tony jeter dot com

Below is a note I got this morning from the City Manager.

Some Background:
The area (known in our system as the ‘835 Zone’) depends on a the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station  and Pepper Creek Tank (located just west of the intersection of FM 2271 and FM 2305) for water.  They are the only pump station and water tank for the entire 835 Zone and we have no back up or redundancy for the 835 Zone.

There are approximately 2,200 City of Temple customers in the 835 Zone.  In addition, we provide water to approximately 5,000 Morgan’s Point customers from the 835 Zone.   All total, about 7,200 customers.

A map showing the 835 Zone and the locations of the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station and the Pepper Creek Water Tank is attached.   The map also indicates the approximate number of customers in some of the subdivisions located in the 835 Zone.

Last Friday:
June 26th…  between 2 and 4 am we experienced a malfunction at the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station that caused the pump to throttle back and pump less water than it is capable of pumping.  This event, coupled with high demand that followed during the day, caused us to issue a Stage 5 water restriction for an area west of FM 317.

After the malfunction was discovered and repaired, Public Works Water Treatment and Distribution personnel began monitoring the Pump Station and the Tank for recovery times.  The pumps at the Booster Station were fully operational and pushing as much water as they were designed to push to the Tank, approximately 3,000 gallons per minute.  We watched throughout the morning as the pumps struggled to refill the Tank ahead of the demand.

At approximately noon on Friday it became apparent that demand would outpace the pumps ability to refill the Tank.

In addition, Morgan’s Point two water storage tanks, which are also fed off of the FM 2305 Booster Pump Station, had not recovered either.

A meeting of City Administration, Public Works Administration and water personnel, and Morgan’s Point officials was held at 1 pm.  At the conclusion of that meeting, it was determined that water demand was out pacing the pumps ability to refill the tanks.  It was also determined that both cities needed to go to the highest level of water conservation in order to allow the tanks to recover.  A Water Conservation Plan Stage 5 directive was issued from my office.

Saturday & Sunday
June 27th & June 28th…City Administration, Public Works, and Public Safety personnel in both cities monitor the water situation.  With the assistance of Public Safety personnel,  the Stage 5 prohibition on outdoor watering is effective and the tanks recover.

Sunday afternoon at approximately 5 pm I meet with Acting Public Works Director Nicole Torralva and review the pump and tanks status.  It appears that the system is working as it should and the that the tanks have recovered to maximum capacity levels.

At approximately 7 pm I issue a media release lifting Stage 5 and returning to Stage 1 for the 835 Zone.  I ask that residents continue to observe water conservation measures, as demand levels are very high.

Sunday Night and Monday
Evening of June 28th and June 29th…Immediately following the lifting of Stage 5 restrictions, demand levels increased significantly.   All three tanks began dropping at a rate faster than the pumps could handle thru the night and into the next morning.

City Administration and Public Works monitored the situation throughout the day and was hopeful that the tanks would recover during non-peak demand time thru the day in order to be able to provide service during the peak evening hours.

Public Works Administration and field personnel monitored the situation throughout the day.  Administration worked on identifying and developing alternate courses of action for providing water to the tanks.  At approximately 3:45 pm, I met with Public Works Administration and we reviewed the data from the day and discussed options and alternatives.  The data, at this time, indicated the tanks were slowly recovering. It was decided to wait and see if the tanks could recover before the evening demand time.  It was also hoped for that our evening demand time would be lessened by the fact that peak demand appeared to have occurred the previous night following the lifting of Stage 5.

We also discussed an alternate, concurrent possibility and strategy of bringing another water tank (Airport Tank) into play in order to increase our ability to provide more water to the 835 Zone.  After much discussion, I directed Public Works to pursue such strategy and to do so immediately.  (We are not certain that the strategy will work or how long it will take us to implement bringing the Airport Tank into the 835 Zone.  It is possible, under a best case scenario, that we could have the Airport Tank in play by this weekend. )

The meeting concluded at approximately 5 pm with the understandings noted above.

At approximately 9:05 pm I received a call from the Public Works Director advising that the tanks had not recovered and the our tank was getting dangerously low.  He recommended returning to Stage 5 water restrictions for the 835 Zone. I concurred and initiated a call to Public Safety advising of the need to issue the call for a return to Stage 5 of our Water Conservation Plan for the 835 Zone.

News media were notified in time for the 10 pm news and reverse 911 calls, via our ‘First Call’ system, were made between approximately 10:15 pm and 10:45 pm to City of Temple water customers in the 835 Zone advising them of the return to Stage 5 restrictions.

Tuesday morning…
June 30th…as of approximately 6 am this morning, our tanks were slowly recovering.  Sufficient water availability and water pressure exist in the system and fire protection services are not at risk at the moment.

I will be meeting with Public Works officials throughout the day to assess the situation and to continue work on trying to identify an alternate means of providing more water to the 835 Zone.  I am anticipating that we’ll be able to know at least what our timeline is for potentially bringing the Airport Tank into play by the end of the day.  Again, best case scenario for this strategy is late this week or weekend.

Meantime, I see no available course of action for the next 24-48 hours other than prohibiting outdoor water use in the 835 Zone.  It may be that we can allow some outdoor watering, within certain times and days, and still maintain the tanks.  I will try and make that call in the next day or two, assuming our system is capable of handling such demand.

Click here to view a PDF of last week’s building permits.

An interesting read on the Cap and Trade legislation that is heading for the Senate.

I know Temple is a whole lot smaller than San Antonio but should our size be the determining factor in how low we can set our ethics bar?  In my opinion, The bar Temple has set rests very comfortably on the ground. It can’t be set it any lower since our standard of “anything goes as long as it legal” reflects the sentiment of the Council majority.  Today I read over San Antonio’s Ethics Code. While there is a lot that wouldn’t necessarily be applicable for a city our size there is some really good, common sense, stuff in it.   In the spirit of the Cliff Notes I so depended on in High School I am going to give you the sections that I think are relevant to our current lackadaisical conflict of interest attitude.  For conflict of interest you can refer to SECTIONS 2-43 & 2-52.  The sections dealing with their Ethics Review Board are also very interesting.  SECTIONS  2-81, 2-82 & 2-83 would be worth a quick read.  Maybe one day we can have the level of transparency that the Big Boys have.

Our regular Friday packet must weigh five pounds. The bulk of which is related to the Budget. The City Manager has presented the Council with his recommendations and now it’s in the Council’s court.

Making progress…. I just talked to Chet Edward’s office and was informed he would be voting no. This was a pleasant surprise. Our Rep. John Carter is also opposed to this new tax.

I’m spending the afternoon working the phones asking for NO votes on the pending cap and trade legislation. So far I have only been able to get through to two on a long list.

Next Tuesday, June 30th, at 10 a.m. there will be a ribbon cutting for the opening of Wendland Road. The road will be open to traffic immediately following the ceremony. You can go to the ceremony and be on the first people to drive over the new road.

The Wendland Road project signifies the completion of the second of three major projects / improvements in our North Industrial Park.  Our first project, a $2 million, 21-acre detention pond - one of the largest in our system - was completed this past April.

The second of these projects now coming to completion is the Wendland Road component.  The City has added over a mile of new capacity to Wendland road to handle increasing truck traffic associated with the arrival of Toyota, HEB, and Northland Products.  The City has also added another mile’s worth of improvements, including a 12″ water line, an 8″ sewer line, a 4″ force main, and a lift station.  The cost is approximately $4 million dollars.

The third component of improvements to the North Industrial Park is the Rail component. We are adding over five miles to our existing rail system, bringing better, improved connection from BNSF mainline to all our customers in the park, including Toyota.  The estimated completion date is late fall of 2009 with a cost of approximately $9.5 million.
If you add up the dollars spent on these projects it totals $15.5 million.  The question here is how much, if any, of this money went to any businesses owned by Council members?  This is relevant because there were many discussions and votes that had to take place long before any bids were solicited or contracts awarded. Monies had to be allocated, incentives had to be formulated, studies had to be done, plans had to be drawn, land had to be purchased, etc. It is my belief that Council members with construction or construction related businesses should have abstained from every single discussion and vote since they, in all likelihood, would have the opportunity to bid on the contracts in one way or another.

I really appreciate all of the comments on my blog, calls, texts, emails and letters of support that I have been getting over the last week+. They have been a real source of encouragement and inspiration. I have even heard a good word from an old High School teacher. In spite of all the warm fuzzies I have not done a good job of returning/replying to the messages.  After much consideration I have decided that it is not feasible time wise to attempt to respond to every message. So, that being said, I want to take this opportunity to thank the folks that have taken the time to contact me with words of wisdom and encouragement.

For the past several months the Council has has various discussions and votes concerning the application for a special financing arrangement with TxDot for the expansion of loop 363.  The expansion of the loop is necessary before I-35 reconstruction can continue through town.  Click here to see the preliminary cost estimates for this project. Have a seat because the numbers are REALLY large.  Click here if you would to see a map of the proposed expansion. Take a few seconds and digest the sheer size of this scale, scope and cost of this project.  Now ask yourself this question what is remotely right about a Councilperson working diligently to help make this project a reality when they stand to POSSIBLY financially benefit from the project.  It wouldn’t matter if we had a Councilperson that sold concrete, asphalt or aggregate. It wouldn’t matter if they were a utility contractor, dirt pusher or road paver. It wouldn’t matter because they would all most likely bid on some piece of the work whether as a supplier, contractor or sub-contractor. It is the very fact that they would be participating in the discussions and voting on the various details that would by default be creating opportunities for their business(s). This, by definition, is a conflict of interest.