OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Public Works Committee Meeting - February 11, 2025

Meeting Portal — Tuesday, February 11, 2025
BodyWinston Salem, North Carolina
SessionMeeting Portal
DateTuesday, February 11, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
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Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Good afternoon.

0:02

I'd like to call to order of the community of the courts committee.

0:08

I chair our can I have joined me today.

0:12

Co-Chair Scott Andrew Bowman, Councilmember Robert Clark, Councilmember James Taylor, and we also have the others council members.

0:27

Our agenda is our agenda is made up of two parts the consent agenda and the general agenda.

0:39

Are there any consent items that you all would like to have pulled?

0:47

I move for approval of the consent agenda.

0:49

Go ahead.

0:51

We have a motion for approval and a second.

0:55

And we'll show we'll vote by show of uh hands or aye.

0:59

All in favor of approval.

1:01

I okay.

1:02

We'll move on.

1:04

Um we have three general agenda items.

1:10

Madam Clerk, would you please call agenda items you want?

1:14

Item G1, Winston Salem, Forsyth County Utilities update.

1:20

Okay, I see we have uh Miss Courtney Driver to uh give us a presentation.

1:25

Thank you so much.

1:27

Good afternoon.

1:28

Good afternoon.

1:28

Good afternoon.

1:31

Okay, so it's about everybody.

1:33

Um good afternoon, Chair, members of the committee, council.

1:36

I'm gonna give you a quick update on what's the seller side of the county utilities.

1:51

And I'm gonna focus on only four different topics.

1:54

Do you have a brief regulatory update, talk a little bit about the cyber event and the impacts uh impact utilities, and then uh winter weather that we've experienced here recently and how that impacts utilities, and then um finally discuss the hands mail landfill and uh have a discussion on that.

2:17

So regulatory update, and I apologize, some of you may have seen this in the past, but I know we have new council members, so I wanted to make sure that they're up to speed on this as well.

2:27

Um April 10th of last year, the EPA announced maximum contaminant levels for six PFOS compounds, and you hear that in the news in the media that's also referred to as forever chemicals, so it's got a lot of media attention.

2:40

So they set new levels, and the good news is that our source water, and this is these are driven water standards, our source water is lower than those levels.

2:50

Okay, not loud enough, I guess.

3:01

Okay.

3:02

I've never been accused of not being loud enough, but um, so the good news is that our uh source water for drinking is um below these levels, so we don't anticipate having any problem meeting them.

3:15

The EPA is still studying and doing research on the wastewater side, so there has not been levels set on the wastewater side, and so we're still monitoring that to see if there's going to be any impacts to us there.

3:27

Okay, of course we have do we have any external sources that produce these that we would have an issue with our wastewater?

3:37

So right now we are monitoring our what we would say our industrial users and dischargers to see to sample those those customers to see where it come from.

3:46

We're doing that as well as utilities upstream from us to identify if there are particular sources where those chemicals are coming from.

3:55

Okay, thank you.

3:58

So the lead and copper rule again um been in the news and the media.

4:03

So the um the EPA established or published the lead and copper rule in 1991.

4:07

There's been some minor changes since then.

4:10

Significant changes started in 2021 when they did the lead and copper rule revisions, and then there was uh additional changes with the leading copper rule improvements.

4:19

Um, but basically these changes revise the timeline for service line replacement, and there's new uh sampling requirements.

4:27

We had to publish a lead service line inventory that was due in October, so we have done that, and I'll get into that a little bit more here.

4:35

So, as I mentioned, we're required to develop a public-facing um inventory for all of our service lines in the system.

4:41

We had not been required to capture that data before.

4:45

We didn't really have the material type of our the private connections, and so these are connections coming from our public infrastructure to homes and businesses.

4:55

So we've had to go out and identify and inventory those those material types.

5:00

Right now, our inventory can be found at city of WS.org/slash pipes.

5:05

So anybody all of our customers, anybody could go on and put in their address to see what how their material type is identified.

5:14

We completed 400 vacuum excavations on homes built prior to 1988.

5:20

And we did a predictive model based on the age of the home or business, these vacuum excavations to predict where our sources, where there was lead service line or galvanized pipe that needs to be replaced.

5:34

We started a get the lead out campaign where customers can self-report.

6:13

Also, we sent out 3,194, what we're saying are unknown.

6:18

So we don't know if it's unknown that they're lead or unknown non-lead.

6:21

So this is where we need those customers to help us by self-reporting, contact us, and so we can really try to fine-tune those numbers and get that 3,000 number, you know, either in one of the other categories.

6:40

So as I mentioned, we have to have a replacement plan over the next 10 years, which is why we're trying to find two those numbers.

6:46

There is funding through the bipartisan infrastructure act that we have applied for.

7:08

Hopefully, we'll continue to get some funding to fund the replacement of those lead and galvanized pipes that we find.

7:18

Yes.

7:19

Of the 51 plus the 576, are we have we started a program to replace those?

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Transportation Safety██████████████████████████████████████38%
Water And Wastewater Management███████████████████████████████████35%
Public Engagement██████████████14%
Solid Waste Management███████7%
Procedural██████6%
Summary of Proceedings

Public Works Committee Meeting

The Public Works Committee of the City of Winston-Salem met on February 11, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. to consider a consent agenda and three general agenda items. The meeting was chaired by Council Member Barbara Hanes Burke and included Vice Chair Scott Andree-Bowen, Council Member Robert Clark, Council Member James Taylor Jr., and additional attendee Council Member A. Scippio. The meeting adjourned at 4:56 p.m.

Consent Calendar

  • C-1: Resolution Approving the City of Winston-Salem Transit Authority's Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan – Approved unanimously via consent vote. Referred to City Council on March 3, 2025.

Discussion Items

  • G-1: Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities Update – Courtney Driver, Director of Utilities, presented an update covering four topics:

    • Regulatory: New EPA maximum contaminant levels for PFAS ("forever chemicals") announced April 10, 2024. Source water levels are below the limits, and no issues are anticipated. The utility is monitoring industrial users and upstream sources.
    • Lead and Copper Rule: A public-facing inventory of service line materials is available at cityofws.org/pipes. Completed 400 vacuum excavations on homes built before 1988; 3,194 connections remain unknown. A replacement program is being developed with funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act (a $2 million grant received, with a $5 million grant application pending). The utility cannot force private property replacements but will fund them and notify owners annually if lead is found.
    • Cyber Event: No impact on water/wastewater treatment controls. Manual processes for work orders, move-ins, permits, and payments were implemented. Online payments resumed as of February 10, 2025. Billing expected to resume next week; no late fees or disconnections during the recovery period. Meters remain accurate; automated meter reads were unaffected.
    • Winter Weather: 80 water main breaks occurred in January 2025, triple the number from the previous year due to frost loading and ground shifting. Crews documented breaks manually. Questions were raised about leak detection and pipe materials (ductile iron is standard; pipe ages range from 1950s to present).
    • Haynes Mill Landfill: Construction of a mechanically stabilized earth berm (12–18 months) will increase capacity by 23%, adding roughly seven years. Cells 6 and 7 are planned; remaining capacity is projected to last until 2043, but a decision on additional space is needed by 2035 due to permitting timelines (10+ years). A master planning process has begun; city council involvement will be needed for rezoning.
    • This item was for information only.

  • G-2: Winston-Salem Transit Authority Update – Jeff Fansler (Director of Transportation) introduced new provider RATP Dev, represented by General Manager Bruce Adams and Assistant Director Kelly Garvin.

    • Transition: RATP Dev assumed operations on August 1, 2025, retaining 194 of 210 employees (92%). Evening service on 13 routes was restored November 11, 2025.
    • Technology: New AVL (live bus tracking), Echolane scheduling software for paratransit (TransAid), Zonar vehicle maintenance tracking, and DriveCam driver behavior cameras were implemented.
    • Ridership: Fixed-route ridership increased 7% from calendar year 2023 to 2024. TransAid ridership declined 4% due to better capacity management to improve on-time performance. Evening service expansion saw an 11% increase. A marketing campaign is planned to boost ridership.
    • Fleet: Pursuing grants for bus replacements (Low/No grant, MPO funding). New smaller ADA-compliant vehicles are being considered.
    • Future: Yumo mobile app for trip planning and fare payment is under contract negotiation (target March 2025). Service changes (removal of routes 90, 100, 110) expected by end of March 2025. New signage being installed.
    • Council Member Scippio clarified that WSTA employees are not city employees. TransAid serves elderly and disabled; riders should book trips up to 7 days in advance. Service to Currituck VA hospital is available.
    • This item was for information only.

  • G-3: Ordinance Amending Section 42-124 – School Zone for Winston-Salem Christian School – Jeff Fansler presented a request to establish a 25 mph school zone on Patterson Avenue between Burnham Drive and Perimeter Point Boulevard during school hours. The school (formerly Woodland Christian) met traffic and population thresholds. The designation will allow additional safety improvements on adjacent Frampton Street. The item was approved unanimously (motion by Council Member Clark, second by Council Member Andree-Bowen). Referred to City Council on March 3, 2025.

Key Outcomes

  • The consent agenda (including the Transit Safety Plan resolution) was approved unanimously.
  • The school zone ordinance for Winston-Salem Christian School was approved unanimously and referred to City Council.
  • The Utilities and Transit Authority updates were received as information; no votes were taken.
  • The committee acknowledged the need for future landfill capacity decisions, with a master planning process underway and city council involvement required for rezoning.

Meeting Transcript

Good afternoon. I'd like to call to order of the community of the courts committee. I chair our can I have joined me today. Co-Chair Scott Andrew Bowman, Councilmember Robert Clark, Councilmember James Taylor, and we also have the others council members. Our agenda is our agenda is made up of two parts the consent agenda and the general agenda. Are there any consent items that you all would like to have pulled? I move for approval of the consent agenda. Go ahead. We have a motion for approval and a second. And we'll show we'll vote by show of uh hands or aye. All in favor of approval. I okay. We'll move on. Um we have three general agenda items. Madam Clerk, would you please call agenda items you want? Item G1, Winston Salem, Forsyth County Utilities update. Okay, I see we have uh Miss Courtney Driver to uh give us a presentation. Thank you so much. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Okay, so it's about everybody. Um good afternoon, Chair, members of the committee, council. I'm gonna give you a quick update on what's the seller side of the county utilities. And I'm gonna focus on only four different topics. Do you have a brief regulatory update, talk a little bit about the cyber event and the impacts uh impact utilities, and then uh winter weather that we've experienced here recently and how that impacts utilities, and then um finally discuss the hands mail landfill and uh have a discussion on that. So regulatory update, and I apologize, some of you may have seen this in the past, but I know we have new council members, so I wanted to make sure that they're up to speed on this as well. Um April 10th of last year, the EPA announced maximum contaminant levels for six PFOS compounds, and you hear that in the news in the media that's also referred to as forever chemicals, so it's got a lot of media attention. So they set new levels, and the good news is that our source water, and this is these are driven water standards, our source water is lower than those levels. Okay, not loud enough, I guess. Okay. I've never been accused of not being loud enough, but um, so the good news is that our uh source water for drinking is um below these levels, so we don't anticipate having any problem meeting them. The EPA is still studying and doing research on the wastewater side, so there has not been levels set on the wastewater side, and so we're still monitoring that to see if there's going to be any impacts to us there. Okay, of course we have do we have any external sources that produce these that we would have an issue with our wastewater? So right now we are monitoring our what we would say our industrial users and dischargers to see to sample those those customers to see where it come from. We're doing that as well as utilities upstream from us to identify if there are particular sources where those chemicals are coming from. Okay, thank you. So the lead and copper rule again um been in the news and the media. So the um the EPA established or published the lead and copper rule in 1991. There's been some minor changes since then. Significant changes started in 2021 when they did the lead and copper rule revisions, and then there was uh additional changes with the leading copper rule improvements. Um, but basically these changes revise the timeline for service line replacement, and there's new uh sampling requirements. We had to publish a lead service line inventory that was due in October, so we have done that, and I'll get into that a little bit more here. So, as I mentioned, we're required to develop a public-facing um inventory for all of our service lines in the system. We had not been required to capture that data before. We didn't really have the material type of our the private connections, and so these are connections coming from our public infrastructure to homes and businesses. So we've had to go out and identify and inventory those those material types. Right now, our inventory can be found at city of WS.org/slash pipes. So anybody all of our customers, anybody could go on and put in their address to see what how their material type is identified. We completed 400 vacuum excavations on homes built prior to 1988.

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