Environment Committee Meeting Summary – March 8, 2018
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Environment Committee Meeting Summary – March 8, 2018
The Environment Committee meeting on March 8, 2018, chaired by Councilmember Alvarez, covered updates on water billing issues, the Pure Water program, construction management contracts for Pure Water, a pilot litter and graffiti abatement program, and a five-year expenditure outlook for the Climate Action Plan (CAP). All council members were present.
Consent Calendar
- Items 1 and 2 were approved unanimously with a motion by Councilmember Kate and second by Member Sherman. No public comments or committee questions were raised.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Martha Welch expressed concerns about continued use of aviation fuel (Avgas) at city-owned airports. A second speaker raised issues about water infrastructure age and high bills, citing alleged threats and control by an individual.
- Item 6 (Water Bills): Rafael Romero, a constituent of District 8, described his experience with a high water bill (average $100-149 spiking unusually) and difficulty getting the meter read. He requested assistance.
- Item 5 (Pure Water Implementation): David Hogan (environmental activist) supported the project but urged consideration of alternative sites for the purification facility to protect vernal pools and wildlife connectivity. Marco Gonzalez (Coastal Environmental Rights Foundation) supported the project and opposed Murphy Development’s alternative pipeline alignment, calling it hyperbolic. Caitlin Arduino (Murphy Development), Marcella Escobar Eck, Christopher Niels (counsel to Murphy), Doug Wright (Mission Federal Credit Union), and Bob Ioko (Scripps Ranch Planning Group) opposed the alignment through Scripps Ranch Business Park, arguing it would disrupt development and offering an alternative route. They claimed the city’s EIR analysis was insufficient and that a route change would not significantly delay the project.
- Item 8 (CAP Expenditure Outlook): Sophie Wolfram (Climate Action Campaign) thanked the IBA for the report, supported the recommendations, and urged including a CAP attachment to the five-year financial outlook, developing performance measures, and separating Pure Water costs from CAP-related expenditures.
Discussion Items
- Customer Water Bills Update (Item 6): Public Utilities Director Vic Bianas and staff presented an update on high bill complaints. Key points: wait times dropped from >1 hour to 5–20 minutes after doubling staff; 343 initial cases of human error with one meter; average refund $500 (range $4.50 to $11,000); 97,000 AMI meters installed (~15,000 automatically read); water shutoffs suspended as of the Tuesday before the meeting; $66 meter controversy test fees waived and refunded for payments since July 2017. The City Auditor confirmed an ongoing audit, but data delays from IT may push completion past June. Councilmembers expressed concerns about meter reading accuracy, proactive outreach, and the need for monthly billing.
- Pure Water Implementation (Item 5): John Helminski presented an update: Phase 1 cost estimated $1.1–1.3 billion; EIR certification expected April 2018; regulatory approvals on track; design nearing completion; grant applications (WISIP $219M, SRF loans, etc.) in process. Public comments highlighted opposition from Murphy Development and support from environmental groups. The City Attorney advised that specific EIR discussion should be avoided to preserve due process for the quasi-judicial North City Pipeline project. The Mayor’s office committed to facilitating discussions with Murphy and environmental advocates before the Council hearing.
- Construction Management Contracts (Items 3 & 4): John Helminski presented two contracts: $75 million with Parsons/Black & Veatch for treatment plants and $45 million with CH2M Hill for conveyance projects, both for five years. The contracts were approved unanimously. Committee members asked about discrimination allegations against Parsons (answered that they are addressed through proper channels) and lack of small/disadvantaged business participation, flagged for future attention.
- Litter and Graffiti Abatement Pilot (Item 7): Mario Sierra (Environmental Services) reported the one-year pilot (May 2017–April 2018) removed over 850 tons of litter from nine hotspots, but daily tonnage increased from 3.5 to 5.8 tons, indicating the pilot was not effective in reducing dumping. Graffiti removal addressed ~2,400 sites. The program will transition into the Clean San Diego initiative, with FY19 budget proposals expected. Councilmembers noted reduced complaints in some areas.
- Five-Year CAP Expenditure Outlook (Item 8): IBA’s Jeff presented the report showing $1.1 billion in identified CAP-related expenditures over FY19–23, mostly Pure Water. Recommendations: incorporate CAP into the five-year financial outlook, develop implementation timelines/costs for strategic plans, and create performance measures tied to CAP goals. The Mayor’s sustainability officer noted the CAP already has performance measures and that social equity metrics are being developed. The chair indicated a referral to the budget committee to consider amending council policy.
Key Outcomes
- Consent calendar items approved unanimously.
- Water bills: No immediate votes. The City Auditor’s audit continues; data delays noted. The committee urged proactive customer outreach and monthly billing evaluation.
- Pure Water: No formal action taken. The Mayor’s office will convene discussions with Murphy Development and environmental groups before the Council hearing.
- Construction contracts (Items 3 & 4): Approved unanimously.
- Litter program: Informational; program will be folded into Clean San Diego.
- CAP outlook: Recommendations noted; the chair committed to referral to the budget committee for potential policy changes. Further dialogue with the CFO and departments will follow.
Meeting adjourned at conclusion; next regular meeting scheduled for April 12, 2018.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our environment committee for March 8th, 2018. Thank you all for being here. I'll call the meeting to order, and we have Councilmembers. Oh, all council members are here today. Thank you all for being here. We will begin with the approval of the record of action items for our previous meeting, which was February 8th, 2018. Unless the committee member has questions, they will be approved by unanimous consent. Thank you very much. Now we will move on to non-agenda public comment. We have two speakers who wish to speak on items that are not on today's agenda, so we'll ask you to come forward. And then we will take Martha Welch. Gary, you have two minutes and welcome. I have written an email to each of the members of the committee here expressing my concerns over the continued use of aviation fuel, better known as Avgas, at the two city-owned airports. I believe that this has been and will continue to be the most important environmental issue facing San Diego. The very worst and dirtiest polluter of that group is a single engine, piston-driven small planes that comprise most of the planes flying out of Montgomery Gives Executive Airport and Brown Field. I don't think we have it because um uh also uh uh I saw um clear water and uh mirror I saw three times, five times built. But in reality, there have been the 50s and 69 uh to uh there are no maintenance. That's why you have a problem with the water. There's it's very old, and you didn't build it all the time. I've seen it. I saw a Faulker, Sanders, um Falconer, and Clearwater and San Diego um County Water, all of them said they're building it, but they didn't build it. Now what about that? San Diego uh is on that board. So why don't they have the bills or something like that? Because what what's the what's it what what do San Diego um water council um uh San Diego Water uh council? What why don't they do something about the water in this space? Well they do up there. You're on the board with them, so you should know uh what goes on there. Um it's you know uh you know you don't do right with the people uh that's why the bills are high, because there's a person that calls and threatens all the phones, and that's what happened to the water because um he wants to control everything in the city and the county. He calls all the time with uh death threats all the time on the phone, and that's what he does, and that's why the bills are so high, because he calls a water department and he calls everywhere in the city to meet to be mean, to be mean, and that's what he likes to do. He likes to control everything. And that's why we have these problems with the water. They're so old. That's why we have uh these things that go the bills get higher and higher. They don't they can't believe how old it is. It takes more equipment to build everything because they can't believe it's built in 1959 or something like that. So that's the problem with our our thing. It's been all these years. We have had throw money at pure water and everything, but we don't build these things. And now it's gonna come for fruit because the water bills are so high. Thank you very much. Appreciate your being here. So that is the end of our non-agenda public comments, so we will go on to any committee member comment or questions. At this point, I don't see any. Um City Attorney's Office or the IBA's office. Mayor's office seems to be none. So we will go on to our agenda. We have uh two items on our consent agenda. Um, and at this time we do not have any members of the public who wish to poll the items.
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