Justin Moon Lassy Sarknoon.

The time is now 2 02 p.m.

on Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, and the City of San Antonio session is uh B session is called to order.

Um, Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Councilmember Corps.

Councilmember McKee Rodriguez.

Present.

Councilmember Igran.

Here.

Councilmember Mungia.

Present.

Councilmember Castillo.

Here.

Councilmember Galvan.

Here.

Councilmember Alerete Gavito.

Here.

Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

Here.

Present.

Councilmember Spears.

Councilmember White.

Mayor Jones.

Mayor, we have quorum.

Great.

Thanks, Madam Clerk.

As uh as we shared, the um we are now going to have um uh recurring meetings for the entire body on our municipalities, uh municipal utilities rather.

Um, this is something that each of you um one have expressed to me your desire to understand more about, but it's also something that you all have identified as something that you are continually having to answer questions for, right?

And so as we think about the strategic advantage that these municipalities are, we should also be thinking uh collectively about how we can strengthen that in light of some very significant um changes at both of them, both the you know how we accomplish the power generation plan at at CPS, um, but also how we in fact are going to um finance some significant uh delayed capital projects at SAWS.

So I appreciate the um the SAS leadership team here to include uh chair of the board being here as well.

Um we will also hear about the Riverwalk strategic plan, um, which I understand we have have not heard yet at this council, so it'll be good to get fresh feedback with fresh eyes on that.

Um, Eric, over to you.

Opening mayor.

So I was just gonna add uh that um we we will have these utility briefings at the beginning of every month.

Um, and uh and Mr.

Puente was good enough to volunteer for the first one.

So I'll I'll turn it over to him.

Thank you, City Council.

Welcome back, uh Councilman.

Um it's a pleasure to be here in front of you.

Uh it is our opportunity to tell you and your constituents what goes on at SAWs.

That's obviously uh a very important function that we have.

Uh your uh their utility, your utility, as the mayor said, a lot of questions are asked about what we're doing, how we're doing it, and so this is a hopefully other every other month opportunity to uh explain that to this council, and then therefore uh that information filters down to your constituents.

Uh presenting today will be uh Doug Evanson, our CFO.

Uh he's been at SAWS 20 years.

As a matter of fact, he just got back from New York on a uh a bond issuance trip where uh we refinance some bonds, uh sold some bonds, and so that is a continuation of what we're trying to do as far as how we spend our capital dollars and how we fund our infrastructure.

Uh behind me is Andrea Beamer, she's our chief operating officer.

She is the first Hispanic woman to serve as COO of a utility as large as ours, and she's homegrown because she's from here from San Antonio, and the three of us are standing ready to answer any questions that you may have.

Uh, thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.

Richard Donot could not be here, so that is why I'm here pitch hitting for him.

As Mr.

Quintus said, my name's Andrea Beamer.

I'm the chief operating officer.

So I'm gonna dive right in.

SAUS is committed to securing, protecting, and managing our most precious resource in a responsible, proactive manner.

Over the last 25 years, SAS has successfully secured new supplies for our growing city from seven different sources.

Oh, thank you.

To effectively manage this diverse water portfolio, SAS has also pioneered best in class water conservation programs and practices to help homes and businesses make every drop count.

Rounding out the utilities' water stewardship priorities is a renewed focus on reducing non-revenue water, sometimes referred to as water loss, to ensure SAS continues to deliver sustainable and affordable water services to the San Antonio community for generations to come.

SAUS has an ongoing commitment to tackling water loss, a critical issue that saw an uptick in 2023, exasperated by drought and staffing challenges.

To address this, SAWS has renewed focus by establishing the Office of Non Revenue Water.

Richard Donott, who could not be here is the director of this program.

The charge of this program is to spearhead efforts to reduce water loss through the implementation of best practices and strategic initiatives across the organization.

Additional resources, including new staff and equipment, have been all allocated to strengthen these initiatives.

So I wanted to talk a little bit about our system, which really highlights the complexity of this issue for us.

We are one of the largest systems in the country with 934 square miles, excuse me, and 7900 miles of water main.

We have 13 supplies from seven different water sources, and we have a varied elevation range, roughly 1,500 feet elevation range in our city.

In terms of the size of our system, we have more miles of water main than Los Angeles, more miles of water main than Houston, making us the biggest in the country.

Cities across the country as well as the state are working to tackle this issue.

And they all have different challenges and different approaches to address this issue.

For us, I wanted to highlight first some of the challenges.

For us, weather, hot dry weather, as well as clay soil conditions can have a large impact on our annual water loss.

As we experience hot dry weather, our clay soils contract, causing an increase in main breaks.

The map on this slide illustrates this.

The tan on this slide shows the expansive soils that run through the center of our city.

And the heat map shows the concentration of water main breaks and leaks that we have been working to address.

I already talked about our system size, and we're going to talk a little bit more about age, but we don't have a new system.

So aging infrastructure is an issue.

In addition, growth, we are a fast growing city, as we all know driving around.

We add about 100 miles of water main per year to our system.

And finally, pressure.

I talked about that elevation difference in our city.

In order to provide consistent service to our customers, we've basically broken down our system into what we call 59 pressure zones.

And these are little mini-systems across our system in order to provide some semblance of pressure that meets TCQ standards.

However, in the higher pressure areas, we are more prone to leakage.

So we've identified four key areas of focus for the program.

I want to point out that each of them encompass measurements, progress, and performance tracking, as well as updated business practices.

As part of refining our annual water loss audit, one of the initiatives that we have been working on is capturing our authorized water use volumes.

These are necessary and beneficial uses of water for activities such as hydrant testing, firefighting, waterline flushing, production well lubrication, and waterline cleaning.

So in short, none of this is lost water, but we need to be able to calculate and capture those amounts better.

If they're not known, they can't be reported, and they show up in that water loss column.

So this year we've identified the groups and activities that use authorized water, and we're working to fine-tune what those volumes are, report on them monthly, and simplify that reporting, stored in a database where we can access it easier and quicker.

The next critical area in our system is input value.

And I'm sorry, there's this.

This is the amount of water that we produce at our wells and bring in from other sources and supplies.

It is important we get this accurate since it is the top value of our water loss audit.

Next is apparent losses.

This is comprised of customer meter accuracy as well as water theft.

And finally, the largest component is our real loss category.

This is comprised of all the water that we lose through leaks and breaks in our distribution system.

So what are we doing about it?

First, we're going to start with our production well meters.

This is one of the important measurements that we have in our system.

SAUS is currently working on a program to replace our legacy production well meter flows.

With advances in technology, the new meters will measure production flows more accurately.

Earlier this year, our board was gave us approval to procure 106 flow meters.

These meters are being stalled in house at our pump stations at our wells, and we expect to have this completion by the end of 2026.

What we're seeing so far is our well meters are overregistering, which means they're showing that we're pulling more than we actually are.

So we need to get a better handle on this number, and that is exactly what this initiative will do.

You've heard a lot about our Connect H2O program.

This is also key to addressing water loss.

We need to know what our customers are using, and we need to have accurate numbers.

We're replacing 605,000 mechanical meters with electronic meters.

Mechanical meters have moving parts, and over time begin to underregister the amount of flow going through them.

By replacing these meters with electronic meters, we should see improved meter accuracy.

To date, we're 91% complete with our AMI meter installations, and we will have all small customer meters installed by the end of 2025.

I talked a little bit about the age of our infrastructure, and I wanted to just go into that in a little more detail.

As we look at this first pie chart, we see 23% of our water mains are 50 years old or greater.

62% are somewhere between 10 and 50 years old.

15% are less than 10 years old.

And when we look at where our leaks are, the majority of them are either on the mains or on our service lines.

Service lines are the pipes that connect the main in the street or the alley to the individual customer meter.

So we know where the leaks are.

It's being able to get to them, target them, and fix them.

So what are we doing about that?

First and foremost, we're working to increase our work crews that get to and fix those leaks.

We're working for a faster response time.

We're enhancing our leak detection staffing, which means more resources are dedicated to identifying leaks early and preventing these from becoming larger issues.

And ultimately, we are also replacing water mains, fixing that aging infrastructure.

Together, these interventions form a comprehensive approach to managing and reducing water loss.

So I talked about staffing up.

I wanted to show the progress that we've made.

And first I have to say things were ugly.

We look at 22 and 23, and this is for a non-emergency repair.

I want to focus on that because if there's an emergency apparent, we redress it immediately.

And this response time measures when a leak is called in to win a crew responds to the work order.

In our peak in 22 and 23, we were seeing response times that went up to 14 days.

We knew we had to do something.

So we increased our crews, we increased the number of people dedicated to address this.

We changed work schedules.

Now we have dedicated crews on the weekends who are there to address those mains quicker so we don't build up our backlog on the weekend and have to play catch up all week.

All of those we can see have made a difference.

2025, we are down to two days, and we're not done.

We're gonna continue to work to bring this number down.

This plays a critical role in this space.

SAWS leak detection team has increased staffing from six to sixteen over the last two years.

We're also looking at new technologies and processes that are fine-tuned.

We're gonna continue to grow in our sophistication of this team as we work to contribute to our water loss initiative.

As I mentioned before, water main replacement is an expensive initiative, but it is something that's also vital to our success.

We're leveraging an AI failure prediction model to proactively identify the most vulnerable water mains that require replacement.

This targeted approach ensures we prioritize the worst performing mains first.

Construction work is being executed both by our in-house crews as well as we're hiring contractors in order to increase our timelines and get more mains completed.

We are very serious about this initiative.

Over the next five years, we intend to spend more than 500 million dollars.

Doug will go into that more in his presentation, but 500 million dollars on water main replacement.

To get to our long-term targets, we're going to lean into resource modeling technology and AI to identify and address hidden leaks or leaks that don't service within our distribution system.

We're currently working with our water loss control consultant on developing a leak management model.

This is a collaborative effort that will assist SAWS in determining how much investment in leak detection and other strategies is cost justified.

And through that, refining what a feasible leakage rate is for SAWS.

Just like potholes for the city, we will never get to zero.

But we want to be best in class.

We want to be best in class in Texas as well as the country.

This will be a roadmap to determine additional staffing requirements and potential intervention strategies.

We're also planning an innovation day to invite vendors to display their tools and technology in reducing water loss.

And finally, we will pilot viable leak detection technologies which use advanced sensors and data analytics to detect leaks that are not visible through traditional methods.

So how are we doing?

How are we doing since we've put a lot of these things in place since last year?

Every month we provide our board with this update.

This 12-month rolling average is our non-revenue water index for evaluating how we're performing monthly.

This allows us to trend our performance over time.

And you can see we are trending downwards.

The interventions we have put in place are working.

But we know over the last two months we've had a significant number of main breaks, again, largely due to hot, dry weather.

In terms of our long-term goal, we're so serious about this goal.

We included this in our water management plan.

And we disclose this to our board.

Our board approved this as well as to our public.

This slide highlights SAW's targets setting gallons of total water per service connection per day.

This is our key metric to measure our program success.

Our short-term target is 61 gallons per connection per day by 2028.

Our aspirational target is to drive down water loss to 43 gallons per connection by 2035.

This is a 50% reduction from our peak in 2023.

But this is not going to be easy to achieve.

This is going to take manpower, this is going to take innovation, this is going to take significant money in order to get us to this goal.

But we're committed to get there.

We're committed to our community, to our board, to our council to meet this goal.

This concludes our my presentation.

I'd be happy to address any questions that you may have.

So before I begin, I do want to just highlight a couple of our accomplishments.

Both from an operational and financial perspective, with my focus, obviously more financial, but you can see some of our other accomplishments there.

Largest groundwater-based ASR and best in nation conservation programs.

Those are a couple that we pride ourselves on and have been doing for a long time.

The last two I'd like to highlight are the consistent maintenance of very strong credit metrics.

We'll talk about the importance of that a little bit more a little later in the briefing, as well as the fact that we have the highest credit rating in SAW's history.

So from two of the three rating agencies, we have basically a double A plus bond rating, which is the second highest rating that you can get, which helps keep our interest costs as low as possible.

So as I mentioned, um obviously you all just recently completed your budget process for the next fiscal year.

We have a fiscal year that begins on January 1, basically a calendar year.

So we're in the midst of our budget process, and I want to spend just a few minutes discussing that process, which, as I mentioned earlier, is somewhat different for 2026 than what we've seen over the last several years.

First, I'll start with ordinance.

This is the ordinance that established SAWS back in 1992, ordinance number 75686, and it basically says the board is to prepare obviously an annual budget to control and administer the expenses of the system.

That budget is supposed to be done in a certain way.

It's got something called the flow of funds, but it's also reflect an estimate of the gross revenues and an estimate estimate of the disposition of those revenues consistent with those funds flow requirements.

And then finally, the annual budget is to be presented and approved by the board at least 60 days prior to the beginning of the fiscal year.

And after the approval, the budget shall be submitted to City Council for a review and consultation.

If necessary, obviously, any rate adjustment requests must be forwarded to City Council for their deliberation and consideration.

So before we get into the 2026 budget process itself, I would just like to remind each of you of SAW's four primary core businesses that provide the essential services that provide life essential services to this community.

First, SAWS is responsible for the development and supply of potable drinking water to 2.1 million people that call San Antonio home, as well as our almost 40 million visitors each year.

These second, these potable water services are delivered directly to our roughly 582,000 customer connections through, as Andre mentioned, our 7900 miles of water mains.

After our customers are done using the water provided, much of it is returned to SAWS through our wastewater collection system, which supports again more than 520,000 connections.

Wastewater flows from SAWS collection system are transported through 6100 miles of gravity sewer mains, gravity for the most part, to be treated at one of our three wastewater treatment plants, or as we like to refer to them, water recycling centers.

While much of this treated water is returned to the environment, SAWS also maintains one of the nation's largest water recycled water systems, delivering highly treated effluent through a hundred and thirty mile purple pipe network that we'll talk about a little bit more here in a bit.

Finally, something that some people don't realize is that SAWS also owns, operates, and maintains four thermal energy facilities, providing district cooling services to governmental and private entities, both downtown and at the Port of San Antonio.

As shown on this slide, the provision of water and sewer services is extremely capital intensive, with SAWS having budgeted for approximately 2.9 billion dollars in capital improvement since our last water rate increase in 2020.

That increase in 2020 was to support the Vista Ridge water coming online.

This was touched on a little bit, but the first step, obviously, in being able to provide a reliable source of supply to our customers is to have a diversified water supply portfolio as you see depicted here.

The water supply business was specifically created in 2000 through an act of this the city council to assist SAWS in diversifying its water supply portfolio.

At that time, back in 2000, 100% of our water came from the Edwards Aquifer.

During the last 25 years, SAWS has developed a diversified water portfolio consisting of 13 different projects from seven different water sources to ensure a sustainable, reliable supply for our community, even during times of severe drought like we find ourselves in today.

As mentioned previously, the next steps in the water cycle process are the distribution of water to our almost 600,000 service connections and the collection of the non-irrigation portion of that water through our wastewater collection system.

All told we have approximately 14,000 miles of water and sewer mains combined, buried under the streets of San Antonio that we must maintain and replace on a regular basis.

You can also see detailed some of the additional infrastructure requirements, including valves, fire hydrants, manholes, etc.

The final portion of SAW's water cycle is one of the most complex and important, and that is the wastewater treatment or water recycling process.

As you can see here, the oldest we have three primary treatment plants, consists of total permit permitted capacity of 187 million gallons a day.

Starting with the largest facility, the Stephen M.

Klaus Water Recycling Center came online in 1987, and you can see that it is the workhorse, 125 million gallons a day of permitted flow.

Leon Creek is the second largest plant, and you can see that plant has now 60 years old, having come online in 1965 with treatment capacity of 46 million gallons per day.

And finally, you see the far west side of town serving the far west sewer shed is the Medio Creek Water Recycling Center, which came online in 1972.

We recently hosted, as Robert mentioned, two days of meetings with the three bond rating agencies at the Stephen M.

Class facility.

And they came away quite impressed with the size and scales of these facilities as well as an appreciation of the amazing way in which SAWs receives some what I gotta admit is very nasty input.

You can see it when you get there, and converts it into water with such clarity that it was hard to distinguish between a bottle of drinking water that I see around the room and treated effluent put into one of those same bottles.

You had a very difficult time trying to distinguish the two.

These facilities are particularly pertinent to today's discussion as necessary investment in these water recycling centers is the primary driver behind the need for a fiscal year 2026 rate adjustment that we're going to talk about more as we go into the presentation.

Placing additional cost pressures on both SAW's operating and capital budgets during the last five years has been the higher than normal inflation that has impacted us all.

As you can see here, the consumer price index for urban consumers has risen more than 24% since the end of 2020.

While the construction cost index is up almost 42% over the last four and a half years.

So we're seeing a lot of our construction projects.

Same project, we'll build a water tank, same exact dimensions as one we built five years ago, yet the costs are double sometimes.

So the growth in both operating and capital expenditures without corresponding growth and operating revenues has resulted in a downward trend in SAW's key credit metrics.

The first of these metrics measures SAW's ability to meet its annual debt service requirements, while the second is a measure of SAW's liquidity position and ability to handle unforeseen circumstances, such as the COVID pandemic and winter storm Uria that both happened within.

While still slightly above our internal targets, these metrics are weakening with the total bond of debt coverage projected to fall below targeted levels in 2026 without a rate adjustment.

It's not just SAWs that is focused on these key credit metrics, it is also the three bond rating agencies that rate SAW's outstanding debt obligations.

Fitch, Moody's, and SP Global Ratings.

As you can see, SAWS has exceptionally strong bond ratings, with SP having raised our junior lien rating, and that's really the that's our main operating lien.

It's the junior lien level.

And you can see that it was raised or it got raised to AA plus by SP in 2022, and Moody's followed suit and raised its rate to AA1, which is the equivalent of AA plus for Moody's in 2024.

So we haven't quite got fitch there yet, but we're working on them as well.

Both of these ratings are just one notch, as I mentioned before, below the highest ratings that these agencies give.

So we have very strong credit ratings.

Those strong credit ratings translate into lower borrowing interest costs that we have to pay on our debt.

For example, Robert mentioned we went out for bonds just the other day.

Last week I was in New York.

We issued 15-year average life bonds at an average rate of 4.29%.

So very attractive financing that we can obtain, but that's in large part due to our strong credit metrics.

The bottom half of this slide, I won't read them to you, but you can see a couple comments there.

They do focus, you can see on that second comment, uh the factors that could lead to negative rating action.

They reference our credit metrics and the key and those maintaining our targets within those credit metrics being key to supporting our credit rating.

And then that last one, I would say SP was very focused.

They know we need to rate adjustment, and they're cognizant of that as we walk forward, and we can't continue with the capital plan I'm going to outline for you over the next five years without additional rate support.

So what is our need for 2026 rate support?

The primary driver is again needed capital improvements.

As you can see here, we're planning to spend more than 340 million dollars to rehabilitate our two largest water recycling centers that we just talked to you about, the Stephen M.

Claus facility as well as the Leon Creek facility.

We were fortunate enough back in 2013.

We entered into a consent decree with the EPA regarding sanitary sewer overflows.

And at that time, we were did a lot to try to keep our waste wastewater treatment plants out of that consent decree.

We were successful in doing so, but we spent all of our money over those last basically the last decade working on fixing our collection system so that we were in compliance with the consent decree, but we deferred some of the necessary capital expenditures on our wastewater treatment plants, and now it's time that we catch catch up on some of those things.

So failure to make those improvements is likely to result in permit violations and could trigger additional environmental oversight.

Again, we could get brought in.

Houston's going through a wastewater consent decree right now.

Um I believe the third treatment plants are included in that consent decree, and it would not be beyond the realm of reason for that to happen to us as well.

SAWS is also planning to invest another 125 million into water delivery distribution network improvements, with the goal as Andrea talked about, continuing to further our water stewardship initiative.

We need to keep investing in those water mains and driving down that non-revenue water to the levels Andrea spoke about.

With SAW's primary water source, the Edwards Aquifer, it is and will continue to be our primary water source.

But it's continuing to remain near record lows.

They're 34 feet below normal for this time of year.

I looked it up today, we're around 628 feet.

So it is very challenging times right now with respect to the Edwards Aquifer.

So before turning our attention to the figures included in our 2026 proposed budget, I do want to highlight some additional information on SAW's proposed budget process.

As stated previously, we are planning to seek a rate adjustment for 2026 to allow us to carry out needle needed capital projects while still maintaining our credit metrics and bond ratings.

However, we are cognizant, there's a lot of new faces in this room for me.

Haven't met many of you yet at this point in time.

Several of you carried over, but obviously we've you've had turnover at council.

We've had a lot of turnover.

We have three new board members that are gonna sit for their very first meeting next week.

Um didn't think bringing a rate increase to their very first meeting and saying, hey, you got a month, and we're gonna come back to you and ask you for a rate adjustment in November when we need to approve a budget.

So we're actually approving an interim budget.

We're asking them to approve an interim budget that does not necessitate a rate increase, and the way that we are facilitating that is the temporary deferral, or what we hope will be temporary deferral of about 350 million dollars of uh capital improvement projects, which in turn results in lower forecast debt service levels.

So providing some additional details on the proposed capital project deferrals, the part the bar chart on this slide simply shows a comparison of the 2026 CIP needs as they have been identified by SAW staff, broken down by business unit as compared to the proposed interim budget level.

And then on the right-hand side of the chart, you see a brief description of the primary project deferrals outlined for your benefit.

As you can see, treatment rehabilitation projects totaling more than 250 million have been recommended for temporary deferral, as we have other wastewater main replacement projects, and as have other wastewater main replacement projects, including governmental.

In total, wastewater capital improvements totaling 327 million have been recommended for temporary deferral.

On the water side of the business, there's another $22 million in proposed deferrals, with the bulk of these attributable to reduced replacement of water mains, including governmental.

So now looking at the numbers, this first part of the slide shows you both for 2023 and 2024 actual as well as 2025 budget and 2025 forecast, which consists of eight months of actual and four months of budget.

You can see the figures there.

As you can see, the organic growth and operating and non-operating revenues has been more than completely offset by increased OM costs and debt service expenditures, which results in a downward trajectory in the transfer to the unrestricted renewal and replacement fund.

So basically, when we go through our flow of funds, we take all of our revenues, we have to service our O and M costs first, then we meet our debt service costs, then we make our transfer to the city of San Antonio, which currently sits at 4% of our gross operating revenues, and then anything left is transferred to the renewal and replacement project or fund.

That helps fund future capital improvement projects as well as provides our debt coverage in the current year.

So when that number is going down, our debt coverage metrics are also going down.

So looking at the 2026 proposed interim budget, you can see one can see that OM costs are projected to increase by about I'm sorry, let's talk about.

We are projecting a small growth in the level of operating revenues, but it's less than, as you can see there, less than 1% from the 2025 budget levels, while we're also forecasting a reduction in interest income as short-term interest rates are projected to decline slightly as we go through the year.

Overall, we are projecting a $6.4 million increase in the total sources of funds for the year as compared to the 2025 approved budget.

Looking at the 2026 project projected uses of funds, one can see that OM costs are projected to go up by 9.3 million as compared to 2025 budget levels.

We'll talk more about that in just a minute.

While debt service and expenses are forecast to decline by just over a million dollars as a result of the fact that we have temporary CIP deferrals.

We were able to refinance those bonds at a slightly lower interest rate than we had previously forecast.

So that's what's generating the savings.

Basically, we're issuing no new bonds in 2026 with this reduced capital plan.

The remainder of the uses of funds are quite close to 2025 budget levels.

So I next want to take a slightly closer look at SAW's 2026 to 2030 capital plans.

As mentioned previously during this briefing, SAWS is an extremely capital-intensive business with needed capital improvements projected to be the primary driver behind future rate adjustment requests.

As shown on this slide, SAS is projecting quite significant capital needs over the five-year period from 26 to 30, with total CIP of more than 3.2 billion dollars over that five-year time period, and 608 million on a standalone basis for 2026.

Again, that reflects what we believe we need.

Going into a little bit more detail on that plan, you can see it broken down a little bit more into its various components.

You see it broken down between water delivery, wastewater, chilled water, water supply, et cetera, as well as some additional categories that we have there.

As you can see, the largest portion of our projected $3.2 billion in capital needs is the more than $1.7 billion needed for wastewater, with most of that spend targeted for our waste treatment facilities, with another significant portion dedicated to main replacements.

In particular, one project that's out, and you see a fairly large number, 38 million in main replacement sewer out in 2030.

We're hopeful that that project can be deferred a little bit longer, but ultimately we will likely have to construct that project to address some capacity concerns.

Another 1.2 billion dollars is projected to be spent within water delivery with the largest portion dedicated to main replacement activity as we just spoke about.

So wrapping things up, I just want to show a couple different rate comparisons with other Texas cities before opening up for any further questions that you all might have.

First, I know that I've mentioned the need for rate support more than once in this briefing.

While rate increases are never fun for anyone involved, I next want to highlight SAW's efforts during the last several years at keeping SAW's residential rates for essential usage among the very lowest in the state.

In January of 2020, SAW has implemented the last of a set of five pre-approved annual rate adjustments that were essential to being able to enter into the agreement for 50,000 acre feet annually of Vista Ridge water.

I hate to think of where we'd even be without that 50,000 acre feet now that we're as we go through this trap.

At the end of that year, a SAWS residential customer using 6,000 gallons of water and sewer service per month, paid $69.30 for this combined service.

Well, the average for the other four largest cities in Texas for the same combined service was $77.37.

A difference of a little more than $8.

Fast forward to current, and due to the 2023 rate study and restructuring that saws ASAW's residential customer using that same amount of water and sewer would now pay as opposed to $69.30, they're now paying $63.27 per month, a reduction of a little more than six dollars or almost nine percent compared to 2020.

During that same five-year period, the average bill for a residential customer using 6,000 gallons of water and sewer service in the other four largest cities in Texas went up by more than 20 dollars a month or 26 percent per month.

Expanding the universe to 10 of the largest cities in Texas and basing the computations on the usage levels of SAW's actual average residential customer, which currently stands at somewhere around 6300 gallons of water and about 5,000 gallons of sewers you see depicted on this slide.

One can see that as of October 2025, SAWS combined water and sewer bill is lower than any of the nine other Texas cities listed.

I would also point out the rate charge when we developed a special rate for those customers that qualify for our uplift assistance program, and you can see what that same customer would pay that average residential customer if they did qualify for our uplift program.

So this last slide just shows you kind of the proposed 2026 budget calendar.

Obviously, we're here in front of you today.

We're going to be talking to our board, and we have our first uh public hearing on the proposed 2026 interim budget.

We are looking for a vote, have the second public hearing on that same budget and have a vote again.

If as long as the budget does not require a rate request, it doesn't have to come back in front of City Council for approval.

But once we do uh ask for any rate adjustment, which we would anticipate sometime in early 2026, um, we would be back in front of council at that time.

So with that, that's all my prepared remarks, but be happy to answer any questions that you all might have.

Do you have any other comments you want to make?

Thank you for the very helpful presentations.

And I think um, you know, what you just laid out here uh is really important as to why we have more frequent touch points uh with you, especially as a body as we as we think about these major investments.

Um there's also I think an opportunity for this body to be thinking about ways in which we can help ourselves.

Uh this is as you laid out equally an opportunity to think about conservation as we think about thoughtful upkeep, right?

Uh these capital improvement projects, it it kind of reminds me of a conversation we had with Chief McManus when he was here and we were talking about um his his staffing request, and we asked, you know, what is that based on?

And he said workload.

So similarly, uh the work that you all need to do to make some of these repairs is also in fact based on workload, right?

So, how can we think about um reducing that, which is ultimately a way in which we can save ourselves some resources in the money in the in the in the supply that we have to secure as well as in the upkeep of the infrastructure, um, as you've uh as you've laid out.

Um of the things I want to to touch upon as well when we're thinking about this.

I I have the benefit of knowing some of this, having sitting on the sitting on the board.

When we also think about these infrastructure costs, I going back to again a ways in which we can help ourselves with the workload and the stress on the infrastructure, um, is in fact when we think about some of these development projects and putting in things in place that may allow us to expand, extend rather the life uh lifespan of some of this infrastructure.

The more the higher demand on these things, the the sooner we have to repair them, the sooner we have to replace them.

Uh, to your to your point about the fourth bucket of of money that we that that it goes into.

So there are ways in which we can help ourselves in in the long term.

Um, you know, similarly, there are some other costs that that we come across and maybe um are not necessarily thinking about it in this conversation tomorrow on consent agenda.

There's a 1.6 million dollar item authorization of conservation easement over Edwards Aquifer uh contributing zone over Uvalda County, right?

So all the other costs related to how we secure our water supply, we need to be thinking about as well when we think about this very important um municipality.

I wanna ask a just a well, let me just make one one other point on this.

The other thing that has really jumped out when we've had this previous conversation on the board is thinking about what the the cost of some of these projects are longer term, not only due to tariffs and inflation and all that, but also um when we think about the different kinds of work that um that is needed as we are also making sure the infrastructure is more resilient.

Um droughts impact uh the ways in which these lines are able to withstand uh various pressures.

So uh we we recognize that.

I know that was uh you know a topic of discussion at one of our our last meetings, but we can't, you know, as we're thinking about the other things that are contributing to the stresses on this infrastructure.

I think that's uh that's an important piece as we look at the cost of those materials and frankly the cost of labor that is also rising as we as we work look to cover this.

Thank you for the comparison with the other cities, because I think it is also helpful.

Again, my colleagues, we are uh we all are are fielding lots of concerns, not only about affordability and housing and health care, certainly in food and in energy.

Um and it does when we are speaking again, we can think about other things at the same time that we're thinking about this, in particular economic development, right?

And while these costs are lower, uh they are when the wages are also relatively lower in our community, it is still hard for the working families in our community to deal with um any um unnecessary spikes or frankly deal with some of the cuts that we will begin to see as a results of decisions at the federal level.

I do want to foot stamp on there, I don't think you said it, um, but it was on your slide that the rate increase that SAWs will request of this council does not include the cost to move the chilled water plant downtown, correct?

It does not include that.

Uh sorry I should have made that reference in my presentation.

Right.

Um and can you just outline what that cost may potentially be and and then when that would that cost may be uh expected to come before this body for uh for rate increase?

Well, it uh we don't have a number finalized yet.

I don't know if Jaime or you want to speak to that.

So we engaged uh Jacobs Engineering to uh give us a uh a specific number, and that should come right before Thanksgiving.

But um I I'm pretty confident saying it's not gonna be south of 200 million dollars.

It will not be south of 200 million dollars.

Okay, thank you.

Um lastly, just because it's also a major topic and and major um economic development uh as some other costs related to it.

Um it comes up in the conversation around CPS, um, but the stress on um the demand rather increased demand um as a result of data centers.

Um can you talk about um how that uh increased demand for for water is impacting the stress on the on the infrastructure and maybe our need to replace and renew some of these things sooner rather than expected?

Yeah.

Do you want to do that?

I will start.

You can add to it.

As we look at the data centers, uh, up to this point, a lot of the data centers in the far western area have been able to tap into our recycled water system, which has been great.

But as they go further west, as they go further into the outer reaches of our CCN of our certificated area, our recycled water system doesn't extend that far.

So they are looking at tying into our potable system.

With that, the infrastructure necessary to connect to them is on is on them.

They are responsible for those costs.

But I think Mayor Jones, to your point, it's looking then at that supply.

What does that do to what we're looking in terms of our our our benefit in terms of looking at okay, do we have enough supply and how does that affect the population projections that we were anticipating?

So that we are taking a look at because we hadn't planned for that in terms of our water management plan.

So that changes the picture and that changes the landscape.

Great.

Thanks for laying that up.

Um, Chair Galvan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you to the folks in SAOs for doing the presentations today.

Um, okay.

Um I'm really grateful for the work that y'all have been doing to make sure that uh the rates that we do have in SAWs are as equitable as it can be.

Um, thinking about, of course, future development, but also current rate structures with residents and ensuring that the usage is always tied to the folks or tied to the payment, right?

Um, making sure that it's as uh equitable as it can be uh for residents uh with various incomes here in our city.

And so I really appreciate that work and the focus, of course, on making sure that we are reducing anywhere we can um excess water usage, um including within the non-revenue water program.

Um of the questions I had for that was uh what scale would the what is it called?

It was the technologies, the hidden leakage technology.

What scale would that be?

I know it's still starting out, it's still very early with it, but would it be just for SAWs looking at main lines, or would it be for residents as well with their meters when we find high usages that are not really able to be seen with just like a regular sink leak, but more so within the actual piping.

Initially it's gonna be for our main lines.

Right.

But that doesn't mean in the future we can't expand it as we get um more mature in our program than to start looking at those service lines as well.

Okay, uh the volume of leaks from our main lines is our concern.

So again, triaging and tacking those first to get the biggest thing for our buck is our emphasis.

Of course.

You know, I think it's of course very uh very thoughtful, but also thinking about well in the future we can support residents as well with that.

I know sometimes it can be a bit of a struggle for residents when we get the new water meters that some uh some folks in the trade in the community uh with plumbers don't always know how to really interact with it or figure out what's going on with it because it's just new to everybody.

Uh and so making sure that there's some resources available for residents to really identify what's going on within their homes, especially folks who maybe not don't have the resources fully to address the issue uh to reduce their of course later issues with debt uh if they are have a big leak that they can't really afford to address, figure out where that's coming from and how they can really work on that, I think is important.

So I know you talked about our AMI meters as well as our affordability programs, and so I definitely just wanted to say definitely we we are looking at expanding our affordability programs as well as our plumbers to people program as well as our laterals to people program.

So as we use our AMI data and have that uh engage customer experience uh as our customers get more familiar and comfortable with looking at their data on an hourly basis, being able obviously we're providing them with leak notifications and letting them know, of course, not just one time throughout a month, but we can tell them within a couple of hours that they do we are seeing unusual high high usage coming from them.

So we are actually reaching out uh proactively regarding any plumbers to people, anyone who again is in our affordability programs, we're proactively um providing uh that notification as well as offering our plumbers to people uh programs.

And of course, Gavino's team definitely is out there in the community trying to sign as many people up uh in these programs.

So we'll continue to do that and continue to expand that program.

That's great.

Thank you, though.

And that kind of leads to my next point about the rates, of course, and uh always concerned about rate increases and the proposals of just making sure that our residents are able to afford to live here in our city, is very crucial.

But I think you know you laid out very clearly the need for it, right?

Looking at um just the capital costs and some of the age of these recycling uh water recycling centers.

Uh it's important to take a look at how we can bet better improve our our system that we have here.

I guess what I wanted to figure out is that to the point about um working with folks based on AMI and everything like that.

Do we have or I guess what are the look what does the efforts look like for tying conservation efforts, home conservation efforts with AMI programming?

So we actually um are working in tandem.

Um we have worked so closely that again when we receive a call and they're having any type of usage, like you said, high usage or anything dealing with their AMI uh data and it deals with possibly a leak.

We do have a very involved and engaged uh conservation team that um that works with them.

We've created and I I give credit to Gavino's team in our conservation team that they've created checklist uh for us to go through with the customer.

Uh we've actually worked with our um our plumbing um inspections and plumbers uh associations across uh the city uh because again AMI is very new.

It's always it's not new to the electric world, but it's new to the water world.

And so plumbers are very um skeptical about these meters, and it's easy um for that to be the issue.

But when we walk them through a checklist and provide them a checklist, could it be the water heater?

Could it be the irrigation system?

Could it be something that you may not be familiar with checking?

So we are trying to create those networking possibilities and opportunities, and again, our conservation team is is being as proactive as possible with the data that we're receiving, not only with leaks, but um again, we have a lot of customers who like to water their lawn, and so we are actually doing proactive gentle reminders when we see that they're watering outside of their one day a week or multiple times a week.

Right.

So our conservation team, and we get better as we get more comfortable with the AMI data, we're working.

One of our initiatives is to obviously benchmark with other utilities, other utilities that have already done AMI on a smaller scale, but we can still utilize their customer engagement techniques and tools.

So that's what we're working on.

So we'll continue to expand it.

That's helpful.

And I guess what's do you all have data on how often the conservation programs or whether the rebates or other kinds of forms are utilized after connections with laterals of the people or plumbers of the people or even payment plan options presented or worked on when those uh conservation plans are presented.

Uh, do you have a data on the adoption rate that they're actually utilized?

Because I think they're of course very valuable, and I want to make sure that if we're looking at rate increases in the future, um very near future, that uh our research the opportunity to really see what the difference in cost would be for not only the rate increase that they're built now, but what would it be like if they also were able to adopt different conservation efforts, even if they aren't really high in uh water users?

Right, right, just see if there's what would the scale look like, what would the difference be if they had the rate increase but also had the conservation efforts in place at their home, whether it's the water heater or whether it's the irrigation or it's just you know the entire lawn, different pieces there.

Um what would that cost difference look like?

And I can tell you again, we're 91% complete with uh everyone, all of our customers having uh their AMI meters, and so just on that scale, we're able to tell you that we've been able to double our plumbers to people efforts since prior to AMI.

So again, uh Doug will never tell us that we can't overspend that budget.

Uh so again, we understand that obviously that's a benefit to the community.

Um we're providing that, and so as we see that AMI data, we're able obviously to reach out to those customers, and the more that we can again, as many as we can, we are helping them.

Uh so with again that that increased rate um adjustment, we would be able to do even more of that.

Got it.

Do we have the data available though, currently?

Yes, we could definitely provide that to you.

I can work with um with Gavino and get that information to you.

Great.

Thank you.

Uh let me see if I have any other questions.

I definitely want to echo the point that the mayor made about the data centers of those course, Microsoft is expanding within District 6.

Um, and while that's of course a part of our economic development plans and understanding the uh the value that these centers have to our community and of course to the general lead for technology in our city and the usage of it all, uh wanting to make sure that we're doing everything we can to also uh reduce the water cost, reduce the energy cost, and not only those particular services need or those centers need, um, but making sure that any kind of increased capital cost, increased cost for infrastructure are weighed fairly within the the needs that we have with our city as well and our residents.

Um I know that work's been going on, but happy to continue having conversations with the utilities as well to figure out ways that we can continue to do that.

I know cities across the country are looking at that, but of understanding our city is in this almost prime real estate for data centers at the moment within the current market uh nationally, and so I wanted to make sure that as we're looking at some of these capital plans, what the impact is of that growth.

Is that within this rate increase at all, the capital plan, uh looking at the load of data center expansion?

No.

Okay, good to know.

Because we don't foresee it.

Got it.

I see.

Um those are my questions for now.

Thank you, Mayor.

Chair View Gadon.

Thank you.

Uh I want to thank y'all for the presentation.

I'm glad that we'll be hearing from y'all.

Is it once a month?

Is that the plan?

Every other month.

Every other month, great.

So I'll see you back here in December then, Robert.

And uh, I do have some questions that I'd like addressed and some more information regarding that.

Um first is defining the aging infrastructure, which I'd like to know is where those 10-year-old pipes are, where those different aged pipes are.

I think that's gonna be important to get, and we could do it by zip codes or we could do it by council districts, whichever's easier.

But ultimately, the goal that I'd like to see in Eric as we work with public works is kind of see where that aging infrastructure is on those mainline pipes and if they're in the same area where we see the the F streets, the sidewalk gaps, and where we're going to see that so we can get a bigger picture of how we need to move forward and be more efficient with our dollars.

The other is the technology.

I'd like to see what sort of new technologies we're using regarding um making sure that if if we have to replace or if we can improve uh some of the structures that we have, because I think technology is finally catching up and giving us the opportunity to use some of those wells that we thought were empty and and um look at the at the at what we have currently and how we can uh get innovative there.

So I'd like to see that.

Um the main lines, the use of the main lines, the leaks.

Um the main lines, the use of the main lines, the leaks, I think it's important, even if we fix the main line and and you know, personal experience, uh, even if you fix the main line, if you have a a house over a hundred years old, and those um those pipes aren't working, and are we have residents that have a leak, we're gonna have we're gonna lose water, and we need to find a way to help with that uh situation, and especially with the the weather crisis, and is as the soil begins to dry up and shift and houses shift, we're we're seeing pipes that we thought were working not working, and things move.

So I think that that's that's really important, and that's the opportunity the city has to look at how we help as we as we want to maintain older homes and as we continue to know that the most affordable housing is existing housing.

How do we make sure that it's not with aged pipes that are causing us to lose a lot of water?

So look forward to that, uh seeing that, and then the other is I'd like to see more information regarding the pressure zones and where they are located.

I'd really like to be ready as we as we move in.

Um, and water is going to be important as we move into different projects and how people want to invest, what we have there regarding the pressure zones and where we could collaborate with uh public dollars and um private dollars to kind of get innovative for that.

Oh, one thing we had the sister cities conference, I guess a year and a half ago, and they talked about uh toilet to tap, which was kind of something where I was like, what?

And then people are like, no, they're doing it, it's happening.

And so where can we in in the technology and in what we do is move forward to that to that where it's possible?

And then of course, what SAWS is done with the purple pipes, I I can't go on enough.

Uh the one thing I want us to take away with, even though there's room for improvement, is that this city is a city that conserves.

This city is a city that understands the value of water.

So I think what we have in in this next iteration as we we talk about this with the eight how we're gonna uh invest in this aging and infrastructure in homes that are 100 years old, is that how can we lead and be an example for the rest of the state of Texas and the rest of this nation?

Because I think we do this.

I I hear from other states that come here all the time that we're like, y'all do an Edwards Aquifer report every day, and I'm like, yeah, because we know we can't get things done without water.

So I'd really like to see that.

And then on the second part, when we talk about the budget price process, I always I I'm always interested in when y'all bring the um the information from other cities.

How many of those cities and they have a municipally owned uh water like we do?

They own the water source?

Uh they are all municipally owned.

Um El Paso, for example, is somewhat like Saws is uh they have a separate board, they're not a city department.

Uh almost all of the other utilities have their water system as a as a um department of the city.

Okay.

Unlike SASA has its own board.

Yeah, and I I think for us in particular, we need to dis distinguish in terms of that uh is the number of so and I'm interested in Dallas in particular.

Is it just Dallas proper?

Is it Dallas Fort Worth, Plano?

Uh one reason uh Dallas has such a uh low water rate is one of their customers, for example, is the city of Plano.

Another customer is the city of Richardson.

Okay.

So they do a whole lot of wholesale uh and that allows them to have low rates.

Okay, because to their credit, they did plan uh a long time ago in the 50s and 60s, uh water reservoirs, lake reservoirs in East Texas that they own.

Okay.

I and that that was the only thing is I was like, how can how can Dallas be uh cheaper than us?

And they're not we are cheaper than they are.

Are we?

Yeah.

As of today.

Because their rate increase went in effect today.

Oh, okay.

All right.

Okay, just I just want to make sure.

Um so and uh the other aspect that I I'd like some information about is when we talk sewer lines in particular, is in the southern sector and the and the southeast side is how many are still in um how many still are in um don't have the sewage infrastructure and are on uh septic tanks.

I think we need to get a grasp of that because when we talk about growth coming to San Antonio, a lot of it's coming from to the southwest, south, and southeast side of of town, and we need to understand what that is, and I'd like to understand where the pressure zones are there.

And then the other aspect, because I didn't see it on here is and and Eric, maybe you can help with this.

The conversation we keep on having about the chilled water plant relocation.

I I thought that was tied to how we do the phases of our sports and entertainment district.

If this is already something that's going to we know is coming, I'd like to get a timeline on that.

Uh, if this is generational and we need to plan for councils, many councils after that, because I you we've we've got four years here, and then what what that's gonna look like.

So if we could get a timeline on that, just so as we move um economically uh through economic workforce and development, as we as we talk about what's coming in the future, I would love to see more environmental jobs and more jobs regarding how the technology is implemented within our public utilities, uh specifically water, because I think we've done such an amazing job so far in in understanding what we have and what we need to protect that um we can get into partnership with our universities.

But I I would like a more firm timeline uh because this was 2026 to 2030, so I'd like a more form time firm timeline of when we think this is gonna happen.

Um, because that that'll help as we as we go uh out in the future and look for businesses and and things like that to happen.

Well so well, up let me jump in real quick.

So I appreciate the question.

I I think I think please stop the time.

Yeah, if we if we have um you know, what we've been talking the a lot of the focus has been on the near term term part of that district, the the chilled water system and the feasibility that that Jaime and and Robert mentioned is is really designed not just to get a number but to identify um how that system can expand.

Um and and you all you all saw in Doug's presentation, it's an encapsulated system within within SAWS.

It's it's um it's annual maintenance, it's repair, if it moves, if it expands, is borne by its current customers, of which the city is 70 percent.

And so part of the feasibility is not just about um the the capital infrastructure need, but um is there an opportunity for SAWs to expand that system and grow it?

It is probably the most efficient way to cool large buildings, and as there is uh planned or projected growth um, can they capitalize upon it?

So it's it's more than just the feasibility is more than just how much does it cost.

It's um how much does it cost, does it make sense to grow it, who's who pays the majority of it, and the majority of it is gonna, or who pays, yeah, who pays the majority of it, and that's gonna be borne by customers, of which um uh the city is currently 70 percent.

It's in our best interest, just generally speaking, independent of any sort of downtown talk, um, that if that if they can have more customers on that system, then we will spend less money.

And so it is a much larger conversation, and we'll work with SAWs over as they we've been plugged in on the feasibility review, and I suspect that'll that's a whole nother conversation with the council.

We'll make sure we get in front of you guys.

And thank you, Eric, because you know, Robert, and your team knows this.

I've been working with Texas AM College Station, Texas A and San Antonio on sustainability and resiliency and how we move forward in this technology, and you know, have the opportunity to talk to researchers.

So can't campuses along the state of Texas and globally they're going out there.

So if we have an idea of what we're doing, we could ask them and we could get them to kind of give us that input and research here.

It's gonna make it that much easier.

So they have seen that San Antonio is a microcosm for globally, what is going on.

We need to make sure that they understand what's coming next so that they can do that now when they're overseas building in arid areas that they're like this is what we could bring back to San Antonio if this was right.

So I really want to make sure that and your team has been great about coming every year to the to the symposium and sharing, and I I just really want to continue with that because I think we have opportunities, as I mentioned before, to lead and to be the example, and I don't want to miss them because we're we're not thinking, you know, we don't have a timeline yet, or we're not communicating with each other about what's what's to come.

And I don't want to miss them because we're we're not thinking, you know, we don't have a timeline yet, or we're not communicating with each other about what's what's to come.

So if I I just encourage the SAWS team and the board to continue to do that.

So Councilwoman Via, you mentioned um a lot.

I I don't even think there was a question in there, but you talked about all the things you want to know that you want us to address.

And I guarantee you my staff is giddy because they are excited, they want to tell the story of what we do, whether it's pressure zones, how we handle those, uh sewer line infrastructure, not only in your district, but in everybody's district, the age of our infrastructure, the material, we have all that information.

So I think you have set the agenda for 2026 for the whole year.

Uh but obviously um whatever this uh council wants as to the next time we're in front of you, we will be ready to present those issues so that there's a good communication on those.

And on district cooling, I I cannot agree with uh Eric uh more.

Uh we meet with his staff with um uh the off Office of Utility uh public utilities uh every other week to talk about uh district cooling and when it's going to move, how it's going to move, what's going to happen, whether Project Marvel happens or not, there's going to be a lot of development in in this area uh well, whether the arena happens or not, there's going to be a lot of development uh in the downtown area.

And ideally, um, and I've talked to Eric about this, is that council would pass a resolution that if you're going to develop in this area, you have to be a customer of district cooling.

And that just drives the cost down.

It shares the load with everybody, and if there's going to be that much development, this is a way for the expansion to pay for the move.

Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation.

I look forward to it.

And then whenever y'all want to discuss what what my priorities are.

I know that was a lot, but you guys gave us a lot of information.

Uh I look forward to sharing that with y'all.

Thank you.

Chair McKee Rodriguez.

Thank you.

This feels new again.

Um thank you so much for the presentation.

Um I'll ask um my first question is related to the foundational goal of equity and where dollars are spent, preventing working class areas from being last in line for upgrades.

And part I feel like I may have heard some of this uh with some of my colleagues' questions, but I'll ask how will SAWs ensure that water main replacements and leak detection prioritize historically underinvested neighborhoods like the east side and near downtown, rather than just high growth and commercial uh areas.

Well, high growth incom high growth areas are relatively newer because uh they grew just recently, and so that infrastructure is uh fine.

It's not in that uh category of age infrastructure.

Uh and so we do have data that shows the age of all the pipes in our system, uh their size, their materials, uh, everything like that.

The historically older neighborhoods uh like the east side or the west side do not necessarily have the oldest infrastructure because that was already already replaced uh in the last 10 or 15, 20 years.

There's other uh older infrastructure, but what we do is look at the um failure rate of the water lines.

So we look at the failure rate, the predictability of the failure rate, the soil conditions that those pipes are in, uh whether they're clay soils or different kind of soils, and that what that is what drives our um uh replacement uh uh uh replace replacement program.

It is not as sophisticated, and with all due respect, um it's not designed to replace sewer lines, water lines that just happen to be in older neighborhoods, because again, those pipes may not be the oldest or the most likely to fail in our system.

Thank you.

I think you touched on this right, and that equity is about where need is, and so sometimes that isn't in the oldest neighborhoods, but it's where uh those concerns and again leaked leaks and poor infrastructure, all those things are happening.

So thank you.

I'm hearing that you're gonna be relying on dying.

Um I'm I'm from Highland Park, uh not Dallas, San Antonio.

And so uh older neighborhood, Highlands High School, so I know what it's like.

For sure, for sure.

Um, I'd also like to center affordability uh for families who already spend a disproportionate share of income on utilities.

So I'm wondering before we fully consider and implement any future rate increases, what programs are being designed, or uh improved upon to protect cost burden families, such as tiered rates, low-income assistance, or shutoff protections.

Uh we have that.

We have tiered rates, uh, the first rate is where the water is almost um free.

Uh you do pay for the infrastructure, the the uh the right to have that water, the um the service connection to have that water, the first two thousand gallons are essentially almost free.

And two thousand gallons a month is uh frankly a lot of water.

Uh we have calculated uh to mean that it's not a limited amount of showers, that's not a 30-second shower, it's not uh one load of laundry uh a week, it's multiple loads of laundry, it's for a family of four.

Uh that is a very cost effective uh amount of water.

If you if you so if you're for example, if you're elderly and just two individuals in that home, you hardly will ever go over two thousand uh uh gallons a month.

But the next year and the next year and the next year starts getting more and more expensive.

So if you get to a 20,000 uh gallons per month, that means you're irrigating a lot outdoors and you're gonna pay for that.

If you like green grass, if you like a lush lawn, and you're willing to pay for it, we have the water to provide it for you, and frankly, that helps uh generate revenue for our affordability programs.

Our affordability programs, I think, are second to none in the nation.

Um whatever circumstances you may be in, where whether it's a chronic situation where you're just a low-come individual and generational poverty is a big issue here.

We have a permanent situation where you, if you qualify, we will on a monthly basis reduce your bill.

Uh if you're going through a divorce, a one-time loss of job, uh, medical bills out of the ordinary, and you just need that help for two or three or four months, we have a program for that.

Um if you're uh elderly, you don't get charged, for example, late fees.

Um disabled, same thing.

Uh all kinds of programs that we have.

I think it was 52 touch points.

Uh 15 touch points uh that uh whatever circumstances circumstances you're in, uh we will help you.

It's called the Flip program.

Um What was that one we're talking about?

Uplift uh program.

Yes.

Uh if you look at a water bill, uh depending on how much the more your the higher your water bill is, the higher the amount you pay on your uh uplift fee.

It's a program fee.

That money goes into uh the programs that we help with uh we help individuals with.

So if you're in a situation as Councilwoman Via Gran mentioned, or and Councilman uh uh Galvan, that your own pipe broke, your own sewer line broke, we have programs that help you pay for that.

Uh where we as a matter of fact, on our next agenda in in October, we are renewing our contracts with private uh plumbers, and their job is to for us to send them to homes where there is a line break inside the home uh or inside or uh or in the service area and repair that if they qualify for these programs.

Thank you.

That was pretty comprehensive in it hit my next question.

Um I have three more for you.

Um this next one is a little bit more philosophical, but we also have a responsibility to prevent public funds from disproportionately benefiting commercial interests over everyday uh residents.

So I would ask how are um I guess how are you thinking about or how are rate payer dollars for district cooling downtown, ensuring a return for the broader community rather than subsidizing corporate and governmental customers.

You know, the the subsidation was for the city of San Antonio, actually, because the city was our biggest customer, and we did not raise the city did not raise those rates for 20 years.

Finally, I think it was three years ago we did get a five-year rate increase on the district cooling.

So overall, our follow our philosophy is that growth pays for itself.

Uh someone mentioned uh data centers.

If you want to locate a data center and it's far away from our infrastructure, you have to pay for that infrastructure to connect to our system.

All these new housing developments, the developer is uh mandated to pay for through our utility service agreements to pay for all that infrastructure.

All of the pipes, all of the sewer pipes, um, they have to build, they and they build it to our specifications, our material specifications, we inspect the installation, and um so what so when that housing development is built, they have paid for that infrastructure, and then it becomes our infrastructure because they don't want to run a water system.

Uh and then we obviously have to maintain it.

So growth pays for itself.

Um we have um just another big example is um when you're talking about commercial and residential.

San Antonio was growing at such a fast clip that in 2023 we came to this council asking this council to lower our residential rates because we had so many residential customers, not necessarily big businesses, but residential customers.

So essentially uh we were getting a lot of residential income uh and so they were sub essentially was being subsidized by commercial.

So we asked y'all, y'all lowered our rates 8%, and so that was a benefit to the homeowner.

So we have a history of doing the right thing for our residential customers.

Gotcha, gotcha.

Um just two more questions.

Um I'll start by saying I would really encourage SAWs to exhaust efficiency and environmental stewardship before raising bills.

Any rate increases especially as we move forward and in this current economic climate, I think it's a it's going any rate increase is going to be a high concern for us.

And so I know you had mentioned earlier a number of capital improvements over the next several years, as well as some uh already noticeable improvements to outcomes, but I'm wondering what investments are being made to reduce water loss and extend conservation efforts before defaulting to rate increases.

Before what?

Before defaulting to rate increases.

Um in 2023, we had a big huge spike.

It was a very hot summer, uh very little rainfall, a lot of production of water, and we hit our peak as far as lost water, broken uh pipes.

Um we hired more crews.

You see, our employee count um went up, and that's because we hired more boots on the ground, uh, more boots on the ground to fix leaks, uh, more boots on the ground to find leaks, where people walk leak detection team with thesoscopes down the street listening for pipes.

So we've made those expenditures already without a rate increase to tackle this problem.

And as if you as you saw in the graph, uh that lost water number is going down uh monthly and yearly.

Gotcha.

And so essentially what I'm hearing from that is that we've exhausted those efforts and rate increases now at this point.

No, uh we have not it.

Those efforts will continue uh forever.

In other words, we always have to drive down that uh response time when we get a notice of a leak.

We always have to look for leaks before they surface uh uh out of the ground.

And we always have to look at our um uh data to know what lot what uh pipes are likely to break.

And so that stewardship is is there to take care of those things.

What's driving the rate increase for this coming year is our wastewater treatment plants.

Uh they're over 40 years old, uh, just like your house uh that eventually you you repair it as much as you can, eventually you have to replace the roof, eventually you have to make major upgrades, and that's where we are right now with our wastewater treatment plants.

We have to make major upgrades.

Gotcha.

And I I know I said one more question.

I think I have one more after this, but we'll see.

Uh lastly, I think one of our highest uh priority needs uh is ensuring vulnerable communities are protected as water scarcity worsens.

So I would ask how will SAWs incorporate uh climate resilience into its budget, especially as drought conditions strain working class neighborhoods with fewer resources to adapt.

We we have uh our water management plan that was just adopted by our board.

It's a 50-year plan, but it's updated every five years.

We addressed how we respond to to climate change in that document.

And what we know is weather events are more concentrated, whether it's a drought or um or actual uh rain, they're just uh come uh quicker, more often, not spread out that we the way we would like it.

And so the the perfect the perfect solution to that is when it rains a lot, and our customers don't need that water because it's coming free from the sky, we store it.

We put it in the underground storage um aquifer in Southern Bear County.

So that's a great way of we're showing uh stewardship for the uh for the environment and meeting our supply uh rec uh demand from our community.

Gotcha, gotcha.

And uh record demand.

Uh so the next question I have this one is last one for real.

Um we've seen stories and news happening in other communities, largely poor communities of color that are being impacted negatively by data centers, AI, all of those things.

And so I'm wondering as we see, you know, the city is going to be moving towards uh utilizing is using AI a little bit more.

You mentioned using AI uh large organizations, USAA.

It's going it's becoming a uh a huge thing right now, and I'm wondering how do we how do we prevent what's happening in other communities from happening here?

Uh I think one way is these other communities, and they tend to be located in Central Texas.

They are attracting these data centers, these jobs, without uh knowing how much power is going to be available and whether or not that water is going to be available.

So a lot of them are in the planning stages.

Do I continue?

Uh and so here in San Antonio, uh, we're beyond that.

We we know we have a set water supply, so if you come in and you need that kind of water, we can provide it.

We we do have those resources.

Uh we do understand that this community, and by by this community I mean our council, our assistor agency, CPS, SAWs, we're not that enthused about data centers.

They're not the greatest type of employer.

They use a lot of water, a lot of power, so they tend not to come to San Antonio.

They tend to go to Central Texas.

Where there's less regulation, uh, they're not necessarily in the city, they're in the county.

Gotcha.

Thank you, Mayor.

Chair Corr.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you so much for this presentation, Mr.

Ponte.

Um I was interested in seeing how many of us are gonna comment on the slide that shows the comparisons across cities.

I think that's always something that we find very interesting and are very uh intrigued about.

Can you bring that slide up?

Because I just wanted to ask a couple of clarifying questions.

There was two of them.

One was the bar graph of all the cities, and the other one with uh their rates over the last five years.

Um can you show the rates over the the 2020 to 251 is what I was looking at?

I think it was slide 21.

Slide 21.

Okay.

So um I know you talked about this a little bit when Councilman Via Gran was speaking, but I'm just curious, like in and you mentioned that Dallas is lower.

Is that combined water and sewage is what you were saying?

Uh top is water, bottom is sewer.

So if you're saying the combined rate is low, it we are lower than them.

Yes.

So I'm curious the differences though, like with Houston and the difference in water and um what are you?

Have you guys dug into why it's so expensive in some of the other cities and what the differences in programs are?

In Houston?

Yeah.

Uh Houston, for example, uh, they have um muds, they have a lot of muds, and so that that high growth area is handled through mud.

So the city of Houston doesn't uh benefit as much from growth as as we do.

Another reason is uh Houston is flat, and so they their sewer system has to move sewage uh differently than what we can move sewers.

We have gravity helping us that move sewage from uh northwest to southeast.

Uh that's another reason.

Another reason is they have to treat their water.

Uh their water is uh surface water from mostly from the Trinity River, and they have to send it through a treatment plant.

So it's not really apples to apples comparison.

Which city would be closest to us in terms of democracy topography challenges that we face as structure.

Do we have one that's no all of those cities right there are surface water cities, not groundwater cities.

If you're groundwater, you don't have to treat the water to the extent that a service uh water city does.

Um it makes it hard to compare, right?

So we always think about comparing between Texas cities because we're Texas, but it'd be interesting for us to find a similar um if we really want to understand how our rates are in comparison and things that we're doing well.

One is, for example, El Paso.

El Paso has uh a separate um board for their water utility, like we do.

They're groundwater-based also.

There are they have very good water conservation programs, they have a D cell plant.

Uh they don't have a toilet to tap, but they do discharge some of their uh clean affluent into an aquifer and then they pull it out and uh use it.

So that's El Paso would be a good city to compare us with.

I'd love to see them added, and um, if we could do a little bit more cost or comparison, even just in terms of the things that they're doing from an infrastructure.

If you go to uh the next slide, you you will see that El Paso is uh total there.

Yeah, there's pretty close.

Yeah.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Um I wanted to call out a couple of the programs are.

I mean, I know I'm sure Councilwoman Castillo is gonna mention this because she does office hours all the time, but um with our offlift program, we do a lot with Cecilia and appreciate the team that helps us get folks on that program.

It's really hard.

You you you just mentioned there's 14 programs, so we you know we're just talking as a team, like what is the impact for a resident?

It's really hard for us because there are so many programs to understand deeply.

Are the people that need the help getting sufficient help?

So it would be great if um adding on to the list of things to talk about if we could get a report by district on um what the average uh bill is in comparison to if we have data on income and how we're helping folks, at least in the uplift program, how much are they helping?

And then the one question I have about that program specifically is why is the home value included in that program?

Because there's so many other things, like if I'm a senior and I happen to be living in one of my neighborhoods where the home value is appreciated because it's Alta Vista or whatever, but my my bill, my income has not changed.

We have a couple of folks that aren't um eligible for that program.

Well, one reason is we have to set it somewhere, but specifically I think it's 300,000.

Yeah, but why the home value?

Like income, I understand, right?

Income we have to set somewhere.

That was a question that we had started working on a long time ago.

The problem is, and we try to make it I don't want to drop this easier for and I use the the woodlawn area.

When people bought that house, they've lived there forever.

It's for nothing, no reason of their own, the property value rises.

But at some point, people are moved, uh families will move into different homes or rent different homes.

And if the value is gonna exceed that, then they're using funds to keep themselves living and it's gonna be assisting them.

I'm trying to better explain this without confusing it.

We have to set we have to set a limit so that folks that were living in homes that were half a million dollars, they have the funds to to live in that home.

And so they'd be taking but I'll push back on that little bit because if the home is paid off and they've been living in it forever and they're on senior, they're on their same, like you know, they're retired, uh, a retiree and making the same amount.

Doesn't that doesn't it, they doesn't that the income adjust for that?

Well, the income will take care of that issue.

If they're of a certain income regardless of the price of their home, they will qualify and we will help them.

Well, I'm curious to hear what my call other council colleagues have to say about this because I just what we've also done, and working with Robert is depending on the situation, there's been opportunities where we could overwrite different full forms of that.

Okay.

Then we've been able to look at situations like that and then make the determination to allow them into the program.

Okay, that's good to know.

But we'll yeah, it'd be great to continue that um conversation just so we can better understand.

And again, just breaking down in our districts the number of people that are getting support and the percentage of I'm not sure how to best quantify that.

I was thinking like, would I want to know what percentage of their uh bill is being reduced or the dollar amount because dollar amount could be very subjective to your point.

So it might be good just to say like how much we're able to help them.

We'll get that information together.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Um, and then obviously the last thing I'm gonna end on is the infrastructure work.

Um, any time someone in district one, I'm sure you guys face this too.

Here's utility work, they uh start to have a little mini panic attack, me included.

Um, and we actually had a really good meeting.

There's there's gonna be several major water lines work being done in district in our in and around our neighborhoods, and you showed some of that and really old infrastructure that needs to be replaced.

And I'm like, does it really need to be replaced in the next four years, though?

Can you wait?

Um bad joke.

Okay.

So um, but my point is that we've got to get better on um doing that work.

We've got to get better on communicating, and we've already made a lot of progress.

And this Hilda brand one we've already sent out, we're getting better at communicating, sending out months before this is happening, there's going to be SAWS work happening.

But even still, for some reason, the thing that really is the long part of the process is getting an actual schedule.

It's so tough to know when because you have to go through the whole CMAR process until you get us that schedule from the contractor.

But if there was any way we could get better and quicker or earlier on about what that schedule looks like, uh, I think that would be really schedule.

Yes, sir.

Well, um, we don't control the contract construction schedule.

Uh public your public works does.

For so, but we're the we've been communicating this whole time for like our Hildebrand project with the SAWS team.

And so we haven't been able to get the schedule for the that.

Oh, I I opened the can of the code.

Well, this is so this is for a saw's water replacement, it's not joint bid with the city.

That's right.

And so this is um it's it's also not gonna be CMAR, it's gonna be design bid build.

So up front, when we first get um get the bids from the contractor, one of the very first submittals from the contractor is going to be the schedule.

And so we can certainly we haven't bid yet.

Um so as soon as we get that, we can share that with your office with the community.

Um I think Gavino has shared that we're gonna we're starting something new where we're gonna have QR codes on our project signs, and it's gonna have regular updates, including updates to the schedule, because every month that contractor comes and updates the schedule.

Things change.

I wish they didn't, believe me, I wish they didn't, but they change along the way.

There's a delay, there's a weather claim, uh, a piece of equipment broke down, things that change things, and so then we're gonna have that information hopefully every two weeks, certainly every month, where it doesn't just have to go to your office, they can click on that QR code and they can get access to a website with that latest project schedule.

So we hear you, and it's a work in progress.

Yeah, and I I wanted to give you we have been working on this, and we've been working on trying to communicate better with community on all of this because there's like a bunch of different uh sauce projects going on.

We have that big one in Shear Hills where we have to go into people's yards.

So there's a lot of work happening, and I just think the more we can get better on um collaboration and communication, I think, stronger.

I want to give you guys a shout-out.

We had a big issue with the Green Line in Lavaca for the Brackenridge High School water line, um, and you guys have now pushed that back a year so that the green line can go in first and then come back and do that waterline um work.

We had a big issue with the Green Line in Lavaca for the Brackenridge High School water line, um, and you guys have now pushed that back a year so that the green line can go in first and then come back and do that waterline um work, but there is still room to continue to work with neighborhoods around what the detours look like.

How are they going to manage while the construction is happening?

And so I know y'all's main goal is to be uh water provider and make sure that we that is what we do, but the subsidiary uh impact around infrastructure is real.

And so I think just as much as we can get stronger at that, the the better that our community will see us, because you know, Councilmember White and I always like to say people don't see whose logo is on the side of that truck, they just see a truck and so or uh like construction vehicle.

So yeah, I I I misunderstood your question, but um and and even on some projects that are SAS projects that affect um like a high uh corridor like Hildebrand, we will bid the project that you have to do it in a shorter period of time.

It's more expensive, but in the long run it helps everyone to just get in and out as quickly as possible.

Yeah.

Okay.

And this is my last plug for why we need better communication systems with our residents for all three entities, because we there was a project that all three of us worked on, City SAW CPS in one small street on the west part of our district, and it ended up being a lot challenging, a lot more challenging because there was an accidental water break, there was an axe uh there was uh Google fiber line that was up forever.

But we just need to be able to have good communication so we can send out messages saying this is what's happening uh because otherwise it's left to the construction person who's on site at that time.

And oftentimes they're just like they throw someone else under the bus and don't really have a lot of good information.

So I think the better that leadership at at the top can collaborate and get really good on making sure uh when we do door hangers, there's all project managers listed on it.

Like there was one that I think um in Eric's community that he got for his street repair that had all the three um uh utility the utilities and our project managers listed.

The more we can do that, I think it'd be better.

You remember what you're not talking about?

It had wow.

My cell number.

Yeah, I said I just reiterating back to um collaboration and making sure that at the end of the day our residents get to see a better end product.

Um thank you so much, Mayor.

Mr.

Puente, did you want to share your cell phone with everybody?

Oh, all of y'all got it.

Steven Andy had uh councilwoman Alterata Gavito.

Thank you.

Thank y'all so much for being here today.

Um I'm glad we're discussing go going back to the first presentation.

We're discussing this because water loss is such a major issue, especially with uh the warming client and a growing population.

Um Andrea, I know Andrea gave a great presentation on what y'all are doing, but can y'all quantify how much water was lost in 2024?

Yeah, that's dig that up.

Um I know I think in 2023 it's like over 20 billion gallons in one year.

I'm sorry, I didn't I did not bring that, but we can certainly get that to you.

Yeah, I know I know I think I think it it isn't still in the I'm I'm thinking through Express News reports.

I think we're still talking about 20 plus billion gallons of water of a scarce resource being lost on our streets every single year.

If it let's just say it is 20 billion gallons, do we know what percentage of SAWS inventory that is?

Um yes, but it's very hard to calculate uh a meaningful percentage number because one of the first slides in this presentation you saw is we first need to know how much water we're actually putting into the the pie.

And that was, and that is the first uh uh an attempt to do that is to change out these huge giant meters in these huge giant pipes that bring water out of the Edwards Aquifer.

As was mentioned, they tended to uh they're about 20 years old and we're putting in new meters.

So that will give us the right number to compare everything else to, and then adequately know what that percentage is.

Yeah, and I think in in 2023, at least from from what we found, it's around 20% of y'all's inventory.

So I'm curious to see how that number has changed given all that you said um in 2024.

But you know, I think about it, and if any business was losing that much of their inventory, that is unacceptable, you know, and it's unacceptable.

I think for all of us to be okay with SAWS losing that much water.

You know, one of the biggest things uh SAS and our water always comes up at our monthly coffees with the councilwoman.

And one of the things that I think is is fair is that residents say, hey, SAS is coming down on me, SAS is asking for a rate increase, SAS is asking, you know, coming down on on conservation efforts, which I'm still glad that y'all do, but it's but we're also driving on streets where there's water leaks for for weeks, you know, and and I appreciate and I applaud y'all's efforts for the quicker repair time.

But it's but we're also driving on streets where there's water leaks for for weeks, you know, and and I appreciate and I applaud y'all's efforts for the quicker repair time.

It's just we're still seeing so much water loss, and and and it creates a very tough message to to tell residents, oh, conserve your water, but saw's water can leak on our streets for a long time.

Yes, it is embarrassing to lose that much of your inventory, and that's why we were stepping up what we've been what we've been doing.

If you if you look at 2023, that was the height of what we of that water loss and 2024, 2025, that has gone down, so it's going down.

So we are addressing it.

We are we have already been addressing it.

Uh and one way was by hiring more work crews, more boots on the ground, hiring more leak detection crews uh to find out where those leaks are.

And and that has been very um uh the metrics on that have been very good.

And so it costs money, it costs money to do all this.

And uh luckily so far we've been doing it without a rate increase, but we we want to continue doing it, we want to continue driving that uh number down.

Uh for example, we created an an uh office strictly for that purpose.

Hired an individual uh to run that.

Uh he was supposed to present, but uh the some circumstances happened.

He has a team uh that is dedicated to do that.

I want to commend our our chairwoman and our board uh for holding special count special board meetings outside of the ordinary ones to understand this issue, understand uh all this kind of pie graph and what we could do about it.

So the um the the pressure that you're putting on us, the board put that pressure on us uh two years ago, and I think we're addressing it, those numbers are going down, and I've I feel confident as uh as as during your time here, during my time here, that those numbers will continue to go down.

Okay, thank you.

Well, thank you for that.

And and I'm glad that those numbers are going to continue to go down.

They just can't go down fast enough for us.

You know, I'm I'm we're gonna keep the the foot on the gas on this because again, we're still seeing a scarce resource just being leaked on our streets, and quite frankly, it's unacceptable.

I know any water system is gonna have some of that, right?

Like y'all said, y'all can't fix it, we can't fix every pothole.

But however we can minimize those efforts, um we need to do so, which kind of actually takes me to the capital um projects one or the second slide.

I know that y'all are coming in for a budget deferral, but that makes it makes me a little nervous, right?

Just I I think that some of the SAWs appointment was a delay on on our city side too.

And so I I'm nervous of deferring all of these improvements because we're all talking about improvements that we need to see SAWs, and so pushing back y'all's budget and and some of these projects doesn't make sense to me just because we have new board members, all of us are elected new council members, and we go straight into the budget.

And I'm confident that with the the new board members that we picked for SAWS that they can get up to speed and know about capital projects.

You know, when I joined the VIA board, I get it.

You're learning a whole bunch of wonky stuff, but at the same time too, that's what they're charged to do.

Uh yeah, let's councilwoman.

I appreciate your comments.

Um I asked for the schedule on the deferred budget because I was not comfortable, and I wanted staff to go back and update our cost of service study.

So before we bring a rate increase to the city council, I want to be confident with the cost that it takes for us to run the system.

So I understand your nervousness with deferral of the budget.

Won't be more than six months.

Um we will adopt the budget in November, the interim budget, and we we have already begun the work with our um consultant to come update our cost of service study.

And by early 26th, we hope to be back here talking with the council about the proposed rate program, multi-year rate program that we want to propose.

Okay, that's so that that was on the board.

I didn't realize it was six months, but I also just want to make sure that we're not going to be deferring any of our of water um loss replacement or any big capital projects just because of that.

We are going to we have a certain amount of capital in the proposed budget in November, but the larger capital program you will not see until we can come back for rate support.

Okay, thank you for that.

Um, one of the other things that I did want to to talk about on that capital um uh needs and productions presentation is that you know, I knew do know that SAWS has a does a great job of diversifying our water supply.

That being said, we're still heavily reliant on Edwards Aquifer, and so we do need to make an effort to protect our off uh aquifer and and ensure our water supply is not degraded by development.

Yesterday, uh Councilwoman Mesa Gonzalez and I toured the Wahill at the ranch.

Um, and one of the things, you know, we we met with the Alliance, we heard their concerns.

I've met with the developer, heard the his their concerns, met with the city on this, um, heard their concerns, and you know that I issued that memo to uh ask SAWS and the Edwards Aquifer Authority on their position on this, and thank you for the quick response, Robert.

Um, but I was really looking for specific answers because we we you know residents are hearing about this project, and we're still not clear.

I you gave me great information, but I don't I feel that the questions uh the answers to my questions were missed because we need to understand the potential risk to residents on on this development, and and uh we need to understand the potential risk to residents drinking water, we need to understand the impacts to the Edwards Aquifer contributing zone and the recharge zone, and we also need to talk about benefits or alternatives to the wastewater treatment plant being there.

And I'm not sure we got that in your email, so we're we're still looking for that information, but that one's good, that one's gonna come down the pipe and it's it's gonna be heavy on on all of us, and so we're not water experts, we're looking to you all as a water expert to help us with that information.

Um any specific information you need and want, I'm ready and able to provide that to you, including uh SALS's position, including our continuing uh conversations with Lenar, uh, why we did what we did.

Uh so uh what whatever information you need, we are ready to provide it.

Okay, sounds good.

Thank you.

And then the um the last thing, uh, you know, I I did hear uh Councilman Gavon talk about data centers, and so you know, I I'm a little nervous about that when you responded that we're not planning for that because I I thought I saw Matt Jones in the room, and I know CPS is planning on that, and so again, it you know, I would just ask for that coordination of utilities between the city, the SAWs and CPS on hey, what are we looking at in terms of uh data centers moving here, businesses moving here, all of that kind of stuff in general.

I think we need a B lock step and and not um pretend that it's not gonna happen.

Well, if it does happen, if data centers do locate here, obviously uh Rudy Garza, Matt Jones, and CPS team will handle that part of it.

We are confident that we have the water supply uh for that kind of industry if they want to locate here.

We're we are confident of that.

Okay.

Do we want it or not?

That's uh uh another issue.

Well, and I think I I think he touched on this too, is just that you know, we I think we we need a we need to feel confident that we're seeing that balance of of what that water supply, these data centers would need, but also the water supply uh provided to our residents.

No, we again we feel confident based on our supply, based on our uh projections that if they locate locate within our service area that we can provide the water they need for their business.

Okay.

Thank you.

That's all my questions.

Thanks.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um thank you for the presentation.

Um I got to tour the D cell plant, and I have to say it's impressive.

And I learned a lot about our water structure and diversification of our water sources with you, actually.

Um I this is just a general question.

Do you have a timeline for that expansion?

Um at all.

It depends.

It depends on how fast we grow.

So if we see an astronomical growth in our community, that plant was built and came online in 2016, but half of the plant is essentially already built to uh be able to put membranes in there, the actual uh apparatus that cleans the water.

And so we are ready.

All we have to do is dig more wells on our property and and uh some in Wilson County uh or Ascosa County and bring that water in to be treated.

So the D cell plant, we're very confident because we control it.

Uh we've already made some expenditures on it, and so if the growth happens tomorrow, we can be online.

Uh projections are that it won't happen until the 2040s.

So in our planning, it's not until the 2040s that that plant would be have to be uh expanded.

Okay.

Good to know.

I if you haven't toured it, I suggest you tour it.

Um, so I'm in I know we're doing this cost of service analysis.

But so I want to echo what I'm uh my count fellow council members are here are hearing from their residents.

I uh for instance, my chief of staff, her parents got the smart meter installed.

Next bill was $2,000 on a regular home.

And their neigh other her name their neighbors experienced the same problem.

And I keep hearing that from some of my residents.

And I know there's a tiered structure on usage.

So one of my questions is how I know that um we had an advisory committee looking at those rates, or are I guess the tiers and how those rates are are there?

I mean, how do you come up with that usage number?

Um there's a couple of things that you mentioned.

One, if we installed the meter and all of a sudden their bill goes up, something happened.

Something out of the ordinary happened.

And so it may be an undetected leak that they used to have that now we're it's being detected.

So whatever their bill was for the prior few months, we would need to look at that and see what happened.

And if you give us the address, we will look at at uh several, so yeah, we will look at all the main problems.

We will look at all of them because we do get a lot of those uh uh requests for for uh uh uh for service or request or to look into that problem.

And and I'm confident to say that about 95% of them.

Uh they say they hired a plumber, they've looked for a leak, there's no leak, we send our team in and we find the leak.

That's sure enough they have a leak, they understand, uh they submit the repair of that leak to us, and we compromise, we discount their water bill.

So that's that's part of our program that we do.

So that was one part of your question.

And the other part was well, just when we look at the average usage to evaluate those tiers.

Okay, how are we taking into account different types of businesses and I mean on commercial and then also on residential side?

Uh commercial uh rates are the amount of water that you use.

And so is residential, but it is um there are tiers uh and the the one tier that the once you hit 20,000 gallons, that's where it really starts getting expensive.

Uh we just uh looked at that, that was implemented.

Uh city council approved that, uh prior city council approved that uh last year for us to be able to charge that.

And so yes, we look at that um every five years.

This rate study that we're looking at, we're going to see how much revenue that come comes in that way and how much other revenue comes in.

You want to say something, Cecilia?

I just wanted to say on our general customers again, we're looking at the previous 12 months average annual usage.

So again, they have tiers, but it's 100 to 125% of their previous uh years average, and then 125 to 150 percent, 150 to 175.

So that's the tiers for commercial.

So again, very different than residential, where it's 4,000 gallons, 10,000, 12,000 gallons, 15,000, 20,000 gallons.

So very, very different than how we are.

Um we don't want to penalize obviously HEB for using a lot of water because obviously their business dictates that, and so again, we're not going to penalize them at 200% of their rate.

So we look at that every five years.

And um, and this current rate study that we are um looking at, we aren't going to be changing.

That's not something that we're looking at, changing the rate design.

We're just looking at cost of service to make sure that again, general customers are paying their cost of service, residential is paying their cost of service, and if we have any um differences in that.

Okay.

I will say I did see the leak detection work at my own home.

So I I think that that has been very um effective.

Well, I mean, I saw it for myself.

Are you all seeing it be have a good return on investment?

Oh, yes, uh, the AMI meter is tremendous.

It it is uh tells us, gives us a whole lot of data, a lot of information.

Uh we can tell a customer uh the next day, hey, you got a leak as opposed to them wait waiting, getting a very high bill uh and then calling us, and then we have to investigate it.

Therefore, we can send out a text message, an email to them that uh look at your system, it's registering high.

And you can check it on your own.

Yeah, no, I got it on my phone.

Sure.

It's great.

Um I want to echo what councilwoman Via Gran said about seeing the maps and the aging infrastructure and then how we're reducing the leaks when y'all come on the regular basis.

That would be really helpful.

Um so I too did the G Ranch uh, I've actually been working with G Ranch project for three or four years because of the county work I did before.

So I wanted to ask, they're not really on the CCN map.

And I wondered how y'all determined so sewer coverage or wastewater coverage.

Considering they are in the contributing zone.

And you mentioned y'all asked developers to help with the infrastructure that might be needed.

Are y'all looking at reassessing and maybe re providing coverage for that?

That's you're talking about the Walcolote ranch development.

Uh that area is in our water certificated service area, but not our wastewater.

Right.

So we were obligated to serve water.

Uh we took advantage of that uh and got uh nine different concessions from them on their wastewater uh uh treatment.

And so that was our agreement is what we we got those concessions, those protections on the discharge water.

Um and that's what our involvement in that was.

That's how we were able to but when they asked if y'all would provide sewer, we declined.

No, it's not that we declined, we would gladly provide sewer, but they have to pay for it.

And for them it was too expensive to build a sewer line from their development to our system.

They didn't they didn't want to pay, it was a roughly about a 10 million dollar cost for the sewer line?

The sewer line is 20 to 40 million dollars, depending on what options they went with.

And so they found it cheaper to either do septic or build our own uh what they call package plant, wastewater treatment plant.

Okay.

Are there any other strategies that we have that or opportunities to avoid a rate increase or to maintain our credit rating?

Are there any anything else we can be doing?

Um there's always room for improvement.

Uh I I will say that.

But I I I will also tell you that we the last five years that we have not had a rate increase.

What SAWs did and experience uh to be here today, I I think helps uh tell this council and our public that uh we've done everything we can and now we're at that point where rate increase is needed.

We went through COVID.

All of the cost of COVID we absorbed uh all of the inflationary cost, all of the supply chain cost, we absorb those and and and uh we're able to function without a rate increase.

During COVID, URI happened.

So all of the cost of of the actual storm we absorbed without a rate increase.

Uh the Texas legislature legislature passed a bill mandating that certain types of generators be put on certain um uh facilities to keep the pressure up, be able to to deliver water.

Uh that was a 200 million dollar hit to us.

We did that, are doing that with CPS uh without a rate increase.

Um this council chose to ask SAWs to contribute more of our revenue to the city from 2.5% to 4%.

We absorb that during that time period, no rate increase.

So all of these things we feel we have already tightened the belts, we've done everything we can.

We are now in the position where we have those needs that we have, and we're we can't squeeze more out, and we're asking for assistance from this council.

Um okay, and then can you tell me how much more bare metructure we have left that we have to manage?

Well, uh uh a bare met was a story in and of itself.

It's the size of Corpus Christi.

We took them over overnight, they didn't come willingly.

Um so their infrastructure um is um less of they were maintained a lot less than SAWs, and so a lot of what we're doing uh now is some of their uh above storage tanks replacing those.

Uh some of them were so badly we just tore them down and didn't have to rebuild it because our own system was able to move water over uh in there.

So um today, as we said, you know, this happened between 2012 and 2017.

So here in 2025, uh we don't feel bare met anymore.

We don't feel uh any different uh our our system is not any different now that we've absorbed bare met all of their employees are part of our employees.

As a matter of fact, two of them are our vice presidents now.

So it's been fully fully integrated.

But I mean, how much of their infrastructure are we still trying to replace?

I mean, as soon as as recent as last year we were doing it out in Stone Oak.

Well, uh some of it is is very good infrastructure.

Stone Oak was part of barement, and that's relatively newer infrastructure.

Uh the southwest part of the city uh is uh was bare met.

A rural parts of the county were also bare met, so we're we're having some issues there of very small water pipes, but uh to give you an exact answer, have to go back, uh ask Andrea to look into that and tell you um in more detail where we are as far as some of the upgrades that are needed to the old bareMet system.

And I I just want to echo I I I would love to see a coordination of effort when we're planning our projects and using quality subs that are scoring well.

Maybe we look at incentives and penalties for things that we're trying to do here at the City and Public Works on our projects that maybe we could collaborate on how to do these scoring metrics because I've seen some of these subs just it's unacceptable.

And I don't want to use them again if they're not doing good work.

And I think you feel the same way.

Uh definitely.

I know Eric has uh reorganized part of it.

I don't know if you've hired the public works director yet, the uh the new one, uh, but I do look forward to meeting him or her.

Okay, and uh John Peteric also is still very involved.

We still work with him.

So we will continue to coordinate and uh make sure that we are doing the common good.

Okay.

Okay, and one more question because you told me this when I went to the D cell plant.

Do you have have you forecasted our current drought and what year we're in?

Yeah, yeah.

Um our current, you know, if you take a look at the uh every month we provide our board with uh drought conditions, and you see that map, and the drought has been the uh the target has been shrinking, but it's shrinking over San Antonio.

So North Texas is white, the drought is essentially over there, but the the exceptional drought the is still over San Antonio and not just San Antonio, but to the west of San Antonio where a lot of the recharge happens.

So we are tracking the the drought of record of the 1950s.

If you see the um the uh Aquifer level, um it's tracking the same way, going down the same way.

That drought lasted about seven, nine years.

We're probably in year seven of that drought, uh, but we're very confident with our water supply that we'll meet the demands, even if we have even if the drought of record started today, we could still meet that demand.

Okay, that's great.

All right, well, thank you so much.

Yes.

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Mayor and uh thank you, Robert, for the presentation and congratulations to you and your team on the operational and financial excellence recognition, particularly for the TCEQ Environmental Excellence Award, uh, which I've received twice at this point, so uh grateful to see that, as well as the environmental trifecta for the water recycling center, and then of course for the outstanding credit rating.

I'm extremely grateful that this year has been much cooler because what that means and what we've seen out in our community are less water uh main breaks.

And I've had some time to sit and review the 2025 water management plan, and I appreciate the robust key interventions that y'all have put in place in terms of how to be proactive with leak investigations by enhancing internal communications uh findings, and then to your point, a hundred and uh two positions, those boots on the ground that you're mentioning to go out for the distribution and collection of department um to address those water loss cause, and then of course, operators for the field utility coordinators uh and so much more.

Um, and also right propose to increase six field utility coordinators to assess leaks more quickly and schedule repairs, and then again hire additional field crews to respond to those leak repairs.

And all that to say with those robust improvements, right?

It's not necessarily going to stop soil from shifting, right?

So we're not likely going to see um zero leaks or busted pipes, right?

And I think that's where we have to acknowledge the shared responsibility when it comes to the planning and essay tomorrow plan, as well as our sustainability goals, right?

The with the climate adaptation plan, how can we ensure that we're looking at where our heat islands are and how are we ensuring that we're maintaining uh or rather decreasing the amount of heat, especially in the urban core, right?

Because in D5 in 2023, I remember seeing like so many busted pipes, and it was and it was infuriating.

Um, and and I know our constituents were calling about it and y'all are doing the best y'all could all throughout the city to be responsive.

Um, but just want to highlight the importance of of us being mindful in terms of how we need to move forward with the climate adaptation plan.

And then, of course, I know you all play a role uh in those conversations, but how can we minimize uh the heat?

I appreciate you um providing more context in terms of the older pipes, and that doesn't necessarily mean they need to be replaced, uh, because I'd also like to see as well, right, with those 50-year-old pipes in particular, where are they throughout the city?

Um, just so I can have an understanding, and then again, I appreciate the clarification because my next question was going to be what is the plan, right?

Uh, for maintenance or and or to replace those pipes, but my understanding if I heard correctly, uh, if they're not um seen to be as vulnerable pipes are not set to be replaced.

Correct.

Okay, we we want to go uh after the worst ones first, just like the city rates their streets, we rate our pipes.

Okay, I appreciate that clarification.

And then in terms of the the rate increase, uh I appreciate the breakdown in terms of like where you all would invest those dollars for rehabilitation as well as water delivery.

Um, but my constituent services team had a couple of uh questions and recommendations.

Like, would this be an opportunity as well to increase the amount of assistance that we can provide our constituents uh through utility assistance and the uplift program or project AWA?

Yes, it's it's a matter of uh of budget um importance, budget uh priorities.

Uh we feel that unfortunately we live in a city that is um uh has a lot of poverty in it, a lot of generational poverty in it, uh, not a lot of high income.

Um Doug Evanson, our CFO knows, I think our board knows that uh this is very important if we see uh we will see an increase in expenditure in uh budgeted amounts for these programs, and I think our board will accept that and approve that.

They want it too.

Yeah, and I think as conversations move forward with the rate increasing, those numbers would be helpful.

Um I'm extremely grateful for Theresa Castillo, who's our the liaison with SAWs, and we have roughly five hundred five thousand accounts rather uh signed up for the uplift program, and then roughly 700 families that have received utility assistance, so just grateful for your team uh bringing being present in our field offices and responsive to community members to connect them to those programs.

Um but as councilwoman Dr.

Core mentioned, I think there's opportunity in terms of the eligibility criteria uh for us to visit, how can we potentially expand that, right?

Because uh in D5 there are areas that are being experiencing gentrification, so it's folks on fixed incomes, but the values drastically increasing.

Uh and I think you know, we're we're seeing a need for more assistance.

So I think if we could re-evaluate that criteria, uh we'd be able to provide more assistance to families.

Uh understood, thank you.

And then uh appreciate that.

Uh and lastly, I I share the similar sentiment regarding uh the the data centers and the crypto mining, right?

These are uh very water intensive and electric intensive uh entities uh that often employ very few people, right?

So when we're talking about our limited resources like water, uh, is this something that we should be incentivizing when we're having to potentially expand um access to water?

Um so with that being said, I I know um you all feel confident in having enough resources to support this industry, but I'd encourage uh on the policy side and/or uh rate increase side um how we're we're not necessarily incentivizing them to use our limited water resources.

Well, we we don't we have a a flat uh rate for anybody that uses water for whatever purpose.

Um and so uh we we do not provide incentives as a matter of fact, impact fees, we cannot waive them, council can waive them.

It it's in y'all's uh purview to do that or not do that.

And so what I was saying is as if they are here and they're in our service area, uh we can provide the water.

As a matter of fact, we're obligated to provide that water.

Thank you, and I appreciate that because uh it brings me to my last uh point, right?

Well, with the conversation about the rate increase, I'm hopeful that you all maintain the current rate structure that you all have to your point, right?

You you're paying for what you use rather than incentivizing for the more you use.

Um so I'm hopeful as the conversations move forward that that's the tiered structure that we continue to move forward and approve because I I think it serves as a model for all utilities on how uh rates should be tiered.

And what we have found out, you know, this has been in place uh through uh one and a half summers now, and we have seen people uh pulling back from using 20,000 gallons.

It it has said sent a signal and it's being heard, and there's reaction to that signal.

So they're using less water.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

And then um I received an email from a constituent regarding this item, and what he mentioned uh was like particularly within the historic west side, there's um uh a lot of hard water, right?

And he's asking, right?

And now just based off a conversation, I'm curious if it's a 50-year-old pipe that's not necessarily in need of replacement.

Are there opportunities and or incentives for SAWS uh payers to get plugged into rebate program for water softener and or filters, filter filtration systems uh through SAWs available?

Uh we do not have a current program for uh subsidizing the purchase of water softeners, no.

And then it typically, like for example, um, with Francisco, right, who emailed us about his area, um how would he go about uh requesting that his his water quality be tested, right?

Like, for example, he said his water is you know give us the address.

Okay, we'll get that too.

We have our own laboratory.

Uh we do testing hundreds of times a day on the wastewater side and the water side, and we do get occasional requests from individuals that they want to know the all the the uh the type of water we have and all the the uh chemical components of it.

So we will glad just give us the address, we'll we'll do it.

Perfect, thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Chairman Gia.

Thank you for your presentation and all the information.

Um, you know, going back to clay soils, that's a huge problem in my district, of course.

Um so do you have ways of addressing pipes that are in clay soil to help address that issue, or is it just kind of we have to hope that the weather's not as bad as it was on that year?

Uh luckily the pipes that are breaking that are in clay soils.

If I'm wrong, let me know, okay.

Uh that that are in clay soils and get replaced.

That was of a different pipe material.

Okay, good.

So now in the in the clay soils where we're putting it's a higher grade type of pipe, it's a more um durable pipe, longer uh lifespan pipe.

And this might be more of a question for the city, but is that pipe material now required for construction in clay soil areas?

It it is our own specifications.

You're specific, yeah.

But I'm asking the city, is that a requirement for development?

Well, no, it's it's required.

Yeah.

We don't we don't report uh I I don't believe we'll double check, but I don't believe we specify in the code.

Yeah, um because any work as Robert described, if there's a development or commercial development, um they are funding, but they are constructing, of course.

Yeah, yeah.

Yes.

Uh the developer builds the system that of their new neighborhood, but we have inspectors there.

Uh they know the the type of pipe that we will accept and the quality of its installation.

So all that is taken care of.

And that includes the lateral that goes from the main line to the home.

Yes.

Okay.

Just want to make sure that.

Um in your capital program, do you have um plans for future development expansion of purple pipe?

Uh no.

Uh the maintaining of it, yes, but uh that's ONM cost.

But the expansion, that's something that our councilwoman is very interested in.

She's she's smiling over there.

Sure.

I mean, um, you could be, you know, sure.

Sarah Woman.

Um but and the whole question is who pays for it?

Right.

Do our current ratepayers pay for it, or if somebody wants recycled water, should they pay for it?

Right now, if they want it, they have to pay for it.

Yeah, and I get the wanting of it, but and I guess that's a lower rate, right?

That they pay for the purple pipe.

Yeah.

And so maybe it's it's uh a conversation of how we can expand that program because as people have been talking about these data centers, they're they're not gonna stop coming.

And you know, it I could even see us potentially doing a requirement, right?

If you have a data center or you have such a high use facility, you might be required at some point to have purple pipe just because it's just too much to uh take in potable water that we all have to drink.

So um maybe in our future date we can get together and talk about that or have a presentation about that, what that would look like for you all.

Uh because we have a good amount in I think in the southwest side of town and the west side of town, far west.

So people in our districts um get to utilize that.

Uh, but I think more people should be able to utilize Purple Pipe Program, especially if there's high water usage um areas.

So I think that's really important.

Definitely.

And uh it there's a lot of reasons why we would want to expand the purple pipe system.

We have plenty of water that we clean up and can use.

There's a lot of capacity there.

Uh and maybe that is something that saws should pay for uh is is part of economic development, part of encouraging use of this water, and it ends up benefiting the aquifer and benefits uh our potable usage of of the sources that we have.

Yeah, absolutely.

Uh I think it could also kind of relegate certain industries in a certain areas of town that we kind of want to have a grasp on, which is good.

Um and you talked earlier about you know, not every not all of the old pipes are the most vulnerable pipes, but do you have you mapped out so your tier of the most vulnerable pipes to the least vulnerable pipes in your system?

Yes.

Okay.

Uh on the water and sewer side.

Okay.

And maybe you can provide that background to us just as we can kind of visualize where you're kind of starting off throughout the city and where you kind of will end up.

Sure.

And I'm gonna send this to Andy Segovia first because it's um something we don't want out in the public.

Oh, okay.

And so he'll put his stamp on it that uh has its confidentiality on it.

Is that okay, Andy?

That's fine.

All right.

Uh good to know.

And you know, just uh a more uh long-term conversation too.

Of course I agree with the programming, um, possible changes to the programming to uh have more affordability.

Um Terry and uh course Cecila do a lot of great work for us, and we've certainly seen some exemptions to rules uh when we had certain tough cases to go through.

So I really appreciate your team's work on that.

But you know, as we continue to raise rates here in San Antonio, um so many of our seniors that use this program are just on a fixed income.

So they do get the benefit of some of these programs, but um they will just never see their income grow uh at the same time that water usage is getting more expensive, as well as energy usage.

So I would appreciate some work on that.

And then I think you know, long term we have to kind of my opinion is we have to reclassify what uh who a developer is that I don't think they're all the same in San Antonio.

So if you have an individual building a home, wanting to put water at their home, of course they have to pay for that.

And I personally think there should be some varying degrees of that.

Now, obviously that means SAWS pays for that, which means ratepayers pay for some of that, but I think that's important for some folks, right?

That are the building of their home.

I had a great example of Guy and Zarzamora, had a business contracted with the city, uh, did not have running water as a business, used a well, right?

And and the line was about four properties down.

He was gonna have to pay for everything.

He found another solution, thankfully, but you know, there's an example of just a small business guy from graduated from South Sand, you know, high school uh and couldn't get running water to his business just because he was was treated as a developer and he was gonna have to pay for the cost of the road and the extension, and everybody in between that was gonna have the benefit to tap in without any cost associated.

So I think there are ways to get a little bit smarter with that on our end.

That concept works great for true developers.

It does cause those problems you mentioned when you have that kind of uh situation.

There's a lot of, for example, uh vacant uh lots, vacant properties in the older neighborhoods where a house may be burned down or got condemned, or or if somebody buys the lot wants to build a new home, they don't have to pay for connection because whoever had that property initially already paid that.

So it's a one-time fee, a one-time connection fee.

Yeah, that's true.

But I think you know, some of our south side where we had large swaths of land that maybe had one connection now have been subdivided, you know, that may not exist there.

So I think, especially on my set down where you had their met, you know, as the primary provider for so many years, that organization just wasn't there on the map.

And the key to that is you mentioned at the very beginning is to make uh an understanding of that circumstances versus building a subdivision.

Yes.

And what that means and what your situation, that particular situation.

Yeah, there's got to be some shades of differences in that just to help people out with that.

So I appreciate it.

Sure.

Thank you.

Councilwoman Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you.

Thank you, Robert, for the presentation.

Um just a couple of quick questions, really echoing what um Councilmember Via Gran asked for, was just a breakdown of the data you have on those pipes in the 10 to 50 year range, that would be very helpful.

And also on the slide 13 on the worst mains in the system, a breakdown of where those are would be helpful.

Um and again, just echoing uh councilwoman Castillo's point of that current rate structure that you have in place, if that continues, that would be supportive of that.

Um and really yesterday I went to an HOA meeting, Chavano Forest.

The question that my HOA had was on uh they have their own meter, um, they're interested in capping that uh their irrigation.

So does SAWS provide rebates to the neighborhood associations?

To do what?

To cap the sprinkler?

Uh to not use them, yes.

Yeah, they do.

Well, it's it's not an existing program, but we have custom made uh conservation programs.

So the neighborhood could neighborhood association can use it.

We would have to talk to them, get details of what they do it and why they want to do it, uh the return on investment kind of thing, and then ultimately we could get involved in that, yes.

Okay, perfect.

Well, we're good.

Uh go ahead.

Um we we definitely do have they're included right now, and now with the AMI program, uh obviously they're able to see their usage, even if it's on a little median and they're able to see leaks a whole lot quicker, and so we have implemented that in the last couple months.

So we we have recently um allowed them to if they cut and cap their irrigation system, we're very excited about it, and uh we will provide them with that incentive.

Oh, great, awesome.

So make sure that we connect y'all to Chavano Forest.

Thank you.

Um and uh what council member Spears mentioned on I've heard from residents after they get the new meter in, their bills are significantly higher.

So is there any truth to that old meter running slower?

Oh impacting that, and how true is that?

Uh old meters uh degradated over time.

They they they would tend to register less.

So, in effect, uh customers were using more water than what they paid for.

So now that we have the AMI meter, it's a true reading, and uh it better uh identifies how much water saws is actually selling to get a better idea of what our lost water numbers are.

Okay.

I noticed too on slide 17 the SAWs non-revenue water targets, it's a 12-year-old is that 12-year plan.

Um is there any way to reduce that plan by a quarter?

Oh, yeah.

Uh yes, uh this um it's a matter of um uh priority and money.

Okay.

So so yes, uh, for example, uh someone mentioned that they saw me first or priority.

I'm sorry, money or priority.

Which one first?

Uh our employee, I think it was uh councilwoman uh Castilla, our employee count that went up was on uh boots on the ground.

We can hire more crews to be more responsive to leaks, and that number will improve.

Um we have some technology that we're doing pilot programs on.

If those come to fruition, obviously the program itself will be more expensive, but it will drive those numbers down.

So that's aspirational.

Obviously, 2035 uh term limits, none of you will be here.

Um, but we can get it done.

2029?

Just kidding.

Um do we and the state dollars that have been allocated for water resources in the last two sessions, can any of that be used for this non-revenue water plan?

Yes, and it has.

We do what we can to get our share of state funding.

Umfortunately, we are so successful that a lot of that money is geared towards utilities that need a lot of help.

Okay.

So sometimes we know we don't meet those metrics of what we qualify for.

Uh a simple um explanation of water conservation.

Uh, Dallas, for example, has a very high per capita use, so if they want to spend money on water conservation, it's easier for them to get money from the state than it is for us because we already are very low.

Okay.

Um I think But we do get our share of of uh how much do you have a round number?

Hey.

Good afternoon.

Um I don't know if exactly exact number, but we we have billions of billions of dollars over.

We're one of the biggest uh borrowers of water development board money over the past, I guess, decade, decade and a half.

Um so we we do just recently, in fact, we just got some money from water development board for our lead and copper program, about 11 million, almost 12 million dollars uh to to run some of the things that we do in that program.

So it's little things here and there, but it all adds up over time.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

I think that's it for me.

Thank you so much.

Councilman White.

Before uh chairwoman asked me to make one last clarification.

So the cost of service study that we are doing, we are not looking at the rate design structure.

So our existing rate design is going to stay in effect.

So the tiered rate structure that we have today is going to be here tomorrow until we do the next formal rate study, which is probably not until 2027 or thereabouts.

Okay.

Councilman White.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um this is for either the chairwoman or or you, Robert.

When was the last time that SAWS did an audit, an internal audit of of their operations?

Well, we do an internal audit all the time.

Um we have uh or and hold on, I'm sorry.

Uh when I say internal, I mean had an outside company, the third party come in and take a look at uh you know what you're doing right, wrong, efficiencies and you're talking about an operational audit.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I guess the last formal, the last formal was right after URI.

Um I asked Robert to bring in one of the engineering firms that we use to look at our readiness process and to look at the specifics centered around URI.

And we actually started that process before the city did to look across the board.

And so that's been we've incorporated um those recommendations into our annual readiness for our operations.

But beyond that, I don't know that we've done any other formal operations review.

So what's your feeling about maybe now being the time for for, and I know this is probably a board discussion, I guess, um, for for SAWs to undergo a uh again a complete operational audit where it were a third party.

I know um I think we had one of those done for for CPS in the when was it?

It was 2021, 2022 time frame.

Um something where third party comes in, reviews what's going on, and and can give you guys uh and us an idea of again what SAWS can do better, um, what they're doing well, things like that.

We the board has not had that discussion since we implemented the uh the recommendations from I believe it was Black and Beach with URI.

So we can certainly discuss that and see how we would need to incorporate that.

Great.

Yeah, I appreciate that.

I don't I don't know what my colleagues think, but but but I think that um that would be uh really helpful, uh especially now when we're talking about further rate increases, you know, because as some of my colleagues have stated, um the citizens are always being asked to pay more, you know, and and just like we here at the city um are doing these budget reviews and you know we're moving to a uh you know uh a different budgeting model here as well, and and even just what we just did uh in this last budget process, I think we found 25 million plus in in uh uh inefficient spending that we were able then to redirect other places.

I think we found 25 million plus in uh uh inefficient spending that we were able then to redirect other places.

Uh I think when you're asking citizens to to pay more, um it's perhaps easier to do so if an audit like this that I'm suggesting has been done, and we can tell the people listen, they're going back, they're reviewing what they're doing, they're trying to be as efficient as possible.

Um, but you know, maybe we still need the extract.

Now I can't stand here today and commit that we will have an audit completed when we come back with this next rate request.

Yep.

That would be nearly impossible.

Right.

But I will add that there are additional efforts as I'm standing here.

I'm thinking about the energy efficiency efforts that we have ongoing.

We have a consultant that works with various departments within SAWs, and they're always looking for ways that we can change the way we operate for potential energy savings and or efficiency operations.

So that's ongoing in addition to the work that we've done with Black and Beach.

Um and then we had an opportunity to look at our meter deployment because we were totally reliant on an outside entity to provide that.

And quite frankly, our employees were observing what was happening, and they found a different way to do it.

And we brought that in-house.

And so the majority of that work has been implemented in-house more efficiently, quicker, and I don't know about cheaper, but more efficient and quicker, and we're having less outside interaction.

So we do have a variety of ways, but we will look at the overall um opportunity.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Um there was a slide up there talking about, I guess back to Robert on you know uh what we're paying, what our residents are paying, you know, their their total water uh utility bill in in relation to some of the other cities.

Um I'd love to see that comparison in in terms of what based on our residents' median income, right?

What where are we?

What percentage of our folks paychecks are going towards water as opposed to other cities?

It's it's similar that I asked of of CPS a year ago.

Sure.

Um I want to thank Councilwoman Corps uh for again pressing uh I guess along with Councilwoman Aldrete Gabito on this, making sure we have coordination with public works on these uh capital projects.

And I know that like the councilwoman stated, our residents do not care what name it is on the side of the truck.

Uh they when construction is going slowly, um they just blame the city.

And uh I know that it was last year, or or I guess at the beginning of this year, we entered that memorandum of understanding between the city and public works.

Um how is that going?

Have we had projects that have been subject to that memorandum of understanding and are things working smoother now?

Things are working smoother now uh just because of the publicity that these some of these projects have had.

The um conversations we've had with council, uh conversations I'm sure council has had with city staff.

Uh I've met with Eric and his team at different times over some of these issues, so it's working better.

I do want to emphasize though that public works and city cent and uh SAWs 99% of the time you'll never hear hear about those projects because they went very well.

You will hear about the ones you've heard about, Alamo, um, St.

Mary's, Broadway, all happen to be mostly in District One.

Um but those hopefully are the outliers.

But those are the ones that teach us what not to do and how better to improve.

So I I think it they are working.

Uh for example, um I I don't know if this is still the city still wants this with this new public director that you have, but we had uh been working with public works as to what the next project is going to be.

Make sure everybody is in line knows what uh and identifying these high uh probability uh locations, high probability for risk attention, um, and identifying those and making sure everybody's online with that particular project.

So it's working very well.

Hopefully, you don't know that it's working very well because it is working very well.

Yeah, it's because otherwise you'd get uh it they'd be you you'd know about it.

Yeah, and and Councilman um the the project that Councilwoman Corps was talking about, Hildebrand, is probably our first experiment and I shouldn't call it an experiment, but deliberate adjustment based on that earlier uh board and council approved um uh interlocal agreement.

Good.

Well, I I'd love to see you know how it goes because again, everybody's got to be accountable here, right?

The city, um, SAWs, uh everybody is accountable to the public.

We we need transparency in how these projects are being performed.

Uh as my colleague uh councilmember Spears stated as well, we need to make sure that we are only hiring contractors that are able to do the job on time and on budget.

We need to hire these contractors based based on merit, uh, because again, it's not fair to the residents of San Antonio to do anything less and to have these projects, and not just the residents, but to businesses as well, because as we know, when these things take too long, um it hurts it hurts business as well.

Yeah, and I appreciate public works, for example, they allow some of our staff members to attend their meetings on the selection and grading of these contractors because um they're going to be doing SAW's work, sewer and water, uh changing those lines out, and we know from our experience who the good contractors are for that particular type of work and who the bad ones are.

And so therefore we we put in our we give our input on those, which is quite different from drainage work, different from surface work, uh sidewalk work, and so that interaction is is happening.

Um slide eight, 91% of the AMI meter install installations are complete.

And so my question is are we gonna start seeing operational efficiencies reflected in rates?

In other words, uh will we be able to bring rates down with these new meters going in?

Are we gonna have some efficiencies there?

Uh efficiencies, yes.

Um remember I I did mention I I came here 2023 and asked to lower the rates.

That was before AMI.

What I can tell you is AMI is not going to be a reason that rates have to increase.

It's serving its purpose, it's giving us a whole uh a lot more data to be able to be able to be more efficient, get a better handle on uh lost water issues, and uh just a better customer and utility interface.

Will the smart meters uh is he asking for time and use rate?

Time and use rate, is that what Charsky?

No, I'm just asking if the new technology is gonna allow us to create some efficiencies which then can be passed on to the to the consumer.

Right.

So again, they are we used to call our positive displacement meters our cash registers.

Obviously, these are just much uh electronic automated, and so we're able to determine, and when we when we did based on the board's uh request, we were did a meter testing program along with our AMI meter deployment, and we were able to see so far, again, based on that meter testing, we were budgeting about a two percent increase registration because as you said, the positive displacement meters uh degraded over time, so we knew that from the moment that they went into the ground, obviously they were degrading, they became sick, they were less accurate.

Whereas again, the AMI meters don't have that issue, and so we were seeing a four percent increased registration.

So we do see that efficiency in terms of when you're talking about the budget um increased revenue.

But as Mr.

Puente said, now that people do understand our tiered rate structure and our drought surcharged, that again, once you hit that 20,000 gallons when we're in drought, they are very aware of that 20,000 gallons and they reduce their usage.

So we are seeing that reduction of usage along with the increase registration from AMI.

So cancel is cancels each other out a bit.

Correct.

Um with the new smart meters, are are we gonna be able to reduce leak detection staff?

Um, they they serve two different purposes.

Leak detection is to go out and find leaks uh of our water mains, which is very different from leaks at your own home or um okay, yeah.

So one doesn't have anything to do with the other.

All right.

Um last question this this rate increase that y'all are gonna ask for.

I think you mentioned that it's gonna be uh directed towards um new wastewater treatment plants.

Not a new plant.

Uh the rent renovating or upgrading.

Correct.

Um we're gonna be able to guarantee that that's where this money is going.

It's not gonna get lost in operational costs.

No, no, no.

Definitely you'll see uh improvements and efficiencies.

For example, one of the big costs is just oxygen air, air blowers that feed the microbes that uh do the job that they're supposed to do.

Uh getting new blower system in there is going to save us uh an energy bill, on an energy bill.

And so those kinds of things, there's gonna be expenditures, but there will also be some savings on the maintenance side.

Okay.

Because we we've gotten to that point where we're spending too much on maintenance uh to repair to maintain when we just need to totally rehab.

Okay.

Well, again, I I appreciate your work.

I appreciate the presentation, and and I would just emphasize that for me at least, and I'm sure some of my colleagues as well, uh, asking the citizens to pay more uh is never something uh that we want to do.

And so uh we here at the city need to be uh more efficient in how we're spending money.

Um I think we're we're slowly heading down that that path.

Uh I've said to Rudy over at CPS, they need to do the same thing, and of course, um SAWS should as well.

We will.

Thank you.

Thanks, Mayor.

Chair Alvan.

Thank you, Mayor.

Just had a couple quick last questions.

Um I wanted to echo the concerns raised by Council Record and Castillo about the home value qualifications.

I think it's I think it's worth reevaluating and looking at income versus home value, just because of course, understanding the development pressures and thinking about while it may not always be relevant district six, there will be times where it will be thinking about also the Wolf State and redevelopment, making sure that the areas around the uh the area or areas around the the impact area will still be able to call for some of these programs at their home values skyrocket just because new developments in their area.

Um aside from that, I wanted to ask a question um about the I think it was slide uh 18 in the budget process capital plans.

Um I really appreciate this slide and just looking at what kind of coming down the pipeline a little bit.

Um but what I wanted to ask for or would like to see is um how are making progress on a lot of these capital plans, with the rate increases or with the kind of adjustments you've made uh within SAWs, the savings you've had, the capital or the debt which issued as well in meeting the these capital improvements and even looking at the mapping that we're talking about too uh for the the main lines that needed work, seeing what's the progress being made, that way we can kind of maybe feel a bit more confident too about the investments we're making here as well.

Uh as part of the every other month briefing, um either we'll put it in writing for you or actually make it according to y'all's request on what whatever the agenda says uh to a full-blown update on how we're spending that money.

That'd be perfect.

Thank you.

Um and the last well, uh one of the other things I was gonna mention actually was um I think Council uh Messi Gonzalez brought up some of the HOA concerns.

I know something I hear from residents, not necessarily directly the HOA boards, um, but the residents within HOAs in District 6 are looking at some of the rebate programs with SAS and saying, you know, I'm not too sure if I can do this or not, given HOA rules, am I able to do this?

And I my understanding is you still can, and so it's just an informational campaign.

How's that connection with uh HOAs or residents within HOAs look like for the readbate plans?

We do a lot of education to the homeowner association board members, uh their their officers, on what um our involvement is with that, what they can do and cannot do.

A lot of it is dictated by state law.

Right.

Uh favorably, I might add by state law.

I happen to have passed one of those bills that you could not uh eliminate or uh dissenzize water conservation right programs just because you're in a homeowner association.

So there's an interplay with the state, but we what we try to do is educate the the um the board on what programs are available, what they can do and can't do, what we have authority over for, what the city has authority over for, and what the state is responsible for.

Okay, so it's it's education.

Right.

We we we reach out to all the home associations.

Yes.

Got it.

I appreciate that.

And I think maybe we can talk a bit more offline because I think the there's a misc, not a miscommunication, but necessarily from y'all, um, but maybe it's misunderstandings from the residents versus the HOA boards, maybe are informed.

But I think of like Great Northwest, the large HOA in district six, uh, that has a massive amount of residents, right?

And so it's hard for them to always reach out to the HOA board or the board to reach them too and say, no, no, you can when some preconceived notions may be there.

I understand.

And so we can talk more later on in whether our office can help with that too, just so that residents can get that more leveled for themselves.

Um last thing I wanted to mention was I appreciate uh my council colleagues' point on the uh while we'll held at the ranch.

Uh I'll be touring next week.

So some folks went ahead with me, but nonetheless, no.

Um I think it's an important thing we're talking about, of course, looking at um generally development here in our city and even beyond a little bit and how it can impact not only SAWs but CPS and therefore also uh our residents in terms of energy or water usage um and looking at the development patterns uh in our region because I think it's worthwhile to think about um if we're really focusing in fill development, then we gotta make sure that we are adjusting accordingly here uh with any approvals we have to make, that our council is engaged on the kind of work in our region as well.

Um, and so happy to continue partnering with you all as well as uh CPS Energy uh the other folks uh with the county as well uh to look at that kind of development and understanding the impact it has on our environment as well as our cost of living here across the board.

So thank you to my colleagues, and thank you, Sauce, for all the answers.

Has everyone spoken on this topic that would like to speak?

Okay, great.

Um thank you again, uh Mr.

Fuente, to you and the team.

Thank you, Chair as well for for joining us today.

Just a couple of final comments on on this point.

Um back to the the data center discussion.

Um I was just at the U.S.

Conference of Mayors and some of my colleagues that are a little bit further along in this data center journey um identified one of the things as it relates to the use of recycled water to to cool the centers, which is as that water evaporates into the local area, they did see increased um rates of respiratory challenges as a result of as that water goes into the community, whatever was in the water is now in the air, right?

So I'd really want us to make sure that uh we're being as thoughtful and how we are monitoring for any additional public health concerns as a result of the use of recycled water to cool these data plants, these data centers, rather, excuse me.

Um I would also ask again, thank you for all the the programs that help folks with um what payment plans essentially um as we are all very cognizant and are already thinking about uh the implementation of the reconciliation bill, uh cuts to chip, SNAP, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, these devastating cuts on top of how this body is going to work to close a hundred and fifty million dollar gap in our 27 budget.

Um, really would appreciate you all putting some thought into already um how we might expand some of those programs and then you all helping us understand how additional help in those programs in fact also impacts your ability to do some of the other things that that SAWS needs to do.

Um let me also say I I think it's really important.

Um, you know, we are all cognizant of the very difficult fiscal environment that many of our neighbors are are in now and and will be here soon.

And we would only be um as thoughtful as we can be in explaining to them why a rate increase is it may be necessary, and that's why the study that the chairwoman um identified will be important.

Um because at the end of the day, these are also you know, failing to do these renovations is a public safety issue, it's a public health issue, et cetera.

So we have to take that into account.

It's not that anyone wants to necessarily increase these rates, but unfortunately, these delayed projects, one, they only get more expensive to do over time, and we only increase the public health and public safety risk to our community as a result of deferring that much needed work.

Lastly, um, I don't know how to how how uh uh um popular this idea will be.

However, we've got to think about it.

That's what our the voters have asked us to do.

The um which is be thoughtful with how we invest the resources.

We will shortly do a tabletop exercise that helps us think through some of the most um challenging scenarios as a result of one, the federal cuts we will see and then closing the gaps in our budget.

That will be very helpful because I think we, as we all saw in the last uh last budget session, we had lots of analysis, for example, on staffing for police officers, and that's great.

That's very helpful.

Um, however, we did not have that same level of rigor or analysis among anything else that we want to staff in our community.

And so, as we know the Medicaid 1115 waiver is going away, as we can also potentially anticipate some federal cuts, additional federal cuts to the public health space.

That public that tabletop will help us understand.

Hey, if that goes away, we then can have a discussion about what do we want to fund in our community, what are the services that we think are important, and then two, if we think they're important, um, how do we fund them?

One of the one of the ways uh we just got to put it out there because I mean this last budget season, we already turned over all the the couch cushions, right?

We've already done that exercise.

One of the opportunities that we have with a with an ordinance change is to in fact increase the uh increase the contribution from this utility to the city of San Antonio.

Um so right now it's at 4%, it could go to 5%.

Um, just to give you an idea of what that does, that's about nine to ten million more dollars into our general fund.

Obviously, that's only a fraction of the 150 million dollar gap we are facing in in 2027.

Um, but we do need to look at all um all uh potential options as we look to close that gap.

Okay, thank you again, SAW's leadership team for being here.

Um we've got one more topic.

Um, Eric, over to you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh we'll move through this item quickly.

It's not a very long item, but uh Shannon Miller's gonna give uh uh an update to the council um on a uh proposed new strategic plan uh for our river walk.

Uh she'll give you a little bit of background on our um the the purpose of the capital improvements fund and the advisory board that we have in place.

Um and and the strategic plan will allow us to take uh a comprehensive look at uh all aspects of the the river walk and certainly work with stakeholders uh downtown.

Um the last time we did this was in 2008.

Um and so um in meeting with uh stakeholders over the last seven or eight months, uh we have um kind of come to the conclusion that we need to update this and go forward.

This would include infrastructure and signage and potentially some uh ordinance changes for your consideration um on uh how operations and uh leases are enacted down along the riverwalk level.

So this is timely also because we are going through an RFP process, and so any feedback we hear from you all uh this afternoon will that gives us enough time to make adjustments that way folks can uh uh see your input and and respond accordingly.

Janet.

Great.

Thank you, Eric.

Um, I'm Shannon Miller, I'm the director of the Office of Historic Preservation.

Um, thank you all.

I know you've had a long afternoon already, so I will be brief.

Um, as you know, the riverwalk is extremely important component of our downtown and a top tourist destination in the state, and so it's important that visitors leave with a favorable impression and that residents are proud to show it off.

And that we're good stewards of the riverwalk as a historic and cultural resource, and we make smart smart decisions as we look at improving things like assess accessibility and safety and also prioritize additional investments.

Um in 2001, a special fund was established to receive revenue from the more than 30 patio leases located within the public right-of-way along the riverwalk.

That fund must be used for capital projects and improvements to the riverwalk.

This includes businesses on the traditional like historic horseshoe of the river, and then also in the channel that extends north toward the museum reach and in the turn basin by River Center Mall.

Um, this area generally aligns with the area that is managed operationally by C C DO and John Jackson, his team are also here today.

To inform the spending priorities from the fund, there's a Riverwalk Capital Improvements Advisory Board.

Um that board includes four members appointed by council to fill specific categories, which include a downtown business owner, a downtown resident, and two riverwalk lessees, and those appointments were most recently made in March of this year.

Um Charles Riley is the current chair, other citizen members include Chris Hill, Sam Penchev, and Dominique Silva.

John Jackson, Homer Garcia, and I also serve on that board.

Um it's important to note that all there's additional city oversight on the design of projects within the riverwalk area, of course.

The HDRC reviews all projects in the riverwalk based on the unified development code.

As Eric mentioned, uh there was a master plan completed in 2008 that was um funded through the riverwalks fund.

Um the contract was awarded in 2007 by council to Beatty Palmer Architects, and the focus of that plan was really on the horseshoe and the river center mall extension.

Um it did not include the river channel, it included an inventory of an assessment of safety and accessibility issues, and then designs for future construction phases.

It also identified hot spots that were of particular concern in terms of public safety so that it could help city staff prioritize those phases.

Um there ended up being six total phases.

The final one was completed in 2022, and this work represents a total investment of 18.7 million dollars in capital improvements.

Um the image that you see on the screen is actually a ramp and a public elevator that were constructed near the international center in 2015, and this is one of the more substantial scopes, so it's a great example of the work that came out of that plan.

Um there's an additional phase that has been designed for the river channel portion between Houston Street and Lexington by El Tropicano Hotel.

Um this will include sidewalk repairs and also repairs to the public staircase near the Mexican Manhattan building.

Um this project is already funded from the general fund.

And constructed construction will begin on that project this fiscal year.

This brings us to the new strategic plan.

Uh moving forward, we want to make sure that there is a comprehensive plan in place that helps us guide future funding decisions on the river, and that we're considering all of the opportunities we have for enhancing the overall experience of the riverwalk.

So staff worked with the Riverwalk Capital Improvement Advisory Board with relevant city staff and other stakeholders like Centro, Visit San Antonio, and the Riverwalk Business Owners Group and the Conservation Society to develop the scope of work that was included in the request for proposals.

Um Trish DeBerry, Mario Bass, and Marco Barros are all here today in support of this strategic plan.

Thank you all for your help.

So the RFP was released in August, and it will close as Eric said on October 9th.

Um the scope of work is is really intended to take a holistic approach to consider all of the opportunities that we have to improve the overall experience.

And most maybe most importantly, it will include a comprehensive public input campaign.

And so we know that we we need and we want to hear from tourists, but we also want to hear from locals.

And in particular, we want to hear from the locals who don't come to the river as much as we would like them to hear about why or concerns we might be able to address to drive more traffic to the riverwalk.

We're going to look at relevant city codes, which include everything from whether or not businesses should have amplified sound to people vending on the sidewalks to signage to digital menu boards, and the code diagnostic will also take a look at the unified development code and the river improvement overlay district standards to see where there might need to be updates.

Most of the relevant regulations are 15 to 20 or more years old, and so it makes sense that we would take a look with fresh eyes at those regulations.

As I mentioned, we worked with many stakeholders to identify a number of study areas for the plan, ranging from potential capital improvements and maintenance projects, business growth and attraction, traffic and circulation, which will include wayfinding, public art opportunities, infrastructure, including new amenities, and even ecology and landscaping.

As previously mentioned, one of our goals is to support our business owners through this effort.

As an example of what we've heard is that foot traffic is slower in summer months due to heat.

So we will look at things like new opportunities for shade or maybe even misters along the river, if that would help enhance the overall experience.

Yesterday I did an interview on one of the local news stations, and I've already heard from citizens today about being intimidated by parking when they which is what keeps them from coming downtown.

And so obviously we want to look at things like downtown Tuesday and how we can promote that, but then also look at other challenges that might be intimidating to people or keeping them from making the decision to come to the river.

There have been simultaneous conversations about regulations and enforcement.

And so through this effort, we will find the right balance of avoiding the activities and things that we know as a community we don't want to see on the river, but also considering things that might help our businesses be more successful and help attract residents.

As was mentioned, the solicitation closes next week on October 9th.

We'll begin right after that doing the review and evaluating the proposals, and we intend to have a selection by November.

Before work really begins in full, one of the first things we will do is a citywide public input campaign in collaboration with CNE.

And so we want to make sure that our outreach campaign is effective and that we're reaching as wide an audience as possible, and we'll of course be looking to your teams to help us get the word out as we launch that public input campaign.

All of the Riverwalk business owners, operators, manager, and managers and residents will be invited to participate, and we'll work with VSA, Centro, the Riverwalk Business Owners Group, and others to help us reach those individuals.

Again, we plan to wrap up this effort within this fiscal year.

So clock starts today officially, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Shannon.

You were right, it was very brief.

I asked Eric to uh to put this on the agenda.

We'd gotten some feedback from some of the stakeholders on the River Walk about this way ahead, and so thankful that we are talking about this now.

This is the first time that this topic has come to council, and as mentioned, it is timely because the RFP closes next week.

So this is our opportunity to make sure if there's anything in there that we would like to see that we add that now, right?

Um to that point to the RFP.

May I ask why um why was Task Five optional, uh, which is strategic plan for riverwalk extended area?

Um that it's really a funding consideration more than anything else.

We we do have funding um that was approved by the Riverwalk Capital Improvement Advisory Board that we feel confident will cover the first four tasks, uh that along with um with some operating funds from OHP and C C DO.

Um we do anticipate that we might have to go ask for additional funding from the Riverwalk Capital Improvements Advisory Board for Task Five, and so that's why we ask them to price it separately so that we can kind of treat it that way and get started on the first four tasks while we identify funding for task five if necessary.

Eric, we're not limited.

I mean, again, just because this is uh such a uh a revenue generator for our community, um, depending on what you know plan came out of this.

If we could help us some if somebody could help us assess the ROI on that, that wouldn't necessarily only have to be funded out of this bucket.

Would it could we could we fund it in another way if we thought the ROI was high enough?

Sure, yeah, absolutely, Mayor.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um so I think that just kind of seeing what's in the realm of possible is is important as you know, we don't do the strategic plan option um often.

Um and so I wouldn't uh have the RFP be updated uh to ensure that task five is is not optional and and folks provide some some ideas on how we might do that.

The other thing I would add to this is um uh I think the the categories are are correct.

Um one group I want to make sure that we hear from, and not necessarily just certainly in the public input piece, um, but would want those answering this RFP to consider uh, which is the modifications that we can provide to ensure that our our workers on the river walk are safe, right?

One of the things I remember hearing about um uh for those that you know work odd hours are just you know doesn't feel safe to walk from parking to to the hotel or wherever they work.

So I'd like there to be some specific inclusion here of um safety for workers um that are on the riverwalk.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Um let me go to my colleagues.

Um Chair McKee Rodriguez Thank you, Mayor, and thank you for the uh presentation.

Um I'll preface my my statements and my questions by stating that I understand the river walk is a staple of San Antonio and one of the greatest assets that we have for both tourists who uh enjoy it as a one-of-a-kind space and for residents who share fond memories at the riverwalk.

Uh, I propose to my husband at the riverwalk, it's a very important place for so many of us.

So nothing I'm about to say diminishes that, and I'm not saying that we shouldn't invest here, uh, but I do want to discuss it as a component of the larger downtown investment that we're making.

Uh so you know, for a second, let's talk about opportunity costs.

Uh 18.7 million dollars have already been spent on Riverwalk Capital projects uh while many neighborhoods lack basic infrastructure.

We're already planning to focus more bond dollars downtown as a part of our efforts to realize Project Marvel.

Important to note respectfully, District One has received uh 15% of all 2017 and 2022 bond dollars for street improvements at about 138 million dollars, the bulk of which is concentrated downtown.

To compare district two, uh, one of the areas of town with the greatest infrastructure need, received the least of any district across two bond cycles at only five percent uh at 48 million dollars.

And that doesn't include TURS dollars of both the Houston, the Houston Street Hurs and Midtown TURS that are also redirected to downtown to the downtown area.

And so I want to be clear with respect to my colleague, Councilwoman Core.

I know that that inequity has absolutely nothing to do with her.

Uh rather it has to do with our disproportionate efforts to invest downtown, oftentimes to the detriment of communities throughout our city that have waited decades for a drainage project or a street improvement with still no plan in sight.

Uh so we've said frequently the downtown belongs to the whole city uh and to every council member, but we haven't yet discussed uh what it is that we're asking our residents to give up in exchange.

So as we discuss potential improvements of the riverwalk, I would like us to keep uh keep that in mind.

Uh so moving on to questions.

I believe that I'll start off with the sort of stakeholder group.

I believe that we have a duty to challenge for more inclusive representation so decision making isn't dominated by commercial interests.

So I'd ask, um, given that the advisory board is weighted toward business and property owners, how will working class residents, renters, uh nearby neighborhoods, and riverwalk employees especially uh have an even stronger voice in shaping the riverwalk's future.

And uh I understand you mentioned a component of reaching residents who don't come as much as we would like them to, but what does that whole effort look like?

Sure, it's a great question.

And I I just want to clarify that the the makeup of the Riverwalk Capital Improvement Advisory Board was established by it was because of a settlement in a lawsuit many, many years ago.

And so it was something that was established as part of that process, and so that's why the membership is divine defined the way it is.

It was required by that um how that lawsuit was settled.

And um, but absolutely we want to hear from any and and all residents, and so I think um that is why we're really prioritizing that public input component, and we want to work closely with CNE and with each of the council offices to think about creative ways to get to people besides just having meetings downtown.

And so I I absolutely look forward to talking to you about how you think it might be effective to reach um your constituents and each of your constituents as we go through this process.

For sure, for sure.

Thank you.

Um I do also um want to be sure that accessibility is about equity and not just a means to expand commerce.

So my next question is will the ADA upgrades and accessibility improvements be protected from being overshadowed or uh deprioritized in the budget uh by business attraction projects that I'll leave it there business uh attraction projects.

Yes, obviously accessibility remains a very high priority, and um you know it's kind of funny.

Like literally one of the first things I did when I was hired at the city was review phase one of this of the master plan, and it there were changes because you know, like there were stairs that were historic that needed to be updated, and I was like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna mess up the riverwalk.

But we didn't mess it up.

Like the improvements that that increase accessibility along the river have made it for such a much better experience for everyone.

And so it's really important that we continue to make those improvements to ensure that accessibility continues to be a top priority.

For sure.

Thank you, thank you.

Um next, um, I know a part of that was uh businesses asking for relaxed regulations.

Many of the regulations that exist do so as a means to protect residents from excessive commercialization that undermines livability.

So I would ask um, you know, especially with businesses asking for relaxed regulations on noise, signage and amplified sounds, how will we balance these requests with the quality of life of residents downtown in a nearby neighborhoods?

And I'll I think it ties back to that question about stakeholders and how we engage the broader community to ensure that uh the interests of one group doesn't deprioritize those of the other.

Yeah, I think that that's a very good point.

And um we've had that conversation.

Uh the city manager and and I met recently with with one group of business owners, and we kind of said the same thing.

It's like we understand that some people want to see X, but other people absolutely do not may not want to see that same thing.

And so we absolutely want to make sure that we're hearing from all perspectives so that we can balance that and not tilt too far one either direction.

Absolutely, for sure.

Um, and then in thinking about environmental and sustainability concerns, we just had a whole conversation with SAS, 57 slides and a bunch of conversation.

Will the new strategic plan include measurable uh sustainability goals for the riverwalk, such as uh water conservation, native plannings and energy efficiency rather than solely focusing on business growth?

Absolutely, yeah.

I I didn't highlight that, but yes, that is that is definitely the intent.

Awesome.

That's good to hear.

Uh and then do we when do we anticipate this study will be done?

Oh, fiscal year 26.

So the end of 26?

Yes, I mean, obviously, as we hear from the consultant teams that respond to the RFP will get a better idea of how quickly they they think they can move, but we for sure want the want the strategic plan to be completed by the in this fiscal year.

For sure.

How was the how were the previous capital improvements um funded for 2008 to 2022?

So so the bulk of the the master plan that I mentioned, the 18.7 came from the riverwalk fund.

And and again, though that money comes from the lease revenue, and it is limited to being spent on improvements in the riverwalk.

So your point about other funding sources setting that aside, but the the funds that come from the riverwalk fund, that's a like a special use fund that is specifically for those riverwalk improvements as a result of that lawsuit from early 2000s.

And we anticipate that that's how we'll be able to find this next phase.

That's how we would propose to uh, but you know, depending on what the improvements are.

Um may not be popular, but but as part of the the strategic plan, we probably ought to look at what those patio leases, what those rates are.

Um they probably haven't been adjusted in a while.

As as uh Shannon mentioned, that has been the funding source.

Actually, the argument, the legal argument back decades ago was that folks that were leasing the property for businesses were arguing that this that the city was taking the money and not making any improvements.

So as part of the settlement um and the conclusion of that uh that the all that money gets deposited in one special revenue account, and and we've utilized that to make the improvements over over time, and so that would be a primary primary vehicle, and we should probably look at as we go through this maybe adjustments for for how we're compensated.

And projected revenue is a little over 800,000 a year from those riverwalk leases.

So it was I guess to save a little bit of time.

If you wouldn't mind in a follow-up memo sharing what the contributions to this fund have looked like from the time that the last plan was done from 2008 to 2022, to what we're expecting this next one.

Yeah, the investment, sure.

Because the 500,000 a year isn't necessarily making sense to me for the 18.7 million dollars.

So I don't know what extra my guess is that over time and and and there were elements, you know, because you're talking about almost 20 years, that there may have been elements of contributions from from other funding sources or other projects happening downtown, but we'll we'll put we'll piece that together back to 2008.

Okay.

Appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Chair Corr.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you for this presentation.

Um and thank you to the stakeholders that are here, Marco.

Thank you for coming, Marcus coming for his here, and Trish from Central is also here.

We've been talking about, and of course, all of our city staff and C CDO for the work that they do.

We've been talking about the riverwalk for a while, but and um a lot of folks always think, you know, when you think of San Antonio, you think of the river walk, and yet uh a lot of times we sometimes don't give it the attention that it needs.

And I know that's what our stakeholders feel that it's not getting as much attention as some of the stuff on ground is.

And so I'm excited for the strategic plan.

Um, I think the board has done a really good job.

Um, Marco, I don't know if you want to come up and share anything from the stakeholder perspective of what you feel like this could do for the community for Air My Council colleagues.

I know we've had a chance to talk, and I know you sent out some um you know things that were concerned that we've been able to address if you want to highlight any of that too.

Yeah, thank you, Councilwoman.

And uh I need to um say thank you to all of you for paying attention to one of the top two attractions in the state.

You know, we have the Alamo and the River Walk.

Um I have to tell you uh the last two months we have actually spent a lot of time with city staff with the city manager's office, um, both Eric and uh Maria Villa Gomez have been very helpful.

Shannon Miller from HDRC.

We also met with uh Crystal Jones about some projects that you'll be surprised coming up in December.

Um we did a uh a very quick survey in 2023.

We had about 230 respondents, and about one third of the respondents were people who work on the river walk, actually servers, and people work, and we were very uh impressed with the results, and I'll be happy to share that survey with all of you.

Uh we have a very uh three parts to it, a summary and all that, and the complete survey.

So, and it also tells you uh it was actually filled out more by locals than visitors.

It was almost like an 80% local, 20% visitor.

And there were five areas that really um we would like to concentrate on that.

Uh the other person I want to say thank you publicly is uh chief uh police, Mike Manus.

Um he's been very, very involved.

We have had some incidents where he's very, very quick respondent.

He has attended probably the last two months, uh, probably about six meetings with us.

Uh I represent um I'm one of the trustees and founder of the Riverwalk Business Group.

Uh is um really a group of owners about that operate about 20 restaurants and three hotels.

And basically they're working very close together uh to improve the river walk.

And we have so many ideas and all that.

Uh Mayor Jones, uh thank you for asking all the questions, and thank you to your staff for responding.

Um we sent a very nice letter with a lot of issues about uh six weeks ago, and you were within 24 hours, uh your chief of staff was on board.

So we're very grateful to that.

Uh the fast response that we're getting.

Um none of this will be possible.

I have to tell you, give credit to three people here, city government, uh Central San Antonio, uh great leader with Trish De Berry.

She has been on top since day one.

And I'm very happy to also welcome back Mario Bass, who is the CEO of uh VSA Visa San Antonio, and we've had a lot of conversations with Mario and uh in fact, even last night we we had a chance to talk for 15 minutes at a public meeting at District 9.

So there's a lot to do.

Uh we've also asked uh our city manager if she could uh if he could place um Shannon Miller as the chair of the task force.

I think she has the knowledge to really handle all the the task force and all the research and all that, and where we go from here.

Uh someone asked about the city ordinance.

We have about five city ordinances who are very, very old that need to be updated.

Uh we've actually, and I'm sorry, I'm taking a little longer here, but uh there's a lot of new technology about the sound.

Uh there's little speakers that don't have to go sideways on the river walk, you just play uh background music.

Uh there's a lot of people really willing to help.

Uh and by the way, uh, we're investing in all of this through the leases.

All the b business operators are paying for release to the city, and we're using that money to pay for the study.

The other source of money could be any hotel tax uh that you, you know, the city receives 7% for for the city, 2% for the convention center.

Uh the state keeps 6%, and the um the county keeps uh uh the 1.75.

So we're basically collecting 16.75 hotel tax presently, and depends on what happens in the November election, that could go to 17%.

So any hotel tax can be used for a project like this.

Any improvements on the river walk or any tourism attraction.

Um so I don't know if you have any other questions.

I know I took a little longer than than that, but the the keys is really to improve the uh experience of the river walk.

Uh the only bad sad news is that we have had a trend for the past three years where sales in the summer go going down for many reasons.

Uh it could be the construction lately, lack of parking, uh the hot weather.

There's just many, many reasons.

Uh but uh the last three years and this past summer, I do survey it uh on a monthly basis the sales of the restaurants without disclosing each each specific restaurant.

But this summer we're basically experiencing we we had a drop in business of about 11 to 12 percent in the majority of the um the restaurants that we surveyed.

Um and we're happy to answer any questions, but we support this program uh thank you.

With open arms and we thank you for listening to uh the business group and all the operators and investors.

And there's more projects coming up.

Uh I'll leave you in suspense that uh we one of the number five items, number five was that give me a reason to come back to the river walk, and one was convert the river walk into an art gallery.

So sometime in December, you're gonna be a nice surprise with uh a new project coming up.

Thank you so much, Marco.

Thank you for your work um and leadership there.

And the summer piece with businesses is really hard.

I know I've talked about this a couple times, but we ran a music to business program this summer, and we actually our first spot was Hughman's Oasis, it's the little tiki bar right here on the river, and we had a um uh person doing live music on the river, and they were super grateful for it because again, music brings people out, and um, so you know, we're trying our best to see what ways that we can help support our community.

And I think the one thing if you've ever tried going to the river walk and you're not from here, the Lavi that folks always tell us and a lot of the other businesses that like they don't know how to get there, and like people are just asking, like, oh, how do I get to this one spot?

And if you're looking on a map, it's like you look like you're standing there, but you're not there.

It's underground, and or it's like on the river level, and so wayfinding is on the RFP is a huge thing, uh, making sure that we have better better wayfinding opportunities, whether it's through uh maps and being able to decipher that and um and then also continuing to invest in the infrastructure component as well.

The last thing I just wanted to say about this is I was talking to some folks from Sierra yesterday, and they had mentioned that they actually do the operations and maintenance for the river everywhere except for on the riverwalk.

And they do a pretty good job.

So I uh I would like to add to see if that's uh a component that could be added to the discovery of this RFP, whether it could save us some resources for them to be able to do that.

No, probably not.

Umly because we've had those conversations, and and part of our conversation with uh Derek and the staff over there is um let's figure out how to work together to maintain, especially from a an operations and maintenance or or even a flooding standpoint.

But um it can't cost us more.

Yeah, um, and that's been kind of the the issue that has been unresolved.

Uh and I think that's more uh work that we need to do between the city and and the river authority.

And definitely just exploration.

And then obviously, I think probably what would come in to come into play is who's collecting the revenue on the leases.

So it's a little bit more complicated, and I think, but uh uh I I appreciate that uh Derek sent me a message earlier that that might come up, and and I think we need to do a little bit more work with them.

Yeah, because it's almost like the CPS or the saw's conversation a second ago.

People don't, the public doesn't really it doesn't matter who's planting the flowers or holding the gates.

Um it's just gotta work and it's gotta make sense, but it shouldn't be more expensive overall.

So I think we need to hit that balance.

Yeah, absolutely agree there.

And then uh just one last thing that I wanted to um add on, and I lost my train of thought.

Never mind.

Well, so yeah, continuing to oh, I did remember.

This is gonna be the first RFP, I think that we can't do our um Sebata points on.

So I looked at the points and just wanted to um express my sadness about it, and not that we can do anything, but there's five points listed in the RFP for um veteran-owned business, and that's the only thing that's included.

Is it veteran and local local preference?

Veteran and local.

So it's 10 or 5.

10 for local preference and five for veteran.

Okay.

So that used to be, I think, 10 for local and then 10 for a minority, like the minority piece is what we got taken out.

So just saying that out loud and let's monitor to make sure we can still get a good uh representative group for this.

Thanks.

Thanks, Mayor.

Chair Golfan.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Shannon, for the presentation and the briefing we had, I think last week feels like it's been years ago already.

But looking forward to the work coming up with this, uh I echo a lot of the sentiments that uh my council colleagues and the mayor uh pointed out, thinking about, of course, and we talked about this as well, the extension possibility of the scope of work looking at uh the northern and southern portion of the river, whether it's in this RFP or in a future one, I think is worthwhile to make sure that it's seamless uh implementation for any kind of new elements that come along with it, whether it's accessibility or lighting or other kinds of work that's done that way it's a seamless transition for folks who are using it uh all the way through.

Um I think it's always worthwhile.

Um the other point, of course, ensuring that residents, workers, and commercial tenants are always involved in this, but definitely an emphasis on the residents uh not only along the riverwalk but nearby too who utilize it for the day-to-day.

I think the the conversation um generally around downtown development, uh whether it's within our main uh attraction site, think about Market Square or thinking about Aladome or whatever it is, uh is always a conversation about authenticity, right?

For tourists not only uh but part of that comes from the making it work for our residents who are here now, right?

That the regulative ability, that regular use of it is where people want to go and want to see that there's not just uh you're walking into a place where it's only for tourists, and of course I don't think the river walk is, but I think that giving that focus there is always crucial so that way uh when folks do come, it feels like oh, this is a place that every San Antonio uses.

This is a place where residents come on every single day for shopping or whatever it is for the daily needs, not just for when they're bringing family in.

I think it's always uh worthwhile.

Um worthwhile focus.

Um then the last thing I was gonna just say was that for um oh I'm sorry, there's two more quick things.

One of the ones I was gonna mention was uh I know there's some pieces in here within the scope of work about uh I think it was wildlife restoration, or maybe it's more of a plant species, um, and make sure that just kind of that ecology work entirely.

Um isn't you know impacted too heavily by some of the regulation uh conversations.

I think it's worthwhile that whether it's within livability for residents or within if we're looking at wild wildlife restoration or general ecology work, that it still kind of flows together well, uh it isn't too impacted by the commercialization of the riverwalk too, right?

Whether it's within lighting or within signage, um all those elements still work together pretty well, so it doesn't become uh I guess overstimulating for something for wildlife or even uh impactful too, harmful for the plants that we try to put there.

Um last thing uh was just uh to the councilman McKee Rodriguez's point about the kind of downtown versus the larger look at the city and the investments that we're making here.

I absolutely agree with that, thinking about the scale investment, right?

And I think it's always incumbent upon us as a group to make sure that we're looking uh whether to the bond or other decisions we're making, that we're making the scaled investment that we need to for our communities, and um there with you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Mayor.

Chair Via Gadon.

Thank you.

I I'll keep this brief.

I just want you to focus on a few things.

Um when we talk about the RFP.

One is the technology piece.

I would love to see more digital and less paper along the river for their happy hours, their local.

I know some people have Tuesday night specials because it's downtown Tuesday.

So I do like that transition over to digital, also the apps with the technology.

So I want to make sure whoever we get have has a grasp of that of what we can do and and the geofencing and and everything right now that's working downtown that's using an app and advertising.

I think we need to tie it into what we're doing on the river walk.

The other is uh as we look at our military families that head downtown, uh our locals as we get them there, and then uh make sure that we can look at how we we work on that.

Whoever we when we talk our strategic plans.

Um what I'm gonna what I would like to see in the future is definitely those leases.

Uh, who has what leases and what sort of does that work with the direction of the city and the kind of where we're moving?

And yeah, I and I won't bring up specific places that we're at the river walk that I'm you know, don't need to be there.

And um, but I think that's kind of what we want to see in terms of family friendly, getting people out there, um, you know, who who owns what and who's investing in in what we do.

So that's really I'm I'm excited about this.

I think when we talk about um the river walk, what it does, the amount of free advertisement we get, uh, because it's one of those shots every basketball game, every uh final four.

If we're on ESPN for the rodeo, they take a river shot, a river walk shot.

So uh we love that.

And I want to thank Trish and her centro team for working so hard.

Um the one thing I would like to see, which I think Centro has done a good job, and maybe we can take that down to our our riverwalk businesses is how do you incorporate the locals?

Whether it's that musician night or whether it's having a vendor or an artist uh featured in their location in restaurants where they're selling, I think that should be something that we were moving forward with too.

And I'm I'm uh I'm excited to see how this moves forward.

But please, technology, let the less paper on the river, the better.

Thank you.

No future trash.

The files are in the computer.

That's correct.

Um Chair Mungia.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, just a couple quick things.

I I echo the point um about a balanced approach, but you know, the river walk, I would say is probably one of the crown jewels of San Antonio.

It's extremely important, and definitely having to balance our our funding that goes to all our districts is really important, but that is a key to San Antonio, uh, not just tourism but commerce and locally too, and it's a very historic place of investment.

So I think number one is you know, making sure maintaining historic and cultural goals of the riverwalk is extremely important.

And you know, Councilman Via Grand um alluded to it, but the there are certain places I don't think belong on the riverwalk.

And one place is gone, I'll say it Hooters.

Don't know why that's there or was there, but and I get you know, some of these places do bring in money, of course, on the riverwalk, but some places I don't think belong there.

That's just my opinion.

Um ADA accessibility is very important, so hopefully you'll you'll be talking to um disability SA where there's actually a parade we're participating in this weekend.

That's really important.

Um, and also, you know, it's one thing to have accessibility, but for folks to know who are not from San Antonio, where can they where are the access points to accessibility is very important?

Um shade and misters 100% agree.

As a staffer, I would walk across during lunch sometimes and walk this area of the riverwalk.

It is unbearable in the summertime.

You just can't do it.

Um, and especially, you know, if you're trying to eat out there, it's extremely difficult.

So that's important, especially as our summers get worse and hotter.

Art is very important.

There are so many bridges that don't have anything underneath them that could easily have some art pieces, um, functional art as well.

I think is really important.

Art with lights is very important.

Um and then one thing the councilman core brought up that I I've mentioned before is landscaping improvements along the riverwalk, but landscaping improvements that go to street level.

So the councilwoman's point, you could be right over the riverwalk on the street and not realize you're at the riverwalk.

So if all those street points that go over the riverwalk could have landscaping from the river going north onto them, I think that is a really good way finding mechanism.

And also lets you know when you're a driver context of where you are in downtown and that you're over a riverwalk, I think is is vastly important.

And does this plan uh consider parts of the riverwalk that go south of Cesar Chavez?

Um so the project area goes basically to the marina, like to Nueva.

Okay.

And why is it just that particular section?

Because that's where where the Riverwalk Capital Improvement Advisory Board, like that's the area where there are leases, and that's where the revenue comes in from, and that's the area that's managed by CCDO.

So that was the priority for this, particularly because it's primarily being funded, the studies being funded by out of the fund.

Very fair.

And I think um, you know, I'm not sure how many tourists that stay on the riverwalk realize that it goes all the way south into council and via Gran's district and very beautiful nature aspect on that side of the riverwalk.

So I want to make sure that folks know that they can do both on the riverwalk.

And certainly that would be included as part of the wayfinding assessment, you know, making sure that people do know that there's it doesn't stop here.

There's more.

Yeah.

And this might be controversial, but in some places, I I still think we need railings.

Uh, because if you're walking in a crowd and you're the one that's on the edge, it feels like you're gonna fall over.

Uh and obviously it's it's not that deep, but nobody wants to fall because someone in the crowd bumped them.

So I definitely think railing is important along the riverwalk.

Um, of course, making sure that there's still that um ADA accessibility.

So thank you.

Appreciate it.

Uh Councilman Mesa Gonzalez.

Hi, thank you for the presentation.

Um had the same comments that uh Councilman Mungia had it was really about ADA requirements.

We've heard from a couple of our uh gentlemen has come in recently uh during citizens to be heard just talking about that lack of accessibility.

railing is important along the river walk um of course making sure that there's still that um ada accessibility thank you appreciate uh councilwoman messa gonzalez hi thank you for the presentation um i had the same comments that uh councilwoman mungia had it was really about a dA requirements we've heard from a couple of our uh gentlemen has come in recently uh during citizens to be heard just talking about that lack of accessibility so do you have any um members of the ADA community community on the committee so the committee is still being formed like we're we're we're still inviting people to participate so absolutely and and I do think I forget who which one of you said it but some of it is also just about creating awareness because yeah the the result of the master plan really was accessibility along the whole entire horseshoe um but people don't always know that and so helping people know how they can get to and from street level and river level and and access both sides of the river as well.

And what type of um enhancements were business owners talking about just like a few um one of the examples is uh what uh councilwoman Bigram mentioned about technology it you know there are no like digital menu boards are not allowed on the river currently and when that regulation was created you can imagine the quality of the technology then and so they were that you couldn't really control light levels they would glare it wasn't the kind of environment that people wanted on the river but the technology is very different now and so we you know they have the abil ability to regulate light levels and things like that and they're much more tasteful and so that's a great example of something that might make sense today that didn't make sense 20 years ago when the regulations were drafted.

Okay and when was the last um accessibility improvement the major one done 2022 was when that last um section of the master plan was completed but then the current project that's getting ready to start also addresses some additional ADA concerns along the main channel.

Okay thank you so much appreciate it councilwoman Castillo thank you Marin thank you for the presentation as well as folks have already mentioned I think uh there is value in including disability essay with the public input process um this is something that uh I know Matthew a D5 resident has been uh encouraging us to include especially when it comes to accessibility downtown uh and you know overall with the improvements and investments being made on the river walk uh as someone who really loved working on the river walk as a waitress and where the majority of our constituents do work in the hospitality industry as servers um the value in investing in the river walk means you know a return that our constituents then see in their paycheck when we get more folks uh patroning the restaurants uh and going to the the different uh facilities downtown so I I think this is well worth the investment but I do agree right in terms of the larger scope of investments downtown right uh looking at how we're meeting the needs in our communities um but this is something that um you know uh again you know um some of my staff members I met working in the service industry as servers now work with us right and so we understand um the the impact that uh whether it's the the final four events and the investments on the river mean to our families and their paychecks.

Thank you Mayor Councilwoman Spears just thank you so much.

Um what my what um Eva Lise was saying I'm sorry councilwomany Isaaconzalez is saying about the ADA compliance that's important that's something I hear a lot about but I know it's challenging to preserve the integrity and the look so um I'm I'm glad that y'all are doing that I did want to know is the Arneson River Theater part of this yes I gotta say I can't wait to see there's a lot that has to be done there right like the roof and plumbing there's a lot of improvements that are needed because it's still out of commission.

Right.

So so some work is already approved I was looking for I have the the specific information but there's there are like some A V improvements that are happening that are funded and um and some additional like small cell and infrastructure things that'll be privately funded but one of the other things that has come up is potential shade in Arneson as an example and other things that we can look at to just make sure that we're protecting that experience and improving it as we can it's good to hear I I'm glad to hear about the shade too because it does get too hot.

But um so I you know the mayor mentioned the employees along you know feeling safe and actually other residents who who walk in the area um so I am happy to hear that centra's involved I think they're a great resource for that and then looking at improved lighting maybe we do need more police presence there and safety patrols I know that's maybe not popular but that's maybe reality here.

So um and then I also wanted to say I'm glad that you're using utilizing visit San Antonio and they'll help they're gonna be great and helpful at the marketing piece of that so and I want to echo what councilwoman Via Gran said about the active military and veterans every time I've been on the on the river that's what I see are uniformed um enlisted military and serving them well is is important.

So I'm glad that you're going to be looking at how we balance the needs of our visitors along with our residents, because we do want it to be somewhere that more we use as a community, but maybe that's just the seasonality of it.

So we as we study that, that would be really helpful.

And I know other cities have tried to copy our river walk to their detriment.

And it is without a doubt a huge draw for our city.

But I do also want to be mindful that you know we were talking about equity in improving our city.

This is the wealthiest zip code in the city.

And so I want to look at how we're using and how we can improve other areas and other landmarks across other parts of our city as well.

So thank you.

Has any has everyone spoken that would like to speak on this topic?

Okay, great.

Thank you very much for the for the presentation.

Um a couple of things I'd I'd like to add uh to the RFP.

Um, and you had some suggestions here.

I want to make sure you have enough specificity though.

Um, Councilman Wongia, for example, you know, spoke to hey, what about looking at this further south?

Do you do you how much specificity do you need to include that in this in this RFP?

I I I think I understood clearly.

Yes.

Okay, good.

Um the I would also like us to, you know, as much as we can help ourselves include in this um the uh the respondents' ability to speak to how their ideas can um work to reduce emissions um in the area.

Uh that would be very helpful.

Um would also help be helpful to understand if um again as uh um chairman guy mentioned uh our own preferences as well on the type of folks that we'd like to see on the riverwalk that are best representative of of our community, right?

Um is that something, Eric, that we would need to include as part of this, or maybe is that something separate?

May Mayor, I think it's gonna come out of this process.

Okay, I mean the the in 2008, and I was much younger in the organization.

The the biggest points of contention were who's down there and what's the balance that Councilman McKee Rodriguez was asking about because you had a variety of opinions.

It's the local versus the out of towners.

Um and and so I think it's gonna happen um organically as part of that process and probably part of the issues we bring back to you guys.

All right, that's helpful.

Thank you.

Um great.

Um I'll leave it to you.

Heather or Eric, then can you summarize kind of the main things that you heard that you want to ensure that aren't captured in this RFP?

RFP.

Shannon, you want to take a step?

Sure.

I'll back you up.

Um yes, absolutely.

Um, so I I think obviously we want to focus on accessibility, which we heard I heard we heard clear clearly from several of you.

Um make sure that we're maintaining that balance of kind of what is on the river, um, what types of businesses, what opportunities people have, umpportunities for art.

I I know that is a priority.

Um sustainability issues.

So looking at um, the mayor mentioned reduced admissions, but also like types of plantings and all of those kinds of things, water conservation, things that relate to um sustainability efforts.

I think those were some of the main points.

Um I we do I do have staff here helping and um taking notes, and so we will make sure that we captured all of your comments and as we are um working with the consultant teams and listening to their proposals, um, we'll be sure to make sure that the the feedback from council is incorporated.

And I'll just add that it's um making sure that as we go through the public input piece, it's included employees and residents in the area.

Uh Mayor will uh we'll make sure that it's clear in the scope that task five is expected.

Um then uh we'll do a follow-up memo.

Oh, yes, definitely safe.

Public safety, thank you, Markham.

Um and we'll do a follow-up memo on the on the history of revenue and investment from 2008.

That might take us a little bit of time, but we'll get that to you guys.

Thank you very much, appreciate that.

Thank you.

Um we will uh recess into exec session just for a a short time.

Um so I'd ask my colleagues to remain seated until I tell you here.

I think what I what I wanted to say we could do say in public.

Please go ahead and we we'll discuss the details tomorrow in exec.

Go ahead and thank you for the opportunity.

It saves me from writing a short email that to the council.

A quick update on our TDS litigation, just a reminder that was a litigation by the company that was managing our solid waste transfer station.

We completed uh a week and a half trial yesterday, went to the jury today, they came back within the last half hour.

TDS was asking for over 20 million in damages.

The jury awarded them zero today.

So uh big victory, a lot of thanks to the Solid Waste Department and to the litigation team, and we'll give you more details tomorrow.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Andy.

Appreciate that.

Um congratulations to all of us on that.

Okay, the time is now 5:37 on Wednesday, October 1st, and this meeting is adjourned.

Thanks.