City Council - Special Meeting

No.

Good afternoon, everyone. We are now live. Thank you.

Thank you, everybody, for coming to this emergency meeting. Gallup City Council on Thursday, July 30th, one o'clock in the afternoon. With today's meeting, Alicia, if you would take a role.

Councilor Garcia? Here. Councilor Yazzie? Here. Councilor Molina?

Here.

Councilor Piano? Mayor DePauley?

Here.

Councilor Piano?

With that, we could start the Pledge of Allegiance.

Thank you.

So today's discussion action topic item is the approval of the budget adjustment in fund 505 in the amount of $1.8 million. And it's going to be, we actually found out yesterday that we're going to need more, but I'm going to give you guys, everybody some history. The city of Gallup has 16 operating wells. And over the years, those wells have failed and we haven't had a chance to get back and fix them. There's a couple of them been out either almost two years. And this last year, we've had another couple went out and then this fall, I'm seeing this fall, this spring, recently we had two wells go out. So out of the 16 that we normally have running, We have eight of them that are out. So what that means is we've had to shift water from one zone to another. We've had to turn on wells in areas that we haven't really used. That's in the Santa Fe field, the older wells that are, some of them are built in 1957. So we've got those wells up and running and they pump to the lower zone. And recently we were able to pump water up to the higher zones. So in order to fix this solution, of course, is to have the money to repair and replace the well pump assemblies. So when we talk about the well pump, We don't mean the whole well house and everything. We're just talking about the pump that goes down into the well, the electric motor, because these are submersible, the pump, and then there's a seal, and then, of course, the electrical and the column pipe come up to the top. Those need to be replaced. With that, the Allen well is about $240,000. I'm just going to read it off of our... agenda. Irwin is $300,000. That well is actually going to be here in the next couple weeks to be replaced. Right now, these wells themselves don't even have wells in them. The wells are out of the hole and on top of the ground. Yonker one was one that recently failed on us. It was a couple of months ago. We haven't had a chance to go fix it. Yonker two is the same. Actually, we restarted it yesterday and it did give 90 gallons a minute, but it's usually bumping about 250 to 300. So it's got some kind of problem with the shaft. Pinuel, it's been out for at least two or three years. The city has not had a chance to get back and fix it. And then a newer well, another well that really put us in a bind was our Galanus well. It was pumping out 400 gallons a minute, and it's out. But the good thing about it is it was affecting the Munoz well, which is operating, and the Munoz well production went up because the chronic depression was no longer affecting it. So it's – although we lost Galani – excuse me, we lost the – Yeah, well, we were able to keep it the other 2 wells that are going to be that aren't on here that are out. We're going to, we're going to go and do some reconnaissance reconnaissance. We have to pull the well pumps and see what's wrong is going to be well, 16 in the Santa Fe field and well, which is in the field. With that, you get the amounts the only thing that's going to change on this and I'll let Frank explain the change that we're going to make to add the well.

Thank you, sir. Um, well, this just came up as we were. Diagnosing and trying to get water to other parts of town. It just failed, so it didn't make the agenda. We'd like to add it on with 300,000. So, instead of asking for the 1.8Million, we're looking at 2.1. Is the change we'd like to make.

I'd like to say that Frank is working very effectively to get our wells back up and running. It's all hands on deck. Because not only do we have water wells that pump water out of the ground, we have pumps that distribute the water to the system or transmit to the system. And within the system, we have pressure relief valves or pressure reducing valves that actually let water go from higher zones to lower zones. And one of the problems that happens this time of year, the other thing that's added, the complications, like with Galanus Well, is lightning. Unfortunately, our well field is located in a flat area, and there's nothing better than a 3,000-foot steel pipe to attract lightning, no matter where it's within a 500-foot diameter of that well. You can have the best lightning protection in the world, but lightning hits it. That huge... blast the voltage, turns the well pump off automatically because you're not going to blow anything up. It's the well protection, and then we've got to go restart them. So the lightning has really added to the problems. Some of the wells get turned off, and then, of course, they'll be off for 8 or 10 hours before they get restarted. Now, the water crews have really made the attempt to get out there as soon as they can to get the wells restarted. But that's one thing. That's the other benefit of the rain. The good rain we're having is that the lightning, and there's a lot of lightning strikes. And whenever I see when you kind of look at it, say, okay, what did we lose just now? You know, so that's the other thing with that also.

Within our current budget, we've. Already gone to our going to RFP for the new SCADA system. At the wells and tanks, so at any given time, electronically, we can see, are they on what the volume is? Um, what the love water tank level is, um, that's going to be a big help. Our current old skater system. You look at it now, it says you have 9 feet of water in the tank and we have 0. So, you physically having to drive to a lot of the tanks, right?

They all have to be read manually.

So, between these repairs, the new skater system, we're going to be a lot better off.

Right, is that what the electric department has right now?

Yes.

Yeah, the electric has it right now on the individual, yeah, at each of their substations and everything, and they can monitor it sitting at a computer where water can't at this point. They can to a point, but it's not accurate.

The money for this is coming from the 505 fund, but it's actually from the surcharge that we're where we are charging for the Navajo Gallup project because we have our cost cap. We decided to use that money on where we've passed an ordinance to use it on groundwater wells. And with the delay in the project water, you know, if the Navajo Gallup project was on time. This wouldn't be an issue, you know, but because it's been delayed, we are totally dependent on groundwater and we'll probably remain on depending on groundwater for the years to come. So with that, if any counselors have any questions or anything to say in public, we'll be glad to answer your questions and. But you make sure you guys feel feel good about what we're doing and make sure, you know, we're going to have water. Mayor Mrakas, Yes, yes, they're moving on.

Mayor Mrakas, I want to get myself straight on this, how many wells, do we have. Mayor Mrakas, 1616 wells operating eight eight operate at a 60 yeah now we got six. Mayor Mrakas, Okay, six balls now. Mayor Mrakas, i'm going to ask the tough question, why do we have six wells down, I mean the lightning thing eight wells, he was.

You know, I'll let Frank answer that. I think he's been watching it better than I have.

Combination of factors. I think some of it is lack of preventative maintenance. And I think the clerk said it best that some of these pumps haven't been touched since he left. So some of it's preventative maintenance. Some of it is voltage where we're having to look at the lines going to them, the voltage and such. Some of them, the pumps are out. I know we got one well that we've had some corrosion and we're having problems with that. We're having to address the corrosion to where it breaks the shaft on the pump. So there's many different factors, but it comes down to ensuring that we're getting them timely repaired instead of putting repairs off. And that's something we're going to look for. So revamping the departments for better accountability to know when, who, where, why any of this goes wrong.

It's a tremendous amount of money to spend on something that has not been maintained. I got problems with that. I'm putting it on your shoulders to fix that.

And Ron, let me just address that too. So 1 of the big things is, is that until we got the ordinance and the cost cap this year, we didn't, we didn't have the money to replace 2.1Million dollars of the wells. Yeah, that and Patty can probably answer that question. We, we were probably 300,000, 400,000 a year. So we were actually just doing 1 well, but until we pass the ordinance and got the cost cap for the Navajo Gallup, we wouldn't have this money. But Patty, if you could address the financial.

It was my understanding that the ordinance we passed approved that surcharge money to be used for the distribution system, not for wells, but for the cast iron pipe replacement and the distribution, because that was already a stretch from the pipeline for the distribution system. But now I did not understand that that applied to our groundwater wells.

Oh, sorry, sorry. Actually, the, the, the amendment, the ordinance amended it to include the wells. That's what that's what the amendment was. It's 20. it was done in March, May 11th. Yeah, it was just the opposite. It was made to it included the conjunctive groundwater portion, which was the well redoing our wells. I have a copy of it right in there for later.

On the financial side, one of the issues we've had going back multiple years is limited funds. So we were forced to work with the department to try and prioritize which items got taken care of first. The presentation that was before you earlier this week on the water rate study is a culmination of all of that. And that's why you're seeing that we need the rate increases and that's why you're You're going to be seeing an ordinance coming forth in the very near future asking to approve those rate increases. We have not had enough funds to do the adequate maintenance, much less the upgrades, the upkeep, the expansion. And we've got a whole new area that we annexed into the city. We still don't have all that planned and funded on how to get all the water service out there. So that's something that will be coming hopefully in the near future. But it's not one answer as to why these are in the shape they're in, but the funding is a significant portion of it. And whoever's been in charge of the departments over the last few years has had to make that decision what they recommend. And then even with that, sometimes it went through and we cut, say it passed away a year, it passed away a year. And just like I said the other night, you keep putting off changing your oil in your car, it's going to cost you more than that oil change would have cost you. And unfortunately, that's the position we're in right now. But a lot of it comes down to funding.

Annually, what was available for well replacement? What was the amount?

It really varied depending on operational costs and which city manager we had. And it varied anywhere from a few hundred thousand to a couple million dollars. What we've got in the plan now is somewhere in the neighborhood of $7 million annually, including cash and loans to try and get everything up to better operational order. But there's some years that they got almost nothing for capital just because the cash flow wasn't good.

So while you're up here, Patty, can I ask a question about the funding then? If it's If we're using the surcharge that we've been collecting, how will that then put us below our required cash on hand balance?

So we're still working on getting the year finished out and your actual final roll forward of projects and stuff. But when we were doing the budgets, the estimated cash we were going to have on hand at year end and then putting this into the budget may push us below the 180 days cash on hand. I don't have a problem with that as long as you're aware of it because that is not an operational account. It's really, really critical in your operational accounts that you maintain that status so that as things come up and you have needs, you could dip below that if absolutely necessary. But this one's capital-based. So even if we do get near or below that threshold, I don't think that it's a financial risk for us. And I just wanted to make sure you were aware that we may end up somewhere near that range. Okay.

In your opinion, would it be safer to say do prioritize a few of these that are really the most urgent and save some for later. So we don't spend this whole amount in one go.

Based on my limited information. No, I'd say It's cost us this much because we did put it off the radar because we did probably cash. Now with the changes in the Navajo Gallup demands and we reached a cost cap, we made that change so that we could touch these funds. I think it's something that's very wise to go forward with. Now we get them to work. Plus, we need to make sure we've got enough water in production for the needs of the city. We've had a few big hits lately with some water breaks.

And this is just to point out, we're only doing six of the eight. So we're not doing all eight wells with this money. We're just doing the Allen, Burwood, Yonker 1, Yonker 2, Pena, and Kalanis. Koleani well and well 16 will still need to be evaluated.

And we don't know what the lead time is on a lot of this. I mean, Irwin we can get hopefully within two weeks. Yeah. The other one, the lead time or even longer possibly. And we're meeting need right now. We're putting into the system right about what we're taking out of the system right now. at that critical stage where if another one goes down, then we're going to have to look at some type of ration. So my recommendation is let's get them all because all we need is two lightning strikes or one huge water break and we're on the back end side.

So, Mayor, was there a precipitating event that made this come up at this kind of emergency status?

Losing the Golanus well? Yeah, well, we'd lost, so the way, so we, of course, the money was one of the problems. Most of these wells were out even before we came here, before we got elected. And then the Yunker 1 and Yunker 2 well stopped running. So what that meant is that we lost almost 800 gallons, almost 900 gallons a minute with those two wells.

When was that? How recently was that?

Yunker 1 and Yunker 2. Was that January?

So last January.

What's that? What's that?

It's younger one and two around January. Hanging a well almost three years, like I said, because we've lost two new pump and motor systems in that well alone. Alan and Erwin were pulled and they were scrubbed and cleaned and videoed, but it's taken the vendor that we hired Forever and we never really, and it's kind of like disappeared.

Yeah, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So 1 of the 1 of the other items too is. Getting these wells as hard vendors have changed things like that. And then we did some of it. We, we had an estimate for when that we did, we should have whacked it on earlier.

And a precipitating factor is really, we've had neighborhoods going without water for multiple days when we can't get water to their tank. And that's been That's been multiple factors on that. But again, when our wells, like we're in Miata Hay, and we're trying to get all the way to the top of Cresto or up to Sacred Heart, you're looking at filling multiple tanks, good water to this tank and from that tank to the next tank and kind of up the line. And When one of those tanks go dry and you lose the pressure to the houses, it's taking 12 hours or more, if everything goes correctly, which unfortunately it hasn't, to get the people back the water. So, you know, I have to apologize to those families that have been without. Our crews are working throughout the night. Our mayor is out shoulder to shoulder with them, helping them diagnose and figure out what's wrong. Pushing buttons. Yeah, pushing buttons, turning valves. I think the precipitating factor is when you have the Stagecoach, Viro area going several days without water. Right now, we've got the university area, Cipriano, going on their into their first full day without water. About this time yesterday, they lost pressure and they're going on one, but we're getting that charged and they'll have water when they get home from work tonight. I'm praying. I've been doing a lot of praying. It's not working. Prayers don't work for water for me. Good. I need Linda to start praying because they're not listening to me. So I think the precipitating factor is we saw... As something goes down, it is affecting our citizens. We're at that critical point where it's affecting our citizens at this point. Whereas before, if something broke or went down, we had enough reserve that we were good. Well, now we don't have that reserve. We're at that critical break-even point. So I think that's the precipitating factor. We don't want any more neighborhoods or the same neighborhoods going down. without again. And the north side was included on this a few days before that. So we've had the north side, the west side, the south side. Non-discriminatory.

So one of the things too is communication. You know, Jan mentioned that It was, he found out, and we knew the wells went out in January, but we need to have better communication. As soon as these wells get to go out, we immediately diagnose them. And that's one of the things that Frank's going to make sure is done is that they're immediately diagnosed and we figure out what is, is it going to take something up top? Is it electrical on top or do we have to pull the well pump and replace it? And never, we're not going to, we're going to make it so that if it's over 30 days, we got a problem. So, we want to make sure we get the diagnosis within the 1st, couple of weeks and know if we have to replace the well pump or not within at least at least 3 or 4 weeks.

We got a question go ahead question. I think it falls along James line. I'd like to know a little bit about our maintenance. Program what's going on with the wells? It looks like. We got some severe problems here. I want to know. a little bit about our maintenance program. Do we have one?

We have two operators that cover all the entire well field, the entire city, all the booster stations, PRV stations. We have two individuals. One is practically a trainee. So they do go out on a daily basis. Sometimes it's just one guy.

Okay. You're talking about people. I'm talking about a plan. Do we have a plan in place where anybody can come out, a novice like you're talking about? Yes. A checklist per se that he's got to grease this, he's got to grease that, he's got to check this, he's got to whatever it is. I don't know anything about the wells itself.

We have a 500-hour checklist that the operators do go and make sure there's oil that's lubed and everything.

So we do have a checklist that we can see. Yes. That it's been getting done. Yes.

We are expanding, though.

We are expanding, though. We've not exercised valves. We don't know which valves are frozen open, which valves are frozen closed. We've seen as we do, Kit Carson was the example to replace a fire hydrant on Kit Carson. We had to knock down about 20 blocks because of frozen valves. So we are going to be getting a schedule. We better have a schedule of exercising the valves, doing work orders on which ones are frozen, which ones are not. And as you get through the town, you start back over at the beginning and start again. This goes for the wells. This goes for the valves in the streets, the fire hydrants, each zone. This goes for the wastewater treatment plant. The wastewater treatment plant for a long time, they didn't. Well, they're out there replacing every valve and they're finding out that Well, systems start working when you replace four valves. You know, Jacobs, when they were maintaining the plant, we assumed everything was working. And, you know, they just replaced four valves that were frozen shut to get a digester working. It's like, hey, the digester is working. Well, great. Now our plant's working better. That type of thing. So we are now under contract with the level four water wastewater. We will be looking at the daily operations. on setting those schedules, what work is to be done during what time. And we are now under contract starting Monday with an engineer who will be working part-time, who will be doing our large projects, our replacement projects, these huge well project type things. So now we'll have somebody overseeing daily operations and maintenance and preventative maintenance and general repair. and then one overseeing the large scale. And that's going to bring a lot of accountability to the system because now you try to hold somebody accountable and it's like, well, it was because of them. No, it was because of them. No, it was because of finance. No, it's because of procurement. No, it was because of the poly engineering. And it's hard to hold anybody accountable. As of yesterday, we now have a system to hold each individual accountable for the future of our business.

Good. Thank you.

And I'd like to add that we have replaced about eight valves in the hospital area. It's not just starting. We've already begun. So we're all, like Frank said, you know, we're not going to blame anybody. We have a crew of three people on any given day. So we're doing our best out there.

Now, I'm just going to make another comment. If we don't have the manpower to do it, And here's a bad word, contractor. We need to find some contractors to help us out.

We've had the vacant positions open by United Mine Workers Association. We have to advertise those internally for 10 days. I did meet with HR to say we are an emergency situation. We can hold one or two of those positions for anybody who wants to transfer within the United Mine Workers Association. but we need to open it outside and start getting emergency applicants and not wait the full 20 days for a job to close. We need to fill them for emergency basis. And I can justify our system being an emergency right now that if OCR wants to come in and why are we hiring without waiting a mandatory X number of days or whatever, it's an emergency. We're at that point. So we're taking the steps to get those positions filled.

I have another question. So with the loss of vendors and supply chain issues, how long do we think it'll take to even make these repairs if we approve this today? How long is it going to take?

So one of the big things about our well pumps is we compete with the oil industry, unfortunately, because these are deep well pumps. They only come out of the oil industry, so we're competing against. But right now, the way it looks, if the delivery on these, if the well pumps are available, should be less than two months. But we know that's not true. So hopefully when we approve this, these should all be in within the next six to eight months.

And in the meantime, we're likely to continue to have outages and low pressure.

Yeah, that's just going to be a matter of us using the wells that are on today can meet demand. So if we have lightning strikes, if we have other problems like that, the water could be out again, yes. Until at least two of these or three of these are in on this list.

So in the meantime, Don't like, or whatever we will be able to meet the demands if the, if the, yes, if the whales continue to run. We should, we should be okay until we get it right.

Yeah. And I'd like to remind the public I did check with our after hours. Groups and stuff some of these, we've had no reports about it just. So, if if you have a low pressure or an outage. Please call in. It's on the web page under City of Gallup. Just Google City of Gallup utilities number, emergency number.

Call your counselor.

We'll take care of it. 863-1200 is the during work time. So 8 to 5, Monday through Friday, call 863-1200. If you have low pressure or an outage after that or weekends, 833-863-1212. And if you get that reported, they will get it dispatched right away. Some of these we could be working on on a Saturday afternoon versus finding out about it Monday morning. And that way you're not going a full day without water because it hasn't been reported. So, so I encourage anybody that answers that number. 863-1200 is our utilities across the street. We have a dispatcher there. The 833-863-1212 is a contractor. They're out of Moriarty, I believe, and we are in a bid process to see if we can find a bigger firm that can handle a larger volume. Because they are dispatching, and as it was explained to us, they were Originally started for co-ops. So they were doing electric co-op type dispatches. And now they've picked up some of these cities dispatches and they can get overwhelmed at times. So we are looking for a larger center. But again, it is that has to go through a request for proposals process.

They used to call Metro. Can they still call Metro? I think at one time we were calling Metro for emergencies and they would have given that out.

I hate to overwhelm Metro because again, they're, they're dispatching not having water is an emergency, but it's not an immediate life and death. And I hate to tie up Metro dispatch for somebody who's having to wait 30 seconds for a phone to be answered because they're taking notes on a water outage when there was a shooting. I want that shooting to take the priority type thing. So yeah, Last resort, if you can't get through to the call center, call Metro Dispatch, sure, the non-emergency number. But I would prefer that they use these call centers as the primary, just so we don't jeopardize a life-and-death type emergency. I mean, if lightning hits and your house is on fire, 911. But if lightning hits and you lose water, call the dispatch. Okay.

I just want to note that I do have a constituent who has been trying to get somebody out to their house, left messages at that number twice last week and has not heard anything back. We need to make that more effective.

And again, if it's a bill dispute or something smaller.

No, these are water issues. I had some. They kept calling and waiting and calling to on a water break I will check and make sure we need all the public's helmet um counselor piano I I think you answered all of them I mean I think this is a

unnecessary need a lot of people have no water or low water like we talked about but um it's pointless to go back in the past but i feel like we have a lot of conversations about why things weren't fixed and now we're trying to move forward so i am glad we're moving forward but we just i just it frustrates me when we have these situations where we have six eight wells not working and now we're spending 2.1 million dollars to fix them all at once i mean it's just not great but i i But I'm for fixing them because I certainly don't want my constituents to not have water or low water pressure. So, I mean, I think it's just a situation where we're in but we just as a council need to be better about making sure there are plans moving forward so we're not in the situation in the future. Yeah, so and I'm sad to see it's gonna take six to eight months because that sounds like we are going to have quite a bit of people with no water or low water pressure. I don't know, but I don't think we can delay it because if we delay it, then that's going to be over a year that they're waiting. So, I mean, I think it's important to, and it would be helpful to know what our, you know, the cash on hand, it's really for emergencies. So, I mean, we're using basically our cash on hand emergency money, which this is an emergency because we have residents with no water. So, yeah, I don't think there's, I just think we're at a place where we have to do it, but I'm sad to see where it putting so much money into six wells all in one lump sum. So.

Thank you, Councilor Piano. Anything else from the councilor?

I just want to make, go ahead. Go ahead, Councilor Garcia.

I'm thankful for the mayor that we have that he does know all this infrastructure and he goes and he knows what's going on. So this emergency now, it will be fixed for our constituents for the city of Gallup. It's going to look better. And I'm very thankful for you, Mayor, for We're going out there and being diligent on this. We would not have found this out if he wasn't that kind of expert, had the expertise to do this. So I'm very thankful. So to the citizens of Gallup, it will be fixed. It's an emergency and we do have the emergency funds and we will have water. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor Asimov-Tutu.

I just think it's important that we communicate with the public about the status of things and that possibly like with our next utility bill, a PSA of some sort to explain what the situation is to do. If you have low pressure or no water, who to call, you can put my number on there. And then also to encourage people to not use water for unnecessary purposes. So water conservation. Yeah. Water conservation. That's it.

Great idea. In fact, we have had a water conservation officer for years. She happens to be here, but she's not doing that right now, but we're going to get her reinstated. So we're going to go back. Yeah. And Elizabeth did wonders for us. She was for, she took our water, just essentially we were about four and a half million, four million gallons peak and took it down to about three to two and a half and hasn't gone up above that since, thanks to her. So we're going to get her back. And that's what we need. And she'll be able to answer phone calls and actually look and see the wasted water and that kind of thing.

thank you um council lena i just want to we we have to approve this we don't have much of a choice everybody knows i'm not real happy with what i'm hearing about what happened and i'm going to put a bug in your ear i'm going to dress frank uh without maintenance we have nothing and i'm going to give put myself as an example i got a fleet about a dozen vehicles The newest vehicles, other than mine, personal vehicles, but the newest vehicles is probably a 2008. And we never have breakdowns. Never. I can count. I tell you, we've had two breakdowns in the last 20 years. Why? I have a full-time mechanic, takes care of it. The bug I'm trying to put in your ear, Frank, is this. Without maintenance, we have nothing. I can't address directors, but I'm addressing Frank. I'm trying not to use a four-letter word, but without maintenance, we have nothing.

Thank you.

With that, I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Let us have some comments from the public if anybody has any questions. Yes, Mr. Wynn.

Three things. Historically, when the... We're going to give you your first name, your whole name, and we're going to hold you just two minutes, if that's okay. The original deal for the rate increase that goes back to 2009-2010 did include that it could be used for the city infrastructure. Now, over time, that understanding evidently was altered. And I don't know how that happened, but I do know as being a person who was part of that, that that money was to be included for, in other words, the range of those expenditures that were appropriate and allowable did pertain to city infrastructure. So, but anyway, also. since i'm limited here uh i'm i'm in favor of what you're doing obviously uh but i do think that it's very important for this to be seen as the wake-up call that it is this is not a minor matter and now everybody can see it and feel it Mark said, and, uh, in his private capacity and report to the legislature last year. If this was the situation, and that the city could not. Go along paying for it at the current level. And, uh, keep that in mind when you decide what to do about the rates. Because I guarantee you they're inadequate. So we're going to have to pay for it. And that means it's important to involve the city so that the citizens feel like they are being consulted and they're somehow part of this as something other than simply observers and victims. And so once again, I urge you, please get involved in something similar to the Water Board or Sustainable Gallop and involve people so that we have a shared fact base. And so we are underlying the most important thing, which is trust. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Nguyen.

Next. Pip Cheeley.

And I want to reiterate what's already been said first by Council members and then by Larry when. We need conservation, we need to be aware, even if you could fix all of the wells next month. it's going to be an ongoing issue, so I think the Community needs to get in that mode and Larry said it very well. The community really needs to be involved. So I would encourage you to do that. Don't keep it from us. That's the best thing is for everybody to know what the problem is and how they can be a part of fixing it. And think about the future. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. No more public comments. If we could have a motion. Oh, I'm sorry.

I'm Chris Henney.

I'm speaking to the whole audience, so I'm speaking as loud as I can because this doesn't really work for amplifying back there. So I hope I'm going to say something intelligent. We have all chosen to live in a desert, and we should remember that. And for the indigenous who were here, They would never use more water than what was actually available. And I think as white people, we need to remember, we don't have an entitlement to do anything we want. If we use more water, and Mark, you just said that we're going to be counting on groundwater, no other solution for many years to come. So we have to behave like that. And so if we use more water than the aquifers can recharge as we use them up to the same level before we used it, we need to reduce what we're doing. And I think every citizen needs to be a part of that decision, which impacts the length of a shower that feels good, but is not totally necessary. The things like turning off the faucet while you're putting the soap on your hair, especially when it's warm like this, we don't need to be concerned about being pulled. But there are many, many things that can be put in place. And I would hope all the counselors and the mayor would and the the manager would take part in this kind of encouragement, which is really just to make sense. I've lived 14 years of my life where I had to go fill containers. And bring them back. And I'm telling you, that's a really quick way to learn how to conserve water. And I would hope that whatever happens, that we can keep the public supply for filling containers always available for the general public, not just for those people who don't have running water. And those people who do not have running water can teach us how to behave, the whole city. I think that's about it. I don't know if you all agree with me, but I think this is the emergency situation. I'm looking to the future and hoping that we don't just say, oh, well, we can continue as we always have. And then when we run out of water in the aquifers, then we say, oh, gee, it's an emergency. Well, it would be a little late then to be taking steps. Thank you for listening and thank you for all of you who are, this is going to add a lot of stress to your life as being in your positions.

Good afternoon, Joanne Beninati. I just have a concern in my mind that I'd like to throw out of the question. Next week, we're going to get inundated with visitors for ceremonial. the hotels, the restaurants use a lot of water. Are we going to be able to meet that need? I was really surprised to hear six to eight months in my flat. Okay, so what happens next week? Thank you.

Good question. Yeah, so right now, with everything running, the supply is just equaling the demand. There will be some extra usage, of course, with the ceremonial, but I think we can stay ahead of it if we can catch up with some of our tanks this weekend.

And I'd like to say parks is already being proactive in setting up a new irrigating program to do that. So I'd like to think that's offset already being proactive and seeing what they can do to help. And mother nature is helping with the rains. It's not all at once, please.

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. And conservation. And with what was said, even though, even if we do go to surface water, we're still going to have to implement conservation. Conservation is very important on all fronts. Yes, Councilor Piano.

This is a comment about conservation. Many, many moons ago, I was an intern under Elizabeth

Look at me now, Elizabeth.

So awesome. It's so crazy. Time goes by, but we went to visit lots of houses back then. And there was, I don't know what we're going to do now, but there was like a toilet rebate. We checked out people's toilets and we were able to get rebates for, you know, toilets that didn't use as much water. And there was a lot of city rebates and it was cool. I learned a lot back that it was many years ago and it was cool. So I think the conservation is a good idea. And I'm glad to hear we're looking at revisiting it and hopefully we'll have some of those same rebates. I know there was a lot of rebates for like anyone that was utilizing like water conservation and replaced items in their household that would save water. They got like rebates. And so I love to hear that the city is looking at reinvesting in that program because I think it was really good. So yeah, it brought back memories.

Councilor Garcia.

I also want to say, Elizabeth, we worked closely with the neighborhood meetings. She would come to our meetings and we would set up people with all the conservation with the toilets or the showers and the rebates. And it worked very well. So I'm looking forward to neighborhood meetings with you. And then we'll have them set up. So thank you. And she did a great job.

Yeah.

Welcome back.

Thank you. Okay. That we can anymore. All right.

Looks into through the budget adjustment the fund 505 in the amount of 2.1 million dollars.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. With that, thank you very much everybody have a motion to adjourn.

Motion to adjourn. Second. Councilor Piano? Yes. Councilor Yazzie? Yes. Councilor Garcia? Yes.