Good morning, everyone.

Welcome to the budget workshop and regular board meeting of the Tampa Bay Water April 20th, 2026.

Um, can I let's see, this meeting was noticed in the Florida Administrative Register and on the Tampa Bay Water website.

The meeting is available for viewing through live streaming and a recording of the meeting will be posted on the agency's website.

And now our vice chair Waiteman will lead in the pledge.

One nation under Gone Indivisible Liberty and Justice.

Thank you.

You may be seated.

Yes.

Chair Hanowitz.

Here.

Present.

Here.

Commissioner Rakers?

Here.

Councilman Miranda.

Yeah.

Commissioner Oakley.

Here.

Here.

Commissioner Pete.

Here.

So we were originally going to start with a workshop, but we're going to accommodate.

We have some special guests here.

And so we're going to move items B2 Water Conservation Month Proclamation and B3, the community waterwise award, to the front.

So we have Amelia Brown, a demand management program manager here.

Good morning.

Good morning to you, Madam Chair and members of the board.

This item is an action item to declare April as Water Conservation Month.

So for the past 28 years, April has been recognized as Water Conservation Month throughout Florida.

This effort is coordinated by the Florida section of the American Waterworks Association, Florida's water management districts, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

And this recognition comes at a critical time as we're navigating a severe drought.

April is typically the driest month of the year, the temperatures are increasing, and water demands increase, which is largely driven by outdoor watering.

This year's theme of Water Conservation Month is related to rain shutoff devices, with our which are both required legally and also an essential tool for conserving water outdoors.

Water Conservation Month highlights how simple everyday actions like ensuring your rain sensor is working can make a meaningful difference in saving water.

And we've seen the impact that the Tampa Bay Water Community has had in conserving water before.

A couple years ago during the drought, the residents stepped up and saved water by adhering to watering restrictions and taking other simple actions.

Tampa Bay Water has proudly adopted this proclamation many times in the past alongside our member governments, and we continue to support efforts that encourage responsible water use across our region.

Therefore, staff recommends the adoption of the proclamation that April is water conservation month.

Move approval.

We have a motion and a second.

Passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

May continue.

Thank you.

Um our next item is about recognizing the 2025 regional winner of the Community Waterwise Award Program.

And at the end, the board will be invited to take a photo with the winners who are in attendance today.

The Community Waterwise Award is a regional program that recognizes homeowners and businesses for their landscapes that save water while remaining attractive and functional.

This program has existed for decades and is coordinated by Tampa Bay Water and is done in partnership with the UF IFIS Florida Friendly Landscaping Programs in Pasco, Pinellas, and Hillsboro, as well as staff from the member governments.

And this program recognizes excellence across these categories, retaining existing trees and vegetation, landscape design and plant selection, stormwater runoff prevention, efficient irrigation, of course, and aesthetic appeal.

Some of you may have seen the presentation of this award in recent months.

And the award is a handmade mosaic stone, which is made by a local artist, Heather Richardson, who is in attendance today from Safety Harbor.

Every year there are one or more winners per county and city.

And last year we introduced two additional types of awards for this program.

We launched the Conservation Commendation, which recognizes landscapes that excel in at least one of the categories listed in bullets, and then the best of the region award, which recognizes the best landscape among all the award winners throughout the three counties.

So these awards recognize members of our community who are making a difference, which is more important than ever during drought situations like now.

They've made a choice to positively impact the community and the environment, saving water every day.

Today we are pleased to present the 2025 Best of the Region Award to Michelle Burt and David Culp for their residential landscape here in Pinellas County.

Their landscape was selected by an independent panel of judges as the top winner based on its overall design and selection of plants, which are drought tolerant.

There are 77 varieties, 90% native and 10% edible.

The irrigation system features micro irrigation in the front and back, and they have a rain barrel to capture rainwater.

In addition, it has terrific aesthetic appeal.

Congratulations to Michelle and David.

We thank you and all the award winners and applicants for their commitment to saving water and making a positive contribution to our community and local environment.

Congratulations.

And now we'd like to invite the board down to take a photo with the winners and the mosaic stone they'll be receiving.

Oh, I'm so used to sitting on that side.

You let me be the chair.

So thank you all for being here.

That was just amazing.

We moved you up because we thought you probably didn't want to stay for the workshop.

So next up we have our budget workshop for the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

Mr.

Guard, if you have a presentation.

Yes, uh, thank you, Madam Chair, and good morning to all.

Um Christina Sacket, our chief financial officer is happy to present the uh proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

And uh I know she is spoken to each of the staffs of all the members, and she's gonna go through some of the highlights for us today.

Thank you.

Good morning, Christine.

Good morning, Chair and members of the board.

This workshop, as Chuck said, will provide the board with an overview of the proposed fiscal year 27 operating budget, including the key factors and components of the proposed budget and details on activities and costs in each division.

The presentation will also provide a synopsis of the full 10-year capital improvement program, including the timing and estimated amounts of future funding needs, plus the capital improvement program estimated expenditures for fiscal year 27.

As part of the annual budget process, the proposed budget was sent to each member government staff, followed by meetings to present and discuss the proposed fiscal year 27 budget and answer any questions.

As you know, Tampa Bay Water was formed by the six member governments to work together to solve the region's water supply problems, develop new supplies and reduce groundwater pumping, and eliminate rate differentials.

The member governments established a uniform rate to eliminate the rate differentials, thus more effectively enabling the agency to accomplish its goals and purpose.

The uniform rate consists of two components, a fixed and a variable cost components.

The fixed costs are billed to each member based upon their percentage of demand from the previous fiscal year against the budgeted fixed amount of the net revenue required from water sales.

One twelfth of this amount is billed monthly to each member.

Variable costs, which are the costs that fluctuate with the amount of water produced, such as chemicals and power, are billed differently.

The variable costs are billed to each member based upon their water consumption from the prior month.

The consumption is multiplied by the variable rate amount, which is a piece of the uniform rate.

At the end of each fiscal year, staff does an annual true up of the fixed cost billed to each member as required by the master water supply contract.

Each member's contributions are adjusted to their actual pro rata portion of the current fiscal year's production, which results in potential amounts due to from each member government with no net revenue impact to the agency.

Some of the key factors impacting the development of the proposed fiscal year 27 budget include the forecasted water demand, alignment with the agency's strategic plan, inflation impact on costs, rate stabilization funds, upcoming large capital projects, future funding needs, and balancing these factors with minimizing the impact on the fiscal year net revenue required from water sales and impacts on future budgets.

The proposed uniform rate for fiscal year 27 is slightly below $2.66 per thousand gallons.

This is an increase of about two cents over the current fiscal year.

The variable rate, which again is a piece of the uniform rate, will be around 62 cents per thousand gallons.

This is an increase of just under one cent over the current fiscal year.

Part of our plan over the past few years has been to build up the reserve accounts.

So when the agency needs to issue new debt, we would be able to use these funds to help offset the increase in the annual debt service and minimize the impact on the uniform rate.

Using these reserves lowered the increase in the uniform rate by five cents, bringing the increase to the two cents that you see now.

The proposed budget does not include funding any pay as you go funds.

Annually, the budget of demand is projected using various demand forecasting models and information received from the member governments.

We are projecting a demand of 212.84 million gallons per day, which is an increase of 3.14 million gallons over the current fiscal year.

The source selection for fiscal year 27 consists of operating the surface water treatment plant at an annual average of 79 million gallons per day, running the desalination facility with an annual average of 13 million gallons a day, and increasing the use of the agency's well fields to produce about 121 million gallons per day total of groundwater, around 86 MGD from the consolidated well fields, and 35 MGD from the other well fields.

The agency's total costs are divided into two components, as I said, variable costs and fixed costs.

The agency's variable costs equal about 22% of the total fiscal year 27 budget.

The fixed cost account for the remaining 78% and are broken down into four subcomponents: contracted operation and maintenance agreements, debt service for bonds, debt service for member acquisition credits, and the fixed costs to operate the agency.

This pie chart shows the total debt service for the bonds and the member acquisition credits, make up almost 41% of the fiscal year 27 total cost.

The total cost for fiscal year 2027 are 223.8 million, which is an increase of 4.4 million over the current fiscal year.

This chart shows the breakdown of cost by category for fiscal year 27 and compares them to the approved amount for fiscal year 26.

Variable costs had a net increase of 1.4 million.

Fixed costs had a net increase of $3 million.

The following categories increased over the current fiscal year.

Variable costs, as I said, had an increase of $1.4 million.

This is due to both increased projected demand and increase in chemical cost.

Personnel services increase by $1.1 million.

This is a breakdown of an increase in the expected cost for employee insurance, plus a 3% cost of living adjustment and a performance-based merit program of up to 3%, plus payroll to develop an overlapping employment strategy for high risk roles as recommended in the 2025 performance and management study, and the request for four positions.

These positions include one IT network engineer that would bring in-house currently outsourced contracted work and provide a net savings of about $75,000, one mechanical technician one that would help the maintenance department be reduct reduce reactive maintenance, and two mechanical technician trainees.

As there are difficulties hiring these technical levels, positions, and the agency is expecting to have continued retirement of long-tenured employees.

Offering a trainee program will support the agency's goal of ensuring an engaged, skilled, and adaptable workforce and aligns again with the 2025 performance and management study recommendations.

The other variances in the agency's fixed cost include professional services increasing by about 3.1 million.

This is largely due to the funding needed in the fiscal year 27 agencies budget for the agency demand management program.

The estimated rebate funding needed for the water rise program when it kicked off in 2020 was fully funded in the fiscal year 20 budget.

However, due to extenuating circumstances, the program took off much slower than anticipated, and the agency has been able to carry forward the unused budget throughout the current fiscal year to cover the consumer rebates.

Over the past few years, with the water wise savings increasing, these budgeted funds will be fully used in the current fiscal year.

Therefore, in fiscal year 27, we need to budget for the fully anticipated amount of consumer rebates, totaling 1.64 million.

However, we are anticipating receiving 540,000 of this in reimbursements with district co-funding.

The remaining 1.46 million is due to increased ecological and hydraulical hydrological services needed for permit compliance, forecast model collaborate calibration and updating, contracted lab services, and software maintenance supports costs.

Capital expenditures are increasing by about 565,000, largely due to the Clearwater office needing a new roof, an increase of about 417,000 in the OM contract agreements, repairs and other services increasing by about 199,000 due to increased communication costs for system redundancies, and sledge removal increases.

Rent leases and insurance, agency insurance increasing by 173, no changes in the legal services budget, and materials and supplies budget decreasing by about 65,000.

In October of 2024, the agency issued the series 2024 B and C refunding bonds, and in July of 25, the agency issued the series 2025 refunding bonds.

Completing these three bond refundings over the past year and a half not only provided annual debt service savings of $2.4 million in fiscal year 27 budget, but it also allowed the agency to restructure some of the annual debt service and reduce the volatility the agency was facing on future uniform rate projections over the next few years and provide the agency with more financial stability.

The total projected adjustments of $13.2 million and the $4 million use of rate stabilization fund rate stabilization funds are netted against the total cost of $223.8 to get the net revenue required from water sales of $206.6 million.

Water sales are the total cost to the member governments before any acquisition or water quality credits are applied.

After adding surcharges and applying both the water quality and acquisition credits, the total estimated net member costs are 197.5 million.

The pie chart shows the estimated breakdown by member government, and this is based upon the fiscal year 26 budgeted demand for the fixed cost component and the fiscal year 27 projected demand for the variable cost component.

The next few slides will provide summaries of the agency's divisional organization along with each division's purpose department staffing, budget, and initiatives for fiscal year 27.

The organizational design consists of six divisions business strategies, finance and administration, information technology, planning and projects, science, and water production, which report directly to the general manager.

This pie chart shows the percentage of total budget for each division, and you can see that the budgets for the water production and the finance and administration division account for about 82% of the budget.

This is because the variable costs and the contracted operations and maintenance agreements are included in the water production to budget, and the agency's annual debt service is part of the budget for the finance and administration division.

The general manager and general counsel are appointed by and serve the agency's board of directors.

The general manager provides leadership to develop and expand the organization in a multitude of activities throughout the agency.

The Office of the General Manager has one employee and a budget of $486,000.

General Counsel oversees a variety of legal matters for the agency and is performed through contracted services with a legal budget of $600,000.

The Business Strategies Division oversees the agency's strategic and business planning, ensures employee and facility safety and security, trains and develops agency staff, directs change management throughout the agency, and builds and maintains relationships with stakeholders.

The division is led by the chief of staff, chief strategy officer, and includes five departments, continuous improvement, government affairs, human resources, public communications, and safety services.

This division also handles the agency emergency management function.

The division includes 17 employees.

The division's budget is a total of 11.4 million, and the initiatives include employee benefits for all agency employees, which makes up about 43% of the division's budget, community media and digital outreach and engagement on the agency and our projects and programs, continued funding of the knowledge to implementation program, which provides access to the agency and our member governments to share best management practices with other utilities throughout the world, continued security at the agency's facilities, support of the agency's emergency management activities, and agency-wide staff training and continued legislative and grant funding services.

The Finance and Administration Division oversees the agency's finances, cash management, payroll, debt management, financial reporting, procurement, inventory, risk management, and records.

The division is led by the chief financial officer and includes three departments: finance, purchasing warehouse, and administrative services records.

The division includes 19 employees.

Division's budget is a total of 99.4 million, and the initiatives in the budget include debt service, which makes up about 92% of the division's total budget, managing the agency's investments, developing and managing the operating budget, compliance and reporting of the agency's financial information, strategic procurement, vendor relations and contract management, maintaining and managing inventory needed for the system maintenance and office supplies for the agency, and continued compliance and management of the agency's records, including public records requests.

The information technology division oversees the efficient management and security of the agency's data and digital technologies.

The IT division is led by the information technology director and includes three teams: applications, infrastructure and security, which includes cybersecurity, and SCADA.

The division currently has 13 employees and is requesting the one additional position, the IT network engineer.

The division's budget is a total of 8.1 million and is for continued support of all the agency's various software applications and technology infrastructure, funding for data and voice communications, development and implementation of the agency's data management strategy, and continued maturing and monitoring of the agency's cybersecurity program.

The planning and projects division oversees the planning and develop delivery of projects to ensure reliability of our existing and future water supply infrastructure.

The planning and projects director leads the division, which includes five departments engineering, surveying, real property, construction, and project management, and includes 21 employees.

The division's total budget is 5.9 million, and the initiatives include providing oversight and coordination to locate, document, maintain, and protect the agency's underground pipelines, managing the cathodic protection program, reviewing and evaluating electrical safety plans, conducting surveys and converting CAD record drawings to geographic information systems, and planning, designing, constructing, and managing the various projects in the capital improvement program.

The science division oversees and supports environmental and water quality data collection and analysis, permit compliance, systems modeling to support agency decision making, and coordinates water conservation activities and implements water saving rebate programs to reduce water demands across the region.

The division is led by the chief science officer and includes six departments water use permitting, system decision support, water quality, source water assessment, environmental monitoring, and the laboratory, and includes a total of 31 employees.

Division's budget is a total of 13 million, and the initiatives include achieving the high target goal for the agency's waterwise program in fiscal year 27, complete system modeling analysis to support the long-term master water plan project recommendations, support the design and optimization of water treatment processes for the regional system, conducting environmental monitoring and assessment and maintenance of mitigation areas to maintain compliant with agency permits, and expanding laboratory testing abilities and services for water quality parameters in constituents of emerging concern.

The water production division, which operates, supports, monitors, and maintains agency facilities to continuously provide high quality drinking water to our members.

The chief operating officer heads the water production division, which includes five departments operations, maintenance, maintenance planning and reliability, reservoir compliance, and building grounds and fleet.

The division currently has 62 employees and is requesting three employees, one mechanical technician one, and two mechanical technician trainees.

The division's budget is a total of 84.9 million, and it focuses on operating and maintaining the regional system.

Managing the supply source, which encompasses water treatment chemicals and power, accounts for 57% of the division's budget, overseeing the contracted operations and maintenance of the surface water treatment plant, and the desalination facility, which accounts for 20% of the division's budget, continued asset management system support, maintaining the physical plants of each facility, including HVAC systems, roadways and fire safety systems, and managing and maintaining the agency's fleet, and continued compliance monitoring and maintenance of the reservoir.

Next, I will deliver a synopsis of the full 10-year fiscal year 27 through 36 capital improvement program.

The agency's 10-year capital improvement program is a comprehensive plan that includes ongoing and planned projects from multiple sources.

The plan assures effective management of the agency's capital assets and aligns with the agency's strategic plan and our long-term master water planning process.

During the annual update process, staff evaluates the addition or removal of projects, reviews the schedules and costs of projects, identifies funding sources and needs, and estimates the annual expenditures for each fiscal year.

The tenure capital improvement program includes a total of 91 projects with a total cost of 1.697 billion.

The next few slides will provide some additional detail regarding the full tenure program.

The agency has already paid 162.2 million of the total cost, leaving a balance for these projects of 1.534 billion.

This slide shows the funding sources and estimated amounts that will be used to fund the full 10-year improvement program.

It reflects that about $207.4 million or $14% of the funding will come from either district co-funding, grant funding, or member government funding.

About $560.8 million or $37% of the funding will come from cash on hand, either through existing pay as you go funds or existing revenue bonds.

Currently, we are estimating needing about $691.3 million of the total balance and future funding.

The projected schedules for each project identifies the timing of when the board will be requested to approve contracts for each of the projects' key stages.

Once staff identifies the timing of these projects, we evaluate the agency's CAS position and determine if we have sufficient funds on hand or if the agency will need to issue new debt before entering the contracts.

When new debt is issued, it adds to the agency's annual debt service amount, which impacts the uniform rate.

Therefore, when new bet new debt needs to be issued, staff looks at the contract amounts and two-year increments to determine the issuance amounts.

This allows the agency to only issue debt for the funds needed to enter these near-term contracts and to not take on additional debt before it is needed.

This also gives staff the flexibility to reevaluate any potential changes in the future funding needs resulting from changes in either project costs and or timing.

The future funding needed for the tenure program is currently estimated, as I said, to be $691.3 million.

This chart reflects the estimated funding amounts needed and timing of the agency's future debt issuance.

The first issuance is anticipated in August or September of this year for about $292 million.

The issuance amount is based on the agency's anticipated contracts in fiscal years 27 and 28 and will be largely used to fund the South Hillsboro Well Field Project and the design contracts for the PFAS and TOC treatment projects.

The next issuance is estimated to be needed in 2028 for agency anticipated contracts and fiscal years 29 and 30.

Currently, the issuance is estimated to be $301 million.

This amount includes the construction contracts for the PFAS and TOC projects.

However, since EPA requirements and or board actions may change the timing or costs of projects in fiscal years 29 and 30, having the flexibility to change the amount and timing of that next issuance is important.

Again, so we do not take on more debt before it is needed.

In July, I will be requesting board approval to issue debt in August September for the $292 million.

The agency at that time is also looking at the opportunity to recognize some savings in our existing ZET service by refunding all or a part of our standing series 2016A bonds, which become eligible for refunding at the beginning of July.

Currently, the agency's underwriting team is putting together proposals outlining various financial strategies that will best benefit the agency in issuing this new debt and refunding the series 2016As.

And staff is also working with our full financial team to complete the upfront work required when issuing bonds.

This includes working on the consulting engineers report and working with our financial advisors, general counsel, bond council, and disclosure council on the preliminary official statement for the bonds.

This would then be followed by working with rating agencies for bond ratings and reaching out to investors to make them aware of the upcoming bond issuance.

This completes the overview of the tenure program.

The next few slides will provide some additional details regarding the estimated expenditures for fiscal year 27.

For fiscal year 27, the capital improvement program is estimated to have expenditures totaling 291.4 million.

This chart shows the planned funding sources of these expenditures and illustrates that about 86% of the funding is coming from either existing revenue bonds or the anticipated issuance.

Hillsborough County will be funding about 25 million of the expenditures, and we anticipate receiving about 20.1 million from grants and district co-funding during the fiscal year.

This pie chart shows the estimated expenditures for these projects, and it reflects that there are three projects that account for most of the expenditures in fiscal year 27.

71.6 million will be spent on the surface water treatment plant expansion, and 123.2 million will be spent on the two segments of the South Hillsboro Pipeline.

The types of these 43 active projects are shown in this pie chart.

This shows that almost half of these active projects in fiscal year 27 are either renewal and replacement projects or level of service projects, while the other half of the active projects address other issues such as studies, system reliability, utility complex, water quality and treatment requirements, mitigation, information technology, and other facility improvements for safety and security.

Just to recap some of the highlights of the proposed fiscal year 27 budget, a uniform rate of $2.66 per thousand gallons, slightly more than two cents higher than the current fiscal year.

This includes a variable component of 62 cents per thousand gallons, anticipated demand of 212.84 million gallons per day, requesting four positions, bringing the FTE count up to 167, total cost of 223.8 million, using 4 million from the rate stabilization fund, net revenue required from water sales of 206.6 million, plus fiscal year 27 capital improvement program estimated expenditures of 291.4 million.

The next steps in the budget process will be to hold a public budget public hearing on May 18th.

Following the public hearing, we will ask the board to approve the fiscal year 27 operating budget and approve the fiscal year 27 capital improvement program estimated expenditures.

This does conclude my presentation, and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Great job.

Only almost 50 pages.

So board members, any questions, comments.

Commissioner I grew.

Yeah, thank you, Christina, for for all of that and all the detail.

Just a few questions.

Um performance-based merit.

We've talked a little bit about that.

Most of the increases that I've seen in cities and counties is about 3% on salaries.

This is an additional up to 3%.

What's that?

What's that been looking like?

What part of that 3% have we been using?

In the past uh several years, it's been anywhere from an average of sorry, I have that on this page, of um 1.86% to 2.04%.

Okay, so somewhere around 2%.

So and in this last fiscal year, the uh average for managers was at two, and the average for staff was at 2.04.

We find ourselves um okay.

Um, and then on the on the new positions, the the four new positions.

What's the net of those positions?

The net is actually about 185,000.

Uh the three mechanic mechanical technicians are about 260, and then the IT network would bring a savings of 75, so it'd be about a net of 185.

Okay.

Um, on the you said we've been having trouble getting people, so we want to implement the technician training program.

How's the uh interaction with the AMSkills program going?

I know we've had some interaction with that.

I'd just like to get a sense of how that's going.

Yes, we've been in discussions with them.

Uh we have not concluded uh a program.

Uh what I would say is the trainee programs for this could or could not uh use the apprenticeship program that we would work with Amstels.

We would do uh the trainee program uh whether we use their program or not.

Um but I'm targeting if we do an apprenticeship with them, it would be uh October one would be what I was hoping to start that.

But we haven't done that yet.

Okay.

Um then um a little bit on the uh network engineer position, if you could, just maybe a little detail on that.

I am going to ask the IT director to give you more detail on that position.

Sure.

We've been uh good good morning, uh members of the board and madam chair.

Uh I'm Casey Lolamy, I'm the director for the IT uh IT organization here at Tampa Bay Water.

So this network position, um, we currently staff through staff augmentation, and we feel that bringing this position onto our staff uh will help our resilience and primarily focused on ensuring the cybersecurity program that we've implemented continues to expand.

And just a little bit on the cybersecurity program, maybe.

Sure, we have a comprehensive program here, um, really focusing on the fundamentals uh of cybersecurity and ensuring that we protect the agency's uh digital assets.

And the network is key to that because all of our data runs on that network.

And uh we actually have two networks here, um, one for our corporate environment and one for our operational technology, uh, which is our SCADA system.

So this role um would bridge the gap between those two networks and ensure that we have support that we need uh across both those networks.

Feeling good about that then?

Yes, so bringing these positions in the house is essential to us uh because we want to develop the knowledge and skill sets internally to make sure they're managed and protected.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Um just uh on the investment investments that we're talking about, the the bonding, what kind of percentage rates are we seeing in that all over the board?

Yes.

Okay, so tell me what all over the board looks like, high and low.

Um, anywhere, I don't know.

Let me I got my financial people.

I know we're looking roughly roughly we forecast using getting about five percent, but I think we're kind of looking in in that range as well.

Obviously, um, with the agency strong uh rating, it helps us so we're able to, you know, try and get lower interest rates than that.

Um, but with the 2016 A refundings, uh, it is refunding currently debt that's out there at about 5%, so that will provide us some savings because we are anticipating it being less than lower.

Okay.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

And first question is can you get me a more detailed breakdown of the professional services column?

And are these internal or external professional services?

External.

Yeah, it's the reason that I asked is because usually when I see professional services, I'll see legal services like in that bucket, but since it's not, I just want to get a better understanding as that um grows to over 30 million dollars a year.

Um just some observations.

I see that PFAS is in here.

We just had another really in-depth briefing at the county.

I think that that is a problem that's going to be uh very pervasive going forward, far more than on people are understanding.

I think that the issue is worse, and costs for that are going to continue to um rise.

So that's just an issue that I think that people need to stand by on.

I um did want to point out that only a four, I think you're only growing the staff by four people, and I I think that that um is indicative, especially considering the explosive growth, um, suggesting that you guys are running a really lean and efficient um organization.

So I'm I'm appreciative to see that, and I um look forward to getting that professional services breakout.

Good job, as always.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

I don't see any from the board members.

Great job.

Thank you.

Next up, we have public comment.

Each speaker has three minutes.

I have two requests to speak here.

The first is David Ballard Geddis Jr.

Good morning, sir.

Good morning.

Uh David Ballard Geddes Jr.

I live on Georgia Avenue in Palm Harbor.

With all the deliberate mismanagement of the water supply, never in the history of the world has a civilization abused its water resources so completely, so absurdly, so foolishly as we have done to ourselves under the misguidance in our government.

Today we are facing a modified stage three water crisis as self-evident.

Did anybody foresee us as being in such a life-threatening predicament as based on the 14th Amendment?

Or is our predicated predicament a pre-postured, purposeful, legislative objective, instead of protecting and conserving our water, instead of deploying a waterless incinerating toilet program as referenced in statute 381.0065, which would help us reduce water, which would remove nitrates from the water supply.

Legislation intends on capitalizing on the water and using reclaimed water as a potable water supply, quantifying, adding reclaimed water directly to the water supply, coupled with the simultaneous injection of reclaimed water directly into the groundwater supply, affecting destabilizing the integrity of the aquifer.

What could possibly go wrong with the science of that?

Okay, drinking reclaimed water and then sticking it anaerobically into the aquifer.

Very foolish science-based thinking.

Has anyone ever wondered, even more so, why Walt Disney has postured his carnival on top of the headwaters of the Everglades?

Is Walt Disney coveting what remaining water supply we have left under his carnival prejudicially capturing the water supply to the headwaters of the Everglades attempting to establish his powers in the state over that what remains of our viable water?

Is legislation being directed by a bunch of carnies and gypsies and thieves puppeted out?

Is our government a carnival by day and setting fire to the place by night?

Funny how the carnival has a way of laughing at our line at our hindsight, doesn't it?

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Mr.

Mark Cloufo.

Morning.

Mark Luther Largo.

Oh, that budget, that was great.

And the fourteenth Amendment.

Wonderful.

I love it.

B2, B3.

What a joke.

Oh man.

Didn't you fools?

See the article in the paper.

The bees.

Where in that landscape was anything?

That was going to benefit the bees.

Our pollinators.

What a joke.

Oh man, you people are so damn stupid.

And here's the headline.

Record drought sparks worries about fires, water supply, and food prices.

So I look at the big gas hogs out here in the parking lot.

That like this article states, climate change is making for the droughts.

And you have those lights burning, shining on the wall, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

And look at this.

Someone going to be doing an ependectomy in here.

Oh, you people are so damn stupid.

It's pathetic.

Look at those cunties out there being mutilated.

Yeah, what kind of landscape do you have here?

Is there anything to help the bees?

No.

Oh, the future is dim.

Next up, we move to the consent agenda.

Are there any items that are being pulled?

Now I'll consider.

Motion in a second.

Mark, if you can open the machine.

Four numbers, please enter your votes.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, ma'am.

I mean.

Next up, we have the general manager's report.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um I'm gonna ask Warren Hogg to um work with me at the beginning here.

I wanted to talk about the uh the statewide drought that is continuing.

Um it's about two months away from the wet season, and uh most of the Tampa Bay Area continues to be in an extreme drought condition.

Uh the entire region is under a modified phase three water restriction, and um our three county areas in the state three regional supply shortage.

Uh so I did want him to uh go through some slides to show you where are we and uh our plan uh to get us to the wet season.

I've just uh good morning, miss madam chair, members of the board.

Uh just a few slides that you've seen in past months.

Uh this is our regional system water delivery from our three different source types.

Uh green is from groundwater, blue is what we take from the local rivers, red is fed from the reservoir, and yellow is desalinated seawater.

So it's good to see that desalinated seawater has been constant for us since uh it came back online around December of 24.

Uh through March third through the end of March, we delivered 203.1 million gallons a day for the fiscal year to date.

That is about 8 million gallons a day or 4% higher than the the previous year, those four first six months.

Uh one thing I would like to point out and get my pointer, is the month of March 26.

The total height of the bar is what we delivered.

The blue line is what we expected to deliver.

So the gap here, we delivered less than we expected to.

This indicates that our regional conservation's messaging and the enforcement of watering restrictions has taken effect and is benefiting the region.

So it's important as we move through the drought to continue with our messaging as the region, and also the enforcement on the local scale.

Uh we were about 15 million gallons per day less delivered than we expected, so that's a substantial decrease.

This is the state of the consolidated water use permit.

It is, if I can get rid of this laser pointer, okay.

Uh, this shows the monthly delivery from these 10 well fields.

Our permit limit is 90 million gallons per day.

And we ended the month of March at 92.49.

So we are over our permit limit.

We expect with uh conservation uh and deliveries through the spring.

We may hit uh close to a hundred million a day on a 12-month average basis, but that should begin to decline in June and hope to be back under that permit limit around perhaps October November of this year.

As we look forward, we'll have to balance bringing the well fuel pumping rate down with filling the reservoir so we're ready for next spring dry season.

And the South Central Hillsboro Regional Well Field, our permit limit increase to 26.82 million gallons a day recently, and our running average is 26.39.

So we are under our permit limit for this well field, although it's going to be close to the permit limit as we get close to the end of the year.

Our regional reservoir was about 5.2, 5.3 billion this weekend.

That's one-third full.

We are managing that currently at about 50 million gallons per day of withdrawal, and that should extend the reservoir use to the early part of July at that withdrawal rate.

Uh that's the point in which we'll be down to about one and a half billion, and we have to start making some operational decisions about how to continue or not with that use.

One bright note, the rain we received a week ago today or two weeks ago today, especially in Polk County and southern Hillsborough County, substantially increased the flow in the Allifire River.

And since that time through yesterday, flows have now declined below the point where we can take water, but we were able to harvest 300 million gallons from the river, Allifire River, just from that one rain event.

And that is added several days of storage available in our reservoir because we didn't have to take as much during that time.

So that is a piece of good news during the middle of this drought.

Continuing on some updates, legislative update.

But as you know, the uh session ended March 13th, and they are trying to schedule uh uh the budget session.

And uh we did uh ask for some appropriations and they are still in the budget.

Uh we are funding the SCADA improvement project for a million dollars.

It is included in the House budget, and also the uh surface water treatment plan expansion is at two million dollars.

It's retained in the Senate proposal.

Uh no action has occurred on our federal funding request, and our legislative team continues to uh keep a close watch on things.

Also wanted to mention uh at our February board meeting uh we had our performance uh management audit uh presented by Baker Tilly.

That was the firm that performed the audit.

And uh I had mentioned that I'd be back in front of the board uh with uh how are we going to uh deal with the recommendations and uh bring it to the board for progress reporting.

I do not have that today ready, but I will be bringing it back in May.

And uh also wanted to give a heads up on the next item, the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Facility reverse osmosis uh project.

Uh as you recall last year, we um or two years ago actually, we replaced five out of the seven trains uh that uh take the water and desalt it for us in the plant, and uh we determined to wait on the other two to see what direction we were heading.

So uh I'm letting you know that you'll see a board item uh in May for the remaining two racks to be completed and take the plant back up to the seven racks.

Real good news uh for the second year in a row, um Tampa Bay Water has uh been named the two 2026 top workplace uh by the Tampa Bay Times.

I know there was the top 165, and I know it was in the newspaper, and uh I want to congratulate staff for uh another great year, and so that was uh awarded to us as well.

And also at the uh leading into the next slides the media and public outreach, uh we've been very heavily promoting conservation and communications uh during the uh the drought conditions that we have.

Uh and if he flip the slide here, um we'll show you just a few of them.

I believe there's uh 255 stories to date for the last several months that we've done.

That's a lot of stories.

You can see Warren and Amelia in these slides, and uh they've been uh on all of the the major news outlets, uh Bay News 9.

Uh you see Dennis Phillips uh live there, and uh all of the coverages.

Uh the next slide uh shows uh Amelia doing the fix a leak uh fix a leak week month uh last month.

So she's there on Fox 13 and uh the morning blend as well.

Um and then shortly after our last board meeting uh in February, we um we held an open house for the engineering uh teams in the Tampa Bay area to come in and see what projects we are uh we are uh proposing into the future.

And then I think last week we did the same workshop for construction companies, and both were I think uh over a hundred attendees on both workshops uh to let folks know what is it we are doing.

And I know Pinellas and Hillsburg County were also there, and they had a table set up, so it was a huge successful event, both of them.

Uh we have uh the picture here of our groundbreaking at the surface water treatment plant.

I'm gonna thank the board members who were there.

You can see them in the picture, and so we are kicked off, and that project's underway.

And then just yesterday, uh we participated in the waterwise Earth Day celebration hosted by the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida camp uh Waylani, and uh our chair, Lizette Hanowitz was there yesterday in attendance, and uh uh I think it was a very uh well attended and it was a great event.

It was amazing.

It was absolutely amazing.

And so I think the next slide is the end, and that's uh where I any questions, I'd be happy to take it.

Any questions from Corinne?

Well, first of all, I went yesterday to do the Girl Scouts, and if you want to spend a fun afternoon, hang out with the Girl Scouts at camp, and it was great.

And what was actually fascinating about it is they started the program because the lead there, one of the girls scouts was pouring water from the tap.

Or she asked her, I'm Thursday, and she started pouring water from the tap, and she's like, I can't drink that water.

And she's like, No, this water is safe.

And like she had worked with Tampa Bay Water, and she's an engineer, and she thought this would be a great program for the girls to like learn about water and where it comes from.

And they did some amazing projects, and they were all very engaged.

So great job with uh Girl Scouts and these grants.

Um they really do a great job.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Madam Chair, I just have I just have one question.

Yeah.

Um in Warren's report um on page two, the um Tampa Bay water monthly water delivery.

It looks like there's no desalinated water in September 26 at all.

And I'm just wondering is the plant going offline for that upgrade that you were talking about, or is there is there a reason that we don't have any we're not taking any projection of DSAL in September?

Uh Commissioner, we are planning to continue through the summer.

That was probably a forecast from the beginning of the year, but since then we realized the state of the drought and will continue running the desalination facility.

So in other words, you thought back when the forecast was made that you wouldn't need it, but you expect that you would revise it to needing it now.

Yes.

Okay, thank thank you.

You are everywhere, Mr.

Hogg.

You're like our Jim Cantori.

Commissioner Aggers.

Weatherman Warren, what are you seeing on the horizon?

Uh seriously, for the summer, you know, what are they what are they talking about?

Uh we are dis we are hearing that uh an El Nino climate pattern is expected to start sometime this summer.

The springtime forecast have less accuracy than the rest of the year, so we're waiting to see how that forecast turns through the next month or two.

But the trend is good.

Uh sea surface temperatures in the Pacific are increasing.

And what that does, it makes the jet stream focus on the southeastern United States, which usually brings us cooler, wetter winters.

It also suppresses hurricane activity.

Uh the initial hurricane forecast from Colorado State is slightly less than average for both number of storms and intensity, and that's because the shear that comes across with the jet stream tends to either keep hurricanes at the at sea or it shears the tops off to keep their strength from growing.

If it does set up and that jet stream is sets up in our region, it could be a cool, wet winter, which would be wonderful for water supply and pulling us completely out of the drought.

So we're optimistic.

Good.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

I would just leave the board with uh three key takeaways for what we're doing.

First thing is to keep the reservoir uh no lower than 1.5 billion and get it get it to stay there uh no lower than that by July, and then we'll have two goals after that, and uh that is to get back to full by October 1, but also get under 90 as fast as possible.

So those two are gonna need to be balanced uh going through the summer.

We need to get back to under 90, but we also need to start the the uh the year, the new water year at a with a full reservoir.

Okay, well thank you.

Although I think um Mr.

Hogg, you mentioned that although we have less hurricanes, Hurricane Andrew did happen during an El Niño year.

It only takes one and it can be a big one.

That's right.

That's right.

Okay.

We move up to action items.

Uh the first one is C1.

Ms.

Brown.

Right.

Good morning again, Madam Chair and members of the board.

Um, I'm going to be providing a brief update on the Tampa Bay Waterwise program, and then at the end of this presentation, I'll be requesting approval of the cooperative funding agreement with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Uh so as you may recall, the goal of our regional water conservation rebate program, Tampa Bay Waterwise, is to save up to 3.8 million gallons per day by 2030.

And so far, the program's cumulative savings are over 1.1 million gallons per day.

For this fiscal year, we have a high goal set of about 560,000 gallons per day, and the low savings goal is 200,000 gallons per day.

And the high goal is high.

It is a significant increase from each of the last two years savings results, which were each over 300,000 gallons per day.

So in order to achieve this high savings goal, the working group adopted these program changes for this fiscal year.

And as a reminder, the working group is comprised of mem member government staff as well because they ultimately decide the direction of the program, such as these changes.

So we increased the toilet rebate amounts for all customer classes.

They were 40 and 100, and now they're 100 and 200, and we're measuring the impact of that change.

We've increased the rebate amounts for commercial irrigation projects, and the program will now cover up to 50% of irrigation efficiency related project costs.

And the working group is also reviewing several potential changes to the residential sprinkler system rebate program based on feedback from the irrigation contractors who participate.

So in the multifamily sector, we can see that we will uh complete more projects there, and that is our major water saving uh program among all the rebate types.

Hotel projects are looking about the same as last year.

We've increased the number of projects in the commercial and institutional space as well as the residential sprinkler rebate.

The residential toilets appear pretty similar in terms of numbers to last year.

And lastly, is the Florida Water Star program, which is a rebate for new construction, uh single family homes, multifamily that ensures that the water efficiency of the new construction is high, both indoors and outdoors, above what standard code provides for.

And while we've not issued any rebates for that, there are several potential projects, maybe as many as 900.

There's uncertainty about the volume and the timing of those projects, but we certainly hope to be able to do to work with builders and issue these Florida Water Star rebates.

Every year we do a billing data analysis, and we traditionally get a significant bump in water savings from our multifamily projects.

And there, as I mentioned, there's a fair amount of uncertainty with these Florida Water Star projects.

How many will land in this fiscal year?

If they all come through sort of at the highest marks, then there is actually a potential to meet the high savings goal.

No promises, but that's what we're certainly aiming for.

And the program expenditures to date are on track with what was planned for our budgets in the administrative marketing and rebate categories.

And now we're going to shift our focus to the cooperative funding agreement with the district.

The district has co-funded the Tampa Bay Waterwise program since it launched in 2020, which really underscores the district's uh confidence and support for this program.

Through this agreement, the district would reimburse up to $528,000 for program implementation costs for activity in the program this calendar year in 2026.

And the agency would be providing an equal or greater amount in project funding.

Therefore, staff recommends board approval of agreement number 26 CF000 4970 with the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

Move approval.

We have a motion and a second.

Board members, please enter your votes.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you, Ms.

Brown.

Thank you.

Next up we have C2, Mr.

Hogg.

Good morning again, Madam Chair, members of the board.

I'll begin this morning with a very quick summary of our water quality update and then present recommendations for new water quality treatment at five locations to reduce PFAS and total organic carbon.

This is an action item, and I will be requesting uh board action at the end of the presentation.

Tampa Bay Water continues to deliver water to the members that meets or is better than current primary drinking water standards and exhibit D requirements.

Our 2025 water quality report was issued to the member governments and posted to the agency's website at the end of last month.

Looking at the regional water quality study, this is an effort that we began in 2017 at the request of the agency's utility directors.

And it was looking focused primarily on reduction of several parameters, but mostly total organic carbon.

And that was an issue that we were requested to examine because reducing total organic carbon or TOC makes the disinfection residual in the regional system and the member government distribution systems last longer and become more predictable, especially in the hot summer months.

As we were concluding our study in 2022, the utility directors asked us to pause because the EPA had just issued new regulations for PFAS.

So we tasked Corolo engineers to update their original study and see what treatment may be necessary and at what locations, given the new PFAS regulations and the data that we and the members had been collecting from the regional system.

That was completed in January of this year, and we presented that to the board in February.

The report identified targeted treatment actions for both PFAS and TOC reductions in finished drinking water.

The actions were stated to support long-term regulatory compliance and again to strengthen those chloramine disinfection residuals across the region.

We presented the estimated capital improvement cost for all of the treatments that were recommended.

And the study reprioritized based on the PFAS that was identified in some parts of our system and divided the recommendations into three phases.

We are not recommending moving forward with those projects in phases two and three.

To achieve compliance with the regulatory limits for PFOS and PFOA, staff recommends moving forward with projects at three locations, and they're shown in the orange stars on the map.

The first is the regional surface water treatment plant site, and also Brandon Urban Dispersed Wells Treatment Sites 5 and 7, the two locations where all the water from the Brandon Urban Dispersed Wells are treated for regional delivery.

The three locations are recommended for PFAS reduction somewhere between the years 2026 and 2031 to comply with the current limits and the current implementation schedule.

And we'll be developing interim steps to meet compliance if needed if the current date of April 29 remains in place from EPA.

To strengthen the disinfection residual stability in the regional system and the member government distribution systems, we are recommending TOC reduction treatment at the Eldridge Wild Well Field and the South PASCO well field.

These two sites were selected because they have the groundwater there has some of the highest total organic carbon concentrations in our regional system.

And reducing at those two locations will help all of the members downstream of those facilities with those all important residuals in your systems.

And when those are reduced, we we maintain that in within your distribution systems, it can lead to less flushing and also less cost for treatment chemicals.

One additional benefit, particularly for the South Pasco well field, is that treatment there of the well-field water will bring down the total organic carbon load.

And as that water comes south, primarily to Hillsborough County's Lake Park pumping station, we should be able to deliver more well-field water to the county at that location because that total organic carbon load has been reduced.

That's important to us because we're looking ahead at the consolidated water use permit.

Can we obtain more than 90 million gallons per day on a cost-effective basis?

Section 21 well field is one of those well fields that has been underused in relation to environmental recovery since it was reduced in 2004.

There is more water that can be safely harvested there at a cost-effective manner.

Uh especially with the EPA PFAS regulations still is the subject of litigation.

The EPA has signaled that they are looking to hold to four parts per trillion for PFOS and PFOA, but to scale back some or redu eliminate the other PFAS substances that were part of the regulations.

They're also indicating that they're looking to extend their compliance deadline from April of 29 to April of 31.

But that is under litigation, and the time frame for resolution of that is unsure.

Our construction would well, we would begin with design work, and we would not proceed until construct into the construction phase, which is more expensive, until we have certainty for what we need to do with the final regulations.

The full cost if these three sites are implemented, uh actually these five sites for PFAS and TOC are summarized here on the slides, and these would be implemented by 2031 if we need to move forward with all five.

And also total organic carbon reduction projects at Eldridge Wild and South Pasco Well Fields.

Thank you.

And first of all, thank you, Mr.

Warren.

I mean Mr.

Hogg for articulating the benefits that we're receiving for the TOC reduction treatment capital costs.

We had that discussion on the one-on-ones.

Um we're spending, you know, about 51 million dollars.

And what is it that we will see?

Because obviously the other part, the PFAS, that's regulatory.

We have to do certain things in the system.

But I was questioning the TOC reduction, and what would be the benefits that we would derive from that treatment or the spending of the 51 million, and it's not just the residuals, you know, with and less flushing, but it's also the ability to produce more water and it leads to other things with our limits and all that.

So thank you.

Uh Commissioner Wastel.

Thank you.

Um did we already select a vendor for these treatments?

I can't recall.

We have not.

The first step would be to go to design and then to construction later.

I I can't imagine that there's very many people that are in this space, right?

And in ion bed exchange.

Um it is a technology that is used, so there would be a number of contractors that would be interested.

Uh the other treatment is granular activated carbon, which is used at most surface water treatment plants.

So the technologies are known and they're proven, they are effective.

Yeah, oh, I I know that the ion bed exchange, I don't know much about the other one.

Um I just um I don't understand what's going on with the lawsuit.

So even if the the lawsuit that's going on, um I'm a fan of doing this.

I you guys presented a pie graph maybe three years ago as one of the first things I got from you, and it basically said that you should avoid eating pizza out of a I just went through this um Commissioner Cohn at our EPC meeting, you should avoid eating pizza out of a pizza box.

Women shouldn't use mascara, um, they shouldn't use a variety of other um beauty products.

I don't I and I went down this deep rabbit hole um of trying to understand it, and I just don't think that anyone is taking seriously the issue of what it does to um women's reproductive system, and not only that, but also wildlife that drink out of this, it it also affects their ability to reproduce.

And so even if the lawsuit goes through and are you saying that if the lawsuit prevails that there would not be these requirements, and if and if it if that was the case, are we suggesting that?

I mean, I understand it's a lot of money, and I'm hoping that the federal government is going to be involved in um um supporting us on these issues, but if the lawsuit prevails, are we just gonna backtrack and not do these things or we believe there will be regulations?

Um there's there's actually multiple parties in the litigation now with EPA.

AWWA and AMWA were challenging it, basically saying that have you evaluated the methodology used to set the four parts per trillion, have you examined the cost to very especially to small utilities, and they're wanting EPA to bolster or maybe relook at those, but then there were other litigants that said, no, we support this, we don't want any changes, and we don't want any you know reduction of the time frame, don't get rid of any of the PFAS regulations.

So that both sides are there with EPA in court now, that's why the date that we'll know is so uncertain.

Okay.

Well, anything that we can uh do to avoid being alarmists but educating people of the harms of these phthalates and different endocrine disruptors, I just think is is a very important issue.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Move approval.

Second.

Commissioner Hackers.

Yeah, um thank you for for bringing up those comments, uh, Commissioner.

I was actually going to just talk about the education part, and I think that's great.

Um of the 240 million dollars that we're talking about and approving, we're generally approving the approach.

What's the design part of that of the cost of these?

Design is usually about 15 to 20 percent.

24 million would be the estimated design cost for those projects.

Um so by approving this, we're approving the start of the design or approving the start of the projects.

The first thing we would do is to go procure services for design.

At that point, we would bring those contracts to the board for review and consideration, and that would be the first official step and expenditure of funds.

I will be asking for some expenditure for design of the surface water treatment plant pilot for the next agenda item.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam chair.

Okay, and let's see no other further comments.

You have a motion and a second, clerk.

If you can open the machine, board members, please enter your votes.

Callie now spoke.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Mr.

Hawk, you have the next item.

Good morning again.

Uh as we pull this up, uh, as I mentioned, we will be requesting approval of a contract amendment in this agenda item with Veolia to begin design services for both an interim and a permanent pilot facility at the surface water treatment plant.

We must comply with EPA's current PFAS limits, and currently the compliance is set for April of 2029.

As we discussed, that is the subject of litigation, and the result of that is unclear.

But in order for us to comply, we are now requesting approval to initiate design for pilot facilities at surface water treatment plant to help us design what we need for uh future treatment and operating strategies.

By getting this started now with piloting, it'll help us achieve compliance with the new regulations before full treatment systems can be implemented.

Having a permanent pilot at surface water again will help us to optimize the treatment at that at that water supply facility, which is a which is part of the backbone of our regional system.

So it'll help us make operational changes with the existing technology to optimize treatment and costs.

The amendment to the Violia uh contract includes design uh phase services for both the interim pilot and a permanent pilot.

Uh this will be focused primarily on PFAS treatment and total organic carbon reduction.

Uh the interim pilot will help us to do some testing now, perhaps looking at the uh suspended ion exchange process or six that the city of Tampa is implementing at their surface water plant to see if that would be beneficial for us as well.

A benefit of our studies here is not just total organic carbon, but as Mr.

Fleischacker has explained in past presentations, you have to bring down the total organic carbon before you can remove the PFAS from the water.

So it would have a if we go to full construction at the surface water plant, it will have a benefit to all the members with that ever important uh disinfection residual in your systems by bringing that organic carbon load down and reducing PFAS.

Both of these uh contracts for construction will be brought to the board separately.

What we're asking for today is just the design services, uh, and it's 1.83 million dollars.

That includes some early equipment purchase of the Active Flow Mini System that will be essential for our pilot.

As I mentioned, this will help us not only to implement interim treatment if needed to meet the EPA regulations within the existing plant infrastructure, but also helps us design that future work for the the permanent pilot and for the permanent changes, additional additional water quality treatment for PFAS at surface water.

Our staff recommends approval of the negotiated contract with Veolia for the design services of 1.8 million dollars, and these dollars will be taken from the PFAS settlement litigation fund that we received in the past months with that request board consideration.

Just one quick question.

We just talked about 24 million dollars on the design and the previous project.

Is this part of that?

This should be this should this is part of that.

Starting to go into the beginning piece of that.

Um second, clerk you open the machine.

Clerk, please tally announce vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Hogg.

Next up, C4.

Ms.

Thomas.

We have the Morris Bridge Well Field Improvements.

Yes, ma'am.

Good morning.

All right, good morning, Madam Chair, members of the board.

I'm Nicole Thomas, your senior uh professional engineer and project manager for the Morris Bridge Improvements Project.

Um I'm here to present item C4 requesting action and approval at the end of the presentation for the construction contract award.

Part of this project will include retiring and properly abandoning five wells.

And this was per our well field right sizing report that was presented to the board back in 2016.

Um this will be the fifth well field where we have uh made improvements or moved um these improvements through the right sizing program.

Uh the equipment has reached its uh useful life, and we will be updating the components to modern standards, which typically garner um energy savings through improved efficiencies.

This well field was installed by the city of Tampa in the 1970s.

Tampa Bay Water acquired the facilities in 1998, and like I said, this equipment has reached its useful life, and we're gonna be updating um the components through our renewal and replace replacement program.

This will be pumps and motors that will be replaced, including electrical components that'll include safety improvements as well as officially retiring those five wells per that right sizing program.

And of the the five retired wells, kind of an exciting and different approach, a piece of the project that I kind of like uh personally is that we're going to be donating three of those well house structures to the parks, the Flatwoods Park, and um we'll move forward.

So to talk a little bit about uh the pricing of this project uh through our engineering our value engineering process, we actually adjusted the design to not uh re to go ahead and rehabilitate the structures and not installing new structures.

Um, in addition, I'd like to highlight uh a couple other savings that'll be in play.

We will be using our owner direct purchase program for tax savings of about 300,000.

Um, and also we have been awarded up to about a million dollars in EPA grant funding.

Therefore, staff recommends uh that contract 202620 be awarded to Southeast Drilling Services in the amount of about 16 million three hundred thousand dollars, which is inclusive of the 80 895 100 dollars in owner's allowance.

And just one thing I'd like to say, um, just as a thank you to our project team, a lot of hard work and support got us to this big milestone to be able to head into construction.

So I just want to thank them.

Um that concludes my presentation.

I'd be happy to take any questions.

Thank you.

Any questions?

Yeah, I'll entertain motion.

Move approval.

Okay.

You have a motion, a second.

Thomas and your team congratulations for great work and getting those savings too thank you thank you next up we have Maribel Medina who's gonna be presenting C5 good morning hey good morning good morning manager and members of the board agenda item C5 is an action item for the crossbar ranch well field transmission main utility conflict program project at the conclusion of this presentation I will be asking for your approval for contract 2026 020 uh 017 with JDS Pipe Incorporated this project is the result of a utility conflict with the Florida Department of Environment of Transportation or F D OT that project proposes improvements to State Road 52 in Pasco County including road widening and drainage improvements which conflict with our existing 60 inch crossbar ranch well field transmission main a portion of this transmission main is located within the existing right of way and requires relocation Tampa Bay Water's project includes the construction of about 500 feet of 60 inch diameter pipe to be installed via open cot and micro tunneling operations under state road 52 as well as the installation of a 36 inch and a 60 inch valve and cathodic protection systems.

About 250 feet of the old 60 inch diameter pipe will be removed and the reminder will be grouted in place.

This project was competitively bid and five bits were received the design engineering consultant Wade Trim reviewed and evaluated the bits and determined JDS pipe incorporated to be the lowest most responsible bidder staff recommends approval of the crossbar ranch well field transmission main project and the contract to JDS Pipe Incorporated in the about in the amount of six point two million dollars with a note that F DOT will be reimbursing Tampa Bay water about four million dollars of the construction cost and madam chair this concludes my brief presentation I will be happy to answer any questions thank you any questions move approval okay we have a motion and a second clerk you open the machine board members lend your votes clerk you please telling house to vote councilman Miranda we need your vote thank you okay motion passes unanimously thank you thank you miss medina now we move on through presentations and reports and we have the city of St.

Petersburg presentation today hi Mr.

Palanjar thank you uh hello uh councilmember Hanowitz and Chair Hanowitz um and board um I appreciate the opportunity today to come and talk to you um you know it may be a little bit old hat uh for um council member hanowitz as we as we go through Chair Hanowitz um but um I think it's gonna be beneficial for everybody to hear um the presentation that I have but before I get started I should admit uh I had a little help putting some of this together um and some of the team images uh in this presentation uh and and and exhibits were were created by AI um now now AI is being used for incredibly complex things um engineering analysis predictive modeling um and I'm gonna use it to make these slides a little funny and interesting so maybe not the highest and best use but it was fun um that said uh what I want to talk about today uh isn't technology uh or projects it's people uh Lisa Ray from Hillsborough County um set the tone at our last meeting um and I wanted to build on that so um after about 10 years this may be the last time that I'm presenting here to this board um and when I look back it's not the projects I remember most it's the people uh so I'd like to tell a story a water story on paper it's treat deliver protect reclaim hundreds of millions of dollars annually on capital and O and M.

But that's not the real story the real story is the people the quiet guardians of the system so let's follow along there and back again um every drop goes on a journey from the environment to Tampa Bay water to St.

Every drop goes on a journey from the environment to Tampa Bay water to St.

Pete to reuse and back to the environment.

It's a loop and it's always returning.

And the people that manage that are what's behind everything.

This is where St.

Pete's journey begins, turning raw and treated regional water into something people trust.

Thousands of decisions, most unseen.

Shown here are Wanda Henry, the water treatment plant manager in the center.

Vic Gregory, the plant maintenance supervisor, left, and JP Van Horn, the plant operations supervisor, right.

This next video highlights JP sharing hurricane preparedness guidance with residents.

Hi, I'm Jeremiah with the City of St.

Pete's Water Resources Department.

And I'm here to talk to you about what you need to know when we issue a boil water notice.

There's a few reasons the city may issue a precautionary boil water notice due to a line break caused by pipe failure or the roots of falling trees damaging our potable water pipes.

These events could affect water pressure and could allow contamination to enter the system.

That's why experts recommend storing at least one gallon of water per person per day for three days.

Use this supply first for drinking, cooking, and hygiene.

If you must use tap water, boil it for at least one minute, then cool before using.

Another option is adding a quarter teaspoon of plain unscented bleach to disinfect two gallons of water.

Showers are safe if you're careful not to swallow water or get in your eyes, nose, or mouth.

Children and those with weakened immune systems should take extra precautions.

A boil water notice typically lasts at least 72 hours.

When it's lifted, run your taps, flush your fountains and ice makers, and replace filters.

Knowing these things before making a decision on evacuation is important to consider as a storm approaches.

To stay up to date on events as they unfold, visit St.

Pete.org/slash hurricane and follow our social media channels for updates.

What stands out there is that our responsibility doesn't stop at producing safe water.

It extends into community readiness and trust.

And once water leaves the plant, that responsibility responsibility shifts into a much larger and more complex system.

So from here, we move into the distribution system.

St.

Pete's distribution maintenance team protects and repairs a vast network of pipes and valves running just below our feet.

But what customers experience is simple.

It just works.

That reliability is built on constant vigilance.

A 12-inch main break after midnight is just another day at the office for this team.

Shown here are Scott Lewis, the water operations senior manager, center, Mike Renshaw, the distribution maintenance manager left, and Eric Lynch, distribution supervisor right.

And while all that's helping happening, another layer ensures everything stays safe.

Parallel to distribution, our compliance division continually verifies that water remains safe, performing environmental analytical laboratory operations with over 40 NELAX certified methods.

Shown here is John Stanley, the environmental compliance manager and center.

Naveen Nuries, the lead chemist in left, and Les Boardman, the laboratory supervisor, right.

This is where science supports everything we do.

It's where that science protects public confidence.

Our team doesn't just test water, they safeguard trust through transparency and expertise.

This video highlights Naveen and the work behind the environmental compliance and monitor.

My name is Niven Naruz, and I'm a lead chemist in the environmental compliance division laboratory.

Our lab here is a monitoring lab, so we test the water to make sure it meets the standard.

It's water resources departments, so we test all the water resources within the city and outside the city to make sure it's safe for consumption or for recreational reasons and make sure the community is safe and the environment in general is safe.

After all, everyone needs water.

So we test the drinking water from over the city on a monthly basis.

So every month we cover all the areas in the city, and also we do beach monitoring.

We do uh the beaches on a weekly basis.

We found that we have more control over the data, and we produce more reliable data in the lab here than the private labs.

We make sure that all the water in the city is safe for you, your family, your pet, the animals, the uh aquatic life, uh, to protect the water.

Uh I feel I'm giving back to the community as well.

I do a lot of troubleshooting and problem solving.

I'm like uh scientist and detective as well.

So it's very interesting.

I really like my job because it actually uh has a real effect on people's lives, you know, like no one can live without water.

What stands out is the level of precision and consistency required to maintain public confidence every day, and that assurance doesn't exist in isolation, it supports everything downstream and how we operate the system.

From here, we move into the teams who support operations behind the scenes, the unsung heroes, training, safety, culture, and programs like our private laterals program.

Shown here are Cara Barrera, the Special Projects Coordinator Center, Helene Roberts, my personal bodyguard and administrative assistant on the left, Terry Hendrix, our safety and training officer.

Every system depends on people.

Our administrative administrative support team enables these operations to take place.

The lateral lines are the lines that lead from your house through to the city sewer system.

And it's really important for the total functioning of a house.

Maintaining an older house takes a little bit of attention, and so because it was a 60-year-old house, I wanted to make sure that I had the most up-to-date improvements that I could make on this house.

And so the city lateral line rehab program was that resource for me.

It's a pretty simple program.

They've made it about as simple as possible, and the city is a great resource to work with.

I filled out a form uh that was sent to me, and then they approved the uh application and sent me a list of authorized plumbers.

I was very happy with the plumber that I chose, and uh everything took a fairly um short period of time as these things go.

I think the city's resiliency infrastructure is a critical piece of quality of life in a city.

It's the lateral line uh rehab program is one of those very important programs that allow for improvements to take place at a very base level.

It's a piece of the overall big pie that I can contribute to through my participation in the city's lateral line rehab program.

It makes me feel more comfortable living in my house and not worrying about this portion of the infrastructure of my house.

What stands out there is how even the less visible parts of the system are very real and very have a very direct community impact.

And that foundation allows us to plan and invest confidently for the future.

So I'll now move into our capital planning and infrastructure investments.

Um sorry.

Um shown here are Tom Menke, our Capital Improvement Senior Manager Center, Lindsay Denzer, the money lady, um, our administrative services manager left, and Igor Lagonia, the technical services manager.

Long-term reliability depends on discipline planning, capital programs evaluate future regulatory requirements, aging infrastructure, growth patterns, and resiliency needs, ensuring we never fall behind.

Every pipe, pump, tank, basin depends on responsible financial planning.

This group maintains rate modeling, capital funding strategies, project prioritization, and operational budget management.

Planning for five, ten, thirty years, balancing growth, aging infrastructure, and resiliency.

Every decision echoes into the future.

And now, now more than ever, that is being tested.

So from there, I'll move into wastewater, our wastewater team.

Um, this is where the system comes full circle, but it's also where complexity and leadership meet in real time.

Our operators don't just manage waste was wastewater systems, they lead through experience, skill, and dedication in a demanding environment.

Shown here are Dr.

Ivy Drexler, the wastewater operations senior manager, center, Frank Niles, the water reclamation facilities manager left, and Terrell Holmes, the wastewater collection maintenance manager, right.

This next video highlights our Northwest plant chief operator, Sylvia Rosario and her leadership in a traditionally male dominated field.

My name is Sylvia Rosario.

I am the first Hispanic Latina female chief plant operator for the city of St.

Petersburg.

You don't wake up wanting to be a chief plant operator or a wastewater operator.

This is a job that you are either born into, your parents did it, or maybe your family member did it, or it falls out of the sky for you.

It fell out of the sky for me.

I was a nail tech, and um I came to my wastewater interview with beautiful long nails, fancy hair, all the makeup, and the operators and the team behind the table.

They looked and they were like, what does she think?

We sat down, we had a great great conversation, they had confidence in me, and it happened.

I was like, I don't know if I want to do this.

This is crazy, the change is so big.

I decided to go for it.

I figured, you know, I had four sons at the time, and um they deserved better.

I looked up to my mother.

She also was a single mother.

We were living in New York in the Bronx.

She went back to Puerto Rico with me where I went to school and to high school, some college.

I looked up to her, and she was always so proud of anything I did.

That was very encouraging to me to see that no matter what, how simple something I did, she was always a big cheerleader.

Two of my sisters were older than me, and they also were accomplished.

So I had that to look up too.

So I had a lot of females to look up to.

Of course, my favorite color is pink.

This is a very male-dominated field.

I want to say um I've met four to five females operators.

So I always keep my office as girly as I can because I tell the guys I am part of this team, but I'm still a girl.

I'm very proud of what I've done.

I'm I'm very proud to work for the city.

I'm very proud of what we do.

I'm proud of the water we've put out.

We do it for the environment.

We do it for our children, for your children, for our families, for the families out there.

You have to be driven in life.

You have there has to be a goal, and there has to be a reason.

There will be obstacles, but you have to be the person sitting back figuring out how you're going to approach those obstacles and how you're gonna get through them.

My definition of a trailblazer is a person that has a vision and can see an opportunity come their way.

Just grab on to that goal and know that you have a meaning and a reason and go for it.

What stands out there is Sylvia's leadership, her dedication, her expertise, resilience, and the trust that she earned from her team.

So from there, our story comes full circle.

Um, reclaimed water extends every gallon's life.

Shown here are Chris Claus, our conservation coordinator, center, John Appell, our reclaimed water inspector, left, and Sherry Greer, our hydrogeologist, right.

In the wet season, supply can exceed demand, and that is where reclaimed water becomes a resource we actively manage.

It's also where we balance nature and system capacity.

Our team doesn't just distribute reclaimed water, they also manage seasonal variability and system storage responsibly.

So when we exceed or come to the point where we're going to exceed that storage capacity, we use the injection wells to get rid of it.

Since 2015, we have added four deep injection wells.

Each one of them are rated to 18.65 million gallons a day.

So the total increased capacity is 75 million gallons.

What stands out there is our adaptability.

We make sure to um manage our resources and adapt to shifting conditions.

That adaptability brings the entire system back to balance, preparing us for the next cycle of use and reuse.

So from there we close the loop.

Over the past 10 years, I present on a lot of projects.

But what stays with me is the people.

On a side note, as I was putting this together, I used AI to help generate this final image.

I think it may have given us Tampa instead.

Thanks for that.

So congratulations to our friends across the bay for taking the rays of spotlight away from us.

In all seriousness, um whether it's St.

Pete, Tampa, or the region.

The system only works because we work together.

Um different skyline, same share responsibility for the water that connects us.

Thank you if you have any questions.

Thank you.

Well, I don't think he made it very clear, but we have to we are gonna have to congratulate.

He's gonna be retiring this year.

So from the city of St.

Petersburg, right?

That is correct.

My my I'm March of 2027.

Yeah, so let's give him a big hand of congratulations.

Commissioner, I mean Councilmember Miranda.

Thank you, madam chair.

And you know, this is great.

I've never seen a presentation like this in all my years here, but it reminds me of the TV movie or TV show to tell the truth.

And on the other side, you might be won award with Cecil B.

DeMills or Arthur Hitchcock because I've never seen a presentation like this that's factual but yet humorous.

Congratulations to you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And I have to say it's it's always a pleasure to work with you and everyone in water resources.

You did a fantastic job of not just highlighting our employees, but you also actually put in some of the programs that our city is doing, like the lateral line program and what's happening in the presentation and the innovative work they're doing.

So it's very much appreciated.

You've always been wonderful to work with.

Thank you.

I appreciate everybody's everybody's patience.

I know it was a lot to go through.

I tried to stay on script um uh to get through as quickly as I could, but uh I appreciate everybody uh bearing with me through that.

I I thought it was a fun presentation.

And by the way, there's some things that we'll never be able to unsee now after I've seen the AI versions of y'all commissioner, Commissioner Edgers.

Yeah, well, thank you.

That was entertaining, it was good, it was informative.

Uh makes me want to know what some of our Tampa Bay water employees would look like in the city in the same garb.

I'm even thinking about our utility director back there and what he would be wearing.

Um, Paul with your beard, you'd fit right in.

Um anyway, I really appreciate it, and thank you for your years of service to the city of St.

Petersburg as well.

Thank you.

Okay.

Next up we have receive and file and entertain a motion.

So moved.

Second.

Motion and a second, clerk.

You open the machine.

One second.

Clerk, you please tally announce vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

And then the final item we have is the attorney client session, and I am gonna read the legal requirements uh to initiate the session.

We're now going to move into a private attorney client session for 12 Florida Statute 286.011 subsection eight to discuss Polk Regional Water Cooperative versus Southwest Florida Water Management District and Tampa Bay Water.

In attendance will be General Counsel Kelly Fernandez, Deputy General Counsel, R.

David Jackson, Special Counsel, Timothy Riley, Elizabeth Ross, and Greg Ross, me, Vice Chair Seth Waitman, board members Harry Cohen, Chopper, Davis, Dave Edgers, Charlie Miranda, Ron Oakley, Kathleen Peters, and Joshua Wastel, General Manager Charles Cardin, and a certified court reporter.

The expected duration is hopefully not 60 minutes, but it says 60 minutes, and we will come back afterwards to conclude the session.

So at this point, we're gonna go into executive session.

The private attorney client session has concluded and the regular meeting is resumed.

This moment, this item requires a board vote.

Is there a motion?

Move approval.

Second is this is a motion to approve the settlement with a second clerk Hugh and Machine for voting board members under your votes.

Clerk, please tally announce vote.

Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you.

Well, I think our big large agenda has come to a conclusion right before noon.

This board meeting is adjourned.

Thank you all.