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HI, THIS IS PARISH PRESIDENT CYNTHIA LEE SHANG.
WHEN I CAME TO OFFICE, WE WERE ON TOP OF A WATER AND SEWER SYSTEM THAT WAS ACTUALLY LOSING MONEY.
WE WERE ONLY ABLE TO HAVE FUNDS ENOUGH FOR US TO MAINTAIN.
UM, THE SYSTEM WE HAVE AND THE SYSTEM WE HAVE MANY PARTS OF IT ARE ALMOST A CENTURY OLD, AND THINGS WERE STARTING TO BREAK, AND WE WERE REALLY IN A FIX IT AS IT BREAKS MODE.
UM, AND WE SAW THAT WHEN PIPES BREAK AND WE HAVE TO FIX IT ON AN EMERGENCY BASIS, IT ACTUALLY WAS COSTING US LIKE, YOU KNOW, BETWEEN NINE AND 16 TIMES THE AMOUNT TO FIX IT.
AND THAT IS NO WAY THAT YOU WOULD MANAGE YOUR HOUSE.
YOU WOULD NEVER REPLACE A ROOF IN ONLY AFTER IT STARTS LEAKING INTO YOUR HOME AND MORE DAMAGE OCCURS.
AND THAT'S CERTAINLY NOT THE POSITION I WANTED, UM, OUR JEFFERSON PARISH TO BE IN.
SO IN 2022, WE RAISED YOUR SEWER AND WATER RATES THAT YOU SEE ON YOUR MONTHLY, UM, YOUR, YOUR UTILITY BILL, WHICH ACTUALLY COMES TO YOU BIMONTHLY.
UM, AND BASICALLY THIS IS NONE OF US WANNA PAY MORE IN RATES, BUT THIS WAS NECESSARY FOR US TO REALLY, WHAT I THINK OF INVEST IN OURSELVES.
WE NEED TO HAVE A STRONG PUBLIC WORK SYSTEM.
THIS IS CRITICAL AND WATER AND SEWER MAIN PARTS OF THAT, THIS IS CRITICAL FOR OUR OWN HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
BUT IT'S ALSO CRITICAL FOR OUR ECONOMY.
WE NEED A RELIABLE SYSTEM THAT'S DELIVERING YOU A STRONG AND A MODERN WATER AND SEWER INFRASTRUCTURE.
AND IT ALSO, AS A HOMEOWNER, MYSELF AND AS A BUSINESS OWNER, IT PROTECTS YOUR PROPERTY VALUES FROM YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR HOME.
SO IT'S CRITICAL THAT WE INVESTED IN OURSELVES.
AND WHAT HAPPENS IS WE DIDN'T WANNA INCREASE THE RATES IMMEDIATELY AND GET THE MONEY WE NEED.
WE WANTED TO DO IT INCREMENTALLY BECAUSE WE KNOW, UH, MANY OF YOU ARE, ARE, UM, IT'S, IT'S HARD TO PAY BILLS AT THIS TIME FOR MANY PEOPLE.
SO EVERY JANUARY WE DO AN INCREMENTAL RAISE IN YOUR RATES AND WE CERTAINLY HEAR THE COMPLAINTS AND, UH, AROUND, BUT I WANTED TO TAKE THIS TIME NOW THAT WE'RE FOUR YEARS OUT TO REALLY GO OVER WHAT THAT EXTRA MONEY BOUGHT FOR US.
REMEMBER, WE WERE ONLY IN A MAINTENANCE MODE.
WE DID NOT HAVE FUNDS TO BUILD NEW CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS.
BUT FOUR YEARS OUT NOW, WE STARTED THIS IN 2022.
AND AGAIN, YOU'RE GONNA SEE YOUR RATES INCREASE AND YOU'LL NOTICE IT IN YOUR UTILITY BILL.
UM, I WANNA SHOW YOU, UM, WHAT WE HAVE DONE.
I AM HONORED TO BE STANDING HERE WITH MARK DREW, WHO'S OUR PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR, WHO WAS REALLY LEADING THE CHARGE ON THIS AND REALLY THE EXPERT ON THIS.
UM, BACK WHEN WE WERE REALLY FIGHTING FOR THIS IN 2021 AND SIDNEY BALEY, WHO WAS OUR WATER, UM, DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR WHO ALSO WAS WITH US, UM, TRYING TO GET THIS ADDITIONAL REVENUE.
I WANNA REALLY, BEFORE I TURN IT OVER TO MARK, I WANNA EXPLAIN, AND I ASKED SIDNEY THIS MORNING TO PULL MY BILL.
UM, THIS IS MY BILL NOW FOR DECADES.
I STILL GET IN THE MINDSET MYSELF.
WE IN JEFFERSON PARISH THINK OF THIS AS A WATER BILL.
MANY PEOPLE CALL IT A WATER BILL BECAUSE FOR DECADES WE CALLED IT A WATER BILL.
I WANNA REMIND EVERYBODY THAT THERE'S ALSO SEWAGE, GARBAGE.
SOMETIMES PARKS IS ON HERE, SOMETIMES FIRE DISTRICTS ARE ON HERE.
SO IT'S A UTILITY BILL THAT CAPTURES MUCH MORE THAN THE WATER.
SO WE HAVE TO BREAK THAT MINDSET OF HOW HIGH YOUR WATER BILL IS.
SO, AND THEN THIS ONLY COMES TO YOU EVERY OTHER MONTH BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE THE RESOURCES TO GET SOMEONE TO YOUR HOUSE, UM, TO READ THE METER.
NOW WE'RE GONNA GIVE YOU A MODERN WATER SYSTEM.
SO WE'RE, WE'RE GONNA HAVE, UM, A MI INSTALLED, AND MANY OF YOU MAY HAVE IT INSTALLED ALREADY THAT WILL BE ABLE TO GIVE US REAL TIME WATER USAGE.
BUT JUST AS A REMINDER, I WANNA SAY MY BILL FOR THIS CYCLE WAS $160.
IF I ONLY LOOK AT THE WATER PORTION AND I PUT IT ON A MONTHLY BASIS, I'M ONLY PAYING $23 A MONTH FOR WATER.
SO JUST A REMINDER THAT THIS CAN BE VERY DECEPTIVE AND NOT TO THINK OF IT AS JUST YOUR WATER.
BUT WITH THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO MARK DREWS, WHO REALLY, I WANT YOU TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR MONEY BOUGHT US IN JEFFERSON PARISH.
AGAIN, IT'S AN INVESTMENT IN OURSELVES.
UH, LOOK, JUST AS AN UPDATE, UH, WE'RE IN THE FIFTH YEAR NOW OF OUR 20 YEAR INCREMENTAL RATE INCREASE.
THE RATES THIS, UH, YEAR WILL GO UP FOR AN AVERAGE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMER WHO USES APPROXIMATELY 6,200 GALLONS PER MONTH.
IT WILL GO UP THE UTILITY BILL $19 AND 34 CENTS.
BUT REMEMBER, THAT'S FOR TWO MONTHS.
SO FOR ONE MONTH UTILITY BILL FOR YOUR AVERAGE RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS ONLY GOING UP ABOUT $9 AND 87 CENTS.
AND JUST AS CYNTHIA SAID, THAT'S WATER, SEWER, AND INFLATIONARY INCREASES FOR YOUR GARBAGE COLLECTION, MOSQUITO CONTROL, AND FOR RECREATIONAL FEES AND MISCELLANEOUS FEES.
SO WITH THAT SAID, IT'S STILL IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT DESPITE THAT INCREASE, OUR 2026 RATES ARE STILL BELOW THE NATIONAL AVERAGE AND THOSE OF OUR NEIGHBORING PARISHES.
SO WHAT THAT HAS DONE FOR US, THOUGH, OVER 20 YEARS, IT WILL ENABLE US TO DO OVER $1 BILLION IN IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR WATER SYSTEM AND $1 BILLION TO IMPROVEMENTS OF OUR SEWER SYSTEM.
AND ON TOP OF THAT, WE WERE ABLE TO BOND $100 MILLION IN FUNDS FOR IMMEDIATE USE FOR OUR
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SEWER SYSTEM AND $200 MILLION FOR OUR WATER SYSTEM.SO LET'S TAKE A LOOK NOW AT WHERE WE ARE FOUR YEARS LATER, WHAT WE'VE ACCOMPLISHED.
OKAY, UH, FIRST LET'S LOOK AT OUR GRAVITY COLLECTION SEWER SYSTEM, WHICH WE ARE IN.
THE PROCESS OF REHABILITATING OR REPLACING THAT SYSTEM IS THE PIPES UNDERGROUND THAT COLLECTS SEWER FROM THE RESIDENCES AND BUSINESSES AND BRING 'EM TO A LIFT STATION.
SO THAT SERIES OF PIPES AND MANHOLES, WE HAVE ALREADY HAD EVALUATIONS DONE ON 41 OF OUR 500 SEWER LIFT STATION AREAS, ROUGHLY 8% OF OUR SYSTEM.
BUT WE'VE ALSO BEEN ABLE, IN THOSE FOUR YEARS TO COMPLETE REHABILITATION OF 23 OF THOSE COLLECTION SYSTEMS, WHICH IS 5% OF OUR SYSTEMS ALREADY BEEN REHABILITATED.
BESIDES THAT, WE TAKE A LOOK AT MANHOLES THROUGHOUT THE PARISH.
OUTSIDE OF THOSE, UH, SYSTEMS WE REHAB, WE'VE ALREADY LINED 6,900 OF OUR 21,000 MANHOLES TO PREVENT INFILTRATION.
NOW, LET'S GO TO OUR LIFT STATIONS.
OUR LIFT STATIONS TAKE THAT COLLECTED SEWER AND WE'LL PUMP IT TO ANOTHER LARGER LIFT STATION OR STRAIGHT TO OUR TREATMENT PLANT.
OVER THESE PAST FOUR YEARS, WE'VE TOTALLY RECONSTRUCTED ONE LIFT STATION WITH ONE UNDER TOTAL RECONSTRUCTION, BUT WE'VE ALSO TOTALLY REHABILITATED 16 SEWER LIFT STATIONS WITH TWO UNDER CONSTRUCTION.
SO BY PRIOR TO THE END OF THIS YEAR, WE WILL HAVE REHABILITATED 5% OF OUR LIFT STATIONS.
ALSO, WITH THOSE LIFT STATIONS, JUST IN FOUR YEARS, WE'VE ADDED SCADA CONTROLS TO 243 LIFT STATIONS.
SO NOW 400, OVER 400 OF OUR LIFT STATIONS HAVE AUTOMATION.
WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR US? THE SCADA CONTROLS ALLOW US TO TURN PUMPS ON AND OFF, BUT MORE IMPORTANT WE CAN MONITOR PUMP PERFORMANCE.
SO IF THERE'S A PROBLEM WITH A PUMP, WE CAN CATCH IT EARLY, WE CAN FIX IT BEFORE THAT PUMP TOTALLY FAILS.
ANOTHER ISSUE WITH OUR SEWER SYSTEM, IN JUST FOUR YEARS, WE'VE BEEN ADDED 134 OF OUR RESIDENTIAL LIFT STATIONS NOW HAVE A CARBON FILTER ODOR CONTROL UNIT TO CONTROL ODORS.
OUR TWO LARGEST REGIONAL LIFT STATIONS IN THE PARISH AND THE EAST BANK.
WE PUT OXYGEN INJECTION UNITS TO REDUCE ODORS THERE.
ON THE WEST BANK, OUR FOUR LARGEST REGIONAL LIFT STATIONS, BY THE END OF THE YEAR, WE WILL HAVE OXYGEN INJECTION UNITS INSTALLED ON THOSE.
UH, THE OTHER THING THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT IS OUR FORCE MAINS.
THOSE ARE OUR LARGE TRANSMISSION LINES THAT PUMP DIRECTLY TO OUR TREATMENT PLANTS.
UH, BY THE END OF THIS SUMMER, WE'LL HAVE REPLACED THREE MILES OF THOSE TRANSMISSION LINES.
AND JUST TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF HOW SUCCESSFUL WE'VE BEEN IN 2021, UH, WE RECORDED ROUGHLY JUST UNDER 450 BACKUPS INTO RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES IN 2025.
WE'VE REDUCED THAT TO LESS THAN HALF, JUST UNDER 160 OF THOSE INCIDENTS.
NOW LET'S TAKE A TURN AND WE'LL TAKE A LOOK AT OUR WATER SYSTEM.
OUR WATER SYSTEM SIMILAR, WE HAVE AN $800 MILLION PIPE REPLACEMENT PROGRAM.
THE FIRST FIVE PROJECTS ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION THIS YEAR.
THOSE ARE LARGE TRANSMISSION LINES WITH A LOT OF FLOW.
SO WE'LL BE REPLACING SIGNIFICANT SECTIONS OF OUR UNDERGROUND WATER SYSTEM.
WE'VE FOCUSED ON UPGRADING OUR WATER TREATMENT PLAN.
THE EAST BANK, THE INITIAL CONSTRUCTION COMPLETED IN 1931.
SO SINCE THAT, IN THESE PAST FOUR YEARS, WE'VE TOTALLY REHABILITATED OUR MAJOR INTAKE PUMP STATION THAT TAKES WATER FROM THE RIVER, DELIVERS IT TO OUR PLANTS.
THEN WE HAVE ALSO RECENTLY COMPLETED A BRAND NEW 12 AND A HALF MILLION DOLLAR WATER LAB.
AND WHAT'S IMPORTANT THERE IS WE'RE ONE OF THE VERY FEW PARISHES OR MUNICIPALITIES THAT CAN ACTUALLY SAMPLE THEIR WATER ON A DAILY BASIS.
WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE SAMPLES, SEND IT TO THE STATE, AND WAIT FOR WAIT FOR THE RESULTS OF THAT.
IN ADDITION, WE'RE IN FINAL DESIGN OF A BRAND NEW TREATMENT PLANT, WHICH WE HOPE TO HAVE UNDER CONSTRUCTION IN 2027.
AND WHEN IT'S COMPLETED, FINALLY WE CAN DECOMMISSION THE PLANT THAT WAS BUILT IN 1931 AND IS STILL IN SERVICE.
OKAY, NOW THE MOST MAJOR OF OUR PROJECT IS OBVIOUSLY THE AUTOMATED METERS, AND I'M GONNA TURN IT OVER TO SIDNEY BALEY, WHO CAN GIVE YOU AN UPDATE ON WHERE WE ARE AND THE BENEFITS OF THAT PROCESS.
AS YOU SPOKE ABOUT MANY PROJECTS THAT WE HAVE IN JEFFERSON PARISH AND THE WATER DEPARTMENT, ONE OF OUR PROJECTS WE'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT IS THE ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE, THE SMART WATER SOLUTION THAT WE HAVE IN JEFFERSON PARISH.
IT'S ABOUT $116 MILLION INVESTMENT INTO OUR, UM, BILLING SYSTEM TO BE ABLE TO GIVE CUSTOMERS A, A MORE ACCURATE READING.
ALSO TO BE ABLE TO, UH, HELP THE WATER SYSTEM IN THE FUTURE AS FAR AS BEING ABLE TO SEE LEAKS AND AT A MORE ADVANCED RATE TO BE ABLE TO MINIMIZE WHAT WE'RE SEEING OUT THERE AS FAR AS BREAKS AND TO BE, BE ABLE TO RESPOND IMMEDIATELY.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, UM, THE SMART METER SOLUTION BRINGS TO US IS
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THE ABILITY TO SEE REALTIME, UH, WATER USAGE.WE CAN SEE THE REALTIME WATER USAGE, BUT THE RESIDENTS CAN ALSO SEE THE REALTIME WATER USAGE.
AND WITH THAT COMES A SMART APP THAT WE'RE GOING TO, UH, ALSO GIVE TO THE CUSTOMERS TO BE ABLE TO SEE THAT USAGE FOR THEMSELVES.
THE SMART APP ALLOWS THE CUSTOMER TO RECEIVE ALERTS, WHETHER IT'S A COST THRESHOLD, WHETHER IT'S A USAGE THRESHOLD, THE CUSTOMER CAN SET AN ALERT FOR THEMSELVES TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVE IT, UH, VIA AN EMAIL, TEXT MESSAGE, OR THE ACT ACTUAL APP ITSELF.
WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO GIVE THE CUSTOMERS THE ABILITY TO, UH, CONTROL THEIR USAGE, TO MINIMIZE THEIR BILLS.
AS THE PARIS PRESIDENT SAID EARLIER, WE HAVE A TWO MONTH BILL, WHICH IS REASONABLE, BUT WE WILL ALSO, WITH THE APP, YOU CAN HAVE THE, THE OPTION OF BEING ABLE TO CONTROL THAT USAGE FOR YOURSELF TO BE ABLE TO KEEP THE BILL WHERE YOU'RE COMFORTABLE, TO BE ABLE TO HAVE IT ON, ON A, A BI-MONTHLY BASIS.
BUT THAT'S ONE OF THE BIGGEST, UH, PROJECTS WE'RE EXCITED ABOUT, WAS THE ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE.
THANK Y'ALL FOR BOTH BEING WITH ME THIS MORNING.
UM, THANK YOU FOR SPENDING THE TIME WITH US BECAUSE, AGAIN, AS, AS THEY'VE SAID, THIS IS OVER A BILLION DOLLARS IN WATER AND A BILLION DOLLARS IN SEWER.
WE COLLECT THE MONEY FROM YOU ON YOUR UTILITY BILL.
BUT I WANTED YOU TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE PUTTING THE MONEY TO GOOD USE.
AGAIN, THIS IS AN INVESTMENT IN OURSELVES, IN OUR COMMUNITY FOR A STRONG SEWER AND WATER SYSTEM.