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I CHAIR THE AUSTIN ENERGY UTILITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE, AND WE ARE HERE TODAY IN A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21ST, 2023.
IT IS 9:01 AM AND WE ARE ASSEMBLED AT AUSTIN CITY HALL ON WEST SECOND STREET.
LOOKS LIKE I'VE GOT A NEARLY FULL DIAS, UM, ALL ARE PRESENT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF COUNCIL MEMBER RYAN AL ALTER, COUNCIL MEMBER NATASHA HARPER MADISON.
AND WHO IS DOWN AT THE END? THE MAYOR PROTE.
I'M SURE THEY WILL BE JOINING US SHORTLY.
[CALL TO ORDER]
THIS MEETING TO ORDER AND WANTED TO FIRST MAKE A COUPLE OF COMMENTS.WE HAVE THREE SPEAKERS TODAY ON ITEM SIX.
WE NOW HAVE SIX SPEAKERS TODAY ON ITEM SIX.
I BELIEVE THEY'RE ALL ON SIX, IS THAT CORRECT? ITEM SIX, WHICH IS THE WINTER STORM MARA ITEM.
OH, THESE ARE ALL PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS.
SO WE WILL TAKE OUR PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS SPEAKERS UP FIRST.
UM, AND THEN WE WILL NEED TO VOTE ON TWO ITEMS, THE MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING AND THE DATES FOR THE REST OF THE, UM, THE YEAR FOR THESE MEETINGS.
AND, UM, I WANTED TO ASK THE GENERAL MANAGER, JACKIE, SERGEANT, ARE THERE ANY TIME SENSITIVE ITEMS ON THE AGENDA TODAY? I'M THINKING THAT WE WILL GO DIRECTLY TO THE REPORT ON WINTER STORE, MARA, AFTER WE TAKE UP THE ACTION ITEMS IN HERE FROM SPEAKERS.
AND ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU HAVE THAT HAS NOT YET BEEN DELIVERED TO THE DIAS, COULD YOUR STAFF BE SURE TO DO THAT TO EACH OF THE, OF THE MEMBERS OF THE DIAS.
SO THEN AFTER WE DISPOSE OF THE VOTES, WE WILL BEGIN WITH ITEM SIX, WHICH IS THE BRIEFING FROM AUSTIN ENERGY ON WINTER STORM MARA.
AND IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, I KNOW WE WERE HOPING TO WRAP UP BY ABOUT 10 15.
SO I PROPOSE ONE ROUND OF QUESTIONS AT THE END OF THE PRESENTATION, AND IF WE HAVE TIME, A SECOND ROUND.
MAYOR, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT TIMING? UH, THAT'D BE GREAT.
ON THE TIMING OF COUNCIL MEMBER QUENTES, ARE WE, DO WE HAVE A TIME CERTAIN, IS THERE A REASON WHY WE ARE TRYING TO GET, WELL, THIS IS, IS WE'RE DOING THE, UM, WE HAVE THE WORK SESSION AFTERWARDS, SO THERE'S MORE WORK TO BE DONE TODAY.
UM, BUT I DID WANT TO REMIND EVERYBODY, AND, AND YOU MAY HAVE SEEN THE POSTING THAT I PUT UP ON THE MESSAGE BOARD.
WE ARE ALSO PICKING UP FROM WHERE WE WERE, UNFORTUNATELY, HAD TO END OUR CONVERSATION, UH, AT THE LAST WORK SESSION BECAUSE THE MICS DROPPED IN, UH, THE BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS ROOM.
UH, AUSTIN ENERGY HAS PREPARED ABOUT A 45 MINUTE PRESENTATION.
WE'LL HOLD THE QUESTIONS DURING THE PRESENTATION.
YOU'LL BE ABLE TO ASK A ROUND OF QUESTIONS AT THE END.
IF THERE'S TIME FOR A SECOND ROUND, WE'LL TAKE THAT UP.
BUT WE WILL, WE ARE PLANNING A MORE ROBUST PUBLIC CONVERSATION WITH THE CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL AND MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL ENTITIES THAT WERE ALL INVOLVED IN THE WINTER STORM, UH, RESPONSE.
UH, ONCE WE GET THE AFTER ACTION REPORT, AND I'LL POINT YOU TO THE POSTING THAT I PUT UP LAST NIGHT ON THE MESSAGE FIRST.
IT KIND OF LAYS IT OUT IN ADDITIONAL DETAIL.
THANK YOU FOR THAT CLARIFICATION.
I JUST DIDN'T WANT THE COMMUNITY TO THINK AN ABBREVIATED CONVERSATION TODAY, UM, MEANT ANYTHING OTHER THAN WE HAVE A WORK SESSION THIS AFTERNOON.
SO GIVEN ALL THE PENDING ITEMS BEFORE US, UH, WE'RE TAKING THIS AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE CONVERSATION STARTED, BUT OF COURSE IT'LL CONTINUE.
AND THANK YOU FOR THAT COUNCIL MEMBER KLE CHAIR POOL BEFORE YOU, BEFORE YOU GO AGAIN, I JUST WANNA LET YOU KNOW THAT IT'S MY INTENTION TO POST MY QUESTIONS TO THE MESSAGE BOARD IN THE INTEREST OF TIME AND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DO, I KNOW THAT WE'LL GET THEM ANSWERED EVENTUALLY WITH THE AFTER ACTION REVIEW, AND I WOULD JUST ENCOURAGE MY COLLEAGUES TO REMEMBER THEY CAN DO THAT AS WELL.
UM, UH, VICE CHAIR KELLY, I HAD PUT UP LAST NIGHT WITH THE POSTING ON HOW THE MEETING WOULD HAPPEN TODAY, THE QUESTIONS THAT, UM, I HAD HOPED TO ASK LAST TIME, SO THEY'RE UP THERE TOO.
AND IF Y'ALL WANT TO ADD YOUR QUESTIONS TO THAT THREAD, THAT WOULD BE GREAT.
UM, SO I SHOULD ASK THE MAYOR IF HE HAD ANYTHING TO OFFER AT THIS POINT.
THE ONLY THING I WOULD, UH, OFFER IS THAT, UM, THIS IS JUST AN AE COMMITTEE AND COMMITTEE BRIEFING.
I KNOW THAT SOME OF US HAVE OTHER THINGS THAT WE ARE GOING TO WANT TO BRING FORWARD THAT AROSE OUT OF, UH, THIS EVENT.
FOR EXAMPLE, UH, AT SOME POINT I'LL, I'LL BE VISITING WITH, UM, MR. ORTIZ SO THAT WE CAN TALK ABOUT, UH, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE US, FOR EXAMPLE,
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UH, WITH REGARD TO COMMUNICATION AND GENERALIZED RESPONSE TO EMERGENCIES.LOOK AT, AND I'LL POST SOMETHING ON THE MESSAGE BOARD ABOUT THIS, BUT LOOK AT, UH, PUTTING TOGETHER A, A, A NEW COMMUNICATIONS PLAN THAT RELATES TO ALL EMERGENCIES.
I MEAN, WE ALWAYS, IT'S TRUE THAT, THAT CITIES WILL ALWAYS REACT TO THE LAST DISASTER.
AND IN THIS CASE, THAT WAS AN ENERGY DISASTER, BUT IT COULD BE A FLOOD OR IT COULD BE SOMETHING ELSE.
THE NEXT TIME I WANT US TO FOCUS ON HOW WE RESPOND FROM A, UH, A COMMUNICATIONS STANDPOINT, PUT TOGETHER A NEW COMMUNICATIONS PLAN.
AND I WOULD, I'LL, I'LL ASK THAT WE DO SOMETHING, UH, WHERE WE HAVE THAT PLAN TO US IN MAYBE THE NEXT 45 DAYS.
AND THEN 15 OR SO DAYS LATER, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE COMMUNITY HAVE A MOCK DISASTER WHERE WE GO THROUGH THE COMMUNICATIONS PROCESS AND ACTUALLY SEEK OUT FLAWS AND PRACTICE IT IN ANTICIPATION.
THE SECOND THING WOULD BE WITH REGARD TO SHELTERS.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE NEXT SHELTER MAY NOT BE BECAUSE IT'S, THE NEXT NEED FOR SHELTERS MAY NOT BE BECAUSE IT'S COLD, BUT IT MAY BE CAUSE OF FLOODING AND PEOPLE NEED A PLACE TO GO.
AND WE CAN'T HAVE A, A CONSISTENT THEME WHERE OUR SHELTERS AREN'T OPEN.
SO THINGS LIKE THAT, LET, THIS IS ABOUT AUSTIN ENERGY, BUT I WANT TO JUST CALL IT TO EVERYBODY'S ATTENTION IF WE HAVE OTHER THINGS, AND I WILL HAVE OTHER THINGS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO PUT FORWARD.
UH, I'LL POST THOSE ON THE, THE MESSAGE BOARD SO THAT WE DON'T INTERFERE WITH THE AE ASPECT OF THIS, BUT WE ARE ON TOP OF THE THINGS THAT WE SHOULD HAVE LEARNED FROM THIS LAST EVENT.
AND THEN THE ONLY OTHER THING I WOULD MENTION IS THAT I, I DON'T RECOGNIZE THE MAN SITTING NEXT TO ME AND, UM, WE OUGHT TO INTRODUCE HIM.
UM, OUR INTERIM, UH, CITY MANAGER, JESUS GARZA.
THIS IS A HECK OF A MEETING FOR YOU TO JUMP IN ON.
UH, WELL, I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.
AND, UH, AND, UH, AFTER THE SPEAKERS, I HAVE JUST A FEW INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS TO MAKE ABOUT THE REPORT THAT, UH, THAT, UH, GENERAL MANAGER SERGEANT IS GONNA BE MAKING.
[Public Communication: General]
PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS.WE WILL LEAD OFF WITH CRAIG NAZER.
MR. NAZER, ARE YOU HERE? THERE YOU ARE.
MR. ROBBINS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME UP TO THE FRONT ROW? SO YOU'RE READY TO GO? AND AFTER MR. ROBBINS, MARION SANCHEZ, THERE'S ANOTHER SEAT AT THE FRONT THERE.
MS. SANCHEZ, YOU COULD COME UP AS WELL.
YOU HAVE HELLO? THANK THREE MINUTES.
IF OUR STAFF COULD START THE TIMER.
I'M THE CONSERVATION CHAIR OF THE STATE CHAPTER OF THE SIERRA CLUB.
AND I'M HERE TO FIRST OF ALL TELL YOU I LIKE OUR SOCIALIST ELECTRICITY, NUMBER ONE
AND I THINK, UH, WHEN YOU LOOK AT IT OVER THE LONG RUN, I THINK AUSTIN ENERGY HAS BEEN GREAT FOR THE CITY, AND, AND WE JUST NEED TO MAKE IT BETTER.
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? BECAUSE, AND THE REASON WE NEED TO MAKE IT BETTER HAS TO DO WITH CLIMATE CHANGE.
AND THERE ARE A LOT OF NEAR END PROBLEMS TO SOLVE, BUT THERE ARE ALSO SOME DISTANT PROBLEMS TO SOLVE, BUT THAT WE NEED TO START NOW.
UH, A GOOD FRIEND OF MINE ON SIERRA CLUB, UH, UH, HAS SENT YOU A, A PAPER.
IT'S CALLED THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY RESPONSE.
AND HE TELLS YOU WHY THIS PAPER WAS WRITTEN, AND IT'S A WONKY SCIENTIFIC PAPER, AND WE'VE SENT IT TO SOME COUNCIL MEMBERS BEFORE, BUT SOME OF THE NEW PEOPLE HADN'T GOT IT.
AND ESSENTIALLY WHAT THIS PAPER SAYS IS, ALTHOUGH CLIMATE CHANGE, YOU KNOW, THE AVERAGE TEMPERAS GOING UP, THESE THINGS ARE NOT AERO ARITHMETIC SEQUENCES, THEY'RE GEOMETRIC SEQUENCES.
AND AS THE THE TEMPERATURE GOES UP, THE, THE POTENTIAL HIGHS AND LOWS ARE GOING UP EVEN HIGHER THAN THOSE.
I REALLY THINK THE BASIS FOR, UH, WINTER, UH, STORM MARA WAS CLIMATE CHANGE.
I'VE NEVER SEEN AN ICE STORM THAT BAD.
WE CAN GO INTO WHAT, WHAT HAPPENED, YOU KNOW, BUT THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME TO DO THAT.
BUT, UH, ONE OF THE THINGS IS, UH, GETTING IN CONTACT WITH PEOPLE, AND I WANNA, I JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE THIS, YOU NOTICE THIS SAYS SIERRA CLUB ON IT.
THIS IS A SOLAR CELL THAT SIERRA CLUB, I THINK BOUGHT IT FROM A GERMAN COMPANY, MADE IT AVAILABLE CHEAP TO THEIR MEMBERS.
A COUPLE YEARS AGO, DURING WINTER STORM URI, WHEN I HAD NO POWER FOR SIX DAYS, THIS THING CHARGED MY CELL PHONE.
IF PEOPLE CAN'T GET ANY ENERGY, IT'S GONNA BE VERY HARD TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM IN TODAY'S, UH, JUST THE WAY OUR SOCIETY IS.
UH, THERE'S A LOT OF THINGS ON THE EDGES WE COULD DO TO, TO MAKE COMMUNICATION EASIER.
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THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF AUSTIN ENERGY COMMUNICATING WITH PEOPLE, IF YOU BOUGHT A BUNCH OF THESE AT COSTS AND, AND OFFERED A DEAL TO PEOPLE, IT COULD COME WITH A WHOLE BUNCH OF INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE NEED TO DO TO STAY IN CONTACT.I MEAN, THAT'S JUST ONE OF MANY IDEAS.
ANOTHER IDEA IS TO HAVE DISTRIBUTED A BATTERY BACKUP THROUGHOUT THE CITY THAT'S COMING DOWN THE TUBES.
THE OTHER THING IS TO MOVE FASTER ON COMMUNITY SOLAR, WHICH I KNOW US ENERGY'S MOVING ON, BUT TO MOVE FASTER, THERE'S A WHOLE.
AND THEN THE ONE LAST THING TO SAY, TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW, THIS IS I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH COUNCIL MEMBER POOL ON THIS.
WE CAN HAVE GOOD STRONG TREES AND WE CAN HAVE OUR LINES TRIMMED PROPERLY.
WE JUST GOTTA THINK AHEAD AND DO IT NOW.
AFTER MR. ROBBINS WILL BE MARIAN SANCHEZ AND THEN SANA ALMANZA COUNSEL, I AM PAUL ROBBINS, AN ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST AND CONSUMER ADVOCATE.
AUSTIN ENERGY HAS BEEN LAMBASTED BY CRITICS STILL HAUNTED BY THE POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS OF WINTER STORM URI TWO YEARS AGO.
IT'S CUSTOMERS ARE BITTERLY ANGRY AT WHAT THEY VIEW AS MISHANDLING OF THE RECENT BLACKOUT.
BUT IF YOU THINK CONFIDENCE IN CITY GOVERNMENT CANNOT GO ANY LOWER, ADJUST YOUR EXPECTATIONS BEGINNING MARCH 1ST, AUSTIN ENERGY BEGINS LEVYING ITS NEW RATE INCREASE.
THE RATE INCREASE WILL ADVERSELY AFFECT THE MAJORITY OF RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS, AND THE INCREASE WILL BE HIGHER THAN AUSTIN ENERGY HAS ESTIMATED.
IN DECEMBER, THE UTILITY ADMITTED TO A 13% INCREASE IN RESIDENTIAL RATES.
HOWEVER, SINCE A NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS LIVE OUTSIDE THE CITY THAT YOU REPRESENT, THIS LEFT OUT, UM, AN ESTIMATE FOR RATE INCREASES WITHIN CITY LIMITS.
I FOUND THE RATE INCREASE CLOSER TO 18%, BUT I HAVE ANALYZED HOW THE RATE INCREASE WILL AFFECT SPECIFIC CITY COUNCIL DISTRICTS AND HAVE FOUND THAT IT PUNISHES SPECIFIC ONES.
WOULD YOU PLEASE SHOW THE SLIDE? DISTRICT THREE SOUTH SOUTHEAST AUSTIN'S POOREST ZONE WILL EXPERIENCE A RATE INCREASE OF 23%, 89% HIGHER THAN AUSTIN'S WEALTHIEST ZONE DISTRICT 10.
NORTH, NORTH CENTRAL IS ALMOST AS SEVERELY AFFECTED, 83% HIGHER THAN DISTRICT 10.
THIS IS FOLLOWED BY DISTRICT'S NINE IN CENTRAL DOWNTOWN DISTRICTS FOUR NORTHEAST AND DISTRICT FIVE, SOUTH, SOUTH, SOUTH CENTRAL.
UH, ONLY AUSTIN'S TWO WEALTHIEST DISTRICTS, 10 AND EIGHT, EIGHT BEING SOUTHWEST AUSTIN HAVE BELOW AVERAGE, WELL BELOW AVERAGE RATE INCREASES.
HOW WILL THE PUBLIC RESPOND IN MARCH? MANY PEOPLE DO NOT READ THE NEWS CLOSELY OR UNDERSTAND ISSUES OF A RATE CASE, BUT THEY DO READ THEIR BILLS.
I WILL, IT WILL NOT SERVE MUCH PURPOSE FOR CITY OFFICIALS TO LECTURE AUSTIN RATE PAYERS ABOUT SHARED SACRIFICE AND TAKING ONE FOR THE TEAM AFTER WINTER STORM'S.
URI AND MARA, A BELL INCREASE ALREADY IMPOSED IN NOVEMBER.
MOST OF THEM FIGURE THEY ALREADY HAVE COUNSEL.
I SERIOUSLY ASK YOU TO AMEND THE RESIDENTIAL RATE STRUCTURE TO SOMETHING APPROACHING EQUITY.
I BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE POWER TO DO THIS WITHOUT TRIGGERING A NEW RAPE CASE.
UM, MARION SANCHEZ IS UP NEXT AFTER HER SUSUN ALMANZA AND VALERIE MENARD.
MS. MENARD, IF YOU'D LIKE TO COME TOWARD THE FRONT WITH MS, UM, ALMANZA, THAT'D BE GREAT.
MY NAME IS MARIA SANCHEZ AND I'M THE PROJECT COORDINATOR FOR PTA SOLAR EQUITY CAMPAIGN.
IN LIGHT OF THE RECENT EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS WE'VE FACED, PTA WOULD LIKE TO CALL FOR THE CITY'S HELP IN FACILITATING A DISCUSSION WITH UT IN REGARD TO THE 22 ACRES OF LAND LOCATED AT 27 0 6 MON TOPLESS DRIVE.
HERE WE FORESEE THE POTENTIAL OF A COMMUNITY SOLAR SITE, ONE AT THE PRIMARILY LOW INCOME WORKING CLASS.
PEOPLE OF COLOR COMMUNITIES COULD BENEFIT THE MOST FROM NEIGHBORHOODS SUCH AS THESE ARE HIT THE HARDEST AND AFFECTED MOST DISPROPORTIONATELY BY THE, THE ONGOING CLIMATE CRISIS.
THEY DESERVE RELIABLE AND EQUITABLE ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SOLUTIONS.
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AND AFTER YOU IS MS. MENARD.AND OUR LAST SPEAKER, AFTER MS. MENARD WILL BE A PEDRO HERNANDEZ.
MR. ANEZ, IF YOU COULD COME TOWARD THE FRONT AS WELL.
CONGRATULATIONS, MAYOR KIRK WATSON AND ALL THE NEW CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS OF VELAS AND SO FORTH.
IT'S GOOD TO BE HERE WITH YOU ALL TODAY.
I'M SUSSAN ELMAN PODER AND I ACTUALLY LIVE IN THE MANAS COMMUNITY, AND THE ALMOST 100% OF THE MANS COMMUNITY WENT DOWN DURING THE ICE STORM.
DURING THAT ICE STORM, ME AND MY SON BUNDLED UP TO WALK TO THEUS RECREATION CENTER, WHICH WAS JUST, YOU KNOW, ABOUT 400 FEET FROM OUR HOUSE, ONLY TO FIND THAT THE RECREATION CENTER WAS CLOSED.
WE COULD NOT POWER UP OUR PHONES AND WE COULD NOT POWER UP OUR LAPTOPS.
AND AS YOU KNOW, MONOLO HAS A 33% POVERTY RATE.
UH, AND THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING, ESPECIALLY NOW.
WE HAVE A RESILIENT, UH, HUB, A RESILIENT OFFICER, AND WE'RE TALKING ABOUT RESILIENT HUBS.
THIS IS A SHAME TWO YEARS LATER, AFTER THE WHOLE TALK ABOUT RESILIENCE.
UM, YOU KNOW, THE CITY IS NOT VERY RESILIENT.
AND HERE OUR RECREATION CENTERS, WHICH ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE WARM SITE, ARE CLOSED DURING THE MOST CRITICAL TIME OF OUR LIVES.
AND SO I ASK THAT YOU INSTALL GENERATORS OR EVEN SOLAR PANELS.
YOU HEARD MADIAN SANCHEZ TALK ABOUT, UH, PUTTING UP A SOLAR HUB IN POLIS.
UH, ALSO, DO WE NEED A WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ON SOLAR? HERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN TO WORK WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AND PODER IN ALOS COMMUNITY TO MAKE THAT REALIZATION COME FORWARD.
WE KNOW THAT THERE'S JUSTICE 40 FUNDING.
WE SHOULD BE JUMPING ON THAT JUSTICE 40 FUNDING TO MAKE SURE THAT THE MOST VULNERABLE PEOPLE ARE PROTECTED DURING THIS TIME.
THE PEOPLE WHO, WHO DO NOT HAVE BACKUP GENERATORS, WHO CANNOT HOP INTO, UH, THEIR SPECIAL MADE CARS WITH WHEELS OR TRUCKS, OR CANNOT AFFORD TO GO TO A PRIVATE HOTEL TO KEEP WARM.
UH, IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY, UM, THE CITY COUNCIL, UH, TO MAKE SURE THAT ITS RESIDENTS ARE PROTECTED.
AND SO WE ASK THAT YOU MOVE FORWARD.
I DEFINITELY AGREE WITH THAT COMMUNICATIONS PLAN, MR. WATSON, MAYOR WATSON, BECAUSE COMMUNICATION IS VERY MUCH LACKING IN DURING THESE, UH, CLIMATE CRISIS.
PEOPLE DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO, WHO TO TALK TO, ALL OF THESE THINGS THAT COME INTO REALIZATION.
AND WE'VE ALREADY EXPERIENCED THIS DURING COVID THAT EVEN THOUGH ALL THE INFORMATION WAS ON INTERNET, WE HAVE A DIGITAL DIVIDE AND WE HAVE PEOPLE THAT DON'T KNOW HOW TO NAVIGATE THE INTERNET.
SO WE HAVE TO REALLY COME UP WITH A COMMUNICATION STRATEGY WHERE WE CAN, UH, MAKE SURE THAT EVERYBODY'S INFORMED AND THAT EVERYONE IS PROTECTED.
AND AGAIN, I WANTED TO ECHO, UM, CONGRATULATIONS TO THE NEW COUNCIL AND TO MAYOR.
I'M NOT GOING TO, I'M JUST GOING TO, UM, SUPPORT WHAT'S BEEN SAID.
I'M NOT GONNA SAY THAT I HAD A REAL, YOU KNOW, REALLY HARD TIME.
I'M ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE THAT I HAVE RESOURCES.
BUT IT'S STILL, I, I WAS ABLE TO FIND A WAY.
UM, BUT I, I'M NOT SO MUCH WORRIED FOR ME.
I'M REALLY WORRIED ABOUT FOLKS THAT WERE OUT THERE, UNLIKE ME THAT COULDN'T GO SOMEPLACE TO AGAIN, CHARGE OUR PHONES.
AND LEXI SANTA SAID, GET WARM.
I WASN'T EVEN AWARE IN, IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD.
UM, IF THERE WAS A WARMING CENTER THAT, BUT, BUT OUR, OUR NEIGHBORS ARE VERY GOOD.
WE DO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER THROUGH OUR CELL PHONES.
BUT AGAIN, WHAT IF YOU CAN'T CHARGE? THAT'S WHERE I WAS AT, WHERE I COULDN'T CHARGE MY PHONE OR MY COMPUTER.
AND I WAS LUCKY I COULD, BUT FOR FOLKS WHO CAN'T, I LOVE THAT SOLAR IDEA.
I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GREAT INVESTMENT, UM, ALS.
AND, UM, BUT I ALSO WANNA PUT THIS FORWARD.
UM, YOU'RE A NEW COUNCIL NOW, NOT ALL OF YOU, BUT MANY OF YOU.
UM, LET'S LOOK AT, UH, ROLLING BACK THAT UTILITY INCREASE.
I THINK AT THIS POINT, UNDERSTANDING THAT AUSTIN ENERGY HAS SOME WORK TO, TO DO, UH, TO BETTER SERVE THIS COMMUNITY.
TO START TO, TO INTRODUCE A UTILITY INCREASE NOW AS REALLY INSULT INJURY.
SO IF YOU WOULD CONSIDER THAT, WE'D BE MUCH APPRECIATED.
AND OUR LAST SPEAKER TODAY IS PEDRO HERNANDEZ.
MR. HERNANDEZ, YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES AND WELCOME.
UM, MY NAME IS PEDRO HERNANDEZ AND I AM WITH PODER.
I AM A, UH, ORGANIZER AND FAIRS CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR.
AND, UM, I AM HERE JUST TODAY TO SPEAK ON THE POWER OUTAGE.
IT WAS NOT GOOD FOR ME AND THE COMPANY THAT I HAVE AT MY HOUSE.
UM, ALL OUR FOOD WENT BAD AND WE'RE ON A BUDGET.
UM, LUCKILY I DID HAVE SOME POWER, POWER, UM, POWER BANKS TO CHARGE MY STUFF, BUT ALL THE FOOD WENT BAD.
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A BIG DENT IN, YOU KNOW, IN MY INCOME.UM, I WAS UPSET BECAUSE FINDING OUT THAT THE, UM, WARMING CENTERS WERE CLOSED, ALL THE RECREATION CENTERS I WAS, I WORK WITH THE HOMELESS COMMUNITY AND I WAS TELLING THEM ALL TO GO TO THE RECREATION CENTER.
AND I'M SURE THEY WERE PROBABLY UPSET WITH ME FINDING OUT THAT IT WAS CLOSED CUZ I THOUGHT IT WAS OPEN.
UM, SO THAT, THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED.
UM, THE GENERATORS WE'VE ALREADY SET, SET THAT OUT, UM, WITH ANOTHER ORGANIZATION.
UM, BUT YEAH, THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, THAT THOSE WARMING CENTERS NEED TO BE OPEN.
[1. Approve the minutes of the November 29, 2022 meeting of the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee.]
OUR ACTION ITEMS. WE HAVE TWO ACTION ITEMS UP FOR VOTE.ONE IS APPROVAL OF MINUTES, APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 29TH, 2022 MEETING OF THE AUSTIN ENERGY UTILITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.
DO I HAVE, DO I HAVE A MOTION? COUNCIL MEMBER KELLY MAKES THE MOTION AND THE MAYOR PRO SECONDS.
UM, ANY OPPOSITION TO THAT BEING ADOPTED? THOSE MINUTES ARE ADOPTED.
[2. Revise the 2023 Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee meeting schedule.]
IS ACTION ON A REVISION TO THE 2023 AUSTIN ENERGY UTILITY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE MEETING SCHEDULE WE HAD SET.UM, YOU ALL MAY REMEMBER WE HAD SET THE MEETINGS FOR THE WEEK BETWEEN COUNCIL MEETINGS FOR THE TUESDAY BETWEEN WORK SESSIONS AND DECIDED IT WAS BETTER USE OF OUR, UH, PRECIOUS TIME, UH, TO PUT THAT MEETING ON A WORK SESSION DAY.
SO WE HAVE ADJUSTED THROUGHOUT THE YEAR TO PUT THE MEETINGS OF AE OVERSIGHT ONTO WORK SESSION.
UM, AND A ANY DISCUSSION ABOUT THAT, I WILL TAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE.
AND OUR VICE CHAIR COUNCIL MEMBER, KELLY, MAKES THAT MOTION AND THE MAYOR PRO TEM SECONDS, ANY OPPOSITION TO ADOPTING THIS ITEM? I SEE THAT AS CONSENSUS.
THESE, UH, THIS ITEM IS ADOPTED AND WE HAVE OUR SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT YEAR.
[6. Winter Storm Event Briefing]
DIRECTLY TO THE ITEM ON WINTER STORM MARA AND CITY MANAGER GARZA, WOULD YOU PLEASE LEAD US OFF? UH, YES.UH, MY STAFF SAID I NEEDED TO SHOUT OUT AND THE LAST TIME I SAID THAT WORD, WE WERE THE, WE WERE, THE DIAS WAS RUSHED BY THE CITIZEN.
SO, UH, I WOULD ASK THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL TO JUST BE A LITTLE GENTLE.
COUNCIL MEMBER POOL, UM, MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL, UH, I, I WANT TO JUST, UH, MAKE A FEW INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ABOUT, UH, ABOUT THIS PRESENTATION THAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO RECEIVE.
THIS INFORMATION THAT YOU, YOU WILL BEGET, UH, IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION, AND IT'S A LOT OF DATA AND A LOT OF DETAIL, BUT IT'S IN NO WAY INTENDED TO BE AN EXCUSE WHERE WE MAY NOT HAVE LIVED UP TO OUR STANDARDS.
AS A CITY OF AUSTIN, YOU KNOW, IN A CRISIS ORGANIZATION, IN A CRISIS, AN ORGANIZATION NEEDS TO BE ADAPTABLE, EMPATHETIC, PREPARED, RESILIENT, TRANSPARENT, AND TRUSTWORTHY.
WHILE AS AN ORGANIZATION, WE MADE AN EFFORT TO HAVE FIDELITY TO ALL OF THOSE PRINCIPLES.
UH, IT IS CLEAR THAT FROM OUR, UH, FROM THE PUBLIC RESPONSE, THAT WE MAY HAVE FALLEN SHORT ON SOME OF THOSE ITEMS. BECAUSE OF THE PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION IS TO BE CLEAR AND INFORMATIVE.
WE WOULD ASK THAT YOU GIVE US FEEDBACK SO THAT FUTURE PRESENTATIONS CAN BE MORE CLEAR AND MORE INFORMATIVE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE MAYOR, MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.
ONE OF THE ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT OF THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL IS TO PROVIDE OVERSIGHT TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF.
THAT OVERSIGHT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL BECAUSE IT, UH, IT OPENS, IT GIVES US AN IDEA OF WHERE OUR BLIND SPOTS MAY BE, WHERE WE MAY, MAY HAVE A POLITICAL 10 YEAR TO CERTAIN THINGS THAT THE, THAT THE COMMUNITY IS SENSITIVE TO.
AND YOUR INPUT AND YOUR INSIGHTS ARE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL TO MAKE US A BETTER ORGANIZATION.
FINALLY, LET ME END, UH, UH, WHEN AT THE END OF THIS PRESENTATION, YOU WILL HAVE, UH, GENERAL MANAGER SERGEANT'S TEAM TALK ABOUT WHAT THEY INTEND TO DO IN AN AFTER ACTION AFTER ACTION REPORT WITH THE SPECIFIC ELEMENTS OF WHAT'S INCLUDED.
WHAT WE INTEND TO DO AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF IS TO PULL ALL OF THOSE ELEMENTS AT AUSTIN ENERGY PLUS OTHER DEPARTMENTS AT PLUS AT THE EOC.
SO THE COUNCIL HAS AN ENTIRE REPORT WITH ALL THE ELEMENTS OF WHAT WE NEED TO DO IN A CRISIS AND IN AN EMERGENCY, UH, WITH THE, WITH RECOMMENDATIONS OF HOW WE MIGHT DO BETTER.
SO WITH THAT, UH, BRIEF INTRODUCTION, LET ME TURN IT OVER TO GENERAL MANAGER, SERGEANT.
UH, GOOD MORNING, MADAM CHAIR, VICE CHAIR COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
I'M JACKIE, SERGEANT AUSTIN ENERGY'S GENERAL MANAGER.
UM, NOTE THAT SINCE WE ARE SKIPPING OUR NORMAL BRIEFINGS, IF ANY COUNCIL MEMBER WOULD LIKE, UH, INFORMATION, WE'RE HAPPY TO SET UP, UH, AND MEET WITH YOU ONE-ON-ONE TO REVIEW AND ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE.
MY TEAM AND I ARE HERE TO PROVIDE A DETAILED BRIEFING ON AUSTIN ENERGY'S RESPONSE TO THE RECENT DEVASTATING NATURAL DISASTER, A HISTORIC ICE STORM THAT LEFT HURRICANE LEVEL DESTRUCTION IN ITS WAKE.
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FOR AUSTIN ENERGY'S CUSTOMERS, THE STORM CAUSED LONG DURATION OUTAGES.WE WILL REVIEW HOW AUSTIN ENERGY STOOD UP THE LARGEST RESTORATION OPERATION IN OUR 127 YEAR HISTORY.
AT ITS PEAK, THE STORM CAUSED NEARLY 174,000 CUSTOMERS TO LOSE POWER AT ONE TIME.
THAT'S ABOUT 32% OF OUR CUSTOMER BASE.
THE OUTAGES WERE SPREAD ACROSS OUR ENTIRE SERVICE TERRITORY OF 437, UH, SQUARE MILES IN TRAVIS AND WILLIAMSON COUNTIES.
WHILE THIS EVENT WAS HISTORIC, THESE TYPE OF EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS, WHICH CAUSE LONG DURATION OUTAGES ARE BECOMING MORE COMMON.
IF WE ARE GOING TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES OF EXTREME WEATHER CAUSING LONG DURATION OUTAGES HEAD ON, WE NEED INCREASED SUPPORT AND COORDINATION OF OUR ENTIRE CITY STRUCTURE TO BE MORE RESILIENT.
AUSTIN ENERGY WAS NOT ALONE IN THE RESTORATION AND RECOVERY EFFORTS FOR THIS STORM.
MANY OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS, THE COUNTY AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS MOBILIZED.
HOWEVER, AS THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS HAVE POINTED OUT, AN INCREASED AND HIGHER LEVEL OF COORDINATION IS NEEDED.
THE CITY ACTIVATED THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER ON JANUARY 30TH AND WENT TO LEVEL TWO ON JANUARY 31ST, WHICH INCLUDED AUSTIN ENERGY LIAISON TO BE PRESENT.
ADDITIONALLY, AUSTIN ENERGY HAS ITS OWN INCIDENT COMMAND CENTER AND INCIDENT COMMAND STRUCTURE, WHICH WAS FORMALLY MOBILIZED ON JANUARY 31ST AT 8:00 PM.
HOWEVER, WINTER WEATHER SITUATIONAL AWARENESS CALLS BEGAN A FULL DAY BEFORE ON JANUARY 30TH.
AS WE RECEIVED WEATHER UPDATES AND DISCUSSED PREPARATION ACTIVITIES.
WE KNOW THAT THERE ARE MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RESPONSE EFFORTS, AND WE KNOW WAITING MONTHS FOR AN AFTER ACTION REPORT WILL NOT PROVIDE THE ANSWERS THAT OUR COMMUNITY IS DEMANDING OF US RIGHT NOW.
SO I'D LIKE TO HIGHLIGHT A FEW AREAS WHERE WE'RE ALREADY TAKING STEPS TO IMPROVE FUTURE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS.
UH, PARTICULAR FOR LONG DURATION OUTAGES, FIRST ETRS OR ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION.
WHEN THE POWER GOES OUT, CUSTOMERS WANNA KNOW WHEN WILL IT BE RESTORED.
IN THE NORMAL COURSE OF BUSINESS, OUR CREWS HIT THE GROUND IMMEDIATELY.
THEY'RE ABLE TO ASSESS THE PROBLEM, AND FROM THERE THEY'LL ADJUST ANY ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION.
THEY'LL RESTORE THE POWER, AND THAT USUALLY TAKES PLACE WITHIN A COUPLE OF HOURS, OF COURSE, DEPENDING ON THE CAUSE.
IN THIS CASE, WE HAD ALMOST 1800 ACTIVE OUTAGES THROUGHOUT OUR SERVICE TERRITORY, EACH OUTAGE WITH ITS OWN UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCE.
THE SHEER VOLUME MADE NORMAL ON THE GROUND ASSESSMENTS IMPOSSIBLE, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY RESTORING POWER AT EACH LOCATION.
OFTENTIMES, DURING THE STORM, CREWS WOULD FIND OUTAGES WITHIN OUTAGES OR CREWS WOULD WORK FOR SEVERAL HOURS TO RESTORE A CIRCUIT, ONLY TO HAVE ANOTHER SECTION OF THAT SAME CIRCUIT GO OUT, THUS REQUIRING THEM TO START ALL OVER ON RESTORING THAT CIRCUIT.
I HAVE DIRECTED STAFF TO EXAMINE HOW WE COMMUNICATE SYSTEM SYSTEM-WIDE RESTORATION ESTIMATES DURING LONG DURATION OUTAGES.
THIS INCLUDES LOOKING AT PEER UTILITIES THAT ENDURE HURRICANES AND ICE STORMS TO SEE WHAT THEY DO TO ESTIMATE SYSTEM-WIDE RESTORATION, UH, TIMELINES.
SECOND COMMUNICATIONS, WE KNOW HOW OUR UTILITY COMMUNICATES DURING A CRISIS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS HOW THE INCIDENT IS MANAGED OPERATIONALLY, THERE ARE MANY KINDS, DIFFERENT KINDS OF COMMUNICATIONS.
SOME WE DID WELL AND OTHERS WE NEED TO WORK ON.
WE PROVIDED INTERVIEWS, SHARED SOCIAL MEDIA ALERT MESSAGES AND ISSUED NEWS RELEASES BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER THE STORM.
WE ISSUED OUR FIRST PRESS RELEASE BEFORE THE STORM ON MONDAY, JANUARY 30TH, AND ON WEDNESDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF THE STORM RELATED OUTAGES.
MY TE TEAM PROVIDED NEARLY TWO DOZEN RADIO, TV AND PRINT INTERVIEWS.
BEGINNING WITH THE EARLY MORNING NEWS SHOWS, WE WERE ALSO VERY ACTIVE ON SOCIAL MEDIA.
WHILE NOT ALL CUSTOMERS, UH, ARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA, IT'S THE FASTEST WAY TO GET INFORMATION OUT.
AND THE NEWS MEDIA ALMOST IMMEDIATELY SHARES THE INFORMATION THAT WE POST.
WE STOOD UP A DEDICATED RESTORATION WEBPAGE THAT WAS PROMOTED IN OUR COMMUNICATIONS PIECES PLUS ALERT MESSAGES ON OUR OUTAGE MAP AND ON OUR WEBSITE HOMEPAGE.
CUSTOMERS WHO SIGNED UP FOR OUTAGE ALERTS RECEIVED AUTOMATED TEXTS NOTIFYING THEM IMMEDIATELY OF OUTAGES.
IN ADDITION TO THE AUTOMATED TEXT, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE STARTED DIRECTLY TEXTING AND EMAILING CUSTOMERS SOONER WITH WHAT LIMITED INFORMATION WE HAD AT THAT TIME.
IT'S CLEAR THE PUBLIC WANTS AND NEEDS INFORMATION TO MAKE DECISIONS, EVEN IF, IF IT'S NOT A DEFINITIVE ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION.
NEXT TIME WE'LL SEND OUT THOSE COMMUNICATIONS MORE QUICKLY.
FURTHER, WE ARE WORKING WITH HOMELAND SECURITY AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND THE CITY'S COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE TO REVIEW AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO OUR COORDINATED COMMUNICATIONS PRACTICES.
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ANOTHER AREA FOR IMPROVEMENT OF OUR COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS IS OUR OUTAGE MAP.AS YOU WILL HEAR LATER IN THE PRESENTATION FROM OUR VICE PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND DATA, WE HAVE ALREADY BEGUN MAKING CHANGES TO THE OUTAGE MAP.
MANY HAVE ASKED WHY ALL OF OUR DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM ISN'T UNDERGROUND ONLY.
SOME OF IT WE'VE ALWAYS RESPONDED THAT BEARING OUR DISTRIBUTION, UH, LINES WOULD BE PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE AND VERY DISRUPTIVE.
WE AS A UTILITY KNOW THIS INTUITIVELY, BUT THE COMMUNITY MAY NOT, AND WE DON'T HAVE A FEASIBILITY STUDY THAT ILLUSTRATES THE EXTENT OF WHAT THIS WOULD TAKE.
SO I'VE DIRECTED STAFF TO INCLUDE A THIRD PARTY STUDY TO ANALYZE WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO BURY ALL OF OUR OVERHEAD DISTRIBUTION LINES, INCLUDING COST IMPACTS TO CUSTOMERS AND OUR FISCAL YEAR 24 BUDGET PROPOSAL.
FOURTH TREE TRIMMING AND VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
WE WELCOME THE AUDIT OF OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO SEE HOW WE CAN ENHANCE THEM HERE.
MOST OF THE TIME WE'RE IN PROLONGED DROUGHT AND BRANCHES GET DRY AND BRITTLE, PUT THOUSANDS OF POUNDS OF ICE ON THEM, AND THEY SIMPLY CRACK BREAK OFF OR COMPLETELY FALL OVER.
WE APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT OF COUNCIL BACK IN 2019 TO INCREASE OUR CLEARANCE DISTANCES.
AND WITH THE AUDIT FINDINGS, WE ARE OPEN TO ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO ENHANCE OUR VEGETATION MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
FIFTH AUSTIN ENERGY, ENERGY MANAGE OR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FULL-TIME STAFF BEFORE WINTER STORM MARA, WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING EXPANDING OUR INTERNAL FULL-TIME ENERGY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM.
THIS HISTORIC ICE STORM HIGHLIGHTS THE NEED FOR THIS AND THE NEED TO MOVE MORE QUICKLY.
WE ARE ADDING TWO FULL-TIME POSITIONS TO OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT TEAM, ONE OF WHICH IS A NEW SENIOR LEVEL MANAGEMENT POSITION.
LAST WEEK I APPROVED THIS JOB TITLE, UM, REQUEST, AND IT IS CURRENTLY WITH H R D PENDING APPROVAL.
WHILE WE HAVE MANY EMPLOYEES, UH, WHO BECOME PART OF OUR INCIDENT COMMAND STRUCTURE DURING AN EMERGENCY, WE ARE ADDING MORE DEDICATED LEADERSHIP IN THIS AREA.
THIS WILL HELP US BETTER PLAN, PREPARE, AND TRAIN STAFF THROUGHOUT THE UTILITY TO RESPOND TO EXTREME WEATHER, CYBERSECURITY, SABOTAGE, NATURAL DISASTERS, OR ANY CAUSE OF FUTURE LONG DURATION OUTAGES.
AND SIX, LEARNING WHAT OTHER UTILITIES DO.
I HAVE ALREADY REACHED OUT TO OUR PEER LARGE PUBLIC POWER COUNCIL UTILITIES IN ORLANDO AND JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, AS WELL AS THE LONG ISLAND POWER AUTHORITY.
I'VE CONNECTED MY TEAM AND DIRECTED THEM TO SCHEDULE SITE VISITS TO LEARN HOW THEY PREPARE FOR AND MANAGE HURRICANE RESTORATION AND COORDINATE THEIR EFFORTS WITH THEIR THEIR RESPECTIVE CITY OPERATIONS.
WE KNOW EACH NATURAL DISASTER IS DIFFERENT WITH UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES, CAUSES, UH, DAMAGES, CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME.
AND WITH WINTER STORM MARA, WE'VE ALREADY BEGUN THE PROCESS OF INTERNAL REVIEW THAT WILL CULMINATE IN AN AFTER ACTION REPORT.
AS I'VE OUTLINED TODAY, WE ARE NOT WAITING FOR THAT REPORT TO BE COMPLETED TO TAKE ACTION, AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS.
WITH ME TODAY ARE SEVERAL MEMBERS OF MY EXECUTIVE TEAM WHO ARE PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW IN THE FOLLOWING AREA AREAS OPERATIONS, UH, INTERIM CHIEF OPERATING OFFICERS, STEWART RILEY, TREE TRIMMING AND VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
UH, VICE PRESIDENT OF FIELD OPERATIONS, ELTON RICHARDS.
UH, OUR OUTAGE MAP, VICE PRES, PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND DATA.
AND THE AFTER ACTION REPORT WILL BE COVERED BY OUR VICE PRESIDENT OF, UH, SYSTEM ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES, LISA MARTIN.
AND WITH THAT, I WILL TURN IT OVER TO, UM, STUART RILEY.
OH, UH, GOOD MORNING CHAIR, VICE CHAIR COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
AS JACKIE MENTIONED, I WILL WALK THROUGH, UH, AN OVERALL, UH, LOOK AT OUR OPERATIONS AND TIMELINE OF THE EVENT.
AND BEFORE THEY, BEFORE I DO THAT, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE WE START WITH A COMMON UNDERSTANDING OF JUST HOW DIFFERENT THIS EVENT IS FROM WINTER STORM URI.
UM, LOTS OF PEOPLE HAVE SAID THAT THIS, THEY CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIS HAPPENED AGAIN.
AND WHILE THE FRUSTRATION THAT THEY EXPERIENCED IS, IS DEFINITELY A REPEAT EVENT OF A LONG DURATION POWER OUTAGE, I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US AS WE'RE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION TO REALLY UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ERCOT DIRECTED EVENT THAT CAUSED OUTAGES VERSUS A STORM EVENT WITH HURRICANE LEVEL DAMAGE.
SO AS WE LOOK BACK AT THIS EVENT AND AS WE LOOK FORWARD AT OUR RESPONSES, UM, IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO, TO HAVE THAT DISTINCTION WHILE KEEPING IN MIND WHAT OUR CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCED AT THE SAME TIME.
SO WINTER STORM URI WAS AN ERCOT GRID EMERGENCY.
MARA WAS AN ICE STORM WITH HURRICANE LEVEL DAMAGE IN FEBRUARY, 2021.
THAT WAS AN ERCOT LOAD SHED EVENT.
AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS ERCOT DIRECTED UTILITIES IN TEXAS TO CUT OFF ENOUGH CUSTOMERS TO
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KEEP THE ERCOT GRID FROM A COMPLETE COLLAPSE THAT WOULD'VE TAKEN WEEKS OR LONGER TO GET BACK UP.AND DURING THAT EVENT, AUSTIN ENERGY'S GENERATING RESOURCES PERFORMED WELL, BUT THAT DID NOT LESSEN OUR OBLIGATION TO CUT OFF CUSTOMERS DURING THAT EVENT IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE ERCOT GRID.
AND, UM, IN, IN THIS EVENT THERE, WELL, IN URI, THERE WAS SOME STORM DAMAGE BEFORE THE EVENT, BEFORE THE LOAD SHED EVENT STARTED, MOSTLY IN THE WESTERN PART OF OUR CITY.
ALL THOSE OUTAGES WERE RESTORED PRIOR TO THAT LOAD SHED EVENT.
AND THEN DURING THE LOAD SHED, THERE WERE SOME ADDITIONAL OUTAGES THAT CAME THROUGH THAT WE COULD NOT DISCOVER UNTIL AFTER ERCOT ALLOWED US TO START RESTORING CUSTOMERS.
UM, BUT THE SCALE OF THAT, OF THAT STORM DAMAGE WAS NOTHING CLOSE TO WHAT WE EXPERIENCED HERE.
UM, IN THAT EVENT, IT WAS MORE AROUND 35,000 CUSTOMERS AT THAT TIME.
UM, CONVERSELY, WINTER STORM MARA HERE IN 2023 WAS COMPLETELY A LOCALIZED ICE STORM EVENT.
AS WE ALL KNOW, THE ICE DECIMATED TREES TOOK OUT OUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND RESTORATION WORK ON THIS EVENT, EVEN WITH HUNDREDS OF ADDITIONAL OUTSIDE CREWS, TOOK A GREAT DEAL OF TIME DUE TO THE MASSIVE SCALE OF DAMAGE.
AGAIN, AS, AS WE UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE EVENTS, I'M POINTING THAT OUT BECAUSE FOR US TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION AND LOOK FORWARD, WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT OPERATIONALLY THIS WAS VERY DIFFERENT FOR US AS A UTILITY.
AND OPERATIONALLY WHAT WE'LL NEED TO DO GOING FORWARD IS SO DIFFERENT.
BUT I'M, I'M NOT TRYING TO INVALIDATE ANY CUSTOMER'S FRUSTRATIONS OF WHAT THEY EXPERIENCE AND THE INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF HARDSHIP THAT CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE AS WELL.
SO I MENTIONED THAT THIS EVENT HAD THE IMPACT OF A HURRICANE TO US, UM, MORE, MORE LIKE A HURRICANE THAT NOBODY KNEW WAS COMING.
UM, WE HAD WEATHER SITUATIONAL AWARENESS CALLS.
WE WERE READY FOR ICING, BUT NOTHING CLOSE TO WHAT WE EXPERIENCED HERE.
UM, WE MONITORED THE FORECAST.
UM, WE CALLED IN ADDITIONAL AE CREWS AND TREE TRIMMERS, SET THEM UP IN HOTELS TO BE READY TO RESPOND QUICKLY, UM, FOR US, FOR STORM RESTORATION, MAKING SURE WE HAVE ADDITIONAL CREWS AND ON-CALL CREWS IS NOTHING NEW.
UM, BUT WE WENT BEYOND THAT HERE BY MAKING SURE THAT OUR CREWS COULD BE READY AND AVAILABLE IN A MOMENT'S NOTICE BY HAVING THEM SET UP IN HOTELS, GETTING FOOD SUPPLIES FOR THEM, AND JUST BEING READY IN CASE THE WORST HAPPENED.
AND OF COURSE, UM, THE WORST DID HAPPEN.
UM, INSTEAD OF A QUARTER OF AN INCH TO A HALF AN INCH, MOSTLY NORTH AND WEST OF AUSTIN IN THE HILL COUNTRY, WHAT WE EXPERIENCED WAS, UH, OVER SEVEN TENTHS OF AN INCH IN CENTRAL AUSTIN.
UM, ON TUESDAY, JANUARY 31ST, I WAS ON A CALL WITH THE TEXAS ENERGY RELIABILITY COUNCIL IN THE TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
ON THAT CALL, THERE WERE SOME, UH, OF OUR INDUSTRY PARTNERS.
THEY REPORTED THAT THEY HAD HAD SOME OUTAGES THAT THEY HAD EXPERIENCED SO FAR.
BUT AT THAT TIME, AUSTIN ENERGY HAD ZERO OUTAGES AND ZERO CUSTOMERS IMPACTED.
UM, STILL THAT DAY WITH ZERO OUTAGES, WE STOOD UP OUR INCIDENT COMMAND AND, UH, JUST, JUST TO BE READY.
UM, UH, UNFORTUNATELY, AS JACKIE MENTIONED, AS CLIMATE CHANGE IS HERE, WE'RE GETTING USED TO HEARING ABOUT UNPRECEDENTED WEATHER.
AND, UM, I THINK WE'RE A LITTLE BIT NUMB TO IT.
BUT, UM, YOU KNOW, I JUST WANNA RECOUNT A STORY THAT ONE OF OUR SAFETY PERSONNEL, UH, TOLD ME IS THAT WHEN HE WENT TO A CUSTOMER'S HOME BECAUSE OF A DOWNED WIRE, THAT CUSTOMER SAID THEY HAD LIVED IN THAT HOME FOR 65 YEARS IN THAT SAME HOME, AND THIS IS THE WORST STORM THEY'D EVER SEEN.
UM, AND THE, THE EVIDENCE AFTER IT WAS ALL ACCOUNTED FOR, I THINK PROVES THAT CUSTOMER'S RIGHT.
AND I THINK GOING FORWARD, WE CAN'T RELY ON THE FORECAST THAT'S BASED ON HISTORY AND BASED ON MORE, UH, PREDICTABLE TIMES.
SO AS WE PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES, I THINK A BIG LESSON FOR US TO LEARN FROM THIS IS THAT, THAT THE FORECAST CAN BE, UH, REALLY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT ACTUALLY MATERIALIZES.
UM, THIS IS JUST A, A SLIDE OF A SCREENSHOT, UM, OF OUTAGES IN TEXAS, UH, LATE AFTERNOON, EARLY EVENING, FEBRUARY 2ND.
THERE'S NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS, UH, TIMEFRAME.
IT'S JUST HAPPENS TO BE WHEN I TOOK A SCREENSHOT.
BUT THIS JUST SHOWS WHERE THE ICE IMPACTS WERE.
UM, YOU CAN SEE TRAVIS COUNTY KIND OF AT THE BOTTOM LEFT OF THIS SWATH THAT GOES UP TO TYLER, UM, AND WHERE IN THAT 30% RANGE, UM, AND THERE WERE OTHER COUNTIES BETWEEN, UH, BETWEEN HERE AND TYLER THAT WERE GREATLY IMPACTED.
BUT AUSTIN WAS REALLY THE ONLY URBAN CENTER OR, UH, DENSELY POPULATED AREA.
AND AS YOU CAN SEE FROM THE PREVIOUS SLIDE, THE ICING HERE WAS, UH, HEAVIER.
AND, UH, AS I UNDERSTAND IT, THE, THE TREES THAT WE HAVE IN AUSTIN, UM, LARGELY LIVE OAKS, UH, WERE THOSE THAT WERE MOST IMPACTED BY THIS EVENT.
SO, UM, I'LL TAKE US THROUGH THE TIMELINE OF EVENTS HERE.
I MENTIONED STORM PREP, UM, ACTIVATING INCIDENT COMMAND, UM, CALLING IN ADDITIONAL CREWS, GETTING THEM SET UP IN HOTELS, UM, UH, GETTING MEALS SET UP ALL BEFORE A SINGLE OUTAGE HAD OCCURRED.
UM, ON FEBRUARY 1ST AT AROUND 3:00 AM OUTAGES FROM THE ICE STORM STARTED COMING IN
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AT 30 MINUTES LATER AT 4:00 AM OUR GENERAL MANAGER DIRECTED US TO REQUEST MUTUAL AID.YOU CAN SEE HERE THE BLUE LINE OF OUTAGES INCREASES RAPIDLY DURING THAT TIME.
AND BY 7:00 AM WE ALREADY HAD OVER A HUNDRED OR HAD NEARLY A HUNDRED THOUSAND OUTAGES, AND WE INITIATED MAKING CONTACT WITH OUR PEER UTILITIES ABOUT MUTUAL AID.
UM, LISA MARTIN WILL GET INTO MUTUAL AID A LITTLE BIT MORE IN DEPTH LATER, BUT AS YOU CAN SEE, UM, ALSO AS JACKIE MENTIONED, UM, THIS, THIS BLUE LINE OF OUTAGES, UH, AT ANY ONE POINT, THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS OUT WAS A ALMOST 174,000 CUSTOMERS, OR 32% OF OUR CUSTOMERS BEING OUT AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
AND WHAT I HAVE HERE IS A TIMELINE THAT'S BROKEN DOWN INTO THREE BASIC PHASES OF STORM RESTORATION DURING THIS INITIAL PHASE I'LL TALK ABOUT HERE, UM, QUICKLY IS, UM, UH, THE PHASE IN WHICH WE SAW FREEZING RAIN, ADDITIONAL ICE ACCUMULATION, UM, HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS THAT MADE RESTORATION, UM, CHALLENGING AND AND DANGEROUS.
UM, THIS CHALLENGING WEATHER AND THE REPEATED OUTAGES EVEN MADE A FULL DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AT THAT TIME.
HERE YOU CAN SEE ROADS THAT WERE IMPASSABLE FOR OUR CREWS.
OUR CREWS LITERALLY HAD TO GET OUT OF THEIR CARS AND CUT, UM, SOME OF THESE TREES INTO MANAGEABLE SIZED PIECES TO BE ABLE TO GET TO WHERE THEY NEEDED TO GO.
IN ADDITION, IN SOME AREAS OF OUR SERVICE TERRITORY, THE TERRAIN ISN'T FLAT, AND GETTING OUR HEAVY VEHICLES UP AND DOWN HILLS DURING THE ICE IS, UM, DANGEROUS AND RISKY.
AND ON THIS NEXT SLIDE, I HAVE A SHORT VIDEO OF ONE OF OUR, UH, MEMBERS OF OUR FIELD OPERATIONS TEAM JUST TO TALK ABOUT SOME OF THE CHALLENGES THAT THEY EXPERIENCED.
THIS IS A EXTREMELY DIFFICULT JOB IN NORMAL SITUATIONS.
SO THEN WHEN WE GET INTO EMERGENCY STORM SITUATIONS, THAT RISK FACTOR IS MULTIPLIED BY A THOUSAND.
AND AT ANY MOMENT, ANYTHING WE DO IS PUTTING MY LIFE AND THE GOD TO THE LEFT OF ME AND THE GUY TO THE RIGHT OF ME AT RISK.
AND WE JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN GET BACK HOME TO OUR FAMILIES.
SO SAFETY IS THE UTMOST IMPORTANT THING.
YURI WAS MOSTLY SNOW AND WE WERE ABLE TO HANDLE YURI WITH JUST OUR CREWS AND OUR PERSONNEL.
THE ISSUE WITH THIS ONE IS ALL OF THE ICE AND THE ICE BUILT UP ON THE TREES THAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY THE DROUGHT THAT WE'VE BEEN HAVING RECENTLY HAS JUST BEEN BREAKING ALL OF THE LIMBS.
SO IT'S, IT'S JUST BEEN A LOT MORE CHALLENGING WITH ALL THE WEIGHT AND ALL THE DOWNED WIRES, NOT JUST SO MUCH SNOW ACCUMULATION.
ALSO ALONG WITH THE TREE DAMAGE, JUST ALSO ACCESSING THOSE AREAS TO EVEN GET BACK IN THERE, TO MAKE THOSE CLEARANCES, TO GET IT BACK ON HAS BEEN, HAS BEEN THE MOST CHALLENGING PART SO FAR.
YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE, WE'RE RIDING OUT OUR LINE, WE'RE GOING THROUGH, WE'RE CLEARING IT OUT, WE'RE GETTING IT FIXED.
WE'RE LEAVING THE SITE, AND THEN WE GET A CALL 40 MINUTES LATER, ANOTHER LIMB HAS BROKEN AND TORE DOWN EVERYTHING THAT WE JUST FIXED.
SO THEN WE'RE HAVING TO GO BACK AND REDO EVERYTHING THAT WE JUST DID.
SO THAT'S, THAT'S BEEN EXTREMELY CHALLENGING.
YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE'RE DOING THE BEST WE CAN.
UH, WE'RE WORKING AS HARD AS WE CAN.
YEAH, JUST PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH US AND, AND WE'RE DOING OUR BEST TO GET EVERYBODY BACK ON AND, AND HOUSE IS WARM AND, AND EVERYBODY HAPPY.
AS MATT MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO, REPEATED OUTAGES POSED A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE, UH, FOR RESTORATION PROGRESS.
THIS SLIDE SHOWS IN FOUR HOUR INCREMENTS.
THE NUMBER OF OUTAGES AND THE NUMBER OF RESTORATIONS.
OUTAGES ARE SHOWN IN BLUE, AND RESTORATIONS ARE SHOWN IN ORANGE.
UM, FEBRUARY 2ND WAS A PARTICULARLY TOUGH DAY FOR US AS OUR, UM, RESTORATIONS WERE LARGELY ALL CANCELED OUT BY ADDITIONAL OUTAGES COMING IN.
DURING THE COURSE OF THE EVENT, THERE WERE 373,000 RESTORATIONS THAT TOOK PLACE.
SOME OF THOSE ARE REPEATED OUTAGES.
SOME OF THOSE ARE NEW OUTAGES THAT CAME IN AT DIFFERENT TIMES DURING THE COURSE OF THE EVENT.
IN THE INITIAL PHASE, WE WERE FOCUSED ON LARGE CIRCUIT LOCKOUTS AND CRITICAL SERVICES CUSTOMERS.
UM, WHEN I TALK ABOUT CIRCUIT LOCKOUTS, EVERY ELECTRICAL SYSTEM IS MADE UP OF CIRCUITS.
UM, THESE CIRCUITS ARE OUR MAIN LINES.
THEY SERVE, UH, AROUND 2000 CUSTOMERS PER CIRCUIT.
AND EACH HAS A, A BREAKER, LIKE A LARGE VERSION OF WHAT YOU HAVE IN YOUR HOME AS A CIRCUIT BREAKER, WHICH, WHICH PROVIDES A PROTECTION FUNCTION TO KEEP ADDITIONAL DAMAGE FROM TAKING PLACE TO THAT SYSTEM.
AND SO ON OUR CIRCUITS, WHEN AN ANIMAL OR AN OBJECT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH EQUIPMENT ON OUR CIRCUIT, THE CIRCUIT BREAKER WILL OPEN TO SHUT THAT DOWN AND PREVENT ADDITIONAL DAMAGE FROM OCCURRING.
IF THAT OBJECT OR THAT FAULT CLEARS ITSELF QUICKLY, THE CIRCUIT BREAKER WILL CLOSE BACK UP.
AND I MENTIONED THAT BECAUSE IN AN ICE, IN A STORM RESTORATION, TYPICALLY CLEARING THE CIRCUIT LOCKOUTS RESTORES 90 TO 95% OF YOUR CUSTOMERS.
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UM, IN PHASE ONE OF THIS TIMELINE, THAT'S WHAT WE WERE FOCUSED ON.BUT THIS EVENT TURNED OUT TO BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.
THAT BRINGS US TO PHASE TWO OF THE RESTORATION.
AFTER THE MAINLINE CIRCUITS WERE BROUGHT BACK UP, THAT LED TO THE LATERALS OFF THE MAIN LINES AS WE WORKED OUR WAY DOWN TO THE MOST GRANULAR DAMAGE.
AS I MENTIONED AT WORK SESSION A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, WE'VE NEVER EXPERIENCED ANYTHING AS COMPLICATED AND LABORIOUS AS THIS WITH SO MUCH MANUAL WORK REQUIRED UP AND DOWN OUR SYSTEM, UH, CIRCUIT AFTER CIRCUIT WITH TREE DAMAGE, BROKEN POLES, BROKEN CROSS ARMS, UH, DOWN CONDUCTOR, UM, ALL OVER OUR SYSTEM THAT COULDN'T BE CIRCUITS THAT COULDN'T BE RESTORED UNTIL ALL THE PROBLEMS WERE FIXED.
SO HERE IN PHASE TWO, WE WERE STILL WORKING ON SOME OF OUR CRITICAL SERVICES CUSTOMERS AND THEN, UM, WORKING OUR WAY TO THE SMALLER OUTAGES, STARTING WITH LARGE LARGEST, UM, TO GET THE MOST CUSTOMERS BACK UP AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
AND THEN ALL OTHER FACTORS BEING EQUAL, STARTING WITH THE OLDEST OUTAGE AND THEN WORKING OUR WAY TO THE NEWEST.
UM, AS MATT MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO, THIS, THIS PROVED TO BE LABORIOUS IN AREAS WHERE, UM, ACCESS IS DIFFICULT.
HERE YOU CAN SEE, UH, ONE OF THE CREWS THAT WAS, UM, PUTTING A POLE BACK IN AFTER SOME TREE DAMAGE.
AND THIS WAS IN A VERY HARD TO ACCESS AREA.
AND WE HAVE A LOT OF, UH, OUR, OUR EQUIPMENT IN POLES AND BACKYARDS AND IN OTHER ROCKY TERRAINS THAT ARE INACCESSIBLE BY BUCKET TRUCK.
AND THEN THIS PICTURE SHOWS THE LOCATION OF, UH, OF AN OUTAGE WHERE JACKIE AND ELTON PROVIDED A PRESS CONFERENCE.
UM, THIS ONE WAS CALLED IN AS A LEANING POLE, UH, BUT WHEN THE CREWS GOT THERE, IT WAS ACTUALLY BROKEN AT THE BASE OF THE POLE.
AND SO WHAT, WHAT WAS INITIALLY THOUGHT TO BE A TWO HOUR JOB REQUIRED ADDITIONAL CREWS AND AN ALL DAY JOB.
AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, UM, THERE ARE FOUR BUCKET TRUCKS ON THAT SITE, AND THAT'S AN ALL DAY JOB.
AND I, I WANT TO POINT OUT THAT THIS OUTAGE WAS ACTUALLY BECAUSE OF A TREE FALLING INTO THE COMMUNICATIONS LINES, NOT FALLING INTO THE POWER LINES.
SO ONCE WE GOT THROUGH SOME OF THOSE ISSUES, THAT BRINGS US TO PHASE THREE OF OUR, OUR RESTORATION.
WHEN WE TRANSITIONED TO RECONNECTS, WE STARTED CUSTOMER RE INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMER RECONNECTS ON FEBRUARY 9TH.
SINCE THAT TIME, WE'VE BEEN EXPEDITING CUSTOMER RECONNECTS WITH THE HELP OF DSD FOR CUSTOMERS TO GET ELECTRICIANS GET INSPECTED AND GREEN TAGGED IN ORDER FOR US TO SAFELY RECONNECT THEIR EQUIPMENT TO AUSTIN ENERGY SYSTEM.
AND HERE YOU CAN SEE ON THE LEFT, UM, A CUSTOMER'S HOME WITH A, A DOWNED WEATHERHEAD AND A SERVICE PANEL RIPPED OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HOME AND ON THE RIGHT, A BROKEN AND, UH, BENT WEATHERHEAD ON ANOTHER CUSTOMER'S PROPERTY.
AND WE ARE COMMUNICATING WITH ALL CUSTOMERS THAT WE ARE AWARE OF WHO HAVE THIS SITUATION.
OUR CUSTOMER CARE TEAM HAS BEEN MAKING CONTACT WITH THOSE CUSTOMERS, UM, JUST TO, TO HELP THEM KNOW ABOUT WHAT RESOURCES ARE OUT THERE AND AVAILABLE FOR THOSE CUSTOMERS.
MAKE SURE THEY HAVE A LICENSED ELECTRICIAN SO THAT THE WORK IS DONE SAFELY AND SO THAT THEY CAN GET RE-ENERGIZED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
AND, UM, SOME OF THOSE I BELIEVE ARE STILL TRICKLING IN TODAY.
UM, I, I THINK WE WERE EXPECTING MAYBE SOME MORE THIS MORNING, BUT I, I HAVEN'T SEEN THAT LIST.
AND THAT BRINGS US UP TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY.
AND I WILL CONTINUE THIS AND PASS IT OVER TO ELTON RICHARDS TO SPEAK ABOUT TREE TRIMMING AND VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
I'M ELTON RICHARDS, VICE PRESIDENT OF ELECTRIC SYSTEMS FIELD OPERATIONS, AND I'M GONNA BE TALKING ABOUT THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING.
SO I'LL START WITH THE STORM ITSELF.
ON THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT, UH, WE'VE GOT ABOUT 40 CREWS THAT ARE CONTRACTED THROUGH DAVEY WRIGHT ASHLAND THAT WE USE ON SITE.
WE KNEW THIS WAS GONNA BE AN ICE STORM, SO WE HAD ALREADY REACHED OUT TO THEM SINCE WE HAD A CONTRACT WITH THEM TO GET ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ON TUESDAY.
SO WE HAD OUR 40 CREWS, UH, BY WEDNESDAY WE HAD OVER 600 VEGETATION EMPLOYEES ON, ON SYSTEM.
SO THAT'S HOW, HOW WE RESPONDED, SINCE WE KNEW THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF TREES INVOLVED IN THIS, I'VE SAID IT BEFORE, BUT IT, IT BEARS REPEATING.
THIS WASN'T A VEGETATION MANAGEMENT ISSUE, THIS WAS AN ICE STORM ISSUE, TRULY WAS THE TWO PICTURES YOU'VE GOT UP HERE REPRESENTING THESE LARGE TREES.
NO AMOUNT OF VEGETATION MANAGEMENT WOULD'VE PREVENTED THIS.
THE OTHER THING I'D LIKE TO POINT OUT ON THIS IS THOSE WIRES THAT THAT'S LAYING ON IS NOT OUR WIRES.
WIRES AND COMMUNICATIONS DO NOT DO VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
IF YOU'VE EVER BEEN DOWN ON SIXTH STREET, UH, ANYWHERE ELSE LIKE THAT, YOU CAN SEE 'EM RUNNING THROUGH THEM.
THEY'RE ADHERED TO OUR SYSTEM SO SOLID THAT IT WILL BREAK A HOLE WITH THE WEIGHT OF A TREE.
AND THAT WAS RE REFLECTED ON THE AIRPORT THAT YOU SAW UNDER STEWART'S PRESENTATION.
AND ALSO, AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, THIS WAS DAMAGED.
SO THE, THE NOR WAY WE NORMALLY WORK DURING STORM OF VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CRUISE IS WE HAVE OUR OWN INTERNAL INSPECTORS THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR 'EM.
THESE ARE OUR TRAINED ARBORIST.
WE WILL SEND THEM OUT TO AN AREA THAT WE KNOW IS DAMAGED.
AS STEWART STATED, NORMALLY WHEN WE PICK A CIRCUIT
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UP, WE PICK UP 90% OF THE CUSTOMERS.WHAT HAPPENED IS WE'RE IDENTIFIED A VEGETATION DOWN THE INSPECTOR GOES OUT, TAKES AN OUTAGE SO THE, THE TREE CAN BE TRIMMED, UH, UH, SAFELY, THEY CLEAN IT UP, TURN IT BACK OVER TO CREW REPAIRS, TO DAMAGE AND IT'S DONE.
THE PROBLEM WITH THIS IS WE WERE FINDING CIRCUITS AND EVEN THE TAPS AND LATERALS THAT HAD FOUR TO FIVE DIFFERENT SECTIONS OF DAMAGE WITH THE VEGETATION.
SO IT, IT, IT WAS UN I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS, THIS LEVEL OF DEVASTATION.
SO WHAT WE DID WAS AT END OF DAY TWO, WE FLEXED, INSTEAD OF DOING THE INSPECTORS, WE ACTUALLY, SINCE WE HAD AN ADDITIONAL CREWS, WE STARTED SENDING 'EM OUT WITH THE CREWS THEMSELVES.
THAT WAY THE CRUISES, THEY IDENTIFIED THE DAMAGE, DIDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR A VEGETATION CREW TO COME OUT.
THEY COULD ACTUALLY TRIM IT AND THEN KEEP ON GOING.
SO I, I THINK IT WAS A GOOD FLEX ON IT TO, TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF THE RESOURCES THAT WE HAD.
SO NOW WE'LL GET INTO WHAT OUR NORMAL CUSTOMER TREE TRIMMING, UH, IS.
UH, BY THE NUMBERS WE'VE GOT 2,400 MILES AND THAT'S PRIMARY OVERHEAD.
IN ADDITION TO THAT, YOU'VE GOT ABOUT 1400 MILES OF SECONDARY AND THEN YOU'VE GOT ABOUT ANOTHER 1200 MILES OF STREET LIGHT.
SO THAT'S THE TOTAL THAT WE DO.
BUT THIS IS THE PRIMARY, UH, WE DO HUNDREDS OF MILES EACH YEAR, USUALLY ON A CIRCUIT THAT WE CLEAN UP.
IT'S ABOUT 9,000, 12,000 CUSTOMERS DEPENDING ON WHICH CIRCUIT IT IS.
UH, OUR STANDARDS FOR CLEARANCES RIGHT NOW IS ON FAST GROWING IS 15 FEET SLOW, GROWING 10 FEET.
AND THAT IS FROM CENTER LINE OF THE ELECTRICAL FACILITY.
SO IF IT'S A THREE PHASE WITH THREE WIRES, IT'S TO CENTER WIRE.
AND IF IT'S A SINGLE PHASE, IT'S JUST THAT SINGLE PHASE.
SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT WE HAVE TO TAKE IN ON IT IS WE, WE DO TRIM BASED UPON THE SPECIES AND TIME OF THE YEAR.
AND THIS IS DUE TO RESTRICTIONS ON THE OAK WILT AND THE BIRD HABITAT ON THE BIRD HABITAT.
THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO ON THAT.
ON THE OAK WILT, AS I STATED, WE DO HAVE TRAINED ARBORISTS.
SO OAK WILT CAN BE TRIMMED IN THE OAK WILT SEASON AS LONG AS THE OWNER GIVES THE PERMISSION.
AND FOR A COUPLE OF THE COUNCIL MEMBERS, I APPRECIATE THE HOMEOWNER'S MEETINGS THAT WE'VE HAD BECAUSE TALKING DUE TO HOMEOWNERS THAT HAVE ALLOWED US TO CONTINUE TO OAK WILT EVEN DURING THE SEASON.
AND WHAT THEY DO IS THEY HAVE TO STERILIZED EQUIPMENT AND THEN THEY COAT THE, THE CUT AS THEY MOVE FROM TREAT TO TREAT TO, TO PREVENT THE DISEASE FROM SPREADING.
SO WHEN WE DO A CIRCUIT, WE START AT THE SUBSTATION, WE GO ALL THE WAY DOWN TO CIRCUIT.
THAT WAY, ONCE WE DO IT, WE'RE DONE AND WE'RE CLEAR FROM IT.
WE ALSO RESPOND DURING THE YEAR TO LINE FUSES IF THEY HAVE DAMAGE IN THERE.
IF A CUSTOMER HAS A TREAT THAT COMES DOWN OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, WE STILL RESPOND TO THAT OFFSEASON.
UH, AND AS I STATED, THE THREE COMPANIES THAT WE USE ARE TO ASHLAND, DABE AND TO, RIGHT.
UH, ONE THING THAT I WILL SAY IS EVEN DURING OAK WILTON BIRD HABITAT, IF WE'RE ON A CIRCUIT THAT HAS A PORTION OF THAT IN THERE, WE STILL TRIM, BUT WE TRIM AROUND THOSE AREAS.
BUT THE PROBLEM IS IF WE HAVE TO DEMOBILIZE AND REMOBILIZE TO GO BACK IN.
SO IT ADDS TIME AND ADDS COST.
SO THIS JUST SHOWS SOME OF THE TIMEFRAMES THAT WE HAVE ON THE BIRD HABITAT AND THE OAK WILT.
SO HOW DO WE PRIORITIZE ON THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER TREE TREATMENT? WELL, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE KNOW HERE IN TEXAS, ESPECIALLY ON THE WESTERN SIDE, IS THE, THE WILDFIRE RISK.
OBVIOUSLY FROM CALIFORNIA, WE KNOW THAT THAT'S A HIGH RISK.
SO THAT'S DEFINITELY SOMETHING WE LOOK AT.
WE'VE WORKED WITH AUSTIN FIRE DEPARTMENT TO IDENTIFY THOSE HIGH RISK AREAS.
AND THEN WE'VE WORKED ALSO WITH THE COUNCIL MEMBERS IN THOSE AREAS TO TRY TO GET OUT THERE AND GET THOSE CLEANED UP.
THE OTHER ONE THAT WE CONCENTRATE ON IS UNDERPERFORMANCE CIRCUITS.
SO WHICH CIRCUITS HAVE THE MOST OUTAGE FOR OUR CUSTOMERS? CAUSE IT COMES DOWN TO RELIABILITY.
SO WE TRY TO LOOK AT THE CIRCUIT TOTAL THAT HAS THE MOST OUTAGES, BUT WE ALSO HAVE SOME CIRCUITS WHICH HAS A HIGHLY DENSE AREA OF, OF VEGETATION WITH CUSTOMER TREE THAT WE NEED TO TRIM.
SO THE WHOLE CIRCUIT MIGHT NOT NEED IT.
BUT THAT SECTION, UH, SO WE ALSO LOOK AT THAT.
THEN WE ALSO BASE IT UPON THE LAST TIME THAT VEGETATION, VEGETATION CYCLE WAS DONE ON THAT CIRCUIT ITSELF.
SO THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF PRIOR TO 2019, AND THIS IS STUCCO SEVEN, WHICH WAS A HIGH RISK AREA THAT WE WENT OUT BASED UPON THE CUST UH, CUSTOMER'S COMPLAINTS ON, ON IT.
AND IT'S ALSO A WILDFIRE AREA.
AND YOU CAN SEE AFTER 2021, I, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THERE WAS A FENCE DOWN THERE UNTIL WE SAW THE, THE VEGETATION TRIMMED OUT OF THERE.
SO THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT COULD DO INSIDE OF AN AREA.
SO FOR 2022, WE TRIMMED 21 CIRCUITS FULLY.
THE 62 IS HOW MANY CIRCUITS SINCE WE IMPLEMENTED THE STANDARD AT A 1510 BACK IN 2019 OR TRIMMED TO THAT STANDARD.
NOW KEEP IN MIND WE WERE STILL DOING VEGETATION MANAGEMENT TRIMMING, IT JUST WASN'T THAT STANDARD.
AND WITH THE BUDGET AND THAT CUT CYCLE, WE JUST COULDN'T STAY UP WITH IT.
BUT THERE WAS STILL VEGETATION MANAGEMENT GOING ON.
WE DID 149 MILES LAST YEAR OF TRIMMING AND THAT WAS ABOUT 40 TO 45 CREWS DEPENDING, UH, THE BUDGET ALLOWS US FIRST TO HAVE 60, BUT AS I'VE PRESENTED TO THE COUNCIL BEFORE IN THIS, THIS, UH, COMMITTEE BEFORE THE LABOR SHORTAGES WITHIN THE AREA IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT'S DRIVING THAT.
NOW I WILL TELL YOU ONE OF THE THINGS I'VE GOT MY VEGETATION
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MANAGEMENT, UH, MANAGER DOING IS WE'RE LOOKING AT THE FUNDS.WE HAVE NOT SPENT DOING ANOTHER CONTRACT WITH SIX OTHER VEGETATION COMPANIES OTHER THAN THE THREE THAT WE'RE USING SINCE THEY CAN'T PROVIDE 'EM TO UTILIZE THOSE FUNDS TO BRING IN THAT ADDITIONAL 20, WHICH IS THE BULLET ON 2023.
THAT WAY WE CAN CONTINUE TO GET IN FRONT OF THE CYCLE THAT WE'VE GOT LISTED.
SO FOR 2023, WE'VE GOT 44 CIRCUITS PLANNED, WHICH IS 218 MILES.
THE INDIGENOUS 40 TO 45 ARE CONTRACTED, NOT INDIGENOUS, UH, THAT WE HAVE NOW, AND THEN THE ADDITIONAL 20 THAT WE'RE GONNA BRING IN.
SO I KNOW A LOT OF STUFF CAME DOWN ABOUT THE, THE NOTIFICATION PROCESS AND HOW DOES IT WORK AND CUSTOMER CAN REFUSE.
WELL, A CUSTOMER CAN REFUSE, BUT WE'RE STILL GONNA CUT IT.
BUT THE PROBLEM IS IT'S A LONG CYCLE TO GO THROUGH THIS.
THE TREE FORCE THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER, UH, CREATED THIS NOTIFICATION PROCESS, WHICH IS LABORS FOR MY, MY TEAM.
SO WE SEND OUT LETTERS TO THE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, TO THE HOMEOWNERS.
SO WE ACTUALLY HAVE AN ARBORIST WALK THE SECTION DOWN AND AS HE IS WALKING DOWN, HE'S HANGING DOOR CARDS.
AND THEN THAT'S WHEN HE IS MAKING ANNOTATIONS ON WHAT THE TRIM IS FOR THE CRUISE TO COME IN LATER.
LET'S SAY THAT ELTON GETS THE DOOR CARD AND HE SAYS, I DON'T WANT YOU TO TRIM MY TREE.
SO ELTON CALLS UP AUSTIN ENERGY THREE 11 OR THE, THE SITE AND THE ARBORIST WILL ACTUALLY COME OUT TO TALK TO, POTENTIALLY EVEN TAKE YOU OUT IN THE YARD AND USE A LASER POINTER AND SAY, HEY, THESE ARE LIMBS THAT WE'RE GONNA CUT.
WE'RE NOT GONNA HACK YOUR TREE UP.
THIS, THIS IS WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO.
WELTON THINKS ABOUT IT AND HE SAYS, WELL, I STILL DON'T WANT IT CUT.
SO I CALL UP AND SAY, DO NOT CUT MY TREE.
WELL, AT THAT TIME WE SEND A CERTIFIED LETTER SAYING WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO CUT THE VEGETATION OUT.
WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAINTAIN IT.
SO IT DOES GO THROUGH THE PROCESS, BUT THAT COULD TAKE SIX MONTHS ON THAT CYCLE TO GET THROUGH THAT.
THAT'S WHY WE KINDA WALK DOWN A YEAR AHEAD OF TIME ON THE PLANNING AND THEN EXECUTE A YEAR LATER SO WE CAN GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS.
I WILL TELL YOU THE PEOPLE THAT COMPLAIN ABOUT IT, ABOUT 40%, THE ONES THAT ACTUALLY MAKE IT COME OUT ABOUT 20%.
LAST YEAR, I THINK I SENT FOUR LETTERS OUT SAYING WE WERE GONNA CUT IT.
SO THE, I THINK THE COMMUNICATION THAT WE'VE HAD OVER THE LAST YEAR HAS BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL ON A LOT OF THESE HOMEOWNERS AND HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATIONS.
AND WITH THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO VICE PRESIDENT TECHNOLOGY AND DATA.
GOOD MORNING, MADAM CHAIR, VICE CHAIR AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
I'M GREG FLAY, VICE PRESIDENT OF TECHNOLOGY AND DATA AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
I'M HERE TO PRESENT ON THE TECHNOLOGY AND DATA ASPECTS OF THE OUTAGE MAP AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES.
CUSTOMERS COME TO THE OUTAGE MAP SEEKING ANSWERS TO TWO QUESTIONS.
DOES MY UTILITY KNOW THAT MY POWER IS OFF? AND WHEN WILL MY POWER BE RESTORED? AND THIS IS THE PURPOSE OF THE OUTAGE MAP.
THE TWO MAIN SYSTEMS INVOLVED IN THE OUTAGE MAP ARE AUSTRALIAN SLIDE.
THE FIRST IS THE COBRA STORM CENTER OUTAGE MAP SYSTEM, AND THE SECOND IS OUR SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC ADVANCED DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, OR ADMS, WHICH IS USED FOR DISTRIBUTION GRID MONITORING AND CONTROL.
THE COBRA APPLICATION IS CLOUD-BASED AND IS UPDATED EVERY 10 MINUTES WITH A FILE CONTAINING ALL CONFIRMED AND UNCONFIRMED OUTAGES KNOWN TO THE A D M S SYSTEM.
COBRA IS IN EFFECT A D DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR THE DATA IN A D M S.
THE INFORMATION IS VIEWABLE BY CUSTOMERS ON A DESKTOP OR LAPTOP WEB BROWSER, OR AS WELL VIA A MOBILE BROWSER.
A FEW ADDITIONAL INSIGHTS HAVE HELPED UNDERSTAND HOW THE MAP FUNCTIONS FOR LARGER OUTAGES.
COOPER HAS LOGIC IN PLACE TO PLACE THE ICON CLOSE TO THE MIDDLE OF THAT AREA.
WE DO NOT SHOW OUTAGES AT AN INDIVIDUAL HOUSE LEVEL ON THE MAP FOR SECURITY REASONS.
CUSTOMERS MAY BE PART OF A NESTED OUTAGE WHEN A LARGER ISSUE IS FIXED, BUT A DIFFERENT ISSUE CLOSER TO THE HOME STILL CAUSES AN OUTAGE FOR THAT HOME.
WHILE THE ESTIMATED TIME OF RESTORATION OR ETR NORMALLY APPEARS FOR AN OUTAGE DURING BLUE SKY DAYS, ETRS ARE SUSPENDED DURING STORM MODE, SO THEY DO NOT APPEAR ON THE MAP.
IN THE PAST, WE'VE REPRESENTED THE ACTUAL AREA COVERED BY LARGE OUTAGES AS POLYGONS, BUT WE HAVE REMOVED THESE BASED ON CUSTOMER FEEDBACK.
WE HIDE THE LEGEND BY DEFAULT AS IT OBSCURES OTHER FEATURES SUCH AS THE NAVIGATION BUTTONS AND THE ABILITY TO TOGGLE BETWEEN ENGLISH AND SPANISH.
LASTLY, DURING THE FOLLOWING THE 2021 WINTER STORM, WE MADE SEVERAL IMPROVEMENTS AS A RESULT OF CUSTOMER FEEDBACK AND HAS CAPTURED THE AFTER ACTION REPORT.
STAFF HAS COMPLETED ALL IDENTIFIED ACTIONS.
ADDED SELF SELF-REPORTING CAN HAPPEN VIA SEVERAL CHANNELS.
FIRST CHANNEL IS A CALL TO OUR UTILITY CALL CENTER OR TO THREE 11, WHICH IS SUPPLEMENTED BY OUR AUTOMATED RESPONSE SYSTEM AND OUR CALL OVERFLOW SYSTEM OUTAGES REPORTED IN THIS WAY, OUR ENTERED DIRECTLY INTO OUR AD M S SYSTEM AND SHOW UP IN THAT SYSTEM AS AN UNCONFIRMED OUTAGE.
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CUSTOMERS CAN ALSO REPORT THEIR OUTAGE VIA COOPER'S OUTAGE REPORTING AND STATUS SYSTEM, WHICH IS LINKED TO THE OUTAGE MAP OR VIA TEXT TO COOPER'S NOTIFY SYSTEM.IN EITHER CASE, THE CUSTOMER ADDRESS IS OBTAINED VIA A CALL TO OUR CUSTOMER CARE AND BILLING SYSTEM WHERE CC AND D AND THE OUTAGE IS THEN LOGGED IN.
ADMS IS AN UNCONFIRMED OUTAGE.
LASTLY, CUSTOMERS CAN REPORT AN OUTAGE VIA THE BUTTON ON THE THREE 11 MOBILE APP, WHICH THEN REDIRECTS THEM TO THE COOPER OUTAGE REPORTING AND STATUS SYSTEM.
A CUSTOMER CAN CONTAIN, CAN OBTAIN THE STATUS FOR THEIR SPECIFIC ADDRESS BY ENTERING THEIR ACCOUNT NUMBER OR PHONE NUMBER, AS WELL AS THEIR ZIP CODE ON THE WEBSITE, OR BY TEXTING STAT VIA THEIR MOBILE PHONE.
AGAIN, THEY'LL LEVERAGES THE CCM B SYSTEM TO FIND THE ADDRESS AND THEN QUERIES THE ADMS SYSTEM TO GET THE LATEST OUTAGE INFORMATION FOR THAT ADDRESS.
THE INFORMATION IS THEN PRESENTED TO THE CUSTOMER.
THE FIRST ISSUE WITH THE COBRA PLATFORM IS THAT THERE'S AN INTERNAL THREAD COUNT LIMIT THAT WE HIT THAT INHIBITED THE EFFECTIVE EXECUTION OF DATA GATHERING AND DATA PRESENTATION PROCESSES.
WE ARE WORKING WITH COBRA ON A SOLUTION TO THIS ISSUE.
THE SECOND ISSUE WE HAD WAS A TIMEOUT WINDOW FOR CALLS TO CCMB AND ADMS BEING TOO SHORT.
AT 4.5 SECONDS, THE VENDOR IS PROVIDING A FIX FOR THIS AND THE NEXT MAINTENANCE RELEASE OF THE SOFTWARE AT THE END OF MARCH, THE FIX WILL EXTEND THE TIMEOUT TO 30 SECONDS.
THE MAJORITY OF THE FAILED CALLS WE'RE TAKING FIVE TO 10 SECONDS.
AND OUR WORST CASE WITH HUNDREDS OF PHONE NUMBERS ASSOCIATED TO A SINGLE ADDRESS TAKES LESS THAN 30 SECONDS.
SO THIS UPRATE UPDATE SHOULD ADDRESS OUR PROBLEM.
THE THIRD ISSUE ASSOCIATED WITH THE ADAGE REPORTING CONCERNS THE INBOUND QUOTED PARAMETER, WHICH ALLOWS ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS TO SEND ADAGE INFORMATION TO US.
AT ONE TIME, WE ROUGHLY TRIPLED THE SIZE OF THE INBOUND QUOTED PARAMETER, WHICH SHOULD BE ADEQUATE TO HANDLE THE NEXT SURGE.
LASTLY, I'D LIKE TO CLOSE BY NOTING THAT COBRA IS THE LEADING PROVIDER OF OUTAGE MAP AND NOTIFICATION SOFTWARE AND USED BY ALL THE UTILITIES THAT YOU SEE ON THIS SLIDE, INCLUDING THE TEXAS UTILITIES, CPS, ENCORE, A E P, AND AUSTIN ENERGY.
IT IS NOT A PERFECT PIECE OF SOFTWARE, AS I HAVE EXPLAINED, BUT IT IS THE BEST AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCT.
WITH THAT, I WILL TURN THE PRESENTATION OVER TO LISA MARTIN TO COVER MUTUAL AID.
GOOD MORNING CHAIR, VICE CHAIR AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS.
MY NAME IS LISA MARTIN AND I'M THE VICE PRESIDENT OF, UH, ELECTRIC SYSTEM ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL SERVICES.
AND AUSTIN ENERGY'S EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FUNCTION FALLS UNDER MY WORK GROUP.
MUTUAL AID IS A VERY IMPORTANT ASPECT OF EMERGENCY STORM RESPONSE, AND THAT'S MY FOCUS FOR YOU TODAY.
SO MUTUAL AID IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE.
IT'S UTILITIES AND, AND COMPANIES HELPING EACH OTHER IN TIMES OF NEED.
AND, UM, MUTUAL AID PROVIDES THE PROCESS AND THE STRUCTURE FOR COORDINATING THE RESOURCES AND THE EQUIPMENT NEEDED, UM, ACROSS MULTIPLE ENTITIES.
IT'S INTENTIONALLY FLEXIBLE AND SCALABLE.
AND FOR DECADES, US SYNERGY HAS PROVIDED SUPPORT TO FELLOW UTILITIES.
MOST RECENTLY, WE SENT CREWS TO FLORIDA FOLLOWING HURRICANE IAN.
AND SEVERAL YEARS AGO WE SENT CREWS IN PERSONNEL TO PUERTO RICO UNDER SEVERAL DIFFERENT WAVES TO SUPPORT THE ONGOING RESTORATION EFFORTS AFTER HURRICANE MARIA.
BUT WE ALSO KEEP, UH, OUR CREWS CLOSER TO HOME AS WELL.
AND, UH, AFTER 2021 HURRICANE NICHOLAS, WE SENT CREWS TO HOUSTON.
AND THEN IN 2020 AFTER HURRICANE HANNAH, WE SENT CREWS DOWN TO THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY.
HOWEVER, IT'S IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT AUSTIN ENERGY DOES NOT OFTEN FIND ITSELF IN NEED OF MUTUAL AID SUPPORT, BUT THAT WAS CERTAINLY NOT THE CASE WITH WINTER STORM MA.
SO THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF MUTUAL AID.
I TALKED ABOUT UTILITIES HELPING EACH OTHER.
UM, WE OFTEN ESTABLISHED THOSE THROUGH PRE-ESTABLISHED FRAMEWORKS AND CONTRACTS, UM, THAT ARE ARE SET UP THROUGH INDUSTRY GROUPS.
AND AUSTIN ENERGY IS A MEMBER OF MANY PUBLIC POWER INDUSTRY GROUPS THAT, UM, ALLOW US TO TAKE PART IN THE MUTUAL AID FRAMEWORK.
WE HAD SUPPORT FROM NEW BRAUNFELS UTILITIES, CENTERPOINT ENERGY IN HOUSTON, AND CPS ENERGY IN SAN ANTONIO.
THERE ARE ALSO INDEPENDENT COMPANIES THAT HAVE QUALIFIED PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT, UH, WHO ARE ABLE TO RESPOND TO STORMS DIRECTLY.
ONE BENEFIT OF THESE TYPES OF COMPANIES IS THAT THEY DON'T HAVE A HOME UTILITY OR AN ELECTRIC SYSTEM TO GO TAKE CARE OF FOR THEMSELVES SO THEY CAN RESPOND QUICKLY, ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES THEY HAVE A FAIR FAIRLY FAR DISTANCES TO TRAVEL WHEN THEY'RE GOING FROM ONE STORM TO ANOTHER.
UM, SO THEY CAN STICK AROUND THROUGH THE END OF RESTORATION.
AND YOU'LL SEE THAT THAT HAPPENED HERE AS WELL.
THE, UH, CONTRACT CREW COMPANIES THAT I'M SPEAKING ABOUT THAT WE WORKED WITH INCLUDE RENEGADE BIRD ELECTRIC MP TECHNOLOGIES AND TEMPEST ENERGY, WHICH BRINGS IN A LOT OF DIFFERENT, UM, COMPANIES THROUGH SUBCONTRACTING.
IN TOTAL, WE WELCOMED 445 ADDITIONAL DISTRIBUTION PERSONNEL TO SUPPORT THE RESTORATION EFFORTS AND AUGMENT THE AUSTIN ENERGY EFFORTS AND EXISTING CONTRACTS.
AND THEN, UM, BUT SAFETY IS A MAJOR PRIORITY, UH, TOP PRIORITY FOR US.
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AND YOU CAN'T JUST SEND MUTUAL AID CREWS OUT INTO THE SYSTEM TO AN UNFAMILIAR SYSTEM WITHOUT AN AUSTIN ENERGY, UH, SUPPORT PERSONNEL.WE REFER TO THAT PERSON AS A BIRD DOG.
AND, UH, THAT PERSON IS THE SINGLE POINT OF CONTACT IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTIN ENERGY'S DISPATCH AND CONTROL CENTER AND ALSO OVERSEEING THE CREWS IN THE FIELD.
AND THEN ONE MAJOR CONSIDERATION THAT WE HAD TO TAKE INTO CON, UH, INTO ACCOUNT IS THAT WHEN YOU BRING ON THIS MANY AMOUNT OF MUTUAL AID CREWS, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SPACE FOR THE DAILY BRIEFINGS TO STAGE THEIR HEAVY EQUIPMENT AND TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR OTHER LOGISTICAL NEEDS.
AND AT SOME POINT WE MAXED OUT OUR EXISTING SERVICE CENTERS.
AND SO WE HAD TO STAND UP A TEMPORARY ADDITIONAL SERVICE CENTER TO ALLOW FOR THIS MUCH MUTUAL AID ON OUR SYSTEM.
AND SO WE SECURED THAT IN WORKING WITH TECH DOT WHO PROVIDED A FACILITY FOR MUTUAL AID STAGING GROUNDS.
AND I WANNA LEAVE YOU WITH THIS TIMELINE OF MUTUAL AID.
THE IMPORTANT TAKEAWAY IS THAT WE REQUESTED MUTUAL AID RIGHT AWAY, AND WE HAD CREWS SUPPORTING OUR SYSTEM ON THE FIRST DAY BEFORE THE STORM WAS EVEN OVER SOME, UH, ENTITIES HAD TO FINISH WORKING UP, UH, RESTORATION ON THEIR OWN HOME UTILITIES BEFORE THEY COULD JOIN US.
AND THEN WE CONTINUED TO BRING ON CREWS, UM, YOU'LL SEE IN SEVERAL WAVES DURING THE FIRST, UH, PHASE OF RESTORATION.
AND THEN WHEN THE WEATHER CAME ON FEBRUARY 7TH, SOME OF THE UTILITY CREWS HAD TO GO BACK HOME TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR OWN SYSTEMS, AND WE, UM, INCREASED OUR CONTRACT CAPACITY PERSONNEL, UH, TO AUGMENT AND REPLACE THOSE WHO HAD TO LEAVE.
UM, AND THEN THE CREWS STAYED UNTIL OUR FINAL DAY OF STORM RESTORATION, UM, FOR ALL THE CUSTOMERS WHO WERE ABLE TO SAFELY RECEIVE POWER.
SO WE ARE, UM, IN GREAT APPRECIATION AND HAVE A LOT OF GRATITUDE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SUPPORTED AUSTIN ENERGY DURING WINTER STORM MA UH, RESTORATION, UM, WORKING 16 HOUR DAYS, THESE, UH, ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL PUT IN AN ADDITIONAL 43,000 HOURS, UM, IN ADDITION TO WHAT AUSTIN ENERGY CREWS PROVIDED.
UM, AND THEY DID SO WITH ZERO REPORTABLE INCIDENTS, WHICH IS A TESTAMENT TO AUSTIN ENERGY, SAFETY CULTURE, AND THE SAFETY CULTURE OF THE COMPANY WHERE THESE CUSTOMERS, UH, WHERE THESE EMPLOYEES COME FROM.
UM, IT REALLY SPEAKS TO THE COLLABORATION BETWEEN AUSTIN ENERGY FIELD CREWS, OUR DISPATCH CENTER, AND OUR SAFETY TEAM.
AND WE'RE VERY GRATEFUL THAT THEY WERE ALL, UM, ABLE TO GO HOME TO THEIR FAMILIES AND TO THEIR HOME UTILITIES, UM, AND COMPANIES WITHOUT ANY INJURY.
AND WE CERTAINLY LEARNED A LOT FROM RECEIVING THIS MUCH MUTUAL AID.
AND SO WE'RE GONNA TAKE THOSE LESSONS LEARNED AND INCORPORATE THEM, UH, INTO REGULAR PRACTICE THROUGH OUR AFTER ACTION ACTIVITIES.
AND SO, SPEAKING OF WHICH, I WANTED TO SPEND A FEW MOMENTS TALKING ABOUT OUR AFTER ACTION PROCESS.
UM, SO WE HAVE AN IN-HOUSE TEAM CALLED CORPORATE QUALITY SERVICES, AND THEY'RE DEDICATED TO FOSTERING A CULTURE OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND ENHANCING ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS.
THEY'RE EXPERTS IN THINGS LIKE VALUE STREAM MAPPING, ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS, AND QUALITY FRAMEWORKS.
AND THEY WORK THROUGHOUT THE UTILITY WITH BUSINESS UNITS TO DEVELOP TOOLS AND PROCESSES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF OUR WORK FOR THE, UH, COMMUNITY OF AUSTIN AND THE CUSTOMERS OF AUSTIN ENERGY.
AND I KNOW THAT MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE ARE, UM, VERY INTERESTED IN THE OUTCOME OF OUR AFTER ACTION WORK, AND THAT'S WONDERFUL.
BUT I WANNA EMPHASIZE THAT EVEN IF NOT A SINGLE PERSON OUTSIDE OF AUSTIN ENERGY WANTED TO REVIEW THE RESULTS OF OUR EXPERTS, WE WOULD BE DOING IT ANYWAY BECAUSE WE ARE A LEARNING ORGANIZATION FOCUSED ON CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH A THOROUGH PROCESS BASED ON DATA DRIVEN EFFORTS.
SO THE AFTER ACTION REVIEW THAT I'M SPEAKING ABOUT WILL FOCUS ON AUSTIN ENERGY'S RESPONSE TO WINTER STORM MARA STORM RESTORATION.
THE INTENT WILL BE THREEFOLD TO UNDERSTAND AUSTIN ENERGY'S ACTIONS AS THEY RELATE TO THE WINTER STORM EVENT, TO IDENTIFY THE FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO ANY PROCESS BREAKDOWNS AND TO IDENTIFY EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR RESPONDING TO SIMILAR INCIDENTS IN THE FUTURE.
AND SO, WHILE AUSTIN ENERGY WILL BE DOING ITS OWN AFTER ACTION REPORT, WE WILL ALSO BE COL COLLABORATING AND COORDINATING WITH THE CITY ON THE OVERALL AFTER ACTION REVIEW THERE AS WELL.
AUSTIN ENERGY IS BEST POISED TO REVIEW THE TECHNICAL AND OS OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF ITS ACTIVITIES AND TO, UH, IMPLEMENT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS.
AND THIS IS TYPICAL PROCEDURE FOLLOWING ANY INCIDENT COMMAND ACTIVATION.
WE KNOW THAT WE WILL AT LEAST BEGIN WITH THESE SEVEN KEY FOCUS AREAS THAT YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN, BUT I ANTICIPATE THAT ADDITIONAL RESPONSE AREAS AND AE WORK GROUPS WILL BE INCLUDED AS THE PROCESS TAKES PLACE.
SO THERE'S A FIVE STEP APPROACH TO, UM, AFTER ACTION REVIEW, WE'RE GOING TO PLAN, DISCOVER, ANALYZE, IMPROVE, AND REPORT.
DURING THAT EFFORT, WE'RE GOING TO IDENTIFY WHAT WENT WELL AND WHAT DIDN'T GO WELL.
WE'LL ADDRESS CRITICAL QUESTIONS AND IDENTIFY ROOT CAUSES OF MAJOR FINDINGS.
WE'LL ALSO PULL OUT THE 2021, UH, WINTER STORM AFTER ACTION REPORT AND IMPLEMENTATION EFFORTS AND COMPARE AND CONTRAST THAT TO THE WINTER STORM MA EVENTS.
WE'RE CURRENTLY IN THE DISCOVER PHASE OF THIS ACTIVITY, AND WHEN
[01:10:01]
WE GET TO STAGE FOUR, WHICH IS IMPROVE, WE'LL CREATE AN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN THAT WILL BE BASED ON THE RESULTS OF OUR FINDINGS.AND THEN FOLLOWING THE PUBLICATION OF THE REPORT, WE'LL FOLLOW THAT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN TO COMPLETION.
BUT AS YOU HEARD FROM GENERAL MANAGER, SERGEANT, AND MANY OF MY COLLEAGUES HERE TODAY, WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT TILL A REPORT COMES OUT TO TAKE ACTION.
AND THERE ARE MANY THINGS THAT WE'VE ALREADY DONE AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO.
THE PURPOSE OF THIS EFFORT IS REALLY TO PROVIDE THE THOROUGH PROCESS FOR US TO DETERMINE WHAT TO START, WHAT TO STOP, AND WHAT TO CONTINUE DOING AS WE SEE MORE EFFORTS, UM, OR ACTIVITIES SUCH AS, UM, STORM RESPONSE EVENTS WITH LONG DURATION OUTAGES.
AND SO CHAIR POOL, THANK YOU FOR GIVING US THE TIME.
THAT CONCLUDES OUR PRESENTATION.
I WANNA THANK AUSTIN, THE ENERGY STAFF FOR REALLY THOROUGH REVIEW FOR US.
UM, THIS WAS A, A GOOD UPDATE.
WE HAVE TIME NOW FOR A ROUND OF QUESTIONS AND COLLEAGUES, I'D LIKE TO, UM, SUGGEST SINCE WE'RE DOING WELL TIME WISE FOR THE ONE ROUND, I PROPOSE WE GO TO ABOUT 10 30 FOR QUESTIONS TODAY.
ANY ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS OF COURSE, THAT THE DIAS MAY HAVE CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO GENERAL MANAGER, SERGEANT ANNE POSTED TO THE MESSAGE BOARD.
UM, AND I, I'D LIKE TO SAY AS WE, UH, COMPLETE OUR WORK TODAY IN THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE, MAYOR AND CITY MANAGER AND COLLEAGUES, I'D LIKE TO PROPOSE THAT WE ADD A FOLLOW UP BRIEFING TO THE APRIL 11 WORK SESSION SO WE CAN REVIEW THE ROLES OTHER DEPARTMENTS PLAYED DURING THE WINTER STORM.
AND IF THAT DATE DOESN'T WORK, WE CAN, UH, DO A, A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING AROUND THAT TIME AS WELL.
UM, WE'LL START WITH THE ROUND WITH COUNCIL MEMBER ALISON AL ALTER.
UM, BEFORE I START WITH MY QUESTIONS, I JUST WANNA SAY THERE'S NO WAY THAT WE CAN ASK SUFFICIENT QUESTIONS IN 15 MINUTES.
THAT'S LIKE LESS THAN ONE MINUTE PER COUNCIL MEMBER.
SO I DON'T THINK THAT'S IN A REALISTIC SCHEDULE FOR US THIS MORNING.
I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE TRYING TO KEEP US ON TIME, BUT OUR COMMUNITY IS REALLY ADDING, DEMANDING TRANSPARENCY.
OUR STAFF HAVE PREPARED LONG FOR THIS.
UM, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO ASK QUESTIONS.
UM, WE HAD A EDITORIAL IN THE STATESMAN THIS WEEKEND THAT REALLY UNDERSCORED THE IMPORTANCE OF THAT TRANSPARENCY.
OUR STAFF STARTED TODAY BY HIGHLIGHTING OUR, THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR OVERSIGHT FUNCTION.
SO, UM, I WILL JUST SORT OF SAY THAT I SUSPECT WE'RE GONNA NEED WAY MORE THAN BEYOND, UM, 10 30.
I REALLY APPRECIATE, UH, UH, THAT CONCERN AND I CERTAINLY SHARE IT.
IF THIS WERE THE ONLY THING WE WERE DOING TODAY, THEN WE MAY BE ABLE TO SPEND MORE TIME.
BUT AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A A PRETTY FULL, UM, PORTFOLIO OF WORK.
AND AGAIN, THIS WILL NOT BE THE ONLY TIME THAT WE WILL BE PRESENTING QUESTIONS.
I I HAD ASKED, UM, THE AUSTIN ENERGY STAFF TO BE ABLE TO RESPOND TO QUESTIONS THAT MAY BE ASKED HERE TODAY.
THEY MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ANSWER ALL OF THE QUESTIONS, WHICH IS WHY I'M SUGGESTING THAT ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS WE PUT UP TO THE MESSAGE BOARD.
THIS WILL BE A CONTINUED LONG CONVERSATION AND I I THINK WE SHOULD GO AHEAD AND JUMP IN NOW BECAUSE, UM, UH, SO THAT WE DON'T SPEND MORE TIME JUST TALKING ABOUT ASKING.
I, I WILL ASK MY, MY, MY QUESTIONS MAKE MY MAKE COMMENT.
UM, SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAVE TALKED A LOT ABOUT AS WE MOVE THROUGH, UM, OUR DISASTER AFTER ACTION REPORTS AND OUR, AND OUR PLANNING IS NOT TO PLAN FOR THE LAST DISASTER.
UM, AND SO I WOULD IMPLORE YOU TO CONSIDER WILDFIRE AND THE AFTERMATH FOR OTHER UTILITIES IN THOSE WILDFIRE SITUATIONS AS ONE THAT COULD BE VERY REAL, UM, FOR AUSTIN.
UM, YOU KNOW, MAYBE ADDING A CALIFORNIA SITE, UM, SPEAKING WITH PG AND E IN THEIR PREPARATIONS, UM, ON WHAT THEY DO IN THE AFTERMATH OF WILDFIRE, I THINK WOULD BE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US, UM, TO, TO CONSIDER.
UM, I WANNA UNDERSTAND FOR THE AFTER ACTION REPORT, TO WHAT EXTENT WILL ANY OUTSIDE INDEPENDENT CONSULTANTS BE INVOLVED IN THAT PROCESS? SO RIGHT NOW, OUR PLAN IS TO HANDLE IT INTERNALLY WITH O WITHIN AUSTIN ENERGY, BUT IT'S WITH A WORK GROUP THAT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FUNCTION.
SO THEY SERVE AS A THIRD PARTY.
UM, CITY MANAGER, THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I'M GONNA WANT TO, UM, THINK WITH YOU ON WHETHER THERE'S VALUE OF HAVING SOME SORT OF INDEPENDENT LOOK AT AUSTIN ENERGY, WHETHER IT'S FOR THIS PARTICULAR INCIDENT OR SOMETHING ELSE THERE.
AUSTIN ENERGY MAY BE WORKING GREAT, BUT I THINK THAT THERE WAS A LOT OF BENEFIT TO THE RECENT, UM, EVALUATION THAT WE GOT FROM AUSTIN WATER.
WE'RE STILL WAITING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION PIECE OF THAT.
UM, BUT I DO THINK THAT WE NEED, UM, TO SERIOUSLY CONSIDER THAT.
[01:15:01]
SOME OF THE AFTER ACTION PROCESS MOVE FORWARD.UM, BUT I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE WILL NEED TO TALK ABOUT IN DUE TIME.
ONE IS, UH, WHEN WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE BRIEFING YESTERDAY, I ASKED, UH, UH, GENERAL MANAGER SERGEANT TO THINK ABOUT, UH, A PEER REVIEW, IF YOU WILL, OF THE UTILITY.
AND SO SHE SAID SHE PUT THAT ON HER LIST.
WELL, THE ONLY THING I'D WANT TO CORRECT ON THE RECORD, THIS IS, UH, UH, THIS SHOULDN'T BE, UH, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, I'M VERY FOND OF DEPARTMENTS TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR SPECIFIC, UH, UH, ASSIGNMENTS, BUT THIS IS ABOUT A PART HOLE ISSUE.
AND THIS ACT AFTER ACTION REVIEW WILL BE WHOLE, NOT JUST A PART.
AND, UH, I KNOW THAT, UH, THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER DOES EMPLOY CONSULTANTS TO HELP US THROUGH THAT KIND OF, UH, REVIEW.
BUT, UH, WE'LL BE HAPPY TO VISIT WITH YOU AND GET, UH, FURTHER CLARIFICATION.
UM, AND THE OTHER THING THAT I WANNA, UM, GO BACK TO AS WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE, UM, WHEN WE DISCUSSED URI, WE HAD AN ICE STORM RIGHT BEFORE AIR COTS OUTAGE IN MY DISTRICT.
I HAD 40% OF THE POWER OUT AT ONE POINT IN TIME.
OKAY? EVERYTHING THAT PLAYED OUT THIS PAST STORM PLAYED OUT IN MY DISTRICT THAT WEEKEND.
UM, WE TALKED ED NAUSEUM ABOUT THE CHALLENGES WITH THE OUTAGE MAP.
THOSE SAME PROBLEMS HAPPENED AND WE WERE TOLD, UM, THAT THEY WERE GONNA BE FIXED.
AND SO WE REALLY NEED TO UNDERSTAND HOW WE ARE EITHER FIXING THE MAP OR CHANGING HOW WE'RE COMMUNICATING TO OUR PUBLIC, HOW THE MAP IS USED IN A STORM SITUATION.
UM, PEOPLE WERE COMBINING THE MAP WITH THE TEXT THAT THEY WERE GETTING AND SAYING, THIS IS A SYSTEM THAT SHOULD FUNCTION TOGETHER.
AND IT DIDN'T FUNCTION TOGETHER.
THEY GOT NO NOTIFICATIONS THROUGH THAT SYSTEM ABOUT WHEN THEIR POWER WAS GONNA BE BACK ON, EVEN THOUGH THEY ASSUMED BECAUSE THIS IS 2023, THAT THEY WOULD GET THAT, UM, FEEDBACK AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
AND SO SOMETHING, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR SHOES IN THE PERSON WHO HAS NO POWER AND FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS THAT THEY NEED NEED.
WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE POWER, THEY CAN'T GO.
THEY'RE NOT ON SOCIAL MEDIA, THEY'RE NOT WATCHING TV.
WHAT, WHERE IS IT THAT THEY'RE GETTING THEIR INFORMATION? AND THE KEY PLACE IS THROUGH THOSE TEXTS FROM YOU.
AND EVEN IF YOU'RE SAYING THIS IS A BIG STORM AND IT'S GONNA TAKE A WHILE, THEY NEED TO KNOW THAT SO THEY CAN PLAN.
UM, SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I'M GONNA BE LOOKING AT VERY CAREFULLY IS THAT OUTAGE MAP AGAIN.
UM, BUT I KNOW THAT I ASKED ALL OF THESE QUESTIONS BEFORE AND WAS TOLD IT WAS FIXED, AND SO I'M GONNA REALLY NEED TO SEE THAT, THAT MOVEMENT.
I HAVE A LOT MORE QUESTIONS, WHICH I POSTED TO THE MESSAGE BOARD, AND I HOPE THAT I WILL, UM, GET ANSWERS TO THOSE.
COUNCIL MEMBER AL ALTER, COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTEZ, DID YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS? WOULD YOU LIKE TO GO NEXT? AND AFTER YOU I'LL TAKE THE, THE, UH, VICE CHAIR, KELLY.
UM, I, I JUST WANNA ECHO WHAT COUNCIL MEMBER ALTER JUST SHARED ABOUT THE TIMING.
AND WHEN I ASKED EARLIER ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE ON THIS PARTICULAR TOPIC, I DIDN'T REALIZE WE ONLY HAVE 15 MINUTES.
AND SO I'M A LITTLE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE AMOUNT OF TIME THAT WE HAVE TO FULLY ENGAGE AUSTIN ENERGY.
YOU KNOW, A LOT OF PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY HAVE BEEN ASKING US HOW ARE WE HOLDING AUSTIN ENERGY ACCOUNTABLE? AND I HAVE TO SHARE, LIKE, THIS IS PART OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY.
US HAVING THESE PUBLIC FORUMS, THESE DIALOGUES, THESE CONVERSATION ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED, WHAT CAN WE DO DIFFERENTLY AND HOW CAN WE IMPROVE OUR RESPONSE? PEOPLE HAVE ASKED ME, AND I'M SURE MY COLLEAGUE, ABOUT CH PERSONNEL CHANGES AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
AND I WANNA SAY PUBLICLY, WE CANNOT MAKE DIRECT PERSONNEL CHANGES AT AUSTIN ENERGY.
OUR AUTHORITY AS COUNCIL LIES WITH THE CITY MANAGER.
WE VOTED LAST WEEK, MADE A CHANGE WITH OUR CITY MANAGER.
AND SO TODAY'S CONVERSATION IS ABOUT HOW DO WE HAVE A TRANSPARENT, OPEN PROCESS ABOUT THE ISSUES WHERE OVER A HUNDRED THOUSAND FAMILIES IN OUR CITY WERE WITHOUT POWER FOR DAYS, AND THE TOTAL LACK OF COMMUNICATION AS PART OF THAT.
SO MY QUESTIONS WILL BE FOCUSED ON COMMUNICATIONS.
UM, DIRECTOR, SERGEANT, YOU KNOW, I ONE OF FIRST START WITH YOU AND ASK YOU IF YOU CAN SHARE WITH US, YOU KNOW, SINCE YOU, UM, WERE OUR LEADER OF AUSTIN ENERGY DURING THE LAST WINTER STORM AND THEN DURING THIS POWER OUT OUTAGE, WHAT ARE SOME LESSONS THAT WE LEARNED FROM THE WINTER STORM URI? AND WHAT CAN WE BE DOING DIFFERENTLY? IN OTHER WORDS, CAN YOU ILLUSTRATE WHERE WE FAILED WITH OUR COMMUNICATIONS AND ACTIONS THAT WERE TAKEN DURING THIS CRISIS TO IMPROVE OUR RESPONSE? AS WELL AS YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT CAN WE DO MOVING FORWARD? THANK YOU, COUNCIL MEMBER.
UM, AS I MENTIONED IN MY OPENING REMARKS, ONE OF THE AREAS, UM, THAT WE ARE ALREADY STARTING AND, AND LOOKING AT IS COMMUNICATIONS.
AND AS, AS WE KNOW THAT HOW WE COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CUSTOMERS DURING THESE EVENTS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE WORK THAT WE'RE
[01:20:01]
DOING TO RESTORE SERVICE.AND SO ONE AREA THAT WE, UM, HAVE IDENTIFIED IS USING OUR ABILITY TO SEND TEXT MESSAGING AND, UH, EMAILS THAT WE SHOULD BEGIN THAT EARLIER.
AND EVEN IF WE DON'T HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT THE EXACT TIME OF RESTORATION, BUT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND WHAT THE CERTAIN, WHAT THE SITUATION IS AT THE, AT THAT TIME THAT WE CAN RELATE TO THEM.
SO OBVIOUSLY BEING ABLE TO START THOSE COMMUNICATIONS MUCH EARLIER.
UH, AND AS WE WORK WITH OUR PEER UTILITIES, WE'RE GONNA, UH, GLEAN INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THEY DO THAT SO THAT WE CAN DO IT BETTER.
I GUESS JUST TO DIG DOWN A LITTLE BIT DEEPER, WHO AT AUSTIN ENERGY IS DECIDING THE COMMUNICATIONS? BECAUSE I KNOW YOU MENTIONED THAT THERE, WITHIN AUSTIN ENERGY, YOU ALSO HAVE YOUR OWN COMMUNICATIONS COMMAND OPERATIONS.
SO DURING THE WINTER STORM, WHO EXACTLY IS MAKING THE DECISIONS ON SENDING A TEXT MESSAGE OR SENDING AN A NEWSLETTER EMAIL UPDATE TO THE CUSTOMER? WHO'S IN CHARGE OF THAT? WE HAVE OUR DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, UM, AND IT, HER AND HER TEAM, UH, WORK ON THAT IN, UH, CO IN CONCERT WITH OUR INCIDENT COMMANDER.
AND, UH, SO WE'RE GETTING INFORMATION THROUGH, UH, THE REPORT OUTS THAT WE HAVE FROM ALL OF OUR SECTION CHIEFS.
THEY'RE GATHERING THAT INFORMATION AND THEN WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER, AND THEN WE COORDINATE COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE CITY'S, UM, COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, AND OF COURSE THROUGH IF THE E OOC IS ACTIVATED THROUGH THE E OOC AS WELL.
SO IT SOUNDS, SO AM I, AM I HEARING THIS CORRECTLY, AUSTIN ENERGY, YOU EITHER IS A COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR WHO IS DRAFTING THE COMMUNICATIONS AT YOUR DIRECTION, I IMAGINE AT YOUR DIRECTION THEY HAVE, UH, INFORMATION.
THEY, THEY DON'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR MY DIRECTION TO, UM, DRAFT COMMUNICATIONS.
THEY'RE WORKING ON THAT SIMULTANEOUSLY.
SO ASA ENERGY IS LEADING THE COMMUNICATIONS, AND THEN YOU COORDINATE WITH OUR PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE AND WITH OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION, WITH COMMUNICATIONS WITH REGARD TO WHAT WE ARE CONTROLLING IN THE SITUATION.
SO THAT INCLUDES FROM PREPARING THE COMMUNITY.
SO IF WE KNOW THERE'S A WINTER STORM ADVISORY, UM, YOU KNOW, SEVERE WINTER STORM ADVISORY, IS IT AUSTIN ENERGY RESPONSIBILITY TO THEN ENSURE THAT THAT INFORMATION IS GETTING OUT TO THE COMMUNITY? OR IS THAT AN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY? WELL, FROM A CHRIS, JACKIE, LET ME ANSWER THAT.
TH THIS, THIS COMMUNICATION THAT, UH, FAILURE THAT TOOK PLACE MM-HMM.
THAT'S THE ORGANIZATION'S RESPONSIBILITY.
AND THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUSTIN ENERGY AND THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
THERE'S, I MEAN, THERE'S NO DISTINCTION.
THERE'S NOT A, LIKE, YOU KNOW, AUSTIN ENERGY DOES ITS OWN STUFF AND THEN WE DO OUR OWN STUFF AT P I L, THIS CLEAR, CLEARLY THERE WAS LACK OF CONNECTING THOSE DOTS AND MAKING SURE THAT WE WERE APPROPRIATELY COMMUNICATING TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE AT THE RIGHT TIME IN AN EXPEDITIOUS MATTER.
AND THAT IS PART OF WHAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO DO AS PART OF THIS AFTER ACTION REVIEW TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT TWO SEPARATE ENTITIES TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT.
IT'S, WE'RE GONNA BE ONE ENTITY.
WE'RE GONNA HAVE THE PART, BUT THE PART'S GONNA UNDERSTAND THE HOLE, THE HOLE'S GONNA UNDERSTAND THE PART, AND THAT'S THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN WORK IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION AND DO IT EFFECTIVELY.
WELL, THANK YOU FOR THAT CITY MANAGER.
I GUESS YOU HIGHLIGHT OR YOU UNDERSCORE, THE CHALLENGE THAT I HAVE AS A POLICYMAKER IS THAT I, AS A CITY COUNCIL MEMBER, CANNOT COMMUNICATE TO MY COMMUNITY WHO EXACTLY IS IN CHARGE OF COMMUNICATIONS.
AND IF WE SAY IT'S THE CITY OF AUSTIN, THEN I WANNA MAKE SURE TO, TO SAY, OKAY, THIS PERSON AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN IS THE ONE WHO'S MAKING THOSE CALLS.
AND IN, IN THE INDUSTRY, WHEN YOU HAVE A A DISASTER, THERE IS A UNIFIED COMMAND AND THERE IS ONE CENTRAL COMMUNICATION POINT.
THAT'S THE ONLY WAY, AND THAT WOULD BE AT THE EMERGENCY OPERATION CENTER.
AND SO, UH, SO THAT'S PART OF WHAT OUR AFTER ACTION REVIEW NEEDS TO DETERMINE, BECAUSE IN THE END, I THINK WHEN YOU BIFURCATE OR FRAGMENT, UH, HOW YOU ARE ORGANIZED, WHAT IT CAN DO IS, IS LEAD TO MISSTEPS AND THAT, AND, AND COUNCIL MEMBER, WHAT WE WANNA DO IS BE RESPONSIVE TO YOU SO YOU CAN BE RESPONSIVE TO YOUR CONSTITUENTS.
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU WHERE WE MAY BE, ARE MISSING THE BOAT, WHERE WE CAN GET BACK TO THEM AND PROVIDE THEM THE INFORMATION THEY NEED.
AND THAT'S WHAT WE ARE GONNA HAVE TO GO THROUGH AS PART OF THE WORK THAT, UH, LISA SAYS SHE'S GONNA DO.
I KNOW WHAT, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT JUAN'S GONNA DO, AND SO WE CAN BE ABLE TO CONNECT THOSE DOTS AND GIVE YOU SOMETHING THAT'S COM A COMPLETE REPORT AND, AND, AND, UH, SO THAT WE CAN DO BETTER.
I GUESS MY QUESTION TO YOU TODAY IS THEN IS THE POINT OF THIS CONVERSATION HERE TO SURFACE THE QUESTIONS THAT WE'VE BEEN HEARING FOR OUR COMMUNITY, AND THEN THE MORE DETAILED ANSWERS WILL COME FOR DURING A AFTER ACTION BRIEFING?
[01:25:01]
YEAH.THE QUESTIONS YOU'RE ASKING ARE ABSOLUTELY APPROPRIATE THAT WE NEED TO HEAR THAT.
AND SO THAT WE CAN PUT THAT INTO OUR MENTAL MODEL OR THE, THE KIND OF OUR THOUGHT PROCESS.
SO WE ADDRESS NOT JUST YOUR QUESTIONS, BUT BE COMPLETE SO THAT, UH, WHEN YOU GET THE REPORT, WHEN YOU GET THE INFORMATION FROM US, IT NOT ONLY ADDRESSES YOUR QUESTIONS, BUT ALSO GIVES YOU SOME LEVEL OF SECURITY THAT WE'RE GONNA HANDLE SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY NEXT TIME.
SO I THINK THESE QUESTIONS ARE ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, AS, UH, SOMETHING THAT I'D LIKE TO SEE IN THAT AFTER ACTION BRIEFING IS THAT MUL THE MULTI-AGENCY DEPARTMENTAL, UM, PARTICIPATION, RIGHT? I HAVE MANY QUESTIONS FOR OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION, RIGHT.
FOR OUR RESILIENCE OFFICER DIVISION, RIGHT.
UM, AND OF COURSE OUR COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION.
AND, AND, AND THAT IS IN FACT, UM, WHAT, WHAT WE WILL BE DOING FOR SURE.
I THINK WE ALL, UH, SHARE THAT DESIRE.
I WANTED TO CHECK WITH, UH, MY VICE CHAIR.
KELLY, YOU HAD SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR TODAY, BUT YOU MAY HAVE CHANGED YOUR MIND.
I JUST WANTED TO SAY, FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, UM, AUSTIN ENERGY FOR BEING HERE IN INTERIM CITY MANAGER FOR BEING HERE AS WELL.
THERE'S A LOT, UM, THERE'S ABOUT 20 OF THEM, SO I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE, BUT I DO WANNA RECOGNIZE THAT WHILE WE HAVE LIMITED TIME TODAY, UM, COLLEAGUES, WE DO HAVE METHODS TO ADDRESS THE ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY ONLINE THROUGH THE MESSAGE BOARD.
AND SO, UM, I THINK THAT'S A GREAT PLACE TO GO AND THERE ARE ALREADY GREAT QUESTIONS FROM OTHER COLLEAGUES THERE AS WELL.
COUNCIL MEMBER CALLIE, MARI, TAM ELLIS, THANK YOU.
I KNOW WE'RE GETTING CLOSE ON TIME HERE, SO I APPRECIATE US TRYING TO WORK THROUGH THIS EXPEDITIOUSLY.
UM, SOME OF THE THOUGHTS THAT I'VE HAD WERE, UH, ALL ALSO ALREADY ASKED BY SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES.
SO I'LL SWITCH TO THE TOPIC OF, OF BURYING LINES.
I KNOW THAT THE CONVERSATION AROUND DOING THAT IN MASS ACROSS THE ENTIRE SERVICE AREA IS SOMETHING THAT'S LIKELY GONNA BE COMING WITH A HIGH PRICE TAG.
UM, I'M MORE CURIOUS ABOUT NEW NEIGHBORHOODS OR PRIVATE RESIDENCES THAT MAY LOOK AT DOING CONSTRUCTION ON THEIR OWN.
WHAT'S THE LIKELIHOOD THAT WE COULD MOVE TOWARD INCENTIVIZING OR, YOU KNOW, DICTATING THAT PEOPLE NEED TO BE, UM, CREATING THIS INFRASTRUCTURE IN A MORE RESILIENT WAY MOVING FORWARD? CAN YOU ADDRESS THAT TOPIC A LITTLE BIT? I WILL JUST MENTION, UM, THAT THAT WOULD BE UP TO THE DEVELOPER, BUT TYPICALLY WHAT WE SEE IN ANY NEW SUBDIVISION DEVELOPMENTS, UM, THEY ARE ALL UNDERGROUNDING.
AS THOSE NEW DEVELOPMENTS COME ONLINE, IT'S TYPICALLY THE CENTRAL AREAS OF THE ALREADY DEVELOPED NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WOULD BE OVERGROUND.
BUT, UH, I'M NOT AWARE OF NEW DEVELOPMENTS COMING THAT ARE NOT UNDERGROUNDING.
SO PEOPLE ARE JUST ALREADY DOING IT BECAUSE IT SEEMS LIKE FOR, FOR AESTHETICS MOSTLY, WELL, IT ALSO KEEPS THE ENERGY ON WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TREES BUMPING INTO THE LINES SO MUCH.
UM, I, I APPRECIATE THAT AND I'M STILL CURIOUS ABOUT THE CONVERSATION.
IT WAS ACTUALLY COUNCIL MEMBER OF VELA TALKED ABOUT THE, YOU KNOW, CITYWIDE OR SERVICE AREA WIDE BEARING OF LINES AND I'M STILL CURIOUS ABOUT THAT, BUT I THINK THERE ARE FOLKS OUT THERE THAT WANNA BE PROACTIVE WITH WHAT POWER THEY HAVE RIGHT NOW TO HELP, UM, HELP KEEP THEIR OWN FAMILY, UH, SAFE AND WARM IN THE, IN THESE ICY TIMES AS WELL.
SO I'LL, I'LL LEAVE IT THERE, BUT I'M ALSO GONNA BE GOING TO THE MESSAGE BOARD CUZ SOME OF THESE CONVERSATIONS THAT OTHERS ARE HAVING ARE THINGS THAT I'M ALSO, UH, VERY INTERESTED IN.
YEAH, I WASN'T GOING TO ADD, BUT, BUT I WANNA FOLLOW UP ON THAT.
WE OUGHT TO BE IN CONTACT AND AS YOU LOOK AT WHOEVER YOU'RE HIRING TO, TO LOOK AT, UH, PUTTING LINES UNDERGROUND, WE OUGHT TO BE IN CONTACT WITH THE CITY OF AUSTIN TRANSPORTATION, ATP CAP, METROTEX DOT, THE CT RMA, ALL OF THOSE THAT ARE GETTING READY TO TAKE OFF ON ALL THESE BIG INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS THAT WE'RE GETTING READY TO DO.
BECAUSE DISRUPTION OF COURSE, MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE.
BUT AS WE START ALL THESE, THE CORRIDOR PROJECTS, PROJECT CONNECT, YOU NAME IT.
IF THERE'S AN OPPORTUNITY THERE TO DO WHAT WE WOULD OTHERWISE THINK WOULD BE A GOOD THING AT THE SAME TIME, AND THAT IS VERY LINES WHEN YOU'RE MAKING THOSE INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES, WE OUGHT TO AT LEAST LOOK AT THAT.
NOW, IN SOME INSTANCES, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET BANG FOR YOUR BUCK, BUT THAT'S PART OF WHAT WE OUGHT TO BE LOOKING AT, IS HOW WE CREATE THE, THE MATRIX THAT WILL ALLOW US TO ESTABLISH THAT SORT OF VALUE.
AND I'LL, I'LL STOP WITH THAT.
UM, COUNCIL MEMBER VAL, I JUST REITERATE, UH, THE MAYOR'S COMMENTS.
UH, ESPECIALLY I KNOW THAT THE CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW, ESPECIALLY WITH REGARD TO PROJECT CONNECT, YOU KNOW, AS LONG AS WE'RE GONNA CUT UP THE STREET TO DO ALL KINDS OF THINGS, I KNOW WE'VE TALKED ABOUT WATERSHED IMPROVEMENTS, WE'VE TALKED ABOUT WATERLINE IMPROVEMENTS, YOU KNOW, POTENTIALLY BEARING ELECTRIC LINES.
IT'S EXPENSIVE, IT'S A HUGE HEADACHE, BUT AGAIN, ONCE YOU OPEN UP THE STREET, YOU MIGHT AS WELL DO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO AND THEN, YOU KNOW, CAP IT UP SO WE DON'T HAVE TO TEAR UP THE WORK THAT WE, WE JUST DID.
SO I JUST REALLY, UH, UH, COMPLETELY AGREE WITH THE MAYOR'S COMMENT.
COULD YOU JUST RESTATE TO MY UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT THERE
[01:30:01]
YOU'RE GONNA ESSENTIALLY GET KIND OF A, A COST ESTIMATE OR A PLAN WHAT IT WOULD TAKE FOR, UH, BEARING THE ELECTRIC CLIENTS? YES.WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO IS INCLUDE IN OUR FISCAL YEAR 24 BUDGET, UH, DOLLARS SO THAT WE CAN GET A FIRM TO COME IN AND PROVIDE A STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF WHAT IT WOULD TAKE, UH, TO DO THAT.
AND THEN ALSO, UH, WHAT WOULD THE COST IMPACTS TO CUSTOMERS BE FOR DOING THAT.
AGAIN, IT'S EXCELLENT TO, UH, UH, TO HEAR THAT.
AND, UH, I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT, UH, IN CONVERSATIONS WITH, UH, UH, YOU KNOW, FOLKS IN, IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD IN MY DISTRICT, WE WOULD BE HAPPY TO BE THE GUINEA PIGS FOR A PILOT PROJECT
SO, UH, I I JUST IN, IN GENERAL, THERE'S I THINK A STRONG SENSE THAT, THAT PEOPLE DO WANT TO SEE, YOU KNOW, ACTION TOWARDS, UH, HEARTENING, UH, THE GRID.
AND I WOULD ADD ON THAT, UH, GENERAL MANAGER, SERGEANT, WHEN YOU'RE TALKING TO THE FOLKS WHO ARE GONNA, UM, BE PULLING THE INFORMATION TOGETHER FOR US, FOR THEM TO LOOK AT THE TIMELINES FOR THE VARIOUS, UM, STREET DISRUPTIONS FROM BOTH PROJECT CONNECT AND THE TECH STOP PROJECTS AND OF COURSE, WHAT OUR STREET AND BRIDGE FOLKS DO HERE AT THE CITY OF AUSTIN, SO THEY CAN JUST KIND OF OVERLAY DURING, UH, WHEN THE STREETS ARE ALREADY DUG UP.
UM, COUNCIL MEMBER RYAN AL ALTER, THANK YOU.
AND, AND A LITTLE FORESHADOWING FOR, FOR Y'ALL TALKING ABOUT THIS EXACT ISSUE WITH REGARD TO THE BEARING WHEN WE'RE, WE'RE ALREADY TEARING UP THE STREET, OUR OFFICE IS WORKING ON, UH, AN ITEM SIMILAR TO THAT, THAT, THAT THAT'S A COMPONENT OF IT.
SO, UH, HOPE TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH Y'ALL AND BRING THAT FORWARD AS AS WE GO FORWARD.
I JUST HAVE A COUPLE QUESTIONS RELATED TO THE SHELTER ASPECT AND, AND ISSUES.
ONE IS, UH, I KNOW THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE SHELTER THAT LOST POWER AND DIDN'T HAVE THE ABILITY TO HAVE BACKUP AND, AND SO THEY HAD HAD TO FIND A DIFFERENT LOCATION FOR THOSE INDIVIDUALS.
AND I JUST AS WE'RE LOOKING, LOOKING AT THINGS, WANT TO BOTH UNDERSTAND WHY THERE WAS NOT, YOU KNOW, SECOND AND THIRD BACKUP AVAILABLE.
MAYBE NOT ONSITE, BUT IF WE'RE HAVING, TO ME, IF WE'RE HAVING TO MOVE PEOPLE, IT'D BE A LOT EASIER TO HAVE A GENERATOR OR TO READY TO GO AS BACKUP TO BRING TO THAT SITE.
UH, GIVEN THAT THAT IS A, A MUCH EASIER THING TO DO.
I KNOW THERE ARE OTHER CHALLENGES GOING ON AT THE TIME, BUT, BUT AS WE THINK ABOUT OUR RESILIENCE AND, AND SHELTERING PEOPLE, UH, WHAT TYPE OF ADDITIONAL BACKUPS WE CAN BRING TO LOCATIONS THAT, THAT LOSE POWER OR WHATNOT.
YEAH, LET ME, LET ME TRY TO ADDRESS THAT IF YOU WILL.
THE, THE ISSUE OF, UH, BACKUP POWER FOR OUR EMERGENCY SHELTERS IS SOMETHING THAT WE FELL SHORT ON.
I MEAN, WE, WE JUST, UH, DIDN'T, UH, HAVE THE PROP.
UH, WE, WE DIDN'T HAVE THE PROPER SAFEGUARDS IN PLACE, THE EITHER BACKUP OR KIND OF, UH, TO MAKE SURE THAT WE DIDN'T HAVE FAILURE.
I THINK THAT IS GONNA BE PART OF OUR REPORT THAT I KNOW EOC IS WORKING ON THAT WILL BE MARRIED WITH THE REPORT THAT, UH, JACKIE AND HER TEAM ARE DOING.
UH, IT, IT, I WOULD AGREE WITH YOU COUNCIL MEMBER, IT DOESN'T MAKE, UH, MUCH SENSE TO HAVE A SHE SOMETHING DESIGNATED AS A SHELTER AND THEN NOT HAVE THE PROPER BACKUP SO THAT IF IN THE EVENT THAT THE POWER WENT OUT, YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO CONTINUE TO MOUNT AFTER THAT AS A, A WARMING CENTER.
OF COURSE, WE LISTENED TO, UH, SUSAN ALMANZA WHERE SHE SAID THAT THE, I BELIEVE SHE SAID THE MONK CENTER WAS COMPLETELY CLOSED.
EITHER THAT WAS A COMMUNICATION ISSUE OR, OR SHOULD HAVE BEEN OPEN, BUT WE NEED TO BE THOUGHTFUL AND, UH, AND AND THOROUGH SO THAT WHEN NEXT TIME WHEN WE DO HAVE AN EVENT LIKE THIS, WE'RE ABLE TO BE KIND OF IN A FAIL SAFE MODE.
YEAH, AND, AND THE OTHER THING, AND I'M I'M NOT SURE IF IT'S THIS IS YOUR PURVIEW OR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, UM, BUT I'M SURE IT'LL ALL BE COVERED.
ONE, UH, QUESTION THAT WAS FREQUENTLY BROUGHT TO OUR OFFICE WAS WHERE, WHERE DO WE GO? WHERE ARE THE WARMING CENTERS? WHERE ARE, AND AND THE INFORMATION WE WERE GIVEN WAS WELL CONTACT PART OR CONTACT, UH, ANOTHER, YOU KNOW, THE LIBRARIES TO FIND OUT WHAT LIBRARIES ARE OPEN OR, OR WHAT PARKS FACILITIES ARE OPEN.
I THINK WE NEED TO HAVE, SIMILAR TO OUR OUTAGE MAP, JUST A MAP WHERE IT SHOWS THESE ARE THE LOCATIONS THAT ARE OPEN HERE, THEY'RE HOURS.
THIS IS WHEN, WHERE YOU CAN GO AND SHOW UP BECAUSE HAVING TO CALL AND FIND OUT WHAT LIBRARIES ARE OPEN OR WHAT PARKS FACILITIES ARE OPEN, THAT'S JUST, THAT'S A NEEDLESS STEP THAT PEOPLE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO TAKE.
SO, UH, I KNOW THAT'S NOT NECESSARILY YOUR ISSUE, BUT AS WE TALK ABOUT THIS ABSOLUTELY.
THANK YOU COUNCIL MEMBER AL ALTER, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER OF VELASQUEZ, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING YOU WANTED TO OKAY.
UM, YOU KNOW, FIRST AND FOREMOST I WANT TO THANK Y'ALL FOR, FOR YOUR WORK DURING THE, UM, THE STORM, UH, ESPECIALLY THE LINE WORKERS AND I THINK SEEING THAT VIDEO, UM, I BELIEVE HIS NAME WAS MATT, UH, THE SACRIFICES THAT THEY MADE AND, AND THE, THE, THE RESPONSIBILITY THEY HAD, NOT ONLY TO THE COMMUNITY, UH, BUT ALSO MAKING SURE THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO COME BACK HOME
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TO THEIR FAMILIES.SO I JUST WANT TO THANK Y'ALL ON THAT.
UH, THE FIRST QUESTION, UH, THE GENTLEMAN HAD GOTTEN UP, UM, UM, AND TALKED ABOUT HE HAD A CHARGER FOR UPDATES.
SO YOU COULD SEE THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA, UH, A LOT OF FOLKS DON'T USE SOCIAL MEDIA.
UM, A LOT OF FOLKS USE THE RADIO.
UM, SO IS THERE, IS, DO YOU HAVE A WAY TO INCORPORATE RADIO BROADCAST TO BE INCLUDED IN UPDATES, UH, PROVIDED TO THE COMMUNITY DURING A CRISIS IF, IF THEY DON'T HAVE TWITTER AND I DON'T KNOW, FACEBOOK AND WHATNOT? WE DO, AND WE ACTUALLY HAD, UM, OUR TEAM, UH, DID INTERVIEWS WITH, UH, MULTIPLE RADIO STATIONS AND NEWS CHANNELS, UH, AND ALSO PRINT MATERIALS.
UM, EARLY ON THAT MORNING OF THE, WHEN THE STORM OUTAGES STARTED TO OCCUR, UM, THAT WAS ALREADY GOING ON.
AND THAT DAY WE HAD ALMOST TWO DOZEN OF THOSE COMMUNICATIONS AND, AND, AND DID, DID THE RADIO BROADCAST, UH, I GUESS CONTINUE DURING THE ENTIRETY OF THE, OF THE STORM? THE INTERVIEWS AS WE WERE REQUESTED FOR INTERVIEWS, WE PARTICI, WE, UM, PROVIDED THAT INFORM A RESOURCE AND PROVIDED THAT INFORMATION.
BUT WAS THERE A CONTINUOUS BROADCAST THROUGHOUT THE STORM? THAT I'M NOT AWARE OF.
UH, AND THEN MY, MY OTHER QUESTION, UM, AND, AND THIS HAS BEEN HIGHLIGHTED QUITE A BIT, UH, COULD YOU WALK, UH, YOU KNOW, THROUGH THE PROCESS FOR A PERSON TO REQUEST TREE TRIMMING SERVICES NEAR POWER LINE? YOU KNOW, IS IT FREE? WHAT IS THE ESTIMATED TIME FOR A, FOR A SERVICE REQUEST TO BE COMPLETED? UM, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF FOLKS, YOU KNOW, RE REALIZE DURING, YOU KNOW, THE AFTERMATH OF THE STORM DIDN'T, DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO AND, AND WHAT WAS GOING ON.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE ACTUALLY GOT AN OUTSTANDING VEGETATION MANAGEMENT LINK ON THE AUSTIN ENERGY WEBSITE THAT DIRECTS THE CUSTOMER EXACTLY WHAT TO DO ON THE CALLING AND THE, THE VEGETATION MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER TREE TRIM AND IS THE SERVICE PROVIDED TO THE CUSTOMER OF AUSTIN ENERGY FROM AUSTIN ENERGY.
SO YEAH, IF THEY GET ON THERE, THERE'S A, THERE'S A LINK THAT THEY CAN EITHER, EITHER EMAIL OR CALL AND REPORT THAT THE VEGETATION IS CLOSE.
THE INSPECTOR WILL GO OUT, IDENTIFY IT, FIND OUT IF IT IS ENCROACHING UPON IT.
WELL, WHAT WE'LL DO IS WE'LL CHECK AND SEE WHEN THE NEXT TRIM CYCLE IS.
IF THAT TRIM CYCLE'S COMING UP WITH THE NEXT SIX TO NINE MONTHS, THEN WE'LL JUST NOTIFY THE CUSTOMER THAT THEY'RE IN THE QUEUE FOR IT.
IF IT IS AFFECTING THEIR LINE IMMEDIATELY, THEN THAT'S AN IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION AND A VEGETATION CREW WILL COME OUT AND CLEAN IT UP.
COUNCIL MEMBER VELAZQUEZ, DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION? THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR.
UM, MY NAME, MY NAME IS NO QUESTION SO MUCH AS A STATEMENT.
I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE, WHEN WE ARE INCORPORATING, UM, OUR COMMUNICATION, THAT WE ARE MAKING SURE THAT WE ARE ADDRESSING THE, UH, THE DIGITAL DIVIDE AND ALSO HOW WE ARE REACHING OUT TO OUR MOST VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES, OUR SPANISH SPEAKERS, OUR, UH, SENIOR CITIZENS, UH, WHEN I WAS A KID, UM, THE HOLLY POWER PLANT USED TO BLOW UP PRETTY OFTEN AND WE HAD A RADIO DESIGNATED TO US TO LET US KNOW THAT WE CAN TUNE INTO THAT TO CHECK ON THAT.
I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S SOME, I'M NOT SAYING WE OFFER EVERYBODY A RADIO, BUT MOST PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO A RADIO NOW.
UH, SO FIGURING OUT A WAY THAT WE CAN HAVE, UH, MAYBE, UH, EMERGENCY MESSAGING ON, UH, ON RADIO IN BOTH IN SPANISH AND, AND ENGLISH.
UM, I'VE PUT MY QUESTIONS ON THE MESSAGE BOARD SO I WON'T TAKE THE TIME HERE TO RECITE THEM.
UH, UH, CITY MANAGER GARZA, DID YOU HAVE ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANTED TO SAY TO, AND THEN I'LL, UH, GIVE THE MAYOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO CLOSE US OUT? NO, I THINK THE, THE QUESTIONS WE RECEIVED TODAY ARE, ARE GONNA BE VERY HELPFUL AS WE FRAME THE ISSUES THAT WE'LL BE EVALUATING IN TERMS OF HOW WE CAN DO BETTER.
I ONLY, UH, AND UH, SO I I I JUST WANNA SAY THAT, UH, WE'LL CONTINUE TO LOOK FORWARD TO THE DISCUSSION WITH COUNSEL AND HAVE YOU PROVIDE US ADDITIONAL INPUT OR INSIGHTS THAT'LL BE HELPFUL SO THAT NEXT TIME SHOULD, YOU KNOW, HOPEFULLY IT DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN ANYTIME SOON, BUT WHEN IT HAPPENS AGAIN, WE'RE A BE LITTLE BETTER PREPARED FOR WHAT NEEDS TO GET DONE.
SO THANK YOU, UH, COUNCIL MEMBER AL ALTER.
UM, I WANTED TO ASK ABOUT FUNDING AND HOW MUCH THE RECOVERY IS GONNA COST.
UM, I DON'T KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY ESTIMATES AT THIS TIME, AND I DON'T KNOW IF IT WOULD BE YOU OR THE CITY MANAGER WHO COULD SPEAK TO WHAT WE CAN EXPECT IN TERMS OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM THE STATE AND FEDERAL DISASTER DECLARATIONS.
WELL, I THINK THAT WHEN, WHEN THE, WHEN THERE WAS A DISASTER DECLARATION, OUR FINANCE DEPARTMENT IMMEDIATELY WENT INTO MODE OF CAPTURING ALL THE COSTS THAT WE'VE, UH, EXPENDED NOT JUST AT THE ELECTRIC UTILITY, BUT ALL THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS THAT PARTICIPATED.
IN FACT, AUSTIN RESOURCE URRY CONTINUES TO DO THE, THE, SOME OF THE HEAVY LIFTING RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF THE TERM IN TREMENDOUS TREE DAMAGE THAT'S BEEN DONE.
AND, UH, AND WHAT WE INTEND TO DO IS AT THE PROPER TIME, SUBMIT THAT, UH, TO THE AGENCIES THAT REVIEW THAT FOR SOME REIMBURSEMENT, UH, THROUGH THE MAYOR'S OFFICE, IT STILL WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR US TO GET A VIEW INTO WHAT WILL BE REIMBURSABLE AND WHAT WON'T BE REIMBURSABLE.
UM, YOU KNOW, FOLKS ARE ASKING, YOU KNOW, WHETHER WE
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CAN PUSH OFF THE, THE, UH, RATE HIKE INCREASES IN IN MARCH AND, AND IT'S A LITTLE BIT HARD TO RESPOND.I'M, I'M NOT ADVOCATING THAT, BUT I, I MEAN, IT'S HARD TO RESPOND TO THAT WHEN WE DON'T HAVE A SENSE OF THE COSTS THAT ARE INVOLVED HERE.
YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT WE'RE WEIGHING A LOT OF DIFFERENT THINGS IF WE WERE TO CONSIDER THAT.
WELL, I THINK THAT'S IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOU, YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE IT'S RIGHT.
SOMETHING THAT WE OUGHT TO BE ABLE TO DO LIKE THAT.
AND, AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE HAD TO DO IS REACH OUT TO OTHER ENTITIES.
AS YOU MIGHT IMAGINE, UH, BLUE BARN AND ELECTRIC CO-OP PER NOW ELECTRIC CO-OP, A WHOLE LOT OF DIFFERENT ENTITIES HAVE TO GET THE INFORMATION IN, AND THEN IT HAS TO BE ABOVE A CERTAIN NUMBER.
IF, IF YOUR REQUEST IS BE SURE WE'RE DOING ALL OF THAT.
MY RESPONSE IS WE ARE DOING ALL OF THAT, AND AS SOON AS WE, WE HAVE THOSE NUMBERS, OF COURSE WE'RE GOING TO BE REACTIVE TO THAT.
BUT AS OF JUST A FEW DAYS AGO, WE HAD NOT EXCEEDED THE AMOUNT AND SO WE, WE WERE CONTACTING OTHERS.
THERE MAY THEN BE OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR COMMUNITY.
MY, THE NEXT PART OF MY QUESTION WAS IT SEEMS LIKE WE COULD BE PROVIDING A LITTLE BIT MORE INFORMATION TO THE COMMUNITY ABOUT WHETHER THERE ARE RESOURCES TO SAY, GET THEIR FRIDGE CONTENTS PAID FOR, OR IF THEIR BUSINESS IS LOST.
THAT'S A, YOU'RE RIGHT, THAT'S A DIFFERENT QUESTION THAN WHAT YOU WERE ASKING.
SO, UM, I MEAN, I'M JUST, THERE, THERE'S BOTH THE, YOU KNOW, WHAT ARE, WHAT ARE WE ON THE HOOK FOR, UM, AND HOW DO WE UNDERSTAND THAT? BUT THEN THERE'S ALSO THIS QUESTION OF CAN WE PROVIDE BETTER INFORMATION TO THE COMMUNITY FOR THOSE FOLKS FOR WHOM THAT REFRIGERATOR LOSS IS A BIG DEAL OR THEY LOST DAYS OF THEIR BUSINESS? WHAT KIND OF RESOURCES? AND THAT MAY ALSO HELP GETTING UP TO THAT THRESHOLD IF THAT NEEDS TO BE PART OF THAT, IF, IF IT, IF IT OTHERWISE QUALIFIES.
YEAH, TO YOUR POINT, UH, THAT'S WHY I STARTED THE WAY I STARTED, UH, EARLIER TODAY AND I'LL JUST SAY IT.
AND OF COURSE EVERYBODY'S IN AGREEMENT.
I, I KNOW I'VE GOT UNANIMITY AT LEAST UP HERE.
THE COMMUNICATIONS WAS HORRENDOUS.
UM, THE GENERAL MANAGER WILL TELL WHEN SHE WAS ANSWERING ONE OF THE QUESTIONS OF COUNCIL MEMBER FUENTES, UH, ABOUT ALL THE DIFFERENT PEOPLE THAT ARE INVOLVED.
UH, SADLY WE WERE ON THE TELEPHONE AT, UH, I THINK I GOT THE PHONE CALL FROM THE THEN CITY MANAGER AT ABOUT 10 TILL 10 TO ADD THE GENERAL MANAGER SO THAT WE COULD TALK ABOUT AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT WAS GOING TO COME OUT.
AND WHILE WE WERE ON THE TELEPHONE AT ABOUT TEN OH THREE, THE PRESS RELEASE WENT OUT WHILE WE WERE ACTUALLY TRYING TO TALK ABOUT THE PRESS RELEASE BECAUSE THE RIGHT HAND HAD NO CLUE WHAT THE LEFT HAND WAS DOING.
UM, SO THE, THE POINT BEING THE AFTER COMMUNICATION IS ALSO A VERY IMPORTANT PART AND THAT'S WHY I'VE SAID THAT WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE US DO IS IN THE NEXT 45 DAYS, HAVE A NEW COMMUNICATIONS PLAN IN PLACE, AND THEN WITHIN ANOTHER 15 TO 25 DAYS ACTUALLY DO A MOCK DISASTER.
SO THAT WE ARE DOING THE KINDS OF THINGS COUNCIL MEMBER WALTER, THAT YOU'RE CALLING FOR, BECAUSE WE'RE WAY, I DON'T KNOW HOW OTHER CITIES DO IT, BUT MY GOODNESS, I HOPE WE'RE NOT LEADING THE PACK.
I THINK, UH, WE WILL, SEEING NO ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS, WE WILL ADJOURN THIS MEETING AT 10:45 AM AND REMEMBER WE WILL HAVE, UH, THE AFTER ACTION REPORT COMING OUR WAY AND WE'LL HAVE TIME TO REVIEW AND ASSESS IT AND ASK QUESTIONS.
AND THEN WE WILL HAVE A DISCUSSION PUBLICLY WITH ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS.
IT WILL BE, UH, MULTI-DEPARTMENTAL, CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL, ALL OF THE CITY AS A WHOLE, HAVING THIS CONVERSATION WITH THE DAIS MAYOR, I THINK WE'RE DONE WITH THE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE.