HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 10036 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 10036
p,ATo the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 1, 2017
PO- ¢
Page 1 of 2
V
-t
�i7 Y
SUBJECT: SECOND FINANCING AGREEMENT FOR MYH2O PROGRAM
01
r rA
re�a
The MyH2O program will provide retail water and wastewater customers with new tools and
information to better understand and manage their water use. The program will also promote
efficiencies from treatment to tap and improve processes and operations across the utility. The
program is being executed over a multi-year period with two funding commitments from the Texas
Water Development Board (TWDB) through the State Water Implementation Revenue Fund for
Texas (SWIRFT). SWIRFT funds are a low-cost financing option for water infrastructure. In
addition to low interest rates, this program qualifies for a 35.5 percent interest rate subsidy
because the MyH2O program promotes water conservation. The total project cost is estimated at
$76,000,000. The first funding commitment of$13,000,000 was authorized by the City Council in
2015 (M&C G-18549) and on December 8, 2015, at an interest rate of 1.63%.
The initial debt issuance has been used to fund the procurement, discovery and design phases of
the MyH2O program. This included an RFQ process resulting in the execution of a contract with a
program integrator, Aqua-Metric Sales Company, Inc. in October 2016. Additional work
completed or underway as part of the design includes:
• Identifying organizational needs for new technology and staffing;
• Mapping of existing business processes and evaluation of best practices for recommended
business process changes to incorporate efficiencies introduced by the program;
• Inspecting every service line connection to document pipe materials (with customer follow-
up on lead lines), size and site conditions;
• Assigning location IDs for all 11,000 meters in the preliminary deployment area and for all
remaining locations across the service area in preparation for scheduled meter exchange;
• Developing the strategy and outreach plan for communications with employees, customers
and other stakeholders;
• Review of customer portal options and analysis of impacts to other services;
• Review of ordinances impacted by new procedures and technologies;
• Creating standard procedures for meter installation, activation and validation;
• Identifying and replacing 349 ageing large meters with AMI-ready meters;
• Site selection, assessment and permitting of 29 tower locations for network antennas;
• Executed lease agreements for tower sites in the preliminary deployment area; and
• Identifying opportunities for minority and disadvantaged business participation
The remaining funds from the first draw will be used to build and validate the initial field
infrastructure, customer portal and technology interfaces necessary to go-live with the program in
the preliminary deployment.
The second funding commitment from the TWDB for the remaining $63,000,000 is planned for fall
2017. The TWDB schedule requires the submission of a separate financing agreement for the
remaining loan amount authorized in the initial SWIRFT application. The financing agreement,
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 10036
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 1, 2017
PO- V ¢
Page 2 of 2
eirA
SUBJECT: SECOND FINANCING AGREEMENT FOR MYH2O PROGRAM
01
re�a
used to assist the TWDB in sizing the total 2017 SWIRFT debt issuance, must be submitted to
the TWDB by August 28t". Staff will bring forward an action item to authorize the execution of the
financing agreement for the second funding installment at the August 15 City Council meeting.
Upon City Council approval of the SWIRFT financing agreement, staff will move forward with a
separate M&C to request authorization of an increase in the total contract amount of the
agreement with the system integrator, Aqua-Metric Sales Company, Inc. The additional funds will
be used to build out the full system across the retail service area once all of the components of
the initial deployment are validated.
Fully implemented, MyH2O will enhance the customer experience by providing valuable,
personalized information about water use, improving the efficiency and options for interacting with
the utility and providing additional billing and payment capabilities. In addition, the program will
improve revenue recovery, provide more frequent and granular data to address issues within the
utility's distribution system, improve system modeling and enable targeted customer outreach. It
is anticipated that the initial deployment will take place during the 2nd quarter of 2018 with full
system implementation complete in 2022.
Should you have any questions regarding MyH2O or the financing agreement with TWDB, please
contact Kara Shuror, Interim Water Director, at 817-392-8819.
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS