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GOOD[CALL TO ORDER]
MORNING EVERYBODY.IT IS 9 32 ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28TH.
I'LL CALL THIS MEETING OF THE CLIMATE WATER ENVIRONMENT PARKS COMMITTEE TO ORDER.
WE ARE AT 3 0 1 WEST SECOND STREET, UH, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS, AND A FULL QUORUM OF THE COMMITTEE IS PRESENT.
UH, WE WILL JUST DIVE RIGHT IN THIS MORNING.
I WILL START WITH, OH, I GUESS, DO WE HAVE ANYBODY, ANY SPEAKERS? NO, WE DO NOT.
[1. Approve the minutes of the Climate, Water, Environment, and Parks Committee meeting of December 2, 2025.]
TO ITEM NUMBER ONE, THE APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES.COUNCIL MORALES MOVES ADOPTION, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR SIEGEL.
UH, WITHOUT OBJECTION, THE MINUTES ARE APPROVED.
[2. Briefing on Austin Water Emergency Management and Planning. [Rick Beaman, Emergency Management Division Manager- Austin Water; Stephanie Sue, Water Treatment Operations Manager- Austin Water; Amy Petri, Interim Chief of Staff- Austin Water].]
THAT, WE'LL MOVE TO ITEM NUMBER TWO, A BRIEFING ON THE AUSTIN WATER EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING.AND WE HAVE A FEW FOLKS, MORE THAN A FEW FOLKS
MORNING COUNCIL MEMBERS CHAIR.
THANK YOU FOR HAVING US TODAY.
UM, MY NAME IS SHAY RAWLES ROLSON.
I'M THE DIRECTOR OF AUSTIN WATER AND, UH, SIMON, SOMETIME AGO, UH, WE, UH, THOUGHT IT WOULD BE, UH, UH, NICE TO BRING YOU A PRESENTATION ON THE AUSTIN WATER EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND PREPAREDNESS, THE ALL HAZARDS APPROACH THAT WE TAKE TO BE, UH, READY, UH, SHOULD UNEXPECTED THINGS HAPPEN IN OUR, UM, IN OUR SYSTEM.
AND OF COURSE, THIS PAST WEEK WE HAD, WE HAD A SIGNIFICANT TEST OF THAT READINESS.
UM, AND, UH, UM, I'VE ASKED OUR PRESENTERS TODAY TO, UH, TO PROVIDE YOU SOME EXAMPLES OF HOW THIS WORK THAT WE'RE GONNA BE DISCUSSING IN OUR SLIDES, UH, ACTUALLY BORE FRUIT FOR US THIS, THIS PAST WEEK.
SO, UH, REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO, UH, THE DISCUSSION AND, AND YOUR QUESTIONS.
GO AHEAD AND CLICK TO THE NEXT SLIDE.
SO WE'RE GONNA START WITH OUR APPROACH TO ALL HAZARDS, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, AND OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION MANAGER RICK BEMAN, IS HERE FOR THAT.
AND THEN WE'LL MOVE RIGHT INTO WHAT WE DO FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, UM, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT IS ONGOING ALL THE TIME.
THERE'S ALWAYS EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS HAPPENING IN OUR, UM, OUR MANAGER OF OUR PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE, WHO IS ALSO CURRENTLY OUR INTERIM CHIEF OF STAFF, AMY PETRI, WILL COVER THAT.
AND THEN WINTER PREPAREDNESS ACTIVITIES.
OUR OPERATIONS MANAGER, STEPHANIE SUE, WILL GO OVER THOSE ITEMS FOR US.
AND WITH THAT, WE'LL LAUNCH RIGHT INTO IT.
GOOD MORNING, AND THANK YOU FOR HAVING US HERE TO TALK ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS, AUSTIN WATERS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM.
I AM THE AUSTIN WATER EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIVISION MANAGER.
UH, WHAT WE'RE GONNA DISCUSS TODAY IS OUR ALL HAZARDS APPROACH AND CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROCESS FOR EMERGENCIES AT AUSTIN WATER.
AN ALL HAZARD APPROACH IS JUST THAT.
IT'S WHETHER IT'S HEAT, EXTREME HEAT, EXTREME COLD, HIGH WINDS FLOODING.
OUR PROCESS FOR ADDRESSING EMERGENCIES WITHIN THE UTILITY IS ALWAYS THE SAME.
WE, WE UTILIZE THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM, WE IMPLEMENT AN INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM, AND WE SOLVE PROBLEMS THROUGH OBJECTIVES.
PART OF THAT PROCESS IS CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
SO THINK OF CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, MORE OF A, AS A, AS A VOLUME KNOB THAT GETS TURNED UP AND DOWN AS NEEDED VERSUS AN ON-OFF SWITCH.
IT'S A POWERFUL SOFTWARE THAT WE USE DAILY FOR DAILY REPORTING, BUT IT'S ALSO OUR, THE SOFTWARE WE USE DURING EMERGENCIES WHEN WE HAVE TO, UH, IMPLEMENT OUR INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM, DEVELOP OBJECTIVES AND, AND WORK THROUGH PROBLEMS AT THE UTILITY.
UH, WE WERE PIONEERS WITH THE VOC SYSTEM.
AUSTIN WATER WAS THE FIRST DEPARTMENT TO HAVE IT IN THE CITY.
UH, WE HAVE UTILIZED IT FOR APPROXIMATELY SIX YEARS NOW, AND IT IS NOW THIS PAST YEAR, GONE ON TO A CITYWIDE CONTRACT WHERE OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS ARE USING THE PROGRAM FOR THEIR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
WE ALSO MANAGE OUR CONTINUITY OF OPERATIONS PLANNING IN THERE, UH, AND WE HAVE INTERNAL EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS WITHIN THE SYSTEM.
ADDITIONALLY, FOR OUR CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, WE, WE HOST AND, AND, UM, ATTEND DRILLS AND EXERCISES THROUGHOUT THE CITY, NOT ONLY INTERNALLY, BUT EXTERNALLY WITH, WITH PARTNERS, A-F-D-E-M-S, TRAVIS COUNTY, SO A PD, UH, AUSTIN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT,
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AND SEVERAL OTHER, UH, PARTNERS THAT WE, THAT WE, THAT WE WORK WITH THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, UH, TO, TO HONE OUR SKILLS AND BE READY FOR THE NEXT EMERGENCY.INTERNALLY, WE HAVE LIFE SAFETY PLAN TRAINING.
WE DO SHELTER IN PLACE TRAININGS.
WE DO EMERGENCY EVACUATION TRAININGS, UM, AND HOLD FIRE DRILLS AT ALL OF OUR LOCATIONS.
UH, OUR DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS CENTER IS, CAN BE ACTIVATED AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE.
WE HAVE, UH, UH, A NEW DEPARTMENT OPERATIONS CENTER, UH, AT, AT OUR, OVER BY OUR NORTH SERVICE CENTER.
AND, UM, THAT IS WHERE OUR INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM ACTUALLY COMES TOGETHER TO MANAGE OUR EMERGENCIES.
OUR INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM WORKS ON THREE ROTATING SHIFTS, 12 HOURS AT A TIME, AND WE HAVE NEARLY 200 EMPLOYEES THAT HAVE GONE THROUGH OUR TRAINING, UM, TO BE ON THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM.
THEY RUN 24 7, AGAIN, 12 HOUR SHIFTS, AND WE HAVE THIR, WE HAVE 34 SPECIFIC POSITIONS THAT CAN BE FILLED.
WE DON'T FILL THEM ALL, EVERY TIME, UH, BUT THAT STAFF, THEY'RE TRAINED FOR VERY CLEARLY DEFINED ROLES.
AS PART OF THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM, WE HOST ONLINE AND IN-PERSON TRAINING.
AUSTIN WATER HAS, UH, FEMA CERTIFIED, UH, TRAINING INSTRUCTORS IN-HOUSE, AND WE TEACH ICS AND, UH, 300 AND 400.
WE ALSO, UH, CO-HOST WITH AUSTIN ENERGY, AUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND SOME, SOME OTHER DEPARTMENTS WITHIN THE CITY.
SOME OF THE THINGS WE DO FOR OUR OPERATIONAL READINESS IS OUR PLANTS OP, UH, ROUTINELY STAY, MAINTAIN, UH, 235 MILLION GALLONS A DAY FOR SYSTEM READINESS AND USE.
UM, SOME OF THE MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT WE KEEP ON HAND, WE, ALL OF OUR CRITICAL SITES HAVE BACKUP GEN EMERGENCY GENERATION.
WE HAVE, UH, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES FOR EMERGENCY POTABLE WATER DISTRIBUTION POINTS.
UH, WE HAVE, UH, TANKERS, WATER TANK TANKERS, AND, UH, AVAILABLE POTABLE WATER TANKERS, TOTES AND HYDRANT TRAP HYDRANT TAPS TO GET, UH, WATER OUT INTO THE SYSTEM IF NEEDED.
HERE'S A PICTURE OF ONE OF OUR, OUR POTABLE WATER TANKERS THAT WE CAN TAKE OUT INTO THE, INTO THE COMMUNITY IF THERE'S A NEED FOR WATER.
WE ALSO HOST INTERNALLY FOR OUR, OUR, OUR FOLKS.
WE HAVE A SHELTER IN PLACE SUPPLIES, WHICH INCLUDES HYGIENE KITS, SLEEPING BAGS, UH, COTS, BOTTLED WATER, UH, RES OR MEALS READY TO EAT.
UH, BECAUSE WHEN WE HAVE THESE KIND OF EMERGENCIES, PARTICULARLY LIKE THIS, THIS LAST ONE, WE HAD A LOT OF, UH, PRECIPITATION THAT WAS FROZEN.
OUR SECURITY STAFF ACTUALLY SHELTERS IN PLACE, UH, AT OUR HEADQUARTERS AND OUR PLANT STAFF OUT IN THE WATER SYSTEM.
THEY ACTUALLY SHELTER IN PLACE AND STAY ON SITE AS WELL TO ENSURE THE PROCESS STAYS UP AND RUNNING.
WE ALSO KEEP, UH, WATER ON, UH, PALLETS OF BOTTLED WATER ON HAND FOR EMERGENCY DEPLOYMENT.
AND WE HAVE EMERGENCY CONTRACTS WITH VARIOUS VENDORS TO BRING IN ADDITIONAL BOTTLED WATER IF WE NEED IT OUT IN THE COMMUNITY.
AGAIN, WE TOUCHED BACK ON, UH, WE TOUCHED EARLIER ON ON SOME TRAINING.
WE PROVIDE TRAINING FOR OUR PERSONNEL.
WE ALSO TRY, UH, PROVIDE ALL OF THEIR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, COATS, GLOVES, HEADGEAR, UH, OTHER DURABLE ITEMS, WARMING AND COOLING STATIONS.
UH, WE CONTINUOUSLY MONITOR THE WEATHER, UH, AND WE CAN SHELTER IN PLACE AGAIN AT THE PLANTS IF NEEDED.
NOW PASS IT OFF TO AMY FOR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS.
I'M THE INTERIM CHIEF OF STAFF FOR AUSTIN WATER.
UM, I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU A LITTLE BIT ABOUT OUR EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS AND HOW WE PREPARE AND PLAN FOR, UH, EVENTS THAT MIGHT IMPACT THE ENTIRE CITY OR SOMETIMES JUST A NEIGHBORHOOD.
UM, WE WE'RE TRYING TO, UM, COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CUSTOMERS ON A REGULAR BASIS ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING AND WHAT TO EXPECT.
THE KEY TO THOSE COMMUNICATIONS BEING SUCCESSFUL IS BEING TIMELY AND BEING ACCURATE WITH WHAT WE'RE SENDING OUT.
AND SO TO DO THAT, WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME PREPARING, UH, FOR WHAT COULD HAPPEN, UH, SO THAT WE CAN BE NIMBLE IN THE MOMENT AND NOT HAVE TO, UH, START FROM SCRATCH AND WE CAN FOCUS MORE ON THE DETAILS INSTEAD OF, UH, REBUILDING ENTIRE TEMPLATES AROUND STUFF.
SO, UM, IN TERMS OF OUR COMMUNICATIONS PREPAREDNESS, IF WE'RE THINKING ABOUT BIG EMERGENCIES THAT MIGHT IMPACT THE ENTIRE CITY, THINGS LIKE A BOIL WATER NOTICE OR, UM, A DO NOT DRINK ADVISORY OR EVEN SMALLER INCIDENTS THAT MIGHT IMPACT, UM, AN AREA OF THE CITY, LIKE A SANITARY
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SEWER OVERFLOW.OBVIOUSLY, OUR WINTER EVENT THAT WE JUST HAD, THESE ARE ALL THINGS THAT ARE, UM, UM, WE HAVE SORT OF STANDARD LANGUAGE THAT WE HAVE TO USE BASED ON OUR REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS.
UM, WE HAVE FAQS THAT ARE, YOU KNOW, PRETTY STANDARD FOR THESE TYPES OF EVENTS.
WE REVIEW ALL OF OUR MATERIALS ON AN ANNUAL BASIS TO MAKE SURE THEY'RE CURRENT WITH WHAT WE HAVE TO DO FROM A REGULATORY STANDPOINT, UM, AND, AND TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'VE GOT THEM TRANSLATED INTO THE PROPER LANGUAGES.
UM, WE GET UPDATES FROM OUR, UM, ACE OFFICE ON A REGULAR BASIS ABOUT THE MOST COMMON LANGUAGES IN THE CITY.
AND SO RIGHT NOW ALL OF OUR EMERGENCY MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE IN 15 LANGUAGES.
AND WE DO, WE UPDATE THOSE THINGS EVERY YEAR TO MAKE SURE THAT WHAT WE HAVE READY TO GO ON OUR WEBSITE OR, UH, OUT, OUT TO MEDIA OR, UM, THAT WE CAN NOTIFY FOLKS THROUGH OUR, MY A TX WATER PORTAL, THAT ALL OF THAT STUFF IS READY TO GO, UM, AND, AND IN THE CORRECT LANGUAGES SO THAT WE CAN DEPLOY IT QUICKLY WITH THE, THE SPECIFIC INFORMATION PERTINENT TO THAT EVENT AT THAT TIME.
ON A DAILY BASIS THOUGH, WE SOMETIMES, UM, HAVE UNPLANNED EVENTS OUT IN THE FIELD.
WE MIGHT HAVE A MAIN BREAK OR SOME ISSUE THAT'S AFFECTING A NEIGHBORHOOD.
AND SO WE'VE BUILT OUT TOOLS TO COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CUSTOMERS ABOUT HOW THOSE IMPACTS COULD BE AFFECTING THEM.
WE HAVE A LEAK AND OUTAGE MAP THAT, THAT TRACKS ALL OF THE THINGS THAT WE ARE TRYING TO REPAIR OUT IN THE FIELD WITH THE ESTIMATED TIMEFRAME FOR WHEN THOSE WILL BE.
UM, THOSE REPAIRS WILL BE FINISHED AND WATER WILL BE RESTORED.
WE ALSO TRY TO SEND OUT INFORMATION THROUGH OUR, OUR CUSTOMER PORTAL.
WE CAN GEOFENCE AREAS WITHIN THAT PORTAL, UM, TO, TO SEND MESSAGES SPECIFICALLY TO THE CUSTOMERS WHO ARE IMPACTED BY THAT EVENT.
UM, IF IT IS A BIG ENOUGH EVENT WHERE, UH, A LOT OF CUSTOMERS ARE IMPACTED, OR IF WE'RE GETTING, IF IT'S, IT'S A VISIBLE, UH, UH, EVENT WHERE WE'RE, WE'RE GETTING A LOT OF MEDIA COVERAGE, WE'RE REACHING OUT TO MEDIA TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION AND CAN HELP AMPLIFY OUR MESSAGE.
WE'RE WORKING WITH CMO ON NEWS FLASHES TO GO OUT TO YOU ALL SO THAT YOU KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING IN YOUR DISTRICT, UM, AND ACROSS THE CITY AND CAN SHARE THAT INFORMATION WITH YOUR CONSTITUENTS.
AND OF COURSE, WE'RE SENDING ALL OF THE INFORMATION TO OUR CALL TAKERS AT THREE ONE ONE.
UM, THE CITY OF AUSTIN UTILITIES, AS WELL AS OUR CUSTOMER CONTACT, UH, UH, CENTER.
SO SOME OF THE THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED, UH, YOU KNOW, WE'VE HAD SOME EMERGENCY EVENTS OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS OR SO.
WE LEARN FROM THOSE AFTER EVERY EVENT.
WE'VE, WE DO IT A THOROUGH AFTER ACTION, UH, REPORT AFTERWARDS.
UM, AND IN THE TIME THAT, THAT I'VE BEEN WITH AUSTIN WATER, UH, YOU KNOW, I CAME ON, I YURI HIT WHEN I WAS LESS THAN A YEAR IN AT AUSTIN WATER.
SO WE'VE REALLY CHANGED OUR COMMUNICATIONS APPROACH SINCE YURI, WE'VE LEARNED FROM THESE EVENTS AND WE'VE GOTTEN STRONGER AS A RESULT.
UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'VE DONE IS THAT WE'VE, UH, CREATED, UH, A POSITION ON IN OUR, UH, INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM, A DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDER, WHO IS REALLY FOCUSED ON THE COMMUNICATIONS ASPECT OF THAT EMERGENCY WHILE OUR INCIDENT COMMANDER IS FOCUSED ON RESTORING OPERATIONS TO NORMAL.
SO HAVING THAT FOCUS ON COMMUNICATIONS HAS REALLY HELPED US.
UM, AND SO, UM, THE, THE DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDER, WHEN WE'RE ACTIVATED IS OVERSEEING ALL OF OUR PIO ACTIVITIES, UM, OUR, OUR INTERACTIONS WITH KEY ACCOUNTS AND WHOLESALE CUSTOMERS, UM, AS WELL AS OUR CALL TAKERS AND MAKING SURE THAT THEY HAVE ALL THE RIGHT INFORMATION TO SHARE.
UM, AS WE GET CALLS ABOUT THE EVENT, UM, AT TIMES WE ARE ACTIVATED WHEN THE REST OF THE CITY IS NOT.
UH, YOU KNOW, THIS LAST, THIS LAST WEEKEND, THE ENTIRE CITY WAS ACTIVATED.
AND SO WE WERE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS THAT ACE AND A EM SET FOR, UM, OUR NEWS FLASHES AND OUR MEDIA RELEASES.
WE KIND OF DID A COMBINED APPROACH TO, UM, SENDING OUT CITYWIDE NOTIFICATIONS TO YOU ALL AND TO THE MEDIA.
SO WHEN WE'RE FULLY ACTIVATED, WE ARE FOLLOWING THEIR CADENCE OF COMMUNICATIONS, BUT IN INSTANCES WHERE WE'RE ACTIVATED AND THEY ARE NOT, WE, WE SET OUR CADENCE FOR COMMUNICATIONS THROUGH OUR DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDER.
SO WE'RE DECIDING WHEN WE NEED TO SEND OUT MEDIA RELEASES, WHEN WE'RE SENDING OUT OUR PORTAL NOTIFICATIONS, DOING SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS AND SO ON.
UM, AND WE ALSO HAVE A THREAD THAT'S BEEN SET UP IN TEAMS WITH A CMO, UH, THAT'S LED BY THE CMO LIAISON OFFICER.
UM, AS QUESTIONS COME INTO THAT, TO THAT OFFICE, WE CAN RESPOND TO THOSE.
THE DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDERS ARE TRACKING IN THAT THREAD TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION AND ANSWER QUESTIONS.
SO WE'VE, WE'VE, WE'VE LEARNED HOW TO BE, UH, PRETTY FLUID IN THE WAY THAT WE'RE, UH, COMMUNICATING
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AND, AND GETTING THESE THINGS OUT ON A REGULAR CADENCE.UM, I WOULD ALSO JUST ADD THAT, UM, GOING BACK TO PUBLIC INFORMATION, WHICH IS WHERE I SIT MOST OF THE TIME, UM, UH, WHEN I STARTED WE HAD FOUR PEOPLE TRAINED UP TO, TO SERVE ON A, ON A, IN A, IN AN ACTIVATED SITUATION.
UM, IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO COVER SHIFTS THAT CAN GO ON SOMETIMES FOR MORE THAN A WEEK.
UM, AND SO WE HAVE EXPANDED THAT AND GROWN OUR TEAM OVER THE LAST SIX YEARS.
WE NOW HAVE NINE PEOPLE TRAINED UP, AND WE'RE, WE'RE, WE HAVE TWO NEWER STAFF THAT ARE IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING TRAINED UP.
SO WE HAVE A LOT OF FOLKS WHO CAN STAY FRESH AND ALERT AND, YOU KNOW, KEEP TRACK OF THIS STUFF AND NOT GET TIRED WHEN THESE THINGS GO FOR MANY DAYS AT A TIME.
UH, THIS, OKAY, AND THEN, UM, I'LL JUST END ON, YOU KNOW, EVERYTHING I HIT ON WAS WHAT WE DO DURING AN EMERGENCY OR DURING AN INCIDENT, BUT THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS THAT WE DO TO BE PROACTIVE WHEN WE CAN.
WE DON'T ALWAYS KNOW WHEN AN EMERGENCY IS COMING, BUT WE DO KNOW WHEN WINTER WEATHER IS COMING.
AND THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS THAT WE ARE PUSHING OUT IN ADVANCE OF ANY ACTIVATION TO OUR COMMUNITY, TO OUR CUSTOMERS, TO LET THEM KNOW HOW TO PREPARE AND HOW TO, HOW TO BE READY FOR THOSE EVENTS.
AND SO WE, IN THIS PARTICULAR INSTANCE, WE HAVE TIP SHEETS.
THESE ARE, UM, AS THEY'RE HANDED OUT AS FLYERS, THAT COMMUNITY EVENTS THAT WE GO TO, WE CAN ALWAYS PROVIDE THEM TO YOU AND YOUR OFFICES FOR SOME OF YOUR EVENTS.
UM, WE, UH, WE, WE SHIFT ALL OF OUR ADVERTISING BUYS TO WINTER PREPAREDNESS.
WE PUT OUT A LOT OF SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS.
UM, WE'RE SENDING THINGS OUT THROUGH OUR PORTAL IN ADVANCE OF THE WEATHER HITTING TO LET THEM KNOW THAT THEY NEED TO GO, YOU KNOW, UH, TAKE, TAKE THEIR HOSES OUT, DRAIN THEIR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS, ALL OF THOSE KINDS OF THINGS.
AND WE'VE TRANSLATED THOSE INTO MULTIPLE LANGUAGES AS WELL.
SO THOSE THINGS ALL HAPPEN IN ADVANCE TO HELP OUR COMMUNITY PREPARE.
AND WITH THAT, I'LL HAND IT OVER TO STEPHANIE.
UH, COUNCIL MEMBERS, MY NAME IS STEPHANIE SUE, AND I AM THE OPERATIONS MANAGER FOR THE WATER TREATMENT PLANTS AT AUSTIN WATER.
UM, I WANTED TO TAKE A QUICK SECOND TO REITERATE, UM, WHAT RICK HAD MENTIONED ABOUT, UM, OUR ALL HAZARDS APPROACH.
UM, ON THE OPERATIONS SIDE, YOU KNOW, WE'RE, WE OBVIOUSLY ARE READY FOR WINTER WEATHER, BUT, UM, WE ALSO HAVE, UH, PROCEDURES AND GUIDELINES WRITTEN, UM, AND, AND, AND READY TO GO FOR OTHER NON-NORMAL CONDITIONS SUCH AS FLOODS, UM, EXTREME HEAT, UM, UH, SOURCE WATER QUALITY ISSUES, UM, WILDFIRES.
AND SO, UM, OUR, OUR TEAMS ARE WELL PREPARED, UH, WITH THOSE PROCEDURES, UM, AND THAT, THAT, AND THEY'RE READY TO GO.
UM, WE ALSO, UH, HAVE SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH TABLETOP EXERCISES, WHICH RICK ALSO MENTIONED, UM, THAT ALLOWS OUR STAFF TO SORT OF GO THROUGH THE MOTIONS OF, OF SIMULATING THESE, UH, THESE EVENTS AND REALLY UNDERSTANDING HOW THEY WOULD, UM, APPROACH THEM.
AND, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE, IN THEIR MINDS KIND OF FORMULATE THEIR PLANS FOR HOW THEY, THEY WOULD BE READY FOR THAT.
UM, WE ALSO, UM, WE ALSO COLLECT A LOT OF DATA, YOU KNOW, ON THE OPERATIONS SIDE AS WE OPERATE OUR FACILITIES AND, AND, UM, MAINTAIN OUR, OUR INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND, UM, I'LL SAY THAT WE HAVE SPENT A LOT OF TIME PUTTING A LOT OF THAT DATA INTO DASHBOARDS THAT, UH, REALLY ALLOW OUR MANAGERS TO PULL UP REALLY QUICKLY, UM, TO LOOK AND ASSESS, UM, YOU KNOW, THE HEALTH OF OUR SYSTEMS. AND THAT'S HELPFUL, DEFINITELY IN A NORMAL CONDITION, BUT ALSO, UM, IN, IN A NON-NORMAL, UM, AS WE WERE THIS WEEKEND.
UM, AND THEN FINALLY, VOC HAS BEEN A REALLY HELPFUL TOOL THAT, THAT WE USE ON THE OPERATION SIDE.
OUR STAFF ARE REALLY ACCUSTOMED TO UPDATING THAT, UM, UH, THROUGHOUT THE DAY SO THAT, AGAIN, THEY CAN REPORT OUT.
UM, AND WE AS MANAGERS KIND OF HAVE THAT, USE THAT FOR SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.
AND AGAIN, UH, FOR SOMETHING LIKE WHAT WE WENT THROUGH THIS WEEKEND WITH THE STORM, IT WAS REALLY HELPFUL JUST TO BE ABLE TO KIND OF LOOK, LOOK THROUGH THE DASHBOARD AND SEE HOW THINGS WERE GOING.
UM, SO I JUST WANTED TO KIND OF REITERATE SORT OF OUR ALL HAZARDS APPROACH AND, AND KIND OF THE CONTINUOUS USE OF, OF THOSE KINDS OF TOOLS.
UM, BUT TODAY I'M GONNA TALK TO YOU GUYS ABOUT WINTER, OUR PREPAREDNESS ACTIVITIES, UM, AND, YOU KNOW, HAPPY TO REPORT THAT WE GENERALLY HAD NORMAL, UM, OPERATIONS OVER THE WEEKEND, UM, WHICH I'LL, I'LL TALK A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT.
BUT, UM, STARTING WITH OUR WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS, UM, A LOT OF OUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND PIPELINES ARE EXPOSED TO THE WEATHER.
AND SO SOMETHING THAT WE DO AS WE'RE COMING OUTTA SUMMER AND GOING INTO FALL, UM, IS WE INSPECT, UM, THOSE PIECES OF EQUIPMENT, MAKE SURE THAT THE INSULATION AND THE HEAT TRACING IS INTACT, AND, UM, WORK TO FORTIFY IT AND, AND MAKE REPAIRS AS NEEDED AS WE GET IN BEFORE WE GET INTO THE WINTER SEASON.
UM, AT OUR PLANTS, A LOT OF OUR SOLIDS PROCESSING EQUIPMENT IS LOCATED OUTDOORS AND, AND MANAGING SOLIDS IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS, UM, AS TREATING THE, THE, THE WATER AND, AND THE WASTEWATER.
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UM, AND WHEN WE HAVE, UM, COLD WEATHER, UM, WE DO HAVE TO MAKE SURE THAT WE HAVE STRATEGIES IN PLACE SUCH THAT IF WE HAVE TO SUSPEND HAULING OF OUR SOLIDS, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT WE HAD TO DO OVER THE WEEKEND, THAT WE'RE ABLE TO COMFORTABLY, YOU KNOW, MANAGE THE SOLIDS AND STILL STORE THEM ON SITE, UM, AND, AND REALLY BE ABLE TO, UM, STILL RAMP UP PRODUCTION WHEN WE NEED TO.SO THAT, THAT'S AN IMPORTANT, UM, THING THAT WE, WE, WE HAVE IN PLACE.
UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE LEARNED DURING WINTER STORM URI IS THAT OUR, UM, SOME OF OUR SOLIDS PROCESSING EQUIPMENT AT OUR WATER PLANTS WE'RE HAVING ISSUES WITH FREEZING UP.
SO SINCE THEN WE'VE INSTALLED SOME HEATERS, UM, THAT, THAT WILL PREVENT, UM, THINGS FROM FREEZING, BUT ALSO US TO AGAIN, CONTINUE THE SOLIDS PROCESSING.
UM, AND THEN, UH, FOR, UM, AGAIN, DURING YURI, WE, WE EXPERIENCED KIND OF THAT PROLONGED, UM, UH, A FROZEN SPELL WHEN WE WERE, WE HAD A LOT OF ROADS THAT WERE INACCESSIBLE.
AND SO SINCE THEN, WE'VE IDENTIFIED ALTERNATIVE ROUTES IN CASE WE DO NEED TO GET CHEMICAL DELIVERIES AND TO, TO AGAIN, MAINTAIN PRODUCTION AT OUR PLANTS.
UM, THE ORIC WATER TREATMENT PLANT, ONE OF OUR BIG FOCUSES HAS BEEN ON POWER RESILIENCY.
UM, AND I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT, UM, UH, A NEW SUBSTATION THAT THAT HAD BEEN UNDER CONSTRUCTION IS NOW, UM, TIED IN COMMISSIONED, UM, AND WE'RE UTILIZING IT.
AND THAT, THAT, UM, THAT ALL CAME TOGETHER AT THE END OF THE SUMMER, UH, LAST YEAR.
UM, AND WE'VE BEEN USING THIS NEW SUBSTATION AND IT REALLY REPLACED SOME ANTIQUATED, UM, ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT THAT WE HAD, UM, AT THE PLANT AND, AND IS, PROVIDES MORE RELIABILITY OF POWER PER, UH, FOR THE PLANT.
UM, AND THEN FINALLY, UM, AT OUR WATER AND WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS, WE'RE ON CRITICAL CIRCUITS WITH AUSTIN ENERGY.
WE, WE'VE WORKED, UM, WITH THEM KIND OF IN THE FALL TIMEFRAME TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY COULD GET IN AND DO SOME IMPORTANT MAINTENANCE ON THEIR INFRASTRUCTURE, REALLY TO GET US READY FOR THE, THE WINTER SEASON ON OUR, UM, PIPELINE SIDE, UH, DISTRIBUTION AND COLLECTION SYSTEMS. UM, WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO MONITORING THE LEAK TRENDS, UM, AND, AND KIND OF COUPLED WITH THE WEATHER PATTERNS TO MAKE SURE THAT, UH, WE STAY AHEAD OF, OF WHAT'S COMING.
UM, KIND OF, UM, I, I MENTIONED DA, THE DASHBOARDS THAT WE HAVE, WE, WE HAVE, UM, DASHBOARDS THAT TELL US ABOUT HOW MANY LEAKS ARE GOING ON IN THE SYSTEM, AS WELL AS WHAT KIND OF CUSTOMER CALLS WE'RE GETTING.
AND THAT ALLOWS US TO SORT OF BE TRACKING, YOU KNOW, WHAT, WHAT'S GOING ON IN THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM, AND, UM, KNOWING THAT WINTER WEATHER'S COMING, YOU KNOW, WHAT DO WE NEED TO, WHAT ARE WE GONNA EXPECT? AND, UM, WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT STAFFING DO WE NEED TO HAVE ON HAND AND READY TO GO? WHAT KIND OF SUPPLIES DO WE NEED? SO THAT, THAT'S REALLY HELPFUL.
UM, ON THE DISTRIBUTION, UH, SIDE, UH, OUR WATER DISTRIBUTION SIDE, PRESSURE MONITORING POINTS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO KEEP AN EYE ON.
UM, HOW PRESSURES ARE, ARE, ARE DOING ACROSS THE SYSTEM.
THOSE ARE REALLY GOOD INDICATORS OF, UM, MAJOR, UM, UH, WATER MAIN BREAKS OR, OR, OR, YOU KNOW, ISSUES IN THE SYSTEM.
AND SO ONE OF THE THINGS WE LEARNED IN WINTER STORM URI WAS THAT, UM, WE HAD ISSUES WITH THOSE FREEZING.
AND SO SINCE THEN WE'VE SPENT, UM, EFFORT TO, UM, MAKE SURE TO PUT, PUT THOSE BELOW GROUND AND INSULATE THEM OR, UM, MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE HEATED AND, AND WILL INSULATED IF THEY HAVE TO BE ABOVE GROUND.
BUT I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT, UH, WE HAVE, UH, WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY ISSUES WITH THEM OVER THE WEEKEND AND ALL OF THOSE ARE, THEY, THEY WERE FULLY FUNCTIONAL, UH, WHICH HAS BEEN GREAT.
UM, RICK HAD ALREADY MENTIONED THE WATER TANKERS AND TOTES BEING READY, UM, IN THE EVENT THAT WE HAVE, UH, DIRECT CUSTOMER IMPACTS FROM OUR WATERLINE, UH, ANY WATERLINE ISSUES.
AND SO WE MAKE SURE TO HAVE THOSE READY TO GO, UM, GOING INTO A A, A WINTER STORM.
AND THEN, UM, WE'VE GOT, WE, WE, AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, WE, WE DEFINITELY USE VOC ON A REGULAR BASIS, BUT WE HAVE A, UM, SORT OF ESCALATED COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL IN PLACE, ESPECIALLY ON THE WATERLINE SIDE.
UH, WHEN OUR FIELD CREWS ENCOUNTER NON-NORMAL CONDITIONS, IF, IF THINGS SORT OF PROGRESSIVELY GET WORSE BASED ON WHAT THEY'RE SEEING IN THE FIELD, THERE'S A, THERE IS A, UH, TRIGGERS IN PLACE THAT, UM, SORT OF ESCALATE THAT COMMUNICATION INTERNALLY SO THAT, UM, OUR, OUR FOLKS, OUR STAFF AND MANAGERS ARE AWARE.
AND THEN ALSO WE ARE READY TO, TO RESPOND IF, UM, IF WE NEED TO PULL IN OTHER DIVISIONS OR DEPARTMENTS TO HELP ON THE WATER PUMP STATION AND THE WASTEWATER LIFT STATION SIDE OF THINGS.
UM, THE, THE CHALLENGE THERE, UM, IS THAT THESE ARE REMOTE FACILITIES THAT ARE SORT OF SPRINKLED AROUND THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND, UM, THE, UM, IN ADDITION TO REALLY HAVING SOME CHALLENGES WITH ACCESS, ESPECIALLY, YOU KNOW, WITH ICY ROAD CONDITIONS, WE, WE ACTUALLY HAD A FEW, UM, PLANTS AND LIFT STATIONS THAT WE, THAT WERE HARDER TO GET TO BECAUSE OF JUST THE ICE ACCUMULATION ON THE ROADS, UM, OVER THE WEEKEND.
UM, THE OTHER FOCUS HAS BEEN ON POWER RESILIENCY AND MAKING SURE THAT WE MAINTAIN, UM, UH, THAT WE MAINTAIN SERVICE AT THESE, UH, UH, LIFT STATIONS AND PUB STATIONS.
[00:25:01]
REALLY FOCUSED ON, UH, FORTIFYING THE, THE GENERATORS THAT WE HAVE ON HAND FOR OUR LIFT STATIONS.WE ACTUALLY HAVE 90 FIXED AND PORTABLE GENERATORS, UM, AVAILABLE, UH, AND TO MAINTAIN THE, THE WASTEWATER SYSTEM.
UM, WE'VE GOT FIVE FIXED GENERATORS LOCATED AT, UM, FIVE OF OUR HIGH RISK PUMP STATIONS, AND THEN GENERATORS STAGED AT, UM, THREE OF OUR CRITICAL PUMP STATIONS.
AND, AND ONE OF THOSE IS THE DAVIS LANE PUMP STATION, WHICH IS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR OUR SOUTHWEST, UH, PRESSURE ZONE.
UM, OUR ELECTRICAL TEAM, UM, UH, HAS, HAS, UM, SPENT A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT PURCHASING AND INSTALLING DOCKING STATIONS, UH, FOR OUR LIFT STATIONS AND PUMP STATIONS.
AND THESE ALLOW US TO QUICKLY GO IN AND, AND HOOK UP GENERATORS.
UM, IF WE LOSE POWER, UM, AT THESE STATIONS.
WE'VE GOT CONTROLLERS ON OUR, UM, GENERATORS THAT ALLOW US TO, UM, BOTH, UM, MONITOR AND OPERATE, UM, THOSE GENERATORS REMOTELY.
AGAIN, YOU KNOW, IF THERE'S ANY ACCESS ISSUES, UM, IT'S A NORMAL THING FOR US TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF OUR GENERATORS ARE FUELED, UM, GOING INTO THE WINTER SEASON.
AND THEN, UH, WE DO LEVERAGE A CITYWIDE RENTAL GENERATOR CONTRACT TO SUPPLEMENT OUR, OUR, UM, SUPPLY WHEN WE, WHEN WE NEED IT.
UM, I WILL SAY THAT, YOU KNOW, AGAIN, HAPPY TO REPORT THAT WE HAD GENERALLY NORMAL OPERATIONS, UH, THROUGH THIS, THIS RECENT, UH, EVENT.
AND I, I WANNA, YOU KNOW, I FIRST WANNA ATTRIBUTE A LOT OF THAT TO OUR OPERATIONS STAFF WHO SORT OF, YOU KNOW, GOT THROUGH THE ICE AND, AND, UH, MADE SURE TO GET WHERE THEY NEEDED TO DO TO OPERATE OUR PLANTS AND OUR FACILITIES AND ALSO, YOU KNOW, FIX LEAKS AND, AND, AND DO THE MAINTENANCE.
THEY, THEY NEEDED TO KEEP THINGS MOVING, UM, THROUGHOUT, YOU KNOW, THE, THE UTILITY, UM, WE DID AT THE WATER AND WASTEWATER FACILITIES.
WE DID HAVE, UH, STAFF THAT SHELTERED IN PLACE.
UM, AND THAT WAS NOT ONLY, YOU KNOW, FOR THEIR SAFETY AND, YOU KNOW, MAKING SURE THAT, THAT THEY, THEY DIDN'T HAVE TO KIND OF ROUGH IT TO GET HOME, BUT ALSO SO THAT, YOU KNOW, THEY WOULD BE THERE WHEN THEIR SHIFTS BEGAN, UH, BEGAN.
SO, UM, REALLY WANT TO, YOU KNOW, APPLAUD THE EFFORTS OF, OF OUR STAFF FOR, FOR, AGAIN, KEEPING THINGS MOVING.
UM, THE OTHER THING IS, YOU KNOW, I REALLY ATTRIBUTE OUR SUCCESSES A LOT TO THESE WINTER PREPARATION, UM, ACTIVITIES THAT WE'VE DONE.
A LOT OF THE, UM, OUR STAFF SPENT THE LAST, YOU KNOW, LAST QUARTER OF LAST YEAR, UM, JUST GETTING GEARED UP.
AND, UM, IT WAS A LOT, IT WAS EASIER COMING INTO STARTING THE YEAR AND, AND, YOU KNOW, JUMPING INTO THIS EVENT BECAUSE A LOT OF THE, A LOT OF THE PREPARATION WORK HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE.
UM, AND THEN FINALLY I WANTED TO ECHO WHAT AMY SAID EARLIER, WHICH IS IN WITHIN OPERATIONS, WE DEFINITELY, UM, COME OUT OF THESE EVENTS, UM, YOU KNOW, DOCUMENTING WHAT WENT WELL AND WHAT, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM.
AND, UM, NO, NO TWO EVENTS IN URI SINCE URI HAVE REALLY EVER BEEN THE SAME.
AND SO IT'S, YOU KNOW, THERE'S A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ALL THE STORMS WE'VE, WE'VE WEATHERED, UM, BUT IT'S IMPORTANT FOR US TO HAVE THAT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT AND TO REFINE OUR PROCEDURES, YOU KNOW, EVERY TIME SO THAT, UM, WE CAN JUST GET A LITTLE BIT BETTER.
SO WITH THAT, I WILL OPEN UP FOR QUESTIONS.
AND CLEARLY THE WORK HAS, UM, MATTERED OR, OR BEEN SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, WE DID GET THROUGH THIS, IT WAS DIFFERENT THAN PREVIOUS STORMS. NO TWO STORMS WERE THE SAME, BUT CLEARLY WE WERE ABLE TO WEATHER THE STORM QUITE WELL.
SO, ANY QUESTIONS VICE CHARLES? SO WE WERE HAPPY TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT POP UP IN DISTRICT EIGHT, LUCKILY JUST A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE THE STORM.
CAN YOU TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE EMERGENCY POPUPS AND WHERE PEOPLE CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT AUSTIN WATER, UM, INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO HELP PROTECT THEIR PIPES OR DRAIN THEIR PIPES AND THINGS OF THAT NATURE? ALL OF THE INFORMATION THAT WE HAND OUT AT THOSE EVENTS IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.
WE HAVE A PAGE SET UP SPECIFICALLY ABOUT HOW TO PREPARE FOR COLD WEATHER EVENTS.
SO WE HAVE ALL OF OUR TIP SHEETS THERE AND VIDEOS THAT, YOU KNOW, ILLUSTRATE THINGS, YOU KNOW, SO THAT PEOPLE CAN KIND OF SEE HOW TO FIND THEIR WATER SHUT OFF, HOW TO DRIP PROPERLY FROM PIPES.
UM, I KNOW THAT THERE ARE A NUMBER OF, UH, POP-UP EVENTS THAT ARE USUALLY ORGANIZED BY OUR, UM, BYER AUSTIN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
I THINK THAT THEY SET THAT ONE UP AND WE PARTICIPATED BECAUSE WINTER IS SOMETHING THAT WE CAN HELP PEOPLE PREPARE FOR.
UM, WE ALSO HAVE REGULAR EVENTS AT BILL PAYMENT CENTERS IN DECEMBER, UH, TO DISTRIBUTE.
AND THOSE HAVE BEEN VERY POPULAR.
WE HAND OUT WATER METER KEYS AND HOSE BIB COVERS AND THINGS LIKE THAT, AS WELL AS THE PROVIDE TIPS AND GUIDANCE ON HOW PEOPLE CAN PREPARE.
UM, SO THE FREQUENCY OF THE, THE, THE ONES AT THE BILL PAYMENT CENTERS HAPPEN EVERY YEAR.
I THINK, UM, AUSTIN EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IS SETTING THOSE THINGS UP IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS THROUGHOUT THE YEAR AND WE PARTICIPATE IN THE ONES PARTICULARLY FOCUSED ON, ON WINTER EVENTS, UM, TO HELP PEOPLE PROTECT THEIR PIPES.
[00:30:01]
TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR OUTREACH TO APARTMENTS? I KNOW THIS IS AN ISSUE EVERY TIME FREEZES COME WHERE, YOU KNOW, APARTMENT DWELLERS LIKE I AM TYPICALLY HERE, YOU KNOW, DRIP YOUR FAUCETS, BUT WHAT OTHER QUESTIONS SHOULD PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN APARTMENTS BE ASKING, WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD APARTMENT MANAGEMENT COMPANIES KNOW? RIGHT.WHAT AND WHAT DOES THE OUTREACH LOOK LIKE FOR AUSTIN WATER? SO, UM, WE PARTNER WITH AUSTIN ENERGY WHO, UM, A LOT OF, BECAUSE BECAUSE WE HAVE, UH, WE DON'T HAVE INDIVIDUAL METERS FOR APARTMENTS, WE DON'T HAVE CONTACT INFORMATION FOR ALL THE FOLKS LIVING IN APARTMENTS.
SO WE PARTNER WITH AUSTIN ENERGY TO SEND MESSAGING OUT TO APARTMENT RESIDENTS SO THAT THEY GET THAT INFORMATION AND UNDERSTAND THAT THEY NEED TO WORK THROUGH THEIR PROPERTY MANAGER IF THEY'RE, IF THEY'RE ENCOUNTERING ISSUES.
AND THEN, YOU KNOW, THE PROPERTY MANAGER WOULD CONTACT US.
SO, UM, AND THIS PARTICULAR RECENT EVENT, WE DID SEND OUT AN EMAIL MESSAGE TO APARTMENT DWELLERS WITH AUSTIN ENERGY'S HELP, UM, TO HELP OUR, OUR, OUR, UM, APARTMENT RENTERS, UM, UM, PREPARE FOR THE WEATHER.
AND I KNOW, UM, DURING THESE STORMS, THERE'S A LOT OF ISSUES WITH FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS. HAVE THERE BEEN ANY UPDATES LATELY ON WHAT THE BEST PRACTICE IS? ARE THEY DRAINING THOSE SYSTEMS? ARE THEY KEEPING THEM PARTIALLY PRESSURIZED? IS THERE AN INDUSTRY STANDARD THAT, THAT MOST FOLKS SHOULD BE WORKING WITH AT THIS POINT? I DUNNO THE ANSWER TO THAT.
WE'LL HAVE TO GET BACK TO YOU YEAH.
WE'LL HAVE TO, WE'LL HAVE TO RESEARCH THAT.
I THINK THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL.
'CAUSE I KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, FOLKS THAT LIVE IN SINGLE FAMILY HOMES AREN'T FAMILIAR WITH HAVING FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEMS ALL THE WAY THROUGHOUT THE BUILDING, INDOOR AND OUTDOOR.
AND SO I KNOW THAT THAT'S USUALLY SOME OF THE ISSUES THAT WE ENCOUNTER IS EITHER THROUGH THAT PRESSURIZATION OR THEY END UP HAVING, UM, PERSONNEL PATROLS WHEN THEY NEED TO DRAIN THAT SYSTEM.
AND SO THERE'S A LOT OF SAFETY IMPACTS THAT I JUST HOPE OTHER FOLKS ARE AWARE OF THAT ARE HAPPENING.
ALRIGHT, COUNCILLOR SIEGEL, THANK YOU CHAIR, AND THANKS ALL FOR THIS GREAT PRESENTATION.
UM, I WAS CURIOUS IF YOU COULD JUST SHARE HOW, UH, AUSTIN WATER LEARNED FROM THE 2021 FREEZE, UH, AND HOW THAT IMPACTED, UH, WHERE WE ARE TODAY? OH, I WOULD, UM, YES, THAT WAS AN UNPRECEDENTED, UH, EVENT IN A TIME WHEN WE WERE USING THE WORDS UNPRECEDENTED A LOT.
UM, AND, UH, IT WAS A STATEWIDE EVENT.
UM, ALMOST EVERY WATER SYSTEM IN THE STATE SUFFERED THE SAME KINDS OF EFFECTS THAT WE DID.
UM, BUT, YOU KNOW, I THINK, UH, THERE WERE SO MANY FACTORS IN THAT EVENT THAT WE LEARNED FROM ON THE WATER DISTRIBUTION SIDE.
AT THE TIME WE HAD, WE WERE JUST STARTING OUR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MY A TX WATER SYSTEM, SO WE ONLY HAD ABOUT 5,000 AUTOMATED METERS IN THE SYSTEM.
SO IT WAS REALLY DIFFICULT THEN WITH A, WITH MOSTLY ANALOG METERS TO KNOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING ON THE PRIVATE SIDE.
AND WE KNOW THAT WE HAD SO MANY BREAKS ON THE PRIVATE SIDE DURING THAT TIME.
SO SINCE THEN, WE'RE FULLY DEPLOYED WITH OUR AUTOMATED METERS.
THAT GIVES US A MUCH BETTER PICTURE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING, UM, ON THE PRIVATE SIDE OF THE METER.
UM, MOST OF THE THINGS THAT YOU HEARD THIS TEAM TALK ABOUT TODAY, UH, OUR, OUR LESSONS THAT WE LEARNED FROM WINTER STORM URI AND FOLLOWING EVENTS, BUT REALLY THAT WAS THE BIG ONE THAT LAUNCHED A LOT OF THIS WORK.
UM, THE WATER TANKERS, UH, WE BOUGHT AND DEPLOYED THOSE AFTER WINTER STORM URI BECAUSE WE NEEDED A WAY TO DO WIDESPREAD WATER DISTRIBUTION.
AND SO IN SUBSEQUENT EVENTS, WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO TAKE THOSE WATER TANKERS STAY FULL AND CLEAN AND MAINTAINED ALL THE TIME.
THAT'S A, THAT'S A, THAT'S A THING WE DO NOW AS PART OF OUR REGULAR OPERATIONS.
WE DON'T WAIT AND FILL THEM UP WHEN WE NEED THEM.
AND SO THAT ALLOWS US, AND WE HAVE DONE IT WHERE WE'VE DEPLOYED A WATER TANKER TO, UM, YOU KNOW, TO A-A-A-C-C CAMPUS, FOR EXAMPLE.
AND THEN PEOPLE CAN COME AND FILL UP THEIR JUGS FROM THAT TANKER.
UM, THE, UM, COMMUNICATIONS TOTALLY REWORKED OUR COMMUNICATIONS SINCE WINTER STORM URI.
ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT AMY TALKED ABOUT, UM, IS, AND CERTAINLY WE DIDN'T REALLY HAVE THE MY A TX WATER PORTAL BECAUSE WE WERE JUST INITIALLY ROLLING OUT OUR, OUR, UM, A MI SYSTEM.
AND SO NOW AGAIN, THAT'S FULLY DEPLOYED.
OUR CUSTOMERS ARE USED TO HEARING FROM US ON A REGULAR BASIS.
UM, THE DEPUTY INCIDENT COMMANDER POSITION THAT AMY TALKED ABOUT, THAT WAS AN OUTCOME OF WINTER STORM URI WHERE WE REALLY REALIZED WE NEEDED THAT ADDITIONAL, UM, FOCUS ON COMMUNICATIONS AND COORDINATION AND THAT, THAT WE NEEDED THAT TO BE SEPARATE FROM THE ROLE OF THE INCIDENT COMMANDER WHO'S MANAGING RESTORATION OF THE SYSTEM.
UM, THERE, I MEAN, I, I HONESTLY COULD GO ON AND ON AND ON, BUT THAT WE, WE LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THAT EVENT THAT WE USE EVERY DAY, UM, AND HAVE OPERATIONALIZED INTO
[00:35:01]
OUR DAY-TO-DAY BUSINESS.'CAUSE ONE OF THE THINGS WE REALIZE, AS YOU'VE HEARD US TALK ABOUT VOC HEARD US TALK ABOUT MAKING SURE WE HAVE 235 MILLION GALLONS PER DAY OF TREATMENT AVAILABLE DAY IN AND DAY OUT, WHICH IS, THAT'S A LOT MORE THAN THE CITY USES.
AND SO, UM, HAVING THAT CAPACITY ON HAND IS NOT SOMETHING WE REALLY, WE WORRIED ABOUT IT IN THE SUMMER, BUT NOT IN THE WINTER.
NOW, WE WORRY ABOUT IT ALL YEAR LONG.
UM, SO WHAT WE KNOW IS THAT THE THINGS THAT WE DO EVERY SINGLE DAY, WE'RE ABLE TO RAMP UP THE INTENSITY OF THOSE THINGS IN EMERGENCIES BETTER THAN THINGS WE DON'T DO EVERY DAY.
AND SO WE HAVE REALLY TRIED TO BUILD ALL OF THESE CAPABILITIES INTO OUR DAILY WORK SO THAT, AS RICK SAYS, WE'RE TURNING A VOLUME KNOB, NOT FLIPPING AN ON OFF SWITCH.
UH, YOU KNOW, IT'S WONDERFUL THAT OUR GOVERNMENT IS LEARNING AND ADAPTING AND, AND YOU KNOW, CONTINUING TO IMPROVE, RIGHT? YES.
NONE OF US EVER WANT TO GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN.
UM, WELL THEN JUST A COUPLE QUICK, UH, KIND OF CONSTITUENT SERVICES RELATED QUESTIONS.
UM, ONE QUESTION MY STAFF ASKED WAS, UH, DOES AUSTIN WATER HAVE A NUMBER TO CALL, UM, ESPECIALLY DURING SOME OF THESE MORE CHALLENGING EVENTS, UH, SIMILAR TO THE WAY FOLKS REPORT OUTAGES TO AE 9 7 2 1000 OKAY.
IS THE DIRECT LINE INTO OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE CONTACT CENTER.
WE'LL, WE'LL MAKE SURE WE HAVE THAT HANDY.
AND THEN ALSO, UM, DO WE HAVE RESOURCES THAT WE SHOULD SHARE WITH OUR CONSTITUENTS ABOUT INSULATING PIPES OR LOCATING THEIR WATER SHUTOFF VALVE IN PREPARATION FOR THESE EVENTS? UM, SO YEAH, WE'D LOVE TO DISTRIBUTE THAT INFORMATION IF WE HAVE IT.
YES, ALL OF THAT IS ONLINE AND I CAN SEND YOU A LINK AFTER THIS MEETING SO THAT YOU CAN SHARE THAT.
THANK YOU CHAIR, AND THANKS FOR THIS GREAT PRESENTATION.
AND, UH, I'M HAPPY TO REPORT THAT I DON'T THINK WE GOT TO ANY ISSUES IN OUR DISTRICT OVER THE STORM.
SO I COMMEND WHATEVER YOU GUYS ARE DOING TO MAKE SURE THAT THINGS ARE, UH, THAT WE'RE LEARNING FROM OUR PRIOR EXPERIENCES AND THAT WE ARE, UH, NAVIGATING THESE VERY EFFECTIVELY.
IT SOUNDS LIKE I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS, UH, THAT I WANTED TO STEP THROUGH REGARDING JUST THE SORT OF BREADTH OF THE EMERGENCIES THAT YOU ALL ARE PREPARING FOR.
UH, I DON'T LIKE TO TALK ABOUT IT, BUT SOME OF THE THINGS THAT KEEP ME UP AT NIGHT ARE THE THINGS THAT WE, YOU KNOW, THERE ARE, THAT ARE NOT THE ICE STORMS, WHICH I UNDERSTAND THAT ARE VERY RELEVANT AT THIS MOMENT, BUT THERE ARE THINGS LIKE A CYBER ATTACK OR, UM, CIVIL UNREST, OR PEOPLE DON'T SHOW UP TO WORK ONE DAY OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
OR MAYBE FOR MORE THAN ONE DAY.
HOW ARE WE IN THE SAME WAY THAT WE ARE LEARNING AND ADAPTING FROM THE, UH, SEVERE WEATHER, HOW ARE WE SORT OF STAYING CURRENT IF WE ARE AT ALL? I'M ASSUMING WE'RE PREPARING IF WE'RE DOING ALL HAZARDS, BUT HOW ARE WE MAKING SURE THAT WE'RE PREPARED, HARDENED, WHATEVER THE RIGHT TERM IS FOR THOSE KIND OF, HOPEFULLY MUCH LOWER PROBABILITY EVENTS, BUT THINGS THAT I IMAGINE WOULD STILL COULD STILL DISRUPT SERVICES? UM, I MEAN, LIKE YOU MENTIONED THAT WE HAVE REMOTE ACCESS TO SOME OF THE, THE COOL THINGS THAT WE'RE DEPLOYING OUT THERE, THE DOCKING STATIONS, ET CETERA.
BUT I, I WORRY ABOUT THE SECURITY OF, OF, UH, MAYBE YOU CAN SPEAK TO THAT CERTAINLY.
SO, UM, CYBERSECURITY IN PARTICULAR IS A, IS A EXTREMELY HIGH PRIORITY FOR AUSTIN WATER AS WE KNOW THAT WATER UTILITIES ARE, ARE OUR TARGETS OF THOSE KINDS OF ATTACKS.
UH, AND SO WE, WE ARE FOCUSED ON THAT WITHIN OUR, WITHIN OUR DAY-TO-DAY BUSINESS, MAKING SURE THAT OUR SYSTEMS ARE SECURE.
YOU KNOW, WE NEED OUR, OUR STAFF NEED THE ABILITY TO SEE SOME OF THESE REMOTE LOCATIONS, BUT WE HAVE TO DO THAT IN A WAY THAT'S SECURE.
AND SO WE'RE, WE'RE VERY FOCUSED ON WHAT THOSE PROTOCOLS ARE.
UM, WE DO ALSO, AND, AND RICK COULD TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THIS, BUT IN SOME OF OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DRILLS, OUR TABLETOP EXERCISES, THE TEAM WILL DO LIKE AN INJECT, UH, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DRILL.
UM, FOR, UH, FOR SOME OF THE THINGS THAT YOU MENTIONED.
LIKE, I KNOW THERE WAS ONE WHERE WE SAID, OKAY, WELL NOW, NOW SOMEBODY'S BROKEN SOMETHING ON PURPOSE IN OUR SYSTEM.
UH, YOU WANNA COMMENT ON THAT? YES, THANK YOU.
AND IT GOES BACK TO WHAT I DISCUSSED INITIALLY WAS, WAS OUR, UH, CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, UH, OUR TEAMS, AGAIN, IT, IT DOESN'T, THE PROBLEM DOESN'T MATTER.
WE, WE, WE ATTACK ANY CHALLENGE, UM, THE SAME WAY THROUGH THE INCIDENT COMMAND SYSTEM MOBILIZING OUR INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM AND UTILIZING OUR NEARLY 200 STAFF THAT ARE TRAINED IN BOTH OF THOSE TO, UH, WORK THROUGH OBJECTIVES TO OVERCOME THAT CHALLENGE.
AND, AND AS PART OF THAT, TO TRAIN FOR THAT TO PRACTICE THAT WE
[00:40:01]
DO, LIKE THE DIRECTOR SAID, EXTENSIVE, UH, TABLETOP AND FULL SCALE EXERCISES.AND PART OF THOSE EXERCISES WE HAVE WHAT'S CALLED A MEASLE, A MASTER, UH, SCHEDULE OF EVENTS.
UM, AND AS PART OF THAT, WE DO INJECTS.
WE TRY TO TAKE OUR TEAM OFF TRACK.
THEY WILL, UH, OUR TEAMS ARE VERY GOOD AT, AT GETTING GOING AND, AND THINKING THEY'RE GOING DOWN THE ROAD THAT WE WANT 'EM TO GO DOWN.
AND THEN WE, AS, AS OBSERVERS AND, AND INSTRUCTORS WILL CHANGE THE SCENARIO AND INTENTIONALLY GET THEM OFF TRACK.
SO THEY HAVE TO REEVALUATE THEIR OBJECTIVES, REEVALUATE WHAT'S IN FRONT OF 'EM NOW, AND CREATE NEW OBJECTIVES AND START DOWN A NEW PATH.
UM, SO THAT'S ALL PART OF THE CONTINUOUS EDUCATION, CONTINUOUS, UH, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PROCESS.
I WAS INTERESTING YOU USED THE, THE, THAT YOU'VE GOT A MEASLE SYSTEM.
'CAUSE THAT WAS ONE OF THE SCENARIOS I WAS THINKING ABOUT TOO.
WHICH ONE, IF THERE'S ANOTHER PANDEMIC, WHAT IF, YOU KNOW, A QUARTER OR 10TH OF OUR WORKFORCE IS ABLE TO HELP US? HOW TO, YOU KNOW, IS THE SYSTEM RESILIENT UNDER THOSE DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES? AND IT SOUNDS LIKE, UH, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE SOME SYSTEM IN PLACE THAT IS ACCOUNTING FOR ALL OF THIS, OR THAT YOU'RE, UH, WHETHER THE TABLETOP EXERCISES OR SOMETHING ELSE THAT YOU'RE ABLE TO, UH, HAVE A PLAN READY FOR THOSE CIRCUMSTANCES.
AND, AND, AND AGAIN, THAT'S WHAT WE PRACTICE.
UH, AND WE TRY TO PRACTICE, UH, LIKE WE PLAY, WE WANT TO MAKE OUR, OUR DRILLS, OUR TABLETOPS AS REALISTIC AS POSSIBLE.
AND THAT'S WHY WE USE THOSE INJECTS TO FORCE PEOPLE OFF, OFF TRACK BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS IN A REAL EMERGENCY.
YOU'LL, YOU'LL SEE ONE THING, START WORKING ON THAT, AND THEN SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT HAPPENS THAT YOU'D HAD NO IDEA WAS COMING, AND NOW YOU HAVE TO DEAL WITH TWO OR THREE OR FOUR THINGS.
AND SO WHEN WE PRACTICE, LIKE WE PLAY THROUGH THE CONTINUOUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT, THAT MAKES SURE OUR TEAM, OUR, OUR 200 STAFF THAT ARE TRAINED FOR THE INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM ARE READY, UM, WHEN SOMETHING REAL HAPPENS.
UH, AND THAT'S COMFORTING TO KNOW.
LAST QUESTION I'VE GOT IS JUST TO HELP ME UNDERSTAND WHAT CAN THE AVERAGE RESIDENT OR RIGHT PAYER EXPECT WHEN THERE'S, UH, FOR INSTANCE, A BROKEN MAY AND, AND WE'VE HAD SOME OF THOSE IN OUR AREA LAST YEARS THROUGH SOME OF THE CONSTRUCTION, AND I'D LIKE TO BE ABLE TO CONVEY TO CONSTITUENTS WHAT THEY CAN EXPECT.
AND AS PART OF THAT, I'LL ASK, ARE THERE ANY SIGNUPS, YOU KNOW, LIKE WE'VE GOT WARREN CENTRAL TEXAS.ORG.
IS THERE, UH, A PARTICULAR PLACE THAT PEOPLE NEED TO SIGN UP FOR TO ACCESS CERTAIN KINDS OF ALERTS TO OPT IN? SO I'M GONNA TAKE THE SECOND PART OF THE QUESTION.
I DON'T KNOW, STEPHANIE, IF YOU WANT TO COVER THE, WHAT TO EXPECT IF A MAIN BREAKS, UM, OR, UM, BUT ARE, ARE MY A TX WATER PORTAL, UM, WE HAVE THE ABILITY FOR, FOR ANY CUSTOMER WHO HAS THEIR EMAIL TIED TO THEIR ACCOUNT, UH, TO, TO SEND, UH, ALERTS AND NOTIFICATIONS ABOUT, UM, ANY SERVICE IMPACTS THAT MIGHT BE, THAT THEY MIGHT BE EXPERIENCING AT THAT TIME.
AND, AND THEY, THEY CAN'T OPT OUT OF THOSE.
WE, WE, WE HAVE THAT LEVERED UP SO THAT THAT IS AN EMERGENCY NOTIFICATION THAT WE CAN PUSH OUT TO THEM.
SO THE REAL FACTOR IS HAVING ACCURATE EMAIL ADDRESS INFORMATION AND PHONE NUMBER IF WE ENDED UP DOING ROBOCALLS OR TEXTING.
UM, HAVING THAT INFORMATION ACCURATE IN THE PORTAL IS THE KEY THING THAT HELPS US GET THE MESSAGE TO THEM.
BUT, BUT WE'VE, WE'VE DEFAULTED TO THOSE BEING SENT AS EMERGENCY NOTIFICATIONS.
SO THAT WILL, THAT WILL COVER THAT TO COUNCIL MEMBER ELLIS'S QUESTION EARLIER ABOUT APARTMENT DWELLERS WHERE WE DON'T HAVE A CUSTOMER ACCOUNT IN THAT SYSTEM.
UM, WE ARE TRACKING FOR EVENTS THAT WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE WITH OUR RENTERS AND THE COMMUNITY, AND WE WORK WITH AUSTIN ENERGY ON REACHING THOSE FOLKS.
WHAT ABOUT THE, GO AHEAD, SORRY.
WELL, ON THE, ON THE WATER MAIN LEAKAGE SIDE, I WAS GONNA SAY THAT, UM, AUSTIN WATER HAS A LEAKAGE AND OUTAGE MAP THAT WE MAINTAIN THAT IS A PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE MAP THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN PULL IT UP AND KINDA KEEP TRACK WITH, UM, THE REPAIR, THE REPAIR TIME, THE ESTIMATED REPAIR TIME, ET CETERA.
UM, AND THEN I MENTIONED EARLIER THE, WE, WE INTERNALLY HAVE A SORT OF ESCALATED COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL IN PLACE.
UM, BECAUSE WE ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THERE, THERE ARE TIMES WHEN WE GET INTO, WE GO INTO FIX A LEAK AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ARE DIFFERENT, WE NEED MORE TRAFFIC CONTROL THAN WE THOUGHT WE DID, OR, OR IT'S JUST WORSE CONDITION THAN WE ANTICIPATED.
AND SO NOT ONLY DOES THAT, THAT, THAT DEFINITELY ALERTS INTERNALLY, UM, OUR, YOU KNOW, KIND OF
[00:45:01]
ESCALATES, UM, SO THAT FOLKS ARE AWARE.BUT I THINK ALSO THE PUBLIC INFORMATION FOLKS ARE ALSO ON THAT, ON THAT STRAND SO THAT THEY KNOW, YOU KNOW, THAT THEY CAN STEP IN AND MAKE SURE TO COMMUNICATE WITH, WITH THE PUBLIC AS WELL.
UH, I'LL ADD A LITTLE BIT ABOUT, UM, KIND OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A WATER METER AND A POWER METER.
AUSTIN ENERGY CAN SEE THAT A POWER METER IS OUTTA SERVICE.
UM, WE CAN SEE WHETHER OR NOT SOMEONE IS USING WATER, BUT THAT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THEY'RE OUT OF SERVICE.
IF THEY'RE NOT USING WATER, THEY MAY JUST NOT BE HOME.
AND SO WE RELY ON OUR MAPPING TO KNOW WHO'S GOING TO BE OUTTA SERVICE.
AND THAT DEPENDS ON WHICH VALVES WE HAVE TO CLOSE IN THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN ORDER TO ACCESS THAT, UH, ISOLATE THAT BRAKE FOR REPAIR.
AND SO IT CAN TAKE US SOME TIME TO GET OUT THERE, FIND THE BRAKE, UH, EXCAVATE IT, UM, FIND THE APPROPRIATE VALVES TO CLOSE TO ISOLATE IT, UH, AND THEN NOTIFY THE CUSTOMERS THAT WHOSE SERVICES ARE WITHIN THAT AREA THAT'S BEEN SHUT OUT.
AND SO, UM, SO WE DO OUR VERY BEST TO PROVIDE THOSE TIMELY COMMUNICATIONS.
AND WE MAY SOMETIMES, UH, COMMUNICATE TO A LARGER AREA BECAUSE WE, WE, WE DON'T WANNA MISS ANYONE.
UM, BUT EVENTUALLY WE GET THAT DIALED IN AND WE, UM, IF THAT, UH, YOU KNOW, AS THE SYSTEM THAT STEPHANIE TALKED ABOUT, IF THAT OUTAGE IS GOING TO BE EXTEND LONGER THAN WE THOUGHT, THEY MAY GET IN THERE AND FIND OUT THAT IT'S A, YOU KNOW, IT'S A KIND OF REPAIR THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO BRING IN A SPECIALTY CONTRACTOR FOR, FOR EXAMPLE.
UM, THEN WE WILL DELIVER WATER TO THOSE CUSTOMERS THAT ARE OUT OF SERVICE.
UM, AND, AND SO THOSE, I JUST WANNA SORT OF HELP YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THE, WHAT THE THOUGHT PROCESS IS THAT WE GO THROUGH AND THE STEPS THAT WE GO THROUGH IN ORDER TO MAKE SURE WE KNOW WHO IS GOING TO BE AFFECTED AND WE'RE COMMUNICATING WITH THEM.
IT DEFINITELY SOUNDS A LOT MORE COMPLEX THAN THE WAY THAT AUSTIN ENERGY CAN MONITOR THEIR OUTAGES.
I GUESS TO THAT POINT THOUGH, IS THERE ANYTHING THAT WE NEED TO BE, OR WOULD BE VALUABLE TO BE ADVISING OR RESIDENTS ABOUT REPORTING THINGS? I KNOW THAT THERE ARE TIMES THAT WE CAN SEE THE MAIN BREAK AND SHOOT WATER THROUGH HUNDRED FEET IN THE AIR.
THERE ARE TIMES THAT WE JUST TURN ON THE FAUCET AND THERE'S NO WATER THERE.
DOES THAT HELP TO CALL THOSE IN? YES.
AND THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT'S ANOTHER THING IS THAT WE, UM, YES, WE APPRECIATE THE CALLS FROM CUSTOMERS TO LET US KNOW WHAT THEY SEE BECAUSE WE HAVE A 538 SQUARE MILE SERVICE AREA.
WE HAVE OVER 4,000 MILES OF WATER PIPE.
UM, AND SO IT REALLY, WHILE WE'RE MONITORING THE PRESSURE POINTS, WE'RE MONITORING THE STORAGE LEVELS IN OUR, IN OUR RESERVOIRS, WE MAY NOT SEE THOSE LEAKS RIGHT AWAY.
AND SO IT REALLY HELPS US WHEN CUSTOMERS CALL 9 7 2 1000 TO TELL US THEY'VE SEEN SOMETHING, TELL, TELL US THEY'RE HAVING A PROBLEM IN THEIR HOME, THAT PROBLEM MAY BE WITHIN THEIR HOME, BUT WE STILL WANNA SEND A SERVICE TECHNICIAN TO, TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S, TO FIND OUT WHETHER IT'S ON OUR SIDE OR IT'S ON THEIR SIDE, SO THAT EITHER WAY IT CAN GET FIXED.
IT SOUNDS LIKE, UH, WE'LL WORK ON GETTING EMAILS AND PHONES SIGN UP ON THE PORTAL.
WE'LL WORK ON ENSURING PEOPLE CALL IN WHEN THEY HAVE AN OUTAGE AND THEN WE'LL SLEEP SOUNDLY AT NIGHT KNOWING THAT YOU GUYS ARE ON TOP OF ALL OF THE, UH, SCARY THINGS THAT I WORRY ABOUT.
ALRIGHT, WELL, WOW, UH, APPRECIATE THE CONVERSATION AND WE'LL SEE YOU SOMETIME SOON, I'M SURE.
I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE QUESTIONS.
[3. Briefing on the UT-City CoLab. [Zach Baumer, Director - Austin Climate Action and Resilience; Marc Coudert, Climate Resilience and Adaptation Manager - Austin Climate Action and Resilience; Dr. Dev Niyogi, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Jackson School of Geosciences - The University of Texas at Austin].]
NEXT, WE'LL MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER THREE.THIS IS A BRIEFING ON THE UT CITY COLAB.
I'M ZACH BAUMER, UH, DIRECTOR OF AUSTIN CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE.
UH, TODAY, PRESENTING WITH ME, UH, IS MARK KUDAIR, WHO IS A CLIMATE RESILIENCE MANAGER IN OUR OFFICE.
AND THEN ALSO ON WEBEX, WE HAVE DR.
NAGI IS SICK WITH A COLD FLU TODAY.
[00:50:02]
WE'RE REALLY GLAD THAT HE DIDN'T COME AND MAKE EVERYBODY SICK.UM, BUT BECAUSE OF WEB WEBEX CAPABILITIES, WE WERE ABLE TO SEND HIM THE LINK.
AND SO HE'S GONNA BE PRESENTING, UM, WE'LL BE SWITCHING BACK BETWEEN, UH, PRESENTERS.
UM, SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED TODAY TO PRESENT TO YOU ABOUT THE UT CITY COLAB.
UM, THIS COLLABORATION HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT THREE YEARS, FULLY FUNDED, UM, FROM THE CITY OF AUSTIN IN COLLABORATION WITH RESEARCHERS AT UT.
UM, THIS, THIS RELATIONSHIP REALLY BEGAN IN ABOUT 2020.
NAGI, UH, IN, UH, ACTUALLY VIA WEBEX AND ZOOM.
UM, HE WAS IN THE PROCESS OF TRANSITIONING, UH, FROM BEING THE STATE CLIMATOLOGIST IN, UH, THE STATE OF INDIANA AND WORKING AT PURDUE UNIVERSITY, UM, AND TAKING A POSITION DOWN HERE AT UT AUSTIN.
UM, SO HE, HE WAS IN THE PROCESS OF THAT TRANSITION TRANSITION.
UH, MARK AND I WERE INTERESTED IN A NEW SET OF CLIMATE PROJECTIONS FOR THE AUSTIN AREA, LOOKING OUT 20, 50, A HUNDRED YEARS, UH, USING DOWNSCALE SCALED CLIMATE MODELS, UM, TO TRY TO UNDERSTAND HOW HEAT, DROUGHT, FLOOD, WILDFIRE, ALL THOSE THINGS WE'RE GONNA BE CHANGING IN OUR COMMUNITY, UM, AND, AND HOW OUR DEPARTMENTS COULD, UH, LEVERAGE THAT INFORMATION AND USE THAT INFORMATION IN THEIR PLANNING.
UM, SO THAT INITIAL RELATIONSHIP, UM, GREW INTO WHAT NOW IS THE UT CITY COLOR LAB, WHERE WE, UM, CONNECT RESEARCHERS WHO ARE STUDYING ALL OF THESE PROBLEMS RELATED TO A CHANGING CLIMATE AND CONNECTING THOSE WITH CITY OF AUSTIN DEPARTMENTS AND REAL PROBLEMS AND REAL QUESTIONS, UM, THAT ALL OF OUR, UM, ALL OF OUR DEPARTMENTS HAVE ABOUT HOW IS CLIMATE CHANGE GONNA AFFECT US, UM, AND HOW CAN WE BETTER BE BETTER PREPARED, UM, IN THE YEARS AHEAD AND DO BETTER PLANNING, UH, FOR THOSE CHANGES.
UH, SO TODAY OUR AGENDA, WE'RE GONNA COVER, UH, FOUR AREAS.
WE'RE GONNA TRY TO GO THROUGH THIS PRETTY QUICKLY.
UM, FIRST WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT LOCAL CLIMATE IMPACTS, OUR NEW REALITY AND WHAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS GOING TO MEAN FOR US HERE IN AUSTIN.
THEN WE'LL TALK SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THE UT CITY COLAB, HOW IT'S SET UP, HOW IT WORKS.
I'LL THEN TALK ABOUT PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS.
UH, WE'RE IN OUR THIRD YEAR OF COLLABORATION NOW AS A, AS AN OFFICIAL, UM, COLAB.
SO THERE'S A, THERE'S A LOT TO TALK ABOUT.
UM, AND THEN CLOSING, UH, AND WRAP UP.
SO IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT, UH, WE NOW LIVE IN A NEW ERA.
WHILE CENTRAL TEXAS HAS ALWAYS HAD EXTREME WEATHER, THESE EVENTS HAVE HAPPENING MORE OFTEN, MORE SEVERELY AND A LOT MORE COMPLEX AS THE CITY CONTINUES TO GROW.
JUST IN THE LAST 15 YEARS, WE'VE SEEN A LOT OF DIFFERENT EVENTS HAPPENING HERE IN AUSTIN, FOR EXAMPLE, BACK IN 2011, WE HAD 90 DAYS OVER A HUNDRED, BUT JUST IN 2023 WE HAD 80 DAYS OVER 140 DAYS, OVER 105.
SO WE'RE SEEING THESE EVENTS HAVING MORE AND MORE.
AS FOR FLOODS, I CAN JUST SAY A COUPLE OF, UH, SORT OF HOLIDAYS AND YOU'LL GET IT.
LIKE HALLOWEEN FLOODS 20 13, 20 15, WE HAD THE MEMORIAL DAY FLOOD IN 2016, AND JUST LAST YEAR WE HAD THE 4TH OF JULY FLOODS IN KERRVILLE.
BUT ALL, A LOT OF THOSE FLOODS HAPPENED HERE IN TRAVIS COUNTY.
AND THEN WE COULDN'T REALLY ADD 2026 TO THIS BECAUSE WE SUBMITTED THIS PRESENTATION LAST WEEK, BUT WE HAD THE 2021 WINTER STORM URI, WE HAD THE 2023 ICE STORM MARA.
AND THESE EVENTS ARE JUST HAPPENING IN A LOT MORE COMPLEX AND THEN WILDFIRE.
WHILE WE HAVEN'T HAD A WILDFIRE SINCE 2011, WE DO HAVE DAILY GRASS FIRES IN EAST AUSTIN THAT IMPACT PEOPLE WHO HAVE ASTHMA OR LIVE IN TRAILER PARKS.
AND WE ARE LOOKING TO SORT OF SEE HOW WE CAN THINK ABOUT THESE GOING IN THE FUTURE.
AND THEN DROUGHTS SEEM TO BE COMING AND GOING IN AN ONGOING THING, BUT THEY DEFINITELY MAKE WILDFIRE, FLOODS AND HEAT A LOT MORE COMPLEX.
AND IS DAVE N YOGI ONLINE? DAVE? YES, INDEED.
UM, I HOPE YOU'RE ABLE TO HEAR ME.
WELL, FIRST OF ALL, GOOD MORNING EVERYONE.
AND I, I, I, I REGRET I'M NOT THERE.
IN FACT, THERE IS A AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING GOING ON IN HOUSTON, UH, THIS WEEK.
AND I WAITED TO BE ABLE TO ATTEND THIS MEETING AND I WAS HOPING I'LL DO IT IN PERSON, UH, AND THEN LEAVE.
BUT, UH, CLEARLY, UH, WEATHER HAS ITS OWN PLANS.
UH, AND THIS SEEMS TO BE CONTAGIOUS BECAUSE I PICKED IT UP FROM MY DAUGHTER.
BUT ONE OF THE POINT I WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT IS THAT THESE THINGS THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IN TERMS OF THE CHANGES THAT HAVE BEEN NOTED FOR THE PAST, ONE OF THE QUESTION COMES UP IS THAT, ARE WE JUST IN ONE PART OF A CYCLE THAT, YOU KNOW, OR A PERIOD OF TIME THIS WILL GO AWAY, OR IS THIS AN ISSUE THAT WE WILL HAVE TO
[00:55:01]
BE LOOKING FOR IN A MORE LONGER TERM? AND SO WE DID THIS CLIMATE PROJECTIONS, AND WHILE THE GLOBAL MODELS ARE USEFUL, THEY'RE NEVER USABLE BECAUSE THAT IS A VERY, UH, GROSS PICTURE.SO WE NEED TO BRING IT DOWN TO LOCAL SCALE.
WHAT WE FOUND IS THAT CLEARLY WHAT EVERYONE CAN IMAGINE TEMPERATURES ARE RISING AND WE ARE GETTING OUR SUMMER TEMPERATURES, PARTICULARLY GOING INTO A HIGHER, UH, TEMPERATURE RANGES.
UH, SECOND IS WE ARE GETTING LOCKED INTO PATTERNS WHEN IT IS HOT AND WHEN IT IS DRY, IT IS HOT AND DRY.
AND THEN WHEN IT IS COLD, WE ARE GETTING LOCKED INTO A COLD, UH, PERIOD.
LIKE WE GOT THIS, UH, WINTER EVENT TODAY, LAST WEEK.
THERE'S PROBABLY ANOTHER ONE COMING THIS WEEKEND.
HOPEFULLY THERE'S NO, UH, RAINS WITH IT, BUT WE WILL BE LOCKED INTO THIS KIND OF A PATTERN FOR A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.
SO THIS, EVEN THOUGH WE ARE TALKING ABOUT INCREASED TEMPERATURE, WE ARE ALSO TALKING ABOUT COLD TEMPERATURES.
SECOND, WE FOUND THAT THE WAVES AND GUSTS ARE INCREASING, UH, WHICH MEANS THAT THE RISK FOR FIRE AND OTHERS, WE NEED TO START DEVELOPING MORE ASSESSMENT WITH REGARDS TO, YOU KNOW, THE GUSTINESS IN THE REGION IS GROWING.
THIRD, WAS THAT OUR RAINFALL PATTERNS, WE NEED TO LOOK AT IT IN A MORE LARGE SCALE.
THEY'RE MUCH MORE, UH, UNCLEAR AT THIS POINT.
BUT GETTING THIS LOCKED AND LOOKING AT THIS IN A LOCAL SCALE REALLY STARTED BECOMING ONE OF THE FEATURE THAT I WAS QUITE, UH, SURPRISED TO SEE HOW IT IS NOT JUST A RUNAWAY, BUT IN THE LARGE SWINGS IS WHAT WE ARE EXPECTING INTO THE FUTURE.
NGI SHOWED THESE PROJECTIONS GOING OUT 25, 50, 75 YEARS, WHICH SEEMS LIKE A LONG TIME, BUT IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY IS THAT THE INFRASTRUCTURE WE'RE GONNA BE USING IN 50 TO 75 YEARS IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE WE'RE BUILDING TODAY.
SO WE HAVE TO BE THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE IN ORDER TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS NOW SO THAT WE CAN PREPARE FOR IT.
BUT RIGHT NOW WE TEND TO MAKE DECISIONS BASED ON PAST DATA.
IT'S ALMOST LIKE WE'RE DRIVING DOWN THE ROAD BY GOING STRAIGHT BY JUST LOOKING THROUGH OUR REAR VIEW MIRROR, WHICH WORKS GREAT IF THE ROAD IS STRAIGHT, BUT THE MINUTE YOU HIT A CURVE, THEN WE GET IN TROUBLE.
SO WE HAVE TO BE A LOT MORE PROACTIVE ABOUT HOW DO WE START MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE WHEN THERE'S SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY AND SO MUCH SORT OF THINKING ABOUT HOW OUR ASSETS WILL BE IMPACTED, AND HOW DO WE START TO BRING THOSE PROJECTIONS INTO DECISION MAKING WITHIN THE CITY.
SO FOR THE CITY, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A MYRIAD OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS.
WE TALK TO A LOT OF DEPARTMENTS.
THEY'RE THINKING ABOUT TO, YOU KNOW, DECISIONS TRYING TO MAKE TODAY WHAT THEY SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT IN THE NEXT WEEK, NEXT MONTH, NEXT YEAR, OR NEXT 25 YEARS.
SO WE NEED TO BE SORT OF GETTING THAT DATA NOW.
WE COULD HIRE EXPENSIVE CONSULTANTS, BUT THEY TEND TO JUST TALK TO OTHER CITIES, WHICH WE CAN DO.
AND THEY DON'T REALLY HAVE CUTTING EDGE INFORMATION LIKE THEY DO HERE IN AUSTIN AND UT AUSTIN.
AND THEN ALSO WE ARE A LONG-TERM INSTITUTION, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AND AUSTIN IS ALSO A LONG-TERM INSTITUTIONS.
THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO WORK TOGETHER AND BUILD THAT INNOVATION.
AT THE SAME TIME, THERE'S A LOT OF GREAT TALENT WITHIN THE CITY, WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY, AND THIS IS A GREAT WAY FOR US TO IDENTIFY THAT TALENT AND BRING THEM INTO THE CITY.
AND FROM THE UT PERSPECTIVE, THIS ALSO ALIGNED VERY WELL BECAUSE WE ARE FINDING THAT THERE'S MORE DESIRE IN THE STUDENTS WHO ARE COMING IN THAT THEY'RE NO LONGER JUST INTERESTED IN DEVELOPING SOME SORT OF A DOCUMENT AND A PAPER.
THEY ACTUALLY WANT TO GET ENGAGED INTO THE WHOLE PROCESS OF SOLUTIONS MAKING.
THEY WANT TO WORK WITH, UH, DATA AND SO FORTH.
UH, BUT WE ARE ALSO FINDING THAT MANY OF THE FEDERAL PROGRAMS THERE IS A REAL OPPORTUNITY THAT IF THE CITY AND ACADEMIA WORK TOGETHER, THEN WE CAN BECOME VERY COMPETITIVE FOR FEDERAL GRANTS.
UH, WHICH IS ONE OTHER THING WILL SHOW THAT WHAT HAS BEEN THE SUCCESS STORY WITH THE COLAB, THAT THIS PREMISE ACTUALLY SEEMED TO WORK.
THE, UH, IMPORTANT THING THAT STARTED EMERGING WHEN I CAME DOWN FROM INDIANA, AND THIS WAS DURING WINTER STORM URI, RIGHT AFTER THAT, IS THAT MUCH OF THE CLIMATE INFORMATION, MUCH OF THE INFORMATION THAT IS OUT THERE WAS PRINCIPALLY DESIGNED FOR AGRICULTURE.
IT WAS PRINCIPALLY DESIGNED FOR VERY ALASKA HYDROLOGY.
CITIES' NEEDS ARE UNIQUE CITY NEED VERY LOCAL INFORMATION, CITY NEEDS SOME VERY SPECIFIC DATA PRODUCTS THAT ARE NOT PART OF THE LEGACY CLIMATE INFORMATION.
AND THIS IS WHERE THE IDEA OF, YOU KNOW, OUR CONVERSATIONS LED TO THE CREATION OF THIS, UH, UT CITY COLLAB, THAT WE CAN START WITH UNDERSTANDING WHAT IS IT THAT THE CITY NEED.
WE CAN START LOOKING AT WHAT DATA CAN COME TOGETHER AND THIS DATA TO DECISION FRAMEWORK WHERE WE CAN USE SCIENCE, WE CAN USE AI, WE CAN USE THE RESEARCHERS.
THAT IS WHAT HAS LED TO THE CREATION OF THIS UTC COLAB, UH, AS THE FIRST OF ITS KIND ACROSS THE GLOBE.
AND THAT IS SOMETHING THAT, UM, JUST NOT SOMETHING WE ARE SEEING, BUT UNESCO ALSO RECOGNIZED IT AND CREATED A UNESCO CHAIR TO SEE HOW THIS INFORMATION THEN CAN BE TAKEN TO OTHER PARTS OF THE GLOBE IN CREATING
[01:00:01]
THAT.SO THE WAY THE COLAB IS STRUCTURED IS THAT RIGHT NOW WE HAVE $300,000 IN OUR BUDGET, AND THEN WE USE THE INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS TO BE ABLE TO TRANSFER MONEY BACK AND FORTH AS NEEDED.
UH, WE DO HAVE THREE STAFF WITHIN OUR OFFICE WHO MEET REGULARLY WITH FOUR FACULTY AT UT TO TALK ABOUT NEXT STEPS, WHAT KIND OF PROJECTS PROGRESS ON, ON, WHAT'S GOING ON, AND WHAT WE MIGHT NEED GOING FORWARD.
WE DO HAVE ONE PERSON, UH, WHO IS CURRENTLY EMPLOYED TO HELP US, YOU KNOW, SET UP MEETINGS, UH, CONNECT WITH THE DEPARTMENTS, AND ALSO CONNECT WITH FACULTY AND MAKE THAT CONNECTION.
AND THE WAY THE PROCESS WORKS IS THAT WE TALK TO CITY DEPARTMENTS, SEE WHAT RESEARCH THEY NEED, TALK TO UT FACULTY, SEE WHAT'S COMING UP THAT'S REALLY INNOVATIVE, AND THAT WE CAN TIE INTO AND MAKE SURE THAT EACH PROJECT IS ONE CONNECTED TO SOME KIND OF CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT.
EITHER REDUCING GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS OR PREPARING FOR CLIMATE CHANGE.
TWO HAS A DIRECT BENEFIT TO THE CITY, SO TRAVIS COUNTY, AND THEN THREE MUST HAVE A CONTACT AT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AND THEN ALSO MUST HAVE A CONTACT WITHIN THE CITY DEPARTMENTS.
AND AS WE MENTIONED, THIS HAS BEEN AROUND FOR ABOUT SIX YEARS, FIVE YEARS, SORT OF FIRST WORKING ON A COUPLE OF PROJECTS AND THEN REALLY BALLOONING UP INTO A FULL FLEDGED PROGRAM.
UH, SOME OF THE INITIAL PROJECTS THAT YOU SAW, AND IN FACT IN THE PREVIOUS SLIDE YOU PROBABLY NOTED THERE WAS THIS NASA NEST NOA.
THOSE WERE THE EXTERNAL FUNDING THAT WE RECEIVED FOR SOME OF THE PROJECTS GOING THROUGH.
AND I'LL EXPLAIN HOW THAT CAME THROUGH.
UH, I ALREADY TALKED TO YOU ABOUT THE CLIMATE PROJECTIONS, UH, MENTIONED THAT, I'LL SAY THERE WAS THE OTHER ONE WHERE WE STARTED WORKING ON AUSTIN DIGITAL TWINS, EVEN BEFORE AI WAS A THING.
AND, UH, WE STARTED DOING SOME OF THIS ANALYSIS ABOUT HOW YOU CAN USE VISUALIZATION TO LOOK AT DATA FROM DIFFERENT BUILDINGS.
THEY STARTED AT THE UT CAMPUS, AND THEN WE CAN TRY DEVELOPING THIS FOR THE PUBLIC BUILDINGS IN AUSTIN.
SO UT AS A, UH, UH, TEST BED, SO TO SAY, SO FOR THE CITY WAS THE APPROACH THERE.
THE COOL PAYMENT ONE WAS VERY INTERESTING ONE, AND IT IS STILL ONGOING BECAUSE THE CITY IS TRYING TO PUBLIC WORKS IS PUTTING A CERTAIN TYPE OF REFLECTIVE COATING ON THE ROAD TO SEE IF THAT WILL REDUCE THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND.
THE HEATING FROM THE ROAD SURFACE, THE DARK SURFACE HAS MORE ENERGY, UH, STORED AND HEATING.
SO THE VENDOR HAD CLAIMED, HAS CLAIMED THERE ARE A NUMBER OF PRODUCTS, FIRST OF ALL AVAILABLE.
AND THE VENDORS OF COURSE CLAIM A VERY LARGE NUMBER.
SO YOU NEED AN INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT ABOUT HOW THESE, UH, UH, PRODUCTS ACTUALLY BEHAVE.
AND SO WE HAD A GRADUATE STUDENT TAKE THIS AND THEN DO SOME SATELLITE DATA ANALYSIS AND ACTUALLY RECEIVED A NASA FELLOWSHIP.
UNFORTUNATELY, THIS WAS ONE OF THE FELLOWSHIP THAT GOT CANCELED OUT BECAUSE THERE WAS A LITTLE BIT OF ASPECT ABOUT, YOU KNOW, HOW THIS MIGHT HELP, UH, COMMUNITIES AT RISK, ET CETERA.
SO THAT, UH, THE, THE BUCKET UNDER WHICH THIS SCIENCE PROJECT WAS INVOLVED, UH, GOT CANCELED OUT.
UH, WE ARE ALSO LOOKING AT COMMUNITY NETWORKS.
IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT DATA, BUT COMMUNICATING AND MAKING SURE THAT WE ARE DOING WORK THAT IS COMMUNICATED TO THE MEMBERS AND USING HUMANS AS SENSORS.
AND MEANING IF DATA SETS SAVE, THESE ARE THE REGIONS IN AUSTIN WHICH ARE AT RISK FOR HEAT OR OTHER EXTREMES ARE COMMUNITY MEMBERS ACTUALLY ALSO SEEING THE SAME THING? AND IF SO, THEN THOSE BECOME PRIORITY AREAS WHERE WE NEED TO START, UH, DEVELOPING SOME SORT OF AN ADAPTATION MITIGATION APPROACH.
AND IF NOT, THEN WE NEED TO START ASKING WHY IS THERE A MISMATCH.
UH, ANOTHER PROJECT THAT WAS TAKEN WAS THIS PASSIVE HOUSE PROJECT.
UH, THIS WAS A, UH, COUNCIL REQUEST, I THINK TO AUSTIN ENERGY THAT THE CITY OF BOSTON HAD TRIED PASSIVE HOUSING AND WHETHER THAT MIGHT WORK FOR AUSTIN.
AND SO WE HAD A STUDENT WHO COULD WORK WITH THE AUSTIN ENERGY TEAM TO TRY AND DEVELOP A COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS AND A MEMO WAS SENT OUT.
SO AGAIN, THIS IS SERENDIPITY, BUT IT IS ALSO, YOU KNOW, TAKING THE QUESTIONS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO CITI, TAKING RESEARCHERS AND TAKING NEW KNOWLEDGE AND THEN GOING TO SAY FEDERAL AGENCY LIKE NASA OR THE AUSTIN DIGITAL TWIN ONE IS ACTUALLY THROUGH NIST, UM, UH, AND DEVELOPING THIS KIND OF ANALYSIS GOING FORWARD.
SO PROJECTS WE HAVE ON THE BOARD RIGHT NOW IS, THE FIRST ONE IS, UM, THIS ACTUALLY CAME BECAUSE THE AUSTIN FIRE DEPARTMENT, WILDFIRE DIVISION, PARKS AND REC AND WATERSHED CAME TO US SEPARATELY WITH THIS ASK.
SO WE SORT OF COMBINED 'EM INTO ONE, AND IT IS TO LOOK AT THE FOREST IN AUSTIN AND THEN USE SATELLITE DATA AND AI TO DETERMINE THE FOREST HEALTH.
SO THEN WE CAN PREDICT, UH, POTENTIAL FOR WILDFIRE AND OR WOODY DEBRIS WITHIN THE CREEKS OR JUST MAINTENANCE OF PARKS GOING FORWARD.
UH, THE SECOND ONE IS LOOKING AT PAST DEMOLITION PERMITS AND SEEING WHAT'S THE CARBON IMPACT OF THAT, AND THEN WHAT KIND OF POLICIES COULD WE THINK ABOUT GOING FORWARD TO TRACK GREENHOUSE GIFTS AND MESSAGES TIED TO PERMITTING.
THE OTHER ONE IS SCENARIO PLANNING.
SO WE HAVE ABOUT FIVE OR SIX DEPARTMENTS WHO ARE WORKING WITH US TO THINK ABOUT FUTURE FORESIGHT AND HOW DO WE START TO PLAN IN THE FUTURE IN A SCENARIO PERSPECTIVE RATHER THAN JUST
[01:05:01]
TRADITIONAL PLANNING, WHICH IS POINT A TO POINT B WILDFIRE MITIGATION.THE BEST WAY TO MITIGATE WILDFIRE RIGHT NOW IS TO DO PRESCRIBED BURNS, BUT WE NEED, UH, WEATHER DATA AND SORT OF NEAR TERM DATA TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS TO MAKE SURE THAT WILDFIRE PRESCRIBED BURNS ARE ACTUALLY MANAGED WELL.
AND THE LAST ONE IS, UH, PUTTING SENSORS AND CAMERAS IN PEOPLE'S HANDS AND LET THEM TELL US THE STORY OF WHAT'S, HOW HE'S HEAT IMPACTING PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY THOSE IN THE RUNDBERG AREA.
SO WHILE WE HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH THESE PROJECTS, AND YOU KNOW, AS I SAID, A LOT OF THESE THINGS ARE THE FIRST, AND SO THERE ARE A LOT OF LEARNING LESSONS THAT COME OUT OF IT.
UH, AND WE ARE AT OTHER CITIES LIKE IN PORTUGAL, FRANCE, UH, SAN ANTONIO, UH, UH, PLACES IN US ASKING, UH, ABOUT HOW IS THE, UH, CITY COLLAB AS A MODEL AND WHAT IS IT THAT WE DO.
I THINK THE FIRST ASPECTS WE HAD TO DEVELOP AS A RELATION BETWEEN THE CITY AND ACADEMIA IS TO, UH, MAKE SURE THAT THE PARTNERS RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER AS PARTNERS, NOT AS A CONSULTANT WHO ARE JUST GOING TO DO SEND A REPORT AND, UH, COMPLETED, UH, MANY OF THE STUDENTS WHO GET INVOLVED, THEY WERE VERY FASCINATED AND HAVE BECOME AWARE OF THE RICH SCIENCE, TECHNICAL POLICY AND INTELLECTUAL WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE CITY, AND THEY WANT TO WORK WITH THE CITY.
SO WE HAVE HAD AT LEAST TWO PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN WORKING ON THIS AND NOW WORKING AS STAFF AND WANT TO, UH, AND, AND, AND HOPEFULLY THIS PIPELINE OF GETTING ACCESS TO THE CITY AND THE CITY GROUPS THAT THEY HAVE NOT SOME, UH, INSULATED, UH, REGION, UH, IS BECOMING MUCH MORE OPEN.
AND THIS IS A MODEL THAT IS TRANSFERABLE TO OTHER CITIES.
WE SAW UNESCO, FOR INSTANCE, TAKING THIS UP.
UH, WHEN WE HAD COUNCIL MEMBER VELA VISIT, UH, ANJA, THERE WAS THIS CONVERSATION ABOUT HOW, UH, A, THEY NEEDED SOMETHING LIKE A COLAB BECAUSE THEY HAVE DATA, BUT NOBODY WAS USING IT.
AND DEVELOPING THIS WOULD BE HELPFUL.
UM, AND THIS IS REALLY SOMETHING THAT WE HAVE BECOME VERY COMPETITIVE IN ACADEMIA IN TERMS OF GETTING FEDERAL GRANTS.
WE HAVE GOT PROJECTS FROM NASA, WE GOT PROJECTS FROM NOA, WE GOT PROJECTS FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION DIRECTLY WORKING.
AND SHOWING COLLAB IS A PLACE WHERE THE TOOLS AND PRODUCTS WE DEVELOP ARE IMPORTANT BECAUSE THE CITY TEAMS SAY IT IS IMPORTANT.
AND ONCE WE DEVELOP THIS, THIS WILL HAVE A VALUE AND SCALABILITY.
THIS IS A VERY POWERFUL MESSAGE FOR SCIENCE TO ACTION.
SO WE NOW HAVE 20, 26 PROJECTS I'VE JUST STARTED, AND THEY RANGE FROM TRACKING INDOOR HEAT FOR WEATHERIZATION PROGRAMS THROUGH AUSTIN ENERGY, ALL THE WAY DOWN TO LOOKING AT SORT OF BUILDING ENERGY AIRPORT STRUCTURES, CONTINUING THAT TREE WORK THAT WE I TALKED ABOUT, BUT ALSO LOOKING AT COOL PAVEMENT AND WATER QUALITY ISSUES AROUND COOL PAVEMENT.
SO THESE PROJECTS HAVE A LOT OF DIFFERENT VARIETY ACROSS MULTIPLE UT FACULTY, BUT ALSO MULTIPLE CITY DEPARTMENTS RANGING FROM AUSTIN ENERGY TO OUR OFFICE, TO AVIATION TO EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AND WILDFIRE.
I'LL JUST SAY IN CLOSING THAT AS THE FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR THESE KIND OF PROJECTS ARE BECOMING CHALLENGING, WE ARE OF COURSE PIVOTING AROUND TECHNOLOGY, AI AND SO FORTH.
BUT HAVING THIS LOCAL PARTNERSHIP IS MORE THAN EVER GOING TO BE IMPORTANT.
AND, UH, THE BENEFITS THAT WE HAVE SEEN ARE ALREADY THERE.
WE ARE SEEING THAT PROJECTS ARE BECOMING MUCH MORE VALUABLE.
WE ARE SEEING THAT THE PROJECTS ARE BECOMING MUCH MORE INTERESTING FOR STUDENTS TO WORK WITH.
AND THIS HAS BEEN OFTEN TOUTED AS ONE OF THE BEST WAY THAT THE TOWN GOWN RELATION WORKS TOGETHER, UH, WHERE WE COLLECTIVELY SOLVE PROBLEMS THAT ARE OF VALUE TO THE COMMUNITY.
AND, UH, THE MEDIA HAS RECOGNIZED THIS.
THERE WAS A VERY NICE PIECE, INRO, WHICH TALKED ABOUT THE IMPACT.
UH, THE COMMUNITY GROUPS HAVE GIVEN AWARDS TO SOME OF THE MEMBERS FROM THE CITY FOR THE COLLAB.
SO THIS IS CLEARLY SOMETHING THAT IS SHOWING A VALUE AND IMPACT AND WE ARE JUST BEGUN.
UM, I SEE VICE CHAIR ELLIS WITH HER HAND RAISED.
I DID, I WAS GOING TO ASK A QUESTION ABOUT THE FLOOD AND WILDFIRE RISK AND ANY SORTS OF COMMUNICATION THAT ARE HAPPENING WITH OUR SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS. AND THEN I SAW NUMBER NINE ON THIS LIST DATA TO DECISION WITH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT.
CAN WE GET A LITTLE MORE DETAIL ABOUT WHAT INFORMATION'S BEING SHARED THERE AND HOW THAT'S GONNA BE USEFUL TO OUR SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT? DAVE? YEAH.
SO ONE OF THE, SO WHAT WE HAVE STARTED DOING IS WE REALIZED THAT WHEN WE SAY WE HAVE DATA, THERE'S LOTS OF DATA THAT CAN GO IN AND THERE ARE A LOT OF OPERATIONS WITHIN, SAY FIRST WE STARTED WITH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT, THE
[01:10:01]
WILDFIRE DEPARTMENT.THIS WAS WITH JUSTICE JONES AND IFF THAT TEAM IN TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHEN THEY'RE DOING THIS, UH, PLANT, UH, FIRE BURNS OR IF THERE IS A RESPONSE, HOW ARE THAT? UH, SO FIRST STEP WAS TO REALLY JUST TRY AND UNDERSTAND WHAT DATA IS NEEDED, WHO NEEDS IT, WHAT FORMAT, WHAT RESOLUTION, UH, EVERY 15 MINUTES, EVERY FIVE MINUTES, WHAT GRADE, BECAUSE ALL OF THESE FACTORS ARE IMPORTANT AND THEY'RE NOT KNOWN TO THE COMMUNITY OUTSIDE OF THAT FIREFIGHTING TEAM.
SO THIS KNOWLEDGE IS NOT SOMETHING THAT IN THE, UNLESS YOU ARE A PART OF THAT EXERCISE, YOU GET IT.
AND SO THIS DEVELOPING AND ALSO FOR DIFFERENT OPERATIONS BETWEEN WINTER YOU WILL GET A FIRE PROBABLY BECAUSE THERE IS A COLD FRONT MOVING IN IN SUMMER, THERE'S A FIRE, WHICH WILL BE BECAUSE OF SOMETHING ELSE.
SO UNDERSTANDING WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT IT IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DIFFERENT TIME OF THE YEAR, DIFFERENT TYPES OF EVENTS, AND GENERATING THE WHAT KIND OF DATA, WHO NEEDS IT, WHICH INFORMATION AND MAPPING.
THAT HAS BEEN THE FIRST EXERCISE THAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING.
UH, THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ALSO FOUND THIS, THE WILDFIRE DEPARTMENT HAS ALSO FOUND THIS IMPORTANT EVEN FOR THEIR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION THAT THIS IS WHAT WE DO AND SO FORTH.
WHEN WE HAD THE NEW EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR, UM, WE HAD A MEETING WITH HIM AND HE ALSO FELT THAT THERE ARE A LOT OF ACTIVITIES THAT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ARE DOING WHERE THIS KIND OF INFORMATION WOULD BE IMPORTANT.
AND WE HAVE JUST STARTED THIS PROJECT WHERE WE ARE PUTTING, UH, TAKING THE CASE OF FLOODING AS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE ARE TAKING FLOODING AND OUR HEAVY RAINS, HOW WE CAN RUN THIS THROUGH THE SCENARIO BUILDING IN TERMS OF DATA AND SO FORTH.
UH, SO IT IS REALLY TAKING ONE EPISODE AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT INFORMATION IS NEEDED THROUGHOUT THE CALENDAR YEAR FOR DIFFERENT KIND OF EVENTS.
UH, THIS WAS A REALLY ENLIGHTENING PRESENTATION.
I HAD HEARD ABOUT THE COLAB BUT WASN'T SURE OF THE TOPICS IT WAS WORKING ON AND, AND HOW THE INVOLVEMENT WAS BEING COORDINATED.
AND SO I JUST APPRECIATE GETTING THIS INFORMATION AND BEING ABLE TO DIGEST IT.
UH, C DEON UCHIN, THANK YOU CHAIR.
THANK YOU GUYS FOR THIS PRESENTATION.
ALWAYS A PLEASURE TO MEET ANOTHER, UH, MARK IN THE WILD THAT SPELLS HIS NAME CORRECTLY.
AND, AND THANK YOU PROFESSOR NGI FOR THE UPDATES.
I HAD A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS REGARDING SOME OF THE WORK THAT YOU'RE DOING AND HOW YOU'RE DOING THAT WORK.
ONE IS TO THE EXTENT THAT IN THE PROCESS OF COLLABORATING WITH THE CITY, YOU'RE ABLE TO, FOR INSTANCE, FOR THE COOL PAVEMENT PROJECT, BE ABLE TO, UH, OR, YOU KNOW, DEPLOY THAT TECHNOLOGY FIRST, I SUPPOSE, AS A PILOT TO GET THE DATA THAT YOU NEED TO VALIDATE DIFFERENT, I SUPPOSE, HYPOTHESES AROUND IT, WHETHER IT'S WORKING TO THE DEGREE THAT YOU HOPE IT WILL PROVIDE THE VALUE, THE ROI, WHATEVER THOSE THINGS ARE.
AND THEN TO THE EXTENT, IF THAT GETS VALIDATED, HOW DO WE THEN EMBRACE THAT TECHNOLOGY IN A WAY THAT HELPS SOLVE KEY PROBLEMS FOR THE CITY? WHAT A GOOD QUESTION.
UH, LOT OF THESE PROJECTS, THEY, UH, IF THERE ARE PROBABLY ABOUT, FOR EVERY PROJECT THAT WE HAVE TAKEN UP, THERE ARE PROBABLY SIX OR SEVEN OTHER PROJECTS THAT ARE IN THE WAITING THAT WERE ALSO BEING CONSIDERED.
AND SO THERE WAS SOMETHING WHERE THERE IS A DIRECT INTEREST IN THE CITY THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN RIGHT AWAY, OR A WORK THAT IS GOING ON IN THE CITY THAT IS GOING ON RIGHT AWAY THAT WE CAN THEN START EVALUATING IN AN INDEPENDENT MANNER HAS BEEN THE WAY SPECIFIC TO THE COOL PAYMENT.
THE PUBLIC WORKS GROUP WAS ALREADY PUTTING THE COOL PAYMENT.
AND SO OUR GROUP CAME IN TO LOOK AT PUTTING THE TEMPERATURE DATA, LOOKING AT SOME OF THE DATA SETS THAT WE CAN DO, AND NOW MAKING ASSESSMENTS SO STUDENTS COULD GO FIVE IN THE MORNING, MAKE SOME DATA MEASUREMENTS, WHAT HAPPENS IN THE AFTERNOON, WHAT HAPPENS IN THE EVENING, DOING THIS DATA BY HAVING A THERMAL CAMERA, MAPPING IT, DOING A COMMUNITY SURVEY, ASKING THE RESIDENTS, DO YOU SEE ANY DIFFERENCE? UM, SO THESE KIND OF THINGS WHICH PERHAPS, UH, MAY NOT BE PART OF A DAILY PUBLIC WORKS EMPLOYEES, UH, PLAN BECOMES A PART OF THE, UH, THE GRADUATE STUDENTS' WORK.
AND SO THIS THEN BECOMES INFORMATION THAT THE PUBLIC WORKS THEN CAN BE USED IN TERMS OF SEEING THE VALUE ASSOCIATED WITH THAT.
SOME OF THE OTHER PROJECTS LIKE THE DIGITAL TWIN OR THE DATA TO DECISION, THEY ARE ALL DRIVEN BY WHAT IS REQUIRED BY THE DEPARTMENT.
LIKE, UH, MARK MENTIONED ABOUT THE TREE HEALTH DATASET.
THE TREE HEALTH DATASET IS A REQUIREMENT WHERE WE ARE LOOKING AT SATELLITE IMAGERY AND TRYING TO SEE WHAT IS THE TREE COVER, WHAT IS A TREE COUNT, ET CETERA.
AND IF THIS ACTUALLY THEN STARTS GETTING FROM A RESEARCH TO SOMETHING WHICH IS OF VALUE, THEN THIS COULD BE OF, UH, A DIRECT TOOL FOR THE CITY.
BUT I THINK ZACH AND MARK CAN ALSO COMMENT FROM IT AS TO HOW THEY SELECT AND THEN SEE THE IMPLEMENTATION GOING FORWARD.
[01:15:02]
YEAH, WE, UM, WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME TALKING TO DEPARTMENTS THROUGH OUR WORK.AND IN THE FALL, OCTOBER, NOVEMBER, WE SIT DOWN WITH DEPARTMENTS AND ASK THEM LIKE, WHAT ARE SOME BIG ISSUES ARE WE DEALING WITH? AND THEN WHAT ARE SORT OF QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT HAVE ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE THAT WE SHOULD BE THINKING ABOUT FOR EVERY PROJECT THAT WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE TIED BACK TO A DECISION YOU'RE TRYING TO MAKE.
IF IT'S NOT TIED TO A DECISION, IT JUST BECOMES KNOWLEDGE BUILDING, WHICH IS IMPORTANT, BUT WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT IT'S ACTUALLY IMPACTING WHAT WE'RE DOING AND THEN WE COME BACK AND DOUBLE CHECK DOES IT WORKING, HOW DID IT GO AND HOW CAN WE MAKE IT BETTER OVER TIME? SO IF I CAN BUILD ON THAT AND THIS SORT OF LINE OF QUESTIONING, HOW ARE, IT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF THIS AT WORK IS POTENTIALLY VERY IMPORTANT TO THE CITY AND INVOLVES MANY DEPARTMENTS.
UH, SO HOW ARE YOU FINDING, UH, HOW ARE YOU LEVERAGING, I GUESS, THE CITY MANAGER'S OFFICE OR, YOU KNOW, AT LEAST IN MY FIRST YEAR, I NOTICED THAT THERE'S SOMETIMES BEEN A STRUGGLE TO ALWAYS GET, UM, THE RIGHT LEVEL OF COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION BETWEEN DEPARTMENTS.
HOW ARE YOU GUYS OVERCOMING THAT? UM, WELL THE, OUR OFFICE CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE, UM, COLLABORATION AND INFORMATION SHARING IS KIND OF WHAT WE DO.
UM, SO WE HAVE NUMEROUS DIFFERENT, UH, LEVELS OF WORKING GROUPS.
SO WE HAVE A CLIMATE ACTION AND RESILIENCE TEAM THAT IS, UM, SORT OF STAFF LEVEL, UH, COLLABORATORS ACROSS, YOU KNOW, 10, 15, 20 DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS COLLECT, CONNECTING ON INFORMATION RELATED TO CLIMATE.
WE ALSO HAVE WHAT A NEWLY ESTABLISHED GROUP GROUP CALLED, UH, THE CLIMATE CABINET, WHICH IS LIKE UPPER LEVEL MANAGERS AND ASSISTANT DIRECTORS THAT CONNECT, UH, MONTHLY ON THESE TOPICS AND SHARE INFORMATION, EVERYTHING FROM THE COLAB, ALL THE WAY DOWN TO ALL SORTS OF OTHER CLIMATE RELATED ISSUES.
UM, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE A DIRECTOR LEVEL GROUP CALLED THE CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT LEADERSHIP TEAM, UH, WHICH MEETS EVERY MONTH, EVERY OTHER MONTH.
UM, AND SO WE'RE CONSTANTLY GETTING THESE FOLKS TOGETHER IN THE ROOM SHARING INFORMATION.
UM, AND SO THIS IS ONE OF THE CHANNELS THAT WE WILL ONLY TAKE COLAB INFORMATION, SHARE IT UP ACROSS MULTIPLE LEVELS WITHIN, UH, OUR DEPARTMENTS TO TRY TO, YOU KNOW, KEEP PEOPLE IN THE KNOW, GET TRACTION, UM, KEEP INTEREST, UM, AND THEN BUILD THOSE LEARNINGS INTO ACTUAL DEPARTMENT DECISIONS AND, AND THE WAY THAT DEPARTMENTS MOVE FORWARD.
SO, UM, IT'S NOT ALWAYS, UH, SUPER VISIBLE, UM, BUT IT'S ONE OF THOSE THINGS THAT IS CONSTANTLY HAPPENING IN OUR CONNECTIONS, IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS BEHIND THE SCENES.
ONE OTHER THING IF I MAY PLEASE.
UH, WE ALSO HAVE AN ADVISORY COMMITTEE THAT HAS BEEN FORMED AND THAT ADVISORY COMMITTEE ACTUALLY PROVIDES A FEEDBACK BOTH FROM THE, THE, THE EXECUTIONERS AND DECISION MAKERS THAT IS PART OF THIS SYSTEM.
UH, AND THAT HAS HELPED US A LOT IN ALIGNING WITH THE PRIORITIES.
THANK YOU FOR, UH, EXPANDING ON THAT.
UM, AND THESE ARE HELPFUL THINGS FOR ME TO GO AND I THINK LEARN MORE ABOUT THE LAST QUESTION VERY QUICKLY IS, UH, THE WAY YOU DESCRIBE IT, AND I WANNA MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND, YOU'RE SORT OF SEEDING DIFFERENT PROJECTS AT ABOUT $15,000.
IT VERY MUCH SOUNDS LIKE AN INCUBATOR.
YOU'RE SORT OF FIGURING OUT WHICH ONE, WHICH ARE THE ONES THAT MERIT FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS, WHICH ARE THE ONES THAT CAN BE, CAN QUALIFY FOR GRANTS, WHICH ARE THE ONES THAT WILL LEAD TO SOMETHING THAT BECOMES HOPEFULLY MORE VALUABLE.
UH, SO HOW MANY SORT OF PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING AT ON A, ON A GIVEN YEAR? ARE WE LOOKING AT 10 TO 12, 15 AND THEN COME, YOU KNOW, THAT RESULTS IN A COUPLE OF WINNERS LIKE THREE OR FOUR PER YEAR.
CAN YOU GIMME A SORT OF SENSE OF WHAT THE RATIO OR, OR, OR OUTPUT LOOKS LIKE BASED ON THAT MODEL? YEAH, WE, UH, SO, UH, SO IN 2025 I THINK WE HAVE FIVE PROJECTS.
IN 2026 WE HAVE NINE PROJECTS.
SO I THINK THE IDEA IS THAT WE DO WANT TO GROW THIS PROJECT OVER TIME.
AND THEN WE'VE HAD SOME PREVIOUS PROJECTS.
SO ALL IN ALL, WE'RE PROBABLY LOOKING AT A 20 PROJECTS AT A MINIMUM.
NOW THERE ARE ALSO ADJACENT PROJECT THAT WE TALK ABOUT WITH DAVE YOGI AND THAT THERE'S SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENING AT UT THERE'S SO MUCH STUFF HAPPENING AT THE CITY.
SO WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE BECOME A REPOSITORY OF INFORMATION, BUT ALSO AN ABILITY TO SORT OF, UH, BE SPONSORS AND HELP OTHER PEOPLE DO IT.
SO IN ALL, WE'RE PROBABLY GONNA LOOK AT MAYBE 10 PROJECTS A YEAR AT MINIMUM GOING FORWARD.
AND THEN POTENTIAL FOR GROWTH IF WE CAN GET MORE FUNDING EXTERNAL.
AND WHEN YOU SAY GROWTH, DO YOU MEAN MORE CITY DOLLARS, MORE GRANT DOLLARS, SOME COMBINATION OF THE TWO, SOME UH, SOME EXTERNAL DOLLARS? IS THERE ANOTHER PARTNERSHIP YOU GUYS ARE EXPLORING? YEAH, I MEAN, I MEANT GROWTH IN NUMBER OF PROJECTS, BUT I THINK YOU'RE RIGHT ON THE FUNDING.
UH, UNTIL RECENTLY A LOT OF THE FUNDING ACTUALLY CAME FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
[01:20:01]
AND SO WE ARE LOOKING AT OTHER OPPORTUNITIES FROM PHILANTHROPY, ADDITIONAL FEDERAL DOLLARS FROM GOVERNMENT, BUT ALSO, UH, POTENTIAL FUNDING FROM DEPARTMENTS THEMSELVES.ALRIGHT, I DO HAVE ONE QUESTION RELATED TO THE COOL PAVEMENT.
YOU TALKED ABOUT IT A LITTLE BIT, BUT JUST WHERE IS THAT IN THE PROCESS AND WHEN MIGHT WE SEE, UM, WHATEVER RESULTS OR INFORMATION YOU HAVE FROM THAT? YEAH, I MEAN, I'LL START THIS ONE AND THEN DAVE, YOU CAN TAKE OVER.
UH, WE ACTUALLY STARTED THE PILOT A COUPLE YEARS AGO IN AN INDUSTRIAL AREA IN SOUTHEAST AUSTIN.
UM, THIS WAS ACTUALLY BECAUSE WE TALKED TO THE COMMUNITY SIDE STORY IN SAN ANTONIO, THEY DID A SIMILAR PROJECT AND THEY ACTUALLY DID IT IN THE LOW INCOME POPULATION AREA.
UM, WE TALKED TO THE COMMUNITY AND THEY WERE LESS EXCITED ABOUT HAVING IT IN THEIR TESTED IN THEIR NEIGHBORHOOD.
SO WE PICKED AN AREA IN SOUTHEAST AUSTIN THAT WAS VERY INDUSTRIAL AND HAD DAVE AND HIS TEAM COME OUT AND PUT SENSORS, BOTH TEMPERATURE BUT ALSO AIR QUALITY SENSORS, UH, AUSTIN TRANSPORTATION PUBLIC WORKS, THEN EXPANDED IT TO A WHOLE NEIGHBORHOOD IN SOUTHEAST AUSTIN.
AND THEN WE HAVE ONE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT HAS THE APPLICATION AND ONE NEIGHBORHOOD NEXT TO IT THAT DOESN'T TO SORT OF TEST, UH, HOW WELL IT'S WORKING.
UH, AND SO FAR IT'S BEEN PRETTY POSITIVE.
I'LL HAVE DAVE SORT OF CHIME IN FROM MY UNDERSTANDING THOUGH, DAYTIME TEMPERATURES MIGHT ACTUALLY INCREASE A LITTLE BIT, BUT OVERNIGHT TEMPERATURES DECREASE SUBSTANTIALLY, UH, FROM THE REFLECTIVITY OF HEAT, RIGHT? THIS, UH, I THINK IT IS IN THE, UM, MENA FALL, UM, UH, ME FALL AREA, UH, SUBDIVISIONS THERE.
UH, SO THIS WAS A VERY UNIQUE THING.
THERE WERE TWO SUBDIVISIONS, UH, RELATIVELY NEW, UH, ON THE ONE ON THE, IF YOU'RE APPROACHING IT, ONE ON THE RIGHT HAS, UH, ALL THE ROADS THAT WERE TREATED WITH THE SURFACTANT.
AND ON THE LEFT, UH, THAT ROAD IS A TRADITIONAL ONE.
SO WE COULD COMPARE THE TEMPERATURES FROM THE ONE WITHOUT TREATMENT AND ONE WEIGHT TREATMENT AND GET THAT.
AND WHAT WE HAVE FOUND IS, UM, INDEED DAYTIME, THERE COULD BE ACTUALLY SOME REFLECTIVITY, THERE COULD BE SOME INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE BY ABOUT HALF A DEGREE, BUT NIGHTTIME THERE IS A REDUCTION AND ASSUMPTION IS THAT THAT'S WHEN PEOPLE ARE GOING TO BE AT HOME.
UM, A COMBINATION WHERE THERE IS ALSO PUTTING TREES AND THESE COPAYMENTS THAT IS A ENGINEERING AND NATURE-BASED SOLUTION TOGETHER IS WHAT WILL LIKELY MAKE IT THE BEST COMBINATION IS WHAT WE ARE CONCLUDING.
THERE'S A REPORT BEING FINALIZED RIGHT NOW.
IT IS JUST BEING HYDRATED AND I THINK THE PUBLIC WORKS, STEVE IS WORKING ON THAT, UH, WITH US IN, IN PARTNERSHIP AND, UH, ONCE, UH, FINALIZED, I THINK WE'LL BE HAPPY TO SHARE.
AND UH, ANOTHER ONE THAT CAUGHT MY EYE WAS YOUR CONSTRUCTION AND DEMOLITION WASTE.
SO, UM, YOU KNOW, 600 MILLION TONS OF WASTE PER YEAR.
UM, SO I LOOK FORWARD TO READING WHATEVER INFORMATION Y'ALL HAVE ON THAT AND SUGGESTIONS THERE.
BUT, UH, CHAIR BEFORE YOU END THIS ONE, SORRY.
OH YEAH, IF I WOULDN'T PLEASE, IF I CAN JUST JUMP IN BRIEFLY.
UM, I JUST WANNA THANK, UH, KAR AND PROFESSOR FOR THIS GREAT PRESENTATION.
UM, REALLY JUST APPRECIATE THIS WORK.
IT'S REALLY EXCITING AND INTERESTING.
UH, JUST HAD ONE QUESTION ABOUT ESSENTIALLY HOW CAN WE HELP, UM, ARE THERE WAYS OUR OFFICES CAN ENGAGE WITH THESE PROJECTS AND THE PARTNERS? UH, DO WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SUGGEST PROJECTS, OFFER QUESTIONS, OR UNDERSTAND THE RESEARCH AS IT'S DEVELOPING? YEAH, I'D SAY ABSOLUTELY.
UM, WE HAVE, WHAT'S IT, QUARTERLY WORKSHOPS, UH, TWO A YEAR.
SO SEMI-ANNUAL WORKSHOPS WHERE WE GET TOGETHER THE WHOLE CREW OF CITY DEPARTMENTS THAT ARE, THAT HAVE QUESTIONS AND ARE INTERESTED IN RESEARCH TOPICS AND THEN GET ALL THE PROFESSORS IN THE GRAD STUDENTS IN THE ROOM TO DISCUSS THIS.
IF YOU HAVE STAFF THAT ARE, THAT HAVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS OR ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING, UM, WE CAN INVITE 'EM AND THEY COULD, UM, SEE ALL, ALL THE DETAILS OF THESE PROJECTS AND UM, AND UM, ADD THEIR QUESTIONS OR THE THINGS THAT THEY'RE INTERESTED IN.
UM, THE MORE IDEAS, THE BETTER ON THIS AND THE MORE INTERCONNECTIVITY THE BETTER.
ALRIGHT, WELL COUNCILOR UCHIN, SPEAKING OF, UH, PEOPLE WITH COOL NAMES, YOUR PREDECESSOR WAS VITAL IN GETTING THIS, UH, PARTNERSHIP UP AND RUNNING AND, AND WAS A TRUE CHAMPION FOR IT.
AND SO, UH, I AM HAPPY TO CONTINUE THE WORK THAT SHE, UH, DID FOR, UM, FOR THE CITY AND AND FOR THE COLAB.
SO Y'ALL DO REALLY COOL WORK AND, AND I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING MORE, UH, OF THAT IN THE FUTURE.
[4. Briefing on Performance Measures Updates from Parks and Recreation. [Jesús Aguirre, Director - Parks and Recreation; Ben Rustenhaven, Business Process Consultant - Parks and Recreation].]
WE WILL MOVE ON TO[01:25:01]
ITEM NUMBER FOUR, WHICH IS A BRIEFING ON PERFORMANCE MEASURES, UPDATES FROM PARKS AND RECREATION, UH, WHILE THEY WALK DOWN.I JUST WANNA KIND OF GET THE, THE COMMITTEE THINKING A LITTLE BIT, UH, OVER KIND OF THE NEXT SIX MONTHS.
YOU KNOW, WE'RE LOOKING, UM, A LOT AT HOW WE OPERATE AND WHAT OUR PRIORITIES ARE.
YOU KNOW, WE CAN'T FUND EVERYTHING, UM, AND MAKING SURE THAT OUR FUNDING IS DRIVING OUTCOMES.
AND, AND SO I WANTED TO START THE CONVERSATION OF WHAT ARE OUR, UM, OUTCOMES THAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR RIGHT NOW, BUT ALSO GET US THINKING ABOUT AND MAYBE AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING, LOOKING AT THE PERFORMANCE MEASURES.
YOU KNOW, ARE THERE THINGS THAT ARE MISSING HERE? DO WE FEEL LIKE SOME OF THE TARGETS ARE TOO LOW, TOO HIGH? UM, JUST IF WE'RE GONNA HAVE A STRATEGIC PLAN AND OUTCOMES THAT WE WANT TO SEE THE DEPARTMENTS ACHIEVE, I THINK WE NEED TO START WITH WHERE WE ARE, BUT THEN THINK ABOUT WHERE WE WANT TO GO.
SO, UH, WITH THAT I WILL OPEN IT UP TO DIRECTOR GIRE AND LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR PRESENTATION.
THANK YOU CHAIR, VICE CHAIR COUNCIL MEMBERS, CAARE PARKS AND RECREATION DIRECTOR HERE FOR THE CITY OF AUSTIN.
AND I'M JOINED BY, UH, BEN WEST HAVEN, WHO'S A BUSINESS PROCESS CONSULTANT FOR THE PARKS AND RECREATION DEPARTMENT.
UM, AND, YOU KNOW, WE WERE ASKED TO COME IN AND WE WILL SHARE SORT OF SOME, SOME UPDATES ON THE KPIS RELATED TO THE HIGH LEVEL PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES THAT WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS AS PART OF THE, THE BROADER CITYWIDE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT PROCESS.
UH, WE'LL ALSO SHARE SOME, UH, UPDATES ON THE KEY MILESTONES WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS THIS CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.
UH, AND THEN WE'LL JUST SHARE WITH YOU SOME, SOME PRETTY, UM, JUST FUN DATA POINTS WITH REGARDS TO ALL THE WORK THAT PARKS AND RECREATION DOES ACROSS THE CITY, UH, THAT RELATE TO ALL THE WORK OF THIS PARTICULAR COMMITTEE.
SO, UH, WITH THAT, I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO BEN.
WELL, JESUS JUST WENT OVER WHAT WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT HERE,
SO I'LL FLY THROUGH THIS SLIDE.
UH, YEAH, WE'LL TOUCH ON KPIS, KEY MILESTONES, AND THEN HOW A PR CONTRIBUTES TO, UM, EACH ITEM IN THE THE CWP ACRONYM.
SO FIRST OFF, WE HAVE OUR KPIS, UM, LISTED HERE.
UM, I'LL JUST GO THROUGH THEM ONE BY ONE AND KIND OF GIVE YOU A BRIEF OVERVIEW.
UM, STARTING WITH 8 9, 9 7, WHICH IS FUNDING FROM PARTNERSHIPS AND GRANTS PER DOLLAR OF CITY INVESTMENT TOWARD CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS ON PARKLAND.
UM, YOU'LL NOTICE HERE THAT WE DO NOT HAVE AN FY 26 Q1 ACTUAL BECAUSE THIS IS A MEASURE THAT IS CALCULATED ANNUALLY.
SO WE DO HAVE THE MOST RECENT, UH, FISCAL YEAR, ACTUAL FROM OCTOBER, UH, WHICH IS 0.18 THERE.
UM, THIS MEASURE TAKES INTO ACCOUNT FUNDING, UH, PARTNER FUNDING, VOLUNTEER HOURS, UM, AND THE AMOUNT OF, UH, MONEY WE'RE SPENDING ON CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
AND WHEN WE LOOK AT THAT, UM, CALCULATION, WHAT I WANT Y'ALL TO KNOW IS THAT, UM, IT'S A ROLLING FIVE YEAR AVERAGE.
AND A KEY POINT IS THAT THE CAPITAL INVESTMENT ONLY HITS THE YEAR THAT THE PROJECT'S COMPLETED.
SO IT MAY BE A MULTI-YEAR, MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT, BUT IT WON'T SHOW UP IN THE CALCULATION UNTIL THE YEAR THAT IT'S MARKED AS COMPLETE.
SO WE MAY HAVE YEARS WHERE SEVERAL PROJECTS CLOSE OUT.
WE HAVE A VERY REALLY LARGE DENOMINATOR BECAUSE OF THAT.
AND SO, UH, YOU KIND OF SEE SOME JUMPS AROUND, UH, WITH THIS RATIO.
UH, BUT TOTAL PRIVATE INVESTMENT HAS REMAINED STEADY.
FY 22 TO FY 25, IT'S AVERAGED ABOUT $8 MILLION A YEAR, BUT THE, UH, CAPITAL EXPENSES HAVE GONE ANYWHERE FROM 36 MILLION TO 76 MILLION.
SO YOU CAN KIND OF SEE HOW A YEAR THAT HAS A, A REALLY LARGE CAPITAL EXPENSE WOULD, WOULD MAKE THAT RATIO DROP.
UM, THE SECOND ONE THERE, 9 2, 7 9 PERCENTAGE OF RESIDENTS WHO HAVE ACCESS TO PARKS AND OPEN SPACE.
THIS IS, YOU KNOW, ONE OF OUR, OUR MAIN KPIS, UM, AS PART OF SD 23.
AND IT'S PART OF THE CURRENT CITYWIDE STRATEGIC PLAN.
UM, YOU KNOW, A 10 MINUTE WALK TO THE PARK IS CONSIDERED THE STANDARD FOR PARKS TO YIELD A QUALITY OF LIFE IMPACT ON USERS.
SO THAT'S WHY WE'RE WORKING WITH THAT.
UM, YOU'LL SEE THERE THAT OUR AVERAGES OVER THE LAST COUPLE YEARS, OR OUR PERCENTAGE, SORRY, OVER FY 23, 24 AND 25, KIND OF HUNG OUT AROUND 70%.
YOU KNOW, THIS, THIS MEASURES PARTICULARLY HARD TO MOVE THE NEEDLE ON.
UM, DUE TO A NUMBER OF FACTORS.
YOU KNOW, WE HAVE FUNDING CONSTRAINTS, WE HAVE ACQUISITION TIMELINES AND CHALLENGES, YOU KNOW, IS WE HAVE TO, YOU KNOW, LAND HAS TO BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE, THERE'S COMPETITION FOR THAT LAND, WE HAVE TO CONSIDER GENERATIONAL INEQUITIES, POLITICS, ET CETERA.
SO MOVING THE NEEDLE ON THIS MEASURE IS, IS HARD FROM YEAR TO YEAR.
UH, BUT WE, WE LIKE TO AT LEAST SEE THAT WE'RE STAYING KIND OF STATIC AROUND THAT 70% MARK.
OF COURSE, WE'RE WORKING TOWARDS A HUNDRED PERCENT, BUT, UH, THAT WILL TAKE, UH, MORE FUNDING AND MORE TIME
[01:30:01]
FOR US TO ADD MORE PARKS TO OUR INVENTORY.'CAUSE ULTIMATELY THIS IS A MEASURE OF PROXIMITY AND THE ONLY WAY WE CAN REALLY MOVE THE NEEDLE IS TO BUY MORE PARKLAND AND DEVELOP IT, UM, IN AREAS OF TOWN WHERE IT'S DEFICIENT.
UM, AND IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE, OR I, I WOULD DIRECT YOU TO THE OPEN DATA PORTAL.
WE HAVE A STORY PAGE AND A SCORECARD FOR THIS PARTICULAR MEASURE.
SO IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THAT, UM, LOTS MORE INFORMATION ON THERE.
9 2 8 0% OF PARKS AND REC PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS RECEIVING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE.
YOU KNOW, THIS IS ONE THAT WE'VE SEEN AN INCREASE OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS BECAUSE WE'VE MADE EFFORTS, UM, TO REALLY, UM, EXPAND ACCESS AND MAKE, UH, REDUCE BARRIERS TO USAGE.
SO, UM, THIS IS PARTICULARLY FOR YOUTH AND TEENS.
SO THIS IS FOR YOUTH AND TEEN ENROLLMENTS.
UM, BUT A PR OFFERS FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, WHICH IS A 50% DISCOUNT TO OUR PROGRAMS FOR THOSE WHO QUALIFY.
WE ALSO OFFER THE SCOTT JOHNSON SCHOLARSHIP.
AND THEN CITY EMPLOYEES, UH, HAVE ACCESS TO THE, UM, CITY OF AUSTIN CHILDCARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM AND THE YOUTH CAMP SCHOLARSHIP.
SO ALL OF THOSE ARE FACTORED INTO THIS CALCULATION.
UM, WE TAKE THE, YOU KNOW, NUMBER OF UNIQUE PARTICIPANTS THAT RECEIVE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND DIVIDE THAT BY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF UNIQUE PARTICIPANTS TO GET THIS RATIO.
AND YOU'LL SEE HERE THE Q1 RESULT IS 39%.
UM, THAT'S PRETTY HIGH, BUT REALLY THAT SPEAKS TO A LOT OF OUR CORE PARTICIPANTS IN AFTER SCHOOL, UM, UTILIZING FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIP DOLLARS AS THE YEAR GOES ON.
AND WE HAVE MORE, YOU KNOW, SPORTS AND, AND SUMMER CAMPS AND, UH, OTHER ACTIVITIES THAT FOLKS CAN REGISTER FOR.
WE, WE TEND TO SEE THAT DROP AS THE YEAR GOES ON.
BUT WE DO ANTICIPATE, UH, HITTING THAT TARGET OF 25% THIS YEAR.
UM, ONE WAY THAT WE HAVE IMPROVED, I JUST WANNA GO OVER REAL QUICKLY HOW WE HAVE ADDRESSED, UM, INCREASING ACCESS TO FINANCIAL AID.
UH, WE'VE MINIMIZED BARRIERS BY SETTING UP A SYSTEM FOR AUTORENEW RENEWALS.
UH, WE'VE CREATED EARLY ENROLLMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR FOLKS WHO QUALIFY FOR FINANCIAL AID, AND WE'VE INCREASED LANGUAGE ACCESS BY CREATING MORE FORMS AND MORE LANGUAGES.
UM, WE'VE INCREASED THE AMOUNT AWARDED VIA THE SCOTT JOHNSON SCHOLARSHIP, AND WE'VE ALSO INCREASED, UH, FLEXIBILITY FOR USAGE.
SO PREVIOUSLY IT COULD ONLY BE USED FOR PROGRAMS, CERTAIN PROGRAMS. AND NOW WE'VE OPENED IT UP TO WHERE IT COULD BE USED FOR ALMOST ANY, ANYTHING FROM A DEPOSIT, UM, TO A SPORTS ENROLLMENT.
UM, HOWEVER FOLKS WANT TO UTILIZE IT.
THEY, THEY CAN USE THEIR FUNDS, HOW THEY SEE FIT.
I WANNA PAUSE THIS ON THIS SLIDE JUST FOR A MINUTE.
'CAUSE THIS I THINK IS INDICATIVE OF THE, THE TYPE OF CONVERSATION I'M HOPING WE CAN HAVE TODAY AND IN THE FUTURE.
UM, BUT FOR INSTANCE, WHEN LOOKING AT THE FIRST ONE, THE FUNDING FROM PARTNERSHIPS AND GRANTS, YOU KNOW, YOU TALKED ABOUT, IF I'M LOOKING AT THIS, IF I'M SOMEONE FROM THE PUBLIC AND THIS IS BOUNCING ALL OVER, I DON'T KNOW IF WE'RE DOING BETTER, IF WE'RE DOING WORSE, WHAT THE STORY IS FOR THE YEAR.
UM, AND SO SHOULD THE QUESTION, YOU KNOW, SHOULD IT BE AS A RATIO OR SHOULD IT BE, UH, DOLLARS FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR PER YEAR SO WE CAN KIND OF SEE WHAT IS COMING IN AND HOPEFULLY, YOU KNOW, AS THE CITY GROWS, THOSE DOLLARS WILL GROW AS WELL.
BUT YOU KNOW, IF WE'RE GETTING $5 MILLION A YEAR, THEN NEXT YEAR IT'S OUR GOAL TO GET 5.2 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.
JUST, UM, I THINK THAT MIGHT BE A WAY TO, TO BETTER HAVE BETTER TARGETS THAT WE CAN MEET, UM, AND TELL THE STORY.
I MEAN, I THINK, I THINK THAT'S A GREAT POINT.
AND, AND THOSE ARE THE KINDS OF DISCUSSIONS WE'RE HAVING WITH CURRENTLY WITH OFFICE OF BUDGET AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE TO SORT OF LOOK AT THAT.
WHAT IS IT WE'RE THAT WE'RE TRYING TO SHOW HERE? AND ON ONE ON ONE SIDE WE WANT, WE WE'RE TASKED BY COUNCIL AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CONTINUE TO GENERATE OTHER REVENUE AND OTHER SUPPORT FROM OUTSIDE ENTITIES.
UH, PINNING IT AS A RATIO IS PROBLEMATIC IN THAT, IN THAT WAY.
AND, AND SO THIS RATIO WILL, WILL DROP AS WE SPEND A BUNCH, BUNCH OF MONEY ON CAPITAL PROJECTS, BUT DEPENDING ON WHAT HAPPENS WITH OUR BOND, IT MIGHT GO UP, YOU KNOW, SO, SO IT'S A GREAT POINT AND, AND WE'RE ENGAGED IN THAT DISCUSSION TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S A BETTER WAY TO TRACK THAT.
AND, AND THEN SEPARATELY ON THE SECOND LINE ABOUT THE PARKS AND, AND YOU TALKED ABOUT THE, YOU KNOW, ACCESS TO PARKS.
UM, IT'S THIS KIND OF METRIC THAT I THINK AS WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE BOND ESPECIALLY, BUT WHAT DOES $10 MILLION IN PARKS OPEN SPACE ACQUISITION GET US, RIGHT? PARKLAND ACQUISITION, GET US, DOES THAT MOVE THE NEEDLE BY A HALF A PERCENT? DOES THAT MOVE THE NEEDLE BY 1%? DOES THAT KEEP US AT THE STATUS QUO? WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO TIE THE DECISIONS THAT WE'RE MAKING INTO WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES PEOPLE ARE GONNA SEE.
AND SO I WOULD HOPE THAT AS WE CONTINUE OUR, BOTH OUR BUDGET AND OUR BOND CONVERSATIONS, WE CAN TIE MORE TO THESE OUTCOMES AND UNDERSTAND, OKAY, YOU SAY YOU WANT $20 MILLION FOR PARKLAND
[01:35:01]
ACQUISITION, THAT'S GOING, YOU KNOW, WE THINK THAT'LL GET US TO 72% MM-HMMUH, AND IF YOU WANNA HIT 75%, THEN YOU NEED TO BE AT THIS NUMBER.
BUT HELP US UNDERSTAND HOW WE MOVE THE NEEDLE AND HOW THE SPENDING DRIVES THE OUTCOMES.
AND, AND THAT'S SORT OF, THOSE ARE THE TYPES OF THINGS OUR TEAMS THINK ABOUT ALL THE TIME IN TERMS OF WHAT'S OUT THERE.
AND OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF LAND ACQUISITION, AS YOU KNOW, IS, IS OPPORTUNISTIC.
AND, AND, BUT IT'S ALSO DRIVEN BY THE ANALYSIS THAT WE'VE DONE, PARTICULARLY ON THIS ONE, BECAUSE WE'RE LOOKING AT, YOU KNOW, IN A GIVEN COMMUNITY WHERE PARKS ARE AND WHERE THIS ACCESS IS, AND THERE'S SOME PARTS OF THE CITY THAT ARE PARK POOR VERSUS OTHERS.
AND SO WE FOCUS ON THOSE AND SOMETIMES THAT'S SMALL, TINY PARCELS, AND DEPENDING ON WHERE THEY ARE, THE PRICE MIGHT BE DIFFERENT.
UH, ANOTHER METRIC RELATED TO THIS IS, IS PARKS PER, PER, UH, THOUSAND RESIDENTS.
RIGHT? AND, AND ALSO AN IMPORTANT ONE, THAT ONE MIGHT BE EASIER TO SAY, WELL, IF WE LOOK AT THE POPULATION OF THE CITY AND WE LOOK AT AVERAGE COST PER ACRE, THIS IS KIND OF WHAT WE NEED.
UM, BUT, BUT AGAIN, IT'S, IT'S, UH, IT'S UH, IT'S, IT'S ALSO FINDING THE BALANCE OF, UH, HOW DO WE TELL THE STORY TO, TO THE RESIDENTS.
ANOTHER PART OF THIS IS, YOU KNOW, WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE COMPARING OURSELVES TO OTHER CITIES AND OTHER JURISDICTIONS.
AND THIS IS A KEY ONE THAT TRUST FOR, FOR PUBLIC LAND LOOKS AT.
AND, AND THAT HELPS US JUST MAKE SURE WE MAKE THE CASE TO, TO, TO THE MANAGER, TO COUNCIL, AND TO THE RESIDENTS THAT WE ARE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION RELATIVE TO OUR PEERS.
AND WE, WE DID NOT TALK ABOUT THIS BEFORE, BUT YOU WENT EXACTLY WHERE I WAS GOING TO GO IN TERMS OF MAYBE NEW INDICATORS THAT WE'RE THINKING ABOUT.
THE TRUST FOR PUBLIC LAND DOES DO A REALLY GOOD ASSESSMENT NOT ONLY OF WHERE IS YOUR SYSTEM, BUT HOW DOES THAT COMPARE TO OTHER SYSTEMS. WE HAVE BEEN FALLING AND FALLING MORE THAN I THINK THE PUBLIC WOULD, UM, THINK IS HAPPENING AND CERTAINLY WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPENING.
AND SO MAYBE WE HAVE, UH, A NEW INDICATOR OF WHERE WE WANNA BE, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S OUR GOAL, UH, AS IT RELATES TO THAT.
AND THAT INCORPORATES ACCESS TO PARKS AND OF COURSE OTHER THINGS AS WELL.
BUT YOU KNOW, I, I WILL NOTE THAT EIGHT YEARS AGO WE WERE AROUND 65%.
SO WITH THE FUNDING WITH, UH, THE TOOLS NECESSARY, WE CAN MOVE THE NEEDLE, BUT IT JUST, IT REQUIRES MONEY.
SORRY TO HOLD US UP THERE AND OH, THANK YOU.
YES, VICE TRELLIS SINCE WE STOPPED THE TRAIN, UM, I HAD A QUESTION SPECIFICALLY AROUND THE LANGUAGE ON CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR THAT FIRST KPI.
SO WE'RE TALKING ABOUT NEW INVESTMENTS LIKE UNDEVELOPED PARK SPACE THAT ARE GETTING ACTIVATED OR WHAT FALLS INTO THE CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS CATEGORY.
YOU TALK ABOUT THAT, THAT WOULD BE EVERYTHING THAT FALLS UNDER OUR CPI EXPENDITURES.
UM, SO IT'S BOTH, IT'S IT'S SMALL CAPITAL IS LARGE CAPITAL.
AND, AND, AND PARTICULARLY BECAUSE WE'RE, WE'RE COMPARING IT TO OUR PARTNERS AND SOME OF OUR PARTNERS HAVE SIGNIFICANT CAPITAL INVESTMENTS AND OTHERS DO SMALLER CAPITAL INVESTMENTS, RIGHT? LIKE, LIKE THE, UM, CONSERVANCIES THAT DO WORK WITHIN OUR PARK SPACE.
I KNOW SOME OF THEM MAY DO THINGS LIKE IN PEACE PARK, YOU SEE FAIRLY LARGE INSTALLATIONS MM-HMM
UM, ON TOWN LAKE TRAIL, YOU'RE GONNA SEE THINGS THAT ARE MORE MINIMAL.
THEY'RE MORE ABOUT PROTECTING THE TRAIL AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO ALL OF THOSE ARE FALLING INTO THIS CATEGORY OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
AND IT'S BEEN SAID THAT THAT SORT OF HAS AVERAGE TOTAL CAPITAL OPERATIONS AND, AND, AND VOLUNTEERS AS WELL AT ABOUT $8 MILLION A YEAR THAT'S BEEN INVESTED IN THE SYSTEM BY OUR PARTNERS, WHICH IS PRETTY SUBSTANTIAL.
UM, AND I WANTED TO MENTION ON THE SECOND ONE, I KNOW THAT WHEN SD 23 WAS THE PRACTICE THE CITY WAS FOLLOWING, I KNOW WE'RE NOT, UM, NECESSARILY UTILIZING THAT AS OUR GUIDING BOOK ANYMORE.
UM, BUT OVER THE COURSE OF 2018 AND EARLY 2019, YOU KNOW, THERE WERE SIX DIFFERENT CATEGORIES THAT THE CITY WAS HOPING TO, UM, TO BE ABLE TO PUT SOME SORT OF PRIORITIZATIONS OF WHAT IS IT THAT CITY COUNCIL WANTS TO SEE? WHAT IS IT THAT THE COMMUNITY WOULD LIKE TO SEE AS THE GOALS FOR THE CITY AND THE EMPLOYEES THAT ARE WORKING WITH THE CITY? UM, WE HAD TO CHOOSE SOME OF THOSE PERFORMANCE INDICATORS BASED ON WHAT DATA COULD BE COLLECTED.
SO I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF GOOD IDEAS ABOUT WHAT IS THE GOAL THAT WE'RE TRYING TO GET TO WITH PARK SPACE AND ACCESS AND IMPROVEMENTS.
UM, BUT LOOKING THROUGH SOME OF THE DIFFERENT WAYS OF COLLECTING DATA LIKE, UM, THE AMERICAN SURVEY, I THINK THAT SAID, AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, THE CITY DOES SOME SORT OF, UM, CITYWIDE SURVEY TOO TO SEE HOW PEOPLE ARE CHANGING THEIR TRAFFIC PATTERNS AND COMMUTES AND THINGS LIKE THAT.
SO THERE'S A COUPLE OF DIFFERENT PLACES WHERE THIS DATA IS, IS LOCATABLE.
UM, BUT I KNOW THERE'S A LOT OF OTHER IDEAS PEOPLE HAVE ABOUT WHAT WOULD WE IDEALLY LIKE TO SEE FOR OUR PARK SPACE.
UM, BUT THINKING ABOUT HOW DO WE COLLECT THAT DATA AND WHAT IS AVAILABLE, WHAT IS MEASURABLE, AND SOMETHING THAT WE CAN CONSISTENTLY LOOK AT YEAR OVER YEAR IS SOMETHING THAT WAS THE BIG CONVERSATION IN 2018 AND 2019.
UM, BUT IN REGARD TO HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE WITHIN A QUARTER MILE OF, UM, WITHIN URBAN CORE NEAR PARK SPACE,
[01:40:01]
UM, FORMER CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JIMMY FLANAGAN HAD MADE AN EXCELLENT POINT THAT IF WE ARE BUILDING HOUSING CLOSER TO THE PARKS THAT EXIST, WE ARE ALSO HELPING THAT METRIC TOO.SO YES, IT'S PART OF BUYING NEW LAND AND BEING ABLE TO ACTIVATE IT, BUT SOME OF IT IS WHERE DO WE ALL ALREADY HAVE AMAZING GREEN SPACES AND HOW CAN WE MAKE SURE THAT FOLKS ARE GETTING THAT GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE BY ALLOWING FOR WALKABLE HOUSING IN PLACES WHERE WE ALREADY HAVE GOOD PARK SPACE.
SO JUST WANTED TO FLAG THAT THAT WAS SOMETHING THAT HAD BEEN A CONVERSATION A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO.
AND CERTAINLY ANYTIME WE DEVELOP HOUSING, THEN MAKING SURE THE PARKS ARE INCLUDED AS PART OF THE CALCULUS AS WELL.
PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE PARK ON PRIVATE LAND IS SOMETHING THAT, UM, A COUPLE OF PEOPLE HAVE STEPPED UP TO DO AND IT, IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY.
SORRY TO INTERRUPT HERE, BUT JUST WANTED TO NO, THANK YOU.
AND, AND SO, SO YOU KNOW, THESE ARE OUR HIGH LEVEL SORT OF KPIS.
THERE'S A TON OF STUFF THAT WE MEASURE PARTS AND RECREATION.
AND, AND THE NEXT SLIDE WE WANTED TO JUST SHARE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHERE SORT OF THINGS THAT WE'RE TRACKING THIS YEAR.
AND, AND THIS WILL GIVE YOU AN INSIGHT INTO, DO YOU WANNA CLICK IT? YEAH.
INTO SORT OF WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON AND, AND YOU KNOW, ONE'S ABOUT FUNDING, ONE'S ABOUT PLANNING, ONE'S ABOUT INTERNAL OPERATIONS, AND THE OTHER ONE WAS ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
AND SO THE, THE ONE ON FUNDING, UH, THIS IS REALLY THE NEXT STEP IN THIS, IN THIS, UM, UH, FUNDING STUDY THAT WE COMPLETED LAST YEAR.
AND, AND IF YOU RECALL, THAT STUDY MADE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT DIFFERENT WAYS IN WHICH THE DEPARTMENT CAN LOOK AT, UH, FOR ALTERNATIVE SOURCE SOURCES OF FUNDING.
SO WE'RE DEVELOPING A SCOPE TO, TO WORK AGAIN WITH A, WITH A CONSULTANT TO, TO LOOK AT THREE ITEMS. UH, WE WANT THEM TO TAKE A LOOK AT, UH, SORT OF THE POSSIBILITY AND THE, THE, THE, THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS.
WE'RE LOOKING AT PARKS DISTRICTS AND THEN WE'RE LOOKING AT PARKS, MAINTENANCE FEES, AND LOOKING REALLY AT, UH, UM, JURISDICTIONS ACROSS THE COUNTRY, BUT SPECIFICALLY FOCUSING ON TEXAS.
'CAUSE WE KNOW THERE'S SOME, SOME SPECIFIC CHALLENGES OR, OR PROCESSES THERE.
UM, AND WE'RE HOPING THAT THAT REPORT WILL GIVE US A SORT OF BEGINNING OF A PATH FORWARD FOR ALL OF THESE AND LOOKING AT THINGS LIKE GOVERNANCE AND, AND, AND, AND SORT OF, UM, ACCOUNTABILITY, ET CETERA.
UM, SO WE'RE, WE'RE LOOKING TO COMPLETE THAT, UH, LATER THIS YEAR.
UM, WE'RE ALSO, UH, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY ALL OF OUR WORK IS DRIVEN BY A PLAN AND WE HAVE A 10 YEAR, UH, LONG RANGE STRATEGIC PLAN THAT'S, WE'RE FIVE YEARS IN 20, 25 WAS THE FIFTH YEAR.
SO THIS YEAR WE'RE REALLY GONNA FOCUS ON UPDATING THAT PLAN, UH, TO GO BACK OUT AND HAVE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE COMMUNITY AND HAVE CONVERSATIONS INTERNALLY OF, YOU KNOW, HERE'S ALL THE THINGS THAT WE SAID WE WERE GONNA BE WORKING ON OVER THE NEXT 10 YEARS, FIVE YEARS IN, HOW ARE WE DOING ON THOSE METRICS? AND, AND IN MY VIEW, MORE IMPORTANTLY, ARE THOSE STILL THE THINGS THAT WE SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON, RIGHT? BECAUSE OVER THOSE LAST FIVE YEARS, OUR CITY HAS CHANGED TREMENDOUSLY AND HAD A, A PANDEMIC AND, AND LOTS OF GROWTH AND INCOME INEQUALITY, ET CETERA.
SO THE, THE WORLD, UH, UH, SORT OF THE, THE, THE, THE CHALLENGES THAT OUR COMMUNITIES ARE FACING HAVE EVOLVED AND WE WANNA MAKE SURE THAT THIS PLAN RESPONDS TO THAT.
UM, THE, THE, THE THIRD PIECE HERE IS JUST LOOKING INTERNALLY AT OUR ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, OUR OPERATIONS, OUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE WELL ALIGNED WITH THAT LONG RANGE STRATEGIC PLAN.
SO WE'RE SORT OF DOING THESE IN PARALLEL.
UM, AND THEN FINALLY, UM, YOU KNOW, WE, WE, WE ALSO ARE LOOKING ALSO IN PARALLEL TO THIS IS LOOKING AT SORT OF THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT.
MAKING SURE THAT EVERYBODY WHO COMES TO WORK AT PARKS AND RECREATION FEELS SAFE AND SUPPORTED, UH, AND ALSO KNOWS HOW THEY'RE GONNA BE ACCOUNTABLE AND SORT OF THE ROLE THAT THEY PLAY IN, IN SORT OF ACHIEVING THE MISSION THAT WE HAVE.
SO, UH, A LOT OF INTERNAL WORK THIS, THIS YEAR TO, TO CONTINUE TO MOVE THE WORK FORWARD TO SUPPORT THE, THE PLANS THAT WE'RE PUTTING TOGETHER.
ALRIGHT, WITH THE LAST BIT OF TIME THAT WE HAVE LEFT, UM, I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE WHILE WE HAVE, UM, THE STAGE HERE TO, TO TELL Y'ALL, UH, SOME OF THE GREAT WORK THAT A PR IS DOING FOR EACH OF THE ITEM WITHIN THE CWE ACRONYM.
AND SO WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT CLIMATE, UM, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE THINK ABOUT CLIMATE RESILIENCE AND PARKS, IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT PLANTING TREES, IT'S ABOUT DESIGNING SYSTEMS THAT REDUCE WASTE AND EMISSIONS BY CREATING SPACES PEOPLE LOVE.
OUR APPROACH COMBINES INNOVATION AND PRACTICALITY.
WE REUSE MATERIALS, UH, FROM CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.
WE INVEST IN ENERGY EFFICIENCY, AND WE PLAN FOR SHADE FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS.
AND THESE EFFORTS AREN'T ISOLATED.
THEY'RE PART OF THE BIGGER VISION TO MAKE PARKS SUSTAINABLE AND COMFORTABLE FOR GENERATIONS TO COME.
UH, YOU'LL SEE A PICTURE UP HERE ON THE RIGHT OF US, UH, DIVERTING SOME BOULDERS FROM A, A PROJECT, UH, THAT WILL BE USED IN NATURE PLAY.
AND THEN YOU SEE ONE OF OUR, UH, SHADE STRUCTURES THERE, UH, ON THE BOTTOM CONTRIBUTIONS TO WATER.
YOU SEE HERE WE HAVE A CLEA, A CREEK CLEANUP GOING ON, UH, AND WE HAVE A RAIN GARDEN AT BROWNIE NEIGHBORHOOD PARK THERE ON THE BOTTOM, AS WELL AS, UM, OUR TREE WATERING TEAM DOING A, A TREE WATERING FOR A YOUNG, A YOUNG TREE THAT WAS PLANTED.
AND WATER MANAGEMENT IN PARKS IS ABOUT MORE THAN DRAINAGE.
IT'S ABOUT CREATING LANDSCAPES THAT WORK WITH NATURE.
[01:45:01]
GREEN STORM WATER FEATURES AND RAIN GARDENS, WE'RE IMPROVING WATER QUALITY AND REDUCING RUNOFF WHILE ENHANCING THE BEAUTY OF OUR PARKS.THESE PROJECTS ALSO REQUIRE SPECIALIZED CARE, WHICH SPEAKS TO THE EXPERTISE OF OUR TEAMS. AND EVERY TREE WE PLANT AND EVERY RAIN GARDEN WE MAINTAIN, CONTRIBUTE TO HEALTHIER WATERSHEDS IN A MORE RESILIENT CITY.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ENVIRONMENT, YOU KNOW, OUR ENVIRONMENTAL WORK IS WHERE SCIENCE MEETS STEWARDSHIP.
IT'S FROM RESTORING ACRES OF HABITAT TO MANAGING WILDFIRE RISKS.
THESE EFFORTS PROTECT ECOSYSTEMS AND KEEPS PARKS SAFE.
AND IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT LAND, IT'S ALSO ABOUT PEOPLE.
WE HAVE TRAINING PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS THAT ENSURE THAT KNOWLEDGE IS SHARED AND COMMUNITIES ARE ENGAGED IN CARING FOR AUSTIN'S NATURAL SPACES.
AND WE HAVE A PICTURE THERE OF A PRESCRIBED BURN UP AT THE TOP AS WELL AS, UH, INVASIVE SPECIES REMOVAL GOING ON THERE AT THE BOTTOM.
AND FINALLY, CONTRIBUTIONS TO PARKS.
YOU KNOW, OUR WORK WITHIN PARKS GOES FAR BEYOND MAINTAINING GREEN SPACES.
IT'S ALSO ABOUT CREATING SPACES WHERE PEOPLE FEEL CONNECTED, SAFE AND INSPIRED PARTNERSHIPS ALLOW US TO STRETCH RESOURCES AND DELIVER IMPROVEMENTS THAT WOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE OTHERWISE.
PROGRAMS LIKE YOUTH INTERNSHIPS AND VOLUNTEER INITIATIVES HELP US GROW THE NEXT GENERATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS.
AND THROUGH ARTS EVENTS, PROGRAMS, AND EVEN SHADE PROJECTS, WE'RE MAKING PARKS MORE WELCOMING AND INCLUSIVE FOR EVERYONE.
AND THESE EFFORTS REFLECT OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY INTO ENSURING PARKS REMAIN VIBRANT, ACCESSIBLE SPACES FOR AUSTINITES.
AND I'LL JUST BRIEFLY SAY, UM, GO OVER THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING FOR CITYWIDE STRATEGIC PLAN.
THE DEPARTMENT OWNS A GOAL CH TWO, UH, AND WITHIN THAT GOAL, WE HAVE TWO MEASURES THAT WE'RE WORKING ON.
WE'RE WORKING ON ACCESS TO PARKS AND OPEN SPACE AND AS WELL AS AC ACCESS TO RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS. SO JUST A REAL QUICK OVERVIEW OF WHAT WE'RE DOING RIGHT NOW FOR CH 2.1.
UH, THE GOAL ADVANCEMENT TEAM IS WORKING TO DEVELOP, UM, EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS, UM, THAT HIGHLIGHT THE BENEFITS OF LAND BANKING.
UM, I'M SURE Y'ALL ARE AWARE OF LAND BANKING AND KIND OF WHAT, WHAT YOU WERE SPEAKING TO EARLIER ABOUT GO AHEAD AND, AND PURCHASING LAND NOW.
UM, 'CAUSE IT'S ONLY GONNA GET MORE EXPENSIVE, GET IT IN OUR INVENTORY AND THEN, YOU KNOW, WE MAY NOT HAVE THE FUNDS TO DEVELOP IT RIGHT AWAY, BUT AT LEAST IT'S, IT'S IN OUR SYSTEM.
SO, UM, THIS IS A TWO-PRONGED APPROACH.
THE, UM, BENEFITS OF LAND BANKING AS WELL AS THE BENEFITS OF A STREAMLINED, UM, PERMITTING AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS.
'CAUSE RIGHT NOW, UM, IT SEEMS THAT WE, UH, YOU, YOU COULD DEVELOP A SKYSCRAPER ABOUT AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN DEVELOP A PARK, UM, GOING THROUGH ALL THAT, THAT PROCESS.
SO WE WOULD REALLY LOVE TO SEE A STREAMLINED PROCESS THAT WOULD ALLOW THE PARKS DEPARTMENT, UM, TO MORE QUICKLY DEVELOP THESE PARKS AND, AND GET, UM, YOU KNOW, THESE AMENITIES, THESE PLAYSCAPES AND OTHER, OTHER RECREATIONAL AMENITIES, UM, OUT TO THE PUBLIC.
AND THEN THE WORK OF CH 2.2, ACCESS TO RECREATIONAL PROGRAMS. WE'RE LOOKING TO INCREASE ACCESS, UM, THROUGH A VARIETY OF WAYS, BUT WHAT WE'RE FOCUSING ON THIS YEAR IS, UM, IS TO STEER PARTNER PROGRAMMING INTO UNDERUTILIZED SITES.
AND SO, UM, THE INITIATIVE THAT WE'VE STARTED IS CALLED RECREATION AMBASSADORS, AND WE ARE WORKING WITH VOLUNTEERS, UM, TO PROVIDE PROGRAMMING AT FIVE UNDERUTILIZED SITES WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT.
IT'S ACTUALLY KICKING OFF IN FEBRUARY.
WE HAVE TWO EVENTS KICKING OFF.
UM, ONE IS A, UH, STORY TIME IN THE PARK AT GEORGIAN ACRES, AND WE HAVE ANOTHER, UH, PLANT WALK AND TALK.
UH, THAT'S THE LAST WEEKEND IN FEBRUARY.
AND I'M DRAWING A BLANK RIGHT NOW ON WHICH PARK THAT'S AT.
BUT WE HAVE A, UM, SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS GOING OUT, FLYERS GOING OUT TO THE, THE COMMUNITIES, AND WE'RE DEVELOPING A WEBPAGE AS WELL SO THAT FOLKS CAN GO AND SEE WHERE THAT, UM, FREE PROGRAMMING IS TAKING PLACE.
UM, SO I KNOW I ROLLED THROUGH THOSE PRETTY QUICKLY.
IF Y'ALL WANTED TO SEE ANY OF THOSE HIGHLIGHTS AGAIN, I'M HAPPY TO, TO GO BACK TO ANOTHER SLIDE.
I, I THINK COUNCILOR SIEGEL WITH HIS HAND, I, I MUST SAY, UH, LOOKING AT SLIDE SIX, UH, THE, IF, IF WE'RE EVER AT A, A LOSS OF PARK IDEAS, YOU JUST PARK THAT, UH, SKID STEER IN ANY PARK AND YOU'LL HAVE THE MOST POPULAR PARK IN MILES RADIUS.
UH, I JUST THOUGHT, I THOUGHT THAT WAS A PARK FOR A SECOND.
I THOUGHT, OH MAN, MY KIDS WOULD DIE FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO CLIMB ALL OVER THAT.
UM, WE'LL TAKE THE KEYS OUT, OF COURSE, BUT ANYWAYS, COUNCIL MEMBER SIEGEL, UH, THANK YOU, CHAIR.
THANK YOU, UH, DIRECTOR AND BEN, UH, FOR THE PRESENTATION.
UM, I GUESS WE'RE ALMOST OUTTA TIME, SO, UH, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT TREES, WHICH IS A FAVORITE TOPIC OF MY STAFF, BUT I'LL, I'LL SEND THOSE OFFLINE.
UM, BUT WANTED TO DIRECT MY QUESTIONS, UH, TO SLIDE FIVE.
UM, NUMBER THREE, UM, ESPECIALLY SO THIS ONE READS, UH, AS A MILESTONE ENHANCED ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATION EFFICIENCY OF A PR THROUGH DEPARTMENTAL REORGANIZATION IN COLLABORATION WITH EXTERNAL
[01:50:01]
CONSULTANTS.AND SO, UM, I'LL JUST SHARE, THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I WAS AWARE THAT THERE WAS A DEPARTMENTAL REORGANIZATION, UH, PLANNED OR, UH, CONTEMPLATED, UH, WITHIN AUSTIN PARKS AND REC.
AND WE HAVE GOTTEN SOME UPDATES FROM THE CITY MANAGER ABOUT OTHER KIND OF REORG EFFORTS.
AND SO I GUESS IF YOU COULD PROVIDE A LITTLE MORE INFORMATION, UM, SOME OF THE QUESTIONS WE HAVE ARE, HAS A CONSULTANT ALREADY BEEN CONTRACTED AND, UH, HOW THIS WORKS WITH THE CITY MANAGER'S OVERALL EFFORT.
UM, SO, SO THIS ONE IS, IS, UM, SO THERE'S SEVERAL LAYERS TO THIS.
SO, SO ONE, UH, OBVIOUSLY THE DATA THAT, THAT, THAT OBSERVATIONS THAT I MADE DURING MY INITIAL YEAR HERE AND GOING OUT AND MEETING WITH OVER, YOU KNOW, 600 OF OUR EMPLOYEES DIRECTLY, SORT OF HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM ABOUT WHAT'S WORKING.
UM, AS YOU, AS YOU RECALL, UH, A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF OUR ORGANIZATION WAS, WAS SORT OF TAKEN OUT AND MOVED OVER TO ACME.
AND SO THERE'S SOME CHALLENGES THERE IN TERMS OF HOW EVERYTHING WORKS.
UH, AND THEN JUST LOOKING AT SORT OF HOW THE GROWN SORT OF, THE, THE WAY THAT THAT, THAT OUR SORT OF BUDGET HAS, HAS OCCURRED OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS.
JUST TAKING A LOOK AT A COUPLE THINGS.
SO, SO BALANCE, FOR EXAMPLE, ON THE LEADERSHIP LEVEL IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THIS.
AND, AND FOR THAT, WE'VE ENGAGED WITH AN EXTERNAL CONSULTANT THAT WORKS WITH THE CITY'S, UH, DEPART HUMAN RESEARCH DEPARTMENT TO LOOK AT OUR, OUR CAPACITY.
YOU KNOW, WE HAVE, WE HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMBALANCE IN SOME OF OUR DIVISIONS.
SO WE HAVE SOME DIVISIONS AND DIVISION MANAGERS THAT HAVE OVERSIGHT OVER HUNDREDS OF EMPLOYEES AND OTHERS THAT HAVE OVERSIGHT OVER, OVER, MANY, MUCH LESS THAN THAT.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT HOW WE DO THAT.
UM, AND THEN REALLY JUST TAKING A LOOK AT ALL OF THE, THE WAY THAT, THAT, UH, ANOTHER EXAMPLE, UH, YOU KNOW, WE HAVE MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS THAT OCCUR ACROSS THE DEPARTMENT AND, AND WE HAVE TO DEVELOP EXPERTISE IN ALL THESE VARIOUS EFFICIENT, SO WE'RE JUST LOOKING AT HOW DO WE BECOME MORE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE IN THE WAY THAT WE'RE DOING THESE THINGS.
AND THE WAY THAT SORT OF, UH, KIND OF CONNECTS TO THE, TO THE BROADER CITY MANAGER EFFORT IS, YOU KNOW, ALL OF THIS ROLLS UP TO OUR, YOU KNOW, LONG RANGE STRATEGIC PLAN AND THEN IT ROLLS UP TO THE, TO THE CITYWIDE GOALS.
AND SO EVERYTHING WE'RE DOING IS SORT OF AIMING TOWARDS THAT.
UM, AND, AND THE, THE, YOU KNOW, THE SECOND ONE IS REALLY ABOUT MUCH MORE INTERNAL ABOUT, UM, YOU KNOW, UNDERSTANDING, ESTABLISHING PROCESS AND UNDERSTANDING TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERY SINGLE EMPLOYEE THAT WORKS AT PARKS AND RECREATION HAS CLARITY AROUND WHERE WE'RE GOING AND HOW WE'RE GONNA GET THERE, AND THEIR SPECIFIC ROLE IN THAT.
AND THAT'S SORT OF THE KIND OF RESTRUCTURING WE'RE DOING.
WE'VE DONE SOME MINOR, UH, UH, CHANGES AS WELL.
MY PREDECESSOR, UM, WAS ABLE TO ADD ADDITIONAL, AN ADDITIONAL ASSISTANT DIRECTOR AND A DEPUTY DIRECTOR, AND WE'RE IN THE PROCESS OF FILLING THOSE POSITIONS.
AND SO THAT GIVES US THE OPPORTUNITY AGAIN TO LOOK AT THE STRUCTURE OVERALL.
AND, UH, WHO IS THE CONTRACTOR? WE'RE, OR SORRY, THE CONSULTANT WE'RE WORKING WITH ON THIS? GALLAGHER.
AND THEN, UM, I GUESS, UH, AGAIN, WE DON'T, WE'RE KIND OF RUNNING OUTTA TIME, BUT, UM, YOU'RE PROBABLY AWARE THAT COUNCIL JUST ADOPTED THIS CONSULTATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND, AND THE CITY WORKERS UNION AFSCME.
AND, UM, I THINK YOU ALREADY MENTIONED THAT YOU'VE CONSULTED WITH A LOT OF STAFF MEMBERS, BUT, UM, WOULD LOVE IF YOU CAN KIND OF CONSIDER WHETHER THIS SHOULD BE BROUGHT TO THAT CONSULTATION PROCESS, UM, TO THE EXTENT WE'RE CONTEMPLATING A, A LARGER REORGANIZATION.
AND ALSO IF YOU COULD PROVIDE COUNSEL WITH UPDATES ON HOW THIS WOULD IMPACT OUR WORKFORCE.
AND, AND AGAIN, YOU KNOW, WE HAVEN'T MADE ANY DECISIONS.
WE'RE LOOKING AT ALL THE, THE WAY THE WORK IS BEING DONE AND, AND REALLY, UH, AND SO THE, THE, THE CONSULTANT WORK IS ACTUALLY A SMALL PORTION OF THIS.
MOST OF THIS WE'RE DOING INTERNALLY, RIGHT? SO WORKING DIRECTLY WITH THE LEADERSHIP OF THE DEPARTMENT AND THEIR TEAMS. AND REALLY, AS YOU SAID, I GOT A TON OF FEEDBACK FROM OUR EMPLOYEES THAT THEY'RE PRETTY CONSISTENT ABOUT SOME OF THE ASPECTS OF OUR ORGANIZATION THAT JUST NEED ADDITIONAL SUPPORT OR, OR A DIFFERENT WAY OF APPROACHING THE WORK.
AND THAT THAT'S WHAT WE'RE WORKING ON.
ALRIGHT, COUNCIL MEMBER DUCHEN.
I'LL TRY AND BE VERY BRIEF SINCE I KNOW WE'RE RUNNING SHORT ON TIME HERE.
FIRST, THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE UPDATE.
REALLY APPRECIATE IT FEELS LIKE IT A REALLY RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT CONVERSATION TO HAVE AROUND HOW WE'RE MEASURING SUCCESS.
I WANTED TO ASK VERY QUICKLY, UH, AND THESE ARE ALL I THINK GONNA BE CONNECTED.
ONE IS IT LOOKS LIKE THE, THE FIRST SLIDE, THE KPIS, THAT'S ABOUT HALF OF THE KPIS LISTED ON PERFORMANCE DOT AUSTIN DOT UH, DOT AUSTIN TEXAS.GOV.
UM, I'M TRYING TO FIGURE OUT HOW DO WE HAVE THE CONVERSATION OR IS THAT PURELY AN INTERNAL CONVERSATION YOU ALL COME ARRIVE AT WHERE WE ARE THINKING ABOUT OTHER THINGS THAT WE MAY, THAT COUNCIL THE PUBLIC MAY WANNA BE, HAVE SOME INSIGHT ON THAT, THAT MAY NOT BE REFLECTED THERE YET.
I'M THINKING ABOUT THINGS LIKE SORT OF THE STATUS OF OUR POMA AGREEMENTS.
I'M THINKING ABOUT THINGS LIKE THE STATUS OF, UH, PARK MAINTENANCE AND DEFERRED MAINTENANCE, OR HOW OFTEN BATHROOMS GET CLEANED OR WHATEVER THE THINGS ARE THAT I KNOW THAT WE GET QUESTIONS ABOUT.
SO RATHER THAN GET INTO THE SPECIFIC ITEMS ON WHAT SHOULD OR SHOULDN'T BE INCLUDED, MY QUESTION IS MORE WHERE IS THAT CONVERSATION
[01:55:01]
THAT CAN HAPPEN? OR IS THAT AN INTERNAL CONVERSATION YOU ALL ARRIVE AT AND THEN PRESENT KPIS TO TO THE, TO THE MANAGER OR US? I, I, I, I THINK IT'S, I THINK IT'S BOTH.SO, SO ALL OF THIS IS, IS DRIVEN BY THE, THE CITY MANAGER AND, AND THE BROADER, UH, SORT OF OFFICE OF BUDGET AND ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE.
AND WE ARE TAKING SORT OF EXISTING METRICS AND WORK THAT WE'VE DONE AND TRYING TO SORT OF WORK THROUGH THAT AND, AND HAVE THOSE NEGOTIATIONS, RIGHT? AND, AND, AND HAVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WHETHER IT'S A RATIO, WHETHER IT'S SOMETHING ELSE THAT WE SHOULD BE MEASURING.
WE'RE ALREADY COLLECTING DATA THAT WE'VE BEEN REPORTING ANCHORED IN OUR, IN OUR LONG RANGE STRATEGIC PLAN.
SO AS WE DO THAT TO TRY TO ALIGN WITH THE, THE CITY MANAGER'S, UH, GOALS, THEN WE'RE GOING BACK OUT TO THE COMMUNITY AND HAVING THOSE CONVERSATIONS.
ARE THESE THE THINGS WE SHOULD STILL BE TALKING ABOUT? AND, AND I SUSPECT THAT, THAT THERE ARE GONNA BE INSIGHTS FROM OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT MAYBE WE'RE NOT ALREADY REPORTING ON.
AND I THINK THAT'S WHERE WE WOULD GO BACK TO THE CITY MANAGER AND TO YOU ALL AND SAY, HERE'S WHAT WE'RE HEARING AND HERE'S SOMETHING THAT I THINK WOULD BE IMPORTANT FOR US TO MEASURE.
UH, AND, AND THEN ALSO INTERNALLY, THERE'S, THERE'S, YOU KNOW, TONS OF EXPERTISE IN THE DEPARTMENT.
UH, AND, AND AGAIN, YOU KNOW, BEN KNOWS THIS MORE THAN MOST.
WE COLLECT SO MUCH DATA ACROSS THE DEPARTMENT, BUT, BUT OFTEN WE'RE NOT DOING MUCH WITH IT.
UH, SO I WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN TRY TO, TRY TO ELEVATE SOME OF THE, SOME OF THE METRICS THAT WE'RE CURRENTLY GATHERING AND THEN HAVE THOSE CONVERSATIONS ACROSS THE DEPARTMENT AND WITH THE COMMUNITY SAY, HERE'S SOMETHING ELSE THAT WE, WE MEASURE THAT WE THINK MIGHT BE IMPORTANT.
OH, COUNCILOR, I'M GONNA JUMP IN REAL FAST JUST 'CAUSE I WAS GOING TO CLOSE WITH THIS, BUT SINCE YOU'VE ASKED THE QUESTION, THE PLAN THAT I WOULD LIKE TO IMPLEMENT OVER THE NEXT TWO TO THREE MONTHS IS THAT WORKING WITH THIS COMMITTEE, WE AND THE PARKS DEPARTMENT AND THE OFFICE OF BUDGET, ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCE, UM, IDENTIFY THINGS, AND THEN THE MAINTENANCE IS ONE THAT I WAS GOING TO TALK ABOUT.
YOU KNOW, WE, WHAT DO WE WANT OUR SERVICE LEVELS TO BE AT OUR PARKS? YEAH.
UH, AND, AND HOPEFULLY GET THOSE PUT IN PLACE AND ADOPTED BY THIS COMMITTEE, UH, BY LIKE THE APRIL TIMELINE.
AND THAT WAY AS THE BUDGET IS BEING CRAFTED AND FINALIZED, IN THEORY, THOSE GOALS THAT WE ARE SETTING WILL BE DRIVING THE BUDGET DECISIONS BEING MADE.
AND INSTEAD OF SAYING, WELL, YOU KNOW, WE FEEL LIKE WE JUST NEED MORE PARKS MAINTENANCE.
WELL, IF WE SET A GOAL, WE CAN SAY, OKAY, A MILLION DOLLARS TOWARDS THIS WILL GET US ALL THE WAY THERE, HALF THE WAY THERE, OR JUST, YOU KNOW, WHATEVER.
BUT I, I THINK THAT THAT IS SOMETHING THAT I WOULD LIKE FOR US AS A COMMITTEE AND THEN I WANNA WORK WITH EACH OF Y'ALL, UM, TO FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU FEEL SHOULD OR SHOULD NOT BE THERE.
AND THEN OF COURSE, WITH STAFF TO MAKE THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS TO INCLUDE.
BECAUSE ULTIMATELY WE JUST USUALLY JUST GET IT IN THE BUDGET, RIGHT? THE FIRST TIME WE'VE SEEN IT IS IN THE BUDGET AND THEN IT'S COME, IT'S TOO LATE TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION AND THEN WE SAY, OKAY, WELL WE'LL LOOK AT IT NEXT YEAR, AND THEN HERE WE ARE AND, AND IF WE DON'T DO IT NOW, IT WON'T HAPPEN.
SO, UM, ANYWAY, SORRY TO JUMP IN ON YOUR QUESTIONS, BUT I JUST WANT TO GIVE YOU A LITTLE MORE CONTEXT ON THE QUESTION YOU WERE ASKING.
I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH YOU AND THE COMMITTEE ON HOW WE CAN, UM, SORT OF COME TO A CONSENSUS AROUND WHAT THOSE THINGS ARE AND, AND IN AGREEMENT AND MAYBE WE CAN TALK OFFLINE ABOUT, UH, WHAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT, UM, AS FAR AS GETTING THIS DONE THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS AND, AND THE SORT OF METRICS THAT, UM, YOU OR THE OTHER COMMITTEE MEMBERS ARE THINKING ABOUT THAT MAY NOT BE YET REFLECTED ON KPIS, BUT COULD BE ADD A LOT OF VALUE TO THE WAY THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT HOW WE'RE MEASURING OUR PROGRESS.
YEAH, AND SORRY, AND I'LL SAY FORTUNATELY, THE, THE, THE BUDGET PROCESS LAST YEAR WITH THE TRE DISCUSSIONS AND ALL THESE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT PARKS MAINTENANCE BROUGHT A LOT OF THAT TO LIGHT.
AND, AND THE DEPARTMENT'S BEEN WORKING ON TRYING TO QUANTIFY AND QUALIFY WHAT IT MEANS TO TO, TO MAINTAIN PARKS AND, AND IT'S SOME ART AND SOME SCIENCE TO THIS, RIGHT? AND SO HAVING SOME, SOME REAL THOROUGH, DEEP DISCUSSIONS ON WHAT IS IT THAT, THAT A COMMUNITY MEMBER WILL SEE OR NOT SEE DEPENDING ON THE INVESTMENT IS CERTAINLY A CONVERSATION.
WE, WE, WE'VE DONE HAD A LOT INTERNALLY, BUT WE'RE, WE'RE, UM, UH, LOOK FORWARD TO HAVING THOSE WITH YOU ALL AS WELL.
AND JUST TO PROVIDE A LITTLE ADDITIONAL CONTEXT ABOUT, UM, THE PERFORMANCE MEASURES, WE HAVE OVER 60 PERFORMANCE MEASURES IN E-COM AND WE DO HAVE SEVERAL RELATED TO PARK MAINTENANCE.
WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, THE RATIO OF PARK ACRES TO UM, PARK MAINTENANCE STAFF.
WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, PERCENT OF WORK ORDERS COMPLETED.
UM, THERE, THERE'S SEVERAL, UM, PERFORMANCE MEASURES PER DIVISION.
UM, CERTAINLY THEY'RE NOT PERFECT, BUT WE HAVE A LOT TO DRAW FROM.
UM, YOU MENTIONED THE SIX KPIS ON THE WEBSITE.
I JUST WANTED TO ADDRESS THAT REALLY QUICKLY.
THREE OF THOSE KPIS ARE RELATED TO THE BIENNIAL COMMUNITY SURVEY.
WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE 2025 RESULTS YET, SO I CAN'T GIVE YOU THE ACTUALS.
YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT AS TIMELY AS WE'D LIKE.
THEY USED TO COME OUT ANNUALLY AND THOSE THREE ARE THREE OF OUR HIGHEST LEVEL KPIS.
YOU KNOW, THEY SPEAK TO COMMUNITY SATISFACTION WITH PARKS, WITH FACILITIES
[02:00:01]
AND WITH PROGRAMS. AND SO WHEN WE HAVE THAT DATA POINT, WE'LL WE WILL UPDATE IT AND GET IT TO YOU, BUT, UM, STILL WAITING ON THOSE RESULTS.I BELIEVE THAT WENT OUT LAST SUMMER.
SO HOPEFULLY WE'LL HAVE THEM SOON.
THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING ON THAT.
YEAH, I'VE TAKEN A LOT OF TIME.
I KNOW WE'RE RUNNING OUT SHORT, SO I'LL JUST FOLLOW UP WITH, WITH EVERYBODY INDEPENDENTLY ABOUT HOW, HOW THIS PROCESS WILL WORK IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF MONTHS.
ALRIGHT, WELL APPRECIATE THAT.
VICE, I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY GETTING REAL CLOSE TO CLOSING US OUT.
I JUST WANNA, YOU'RE FINE TO FLAG ON THE KEY, THE KEY MILESTONES FOR THE ADDITIONAL SOURCES OF FUNDING.
I KNOW THAT'S SOMETHING THAT WE HAD PICKED UP, UM, LAST BUDGETARY CYCLE AND HAVE BEEN SPEAKING WITH, UH, CHAIR ALTER'S OFFICE AND A COUPLE OTHERS ABOUT THE MAINTENANCE FEE TOPIC.
I KNOW I STILL GET A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT IT, UH, OUT IN THE GENERAL PUBLIC BECAUSE PEOPLE LOVE OUR PARKS AND THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT WE CAN APPROPRIATELY MAINTAIN THEM.
AND SO THAT CONVERSATION IS COMING AROUND SEEING THIS FLAGGED AS A A Q3 TIMELINE NOW INSTEAD OF Q2 FOR, UM, THIS NUMBER ONE KEY MILESTONE IS, UM, I I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE WE ARE TEED UP TO THE CHAIR'S POINT THAT IF, IF THINGS ARE COMING BACK TO US IN, YOU KNOW, MAY OR JUNE AT THAT POINT, THAT BUDGET IS MUCH HARDER FOR US TO WORK WITH.
SO I'D LOVE TO SEE WHAT WE COULD DO ON THE FRONT END TO SCOOT, SCOOT THAT TIMELINE BACK UP A BIT SO WE'RE MORE PREPARED AS, AS SPRING ROLLS AROUND TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT CONVERSATION.
WE'LL DEFINITELY, UM, KEEP YOU IN THE LOOP 'CAUSE WE'RE IN THE SUB, THE SAME SUB QUORUM ON THAT TOPIC.
AND, AND, UH, AUSTIN WATER, I KNOW NEXT MONTH WE'LL BE PRESENTING SIMILAR, UH, KPIS FOR THE COMMITTEE.
SO, UH, OUR GOAL IS TO UTILIZE THIS SPACE TO HELP INFORM THE BUDGET DOCUMENT AND, AND, AND MAKE ANY CHANGES GOING INTO THAT SO THAT THEN THE DECISIONS CAN HELP DRIVE THOSE OUTCOMES.
SO, UH, LITTLE BIT OF, I WON'T SAY UNCHARTED WATERS, BUT Y'ALL ARE GONNA BE A LITTLE BIT OF GUINEA PIGS HERE, BUT WE'RE GONNA GET IT RIGHT.
SO APPRECIATE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO DO THAT.
[5. Staff Response Related to Bird Friendly Design (Resolution No. 20241121-073) memo dated January 16, 2026. [Leslie Lilly, Environmental Conservation Program Manager - Watershed Protection].]
THERE IS NO FURTHER BUSINESS, UH, WE DO HAVE THE, UH, BIRD FRIENDLY DESIGN.IF ANYONE HAS ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THAT, I WILL JUST RECOMMEND, UH, YOU TALK WITH STAFF.
AND OTHERWISE, IF THERE IS NOTHING ELSE, I WILL MARK OUR MEETING ADJOURNED AT 1134.
I APPRECIATE EVERYONE BEING HERE.