. Thank you.
Thank you. Ma'am.
Mr. Chair, we
have Gwen Howard. GWEN Howard,
all right. Ms Howard,
good afternoon. Thanks for allowing me to speak. And of course, I'm with we, the people of Detroit, the Team Water peeps. And just to correct you, Mama Cecily was still talking, but Mr. Brown answered her question. So in him answering her question, her time ran out. Just for clarification, we're in three different places, but we all here to see the same thing. Back to Mr. Brown and the Wi Fi program. I heard you in the meeting before this meeting, specifying that there are issues with what may be going on and why the numbers are just stagnated. So I didn't hang up, because you've answered my question, but the people that the applications that are standing there that are still applying, and the numbers aren't moving to the good so that's what you mean when you say we're not going to certify them, because we don't know what 10 million is going to do. And so that issue right there, and then you're saying the people that are protected, what about the people that didn't get through? Are those that just fell through the cracks are shut off notices in coming out. I heard a lady in person down there say that they turn water off at 10 residents. So we're there now again, and our concern is still again, clean, safe and affordable water and definitely not water shut offs. With the winter and the holidays coming, that's going to be a problem for our residents that have already been heightened with fear of reading a letter and interpreting it their own way. Thanks for taking my call.
Thank you. Ms Howard,
Mr. Chair, we have Tiffany DuPont Anderson. Be Tiffany DuPont Anderson, hello,
hello, and
it's actually Tiffany, but that not there. I am a Lifeline program recipient, and I have I heard Mr. Brown say that the people have to will be informed through this meeting, which most people don't know this meeting happens. So if I wasn't, if I hadn't been part of some meetings for the we, the people Detroit Water peeps, I wouldn't know anything about this meeting. And the problem that I have with that is, not only did I not receive notification that the Lifeline program was doing research recertification, I have not received a water bill since April or May of 2024 so that can put me in jeopardy of my water being shut off. And someone else spoke about the water lines and all that. Then my neighbor, her water main has popped twice this summer, and they've been working on our lines since September, blocking the street, heavy machines everywhere. You can't get out of your driveway. But that's what, that's where in November, the end of November, that's two or three months. I can't count right now, but it's really, I mean, it's, it's inconvenient to us living here. And I could just I can attest to the fact that there's the sewer flies are everywhere. This is this. This is unacceptable on various levels. So I don't know who's going to fix it, but it needs to be fixed.
Mister Chair,
yes. Mister Chair, Mr. Brown.
We get a lot of criticism for the work that we're doing in downtown Detroit right now, Jefferson, leading into downtown Detroit, is getting a lot of work done, and it's inconvenient. It's a construction site, but we're also in neighborhoods, replacing water mains, replacing lead service lines, fixing sewers, and I apologize for the inconvenience that it causes, but this is what it looks like when you're spending $100 million in a capital improvement plan. When you're spending $100 million on repairing lead service lines, there's going to be construction in neighborhoods which is sorely needed. It's deferred maintenance that's been deferred for two decades, and again, I apologize for the inconvenience that it causes some residents to not be able to access their driveway as quickly as they like. We have inspectors out there trying to make sure that you know they're being accommodated. It was also stated that we are not doing any recertification. That's not true. We are. It's not going as fast as I know some would like, but I've asked Wayne metro to take a look at the 30,000 that we have, and to work on the most needy, the ones that, as you know, to get into this program. I believe it's 150% and I've asked them to work on the customers that are 125 the most needy seniors that are in the program. Let's get them certified and get them to the top of the list, and then we will get the rest done after we know how much money we have available for the program.
All right. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else that would like to address the board?
Mr. Chair? The last person is the whole number ending in 299 they're back,
right? Any individual online whose phone number ends in 299
Yes, thank you very much.
Yes. Can you tell us your name please?
Yes, I will. My name is Joy Sewell with the Virginia Park community coalition within the boundaries of the Virginia Park community. I have several concerns. The first concern is that I came to this board and asked them to look at my lot next to my home before you charge me another $35 a month for drainage fee. And I asked them to come out and review it and reduce the amount due to the fact that there are cracks in the asphalt, and that was 90 days ago, so I have not gotten a report or letter to that effect. And I would like that because I have another bill for this month, $35 I forgot the amount 35 and some I change. The point is, is that the lot as can be drained water those is absorbed through the asphalt. That's one. Number two. I would also like a tour. I think we as a public at one time were allowed to have a tour of the process by which the water is being processed in the city of Detroit. At that time, it was a three stage process. I don't sure what it is at this point. Number three is that in terms of filters, and I think it was brought up by someone else that the filters be given to, like the various centers, like Joseph Walker Williams centers. If there are filters out there to be provided, we would like them delivered at that center, and then our seniors, at that point, obtained them. Yeah, that's it. I just like a response to to my lot. I mean, I've had it now for 30 years, for more and as I said at that time, we thought we were going to be grandfathered in when you changed the policy to those people who had paved it and put Asheville, but we were not. So instead, she's charged drainage fee, and I, since that has happened, I'm on top of it, and I like a response to that, to my request. Thank you.
Thank you. And I believe no one else is waiting to address the board. That's correct, Mr. Chair. All right, then we'll close public participation and we will move to item six communications. Apparently there are none. Are there any items to come from commissioners
here? I'll make this quick, you know, because some of the some of the concerns that were raised today really struck a note with me and many of us have been around for a while, and some of the concerns and statements that were made about the caring and compassion and understanding of both the department, but also the role, not understanding the roles of the commission. These policies and the director and staff mentioned earlier have been worked through and developed in cooperation with our water advocates, advocate partners, and we've the board has really pressed upon the director and the team, and they have listened about developing policies that impact our customers by talking to the residents and community individuals first replacement of the lead service lines. That's something that we were when I first got on here. We were really looking forward to having finding some resources to begin a city wide process of addressing this public health issue. There's nobody on this board and no one in this department that does not understand what took place in Flint and there, we cannot allow that to be stated in short order, or in any or in fashion, that Detroit is in no way you cannot go away from this meeting ever believing that Detroit is anywhere near the recklessness that occurred in Flint. And so I just felt compelled to say that, because we this, I serve, and many of you all know I serve on a lot of boards down through the years, and this commission and this department has really worked hard in ways that could be an example to many other agencies across the state of how to work in cooperation with communities and community groups and community voices. And so we hear you, and this department has demonstrated that in this board has really pressed upon the director, and he's in the team has shown himself to be really working towards trying to resolve issues. And so I just want to say that I could not just, you know, sit here without responding to some of those statements and some of the statements made by folks who talk regularly with you and your team be in between meetings. Thank you, sir.
Any items from any other commissioners? All right, then let's move to first the consent agenda items A and B. Is there a motion? Can Commissioner forte,
I move approval of the items on the consent agenda.
And is there support? Is there any commissioner that would like either of these items to be pulled off the consent agenda and that they be considered separately, hearing none all those in favor of the motion say, aye, and that is adopted unanimously. Now we have new business items, 1080 through I think we get down to L and it's my fault we're doing this because I couldn't attend the Finance Committee, and so we weren't able to include these items on the consent agenda, but they are still here before you let's begin with item 10, a, 2024217, commissioners.
I move, yeah, I move that the Board of Water commissioners for City of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes the director to approve purchase order number 3079434, with a is Construction Equipment Corporation to provide six John Deere, 30 5g mini excavator. Excavators with trailers and attachments or total purchase amount not to exceed $900,000
support. Discussion, Ms Welsh, good afternoon
Board of Water commissioners, this request is for a purchase order of six additional mini excavators to support our DW SD list service line and maintenance and repair teams. These addition these are additions to DW SDS fleet, and will aid in the efficiencies of performing field work by minimizing disruptions these vehicle I mean, these pieces of equipment allow tight access to spaces where larger equipment is not practical. This is a sole source purchase. It does align with DW SDS procurement policy section, five point 7.5, point 11. AIS has provided a source, source letter to DWSD procurement verifying that they are the only distributor and manufacturer for these pieces of equipment. I also note that dw st fleet is predominantly for Michigan cat and John Deere, and so procurement is recommending to this board for full approval for the purchase.
Questions or comments from commissioners. All those in favor of the motion, please say aye, and that's adopted unanimously. Next item, 10, b2, 024, dash, 218, yes. Commissioner
motion to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorized the directors to approve purchase order. 3078749, with interstate trucking source incorporated for the purchase of four, five yard dump trucks with a custom debris body for a total purchase amount not to exceed $653,700.84 and authorized directors to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
And is there a second? Davis, yes. Miss, Welch, these
dump trucks will replace current out of service and age. DW, SD, dump trucks. These trucks support our operations crews by enabling them to transport masses amount, massive quantities of bulk materials, such as sand, black coal, patch, soil, different debris and different things like that. The bulk material is often used to aid in fuel repairs, whether they are restoring sites or temporary restoration until the completion of repairs. These were published for 28 days, we received four responses, and interstate truck was deemed both responsive and responsible. They have provided DWSD, current certificate of insurances as well as valid clearances. And today, procurement is recommending to the full board for approval
any questions or comments from members of the Board hearing none all those in favor, please say aye, and that is adopted unanimously, next to item 10, c2, 024219, commissioners. Commissioner Davis,
I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes the director to approve amendment number two for DW SD, contract 6004286, with Detroit grounds crew LLC for tree trimming strawberry mobile services by adding $25,000 for an amended total contract, amount not to exceed 245,000 no change to the contract term, scope of work or terms and conditions. This also authorizes the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
Support. Support Commissioner forte Miss Welsh. This contract
amendment is just to add additional funding to take the contract through term. The 25,000 will allow for invoices to be paid in the contract to close out successfully in March of 2025 as the board is aware, we cannot predict when a water main is going to break and when trees will inhibit them to doing the repairs, and so we can forecast as best possible to make sure that the funding is in line. But this additional funding is needed to take it through the term of the contract, questions
or comments from the board, hearing none all those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted. Next item, 10, e2, 024, dash, 221, commissioners, fair block
that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes the director to approve DWSD. Contract 6006738, Project dw, s9, 69 with LGC global Inc, for the inspection, rehabilitation and replacement of sewers within the West Jefferson Avenue neighborhood. For a total contract amount not to exceed $17,865,948 and a term of 546 calendar days. This also authorized the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote. And
is there support or Commissioner Coleman, Miss Welch, we're spending 17 we're spending 18 million bucks here.
This contract supports sewer repair. And in the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood, as you all aware, last year, Jefferson and Campbell, Campbell Street, we had a sinkhole that occurred there. And so as a result of the sinkhole, there was some extensive research done for those neighboring areas, and in those areas where our assets are located. This contract will go in and restore rehab and assess and repair the necessary repairs in that area. This contract was published for bids. It was out for 47 days. We received two bids in LGC, who is a Detroit headquarter in Detroit based business, was the lowest equalized bidder. DWSD is recommended to the full board for approval.
Good news, it's a Detroit contractor. Any questions or comments? Ladies and gentlemen, all those in favor, please say, aye. Those opposed,
it looks like we did skip letter D, so I do want to go back to that,
back to 2024, dash, 220, D and commissioners, what is your pleasure?
Okay, if it pleases you, I would like to read into the record and have staff to report out D as well as f and g. All right, Chair, I move that the Board of Water commissioners and the matter of 202422022220 that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorized the director to approve contract 6006725, with a is Construction Equipment Corporation for as needed John Deere equipment, repair services, parts and preventive Maintenance for a total contract amount not to exceed $750,000 and a term of five years. This also authorized the director to take other action is maybe necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote and the item of 20242024222, I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorized the director to approve DWSD contract number 60067550, Ws 743, with LGC global Inc for as needed water main replacements throughout various locations within the city of Detroit for a total contract amount not to exceed $14,225,378.50 $125,378.55 and a term of two years. And a term of two years, this would also authorize the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote. And and the final item would be two zero in this motion would be 2024223 that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorized the director to approve DWSD contract number 6006752, with Santoro Inc to provide as needed, collision and repair services for heavy duty trucks, tractors and trailers for a total contract amount not to exceed $500,000 and a term of five years. This would also authorize the director to take other such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
Motion encompasses items d, f and g, MS, Welsh,
that's for item D. This is a sole source procurement, as I just spoke on one of the previous ones, for our John deary construction equipment. This is a maintenance parts and service contract for the service of those construction equipment pieces. This allows us to send things out to them for repair. It allows them to repair under maintenance, and it also allows us to get the additional parts and service that we need to maintain, vehicles, equipment and construction pieces in house. This is a sole source procurement, but it allows us to keep our equipment and fully function in order when there is a delay with capacity and or repair time so the operations are not impacted.
Mister Chair, I do want to ask before my question continues, that we ask for a second for items. 202-422-0222 and 2223,
yes and we're gonna, we're gonna vote on them separately. All right. First item, d2, 024222, the agreement with a is all those in favor, please say aye, aye, those opposed and that is adopted next. Let's move to 2024222, this is a $14 million contract for water main replacements. Any discussion, all those in favor, please say aye. Did next. 2024223, the replacement of heavy trucks for $500,000 any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say aye, and any opposed, all right, that's adopted. I'm going to suggest we consider these one at a time, because I don't want the record to be at all confusing for spending 14 million bucks that it got it to do. So we are now on Item H,
the two last items that were voted on. I do want to give marquesia a chance to explain those to the public. For energy. I do want to give marquartia an opportunity to explain those just for the public, explain the contracts for the pub for the public that we just voted on. She had two more to go
mentor, and they've been adopted. So let's move on to H colleagues. Item 2024224, what is your pleasure
like to make a motion to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department authorized director to approve DWSD contract number 6006767, with inter with intertight Corporation provide curb stop box locks or total contract amount not to exceed $200,000 and a term of two years. This also authorizes directors to take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote
their support. It's been moved and seconded Miss Welsh, sole
source contract with intertight Corporation. They provide locks for our stop boxes. They allow the operations to go in and do service interruptions, do scheduled maintenance so that the water can be shut off. It also protects DWSD against against illegal and fraudulent water theft. This contract was not competitively bid and does align with DW SDS procurement policy for sole source purchases and intertight Corporation has provided the necessary documentation that aligns with the policy. DWSD procurement is recommending to the board for approval
any questions or comments. Commissioners then on the motion, all those in favor, please say, aye. Any opposed, all right, that is adopted. Next item, I, 2024225, commissioners, Commissioner forte, um,
I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorize the director to approve DWSD contract 6006769, with Johnson Controls, Inc for as needed HVAC, replacement and repair services for contract amount not to exceed a million dollars in a term of two years.
All right, is there second Commissioner that's been moved and seconded ms Welsh.
This contract is just for the repair of approximately 200 HVAC units throughout DWSD to have reached their critical life state, life stage. This contract was published for bids. It did yield two responses, and Johnson control was the lowest equalized bidder. They have provided copies of their insurance and valid clearances, and DWSD is recommending to the board for approval
or comments from individual board members, hearing none all those in favor of the motion, please say aye, opposed, and that is adopted. All right. Next, we have item j2, 024226, commission. Commissioners, what is your pleasure? Commissioner Garcia, all
uh, item J on page four of your agenda?
No, yeah, go ahead, Commissioner.
Move the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit Water sewage department, the director to approve the dwsw contract. 6006772, with mccounter machinery at company of Michigan, cat will utilizing the MD contract for 240000001, 65 for the rental as needed, Michigan contractor equipment for the total contract, amount not to exceed 500,000 and A term of four years, one month, 27 days.
And three minutes director to
take such other actions that may be necessary to accomplish it. The intent of the vote
moved and supported Miss Welsh
and rental with Michigan cap being procured through the state of Michigan cooperative agreement. It aligns with when we're backed up and we need to use rental equipment. We did publish, according to the procurement policy for seven days to allow for local preferences to be able to bid. It yielded no response. Michigan cat is a Detroit based certified company, and they have a location on Fourth Street in which DWSD uses to rent this equipment, and we're presenting it to the board today for approval,
questions or comments. Commissioners on the motion, all those in favor, please say aye, those opposed, and that is adopted. Next we have item k2, 024, hyphen, 227, commissioners, what is your pleasure? Commissioner Davis,
Chairman, I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes the director to approve DWSD contract number 6006782, with secure door LLC to provide pedestrian door maintenance and repair services for a total contract amount not to exceed the amount of $625,000 on a term of five years. This also authorizes the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
Davis and it's been supported Questions or comments from commissioners Miss Welsh,
be it response contract with secure doors, it is for the repair and maintenance of approximately 400 commercial, industrial and pedestrian doors throughout all five of DWSD facilities, with an annual span of about 125k It was bid out for 39 days. It only yielded one response. No bid statements were sent out and came back that they could not meet the specifications. And so DWSD procurement is recommended to the board for full approval
things or comments from commissioners Hearing none all those in favor of the motion, please say, aye, any opposed and that is adopted. Next, we come to item l2, 024228, commissioners. Commissioner Kinloch
I move that the Board of Water commissions for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorizes director to approve amendment number one to DW contract 6003967, with LGC global inc or water main repairs Ws, 719, by adding funding in the amount of seven, $750,000 For a new amended contract amount not to exceed $29,688,000 and extending the term by 60 days for a new term expiring january 29 2025 no changes to the scope of work or contract terms and conditions. This would also authorize the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,
it's been moved and supported Miss Welch.
This contract amendment is just requesting time and funding to allot for the replacement contract. This is one of our water main break contracts, which is very imperative to the effectiveness of us responding when the emergencies come up. As you are aware, we're getting ready to enter into that season when the winter comes. And so this funding would a lot for us to fully get the replacement one, which is routing and on the board later on the agenda, through the necessary processes. It does have to go to city council or whatnot. So this will allow the adequate funding and the additional time for that to take place,
thank you. Questions or comments commissioners the motion, please say, aye, those opposed, and that motion is adopted next. We are at item n, m, as in, Michael, 2024229, come. Commissioners
to Chair.
Mr. Chair, I move that the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewage department authorize the director to approve amendment number one for DWC contract number 6005722, with decoment decimah LLC for project design and building renovation services by adding 825 $825,000 in funding for a total amended contract amount not to exceed $1,675,000 no change the scope of work or the terms and conditions of this contract. This also authorizes the director to take such other action as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
It's been moved and seconded Miss Welsh. Amendment
is just to add additional funding for additional build outs projects at DWSD at the MLB and CSF facilities, the same as existing should they have the existing contract now they've had it in. The Board approved it in 2023 to renovate office spaces, ready rooms and throughout and so for us to be able to continue to take advantage of the current pricing, we're asking for an amendment so that they can do additional projects before the term ends, they still have all of their credentials in order and have been provided to DWSD, and they have agreed to the amended the additional work for this term, DWSD procurement is recommending for approval,
Questions or comments from commissioners, hearing none all those in favor of the motion, please say aye, and those opposed, and that motion is adopted. Next item, n Nancy, 2024, dash 230, Commissioner forte here,
I move that the Board of Water commissioners for City of Detroit water and sewerage department authorizes director to approve DWSD contract 6006536, with major contracting Group, Inc and dianga company. It's a joint venture for as needed water main repairs project, Ws 744, a for a total contract amount not to exceed $34,962,900 and a term of three years,
it's been moved and seconded Miss Welch.
This contract supports our field operation teams by responding to emergency water main breaks during high peak seasons. This contract does also encompass 100 I mean, a million dollars for transmission main repairs that are needed, which are our mains that can average in size of 24 inches or higher. We get about 1500 water main breaks each year, and so our internal staff cannot handle that capacity, so this contract is needed. We did bid it out for 34 days. We got three bids, and we got the joint venture back of the lowest bid from major contracting in Gallego, who are both Detroit certified businesses, and they have provided a copy of their certified joint venture credentials as well.
Venturers, that's very good questions or comments. Commissioners.
Ventures, so is it a separate company that they formed, or they just JV, this particular these particular projects, in
this particular project. Yes,
he is says, Hey, business a and business B, and coming together. But is it an official business?
It's both businesses. They're separate. They join together to do the work, but they provide an extensive detail report to the Creole department that specifies who's going to be doing what percentages of work, but they both get awarded the contractor, so they get a higher equalized credit when they be it, and so that's how they want to be it.
Point out, because this is what I've been trying to get us to do more of. This is a prime example of two companies coming together, one probably a little more proficient at doing it than the other, but it's a learning process for both companies. So I commend you
guys. Thank you. And
let me say that this is not you know guy Inga is a minority company that's in the city of Detroit. I know you know the owner that has been doing a lot of work for the city in demolition, and doesn't have a lot of experience in water main replacement, but this is what a joint venture is designed to do, to get them the experience in doing this type of work, And then hopefully that, you know, the the smaller company will become a prime in future bids, because they do have experience that they've gained through the joint venture. So it's what it was designed to do. Commissioner Lang and we listened to you, we heard you, and we're this didn't happen by accident. This happened by us strongly encouraging the larger companies to join venture with smaller company. No,
that's something that, when we did the revision and procurement policy, we were, yeah, yep, that's forgot.
This was,
I want to commend you. Hopefully we can, we can do more of these.
You look at some of these $12 million contracts, and you wonder if it couldn't be split up, but I appreciate what the director and the procurement people are saying. They got some real good encouragement to do this from us.
All right. Item, oh, 2024231, commissioners, on this last contract, 2321, doesn't do any good to do a joint contract if we can't give them the money. Any questions or comments?
One question,
Yes, Commissioner forte,
I'm just a little bit curious on the process of when the companies come together, are there bids independently solicited, and how do or are they solicited as a joint venture opportunity? And how do they come together? Just, I'm just concerned, curious about the process.
They're individually solicited as one project, and then when we do, like the pre bid conferences or different things like that, that's the opportunity for those contractors to network, discuss and then provide a joint venture. So in order for them to come in, it's not just a written agreement that they provide with their proposal or their be it, they have to go over to the city and get that certificate that states that they have provided that information on who's going to do what and what percentages. And then they Creole gives us something and gives them something that they put in their be a packet to solidify that, but they do create a supplier profile in our ERP system under the Joint name, and so it's not awarded to one company, where we have to worry about who's going to pay who, but they have a profile to set up under both names as a joint venture.
Just for the record, Linda, the federal government does a lot of this, and so I think this is, this is incredible. So I think we can really mentor a lot more companies by doing this model.
Other comments or questions. Are you ready to vote? All those in favor? Please say aye. Those opposed yes on
this vote, because I do know the owner one of these projects. So just for the record,
shake Commissioner Coleman, what you're doing. You are not involved in a conflict of interest, but even the appearance of a conflict of interest, we err on the side. So the record should reflect that Commissioner Coleman is recusing himself from consideration of this item. On the vote all those in favor say, Aye. Those opposed, Any abstentions? There is one, all right, and that motion passes item, oh, 2024231, commissioners, what is your pleasure?
Mr. Chair Commissioner,
to make a
motion to the Board of Water commissioners for the city of Detroit water and sewer department to authorize directors to approve DWSD contract number 6006808, with major contracting, Inc and guyanga company incorporated joint venture for hydrants and repairs of water mains. Ws tech, 745, for total contract amount not to exceed 8,248,000 million, $248,100 and a term of three years. This also would authorize directors to take such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote.
Support. It's been moved and seconded Miss Welsh, this
another joint venture. So you all will be happiest with the same company it is to support our field operation in their hydrant repair and water main repair work. This is an as needed contract biannually, as you know, DWSD gets hit hard with inoperable fire hydrants and different things like that, once the fire department goes out and does their inspections. And so this contracts allows us to stay current, to make sure that emergency response teams can go that we can swap out inoperable hydrants and respond to hit hydrants, which has its peaks throughout the year, just on a standard basis. And so DWSD did be at this out for 30 days. We yielded back four bids, and again, major contracting in Gallego submitted a bid as a joint venture. They were awarded the equalized, the lowest equalized credit. They have provided all of their documentations and DWSD procurement is recommending to this board for full approval.
You questions or comments, Commissioner Garcia,
just a question. As far as I can see, that 8 million, Mr. Director, doesn't mean that you will use all the 8 million, but definitely not to exceed but that means that where there's no repairs, it may not need all the 8 million. Am I correct?
Yes, you are correct. Appreciate it more comfortable, sure,
Mr. Chairman, okay, Mr. Director,
Commissioner Garcia, all right. Are we ready? Motion? All those in favor, please say, aye. Those opposed motion and that is adopted. Commissioner Ken lock has a hard stop. We have the item of the approval of the city of water, sewage, lead, service line replacement policy. We heard an extensive presentation at our earlier committee meeting. Is there any objection? Sorry, Miss Fauci, if we proceed to the vote without hearing the same presentation again? Any objection? Any objection? Thanks. Deborah is yes. Would someone please make a motion.
Mr. Chair. Brian, okay,
you have the floor Commissioner, Garcia,
pardon me. Page 88 is the motion.
Page eight on page 88 is the motion.
All right, just the top. Okay, right here. Okay, upon recommendation, so the director, Mr. Brown, Deputy Director Sam the board of director, Commissioner, City of Detroit and sewage department, hereby approved the lead service line replacement policy and authorize the director to take all such other actions as may be necessary to accomplish the intent of this vote,
it's been moved and seconded any discussion. Let me also note that all of this material will be on our website, and perhaps, I believe we videotape these meetings, the MS posh pieces presentation videotape of that should be available on the website as well. There's not too many people who are in the room that might potentially benefit from hearing it again. So, all right, any discussion. And we've talked extensively about lead lines and the policies, and the fact that we are doing this in a summary fashion does not the least bit reflect any lack of importance. In fact, it's probably one of the most important items before us. Any other discussions? Commissioners, if you're ready for the vote, all those in favor, please say, aye, those opposed, and that is adopted. All right. Next, we move to item 11, the directors metrics.
I have spoken quite a bit today, so I would recommend that the metrics portion of the director's report we go through at our next board meeting, but I would like to just highlight the last paragraph of the Director's Report. Every year we've been participating DWSD, the employees have been to participating in a trunk or treat event for the past. Last year, for sure, we got robbed. We did not win first place. We should have won first place. But be that as it may, we stepped up our game this year and this year, with sponsors, Matthew Phillips, as well as Erica may i and Sam Smalley with Project Lead Public Affairs Specialist Kara Smith, DWSD doubled it. It doubled in volunteer numbers and candy donations throughout the night, 52 DW SD volunteers and family members from multiple divisions, dressed up in costume, decorated their vehicles and passed out candy to more than 1500 children at the Detroit Police Department 12th precinct. It was that you know, it was trunk or treat. Is the night of Halloween, 12 precinct. Yeah, it's kind of my neighborhood. The volunteer team even created a sewer tunnel out of DWSD cargo vans for kids to run through as they collected their candy. So we're proud of all DWP employees who participated or donated candy, and next year we're going to sure to repeat our number one status. So great job by all I appreciate all of their help. Thank you, Mr. Chair,
that's cute.
Comments by commissioners. Any commissioners have any comments they'd like to make? Comments by the chair? I've said plenty. Are there any other matters to come before our board, hearing none a motion to adjourn in journ is in order. It's been moved. Is there support. All those in favor of adjourning say aye, and we are adjourned.
