City Council - Regular Meeting

Joseph Mayor Washington is not able to be here tonight, so I will be your host for the evening. Um, and let's see, I should be calling this to order. A couple of minutes late at 6:33. Uh, let's start with uh our pledge of allegiance. You could all stand. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America. and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um, may we have a roll call, please? Council member Brando Cruz, here. Council member Melissa Lamatina, here. Council member David Oro is excused. Vice Mayor Mark Joseph here. Mayor Pierre Washington is excused. All right. Uh, next we'll have a report on close session. Thank you, Vice Mayor Joseph. Uh, the council met in close session this evening to receive a briefing on five existing bits of litigation. The first four involve litigation with the city of Valleo and the last one is American Canyon versus uh American Canyon LLC AC1 versus uh City of American Canyon. The council received a briefing on all of the existing litigation, but no action was taken. Uh next, the council also received a briefing from legal counsel and staff regarding two separate matters of anticipated litigation and direction was provided but no action was taken. And that is the end of my report, Vice Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. There are no proclamations or presentations tonight. So that means we will move to public comments. Do we have any public comments items not on closed or open session? Yes, I have one speaker card. I'm going to call Sher Tennyson. All right. Good evening, council. It's a pleasure to be in front of you. As you all know, I'm Dr. Sherry Tennyson. I have double hats that I wear nowadays. I'm the career consultant for Napa Valley College. But more importantly, I'm here for the Toys for Tots program that American Canyon Family Resource Center has been working on for over 15 years. Um, as you all know, one of the major things we do for the holidays, every year we make sure that children get toys and every year we partner with Toys for Tots, Salvation Army. In the past, we worked with Kuanas, but our biggest biggest partner, of course, is the American Canyon Fire Department and Toys for Tots. So this year, my my ask, my request, and I'm going to make it short for Mark, um is one thing. Make sure if you have that little money, put toys in those bins that are around our city. This year, we're hoping to reach more than 300 children. We've started um we're going to be doing some open, what is it? Open sessions next week where we actually have intakes in person. We already partnered with Salvation Army. We have over a hundred children that are already no 200 plus children that have already been through the system. We want to reach more. And if you're listening out out there, we want to make sure if you need toys for your child, Toys for Tots national level is saying it beautifully. Every child deserves a toy. And that's what we're going to be doing with Toys for Tots American Canyon Captain Max. Those are the words I want to just send to you. If you need me, you

can always find me. Um I used to have my number all over the place. Um uh if uh if you need me, I can really reach out to you if you want to help in any way. We definitely have days where we will be packing toys and we'll be actually distributing toys. So it is my pleasure obviously to be up here. Thank you. But wait, we have a question for you. Okay, go for it. Thank you so much for bringing this to our attention. Um, is there a certain trend or a certain gifts that we should be targeting or it doesn't matter? Do you know off the top of your head? I love that question. And now Marc goes, her three minutes are still on. Um, the real thing is when you think of Toys for Tots, what are you thinking of the little ones? Our program goes 12 and under. So, what do you get a 9-year-old girl? What do you get a 11year-old boy? Those are the areas we really struggle on because we all don't know. Some of them like Lego balls, dolls, but it's a real hard match as they get older. It becomes more complicated. But definitely our we have bins all over. Poke your head in there. Take a look. See trucks. One year they love dragons or was it dinosaurs? Something like that. But the point is that we'd love to have you even come and help pack. It's a really enjoyable thing. Napa Valley College are sending quite a few of their students. Our students will be with us. Some of the other schools will be sending folks people in the community. Um I could send stuff through Mark or whoever. And you you're welcome to join us because it is a it's a learning experience too. So yeah, no real trends, but the real need is always the older children. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Is there anyone else? I have no other speaker cards and I have no hands raised online. All right, last call. Okay, then we will move to agenda changes and I know because

we're on a you know we've got two council members not here. Um we'd like to continue items 13 and 14 to the next meeting. And I believe we have a minor modification. I think you mean it's items 11 and 14. Yeah. Uh, well, I'm thinking it's 13 and 14, but maybe I'm wrong. Did I had this from Okay. Ah, sorry. It's it's the we're going to continue items um 11 which is the city manager employment agreement and 14 which is selection of vice mayor and city council committee appointments. Okay. All right. Well, those two will be continued to the next meeting and I believe we're adding an additional date on one of the commissions. We Yes, we are. So, we're requesting a correction to consent calendar item four, the parks and community services commission calendar was amended to add a meeting on January 8th. So, when uh approval of item four in consent happens, it will be with that modification. Okay, perfect. Well, with that in mind, unless there's any other agenda changes, I'll entertain a motion to accept the revised agenda and the consent calendar. Okay. Well, I move if there's no other further amendments or changes, I move that we accept the consent calendar. We have a motion. Oh, hi. I'm awake. [laughter] I will second that. All right. And this is a roll call vote, right? So, okay. Council member Brando Cruz. Yes. Council member Melissa Lamatina. Yes. Council member or sorry, Vice Mayor Mark Joseph. Yes. Thank you. Perfect. Uh, we have no public hearing,

so we'll move to business. And I think first up is our sites reservoir project. I knew I might need some help. Oh, it's up. I don't need any help. Uh, good evening, uh, Vice Mayor Joseph and council members. Uh, my name is Phil Brun. Uh I am that better. So good evening. Uh I am Phil Brun. I'm uh working as a part-time management aid uh for your city manager Jason Holly. I'm a retired annuitant. So I spent uh 28 long years at the and fun years at the city of Napa uh and retired as the utilities uh director there. So pleased to be to be doing this and uh pleased to be here talking about a very exciting project. Um so tonight is really just an update on the project, a kind of a sites 101, if you will, uh to give to give you some background on the project. Um and to uh to make sure we have a good foundation for you as we make, you know, as we come back in 2026 with some more substantive items uh and potentially some action items. Um so with that I'll jump into this. Uh so first of all uh obviously location of the sites reservoir is important. It's it's about it's exactly 80 miles due north of the of the city of American Canyon. It's 100 miles if you drive but 100 80 miles due north. And so as you see on the map here uh it's uh east of the town of Maxwell on the kind of the I5 corridor heading north uh from from Sacramento. Uh pretty large area in the hills there. feels kind of a natural natural valley. So, uh I know I just

started talking, but I'm going to stop talking because sites res sites authority just re uh released a very nice video. It's four minutes or so. Gives a very good overview with some very cool drone shots uh uh and a and a really good background on the project. So, I'm going to let uh JP talk here. Hi, I'm JP Robinette. I serve as the engineering and construction manager for the sites project. I'd now like to take you on a tour of the proposed sites reservoir located in Kousa County about 65 mi north of Sacramento. Tucked in the rolling foothills of the Sacramento Valley just west of the small farming town of Maxwell, Sites Reservoir is a bold solution to one of the state's most pressing challenges, climate driven water supply [music] uncertainty. This offstream reservoir will capture and store water during wetter periods when flows in the Sacramento River are high. That water [music] can then be released in drier times for communities, farms, and the environment. At full capacity, sites will store up to 1.5 million acre feet of water, enough to meet the annual needs of 7.5 million Californians. It will become the eighth largest reservoir in the state. But how does the water get there? sites will use existing water infrastructure to minimize cost, reduce environmental impacts, and accelerate delivery. Let's start with the Taha Kousa Canal system. Water from the Sacramento River is diverted at the Red Bluff Pumping Plant, an existing federal facility operated by the Taha [music] Kousa Canal Authority. During the non-errigation season, when flows are high in the river, this facility will move water into the Tamakusa Canal where it will travel about 70 mi south to Funks Reservoir, an existing intermediate reservoir just a mile from the future site's location.

Funks Reservoir, which has a capacity of 2,250 acre ft, helps regulate water flow into sites [music] and maintains an operational balance. Water may also be diverted at the Hamilton City Pump Station operated by the Glen [music] Kaloosa Irrigation District. This station already serves agriculture, private habitat lands, and wildlife refues. Water travels down GCID's 65m main canal and arrives at a new terminal regulating reservoir roughly 4 miles from sites with a storage capacity of 600 acre feet. From there, the water is pumped via large diameter [music] pipelines directly into sites reservoir. These two delivery paths are integral to how Sites captures water when it's available. The project also includes [music] significant infrastructure upgrades, including over 7 mi of pipeline, seven saddle dams, and two saddle dikes to hold water in our natural valley, and two large dams, Sites Dam and Golden Gate Dam on the eastern rim. carefully designed to avoid disrupting rivers or fish migration. In the past year, the sites project authority acquired key properties that [music] are necessary to build the reservoir. This land is where both Sites and Golden Gate dams will be located. So, how does the water get delivered to our partners that use the Kousa Basin drain? Sites reservoir connects to the Dunigan pipeline, which can return water to the [music] Sacramento River. From there, it reaches partners through existing conveyance systems, benefiting cities, farms, and even delivering dedicated environmental flows as part of the Prop 1 ecosystem public benefit. Sites participants who have water stored in sites all have access to their water [music] at the same time. No agency or entity is prioritized over another.

Participants [music] have control over how and when they use their water. They can use it, sell it, or store it. It's their choice. To support local communities, the project will create thousands of jobs, boost regional economic activity, and will build or realign 46 mi of roads, including the sites bridge, which preserves eastwest connectivity for the surrounding rural communities. Sites reservoir is more than a reservoir. It's a climate resilient investment in California's future. It's time to build sites [music] now. Learn more at sitespro.org. [music] All right. Very good. And I will say the sites project door.org website has a ton offormational items on it. So there's more interest there. Um so as JP mentioned in the video uh the project uh will store 1.5 million acre feet of water and so to bring that into some context is slightly smaller than Lake Beressa. So very large reservoir as you mentioned I think seventh or eighth largest in this in the state. Um the annual average diversion so that's what gets diverted during high flows. So this is an offstream reservoir. This is not damning a current a current stream or river uh in the state. It's an off-stream reservoir, so about 658,000 acre feet of water can be diverted uh uh in each year on average. Uh the current project cost is a little under 7 billion. Uh it's an expensive project. Uh these are typically expensive projects. You're going to hear me say that a couple times tonight. Um uh there are 30 participating agencies u spread around between Northern and Southern California. And I'll I'll show you the list of agencies here in a second. Uh

the project does have a certified uh final environmental impact report. Uh it was certified at the end of 2023. Um extensive analysis uh into the impacts of a project like this. Uh and significant number of mitigation measures have been applied to the project as part of that part of that certified final uh EIR. The water application is into the state. They are actively reviewing it. Um they have said they'll have any substantive comments back to the sites authority hopefully by the end of this year and hopefully the plan is to have a water rights uh in place and approved uh around June of of 2026. Uh and construction hopefully as it gets started towards the end of 2026 would be complete by 2032. So, moving on to American Canyon's participation. Uh, in February of 2017, uh, city council uh, you know, took the move to, uh, approve, uh, and authorized the participation in the project. Um, the allocation of storage is 25,000 just just roughly 25,000 acre feet. It's 1.8% of the total allocation in the project. And so that a small portion right uh of of the of the project but a significant amount of water and and for some comparison we have a few other reservoirs uh here in the valley lake Hennessy that serves city of Napa is 31,000 acre feet so this is close uh uh recctor Reservoir which serves the state uh vets home and Yville is a 4500 acre foot reservoir uh and Bell Canyon that serves the city of St. Atlanta is only 2400 acre feet. So at 25,000 acre feet, it's a significant it's a significant size reservoir for the community and for the area. Um and I will tell you having a reservoir for the 28 years I was in

Napa was awfully nice to have a reservoir. I loved the state water project, but it was awfully nice to have a reservoir that we could manage uh and determine how to how to bring flows uh out of it each year. Uh your investment to date has been just a little bit little bit under $4 million. Uh and and the good news is as JP mentioned in the video, a lot of existing conveyance canals, the Delta uh pipelines are being used to move this water. And the same is true for getting the water here to American Canyon. The North Bay aqueduct system that's already in place um uh that you that you manage through your state water project contract will move the water uh here to the city. I mentioned here's the 30 participants. You see a pretty wide uh range of of um a uh municipal uh uh operations and agencies here in the in the in California. Many of them in Northern California. This project does prioritize water for Northern California. Um although you have some significant like metropolitan water district uh participants in in Southern California. Uh here is just an overview of the uh of the uh overall schedule. Uh the environmental planning is all done. As I mentioned on the permitting and water rights, we are we are here kind of where I put the red dot. We're slightly behind. The project is about six months behind. Um so as you look at this schedule, the 30% design is done. Um but you know, obviously we're not we're not starting construction on this project uh right here. uh in in the right after right after New Year's of 2026. It's probably delayed by six to eight months at least. Uh as mentioned also in the video, it's a prime it's a dry year water supply project. It it is beneficial to have a reservoir to pull from in in your dry

years. Um and as you are very much aware or your urban water management plan does show deficits of supply in single dry or what are critical dry years uh or multiple dry years. We've experienced those in the valley over the last five years uh unfortunately. Um I think it's also important to note that the reliability of state water project water primary source for the city of American Canyon. Uh the reliability of that water is likely to decrease. Environmental benefits of the water um more all of the users of the project take their allocation every year. Uh climate change will change the way things happen. Um, and so, uh, the reliability of that water is likely to decrease, um, over the years. Um, and I think it's it's important uh to think about your water supply and in those dry years, a stable water supply that is consistent from year to year obviously helps the community with economic development uh and doing what you feel you need to do for the community and and having the water supplies taken care of. uh you have like all of the communities in the valley frankly statewide everybody is looking for dry year uh options uh over a number of years you've had a number you've done a number of studies you've looked at a lot of things you have prioritized uh three options sites reservoir being one of them the valo treated water and portable reuse are three of the kind of top priority projects you looked at some other things as you see on the right side of this uh slide uh groundwater water was one of them. Uh building your own reservoir uh in the Jameson Canyon area. Um or really living with what you have and really riding that roller coaster from year to year on the amount

of water supply um that you have and some years you will be short and have to go into major conservation mode. So as we look at some of the priority options on the left hand side um all of them come at high costs right developing water supplies this type of water supply is is an expensive option um you look at the number of years a a reservoir is a 100 plus year project it's a multi-generational project where a a portable reuse plant for example uh is a 25 30year project maybe maybe 35, but after after that you're having to rehab that plant or rebuild a lot of the plant. So, all of these comes with pluses and minuses. Uh high, you know, portable reuse has a high operations cost. A reservoir probably wouldn't have as as high of a of a cost. Um so, as we move forward, obviously, we will compare sites uh to some of of your other project priorities. In terms of a cost overview for sites, uh, as I mentioned, the if you add a 15% change order contingency, you're at $7.8 billion um for the project. Uh, the good news is is federal and state funding has been allocated to the project uh about $2.2 billion and that is very helpful. So that brings the amount that the participants have to finance down to this around 5.6 6 million uh be financed over 35 to 40 years um for a project that has a useful life of 100 years. And that's not always typical with a capital project. Often if you're going to finance a water treatment plant, you will finance it over 35 years. That's around the the useful life of the project. One of the benefits from a financing standpoint, and this is just an overview, we'll we're going to have a whole presentation

on finances and costs uh at some point. Um, but the real value is is boy, you've paid off the mortgage after 40 years and you still get to live in the house for another 60 plus years. So that's that that sounds like a pretty good benefit. Um, your share, American Canyon share of the project is about 2.4% or 5.6 uh million dollars. I'm sorry that's I I missed that's a typo. It's I should say 5.6 billion. Yeah. Um uh so about 134 million is the kind of the capital cost the buyin cost u of the project. Uh there is an option to capitalize that that financing um uh and defer payments while construction is occurring. It's a typical financing option that happens during construction and then you start paying when you take beneficial use of the facility. Um and then the annual estimated operating costs is is about $1 million for this. So on top of your debt service that you would be paying for the capital cost you would be paying to&m m and remember that number as I look at this next slide. Um as I mentioned developing these options is a significant investment for a community. Um because one of your projects was a portable reuse project. I kind of wanted to just give you a snapshot of of what a re a recent study that city of Napa did about a year and a half ago studied a portable reuse project as part of the valleywide drought contingency plan that we all did. Um and and a project that delivers about 1,600 acre feet a year for portable reuse has a capital cost of $140 million and an operating cost of 5 million a year. So, running a running a plant, and I know you're going to get a a presentation from your wastewater folks, uh they'll tell you running a plant uh uh takes a a lot of a lot of O andM, whereas running a reservoir isn't as much. Um

so, that brings us really to next steps. Uh what what does the next six months hold uh for this project? And we are getting to the we are getting to the end where everybody is is going to have to say uh yes or no to the project all 30 participants. Um so we have two key things um uh that Jason and I are working with the site's authority on uh one of them is their plan of finance. Um that is the key document that will tell us uh how much each participant is going to have to pay over the years uh and give us a feel for for all the cost factors. And so we should be getting a a kind of a final draft of that in December and a to be able to start uh looking in that in more detail. We're also working with their modeling folks that are modeling the reservoir uh specific to American Canyon. American Canyon is in a unique position to be north of Delta for the state water project contractors. You're the only the only participant that's in there that is a state water project contractor or a participant in the state water project that is north of Delta. So the way the water flows to you is much more beneficial than the way it flows to Southern California. Southern California has some com uh pretty significant conveyance losses uh and windows of time when they can't move the water across the delta and through the the the pump stations that move it uh into the California aqueduct. Um so your American Canyon has is has can benefit from delivering the water in different ways. So we're having them model that specific to see uh how the releases from the reservoir would occur over a long period of time based on the history of water years over the last 60 70 years. Uh so in Q1 of 2026 uh you will likely see us here talking about the financing uh what it costs, how it might have impacts on rates, um and and

what it what it all means from the investment standpoint. Uh and then in Q2 um the sites authority will be releasing this program baseline report which is essentially the portfolio of that tells us anything and everything we need to know about the project for which then based on that well they will say here's the project we are now offering this capacity to the participants and then we would bring an item before council to consider uh action on saying uh yes or no to that to those uh uh what is called a benefits and obligations agreement. With that, that is all I have unless you have questions that I or Jason has much more history on this could answer. Okay. Do we have any questions from the board from the council? Uh council member Cruz. Yes. Thank you for that presentation. Um so question So as far as our sliver of the reservoir will we have water restrictions as far as when we can obtain water and so forth and so on like certain times say it's a drought period dry for for all these cities that you mentioned these counties are the restrictions for us to collect. So the way the project is set up today as water is diverted into the reservoir a prop for every drop of water that comes in a proportional share goes into each participant's storage right and so as that comes in uh your your your reservoir so to speak uh starts to fill up uh as it starts to fill up on any given year you can decide to take some out. So in in each year you you are making decisions of let it go to storage p each part of the year. So you don't have to make a decision you know at one

point of the year for the next six months u you can call for a release from the from the reservoir. So it will be there will be some restrictions. The delta has to be in a in a certain condition uh and to allow water to flow through it. uh it's not much different than the state water project water um that that that flows to all of us in the valley already. Um so I think as as we can get state water project water delivered through then we would have the same restrictions u for the u for the for the sites water but it it is your 25,000 acre foot reservoir to manage. So, if it's full and you you you decide to take some out and then you will hopefully get some more recharge and fill it back up. Uh I will I will also say that I didn't mention it very specifically but there are also options to lease purchase but not only water from others but also to sell uh water water to others. So you can you can you can you can manage your storage that way. Increase it or decrease it based on uh agreements within the project. Great. Thank you. You bet. Okay. Uh yeah, keying off of that, one of the nice aspects is that when we entered into this years ago, it was council member Oura who recommended that instead of the 2,000 that we thought we need, let's do four. And that was a smart decision. And and that gets back to if we on any year-to-year basis, we could say, you know, we think we're going to have two or three thousand acre feet extra, you know, can we make some money selling it to somebody else to help defay some of the debt service. Um it it also means that in dry, you know,

drought years, we have that 24,000 acre feet of storage. So it really I mean it it I'm sure it's going to be expensive but in terms of what it gives us in terms of a stable water supply in terms of basically being able to periodically you know sell some of that excess. All of it really gives us a level of stability that you know even as a water district 30 plus years ago you know we never had a reservoir. We were always kind of dependent upon state water. And the fact that we bought 5200 acre feet of of, you know, of water didn't mean we got it. And so, you know, from a long-term stabilization, sites reservoir really is a good thing. And, you know, I'm excited. Flip side though as you also mentioned we're still dependent upon Barker Slooh and the whole conveyance system and that's where the delta smelt and all the other constraints including the pipeline and all that. So the two questions then become will that create some operational problems for us because even though we've got the water we can't get it to us and then secondly what's the likelihood that we're going to take on another big project which is you know creating an alternate conveyance system. So the the problems or the challenges at Barker Slooh uh remain no ma no matter what, right? Um and so you will we will you will we all in the valley will have to continue and Solano County will have to continue to work through those options. Um um this project does provide some environmental flows downstream. Maybe that will help the the Delta smelt

situation. Uh I don't know enough about the fisheries uh to know if we'll have a direct benefit from that. Um but I'll certainly make a note and ask uh the the the experts in the project to see because the state and federal portion of this project is environmental water that they release uh uh you know to to benefit the delta. Um and so I think uh still have to have Napa and Solano counties. We'll still have to have a collective effort uh to to work on those items. um uh you know at Barker Slooh and and work through those uh constraints. You know, the alternate intake project um uh you know is is still out there. It's still uh an option um I think you know to afford it uh I listen I will say what I always said at Napa to afford it would would likely take pretty significant state funding. I mean, the hope was to get it in as part of the the the the tunnel project, Southern California. Um um so I think time will tell uh to see if if if we're if we would enter into that. It would be a you know that would also be a very expensive project that wouldn't necessarily lead to more water, right? But at least today we're talking about making sure we have the more water. It's a lot easier to figure out how to convey it than to come up with it. So, uh, I'm Thank you for the report. Are there any other comments from the council? Are there any questions from the audience? [clears throat] Uh, come on up to the Are we calling public podium though, please? Oh, we're opening public comment. Oh, yes. I have I have a card. Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Uh, please could you please give me your name? Uh, my name is Scott Silverman. I run

the water system at Misetta. Um, my question for this reservoir is on a low snowpack year or if it's hot and the snowpack melts faster than expected, um, the salenity rises in the delta and it's brackish much further upstream than usual. Uh, I just looked on the map where Barker Slooh is. Uh would would a high salinity uh water during high tides on a low snowfall year, would that create uh a higher salinity water supply that the that the city is invested in? No, it's a really great question. I'm happy to answer it, Scott. Thank you for the question. Um, again, this project is going to capture high flows uh during wet periods and store them in an offstream reservoir. The intake uh will still be at the Barker Slooh. And so the conditions in the Delta themselves um aren't really going to change based on the sites project. Sites will only be diverting during high flow events. So it's not going to change what happens in the Delta. What will have the potential to change what happens in the Delta is the Delta Conveyance Project, the Twin Tunnels project as it used to be known. So, and they're studying the environmental effects of that right now. Um, but this uh sites reservoir project won't have anything to do with the the conditions of the delta themselves. Um, and the the alternate intake project that that Phil mentioned um would be the opportunity to create a new pipeline away from an intake in the delta or more to the main uh main part main stem of the Sacramento River. So, um that could improve uh sort of the source water quality that we'd be treating. Um so, hopefully that makes sense. Okay, thank you. And I apologize. Um,

those who have cards, it's okay. Germaine Dael, please. Good evening, Vice Mayor and Council members. My name is Germaine Daell. I'm a union carpenter and I want to speak about a responsible construction manager at risk for the sites reservoir project, uh, CR. Uh, I have some questions. How would they be able to hire locally without direct local ties? How will a CM staff a project with skilled, experienced, productive workers seeking long-term career paths? Will that project be delivered timely to meet the needs and demands of participating districts? If a non-responsible CM is involved with a large project, the local economic opportunities could be lost as well. If a company like Barnard is selected from out of state, there is no regional interest in our local economy. As a city that could benefit from a project like this, the sites reservoir project, I urge you to express these concerns with the site's authority. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have no other cards and no hands raised online, but I do want to note for the record that we received one written comment on this item from Robert Raven, which you all received by email. Thank you. And and I would certainly agree to the extent that we have any real influence um the more we can advocate for local hires and and so forth certainly makes sense. But um I think if we're less than 2% of the project, we may not be that influential, but um I certainly would support throwing our two cents worth uh on that subject. All right. Well, if that's that this is uh just receive uh and file on sites reservoir. It's exciting, but we're going to move on to our next project.

Thank you, Phil. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um and this is the high strength waste project update. This one isn't mine. Did I just click it off? Yeah, this is still close. Just close it. There you go. All right. N this should be good right here. Well, this goes down, right? Perfect. All right. Thank you everybody. uh city council, Vice Mayor Joseph, uh residents of uh American Canyon. Uh it's my pleasure and I'm really excited to be able to bring this update to you all regarding the high strength waste project. Um before I get into my presentation though, I wanted to thank some of the city staff uh who have been critical and essential along the way here. uh city manager Jason Holly, uh public works director Erica Smidies, uh the behind the scenes energy and direction that you supplied with this project have really done a lot to help keep it going. Um Nolan Garcia, chief plant operator, and uh Pamela Phillips, the environmental service manager. When I first started looking at this project, if you all know what a wood chipper is, I thought that the feet of this project was hanging out of the back of a wood chipper. But as I start learning more about it and going along the path of it,

speaking with Pam, speaking with Nolan, along with the other city staff, I start come to understanding what this project was all about and what we were trying to do with it. So, um, every tour we went on in regard to we went to Roseville, we went to, uh, West Sacramento, uh, Nolan flew out to Compton with Erica. Um, whether we it was a Zoom meeting that we were on, inerson meetings, hours of reading technical memos, um, data sets that you had collected, the conversation was going long before I got here. Uh, it was absolutely, um, really, like I said, essential to getting to this point today. and Nolan and Pam, uh, any type of recognition or recommendation could not have been done without the two of you and the hours that you put in to get to this point. So, uh, you know, I just had to say that publicly because these two have just been warriors with this project. So, um, moving forward, um, in 2020, the city of American Canyon began evaluating options for, uh, to enhance the performance and energy recovery potential of the water reclamation facility. Um those conversations started uh with the city initiating uh a conversation with NG who was an energy services company at the time. Um the project uh was an evaluation uh that not only considered sustain the sustainability goals of city canyon but also uh creating local jobs and um fostering partnerships with local businesses along the way. uh the conversation really covered a lot of things but it really boiled down to two type of things uh the type of processes we're going to use as we went along the way the kind of technology so there's a conventional process and there's an anorobic membrane technology and there's a partnership conversation that goes here so going straight to the conventional process aspect of it that is a large process a large conversation that have to do with uh more land big tanks uh that have to do with digesttors primary clarifiers. That's a

conventional process. The water reclamation facility is a smaller footprint facility that's a membrane facility that dry weather does about 2 and a half MGD. So it's not and we do about one and a half MGD actual. So it's a much smaller facility. So the conventional process discussion aspect of it would have been a big expansion of what the facility actually is now which that investment dollar tag was coming back at a substantial investment of over $und00 million. The other conversation technology-wise that we were having with NG in regard to developing this energy recovery project was an anorobic membrane technology which is consistent with the membrane technology we have at the water recation facility. an anorobic membrane technology. Uh it it does anorobic uh digestion uh gas production, membrane filtration. Essentially, it is not the exact same but it is a replica and a true advancement pivot towards a technology discussion or decision that we made a long time ago when we decided to have a membrane or wastewater reclamation facility which was created in 2002. um having those two technologies in that discussion it kind of stalled when I got here and they weren't sure if we were going to go with the technology where we going to be a conventional process we had done some testing to go along with it um in regards to a report that was looked at by an independent the anor the anorobic membrane technology was deemed with that report to be able to be viable which would have saved the city a substantial amount of money the an the anorobic membrane technology discussion is a much lower dollar point than the conventional process discussion which is I say probably about half of some of the estimates that we've read. So um that regard of it is a very easy discussion in regards to hey you mean we

can do this and we can save money and we can be in line with the technology discussion we've already done. Um the other half of it is our partners um Misetta Hess who have been pre-treating their uh uh their processes and dealing with waste and hauling costs all along. So knowing that this could assist our partners to go along the way, it just it seems like it's a good fit for like I said once again as an economic development and in line with our sustainability goals. um kind of explaining to you what we do out at the water uh reccomamation facility. Um as I said in 2002 we started a membrane technology facility. So essentially rather than to go with a conventional facility of the big footprint of the digesttors, the primary clarifiers, uh thickening equipment, we decided we're going to have a much smaller footprint which fits the mold of a city of our size. and we went with uh a membrane technology. A membrane technology is good for uh our se our separation process. Um at the time it was I believe uh one of the first membrane uh facilities in the United States. So uh now uh that we've gone down the road with it, it's an industry standard. Membrane technology is more common than it was back then. So back then when the city of Americanana decided to go with technology, it was a decision that was cutting edge. What we're doing now is staying consistent with that decision to stay cutting edge and to utilize um some of our staff. Um the energy efficient and the cost saving aspect of it is one of the things uh it helps with us helps with uh we have uh smaller tanks uh less air demand uh which big large savings for us if we were to be on a conventional aspect of

it we'd be paying a lot more money so to stay with where we are is just beneficial for us all the way around. So as we had this discussion and talked about do we want to expand out to something bigger or do we want to try and package it in there um we landed on that. The biggest aspect of a recommendation for this anorobic membrane technology is other than the uh the energy cost savings is the integrable part of what we already have. We don't really need to train our staff. We have some of the best membrane operators uh in the state maybe in in the country. you have year uh two operators that have been out there for well over a decade. Um I've been doing this for 18 years and when I came in here I was shocked at how well they knew membrane technology. Speaking to um vendors uh we could teach a class with how great our operators are. And so there was no reason to pivot away from that because then we'd be pivot away from one of our strengths. And how does an embrain uh a membrane work? Uh a quick overview of it because I didn't want to try and give a operations 101 class over here. I tried to do that with my previous staff report and I was told Norm, you're talking way too much. So this is a a quick little uh over. So what you So you see intake uh that's just the raw water that's entering our system right now. Uh the uh initial treatment is the removal of large solids, grit, and we're balancing the flow. So you're equalizing the flow before it goes through there. Um the treatment stage is the biological cleaning where the microbes are starting to degrade the waste. And the final uh stage, oh missed the air, add the air to help the the microbes and clean the membranes. So there's back pulses and there's other things that go on with air cleaning in place. not going to go into all that, but um air is a big part of that. And the final part is membrane fil the membrane filtration and you're going to clean and have a high uh quality effluent and you're just polishing the water. So essentially that's what we

already have here in the city of American Canyon. The anorobic membrane technology which we're suggesting you moving towards is essentially a combining of those systems right there. There is an anorobic digestion and the filtration kind of working together and that what the combining of system is. You you see that tankish jets up there. That tank is where some of that magic is going to be happening as it initially comes in there. The production aspect of it is um the bio gas being produced. We're going to harvest that bio gas to offset some of the cost of this project, some of the cost at the facility. So, we're going to be able to do that. We can sell it back to the grid. We haven't decided what we're going to do with it, but there is huge value to us harvesting that gas. Um, number three is uh we're going to uh treat the effluent. It's going to be cleaner. It's going to be lower in contaminants and solids. And the final thing is reduce uh sludge production, which is a muscular move. We have to be in compliance with some state regulations that come down the road. Additionally, we're going to get a huge cost savings in regard to solids hauling and waste that's actually produced. Um, other than that, that's pretty much it. That's the long and short end of the presentation, and I am ready for any questions that you may have. Okay. Well, um, this is, [laughter] it's sad to say this is a near and dear topic to me. Um, a little background. We went with membrane technology not because we wanted to do cutting edge technology. it was we weren't going to get a discharge permit through conventional methods. We had to roll the dice and hope that membranes would work. Um, we were lucky it did. Um, so that's why we did membranes. And that's probably the most compelling argument because I'm normally a little hesitant to be cutting edge on multi-million dollar things. But the point in your

staff report was our guys have been using membrane technology for 25 years. It isn't cutting edge to us anymore. It's normal. And that is why I really think the technological option makes sense. Not to mention it's half the price and and provides a lot of environmental benefits. So, I'm kind of excited about that. Um, one of my questions is are we looking at just adding an additional facility adjacent to what we have now? Are we talking about rebuilding something? What we are going to be clearing areas out at the current facility right now. So, it's within the footprint of the existing water reclamation facility. But the existing 2.5 MGD plant will stay there and we just add to things. Yes, we will. It'll be at the headworks of the facility as you enter through. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's exciting because we don't really have to deal with any land acquisition or anything else. So, that's another plus. Um, and then the other question is for some of our industrial customers, and I'm thinking of Misetta in particular, they've got their holding ponds. Would this put us in a position to say, "Okay, you can just send it directly and we'll take care of it, or are they still going to need the holding ponds?" They would not need a holding ponds. Under the current philosophy that we're using, they would not have to pre-treat. They would be able to send their uh their waist streams directly to us. Okay. then that gives them I know over the years they've always wanted to expand and you know it's expensive to expand but if they've got however many acres of holding ponds that they can convert into an expanded building that might be good for Misetta and for us too for that matter. So all like I said I think this is exciting stuff and you

know I know it's going to have some impact on uh rates or is that a like sites reservoir how are we going to see that what is its impact on the rate structure? Yeah it's a great question vice mayor um part of what you're going to see in some of our next steps uh is some discussion around how to deliver this as a project. It's uh be the largest capital project we've ever done on our own. Um and so one of the things that the council will see next is a part of our 26 27 capital improvement program uh in late Q2 next year uh the establishment of this as a capital project. Right now we're still in the feasibility due diligence phase. Uh but you'll see a project WW26-001 high strength place product or something like that nomenclature. Uh and from there we should be in a place to be able to recommend a project delivery method. Is this going to be a traditional design bid build? Are there some alternative project delivery methods available? Uh generally when we don't add a project to our CIP until we already have the funding identified. So we it's this grant, it's this capacity fee fund, it's uh this operational fund. And so we don't make a project until we've already uh figured that out. We don't want to have speculative capital projects. In this case, we aren't proposing to have known where all these funds are going to come from by next spring. And that'll be part of the process we're going to go through. Um, we're pretty clear this is not going to come from existing rate payers, meaning is essentially residential rate payers. This is really going to be driven towards industrial customers, both existing and potential new customers. So, how do we go about financing a large part of this and then inviting new customers who, to your point, will no longer have to operate pre-trimment facilities, instead can discharge the high strength waste directly to us, freeing up, you know, operational costs for them and and challenges for them. Uh, and then how can we invite new customers? Uh, Norm mentioned it uh earlier, but this is a high this is a economic development

project. It's meant to address some of the council's goals around creating a food and beverage cluster out in the Green Island area where one already sort of exists. And this is meant to enhance and and make it more robust um and to make it simpler for those uh food and beverage customers to just directly discharges. And actually, we need them to discharge to us because we're going to be uh kind of feeding these systems and and we're going to be wanting to generate the energy from these systems. So, um, we don't have all the answers on on the financing, but we're going to be looking to, uh, again, as we've been through this due diligence phase, and it's taken us a while to get through this due diligence phase, is we knew the traditional aerobic digestion, um, with the big old eggs and all that, um, was, you know, 2x factor of what we're looking at now. And it wasn't, we're talking about a nine figure project at that point. And that really we didn't see a means to an end to be able to accomplish that. [laughter] here we see this as possible. Um so a combination of financing uh we're going to be generating uh both gas and and um and have the opportunity to use that resource. How do you recover it? Uh can we sell it? Can we reuse it? Can we make energy with it and reduce electrical bills? Um so you know that'll be an element of it. Also tipping fees will be an element of it. So it's envisioned to have some base load customers uh some of our existing industrial customers and others who would base load to us discharge all the time. uh kind of open up the floodgates, if you will, with their uh unpretreated waste. Um and again, we're there are still going to be limitations, for example. So, we're talking about now for food and beverage customers, but to the extent that someone opened up a a paint manufacturing facility or something or some other chemical type project, we aren't going to be allowing those kinds of dischargers. So, it's going to be a regulated process. But to the extent someone in the food and beverage space is opening up, uh we're going to be much more freely accepting that kind of waste. We're also going to be allowing customers again um pre-screened customers to come to us uh through a

tipping facility and dump their liquid waste uh again with organic. So if you think about the numerous uh users in the Napa Valley with with waste that has uh related to the wine industry for example there's a ton of customers who would be able to come uh to our facility offload that at times that we control wouldn't be open all the time. would be when we're accepting uh we'll be able to charge them, you know, as uh as a customer class to come in and discharge as well. So, um right now a lot of that goes to Oakland. Uh East Bay Mud has a facility in Oakland. So, there are trucks that drive from north part of Napa Valley all the way to Oakland to discharge their waste which has a lot of water in it and it's also got some organic material, but it's not, you know, it's not any sort of toxic stuff. Um and so the idea that we can kind of capture some of that uh generate some of the energy uh it also becomes a source product for some of our recycled water plants. So um this is meant to be an add-on to the systems that are out there. Um the advantage also of the m uh the anorobic MBR is that it is modular in the same way that the existing membrane systems are modular. So um whereas with aerobic digestion you got kind of one digesttor, two digesttors, those are major major investments. These membranes uh are uh additive and so you can uh add a train you can add you can add components to it as as the need might arise without doubling or tripling your cost necessarily. So um part part of the the process there. So you'll see a capital project it's not going to have all the financing identified. We're going to start to have some ideas around financing. We've engaged some of our uh municipal finance partners NHA and others to to help us look at the at the market. We're listening at looking at federal sources and state sources too given the energy generation component. Are is there some interest there um to be able to offset some of these costs? That's excellent. And and your point about getting additional water, you know, that just actually feeds back into our water supply issue. So it really, you know, I mean other than we don't

know what the cost is, but it's got a whole lot of advantages. Uh and it is very exciting, at least to me. It's an estimated about 60 70 million versus the over 100 million for the conventional process. So it's it's a it's a lower price tag though. I remember talking to the city manager about a year or two ago about that 120 plus million. I was like holy, you know, I'm you know that's just too big for me to handle. So 60 or 70 million that's I can I can live with that. All right. Uh any other comments from council members? Just because Norm I do have a question. Sorry. Go ahead. [clears throat] So, we're talking about our current membrane intake techn or our membrane technology. Um, how much sludge does that produce? And then also after that, so if we do expand on this technology, how much more sludge will be produced? And where's that where does that get transferred to? It would be less, right? How much sludge is about 16,000 a day, Nolan? 50,000. Is that much? Okay. About 50,000 a day. And right now it's being stored at the facility right now in one of the three p one of the three ponds that are out there and then we get it hauled off uh annually uh whether it gets hauled off to the I think right now it's going to the landfill but uh in the future we would hope to land apply it and that would either be down Sacramento area wherever it is that we build that contract at but u right now it's being stored at the facility and hold off to the landfill. Thank you. And you mentioned that uh when these uh membranes digest the waste produces a gas and when we harvest that what would we use that gas for? That is the million-dollar question right now. I know initially my thought is to utilize it at the facility for any blower offset cost right there. So yeah, but it's going to be the amount of gas that we produce is going to be significantly higher than what the facility needs are. So if you could theoretically produce x number% of your

gas right there, that would save you on your PG& bill. the rest you could either pump back to the grid or you know CG vehicles are not in vogue anymore based on electrical policies going on in the state of California. It's a real fluid conversation when you start talking about the the policydriven conversations here in the state of California. But that would what we'd have to decide which way we actually want to use all that because you can't flare it. But some of that has to do with the the way we process it as it comes in. As Jason mentioned earlier, how much gas we actually want to produce because we can pull in streams and produce within a range how much gas we actually want to produce. So you scale your uh your high strength waste station to that too. So we're not the biggest facility in the whole world, but we do have goals that we want to attain. So as a project starts to be discussed out, we would decide how much gas we actually want to produce. Great. Thank you. Well, that also raises another totally unrelated topic, but a micro grid for the industrial project or plant so that we can begin not only offering, you know, a better wastewater treatment strategy, but potentially lower energy costs if we're generating enough of that methane or through in solar panels and so on. So, I mean, it's just an opportunity. It's a big picture concept, but you know, the opportunity to start looking at all these different components that then translates into our Green Island Industrial Park is a lot more compelling than just a bunch of warehouses that it really can become a viable economic development engine. So, like I said, exciting stuff for me at least. Um, do we have any comments? [clears throat] Oh, go ahead. I was just gonna say I'm very excited as well. That's all. [laughter] Uh I have no I have no comment cards. Uh I did we did receive one written comment

from Mimi Stewarts which was emailed to everyone and I have no hands raised online. All right. Anyone else in the audience who's inspired? Come on up. Oops. Hi, I'm Jessica Infinity Bottling. I know been here now I think this is six years. If you guys decide to do this, what kind of timeline are we talking about? I'm thinking you want to do it sooner rather 48 months. So, I mean, as you guys can imagine, we haul our waste. Now, Napa Sand's refusing to take it again, so it's going to East Bayud starting in January. Um, a lot of money. And so, we are constantly considering our own membrane technology. And it's like, we're going to put in a million-doll system that sits at our facility, whereas you guys are going to put in a way more million-dollar system at your facility. I think if we need to understand and it's not just us, there's other I know Misetta and others kind of like how are we going to know when you decide to move forward? How are we going to know that it's actually happening? And then is it 24 or 48 months? I guess that's my question. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a really great question. I appreciate it, Jessica. Um what I would say um at this point is I would expect to know that as we bring the CIP forward in April. Um you know we'll have both a project delivery method um an estimated um finance plan. We're not going to have the actual funds in hand or the grants identified. We're going to have a financing plan and then

uh an estimated schedule that will be sort of contemplating those financing options. So, um, the build itself, yeah, I mean, you're talking 12 to 18 months worth of design and 24 months worth of build. Probably we don't have to take the facility out of production to build it. These are add-ons and uh, you know, we're starting with some clearing and grubbing um, of certain areas uh, now to make to make ready for it. So, we're we're starting to get ready for some of those pieces. But, um, yeah, I mean, you're talking um, 36 months would be the most optimistic that I would say for us to be able to start accepting waste and to to have those things online. Um the way to to um to learn more about it would be in April as we bring the CIP forward because each of those projects has its own schedule and has its own funding source. This will you know take up a large piece of that CIP and have a large sort of presence within it and there'll be a lot of information in there. Um, you know, part of, um, what we're going to be doing between now and then is to really take a look at these project delivery methods and is there a way to look at an alternative method that might compress design and construction into a more singular type of activity. Um, there are groups that oppose that, there are groups that support it. So, um, you know, we'll have to kind of play that out, but um, you that's kind of the thought process. Okay. All right. Thank you. U, a couple of things. part of the timing in reading the staff report um the progressive design build strategy is you know some of the options in terms of how do you go about doing it and its principal advantage seemed to be that it shaves some time off the construction schedule so that may lend itself to expediting the process and then uh I was going to suggest that we can reach out to the chamber and let them know that this would be a good grid topic for sometime early next here uh certainly when we have something more specific and that way uh we kind of have a built-in mechanism to get the word out to the industrial park. Thank you for

those comments. Anything else? All right. Well, then thank you for the report. Uh thank you for the status. Um we got two big exciting infrastructure projects tonight. Cool. All right. We're continuing the other two items. So, that gets us to management and staff oral reports. Uh oh. Yes, I think we do have an update from from Deputy City Manager Akita. I'm guessing related to some of the upcoming uh special events which I think Friday is is one of those. Um I don't think anyone else has any updates. So, we'll just stick with that. Good evening. And yes, I'm here to tell everyone about all the wonderful things that are happening around town over the next couple weeks. Starting tomorrow, uh, December 3rd, the Napa Valley Tourism, Business Improvement District will be hosting a meeting in this room at 11:00 a.m. Also tomorrow for tomorrow night, the Open Space Active Transportation and Sustainability Commission will be holding their commission meeting at 6:30 p.m. On December 5th is Magic of the Season. That is our holiday tree lighting down at Shannondoa Park from 5:30 to 8. The This is in partnership with the American Canyon Chamber of Commerce and and we will be hosting local businesses. So, if you are looking for gifts for your loved ones, this is a great opportunity for you to come down and support local and small business. Um the tree lighting will be at 6:30, so you're not going to want to miss out. It's a great event. And then on June 6th, the American Canyon Community Parks Foundation will be hosting their reindeer run at Wetlands. If you have not registered, um it's going to be busy, so I would I would suggest you avoid that area from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And then also that evening, we have the parole lantern festival and competition at the Michelic

Center. And this is going to be from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. On December 7th, the Napa Solano Ottabon will be hosting a beginner bird walk from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at the wetlands. Also that same day, uh there is an ultimate peaceful place turns two. It's a celebration for a local um business here in American Canyon. It's the tupe store in AC from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. And then on December 11th, we have PCS, which is our commission at 6:30. On December 12th, we have Cocoos and Carols at the Adult Activity Center from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. On December 13th, we have Donuts with Santa at the Mologogic Center from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. And then also that same evening, we have the Posada Na'vi Nami Dena um at the Mologogic Center from 5:00 pm to 900 pm. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Uh any other staff reports? Any mayor council comments? Um, Mayor Washington and I submitted our reports. Uh, do you have anything to add, Council Member Lametina? I'll just say I'm very excited about all the upcoming holiday events and I hope to see everyone out there. I'll be out there for sure. And that's all I have to say. All right. Thank you, Council Member Cruz. Yeah, I'd like to echo uh what Council Member Lantine said. We have a lot of fun events happening uh coming up this summer. So, like to see you guys all there. I did attend the um Barbara Seville um play or event at Donaldson Way and that was a a lovely lovely event. It was in conjunction with the San Francisco Opera. So, great kudos to uh to all those that that were involved and those that attended. But that's all I got. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yes. Uh, and we had to miss it because we had a climate action committee meeting that same time, but I was

looking forward to it. Um, the only other thing I want to add is on behalf of the Arts Foundation at the marketplace this Friday, you will be able to buy C's candy. So, if you're looking for that Christmas gift and you don't know what to buy them, buy them candy. And we have it for sale. Uh, with that, we can jump to Oh. Oh, I you got to get up here fast and throw [laughter] something at me if you expect me to to focus. I thought maybe it would be answered tonight. Good evening, Vice Mayor, City Council, Community American Canyon, Erica Almonds, public works director. Exciting news tomorrow. Um, and also an update that the Wetlands Edge outdoor education area and public fitness gym will be closed for part of the day as the bathroom will arrive on a crane. So, no promises that it'll be connected and operational by this Saturday for the reindeer run, but there's high hopes that it could possibly be. So, but the big news is the bathroom permanent two two stall bathroom will arrive tomorrow. So, [laughter] avoid the area if you can. It's going to be after school drop off at Napa Junction. But, um it's very exciting to see. So, absolutely. And I did want to comment, I went out there and and that whole area is looking really nice now that the temporary fencing is gone and it's not it's a beautiful little addition. Very exciting. Um, and I also wanted to throw out some kudos. I talked to the city manager about what can we do on Melvin Road because it's really torn up. I'm not sure if you were able to pull it off, but it looked like they had patched one of the worst parts of the crack. So, I'm going to give you credit whether it was [laughter] whether you did it or not. You know, could have been totally planned, but I was impressed and and so, uh, I just hope the the residents are just as excited. So, uh, I'm glad about

that. Uh, future agenda items of note. Council members, do you want to add something to the agenda? Okay. The only thing I was going to talk about is we need to start thinking about our annual council retreat and kind of lock in on a date and and topics and so forth. Um, so glad you brought that up. I haven't had a chance to talk to all of you. I did talk to council member Matina. I don't know how your February 6 is looking. If you wanted to take that date and uh look at your calendars, get back to me. Um, January's already filled up fast. We're heading to Cal Cities. We have a staff retreat built in there. Uh, and we have something else going on. Uh, oh, Citizens Academy. Yes, we'll be, uh, in classroom on the 30th at Citizens Academy, uh, at the high school. And so, um, anyway, January is filling up fast. We're looking at February 6. So, I don't know. Um, how that's treating y'all. That's the sooner the better. So, and if February 6 is the soonest, I think we should make it a point to to free up our calendars. Three S's there. I'll talk to the other two and see if Feb 6. All right. Excellent. Um, that being the case, if there's no other business, uh, I get to end my my probably first and only meeting as as mayor effect. Whatever. Good night. [laughter] And with that kind of treatment, nobody Pierre will never be out again. [laughter]