Read the report below.

Raleigh’s underground water infrastructure, mainly pipes in the ground, needs more than $7 billion in repairs, according to City Public Utilities Director John Carman. These are not immediate costs, he said, but now is when Raleigh should be planning to replace pipes that will age out during the coming decades.

Carman told the Record the current financial model for the system does not put away any money to pay for replacing pipes that have a lifespan of anywhere from 60 to 100 years.

“We have $500 million worth of pipe that was installed before World War II,” Carman said.

He said that bonds and similar big loans are a good way to pay for large projects such as a new water treatment plant. But, Carman said, pipe replacement should be paid along the way directly from water bills.

The Dempsey E. Benton Water Treatment Plant. Although water rates cover operating costs, they do not cover maintenance costs for new underground pipes.

Raleigh’s water system is what’s called an enterprise system, meaning it pays for itself. The catch is that most of the system’s costs—running treatment plans, fixing old pipes, making sure water always comes out of the tap—are fixed. And most of the system’s income goes up and down with water use.

Peter Scott, co-chair of the WUTAT and a former Progress Energy executive, told city councilors last month that residents have done well with water conservation, with per capital consumption down 40 percent since 1987. But, Scott said, revenue “must increase significantly” to cover the cost of the system.

City Councilors created the WUTAT two years ago to study the city’s water system and make recommendations on how to best manage the financial model of the utility.

The tiered rate structure the city implemented last year, which charges more per gallon the more residential customers use, has been lowering water usage across the city, and that means less income for the utility.

After questioning from councilors about how to best address the long-term revenue shortfalls, Scott said that when it comes to how much to charge water customers, “the more fixed, the better.”

That means more of the water bill should be made up with fees, not based on how many gallons a home or business uses.

Carman said after the meeting that the “current financial model does a good job of fixing infrastructure above ground,” such as pump stations, water treatment plants and the like.

“The piece that’s missing is the part fixing the below-ground infrastructure,” he said.

Councilor Thomas Crowder expressed frustration at the meeting last month with the water rates loop they find themselves in: “Raise rates, lower consumption, raise rates again, lower consumption.”

Ninety percent of Raleigh’s water costs are fixed, and about three quarters go up and down with usage, according to the WUTAT report.

Scott told councilors that the main issue with the water system’s financial model is that there are no reserves for droughts, repairs or other contingencies.

City councilors already raised sewer rates last year and Scott said that action was “moving in the right direction, where we reflect the actual costs.”

Similar Posts:

• Raleigh’s Water Conundrum: Conservation v. Rates
• The Future of Raleigh’s Water
• Cameron Park, Oberlin Village residents pack council meeting

The Technology and Communications Committee, a new group of city councilors created late last year, approved the Open Source Government resolution Tuesday night. It will go to the full council next week.

The resolution has two parts. First, it proposes to create a new page on the City of Raleigh website to share city data, such as computer processable budget information, map data, or public art data.

Councilor Bonner Gaylord, who chairs the Technology Committee, said the purpose of the new site for city data is that it would “give citizens the opportunity to take that information to use as they see fit.”

“It’s their data; they bought it and paid for it,” Gaylord said.

The second part of the resolution headed to council will make it easier for open source software companies to bid on city projects. After the meeting, Gaylord said he hopes that the resolution will give the city’s IT staff the ability to use open source as an additional metric in weighing bids on city software contracts.

Open source software means that the actual source code used to create the software is open and free for anyone to use and tweak.

For example, the Linux operating system is the open source answer to running Windows or the Mac operating system. Red Hat, which recently made a splash by promising to move from Centennial Campus at N.C. State University to downtown, makes open source Linux operating systems for business and personal use.

Councilor Mary Ann Baldwin, who sits on the committee, said this resolution “will be the driver of everything we do from a technology standpoint.”

Gail Roper, the city’s IT director, presented a rough timeline to committee members, listed below. Roper said she hopes to tackle setting a more formal timeline when the City Council meets for its Feb. 13 technology retreat, during which they discuss these types of issues.

Timeline presented to the committee

1. Open Data Next Steps: Staff Response

• Continue to gain executive sponsorship
• Define resource requirements
• Establish governance model

2. Open Data Preparation

• Establishment of the catalog
• Policy creation for open data (how we determine what data can/will be published, prioritization, formats, internal process, business ownership, etc.)
• Catalog product selection
• Project implementation
• Engagement with Raleigh’s open data community

3. Open source

• Create the internal procurement policy for evaluation and selection criteria for open
• source software
• Create inventory of potential open source software and protocols
• Create framework for Raleigh to participate as producer of open source software
• Licensing model, code repositories, etc.

4. Community Participation – Taking it to the streets

• Citizen-led communities
• Connection between youth-development programs and open government community
• Connection entrepreneurial community and open government community
• Importance of broadband access for any of this to be useful

Similar Posts:

• Team Opens School Data, Takes Home $5k
• CityCamp Pairs Open-Source Tech, Gov’t Transparency

Workers assemble a Ferris wheel in downtown Raleigh Friday morning for the First Night Raleigh celebrations.

On The Record: Nancy McFarlane Interview Transcription
CDP: My name is Charles Duncan Pardo with the Raleigh Public Record, and I am speaking with Nancy McFarlane, who just won the mayoral race for Raleigh. Congratulations.
NM: Thank you very much. Thanks for coming out.

CDP: Can you tell me what your plans are for the next two years?
NM: Well, Raleigh’s really in a great place, and I think that that was a message that we heard from the voters. They’re like being the number one city in the country, and they also, with the passing of the bonds, acknowledge that it’s really important to invest in our community. So, I think that the main focus is going to be on making sure economy stays strong and gets even stronger. And, also, really planning for growth. We’ll be seeing more and more people move here, so we have to manage that carefully.

CDP: And voters did pass the bonds. Do you like how the discussions over light-rail and high-speed rail have been going and what are your plans there?
NM: The bonds did pass. The only thing really in there was the transit station, and we’ve had a lot of good discussion about rail. I think people really understand how the dynamics of the area could change if we do see the growth that some people have talked about – anywhere [from] 100,000 people coming in the next few years. So, I think that what people really are looking for are transportation options, and I think that that means a combination of cars, but also light-rail and buses and trolleys and bikes and walking. I think we really are looking at multi-modal transportation options.

CDP: So, you’re going to be taking over this council with a lot of balls in the air, and I think one of the most contentious is going to be the Lightner Center and where to put the police department. I know you supported the Lightner Center, and you’re going to be the negotiator over the next two years, so tell me what your thoughts are on that.
NM: Well, I think that everyone does acknowledge that we have a need. Our 911 emergency services are at capacity. That is the most pressing need, and I think that we’ve really had some good discussion, and I think that everybody is ready to really sit down and find out a solution that’s going to work for all of us.

CDP: Does there need to be some sort of interim measure for the 911 folks?
NM: Well, I think everybody knows that’s really going to be the first thing that we address and it’s going to be a matter of really getting some feedback on just how long it will take with different options, building something new, rehabbing something and that will be all part of what we take into consideration, but it’s something we’re going to have to look at right away.

CDP: And when you think about what you would like to see, is this something centralized, decentralized?
NM: Well, I think… when I originally saw the building that was proposed, I think that there are some things that we can do, looking at that model. I think it will be toned down, maybe not quite as big, maybe moving the emergency services down to the bottom. I think there’s a lot of potential, so that we can use the monies that we’ve already invested in that project. We’ve relocated people and shifted space around. We have that space available. So, I think the first thing would be, maybe, how do we best utilize the dollars we’ve already spent.

CDP: It sounds like you’re saying a centralized solution.
NM: Well, I mean, I would say that, having my own business, there is a lot of benefit to having your managers together.

CDP: There’s still a lot of tornado damage in southeast Raleigh and northeast Raleigh. What is going on with that?
NM: Well, that was one of the parts of the bond, and that was one reason I was very happy that the voters stepped up and passed that because there is tornado relief monies in there and, you know, it’s complicated. Some people have insurance, some people may still be waiting on FEMA money. We’re certainly aware. We’re working with different groups that are assisting people. We’re doing all different kinds of programs as best we can, but the bond money is really going to be helpful.

CDP: And that’s for loans to people who can’t get insurance?
NM: Mm-hmm. (McFarlane nods in agreement.)

CDP: So, one of the other big balls is rewriting the entire zoning code. Do you like how that process has gone?
NM: It is a big process, and I’m really glad that, a few months ago, we decided to slow it down a little bit. It’s a complicated thing, and it’s really important to get public input on that, but Unified Development Ordinance just in itself, just explaining what it is…I just want to make sure that the process is right. I’m not as worried about the length of the process as I am with outcome.

CDP: And do you think there should be… I know there’s been some controversy over a map to go along with this. Do you think that mapping process should be sped up?
NM: Well, I’ve actually heard both sides, and that is something I’d like to sit down with the consultants that we have … and our … maybe Christie Dargess, the staff that’s really looking at it, to really get…everybody kind of has an opinion on that right now, but I’d really like to spend some time with the consultant going through and seeing what the pros and cons are of doing them separately, or waiting and doing them together.

CDP: Okay, and I know we’re running a little short on time here, but I wanted to just ask you about water. There’s this weird dynamic where if people conserve, rates go up. It pays for itself. What do we do with that when we could get another drought any time?
NM: Actually, that’s a really good question because one thing that we looked at during the drought was exactly that model of people conserve, and then they use less water, and then you don’t have as much income to run the utility, and based on that, and talking to some people that are really key in the locally and in the state on water, that’s not a sustainable model.

So, what actually I did last year was put together a group, we call it the WUTAT, Water Utility Transition Advisory Task Force, and what they’re doing is looking at our water utility system, our storm water system, our reuse water system, and saying what’s a better model– what’s a more sustainable model. Is that something that we need to have altogether, as opposed to having a water system and a storm water system over here? There’s a way to recapture storm water and work that in so that it’s not every time you use … People feel that they’re being punished for using less water, but what they also have to understand is the base of what their cost is is the cost to run the system. There’s a cost of water purification plants, there’s a cost of waste water treatment plants, and that’s why it’s so important when we do things like protect Falls Lake and buy up some of that open space, because the cleaner we can keep Falls Lake, the lower the cost is to purify that water.

And so, it’s all very connected. So, we have a task force that’s come up with some great recommendations, and now they’re really looking at how do we take that into a sustainable model that’ll take us into the future.

CDP: So, are we going to see this system change a lot in the next two years?
NM: Yeah, I’m kind of hoping that we will. I think that storm water is a huge issue for us. They just built a Whole Foods up here, and the storm water system that they came up with is…I mean, they got a grant from the Clean Water Trust Fund because it’s so innovative, and nothing leaves that site. What water they do capture and don’t use is all reintroduced into the ground, and that’s really what we want to see. So, it can be done, and I’m just really excited about the possibilities of taking different kinds of storm water recapture and putting them into our water model to help us with drought and with storm water run-off.

CDP: Thank you so much for speaking with us.
NM: Thanks. Thanks for coming.

A view from above the midway at the State Fair. Photo by Charles Duncan Pardo.

Raleigh voters went to the polls and voted to continue outgoing Mayor Charles Meeker’s legacy by reelecting every incumbent on the ticket and unaffiliated candidate Randy Stagner for the open District A seat.

Unaffiliated candidate Nancy McFarlane won the mayoral race by a healthy margin. Voters also approved both bonds on the ballot.

Weeks was appointed to the city council last year after District C councilor James West went to take over a seat on the county commission. Weeks won the election handily with more than 56 percent of the vote.

The crowded District C field had four other candidates. Racquel Williams came in second with 15 percent and Corey Branch had almost 13 percent of the vote.

In the District A race, Stagner took 58.9 percent of the vote.

In the at-large race, the two highest vote-getters take the two open seats. In this case, that was the two Democrats. Mary-Ann Baldwin took more than 40 percent of the vote and Stephenson 37 percent. Republican Paul Fitts got about 21 percent.

District B’s John Odom, District D’s Thomas Crowder and District E’s Bonner Gaylord ran unopposed.

The next city council will be:

Mayor Nancy McFarlane

At-large – Mary-Ann Baldwin

At-large – Russ Stephenson

District A – Randy Stagner

District B – John Odom

District C – Eugene Weeks

District D – Thomas Crowder

District E – Bonner Gaylord

Our mission at the Record is to fill the gaps in local Raleigh news coverage. We focus most of our energy on understanding the political, personal and commercial aspects of growth in this city, our city. From sitting through long meetings at city hall to exploring issues of redevelopment in East Raleigh, every story we report has to do with growth in some form or fashion. Every two years, you, the voters of Raleigh, get to have your say in how the city moves forward.

This is a non-partisan voter guide. We don’t tell you who to vote for. Our aim here is to help you understand the candidates and some of the issues at play in this year’s election. The only dog we have in this fight is you — sending you to the polls armed with the information you need and deserve to make an informed decision on who should lead the city and the school board during the next few years.

We spoke with almost every candidate running for city council and school board. We made every effort possible to speak with the candidates not shown, but, unfortunately, they did not take us up on our offer to feature their profiles here.

We asked every candidate the same set of questions either in person or over the phone. We transcribed their answers and then cut them down to fit the available space. All words here are the candidate’s own, and while shortening their answers we did our best with each and every one to preserve the original intent of the interviewee. No candidates got the questions ahead of time and all had the same opportunity to give thoughtful answers to address important issues in these elections.

Special thanks go to Sonny Ferares, Bryan LeClaire, Will Huntsberry and Drew St. Claire for doing the heavy lifting on this guide — nailing down the interviews and transcribing what the candidates had to say.

I also want to thank the businesses, organizations and people who supported this guide and the Record. Last, but certainly not least, thanks to our readers. We are pleased to serve you.

Charles C. Duncan Pardo
Founding Editor